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EJCC and Showbread's Cooking/Exercise Extravaganza!

EJCC

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Well, shit. My lower left leg is swollen. Not a lot, but enough for my skin to feel tight, and tender to the touch. Might also be bruising.

If this keeps up tomorrow, I'm going to the doctor. Either way, no running tomorrow, just to be safe.

Edit: And now I'm doing what you're not supposed to do and looking up symptoms... ugh. Gotta stop doing that. It can wait until tomorrow.
 

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Well, shit. My lower left leg is swollen. Not a lot, but enough for my skin to feel tight, and tender to the touch. Might also be bruising.

If this keeps up tomorrow, I'm going to the doctor. Either way, no running tomorrow, just to be safe.

Edit: And now I'm doing what you're not supposed to do and looking up symptoms... ugh. Gotta stop doing that. It can wait until tomorrow.

What did doctor say?
 

EJCC

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What did doctor say?
Didn't end up going to the doctor. I may have been imagining the whole thing? I am still not 100% sure. My leg is probably bruised up from my bike ride this past weekend, and I could just have been confusing random soreness, plus more muscle tone than I have ever had in my calves, for swelling. Who knows.

Yoga went excellently today, so that's hopeful! Keeping my fingers crossed for a run either on Saturday or Monday.
 

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Didn't end up going to the doctor. I may have been imagining the whole thing? I am still not 100% sure. My leg is probably bruised up from my bike ride this past weekend, and I could just have been confusing random soreness, plus more muscle tone than I have ever had in my calves, for swelling. Who knows.

Yoga went excellently today, so that's hopeful! Keeping my fingers crossed for a run either on Saturday or Monday.

Good! I really need to get a bike... So many hills near my apartment though.

Since I'm only going to have about 2 weeks before I head back to CA/Europe 5 weeks I won't really be getting into much of an exercise/cooking routine. I just made some Peanut Sesame Slaw and chicken to have around while I unpack. I also need to figure out something creative for lunches. I generally work 10-3, so I only get a 10 minute break. Yesterday my lunch consisted of an orange, a Lara bar, and frozen yogurt. Which is not horrible, but not great either. The yogurt is free, so it's probably not going anywhere. I just need to do more fruit, plain mochi, and nut toppings instead of candy. Have I mentioned I have an insane sweet tooth?

My lower back has been really tight/sore the last few weeks. I slacked off on the physical therapy exercises, and I've been stressed. In terms of exercise, I need to find a place to do yoga and rock climb around here that aren't obscenely expensive. My apartment complex has a fitness center, but it's currently under construction. When that opens up I'll use it for treadmill, elliptical, free weights, etc.
 

EJCC

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1) A side note on those banana muffins I made earlier in the week: The recipe said they keep for a week, but it only took five days for the remaining muffins in the batch to get moldy. :(


2)
Didn't end up going to the doctor. I may have been imagining the whole thing? I am still not 100% sure. My leg is probably bruised up from my bike ride this past weekend, and I could just have been confusing random soreness, plus more muscle tone than I have ever had in my calves, for swelling. Who knows.
Yeah, I think I was confusing intense leg bruising for soreness, and increased muscle tone for swelling. :doh: We will not speak of this again.


3)
Yoga went excellently today, so that's hopeful! Keeping my fingers crossed for a run either on Saturday or Monday.
Next yoga class will be Sunday. I am SO SORE from yesterday's class, and will be walking all day Saturday, so running and alternate exercise are not guaranteed. Which I guess is fine. I don't know why I've started getting so impatient about working out...


4) Making this, this weekend, on recommendation from my parents*:

Half Baked Harvest - One-Pan Spring Tuscan Quinoa Bake

Anticipated modifications:
- Regular pesto instead of sundried tomato pesto
- Trader Joe's Quattro Formaggio instead of pecorino romano (since I already have a big ol' bag of it)
- No dill, unless it's cheap
- No toppings
- Probably no pepperoni or pepperoncini, though I'm debating that still -- it's kind of a spendy recipe even though I already have the quinoa and the olives, and I'm wanting to keep the cost down


*or rather, after I found the recipe on Pinterest and recommended it to my parents, who wanted quinoa recipes -- then they made it, and recommended that I make it too, since I had just sent it without making it first
 

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FINALLY made this Quinoa Enchilada Casserole. Verdict: super yummy! I LOVE enchiladas, so I'm not surprised I liked it so much. It should freeze well too. :)

Things I changed:
- Medium sauce instead of mild
- No chili powder
- Blended Mexican cheese instead to two different kinds

I found a great new running area! There's a great (flat!) road with side walks and lots of trees right by my apartment. So, that's promising. Still need to workout yoga though. So expensive!
 

EJCC

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^ omg [MENTION=19948]Showbread[/MENTION] I love that we both made quinoa bakes completely separately from one another. I didn't even process that until now.

My quinoa bake turned out really well! Only complaints:
- Should have added less cheese to the top because it kept the peppers from really roasting instead of just cooking all the way through
- 1/3 cup oil + enough to drizzle the top of the baking pan was WAY too much oil IMO
- Should have added more things with oomph: pepperoncinis would have been good (per the recipe), or I probably could have doubled the amount of both olives and artichokes and still had it be good
 

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^ omg [MENTION=19948]Showbread[/MENTION] I love that we both made quinoa bakes completely separately from one another. I didn't even process that until now.

Haha! that is funny, especially given that neither of us is particularly partial to quinoa. Even though we both made quinoa bakes, they're pretty much as different as possible in terms of flavor profiles. I can just never get enough Mexican food apparently.

My quinoa bake turned out really well! Only complaints:
- Should have added less cheese to the top because it kept the peppers from really roasting instead of just cooking all the way through
- 1/3 cup oil + enough to drizzle the top of the baking pan was WAY too much oil IMO
- Should have added more things with oomph: pepperoncinis would have been good (per the recipe), or I probably could have doubled the amount of both olives and artichokes and still had it be good

That is SO much oil! Especially with the cheese. I wonder why?
 

EJCC

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Haha! that is funny, especially given that neither of us is particularly partial to quinoa. Even though we both made quinoa bakes, they're pretty much as different as possible in terms of flavor profiles. I can just never get enough Mexican food apparently.
I still don't love quinoa, but I think it's been growing me. I like it better when it isn't acting as a depressing substitute for something.

:laugh: Yeah I noticed that too. You can take the girl out of California...

That is SO much oil! Especially with the cheese. I wonder why?
:shrug: Maybe they were really really worried about it burning? Who knows.
 

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I still don't love quinoa, but I think it's been growing me. I like it better when it isn't acting as a depressing substitute for something.

:laugh: Yeah I noticed that too. You can take the girl out of California...

Yeah. I don't like it in place of rice or something with more yummy starch. But it's pretty good in bakes.

Seriously. It's a little ridiculous. I'm pretty sure I buy cilantro and onions more than any other ingredients.
 

EJCC

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Dropping this off here because it's HIGHLY relevant to healthy living:

Five words you should stop using when you talk about food - The Washington Post

Spoiler alert: those words are "detox", "cleanse", "skinny", "never", and "perfect".

It drives me crazy that Pinterest absolutely FILLS my homepage with those five words, because clearly if I'm interested in eating healthier, I also either a) have bad body image, 2) have unrealistic expectations of myself and others, or c) believe pseudoscientific BS. :dry:


 

EJCC

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More updates!

The rhythm of things, exercise-wise, is probably going to be working out 3x a week -- either yoga 2x and running 1x, or yoga 1x and running 2x. I'm saying that while hoping that the next time I do yoga, I won't be sore for 3 days afterwards, which has been the case both times I've gone to yoga class. Tuesday was my last class, and I'm hoping that tomorrow morning my legs will be recovered enough for a 2 mile minimum run.

If any of you readers have yoga video recommendations, please let me know, because I'm on the lookout...

Seriously. It's a little ridiculous. I'm pretty sure I buy cilantro and onions more than any other ingredients.
It is interesting how we have such different comfort foods. You defer to Mexican food, and I defer to Thai, Japanese, and Chinese food.
 

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Updates: Still LOVING the enchilada bake. I mixed in some Cruciferous Crunch slaw today, super yummy. I put the rest in the freezer to eat later. Currently making Greek Chicken Salad again. Loved it the first time, naturally. It's an Alton recipe.

In terms of exercise I've been jogging, but I'm about ready to give up. My lungs are just not cooperating and despite my persistence it hasn't gotten any easier. Might just settle for walking until the fitness center in my complex is done being renovated. I got to climb this week though! That was fantastic. I really need to start doing my physical therapy exercises again, but it never seems convenient. But it's so important!

It is interesting how we have such different comfort foods. You defer to Mexican food, and I defer to Thai, Japanese, and Chinese food.

Did you eat a lot of Asian food growing up? We got/made Mexican food on pretty much at least a weekly basis. When my parents eat out, 50% of the time it's Mexican food. And my Grandma makes amazing enchiladas, so I associate them with her. So, it's kind of normal for me. When I was in Europe last summer eating Mediterranean food (which I also love) for 3 weeks I wanted tacos and a margarita more than anything else in the world.
 

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Food updates!

First, this one from my blog:

EJCC said:
I actually made a bit of a gamble with my health when I made dinner yesterday -- when I got home, two of the eggs in my egg carton were broken, and I was about 75% sure that I'd broken both of them, so I decided I would use them to cook dinner. As I understand it, egg drop soup doesn't keep well, so I made a heavily modified* version of this frittata: Easy Artichoke, Spinach, & Herb Frittata | Linda Wagner

As of right now, I have no stomach problems whatsoever, but apparently it can take up to 72 hours for people to start feeling salmonella infection symptoms, so We Shall See.

(It was a really good frittata, btw. Especially since I didn't need to buy anything new to make it.)

*modifications: used dried spices (basil and thyme) instead of fresh, didn't use any broccoli slaw, TJ's Quattro Formaggio instead of goat cheese, half a regular onion instead of green onions and shallots, and -- gasp -- flipping the frittata to cook the top, instead of putting my very-non-oven-save pan into the oven.

My other food plans are all pasta plans: pasta on Sunday with people from my choir, and also these two recipes.
Chopped Chicken Sesame Noodle Bowls - Pinch of Yum
One-Pot Pasta Primavera Recipe

The only problem with this is that I have all the ingredients for both, and they don't keep for a very long time. Wondering if the sesame noodles will freeze well? I'm assuming the pasta primavera will not, since it involves heavy cream. If they do freeze well, then my meals for the next half-week will probably be
1) oatmeal with fig jam and chia seeds in the morning
2) curried lentils -- yes I still have two servings of it in the freezer! one of the only recipes I know of where the serving size is too big -- with cherry tomatoes and an egg on top, for lunch
3) pasta primavera for dinner

Oh and one more food update: I made my own trail mix last week, in an attempt to find a good use for the raisins I bought for my Moroccan Shepherds Pie a while back. And it is AWESOME. Here is my recipe:
- Mixed nuts
- Raisins
- Semisweet chocolate chips
- Coconut flakes

Having something sweet in there is great for me, since it makes me not crave sweet things in the afternoon quite as much as I'd want to.
 

EJCC

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Updates: Still LOVING the enchilada bake. I mixed in some Cruciferous Crunch slaw today, super yummy. I put the rest in the freezer to eat later.
Slaw mixed into enchiladas? :thelook: Was it like a salad or something? How does that work?

In terms of exercise I've been jogging, but I'm about ready to give up. My lungs are just not cooperating and despite my persistence it hasn't gotten any easier. Might just settle for walking until the fitness center in my complex is done being renovated. I got to climb this week though! That was fantastic. I really need to start doing my physical therapy exercises again, but it never seems convenient. But it's so important!
Shame about running :/ Climbing sounds like a good substitute -- as would biking, or hiking. Are there any trails around your house or campus?

How long do your PT exercises take? One thing that can help me with those sorts of tasks is that if I remind myself of how little time it takes, it forces the resistant part of me to acknowledge that it's not inconvenient after all. Kind of like saying "it'll only take a few seconds" before you take awful tasting medicine, or jump into cold water.

Did you eat a lot of Asian food growing up? We got/made Mexican food on pretty much at least a weekly basis. When my parents eat out, 50% of the time it's Mexican food. And my Grandma makes amazing enchiladas, so I associate them with her. So, it's kind of normal for me. When I was in Europe last summer eating Mediterranean food (which I also love) for 3 weeks I wanted tacos and a margarita more than anything else in the world.
Interesting. That was the case for my mom, and she loves Mexican food too. (Her mom was from San Antonio, so they'd always go out to eat Mexican food as a treat.) We had Mexican food enough at my house that I could have fallen in love with it -- maybe once every couple of weeks? Same frequency as pizza, or Thai food -- but I never really loved it. Probably because it wasn't authentic. Hard to find authentic Mexican food in the really WASPy part of the Rockies.

I always saw Thai food and Chinese food as a treat, for various reasons. Every Christmas Eve, we'd order Chinese food for delivery, put it in the fridge, and have it for Christmas dinner. And the very few times my dad would cook for us, he'd cook some sort of Thai-ish thing that he'd made up -- he lived in Thailand for a few years in his late teens, and fell in love with Thai food while he was there. Japanese and Vietnamese food were not things I grew up with, but since I moved to the east coast, I've fallen head over heels for pho, banh mi, vermicelli noodles, and ramen / other buckwheat noodle variants.

 

EJCC

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Exercise update:

Trying to decide what I should do instead of running, this summer. Realizing quickly that even first thing in the morning, it's too warm, and WAY too humid, for a comfortable run.

My preliminary idea is bike riding, for several reasons.

1) I enjoy it, and I like my new/old road bike
2) Errand-running time and exercise time could be the same time, which would be convenient
3) I love the trails around my house, and would like an excuse to get out on said trails without the heat absolutely destroying me
4) It would be good training for my trip to Portland, when I will probably be doing a LOT of bike riding

Just bought a pair of padded shorts to make my inevitable summer bike riding a bit more tolerable -- or rather, making the days after bike riding a bit more tolerable, lol.

I also bought a yoga app -- Yoga Studio -- and plan on trying it out tomorrow morning before work.


---------------------------------------------------------


Food update:

I did SO MUCH COOKING yesterday. I made
1) The aforementioned sesame noodle recipe (friggin amazing, and highly recommended, though next time I will use soy sauce instead of salt. Important note: This recipe tastes WAY better hot, than cold.)
2) Crustless mini quiches with spinach and leftover onion and mushrooms that I was trying to use up (I accidentally SERIOUSLY overcooked them -- they are still edible, but not good enough that I'd want to share them)
3) A heavily modified version of this recipe: Drunken Chicken Marsala with Tomatoes - Pinch of Yum (I just threw in whatever mushrooms and cherry tomatoes I had left, and however much chicken/cooking wine/corn starch/etc I thought was necessary -- have not actually eaten this thing yet but will have it tonight with some bread to dip in the sauce, and will keep you posted)
 

Showbread

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[MENTION=4945]EJCC[/MENTION] A yoga app?? Let me know how that goes! Definitely sounds worth trying.
 

EJCC

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Posting this here so I can hold myself accountable:

FOOD AND DRINK SPLURGING PLEDGE:

The only times I will eat out on weekdays will be Tuesdays, before choir.

I will not buy coffee or treats at the bakeries and coffee shops near my work unless it is a special occasion or a Tuesday.

I will bring extra cold brew coffee to work with me twice a week, so I won't feel the need to buy iced coffee on workday afternoons.
 

Showbread

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The lovely cooking/leftover eating/exercise routine I had found myself in is now suspended for about 5 weeks. I'm visiting my family in California for the next two weeks, then heading to Europe to two weeks, then one more week in California. This weekend is going to be crazy in terms of food because of the my brother and I's graduation party is Saturday, and my mom's 50th birthday is Sunday. So, there will be lots of cooking/baking happening, not not really healthy stuff. Breakfasts/lunches should still be healthy, it'll be the dinner and party food. Moderation will be important, but extremely challenging. I'm making a double batch of browned butter chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodle bar cookies tomorrow. :drool:

On the brighter side, once the festivities have passed my family loves it when I recipe experiment for them. And my parents buy the food (WIN). So, I will be perusing my pinterest boards for fun healthy things to try.

Exercise on the other hand will be improved! We have a family gym membership and they have a ton of classes. I'm planning to go to a yoga class tomorrow. After taking ballroom dance I might even brave zumba, something I have fled from in the past due to my extreme lack of coordination/hip movement. I might even be able to do some jogging since there will be treadmills, indoor jogging tends to make my lungs much less angry than outdoor. I'm sure I'll also be doing plenty of walking, because I generally take my dogs for walks 3-4 times a week while I'm here.
 

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Treadmill jogging = semi-success! My lungs didn't get nearly as tight or angry. I don't like jogging on the treadmill though because I feel like I get so much sweatier and there's no breeze. But, it's better than feeling like I'm going to suffocate the whole time! Tomorrow I'll go to the same yoga class I went to last Thursday. It was really fantastic, probably one of the best I've ever been to.

I also went rock climbing on Monday. Let me tell you, rock climbing muscles/callouses are use it or lose it. I struggled, even though it's only been about 3 weeks since I was climbing consistently. My callouses peeled off, so after two walls my hands felt raw. If I'm going to go outdoor climbing again in August I'm going to have to work up to it. I'll probably buy a student membership at a gym in Portland when I get back. I just need to find someone to go with me. Or, I could be one of those super gutsy people who mostly boulders and asks random strangers to belay them. I tried to convince ISFP friend to move to Portland, but that didn't work. She's my climbing buddy when I come down to visit.
 
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