They may want to check the accuracy of their speech recognition software

Moscow Circus

I found this photo on my camera from when we went to the rodeo. I love it.

Two-Bean Burrito Enchiladas

Since several of my readers are on Weight Watchers, I thought it might be nice to post some of my cooking successes here for you to enjoy. And, if you're not on WW, you should still make these recipes, I promise they're good! Without further adieu, the most delicious Erica friendly (meaning vegetarian) enchiladas ever.

Filling:
1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 (15 1/2 oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 1/2 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8 3/4 oz) can corn kernels (no salt added), drained
3 T Mexican or taco seasoning
8 (8-inch) fat-free flour tortillas
16 T light sour cream

Directions:
1. Pour off 1/2 C liquid from diced tomatoes; discard. Combine the tomatoes and the remaining liquid, the pinto beans, black beans, corn , and Mexican seasoning in a 5- or 6-quart slow cooker. Cook, covered, until the flavors are blended, 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.

2. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, spray 9x13 glass pan with cooking spray.

3. With a potato masher or wooden spoon, coarsely mash the bean mixture.

4. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the bean mixture over each warm tortilla and place face down in pan.

5. Pour 2 C Green Chile Enchilada Sauce over top, sprinkle with reduced fat cheese.

6. Bake for 10 - 20 minutes until sauce is warm and cheese is melted.

7. Serve each enchilada with 2T Sour Cream

Approx 5 points per enchilada (this includes sour cream). I also whipped up a little mashed avocado (1 serving is 1/4 of a medium avocado), which increases the point value to 7.

Recipe adapted from WW cookbook and the enchilada can.

Down right pleasant

In order to be able to live with my husband as he travels all over the world for his job, I am required to get a medical clearance. This requires a thorough physical, x-rays, tb eggs or whatever they are injected in your skin, 4 vials of blood and approximately 8 months of waiting for the clearance to go through. I've heard so many horror stories of the process and have been putting it off for months. Well, since mister has to have my clearance in his file when he submits his bids in October (umm...less than 8 months from now) I finally sucked it up and started the process. I called the clinic of a large medical conglomerate in the area and expected to have to wait several weeks for an open slot. Nope, they got me in the very next day. I arrived at the office (which is a pleasant 10 minute walk from my office...and connected through the tunnels if it's miserable outside) and again, expected to wait several weeks (er...hours) for my name to be called. Nope! They were right on time. They didn't whine when I gave them four pages of stuff they had to do for me, they pretended to be were interested in my soon to be exciting adventures and they didn't keep me waiting in the exam room with nothing but a flimsy piece of material "covering" my body for very long. The lab tech was very gentle, and didn't try to stick me in my arms when I told her that the doctor had to stab me with a needle in more than 6 places before he gave up the last time I had to get blood drawn. One stick (in my hand...OUCH) and 4 vials of blood later and she was done. I was instructed by the doctor to register for their online patient access page and discovered that all of my medical records, medications, and test results are in one pretty little place just for me. They even email me every time new results are added, which is so awesome. No more guessing whether or not I have any crazy diseases, the internet will tell me. Love it!

PS. Is my life really so boring that I have to resort to blog posts about doctors appointments?? If you guys are patient for oh, a year or so I promise to deliver more exiting stuff...probably from an exotic location. :)

Greek Chicken & Barley Salad - YUMMO!

Please make this salad. It's healthy and the most delicious thing I've eaten in a really long time. No exaggeration. Thanks Jessica for introducing it to me!

Greek Chicken & Barley Salad

Salad
2 (6oz) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/8 t. kosher salt
1 t. olive oil
4c fat-free less sodium chicken broth, divided
1c uncooked pearl barley (I found this in the bulk foods section at whole foods)
2c cubed cucumber (approx 1 large cucumber)
1c grape tomatoes, halved
1/2c cubed yellow bell pepper
1/3c reduced fat feta cheese

Dressing
3T extra-virgin olive oil (I used just over 2T)
1t. grated lemon rind
2T fresh lemon juice
1T + 1t italian seasoning
1t red wine vinegar
1/2 t kosher salt
3 garlic cloves, minced

1. Sprinkle chicken with 1/8 t salt. Heat 1t oil in skillet (med-hi heat). Add chicken & brown each side (approx. 2 min). Add 1 C broth; cover, reduce heat & simmer 10 min. or until done. Cool and shred. (discard broth)
2. Boil 3C broth in large sauce pan; add barley. Cover, reduce heat & simmer 35 min. (or until liquid is absorbed). Fluff w/ a fork. Cool.
3. Combine all ingredients (except dressing).
4. Mix dressing ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to barley mixture; toss well. Cover and chill.

Yield: 8 servings (1 cup)

Calories: 230
Fat: 9.8
Protein: 18 g
Carb: 18.3
Fiber: 3.2

Weight Watchers points: 5

boring post about weight loss and running

Did I mention last week that Mister and I started Weight Watchers? Well we did. The week leading up to it we ate all of our favorite horrible delicious things and have been sooo good ever since. I've done WW in the past, albeit never too successfully, but I have a good feeling about this go round. I've been cooking a lot of really yummy meals which just makes me excited to keep going. We had our first weigh in last night and I am 3.2 pounds lighter than I was a week ago (Mister lost 6). I love it! I kind of feel like I'm in my own personal season of The Biggest Loser. My only complaint about the program is that I have a hard time using up all of my points each day, and it's not like I'm not eating enough. I am! In fact, I'm eating well balanced meals and healthy snacks throughout the day. I brought this up to my meeting leader and she says that it's not really going to hurt me, but that I should take advantage of the extra points I have now, because when I get closer to my goal weight I won't have as many points and I'll be mad at myself for not using them while I could. I get her logic, but I just think it will make me mad that I can't eat as much as I can right now. So I've decided not to worry too much about it.

I'm on week two of my C25K and it's really not getting any easier. I'm running 90 seconds at a time and I can go about 45 seconds before I get a bit anxious and look at the clock. Even though I know it will get better (I've done this before!) I have a hard time believing it right now.

I really liked the random mix of songs that played during my last run. It was a great mix of genres. Check it out:
1. Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones
2. 5 Years Time - Noah and the Whale
3. 24 Hours (The Aston Shuffle A-Bomb Remix) - Terry Poison
4. I Can Transform Ya (feat. Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz) - Chris Brown
5. Reckoner Lockdown (Kanye West vs. Radiohead) - DJ Earworm
6. Any Way You Want It (Syntax Error Remix) (Journey vs Rhythm Scholar) - Rhythm Scholar
7. Chasing Dreams - Magnet

Have a great weekend!

arabic lessons

After taking the first lesson 5 times (I got 98% this last go round), I finally decided to try to write down the words as I think they sound. It's kind of ridiculous how hard it is.

Stylo

This post is for Annalisa who said that she misses my music posts. I do too, but the sad reality is that I just haven't really been listening to/discovering many new things lately. Hopefully the return of running will inspire me to beef up my music collection, and in turn share it with you. In the meantime, I did stumble upon this way cool remix of the Gorillaz' new single Stylo. Sadly, the remix isn't on iTunes (yet?) so I have to settle for the youtube version. Check it out:

activity

Yesterday I started working on a few goals of mine. 1) to be able to run again and 2) learn Arabic. Neither of them is even the least bit easy. You would think that as someone who has trained for and completed several races, including three marathons; alternating running 60 seconds and walking 90 seconds for 20 minutes wouldn't be too difficult but boy howdy it was! I think more than conditioning my lungs, I need to remind my feet what it feels like to be hitting the pavement (or treadmill) instead of being propped up on an ottoman. It hurt. A lot.

Arabic, as you could imagine, is ridiculously hard! I still only know the words for yellow, road and house, but am starting to recognize the words for boy, girl, man, woman and their dual and plural variations. I know that when I hear he, they're referring to a woman and not a man, and that the word for swimming sounds like the spanish word for toilet. Slowly, very slowly, but surely!

As difficult as these activities are; the tightness I feel in my lungs, the tiredness in my bones and muscles, and the exhaustion in my little brain (which hasn't really been stimulated since I graduated from college) feel good. Real good.

Best weekend ever!

Mister and I are in agreement that this was THE best weekend we've had in TX thus far. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and it was chock full of fun activities.

It all started off Friday with rodeo cupcakes! I personally think Houston goes a bit overboard with the rodeo celebration, but if it means I get to eat cupcakes with Texas on them I guess I will take it!

Saturday we got up early to run the Rodeo Run 10k, but a mile and a half into it I decided I wanted to bail. It was actually a moment of clarity as I have FINALLY accepted the fact that I need to start all over with my running. As in, I can no longer consider myself a runner. And really, as sucky as that is, I'm ok with it. I'm going to find myself a couch to 5k program and get back to basics. It's actually quite liberating.

Saturday afternoon our friends asked if we were up for an adventure (of course!) so we headed out to take advantage of the beautiful day. They are big into biking and have a stash of awesome cruisers, so we took the bikes (including a tandem!) out for a ride down to the nearby park for some italian soda and extreme bocce. With obstacles such as invisible uneven terrain, deceptively easy tree trunks, woodchip piles and three year olds it was a nailbiter. It came down to a shoot off between Mister and Josh, and Josh took home the gold. Great game folks, let's do it again soon.

Sunday was another lovely day, so we went to the park by our house and took a nap by the bayou, which might just have to become a Sunday afternoon ritual (weather permitting), and then we took the top off the jeep and headed up to a nearby town to pick up the newest member of our family, an awesome Schwinn cruiser. I have a feeling there's going to be lots of biking in our future. Can't wait!