2011 just flew by, and while the year had it's ups, I'm definitely ready to say good-bye and head on into 2012. Although I typically don't make resolutions, I thought this time around it might be a good idea to set a few goals for myself.
Things like:
Incorporate more fruits and veggies into my diet. Actually, basically just eat healthier in general. This includes adding more of those green things to my diet, as well as trying to stay away from all those lovely processed foods. My goal is to shop the perimeter of the grocery store as much as possible.
Run a half marathon. But wait, don't I already have two marathons and two 30k races under my belt? True as it is, I am still missing out on two big race distances: the 10k and the half. As I've gone father distances than both these races, my goal is to actually train for them, rather than just building up to the required distance and calling it good.
Get back to planning a weekly menu. Boy have I really fallen off the train on this one. Between moving and a lot of events happening this summer, it was hard to come up with a weekly menu every week as we were most likely going to be gone the next. But, I need to quit using a busy schedule as an excuse. Building a menu each week makes for less headaches and "no, what do YOU want?" arguments. Not to mention less wasted food and easier trips to the grocery.
Serve more sides. Um, this is a pretty obvious one. I actually tried this a couple years ago, but didn't last too long. BUT, the way I can look at it this go around is that adding a side gives me a chance to incorporate those little green and brown things called veggies I like to avoid, as well as helping to cut down on the intake of calorie-laden entrees.
Start clearing out my Foodbuzz archives and Google Reader starred items. I really hate to admit how many recipes I've tucked away between these two sites over the years. Yes, years. And now Pinterest is not helping. These guys need a serious purge, and there's only one way to do that...
Start doing yoga again. Adam and I used to do this quite regularly a while back, but as per my usual excuse, things got busy and we stopped. I miss how much more relaxed my muscles felt and how much more flexible I was when we did yoga. It really doesn't take that much time and isn't super exhausting (at least the kind we do).
Drink more water. No, this isn't based on the fictional science about the 8 glasses of water a day. Apparently though, thirst can also present itself as hunger, which means eating a bunch of calories my body doesn't really need. So my goal is to drink a glass of water before giving in to those snack cravings as well as to drink a glass before each meal.
Aside from all the goal making hullabaloo, it's also fun at the end of each year to take a look back and see which recipes really caught your attention. Last year I simply asked Adam for his list of favorites. This year, I'm checking out which recipes you all made the most popular. And they are:
Top 10 Recipes from 2011
(according to page views)
#10 - Peppermint Hot Chocolate
#9 - Broccoli Cheese Soup
#8 - Peanut Butter Oreo Cookies
#7 - Russian Tea
#6 - Lofthouse Cookies
#5 - Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats
#4 - Chocolate Peppermint Kiss Blossoms
#3 - Baked Red Velvet Doughnuts
#2 - Swirl Sugar Cookies
#1 - Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
I keep thinking I should stop saving recipes to try. Between magazines, cookbooks, emails, blogs, and Pinterest....it's virtually impossible to get to them all!!
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking I should stop saving recipes to try. Between magazines, cookbooks, emails, blogs, and Pinterest....it's virtually impossible to get to them all!!
ReplyDeleteI try my best not to make resolutions because I never follow through. At least I learned so now I don't beat myself up over it. I have, however been seriously considering taking up yoga. Any pointers for a beginner?
ReplyDeleteKaren
www.karenandcharlieskitchen.blogspot.com
I know what you mean about needing to do a purge of internet things. With me it's my bookmarks. I swear, I have about 50 million things in there lol.
ReplyDeleteI can't decide which of your top ten I like best so I think I need to just make all of them... and buy bigger pants
@Karen Ha! I am definitely NO expert when it comes to yoga! I am super not flexible and know I look ridiculous, but like anything else, the more I do it, the better I get. Since I'm not a part of a gym and don't feel like shelling out the $ for class, I used to just use the Namaste Yoga series on FitTV. For the most part they were at a level I could follow and I could do it whenever I felt like at home (it was only 30 min with commercials - though we always DVRed it and skipped those). Now we've switched cable providers so we've lost FitTV, so we don't have that option anymore. (Although if you do a good Google video search you can find the full length ones online.) If you choose to do them at home, I would really just focus on getting the form of the moves down as best you can -- just know you won't be able to do them perfectly from the get go unless you're uber flexible. Practicing in front of a mirror helps, or have someone help you out to make sure you're hitting the correct positioning (is your butt too far up in the air or your arm in the wrong spot? Those kinds of things).
ReplyDeleteUgh, I'm with you on the yoga... I've stopped doing any real physical activity as of late. It's awful! I need to get back in to a hobby that doesn't revolve around food or sitting at the computer!
ReplyDeleteLove the resolutions... LOVE #5! :D
ReplyDeleteI love your Top 10 List. The photos are beautiful - vibrant (and delicious!)
ReplyDeleteGreat post.... happy 2012! Now, back to un-starring MY Reader favorites too......
ReplyDeleteI also need to get back into weekly meal planning.
ReplyDeleteResolutions don't work for me...Good luck with yours...Loved this post...
ReplyDeleteWow.. I think are 2012 goals are remarkably similar. It seems the more I wanted to drink more water and pack in more fruits, the less I was able to with a crazy January rush. And foodbuzz or google reader? Oh, I just did the dirty deed of mass delete... >.> I hope your goals are doing better than mine!
ReplyDelete