1. No hangovers. I hope you can still hear me over the thunderous applause as my legions of supporters put their hands together to celebrate my success thus far. Not one iota of hangover. Not even the teensiest headache from red wine overindulgence. I did, however, feel like I was going to die when I ate a big cookie and drank some hot chocolate (think worst skull splitting pain one can experience without giving birth to an alien baby through one's forehead). So consider me duly chastised for consuming too much of something, at any rate.
2. Cook new recipes. Also a big time victory so far. There are so many great places on The Internets to find exciting, healthy recipes! Some of my favorites are Whole Living, the blog My New Roots, and Martha Rose Shulman's 'Recipes for Health' for the New York Times. Pinning these recipes to my 'Noms' board on Pinterest hasn't hurt this newfound ambition, either. When I joined Pinterest I was determined not to let my boards languish in the purgatory of 'ideas for
I think I've managed to add some keepers to my cooking repertoire. It's been good to liven up the rotation, and it makes me feel creative instead of feeling as though coming home and getting right into the kitchen is some kind of drudgery. My absolute favorite new thing I tried was this outrageous recipe for chocolate cookies...made with black beans and cayenne pepper! So, so so good and with very little sugar and loads of fiber so I can actually eat them without feeling like someone drove railroad spikes through my temples. I think, with the exception of Christmas, I have become so used to eating very little sugar, outside of natural sugars found in fruits and orange juice, that I find myself having really strong reactions to processed sugar. This is a good thing, really, but sometimes a lady just wants to eat a cookie, okay?
Other winners include this unusual recipe for savory bread pudding with kale and mushrooms from NYT. Try it. You and your mouth will not regret it. I added a chopped onion, because it's not dinner in our house without an onion in the mix. Even Andy liked it, so much so that he took the leftovers for lunch today. If you are at all familiar with his aversion to eating the same thing two days in a row, this was kind of a big deal for me.
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| Not the most photogenic meal, but I assure you it tastes like a hug. For your mouth. |
Last week I made this frittata with ricotta, spinach, and tomato (and onions, obvi). That was decent, if a little bland, but nothing some Tapatio hot sauce couldn't fix.
On Sunday, I whipped up this Mediterranean fish chowder that I thought was bangin'. Andy's verdict was 'meh'. Too bad, son, Tuesday night is leftovers night so I can get to yoga by 7:30!
Later this week, I'll be making a spicy chickpea stew and a quinoa-garbanzo-spinach-feta salad. I'm glad that even though I will be essentially eating chickpeas for the next four nights (factoring in leftovers from each recipe), I can switch it up and call them garbanzos just for S's and G's.
I also made a really sweet quiche so I could finally use the pie server I got for Christmas. That was delicious, as always, and I made it slightly less unhealthy than it would otherwise be by swapping out half the flour for whole wheat flour in the crust, and using less cheese. Then there was the Jewish lentil soup that I thought was awesome but Andy couldn't get past its resemblance to baby poop.
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| Full disclosure: I tried this recipe mainly because it was Jewish, which of course meant it tasted like thousands of years of wisdom, liberally seasoned with guilt and a dash of schlepping. But sweet fancy Moses was it delicious. |
Ooh, and I finally made sweet potato fries that weren't totally soggy! And I'm sure I made some other stuff that very likely involved beans, onions, garlic, quinoa, or all three. Point is, there has been some inspired cooking going on (along with some very uninspired phoning-it-in dinners as well, but hey, pobody's nerfect). [Don't laugh at that. I'm already embarrassed for quoting a joke from The Office that sounds more like it should have come from the mouth of Ned Flanders.]
3. Exercise more consistently. Unfortunately, this area has not seen the spectacular progress of my first two goals, but we're getting there. Last week, I walked to work and back every single day. That's about an hour of walking each day, and 18 total miles! So that's pretty cool. I also went to yoga on Tuesday night, pilates on Saturday morning, and did a workout with free weights on Sunday. The Sunday before last, we went cross country skiing for about an hour and a half. Aside from last week, which was really a banner week, exercise-wise, I have been walking to and from work often and making it to yoga and pilates on the regular.
8. Get a new kitty. No HIV or full-blown AIDS. She was a keeper. A sweet, cuddly, scratchy, bitey, little gremlin, but we kept her. She and Ajax were getting along swimmingly, even grooming each other (which was even more adorable than it sounds) but then Hadley was spayed and things changed. I don't know if it was the hospital smell when she came back, or some hormone changes, or what, but Ajax really wants nothing to do with her. He hisses at her and tries to avoid her, but she's still all "Let's play! And by play I mean let me pounce on you and bite you and steal your food!"
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| Synchronized grooming |
10. Blog more. Hello. Sporadically is more often than never, so let's chalk this one up to a little victory.
11. Paint the master bedroom and office. I painted the master bedroom a few weeks ago, and it makes a huge difference. It's much more 'bedroom' and much less 'cell'. We're just waiting for closet doors and lamps for the night stands.
The past two weekends, instead of painting the office, I tackled the 'man cave', which is the giant room with the fireplace in our finished basement. It's pretty sweet, even though all we have down there right now is a couch and a TV. Eventually, Andy wants to build a bar across from the fireplace. Ironically, now that I've painted it, that's probably the last time I'll ever be allowed in there. A 'no girls allowed' sign will probably be making an appearance in the near future.
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| If only it could stay this clean forever. Two cats and an Andy doth not a clean house make. Or something. |
12. Ski on Utah snow. Whoa-oh. We're halfway there. (I can't help it, I'm from New Jersey, guys. It's a sickness). Cross country skiing counts as half-completion. It was a lot of fun, though, and I'm pretty excited to try real skiing. This just hasn't been a good winter for snow here, though. This goal may have to wait until much later in 2012, provided that next winter is actually snowy enough.
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| Sink Hollow Trail |
21. Start using more natural cleaning/hygiene/beauty products. Okay, natural products are expensive. It is worth it not to get a chemical headache after cleaning, though. I recently bought non-toxic naturally-derived toilet bowl cleaner. It seems to work just as well as the Lysol I was using, but it has no odor and doesn't burn my eyes when I dispense it. Great success.
Then, I ran out of Aveeno SPF-15 Simply Radiant face lotion (which really isn't that objectionable compared to some other brands, but still) so I made the switch to Avalon Organics SPF-15 face lotion. So far, so good. I always get really nervous when I switch skincare products because I have super sensitive skin (I had such horrible acne as a teenager that someone once told me it looked like a rat chewed on the side of my face. Thanks, nice person, for so harshly criticizing my physical scars that I am now also emotionally/mentally scarred) but this has been fine.
I'd really like to switch my toothpaste and mouthwash to natural versions. I hate that most toothpastes and mouthwashes have artificial colors in them, and I think it's probably worth it not to be cleaning my mouth with gross chemicals. Along those same lines, laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent are pretty high priorities, too.
To make myself feel better about the meager changes I've made since setting this goal, let's focus instead on the natural products I was already using:
Tom's deodorant (only in the winter, though...I haven't found a natural product that can combat my summertime stank yet - any advice out there?)
Yes to Carrots nighttime face cream
Bare Minerals foundation and blush
'Earth Friendly Products' Dish soap
Method or 7th Generation cleaning/disinfecting wipes
Method tub and sink cleaner
7th Generation disinfecting spray
Vinegar and water solution for mirror and glass cleaning
...Aaaand then I found five dollars. Anyone else making any progress with goals/resolutions?
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