Tag Archives: healthy living

Witchcraft and Oil Wrestling

  By breakfasttobed | January 25, 2012 - 8:18 AM | , , , ,
8 Comments

Today is one of those days I wish someone served me breakfast in bed. A big bowl of ibuprofen laden oatmeal. If I were Sam on “Bewitched”, today would be the day I’d say “To Hell with Darren, I’m using my magic all.damn.day”. Also, I don’t think Darren should have squelched her magic. First; their house could’ve been beyond awesome, second; they’d have never been in unfortunate situations like being over or underdressed to a party, (just wear trench coats, see what everyone else is wearing, and wiggle your nose to match! This is also a famous “Bewitched” episode.) Third; he just didn’t want her to reach her full potential. DOWN WITH THE MAN!!

Where am I going with this? Last night, AFTER my PR speedwork (more on that in my post this afternoon), AFTER my kick-ass bodypump class of doom, AFTER making dough for no-bakes, I slipped getting into bed. How the hell do you slip getting into bed? I wasn’t wearing 6″ heels or oil wrestling!! I was climbing into bed, in my jams, with my bottle of seltzer. Unfortunately, at the very same time, a particularly large bitch decided to bump into me to find the perfect, cozy spot on the rug. I jerked to avoid the tv and twisted the hell out of something.  Now, I’m barely able to type out my “What I Ate Wednesday”!! (thanks, Jenn!!!)

Yesterday’s breakfast was pretty much like every breakfast I have-oatmeal. These were overnight oats, almost identical to this recipe, save for the banana-mine weren’t green anymore, therefore, not appealing to me.

It was served with roughly 2 french presses. NOT 2 cups of french press coffee, 2 WHOLE french presses.

Lunch was fantastic I used the leftover roast green beans and potatoes from Monday’s dinner, added a hardboiled egg, greens, feta, and homemade dressing, and it was a terrific salad.

Do you see how those egg yolks are a perfect, sunny yellow? It’s not because of photoshop, it’s because I didn’t over-cook them. Find the recipe here.

Dinner, OH dinner. I had no idea what to eat. I wandered around, I searched my house for ideas, banged my head up against a few walls, and then finally, asked the Captain. His response was a familiar one. “I want Chinese food.” This, and pizza or sushi, is his stock answer. Luckily, I had some leftover roast chicken and Trader Joe’s frozen multi-grain rice in the house to fill such a request.

I give you, HEALTHY chicken fried rice.

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Healthy Chicken Fried Rice

Healthy Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients

  • 2 cups multigrain rice
  • half of one onion or 6 scallions
  • 1 cup sliced carrots
  • 14 baby bella mushrooms, sliced thin
  • 1 head of broccoli, trimmed
  • 1 T canola oil, divided into 3 teaspoons
  • 1 t sesame oil
  • 1 T lower sodium oyster sauce
  • 1 T low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 T chopped garlic
  • 2 t chopped ginger
  • 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • sriracha to taste

Instructions

  1. blanch the broccoli LIGHTLY in boiling water and then shock in ice water, set aside
  2. in a LARGE, SEASONED wok, heat one tsp canola oil on HIGH.
  3. toss in onion, carrot, and mushrooms
  4. cook until softened, remove and set aside
  5. heat remaining 2 tsps of canola oil and one tsp of sesame oil in wok on medium
  6. toss in ginger and garlic, carefully not to burn
  7. toss in rice and toss rapidly, turn heat to high
  8. after the rice smells "toasted" push it up to the sides
  9. drop in egg into center of wok and toss until cooked
  10. add in all the vegetables, including broccoli, toss
  11. add in oyster sauce, soy sauce and sriracha-toss
  12. serve hot.
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Please make this, it’s so good and so easy, and SO much healthier than what you get at restaurants and take out joints.

Stay tuned later this afternoon for the story of my PR!!!!!!

The Oscar is Awarded to The Unicorn.

  By breakfasttobed | January 24, 2012 - 9:47 AM | , ,
8 Comments

I must have kissed a unicorn or helped some old lady that I forgot about, or sold my soul to the devil, because the kids let me sleep in. I slept right up until the Oscar nominations. I watch them every year, and if I’m working, I tivo them. I know they’re utterly showy and just another way for very rich people to show off and pat each other on the back (like a political convention!), but I love it. This year’s noms were announced by the future Miss Katniss Everdeen. I can’t. I just can’t.

Don’t worry though, I was snapped back into reality by my kids. The Peanut informed me he couldn’t go put any underwear on because he had a broken arm. Manipulative little pissant. It would seem as though subtle nuances, such as which bone he REALLY broke, are missed by a 3yo. Arm-collar bone, tomato-tomahhtoe. He also explained to me that his ween needed air to breathe; because “It’s been inside my diaper ALLLLLL night!!” He calls his overnight pull-up a diaper, and he only wears them to bed. Apparently, this suffocates his manly bits. He then proceeded to tell me he needed his “ball powder”, his oatmeal, and his chocolate almond milk. I was waiting for him to order me to go get him a Bud Light and turn on the game.

A few more years before that, I guess.

I’m not going to be able to go to BodyPump tonight, so I am going to be doing the Fitnessista’s Winter Shape Up right here at my very own home. Or at the park, it’s going to be 50F here today, and the boy is going to want to be outside. I want to do the Jamie Eason Live Fit workout series, but because I’m nursing I cannot do the nutrition plan that goes with it. Have any of you just done the workout and not the diet? Or a modified diet? Maybe I’ll tweet her and ask her. Ahhhh twitter, giving people the impression people give a damn since 2009.

I really DO care though, tweet MEEEE. I’m attached to my phone like Mittens Romney is his hairdresser. I promise.

I’ll even make you dinner. Or I’ll make ME dinner and show you how via the interwebs.

Last night I was craving something healthy and different. NO MORE NOODLES. NO MORE RICE. NO MORE! NO MORE! NO MORE!!

So I made moroccan chicken with stewed apricots, olives, lemons, and spices. This recipe does require think ahead, but you can rub that bird down the night before, and then, at dinnertime, your chicken has been swimming in awesome and will make out with your tastebuds like teenager home alone.

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Moroccan Chicken with Apricots, Lemon, and Olives

Moroccan Chicken with Apricots, Lemon, and Olives

Ingredients

  • 1 5-6 lb chicken, cut in half, backbone removed
  • Spice Mix
  • 1 T cumin
  • 2 t coriander
  • 1 t cinnamon
  • 1T lemon zest
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • The bird
  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil (i use the olive oil that packed the olives)
  • 20 pitted olives (NOT JARRED)
  • 15 dried apricots
  • 1 cup white wine
  • juice of one lemon
  • 1 cup chicken stock

Instructions

  1. the night before you're going to make this, butcher the bird and rinse it. Pat it dry and rub down the bird with the spice mix and 1T extra virgin olive oil. Under the skin-on top of the skin-in the cavity. Let it sit in a ziploc bag until the next night.
  2. Preheat oven to 375F
  3. place chicken in a baking dish, skin side up
  4. pour wine, olives, stock, apricots, juice, and remaining EVOO around the chicken.
  5. roast 45mins to 1 hr, or until chicken reads 165F near the thigh bone.
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New Year, New You, New Crapload of Stupid Diets!

  By breakfasttobed | January 2, 2012 - 10:03 AM | , , , , ,
8 Comments

I can’t even begin to tell you how many emails I have recieved promising my readers “awesome weight loss” or “a whole new perspective on getting healthy”. It’s friggen comical.

Every mother trucking television show this morning revolved around getting organized, losing weight, quitting smoking, etc.

Let’s start small. (stop me if you’ve heard that before-no wait, don’t. I won’t have a post if you do.)

Let’s each give ourselves one, ACHIEVABLE goal, like not killing your in-laws or contracting the ebola virus. I feel like these are much more achievable. One more so than the other.

The ebola virus may be a great diet, though!

I do like the idea of eating healthy, and I love working out. I am always waiting for the people who sign up for the gym january 1st to give up and give me my treadmill back rooting for the gym newbies to succeed in their journey toward health.

I actually want EVERYONE in the US (and across the world, but for this purpose, the US) to be healthy, and I’ll tell you why. We lag in math and science, industry and healthcare, and we give away more jobs than we produce, but I feel like we could DOMINATE being healthy the same way we dominate teen pregnancy, shitty politicians, and crappy reality television shows where 15 women achieve the highest level of desperation by throwing themselves at one man who likely won’t marry them anyway!

WE CREATED JACK LALANE AND HIS JUICER!! YOU HEAR ME?!?! WE GOT THIS, AMERICA!! We’re going to have to convince people that not EVERYTHING has to be fried. We might have to detain Paula Deen and brainwash her. I’ll bring the broccoli, you bring the electro-shock equipment. (*disclaimer-I don’t really want to administer EST to Paula Deen, just feed her broccoli and take away her butter and oil-pronounced “owwwl”.)

Just make good for you taste good and you’ll eat it. It’s really that simple. It’s the same with exercise. Find something you LIKE to do and do that. Do you REALLY like window shopping?  Great. Walk quickly down your sidewalks/in your mall, and carry a HEAVY (15lbs+) bag. You will need strength training, but it doesn’t take long, and you’ll love the results.

Here is a meal to get you ready.

This is a DELICIOUS shaved salad.

I really believe that if you can basically eat salad with a spoon, it’s a lot more appetizing. I don’t know why, but it’s true. You don’t have to hand slice it either. Just do it in the food pro with the slicing blade attachment. BTW, if you don’t have a food processor, you don’t need the biggest, baddest, most expensive model. My aunt has a Hamilton Beach that was around $60, and it’s really pretty good.

Print
Shaved Salad with Buttermilk Dijon Dressing

Ingredients

  • 1 head romaine lettuce, outer leaves removed
  • 10 baby carrots
  • 2 small bell peppers
  • 1 apple
  • 1/2 cup chick peas
  • 2 oz feta cheese
  • 10 button mushrooms
  • 6 scallions
  • Dressing ingredients.
  • 2-3 T EVOO
  • 1 T dijon mustard
  • 1 T buttermilk
  • 1 T apple cider vinegar
  • small pinch of salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. shave all vegetables in your food processor with the slicing blade attached
  2. whisk together dressing ingredients
  3. pour over salad and toss.
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I like to serve this with roasted sweet potatoes or grilled whole wheat baguette. If you think this isn’t going to fill you up, this recipe serves 2!! JUST 2!! Volumetrics at its finest. A shitton of food for few calories and maximum nutrition. If your body isn’t used to eating enough fiber at one meal to fuel a jet engine with gas, may I suggest drinking a lot of water/green tea with this meal? You don’t want to get bloated. That’s unattractive.

Favorite salad dressing??

How are YOU going to move your body today?

-I have cramps like a bitch, so I am going window shopping and chewing fistfuls of advil!

Get Shifted.

  By breakfasttobed | December 8, 2011 - 6:37 PM | , , ,
10 Comments

A lot of my FitFluential friends are doing a 7 things to help you get started, post! In fact, if you’ve done one, please, link me up in the comments.

If you have read my About Me page, you know I was once 310-315 lbs. (I didn’t want to know at last weigh-in) As I am sure MANY people that have experienced a massive weight loss, they have been asked the basic ways to get going. I am totally stealing borrowing the MizFit’s idea of making it an anagram. When I was in college, I used anagrams for EVERYTHING (having a hard time remembering a lot of them right now-cramming works!) The one I remember learning and HATING the most was the Kübler Ross 5 stages of grief-or DABDA-denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. This one is AWFUL, but I do have fun ones. Like BED for making the bed.

  • Bedsheet-put it on first and tight
  • edges-HOSPITAL CORNERS
  • duvet- never shake it. place it.

Or my favorite, for a Sidecar. CLIC

  • Cognac 1.5 oz
  • Lemon .5 oz
  • Ice
  • Cointreau .5 oz

Priorities, people. (I also have one for something else that I was taught to me by a gay man, but I won’t share that here.)

For me, when I *really began to change my life, it wasn’t so much a gradual change as it was a cataclysmic shift in my thinking. I was forced to stare down MANY realities.

“do you want to have kids? your PCOS will be relieved by weight loss”

“do you want to go to the amusement park again? You are going to need to fit in the seats-you can’t now”

“oh yeah, flying? buy two tickets. FOR YOURSELF.”

It came down to me telling myself “Cat, this isn’t about fat acceptance, you aren’t a healthy heavy person. You are just.plain.fat. Fat in your thinking, fat in your actions, stuck like a glob of butter in a stagnant place in your life.”

Well, I didn’t want to weigh more than a linebacker and I didn’t want to stay still ANY LONGER. So I SHIFTED.

S I STARTED every day w/breakfast. A good one. One that had whole grains and protein.
H I asked for HELP. From trainers, from my husband, from healthy loving cooks
I I INITIATED healthy friendships and formed a community. Community is everything.
F I FOUND a gym I LOVED with classes I LOVED. This can be tricky, but worth it.
T I TRIED everything until I found activities and menus that I loved and could repeat.
E I EQUIPPED my home and car with opportunities for exercise and healthy diet aids
D I DID NOT DENY myself treats and decadences, if I did, I’d have surely failed.

Moderation is everything. I don’t eat crap all the time, but I do follow the 90/10 rule 90% body feeders, full of good stuff (which IS delicious, contrary to popular belief) 10% Mommy needers-brownies and wine, mostly. Except when I was pregnant, then it was burgers and burgers. (with a side of a slider)

I also like to involve my kids when I can, the baby is a great counterweight (mostly because she REALLY likes doing squats-apparently Mommy huffing and hurting is HILARS!) and Elijah LOVES “Working Out” with Mama. His favorite? Toe Touches.

Flexibility-start em young.

The Peanut is working on her fitness in the background. Binky lifts.

 

It Rubs the Pumpkin on Its Skin!!!

  By breakfasttobed | September 22, 2011 - 1:48 PM | , , ,
4 Comments

Here’s my thought. A lot of old school nursery rhymes are really friggen creepy.

“Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water; Jack fell down and broke his crown; and Jill came tumbling after.”

Chores=head injury

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall; Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.”

This one might be a Darwin Awards thing. Plus, I don’t think horses make the best EMTs.

Then there’s this one.

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, had a wife and couldn’t keep her; He put her in a pumpkin shell, and there he kept her very well.

This goes one of two ways. 1: Peter just made a pudding or a pie out of that poor broad. Scenario 2: He built her a pumpkin house like Cinderella’s worst nightmare and kept her there Buffalo Bill style. IT RUBS THE PUMPKIN ON ITS SKIN OR ELSE IT GETS THE SPICE AGAIN!!!

Pumpkin Broad sounded delicious for breakfast, so I decided I’d see if I liked it.

Pumpkin Polenta (Or, if you read “Goodnight Moon” this is a less creepy bowl full of mush-minus the weird old bunny lady whispering “hush”)

Pumpkin Polenta serves 2

  • 1/2 cup white corn polenta-NOT instant
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup soy, almond, or cow’s milk
  • 2t butter (optional)
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
  • maple syrup to taste

Bring water and milk to a full, rolling boil. slowly stir in polenta and lower heat to med/med-low. Slowly stir until it is a porridge consistency. (about 15 minutes) Stir in spices, pumpkin, and butter. Taste. Stir in maple syrup until you reach desired sweetness. (The pumpkin is naturally sweet, so it shouldn’t take much!)

I suggest drinking coffee with it because that is what I did. Elijah suggests a vanilla almond smoothie. (ice. vanilla almond milk, honeyed almond butter, whir!!!)