squash

Insatiable

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So my a.m workout didn’t exactly happen.  The alarm was set for 6:45 but when I checked the clock at 6 after a restless night of (no) sleep I reset it for 7:35.  Sometimes sleep is more important than exercise.  C’est la vie.

The theme of the day seemed to be HUNGER.  My delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs with spinach and salsa in a spouted wheat tortilla held me until exactly 10:20, at which point I instantly became ravenous!   Maybe it was all of the work jacks ;).  I did 5 minutes of jumping jacks broken into sets of 35.

Whatever the cause of my insatiability, I was so ready for lunch when the noon hour finally rolled around.

Last nights leftover pumpkin soup with mung beans and yogurt.  The mung beans added a really nice texture.

To make this soup I seeded and sliced up a pie pumpkin, 3 stalks of celery, and 3 carrots, then put it all into a big stockpot with 2 T coconut butter and 2 cups of water.  The veg boiled away until it was nice and mushy then into the food processor it all went.  I had to process in two batches because this makes a lot of soup.

Into the food processor I added

  • 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
  • curry powder
  • cayenne powder
  • ginger powder
  • mineral salt
  • fresh ground nutmeg

All seasonings were added to taste (I do a lot of “tasting” as I cook :)).  Friday night we served the soup drizzled with maple syrup and plain yogurt and topped with pumpkin seeds.  I didn’t miss the maple syrup or the seeds today but it is definitely better with some sort of garnish that adds texture (like mung beans, they were so good).  Sunflower seeds would be delicious.  Or toasted walnuts.  Or croutons.  Or black beans.  Or corn.  Hmmm, I think I need to make this soup again!

My wonderful husband said the magic words when I walked in the door this evening from work, tired, dirty, and yes, HUNGRY!  “Why don’t you go do yoga while I make dinner.”  Ahhh, like a love poem.

Just as I was finishing up 30 minutes of power vinyasa the house started to smell ridiculously good.  Dinner was perfect, steamed broccoli, baked butternut squash, roasted potatoes, and baked tofu.  Happy and finally not hungry I was ready for bed (remember, I barely slept last night) but Tate convinced me to go for a walk.

He may or may not have mildly bribed me.

Oh yes.  Chocolate, mango, and tart frozen yogurt.  The tart was awesome, tasted like frozen plain yogurt.  I do wish they had smaller cups though, Tate remarked “it’s easy to get more than you want” and he’s right, it adds up fast.  I somehow managed to finish it all.

Now I am ready to call it a night. I am trying to ignore the fact that it’s Saturday night because it makes me feel a little lame.  There are probably cool things happening all over town.  Oh well.  G’night!

Whey’t For It…

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I have been waiting nearly a year to say this next sentence.  Here it goes…

I LOVE Charlottesville.

We moved here just over two weeks ago and prior to moving day I had only visited a couple of times to house hunt.  C’ville became our chosen home last fall while still living in Lima, Peru.  After being SO far away from family for a year (well, 9 really because it’s not like Utah and Oregon are close) we knew it was time to come home.  While Tate and I both love West Virginia we weren’t interested in actually being home but more like an easy road trip away :).  C’ville looked really good on paper and is 2-3 hours of easy driving to 99% from our immediate family so we picked it practically sight unseen.  And THANK GOODNESS it seems to be working out!  Honestly, I was really skeptical during our house hunting excursions and our first few days of living here.  But, obviously, our (C’ville and I) relationship is blossoming into something beautiful!

Today was the first day in a long time where I woke up dreading my workout.  I just didn’t want to do it.  My body was a bit sore from many days of great workouts and I knew it was going to get hot fast.  But I remembered the quote “no one ever regrets their workout” and laced up my shoes.

That’s my run course written on my wrist.  I used Map My Run to chart out a 4.08 mile run in the opposite direction than I usually go.  Map My Run is awesome, especially since I can’t afford one of those fancy running watches right now.  It was really nice to not think about my course and just follow the plan, knowing what my final distance would be.  In fact, I didn’t even time it which is very rare for me.  As soon as I started moving I was glad I did and really enjoyed my (HOT) run.

Post run was all about the yoga and 30 minutes of vinyasa flowed.

Between the heat and the physical exertion I was super ready for a snack after yoga and here’s what I whipped up.

Into the blender went frozen strawberries, frozen peaches, whey, and a pinch of stevia.

I have been straining my homemade yogurt to make it nice and thick like greek yogurt but you are left with a cup full of whey also.

It seemed like a shame to throw away the whey (try saying that one 10x fast!) since it is chockfull of calcium and friendly bacteria so I thought a smoothie would be the perfect match.

It had been way to long since I’ve had a smoothie!  I used to make them really regularly but our freezer didn’t really work in Peru so I guess I got out of the habit.  This one turned out delicious!  A little banana would have gone a long way but I am determined not to buy bananas until at least November when there is no such an abundance of local fruit.

Lunch followed an hour or two later

Fresh and delicious.

Yowza! Look at the time, I need to clean the house and run some errands before my mom arrives for her first visit to our house.  Have a great Friday!