Updates!

Oh, hey!

It's been a long time.  Since the last time I blogged, I finished up my long training runs (missed the 20 because of injuries and a bad cold), ran in the marathon, and ran a half marathon.  I plan on writing separate blogs about the Boston Marathon and about the Run to Remember (half).

So here's what's new... since I last blogged, two shows opened and closed (A New Brain with Moonbox productions and Legally Blonde with NextDoor Theatre), I've been cast in three shows (Fiddler on the Roof as Fruma Sarah with Reagle Music Theatre, A Little Princess as Miss Amelia with Fiddlehead Theatre, and Company as Amy with Moonbox).  I started teaching a new club- Shad Hall at Harvard Business School, plus I'm still at the North Suburban YMCA and Today's Fitness.

A New Brain.  Just a typical day. Tutu,
spinning plates, dude dressed as a frog in a blazer.

Ok. I have to admit, I've been struggling with tracking and staying on plan food-wise.  It's not hard. I know it's not hard.  I've done it before, I'm just having some trouble.  I've put some weight back on, and it's coming back in different places than it used to!  This ends. Now. Seriously.  I know I need to get back to meetings and that will help a ton.  I keep thinking back to what one of our meeting members in Woburn said about becoming lifetime and staying at goal.  Once you hit lifetime, you only have to weigh in once a month, but Frank said he goes every week and weighs in because otherwise, you're just "playing games with the scale".  He's totally right.
I was on plan yesterday, and I'm on track today!  I'm going to go to a meeting this Friday in Burlington with my favorite leader from the now closed Woburn location.

To inspire myself, I bought a new cookbook, Appetite for Reduction: 125 Low Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Last night, I made:

I promise, I'm wearing shorts.

 Delicious!  Toasted cumin seeds will soon make their way into other things I cook.  Also, I made way too much quinoa, so there will be a lot of quinoa dishes this week...

I tried a hot yoga class yesterday!  I was the first one to sweat. Like... before class started, already sweating.  I'm going to add it to my routine.

I'm also training to teach Insanity this weekend!  I'm terrified.

It's October? Excuses, a recipe, and a dog

Wow, time flies.  It's October, Ragtime has come and gone, Joseph... has started, I'm another year older, and I haven't really been running or counting points... I've been teaching and working out!  Just not as much as I would like.  I mostly blame the dog. Sort of. He's far too cute to leave sometimes.

So- August through the beginning of October, I was working on the beautiful and epic musical, Ragtime. I was very excited to play a dream role, Mother, with such a wonderful cast and production with Fiddlehead Theatre.

New Rochelle ladies with out giant hats and wigs

Tateh and Mother. And her giant wig.

Opening

So. The PointsPlus counting has been extremely lazy lately.  I have no excuse.  I know it's easy. I know I can do it, I just have had a hard time.  Mostly, I've been good for a few days in a row and then I'd kind of ruin it for a couple, then back to being good... I admit, I have not been to a meeting in a couple of months and I'm sure that's part of it.  I need to go back. It's been so easy to brush off for a while, though.  The holiday season is coming up, though, and I NEED the stability.  I need the support.  I am going back! (Sadly, next week.  Because this week, I am having a tooth pulled... ick)  But- I have been tracking since Monday.  And I'm feeling good about it.  Thursday will be the test.

Ok- "recipe" time. "Recipe" because I didn't do a whole lot to make this good.

I took a picture of it, but it just looked disgusting.  It was amazing, though!

Tofukey Chorizo and Pumpkin Millet

Millet- 1 cup dry

Water- 3 cups

Pumpkin- 1 can

salt and pepper to taste

Tofurkey Chorizo- 1 package

Onion- 1 large, diced

Red pepper- 1 large, diced

Garlic

Put the millet and water in a large pot and bring it to a boil.  Turn down the heat and let it simmer about 25 minutes.  Add the pumpkin and salt and pepper. 

In a skillet, cook the garlic and onion for a few minutes and then add the pepper.  After about five minutes, add the chorizo.  The spices on the chorizo were so yummy that I didn't add anything.

Serve together... I got about 4 servings out of this. It was amazing. But not attractive.  But amazing.

RUNNING STUFF---

It's been a while. I've been running maybe one a week. And not far. I blame this guy-

Ok. He's not totally to blame. But it's just so hard to leave him sometimes. And he doesn't like running. Not for more than a quarter of a mile. 

We adopted Winston in August.  He's a wonderful addition to our family! But he makes me slightly less productive than I would like to be.

Anyhow- I'm getting over it. Mostly.


More on running- I know I was supposed to run the Salem Wicked Half marathon in September.  It turned out that we had a ten out of twelve rehearsal (10am-10pm with a two hour break) and I wouldn't have made it on time.  Ah well.
BUT- once I have a better idea of what my next year will look like, I will start picking out next year's races and train!

Also- since I last blogged, I started teaching BodyCombat, Tabata, Circuit, and re-started BodyPump.  They're all going well and the different classes keep me busy and entertained.  I definitely prefer this to the 40239420 Zumba classes a week that I used to teach.  I still teach and love Zumba, don't get me wrong.  Now I just teach it 1-2x a week and I enjoy it.

PS- lunch time discovery- frozen Brussels Sprouts are horrid.

Pumpkin Chili! (Simply Filling and Vegan Friendly)

So I mentioned that I felt myself slipping a little bit last week. Saturday, I decided to try the Simply Filling Technique that Weight Watchers offers.  I had a lot of success when they had the similar Core program, so I figured, why not! Some of the rules have changed, but it seems like for the better.  I have never attempted Simply Filling (or Core) as a vegan, so I wasn't sure how it was going to go. So far so good!

The first day I was actually shooting with Malarkey Films on their submission for the 48 Hour Film Project in Boston.  I wasn't sure how it would work food wise, and I hadn't been prepared grocery-wise at home.  First I had to teach a Zumba class in the morning and then we ran over to the film location. I just grabbed some fruit on the way and figured I'd figure it out.  Luckily, they provided some amazing food including tofu, fruit, and veggies for lunch and vegan chili for dinner.  Oh- and if you are wondering, we made a buddy comedy, post apocalyptic musical.  I can't wait to see it on Thursday!

Anyhow- I thought I'd share the recipe I threw together for dinner tonight. I guess it's a Pumpkin Chili.  I'm so sorry that I don't measure anything...

Olive Oil
Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Salt
Cinnamon
Cumin
Corriander
Sriracha
Onions (I used two medium red and two small yellow)
Green Peppers (one and a half)
1 can of Pinto Beans
1 can of Chick Peas
1 can of Diced Tomatoes
1 can of Pumpkin

I forgot to take a picture of the chili powder...
I think you'll be ok, though

Pumpkin and Tomatoes

These are the beans that were in my cabinet

I started by dicing the onions and sweating them in a large pot with some olive oil and salt. Note- I totally would have started with fresh minced garlic, but I didn't have any, so I added garlic powder later.

Onions

I added the green peppers and let them cook through a while

Diced peppers

I added the canned tomatoes and some chili powder. I have no method to this... 

I threw in both cans of beans (pinto and garbanzo) and the pumpkin. And then random amounts of spices.... I will say I accidentally threw in a bunch of cinnamon, but it ended up being pretty amazing.

Just picture this with some brown rice.

I didn't get a picture of the plated product, but it really doesn't matter. As I said in a previous post, most things I make look the same.  Some sort of grain with a scoop of whatever random thing I've made.

Sort of curried black eyed peas.

So I had a request for some healthy vegan recipes.  A lot of times, I cook from recipes in cook books that I have and I think I probably can't post those. BUT- Here's what I made tonight. I have to warn you, mostly I just throw stuff together without really knowing what I'm doing. It usually turns out fine.

Sort of Curried Black Eyed Peas

1 tbsp of olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, minced
A dash or so of red pepper flakes
1 tsp minced ginger (I get it in the jar thingy because it lasts longer)
1 tsp red curry paste
1 tsp green curry paste
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
some smallish shake of cayenne pepper
1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 15 ounce can of black eyed peas

Alright- so I sauteed the garlic in the oil for a bit with the ginger and red pepper flakes.  Once the garlic was kind of browned, I threw in the rest of the spices and let them make a little paste sauce kind of thing.  I added the can of tomatoes- not drained- and let the spices kind of settle in for about 5 minutes.  I drained the black eyed peas and added them to the pot.  I turned the heat down and let it simmer for like 10 minutes.

Yummy simmering goodness

Rice cooker!

Served over brown rice

I'm no good at presentation.  Pretty much everything I make looks like this.  Brown rice with stuff on top of it.  Regardless, it was yummy!