Saturday, March 31, 2012

2012 Races

I made a goal for myself to do a 5K race every month until Nov. I have registered and am excited! These are the Races I will be doing this year. My goal is to improve my time with each race. Happy Running!

2012 5k Schedule
March 24 - Community Health & Fitness Run *48:27
April 14 - Go Me *47:13
May 19 - Personal Best
June 9 - Teton Dam
July 14 - Rigby Lake Duathlon
July 28 - MAD Run
August 10 -  Nite Lights
September 15 - Rolling Hills Classic
October 20 - Wish Walk Run
November 22 - Run to Feed the Hungry

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Hungry

I found this to be very powerful. Tell me what you think.
http://www.hungryforchange.tv/online-premiere

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

BBQ

I love, love, love to BBQ. In Summer I BBQ at least once a week, usually. So tonight we BBQ'd burgers and hot dogs. After I am done cooking I always through some frozen chicken breast on and grill them up. Yes, it takes a bit longer for me to sit outside and grill the chicken. However, it saves time  later when I need pre-cooked chicken and I don't want canned. Plus, it is way cheaper than buying cooked grilled chicken from the store.
 Let the chicken cool after removing from the grill. Place it in an air tight container (I use ziploc bags) and either refrigerate it or freeze it for later use.
 So my hint for all your BBQ's this Spring and Summer....Grilled Chicken! Try it, I promise you will be happy you did.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

My First 5K

This morning I did my first 5K. It is funny to say that since I did a Triathlon in 2009. However, I have had some ups and downs since then.
I had a great time and can't wait for the next one. I beat my goal time by almost 2 mins and hope that I can inspire other in my life to improve their health.
Waiting to Start

With my husband before starting

With my Dad (Race Director) after my finish

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Apple Cupcakes and Portabello Pizza

I am going to combine 2 "recipes" in this post because, well, they aren't what I would call a real recipe. However, they are so yummy that I have to post them.

First off is the Apple Cupcake. I found this idea on Oh She Glows website and have wanted to try it. I used 1 fresh apple, chocolate peanut butter, and granola. Core the apple, slice in half horizontally. Spread peanut butter on top and then dip in granola. Voila! Apple Cupcake, yummy, satisfying, and no where near the calories or fat of a real cupcake.

Second is Portabello Pizza. I got this idea from Pam's site. I was very hesitant to try this. I had a bad experience with portabello's a couple years ago and have not looked their way since. I hated mushrooms of any kind through my whole life until about 2 years ago. Not sure how I came to like them, but now I put them on everything! (Same story with Zucchini) I am so glad that I went ahead and tried this. I made them for my husband and I for lunch yesterday and am in love!

Portabello Pizza

Large Portabello top (as many as you need for servings)
Tomato Sauce
Cheese
Toppings *anything you like on your pizza

Pre-heat oven to 400 and spray a baking pan (or line with parchment). Gut portabello tops and rinse out, pat dry. Spread the tomato/pizza sauce into the middle well of the mushroom. Top with cheese and any toppings you like. (I used turkey sausage, green onions, zucchini, bacon..basically what was in my fridge)
Place pizza in the oven for 12-15 mins or until cheese is melted. For a nice texture turn your oven to broil and brown the cheese, watching so not to burn it.
Take out, let cool a bit and dig in! This was amazing and I love having a pizza option the does no have dough! You could do this without the cheese as well and do a straight veggie. However, in my house, pizza must have cheese on it.

Try both of these dishes, you will love them!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Crumble Chicken

I made some really good chicken for dinner tonight. I have been wanting to make chicken for a while now but not just a plain ole chicken breast. So I got creative and man did it pay off! I thought of making a breaded type chicken but needed it to be a bit healthier. So here is what happened.

Crumble Chicken (The name just popped in my head so I am sticking with it)
Chicken Tenders cooked *
Whole Wheat Ritz Crackers (1 sleeve)
Honey Mustard, or Honey Mustard Dressing

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put a piece of parchment on a baking pan. (This is more for easy clean up. If you don't have parchment it is ok.) Using a coating tray, or 2 dishes, place the Honey Mustard in one dish. Crumble the crackers as best you can. You can leave some bigger pieces but the finer the crumbs the better. Coat the chicken in honey mustard and then cover with crumbled crackers. place on the parchment. Do this with each piece individually. They should look similar to Chicken Strips.
Place the tray in the oven for 15 mins until the crackers are a bit darker and crisp. Serve warm with additional Honey Mustard if desired.

*You can use any type of chicken you like. I like the tenders because they are smaller but you can use chicken breast too. If you use whole breasts I would recommend tenderizing, pounding them out, before you bake them.
**You could also try using raw chicken and coating it to avoid the pre-cook phase. You would need to bake the chicken for 45 mins when cooking from a raw state. Do not use frozen chicken, it will turn out chewy.

I had this for dinner and it was great! I wanted to avoid bread crumbs and eggs/butter for a healthier version of breaded chicken. The Honey Mustard adds a nice flavor without any thing added. You could also use a BBQ sauce too. Basically whatever you would dip a chicken strip into you could use for coating. Yum, Yum, Yum. My kids loved it and my husband had seconds.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Baked Eggs...again

Ok, so I know I posted this recipe before; however, this time I have ramekins! I made baked eggs like 3 times this week and love them! This week I made them with turkey sausage, bacon, tomato, spinach, and red. fat Feta. Yum!! I have been trying out Ezekiel bread. For those of you who have not heard of it, Ezekiel bread is a non-flour bread. It has a very "healthy" taste, as my husband would say. I tried the plain bread as toast and was not a huge fan. I then tried the Cinnamon Raisin bread and love it for breakfast! I think I can use the plain loaf for sandwiches. I also made a Green Monster to drink, Yum!

Can't always be perfect

So yesterday was a really hard day emotionally for me. I had the boys go with me to the park yesterday when I went to workout. Let's just say I won't do that again. Only take children to the park when you do not plan on doing anything else.
I got the majority of my workout in and then ended up leaving early. I was super flustered when I got home and it ruined my drive for the rest of my workout.
I really need to post some new recipes. I will work on that this week.
I am entering Week 4 of Training and am excited to get into annotate set of challenges next week.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Week 2 Done

I just finished my second week of my program. I honestly feel a huge sense of accomplishment. I didn't quit, I didn't miss any work outs, and I didn't do anything half-way! I finished Week 2 and am exciting to continue to Week 3.
I promise to post some more food blogs soon. I even have another Challenge in mind.