Yesterday started as a gloomy, chilly Monday here in St. Louis and I found myself searching for something warm and comforting for breakfast (and something fast because I needed to get out the door!). Good thing my fridge is stocked with my easy weekday steel cut oats. My breakfast warmed me to my core and I was off to work in a flash.
Easy Weekday Steel-Cut Oats
Ingredients
2.5 cups steel cut oats, dry
5 cups water
5 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or other milk)
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in crockpot, set crockpot on high.
Cook for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally, until the oats thicken. I like to leave them a little soupy because they will thicken even more as they cool.
Divide oats into microwaveable containers, cool, and refrigerate.
When you’re ready to eat, add a splash of milk or water and microwave for 2-3 minutes. Add toppings and enjoy!
Hello my friends! Hope you are having a great week so far. Mine has been pretty low-key: working, studying, and a good dose of self-care 🙂 Today I want to focus on a few recent workouts.
I am such a baby about the cold. My standard state in our apartment in the winter is a giant sweatshirt (with the hood up of course), fuzzy socks, slippers, wrapped in a blanket, with a mug of hot tea in hand. JWD is a gem for putting up with this 🙂
The only thing worse than sitting inside when it’s cold is thinking about exercising outside. It takes all of my willpower to make this happen. So, when the outdoors looked less than appealing on Saturday I ventured to the gym to knock out my cardio. I get bored pretty easily on gym cardio equipment, so I came up with this workout that mixes things up by utilizing 4 pieces of equipment:
This workout is easily adjusted to the time and equipment you have available. Short on time? simply cut out one of the 10 or 15 minute machine segments to meet your needs. Don’t have all the equipment? Do the same prescription on a different machine. The 50 minutes flew by and I had fun bopping around to the different machines.
Now on to the second workout. Yesterday I took my favorite hot yoga class. This class challenges me like no other workout. I am always amazed by the growth that happens and the lessons that I carry off my mat and into my life. Before class I came across this article that I shared with my Facebook friends today. (read it, it’s short and sweet!)
The lesson this article teaches us is priceless. There is enormous power in learning to stay calm in the face of discomfort. To feel it, acknowledge it, and just let it be. Because just beyond this discomfort is where the magic happens. It’s where you grow, change, and get to know the best you you can imagine. I think it’s human nature to avoid discomfort at all costs. We do it everyday- when we decide to go to the same old restaurant because what if the new place isn’t as good? When we stay in a job we hate because finding a new job would mean putting ourselves out there for others to judge. When we avoid trying something new because what if we fail? When we travel the same routes everyday because what if we get lost on the new route?
I am such an introverted creature of my comfort zone (hence the hoodie-socks-tea routine), so being uncomfortable is.. well, very uncomfortable for me. Over the past 5 years I’ve changed cities once, schools twice, college majors three times, homes four times, jobs five times, completed a 10 month internship that required me to immerse myself as an employee at a new site every two weeks, and went through the divorce of my parents. Talk about uncomfortable. I think I’ve lived most of the past 5 years outside my comfort zone. BUT I’ve also grown, achieved, and discovered and fell in love with my “true self” over the past 5 years.
So I take this idea of “getting comfortable being uncomfortable” onto my yoga mat and practice it. I acknowledge the discomfort, I focus, and I breathe through it. I remind myself that no matter what happens, I will be okay. During last night’s class my teacher asked us to practice kicking up into our handstands with both feet at the same time. This is challenging for me because the comfort of having one “safety” leg near the floor is gone. You are literally “jumping in with both feet”. I acknowledged my fear of falling, my fear of knocking over one of the yogis next to me, my fear of failing, and my fear of looking silly. And then I did it anyway. It doesn’t matter whether I succeeded or not. If I fall, I grow. If I succeed, I grow. All that matters is that I allowed myself to feel the discomfort and breathed my way to the other side of it. And that, my friends, means I’m on the right path 🙂
This week I challenge you to jump in with both feet and face discomfort head on. Do one thing outside your comfort zone, big or small, and take in the gifts that wait for you on the other side.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. JWD and I enjoyed an amazing weekend of wedding festivities. Love was certainly in the air.
Now, back to the purpose of this post.
I am a die-hard, heart fluttering, boy band-style fan of smoothies. We already know this. I have a Vitamix. Special smoothie straws. Special smoothie cups to be used only for smoothies and if they are seen being used for anything other than smoothies or, worse, being put in the dishwasher (I’m lookin’ at you, JWD) you will receive a death glare. I know all the best smoothie places in the city. I have seven, yes seven, smoothie recipe books.
But I don’t know why I bother with all of this because I always come back to the same recipe: the Sunshine Smoothie. Watch and learn, my friends.
Don’t I look tired? If you answered “no”, you are lying. I filmed this a few months ago when the internship was still in full swing. I look much less like a zombie today.
A few more smoothie tips:
My friend came up with the fabulous idea of using frozen spinach instead of fresh. Not only is it cheaper and lasts longer than fresh, it also adds thickness because it’s frozen. Genius!
Bananas going bad on you? Stick ’em in the freezer and they’ll be perfect smoothie additions. But don’t forget to peel them first! Otherwise, the peel basically freezes shut. It’s okay, don’t be embarrassed. We’ve all done it 🙂
Add less liquid for a thick soft-serve style smoothie. I love to put thick smoothies in a bowl, top with a sprinkle of granola, and eat it with a spoon.
I really love the video posts (and I think you do too?), so I want to do more. Any ideas? Do you want lunch ideas? Breakfast ideas? Workouts? Want to see what’s in my fridge? Q & A? Leave a comment here, on Twitter, or on the Running on Sunshine Facebook page to tell me what you want to see!
Hey friends! I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing, fun-filled weekend!
Check out my new video for my favorite simple salad dressing recipe! Apologies for the rather poor quality- still experimenting with my video editor/uploader.
Registered Dietitian. Private Chef. Personal Trainer. Yogi. Runner. Lifter. Kitchen mess-maker. My passions are plant foods and endorphines.
I write about food, life, and where the two intersect. Thanks for reading!
Running on Sunshine 