Darn Cold Tuesday in the Mid-Atlantic

Tuesday started ridiculously cold. It was 23 degrees early in the morning with a predicted high of 30. To top this off we had a windchill of 9 degrees. What? Since it is not technically winter yet these temperatures just feel that much colder to me. If I could I would stay inside until Spring. Darn I dislike cold weather. It is so hard for me to believe that grew up in Northern Indiana on Lake Michigan. Clearly my mid-western blood is long gone.

There was not trip to the gym this morning because they weren’t opening until 11am. The schedule from now until they close for winter break is variable and morning workouts won’t be possible for us many days over the next two weeks. We are going to try to go after work but that doesn’t seem to agree with us so we will see if it happens. I will keep you posted.

Even with the cold when I asked Dan what he wanted for breakfast, expecting him to say oatmeal, he said green smoothie. This one contained: frozen banana, kale, walnuts, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, powdered ginger and stevia.

It was so darned cold this morning I just couldn’t make myself slurp down a smoothie. Instead I went for a much less healthy option of a slice of whole grain bread (leftover from making ribolitta), a schmear of reduced-fat peanut butter and a sprinkle of raisins. To go with the open-faced peanut butter sandwich I had a banana. I washed this down with a few mugs of how water with lemon to try to keep myself warm. Clearly this was not the healthiest breakfast but I couldn’t stand the idea of a cold smoothie and wanted something easier than oatmeal. I guess you could say I was being lazy. ;-)

For lunch I was in the mood for roasted veggies like we had for dinner the prior evening. I tossed some in the oven for me and topped them with a dollop of the leftover queso. I really need to start keeping that sauce in the refrigerator. It may just be as useful in the winter as salsa is in the summer.

Like usual I needed an afternoon snack and had a small bowl of dark grapes and two Brazil nuts.

Dinner was little later than I wanted, Dan was doing something at work. *rolls eyes*. While I waited for him I had orange and 6 walnut halves. This was enough to tide me other until dinner time.

By the time dinner rolled around my creativity was kaput. I made us some millet which I cooked with fresh shitakes, diced red onion, minced garlic, a little vegan Worcestershire sauce and a touch of liquid smoke. When the millet was tender, about 15 minutes, I added lemon zest and lemon juice, fresh parsley and grape tomatoes. It was a simple dish, a little grain heavy but otherwise good.  I can you hadn't noticed my food definitely gets more starchy in the winter.  Starch seems to be what my body wants so I go with it.

Holiday gifts:

Gloria reminded me of something that I should mention. Sue, a friend of ours from cooking class, gives French Market Bean soup out at Christmas time. This recipe is simple and yet incredibilty tasty. If you are looking for a healthy little something you may want to give this a try. Dan loves this recipe which I blogged about here if you are curious.

I have to say it was incredibly encouraging that so many of you stay away from the cookies, cakes and other indulgences this time of year. It has become such a part of our culture to indulge. But it has also become part of our culture to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. *shakes head*  It is nice to know we aren't the only ones trying to stay healthy even during the holidays.

Do you have any healthy gifts you give out each year like Sue's French Market Bean Soup?

TRX 15% off:

In case any of you are interested TRX is offering 15% off all TRX gear until 12/16 and free shipping. Just use the code TRXMAS. There may be a little TRX in our Christmas. ;-)  Aren't healthy presents the best?  Well kitchen gadgets and jewelry are good too but I have plenty of those at the moment.

Happy Thoughts:

In spite of the bone chilling cold things have been going well here. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• Yesterday (Tuesday) I was able to stay in my nice warm house all day. Given our frigid temperatures it was glorious to have the luxury to stay inside. ;-)

• The gym is starting to vary its schedule which would normally drive me nuts. However I have been in a go with the flow mood lately. It was nice to skip the gym yesterday, well I am sure my knee liked it , and not get stressed out about it. I am now almost looking forward  to the 9 day winter break as a chance for my knee to heal. This is not how I would have approached this in the past. As Dan would say maybe I am growing up. Too bad I had to be 48 to get there, LOL.

• Today was started off well with an early morning trip to the gym. Then I drove Dan downtown since has a parking card so we don’t have to pay for me to park to go to the dentist. I was nice to be able to chat with him on the ride.

• Tonight is the “vegan meet-up”. Assuming I don’t chicken out (no pun intended) I will tell you all about that tomorrow. I am not sure why this has me concerned but I am just not too sure about this. But I am going to try to go outside of my comfort zone and give it a go. Wish me luck. LOL

Signing out:

I have a few things to do before I head back downtown to visit our dentist Dr. Garcia. Yay that will be my last trip to the dentist for a while. I  really like all these guys but would rather see them when they aren’t doing things in my mouth. 

I hope all of you have a happy and healthy Wednesday. Talk to you again tomorrow.