Fab Fit Squad

It’s the first big weekend of the summer, you’re staring at the invitation thinking how can I do this AND keep to my lifestyle. Guess what YOU CAN! Offer to bring side dishes or part of the main course. With a grill there are so may choices grilled veggies, lean meats and great salads.

Here are a few dishes you can give a try.

Roasted chick peas – (2) cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans) drained and dry with papertowel. Put in a bowl and season with 1T chili powder, 1t kosher salt 1T olive oil. Place on cookie sheet coated with non-stick cooking spray. Cook for 30-40 min keep you eye on the for the last 10 min to make sure they don’t burn.

Grilled citrus shrimp –1 to 1 1/2 pounds of uncooked medium shrimp peeled. Squeeze 2 medium oranges and 1 lime in a mixing bowl. Now add 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 t kosher salt. Like it a little spicy add in crushed red pepper flakes. Put shrimp and marinade in a ziplock bag and refrigerate for  at least 30 minutes.  Grill about 2 min/side or until shrimp turns pink.

Hummus cucumber cups — Cut 4 cucumbers into thick 1 inch slices. Using a melon baller, scoop at the seeds (careful don’t break through bottom) and add in hummus. You can use store bought. I like the garlic lovers.

Here’s a marinade to give a shot.

1/2 cup cilantro leaves, 1/2 c parsley, 1/2 c olive oil, 2 limes squeezed, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 t salt and 1/2 t crushed red pepper and 2 T red wine vinegar . Mix together using a food processor or hand mixer.

You just picked up the latest People, Us Weekly or Star magazine and on the cover is some movie star or singer showing off their rock hard abs.  You then look at your abs and vow today is the day that I will do 1000 crunches everyday until summer to have those abs.

Ladies you’re not alone! To get great abs, you must do more than crunches. You will need to:

• burn more calories than  you eat — 1 pound = 3500 calories, you will need to create a 500 calorie deficit everyday to lose 1 pound each week.
• work your large muscle groups — butt, quads, lats, and chest using resistance/strength training and cardio.Working your large muscles will help you burn fat, that maybe covering those gorgeous abs of yours.
• limit your sugary treats,  ladies we tend to store our sugary treats in our mid-section.
• consistency! To see results you must work consistency or your eating and exercise regimen.

I hope you found these tips helpful. If you have any others, I would love to hear them, just leave me some comments below.

No matter what the temperature is outside, I can always eat soup. The thing I love most about soup is that it’s freezable and you can add any cooked meat you like to it to make it a complete meal. Here are a few quick soups that I make regularly.

Beef and Vegetable Soup
Brown some lean hamburger meat, onion and garlic in a large pot. Once the meat is completely cooked drain any excess fat add any frozen/canned vegetables you like. I usually add chopped canned tomatoes, green beans, white beans, broccoli or stewed canned tomatoes chopped into bite size pieces.  Just throw the meal together and add a bit of some seasonings, I like mine on the spicy side so I’m always adding a little crushed red pepper. Play with varying spices to see which ones you really like the best. (more…)

I was recently at event where they were hyping a “cleanse”. “Cleanses” aren’t worth it regardless of how “all natural” they claim to be. Your body already has its natural cleansing system called your liver. All things pass through your liver and despite what the bottle says or what you heard from a friend your body has a great cleansing system.

So instead of doing a “cleanse” why not focus on cleaning up your diet. You know removing all the processed foods from your diet so that you won’t feel the need to “cleanse”. Here are some great spring fruit and veggies to give a try.

• Asparagus — great source of fiber, folic acid and B vitamins. I like to roast it in the oven or put them on the grill
• Beets — I know they seem like a fall veggies but they are still readily available. I love my roasted with a little Udo’s oil, feta cheese a walnuts. Yummy!
• Cherries — my favorite fruit I LOVE cherry season. I really need to practice portion control with these.
• Kiwi — I like my on the firm side. I add it to cottage cheese or greek yogurt with a touch of honey — YUMMY
• Strawberries — Yahoo — I love fresh strawberries on my oatmeal nothing tastes better. The mix of hot with the cool berries. Sorry I was having a dream weaver moment

What is your favorite spring fruit or veggie, I would to hear it.

On the calendar Easter is next Sunday, but by looking at any of the stores   Easter should have been shortly after Valentine’s Day. You can’t go through a store without those tempting treats popping out at you. Personally I’m a sucker for the Cadbury mini eggs, those things just call me! I’m sure you have an Easter treat that just screams your name.  Leave me a comment below and let me know what it is.  Oh my how could I forget that I’m also a SUCKER for peeps, you know the marshmallow ones. Yum, Yum give me some! Okay enough about the unhealthy, let’s talk about surviving Easter without packing on the pounds.

I hope of a few of these ideas help you out. If you have any additional tips, I would love to hear them just leave them in the comments below.

Chipotle Scrambled Egg Skillet

1 (14 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
1 small avocado, diced
5 Tbsp chipotle pepper sauce, divided
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
2 Tbsp chopped green onion
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
8 large eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt

In a glass or plastic bowl, mix together the tomatoes, avocado, 3 tablespoons of the chipotle sauce, garlic, green onion, and cilantro in a small bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, remaining 2 tablespoons chipotle sauce, water, and salt. Spray large heavy skillet with non-stick spray and put over medium heat. Add egg mixture and cook, stirring only as egg sets up. When eggs are almost set, flip a few times.
When eggs are completely set, spoon tomato mixture over and immediately slide off onto plates to serve.

It’s time that you and Mr./Ms. Scale broke up. You’re not going to call him anymore, you’re not going to stalk him on Facebook.  Your just not into him/her any more.

Let’s get real here!

How many of you weigh yourself every day? Multiple times? When you weigh yourself do the results make or break your day? Or do you avoiding weighing yourself because you don’t want to know. (more…)

I know that I’m a FREAK about how long food stays in my fridge. My husband constantly makes fun of me because I FREEZE everything immediately. I hate to see food go to waste, because I couldn’t eat it before it went bad.

It’s National Clean Out Your Fridge Week and I wanted to share with you some quick tips around how long you should keep some popular food items.

• Eggs fresh in the shell – 3-5 weeks
• Poultry (cooked) – 3-4 days (raw) – 1-2 days
• Yogurt – 7-14 days

Here are just a few, are you looking for a specific food, check this database.

Well that great, I have a database that I can check my food, but what does best buy, best if used by and all that those terms mean.

1. Best Buy – the food manufacturer makes up this date. Basically it is still good, but it may have subtle changes. If anything smells or look funny DUMP in the trash immediately.
2. Sell Buy — this when the store should sell the product by. They say you can still use it, provided you use it by the Keep It Toss It Guidelines.
3. Expires on — the federal government mandates this and you will find this on mainly baby food products.

After you’ve tossed all your food be sure to wipe down the fridge and the condiments that you put back into the fridge.

If you are on a roll and want to clean out your pantry, check out this out.

This year my husband and I are cooking Thanksgiving for his family. As I perpetual planner, I needed to get the menu all straight in my head. This is the only way that I can relax and ease into the holiday.  I spent the weekend scouring my cookbooks and old Cooking Light magazines and this is what I’ve come up with.

We are going to deep fry a turkey, I know I said FRIED. Well surprisingly deep fried turkey has only 25 more calories in 3.5 ounces than traditional roasted turkey and only 4 more grams of fat. Instead on focusing on those small caloric difference, I focusing on how much it’s going to free up my oven and not make my house feel like a sauna.  (more…)

For me September always signals change.
Change in your laid back summer attitude, kids going back to school, the return of traffic (at least here in Boston). So why not take this time to change your breakfast. What do you typically grab for breakfast? It is highly CARB based — bagel, fat free or low fat muffin, just coffee or heaven forbid NOTHING!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and by adding a few more grams of protein, it will keeps us from indulging in sugary snacks later in the day.  Here are some snack ideas:

• Scrambled egg whites with spinach and Ezekiel toast — don’t have time? microwave eggs while in the shower and stick in the toast
• Add some egg whites — don’t judge eggs are in all baked goods, why not oatmeal or protein powder to your oatmeal
• Plain Greek yogurt or cottage cheese with some fresh or frozen (non-sugar added) fruit or wheat germ.
• Whole wheat waffles and egg whites or Greek Yogurt or cottage cheese.

If you have any more breakfast ideas, I would love to hear them just post them in the comments below.