Perfect Summer Throw Together

Life is usually a little bit easier when I cook for the week. So today I created this throw together and it's totally yummy!

Ingredients You Will Need:

• 4 to 5 bell peppers (any color)  
• 3/4 cup Quinoa 
• 1 can of low sodium chickpeas 
• 3 chicken breasts 

Dressing: 

• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette
• 3 tablespoons mayo
• 2 teaspoons sugar 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 chopped or grated clove garlic (optional)   

How To: 

• Cook everything! 
• Roast the peppers
• Grill/Bake the chicken (I put some olive oil, salt, pepper on them before grilling)  
• Stick that quinoa in a rice cooker or pot 
• Mix all together in a bowl w/ the chickpeas (drain the juices) 

Dressing: 

• Put all the ingredients together in a container you can seal (ideally a twist top Tupperware) 
• SHAKE! 
• The ingredients will emulsify 
• Add dressing to the ingredients in the bowl and mix!  

See? Super simple! 1 cup of this is the perfect combo of grains, protein, veggies! I'm considering adding some roasted broccoli to up the veggie count. You could easily adjust this recipe to add tons of different vegetables! 

Enjoy! 

Yummy Little Protein Packed Snack!

Make a big batch of this, package it up and tote it along for snacks at work, school, whatever you need!

3 cans of chunk light tuna in water
broccoli (i added it raw, but if you can't stand raw broccoli, than blanch or steam it) (this has no limit!)
3/4 of a pesto package

Mix it all together and EAT!

Could not be simpler and it's a great mix of veggies and protein all together

Enjoy!

Attacking Veggies!

Thanks to the hard work of Mrs. Obama and wonderful food advocates Americans can now follow an easy to read, easy to comprehend food plate!

Currently most Americans eat about 1/4 of the total fruit and vegetables that this plate shows.

Here's the deal, veggies are not as terrible as everyone perceives them to be! The problem lies in the preparation. Most people do not know what to do with fresh, frozen or even canned veggies other than microwave, steam, and maybe saute them.

Try this the next time you go out to buy produce:

Items Needed:
1 head of broccoli
1 head of cauliflower
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Make sure it's first cold press or from Europe)
Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
Cracked Pepper
Garlic Cloves (optional)
Lemon or Lemon Juice (optional)

Oven @ 375
1. Rinse the broccoli and cauliflower. Chop the florets off the main stalk (so they look like little trees!) Chuck the  giant stalks.
2. Throw all the broccoli and cauliflower on a baking tray
3. Drizzle liberally with the olive oil. Using your hands mix the broccoli/cauliflower around with the olive oil to coat everything.
4. Sprinkle a bit of salt (only a little! keep the sodium low!)
5. Add the pepper and any other toppings you see fit. I love lemon and garlic chunks (or powder)
6. Pop it in the oven for roughly 20 - 25 minutes.

Yummy!

Try adding your own fun flavors! Feel free to share!

The Hazards of Late Night Snacks

Oh, the life of a college or graduate student. Late to bed, early to rise makes a student grumpy, hungry and tired.

Unfortunately, the normal go-to cure to a late night of studying (or errr, dare I say it, drinking) is snacking. While this MAY create a short term positive benefit, in the long run late night snacking screws up your metabolism and more often than not is the cause of weight gain.

Best ways to prevent late night snacking:
1) Eat more lean protein with each meal during the day. Protein keeps you nice and full without dragging you down.
2) Still hungry? Munch on veggies and fruits! Especially those green leafy ones! (No, potatoes don't count)
3) Craving sweets? Grab some unsweetened cocoa powder, heat up some water, add some no calorie sweetener (Truvia), and even a dash of unsweetened almond milk (or even a small bit of milk). Too hot outside? Add some ice cubes!
4) Still bug eyed? As a constant worrier and restless sleeper, I have recently found Yogi Bedtime to be awesome at helping me sleep.  

If you have to eat something:
- fruits/veggies
- handful of almonds or other nuts (NO SALT!)
- small protein shake
- apples & 2 tbsp of peanut butter

If you have GOT to have carbs or dairy:
- grab a few (no more than 5-10) whole wheat** crackers and pair it with a Baby Bell cheese (but you have got to make sure you limit yourself - I can definitely continue to snack once I break out the carbs)  
- whole wheat** piece of toast with 2 tbsp of peanut butter

**Note on whole wheat - do not go by the front of box/package labeling that states "Whole Grain" or something similar. Find the nutrition facts and look at the list of ingredients -- the first ingredient MUST say "whole wheat".

Hope this helps!

PS, I don't have a lot of advice on late night drunken munchies, other than to tell you to drink less ;-)

Choosing the Right Weights

Nothing drives me crazier than women who pick up the 1lb or 5lb weights when I KNOW they would do something much heavier. I'm not encouraging jumping from 5lbs to 30lbs for arm curls overnight, but ladies, if you are aren't breaking a sweat or even FEELING the weights after 10 reps, you aren't lifting enough!

For most of my workouts provided here's a good rule of thumb. Before starting a workout but after warming up (ie - before your muscles are tired) test some weights. Find your 3 rep max on arm curls (aka, you can't lift the weight one more time). Take that weight and divide by 2. This is your ideal weight for most workouts (unless you are looking to build massive muscle).

Now! For a workout! (With the right weights this time!)

Round 1 
Squats w/ dumbbell - heavy weight (add 5-10lbs to the calculated above) - set of 10
Bulgarian split squats w/ dumbbell - moderate weight (weight calculated above) - set of 10
Hamstring curl - use exercise ball - set of 15
Wall Ball Squats - 10lb ball - set of 10
Kettle Bell Swings - moderate weight - set of 10
Repeat 2x


Round 2
Leg Extension Machine - moderate to heavy weight - set of 10
Walking Lunges - heavy weight - set of 10
Bench Jumps - no weights - set of 15
Wall Sit / Curl - light weights (subtract 5-10 from calculated weight) - hold 30-45 seconds
Squat Jumps - set of 10
Repeat 2x

As with any of my workouts, they are done in Metabolic Effect style - so push hard until you need to rest, rest until you are ready to start again. You should feel like the weights are really heavy by the third round of each, this is great!

Remember to stretch out after and drink lots of water!

Let me know how it goes!