It's that time of the week again ... Mamakat time. In keeping with the awesomeness of October, I chose the prompt: "What's cooking in your crockpot?"
The actual answer is nothing, at the moment. But I do intend to break out the ol crockpot this October, to try out some awesome recipes. The big problem with the crockpot is that I generally leave for work at 7:30 am and get home at 9:30 pm. Methinks that may be a bit too long. I generally stock the crockpot the night before, let it cook overnight, let it sit in the fridge and marinate all day, and then heat it up at night when I get home.
The soup recipes I have are NOT crockpot recipes, but I'm going to try to adapt them to the crockpot. I should warn you, however, that I am NOT a good cook. I cannot be held responsible for this untried recipe:
(adapted from the Beyond the Moon Cookbook by Ginny Callan)
Potato-Carrot-Spinach-Soup
* 3 Tablespoons canola oil
* 1 c chopped onions
* 5 large garlic cloves
* 4 c chopped potatos
* 2 c shopped carrots
* 1 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 c fresh dill
* c c chopped spinach
* pepper to taste
Put oil, onion, and garlic in pot on high for 20 min. Turn crockpot to low. Add 6 cups water, potatoes, and carrots. Leave overnight. Get up extra early, as you will be pureeing potatoes and carrots with an immersion blender before work. Make sure to rinse said blender pretty well before galloping off. Also, add salt, pepper, and dill to the mix and stir so it can marinate all day.
When you get home from work, put crockpot bowl back in base and turn on high. Add spinach. Let cook while you take a shower, change, clean out work and gym bags, and -- let's face it -- clean the congealed carrot and potato off the immersion blender you forgot to rinse before galloping off this morning.
Eat the soup in front of the TV while watching the Red Sox in the playoffs.
AWESOME!!
Plus -- Yesterday's awesome:
Really strange weather. It was alternating between beautiful, sunny, and still to raining sideways all throughout the day. Watching through the wall of windows in the back of the therapy gym was like a movie on the nature channel!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Cooking for the Clueless
Since I have been quite preoccupied with all of my many projects lately...too preoccupied to go out and meet off the wall people to write about on Tuesdays. So I'm putting Tuesday's Bad Dates on a brief hiatus. And instead, installing
Cooking for the Clueless!!
(the clueless being me)
Since I am such a multi-tasker, today's recipe will double as Today's Awesome. (because it really really was awesome)
Ok. I pulled this recipe out of this month's Yoga Journal. It is simple, yummy, and most importantly, can cook while you jump in the shower post workout.
In my own words:
Warm Squash and Spinach Salad
1) Pre cut organic butternut squash
2) Pre washed organic spinach
3) Lemon juice
4) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
5) Sliced Almonds
6) Salt and Pepper
**(7) I added sunflower and flax seeds cause I had them **
* Put as much squash as will fit onto the toaster oven pan.
* Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
* Turn toaster oven on 400.
* Jump in the shower.
* Get out, dry off, put on PJ's.
* Comb tangles out of hair. (Make sure you have used plenty of conditioner so that the house doesn't burn down while you are in the bathroom wrestling with a comb)
* Wash hands.
* Check the squash. Declare it "good enough" and turn off the toaster oven while leaving the door closed so the squash can be extra "good enough".
* Fill your favorite Tupperware bowl that you use for salads with spinach.
* In a coffee cup, mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice with a couple shakes of salt and pepper
* Take squash out of toaster oven.
* Pour squash and warm olive oil that is floating around the bottom of the pan all over the spinach.
* Sprinkle almonds, sunflower seeds, and flax seed on top.
* Cover the entire mess with lemon juice.
* Enjoy while sitting at computer checking email and reading blogs.
It is truly one of the most delicious things I have eaten a while. Try it. You won't be sorry.
Cooking for the Clueless!!
(the clueless being me)
Since I am such a multi-tasker, today's recipe will double as Today's Awesome. (because it really really was awesome)
Ok. I pulled this recipe out of this month's Yoga Journal. It is simple, yummy, and most importantly, can cook while you jump in the shower post workout.
In my own words:
Warm Squash and Spinach Salad
1) Pre cut organic butternut squash
2) Pre washed organic spinach
3) Lemon juice
4) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
5) Sliced Almonds
6) Salt and Pepper
**(7) I added sunflower and flax seeds cause I had them **
* Put as much squash as will fit onto the toaster oven pan.
* Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
* Turn toaster oven on 400.
* Jump in the shower.
* Get out, dry off, put on PJ's.
* Comb tangles out of hair. (Make sure you have used plenty of conditioner so that the house doesn't burn down while you are in the bathroom wrestling with a comb)
* Wash hands.
* Check the squash. Declare it "good enough" and turn off the toaster oven while leaving the door closed so the squash can be extra "good enough".
* Fill your favorite Tupperware bowl that you use for salads with spinach.
* In a coffee cup, mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice with a couple shakes of salt and pepper
* Take squash out of toaster oven.
* Pour squash and warm olive oil that is floating around the bottom of the pan all over the spinach.
* Sprinkle almonds, sunflower seeds, and flax seed on top.
* Cover the entire mess with lemon juice.
* Enjoy while sitting at computer checking email and reading blogs.
It is truly one of the most delicious things I have eaten a while. Try it. You won't be sorry.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Well, this week, I had planned on going back through the bathroom in the decluttering marathon. But, nicely, the bathroom is actually pretty much the way I want it. The rest of the apartment, though, looks like a giant paper-and-book-bomb exploded. My projects are in various states of completion all over. If I'm really serious about decluttering, the bathroom was not where I needed to be this week.
Sept 29: ok...in the bathroom...there was an old swim cap from a race hanging on the doorknob. threw out!
Sept 30: went through all the paper scraps on the computer desk and organized. Everything I still needed went in the proper project folder, anything I didn't in the recycling
Oct 1: Went through the project folders today and organized those. ANything I didn't need also went in the recycling
Oct 2: I had a goodie bag from a golf tournament fund raiser that a patient of mine had. In the bag were lots of dog related items (the fund raiser was for seeing eye dogs) Since my Dad loves dogs (especially yellow labs) I gave him all the doggie stuff inside.
Ok, now that the apartment was looking a little less chaotic, I could head back to the bathroom. And yeah, I did find some things that could go
Oct 3: I have some zip lock bags under the sink I keep for traveling toiletries. But a couple were looking a little gross. I rinsed em out and put them in the recycling
Oct 4: Did you know that lip balm expires? Well, I have a tube that has an expired date on it. throw out
Oct 5: Oops, my vitamins expired, too. I put the vitamins in the compost. Can vitamins be composted?
Next weekend is a four day weekend for me....I'm attacking the storage area!!
Today's Awesome: It was a perfect fall day, weatherwise! Yeah, I was at work, but I still enjoyed it. And my windows are open tonight. And no more rooster to contend with! AWESOME.
Sept 29: ok...in the bathroom...there was an old swim cap from a race hanging on the doorknob. threw out!
Sept 30: went through all the paper scraps on the computer desk and organized. Everything I still needed went in the proper project folder, anything I didn't in the recycling
Oct 1: Went through the project folders today and organized those. ANything I didn't need also went in the recycling
Oct 2: I had a goodie bag from a golf tournament fund raiser that a patient of mine had. In the bag were lots of dog related items (the fund raiser was for seeing eye dogs) Since my Dad loves dogs (especially yellow labs) I gave him all the doggie stuff inside.
Ok, now that the apartment was looking a little less chaotic, I could head back to the bathroom. And yeah, I did find some things that could go
Oct 3: I have some zip lock bags under the sink I keep for traveling toiletries. But a couple were looking a little gross. I rinsed em out and put them in the recycling
Oct 4: Did you know that lip balm expires? Well, I have a tube that has an expired date on it. throw out
Oct 5: Oops, my vitamins expired, too. I put the vitamins in the compost. Can vitamins be composted?
Next weekend is a four day weekend for me....I'm attacking the storage area!!
Today's Awesome: It was a perfect fall day, weatherwise! Yeah, I was at work, but I still enjoyed it. And my windows are open tonight. And no more rooster to contend with! AWESOME.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
weekend class
IF THE ONLY TOOL YOU HAVE IS A HAMMER, EVERY PROBLEM LOOKS LIKE A NAIL ---- Abraham Maslow
This weekend, I took a course to learn more about the big star of the 2008 Summer Olympics. No, it was not a class about Michael Phelps. Nor was it about Misty May's derriere. It was not about the aging athlete (Dara Torres) and it was not about the engineering marvel of the bird's nest. No, this class was about the REALLY big star of the games: kinesiotape.
I first started hearing about kinesiotape in 1999, years before world class athletes jumped, ran, swam,and volleyed their way across Beijing in multi-colored straps of fiber. At times, the Olympic events looked less like athletic competitions than a technicolor bondage party! I wanted to know: did this stuff really work, or was it just a lot of hype?
So I was really glad when my work sponsored a kinesiotaping course this weekend. Finally, I could get the scoop.
On the first day of class, I was interested, but skeptical. And I was really annoyed at the eighties-inspired hot pink and electric blue color scheme. What was wrong with the nice beige color we had in the clinic? It can't be seen from a distance and offers kinesiotape victims --ahem, patients -- a bit of pride. I want to help my patients, not humiliate them!
But after hours of strapping and taping and wrapping ankles and shoulders and legs and thumbs, after getting first hand experience of how securely the tape supported while allowing movement, after seeing how well the tape actually worked, I became a convert. On day two, I was like a health care Picasso, creating masterpieces of pink, blue, black and beige on skin canvases. I was mentally going through my caseload, figuring out how I could use kinesiotape with each and every one of my patients. Unstable shoulder? Kinesiotape. Plantar fasciitis? Kinesiotape. Osteoarthritis of the knee? We can kinesiotape that. Head injury? Break out the kinesiotape!
I left the class covered from head to toe in tape. I started planning a mummy costume for Halloween. Trick or treaters? I'll give them rolls of kinesiotape. For Christmas, I'll string kinesiotape along the branches of my Christmas tree. And on Thanksgiving, you KNOW what I'll be giving thanks for.
I looked around my apartment. I have a picture that needs to be hung. I could use kinesiotape. A pair of sneakers with a hole in them. A throw rug that always slides across the room. My Ikea computer chair that no longer sits securely on its base. There's NOTHING this stuff can't fix. It's like -- duct tape for people -- and more!
My only concern is...I don't want to become one of THOSE people. You know, people who become obsessed with something and just don't let it go? Like Trekkies. Or Jimmy Buffet fans. Or that family on TLC with 8000 kids. Is it possible that I could become so enamored with a roll of tape that I bring it out and use it in the most inappropriate situations?
Nah. That won't happen. There is no inappropriate situation for kinesiotape. It's that good.
TODAY'S AWESOME: Went grocery shopping and organized all my meals for the week in nice little single serving containers neatly lined up in the fridge. Now I can just grab and go each morning. awesome.
This weekend, I took a course to learn more about the big star of the 2008 Summer Olympics. No, it was not a class about Michael Phelps. Nor was it about Misty May's derriere. It was not about the aging athlete (Dara Torres) and it was not about the engineering marvel of the bird's nest. No, this class was about the REALLY big star of the games: kinesiotape.
I first started hearing about kinesiotape in 1999, years before world class athletes jumped, ran, swam,and volleyed their way across Beijing in multi-colored straps of fiber. At times, the Olympic events looked less like athletic competitions than a technicolor bondage party! I wanted to know: did this stuff really work, or was it just a lot of hype?
So I was really glad when my work sponsored a kinesiotaping course this weekend. Finally, I could get the scoop.
On the first day of class, I was interested, but skeptical. And I was really annoyed at the eighties-inspired hot pink and electric blue color scheme. What was wrong with the nice beige color we had in the clinic? It can't be seen from a distance and offers kinesiotape victims --ahem, patients -- a bit of pride. I want to help my patients, not humiliate them!
But after hours of strapping and taping and wrapping ankles and shoulders and legs and thumbs, after getting first hand experience of how securely the tape supported while allowing movement, after seeing how well the tape actually worked, I became a convert. On day two, I was like a health care Picasso, creating masterpieces of pink, blue, black and beige on skin canvases. I was mentally going through my caseload, figuring out how I could use kinesiotape with each and every one of my patients. Unstable shoulder? Kinesiotape. Plantar fasciitis? Kinesiotape. Osteoarthritis of the knee? We can kinesiotape that. Head injury? Break out the kinesiotape!
I left the class covered from head to toe in tape. I started planning a mummy costume for Halloween. Trick or treaters? I'll give them rolls of kinesiotape. For Christmas, I'll string kinesiotape along the branches of my Christmas tree. And on Thanksgiving, you KNOW what I'll be giving thanks for.
I looked around my apartment. I have a picture that needs to be hung. I could use kinesiotape. A pair of sneakers with a hole in them. A throw rug that always slides across the room. My Ikea computer chair that no longer sits securely on its base. There's NOTHING this stuff can't fix. It's like -- duct tape for people -- and more!
My only concern is...I don't want to become one of THOSE people. You know, people who become obsessed with something and just don't let it go? Like Trekkies. Or Jimmy Buffet fans. Or that family on TLC with 8000 kids. Is it possible that I could become so enamored with a roll of tape that I bring it out and use it in the most inappropriate situations?
Nah. That won't happen. There is no inappropriate situation for kinesiotape. It's that good.
TODAY'S AWESOME: Went grocery shopping and organized all my meals for the week in nice little single serving containers neatly lined up in the fridge. Now I can just grab and go each morning. awesome.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
awesome
Today's awesome-ness: Today I was at a class all day, which was pretty great in and of itself. The class was on kinesiotaping -- you know that black stuff all over Kerri Walsh's shoulder in the Beijing Olympics? I'm covered from head to toe right now in mulit-colored tape strips. But that's not really the awesome part of today: when I got home, J's little 3 year old son ran up to me and yelled: "Auntie! I missed you all day today!" and gave me a great big hug. That gave me more of a lift than the entire roll of kinesiotape wrapped around my limbs.
Friday, October 2, 2009
awesome
Today's awesome-ness: Today, I...asked for a raise. Yep, I did. The second job I was talking about earlier, we had talked about compensation in the interview and they offered something lower than what I had wanted. But I didn't bargain. I accepted the lower offer because that's just what I do. But today, as my act of awesome-ness, I sent an email, asking for the compensation I had wanted to begin with. AWESOME!!
Plus...as much as I've been griping about it being October and cold and I hate cold...October brings SCARY MOVIES!! AWESOME!!
can't wait for tomorrow.
Plus...as much as I've been griping about it being October and cold and I hate cold...October brings SCARY MOVIES!! AWESOME!!
can't wait for tomorrow.
October has come rolling in and I'm feeling...tired. Earlier in the week, I had commented on how I always seem to pile my plate too high, and then become overwhelmed at the sheer volume of my commitments. Today, as I go over September's goals, I'm realizing that maybe it's not the number of commitments I have, but the spirit in which I enter them.
The goals I write, the things I aspire to, are things I want to achieve, of course. But I think I've been writing them with an aire of "here are the things I need to change about myself". And then...here are the ways I'm inadequate. Even something like going to a concert I later think "Check. One more thing I can cross off the life list. One more thing I don't have to worry about."
Maybe the burnt out, fatigued feeling comes from my bad habit of "getting through" life in order to "reach" that place where I can finally rest. Does that place exist? My experience says no. So I better start enjoying the ride.
On that note, and after a little idea that I stumbled upon through Lacey, the October goals are going to look much, much different.
But first September:
1) Eat Clean: Fail. I did for a while, then even grocery shopping became too much of a bother. New approach next month.
2) Start P90x Workouts: I'm gonna give that half credit. I missed like a week of workouts when they started roadwork on the bridge and my commute time went from 25 minutes to an hour and 25 minutes. On top of a work day that often runs from 8am to 8pm. But I did get some good workouts in on the other weeks. I tweak the program a little: it's actually a little low on the cardio for me, so I've been doing the exercises in the gym in a circuit fashion: run a mile, do half the workout, run a mile, do the other half of the workout, run a mile. It works pretty well. So I'll continue in this tweaked fashion thru next month.
3) Lose 3 pounds: GAH! One pound. Again. What is this, the forth month in a row I've lost ONE STINKING POUND? My pants are falling off of me, though. I don't get it.
4) One new client for per diem job: success.
5) Hike Mt Washington: awesome awesome day. successful. and fun.
6) See U2 in concert: I'm not going to say "check." I'm going to smile instead.
7) Submit one article for publication in Cape Cod Health Newsletter: sent off today.
8) Read three travel books from the bookshelf: I read 3 books. Not the travel books. Half credit.
9) Plan weekend reunion with college friends: tried...and failed. When did everyone get too busy to hang out with friends? Probably around the same time as me.
10) End the tri season on an up note: Finished my last two races COLD and happy. Today I'm giving the bikes a tune up and looking forward for fall biking.
So for October, I am taking the inspiration for my goals from Apartment 513. In October, I am simply going to do something awesome every day.
I'm not going to think about "eating clean", but about being good to my body. I'm going to try some recipes. I'm going to go to the farmer's market before it closes for the season. I'm going to get rid of the artificial crap.
I'm not going to think about adhering to a workout routine, but about doing something I love. If I didn't work out, I'd go insane. That's why I do it. I need to remember that.
I'm not going to focus on training, I'm going to focus on getting out on my bike or in my running shoes and enjoy being outside.
October will be my 30 days of awesome!
The goals I write, the things I aspire to, are things I want to achieve, of course. But I think I've been writing them with an aire of "here are the things I need to change about myself". And then...here are the ways I'm inadequate. Even something like going to a concert I later think "Check. One more thing I can cross off the life list. One more thing I don't have to worry about."
Maybe the burnt out, fatigued feeling comes from my bad habit of "getting through" life in order to "reach" that place where I can finally rest. Does that place exist? My experience says no. So I better start enjoying the ride.
On that note, and after a little idea that I stumbled upon through Lacey, the October goals are going to look much, much different.
But first September:
1) Eat Clean: Fail. I did for a while, then even grocery shopping became too much of a bother. New approach next month.
2) Start P90x Workouts: I'm gonna give that half credit. I missed like a week of workouts when they started roadwork on the bridge and my commute time went from 25 minutes to an hour and 25 minutes. On top of a work day that often runs from 8am to 8pm. But I did get some good workouts in on the other weeks. I tweak the program a little: it's actually a little low on the cardio for me, so I've been doing the exercises in the gym in a circuit fashion: run a mile, do half the workout, run a mile, do the other half of the workout, run a mile. It works pretty well. So I'll continue in this tweaked fashion thru next month.
3) Lose 3 pounds: GAH! One pound. Again. What is this, the forth month in a row I've lost ONE STINKING POUND? My pants are falling off of me, though. I don't get it.
4) One new client for per diem job: success.
5) Hike Mt Washington: awesome awesome day. successful. and fun.
6) See U2 in concert: I'm not going to say "check." I'm going to smile instead.
7) Submit one article for publication in Cape Cod Health Newsletter: sent off today.
8) Read three travel books from the bookshelf: I read 3 books. Not the travel books. Half credit.
9) Plan weekend reunion with college friends: tried...and failed. When did everyone get too busy to hang out with friends? Probably around the same time as me.
10) End the tri season on an up note: Finished my last two races COLD and happy. Today I'm giving the bikes a tune up and looking forward for fall biking.
So for October, I am taking the inspiration for my goals from Apartment 513. In October, I am simply going to do something awesome every day.
I'm not going to think about "eating clean", but about being good to my body. I'm going to try some recipes. I'm going to go to the farmer's market before it closes for the season. I'm going to get rid of the artificial crap.
I'm not going to think about adhering to a workout routine, but about doing something I love. If I didn't work out, I'd go insane. That's why I do it. I need to remember that.
I'm not going to focus on training, I'm going to focus on getting out on my bike or in my running shoes and enjoy being outside.
October will be my 30 days of awesome!
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