Pour Some Sugar On Me

I lied. That is not sugar.

But it was the song that came on the radio as I was pulling out of the gym this morning, and it made me happy.

Especially the line “Do you take sugar? one lump or two?” because even hair metal can’t make that sound anything but odd.

However, the dusting on my car this morning did look like sugar:

Gym time this morning was spent on the Weights 3 set. This is my least favorite day of the rugby training plan.

Well, except for the 10k run on a treadmill…but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Just like how I came home and crossed this bruised apple….

with some oat bran and hemp protein powder.

This Hemp Pro 50 protein powder puzzles me. It promises a “nutty, sweet flavour,” but I can’t taste anything. Just like the Vanilla Hemp Powder.

A little bit of a  uh, what is that? taste at first, but from then on, nothing.

Sorry, Manitoba Harvest! I’ll show my love for Canada by watching extra hockey games this season.

I showed my love for the visitors in my driveway by parking at the bottom of it:

So I’m off to have a nice little adventure trekking down it to get to my car and off to work!

Sweet.

Have a fabulous Friday!!

Question: Can you tolerate bruised fruit, or does that ruin it for you? I personally love a few spots on my bananas.

Halfway to Neither

Mmmm, good evening!

Wednesdays are an awkward time of the week, in my opinion. It’s like the glass half full/half empty argument. Depending on your perspective, you could be “halfway through!” or “halfway through…” , catch my drift?

This evening, looking back on the day, I happen to be neither. This weekend, most of my fellow college-age peeps come home, and I can finally feel normal about all the loafing I’ve been doing. But as John Lennon once said, “Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted.” Right on.

After CoreYoga this morning (which kicked my sore little booty), I decided to capitalize my need for post-workout protein with a little experiment:

My friend Wendy recently attended a nutrition conference in Boston and came back with all kinds of swag. Sharing is caring 🙂

I stirred this vanilla hemp protein packet into my pot of 1/4 cup oat bran and 1/2 cup mango.

I have no idea how to work that grill on the deck.

Since the powder gave such a dotty appearance and dark shade to the oat bran, I thought it would be super flavorful (and not necessarily in a good way). But I couldn’t taste it! The bowl didn’t taste bad at all, I just couldn’t sense any flavor. How come, hemp?

I still have another packet to try, so we’ll see if that’s any difference.

I was out for most of the afternoon at an endogastroenterologist appointment. Usually, I would say that things that take a long time to pronounce are worth discussing, but this one is not. Not yet, at least. Shall we move on?

I had another glorious session of Rugby Weights at the gym; this track, referred to as Weights 2, focuses on more reps, less weight. One of the moves for this track is “Dumbells x 60 : 6 sets of 10” so you can bet that after 3 circuits of those plus other exercises, my arms were on fire feeling sweet. I love how I could see the muscles I hadn’t glimpsed since the spring awakening. Hello, upper back beauties!

After a quick trip to Walmart (which included a mad dash through the cold from the far end of the parking lot, in running shorts), I came home just wanting some veggies.

Celery canoes with goat cheese, drizzled with olive oil. Greek much?

I came home to a house smelling of banana. My sister made muffins! As well as a mess for me to clean up. Life is all about compromise.

She even left the oven light on.

1 of the 3 banana peels strewn about the kitchen.

On to bigger and better things. Namely, dinner!

I really wanted to make Kath’s Nutty Soba Noodles, but since I didn’t have a lot of ingredients, I had to modify it a bit. Ok, a lot. Hence they became Erica’s Nutty Rice Pilaf with Vegetable Scraps. Still incredibly delicious!

The ingredients I had to work with: edamame (I subbed it later for peas), leftover kale stems, onion, tofu, and rice pilaf.

What makes this meal is Kath’s ingenious sunflower sauce. This is my new favorite way to use sunflower seed butter!

2 TBSP sunflower seed butter (can use other nut butter), 1.5 TBSP soy sauce, 1.5 TBSP warm water, 1 TSP honey, 1 clove garlic, .5 TSP molasses

Made the rice pilaf (this took about 20 minutes):

Chopped the kale stems and onion, steamed the peas:

Chopped up 1/3 a block of tofu:

Poor tofu. You just don’t look good naked.

Let me put you next to a knife so you’ll look cooler.

Added the veggies and tofu to a big pot with some olive oil, stirred with soy sauce:

Once those were seared nicely (I like a little bit of crisp), I added in the rice pilaf:

Don’t forget to shake up the sauce! I warmed it up a bit in the microwave to make it more drippy.

Add the standard Erica household salad (mixed greens with goat cheese), drizzle the sauce on top of the mix, and your glass will surely appear half-full.

I’m snuggling up to watch some 3o Rock and pretend that I’ll be as witty as Tina Fey one day.

Have a fantastic Wednesday evening!

Question: What’s one awkward thing that happened to you today?

 

 

Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever

That’s the mantra I was chanting in my head at the dentist today.

Usually, I’m like a teacher’s pet when it comes to teeth cleanings. I’ve never had a cavity, and after a few especially unpleasant unusually torturous years of braces, I’ve learned to take care of my teeth. But when I was living in Jordan, floss was hard to find and very expensive. So…yeah…it didn’t happen. Never again! My molars are still ringing with pain from that more-intense-than-usual scrubdown.

Today was painful. But the more important matter of the day wasn’t:

RUGBY WEIGHT TRAINING!

I already have calluses forming on my palms. And I love it.

I woke up to go to CoreYoga with Mom this morning not feeling the best; however, I flashed forward to how great I always feel after class, and got the motivation to roll out of bed. Exercise really can be a miracle cure! My headache is (mostly) gone, and the cold is disappearing. That’s not to say the Emergen-C consumption is going away anytime soon, though!

So that I wouldn’t feel too worn out, I headed to the gym around 4 PM; that way, my muscles could rest a bit from their AM sculpting sesh. I promise to post the actual workout plan soon, but essentially, 3 days a week consist of cardio in the morning and weights in the afternoon. I warmed up for 12 minutes on the treadmill at 6.0 MPH, did a bit of dynamic stretching, and got started. AMAZING what your muscle memory can do; I felt like I had just been doing power cleans  yesterday! I did 3 circuits of all the prescribed exercises, some extra ab work, cool down and a stretch. The entire session can make an hour fly by, but I was easing back into it, so I took a little longer.

Then I came home to make…

Cheesy Cauliflower Pasta! This is a recipe I found on Callie’s blog, and it’s pretty darn good. Wanna watch?

Boil the cauliflower and whole wheat penne:

Blend two pieces of whole wheat bread with canola oil, salt n peppa:

Drain the pasta and cauliflower:

Put that back in the pot and add greek yogurt, soy milk, and shredded cheese:

Put the pasta mixture in a pan, top with breadcrumbs and more cheese, and bake at 400 F for about 15 minutes:

Break random things in your kitchen (a magnet? really? I amaze myself):

And voila! Cheesy, healthier comfort food that the whole family (particularly my sister, the picky yet cauliflower-loving gymnast) can enjoy:Me, on the other hand? All I wanted was the green monster I couldn’t drink over the weekend. No worries, I think it made a new friend.

In the mix: a few handfuls of kale, a cup of frozen mango chunks, 1/2 an avocado, 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder, soy milk, ginger, and some Fiber One cereal on top.

Question: What mantra comes to your mind when you’re in a painful situation?