Whole grains are delicious.

I’m having an RA flare, and while it’s relatively mild, I’m still finding it quite annoying because it’s all spread out - left knee, right hip, left hand, and jaw. Fun times all around, basically. So, no kickboxing for me, but I did hit the gym after work to do some cardio and weights. I’m always really proud of myself when I manage to exercise through pain - as long as it’s not excruciating, it really helps.

But enough self-congratulation. Wait, no. I’m not done. This meal was really delicious, too:

I’m going mostly meatless this week, just because meat is expensive and I didn’t want to buy any before we go on vacation. Good thing, too, because I took some WebMD diet assessment today and it was all DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! TOO. MUCH. PROTEIN.

So the main course (top right corner) was a delightful barley and walnut salad. It was inspired by a recipe from Food and Wine, with some major modifications. I’m more of a Cooking Light kind of girl, so I was a little appalled by the fact that the recipe called for 1/3 cup of olive oil. Just the idea of that makes me feel kind of sickly. Anyway, it’s barley, a few toasted walnuts, some spinach that I threw in with the barley at the last minute, a nice lemon vinaigrette, and some feta.

Close up:

I also roasted some veggies to have on the side, because I wanted to take advantage of the fact that it was only 78 degrees.

Now I’m off to clean and read and stress out over whether or not I can make it to the gym in the morning.

On watch.

Just when I start to think I can handle Kansas weather, we have another tornado watch. Which completely ruined my evening, THANKYOUVERYMUCH. We were even planning to go out to dinner in the middle of running errands, but I get too anxious to drive during any kind of potential weather situation, so we had to nix that. Probably for the best, really, as it’s about 110 degrees outside. Also for the best because we took a trip to the campus dairy bar at work today. So, for my afternoon snack, instead of eating a Clif Kid Z-Bar, I indulged in a big cup of homemade mint fudge swirl ice cream. Mmmmm. Worth the heat index of 106 walk over, for sure. AND it was eating local. So. Extra points for that.

So for dinner, I threw together a bean salad so that I wouldn’t have to cook anything. Spinach, corn, black beans, tomato, cumin, lime, garlic, cayenne pepper. Oh, and some goat cheese. Which doesn’t necessarily go with any of that. Except that it goes with everything.

I don’t remember it being this bright and shiny. But whatever.

Okay, it’s time for me to pretend to read but actually sit anxiously until the watch is over. At midnight.

Get ‘er done

I was a busy little bee today. I basically didn’t have time to be in a mood again, so at least there’s that, but I was slammed at work. This doesn’t happen that much in the summer, because my teaching load is lighter and I’m usually working on projects with more fluid deadlines, but today was back to back to back. To back. And back again. And I’m still not done - I have a few more things to wrap up at home tonight. The good news is that it’s Wednesday, which means two more days and then it’s smooth sailing into a weekend of… cleaning.

Anyway, on to the food. I was all excited to make this saffron lemon chicken salad thing from Ellie Krieger’s cookbook, and then I went to the store to buy saffron and I definitely came home without it. It was in the spice area with all the other normal spices, but instead of being, you know, 4.99 or whatever, it was 19.99. And there were about 6 strands of saffron in there. What kind of jackass business is that? Those strands of saffron probably cost more than my outfit that day. So what we had was lemon chicken salad. Sans saffron.

That chicken salad was awesome. I chose it specifically because I had a pound of green beans from the farmer’s market that needed to be used, and this recipe called for a pound of green beans. Lucky me. I was also intrigued because it involved cooking a lemon, scooping out the the insides and chopping up the peel for the salad. Zesting would’ve been easier, but this had really good flavor. So it was green beans, marinated grilled chicken breast, lemon peel, and a nice lemon-honey vinaigrette. With some bulgur on the side. Oh, bulgur. How I’ve missed you.

Okay, time to work and get myself psyched for a 5:30am gym trip.

Yay?

I don’t feel very chatty.

I’m in a mood, but I know if I don’t post then my mom gets “curious” (read: nervous) about whether or not I ate dinner. So, here’s dinner:

Frittata with red potato, tomato, green pepper, spinach, and goat cheese; salad with tomato, more goat cheese, walnuts; bread.

I think I might have an Edy’s fruit bar, too. I just don’t know. I’ve had to make too many decisions today.

Ten minute rule.

I have a no oven rule when the temperatures hit 90. Today, I decided that I’m going to start enforcing a new rule: when it is 95 degrees or hotter, dinner has to require less than ten minutes of stovetop cooking.

When it is 105 or hotter (this will happen), I will either suck it up and pay for dinner, or we will sit around lamenting the painful state of things and not eat. Either way, really.

Anyway, no kickboxing tonight, as the AC in the Rec Center is broken and they finally decided it was hot enough to fix it. Probably someone passed out or went into a coma or something and they thought, “Oh, it is rather hot in here, isn’t it? Let’s fix the AC so his family won’t sue.” I can’t complain, because it was good timing. I was in a bad mood, and who wants to work out when it’s 100 degrees? Not me. I’m tough, but I’m not that tough.

So, I came home and made dinner, following my new ten minute rule. I started with a salad:

Spinach, grape tomatoes, feta, roasted red pepper vinaigrette.

And for the main dish, we had shrimp scampi with artichoke hearts, served with cute little farafellini:

I used the same bowl. The less time we have to spend slaving over a hot sink washing dishes, the better. And by “we,” I mean Matt.

Sunday. Again.

I was more or less productive today, so I only have 21 things left on my list. Not bad!

In other good news, it was a lovely day, with temperatures ranging from ten to twenty zillion degrees. Approximately.

Okay, not really, but when I drove back from the gym at 7:00pm, I passed one bank sign that said it was 100, and one that said it was 106. Mmm. Steamy. I thought I was hallucinating when I passed the first one, as I had just spent 90 minutes in a big gym with an air conditioner malfunction, doing yoga with four other clearly deranged women. I just kept telling myself that people pay big money to do yoga in 108 degree rooms, so really, I was getting a great deal. This powered me through the eight times I almost passed out.

So, I came home and made a tasty dinner to lift my spirits and get my energy back. I got a huge bunch of chard at the farmers market yesterday, and I was planning to make this recipe again, but I decided to get fancy and do my own variation.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients (measures are approximate):

• humongous bunch of swiss chard
• garlic
• 10 ounces whole wheat pasta (I used linguine)
• 2 cups (or 1 can) of cannellini beans (rinsed well if canned)
• 1 can of stewed Italian style tomatoes
• 1 cup of tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes, but you could use whatever), roasted
• 1/4 cup of white wine (dry works best)
• 1/8 cup of chicken or veggie broth
• 1/8 cup of water
• Tsp olive oil

How to cook them:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
2. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-low. Add chard, white wine, garlic and cover. Let chard wilt, about three or four minutes. Stir a few times.
3. Add beans, tomatoes, broth, water, and more garlic to taste. Cook through, about six minutes.
4. Stir into pasta, heating over low heat for a few minutes until sauce thickens.

It makes about six servings. Plenty for dinner and leftovers for Matt’s lunches.

I added some parmesan to mine. And I had a salad, too. Baby spinach, roasted red pepper vinaigrette, and parmesan. Hey, it was out.

While cooking, I enjoyed my new favorite beer, Old Cherry from New Belgium Brewing Company. Brewed with the juice of real cherries. Cherries and beer? How could it go wrong?

Okay, an hour before bed. Let’s see if I can knock anything else off my list.

Oh! I almost forgot. In the midst of my productivity, I took a break and actually wrote things about me on my About Me page. It’s like See Food: The E! True Hollywood Story.

Refrigerator raider

This was a “clean out the stuff that’s going to go bad in the fridge” kind of night, so we had two mini-meals that didn’t necessarily go together.

First course was baked tofu and a spinach and carrot salad with a ginger-lime vinaigrette:

This is the first time I’ve actually used leftover tofu. I usually prefer to leave it in the fridge, forget about it, and throw it out when it turns black. Fun!

Second course was mushroom barley risotto with whole wheat sourdough toast:

I think it’s well-established that I love risotto, especially risotto that is not really risotto, but this was especially good. Probably because the recipe explicitly said that I didn’t have to stand there and stir it, so I just brought broth, barley, mushrooms, and a little soy sauce (this was a new one for me) to a boil, reduced it to a simmer, and skipped off to read my book. Basically, I got 45 minutes of my life back.

Also, it was 92 degrees and I didn’t want to stand in front of the oven. I’m not ready to die yet. I have more to give.

I didn’t get much done today, so our list for tomorrow now has 39 things or something great like that on it, including cleaning every single room in our apartment, vacuuming, trying to get our carpet back to its original color, grocery shopping, looking for new running shoes, going to the library, writing wedding thank yous because we were finally able to get those printed, and possibly doing some deep breathing to ward off anxiety attacks. You know, no big deal. If I get started by, oh, yesterday morning or so, I should definitely be done in time for Sunday night yoga.

I think I’m going to need some ice cream.

What day is it?

I made it to the gym this morning. Score. But obviously, my body wasn’t prepared for the change, because I am now dying of exhaustion and I don’t know what day it is.

I also blame my body on the fact that I ate a bunch of leftover cake right before dinner. Oops. I think that’s why this is a smallish portion of baked pasta:

That’s whole wheat rotini and penne baked with a can of crushed tomatoes, a can of diced tomatoes, some cottage cheese, yellow squash, zucchini, and a little mozzarella and parmesan. Also, side salad with spinach and carrots and Annie’s Goddess dressing. I bought it for the first time this weekend. Why didn’t anyone tell me? It’s so good.

I’m pretty sure there are ten or more things I need to get done before I go to sleep, but now I’m just concentrating on figuring out what tomorrow is, and whether or not I need to pack my gym bag for yoga.

I’m a survivor.

I rode the damn stationary bike again. It was either that or try a Bosu class, and, honestly, if I tripped and almost broke my toe just putting shorts on, I’m pretty sure it’s not in the cards for me to bounce around on half a stability ball in front of a bunch of 20 year olds in small clothing.

Anyway, I’m trying to be positive, because I got a lot done at work today, I had a halfway decent hair day (literally - the left side looked great, the right not so much), I made it through 40 minutes on the bike, and I polished off an issue of Self while I did it. I’m not a big Self fan, because it’s all about which eyeshadow is in season and women working out in bikinis and such. But, I bought it in the airport a few weeks ago because, when I travel, I really want to buy things I usually don’t like so much: weird women’s magazines and drinks from Starbucks. Anyway, so I had this magazine laying around and I feel like I learned so much about Anne Hathaway and I didn’t cry on the bike. Score one for me. No, score 80 billion for me (I need a lot of affirmation today).

Then, I did an abs class where I think I may have actually died a little bit, and came home not interested in cooking anything at all, but very much in the mood for beans. So, I had a big salad. With a lot of beans. And some tomatoes, spinach, chips, cheese, and a heaping helping of salsa that made me sneeze:

I hope you like that artistic diagonal shot. I did that for you.

I also had some more chips with cheese. Known in some cultures as “nachos.” But, these chips have flaxseed in them, so these were healthy “nachos.”

I’m still hungry, so I might go for some cereal.

Okay, I have to stop here because we’re being energy efficient and the laptop is dying.

I hate exercise bikes

I just do. Sometimes I’ll hit a bike for 15 minutes as part of my cardio if I have a really good book to read, but usually I avoid them at all costs. So, I was in a pretty bad mood after having to bike for 35 minutes, even if I did follow it up with walking, something I actually enjoy. But my poor little blue toe can’t handle anything else. So I’m going to have to soldier through, I guess. It did make me insanely tired, so I guess that’s… something.

I got home after 7:00, hungry and wanting chickpeas. I don’t know why these things happen to me, but I was so happy that I wasn’t craving cake that I went with it. I have ingredients for a chickpea curry, but that seemed like it would take too long, so I went with Heidi Swanson’s Lemon-scented Quinoa Salad again. Still good. This time, I had it with a spinach and carrot salad, with some Italian dressing I found in the refrigerator that was only one day past its expiration date! SCORE!

So far, I’ve resisted having dessert. I’m quite proud. It doesn’t matter that I’m just too lazy to get up and get any. It still counts. Now my dilemma is: get up and clean things or fall asleep on the living room floor and remain there pathetically until Matt comes home and makes me go to bed for real.

I agree.

Sorry, Matt.