Whole Grain Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Goat’s Cheese

Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients:
6 oz whole grain pasta (spaghetti, soba, etc.)
16 sun-dried tomato halves (not packed in oil)
1 ½ cups fresh basil leaves
4 tsp pine nuts
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
2 oz goat’s cheese, crumbled

Instructions:
Place the sun-dried tomato halves in a dish with warm water, cover, and allow to soften (about ¼ hr). Drain and chop roughly.

In the meantime, puree the basil leaves, pine nuts, oil and garlic in a blender and season with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and place in a large serving dish. Add the pesto, chopped tomatoes and goat’s cheese and toss gently.

Serve immediately!

This sounds so good!  I would probably use Soba noodles instead of spaghetti if I were to make it.

 

I have every intention to exercise while I am gone.  Whether it be in the hotel room or hotel gym, I am going to do something.  Too bad the pool is outdoors (in Atlanta). This conference I go to is constant go go go but I’m going to take time for myself and get it done!

I have already messed up with my food journal goal I set for this year so by golly I’m going to stick to this every day in February fitness goal.

Monday- Day off

Tuesday-

*Treadmill
Time: 25 min.
Miles: 1.34
Calories burned: 368

*Weights (upper body)
Time: 10 min.

Wednesday- 2/1

*Spinning (home gym)
Time: 55 min.
Calories burned: 795

Thursday- 2/2

*Elliptical (home gym)
Time: 20 min.
Miles: 1.40
Calories burned: 337

*Strength (lower body)
Time: 10 min.

Friday- 2/3

*Treadmill (run/walk)
Time: 20 min.
Miles: 1.22
Calories burned: 341

Saturday- 2/4

*Spinning (home gym)
Time: 54 min.
Calories burned: 792

Sunday- 2/5

*Rebounding (mini trampoline)
Time: 20 min.
Calories burned: 271

*Weights (upper body) and Abs
Time: 15 min.

Favorite workout this week: Spinning with hubby

What was your favorite workout this week?

 

Here is one of my very first videos here on the blog (with me in it LOL).  I made no edits (as you can tell with the scary face in the video) and it was taken by Kevin right after a hot sweaty spin session in our home gym today.  Boy do I look awful but hey I burned almost 800 calories so whatever!

I am going to try to make more videos but when it comes to techy stuff, I am horrible.  Please be patient with me!

This video was taken with my iPhone and I tried to upload it to You Tube but it didn’t work so after a few times, I left it for tonight and did it through the computer. So here you go!

Have you exercised every day in February so far?

 

If you recall, I posted that I was sent the Zumba Fitness workout to review as a Shine from Yahoo! Get it Guide insider.  We talked about at home workouts and I mentioned that I would be doing the review in addition to a giveaway here on the blog.

It will be some time before I get to the full review as I have not had the chance to experience the entire program yet due to traveling.  But I do have good news….we are going to go ahead and get the giveaway started!

From what I have experienced so far with the Zumba Fitness workout program, I love!  I can’t wait to do more.

I CAN tell you that it has some GREAT music including Reggae which totally sold me.  If you want to burn some calories this is a fun workout to do it with.

CONTEST IS OVER

Congrats to Alexis who won the Zumba package!

So if you are ready for the chance to win the Zumba Fitness workout, let’s get started (U.S. residents only please).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

What did you think of that workout! Crazy good…

A lot of my work at home friends have an exercise ball as their chair so it would work just as well, I think.

Thanks Mike!

Make it a great day,

 

So in case you are wondering the same thing, wikipedia says, “The term “Apple Bottom Jeans” refers to a woman whose curvaceous figure is elegantly revealed by her tight-fitting jeans, resembling the shape of an apple”.  So there you have it…now it’s time to go workout!

Enjoy!

5 Exercises to Achieve an Apple Bottom

Mike Donavanik, CSCS, CPT, Creator of Extreme Burn: Total Body Interval Training

1. Ten – Fifteen – Twenty

Start with feet shoulder width apart and descend into a squat; keeping knees in line with your toes. From the bottom of the squat jump up a few inches above the ground; land softly on the balls of your feet and repeat. Perform 10 repetitions.

Immediately after performing the 10 jump squats, perform 15 regular squats.

Immediately after performing the 15 regular squats, descend into the bottom position of a squat and hold for 20 seconds.

Perform 3 sets.

2. Reverse Lunge to Front Kick

Starting with feet hip width apart, step backward with your right leg into a reverse lunge. As you drive up, start bringing your right leg forward and kick it out in front of you. Immediately go back into a reverse lunge; repeat.

15-20 reps each side, 3 sets

3. Side Lunge to Reverse Curtsy

Start with feet hip width apart. Lunge out left, while keeping your right leg straight and extended, back straight, both toes facing forward. Drive up through your left leg and step back diagonally, to the right, and go into a reverse curtsy. Repeat.

15 reps each side, 3 sets

4. Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

Start with feet shoulder width apart, holding a dumbbell in your right hand. Slightly bend both knees and lift your right leg up behind you. With a straight back, left knee still slightly bent, push your hips back and hinge forward/downward; reaching your right hand for your left foot. Keeping a straight back, slowly return to the starting position, trying not to let your right leg touch the ground the entire set.

15 reps each side, 3 sets

Medium to heavy weight dumbbell.

5. Jumping Lunges

Stand with feet under hips. Take a large step forward with your right foot and sink down into a lunge. Jump up, launching both feet off the floor, and switch legs mid-air so you land with your left leg in front and your right leg behind. Immediately sink into another lunge and alternate legs.

 

Please help me welcome my friend Patti.  She’s an amazing and active woman and a great inspiration.  Enjoy her guest blog post below.

Hi! I’m Patti Winker of RemarkableWrinklies.com. I’m in my late 50s and, by virtue of my age, I have a good deal of hindsight. Now, you know what they say about hindsight – it’s 20/20. Sometimes hindsight makes you regret things, but that’s not what this is about. I want to share a valuable lesson that I learned in hindsight, so you don’t have to wait until you’re in your 50s.

During most of my life, I did the normal things we all do concerning health, wellness, and weight control. In other words, I watched my figure. I didn’t go overboard, but I maintained. I exercised somewhat routinely. I ate healthy most of the time. And, my weight was okay for the most part with a few familiar ups and downs. That was then. Pretty standard stuff. Until…

I turned 50.

If you are a younger woman, you may be tempted to close this window right now and go find something else to read. But, wait. This really DOES apply to you! Let me explain.

Exercise differs through the decades of a person’s life. The MOTIVATION behind exercise in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond, changes drastically. Since I’m in my late 50s, I can now speak from some experience.

In our 20s and 30s we are active by nature. Most of us are getting some exercise because we want to look great. We’re keeping fit because we know we have to in order to look a certain way. Sometime during those decades most of us are also struggling with getting our figures back after childbirth. We’re trying to find time to exercise so we can fit into our jeans again. Right?

Then we move into our 40s. We start exercising a bit more and we’re finding it more difficult to see results – aka fitting into our jeans again. Maybe we start shopping a bigger size or maybe we just buy looser tops hoping to cover the stuff that’s now spilling over our jeans. Do we give up? Sometimes. But, we always come back to that desire to get back “in shape.” We’re still striving to get our figures back.

Here come the 50s. That girlish figure has drifted about through the decades. We’ve been working on it, we keep working on it, but it never quite comes back. And each year after 50 it seems to get further and further away.

Sad, right?

Absolutely NOT!

You see, all those years of exercising and eating right to try to lose weight and get in shape has set you up for a healthy life. Every time you exercise during your 20s, 30s, 40s, and yes, your 50s, you are gaining ground so that, as your body ages, you can still enjoy the life you want… and deserve!

So, I’m not here to tell you HOW to exercise – Angie’s got you covered. You can find all the exercise tips and tricks you need right here. What I want you to know (because I have the hindsight to prove it!) is that every time you exercise you are BANKING strength, endurance, and good health for the future.

Each time I did crunches in my 30s to flatten my tummy, I was building up my muscles, my bones, and my strength so that when I reached my 50s (and beyond) I would have a core to hold me up and support me. Each time I walked in my 40s to slim down, I was strengthening my lungs, my heart, my back, and my bones so that today I can ride my bike with confidence, or walk up that flight of stairs, or swim out to the raft.

I know from experience how frustrating it is to look in the mirror and think “Where did that girl go?” But I also know the sheer bliss of being able to ride my bike for miles and miles without tiring, or to walk a whole marathon! Most importantly, I know the joy of being able to play with my grandkids down on the floor… and get back up again. I know the joy of climbing up to the top of the boulders in Central Park. I know the joy of climbing to the top of the Tybee Island lighthouse. I know what it feels like to feel GOOD!

So, what is fitness? Is fitness a goal? And if fitness IS a goal, then when does “fitness” happen? Can we check fitness off our “To Do List?”

My answer to that is (go ahead and guess)… NEVER! Fitness is a FEELING. Fitness is part of your daily life, whether you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, or far far beyond.

Hindsight is 20/20. I am grateful for every moment I spent exercising and being active during all my decades of life. Those moments yesterday created a healthy and fit today… and tomorrow!

Thank you, Angie, for letting me chime in. It’s been a pleasure.

Patti Winker
RemarkableWrinklies.com

 

Monday-

*Elliptical
Time: 20 min.
Miles: 1.36
Calories burned: 347

Tuesday-

*Zumba (Basics DVD light workout)
Time: 1 hr
Calories burned: 328

Wednesday-

*Zumba (20 minute workout DVD)
Time: 20 min.
Calories burned: 250

*Elliptical
Time: 10 min.
Miles: .70
Calories burned: 185

Thursday-

*Treadmill
Time: 26 min.
Miles: 1.40
Calories burned: 412

*Strength training/weights
Time: 11 min.
Calories burned: 147

Friday-

*Zumba (part of Zumba Cardio Party)
Time: 31 min.
Calories burned: 359

I won’t have a chance to do the entire Zumba workout package until the beginning of February BUT I am already loving it so I think I’m going to go ahead and write my review next week and then do the giveaway the week after that.  I can honestly say I LOVE Zumba now and you’ll see what I mean when I write my review of it.

Saturday & Sunday-

*Light wallking

Once again, no loss on the scale. I weighed in yesterday before I left for Oklahoma.

How did your week go?

 

Please help me welcome Mike to the blog.  I reviewed his Extreme Burn workout (linked below) and it was awesome.  Happy to have him contribute some easy steps to help us stay active.

Airplane Workout

by Mike Donavanik, CSCS, CPT, Creator of Extreme Burn: Total Body Interval Training

These 4 moves will help minimize discomfort and keep you loose, limber and healthy for the flight ahead.

Neck Stretch

• Stand up and bring your right hand to your left ear. As you exhale, slowly pull your head to your right shoulder while reaching your left arm to the floor.
• Hold for 30-60 seconds, then switch sides; repeat 2-3 times each side.

Abdominal Breathing

• Sitting down comfortably with a straight spine, slowly take a deep inhale through your nose; as you in inhale have your stomach expand. Slowly exhale through your mouth and have your stomach collapse while tightening your tummy to push out the air.
• Consciously breathe this way for 5-10 minutes; repeat as necessary.
• This type of breathing will allow you to breathe deeper, allowing you to get more oxygen in with each breath. This type of breathing will also produce a calming effect and help reduce anxiety.

Squat to Reach

• Head to the back of the plane where you have more space. Stand with feet shoulder width apart, hands at chest level, and descend into a deep squat. As you ascend from the squat, stand all the way up onto your toes and reach your hands up towards the sky. Slowly lower your heels to the ground, bring your hands back down to chest level, and repeat.
• Perform 15-20 reps; repeat 2-3 sets.
• This will allow you to get blood moving throughout your entire body.

 Standing Glute Kicks

• Stand in the aisle or head to the back of the plane where you will have more space. Hold onto a wall or seat and lift your right leg off the ground, keeping both knees soft. Hold your abs in tight and kick your right leg back a few inches; leading with your heel. Hold and contract your right glute for a second or two, return to the starting position, and repeat.
• Perform 20-25 reps on each side; repeat 2-3 times each side.
• After sitting down, especially for an extended period of time, your glutes become weak from being in a stretched position – this can cause lower back and ‘butt pain’. Glute contracting exercises such as this one will help prevent ‘butt pain’ and lower back pain.

Thanks Mike for your guest post.  I look forward to sharing the other fun article and video that you sent to share on the blog.  These airplane exercises sound easy enough although some of them might be a little awkward to do in front of other passengers.

So the question to you all is would you do this airplane workout?

 

Have you heard of the Get It Guide?

Get It Guide is Shine’s go to guide for women with topics on fashion, beauty, fitness and food.  Shine from Yahoo! is the #1 women’s content site where members can share ideas and get trusted information on many topics.  Over at Shine, you’ll find so many goodies like Jumpstart 2012, Vitality and more.

The fourth Get It Guide was released this week and it’s all about AT HOME FITNESS.  You can read about the top searched at home workouts on Shine in this guide.

At Home Workouts

You know how much I love my at-home workouts and with a new home gym garage space, I have even more variety for my workouts.  BUT you don’t have to have a home gym to get great results from home workouts. For many years, I did workouts in our bedroom so it can be done.  Family room, living room, office…any of those will work!

This Get It Guide focuses on 4 awesome at home workouts that I think you’ll enjoy.

• Zumba Fitness®
• INSANITY®Fast & Furious: 20 Minute Maximum Fitness Results Workout DVD
• Personal Training with Jackie: Crunch-Free Xtreme Abs
• GoFit Kettlebell with Bob Harper Training DVD

Now you get to go and comment, share and vote for your favorite!  Which one will you vote for?  I haven’t tried any of them but they all look great. Kettlebell’s are one thing we don’t have in our home gym YET so that one will have to wait but all the others sound like kick butt workouts.

Great News

I have been selected, as a Get It Guide insider to review the Zumba workout AND give one away to one of my awesome readers. Here’s what they say about the Zumba workout,

“Zumba Fitness® – Zumba Fitness is a Latin-inspired dance-fitness program that blends red-hot international music created by Grammy Award-winning producers featuring contagious steps to form a ’fitness-party.’ Since its inception in 2001, Zumba Fitness has grown to become the world’s largest and most successful dance-fitness program with more than 10 million people of all shapes, sizes, and ages taking weekly Zumba classes in over 90,000 locations across more than 110 countries.”

The Zumba package arrived yesterday and I was able to do the Basics DVD which shows you all the moves and how to do them step by step.  Initial thoughts: AWESOME!

Depending on timing, I might be able to get the review and giveaway up before I leave for Oklahoma.  If not, you can be sure I’ll be checking it out once I return and will post a full review and then giveaway so stay tuned!  Hopefully I can get Kevin (my hubby) to participate too and get a guys perspective.  I have heard great things about Zumba!

Do you workout at home?  Let’s hear about some of YOUR favorite workouts.