I’ve wrote ‘The “oh s#!t moment”‘ post about 10 months ago last year in which I explained my fear of getting lung cancer due to smoking. I have since quit smoking (since about mid August 2011), however I do occasionally indulge while drinking a beer with my cohorts. I did say I had a plan in the original post, however I didn’t type it into the post for some reason… Who knows, I was probably all doped up on cigarettes or something!
My Plan:
Switch from “full-flavored” smokes to regular
Switch from regular cigarettes to light cigarettes
Line up a quitting partner (my awesome girlfriend)
Quit cold turkey after a few days of not smoking due to circumstances*
*having my daughter all weekend, whom i never smoked around
So, if you don’t count the few I’ve had while imbibing, I’ve been smoke free for about 5 months!
Baby Poison is doing great, work is going great, everything is great!
I’ve been working on the Swim a Mile in 6 Weeks program. In doing this program, I started remembering how I’ve always wanted to attempt a triathlon. I never put much effort into it, however now I have the drive to get some crap done with my life. The 1 mile swim will be more or less my cardio base to begin the running and cycling with.
Running has always been a huge bane of mine; I’m making it my goal to NOM NOM NOM on running, and then eat cycling for dessert.
Right now I’m on week 3 of the program, which has me swimming 1200 yards three times per week. Next week is 1500 yards, then off to week 5 at 1600 yards. I’d have to say, the first two weeks were cardio from hell, but no real muscle fatigue or soreness. Boy lemme tell ya what! Week 3 has been more soreness and fatigue than 8 bitches on a bitch boat!
I’m ready to start running here soon after getting some running shoes. I’ll use my mountain bike and my dad’s street bike for cycling later on. Wish me luck, I’ll keep posting updates like which tri’s I’m looking at, my diet and exercise schedules.
Open your refrigerator. What do you see? A vegetable drawer containing week-old bok choy and cauliflower? Half limp celery and a quarter onion? Now turn to that good old wooden pantry door. Did you find a quarter bottle of Teriyaki sauce, a clove of garlic and a half-eaten bag of mixed nuts? Amazing! Those are exactly the items you will need to cook this “dear god, I only have a few disparate items to cook dinner tonight” asian masterpiece! Okay, so grab everything and place it on the counter. Also remember that you will need to run to the store right now (yes, now) and pick up a 16oz package of Tempeh or about a pound of chicken. I’ll wait…..Got it? Ok great.
What you will need: (you can use limp celery and week old bok choy if you want, because it’s what I did. If you’re not comfortable with that, then go get some rich people produce and stop reading this)
Bok choy: about 3 full sized stalks, cut into strips (make sure to slice the leaves from the stems)
Celery: Three medium sized stalks, chopped
Cauliflower: 1 1/2 cups
Onion: Quarter, chopped
Garlic: one clove, minced
Mixed Nuts: One hand full or so. You could be fancy and use cashews, but then that would make this recipe Cashew Tempeh, which it’s not.
Large Skillet
Chop the tempeh into 1/2 inch cubes. Pour 3/4 cups soy sauce into skillet and set heat to medium. As the soy sauce begins to heat, add tempeh onion and garlic. Sautee for about 10 minutes. Add the nuts, cauliflower and celery and the remaining 3/4 cups teryiaki. Continue to cook on medium heat for approximately 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Add bok choy leaves and stems, cook for another 10 minutes or until the bok choy has softened and mixed into the….mix.
8oz pasta of your choice (I went with the gluten free Ritoni pasta)
2 Cups Beef broth or 2-3 bullion cubes
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
Brown beef on low/med heat and drain
Add water, beef broth, milk and pasta
Simmer for about 25 minutes or until pasta is soft to your liking
Add salt and pepper to taste
Optional: the original recipe suggests adding some “squirt” of flavor like soy sauce, ketchup or Worcestershire sauce. I oped out of this, as I wanted my hamburger helper like Ma always made it.
Serve with some bread and butter.
*The ground beef: I used some organic, free range, super natural, hippie ground beef. Seriously, I think the cows wore tie-dye and multi-colored beads.