Love. Lean. Life.

Hello, Simple Living

Detoxing Honey Lemon Tea

Drinks, Education, Lifestyle, Recipes, Uncategorized · 

Everyone gets that tickle in their throat or that annoying sneeze that not only won’t go away, but seems to always be followed by an annoying cold. Or maybe the stress of your week is catching up to you and now you’re feeling run down, which can also lead to being sick. Being sick always puts a damper on working out or ever eating right. But there are a few things that can boost your immune system and help you fight off a feeling under the weather.

First things first. When you feel like you are getting sick or feeling run down the first thing is to make sure what you are putting into your body isn’t taking away from your immune system when it should be fighting a virus. Put down the processed foods, they only make your body work harder to get rid of all the junk that they are made of. Alcohol is the same. Even the smallest amount can make your body work harder to fight off sickness. And of course, what everyone always tells you, get some sleep! It’s so important for your body to heal itself.

Then make yourself a hot cup of the detoxing and healing tea.

Ingredients:

Tea of your choice (My favorite right now is Tropical Green Tea)

Honey, Raw and Unfiltered

1/2 Lemon squeezed

Put 1 tbs. of honey into the bottom of a mug and pour boiling water over it. Then squeeze half of a lemon into the mug and enjoy. This toasty drink should warm your insides and sooth you.

Progress not Perfection

Education, Lifestyle, Uncategorized · 

For those of you who have heard this speech a hundred times. It might be good to sit through it again. I have reminded myself, and written many times about the journey to your fittest self through diet and exercise, as well as striving and doing your best with out striving for perfection.

Every journey looks different. Every end result looks different. One person’s idea of perfect is different than another. So striving for the “perfect body,” the “perfect diet,” or the “perfect workout,” can put unnecessary stress on your lifestyle that is an ongoing process. Strive to do your best. Strive for health over a certain look. And strive to get away from wanting to be perfect.

Sometimes you will mess up your diet and have too much pizza. Three days in a row. Sometimes you will skip a work out. For your entire vacation. It’s always alright. No one is perfect. But we must never forget that our journey is a series of steps everyday that we take towards our goals. And if we take 10 steps forward one week and one step back, that doesn’t bring us back to step one. Set backs don’t mean starting over. They are just a few steps on a long path way. Remember that.

Remember to be good to yourself. To forgive yourself.  To believe in yourself. To love yourself. Even when you’re not “perfect.”

How to Cook Kale

Dinner, Lunch, Recipes · 

When thinking about cooking for dinner, I often remember ideas I have gotten while watching the food channels. I was inspired by a sundried and bean side dish to make this meal. This meal was a bean and kale salad, pesto chicken thighs and roasted potato and artichokes.

First in this meal is the bean and kale salad.

Ingredients:

Fresh Kale

White Kindey Beans

Bruschetta

Red Bell Pepper

Garlic Cloves

Vegetable Stock (low sodium)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

First cut both the red bell pepper and the kale into strips. Be sure to cut the stalks out of the kale because they tend to be too tough to cook down in this dish. Start by warming the bruschetta and the white kidney beans in side pan. In a separate pan, on med heat, warm bell pepper strips with 1 tbs of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Let peppers cook until almost tender.

When the peppers are almost tender pour the bruschetta and beans into the pan and top with kale. Then place a cover over the pan. Combine 1/2 cup of veggie stock and three cloves of garlic into a food processor and blend until garlic is finely chopped. Pour garlic veggie stock over top of kale in pan and then cover again. Let this cook down for about 7-10 minutes or until kale is tender but not mushy.

Then we have the potatoes.

Ingredients:

Marinaded Artichokes (can or jar)

Tri Colored Mini Potatoes

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Preheat your oven to 375. Cut all of you potatoes into fours. Be sure to leave the skin on. Then place potato chunks in a large baking dish. Drizzle 2 tbs of olive oil over entire dish. Mix around with your hand to make sure all the potatoes are covered evenly with the olive oil and then lay potatoes as flat as possible. Then top with marinated artichokes. Shake salt and pepper over this lightly. Cover potatoes with tin foil. Place in oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until you can slide a fork into potatoes easily

And lastly we have the pesto chicken.

Ingredients:

Chicken Thighs

Fresh Pesto (jarred with work just as well)

Raw Cheddar Cheese

Place chicken thighs in a baking dish and pour 1/4 – 1/2 cup of pesto on top. Massage pesto under the skin of each thigh. Cover baking dish in foil and place into a 375 degree oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes until chicken is to temperature. Use meat thermometer to check temp and remove from oven when cooked. Then using a slotted spoon take each thigh out of the dish and place on separate plate. This will allow the oils and fats that have cooked off to drain off. Grate a few pinches of cheddar allow to melt on top of chicken.

Even though I don’t eat meat this dish is a hit with my friend that do! Enjoy!

Smoothie Prep

Education, Lifestyle, Smoothies · 

We tend to buy bananas in huge bunches. I guess huge might be an overstatement but I do know that guests to our home are always shocked by the amount of bananas ripening on the counter.

When the bananas ripen to a perfect spotty brown it is time to peel and freeze them. The first thing we do is take pictures of these beauties. Then we peel them down. After making a mountain of peels we break each of these in half and store two bananas per freezer bag. It makes it easy when using bananas later on in smoothies. I usually makes smoothies with either half, one or two whole bananas. Pre-protioning them makes smoothie making very quick when I’m in a rush.

After we put all of the bananas in the freezer it’s time to break out all the new bananas. And then we just wait for them to ripen into more beautiful bananas!

Mini Pot Pies

Lunch, Recipes, Snack, Uncategorized · 

On the first day of the new year that we all decided to head to the pool for some sunshine, I wanted to bring some easy to eat lunch snacks. I have to say, the worse part of this is the crescent rolls that were purchased for this dish. If you have more time, you can make a easy dough with coconut flour that can be found online. But, for a quicker version use a crescent roll.

The three styles.

The Pizza:

Motz Cheese

Bruschetta

Pepperoni

The Green Monster:

Broccoli

Raw Cheddar Cheese

The Quiche:

Egg

Green Peppers

These all get placed in little dough covered muffin tins and baked in the oven at 375 – 400 for about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. The Quiche tray needed a few minutes longer to make sure the egg cooked all the way through. Be sure to check before eating!

Then we took these babies down to the pool to catch some sun. How wonderful is sunshine, peach ale, and these delicious personal size potpies.

The Dinner

Education, Lifestyle, Uncategorized · 

This cooking adventure was fun due to the fact that not even our buddy was following a recipe. Fly by the seat of your pants always tastes good when the person cooking knows what they are doing. Fly by the seat of your pants tastes like char and shame when I’m cooking. Lucky for us, our friend knew what he was doing.

These dishes were made in small batches and it was perfect because those who did not like shrimp did not have to have it, it was perfect. I chose to top my shrimp-less bowl with plenty of parm and pepper.

And of course, a perfect end to a perfect meal. The perfect cigar with friends. Cheers!

Featuring Jackie’s Whole Foods Challenge!

Education, Lifestyle, Uncategorized · 

Over the next few days I will be sharing with you someone else’s Whole Foods Challenge. Jackie will be keeping a journal every few days on how her challenge to eat whole, unprocessed, foods goes before she goes on vacation. Here is her First Entry:
I am Jackie and I have decided to start a clean eating project.  A little background on me; since graduating college (4 years ago) I have struggled with maintaining a weight I was happy with.  I notice I gain weight in relationships since everyone always wants to go eat.  I have gone through every diet, but diets suck and they are not made to last. I am a teacher and a cheerleading coach so I am always busy! I needed a lifestyle change.Since the holidays and a terrible break up (nothing cures a breakup like some ice cream, some booze, and chicken wings am I right?!) I have had a hard time getting back into my healthy eating.  I have been working out, but abs are made in the kitchen. I have noticed that I have been more tired and feeling bloated.  I have 2 weeks before I leave for vacation and would like to be in my best shape.
This is me pre-challenge!


So I will be blogging my journey and sharing a tip a day with you guys!


Day 1:


This morning I woke up, looked in the mirror, and said “Here we go, today is your day!” I made it through Day 1! I am feeling better, I had more energy so much that I couldn’t fall asleep!  I spent an extra two hours watching Serendipity.  


What I ate today


7:30 am- I started my day with a blueberry and strawberry Vanilla Shakeology shake.  I love shakeology because it’s a great treat, gives me needed vitamins and energy, and is an easy breakfast.  I mix it with Almond milk to give it a creaminess.
Todays morning snack included two hard boiled eggs


Lunch- 1/4cup whole wheat mac and cheese, 1 cup of kale and 1 cup spinach


Afternoon snack- greek yogurt and an orange.


Dinner 6 scallops cooked in 2 TBS of balsamic vinegar, some minced garlic, and a dash of onion powder.
-Spinach sauteed with garlic


After dinner- lemon tea!


Today went well.  I did a yoga work out tape.  Since everyone can do a 30 minute work out!


Today’s tip removing sugar and adding cinnamon!


Everyday I have coffee it’s a religion at this point!  However, the sugar is the killer!  


Try adding cinnamon to your coffee!  It will help curb your cravings for sugar!  It also has so many health benefits!  It also helps increase blood flow which boosts your metabolism.


-J

What “They” Will Not Eat

Education, Lifestyle, Uncategorized · 

Following up on the funny, last, blog post I wanted to put this out there. I read this because I really do like to know what insiders of the industry feel about their own products. I have also heard that microwave popcorn is really bad for you. I almost had some for a snack tonight but then thought otherwise after reading this.

Here is the Link to the site with the original article. I have said this before, but they have really great articles.
http://www.realfarmacy.com/8-foods-even-the-experts-wont-eat/

 

Take a look at what industry insiders look at when choosing their groceries.

Truths About Weightloss

Education, Lifestyle, Uncategorized · 

Wanted to share this article about some weight loss truths. I really feel the one about over estimating how many calories I burn and underestimating how many I eat.

This article even more importantly talks about how many people underestimate the impact diet has on weight loss even when working out. The other great issue they address is that working out is good, but living at Fit Lifestyle must accompany it as well.

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/exercise-and-weight-loss-five-truths

Super Summer Foods

Education, Lifestyle, Uncategorized · 

Hi! Here is a great article on foods that are great to snack on this summer. This is on a website I love anyways and wanted to share some new snack ideas with you.

http://www.acefitness.org has great articles as well as streaming free fitness workouts. Enjoy this article!

They review these snacks:
-watermelon
-pistachios
-grape tomatoes
-lemons
-sardines

http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/healthy-living-article/60/3363/snack-on-these-5-summer-superfoods/