90 Day Challenge, Mindfulness, Recipes

Greek Lemon Rice with Turmeric

Good Evening Blogging family and friends!

Today, I woke up thinking this challenge was a mistake 🙂 I know I’m doing it for myself, but I really wanted to bake cookies when I got home this evening. As I pushed all of my plants by the window to get some sunlight for the day, played with little Archie, and made a smoothie this morning, I told myself that I got this. I know that once I lose the weight, it will be easy to maintain and that gets me through it.

I surpassed my steps today and enjoyed shopping with a neighbor early in the morning. She’s teaching her daughter how to cook and wanted to do something with pork. I gave her a great recipe from college for Greek Souvlaki that you can grill on a skewer. When she invited me for dinner, I couldn’t say no. Here’s the dilemma – how do you eat vegetarian only meals as a guest when meat is the main course?

I offered to bring the sides: a simple cucumber and tomato salad along with today’s recipe Greek Lemon Rice with Turmeric. I also added a little Violife feta to it and chopped herbs larger than I usually would so that her daughter could scoop it off if she didn’t like it. (She scooped them off 🙂 I got two thumbs up for the rice though. So, lesson learned. If you have a specific diet, find out what the host is making and offer to bring a side dish or two that complements the chef. Night everyone!

Continue Reading for the recipe.

Continue reading “Greek Lemon Rice with Turmeric”
90 Day Challenge, Mindfulness, Recipes

Greek Briam – Day 1 of Challenge

Good evening fellow bloggers and friends,

Today was the first day of my 90 day challenge. Was it a success? I think so. I went to bed little later than usual but got 5 hours of solid sleep. This is progress for someone that suffers from chronic insomnia. I think the melatonin helped. I’m excited to see if the challenge improves my sleep. Tonight, I plan on reading a book that I borrowed from my neighbor called House Plants for All by Danae Horst. The plants seem to do better if I push them directly under the windows when I am gone for the day. I know that might be a pain once I get more plants. For now, Archie loves watching me do it. It’s almost as if he is directing me of each plant placement by hovering over me 🙂 I think I need to get out more lol.

I clocked in 45 minutes of brisk walking and made sure to go up and down steep hills. It felt great not to be confined to a treadmill. I also walked to the grocery store. Editing my manuscript at night is going well. You always have your doubts but I was like that with my dissertation and I got extremely high marks. Why are we our worst critics? Anyways, this morning I made it a point to stand outside with a neighbor to wait with her kids at the bus stop. She’s had to deal with meanie moms. It gave us a chance to catch up and I can see why it’s so important not to isolate yourself as we had to do in COVID lock-down. Part of the Blue Zone theory is that one key to longevity is to socialize outside of work daily. So for me, it was a successful first day that didn’t take much effort. It was fun.

Now for my passion…food! This evening I made briam or briami. It’s Greece’s version of roasted vegetables including, but not limited to: tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, red onions, and parsley with lots of good-for-you olive oil. I like to pair it with my tzatziki and couscous, however, switched over to quinoa for the challenge. That will take some getting used to. I have a secret ingredient for braim so be sure to click read more for the recipe.

Continue reading “Greek Briam – Day 1 of Challenge”