Cold Weather Means Gym and Soup Day

Weather Obsessed = Gym
I feel the need to start off by apologizing for always talking about our weather. I'm a little obsessed perhaps. I'll blame that on my dad. Part of it boils down to trying to figure out when I'll be able to get outside for a run in the most ideal conditions. Also, around here, weather change can be drastic. I know we're not the only ones of course, but I know some locations have pretty regular weather patterns.

Here, it can be 45 one day in October, 75 in December, snow the next weekend. January we can have mid-70's or 60 one day and sub 30 the next. It's always a surprise really. Even when the forecasters say one thing, it might be something completely different.

So glad I took advantage of yesterdays mild temperatures because today we had a windchill of 25 with gusting 30mph winds. Good times.

Needless to say, workout was taken indoors. I kind of thought about a rest day, but probably wouldn't be able to get in a workout tomorrow. Plus, I was actually looking forward to doing legs today - crazy talk I know.

I started with an easy, steady-state 3-miler on the treadmill. Nothing crazy. Just straightforward running in an attempt to get back on my half marathon training plan. Then I hit up legs and shoulders. I did supersets of 3x8 unless noted.

Barbell squats - warmup set of 10

SS#1
Barbell squats
Arnold press

SS#2
Weighted plie squats with low-end pulse
Lateral raise

SS#3
Alternating front lunges (dumbbells)
Front raise

SS#4
Calf raises - 15 reps
Rear delt press

It felt like a pretty good workout overall. I'm a little disappointed in my shoulder presses. I feel like strength is waning somehow. But, let's just say I'm already feeling this one big time.

Soup Night
Tonight was most definitely the perfect night for soup. Though, baking something in the oven to help heat up the house would have been a good idea as well. But, I've been wanting to try out this soup all week, so tonight is finally soup night.

I had seen soup that Giada had made recently that included kale, rice, and turkey sausage. Obviously I'm not making it with sausage. So, I decided to make my own vegan version based on what I remember from the show (yes, I was too lazy too look it up).

Kale & Bean Stew

Ingredients:

1/2 white onion, diced

2 tbsp minced garlic

3 carrots, diced

1 small/medium red bell pepper, diced

1 small bunch of kale, de-stemmed and rough chopped

32 oz no-salt vegetable broth

1 can no-salt diced tomatoes (with liquid)

1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

1 1/2 cups pre-cooked brown rice or barley
1/2 can tomato paste

To taste: salt, black pepper, parsley, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes

Directions:

In large pot, sauté onions, garlic, peppers, and carrots until vegetables begin to soften, approximate 5-8 minutes. Add in the broth, tomatoes, and spices and bring to a boil then lower the heat to simmer.

Add in the remaining ingredients and allow to simmer until veggies are tender, approximately 20 minutes.

I served with homemade bread I made recently and stashed in the freezer. Gotta have bread to dip right? This turned out really well. I love a thicker stews over a brothy soup, so adding in the paste really helped thicken it up. Do you prefer stews or soups?

Tonight we're watching a movie, sort of a mini-date night I suppose. Usually I think of movies for the weekend, but sometimes you gotta shake things up right? ;-)

Daily To-Enjoy List:

• Weight lifting
• Soup
• Sunshine
• Movie night