Hello, Lovely, Fabulous Readers …

So, it’s the holidays already, huh?

I know so many of us say this every year, but how the heck did it get here so fast?

Anyway, as you can tell by the looks of Eat, Pray, Run, I have not been doing a fantastic job at keeping it updated. And just like the holiday arrival, I don’t know where time has gone and how I missed so many days of writing to my lovely blog readers.

As promised (more than a week ago), Dan will be guest blogging soon, so we can get that fantastic tofu recipe to you. It really is as yummy as it looks. And in the days to come, you will be seeing lots more from me — promise.

For now, my friends, I have loads of preparing for Christmas and Hanukkah to do, so I am going to get my heiny moving.

In the meantime, enjoy this piece I wrote about my new love — the Nintendo Wii. Who would have ever thought I could be so enamored with a video game? Oh, how I love you, Wii bowling.

Happy Holidays to each and every one of you. ♥

Happy Turkey Eve!

Last Year's Thanksgiving Goodies ...

I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving Day tomorrow. I am looking so forward to eating lots and lots of good food. Mmmmm….

Enjoy!!

It’s Going to Be a Nutty Weekend!

Happy Saturday!!

I have two fabulous recipes that I absolutely have to share with you.

Here is the first, and I will post the other one a bit later:

I made this oh-so-yummy granola from Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave on Thursday evening, and I cannot stop eating it. The toasted nuts are so tasty and it smell like warm apple pie when you are baking it. Mmm … fall is in the (kitchen) air. I doubled the batch and we are already almost through the first. Make this a Sunday project!

Nutty Granola

Makes 4 ½ cups

3 cups old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup chopped raw, unsalted walnuts

1/2 cup chopped unsalted almonds

1/2 cup chopped unsalted pecans

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins, optional (I made it with 1/4 cup raisins, 1/4 cup dried blueberries.)

______________________________________________________

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl combine the oats, nuts, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon and the raisins, if using. Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Take a look-y at the final product at top — Dan put some nutty granola on top of his yogurt and finished it off with some fresh strawberries. Soooo good!

Nutrition Information

(Per ½ cup serving)

Calories 280

Total Fat 15 grams

Saturated Fat 1.5 grams

Cholesterol 0 mg

Sodium 67 mg

Carbohydrates 34 grams

Protein 7 grams

Fiber 4.5 grams

Check back later for a recipe for Energy Bars … these babies are so easy and yummy, too!

Ch-Ch-Changes ….

As I promised earlier today, here is an update about the many changes that you will begin to see on Eat, Pray, Run over the next few days.

I have received several emails from readers expressing a need to see more exercises and get-your-booty-in-shape tools. Many have even requested I post examples of certain exercises and yoga poses that may help common ailments, such as the one we talked about in How Yoga May Help Me Pull the Knife Out of My Head. Other readers said they would also like to see more healthy recipes, and, of course, some of the not-so-good-for-you treats, too!

As a result, you will soon notice two new tabs at the top of the page — one that focuses on exercises taken from trained sources all around the globe (I am not an expert, but I know people who are!), and another that explains to you some of the many recipes that I (OK, my fiancé!) use every day to create healthy meals.

But, my question to you is (if you have not told me yet): What would you like to see on Eat, Pray, Run? What are your favorite aspects and what would you enjoy seeing more of? Some readers have already asked to see more examples of what I eat every day, similar to blogs like Eat Like Me or Kath Eats Real Food, and others just requested a continual emphasis on my life lessons.

I have put together this survey, and I would appreciate you taking a bit of time to fill it out. If you would prefer to send me an email, that is absolutely A-OK with me. I just want to hear from you!

Lastly, here are some housekeeping things that I want you to keep in mind:

• I read all of your comments. I often post responses, so make sure you check back — I love talking with you! In addition, feel free to write in the comments section located below a post any questions you may have, especially when it comes to foreign recipe contents, exercise concerns and so forth. If I don’t know the answer — for example, I am certified to teach Pilates, but not yoga — I know someone who does! So, rest assured, I can get those answers for you. Don’t forget you can also always email me at eatprayrun@hotmail.com.
• Remember to always check at the end of posts and below pictures, specifically ones at the end of a post, to find additional information, such as links to Web sites. For example, in Bald Head or Not, Just Act on It Anyway!, I posted a note about Bekah, a woman who, at age 23, is fighting her second battle with cancer; all of these links and side notes have great information to offer toward our purpose — building our best life!
• Make sure you check out the sidebar to the right of the site page — there are all kinds of little notes, and tools that make Eat, Pray, Run easier to navigate.

Thanks, readers! I cannot wait to hear from you.

Veg-Heads Can Bake, Too!

Note to readers: I am not a vegetarian, but I like to learn about dietary habits of all sorts. In addition, I know I have readers who enjoy all kinds of different foods and come from various food backgrounds. Therefore, I thought I would give these muffins a try!

I love to bake and, lately, I have been reading Skinny Bitch In the Kitch: Kick Ass Recipes for Hungry Girls Who Want to Stop Cooking Crap (and Start Looking Hot!), a fantastic baking and cooking resource for vegans. If you have not read the prelude to this book, Skinny Bitch, you may want to give it a shot. While I don’t necessarily agree with the authors, Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, angry and get skinny-or-it’s-not-worth-living approach, there is a lot of the interesting information about governmental standards for food processing.

So, anyway, I decided to make the book’s Basic Fruit and Nut Muffins this morning and, after eating two yummy muffins, decided that it was a great recipe to share with you!

Now, as a Skinny Bitch you must decide what kind of muffins you are going to make (see below for variations). I chose the Apple Cinnamon Muffins and, although the recipe says to omit the nuts, I was feeling rebellious and added 1/2 cup slivered almonds. I also threw in a small handful of raisins — YOUR CHOICE!!

Basic Fruit and Nut Muffins

Makes 12 standard-sized muffins

1/4 cup refined coconut oil, melted, or safflower oil, plus more for greasing muffin tins (I used safflower oil.)

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup Sucanat or other dry sweetener

1 tablespoon Ener-G egg replacer (I forgot to buy this, so I used 1/4 cup applesauce instead — another great egg replacement. 1/4 cup applesauce or 1 mashed banana or 1 tablespoon of Ener-G all equal about one egg.)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1/4 cups soy milk (I used EdenBlend Original Rice & Soy.)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup fresh or dried fruit, diced or chunked if necessary (I diced about 2 small apples and threw in a bit of raisins.)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Now Choose Your Muffin…

*Apple Cinnamon Muffins:

Use apples for the fruit, omit the nuts, and add 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves to the dry ingredients.

*Cranberry Orange Muffins:

Add the zest of 1/2 orange. Use dried cranberries for the fruit and omit the nuts.

*Tropical Macadamia Nut Muffins:

Add the zest of 1/2 orange, combine banana and shredded coconut for the fruit and use macadamias for the nuts.

*Zucchini Raisin Muffins:

Combine shredded zucchini and raisins for the fruit, omit the nuts, and add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger to the dry ingredients.

Now that you have all of the ingredients, it is time to bake! :

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease a standard-sized muffin tin or use muffin liners.

In a large bowl, combine the pastry flour, Sucanat, baking powder, salt and egg replacer (If you are not using Ener-G, save the egg replacer for the liquid ingredients). In a medium bowl, whisk together the soy milk, oil and vanilla. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture, stirring until barely combined. Stir in the fruit and nuts, if using.

Transfer the batter to the prepared muffin tin, dividing it evenly. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.

And, VOILA! They should look nice and pretty, like mine:

ENJOY!!

Eat, Sleep, Eat … or something.

Hello! My name is Caroline Shannon.

Once upon a time in a land far far away, I was a runner. I was a health enthusiast and a positive thinker. I was a writer, a vegetable eater, a confident woman . . .

I was pretty dang cool.

I am not sure where my will to roll out of bed when it was still dark or my need to feel my hands on a keyboard were lost, but I think I have a few ideas. Thus, here follows the chain of events that lead to me eating cheese in excess and only using my yoga mat as padding under a sleeping bag when my younger brothers sleep over:

1.) I stopped pursuing my passion, writing. I left my position as a news reporter and took a desk job that I thought would help me make a bit more money. I thought the extra cash would then make me feel more secure when pursuing a full time freelance writing position. It sounded practical, but it turned out awfully. Turns out my desk job is extremely boring — for me — and unmotivating.

Who woulda thunk it.

2.) My counting down the minutes (milliseconds, nanoseconds!) until I have squeezed in enough hours to make a buck has caused me to go home and . . . uh . . . sit on my ass. My excuse is that I need to do mindless things, like watch The Hills, to take away the edge left over from the work day. The real reason that I needed to engage in such “activities” is because doing something like exercising or writing would cause me to think too much. And that would be painful.

3.) Sitting apparently requires eating, and I am not talking tofu and brown rice here, people.

My favorite strawberry print pj’s + a few episodes of good ol’ MTV =french vanilla ice cream with a dash of chocolate gelato, raviolis with meat sauce and an entire bag of holiday (Any holiday! Christopher Columbus Day!) candy.

4.) I have stopped running which, next to writing, is a huge part of my life. This could be due to my drugging myself with sugar before I go to bed, ergo diminishing my want to get up in the morning and exercise; or it could be a result of the fact that I am saving whatever scraps of motivation I have left in my soul to use during the work day.

One may never know.

What I have figured out, however, is that my lifestyle has become unacceptable. My life is begging me to engage in a complete overhaul.

And I am gonna listen this time.

This is not some wacky New Year’s resolution that I am going to forget about the next time I am head-to-head with a pint of chocolate swirl ice cream and a package of Nutter Butter cookies.

I am committing myself to getting back to the Old Caroline and it starts right now. No more “I’ll start tomorrow” talk. I am so sick of me that I am ready to kick the crap out of myself. It’s that bad.

I know I sound all preachy and you are probably rolling your eyes a bit right now. I know this because I am rolling my eyes at myself right now.

But I mean, who can’t use a little overhaul (If you can’t, I don’t like you…kidding, kidding…)? I am hoping that you, too, will learn from my experiences. I plan on sharing it all right here.

My writing, exercise tips, healthy recipes, inspiration, running, black toenails from running…

…you get it.

This is not a blog about how to lose weight or how to get a job or how to find God. This is about total life renewal — to be specific, MY total life renewal. So, live vicariously, and lean on me, and learn from me, and love me, and tell me to get my ass off of the couch!

I am excited to have each one of you on my side as I move forward. And, hopefully, each one of you who are in my shoes – -like, you can smell the stench of my kicks, that’s how much you understand what I am saying — will be challenging yourself to get your act together as well. Or even if you are the slightest, littlest, tiniest bit in need of a change, I hope you, too, will learn from my journey.

I am ready to rock. Are you?