My Dirty Kitchen Mistress

Yup.  There she is.  My dirty kitchen mistress.  I guess she really started off as Juan's dirty kitchen mistress first.  He was the one that started using her regularly (oh just look at all the opportunities for inappropriately awesome jokes!)

We got this little food processor as a wedding gift a couple years ago and up until a couple months ago, I had only used it a couple of times.  I grew up in a house with a mom who had very sharp knives and can accurately and quickly dice just about anything without looking.  She's very Mr Miyagi in that way.  I'm not the best dicer in the world, but that's how I learned to cook was by dicing and chopping it all by hand.  As an adult who cooks for myself and my husband, I can say that there is something bad ass at saying, look at these finely diced onion pieces, all equal in size and itty bitty pieces, I TOTALLY did that.  But it takes time.  Sometimes it takes just the right amount of time to let your pot/pan/skillet what have you heat up, but other times, it just takes TOO much time.  

When I started teaching a lot in the evenings, my amazing husband would start dinner if he got home first.  Once he figured out how to use the food processor, he never looked back.  She gets whipped out even if the only thing we need to dice is garlic and onion.  I can remember the first night he used it on his own, I came home and he looked at me and said, "Why don't we use this every night?"  So now she gets used pretty frequently by both of us.  Sometimes I feel like I'm cheating somehow, that I'm cooking the lazy way or something.  Other times (like when I realize I have to make salsa for a potluck but I have to leave the house in 10 minutes) I think she is friggen god-send.  

So for those of you thinking about getting a food processor, I recommend the small Cuisinart.  Unless you plan on making large batches of things where you'll need the big ones, but if you are that person, chances are you already have a food processor.  These little kitchen mistresses can save a lot of time and are super easy to clean.  Just don't lose the scooper that comes with it like we did.  My grade: A+

Healthier Teriyaki Broccoli Beef

I originally wrote this recipe down from some fitness magazine or blog, but I cannot for the life of me remember which one.  It's been sitting on my table for a while now just waiting to be tried.  Last week I decided I wanted something new for dinner, remembered I had this, and was really glad I did because it rocks.  


I call it healthier because I'm sure the teriyaki sauce, while delicious, isn't the best thing for you, even if you get the reduced sodium kind like I did.  But as long as you can use the sauce in moderation, you have a pretty lean dish.


Ingredients:
- Brown rice
- Sirloin steak 
- Broccoli florets (I feel so fancy saying "florets")
- Snow peas (optional - I just like the way they crunch)
- Light/Light Sodium teriyaki sauce
- Worcestershire sauce
- Garlic powder
- Black pepper
- Ground ginger
- Red pepper flakes


Step 1: Marinate your meat by adding W sauce (Im not spelling that shit again), garlic powder, a dash of ginger, black pepper, and as little teriyaki sauce as you can (all seasonings to taste).  Marinate as long as you want.  


Step 2: Make your brown rice and set aside while it cooks


Step 3: Take your marinated meat and cook it however you like.  I used a cast iron skillet, mostly because I don't have to wash it.  But you can broil it, use a Foreman grill, actually grill it, you decide.  Once it's cooked (my steaks were pretty thick, so I did 5min on each side, then 2 min on each side and they came out medium rare), set it aside to let it rest.  


Step 4: Steam your broccoli florets and snow peas.  You do this by boiling water in a pan and placing the veggies on a steamer, or by just putting 1inch of water in a large pan, bring to a boil, throw veggies directly onto the water if you don't have a steamer, cover, and let it do it's thing for 5 minutes (or less depending on how crunchy you want them).  While this is happening, cut your steak into strips.  


Step 5: Drain veggies/remove from steamer and dump out remaining water and put back in pan


Step 6: Using the pan/whatever appliance you cooked your meat on, throw the strips you cut back on there for like, a minute, just to brown the sides.  You can do this with the appliance off, it should still be warm enough to just brown the sides.  


Step 7: Throw steak in with the veggies.  Add a splash of teriyaki sauce and red pepper flakes to taste, toss, toss, toss.  

Look at all those green veggies!!

Step 8: Plate over brown rice, maybe throw some hot sauce on there, scarf!

Yoga

It has been much too long since I posted!  My excuse is that I was finishing up school and got super focused on getting everything done (that's legit, right?), but now I'm on summer vacation (can I get a hells yes?) and I plan on posting more.  That being said...


My sister will probably get grumpy at me for not listening to her all these years when she's desperately tried to get me into yoga.  Sorry, Aud.  I was listening back then, I swear.  It just didn't click. 


But now it has!  "Pre-click" I wasn't that into yoga.  And to be honest, I still don't like yoga all the time.  I've taken classes before, but it just didn't jive with me.  Let me preface what I'm about to say next with this: I believe in the power of centering yourself, taking the time to be mindful of your body, to look inward and really focus on what your body is telling you and to practice self awareness.  I think practicing this mindfulness can be both healing and eye opening, and I know for a fact that I should do it more often.  I'm just not into chanting, and when I put myself in positions (metaphoric and literal positions) where I am required to exert energy (holding a deep crescent or warrior II even in restorative classes is hard work), I just want to sweat and work it out, not focus on my mantra or repeating OM with every exhale.  The mantra thing doesn't work with me anyways.  I remember to do it for about 2.5seconds, then I start thinking about, wait am I doing this right?  I wonder what other people's mantras are.  I really should be focusing and not letting my brain wander.  Am I doing this right?  Holy crap this is harder than I thought.  Shit!  My mantra.  What was my mantra again??  Which of course indicates my need to practice slowing my brain down, etc etc.  But mostly I just found it frustrating.  Not to mention, I would never break a sweat in previous yoga classes.  That is until I tried my friend's power yoga class.


I can best describe power yoga as high intensity, but low impact.  Which is fabulous, because as much as I LOVE Zumba, my shins and knees are starting to hate it.  You will sweat (traditionally it's taught in a room at 95degrees, but this is Tucson.  You teach a power class at 95degrees, then have your students walk outside into the 106 degree heat and someone will fall over and die), and go through fast flows, power poses, and reps in those power poses.  Your only mantra will be: "Son of a bitch this is hard!  You will NOT quit!  Do NOT give up!  GAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!"  At least it was for me.  The internal animal grunting sound totally came in handy through the many sequences and reps of horse pose and airplane reps.  I was dripping sweat (literally sliding off my mat I was so sweaty).  And sore.  And needless to say, I'm totally into it.  It's my kind of yoga.  And for those of you who think yoga is too floofy and not a good workout, or just into the plyo work like I am, I totally recommend trying a power yoga class.  Your joints will appreciate the break, while your muscles will appreciate the challenge.  


So go find a local yoga place, bring a friend (I brought the husband last night, he totally rocked class) and give it a shot.  You might be surprised at what you find in a yoga class.  If you don't like the one you tried, try a different style or different teacher.  This whole experience has just proved to me that you really must shop around with yoga because it's not all the same.  And if you find something you like, you have just found something you can add to your weekly routine that will make your joints exceptionally happy.  

Core Circuit

What do you get when you intern as a school counselor at an elementary school, have to complete an art project that involves making a collage, and an extra hour before you have to go teach a core class and left over construction paper?  Core circuits!  You might be thinking about how this all connects, but you'll see.  I taught this circuit last Friday and did it myself today, and it is pretty darn effective if I do say so myself.  


Some tips/notes.  Circuit training is all about stamina.  You'll want to crap out and stop at some point.  DON'T DO IT!  It's better to slow down to a crawl or lessen the intensity than to stop during your interval.  No matter what, keep doing the exercise or some version of it for the entire interval.  Otherwise you might as well paint your toes and drink a glass of wine instead.  Also, don't cheat.  It's easy to cheat on your transition and rest time.  Stick to it.  It might be better if you can have someone time you or work it with someone.  it's way too easy to turn your 5 second transition into a 15second rest, and your 1minute rest in between sets into a 2minute rest.  Stick to your allotted times!  If you don't, you might as well add some fried chicken to the toenail painting and wine drinking.  Cheating on circuit training completely ruins the entire work out.  BUT, that's why it's so effective and you can get a completely bad ass work out done in 30 minutes.  So push yourself!  

 Also, whenever do any core work, breathe out hard as though through a straw (make that whooshing sound) every time you crunch.  What this does, is it engages your diaphragm which flexes your deep abdominal muscles and it works your core that much harder.  

Core Circuit
Do each exercise for 30seconds, using 5 seconds to transition between each exercise.  After completing all 8 exercises, take a 1minute rest, then start again!  Do a minimum of 2 times (should take about 20-25minutes). These can also be done in any order, so feel free to change it up!  


Mountain Climbers:

Ahh!  Now the artistic reference makes sense!  I had so much fun making these

- Start in a plank, and essentially run in place by bringing your knee into your chest, and trying to keep your butt low.  
- Modification (easier): instead of running, slow it down to a step touch, step touch
- Modification (harder): while bringing your knee up into your chest, turn your foot inward to engage your inner thigh with each step.  


Oblique Side Lunges:

- Use a 5lb weight and hold it with both hands above your head.  Take a giant step to the right, and keeping shoulders stacked, bring your right elbow to your left knee.  Return to center and repat to left side
- Modification (easier): hold weight at chest or use a lighter weight or no weight and lessen your range of motion
- Modification (harder): take side lunge to a full 90degree angle in your knee and bring your shoulder to your knee, while holding the weight above your head with straight arms.  


Double Crunches/Knee Ups/V Ups:

- Easiest: Double Crunch - lay on the floor rotating pelvic box up so that your entire spine is touching the floor (no space!).  Lift knees to a 90degree angle, suck belly button to spine, and bring knees and head together getting shoulder blades and tail bone off the floor
- Intermediate: Knee Ups - balance on your tail bone, hands by your sides and feet floating 3inches off floor, suck in belly button to spine and bring knees to chest, then extend.  Repeat.
- Hardest: V Ups - balance on your tail bone, hands above head, legs extended straight 3inches off ground, suck belly button into spine and fold in half touching toes and finger tips.  Extend back to straight, and repeat.  


Atomic Push Ups!

- Get a sit up ball, place it under your knees (you may have to adjust this placement depending on how long your legs are), and hold yourself in a plank.  Bring knees into chest, extend back out, and do a push up.  
- Modification (easier): remove push up from movement
- Modification (harder): keep your legs straight and pike up from your plank position, return back to plank, and then do a push up


Back Hyper-extensions:

- Place heels against a wall and lay on a sit up ball so the ball is about at your hips/low belly.  Hands behind your ears, elbows pulled back.  Bend forward, and pulling from your back, arch up. 
- Modification: there isn't any, push through it


Hollow Body Hold:

- Lay on back and tilt your pelvic box toward the sky so that your entire spine is on the floor (no space!).  Suck belly button into spine.  Float feet about 6inches off the floor and crunch upper body up so that shoulder blades are off the floor.  Breathe, pray, sing, distract yourself, and don't come out of it
- Modification (easier): raise your legs higher off the ground
- Modification (harder): lower legs to just off the ground and extend arms straight above head


Oblique Twists:

- Start in a plank.  Bring your right knee to your left elbow, and completely twist your your hips to the left.  Keep your butt in proper plank position.  Return to plank position, bring left knee to right elbow, completely twisting hips to the right.  Repeat
- Modification (easier): there isn't one really.  Go slower, breathe, try not to vomit, and believe in yourself
- Modification (harder): bring that knee all the way up into your opposite armpit.  


Weighted Left Lifts:

- Lay on back.  Take 2 5lb weights and hold in one in each hand.  Extend hands above chest (like you would for a chest press on a bench).  Suck belly button into the spine and rotate pelvis toward the sky (no space!!) and lift legs straight into the air.  Lift and lower legs.  DO NOT LET YOUR LOW BACK LEAVE THE FLOOR.  You may have to limit your range of motion to avoid this, and that is okay.
- Modification (easier): no weights and small range of motion
- Modification (harder): heavier weights, greater range of motion.  

Salsa Rancing...Dancing... Amazing Late Night Food, and Awesome Hair Thingies

Last night we did something spontaneous (sorta) and out of the ordinary.  We went out.  And not just to a friend's house for dinner and drinks on the patio while playing Scattegories and arguing over whether or not an eclipse is spherical, or playing Settlers of Catan and throwing vulgar names at each other across the table for aggressive road building.  Last night we actually went out.  Well, first I taught a Core class and team taught a Zumba class at Steps Dance and Fitness, then we went out.  


Every first friday of the month, Tucson Young Professionals holds a First Friday night where you can go out and meet other young professionals and network and get to know each other etc (aka meet a bunch of new people and drink a bunch).  Last night they had a salsa themed event, so we went.  Thing is, the Zumba class I co-taught ended at 645, and the TYP event started at 730.  So I didn't have a whole lot of time to really get ready in between.  Which brings me to my first review for this post. 


Spin Pins:

I knew I didn't have time to wash my hair (my hair goes down to my butt and is pretty thick) and then dry and style my hair.  Doing my hair can take about an hour because there's so much of it.  So I went and got these little guys because the advertisements say that one of those pins does the work of 20 regular bobby-pins, and the commercials made it look so easy, and I am seriously challenged with doing my hair, so pluses all around.  So I took my super gross and sweaty hair, dropped my pony tail to the nape of my neck, spun my hair into a bun, then put one of those in at the top of the bun, the other at the bottom, and viola.  Perfection.  It took me all of two minutes to do, it's fool proof, and it didn't fall out or come loose at all.  And I did a lot of dancing and spinning and twirling, so that's saying something.  

My grade:  A+

The Playground

After the salsa dancing (or as I texted to a friend of mine 3 vodka sprites in, salsa rancing... and can I just take a moment to say that dancing was way too much fun.  My feet are going to have to get used to being in heels again because I think I have decided I need more of it in my life) we went to a bar downtown called The Playground.  By this point I had ditched my heels and had matched my dress and dolled up face with a pair of flip flops.  So happy I did, even if I made the biggest fashion faux pa ever. It was my first time there, but I knew people who had been before.  The general consensus that I heard was that it was a decent place, with good music and strong drinks and awesome atmosphere and a super cool roof patio.  I was disappointed.  First, I kinda expected a place called, The Playground, to have swings or a slide or a sand box.  There were none of these things.  Second, I expected some genre of music other than techno to be played.  Again, disappointed.  I think we spent all of 30minutes there hoping it would get better and then finally leaving in our quest for food and verbalizing how grateful we were that there was no cover for that lameness.  

My grade: D+

BBQ at Vaudeville 

One word: epic.  After we left The Playground we went searching for food.  First we all wanted Sonoran hot dogs, but couldn't think of any places that were still open.  Then we stopped by this pizza place to get garlic knots, only to find out that your only options after midnight are cheese and pepperoni slices.  I feel like this is a mistake.  Garlic knots would be mind blowing after a night of drinking.  Right as we were about to give up and I'm about to seriously suggest going to Dennys because now that we've talked about food a bunch I'm starving, my friend notices that the street is rather smokey.  And that's when we smell it: the unmistakeable aroma of meat being grilled over open fire.  We made our way to the source of the southern BBQ, became instantly ravenous, and ordered a bunch of combo plates, sat down, and then proceeded to only be able to say variations of, "Oh my god" and, "This is amazing" while we scarfed down our food.  Finger-lickin'-deliciousness.  

My grade: A+++++

Yup

Life in the Fast Lane

I'm a busy little bee (there really needs to be a better descriptive phrase than this, I'm allergic to bees...).  I'm a full time grad student.  A part time fitness instructor.  A full time wife.  A full time care taker of my three lovable pets.  A full time friend.  A full time daughter and sister.  A part time home-maker (totally weird saying that.  But when I consider all of my domestic responsibilities, the label fits.  And I think part time might be an understatement).  I get my homework done early (usually weeks early), I get my chores done quickly (when I find the energy and time to actually do them...), I make to-do lists for my days off to help me get the most out of my day, I type fast, I walk fast (when I'm at the mall by myself I generally don't know that I'm speed walking until I break a sweat and start having to breathe out of my mouth) I talk really fast, and I think really, really, really fast.  Juan's always teasing me about how he'll say something benign like "watermelon" and then I'll immediately take him on this journey of explaining my 20degrees of separation that got me from his benign word or phrase, to my completely unrelated memory or topic of conversation.  And it happens literally within an instant.  Taking time to stop and smell the roses, while something I covet, is really hard for me to do.  I can do it when I plan for it and actively decide that I'm not going to do anything, but spontaneously doing nothing or slowing down, hard to do.  


That's not to say that I don't enjoy the slower moments, the moments where you can actually seize the moment and live in the now.  I do.  I cherish those moments because they are so few for me.  But for the most part, my life is about living for tomorrow, or three months from now, and what I want my life to look like, and less about what my life does look like.  Recently, my life has taken a turn and I now have more time.  This will be my first week of having significantly more time for myself.  Not gonna lie, this weekend I spent my time thinking about how I'm going to fill up those hours that I'm not used to having.  Getting my homework done for the rest of the semester (it's only 3 more weeks), taking a bunch of exercise and dance classes that I have been wanting to take but didn't have the time to take.  


But today, today I decided that it might be a good idea to slow down a bit and take advantage of this gift of more time.  So today, today I'm not exercising (whaaaa???  No exercise on a Monday??  Inconceivable!) and will eat dinner early, maybe even have a glass of wine, and get to bed early.  This week I will only take 1 fitness class/exercise regimen a day, and they are going to be new things (so.flippin.excited for Brazilian dance class).  I will make time this week to read a book I've been trying to read for pleasure.  I will take leisurely walks with the dog instead of power walking with her because I only have thirty minutes to get it done.  


Because at the end of the day, while I love being busy, I love getting things done, as much as I am a "doer," being so busy and focused on the tasks at hand can really take away from me being focused on, well, me.  Taking the time to look inward, even if just for a moment to check in with myself to see how I'm doing and where I am with my life and concept of self, takes time that I usually don't have.  So this week, this week I'm jumping out of the fast lane and taking advantage of the slower pace to enjoy the roses.  I wish that everyone has the opportunity to take more time for themselves.  So much can happen around us without us ever realizing what is happening to us, and it's important to check in to make sure that what is happening to us, is congruent with what we want.