Stay in the here and now!

Today was an easy gluten free day, so put day number 43 in the books! And I have finished 35 bikram classes, which equates to 3, 150 sweaty minutes! When it's all said and done, I will have done 5, 400 minutes of amazingness and sweatiness!

For breakfast, I had another one of my Udi's bagels and coffee! Such a typical breakfast and it's all gluten free :-)

I loved my leftovers for lunch today! That wine chicken from last night is so tasty! Next time, we are going to cut it up into pieces so that more of the chicken gets that wine sauce on it :-) It was such a busy day that I realized at 2:30, I had not consumed enough water! Yikes!! Naturally, I started chugging water so that when I walked into the hot room, Mardy wouldn't completely kick my ass!

I love it when I make it to class earlier in the day than expected! Today it was especially lucky, because I ended up taking Mardy's 5:30 class. I always go into her classes know I'm going to be worked hard, but today I didn't have time psych myself out and was able to really enjoy it! I really appreciated the words of encouragement that Mardy gave us today! Before class even started, she said our mantra for the remainder of the challenge should be "Just show up!"  That is exactly what I plan on doing for the next 25 classes! If I can just walk through that door and put down my mat, I have completed the hardest part of the class! It's funny that people say "It's all downhill from here!" because anyone that has actually run down a hill knows that it can be the hardest part of the run!  Running down a hill is such a challenge because it's hard on your joints, so you have to actually figure out the best way to run instead of just digging in!  That's kind of how I feel about the last part of this challenge! Yes it is all "downhill" from here but getting myself into the hot room for the remainder of this challenge will definitely need to be well planned out, and I will need all of the encouragement I can get! After class, I treated myself to an Epsom salt bath! It's amazing how that can soothe the aching in the my muscles!

Sarah made the best mac-n-cheese from "The Best 100 Gluten Free Recipes" (which can be found here: Buy me!! ) She used the quinoa pasta from Ancient Harvest and I must say that it may be my new favorite gf pasta!  To add something healthy to our dinner, we had large salads to pair with it!  Several people asked for the recipe so here it is:

3 cups milk of choice
3 T sweet rice flour
2 T unsalted gf butter
2 cups grated sharp Cheddar or cheese alternative
2 T grated Parmesan cheese or cheese alternative
1 tsp. hot pepper sauce (we used cayenne pepper)
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups hot cooked gf elbow macaroni (Again I used Ancient Harvest!)
1 cup gf bread crumbs
sweet paprika, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2.  Place all but 1/4 cup of milk in a heavy, medium saucepan.  In a small bowl, stir the rice flour with the remaining 1/4 cup milk until it's smooth; whisk into the milk in the saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 5-8 minutes.  Add the butter and stir until melted.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cheeses, hot pepper sauce (or Cayenne or chili powder, if you are a wuss like me!), mustard, and nutmeg until the cheeses are completely melted. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss to coat the pasta thoroughly.  Transfer the mixture to a greased 2-quart baking dish.
4. Bake 15 minutes.  Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and a dusting of paprika.  Bake until the cheese is bubbly and the bread crumbs are browned, about 15 more minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Serve immediately and with a smile on your face :-)

Next time we are going to add this gf kielbasa that we love to give us some protein for the evening!  And shamefully, I will want to add corn because I love how corn gives it a crunchy texture!  I also think some grilled bbq chicken would be really great with it too!!

Okay I need to get into bed because I have a double in my future tomorrow (as long as my work schedule doesn't change)! 8am and noon yoga here I come!! Can't believe I'll be done with classes 36 and 37 in less than 16 hours from now!  Michelle, just remember, just showing up is the biggest battle!

"Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked." 

- Patanjali, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali