Balsamic Roasted Chicken

Serves 4

207 calories per serving

Takes 10 minutes to prepare, 25 minutes to cook

Ingredients:
Calorie controlled cooking spray
4 x 150g (5 1/2 oz) skinless boneles chicken breasts
1 large onion
2 red peppers, de-seeded and sliced into thin strips
1 green pepper, de-seeded and sliced into thin strips
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz chicke or veg stock
a small bunch of fresh oregano or
1 tsp of dried oregano
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180C/fan oven 160C.  Spray a roasting tin with the cooking spray, place the chicken breasts in the tin and season.
2. Spray a lorge non stick frying pan with the cooking spray and stir fry the onion for a few minutes until it is softened, adding a splash of water if it starts to stick. Add the peppers and garlic, stir fry for a further minute and then tip the mixture over the chicken breasts in the roasting tin.
3. Drizzle over the balsamic vinegar and stock, sprinkle with the herbs and then roast in the oven for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Halfway through, spoon some of the sauce over the chicken breasts.
4. Check that the chicken is cooked and serve.

Serve with 60g (2oz) dried pasta such as tagliatelle or linguine per person, according to the packed instructions.

(To save washing up I put everything in my big casserole pan together.)

Not Many Left

My walk this morning was tinged with a hint of sadness. Each morning it is a little darker and the sun is lower in the sky. Very soon I know it will be dark in the morning and my walk will have to take me along the road through the housing estates. These precious minutes, my special minutes will not be the same and I will be walking in the dawn. That will also have its beauty I am sure but I will miss walking in the park.

Little brown man was nowhere to be seen this morning and the usual suspects were doing their walks and runs around the park. There was a new face though or two new faces, a little old man and his Spaniel. The man was quite feeble looking and walked with a stick and the dog was old looking and was soaking wet probably had a swim in the nearby river. The man swung his arm and threw a tennis ball and the dog took off after it ears flapping and tail flying out behind him. He retrieved the ball and dutifully took it back to his master. This always amazes me as I have never been able to get my dog Dougal to fetch a ball or anything else for that matter.

My world of men and dogs and sunshine fingering its way through the trees onto green grass was shattered by the 7am news and I was thrown into a world of Syria and Nuclear bombs and an old man tragically murdered. I wondered what life would be like without the hourly reminder of all that is wrong with the world. I know you can turn the radio off and some mornings I do but you feel that you are missing something. (Mental note to self, turn it off tomorrow)

Now I am on the way hope through the green grass the pathway stretching out before me with the sun breaking through the gaps. This is a quieter end of the park, most people walk along the playing fields on the upper end, but I like this pathway and it leads me easier home.

Soon home now have a shower, porridge with John's blackcurrant cheese in it feed the animals and off then to work.

The Grass the Trees and Me

Last night going to bed I set my alarm for 7am.  I woke at 6am and contemplated turning over and sleeping until the alarm went off. The usual discussion went on in my head,

Voice: “You are tired, sleep on”

Me “but I feel so much better when I have my walk, it sets me up for the day.

Voice: “but you had a busy weekend and you deserve a rest”

Me: “I know that but I will feel guilty if I don’t get up and walk”

I really don’t know who the voice is but I think it is the lazy part of me, always looking out for my comfort and challenging the feel good part of me.

In any case Me won out and I jumped out of bed got dressed and put on my ankle supports and my  ECCO shoes that are my lifesavers a quick brush of my hair and wash my teeth, turned on imapmywalk and I was good to go. It was 6.22am.  Around the corner I turned on the radio on my phone and plugged in my earphones. I cannot turn the radio on coming out of the house because the signal goes as soon as I leave my row of houses so I wait until I am out of range of the wi-fi.

I headed towards the red bridge over the Griffeen River the pathway is steep here and you have to watch your footing or you will land on your bum.  I met that creepy looking brown guy that is always walking on that stretch of the path at that time.  (Mental  note to self, leave earlier.) I speak to him but he has a leery auld head on him and he makes me feel uncomfortable.

The morning is bright and the sun is creeping over the trees and gradually lighting the shadows left by the dark night. I climb the hill to the back of St Finians Estate, marvelling how easy it is for me to do that now.  Some months ago I struggled with this hill and it could knock the wind out of me, now is it easy peasy thank God, I do thank God regularly for helping me in my get fit efforts.

There were very few out and about, the roads were quiet and there was no bus at the bus stop. I walked on smartly up and past Superquinn and past the Lucan Harriers track. Just after I turned left at the next junction the imapmywalk voice said I had walked a mile in 17min 6 seconds a medium pace for me.  I crossed the road and walked along the high wall. The big black dogs were at the gate across the road and barked frantically as I walked by. I remember the first time I passed by their gate and they lifted me off the footpath in a fright. 

The sun was climbing in the cloudless sky and was now in my eyes.  The Living Word came on the radio. Last week it came from Plum Village and was about meditation and living mindfully it was interesting and made good listening.  I cannot even remember what this morning’s programme was about.

 I crossed the road and walked along by the park and through the housing estate bordering the park.  The river Griffeen was running low for a change and the park was lit well with sunshine.  I went through the gate and immediately before me was a woman walking two big dogs. Both were having a crap on the grass near the gate and she just walked off and left it. It wasn’t the first time I had witnessed something like that, the park is widely used by dog owners and a good percentage of them use the park as a toilet for their dog and do not clean up after them.

I walked by the new red and yellow gym machines standing empty wondering if they are being used much by anything other than kids. I was tempted to jump up on the air walker but resisted because I my back was still painful since yesterday. I walked down to and over the bridge, up by the empty dog run and up and around the playing field. Usually I would meet the woman with the beautiful dog at this stage and later the old man with the tanned skin running without a top.  The woman is pleasant and the dog is friendly but the man is either very rude or very focused on what he is doing. Neither was anywhere to be seen. 

My alarm went off for 7am and I had passed the 2 mile mark and was well on the way home. Churffed with myself I walked through the sunlit stretch of green grass which is surrounded by mature trees on both sides.  There were only the singing birds, the grass, the trees, the nearby river and me.  

What an absolutely perfect way to start a new week and was I ever glad I got out of bed.

66 Days

Today marks the day I move down into the 200s.  I have 66 days of walks behind me.  I have lost 10 lbs and I am doing a 17 minute mile.  I have also started running part of my walks a minute a few times during the walk and that is a lot more than I expected to be doing at this stage.  Walking is part of my day, one half hour each day and maybe an hour at the weekend.  It is one of the most important things I do each day and I look forward to it now that the evenings are getting longer and I can walk in daylight.  I walk to the shop if we are short of one or two items, I walk to choir and to meetings in the parish.  Walking has changed my life. I am much fitter, and healthier mentally and physically.  Sometimes I think a half hour is not much but if I do it every day it adds up and I use Imapmywalk which is an added incentive to keep going.

Tight assed blondes

Thirty four miles and 13 walks later I have walked through wind and driving rain and darkness and daylight.  I have been overtaken by so many tight assed blondes who just glide by me with their little tight leggins and padded sleevless jackets, how I hate them, I want them to trip most of them have a funny walk like a half run.  I am not a speedy gonzales in any way shape or form.  I have my own speed and I hit it and off I go, happily, sometimes wrecked after a days work but I go and it is good to work out stuff in my head. 

I have lost 5 lbs since I started, thought it would be more but I have to look at my diet, sometimes I think I am not eating enough and I know I am certainly not drinking enough water and thats another thing when I am walking it is impossible to tell yourself you dont need to pee when you do.  I had to run into the Penny Hill last night and then Lisa and I had a drink, I was sorely tempted to stay there for the evening, dont know when I did something like that but I went home just as well because I had no dinner and was hungry.  I think I am losing inches though.

I hate walking clockwise, I prefer to listen to the radio than music and I detest people who bring their dog for a walk and let them do their business on the footpath and just walk off not cleaning up after them.  I mostly walk 4 or 5 km but sometimes less, eg today I walked on my lunch hour I just did 2km.  I see myself building up, though it is not too nice walking in the cold dark evening but they are getting longer. 

The Journey

I lay in bed in a half sleep and it came into my head - 366 walks. It made complete sense to me, 366 days in the year and one hour out of each of the 366 to be devoted to myself, my wellbeing and health. Before I even got out of the bed I knew that I was going for a walk. I swung out of the bed at 9.30, found my shoes, my jacket with all the pockets for iphone, tissue, keys and glasses, set my imapmywalk and off I went into the cold bright morning. It is the 1st January there is not a soul out except one other lady, everyone is having a lie in I guess. I listen to Miriam Meets on Radio 1 she is talking to Mary Coughlan and her therapist Maura who helped her overcome her addictions and led her back to health. Near the end of the interview Maura reads "The Journey" by Mary Oliver. The poem just struck a cord with me and I knew it would have to be my mantra for this journey of mine. I will have to be selfish and do this for myself.     

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do
-- determined to save
the only life you could save.

~ Mary Oliver ~