Life Style Challenge: Week 2

Week 1 Review:

(1)  No bread, no pasta, no rice
(2)  Exercise for 15 minutes, 3 days a week (T, Th, Sat)--10 min cardio, 5 min strength
(3)  Make 1 new paleo vegetable recipe

I totally avoided bread, pasta, and rice, but I might have eaten more Triscuits than I should have/needed to.  Well, baby steps.

Robert and I scheduled our exercise to start at 8:30 p.m., and although we got a late start on the first night, we hit our targets (and then some--I was closer to 15 than 10 minutes on the cardio, in part because it's hard to see the treadmill screen in the dark [we are catching up on episodes of Castle while we exercise]).  I'm feeling good about it.

For my veg challenge, I made a cauliflower mash from the paleo slow cooker recipe Robert's mom got me for Christmas.  It's easy: 

• Put 2 bags of frozen cauliflower in the slow cooker
• Add hot water to cover
• Cook on high for 3 hours (or until as soft as it gets)
• Drain cauliflower and place in bowl
• Add some roasted garlic--I went the lazy route and just lightly browned a big spoonful of the refrigerated garlic from a jar on the stovetop in olive oil
• Mash with olive oil (and in my case butter because butter = delicious)
• Add salt and pepper to taste

It reheats very well/easily in the microwave.  I also don't really see any reason a person couldn't just steam the cauliflower in the microwave or on the stovetop rather than using a slow cooker, if that's more convenient.

Now, it doesn't have quite the texture of mashed potatoes, but it serves as a great (healthier) mashed potato alternative because it works nicely as a butter/olive oil/salt delivery system, which is the primary benefit of mashed potatoes anyway.  The garlic flavor is also quite lovely, in my opinion.

I ate mine with blackened salmon and it was pretty much fab.  I was also pleasantly surprised that my digestive system seemed to accept it just fine (with reasonable enzyme precautions).  I sometimes can eat something in a mashed up state that is too tough in its whole state (e.g., I can eat a not-huge number of tortilla chips but cannot tolerate whole kernel corn at all).

I ordered my reward today from Kohls.com, which worked out well because they were having a big sale (as usual) and I had multiple discount codes I could use--thus I was able to buy two items for less than my $30 amount.  (I also bought 3 sleeveless t-shirts for exercising in, to replace the ancient ones I have, but I don't consider that a reward so much as a necessity for completing the challenge.)

I loved the combination of light colors and black in this lightweight scarf that should be wearable in all but the very hottest part of the summer.

Abstract Wings scarf

I've been wanting a yellow necklace to wear with navy (and to do some matchy-matchy goodness with my mustard flats this spring and summer) and it was nice to find a really basic one at a good price.

Yellow square link necklace

Week 1 came off without a hitch, so on to Week 2!

The first two challenges will look very familiar but I'm switching things up for the third because I have some leftover cauliflower mash to finish and am going to make a big batch of my stand-by roasted red peppers:

(1)  No bread, no pasta, no rice
(2)  Exercise for 15 20 minutes, 3 days a week (T, Th, Sat)-- 10 15 min cardio, 5 min strength
(3)  Get new doctor and dentist arranged in Coldville

My current doctor and dentist on the pedestrian mall in downtown Snow City are now extremely inconvenient from our new apartment (parking there is insane; I have always walked there from the old apartment in even in the coldest depths of winter), but I've been dragging my heels about getting new ones set up even though I am overdue for visits to both.  I will be extremely happy to get this off my to-do list.