I totally got this recipe from Amanda, but it is so awesome, so I'm stealing it and making it my new favorite go-to recipe.
Since BFF eats gluten free, I have really tried to make my Sunday dinners gf so we can share. This one was winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
1 package of boneless skinless chicken
2 small cans Rotel
1 can of Bush’s Best Black Bean Fiesta Grillin Beans
1 small can of Las Palmas Enchilada Sauce (red is gluten free)
1 package of shredded cheese
1 package of Mission Extra Thin Corn Tortillas
Sour cream (if desired)
I cooked the chicken, rotel, & black beans in the crockpot. (4 hours on high or 6 on low). I took a 13x9 baking pan and put a small amount of the enchilada sauce on the bottom to coat. Then I layered the chicken mixture, cheese, enchilada sauce and tortillas until I ran out of chicken mixture and finished with cheese.
I baked at 350 for 25 minutes. I served my portion with a dollop of sour cream. I thought it was extremely good. Amanda suggested ground beef instead of the chicken which I"m totally trying next time! I think maybe I would even make it with pulled pork sometime.
Truly and honestly one of the best things I have made in a while. Thanks you AMANDA!!!!
I have a busy week coming up. Quick overnight girls' trip to paradise tomorrow, back on Wednesday. Then theater tickets Wednesday & Saturday nights. Rangers tickets Friday night. I should be exhausted by Sunday. But what a fun week!!
Fridays are always the hardest to get out of bed. Today, I had two arguments for the BAU (badass unicorn, of course) side. 1. The argument I make every time I hesitate, that you never regret a workout that you DO and you will feel better when you are done. 2. I agreed to Jazzercise tonight which means I can sleep in tomorrow without feeling guilty. So just get it up and get it done! BAU totally beat out the Rhino another day!
Apparently there was some weightlifting thing after class today, so we had a few extra guys that are really good CF'ers. Once we started the WOD, they took off like rockets. One of them was done when I hit the halfway mark. HA!
3 rounds:
400m run
21 KB swings (26#)
12 pull ups (green band)
There was a 15:00 cut off. I'm slow so I was behind on the first round, but I still felt pretty good about it. Second round I was doing fine, but then just seemed to die on the pull ups. I just couldn't get my body to do what I was telling it to do. Third round, by the time I got back from the run, I was the last one left.
Bach stood by me through the swings and pull ups and cheered me on. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I did the last 6 or so pull ups because of her (and the rest of the group standing around watching and cheering) encouragement. With 3 to go she asked me if I wanted to switch to ring rows. I was coming close to the cutoff but I knew that she wouldn't make me stop when I was that close. I said no and finished up with a tremendous amount of effort. The last pull up was through sheer force of will.
I worked as hard as I could today which is all I ask for myself. I finished in 15:31, but I finished. Meaning, I actually started and I did it. If I were Cat, I would definitely give myself a point for giving it all I got!
Murph
But my "all but collapse" WOD with 36 pull ups made me realize that 100 pull ups for Murph might actually be impossible. There are many ways to modify Murph...I had already known that I would be using a large band to assist my pull ups. But adding in 200 push ups, 300 squats and 2 miles, I just wasn't even sure if I would be able to do that.
You can either modify moves or you can lower the reps. So, you could do a 1/2 Murph which would be 1 mile, 50 pull ups, 100 push ups & 150 squats. Or you can modify the moves themselves, like I was doing with the band.
I decided that I wanted to stick with a full Murph. This is my mini marathon. I want to do it all. To me, if I were to train to run a mini, there would probably be points during the run where I would walk. To me, modifying the moves of Murph would be like that that. Cutting it in half would make me feel like I'm doing a 5k which is great, but something I have already done. I want to push myself as much as possible.
I talked it over with Bach and we decided that I would further modify the pull ups and do Ring Rows instead.
So, 2 miles, 100 Ring Rows, 200 Push Ups, 300 Squats. That is still badass! She told me that her first Murph she did Ring Rows and knee push ups. I'm hoping that I can do regular push ups the whole time, but if I need to move to my knees, I will.
I'm excited. Can you tell?
Fill
I talked to my plastic surgeon's office and they asked me not to get a fill until after I had spoken with the doctor at my pre-op appointment. Since that appointment is on 5/15 and my fill was scheduled for 5/10, I cancelled my fill.
I have been doing pretty well with my dieting, so I'm going to try and stick with that. I always reserve the right to change my mind (I'm a girl, after all), but right now, the plan is to leave my fill where it is until my trip, unfill a little, then get back on track with the fill level post-trip. I will keep you updated. :)
I went to the eye doctor yesterday. My mom and my grandpa both have/had macular degeneration and my mom also has glaucoma, so it is important to me to keep on top of my eye health. I really like my eye doctor. She is my age and just seems like a fun person to be around in a smart/nerdy sort of way. Just how I like my friends a lot of the time. :)
Anyway, she told my that I have beautiful macula. So that's awesome. As we were chit-chatting through some small talk, she asked me several things, like what I was doing over the weekend, how work was going, etc. The she asked me if I was doing anything fun over the summer. I just kind of said "not really". Then I paused and said, "oh my goodness, I totally am, I'm going to the Olympics." "And I'm having surgery in a few weeks!" I think that my thoughts of these things have become so ubiquitous, that I don't get as excited about it. I mean, I AM excited, but I have had to temper that excitement so much or else my head would explode.
25 days to Murph. 27 days to surgery. 85 days to London. That's a whole lot of craziness right there! And that doesn't include so many other crazy fun things I have on tap. Not gonna lie, my life is awesome. :)
Speaking of Murph, I decided that I really do need a Badass Unicorn shirt to help me along. Unfortunately there isn't one exactly like that but here are some options:
What do you think? I laughed out loud at the "Bitch, I'm a Unicorn" one, but I really don't think I would ever wear it. My current favorites are "I Make Stuff Up" and the unicorn pooping cupcakes. Although, I did find this Badass Like a Unicorn one so I like that too.
Anyway, this weekend we are going to the casino. Maybe I will win big and I will never have to worry about money again!!! Of course, playing the penny slots, that might be difficult. :-)
Like many people, I write in my blog for many reasons:
To work through issues in my head.
To psych myself up.
To chronicle my progress.
To keep myself on track.
There are probably many other reasons, but the main focus is that I write for me. It was an absolutely million dollar bonus that I met so many wonderful people and that I get amazing feedback from your comments. Sometimes when I write, I'm pouring out what is in my head but I don't always do the best job of putting that accurately into words. After the comments I received yesterday, I realized that my post did not properly reflect what I was thinking. So I'm shooting for a little more clarity today.
I am so proud of my successes. I only have to look to the side of my blog to see how far I have come. When I look in the mirror, I'm quite pleased at what I see. I feel good in my clothes and I like to show off my hard work. I don't nitpick at every little thing and I don't want to be someone that I'm not.
However, pictures can be a little different. I used to hide from the camera or at least completely avoid looking at the pictures. Life is no longer like that. I don't hide from the camera and I look and enjoy the pictures I am in. But sometimes, I don't like pictures of myself. I think that everyone, even people without major body issues feel that way sometime. But when I see a picture of myself I don't like, I try to determine why.
I never want to be the person that doesn't like the things that makes me me. But if there is something bothering me that is "improvable", then I want to identify it and perhaps work on it. When I looked at the picture yesterday, I didn't see myself as I was 3 years ago, but I did see some things I didn't like. I did not mean to say that I was ugly or "less than" somehow. I was just being my analytical accountant self. :)
What this boils down to is that I didn't mean to sound down on myself. Quite the contrary! I'm not listing things I need to be "normal", I'm listing things that would make me feel hot. HA! I'm not being depressing, I'm being shallow!! (That was a joke!! :) )
Thank you all for caring about me and saying those super awesome things! Please don't EVER stop caring about me, I just wanted you to know that I'm all good. I swear!!
Now on to something completely unrelated. I have committed to do Murph on Memorial Day. Who or what is Murph you say? Well, it is a CrossFit WOD that was named in honor of a fallen soldier. My box has a Memorial Day Murph & BBQ every year. This is Murph:
1 mile run
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 air squats
1 mile run
It is brutal and crazy. I'm sure it is going to take me FOREVER. But it will be my last workout before my surgery so I can give it absolutely everything I got. Kind of like running my first 5K, finishing this will make me feel a sense of accomplishment like I can't even explain.
I'm nervous for obvious reasons, but I also have anxiety because it is at a special time. Everyone from every class does this at once, so I won't be surrounded by my Donut Crew in my safe class. Ha! The good news is that so very many of the people that will be there have visited my class before so I know them or they were in my Fundamentals group last summer. It will be fine, just like it is always fine. But I'm proud of myself for doing something that scares the ever-living shit out of me.
Too bad I don't have a badass unicorn shirt. I would totally wear it for Murph!
HUGS!!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
I want to start by thanking the awesome CeeJay for leaving me the following comment yesterday: One day at a time, one meal at a time, one workout at a time, one good decision at a time. Look familiar? Yeah, that's my motto. It brought tears to my eyes to read it because I had forgotten my life plan and I can't thank her enough for bringing it back to me.
Yesterday was a good day. My very realistic goals were:
Drink at least 2 big bottles of water.
Eat 200-400 calories less than I burn.
Results:
I drank two large bottles (34 oz each) along with my other liquid for the day.
According to my fitbit, I ate 680 calories less than I burned and I believe that is from 9pm, so I have about 3 more hours of calorie burn that isn't included in that.
I'm not going to lie. I spent a lot of the day hungry, but with the calorie deficit I had, I could have had another snack. I just have to work more to remember that balance.
I almost always burn less calories at CrossFit than Jazzercise, so I will have less to play with today. However, if I stay in yesterday's range, I should be more than fine.
Here is a quick peek of my CrossFit donut crew. Why we take pictures post workout, I do not know. I will say that I do not like this picture of myself at all. But I will post it anyway.
I don't like that I'm bigger than all the other girls. But then again, that's one of the main reasons I'm there, right? And here for that matter. I'm on a quest to get smaller and strengthen myself in the process. If I wussed out because I was bigger than the other girls, I would never get anywhere.
I don't like my big clodhopper shoes. I'm willing to bet that no one else notices, but I do. I plan to buy the low profile shoes before I start back up in August.
I look forward to later this summer when I'm able wear a tank top without worrying about getting my arm fat tangled up in my jump rope.
I also can't wait until my hair is long enough to put in a pony tail.
All the things that I don't like about that picture can be fixed over time. I just have to keep my patience and keep hacking at it. After getting control of my food intake yesterday, I'm feeling a return of the badass unicorn. I don't have unrealistic expectations. I don't (for instance) hate my body shape and wish I were less curvy. That is never going to happen, so I'm really glad that I'm okay with things like that. I don't like my big feet, but instead of consistently wishing for smaller feet, I just want to get the best shoes to make them look smaller. :) See? Realistic.
One Day at a Time.
One Meal at a Time.
One Workout at a Time.
One Good Decision at a Time.
