Today's Tastiness

I've had some requests recently to share more recipes. I thought maybe I could make it a weekly thing, where I share the recipes I make?  We'll see. This week I made two. Click the recipe title to see the full recipe.

Black Bean Chicken
This was super easy. It was an open and dump it in the slow cooker kind of meal.  I added a package of frozen corn and a package of frozen peas to up the veggie content, although next time I might replace the peas with some other vegetable..  I left out the rice and was going to cook it separately, as I saw a lot of comments on the recipe that said that made it mushy.  However, when I sat down to eat it, there was so much food to a portion I didn't think I actually needed the rice. It was really good. Here's the finished product:

Crustless Spinach, Onion and Feta Quiche
Now something you may not know about me is that I hate eggs. They are revolting to me.  They have always grossed me out, especially the smell. Mainly this affects breakfast, especially when you're getting fast food (Of course, I don't do that so much any more) because every bloody breakfast sandwich has a disgusting sheet of egg on it. But I digress.  I'm trying to be a bit more grown-up in my approach to egg, plus eggs have a lot of protein, so when I saw this recipe and the picture looked pretty tasty, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I added green peppers to the spinach and onion to up the veggie quotient. It was pretty good hot, but rewarmed today for lunch was not the greatest thing.

Here are some pics of the progress.

Egg. Gross.



Added the veggies.


  

Finished product.



Myriad Thoughts on Prayer

Prayer is an area of my spiritual life that I have always had trouble with.  I just don't get it sometimes.

Here's What I Don't Get
First, if God is omniscient, then he knows what I'm thinking and feeling. Why do I need to voice it? Is it just for my benefit? I realize I need/want to praise him and thank him as part of my prayers, and I need to repent and ask forgiveness.  But why do I need to ask Him to help my friend find a job or my sister to deliver a healthy baby? Why doesn't he know that I (and he/she)want these things with all of my (and his/her) heart?

Which leads me to my next question, who am I to ask God for anything?  I know the Bible says I am a child of His and an heir to His kingdom, but he is the all-mighty, the creator of everything in the heavens, on the earth and under the sea.  I'm just Jill Stuckey, why do I get to call the shots, petitioning the God of the universe? Except

My other trouble with prayer is that I don't understand why some prayers are answered and some prayers are not.  Does it have to do with the heart of the prayee or does it have to do God's plans?  A lot of the time I try to remind myself that I can't see the whole picture, only God can. Being an inquisitive human though, I'm always trying to figure this one out.

Here's What I Don't Like About Prayer
I don't like that too often it becomes a wishlist of sorts when I do it. I spend way more time asking instead of worshiping. I'd like to spend time praying for everyone in my life daily, but I dislike when my prayers become rote lists of requests.  I don't like when I have told someone that I would pray for them, and then I forget to do it more than once. I don't like that I use the word "pray" as a verb too much. (As in "I pray you will...")

Here's What I Know (and Like) about Prayer
I know that I like praising God. I know that I like praying because I can talk with him like he is a friend. I know that it sometimes brings peace in the middle of a storm. I know that it shouldn't be a just-before-bedtime kind of thing, but something that should be woven into my whole day. I know it's hard for me to pray for myself and my struggles, because I feel so blessed and therefore unable to ask for more. I know that I like it when I'm praying for someone in particular and God leads me to other things to pray for that person or even something else.

Here's Some Things the Bible Tells us about Prayer:
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Phil 4:6

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." -Romans 12:12

"The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well." - James 5:15

"The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray." -1Peter 4:7 (We have to exercise self-control to be able to pray?!)

Our prayers are collected in the throne room of heaven and smell sweet to God: "Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." - Revelation 5:8 (Thanks to Pastor Talbot for this today!)

Wrap-Up
I wonder if I approach prayer too logically?  Is it meant to be something that is understood by your soul, but perhaps not your conscious? I don't know. At any rate, I bet you weren't expecting a discourse on prayer when you visited my blog today.  You may think it doesn't have much to do with my healthy weight-loss journey.  In truth, I do not often pray to God asking him to help me lose weight, even though it's something my heart wants so much.  I'm not sure I'm ready to get into why I don't pray for that (just skimming the surface of thinking about it sounds like a whole other blog post to me.)  However, prayer and Christianity are important parts of my life, affecting every part of my life, so I think it works as a topic for this blog.

Sorry if I tried to cram too much stuff into one post. It's just stuff I've been thinking about for years, but then there was a great sermon on prayer today at church, which stirred it to the surface. Maybe it should've been a series. I'd love your thoughts on any or all of the above. Do you have any favorite verses or lessons from prayer? Please share!

Run for Your Life

So just when I was on the verge of a serious pre-race panic, today I had the best run (physically, mentally and emotionally) of the last few months.

Hold on to your seats, folks, this is where it gets exciting. Cindy and I did 6 miles today in one hour and 8 minutes, which included only 4 minutes of walking! I still can't believe it myself. That means we logged over an hour of solid running time!  AND, wait for it, much of it was on snow and/or mud!  I can not tell you how hard it is to run on either of these surfaces.  When running through mud, your feet get suctioned in and you have to pull a little with each step to keep moving. Plus, the whole time you're thinking "gross, gross, ick, ick." (There was a lot of squealing out of both of us.) Snow, while not as slick as ice, can still be slippery; you have to constantly brace yourself so you won't fall on your bum (neither of us did).

Basically, the above paragraph could be summarized by saying: we are hardcore.

Prior to today, the longest I've run since October was when I did 3.5 miles the day after Christmas (and blogged about it.) The day after that I started getting sick, I ended up taking a week off and then when I got back into it, I had lost a lot of stamina.  Since then I've only been doing  a few miles at a time and even then I've been walking a lot instead of running.

But it helps to have a partner. We both agreed today that we would not have gotten far without the other to keep us company ( in the beginning) or push us when we wanted to quit (nearer the end).

Cindy is also my partner for the Hot Chocolate 10k (6.1 miles) in Asheville next Saturday. Asheville, as most of you should know, is considered mountainous, but this race is billed as "Asheville's flatest 10k!" This is exceptionally good, since I kind of refuse to train on hills.  I've looked at the course online and it appears to be mostly flat with one sweet downhill at the beginning and one horrific uphill right at the end.

Today's run was a big confidence booster, and I feel ready to take on the 10k!

PS It is beautiful to run in a snowy setting. See below.

To Weigh or Not to Weigh...That is the Question

I've been thinking this week about not weighing any more.  Ha!  No, that's not true.  Just not weighing as often.  

Up to this point, I have previously been officially weighing in once week, but often "cheating" and weighing several times a week.  A lot of times these "cheat" weigh ins have a big affect on my mood for the day, for better or worse. Over Christmas while I was "off" the diet, I was also "off" the scale. I didn't think about my weight and that was a wonderful gift.

On Monday of this week when I was officially starting back full force I meant to weigh and get an official starting point, but I totally forgot! This is a little hard to believe with how focused on the scale I was in the 17 months prior to Christmas.  So then Thursday, my official weigh-day, rolled around, and I purposely didn't weigh. I liked not having it affect my mood.

Now, I don't think this can go on forever. The scale is part of the accountability and part of the reward, so I will have to check in with it occasionally (I'm thinking every other week).  Plus, when I'm doing good with my healthy eating and exercise it is exciting to weigh, because it's often lower. 

I know some people weigh every day, and I've always thought that was not a good idea.  If you're weighing every day, I think it is more about your body's regular fluctuations than it is about actually losing permanent pounds.

What do you think? What's your philosophy on weighing?

Cabin Fever

So after three snow days, I can officially say I am glad to be going back to work tomorrow. I don't want to sound ungrateful for this unexpected mini-vacation, I really appreciated it. As I said before, I think it gifted me with some much needed rest that helped me kick my cold.

While I love rest and reading and copious amounts of television, I know now that it's all best in moderation. I am not made to be cooped up inside!  I was going stir crazy not being able to leave the house*, as I believe my roommate would attest.

Plus, it was like my own private episode of Temptation Island (wasn't that a bad reality show a few years back?)  Just lying around all day left very little for me to think about except what kind of foods I had in my pantry, and how it would be great to eat them.  It didn't help that the beef stroganoff that I made this week was kind of disgusting.  

Anyway, it made for a pretty difficult first three days back on the wagon, but I persevered.  This afternoon, I was on the verge of losing control when I decided to have a Kit Kat bar.  It was purchased during a slightly weak moment at the cash register during a weekly shopping a few weeks back.  I ate the Kit Kat and logged the calories as a snack. It wasn't enough to make me feel un-deprived, but I was able to walk away from the kitchen after that.  I was still pretty bored, though.  So, when a friend called to see if I could go out to dinner I jumped at the chance.  Getting out of the house and getting good food? Yes, please!

So while I usually try not to eat out on weeknights, I feel this was a special circumstance. You know what? Even with the Kit Kat and the unscheduled meal out, where I was able to choose responsibly, I stayed within my calorie range for the day! It's slightly unbelievable, but I double checked my calorie counts when I got home.  Now, I feel much more normal and ready for another good day tomorrow!

  

*I actually did leave the house for extended gym sessions both Tuesday and Wednesday, but those hours were just drops in the bucket.  I suppose I could've gone somewhere else, but didn't really have anywhere to go and didn't want to spend any money.

Snowmeggdon 2011

The story of a girl and some magically, never-melting snow.

As you can see I've had a pretty sedentary and slightly monotonous snowcation. It's been great.  I think it has helped me kick this cold for good.  I am starting to go slightly stir crazy being inside doing nothing, but I did venture out to the gym today. Yay for getting out of the house and meeting goals! 

Tomorrow our offices are closed for the third day.  Here's hoping I can continue to hold out against the call of the food pantry.

How'd you spend your snow days?

Snow Day

So just as I was completely geared up for getting back to my routine, Rock Hill got about five inches of snow dumped on it today.  I don't know where you live, but around here, five inches shuts us down.  That means no work and no driving today.

Of course, I was excited by the extra day off. I saw no reason why it should affect my plans.  When I got up, I thought that I would just eat my meals as planned and that if it cleared up I could drive to the gym and have time for an extra-long workout.

However, the beautiful white stuff continued to fall most of the day so I didn't want to venture out.  Instead, I went with workout plan B. Sparkpeople.com has free, streaming 10 minute workout videos on its site that I've never tried, but always wanted to try.  I did two, and while they were not my ideal form of working out, they did help me work up a little bit of a sweat.  After that I spent 20 minutes on my roommate's stationary bike, which again is not my ideal workout, but it did the trick. So while it wasn't my best workout ever,  at least I got it done!

Tomorrow's a scheduled run day, and I also need to do some weights.  I seriously hope I can make it to the gym, although work has already announced that it's closed again! (Luckily, even when school closes, they keep our marvelous gym open to give the kids something constructive to do.)

As for my other goals,  I drank all of my water and did my planks.  I also stuck to my meals, even though being home all day makes me want to snack all day long.  So even with a highly unusual first day back into a routine, I accomplished all of my goals.

Hope you enjoyed your snow day! Right now, I have one more snack on my schedule and some room in my calories for a homemade hot chocolate, and I'll talk to you later!