szechuan tofu

Szechuan Tofu

One day last week following both a run and a resistance training day, I decide 'no' to a vegetarian sub at Subway and opt to have protein rich delight: vegetable egg foo yung. It had been a while since I dined at my trusty local Chinese Carryout. I stood there a moment waiting my turn to place my order and I glance at 'today's special's' and see "Szechuan Tofu"! OMG!

I had to try it! I needed to know if they could make it sing! It was delicious. I have since prepared it myself. First, you have to prepare your tofu for easier texture by boiling it in a stock of: carrots, celery, soul food seasoning, pepper, onion powder, salt, and bay leaves. A wok is a must! If you do not have one, I would suggest one. Make the sacrifice, as you do for anything else you favor. This dish sings hot sweet melodies and you don't want to miss a beat!

I shortened my task with the use of Birds Eye Asian Medley that I allowed to thaw and drain. After pan frying the tofu, I tossed in the veggies, added some garlic, onion, my famous sweet 'n sour sauce, a teaspoon of Hoisin Sauce, mostly for color...water to thin it, and let my spatula's go to work. It was delicious. I served it with a vegetarian egg roll and vegetable fried brown rice.

it doesn't get easier...you just get stronger

Thanking God each and every morning and abundantly for the will to run every day, something that looked quite impossible two months ago.

Reaching the half-way point of this 30 day challenge, I thought it was time to record the observations. I will be honest, I wasn't sure I’d be able to do this, but it’s a good thing I tried anyway. My physical endurance has been quite stellar and sure there’s an athlete that lives inside of me, but coming off that back injury, I was really resting on the side of caution.

In addition to running every day, I am still maintaining my strength with resistance exercises (upper and lower) every other day.

I run a different race every day. The first week my runs ranged from 3-5 miles. The second week was almost the same. I believe running to the market on Sunday, turning into the 3^rd week set me up good for Monday. Sunday was a 4 mile run round trip on a paved road that has weird elevations. I ran my first 6 mile track run. For the average person hearing this is not a huge feat. However, I believe that the treadmill is something that shouldn't be taken for granted. I was used to running on the treadmill on 2/3 incline and obviously this was not a labor in vain.

As I embark on the second half of this 'training', the third leg of this race, I am optimistic that something is waiting for me on the other side, victorious no matter what! It only seems to be getting easier, but I'm actually getting stronger!

30-day challenge: move a mile a day!

I normally scoff at challenges, but since that pesky lower lumbar injury I sustained over two months ago, I was forced to shake things up a bit and work around it. In my effort to stay active and not fall off the gains I made, I introduced things like: full body workouts every other day, omitting running over a mile, and then dropped my workouts down to 2-3 per week in the last 15 days.

As the month of September fast approached, I ran across a challenge that I felt surely I could do. My weekly running base was 20 miles when I was at top flight, and considering my muscles could be reminded of this effort, I embarked on the challenge to move a mile a day in 30. I could have started the challenge the moment I came into contact with the info, but I decided to recruit an online support team to help keep me motivated.

I discovered one eager participant who normally does not run, and I prepped for battle between the old base and the one that I had fallen into post injury. I hit the track every other day and crept up to 5 miles. In the past I could sustain 11 miles. I didn't cry as my show produced failure based on the pre-injury stats. Instead, I relaxed and just enjoyed being outside and moving.

Along with running everyday, I am also easing in weights again but breaking up the body into separate days as I used to and making sure this time is limited to 2 sets or a 30 minute routine, then followed by 30 minute yoga/pilate stretch.

September has 30 days and what better way to throw myself into a 30 day challenge than by keeping a mental note of what day it is of the month, and therefore what run number I am aiming for. I am not racing. I am simply enjoying breathing, watching my gait, checking my foot strike, and keeping my body relaxed.

Every morning I am roaring and ready to go! I am noticing some familiars and newbies on the track. It's so refreshing to see the crew when I arrive or watch them enter the track while I'm in full stride!

It's a labor of love!

http://beta.active.com/fitness/Articles/30-Day-Challenge-Move-a-Mile-a-Day

blueberry muffins

this recipe will make 1/2 dozen

1 cup fresh blueberries (if frozen, fold as is to avoid coloring your batter)
1 cup AP flour
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 T baking powder
1/2 cup baking splenda or sugar
1/4 t salt
1 jumbo egg
1/4 cup rice milk
1 T vegetable oil
1/2 stick of butter softened
1/2 cup sour cream

Soften butter, then cream sugar with butter. Add oil, sour cream, milk, and egg. Combine dry ingredients then gradually add to wet ingredients. Fold in blueberries. Fill six paper lined muffin tins. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Yummy!

Blueberry Muffins

vegetarian pizza

Vegetarian Covered Skillet Pizza

Crust: Yeast Prep.

1 pkg. yeast, 1 T olive oil, 1 T of sugar, onion/garlic powder, 1 cup of warm water. Mix. Let Stand. Foam will rise, so watch. You want this. The sugar feeds the yeast!

3 cups of flour

Olive Oil

2 cups of ice water ( you may not need all of it, you may need more...but use gradually)

Combine flour and yeast prep. Add ice water. Mix and knead. Sprinkle oil. Cover for 2 hours. Rise!

Sauce:

Pasta sauce. Make your own...to your pleasure!

Toppings: tomato, spinach, pepper rings, vegan meatballs, onion, red/yellow/green/orange peppers, mushrooms, and zucchini, mozzarella cheese, oil. Saute. Let rest.

Vegetarian Covered Skillet Pizza

This dough will make four 10 inch skillet pizza's.

Cut the portion of dough you'll need to press into a dark (anodized or iron) pizza skillet or pan that has a lid. Lightly brush with Olive Oil, press dough to cover pan. Cover for an hour. Bake off dough for 5-10 minutes @ 350 degrees. Remove from oven. Build pizza with sauce, then toppings to your desire. Bake @ 500 degrees F 15-20 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes. Slice, eat, enjoy!

*Remaining dough should be portioned for future use by moistening with olive oil and sealed in a freezer bag.

stuffed zucchini

INGREDIENTS

3 zucchinis

1/2 large onion, chopped fine

1 T butter

5 - 6 slices MorningStar Farms bacon, chopped

1 T sour cream

1/4 to 1/2 t salt

1/4 t curry powder

1 Roma tomato, seeded and chopped

1 t fresh thyme leaves

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Fresh cracked black pepper

(you can also make these vegetarian and take the bacon out or use a meat sub. or replace with some olives or any other veggie)

DIRECTIONS

Give the zucchini a quick wash for good measure. Slice in half lengthwise. Leave the ends on to keep the filling in. Scoop out the flesh with a melon baller or a spoon. Leave a ledge of zucchini around the edges. For the life of me, I couldn't make straight lines. That's okay. They were still delicious. Arrange the zucchini boats in a baking dish. Chop the zucchini flesh as small as you like.

Finely chop half a sweet onion. Chop up some good smokey bacon. You could leave this out for a vegetarian side dish (maybe add some chopped mushrooms?)... but my family goes through quite a lot bacon, so it's going in! Add the curry powder... cook until desired doneness of onions and remove from heat. To the zucchini flesh, add sour cream. (How can this be bad?). Rough chop some fresh thyme leaves. Mix onion and bacon mixture with other ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Stir in the tomatoes. Seed them or else there may be too much moisture in the filling. You don't really want the filling to be all runny when you cut into it. Refill the zucchini shells with the filling mixture.

Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top and sprinkle with fresh cracked black pepper. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Of course you know me. I'm gonna grate even more cheese on them again... Smokiness from the bacon. Salty from the Parmesan cheese. Soft and buttery zucchini.

july...injury recovery...it sucks...but fighting on

A couple of weeks ago I pulled the muscle in my lower back. As it seems the right side is taking the longest to heal. Strangely so, I took a week off, and then went back to the gym. The plus side is that I am not hanging back and spending months to recover the loss gains. The negative is that it will likely take up to a full two months before I notice no discomfort.

I am not one to run to the doctor every time I pull a muscle. I am not one to rest and reside on the comforts of a doctor. As a matter of fact I do not have much respect for the medical professionals who waste your time pushing muscle relaxers and PT, then reject me from more than a week or two of PT, and leave me to fill in that pain gap with OTC medications. Therefore, I shall heal myself.

Sure. If after a month I still feel the same discomfort with no apparent healing, then I will go to the doctor for x-rays to rule out major injury. Otherwise, I am good on my own.

You do not need a doctor’s comforting words to cure you, unless you are needy and require that kind of attention. I do not.

Pressure makes a diamond.