On-the-Go. Aren’t we all?

Posted on November 3, 2011 by vicky

We have entered day three of this sugar detox and all is well… so far. No illness, no stomach upsets, no death. Who would have thunk it? I’m proud to say I received another sticker for yesterday as I followed both of my rules – exercise and no sugars. Although, I did have about five grapes to cure my sugar craving that was creeping up. So sneaky I tell you!

After my 55 minute cardio session while watching Modern Family – which is absolutely hilarious by the way – I went home and decided I wanted to try an “Egg Muffins” recipe that I came across from another blog, “The Food Lover’s Primal Palate.” <—- Awesome!

Ingredients:

50/50 mix of omega 3 eggs and Trader Joe’s Cage Free 100% Liquid Egg Whites
Onions
Broccoli
Peppers (green or red)
Coconut oil
Non-stick muffin pan or a traditional size muffin pan with cupcake papers.

Before:

I didn’t use broccoli or coconut oil (although next time I will try this.) I used red, yellow and orange mini peppers, white onion and Olive Oil. You can basically substitute any veggies here.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Saute the vegetables in a frying pan over medium heat with the coconut oil. Besides tasting great, coconut oil has many health benefits (and is also a fat-burning catalyst, because it is a medium chain fatty acid. Here is a great article explaining the health benefits of coconut oil!)
Cut off the sauteing process about half-way through cooking. The veggies will finish in the oven.
Divide vegetables evenly between your muffin tins.
Mix the eggs and the egg whites in a bowl, and pour into the tins. Only fill the tins ¾ of the way to the top – they will rise a little.
Stir the vegetable and egg mixture briefly to disperse the vegetables evenly in the tins.
Bake the egg muffins in the oven for approximately 20 minutes. Your cooking time may vary depending on the tin, the oven. Adjust accordingly.
Once muffins have cooled, store in your refrigerator for a healthy breakfast meal / anytime snack! They typically keep for about a week.

After:

These are so cute and so perfect for on-the-go people who don’t have time to sit down for breakfast or are too lazy to make something in the morning! These also make a good mid-afternoon snack when you need some extra protein to hold you over and last but not least, a great way to get your veggies in. I actually had two of these today for breakfast alongside a Van’s waffle. This girl is one satisfied Sally!

*Suggestion: These came out a little bland because I didn’t use enough salt. As you can see, this recipe doesn’t list any spices – but what’s great about this recipe is that it’s easily modifiable. Next time, I will add some more spices like salt, pepper, cayenne and also cheese! Who doesn’t love cheese, right? I’m thinking grated Parm or Feta (obvi) would be delicious!

Happy Thirsty Thursday 🙂

Short-Term Loss for Long-Term Gain

Posted on November 2, 2011 by vicky

There are only 22 days left until Thanksgiving, but who’s counting? Yup – “it can’t come soon enough” is how I’m feeling right about now. In fact, I have been looking up recipes to make for our lovely feast – that’s how much I can’t wait to eat sweets again. This is where short-term loss for long- term gain comes in. Sometimes, we need to suffer now to reap the benefits later – or so I’ve been told. I really hope that wisdom is honest and sincere because if it’s not, I’ll be pissed at the end of this.

To fully and truly embark on this remarkable sugar-free journey, I imposed a new sticker rule for myself which goes as follows: “You do not get a sticker on your calendar if you do not follow your “Food Rules” AND “Exercise Rules” listed under November goals.” The end. I was fortunate enough to receive a sticker for yesterday, but I must say that it was a very painful procedure. I was pretty much exhausted all day and I had to crank out a three mile run – oh, and I had about 3 loads of laundry. How’s that for a cherry on top?! Nevertheless, I got it all done including; a beautifully crafted salad (Romaine, Belgian endives,Red Cabbage, Onion and Feta) for lunch today. All that with not one drop of sugar. Don’t underestimate your energy levels. The mind -over -matter principal greatly applies here.

Speaking of mind-over-matter, I’d like to also point out my daily temptations:

In case you all thought I had it easy. I think not! Try eating your salad with a sugar mountain like this staring at your face. “Eat me – Eat me” is what that says right there. My response: “I will win you.”

So, ladies and gents, the moral of this story is that you need to really fight those urges to cure your short-term cravings in order to reach your long-term success! This really applies to a lot of things in life (short-term loss for long-term gain) not necessarily the craving part, but you know what I mean! I know, I’m full of wisdom 🙂

Since it is hungry hump day, I’ll post a recipe I’m thinking about making for Thanksgiving – if I can wait that long. I’m all about simple food and simple ingredients.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Caramelized Onions and Pancetta – I’m salivating as I write this.

Ingredients:

2 lbs bright-orange sweet potatoes, peeled,cut into 2 inch pieces (about 3 medium)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 ounces pancetta, finely diced
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese or 1/4 cup cream cheese (2 oz)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Boil sweet potatoes in large saucepan of boiling salted water over medium-high heat 15-20 minutes or until very tender.
Drain sweet potatoes; return to saucepan.
Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat until hot.
Add pancetta; cook 2-3 minutes or until pancetta begins to brown.
Add onion; cook 15-20 minutes or until onions are caramelized, stirring frequently.
Adjust heat, if necessary, to prevent onions from browning too quickly.
Add vinegar; stir, scraping up browned bits from bottom of skillet.
Over very low heat, mash sweet potatoes.
Add mascarpone, salt and pepper.
Stir in onion mixture.
*Noteyou can use bacon if you don’t have pancetta available.
Just cook the bacon in a medium pot of boiling water 1 minute.
Drain and rinse until cool.
Blanching helps remove some of the smoky flavor from the bacon.

Well, there you have it! I think I’m sold on this, but I do change my mind a lot so I’ll keep you posted if I find something else. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated 🙂

Quote to help us through this difficult detox period:

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy November: Beating the Winter Blues

Posted on November 1, 2011 by vicky

First and foremost, I want to do a mini recap of my “Setting goals for October” post since we have now entered November – time for new goals, or rather time to achieve the previous goals that were left behind act.

In case you’re like me and have a bad memory, here is a brief overview of my “Setting Goals for October” post.

October Goals Revisited:

45min to one hour of exercise or activity most days of the week (It doesn’t matter what -just get moving!) – I did on average 5 days of cardio, not all were 45 min, some were more and some were less so it’s safe to say it balanced out 🙂
Wake up 30 min early a few days to do some cardio before work (I’ve done this before and it really helps keep your energy up throughout the day – it’s just getting out of bed that sucks!) – Truth be told, this happened only once.
Grocery shop on Saturday or Sunday to prepare foods for the week (so I can limit eating out.) – Could have done this each week, probably happened twice this month. I definitely ate out more than I wanted, but less than I have in the past!
Try new recipes! – I give myself an A+ for this one.
Stick to three meals a day (been on a snacking frenzy this past week and that needs to stop!) – I give myself a D- for this one… snack attack at its finest this month.
Work on my self-discipline!!!! (Halloween is around the corner and that = candy overdose) – The best I can say here is – WIP (work in progress)

Here’s my calendar full of stickers 🙂

I would love to say that I accomplished all of those listed goals, but for the sake of making this an honest blog – I won’t. I also forgot to add that signing up for a race was another goal of mine and I actually signed up for two (thank-you-very-much.) What I didn’t say was that I’d actually run the race… guess the joke was on you! Just kidding 🙂 My first 5k is this Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been training for exactly a month now and I think I’m ready to go for this one… it’s the 10k on Thanksgiving that I’m worried about because with my luck we’ll have a crazy snow storm. Crossing fingers.

Let’s focus on November and how to beat those winter blues by setting some goals – and sticking to them 😉 There are 23 days or a little over 3 weeks until Thanksgiving. That’s a perfect amount of time to start a workout routine/better eating habits and keep them going throughout the holiday season.

Here are a few of my personal goals for the upcoming 3 weeks:

No sugar – It takes about a week and then you no longer have cravings, but you must do this cold turkey. (Sugar = anything that ends in -ose, white starches (because those are ultimately sugar,) and all sweets.
Continue my 5x a week exercise regimen with 3x a week running.
Drink 8-10 cups of water a day.
Complete my first 5k and 10k 😉

Remember, when you list out your goals you feel more accountable. Also, go buy yourself some stickers and a calendar. You’ll love how it looks at the end of the month – I promise!

Note: If you “cheat” on the weekends including Friday, that’s a total of 12 days which is almost half of the month!!! Keep that in mind! Thank you TIU for that reminder 🙂

“And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.”

— Dr. Seuss

The Last Supper

Posted on November 1, 2011 by vicky

Last night I ended the month with a mouth full of interesting flavors.

For starters:

*goat carpaccio . tongue-olive vinaigrette . smoked roe (yep, I tried raw goat)

*warm marinated olives (not that good)

*goat chorizo flatbread . ajvar . peppers . green tomato . apricot . fresh ricotta (Delicious)

*hen of the woods mushroom ragout. sweet potato agnolotti . shroom creme fraiche . capers (also delicious)

*braised beef tongue . masa . beef vinaigrette . salsa verde (Not good)

*wood oven roasted pig face . sunny side egg . tamarind . cilantro . potato stix (Delicious)

*roasted cauliflower . pickled peppers . pine nuts . mint (So good)

*confit goat belly . bourbon butter . lobster n’ crab . fennel (One of the best dishes)

*chickpeas fritters . eggplant-tomatillo caponata . crave brother’s mozzarella (One of my favorites)

*ham frittes . smoked tomato aioli . cheddar beer sauce (I mean any type of “frittes” has my heart)

Last but not least – Dessert.

*chocolate bouchon . foie fluff . salted toffee . milk chocolate sorbet . gooseberry compote

*pork fat doughnuts . honey yogurt . carmelized figs . lemony eggplant . ham streusel

As you can see, the brownie was demolished. The doughnuts not so much. Overall, it was a fun experience! Glad I ended the month with a big overload of sugar and salt – this way I’ll have absolutely zero withdrawal today 😉

*Food description is off of the Girl and the Goat website.

Happy Halloween!!!

Posted on October 31, 2011 by vicky

Trick or treat? There definitely were a lot of “treats” – to the point where I don’t think I can have anymore chocolate for the rest of the month. In fact, that might be my personal challenge for the month of November (up until Thanksgiving of course.) Sugar Detox. Who’s with me? It’s gonna be rough, but it will be worth it!

Anyway, I absolutely love love Halloween. Partly because you get to act like a kid and look ridiculous and partly because of all the candy – obvi.

Costume fun: (Playing Card, Alice, Marge and Queen of Hearts)

Marge and Homer Simpson:

My Knight in shining armor 😉

On the workout front, I did complete an hour and a half of cardio on Friday (to make up for not making my Wednesday cardio day) and my four mile run on Sunday – yay – which was completely canceled out by the amount of BBQ food and Halloween candy I consumed. What can a girl do?!

After dinner plans tonight (because I do plan to indulge at this restaurant) I think I’ll be able to start full force tomorrow with my no sugar detox. I have the working out down, but it’s time to get a handle on my food escapades! I’ll think of tonight as “The Last Supper.” It better be a good one!

Happy Halloweenie 🙂

What’s your Dosha?

Posted on October 27, 2011 by vicky

I have a fun activity for you all today! You’re probably thinking what the heck is a Dosha and I don’t blame you! Well, there are three Doshas or “body types” in Ayurveda; Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Each body type represents a season; Winter, Spring and Summer and has specific foods that help keep your body in balance.Once you take this quiz you will know your Dosha and underneath are links to detailed explanations of each one. When you find out what your Dosha is, click on the appropriate link.

It’s fun to see the different theories out there and maybe this will help you better understand your body, so take a look!

Take this quiz to find out about your body type:

http://www.whatsyourdosha.com/quiz/

All about Vata:

http://www.chopra.com/vata

All about Pitta:

http://www.chopra.com/pitta

All about Kapha:

http://www.chopra.com/kapha

Have fun 🙂

Hungry Humps: Pumpkin Butter

Posted on October 26, 2011 by vicky

It’s Hump Day, hooray!! A quick update on my workout(s) last night. As you know, I wasn’t really up to par yesterday, and I almost let myself get away with it until I received some encouraging messages from George, a good friend of mine. 🙂

When I get home from work I’m usually hungry, but I didn’t want to eat dinner right then because I tend to get the lazy-girl syndrome after that, so instead I ate a de-licious Kind Bar – gluten free to boot. If you’ve never had one or heard of it , it’s a fruit and nut bar that’s far better for you than any protein bar (in terms of ingredients.) I had the apple cinnamon and cashew one – so good!! It was just enough food to give me energy for my upcoming three mile run. I ran it outside – as it was around 70 degrees and perfect. As I was running, I couldn’t believe how “fast” I was going and I didn’t even stop for walk breaks. I kept telling myself “you got this” and apparently I was right because I completed the run in 32 minutes – my fastest time ever – averaging a 10:39 min/mile. Usually, I’m around 11:30 min/mile. I went from wanting to go straight to sleep to running my fastest three mile run -incredible how that works. It doesn’t stop there peeps. Somehow, I also managed to make it through an hour of Zumba and abs for a grand total of an hour and 30 minutes of exercise! Yep, it’s possible!

That being said, it’s also pretty amazing how exercise affects your energy. As I stated in my last post – to regain your energy you need to be active (even when you are tired as hell.) True story – today I woke up thirty minutes earlier than usual and had energy prior to drinking some coffee. Miraculous. The moral of this story is that, “a body in motion stays in motion” so get moving!!!

Moving on to the interesting stuff. I came across this recipe last week and practically salivated as I read the title. As I was reading the ingredients I noticed “Pumpkin Butter” and had no idea what that was or at least I had never heard of it before. Being the curious cat that I am, I researched it and found that it’s incredibly easy to make on your own.

I chose to try this recipe from Eating Bird Food’s Blog.

Maria’s Homemade Microwave Pumpkin Butter

Scant 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon clove
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups (15 oz) canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling mix)

Combine everything except pumpkin in microwave-safe bowl. Mix well, and microwave on high for three minutes.
Remove from microwave (Carefully!) and stir really well.
Stir in pumpkin well, and microwave on high 5 minutes.
Remove from microwave (Even more carefully!), stir, and let cool.

I’m not going to make the brownies this week, but I will be making this pumpkin butter tonight. There are so many ways you can use Pumpkin Butter and since it’s in season, why not make a jar of it and keep it handy!

Ideas for Pumpkin Butter Use:

On toast or a waffle
In your yogurt
In your oatmeal
On your protein pancake
Or, straight out of the jar!

Happy Hungry Hump Day! 🙂

When you just can’t seem to wake up…

Posted on October 25, 2011 by vicky

Last night I was supposed to use my “rest day” and do my 50 minute XT that I didn’t accomplish on Sunday, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I’m convinced that I need a minimum two-day recovery after alcohol consumption – it happens every time. Partly because of dehydration (I couldn’t drink water for the life of me on Sunday) and partly because alcohol interrupts your much needed REM sleep, resulting in a day or two full of sloth-ness.

If you ever wondered why this happens, here is a really good article my friend Lea found.

http://lifehacker.com/5684996/what-alcohol-actually-does-to-your-brain-and-body

So, instead of getting my necessary dose of exercise, I thoroughly enjoyed a night snuggled on the couch – watching one of my favorite fall shows, “Castle.” I made sure to go to bed early so that I was well rested for today’s three mile run. Not so sure I feel well rested, but I’ll just have to suck-it-up and find the energy!!!

Some tips on how to regain your energy:

1. At least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep
2. Exercise or activity (especially in the morning – but so hard to do!)
3. Stay hydrated with lots of H20
4. Try and stay away from foods high in carbs because they just make you sleepier (kinda how I’m currently feeling!)
5. Believe it or not, energy drinks and other high sugar “poisons” will only give you a brief sugar rush that ultimately leads to a sugar crash. Stay away.

“Goals help you channel your energy into action.” — Les Brown

State your goals and find that energy!

Weekend Recap

Posted on October 24, 2011 by vicky

Another fun weekend has come and gone, which led to some bad food decisions yesterday, but that usually happens when you don’t treat your body right the night before!

The Good:

I was prepared for a sloth Sunday, so I decided to run my first ever four miles on Saturday. The last mile was slightly brutal, but I pushed through!!

Celebration with great friends 🙂

“Making a thousand friends is not a miracle. A miracle is making one friend who will stand by your side when thousands are against you.”

Too much of this: (birthday shots)

Leads to that: (weird fish faces)

And that: (too much fun!)

Never underestimate the power of good company.

“The happiest people I know keep an open mind to new ideas and ventures, use their leisure time as a means of mental development, and love good music, good books, good pictures, good company and good conversation. And oftentimes they are also the cause of happiness in others – me in particular.”

Definitely never underestimate the effect of late night extravaganzas the following day – or maybe I”m just getting old