I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend as much as I did!

Cheddar-Apple Grilled Cheese

(Makes 2 sandwiches)

4 slices of bread, any kind

enough sliced cheese to cover 2 slices of bread

1 granny smith apple, sliced

butter or margarine

1. Butter one side of each slice of bread

2. put cheese on 2 slices of bread, on the non-buttered side

3. put the slices of apple on top of the cheese

4. assemble the sandwiches, butter side out, and place on a hot sandwich press (or a hot frying pan)

(our sandwich press is called the Griddler.  enough said.)

5.  Cook the sandwich until the bread is toasted, and the cheese is melted.

6. Eat!

Yum.

(Lyrics from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)

Oh my goodness.  I am so excited.  I have been jumping around my house for about 20 minutes now.  Why?  I won a FREE TICKET to the Healthy Living Summit from Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point!!  (Who is my new best blog friend, because she’s so great!)

I will be travelling to Chicago August 13-15 and I will get to meet the wonderful organizers Kath, Tina, Caitlin, Meghann, and Heather, along with so many other wonderful bloggers and members of the healthy living community!!

Winning this ticket has turned around my crappy week, and has really made me happy!

Thanks again Caitlin, I’ll be seeing you in August!!

Did you get a ticket?  I’m excited to see who else is going to be there!

Tonight I’m moderating the #fitblog chat on Twitter.  I have been participating in this chat since the beginning and I love it!  I have met so many amazing new people, and learned so many great things from everyone!  This community of Healthy Living/Fitness/Food/Weight Loss/Awesome bloggers is so supportive and helpful, it actually makes me a little choked up. Follow me on Twitter to find out the instructions, topics, and all the details!

When Tina and Kate tweeted about Yoga Pose May at the end of April, I automatically emailed them both very excitedly asking to take part.  I love to do yoga.  I haven’t been able to go to a class in almost a year, but I love the feeling of relaxation I get after yoga, plus I like to learn new poses and their names.  World, meet pictures of my giant rear.

Happy Baby Pose (Ananda Balasana)

Start by laying on your back with your knees drawn into your chest.  Usually I like to hug my knees and roll side to side for a few moments, this really helps release my upper and lower back.

Inhale and grab the outside of each foot with the corresponding hand (grab left foot with left hand, right with right) and open your knees so they’re on either side of your chest.  Exhale and bring your feet up to be parallel with your knees, and gently push your ankles up so you feel the stretch in your calf.

As you relax into the position allow your thighs to get closer to the ground on either side of your chest.  Lengthen your back, allowing your tailbone to release into the floor, and your neck to extend away from your shoulders.

Hold the pose for 1 minute, and exhale as you release your feet down to the floor.

Notes about this pose:

• It is one of the more awkward-looking poses to do, but boy does it feel good
• This pose is great for runners, because it really loosens your hip and bum muscles
• This pose is good for releasing any… (ahem) wind… you may need to get out, just hold the pose until you feel relief

So there you have my yoga pose for May!  Check out Tina’s or Kate’s list of all the poses, and try some for yourself!

What’s your favourite yoga pose or stretch? Why?

India: Naan

(BBC Good Food website)

Mexico: Tortillas

(Cooking Light)

France: Baguettes

(The Kitchn)

The list goes on and on and on.  Every culture has its own style of bread, and within that culture, there are 1001 different recipes for that bread.  One of my favourite breads comes from the land where my mom was born, England.

Scones:

Here’s my recipe for chocolate chip scones (co-opted from many recipes found across the web):

2     cups unsifted flowers

3     tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2     tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup buttermilk or milk

1     large egg

1     tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl



3. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly
4. add the milk, egg, vanilla, and chocolate chips, and mix until it comes together into a wet dough
5. turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until it comes together



6. roll dough as thin as you can (the chips will let you know how thick)
7. cut the dough into whatever shape you like



8. place on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes



9. Enjoy!

What is your favourite thing that unites people?  Food? History?  Something Else?

Ingredients:

2     tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3     carrots, grated

1     onion, chopped

4     ribs of celery, chopped

1     cup frozen corn

1     cup frozen peas

1     bay leaf

4     cups broth – I used low-sodium chicken

1     can chickpeas

1     can crushed tomatoes

1/2 lb pasta – I used elbows

1. Heat the olive oil in a big soup pot over medium-high heat
2. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaf to the pan, and season with salt and pepper
3. Add broth, tomatoes, and chickpeas to mix, cover and bring to a boil
4. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 15 minutes
5. add the corn and peas about 3 minutes before the pasta is fully cooked
6. Remove the bay leaf, and serve
7. I served ours with a bit of grated cheddar and some Pillsbury crescent rolls.  As you can see, it got a thumbs-up from hubby, so score one for Rachael Ray!  This would also be so good with corn muffins, maybe crumbled over the top! mmmmm!

This meal was extremely filling, very satisfying, and completely meat free!!  What’s your favourite vegetarian recipe??

Since the last #fitblog chat, I have seen a lot of posts on body image and self-confidence, and it’s had my brain working on how I really feel about myself. My last post talked about soul searching, and I think that my career, my school, and my self-confidence are all tied into how I view my body.

The last few months I have been very hard on myself.  While training for my first half-marathon I have hit nothing but roadblocks.  First I had a problem with Runner’s Knee, and after that was better, I had a problem with my ankles.  These 2 things kept me from progressing in my training as I would have liked, leaving me 4 weeks from race day, and not being able to run more that 6-7k at a time.  Over the winter I was filled with guilt and self-doubt,  and because of that, I pushed myself too hard, causing my injuries.

I have been wrestling with a question for weeks: Should I switch my race registration from the 1/2 marathon to the 5k?  Every time I thought about it, I felt angry and disappointed in myself.  I was comparing myself to other people, thinking that “if she/he can do it, why can’t I?”  Last week I had a long talk with my husband about everything, and he told me that I have to give myself a break.  The people that I’m comparing myself to have been running for a lot longer that I have, and they started out almost exactly where I was. (My hubby is pretty awesome, I have to say.)  I sent an email to the race coordinator, and asked her to switch my registration to the 5k race.  As soon as I hit send I felt lighter, happier, and more confident in myself.

Instead of thinking “I can’t run 13 miles! No Way!!” now I’m thinking “Heck yes I can run 5k! No Problem!!” My goal for this race is under 40 minutes, which I KNOW I can do.

I had another “aha!” moment last week after writing about my desire to go back to school.  I have a history of hemming and hawing over my decisions, but after another chat with hubby (seriously, he’s great.) I decided I needed to take action.  If you follow me on twitter you will have seen this tweet last week:

I have always been interested in nutrition, diet, and science, and I thought that a degree in Nutrition would be an amazing start to my career!  Thanks to a great email from Kath on her experiences becoming an RD, and talking to friends who decided to go back to school last year or this year, I took the plunge!

My mood has done a complete 180 from last weekend to this one.  I feel like I’ve lost a 100 pound weight from around my shoulders!  I am happy, I am looking forward to the future, and I am treating my body 100% better than I have over the last few months.  Doing these things to help myself makes me want to do more and more, and so I am eating better, stretching, signing up for yoga (hopefully!), and exercising because I want to, not because I feel I have to.  I’m a whole new woman!

So I would like to say thank you to everyone who supported me in the last few weeks:  My husband Adam for being so wonderful and patient, my very good friends Sarah and Lori for cheering me on when I was making my decisions, and my family for their congratulations.  I couldn’t have done it without any of you!

The next fall, I started a new program, Hotel Management.  This program was at a school far enough away to warrant staying in residence, which was a nice change for me (but not great for DH, as he was the one driving to see me all the time).  I did a year of this program, but was still not sure how to parlay this program into a career.  I switched schools again.

This one was closer to home, and a great program that I thought was just perfect for me: Events Management.  I’m organized, detailed, and can coordinate the crap out of any event.  I very much enjoyed this program, but when an amazing job opportunity came along, I decided to leave the school to try and pay off some of my student loans.

Since then I have had a new job every year, and am still in debt.  I mostly enjoy the job I have now, but lately I have been thinking: How much longer do I want to be someones assistant?  Will I be fulfilled with this job 5/10/15 years from now?  Sometimes my brain says yes, more often than not, it says no.

So what is a girl to do?  I have been researching different programs at local universities, but I still can’t decide!  I love marketing, I could do that as a career for sure.  I’m also interested in food and nutrition, and that would be a huge change from everything I have done before.  A few of my friends have recently made the decision to go back to school, and I’m wondering: Should I?  I am 99% sure that without a degree, I will never have the job satisfaction I desire, but is it worth it to spend more money, and 4 years, to get a degree that may or may not bring me that satisfaction?

How did you decide your career path?  Do you feel fulfilled with the job you have now?  Let me know!

The first year we were in our house, we bought a beer can chicken holder for our BBQ.  Ours looks exactly like this, except we bought ours from President’s Choice.  It has been incredibly useful for cooking our favourite kind of chicken. What you do is:

1. turn on BBQ to medium-high, the chicken cooks on indirect heat, so turn 1 burner on, and leave one off.
2. examine the chicken for any parts left inside, and rinse under cold water
3. make a dry rub for the chicken, ours included seasoning salt, lemon pepper, garlic powder, black pepper, and rosemary
4. crack open a beer, and pour about 1/2 the bottle into the can in the middle of the holder (and then drink the rest!)
5. set chicken atop the holder, with the legs facing downward to form a tripod
6. rub the chicken with the dry rub
7. place chicken on BBQ, over burner that is not lit.  The BBQ will act like an oven to cook the chicken
8. close lid and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the temperature of the breast is 165 degrees F (180 degrees F in the thigh) and the thigh juices run clear.
9. Eat!

This chicken is always cooked perfectly, fall-apart tender, and very moist and delicious because of the beer.  I recommend this recipe for anyone who loves chicken, you won’t be disappointed!

What’s your favourite way to eat/prepare chicken?