By I like to think I’m making up for lost sriracha time.
Even with my intense love for all things spicy, I didn’t try sriracha for the first time until last year. One of my college roommates had a bottle of it in the fridge, and it always intrigued me, but she usually ate it on top of tuna (which I now know is really delicious), and I just never really wanted to try it. She also knew how to make homemade Indian food, and I never took her up on the offer to teach me how. You can bet I’m kicking myself in the face for that.
Anyway, I’m happily on board the sriracha train, and was looking for new ways to add it into my life that go beyond squirting it directly into my mouth.
Gotta keep it classy, yo.
So I took a couple of zucchini that were looking a little sad, and decided to chip-ify them using my beloved fiery condiment.
-I sliced them using a veggie peeler
-then a generous portion of sea salt to let some of the liquid out of the zucchini (this step is optional, but I find that it makes veggie chips more crisp after dehydrating)
-I patted them dry with a paper towel, then added a heaping tablespoon of sriracha, a teaspoon of Tamari, some garlic powder and a pinch of Stevia
-They dehydrated overnight (at 115* on Teflexx sheets) and were perfectly crisp when I woke up
The chips taste AMAZING, but the trick is going to be eating these without Livi seeing them; she likes spicy, but these are pretty intense!
If these are outside your heat tolerance, check out my BBQ zucchini chips recipe– super savory with a hint of sweetness.
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Measuring Workout Success
Last night after teaching Zumba, I saw my heart rate monitor in my gym bag, which has a dead battery and I haven’t used in at least 6 months. I used to love having it as a gauge for my workouts, because even though it isn’t perfectly accurate, I could compare with past workouts for calorie burn. As you guys know, I used to count calories, got away from it for a while, then got back into it when I became pregnant and was teaching so many classes. (This video of my pregnant Zumba dancing still cracks me up.) Using the heart rate monitor for my workouts while pregnant was invaluable, because it helped me keep my heart range in a moderate range (my midwife said that the belief that you need to keep your heart rate under 140 was old school, and just to be mindful of how I felt, but of course, listen to whatever your doc says!). The main goal was to make sure that I never felt too hot or like I was overheating.
(some of my pregnant fitness instructor tips are here, if you’re in the same spot!)
After the pregnancy, I didn’t want to think about calories anymore. I used my heart rate monitor initially, when I was trying to get my fitness levels back, and then the battery died. I never took it to get a new one and have been going by how I feel. I can tell the days that I feel more tired or have a lot of teaching classes in a row, or the high-energy days when my hair is totally soaked afterwards. For running, I still like to use my Garmin for pace and timing, but other than that, it’s kind of freeing to teach without personal technology for now.
Do you wear a heart rate monitor when you work out? How do you gauge workout success??
Hope you have a great day <3
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