Make Your Own Trail Mix

Here's a quick and easy one you could throw together late on a Sunday night or even with a couple extra minutes on a Monday morning.  This came about because I was looking for a "snack" to pack for work one weekday morning.  I was running out of time before I had to get on the road to the office and thought, "I don't have anything to eat!"

Oh yes I do!  I had originally just put some raisins into a container and was about to call it done.  Then I realized I had half a granola bar sitting in the fridge so I crumbled that up and added it to the raisins.  A quick peek into the pantry yielded some pumpkin and sunflower seeds so they got added to the party.  And the best way to finish it off?  With some chunks of dark chocolate of course!

This turned out to be a super easy and super simple "trail mix" that I threw together with stuff that was already in my pantry.  It was a great snack for that 3:00pm lull when I just want a little something to get me to 5 o'clock.  Salty, sweet, chewy, crunchy and best of all...healthy and delicious!

Try this out for yourself!  Go check your pantry and see what goodies you have lying around that you can combine.  Nuts, granola, chocolate, seeds, dried fruit, crackers, pretzels, anything!

Workout Wednesday - Pregnant!

Surprise, surprise!  Shortly after starting PIYO at the beginning of August, we found out I was pregnant!  Not too much of a surprise for us as it was part of our plan, but it did alter my goals and expectations of the PIYO program.  I don't have any "traditional" before and after photos to share since I was obviously not going to be losing weight once we realized I was pregnant.

The photo above shows me at Day 1 of PIYO, unaware of the start of the tiny little life inside of me.  It also shows me 13.5 weeks into my pregnancy journey.  Still working out, but modifying as needed.

I've since completed the two months of PIYO but it was certainly not done how I would have done it prior to being pregnant.  I had to slow down, keep an eye on my heart rate and make sure I modified any positions that felt uncomfortable or gave me an increased risk of falling over or hurting myself.  Even though I don't have any traditional "weight loss" stats to share with you, I can tell you PIYO definitely helped me accomplish several other non-scale victories!

• My flexibility and balance were vastly improved.
• I could hold a plank for 90 seconds, pretty easily.
• My push up strength improved and I could do more of them on my toes instead of on my knees.
• I became more aware of my posture throughout the day.
• I stuck the Warrior 3 pose without falling over once.
• I just had an overall feeling of strength and health, knowing I was doing good things for my body.
• Before we knew about the pregnancy, I had been on my way to losing 5 pounds in the first month of PIYO.  Obviously that changed and I've since put on weight, as I should be!

Even though I am officially "done" with my first round of PIYO, I'm certainly going to keep it in the rotation of exercises I plan on doing throughout my pregnancy, and after the baby is here.  Currently I've gone back to my first Beachbody love, T25.  I freaking love that program!  The 25 minute workouts are the best part about it for me.  And I can still get a good sweat on, just by following the modifier person they have in each workout.  I wear a heart rate monitor and make sure to keep my heart rate below 140.  This is all doctor approved...no worries!

I'm hoping my healthy habits before pregnancy and during will allow me a smoother (easier...ha?!) labor, delivery and recovery.  This seems to be a great overall plan according to my doctors and friends who have been through it before!

Now, I just need to get my eating habits back on track.  Once the doctor said, "Yep, you're pregnant!" all my mind wanted was carbs and cheese, haha!  I do eat those, but I need to make sure I'm balancing it with fruits, veggies and lean proteins.  I'm grateful to have an online support system in our Challenge Group that helps keep me in check. Good for me and good for baby.

Banana Blueberry Steel Cut Oats

It's Sunday morning so let's keep this easy shall we?

This is a tasty and healthy oatmeal bowl to get your day started right.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup steel cut quick oats
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Instructions:

• Bring the milk, vanilla and cinnamon to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally so the milk doesn't burn.
• Add the oats and turn the heat to low.
• Cook at a low simmer, uncovered, approx. 5-6 minutes, depending on your desired level of "doneness."
• Pour into a bowl and top with the fruit and walnuts.
• Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

4 Ingredient General Tso Chicken and Broccoli

I'm writing this specific blog post for my brother Jake.  By his own admission, he doesn't do much cooking at home and says he's not sure how to make easy meals.  Jake, this one is for you!  He also needs to eat gluten free most of the time due to allergies so here you go...a GLUTEN FREE meal with only FOUR INGREDIENTS!  Oh, it also comes together in less than 15 minutes.

My husband and I eat this meal a few times a month and it's a life saver on weeknights after we come home from busy work days and long commutes.  I definitely take some help from the store to make this come together super easily.  No shame in that!

Check out 3 of the 4 ingredients pictured below:

Some people snub this minute rice stuff but we love it.  So much easier and faster than trying to make a batch of rice on a Tuesday night.  Between the rice, the ready-to-go sauce and the pre-washed and pre-chopped broccoli, this is an easy lunch or dinner anyone can embrace.  Combine it with some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and you've got yourself a pretty healthy meal as well, with a good balance of protein, healthy carbs and veggies.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 bag of ready-to-use broccoli florets 
• PRO TIP: Feel free to use whatever veggie you like here.  Snap peas would be great with this too!
• 2 containers of the ready-to-use minute brown rice 
• PRO TIP: You can get the same stuff in microwavable bags that are usually 90 seconds cook time.  I stock up on these when they're on sale because they make dinners easy and work great for an office lunch too!
• 1 bottle of General Tso sauce 
• PRO TIP: You can use as much or as little sauce as you want in the recipe.  We like it "saucy" but can usually get two meals out of one bottle.

Pantry Items (not included in the 4 ingredients): Salt, pepper, olive oil

Optional Ingredient: Sesame seeds (I was fancy this night and had some black sesame seeds in the pantry that I garnished with.  Totally optional if you want to keep this at 4 ingredients.)

Instructions:

• In a large pan, drizzle a couple tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and heat to medium high. Drop the chicken into the pan, season with S&P and cook until lightly browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes depending on the size of your chicken pieces.
• Add as much sauce as you'd like and kick the heat back to low to let the sauce simmer and get all delicious with that chicken.
• While the sauce and chicken are getting to know each other, go ahead and pop that rice into the microwave per package instructions.  Should only take 60-90 seconds depending on what brand you buy.
• If you bought the broccoli in one of those ready-to-steam bags, pop that sucker into the microwave as well and cook according to package instructions.  You can also do a quick boil in some water on the stove top.
• Plate up the rice and top with the chicken and broccoli.
• Garnish with sesame seeds (optional).
• Enjoy!

Workout Wednesday - Hurricane Edition

Here in Florida we sometimes get the special treat of a hurricane.  This one looks to be a big one!  In honor of today's Workout Wednesday, I figure, why not theme my workout to the big news story?

I came up with the Hurricane Workout below:

I watched the weather report for about 4 minutes this morning and wound up with the following:

• 20 pushups
• 40 squats
• 50 bicep curls
• (2) 30 second plank holds
• (1) 30 seconds high knees
• 20 tricep dips
• (2) 30 second wall sits
• 40 lunges
• 20 bicycle crunches
• 20 mountain climbers

I'd call that a pretty decent workout!

So if you're home tomorrow, safe, and with power...turn on the TV and watch the weather...see how much of a sweat you can work up after just a short weather report!

Stay safe my Florida friends and family! 

Easy Veggies Two Ways

Last week I came home after a busy work day and just wanted to EAT.  I was tempted to eat something a little bit junky but I realized I had a bunch of easy veggies laying around that I could throw into one pan and call it a night.  This can serve as a main vegetarian dish that you could even add some whole wheat pasta or quinoa to.  Or you could use it as a vegetable side to a piece of grilled chicken.  You could even make it into a lunch the next day like I did.

Version #1 came together very quickly.  It was a version of something I like to call a "Chop & Drop."  You just chop the ingredients and drop them all into one pan or pot together.  No muss, no fuss!

You can use this method for whatever ingredients you have on hand.  This night I happened to use the following:

Ingredients:

• 1 can corn
• 1 pre-washed bag of spinach
• 1-2 handfuls of grape tomatoes (I just used what I had left on the counter)
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• EVOO
• S&P
• Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Instructions:

• Add some EVOO to a large pan and heat to medium high.
• Add the chopped onion and season with S&P.  Cook until soft and just turning golden, about 5 minutes.
• Add the chopped zucchini, cooking about 3-5 minutes until starting to soften.
• Add the grape tomatoes and cook another 3-5 minutes (this all goes fast if you crank the heat up)
• Add the corn and season again with S&P.  Cook a couple minutes.
• Add the whole bag of spinach, season with S&P.  PRO TIP: Spinach will wilt WAY down. Depending on the size of your pan you may need to do this in batches.  I find this is a great way to easily use a whole bag of that pre-washed spinach without it withering away slowly in your fridge's produce drawer.
• Add crushed red pepper flakes (optional) if you want a little spice.  Taste for seasoning.
• Enjoy!

This made a big batch of veggies for me and I used a little less than half for my dinner that night.  The rest went into the fridge to be used as leftovers the next day.  

I didn't feel like eating the leftovers as just another side so I heated the mixture up, stuffed it into some lightly toasted pita and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.  Viola, you have Version #2 of the same veggies.  Yummy!  I had myself an easy vegetable pita sandwich for lunch. This was colorful, healthy, filling AND, most importantly, tasty.  

I hope this inspires you to incorporate more veggies into your meals.  They can be just as quick as waiting for a pizza delivery (even quicker actually!) and certainly better for your mind and body.