CSA Week 2: Results

I wasn’t as stressed out by my veggies this week. Maybe I’ve already adapted to the fact that getting a weekly CSA share means extra cooking. And I had some success with the turnips! Yay! I don’t hate them. I made a Turnip and Onion Soup, which also included potatoes. I think the potato cut the turnip-y taste a bit and helped me enjoy them more.

I also made a yummy chicken stir fry that included the tatsoi and snap peas. Snap peas are really tasty! I’ve been missing out on those for sure. I used the greens from both the turnips and beets in a lentil dish, which was good as well.

My one “fail” for the week was the kale and the beets, surprisingly. I do like both. But I tried a kale and roasted beet salad that just didn’t taste good leftover. It was good the first time I ate it when it was fresh. The second time i had it, I choked it down a little. And then i just couldn’t bring myself to eat the third serving. Live and learn, i guess.

Do you have any good recipe suggestions for the next time I see kale or beets in my share?

Happy Independence Day

We’re not perfect, but we’re still a great country with lots of opportunity. Here’s to freedom, farmers market fun and being an American. 

  

Types of Hurt

My trainer has told me more than once now that you can’t beat yourself up for your feelings.That you’re feeling what you’re feeling for a reason. Sometimes I think I’ve got a trainer and therapist in one.

I was going to start this post saying that I feel bad complaining about something so trivial when someone in my family is on her deathbed as we speak.

But then I remembered those words from my trainer. And I am allowed to hurt in two ways right now.

One way is physical and mental – my knees. They’ve had me sidelined for a week now. I miss running. I miss cardio in general. I feel like a bum. I pushed too hard, and now I’m paying for it.

The other way is emotional – my grandma is dying. The DNR was signed yesterday and the doctors were surprised she made it through the night. I got out of work early today and went to visit. Honestly, it was terrible. The woman that I knew as my grandma wasn’t there anymore. Her spirit gone, but her body not yet ready to follow.

And right now, I’m hurting.

CSA Week 2 – More Greens!

Every Monday I get an email describing what’s going to be in my next CSA share. I’ll be honest – I spend a lot of time obsessively checking my email on my phone on Mondays. It’s nice to have a preview of what’s coming and it gives me time to search Pinterest for recipe ideas. Maybe time to stress a little about figuring out ways to handle more cooking greens.

So this week, my pickup included:

• Lettuce
• Scallions
• Beets! (with greens!)
• Turnips (with greens!)
• Kale
• Tatsoi
• Sugar snap peas
• Strawberries

Isn’t it all beautiful?

Kale, tatsoi, scallions, turnips

Strawberries, beets, lettuce, peas

 

CSA End of Week 1

Who would have thought produce could be stressful? It was the Asian greens. I had planned to cook them in a soup on Wednesday but due to some family issues, I wasn’t able to. And I had plans on Thursday evening (another 5k!), so I was worried I would find a slimy mess on Friday instead of the crisp bunch of greens I had picked up the weekend before.

I guess the best thing about a CSA is that the produce is so fresh. The Asian greens held out! I used them in a soup and also sauteed some to go along with some pork I had leftover.

I was a lean, mean, vegetable eating machine last week.

My biggest cooking success of the week was the Swiss Chard with white beans and sausage, using this recipe: Kale with Sausage and White Beans.  

I also made a pretty banging radish and kohlrabi slaw using the following as a guide: Radish Salad.

That was definitely my first encounter with kohlrabi and I haven’t eaten a ton of radishes that I know of. But show me a recipe that lets me use the fresh cilantro in my garden, and I’ll try it.

My only bummer of the week was the turnips. I don’t know that I like turnips. I tried making turnip fries in the oven… I did force myself to eat them throughout the week, but today what was left went in the garbage.

So I guess turnips 1, Jaime 0?

2015 CSA Challenge

Back in the spring I signed up for my first ever CSA share from Easy Pickin’s Orchard. I chose this particular farm because they offer half shares and also include fruit in their weekly shares. Well, fast forward to last Saturday and it was already time for my first CSA pickup!

I decided I really like the idea of prepaid produce.

I also decided that this was indeed going to be a challenge upon seeing the actual size of my half share. I had gone to the orientation meeting a couple weeks before and learned that I could either take the bin the produce was in home and bring it back the next week, or bring a reusable bag to put everything in. I showed up with my little reusable tote and realized that all this wasn’t going to fit.

Hello, my pretties

Off the bin and I went home, and I realized I needed to do something with all this fresh goodness. Good thing I’ve been hoarding produce bags from the grocery store for ages, is all I have to say.

While I was prepping my fresh-gotten gains, I realized that I would likely find eating all these fresh veggies in a week to be a challenge. A good kind of challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. I’ve been struggling with adding more vegetables to my diet in my adult life. As a kid, I would have told you corn and tomatoes were my favorite veggies. And now I find myself staring at the alien-looking kohlrabi, imagining it waving it’s “arms” at me, saying “eat me!”

So I challenged myself to waste minimally and find new ways to enjoy all these locally grown veggies coming into my home for the next 19 weeks.

Lettuce, radishes, chard, Asian greens, turnips

Kohlrabi, scallions, strawberries

Week 1 Contenders

• Lettuce (I got this one!)
• Swiss chard
• Harkurei turnips (and the greens!!)
• Scallions
• Radishes
• Red Asian greens
• Kohlrabi
• Strawberries (yummy)

It’s Wednesday and I can say I’m off to a good start already. I’ll update you later this week on how I did!

Do you have participate in a CSA? Let me know if you have any recipe suggestions!

Well, hello

I’ve been MIA for a while. I lost some of my steam. When I think back to even before I stopped posting, I was struggling with my motivation. Diet motivation, posting motivation… it just kind of fizzled away. And I didn’t know how to get it back. The more I tried to force it, the more I rebelled against myself. I was having a hard time feeling excited about things in general.

The one bright spot in all of that was that I didn’t lose my exercise motivation. Sure, not every workout was my best, some runs I fought my head the whole time, but I kept at it.

And I’m finally starting to feel better. More like me again. I don’t really know what was going on. My trainer thought I was seeming depressed. I started considering finding someone to talk to. I started taking Vitamin D again (might as well, right?). I can’t say I’ve completely snapped out of it, but I feel a lot better. More willing to try again. I’ve been eating better (more self-control over snacking), I’ve made progress on the scale over the past three weeks, and I’ve been composing blog posts in my head again.

So it’s time to type them out again, too! But I’m making some changes. When I started this blog I wanted structure. I’m a type A person. I like routine and plans. But that became overwhelming and well… boring when it came to blogging. So instead, I’m going to blog about what I want, without worrying about posting on a certain topic on a specific day of the week. If I’ve discovered a good, healthy recipe, I’ll post it. If I’m proud of a run, I’ll brag about it. Speaking of, I ran my first 10k earlier this month in under an hour!

So… we’ll see how this goes.

Mexican Quinoa

I love love LOVE this versatile dish, adapted ever so slightly from Annie’s Eats. It’s hearty, but not heavy and super tasty. It’s good warm or cold as a salad. It makes a good topping for a burger if you’re going bun-less too.

Yummy in my tummy

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons. olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 jalapeños, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
• 1 can (14.5 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chili peppers, with juice
• 1 cup frozen corn
• Salt to taste
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• Juice from half a lime

Directions:

• Add oil to a medium saucepan and heat over medium high heat. Add garlic and jalapenos and saute for a minute or two.
• Add quinoa, chicken broth, black beans, tomatoes and corn and bring to a boil. Simmer covered for about a half hour until liquid is absorbed. I took the lid off for the last five minutes and stirred it every once in a while.
• Add cilantro, lime juice and salt. Enjoy!

Quick-glance nutrition information (from myfitnesspal app)

Servings: 5 (1 cup each) | Calories: 262 | Fat: 4.8 grams | Carbs: 46.9 grams | Protein: 12.5 grams

#FitGirlProblems…Wind

How is it, that throughout the course of my entire run this morning, it felt like I was running into a headwind? I was basically running in a square for chrissakes!

Truth

Source: theberry.com

Well, I got a kick in the butt when I got measured for the first time in a while yesterday. My behavior the last few months has definitely caught up with me. I’m trying to focus on the positive things instead of being disappointed in myself. I set a goal to be in the best shape of my life by my 30th birthday. That’s two weeks from tomorrow and I think I can safely say now that I’ve met that goal.

This time last year I didn’t think I could run a 5k. This time two years ago, I struggled to run a mile. This morning I ran 6.25 miles.

This time last year, the only strength training I did were the machines at the gym. This time two years ago I was pretty much all flab. Yesterday morning I tackled a battle ropes workout (with some misery lol). I do strength training 3 days a week now. I continue to workout with my trainer. I don’t think I could have imagined doing these things two years ago.

I need to keep this in mind when I’m beating myself up over my recent weight gain. I peaked with my weight loss in November. Then the holidays hit. Then busy season at work hit. Somewhere in there I got burnt out on tracking calories. Right now I’m silencing the part of my brain that’s telling me I’m making excuses. No, those things are realities of life. And the awesome thing is, I can recognize that and move past it. I’m still on my journey.

I mean, I’m still contemplating running a freaking half marathon! Of course, I’ll head up the stairs to bed in a little while and wonder if my knees can handle one. But that’s what training is for, right?

So even though I was disappointed while I was being measured yesterday, I’m not going to let it get me down. I’ve been doing a lot of good for myself over the last year or so. I’m going to appreciate that. And I know the next decade of my life is going to bring some pretty great things for me.