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  • Food & Nutrition, Nutrition, Uncategorized

    A.M. Recipe: Cabbage Kielbasa Soup

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    My undergrad bestie, Krystal, is an amazing cook and blogger at DC Brown Sugar Bakery.  She has agreed to curate a few quick, healthy and student-friendly recipes to “fit” (pun intended) the Academic Muscle audience.  Enjoy!

    It’s halfway through February 2019, which means that by now, resolutions  made a month ago unfortunately might be broken by now.  In 2018, 45% of Americans pledged to lose weight or get in shape, so there’s a good chance that half the nation’s population has made similar goals this year.

    Jogging, lifting weights, or finding zen in yoga are excellent ways to develop lean muscles. However, those results may never be visible if your diet is poor. Don’t despair! I have a tasty, nutritious and affordable meal even novice cooks can prepare. It’s cabbage kielbasa soup consisting of fresh vegetables, a little starch and protein to give you the energy needed to complete your workouts. It’s also the perfect soup for cold winter nights.

    Get your ingredients together, a calming playlist, and make this easy soup in 30-40 minutes. Then, enjoy this delicious meal, which is not only intended to fill you up but help you see the definition in your legs after all those squats.

    Cabbage Kielbasa Soup

    Ingredients

    1/2 package turkey kielbasa sliced

    soup 1

    soup 4

    2 tablespoons olive oil

    1/2 medium onion diced

    2 medium carrots chopped

    1 celery stalk chopped

    3 red potatoes chopped

    1/2 cabbage head sliced

    1 chicken bouillon cube

    salt, pepper, and dried oregano to taste

    Instructions

    First, brown the turkey kielbasa for about 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside. Add olive oil to a hot pot. Cook the onions, carrots, and celery for 5 minutes and then add the red potatoes. Sauté for about 7 more minutes. Add kielbasa and roughly 4-5 cups water and chicken bouillon cube. Bring the water to a boil and then add the cabbage and seasonings to taste. After the water returns to a boil, reduce it to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are thoroughly done. Enjoy!

    soupsoup 3

    Thanks so much Krystal for this amazing recipe!  Hopefully, this is the first of many. If you all try this out, let us know what you think.  Also, if there are any recipes you’d like to see from Academic Muscle (how to make them healthier, cheaper, etc.) let me know!

  • Exercise

    My Fall Workout Regimen

    selective focus photography of woman in white sports brassiere standing near woman sitting on pink yoga mat
    Photo by bruce mars on Pexels.com

    In the past few months, I’ve been extremely consistent with working out. This week alone, I worked out four times, but it didn’t feel exhausting or like overkill because I’m doing things that I: 1) really enjoy 2) find relatively easy to fit into my schedule 3) have people who I look forward to seeing 4) paid in advance lol.

    At the beginning of the semester, I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t continue my Thursday morning yoga class  because of my new teaching schedule.  A part of me thought that I could try to fit it in by packing my work clothes, taking a shower at the gym and then heading straight to campus, but that would just require way to much from me in terms of planning, and if anything happened with the trains, I would be pretty much out of luck.  I’m learning to be content and realistic about with what I can manage.  I can’t do everything whether it be in terms of working out or school, so it’s more about figuring what my priorities are and making it work as best as I can.

    Mondays and Wednesdays I do an early morning workout class at the gym.  I have to leave my house a around 6: 45 am to make it in time, but it’s worth it. It’s starting to get darker and colder outside so prayers are appreciated to help me keep this up.  I have the most control of my schedule in the morning because there’s no one sending me a time sensitive email, trying to come to office hours or asking if I can grab drinks etc.  Admittedly, I’m pretty tired after these workouts, so I’ve definitely increased my coffee intake on these days especially.

    Fridays For the past 8 weeks or so, I’ve been learning the choreography for a salsa performance class.  At first, I was nervous that my Fridays nights would be taken, and I’d have to turn down all of the enumerable happy hour invites that I was sure to be getting—-that was definitely not the case.  It’s actually been a nice way to end the week, and I enjoy the people for the most part.  There’s also usually an extra practice that I attend on Sundays or Thursdays.  I’m not sure how things will work once my salsa class is over, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

    All in all, I would definitely say that I’m proud of myself for being so consistent with exercise especially given all of my commitments this semester.  Working out in the early morning or in the evening is best and prioritizing enjoyment/pleasure with practicality when figuring out what to do has proven to be a good decision making approach.

    How often are you all working out?  Have you fallen off the wagon or failed to get on?

  • The Academy, Uncategorized

    Back to School Pt 3: 10 things I’m grateful for

    Gratitude is a daily practice that shouldn’t be reserved for the holiday season–and I failed at keeping a gratitude journal.  Here are 10 things I’m grateful for at the start of this school year…..

    affection appreciation decoration design
    Photo by Carl Attard on Pexels.com
    1. I have my own office with mood lighting that I can use to do work. In NYC, space is a premium, so as a perk of being a co-chair for a student organization, I get access to this very special space that serves as a closet, pantry, mini-yoga studio and of course a work space.
    2. I’ve never had to pay for school.  The fact that I’ve never had to pay for school is a very clear sign to me that there is a calling on my life and that there is some higher power guiding my steps.  I feel like there’s something that I’m being asked to do.  So many of my colleagues and friends have the burden of student loans, and I can’t imagine having to go through school making so little and owing so much more.
    3. My friends and close colleagues. In all honestly, I feel a bit socially estranged from the people in my cohort; however, over the years I’ve been able to cultivate relationships with people not in my department.  Thanks to my scholarship society, my student organization and a spirit of bravery to take classes in different disciplines, I’ve met people I actually really like. We’re not besties, but it helps to not feel so alone.
    4. I live in NYC! Never in my life would I have thought that I would live in New York nonetheless with little financial burden (reference #2).  The fact that there are so many resources here like the Arturo Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the King Juan Carlos Center at NYU means that I get to interact with a plethora of different people and to attend lots of different events.  The city is my campus, and it’s pretty dope.
    5. I’ve learned just as much academically as I have personally in the last 5 years. When I tell people that my program is on average 7 years, they usually balk, and I respond that had I better guidance, I wouldn’t be in this situation.  At the same time; however, I’m really glad that this time has allowed me to, in short, figure shit out.  I really feel like I have a far better understanding of who I am as a person, and this wouldn’t be possible without the stability that I’ve gotten from having to be in the same place for so long.
    6. I have an amazing roommate. In undergrad, there was a verifiable uptick in my grades when I decided to live in a single room and stop trying to ‘make friends’ with the random strangers who I got paired with in the housing lottery.  All of my housing situations since then have involved roommates.  This is the first time, that I really feel like I got it right.  She is friendly, clean and pays her rent on time.  It really is a game changer to come home to a house that can be a refuge from the stress of everyday life.
    7. I have professors and mentors who will really go to bat for me.  My squad. I would never tell them this, but there is one professor who I consider my academic mom, and my mentors are my play aunties. They are already at the top of the “people to thank in my dissertation introduction” document I keep on my computer. #fictivekin
    8. Teaching is a choice.    It is no secret that most institutions of higher education run on part time labor thereby leaving a huge pool of people without any real job security.  Because of my fellowship, I actually don’t have to teach at all.  Now that teaching is a choice, I feel like I can enjoy it rather than it being something that is forced upon me. It’s honestly a huge privilege (and responsibility) to be a black female anthropology lecturer–that’s rare.   I had one Black anthropology professor during undergrad in my senior year.  I remember the first time I came across Black Feminist Anthropology, and how my love for Johnetta B. Cole started.   Now, I get to be the face of what anthropology can be for people, and that’s powerful.
    9. Insurance. I absolutely love my dentist and getting my teeth cleaned.  My therapist is the goat.  My dermatologist looks like me.  My insurance isn’t great, but I’ve found some really great people.
    10. I’m breaking generational curses. As hard as this journey has been and continues to be, I know that I’m setting my future family up to have a fulfilling and thriving life–you’re welcome.

    Your turn. What are you grateful for these days?  How are you keeping these things in the forefront of your mind–morning routine, gratitude journal, some fancy app?