Baba Ghanouj From Scratch

One of my favorite snacks (as well as mayo substitutes!) is baba ghanouj. If you like hummus and eggplant, you will love this tasty middle eastern dip. I made a batch last night that was absolute perfection. It's so easy to make!


Ingredients:
~2 large eggplants
~1/4 c. tahini (sesame seed paste)
~3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
~3 tbsp. lemon juice
~1 garlic clove, chopped
~ground cumin, kosher salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika to taste

Process:
~preheat oven to 375
~cut eggplants lengthwise and place face down on baking sheet
~bake eggplant about 40-45 mins
~cool eggplants for about 10 minutes, then scoop insides out into strainer and let the excess water drip out for about a half hour
~transfer eggplant to food processor and add the rest of the ingredients; blend until creamy
~store in refrigerator, and serve at room temperature

*Not only can you eat this by itself, but you can use it to dip veggies into, or my favorite--I use it to bind canned tuna instead of mayo. It adds delicious flavor and is a way healthier way to make tuna or chicken salad.*

Stop Making Excuses

Too tired? Don't have time? You are sore? There are a million excuses, and they all suck. Take a look at these inspiring people and keep them in the back of your mind next time you are feeling too "tired" (ahem, lazy) to work out.

1. Kyle Maynard, a 4-limb amputee doing KB thrusters and muscle ups? I will never complain about these moves again.

2. 91 year-old Bernice Bates still practices and teaches yoga. If a 91 year old can do it, so can you!

3. Cheryl Nasso strugged with anorexia for 5 years. Two years after she hit her bottom weight of 85 pounds, she was competing in the Crossfit Games as one of the "fittest women in the world".

100 Calorie Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

I found the most delicious, completely Paleo chicken sausage. Lou's Famous All Natural Chicken Sausage comes in a few different flavors--my personal favorites being Sun-Dried Tomato and Apple. (I have an Apple sausage every morning with my eggs and it's soooo good!) The problem with most sausage is all the nasty additives. Lou's has about 5 ingredients and they are all free of nitrates and nitrites, preservatives, and don't contain antibiotics. If you want a quick, healthy snack these sausage stuffed mushrooms take about 5 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook.


Ingredients:
~5-7 medium-ish white mushrooms
~1/2 link of Lou's chicken sausage

Instructions:
~preheat toaster oven to 350
~cut stems off of mushrooms
~slice sausage, then break apart with hands and stuff into the under side of mushroom
~place on baking sheet, bake for 10 mins.
**You don't even need to preheat the sausage--it's already precooked, so heating it up in the toaster oven is just fine!**

Exercise or Diet for 6 Pack Abs?

Oy, you guys. I recently read an article in the WSJ about fitness myths and I wanted to find out who their so-called "fitness expert" was so I could punch him in the face. I can't get into every nitty gritty detail, but he tried to debunk ten "myths", and he was wrong on nearly every point. One of his claims was that you can get visible 6 pack abs by simply cutting calories and not working your core at all. (IS THIS PERSON ON CRACK?) Why do you think you see so many semi-starved, emaciated women on the runway and in Hollywood and they have perfectly flat, taut tummies but absolutely NO definition? Because they starve themselves and don't do the work. Yes, you can cut your calories way down to the point where you will have a flat stomach, but if you don't develop the muscles, they aren't going to just pop out of nowhere. Conversely, if you work your abs for hours a day every day and you eat a bunch of garbage and have a calorie surplus, you will never see your abs either--though if you are really working that hard they do exist, but under a layer of fat. In order to have defined, "washboard" abs you NEED to do abdominal work AND eat a clean diet. What's also not discussed is different body types. People who are very short-waisted will have a much more difficult time than someone with a very long waist because of the way the fat is dispersed along the front of the belly. At the end of the day, there is no way around hard work when it comes to having a visible 6 pack. You have to eat an extremely clean diet and work your ass off. That's it. You can't pick one or the other, you can't take a magic pill...if you do the work, you'll get the results. It's that simple, and yet that difficult!

5 Minute Scallops

I'm not huge on weird sea creatures, but I absolutely LOVE scallops. Every time they appear on a menu I order them...I just never thought I could actually make them. I was convinced I would food poison myself or my husband so I always shied away from trying to cook them. As luck would have it, while I was grocery shopping the other day, I saw that the seafood counter had a sign for fresh scallops so I went out on a limb. Turns out, scallops are really simple to make...and it literally takes about 4 minutes. Since I knew the scallops would only take a few minutes to prepare, I made the topping first--Just threw some extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and sundried tomato in a pan and set aside.

Pan-Seared Scallops
1. Heat frying pan first. Wait until it's really hot, then add coconut oil. (Coconut oil is awesome to cook with at high heats because it doesn't break down--and in terms of searing scallops it adds a bit of sweetness, and it's SO good!)
2. Place scallops in pan on their flat side. Leave them alone and don't touch them for about 2 and a half minutes. After that time, peek under one and make sure it has that golden brown caramel-y color. You don't want to flip the scallops more than once. If it is the right color, flip the scallops and let them cook about a minute and thirty seconds on the second side. Again, peek under one, make sure it's golden brown, then take them out of the pan immediately, pour your topping over and enjoy!

*The scallops will continue to cook after you remove them from the pan so you want to eat them fairly quickly after cooking so they don't get rubbery. I served them over a bed of romaine.

Pumpkin Flax Smoothie

Hi all! Sorry I took a little hiatus from writing, but don't worry--I have been cooking up a storm! I have several simple, delicious recipes to share. I'm also in the middle of researching/testing different protein supplements and will make a post on that soon, so be on the lookout for that if you are interested :) Do you need a quick, easy, healthy solution for breakfast? Try this under 150 calorie smoothie!


1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tbsp. ground flaxseed
1 tsp-ish cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
pinch of stevia if you need sweetener
a couple ice cubes

*blend and enjoy!*

Willpower Vs. Food Addiction (and other ramblings...)

I sort of got enraged after watching a TV show that discussed food addiction and why as a country we are all so obese. I believe it's a multifaceted issue that involves genetics, upbringing, emotions, learned behavior, and yes, a lack of discipline. To say the reason why someone is obese is due to a food addiction is a total cop out. I will be the first person to agree with the fact that sugar, (bad) fat, and all the added artificial garbage that the food industry puts in our food these days is addictive. Scientifically we know that serotonin is released when we eat chocolate, for instance. I get that. And that is one reason why we need to choose not to eat garbage. The beautiful thing about being human is that we have free will. We are not savage beasts that don't know any better. We don't have to hunt for our food. It's all conveniently laid out for us in a grocery store, but we have to make the right choices. We must stop blaming the food industry--yes, maybe Lays is putting sneaky addictive chemicals in their chips, but has someone put a gun to your head and forced you to purchase those chips? Or eat the whole bag in one sitting? Here are some common sense tips to avoid these "food addiction" binges:

1. Fill your refrigerator and pantries with lean meats, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, plenty of water.

That's it. If there isn't shit food in your house, you aren't going to eat it. You really have to go out of your way to get in the car and drive to the store to buy crap, and hopefully on your drive over there you can employ some discipline to stop yourself. This doesn't mean depriving yourself either. Just don't have more than one treat in your house at a time. Love chocolate? Keep one bar of dark chocolate in your house. Chips? Get a bag of Popchips (a bag...singular). Check the serving size, take the chips out of the bag, put them in a bowl and close the bag, saving the rest for another day.

I think in life we have really gotten accustomed to blaming everyone else for our problems instead of accepting responsibility and being proactive about our health. "Tobacco companies are evil and gave me lung cancer!" Why are you making the conscious choice to smoke? "My parents got divorced when I was a kid so I have issues with x, y, z!" Not to sound harsh and unsympathetic, but it's time to grow up. You are in control of your life now, so you have to get over it otherwise you are going to be miserable forever. Blaming other people for your problems gets you absolutely nowhere. Take responsibility for yourself and your own actions--good or bad! If you have an achievement in your life, be proud of yourself. So often (especially women) receive compliments and instead of saying thank you, they downplay it or act like it's no big deal. It is a big deal! Be proud of yourself and all that you have accomplished. The first way to start feeling better about yourself is to start being truthful to yourself. Be honest with yourself about your mistakes, be proud of your achievements, and begin today to live a life where you are honest and truthful with the most important person in your life--YOU. :)

"Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses." — George Washington Carver

Turkey Sloppy Joes...Or Something Like It...

Today was a snowy, blustery, cold day so naturally all I wanted was some hot comfort food for dinner. I found a recipe for paleo sloppy joes but the recipe called for some ingredients I didn't have and I was WAY too lazy to go out to the grocery store so I found substitutions that did the trick. I didn't have ground beef, so I used ground turkey (all white meat); didn't have a can of diced tomatoes so I used organic pasta sauce that only had about five ingredients--pureed tomatoes being the main ingredient so I figured it would work and it did! It turned out really well and it was super easy to make. Here's what I did:
1. Dice 1 yellow pepper and 1/4 white onion and sauteed
2. Heat up about a cup or so (I used about a half a jar) of pasta sauce in medium size sauce pan; add a couple shakes of chili powder, black pepper, oregano, basil, and cumin.
3. When peppers and onions are sauteed, add them to pasta sauce and continue to simmer
4. Saute ground turkey and chop it up with a spatula
5. When meat is thoroughly cooked, add to saucepan and mix all ingredients.

Burger In A Bowl

I absolutely love burgers--I eat them at least 3-4x a week, whether it be lean beef, turkey, or bison in form. Lately I've been growing impatient waiting for my burgers to cook, so the other night I invented what I call "burger in a bowl". It's a paleo-friendly, super healthy, high protein meal. The picture doesn't really make it look very attractive, I know...but I promise it is filling and delicious!

1. Saute onions and mushrooms (or whatever veggies you like!) in a big pan for a few minutes in extra virgin olive oil.
2. Once veggies are almost sauteed to your liking push them off to one side of the pan and add ground turkey/bison/lean beef in the same pan and mash it up with a spatula (I use 1/3-1/2 lb depending on how hungry I am).
3. When your meat is thoroughly cooked, mix together with the veggies and put entire concoction into a bowl and enjoy your burger in a bowl!

**I also like to stir in a tablespoon-ish of homemade ketchup. I make my own because nearly every kind has added sugar (or HFCS!! ew), though some organic ketchups have much less sugar.

Setting Goals

"The person with a fixed goal, a clear picture of his desire, or an ideal always before him, causes it, through repetition, to be buried deeply in his subconscious mind and is thus enabled, thanks to its generative and sustaining power, to realize his goal in a minimum of time and with a minimum of physical effort. Just pursue the thought unceasingly. Step by step you will achieve realization, for all your faculties and powers become directed to that end." ~Claude M. Bristol

Without setting goals, it will be hard to achieve what you want. The first step is to realize what it is you want, put it in writing, and hold yourself accountable. When you have stated goals, they will stick in your mind so that each day you can strive to achieve that goal. What are your fitness goals this year? Instead of making general statements like "I want to look good in a bikini by spring break" or "I want to lose weight"...make SPECIFIC goals for yourself. Need to be in a bikini in March? Set a goal of going to the gym 5 days a week and eating 50 percent more vegetables everyday. Want to lose weight? Maybe set a goal of losing 4-8 pounds a month, depending on how much you have to lose. (Losing 1-2 lbs a week is generally considered safe--anything more is not healthy and will be very difficult to maintain, as it's usually just water or muscle mass). I'm announcing my goals this year so that everyone can hold me accountable! This year I'd like to be able to jump into handstand from downward dog, do a pike press handstand, be able to do a strict pull up without a band, and do ring dips without a band. I'd also like to run a sub 30 minute 5k (I really suck hard at running) and cook at least one new meal a week. Lots of goals--some much easier than others. It's going to be very difficult for me to be able to do a strict pull up without a band, but I'm giving myself 12 months to achieve this goal. Even if it's something I'm never able to actually do, all the hard work and determination that is going to go into making that goal happen will be an achievement itself. So write down your goals, and keep them somewhere you can see them all the time! And remember, you will get nowhere without working hard. Good luck everyone!

Top 5 Fitness Mistakes

5. Using Weights That Are Not Appropriate For You

This means too heavy OR too light. Obviously using weights that are too heavy will compromise your form, leading to injury. But let's also discuss weights that are too light. What are you doing with 3 pound weights?!? Pick up a barbell, dammit. You WON'T GET BULKY. If you don't believe me, please read my prior TWO posts about this. That's how much I am trying to get this point across. Women don't have the capacity to bulk up like men do, so stop making excuses and introduce some heavy lifts into your strength routine. It's great for burning fat, building muscle, leaning out, and building bone strength.

4. Plodding Along On The Elliptical/Treadmill/Bike For Hours

Ok, there is nothing wrong with this, but it's just not efficient. Wouldn't you rather torch more body fat and improve your VO2 max in a quarter of the time? High intensity interval training, my friend. It's more efficient and more effective. The Tabata method is a perfect example of this--20 seconds max exertion, 10 seconds rest (8 reps total) of whatever you choose--push ups, pull ups, etc. It takes four minutes, but it's a beast if you actually do it correctly (i.e. correct time and really push yourself to your max).

3. Believing the Calories Burned Number on Fitness Machines

Even if you have entered your stats, the calorie count is typically not even close to accurate. So the next time you think you have burned 700 calories on a machine that does all the work for you, think again.

2. Working Out So That You Can Indulge

It's fine to do this to a degree, but eating a 1200 calorie meal topped off with a piece of cheesecake because you ran a mile is not ok. Remember, healthy is a lifestyle. You will end up getting caught in a hamster wheel of disappointment if you treat exercise like a chore. Find something that you love...that you will look forward to doing!

1. Cleanses

Please. Stop. Doing. Cleanses. They ravage your metabolism and your muscles start to eat themselves for energy. The pounds you are losing are completely worthless. It's damaging to your body. Instead cut sugar and processed foods, up your veggies and lean protein and I promise you will get better results. It might take a little longer, but at least it will be fat that you are shedding and not water and muscle.

Paleo Sushi

After some trial and error...

I came up with a great system to make paleo sushi!

Well, I guess it's technically paleo maki, because there is no rice. Anyway, this is how I did it....

Ingredients:
-Sushi grade tuna
-Carrots
-Cucumber
-Cauliflower
-Avocado
-Nori (Seaweed sheets--you can get these at an Asian grocery)
-Lemon Juice

Tools:
-Bamboo rolling sheet
-Saran Wrap
-Food processor
-Potato masher

Prep:
-Thinly slice tuna, peeled carrots and peeled cucumbers (use long carrots!)
-Mash avocado and lemon juice in a bowl
-De-stem cauliflower and place in food processor--pulse until cauliflower is rice-like in size

Process:
-Wrap bamboo rolling sheet in saran wrap
-Place nori bumpy side up on bamboo sheet
-Smear a thin layer of mashed up avocado all over the sheet carefully, not to rip it
-Sprinkly cauliflower "rice" all over the avocado-y sheet
-Place a few pieces of tuna, carrot and cucumber on the front end of nori (closest to you)
-Hold the pieces of veggies/tuna in place as you roll and tuck. Keep rolling and tucking until it's all the way rolled up.
-Place your roll in the fridge for a few minutes
-Slice the roll with a very sharp knife beginning in the center. Between cuts, rinse the knife in ice cold water.

Why I Don't Make Resolutions.

I never understood the concept of New Year's Resolutions. If you want to change something about yourself or your life, why randomly start on January 1? Every morning is a fresh start. Each new day is another opportunity to become whatever it is that you are striving for. Attempt to achieve greatness every day of your life. When you fail, pick yourself up and try again. Instead of making silly resolutions this year, change your outlook. Healthy is a lifestyle...not a temporary fix. Remind yourself every morning when you wake up of something that you are grateful for and begin your day filled with gratitude. Here's to an amazing, healthy, successful, and fun 2012!!