5th Mini-goal - cooking my dinners!

Sorry I've gone missing. I really have no excuse. I started several posts but finished none. And now I've started this NaNoWriMo challenge that Donloree got me inspired to do. Thanks Donloree! My sister-in-law is also doing it so that's just more motivation. Did I ever intend on writing a novel in my life? Nope. But here I am challenging myself to write 50,000 words in one month! Ha! I'm a beast! What can I say? I like a challenge and this is no different.

I also went for acupuncture last week. It was really good. There was a lot of broken English being spoken which you would think I would understand pretty well since I grew up with that in my house. But it was a little bit of a challenge. At any rate, what I learned was good. She's been practicing acupuncture for about 50 years or so. She actually was instrumental in getting acupuncture legalized in California. Isn't that crazy? I didn't even know that it wasn't legal at some point. She also used to do acupuncture on Katherine Hepburn. How cool is that? What I learned about myself is that I have something in my lungs and my heart doesn't beat as regularly as it should. Mostly it beats in tempo but every once it a while it doesn't. So my lungs need to clear out. I was instructed to massage the sides of my nostrils one hundred times a day. That does seem to help but my allergies are a mess this year. She also worked on my shoulder that is a constant problem. And then she helped me figure out why everything on my right side hurts. Not all at the same time but I've had problems with my knee, my hip, my shoulder for a while now. Even my herniated disc pain is always in my right side. Apparently my bone in my shin isn't straight and therefore everything from there up is constantly trying to compensate for that. In all my life and with all the problems I've had no one has ever helped me figure that out. Good to know. My sinuses feel much better and my shoulder feels better too. I will be going back. Apparently she thought I was going to be there today. Oops. I guess this was a clear case of lost in translation! Haha!

I had a really great workout today! I was surprised because I was really quite tired but once I got started there was no stopping me. The only problem is my allergies! Oy! They are going to kill me. They've NEVER been this bad. EVER! This was my workout:

Hex Bar Deadlift - 50# x 10, 70# x 8, 90# x 6, 110# x 4 - LOVE this!
Kettlebell Full Squats - 20kg 2x10, 24kg 2x10
Barbell Hip Thrusts (shoulder-elevated) - barbell only 45# 1x10, 65# 2x10
Walking DB Lunges - 20# DB 16 lunges then prisoner lunges for 8 more
      Prisoner lunges for 8 then 16 lunges 20# DB
     20# DB 10 lunges, 10 prisoner lunges
     10 prisoner lunges, 20# DB 10 lunges
Glute Ham Raise - no weight 3x10

I made another fabulous meal again over the weekend. It was my Chicken Tortilla Soup. Oh my! I always forget how amazingly good that is! YUMMY! My BF loved it and then I took some to my friend's the next day and it was just as delicious all over again. If you haven't tried this recipe and don't mind putting in a little time to make it I say go for it! Make it. You will absolutely NOT be disappointed. It's amazing!

I've really been enjoying yoga. I love my teacher. I think I'm going to try another class on Saturday with a male teacher. I'll let you know how that goes. Feeling better about myself. I've been sticking with my plan except last week I really didn't. My energy was low due to my continued allergies. This week I'm feeling better though. Yeah!

As for my goal for this week I picked this one:

Cook more meals (dinners in particular)

 This hasn't been hard since I had basically stopped cooking dinner. So far this week I made dinner on Monday (tilapia with tomatoes and fresh herbs and brown rice) and tonight I made this Spicy Lentil Soup. I added some chopped cooked chicken but wished I hadn't. The flavor doesn't really match. I think the soup would be good with sausage or ham though.  It's a really tasty soup.

• 2 cups red lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 1 serrano chile pepper, chopped (remove seeds for less heat)
• 1 large tomato, roughly chopped
• 1 1 1/2-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for topping
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
• Naan or other flatbread, for serving

Combine the lentils and 7 cups warm water in a pot, cover and bring to a boil. Add the chile pepper, tomato, ginger, garlic, turmeric and 2 teaspoons salt. Partially cover and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until thickened, 18 to 20 minutes. Stir in the cilantro. Thin the soup with water, if desired, and season with salt.

Mix the yogurt with 2 teaspoons water and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the yogurt and more cilantro. Serve with naan.

My alterations: I made a half batch but put in a whole tomato and a whole serrano with seeds. Honestly it could have had more heat. I could have put in another serrano. I also used half water and half chicken broth.

I think that basically updates all of you on my life. I'll try to write a little more often but don't be surprised if I don't, particularly during this month. Writing about 1700 words a day for my "novel" and then writing here is a lot but I'll do what I can. Hope you're all having a great week! Stay happy!