Where's the Beach?

Do you have a comfort dish that takes you bake to your childhood? For me, a creamy potato soup reminds me of my mom. She would always make it for me when I was sick. And I was sick often with asthma, well, the medications tended to almost make me more sick than the actual asthma. Mom's was very thick, almost like extra creamy, super thin mashed potatoes. I remember pretending that it was Malt O-Meal. I was a little obsessed with the commercials, but we never had Malt O-Meal. It was often one of the very few things I could keep on my stomach. The asthma medication always made me very nauseated. So for me, it was a true comfort dish. Jason has memories of a potato soup that his mother made for him as well. For ages he's been wanting to make potato soup. I just haven't been able to hop on board a bowl of potatoes though. But I finally gave up the fight and let him make his soup. This is a vegan version using tempeh bacon. To get another level of smoky flavor, he used...

I don't know what the weather is like where you live, but it certainly got cold here fast. Last week I was still running in shorts. By the weekend, it was all about the layers. On top of it being cold, we had gray skies and rain/freezing rain/sleet to contend with. Not exactly an ideal way to kick of the week. That kind of weather absolutely screams, no it demands soup for dinner. I had several veggies on hand that needed to be used up pretty quickly. So I came up with a Tempeh Vegetable Soup . The great thing is that it's souper (teehee) simple to put together, and you can use up any veggies you have on hand. I also like that it's high in protein thanks to the tempeh. Of course, you could use beans, tofu, TVP or meat if you're not vegetarian or vegan. Tempeh Vegetable Soup Ingredients: 1/2 yellow onion, diced 2 tbsp minced garlice 3-4 carrots (depending on size), diced 1 cup no salt vegetable broth 4 cups water 1 not-beef bouillon cube 1 can no salt added...

Post-Run Soup Yesterday ended up being another weird weather day for us. Saturday was 70+ degrees. Yesterday it was in the upper 20's with freezing rain/sleet/snow. That meant slippery streets, not conducive to a run with my running buddy. I ended up hitting up our work gym's treadmill. I normally hate the treadmill. Once upon a time, I actually liked it though. But there's just something stagnant to me about running on the mill. Also, my former gym didn't allow you to change the TV stations so you had ESPN or CNN. Oooohhh exciting right? Not. Anyway, no one was there (most people left work early because of the road conditions), so I changed the TV channel to the Food Network. Something about running and watching cooking shows that just works for me. Not being sarcastic either. I kept it fairly slow and steady. I ended up hitting 4 miles and made a deal with myself to go to 5 then I could rest and see how I felt from there. At 5 miles, I walked, drank water, towe...

How about a Food Friday post today? Kind of switch things up a bit. I'm feeling sassy like that - or really it's just a lack of creativity if I'm honest. And I'm honest like that. Last night I felt completely and totally wiped out. I don't know if it was from the amount of blood they had drawn or just the day itself dealing with the hematology appointment overload. Either way, I was pooped. I really could have gone to bed at 7 and skipped dinner all together. And I am not one to skip any meal at all, ever! Jason did me a big favor and made dinner. We had picked up some Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage "Sausage" Links from Whole Foods recently, and he had been wanting to use those for several days. Since he was cooking, I told him to go for it. He ended up putting together a really amazing, richly flavorful soup. I thought I'd share one of his recipes for a change. He really is a good cook I must say. Of course, he did spend five years in the ki...

Spin on Soggy Monday Today the rain continued into the early afternoon. Definitely no outdoor running. My plan was to hit up spin class as long as my hamstrings and rear end weren't too sore after yesterday's workout. Not gonna lie, my butt is sore. But(t) I figured spin was still doable. I kind of had to talk myself into going today. This gray, dreary, cold weather is just not putting any pep in my step. Definitely not making me feel energized to get in a workout at all. Makes me sort of mopey feeling really. Of course, I knew spin would give me an energy boost if I could just get myself there and get going. I did it, but it wasn't pretty today. Apparently you do actually use your hamstrings during spin. Who knew ;-) Double Recipe Special Tonight will be a double recipe kind of post. I wanted to post the recipe for dinner last night ( Butternut Squash, Kale Barley ) as it turned out so good. I think it'd be a great side dish for a holiday meal. And, because of ...

Snow Day Workout Well, we got snow. And we got a 2-hour work delay this morning. That meant I was able to get in my leg workout first thing. I went with 3 sets of supersets plus some conditioning exercises. I did try to increase my weights from last week for many of the exercises: SS#1 Squats Plie squats SS#2 Step ups Deadlifts SS#3 Static lunges Calf raises Alternating squats with kick (16 total) Weighted plie hops -24 Firewalkers - 8 Weighted donkey kicks - 2x18 Roll-ins/hip lifts on ball Ghost Town at Work I got to work around 9:30. I let Jason drive us both in. And....there was no one there. It was a total ghost town. I did finally see one person in the hallway around 11:45. I swear there was a conspiracy this morning though. I forgot to change my password on Friday, that meant I was locked out of my computer this morning. Did I mention it was a ghost town? That meant I didn't get my new password for about an hour. Ahhhhh, good times. My boss told me to ...

Apologies  First off, I want to thank everyone for their kind words of support and encouragement regarding my knee. So many of you know first hand what I'm going through. Now, I must apologize for being such a whiny brat. I was being very self-centered yesterday. I know I am not the only person in the world who has ever had a side-lining injury. Some of you have gone through far worse; some of you are still recovering. So I apologize. Weights & Boxing Today was a cold one, but at least the sun came out. That helps some. I had wanted to go home at lunch at get biceps and abs done, but I forgot I had a birthday lunch (mine with another co-worker). It was a stressful morning, just the kind of morning that pretty much demands a mid-day workout. Sigh. Biceps were from Cathe's STS Meso 2 Disc 15 done as drop sets using 70% of my 1RM. Dumbbell Curls - 12, 10, 8, TF Seated Alternating Curl - 12, 10, 8 Preacher Curl on Stability Ball Double Arm - 12, 10, TF I followed t...

A Day of Rest This morning I woke up around 4:25 and decided to reset my alarm clock. So no morning workout for me. After being sick last week, my typical workout schedule got a little off track. I realized that yesterday's workout marked 8 straight days. I usually only workout 6 days straight then take my rest day and start over. While I really would like tomorrow to be my rest day, as is typical, I needed to take today to recover. I'll be up early tomorrow anyway since Jason will be up for swim. It was super sunny out today. Breezy, so not nearly as warm as yesterday. I really started pondering a lunchtime run. If Jason would have agreed to one, then I would have gone. I just keep telling myself it's for the best. I do plan on running Saturday anyway. This sudden warm weather and sunshine is giving spring fever in a major way. I'm almost depressed when I can't be outside, I mean seriously down in the dumps, no energy blues. But once I step outside, back to norma...

Well, I'd hoped I just had some sort of 24-hour bug. Most of the people I have known that have had a stomach bug recently only had it for 24-hours. Apparently I have something more or another type. I have only managed to keep down about 3/4 a protein shake that Jason made for me (and sort of forced down) last night. Tried another one this morning, not so lucky. To me, this type of bug is worse than sinus infections or anything else. Can I say that right now the things I miss most are food and being able to workout. Though, food really doesn't sound appealing, it's the idea that I can't have it perhaps. On the upside (if there is one), I have gotten TONS of sleep. That's really all I've been able to do since Sunday night. I'll be caught up on sleep for months to come at this rate. I will say that I'm very lucky to have the husband I have. I'm used to just taking care of myself when I'm sick. I try not to ask for anything unless I seriously can...

Ah, here we are again. Another Monday. At least it's sunny again today, and it's warming up into the 40's. Winter really makes you appreciate the sunshine that much more! Working Hard on Monday Today was the first workout of Week 5 of the Total-Body Training Rotation. Only 3 weeks to go! I'm seeing some awesome results with this workout. Today was a whopping 2 sets of 18 (holy cow) reps! I started off with the warmup from Shock Cardio HiiT Pyramid , then did the weights, then finished with the remainder of the HiiT Pyramid workout. Awesome blast for the legs! Quads - Static Lunges Hamstrings - Wide Leg Deadlifts> Biceps - Hammer Curls Shoulders - Lateral Raise Chest - Flat Dumbbell Flyes Back - Double Arm Dumbbell Row I must brag on myself and admit that I was very pleased with my weights today.  I was able to maintain heavy weights even at these super high reps. I would give myself a high-five, but I can't lift my arms right now! ;-) Did Someone Sa...

Still feeling under the weather unfortunately. It's even more unfortunate because it is a gorgeous, unseasonably warm and sunny day here. I had really hoped to be able to go for a run outside. Alas, that did not happen. I decided to bake and finish laundry. As with all of my bread and dough recipes, I am trying to tweak them and make them healthier where possible. I have been using this Ciabatta Bread recipe from Recipezaar for several years now. It's not a complicated recipe at all, you use the bread machine to do all the hard work, but you still get to take the credit. Here is the original recipe with additions and changes in parenthesis and italics. Ciabatta Bread Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups water (hot) 1 1/2 teaspoons salt ( I used sea salt ) 1 teaspoon white sugar ( I substituted with Agave Nectar per a recommendation from Alicia ) 1 tablespoon olive oil 3 1/4 cups bread flour ( I substituted 1/4 cup of whole-wheat pastry flour just to get...