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Building Your Resume as a Dietetics Student

March 2, 2013 by Lindsay 10 Comments

Hi Friends!

Today I have a special treat for you guys. A while ago Rachelle, a dietetics student that I’ve gotten to know over the past couple years in the blog world, reached out to me about writing a guest post to encourage dietetics students to get involved and build up their resume while they’re still in school.

Since I’m almost done with my internship/getting ready to take my exam (read: ALMOST OFFICIALLY AN RD!!), I’m starting to get more and more questions from current and future Dietetics students about how to get started, what path to take, what to do to increase their chances of getting an internship, etc. So, I thought some of you guys might be interested in hearing what Rachelle has to say!

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Hi Everyone,

My name is Rachelle Ausman and I am senior in the Coordinated Program in Dietetics at the University of Idaho located in the Pacific Northwest. Besides being known for huckleberries, trout, and lots of outdoor activities, Idaho is also home of the Idaho Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

As a student member, I currently serve as the Student ‘Eat Right Idaho’ Blog Coordinator, which is a volunteer position where I am able to communicate with dietetic students and health professionals across Idaho.

Are you a dietetic intern or student passionate promoting nutrition through social media? Then there is a great resume builder just for you: volunteering with your State Academy in social media.

According to Janet Helm, a Registered Dietitian as well as author of Nutrition Unplugged and founder of the Nutrition Blog Network, the five pillars of social media include

Blogging
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Pinterest

Through these pillars, dietetic students canpromote an evidenced-based nutrition, health, and wellness practice to the public.

How?

By emailing your State social or public media chair about possible volunteer opportunities with the State’s blog or other social media accounts. Through this you could:

Write a guest post on a nutrition fad or even about your internship.
Lead a student blog for students around your state.
Create a food demonstration video with a healthy recipe for other dietetic professionals through Youtube.
Host a Twitter chat for students around the state
Pin nutrition education materials for your state Registered Dietitians

There are so many benefits that come with volunteering for your State Academy including, but not limited to:

Promoting an evidenced-based nutrition, health, and wellness practice to the public!
Gaining experience in writing.
Learning about the latest nutrition trends, fad diets, food holidays, and nutrition related technology applications.
Acquiring organization and management skills.

And did I even mention that volunteering leads to great networking opportunities in your State as well as a great resume builder!

My experience as a student volunteer has taught me about how important social media is in reaching others about nutrition. I have also gained communication skills as well as how to use many different social media outlets.

If you are a student, I HIGHLY encourage you to get involved with your State Academy as it is a great learning experience and outreach opportunity to the public. Another volunteer opportunity includes serving on a committee for your State conference!

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Rachelle also has a blog of her own: The Fresh Plate and you can find her on twitter: @the_freshplate

Happy Saturday!
–Lindsay–

Smart Snack: Almonds

February 26, 2013 by Lindsay 56 Comments

Hi Friends!

Thanks to Blue Diamond for sponsoring this post. I think I might be developing an obsession with blog series! I’ve been wanting to start up this little series for a while now and I’m finally getting around to it. I get a lot of questions about snacks from my readers. What do I eat for a snack? What are some healthy snacks? What are some on-the-go snacks that I can keep in my bag?

So, I thought it would be fun to do a few spotlight posts on some of my favorite snacks! I’m starting with almonds for a few reasons:

They’re a staple in my pantry.
Hubby & I eat them every day.
They great for your heart.
February is National Heart Health month.

I’m also using this post as an opportunity to highlight one of my favorite companies: Blue Diamond Almonds.

Blue Diamond will actually be sponsoring my trip to Blend Retreat in May!!!! Yippee!!! More to come on that soon 🙂

If you know me, or have been reading my blog for a while now, you know that I’m pretty picky when it comes to the companies I work with. I don’t do a whole lot of sponsored posts and I turn down a lot of opportunities to work with companies simply because they don’t fit with what I believe/don’t fit with this blog.

All that being said, Blue Diamond is one company that I’m proud to work with! I love their products (heck- I buy them even when I’m not working with them) and I love all the people that represent them as a company.

Blue Diamond is a proud supporter of Heart Health month and is encouraging everyone to learn more about the importance of keeping your heart healthy!

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So let’s talk about heart health for a minute. I’m sure most of you have heard that almonds are good for your health, and here I am telling you guys what a great snack they make…but do you know why?

Here’s a little background:

The FDA approved the following claim in 2003:

“Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts, such as almonds, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease.”

What exactly does that mean? Not to get all science-y on you but here’s a brief review:

Cholesterol is made up of HDL and LDL, which need to be kept in balance. When LDL is too high, it builds up on cell walls and creates plaque, which can clog blood vessels. This can cut off blood supply to the heart, or plaque can break off and cause blood clots which can lead to heard attacks and strokes. By lowering the amount of LDL cholesterol in your blood, you give the HDL a chance to clean up the excess LDL and prevent plaque from building up, thus reducing your risk for heart disease. Since heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., finding ways to decrease the risk is important.

See why almonds are a great addition to your everyday diet? If you’re still not convinced, here’s a few more benefits of almonds:

They’re high in monounsaturated fat
They’re a good source of fiber
They’re a good source of Vitamin E, Magnesium & Copper
They’re a good source of protein
They can help improve insulin sensitivity
They can help reduce inflammation

Bottom line: Almonds are a smart snack for more reasons than one.

However, there is one thing you should keep in mind. Almonds are a fairly high calorie snack, so make sure you stick to the correct portion size! A serving is 1 oz. That equals about 23 whole almonds. In that serving, you’ll find about 160 calories, 14 grams of fat (only 1 of which is saturated), 6 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.

So we know why they’re good for you and how many you should eat…all that leaves is HOW you should eat them, right?

A few suggestions:

Raw and plain
In your trailmix
As an oatmeal topping
Mixed with yogurt
Ground into almond butter

Let’s chat: Do you like almonds? What’s your favorite way to eat them?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

**This post was sponsored by Blue Diamond. All thoughts and opinions are my own**

Fitness Friday 46

February 22, 2013 by Lindsay 15 Comments

Hi Friends!

Here we are at Friday again. That means it’s time for a quick rundown of my workouts this week!

fitnessfriday1

Friday

You guys know how I love my Friday night crossfit! Well, this was a rough one. I finished in 14:29 and was definitely feelin’ it by the end. I’m still working on those knees to elbows, but I did the best I could!

Saturday

Best way to kick off a weekend? Saturday morning crossfit! If you’ve never done a squat clean, I’m hear to tell you that they will set your legs on FIRE!!! We set up two barbells so I did 75 pound squat cleans and 115 pound deadlifts. I finished in 7:16.

Sunday

Rest day. It was flipping freezing, but we bundled up after dinner and took the boys on a quick walk!

Monday

I realized that we signed up for a 5k a while ago…and that the race is ummm, next weekend. I literally haven’t run in months. Whoops! We actually had decent weather on Monday so I decided to take the boys for a quick jog before crossfit, just to see how it went. I covered 2.5 miles doing 1/4 mile walk, 1 mile run x 2. And guess what? I felt pretty darn good! Crossfit for the win!

Then we headed to crossfit and I got my ass kicked. 5 rounds of 15 burpees and 10 box jumps after running is no joke. Since the power cleans had to be unbroken, I went light and did 65 pounds to focus on technique. I think i’m finally getting the hang of them! I finished in 10:54.

Tuesday

Any of you crossfitters ever done The Chief? It’s rough. Every round you had to start over with cleans instead of just starting up where you ended after the last 3 minutes. My goal was 4 rounds during each 3 minute set and I did it…but it was HARD. I ended with 20 complete rounds and 37 extra reps…mostly cleans and pushups. For the cleans I did 85 pounds and I definitely gave myself a nice big bruise on my collarbone.

Wednesday

Rest day. I was having a bit of a foot issue on Tuesday and Wednesday that I’m pretty sure was from running those couple miles on Monday in my non-running shoes. Lesson learned. It hurt to walk and is still a bit sore so I’ve been icing it like crazy and trying to avoid jumping on it and things like that.

Thursday

First, I PR’d in bench press during our strength session! I did 5 reps at 65 pounds! Then we did the workout above. After my success with kipping pullups during Cindy last week, I decided to just go for it and do all kipping pullups during this WOD too, even though I knew it would take me a lot longer than other people. I finished in 7:15 and was so proud of myself. I can only do 2-3 pullups at a time so I had to keep dropping down for a few seconds and then jumping back up, but I did it!

Today’s a rest day and then we’ll be up bright and early to tackle our Saturday morning WOD.

Let’s chat: How was your week?! Anybody try any fun new workouts? Leave me a link in the comments!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Greek Black Bean Burgers

February 21, 2013 by Lindsay 57 Comments

These Greek Black Bean Burgers are a great meatless option. Make a batch on the weekend to have on hand for quick, easy meals throughout the week!

Hi Friends!

When I said I got my act together this weekend, I really meant it. Not only did I take pictures so I could post the Sweet Potato Banana Bites, but I also FINALLY took pictures so I could share the recipe for my Greek Black Bean Burgers. Can I just say that I hate taking pictures of burgers? They’re kinda ugly. Don’t let that deter you, though. I promise they taste great!

To say we’ve been obsessed with these burgers lately would be putting it mildly.

We’ve been eating them for lunch, for dinner, on salads, on a bun, and even crumbled in our omelets. They’re easy and super versatile, as well as extremely delicious!

Here’s the recipe:

These were inspired by the Asian Black Bean Burgers I made a few weeks ago. The basic formula is the same. I just tweaked the ingredients to give them a Greek spin 🙂

[clickToTweet tweet=”These Greek Black Bean Burgers from @leangrnbeanblog make a great base for any meatless meal!” quote=”These Greek Black Bean Burgers from @leangrnbeanblog make a great base for any meatless meal!”]

Enjoy!

–Lindsay–

Dietetic Internship: Weeks 17-20

February 14, 2013 by Lindsay 36 Comments

Hi Friends!

As usual, I’m behind on my internship rotation recap posts. I’m halfway through my long-term care rotation and I still haven’t filled you guys in on my four week food service rotation!

So let’s catch up, shall we?

For the month of January, I interned with the food service director of two local school districts. She has been the director of one district for several years and just last year she took over the neighboring district as well. Between the two districts, there were 10 schools: 2 high schools, 2 middle schools and six elementary schools.

I know food service rotations get a bad rep in the internship world for being stupid and boring, but I really enjoyed mine. I did have an awesome preceptor so I’m sure that helped a lot… but still, it was a lot more interesting than I expected it to be!

Unlike my last rotation, which got a bit repetitive, this rotation was something new every day. Here are some of the things I did:

Researched new rolling coolers for the breakfast in the classroom program.
Researched new rules and regulations for having salad bars in the cafeteria.
Researched, priced and ordered new coolers for a kitchen
Researched the rules for the Healthier US Schools program to determine which chips could be sold as a la carte items.
Researched and priced electronic menu boards.

Attended meetings with the superintendent and other employees of the district office to discuss reductions in force after a failed levy.
Attended meetings about redesigning/reorganizing the layout of the kitchens and cafeterias.
Attended a meeting with a food vendor trying to earn the district’s business back.
Attended a training session to learn about the commodity foods program for schools.

Observed interviews for a head cook position.
Created test for head cook candidates to take during interview.
Learned about payroll, benefits and scheduling.
Learned about writing grants and applied for several.
Learned about unions and how they impact the hiring/firing/disciplinary actions.
Created a menu for a student that was gluten-free AND dairy free.

Tasted tested product samples from vendors that could potentially be served at lunch next year.
Prepared and cooked food for students on the Food Committee to taste test and evaluate.
Met with two high school food committees to gather feedback about the food being served, student satisfaction, things they wished were being served, etc.
Met with students about launching a Fuel Up to Play 60 campaign at their school.
Created a satisfaction survey for new menu items and distributed to students.

Observed lunch service to determine how to make it more efficient.
Created the 2013-2014 lunch menu for the elementary schools.
Input the menus into Nutrikids to determine if they met the nutritional requirements.

As you can see, I was exposed to many different aspects of schools food service. I have to say the highlight was getting to plan the elementary menu for next year. You guys know how much I LOVE menu planning, and it was so cool to know that the menu I created would only require a few small changes and then it will actually be used during the next school year!

After having a couple of 7-8 week rotations, these four week rotations are FLYING BY! Like I said, I’m doing my long term care rotation right now so I’ll fill you guys in on that one in a couple of weeks.

If you’re new to the blog and are interested in reading more about my path to becoming an RD and the rotations i’ve already completed, CLICK HERE for links to all of those posts!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

PS. If you have an extra minute, please go congratulate Elle and Anne! They both just passed the RD exam this week and are officially Registered Dietitians. These two ladies are AMAZING and they inspire me every single day. Since I know first hand exactly how much work goes into becoming an RD, I can tell you that they both deserve major congratulations. So go show them some love! They’re gonna do great things!

DIY Workout Tank Top

February 12, 2013 by Lindsay 102 Comments

Hi Friends!

A couple weeks ago, I did a fun DIY project to turn a seldom worn t-shirt into a workout tank-top. I was pretty proud of myself for figuring it out! After putting pictures on FB and Instagram, lots of you asked how I did it, so I recruited hubby’s extra set of hands to make a little tutorial for you.

Here’s the first one I made:

For this one, I grabbed a Jayhawk shirt that hubby rarely wears (Ohio State fan), and we took pictures along the way so I could show you the process. We even managed to make some enhancements this time around to help the back from unraveling in the washer/dryer 🙂 So, here’s what you do:

DIY Workout Tank Top

1. Procure your t-shirt and lay it flat on the floor
2. Cut out the collar, using the front outline as your guide, but cutting through both sides of the shirt (you may have to cut out more later to get your desired depth)
3. Cut off one sleeve. Start by cutting straight down for several inches and then curve out. Don’t start curving right away.
4. Flip the cut off sleeve over and place it on top of the remaining sleeve. Cut along that line when you cut off the second sleeve so they are symmetrical.
5. Cut off the bottom of the shirt just above the hem.
6. Cut off the stitching and discard so you have just a loop of t shirt material, no extra threads.
7. Take the loop and snip it so it’s no longer a loop and then STRETCH it out.

8. Flip the shirt over, cut a deep “v” and discard that fabric.
9. Snip two tiny holes, one on each side of the point of the “v” (this was hubby’s idea to keep the string secure in the laundry)
10. Take the string that you stretched out and thread it through the holes. Pull almost all the way through and leave just a couple inches on one side.
11 & 12. Tie a double knot.

13. Cut two tiny holes about 4-5 inches from the top of the shirt (just like the holes you snipped at the bottom of the “v”) but make them towards the outer edge of the shirt.
14. Start at the bottom where you knotted the string, gather the back together, wrap once, and then loop the string through itself and pull tight. Continue looping and pulling tight until work your way up to the holes at the top.
15. When you get to the top, even with the two holes you cut, thread through both the holes again and tie a secure knot.
16. Leave about 2 inches and after you tie the knot (in case the knot ever comes undone and you need to re-tie) and cut off the extra. Thread the rest of the string down through the loops to secure it.

*Note: The first time I did this, I didn’t cut little holes and thread through. I just tied the string at the bottom, wrapped around and around and around and then knotted it again at the top. That worked fine, but it started to come unraveled when I washed it…this method should hold up alot better.

Now it’s time to fine tune. Try it on and make note of the width of the straps and the neckline. Then take it off and cut some more if you want the neckline to be lower or you want the straps to be thinner! You can also cut more off the bottom if you want it to be shorter!

I left the neckline a little higher on this one than I did on the peanut envy one! It’s totally up to you.

Also, beware of the dogs. They will be very interested in helping with this project.

In retaliation, you can use the sleeves to make them look like little Russian Babushkas! Clearly they loved it.

So there you have it! Give it a try and send me a pic if you make one!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Fitness Friday 44

February 8, 2013 by Lindsay 23 Comments

Hi Friends!

Let’s keep this Fitness Friday post short and sweet, shall we?

fitnessfriday1

We’ve been bouncing around to a couple of different boxes while ours is closed. So here’s what the workouts have looked like:

Friday

I had a snow day so I headed to a lunchtime class. Our skill work was squats…and then we did the workout above. Seriously? Remember when I did 150 wall balls the other weekend in our competition. Well, this time I did it a minute faster! I finished that part in 8:06 instead of 9:18. Then I did the double unders. This box had different jump ropes that I had a hard time adjusting to, but I finished them with 20 seconds to spare. I love how it’s a 12 minute AMRAP and hardly anyone even made it through one full round!

Saturday

One of the boxes has a community workout on Saturdays that’s free for everyone so we headed over with several people from our box. It was a fun workout that was done in groups. It looks like a lot but when you split it up between 4 people it wasn’t so bad.

While we were at crossfit, the dogs finally reached their breaking point and expressed their displeasure with the fact that they haven’t had a walk in FAR too long and have barely been outside at all for the past month since it’s been so cold.

Long story short, Tucker got bored, ripped up the carpet and chewed up the carpet pad…as well as chewing on the baby gate. It’s hard to even be mad though, because it’s not really their fault. We’d been majorly slacking as dog parents.

We got the message loud and clear though, so we’ve been making an effort to walk them more!

Sunday
**Rest Day**

Monday

Monday we tried out another box with some of our friends. Talk about feeling the burn. The 50 air squats between rounds was brutal. I used 65#. We had to pick a weight we could push press, even though it was pretty light for dead lifts. I finished in 10:03.

Tuesday

I had a long day of interning and class, but I still managed to squeeze in a walk with the dogs. I got home from class, spent 15 minutes throwing together dinner and sticking it in the oven, and then we headed out the door. Dinner was ready when we got back!

Wednesday

Rest day. I had an evening meeting and didn’t get home until late so we couldn’t go to crossfit…but hubby and I did take the boys on a quick walk.

Thursday

FF1

I took the boys for a walk right after I got home from work.

Then we headed to crossfit. Another great workout. Those burpees were tough after the 1000m row! I finished in 8:01 and used 65# for the push press.

As for today’s workout? Hubby and I are planning to do a little partner workout that I put together.

I’ll let ya know how it goes! How was your week of workouts?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Pecan Crusted Salmon

February 7, 2013 by Lindsay 52 Comments

Hi Friends!

Bad news is it’s been a busy week and I don’t have much time to chat. Good news is that I do have a SUPER easy recipe to share with you.

When I say simple, I mean simple. It’s just 3 ingredients:

Salmon.
Hummus.
Pecans.

This Pecan Crusted Salmon requires just 3 ingredients. Diner is served!

I served it on a bed of lettuce with some quinoa and topped it with a goat cheese medallion and some raspberries. Voila!

To make the salmon:

Pat the salmon fillets dry.
Spread a layer of hummus on top.
Sprinkle with chopped nuts and press gently so they stick!

pecan crusted salmon1

Stick it on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake a 400 degrees until salmon is cooked through!

This Pecan Crusted Salmon requires just 3 ingredients. Diner is served!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Weekend Prep For Easy Weekday Meals

February 6, 2013 by Lindsay 47 Comments

Hi Friends!

Yesterday I taught you how to prep food on the weekend. Today I’m going to show you how exactly it makes life easier during the week. So, here’s what I prepped two weekends ago:

My weekend prep included:

Baked fish
Greek Black Bean Burgers
Hard boiled Eggs
Quinoa Breakfast Bars
Curried Sweet Potato Soup
Trailmix
Black Beans
Quinoa
Guacamole
Carrots

And here’s what we ate last week:

Breakfasts
I eat cereal every morning for breakfast during the week. 2 bowls of Kashi Heart 2 Heart cinnamon with skim milk. I also have a mug of green tea. Hubby grabs a quinoa breakfast bar from the fridge to take to work, as well as a piece of fruit sometimes, and his mug of coffeee.

Monday

Lunch: I packed one of the Greek black bean burgers, some of the sliced carrots with hummus and a pear. Hubby came home for lunch and made a fish taco with the cooked fish, black beans and guac and also had a couple hard boiled eggs and some blackberries.
Dinner: I made fish nachos with blue corn tortilla chips. I used the cooked fish and black beans, so I just had to chop up some red peppers and onions, then load up the nachos and top with cheese. While they were in the oven, I cooked some green beans in the microwave and pulled out the carrots and hummus.

Tuesday

Lunch: I packed some of the curried sweet potato soup with some quinoa and black beans added in, a pear, some leftover green beans and chips with guac. Hubby ate a one of the black bean burgers and made a big salad with some of the fish and veggies on top.
Dinner: I made sweet potato and black bean quesadillas using the black beans and a sweet potato that I diced up and microwaved for 2 minutes. Just spread the beans and potatoes in a whole wheat tortilla, add some chopped peppers and onions (leftover from the nacho prep) and cheese and pop it on the George Foreman grill. I also ate some leftover stirfry veggies and lentils with a little piece of leftover salmon and hubby had a bowl of soup with his dilla.

Wednesday

Lunch: I packed some of the fish with quinoa, black beans and salsa, plus a pear, a handful of the carrots with some hummus and one of the hb eggs. Hubby ate a Chobani, two hb eggs, and a peanut butter sandwich with a couple of clementines.
Dinner: On Tuesday night, I pulled out the crockpot and made a lentil veggie soup. I threw in some roughly chopped carrots, green beans, onion, sweet potato and red pepper with a bag of dried lentils, a container of vegetable broth, lots of curry powder, paprika and cayenne pepper and some extra water. I cooked it on low for 8 hours overnight, added a bit more water in the morning and then put it in the fridge all day to let the flavors meld. For dinner on Wednesday, all I had to do was reheat and serve with a pear and some chips.

Thursday

Lunch: My preceptor took me out to lunch to celebrate the end of my rotation. She choose a Mexican restaurant. I ordered the veggie quesadilla and added black beans, plus I asked for 1/2 the amount of cheese. Instead of the rice and beans for the side, I ordered grilled veggies. I ate half the dilla and packed up the rest. Hubby made himself a rollup with the rest of the fish, some hummus, some guacamole, cheese and quinoa and a chobani and an egg.
Dinner: We made egg sandwiches. Instead of using regular bread, we used some frozen naan from Trader Joe’s. The sandwiches had an egg, some Muenster cheese, avocado and tomato and were grilled to perfection on the panini. SO GOOD. We also had some leftover lentil veggie soup and some carrots and hummus.

Friday

Lunch: On Thursday night I wasn’t really in the mood to pack lunch so I threw a pear, some carrots and hummus and a pb&j in my lunchbox and called it a day. Then, I ended up having a snow day…so I ate my pb&j for a snack and made myself from eggs for lunch. I also ate my pear, carrots and hummus and a little bit of the sweet potato soup.
Dinner: We made some salmon that we had in the freezer. I served it over a bed of farro (which cooks in 15 min) with some sauteed black beans, peppers and onions and added a little balsamic vinegar for flavor.

Saturday

Lunch: We went to crossfit at 11 so we had a to refuel when we got home! We had eggs, leftover farro/black bean mixture with avocado and some greek yogurt bites from the freezer.
Dinner: We actually thought about going out to dinner for the first time in a month. In the end, we settled for picking up a veggie pizza on our way home from a baby shower and eating it at home with some carrots and hummus and hb eggs.

Snacks

We had the trailmix pre-made so we could just grab a serving each day for a snack and we also had the hard boiled eggs that we could easily grab out of the fridge for snacks and meals. Other snacks we ate during the week included lots of veggies with hummus, chips and salsa, cereal, greek yogurt etc.

So there you go. At the end of the week, everything was gone except some trailmix and a little guac!

Hopefully this post shows you that prepping food on the weekend makes healthy meals much easier during the week.

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

If you liked this post, you’ll love my ebook – The Ultimate Guide To Food Prep. It dives into even more detail about how to food prep, troubleshoots common problems and provides tons of tips to make it easier! Click the image below for more details!

How to Prep Food on the Weekend

February 5, 2013 by Lindsay 104 Comments

Make the best of your Sunday by prepping healthy food for the week ahead. It makes it easier to eat healthy during the week!

Hi Friends!

Many of you have seen my Sunday meal prep pics on Instagram & Facebook and have been asking questions about them. Hopefully today’s post will be helpful for you.

When people ask me for advice about healthy eating, my number one suggestion is to be prepared. In an effort to make it easy for us to eat healthy meals at home, I’ve found that spending an hour or two on the weekend preparing food makes it much easier to throw together quick, healthy meals during the week. I made it a goal to get back into a food prep routine for 2013 and it’s made my life so much easier! So let’s take a look at what I do on a typical weekend!

First Step: What do I make?

There are some staples that I prep every single weekend and some that vary week to week. Here’s a list of things I typically prepare:

Quinoa {or a whole grain}: I usually cook 1.5 c dry quinoa with 3 cups of water for about 12 minutes. Quinoa is my most common choice, but I also like to mix it up and cook wheatberries, farro, or brown rice from time to time.
Beans: I cook at least one bag of dried beans every weekend. Since I got my pressure cooker, it’s gotten SO much easier. You can put a dry (non-soaked) bag of beans in the pressure cooker and have a fully cooked pot of beans in 20 minutes. Can’t beat it. Even before I got my pressure cooker I made beans every week. I used the quick soak method on the back of the bag and it could be done in under 2 hours with very little work. I cook black beans most often because we like them best, but I also occasionally cook white or pinto beans.
Lentils: The great thing about lentils is they don’t need to be soaked and they cook in about 15 minutes. So, most weekends I cook one bag of dried beans and one bag of dried lentils.
Hard-boiled eggs: Another thing that’s gotten way easier since I got my pressure cooker! However, these can also easily be done on the stove. I usually cook about 18 eggs per weekend so we can snack on them during the week. Hubby also usually has a couple with lunch and/or dinner for extra protein.
Breakfast for Hubby: Like I’ve mentioned a few times, I’m on a mission to get hubby to eat breakfast. These Q uinoa Bre akfast Bars are his absolute fave. I double the recipe and make a 9 x 13 pan each weekend. Then, I cut them into bars, put them in ziploc bags and store them in the fridge so he can grab one in the morning. He also likes these Cranberry Sweet Potato Cottage Cheese Muffins.
Soup: I love making a batch of soup on Sundays because it requires very little effort. It’s basically just a matter of throwing ingredients in a pot and letting it simmer. I make a big pot and we eat it with our dinners and lunches throughout the week. Hubby’s favorite soup is this Curried Sweet Potato Soup. Other times, I just throw whatever vegetables I have (or a bag of frozen veggies) in a pot with some veggie broth and then add some of the cooked beans and quinoa and some spices.
Trail Mix: Hubby and I love trail mix for a snack. I either pre-portion it in baggies so we can grab and go, or I make a big batch in a container and we scoop out some each day to take with us. I usually include almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dried fruit (raisins or craisins), cereal and a few chocolate chips. For the nuts and seeds, I get the plain, unsalted kind and for the craisins, I buy the 50% less added sugar.
Chopped Veggies: Lately it’s just been carrots, but in the past I’ve done this with bell peppers, cucumbers, etc. I spend time peeling and chopping them and then store them in tupperware containers so they’re easy to grab for packed lunches, dinners, or snacks. Usually for the carrots I add some water to the bottom of the tupperware to keep them from drying out over the course of the week.
Black Bean Burgers: Lately, I’ve been getting into a routine where I make a batch of black bean burgers every Sunday. We either eat them that night for dinner or on Monday night. Some of my favorites include Sweet Potato Quinoa Black Bean Burgers, Asian Black Bean Burgers, and Greek Black Bean Burgers. If you’re a meat eater, whip up a batch of hamburgers or turkey burgers.

Other things you could consider making:

Meat: Throw some chicken or pork in the crockpot and shred to use in meals throughout the week. Or bake some chicken breasts in the oven. Prefer ground meat? Cook a package of ground turkey and throw it into casseroles, tacos, and sauces during the week.
Hummus: Make your own from canned (no-salt-added) or dried chickpeas. Here’s a little how to make hummus video for you.
Frozen yogurt bites: These are another one of my favorites to make on the weekend for an easy snack during the week. I love these frozen yogurt bites!
Roasted Chickpeas: They’re perfect for snacking and are also a great addition to trail mix. Here’s how I roast mine.
Casseroles: Make a big casserole on Sunday night. Eat some that night and have leftovers to eat throughout the week. Casseroles are similar to soups in that they require very little effort, but make a big batch of food.
Marinades: Whip up a marinade and add some tofu, tempeh, or meat to a bag. Let it sit overnight and pull them out to make an easy dinner on Monday night.
Burritos: Check out this post on how to eat healthy during the week to see how I make freezer burritos.
Salad: Chop up a bunch of veggies and make a big salad. Having it ready to go makes it more likely you’ll eat it during the week.

Next step: Storage

If you have a freezer, use it! It makes life easier. Some of my favorite things to freeze:

Beans and lentils: Simply cook them, let them cool completely, and then put in freezer-safe containers or ziploc bags. I usually use bags. Then, when I’m ready to use them I just smack the bag on the counter to loosen them up and dump them into whatever I’m cooking. If you use containers, just stick them in the microwave to defrost and then add to your desired dish!
Soups and casseroles: Did you make a double batch of soup or a giant casserole? Put half in a freezer-safe container and stick it in the freezer. Then, in a couple weeks when you have a crazy weekend and don’t have time to prep food, you can pull the container out to thaw and have dinner ready to go for at least one night that week!
Burgers: I’m finally getting into the habit of making more veggie burgers than we need. That way, I can leave 4 or 5 in the fridge for us to eat during the week and still have 4 or so to put in the freezer. You can freeze them cooked or uncooked. If you’re freezing them before cooking, freeze on a pan, then transfer to a container. If I freeze them after cooking, I let them cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap and put them in containers or ziploc bags. When you’re ready to eat them, just cook from frozen if necessary (in the oven or on the stove), or defrost in the microwave and eat!

So… how exactly does this make things easier?

Check out this post to see what we ate for all our meals last week. It shows you how we used the food I prepped to make weekday meals quick and easy!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Want to eat healthy all week? Try food prep with these ideas from @leangrnbeanblog!” quote=”Want to eat healthy all week? Try food prep with these ideas from @leangrnbeanblog!”]

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Fitness Friday 43

February 1, 2013 by Lindsay 25 Comments

Hi Friends!

Time for another Fitness Friday! I have a lot to catch you up on, especially since we skipped last week for the post about Things Crossfit Has Taught Me!

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First let’s recap the week we missed:

FF1

FRIDAY: One of the hardest crossfit workouts I’ve done so far. Here are the moves:

Broad Jump Burpee- A regular burpee but instead of jumping straight up at the end, you jump as far forward as you can.
Bear Complex- Start with the bar on the ground. Clean the weight, move straight into a front squat, stand up into a push press, lower the weight onto your shoulders, do a back squat, stand up into another push press and then move the weight back down to the ground. That’s one. You did 7 each round. It was brutal.
HSPU- Handstand pushups. I can’t quite do the pushup part yet, so I just did 5 handstands each time.

Finished in 10:38 with the prescribed weight for the bear complexes and modified HSPUs.

SATURDAY: Cindy. It looks simple. It sucks. I did 18 rounds + 13 reps of the next round and did jumping pullups. We also took the boys on a walk afterwards. That’s my exhausted face.

SUNDAY– rest day

MONDAY: This one was miserable. SUPER HARD but I loved it. It wasn’t really rounds for time. Instead, we counted our total reps. I got 186. For the skill/strength before the WOD we did Squats. I did 75 pounds for 3 sets of 10, then 8 reps at 95 pounds, 8 reps at 105 pounds and 8 reps at 115 pounds.

FF2

TUESDAY– Another tough workout. Who am I kidding, they’re all tough. The kettlebell swings were the worst part of this one. We counted total reps. I got 137. Before this we did “death by pullups”. Every minute you do one more pullup. So minute one you do one, minute two you do 2, etc…for 15 min. They have to be consecutive and if you can’t do your number in a row, you start back at one the next minute. I was using the black band which is the least amount of resistance possible. So close to doing them on my own!!

WEDNESDAY– Rest day. Forced myself to take a rest day even though the workout had handstands and I REALLY wanted to go:

crossfit

THURSDAY– We knew this one was coming all week and had been looking forward to it. Fight Gone Bad is another crossfit benchmark workout. It’s crazy hard. You do 1 minute of each exercise with no rest in between, then get one minute rest and then repeat 2 more times. You count your total reps- I got 244 reps.

Fight Gone Bad aftermath = Pure exhaustion.

FF3

Crossfit Scenes:
1. Gettin’ work DONE!
2 & 3. You saw these in last week’s post…just a couple crossfit progress pics for hubby & I. We’re getting STRONG!
4. I’m making progress on my handstands! You can see my hands are getting closer to the wall and I’m getting straighter up and down!

And now onto this past week:

FF6

FRIDAY: We did “Annie” for a warmup which is Double Unders and Situps 50-40-30-20-10. It’s quite a warmup but I’m proud to say that I have FINALLY mastered double unders! I can string together 20-25 in a row now! Afterwards we did clean and jerks for the skill and I got up to 85 pounds. Then, we did the two 5 minute AMRAPS. For the first one, I subbed handstands for wall walks because last time we did walk walks I hurt my hip flexor and it is still sore. I did 2 rounds + 15 for the first one and 3 rounds for the second one. Talk about feeling the burn during those jumping lunges!

SATURDAY: Isabelle. Another benchmark workout. The Rx for women is 95 pounds. I can’t even come close to doing that. I decided to take it easy since we had a competition coming up on Sunday so I did 65 pounds and finished in 2:38.

Bonus: Hubby and I got new shoes! He went with the Inov8 Bare FX 260. He has super flat feet so those were most comfortable for him. I went with the Reebok Nano 2.0. I fell in love with Reebok after I got my Realfex transitions and I love these new ones as well!

SUNDAY: We had our second crossfit competition at our box. This one was a little different than the one last month. We judged each other instead of counting our own reps, and men and women were separated for scoring. I made it through 3 of the 4 rounds.

Here’s how it went down:

Round 1: jumping pullups, air squat and situps. 21 reps, then 15 reps, then 9 reps. I finished in 3:43. Hubby finished in 3:10
Round 2: Tabata sprints. There were cones set up. You sprinted for 20 seconds and rested for 10. Down and back was one rep. I did 25. And almost died. I can’t remember the last time I ran sprints. Holy lactic acid. Hubby did 24.
Round 3: “Karen” – Another benchmark workout. 150 wall balls for time. Girls used a 14 pound ball. It. was. miserable. Especially after the sprints. I almost didn’t finish, but I had a great friend counting for me and cheering me on. I finished in 9:18. Hubby used a 20 pound ball and finished in 12:58.

ff8

Crossfit Scenes:
1. The guys getting ready for Round 1. Hubby’s the one facing the opposite way.
2. Guys during Karen. Hubby’s in the middle.
3. Girls during Karen. I’m on the far left.

MONDAY: I was thinking about going in to do a shakeout workout but our box had some building maintenance issues and was closed. So I took a rest day.

TUESDAY: I had class so I did an at-home WOD when I got home. I had a little trouble pushing myself when it was just me, but I still got a great workout and worked up a sweat. I finished in 10:13.

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WEDNESDAY: Due to maintenance issues, we found out our box would be closed for the rest of the week. So I took another rest day.

THURSDAY: Hubby and I headed to Anytime Fitness (it’s finally open near our house!) to do a WOD. Here’s what we came up with:

photo-342

I finished the RFT in 8:10 and then ran my mile in 9:07. G2O is Ground to Overhead. You touch a plate (i used a 25 pound one) to the floor, then raise it over your head, and then back down. We held onto the same plate while doing our weighted lunges and then put them down to do the burpees.

WHEW…there’s your recap! How was your week of workouts?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

January Foodie Penpals Reveal Day

January 31, 2013 by Lindsay 18 Comments

Hi Friends!

It’s time for another Foodie Penpals Reveal Day!

It’s been a while- December FPP was for Charity-but we’re back! This month I received my package from Debbie at Accidently Delish. She spoiled me with all sorts of goodies 🙂

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Let’s take a closer look:

Highlight #1: Homemade Granola

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In addition to some lentils (she knows I am the lentil queen), and some store bought granola, Debbie sent me some homemade granola that is to-die-for. I don’t know how she knew, but banana chips are my FAVORITE!! Look how many are in there!!! Happy girl.

Highlight #2: Lentil Chips

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I’ve seen Plentils in the store before but never bought them for myself. They were a fun change from regular tortilla chips! Debbie also sent me some Scat bars, which I’d never tried, some Vanilla Cranberry Pomegranate Almonds (how good to THOSE sound?!) and a Valentine. LOVE!!

Highlight #3: Thoughtfulness

She sent me a sick pack, to help me fend off the winter germs and to help deal with them if I do get sick. Great idea!

Hands down best part of the package: Homemade Cookies

I tell all my penpals that I love homemade goodies and Debbie knocked it out of the park with these cookies. They’re not pictured because I ate them all before I took pictures of the rest of the stuff. Seriously, so good. They were Chai Oatmeal Raisin Cookies…you can find the recipe on her blog HERE.

Amazing. Thanks so much Debbie for a wonderful package!!!

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So, if you’re new to the blog, you may be wondering what Foodie Penpals is all about. Here are the details:

On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
Foodie Penplas is open to US, Canadian & European residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. Same with Europeans. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re from the US or Canada and are in participating for November, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by February 4th as pairings will be emailed on February 5th!

*If you’re from Europe, please CLICK HERE to signup.

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So…what are you waiting for?! Come join in the fun!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Healthy sELF Challenge

January 30, 2013 by Lindsay 32 Comments

Hi Friends!

As you guys know, I teamed up with one of my best blogging buddies, Elle from Nutritionella to create the Elf for Health Holiday Challenge. It was a huge success, much bigger than we had ever dreamed of with over 900 elves spreading health & wellness during the holidays! As it turns out, our elves LOVE supporting one another so much they requested we keep the challenge going throughout the entire year. How awesome is that?

Naturally, we needed a new name and logo fit for every season, not just for the holidays.

Our elves voted to rename the challenge Healthy sELF – it keeps the spirit of the original Elf for Health Challenge and also encourages us to make healthier choices for ourselves all year round.

Here are the details!

The Healthy sELF challenge will officially kick off on February 4th. To make Healthy sELF sustainable for everyone, we scaled back to three weekly challenges – Mondays, Thursdays & one on the weekend. Elves will not be paired like they were for the last challenge so we really encourage participants to be active on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram!

That being said, there is a new Healthy sELF Facebook Group! It’s a great place to meet new elves, give encouragement, boost your self-confidence, share recipes, healthy tips, workouts, personal successes – whatever you like! Just request to join and we’ll add you to the group.

A couple of fun things we’ve added to this challenge:

a new hashtag – use #healthysELF when you’re Tweeting & Instagramming so other elves can get to know you
a monthly newsletter with the month’s challenges plus short health-related articles & posts from our very own elves
elf spotlights within the Facebook group
healthy sELF ambassadors – we recruited some awesome, health-inspiring girls to help with the tasks of running the challenge so keep them on your radar for challenge reminders, social media shout-outs, newsletter submissions & elf spotlights

We’ve put together a challenge calendar using the Elf for Health survey results to plan the upcoming challenges through the month of May. We like to plan ahead, can you tell? This calendar as well as the monthly newsletter signup form can be found on the Healthy sELF pages on our blogs.

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

What’s In My Grocery Cart

January 22, 2013 by Lindsay 101 Comments

Hi Friends!

Let’s talk about groceries today, shall we? Over the weekend, while hubby and I were grocery shopping, I realized it had been a while since I did a post about groceries. Turns out, once I looked back through the blog, that it’s been almost exactly a year since I posted Let’s Go Grocery Shopping!

I took a quick social media poll and determined that you guys were pretty interested in seeing what’s in my grocery cart! So here we go:

what's in my grocery cart

Hubby and I usually grocery shop every two weeks or so. Sometimes we pick up a few items one weekend without doing a full trip, but I usually averages out to about 2-3 trips a month. We also go to a couple different stores. We buy some things at Costco, and some things at the regular grocery store (usually Meijer or Kroger).

Costco

We go through a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and for us the best place to buy them is usually Costco. Not always, but most of the time their prices are cheaper than the grocery store. We also go through a lot of nuts and hummus and Costco has great deals on those.

costco

So what did we buy?

Avocados– $4.79 for a bag of 6 (we bought 2 bags) so $0.79 each
Red Peppers– $5.99 for a bag of 6 = $1 each
Gala Apples– lost my receipt but something like $1.25 a pound
Sabra Hummus– $5.99 for a 32oz container
Blackberries– $ 3.79 for an 18oz container
Almonds– $12.89 for a 3 pound bag
Pears– $6.29 for 12 pears
Clementines– $5.99 for a 5 pound bag
Spring Mix Lettuce– $4.49 for a 1 pound container
Wild Caught Cod– $18.69 for 2.65 pounds = $7.05 per pound

Costco food total: approximately $80

Other things we often buy at Costco:
(Sorry I don’t have prices for everything)

10lb bag of carrots– $6.99
3 dozen eggs– $3.79
Starbucks Coffee Beans– only when it’s on sale so it’s about $16 for a 2.5 pound bag
Quinoa– $7.99 for a 4 pound bag
Oats– 10 pounds for something ridiculous like $6
Frozen Bean and Cheese Burritos– $9.89 for 8 burritos
Cheese- Feta or Goat cheese
Fage Plain Greek Yogurt– $4.99 for a 32 oz container
Nature Valley Protein Bars– $11.69 for 24 bars
Peanut Butter (for the dogs)– $11.99 for two 48oz jars
Raisins– $7.99 for 4.5 pounds
Olive Oil
Toilet Paper– only with a coupon
Paper Towels– only with a coupon
Ziploc bags– $8.99 for 500 sandwich bags
Laundry Detergent– only with a coupon
Cat Litter– 11.79 when it’s on sale for a 40 pound bag

Since they come in bigger quantities, we buy them less often.

Meijer

Like I said, I alternate between there and Kroger depending on what I need. There are some things I like better at each store…Even so, I usually just pick one of them to go to per weekend, not both. Here’s what we got this time:

grocery1

The Breakdown

Onions- ($0.99/lb) $2.11
Leeks- ($1.69/lb) $1.28
Cauliflower- $2.99
Green peppers- ($1.99/lb) $2.33
Garlic- (2/$1) $1
Bananas- (1.22/lb) $0.65
Green Beans- (1.69/lb) $2.62
Sweet Potatoes- (0.99/lb) $5.1

Shrimp- ON SALE for $4.99 (usually $8.99)
Cod- ON SALE buy one, get one free- $5.99 for a 1 lb bag

Usually I wouldn’t have bought this much in one trip but those were huge sales so I stocked the freezer!

Kashi Heart 2 Heart Cinnamon- ON SALE- $3.00/box instead of $3.79
Sweet Thai Chili Sauce- $2.29
Soba Noodles (no salt added)- $3.29
Black Beans- $1.65/bag x 2
Lentils- $1.25/bag x 2
Low-Sodium Tuna- $1.75 x 6
Cream of Mushroom Soup- $1.49
50% less sugar dried cranberries- ON SALE $2.00/bag x 2

I buy dried beans/legumes instead of canned to eliminate the sodium. They super easy to make on the stove and freezer to use during the week. I always keep one can of cream of mushroom in the pantry for when I want enchiladas but don’t buy it often because it’s high in sodium. I’m so excited they’ve started making reduced sugar dried cranberries! I use them in hubby’s Quinoa Breakfast Bars.

100% Whole Wheat Bread- $2.99
100% Whole Wheat Tortillas- $2.50
Low-fat shredded Mexican cheese- ON SALE $2.50/bag x2
Havarti sliced cheese- $2.99
Brummel & Brown Yogurt spread- ON SALE $2.00
Butter- ON SALE $2.00
Low-fat cottage cheese- ON SALE $1.79
Chobani- $1.25 x 6
Chobani tub- ON SALE $2.79
Skim milk0 ON SALE $2.50/carton x 3

Meijer Food Total: approx $110

For the bread and tortillas, I look for 100% whole wheat and the lowest amount of sodium I can find. The tortillas I buy have about 250mg per tortilla…some brands have up to 600mg for the same 8 inch size! We like cheese. I stock up when it’s on sale and never buy it regular price. The yogurt spread is what I use on my toast. That’s about all I use it for. I probably buy about 1 tub a year and wait til it’s on sale. Butter is always good to have on hand- I only buy it when it’s on sale. That also lasts quite a while in our house. Hubby likes cottage cheese and I also use it in my Sweet Potato Cranberry Cottage Cheese muffins. I already have a couple tubs of plain Chobani in the fridge and I like to mix in a few spoonfuls of flavored when I eat it. When I make Frozen Yogurt Trailmix Bars, I usually do half flavored, half plain.

A few things I usually buy but didn’t buy this weekend:
Fresh salsa
Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
Frozen veggies
Canned no-salt added chickpeas
Triscuits

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So…we don’t have an exact grocery budget but the way it averages out, we probably spend about $100/week on food. Sometimes more, sometimes less. We used to eat out 1-2 times per weekend but lately we’ve been eating all our meals at home. I pack my lunch for my internship and hubby comes home from work for lunch every day…so that’s 21 meals a week x 2 people = 42 meals for about $2.40/meal on average.

We don’t throw away a lot of food. We eat pretty much all our produce and stuff in our fridge before we shop again. We keep our pantry and freezer well stocked by keeping track of things we run out of and buying them when they go on sale. We also don’t buy a lot of processed food, which helps keep our costs down.

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If you’re interested in reading more specifically about Grocery Shopping and Eating on a Budget, I’d highly recommend checking out the posts I did for the Survive on 35 Challenge I did this summer. I blogged for one week while we ate for $5/day. Here’s the link to my Final Recap and Thoughts about the challenge. It has links to ALL the post I did during the challenge, including how I planned my menus and grocery shopped and a breakdown of the groceries i bought and the prep work i did. Plus there are links to a recap of each day of the challenge that include everything we ate, plus recipes! I ended up winning this challenge and I’m super proud of all the posts because I think they really show that you CAN eat healthy on a budget with it being boring or gross!

Here are some other posts I’ve written about healthy eating include:

How to Eat Healthy In College
How to Eat Healthy During the Week
Stock Your Pantry with Staples
Healthy Eating on a Budget

Please check them out! I hope you find them helpful!

So there you have it. Stocking your fridge, freezer and pantry with healthy foods is the first step to healthy eating. Up next- Weekend Prep! I address this in my How To Eat Healthy During the Week post (link above) but am thinking about writing another post. I made it a goal this year to get back into the habit of weekend prep- I fell off the wagon for a while- and so far i’m doing really well. If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook you may have seen a few photos of my weekend prep work over the past few weeks.

Are you guys interested in a Weekend prep post?
What other questions do you have for me about grocery shopping/menu planning/weekend food prep?

Leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them in an upcoming post!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

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Fitness Friday 42

January 18, 2013 by Lindsay 33 Comments

Hi Friends!

Time for another Fitness Friday. Let’s recap, shall we?

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Friday

This workout killed me. I deadlifted 135# which is a 20# PR but it was HARD. And I was tired. Plus wall walks and I don’t get a long. Like for real. They kill me. And this time they killed my hip flexor. If you don’t know what a wall walk is, you lay on the ground on your stomach with your feet touching the wall. Then you literally walk your feet up the wall, and then walk your hands in towards the wall. They’re impossibly hard. Ugh. My time was 9:33.

Saturday

Saturday morning, 8am. Open gym! I worked on back squats and handstands. I squatted 135#!

And I made hubby take a picture of my handstand! Next step is working on getting the arch out of my back. I’m working on getting my hands closer to the wall but it’s hard for me!

Saturday, 9am: WOD time. It was about 60 degrees here last Saturday so we took advantage and did a benchmark workout. Meet Helen. She sucks. I did my kb swings with a 35# kb and did jumping pullups. Time- 10:30.

Since it was so nice out, we also took the boys for a walk. Now it’s cold again. Booooo.

Sunday

AMRAP- As Much Rest As Possible.
We took it seriously. We didn’t even leave the house.

Monday

I had to modify the handstand pushups and did jumping pullings but did the squats Rx. Time 6:16

Tuesday

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Long day…I interned, and had class, but I still made a workout happen. I raced to crossfit after I got out of class. I missed the skill/strength part, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to go on Wednesday so I wanted to get a workout in.

I struggled with this one because it hurt my wrists. I can overhead squat 70 pounds…but not without REALLY feeling it in my wrists. For the workout I opted for 50# and finished in 6:23. The good news is that I ordered some wrist wraps and they came in the mail on Wednesday. Can’t wait to start using them!

Wednesday

Forced rest day. I had an evening program for school that I had to go to, which made for a 14 hour day.
Seemed like a good day for a rest day.

Thursday

This workout was tougher than it sounded. Probably because we did a pretty intense workout and then a fast- strength session where we determined our one rep max for power cleans. Mine was 100 pounds. Pretty impressed with myself! For the wod i did banded ring dips (but i used the skinniest band!) and finished in 6:28.

That’s all, friends! I’m happy it’s friday. Friday means Friday night fun at crossfit and then a date with hubby to make dinner and watch Dateline. Yes, this is what our friday nights have turned into and i love it!

Let’s Chat: How were your workouts this week? Any plans for the weekend?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Greek Yogurt Dinner Rolls

January 17, 2013 by Lindsay 50 Comments

Hi Friends!

Just popping in to share a new recipe for with you guys today.

Greek Yogurt Dinner Rolls

I’ve been experimenting in the kitchen quite a bit lately, trying to make a loaf of bread with Greek yogurt. A few weeks ago I made a couple of loaves that weren’t bad..but they were a bit crumbly and not quite blog-worthy…so I went back to the drawing board. I decided to switch my focus and try smaller rolls instead of a whole loaf of bread…and it worked out much better!

I took advantage of some free time on Sunday to make a batch of these. Here’s the recipe I used:

Notes:

This dough is a bit sticky. I ended up using about 4 1/4 c flour, plus extra when I split it into rolls and still ended up with some dough stuck to my fingers. That’s fine!
I also used a small jelly roll pan to bake mine. When the dough rose again, the rolls expanded and since the pan was smaller, I ended up with square edges. If you’re using a bigger baking sheet, they might not expand to reach the edges. That’s ok. Putting the rolls close together helps them rise while baking!
I only made 12 rolls and some of them were much to big, which is why I recommend you make 16!

These are good with a smear of butter for dinner or with some peanut butter for lunch!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Asian Black Bean Burgers

January 15, 2013 by Lindsay 77 Comments

This healthy recipe for Asian Black Bean Burgers is full of flavor and perfect for food prep. The burgers are packed with protein and fiber and taste great with a salad for a gluten-free, vegan lunch!

**Post and photos updated 1/6/16**

Hi Friends!

It’s recipe time. I made these Asian Black Bean Burgers over the weekend and they were absolutely delicious. During my weekend prep, I almost always cooks a bag of black beans in my pressure cooker and freeze them to use during the week. I wanted to experiment with my usual black bean burgers and love Asian flavors so I decided to give them a shot!

{Original photo}

Here’s the recipe I used:

I love making these as part of my Sunday food prep. I actually prefer eating them as leftovers versus fresh out of the oven.

I typically serve these burgers over a big salad with my favorite salad dressing, although the past few times I’ve made them I mixed together some plain yogurt and Thai chili sauce and smothered them in that – delicious! Here’s a great, vegan homemade Thai Chili Sauce recipe if you want to make your own.

Next time I have a party I’m going to try making them as mini meatballs and serving with the chili yogurt sauce!

Let’s chat: What’s your favorite flavor combo for a burger?

[Tweet “Prep a batch of these Asian Black Bean Burgers from @leangrnbeanblog for lunch this week!”]

Enjoy!

–Lindsay–

Fitness Friday 41

January 11, 2013 by Lindsay 45 Comments

Hi Friends!

Time for another Fitness Friday…and since Crossfit has been consuming my life lately, that means another Crossfit WOD recap!

fitnessfriday1 Let’s jump right in, shall we?

Friday

We worked on handstand pushups. I’m getting better at my handstands! I’m able to do one with my hands closer to the wall than I was before! For the actual WOD, my time was 5:13. Snatches are not my best lift, so I did 45# instead of 65# but this workout was still no joke!

Friday night crossfit has become my new fav 🙂

Saturday

This explains perfectly why I love Crossfit: Every workout is me against myself but I’m surrounded by an awesome group of people pushing me to be better, work harder & get stronger! Saturday morning Crossfit has also become my new fav!

We do team workouts on Saturday mornings so for this workout we were in teams of 8. For part 1, the first time through we each rowed 100m, second and third time through 200 m, fourth time through 400 m, and then a few of us did another 200m or so to get to 8,000m. Then we did a WOD. For this workout you do one deadlift then hop over the bar once, do two deadlifts then jump over the bar twice, etc…as many times as you can in 8 minutes. I did 9 complete rounds plus 5 reps of round 10 with the prescribed weight

Sunday
Rest day.

Monday

We worked on overhead squats and I got up to 70#. For the WOD, I did 50# and did single jumps and it took me 3:00. Overhead squats are tough…my legs are strong but it’s a whole different ballgame when you have to hold the bar overhead.

Tuesday

This one was killer. Seriously. I usually can’t go on Tuesdays because I have class but I ended up getting out early. I had a rough day with a lot of traffic/driving/etc and this workout was exactly what I needed to improve my mood. I did it in 13:25 (RX/singles). Knees to elbow get me every time. Gotta work on those!

Wednesday

We did a partner workout. I partnered up with hubby and this one was actually pretty fun! There were 4 stations. You each do the exercise for one minute and then you add your reps or calories together. You move through all four stations 3 times and then add your total reps together. Hubby and I got 365.5.

Felt a serious burn in the legs with this one! We worked on hang snatches and then did the above workout. My legs were on fire for the second and third round of goblet squats. I finished in 5:17 (Rx). Since this was a short WOD we had time to work on handstands afterwards which was awesome.

Tomorrow is open gym before our WOD and i’ve been looking forward to it ALL week. I’m gonna see how much I can squat since it’s been forever since i’ve done a plain old back squat. Woot! I love squats.

Let’s chat: Do you like lifting weights?! What’s your favorite lift?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Quinoa Breakfast Bars

January 8, 2013 by Lindsay 231 Comments

Packed with protein and healthy fats, this recipe for Quinoa Breakfast Bars is easy to prep ahead of time and makes the perfect grab and go breakfast on a busy morning.

*Photos updated 10/1/15*

Hi Friends!

I have another hubby-approved breakfast to share with you guys! They’re a staple in my Sunday Food Prep every week.

Quinoa Breakfast Bars

These bars come together quickly, especially if you have leftover quinoa in the fridge like I usually do. However, you can easily make a fresh batch of quinoa for use in these bars. Just let it cool slightly before mixing up the batter.

Here’s the recipe:

I cut these into bars and put each one in a snack size Ziploc bag before putting them in the fridge. That way they were ready to go and hubby could just grab a bag on the way out the door to work. I’d recommend letting them cool completely before cutting.

These quinoa breakfast bars are chewy and delicious- perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack. They can easily be made gluten-free and are easy to customize with your favorite mix-ins! For variety, make them in an edge pan like this one! (aff link) I often use mine and people always ask where I got it!

You can also halve this recipe and make them in an 8×8 pan!

[Tweet “These Quinoa Breakfast Bars from @leangrnbeanblog make the perfect grab and go breakfast!”]

I make a batch of these every week during my food prep sessions so my hubby has an easy breakfast option during the week. If you liked this post, you’ll love my ebook – The Ultimate Guide To Food Prep. It dives into even more detail about how to food prep, troubleshoots common problems and provides tons of tips to make it easier! Click the image below for more details!

Looking for more protein-packed breakfasts? Check out some of my favorites:

Sweet Potato Protein Cookies (no protein powder required)
Baked Scotch Eggs
Paleo Breakfast Casserole with Chicken
Microwave Oatmeal with an Egg

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

The Final Push

January 7, 2013 by Lindsay 55 Comments

Hi Friends!

It’s Monday. But not just any Monday. My break is over and today is my first day at my school food service rotation. This rotation is 4 weeks long and i’m hoping it will go by quickly. Actually I’m hoping the whole rest of my internship will go by quickly.

My mom posted this quote on my fb wall the other day:

2013

It couldn’t be more true for me. Almost exactly 4 years ago, I left work early and drove down to the local community college to attend the first night of my “going back to school” adventure. It was a Sanitation and Safety class and it bored me to tears.

Over the next 4 years I went on a whirlwind ride. I went from just going back to become a Diet Tech to deciding I wanted to take it all the way to becoming an RD. I took more math and science classes than I ever wanted to. I spent more hours studying for those classes than I care to admit. I worked full-time while taking 3 classes a quarter. I quit my job to go to school full-time. I got accepted to Ohio State. I took classes at two schools simultaneously while working a part-time job. I graduated. I gave a speech as valedictorian. I passed my Diet Tech exam. I made new friends. I learned A LOT about nutrition. I took tests. I did so many case studies that if I never have to do another one again, it will be too soon. I worked my ass off to maintain a 4.0 GPA. I applied for internships. I spent dozens of sleepless nights stressing about internship applications. I got matched to my first choice internship. I graduated again. I started my internship. I completed 16 weeks of said internship.

It’s been a LONG road, friends. And I’m tired. I’m tired of being a student. I’m tired of being an intern. I’m ready to be done.

You’re probably wondering why I’m tell you all of this…but there is a point!

The point is this: There were so many times on this journey when I could have given up. When I could have taken the easy way out…done something that would have taken less time. There were so many times when I could have done less, not worked as hard, just slid by. But here’s the thing:

So I didn’t give up. I worked harder. Because I’m doing this for me. So that I can spend the rest of my life doing what I love. And yeah, 4 years seems like a ridiculously long time…but like the quote says, those 4 years would have passed anyways. And if I HADN’T made the choice to follow my dreams, it would still be 4 years later, and I’d still probably working the same job- no better off than I was before.

Instead, I DID take those risks. And I’m HERE now. I’m happier. I’m smarter. And I’m less than 3 months away from finishing my Dietetic Internship!

It’s time for the final push.
3 more rotations.
1 big exam.
One dream COME TRUE 🙂

And then what happens?

dream2

Then it’s time for new dreams! Bigger dreams.
Stay tuned, friends- big things are coming!

So for those of you out there that are sitting around giving up on dreams just because you think they’re too big, or too hard, or that they’ll take too long…Remember this:

Dreams are meant to be scary.
They’re meant to push your limits.
And some of them may take a while to achieve.
But you know what?
That just means that when they do come true,
they’re that much sweeter!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

PS. The winner of my Oakley Sunglasses giveaway has been chosen!

winner

Congrats girl! I sent you an email 🙂

blog

DIY Workout Tank Top

First Step: What do I make?

Next step: Storage

So… how exactly does this make things easier?

Costco

Meijer

Leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them in an upcoming post!

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Greek Yogurt Dinner Rolls

Quinoa Breakfast Bars

It’s time for the final push. 3 more rotations. 1 big exam. One dream COME TRUE 🙂

It’s time for the final push.
3 more rotations.
1 big exam.
One dream COME TRUE 🙂