Hearts of Palm

What a nice weekend! I hope you all had as nice a weekend as me. I got in my workouts, friend time, family time and relax time. Still got to worry about cleaning thought...who wants to do that on a sunny afternoon?

I am so excited because I bought some new runners. I've been needing them for a while. I picked up purple and gray Nike Lunarglide 2 at National sports in the clearance section (yay!) and kinda knew as soon as I saw them that they were meant to be on my feet. I did a quick google search for reviews and ran around the store a bit with them on before buying. I broke them in today as I did my errands and workout this afternoon.

I worked out in the pool area of my building. It's an above ground pool that's surrounded by grass and gets a lot of sun. So it was a nice area to workout! There were some kids playing in the yard and I think they thought I was nuts. I was doing plank at one point and they came around a corner and each of them one at a time said "whoa!!!" It's a little awkward having an audience sometimes.

I also got these little cuties (or creepers depending on how you look at them) out of the car today!

I'd bought them last weekend at the antique store in Fenelon Falls and forgot them in the car. The red eyes look like they may have been added on long after its original purchase and they definitely bring out the creepy in these. I may touch them up. I'm still not even sure if they are supposed to be bears or gofers or what. Still, I couldn't eave the store without them! They are a nice little addition to my small S&P shaker collection!

So I tried something new today. Hearts of Palm. I was only able to get canned ones so they were quite salty. I'd like to try them fresh one day to see how they are really supposed to taste. In the can they were sort of like canned artichoke hearts with the same texture and subtle flavour. I've really only seen recipes where they are used in salads, so tonight I made a potato salad with hearts of palm!

I intended on making this Potato Artichoke Salad recipe from Delementals but could not find artichoke hearts anywhere at the grocery store! So I sort of had to improvise. I still managed to make a creamy potato salad with lots of leftovers for the week but I'm looking forward to making this particular recipe again.

I managed to grab a snapshot of what was left of my serving with Bryan's phone. I gobbled it up.

This recipe turned out to be really simple but not the most waist-line conscious - though potato salad rarely is. 

Ingredients

2 lbs potato, diced (I used baby yellow and red potatoes)

1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2T butter

1 can diced hearts of palm

1 container PC Artichoke & Asiago dip

Directions

Boil your potatoes until tender, drain and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, saute the onions until translucent in the butter then add the garlic and heat for another minute or two.

In a large bowl mix the cooled potatoes (throw them in the fridge if you have to), onions & garlic, hearts of palm and potatoes until the potatoes are covered. I added in 2 tbsp of greek yogurt just to make sure it was all well covered, this works well is you don't have enough dip for your liking.

Store in the fridge until you serve it.

See, super quick and easy! That dip is a good trick if you need to make a large amount for a picnic or potluck. I might even try this with spinach dip.

Shed That Winter Weight - Chick Style

So this is exciting! Today I have a special guest post for you guys from Fit Chicks Head Chick, Laura Jackson!

In case you haven't heard yet, Fit Chicks is who I do my bootcamp classes with. In fact as I type this I'm trying to stretch out my oh so sore glutes and hamstrings from the last two classes. Not only is Laura a co-founder of the program but she is also a Nutrition and Wellness Specialist and has some great tips to share with you today about how to shed some of that extra cool weather weight! Hope you enjoy!

TOP 5 WAYS TO SHED THAT WINTER WEIGHT - CHICK STYLE!

By Laura Jackson

Spring has sprung and we know what that means…bathing suit season is around the corner! Unfortunately, there is no magic secret for weight loss. If there was, Oprah would have conquered her weight issue and she would have told the world! Spring is actually one of the best times to start shedding the pounds. The air is getting warmer, the days are longer and the produce is plentiful. So what are you waiting for? Here are our Top 5 Tips for taking off the winter weight!

1. Eat Whole Foods

Don't deprive yourself of food, Chicks. This will only lead to binging. Instead, focus on WHOLE, NATURAL and FRESH foods (the best for you foods don't even have a label!). It's really hard to overeat fruits, vegetables, beans, quinoa, eggs and lean healthy meats l. Pay attention to the amount of higher calorie items you use like nuts or oils, but don't eliminate them either!

Take advantage of the lovely fresh produce that is plentiful in the spring months. Raw vegetables are so fabulous for your health, and super low in calories and high in fibre so they will fill you up without adding to your waistline.

2. Drink Water or Herbal Teas

Do not to drink your calories. This is one of the most overlooked weight loss secrets out there!  It won't fill you up as much as whole foods will and the calories are still there (1 small iced coffee can hold a whopping 350 calories).  Find plain water boring? Stick to herbal teas or try water with cucumber, raspberry or mint added for flavor.  Just make sure to avoid artificial sweeteners. While they may seem like a no calorie option, studies have shown that they react within your body in the same manner as sugar so you are not doing your body any good!   

3. Move!

Taking bootcamp is fab, but make sure the other 23 hours a day aren't spent on your toosh! Make an effort to be more active like walking, dancing, yoga…the activities you can tke part in are endless and fun! 

4. Watch the Snacks

Healthy snacks are great, but grazing constantly will lead to overeating. Plan out snacks, focusing on whole foods and proteins like hard-boiled eggs, veggies and hummus, or a green smoothie - and don't eat mindlessly! Keep snacks at approx 250 calories.

5. Find What Works for You

Some Chicks love having 5-6 small meals a day so they are never starving, others like the satisfaction of 3 big meals. You are unique, and your healthy eating plan won't work for everyone so listen to your body and find what works for you.

6. BONUS TIP - Above all BE CONSISTENT

Results don't happen overnight. Keep moving and nourishing your body with whole foods and results will come!

So Chicks try these small changes and the results will show not only in the way you look but the way you feel – inside and out! Who doesn’t love that?!

Laura Jackson is Co Founder / Head Chick of FIT CHICKS, a Canadian based women's only fitness company.  FIT CHICKS offers 8 week bootcamp programs at over 30 locations across Canada  as well as fitness / nutrition challenges, workshops, Zumba® by FIT CHICKS  and recently launched FIT CHICKS Gear, a line of workout clothing for women. She is Certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition and Wellness Specialist with Canfit Pro as well as a Level 1 Kickboxing Instructor. Laura is also a fitness contributor to national publications and TV Shows such as The Huffington Post, National Post and CTV Morning Live as well as a health blogger at www.fitchicks.ca/blog.

Next 8 week sessions start on May 7^th, please visit www.fitchicks.ca, call 1-877- F1- CHICK or follow us on Twitter @fitchicks or check us out on facebook /fitchicksbootcamp

Avocado + Mushroom Soup

Slow and steady wins the race! I've been doing OK this last week balancing my food, workouts and social life and I think the key has been taking it easy. Not being too hard on myself and really thinking about all my choices and options. By avoiding those snap decisions I've been able to make good choices and have splurged on things I really wanted. Like an extra large, busting at the seams taco up at the cottage last weekend.

One of the decisions I had to make recently was deciding to step back from volunteering with a great organization. I really believe what they are doing is great but on this little path to life balance I'm trying to take I needed to step away from something and that just had to be it. I wish them all the best and will miss the company of the other volunteers.

So I must say that has made room in my brain for other things. I've continued to get up early in the morning and tried to either work out or make a really great breakfast. This does mean going to bed a little earlier! While I tried to get up early this morning the fact that I went to bed last night at 12:30am meant that when my alarm went off I just moved to the couch and slept another hour. Tonight I'm in bed by 11!

I was up so late because I decided to make soup after bootcamp. I was looking for a recipe that included only fresh foods, nothing packaged or processed. I was having a little difficulty as most recipes call for chicken, beef or veggie stock. I started looking up recipes on caveman and paleo diet websites and found an interesting mushroom soup recipe that included avocados. Sold.

This was pretty simple to make as it doesn't take much cooking time. The time comes in prep when you're chopping everything. I got some REALLY ripe avocados so they blended up really quick in my blender.

Side note here. I bought a really cheap blender from Wal-Mart last year and use it almost everyday! Especially since I don't have a food processor it becomes a necessary tool in the kitchen. It seems to be holding up ok but I'm beginning to wonder just how long it will last with all that ware. I'm wondering if I should get a separate food processor or invest in a really heavy-duty blender. Any suggestions?

Back to business here. This soup has a really interesting flavour from the avocado. I think it's gonna taste really nice today as all the ingredients have had a chance to mesh and meld together. I might add more mushrooms next time and a variety of mushrooms just for some...variety! For some extra protein I'm eating a couple hard boiled eggs along with it, but I think this soup would be really great with some chicken on the side. It might be even better with some cubed chicken in the soup!

Give it a shot!

Ingredients

2 ripe avocados

Juice from 1/2 a grapefruit

1 clove of garlic

2 cups boiled water

1T coconut oil

1 cup of your favourite mushrooms, sliced

1 red pepper, diced

1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, diced

1t basil, or 3 fresh basil leaves

Directions

In a food processor or blender mix the garlic, avocado, grapefruit juice and hot water until smooth and set aside.

In a large pot heat the coconut oil and saute the onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and basil until soft.

Add the avocado mixture and heat through.

Score Part 2

Well I'm pretty excited. I got myself a stability ball today! Cheap from Winners! I can't wait to try it out. I think this ball really completes my mini at home gym. I'd like to get a set of heavier weights but for now, my yoga mat, 5lb weights and this ball are everything I need!

With that it's time to quit the gym! With my bootcamp classes, the flexibility of doing workouts at home and the nice weather on it's way I figure my $60/month can be better spent elsewhere (like on the new Jason Mraz CD I got today)!

Looking forward to the weekend (another cottage weekend)and I've made some kale chips in preparation. I'm hoping to make it a better cottage weekend than normal. I'm not buying any sweets! The kale and plain popcorn should be plenty. Plus, we're having vegan tacos on Saturday and I can surly full up on that! I'll also be brining my runners and crossing my fingers that it doesn't rain too hard.

OH! I also made frittata for the first time tonight with some veggies I had in the fridge. Bok choy, red peppers and broccoli. A weird mix I know but it worked! And filled me right up :)

I usually find that after dinner I crave a sweet taste in my mouth even though I'm full so tonight in addition to water I chewed on some fruit flavoured gum and that seemed to curb it. Hey, if it works I'll keep doing it!

Now, after looking online a bit I found myself back on Runner's World and found a great list of exercises to do with the stability ball. I won't be trying them tonight as Bryan is using it as his desk chair at the moment, but I will do these when I get home on Sunday.

Most of the moves I've done before but doing them with the ball adds an extra challenge. Check them out here!

Have a great weekend!

Score!

I don't wanna brag but this week I've been doing a pretty great job of getting up early and getting outta the house sooner. It all started Monday with the building fire alarm going off at 6:30am. A nasty wake up call but it sure got me out of bed!

Tuesday I didn't want to break the cycle so at 7 on the dot I got out of bed, showered and made myself a special breakfast. Picture this sandwich, toast, cheese, egg, veggie sausage, sautéed onion and mushrooms topped with avocado and another piece of toast. Yea, it was pretty great and really kept me going through the morning. I also noticed how much more pleasant everything was when my belly was full of protein. that and tons of water first thing really changed how my morning commute and morning at work went!

Today I did it again! Up at 7, I threw in a few push ups for good measure, showered and fed before 7:30. It was a smoothie morning, 1/2 cup milk, 2 tbsp greek yogurt, a frozen banana, lots of spinach and a bit of avocado I had left over. Yum! And, as I type this my eggs are being hard boiled for lunch.

So speaking of push ups, I haven't written much about what exercises I'm doing lately. I thought today might be a good time to talk about some good core workouts. Most of these are really simple moves but really set a fire in your abs.

Russian Twists - These are my favourite! Sit on the floor with your knees bent (or raised to increase difficulty) put your arms straight in front of your and swing them from side to side really twisting in your torso. Try to almost touch the floor beside you. I like doing these with a medicine ball for a little weight.

Side Plank with a Twist - Start in a side plank with your top arm raised straight up to the ceiling. Slowly bring your arm down and twist to bring your arm under you. Return to starting and repeat. Do 5 to 10 on each side.

Bicycle Crunches - I'm sure you have all done this before. Lay on your back, knees bent 90 degrees and straight above your hips. With your fingers beside your ears crunch up and bring your right elbow toward your left knee, extending your right leg. Return to the start then bring your left elbow to your right knee, extending the left leg. I see a lot of people at the gym rushing through these, try slowing it down and concentrate on doing a good twist. You can alternate between fast and slow crunches to keep things challenging.

Double Leg Stretch - I won't lie, this one sucks. I have a really hard time with ab workouts that require you to stretch out both legs, they just don't want to do it. Still, this one is nice and challenging. Lay on your back and bring your knees in toward your chest and your hands toward your toes. Slowly extend your legs out (careful not to touch the floor) and stretch your arms out behind you. Return to start and repeat.

Give it a try!

Kale, Chickpea and Sweet Potato Bowls

Another Sunday night. It's the moment where I reflect on all the great things I did this weekend and the think about the things I never got around to doing.

I never did fit in a workout. Time just flew by! And that fog and rain sure didn't make me want to get up and go. I know, excuses, excuses.

That said, I did get some long overdue chores done, like finally take that pile of stuff in the living room corner out to Goodwill. I did get up early yesterday for some grocery shopping too!

Ricky and Melissa's housewarming was a success. And I can't help but mention the incredible spread they had - Vegan Spinach Dip (non-dairy sour cream and mayo, veggie soup mix and spinach), all kinds of hummus and crackers to dip, pita chips (pita bread cut into squares and covered in olive oil, garlic powder and oregano, then baked for 15 minutes), delicious vegan & gluten-free mini doughnuts (made by Megan, and this was definitely my favourite snack of the night), fresh baked cookies, classic chips and salsa and pizza roll-ups made by yours truly. It was difficult to stay away from the food table!

So after gorging last night today was a little less food focused. A banana with toast and peanut butter for breakfast, a small salad with tomato and green peppers for lunch and a rice bowl with kale, chickpeas, sweet potato, avocado and a peanut sauce for dinner.

Thank you to Candice for this delicious recipe! As I was making it I was wondering how it would all come together. As soon as I took the first bite I wondered what I was so worried about! It's so simple, so easy and so satisfying.

It's a great quick meal on week nights and I will be making this again!

Kale, Chickpea and Sweet Potato Bowls

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked brown rice (I also threw in some quinoa for fun)

1 bunch of fresh kale, cleaned and de-stemmed

1 can of chickpeas

2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into bite size chunks

salt, to taste

avocado, optional

creamy peanut sauce, recipe below

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F and grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

Chop sweet potatoes into 1/4 inch chunks, sprinkle with salt and bake for 30 minutes.

While sweet potatoes are baking, cook brown rice according to the instructions on the package.

Blanch kale in boiling water for 3 minutes, remove kale from water with tongs and place kale in an ice water bath so it stops cooking. Drain and squeeze the water out, chop and set the kale aside.

Prepare creamy peanut butter sauce.

Once the rice and sweet potatoes are done cooking dish out your bowls. Give yourself a heaping spoonful of rice and top with chickpeas, kale, sweet potato and avocado then top with the creamy peanut butter sauce and enjoy!

Creamy Peanut Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 tbsp. fresh ginger, chopped

2T rice vinegar

2T soy sauce

2T honey

a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

water, to thin

Directions

Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend. Then add as much water as necessary to make the consistency that you like. It makes quite a bit so store any leftovers in the fridge for later. (It tastes good on everything!).

Smart Cookie

OK, I know. I'm bad. I only have myself to blame. But I couldn't help making cookies for dinner with the "parents" the other night. They are easy to make, undeniably delicious and a easy way to impress. I mean,  unless you've got someone around that dislikes sweets. Well then. Bring a bag of chips?

I really love cookies. Maybe just as much as I love ice cream. Maybe. But they are easy to make, there are SO many different variations, you can make them fun and festive or plain and simple. They are great on their own, or dipped in milk. With ice cream. With pudding. With cool whip. I would eat them in a box. I would eat them with a fox. I will eat them here and there. I will eat them ANYWHERE.

Sorry, got a little carried away.

Anyway, there is something special about these cookies. And I think the secret is in the cinnamon.

I found an oatmeal-raisin cookie recipe in my Looneyspoons cookbook and replaced the raisins with Smarties and Mini-Eggs. I was looking for spring coloured M&M's but they were not available at the No Frills I went to. The Smarties worked just as good, I just removed all the brown ones. And ate them.

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup + 2T whole wheat flour
1t ground cinnamon
1/2t baking powder
1/2t salt
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, soft
1/2 banana (the recipe calls for 1/3 cup applesauce but I didn't have any)
1 egg
1t vanilla
Lots of Smarties!

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking sheet or two.
Combine the oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
In a large bowl beat the brown sugar and butter. Mix well then add the remaining wet ingredients and beat or mix until well blended.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until moistened. Then add the chocolate!
Drop spoonfuls of dough on the cookie and flatten with your hand or a fork. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes (it's ok if they look a little undercooked!). Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

These smell soooooo good. And taste soooo good when just out of the oven. Enjoy!

Improv Dinner

I don't know about you guys but I had a lovely long weekend! It was just long enough to be relaxing and productive. Not only did I catch up on my TV (Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica done - mind blown!) and almost finished The Help (also amazing) but I cleaned my apt top to bottom, put up some new pictures, did some cooking, did a lot of eating, got in some exercise, laundry, family time and boyfriend time! The weather was decent and waking up to no alarms was beautiful!

We did a Passover Seder for the first time with my family this weekend. While we've always been proud of our Jewish routes we never celebrated all of the religious holidays. In fact, we really only celebrated Hanukkah until I was about thirteen. So, this year was special! Sure, we all get together with family for dinners and enjoy the family time, but by including the seder it seemed that much more special. We've rekindled our relationship with Judaism and I think we all felt like Saturday was special. I'm really looking forward to many more years of continuing the tradition.

Sunday night dinners are often comprised of the weeks leftovers, especially if it's been a busy weekend where I haven't had the opportunity to grocery shop. Last night was no different.  I looked in the fridge and saw I had some left over quinoa, spinach, carrots, onion, mushroom and some frozen corn. I didn't really know what I was doing but I started chopping and stirring and came up with a sort of stir-fry/mash.

It turned out really great! Quick, easy, filling, lots of great textures and I even had left overs for lunch today. If you're looking for a balanced, quick dinner on a weeknight this is it!

Ingredients:
1T coconut oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup corn
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
2 mushrooms, chopped (that's all I had or I would have added more)
2 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
1/4 cup BBQ sauce (I think you can get creative here, I'd like to try a peanut sauce next time)
S&P to taste

Directions:
In a small pot boil the carrots and corn for 5 minutes or until slightly tender. Drain.
In a medium pot heat the onion and garlic in the oil until tender, abut 5 - 7 minutes. Add the corn, carrots and mushrooms and heat for 2 minutes. Add the spinach and stir until the leaves are wilted. Stir in the BBQ sauce and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with quinoa.

I also added a bit of daiya cheese I had in the freezer. I really love quinoa and cheese!

I did something similar last week with quinoa. I steamed some broccoli and served on quinoa with tomato sauce and cheese. I love that quinoa isn't as heavy feeling as pasta, yet its totally filling and satisfies that carbo craving. I also love the texture :)

**Just a thought. Some marinated tofu or chickpeas would be a good protein addition to this meal!

I've got a full week of bootcamp ahead of me as I have a class to make up. I'm feeling OK now (besides a little bit of a food baby) but ask me again on Thursday when I've done class three days in a row! Looking forward to the pain!

Easter Deviled Eggs

The long weekend has arrived!

To celebrate spring, the long weekend and Easter we are having a potluck lunch at work today.

I wanted to bring something fun, festive and deeeelicious. My competitive side comes out for these potlucks. I love making new and interesting things that wow my coworkers and I had just the thing for this year!

Last year I found a recipe for dyed deviled eggs and made them for a family dinner. How perfect are these pastel coloured eggs! I'm sure some of you have seen this floating around the internet as this egg-tastic holiday approached.

These are super easy and super fun to make. I'm always left wanting to dye anything and everything in my sight once I see how beautiful the colours come out on the eggs.

Go ahead and get prepared to make deviled eggs as you normally would. I find the best way to hard boil eggs is to throw them in a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil then cover and remove from heat. Let stand for about 10 minutes and you've got yourself perfect hard boiled eggs!

For these, put the eggs in ice water for at least another 5 minutes to cool down and be ready for handling.

While your eggs are boiling get your colouring ready. I used plastic cups because I'm lazy and didn't want to wash extra dishes. I filled half the cup with cool water then added 1 tsp of white vinegar. The vinegar will help the colour stay on the egg whites. Then I added my food colouring as desired. I followed the package instructions for the purple and orange colours.

Once my eggs were boiled and cooled I peeled them, cut them in half scooping the yolk into a bowl and dropping the egg whites into the various colours. Depending on how dark you want your colour leave the whites in the colouring for 5 - 10 minutes. They didn't need to stay in the red dye for long, that colour seemed to pick up the best. But I left the whites in the yellow and green for at least 10 minutes to get the colour I wanted. Just check on the whites once in a while by lifting out gently with a spoon until you get your desired colour.

While your eggs whites are dying mix your yolks with mayo, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. I was making 15 eggs (!) so used 6 tbsp of mayo and 2 tbsp of mustard. But again, this is something that is really subjective so don't be afraid to taste your yolk as you mix and add as much "taste" as you'd like!

Finally, fill those eggs whites up with a spoonful of eggs yolk and sprinkle with paprika. Voila! you've got delightful, delicious, deviled eggs! Believe me, you will be the talk of the town after making and sharing these.

The best part about it is you can use any deviled egg recipe you like and colour them for any occasion, birthdays, showers, themed parties, St. Partick's day, etcetera!

Try it out and enjoy.

Poisonous Thoughts

Again, sorry for the radio silence. I've officially been sick for 2 weeks. In my last post I talked about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...that was just a tease because I spent almost a whole additional day in bed trying to get better.

Currently I'm finally, FINALLY, symptomless. Of course, who knows what will happen tomorrow but for now I am celebrating my health.

Still I find myself a little discouraged tonight. Maybe it's because I've been off sick for so long but my workouts this week haven't seemed or felt as charged as usual. I don't know if that's the right way to put it. But, I just feel like I'm at the point where I think I'm working hard and making good choices but I'm still not getting the results I thought I'd get. I'm not sure if I'm being realistic or not at this point. Maybe for those last 10lbs or those last few inches you need to be even stricter and work that much harder than you have in the past. But I'm wondering if it's worth it.

Is it worth missing out on social functions? Is it worth the extra energy in planning meals and workouts? There are a lot more questions here. And I don't know if it's worth it? I should be happy with my body. It is strong! It is healthy! Shouldn't this be good enough? Why do I want more? Why do I feel like I need more? Why can't I stick to my plan if I think I want it that bad?

Just about every week I tell myself how things are going to be different. I set a goal or talk about a plan out loud. I get excited. Then somehow it fizzles and gets lost. I stopped trying to eat gluten free because it was so hard. Then I stopped thinking about the processed sugar in my diet. No I'm not eating fast foods and I'm still preparing just about all my meals but if I eat some bread, who cares? That little bit of store bought dressing doesn't matter, I'm too tired to make my own anyway. I was good this week, I deserve this night of sweets. All these little decisions are adding up, and I lose sight of my goals.

So I tell myself I'll start writing a food journal. And for two days I'll be really good about recording what I'm eating! Then I'll have a busy or stressful day and forget all about it.

Now I'm thinking about how on the flip side I overdo sometimes. I posted not too long ago how I needed to relax and find balance. Maybe this is just an extension of that conversation, just on the flip side of it.

I can't be too strict with myself and I can't get too lazy. How do I find the balance? If I'm not stressed from working too hard then I'm stressed about not working hard enough. There is that yo-yo tendency that every tells you to avoid.

I just want it to be easy! Ha. Don't we all.