Tuesday, April 30, 2013

What is your Goal? Mine is doing a chin up.

 I have a goal, a purpose if you will. It is something I have never done before, a chin up.  When I first started lifting weights two years ago, all I did was dangle from the chin up bar. Hanging there like a limp fish, no movement other than my uncontrollable laughter, that’s what I do when facing an absurdly hard exercise. I giggled for my first alligator drag, inverted row, chin up.  
The chin up is my goal.  I am going to get there.  When that will be I do not know.  But that is what I am working on.  Kirsta over at Stumptuous.com has a great primer for  Mistressing the Pullup  that I am using.  Currently I am using the assisted bench chin up in my weights plan.



Monday, April 29, 2013

Berry, Cherry, and Kale Green Smoothie

I am on a green smoothie kick.  Kale and spinach has been going into the blender with fruit and the liquid of choice several times a week.  I make a big giant smoothie so it is more than one serving. Sometimes I drink part of it right away or put it in the fridge and using it for a base for post workout protein shakes.



There was a time when the green smoothie scared me and it took me some time to work up to trying one.  Turns out they are pretty tasty and the green part is not the dominant flavour your fruit is. Do not be afraid they taste good and are an easy way to get an extra dose or two of green leafy veggies in your life.


Green Smoothie of the day


3 cups green tea
3 cups kale, frozen
1 cup cherries
1 cup mixed berries
2 clementine, peeled and segmented


Toss in blender and blend for at least two minutes. Drink. This made about a quart and some.  Which will give me a protein shake base for the next few days.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

A Cat, Backbends, and Me


My cat, Tamson  was my workout partner, he yogaed with me, did cardio, lifted weights, well okay really he just napped and snacked, while I worked out.  Tamson died about a month ago, he was old and had lived a good long life. I lost my constant companion.
Tamson lounging in one of his cat carriers.

About now you are all  wondering what this all has to be with backbends.  Backbends open the heart up.  The heart chakra is greatly affected by backbends. They can also release emotions and fears. My yoga practice today happened to include several variations on cobra pose and a couple other backbends.  


I had finished the first heart opening segment and was in the middle of the second heart opening segment in horse stance, punching and doing breath of fire.  Now the only problem was I started crying.  There was the empty kitty bed.  That’s when the breath of fire ended but I kept up with the rest of it as tears streamed down my face.  I felt my grief, sorrow, and how much I miss that cat.

Ravi Singh says “If you can feel it, you can heal it.” I let myself feel what I was feeling and punched the heck out of my sadness today.  I didn’t try to stop the tears and be “balanced” didn’t feel that I needed to get it under control.  I let it be, I let it happen, I chose to feel so that I can heal. Let healing happen in your life, let it blossom and shine. Sat nam.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

How to Make Almond Milk


Almond Milk
 Frankly, I was never that impressed with almond milk.  It didn’t taste all that almondy to me, so I never really understood what all the fuss was about.  That is until I made it at home.  What a huge difference, it tastes like almonds.  Plus there is the added bonus of almond fluff, it keeps finding its way into my oatmeal.
My set up
Homemade almond milk will not be as smooth as commercial.
Almond milk is not hard to make, its a little noisy, but not hard. I can’t remember where I got the recipe from, it was from a website. It is really simple.I do remember the site saying not to use a food process. So pull out your blender and get milking!

Almond Milk

1 cup almonds
4 cups water plus more for soaking
fine mesh sieve
blender


1. Put almonds in a bowl cover with water and soak for 6 hours to overnight (I do overnight it works better for me.)


2. Drain water from almonds and put almonds in blender.


3. Add 4 cups water and blend for 2 minutes.


4. Pour through sieve into a bowl, squish the liquid out of the solids.


5.  Put in a glass jar and refrigerate.  

Save the almond fluff it is tasty I like it in oatmeal and smoothies, if you need an absolutely smooth smoothie don’t try it in a smoothie.  Almond milk will last about 5 days in the refrigerator.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Happy Earth Day!


There's my garden.

Happy Earth Day!  It is snowing here.  We have several inches of the white stuff on the ground.  Everyone has cabin fever by now since the weather has been cold and snowy for two weeks.  All I want to do is go outside and be warm while out. No more trudging through snow.

Even Zachary the cat is getting cabin fever.
Springtime is when my mind turns to gardening and I start looking over my seeds and seeing if I need more of anything.  We stay cool up here in the mountains even in July and August so most hot weather plants are out of the running.  They just do not have a chance up here, too cold at night coupled with a short growing season.  Yeah, not happening.

My lettuce mix.
But what I can grow really well is greens and lettuces all summer long.  Fresh salad greens are tasty, tender, and flavourful, makes spring mix from the store very unappealing.  I am a lettuce freak when it comes to the garden, love the stuff.  Here are my top six lettuces.

1. Arugula aka Rocket: peppery and spicy.  Eat it alone with a balsamic vinaigrette or mix it in with mild lettuces.  Avocado, arugula and balsamic vinaigrette.  Okay I am starting to drool.

2. Buttercrunch is sweet and buttery.  Makes a lovely salad all on its own.  Pick a more delicate dressing as it is not a strong tasting lettuce.

3. Parsley in salad is zippy.  If you haven’t tried parsley in salad, toss some in, its good.

4. Chervil is also an herb. It adds a subtle anise flavour and is a pretty addition to any salad.

5. Red Oak Leaf for colour and it also tastes good. This is a nice mild lettuce that adds colour to a salad.

6. Nasturtiums get an honourable mention.  You can eat the leaves and flowers for peppery punch.  

If you haven’t tried growing lettuces, give it a go, you will get a better variety than what you see at a store. Remember they grow best in cool weather, some are more heat tolerant than others,  Fresh lettuce from garden to table in one day, no transportation, and you know what went into it to grow it.  Happy Earth Day everyone.