I had a pretty decent long weekend despite my episode of binge eating on Saturday night. I was definitely happy to have the extended break so that I could play around in the kitchen. The kitchen time, however, made me realize something about myself: I am one of those cooks who makes the biggest mess possible! It looks like a tornado ripped through my kitchen every time I finish a recipe, I really should take a picture one of these days...I probably will. And the bad part is that I hate cleaning so I probably should make more of an effort to be neater.
Anyway, I experimented with four new recipes but so as not to bombard you with a painfully long post, I'll only post two today.
In other news; I started the Insanity work out program and it really is insane. My calves, lower back and obliques are so sore after just three days of working out (technically two and a half). Right now I'm probably not pushing myself as hard as I know my body used to be able to go and that's frustrating but hopefully I'll get back to that level of fitness and finally be able to push myself 100%. My goal by the end of this month is to get through one of the DVDs while taking only three breaks the whole time (stopping to catch my breath doesn't count). It does feel good to be pushing myself this hard again. It's awful and painful but so good to know I'm doing something healthy for my body. Whenever I start dreading my morning work out I just think "it's only 4o minutes and then you're done and you'll feel better about yourself for the rest of the day."
I did make the mistake of doing a 41 minute cardio circuit training work out yesterday morning and then going to hot yoga in evening. It wasn't bad but I was definitely exhausted. I've decided that since I do love doing hot yoga, I'm going to just take a class on Sundays in the morning because it's my day off of Insanity. Still don't know how I'm going to pay for it but if I can't afford it down the line, then I guess it will just have to wait until I can.
Okay, without further delay, here are two of the recipes I experimented with this weekend.
Cream of Tomato Soup by Carmella:
Ingredients:
2 cups tomatoes
2 cups red peppers
1/2 cup almonds or cashews, soaked
1/4 avocado
Juice of 1/2 large lime
1 tsp. miso
Salt to taste
Fresh or dried basil (optional)
Water until desired consistency is reached
Directions:
Blend until smooth, then taste. If it seems too acidic, add a little sweetener. If desired, gently warm up on the stove, stirring constantly.
Notes: I added fresh basil and some fresh thyme. I used all cashews and I forgot to soak them but that didn't seem to make a big difference. I also added some sun-dried tomatoes. I have to say that the soup was very good and creamy but for some stupid reason I forgot that I've always hated creamy soups with nothing of substance in them. Oh well, lesson learned.
Chocolate Milkshake by Heathy:
Ingredients:
2 large frozen bananas
2-3 tsp. pure vanilla extract or seeds of 1 vanilla bean
2-3 cups water
4 medjool dates or 2 tbsp. agave
Directions:
Blend until creamy and smooth, adding enough water for your preferred consistency.
Notes: I think I added too much water for the size of the bananas I used so it was a little runny and watery but otherwise pretty good. I also didn't add vanilla and I think I used a mixture of dates and agave. Obviously, since this was a chocolate shake, I added some cacao powder to get the desire chocolate flavor. I will definitely try this again using either less water or more banana...I'm pretty sure my bananas were just too small.
That's all for today, I will be spending more time in the kitchen tonight so look for more recipes to come.
TTFN!
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Correction 3:47 09/09/2009 : It's actually five recipes so I have three more to come tomorrow.
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