Workout Wednesday -- Thanksgiving Edition

I am the person that goes to the gym Thanksgiving morning. {I'd probably go Christmas morning if I wasn't so tired from wrapping gifts until late Christmas Eve}  But, if you can't get to the gym, or your gym isn't open but, you want to get in a workout I've put together a bunch of great home workout ideas.

From: The Lyons' Share

From:  FitYaf.com

From:Home Field Fitness

From: Balanced Health Lifestyle

From: Semi-Sweet Tooth

From: Kelly Runs For Food


And this one I'm going to try.  This is a great idea from Busy-Bod.com  A workout to do during the parade! 

Do you workout on holidays?  What do you do?  Let me know in the comments!!

Workout Wednesday

I got back into my normal gym routine this past week.  I had gotten into a rut and wasn't working out as hard as before.  When I get into a rut alot of times one of the workouts that helps pull me out of it is a kettlebell workout.  It makes me feel powerful and strong.  Here is one of my normal routines

3 sets of 15-20

2 Arm Swings
1 Arm Swings
Alternating Arm Swings

Figure 8
Goblet Squat
High Pull

Russian Twist
Clean
Renegade Row

Add in 15-30 minutes of stairs and you have a killer calorie burner.  

What do you do to pull yourself out of a rut?

Thanksgiving Recipes

Thanksgiving is coming soon!  Actually we only have 2 weeks until the big day!  This is normally about the time that people start thinking about their menus.  I'm not going to lie.  I'm not going extravagant this year.  I'm actually going a bit unusual.  

This year for dinner we are doing a vegetarian "beefless" stew, stuffing, gravy and a pumpkin pie.  I have never actually made a pumpkin pie.  Is that weird??!!?? I feel like it's weird.  Every year since 2010 we have had a pumpkin cheesecake.  Before then we would either go to my family's house for dinner or we'd buy the pie.  This year I decided to make a fat free crustless pumpkin pie.  It's not going to be completely crustless.  I'm making the crust on the side so that the kids can dunk it in the filling.  It also gives me a reason to teach Sunny how to make a pie crust.  

Here are all my recipes.  Beefless stew, stuffing and pie.  Enjoy!  

Beefless Stew

Serves: 6 to 8 (makes about 10 cups)

Ingredients

• 1½ large yellow or white onions, chopped into ¾-inch pieces
• 3 ribs celery, chopped into ¾-inch pieces
• 3 medium carrots, sliced lengthwise and cut into ¾-inch pieces
• 2 portabella mushrooms (about ½ pound), cut into ¾-inch pieces
• 1½ tablespoon finely chopped garlic (5 to 6 cloves)
• 5 cups water
• 2 pounds Sweet potatoes cut into ¾-inch pieces
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon dried Italian herb blend
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1½ cups green peas (if frozen, thaw first)
• ½ cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
• Ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat a large soup pot on high with 1 tablespoon of water. When the water begins to sputter, add the onion, celery, and carrot, and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently as the edges of the onion browns slightly, and adding a little water as needed to prevent sticking.
2. Stir in the mushrooms and garlic, and continue to cook while stirring for an additional 5 minutes, adding water as needed.
3. Add the 5 cups of water, potatoes, tomato paste, dried Italian herbs, and paprika. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a low boil. Stir in the rosemary and cook covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the peas, and cook for 5 minutes more, or until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
4. Place 2 cups of the stew (broth and vegetables) into a blender, and blend under very smooth. Stir this back into the pot to thicken the stew, and stir in the parsley. Serve with a few twists of ground black pepper and, if you like, add a small sprig of rosemary as garnish.

{The stew recipe was taken from: Straight Up Food}

Stuffing

Approx. 18 slices of whole wheat or whole grain bread, cubed
1 cup of onions, diced
2 cups of celery, sliced small
1 T poultry seasoning
1 T ground sage
1/2 cup egg substitute or egg whites
1 cup veggie broth


Directions

1. Saute onions and celery until soft (if you're using regular non-vegetarian sausage you want to cook it too at this point)
2. Place all ingredients in a big bowl and mix together (use your hands, it works the best. Don't be afraid to get messy!)
3. Place in a baking pan and cover with tin foil. 
4. Put into a 325 degree oven for 30 minutes
5. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown.

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup egg substitute (equal to 2 eggs)
1 can (15 oz.) 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 can (12 fl. oz.) Fat Free evaporated milk

Directions

1. Spray pan or dish with nonstick spray
2. Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl.  
3. In a separate bowl whisk together eggs and pumpkin.  Add in dry ingredients.  
4. Gradually stir in fat free evaporated milk.
5. Pour into pan/dish and bake according to list below

Baking Times

9-inch-round glass pie dish: 325° F; bake for 55 to 60 minutes
10-inch-round glass pie dish: 325° F; bake for 45 to 50 minutes

8-inch-round cake pan: 350º F; bake for 45 to 50 minutes
9-inch-round cake pan: 350° F; bake for 35 to 40 minutes

8-inch-square baking pan: 350º F; bake for 45 to 50 minutes
8-inch-square glass baking dish: 325º F; 55 to 60 minutes

9-inch-square baking pan: 350º F; bake for 35 to 40 minutes

11 x 7-inch glass baking dish: 325º F; bake for 45 to 50 minutes

13 x 9-inch baking pan: 350° F; bake for 35 to 40 minutes
13 x 9-inch glass baking dish: 325° F; bake for 40 to 45 minutes


Cooking for a crowd?  You can make a bigger crustless pie in a 13 x 9 dish!

13 x 9 Pie
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 cup egg subsitute (equal to 4 eggs)
1 (29-oz.) can pumpkin
2 (12-oz.) cans fat free evaporated milk


Baking Times
13 x 9-inch baking pan: 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes
13 x 9-inch glass baking dish: 325° F; bake for 60 to 65 minutes



Do you make "unusual" dishes for Thanksgiving?  What are they?  Tell me below!

Declutter

Do you hoard things?  I have a problem with hoarding magazines.  I couldn't bear to throw them away.  I had basically a whole bookcase dedicated to magazines.  It was ridiculous.  There was a few years worth of magazines sitting in the house.  

This is just the pile I was working on.  There was probably 5 times as many magazines in my house.

What do you do when you're house is over run with magazines that you can't bear to get rid of but you never read??  You make an article binder.  

I bought a binder, divider tabs, and a 3 hole punch.  The binder (that came with the dividers) was about $2.50 at Walmart and the 3 hole punch $2 or $3 at Staples.  I ripped out all the articles I wanted to keep and organized them by type.

I have a section for recipes, exercises/workouts, Motivation, articles, and miscellaneous.  This binder takes up next to no space at all and even if you need 2 or 3 binders, it will still help get rid of all the magazines.    

Do you hoard anything?  Tell me what it is!

Happy November!

Hi everyone!  I know I've been MIA recently.  October was super crazy and busy.  Here's an overview of what October looked like

This was my view when I was training clients.  Isn't it gorgeous??

My truck died on me alot.  I mean ALOT.  Ken and I were stuck on the side of the road more times than we could count.

My daughter decided she was going to start raising money for her dance team.  She got the idea to "Dance for Dollars" on the beach.  It didn't raise any money but, I give her an A for effort.  {If anyone would like to donate it's not too late!}

Whenever we go to Vitamin Shoppe the girls are allowed to pick out a snack.  Sunny chose Love Snacks Tropical blend.  I love that they pick healthy things.  This had mango, papaya, pineaple and coconut.

Sunny broke her wrist playing around with Mo.  So now we're back and forth to the doctor.  I found out that finding a orthopedist is really hard for a 6 year old.  

And of course Halloween.  Sunny was Pocahontas.  Mo was Lilo from Lilo and Stitch, and Kaylee was Dora the Explorer.  They had a great time and got a ton of candy.

Since I've told you want I've done, let's talk about what I'm going to do.  November I have promised myself that I'm going to get back into blogging.  I miss it and I've been gone too long.  Here's what's on my list of things to do this month.  

• Thanksgiving
• Dance classes
• New job

There's not much but, I plan on letting you know all about it.  I'm going to write atleast 3 posts a week.  

Joosh Reivew

I know I haven't posted much recently.  This summer was really full  The past few months, life has been really busy.  You name it, it's probably on our schedule.  Dance classes, appointments, clients, day trips and a bunch of other things.

Even with all that stuff going on Sunny and I read atleast 1 book a week together.  I know that's not alot but, we don't have much time to sit.  Over the summer I was given a copy of the book Joosh's Juice Bar:  The Blue Banana Berry Adventure. 

This book is so cute!  Here's the description:

"When Joosh’s Juice Bar runs out of strawberries, the youngsters are asked to go on a “strawberry run”. Mo and Coco, along with rainforest friends Randy (a mischievous monkey) and Kwamee (a wise green lizard), travel through the Tropland Rainforest and stumble upon a unique glowing berry in Don Ribbit’s forbidden Swampland. Mo and Randy pick the berries, eat them and bring them back to Joosh’s Juice Bar. What seemed like a great idea at first turns sour as Joosh and his wife Holly return home to the juice bar and find the boys making a new juice with the berries! To their surprise, Randy and Mo, along with the animals that also drank their new blue juice, are glowing blue from head to toe! The Joosh Man takes Coco and the boys to seek aid from Doctor Boo Boo (a toucan bird).Will they find a way to wash the blue glow away? Will they get back home safely before the impending rain storm? "  --Amazon

It's written in rhyme and the pictures are amazing.  Sunny reads it over and over.  It teaches kids the importance of healthy eating and picking the proper foods.  

This book is great for kids who love to eat healthy or, if you're trying to convince your kids to eat healthy.  I'm not going to lie, I read it by myself a few times.  So, seriously, hop on over to their website and order the book.  He has also written a new book.  

Joosh's Juice Bar: The Tropland Tee-Off.  This one is about a disc golf tournament.  

JooshsJuiceBar.com

Joosh's Juice Bar Facebook

Tell me below, do your kids have a favorite healthy eating book?  

Freekah Review

Over the years my girls have become more adventurous eaters.  Having a kid that is willing to try 95% of the foods you put in front of them is great all the time but, it's really good when you review as many foods as I do.  The girls will taste whatever I make.  And they have also become little foodies so they love giving me ideas for recipes to try using new ingredients.

Freekah Foods sent me their Rosemary Sage and Original flavors.  We tasted the Rosemary Sage by itself and it was excellent.  The girls really enjoyed it.  I had a hard time at first deciding what to do with the Original.  It's so versitile, there are so many options! 

What is Freekeh?

Freekeh is a process which means “to rub” in Arabic. Freekeh was created by accident nearly 2,000 years ago when a Middle Eastern village was attacked and their crop of young green wheat was set ablaze. Most folks would sulk over their misfortune, but the crafty villagers rubbed off the chaff, cooked it up and “Eureka!” Freekeh was created. We’re proud to offer you this tasty, nutritious ancient grain with a funny name. *NOT GLUTEN FREE*

Freekeh has up to three times the fiber and protein found inbrown rice, and fewer calories than quinoa and white rice. Freekeh is a great choice to use in recipes you already enjoy, from salads, to soups, to main dishes—the cook times are comparable to brown rice, so it’s easy to choose Freekeh!

I decided to make a Quesadilla Burrito Cheesy Freekah.  

Quesadilla Burrito Cheesy Freekah
Serves 4

1 packages Freekah
2.5 cups vegetable broth
1 onion, diced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 can reduced sodium red beans
8 oz shredded cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cook freekah according to package directions using broth instead of water
3. While the freekah is cooking saute onions and mushrooms
4. Drain and rinse beans
5. Combine mushrooms, onions, beans, and freekah
6. Place half the freekah mix in an 8x8 or 9x9 square pan.  Top with half the shredded cheese, and repeat with remaing freekah and cheese.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted and brown.

Wanna hear something better?  I'm giving away 1 package of freekah!  You can choose either original, rosemary sage, or tamari.  In order to be entered like Freekah Foods on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram then let me know you've done it and what flavor you would choose if you won.  I will choose the winner on September 18th!