I was gonna blog about the 7 days of Vitamix (which I am way behind on) and the new health program I am doing, but that can wait.

What happened in Boston yesterday is horrific and unbelievable. As more details emerge, I cannot process what the people affected are going through. Parents lost a little boy who hadn't even been old enough to explore who he wanted to be. Another set of parents lost a daughter who was beaming with pride waiting for her boyfriend to cross the finish line. Many people lost arms and legs. Many more will have injuries they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Countless people who were at the scene and watching this all unfold through the media will have emotional injuries and scars they will carry with them.

I have read several articles that mention this attack is scary, but shouldn't be this big of a "news getter". Are you kidding me? Sure, the total amount of people physically injured was relatively low when you compare this tragedy to September 11, 2001 or the Oklahoma City bombing. The reason this attack, and all attacks like this one, are so scary, is no one could have ever expected it. Ever. When you can't participate or be a spectator of something so non-political, and non-controversial as a marathon, that's when it becomes truly bone chilling. There was no statement to be made by doing this above the fact that it is now abundantly clear we can be attacked in a horrific way, either by foreign or domestic terrorists, at any time in any place. Plain and simple. No place is safe.

I hope they catch who ever is responsible and they are punished. Severely.

A photo was being shared all over Facebook yesterday that I had to repost. It puts tragedy in a new light... there will always be hate and evil. But there will also be hope, love and care. I hope I remember this quote when I have children and have to explain to them why things like this happen.

Photo from Huffington Post Online

Vitamix Series: Day 1, Chicken Tortilla Soup

Last night, we tried out the Chicken Tortilla Soup from the cookbook that came with the Vitamix. Let me just talk about the cookbook for a sec here. Its HUGE. We're talking 350 PAGES HUGE. Smoothies, soups, ice cream, sauces, dips, breads, (yes, I said breads) breakfast treats - so many choices! I can't rave enough about this spiral bound beauty. 

After posting a photo of the Chicken Tortilla Soup on Instagram and Facebook - lots of people requested the recipe to this soup. Super easy. Dinner was done in 10 minutes total, starting with pulling the veggies out of the fridge down to pouring the soup into the bowl. 

The cast of characters are as follows:

Soup Base:

• 1 1/2 cups Chicken Broth (or Veggie. Add more if you like it super soupy...see what I did there?)
• 1/2 Roma Tomato (I used a whole cause I just didn't want to cut one in half..it was small)
• 1/2 Carrot
• 1/2 Stalk of Celery
• 1/4 Jalapeno (add the seeds and/or more of the pepper for a good kick)
• 2 Tablespoons of Onion (I added more like 1/4 of the onion - don't judge me!)
• 1 Garlic Clove (or 2 if you're feeling fancy)
• 1 Teaspoon (roughly measured) of Taco Seasoning
• Dash of Cumin

Add all the ingredients above in that order (that's what the cookbook says - for the Vitamix, I doubt it matters too much) and let her rip on the soup preset. If you have you have the Vitamix but no preset option for soup, start the blender at variable 1 and slowly increase to variable 5. Leave on for 5 minutes or until heavy steam escapes the vented lid. If you didn't know, the Vitamix actually COOKS the soup while blending. The friction of the blades with the contents is so powerful your soup will be steaming hot! 

For those of you without a Vitamix, blend all ingredients until you have a soup base, then transfer to a pot to simmer until hot or you can use the microwave. 

Add your chicken, (please pre-cook- can be done in the time the blender is running for the soup base!) corn, beans - basically whatever you'd like into the hot soup base and turn it on for 5-10 seconds until you get the consistency you'd like (chopped or shredded).  Pour into bowls and top with cheese (I used the weight watchers version), sour cream (light for me!), and tortilla chips (if they are stale, even better!) Pretty low cal right?

Total recipe will yield about 3 cups - or two giant bowls in the Garcia household!

THAT'S IT! See, so easy. I'll have to figure out the calorie content and/or weight watchers points later. All I know is it tasted fabulous, I used low cal options where I could and it was a whole bunch of veggies and protein! 

I'm crazy and I know it

We did it. Well, actually I did it. I've been obsessing over one of these for the better part of 2 years......

Disclaimer: Please ignore my
hideous/no makeup/very tired face!

Yup. That's right. The big daddy of blenders, the Vitamix. I strolled (or as mom said, skipped) through Costco with a wad of cash ready to buy the basic Vitamix. But, when I saw the new version demo, I knew I had to have the latest and greatest. Preset timer settings for smoothies, ice treats, and soups? Gotta have it. No question. After some internal debating and a phone call to the hubster, (and of course his usual response "get whatever you want my love") the Vitamix 6300 was in the cart. If you wanna look this bad boy up - just know I did NOT pay the amount on the website. I did get a deal. The purchase at the end was upwards of $500, but I don't care. My mom thinks I'm insane, as does my husband but he wants to make me happy. ;-) 

In honor of my new purchase and the multiple people who have asked me what would possess me to buy a blender this expensive, I'll post a new series on my blog - The 7 Days of Vitamix. I'll share recipes I've either made up myself and/or out of one of the many recipe books/websites available.  Of course, nothing short of driving to your house and firing it up in your house will truly show how awesome this thing is, but I'll give it a try anyways!

Excuses.

I've been the master of excuses lately in regard to a TON of things including my eating habits, and my exercising habits (or lack there of). It's so easy for me to justify my laziness. I tell myself "you work yourself ragged all week you DESERVE to be lazy". This morning, as I was "running" on the treadmill (at least my version running) I realized the things that I make excuses for and then get depressed about are all things I can control. I can still run and move while I still can. I can choose to put healthy food in my body, no one is force feeding me cake!

I had to pump myself up in the last two minutes of my workout this morning. The person next to me probably thought I was insane cause I'm pretty sure I was mumbling under my breath, but telling myself why I want to lose the weight, and why I need to stay focused and not give up really helped me drive through that last minute. The high after I finished was amazing. I was proud I pushed myself, and I'm ready to do it again tomorrow.

Birthday Suprise!

For my birthday, Ricky organized a big surprise several weeks in advance. I was at work for my birthday, which wasn't that bad because I had a 4 day weekend starting the very next day. My boss walked into my office at 3 pm telling me I needed to leave by 3:30 and pick Ricky up at work right away. I had no idea what was going on. Turns out Ricky had secretly planned this....

Beauty

There is beauty around us, we just have to take the time to enjoy it.

Microwave Chocolate Cake!

]I was being totally lazy today while the hubster was out with his buddy. I wanted chocolate cake pretty badly, and a store bought cake didn't sound great and neither did making a whole cake (well because eventually I'd be the one eating it by myself). I had been playing around on pinterest and found a whole ton of microwaveable "cakes" in a mug.

It was super easy, and in less than 3 minutes, I had a steaming mug full of brownie/chocolate cake! Here's the recipe::