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Posts Tagged Larabar

Cuts Like Buttah

Dec 28

Posted by Shari B. in Handy Kitchen Tools | 5 Comments

Noooooo…. I’m not ready for the long holiday weekend to be over!!!  This is always my favorite weekend of the year!  Do we HAVE to go back to work?  :)

If I was the type of person who called in sick (but I’m not), today would be the day for it because somehow I managed to hobble myself yesterday.  During a workout, of all things.  I’m not even sure what movement did it, but it has something to do with my hip flexors.  I stretched off and on all day yesterday, did some yoga, all to no avail.  I have yet to pop an ibuprofen though.  That is the absolute last resort.  I know, I’m weird.  But once you get all that garbage out of your system, it’s a tough choice to put it back in.  Since April 1, I’ve had two Advil and that’s IT.

It’s a little better this morning so I’ll take the morning off of working out, and soak in the tub instead to see if that loosens anything up.  I exercised all 4 days of my long holiday weekend.  Tomorrow is my planned ‘rest day’ so I’ll just flip-flop my days.  This is my cue that I NEED more core strengthening work if a few days of core DVDs cripples me!  Ha!

Yesterday was a nice, normal veggie-filled food day.  A 30 oz. green smoothie in the morning:

A Banana Bread Larabar during the 10:00 a.m. showing of “Sherlock Holmes”:

A super-sized Shari salad in the 11″ bowl (I’ve missed my big bowl…) with spinach, dulse, roma tomatoes, spiralized zucchini, nutritional yeast, chia seeds and topped with 1 tbsp of Annie’s Goddess dressing.

With a side of baked kale (that looks burnt, but it’s not).  It’s red kale so it has a deep purple/red color:

An easy, early “dinner” of Ezekial toast with almond butter and raw honey drizzle, with a side of decaf  (the Broncos game was still on and I didn’t want to miss anything making a meal):

And an evening snack of two Wasa light rye crackers smeared with Tofutti (the ‘un-cream cheese’) and sprinkled with cumin and Mrs. Dash:

It was a fiber-licious day to be sure! :)

Riley got a dose of fiber too (of the synthetic variety) thanks to ripping her Christmas gift to shreds.  Poor stuffed squirrel.  Riley was too tired to even flee from the crime scene:

I, on the other hand, take much better care of MY Christmas gifts.  :)

As mentioned I have a bunch of them to tell you about (because I am incredibly blessed to have received so many great gifts from my family).  One of which is a new set of AWESOME knives from my mom. When I was visiting her back in September, I was crazy for her RADA knives and utensils.  I had two small RADA knives that I’d received as gifts back in 1991 and they LOOK like they’ve been used a TON.  My mom had the cool extras like a tomato knife, a peeler, and all sorts of other neat knives.  So I was thrilled when I opened a wrapped gift containing a whole SET of these cool tools.  It’s hard to see through the curtain of hair here but there’s a silly grin on my face (and apparently Riley and Rascal are just as excited about my gift):

They are SHARP!!!  I guess all of my other knives must need sharpening, because I forgot how nice it is to slice through food like it’s “BUTTAH”  :)

The potato peeler worked like a charm peeling this mango:

If you have a foodie in your life, I highly recommend gifting them with something from RADA.  I’m so impressed.  And I can tell you that these will be used every single day in this house!  I even rearranged my knife drawer so that I can keep them in their gift box and have easy access to them as I’m prepping veggies every day.  And I just noticed that they are available through Amazon.com so you can bet I’ll be adding these to the FitFeat “Favorite Things” Store!

Thanks for the GREAT gift, Mom!  PERFECT!

Today’s question:  Do you have a favorite brand of knife or prep utensil that you use daily? Drop a comment to share with us!

Have yourself a MARVELOUS Monday, friends!  I’m off to hit the tub and then to work!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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Sunshine + Saturday = One Happy Shari

Dec 12

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit, Product Review | 3 Comments

Hello and happy Saturday!  I’ve another busy day on tap to get the remainder of my Christmas shopping done.  Getting there, but very slowly.  I really can’t believe that Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!

Friday’s weight training workout was good!  I did 40 minutes of the Cathe Friedrich “Legs and Glutes” DVD which is always a killer workout.  Once my legs felt like jello sufficiently worked, I switched off the DVD and spent the final 20 minutes working my back muscles with some lat pulldowns, one-arm DB rows and angled high-pulls.  I made the mistake of putting on that great Lady GaGa station again and almost got caught up in some cardio boogie-ing… but was able to restrain myself lest be late for work!

What I did NOT do yesterday was take pics of my food! (say what???)  I was rushing around and completely spaced!  But I know what I had so here’s the list for those of you who like to see my crazy eats:

  • Post Workout / Breakfast:  a green smoothie with added rice protein and an acai frozen pack, plus turnip greens, spinach, cucumber, sprouts and a clementine
  • Mid-Morning Snack: ginger snap Larabar (thank you to my new boss who picked up some Larabars for me to snack on at the office – that was super cool!)
  • Lunch:  had brought soup but was busy so instead had two sliced of toasted Ezekial bread with raw almond butter alongside a cup of green tea
  • Afternoon Snack:  few slices of raw goat cheddar with 2 thick wheat crackers
  • Dinner with our wonderful friends Brett & Allison:  Allison made a FANTASTIC spinach salad with avocado, red pepper and pine nuts.  I had two helpings of that tasty salad alongside a slice & a half of thin crust “deLITE” Herbed Mediterranean pizza (minus the chicken).  It was a wonderful time chatting and catching up, and delicious meal.  Thanks so much for having us over!
  • Bedtime Snack:  When we got home, it was late and we were “snacky” so MSP and I each had two of our leftover ginger cookies that I’d made on Sunday. I certainly don’t like to make it a habit to have high carbs or sweets right before bed.  But sometimes you just have to do what feels fun!

This morning we went out for a 4.75 mile snowy hike.  I was bundled up with hat, scarf, mittens, down jacket.  But my beloved SUN was shining and I HAD to get out there.  It was truly gorgeous.  The clouds have moved on and the sky was so clear that it made for spectacular mountain views.

When we returned our tummies were growling somethin’ fierce so we make breakfast sandwiches.  Mine used a flourless sprouted grain Ezekial muffin, with one egg, a slice of tomato, and a bit of raw goat cheddar.  It was warm and perfect after being outside. 

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But I still felt that I needed some greens to go with breakfast so I also had this stack of baby spinach on the side with some Annie’s Goddess dressing.

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I think this may be the first time ever I’ve had a SALAD for breakfast!  Unless you count green smoothies or the “innerds” of a veggie omelet!  ;)

Today’s question has to do with winter sports:  we’ve discussed in past posts what our favorite winter activities are.  Since the entire nation (with the exception of lucky Florida) seems to have been in a deep freeze lately, have any of you gotten in any winter sports yet, like skiing, snow shoeing, snow hiking, etc?  Today would probably be the closest thing to my first “winter activity” (unless you count snow blowing and shoveling!!)  I do wish that I had put my Yak Trax on my shoes though because I had NO traction on my hiking shoes in the hard packed snow trail.  I bought them a long time ago for a snowy 8 mile trail race and they were an awesome purchase, worth their weight in gold I think!  (For any of you that are outdoor runners or hikers in snow pack, these can slip right over your running shoes, in the same way you add snow chains to your tires.)

Well friends, I’m off to battle the crowds of crazed shoppers!  Enjoy your weekend!  Go get your FIT on!  :)

– Shari B. =)

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Make Your Old Year(end) Resolution Today!

Dec 1

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

What’s new FitFeat friends?  Happy December 1st!  Hope your Monday after the long holiday weekend is off to a great start!  I think weeks after a long holiday always tend to go very slowly.

I figured what better way to get back into the full swing of things than to start with a TABATA upper body workout!  

Weight Training:  Tabata Upper Body

  • 5 Minute WarmUp on TM, followed by arm circles and light upper movements
  • DB Bench Press 4 min 
  • Bent DB Row 4 min
  • Side Lateral Raise 4 min
  • Triceps Pushdown 4 min
  • DB Bicep Curl 4 min

This style of workout never fails to do the trick – I end up getting in 80-96 reps of each exercise.  It was a fast and effective and this morning my upper body is feeling the pain love. 

Monday Eats

Post-workout was a green smoothie.  And I do mean GREEN.  I used two fists of spinach this time, so it was extra bright.  I forgot to add my rice protein to this one, but I did remember chia seeds.  ;)   Along with 2 stalks of celery, sprouts, a pear, and a clementine.

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A piece of Ezekial toast with almond butter served as my mid-morning snack.  When one wakes up at 4:00 AM, “mid-morning” is 8:00 AM.  :)  

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I packed my lunch and afternoon snack since I was headed in to work.  In the white container is my leftover Tokyo Joe’s brown rice with tofu and steamed veggies.  I ate the Larabar for an afternoon snack (Tropical Fruit Tart, be still my heart!!)  The apple was neglected unfortunately, so he may become smoothie food later today. 

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Dinner was a colorful salad of spinach, red cabbage, zucchini disks, sun dried tomatoes, and home-roasted seeds (from the acorn squash you see on the side there.)  This was my first acorn squash… WOW!  Love it!  It has a wonderful nutty flavor.  The serving shown here is about 1/4 acorn squash.

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Evening snack was a cup of decaf coffee and a Nana’s NO’s cookie bite:

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And then I was having trouble keeping my eyes open during “House” which airs here from 7:00 to 8:00.  Again, waking at 4:00 AM means “bedtime” often wants to come at 7:30 PM!

***

As mentioned above, yep, it’s DECEMBER!  Can you believe it?  I’ve been blogging since August!  Time flies when you are having fun! 

Today’s challenge is to make your “Old Year(end) Resolutions“.  If you are someone who starts resolutions on January 1, why not move it up a month to December 1 and get a head-start?  Just think of what you can accomplish in 30 days when you put your mind to it.  If weight loss is your goal, you can easily be 5 pounds down in the next 30 days, rather than 5 pounds UP like many will experience over the holidays.  If you want to quit smoking, DO IT NOW!  Why wait?  (And if you DO smoke, please please quit.  You know how bad it is for you!) 

The time is now!  Drop me a comment and let me know what your “Old Year(end) Resolution” will be for the next 30 days!

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One of my resolutions for the next 30 days is to get some of the exercise instruction posts put out here, as Cindy had suggested back when I asked for reader input.  Cindy, I haven’t forgotten you!  I actually have had one in the works since then, just have had other topics taking over it seems!  :)

Enjoy your Tuesday friends!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

***

If you know someone embarking on their own fitness journey for the new year, please feel free to send them my way. I offer fitness consulting by phone nationwide.  Visit my Coaching/Training and About Shari pages for more info.

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A Sparkle in MY Day!

Nov 25

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 3 Comments

It’s Thanksgiving Eve!  Do you have all of your ingredient shopping done for the food-fest tomorrow?  I’m going to attempt to sub out ingredients in our favorite Sausage Gravy & Biscuits for tomorrow’s breakfast to make it free of meat and dairy.  It will be SOYsage Gravy & Biscuits.  If it turns out well, I’ll be sure to post the recipe here for you all to try.  I also plan to make a broccoli salad with some subbed items – I’m hoping that by STEAMING the broccoli I don’t end up with houseful of broccoli stink again!

Before I get into yesterday’s eats, I want to send a VERY BIG HUG OF THANKS to dear Cindy over at A Sparkle A Day.  She lives in California where it is nice and toasty and she took pity on me freezing my hiney off with all this cold and snow we’ve had already this year.  As a result she has put a lot of hours and generosity into making me something with which to keep warm and it arrived in the mail yesterday like an early Christmas gift. 

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Wahoo, it was even WRAPPED!  Totally feels like Christmas!! 

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She knows me well, sending a homemade card with COFFEE on the front!  Look how pretty it is! 

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It is SO incredibly soft and warm!  It was meant to keep me warm while jogging, but I think it’s much to pretty too use that way.  I wore it out with my dressy coat last night to run some errands and the cashier at Hobby Lobby commented that she loved my scarf and how pretty the colors were!  So of course I had to tell her the story of who made it for me and why and that I’d just received it that very evening!

Cindy, thank you so much for your kindness and thoughtfulness… It is amazing how receiving a HANDMADE gift can make one feel so special! 

Now I see why my mom loved that crazy thing I made her in kindergarten:  a paper plate with dry macaroni glued all over it and spray painted GOLD!  :)   If you are thinking of holiday shopping this time of year, I highly suggest you MAKE something instead.  It truly does make the recipient feel so good!

***

Yesterday was another one of those whirlwind days.  I started the day off with a cup of coffee and half a banana bread Larabar before my client training appointment.

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Then I ate the other half while I was writing yesterday’s blog post.

Lunch was an unpictured HUGE salad at Sweet Tomatoes full of spinach, beets, zucchini, cucumber, sunflower seeds, olive oil, red cabbage, and probably a few more ingredients that I’m forgetting.  If you haven’t been to a Sweet Tomatoes salad bar, give it a try.  Talk about getting your VEGGIE FIX ON!

Afternoon was full of more running around.  I had to splurge on a little Silk Soy NOG.  MSP loves eggnog this time of year, and I wanted to join in on the fun in my own way!

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Dinner was leftover pad-thai-style rice noodles from Noodles & Co., half of which seemed to be mung bean sprouts (and 2 whopping pieces of shrimp!)

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This morning I got up and did 30 minutes of a total body weight training circuit.  It’s one I developed for training clients, so it’s not listed here publicly (SOME things have to be kept sacred for my paying peeps, you know!)  :)   Followed by 45 minutes of DOG WOGGING!  Have you noticed how lacking my life has been of wogs?  My poor pups must feel so neglected.  And of course Riley collided with another dog at full run while they were being playful and came up limping.  (She has hip dysplasia and arthritis, yet thinks she’s still a spring puppy!)  She seems ok at the moment – but of course in the back of my mind I’m thinking she’s never allowed out of the house again if she keeps hurting herself!  If it’s not poking her eye out on a hike, then it’s dislocating a hip!  Crazy dogs!

And now I am taking in a PROBIOTIC overload because I am off to a hospital soon to visit a post-surgery family member and want to give my immune system all the boosts I can in case I pass someone in the hall that has swine flu (or some other nasty bug that I don’t want taking a free ride home with me!)  :)    Two probiotic pills and a probiotic-rich BUBBLY!!!  mmmm Gingerberry!  I can feel the forcefield all around me already!  ;)

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Enjoy your Thanksgiving EVE and I’ll be back tomorrow with a Thanksgiving Day post for those of you who will be reading!

Also, send good Turkey Trot vibes out to everyone you know who will be racing in various charitable Thanksgiving Day races tomorrow!  Reader CARRIE will be participating in a 10K (and has a bet with her man that she can beat him, go Carrie!!)   And my good friend and client Lynn will be racing tomorrow in a local HILLY 5K!  I know you ladies will show ‘em all how it’s done! 

– Shari B. =)

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As The Sprouts Groweth

Nov 14

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 6 Comments

Happy Saturday morning FitFeat friends! 

It’s a happy day indeed.  I have the beginnings of some homemade sprouts!  So if you are a new reader who regularly makes your own sprouts and/or can actually grow things like live plants, you may want to read my previous post about my lack of a green thumb.  Actually seeing something GROWING in my kitchen is a FEAT for me!  So, any sprout experts out there want to chime in and tell me if it will be obvious to me when I can eat them?  :)

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I have a feeling that I will still need to buy sprouts in addition to growing them because I eat way more in a day or two than what I have growing here I think. Although maybe they will still have a growth spurt!

Speaking of sprouts, check out this beautiful “before” shot of my green smoothie from yesterday. 

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It looks awfully HOLIDAY-ish, don’t you think?  Pretty reds and greens!  I finally put those new cranberries to good use after all of Cindy’s cranberry blogging.  And in a recent comment she mentioned putting 2 bananas and a CUP of cranberries into a smoothie.  Cindy, are you trying to defibrillate my tastebuds?  I tasted one of those little buggers before I added them to my smoothie – they are t-t-tart!   I’m starting small for now!

I present to you my Festive Holiday CranApple Smoothie!

  • 8 oz water
  • 1/2 to 2/3 cup fresh cranberries
  • 1 apple, unpeeled and chunked
  • 1/2 small banana
  • fistful of spinach
  • a palm’s worth of sprouts (I used sweet clover sprouts)
  • 1/2 large cucumber, peeled and chunked
  • 1- 2 stalks celery, chunked
  • 1/2 tbsp hemp oil

Blend till smooth. 

(“Chunked” is an official culinary term right?)  ;)  

Here is the after: 

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It was definitely festive for the tastebuds!  Thank you Cindy for inspiring me to get some fresh cranberries, which I normally pass right on by in the produce section.  But learning from you of their anti-viral properties sold me!

I had a crazy urge for lunch-ish food at morning snack time so I toasted up some Ezekial sprouted grain bread, added some Tofutti spread, smeared on a little avocado, sprouts, cucumber, spinach and pepitas. 

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Which left room for a light lunch when it was actually lunchtime!  Oh yeah, you know what I rolled with:

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A little heavenly, gingery squash soup!  Reheated, it was JUST as good, if not better than, the first time.

And then a little slice of “pie” for a late afternoon snack.

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Next up, it was out for some Friday night fun with some girlfriends I hadn’t seen for MUCH TOO LONG.  We hit up a local wine bar for a happy hour that spilled beyond that hour by about three more!  It was a wonderful time!  Love wine time with my ladies!  And in standard Shari style, I’m sure you know I suggested HUMMUS for a shared appetizer!  (My name is Shari and I’m a Hummus-Holic.)  While the service at this place left a LOT to be desired, their hummus most certainly did not.  It was probably the best hummus I’ve ever had. 

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(Or maybe it was just the dim lights, candles and pretty plates that made it taste so good.  It couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with wine consumption!)

The manager left us with a complimentary bottle of vino to share (conveniently while we were trying to decide on just HOW small a tip to leave for our unattentive waiter.)  It was a moscato d’asti dessert wine and I do declare that I will run right out and buy a bottle to have on Thanksgiving.  (Does anyone declare that they watched this week’s “The Office”?)   ;) If not you are all going, ‘Huh?”

Heavenly soup by day, heavenly wine by night.  It MUST have been a Friday!

– Shari B. =)

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13 Exercises for Friday the 13th

Nov 13

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Happy Friday the 13th FitFeat friends!  Any superstitious readers out there?  In honor of Friday the 13th, I did this crazy workout this morning:

Today’s Feat:  Shari’s “13 for the 13th” Workout

Warmup on treadmill, 5 minutes

  1. Smith-squats (tabata style, 4 min)
  2. Seated Row (tabata style, 4 min)
  3. Leg Extensions (tabata style, 4 min)
  4. DB Upright Row (tabata style, 4 min)
  5. Leg Curls on FitBall (tabata style, 4 min — I was crying by the 3rd minute on these)
  6. DB Chest Flyes 1 set of 15 reps
  7. High StepUps 15 left, 15 right
  8. KB Side Lateral Swings 15 right, 15 left
  9. Band SideSteps 25 right, 25 left
  10. KB Biceps Curls 20 right, 20 left
  11. KB Ab Twist (in boat position) 30 reps
  12. Triceps Dips 15 reps
  13. Explosive Lunges 20 reps

OK, I officially have squiggle arms and squiggle legs…  ;)

Yesterday’s Feat

A beautiful (and tough) 3.6 mile hilly run with a training client 

Yesterday’s Eats

I had my standard pre-run meal Coconut Cream Pie Larabar with coffee about an hour beforehand.  I’m now officially out of this flavor in my Larabar stash and will have to wait until they go on sale again.  :( I refuse to pay more than $1 per bar if I can avoid it. 

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After our run, my client was telling me about these wonderful breakfast burritos she picks up on occasion, and it inspired me to come home and make a Breakfast Wrap:  whole wheat tortilla, leftover roasted potato bites, one HB egg, a bit of avocado and a drizzle of salsa.  It was SO good!  And it hit the spot after a fast-paced hilly run.  Perfect!

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It did such a good job of filling me up, that when lunchtime rolled around all I really wanted was a green smoothie!  And Brendan Brazier snuck into the picture too…

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I don’t often like to have two Larabars in one day, but a Lemon Bar sounded too good to resist.

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I spent some time late afternoon putting together dinner:  Heavenly Ginger Curry Squash Soup, for which I posted the recipe earlier today.  As mentioned in that post, I had to make myself eat a large salad to tame the hungry beast inside before I devoured my soup.  I KNEW I wouldn’t have leftovers if I started with it, it was that yummy.  My salad included spinach, dulse, sundried tomatoes, carrots, nutritional yeast and 1/2 tbsp of Goddess dressing. 

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And then the main event.  I am already dreaming of lunchtime today when I can have some more of this delicious meal!  Behold the best soup ever:

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And I didn’t figure the evening could get any better, but it DID!!!  MSP surprised me with dark chocolate covered cacao nibs!!!  WAHOOO!  (Thanks MSP!  You’re the best ever!)  Wow these are delightful.  Good thing these come in small bags… Not something I’d want to stay stocked up on because I had a hard time putting them down last night.

I’m looking forward to tonight when I get to catch up with some girlfriends over wine & apps tonight!  In the meantime, there is a LOT to accomplish so I better get crackin’!  Have a FANTASTIC Friday! 

See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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Thai-hini Stir Fry

Nov 12

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 13 Comments

That would be pronounced “tie-heenie” not “hiney” – this is a family friendly blog and I see you over there giggling like a 12-year old boy…  ;)  

So “Thai-hini StirFry” was dinner last night!  I used to make a Spicy Thai Peanut Stirfry developed by Stella’s Kitchen.  But I have tweaked it so much that now it’s not even remotely like the original.  I finally gave into HEAB’s subliminal tahini messages and bought jar yesterday.  

For the sauce:

  • 1/4 c tahini
  • 2 tsp thai red curry paste
  • 1 tbsp lite soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 3/4 tsp honey
  • 1/2 tsp lime juice
  • 1 tbsp pineapple juice (my stirfry had a few chunks of pineapple in it, but you can omit the juice if you aren’t adding pineapple)

Mix all ingredients with a fork until smooth and creamy.

This was a double batch of sauce because I needed to make one stir-fry pan for MSP (with meat) and one for moi (without meat).  If you like more spicy HEAT in your food, add more of the red curry paste, and maybe a pinch of cayenne & red pepper flakes.

My pan had carrot, celery, broccoli, zucchini, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and about 6 bite-sized pieces of pineapple.  Stirfried for about 5 minutes in a smidge of coconut oil.  Once the veggies are done, add the “thai-hini” sauce, mix around to coat veggies (adding water a few tablespoons at a time if you like a thinner consistency.)  Serve.

For a meat version, I stirfried one large chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces until close to done, then added in some bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and whole baby corn cobs.  Continue stirfrying until the veggies are heated through, then add the “thai-hini” sauce, coat well (again adding a little water if you like it thinner).  I served his on a bed of brown rice and sprinkled both plates with toasted sesame seeds.  

The final products:

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We sat down last evening ready to enjoy “Modern Family” as I had mentioned in yesterday’s post, only to find that it WASN’T ON thanks to the CMA’s.  Noooooo!  I had been looking forward to it all day.  I must admit I was a little crushed.  :(   Recorded “Mad Men” would have to suffice.

To recap the rest of the Tuesday eats, I started the morning post-yoga and post-dog wogging with a scoop of Amazing Meal (green food drink).  A green smoothie was still sounding a little to bone-chilling, and this mixture was room temperature. 

Mid-morning I had the usual piece of toasted Ezekial with raw almond butter and raw honey drizzle.  I almost ALWAYS forget the photo before taking the first bite.  A little green tea on the side:

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Lunch was a good sized salad that somehow looks small when shown below.  Spinach, zucchini ribbons, carrot shavings, dulse, sundried tomatoes, with about 1/2 tbsp of Goddess dressing and the leftover half of a Sunshine burger.   New lesson learned:  reheated sunshine burgers become sunshine rocks.   And not “rocks” like “dude that rocks” but rocks like this:

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And a bubbly on the side!  Gingerberry flavor!  Gotta keep pumping those probiotics in me to fight off all the flu bugs out there!

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The salad was so tasty, I thought you’d like a close-up!

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Dessert was a large spoonfull of mashed sweet potato and cinnamon.

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How ’bout  my fortune with a side of Ginger Snap Larabar? 

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Why thank you fortune, I agree!

I made a “quick trip” to the grocery store to pick up a few things to make dinner.  And it turned into this:

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I can never make it out of the grocery store for less than $40.  I could go EVERY day and still end up with $40 worth of stuff each time.  The same thing happens with Costco only those visits are always $100.  What is this strange phenomenon??  MSP is having lunch with a coworker today at Whole Foods and invited me along, but I’m scared that another $40 will mysteriously fly out of my wallet if I step through their front doors!

But look at all the goodies I got!  Spinach, sprouts, broccoli, clementines, apples, grapefruit, avocado, mango, tomato, squash, bananas, pear and even some cranberries courtesy of all of Cindy’s cranberry creations.  I too would like a facemask that I nibble on while applying! ;)

Today’s discussion:

Does this happen to you at the grocery store?  Do you avoid going often because you suffer from this odd affliction that I too have?  :)   Drop me a comment – I need to know if I’m alone in this or not! 

Random note:

Can you believe Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away???  What?  I’ll be putting up my Christmas tree and decorations two weeks from tomorrow?  (I always do this on the day after Thanksgiving.)  I better break out my Harry Connick Jr. holiday CD and start baking some healthy cookies, so I can force myself into the holiday mood!  I love this time of year – it’s just that this year it seems to have really snuck up on me.

Bday Wishes:

Also, I’d like to give a bday shout-out to Gina the Fitnessista.  Enjoy YOUR day!!   

Have a TERRIFIC Thursday everyone!

– Shari B. =)

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Wii Wii, Chocomole

Nov 7

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 2 Comments

Happy Saturday friends!

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  I’m checking in with a quick Feats & Eats recap from Friday.

I did a Tabata-style workout for legs.  It was short, burned like FIRE and has me crazy sore today:

Tabata Legs:

  • TM Warmup 5 minutes
  • Smith Machine Squats 4 minutes
  • Leg Extensions 4 minutes
  • Lying Leg Curls 4 minutes

Afterward I had intended on doing an Iron Yoga session, but the DVR was acting up and after fighting with it for 15 minutes,  it definitely put me in an anti-zen mood so I threw in the towel. :)

A dog wogging session would have to suffice.  Just a quick 25 minute outing in the unseasonably warm weather.

One of my snacks during the day was this bite-sized Tropical Fruit Tart Larabar that my friend Beth gave to me  (thanks Beth!)  Mmmm so good:

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Lunch was with a great friend at a local asian cafe, so I had steamed veggies with a bowl of miso soup (and the greasy egg roll that came with it).

On the way home I picked up a Gingerade BUBBLY!  Which I am slowly savoring.  I had half and saved the rest for later.  Those darn bubbly drinks make me happy!

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MSP and I skipped a ‘regular’ dinner and had cereal instead, mine being Kashi Go Lean.  We had friends coming over at 7:00 for some WII NIGHT fun.  I was in the mood to try some new food to put out for snacks yet still stay on the healthy side.

First off I made some marinated mushrooms.

I started with the inspiration from a recipe at Allrecipes.com but made a few modifications. Here’s how I made them:

  • 1/3 cup filled with half rice wine vinegar and half balsamic vinegar
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/3 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons dried parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon prepared spicy mustard
  • 3/4 tablespoon agave nectar
  • 2 cloves minced garlic (from jar)
  • 1 pound small fresh button mushrooms

All ingredients except the mushrooms went into a saucepan and brought to a boil.  Add mushrooms, simmer for 12 minutes, stirring often.  Transfer to glass dish for chilling before serving.  Use slotted spoon to drain mushrooms for serving presentation. Don’t forget to set out some toothpicks!

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They turned out really tasty and more elegant than my other usual appetizers (which I still served) and included:

Carrots with homemade hummus:

img 649Brown-bag popcorn sprinkled with sea salt and chili powder:

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And some unpictured Baked Tostito Scoops with salsa.

Last but not least, I FINALLY tried making Gena’s Chocomole for the evening’s dessert.  I’ve been wanting to try this recipe since the first time I saw it.  And I needed to do it sneakily so that MSP wouldn’t know that it was made of avocados before he actually ate it.

I used 2 avocados, 1/2 smashed banana, 10 pitted dates, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tbsp carob powder, water to drizzle as needed.

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This recipe ROCKED!  I loved it.  And I especially loved knowing that it wasn’t chock full of hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup or chemicals. It was SUPER rich and creamy.  Next time I will be sure to soak my dates, as they didn’t come out quite as smoothly in the food processor as I would have liked, (and Gena does mention that dates may need to be soaked prior) but it was still FAB.  Next time I think I will get a tart or pie crust of some sort and use it as a filling.  When I served it to our guests, I topped it with a little all-natural egg nog ice cream.  My serving was sans ice cream but I did add a few sprinkles of coconut.

Heavenly is what that dessert was.  And MSP ate AVOCADO!!! (muah-ha-ha! <insert evil grin>) He liked it, and wasn’t totally horrified when I told him what was in it.  But he did say he’d really have been fine with just NOT knowing that it was avocado.

We love Wii Night with friends!  Thanks J & G for hanging with us!!  It was fun!

Well blog buds, it’s a gorgeous Saturday and none of us should be sitting indoors on a computer, so I’m gonna skeedaddle and get outside!

Make it a SPECTACULAR Saturday!

– Shari B. =)

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How Do You Avoid the Winter Slump?

Nov 5

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Wahoo it’s Friday-EVE!

I have been a bundle of energy since yesterday’s crazy coffee that I swore my dogs spiked.  Well until 8:15 last night when I was trying to watch “Modern Family” and my eyelids kept doing this weird thing where they’d fall down over my eyes uncontrollably.  :)   Are you someone who go-go-gos and then the minute you sit still your body just decides it’s time to sleep? But I woke up at 4:00 this morning feeling FANTASTIC.

My dogs, however, were another story:

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Apparently they think 4:00 a.m. is just too early.  Zzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzz.

And I wasn’t out of bed 5 minutes this morning when Miss Thing decides to take not only my spot in the bed but also my PILLOW!

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Yeah Alien-Eyes, I mean you. If I find drool on my pillow, you’ll be in trouble!

(Sorry MSP for the early morning “camera flash as alarm clock”!)

With all that energy yesterday, you’d think I’d have squeezed in a fabulous workout.  Unfortunately, no.  It was just one of those days where it wasn’t high enough on the priority list.  I don’t let it happen often, but it was necessary yesterday.  You can even tell by my food that I was busy.  No big salad as I didn’t have time to CHEW!  :)   I’ll get some extra time in today though.

I did have time to chew my favorite breakfast:  Ezekial toast with raw almond butter and a drizzle of raw honey.  (Sorry for the repetitive food!  I know it’s SO boring, but it’s just so yummy and goes really well with the morning joe.)

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While in front of the PC I had a mid-morning snack of baby carrots and a plop of homemade hummus.

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I really don’t think I can eat enough hummus in my lifetime.  Since I love beans so much and especially baked beans (which I haven’t been eating since I gave up meat), I am certain that someday I will attempt a baked bean hummus and combine two of my favorite foods — if I can find a pork free version of Busch’s beans.  Mmm beans.   I know you will all be secretly CLAMORING for the recipe when that happens. ;)

My lunch if you can believe it was actually a soy chai latte.  This is not a “lead by example” moment for sure.  A latte does not a lunch make. But it just sounded so darn good and I can’t resist their holiday cups!  What a nice message it has:

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And by the way Mr. Starbucks CEO, please put some of your mugs on clearance, would ya?  I haven’t seen a single clearance mug since last Christmas and my Starbucks mug collection is getting boring.  But I already pay you a ridiculous amount of money just to steam my soy milk, so I won’t also give you $12.95 for a mug.  $5.00 please. Thank you.

Later, a quick afternoon snack while running upstairs back to the computer.

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I did at least manage to get some greens into  my crazy day.  Spinach, cucumber, sprouts, 1/4 cantaloupe, 1 tbsp hemp oil, celery stalk, and a pear.  I had this glass X 2.

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Dinner was another attempt at the leftover chalk balls falafel.  Even adding Annie’s Goddess Dressing and some juicy tomato slices could not save them.  The rest are going in the trash today.  In the future I’ll stick with making mine from scratch, or giving in to the deepfried version at Garbanzo’s.  This powdered mix is a big DON’T.  Looks tasty, though, right?

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Today’s discussion question is about Winter Slump:  Are you finding that with the change of seasons your exercise is not as abundant?  Or does it have no effect on your routine?  What strategies to you use to keep from falling off that wagon?

I definitely get less active this time of year.  With the snowstorm last week, then the time change so causing evenings to be so dark it is easy to let motivation be zapped a little.  During the warm months, I was getting the dogs out for a couple miles every day on top of my running and weights plus a few hikes here and there.  Even my yardio.  Add to that the fact that cold weather makes one crave heartier foods like Halloween candy root veggies and squash which are a bit higher in starches and calories, the body composition can definitely take a little hit.  I can feel it this week for sure and will be making an effort to ramp up the intensity in the upcoming days (in order to get some “afterburn” calories) and keep the “hearty” foods to a minimum.  I’ll add in additional faster intervals, a round or two of Iron Yoga, some high-intensity Tabata weight sessions, and last but not least I’ll be getting out for runs as much as possible when the weather cooperates.

Speaking of season changes…

Guess what?  It’s time to get outside! Our forecast for today is 76 degrees! Wahoooo hallelujah!  Maybe this is why I’ve been a bundle of energy.  Vitamin D City! It was even in the 60′s yesterday!  Maybe all the snow still in our yard from last week will disappear.

Today will be much less computer-filled than yesterday if I can at all help it.  :)

Last call for biceps flex pics today!  Join in the fun!  I have some fun ones from Cindy to choose from… the rest of you get busy flexin’ today!  Email them to me:  shari@fitfeat.com and I’ll plug your blog as well!  (FYI if you did email them to me and I did NOT reply with a thank you message, then for some reason they didn’t make it through… drop a note in the comments section if that’s the case.)

Have a GROOVY Thursday and join us tomorrow for some FLEX IT FRIDAY fun!  :)

– Shari B. =)




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Tabata Time!

Nov 3

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 11 Comments

Hi friends!

Happy Tuesday…!  I hope your week is getting off to a lovely start.

In case you didn’t see it, there was a comment made to yesterday’s post by reader Tray about a FLEX IT FRIDAY this week – saying that if I post a flex shot (biceps) she’ll post one to her blog too.  This totally put a smile on my face (mostly because I have pretty tiny ‘guns’) and I thought it might be a fun way for you all to join in too!  Send me an email with your best BICEP flex shot shari@fitfeat.com by midnight Thursday and I’ll add it to Friday’s post with mine.  Don’t leave me hanging, now!

Monday was a great day for feeling on track again.  After the morning joe, it started with some Tabata-style weight training, which really becomes more a game of muscular endurance than strength.  Originally designed for sprint intervals to increase VO2 max, you see it used for many other types of training now.  You alternate 20 seconds of high intensity with 10 seconds of low intensity and repeat for 4 minutes.   When you do this for sprints, the goal is that your high intensity segments are so tough that truly by the end of the 4 minutes you are wiped.  Full-body exercises are a great use of this training style as well.

Well you know I love any exercise that alternates intensity with rest so when I first read about Tabata last year I was excited to try it out.  I later downloaded a Tabata timer on my iPhone and use it to turn pretty much any exercise into an interval session.  And of course, I like to make up my own rules, so instead of things like pushups and pullups, I like to do a full Tabata round for each muscle group.  Here’s how Monday’s workout went down.

Tabata Full Body

  • TM Warmup 5 minutes
  • Chest: DB Bench Press 4 minutes
  • Back: Seated Rows 4 minutes
  • Shoulders: Side Lateral Raises 4 minutes
  • Biceps: Seated DB Curls 4 minutes (2 min palms up, 2 min palms in)
  • Triceps: Tricep Pushdowns 4 minutes
  • Core: Planks 4 minutes
  • Legs: Static Ball Squats 4 minutes
  • Legs: VS Rear Lunges 4 min (alt legs every interval)

This is a quick and efficient training method, less than 40 minutes.  My bis, tris, and shoulders are definitely ‘vocal’ today!

By then, my bod was ready for a post-workout shake:  chocolate Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer with 1/2 banana.

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Then a mid-morning Lemon Larabar while working at the computer:

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At lunchtime I wanted to use up a couple of veggies that were looking a little wilty, so I cut up an orange pepper, roma tomato, baby bellas, and zucchini, tossed them with a drizzle of olive oil and some sea salt and roasted them in my toaster oven for about 25 minutes.

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During the last few minutes I sprinkled nutritional yeast on them to give them a ‘cheesy’ feel and made an avocado/sprout sandwich for the side:

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Veggie-licious!

Midafternoon called for another Larabar, this time Cashew Cookie flavor.  And a cup of herbal tea.  Mmmm, tea and “cookies”.  I feel so PROPER!  ;)

Dinner was a special treat because MSP’s brother happened to be passing through town and we hadn’t seen him since June.  So we went to one of our local favorites, Via Baci, where I would normally order a pizza (oh do they ever have great pizza!!) but since I have been making so many pita pizzas at home, I opted for the seared tuna salad with lemon vinaigrette on the side.  It was SCRUMPTIOUS and I even have a little leftover for today.  (Caution:  fuzzy iPhone pic ahead, view at your own risk!)  :)

via baci

A few pieces of candy corn for dessert at home while chatting with family – it was a great end to a fabulous day.

***

Today’s questions:  Do you prefer intervals or steady-state exercise?  Have you tried Tabata for your cardio or weights?  How did you like it? Drop a comment to let me know your thoughts.

And then drop me an email with your BICEP FLEX!!!  We’ll all have a reason to pump up our biceps with some exercise beforehand ;)   and I know some of you are jokesters so it could be comical!

Have a TERRIFIC TUESDAY!

– Shari B. =)

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