Getting Hammered In the New Year

I should have known better. I saw it with my own two eyes in November, the blogging wheels were starting to fall off. We start out with the best intentions, then life happens. In my case, life happened, so did the holidays, my full-time job, and winter blahs.

The good news? I documented a lot of my cooking adventures along the way. I have plenty of recipes to share!

Three weeks ago, I embarked on the new BeachBody program, The Master's Hammer and Chisel. HOLY COW! It is awesome and challenging and pushes you like no other program. Unfortunately, I came down with bronchitis and I am back to day one this up coming Monday.

It is a 60-day program and is intense. If you haven't checked out the FaceBook Challenge page, you should. The results to-date are incredible. In the two weeks I did the program, I was down 5 pounds and was already starting to see toning results. Not to mention a dropping fat percentage.

Day 6 was rough, but was probably one of my favorite workouts to date. A workout I definitely wanted to highlight. After the difficult workout, I finally got to dive into my new Shakeology!

My newest creation, a twist on the recipe from BeachBody.

The Muddy Buddy Twist

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk,
1.5 tbsp Justin's chocolate hazelnut butter (my favorite!!)
1/4 banana
A splash of coffee (it wouldn't fit in my travel mug) 
Packet of Shakeology Cafe Latte

I tossed all the ingredients into my VitaMix, whirled away, and enjoyed. It was INCREDIBLE! (And my go-to now when I'm not dealing with bronchitis) 

My favorite!!

Anyhow! I can't wait to re-start this blogging journey in the new year, document my recipes, and progress with Hammer and Chisel. 

Are you on Facebook? Follow me journey there!

Want to know more about Beachbody or Shakeology? Want to join me in an upcoming Challenge Group? Send me a message! Use the convenient message area on the right side, towards the bottom, of the website!

I can't wait to connect with you and find out what fitness goals I can help you achieve!

No Soup for You - To Make In Your Stove or Oven!

Folks, I have some sad news. Summer is definitely history. I had to scrape my car this morning. This made me really sad. I am a warm weather girl - which is a struggle living in the north. Today is the type of day that is just perfect for soup! In anticipation of my husband working (I should really rename my blog all the food and recipes my husband won't eat) - I bought butternut squash to make soup with.

Let me introduce you to tonight's recipe - Butternut Squash Soup - in the VitaMix - for a Meatless Monday!

This was my first adventure with making soup in my VitaMix. It's sat idle for a little bit without any love.

The start of deliciousness!

Butternut Squash Soup
Makes - more than 3 servings!

14oz of butternut squash (I bought it pre-cut)
1.5 russet potatoes
15 baby carrots
4 cups of vegetable broth
1 tsp of Sunflower seeds
2 tbsp of EVOO
Salt and Pepper for taste

Pre-heat your over to 350 degrees!

First, I skinned the potatoes, then chopped it into smaller pieces and placed in my Pyrex baking dish. I didn't have to cut the butternut squash, as I bought it pre-cut (time saver!!) I added in the baby carrots, tossed in a TBSP of EVOO, finally, some salt and pepper, added my lid - shook it up!

Once coated, I popped into the oven for 30 minutes. This gave me a chance to workout. Today started week two of my PiYo challenge group - and I had a workout to tackle! PiYo Define: Lower Body. My favorite is the downward dog series at the end.

Workout: Complete! Now back to our regularly scheduled recipe. Once PiYo was wrapped up - my oven went off a few minutes later.

I then added the 4 cups of vegetable broth to a microwave safe bowl and microwaved for 1:45 (just until warm - it'll all depend on your microwave)

Then, I added the broth into my VitaMix, followed by the vegetables, the remaining EVOO, and salt and pepper for taste.

This is key, make sure your VitaMix is on the setting of 1. I slowly turned my speed up to 10 (keeping the speed at variable) Finally, once at 10, I turned it on high and let it whirl for 4 minutes.

So much fun to watch the VitaMix work the food magic. Finally, my soup was complete! I poured it out into a soup bowl and added on the sunflower seeds.

Enjoy!! Plus - I have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Paleo Kegs and Eggs and A Side of Alma Mater Ohio

Yesterday was homecoming for my alma mater. Considering I was in Ohio for a wedding this summer, we had our own wedding not too long ago, and bought a house, a trip to Athens, OH was not in the cards for me this year. Homecoming is on my adult bucket list. There's something magical about the bricks surrounding campus and walking down Court Street.

Because I am in my thirties and being responsible, kegs and eggs were not a part of my Saturday (then again, alcohol isn't part of Whole30 either, so, there is that) I decided to make my own version of a Saturday morning happy hour while drinking coffee out of one of my favorite mugs.

My coffee? I've been intrigued by Bulletproof coffee, but I haven't "bit the bullet" yet and have made my own version, I had read through a handful of blogs, pins, etc about coconut oil in your coffee. At first, I was repulsed. Then I dumped my coffee into my VitaMix, added some coconut oil, and gave it a whirl (again, literally and figuratively) The results, I don't mind it - at all. Consider that yesterday's version of my keg.

As for breakfast, breakfast is always a challenge. I'm still not fully awake, yet I need to eat something. I ended up making the above, my breakfast of champions!

Breakfast of Champions - Serves 1

2 eggs
1 sweet potato
1/2 cup of spinach
1 small carrot (or a handful of baby carrots)
1/2 pepper (your choice of color)
2 tbsp of oil (I used avocado oil today)
2 tbsp of jumbo lump crab meat (or more, that is all my husband left me...)
Dash of 21 Seasoning Salute (see my prior blog post about this amazing stuff)
Dash of Red Hawaiian Sea Salt

In my food processor, I dumped in all the vegetables and let it do it's job with chopping the veggies up. Then, I peeled the sweet potato and chopped into pieces.

Next, I put the sweet potatoes in my smaller cast iron skillet with 1 tbsp of oil (after heating it up) I ended up cooking those for about 8-9 minutes, letting the edges brown. (Note, we have an induction stove top, so I am still getting used to the various settings and cooking times) I added in some 21 Seasoning Salute while cooking for flavor.

While the sweet potatoes were cooking, I added another tbsp of oil in my other pan (I used my AllClad skillet) After the oil heated up, I scraped in the veggies and from the food processor and the added the jumbo lump crab for about a minute. I then added in my two eggs and scrambled them up. While cooking, I added in a dash of the 21 Seasoning Salute onto the eggs as well!

I had my breakfast ready in about 15 minutes. I sat down and spent my morning watching College Game Day and living vicariously through all of the Facebook posts my friends and alumni connections were sharing. I was a bit jealous.

Stand up and cheer...