Breakfast-Smoothie #1

I have had a lot of people ask me what I put in my smoothies in the morning. Here's today's:

1 cup chocolate soy milk
2-3 cups raw spinach
1 banana
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon fish oil (Even though I am going veg. I am not yet willing to give up the fish oil for flax oil only because I know that the EFAs in fish oil are much more easily absorbed than in flax.)

Total calories: about 350, 16 g (all healthy) fat, 16 g protein, 8 g fiber-basically a perfect meal.

I like adding a lot of greens to my smoothies-I like knowing I just knocked off the FDA's requirements for veggies for the day in one meal. (Even though I'll still eat quite a bit more veggies the rest of the day.) I used my immersion blender and drank it right from the blending container (why bother with another dish??). It was a bit crunchy-the immersion blender doesn't blend the spinach down fine enough and I had quite a lot of greens in there. If you're wanting to try this for yourself, use a regular blender and start with one cup of greens. To make it even more creamy and sweet, try adding half a cup of vanilla yogurt. Try this one on your kids-I promise, they won't notice that they're eating veggies for breakfast!

Another Meat-Eating Update

So about 6 weeks ago I saw a post on facebook for a vegetarian contest. It was for meat eaters who could pledge during the month of October to go meat free for one day, one week or one month. The prize varied depending on how many days you were willing to go meat-free; the longer, the more money. It was a random drawing but the catch was it was the honor system. So should you win, before the awarded you the money, you had to promise that you actually went meat-free for the time you said you would. So I signed up and decided to go meat-free for one week. (In case you are on pins and needles waiting to hear if I won, I didn't-there's a whole 'nother point to this story.) Fast forward about 3 weeks when I remembered that I signed up for this contest but hadn't actually gone meat-free yet. I definitely wanted to do it because all of you know if I didn't then I would win, but have to be honest and wouldn't actually get the money. Fortunately I remembered about the contest with 8 days left in October. So the next day I started meat free, with exactly one week left in the month: October 25th. I went meat free the whole week. It wasn't hard at all. I have stuck very resolutely to my decision to not buy meat, so we haven't cooked with it in 2 or 3 weeks. So eating not eating meat at home was a breeze. We only went out I think one time during the whole week, so again, pretty easy (especially since we had pizza) to eat meat free there. I did have to overcome the actual temptation of it-and it was for sure a temptation (BBQ chicken pizza, buffalo wing pizza, pepperoni with jalapenos...mmm) but for the most part it was okay. So the week was over but I kept on the momentum of not having meat; mainly because I hadn't eaten out and it was easy. Yesterday a friend and I had lunch out at Red Robin and I replaced my meat patty for a veggie one. Simple swap, but for me took some guts (I think because by swapping it out, I was calling attention to my eating habits and frankly, I'd rather just blend into the woodwork.) The cool thing was that on the way home I was thinking about what I did and wondering how I would have felt had I just eaten the meat. And for a split second I could picture the meat so clearly-what I looked, tasted and smelled like. I could practically feel myself having a bite. And you know what? It made me feel sick to my stomach! This is a good thing! Because as you know, I want nothing more than to give up meat but I'm having such a hard time doing it. So for my body to make the choice for me is golden! So today is day 12 on no meat. I'm hoping this is it for me. The real test will come when I am actually...well...tested. When I go to someones house and there are absolutely no veggie options and I'm stuck in a corner eating bread crusts salivating over everyone else's plates. Or at Thanksgiving, again, when there are only one or two veggie options and I'm basically left out. So we'll see what happens when those true temptations arrive. But so far, good progress.

My Pledge

Pledge: A promise or agreement to do or refrain from doing something.

I just spent about an hour looking at a vegan momma's website, which, by the way, if you are on the fence about becoming a vegetarian and are lazy about taking that step, I highly discourage you from doing what I just did-otherwise you'll read the 10,000+ reasons that are good for becoming a vegetarian but feel guilty for still eating meat.

Alright, so I am pumped up! I am ready to do it! Or at least stop being so wishy washy and take a real step towards becoming vegetarian. I know that this is the right step for me-for my family-for health and ethical reasons. I become more and more positive of it the more I think and read on it. So here it is; here is my pledge: I will not buy anymore meat at stores. I'm done. One of the big things that has kept me eating meat is 1. I have some meat stored in the freezer I need to use up and 2. I keep buying really amazing deals of meat at grocery stores and thus, repeating the cycle all over. So I am done. I will not buy anymore meat at the grocery store. No matter how good a deal it is, it's no longer an option for us! Now I admit, I still do have some meat in the freezer; I have 1 lb of sausage, 1/2 lb of ground beef, a whole chicken and 2-3 pre-made, frozen meals that contain meat. I know what recipe I'm cooking with every single meat item in the freezer so hopefully in a few weeks we'll have eaten it all and since I won't buy it anymore we will be one, huge giant step towards being vegetarians. Phew! I'm doing it! I know this is going to be hard for me. Thanks to my parents, I cannot pass up a good deal (my mom just offered me a 30 year old train set-quite possibly unsafe for my son-and I was pretty iffy on wanting to take it. She said "Why wouldn't you want it? It's free." So thanks mom and dad.). But I know that I want and need this lifestyle more than I need to spend money on meat just to save money. Now that that is taken care of, I'm excited to see if I can follow through on it. (By the way-as an update, I've sort of set up Thanksgiving as the day I will finally be vegetarian. I'm not sure if that's the day I'll turn for good or if it will have been going on for a few weeks or maybe not at all, but every time I think of Thanksgiving, I sort of know in my heart of hearts, it will be meat free for me.) Wish me luck!

Where am I at?

So where are we (me) at with becoming a vegetarian? It's something I've talked about for a loooong time. In fact, I've been tossing the idea around for over 2 years. You'd think in 2 years I would have made more decisive progress but I haven't. For a year and a half or so of these 2 years, I have been convinced entirely that vegetarian eating is healthiest for humans. I'm not going to get into those reasons because food choices, especially vegetarianism, can be very hot button. So for that year and a half, we've basically parred down our meat eating to maybe an average of 1-3x a week. (Out of 21 meals in a week). Some weeks more, some less but my guess is that's the average. The past 6 months I have add new reasons to my list to become a vegetarian. Mostly thanks to the book "Eating Animals". I have since become more deeply convinced that there is no good reason to eat meat and every good reason to be a vegetarian. I believe this fully and can speak on the pros of vegetarianism with the best of them....but I still eat meat occasionally. What is going on? My belief in the virtues of vegetarianism on every level is as strong as any die-hard yet I haven't officially made the change. I don't know why I'm dragging my feet. I think it is mainly because there are some cool recipes I still want to try out with meat and I'm not willing to give them up. Also, this doesn't play as heavily on my choice though, there are things I would miss if I gave up meat. Dishes I would miss, tastes I would miss, some experiences I would miss. I keep telling myself I need to take the plunge and make it official but I haven't. Perhaps its the finality of it. Having to tell everyone I am a vegetarian. Having to give up, for good, dishes I enjoy. Having to make some lifestyle changes. Its funny I am dragging my feet so much because I feel so deeply that this is absolutely the right choice but us but I look behind me and there are drag marks deeply in the sand. I still think the day will come, sooner now rather than later, that I can and will say "I am a vegetarian." "Yes, I have dietary restrictions. I don't eat meat." But for now that is where I am at. Camping out in the middle of the vegetarians with a secret stash of jerky just in case I want it.

Shorewood Scoot 5K

John and I have done the Shorewood Scoot for 4 years in a row now. The main reason we do it is because it is literally 10 minutes from our house. In the Chicago suburbs where everything seems to be a minimum of half an hour away, finding something so close is a gem. The past few years John and I have leisurely run it together; last year Jamie was a tiny baby and we walked the whole thing. This year though, I am probably in the best shape of my life, I weigh less than I did before having Anne (thank you for that gift you gave me Jamie while I nursed you!), and I am really fast with running! Before this year, I was running at a comfortable 11 minute mile pace. Maybe a 10:30 if I was having a good day. In the running world, that's practically walking. This year, I am comfortably running a 9 minute pace. Much much faster than I ever hoped I could run.

Back when I started doing races, I knew that I was-at best-a 10 minute miler girl. So I always thought it would be cool to run 3 miles in under 27 minutes (or in under a 9 minute mile). That translated over into wanting to do a 5k in under 27 minutes, even though that meant doing an 8:45 or so. I never ever thought I would even come close to doing that. But this year, since I was already running so "fast" I thought I might actually try for it. I made up a training schedule for myself that included one day of speed work, one day of mock 5Ks at a faster pace and one day of a "long" run. Last week I ran my final training 5K in 27:35 and thought I just might actually have a (long) shot at making my ultimate goal for time in a 5K.

So today was the race. I was totally nervous. Even though we paid for John to do the race too, he decided to stay at the finish line to watch me come in (since we were both so excited that I might actually make my goal). The first mile I was incredibly fast. I finished it in an 8:20. The second mile I finished in an 8:40, still well within my goal. By this point, I was feeling it big time in my gut. When I exert myself with running, I get what's equal to the worst side stitch but in my stomach. So I was feeling that a lot. The beginning of that mile started with a hill so I slowed my pace for a few minutes and ended the 3rd mile in 9 minutes. I had only 1 tenth of a mile left to go-about one minute to finish that, give or take a few seconds. My watch said I was at 26:05 or so. I didn't think I'd finish that tenth before 27 minutes but I still picked up my pace. The last 30 seconds or so I debated slowing down and jogging it in because I thought I wouldn't make it anyway. But then I thought of finishing just a few seconds over 27 minutes and didn't want to be kicking myself for not giving it my all. So I sprinted it in-and made some nice breathing noises-I'm sure my co-runners thought I was giving birth. But I did it! I finished it in 26:55 (and actually even faster since I didn't start their start line right away). Awesome! I almost cried! I cannot believe I actually beat what was basically an unattainable goal. I have absolutely no desire to beat my time-I think this may go down as my fastest 5K in my life and I plan to run until I die. I had a great time and am so thrilled my training paid off!

Later on Anne and Jamie ran a race. Anne actually came in 4th out of probably 20 kids. That's my girl! And Buddy came in dead last, but in his defense he had no clue what was happening. Here's some pictures of our fun morning.

Before the race

Me finishing

Anne running her race

Look at her go! She's like lightening!

Jamie "running" his race. Look at him go! He's like molasses!

Jamie in his fire hat-his prize for finishing the race.

Anne in her fire hat.

September Resolutions

I've heard for several years now how a lot of people view the fall-with the start of school-almost as a new year. It never really resonated with me until this year. I feel as though I am on the cusp of something new, something fresh and crisp and unblemished. I have resolutions-always reserved for the New Year-running around freely in my head. So what do I hope to see happen this fall? Well:
1. Our Fall Bible Study starts up again this week. I hope I can start doing devotional times again. Something. Bible reading and prayer have been sorely lacking in my life. I hope with the start of the Study, it will trickle down to my personal life too.
2. I hope that the kids and I spend lots and lots of time outside this fall. In the summer we never go to the park mainly because the slides and swings are hot enough that we could bring raw eggs with us and cook them on there for breakfast. I hope we spend lots of time going to the park, walking in forest preserves, hitting up the dog park. Anne is in school 3 days a week and I have to pick her up at 3 pm. Usually she and Jamie are in their rooms doing quiet time/naps until 3:30 or 4. So on school days I always feel like I need to fill in that extra time. I hope we spend most of it at the park or somewhere else outside.
3. I am looking forward to cooking. Yeah, I know, I spent pretty much the entire summer cooking away, but anytime I turned on the oven, it was with guilt-knowing I should really reserve that type of culinary fun for the colder months. We'll they are here! (Practically) So I am looking forward to making lots of yummy muffins, biscuits, casseroles, cookies...I can't wait to incorporate the Autumn harvest too-sweet potatoes, winter squash, apples, pumpkins...my fingers are itching to bake and cook as I type this.
4. As always, I hope that I can start to get a handle on chores. I do chores every day but I'm always behind. Mostly because we go out too much and I spend way too much time on the computer. Maybe I can cut some of that out, get on top of things in the house, and spend sometime in peaceful, personal growth (see #1).

So that's what's been floating around in my head for the past few weeks. Hopes for the coming months. Next week is supposed to be mild and I'm hoping the week after starts the beginning of the crisp air that's here to stay.