when i wrote yesterday’s post, i had no clue it would be such a hit! turns out we are all fat kids at heart. damn those pesky metabolisms. i fully enjoyed reading each and every comment and list.. and extra points to those of you who rattled off ten things of your own.
i am sitting here eating dinner, realizing that i took absolutely zero photos up until this meal. it’s been a whirlwind at work lately.
i am still enjoying a protein shake for breakfast each morning and today’s lunch was a leftover breakfast burrito. for those who asked, YES.. these are great leftover! go ahead and make them in advance, wrap them in foil or plastic wrap and heat one up when you are ready to eat it.
tonight’s dinner didn’t turn out quite like i had expected.. but it is actually fantastic!
i was planning to make a creamy ranch chicken in the crock pot, adapted from kelly’s recipe, but i ended up with.. well.. a ranch chicken dish that wasn’t creamy at all (as you can see). BUT, it was still really tasty.
here is what i ended up with.
tomato basil ranch chicken. (crock pot recipe)
makes four servings, adapted from kelly’s healthified kitchen
ingredients:
- 1 lb (16 ounces) of organic, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup (225 grams) 0% plain greek yogurt
- 1 1/2 cup (360 grams) all natural cream of chicken soup (i used health valley brand)
- 1 cup (200 grams) grape tomatoes
- 1 cup roughly chopped fresh basil
- 1 envelope of simply organic ranch dip powdered mix
- 2-3 cloves of minced garlic (jarred will work)
- salt & pepper to taste—you probably won’t need salt because the dip mix is salty
directions:
combine all the ingredients except the chicken in your crock pot. mix everything really well.
place your chicken breasts in the crock pot and cover with the sauce.
cook on low for 5 hours or high for 3 hours.. until chicken is cooked through. when it is done cooking, shred the chicken with two forks.
serve over whatever you want. marshall had his chicken over wide whole wheat noodles. i had mine over steamed spaghetti squash. this would also be awesome over rice or quinoa (or any grain, really!)
the chicken was so moist and tender. and yes, i hate the M word.. but sometimes there is just no substitute.
i had a couple slices of garlic bread, too.
so, as you can see, it’s definitely not a creamy dish. i have no idea what happened! the juices in the crock pot were actually almost clear. it doesn’t matter, though, because the taste is all i care about. this will be made again and again!
the reason i wanted to have a crock pot meal is because i went to bikram yoga!!
oh bikram, i missed you lots.
side note: i finished the insanity workouts on tuesday, but i am not doing the final fit test until saturday. after the fit test, i will recap the insanity program.
anway.. back to bikram. i met my friend lindsay at the sugarhouse location. i was a little weary of going to this location because i had heard the floors were carpeted (rather than hard wood like the first studio i went to) and i was afraid it would be super funky.
it was a little smelly at first, but my nose quickly adjusted and i hopped right back into the bikram yoga groove. i hadn’t been since the beginning of may and i really missed it! it felt so damn good.
warning: deep thoughts ahead.
the teacher (her name is jules and if you live in SLC and want to try bikram—GO TO HER CLASS, she was awesome and i learned a lot!) said something during one of the postures that really struck a chord with me.
one of the students was doing a posture wrong, so she went over and corrected his form. he apologized, as we often do when we are called out on a mistake, and jules replied with something that i plan to repeat to myself every day from this day forward:
“don’t be sorry. this is just a practice. you have your whole life to get there.”
wow. yes, she was talking about yoga postures.. but this is something that i thought about quite literally for the remainder of the class.
we are all working toward various things each and every day of our lives. maybe you are trying to lose weight. maybe you are trying to learn trigonometry. maybe you want to quit your day job and blog full time. maybe you are trying to learn to play a new sport. maybe you have planted a garden and are working on making your plants grow. maybe you are working on making your relationship with someone better. maybe you are trying to get $1000 in your bank account.
okay, i will stop with the “maybes”. my point is.. we all have things we are working on. three things that come to mind for me:
- i am trying to touch my toes before the end of the year.
- i am trying to eat clean each day (aside from free day/free meals).
- i am trying to get this whole being a wife thing down pat.
sometimes i get discouraged because i am still not even close to my toes and the year is almost halfway over (it was my new year resolution). i try to eat clean the majority of the time.. but sometimes i get a wild hair and binge on 4 bowls of cereal. this makes me REALLY, REALLY discouraged. and yes—that happens. more often than i would like it to. sometimes i have a fight with my husband. it sucks. and it is usually over nothing significant.. it is just tough to adjust to living with someone.
but the key to getting through all the rough patches? just think about the quote above.. we have our whole lives to get to where we want to be. each day is another day we are given and we get another opportunity to practice, practice, practice at whatever it is we are striving for.
don’t get upset if you have a practice session that is less than stellar.
so i forgot to stretch one day. that’s ok.. i have my whole life to touch my toes. one bad day isn’t going to take me further away from touching my toes.
so i ate a whole bar of toffee filled dark chocolate with sea salt. no big deal.. tomorrow is a new day to focus on eating clean and i have my whole life to work toward a healthier me. one bad day is not going to make me gain 100 pounds.
so i had a ridiculous fight with my husband. don’t sweat it.. i have my whole life to focus on having an awesome marriage. one bad day is not means for a divorce.
there is always tomorrow, there is always next week, there is always next month. as long as we make sure to do our very best at whatever it is we are after, we should be happy with ourselves. if we tried our best and ran into a snag.. don’t give up completely. just brush it off and try to be better tomorrow. if you treat each new day as a new opportunity to practice, practice, practice.. you will eventually get to wherever you want to be.
okay.. that’s the end of my deep thoughts for the night. i am off to practice sitting on the couch with my dogs.
Q~
what is something you are practicing at the moment?
xo. janetha g.
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Your dinner looks delicious, even if it didn’t turn out as planned!
Yoga is funny like that. No other type of exercise do I so readily and easily apply to all aspects of my life as I do with my thoughts during a yoga session. Why is that?! Oftentimes during a yoga practice I find myself struggling, or getting frustrated, only to remind myself that it’s one step at a time. Each day is a different day, and it’s okay to accept that I might not be where I was yesterday at this moment, and I may be in a different place tomorrow.
It’s so amazing how one simple line can mean so much when it’s relevant to your life! I’m going to remember that line as well – it’s so very true! Why sweat the little things when we have our whole lives to perfect them? Being perfect at everything now would be pretty boring anyway! ;)
Something I am practicing right now is waking up with a positive attitude. I had been a grumpy bear for so long and it gets you nowhere! Another thing I am working on is getting more familiar with blogging day by day! :)
You are very wise, my friend.
At the end of the day, no one will remember how thin you were. Or how many sit ups you did. Or whether or not you touched your toes.
They will remember your smile, your genorosity, your friendship…and thats all that really matters.
The only thing I am practicing is just being true to myself. Ok, maybe I’m practicing breathing…sorry I tried to link that back to you since you invented it, but this is your blog and I think my computer got confused and it kind of exploded…
Wow – that’s such a great line to keep in mind :) I guess I always feel like I’m just practising Yoga although I had an awesome moment of realisation yesterday – I’ve got better at it! I tried a Yoga workout that used to pretty much kill me when I first started practicing yoga… I’d never get through the whole thing and would just find it too difficult/painful/frustrating and give up. I don’t know what made me try it yesterday (maybe it was the crazyness of having been stuck indoors ill for nearly a whole week without exercising!) but it was such a nice surprise :) All those other (easier) workouts have clearly paid off! :D
I love this post! I can relate to all the connections you made:) I am really trying to not let one bad day ruin all my progress or efforts! Some times it is hard though. One day at a time…
Its funny how sometimes dinner turns out awesome, even when its not exactly what you were expecting! Glad yoga was awesome. I am excited to take a hot yoga class again post babe. And those are definitely great words of advice from the teacher. I’m practicing to prepare myself for this huge change coming at us :) And to enjoy lots of alone time with Josh while we have it
isn’t it just funny how you weren’t sure you’d like the class (funky smells are not something to look forward to!) and then got that wonderful a-ha moment out of the experience – i love when life hands us those eye opening moments! my yoga teacher used to share beautiful insights, too.
i am working on being authentic and listening to my heart. and i’m getting there! and i’m still working on my “11 for 2011” goals, too – keep up with the toe touching goal!
friday! yippee! have a great day, j!
I still have never tried Bikram. Truth be told, it scares me senseless! :)
Love the teacher’s quote and it’s so true.
My guru, who lived til his early 90s but passed away a few years ago always said in broken english with his indian accent, “Do your practice. And all is coming.”
Just do it, and it will come. Not getting hung up on how, when, timelines, or anything like that…just try it, do it, things will happen.
And that is such a metaphor for life, too. Do it, live it, practice, and all is coming.
What am i practicing right now? Photography!!
What a cool concept…kind of the opposite to “LIFE IS SHORT!!!! GO LIVE IT NOW before it ends omg!!!!” ya know? ;)
It’s true though. We get so caught up in having to be perfect every day, that we forget that most things are works in progress.
I’m always practicing patience. I think it will always be a work in progress. :-P
I’m wit you on trying to be a good wife! After Jason lost his job in April this has been really tough for me and it is something that I am good at sometimes and not good at other times. But it is always a work in progress.
girl, i’ve been married 4.5 years, which i know isn’t a lifetime, but it takes work every.single.day. not just to be married, but being the woman end of that marriage is hard! just take a day at a time.
it’s funny you wrote about this because just yesterday i was walking my dogs and really beating myself up over not meeting some personal goals lately and then it’s like it just hit me: i’m only 28. i have my entire life to get it right, or at least enjoy the ride. love it when those deep moments hit!
I dont know if this is considered practicing, but I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with my life career-wise. After being in the graphic design field for ten years, I’m really questioning if that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. But I’m using my current job and current interests to sort of determine what that is that I do want to be doing.
I can’t touch my toes either. Not even close.
Your dinner looks great! Despite the fact that it wasn’t creamy, it still looks excellent! I bet it would be great served over couscous or quinoa! Yum! :)
What a great quote! I’m practicing being a good mom! Everyday may not be perfect but I know that I’m doing my best to raise confident, respectful, and loved children. When my girls were babies my favorite saying was – “Everyday is a new day” : )
That dinner looks delightful!! I need a crockpot, maybe I will register one for my wedding.
I have been trying really hard to have a healthy garden, it’s a joint effort between me and Simon. It’s been really fun watching things grow. All of the floral/non-edible stuff has been doing really well. The edible stuff though needs constant attention and seems to be very sensitive to different temperatures and weather patterns. I germinated 40+ Sunflowers indoors and it was super exciting, since transplanting them into the ground, about 10 have survived bugs, rain, and wind. But I am just hoping at least one of those survives. the pumpkin, squash, peas, and potatoes are thriving! Fingers crossed they make it through the summer.
I am also working on my fitness. I have always struggled at carrying a little extra weight. I have a feeling I will always have to work hard to maintain a healthy physique. Which is ok, because I actually really do enjoy being active once I am doing it. And this may sound crazy, but the main reason I’ve been focusing on my health so much lately is because of being a mom. It’s the weirdest recent thing in my life. I realize I want to be a mom in the next few years so I am really focused on preparing my body for it in the next 5 years and so that I can bounce back and be a healthy example. I also want to be able to be really active with my kids. I know it’s crazy… once upon a time I didn’t even want kids lol. But things change.
Anyway, love you lots like tater tots.
Also, I love that you are doing Bikram! I bet you’ll be touching your toes before you know it. One day it will just happen and you’ll be like…. whaaaaaaaaaaaaat I did it!
Funny that I had almost this exact realization earlier this week. I was talking to my sister-in-law about how I had gained 10 lbs due to a severe amount of stress I’ve been under. She looked at me and said that I needed to ease up and be nicer to myself. She’s right. I say mean things to myself that I would never say to anyone else. So I am practicing telling myself that I am beautiful each day and working on being nicer to myself.
That mean looks yums–so light and refreshing-I dig.
That line is very true. I’m practicing trying to embrace not knowing whats going on with my life or where I will be in six months. I had that with job security and a lease but recently quit my job. I’m leaving Charlotte at the end of the month, after living here for five years and I have no clue where I want to go, which is scary and exhilarating at the same time.
i love this post! yoga really DOES change people, and you’ve reminded me to use my practice as a way to practice patience, which at this time in my life is SO essential. it will come, don’t simply wait but work towards goodness and you will arrive. i dig. this is a great way to start my day… so thanks :) love ya lady!
I loved Wednesday’s post so much that I added it to my Fave Fridays post!
I have a trick for you to touch you toes! Get a tennis ball and roll the arch of your foot for a couple minutes. Only after doing it one time you’ll be closer to touching your toes! Sounds weird but it works! I hope my explanation isn’t confusing. Let me know if you try it.
SARA. I am getting a tennis ball and trying this. Thanks!
I just finished my Royal Conservatory Piano Practical Exam. SO i was practising 2 (plus) hours a day. BUT thats done now WHEW…
Hello BTW, I just discovered your blog haha :)
That is exactly why I love yoga! It reminds me to be present and to just move on when I make mistakes. I’m taking prenatal yoga classes now, but I’m so excited to get back to regular classes after the baby comes!
Its amazing how something as simple as a line like that can effect you not just a moment but hours and days and sometimes the rest of your life!
I love yoga because it makes me slow down and appreciate things
Great post :)
i love this.
there are a lot of things I’m practicing right now. the biggest one is probably patience. And patience with all kinds of things: work related, family related, marriage related…i really haven’t even talked about them because I don’t want to rush things or jinx myself. It’s hard waiting on something that you’re not even sure will happen.
This may sound silly (especially after your post yesterday, lol) but I’m practicing learning how to eat enough food. It sounds really funny when I say it like that… but I’ve had an eating disorder for 3 years now, and my perspective on “healthy” is so skewed and my definition of what is a “normal” amount of food is so screwed up that it really is a learning, growing process for me. Unfortunately, I don’t really have the luxury of taking my time… I have to learn fast, for the sake of my health.
This whole post is awesome. I COMPLETELY AGREE. We aren’t perfect but we can strive each day to better ourselves and work towards what we want! I’m currently doing a juice cleanse to get my health straightened out so I have deffo been practicing my mental ability and willpower the last 16 days! Also working on being a little more patient overall.
Slowing down. I am practicing the art of ME. I made a promise to myself that this would be the year of me, doing what I want to do and what makes me happy. I may breaks some hearts along the way and meet new friends but I mostly want to feel alive. So, I am practicing listening to myself and what I want out of life. I may have a lifetime to get there but unless I think of what I want, it will be a long bumpy road.
This post really touched home for me… Thank you – I also need to not sweat the small stuff (such as having a treat here and there, not working out 5x+ a week etc..) and remember, like yous said, that we have our whole life to achieve our goals … thank you for the eye opening post! Much appreciated.
Patience. I have been practicing my patience since my injury. It’s rediculously hard for me to SLOW DOWN. For the first (almost) month, I refused to acknowledge that I was really hurt bad… it was realyl hard for me to admit that I needed help. I hate admitting that for some reason… Well, not for some reason.. but it seems like it’s one of the hardest things for me to do. When I eventually did, I then got to learn more about my issues patience. NOT doing things seems to be even harder for me that admitting I need help, but I have come a long way since March (when the injury happened). I learned that it’s ok to not be going balls to the wall all the time and that’s ok. Yep, I said it.. it’s ok to take it easy sometimes :) I’m pretty sure I just rambled on… but it’s nice to get that all out! Have a great Friday Janetha!
I don’t have anything deep to contribute. It’s a good realization. Sometimes we “know” that stuff, but it just doesn’t click until a certain moment. I am jealous that you went to Bikram and got to hang out with Lindsey. Maybe you guys can go to yoga and I can just play with her cute little baby. win/win. :) xoxo
i LOVE yoga instructors….each class I take wiht a new instructor, they always have the best most inspiring things to say…one isntructor even brought a book once and at the end, he was reading quotes about life and love and everything and it just made me think so deeply and be so thankful for everything and everyone around me!
Great post, I am so one of those people that has “found yoga” since starting Bikram. Its not just the way its fixing my body and making me feel amazing but I love the words that my teachers bring to the class they inspire me and make me realize that its ok everything is ok and there is always tomorrow to worry about it but for today just be : )
I’m working:
Becoming less stressed
Excepting me for me
Excepting that this guy may actually like me?!
Have a fab weekend x x
I am making that as soon as possible!
I just wanted to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this post….it was EXACTLY what I needed to hear, at the EXACT moment I needed to hear it. I am very grateful for you and your life thoughts and your writing and I enjoy your blog so much….but I know that this particular one touched me so much. Thank you again.
Beautiful. So true. There is NO rush to meet our goals right now! Love this. Thanks for the deep thoughts, lady ;)
Awesome quote to think a bout.
And I didn’t know Bikram studios COULD have wood? I thought all of them had to be carpeted!
Deep, deep thoughts for a Friday!! (I love it.)
I’m working on my patience. I’m usually a person who plans out her day to the hour and when things don’t go according to plan, I get frustrated and overwhelmed. Go with the flow is NOT my motto! Unless I plan to go with the flow, then I can do it. Make sense?? ;)
Anyway, I’m due in less then three months and I KNOW that having a baby who has her own schedule is going to throw me for a loop. I just have to remember to plan for the unplannable and get my errands done on HER time, not mine. Patience is something that comes to me both easily and not so easily (depending on the situation) so I’m curious to see how well I’ll be able to handle it.
Janetha!
This post was AWESOME. It touched home for me too, I go to Bikram at least three times a week and one of my teachers said the same thing yesterday, which was awesome because it is exactly what I needed to hear. As for the adjusting to being a wife lifestyle, I feel that too, sometimes. We have been arguing a bit too, and living together is rough sometimes. Just yesterday we had a fight, but we love each other and sometimes fighting is healthy. as crazy as it sounds, my mother taught me that it is true :)
I’m glad to see you post such awesome things, to give us all a chance to focus on what’s really important, that “off” days are ok, that all we can do is all we can do, and what we can do is try, pick ourselves up again, and try again. Thank you so much for your words.
-Anna
That’s such a great way to look at life. I think for all of us borderline type A perfectionists out there, it’s a good reminder not to beat ourselves up for not getting every single little thing right the first time. Or even the eighth time! That chicken looks awesome, too!
I loved this! I’m practicing loving my body :) and enjoying life more
Amen sista.
I am not really practicing anything besides just adding some goals to my life like stretching more and foam rolling so I can heal my damn foot.
All I can say is that this post came at an AMAZING time for me. I have a bad habit of wanting everything to happen, like, yesterday, but so often it’s getting somewhere that’s rewarding, not actually being there. Right now I’m practicing my patience- this type A personality gets in the way of me living life to the fullest sometimes!
“I can’t think about that now…I’ll think about it tomorrow. After all…(dramatic pause, with dramatic look to match)…tomorrow IS another day!” One of the best lines in a movie ever, and I quote Scarlett on the regular.
So true- all of what you say. We need to cut ourselves some slack sometimes. Love when you get a pearl of wisdom like that at moments you don’t expect them.
Hope you’re perfecting your couch-sitting maneuvers.
Love you.
Your deep thought made me cry…..you are just too wise for 28 – but I love your thoughts and that you share them with us so we can be better people.
I love, love, love that statement by your yoga instructor – I may actually be able to remember it.
Thanks for all you do to make me a better momma b and an overall person, love you to the moon!!!
xoxo
I’m practicing being a more positive person. Love the quote/story by the way!
That yoga quote was exactly what I needed to hear today. Thanks for sharing the encouragement!
girl, you hit it on the spot! We have our whole lives, but how come it feels like we don’t?? but i understand what you are going through. I have been going through a rough spot personally. Feeling a little depressed, I won’t go into details, but thank you for this post and reminding me I got time.
xoxo
M
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