It isn’t easy to fit both of those subjects into one post. Or into one body, for that matter. But the fact of the matter is that I love both of those things and both of those things have been restricted for me.
But.
I’m easing back into both of them. Here’s the situation.
A year ago I was diagnosed with SIBO and placed on a very restrictive diet. I’ve mentioned it before, so I won’t belabor it, but let’s just say refried beans are not part of the program.
Now, onto the gym part. I have been a gym rat, consistently, not off and on, for ummmm, 30+ years. Our gym has been open and closed and back open this year. The first time it closed down, my heart broke. That’s my happy place. Those people are my tribe.
During the heat of the summer, I attended as many water classes as I could. We have been playing pickleball every Sunday. There are a couple of Zoom classes I attend. But, I have been patching together my workouts which pretty much revolve around daily long walks.
It turns out what I’ve been doing just hasn’t been enough and not being in the gym is causing me to be in a funk. So this week, I’ve taken a big dive back into the gym. I’m not going to do cardio exercise with a mask on, but I think I can manage weight lifting and ab workouts just fine.
I’m going to add 20 minute runs onto my walks several times a week as well to ensure I’m getting cardio. My walks might be more like strolls and admittedly, I’m not sweating too hard. At least not sweating from exertion.
The folks at the gym have decorated for Christmas and it’s nice and cheery. I surely do miss the coffee pot though.
From the book Quench by Dr. Dana Cohen, I picked up the habit of starting my morning with a glass of water with a sprinkle of Himalayan sea salt and a squeeze of citrus. It’s my magic power elixir and I cannot speak highly enough for the practice.
Instapot Refried Beans
I used a homemade refries recipe from Iwashyoudry.com. Here are my changes:
- I used green onions since I had them on hand and wanted to use them up.
- I did not use lard, nor has any lard ever crossed the threshold into my house.
- I subbed Anaheim peppers for jalapeno – again using up what I have.
- There was much more liquid than what was needed so I ended up draining most of it off and the beans are still pretty loose. Which is fine, because that’s how I like them.
The sauté function on the Instapot is great because it means using and cleaning one less pot. I chopped up my green onions and peppers, sautéed them for a few minutes and added the other ingredients, set the pot and forgot about it. I came back a couple hours later during a work break, mashed them up and added a bit of grated cheddar.
In order to test the recipe and report in, I may or may not have used tortilla chips as a spoon. Well, the bottom line is that they turned out great and although they may not be quite as easy to prepare as opening a can, they are pretty darn easy, I know what is in them and I control the consistency. Win.
What I’m Doing
I found a beautiful USA State Flowers puzzle on Amazon that had amazing reviews. I’m not sure in all our married life we’ve ever had a puzzle project in the house. John is such a good puzzler (is that a word – at least a word meaning he’s good a putting puzzles together?). The puzzle has taken over our kitchen table and guess who wants to be in the middle of that attention. Yep, Roxy the Wonder Cat. Ugh. That cat. Turns out she loves batting those tiny pieces around. Um, no. We have to cover the puzzle with a sheet at night to keep her off.
I’ve got a new author to tell you about next post. Until then, have a good week and thanks for reading my blog.