Posts Tagged ‘Nia’
Posted by terrepruitt on December 15, 2011
I have a Nia student who bakes bread all the time. Challah to be exact. YUM! Several times when I’ve gone to her house she answers the door with flour on her. I have another friend who bakes bread and pizza dough and yummy things all the time. She even makes her own little slider buns. So cute. So yummy. I am a bread lover. Bread it awesome. Bread is so versatile. I love bread. It is absolutely silly that I don’t make my own bread. But I was afraid of yeast. I know that sounds ridiculous, especially to you bread makers, but it is the truth. The whole “active” and rising and “proofing” just scared me. What if it wasn’t active? What if it didn’t rise? What is proofing anyway?
I was talking with someone who was telling me someone else wasn’t doing something. We were trying to figure out why. Why wouldn’t this person want to do that? The person talking suggested it was because she was afraid and didn’t want to fail and her comment was, “So what? Fail, but at least you tried and you can do it again. Do it until you don’t fail.” Ah-ha! It was one of those moments. What I was not doing because I was afraid of failure was much less serious than what we were talking about. I am being vague to protect the innocent. 🙂 But believe me, yeast is a lot less serious and traumatic than the other situation. So I realized how silly I was being. It’s bread. It’s yeast. Whoppedee-do, if it doesn’t work. Granted I wouldn’t want to waste all the ingredients that go into it, but it is not THAT big of a thing.
I had even bought the yeast a long time ago (well, not THAT long ago because then again, don’t want it not to be able to be activated). So I decided to start with something I think of as even easier than bread—pizza dough. Now you might know that I think of both sandwiches and pizza as the perfect foods. They are bread/grains, veggies, dairy, and meat —- perfect. Even more perfect because you can eat it with your hands. Anyway . . . . I found an easy pizza dough recipe. After going back and forth, “Do I follow the directions on the yeast package or the directions on the recipe?” I decided to just go with the recipe. Actually, now that I am typing this up, I bought the yeast to make pita bread, but I let it sit until I had the above mentioned conversation at which time I decided to try pizza dough because I felt it was easier.
Anyway . . . my first shot was ok. The flavor was good but it was very “bready”. It was REALLY THICK, so I decided on my next try I would split the dough up and make two crust. But the second one didn’t rise nearly has much. Ya see, the recipe says to let the dough rise for 30 minutes. But a few of the comments said they let it sit longer. So I did that. I let it sit for hours, then I rolled it out to as large as my pan, which seemed pretty thin to me, but during the baking it puffed up. It was like thick crust pizza. So that is why I decided to split it the second time. But the second time the ball of dough seemed smaller, so I used it all and rolled it thin and it still puffed up. Not as puffy as the first time, but thicker than I wanted. I like thick crust, but I was trying to make thin(ner) crust pizza. After I cooked it —- and we ate it, I thought, “Oh the temperature.” Was that it? Did it not rise as much because it was colder the second time? I didn’t think about that until AFTER all was said and done. But it was much colder in the house the second time than the first time. So bready-people/pizza dough makers the temperature that the dough is left to rise in affects it, huh?
Here is a picture of my second pizza. This is two meals. Mine is the bottom portion, a half with spinach and mushrooms, and one with just spinach. The top portion has mushrooms and raw onions for my hubby. He is not a bready person, but he says he like the pizza even though the crust is REALLY thick. I will keep at it. I will experiment and play. Now that I am not so afraid to fail I can play. I am sure that one of these days I will get some bad yeast or I will do something wrong, but that is ok, at least I tried . . . . . and I look forward to all the pizza it will give us!
Posted in Food | Tagged: bread, bread dough, breadmakers, Challah, failure, Nia, Nia students, perfect food, pizza, pizza crust, pizza dough, proofing the yeast, yeast | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 13, 2011
I teach Nia at a studio in San Jose. The studio is in a part of San Jose called Willow Glen. In January (2012) I will have been holding Nia classes there for three years. It is a studio that is owned by two women who teach and perform belly dancing. One woman is named Hala and the other Amanda. The name of the studio is Halanda. See how they did that? Well, every year they have a Holiday Party which is like Christmas Parties at offices once were, a BIG thank you. The teachers come together to display their talent in front of the audience made up of students, other dancers, and neighborhood people. It was an awesome show and a great party.
As I mentioned in a previous post, this is the first year that I have been able to attend. I was very amazed and impressed. I am going to spend from now until the next party telling my students they really want to attend next year. It is a busy time of the year, but it is so great to come and see all the beautiful dance we have going on in the studio.
There was a lot of food. As you can see there were vegetables, fruit, meat, and cheese. There were several types of crackers. Someone brought sandwiches. Someone brought spanakopita! There were trays of cookies. You can see the huge trays of turkey wraps. There was so much food. As one dish was emptied something else would replace it. The table was like the never ending table of food.
As you may know it is difficult to watch something AND take pictures at the same time. So I really rushed through taking pictures. I was using my phone and my camera. I was taking pictures on my phone and posting them to various social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, and Streamzoo. In addition to this being a “thank you” party, it is also a networking party and a way to try to get people interested in taking classes at the studio. So I was trying to watch at the same time I was Facebooking, tweeting, and posting to Streamzoo. All of this in addition to the fact that the subject(s) are shaking, shimmying, bouncing, and jittering caused me to have mostly very blurry shots.
The first dance shot is of Farima and her Students performing a Silk Road Fusion.
Then there is Marie Manila showing us what Hot Hula is. It appeared to be hula dance, with her telling you what muscles you are working. Maybe they repeat some moves more than they would in a typical hula dance.
Then there is a picture of Farima and some more of her students. They are doing a Persian Dance and they are dressed like princesses. I think the costumes are one of my favorite things about belly dancing. They can be very sparkly and shiny. I love that.
Here is a shot of my friend Laura Thompson. She is multi-talented. Here she is dancing under her stage name, Setareh , with a sword. I have known here for years and I have never seen her dance. It was awesome. Her other passion is jewelry making and her talent lies not only in the beautiful pieces she creates, but in the way she can tweak one of her creations to match you perfectly.
Here is Amanda, a co-owner of the studio, doing a Turkish Dance. 
Below is photo of Vy performing an Egyptian Oriental Dance.
Next is Hala, the other co-owner, doing Egyptian Bellydance.
And then a shot of Michelle and her students. Michelle teaches something called No Rules Dance, which I believe is for belly dancer who have belly dancing experience, but want to learn new things and “break” the rules.
I didn’t take pictures of all the performers, plus some that I did take were too blurry to post. Every dance was a delight to see. So much talent at the studio!
I did a two song Nia demo and many people joined me. It was awesome. We had a great time. I was so happy to be able to share Nia with so many people.
Well, I will probably point you to this post as NEXT December nears so that you can be reminded of what a GREAT time the party is and maybe (if you are around) you will attend. It really is a treat to be able to see so many different types of dance and belly dance all in one show. Thanks always to Hala and Amanda for having such a great little place we all can dance!
Posted in Exercise and Working Out, Nia | Tagged: Amanda, Belly Dance, Certified PiYo Instructor, Christmas party, CPT, exercise, Facebook, Hala, Halanda Dance Studio, Holiday party, http://www.HelpYouWell.com, Los Gatos Nia, Nia, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia San Jose, Nia studio, Nia Teacher, Nia White Belt, No Rules Belly Dance, Performance, Pilates, PiYo/Pilates/Yoga, San Jose exercise classes, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia classes, San Jose Nia Teacher, San Jose Workout, social networks, Streamzoo, Terre Pruitt, Twitter, Willow Glen Nia, workout, www.HelpYouWell.com, www.NiaSanJose.com, www.TerrePruitt.com, Yoga | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 8, 2011
I was talking about Nia with my Nia students recently after our Nia Class. They were telling me what they think Nia is. They said that Nia should come up if they were doing a search on the internet using the term dance exercise. I was really happy to hear that. I always get stuck when people ask me what Nia is because to me it is a lot of things. If you have read any of my posts on this blog about Nia you know how its principles can be applied to life and how at its very basic level it is a workout. But way beyond that it is a practice. When people ask me about it my enthusiasm takes over and I want to tell them ALL about Nia, when I could just stick to the basic level – it is dance and dance is exercise.
Even though it is exercise and it is a workout it is fun. I love that “Dancing With The Stars” really helped show people what a great workout dancing is. Dancers have always known that dancing is a great workout–both aerobic and strength. I think people have always known to some extent that PROFESSIONAL dancers get a workout, but I think that show opened the door to more people understanding that dancing even if you aren’t a professional is a workout. Yes, the “stars” do end up dancing as much as professionals to learn the dances, but still for some reason it seems like it enabled people to see that dancing is exercise—but it is fun!
As with any workout the participants can put what they want into it. If you really want to get a workout you can move bigger, farther, higher, lower, faster . . . whatever works for you to get the workout you need and want. The possibility to move small, slow, and just be mellow is always there. It is very versatile. It is cardio but if you really move — especially during floorplay — it can be a great strength training workout.
I actually started teaching Nia because it was a dance exercise. I don’t know if I have mentioned that before in this blog, but I was looking for something to teach that was very dance-y yet was exercise. I knew a lot of women who said they loved to dance and they would like to dance but their partners didn’t like it, so they thought that a workout that was dance would be great. It is. It is very fun. We dance to all types of music. There is a lot of opportunity for self-expression. Even when we are doing specific steps there is a lot of room for one’s own movements.
Nia was created to be fun, to address the entire being. Debbie Rosas-Stewart and Carlos Aya-Rosas brought us this wonderful movement practice through years of hard work and research, that started in 1983. Carlos retired at the end of 2010, and Debbie is moving Nia forward in a great direction. Body-centered, spirit-filling, and mind-blowing. We are dancing up a storm and loving it. It is dance, it is exercise, it is dance exercise and if you try it you will love it.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: aerobic workout, cardio workout, Carlos Rosas, dance exercise, dance practice, Dance Workout, Dancing with the stars, Debbie Rosas, Nia, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia Practice, Nia students, Nia teachers, Nia workout, professional dancers, professional dancing, strength training workout, White Belt Principles | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 7, 2011
Reporting in. How are you doing with the 31 Things Project? Getting rid of anything? Today after teaching my Nia Class I took my trunk full of plastic water bottles to the recycler. Those things take up a lot of space. My entire trunk and half my back seat was full. I have a big trunk. There were two large bags and a box sitting in our garage the rest I stored in my trunk. It is not easy to save up recycling because it takes up a lot of space but it isn’t worth it to go to a recycling place unless you have a lot of stuff to recycle. So we have it around for a long time and are always having to dance around bags of bottles. But there is a place in San Jose next to the Willow Glen studio I teach at and the people there were SOOOO nice I think I might drop by more often.
My list thus far is: today, I rid our space of plastic bottles. Yesterday, I went into my office closet for something and ended up throwing some stuff out. Closet is still not clean, but it is a bit more organized and some of the stuff in it is more easily accessible. The day before I noticed a drawer in the kitchen that had gotten a bit out of control so I tidied that up and threw out some of the stuff in there that was no longer useful. The day before that I fixed a watch band. I have several watches and most them need batteries or new bands (sounds like a perfect “thing” for my project). The one that has a working battery has a “broken” band. Well, the leather band itself was fine, it was the pin that hold the band to the watch that had broken. Now, please understand that I know it is easy to remedy these things, I just don’t always think about them. They slip my mind. I was looking for something in a box and I found some pins. I had saved the pins from a broken watch band. So I was able to put the saved pin into my watch band and — Voila! A watch. Yeah! I love watches and I have not had one that could actually be worn in so long.
Fixing that band did two things; 1) it has encouraged me to put “fix watches” on my 31 Thing Project list and 2) it changed two useless items (a pin and broken watch) to two useful items. Unfortunately that little tiny pin was not taking up a lot of space so no space was created, but time certainly was. Ha, ha. Ok, times was not CREATED, but I now know what time it is!
This is proving less easy than I thought because of the Holiday season, but I am committed to the project so I am going to do it. I need to remember that the idea is not to take up a lot of time. Give me a chance to exercise focus. Yesterday I spent way too much time in my closet! I got distracted by things in the closet that I was not looking for. So . . . how are you doing? Do you have seven things on your list of “done”?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: 31 Things Project, clean closet, create space, create time, dance exercise, fix things, Nia, Nia class, Nia classes in San Jose, Nia Dance, Nia exercise, Nia Teacher, recycle, San Jose Nia, water bottles, Willow Glen Nia | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 6, 2011
I believe one of my Nia friends on FB posted a reposting of Bonnie Ware’s Top 5 Regrets of Dying*. You might have seen it. You’ve probably heard many people repeat the saying and maybe some people even admit that they don’t regret things they have done as much as things they did not do. This saying kind of sums up what Bonnie said most people’s regrets were. Or at least the majority of regrets had to do with things they did not do.
The list she compiled consisted of the following 5 things. To see her post you can click here.
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
Wow, huh? She said this was the most common regret. I think living a life true to oneself is very difficult for some people. First of all one has to decide who they are. With so much information out there and so many ways to be it is not easy for some to decide who they are, so it is even more difficult to be true to oneself. Then add on the fact that there are people in your life who expect things from you. Not an easy task, but according to Bonnie one of the ones that people regret most not doing. So while you have a chance, I would suggest you work on it. I work on it daily.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
Again not an easy task. Especially if you have kids, bills, and/or a mortgage. Sad that having kids is the very thing that makes you work more because you want to provide THINGS for them. They are inundated with WANTING and MUST HAVE, so you, as a good parent want to give them things. With all the extra hours maybe you end up working through a lot of special times.
Most of us could probably learn to live without a few things, exercise restraint when it comes to certain things. The article states to simplify which could lead to less need, which could lead to more space and happiness.
Yes, I know easier said than done. But if we listen to lessons from people who have been there sometimes we can save ourselves a lot of heartache.
Remember Bonnie has shared this information from people who are dying. And these are common regrets.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
I think learning how to express one’s feelings correctly helps supply courage. Feelings are emotions that cannot always be helped. But our actions based on feelings CAN be controlled. If we are hurt or angry; screaming, yelling, hitting, throwing things, etc. are not good ways to express your feelings. These things might be therapeutic ways to vent, but they are not good ways to express feelings. Learning better ways is a step in having the courage. Also, being in tune with who you are expressing your feelings too helps. If you have feelings which are strong you want to share with someone and you are having to work very hard to NOT scream and yell it is usually a good idea to do it at a time when the person is receptive. Try not to have a serious talk where you are emotional when the other person has had a bad day, is tired, or is in the middle of something. These circumstance make it difficult for the person you are trying to share with to listen openly and give you what you need. If they had a bad day and you coming to them telling them they hurt your feelings, might make them feel guilty with an instant reaction of yelling and blaming you. Putting yourself in that type of situation would do the opposite of helping you have courage. While Bonnie reminds us we can’t control the reactions of others, we can control WHEN we share with them in order to receive a better response.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Wow. None of these are easy, huh? I mean, I have many friends I don’t see as often as I’d like. Life is busy. And maybe #2 and #3 actually had an effect on #4? Could be. But maybe if we work less and have less stuff to deal with we would have more time for friends. I know that I could be a little bit more timely with some things instead of waiting for the last minute. Then I might be free to meet with a friend when she called instead of having to buckle down and get stuff done.
But with all of the social networking available to us, keeping in touch with people might be a little easier than in the past. We will have to see. Because it also leads to us having more friends to keep in touch with.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Hmmm. Interesting. Seems like people on their death bed actually admitted to keeping themselves from being happy. According to Bonnie, they didn’t realize until they were dying that it is a choice. One chooses to be happy. Again, maybe this ones ties in with the ones above. If you figure out who you are and are true to yourself you’ve probably realized you made a choice to be happy. If you work less and fill you life and your heart up with more wonderful moments you have made a choice. If you learn the dance of self expression, you will have allowed yourself to be happy. If you keep in touch with friends and they are the good ones that fill your life and heart, then you’ve made a choice to be happy.
Wow. Seems like all the regrets on the list are related. Seems to be that working on these now could help keep us from having regrets when it is too late. Doing these things when you have the health to do them is important. As I mentioned maybe #1 thru #4 can help with #5. Or maybe it is the other way around. What do you think?
*Bonnie Ware is the author of the new book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Visit her official website Inspiration and Chai.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Bonnie Ware, can't help feelings, courage to express my feelings, dance exercise, Facebook post, Inspiration and Chai, live a life true to myself, Nia, Nia Dance, Nia exercise, One chooses to be happy, Social Networking, Top 5 Regrets of Dying | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 1, 2011
Wet, slimy, noisy, some say even tasty. No, I am not talking about frogs the amphibians. There is an exercise I learned in Pilates I know as Frogs. I can’t think of a move we do in Nia that is comparable. You lie on your back with your legs in the air. Your heels touch, toes out, feet flexed like in first position, your thighs are squeezing. Then you bend your knees, then straighten them as if you are jumping like a frog. This can be a somewhat big bend or a little pulse-type movement. Concentrate on keeping the heels together, your feet flexed, and your thigh muscles tight. Make sure you squeeze really tight when your legs are straight. This is one of those exercises where bigger is not necessarily better. The little pulses really compel you to squeeze your legs.
You can add another element to the exercise if you would like, by lowering your legs to any degree. Another way to adjust this exercise besides lowering your legs is by making it more challenging by adding resistance tubing or a resistance band. You would hold the resistance band in both hands and secure the band around your heels/feet then do the same frog leg jumping motion.
This exercise is a great workout for the legs. With your feet flexed and heels touching you might sense your gastrocnemius and soleus, the muscles of the calves. You will probably sense the stretch. The lower leg muscles that are on the front of your legs are the ones you will probably sense most. These are the ones really working to keep your foot flexed. The anterior tibial is the main muscle used in dorsiflexion, which is flexing your foot towards your shin. Another muscles used in dorsiflexion is the extensor hallucis longus. So these muscles will get a great workout.
Really pushing through your heels and straightening your legs stretches the calves as well as the hamstrings. People with tight hamstrings might have to practice a bit in order to get their legs straight. Even though it is not the hamstrings that straighten the leg, when they are tight, the legs cannot always straighten. The hamstrings are the muscles that will work to bend the knee.
Now the main muscles that you will sense in this exercise are the quadriceps. These large muscles in your upper leg will be the ones that are helping you to keep your legs together. While you are doing this exercise you really want to concentrate on keeping your thighs together. squeeze them together. This squeezing is ONE of the ways this exercise works the thighs. It also works the thighs when you straighten the legs. The quadriceps are the ones that will also straighten the leg.
Since you are going to be flexing the knees and hips and rotating the thigh outward you are going to be working the sartorius. This muscle starts at the outside of the hip and crosses over the thigh bone and inserts in at the inner part of the tibia, the bone below the knee. This muscles crosses over two joints.
If you are really squeezing your legs this will also work your glutes. This exercise can even allow the abs to get in on the fun.
This is a great lower body exercise. It allows for so many muscles to be worked. As with many exercises it can be done a variety of ways to increase the challenge. So did you get down on the floor and try it in the middle of reading this? I am sure that your co-workers would understand. 🙂
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: amphibians, calves, exercies, first position, glutes, great exercise, Hamstrings, Nia, Nia Moves, Nia workout, Pilates, Quadriceps, slimy frogs, workout | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 24, 2011
Since my posting schedule is Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I am always going to end up posting on Thanksgiving. My hubby and I don’t have kids and we are both the youngest of the children. I have always figured that I don’t get to do the Holiday dinners because I don’t have kids and I am the baby. That is fine with me. As I have shared with you before, I am not a fan of all the traditional Thanksgiving Day food. I usually just eat the turkey sans gravy, the bread, the potatoes, and the salad. If there is another vegetable I will eat that. But I don’t like the sweet potato casserole, the stuffing/dressing, the cranberries, or the gravy. So to me the meal is not one of those meals that I look forward to all year long. But I do like to give thanks. I am very blessed so I give thanks all year round, but on Thanksgiving people are more apt to accept the compliment and the gratitude.
This year there are some sad things surrounding our holidays. This is the first year we will be without the matriarch of husband’s family. This is a source of great sadness, of course. I am sure there will be many tears shed as we gather without the light that brightened every family gathering. I am sure it will be a bit surreal. Also my hubby’s best friend will be experiencing his first holiday without his mom. And another loss that I am feeling – although less drastic – one of my best friend’s is moving away. She is moving far enough away that there will be no day trip visits. This will be the first Christmas in 25 years that we will not have “Christmas with the Girls.” Yes, I know this is a post about Thanksgiving, but she will be gone right after, so I mention it. So much loss, so much sadness.
But even though moments of sorrow might have me bowing my head for tears to fall, life is still a blessing. There is so much to be thankful for. I cannot deny the blessings that I have. I can’t walk around in a constant state of gloom. I have to go on being joyful. I have to go on with the dance. As we say in Nia, Dance Through Life. Yeah, right in the middle I might stop stricken by the realization, stopped by a thought or a memory, but it’s not right to dwell on the sadness and the injustice of it all. Not only will dwelling on the negative effect me, it is an affront to all that is good.
So while this Holiday season will have a large shadow hanging about, I will shine bright enough in my thankfulness that I will not allow the darkness to prevail. Of the things I will be expressing gratitude for is the blessing of these people having been in my life. So I like thanksgiving, because it is a time to gather and give thanks. It is a time for gratitude.
I hope this finds you and yours well. I hope there are things in your life you can be thankful for. Even if this is not the time of yerr for your Thanksgiving (Canada does it in October) or if you don’t celebrate it at all, maybe you can give thanks just because your are grateful.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: blessings, cranberries, Dancing Through Life, death of a family member, dressing, gratitude, gravy, Holiday dinners, joy, joyful, Life is a Dance, Nia, stuffing, Thanksgiving, traditional Thanksgiving, turkey | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 22, 2011
Yesterday, after my Nia class in Central San Jose, I went to Campbell to pick up some locally “grown” honey. It has been pretty cold here so I have been drinking tea and I was thinking soup. It was at the last minute and through a chance of “well this light is green so I will turn this way” that I ended up at Trader Joe’s. I don’t get to Trader Joe’s often because it is just not in my regularly traveled areas. I didn’t know what I was going to get there until I saw the package of cut butternut squash. Then I was on my phone trying to find the recipe so I could make certain I got all the ingredients for butternut squash soup.
I have made this soup at least twice before, but the last time I made it I put too much pepper in it. Probably not even as much as the recipe calls for, but it was WAY too hot for me to eat. I was soooooooo disappointed. But at least it didn’t go to waste because my hubby loves spicy hot food so he ate it.
I remembered from the times before that one package of cut butternut squash is about 6 cups of squash and that is what the recipe calls for. With Thanksgiving coming I thought that we could just eat it all week if I doubled it. I am fortunate in that my hubby doesn’t mind eating the same thing over and over. So my plan was to make a double batch. But my plan was also to not follow the recipe exactly.
Before I had made it the very first time, I had read the reviews and I believed what the majority of them said so I was already adapting, but I was even thinking of more modifications. The problem is I don’t always know what I am going to do until I do it. As I am cooking an idea will pop into my head and then I don’t always remember what I did when it comes out great. I thought to write as I cooked but I didn’t.
After I sat down to eat it though I decided I had to make note of what I did because to me and for me, this is the best batch I have made and I want to make it EXACTLY like this from now on. Please excuse me for being brand specific. Normally I like to be more Rachel Ray than Martha Stewart, and I will say use whatever, but for me, I am going to use these exactly ingredients to make this soup. I really think that these particular flavors are what made it so yummy. But you of course are free to use the brands and flavors you like, but if you don’t want to lick the pot when you are done than it really might be the brands. 😉 I would have taken pictures of the cooking process had I thought I was going to post about this. 
I had thought NOT to post, but then after I ate it, I realized I HAD to post just so I would have record of it. The pictures of the products are after I fished the packages out of the garbage.
Butternut Squash Soup Adaptation
Two packages Trader Joe’s cut butternut squash (2 lbs each)
Olive oil spray
salt
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 box (32 oz) Trader Joe’s Low Sodium Vegetable Broth
4 packages Trader Joe’s Savory broth – chicken flavor
3 1/2 cups water
1 tsp marjoram
6 turns of the smoked pepper pepper mill
two light sprinkles of cayenne pepper
1 8 oz package cream cheese
2-3 tablespoons of whipped cream cheese
Heat the oven to 450. Spread the squash on a pan or two, spray with olive oil, sprinkle with salt. Roast the squash. The goal is to cook it until it is soft, but it is nice to have some of it browned. Roast for at least 30 minutes. Flip, stir, or shake so as to move the squash around a bit. Here is where you decide how roasted you want your squash.
Melt the butter in the stockpot, add the onions, and a little salt. Cook the onions until tender. Put the roasted squash in the pot, add the box of broth, add the water, add the contents of the broth packages, add the marjoram, add the pepper, sprinkle the cayenne. Bring to a boil.
Take the pot off the burner and blend the soup until smooth. (I use the immersion blender). Add the cream cheese. Stir. Blend until the cream cheese is full incorporated in the soup. Depending on how long it takes you to blend the soup and how hot you want to serve it. You might have to put it back on the stove.
This recipe makes a nice creamy squash-flavored soup. It is not sweet, but it is not spicy hot. If you like spicy hot you can add more pepper. The actually recipe on Allrecipes.com calls for a 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper and a 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper. That is too hot for me. I just put a few twists and a sprinkle. The thing about making the pot mild is that people can add their own heat. My hubby sometimes adds hot sauce. But then sometimes he doesn’t. He can decide.
As with any recipe, of course, you can modify it as you want. But for me THIS IS IT! Also as with anything, I would love to hear what you think.
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: butternut squash soup, Campbell California, cayenne pepper, cream cheese, hot soup, Martha Stewart, Nia, Nia class, Nia San Jose, Rachel Ray, roasted butternut squash, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, Thanksgiving, Trader Joe's | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 19, 2011
I went to a Nia class this morning. Grateful Hearts Nia Celebration is an annual event, it is in its third year although this is the first time I have attended. It is a free Nia class put on by a friend Anita Christensen, a Brown Belt Nia teacher. She collects food for the Second Harvest Food Bank. Today she collected a pretty good haul. She had a great turn out for class. Then I came home and got ready for a party for a friend that is moving away. Yesterday, even though I only have one Nia class, I had to go visit a friend who is saying goodbye to his mother, and did not have a chance to write a blog post. Although there is plenty of time to do things, I don’t SEEM to have enough time to do some of the other things I have on my schedule to do. It has been a bit of a trying month. There are a lot of things more important than a blog post for me right now.
A lot of things are changing and although I am committed to posting and doing it on my self assigned schedule, I just have been working through some stuff. I don’t always have a post just popping off my fingers into the keyboard. Often times it takes a lot of research. I come up with a topic or an idea I think will be easy to post about and then I sit down and start writing and looking into the subject and so much information is out there. Often a lot of it is conflicting and I don’t like to write about something without at least being aware of the other side. I know I don’t always succeed and I even might just think there are two sides when there are many more, but at least I know there is at least one more side.
At times lately, I am thinking I am just not grown up enough to be able to handle all that is going on. So much makes me want to just go into a corner for a self-imposed time out, but that is not how I believe I can live. I believe that in spite of all the death and loss that is going on I still have a lot to be grateful for. That is why the dance today, the Grateful Heart Nia Class was so important to me to attend. What all this boils down to is that I don’t have a lot of time to write a blog post. I am just writing some things about what I am feeling and what is going on and as usual, I am hoping other people can identify.
I have not taken the time to think of a topic. I tried. I let my mind wander to see if it found something, but I have been a little distracted. So I didn’t think of one and I didn’t do research because I felt that there were other things I needed to do. I needed to visit with my friend as he is going through this transition. I needed to go to a Nia class. I needed to grab some food and go visit with one of my best friends who is moving. I didn’t think we were be as long as we were, but then again, we needed to spend that time together.
Then, as I am sitting at my computer trying to figure out what to write, I have this cat that wants to sit on my lap. She doesn’t always do that, she will usually let me work then later when I get out of the office she will sit with me but for some reason there she was sitting on my lap putting her head in my hand as I tired to typed . . . another more important-than-a-blog-post thing taking me away from my post. Sometimes I just have to go with the flow and ride the tide. I hope you understand. I also hope that sometimes you are able to stop trying to work on your to-do list and just do what you have to do.
Posted in Cats, Misc, Spot | Tagged: Anita Christensen, Brown Belt Nia Teacher, Grateful Hearts Nia Celebration, Nia, Nia class, Nia Teacher, not enough time, Second Harvest Food Bank | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 15, 2011
Yesterday after my Nia class I was looking for something to post about today. I often look at my blog to see how many articles I have posted in each category. I am sort of surprised that my “Misc” is surpassing my “Nia”, but I bet a lot of the post categorized under Misc mention Nia in some way. I noticed Chakra only has two post and I know I said I was going to post more on that so I googled Chakra and lungs. I have been sensing my lungs lately. If you’ve read my blog for a bit you might know that I think that most of the time we don’t sense our body parts. We don’t think about them and we don’t sense them. When we sense them is it usually because something is up. I don’t think about my back until it hurts. I never sense my elbow until it is sore. My toes are pretty much on their own until I hurt one. So that is what I mean. You don’t think about your heart or your lungs unless they are bothering you. I don’t always like to assign the word PAIN to a sensation because it is not always pain. I could just be an itch or a discomfort, either way, I am sensing them. So I did a Chakra lung search. I don’t know why I was surprised. The chakra that affects the lungs is the heart chakra.
The heart chakra is the fourth chakra. It located in the middle of your chest. The color associated with it is green. In the body the associations to the heart chakra are the heart, the circulatory system, the entire chest area, lungs, breasts, the diaphragm, the thymus gland, the immune system, and some say the endocrine system. One website states: “Possible Physical Symptoms: Heart Issues, Lung & Breathing Problems, Upper Back Pain, Breast Cancer, Compromised Immune System, Blood Diseases.”
The fourth chakra is where feelings and emotions of love originate. Joy, honesty, happiness, generosity, compassion, respect, and understanding are associated with the heart chakra.
The heart chakra is affected by grief. I was just thinking that my itchy lungs could be a result of a less than happy heart chakra. I was reminded by this one site that the middle of the chest would be right behind the sternum. The sternum and rib cage protect the actual heart and organs. This information made me lean even more towards those thoughts.
Several sites stated an exercise that could be performed to help balance the heart chakra is to vigorously rub your hands together. This opens the energy in the hands which are connected to the heart’s energy.
So interesting. I still do not understand all the energies in the body and in the world, but I see how it can all be connected and how sometimes certain energies can become block or unbalanced. It amazes me to see how it all connects. But if you believe that it DOES all connect, then it might be that you can understand how a sad heart could have itchy lungs.
Have a day full of light!
Posted in Chakras | Tagged: chakra associations, chakra exercise, compromised immune system, fourth chakra, heart chakra, Nia, Nia class | 12 Comments »
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