When your body screams, tell it to SHUT UP! :) :)

In case you’re wondering, I am expressing my excitement for the LesMills BodyAttack launch at my gym this morning. Launch (not lunch, LOL) is where our wonderful, fantastic, motivating  instructors introduce the new material. We get new material about every 3 months. Classes are packed (think around 60 people) and full of motivation and momentum. I’ve been asked how I rock my workouts out the way I do and it’s because of my gym and the instructors there. I’m not afraid to give credit where credit is due!

Love this saying from LES MILLS!!!

Yesterday I had a request for my homemade bread recipe for the bread machine. I don’t make up my own recipes often, this one is from the recipe book that came with my machine, titled Sunbeam Hot and Fresh Bread Maker.  FYI, my bread machine is really old…around 10 years or more.  Just so you know.

Multigrain Bread

• 2/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon margarine or butter, softened
• 1 cup Gold Medal Better for Bread flour
• 3/4 cup Gold Medal whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup 7 grain cereal (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 teaspoons regular active dry yeast or

2 teaspoons bread machine yeast or quick acting active dry yeast

Directions

1. Remove bread pan, attach needing blade
2. Place all ingredients in bread pan in order listed
3. Insert bread pan, close lid and plug in
4. Select bread type—whole wheat
5. Select crust color—medium
6. Can be baked in rapid or regular cycle
7. Press start

My husband proofed the yeast first, which I think was my problem (either because I didn’t do that or I had a bad batch of yeast) which means he took a little bit of sugar, a couple of tablespoons of warm water, and put the required amount of yeast in. He stirred it around and we waited about 15 minutes, then added that for the yeast in the directions. Good luck! It should look something like this when all is said and done:

I know I’m going to need a lot of energy this morning, because I am doing the BodyAttack class and then weight lifting after, so I am sticking with my protein oatmeal this morning. Bob Marley Protein Oatmeal 🙂

Oatmeal, vanilla protein powder, coconut, pineapple, cashews, maple syrup.

There was some coffee in an appropriate coffee mug from a friend:

Since the kids were off for MLK day here in Georgia, I decided that we needed to take a trip to Whole Foods and get some things, and while we were there we could grab some *healthy* lunch from the hot bar and eat it at the store. It worked out fantastically…the kids were good in the store because they wanted lunch, I got my items without a fuss, and we all had a nice lunch.

We have a nice Whole Foods. The kids love the mac and cheese!

This was my plate.  Thai noodles, yellow squash casserole, and red beans.  It was all wonderful.

I also had 2 pieces of sushi which was also fantastic.

My Kombucha tea, honestly, wasn’t that good.  I like the original flavor, and the peach flavor, but the green flavor just didn’t do it for me.  It’s super good for you, with seaweed and spirulina in it, so I intend on drinking it anyway, but…ick.  Sometimes health over taste, but not often, since there are so many great tasting and healthy options out there. 😉

I came home and before class (I went to Cardio Core where I burned 395 calories in about 45 minutes) I had a Cliff Nectar Bar (which I love):

I bought some new bars at Whole Foods so be on the lookout for a review soon! 🙂

Then after class I decided I wanted salmon.  I made a huge salad with salmon and Goddess Dressing:

This is my kind of dinner! 🙂

So, lettuce mix, tons of mushrooms, carrots, onions, yellow pepper, Goddess Dressing, reduced fat feta and salmon.  Wonderful!  There was so much I didn’t think I would be able to eat all of it, but alas:

I can eat!

Hahaha.  It was mostly veggies, anyway.  So good! You may see another one of these soon!

I was snacky-snacky again at 10pm (my personal witching hour) so I had some homemade bread (the one pictured above) with some of that Cinnamon Vanilla Pecan “butter” I made last week.

Just a side note, I am slowly starting to add back into my diet foods on my sensitivities list.  Green beans, cinnamon, and a few others to see how my body reacts.  I will let you know how it goes!

Have a great Tuesday morning! I know I will!

Jessica xoxo

And It’s Finally 2010! Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I truly hope that your new year is happy, healthy, fit, and CLEAN! 🙂

We never do much for New Years Eve. Mostly because we don’t want to have to deal with crowds, get a babysitter, and drink and drive. So this year we vegged at home, my husband did his grilling magic on the Big Green Egg with steak, I made some sides and we watched hockey. (We’re northerners, after all! ;))

So, for breakfast this morning, I made healthy pancakes for the kids:

I only burned one.  And I ate that one. 🙂

There were yummy strawberry “syrup” pancakes for me 🙂

See the recipe section for the “syrup” recipe!

Yesterdays eats were good, but not so clean. Sometimes, I just get that urge…to have a cupcake that I had made for the kids (they were so pretty!!)

At least we ate dinner first 😉

The first snack of the day was on the way home from the gym (BodyStep class) and was a Cliff Nectar Bar. I am fairly convinced that I can make these at home, but I bought a bunch at Whole Foods the other day and it came in handy in the car:

Then I proposed that we go out for lunch (“We” meaning the entire family) and the kids love Mexican, so we ventured out in the drizzly rain to go to La Parilla, our local Mexican restaurant and PetSmart for cat food and “flat bones” for the pup-pup.

There was a strawberry margarita or 2:

Then for me, there were sauteed fish taco’s in garlic and butter, with corn tortillas, onions and avocado, rice, charro beans and salsa verde:

A couple of these before sans tomato salsa:

Sophia had a huge bowl of ice cream after her cheese quesadilla:

And that is the remnants of a brownie sunday that the boys dug into after nachos and quesadillas!

I had one small taste of the brownie, and decided I liked my raw brownie bites that I had made yesterday better!

So we came home and vegged out the rest of the day. Finally, some joyous peace.

Then came dinner…so good!

Yikes! Check out the purple sweet potato! I honestly wasn’t expecting it to be sooo, well, purple. It was bright!!!

I sprinkled some cinnamon on it. I found it more starchy and less sweet than a regular sweet potato, so I’m not sure I’m a fan. I have a couple more that I will try again soon…and then make my decision 😉 And of course, there was the steak and broiled carrots!

And 3 happy kids:

Smiley Sean-y

Aidan pretending to be serious, and

of course, Princess Sophia 🙂

What will 2010 bring? For me it is going to bring a personal training certification, a half marathon run, and (hopefully) a group fitness instructor/nutrition certification, and book deal! All on my bucket list for 2010. What’s on yours?? Plans, resolutions? I would love to hear!!!

Jessica xoxo

The countdown has begun…

to 2010! I can’t wait for the new year. I am notorious for saying this at the end of every year, but this year especially.  The holidays have finally come to a close, and I am blogging and sitting with my husband. All 3 kids are quiet and upstairs playing/watching movies. Finally some peace!

So, yesterday morning I went to the gym for a Les Mills BodyAttack class. Wondering what BodyAttack is? Click the link. Through this link you can see all of the classes that I take. And I love them! It is worth the time to see if a gym in your area has these specific classes. And for anyone wondering, I burned 466 calories @ 25% fat in 58:00.

So let’s talk about healthy eating. If you are not currently eating healthy, a good time to start is the beginning of the year. Set a date, and begin! It’s easier then you may think. I thought it would be difficult to eat clean, but essentially all it is, is getting back to basics. Our grandparents never had boxed foods loaded with preservatives lining their grocery store shelves. They made everything from scratch. Eating out was a treat, not a way of life. You can begin by making small changes. Realize that every small change you make will be part of a bigger picture – a healthy picture, with the added side effect of weight loss.

It is possible to eat out and eat clean. I want to make that clear. There are always options, just as there are at the grocery store!

OK, lets get to today’s clean eating breakfast…

Always in a hurry (I start my training this morning!) I made yet another Ezekial muffin, but a peanut butter and strawberry non-jelly one:

Pac Man!

I thought I had taken a picture…but remembered mid-bite that I hadn’t 😉

Yesterday’s clean eats were great. I started with sushi from my trip to Whole Foods yesterday: Raw Tuna and Avocado with Brown Rice:

And a close-up of the love:

Then there was another Cliff Nectar Bar, this one cacao:

Then there was a Starbucks non-fat latte, which I am addicted to this holiday season. But I was getting my nails done while I was drinking it, so no pictures (sometimes I’m such a girl 😉 )

A LOT later I got hungry for dinner, so I ate my Wheat Berry Salad, along with a regular salad that had pomegranite arils, raw cashews, feta cheese and Goddess Dressing…with a side of Mary’s Crack 🙂

pomegranite arils

Wheat Berry Salad

Yummy Salad

Something I didn’t eat today, but someone else in my family did and decided to take a picture:

What I ate instead:

Clean Chocolate Coconut Snowballs. The next time I make a treat it is going to be clean peanut butter cups. I will share the recipe!

And there was picture of the pup-pup (Biscuit)…

And one more 🙂

Question: What are your New Years Resolutions for 2010?

Tasty Tuesday :)

I really need to figure out some new things for breaky. Oatmeal and Ezekial Bread with peanut butter are getting old 😉 Time to switch things up! Today’s breakfast is a homemade egg muffin. Egg whites, goat cheese, Ezekial muffins. Yep, that’s switching it up, for sure!!! It was really good!

I had some severe stomach issues which I attributed to stress. At any rate, I went to Whole Foods yesterday and stocked up on some necessary items: Mary’s Crack, cashew butter, smoked salmon, smoked muscles, goat cheese, Annie’s Goddess Dressing, arugula (I’m going to make pesto!), carrots, butter lettuce, and 50 other things that equated to $100. 😉

I was finally able to find these “granola bars” at Whole Foods that I was looking for all over…they’re called Cliff Nectar Bars, and were $1.89 each.  They have everything I can eat…the flavor was Lemon, Vanilla, Cashew. It only had 5 ingredients:

1.  Organic Dates

2.  Organic Cashews

3.  Organic Goji Berries

4.  Organic Lemon Juice Concentrate

5.  Organic Vanilla

They were pretty good! They had nothing bad in them, and were only 160 calories. I ate one in the car on the way home…

And the nutrition on the back if you can see it…

I picked up some lunch, too. For lunch I had a Sesame Kale Salad:

In this was kale, carrots, red peppers, sesame seeds, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, sea salt, honey, brown rice vinegar, sherry, tamari and canola oil.  It was just as fresh tasting as it looked, and so good. I craved veggies again today. It is the strangest thing. I swear, that has never happened before. And certainly not 2 days in a row!!! I think I’ve come around some sort of bend with my diet. (Diet being the way I eat, not one that restricts calories. I want to make that clear).

There was also Mary’s Crack and the final end of the Sabra Hummus, and some water! (yes, I take my own advice, LOL!)

Before I hit the gym I made a modified version of one of Tosca Reno’s protein shakes. So it had water, vanilla protein powder, oatmeal, peanut butter, agave, cinnamon. It’s a modified version of Tosca’s because she uses milk and I didn’t want the milk today.

I went to the gym for my Monday night Cardio Core class. We did a ton of shoulder work today, so I expect to be sore in the morning. I burned 335 calories @ 25% fat in 44:07. Oh, and I need to perfect my “burpee”. Those are hard! If you don’t know what a burpee is, click on the link. We do the whole thing with the variation, as many times as we can. I have problems getting up off of the floor, let alone jumping! 😉 Try it at home for a good all-over body workout!!

So after the gym I came home and made some dinner. Yes, I am still eating leftovers! So nothing new here, just my sudden veggie addiction:

SO, in case you are just joining me in blogger land, this is broiled carrots and eggplant, a salad with raisins and natural dressing, and shredded mexican taco’s on blue organic corn taco shells with farmer cheese and green chili’s. YUMMY! I was starving, too, after doing fifty million burpees :).

Dessert was some chocolate coconut snowballs that migrated into little muffin cups because I just can’t seem to get them round:

Hope your Tuesday is as tasty as mine!