Healthy(ish) Eggplant Parm

When I tell people that there's a farm down the street from where we live, I usually get looked at like I have five heads, and the general response is: "WHERE in Maryland ARE you?!". Truth is, we are only about 10 miles north of downtown DC (about 5 to the actual DC border) - so don't worry, we're not that rural. Still definitely in suburbia, but not all country-like like when one thinks of farm. (In my mind, at least.)

Anyway, this farm is the best. We actually discovered it last year when we were searching for local places to get our Christmas tree, ended up going back regularly for weekly produce, and just so happened to move down the street from it this past June.  They sell all sorts of fresh, local produce, and even have a chicken coop and apple orchard on site. When we go, we usually end up getting the same few things each week - tomatoes, onions, apples, potatoes, some form of squash for me, fresh pasta for Scot, etc. This is more a result of habit, as well as the Mr. not being terribly adventurous with his vegetables. I always resist buying something different or off the beaten path because, more often then not, it goes unused when I can't find a good recipe to put it in that he won't only eat, but enjoy. Men are weird.

But I said eff it this week, and got some beets and some eggplant. The beets have yet to find their way into a meal, but the eggplant? Oh my gosh, you guys. The eggplant.

We happened to have a whole bunch of scrumptious, leftover meaty marinara sauce that I made a few days earlier, that I knew would go perfectly in the form of eggplant parm. Scot seemed up for the challenge, so I went with it.

The first (only?) thing you need to you know is that you seriously can't beat farm-fresh eggplant. It would sucker-punch all the "it's too sliiiimy" nay-sayers in their butts. Because it's not slimy. It's tender and delicious and perfect. Pair that with the homemade marinara and a bit of leftover rice, and I was in healthy(ish) dinner heaven. Scot didn't even complain about it too much.. which makes it a win in my book!

((You can find the recipes for the eggplant parm here and the marinara sauce here!))

Looking a bit deeper.

Let's rewind a hot minute. Remember when I said I would write about our new housing situation.. months (years? eons? lifetimes?) ago?

Right. Well clearly, that didn't happen.

But thanks to my renewed gusto for blogging (in part thanks to school, friends, and just a general desire to write, since I love it and haven't done much of it in quite a long time) - it's still on the list!

But first: let's talk about foody, nutrition type things. Because that's kind of why I started this blog in the first place!

Disclaimer: ish is about to get real.

One of my weekly modules while attending IIN included a magnificent talk by Geneen Roth about compulsive eating and other food-related disorders. It was fascinating to listen to - especially seeing that this woman has been through it all: diet pills, anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, binge eating. You name it, she had experienced it at some point in her life. This in and of itself clearly drew me in, as I have had my own experiences with a few of the same issues.

The reason this woman is such a powerful source of wisdom and knowledge comes partially from her life experiences, but also her realization that our relationship to food is actually a mirror of our relationship to ourself, to our lives, and what we think we deserve. Eating disorders are not just eating disorders.. they are reflective of something much deeper going on in our minds and our lives. She was one of the first people to come out to not only say, but show, that compulsive eating (or lack there of) is a primary symptom of a deeper issue, not the primary problem.

This all relates back to the basic principles of IIN - ones that I whole-heartedly agree with - ones that made me fall in love with the school and its nutrition program in the first place. The concept that our primary foods (like our relationships, career, physical activity, spirituality, finances, etc) feed us just as much if not more than our secondary foods (what we actually put into our bodies). No, a great relationship is not going to make you less hungry, but it may prevent you from eating a pint of ice cream every other night or binging on a bag kettle chips (not that I'd know). All I'm saying is that what we eat is so amazingly indicative of other things going on in our minds and lives.

Roth's talk contained nothing particularly new for me, but it really opened my eyes and made me think about my own situation a bit differently. I always knew that my bulimia was a direct result of never feeling good enough, thin enough, pretty enough to be a dancer - and then, just in general. But I stopped my thinking and analysis of it there. I had a reason, that should be good enough.. right?

But it's not. I've started to think of all the little things that make up those reasons. How my dance teacher, when I was no more than 9 years old, said I could really move forward and be good, if only I were thinner. How my cousin mocked me for being big. How my mom couldn't get over how great I looked my junior year in college, right after I had strep throat, wasn't eating anything, and lost a good 8 pounds. About how, when I gained some of the weight back, my boyfriend at the time broke up with me. (Was it for that reason? I don't know, likely not - but it sure felt like it, and I wasn't in a good place, causing my mind to make up all sorts of crazy excuses.) The moments I was least in control, what I put into and out of my body seemed to be the only thing I could control - whether it simply be through binge eating, or binge eating turned bulimia.

All of this is to say that these things add up. And when I look at the times when I was unhappiest with my body and the things I put into it, I was also, 99% of the time, unhappy with one/many aspects of my life. When I was younger, it was dealing with my parents divorce and the tension between them that carried through much of my day to day life. In college, it was being single for the first time in 6 years, which was incredibly hard for me. Currently, it's a stressful job situation and nostalgia for New York - the city I never got to live in and will always wonder "what if".

So clearly, despite being a health coach and yoga buff and seemingly all put together (at least most days), I still have my own stuff I'm trying to work out. But going to IIN, hearing all these wonderful lectures from folks like Geneen Roth and Andrew Weil, reflecting on my own life and experiences, has given me so much more insight and and motivation to not only heal myself, but help heal others as well. Because everyone has something - it's the nature of life.

I'm curious - have you ever realized how things in your everyday life - relationships, family, career, to name a few - have affected what goes into (and even out of) your body?

An Exercise in Independence

Happy Friday, all!!

Friday's are kind of my favorite because it's one of my few, consistent days off. So far it's been full of green tea, yoga, a shower.. and now some leftover roasted potatoes from last night. God I love potatoes.

Anyway, much more exciting things happened this week besides me eating potatoes. In fact, on Tuesday, I went to this fun little class hosted by Living Social called "Make Your Own Vegan Skincare" at their event space in downtown DC. (Side note: I'm still not sure why you have to throw the word vegan in there - I really wasn't planning on putting milk or steak on my face, thank you. Well, maybe milk. Except I don't really do milk unless it's in cheese form. But.. no cheese on my face, please.)

By the way, if you live in the DC area - I highly recommend you go to one of Living Social's classes or events in that space.. it's pretty awesome. And they have a bar!

So: after work on Tuesday, I headed downtown to attend this class solo. My über natural-yoga-bff (here-to-for referred to as Bunny Love) was originally supposed to come along as well, but she realized rather last minute that she double booked and the start date of her new yoga class was the same night as the skin care class. After much anguish of whether I should still attend the class or not, I sucked it up and went. I mean, this is the 21st century right? Going somewhere alone is totally normal, not weird, and even empowering.

At least that's what I told myself.

So I left work promptly at 5, used the metro for the first time in who knows how many months (ugh I've gotten way too suburban for life), got to the event, and headed straight to the bar for a glass of vino.

Well ok.. maybe two.

The class was a bit late getting started, but once it did, it was pretty fascinating! It also seemed like several folks (lets be honest: all of us were women) were flying solo, as well. Ah, all for the love of natural skin care!

We were seated at two long tables - maybe 40 of us in all - with four people assigned per burner and ingredients. The class was led by Jill of evoLve skin - a woman who started her own line of natural, ethical skin care not too long ago and is slowly expanding her business in the DC area.

Once we were all paired up and settled, we started off making some lip balm...

 then a facial toner...

and lastly, a salt scrub.

Now while we did some of the most basic versions of each product, it was still pretty cool to see how relatively easy it is to make natural, mostly organic skin care. The best rule of thumb? Get your skin care from your kitchen. We used things like coconut oil, green tea, epsom salt, and olive oil - you could literally eat all this stuff and be perfectly fine. It probably wouldn't taste super amazing, but it's good for you!

One of the best parts of this class was the connection I made with the instructor afterwards - it turns out she also has a background in dance (yay dancers!), is looking to expand her natural skin care line, and lives across the street from my massage therapy job. So, naturally, I networked away and have a meeting set up with her for early next week to possibly partner with her and feature her products at work. All of it is actually turning into a very exciting prospect!

So, my lesson learned here? (Aside from the fact that I now want to start MY own skin care line..) Going at it alone can still be pretty fun. I used to be terrified of going anywhere or doing anything by myself, but as I've gotten older, I've realized that I really kind of love to thrive in my independence. Is it still scary sometimes? Sure. But it's also empowering and, in a way, confidence-boosting. It also apparently gives me a great opportunity to network (which is a feat in and of itself). Huzzah!

How are you with going out on your own? Does it or has it always come easy, or is it more of a challenge?

Reset.

Can you believe it? I graduated from IIN!

Unfortunately, this is my only proof right now. I *think* I'm going to get some sort of official certificate in the mail.. and there's no real "graduation".. but hey, I passed all the tests and paid them all the money, so I'm good to go!

Guess the whole "I'm going to blog along with my journey" thing didn't really work out so well.

Whatevs. Because the thing that comes with being done with school? Is more time to do other things. Like blog - which I have so terribly missed in the past year (and then some).

Of course, life is still kicking me in the butt and keeping me busy as heck - even though I sometimes whine that I'm not busy enough. My god there's no pleasing this woman.

I think part of it has been that I've been so worried about the direction of this blog - feeling that, since it's sort of tied to a potential career path, it has to contain certain things, and not others. That I may not be taken seriously, or people may be confused, or what have you. But isn't that what editing is for? And hey, I tend to get the most responses to my writing when it comes from the heart and I can be me, 100%. So maybe I just say eff it and go with that.

Now for some actual content.. a brief blurb I wrote a few days ago, but never published. Something I'd just like to throw out there. The current state of affairs, if you will.

See, I'm going through this phase of questioning everything. Not like I don't always do that.. but it's in a different way as of late.

I know a lot of people say this, but I feel like I'm destined for something bigger, something greater, something that's not.. this. Don't get me wrong - I have some really great times and good days with life as is, but it's not necessarily fulfilling me in the way I need it to. There's been a lot of introspection going on in this jumbled up brain of mine.

In my mental and somewhat verbal (sorry, guys) search for that "something", I've had an opportunity arise that has kind of been dropped into my lap. It involves way too much coincidence to have it actually be that, and the prospect has the chance to be something perfect, something could take so many aspects of things I love and mush them all together into one fantastic little bundle. Nothing is for certain, but I can see this having so much promise for me career wise, as well as fulfilling at least a part of what I'm currently lacking.

I still have no idea where to go from here, but just the glimmer of something else, something more, is enough for now. I feel like I'm on the edge of something wonderful, and I just can't wait to get there.

(Side note: I now have Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga stuck in my head. I promise that my life situation is no where near worthy of that song... not yet, anyways!)

Have you ever experienced this whole introspective-questioning-life thing? How'd it go, or heck, how's it going?