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Ingredients
- Red and Green Pepper
- Cous Cous (can also use quinoa or rice)
- Black beans
- Cheese
- Spices
To start off I cut the peppers in half and cleaned out the seeds. I popped them into a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes to soften them up a bit. While they were cooking, I cooked some cous cous. I wouldn’t normally choose this over quinoa, but I was looking for something different, and cous cous is a great form of protein. I chose a red pepper and garlic flavored type, so I didn’t need to add any other spices. Once that was done cooking, I mixed in some black beans, and then filled the peppers with the mix and put cheese on top.
I proceeded to put this back into the oven for another 10 minutes to let it all set together. These held up really well in the refrigerator, and before I ate one I’d sprinkle a little more cheese on top and microwave for about 70-75 seconds.
This was another meal that took almost no cook time but was incredibly delicious and healthy.
Looking for more delicious recipes? Check out my recipe page here!
Now it’s your turn to share! Have you ever tried cous cous? What’s your favorite “quick and healthy” go to meal?
©2013, Caroline
On Saturday I had an 8.5 mile long run on schedule. I woke up at 7:15 to eat, and planned to be out by 8 am. Well, my plan was switched up a bit as it was pouring very hard from 7:45-10 am. I don’t mind running in the rain, but for 8.5 miles I really wanted to be able to listen to a podcast, so I held off until 10.
I don’t normally bring my hand held water bottle on long runs, but given that the humidity was 96-99% my entire run, I thought that having gatorade (sodium!) would be crucial for my POTS not completely taking over. This run (actually- it felt more like swimming since the air was so thick due to the humidity) can be broken down into “the good, the bad, and the ugly”, so here it goes:
The bad: The humidity was pretty nasty, and after the first mile and a half I realized that I was going to have to slow my pace down. I held my goal pace my entire last long run, so it was a bummer to run this one at a minute per mile slower pace than my last long run. After 4 miles I realized that seeing the pace on my garmin was upsetting and playing mind games, so I turned it to overall time and distance and that’s all I looked at. Because of POTS, I can’t push myself the way the average person can. I have to keep myself safe, and part of that is really listening to what my body needs and being sensitive to environmental factors around me.
The ugly: Miles 2-4 were the most brutal of the run, and my mental strength just crumbled. Somewhere around mile 2.9 I even convinced myself that this was the last time I was ever going to train for a half marathon. Around mile 3.5 I was feeling so physically bad at this point that I started to panic that I still had about 5 miles left to go. I suppose this wasn’t the physical wall but I hit a mental wall? Yikes.
The good: I was able to get ahold of my thoughts about mile 4, and actually had fun the rest of the run. During my last long run I had some IT band pain for the last few miles, which has become standard for my long runs. I usually foam roll afterwards (& faithfully do PT exercises), but Saturday I foam rolled before my run as well. Despite the fact that overall I felt for “blah”, my IT bands hurt far less than the have in the last few weeks. I’m not sure if it was the foam rolling or not, but I’m definitely going to try it again in the future. A breeze also picked up around mile 5, and that really helped me perk up and enjoy the rest of my run. I also tried honey stringer energy chews for the first time, and my stomach did fine with them. They were delicious and will be a nice addition to my rotation in exercise nutrition.
The run started off on a really lousy note, but around mile 4 things really started to turn around, and I actually ended up really enjoying the last 3 miles of the run. One thing I am a little concerned about is the weather I’m training in right now. I’m getting closer and closer to taper time, and all of my long runs have been in warm and humid weather. Maybe race day will be similar to that, but last year’s race was definitely cold (and in the 30s), and I’m obviously training in weather nowhere near that. It’s not the most ideal situation….
These tough runs, while frustrating, are helpful because I can see my endurance and persistence come out. In the future, on tough runs, I can recall this one to help me continue to push forward, knowing that I can make it through.
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s the “good, bad, and ugly” from a recent workout?
Happy Mental Health Monday! Right now I’m in the middle of a series on trust and safety. Here’s what I’ve talked about so far: Losing Our Safety and Characteristics of Unsafe People {Part 1} and {Part 2}. These characteristics are from the book Safe People. Today I want to start with the following quote:
“When you are measuring someone’s character, look at these traits in terms of degree. Everyone lies at some time or in some way. But not everyone is a pathological liar. Look for degrees of imperfection. If a person seems willing to change, forgive him graciously and work with him. But if he resists you, proceed with caution” (p. 39).
Unsafe people are stagnant instead of growing. Each individual should be growing and maturing over time. This just makes good sense, right? Healthy, well adjusted people strive to be healthy and to grow and “become”. We become increasingly safe as we grow and learn and are challenged, so if that doesn’t happen, we keep ourselves in a stagnant place in life. Even if nothing else negative happens, we may find that we quickly out grow that relationship as we mature and they do not.
Unsafe people avoid closeness instead of connecting. We were created to be in relationship and be open and vulnerable with one another. This creates relationship. “Time with someone does not a connection make. Only true sharing and intimacy create connection. You need to question long-term relationships in which you do not get to know the other person. If you spend significant amounts of time with an individual and still feel far away from him or her, something is wrong” (p. 42). If the relationship you are in is leading to more isolation, then this isn’t safe or healthy for you! Of course keeping people at arm’s distance may be more than appropriate, as toxic people shouldn’t be close to us. However, relationships that close us off from the rest of the world need to be questioned, as this isn’t safe.
Unsafe people are only concerned about “I” instead of “we”. Have you ever had a friend where you serve as an audience to their conversation with themselves? This self-centeredness doesn’t lead to relationship, as it is one-way. The “we” in relationship leads to empathy. “Empathy is a large part of the equation. We literally ‘enter the other person’s head’ and attempt to understand how he feels, what he believes, and how he thinks…Empathy is not easy. It involves letting go of your opinion and what you’re needing in the relationship so that you can enter the world of the other person” (p. 44). Of course there are plenty of times were we each need a place to dump what’s going on, processing a struggle or hurt, and talk through a problem. Remember that we are looking for degree. Relationships where it’s all about the other person aren’t so safe.
Unsafe people resist freedom instead of encouraging it. In relationship there still needs to be “separateness”. Sometimes people don’t want this to occur, which can stifle a person instead of the person living in freedom. Maintaining healthy boundaries helps us to maintain a healthy separateness in relationship. Can the person you are in relationship with accept your “no”, or do they try to heap guilt on you or withdraw to “punish” you? This idea of accepting your no is absolutely CRITICAL for a healthy relationship. If someone isn’t accepting your no, they are not respecting that you have the right to an opinion. Scary, right? A safe and healthy relationship means that each individual has a right to their own thoughts and opinions.
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s your own personal next step to becoming a safer person for those in your life? Do the people in your life accept your no (and do you accept theirs)?
Well, I’m 4 weeks out from race day and I still hardly feel like I’m in true training. I think this cycle has been totally different in that I haven’t walked as much, I’ve had way more biking mileage (on average), and I’m teaching two pilates classes each week. My fall has also been MUCH busier than any previous fall since I’ve been out of grad school, so I think that’s plays into how much time I’ve actually thought about training. Here’s what the week looked like:
- Sunday: 3.1 mile run
- Monday: REST
- Tuesday: taught pilates barre, did about 20-25 minutes of the class, Best Body Bootcamp Workout A, Phase 2 (I had major jello arms after this one!)
- Wednesday: REST
- Thursday: 11.78 mile bike
- Friday: Best Body Bootcamp Workout C, Phase 2
- Saturday: 8.5 mile run
Saturday’s long run can describes as “The good, the bad, and the ugly”, so I decided to write an entire post on the run which will be up on Tuesday. I tried a few new things I really liked, and can’t wait to try again on my next long run.
There have been SO many provisions and blessings this week, and it’s time to get thankful!
I’m thankful for not getting into accidents. On Saturday I was almost hit twice by people running stop signs. The first time I was on my bike, and someone just decided that the stop sign didn’t so much apply to them. I swerved and yelled and he hit his break and proceeded to yell at me as if it was my fault. Umm… no. The second time I was driving at night. A car was sitting at a stop sign and I was on a 50 mile an hour road that has no stop signs. Apparently this car thought both me and the car coming at me from the other direction had stop signs, so he pulled out in front of me. I slammed on my breaks and my horn at the same time, and hit the break so hard that my glove box under the passenger side seat flew out completely. Luckily he stopped and I stopped at the same time, and all was ok. Both incidents in a 12 hour time span were definitely enough to get my heart pounding, and I’m glad that I’m safe.
I’m thankful that I had a few free hours in Boston. Even though it was primarily a work trip, I had a few hours free. I got to check three things off my Boston “to do” list, so that was really exciting! I felt like I had walked around the city for days instead of hours, and I’m thankful for the space and freedom I had in those hours.
I’m thankful for a nice seat partner on the plane home. Every time I board a plane I get a little nervous about who is sitting next to me. These people can really make or break a flying experience, so I always hope that I have a nice, quiet person. I don’t tend to seek out conversations because I like to use the time for reading, but on Friday the guy next to me immediately asked me about the book I had in my hand. Suddenly the 2 hour flight was over and we had talked the entire time. The time flew by, and it was a fun conversation. Yay for good seat partners.
I’m thankful for band aids. I can’t imagine life before them! While walking around Boston I got a REALLY nasty blister on my little toe, and then had to proceed to wear high heels for the next 36 hours. I am SO glad to have band aids to help create a little cushion and protect my poor little toe.
I’m thankful for quinoa. Again, I can’t imagine my life before quinoa. I cook it so regularly, and it’s such a great food to add to most of the dishes I make. It’s healthy and adds a punch of protein to so many fantastic meals!
Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for today? Have you ever had a bad seat situation on a plane? (One time I sat next to a guy who wanted me to sit in his lap to get out of the row to go the bathroom. He kept refusing to stand up. UGH. )
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 1 cucumber
- 1 cup of cherry tomatoes (you can also cut larger tomatoes)
- 2/3 of a medium-large sized red pepper
- 1/3- 1/2 cup red or sweet onion
- 3 pieces of chicken tenderloin (optional)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
- feta or goat cheese (optional)
- red cayenne pepper
- Greek seasoning
- sea salt
- fresh basil (optional)
I start off by thawing the chicken tenderloin (I buy 3-4 packages when it’s on sale and freeze in groups of 3). Once it’s thawed, a put the chicken in a skillet with olive oil, and dump on desired amount of cayenne pepper and greek seasoning on both sides. Cook until done.
If you don’t eat meat, you could also add in my greek style tofu.
While the chicken is cooking, I put 1 cup of dry quinoa (rinsed!) in my rice cooker with a cup and a half of water, and cook for 13 minutes. I then let sit for 5-10 minutes before throwing it into the bowl. I cut up the other veggies and mix with the quinoa, and once the chicken is cooked, I cut that into small pieces and mix with the quinoa and veggies.
Once everything is in the bowl, throw the salt, basil, olive oil, and white wine vinegar in and mix together thoroughly.
Very easy, delicious, healthy, and packed with protein and vitamins! You can toss feta cheese or goat cheese on top if you’d like as well! Like I said, this is so easy to make and tastes delicious, so I make this at least once a month for lunches!
Enjoy!
Now it’s your turn to share! What is one of your “go to” meals?
© 2013, Caroline
I started off at Fenway, and spent some time walking all around the stadium! I’m a Red Sox fan, so it was great to finally be there in person!
Fenway (with Dunkin Donuts!)
After I had my fill of Fenway, I started off down the final mile. It was fun to see the streets I’ve seen on TV while watching the marathon. It was fun to imagine the thrill and excitement that runners felt as they ran those final steps down the street. But then I hit 755 Bolyston street, where the second bomb went off on Marathon Monday. The Forum Restaurant, as well as a Starbucks, is located there. I walked along both sides of the street there, amazed that this place where people were chatting outside pleasantly was the scene of so much chaos that day.
Blue and yellow hearts wrapped around a light pole in front of the site.
After a few minutes, I kept walking those final steps of the marathon route. After passing the place of the 1st bomb (671 Bolyston) that went off, I walked myself right across that finish line.
I don’t think I’ll ever run a marathon, but even if I did I KNOW that I wouldn’t be fast enough to every qualify. Every year I watch the Boston Marathon with so much excitement, so even though there was definitely sadness in my heart standing in the place where bombs went off and people were injured and killed, there was also happiness as well in getting to imagine the excitement of Marathon Monday.
Standing on the finish line
The few hours I got to spend in Boston were really fantastic, and it felt like I spent many more hours there than I actually did. I ended up walking a total of 6.5 miles through that area, and really enjoyed my time. It almost made getting up at 2 am that morning for my flight worth it…
Now it’s your turn to share! Have you been to the finish line of the Boston Marathon? If you could see anywhere in Boston, where would you go?
Right now during my Mental Health Monday posts, I’m discussing healthy trust and safety. So far I’ve talked about Losing Our Safety as well as Characteristics of Unsafe People {Part 1}. Today I’m going to continue to discuss some of the characteristics of unsafe people that we would be wise to learn and look for in our relationships. Remember, we’re imperfect people living in an imperfect world, so these characteristics are more about the degree to which they occur, not if they’ve ever occurred even once in relationship.
Unsafe people avoid working on their problems instead of dealing with them. “People who are uninvolved in character growth can be unsafe because they are shut off from awareness of their own problems… Instead, they act out of their unconscious hurts, and then hurt others” (p.34). Awareness of our “stuff” in life, and the working on our stuff, is critically important in being a healthy person. Without this, we hurt others out of the hurts we’ve experienced, and we become unsafe to those around us.
Unsafe people demand trust, instead of earning it. Do the people in your life demand your trust, or are they ok with earning it? Unsafe people will demand trust because their behavior will not garner it on its own. Safe people are ok with you putting them through the test of time to determine their safety, because they do the same thing. Safe people will live their life in such a way that individuals will trust them because they’ve earned it. Be wary of those in your life who demand trust, and assert this demand when you question something.
Unsafe people believe they are perfect instead of admitting their faults. When people struggle with perfection, there is also a struggle to accept (or even sometimes to give) grace. Relationships need love and grace in order to be healthy and safe. “In addition, relationships with perfect people are very hurtful, because they dodge any ‘badness’ that appears in the relationship. They will fight, blame, and point fingers- anything that will put the badness onto the other person so that they can remain blameless” (p. 36). If you’ve ever been in a relationship with someone who tries to push any badness off on you, you know how deeply painful and confusing this type of relationship can be. Steer clear of these type of people!
Unsafe people blame others instead of taking responsibility. In order to have healthy boundaries, we are each responsible for our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This past spring, I wrote an entire post on owning our reactions which expands on this idea. Safe people take responsibility for their responsibilities, but unsafe people generally do not. “Unsafe people do not do that hard work. They stay angry, stuck, and bitter, sometimes for life. When they feel upset, they see others as the cause, and others as the ones who have to do all the changing” (p. 37).
Unsafe people lie instead of telling the truth. Lies harm relationships, while honesty is a firm foundation of a healthy relationship. Because we are imperfect people, each of us occasionally stretches the truth. Because of that, how do we determine who is safe or unsafe in this regard? “The difference between safe and unsafe ‘liars’ is that safe people own their lies and see them as a problem to change as they become aware of their deception…Unsafe people see deception as a strategy to cling to and to manage life and relationships” (p. 38). If you catch people lying in other relationships, that is a warning sign to you that they are likely lying to you, too.
I will expand on what to do once we recognize someone isn’t safe in a future post, but remember to give grace and try to work with the person; don’t necessarily jump to immediately cutting people out! That’s not healthy either.
Now it’s your turn to share! What are you thinking about these characteristics so far? Are you feeling challenged for your own life, too?
This week was different schedule wise as I had two days of long travel (left at 2:50 am on Thursday and arrived home at 12:30 am on Friday). I assumed I had no time to work out while there, but I ended up getting a long walk in around Boston on Thursday, so that was nice. Unfortunately, I got nasty blisters on both of my little toes (like, the entire length of the toes and completely covering the tops of the toes too). They are PAINFUL, so I decided to push my long run from Saturday to Sunday to try to get another day in for them to heal. Because of that, there’s no running on my schedule this week. Here’s what the week did look like:
- Sunday: 1 hour pilates
- Monday: Best Body Bootcamp Workout A
- Tuesday: 8.5 mile bike
- Wednesday: Best Body Bootcamp Workout C
- Thursday: 6.5 mile walk around Boston
- Friday: REST, travel day
- Saturday: 8.7 mile bike
Now it’s 7:40 am and I need to get out there and actually run. Both of my toes just hurt while sitting here, so we’ll see how many miles I make it!
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s your favorite way to deal with blisters? What’s been the highlight of your weekend? (For me it was being in Boston!)
Happy Friday!! I have often felt like Friday has a special feel to it. Maybe it’s the excitement of having hours and hours of freedom before you? The magic of fall starting definitely helps my weekend excitement. I wanted to share a few good articles I’ve read this past week:
How To Bounce Back From Failure
13 Ways To Fall Asleep Without Drugs
Mindfulness Training Prevents Burnout
This Is What Happens To Your Body When You Exercise
How To Design A Better Office (for both Introverts and Extroverts)
What Are The Ingredients To Happiness
Caffeine: How Much Is Too Much?
Now it’s your turn to share! Feel free to leave your favorite link for the week? How are you planning to celebrate this fall weekend?