Spicy Southwest Black Bean Soup

I don't know about you, but I love black beans.  Especially when combined with spices for a hot and hearty soup.  Here's one of my favorite soup recipes: wholesome, filling vegetables and black beans with enough spice to ensure you'll never get bored with this recipe.

Having the Courage to Start

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."
-John Bingham 

I remember what running was like before I became a runner.  We used to do “the mile” once a year in school, and every year I dreaded that day.  I wasn’t even able to run the whole mile, and in the short stretches where I did manage to run, my throat burned and my legs felt heavy and sluggish.  I didn’t understand how some people in my grade could finish in six minutes.  I especially didn’t understand the few people who seemed not just unfazed by this relatively short ordeal, but actually seemed to enjoy it.   

Microwave Chocolate Protein Cake

Sometimes, you just need something sweet, but it's hard to justify the empty calories and the sugar rush and inevitable crash.  I've seen lots of recipes out there for protein brownies, cookies, you name it... but nothing has quite satisfied.   So I concocted my own recipe, and it turned out quite nicely.  I enjoyed it with a homemade latte.

Fartleks: or, Sprinting for Non-Sprinters

fartlek |ˈfärtlik|
noun
a system of training for distance runners in which the terrain and pace are continually varied to eliminate boredom and enhance psychological aspects of conditioning.
alternately: a system of training in which you will simultaneously curse and praise the day the Swedes introduced this brilliant torture to the rest of the world.
ORIGIN 1940s: from Swedish, from fart ‘speed’ + lek ‘play.’

Today I want to talk about my simultaneously most and least favorite exercise: the fartlek. Fartlek is Swedish for “speed play,” and it’s a more flexible version of interval training. It’s most often used in reference to running, but the principles can be adapted for essentially any cardio workout: running, walking, cycling, or swimming.

Healthy Shrimp in Garlic White Wine Sauce

This is a re-post from my original blog. A lightened up version of a classic Italian recipe, this recipe has 2/3 the calories and half the fat and saturated fat of the original dish, but it lacks nothing in flavor:










Serves 4.

Planting Seeds

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.”            

– Robert Louis Stevenson

These are words to live by.  It’s easy to live each day under the microscope, judging every event.  I would argue that we not only all have “off days,” but we have “off moments” every single day.