Hot Potatoes

For dinner I was determined to have steak, but had no clue on what my side dish was going to be.  After rummaging through the fridge, I decided on roasted potatoes.  Looked on pinterest for a recipe, the one I had my heart on was banned.  With that being sad I decided to make my own concoction.

I took about four red potatoes, and cut them up.  Then I put them in a large plastic bag, and added one tablespoon of olive oil, one/fourth teaspoon of sea salt, one teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and a dash of pepper.

Shook the bag for a while (arm workout!!!) untill everything was covered.  Then placed them on a baking sheet, and popped them in the oven for about twenty to twenty five minutes at 450 degrees.

Yummy!  Dinner is served. 

Pre-Workout Snack/Breakfast

Texas weather is very irratic especially over the winter.  This weekend it was gorgeous, and when  Monday came the weather went down hill.  The temperature dropped from high sixties to high forties.  Also, it became exteremly windy.  With these factors adding together, allergies for us Texans are an all time high at the moment.  With my allergies, I barely can sleep due to coughing and sneezing all night long.  Due to that fact I did not get the best sleep last night.  Which puts a wrench in my energy the next day.  Even though I did not sleep the way I prefer I still wanted to run.  To amp up my energy I whipped up a fruit smoothie.

 

 

Half of a bannana+handful of blueberries+three strawberries+half cup of milk+ice cups=Fruit Smoothie.

 

 

It takes your body one to two hours to break down complex carbohydrates to convert to energy.  With my hectic schedule that is all I have one hour between my breakfast/snack to my workout. This smoothie helped me a lot today. I did not run that far as I do on my weekends.  I generally run two time during the week and once on the weekend.  On the week days I do a short run and an interval run, then on the weekend I do a long run.  This way I will not get burned out in running. 

 

I am glad that I ran, it helped boost my energy for the day.  So with that in mind do not wait for the perfect situation to run, get of the couch and just do it.

 











Campion Trail

Lately over the past few weekends the weather has been beautiful in Texas.  The temperature has been in the high sixties, low seventies, and there has been barley any clouds in the sky.  Due to the weather being so gorgeous I called up a friend to go hiking for this weekend.  We selected Campion Trails in Irving.

 

At first we started at some random trail that flowed into this trail.  I do not know the name of the trail, it had a San Antonio River Walk theme to it.  Around that trail it had these large houses surronding the trail.  Back when I was a teenager I would drive around neighborhoods just to look at houses and ponder what kind of jobs these people have.  This trail was a walk down memory lane.

 

 

 



Enough with the houses.  This trail was flat the whole way (at least what I walked) through.  There was a lot of people on bicycles.  From my experience you do have to watch out for those people, which can be annoying at times.   I do want to go back to run, and soak up some more scenery.



Little Baby Cabbages aka BRUSSEL SPROUTS!

Brussels sprouts and other brassicas are a good source of indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells.

Below are some creative ways to dress up your brussel sprouts.

• Basic Recipe:
•  Brussels sprouts
  3 tablespoons of olive oil
  3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
  1/2 teaspoon of cracked pepper
  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Mix the sprouts with the olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Then pour them out into a baking dish and spread them out to a single layer. Bake for 20-30 minutes, on the top shelf of the oven, stirring once during the baking time.
• Sautee your brussels with mushrooms in a tbsp of sesame seed oil. Mix in a little red pepper flakes and salt. Sautee for about five to six minutes, and then they are ready (from Tone it up)
• You can boil or steam these little cabbages.

There you have it, three easy ways to eat brussell sprouts.

Have a good night.  Peace, love,and running.

 



Post Workout Snack

Finally, I have started running again!  It has been a little over a week since I ran.  It feels as if it has been a century, though.  As I mentioned earlier on this week, I have been currently sick. So after my run, I decided to try a new post workout snack, black beans mixed with corn and quiona. 

The combination of black beans and quiona is good for muscle recovery after a good workout. Corn was added due to flavor enhancer.  I washed the snack with coconut water, yum!  After my run and snack I was energized, and ready to take whatever challenges came my way today.

The Minka Kelly Treadmill Workout

A couple of weeks ago I tried "The Minka Kelly Treadmill Workout" that I discovered on pinterest.  I have been wanting to give this workout another try, but as of the moment I am sick, :(.  If you want a hard and sweaty workout, this is the workout for you.

Minka Kelly's treadmill workout: 1 minute at 5.0, 1 minute at 5.5, 1 minute at 6.0, 1 minute at 6.5, 1 minute at 7.0, 1 minute at 7.5, 1 minute at 8.0, 2 minutes at 4.5 Repeat five times.


When I tried this workout, I was on a time crunch, I accomplished 3 rounds of intervals.  I did this on a workday, which gives me a time frame of 30 minutes to workout.  I am not going to lie, those 3 intervals were hard.  Most of it was in my head, I eally had to push myself to accomplish each interval.  My legs felt like jello after the first round.  It was totally worth it.

Fast Dinner

Last night I got off work a little early.  Our system went down, which meant I could not do any of my work.  I decided to leave on that factor, instead of staring at my computer screen and being frustrated.  Working at a hotel is always fun. Since I got off early, that meant more time to prepare for dinner.  Last night I had planned a simple dinner (lean protein combined with vegetables).

We had chicken breast and asparagus.  I cooked the asparagus, sadly, a little too long this time.  Too spice up the chicken I marinated it, in "Grill Mates" Chipolte Pepper flavor. 

The packet was only $1, 10 calories.  For this marinade it requires 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup of olive oil, and the chicken.  Once mixed, the chicken needs to soak for about 15 minutes in the mixture.  I think next time I will try for 30 minutes.  The chicken did retain the flavor, but I think 30 minutes will retain to the fullest.

Dinner for two please!

Last night Jeff and I had salmon with cauliflower for dinner. We bought two salmons with the flavoring of cedar wood.  We grilled it in a pan.  Below is the cauliflower recipe we used.

 

 

 

Ingredients:
1 medium head cauliflower (about 2-1/4 pounds), trimmed and cut into florets
3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Combine cauliflower and garlic in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Transfer, in a single layer, to a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast at 450 degrees F for about 25 minutes, stirring once. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve immediately Yield: 6 servings.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Ten Songs to Get You Running

Below are my top ten songs for this month.  Enjoy! :)

• Don't Worry Child-Swedish House Mafia
• Sweet Nothing-Calvin Harris and Floernce Welch
• Tightrope-Janelle Monae
• Beggin- Madcon
• Sex on Fire- Kings of Leon
• Don't Wanna Go Home-Jason Derulo
• What are you Waiting for?-Gwen Stefani
• Little Bad Girl-David Guetta
• Rio-Low Cut Connie
• Madness-Muse

Bob Eden Park in Euless

The Bob Eden Park Trail is made up of four running trails that flow together, which equals out to be five miles.  This trail is right behind my apartment, which is really convenient. 

 

This running trail has a mixture of cement and trail. The Villages of Bear Creek Park is all trails, then when you cross over to Preserve at McCormick Park/Trailwood Park/Bob Eden it is all cement. This trail has beautiful scenry, also it has lots of options if you want to go a different way than you did last time.  There is a dog park over in the Villages of Bear Creek.  With the dog a good chunk of people let their dogs be leash free.  I am very uncomfortable with unleashed dogs when I run,.

I do recomend this trail, especially on a beautiful day.

Lunch Time

 I work at a place where everybody orders out everyday, and what they order is usually not very healthy.  To save money and to stay healthy; I bring my lunch and snacks to work.  Today I am bringing a "power salad", raw almonds, and two cuties.

 

 

The power salad consists of:

• Pine nuts: This little guy contains antioxidants (fights against aging), lutein (prevention against eye disease), and protein and magnesium (energy boosters)
• Avocado: Vitamin E (this vitamin will fight against diseaeses) Glutathoine (prevents against aging, cancer, and heart disease),  and has high levels of folate (prevents against stroke)
• Olive Oil, for the dressing: With the consumption of olive oil, it lowers your blood pressure, your risk on obtaining heart disease, and osteroporosis, and fights against obesity.
• Tomatoes: Vitamin C and A, these two vitamins work to fend off DNA damage from free radicals
• Chicken: Vitamin B (good source of energy and boosts immune system), and its a lean protein (good weightloss food).

Lets not forgot about the snacks

• Almonds: This nut is packed with many nutrients that help develop the brain, Vitamin E and magnesium which is good for your heart, helps reduce the rise in sugar (protects against diabetes), and rich in fiber
• Clementines: This fruit contains Vitamin C, which boosts your immune system.

 

 

 

A couple of months ago my boyfriend and I were living off of hotdogs, frozen burritos, and ramen noodles.  The idea behind eating this junk was to save money.  After 6 months of eating the way we were, I noticed my skin was really dry and irritable.  Also, my energy was an all time low.  Around December 2012, I started to really notice these things happening.  I decided to make a change in my diet.  Since then I have been eating more "clean", meaning less processed foods, and more foods from the earth.  I have noticed my skin is more clear, my workouts are less painful, and I have tons of energy. 

My new years resolution is to do a half marathon by the end of this year.  I am going to share you my experience on obtaining my goal.