4 comments 11 May 2009

Years ago when we were living in San Mateo I threw a surprise party for my husband's birthday (then boyfriend). I had been pretty last minute about the food and had planned to make a taco-spread - tortillas, guac, sour cream, beans, and chicken...luckily some friends were there to help me out! One friend quickly realized that I had no idea what to do with the chicken so she jumped in started throwing stuff in a pot and at the end was this delicious shredded chicken in a tomato sauce. I have never forgotten this chicken, it was amazing! It was reminiscent of this chicken they used to have at our college taqueria. I was never really able to replicate it, so I stopped trying and it has just lived in my fond-food memory bank ever since.

Recently when I was getting my hair cut (when I do all of my magazine reading) I stumbled upon this recipe in Cooking Light, Chicken Thighs with Olives and Tomato Sauce. Now this particular recipe does not dish up a fiesta, it's more of a Mediterranean dish, but it is saucy-shredded-goodness nonetheless. I used 1 1/2 lbs of chicken thighs and 1 1/2 lbs of breasts to reduce the fat (& 4 lbs seemed a bit much). I used some chicken broth instead of wine as I didn't have any white on hand. And go easy on the red pepper flakes if you have a little one around. We served it over rice and I even threw some in a high-fiber tortilla along with some spinach for a tasty lunch. This will be in our family recipe book for years to come, in fact we made it again yesterday!

6 comments 09 May 2009

For years I would watch people at my office go for walks on their breaks and it always sort of bothered me. Who are these people that have time to take a break and then show-off by taking a leisurely walk around the office complex. I hardly have time to go pee! So my first realization is that I am just jealous and resentful a) that they have a job that is so 'easy' they have time to take a break OR b) they have mastered work-life balance ... either way, I don't like these people! Until, that is, I realized I needed to become one of them.

As I was out roller blading in the glorious sunshine this morning I was thinking a lot about how else to burn some calories and take in extra oxygen each week. 1-2 days is not satisfactory to me. Since I am the drop-off and pick-up for Elliot each day, I cannot take an extended 'lunch' to go to the gym, etc. and still get in my 8-9 hours a day. I am not a morning person, so waking up early is not working out for me. I love to have dinner with my husband in the evenings, which leaves the 9 o'clock hour and that is not working for me either as I would rather be showering and getting ready for bed!

And so, during my skating session, I realized I should become one of 'those people'. I'll bring my 'gym shoes' to work and each day if I can escape for 15 minutes, I will. A friend at work already started trying to do this, so I will follow suit. And although it won't challenge my body much, it will still provide me that extra oxygen and stress relief that I also so badly need.

0 comments 05 May 2009

I'd like to think I stayed the same and possibly even lost some more, but the fact is I forgot to weigh-in today. I was meeting-hopping today for hour long intervals and when I had a free 1/2 hour I ran to Safeway to buy me some Garden Burgers, High-Fiber Tortillas & Mother's Day cards. When I jumped into my next meeting I thought to myself, 'Today is Tuesday, I didn't weigh-in!' I then proceeded to go to 4 more meetings, rush back to my office to grab my things and race over to pick-up Elliot. Here's to a healthy (and hopefully less hectic) week!