Happy Wednesday

Because everyone needs a little reminder sometimes....

 

 

(Laurel Thatcher Ulrich)

 

 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Thank your vets today!

Happy Wednesday!

Where is the edge of your comfort zone?

 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Recipe share. It's Mexican Night!

Its Recipe Share time again. I shamelessly steal all my recipes, and I'm not even embarrassed by it. Most of the time they're pretty good. I generally tweak things here or there, but for the most part and they come out ok.

There are 2 things I think are awesome. Mexican food and a crock pot. Put the 2 together and I'm one happy girl. Now if you can make Mexican food healthy, you get serious bonus points for that.

I think the crock pot was the best invention EVER made! You can probably blame my mother for that, but seriously I use mine at least once or twice a week. So there's no wonder why I'm sharing a crock pot recipe.

I stole this one from Pinch of Yum. Its another blog I like.

Crockpot Chalupas

Author: Pinch of Yum

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  8 hours

Total time:  8 hours 5 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1 lb. pork shoulder
• 1 lb. dry pinto beans (rinsed)
• 6 ounces light beer
• 1 15-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 jalapeno peppers or other hot chili, minced (ribs and seeds removed to keep it mild)
• 2 teaspoons chili powder*
• 2 teaspoons cumin*
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper*
• *AND/OR a tablespoon or two of taco seasoning (I used them all)
• generous pinch or two of salt
• 1½ cups water
• ¾ cup shredded cheese (I used Mozzarella)
• 12+ flour tortillas

Instructions

1. Place the pork shoulder in the slow cooker. Cover with dry pinto beans, beer, tomatoes, garlic, jalapenos, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, taco seasoning, salt, and 1½ cup water. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours or high heat for 4-6 hours. Don’t open the lid – it adds to the cooking time.
2. Remove the lid after the cooking time and shred the pork using two forks. You can do this directly in the slow cooker. If it’s too runny, continue to cook with the cover off for a little while. If it’s too dry, add more water.
3. Sprinkle cheese on top, replace the lid, and cook for another 30 minutes to allow the cheese to melt.
4. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler. Place tortillas directly on the oven rack and bake for 2 minutes or until golden brown. Flip the tortillas and bake for another 1-2 minutes under golden brown and crunchy. Be careful because they burn easily! Remove from oven and allow to cool.
5. Top each tortilla with pork and bean mixture and sour cream.

Notes

The longer you cook this, the better it tastes! We actually cooked it the day before and then reheated it in the crockpot the next day and it was so full of flavor! Other topping ideas include fresh tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro, crumbled Cotija cheese, jalapenos, or guacamole.

 

Share away friends.... www.facebook.com/befitforeverblog.

No Carb-o-Tarians...SERIOUSLY!

The oldest came home a few weeks ago and said she wanted to be a vegetarian.  WTH! What 13 year old wants to be a vegetarian. I thought this was nuts because I am not a vegetarian, nor to we have anyone we're close to that is. We come from a LONG line of game hunting carnivores who think salad is what food eats. (Think Duck Dynasty, and you've met my extended family). She seemed to be pretty serious about this, so I needed to understand why.

I thought for sure this had to be a trend with all the kids because Lord knows if one friend does it they all have to try it.  I started asking other moms if their daughters wanted to be vegetarian too. They all said NO. This was odd in my mind.... Although she's pretty independent most of the time, she's getting to the age that she follows trends more.

So after I asked enough moms to realize this was her idea, it really worried me. What was she planning on eating, other than not meat? We were all going to be changing our diet to accommodate this. Last year another mom told me her daughter was on a vegetarian diet because of her "new friends", but really didn't like vegetables, so all she ate was cheese pizza and Mac and cheese... Holy cow! How do you manage that?

My first response was "we'll try this, but you are not becoming a carb-a-tarian." She agreed, and tried to go no meat "cold turkey" (pun intended). That was a rough few days for everyone. Her diet was jacked up which meant she was jacked up. Moody, grumpy, the whole nine yards.

She left for the weekend to see her dad and I asked her if she told him about being a vegetarian. NOTE: He's not all that impressed with folks that don't eat meat; he's a full-on carnivore. Needless to say, she didn't tell him. Her strategy was she was just not eating meat there. (We'll see about that.)

After a week or so, I asked her again why she wanted to do this, she kept playing the health card. She gave an example of an uncle who lives in another state that's vegetarian. So I didn't push it. I told her to research protein alternatives and let me know what she wanted to try. I really wanted to be supportive even of there was no way in hell that I could pull it off. I really like meat.

We tried a few things over the course of a week or two, and she was still struggling with being hungry and moody and finding enough protein in her diet. (Lord knows we don't need another reason to be moody). Finally, one day three weeks into it, she finally caved and decided she didn't want to try it any more. She 'fessed up that it was her science teacher!! They had a lesson on all the different bacteria that was in undercooked meat and it freaked her out so bad she tried to be vegetarian.... Instead of just asking questions about how to cook meat! I absolutely love middle school science teachers! Not!

I told her we would try protein alternatives if she would like to, but there are ways to cook meat that you don't get some stomach-eating bacteria.

But this is how crazy my life is...

Happy Wednesday!

 

All I need is one that says "Life is better in Yoga pants", and the world will be complete!

 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

No Surgeon Needed!

3 days after I fell

Back in December, I trashed my ankle pretty bad. Some of you may remember; I tripped on a rock and laid in front of the port a potties whaling in pain during a run... so graceful (NOT).

Well, the ankle still is not right, so sports med guy said x-ray and MRI last week. I was so nervous. Not for the MRI, but I seriously thought an orthopedic surgeon was in my future. I could just see myself clomping around in a boot after having my ankle bone scraped on and ligaments repaired. Not being able to run for 6 weeks was my worst nightmare for sure.

BTW, kineso tape is pretty awesome stuff.
Well super bonus for me... No surgeon needed. The ankle is still a "mild sprain and a bone bruise". Now, I am not entirely sure how much longer its going to take to heal properly. It's been almost 5 months as it is. But if I go off the hip flexor and hamstring injuries I have had...well, it will be longer than most people. For whatever reason, I take a long time to heal.


The MRI of my foot

Side Note: it's kinda cool that I can look at my MRI on my home computer... not that I actually know what I'm looking at.
The best news is I don't have to stop running, or change any part of my fitness routine. If I stop running then I'll just have to manage scar tissue and atrophy, so just keep going is my motto.  I'll just add some more ice to my daily activities and all should be good. We'll see how long it actually takes to be "all good."


Happy Wednesday!

Whether they are physical, mental, or emotional, you can overcome obstacles. 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!