Trashelor

I'm not that old but I am old enough to remember when there wasn't reality TV.  Remember the days when you would watch a TV show and before the episode started a narrator would say 'Cheers is filmed before a live studio audience'?  You could actually hear laughing in the background of the show.  Weird... I know.

Fast forward to today.  Here I am sitting in front of the TV watching trash TV that they call The Bachelor.  I would like to say that I am not paying any attention to what is happening on this show, but that would be a lie.  I am into it and I have a hard time not watching this train wreck. 

Who came up with this concept?  Let's put one man and 20 women together and see them fight it out until it is one man and one woman left.  Did they honestly think that at the end these two would be in love?  I think that you can fall in love many different ways... probably an endless number of possibilities.  However, I have my doubts about this show and the validity (I don't even feel right using the word validity in the same breath as the Bachelor). 

So why do we watch this stuff?  Is it because it is like a train wreck?  Is it because we honestly believe that we are seeing people fall in love?  Do we believe it's real?

Things to keep in mind....
1. One chochy guy and 20 HOT women... not a real world situation
2. Traveling around the world going on lavish dates.... not a real world situation
3. Making out (who knows what else they do) with multiple women and the other women stay with him.... not a real world situation (probably could be real, but not socially acceptable)
4. These 'reality shows' have editors and writers.  Reality shouldn't need writers.
5. Guys on this show talk about their feelings a lot... Not sure this is what happens until maybe after 'a good while' of dating.
6. Why aren't there fat/ugly people in this show? 

Maybe I am just getting old and showing my age by asking these questions, but let's bring back the sitcom.  A show with laughing in the background.

Easy Szechwan Shrimp

Here is an easy recipe for home made szechwan shrimp.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup sliced green onions (We use regular white onions) 
4 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces cooked shrimp, tails removed
(We also add broccoli)

Note: We also double the sauce and serve with rice.

Directions

In a bowl, stir together water, ketchup, soy sauce, cornstarch, honey, crushed red pepper, and ground ginger. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in green onions and garlic; cook 30 seconds. Stir in shrimp, and toss to coat with oil. Stir in sauce. Cook and stir until sauce is bubbly and thickened.

Julie: I've never ordered Szechwan shrimp in a restaurant, so I can't compare; but I think this recipe is pretty good.  It's quick and very simple.  Another plus is that we generally have all of the ingredients on hand, so it's good for nights that you forgot to plan something ahead of time. 

One last tip - while you can use the ground ginger in a bottle from the store, we found that freshly ground ginger gives the recipe an extra little umph. 

Chad: I wanted to add that the recipe says this meal has 140 calories per serving (makes four servings).  So once you double the sauce and add the broccoli, you're probably close to 275 caloies per serving plus rice.

Pure Michigan

For those of you who don't know, Julie is originally from Michigan. We also met in Michigan (I will save that story for another post).  Being from Ohio and graduating from Ohio State, it is a little sac religious to go into enemy territory like I did.  However, I am not afraid to admit that Michigan is a beautiful state and it has a lot going for it.  We love going back and visiting her family.  That is exactly what we did this past weekend.  I will spare you the details, but keeping form with this blog, I will admit that we did not do well in eating healthy this weekend.  We started the weekend off with McDonalds and ended it with Chipotle.  So it was not a success as far as our diet is concerned, but it was great to see the family.  The weather was nice enough today for us to take a short run when we returned home.  We will try to do better this coming week.

We didn't see Eminem driving his Dodge around.

Cutting the Fat

Now that we have some ‘fans’, we should probably elaborate on what we are trying to achieve here. We LOVE food. However, loving food doesn't generally do such great things for our waistline. So, we are trying to make healthy lifestyle choices without suffering. This could be anything from low fat sour cream to whole wheat pasta or smaller serving sizes. If diets work for you, great. Diets don’t work for us. As a matter of fact, we HATE diets. The problem with diets is that you have to stop dieting at some point. Thus, the yoyo effect. We believe in lifestyle changes that don’t make you suffer. After all, who doesn’t love to go to Taco Bell and order a crunch wrap supreme, two tacos, an order of nachos and finish it off with French vanilla ice cream from Cold Stone. However, there are always regrets afterwards. So, what we are trying to do is mix in healthy decisions (food and physical activity) so that we can indulge from time to time with minimal guilt.


What you are reading now is our journey to shake off the winter weight and to get ourselves back into better shape.

Chad: I want to lose 20lbs. I could shoot for 30lbs but that would put me back to my high school weight and I think most of you who knew me back then would say that I was a string bean. So, I am shooting for 20lbs of loss.
Julie: I'm trying to veer away from focusing on weight loss, but rather on improving my health and working on improving my race times. With that, there should be some weight loss; but I will consider that icing on the cake.

We want to share some of our favorite recipes along with some new ones we have never tried. Some may be healthier than others, and some may be more delicious than others; but either way, we'll let you know what we think.

We will also be tracking our progress as we start our running program again this year. Last year, we found that when combining running with healthier eating choices, we were consistently seeing improvements in our health.

Most of you probably hate running.

Chad: I hated running. However, I hate lifting weights and working out in the gym even more.
Julie: I also hated running... actually... some days I still hate it.

Last year we started training in April and ran our first 5K in June. Our first month of running was horrible. We couldn’t hold a steady pace for more than a couple of minutes. We found a app to put on our iPod that trained us to get from the couch to a 5K (called C25K) in 10 weeks. We highly recommend it to anyone that is just starting. It breaks you in gently. By the end of that program though you will be able to run a 5K without problems. We went from hating running to really enjoying the time spent outdoors together. It doesn’t hurt that we have a converted railroad trail to a very nice paved running/biking trail about 200 yards from our house. So not only is it flat and paved but the scenery and ease of use helps.

We didn’t finish very well in our first 5K; but we did achieve our goal of not walking at all during the race. We continued to run throughout last summer. We raced in several other 5Ks and we achieved our goal of improving our times each race. In September we ran our first 10K-- We both finished first in our age bracket!!!
Julie: But we should probably mention that we were the only ones in our bracket (there was one other guy in Chad's).
Chad:  Let’s not get lost in the details.

Our goal for that race was not only to finish but to finish in under an hour so that we could qualify for a better starting position for a half marathon in Disney in early October. We did it. We both ran the half marathon in Disney and we finished. However, we definitely were not ready for that long of a race.

Chad: We aren’t breaking any speed records and I think it is safe to say that Julie is slower than I am, but I enjoy running by her side. If I had to run alone, it would not probably be as much fun. So we run all of our races together. Even though I could pull away and smoke the pack, I don't (HAHAHA). So for those of you looking to start running, it helps if you have a partner to run with that will not only push you but will also run with you and be understanding that you are a fat lard and are out of shape.
Julie: It's also great motivation to have an accountability partner to force you to go out running on those days that you'd rather be eating Taco Bell and Cold Stone than pounding the pavement.

The point of all of this is that we feel if we blog our progress, it/you can help hold us accountable for our progress. We also hope to share some of our favorite recipes and fitness related products along the way. We occasionally throw in some random thoughts on anything from the upheaval in the Middle East, to vacations, to our puppy, Teddy. It is our hope that you at least enjoy hearing our struggles and victories and maybe get a few tips for your own journey along the way.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Julie:  I love slow cooker meals.  You throw everything in a pot, head to work and when you get home you have a piping hot meal ready and waiting for you.   So, on tonight's menu: Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Ingredients

• 1 pound shredded, cooked chicken (We just threw the frozen chicken in and let it cook along with the soup)
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed (We used one can of diced tomatoes)
• 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce (We used "hot")
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups water (We replaced with more chicken broth)
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf (We omitted)
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn (We omitted)
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (We used dried cilantro)
• 7 corn tortillas (We used store bought tortilla chips)
• vegetable oil

Directions

1. Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
3. Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

And here is our final product!

Chad:  I love anything spicy.  If I don't hurt while I am eating it, it's probably not any good.  This soup was definitely spicy.  The sour cream and crumbled tortilla chips added some creaminess and texture.  I don't tend to like soups, but this is one of my favorites.

Julie: I think the soup turned out pretty well.  The sour cream adds a nice creaminess to the soup.  However, if you don't like spicy, then you might want to go with "mild" or "medium" enchilada sauce.  The ease of preparation is worth some points in my book.  Overall, this is a pretty low calorie soup, but is perhaps a bit high in sodium.

If you try this soup, let us know how yours turned out and what you think!

Virgin Bloggers

Welcome to our magical blogdom.  We have never had a blog because we never really wanted anyone in our business.  However, after much discussion, we would like to include you in our journey.  Feel priviledged.  Feel lucky.  Or just read because you are bored... whatever makes you happy.  Our primary goal in this blog is to share our journey to living a healthier lifestyle.  It's not going to be easy.  We aren't dietitions nor are we personal trainers.  We are just a couple trying to work off the fat that accomulates after making bad decisions.  Maybe by sharing our successes and failures we can learn from each other.  Feel free to comment/reply/share any posts.  We welcome any and all feedback.



Us Prior to Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon