Bloggin' Wit Luv

I know, it's been forever since I posted, but we are going through some family stuff right now, so I haven't had a whole lot of extra time lately. My extracurricular activites mainly consist of my fitness stuff, cooking, and, of course, Lost ;) Valentines ay came and went pretty uneventfully. My wonderful Hubs got me some Sees Chocolate (my absolute favorite!), and this really sweet card that he made on Shuterfly that has pictures of all the kids. I, on the other hand, got him a card that said "If our love were a garden, I would be your hoe." What can I say? I thought it was hilarious ;)

In addition to Lost, I have also been watching Top Chef, as I do every season. Can I just say that I freakin love Carla! Hootie Hoo! She has really grown on me. She and Fabio totally make the show (although it's pretty obvious that the win belongs to Stephan). And thank god they kicked Leah's nasty, skanky butt off this week. Who goes on national television and cheats on their boyfriend and expects to be taken seriously? It's hard enough for women to be taken seriously as chefs without her schoolgirl antics reinforcing stereotypes. And don't think Hosea escapes my realtiy-tv wrath. I think he is even worse than Leah since he seems to think he's better than everyone else despite the fact that he hasn't won anything in weeks and, oh yeah, he cheated on his girlfriend on national television! I hope he goes home next week with his tail between his legs and gets his pompous ass dumped.

Whew, got a little carried away there ;) Anyway, I made an Indian-inspired dinner tonight so here's some yummy recipes for ya:

Almond Chicken:

1 red onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 lb chicken breast, cubed
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup plain, non-fat yogurt
1 tsp red curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp oil, any kind

Saute the onion and pepper in oil over medium heat until soft. Add chicken and the spices and cook until chicken is seared. Add the chicken broth and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Add almond butter and plain yogurt to the sauce and simmer for another minute or two until the sauce thickens. Serve over basmati rice.

Curried Corn & Peppers:

1 bag frozen corn
1-2 red peppers
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 red onion, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 tbsp curry powder (I prefer red)
1 tbsp butter
salt & pepper to taste

Saute the onion and red pepper in butter over medium heat until softened. Add the curry powder and other veggies (except the avocad) and saute until heated through. Season to taste and remove from heat. After it has cooled a bit you can add the avocado if you want (it tastes just as good without it, but I love avocado!).

Workout:
I have been doing really well with my workouts. I've upped the intensity (I did Plyo X from P90X again today; I have been trying to do this at least 1x a week) and the length of my workouts and the scale is finally starting to budge! I've also started a fitness log. It's just an excel sheet with day and workout done, but at least now I can track what workouts I'm doing and when. I've also started adding in more core and flexibility work. I do at least two weekdays of Squeeze or Tracy Anderson, which include a lot of core work inherently. But on the weekends I've been adding on segments of Sara Ivanhoe's Yoga Makeover series, which are each about 20min long. So my weekend workouts are actually coming in at about 90min per session. The kids love when I do anything other than cardio because I let them come into the room with me and play around with my mat or swiss ball (when I do cardio it's just too dangerous to have them underfoot). They like doing somersaults on my yoga mat, and A and J like to push the kitchen chair around (I use this as a stand-in barre).

Things I'm Thankful For:
- Lost - truly the most cerebral show on television, and the only show that makes me want to tune in week after week
- School counselors who care - C is fortunate to have a school counselor who really cares and has been such a wonderful influence in her life. It is the one truly positive thing I can say about her current school.