Misery Shared Is Joy Doubled

You already know how I feel about exercise. (If you don't, see my earlier post :~) This week we are spending family time in GA with Shane's parents. I am very blessed to have a cool mother-in-law. Not that we haven't had our ups and downs -- we are both imperfect people and have made mistakes in the relationship, but we have worked through all that and our relationship is probably stronger now than it's ever been. Regardless of how she feels about you, she is one of the world's greatest encouragers. And she is a joiner -- totally fearless. I watch her jumping on the trampoline and swimming in the pool with her grandsons and I think back to my own grandmother, and I just have to laugh. The thought of MY grandmother on a trampoline or in a pool is just totally laughable. . . .At any rate, Sheryl has been so supportive of this effort that Shane and I are in the middle of. So while we've been here, we've been working out together -- mostly in the pool, but the other night we had missed our window and it was really too dark to get in the pool, so she suggested pilates (she has a DVD). Always feeling a little self-conscious, my first question was "How hard is it? Can I do it?" She said she thought so. So we grabbed some mats and began. OK -- it wasn't easy. And some of it I couldn't do. But some of it she couldn't do, either. Most of it we both could do. At one point Shane came through and said he thought we were getting more exercise from our laughing than from the pilates. :~) My abs begged to differ over the next two days! Still, it was good -- and much more fun together than it would have been separately! I guess there's nothing like bonding over workout videos. . . .When we got into the pool last night we both felt the after-effects of our earlier-in-the-week pilates session. But we pressed on, sharing exercises that we have been using in our own workouts, and doing line dances in the pool. Truly, misery shared is joy doubled!



Today, I'm sharing one of our favorite breakfast staples. Growing up, we always had "eggs and rice". Now that we've cut white rice out of our diet, we've had to make some slight changes, but it is still one of our favorites. You can jazz it up all kinds of ways. It is a marvelous way to use up a little extra brown rice if you made too much. (We often make a little extra so we can have this during the week.)

Eggs and Rice

Melt 1 T of butter in a saute pan. Crack enough eggs to match the amount of rice you have left over. Scramble eggs until almost done, then add the brown rice in to blend and heat through. If you want to make it beautiful, add some parsley or cilantro on top as you serve.

You can also jazz up the dish as you're cooking by adding whatever is in your eating plan. Stir in ham, sausage, bacon. . . peppers, onions, mushrooms. . . .chunky tomatoes. It's great for breakfast, but equally good for lunch or dinner. Add Chinese veggies and some ginger and garlic and you've got a fried rice! Quite versatile and quite delicious! Try it! You might like it!