Bikini By 30

Busy Bee

2012-02-10T13:41:00.002-06:00

Here is what my days have been like lately:
6:45-7am Snooze Button
7-8am Dog, Breakfast, Get Dressed, Pack Up
8-8:45am Commute to Work
8:45am-4:45pm Dayjobland (non stop task list, no breathing room)
4:45-5:30pm Commute Home (and if I haven't left in time, then it takes even longer)
5:30-6:30pm Take a shower, shave legs (I am barefoot and bare legged in a dress in the show), groom, dry hair, eat a mini meal, get dressed, pack up
6:30-7pm Travel to the theater
7-11pm Work trouble spots, make-up, hair, warm ups, preview performance, notes
11-11:15pm Travel home
11:15-am-12am Have a snack, say hello to Mr. BB30, watch a DVRd show
12am Go to bed too late

Thus, my shameful lack of posts.

The past two weeks have been really tough with final rehearsals and previews for my new show. It’s going well, and I’m enjoying the experience of course. It just simply needs to be my full time job. It’s what I am born to do. The only way to get it? Keep on tryin’!

With lack of time for exercise, I have been keeping an eye on overeating and making sure to get plenty of water and tea. About two weeks ago, in the middle of a tech weekend, I woke up really nauseous. Two days of redecorating the porcelain in my bathroom followed. It was ugly. I ruined my wedding anniversary. Bummed. We'll make up for it. Mr. BB30 was such a champion nurse and caregiver.

We open on Sunday night, and Tuesday I will be back in the gym and boxing away! I am really looking forward to getting back on track. Two weeks is the longest I’ve gone in a couple of years without getting in a solid workout. I can’t wait to throw some upper cuts and reclaim my arm muscles!

Some nice positives have come out this busy time. Today I got a little reminder of how my hard work on habits is paying off. After so many days of little sleep and a packed schedule, I am really feeling it. There was a meeting I helped with in Dayjobland that included a Mexican spread for lunch. I thought, "I'll totally indulge in a vat of guacamole and an obscene amount of chips. I'm tired. I need it." I filled half my plate with salad, scooped out some rice and grilled veggies, and a big spoonful of guac with some tortilla chips. I couldn't finish. It was really salty, I felt satiated, my body told me that we were done, and I listened. Portion control? Listening to my belly? Look at me! Consider this horn tooted!

Jelly Donut Cupcakes

2012-01-22T18:02:00.000-06:00

On New Year's Eve we planned to have a couple of people over and I was making some snackables. I decided to try the Veganomicon's Jelly Doughnut Cupcakes. Basically, these are a vanilla cupcake filled with preserves or jam. I had some fresh cranberries on hand, so I cooked some up with a little Splenda for my filling.

They cooked up fine, but they stuck to the paper a bit. I had replaced the oil with applesauce, and I think this was one of the cases that applesauce won't cut it. Still, they tasted just fine and he cranberry filling was a nice touch.

I hit them with some gross-for-you-yet-delicious sugar free processed frosting.

These were cute. Our plans got cancelled, so in the trash these went. I couldn't have them in the house. I would like to try them again some time with grape or blackberry preserves and peanut butter frosting. PB&J cupcake!

Rachael Ray Saves the Day

2012-01-20T07:38:00.000-06:00

For Christmas, I was gifted with Rachael Ray's Stoneware Set of 4/10-oz. Bubble and Brown Singles.

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I might have squealed when I opened them.

New Year's Day, the personal pot pie making was on.

Mr. BB30 and I each made two. I went with traditional and a Mexican inspired one with soy chorizo and black beans. By far, my favorite was my more traditional one. I cooked up some carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and mushrooms, and crumbled in half of a veggie boullion cube. I added a little flour (technically it was vital wheat gluten flour-lower in carbs; have it around for making seitan roast) and let it cook for a couple of minutes so the flour wouldn't taste raw (I think I actually learned that from Rachael long ago). Then I added a little water to create a gravy consistency. I threw in some defrosted green peas.

I covered it with a thin layer of homemade dough and baked.

So comforting and delicious. We were obviously winging it, and the takeaways from next time are:

Add more flavor to the dough with herbs.
Brush the tops with Earth Balance when done.
Add dough on the bottom as well.

I love the portion control that the singles offer. They'll also be so cute to make little cobblers and crumbles!

TMI: I also learned over Christmas and New Year's that my belly and overly processed fake sausage aren't friends. What foods hate you?

Kaeng Raeng Cleanse: The Days After

2012-01-17T16:38:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to stay aware of any effects the Kaeng Raeng cleanse had on me.

Here is what I've found.
I am interested in caffeine. I've had some decaf coffee for the taste and warmth, but I didn’t feel like I needed a boost. I also haven't been craving diet soda. I have some long tech nights coming up in the near future, so I can't say I won't dabble, but it's a great feeling not to need it right now.

The first two days after the cleanse I missed my sweets. I had been so overloaded with fruit that I had become accustomed to constant sweet boosts.

My salt addiction was broken. I really became mindful about putting too much salt on my soup and in soups and biting something too salty was just gross and didn't feel good.
I wanted the lighter feeling to keep going and have craved a raw veggie salads for lunch. I've been snacking on daikon and cucumber and other watery veggies. I feel very satiated.

After going back to my morning breakfast cereal I realized it was making my belly bloat. I think I eat enough veggies and don't need the extra fiber, especially if I have an apple or pear for a morning snack. This morning for breakfast I ate some rolled oats with blackberries and cinnamon and a little scrambled tofu. I felt great.
I realized that I appreciated not having to think about protein grams while on the cleanse. I knew I was getting 45 grams a day minimum through the smoothies. Although it’s pretty much second nature to stay aware of my daily protein intake at this point, it was nice to have a break from that. I actually kept track over the past two days and I get more than enough protein from vegetables, tofu, beans, and homemade seitan. Do you know that a cup of cooked spinach has about 5 grams of protein in it?! Yay veggies!

I think I actually was, in fact, cleansed.

Kaeng Raeng Cleanse: Day Four

2012-01-12T22:30:00.014-06:00

This morning I started with a Day Break smoothie and a bosc pear.

By the time I got to work I was already hungry. Yesterday I only wanted my smoothie for breakfast, but today I'd added a piece of fruit with my smoothie and was hungry two hours later. Hmmm.

For a snack I had an apple and six raw cashews. 30 minutes later, I was still hungry. It was a hungry day. I wondered if it was my body telling me, “I’m all clean. Please feel free to return to your normal life.”

For lunch I had the Into the Blue smoothie. I watered it down more and it was easier to drink. Since this one is my least favorite, I wanted to be done with it as soon as possible. Later I had a salad.

By 3pm my belly was grumbling again. I had a banana.

I feel like the whole day was about keeping hunger at bay. So weird. I felt very annoyed. I wanted some Chex Mix.

I trudged home in the snow. It's been snowing all day in Chicago. By the time I got to my door I was hungry...again. I sat on the couch and contemplated all of this. Then I decided that I was done and ate some steamed Brussels Spouts with a little Earth balance and a tiny sprinkle of salt. They were the best steamed Brussels Spouts ever.

When I got home from rehearsal I ate a piece of seared tofu, some lightly sauteed spinach, and some black beans.....and it was clean and blissful.

7am Day break smoothie, pear
10am Apple and six raw cashews
12pm Into the Blue Smoothie
1:30pm Salad
3pm Banana
6pm Steamed Brussels Spouts and an apple
9:30pm Tofu, spinach, black beans
Hot tea and water all day.

I am feeling a little failurey, but hey, I would be a huge success if I had just tried the three day cleanse right? Right.

My Take-Aways from the Kaeng Raeng Cleanse Experience

1. I feel a little cleaner and lighter.

2. I feel a little less tired by the end of the day.

3. I broke some bad habits that were forming like extra and not so healthy snacks (damn you Chex Mix) and too much added salt. I also don't desire diet soda.

4. I would suggest doing it in the summer when raw veggies and fruits are more desirable.

5. If you already have a pretty clean vegan diet, this isn’t for you. I think I would have cleaned out just as easily by watching my processed foods, diet soda, alcohol, salt, and striving for clean whole/real foods, and drinking lots of water.

6. If you’re a junk food vegan or are overloaded with meat and/or dairy and/or alcohol and/or rarely eat fruits and veggies you may find this helpful to get back on track.

7. Three days is enough.

8. Perhaps the most important take-away. I realized I was already doing great. After a year of weight loss, followed by a year to committing to the gym, over two years as a vegan, and sadly, over two decades of yo-yo dieting and weight gain/loss, my body and system have been through a lot. Maybe there are some trouble spots that I will always obsess over (who doesn’t have those), but I am in great shape and I am a really healthy person. These are things to be proud of. I knew I worked hard, but I gained much more appreciation for what a good job I'm doing.

Maybe this cleanse didn’t do oh-so-much for me, but I am glad to sort of reset and break some bad habits. I think I needed to experience it so I could be certain and know for sure that I was where I needed to be and there was, in fact, nothing magical about it. I'm a Taurus. I'm stubborn. And now I know. And knowing is half the battle. GI Joe!

Kaeng Raeng Cleanse: Day Three

2012-01-11T22:00:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was the first day in a few weeks that at some point in the day I didn’t get a bloaty belly. That’s good. I suppose I feel a little cleaner, but I am still confused at how so much sugar via fruit (albeit natural sugar) can be great.

Last night while I already had the blender out and making a mess for dinner, I blended up my breakfast and lunch smoothies. Once prepared, they are good for 24 hours. It definitely helped in the hustle bustle of the morning.

I started out with the Daybreak smoothie. I wasn’t really feeling the need for anything else.

I was ready for a snack around 10am. I had an apple. I would have preferred a huge cup of coffee and ten blueberry pancakes with syrup (but perhaps that comes from being blessed with a visit from Aunt Flo.)

At 11am I needed more snacks and had some daikon and cucumber slices. I was also dying for the taste of coffee and since my throat is feeling less sore and could handle it, I went for a cup of decaf. I don’t know if that’s a big deal or not.

For lunch I had a big salad (romaine, spring mix, tomatoes, snap peas, cucumbers) and an Into the Blue Smoothie. It’s my least favorite. I feel like its consistency is different. It definitely thickened up after being refrigerated overnight and at Dayjobland, so I diluted it with water and splash of 100% apple juice. I drank it much faster. I think with this flavor, I need to make it as watery as possible.

I wondered if today would break me. I felt quite hefty as only Aunt Flo can make a girl do and just wanted some warm food.

I thought I would be craving salt like mad, but not really. I am craving steamed kale crisped with a little olive oil and some toast. Maybe I am not as over-salted as I thought. If anything this cleanse will make me want MORE salt or give me a sugar dependence. It’s so sweet.

After doing a ton of walking to and from an appointment, I needed a little nourishment before going to workout and popped 6 raw cashews.

Dinner was a big salad (romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, squash) followed by a Joyful Smoothie (with added frozen strawberries)

7am   Day break smoothie and hot tea
10am Apple
11am Daikon and cucumber slices, decaf coffee
12pm Into the Blue Smoothie and Big Salad
2pm   Banana
5:30pm Raw Cashews
8pm   Big Salad
9pm   Joyful Smoothie

Hot tea and water throughout the day.

Exercise for this week is:
Tuesday Strength Boxing
Wednesday Yogalates
Friday Cardio Step Up

I don't feel deprived necessarily since I can eat, but I miss cooked food and bread. I am not quite noticing a huge difference.

Kaeng Raeng Cleanse: Day Two

2012-01-09T22:21:00.024-06:00

After a sleepless night due to the cold I am fighting and possibly a little anxiety about this cleanse, I started the day with the Daybreak drink (Mango, Peach, Pineapple). I added some frozen peaches, a little natural orange juice, and 32 ounces of water. I had tried the Into the Blue (Blueberry, Blackberry, Banana) and the Joyful (Strawberry, Raspberry, Pineapple) flavors yesterday, and I think Daybreak is my favorite. Since the flavoring is made from all natural dried fruit, you get some seeds from the Raspberries and Blackberries which I don't love.

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A little after 10am I started to get a bit hungry, but really, my normal morning snack is usually around 10:30am, so that's great. There is a LOT to drink with these smoothies, and they are thick, so your belly really does get full. I was getting a little headachey, which I assume are those first twinges of caffeine deprivation (although I didn't get one yesterday). On the other hand, it's a little hard to tell since I am battling the onset of a cold. I'm on it with my zinc lozenges.

For lunch I had the Into the Blue Smoothie. After learning my lesson yesterday, I knew I needed to pre-blend it at home. I added frozen peaches, a little handful of blueberries, a bit of apple, a splash of natural orange juice, and 32 ounces of water. I put in the fridge when I got to Dayjobland and I guess it chilled too much or it was thicker than I realized when I made it, because it was too thick to sip. I had to eat it like applesauce. It wasn't terrible, but it took a long time to get through. Finally, half way through I added a little 100% apple juice and some more water to loosen it up. It took me over 2 hours to drink it. I just wasn't feelin' it.

By 4pm I was feeling headachey again, so I took two ibuprofen. Yeesh, I never think caffeine effects me, until I don't have it. I also really wanted a piece of toast at that point. My certainty of completing this cleanse wavered.

If you are new to cleanses the website says you can have a few raw nuts. I didn't have rehearsal, so before heading to Strength Boxing class, I stopped at a Whole Foods and got a little handful of raw cashew pieces from the bulk bins. I've never love cashews more. I had all the energy I needed for a challenging class.

For dinner I had the Joyful smoothie with added frozen strawberries, a little Coconut Dream, and water. I also made a big salad with spinach, romaine, cilantro, tomatoes, onions, and bean sprouts splashed with lemon and lime juice.

7am Daybreak Smoothie, celery sticks, and caffeine free green tea
10am Celery sticks, an apple, and caffeine free peppermint tea
12pm Into the Blue Smoothie
3pm Mixed green salad with raw zucchini and squash
4pm Celery Sticks
8pm Joyful Smoothie and big salad

Throughout the day I sipped on either water or caffeine free tea. I'm one of those people who always has a beverage, always have been.

Tonight I am going to try pre-blending my breakfast and lunch drinks to save time in the morning and not have to leave a mess behind.

Thoughts of the day are:

1) This hard.

2) This would be easier in the summer when it's warm.

Kaeng Raeng Cleanse: Day One Part 2

2012-01-09T22:18:00.001-06:00

I decided that I would go ahead and start after my cleanse FINALLY arrived this afternoon. I had eaten a little tofu and about a fourth of a cup of black rice that I bought at work, but since since everything else I had during the day was raw, I felt like I may as well go for it. I am bummed that it's not going to be a perfect six days, but a solid five days should be good too. Now I can enjoy my Sunday night dinner with Mr. BB30.

The smoothies are a little chalky, but I have just been using water and little almond milk. I think trying different amount of water, juice, and ice will be key. You definitely can't just add water and shake in a bottle like they say. I tried that and it was so thick and wouldn't blend. I had to wait until I got home to blend it. I drank one before rehearsal and am drinking one now.

I am anxious to see how a full day goes tomorrow.

Kaeng Raeng Cleanse: Day One

2012-01-09T10:59:00.000-06:00

Since my package arrived at Dayjobland over the weekend, I woke up and had some caffeine free tea, some apple, and blueberries to tide me over.

*A note to understand this story: Dayjobland is on one floor of a large building and deliveries first come to the main building mailroom, before being sent up to our floor.

8:45am Dayjobland mailroom has not seen my delivery. I'm told that most deliveries come up around 9:30am from the main building messenger center. I'm annoyed but wait a bit and eat some cucumber slices and drink peppermint tea.

10am Mailroom STILL has not seen my delivery. I head down to the building mailroom.

10:15am Main building mailroom STILL has not sorted the WEEKEND deliveries and I am told they will get to it later.

10:16am BB30's head explodes baffled at their utter laziness and inefficiency!

10:30am BB30 pouts in her cube angry with the world.

I am so bummed and frustrated that I skipped a nice solid breakfast thinking that I would get my delivery and could start my cleanse this morning. I am lunchless other than raw veggies!

I have dinner plans with friends on Friday Jan 20, so waiting to start next Monday isn't an option. I must start it tomorrow and unfortauntely do a full weekend on it which I really wanted to avoid.

Perhaps it will be a good thing since my throat starting hurting last night and was on fire when I woke up. I suppose fruit smoothies and raw veggies wouldn't feel great on a sore throat. Hopefully a day of tea and zinc lozenges will be the key to banishing it quickly!

This has been your Cranky BB30 Broadcast. I need a sammich.

She Done Lost Her Mind

2012-01-08T19:26:00.001-06:00

Cleanses. They seem to be all the rage. Arguably, I have a pretty clean diet as is, but I am feeling the effects of less time to exercise, the Chicago cold finally setting in (I swear it makes your body hang on to everything to stay warm and this article kind of agrees), and some of the extra salt and processed junk I put in my system the last couple of weeks. I am interested in cleansing my system, but I refuse to only drink water, cayenne, syrup, and lemon juice for any amount of time (can we say dangerous!!!!) I want something safe and good for me.

Enter my pretend friend Alicia Silverstone. Recently on The Kind Life she did a sponsored post about the Kaeng Raeng Cleanse. At each meal you make a drink from a powder full of protein, dried fruits, and vitamins. You may also eat as many raw fruits and veggies as you want. Your daily intake of protein will be over 45 grams (awesome).

The Kaeng Raeng website states that it helps to:

-remove toxins and chemicals from the body
-jumpstart weight loss
-improve overall digestive health
-improve clarity of mind
-improve mood and decrease irritability
-clear skin
-repair damaged hair
-decrease flatulence, constipation, bloating, or excess water weight
-decrease cravings for salty and sugary foods
-make you feel better!

I would enjoy all of those things.

There was a discount given (because cleanses aren't cheap), and after thinking about it for a day, I decided to throw caution to the wind and try it. I really think the best plan for me is to start on a Monday and go through a Saturday. Luckily, I checked the tracking and it was delivered to Dayjobland this weekend. So, I will start my day tomorrow with raw fruits and veggies to tide me over until I can get to work and make my breakfast drink. With rehearsals in full swing in the evenings I actually think it will come in handy! If I feel under nourished in anyway or off somehow, then I'll stop. If I really feel the need for hot food and want to lightly steam my veggies, then I shall. My health is really important to me. I am excited to clean up my system and get rid of all the processed sugar and salt. I made sure to stock up on different veggies at the produce store so I have some variety and am not eating the exact same things everyday.

I plan to update daily on how it goes.

No Spoon Required

2012-01-02T10:01:00.001-06:00

Much to your disbelief, there are many times that my food does not require the use of a soup spoon.

Behold, things I've eaten recently that aren't soup.

Homemade seitan roast with sauteed mushrooms, garlic parsnip mash, and steamed green beans dressed with fresh lemon juice and cracked pepper

Whole wheat rotini with portabello mushroom sauce and steamed vegetables

Gorgeous Fresh Steamed Brussels Sprouts (kissed with Earth Balance and Garlic)

I eat well around here.

To keep myself somewhat on track while I was off between Christmas and New Year's, I engaged in The Shred Level 2, and invested in Billy Blanks' Taebo Cardio Explosion. The Taebo DVD is great and scratches my kickboxing itch. It really gets your heart rate up and I noticed that the format is very tabata like and has 20-30 second bursts of moves. I am really glad that I will have it on hand for pinches and when I need to get in a workout on the weekend. I have been contemplating leaving my current fitness center, because the classes have changed and now there is only one cardio kickboxing option when there used to be three each week that worked for me. Sorry, Turbokick, you aren't the same. With rehearsals many days during the week, I need the days I have off to be good ones class-wise and I find that I am typically left with options I truly dislike. It's frustrating.

Happy New Year to everyone! I wish you all health and happiness in 2012!

NO-cchi

2011-12-30T09:58:00.000-06:00

I needed something to bring for Christmas Day lunch. I found a simple recipe for sweet potato gnocchi that I thought would be great with my creamy pesto sauce.

It seemed easy-mix flour, cooked sweet potato, and salt. Roll it into a log.

Cut into nuggets and crease with a fork so the gnocci could hold optimum sauce.

Boil the gnocci until they float....Obviously I did something wrong, because they came out mushy and sad.

It was disappointing, because HOW AWESOME DOES SWEET POTATO GNOCCI SOUND??!

The end of the year overwhelms me with work craziness and hustle bustle and I was feeling frazzled, so I needed a fast plan B. I packed up some sliced red and green bell peppers, onion, and garlic, and on Christmas day I sauteed them up with sliced Tofurky Italian Sausage. I mashed up half a sweet potato with a little Earth Balance and cumin, dished up some romaine/fennel/orange salad with balsamic and called it a holiday meal. I didn't get a picture. Whoops.

I now feel like I must conquer sweet potato gnocchi. The gauntlet has been thrown.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

2011-12-27T09:56:00.000-06:00

...and of course I made soup.

On Christmas Eve we headed north to spend the holiday with Mr. BB30's family. I wanted to bring a dish that I could share as well as ensure that I that I had something vegan friendly and filling to eat.

I had recently created a pear/turnip/parsnip puree that turned out well and went to a cooking party for my day job where my task was to make an apple/parsnip/leek soup, so I married the two ideas and the results were savory, sweet, and oh-so-merry!

Savory Pear Soup
Ingredients:
2 Large parsnips, peeled and chopped (or several small skinny ones like I had)
2 Bosc Pears, peeled and chopped
2 (cleaned) Leeks, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1c Applesauce
1c Veggie Broth
Green Onion (for Garnish)

Directions:

Sauté your veggies in a little olive oil until very tender, adding salt and pepper to taste
Add veggie broth and apple sauce (add in a little water if it seems dry)
Turn to low and simmer for at least 20 minutes
Cheat on your immersion blender and go for the food processor-you want this bad boy super silky!
Blend the soup in batches until it is smooth, adding water or plain almond milk as needed for your desired consistency.
Finely chop some green onion (or chives) with your kitchen scissors for garnish.
Drink in the sweet/savory goodness!

Here is a blurry camera phone pic that does it no justice.

This soup was a hit. I was so happy to be able to share a vegan friendly dish that pleased all palettes and warmed everyone up as they waited for Santa.

Squash It!

2011-12-23T15:53:00.002-06:00

I should just have a separate soup blog, shouldn't I? Maybe one day...

In the meantime, behold a most excellent way to put a AMAZING sale on yellow squash to good use. (Seriously, I got six squash for .99!!) Smoky Squash Soup

Ingredients:
Five yellow squash (two medium, three small), chopped
One medium Spanish onion, chopped
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1/4 cup Bacos (bear with me)
1 Tbsp Liquid Smoke
2 tsp Olive Oil
4 cups veggie broth
3 large cloves of garlic, grated
pinch of turmeric (optional)
pinch of curry powder (optional)

In a large pot, saute the squash and onions olive oil. (5 minutes)
Add frozen corn
Cook on medium until veggies soften

Add garlic, turmeric, and curry powder
Add veggie broth and simmer on low for 20 minutes
Add liquid smoke
Remove two cups of the soup, set aside
Add Bacos to the two cups you set aside and allow them to hydrate

Use your immersion blender to puree the remaining soup
Add the two cups back into the pot
Revel in the smoky goodness

Bacos and Liquid Smoke are vegan friendly and add such a rich country flavor to the always delicious combo of good ol' squash n' onions. The turmeric and curry powder are optional and used mainly to punch up the color. This makes about four large entree servings or eight starters. I really like taking out some of the veggies before blending because you get the best of both worlds with a smooth base and some hearty pieces. The corn kernels really pop. This would make a great little Christmas Eve dinner with a nice piece of crusty bread and a glass of your favorite wine.

I think next time I will blend in some white beans to add some protein. It should really thicken up the soup and make the texture even creamier!

Enjoy!

And for My Next Trick...

2011-12-13T15:54:00.000-06:00

......I will magically REAPPEAR!

Hello!

Long story short, I have a lot of stuff going on. Things in Dayjobland are not good. Add in some various other life planning obstacles, my paralyzing fear of just sucking it up and taking a leap of faith, and starting rehearsals for a new play and you have a stressed out BB30 that is dizzy and tired. Thus, my absence.

On this journey, in times of stress I have turned to exercise, but I noticed that this time, as the stress thickens, sweating it out with burpees and mountain climbers isn't making me feel better. So, I've taken to little jogs and walks in the brisk air and only taking classes I enjoy like boxing.

On Friday I knew that I really needed to get a workout in and opted to try a rowing class. Rowing machines are the only machines at my gym (it's all class based), and this particular class was called Rowing Racing. You could race a partner or just challenge yourself. I was scared to go, because I'd only used the machines as a circuit of a class once, and didn't want to look dumb and make an idiot of myself. Perfect reason to make myself go, is it not? So I went. Guess what? No one else had signed up so I had the room all to myself, and they let me turn on Netflix and watch Limitless for my half hour. Awesome. See? I stood up to that little fear and it all worked out!

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After rowing, I took a new class called Cardio Step Up. You use a chair as your step and go through several different exercises for a half hour. Holy burning thighs! This was a good'n! Strengthening and Balance in one! I'm glad I tried it, and it was nice to have something new to test out.

Today is strength boxing day. The normally one hour class will be longer today and will include a 15 minute pre-class technique refresher (Yay-I think this is sooo important, and I'll hopefully be able to pin point some things I must be doing wrong and causing hip pain) followed by an extra 10 minutes of class they are adding for extra calorie burn. I always feel good after kick boxing, so I'm looking forward to it.

Through the powers of Facebook, this post from http://www.marcandangel.com/ has come into my life at the most perfect time, and I simply must share it:

30 Truths I've Learned in 30 Years

Now for some Christmas music-one of my favoirte ways to stay positive!

Today in gratitude I am thankful for Mariah Carey's song All I Want For Christmas Is You. My spirits instantly lift when I hear it and I don't care who knows it!

Thanksgiving Pie!!

2011-11-24T08:00:00.005-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

I've never been a fan of cheesecake or creme brûlée. Frankly, something about the intense dairy tasted like snot to me. I think I was always a natural vegan who never knew it. However, several months ago I sampled some vegan cheesecake at Karyn's Cooked and really liked it's comforting consistency. I remembered that my pretend friend Alicia Silverstone had a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake with cranberry topping on the Kind Life and suddenly I had to make it!

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Candied Cranberries from The Kind Life via The Vegetarian Times.

2 cup(s) of fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained 
2 cup(s) of sugar substitute (either maple syrup or agave nectar, whichever you prefer)
1 Pre-made organic vegan graham-cracker crust (for ease)
1/4 tsp. of salt 
12 ounce(s) of silken tofu 
8 ounce(s) of vegan cream cheese 
3/4 Whole Foods Organic Pumpkin Pie Filling 
1/4 cup(s) of agave nectar
1/4 tsp. of ground nutmeg 
1/4 tsp. of ground cinnamon

Steps

Prick each cranberry several times with straight pin. 
Bring sugar substitute and water to boil over medium heat. 
Cook until sugar reaches 230 F on candy thermometer. 
Add cranberries, and cook ten minutes or until syrup gels a bit. 
Remove berries with slotted spoon and lay out on plate.
Save in refrigerator for adding to top of cheesecake later.  
Process crackers and salt into fine crumbs in food processor.
Puree all ingredients in food processor until very smooth, about 3-5 minutes. 
Pour into crust and bake at 350 F for 50 minutes. 
Chill completely in refrigerator at least 3 hours, up to overnight. 
Garnish with candied cranberries, slice and serve.

Nothing says gorgeous like fresh cranberries in my vintage marigold Tupperware!

The silken tofu made this so creamy and dreamy. It's such a wonderful ingredient for baking, sauces, and soup!!

The filling poured into the crust so beautifully!

It baked up so nicely. What perfect pumpkin-y golden color!

The finished product. It has a celestial glow about it, because this pie is HEAVENLY!

No doubt that I really loved this! The cranberry topping's tart and strong sweetness complimented the mild pumpkin filling so well. I will definitely make it again and would like to experiment with different fruit compotes on top. I think blackberry would be so incredible! I opted to put the topping on each piece as it was eaten rather than layer the whole pie with it. Mr. BB30 isn't a cranberry lover so he opted to eat his cranberry-free. For the record, he is also a traditional cheesecake lover and found this to be really delicious. Huzzah!

Chestnut Soup or Daphne Oz Is My Hero

2011-11-21T12:48:00.042-06:00

By chance I came upon a commercial for The Chew (aka What Replaced Erica Kane and My Friends in Pine Valley) and heard two magical words: CHESTNUT SOUP. Being from the swamps of East Texas I do not have any experience with chestnuts (roasting on an open fire or otherwise), so something sounded so magical and intriguing about this. Whilst on my weekly shopping trip to the produce store I spotted a big beautiful bin of fresh chestnuts. The food gods were speaking...

This is pretty simple simple to make and vegan substitutions were easy and minimal (just a swap for butter and milk using Earth Balance and Almond Milk). The hardest part about this is peeling the boiled chestnuts.

Recipe can be found here:
Daphne Oz's Chestnut Soup

Fresh chestnuts!

When you boil and peel them, they look like this. The consistency is similar to a firm baked potato.

Cook up your herbs and veggies, deglaze, and add your broth and milk. Puree and voila!!

I skipped the cheesecloth/straining step. I was able to puree my soup finely enough that it didn't matter.

This soup was the consistency of a potato soup. Really smooth and creamy with a lovely savory and nutty kick. It was so wintery and hearty and the flavor was new and exciting! Daphne Oz, I love you for bringing this into my life!

What new tastes have tickled you palette lately?

Souper Sunday: The Mother of All Carrot Gingers

2011-11-18T07:45:00.000-06:00

Firstly, I went with The Fat Free Vegan's Eggplant Spread to use up my eggplants last week. It was a delight. I used her round 2 method of adding in chickpeas for protein. Such a great spread.

Secondly: Oh weekend, nothing can somewhat ease my insurmountable Sunday Blues like soup making. I love the thrill of searching the produce market for the day's awesome deal to reveal what veggie will be the star of my pot. I love chopping and peeling. I love the smell of onions and garlic cooking and all it's promise for a delightful, cozy meal. This week I have created one of my favorite batches of soup yet. I'm calling it The Mother of All Carrot Gingers.

It all started with a score on THREE pounds of carrots (purchased for a mere 99 cents total)........

....and chopped 'em up!

Look at that color!

Truly if you want a super easy veggie soup of any kind, all you really need to do is blend a vegetable, broth, salt/pepper. However, we know that this isn't how I roll. I wanted more depth of flavor!

The Mother of All Carrot Gingers:

3lbs Carrots, chopped

1 large onion (I used Spanish), chopped

1 medium orange bell pepper, chopped (yellow would work too)

1/4 large sweet potato, pre cooked, chopped

1 large palm full of dill

1/4 palm full cinnamon

1/4 palm full fennel seed

1/2 palm full curry powder

1/2 palm full cumin

1/2 inch fresh grated ginger

4 cups veggie broth

2 cups water

1 Tbsp Earth Balance

3 giant garlic cloves (or six regular), grated

In a large stock pot, melt the Earth Balance and toss in your carrots. Stir and get your carrots coated.

(you may want to add a little splash of water)

Add your dill and let the carrots and dill have some alone time (approx 5 minutes)

Add onion and bell pepper

When onion is translucent add the sweet potato and seasonings

Add broth and water

Bring to a boil

Add ginger and garlic

Turned to low and simmer for 20 minutes

Bust out the immersion blender and blend until your desired smooth consistency.

Not kidding about the giant garlic:

Look at that color!!

This is one of my favorite creations yet! The flavor is so layered and rich and the "next day" factor is off the charts! The bell pepper really makes a difference, and the fennel adds such a nice subtle licorice note! This would be such a "WOW" starter for your Thanksgiving table, a great lunch on T-Day if you're waiting for a big dinner, or fabulous on Black Friday with a Leftovers Sandwich.

In my Thanksgiving news, Mama BB30 is taking on the challenge of creating some vegan dishes for me (even cookies!) It's so heart warming when people want to try their hand at kind cooking. I will definitely give a report!

What are you cooking for Thanksgiving?

Eggplant

2011-11-11T12:58:00.001-06:00

Thanks to another awesome deal at my produce store, I recently acquired two large eggplants for only 99 cents. Yep. Awesome. Then what happens every time I buy eggplant happened, I wasn't using them. I can't stand to waste veggies, so I knew I needed to act! I've baked up those bad boys and now they are waiting for me in the fridge. I turned to one of my favorite recipe inspiration sites for help: Fat Free Vegan She did not disappoint with options.

Eggplant and Chickpea Curry

Curried Eggplant Soup

Eggplant Spread

Crockpot Eggplant and Tomato Stew

The Stew seems just like one of my own creations, so I know that one will be comforting and delightful. I am going to a play opening tonight, so dinner needs to be on the quick and easy side. The Eggplant Spread on a tortilla sounds awesome!!! I'm pretty sure it needs to grace my palette this very night!!

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What are your favorite eggplant recipes?

Today in gratitude I am thankful for the wonderful dinner Mr. BB30 cooked for me last night. He has been making dinner for me on Thursdays and it's such a treat. Italian Stuffed Red Peppers anyone? So good. He incorporated tofu into his filling and used fennel seeds to give it a sausagey flavor for me. Yum!

Calculators

2011-11-09T12:00:00.002-06:00

As an impatient person, one of the many wonderful things about this whole Internet thing is how easily we can get information. I love being able to look up most anything with a couple of clicks!

"Hmmm, I wonder if this restaurant's sandwich bread is vegan friendly?"
"Hmmm, I wonder how far it is to walk from my apartment to Wrigley Field?"
"Hmmm, I wonder what kind of yoga class would be good for me?"
"I have a cough, I wonder how many days I have left to live?" :)

There is a calculator, quiz, app, or web page devoted to everything, but it can be overwhelming.

One of my favorite go-to calculator sites is here at Self.com. It's such a great source for, well, everything health, body, and soul. I try to shy away from calorie counting these days, but when I really needed help to jump start my journey I really enjoyed using http://fitday.com/

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Are you a heavy online calculator user? What are your faves, any awesome ones I need to know about?

Delayed Vegas Recap

2011-11-07T12:10:00.000-06:00

So, I am back from Vegas. Food options were tricky and my aversion to throwing away my money and wearing fanny packs and/or tight cheap polyester doesn't mesh well with The Strip (I anticipated as much). I took my smaller, less fancy camera and can't find the cord, so uploading pictures is delayed for now. Frown.

Teaser: I did see a certain show starring a certain former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner!

This week in workouts:
Monday: 500 Calorie workout
Tuesday: Strength Boxing
Thursday: Cardio Soaked

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Let There Be Chili

2011-11-04T10:00:00.003-05:00

As an autumn storm rolled in on Sunday, I decided that vegetable chili should be the star of Souper Sunday.

As you know, with me a lot of the fun of cooking is playing and not having a set recipe. Every soup I make will always be a little different. I love that.

Here is what happened on Sunday:

Haunted Veggie Chili
1/4 large jalapeno, finely chopped
3 giant garlic cloves (or six small), grated
1 large carrot, chopped
1/2 large white onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon*
2 palm fulls of cumin
1 palm full of chili powder
2 large zucchini
1c frozen corn kernels
2c cooked pinto beans* (mine were al dente)
1 can fire roasted tomatoes w/ garlic (juice included)
1 can tomato sauce
2 can fulls of water* (use your tomato sauce can)

In a large pot sautee all of your veggies (except the beans) until onions start to turn translucent.
Add seasoning and let the flavors marry
Add add fire roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water
Bring to a boil
Add beans
turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes

Eat it as-is or ladle it over brown rice, whole wheat elbow noodles, or your grain of choice.

Taste=good, Picture= bad

*Notes:

Re: Cinnamon- This is the "haunted" part of the recipe. My Ground Cinnamon and Ground Cumin are the same brand and in identical containers. With all of those "c's" and "m's" and "grounds" it was bound to happen that I accidentally grabbed the wrong one and threw cinnamon into my pot. I scooped out the majority of it, but estimate that approx 1/4 teaspoon remained. This added a slightly sweet note in the background of the chili (aka "haunting" the chili) which is actually quite good. Needless to say, cinnamon is optional.

Re: Beans- I had cooked a bag of dry pinto beans last week and had oodles on hand, but you can use whatever bean (or mix of beans) you like. My pinto beans were slightly undercooked and finished cooking in the pot, so if you are using canned beans you may want to wait until simmer time to add them.

Re: Water- If you want a thicker chili, try using only one can of water.

Enjoy.

Last week I opted out of Wednesday Strength Yoga. I was tired mentally and physically. I'm so glad I listened to my instincts, because the next day in my cardio class I felt like I had so much more strength and endurance. Rest on weeknights is important!

This week only left time for two workouts since I am traveling to Vegas and had a date with my wee nephew. While I hope to visit the fitness center at the hotel, I am not committing to anything!! It is a vacation after all.

Monday: 500 Calorie Workout
Tuesday: Strength Boxing followed by Abs and Butt Blast

Happy November!

Susan's 100 Best Ever Health Tips

2011-11-02T12:00:00.004-05:00

Recently, while googling about I discovered Susan's 100 Best Ever Health Tips. I thought it was a wonderful list of good things to do for yourself and I thought I would share.

I really like almost all of these, but here are some of my favorites:

#3 Work on your emotional health – it is just as important if not more so, than your physical health

#14 Do less, live more – we are not here on earth to become more and more efficient

#23 Breathe deeply as often as you can

#25 Think more about what you can ADD to your diet first rather than focusing on what you want to take
away – this will minimize feelings of deprivation

#30 Don’t eat anything with ingredients you can’t pronounce

#38 Use your food as medicine

#43 Eat as much junk food as you like as long as you make it yourself

#84 For women, spending time with other women releases the stress-reducing oxytocin

I love that breathing is mentioned a few different times throughout the list. I would definitely add Create a mediation practice to the list.

Source and an Interesting Article on Meditation.

What would you add?

I did not stay for Abs and Butt Blast yesterday. I think that despite my vitamin and zinc lozenge intake as well as living a healthy lifestyle in general, I cannot fight the jerks that come to work sick or people who insist on riding crowded trains whilst riddled with the plague. I'm feeling a little achy and sniffley and I knew pushing myself too hard would back fire and my upcoming trip to Vegas would be ruined. No thank you!! This girl needs some fun!

To Tweet is to Motivate

2011-10-31T12:00:00.020-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN Y'ALL!

Just a reminder that I began Tweeting at the end of May. I find it to be a great way to motivate myself to workout. Being able to give myself a virtual pat on the back while waiting for a class to start and possibly encouraging others to bust out the ol' sports bra has been very satisfying.

Follow me at:
http://twitter.com/#!/BikiniBy30

Earlier this month, Bestie was in town for a quick trip and celebrated with pumpkin carvin'. They molded in less than a week. One of the pumpkins didn't even survive in time for a photo.

Mine. She had hair. I think she looks better molded.

Mr. BB30's. He went traditional.

Bestie's. She had Pac Man ghosts on the brain all night.

Things are glum around my day job office lately. I didn't go all out like in years past (I was a prize winning Amy Winehouse in 2008), but I dusted off my cat ears.

2008 HILARIOUS

2011 YAWN

Today in gratitude I am thankful for the morning ritual of my little dog swimming his way across my lap in hopes of a good stretch and some scratches while I put on make up. It's a part of my day that makes me feel super loved. I'm smitten.

Soup's On...Again

2011-10-29T12:00:00.005-05:00

Last Sunday was a two-soup day for me. Typically what I make is based on what is on sale at my produce store. For the past two weeks, zucchini has been .69/lb. Amazing! I stocked up. I chopped several into disks, lightly sauteed them in a tad of olive oil, and put them in the freezer in batches to enjoy in dishes later.Then I got to soup making. I've made zucchini soup in the past, but here was this week's version. Anything green or white that needed to be used up got thrown in as well (I hate to waste produce!). The results were delicious and bursting with garden flavor!

October 23 Zucchini Soup
6 medium zucchini, chopped
4 cups of vegetable broth
2 cups of water
1/4 of a cabbage, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 large onion (I used Spanish, but any white or yellow one will do)
1/4 potato, chopped, skin on (I wish I'd added more for thickening)
3 giant cloves of garlic
1 can of a white bean (chick pea, navy, cannellini)

In a big pot, sautee everything up with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Add broth and water.
Bring to a boil.
Turn heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Bust out your immersion blender and blend until smooth.
Add whole beans. (I think I lightly drained the can.)
Enjoy

I added the beans after blending to add texture and protein, but the soup is good without them, and you could certainly blend in the beans (or even tofu) as well.

I call this phone camera shot:

Zuc Soup Riot

Today in gratitude I am thankful for the creative people in my life. I am surrounded by amazingly talented artists (who do awesome things like create brilliant live versions of Pruple Rain-no joke) who inspire me to get my creative juices flowing. I know I have imaginative feats inside beyond acting just aching to come out and I am so glad I have artists around me that remind me to think outside the box.

Simple Vegetable "Stew"

2011-10-27T12:00:00.003-05:00

Sunday ended up being a two-soup day for me. First, I threw together a little vegetable "stew." I suppose if I were Rachael Ray I would call this a "stoup" since it's not quite as thick as a traditional stew. (This is mainly because I forgot to buy a potato.)

Simple Vegetable "Stew"
6 large carrots, sliced into thin disks
6 stalks of celery, chopped (including leafy tops)
1/4 green cabbage, chopped
1/4 Spanish onion (or your favorite white onion)
1 med/lg zucchini, chopped
1 tsp Dill
1 Tbsp Thyme
1 Tbsp Sage
3 giant cloves of garlic, grated or finely chopped
4 cups of vegetable broth
2 cups of water
3/4 cup instant potato flakes
*1 can of beans, drained (I used black)

In a large pot, sautee your veggies and herbs in a tiny bit of olive oil (don't add the garlic yet). Give your carrots a three minute head start and sprinkle with dill (carrots and dill are lovers and need alone time together).
Add broth and water.
Let everything come to a boil.
Add garlic.
Add instant potato flakes
Add beans (no need to drain if you are using a white bean)
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Turn heat to low and let the "stew" simmer for about 15 minutes.
Enjoy.

*You don't have to add beans if you aren't into them. I add beans to most of my soups to up the protein quotient.

My broth is a little dark because I didn't drain and rinse my black beans well. Doesn't effect the flavor, just the aesthetics :)

Mindful Snacking

2011-10-26T12:00:00.003-05:00

Offices can be traps for mindless snacking.

"Hey look, a stressful email I don't want to deal with, let's go to the vending machine to procrastinate."
"I just had to talk to the meanest person in the office, let's go find something to munch on."

Even healthy snacks like almonds can be eaten mindlessly (and cause detriment to all of our hard work at the gym). Lately, I've become irresponsible with my snacks and find myself reaching for a nibble when I am not hungry at all. I decided to recommitt to being mindful and while day one was difficult, I feel like I am back in the saddle. What is the statistic? It takes about 21 days to form a habit. I'm on my way! I'm also being more diligent with hydrating and keeping my water cup filled!

Exercise line up for the week is:

Monday: 500 Calorie Work Out
Tuesday: Strength Boxing
Wednesday: Strength Yoga
Thursday: Cardio Soaked
Friday: Off (seeing a play)

In a perfect world, I would prefer not to have more than two days off in a row since it makes the return to class so much harder, but we do what we can.

The 500 Calorie Workout is a new one at the gym. Obviously it promises a 500 calorie or more burn per workout. One girl wore a monitor to class and she clocked over 500 calories, so it definitely held true to its promise. Of course, every one's calorie burn will be different and depends on height, weight, muscle, and number of other things. The class was made up of cardio (calisthenics, a little kick boxing), weight lifting (5lbs and 8lbs dumbbells) and some ab work. A good total body workout. Half of it was done tabata-style. (20 seconds of activity on, 10 seconds off for eight reps.) It makes my least favorite things like burpees and mountain climbers slightly more tolerable. I try not to let myself get caught up calories and numbers, it makes me crazy and crazy is not effective or healthy, but kudos to the instructor for good marketing with this title. The class was packed!

Today in gratitude: I am thankful for fall colors. Growing up in Texas, I never really had true seasons. In Chicago, I definitely do. I am thankful for all the beautiful natural colors that have come out over the past few weeks and the chance to kick fall leaves. For as rough as October has been emotionally (lots of blahs this month-more them later), the weather has gifted me with some lovely days and chances to take some big deep breaths of fresh fall air.

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Pumpkins and Workouts and Gym Etiquette

2011-10-25T12:09:00.001-05:00

First things first. Last week's sweaty line up included:

Monday: Off I had to work late since in the morning I saw a taping of The Rosie Show!!! I'm still giddy!
Tuesday: Strength Boxing followed by Abs and Butt Blast
Wednesday: Strength Yoga
Thursday: Cardio Soaked

Friday I was scheduled for Pilates Sculpting, but during Thursday's Cardio Soaked class my knee popped. That's the only way to describe it. It felt weird. I was able to finish class at a Level One intensity, but the instructor told me to be very careful and lay off for a few days. So I did just that.

Last week I noticed that my tolerance for bad gym etiquette was quite low. While I love my fitness center, they tend to allow too many people into classes and it gets very crowded. In the world of Bikram Yoga, crowds are fine. The practice is designed so that you only need the area of your mat. While it's not awesome to be in a jammed Bikram class mat to mat with a giant sweaty half naked 50 year old man with oodles of chest hair, it's manageable. In classes where there is punching and kicking it is dangerous. Both Bikram and traditional classes of most kinds involve the need for proper form and thus, a view of yourself in the mirror. Enter the concept of "windows." I learned about "windows" at age nine when I took my first dance class. This is the simple act of not standing directly in front of another person. Look at these cheerleaders. They are standing in "windows."

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Easy, right? Apparently this concept blows the minds of some of the women at my gym. Walking in late and standing directly in front of someone in a class is bad form. Don't do it people. I went to the interwebs and found several articles that agreed. "Mirror hogging" falls under the same no-no category as not wiping down your machines or stealing extra time on coveted equipment. It can be awkward to speak up about these things and I really feel like instructors could take some advice from the world of Bikram and make a little announcement prior to class starting or even mark the floor with the proper places to stand. A bit like kindergarten? Yes. Necessary? Totally.

In other news, last week I practiced a simple pumpkin soup (canned pumpkin, veggie broth salt, pepper, curry powder, garlic powder, onion powder and cinnamon), and it just doesn't work for me. I need fresh ingredients and a little butternut squash. I think for Thanksgiving I'll just be sending a recipe to my mom and having her freeze it and bring it. I like to manage my own cooking, but I think in this case I must relinquish control. Look at that there personal growth.

I realized that the main reason I don't update more is because I don't upload my personal pictures enough and I feel picture posts are always more effective. Then I sit on a recipe, event, or musing I want to write about and it never gets published. So in the spirit of trying to commit to updating more, here is a picture of some pumpkin and sweet potato soup that I didn't make (but sounds AMAZING):

Source and link to recipe at Susan's Food For Thought

Maybe one day I will get my act together and post the picture of my Halloween Pumpkin. She had hair.

Today in gratitude: I am thankful for my husband's generous leg and foot rubs. Many evenings Mr. BB30 devotes time to my aching muscles, because he know it makes me feel comforted and happy. I'm lucky.

Oh October

2011-10-10T16:41:00.000-05:00

October has gotten off to a rough start. My Paw Paw passed away last week and we said goodbye to him on Friday, his 89th birthday. He was an avid farmer and no doubt my need to garden comes from him.

Tuesday when I got the news I opted to work from home and chose a nice long fall walk over my scheduled workout.

Last weeks workouts included:

Monday: Ultimate Conditioning Class (30 Minutes of cardio, strength, cross-conditioning exercises) and Zumba
Tuesday: Walk
Wednesday: Strength Yoga

This week's plan is:

Monday: Zumba and Cardio Barre Sculpting
Tuesday: Strength Boxing and Abs & Butt Blast
Wednesday: Strength Yoga
Thursday: Off (I have a fundraiser to attend- It's a costume party-I'm going as a disco queen!)
Friday: Pilates and 100s Cardio

Over the past few weeks I've noticed that my bum is really shaping up. I've always been in the Flat and Wide Club, but these seven months or so of hitting the gym regularly are starting to give me some tone back there. I'm happy because those kind of curves are hot!

Ain't no shame in that game Scarlett!!

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It's time to start thinking over Thanksgiving menu options. This year I will be traveling home and will need something easy to assemble at my aunt's house. My plan as of now is to have my mom bring her crock pot and I will do a simplified pumpkin soup (pumpkin, veg broth, whatever seasoning is available, frozen pre-minced onion). It will be really flavorful, easy, and a great dish to share and show my family how deliciously I eat. I think they were all worried about me when all I ate at the post-funeral dinner was grapes. (Trust me-afterward I had a huge veggie sandwich, a big salad, and some cashews.) My mom is also going to bring some veggie sides as well. I plan to do a trial run of my soup soon and will be sure to share.
Are you planning your Thanksgiving dinner yet?

This Week in Workouts

2011-09-27T14:46:00.000-05:00

This week's line up includes:

Monday: Tabata Kickboxing
Tuesday: Off. I have too much on my mind and was wide awake from 2-5am this morning. Must sleep.
Wednesday: Strength Yoga
Thursday: Cardio Soaked followed by seeing a friend's play
Friday: 100s Cardio

Today in gratitude I am thankful for the lovely Penny who has shown me some amazing generosity. I will be sure to pay it forward however I can!

Now, hit me with your best tips for visiting LasVegas!

Bells of the Garden Ball

2011-09-20T15:30:00.000-05:00

Look at what I harvested yesterday morning:

Look at the color on these red bell peppers! Mr. BB30 and I have decided we will enjoy them in delicious simplicity and have plans to roast them and enjoy them as a bruchetta atop some toasty bread with garlic, olive oil and sea salt. Drool.....We have one more that is almost ready, but that'll be it for this summer's bells.

Other than our massive basil plants (helloooo winter pesto!), our garden has not been abundant. We've gotten several small tomatoes that are delicious, but they're just kind of puny, and many of them are still green and waiting to turn. Much to my dismay, my squash plant died. I think with such a little space and THREE different small plots going from different units in my building, we just depleted the soil of everything it had. I have always been drawn to planting. Not flowers. Vegetable gardening. Near the theater where I was performing there was a house overgrown with vines and the coolest sort of sunken garden space that the owners have let die and become infested with weeds. I have nothing against an ivy-covered house-it can be totally charming, but I wanted to issue them a personal citation for wasting such a wonderful plot. Next to it sits the most tragic garden travesty though. There is a lot next to the house that is completely unkept. It is in fact so overgrown that had I not looked closer I would have missed seeing a once beautiful wooden atrium with a bench sitting there abandoned and whispering, "Save me BB30!" Perhaps the owners of the house are not the owners of the lot, but rest assured if there was an AMAZING untouched, unused, uncared for lot next door to my apartment, I would absolutely volunteer my maintenance services in exchange for growing a lush summer garden there. I could grow and grow and then can and preserve! Oh the soups! Oh the herbs! I wish I had taken a picture to show you. Why hello, Google Maps Street View, won't you be my helper today? Oh yes, I am so passionate about this abused space that I have found a dark but useful picture of it for you.

Sigh.

My show has closed. What a fast but wonderful ride. I am so grateful for having worked on such a wonderful piece and the opportunity it provided me to stretch my actor muscles. I am bummed that it is over. However, in a wonderful coming-full-circle moment, during my final performance a message was left on my phone that I booked another show. Kind of softens the blow. I will begin rehearsals December 1st. It's so great to know I will have a little break but with another project lined up (a project where I play a ghost-eeep!). I anticipate that the time will fly with a wedding and several plays I need to attend as well as my trip to LasVegas and the Thanksgiving holiday. I plan to use it wisely and return to a nice full fitness schedule.

This week's line up includes:

Monday Tabata Kick Boxing

Tuesday Strength Boxing

Wednesday Strength Yoga

Thursday Off (My day job BFF is leaving to pursue her art and we are celebrating her jail break)

Friday 100s Strength (Calisthetics) followed by SUSHI!!!

Happy Fall y'all!

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Vegas, Baby

2011-09-07T16:52:00.000-05:00

And it came to pass that Mr. BB30, his bestie and I would embark on a trip to LasVegas, which (because I am a dork) quickly became known as The Three Best Friends Trip.

Thus, new motivation was born. Since I do not gamble, my time will be spent walking about The Strip, window shopping, taking advantage of the hotel fitness center, and most importantly lounging poolside. While I know that most of my fellow Vegas tourists will be normal people and not super models, the notion that I will be required to sport a bikini again in just one month provides good incentive to get back on track. Additionally, The Three Best Friends Trip has expanded to include Mr. BB30s Bestie's new girlfriend type person who happens to be very young and painfully hot. Great. Awesome. Kill me. So hopefully knowing that I have to sport beach wear next to sexy youngster will keep me going to the gym when I can and keeping my eating and cocktailing in check. Hopefully.

This week I have shows Thursday-Sun so week day work outs are limited:

Tuesday: Strength Boxing followed by Abs and Butt Blast
Wednesday: Strength Yoga followed by a Cubs Game
Saturday: Zumba

As you know, I hate going all the way to my gym on the weekends. Due to the holiday on Monday I simply have no choice. I originally chose some type of calisthenics class for Saturday, but I am 99.34% sure I would cancel that in the end. I decided to go with Zumba because I think I can muster up the strength to get out the door if I can tell myself, "It's just a dance class, it's just a dance class." I definitely wouldn't go if I had to tell myself, "Go do planks and push ups, it will be so fun." Know thyself.

I've been a Snacky Snackerson lately. I think the issue lies with a couple of things:
1. My body is feeling the reduction in exercise and is trying to gain energy
2. I am tired, so my body wants to eat to gain energy
3. I am not getting in good regular meals and sometimes skip dinner on show nights and end up starving and snacking extra the next day.
4. I am already super sad my show is in its final two weeks. I am having the best theatrical experience I've had in a while and I know it could be a long time before I have this again. Makes me very sad. Thus, snacks.

I know what I need to do to get back on track, but it's sometimes easier said than done:

Water water water
Good balanced meals
No alcohol on the weekdays
Exercise any chance I get

Hmmm...I don't think they have kale at Wrigley Field. First challenge. Make sure to eat something between yoga and the ball game tonight...

Today's gratitude: I am thankful for the cool weather that's come to Chicago this week and the opportunity to wear some of my awesome newly thrifted fall clothes!

She Emerges

2011-09-05T09:20:00.000-05:00

Hustle Bustle!

I've been busy. After four performances last weekend, I took off on a jet plane Sunday night to visit Bestieface in sunny Los Angeles for a few days.

LA is not a walking city for sure. I had high hopes of going to one of my fave places, Griffith Park, for soulful hiking, but alas, apparently when it's really warm and smoggy there are advisories to stay away from big hikes like that. Frown. However, we managed to fit in two great hilly walks around the Silverlake Reservoir, and I did some light work with hand weights one morning, so I snuck in some fitness. It was really important to me since I won't be back in an exercise class until Tuesday. Oy. Can't my fitness center open a location next door to my apartment so I can go to class anytime I want? Is that too much to ask? :) So it goes with a day job, a career and a life. However, Bestie said I had Michelle Obama arms which is one of the greatest compliments I've ever gotten. Michelle is such a fit sexy lady!

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On Tuesday we lunched at Flore and as always with vegan restaurants it is so nice and somewhat overwhelming to be able to choose from ANYTHING on the menu. I had the tempeh meatloaf burger. It didn't taste like meatloaf at all, but it was SO GOOD. It was definitely house made and not overly processed, and full of protein packed tempeh and veggie goodness. I felt so satiated and content, but not weighed down or stuffed. There is a restaurant in the building of my day job that I often catch whiffs of and it mostly smells like melty monterrey jack chicken sandwiches. I always think it smells good, then I think about how sluggish and weighed down I would feel if I ate it. I know from experience that it would make me feel so overly full and short of breath and wanting to lay down. Ew. No thank you. Nothing tastes good enough to do that to myself. Ah personal growth. When I eat a nice clean meal I don't feel that way. Even if it's a caloric match to a melty chicken sandwich I feel so much more fueled and recharged. I have more energy after I eat instead of feeling zapped of energy by eating.

I also met my first bowl of Pho, a Vietnamese Noodle Soup. I think it's magical.

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Here is a delightful recipe for Pho I want to try:

http://www.elliemay.com/soups/VegetarianPho.html

I wish you all the happiest and safest of Labor Days. I am off for some grilling with my in laws.

Do you eat Pho?

A PSA

2011-08-25T14:32:00.000-05:00

Oy vey.

Back in the Game

2011-08-22T14:57:00.000-05:00

Opening weekend went well, and other than a raging case of PMS, it couldn't have gone better. I wish I could perform this show everyday.

Like I mentioned, last week was a toughie as we were in crunch time with getting the show on its feet, so time for fitness was scarce.

I managed:

Sunday: Short Cardio Kickboxing followed by The Shred (Level 2)
Monday: The Shred (Level 3)
Friday: The Shred (Level 2)

Not great at all, but it was something to keep me afloat and I am proud of the little I made happen.

This week I am so excited to get back on track and in the gym!!!

The plan is:

Monday: Shredded: Full Body Focus

Tuesday: Strength Boxing followed by Abs N' Butt Blast

Wednesday: R.I.P.P.E.D followed by Body Band Pilates

I'm going to be careful not to push myself too hard since I've had such a scaled back couple of weeks, but I am confident my endurance will build back up quickly.

I leave you with this shot of my amazing brunch salad that Mr. BB30 treated me to yesterday. The Chicago Diner makes the best vegan gyros. So good. I typically just eat the seitan and veggies and have a little pita, and was thinking on our way over how wonderful it would be if they would just make a gyros salad. Lo and behold, it's happened. We hadn't been there in a long time and they changed up the menu. I want another one right now.

Makin' It Work During the Busy Times

2011-08-15T10:36:00.000-05:00

My new play opens this week. Such a fast and furious process! I definitely haven't been able to hit the gym as much, but have tried to combat the reduction is exercise with reducing my calorie intake a little, avoiding alcohol during the week, and not beating myself up (too much) about not being able to go. This week, I absolutely cannot get to the gym Mon-Fri so I must formulate a plan.

Yesterday after a rehearsal I decided I needed to get moving. Mr. BB30 wouldn't be home for a while (he is busy being famous with the play he wrote and is starring in that is selling out-woo hoo!) so I had some time at home to myself. As we know, I hate jogging with every fiber of my being, so I decided to hit up ExerciseTV.com and download a cardio kickboxing workout. It's only about 23 minutes long, but very effective. $2 well spent. My heart rate was up for sure. (Although, I doubled up on repetitions since they were a little slower than what I am used to). It's going to be a great one to have on hand. I knew I needed to keep going so I went to my reliable go-to, The Shred (Level 2). I ended up breaking a mean sweat and feeling very proud that I chose exercising over my sofa and Drop Dead Diva (but seriously-how cute is this show!) I took a cool down walk around the block with my doggie where he hit on some neighbor girls (he loves the ladies). Then I discovered that I had put toothpaste on a zit to dry it up and didn't take it off. Neighborhood weirdo.

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Thanks for the toning Jillian!

So, while the super ambitious part of me thinks I can attempt to squeeze in a 20 minute workout before I need to leave for rehearsals everyday this week, I have to stay realistic. Some nights I need to ARRIVE at 6:30pm. There just won't be time. But I will do my best to get in a few quick workouts to keep my bod in check. I can do that. I can make that happen. I have to choose to make that happen.

Today in gratitude I am grateful for my lovely fellow actor Tim and how enjoyable this crazy fast process has been all thanks to him. I am so lucky to have had this opportunity to bond with him and have full trust in my fellow actor. Friend love!

The Dame

2011-08-11T08:00:00.011-05:00

My friend Shannon is one of the most confident, passionate and outstanding humans I know. She is in fact so fabulous that way back when she was dubbed, The Dame. There really is no other appropriate way to describe her. I met Shannon when we were freshman in college and we became fast friends. By our sophomore year it was time for her to leave for studies abroad in England and Spain. Through the powers of love, friendship, cell phones and the interwebs, we have remained friends ever since.

She has agreed to let me publicly brag about her recent accomplishment, because it's too inspiring and amazing not to be shared!
Here is Shannon last year braving the crowds at Lollapalooza. I love her smile:

Here is Shannon this year:

SHE HAS LOST 100 LBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, 1-0-0 pounds!!! She took the bull by the horns and started making healthier food choices and committing to regular exercise every day after work. When she's out and about she consults Eat This Not That to help her make the best food decision she can. She also keeps in mind that every little bit helps. For example: Cheese doesn't do much for her. She doesn't love it so she leaves it out of meals and sandwiches. The calories aren't worth it to her. Those small changes really add up!

I am so proud of her and know how hard it is to make a lifestyle change. AND SHE'S STILL GOING!

You know what else burns calories? Bustin' a fierce move on the dance floor! Looks at those muscles (and the shirt I am going to steal)!

I love this woman!

Now for the last installment in my week of gratitude:
Today I am grateful for a deep and relaxing meditation yesterday. I set my intention to relax and enjoy the positive things that are happening around me. I think I have been caught up in thinking about my future for so long I haven't been fully present NOW. I feel much more mellow now. I've decided that I should aim to give gratitude for something in all of my posts. It's really very helpful. Honestly I should really start a gratitude journal based on my day job so I can appreciate the good things that it provides me, but...meh....we'll see about that ;)

Zucchini Challenge

2011-08-10T09:26:00.000-05:00

I eat a lot of zucchini (and yellow squash). It's so abundant and cheap right now (hello-a couple of weeks in a row I've gotten 5 for $1!). It's also full of tons of vitamins and is super low cal. I sautee it, put it tofu scrambles, add it to burrito bowls and tomato sauces, grill it to put on sandwiches and make soup with it. A couple of times I've coated yellow squash in a little plain soy yogurt, dusted it with corn meal and lightly pan fried it to get that amazing fried squash taste I grew up on (sans horrible-for-you Fry Daddy).

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I love zucchini/squash especially since it takes on whatever taste you want it to, but I am out of ideas. Send me your favorite recipe!!! What haven't I thought of?!

Today in gratitude, I am thankful that it's monthly meditation day where I make myself take a lunch break to go to an awesome FREE guided meditation at a spa in the building I work in. I always come away with new insights and am often surprised by what comes up emotionally. I go in thinking my intention will be to focus on a certain issue, but many times something completely different pops up. It makes my inner hippie so happy. I've been going to this monthly lunch break meditation for two years now, and it has definitely made me a better person.

Hit me with your zucchini goodness!

More Gratitude

2011-08-09T21:37:00.000-05:00

Today I am grateful for the joy that working on my current show brings me. Having a bit of drought was humbling and has helped me to appreciate what I have now. I truly love rehearsal and enjoy every minute of it.

Gratitude Days 3-5

2011-08-08T12:49:00.002-05:00

What a lovely weekend with my dear pal Shannon. Alas, I had to give her back to NYC last night.

Saturday I was so grateful that Mr. BB30 spoiled us with a beautiful homemade brunch and that Shannon was so generous to gift me with an awesome Marshmallow Fireside BBW Plug-In. So light and sweet and perfect in my living room.

Sunday I was so grateful that the rain cleared up for a couple of hours and gave us time to walk a street festival in some gorgeous sunshine and blue skies.

Today I am grateful for a work-from-home day where I can deal with frustrating emails in the comfort of my own home in the company of my adorable dog. I'm also so excited to jump back into rehearsals and kick some butt.

Ahhhh...

Blogger Issues

2011-08-05T10:27:00.002-05:00

For a while now, Blogger won't let me comment on my own posts. Lame. So, I am not ignoring my comments! In fact I really love comments and wish there were more!

Yesterday I had a great experience in Kick-lates. I felt strong and capable and I noticed that I had so much more endurance than the last time I took it. I think that's one of my favorite things about switching up which workouts I do; when I come back to a class I can really feel the difference and notice where I can do a higher intensity level when I could before. It's really motivating and keeps me going. I also got a much needed endorphin rush. I had been dragging ALL DAY and no amount of caffeine gave me the boost that I got from an hour of kick boxing/pilates.

I made the most of a night of rehearsal and after my class I went to see a friend's play. Afterwards, we were talking about cooking and gardening and the farmer's market and she said magical words that made me want to move in with her like, "eggplant three different ways" and "quinoa risotto."

I've been keeping myself accountable and sharing random musings on Twitter. Follow me!

A Week of Gratitude Day 2:
Today I am grateful that my dear friend Shannon is coming for a visit and that I get to leave work early to scout a location for an event I am coordinating.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

2011-08-04T11:29:00.002-05:00

Busy busy busy. Being back in the routine of having a full time day job and rehearsing is tough. Add in attempting to workout and you get one exhausted girl, mentally and physically. Last week due to rehearsals and obligations I only got in one workout. I feel pretty failure-y about that, but truly, it was unavoidable. I'm still working on not being too hard on myself about that. I did get in some decent lunch break walks while learning lines so not all was lost. My body is so used to good aerobic release I feel sluggish and ick without exercising. On the other hand, I cannot rehearse all night, take the train home, go to bed late and wake up the next day to be packed up and downtown at the gym for a 6am class. It's simply not going to happen. It's not that I don't want it bad enough, I just have a limitation with lack of sleep. Sleep is good. Sleep is healthy. It's a non-negotiable. Oh how I wish coffee and energy drinks actually had an effect on me. I think I have become immune. I used to be able to drink a gigantic iced coffee and feel buzzed. Now I feel nothing. I think what I need is the biggest glass of veggie juice known to man. My eating schedule and food quality is off. Sometimes dinner is a snack before rehearsal (like some carrots and hummus and maybe a few tortilla chips followed by post rehearsal popcorn-out of balance much?)

This week on top of rehearsals and obligations (when you're an actor, you have artist friends and at any given time you have 10 shows you feel you should being going to see their shows to support them) I am squeezing in:

Monday: Shredded (a new one for me-full body focused class with dumbbells and muscle strengthening exercises (aka planks).

Thursday: Kick-lates

Friday: Body Band Pilates followed by 100s Strength (another new one for me-each exercise is done 100 times, sometimes all at once, some times broken up-please let push ups be one of the latter!)

So, I am managing to make it work. Really, once I am open on the 19th, I can resume workouts Mon Tues and Wed. (I will have shows Thurs-Sun).

This weekend will be such fun as one of my NYC besties is coming town! A much needed weekend of girlfriend time and general Texas sauciness will ensue.

In garden news, my Garden Buddha has blessed me once again. This tiny guy below went from a bud to a big ol' squash in less than a week...and another is already on the way!

I am busy and forgetful and don't have a picture of what it looks like now, but it's almost time to pick it!

Look how big my squash plant is. You can barely see Garden Buddha anymore.

Here he is!

I have a basil jungle again this year. It's blissful.

Oregano Forest

My bell peppers are also coming in well. This picture from one week ago does them no justice! I am waiting for the fella below to turn red!

I have about 20 tomatoes on their way. Grow babies, grow!

With feeling spread thin and tired comes feeling a little blue (which is silly because I am soooo happy working on my new show. I feel such joy when it's time for rehearsal. ) So, I want to commit to sharing some gratitude everyday for one week.

Today I am grateful for a break in the hot weather and Mr. BB30's awesomeness at tackling some handyman work in our apartment (just because he knew it would make me happy).

What are you grateful for today?

My Body Can Do This

2011-07-28T10:10:00.000-05:00

On Monday I went to Tabata (interval) Cardio Kickboxing class. It was killer. There are three studios at my fitness place, two small and one large and Tabata always ends up in a smaller room. It was hot (Chicago has decided to hit triple digit heat indexes lately) and the room was crowded. The idea with tabata/interval training is that you hit a move hard for 20 seconds (a tabata in general can be anything: a set of kickboxing moves, burpees, jumping jacks, whatever) then you rest for 10 seconds, then do it again eight times. You can do anything for 20 seconds right? Oof. Easier said than done. Please try the tabata of throwing four jabs followed by two star jacks (power jumping jack) then talk to me. (Below is a video demo of a star jack).

I was feeling fatigued and wondered if my heart my explode. Then the instructor said something really powerful. She said, “Come on, you’re body can do this.” Such a simple sentence. She was right, my body CAN do this. I got this. I can push myself. So I continued to whisper it during class, (the music is always super loud so luckily I didn’t seem crazy) “My body can do this. My body can do this,” and my body did it.

I snapped a secret pic with my phone after class. I call this shot She Earned The Chocolate Chips.

My body can do this.

Assuming the Negative

2011-07-25T12:47:00.001-05:00

I think of myself as an optimistic pessimist..if that makes sense. I am not overly cynical and jaded, but I fall into that area so many people do where I tend to assume the most negative outcome possible. I think some of this stems from the idea that if you assume the negative you will be pleasantly surprised when the outcome is good, but really that' s pretty self destructive. I have to work very hard to focus on the positive; what good things could happen. Take for example my first full hour abs class last week. I was so nervous. I thought about it all day. I knew I needed to try it because I was irrationally scared and I want to conquer these kinds of fears. I walked into class and set a mat out on the floor. I noticed everyone was getting two sets of weights so I followed suit. Class started with some standing warm ups. Okay, good, I like standing warm ups. Then the instructor (a man-see my fear of boy classes is dwindling) said the words I hate in a class, "Get with a partner..." GAH. I really don't like partner work. I didn't like it in school and I am shy and weird and definitely don't like it when I am exercising. I immediately thought, "Okay, here it is here. In the first ten minutes I know I hate this class and won't come back even if it doesn't kill me." All the partnering consisted of was one person standing on the others' feet to anchor them while they did sit ups with a weight. Mind you, I would have enjoyed if my partner (who'd taken the class before) been clear that I wasn't handing her my weight and hadn't let me drop it on myself, but it wasn't that bad. I immediately assumed it would be terribly awkward and horrible and cement that this class was a mistake, but it wasn't. On we pressed. There was a wide variety of exercises, and we moved from one thing to the next so quickly that I never felt like I couldn't hang in there. There were lots of good standing ab exercises that I really liked. I wish I knew what my very favorite was called. I'll have to ask them. You stand with your feet and hips planted firmly and hold a weight (I used an eight pounder) and rotate side to side kind of scooping out a figure eight on each side. It's kind of like this canoe move:

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It's great for love handles! Very effective and there is no reason I can't do some these holding my tote bag or something during a break at rehearsals or while I am catching up with my DVR.

Needless to say the class was 70% less scary than I made it out to be. I have been very active with going to classes for 5.5 months now and am stronger. Surely this class would have been very difficult if I took it in February, but I am much more fit now and held my own. The one thing I have to figure out is how I will handle floor work. I think I need to double up on my yoga mats, because several times over now in a class with significant floor time I skin my tail bone. Seriously. I think I must have a freakish tailbone. Despite having clothes and a mat between me and the floor I have an inch long scrape over my bum. Sitting in a desk is ok, but sitting on the sofa is really unpleasant now. I am trying to learn my lesson and not use this as an excuse for never taking an abs class again. I just need to try out alternatives. Maybe I could make my own little inconspicuous tailbone cushion or buy a bean bag to put there. I shall call it the Hiney Helper and now that I written this down you can't steal it. Intellectual property. Ha!

This week will be challenging since I will have rehearsals (and daily allergy/stress headaches), but I refuse to give up gym time. I am making time for:

Monday: Tabata Boxing

Wednesday: Turbokick

Thursday: Kicklates

It makes for long days, but I can't let my schedule keep me from exercise!

First Harvest!

2011-07-15T19:53:00.003-05:00

After an afternoon of taking Venkman to the dog beach and grocery shopping for the delicious meal Mr. BB30 is making (our last Friday night together until the end of September-sniff), I came home and plucked my first harvest of the summer.

In the coming days this beautiful squash will be sauteed lightly with a little Earth Balance and olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.

I love being a farmer!

And in further good news, I will begin rehearsals for a new play on Monday. It is a four person show, the first act revolving around one couple and the second act revolving around the other. I am super stoked that a friend of mine was cast opposite me. It will be a great time and something wonderful to invite casting directors and important people to. Huzzah!

Lately Dayjobland has been very hectic and stressful. I can't imagine having to live through the extra crazy times with a mean boss. I really have a great one. With the stress of the past couple of weeks came snackiness and waaaay too much iced coffee. For the past few days I have had to focus on conscious eating and watching those unnecessary bad starches. We all know how to get back on the horse when we've strayed but it's never easy. I survived with lots of fresh fruits and veggies and upping my protein intake with a little additional tofu and bean action.

This week in fitness has been:

Monday: Off for an Audition (although I ended up walking almost all the way home afterwards for a total of 2.5 miles)
Tuesday: Strength Boxing followed by Abs and Butt Blast
Wednesday: R.I.P.P.E.D (Resistance, Intervals, Plyometrics, Endurance)
Thursday: WERQ
Not sure what the following days will bring, maybe more walking or a home DVD.

Yesterday as we waited for class to start there was a general consensus that everyone was feeling a bit unmotivated to workout. We were glad we made it there, but many of us weren't feelin' it. The adorable instructor reminded us that in one hour when class was done, there was no way we would regret having come to sweat it out. It's so true. Any time I feel blah about putting on the gym clothes I am always 100% glad I went.

I am really loving what boxing and dumbbells have done for my arms. I can see results and I love it. Scales can be upsetting and stupid, but the mirror don't lie. I feel like I am really getting my tone on!

Tell me something you're happy with about your bod lately! Let's remember to celebrate ourselves!
How are your summer gardens?

Man Fear

2011-07-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

This week I overcame my fear of doing a tough work out class with a male instructor. I've taken Zumba from a dude, but I feared taking a hard core class. I think deep down I was scared he would be judgmental and mean like every fifth grade boy who called me a whale or a blimp. It happened as I needed it to: I was signed up for class, in line waiting to go in and they pulled a fast and changed teachers on me. So I sucked it up and knew it was for my own good....and it was. The class is a full body workout mixing up resistance, interval, power, plyometrics, and endurance training. I like taking classes like this against super cardio classes like boxing to make sure every area gets attention. I think that's actually the principal behind the infamous P90X program the principle of muscle confusion and not letting your body get to comfprtable with the same workouts. Perhaps I am a genius after all.

Anywho, I found that I felt challenged in a great way by having a man lead class. I knew I wasn't about to use 20lbs dumbbells in each hand like he did, but I was motivated to challenge myself with heavier weights that normal and it made feel great that I kept up. I felt pretty bad ass.

This week I have been a little slow and a little too snacky. I blame some recent agitation over the ol' career and feeling a little suffocated. I need an adventure.

Monday: Holiday
Tuesday: 3 mile walk (I had Tues off of work as well and really needed some quiet thinking time)
Wednesday: Resistance and Interval Training Class
Thursday: Off. I had no clean gym clothes and was feeling sluggish and moody and opted for a bestie chat.
Friday: Resistance Band Pilates followed by Kwando Kickboxing

I didn't plan to take class tonight, but I feel like I need it and want to get the weekend kicked off right!

Happy Fourth!

2011-07-04T12:07:00.001-05:00

Last week's work outs went like this:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Strength Boxing (I think I may be ready to move up a pound in weights-eep!)
Wednesday: Glee Camp (calisthenics, resistance band and dumbbell work set to Glee music)
Thursday: Off (I got two unexpected print ad look-sees
Friday: Resistance Band Pilates followed by Kwando Kick Boxing

On Wednesday there were only THREE of us in class (the masses were crammed into Turbo Kick-people seem to really love it-although I worry for those people who don't practice proper form.) It was like having a personal trainer for the hour. Kinda cool. At the very end of class, we used a foam roller to massage our muscles. I had been interested in learning how to do it. It was definitely a hurt so good feeling, like getting a rough but awesome Swedish massage. However, I am seriously bruised. I am full our good leafy greens and I take a multi-vitamin with iron in it everyday, but alas, it looks like I've broken my ankle. It's sooo bruised. Don't think I will be partaking again.

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I wish I could find an image of the exercise that killed my ankle.It felt like a really intense massage in my calves but man oh man. I look like I've been beaten.

I'm wishing you all a SAFE and happy holiday today. On holiday weekends we have to remind ourselves that moderation is key and having some bites or sips of deliciousness isn't a crime! In honor of all the get-togethers going on across the country I present a test drive of The Kind Diet's Artichoke Dip that I did a few months ago.

Artichoke Dip
from The Kind Diet by (my pretend friend) Alicia Silverstone

Ingredients
• 2 8 1/2-oz. cans of quartered artichokes
• 1 cup vegan mayonnaise
• 1 cup soy Parmesan "cheese"
• 1 tsp. paprika
• Garlic powder to taste
The only vegan Parmesan they had at my Whole Foods was a chipotle one which would have probably been tasty but I wanted to stick as close to the recipe as possible, and well, it cost almost $6. No thanks. So, I substituted nutritional yeast flakes. Stop. Don’t freak out. When I first started reading about vegan cooking, I thought that nutritional yeast flakes sounded bizarre. They’re not scary. They are yeast flakes, exactly what they sound like. They have lots of protein in them and look and taste like Parmesan. You can find them in the bulk bins at Whole Foods. One cup of nutritional yeast flakes from the bulk bin costs about $1.40. CHEAP.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Drain the liquid from the artichokes, mash, and combine with the other ingredients. Scoop into a casserole dish and bake for 1/2 hour. Sprinkle paprika on top before serving. Serve with chips, toasted and cut pita bread, or sliced fresh vegetables.
Makes 10 servings.
The paprika adds great color. I went light on it because the type I had on hand was really hot.
It took a mere 15 minutes to put the ingredients together and pop this in the oven. Major points for simplicity! I snuck a taste of the concoction before putting it in the oven, cheesy and yummy already. After I let it bake up a while I took a peak. It looked so bubbly and happy as it browned! Soon it was the moment of truth.

The verdict:
Me: “Ooh, tangy! It’s so creamy!”
Mr. BB30: “I hope you made enough for yourself.” (walks away carrying the whole pan)

This dip was so easy and delicious. It’s perfect for party. In the 30 minutes it takes for it to bake you have the perfect amount of time to clean up, arrange crackers on a tray, apply lipstick, sprinkle the dip with paprika and greet your guests at the door with a creamy steamy appetizer.

Next time (and I foresee several next times) I think I will add in some minced onions and maybe sprinkle the top with a little bit of Daiya cheese.
Now bust out your finest sparklers!

Lemonade

2011-06-25T08:21:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday I had a co-ed wedding shower to attend downtown (three cheers for the trending co-ed baby and wedding showers-so much more fun!) so I used my summer hours afternoon off on Friday to clean and take the dog child to the groomers and booked a Zumba class for Saturday morning. The trains run slower in Chicago on weekends and even though I left enough time, my train was running late AND there was some kind of issue and we stopped on the tracks for a few minutes. I seriously missed making class by about 10 minutes. I was so ticked! I knew I needed to get in some exercise, so I opted to walk home to meet Mr. BB30 and drive back downtown with him. I turned on my Eminem inspired Pandora station to help me keep up the pace and I power walked (big tote bag and all) the seven miles or so home. It was a good test for me, because I don't handle last minute changes of plan well. I like plans. They make me feel in control and happy. Alas, instead of seething about the incompetent transit or being over dramatic and contemplating why the world wanted to keep me from exercising and make me remain jiggly for life, I rallied and came up with a solution that would get my body in motion and moved on. Ah personal growth. Gold star for me! Turnin' lemons into lemonade!

Inspired by SimplyShaka's recent post on stuffing spaghetti into a portabello cap, and in celebration of Mr. BB30 being free on a Friday night, we made stuffed mushrooms! We made our plans separately, but ended up both choosing to do one Italian version (my included homemade marinara sauce, onions, squash, whole wheat shells) and one Mexican version (mine included black beans, tofu, taco seasoning, purple onions and a sprinkle of Daiya cheese).

Unfortunately, due to his crazy schedule, my love fell asleep before 9:30pm and I stayed up watching Letters to Juliet (don't judge me!)

The produce store did not disappointed. I got six giant zucchinis for $1.49 and a big bag of perfect, adorable, colorful bell peppers for $1.98!!!!!!! I knew what had to be done: LUNCH SOUP

BB30's Roasted Pepper and Tomato Soup
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1 large red bell pepper (sliced)
12 mini bell peppers (mix of red, orange and yellow) (sliced)
1 medium onion (vadalia)
8 cloves of garlic (whole)
2 cups of veggie broth
1 large can of diced tomatoes
Two cups of water
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions
Preheat oven to 425
Line a baking pan with aluminum foil.
Placed sliced peppers, onions and whole garlic cloves in the pan.
Drizzle olive oil over veggies and give them a stir to coat
Place pan in broiler for 20 minutes (you may want to peak in after 10 minutes and give the veggies a stir and/or give them a spritz of olive oil.)
Bring two cups of veggie broth and two cups of water to a boil.
Add diced tomatoes (with juice)
Add roasted veggies

Simmer together for a while to let the flavors marry
Use a food processor or your trusty immersion blender to puree.
Serve as is as a starter or with a sandwich or salad.

OR (how I am enjoying it this week for lunches):
In each bowl place a handful of spinach and ¼ c cooked brown rice.
Pour hot soup over the spinach and rice and let the heat do it’s magic.
Stir.
Dine.

Don't tell Anne Burrell that I didn't wipe my bowl clean for proper presentation!

So smooth and roasty and delicious!

The canned tomatoes I had on hand had green chiles in them so it made it spicy. I added two tbsp of plain soy yogurt to the pot to cool it down. My garden will be in full swing by the next time I make this soup so I can use fresh basil and oregano to make this Italian. I also think if left a bit chunky and chilled, this would make a delicious gazpacho-ish dish.

My workouts this week included:
Monday: Tabata Boxing
Tuesday: Strength Boxing followed by Zumba (whew)
Wednesday: TurboKick
Thursday: Off-I attended a benefit for the show my husband wrote and will star in, then went to an audition
Friday: Off-Ran a ton of errands and de-stressed-it's been a crazy week.
Saturday: Today before obligations and working on tomorrow's Pride Parade Mr. BB30 and I will, gulp, run.

Now to wake up that sleeping husband!

BUMmer

2011-06-16T15:55:00.002-05:00

My lower back/tailbone is killing me. I think I've strained muscles doing some of the lower punching moves in my various boxing classes. It's worse after class (clearly) and in the mornings. Once I hobble out of bed and pop an ibuprofen I am not in as much pain by the time I get to work. I can't bend over flat back without some major pain. Last night (in addition to having some errands that HAD to be run) I was hurting and so tired that I cancelled class. It was ridiculous how much shame and guilt I felt over not exercising. Then I felt angry at myself for feeling shame and guilt. So go the stupid games we play with our minds.

I am a firm believer in acupuncture. It is the only thing that helped my bad arm over a year ago. I need to carve out time and just go. I won't be able to exercise full out until I heal up so I must make it a priority!

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Saturday will once again be full of obligations (nice ones, but busy ones nonetheless). Sunday I have to grocery shop and cook for the week. Not having time to do that last weekend has been tough. I've made do and haven't spent too much (thank goodness for a cheap-although small-salad bar at work.) The following Saturday will be a bit less obligated, but Sunday I'll have to be up early because I am working. I was tasked with coordinating my company's float for the Chicago Pride Parade. This is a big feat with lots of parts coming together (entertainment, body paint artists, the float itself, sound techs, company participants, etc). Should be cool, but oy, makes me nervous.

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In other news, summer has brought one of my favorite things of all time....a little television show called So You Think You Can Dance!!!!!!!!!!! I sadly missed the first two seasons, but I have been a faithful viewer since season three! I am in love with this gal right here:

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She is so darling and encompasses the beautiful, healthy, athletic body that I aspire to to have. Just watch her!

I die. So beautiful.

Gardens and Grumpies

2011-06-14T11:59:00.000-05:00

Two weekends ago, we beat a huge storm by seconds and planted our little summer garden! Later this summer Mr.BB30 and I will have three varieties of tomatoes, basil, oregano, red and green bell peppers and yellow squash.

When I saw that this tomato was called a "Celebrity" I had to have it. It was a kind of wilty at first and I contemplated naming her Amy Winehouse, but we decided that a much more appropriate name was Courtney Love as Celebrity Skin is one of my favorite karaoke songs. You'll be relieved to know that Courtney is much less wilty and in recovery.

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We have two of these sweet basil plants. I foresee some amazing pesto in my future!!

When digging about we unearthed a little stone garden Buddha. Over the last couple of years there have been some perennial flowers that were finally transplanted to make more room now that we have to share our plot. Garden Buddha must have been there a while. I thought it was a symbol of good gardening to come!

Since my squash died a tragic moldy death last summer, I decided Garden Buddha should watch over my new plant this year.

I have no pictures of my bell pepper plants or oregano. I am a bad mother.

I survived my busy weekend. I am definitely suffering from residual grumpiness, but I am rallying.

Last week I ended up changing my workouts a bit. Friday I opted to enjoy my summer hours early release instead of having to deal with the hassle of traveling all the way back downtown. I had plans downtown on Saturday afternoon, so I opted to head down early and take a Saturday morning Turbo Kick class. Having a full Friday afternoon off was really helpful and I was particularly lame and was asleep by 9:45pm. MUCH NEEDED.

This week I've had another Monday event, so I have some creative scheduling to do once again:

Monday-Off-Went to a wonderful show at a friends theater.
Tuesday: Strength Boxing
Wednesday: Turbo Kick followed by a toning class
Thursday: WERQ (yay!)
Friday: Take dog child to the groomers-brotha' needs his nails did
Saturday: Zumba

I ended up with another downtown event on Saturday afternoon, so I'm going to go for the Saturday morning workout again. This time I need to go a little earlier, so my option is Zumba. I find that it really depends on the instructor for me. The right instructor makes it such a blast, but some instructors are far too cutesy for me and I end up feeling silly-I always get a good work out, but I don't feel good if I feel silly. I've not taken from the person lined up to teach on Saturday, so I'm excited to take class from a new person!

Insert Clever Title Here

2011-06-08T19:57:00.000-05:00

On Thursday night I got to meet a couple of Chicago Bloggers and dear heart Simply Shaka who was in town. I am so grateful to anyone who reads my ramblings while trying to say on track with this whole fitness thing, so after class I sped over to catch the group! They were so kind and didn't judge my lame The Hangover jokes. Ha!

Amy, Tiffany, Joanna, Me

Photo stolen from Tiffany .

My week this week is very hectic and my weekend to come is very over committed. This stresses me out big time! I had zucchini to use up so I invented a zucchini soup to eat for lunch this week. It's frosty in Dayjobland so nice warm soup is a welcome meal even in the summer!

Ingredients:
(All of the chopping can be rough since you'll blend this.)

2 small regular zucchinis, chopped
2 Mexican zucchinis, chopped
4 cups of veggie broth
1 small vadalia onion, chopped
1/4 cup instant potato flakes
1/2 tsp Tony's seasoning
A few shakes of curry powder (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Steam the zucchini (about 6 minutes if you're using a microwave steamer)
Chop onion and saute in a soup pot with a bit of olive oil (use your Misto to keep the calories in check)
Add zucchini, broth and seasoning to the pot and let everyone come to a nice boil
Blend with your trusty Immersion Blender or Food Processor
Add potato flakes and blend once more
Dine!

This made about three hearty lunch portions.

I didn't anticipate my soup being so thin, thus the addition of the potato flakes. I would have preferred to use real potatoes, but in a pinch, potato flakes are a great thickener and made my soup a little more hearty. Without the flakes, this would be a great little starter soup for a dinner party, but for a meal, it needs a little bulk.

Monday I gussied up and attended an awards ceremony (sort of the Tony's of Chicago). A play I did was up for Best Play of the Year. (We didn't win-frown.) That meant that I couldn't get in a workout on Monday and will have to go back to back for the rest of the week again. That's not my favorite thing. Since I like to get my four workouts in on weekdays due to gym location, I much prefer to have Wednesdays off if at all possible. My office has begun summer hours and we come in earlier Mon-Thurs and get out early on Fridays. This makes scheduling difficult because if I have to go to a class on Friday night, I have to trek all the way home and all the way back again, thus ruining the point of opening up Friday afternoons for fun (and actually getting time with Mr. BB30 since for the next few Fridays he won't have a show or rehearsal-weee!) See how hard I work at all of this?! It's maddening!

The week is shaping up to look like this:

Monday: Off-Awards Ceremony
Tuesday: Strength Boxing
Wednesday: R.I.P.P.E.D (Resistance, Interval, Power, Plyometrics, and Endurance training)
Thursday: WERQ (hooray!)
Friday: Kwando Kickboxing

This line up may change if I decide to double up on Thursday so I can have my Friday afternoon free to go on a date with my hubby.

Ole

2011-06-02T12:13:00.000-05:00

I have been craving crunchy tacos for a while now. Last week, Mr. BB30 brought home these!

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I am in love! 110 calories for two. Not too shabby when you're dying for that crunch! I've been making fillings of homemade seitan, black beans, onions, green peppers, taco seasoning (Trader Joe's is the best) and Mr. BB30's homemade tomatillo sauce. You can have two awesome tacos and add lots of steamed veggies on the side to fill up (I have a lot of kale on hand this week) . It scratches the itch but keeps me in check. Ole!

Happy Summer!

2011-06-01T14:04:00.000-05:00

I really needed my long Memorial Day weekend. It was a bit bumpy emotionally and having an extra day away from the daily grind was really good for me. I was adding things to my calendar today and June is jammed with obligations and events so I am really going to have to plan well to get in workouts and carve out down time. I am simply not someone who can play hard all weekend and bounce right into the week. I need down time. If I do not get my Sunday to recharge nestled on my sofa, it really throws me off and I am unhappy and grouchy. Being aware of what I need to be productive and happy is definitely part of my healthy journey. Workouts have taken the place of rehearsals (during this unfortunately dry time acting-wise) so I do not have much time in the evenings once I get home on weekdays. I know it's all for a good reason (being fit!), but I have to put effort into balancing my time between obligations (social and others) and errands on the weekends so I can have some moments to be still.

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On Monday I had such a satisfying and healthy Memorial Day Feast:

Raw veggies to snack on
Fresh grilled corn that had been soaked in-husk in a brine of sugar and salt water
Grilled salad: romaine, portabellos, tomatoes and vadalia onions ALL grilled (even the romaine!)
Whole grilled portabello mushroom caps-delightful

So fresh and delicious and guilt free! I suppose it balanced out my two ~~Kahlua and vodkas~~ VODKA and Kahlua's.

This week's work out line up includes:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Strength Boxing
Wednesday: Throwback Dance & Sculpt followed by Abs & Butt Blast
Thursday: Kicklates (kick boxing + pilates)
Friday: Kwando Kick Boxing

So, I'll be boxing a lot this week. Cardio kick boxing in general (strength, kwando, tabata) has been the best overall workout I have ever gotten. It's done more for my core than pilates and I really connect to it. Strength boxing ain't no joke. Unless you're a superstar who has been doing it for a while you're encouraged to use 2lb weights. Seriously. It sounds like nothing, but it ups ante so much! Last night while I waited for class to start I overheard a girl saying she was new to this particular gym and she'd once been really active but was injured and couldn't exercise for a while. She said she would probably need to hit the elliptical after class was over to get in some more cardio. Cut to after class when I heard her say, "I wanted to cry after 20 minutes." That makes it sound horrible. It's not. It's just challenging. That's one thing I dig about the place I have been going to for the past four months, they give you a serious workout. Even the "slower" sounding classes like strength yoga and barre burn (ballet toning) really give you a thorough workout. They give you the most for your hour long class.

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I am excited about the Throwback Dance & Sculpt class today. It's a new offering and will be half cardio/half toning set to 80s and 90s music. I'm excited to dance again. I haven't done much Zumba since my favorite teacher isn't teaching right now and things have come up the past several weeks and I haven't been able to stay late on the day they have the WERQ (hip hop) class. I've been missing dance and feeling a twinge of workout boredom. I'm glad to spice it up this week. I will channel my inner Jane Fonda. Don't think this chubby 80s child didn't awkwardly attempt this video workout. My favorite part is from minute 3:50 to minute 4:13.

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Tweet Tweet

2011-05-29T20:08:00.000-05:00

I opened a Twitter account in February but never used it. I've decided it will be a great way to share small nuggets and keep myself accountable!

Follow me!

Bikini By30

RecipeTest Drive: Cornmeal-Crusted Tempeh with Smoked Tomato Sauce, Green Chile Relish, Black Bean Puree and Braised Kale

2011-05-28T17:46:00.000-05:00

In today’s economy more and more people I know seem to be opting to cook date-night and special meals at home. They’re always on the look out for elegant meals they can make themselves. Recently I tried out a recipe that is perfect for creating a fancy meal at home (or to woo your vegetarian or vegan significant other.) This is a meal I would serve to someone who thinks vegan food is weird and can't possibly taste good.

Cornmeal-Crusted Tempeh with Smoked Tomato Sauce, Green Chile Relish, Black Bean Puree and Braised Kale

The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen (page 190)

Ingredients for the tempeh:

8 tablespoons shoyu

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick

2 cloves of garlic

2 medium dried ancho chiles

2 medium dried chipotle chiles

1 large bay leaf

10 whole peppercorns

Shoyu is basically soy sauce. If you have soy sauce on hand, just use that. I couldn’t find dried chipotle peppers so I used a small can of chipotle in adobe sauce and just rinsed off the peppers I used for the tempeh broth and the sauce below.

Tempeh is made up of whole soy beans fermented into a patty. It isn’t “fake meat”. It is a soy cake. It has a mild flavor and takes on whatever seasoning you add to it. It has a nice nutty-rice consistency. It is very high in protein!

Directions:

In a large pot combine these ingredients and add 6 cups of water.

Bring to a boil and add 2 8oz packages of tempeh cut into 1/4 inch slices.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the tempeh with a slotted spoon to a plate and let cool.

The tempeh broth is so flavorful and fragrant with all of the chile goodness! I kept it and made soup out of it later in the week by adding tofu, veggies and a little brown rice. Yum (and resourceful)!

Ingredients for the tomato sauce:

4 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, diced

1 celery stalk, dice

2 medium dried ancho chiles, stemmed

2 medium dried chipotle chiles, stemmed

2 (12oz) cans fire-roasted tomatoes, including juice

1/2 cup vegetable stock

3 Tbs Earth Balance butter

Earth Balance Buttery Spread is amazing, tastes just like butter and is nothing to fear. It is made with an oil blend of palm fruit, safflower, canola, and olive. See? Not creepy. It’s a great way to start slowly weaning off of animal products. Do you absolutely need to go buy it for this sauce if you don't have it? Nah.

Place a large saute pan over medium heat. Sprinkle the bottom with a pinch of sea salt and heat for one minute. Add the oil and heat for 30 seconds, being careful not to let smoke. This will create a nonstick effect.

I have non-stick pans so I simply did a spritz of olive oil from my trusty sprayer (found at your friendly neighborhood Bed Bath and Beyond).It saved me some calories/fat.

Add the onion and saute for three minutes. Add the garlic, carrots, celery and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned. Add the chiles, tomatoes, and the stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes.

Ingredients for the black bean puree:

2 TBS olive oil

1/2 onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 (15 oz) can black beans, including liquid

sea salt and pepper

In a small pot over medium heat, heat oil for 30 seconds.

Again, I used a non-stick pot so I did a spritz of oil instead.

Add the onion and garlic and saute, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the beans and their liquid, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Place the beans in a food processor and pulse until pureed. I went simpler than using my food processor. I used my trusty handheld immersion blender. It’s such a wonderful tool for blending sauces and soups and makes for easy clean up!

Ingredients for the green chile relish:

1 Anaheim chile

1 garlic clove, minced

1 shallot, minced

salt and pepper

Holding the chile with tongs, char over a gas burner until blackened then peel, seed and finely dice it. (Alternatively, put the chile on a baking sheet under a broiler and cook, turning, until blackened on all sides.) In a small bowl, combine the chile with the rest of the relish ingredients.

I couldn’t find a fresh Anaheim chile so I used a small can of green chiles instead (and it was so much less of a hassle than playing with tongs and fire!). If canned green chiles are wrong I don’t wanna be right, because this relish was so incredibly zesty and flavorful!!! So simple, so impressive, so appearing in my dinners for years to come! A winner!!!!!!

To fry the tempeh and serve:

1/2 cup cornmeal

salt and pepper

1/4 cup canola oil

In a mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge each piece of tempeh in the mixture, coating well. Place a large saute pan over medium heat. Sprinkle the bottom with a pinch of salt and heat for 1 minute. Add the oil and heat for 30 seconds, being careful not to let it smoke. Add the tempeh, in batches if necessary, and cook until well browned, 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan.

Ingredients for the braised kale:

- 1 1/2 pounds kale (remove the stems and chop)

- 2 TB olive oil

- 1/2 cup vegetable stock

- 1 TB Earth Balance

- salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Put a dash of salt into your pan and heat for about a minute (over medium heat). Then add 2 TB canola oil. After this has warmed up for about 30 seconds, you will see that nothing will stick to your pan

2. Cook the kale for 3-4 minutes. The kale will begin to wilt.

3. Pour in the 1/2 cup of vegetable stock, salt and pepper. Continue cooking over medium heat for 5 more minutes.

4. Drain the kale and mix in the tablespoon of Earth Balance.
You could always just wash, chop and steam your kale with a microwave steamer and season later.

Serve tempeh with Braised Kale, black bean puree, tomato sauce, and green chile relish.

This meal was so savory, posh and chic! It also took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to make which is pretty timing consuming in my book. BUT, each component of this meal is useful by itself. For example, blend in an added cup of veggie broth to the black bean puree and you have a fabulous black bean soup! The tomato sauce is killer and would be great on top of veggies and/or whole wheat pasta! (I recently ate some over black beans and rice for lunch!) The relish would be delish on tacos, scrambled tofu, steamed veggies and soups. The kale is just great to know how to make to expand your veggie world! So even if you don’t want to try this entire meal right away, pick one thing to make as a starting point….I suggest the sauce!!!

Also note, next time I make this I am cutting down my simmer time for the sauce and tempeh. I really think it could be just as flavorful in half the time.

The verdict:

BB30: “I feel like a real chef! The sauce and relish are so amazing, I want to put them on everything!”

Mr. BB30: (shocked) “Woah. This is really good. I don’t miss the meat!”

Well That's That

2011-05-26T13:34:00.001-05:00

Another day of packing up and carefully preparing ensued to get to my exciting call back yesterday. I gave it my all and am pleased to be one of just 15 called back after two days of auditions. Alas, I was released with a few other people after a couple of hours (it was a four hour call back) which 99.364% of the time means you are out. With last month's major big time show loss followed by two minor show losses, another disappointment earlier this month, and now this, I am just down. Ne'er was there a girl who has more passion for performance than I, but as Patty Smyth says, "Sometimes love just ain't enough."

Something very interesting happened though. I walked out of the place and went into auto-pilot old-self mode and asked myself what multitude of terrible things I would eat in anger and sadness. I couldn't come up with anything. When I got home I had a couple of cocktails, but really, I didn't have the desire to eat over my pain. BREAKTHROUGH! I'm trying to focus on that today.

This week my workouts are scheduled as follows:

Monday: Tabata Boxing and Cardio Barre Sculpt
Tuesday: Strength Boxing (Try kickboxing with weights-it ain't easy!)
Wednesday: off-pity party
Thursday: off-Attending a theatre benefit
Friday: Kwando Kickboxing

Monday at Tabata the instructor had 20% discount cards for Lucy Active Wear. She said she would give them to the people who gave it their all in class. I always give it my all but I tried to push harder (even doing full out push ups during warm ups instead of modified girl ones). Alas, no reward. I was bummed. I have chosen to believe that the incentive was there for people who don't work hard each time and needed extra motivation. Yes, that's it, but still my feelings were hurt after all of my months of hard work. I wouldn't have used it anyway. These would have still cost me over $60.

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Well, that was nice and dreary, but hey, dreary patches are an honest part of the journey. I think I should start keeping a gratitude journal again so I can pull myself out of this slump and focus on good things...like the fact that I haven't had multiple surgeries on my eyeballs! Visit http://dishingfordana.com/

A Day In the Life

2011-05-24T13:48:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I had an audition during lunch. Many times this isn't a problem. Yesterday however was different.

This particular audition needed an up tempo pop song. We were notified about landing an audition slot with little turnaround time, and I couldn't get a hold of anyone to confirm if they wanted a background track accompaniment or standard sheet music. (Typically you are told and typically it is in fact sheet music, but with the pop twist, and the style of the show I could not be certain). So I had to be prepared for anything. Gulp. I sing, but I am not what you would call a musical theatre person.I'm just not. Thus, I get nervous about musical auditions.

In order to be prepared I had to:

Sunday

Download the track
Discover my blank CDs were missing and wait for MR. BB30 to find them and burn one.

Monday AM (at home)

Wash hair. I have been very stressed out with my career going no where and my day job being so frustrating that my on going scalp issues reared their ugly heads!
Style fresh hair (difficult task with my wavy hair and the weather)
Pack CD
iPod Player (in case there isn't a CD player and background tracks are preferred)
Pack Music Book (in case I needed sheet music)
Pack Audition clothes (I wanted to have a specific look I couldn't wear to work)
Pack straightening iron (muggy weather+fresh hair=poof city)
Pack Gym clothes
Pack Lunch
Pack Extra make up
Pack Hs/resume (safely so it won't bend)
Did I mention it had to be packed for public transportation-meaning I need to take up as little room as possible. Oy vey.)

Monday AM (at work)

Get everything in order at work to be away for an hour. You would be surprised how devastating it can be for the people I work with to have me take an actual lunch break. Something will always go wrong if I leave.
Use a break to quickly change and retouch hair (thank goodness my straightener heats up fast!)

Audition:

Catch cab $$
Audition
Cab back $$

Monday PM

Survive rest of work day
Work out
Take an uncomfortable shower at home since someone is doing repairs in our apartment until unknown hours.

Monday was long, but I prevailed.

The good news is that as for the audition, I was called back on the spot! This can be unusual, and I never expected it to happen today. I was really just auditioning so I could say I was trying and doing everything I could to succeed. My expectations are appropriately managed, but I am really excited. I feel like I am very suited for this kind of show. There will be some day job bridges to cross if I book it, this is what I want to do with my life! Think positive thoughts for me tomorrow! I hope I was as good as the citizens of Blaine! (Oh, and until you've seen Waiting for Guffman, we're not friends.)

This week for lunch I am dining on some nice hearty veggie soup (zucchini, Mexican zucchini, onions, tomatoes and whole wheat rotini in veggie broth. Yum!) My produce store is a soup maker’s dream. They bundle veggies that are good, but need to be used up in the next few days and sell them for super cheap (Or shall I say souper cheap? Bazinga!) That just sounded like I buy old wilty veggies. Trust me, I don’t. However, on Saturday I scored seven perfect zucchinis and two giant carrots for $1.49. Yes!!!!! So far I’ve used it for soup and even incorporated it into an Ellen Roast.

You're Gonna Wanna Swim In This Sauce

2011-05-22T20:44:00.000-05:00

What's that sound? Oh, it's me tooting my own horn for a ridiculously easy and majorly delicious, figure friendly sauce to put on pasta (or frankly anything you want to be extra mouth watering). PESTO CREAM SAUCE!

This sauce was birthed recently when I was preparing for a Recipe Throwdown. Some gals I know have been making efforts to have monthly recipe challenges/parties and this month was a Six Course Italian Small Plate Dinner. Each contestant was assigned a course and I got pasta! I love the opportunity to share vegan dishes with friends and show people how deliciously you can live as a vegan! I decided to make a ravioli. Ambitious indeed.

I poked around the web for recipes for vegan pasta dough and there seemed to be a general consensus that equal parts regular flour and semolina (pasta makin') flour with some water or broth would do the trick. I chose to use half semolina flour and half whole wheat flour.

1.5 c flour
1.5 c semolina flour
3/4 c veggie broth

Create a dough ball and let it rest while you make your filling of choice. I went with a mushroom and onion blend.

1.5 c finely chopped mushroom (I used white buttons.)
1 c finely chopped onion (I used vadalia.)
Several large cloves of garlic
Sea salt to taste
Mists of olive oil and a little Earth Balance

Add all ingredients to a pan and cook filling enough just to get it tender. It will cook a bit more when the ravioli boils.

Roll out your dough as thin as possibly (general web consensus is about 1/8 of an inch)-Or be smarter than me and just get a pasta maker or the attachment you always meant to get for your Kitchen Aid.

Use a cookie cutter, glass tumbler (be careful), or lid to make circles or squares. I used the plastic lid of a jar.

To assemble, place a dollop of filling in the middle of a circle/square an cover with another circle/square. Seal the edges by pinching with your fingers and/or using a fork like a pie crust.

Fill a pot with water or veggie broth and let it come to a boil. Carefully drop in your ravioli. You can put several in the pot at the same time, but don't overload it. Boil approximately seven minutes (the raviolis will float). Pull out finished raviolis with a slotted spoon or a spider and put them on a plate. Spray them with olive oil so they don't stick together.

Now for THE SAUCE.

15 basil leaves
1 TBSP of olive oil
Sea Salt to taste
1/4 TBSP lemon zest
3/4 c plain soy yogurt
Grated Garlic

Make a little bit of pesto (don't cheat and use store bought-it's fresher and you are controlling the oil and additives).

In a small bowl (cereal bowl size) finely chiffonade several basil leaves (I'd say at least 15) and mix with a tablespoon of olive oil and an obscene amount of grated garlic (I use about 5 giant cloves).

Add salt to taste.

Add lemon zest.

Now that you have simple homemade delicious pesto, add it to plain soy yogurt.

Mix well. Add salt or garlic powder if needed to taste.

Warm it on the stove (or in the microwave if you must).

Drizzle over your fresh ravioli.

Take a bite.

Dance with joy.

You're welcome.

Seriously, dairy lover Mr. BB30 loves this sauce so much he has asked me to make it for him twice already. He has a weakness for creamy pasta sauce and has been sad without it (he's been buckling down lately). He says this sauce fills the void left by Alfredo. I think that's a pretty big compliment. While I did not take top honors at the friendly Throwndown, I was so get people's reactions and marvel at how the sauce could possibly be vegan. Yay!

A Trip Home and Such

2011-05-18T19:44:00.000-05:00

My quick trip south went pretty well. I felt like I ate way too much cereal, but it was such a simple and easy go-to. The night I got in my folks and my dear pal Hilde went to a Chinese buffet. Luckily this place had a make-your-own stir fry set up so I was able to feast on some yummy (yet overly soy sauced) veggies and steamed rice. Saturday was the day of my professor's retirement party and between running around doing errands, getting lost on the way to rehearsal and starting my period (read: I was so tired and weak I couldn't think straight) I was glad to survive. Somewhere along the way we ended up at a mom and pop Chipotle type place so I was able to make a little burrito bowl with rice, black beans and mushrooms and peppers they sauteed in oil only just for me. I am so thankful for that burrito bowl because I was left with only salad to eat at the event (cut to BB30 eating peanut butter crackers in the car at 10pm in a dress and heels). On Sunday night I had the opportunity to cook and served up my version of the PPK's Chickpea Picatta. It was weird not to cook in my own kitchen, but it was a hit (Although would Mom and Dad BB30 actually tell me if they hated it? Doubtful).

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Returning to work last week without a day of rest made for a tough week, but I knew I needed to make the most of my week with workouts:

Tuesday 5/10: Strength Boxing and Abs/Butt Blast
Wednesday 5/11: Yoga Sculpt and Turbo Kick
Thursday: Off (I had several errands to run after day jobbin')
Friday 5/13: Kwando Kickboxing

Stay tuned for some great recipes I've tested lately and how I am bringin' the vegan to some recipe smack downs!!

Also, be sure to Dish for Dana!

First Week of a New Year

2011-05-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

Wow. I began the THIRD year of this journey this week. Hard to believe. Bring on the sleek bod! It's gonna hurt, but it's gonna be s'good!

This week I knew I needed to put in more effort at the gym because with Tuesday being devoted to birthday festivities and Friday through Monday being devoted to a quick trip home to the south.

Here is what I did this week:

Monday: Tabata Boxing, Cardio Barre Blast (toning), and Hustle (a dance based workout I hadn't tried yet. Less quirky than Zumba, still not as bad ass as WERQ)

Wednesday: Yoga Sculpt, Turbokick, Chizle Fo' Shizzle (dumbbell toning, and it's actual name)

Thursday: Barre Burn, Hustle

Other than some pieces of birthday cake this week, I really stayed on track. I've only made one trip to the south as a vegan and I managed due to some preparation. I think this trip may prove a bit more challenging since I am attending an actual event. My guess is that I'll eat something before hand, bring a baggie of almonds in case all I can have at the event is salad, and then have a snack later. Should be just fine. We shall see.

I will also drink one of these:

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Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke from Sonic is the Drink of the Gods and there is one very close to the airport parking lot at my destination. Yeehaw!

Happy weekends y'all!

(cue Oprah) IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

2011-05-03T18:17:00.003-05:00

It's my birthday y'all! Last year at this time I sported my new bikini friendly body, got a fabulous surprise visit by my NYC besties, and marveled at how far I'd come emotionally and physically over the past year. I knew I could relax a smidge but that my battle would never truly be over.

My focus was on incorporating exercise however I could, finding the motivation to get in gear and cutting back on calories. This past year has been more about a discovery of being active and what it does for me. When I lost On Demand Exercise TV in the summer (ComCast was awful and HAD to go to save my wallet!) I turned to Bikram Yoga (thank you Groupon). Because of some stellar discounts I was able to party with Bikram for about five months. Then I got bored with the monotony and busy and stressed with two huge projects at my day job. I found I missed exercise and felt myself longing for movement and actually run down and lethargic without it. At the end of January (thanks to another Groupon) I was able to start working out at a new fitness place. I was snobby about it at first which I now realize was my way of trying to get out of exercising. I love it so much now. I get such a wide variety of classes from yoga, to kick boxing to dance to traditional calisthenics. It's great. Not easy in any way, but great. I work out four times a week and am slowly adding more. It's become my routine to walk over after work and 'get my sweat on' (the place's motto). I love planning out my classes for the week. I feel so strong and have noticed some definition that I've never had before. It's so motivating.

I'm almost 17 months in to switching to a vegan diet and I still love it. I know it helped me through my recent Plague. Food is medicine people. I still feel so clean and energized and happy eating this way. I never feel weighed down after I eat. I always just feel nourished and content. I stay on top of getting all of nutrients, but it's so second hand at this point. With my more active lifestyle the past few months I think I need some guidance with the best way to eat while building muscle and trying to continue slimming down, so I am hoping to meet with a vegan nutritionist soon to make sure I am doing the right things.

Oh, would you like to see comparison shots? It never gets easier to put myself out thee, but here are the stats and pics:

May 3, 2010 Waist (at belly button): 29
May 3, 2011 Waist (at belly button): 28
An inch!

May 3rd, 2010 Hips: 35.5
May 3rd, 2011 Hips: 34.5
An inch!

May 3rd, 2010 Thigh: 21.5
May 3rd, 2011 Thigh: 20.5
An inch!

May 3rd, 2010 Arm: 10.50
May 3rd, 2011 Arm: 10.25
1/4 of an inch!

Again this year I think the back shots are the most telling.

While maintenance was the overall goal of the year I've realized that I have some strengthening work to do (especially if I am going to have kids one day). While I am sad that acting isn't working out for me, I am looking at the bright side that it's given me time to tend to my health. I love that I am starting to see some muscles and want to look fierce and athletic and healthy! I hope to kick some serious fitness arse over the next year!

Look, I have some little guns now!

Now for a fabulous birthday dinner, but first, thanks to all of you who have stuck with me. Knowing you're out there makes all the difference. Truly. We can do this!

What A Week

2011-05-01T17:14:00.000-05:00

The past couple of weeks week have been strange and fragile.

Two weeks ago in the drizzling spring chill of Chicago, Mr. BB30 and his entire cast had been sniffling and one of my co-workers decided it would be brilliant to come to work with The Plague and breathe it all over me. Despite preventative measures of EmergenC and positive thinking, it was no use. Two weeks ago today I starting feeling awful, and by the next evening I was shaking and crying in a hot shower like a baby. I am the worst sick person. Maybe it's because I am the baby of the family. Maybe it's just because I am a baby. Nonetheless I am a bad sick person. What was crazy is how furious I was. I was not furious so much because I was sick (sadly, I am still without show prospects), but I was furious that it meant I couldn't go to fitness class. Unreasonably furious. Perhaps I am obsessing? Perhaps I wasn't so off when I mentioned exchanging emotional eating for emotional exercise. Going to class after work has become my release, my meditation time, my endorphin rush. I was so achy and miserable and my throat was raw.

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The days that followed were tough. Tuesday I stayed home sick from work and also accompanied Mr. BB30 to the wake for his sweet Grandpa. Seriously, I am so privileged to have known Grandpa Hohs and I cherish the wonderful speech he gave at our wedding and the beautiful picture of him we have of it. He was the mayor his town for 8 years and was loved by so many people. Wednesday was the funeral. I came home and starved for movement I did Jillian Michaels Shred level 1 then 2. Thursday I went back to work, still wrecked, but forced myself to go to Kicklates, a new class the fitness place created combining (you guessed it) Kick Boxing and Pilates. Friday was Good Friday and I was still a mess. I stayed home from my standard Friday night Kwando Kickboxing class. I felt like an uber failure (which is lame, I know, I was really under the weather!). I was getting tired of this. I was exhausted with being sick. I was so drained (and snotty) I couldn't do much over the weekend, but I got nice and (medicinally) drugged up and did get some time on Easter to canoodle with my insanely cute baby nephew. The next day I was still a coughing snotty nightmare and went to the doctor. EIGHT DAYS? This was some kind of mutant super cold. I couldn't lay down (which is all I wanted to do) without coughing. He assured me that I was only contagious the first couple of days (so I ran no risk of getting my nephew sick), and gave me some prescription strength cough suppressant and antibiotics. Today is day 14 and I am still a little clogged and drippy, but much better. I feel like I have been in a snotty haze for two weeks.

My best friend:

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I know this was a mutant super cold because 1) I never get actual coughs 2) It lasted two weeks (obviously) 3) I lost my appetite. I simply don't do that. I would wake up hungry-ish and eat some cereal. For several days the only things I wanted were salty brothy soups and oatmeal.

Let this be your public service announcement to wash your hands and cover your mouths people!

This week I made it to my classes. Most exercises in the non dance based classes have levels for each move. The instructors had mercy when I had to dropped to a level one since it was clear that I was about to lose my lung. Nonetheless, I prevailed.

Monday-Tabata Boxing followed by Cardio Barre Sculpting
Tuesday-Off
Wednesday- Cardio Barre Sculpting followed by Cardio Blast (old skool calisthenics)
Thursday-Kicklates followed by WERQ (my FAVE)
Friday-Kwando Kickboxing

Tabata Boxing is the same TaeBo style of boxing, but it moves in intervals (a fellow named Tabata came up with the theory of interval training it's based on). For example, one tabata might be jab-cross-jab-uppercut. So, for twenty seconds we do as many reps of that as we can (everyone at their own pace) - then rest 10 seconds. You do eight sets of each exercise and we do about twelve tabatas over one hour (including a few minutes at the top and bottom for warm up and cool down). Supposedly you increase your post workout calorie burn by about 14 percent. I'll take it. The instructor told us on Monday that the class was a bit tougher that night. No wonder I was coughing like mad.

Thursday was tough. I paired two very high energy classes together, but I think that in order to keep on sliding down the scale I need to up the ante and double up on classes.

I get to work from home tomorrow (bliss!) and then Tuesday is my birthday and I have the day off! Yay! Although it never gets easier to post pics, I will post some comparison shots and bust out the tape measure. Wednesday and Thursday it's back to work then Friday it's off to Texas for the retirement party of one of my dear professors.

I wish you all happy, healthy weeks!

Dance Kick Dance Kick

2011-04-12T15:24:00.000-05:00

This week's workouts will go like this:

Monday: Zumba
Tuesday off: They switched up class schedules AGAIN and Barre Burn was too brutal for my arm injuries
Wednesday: Turbo Kick (haven't done this one exactly before, but seems similar to Kwando)
Thursday: WERQ (hip hop)
Friday: Kwando Kickboxing

At the fitness place I've been going to there is online sign up for classes that helps them determine what room to put the class in (there is a large, medium and small room). Yesterday, apparently half the Zumba class didn't show up on time so we got moved to the small room...then more showed late. It was cramped. Lame. When you have long arms and legs kicking and big arm movements is not possible in a tiny room.

The Way Eye See It

2011-04-08T10:17:00.000-05:00

I write about being healthy and trying to be the best me I can be inside and out. Yes, a lifelong battle with weight and food is tough, but manageable. Imagine not being able to rely on one of your most valued physical needs, your eyes. My bestiekins, The Broke-Ass Bride, has been living with an auto immune disease in her eyes for over nine years. From implants to glaucoma to steroid drops to needles in her eyeballs, she's been through it all. Sadly, she will soon have to go through her 12th eye surgery. Between old school loans, expensive treatments and general tough times with finances, the bills keep racking up with no end in sight. Not feeling comfortable with a traditional fundraiser, but in need of help, Dana and her husband Hunter have created Dishing For Dana, an online recipe share project that will help raise funds to bring down her pile of medical debt as well as raise money for the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association.

Read all about it here.

Nubbins

2011-04-07T14:20:00.000-05:00

Happy April. I can't believe it. Time flies.

My birthday is one month from last Sunday.

The weekend brought on some harsh realizations and tough stuff. All three of my very promising auditions fell through. With having inside connections for two of them and the other just feeling outstanding, I am shocked. I got a very nice personal email from one of the places (personal emails are rare-they typically form "thanksbut no thanks" emails). There are so many factors that weigh in on casting decisions from height to age to union vs. non union. I always thought I would outlast everyone and finally make it, but my stamina is starting to truly waver for the first time. One day at a time, one step at a time.

Thank God for my fitness classes. Friday's Kwando Kickboxing class was my sweatiest most intense yet. I pounded out my frustrations and air-punched several nameless people in the face. I was spent. I looked like I had been in a Bikram class. Monday I tried Tabata Boxing which is a similar Taebo-style class, but the moves are done in fast repetitive circuits (tabatas). Round house kicks are my favorite. I just really enjoy kicking, and bonus, it's great for saddle bags! I love air-round house kicking wrong-doers in their bellies. I'm such a lady. This is how you do one:

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Tuesday night I went to a new class, Barre Burn. This was ballerina/bar, pilates/yoga mix of a class all about toning up. There were many planks in the beginning with really irritate my crazy arm injuries.I know I just need to get my behind back to accupuncture. It's a phone call and a nice walk away, I don't know why I am procrastinating. I know it would help calm my racing mind and all of my anxiety as well.

Wednesday was my day off of exercise, but I still really wanted to move. So, I took a nice mile long walk to one of my favorite thrift stores to look around and get some inspiration. Do you all read New Dress A Day? Marissa is brilliant and inspires me to bust out the sewing machine I got for Christmas but haven't devoted a weekend to playing with. Two miles total. The walk felt good. Dare I say my body craves movement now?

Oh hey, let's make soup!

Like I mentioned last week I've come upon several sales on fresh brocoli lately. There was so much leftover stalk-age (or nubbins) that I decided I would start making soup from it. I've done this a couple of times. I call it Nubbin Soup.

I chop up the nubbins (approx 2 cups) and steamed them until they were soft.

Then I added one cup of florets to my second steamer tower and steamed everything for seven more minutes.


I cooked up one cup of chopped onions and six grated cloves of garlic with just a kiss of olive oil.


Then I let everyone get friendly in the pot for five minutes.

Then I added in four cups of vegetable broth, one additional cup of water and blended away with my trusty Cuisinart immersion blender. Her name is "Cusi Jefferson". Move it on up, girl!

I like to swirl in some shredded Daiya Cheese in my bowl before eating it and/or add in some cooked brown rice. Either way it's mega comforting and DELISH!

Go forth and get yo' Nubbin on!

What "use it all up" creations have you made lately?

Challenge Week

2011-03-29T14:00:00.001-05:00

I have been blessed with many auditions lately. Three good possibilities hang in the balance and the suspense is killing me (mostly because all three conflict with each other so if I book more than one of them there will be big decisions to be made. On the flip side, I could book none of them which would be very disappointing.) So it goes in this business. I am one of the most impatient people on the planet so this is brutal. Luckily my fitness classes are giving me some much needed breaks of living in my head and trying to rationalize an irrational business and anticipate what other people are thinking or doing. Trading emotionally eating for emotionally exercising. could be less healthy things to do I suppose. So, I've decided to challenge myself to workout all five work days this week instead of four.

My classes for the week:

Monday: Cardio Barre Dance (we did half and half this time: half cardio dance and half ballet style strengthening)

Tuesday: Strength Boxing (This one is a toughie, especially since I sometimes overcompensate arm weakness by using my neck, BUT they are very nice about letting you puts your weights down if you're sacrificing form.) Plus, this class is at 5:30pm and burns more calories than Zumba which I would have had to wait around for until 6:30pm. I hate waiting. Did I mention I was impatient?

Wednesday: Cardio Barre Sculpting (30 mins) and Cardio Blast (30 mins of old fashioned calisthenics and cardio.)

Thursday: WERQ (Do I look like a dork doing hip hop? Yup. Do I love it? Ohhh yesssss!

Friday: Kwando Kickboxing (Billy Blanks style!)

In other news I have been so happy about the abundance of cheap broccoli for the past month or so. Broccoli is a great source of Vitamin C, fiber, and most importantly for me, calcium. I think steamed broccoli with a little Earth Balance, salt and garlic is mega delicious. I believe that everyone needs a handy dandy microwave steamer. (I am not a true hippie yet and still use a microwave).

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Stay tuned for my recipe for broccoli soup!

Fitness Schedule for the Week

2011-03-23T13:19:00.000-05:00

Monday: Cardio Barre Dance-45 minutes of high energy dance (including some fun African dance movements) followed by 15 minutes of ballet style toning as well as some painful planks! We really opnly used the barre for balance, so I guess it's more along the lines of Yoga Booty Ballet or the actual Bar Method (which I really want to try!)

Tuesday: Off. I had an audition over lunch today that required well manicured hands, so I used a gift certificate I had to get my nails and brows done to be nice and camera ready. I had some money leftover from the gift cert so I got this AWESOME Zoya Charisma nail polish to use on my toes, you know, once it stops being painfully cold in Chicago! This pic does not do its amazing magenta-ness justice!

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Wednesday: Cardio Barre Sculpt and Cardio Blast

Thursday: WERQ (Oh the hip hop goodness! It's so fun! )

Friday: Kwando Kickboxing ( I have no idea why I enjoy something so ass kicking; I must have lots of pent-up aggression!)

Happy Wednesday!

I Ran All the Way Home

2011-03-21T12:26:00.000-05:00

I calorie counted for a few days last week. I downloaded an app that lets you track calories and exercise and choose a weight loss goal (1, 1.5, or 2lbs a week). I had baked some (ridiculously delicious) vegan oatmeal raisin cookies recently and made the mistake of doing the math after I ate some. It was a good reminder that vegan treats are still treats, but I found myself panicking. I barely had enough calories left for dinner much less a drink at the closing party for Mr. BB30’s show and I was hungry! Saturdays are typically one of my days off from exercise, but I knew I had to. My current fitness place closes shop around 1pm on Saturdays, I don’t have OnDemand Exercise TV anymore, and the interwebs had highly varying info on how many calories my exercise DVDs would burn. So, I had no other choice but to run. I.HATE. RUNNING. I find it monotonous and miserable. Regardless, I searched out a path, created an Eminem inspired Pandora station, stretched, and I was off. I find rap music to be the very best work out music. It makes me feel tough. I ran five miles in about an hour and five minutes. Not too shabby. Luckily all of my workouts for the past two months have been dance and boxing based so my calves were acclimated to bouncing. My thighs, however, are still aching. I’ve been doing a lot of squats, but alas, youch.

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Two biggest take-aways:

1) Calorie Counting makes me crazy. I suppose it is a good thing to do every now and again to check yourself (before you wreck yourself), but it makes me feel like I am in food prison. I’ve worked too hard on my relationship with food to put it in this negative light. It feels like saying to yourself, "great job on eating right and exercising, but it wasn't good enough. I just can’t do that to myself!

2) While my run provided me with some good fresh air and mind clearing, it mostly just made me bitter and frustrated and angry at myself for being so silly and obsessive. I am completely on track for exercising regularly and targeting a 1lb per week weight loss. Why oh why was I so lame and pushed it to 1.5? How did I wander over into the Land of Numbers so quickly?

This has been my public service announcement urging you to be kind to yourself today and all days. Go forth and do good things for your body, mind and soul.

Fancy. Simple. Easy. Delish.

2011-03-17T07:37:00.000-05:00

It is no secret that I love the Post Punk Kitchen and its rad matron Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Most recently they have brought into my life a delicious, nutritious and great go-to meal, Chickpea Picatta. Do you love briney things? I do. Thus, I am a fan of capers, a staple of picattas. Salty wee flower buds, what's not to love? If you are looking for a meat free alternative to this traditional chicken based dish, this one is fabulous and would wow any dinner guest.

http://www.theppk.com/2010/09/chickpea-picatta/

PPK's Chickpea Picatta
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 scant cup thinly sliced shallots
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
2 cups vegetable broth
1/3 cup dry white wine
A few dashes fresh black pepper
Generous pinch of dried thyme
1 16 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup capers with a little brine
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 cups arugula

Cooking spray

Preheat a large heavy bottomed pan over medium. Saute the shallots and garlic for about 5 minutes, until golden. Add the breadcrumbs and toast them by stirring constantly for about 2 minutes. They should turn a few shades darker.

Add the vegetable broth and wine, salt, black pepper and thyme. Turn up heat and bring to a rolling boil and let the sauce reduce by 1/2, it should take about 7 minutes.

Add the chickpeas and capers to heat through, about 3 minutes. Add the lemon and turn off the heat.

If serving with mashed potatoes, place the arugula in a wide bowl. Place mashed potatoes on top, and ladle picatta over the potatoes. The arugula will wilt and it will be lovely. If you are serving solo, just pour right over the arugula.
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I have made this dish twice. The first time I put the picatta over nice soft barley with a side of steamed broccoli, and the second time I took their suggestion of bulking it up with portabella mushrooms and served over a little brown rice with a side of steamed green beans and tomatoes. Both ways are delicious and once I hit a sale on arugula, it's on! The chickpeas have a nice full texture to them that satiates that meaty feeling we want in our dinners. I think this would be a great dish to introduce yourself or any friends to vegan eating.

Tried any great recipes lately?

Snack Attacks and Emotional Vomit

2011-03-08T09:48:00.000-06:00

The past couple of days I have had to work extra hard to fight the Snack Monster. I just want to snack all of the time. I try to pull from my arsenal of coping methods: I lean on The Nine Rooms of Happiness to get to the root of what might be causing this and Women Food and God to try to identify any self sabotage that might be happening. I think it's a combo of actually being hungry (since over the last month I've jumped head first into vigorous exercise), being dehydrated, being frustrated by some geneology research I am doing and some emotions it is tapping into, and being a little bored. I don't do well when my life pauses. I have a couple of things on hold and/or not moving forward career wise and my bio clock is going nuts (but that must be put on hold as well). I am trying to enjoy this mundane time (because goodness knows things will get hectic again at some point), but I think I'm feeling a little empty and that is driving me to want to fill it up with food. I am fighting the good fight with lots of decaf green tea, water, healthy eats like apples and carrots and daikon and trying to breathe. It's a tough battle though, considering all I want to do now is find the doughiest most gigantic bagel of all time and eat it.

Are you fighting any snack wars on your turf?

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My Week in Fitness

2011-03-07T13:28:00.001-06:00

Last week I continued my fitness efforts. I’m settling in to this new fitness place and am glad that the total lack of instruction on form from my earlier classes was more or less a bit of a fluke. They have a very reasonable month-to-month rate (no year long contracts) so I think I will stick with them through April (at least).

Last week went like this:

Monday-Zumba
Tuesday-Zumba
Wednesday-Cardio Bar followed by Cardio Blast
Thursday-none-there were no classes I had any interest in on Thursdays during the time frame I need.
Friday-Kwando Kickboxing
Saturday-Off
Sunday-Off

I feel great about making it to class and trying new things. I'm seeing results in my arms, legs, and back. Yay!What’s the cardio bar class, you ask? From the fitness center’s website: “Cardio Bar Sculpting is a high energy, low impact class focused on burning fat and giving the body a more toned look. By combining body bar work and light weights, this workout focuses on toning the glutes, thighs, abs, and arms.” I hadn’t really heard of a body bar before. I saw some ladies going into a class the week before with some long cane-like poles and was intrigued. The work out was good and used some muscles I hadn’t tapped into yet. My left arm is a little sensitive (as it’s starting to show signs of pains like my righty from two years ago), but I made it through just fine. The only thing I had to take at a little bit of a modified pace was bench press, but I got in all of my reps all the same. The bar class was only 30 minutes long. It was followed by a 30 minute Cardio Blast class so I took both.

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Cardio Blast was basically an interval training cardio class. High intensity. We did some cardio moves as a group then were given three exercises (burpees, mountain climbers, and full standard sit ups) and told we had five minutes to do 20 reps of each as many times as we could.

Burpee

source and health benefits of burpees

Mountain Climber

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Following our first set of burpee/mountain/climber/sit-ups we did runs down the room. About 6 of us would line up and head down the room doing various walking lunges, frog jumps, and such. It was like football drills, but not in an intimidating way at all. we finished with another round of reps and a cool down. I felt like I truly got a full body work out.

This week's line up is:

Monday-Club Cardio Dance (It's new and and I'm soooo excited)

Tuesday-off (I have an appointment and Mr. BB30 has the night of rehearsal! Date!)

Wednesday-Cardio Bar and Cardio Sculpt

Thursday-WERQ (dance fitness-the schedule changed and I'm excited to try this one-it's hip hop!)

Friday-Kwando Kickboxing
Saturday-Off

Sunday-Off

Watch out y'all. Soon I'll be able to dance-kick your face off!

What have you been doing fitness wise lately?

Weighing In

2011-02-28T11:21:00.000-06:00

Friday I boarded my scale for the first time in months. I had been fearing it with the fierce December and January that I spent couped up at my day job for loooong hours with limited exercise. Luckily I think my month of fitness reboot has been successful and the numbers were excellent (about two pounds lighter than my birthday). Almost ten months of maintenance is pretty awesome if I do say so myself. It was very motivating to keep going and push further.

I went to kick boxing again and it was great. Tough, but great. The instructor gave some actual instruction on form which was awesome. I felt tough and scrappy and alive. It feels good to punch through your frustrations. I like having the variety of dance work outs, yoga and super high impact cardio all in the same week. While there are standard moves in each class, each time is different so you can be distracted with getting the different combinations down and feel less like you are working out. I love that and I love that I can get home relatively early since I am an old lady and like to go to bed early. On another note I have been getting less sleep lately due to Mr. BB30's schedule which is not good for me. He opened a play and immediately began rehearsing another so if I want to, you know, see him and stuff, I have to stay up late. Ugh. Typically I'd go to bed without him, but I had a crazy creepy nightmare last week that was so vivid I have been scared to go to sleep alone (think the girl from The Ring sitting on top of you smothering you-yep, scary!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I digress. One day I will be brave and do abs class. Oh how that scares me, but it's the only way to firm up the ol' belly (so I can fight off Samara when attacks me in my sleep)!

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She's knows I have weak abs!!

Zumba Enigma

2011-02-24T15:15:00.001-06:00

My Monday ended with a blissfully fun Zumba class that included one Bollywood Style routine which I LOVED. I want to take some Bollywood dance/fitness classes but the only places I can find in Chicago are super inconvenient (aka I will easily find reasons not to go). It's just such fun to dance it all out. The instructor picks great music and creates really fun routines. If Christina Aguilera is singin' I want to be dancin'!

Tuesday night the Zumba class was later with a different instructor. I knew it was going to be a guy and was interested to see how that would go. In walked a dude. A big tall manly dude (with a teddy bear face). Teddy RuxMAN was going to teach Zumba? The music started and he moved so well and so fluidly. He must have thought I wasn't enjoying myself because I kept catching glimpses of my face in the mirror and I looked so baffled. Surprisingly his routines were much cutesier than the other instructor's. I can't accurately describe what an enigma it was. This football player was in touch with his hips, dude could Zumba.

Last night I tried Yoga Sculpt. Again, thank goodness I've done some yoga before because in true form there was no instruction. There were some adjustments here and there, but it was everyone for themselves. Yoga Sculpt is just what it sounds like: Yoga with some small weights. I used only 2lb weights since I wasn't sure what I was in store for. I could have easily done 3 pounders. I was feeling wussy since my opposite arm is starting to hurt in the same way my old injury did. Get thee to acupuncture! I definitely broke a sweat and feel like I got a good workout from the class. It's the most interesting thing offered in the 5:30pm classes on Wednesdays, so I bet I'll go back.

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I'm feeling motivated by all of the nice lean muscle I'm seeing during my workouts lately. I guess with Bikram the room was dim and I was so focused on form and breathing that I didn't really get to take a good look at myself. There's a long lean woman in here and she's coming out! It's exciting. With all of the shaking and such in Zumba I definitely see that I really need to do dips and curls everyday. I have some serious under arm I-was-once-chubby jiggle. Having some shoulder and tricep muscle actually makes it stand out worse! In all (ok 80%) seriousness. Does anyone have a Shakeweight ? Are they effective?

Scrappy

2011-02-21T13:04:00.000-06:00

On Friday, in my quest to reignite my exercise regimen, I attended my first kick boxing class. Not true blue, actual punching bag, kick boxing, but exercise, aerobics style kick boxing. I am very glad I had done On-Demand kick boxing in the past (oh how I miss you On-Demand Exercise TV) and TaeBo (long ago), because like the PiYo class, there was no form correction or true direction of any kind. There is no possible way there was a clear cut routine planned out. The instructor (who was ripped and could be Jillian Michael's sister) must have shot a zillion milligrams of B-Vitamin, because she burst in the room Tazmanian Devil-style and begin punching and kicking and jumping around the room (and of course, yelling). If I didn't know a little something about proper form or what terminology she was using (hook, jab, uppercut) I would have been lost (and injured). Thanks to the fact that I can pick up on choreography and learned some stuff from Jeanette Jenkins, I hung in there and did fine. I thought I would be super sore the next day, but I was surprisingly fine. Sunday I hurt.

Overall, it is astonishing to me that this place can continuously get away with no instruction on form. My guess is that the super serious clients/attendees do personal sessions there as well where they get pointers and the others don't attend frequently or just quit before they can actually injure themselves. Still, I'm shocked. In their defense (even though I haven't disclosed the name of their establishment) I have to say that my instructors for PiYo and Kick Boxing were subs and not the regular teachers. Still, train your subs! They could hurt people! I'll try the kick boxing again, because I got some serious high calorie burning cardio, but really, my heart is with Zumba.

Do you kick box?

What Room Are You In?

2011-02-11T10:10:00.000-06:00

In case you weren't aware, The Nine Rooms of Happiness, is out in paperback! I know for me when I am stressing or have anxiety about something it all mushes together and can make me feel crazy or out of control (which usually makes me want chips and treats and way too many indulgences.) This book helps me to compartmentalize areas of stress and get to the root of them. This is why I connect so well with this book and separating areas of my life into rooms of a house. Yes, the bathroom is a battle ground sometimes-it's a source of relaxation with nice hot baths, but we also weigh ourselves there and beat ourselves up sometimes when we look in the mirror. The Office (where I am most days) is where you deal with frustrations and joys about career and money. The Kitchen is where I go for joy and community but it can be a tough room because that is also the food room. One of the biggest things it helped me with is understanding that while things are going bad in one room, things can be going great in other rooms. That is key for a recovering black-and-white thinker like myself.

source

In the back of the paperback the authors Lucy Danziger and Catherine Birndorf include excerpts of people who applied the book to their lives. I am so incredibly honored that I have a mention about my using this blog as well as their book as a way to get to the root of food issues and how I have used it to help me establish a way of saving money so I can build up strong enough savings to take a leap of faith and find happiness in a career.

Please give this book a read, you'll be better for it! I'd love to chat about it with you!

A Hearty Meal for a Frosty Day

2011-02-04T07:00:00.008-06:00

I randomly came upon this recipe of the month in an actor-y e-newsletter. We just had a blizzard, so a cozy stew sounded perfect. Seriously. Make this. It's hearty and delicious. It's starchy so keep your portions in check, but it's full of flavor, protein and fibery goodness.

Moroccan Chickpea and Lentil Soup

Ingredients:
2 cans chickpeas (rinsed)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
½ cup diced celery
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 large tomato diced
1 ½ quarts vegetable stock
¼ lb. dried green lentils
½ cup long grain brown rice
½ -1 cup chopped fresh cilantro (save some for garnish)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Juice of 2-3 lemons (plus a little zest for garnish)
Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a medium stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery and cook until the onions are translucent and the celery is tender. Add the ginger, turmeric, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and about ½ teaspoon of salt. Stir and cook for about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, the vegetable stock, lentils, and chickpeas and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook at a gentle simmer for ½ hour. Add the rice and season with a little more salt (about ½ teaspoon). Continue to simmer for another ½ hour. Add the cilantro, parsley, and lemon juice and cook uncovered for about 5 minutes.
To serve, garnish with a little lemon zest and a bit of cilantro. Makes about 12 servings.

Tip:
Go crazy with the lemon juice and cilantro...it's what gives this soup its kick

I paired a nice cup of this with a big bowl of vitamin rich steamed greens dressed with a kiss of Earth Balance and some sea salt. Seriously, I am just a person who really loves vegetables. I am lucky. How does this not look appealing?!

On Muffin Tops

2011-02-02T18:48:00.000-06:00

I have a muffin top. Monday my jeans were snug. I truly thought I was doing well and this has thrown me for a loop. Haven't I risen above all of this unhealthy fretting over myself? Wasn't I just thinking how well I was doing despite holidays and lack of time to exercise in January? Wasn't I just thinking my shoulders looked awesome in the mirror? Didn't I just rededicate myself to fitness last week?

I know how to jump start my body again. I know it will only take a week or so of extra care to deflate and not feel out of control (because really I think I may have just been on a sodium binge.) I guess this just goes to show how easily we can slip back into old ways of thinking. Seriously, I was on the verge of mental breakdown Monday morning over feeling bloated (thank goodness for meditation and breathing). I feel like it's important to be real and not sugar coat my ongoing journey with a healthy body and healthy self view. Monday I felt sad, mad, frustrated, stuck, and scared.

I know what bad habits led me here. They include but are not limited to: Harmless handfuls of afternoon candies (there is soooo much candy for the taking in my office), extra glasses of wine I needed because my day was tough, a few chips at night, too many diet sodas because I needed caffeine to survive my tough day. All of these have contributed to my muffin top and I was an active participant the whole time. I have to take responsibility for that. I also know that some of my angst is residual frustration over the fact that Friday I received a last minute call for a print ad and odds were really strong that I would book it or at least be called back. I've heard nothing. Ouch.

I took the bull by the horns and avoided small cheats and drank lots of water. I did an online reservation for Zumba at the fitness center where I will be exercising for the next two months courtesy of Groupon. Dancing always makes me feel happy and I had been so excited to try Zumba. I was put on a wait list. Boo!! On that no-good-very-bad-day I felt extra disappointment that I might not get to go. However, I knew I couldn't use it as an excuse not to exercise when there were other classes I could take. Luckily I got into the Zumba class with no problem. It lived up to my expectations. It was such a blast. I got my dance on and my cardio on and had a ball doing it!!! It made me so happy! I can't wait to go back. We had ourselves a full fledged blizzard in Chicago last night so I couldn't go Tuesday or today. Frown! There isn't a Zumba class on Thursday nights, but I will pick something else to go to after work tomorrow (just not PiYo!). I am committed!

So, the past three days I have been more conscious of little nibbles and such and I already feel a difference. Extra bites are really one of my biggest downfalls and I just have to pay attention!

On Fear and PiYo

2011-01-31T11:51:00.001-06:00

Thursday night marked my return to fitness. I had been working on a big project for my day job that had kept me in the office until 7pm or later each night for most of January so fitness was put on the back burner in favor of sleep. My eating stayed in check and overall I came out relatively unscathed, but I feel my muscles losing their tone. I knew I couldn't keep sliding by any longer. The project ended and I needed to get back on the exercise horse. I had a Groupon that would get me two months worth of classes at a place near work. I was excited about the idea of having some options and not having to stick to the same routine. I decided to try PiYo. The write up on the website didn't give many details other than it was great for weight loss and toning. I enjoy both of those things so I signed up for their class at 5:30pm. I was nervous. I knew it was partially due to not knowing the lay of the land, having to find a new spot in a new locker room, not knowing where the studio was, etc etc. I also had to keep reminding myself that the studio would not be 105 degrees, and I would not want to vomit-that was strangely hard to keep in mind after months of Bikram. I also knew the root of the fear was about moving on in my journey. I have worked hard at maintenance all of these months, but really, it's time to move forward.

I walked into the place and it was a bit meh. By meh I mean it was kind of bare bones, had a strange layout and the young (slightly inarticulate) staff didn't even require me to fill out any kind of personal information. Hmmm...hope I don't break my arm here.

So class begins and most people have their shoes off. Ok, I guess this is a barefoot class, good to know. Everyone grabs grungy black yoga mats from a cubby. Ok, I will get one too (although I have my own CLEAN mat and would have been happy to bring it). I adjust my my mat with standard etiquette only to have a late comer plant herself directly in front of me adn the mirror. Bad Karma, late comer, bad Karma. So the ~~playmate and~~ ~~cheerleader~~ instructor announces that this class is a Pliates and Yoga combo for people who are too ADD for Pilates and Yoga (her words, not mine). Ok...I like pilates and yoga...so..this could be cool. I also should have totally figured out what the class was by the title. However, I also think that the best place to find a good class description would be in the description on the studio website. I digress. The music bagn and we were off like crazy monkeys without a real warm up or any instructions or corrections on form. We just had to follow the pretzel-y ~~playmate and cheerleader~~ instructor jarring our necks every which way to see what we were supposed to do in the very cold room. It definitely kept my heart rate up and I have definitely been sore for days so I know my muscles were worked, but my neck is a mess! I left very concerned and wanting to call the Pilates and Yoga police (does that exist?!) Friday I did some research and PiYo is an actual fitness practice, but I found my experience to be extremely dangerous. I'm sure there are places and instructors who teach it well, so I would like to think I just happened on the worst place to take it. One thing I learned from doing so many months of Bikram is that form and breathing are vital. We did not focus on either.

Imagine doing this for the very first time (with no level one option) in a dim, freezing room with loud music making it so you can barely hear the ~~playmate and cheerleader~~ instructor.

This new place offers some Zumba classes so I am going to stick to those. Yeesh. I just don't trust them and I do not like feeling that way about a fitness studio.

However, three cheers for me for getting back on track!

SOUPer

2011-01-23T15:40:00.000-06:00

Lap top still not fixed. I think I need to hold out for a Mac. However if I get a Mac it will be really hard not to want to buy the crazy software where I can make professional looking movies.....which will mostly be adorable flicks starring my dog:

Since my last several months of entries are about how stressed and busy I am (which couldn't be less fun to read about) I want to refrain from that this year. Same old stuff lately, although a huge project came to fruition last week and I am looking forward what I anticipate to be a much calmer week compared to oh, the last two months.

I am a fan of the mom/adorable seamstress/gardening blog Dig This Chick. She sometimes shares her delicious vegetarian eats. Please make the White Bean and Black Olive Soup she found in The Moosewood Cookbook. It's easy, savory, nutirious and wallet friendly. I know, I thought black olives in a soup would be weird, but it really adds something! Putting the garlic in at the end keeps the flavor so deliciously intense. Of course in BB30 fashion, I added way more garlic than the recipe calls for. I've made this soup twice in two weeks. The first time I forgot navy beans at the grocery store and the only thing my quick around-the-corner CVS had was butter beans, and I have to say it was the happiest of accidents. I will always use butter beans from now on for the additional starchy punch they give.

Eat this.

White Bean and Black Olive Soup
Adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook.
You'll need:
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 gloves, garlic minced (I go Rachael Ray and grate mine in)
2 celery ribs, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 - 1 1/2 cups oven roasted tomatoes (I used Hunt's Fire Roasted since I don't have canned fresh ones)
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
4 cups water (I like using 2 cups of water and the liquid from the canned tomatoes and starchy bean water)
2 cups cooked navy beans (I used butter beans the first time and 1 can butter/1 can navy the second time)
1 can sliced black olives
salt
pepper

Throw a few tablespoons of olive oil in a soup pot over high heat, add onion. ( I did a spritz of oil with my Misto in a non stick pot and on tsp of Earth Balance.) Cook for a few minutes. Add celery, carrots and green pepper. Cook for five minutes. Add water and barely bring to boil. Add tomatoes, beans and olives. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add garlic, basil, salt and pepper. So good.

Here's mine:

Yep, I have to go heat some up now. YUM!!!

Separation Anxiety

2011-01-12T07:19:00.000-06:00

My lap top died a week ago. This means I have a several posts I cannot get up. Aren't you dying to see my husbands beautiful New Year's Day feast featuring a great menu for meat free-ers and meat eaters alike to enjoy? Don' you need to know about my cheese-less broccoli cheese soup?

So if you would like to send me a new lap top that would be great. I have several things I need to get done. (I will also take the alternative-suggestions on which new lap top I should invest in...I'm thinking it's time for a Mac.) (I will also take a second alternative, money for this new lap top.....I'm trying to live off of half my income to save money.....new lap tops are tough to swing!)

I've had the brutal reminder of how reliant I am on my lap top. At night after a looooong day, it's just part of my lap!

Exercise Revelation

2011-01-01T21:52:00.000-06:00

Last week I returned to Bikram. With how crazy December was with my day job and obligations I had been away for several weeks. I actually felt panic and anxiety going back. It felt stressful. The last couple of times I had gone were really tough (and not in an invigorating way). This time was no different. It felt hotter than ever before, the smell was killing me and people's bad yoga etiquette was unnerving. Many times I don't feel motivated to suit up, pack up, get to the studio, do 90 minutes of yoga, rinse off, come home, and shower again. It's quite time consuming. However, I was coming out feeling proud of myself and accomplished and magnificent. This last time, I felt miserable. The monotony of doing the same 26 postures since August is really getting to me. The lovely owner of the studio has spoken before about finding a way to make each day of practice new and focusing on breathing, etc (she's been at this for years and practices most days each week), but I think I am just a person who needs variety. I have a month left of my package and I hate to waste money (even with the killer deal I got), but honestly I am not sure I will make it in more than once a week. I think there is an underlying emotional issue with this (seems to always be the case with food and fitness does it not). I get down sometimes because there is no end to working on myself. Although I have come a long way from that 75lb kindergartner and almost 200lb high school junior, I will always have to keep myself in check. It's exhausting. Since having some time off this week I have had the chance to see some wonderful films (shout out to Crazyheart and The King's Speech) and I realized that I simply cannot throw in the towel and give up my dream of being an actor. It's what I am, it's who I am and I need to fight for it. This fight includes being more diligent about working out and moving forward with improving my physique. It's a neverending battle of accepting the situation and accepting myself. I think most of us go through this same battle. Doesn't make it any easier though. I have done a great job of maintenance, but I must move through the frustration and push on.

I have to add in variety back into exercise. I have a great deal for two months of workouts at a place near my day job that has Zumba (which I am so excited about), Kickboxing (yay) and more, but I kind of wanted to wait to use them once Bikram is over.

Does anyone have any favorite exercise DVDs I should get? I don't have OnDemand anymore and it was always my go-to for a little something different.

My Crush on Cooking Channel

2010-12-28T18:55:00.000-06:00

Recently The Cooking Channel began running the special The Veg Edge. It's all about the amazingness of vegetarian and vegan fare across America. What I loved so much is that they show a wide variety of eaters from meat lovers to flexitarians to vegetarians to vegans celebrating how freakin' amazing plant based meals can be. Vegetables are beautiful and delicious and give us everything we need. I even got to catch a glimpse of one of my vegan heroes, Isa from The Post Punk Kitchen, in action! Personally my spirit has changed since eliminating animal products from my diet. I feel a lightness I have never felt before! I also don't fear carbs or holidays anymore. I am overwhelmed and delighted that The Cooking Channel would devote a whole special to veggie cooking! I am crossing my fingers that they will receive enough postive feedback to bring in a vegetarian/vegan cooking show.

Please check it out. I dare your belly not grumble. You can still catch it January 1st at 9amEST and January 2nd at 7pmEST.

Eat your veggies in 2011 folks! It's easier than you think. At my Christmas dinner this year my in-laws had THREE vegan friendly dishes at the table without even trying!!! YES!!

Holidaze

2010-12-19T18:28:00.000-06:00

So I am officially drowned. I feel neither holly nor jolly. I try to remember the reason for the season and play holiday music, but alas...stress has taken over! It blows my mind how I can be so inceredibly busy and not be working on a show. I have so many projects and tasks at my day job that are colliding. In order to have quiet uninterrupted time to get work done, I worked until almost 8pm on Friday. Saturday I had an audition then headed to the suburbs for a family Christmas event, returning home at 11pm. Today I wanted nothing more than to have a sweet sweet day of being a hermit and hiding under my favorite comforter watching Love Actually, but alas, I had errands to run, a personal project I must get finished, and basically had no choice but to go up to my day job office to get some work pounded out in the 2.5 days left before I am on Christmas vacation. I can't sleep because my mind won't turn off with all that I have to get done. I realized last week that what makes me so crazy is the fact that I used to be able to finish all of my daily tasks and come in the next day and start over again. Now there is so much to be done that have an ongoing list that never seems to end. I like putting things to bed. I don't like not being able to wrap things up with a pretty bow and have it be done.

So, I crave things like salty baked Ruffles. Luckily I made the bag I bought last several days (which would have never happened before) so that is a win. However,with my new cleaner system, I have come to learn that my body can no longer handle Olean oil. I will spare you the details, but my body revolted. Yep. Even in my stress (and PMS) I am still keeping myself relatively in check. I need to watch reaching for the wine bottle to often, but really my vegan lifestyle helps at times like this. I simply can't have many off the treats overflowing at events and parties and instead stick with veggies and hummus. And no, I don't really deprived because I know all of those treats and eats would make me feel bloaty and weighed down and gross.

I haven't been to yoga in three weeks and feel guilty and failurey about it. I've been working late most nights and even though I could rush and make an 8:30pm class, I am so drained I just can't do it. I am hoping to get back on the wagon the week after Christmas when I have some free time, but for now I am disappointed in the myself and the situation.

Off to work a project.

How do you beat holiday stress?

Curb Your Cravings: A Self Mag Article

2010-12-14T11:42:00.000-06:00

Hmmm......visualizing yourself feasting on treats to keep from eating too many? I love all things Self Magazine so I am very intrigued. I wonder if this works for foods I no longer eat. Mmmm......cruelty free mind salmon .....nommmmm. Pass the mind queso....mmm.....

A surprising new way to curb cravings: SELF.com

Have you tried this? Does it work for you? I am giving it a whirl!

Baking

2010-12-12T15:31:00.000-06:00

I am not a baker. Too many rules. If you don't follow instructions exactly you get a lopsided mess. Nevertheless, last week I happily baked.

Dec 6th 2007 is one of my least favorite days ever. My handsome Gramps left us too soon that day, and I don't like it one bit. Every Christmas my mom would make Gramps a pound cake, so I associate them with him. In 08 and 09 we drank a cup of coffee in Gramps' honor from his Fire King Anchor Hocking mugs. This year I wanted to add pound cake to the tradition. To the net! I found a simple vegan pound cake recipe on ehow.com:

Simple Ingredients:
2 c cake flour
3/4 c maple syrup
1 tsp salt
1 package (16oz) soft tofu
1 tbsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees if you are using a metal pan, or 325 degrees if you are using a glass pan.
2. Lightly grease a cake or loaf pan.
3. Mix together two cups of cake flour, one tablespoon of baking powder and one teaspoon of salt, and set aside.
4. Blend together 3/4 cup maple syrup, 16 ounces of soft tofu (about two cups) and one teaspoon each of vanilla extract and almond extract, using an electric blender.
5. Stir the flour mixture into the tofu mixture by hand until well blended. Add any additional flavoring, fruit or citrus zest, if desired.
6. Pour the batter into the cake pan.
7. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. When done, the cake will be golden brown and springy to the touch.

Not too shabby folks. It sort of tasted like the cake version of a sugar cookie. I would definitely make it again and perhaps ice it. I love that you can change up extracts and add different zest to change up the flavor! It comes out perfectly moist too! No oil. No butter. Huzzah! Mr. BB30 and I ate some for breakfast with a special mug of coffee.

Here's to you Gramps!

My First Vegan Thanksgiving

2010-12-03T23:24:00.000-06:00

Ok Blogger, I think I have your picture posting issues defeated. You've kept me from my Thanksgiving post long enough!

I knew I'd nailed down one of my dishes for Thanksgiving (the oh so delicious glazed acorn squash), but I was still uncertain about the rest. While I was on vacation I caught an episode of Ellen (adore her) and she had her personal chef on making a faux turkey roast. As I am not the biggest fan of processed Tofurky I was intrigued. I made it the day after we got home and it was a winner. I made it again the night before Thanksgiving:

Ingredients:
4 Cups vital wheat gluten
1 Cup bread crumbs
1 Cup nutritional yeast
3 Tablespoon dried thyme
1 large onion small dice and caramelized
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
½ Cup extra virgin olive oil
4 Cups strong No Chicken, chicken stock (veggie stock)
1 full sheet of cheesecloth
Butcher's twine
Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Steak Magic spices (couldn't find it-I made my own by Googling)
Earth Balance butter

Instructions:
Caramelize the onions over medium heat until they are golden brown. Add the onions to the dry ingredients and mix.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon (I used my KitchenAid mixer as you can see) until a loose batter forms. Shape the batter into a loaf.

Unroll about 24" of cheesecloth on to a clean dry surface. Unfold the cloth completely and then fold it in half to form a two-ply piece of cloth.

Place the loaf in the middle of cloth and roll it up, leaving enough space to tie off at both ends.

Now tie two more pieces of twine over the center of the roast.

Place the roast into a large pot of boiling water and simmer for at least two hours.

Carefully remove the cheesecloth and place the roast on a small sheet tray and rub the roast with Earth Balance butter and sprinkle with blackening spices. Bake roast at 350 for 20+ minutes or until golden brown. Allow roast to rest a few minutes before slicing.

It comes out juicy and delightful! Trust me! Trust Ellen!

I also made fresh cranberry sauce. I used my pretend friend Alicia Silverstone's recipe from The Kind Life as a guide.

Ingredients:
Bag of raw cranberries (4 cups)
1/2 cup maple syrup (I used Trader Joe's Maple/Agave blend)
Juice from 1 orange (I didn't have OJ so I used 1/4c Pom Wonderful dilluted in 1/4c water)

Instructions:
Rinse berries
Transfer to large sauce pan and add syrup, juice and an additional 1/4c of water
Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stir often
When mixture comes to a boil reduce heat, cover, and boil gently until berries pop (10 mins or so)
Chill for an hour before serving

DELISH! This is a thick mixture, so it also makes for a yummy spread for toast! No need for processed canned cranberry sauce-EVER!

Glazed acorn squash, a refreshing fennel and spinach salad w/peach vinagerette (courtesy of my in-laws), and faux turkey roast w/fresh cranberry sauce. My mouth was happy and I didn't feel bloated, weighed down, or remorseful. Yay!

A Week On the Beach

2010-11-23T21:11:00.000-06:00

I'm baaaaack!

Seven days of sunshine and sand in Mexico have done this body good. I feel very blessed that my in-laws are members of a time share thus affording Mr. BB30 and I to get rad discounts for trips like this (I've mentioned before that I have been working hard on my savings). Otherwise, I would still be one very pale girl and my bikinis would still be in my dresser.

It actually took me a couple of days to relax and let the real world wash off of me, but I told myself that certain people, situations, and projects were not invited on my trip, and soon I was a vactioning pro.

We started out on a early flight out. I was intrigued by the individual movie/tv situation on the plane and had to give it a try. For some ridiculous reason I thought My Sister's Keeper was a good choice. Dumb move. I call the following picture: Why Am I Watching A Cancer Movie on Vacation?

I hate spoilers, so I don't want to ruin it for anyone else. Please private message me if you read this book and also saw the movie. I did and I have things to say!

Finally we arrived and were greeted with a hibiscus drink.

My best guess at the formula was one part flower and one thousand parts sugar. Holy Diabetes Batman! I enjoyed a couple of sips, but that was good enough for me.

C'mon BB30, get to the food! Did you starve to death?

Our room had a small kitchen in it and a little grocery store in the complex so this was our first stop after dropping our bags off in our room. Not only was the situation great for my wallet, but it was great for my health! Magically, they had my high protein/high fiber Kashi cereal AND almond milk. I was actually very surprised. We tended to make a bigger breakfast and have a snack in the afternoon, so my morning meal mostly consisted of cereal, a corn tortilla with vegetarian refriend beans and a cup of cinnamon coffee.

We didn't realize this was cinnamon coffee when we bought it, but it turned out be a delicious treat!

Much to our dismay, the we learned that the trip we booked did not include use of the fitness center without extra fees. Yipes! Extra fees? I'm on a budget people! When we went to this resort for our honeymoon we had nailed down a great routine of working in a midday trip to the gym to work off all of our guacamole y cervezas. It was great and we didn't return home feeling tubby. However we didn't let this get us down and committed to finding fitness alternatives. So each day (some times a couple off times a day) we went for a walk on the beach. We would walk for a few miles in the ocean and let the water work as resistance and turn around and make our way back. We would play in the ocean, read, rest, snack (usually the aforementioned guacamole), walk, hit the pool for laps and order some half price happy hour drinks and walk some more. Basically we adhered to the rule that if we ate or drank then got up and moved afterward. One day we decided to rent bikes (super cheap) and rode all over the resort's country club. It was so great to be getting exercise and fresh air and getting an up close and personal look at some of the gorgeous modern Mexican architecture.

You: So you just ate cereal, torillas, beans, guac and booze the whole time?
Me: Heck no!

One day we ventured into downtown Puerto Vallarta (we were staying in sort of a suburb where a string of resorts are). We stopped for lunch at a little open air restaurant and of course nothing was immediately animal product free. I talked to our nice waiter and asked if I could have some pasta and vegetables sauteed with oil (not butter) and he happily obliged. It was a delight! I call this picture: Suuure, Vegans Can't Eat Anything Good.

I kept myself in check (it was pasta after all) and took about 2/3rds of it back with me. We returned to our home base, took a walk and soaked up the rest of the day's sun, and Mr. BB30 suggested we stay in and cook up a vegan feast. I was so thrilled and touched that he wanted to share a vegan meal with me (we typically cook side by side and eat different things). We added a little extra pasta and more vegetables (carrots, zucchini, onions, mushrooms) to my leftover lunch and the result was muy delicioso!

Other great dinners I had were vegetable fajitas (para no queso) and a yummy lighter take on a veggie burrito that was full of meaty grilled eggplant and bell peppers. Super flavorful even without cheese. But speakingof cheese, oh how tempting was all the fresh cheese Mr.BB30 got at the grocery store!

All the cheese was so tempting but I stayed strong. One night I had a few bites of mussel that were underwhelming. I thought maybe the protein would do me good and I reasoned that they don't think or really feel. Blech. No thanks, I'll stick to how I am doing things.

On our bike riding adventure we stopped off at a little roadside restaurant we enjoyed last time we were there so Mr. BB30 could enjoy some tacos.

I really thought I wouldn't be able to get anything, but when I asked if there was a taco they could make me the man asked if I would like portabellos and spinach and onions sauteed in olive oil on a corn tortilla. Si, por favor! Was I really at a roadside eatery? Behold:

These were small little guys, only about six inches across and a few bites each so it made for a perfect little lunch and fueled us for the rest of our bike ride. So well seasoned and so well appreciated! Oh wait, I am not done. They brought out some freshly concocted salsa/relish hybrids. I must create these on my own!

This one was sort of a pickled relish and salsa combo with marinated cucumbers, sunflower seeds, bell peppers, whole peppercorns, onions, and crack.

This one was a pineapple salsa with onions and hot orange peppers, onions, and magic.

I could have taken a fork to these two condiment bowls and been happy. The flavor was just ridiculous and everything was so fresh!

We returned our bikes and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and sunning. We decided to cook another dinner in our room. I volunteered to be the chef so Mr. BB30 could relax.

I chopped some potatoes, onions, garlic, and pablano pepper to sautee...

...thinly sliced some zucchini to pan fry/grill....

..and steamed carrots and mixed them with black beans. Voila! A hearty vegan feast!

Romantico!

Yep, that's chips and guac. I was on vacation!

Oh...and I wore a bikini everyday!

Oh Blogger

2010-11-22T20:08:00.000-06:00

Dear Blogspot,

Really, why oh why must you make posting pictures so difficult now? I have spent hours trying to deal with you and get my vacation post up. Please go back to normal so I do not have to move to another blog server.

Love,
BB30

Fruition

2010-11-12T21:00:00.000-06:00

Soon I will embark on my trip where I will wear a bikini every day and all of my hard work will be fully realized. While I feel like I am constantly working my way toward my best body and self, it will be scary and exciting and hopefully supremely rewarding to walk a warm beach in a bikini for the first time. I got a little warm up this summer for a few minutes on Lake Michigan, but soon, THE BIG TIME.

I'll be sure to share pics when I return!

Love to you all!

Adios!

BB30

Thanksgiving Test Drive

2010-11-10T02:57:00.000-06:00

Blogger was on the fritz yesterday and unable to load pictures, so I was sad not to get to share this yesterday. It's back now, so here we go! Drumroll........One of my Thanksgiving dishes has been solidified!

Sunday night after arriving home an hour later than expected (grr), I got to work on Fast, Fresh & Green's Vanilla and Cardamom Glazed Acorn Squash Rings.

1 small acorn squash (1 to 1.25 lbs)
2 T. unsalted butter, plus 2 t. more if needed (I used Earth Balance)
2 t. pure maple syrup (I used a Trader Joe's Maple Syrup/Agave blend)
1.5 t. vanilla extract
1/8 t. ground cardamom (I didn't want to spend $15 on something I would only use 1/8 teaspoon of, so I googled alternatives and used cinnamon)
Kosher salt (I used sea salt)

1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Line a large (18x13x1-inch) heavy-duty rimmed sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper.

2. With a sharp chef's knife, cut the acorn squash in half lengthwise (though both the stem end and the pointy end). Scrape out the seeds and fibers with a spoon.

2. Put each half, cut side down, on a cutting board. Slice off about 3/4-inch from each end, and discard. Slice the squash crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick half-rings. If you want, you can trim away any remaining fibers from the rings by running a paring knife around the inside of each. Put the half-rings on the parchment paper.

3. In a small sauce pan, melt the 2 tablespoons butter over low heat. Remove the pan from the heat and add the maple syrup, vanilla, and cardamom. Stir well. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush the squash pieces with a little less than half of the mixture. Season the pieces very lightly with salt and turn them over. Brush this side with more of the mixture, but reserve about 1 tablespoon for brushing on after cooking. (If using a larger squash and you wind up with less than 1 tablespoon of liquid, add 1 to 2 teaspoons more butter to the saucepan). Season the tops very lightly with salt.

4. Roast the squash for 12 minutes. Use tongs to flip the pieces over. Continue to roast until they are nicely browned (the bottoms with be browner than the tops) and tender when pierced with a paring knife, 10 to 12 minutes. Flip the piecces over again when they come out of the oven so that the browner side is up.

The squash was in the oven for only a few minutes before the essence of fall filled my kitchen and livingroom. It was heavenly!

5. Reheat the butter mixture briefly over low heat if necessary (or to melt the additional butter). Brush the butter mixture over the squash slices and serve.....and submit to the mind numbing goodness....

I think next time I make this I will trim the skin. It softens up and is edible, but it was a tad weird texture wise so I peeled it off. This squash is so delicious it's criminal! Plus, it so easy and fast to make and now that I have my agave/maple blend this dish will only cost me a few dollars to make each time depending on how much squash is going for. Right now at most groceries stores it very inexpensive. Tis the the season for hard squash. I think the glaze would be brilliant on other veggies as well like carrots, sweet potatoes and butternut squash.

When the amazing smell hit the air the uncontrollable urge to have stuffing took over. So, I used this recipe from Savvy Vegetarian as a guide, cut it down and made a little stuffing using a leftover baguette I had.

Sautee basic onions, celery, and garlic.

Tear up baguette in awesome 1970s tupperware.

Mix cooked veggies together with bread using your trusty Princess spatula.

Add veggie broth, let it soak into mixture, bake, and voila!

Fall Sunday supper!

A Recap of My Week

2010-11-07T13:05:00.001-06:00

I present to you my week:

Monday
Leave home 7:45am
Day Job (a long offsite event)
Day Job evening team building event
Arrive home at 10pm

Tuesday
Leave home 7:30am
Day Job (another long offsite event)
Rush home for a snack and changing clothes
Bikram Yoga Class
Arrive home at 8:30pm

Wednesday
Leave home 7:45am
Day Job
Day Job After Hours Event
Attend play and pre-show gathering
Go to grocery store
Arrive home at 10:45pm

Thursday
Leave home 8:15am
Site visit for 100 person work function I am planning
Day Job
Rush home for snack, pick up Mr. BB30, pet dog
Career Job-Performance
Attend cocktail gathering for our friends getting married on Saturday
Arrive home at 11:15pm

Friday
Leave home 7:45am
Day Job
Rush home for snack, pick up Mr. BB30, pet dog
Career Job-Performance
Attend closing weekend party
Go to Grocery store
Give friends rides home
Arrive home 1:15am

Saturday
Make breakfast
Give my dog lots of love
Chores
Get dressed for wedding
Leave house at 12pm
Attend monthly women’s meditation seminar (dressed for a wedding)
Attend wedding ceremony
Leave wedding festivities and high tail it to show
Career Job-Performance
Return to wedding reception
Grab a drink with after party-ers
Arrive home 2am

Today
zzzzzzzzzzzzz, love dog
Make breakfast
Leave house 11am
Grocery shop
Return home for shower and snack, blogging
Career Job-Final Performance
Go to drugstore
Arrive home aprox 5pm
Clean apartment
Make lunches for the week
Cook Dinner/Thanksgiving Test Drive
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I am tired just reading that. Yes, there is only one day of Bikram in there. Bbut hey, with my schedule, that's pretty darn good. I realize that there are many fun things on my agenda from the past week, but really, there are just too many things. It's always bittersweet to close a show, but it's time to put this baby to bed and get some more personal time back. I'll be test driving some Thanksgiving contenders this week so I'll be excited to share that. Then..VACATION!

Whatcha Eatin'?

2010-10-31T19:13:00.000-05:00

Some things I am enjoying lately:

Trader Joe's Chili and Cumin Chickpeas These used to come in a can and I have been mourning them-welcome back delicious friends! I mix some with a little tofu and veganaise and make a ridiculously good sandwich spread. That may sound like a weird combo to you, but it is DELISH!

source

Z Best Italian Bread After my beloved soy flour low carb awesome bread changed it's formula to inlude eggs, thus breaking my heart, I needed a new bread in my life. While this one isn't low carb, it toasts so beautifully and I've made several killer light and healthy paninis with it. Seriously, best-toast-ever. At 50 calories a slice, it's loaf to be reckoned with it! There are Z Best bakeries in a few different cities. Chicago Whole Foods stores buy from a shop in Evanston.

What are YOU eating lately?

Weekend Yumminess

2010-10-18T22:14:00.000-05:00

I know I sound like a broken record when I report over and over again about my seemingly unavoidable tendency to run myself into the ground. My lifestyle has been taking a toll on me more than ever lately and Saturday it reared it's ugly head full force. Mr. BB30 and I headed to a family event (a Christening for one of the cutest babies I have ever seen). I woke up with a head ache and thought, "Oh no, I must be overdoing it with caffeine and am having withdrawals." So, although I knew I needed to address this issue since caffeine dependency is definitely not healthy, I also knew I needed to make it through the day. So we stopped for caffeine. Nothing. Head still hurt. Not good. Riding in a car for for over an hour on bumpy roads. Super not good. Incense. Mega not good. After the ceremony at the luncheon, I found someone with ibuprofen, drank water and tried a little cranberry juice. Uber not good. I was instantly nauseous. My head was splitting. I was so warm. I couldn't focus. My neck ached. I tried some bites of salad. More nausea. My only choice was to make my way to the car and lie down. Mr. BB30 and my sister-in-law made their way to the car and we went to a store to get more headache medicine. Mr. BB30 found an amazing patch for migraines that we stuck to my forehead, and I slept all the way back to to city. How embarrassed am I? SO EMBARRASSED. We are so busy we don't get to make it to many family gatherings and then when we do, this happens. Ugh. Luckily I snoozed off most of the headache and was able to function for my show on Saturday night.

I realized that although I have still been eating relatively low cal for the most part, my diet of the fast go-to-foods cereal, tofu "egg" salad, sandwiches, hummus, and popcorn is not well balanced at all. My body was crying out for the vegetables and nutrients it is used to. It was crying out for rest. I wasn't giving it what it needed so it rebelled and took me out!

Saturday night I got some much needed sleep and Sunday my husband and I headed to The Chicago Diner where I got big beautiful salad and a side of scrambled tofu for protein. According to our nice server it was a bit larger than the standard Chicago Diner Garden Salad. I felt rewarded for my good choice. This salad was so good. I ate every last bite and felt so nourished. Look at this beauty!

The beets were so sweet and earthy. The greens were so fresh. Bliss.

We stopped by the produce store on the way home and I picked up some veggies to create a big pot of soup goodness for lunches the week.

I chopped up:
1 small sweet potato
1 medium zucchini
1/2 of a large purple onion
1 small parsnip
1 giant carrot
1 large red bell pepper
1 medium tomato
3 stalks of celery
7 large cloves of garlic

This carrot was as big as my dog. Please pardon his privates.

I sauteed my veggies.

For the broth I added 4 cups of vegetable boullion and seasoned with salt, pepper, dried thyme, cumin, garlic powder, and cajun seasoning for kick. Then I added in about 1/4 cup homemade tomato sauce dilluted in a cup of water.

Of course this recipe (if you can call it that) is nothing genius, but a great basic veggie soup . This batch made six substantial servings that I've already separated into individual containers. Each day I'll add something to it to make it a little different and bulk it up. Today I added soy crumbles and fresh basil and sage that I picked from my garden this morning. I may add cilantro and tofu one day, noodles the next, possibly a scoop of instant cous cous or black beans. This soup will give me lunch all week long and cost about $6 to make (and I still have a full red bell pepper, half an onion, and lots of celery left). Can't beat that!

Tonight after Bikram I sauteed up some veggies and spinach and kept riding the vitamin train! I feel better already! Now for some sleep!

Bob Harper Is On My Team

2010-10-14T15:59:00.000-05:00

Today my pretend friend Alicia Silverstone posted a link on The Kind Life to the adorable Bob Harper discussing Farm Sanctuary and his transition to a plant based diet. I wanted to share this, because he is more articulate than I could ever be (as in-he won't break into tears).