Posted by terrepruitt on February 2, 2017
On Thursdays I teach Nia at 9:00 am, then at 10:15 am I teach a stretch class, so I will probably be doing my Daily 10 Minute Practice after my morning classes. I want to get it done before the yoga class I teach at 6:00 pm. I am putting this hear so that when you have completed your 10 minutes today you can comment.
Day two, how are you doing?
Posted in Ten Minute Daily Practice | Tagged: dailly challenge, Daily 10 Minute Practice, Nia, Nia class, stretch class, Yoga class | 1 Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 1, 2017
As I have said over and over, I tend to cook the same things over and over. It is so much easier to just cook what you know than to have to do something new. Half the annoyance with doing something new is shopping for it or making sure that you have it. But I decided to cook a stir-fry. Not that I haven’t cooked it before or not that I don’t stir-fry meat and veggies. But this time I decided to try to give it that stir-fry flavor. Ya know, I really just wanted to use the cornstarch. So, last week I made stir-fry chicken and veggies. My hubby liked it. I will make it again, but next time I will plan better.
This time I thought I had planned well. I spent an hour cutting up the meat and making the marinade and cutting up all the veggies BEFORE I went to teach my evening yoga class. I thought I would come home and cook it up fast. But it took longer than I thought. I had meticulously planned on how I was going to cook the veggies. The idea is to cook the ones that take the longest to cook first. Now we might not agree on cooking times because I like my mushrooms a little caramelized . . . and my carrots, broccoli, and bell peppers a little raw.
When I cut up the veggies I put them in the bowl in the order in which I would cook them. So while I was driving home from class I was thinking about throwing the stuff in the pan in the order in which I put them in the bowl. Then it dawned on me that I had not even thought about when to cook the chicken. That threw a little wrench in my wok. 😉 I ended up cooking the mushrooms and chicken in one pan while the remaining veggies cooked in another. It was just faster. So here is what I did:
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Chicken and Vegetables Stir Fry
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
1 + lb chicken breast
2 tablespoons olive oil
garlic salt
1/4 onion
6 mushrooms
1 small baby bok choy
2 bunches of broccoli
4 small carrots
handful of snow peas
1 bell pepper (red)
rice
Mix the cornstarch in the water. Stir until it is completely dissolved. In a dish that will fit all the chicken, add the cornstarch water, the soy sauce, the brown sugar, the ginger, garlic powder, vinegar, and the teriyaki. Mix it up. Cut the chicken into about bite sized pieces. You want to cut them up so they are all about the same size so the cook evenly. Put the chicken in the dish with the marinade. Put the dish aside.
After you wash the veggies. Chop the onion. Slice the mushrooms. Cut up the baby bok choy. Chop up the broccoli. Slice the carrots. (I just sliced the ones I had because they were small, so they were little rounds). Slice the snow peas. Chop up the bell pepper. Decide which veggie you like cooked the most and start cook them first.
I cooked the mushrooms first. I put a tablespoon of oil in the pan. Let it heat. Then added the onions. Cook the onions. Then add the mushrooms. Add some garlic salt. When the mushrooms are almost cooked to your liking add the chicken. Add some of the marinade.
When the chicken is almost half of the way cooked, heat up the olive oil in another pan. Then when the chicken is half cooked put the bottom part, the white part of the baby bok choy in the pan (the one with out the chicken and mushrooms). Then add the broccoli. Add some of the marinade to the pan. Add the top (the green part) of the baby bok choy. Let things cook a minute.* Then add the snow peas. Add more marinade. Let it cook a bit. Then add the carrots. I don’t like cooked bell peppers so I add them last.
*In between the veggies cooking add almost all of the marinade to the chicken and mushrooms. Save just a little to use for cooking the veggies.
Make sure you cook the marinade with the chicken or vegetables. Since the raw chicken was sitting in it you don’t want to pour it over your rice without it having been cooked.
Once everything is cooked to your liking serve it over rice.
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My pictures show all the veggies in two bowls, that is because I prepped everything, then had to leave to teach yoga. I would not have piled everything in bowls if I were just prepping and cooking.
I loved all the veggies in this dish. This might not be a typical stir fry. Not even sure what that is. But it was good. We will be having it again!
What do you think? Does it sound good? Does it look good?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: cornstarch, garlic powder, ginger, not a typical stir fry, stir-fry, stir-fry chicken and veggies, stir-fry meat and veggies, Yoga class | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 1, 2017
So here it is, some of you are early birds and you might have finished your Daily 10 Minute Practice. So you’ve marked off your calendar. I can’t decide what I want to concentrate on. There are so many things I should be doing I am not sure which one to do daily. I want to have a focus. So I am still thinking, but perhaps you have your plan.
Here is the place to comment.
I hope some of you participate. I have one friend that is going to give it a go for two weeks. That is a good idea. Giving it a try for a couple of weeks. We will see how it goes for us!
Posted in Ten Minute Daily Practice | Tagged: Daily 10 Minute Practice, daily challenge | 1 Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 30, 2017
I have been hearing from my students and my friends that they want to do something for at least 10 minutes a day. Well, a couple of people wanted to do something for five minutes a day but for the majority of people it has been 10 minutes a day. There are many different “somethings” that people want to do. Some of them want to do yoga for 5 or 10 minutes a day. Some people want to do meditation for at least 5 minutes or more a day. Some people want to get a jump on their Spring Cleaning and they want to clean for 10 minutes a day. Some people want to read. Some people want to get out in nature. Some want to walk. Almost as many people who have talked about it to me is the different number of things people want to do. They were talking about it because they wanted to do it, but they had not yet succeeded in doing their desired “thing” for their desired time every day. I know that I have said that I wanted to do something for 10 minutes every day and I didn’t get very far along before I got side tracked. And sometimes it was a week before I even realized I hadn’t done my desired thing. I need something to remind me to do it every day. It also helps me when I am checking in with someone, letting them know if I did or didn’t do it. Also it helps when there are a few people doing it. So I thought we could do it here.
Here is a calendar check in sheet. This is my something to remind me every day. You can print it out or save it to your computer. Then every day do your 10 minute “practice” (sounds better than “thing” and it is whatever you decide you want to do for 10 minutes). Check it off and comment on my blog. I did something like this before. I will post on my blog and you just comment when you have finished your time. Also, you can comment, of course, if you haven’t had time to get to your practice. It is ok, we all miss days sometimes, but the idea is to not miss too many and to get right back to it.
Having a reminder is so helpful. Having the accountability of checking in helps, too. And having other people participate is great. It helps encourage us to get it done. It helps keep us on track. It also helps us when we get off track because we are there to cheer each other right back on.
So . . . . if you have a practice that you want to do daily for 10 minutes . . . let’s do it. It could be that you want to do something daily for more time and that works, too. You can still use the calendar check off sheet. And you still can check in. I was thinking if I posted this today, Monday, we would be ready to start Wednesday which is February 1st. I thought that would work well. We will get a chance to do our daily practice for 28 days. I have not yet decided what I want to do, but by Wednesday I will have that worked out. So what do you say, wanna give it a go?
Posted in Ten Minute Daily Practice | Tagged: 10 minutes every day, Daily practice, meditaion daily, workout daily, yoga daily | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 27, 2017
I love our yard roses. I have hundreds of pictures of them. I post some pictures on Facebook or even twitter, but I don’t like to just fill up my feed(s) with them. I mean, I wouldn’t mind, but I think that would annoy people. So I am sharing one here. This is from April of 2016.
In case you are wondering . . . they smell GREAT!
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: Facebook, Flowers, Friday Photo, Twitter, yard roses, yellow rose | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 25, 2017
I was trying to think of something to make for dinner with the limited meat that we had in the house. We have BEEF, but I haven’t gone there yet. I need to figure out how to cook the beef that we have, but I was not interested in figuring that out at that time. So I was trying to find something to cook that didn’t require much meat (we had a leftover pork chop) or any meat. I remembered that my husband liked the flatbread I made once, so I decided to make it. We had ricotta, I would put that on top, chop up the pork chop and put it on top, then add a sprinkle of mozzarella. Well, as I was making the flatbread and I said to myself, “one tablespoon cornmeal” it dawned on me that I wasn’t using cornMEAL, I was using cornSTARCH. That is probably why the flatbread turned out so dense. I decided to continue since when I had made it last time, my hubby liked it. And it works, it just probably has a different consistency than if I used actual cornMEAL.
So this isn’t really a recipe post (well not a NEW recipe) it is me just admitting and explaining the substitution. It works fine. And the pork chopped up and spread on it with a little mozzarella on top of that was really good. The flat bread is very dense, that is why I ended up calling it Flat-Biscuit-Shortbread. One of these days I might think to buy cornMEAL and make the recipe as per the real ingredients!
The information on the internet about the difference between cornstarch and cornmeal is not very detailed. They are obviously both made from corn, but one (cornstarch) is made from grinding just the endosperm of the kernel into a fine powder. The other (cornmeal) is made from grinding the whole kernel. Cornmeal is not ground as fine as corn flour. Yet, Wiki does go on to say that the most common cornmeal in the United States “has the husk and germ of the maize kernel almost completely removed”.
Cornstarch is usually used for thickening sauces and it does not have the strong corn flavor that cornmeal has. Could be because it is not the whole kernel. I am familiar with cornmeal being used in batters to coat things, like corndogs. And used for things like cornbread. There are many, many, many uses for it, but as you might have guessed, since I don’t have any, I don’t use it.
I am making a note of the recipe below so that I know how to do it with the cornSTARCH and the less oil . . . . I forgot that this last time, but I added a lot more flavor to it:
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Flat-Biscuit-Shortbread (the way I want to have it available to make)
• 1 1/2 cups + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, garlic powder, basil, and garlic salt in a bowl. Stir until ingredients are well mixed. Add olive oil and water mixing until all the ingredients are incorporated and it forms a smooth dough. Form the dough into a ball or a log – something to get you started into the final shape you want. Place the dough onto a piece of parchment paper large enough to fit the pan you are going to bake it on. Then roll out the dough until it’s about 1/4 inch thick in the shape you want. Lift the parchment paper with the dough on it and place it on your baking sheet.
Bake it in the oven at 400° F for 12 minutes until the edges start to turn brown.
Suggested topping instructions:
Remove the flat-biscuit-shortbread and top with ricotta cheese and a sprinkle of salt. Then place back in the oven for three minutes.
Then top it with whatever else you want. I once used Leeks and Mushrooms. Another time I used pork.
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What about you? Do you use cornmeal? Do you use cornstarch?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: cornmeal, cornstarch, easy meal, flat bread, kinda like pizza, ricotta cheese | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 23, 2017
I always cook the same thing. If you have read my blog for a bit or looked at the recipe page you can see what I cook. I actually USE my blog for my recipes. I use it for
Easy Peasy Chicken Enchiladas With Sour Cream Sauce
A New Recipe To Love – Red Beans and Rice
Although I don’t make some of those that often. What I do make all the time is just ground turkey and whatever leafy green (besides lettuce) that we have in the refrigerator. If I have any ricotta in the fridge I might stir that in. Or if I have any cream cheese. That makes it “different.” I would make that at least once a week, if it didn’t drive my hubby batty. But he gets tired of it. I don’t. I haven’t made meatloaf in a long time. But I just made it this past weekend. It used to be that it wouldn’t stay together for nothing. But then I started using less liquid in it. Ya see, I am not a fan of tomato paste or ketchup so I don’t always use it. I usually make it with ground turkey. But this last time I decided to use beef. And while I was in the aisle about to buy some tomato paste I remembered that I had some marinara sauce in the fridge and I thought, “Hey, I can use that.” Here is the basic recipe I use.
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Meatloaf
2 tablespoons of butter, plus enough to grease your loaf pan
1/4 of a large onion
1 lb ground meat (beef or turkey)
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup bread crumbs*
1 large egg
3 tablespoons ketchup**
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon salt
a couple of turns of pepper
soy sauce
cooking cherry
1 green bell pepper
Mince the onion. Heat the butter in a pan then saute the onion. Grease the loaf pan with butter. Heat the oven to 350° F. Put the meat in a large bowl. Finely chop the garlic or use a garlic press. Mix the garlic in with the meat. Then add the bread crumbs and mix well. Add the egg, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and salt. Incorporate it all into the meat. Sprinkle some pepper into the mixture. Mix well. Then use a measuring cup and make a combination of soy sauce and cooking cherry – totalling a 1/2 cup. Pour it into the meat mixture and stir. Mix it in with the meat. Dice the bell pepper then mix it in with the meat. Add the onions. Mix it all together.
Put the mixture into your loaf pan. Spreading it out until it fills the whole pan and is level. Then bake it for about 50 minutes.
Slice and serve.
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It might not stay together . . . mine rarely does. If you like your meatloaf to stay in the loaf shape and you want to be able to slice it, use less liquid.
*in this last batch I used Panko bread crumbs and I really liked that.
**sometimes I use ketchup, sometimes I use tomato sauce. I use whatever I have. I have made it before without any ketchup at all. It works.
I like it with beef, but it could be that I am just used to it with turkey because I think I like it better with turkey.
What is YOUR favorite meatloaf recipe? One with two kinds of meat? Maybe one with sausage?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: cauliflower cake, celery soup, Chai Tea Latte, Chicken Enchiladas with sour cream sauce, ground beef, ground turkey, ground turkey and greens, meatloaf, panko bread crumbs, Red Beans and Rice, Worcestershire Sauce | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 20, 2017
I saw this on a chair at the community center in San Jose where I teach Nia. I thought it was cute. I figured I would post it later to Facebook and never got around to it. I saved it on my phone and whenever I saw it, it made me smile. So I thought I could post it and it would make you smile.
A random heart for a Friday Photo.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: Facebook, Friday Photo, heart, joy, love, Nia, randome heart found, seeing love all around | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 13, 2017
So here we are rounding into the middle of January 2017 already.
We had a cat before the two we currently have. This was her “throne”. My husband and I call it that to distinguish between the tower, the little scratching post, and this scratching post. This scratching post has a spot where they can sit. Nessa and Teagan LOVE it. They have scratched the carpet off of the post. I need to re-carpet it.
Here is Nessa hanging out on the throne looking down on her subject.
Posted in Cats, Friday Photo, Teagan and Nessa | Tagged: carpeted scratching post, Nessa, scratching post, Spot the cat, Spot's throne, Teagan | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 11, 2017
I do not believe in time travel. In fact sometimes I get bored and upset with all the TV shows and movies that have anything to do with time travel. I disagree that anyone or anything can travel back in time and not change things. Although, if there were anything even remotely close to a time travel device I would say it is music. A certain song can transport us back in time to a point when we heard it playing. The memory could be an enjoyable one or even one that is painful, but sometimes that song can zap us right back. I recently read a post on a blog that got me thinking. You might want to pop over to Rachel’s blog to read it yourself because it is so much more entertaining than this one – she is funny. Her post had me looking into the memory project and I started thinking about what I would like my playlist to be.
Perhaps you’ve have seen that video with Henry in it. He is an elderly man in a wheel chair and he seems like he is asleep, but then once they turn the music on he wakes up and starts singing and moving. That video is a clip from a documentary called Alive Inside. It is about the Music and Memory project that helps get iPods into nursing homes / memory care facilities. The project’s website states:
“Persons with dementia, Parkinson’s and other diseases that damage brain chemistry also reconnect to the world and gain improved quality of life from listening to personal music favorites.”
As I first mentioned music is a powerful thing and it can feel like we have been moved through time when we hear certain songs. Music can wake up certain memories. Music can read our subconscious and get us moving. It is pretty amazing. So many people always have music playing. I find that when I need to concentrate I don’t like the music on because I get distracted by it. I want to sing or dance to it so it keeps me from being able to focus on the task I am trying to accomplish. Maybe people claim it helps them concentrate. Music is so different for everyone. Even so, the right type can help ignite that spark.
So let’s do a little project you and me. Let’s put together individual playlists. Just for the heck of it we will put some guidelines in place. First, remember this is a memory playlist. So the songs would be something that you would think would help ground you and bring you back to you. Songs that might allow you to sing or dance . . . . like Henry. Two, make your playlist around 90 minutes long. There are so many songs out there, just so much music so it would be possible for some of us to come up with playlists that are days long. So for the purpose of this little game, let’s keep it to 90 minutes. That could be roughly about 15 songs. It really depends on the length of each song, but 15 is a rough average.
At this point I only have one song on my list – American Pie by Don McLean, but I am going to think about it and get back to you. Leave your playlist in the comments!
Posted in Misc | 5 Comments »
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