Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Awesome Weekend and Strides Against Strokes!

   
           Memorial Weekend was amazing!  My brother flew in town from Washington DC.  We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for a good old family cookout.  All of my extended family came together a for it.  My grandma passed away last Spring.  Since then, it has been difficult  to that side of the family together at all.  I think this was the first time everyone was together.  We all came down to the house she lived in on the lake.  We told fun memories of her and each drank some bud light in a mug with a dash of salt.  My grandma loved beer out of a mug with salt.  We toasted and drank it in her memory.
         
I had to include this awesome pic of my brother and Devin throwing my sister as she does a back  tuck out of the lake.  Brianna is quite the cheerleader/gymnast.  I was super excited to catch this awesome pic!


                    We had a great time eating and hanging out together.  This was one of those days that I did not eat very healthy.  Carrots were pretty much the extent of the vegetables with a lot of chips, yummy dips, brownies, and so much more. Some days you just have to enjoy the food, knowing the next day will bring much healthier eating and exercise to get back on track.




                     I am so excited to be participating in my cousin's 2nd Annual Strides Against Stroke 5K next Saturday June 1st.  My cousin works at Self Regional Health Care in Greenwood and is trying toraise awareness about strokes and how you can prevent them. My mom and sister are meeting me there where we will support Strides Against Strokes.  There will be speakers who have suffered strokes and information about how to prevent strokes.  Another bonus to the event, is getting to see my cousin's adorable little baby girl.  She was born last November, and is absolutely precious.
                      My food filled weekend made me anxious to get in a good workout on Tuesday. I have really been enjoying switching up my workouts lately.  Yesterday I ran 2.8 miles and did a quick kickboxing arms working.  I did this set three times:

50 alternating front jabs
15 front double jabs( quick jab, then a harder one with the same arm)
15 uppercuts on each side.
20 alternating elbows ( power elbows alternating to each side).

                   I used a mixture of arm moves we used at my kickboxing class at the YMCA.  I have also been creating circuits including running one mile or .25 miles with arm and leg quick workouts.  I think my body is working harder with the variety of types of workouts.

How do you switch up your workouts so that your body doesn't get used to the same ones?

           

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Shrimp Ceviche!


            Dev and I were thinking of a good dinner last week, and for some reason Ceviche came up.  We thought...there is no way we can make this. To our suprise...after some research, we found a pretty easy recipe with shrimp  Making Shrimp Ceviche is not hard, but you have to have about 2 hours.  Most of this is time for it to cool and blend together.



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First, squeeze the juice out of one orange, one lemon, and one lime.  



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Next, dice half of a cucumber.


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Then, boil about half of a bag of Wild Alaskan Shrimp for 1 minute. After it boils, shell and devein the shrimp.



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Chop the shrimp into thirds.Next, dice a small handful of onions.  Put the juice, cucumbers, and shrimp in a bowl  in the fridge for 1 hour.

While the mixture is cooling dice tomatoes, and chop a small handful of cilatntro.  


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Add the tomatoes, and cilantro after the one hour of cooling.  Let the mixture sit at room tempurature for 30 minutes.


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This might be the prettiest and most delicate meal i've ever made.  It is quite beautiful and so tasty...plus its healthy.  So delish!

Have you ever created a dish that at first seemed impossible?  




Sunday, May 19, 2013

A Relaxing Weekend of Things I Love!

         I was so excited to have a long weekend where I could relax.  Dev and I love doing things with people, but somehow we always end up booking up our weekends.  Needless to say, I was pumped about one to myself.

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Mowgli and Chloe on the ride to Chapin! Lookin so cute!

        We left to go Chapin where Devin and  are both from.  One of the best things about Chapin is Lake Murray.  Growing up on the lake, we love relaxing and hanging out on the water.  I can't explain how beautiful and relaxing the lake is with  the sun radiating on it and creating a shimmering sparkles.
 This is my happy place!

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What a view! Love Lake Murray!

                The next morning, I woke up and went for a run.  Hearing the birds chirping and the wonderful sounds of nature inspired me to leave my music and running tracker at home.  There is something about going for a run, just to enjoy running.  No focusing on my running pace, or being distracted by music.  This gave me a good time to enjoy nature and appreciate God's beautiful creations.  This was one of the most freeing and relaxing runs in a while.  It made me encourage myself to run without music or my running tracker more often.  Sometimes we get so distracted with burning the most calories and finding the best song, that we forget to just enjoy and appreciate nature around us.              

               We went on the lake for a few hours and then ate late lunch at Liberty on the Lake.  I ordred a delicious Strawberry and Spinach Shrimp Salad.   It had spinach with shrimp, candied pecans, strawberries and goat cheese.  It was the perfect lunch on a hot day on the lake.  The first lake day of the summer was perfect.  I loved it and can't wait for the many lake days to come.

                 After getting back home, Dev had a great idea for dinner.  We love ceviche, but had never thought to make it on our own.  So......we did.  

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Shrimp Ceviche.....delish!

                   The ceviche had orange, lime, and lemon juice with diced cucmbers, tomatoes, red onions and boiled shrimp.   We will definitely be making this more often.We sat on our patio to enjoy our favorite new dish. 
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Our Knockout Rose Bushes right now!

             After dinner, we were admiring our beautiful Knockout Rose Bushes my grandma gave us. This has been a such a nice and relaxing weekend with so many things I love.....Dev, my pups, a good run, the lake,  and good eatin'!

What would your most relaxing and enjoyable weekend consist of?












Sunday, May 5, 2013

Kicking the chemicals to the curb!

             The past week or so has been crazy.  We have our BIG state testing at school this coming week so I feel like I have worked myself and my little third graders to death.  It is nice because I have seen so much growth in them over the past year.  We have about a month until the summer...WooHooo...can't wait.

Dr. Oz interviewed  Joe Cross discussing the
 power of  your body being able to heal itself.
            Last week, Dev recorded a Dr. Oz show that I absolutely loved and found so informative.  Dr. Oz is always awesome with great information, but this episode just really stuck out.  I always knew that eating healthier was good for your body, but he explained it so well.  He was actually interviewing  Joe Cross        the famous juicer with his website and documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.  Joe explained that after juicing, his body was able to heal itself from Chronic Urticaria.  After interviewing, Dr. Oz explained that the body is made to heal itself.  He said that when we eat processed foods with chemicals, we create obstacles for our body to heal itself.  When we eat vegetables and put nutrients in our body, it aids the healing process.  WOW....I don't know why, but this really hit me.  I had noticed that over the past year or so I wasn't getting sick nearly as much.  ( Being a teacher...germs are everywhere)  I knew it had to do with eating healthier, but this explained it so well.
        I really wish that when people spend all of this time and money on diets that have no nutritional value and put chemicals and other junk in their body, they would realize that eating better is so much more than that.  Being HEALTHY is so much more important than just losing weight.  If they only knew how much better you feel, and the way your body loves you so much more when you put good things into it. People should focus more on putting good nutrients in their body, instead of processed foods full of chemicals that our bodies aren't  made to digest.  I have a prime example.  I have slowly taken diet sodas out of my daily diet.  I hadn't had one in about a month or two.  I drank one this weekend, and man did my stomach reject it.  I felt so sick.  I have found  Sparkling Ice as a replacement that gives me the fizzy and burning feeling when I drink it, without all the awful chemicals like aspartame.  It also has 0 calories and green tea extract.  My favorite flavor is Black Raspberry.

You can find Sparkling Ice in grocery stores, and some gas stations.

          With this in mind, I am on a mission to seek out meals, snacks, drinks etc.  that contain good nutrients for my body without all of the awful chemicals.  It is hard to do this with so many delicious, yet awful foods everywhere you go.  They are marketed and staring you in the face at every store you stop at.

What helps you avoid the chemically filled and processed foods, and replace them with a whole and natural diet?

Monday, April 15, 2013

Stockin Up on the Good Stuff

               I am so excited to rack up on some of my favorite go to ingredients.  I started a new mason jar system that helps us get things like almonds,rice, quinoa, flax seed, steel cut oats etc. in bulk.  We have found that it is tremendously cheaper to get bags of these key ingredients from the bins at whole foods. Dev went and stocked up on them for us...we were getting to the bare minimum.


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                We also picked up some frozen meat for the next few weeks.We found it at a local farm. We started buying  a good amount of  meat frozen meat at once, and just keeping it in the freezer.  Dev bought 4 chicken thighs, 4 chicken wings, and two steaks for $25 at Bethel Trails Farm.  It is better quality meat for a great price.   We try to only eat meat a few days a week.  We save this good meat for when we do...because it is delish.  I encourage you to check out a local farm or place to grass fed meat. It tastes so much better.

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Bethel Trails Frozen Meat: chicken thighs, chicken wings, and  steak...Yum!


               Tonight after a work event, Dev cooked the steak, asparagus, and corn.  It was indescribable.  We have gotten grass fed steak from Whole Foods and loved it.   However, this was even better!  If you haven't had grass fed steak...you must!  It has a much deeper and richer flavor than normal steak. You can find it at Whole Foods, or a local farm.  


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 These are a few of my favorite things to stock up on and keep around the kitchen.  The frozen meat can be kept for a while in the freezer and then thawed out the morning you want to eat it, and the mason jars help with price and availability of some of my favorite ingredients. 


          What are some of your favorite foods to stock up on and keep around the kitchen?


           




Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Playing Catch Up!

           I'm sorry its been a while since i've blogged.  The past few weeks have been a little crazy.  The end of the nine weeks is always so busy getting grades in.  Not to mention, state testing and a field trip. Then we move outside of my work world to driving to see family back and forth for Easter.  We saw Devin's family in Atlanta on Saturday.  Next, we went home,went to church, and then off to Columbia to see my family and his parents.  Whew!  Like I said...a bit crazy! 
         I am writing a quick post, because today we are off to visit my brother in Baltimore, Maryland.  His girlfriend and family live there too, so it is nice to visit all of them. 

Jimmy, Brianna and me cruising around DC last year when we visited him.

          This morning I woke up and couldn't sleep later  like I wanted to. So.....I decided to do a Fierce and Fab Workout. It is by Tony Horton, the guy who created P90X. This one is a go to favorite.  I love the mix between strength and cardio.  Also, I am all about working the upper and lower parts of your body in the same move.  During my 4 minutes of cardio, Mowgli was trying to decide what workout he should choose from my workout binder.  This is precious!


            I've been mixing it up between indoor strength focused workouts from magazines, and running about 3 miles.  I am really liking sprinting and recovering when I run.  I can feel my body working harder than it has in a while.  I've tried to to keep my eating in check, while still enjoying the wonderful Easter food.

         I hope to post sooner this time, but who knows.  I hope you had a wonderful Easter and spent quality time with family.


Monday, March 18, 2013

Veggie Bakes and a workout changeup!


     I have recently discovered one of my current favorite side dishes...baked veggies!  I love them for a few reasons!  I am not a huge fan of broccoli....but crispy broccoli is irresistable.  I still get my fast food fix from a few good potato fries bakes.  Lastly, the carrots are just good!
       So to prepare the veggies, I spread broccoli pieces, sliced carrots, and cut potatos.  I lightly brushed them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and fresh rosemary.

Before veggies are thrown in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 375 and bake them for about 30 minutes.  I put them on broil for a few minutes after to get them good and crispy.
 
After the veggies are baked...yum!

           This was one of my favorite meals in a while.  We had leftover adobo spicy beans Devin made in the crockpot.  The delicious pork chop is from a local farm Bethel Trails in Gray Court, SC.

Our final product!

             I have recently been changing up my work out perspective.  I used to go out and run about 3 miles at a consistent pace.  After reading a few articles in health magazines, I decided to run my normal 3 miles.  This time I started out at a very slow pace  for a half mile warm up.  Then I made visual markers to sprint about 15-30 seconds.  After each sprint,  I went back down to a slow jog for double the time to recover.  I did this back and forth for about 2 miles in between my half mile warm up and cool down.  Needless to say, I was struggling at the end.  I could really feel my body working harder than I have in a while.  I think I had gotten in a running rut, and my body needed  a few changes in my routine.  I am doing the same thing right now with my circuits and playing with a change in raising my heart rate high and then bringing it down back and forth.  I am really starting to be more in touch with my heart rate during workouts. 

How do you get out of your workout ruts?