Living it Up

As much fun as the off season is, I'm ready for it to be over. Given I have all this extra time on my hands, I've been trying some new recipes and experimenting with some new food types. Here is one I recently tried and loved...Great for the gluten free types~

Black Beans and Quinoa

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

*I only used one can of black beans and also added some tomatoes. I'm pretty new to quinoa but love love love it. It's so good for you and yummy. And one batch will last you awhile....

Besides baking and eating, I've been doing my fair share of drinking way too many adult beverages. As a matter of fact, I think I embarrassed myself at a christmas party when I told my husband's commanding officer that he needed to do more core strengthening exercises. Oops. I was one hot mess. Needless to say I think I got that out of my system.

Other than that, NOLA 70.3 training starts Dec 27th. Since I'm coming off IM FL, I will start 16 weeks out. I know most programs start at 20 weeks out, but I think 16 is a smarter strategy. Looking forward to it big time! As for now workouts have been swimming, biking, and running an hour or so 1x a week and lifting/cross-fitting/core on the other days.

If you need some off-season inspiration, this is one of my favorite workouts:

"Helen"

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

Other than that, I'm off to the "burgh" tomorrow for a physical therapy presentation at the University of Pittsburgh. Hopefully, I don't ripped a new one and I don't freeze my butt off. I feel bad for all my fellow northerners. Brrr!!!