Farmer's Cheese

I want to tell you more about this amazing food. (25 cal, 3g protein, 1g fat per serving) It's like cottage cheese but with smaller curds and a less watery consistency. If you are a European, especially from the eastern half of the continent, you know all about this, and you probably use it all the time in spreads, snacks, dips, and both as sweet and savory fillings for pastries, or even over pasta.
I love this stuff but I have to go to the special Euro ethic grocery stores to find it. This is the brand I usually find; it varies in price, depending on the store it runs from $3-$5 dollars per container.
Recently I felt empowered to try to make it at home. Partially this is because the ethic store is out of the way and I am tired of making extra trips. One night I saw Alton Brown make it on Good Eats (love him, love the show!) but when I attempted to make it, I didn't exactly follow it: I used lemon juice instead of vinegar and I skipped the half and half and mixed in some non-fat greek-style joghurt. Here is what I did:
mix - 4 cups of skim milk
1tsp salt
bring to a boil - make sure it's hot enough, steaming with bubbles, but don't scorch the milk
stir in the juice of one lemon
let sit 10-30 min
strain through a colander and cheese cloth, squeeze out the liquid (whey)
mix the curds with some joghurt for a creamier consistency

Boot Camp!

I'm definitely feeling treadmill boredom that Fit Sugar recently posted about...as I write this I should have dragged myself down to the gym a half an hour ago, but I am procrastinating because I am not looking forward to the workout. I am bored with it.
This is generally the time when I can use some external motivation. A big fan of classes in general, I started attending Boot Camp at my gym once a week. There is only so much I can organize and carry out by myself, but I've been a loner with my fitness routine for a while, despite my love for classes. The classes recently just have not fit into my schedule so I would go and follow my own routine, but now I am getting a bit burned out. Thus my recent return to Boot Camp.
The classes where I go are generally small, so it is almost like personal training! And the instructor pushing you and doing the thinking for you makes all the difference, trust me. Especially if you spend the rest of your day in your head, thinking. The last thing I want to do sometimes is to think up a new routine, but with Boot Camp, I don't have to. So I carry on. :-)

How does a Fitness Fanatic Fast?

For many people, today is Ash Wednesday, a special day that invites them to fast. The spirituality of this Catholic holy day, as well as that of Lent, the season it initiates, is well beyond the scope of this post, though I'd be more than happy to elaborate on it if anyone is interested.
Suffice it to say for now that on Ash Wednesday, Catholics go without food to remind themselves of their utter dependence on God, of their on mortality, of entering into the 40 day journey that leads to the death and resurrection of Christ, as well as an expression of solidarity to the millions of people who go without food today out of poverty, not of choice. These are all good, strong reasons to practice this spiritual discipline.
The problem I am encountering is a clash of this spirituality of fasting with the culture of diet and fitness that has become a lifestyle for me. How should I define fasting when my everyday approach to food is already limited, regimented, specified? Giving something up is not just a lenten thing for me; it has defined my diet for the past year or so. How do I distinguish Lent then?
A friend suggested to fast by fasting from dieting and exercising for a day each week. I like in her suggestion the broad definition of fasting, and pinpointing an area in one's life that could use some simplification. Nonetheless, I am drawn to figuring this out in terms of the original intent of the practice of fasting, which involved giving up food in some capacity. I don't want my practice of fasting to be so subjective that it becomes disconnected from the actual practice.
I continue searching to figure out the deep spirituality that connects food, hunger, fulfillment, and God...

My go-to snacks

I started on a low carb, six small meal a day diet a year ago (which I've since modified..my body needs carbs) that alloted for several snacks. I followed the recommended 1/4 cup nuts and piece of fruit for a while, but eventually I branched out to other things, allowing for the emergence of my new and favorite snack: dairy. Sounds like a bad word for healthy eating, I know, but trust me. My dairy obsession takes on two forms: plain 0% fat greek style joghurt (6 oz= 100 cal, 0 fat, 0 chol. 18 gr. protein) and non-fat farmers cheese. (stats forthcoming) I doctor up both, adding frozen blueberries, or reduced sugar preserves from Trader Joes (35 cal/tbs). My best method is to mix up a containter of farmer's cheese with some raisins, craisins, crystallized ginger bits, and lemon zest, and let it sit overnight. Time allows for the dried fruit to soften and sweeten the cheese so no sugar is needed. Yum.

Creative Eating

Continuing to explore how to maintain my health and fitness habits while away from home:
What my fiance considers basic for his kitchen/household is just that: pretty basic, at least compared to my house. Lots of snack foods, canned foods, frozen foods, etc. here.
I've been eating plain oatmeal for breakfast for a couple of days, looking for different ways to spice it up - I even tried adding a scoop of his chocolate whey protein shake powder to it, which was a bad idea, because the oatmeal was hot and the stuff curdled. Bad texture.
On the other hand I've taken to adding a bag of "steamfresh" frozen vegetables to a can of prepared soup, to amp up the health value and overall quality, in my opinion. Yesterday it was beef barley with a bag of frozen broccoli, red peppers, onions, mushrooms and edamame. Two thumbs up.

Creative Fitness

Both a recent episode of Biggest Loser (where they had to workout without using the gym) and today's post on the Diet Blog got me thinking about working out creatively. Also, I am out of town this week visiting my fiance, and I've had to reinvent my routine and eating habits based on what is available here. It's hard! I'm used to certain things. For example I love fitness classes at my regular gym, esp. toward the end of the week when I am sick of trying to think up new things to do. In a bind, YouTube is a good way to do find some fitness videos - I've used the 8 minute series not only for the time efficiency, but also for the added amusement of the striped biking shorts of an era long gone :-). Also, I've recently discovered Exerise TV and its free videos as an added feature of my cable service provider. Not bad.

The Numbers Game

I let numbers get to me. Yesterday I found an ensemble of weight and fitness calculators on this website and had some fun with them. As much as I'd like to think that I have it together, though, these numbers got to me. For my height, it determined a weight 15lbs less as my "ideal. " I will never be able to reach that "ideal" - my body fat to muscle ratio just does not allow for this, there is no more wiggle room. ;-)
Because weight loss and fitness is a mental game above anything, I wonder how helpful it is to consider these numbers, knowing that they psych me out. At the same time, we're always on some level looking for outside affirmation, and fitting the "ideal" as much as we'd say that is a bad idea to do so.
The same website suggested I should be eating 2400 calories a day. This is double the 1200 calorie diets I come across in Oxygen Magazine all the time. I am still in shock! Could this be so?

My Debut

I have been at this for a while. Getting up everyday, and while I am preparing my breakfast, psyching myself into spending the next 1.5 hours at the gym. I get there, I sweat, I count reps. The trip home from the gym is always lighter and brighter than the way there, but I am always glad that I sustained my discipline another day.
Although the gym is definitely an "in the zone" time, I am finding that it is really good to find others to share fitness ideas and inspiration. I am looking forward to regularly reading some of the fitness blog pros and hope to become part of the conversation.