Stressing & Quick TJ’s Dinners

Greetings from a dragging Wednesday. I hate to sound like such a whiner, but I’m in a funk. I’ve been having serious sinus pain the last 3 days and still dealing with a sore and swollen ankle. Mix that with hubby working mucho overtime, my own job not exactly being a cake walk and running on a lack-of-sleep and I’m ready to write this week off right now. I’m concerned about the sinus issues because I rarely have these problems, I can’t remember the last time I had sinus issues this bad. I guess this is a byproduct of stress vulnerability since plenty of other people are dealing with similar issues at work. But trying to function while my head feels like it’s imploding makes keeping my sweet exterior extra challenging, I wanted to scream profanity at a confused guy that called my on-call work cell phone not once, but twice last night apparetnly confused from a Craigslist ad. I feel like I have a serious case of adult ADD this week with my head in the clouds and I can’t take any sinus/cold medication. The few times I’ve tried in the past the side effects have been way worse than the original symptoms. Anything non-drowsy is guaranteed to make me uncontrollably drowsy and night-time stuff usually means I’ll wake up at 2 AM feeling wired with a hangover and totally screwing my sleep cycle. So I always end up riding out any cold and sinus symptoms all natural. But that hasn’t made working out easy, I have been seriously lacking in energy the last two nights barely completing regular workouts.

Whining aside, the last two days I’ve been having pricey lunches at Whole Foods.

I’m not proud of the costs, but going easy has been kind of nice with everything else challenging me this week. I was happy to see another kombucha option, Vibranz Kombucha, and the Peach-Passion Fruit flavor is fabulous being sweeter than GT’s with less of a bite and costs about the same at $3 each. I’ve been saving the glass bottles since they’re perfect for taking my own homemade kefir water on the go.

I knew this week wasn’t going to be easy, so I picked up some crutch foods at Trader Joe’s for easier dinners.

I’ve never tried this before, but decided it looked perfect for a throw toghether stir fry. I created a sauce in the Vita-Mix with tamari, fresh ginger, agave nector, chopped carrots and water. Then stir fried cabbage, broccoli, zucchini, cashews and the cubed tofu in a wok with the sauce poured over the top. The end result was wonderful with a nice gingery flavor and varying textures.

Last night’s dinner utilized another quick TJ’s ingredient that’s a fave of mine.

I like this tempeh because it’s about a $1 less than the Lightlife stuff at Whole Foods and considerably cheaper than most other grocery stores. I got a little crazy and decided crisp up the tempeh chunks in a wok with a little toasted sesame oil, then top a raw salad of spiralized cucumber, tomatoes, avocado and carrots dressed with sesame oil, dulce and lemon juice with the chunks.

Besides being a little watery, cucumbers actually spiralize very well and was a fun way to mix things up a bit for a salad. And since I’ve been eating alone the last few nights, I have plenty of leftovers for the next two nights. I know, not too exciting, but easy and gives me more time to catch up on house chores.

Anyway, I’m looking for new ideas to get out of my funk – it’s nearing the end, but some sort of pick me up is in order. Running to the mall has been tempting, but so has saving money and not cluttering my closet. And getting something pierced or tattooed is not an option. What works best for you to end a funk?