Slow Cooker, Snow Melter Vegetarian Stew

Ingredients: 

1 can black beans; 1 can kidney beans; 1 can stewed tomatoes; 1 clove of garlic chopped; 1 cup yellow onions diced; 1 cup peppers diced; 1 zucchini slices; 1 yellow squash sliced; 2 small sweet potatoes/yams cubed; 1 cup baby carrots; 1 cup frozen corn; 1 seasoning packet (I had taco seasoning left so I used that)

Step 1: Chop and slice all your vegetables up. Then layer the garlic, onions, peppers, zucchini  squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and corn into the slow cooker. 

Step 2: Add the black beans, kidney beans and stewed tomatoes and stir the mixture. Then add your seasoning packet. 

Step 3: Set it and forget it… place lid on slow cooker, turn to medium/high. Let cook for about 4 hours or until all vegetables are fork tender. 

Step 4: Serve on its own, over brown rice or quinoa or with a salad. This quick comfort food meal will melt your heart and the snow! Yummy. 

My Challenge for you this week is to get out your slow cooker/ crock pot. Clean out your cabinets and refrigerator to make a yummy meal and saw farewell to winter! 

These types of recipes are also a great to prepare ahead of time on, maybe even on your Prep-day. Recipes like there are great to  experiment with difference spice mixes. They  create a great deal of flavor and spice without adding lots of salt. I had a perfect spice mix that I wanted to give a shot from McCormick. I was given a sample of McCormick‘s Perfect Pinch Fiesta Citrus at a recent nutrition conference. I thought the citrus flavor would add some brightness to the meal and a pop of flavor.

I really enjoyed making this recipe because it was quick, easy and had lots of flavors  The best part is, I was eating all those vegetables, but it certainly felt like comfort food!

Veggie Packed Mexican Lasagna!

Ingredients: 15oz can black beans; 1/2 container of favorite salsa; 1 medium red onion chopped; 2 cups bell peppers chopped; 1 bundle of asparagus chopped; 1 zucchini sliced; 1 cup frozen sweet corn; 2 jalapeno peppers finely diced (deseed if you don’t like a lot of heat); mexican season mix (McCormick Perfect Pinch Fiesta Citrus); 1 cup shredded cheese; 4 whole wheat tortillas; 1 bundle of cilantro; 2 tbsp canola oil; guacamole for garnish.

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven for 400 degrees. Chop, dice and slice your vegetables (onion, peppers, asparagus, zucchini, and jalapeno peppers). Step 2: In a hot pan add 2 Tbps canola oil with onion and peppers. Cook until onion begin to become translucent. Then add the rest of your vegetables to the pan to start to cook. Step 3: Add you seasoning and fishes off your vegetables by adding your cilantro. Step 4: Time to layer your lasagna. First spray the bottom of your pie pan with olive oil or non stick spray. Then layer 1/3 of the black beans, corn and salsa.Step 5: Next add your cooked vegetable mixture and 1/3 of the cheese. Then add another tortilla. Repeat 3 times. Step 6: Top with cheese and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minute, then broil for about 5 minutes to created a golden crust. Step 5: Serve with guacamole, salsa and enjoy. 

My challenge this week is to take your favorite or new recipe and see if you can turn it into a veggie packed and meatless meal. 

One of my favorite fitness apps has been helping me, to ensure I get a workout in at least 4 time per week in addition to my running. It is called Nike Training Club. It is like having your own personal trainer anytime and anywhere. This app has over 60 workouts, that you can choose based on your goals and fitness level.  You can also select an allotted time for you workouts. Either 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 45 minute workouts. There is audio guidance along with demonstration videos for all the exercises and workouts which help ensure proper form and motivates you to keep going.

All the works out require minimal equipment and for some your own body is all the equipment you need!  All the workouts can be set to your playlist. However I enjoy setting my iphone up in front of my computer or TV.  I catch up on missed shows or the news, while I blast through a workout. This week I have been so strapped for time, I have resorted to using the 15 minute workouts in my office with the basic equipment I keep there: a yoga ball, resistance bands, free weights and kettle bell.  I can squeeze a workout in at the end of the day before I head home or during lunch.

My workout corner in my office.

For those of you who love data and rewards, Nike Training Club presents you with a summary of your workout when you’re done.  Every minute of training gets you closer to NTC-exclusive rewards like personal training advice, star workouts and earning badges. And for all you social media gurus out there you can share your results via twitter or facebook, with #makeitcount. And if that is not impressive enough, it is FREE!!

The app is great and probably will never replace my Ultimate Bootcamp workouts, but Nike Training Club really works you out hard whether you have 15 minutes or an hour! The point of today’s post is, so what if you didn’t make it to your planned workout session at the gym or your yoga class, that doesn’t mean you have to skip a workout and throw in the towel. There are hundreds of way to squeeze in a workout and make it count. My favorite quote around exercise is “One hour of exercise is only 4% of you day”, when you put it that way, there really is no excuse!

My Challenge for you this week is to fit in at least 15 minutes of exercise each day, whether that is using the Nike Training Club, resistance bands in your office or counting your steps with a Fitbit, what matters is that your move and not give up on you! 

P.S. By sharing this with you, I know I will make it to Ultimate Bootcamp tomorrow AM, the joys of accountability! 

Shape Magazine recently featured The Best Recipes from Our Favorite Healthy Food Blogs and Vanessa Smith of Life Undeveloped recipe for Zucchini and Squash ribbon pasta took the prize for me. I took her fantastic recipe and put my own little spin on it. I replaced the nuts with edamame to add protein and cut the calories!

Zucchini & Squash Pesto Ribbon Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 whole zucchini
• 1 whole yellow squash
• 1 cup raw, fresh corn kernels
• 1 cup edamame 
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 small shallot, julienned
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1/4 cup pesto
• Parmigiano-reggiano freshly grated
• Fresh rosemary and thyme, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Step 1: Cut the ends off the squash and zucchini. With a conventional hand peeler, or mandolin peel the squash long ways into ribbons. Set them aside. 

Step 2: Heat up 2 tbsp. olive oil and sauté the garlic and shallots. Once softened, add corn kernels and edamame to the pan and sauté for about a minute or two.

Step 3: Add the squash and zucchini ribbons and toss it all together. Add the pesto as well, making sure everything is evenly coated. Top with lemon zest and fresh herbs. 

 Step 4: Serve with cheese on top and enjoy! 

My Challenge for you this week is to look for low calorie versions of your favorite comfort foods to enjoy on a snow day! 

Reality check… ok so I didn’t spend a winter in France, but the cooking class I took from Chef Patrice Gerard at Stonewall Kitchen certainly made me fell like I did. Chef Patrice Gerard was born in Paris, France, educated in Switzerland and spent his early years with his grandparents on the small family farm in the Burgundy region of France. He returned to Paris to study culinary arts in his hometown and earned culinary arts degrees from the French government and the European Community. He now is a private chef in the Portsmouth area of New Hampshire. 

What has been the latest food trend, of cooking and enjoying whole foods has always been away of life for this Chef. He respects the food he is working with and nothing goes to waste when he cooks. A story Chef Patrice Gerard shared with the class,  is when he visits a kitchen for the first time he always checks the garbage cans, if they are full of food, he knows that kitchen does not respect their ingredients.  Chef Patrice Gerard was the first guest Chef at Stonewall Kitchen‘s Cooking School and after tasting his food, I understand why he is invited back time and time again.

The food I  described in my french fantasy, were all prepared and served to us.  The Carrot Ginger Bisque, was a stand out for me and I have made 3 times since our class. It amazes me that such a simple recipe of 5 basic ingredients can have so much flavor and be healthy for you!

The tip for this recipe that I found so useful and fascinating, was to use rice in “creamed” soup instead of cream. The rice acts as a thickening agent and ensures your soup doesn’t have that baby food consistency. Of course in my version I used brown rice and it came out perfect.  I garnished by bisque with catalina beans  at the end to add a little protein so I could have it as a meal rather than a starter. Finally bonus points for this recipe because it is Vegan!

Carrot Ginger Bisque

Ingredients: 1 lb carrots (peeled and cut in 1/2 inch pieces); 1 leek (white part only, sliced thin); 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh ginger (minced); 1/2 cup white rice; 2 quarts of vegetable stock; 1 Tbsp earth balance (vegan spread/ could use butter if you would like)

Step 1: Chop your carrots and leeks. Peel your ginger and mince. Tip for peeling ginger is to use a spoon, it so easy and help preserve all the juices. 

Step 2: Sweat ginger and leeks in earth balance/butter, then add carrots and sweat those as well.

Step 3: Add stock and rice, bring to a boil and reduce heat and simmer until carrots are soft (about 20 minutes). 

Step 4: Use an immersion blender or regular blender and puree the soup well. Strain the bisque through a sieve. Step 5: Garnish with a sprig of cilantro or 1/4 cup of catalina beans and enjoy!!

My Challenge for you with this very chilly weather is to find comfort foods that are vegetables based like our Carrot Ginger Bisque! 

If you answered “No” don’t feel bad, four out of five people will break their resolution.  And 1/3 of you will not even make it until the end of January! The most common resolutions for 2013 revolves around weight loss and exercise, shocking I know!

When talking with clients at Family Practice Group, some of them are losing ground with their lifestyle changes. I am not a big believer in resolutions,  I am more of a lifestyle change kind of gal. But not matter what you call them or what time of year it is, it’s still a problem if you can’t adapt and make them permanent.

These past 10 days, I kind of feel like a broken record and in a good way. Many clients keep saying to me, “Kerri, I just don’t think I am cut out to do this, I really don’t have the willpower!” You can see the disappointment and shame in their faces as the look down like a child who was scolded for sneaking cookies before dinner. My response every time is “You need to accept that willpower cannot be the only method used to change behavior.”

I can bet that many of you are just like my clients and myself. When we make a slip in our goals/diet, it most often is at then end of the day. Coincident, I think not? There actually may be a reasonable explanation for this beyond willpower,  I like to call it Food Decision Fatigue.

The recently coined phenomenon known as “decision fatigue,” is where humans have a limited amount of willpower for making smart choices, and that willpower is depleted throughout the day.  Food Decision Fatigue is exactly the way it sounds. You make over 200 food decisions a day so when the clock hits 4:00 PM, you are tired of saying no and mentally fatigued. No wonder then a trip to the vending machine or a cookie on the counter sounds like a perfect pick me up, however consequences of how that choice will affect your waistline or health goals doesn’t even cross your mind.

To over come this phenomena there is an importance of planning and establishing a routine that eliminate as many unnecessary deliberations as possible. And when creating these routines do it earlier in the day and on a full stomach, you will make much smarter choices that will stick!

A recent client of mine, Julie has decided that her new years resolution for 2013 was no more eating after 8:00 PM. After about 4 days of teeth gritting and digging her heals in, to hold her own,  Julie was obsessing about eating at night. She returned to her old ways of pour herself a glass of red wine followed by her after dinner snack that always started out as 5 crackers and 1 slice of cheese.  But ended as block of cheese, a box of crackers and sometimes even the whole bottle of wine!  Willpower wasn’t working and Food Decision Fatigue was winning. What did Julie need to do? Create a new routine to and take away as many decisions about food at the end of her day as possible.

Julie’s newly created routine:  

1. Pre-plan her after dinner snack for the week, every Sunday morning before grocery shopping.
2. When she arrives home from the grocery store, pre-portion out her evening snacks into snack size bags for the week.
3. After dinner Julie will grab her wine glass and pour herself a seltzer with a splash of cranberry juice and a lime, followed by her pre-portioned snack.  (Still use the wine glass it makes this routine still feel special.)
   
4. Immediately after the snack Julie will go brush her teeth.

Julie problem wasn’t that she ate after 8:00 PM, it was the amounts she was eating due to a little alcohol and Food Decision Fatigue. (The rule that eating after 8:00 PM will make you fat, is a nutrition myth made famous by Oprah.  You can eat after 8:00 PM and not gain weight if the calories you choose fit within your goal for the day. The reason not to eat late at night is our poor decision making on what and how much we eat, aka Food Decision Fatigue.)  This time around Julie was smart, and realized giving up the night time snack was too lofty of a goal for her right now. She knew however that she could make sensible choices ahead of time and that would set herself up for success. 

My Challenge for you this week is to take a step back and looks at your New Years Resolution. Ask yourself “Is Food Decision Fatigue interfering with my success?” If yes, create a new plan and take away as many food decisions at the end of your day as possible, by following Food Decision Fatigue Phenomenon 3 step plan!  

During this holiday season we are often overbooked and the first thing for us to ditch is exercise. Who has time for exercise when we’re shopping for presents, running errands, baking cookies, preparing meals and attending parties.

Exercise however could be your holiday eating buffer. There is strong scientific evidence shows that physical activity can help you maintain your weight over time and through out the holiday season. According to the CDC to maintain your weight you need 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity per week. You might be saying to yourself, yeah like that is going to happen over the holiday season?

My Winter Warmer Workout(20 minute work out) and Improve Your Own Tree Trunks (10 minute workout)  pyramid may be the solution to fit in exercise during this very busy holidays season without having to go to the gym or needing to buy any special equipment. You could do these work outs in your office during a lunch break, first thing when you wake up or at night during your favorite holiday movie! If you committed to doing the Winter Warmer Workout 5 days per week you would get 100 minutes of exercise. If you committed to the Improve Your Own Tree Trunks pyramid workout daily, that would be 70 minutes of exercise for that week. They are both fun workouts that will get you to the goal of maintaining your weight through this holiday season.

Winter Warmer Workout: is a work out that focuses on toning the whole body by using cardio intervals followed by resistance training using your own body weight. To use your Winter Warmer Workout:

(1) Grab a stop watch or your cell phone for a timer.

(2) Start your Winter Warmer Workout session off with 30 seconds of cardiovascular movement.

(3) At each blue arrow you will want to do 30 seconds of cardiovascular movement. This could be as simple jogging in place or jumping jacks. If you really want to turn up the burn you could add in burpees or squat jumps.

(4) Your 30 seconds of cardiovascular movement should be followed by a resistance exercise.

(5) Complete all 10 resistance exercises with 30 seconds of cardiovascular movement in between. 

Improve Your Own Tree Trunks: is a pyramid workout, meaning that you will do both ascending and descending repetitions of the pyramid or in this case our Christmas tree. This workout is meant to tone the legs and lower half of your body, while scorching calories.  To use your Improve Your Own Tree Trunks pyramid workout:

(1) Start at the base with 100 jumping jacks and follow the candy cane up the tree doing each designated exercise.

(2) Once you reach the top of the tree, repeat your 10 burpees and descend down the tree to finish with your 100 jumping jacks. 

Both workouts offer a combination of cardiovascular movement and resistance training  Women Health’s recently reviewed the latest research to determine whether strength or cardio rules and both came out as winners for various reasons.

My Challenge for you is to not give up on exercise because it is the holidays. Give yourself the gift of 10-20 minutes per day and try one of my at home workouts! 

1. One whole egg contains 185 milligrams of cholesterol (egg whites contain none). It varies from person to person how much the cholesterol in your diet can increase your blood cholesterol. Daily recommended cholesterol limit is less than 300 milligrams for people with normal LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.
2. Total saturated fat in the diet, not dietary cholesterol, is what influences blood cholesterol levels the most.
3. One egg has only 71 calories and 1.5 grams of saturated fat and contains 6 grams of high quality protein.
4. Eating four egg yolks or fewer on a weekly basis hasn’t been found to increase your risk of heart disease, according to the Mayo Clinic. A great deal of nutrition experts have now determined people on a low-fat diet can eat one or two eggs a day without measurable changes in their blood cholesterol levels.
5. Choose eggs fortified with omega-3 fatty acids, it’s an easy way to increase your intake of these polyunsaturated fatty acids in your diet.
6. Egg have been shown to boost brain health, reduce inflammation, protect your eyes and help you lose weight.
7. Eggs are also a good source of vitamin B12 and riboflavin and supply varying amounts of many other nutrients. The yolk contains a higher percentage of the eggs’ vitamins than the white, including all of the eggs’ vitamins A, D and E. Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain vitamin D.

So it appears the eggs may not be the devil as we originally thought.  I am not saying eat an infinite amount of eggs, but if you are worried about your cholesterol levels, looks past the eggs as the sole culprit.   I guarantee there are many other habits that need to change before you cut out eggs completely!

Eggcellent Muffins:

• 9 Omega-3 whole eggs
• 2 cups chopped peppers
• 1/2 cup diced onions
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• Olive oil spray
• Muffin Tin

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees.  Spray muffin tins with olive oil spray. Distribute the peppers, onions and baby spinach into each cup.

Step 2: Wisk  the omega-3 eggs with parmesan cheese. Step 3: Place egg mixture into a measuring cup with a spout and distribute eggs evenly into all 12 cups. Step 4: Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. 

Step 5:  Enjoy! Recommended serving is 2 Eggcellent muffins. The extra muffins I place into snack size bags and freeze/refrigerate to enjoy all week long. 

My challenge for you this week is look beyond the yolk and try some yummy egg dishes for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Here are some others that might be great to try:

• Baked Eggs in a Tomato Cup
• Slimmed Down Quiche 
• Green Eggs & Ham Frittata 
• Huevos Rancheros 

Fitbit as small as a paper clip!

So I went on the hunt! There had to be something better, that would actually motivate me and allow me to track my progress and push myself. Remember we are talking about adding years to my life here people! Having a 23% lower risk of death, never mind all the benefits to my weight, my heart and my happiness by just adding a few extra steps seemed like something both you and I should take seriously!

One of my very successful clients Rick, who I have introduced you all to was using a Fitbit and shared about it in his Wellness group. As he was sharing how he has been tracking his activity and pulled out this small black paper clip that fit in the palm of his hand. I was amazed that this little gadget could track your steps, flights of stairs climbed, calories burned, and distance traveled. It also automatically syncs your data to PCs, Macs, the iPhones, and iPads, where it is stored for your review.

The Fitbit dashboard is my favorite feature of the product, which I can see both on my PC and my iphone.  I am a very visual learner and the Fitbit dashboard is full of graphs,

charts, and tools designed to help you track your progress and understand your health and fitness. Knowing how close you are to reaching your goals gives you added incentive to achieve them and aim higher. It also has a feature where you can compete with family and friends who also have a fitbit or join a group. I currently compete with my mother online and it seems silly but when she is beating me in steps is makes me take and extra walk at the end of the day or park that much further away.

The Fitbit dashboard also has features where you can log your food, water, workouts, weight, and more. You can also export your Fitbit data to several popular fitness apps. Some of them – including SparkPeople, Lose It!, MyFitnessPal, and MapMyFITNESS. I currently keep track of my food using Lose It! and it synches with my Fitbit dashboard automatically. I love to have all my nutrition and exercise information at the tips of my fingers.

And when you thought fitbit had thought of it all, slip it into your wrist band at night, and it’ll measure your sleep cycle. The device tracks your hours of sleep and quality. Sleep is essential to health and weight control. Poor sleep habits can contribute to about 10% weight gain for many people.  There is an inverse relationship between weight and sleep; the less sleep you get each night, the heavier you tend to be.

Steps are a big deal and as Americans we are certainly not getting enough. Americans average just 5,117 steps per day, far fewer than people in Australia (9,695), Switzerland (9,650) and Japan (7,168). Thirty-four percent of U.S. adults are obese, compared with 16 percent in Australia, 8 percent in Switzerland and 3 percent in Japan. These findings were published in the Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, in October 2010. This should be no shocker to us but there seems to be a correlation to how much we move with our weight and healthy.

Our environment is changing more and more to promote a sedentary life, so it is up to each and everyone of us to seek out ways to motivate ourselves to do more and to take more steps. Fitbit for me and many of my clients is just one simple way of doing that. But is is also not the only accelerometer or gadget that can do that for you.

My challenge for you this week is to find that gadget, accelerometer or maybe even a Fitbit, that motivates you to move more in your daily life. With the Holidays coming up it might be a perfect gift to ask for and/or to give.

Add years to your life, one step at a time! 

When asking the group how they accomplished such an amazing act this is what they said:

• Use smaller plates
• Be active, many went for walks or did their usual workout in the AM
• Avoid second helpings
• Bring healthy alternatives
• Plan ahead, decide what food you are going to enjoy and what foods were not worth it to you
• Skip the picking while cooking and appetizers
• Choose the lowest calorie beverages
• Slowed down eating
• Encourag family and friends to join you
• Make commitments to their fellow group members/support people and share progress via email

After my fantastic thanksgiving filled with family, friends, football and food, I came home ready to get back on track with healthy eating. The Holiday is over and so is the eating! The next morning get back on track and back to better food choices. That is probably my number one survival guide for the holidays.

To get back on track with healthy eating I wanted something that was quick to make but still had that Holiday cheer without weighing me down, literally! I went to my trusty pintrest board in search of a yummy dish. I came across Oh She Glows‘ Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad and adapted it to make my Christmas Detox Salad!

I like nothing better than being able to open up a few cans of beans, chopped up some vegetables and blend a dressing, in 10 minutes have a meal on the table. This recipe is fantastic because the red and green color combo gives you that Christmas feel. The chickpeas and lentils are filling from their high fiber and protein content.  The cilantro and lime add a burst of flavor which each bite. I have been enjoying this dish all week long at lunch and feel like I am starting the Holiday season off on the right foot.

Christmas Detox Salad

Ingredients:

• One 15-oz can chickpeas
• One 15-oz can cannellini beans
• 3 cups spinach
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped finely
• Juice from 1.5 limes
• 3/4 cup fresh Cilantro
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

Step 1: Drain and rinse the chickpeas and cannellini beans and place in large bowl. In a food processor, pulse 3 cups of spinach until chopped small. Chop a medium onion. (To save time I often will get onions pre-chopped at the grocery store.) 

Step 2: In a large bowl combine beans, chopped spinach and onions. Step 3: In the food processor, add the lime juice, cilantro, mustard, garlic, cumin, and oil. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Step 4: Add the homemade dressing to the bean and spinach mixture, stir well. Slice cherry tomatoes in half and combine. 

Step 5: Serve as a side dish or over a bed of spinach for a yummy vegan meal! 

My Challenge for you this week is don’t throw your hands up and give in to the overeating extravaganza that can happen during the holiday season.  Plan at least one plant based, yummy meal each week. And then it will be the most wonderful time of the year for your waistline as well!