They weren't kidding when they said this is the busiest semester you'll ever have. BAHH!
Hence, the lack of posts, the lack of milage, and lack of recipes. Perhaps this week will be better? Here's a recipe I made the other day. It's not mine so I can't take credit although I did make bread instead of muffins. It was amazing. Try it!
I haven't been able to do much yoga either. I HAVE been using some yoga theory to keep my stress levels down. If you don't know much yoga theory, at least check out of meaning of the Tibetan word, shenpa. This article does a good job of explaining it if you're interested. Basically, you label the things you're worrying about as your "shenpa" and then move about your day. For example, I had a lot of anxiety about being in the classroom this semester. Instead of getting worked up about it and letting it affect my rest, crucial for good performance in any classroom, I labeled my anxiety as my "shenpa" and then moved on with my day (and slept pretty well). I SWEAR upon this. I have most definitely seen a reduction in my stress and anxiety levels because of it. I am the kind of person who will try a fad technique for a lot of things, such as reducing stress, and then get bored of it and drop it. Not shenpa. Do try it. I promise, it works!
Let's pray for another sunny day tomorrow! Until next time...
Cheers,
Libby
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Finally!
I have added to my mileage...362.5 miles to go!
For dinner tonight:
Not-your-average Potato Salad
4-5 medium redskin potatoes
1 can black beans
1 can whole kernel
1/4 c. green onion, chopped
1/4 c. dill, chopped (or cilantro)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
feta (I won't tell you how much because I use more than most humans would, so however much you want!)
1/8 c. canola oil
1/4. c. red wine vineger
Chop potatoes in small chunks and boil until fork tender. Drain and put in mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients to mixing bowl and gently mix everything together. Best if allowed to sit for a few hours.
Lots of protein, fiber, and veggies!
Some tips:
I boil my potatoes and rice in about 1/4 chicken broth and 3/4 water.
I had another good tip but I can't remember it now :)
CHEERS!
For dinner tonight:
Not-your-average Potato Salad
4-5 medium redskin potatoes
1 can black beans
1 can whole kernel
1/4 c. green onion, chopped
1/4 c. dill, chopped (or cilantro)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
feta (I won't tell you how much because I use more than most humans would, so however much you want!)
1/8 c. canola oil
1/4. c. red wine vineger
Chop potatoes in small chunks and boil until fork tender. Drain and put in mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients to mixing bowl and gently mix everything together. Best if allowed to sit for a few hours.
Lots of protein, fiber, and veggies!
Some tips:
I boil my potatoes and rice in about 1/4 chicken broth and 3/4 water.
I had another good tip but I can't remember it now :)
CHEERS!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Balance
Balance is something I am striving for this semester. It will be a challenge - 16 of the busiest weeks of my college career condensed into 10, preparing for Relay and aiming for our first ever pacesetter award, and keeping my sanity and personal life intact. I'm working hard to find things that make me happy and healthy and incorporate them into an INSANE semester. We'll see how that turns out. For now, a few of my favorite recipes:
Theme: Nachos and yogurt (huh?).
My sister and I got a hold of a booklet that had 50 nacho recipes. So we decided to combine two of them due to lack of some ingredients and we created:
Sopaipilla and chocolate banana nachos
Sopaipilla:
1 tortilla
3-4 T. vegetable oil
4 T. sugar
1-2 t. cinnamon
Heat oil in shallow pan. Mix sugar and cinnamon together. Slice tortilla into wedges (we got about 6 wedges). Brown each side of the tortilla slightly. Remove from pan, place on a paper towel and immediately sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar mixture.
Top sopaipilla with one thinly sliced banana and 1 T. chocolate sauce.
Serves 1-2 people.
This next technique is something I use often for a lot of my cooking.
Greek yogurt
Place a coffee filter inside a pasta strainer and place the strainer on top of a bowl. Scoop desired amount of low fat/fat free plain yogurt in coffee filter. Let sit in the refrigerator overnight. The liquid from the plain yogurt will drain out to create a thick yogurt, very similar to greek yogurt.
Dill veggie dip
1 c. Greek yogurt (recipe above)
1/4 c. chopped dill (I used a lot since I LOVE dill)
1 t. paprika
1 t. garlic powder
sprinkle of salt.
Place all ingredients in bowl and stir. Serve with your favorite veggies.
Tzatziki
1 c. Greek yogurt (recipe above)
1 cucumber, peeled
2 cloves garlic
juice from 1/2 lemon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roast the cloves of garlic for 15-20 minutes. Slice cucumber long-ways and use a spoon to carve out the seeds. Cut into small chunks. Place cucumber slices in food processor. Pulse cucumber to a near puree. Add to yogurt in mixing bowl. Smash roaster garlic into the mixture and squeeze the juice from 1/2 lemon into the bowl. Stir everything together. Best if you let it sit for a few hours before serving. Serve with pita bread or chips.
Homemade pita chips
1 whole wheat pita pocket
3 T. olive oil.
1 T. oregeno
1/2 T. Herb de Provence
1 t. garlic powder
sprinkle of salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice pita in half and peel apart the two sides of the pocket (yielding 4 quarters of pita). Slice into wedges. Mix oil and herbs together and brush on to pita. Bake for 10-15 minutes
Greek Nachos
Homemage pita chips from 1 pita pocket (recipe above)
store bought hummas
3 T. tzatziki (see recipe above)
sliced black olives
diced tomato
crumbled feta
Top pita chips with all remaining ingredients.
That's all the recipes I have for now!
As for the running, my goal for 365 miles this year hasn't been going so well. Still at 1/2 mile...
BUT, with my striving for balance, I've reserved at least 2 days each week for running. Maybe at the end of the week I can add to my total.
Keep cooking and loving!
Cheers
Theme: Nachos and yogurt (huh?).
My sister and I got a hold of a booklet that had 50 nacho recipes. So we decided to combine two of them due to lack of some ingredients and we created:
Sopaipilla and chocolate banana nachos
Sopaipilla:
1 tortilla
3-4 T. vegetable oil
4 T. sugar
1-2 t. cinnamon
Heat oil in shallow pan. Mix sugar and cinnamon together. Slice tortilla into wedges (we got about 6 wedges). Brown each side of the tortilla slightly. Remove from pan, place on a paper towel and immediately sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar mixture.
Top sopaipilla with one thinly sliced banana and 1 T. chocolate sauce.
Serves 1-2 people.
This next technique is something I use often for a lot of my cooking.
Greek yogurt
Place a coffee filter inside a pasta strainer and place the strainer on top of a bowl. Scoop desired amount of low fat/fat free plain yogurt in coffee filter. Let sit in the refrigerator overnight. The liquid from the plain yogurt will drain out to create a thick yogurt, very similar to greek yogurt.
Dill veggie dip
1 c. Greek yogurt (recipe above)
1/4 c. chopped dill (I used a lot since I LOVE dill)
1 t. paprika
1 t. garlic powder
sprinkle of salt.
Place all ingredients in bowl and stir. Serve with your favorite veggies.
Tzatziki
1 c. Greek yogurt (recipe above)
1 cucumber, peeled
2 cloves garlic
juice from 1/2 lemon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roast the cloves of garlic for 15-20 minutes. Slice cucumber long-ways and use a spoon to carve out the seeds. Cut into small chunks. Place cucumber slices in food processor. Pulse cucumber to a near puree. Add to yogurt in mixing bowl. Smash roaster garlic into the mixture and squeeze the juice from 1/2 lemon into the bowl. Stir everything together. Best if you let it sit for a few hours before serving. Serve with pita bread or chips.
Homemade pita chips
1 whole wheat pita pocket
3 T. olive oil.
1 T. oregeno
1/2 T. Herb de Provence
1 t. garlic powder
sprinkle of salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice pita in half and peel apart the two sides of the pocket (yielding 4 quarters of pita). Slice into wedges. Mix oil and herbs together and brush on to pita. Bake for 10-15 minutes
Greek Nachos
Homemage pita chips from 1 pita pocket (recipe above)
store bought hummas
3 T. tzatziki (see recipe above)
sliced black olives
diced tomato
crumbled feta
Top pita chips with all remaining ingredients.
That's all the recipes I have for now!
As for the running, my goal for 365 miles this year hasn't been going so well. Still at 1/2 mile...
BUT, with my striving for balance, I've reserved at least 2 days each week for running. Maybe at the end of the week I can add to my total.
Keep cooking and loving!
Cheers
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Cooking, Traveling, Yoga and Running and New Years Resolutions
I have always wanted to start a blog for a lot of things. I just had to start one for my experience teacher assisting this semester and now I'm a blogaholic (new word?). I decided to start this second one to keep my professional and personal life slightly separate. So, to touch upon everything in the title...
Cooking: I am a food fanatic. The feeling of beautiful food touching your tongue is unexplainable. Food is a necessity made to be an art form, a social pleasure and a sin. Food makes you fat, food makes you skinny, food makes you healthy, food makes you happy, food makes you sad. HOW INCREDIBLE. Being a college kid, I don't get the blessing of experiencing amazing food very often. However, I have discovered that being creative in the kitchen with next to nothing in my cupboards is just as good. I hope share some of my "creative" recipes for better or worse in hopes of sparking your creativity too.
Traveling: I caught the traveling bug from my family. My next destination: Stellenbosch, South Africa. I could not be more excited. Also on the list for sometime in the future: Brazil, Italy, Australia/New Zealand, Taiwan, Korea. Brazil for the world cup, Italy for the wine and food (duh), Australia/New Zealand just because, Taiwan for it's beauty, Korea to see the land where the boyfriend is from. Anywhere in between is fine with me too :)
Yoga: It's incredible. Just try it.
Running: I picked it up this summer and kind of slacked after I ran my first 5k. I hope to pick it up again and have a goal of running 365 miles this year, one mile for every day. I'll keep track in the blog. So far, 1/2 mile (hey, it's a start...)
New Years Resolution: Stop biting my nails!
I must go walk the dog before dinner. Stay tuned for recipes, running and resolution updates and traveling news!
CHEERS :)
Cooking: I am a food fanatic. The feeling of beautiful food touching your tongue is unexplainable. Food is a necessity made to be an art form, a social pleasure and a sin. Food makes you fat, food makes you skinny, food makes you healthy, food makes you happy, food makes you sad. HOW INCREDIBLE. Being a college kid, I don't get the blessing of experiencing amazing food very often. However, I have discovered that being creative in the kitchen with next to nothing in my cupboards is just as good. I hope share some of my "creative" recipes for better or worse in hopes of sparking your creativity too.
Traveling: I caught the traveling bug from my family. My next destination: Stellenbosch, South Africa. I could not be more excited. Also on the list for sometime in the future: Brazil, Italy, Australia/New Zealand, Taiwan, Korea. Brazil for the world cup, Italy for the wine and food (duh), Australia/New Zealand just because, Taiwan for it's beauty, Korea to see the land where the boyfriend is from. Anywhere in between is fine with me too :)
Yoga: It's incredible. Just try it.
Running: I picked it up this summer and kind of slacked after I ran my first 5k. I hope to pick it up again and have a goal of running 365 miles this year, one mile for every day. I'll keep track in the blog. So far, 1/2 mile (hey, it's a start...)
New Years Resolution: Stop biting my nails!
I must go walk the dog before dinner. Stay tuned for recipes, running and resolution updates and traveling news!
CHEERS :)
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