Merry Christmas to One and All!

Christmas 2005...boy, that brings back lots of memories!

Now these three are all taller than me!

Here's the update:

Hope you all have safe and happy holidays,

and I wish you all the best in 2014.

Amy

Currently

I admit it freely - I totally stole this idea from Andrea!  But I think it's a nice idea for a blog post when inspiration is nowhere to be found...like so often lately in my case!  Feel free to use it yourself if you feel so inclined.

Currently...

Reading: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, which won the Man Booker Prize this year.

Drinking: coffee, coffee, coffee and when I can't take it anymore, Spicy Rooibos tea

Watching: Modern Family, Homeland, and Extreme Hoarders

Anticipating: collaborating on Christmas Eve with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law - guess who they asked to bring a vegetable platter, three healthy salads, and a plate full of American Christmas cookies?

Wishing for: peace

Loving: how my big teenage boys still enjoy pulling out all the old Christmas decorations

Listening to: all my old Christmas CDs...Feliz Navidad is still an all time favorite:



I also want to wish you a Merry Christmas, and a very happy New Year in 2014!

Like riding a bike

The past two weeks at the gym, I've been able to do something I haven't done in an entire year: run.  And it really is like riding a bike - you don't forget how to do it, your body remembers.  And even though I was a bit apprehensive, it went well.  I did two short interval runs.  Last week was a first try, just 15 minutes, and very slow running broken up with equal amounts of fast walking.  Yesterday, I did 20 minutes, 3 minutes of running, faster than last week, alternated with 2 minutes of fast walking.  And no hip pain so far.

Last year, I was in excruciating leg and hip pain, and on the advice of my osteopath, I stopped running.  She said I could walk, swim, bike, use the elliptical, stretch, do upper body weights, and even do yoga if I was careful not to do any extreme stretches with my lower body.  I just needed to give my body a break from running.

So I did all these things but I really missed running.  I missed the stress relief, the feeling of exhilaration during a good run on a warm day, and the way it kept my weight stable.  I struggled to replace running with other activities, which just didn't seem to give me the same kick (or calorie burn).  It was depressing but I kept trying to focus on what I could do and I kept going to the gym, getting long walks in on the weekend which used to be reserved for long runs.

I kept listening to my osteopath and my body.  After a few months of no running, I suddenly realized the chronic hip pain I had been dealing with for years, was much better, almost non-existent.  That was such a great feeling.  But I knew I had to be careful.   So I waited.

There won't be any more half marathons in my future, that I know.  The training required for long distances is not healthy for my body (and I make no judgement on anyone else's exercise routine here - if there is one thing I'm sure of, it's that we all have to figure out what exercise works best for our own body, and because we are all different, that varies hugely from person to person).  But what I hope for right now is that I can incorporate a bit of enjoyable running into the rest of the things I do each week to keep my body healthy.

If there's one thing I've learned this past year, it's been to expand my repertoire of enjoyable exercise.  I don't think I would have ever signed up for the long distance walking event I did with my friend last spring had it not been for all of this.  But I'm happy I can carefully add in a bit of running again now.  I'll start with the interval run once a week and listen for what my hip tells me about it.

Goodbye Fall

There was frost on the grass this morning when I got up - you can really feel it in the air the last couple of days that winter is about to begin.  Fall is my favorite season so I wanted to share a few pictures from this fall before it's too late.

We spent a lovely Saturday afternoon walking at Horst Castle:

 There is a network of great walking paths all around the countryside surrounding the castle...













...and it was just the right time of year to spot those bright red toadstools with the white spots.

 Unfortunately that very same day, my youngest son, Felix, fell at badminton practice and injured his ankle.  He's got some badly torn ligaments and will be in a cast at least until the end of the year.  He was in a lot of pain at first, but is doing better now.  And getting very skilled at walking around with crutches!

Felix being in a cast meant that we had to change plans for my birthday lunch out - we had it at home instead, and I made this amazing vegan layered pumpkin cake - yum yum!  (The original recipe calls for sweet potato puree but I subbed pumpkin and it was delicious.)

Italian-Belgian Blog Friend Meet-Up!

I've been blogging for seven years now, and I've been very lucky to find a group of lovely, like-minded fellow bloggers all over the world, who really feel like friends.   As Andrea recently mentioned on her blog, the frequency of posting and commenting seems to ebb and flow as people's lives naturally evolve, but the warm feelings for blog friends remain.

And so I was tickled when the blogger you all know as the Black Knight contacted me to say he'd be in Belgium for work and hoped to meet up.  I've only ever had the chance to meet up with one other blog friend, Fran - we actually got together twice and one of them was for a race in 2011 - but it was such a neat experience,  I was very much looking forward to meeting Stefano.

As things eventually worked out, I met up with Stefano (and his colleague who helpfully took our picture) at the airport a few hours before their flight back to Rome.

The funny thing about meeting a blog friend, and I had the same experience when I met Fran, is that you feel like you know so much about the person, having read their blog posts over the years, and yet, they are also a stranger to you in many ways.  But you quickly get over that as you start to talk about common ground - which with Stefano and me was running with injuries (or not running with injuries in my case), kids, grandkids, travelling, and politics.   Stefano in person is just like he comes across in his blog - intelligent, kind and funny.  And a very dedicated runner.  I'm so glad we got to meet!

Kid-Friendly and Healthy Vegetarian Lasagna

When I decided to go vegetarian seven years ago, one of the biggest challenges was reconciling my

conviction that a vegetarian diet was best for our health, with the taste preferences of three growing boys and an omnivore (but thankfully very flexible) husband.   After a lot of trial and error, my lasagna recipe is one I can say I have finally “gotten just right” – the kids are always happy to find out that it’s on the menu for dinner and the leftovers are gobbled up the next day.   And I’m happy because I’ve snuck in veggies they normally wouldn’t eat (sometimes I even throw a handful of chopped spinach in with the tomato sauce) and am putting a healthy meal on the table.

So when I saw that one of my favorite vegetarian cooking blogs (Lisa's Kitchen along with Tinned Tomatoes) was calling for readers to contribute their favorite lasagna recipes this month as part of a monthly "Pasta Please" challenge, I felt like it was the perfect time to share.

Amy’s Kid-Friendly Vegetarian Lasagna

(makes 9 servings @ 325 calories per serving)

Ingredients:

For the vegetable filling:

1 T olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 medium courgette (zucchini), grated

2 small carrots, grated

½ t each dried basil and oregano

Dash of turmeric and black pepper

1 pkg (180 g) Alpro Soya soy mince (or other vegetarian ground “meat” substitute)

1 jar (500 g) basil-tomato pasta sauce

For the béchamel:

50 g. margarine

50 g. flour

1 t salt

¼ t pepper

Dash of nutmeg

700 ml of plain unsweetened soy milk

15 no-boil lasagna noodles

150 g. grated mozzarella (either skip entirely or use vegan cheese for a vegan version)

Preheat the oven to 180° C/375° F.

First prepare the vegetable filling: fry the chopped onion in a skillet in the oil gently until softened.  Add the courgette and carrots, basil, oregano, turmeric, and pepper and stir-fry until well combined.  Add the soy mince and pasta sauce and stir well.  Lower heat and simmer while you make the béchamel.

In a saucepan, melt the margarine over low heat.  Add the flour and stir to obtain a thick paste.  Add the seasonings and soy milk (I usually heat my soy milk in the microwave before this step to save a bit of time), raise the heat and stir with a whisk until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken.

In a 13x9 inch baking dish, spread a thin layer of vegetable filling on the bottom.  Follow with three lasagna noodles, one next to the other.  Then spread 1/4^th of the remaining vegetable filling covered with about ¾ cup of béchamel.  Repeat with noodles, vegetable filling and béchamel three more times, until you have three noodles left to place on top.  Cover the last layer of noodles with grated mozzarella, and then the remaining béchamel.

Bake 35-40 minutes until bubbling and browned on top.  Enjoy!

New Machines!

Last week my gym installed all new machines: cardio, free weights, and weight machines are all brand new. I did feel a bit sad that my old familiar machines were gone; also they've moved to more basic machines as far the displays and no more individual TV screens on the cardio machines (which I didn't use anyway). I guess that is part of the bargain for our gym changing its formula and my membership going from 46 euros/month to 23 euros/month - I suppose they have to save somewhere. And personally I'm very happy to pay the lower membership fee every month! I did feel a bit discombobulated as I made my way through my usual workout. But change can be good, right?  I couldn't help but notice a new cardio machine I had never seen before - it looked like a cross between an elliptical and a stair stepping machine.  Apparently it's called a Vario (by TechnoGym).

It can also be used with different strides: more of a stepping movement, an elliptical movement, or a running movement. I tried it out and it was definitely a different feel than the elliptical I am so used to; it was also challenging! It will take a little bit of getting used to, but I think I'm going to enjoy it! I'd be curious to know: have any of you ever tried this machine?