Soy-Free Cooking: A Little Help from Mom

May 13, 2012 by 3 Comments

My Mom and Me, 2010

Nobody can comfort you like your momma can, and my momma is no exception. She arrived in Denver yesterday afternoon to spend a week with me, helping to keep my mind off of Nick’s deployment.

It’s been nice celebrating Mother’s Day with her. We had a relaxing morning, went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch, and then made our way to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, where we bought an indulgent caramel apple to share.

Besides keeping me company for the week, my mom’s helping me cook soy-free foods that we can freeze in single servings for me to eat while Nick’s away.

We’ve found several recipes (and have identified some old fall-backs) that we’ll cook this week, including:

  • Breakfast Burritos
  • Bean & Cheese Burritos
  • Asparagus-Leek Soup
  • Jalapeno-Corn Chowder
  • Roasted Vegetable Stew
  • Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins
  • Oven Roasted Summer Veggies
  • Sweet Summer Corn Salad
  • Slow Cooker Chicken Posole
  • Chicken Cacciatore
  • Turkey Burgers

I’ll try to take pictures and share recipes. I’m crossing my fingers that by the time my mom leaves, I’ll have a freezer that’s well-stocked enough to provide me lunches for a few months. I think she’ll also help leave my heart just a little bit (okay, maybe a lot) fuller than it’s been lately. I didn’t realize how quiet our house had become until I had someone with me in it again.

I’ll leave you with pictures of my very full refrigerator:

Ready to Cook!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asparagus & Leeks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always Eat Your Greens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Onion, Potatoes, and Peppers, Oh My!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zucchini, Tomatoes, Eggplant and Carrots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Take 5 in the Garden 5-Miler

May 6, 2012 by 6 Comments

On Saturday, May 5th, I woke up early and made my way to the Garden of the Gods – a National Landmark – for the “Take 5 in the Garden” 5K and 5 Mile run.

My husband and I were married in Garden of the Gods in February, so as I ran the race course, I passed by several of the same spots where we posed for pictures on our wedding day. Sometimes I need to just run – not think or feel – so I blocked out most of my sentimentality and focused on my race.

Take 5 in the Garden Elevation Chart (from my Garmin)

The Garden is one of my favorite places in Colorado Springs, despite its beastly hills.

This is the elevation chart from the 5-mile run. The total elevation change was only about 600 feet, but because there were so many ups and downs, it felt more like a few thousand feet of elevation change.

Because of those same hills, I don’t set time goals when I run in the Garden. Instead, I enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

My average pace was roughly the same for this hilly 5-miler as it was for my relatively flat half marathon last Sunday in Oregon, and I was okay with that. I finished the race smiling, and came home to weekend chores and a long post-race nap.

Take 5 in the Garden Post-Race Pic

“Take 5 in the Garden” was my 7th road race since Nick deployed. My body is achy, my right foot (which was run over by a heavy vehicle in 2010) is sore, and I need a break.

I’ll be focusing on cross-training and yoga for the next week or two, but may make the journey to Boulder at the end of the month for what Runner’s World called “America’s All-Time Best 10K”, the Bolder Boulder.

In the meantime, my mom will be visiting me in Colorado, and we’ll be doing a lot of cooking together. Stay tuned for more soy-free recipes and other tales of our mom-daughter adventure week!

I hope your weekend has been full of good things, and that your new week begins brightly. Thanks for all of the cards, comments and other support – only seven months left of this darned deployment!

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Simple Pleasures: A Good Mail Day

May 4, 2012 by 3 Comments

Service Flag & Greeting Cards

On a single day this week, I found three nice surprises in our mailbox:

1. A cute card from my husband’s mom

2. A Service Flag

3. A hand-made card from Sue

If you aren’t familiar with Service Flags, they’re hung/flown by the immediate family of a deployment service member.

Flags with a blue star in the center represent a service member who is deployed, while flags with a gold star indicate that the service member has been killed.

As a safety precaution, Nick asked me before he deployed to please not hang one of these flags in our window or put anything on our vehicles that indicated that he was out of the country. Instead, I’ve hung my Service Flag – a gift from my parents – very proudly on our refrigerator, along with a constantly rotating array of kind notes and cards that friends – old and new – have sent to me since he deployed.

When a new card arrives, I take an older card down from the fridge and place it in a shoe box with all of the other deployment notes, cards and letters I’ve received. The shoebox sits informally beside an armchair in our family room as an ever-present reminder of the many thoughts and prayers being sent to Nick and I during these nine months of separation.

The card that Sue made for me reads, “In true love, one finds courage”. This really is true, I think. When you find someone who love and trust, and who you see your future with, your priorities change. Your eyes focus on new horizons, and as a result, some of the trials along the way end up being road bumps, not road blocks.

As I wind down tonight, I’m thankful for these cards, this flag, and all that they represent; a husband who’s serving his country with honor, a love that’s worth working for, and family and friends who love and support us. I hope that your week was equally blessed.

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Care Packages, Anger and Tears

May 1, 2012 by 7 Comments

There are times when I’m absolutely confident that someone out there in the Interwebz will relate to my stories. And there there are days like today.

Today I woke up sick to my stomach, eyes puffy from allergies, and body aching from a half marathon I ran in Oregon on Sunday. I also woke up angry. Not just a little bit upset, but really angry. Pissed-off-furious-I-could-have-run-10-miles kind of of angry (if my body didn’t hurt so much from Sunday’s run).

I’m not sure what I was so angry at. My husband? Yes, probably. The Army? Yeah, for sure. Deployment? Absolutely. When I tried to write my thoughts down on paper, the list went on and on: I was angry at IEDs, helicopters (because they crash), guns, the Taliban, myself, body armor, and nearly everything else I associate with the military.

I navigated my morning, getting work done and focusing on the things I could control, like my attitude at the office.

Then I went to the post office. It was that time again – time to mail another care package to Afghanistan. I love putting care packages together for Nick, but I hate the trips to the post office to mail them.

As I stood in line in the historic downtown building, my eyes welled with tears. Whatever tangible love I have to offer to Nick is in these packages, but I can’t deliver them myself as I can a hug or a kiss when he’s home with me. I have to trust someone else to deliver my love to him, while he lives in a war zone on the other size of the world.

By the time my turn came at the counter, my anger had liquified, and I couldn’t see through the steady stream of tears falling from my eyes. I looked like a crazy woman, no doubt. And I only verified my nuttiness when I ungracefully thudded Nick’s (not large or heavy) care package onto the counter, muttering “I hate sending him packages” between snot-sniffles and tears.

The postal worker eyed me cautiously, as if I were a bomb that could go off at any second (indeed, I was an emotional wreck of a woman who was on the verge of blowing up in a hormonal Army wife blaze of glory before his very eyes). It was after he saw the APO address on the box that he softened, handing me several tissues and customs form, saying, “now I know why you said that”.

How it’s possible to feel so much fury and so much grief simultaneously is beyond me. I hope that tonight brings rest and that tomorrow is a better day. At the very least, I know that I don’t have to mail anymore packages, and that – in itself – is a win.

 

 

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20 Miles on a Mountainbike

April 21, 2012 by 1 Comment

Photo by MilliGFunk

I went for my first bike ride of the season today, and while it’s possible I was a wee bit overly-ambitious about my mileage, I’m glad I pushed myself.

It was a pretty day in Colorado Springs, and I was able to g-chat with my husband for a few minutes in the middle of it.

With a lot to think about after our conversation, the first half of my ride went by quickly.

This photo was taken at about the time I turned around to start the second half of my ride. The skies were beautiful as the sun began to set.

It felt good to mix up my workout routine today, especially considering that my knee is still sore from last weekend’s half marathon. My next half marathon is coming up in a week, so the goal today was to go easy on the knee while still getting a heavy cardio workout in.

At the end of the first 20 miles of the season

It may seem like something of an obsession, but these long workouts are about so much more than physical endurance.

There have been so many days during this deployment when I’ve looked at myself in the mirror and not recognized the tired, worried, pre-occupied woman’s face I see in the mirror.

After twenty miles on my mountain bike I was hungry for hamburgers and my legs were sore, but when I looked at this picture that I snapped for my husband, I saw the happiness in my eyes that used to be present so often before he left.

I work out so that I can clear my head. I work out so that I can take care of myself physically and spiritually. I work out so that I can get this smile back in the midst of this crazy deployment.

 

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This is Marrying the Army

April 18, 2012 by 2 Comments

Photo by MilliGFunk Photography, 2010

We get to talk so infrequently, and our chats are so short that sometimes when he says goodbye, I can feel him slipping away – a cool mercury that I can’t hold onto no matter how hard I try.

In winter, when the air is bitter outside but warm inside, there’s a rush of cold when a door is opened.

Sharply.

Quickly.

Gone as fast as it came, the gust of wind subsides, leaving a chill in its wake.

After we talk things feel even quieter; the house even emptier than it felt before. The door is closed, but the chill remains.

We both want more than this. We are both lonely; forcibly separated; weary.

I can feel his longing for me even in the days on end when I hear nothing from him.

I quietly swallow my envy of the wives who are somehow able to Skype with their husbands several nights each week, and I thank God I’m not among the widows who can recount the devastating moment when two uniformed officers arrived at her front door, changing her life forever.

My emotions are a pendulum swinging slowly from side to side, sometimes steadying near the center, but never stopping long enough for me to find peace.

This is deployment. This is loving a solider. This is Marrying the Army.

 

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Go! St. Louis Half Marathon

April 16, 2012 by 5 Comments

When you run, you have good races and you have bad races. The GO! St. Louis Half Marathon was the latter. Immediately after crossing the finish line, I found myself in the med tent, but we’ll come back to that.

There are a whole lot of variables that come into play in distance running; sleep, nutrition, hydration, weather, course safety, elevation, hills…The list goes on and on.

I expected to have a good race today, but when I had insomnia the night before the race I knew I was already off to a bad start. 1.5 hours sleep doesn’t bode well when you have half marathon at 7 a.m.

It was humid in St. Louis on race day. Really, really humid. And windy. So much so that even the elite athletes I spoke to after the race said that it was a bad race day for them, too.

At around mile 4, my shoe came untied. This was a first for me – I’d never had to tie a shoe during a race before.

Then, at around mile 5, my iPhone locked up. I don’t go far without my cell phone while Nick’s deployed, so I manually restarted it mid-race.

By mile 7 when I saw my family for the first time, I was feeling alright overall, my 5K split was strong, and I’d kicked side cramps I’d developed earlier in the race.

Somewhere after mile 7 though, things started going downhill (unfortunately, not literally) when my IT band began sending sharp pains into my right knee. I spent the last six miles of the race trying to run, fighting pain, stepping to the side to massage my IT band, trying to run again, and failing.

There will be bad races just like there are bad days during deployment, and I owed it to myself and to Nick to finish the race. Nick finished an Ironman on a sprained ankle; I could finish this half marathon with painful IT band issues.

Melissa after the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon

I wasn’t willing to stop.

I crossed the finish line 15 minutes slower than expected, found a medical tent, and spent nearly two hours with various physical therapists, medics and a doctor.

To the competitive runner, finishing slowly might seem like a failure or a morale-killer. But when I think about yesterday’s race, I feel good. I pushed through even when it hurt, and I finished what I started training for several months ago.

As I limped and grimaced, navigating the St. Louis airport for my (seriously delayed) flight home to Colorado last night, I proudly wore my GO! St. Louis Half Marathon shirt, my finisher’s medal at my side in my carry-on bag.

I may not always be the strongest woman in the race, but I’m definitely one of the most determined. And that’s what going to get me through whatever lies ahead on Nick’s deployment.

 

 

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Soy-Free Cooking: Spinach and Feta Quinoa

April 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The first soy-free recipe I made for myself after being diagnosed with a soy allergy was Spinach & Feta Quinoa. I found the recipe on one of my favorite websites for tracking nutrition and fitness and sharing healthy recipes; SparkPeople.com.

The best thing about this recipe was the ratio of nutritional content to prep time. I doubled the recipe, freezing extra servings to eat later, and it still took less than half an hour including prep, cooking and clean-up.

The other thing that I really liked about this recipe was its nutritional value. Quinoa has 8 grams of protein per cup (cooked) (Source: Runner’s World Essential Guides: Fast Fuel), and spinach is a good source of calcium, potassium, Vitamin K, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C.

So, how do you make Spinach and Feta Quinoa? Here’s what SparkPeople say:

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced very thing
1 cup fresh spinach
1 ounce feta cheese

DIRECTIONS
Rinse the quinoa in a strainer. (Use a sifter if you don’t have a strainer that’s small enough.) In a small saucepan, add the quinoa and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and reduce heat to simmer until water is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil and garlic. Cook the garlic in the oil until the edges of the garlic turns very light brown, being careful not to burn the garlic (reduce heat to low if necessary). When the quinoa is done cooking, add it to the skillet along with the spinach. Stir it together until the spinach wilts. Add the crumbled feta cheese and stir to combine. Makes 2 servings.

Number of Servings: 2

(Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user SLIMKATIE.)

For a link directly to this recipe on SparkPeople, please click here.

This was an easy recipe to make, and it was super-nutririous. I like feta, spinach and quinoa, so I thought I’d really like this meal. The flavors didn’t blend as well as I’d hoped, and the meal had a bit of a bite to it as a result though. (You dinner isn’t supposed to bite back, is it?)

The recipe received good reviews on SparkPeople with a handful of great reviews mixed in. Give a try, and let me know what you think! Do you have other soy-free recipes? Email them to me at Melissa [at] MarryingTheArmy [dot] com, and you might find your recipe reviewed on Marrying The Army.

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Coping with a Soy Allergy

April 10, 2012 by 3 Comments

 

Soy

For months, I’d blamed the the stomach pains on stress –  Stress of moving to Colorado. Stress of starting a new job. Stress of planning our little wedding ceremony. Stress of an unexpected move (again) in February, and stress of my husband’s deployment.

I never considered that I had a food allergy  - much less an allergy to something that’s hidden within so many other common foods. Foods I was eating every single day and at almost every single meal.

Soy is common in more foods than you’d expect. Of course, it’s in tofu and soy sauces, but did you know that there’s soybean oil in the jar of spaghetti sauce in my pantry? Soy is in many cereals, most breads, and almost every frozen meal you can buy in the average grocery store.

My grocery shopping trips have become longer because I have to read every label. They’ve also become more expensive because soy is used in many inexpensively preserved foods. The good news is that eating fewer preserved foods is better for my health in the long run. I’ve also felt much better since removing soy from my diet. No more stomach pain!

Because I write about healthy living on Marrying the Army, it only makes sense to document some of my experiences coping with my soy allergy.

I’ll highlight allergy-friendly foods and recipes here as I find them. The first recipe I’ll share with you will be for soy-free Spinach and Feta Quinoa. Come back later this week to see the recipe and read my review.

Do you have any favorite allergy-friendly recipes? Link up by leaving a comment – I’d love to hear from you.

 

Editor’s Note: There are differences between food preferences, food intolerances, and food allergies. My allergy to soy has been medically tested and diagnosed. My intention is to share recipes and shopping solutions with other soy-allergic readers. I realize that for other readers, soy products may be a good solution to other food allergies or intolerances (to dairy, for example).

 

 

 

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An Easter Brunch, an Easter Race, and an Easter Wish

April 8, 2012 by 1 Comment

Sad Bunny, photo by Melissa

It’s the end of the day on Easter Sunday, and although it’s been bittersweet having my husband gone on one of my favorite holidays, I’m feeling thankful for the good things that are happening in my life despite his deployment.

I’ve missed Nick today, but brunch at Fort Carson with a few other military wives was a nice distraction, and conversations with both my parents and his helped the day feel less lonely.

Early this morning, I ran an Easter 5K in Colorado Springs called “Hams & Hamstrings”. Although I missed my goal time, I still ran my personal best 5K despite cold weather, a late race start and a course that wove its way through ruddy, sandy fields.

The official race results were posted this evening, and I placed high in my age group. Had I met my goal time I would have finished 2nd in my age group, so it’s exciting to see my training pay off.

An Easter Care Package, photo by Melissa

I haven’t heard from Nick this weekend, but I know that he had already received the Easter care package that I’d put together for him to share with the men and women he works with. I hope that they’ve had time to enjoy the goodies I sent, and that they were able to take at least a few minutes to celebrate Easter today.

As I wind down after the holiday weekend, I can’t help but feel a balance that’s been lacking since Nick deployed, and a peace about things that has been slipping through my fingers – for the most part – since I moved to Colorado last fall.

I’m thankful for friendships with other military wives who have been through or are going through similar deployments to the one I’m experiencing.

I’m thankful for family who stands behind me in support, no matter what.

I’m thankful for strong legs that push me through stress-busting, head-clearing, physically-exhausting runs.

I’m thankful for a job that gives me the means to live comfortably while my husband is away.

I’m thank for the promise that Easter brings.

If you’re reading this post, I hope that peace and perspective grace your week this week. And if you’re in the midst of a deployment, I hope that your Easter holiday brought happiness, not loneliness.

 

 

 

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