Greens for Breakfast?

So.  For the past few weeks I’ve been reading about and trying out a more macrobiotic outlook on food.  For those of you who are a little unfamiliar with the idea of macrobiotics, it can be both complicated (yin, yang expanding, contracting energies in foods, etc) and simple (whole grains, greens, not a lot of sugar and not a lot of caffeine, boom).  Because I don’t feel comfortable enough with the more complicated ideas of macrobiotics to talk about them, I can speak to the simple version.

For the past few weeks i’ve tried really hard to have whole grains and something green for at least 2 out of my 3 meals in the day.  Yup.  Greens for breakfast.  I used to think it was crazy – I could get down with the salty (hello sunny side up eggs) and even the sweet (pancakes and french toast, i’m lookin at you), and of course, there was oatmeal (yay grains!) but the greens thing I couldn’t quite wrap my head around.  So I started out slow, creating what I guess would be considered macrobowls – greens, veggies, grains and beans for dinner once or twice a week and enjoying leftover grains as a side for lunches.  I inched closer with my breakfasts by switching to decaf (going strong!) and enjoying a mix of grains with my oatmeal, instead of just oatmeal (things like bulgur wheat, quinoa and sometimes even barley, love barley…).   Then, this weekend it kind’ve just sort’ve, happened. 

It started on Friday morning, I drizzled my oats with some maple syrup and could BARELY get it down.  All of a sudden, in as little as a week or so of cutting back sugar – maple syrup was just a little too sweet for my everyday tastes.  Things got weirder on Saturday – I thought about oatmeal, I thought about quinoa, I thought about an Ezekial English muffin.  And in the end (and much to my husband’s annoyance), the only thing that sounded good, was kale. What?

And so I had steamed kale.  I still retained some of my breakfast senses though (i’m kidding, actually, the kale was great).  I cooked up the last of my Field roast Apple and Sage sausages and made a flat bread breakfast sandwich with some tofutti cream cheese, sweet jalapeno pepper jam, steamed kale and the sausage.  As you can see there was enough sausage and kale leftover for a side. 

The craziest thing about all of this?  Is how good of a mood it put me in – for pretty much the ENTIRE day. I’m starting to realize that when I’m cranky, I can look back at what I ate and think “ok, I haven’t had any whole grains or something green yet today, lets fix that” and placebo or reality, it usually works. 

So, greens for breakfast, am I crazy?

xo

ps – Happy Halloween everyone!

Aftermath

Work was called off today, but I got a little stir crazy.  Instead of lacing up for the gym, I took advantage of my (beloved) rainboots to walk the 1.5 ish mile loop around the complex.

The walk provided some much needed fresh air and movement, and an unexpected chance to reflect clear my mind and reset.

Baltimore got a taste of mother nature yesterday when hurricane sandy came through.  Thankfully we were safe and with power for the duration.  Others weren’t so lucky.  Here and especially elsewhere.  It got me wondering, where do you go, if you have nowhere to evacuate to? Would I evacuate?  It’s amazing to me that in a matter of seconds, minutes and hours, lives change.  Houses burn down, trees fall, homes are washed away. 

But at the same time, there I was, crunching over fallen branches and leaves, enjoying the  powerful tranquility that comes with the aftermath.   I feel incredibly lucky and fortunate and grateful. 

By the end of my walk I felt far more relaxed with a quieted mind.  What started as a walk because I was annoyed, ended with a feeling of being ok.  Does that even make sense? Weird things happen when you walk outside I guess.

Stay safe, friends.  Thoughts and prayers to those who are dealing with more questions than answers today.

Xo

Oh weekends

This weekend Brandon and I took full advantage of a gorgeous Fall Saturday before settling in for the rainy windy hurricane weather we’ll be enjoying for the next few days 😉  You can tell we’re adults now, because the first thing we get annoyed about is how we may not be able to get things done at our respective jobs. 

Anyhow, I enjoyed an early morning workout, some antique browsing and a walk through one of our favorite parks to watch the dogs play.  Who knew a tennis ball could be so much fun??  I also picked up some resistance bands to add to my “at home” gym and enjoyed a few crochet projects, more than a few dishes that incorporated kale (its my new happy drug, I swear) and a fantastic bottle of wine. 

Lastly: a HUGE shout out to my friend Mike (you’ve seen his guests posts here before) for completing his FIRST half marathon – and he’s only been running for about a year!

Oh weekends!

xo

You make a mean Lo Mein

Around our house, comments about dinner are generally hard to come by – unless you count the obligatory “what is this” nose wrinkle when we sit down to eat.  Its not that Brandon doesn’t like the food I cook, its that he doesn’t comment about it. 

So when “man, you make a mean lo mein” came out of his mouth before he even sat down to eat, I was pretty darn satisfied.

Nothing fancy, just some Soba buckwheat noodles and FRESH veggies – which I think made a ton of difference.  I added yellow squash and some zucchini, asparagus, cremini mushrooms, baby bok choy, the last of our swiss chard and some broccoli and pineapple just at the very end to prevent overcooking – I can’t stand grey mushy brocoli.

For the sauce I mixed some olive oil, sesami oil, tamari, black bean garlic, some ginger and a few healthy  dollops of a chile paste/sauce for a kick.  No measurements, just tossed it into the pan as I went.   The noodles went in last and just long enough to develop the flavors.   After a quick search of “what is lo mein”, I was a little pleased that lo mein is actually referring to how the noodles are prepped in the dish (boiled first, then tossed into the sauce mein = noodles, lo mein = tossed noodles).  I like the idea of creating meals as close to their traditional  preparation as possible, so reading that my “lo mein” wasn’t too far off from a true lo mein was kind of nice. 

I think for me, using the fresh veggies here was key.  Although the sauce was delish (and I would TOTALLY recommend the pineapple), having the fresh veggies made the dish something a little more satisfying than using the frozen stirfry veggies that we normally use.  In the constant battle to get my husband to try new things, I buy a lot of veggies and at the end of the week, that can sometimes leave us with, well, a lot of veggies to use up 🙂 Stirfry and lo meins are a pretty awesome way to accomplish that task.  Not to mention the words “well, I guess I”ll eat that swiss chard stuff if its in here then” were like music to my ears 🙂

Plus, you know, leftovers make a great lunch 😉

YAY FRIDAY!

xo

ps:

Your daily dose of cute 🙂 He’s a lover in the morning, so I take full advantage.

Today was weird

Not bad, but weird. 

Nothing a self-led workout couldn’t fix. 

After doubling up on lifting and yoga last night, I opted for an easier cardio sesh with some plyometrics and body weight exercises.

30 minutes of high resistance hill intervals on the bike, followed by
Propulsion squats 3×10 reps
Side lunges 3×10 reps per side
Toe taps, c crunches and bicycle crunch – 10 per exercise (per leg)
Stepups -3×10 reps per leg
Plank/hover – 60 sec, 30 sec, 20 sec
Pushups – 3×10 reps

In the end, I was pretty please with the way my workout rounded out.  Even though it wasn’t an in your face sweat bonanza, I’m glad I worked in my plyometrics tonight and lifting last night.

Time to get ready for tomorrows early morning body pump and core workout.  This week kinda flew by, no?

Xo