Super Delicious Smoothies - Part 2

I'm still on my conquest to make delicious and healthy frozen drinks, and this week we had so many organic peaches from our co-op that we had to freeze most of them. So naturally, I made smoothies.
Sorry, no grainy, washed-out-color photos today! I'm sure your feelings are all hurt ;)
This smoothie is very basic, with just four ingredients. I call it

The Beaches 'n Cream
(Because it'll help you get that beach body ;) )

1 cup chopped peaches, frozen
1 container (6 oz.) low-fat or fat-free vanilla bean yogurt (I used Brown Cow brand, which uses only real fruit and ingredients for flavoring and sweetening. I really like their vanilla yogurt because they have actual vanilla bean in it, which I love).
3 medjool dates, pitted
1/2 cup almond milk
1 cup ice

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Makes two 12 oz. smoothies. In case you're curious, here is the nutrition information:

 

Nutrition Label made on Recipal.com

This smoothie is a great 'energy drink', as its sugar all comes from real food and no processed sugars are added. The protein from the yogurt also helps to slow down the absorption of sugar, which helps stabilize blood sugar rather than giving you an immediate sugar rush and its ensuing sugar crash. It's also a great way to get a serving of fruit and lots of calcium. To give yourself an additional boost, you can replace the almond milk with green tea for some extra antioxidants and, yes, caffeine. Enjoy! :)

Super Delicious and Also Nutritious Smoothie - Part 1

I love drinks. Juice, lemonade, tea, coffee, even soda sometimes provided it's not full of junk. But my favorite drinks of all - especially during summer time - are the frozen kinds. Blended coffees, tea blends, shakes, and smoothies. I could probably survive on an entirely liquid diet, and I pretty much do during the summer. However, for normal people who actually have time to eat real food, drinks are also one of the most devastating ways to add totally unnecessary calories to your daily diet. Liquid calories are way less filling than solid calories, so it makes sense that you would be able drink over half of a day's worth of calories in one milkshake alone.
But I have a solution to this problem. And it doesn't involve drinking straight black coffee, bitter tea, or slightly lemony water. Hallelujah. It's pretty trendy right now to do juicing and all that, so it should come as no surprise that I'm talking about smoothies (also the title of this post might have given it away, too).
But let me be honest. I have a pinterest. I see all of those juice and smoothie recipes. And they all look and sound like they'd taste like my garbage disposal. Seriously. Kale, celery, and green apples? Sure, it's full of no calories, vitamin K, and some other good vitamins and minerals. But can't anything healthy actually taste good anymore? Let's be real. You aren't going to pass up on your Starbucks (or Coffee Bean, or Dutch Bros., or whatever...) for that. You're going to take one look at that bubbling witches brew and think, "great now I have to clean my blender". Plus, you could've made a salad out of that kale or even some delicious soup that would've been way more filling.
Disclaimer: I have a juicer, and I totally love drinking juice, but it's expensive to blend up five pounds of fresh produce for a quart of juice that'll last about 20 minutes and then make you pee rainbows.

So if I'm going to go for a healthy drink, I go for smoothies. This smoothie has no added sugar (if you leave out the chocolate chips, but let's be real...), and is also full of things that are a) raw, b) nutrient-dense, and c) delicious. So it's just like juice, only a little more filling, and smooth and creamy. And it has a super cute name.

Not-So-Chunky-Monkey Smoothie
Yield: 1 - 16 oz. smoothie and 5 kilowatts of immense joy

Ice
1 small banana (about 6")
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (it MUST be almond milk!)
1/4 cup or a couple handfuls of blueberries
1/2 tbsp ground flax seed
2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tbsp dark chocolate chips (optional!)

See nutrition information here. You can save 70 calories by leaving out the chocolate chips!

Place all ingredients into a blender and smash it up! It tastes like an almond joy, with all the joy and none of the heart-wrenching guilt ;) The coconut and chocolate chips will still be chunky in it unless you have a super blender, unlike me. But it is delicious, and I like some texture. I would even suggest throwing in a handful of almonds if you want. Enjoy!

More smoothies to come!

5 Workout Tips for Lazy People

I'm one of those weirdos who actually enjoys going to the gym and working out. Part of it stems from my years of competitive swimming, when I would work out intensely 2-3 times a day. Part of it is from my admittedly-vain desire to stay in the same shape I was my junior-senior year of high school. A good part of it is from the 'work out high' triggered by the release of all of those endorphins. And sometimes, the entire thing is one massive outlet of frustration and stress caused by school, work, and, of course, other people. If I have to be completely honest, if it wasn't for verses like Ephesians 4:26 and the accessibility of going for a swim, doing a quickie-yoga session, or running, I would have probably punched quite a few walls and people by now, and maybe thrown a computer or two.

But sometimes, particularly on weekends, in the middle of summer when everywhere is too hot for anything, and during the school year (so, pretty much all the time), I just don't feel it. I prefer swimming and using weird weight machines to doing body weight exercises in my dim, gross carpeted room. Once I actually do it, I feel great, but the mental wall of actually getting up from watching Hulu on my day bed to do a few dissatisfying squats and maybe a crunch or twelve, totally gets in the way. So here I present to you, tactics I use to motivate me to workout at home.

1. Do some wall sits while surfing the web.
This is kind of like that 'do crunches during commercial breaks' tip you see everywhere, only in this day and age, nobody watches TV with commercials anymore. So you're sitting down anyways, right? So why not unplug your fully-charged laptop and bring it on over to the wall with you? I'm literally doing it right. now. I can guarantee that the distraction of cute cats will override the burning sensation you feel in your hammies. You can even do intervals: one cute cat video of wall sitting, one cute bunny video of rest. Repeat 3-5 times.

2. Do it right before you're going to shower.
One thing that usually stops me from working out at home is that "ughh, now I have to shower after". If I'm swimming, it only feels natural to shower after, but for some reason showering at home is just really demotivating to me. So plan a little workout for right before your morning/afternoon/nighttime shower. Then you can feel fit and clean. Then you can go eat some nice wholesome food and feel super good about yourself.

3. Wear workout clothes as pajamas/house wear.
I'm pretty sure most people do this anyways, but if I happen to pull on a pair of jeans first thing in the morning, I'm not going to work out that day unless I schedule a trip to the gym in somewhere. I'm really the world's biggest walking oxymoron, because I am generally a hard worker, and love working out, but I am so lazy, I won't work out if it means I have to do the remedial task of changing into a pair of shorts. It's mostly because when I feel like I need to work out, I really just want to do it and get it done. Which leads me to my next tip.

4. Just freakin do it.
At the risk of sounding like a Nike commercial, seriously, just do it. If you feel the urge to get down and do some push-ups, do it. It'll take all of two minutes, and it's better than just sitting there. I often fit body-weight exercises into random times during the day. Particularly slow day at the aquatics center while I'm at the top of the slide? Lunge time. Waiting for my homework assignment to upload? Squat it out. Shoot, I'm doing elbow planks as I type.

5. Have something to work towards.
This is the single most motivating thing I do for myself. I don't use pictures of dehydrated, haven't-eaten-anything-but-brown-rice-and-lettuce-three-days-before-the-photoshoot athletic wear models to motivate myself, and neither should you. Just read that description of said model, and realize that it is not a reasonable or realistic image to attain. Even athletes make the mistake of believing that 'fitness' equates to 'low-to-no body fat', but your body needs at least a little bit to function.I believe that fitness is the ability to perform activities at an above-average level. You can run 3 miles without dying. You can lift 50 pound plus objects when moving out of your apartment. Definition is just a nice bonus to treating your body with respect and taking care of yourself. So rather than lusting after that picture on Pinterest, sign up for a sports club (my city has a free running club), where you'll be held accountable, and have goals to work towards. Sign up for races, that way you have to train. Shoot, if you absolutely feel you have to improve the way your body looks, set a realistic, attainable goal that won't leave you disappointed and discouraged. Just give yourself a reason to do something, and you probably will.

















 









 

A Salad a Day: A Week's Worth of Yummy Salads

Last month, I really started to inspect what I was eating. I eat healthy food a majority of the time, but my biggest problem is simply not eating enough. Especially during the school year, I know all too well how difficult it gets to eat healthily, and eat enough. I also know that if you are a college student like me, working one or more jobs, it becomes easier and easier to slip down a slope of 'convenience eating'. Snacks, store-bought food, and processed foods are what you're practically forced to consist on. But not anymore!

I've decided that each month, I'm going to try to conquer a new diet goal. Keep in mind that when I used the word 'diet' in this entry, I'm not talking about the short-term, quick-fix, deliberately deprecating 'diet' that everyone in the western world has come to know and hate, I'm talking about the nourishing, eating-real-food, what you do for a lifetime 'diet'. This entry is (very, very) late in the making, but I still wanted to do it, because I had a lot of fun with it, feel like I legitimately improved my health, and think that others will benefit from it too.

My goal for the month of March was to eat more vegetables and fruit. Now, if you know me, you know that I really have no problem eating fruits and vegetables. I love them! However, what I find most challenging is not getting bored with what I'm eating (Costco's Normandy vegetable mix can only keep you entertained for so many weeknight dinners), and having the time to eat. Lately, I've been either eating a little snack for lunch, or skipping it altogether and having a pastry or something before work. Not good. So, to solve this problem, I decided I would pack or make myself a lunch salad a day for one week.

I made each of these salads with the same spring greens mix you can get at pretty much any grocery store, and I still had some left over at the end of the week. Definitely feel free to use any kind of lettuce, greens, or salad mix you like. I prefer the spring mixes because the greens used go well with everything, and they also contain a lot more nutrients than, say, ice berg lettuce. I already had all of the ingredients in each of these at home, making this even easier (and cheaper!) to make! Do know that these are not necessarily 'low-calorie' salads, since the point of this was to increase my consumption of something good for me rather than decreasing something bad. Nevertheless, all of the dressings and ingredients are generally lean proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats, and I have added no additional salt.

Easter Salad with Lemon Pepper Vinaigrette

 Salad
2 cups spring greens mix
1 boiled egg, chopped
1 oz (about the size of two fingers) ham, chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 Tbsp raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
1 tsp shredded parmesan cheese
Dressing
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
Dash of cracked black pepper
Pinch of sugar

Whisk dressing together until opaque and creamy looking. Drizzle over salad and toss to distribute ingredients. Enjoy with a piece of fresh fruit or whole-wheat bread.

Southwest Strawberry Salad with Creamy Chipotle Dressing

Salad
2 cups spring green mix
1/2 cup cooked and drained black beans, homemade or canned, but get low-sodium or sodium-free!
1/4 cup cooked and cooled corn kernels
3 or 4 strawberries, diced
2 corn tortillas, cut into strips
1 Tbsp shredded Mexican cheese blend

Dressing
2 Tbsp plain, fat free yogurt
1 tsp chipotle flakes, or 1/2 tsp. jarred chipotle
Pinch of dried garlic powder
Pinch of ground cumin
1 tsp lemon juice
Dash of hot sauce
Water




Spray or drizzle 1/4 tsp olive oil into a small frying pan. Cut tortillas into 1/4-inch wide strips, then cut into thirds. Saute strips until lightly browned. If you have more time, you can also bake them at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes.
Whisk together dressing, adding water until desired consistency is reached (mine was like ranch dressing) and let stand for two minutes to allow the flavor of the chipotle flakes to leach into the yogurt. Stir once more before drizzling over salad and tossing together. Add tortilla strips and toss once more just before eating or serving. Enjoy!

Thai-Inspired Chicken Salad with Sesame Peanut Ginger Dressing

Salad
2 cups spring green mix
3 oz. (about the size of four fingers) grilled chicken, diced
1 large carrot, shredded or diced small
2 cutie oranges
1/4 cup purple cabbage, shredded 
2 green onions, sliced
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
2 tsp candied ginger, chopped
2 fresh mint leaves and 2 fresh basil leaves, minced (optional)

Dressing
1 Tbsp unsweetened peanut butter
1/2 Tbsp coconut milk
2 tsp sesame oil (if you don't have sesame oil, olive oil is fine, as well)
1/2 tsp. chili flakes
1/8 tsp. candied ginger

Mix together dressing, and add water until desired consistency. It will be pretty thick if you don't add water. Drizzle over salad and toss to distribute ingredients. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top of tossed salad.

Orchard Fruit Salad with Creamy Lemon Lavender Dressing

Salad
2 cups spring greens mix
1 small apple, 1/2 diced, and 1/2 cut into slices (or you can just dice them all)
2 Tbsp raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp dried cranberries
2 Tbsp raisins

Dressing
2 Tbsp plain, fat free yogurt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp dried lavender flowers (you can usually find these with bulk spices. If you can't find them, this salad would still be great with just the sweet lemon dressing.)

Whisk together dressing to muddle the lavender flowers and let stand 2 minutes before stirring once more to distribute the flavor. Pour over salad and toss. Top with the remaining slices of the apple.

Grazing Goat Salad with Simple Vinaigrette

Salad
2 cups spring green mix
1 roma tomato, sliced
1/2 avocado, cubed
2 Tbsp sliced black olives
2 Tbsp goat cheese

Dressing
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
Pinch of garlic powder

Whisk together oil and vinegar until emulsified (it should no longer be clear, and there shouldn't be any separation of oil). Add pepper and garlic and whisk once more before drizzling over salad. Toss, then sprinkle goat cheese over top.  

Black Bean and Avocado Salsa with Goat Cheese

Salad
1 avocado, cubed
1 roma tomato, chopped
1/2 cup rinsed and drained black beans
1 tsp chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp goat cheese
Dash of cracked black pepper

No dressing for this one! Simply combine ingredients, sprinkle with goat cheese, and enjoy. Also makes a great vegetarian taco filling.

And what would we do without a dessert salad...?

Fresh Berry Mojito Salad

Salad
1 1/4 cup quartered strawberries
1/2 cup fresh blackberries
1/2 tsp. fresh minced mint leaves

Dressing
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp. honey

Toss together dressing, fruit, and mint leaves until combined. Let stand 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld, or if you really can't wait, enjoy right away! :) This goes great all on its own, with a slice of angel food or pound cake, or with a dollop of whipped cream.
 






So there you go, a week's worth of deliciously fresh, simple, and healthy salads to give you that extra one or two servings of fruit or vegetables every day. Prepare to feel more energized, happy, and brighter! But don't stop with these, experiment on your own with different oils, spices, juices and vinegars, proteins, cheeses, vegetables, and fruits. I would love to see what other people come up with!

Breakfast for Whenever

So, you say you would love to eat healthy, but cooking at home takes so long? Well this is for you. It's fast to make, easy to make, healthy, and to top it all off, delicious and totally customizable. It is your very own, personal frittata.

What is a frittata? Well, it's basically a Spanish omelette-quiche crossbreed that went devastatingly right. The great thing about frittatas is that:

1. You don't have to flip them.
2. You don't have to let this one bake for an hour.

So it has all the delicious qualities of omelettes and quiches, but without the time consumption and IHOP line cook level cooking skills. It also doesn't have over half your day's worth of calories, much unlike an IHOP omelette.

The absolute greatest thing about this is that you can put literally anything you want into it! Spinach? Sure. Roasted potatoes? Definitely. Leftover spaghetti noodles from two nights ago? You bet your sweet bippy. Using leftovers in these is a great way to not only reduce the waste you'd be making if you just ended up throwing it away, but using pre-cooked meats and/or vegetables cuts way down on cooking time.
 Here's what went into mine:

You will need a 6" pan and it's lid. It'll probably be the smallest one you have if you have an entire set.

2 eggs, beaten.
1 Tbsp milk
A literal pinch of salt
4 roasted fingerling potatoes, diced. (Two of them were purple.)
2 brussel sprouts, chopped
1 oz. turkey, diced
1 oz. cheese of your choice. Goat cheese would be pretty bomb. I used cheddar.
1 tsp. olive oil

First, get your pan heated. Set it to a low heat, about the 3rd notch on most burners. Oil the pan.

While the pan heats, beat your eggs, adding the tablespoon of milk and salt until it's all combined. Leave your eggs alone now.

Next, add the potatoes and chopped brussel sprouts to the pan, and sautée them until the brussel sprouts are just wilted and everything is warmed through.

 Toss the turkey in and stir everything for about 30 seconds. Now pour your eggs in.

DON'T stir anything now. Cover the pan, and let it all sit for about 5 minutes, or until the surface has no runny egg.

 Remove the pan from the heat, and sprinkle on your cheese. Put the lid back on and let sit for another minute to let the cheese melt.

Using a flexible rubber spatula, slide up under the frittata to lift it free from the pan. If you oiled it well enough, or if it's nice and non-stick, it should be very easy.

Once loosened, you should be able to gently slide the frittata onto a plate.

Serve hot with fresh fruit, and enjoy :) This recipe can serve one or two people, depending on how much you'll eat. You can substitute one of the whole eggs with just a white, or you can probably just use egg whites. Your options are pretty much limitless with this, so have fun with it!

Now let me apologize for the very unappetizing-looking cheese square that's all over my frittata. We were out of shredded cheese.

New Year...New You?

It's finally 2013. I no longer have to wade through pages of Facebook statuses proclaiming that it's "1/1/01, 2/2/02, 3/3/03..." and so on. In fact, if you make it your New Years' resolution to NOT make a post pointing out the date, then you will have finally actually gone through with one.

Maybe. There will always be May the 4th (be with you...)

But seriously, how many people really go through with their resolutions? According to this, only 8% of people who make resolutions come out successful. 25% don't even last a week! And only 46% last six months or longer. So at this point you're probably thinking, "ugh Emily, you're so negative. At least they're trying!"

Sure, they're trying. And in all seriousness, that's great. 54% of people in America don't even make a resolution. However, I've come to understand that people set their goals unrealistically. Television, movies, magazines, you name it. Inspiring stories of weight loss and self-improvement easily become muddled up with reality. For example, I think that The Biggest Loser, as much as I like to watch it, sets people up for unrealistic expectations. They see the contestants on the show losing 12+ pounds every week, but what they don't always remember to take into consideration that those people are extremely overweight, so losing that much weight every week is actually easier for them (and you can see later in the season that the weight they lose each week typically starts to decline more and more as they lose weight). This is because what has caused them to get so overweight: overeating, and not exercising enough, has been completely flipped upside down in a highly contained and inspiring environment. Those people are working out numerous hours every day with celebrity trainers, and have dietitians planning most of their meals. For the average person who hasn't been blessed enough to have such an awesome opportunity, this just isn't possible.

What is possible, however, is setting several short-term goals over the span of a year. Instead of having one big, vague resolution, like "eat healthier" or "lose weight", be specific. Here's an example:

• For one month, I will replace my caramel frap with a home made peanut butter banana smoothie.
• This will help you transition into a habit of eating foods that offer more nutrient density, that is, foods that are pretty low in calories compared to the benefits that have (fiber, vitamins, etc).
• Just replace caramel frap and the smoothie with your own vice and alternative.
• It would also save you some money ;)

•  I will continue to replace [vice] with [alternative], and replace 3/4 of refined carbs with whole grains/"good" carbs for another month.
• Again, you're replacing bad with good, but not totally cancelling it out. Restriction leads to temptation, which leads to succumbing and then failure.
• You don't have to cut out carbs, either. Mypyramid.gov has a handy little tool called Supertracker, which you can use to track your meals. Take an average of three days and see if you eat too little or too much of something. For example, if your results show (or maybe you just know) you eat too much meat and beans, but not enough fruit, replace some of the meat you eat with fruit at your meals.
•  Continue to either add new goals and adjust as you reach each one, or lay them all out from the beginning. Just remember - allow yourself some flexibility. If you're in school and busy most of the year, don't worry about a gym membership, but do try to work out when you can. Use your time out of school, such as during Winter break or Summer, to get out and do more than your normally would. Go hiking, swim some laps, run on the beach while you're on vacation (it's pretty hard on the dry stuff)!
•  A good workout for beginners, or people who are just short on time is this:

1. Run (or walk) for 10 minutes a day. See how far you can go in the ten minutes. Every day, push yourself just a little bit more. You'll notice quickly that you'll be going further and further every time.
2. Try to get to the point where you can comfortably run a mile within the ten minutes. If you can run more, great!
3. Add 5-10 minutes as you get faster. Eventually, your speed will level off, but your endurance will continue climbing.
4. Add as much time as your schedule allows. Getting out to run for 15-20 minutes a day is better than doing nothing at all! 

What's great about running is that you don't need to pay for anything, unless you don't have any kind of running shoes already. What's great about this plan is that it's easy to change to fit with a schedule that always changes.

Finish off your runs with various body-weight exercises like push-ups and squats, and core exercises like planks. One of my favorite core exercises is doing headstands. Throwing your body off it's normal balance challenges your muscles to relearn how to keep your body aligned.

Changing your habits isn't a matter of a single goal. It's a process and ultimately a complete change of lifestyle. You can't cut out carbs forever. You will literally die, or get very, very sick. You can't live your life constantly counting points or ordering pre-planned meals, either. However, you can take 10 minutes out of your day to challenge yourself to run as far as you can, or replace something in excess. A lifestyle overhaul is what will really give you "lasting results" because it's real, and it is for the rest of your life. So give it a try this year, if you have a resolution, to make it realistic, flexible, and life-long.

Blueberry FIlling

Every year for Easter, I make some kind of special Spring-themed cupcake. I even get extra-fancy with decorating them! Last year, I made peach and lavender, and decorated them with little fondant peaches.

This year, I brainstormed what do I think of when I think of spring? And three things came to my mind:
Flowers
Bees
Berries

Very general, right?
I decided I would make a delicate, almond-flavored cake filled with blueberries and finished off with honey buttercream.

Here's the recipe for the filling.

Blueberry Jam

2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup + 3 Tbsp 100% blueberry juice
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
Dash allspice

Arrowroot powder? Whatever happened to gelatin or pectin? 
Honestly, I just didn't have any gelatin or pectin. But what I did have was some arrowroot powder left over from some black forest cupcakes I made a while back. Arrowroot powder is typically used as a vegan alternative to gelatins. And let me tell you, it works.

Begin by bringing your blueberries and 1 cup of the juice to a bowl in a medium sauce pan.

  

Once boiling, add the honey and stir to mix it in.

Allow your mixture to boil until the berries start to look shrivelly. Much like your fingers when you've boiled in a hot tub for too long.

While waiting for this to happen, mix the remaining 3 tablespoons of juice and the 1/4 cup of arrowroot powder together. I suggest putting the juice into the bowl first then slowly mixing the arrowroot powder in. If you don't, it'll clump up at the bottom and make big, chewy blobs when you pour it into your otherwise nice, uniform jam. Once homogenized, add the mixture to the pot with the berries, stirring the entire time. If you don't, again, big gummy globs will appear. The mixture will begin to thicken immediately. Allow it to simmer for an additional 5 minutes, then remove from heat and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. It will not be a wobbly brick of blueberry-studded jello. Rather, it will be a nice, slightly thick, spreadable jam.