Please update your readers and bookmarks with my new blog: Lisa Living Well.
I will no longer be blogging at Fit in the Midwest. Thank you for reading and I hope you can join me over at my new site http://www.lisalivingwell.com.
I look forward to “seeing” you on my new blog!
I wanted to do a Five on Friday or Five Things Friday post yesterday, but never got around to it. So, I’ll post a Six on Saturday instead!
1. I received a package from Larabar and Food Should Taste Good earlier this week. It totally made my day because it was unexpected and contained products I love.
2. I found a Men’s Fitness article about eating for your blood type on Pinterest and had to share it.
I am type A+ and the information it gave on my type couldn’t be more accurate. See, I knew there was a reason I ate a mostly vegetarian diet and avoided red meat.
“Your Diet: When hunter-gatherer Os started thinning out, our ancestors started relying on agriculture and expanding their diet to include a semi-vegetarian approach. Type As have the digestive enzymes and bacteria it takes to digest grains and plants that other blood types might have a rough time breaking down.”
“What to Eat: Fill your plate with fruits like berries, figs, plums, apples, avocados, pears and peaches. Choose veggies like broccoli, artichokes, carrots, greens and garlic. Fish and poultry should be limited since type As produce fewer meat-digesting enzymes, which is why they have such a hard time digesting red meat. To get protein, rely on plant protein from nuts (like nut butters), seeds, beans and soy. Since your body can easily break down and get optimal nutrition from grains, carbs and proteins, cereal, breads and pastas should be staples of your diet.”
3. I tried this Saffron Road meal for lunch yesterday and it was delicious. I won some free product coupons and bought a bunch of frozen meals at Whole Foods with them. Craig actually ate two this week and he loved his as well. He had a chicken tikka masala meal and said it was much better than his Mayura restaurant version.
4. I seemed to be a magnet for helping others this week and I enjoyed being able to do that.
I took the picture below for my co-worker, whose son is allergic to peanuts, but he loves sunflower seeds. I recommended the Trader Joe’s sunflower seed butter to her. She was worried about the ingredients, but they passed the test.
I had another co-worker consult privately with me about the fact that she might be diabetic (and doesn’t have health insurance to confirm or deny the suspicion). I felt honored that she came to me for help since she knows I read a lot about health conditions and nutrition. I played nutritionist for a half hour and recommended some switches in her diet. I also sent her a blog to check out because the author is a Registered Dietitian with a specialty in diabetes (it’s Prevention RD).
5. Henri
Thanks to Karis, I found the Henri videos and seem to watch at least one a week, even if I am just re-watching one I have seen already. My favorite is this Halloween video.
Perfect Christmas present for a crazy cat lady like me? Henri’s calendar. He also has a book coming out next Spring!
6. I subscribed to Nutriton Action magazine. A co-worker subscribes and used to borrow me copies occasionally, but I finally decided to get my own subscription.
They also feature some of their articles online if you want to check them out.
This isn’t really a seventh thing, but I successfully moved a year and a half of my blog posts over to the new site and it’s almost ready! I have enjoyed creating a new blog and love Blogger so far!
Have a wonderful Saturday! I am off to the mall to get some much needed shopping in.
We love Indian food and have tried most Indian restaurants in the Milwaukee area. On Friday night, Craig and I tried one we hadn’t been to before, Mayura Indian Restaurant.
The interior was nice, but pretty basic.
I had my usual order of Paneer Tikka Masala. It wasn’t on the menu, but I asked what vegetarian menu item was closest to it and he said they could just make it. I requested it be mildly spicy, but it definitely was more in the medium range, which didn’t please me.
Craig had Chicken Tikka Masala and thought it was just ok. The chunks of chicken were somewhat dry and too big.
We cooled our mouths off with a Mango Lassi. I think this was one of the best Mango Lassis we have had at a local Indian restaurant.
I’m not sure we’ll be going back to Mayura. I prefer another Indian restaurant closer to our house and we’ll likely stick to going there from now on.
Mayura Indian Restaurant
1958 N Farwell Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Phone: (414) 271-8200
Over the weekend, I started the process of testing out one of the recipes I will be making for Thanksgiving.
On Sunday, I tackled trying out the Holiday Kale salad I found in the November 2012 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I cut the recipe in half and it still made a large salad.
Roasting the cranberries and garlic was fairly easy. I think I cooked the cranberries a bit too long though or did not coat them in enough olive oil, because they did stick to the aluminum foil.
The salad took me about 30-45 minutes to make, which is more intensive than any other salad recipe I have ever made.
In the end, I found the Holiday Kale Salad to be delicious and healthy tasting. I have to admit that I did grow a little tired of the flavors and “chewy” aspect of the recipe. I can still see this being a pretty good side salad to include with our Thanksgiving meal, so I will likely go forward with making it.
Holiday Kale Salad (Better Homes & Gardens, November, 2012)
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh cranberries
4 – 5 cloves garlic unpeeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 1/2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
4 cups chopped kale
2 cups cooked wild rice cooled
1 small bulb fennel cored and shaved or cut into very thin wedges
1 cup chopped walnuts toasted
1/2 cup thinly sliced red sweet pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
I met Karis at Rocket Baby in Wauwatosa this morning to enjoy some fresh and delicious bakery.
Karis ordered a savory scone and I picked out an almond brioche.
We sat under the cute logo and Karis kindly taught me some Blogger tricks, since I’ll be making the transition to Blogger from WordPress soon. I learned a lot from her and I feel much more confident in learning a new blogging program. I think Blogger actually may be more intuitive than WordPress.
I need to go back for a french baguette and chocolate croissant sometime soon! So many tempting and beautiful baked goods to be found at Rocket Baby.
If you are interested in reading more about Rocket Baby, here is a recent article on the business from the Journal Sentinel.
After Rocket Baby, Karis and I went to Trader Joe’s in Brookfield! I am so excited to have a TJ’s much closer to my house now.
It was packed, as we expected it to be, but really not that bad. The store feels much more roomy than the Bayshore one. The parking lot is nicer to navigate too.
Hope you enjoyed your Sunday as much as I enjoyed mine!
Posted in Restaurant Reviews
Tagged Rocket Baby, Rocket Baby Wauwatosa, Trader Joe's Brookfield, Wauwatosa bakery
I felt like doing a Monday Poll, like Karen did. I wasn’t feeling creative, so I just copied her questions.
1.Mood:
Sad. 😦 I learned of a former co-workers’ passing while I was at work today. All I could think is that life is short and we need to enjoy every moment.
2.Mystery or romance?
Definitely mystery. I just watched the TV show Homeland for the first time and am already absorbed in the story because it’s a mystery.
3.The girls wanna go the movies to see the last Twilight. You in or out?
Out. I’d rather see Lincoln or Anna Karenina in the theater. Vampires aren’t my thing.
4.Have you ever won (or placed in) a limbo contest?
I don’t think I ever won one, but I loved roller skating limbo back in the 80’s. I was pretty good at it!
5.What time did you go to bed last night?
Around 10:15. We really need to get to bed earlier. I am always tired during the week.
6.When was the last time you felt really and truly alone?
Almost every day in the spring of 2007. I was living in California, not liking my job or social life and many days ended in tears.
7.When was the last time you felt really and truly loved?
I feel loved every single day, by my husband, cats and parents especially.
8.Is there anything you’d like to accomplish by the end of the year?
Yes, to figure out a new blog name soon. I’d also like to further explore how to turn my hobbies into a career.
9.How long are your nails?
They are on the shorter side. Since I type at work all day, I like to keep them as short as possible.
10.Weekly goals:
-get to the gym at least four times
-enjoy all that life has to offer because my former co-worker cannot do that anymore
-keep exploring new blog names
-find a vegetarian/vegan recipe for Thanksgiving dinner (any suggestions are most welcome). I finally have a fellow vegetarian at the dinner table this year, so I need to find something for the both of us to eat.
I have no good excuse for not posting all week, except that I was tired, not much happened this week and that I am trying to figure out the future of Fit in the Midwest. As of Halloween, my blog ads ended and I decided not to go with the Lijit network suggested to me. I want to make the switch to BlogHer, but that requires changing blog hosts because WordPress isn’t supported through BlogHer. I am probably going to switch to Blogger and with that will come a new blog name and address. I want to own my domain name as well. For now, I’ll keep blogging here until I make the switch and then I will try to direct traffic to the new name. If anyone has simple instructions on how to do this, I’d appreciate the help.
I actually considered not blogging at all in the future. But I decided that I love it too much, even if I only write two posts a week. I enjoy photography, documenting my life and having a hobby that explores my interests in nutrition, cooking and fitness. I still hope to turn these interests into a career someday.
I have no clue what my new blog will be called and I am sure something will come to me. Until I make the switch, I appreciate you reading and commenting. I am so thankful for the blogging community and I can’t imagine leaving it and being only a reader.
Posted in Food
I usually don’t post on Saturday nights, but we are just relaxing at home and I was in the mood to blog. We’ve been enjoying our weekend so far and I hope you have too!
Earlier this week, I shot this photo while walking to the bus stop. I had just finished an interview on the radio (taped, not live, luckily) and I was so relieved to be done and heading into work. The leaves under my fantastic and comfortable Tsubo boots were just too pretty not to capture.
I go through phases where I become obsessed with cottage cheese. This week, I put it on everything and also ate it plain. I really enjoyed it on toast as an after work snack and in my lentil soup.
Last night, we walked around the mall after enjoying a dinner out. I almost always take stairs vs. the escalator when I can, so I loved how Aurora Healthcare encouraged people to be well and take the mere 30 steps to the top with their “30 steps to a healthier you” slogan.
This morning, we woke up and packed our gym bags for a trip out to Mukwonago. We met my parents at the beautiful new YMCA and enjoyed working out by doing cardio and weights and then hitting the pool. I am not much of a swimmer, but I did love their walking pool, the water slide, chilling in the whirlpool and swimming with the kick board. We had a lot of fun with my parents and I hope it’s something we can do more often.
Once we got home, I wanted to chill on the couch and read My Berlin Kitchen. I am only 55 pages in so far, but I like Luisa’s story and recipes. There is a recipe that really sounds delicious and uses quark–it’s called quarkauflauf. I had actually just read about it in Alysha’s article on quark that was featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Entree section on Sunday. I hadn’t read Luisa’s blog, The Wednesday Chef, before picking up this book, but I am following her site now because I like the way she writes and I love Berlin.
I think reading about Germany made me crave pretzels. Luckily, I had picked up this Deutsche Kuche pretzel dough at Aldi a couple of weeks ago.
This is the pretzel I was most proud of, although I realized after that the ends didn’t need to extend down so far.
The verdict? They turned out pretty good. They didn’t taste like the “bretzeln” we adored in Germany and reminded us more of bread.
Well, I am off to listen to Spotify, drink some wine and keep doing laundry. Night!
Posted in Books, Fitness, Food, Product Reviews
Tagged cottage cheese, Deutsche Kuche, My Berlin Kitchen, pretzels, Tsubo boots, YMCA Mukwonago
It was pouring here tonight, so once I got home, I wasn’t too keen on going back out in the rain to drive to the gym. I am not normally that wimpy about rain, but I just wasn’t feeling like getting rained on anymore (blame it on waiting at the bus stop outside).
I came home to find a surprise package in my door, which contained a workout video called Fit in 5: Ultimate Body Blitz! I received it from Self magazine. Basically, I was a “loser” in another one of their giveaways, but they gave me this video anyway. So cool, thanks Self! It was as if the mail gods were telling me to stay home and try the video out, so that’s what I did!
Mid-workout break for a self-portrait…
…and the last of my Fitmixer aminos! I don’t think I am going to buy them again. After doing research, I am not so sure I need aminos.
Overall, I loved the 20 minute strength exercise I did tonight. It definitely got my heart rate up in a short period of time. I really liked how the teacher, Violet Zaki, combined cardio and strength in exercises that were completely new to me. I worked my glutes and abs hard and those are the areas I need to strengthen most.
The only negative was that the teacher moved through the lunges really quickly and that is a move I have to take my time on, so I did exactly that!
I am looking forward to trying the yoga, pilates, dance and cardio workouts. I’ll report back on those soon! I think this video will be great to pull out when I can’t make it to the gym!
Dinner tonight included this quick and easy Seeds of Change quinoa and brown rice mixture I picked up at Costco.
I enjoyed the flavor, but Craig thought it tasted like plastic.
Do you enjoy working out at home? I like bringing out workout videos or the Wii Fit when the weather isn’t great outside, like today. That especially applies to when snowy evenings in the winter.
Fit in the Midwest 
