Epicism or Epicist

EPICISM
(n) A belief in impressiveness; belief in surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale) -The dictionary of Lori
EPICIST
(n) One who writes epics. -Wiktionary

(I laughed at that last one. It thoroughly amused me.)

I believe that both of these are accomplished in this post. Does that make me an Epicismist?
Last night put together the most amazing dinner salad. It may be called an epic salad, by my terms.

It started with the last bit of Zummus I made the other day. To that I took the amazing ideas from a visionary,  a spoonful of tomato paste and nutritional yeast. Followed by ground dried chili pepper, garlic powder, and cumin. Mix that you and get spanish zummus sauce(? yeah, I like that).

Then, after filling a bowl with crispy greens (red butter lettuce, yum), cilantro, green onions, red peppers, and spicy red chilis...

I threw on some spanish zummus sauce, half a small, baked acorn squash, and my finished kim chee.

 Remember this guy??

She's done!!

Mix and mingle

Epicism at it's finest.

YUM.

And the Kim Chee, best I've ever made. Wow. Easy and delicious. Also, filled with all those fermented friendly bacteria that your gut loves.

The Kim Chee included:

Shredded napa cabbage and red, carrots, green onions, kabocha squash (cool huh), salt, red pepper flakes, and lovely spicy Shiracha sauce. 

I figured it would be spicy because I added a lot of Shiracha sauce, but it wasn't too bad. And my favorite part of the mix was the kabocha squash, baked, then added. SO GOOD. Do try!

HAPPY FRIDAY, everyone!

What are your plans for the weekend??

I'm going to watch an MMA fight tomorrow morning, after boot camp, with some fellow MMA'ers from class! I can't wait! Not that I'm really into fighting but I know some of the people competing and it's cool to watch how my kickboxing and boot camp classes get incorporated into an actual fight/spar.

Bye!

Questions and a quote

Today, I am at a loss of what to write about. But I did read some great questions of the day, so I thought I'd pass them along.

Questions for my dearest bloggies:
(My answers are below each)

Who, or what, are you resisting?
I'm resisting making a decision on where or not to go back to school and for what...

What would you like to share with the world today?
Today's Run Lori Run post! Or that I am thankful that I can share my thoughts with others through writing.

Where are you not feeling fulfilled in your life?
My job. I need something more. And I'm struggling to find it.

What brings you bliss and joy?
 The wonderful people I have "met" through this blog and other blogs. 
My family.
Sunny weather.
Exercising as a release from stress.


I did some taste testing of some new products the other day. First off, we have chocolate. Yum. Organic Meltdown chocolate, vegan and gluten free, in Cinnamon and Chili. Definitely good. The cinnamon hits you first, subtly, then the spice with the chili. Not too spicy, just right. Goldilocks would be cool with it.

What I love the most about this chocolate bar is that it is the first product of its type to save a tree for every chocolate bar sold. Pretty awesome, since we kinda need those trees.

"One Bar Saves One Tree" so go eat some chocolate!

Then I saw this little bar at the store. POMx Bars in Pomegranate dipped in chocolate. Sounds great, huh? Not so much. It tasted like every other fake sugar diet meal replacement bar out there. Sorry POM. 

Ingredients: dates, dark chocolate (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milk fat, lecithin, vanilla) almonds, cashews, pomegranates, cherries, POMx (POM Wonderful Pomegranate Antioxidant Extract – Patent Pending), natural flavors.

These bars also come in Peanut Butter, and I'm sorry, that sounds disgusting.

And I will leave you with a quote that I absolutely love, for so many reasons (and not just because I love food and eating or anything...).

I don't believe in restricting calories, I believe in burning them. -Chanamalla Samagond, Indian National Champion at 800m and 1,500m
Runnerworld.com's Daily Kick in the Butt

Glutton for life

Last night I decided that I'm a glutton. I know it's not the way to be but, with the foods I eat, I wouldn't have it any other way!

As the boyfriend and I sat down to our dinner last night, we both agreed that we eat very well. I'm talking full flavor, clean and healthy foods, and a decent variety. Yum, yum, yum.

I swear, it's better than it looks. This was (now my favorite dish) a tortilla hummus "pizza." The idea came from Ohh May where she rocks the pizzas in a whole new way.

Starting with some sprouted tortillas, which were slightly toasted in the oven for a few minutes. Then topped with nutritional yeast and Zucchini Hummus (see recipe below), or as my boyfriend called it, Zummus. Clever.

Back into the oven they go to crisp a bit more. Then top with a sauteed onion and wild mushroom medley.

And some little spicy red peppers, green onions, cilantro, and parsley.

Then top with green salad and more zummus.

And DEVOUR!

...and I did...

Zummus: Zucchini Hummus

Best hummus I've ever had. Honest. Revised from Clean Eating Magazine

Ingredients:

• 1 large zucchini, chopped into pieces for easier blending
• 5 tbsp lemon juice, fresh  
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp cayenne (depending on how spicy you would like)
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 1/2 cup sesame and/or sunflower seeds

 Blend all ingredients together and serve!

Before dinner, I took out my present from my kickboxing coach, The Juicing Bible, and got to work.

I found a recipe for a before or after dinner "cocktail" that aides in digestion. Why not?
Into the juicer went red cabbage, fennel bulb, a green apple, and ginger, and sprinkled doused with cinnamon.
By far the best freakin' juice I have ever tasted! I'm making this one again tonight. Get this book! It's got some amazing recipes.

 Mmmmmmmmmm. So frothy and sweet.

I love you, little book.

Be Juiced

Good mornin', good mornin'

Or good afternoon, depending on where you're reading from!

Kickboxing is a great workout. For those of you who have not tried punching things (or even just the air) continuously, try it. It's cardio and strength mixed in a way that wears out your muscles and body. Exercise (pun, in case you didn't get that) with caution though, it's terribly (but wonderfully) habit forming.

Today in kickboxing, the instructor had us do cardio the whole time. To sum it up, we did a lot of air punches, kicks, back kicks, squats, jumps, punches with squats, punches with kicks, kicks with jumps, squats with jump... you get the idea. It was a great class and I was thouroughly worked-out by the end of the hour class.

My kickbox instructor (Hi Lucia!!!) also surprised me with a gift. One of the best gifts, I might add. True to who I am...

A Cafe Gratitude tote bag and The Jucing Bible, Second Edition.

So excited! First of all, I started juicing (fruits & veggies) again, for reals this time, and she has been jucing since, well, forever. Thank you! This will now be my Bible.
And, knowing that I love raw foods and the Cafe, she got me their tote bag that reads: What are you grateful for?"

I'm grateful for an awesome kickboxing instructor! Yay for presents!

QUESTION: Do you juice? What are some of your favorite combinations/recipes for juicing veggies and fruits?? What type of juicer do you use and how do you like it?
Juicing is extremely good for you! I'll tell ya more when I get into the juicy parts of the book.

(source with recipes)

Oh, and before I forget, I wanted to mention, because it wasn't completely clear, that my meal of seafood that was posted yesterday, was made by my boyfriend! I'm telling you, he's talented. I'm thinking about keeping him for a while longer

Bye bloggy friends!

Your shell or mine

Ah the gym. A place were miracles happen and lives are changed. Well, maybe not miracles, but I do love the gym. And well, maybe not the gym so much as a good hard workout. A job well done. I am addicted to those little endorphins that are pump through my veins after a battle with an intense workout. I think it's those little endorphins that keep me coming back for more. They call to me.

This morning, my endorphin friends told me to push myself. Actually, it wasn't my endorphins, it was my boot camp instructor. Being that I was the only person that showed up for the 6 am MMA Boot Camp class this morning, Sean (hi Sean!) put me to work. The warm up was as follows, all done sequentially:
2 minutes jumping jacks
2 minutes mountain climbers
1 minute four-count push-ups
2 minutes jump rope

Then onto the workout. Today was kettle bell swings with a squat, kettle bell figure-8 between the legs, kettle bell obliques, weighted plank walk, more jump rope, weighted sit-ups, weighted push-up to side hold, more mountain climbers, and a few other things that I probably erased from my mind. But really, amazing workout. At the end of the hour, my shoulders were toasted and my legs were shaking. Awesome feeling.
Boot Camp Motivation of the Day:

"Somebody is always training harder, make that somebody you!"

When you are pushing yourself as hard as you can, trying to bust out just one more minute of mountain climbers, and you feel like you need to stop, that motivation being yelled at you HELPS. 

Working all my muscles really gets me in the mood for... mussels...?
Maybe clams and cute little squids too...

Maybe some seafood stew. And salad. And wine.

Man, so good!

I'm telling you, my boyfriend is the best cook. Going out to eat will never be the same because most of the time, it's not nearly as good as my little chef's!

Mussel graveyard.

They didn't stand a chance.

Before I forget, Happy Monday!

I assume everyone had either a relaxing or eventful, or both, weekend!

Aside for not really doing much of anything, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen...

Juice Making

Did a little unbaking with Averie's Vegan No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bars

Except mine were Vegan No-Bake Almond Butter Tahini Carob Chip Protein Bars

Wooh, that's a mouthful.

Pun intended.

After I assembled all the ingredients

I popped them into the dehydrator for a couple of hours.

Cut them into unpictured bars

And proceded to eat most of them by Monday.

They're good.

And I even made some Kim Chee
 Shredded napa cabbage and red, carrots, green onions, kabocha squash (cool huh), salt, red pepper flakes, and lovely spicy Shiracha sauce

Cut

Spice. Mix. Massage.

Put into big jar.

Wait and report back to you later.

Oh, and the boy(friend) who thinks all my smoothie-making, vegan-raw-food-eating ways are a little strange has been requesting his own green smoothies... every morning!

Saturday he got a banana, almond milk, rice protein, maca, cinnamon smoothie

 Pretty.

Ta ta for now!

Visited by a lost friend

Attention readers: This post is another one of my very informative posts. It's a little graphic and loaded with women topics. So, if you're not into that, you may want to skip today's reads and return tomorrow. If you are open to it all and like to read about anything and everything, then more power to ya! Enjoy.

In this post, I briefly wrote about my health. My woman health, to be more exact. To sum up the post, I have been without a period for approximately the last two years. Two years is way too long to not have a period. After having an extensive amount of lab work done, finding out that all of my levels are extremely healthy, except for the way too low levels of estrogen and progesterone. If you are not aware, estrogen and progesterone are the female hormones. Without these, you do not have a period, skin and hair are dull, quality of sleep is lowered, mental clarity is fogged, etc., etc. The list goes on and on. Essentially, for the last two years, I have been in menopause. What?! I'm 25 years old. It has been a little depressing.

Aside from all of that junk, I have tried numerous things to jump start my hormones. I have, and still do, taken Maca and added more fats into my diet. I tried using thyroid medication and estrogen patches, both without success. My boss (also MD) suggested I try HCG injections. These are a "last resort" type thing. HCG is a fertility treatment that has some unwanted side effects, along with being expensive and now used as the latest weight loss fad (not recommended!). Pass on that one.

I have done tons of research on why the lack of periods and hormones. I have seen gyno's, endocrinologists, internists, and had two types of ultrasounds. All signs point to Polycystic Ovary Syndrom, PCOS, but to me, this is just a general term that masks an huge underlying problem. Hmmm, sounds like what all these docs have told me to take to "fix" the problem: Birth Control. And no, I'm not saying don't take BC, but in my opinion, this is not the answer for my hormone problems.

So, no luck.

Until...

After one last bout of Google searches and forums, I decided there was one more thing left to try. I decided to try Clomiphene Citrate. Clomid, the brand name form, is an oral fertility treatment, also used for treating PCOS. It works by stimulating an increase in the amount of hormones that support the growth and release of a mature egg (webmd.com). The side effects are less than with the injectible HCG treatments and my boss recommended I use half of the recommended dose. I took Clomid for 19 days. No luck. I stopped. This was about eight days ago. Today, my friends, I started my period!!! Ha, hence the post title, Visited by a lost friend. Honestly, it was nice not having a period for two years but it's great to know I am able to have one and finally have!

Aside from finally being healthy in that aspect of my life, at least for now, I decided to let my digestive tract (and achie tummy) rest and made myself a wholesome, delicious, and refreshing green juice and a smoothie for dinner.

Blueberry Mint Avocado Smoothie (in an almost-empty container of Chocolate Alkamie Ice Cream)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole avocado
• 1/2 cup frozen young coconut meat
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 1-2 cups spinach
• handful of fresh mint
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 scoop chocolate hemp protein powder
• spearmint extract
• vanilla extract
• handful of raw rolled oats (just for fun)
• 1 dropper full Chocolate Stevia (thank you, healthy sugar-free alternatives!)
•  Ice cubes, however icy you'd like it

Blend all until spinach and mint is liquefied and add 1/8 tsp xanthan gum (optional). Blend again, briefly.

(Please excuse the messy container. The ice cream was enjoyed, thoroughly)

Pour into a glass empty ice cream container and top with more frozen or fresh blueberries and a drizzle of yacon syrup.

I'm new to the whole avocado-in-the-smoothie-train, and let me just say, Wow. I love avocados in a smoothie. This one I devoured ate was very good. It was fluffy like a mousse but icy like ice cream. And so minty fresh. De-licious.

Happy Friday!!!! The weekend is almost here...

Almost Hummus Soup

Hi Cool You! How the heck are you doing this fine morning?

Today is Thursday, and I am loving this short week.

I have been reading some past posts from Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Life website. What a truly inspiring woman Kris is. Everyone should read some of her work. It's been a while since I had strolled over to her site, but she is one (of two) reasons that I got into eating completely clean, and mostly, raw foods. I was given her documentary to watch (Jenn D., you are my savior), and completely fell in love with the ideas and concepts behind (or right smack in your face!) her words. Crazy Sexy Cancer documents Kris' situation of being suddenly diagnosed with a rare and incurable cancer, showing her story of survival through nutrition and health; physically and spiritually. This film was revolutionary for me. After watching and absorbing her courage, strength, and determination, I knew that health would always be a vital part of my life. Sorry if this seems like a tangent, but nutrition, health, wellness (through exercise and eating clean, real foods) is so important to me and I want nothing more than to absorb all I can and share that with the world.
Anyway, I recommend that everyone watch Kris' doc. It's is a great film. It's even entertaining. Kris Carr is true, honest, and totally in-your-face blunt. I love it!

Speaking of wellness, last night I pulled out my dusty juicer and sliced up some unsuspecting veggies to create a rainbow health tonic. I forgot how much I love juicing (veggies... come on people...). So, into my juicer went one whole lemon, one carrot and three carrot tops (greens), one half a large cucumber, a good amount of ginger, one small green apple, and two celery stalks.

Frothy and beautiful

 

And soooooooo filling.

I almost didn't have room for dinner... but then I remembered what I had made...

Alright, I really, really, thought I was being original with this one, but after I tasted my masterpiece, I Googled, Hummus Soup, and Google decided to outdo me with 5,180,000 web options for hummus soup (0.50 seconds). Great. Oh well. It was totally new to me. So, without further ado, Run Lori's Hummus Soup!

Run Lori's Almost Hummus Soup
Ingredients: (all amounts are estimations. Have fun and throw in whatever you'd like)

• 2 cups uncooked chickpeas, soaked
• 2 tbsp extra virgin (untouched kind) olive oil (I think I'm funny)
• 1 sweet white onion, diced
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 4 cups water, fresh
• 2 cups water from cooking beans
• 1 tbsp vegetable broth seasoning (optional)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup Tahini (I LOVE this stuff so I added lots)
• Good amounts of (2 tsp) cumin, (1/2 tsp) coriander, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, freshly ground pepper, and salt
• Couple of shakes of paprika and saffron just for fun
• 3 cups spinach
• Parsley, chopped, for garnish

1. Throw those chickpeas into a pot and boil with enough water to cover. Cook until beans are soft, around 2-3 hours.

Meanwhile...

2. Heat oil in a large pot. Add onions and garlic, cooking for about 5 minutes. Add in carrots and saute until soft. To the pot, add fresh water and water from the beans (if the beans are done), veg stock, lemon juice, tahini, and all spices.
3. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes (if beans are not done by this point, as mine were not). When beans are soft and fully cooked, pour the chickpeas into the stock mixture. Cook for another 15 to 20 minutes.
At this point, you may mash or immersion blend your soup to desired "hummus" consistency.

4. Toss in spinach.
5. Serve with fresh parsley

I enjoyed this amazing soup with some Pure2Raw Purple Kale Chia Flatbread (best flavor I've tried!) that I've been hording saving for such an occasion. Drizzled with more tahini, the flatbread was a great accompaniment to the soup. Truly tasty dish. ;) If tahini, chickpeas, and well, hummus, wasn't glorious enough, then came along hummus soup. Ladies and gentlement, I have now lived life to the fullest. ;)

Pretty bowl, huh.

My mom gave me a set.

Thanks Mom!

And I just have to mention that the boyfriend loved the dish! Being half Arabic, he's entitled to like all hummus-y dishes. He said this might be the best thing that I have made. And I'm just going to take that as a compliment.

See you on Friday, my Bloggies!!!!!