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Easy Recipes and Workouts for a Healthy New Year

Happy New Year! This is the time to set the tone for the year--to make smart goals, decide on an intention, and kick things off on the right foot. Of course, this isn’t the only time of year to set yourself straight, but it’s a great opportunity. However, this time of year can be daunting–there’s all this pressure on becoming the “new you” and that’s not exactly a straightforward laid-out plan. There could be a thousand possibilities of what to do for fitness or what eating style to go for. 

Let us help you in a small way. We’ve gathered five easy healthy (and delicious) recipes as well as five workouts you can do from the comforts of your home. Not sure what gym to subscribe to? No problem. Start with these home workouts first and then go from there. The recipes listed below range from snacks to meals and are all very simple (it’s rare to find a complicated recipe on our blog–I don’t have the patience for it).

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The Easiest Healthiest Dessert Recipe Ever: Sweet Baked Pears

I really need to cut down on these title lengths. Anyways, to the recipe. I discovered this recipe through a program I work with at the YMCA, called MEND. It’s a free program to fight childhood obesity and change the lifestyle to a healthy one at home. It’s been very successful! During each session, the participants get a MEND “cookbook”–a compilation of MEND-friendly (aka HEALTHY) recipes. This is from there. This is a guilt-free recipe. It’s basically fruit, cheese, and cinnamon. ENJOY!

Finished product

Finished product

  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients [serves 6-8 people]

  • 6 pears (if you’re less-hungry people, you can use less)
  • 1 1/3 cup ricotta
  • 1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp agave nectar (or honey)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

  • Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
  • Wash the pears and cut them into halves

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  • Scoop out the seeds and most of the middle

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  • Put the pears on a baking sheet (no oil required) and put in the oven for 20 minutes
  • Let’s now turn our focus to the mixture. Put all the other ingredients (ricotta, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and agave/honey) into a small-medium bowl and mix! Feel free to taste

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  • Put the mixture into the fridge to chill until you serve.
  • Take out the pears from the oven after 20 minutes
  • When ready to serve, put dollops of mixture in the hollowed part of the pears!

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And that’s IT! Seriously amazing, delicious, and you don’t feel bad eating it because there isn’t any crap in it. This is a recipe I will be frequenting. I whipped it up very quickly after a gym session before we went to a friend’s house for dinner–it’s amazingly simple for how delicious it is. Enjoy!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Someone's sleepy...

Someone’s sleepy…

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