Crammed

I feel like a weight has been lifted. I wish it was from my chest, but it's off my shoulders at least.  After 4 days of steroids, I'm still hacking away at the slightest provocation of breathlessness and I'm desperate. I do love steroids sometimes, but I'd prefer to only need them once every few years. This is the third round in the last 9 months. Something's gotta give before my bones do (nothing like getting diagnosed with osteopenia at the age of 22 to make you feel old).


1. The first to go is farm work. I probably shouldn't have blogged about Urbavore immediately after getting home when I was tired, cranky, cold, and oh-so-sore. After a hot shower and a round with the neti-pot, I was left with yes, aching muscles and wheezing, but also the immense satisfaction of a job well done. Few things can be more fundamental and important as growing your own food and knowing exactly how it got to your plate. I feel very passionately about that. But 15 hours a week on top of my full-time job is a bit ambitious even without asthma in the mix.

There is 100% chance of soaking, revitalizing, but yes cold rain today and the high temps are only supposed to hit the low 40s. I do feel a little bit  really guilty and wimpy because the farmers (one of whom is 6 months pregnant) and interns are out in the field working in this weather. I came home from work last night in a panic because a cold and wet Therese is not an animal you want to encounter in the wild, but also because cold = bronchospasms and a day out in this weather would further lower my immunity. I had to tell Brooke. Fortunately, she was very understanding.

image from google search

We're still trying to figure out if my stipulations (avoid straw, hay, debris, mold, and dust) are conducive to actually being helpful on the farm once a week. If so, I'd LOVE to stay involved, even if it means picking pole beans for hours on end beneath the summer sun (mmm... sun). But for now, I'm at home recovering. And no matter what, I will be FULLY supporting the Badseed Farmer's Market and Urbavore Farm Stand all summer- if you're in town, I'd love to take you and introduce you to the people who have poured their lives into such an incredible and worthy endeavor.

2. The second thing to go, temporarily, is gluten. Homeopathic remedies seem to be hit-or-miss, but I'm desperate and there are a good number of people who swear that a gluten-free diet reduces inflammation. As much as I love baking and eating the fruits of the breadbasket of America, I need to give gluten-free another shot. My month of clean eating in February ended after two weeks because, let's be honest, it was a lot of work and it was also inconvenient/embarrassing in social situations. (I know, there are more important things, but really. We live in a society built around convenience.)

While my stomach never really felt better, my asthma did drastically improve during those two weeks. I'm not sure if it was the lack of gluten or lack of dairy (both of which have been blamed as inflammatory culprits), so I'm going to rule one out at a time. Gluten is the first to go simply because I just stocked up on Greek yogurt (protein and calcium intake are important to maintain while on Prednisone).

This doesn't mean buying fancy gluten-free cupcakes and processed food right now. The point is to veer more toward whole food: brown rice, quinoa, and millet are all easy to make in advance and eat throughout the week. (Easy for me to say now, but in a few hours I'll be eyeing those Almond Joy Cookie Bars in the freezer and wondering if I could make a gluten-free version with oat flour instead of wheat flour!)

3. My running game was finally improving again last week. I was up to being comfortable with 3.5 miles of a run 9 minute/walk 1 minute pattern. Of course now the thought of running just makes me want to cough and wheeze. I was too sore from farm work last Tuesday and Wednesday and obviously haven't been breathing well enough to run since then. I'm going to continue to take time off until this weekend and re-evaluate. Typical of my over-compensation, I am signed up to run a 5.3 mile leg of the Brew to Brew run with co-workers on April 3. Yikes!

Photo from BrewtoBrew.com

4. Of course, just taking things away is never a healthy attitude, so I'm making it a focus to ADD more of the important things to my life:

-Getting involved in a new church that's actually conducive to new member involvement (any recommendations in the Kansas City area?)

-Counseling (embarrassing to admit, but long overdue with my history of depression and anxiety).

-The Word of God. No self-help book could ever replace His love story.

-Quality time with Ross. When BOTH of us pulled long days every day for the last week, things got grouchy fast. We are so fortunate to be able to have some leisure time in our lives and we would prefer to spend some of it together instead of alone in the apartment at different times on different days.

-Foods that please my body and not just my tastebuds- though I always aim to please both!

-Dry brushing. I mentioned it last time, and I've kept up with it sporadically, but it's strangely soothing. I can see how it centers autistic kids when they get anxious. Try it!


In the spirit of starting off on the right foot, I had some liquid sunshine with my breakfast to brighten up this dreary day. A carrot, beet, orange, and coconut smoothie.

*Disclaimer: I am a Registered Nurse, not a Registered Dietician. At work we deal with calorie and protein ratios in milk, not big-kid food. What works in my life and eating style may not work for you. But please, give me feedback on my recipes and feel free to share your own!

Liquid Sunshine serves 1 hungry girl
(you will need a food-processor or high-powered blender with these ingredients)

2-3 small steamed, peeled beets (I used pre-steamed organic beets from Hy-Vee-- don't confuse these with canned or pickled beets!)
1 orange
1 organic carrot, chopped into 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 cup coconut milk (using unsweetened SO Delicious has been cheaper than buying cans of coconut milk and it has a very mild, creamy taste that's not overwhelming)
1/4 cup unsweetened Greek yogurt (or just add another 1/4 cup of another liquid-- OJ, milk, coconut water, etc.)
3-4 ice cubes


Add ingredients to food processor or blender and blend until smooth. This may take several minutes depending on how powerful the motor is.

Pour into a tall glass and garnish with shredded coconut or chopped almonds if desired, and smile: Today will be beautiful!

(Please don't think me a hypocrite. I know that after getting on my soapbox about local food, I made a smoothie from non-local ingredients. While I'd love to get to the point where 90% of what we eat is grown within 50-100 miles, it's not practical right now mostly due to extremely limited pantry and freezer space and the fact that the local climate doesn't grow fresh fruits and vegetables year-round. Probably my biggest disappointment over not being an Urbavore intern is that I will miss out on the FREE education about preserving local food so it can sustain you even through the winter. These farmers don't just talk the talk!)

Drip, drip, drip

Look closely... can you see the water droplets falling from the roof?

Whenever the winter snow starts to melt, I think of Laura Ingalls Wilder in The Long Winter (nerd alert!) when she woke up one night so excited to hear ice melting and dripping off the eaves of their cabin. I know spring is a ways off, but today was sunny and the slush and ice are melting and for now, that is enough.

Hello again, sidewalks! Maybe I'll start to choose you over the treadmill one day soon.

Snow Day

Just when I thought we were going to cruise through the rest of winter with 40 degrees and sunshine, a storm hit. Not a storm in the sense of a blizzard with angry whirling winds, but the quiet consistent snowfall that makes you want to get outside.

 The kind of snowfall that allows you to see each flake individually!

I may hate winter, but I love snow! If it's going to be cold and gray, at least give us a snowfall to make things prettier.

As of last night, it had been snowing for almost 24 hours straight. Yesterday morning, I had to get out and walk around in it, even if I didn't have anyone to play with.

That's right, I willingly went out in the cold. Snow is magical like that.
 

Snowball Donuts

When my brothers and I were little, we always looked forward to the first snow of the season. Even if it wasn't enough snow to cancel school, it still meant our mom would make snowball donuts! Mmm little bites of heaven. I'm pretty sure we ate them just as fast as she pulled them out of the fryer and powdered them. I introduced Ross to the concept of snowball donuts when we moved here last year, and he's hooked.  Starting in November, I made sure to have the necessary ingredients on had so we'd be able to celebrate whenever the first snow came.

Thankfully, it's been a mild winter and we only had our first real snow last week. But it accumulated, and that's enough to justify donuts!

Snowball Donuts

Ingredients:

1 can buttermilk biscuits (not the 'Grands' rolls, just plain buttermilk ones)
1-2 cups Crisco
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar


Directions:

1. Scoop Crisco into a sauce pan and turn burner to medium-high.

 
2. While Crisco is melting, cut biscuits into quarters and mix the two sugars together in a bowl.

 
3. When Crisco is fully liquid, drop 1-2 dough balls into the hot oil at a time, turning quickly. If they brown almost instantly, turn the heat down to medium.

4. Remove from fryer when balls are browned on both sides. Place on plate lined with paper towels.

5. Every so often, dump all the "snowballs" from the plate into the bowl with sugars and roll around to coat. Repeat until all the donuts look like snowballs.

Pretty unscientific, I know, but so fun and easy to make!

Spicy Hot

I've been known to drink hot green tea year-round, but there's something about cold, dark winter days that call for a little something extra. Any hot beverage tastes better when the temperatures dip below freezing.

They also taste better in a Holiday Cup from Starbucks, despite this year's scary snowmen!

Generally, stirring milk into my coffee is as complicated as I get with hot drinks at home, but a recipe for homemade coconut chai latte changed everything. This has been my study drink of choice lately and it doesn't involve venturing out into the cold!

Coconut Chai Latte


Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. almond milk
• 1/2 cup strong chai tea, brewed for 10 mins (I used 2 tea bags)
• 3 Tbs. coconut milk cream (thick, creamy part at  top of can, NOT low fat coconut milk)
• 1 Tbs. pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of cinnamon, to garnish

Directions: 

In a small pot on medium heat, combine milk, chai (after 10 minutes of brewing), and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer and then lower heat for 1 minute. Stir in maple syrup and vanilla. Add mixture to blender and blend until frothy for 60-90 seconds.

 
(Alternately, I used my Aerolatte whisk while the mixture was still on the stove.) Pour into mug and sprinkle with cinnamon. Makes 1 delicious mug of chai.

Spicy chai lattes make me love winter a little more.

Winter is Here

We finally decorated for Christmas tonight! Pictures to come. The weather finally turned wintery this weekend-- not that I was upset about the mild winter we've had thus far. A balmy 58 degree day on Friday turned into a blustery, snowy, "feels like 0 degrees" by Saturday. We only got a few centimeters of snow, but it was enough to remind us that it's mid-December here in the Midwest!

Fortunately, today (Sunday) was the kind of gloriously brightly sunny day that comes after a snowfall that makes the sub-freezing temperatures seem less extreme.

Plus...

So true. Thank goodness for Christmas and sunshine!

Hot Yoga, Cold Day

Winter Wonderland Wednesday is already getting difficult for me. Which is the point, I guess. It's definitely cold here. Getting to work involves windshield scraping, numb fingers, and frozen ears. You'll only hear me say this once but I miss night shift right now. Garage parking suddenly seems so worth it!

Anyway, I'm here to celebrate things I love about winter. Today, I love Bikram Yoga. I can't afford a year-round yoga pass, but I don't know that I'd want to. I appreciate hot yoga more when it's cold outside. Put me in the salty, sticky air of the Florida Keys and I'm in heaven. Partly because my nailbeds will no longer be blue, but also because humidity is the great equalizer. Nice clothes? Makeup? Smooth hair? What's the point? In a tropical heat wave, my style (or lack thereof) is finally in fashion!

Striking a (Standing Bow) pose at home after class

But I digress. Few things are better than walking into a dressing room with 4 layers on, stripping down to spandex, racing across the cold concrete floor by the reception desk, prying open the door, and sighing with happiness when that wave of heat hits you. I finally thaw. Yesterday's class was especially sweaty, which was welcome after our coldest week yet. (It's hard to believe that just 2 weeks ago, I was running outside in a tank top. You probably couldn't pay me to do that this week.)

This is my 3rd winter doing Bikram Yoga and my 8th class this season. I am finally seeing improvements and I consistently try every posture, pleased to find that I can almost always hold some form of it the entire time. It's also been a great break from running, but I'm hoping that it improves my running as well. Aside from the obvious cardiovascular benefits (the high temps really get your heart pumping), yoga helps me figure out what needs the most stretching from one week to the next. I also love leaving class with quivering jelly legs instead of the board-stiff brick legs I get after running.

Hot yoga makes cold weather much more bearable.

Winter Wonderland Wednesday

 It's currently 39 degrees out and there's a possibility of snow tonight. Winter weather has officially come to Kansas City.

Instead of dreading winter, I thought I'd practice embracing it this year. Last year was the worst winter KC has had in a long time. Combine that with the fact that I started night shift when we moved (I never saw the light of day) and the fact that I had grown used to warmer north Texas winters, and it was rough to say the least.

So for this first post, let me just get this out of the way. Here's what I hate about winter:

-Scraping my car off in the pre-dawn cold (I think this will be my least favorite part of day shift).

-The fact that my drive to work is just long enough that my car really only gets warm when I'm pulling into the parking lot at the hospital.

-Darkness. I hate the late sunrise and early sunset.

-Bad driving conditions. I love the freedom of driving, but I hate slush and my little car does too.

-The fact that it lasts way too long. The first snow is exciting. The holidays are happy. But below-freezing temperatures in February and snow in March should not be allowed.

-Cold. It doesn't take much to make me so cold that my nail beds actually turn blue.

-Dry skin. Winter + copious amounts of hand sanitizer and hand washing at work = unhappy skin and nails.

-Wind (and wind chill). Running outdoors is going to be a challenge this winter, but I don't have a gym membership so maybe this'll toughen me up (ha)!

I worked hard to get off antidepressants this spring, and I really want to stay off of them this winter. Hopefully weekly posts about the things I love about winter will keep me positive!