ScrappySlim - ScrappySlim's Fitness Finesse

Magazine Monday- What’s for dinner?

Posted on May 20, 2013

Ok, “Magazine Monday” sounds almost cheesy (or nutritional yeast-y for my vegan friends), but it’s what I’ve thought about for a long time. It also helps me remember that I’ve got stuff to share, and not everyone reads the same things. Before I dive into the sharing, tell me:

1) Do you subscribe to print magazines?

If the answer to #1 is Yes, what are your favorites? How long have you been reading that particular mag? Do you run to the mailbox every month when it arrives?
If the answer to #1 is No, why not? Are you an “online only” mag person? Which online magazines do you like and why?

2) How long do you keep your magazines?

I try to keep no more than a year of issues. That said, since I had more than one subscription at a time a few years back, a year of issues was really causing me ISSUES! I finally decided there was no reason to keep them all, and I took them to Half Price Books and got …. I don’t know…. 2.50 for the lot of them. It’s not much money, but the space was cleared and I was really happy about that! Sometimes it’s just time for the things to go to their new homes. I’ll be running off to Mission Arlington today with some things and I am really happy about that!

One of my favotire magazines is Yoga Journal.

I like to place the magazine on the floor when I am “practicing” the poses in the home practice section. I enjoy the word “Practice” because it lets me know that I can do this and do this and never have to “win”. I think I could do this floor viewing even if this were an online subscription because of course there is a website www.YogaJournal.com. There is also a “watch video” at the end of the section. That’s available at www.yogajournal.com/livemag . I don’t know if there has to be a subscription to the magazine for the video to work or not. I usually buy the Yoga Journal when I’m at the grocery store. Once I forgot that I had an issue, so then I had two. And yes, I had issues. :)

It’s interesting that this particular issue is from August 2012. That means it’s almost at the “time to share with others” date. I’m glad I’m looking now, because I found this great recipe “Quinoa, red pepper, & cucumber salad with avocado and lime” on page 36. Perfect for today!

Here’s the link for the recipe: http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/food/recipes/recipe/11896

Time to go cook! Please feel free to share YOUR favorite magazines, recipes and random thoughts. I love hearing from you.

Fuel yourself!

Gratitude (and yes, there’s an oil for that!)

Posted on Mar 19, 2013

Gratitude. Grateful. What does this mean to you? How do you show gratitude? Is gratitude the same as appreciation? Is gratitude only an action, or is it an attitude? So many thoughts for one….what is it? Mindset? See, there’s another question! Briefly (right, I’m never brief), let’s explore some gratitude and the oil that is Gratitude.

Getting back on track?

Posted on Mar 18, 2013

Is it already time to get back on track? Because we’ve fallen off the “diet” wagon? And it’s only March, and “swimsuit season is just around the corner”! Oh MY GOSH, the pressure!

I’m not sure if this post will qualify as a rant, but seeing these words, on this cereal really made me think about health, eating, exercise and living. I don’t know that I’ll go into all of those topics here, now, but I’d like to share some of the random thoughts that ran through my head when I saw the cereal.

Spiraling tacos!

Posted on Mar 6, 2013

We aren’t exactly making tacos that spiral.

It sounds like an interesting idea though. I’ll present it to the R&D team.

These tacos were inspired by the taco salad at Spiral Diner in Fort Worth.

We didn’t add the taco meat listed in the ingredients, we started with the Quinoa and added mexican taco type seasonings to that. As usual, there’s a “next time we make it let’s do this” for this meal. Next time we are going to add seasonings as it’s cooking, and more of them. We were timid with our seasonings. Imagine that!

The taco shells are vegan and are from Trader Joe’s in Fort Worth. We got some other groceries while we were there (our inaugural trip to TJ’s!) and we loved it. As always, when entering, we said “do we need a basket?” and a resounding “no” turned out to be a TJ reusable shopping bag FULL of wonderful treats that turned out to be a mere $23.00 and change! WHAT? Yes, we will go back.

Here’s what else is in our taco meat.

Quinoa seasoned with cumin, garlic, coriander, Mexican oregano, salt and pepper, cayenne and probably some other seasonings. Though we had several, our intensity still needed a boost.
Black beans
Corn
Peas
Avocado
Vegan Sour Cream
Homemade Pico

The Spiral Diner version has taco meat (vegan- we elected to have our Quinoa act as the meat), green onion and carrots which we forgot! Ours was still great, and I had a “taco” for breakfast the next day.

We discussed what new foods we were eating since being vegan. Quinoa tops this list.

What new foods are you exploring?

The mid-way point of Vegan Lent

Posted on Mar 5, 2013

Today we are 21 days into the Lenten season.

That leaves us with 26 days left. Not exactly the mid-point, but really close enough to make some observations.

Our favorite food it seems is the Portabella burger. We found some ‘shrooms that were OMG huge! It’s like a double meat something without the heart attack! Here’s one from last night. We had them Sunday as well because they are SO easy and so convenient. I’ll add that Sunday’s grilling wasn’t really healthy because it started at 11:30 P.M. I’m sure the neighbors think we are nuts, and that’s ok.

In this photo we have the burger and some “fries” and some asparagus. I know asparagus doesn’t go w/ burgers necessarily but we had it and it needed to consuming. The “fries” are simply the small multicolored potatoes that we’ve roasted. I like these better than normal fries now!

When I put the burger together, I put the flat side of the ‘shroom on the bottom bun, and put the grilled mushroom and other veg inside the cap, on the gill side. It makes a nice place for the veggies to sit without falling everywhere. There’s also a tomato and some sprouts here. We use Rudi’s Vegan buns and they are REALLY great!

Other observations:

Cooking is not a big deal. Planning is the big deal.
Vegan is less expensive or more expensive? That one is still out, but I’m going to say LESS expensive because my bag of quinoa can be used several times. The amount I cook usually gets divided up and used more than once. Leftovers get used up. Greens get eaten. I’ll keep better track of this in the next 26 days to let you know for sure. Since we are leaning toward the “vegan is a lifestyle, not just a Lenten event” as well, I’ll let you know from 1 April to 30 April what I come up with.
Lighter is in fact a feeling and we are feeling lighter. YAY!
No more naps needed. No post-lunch issues and I’m able to work later into the afternoon and still THINK! I’m an early bird, preferring the 5 a.m. wake up call so 3 in the afternoon is time to clock out. Not lately!