EJCC and Showbread's Cooking/Exercise Extravaganza!

[Showbread]

Don't know how sedentary y'all's lifestyles are but I came across this on facebook and thought I'd share.

Yoga hacks: How to undo the damage of a desk job

Fairly sedentary... I walk about quite a bit between classes. I also do yoga (including those poses) 2-3 times a week.

 

[Showbread]

Edit: Also I think I'm going to make these, this weekend:

Recipe: Tomato Cobbler with Cornmeal-Cheddar Biscuits
(using up my leftover cherry tomatoes)

30 Minute Clean Thai Turkey Zucchini Meatballs | iFOODreal
(courtesy of [MENTION=19948]Showbread[/MENTION]'s Pinterest board! Leaving out the tomato paste -- too much like Italian pasta sauce -- and adding in shallots and some kind of vegetable, maybe broccoli)

Did you end up making the meatballs? If so, how did they turn out? Having issues making decisions about dinner tonight.

 

[EJCC]

Did you end up making the meatballs? If so, how did they turn out? Having issues making decisions about dinner tonight.

I made them but I haven't tried them yet.

The tomato cobbler is AMAZING though. <3

 

[Showbread]

I made them but I haven't tried them yet.

The tomato cobbler is AMAZING though. <3

It looks good, but I really am not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes unless they're in sauce. The biscuits sounded amazing.

 

[Showbread]

30 Minute Clean Thai Turkey Zucchini Meatballs | iFOODreal
(courtesy of [MENTION=19948]Showbread[/MENTION]'s Pinterest board! Leaving out the tomato paste -- too much like Italian pasta sauce -- and adding in shallots and some kind of vegetable, maybe broccoli)

I ended up making this last night. Yum!

A few alterations:
- Left out tomato paste
- Doubled curry paste
- Cilantro instead of basil (I didn't want to buy it and I already had cilantro)
- Forgot to put coconut milk in the meatballs
- Used a little bit of toasted sesame oil with cooking spray to brown them in

Served them with brown rice. I intended to add a vegetable, but I got lazy and changed my mind.

 

[EJCC]

It looks good, but I really am not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes unless they're in sauce. The biscuits sounded amazing.

You and I have the reverse problem: I don't like fresh tomatoes very much, unless they go with something. Generally speaking I don't like food that's crunchy and watery at the same time: melons, celery, tomatoes.

I ended up making this last night. Yum!

A few alterations:
- Left out tomato paste
- Doubled curry paste
- Cilantro instead of basil (I didn't want to buy it and I already had cilantro)
- Forgot to put coconut milk in the meatballs
- Used a little bit of toasted sesame oil with cooking spray to brown them in

Served them with brown rice. I intended to add a vegetable, but I got lazy and changed my mind.

@ veggies.

I made similar modifications -- same ones re: curry paste and tomato paste, left out the basil, but didn't add cilantro.

Did you end up with not a whole lot of sauce at the end, and too much ground turkey for the number of meatballs they wanted? That happened to me. I'm probably going to end up adding extra sauce, if my roommate has any of the bottled Trader Joe's Thai red curry sauce lying around.

It also made SO MANY MEATBALLS. I froze about five or six servings of them (assuming 1 serving = 3-4 meatballs) in individually-sized containers. Decided to add some frozen veggies to each container: some of them have kale, some have spinach, and some have broccoli. Ended up being a really good way to use those frozen veggies up.

Heating up some of the non-frozen meatballs tonight, and cooking even MORE vegetables to go with it: fresh spinach, red and yellow bell peppers, and snow peas. Pretty psyched!

 

[Showbread]

@ veggies.

I made similar modifications -- same ones re: curry paste and tomato paste, left out the basil, but didn't add cilantro.

Did you end up with not a whole lot of sauce at the end, and too much ground turkey for the number of meatballs they wanted? That happened to me. I'm probably going to end up adding extra sauce, if my roommate has any of the bottled Trader Joe's Thai red curry sauce lying around.

It also made SO MANY MEATBALLS. I froze about five or six servings of them (assuming 1 serving = 3-4 meatballs) in individually-sized containers. Decided to add some frozen veggies to each container: some of them have kale, some have spinach, and some have broccoli. Ended up being a really good way to use those frozen veggies up.

Heating up some of the non-frozen meatballs tonight, and cooking even MORE vegetables to go with it: fresh spinach, red and yellow bell peppers, and snow peas. Pretty psyched!

I halved the recipe, because it called for 2 pounds of turkey! But yes, I also felt I had insufficient sauce. I'll probably add some green beans to it tonight. I bought them, just didn't feel like cooking them last night. I should add some spinach and wilt that in with it too.

 

[EJCC]

Official verdict on the meatballs: Not bad, but too dry. Which I think must be a problem with turkey meatballs in general, since turkey is almost always dry. But the spices and whatnot were good, and they'd be even better with more sauce.

Going to Trader Joe's today (I think) to buy coconut milk, so I can make more of the sauce and distribute it among my various frozen and refrigerated tupperwares.


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Update overall:

1) Food is going really, really well
2) Exercise and meditation are not going at all

The meditation thing is because I had unpleasant experiences with meditation, and therefore avoid it like some people avoid tequila after a bad Saturday night. The exercise thing is because of really awful rainy/cold weather this past week, a job application that was stressing me out until last Friday, and THE GODDAMN SHORTENED DAYLIGHT HOURS.

Ever since daylight savings time ended, I've had a really hard time getting up before the sun comes up -- and I've needed about twice as much coffee every day to feel "normal". All my usual methods* of trying to rouse myself in the morning COMPLETELY stopped working. So my plans for going to the gym before work are totally shot, unless I come up with a better way to get myself out of bed. And/or buy one of those SAD lamps.

*I learned, a long time ago, that there was no way I could get out of bed without feeling completely awake beforehand. (If I get up while I'm still bleary, I do stupid things like trying to get back in bed, or sleep on the couch.) So what USED to work was turning my phone on and checking my email, Facebook, etc, for about 10-20 minutes, while I was still in bed. Now that it's dark when I wake up, I'll fall back asleep, with my phone still in my hand.

 

[Showbread]

Official verdict on the meatballs: Not bad, but too dry. Which I think must be a problem with turkey meatballs in general, since turkey is almost always dry. But the spices and whatnot were good, and they'd be even better with more sauce.

Going to Trader Joe's today (I think) to buy coconut milk, so I can make more of the sauce and distribute it among my various frozen and refrigerated tupperwares.

I cooked mine for about half the suggested time to avoid drying them out. They still cooked through, but nice and moist.

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

Update overall:

1) Food is going really, really well
2) Exercise and meditation are not going at all

The meditation thing is because I had unpleasant experiences with meditation, and therefore avoid it like some people avoid tequila after a bad Saturday night. The exercise thing is because of really awful rainy/cold weather this past week, a job application that was stressing me out until last Friday, and THE GODDAMN SHORTENED DAYLIGHT HOURS.

Ever since daylight savings time ended, I've had a really hard time getting up before the sun comes up -- and I've needed about twice as much coffee every day to feel "normal". All my usual methods* of trying to rouse myself in the morning COMPLETELY stopped working. So my plans for going to the gym before work are totally shot, unless I come up with a better way to get myself out of bed. And/or buy one of those SAD lamps.

*I learned, a long time ago, that there was no way I could get out of bed without feeling completely awake beforehand. (If I get up while I'm still bleary, I do stupid things like trying to get back in bed, or sleep on the couch.) So what USED to work was turning my phone on and checking my email, Facebook, etc, for about 10-20 minutes, while I was still in bed. Now that it's dark when I wake up, I'll fall back asleep, with my phone still in my hand.

I FRICKIN HATE WAKIN UP WHEN IT'S DARK STILL. If I didn't share a room with ENFJ roommate I would totally hit snooze a billion times. I fell off the mindfulness bandwagon this weekend, need to get back on. But I just so busy! Which probably needs I need it even more. So much stress right now. So much.

 

[EJCC]

Food update:

I've got a short week coming up, what with Thanksgiving being around the corner, so I don't plan on doing much grocery shopping at all. I have some more Thai meatballs and broccoli/spinach/kale in the freezer, and I have a big container of lentil soup in the freezer, that I made about a month ago. The plan is to live off of that until I leave on Wednesday.

Also I made this banana bread the other day: Breadtopia | Moist Whole Wheat Banana Bread
It lived up to the title -- definitely moist! -- and the wheat flour made it denser. Tasted less like banana bread and more like a banana nut muffin. Which I have no objection to.

Exercise update:

Okay -- exercise in the morning ain't gonna happen. New plan: going to the gym after work. It's more convenient to get there from work, than to get there from my house, and it could help keep me energized in the evenings. Similar to my difficulty getting up before sunrise, I've started wanting to go to bed at like 7:30pm, unless one of my roommates is around for me to talk to, in which case I can extrovert some energy out of them.

Brought my gym clothes to work today, and am planning on going straight from there to an exercise class at my gym that starts at 6:30. Hoping this can turn into a routine!!

 

[Showbread]

Made it to the gym before yoga today. INFP roommate made fun of me for exercising before exercising. lol

Dinners this week will be salad with chicken and homemade Asian dressing. I'm going home for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, so there was no point in doing actual cooking. The salad dressing came out REALLY good, even though I didn't use any recipes, or measure for that matter.

Here's what I used:
- Chicken
- Romaine
- Spinach
- Cilantro
- Scallions
- Dressing
+ EVOO
+ Sesame oil
+ Rice vinegar
+ Ginger
+ Garlic
+ Natural, chunky, PB
+ A drizzle of soy sauce
+ A shake of crushed red pepper

 

[RenaiReborn]

Oh, I like this thread.

Would either of you find this recipe appealing? It's a great side dish/snack.
German Cucumber Salad ~ tastedocs

You could even sub in greek yogurt for the sour cream. It's a healthier way to get a Ranch flavored fix.

 

[EJCC]

Oh, I like this thread.

Would either of you find this recipe appealing? It's a great side dish/snack.
German Cucumber Salad ~ tastedocs

You could even sub in greek yogurt for the sour cream. It's a healthier way to get a Ranch flavored fix.

Glad you like the blog!

I've never really craved ranch dressing (since I've never really liked ranch dressing), but that does look like an interesting side dish. Would think it would taste almost Mediterranean, with the yogurt, but it uses dill, so maybe not. Might be more inclined to substitute tzaziki sauce...

 

[EJCC]

Exercise update:

I've finally started!! umpyouup: Saturday I spent 45 minutes on an exercise bike at the gym, Sunday I did an upper body workout that I found and really like*, and yesterday I went for a 20-30 minute run. Felt just the right amount of soreness after each day -- enough to feel it and be slightly uncomfortable, but not enough to make it hard to move. Planning on doing the same upper body workout today after work, maybe going for a short run before my Amtrak trip tomorrow morning, and packing my exercise clothes/shoes when I visit my extended family for Thanksgiving. (Told my parents about my plan, to hold myself accountable.)

It's worth noting that I'm finally at the point where the exercise bike and the run made me feel AMAZING. Cardio doesn't feel like a chore anymore. Here's hoping that I can keep that attitude over time!


*Muscle Building Routine: Circuit Workout for Upper Body Muscle | Muscle & Fitness
My upper body -- especially my pecs and triceps -- are weak enough that I have to do 20 wall push-ups, because I can't do 20 modified or real push-ups. And I can only do like 2-3 circuits instead of 5. But I'm going to work at getting to those 5 circuits, over time!

 

[Mademoiselle]

I don’t know..
This is good, thank you but..
60-80% of what I eat is carb.
What can I eat instead?

 

[EJCC]

I don’t know..
This is good, thank you but..
60-80% of what I eat is carb.
What can I eat instead?

Veggies and fruit and meat and eggs!

What I did to reduce carbs, was to make sure I was cooking at least one thing as a side dish to the carbs, so I'd eat less of the carb dish relative to the rest. For example, instead of 100% pasta, it would be 30% pasta, 30% meat, and 40% vegetables.

 

[Mademoiselle]

w

Veggies and fruit and meat and eggs!

What I did to reduce carbs, was to make sure I was cooking at least one thing as a side dish to the carbs, so I'd eat less of the carb dish relative to the rest. For example, instead of 100% pasta, it would be 30% pasta, 30% meat, and 40% vegetables.

Alright tell me some realistic recipes of veggies.

 

[EJCC]

w

Alright tell me some realistic recipes of veggies.

The basics:

1) Any veggie you want, steamed (on the stove or in the microwave) and served, on their own or with salt/pepper
2) Any veggie you want, cooked in oil or butter on the stove, served with salt and pepper and maybe some spices, a little sauce, cheese
3) Cooking veggies in the same pan where you're cooking meat, so they soak up the juice
4) Tossing veggies in olive oil, spreading them out on a baking tray, seasoning them with salt, pepper, and spices, and baking them until they're tender
5) Adding veggies to whatever veggie-less dish you're making, or upping the amount of veggies in the dish and reducing the amount of everything else, using the same amount of spices/sauce

 

[Showbread]

w

Alright tell me some realistic recipes of veggies.

I almost never use actual recipes... But, I generally roast, or stir fry mine. I love zucchini that has been sauteed with a little bit of olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Brussell sprouts are great tossed in a little olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, crushed red pepper, and parmesan cheese then roasted. I like green beans plain steamed... Kale chips are another favorite of mine. Spinach is pretty easy to add to a lot of things because it wilts down so much. I also like getting creative with salads.

 

[Mademoiselle]

The basics:

1) Any veggie you want, steamed (on the stove or in the microwave) and served, on their own or with salt/pepper
2) Any veggie you want, cooked in oil or butter on the stove, served with salt and pepper and maybe some spices, a little sauce, cheese
3) Cooking veggies in the same pan where you're cooking meat, so they soak up the juice
4) Tossing veggies in olive oil, spreading them out on a baking tray, seasoning them with salt, pepper, and spices, and baking them until they're tender
5) Adding veggies to whatever veggie-less dish you're making, or upping the amount of veggies in the dish and reducing the amount of everything else, using the same amount of spices/sauce

I almost never use actual recipes... But, I generally roast, or stir fry mine. I love zucchini that has been sauteed with a little bit of olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Brussell sprouts are great tossed in a little olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, crushed red pepper, and parmesan cheese then roasted. I like green beans plain steamed... Kale chips are another favorite of mine. Spinach is pretty easy to add to a lot of things because it wilts down so much. I also like getting creative with salads.

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You guys are awesome
Thanks chefs
*hugs*
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