One pot meal and August running numbers

So for all you busy people who don't have time to do a lot of dishes, here is a take on fried rice that only requires one pot.  It is also nice because it's a good clean out the fridge meal as well.

My One Pot Fried Rice

Ingredients

1 T dark sesame oil

3-4 cups fresh veggies, chopped (I used carrots, onions, broccoli, celery and red bell peppers) - frozen could be used as well

1 cup uncooked brown rice

2 cups water (or vegetable stock)

3 T soy sauce

A couple of dashes of hot sauce

1 T toasted sesame seeds

Seitan chick'n strips or rotisserie chicken (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oil on medium high heat in a large pan with high enough sides.
2. Add chopped veggies and saute for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add uncooked rice and toast the rice or another 4-5 minutes, until it starts to turn brown.
4. Add water stir to combine and cover.  If you have real brown rice, it will take 30-40 minutes to cook the rice.  If you have parboil, it will take significantly less time.  Stir occasionally. 
5. Remove lid and stir.  Add soy sauce, hot sauce, and sesame seeds in.  You can also add in your protein now, or just add it to the plate.

Serves 4. 

Lots of colorful veggies

Cooking the rice in the sauteed veggies save you on number of pots to clean.

Dinner is served!  I added seitan to mine and the hubs got rotisserie chicken.

Running Numbers

I am such a numbers person that I have to tally up my miles at the end of the month.  Despite the lack of sleep and not feeling 100%, I surpassed July's number (72. something ) in August with 75.29 (and one week I only ran 4.04 miles).  I hope to get up over 100 soon.  I just the little guy to do some sleeping (we did pretty well on Friday and Saturday, but he made me pay last night, it was bad).

Do you have any one pot wonders?  Happy Monday!

Another kick to the head

When it rains, it pours.  So I took the little man to the peds for his 6 months check up.  I mentioned again, that we are having trouble with him sleeping still.  Well his sleeping is so bad, that it is now affecting his growth.  He has dropped off in height, weight, and head circumference. 

                                   Before 6 months                            At 6 months
Height                         40-50th percentile                         25th percentile
Weight                        25th percentile                              10th percentile
Head circumference     5th percentile                                2nd percentile

I took him to the ped at 5 months because his sleep was so bad that I wanted to have him checked out (he checked out fine), but they weighed him then and in one month, he actually lost 2oz.  Yikes!!! 

So he is on probation.  He has to come back in one month for another weight check.  The doc is only mildly concerned because he did meet all of his developmental milestones, so his lack of sleep is only affecting his growth currently.  Our doc thinks that because he is not sleeping enough, he is not giving his body enough rest in order to grow, but also, because he is not sleeping, he is burning more calories.  Double whammy!

So we are also on order to start solids twice a day too.  We started solids last week, and he is not crazy about them.  Some days he would eat it and some days no.  Well after the ped appointment, I went home and gave him 1 tablespoon of rice cereal and 1 tablespoon pureed carrots (yes, I make my own babyfood, it's fun really).  He ate it all.  So that was good.  But he had 3 immunizations and 1 flu shot, so guess who had a reaction to the flu shot, yep, the little man.  He got a nasty fever, runny nose, and just didn't feel good.  So, he refused all solids for the past 2 days.  Awesome little man, don't you know we are on probation here. 

And because of my lack of sleep (from his lack of sleep), I felt like the worst mother in the world after that appointment.  I cried in the room after the doctor left.  I called my husband and he asked if this was me overreacting or if it was that serious.  I told him I knew I was overreacting, but I am so emotional right now from my lack of sleep, I just felt awful. 

So since the ped appointment, he hasn't slept well because he is having a reaction to the flu shot.  His fever did break last night, and we instituited a sleep with mom night last night.  The hubs slept on the couch and the little man and I were in the bed together.  Everytime he woke up, I was there to feed him or console him.  The hubs slept much better, but guess what?  We both woke up with sore throats.  No!!!  I can't get sick!

If anyone has any advice on babies and sleeping, please tell me your secrets.  I feel like we have tried them all including some from my own baby whisperer. 

FYI - I did get all my training runs in last week.  I got to run my 9 miles alone on Saturday morning.  The air was cool and it was a great run.  I am hoping to get a nice 10 miles in this weekend if that is at all doable. 

I also have made some good recipes that I hope to post soon, I just haven't had the energy to do much posting period these days.

My less than stellar weekend

I am exhausted. I thought my daughter was a bad sleeper. My son woke up 7 or 8 times last night. I am drained. I have lost it. So no, I didn't get all my runs in. I also had a few unexpected things go on this week, so I could't make it to the farmer's market, which meant not many fresh fruits and veggies this past week, so my meals were not as healthy as they should have been. So I didn't feel my best either. Did I mention that I am having a few nursing issues so it's very painful still to nurse and even worse to pump. Neither kid is sleeping so everyone in my house is cranky. My morning actually started off with me crying in bed. You know when your day starts off like that, it's going to be bad. My weekend started out so great, I don't know how things changed unless it's the lack of sleep that is just getting to me.

On Friday, my brother-in-law had off work, so he went running with me, a lot of fun. Then I spent the night out Friday at my sister's house so I could get a solid night sleep, and I did, but we got up early to get a workout in before we started our day. We did 1 hour strength training class and 30 minutes of yoga at Chateau Élan before we hit the spa for a little R and R. I had a nice massage and a great time, but we tried to do so much that by the time we got home at 2pm, I was ready for a nap (which I didn't get). I could tell my mood was not great.

Sunday, I didn't even think about running. The little guy slept ok, woke up a couple of times, but we have had worse. Sunday night was awful though. And today has just been out of control, so no, another day of no running for me.

On one happy mote, I went to the farmer's market today (by myself) so we have lots of fresh foods in our house now. I had a nice big spinach salad for dinner. I needed that after this week's eating habits. I just feel so much worse when I eat bad. I am just having a "My life is a Greek Tragedy" weekend. I am hoping things are better tomorrow. I just hate when I have a long weekend with my family, that it isn't anything but fantastic. My husband works such long hours that to have an extra day with him and not be able to take advantage of it sucks!

I now have to deal with the fact that my fall racing schedule might not be as packed as I had hoped. I am just not going to be able to get all my runs in, and that is ok, but I feel so good when I get a good run in. Of course it's hard to get a good run in when you aren't sleeping well. I don't know what tonight will bring as far as sleep. I feel like we have tried everything. I don't know what is left to try.

Ok, enough of the pity party. I hope everyone is/had a great long weekend.