Quickie

Short Blog today:

Is it just me or are excuses much easier to come by the older we get? Not that I’m old but the older we get it seems like there are more opportunities for getting out of things. Work, housework, yard work, not any and all things to do with MB, the weather, tired, the list goes on and on. I am excellent at convincing myself that there are a ton of things I should be doing instead of working out. I’ve gotten the eating thing down better (as I sit here and eat one of the world’s most amazing coconut cupcakes) but I still am struggling with consistently working out. I’m not sitting on the couch eat bon bons all night but I’m not perhaps dedicating the time and effort to my goal(s) as I should. Seeing my neighbor who had a baby almost the same time as me jogging around the bock with her kid in a jogging stroller looking totally FAB might have had something to do with my realization, but you know whatevs. So anywho what are ya’lls anti- excuse methods? How do you motivate yourselves? 

In training news, good news on the bike, we only need to tighten the cables to get her up and running! Also another query for everyone:
1) Any thoughts on buying semi cheap running shoes to get started? Or are  expensive ones really worth the price
2) Seriously considering dropping some cash on a treadmill to get rid of any and all weather related excuses. Thoughts?

Keep watch for a yummy food related blog next week. I found a sweet potato pancake recipe that I’m DYING to try. So I’ll document that to see if it works better than my ill-fated carrot cake pancakes I’ve tried before.  Enjoy this beautiful fall weekend!

P.S And seriously, if you like coconut, cupcakes and overall deliciousness, try these! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/coconut-cupcakes-recipe/index.html
They are Fantastic! (FYI I half the frosting) 

Fall is coming!

Ah. There is nothing like waking up to that crisp, cool fall air! I honestly think fall might be my favorite season, warm in the day, cool at night. It would be even better if Michigan went spring, summer, fall, spring, summer and skip over that whole gross snow season but I digress.
So fall and that great soup I promised. Four words: Leah's Pumpkin Corn Chowder. Got this recipe from my longtime choir director's wife and it is amazing. It's seriously like fall in a bowl.

*Disclaimer: For some reason I grabbed the cinnamon and put it in this picture... there is no cinnamon in this :) *

If this doesn't look like a bowl full of goodness I don't know what is! I know what you are thinking "Pumpkin in soup??" But I swear it's great and it's super healthy for you! Pumpkin is packed with vitamins/nutrients/all that good stuff you need. Throw in some leeks, carrots and potatoes and you got yourself a meat free masterpiece. Very easy to go all vegetarian and use veggie broth instead of chicken broth. 
This soup is a 30 minutes wonder. Saute veggies, add broth, bring to boil add potatoes and spices. Cook potatoes, add the pumpkin, frozen corn and a little bit of milk and bam! Done! So if you are looking for a healthy fall soup, I would strongly suggestion you consider adding this to your repertoire!

As for an activity update, I swear this weekend I'm getting bike cables! Yes, because if I don't Cindy will get our her big stick, second because I do really want to! My winter goal is to get the 5K distance down pat, maybe even the 10K so I can do the RiverBank Run and a couple other little races to get them under my belt. I would LOVE to be able to do the 25K since that's over a half marathon but yeaaa don't think that's going to happen :) I'll be happy with the 10K though since that's half the distance. Orlando 2014 here we come! 
*Oops! Forgot to add the recipe!*

Pumpkin Corn Chowder

Originally from Leah Ivory

2 medium to large leeks, washed and chopped (I use more leeks)

¼ cup of Olive Oil

3 carrots

10 cups chicken or vegetable stock

3-4 potatoes diced (I like lots of potatoes, so I add a bit more)

1 teaspoon salt

Lots of pepper

¼ teaspoon cloves

Cayenne pepper to taste (Usually a dash in the whole pot for me, really bland without this)

29 oz can of pumpkin puree

½ cup milk or cream

2 cups frozen corn

Wash and chop leeks. Sauté leeks and chopped carrots in olive oil for 15 minutes or until soft. Add stock and bring to a boil. Add potatoes, salt, pepper, cloves and cayenne pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add pumpkin, thinned with soup in necessary, milk and corn. Simmer till warm.

COUNTDOWN WIDGET

Little steps

As anyone who is struggling with weight loss can tell you, it’s one step at a time. Trying to make any drastic (usually unrealistic) changes only cause more heartbreak, trust me been there done that. My previous tactic has been to set some crazy goal like only eating salad and chicken for the rest of my life, or working our 2 hrs a day after months of nothing. When I couldn’t reach that totally and completely unrealistic goal, I would get WAY down on myself which would just make things worse. To this point,  I came across this great quote a couple months ago and just found it again:

“ What you have to remember is that changing your eating habits is a process of recommitting to your goals each and every day. Anytime you lose sight of that and start focusing on what’s wrong, you’ll take yourself away from the life you want to lead. The key to overcoming your eating problem is to remind yourself that at least you’re taking today (or this afternoon or this hour) to move toward your goal. And that’s the trick of the 10% of those who manage to overcome this problem”

Long winded, yes, but powerful just the same. And even more relevant as two of my biggest enemies came face to face today; stress and workplace treats. The stress came from one of the worst work days in recent memory combined with the fact the entire family had been awake since 3am after my lovely sweet MB had an explosive barf attack, which was in fact HILARIOUS to me. Last night may have been the first time my wonderful hubby might have actually contemplated divorce as I was laughing so hard at him and MB dripping with formula barf. Before you judge, I was the one cleaning it all up but it really tickled me. I’m giggling right now as I recall it, must be my sick sense of humor. *snicker*
Anyway, back to the topic at hand, so I was super stressed coming in and then work turned to crap, Oh and I didn’t have any Starbucks.  And (!) then my co-worker walked into the office with a bag of Oreo balls. Dear Lord. My one weakness. Oreos. God’s gift to the human race.  So as my day got worse and worse that bag of deliciousness got prettier and prettier but I was determined to resist! And I did it! So I’m proud of myself.  AND! This weekend the scale looked pretty good. I’m almost down to the next group of 10! So long story short, I'm super excited to start seeing progress from the small changes I am making in my lifestyle starting to add up to big changes on the scale! So the question of the day is what do you all do to control that little voice inside telling you that you NEED a treat?

In terms of running/ biking, not a great weekend. Still need better shoes and cables for the bike but we are getting there! The journey towards Feb 2014 continues! Stay tuned for the world’s greatest (and healthy!) fall soup recipe!

Discouraged much?

And we’re back to continuing the long road to WDW 2014! I can’t say that the last few days have been great though. First, I finally got the results back from my MRI, no meniscus tear! (YAY!) But my doc said he could see that I have Chondramalacia patella. Long word that means the cartilage behind my knee cap is softened and  will pretty much always be inflamed and swollen and sore, or as my loving husband called it, Janky Knee Syndrome. I’ll admit the hubby comment made me laugh but the realization that I have Another limb problem was pretty disheartening. It’s not a run ending injury; it’s just going to be something I have to deal with for the rest of my life.  Per my doc, lots and lots of ice and the occasional NSAID are going to be my new best friends. Needless to say this on top of my already janky ankle was not making for a happy me. And then I finally started jogging on my semi daily walks and my tennis shoes rubbed the skin entirely off the back of my ankle, like to blood! UGH!!
I was feeling very discouraged and grouchy, well mostly just grouchy I think, when I can across this: 

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/09/stroke-survivor-laura-patterson-runs-disneyland-half-marathon/ 

And boy did I feel like a cry baby. This woman survived a stroke and had to learn to walk again! Oh, and then ran a half marathon, you know just because she wanted to. That kinda wiped my feeling sorry for myself off the map and got me on the right track again (After burning a batch of cookies I so desperately wanted to snack on. Karama’s a bitch right? :D )

So I’m headed in the right direction again. A Facebook friend suggested I go to a local sport retailer and actually get fitted for the correct shoe which seems like great advice so I’m going to do that this weekend. The bike is still in the garage waiting for new cables; hope to do that this weekend too. Also with the wonderful chill that was in the air this morning, I’m starting to think about winter. It is Michigan after all so we very well could have snow up to our behinds in October. What do you do to run in the winter? I’ll admit I’m a wimp so I’m thinking about buying a treadmill to run in my warm basement. Suggestions??

P.S. Tea drinking not going so good. Still haven’t given into to my desperate desire for Starbucks but we are inching closer to it everyday :) The tea I have is somewhat palatable with milk and honey but it’s still not very good. My sis-in-law and good friend had some good suggestions I’m going to try so we’ll see!!

Oh Yeah

Let's play a little game friends! What do you get when you combine a pizza crust, thinly sliced potatoes, fresh chopped rosemary, olive oil, flake sea salt and a little pecorino cheese?













If your answer is CARB NIRVANA then you are correct! This drool inducing concoction is complicatedly named.... Potato Pizza. And it is heaven for all you carb-aholics like my husband and I. The recipe is amazingly simple, especially if you use a good quality pre-made crust like we do.(We get ours from a local, family owned Italian specialty store) You spread out the crust, put a thin layer of olive oil down and slice your potatoes thin on a mandolin. Layer the potatoes in rows until you cover the entire crust. Chop your rosemary pretty fine (fresh is hands down the best) and sprinkle over the potatoes. Add another thin layer of oil over the potatoes and finish with a sprinkle of pecorino cheese and flake sea salt. Your pre baked product should look like this.

Bake 20-30 minutes or until your crust is browned and the potatoes are cooked and everything just generally looks amazing. Your finished product should look something like this!

Oh.Yeah. Seriously trying to contain my drool. I will say, it's so darn easy and so darn yummy! My bagel with almond butter, bananas and honey just really isn't doing the job now. So while I wouldn't recommend eating this for dinner every night, it certainly is a nice, easy change when you are in the mood for something different (and delicious!)

In other breaking news it's a big, big day.  I am here and now kicking my $3.34 a day Starbucks habit to the curb. And yes, this is big news. For those of you who don't know, Starbucks is like a drug to me. It is required every morning just for me to function! But alas, in this whole trying to get healthy kick I'm trying to make more conscious decisions and the calories in my tall, non fat, extra hot, no whip mocha are probably unnecessary and the extra money is a plus too. My wonderful husband is an avid tea drinker and is pushing me that way. My first adventure into the wide world of tea is Lady Grey. As I told my husband, It's not......awful. Sure isn't very good either though. Any suggestions on some teas that I should try? I'm hoping to find one that is good soon because my resolve to stay away from my beloved Starbucks wavers each time I take a sip of this not so yummy tea.

In bike news, called the bike shop and they said that we should be able to replace the cables ourselves. Hoping we can get to that soon!

What's Next?

So you’ve made a commitment! Identified a goal and publicized it and are on the great “Wow I’m finally going to do something” high. Then that high drops and you realize, crap what the heck am I supposed to do next? How do I actually accomplish this? And that would be where I am now.  I will say the support I’ve received thus far is overwhelming and led to a few teary incidents so thanks in advance buddies! But now I’ve got to get off my butt and start actually doing. I decided I need to get some expert advice since I literally know nothing about how to start running and found it I did! A longtime friend of mine is an incredible runner, I mean absolutely amazing. This woman doesn’t let anything stop her, ever. She is the most amazing inspiration ever! I was expecting the usual “start slow, listen to your body blah blah, But I got this instead. This one line that changed the way I was thinking about this whole venture.  “Mostly.....have fun! That's why I run.”  Huh. I hadn’t thought about it like that. In all my mental prep for this adventure I never had put the words fun and running in the same sentence let alone the same in thought. But why shouldn’t I? If you are willing to put this much effort into training for something shouldn’t it at least be fun? My quasi mentor also provided me with this tidbit “Consider every effort a success, no matter how long or how far you go” How many of us start something but stop because we didn’t meet some arbitrary goal we set for ourselves the first time we tried so now clearly we are all failures?…. Um, Guilty.  We need to celebrate each and every one of our successes instead of wallowing in what we perceive as all of our failures especially when undertaking a task as daunting as this one!

Ok enough introspective crap for today! Since crossing training seems to be important in this venture (or so I’m told) this week’s project entails getting my mom’s old bike up and running. To me bike riding is a lot less scary than jogging so I’m hoping to use it to build up some endurance. It’s a Schwinn and the cables need to be fixed and a new seat to be completely functional, which will require a trip to our local bike shop but I think it will be worth it. Short term goal, get my butt biking!