Monday, April 7, 2014

Losing Steam

Well every since my last post I have been losing my desire to exercise while simultaneously increasing my desire for bad food.  Blahhhhhhhhh.

Last week SwimSis & fam were on vacation in the nice Florida sun, so I had the place to myself.  I went into full out lazy mode!  I had 3 workouts all week - 2 yoga sessions and a 2 mile treadmill run on my lunch.  I sat around sooooo much and had a million excuses for why I wasn't working out, and why I was indulging my food desires.

Even today, I brought my workout clothes to work, so I could go run or lift afterwards.  Did I do either?  Nope, just made a quick stop at Target (for something non-edible, at least!) and came home, had a good dinner, and now I'm blogging.  Sigh.

I think I either need something that I find fun to do or at least something that is motivating.

I don't know what would be new or fun (perhaps this hip hop spin class? at the Y by my work?) or I might just sign up for the tri here in my town on the 26th of this month.  I'll be honest, the cycling part might break me, but I might be motivated to train for the next few weeks if I do have a race coming up.  We'll see!

One thing that I've been eating a lot is Chicken Tortilla Soup.  My friend sent me the recipe years ago and I didn't make it until this year!  I've changed the recipe to suit my tastes.  This time, I was making some for me and a friend who want a veggie packed chicken based soup, here it is:

-2 quarts chicken stock
-1 lb chicken
-1 jar salsa
-1 can of chickpeas
-1 can of black beans
-1 medium onion
-20 baby carrots :)
-10 stalks fresh asparagus
-1 yellow squash
-bay leaf
-cilantro both to add and some to garnish with
-shredded cheese for garnish
-sour cream for garnish
-tortilla chips

Add bay leaf, chicken stock and chopped onion to pot and bring to a boil.  Let simmer for 45 minutes.

Cook chicken and cop into pieces.  Chop rest of veggies up.  Add chicken, veggies, chickpeas, salsa, and cilantro to pot. Simmer for 45 minutes.

Garnish with extra cilantro, shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips as wanted.  Enjoy!

I love this soup because it is delicious and super filling and doesn't leave me with cravings for bad things later in the evening.

I thought the squash soaked up the flavors so well and the asparagus was delicious too.  Glad I added what I had on hand!

Random Story
My brother in law showed me how to use the grill last week, which is in our backyard up against the shed.  The first day they were gone I decided to fire up the grill.  I was going to cook some chicken thighs, which I had never bought before.  I tend to be a worry wart about things so I told myself just to put the chicken on grill, go inside and wait 7 minutes - I was waiting till 8 minutes.  I was just minding my own business, chopping up some lettuce so I could be a good girl and have salad and chicken for dinner.  I heard a popping from outside.  I ran to the back door and I saw...part of the shed ON FIRE!!!  It wasn't a huge part of the shed on fire, but it was definitely ON FIRE.  I ran to the front of the house again and grabbed the fire extinguisher.  As I ran to the back, I pulled the pin and I wondered if I would actually work, so I squeezed the handle, it worked...inside...oops!  Right after that I got to the back door and went to town putting that fire out.

Talk about my heart racing!!!  So, I was like "well, I should grab the chicken off the grill".  I picked up the tongs that had been sitting there the whole time and took the chicken off the grill.  Sadly, those tongs were covered in fire extinguisher chemicals, so I had to go inside and throw it away!  My dinner of salad and chicken quickly took a turn into ice cream and a brownie.  It doesn't look too terribly bad, but when it was on fire...woah!

This was on April 1st, but thankful SwimSis and my friend know that I don't do April Fool's Day and this was real! 

In the daylight later in the week
See the fire extinguisher chemicals there on the bottom piece of chicken?
Right after the fire was out!

6 comments:

  1. OMG! I think I would've freaked out and probably just called 911. Bravo for having a cool head (no pun intended)!

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  2. EEP! I don't trust myself with any kinda of grill that doesn't plug in and sit on my kitchen counter .... and I'm even iffy with that ;)

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  3. Ohmigosh, I feel you, Girl! I have lost my motivation too. I'm pretty sure it rolled under the couch. It's slowly coming back... but very slowly. Honestly 3 workouts a week sounds like a LOT to me. Good for you. Better luck next week!

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  4. Yikes!!! I'm glad no one was hurt...that's scary! My husband set the grill on fire once...it wasn't pretty. :p

    I hope you can find some motivation--I'm cheering for you!!

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  5. Wow! That is really scary. Glad it all turned out okay.

    I'm right there with you on the loss of motivation. Maybe it's because Spring hasn't really "sprung" yet?

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  6. Wow you did have good responses and I would have freaked out. Glad it turned out well. Love you blog btw.
    Chubbymum

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