Feb062014

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Muffins

A muffin we don’t have to regret eating! Hurray! Ever since I got my new hand mixer (thanks, mum), I’ve been wanting to try out the recipes that came with it in a little booklet. This muffin recipe is from that booklet (Cuisinart), but I changed it to what I wanted it to be. These muffins are perfect to me because it’s a good ball of energy when I don’t have a lot of time to eat (mostly between clients). They are tasty, without being overly sweet, and leave you feeling great (rather than the sugar-coated, fat-loaded ones you will find elsewhere). I also made a maple orange butter to go along with it, but let’s save that for another post. This recipe is super easy too! I always value that.

Yum yum yum

Prep Time: 5-7 minutes
Bake Time: 18-20 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups whole-wheat flour
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup whipped butter
1/2 cup raisins

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Grease up your muffin tin. I made 12 muffins, but you can make 24 mini muffins and it will take less time to bake

2. Put the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder into a big bowl and mix

3. Put the eggs in a smaller bowl and beat them until they become foamy.

4. Add the evaporated milk and butter into the egg mixture

5. Pour the small bowl of wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients. Mix everything together

6. Fold in your raisins, can be any type, I chose golden raisins

7. Spread your mixture evenly into the muffin tins. Bake for 18-20 minutes for 12 muffins, 14-16 minutes for 24 mini muffins.

And that’s it! Really simple, huh? My favorite pair is simple and healthy. It can’t get much better than that, at least in my opinion. Use this recipe to stay hungry and fit!

Question of the Day: What’s your favorite type of muffin?

BONUS KITTY PIC

Sajah loves the sheepskin from New Zealand!

Feb052014

At-Home Abs!

Alright, folks, no excuses here! Let’s get a core workout out on the table so we can beast our way to the health we want! This workout is designed to be done at home, though you can obviously do it anywhere. The world is in need for more home workouts to prevent excuses of time, lack of gym, or lack of energy. Whenever I’m feeling meh, I know that I can motivate myself enough for a home workout whether it be arms, shoulders, core or so forth. So let’s get going! (My apologies for the absolutely terrible lighting!)

1. 3 sets of weighted crunches. Hold a weight, lift up your feet, and reach for the sky. Until failure (until you can’t complete another rep)

2. 3 sets of weighted russian twists. If these are too hard with a weight, drop it. Sit on your bum, lift your feet so you’re balancing, and twist from side to side, turning your shoulders completely. 12 reps on both sides.

3. 3 sets of jackknife. Use a stability ball for this one. Place your shins on the ball and get into a push-up position. Using your feet, bring the ball in towards your chest and then back out. This one is one of my favorites. Until failure.

4. 3 sets of stability ball crunches. Put the small of your back on the ball and simply do a small crunching motion up. Keep your abs activated. Until failure.

5. 3 sets of side touches. Stand up tall and reach side to side, creating resistance for your obliques (or love handles). 20 reps on each side.

6. 3 sets of Spider Man planks. Get into a typical plank position (forearms and toes on the floor). Now bring your knee up near your arm and then the other. It looks like Spider Man crawling up a wall. Until failure.

7. 3 sets of 6 inches. Lay on your back, put your hands under your bum and raise your legs six inches off the floor and hold for 30 seconds.

8. 1 set of plank. Forearms on the ground, core strong, back straight, and toes touching the ground. Go for 1 minute.

For me, I threw on some “timed abs” on at the end, but even without it, the above is an incredible workout for your core! If this seems too long for you, just reduce the number of sets. I usually like to do them in supersets, meaning pairing two exercises together and do them back to back. No excuses! Do this workout to stay hungry and fit!

*Question of the Day: What’s your favorite core workout?

BONUS KITTY PIC

Can’t get over the adorable-ness of this picture…and yes they did that by themselves

Feb042014

Healthy, Delicious Kale Dip Recipe

This past week, I bought way too much kale. Chris was so nice, he didn’t say anything, but seriously–there’s only two of us! The Super Bowl was nearing and you’ve got to have dips while watching football, can’t get much more American. I do love spinach artichoke dip, but neither were in my fridge and I believe in using what you’ve got! So I grab my enormous bag of kale and set to work on a dip! It was adapted from this recipe. This dip recipe is simple and, more importantly, delicious! It tastes like spinach and artichoke dip, but with more of a sharp flavor mixed in with that garlic creaminess. Oh, did I mention that it’s healthy too?! Read on.

Total Prep & Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

3-4 big fistfuls of chopped kale
6 oz of nonfat greek yogurt
2 tsp lemon juice
small pinch of red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove
salt to taste

Directions

First, chop up your kale and garlic into very thin pieces. Try to get all the stems of your kale out.
Heat up a pan with some olive oil in it and then toss all your kale and garlic in. You can put the salt over it now. Cook until kale turns its dark color, about 4-5 minutes, stir now and then.

Pour the kale garlic mixture into a food processor if you have one, or if you don’t (or don’t know how to use yours yet–cough, not me at all) then just put it in a bowl and get ready to use a beater! Before you start beating, blending, or mixing, put in the greek yogurt, lemon juice, and pepper flakes! Stir up that mixture as much as you can until it’s relatively smooth!

Beat it! (Thanks, mum, for the hand mixer!)

And…serve. Yeah, it’s that simple. Once you get a hang of the chopping, then it’s a breeze.

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I would serve warm or luke warm, although you can refrigerate for a few days if you aren’t going to be using it right away. I liked this dish so much I made two batches! The garlic creaminess mixed with the sharp flavor of the kale is a winner in my book. And unlike with other dips, there’s no sense feeling guilty about it because it has all great ingredients! This one will come up again, I can assure you. Try this recipe out to stay hungry and fit!

*Question of the Day: What’s your favorite dip?

Feb032014

Workout Challenge and Weekly Round-Up

Happy Monday all! Well…not if you’re a Broncos fan. That game was painful to watch. Anyways, onto the good stuff. Another week has gone by (happy February!), and we are hungry for more workouts! First, let’s see how we did last week. You can see in this post, what our plan was for this past week. May not actually match up completely, but maybe we didn’t do so badly.

Hungry

Chris and Piper (a dog we babysit)

Monday: Rest day (stress and rescue scuba class)
Tuesday: Rest day (stress and rescue scuba class)
Wednesday: hour long lower body strength workout, hour long lower body circuits focusing on box jumps and jump rope
Thursday: filmed two hours of swimming instructional videos, arm strength workout using circle grips to increase forearm strength
Friday: 75-90 minute shoulder strength workout focusing on pre-exhaustion and the shoulder support system (hurt right shoulder, somehow, and couldn’t lift arm rest of day!)
Saturday: Was Hangry & Fat (lots of video games, pizza, soda, and cookies)
Sunday: 60 minute chest and triceps strength workout

Fit

Getting ready to chow down at our favorite gourmet pizza place

Monday: Legs and Elliptical
Tuesday: Arms/Shoulders (at home) and long walk
Wednesday: Core (at home) and elliptical
Thursday: 1 mile run
Friday: Chest/Back and 20 min elliptical
Saturday: Rest day (being Hangry and Fat, lots of pizza and video games)
Sunday: 2.75mi walk

So maybe we didn’t hit our mark exactly on the dot, but we didn’t fare too poorly either. I’ll let Chris write his workout plan for the week, but I’m going to be doing something a little different this week. This is the Workout Challenge. My friend, Jamie (you can see pics of her in this post), sent me this link of various workouts in “Superhero” formats. At my job, I’ve been creating a Superhero workout program, so it definitely interested me. Before I can critique or properly review it, I must try it. It’s 8 workouts so I’ll be doing it Monday to Monday. It slightly screws up my own workout split, but I’m okay with it because I’m still going to add separate cardio and do certain exercises (like squats, bench press, and pull-ups) when I would have anyways. I’m excited to tell you guys all about it at the end! Do it with me!

Hungry here…Last week didn’t work out so well because of a nagging cold, with lots of congestion, some shoulder issues, and being attacked by a dog, so I won’t set the bar so high this week. Maybe I’ll just try to get better, get rid of my cold, rest my shoulder and knee, etc.

Hungry

Monday – Back and biceps workout, using circle grips to activate forearms more in every exercise
Tuesday – Isolated core workout focusing on all the abdominals, lower back, and hips.
Wednesday – Recovery day, easy swim, hot tub, sauna, eat a lot
Thursday – Shoulders and arms, working on strengthening those shoulder as always
Friday – Lower body, lots of hamstring work and pickup basketball, if the knee is feeling better
Saturday – Chest and core, lots of planks and pushups
Sunday – Back attack!!!

Fit

During a morning at-home core workout!

Monday: the “Flash” workout, heavy squats, and elliptical
Tuesday: the “Jedi” workout and run
Wednesday: the “Batman” workout, pull-ups and swim
Thursday: the “Thor” workout, bench press, and run/elliptical
Friday: the “Spiderman” workout and swim
Saturday: the “Stormtrooper” workout
Sunday: the “Arrow” workout and elliptical

So that’s the plan for us, I’m betting we will stick to it pretty well. Mine is perfectly prescribed which makes it easy to stick to and Chris’ week isn’t as crazy as last week. Remember that making a workout schedule for the week really helps keep you on track. Is anyone with me to try the week of these “themed” workouts? It’ll be fun! Make a workout schedule to stay hungry and fit!

Question of the Week: Do you ever do themed workouts?

BONUS…SNAKE PIC!

Dovah wants to be brass knuckles

Feb022014

Seriously Guilt-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Seriously. We all want to get our yummy cookie fix but without all the grams of fat and sugar that weigh us down, especially around the Super Bowl where we are already going to be stuffing our face! I felt super experiment-y in the kitchen today between playing bouts of video games. This recipe is based off one of my previous ones, but it’s more healthified (yes, that’s a word) and still tasty!

It’s as good as it looks

Prep Time: 5-7 minutes
Baking Time: 10-12 minutes
Makes: between 12-18 cookies, I didn’t count

Ingredients

one half of avocado
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup oats
1/2 cup raisins

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease up a baking sheet

2. Mix together the avocado, applesauce, sugar and egg

I know it doesn’t look appetizing… but it turns out great

3. Literally just mix the rest of the ingredients of the above list

Before I added the raisins…can’t say that I didn’t eat some of the dough

4. Scoop them out with a spoon and place them apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes

No sense feeling bad about eating these..

And that’s it. Yeah–four steps. Four steps of guilt-free cookie munching. Yes, please! Perfect for last minute party ideas, whip them up in under twenty minutes and wow your friends with how yummy they taste and how guilt-free they are! Try this recipe out to stay hungry and fit!

Question of the Day: What’s your favorite kind of cookie?

BONUS KITTY PIC

^.^

Feb012014

New Gaming Obsession: Hearthstone

WARNING: Nerd alert! If you aren’t into games and stuff, you probably won’t love this post.

You’ll have to blame my brother for this one, it’s all his fault! He told me about this game and pestered me to play it. And I did. Big mistake. I’m hooked! As you guys should know, we are nerds and love video games and such. This game is very simple, yet very addictive. It has this element that keeps dragging you back in for more. I almost didn’t write a post today because I wanted to play instead (yeah, it’s that bad).

Hearthstone is almost (but not really) a sub-game of World of Warcraft (the massively multiplayer online game that thousands of people play). It’s in open beta right now (which means it’s open to the public to play and it’s in beta stage of testing, meaning the game is free, but it may be bugged). The main point of that last sentence is that it is free right now. All you have to do is register for a Battle.net account (also free) and you’re good. If you have played Starcraft, Diablo, WoW, or other Blizzard games, you will most likely already have an account.

I say it is a “sub-game” of WoW because it is based in the Warcraft world with all the classes from WoW and such. It is a card game. Kind of like Magic: The Gathering for World of Warcraft…but it’s free…and online! It combines strategy, timing, luck, and skill to best your adversaries whether they be computer characters or real people. Just like in WoW, you level up your characters (you play as a certain class and the more you play with that class, the better you and your deck gets) and try to beat all the classes in order to unlock all of them. As you level up, you get more packs and more cards to add to your deck. The game also gives you quests to usher you along in your playing. You can play casual or ranked matches against real people. Once you unlock all the classes, you can try your turn in the “Arena,” a place where you go as long as you can until you are beat three times. I’m just highlighting all the different aspects of the game, there is much more to it!

This game makes you think (and curse) and always challenges you to do better. It is in the familiar world of Warcraft, which I enjoy, and you can focus on the class you like the most (a Druid, for myself). It is absolutely worth giving a go, and if you do, add me! My user is Ewoky (was my username I chose growing up). It’s perfect for some weekend relaxation. Click here to download, and no, Blizzard is not paying me (but I wouldn’t mind if they did!). And as always…stay hungry and fit!

*Question of the Day: What game are you addicted to?

BONUS KITTY PIC

Jan302014

Weekly Challenge: Time Journal

Despite our busy schedules and lives, I feel like I definitely have some “time-suckers” in my life whether it be tv or pinterest (sigh) or cuddling with my cats. It’s not necessarily wasted time, but I wanted to just be able to see where my time when I wasn’t working, working out, blogging, etc. was going! I was reading this article and it inspired me to try a time journal. I love experiments, making schedules, so I was thrilled to take the challenge. It’s just a Monday through Sunday thing.

My intolerable written-out schedule for Wednesday as I was writing this

I convinced my friend from the joy scout to join me in this endeavor. Chris too but he hasn’t had time to do it yet…ironic. Basically you can format it however you want, I know my friend used her Notepad app and I preferred to type and print out a table chart that I could scribble in as my day goes on. I still may revert to the Notepad at the end to make it prettier to present. I’ll just show you one day so you can get the picture, and don’t worry I will type it out so you don’t have to endure too much of my chicken scratch.

Monday, January 27th

6:30am- woke up, but stayed in bed to cuddle
7am- showered and made oatmeal
7:30am- ate, posted blog, made lunch, and got ready
8am- wiped off car (got a bunch of snow the night before) and drove to work
8:30am-3pm- worked
3pm- drove home from work
3:30-5:30pm- gym
5:30pm- got dinner for Chris (he had scuba lessons and no time to get dinner)
6pm- made and ate dinner, fed cats
6:30pm- watched food network, showered
7pm- (and this is when my stomach started to hurt) watch food network, plan schedule, clean up
7:30pm- watched food network, cleaned litter, did dishes
8pm- watched food network (see, this is on in the background this whole time), went through emails, formatted post
8:30pm- slight story edits, YouTube, Twitter (ugh)
9pm- YouTube, Twitter, wrote
9:30pm- wrote, talked to Chris
10pm– talked to Chris
10:30-11:30pm– caught up with some Downton Abbey
11:30pm- got ready for bed and went to sleep

So you probably know more about me than you wanted, perhaps, but there it is! Each night is different depending on workouts, dinners, and how I’m feeling. Obviously for Monday, I could have avoided TV and YouTube/Twitter to save more time. And it’s just about being diligent and meticulous filling the time journal out. I love doing things like this. Join me! You could always do a Thursday to Thursday! I will be posting my entire week once I finish. Let me know if you want the time journal file, I can send it over! Fill out a time journal to stay hungry and fit!

Question of the Day: Have you ever tried a time journal?

BONUS KITTY PIC

Nymeria being cute, nothing new

Jan292014

Best Thai in Boulder: Aloy Thai

Instead of getting Chinese take-outs growing up, we always got Thai. And I am oh-so-happy for that! It’s rare that I’m not in a mood for Thai food. I just love all the deep flavors right along with that spark of zest at the end. And because we grew up having it as take-outs, it reminds me of home in a weird way. We’ve tried a lot of the Thai places in Boulder and finally we took a friend’s advice to go to Aloy Thai, and I’m so glad we did! The combination of a great price and awesome taste knocks it out of the park.

Let’s start with the dishes. The first time we came here was after a gym session (surprise, surprise), and I wasn’t feeling so hot. Everyone at work was sick around me, and I wanted to burn anything out! When we would get sniffly or sick as a kid, instead of chicken noodle soup, my dad would go get us Tom Yum Soup, a spicy Thai soup. It is so delicious and has that kick that will make your nose run. So you know I went there and ordered a huge bowl of Tom Yum Noodle Soup with Tofu. Serving was so big I had a full lunch of it tomorrow. Chris got the pineapple fried rice with chicken and he devoured it with a big smile on his face. And he got it a second time when we came back! I got the Pad Thai the second time. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was still good. We also have gotten the vegetable fresh spring rolls numerous times and love them–so fresh and we nearly drink the peanut sauce that goes with it.

Veggie fresh spring rolls!

Tom Yum Soup

The atmosphere is also excellent, with Thai designs and a yellow-orange lighting. They have plenty of staff and the service is always great. The music is nice and it is never too loud. The price definitely seals the deal. The huge tom yum noodle soup was only $9–NINE DOLLARS. Chris’ pineapple fried rice came to only $11. It was such an amazing dinner for such a good price, we are constantly going back.

If you’re in Boulder and craving some Thai, stop at Aloy Thai. It has delicious dishes that won’t break the bank. Avoid the Pad Thai, but dig into anything you can get your hands on! Hungry and Fit gives Aloy Thai a big thumbs up. And as always…stay hungry and fit!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Two cuties under the pingpong table

Jan282014

WaterFi Waterproof iPod Nano Review

This is a guest post from our good friend, Nerdy Neanderthal, a nerdy fitness dude (see pic below). Expect more posts from him ranging from workouts to beer discussions to nerd surges!

Sick tattoo!!

Pros:

Good price point (156 dollars)
Helps monotony
iTunes is easy to use
Small size
Free Headphones

Cons:

Doesn’t function the way it should (can’t skip songs!)
Sound is inconsistent above and below water
Can easily get in the way
Headphones wont stay in

This product barely does what it is supposed to do. I hopped in the pool and clipped the nano to my suit. Swam one lap, that was great, but it was all downhill from there. Buttons stuck, hollow sound and most of my workout with less than two headphones in my ears.

Before even going into my swim, my biggest problem with this product is its functionality: I CAN’T SKIP SONGS! Customer service told me that the buttons can get stuck in the water-proofing process. Solution, put the iPod between a desk and a heavy book and press down in circular pattern. I did all this and all I got was a better understanding of the word, “futility.” This is a huge issue for me because I listen to 40 minute podcasts when I do cardio. So if you listen to quick songs and make a good playlist ahead of time, this won’t be a big issue.

Now, to get to my actual swim. Off the first flipturn of my swim, I push with moderate force and out pops the right earbud. Finish the lap, readjust. Third wall less push but same result. Put a cap on over my ears and now when the headphones come out they hang half in your ear; both physically annoying and psychologically. I get the hang of pushing weakly off the wall and using my biceps during streamline to squeeze the headphones back into place. Even when I did hit a rhythm the sound is hollow and far away below water.

Like the night before a hangover, this product seems like a good idea at the time. It’s cheap, barely more expensive than the base Nano, came with free waterproof headphones, and dropped off by USPS free of charge. (I used Amazon) The computer side of the input is a breeze for anyone familiar with Apple products. The size is a great plus, exact same diminutive size as the regular Nano; easily fits in any pocket. When I got the headphones to stay in, the right track on the Nano, with the correct volume it did create that “in the zone” feeling I was looking to obtain.

My thoughts on this MP3 player are hugely mixed. My Nano couldn’t skip tracks, creating this feeling of uselessness in the device. The headphones that came with this product were garbage, both in sound and staying in during rigorous exercise. But even with these massive negatives, it is still a waterproof Apple iPod for barely more money than its base partner. Like the proverbial moth to the flame, I will come back to this device once I can get it working properly. I can not damn this product, but I do wish to severely hedge your expectations.

Your Nerdy Neanderthal gives the WaterFi iPod Nano a 4/10.

Jan272014

Weekly Workout Round-Up and Plan

We’ve come to a beginning of another week now and let’s see where we are at! Here is the post with our workout plan from last week…let’s see how we match up. This is what actually happened:

Hungry

Chowing down on a Reuben from the Sink!

Monday: back workout at lunch
Tuesday: leg workout and short IM swim
Wednesday: arms workout focusing on isolation
Thursday: shoulder workout
Friday: chest workout and very easy pick-up basketball
Saturday: very slow back workout
Sunday: rest day?

Fit

My life living with Chris

Monday: slightly less than 2 mile run outside and a BEASTLY leg workout (found and modified from here, you will see this in a post form soon)
Tuesday: just about 2 mile run outside and a home arms and shoulders workout
Wednesday: morning 30 minute swim and afternoon core and back workout
Thursday: Ashley Conrad circuit training
Friday: long evening walk
Saturday: frisbee golf and then late chest and swim workout
Sunday: Rest dayyyy aka plate full of cookies!

So there’s our match-up…I think we did pretty well sticking with the plan. Much better than it could’ve been! It’s so easy to divert from the plan due to life and such. Here is our plan for this week:

Hungry:

Scared

Monday: 15 minute leg cardio, 45 minute leg workout
Tuesday: 10 minute arm cycle, 50 minute arm workout
Wednesday: 60 minute shoulder workout, 15 minute swim and sauna
Thursday: 60 minute chest workout, 15 minute swim and sauna
Friday: 60 minute back workout, 60 minute easy pickup basketball
Saturday: 40 minute core workout, 40 minute machine cardio
Sunday: 30 minute leg cardio, 60 minute leg workout

Fit

I swear I don’t know any gang signs, no clue why my hand did that

Monday: Legs and Elliptical
Tuesday: Arms/Shoulders and Swim
Wednesday: Core/Back and Run
Thursday: Chest and Swim
Friday: Ping Pong and Circuit training OR Run AND/OR Yoga
Saturday: Frisbee golf and Rest or Total body
Sunday: Legs and Elliptical

It’s extremely helpful to plan your workouts each week because it leaves much less room for excuses and gives you a schedule. We try to stick to ours as best we can. Plan your workouts to stay hungry and fit!