Mental Overload

I've spent the last week doing the best rotation I've had and also the hardest. The best because the people I was lucky enough to be placed with are amazing and inspirational and kind and smart and...all the good adjectives you can think of and on top of that, they're doing what I want to do. Wellness and health promotion in a private practice setting, speaking engagements, programs for individuals and families too, just amazing. If you google the owner's name you get back over 5,000 hits and a lot of them are for her, not some random person with the same name. Just so inspiring, and they liked me! Said I was the best intern they've ever had and that they do not say that lightly. Absolutely made my day and I wish I was going back Monday instead of moving on to other things.
This last week was hard because after putting our family pet to sleep last Friday, my husband also had to be gone that night and then left on Sunday to be gone in LA all week until Thursday night. So I was on the best school experience ever and basically trying to single mom it too. Being a single mother has to be hands down the hardest thing EVER in my experience because you don't just get to be a mom, you have to keep the whole ship afloat on top of trying to be mommy and that's where the problems come in I think. I still feel beat up from exhaustion this morning despite sleeping in a few hrs to almost 8am. I also devoted 100% of my brain power to the job this week because I wanted them to see the real me and to like me and I'm glad it worked. It is a great feeling to be valued by people you value. I will stay in contact with them and my hope is one day when I have more experience to be able to work with them in some capacity. In the meantime I need a website and a business plan for myself and I have to get ye olde resume polished up to get a job post graduation. Experience only helps, never hinders when it comes to counseling patients.
So the kale chips, I found a recipe just googling kale chips because I had seen them mentioned elsewhere. You end up with a very similar texture to lay's original potato chips and the flavor still remains somewhat bitter (they are a serious set of greens after all) but it is also similar to potato chips. You de-stem the leaves of kale, toss in vinegar and olive oil (a tad) and season them how you want, I just used salt because that's what the recipe said. I think it takes trial and error with your own oven temperature and timing and seasoning to get a result you really love but I was pleased with my first attempt. Kale is full of iron, calcium, vitamin A and vitamin C. Kale would also be a good source of Vitamin K so for those taking coumadin or warfarin (same thing) be aware of increasing or decreasing your amount of leafy greens because it will interact with the medication.
To Vickie: I know you had a request for me to find some information and I am happy to do so however I'm not sure where that comment went so if you could let me know again I will work on that.
Exercise was almost non existent this week, I am not exaggerating when I tell you I am lucky I was on two feet most of the time. I did however eat very well even with getting lunch three times due to lack of strength or energy and timing to prepare things. I did tons of research work this week so I'll probably be sharing some of that with you.

I made a recipe (posted below) but made a few changes so it didn't turn out the same way as when I helped make it Easter Sunday. I subbed butternut squash for the yam, left out the bell pepper accidentally, and the carrots on purpose.
After I made my four day at a time plan I read an article stating most people can do things four days at a time much easier than say a week or whatever. And there I said that I would just have to accept that I am different. Ha!



Tomato Vegetable Casserole
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Show: Everyday Italian
Episode: Dinner Party Delivery
Tomato Vegetable Casserole
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium yam, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced into rings
2 small or 1 large zucchini, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick pieces
Salt and pepper
2 large ripe tomatoes, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons dried Italian-style bread crumbs
Fresh basil sprigs, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss the potato, yam, bell pepper, carrots, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss until coated. Spread vegetables evenly over the bottom of the pan.

Arrange the onion slices evenly over the vegetable mixture. Arrange the zucchini over the onion. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange the tomato slices over the zucchini.

Stir the Parmesan and bread crumbs in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the Parmesan bread crumbs over the vegetables in the baking dish. Drizzle with the last tablespoon of olive oil.

Bake uncovered until the vegetables are tender, and the topping is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil sprigs, if desired

I am loving all these comments! *takes a moment to roll around in the commenty goodness*
It's sort of a pain in the rear to leave comments on my own DARNED BLOG but I really do appreciate the support and knowing a have "internet friends" out there.
My lower body felt sore but not unmanageable when I got up today, and as I mentioned I scheduled out workouts yesterday through Saturday in Sparkpeople. I normally take the day after lifting off from any structured exercise but I thought a nice long walk would not only help a bit with the lack of workouts but sort of stretch my muscles out so they didn't feel too tight. I took our son in the jogging stroller for a 45 minute walk through the park under the shade trees arching over the path. The creek is pretty full and I couldn't help but think what a gorgeous day to be alive.
After sitting down for a minute when we got home my legs were so stiff I could barely walk, and I'm achy now but satisfied. There will be no peeling that monkey sticker off today's date on the calendar.
I'm cooking a veggie casserole of sorts tomorrow with butternut squash, red potatoes, and purple onion. I forgot grated Parmesan and large tomatoes for the top-anyway, I'm curious if anyone has any good recipes for butternut squash, I've never attempted any culinary magic with this particular variety of squash.
We're watching "Rocky Balboa" and I gotta say I didn't think it would be this good but I was just bouncing around on the couch like a loon during the match scene.
G'Night.

After reviewing the newly posted summer semester schedules that I must be enrolled in to finish out my prerequisites, I see that the NYC trip I thought would take place this year is highly unlikely. Perhaps I can discuss my absence of three days with the instructor and take labs at different times to make up the time/grades or something of that nature. I am fearful this will not be acceptable though and am more than a bit sad. NYC has resided on my list of places I want to visit for quite some time and I thought it would be marked off the list and moved to the places to visit again list this year. Jason's parents go to some type of jeweler convention there every year the last weekend of July and the big association would pay for our room! With airline miles and a paid for room this became extremely doable and yet here I sit with school beating me down yet again. The following summer whether at UT or OU either one, will still find me in a classroom or possibly doing field work and so the situation will more than likely remain the same. I think missing out on a few days at community college sounds more likely than missing out on several days of my internship, ya?
Jason and I made yet another recipe together from the Low GI cookbook, this time we tried Chicken Enchiladas, page 220. I just saw it says 4 servings...uh we made about a pan and a half (9 x 13) of these things, that comes out to be about a billion enchiladas a person. They turned out superbly and I'm happy to share the recipe if requested. Very clean tasting but extremely tasty, and I am not believing how many vegetables Jason has consumed with these recipes. True, they reside on the acceptable veggie list for him, but this seems to be a good way to get in more servings of them all. Once again we subbed a yellow pepper for the green but that was the only modification this time.
Yesterday our family trekked over to the Firewheel shopping center yet again (we love this place apparently) and attended sort of a "kids' fest" thing where the Kool-Aid man and the weiner mobile were in attendance and some guy shouting things over a microphone. I spent my time mainly in NY & Company trying on and buying the best dressed I have found in a long time. Extremely happy with the results, I've been looking for sundresses that don't happen to look like maternity wear. Hrm, the dresses are listed on their website and yet the pictures possess the clarity of mud. Boo.
Friday I completed my lifting workout and used the barbell to do my squats. It was a bitch at first because I had to rearrange things and I hate having to work on something in order to just GET TO the task at hand. The rack was turned so that you could do bench presses, something I don't do as I do flyes instead, and so after a scary attempt that could have resulted in injuring myself I set out to turn it around. After all I am the only one using the bench as Husband doesn't like lifting weights and is having to play mind games with himself to even do cardio. After wrestling with the stupid thing I got it lined out and was able to do the squats. I had to do three sets though and that is not in line with my goal of efficiency and heaviest weights possible with good form. I don't want to do more than two sets of an exercise as I do not believe more is needed and have achieved the best results of my entire lifting experience of several years off and on-not only in muscle growth but also in my consistency. I have been consistent with lifting for weeks and weeks and don't see it stopping now that I am not bored too tears with too high repetitions and too little rest in between that type of workout. Full body workouts with max weight and minimal repetitions have worked wonders. My legs finally got a good workout and I concentrated on form to the nth degree, including making sure to go a full 90 degrees down, which I THOUGHT I had been doing but maybe not so much. I think I was bitching so much mentally about my hands hurting holding the dumbbells that I wasn't coming down far enough, which irks me because that is something I feel is so important. If you do things half-assed just to lift more weight or to go faster than you are only screwing yourself. Yoga was last Wednesday, not sure if I mentioned that. My body actually seemed to be telling myself, "Self, it has been about a month without proper stretching and meditation, what the hell are you doing!?" So I got to it and my hips hurt afterwards and now feel much better than they have in a good long while.
Must dash, my dad is coming to visit today and I am sitting here with wet hair and a slightly messy (not too bad) house.

I made my first main dish meal from the Low GI cookbook my sister-in-law gave us and we both loved it! I modified it a bit to suit our tastes and when we ate it I thought it was just okay but I had not let it sit long enough for the rice to soak up the broth. Here are the details:

2 teaspoons canola oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
2 cups chicken broth (low fat low sodium)
2 green bell peppers, steamed seeded and diced
1 can (28 oz) stewed tomatoes
1 can (15 oz) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup brown rice
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the celery, garlic, and onion and cook until the onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken, thyme, oregano, chili powder, and the cayenne, if using, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
2. Add the broth, bell peppers, tomatoes, beans, rice, and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for abotu 35 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Let the dish stand for 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and discard. Stir in the parsley before serving.


Jason does not like celery or beans so I left both out, and we did not have regular brown rice but we did have the instant version. I threw in the rice the last 12 minutes and it was just right. Also, I don't care for green bell peppers so we used a red and a yellow. Delicious! When I went back to get a second bowl a while later it was so much better because it had thickened up a lot. This is a green light recipe which as you can imagine means GO (weight loss, no worries, etc)

Recipe from "Living the g.i. Diet" by Rick Gallop, page 217

Current favorite recipes:

Cranberry Feta Salad

Romaine lettuce
Cranberries
walnuts
reduced fat feta (crumbled)
reduced fat Ken's Steakhouse Caesar dressing
cherry tomatoes (optional)
purple onion (optional)

Toss it together, eat. What did you expect? It's a salad. The flavors are awesome together though, definitely does not taste same ol', same ol'.

Chocolate Strawberry Shake



1 cup Silk Chocolate Soy Milk Lite
handful of frozen strawberries
1 scoop vanilla soy protein powder

Blend, drink. What did you expect AGAIN? It's a shake. *grin

Both are delicious and hold me over for hours which is quite a feat. Just thought I would share, I haven't gotten tired of either one of these items yet!