Cheryl L. Ilov's Blog, page 4

Cheryl’s Spontaneous Shrimp and Pasta Diablo

I came up with this recipe in the sixth month of the pandemic when I had nothing planned for dinner and couldn’t stand the thought of coming up with a grocery list, let alone going to the grocery store. I looked in the pantry, the freezer, and the refrigerator, and got a little inspiration. I figured if it bombed, we could always order a pizza. However, the result was so delicious that I even surprised myself, and this is now one of my go to recipes.

Ingredients:

8 oz large shrimp

6 ounces linguine

one can diced tomatoes

½ cup white wine

¼ TSP red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves crushed garlic

Directions:

Heat olive oil in large fry pan frying pan over medium heat. Add crushed garlic stirring constantly for two to three minutes. Add shrimp, cook for 3 minutes on each side until shrimp is no longer pink.

Add red pepper flakes and cook for 2 minutes while stirring to blend flavors. Add white wine, and diced tomatoes, cook on low for 10 minutes. Cover and set aside.

Cook the linguine according to directions. Toss with shrimp sauce and top with parmesan cheese. Yummy!

 

Lessons from The FemiNinja

During my 17 years of training in the Art of the Ninja, there were many principles and philosophies of the art which were applicable to every aspect of my life and every life situation. My training was not only about protecting myself, it was about learning how to have a better life through the insights gleaned through training.

A few weeks ago I had the honor of telling my story to the Pearls of Wisdom Women’s Circle, hosted by my friend and colleague Beth Anderson of Pearl Coaching, LLC. I shared some of my insights with them, and now I am sharing them with you. As I reflect on my experiences, I realize I have so many ninja secrets that I am now collecting them and organizing them to put in a book.

Yes, even while my second book, “The Reluctant Ninja,”is going through the editing process I am already working on my third book. Someone, please save me from myself. But, I have to share. Because I truly believe that everyone can benefit from these these life lessons. After all, not everyone wants to spend 17 years in a smelly dojo the way I did. This is my gift to you. You’re welcome.

Here are just a few:

1). When you don’t know what to do, do what you know. It’s much better than freezing like a deer in the headlights, or standing there with egg on your face. Any reaction is better than no reaction at all.

2). We all have inherent skills and even superpowers. The challenge is to find them and use them for the power of good. Make a point to start exploring and see what they are. You might surprise yourself.

3). You are stronger than you think you are. There is more strength and power in you than you could ever imagine, both physical, mental, and spiritual strength. Sometimes you have to challenge yourself and put yourself way out of your comfort zone to find it. But trust me–it’s well worth the effort.

And remember, “A lion sleeps in the heart of every good person.” ~Turkish proverb

Fabulous Fit Tip #4

Welcome back to my simple and practical fabulous fit tips!

FIT TIP #4: VISUALIZE SUCCESS

Never underestimate the power of visualization. What you can imagine, you can achieve. Using your imagination and practicing visualization actually changes the neural pathways in your brain. Professional athletes and performing artists have used the power of visualization for years to improve their performance on the field and on the stage. It works for them and it will work for you.

Visualize yourself doing some activity every day which will help you improve your strength, flexibility, balance, posture, and core strength. Focus on only one thing at a time, and truly engage your mind as you imagine the sensation going through you as you slowly perform the activity. You will be amazed at how much benefit you will get from even the most simple movements by using the art and the skill of visualization.

On that note, imagine yourself achieving your fitness and health goals, no matter what they are. Because if you can imagine it, you can become it, and you will have the strength of new neural pathways to help you. Here’s to your health!

The Reluctant Ninja

I am beyond excited to announce that the manuscript for my next book, The Reluctant Ninja, has just been turned over to my fantastic editor, Donna Mazzittelli of Merry Dissonance Press. Here is a sneak peek.

PREFACE

I unlocked the door to the dojoand stepped across the threshold. I removed my shoes, respectfully bowed to the Kamidana and walked across the mat toward the dressing rooms. My stocking feet whispered softly across the padded floor, barely making a sound as I crossed the length of the mat. At the end of the mat, I turned, bowed again, and made my way to the ladies dressing room. My gi was hanging neatly on the hanger with my belt draped across its shoulders, exactly where I left it one year earlier. The only change was the thick layer of dojo dust that covered my uniform. It was time to take it home. My martial arts journey was over.

Over the past fourteen years I have had many tests of faith. Some were mere bumps in the road that were to be expected in any type of training, but others were so devastating and insurmountable that they almost took me down for good. I often thought about quitting, but the seductive pull of the art always drew me back to the mat. I couldn’t deny the call to train, and to follow a path that was ordained to be mine. Although it was a path that I never wanted, nor was it one that I chose.

The truth is that I never went looking for the martial art of Ninpo Tai Jutsu. Instead, the art came looking for me. Once it found me, it would not take “no” for an answer. Apparently there was some divine intervention, personal spirit guide or some other force that was assigned to me without my knowing about it. And without my permission. However, the personal transformation which I experienced over the course of the past fourteen years was nothing short of phenomenal.

At the spry age of sixty-one, I was certainly strong enough, fit enough, and still had the spirit to continue training. But, I was pretty sure my journey had come to an end. It was a decision that had been weighing heavily on my mind for the past year, during a much needed sabbatical from the dojo to see if I missed it. I did, but not enough to go back to training on a regular basis. It wasn’t the training that was the problem. It was the expectations and responsibilities that came along with being one of the highest-ranking students.

I was expected to help run the dojo, clean the dojo, teach classes, help with marketing and advertising, recruit new students, and still pay the monthly tuition. It was an interesting business model, one which was instituted after my teacher moved to Hawaii to follow his dream, leaving the inmates to run the asylum while he supervised from a distance.

He did come back to check on the martial arts school he had opened over twenty years earlier, and to smack us around a bit, both literally and figuratively. After four years of trying to train and flourish under this model, I was growing extremely jealous of the time the dojo was taking away from my personal and professional life. After all, I had my own business to run, and my own clients to take care of. And they were paying me for my time, rather than the other way around.

After taking a year off and weighing the pros and cons, I made my decision. It was a tough decision to make, and one that kept me up at night. Ninpo was a huge part of me and my life. And it had given me a sense of strength, power, and self-confidence I had never thought possible. And quite honestly, it even made me feel downright sexy. Go figure.

If I quit, would Ninpo still be a part of me? Would I still have the spirit and the self-confidence I gained from training? Or would I lose it for good if I quit? Because if I did quit there was no going back. That was made quite clear to me after being accepted into the coveted instructor’s program several years earlier. Once you leave, you’re gone for good.

With my gi and my belt tucked under my arm, I sighed and left the dressing room, stopping along the way to check the bathroom to make sure it was clean. There was a time when I was the only one who cleaned it and wondered if anyone else had stepped up to the job during my absence. I shuddered to think that it had been left untouched for a year, so it was a relief to see it was clean. I also checked the back door to make certain the deadbolt was locked, since some of the other instructors forgot to lock it after class. Some habits die hard.

Once my inspection was completed, I stood at the edge of the mat holding my belt in my hand for several long moments, enjoying the feel of the thick fabric and admiring the silver embroidering on the belt, indicating my level of Sho Dan. Although Sho Dan refers to the lowest level black belt rank, there were damn few students who ever achieved that high rank in our dojo. And I was the first woman in our dojo to earn it. Who would have ever thought it possible?

I shook my head as the memories came flooding back, and again wondered if quitting was the right thing to do. If I still had my keys to the dojo, and didn’t deliver the final statement, the door still might be open to me. But no, it was time. I had a vision of the swift cut from the blade of the katana delivering a lethal blow, severing my connection to the dojo, and forever terminating my journey. My decision was made.

I sighed heavily, bowed to the Kamidana and walked across the mat to the reception area, sat down and put my shoes on. Picking up my gi and my belt, I turned to face the Kamidana to bow one final time. I paused for a long moment, staring at the shrine, reflecting on the countless times I knelt in front of it. Of the many times I tested under it. And the many times I sweated, struggled, played, failed miserably, and eventually triumphed under its watchful eye.

I also remembered the few times the Kamidana lit up and glowed with a warm bright light when I looked at it. Almost as if someone was communicating with me, giving me encouragement and direction. It felt like a form of silent communication which said, “Don’t worry—we got your back.” I used to feel a kindred spirit with the Kami, but they had stopped communicating with me a long time ago. The light from the shrine had gone cold, dull, and silent. It was time to go.

I bowed one last time and turned to leave. However, when I turned, a flicker of light caught my eye. Confused, I turned back toward the Kamidana. Light glowed from it, sending rays of light shooting and dancing across the room. The Kami had come back to life and were communicating with me once again. And it sent a clear message. A slow smile spread across my face as I realized what it meant. With a face that glowed with respect and understanding, I bowed one final time, and said in a strong voice, “Arigato gozaimashita!”

My journey wasn’t over. It had just taken a different path. It was time—time for me to tell my story. The story of how a terrified and traumatized middle-aged princess transformed herself into a warrior queen. I carefully locked the door to the dojo, dropped the keys in the mailbox, and walked away.

 

Martial arts school. Literally translated it means “the way.”

The shrine which is said to house the spirits of the Kami, those who have trained, taught, and gone before us.

Traditional martial arts uniform.

Ancient Japanese martial art based on the art of the ninja and the Samuri.

The lowest level black belt rank.

Japanese sword.

The spirits of those who have gone before us.

Thank you for what you’ve given me.

Fabulous Fit Tip #3

Welcome back to Fabulous Fit Tips, dedicated to providing simple but valuable tips to help you become forever fit and flexible. If you haven’t read the previous Fit Tips, you may want to check them out since the tips are listed in consecutive order to help make them easy to follow and commit to.

Fit Tip #1

Fit Tip #2

Here’s the next tip to help keep you on track and achieve your goals.

Fit Tip #3: Track your progress

Now that you have set clear and specific goals, and have written them down on paper, it’s time to track your progress. Keep a diary, a journal, or other written record of your progress at a glance. Include when you have met your goals for the week as well as when you have fallen short. However, remember to leave out the judgement and the guilt if you haven’t accomplished what your wanted to.

Instead, when you haven’t met your goals (and that will happen more often than you think), it provides you an excellent opportunity to re-evaluate your approach. Identify what is working for you and make appropriate adjustments to your routine.

Remember, we are all works in progress, and the journey to fitness is a continuous process, but it is well worth the time and effort. Wouldn’t you agree?

Fabulous Fit Tip #2

Welcome back to Cheryl’s Fabulous Fit Tips! As promised, I am following through with more valuable tips on how to set goals to help you in your journey to being forever fit and flexible. If you haven’t read the previous Fit Tips post, you may want to check it out, or simply review it if you have and just need to refresh your memory. Here’s the next tip to help keep you on track and achieve your goals.

FIT TIP #2: Write your goals down–on paper

Write your goals down, on paper. When you want to accomplish a specific goal, it’s simply an abstract idea floating around in your head with only a slim chance of following through with it. However, when you write it down, the idea has intention, direction, and purpose.

Keep in mind that you need to physically write them down, on paper, using a pen or pencil, rather than on your computer or phone. I know, it seems rather old-fashioned, but here is why it is so important and so effective. The mere act of writing in cursive and putting your goals down on paper helps your brain process the information you are recording while it activates the motor pathways you will use to help you achieve your goals. Also, writing by hand helps your brain (and you), learn better as well as improve you ability to recall it at the same time.

Just think (no pun intended), if you wrote “I will walk for 30 minutes 5 days a week for the next 4 weeks,” your brain is already taking in the information and stimulating the pathways in your brain which will help you follow through with your plan. Pretty cool, huh? Simply by writing your goals down, you are taking those first steps.

So, pick up a pen and paper, and get started. And stay tuned for the next fit tip, which will continue to expand on the previous tips, and do feel free to share it with your friends, or reach out to me if you have questions. I’m always here to help!

Delish Fish Dish

I like fish, but I wouldn’t say that I love it. At least, not the way I love chocolate. But fish has so many wonderful health benefits, and when it’s cooked right (and well), it makes for a tasty and satisfying meal. This is a recipe I found many years ago, and I was shocked at how light and delicious it was. Besides, not only is fish full of amazing health benefits, the other ingredients can be regarded as superfoods. As an added perk, the recipe is simple and so easy to follow. What more could you possible want, except a small piece of chocolate for dessert?

Ingredients:

1 cup sliced leeks

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp olive oil

1-1/2 pound orange roughy, cod, or other white fish

12-15 fresh basil leaves

2 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 small can black olives, sliced thin

1 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Coat a baking pan with cooking spray. Place basil leaves in the bottom of dish. Rinse and pat dry fish fillets, placing on top of basil, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat, and cook leeks and garlic until soft and fragrant. Top the fish with the leeks and garlic.

Place tomato and olive slices evenly over the leeks and garlic. Thinly slice half of the lemon and place over the tomatoes and olives. Squeeze the juice from the remaining half of the lemon over the top. Cover with aluminum foil and bake between 20-30 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork.

I love serving this with a nice green salad and a light white wine. Enjoy!

Irish Soda Bread

Since St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, why not celebrate by baking a nice Irish soda bread? Many (and I do mean many) years ago when I was still working at a local hospital as a respiratory therapist, my colleagues and I loved to share all kinds of food and special dishes with each other. One of the therapists had an Irish background, and every St. Patrick’s Day she brought several loaves of fresh baked soda bread for us to enjoy.

She was kind enough to share the recipe as well, and the first time I made it I was shocked at how fast and easy it was, especially since I remembered what my Eastern European grandmothers went through to make fresh home made baked bread. I much prefer the Irish way, although after doing some research, I discovered that soda bread actually originated in North America. No matter where it came from, it is delicious, as well as quick and easy.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (I use whole wheat flour)

3/4 cups sugar (I only use 1/2 cup, but that’s just me)

1 TBSP baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs, well-beaten

2 TBSP vegetable oil

2 cups buttermilk

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt cake or tube cake pan with non-stick cooking spray. Combine first 8 ingredients and mix well with a spoon until smooth, then carefully fold in raisins. Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool before serving, but if you can’t wait, it tastes fabulous warm with a nice high quality pure Irish butter. Enjoy!

 

Fabulous Fit Tip #1

Welcome to Cheryl’s fabulous fit tips! One of my goals for this year is to include a series of monthly fit tips to share with you, based on my award-winning and best-selling book, “Forever Fit & Flexible.” My plan was to begin in January, but along the way I saw a shiny object and was off and running in another direction. It happens sometimes.

However, now I am back on track, and as I started the series of fit tips, I found a old gem which I wrote 8 years ago regarding my thoughts on mid-March resolutions. Ironically, or shall I say coincidently, the first fit tip is about setting goals. Each consecutive tip builds on the previous one, to help give you the tools to be successful, not only in your Fit & Flexible journey, but in every single aspect of your life.

FIT TIP #1: Set clear and specific goals 

If you don’t have clear goals, you have no direction and will wander around aimlessly, much like I did in January when I got distracted by a shiny object. But when you know what you’re doing you can do what you want. This applies to every aspect of your life, including your health and fitness goals, so be very clear about what you would like to accomplish.

Instead of making a general statement such as “I want to exercise more,” set a more well-defined goal, such as “I will get 15-30 minutes of exercise a day 4-6 days a week.” Giving yourself a range gives you a bit of wiggle room, and will help you be successful in whatever it is you want to achieve.

Make sure that your fitness goals are challenging, but achievable. It’s important to challenge yourself, but be careful that you do not overwhelm yourself with unrealistic expectations. Set small, incremental goals which are reasonable, but that push you out of your comfort zone at the same time.

This is a great place for you to start, and stay tuned for more thoughts on setting goals next month. Until then, feel free to contact me if you need a little help. And remember to keep moving, and be healthy!

What’s Your Superpower?

Did you know that you have a superpower? Trust me, you do–we all do. The key is to figure out what it is, and how to use it and share it with the world, all for the power of good. Using our superpower is easy, but finding it is the hard part. I’ve spent a long time looking for mine, and I learned a few tips and tricks along the way that can help you find yours. And you don’t even have to spend fifty years looking for it the way I did. So here are a few simple steps to finding your own superpower.

First of all, be careful what you tell yourself, because what we believe is what we become. What we tell ourselves, and what we hear from other people, is what we eventually believe, even if it goes against our inherent belief system. There is a physiological reason for this. Our brain is constantly “listening” and taking in all of the information that it hears, even when we’re sleeping. Our brain does not judge whether or not the information is true or false, right or wrong, good or bad. It simply logs the information, much like a computer tracking our search history and frequently used URLs.

When it receives the same messages over and over again, it actually changes the neural pathways in our brain, based on a natural phenomenon called neuroplasticity. And eventually, you become the messages your brain has received. Which is why it is so important to give yourself positive messages, and to avoid any type of negative self-talk, even in jest.

On that note, be careful of the company you keep. Surround yourself with people who are upbeat, and supportive. Avoid those who are negative or denigrate you. Wish them well and then cut them loose. You simply can’t find your superpower when other people are trying to take you down, either literally or figuratively.

Next, learn how to trust yourself. We all have an incredible amount of inherent knowledge, self-understanding, and intuition. Now that you have cut out all of the noise and chaos of negativity in your life, you’ll have a sharper sense of awareness of that inner voice. Listen to it, and follow it’s inherent wisdom.

That brings you to the point where you can find your superpower. Be gentle with yourself, take some time with quiet self-reflection, and in time it will reveal itself to you. However, I’m willing to bet you already know what it is. You just need to give yourself permission to play with it. And share your brilliance and superpower with the world. You might even be surprised that you have more than one. That’s when the real magic begins. And I can’t wait to see what you do with it. Remember, the world needs you and your superpower, no matter what it is.