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Hi Friends!

It’s been a while, but it’s time for another Secret Recipe Club post!

This month I was assigned to Katherine’s blog: Katherine Martinelli. She has a beautiful blog and takes amazing photos. I drooled over pretty much everything, and after much deliberation I finally decided I was so intrigued by her Cilantro Pesto that I had to give it a try!

A few weeks ago, I was tweeting with Lauren and she was telling me how much she loved this roasted red pepper pesto! I was immediately in love and bookmarked the recipe. When I decided to make this cilantro pesto, I thought it’d be the perfect time to add in a roasted red pepper to it to tone down the cilantro a little.

So I made a few changes to Katherine’s recipe. I used almonds instead of pine nuts because I had them on hand, added a red pepper, decreased the oil and didn’t use any cheese!

It turned out really well! I served in on some salmon but i’m putting the rest in the freezer for the next time I feel like making some bruschetta….and i’ll use the rest to make some pesto pasta. YUM!

Thanks to Katherine for the inspiration!

Weekend Workout- Saturday:

I put together a stability ball workout with cardio blasts. Each exercise was done for 50 sec. followed by 10 sec rest. This took 20 minutes, followed by an optional 5 minute ab workout that could be done once or twice.

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If you’re not sure how to do any of these exercises using a stability ball, just google them! There are tons of videos out there to show you, but here’s a quick run down: One legged squats- place the ball between your back and a wall. Stand on one leg and squat down. The ball will roll down the wall with you. Seated shoulder press- Sit on the stability ball and do shoulder presses like normal Hamstring curl- Lay on the floor and place one foot on top of the ball. Roll the ball towards you using your hamstring and then roll it back out. Chest press: Place your feet on the floor and your upper back on the ball. Perform chest press like normal. One Legged Wall Sit- Place the stability ball between your back and the wall. Stand on one leg and roll down the wall until your leg is in a seated position. Hold. Seated lateral raises- Sit on the stability ball and perform lateral raises as usual Split squat- Put one foot, laces down on the top of the stability ball. Stretch your front leg out to a lunge position. Squat up and down. Decline pushups- Put your feet on the stability ball and your hands on the ground and do pushups. Abs: Oblique lifts- google this one Incline plank- Do a plank but put your forearms on the stability ball and keep your feet on the floor Knee tucks- put your hands on the floor and your legs on the stability ball. Pull your knees towards your stomach, rolling the ball in with them and back out Crunches- lay with your back on the stability ball and your feet on the floor and perform crunches like normal Enjoy! –Lindsay–

Hi Friends!

I’ve been thinking about something for the past week or so and it just doesn’t seem to want to get out of my head, so I’m writing about it.

{This is funny because clearly I was not having
any deep thoughts in this picture}

ANYWAYS…last week, one of my fellow Fitfluential Ambassadors asked people to submit a picture of themselves wearing a pair of jeans that make them feel great about themselves. I didn’t…mainly because I was feeling lazy…but I think that’s what started this whole thought process.

I started thinking about the pairs of jeans I own. I think I have 4 pairs. 2 pairs of what used to be my favorite pair with the flare legs. Yep, exactly same pair, bought about 2 years apart…so one’s old and one’s new. And two pairs of my new favorite pair of skinny jeans. Yep, again, same exact pair, just one old and one new.

I held out on buying skinny jeans for a long time. I have big legs, always have, probably always will, namely big thighs…and I was convinced skinny jeans just weren’t for me. So, a few months ago when I finally got up the courage to even try some on…it was a big day. This particular pair wasn’t great…BUT they weren’t horrible…I was surprised and I decided to keep looking. A few weeks later, I tried on another pair and they were AWESOME. They weren’t the infamous jeggings…they were actual jeans…just with a skinny ankle opening…HUGE change from the flare legged jeans I’d been wearing for oh, approximately the last 15 years. So I bought them.

And I’ve pretty much been wearing them non-stop. I think I like them because they remind me of the leggings I’d rather be wearing…but they’re jeans….so they’re more appropriate in most situations 🙂 I’m especially loving that they fit so nicely in my winter boots and that I no longer have to deal with stuffing my bunchy flare legged jeans into them, which i’ve been doing for oh, approximately the last 15 years.

Anyways, so here’s what happened. The other day it was pretty nice out (read: dry, with no snow) so I decided I would wear my tennis shoes to class, instead of my boots. Along with that decision, I decided that since I’d been wearing my skinny jeans for the past however many days in a row, that today might be a good day to pull out the old flare legged pair. Here’s me wearing the flare back in April.

And you know what? They didn’t fit. Well, they fit. I could still button them, they weren’t too tight in the waist, but I spent the next several hours being super uncomfortable. Since I started working out, my legs have changed a little bit…I’ve gained some muscle. And when I put on my old pair of jeans, ie the pair I hadn’t really worn since I started working out, they didn’t fit right. They were tighter in my hips and thighs but still fit in the waist. I was constantly tugging on the sides and squatting to try to stretch them out, yet pulling them up at the waist.

And it was miserable. I knew they still looked ok. I could see myself in the mirror and I know that anyone else who saw me wasn’t going “omg look at how terribly her jeans fit”…but I wasn’t comfortable. I started thinking I must’ve gained weight since the jeans were tighter in some places…even though I KNEW it was muscle I’d gained. It’s still hard to avoid those negative thoughts.

Later that day, as I came home from class, I remembered that the hubby and I had a college alumni event to go to that evening. I wasn’t really in the mood. I was feeling a little down in the dumps…but hubby was excited about going. So here’s what I did: I got my hair wet and restyled it from the messy high ponytail it had been in all day. I put on a new shirt that I know fits my body that way it is now, and I put on my skinny jeans and my favorite pair of boots. And you know what?

I felt like a million bucks. I was comfortable and I didn’t tug at my jeans a single time during the night.

When I got home, I looked at the size on both pairs of jeans…just for kicks. And you know what? The skinny jeans were a size smaller. I realized that the two pairs of jeans represented two different stages of my life. One pair fits how I used to be, and one pair fits how I am now. And you know what? That’s ok. It would have been ok if they were the same size, or even if the skinny jeans were a bigger size. Who cares?! They look better, they feel better…why should it matter what size they are.

It got me thinking about why clothing size really matters. Do you think people’s body confidence would increase if jean were sized via random letters in non-alphabetical order instead of increasing numerical numbers? Would people care less about what size they wore  if they couldn’t compare their size C jeans to another girl’s size K jeans? Versus comparing their size 10 to another’s size 4?

Clearly size is irrelevant anyways if I can have two pairs of jeans and the the bigger ones feel too tight. Size is just a number, and it irritates me when people let it define them.

I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that if you’re working out hard, losing fat and gaining muscle, OR losing weight through diet and exercise, OR working hard to get healthy and gain weight….treat yourself to some clothes that fit your body now. Whether it be a size bigger, or a size smaller….find a size that FITS YOU…don’t just buy something and try to squeeze into it because it’s the size you think you want to be or think you should be. And don’t keep wearing the same pair if your body changes. 

Ignore the size, ignore the label, ignore what size the sizing charts tell you you should be wearing. Focus on the way they FIT, not what size they are. Find a pair of jeans that are comfortable. That fit your curves, or lack of curves, whatever the case may be. That make you SMILE when you look in the mirror because you’re proud of yourself for all your hard work and you want to show it off.

Then buy those and never look back!

Today’s workout:

Needed a heavy lifting day so I picked 4 moves and really focused on heavy weights.

Here’s what I did:

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I chose a heavy weight and then a slightly lighter one for round two. I’m getting to the point where it’s almost as hard to hold the 30# dbs as it is to squat with them! I miss having a bar to do squats. But anyways, my legs were screaming by the end of the lunges…and then I went and did wall sits!
PS…you can turn your gymboss into a stopwatch- perfect for the wall sits and planks!

–Lindsay–

Heyyyyyyyyy Friends!

It’s time for another Foodie Penpals reveal day!

And let me tell you, I got some GOOD stuff this month! I got my box from the lovely Sarah at Sarah Snacks. She’s totally adorable and one of my fav bloggers, not only because she’s also in school to become an RD but because she whips up delicious recipes and is fun to chat with on Twitter 🙂

Check out what she sent me:

Expertly packed so everything made it in one piece!

Look at all those goodies! And such a fun green basket…which is now conveniently holding the million supplies we need to take care of our wounded puppy! (Who, by the way, did not end up needing more stitches, but still has his paw wrapped and has successfully eaten his entire bandage twice more…sigh…good news is the paw does appear to be healing, slowly but surely)…ANYWAYS…

She sent me homemade treats, which I love! Banana chocolate chip and banana walnut muffins!

Local Texas pecans. A little back story…I complained on twitter a few months ago about how all the Christmas cookies i wanted to make used pecans but they were SO expensive here in Ohio. She told me they have pecan trees in Texas and she’d send me some when they were back in season. AND THEN SHE REMEMBERED! She’s the freakin’ best 🙂

Dark chocolate covered cherries, which are delicious to munch on and are also probably going to be very good in the cookies I put them in 🙂
Vegan queso (Fun Fact: She’s the second foodie penpal to send it to me. Foodies love the stuff!)
And that salsa. BEST.SALSA.EVER. The hubby and I devoured it in about 2 days. So good!!!

So like I said, I lucked out 🙂

In case you’re now super jealous and would like to join in the fun, here are a few details about the program:

-On the 5th of the 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 can choose 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.

**The BIG news this month is that we’re going to do a trial run in Canada.  I’m still not exactly sure how it will work with shipping costs and stuff since I’m not sure you guys up North have flat rate shipping boxes, but if you’re willing to give it a try for a month and provide me with some feedback, that would be awesome!

Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. 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. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

Sound like fun? If you’re interested in participating for February, please send  an email to Lindsay at [email protected] and include the following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)
–WHETHER YOU ARE A US RESIDENT OR CANADIAN RESIDENT. – this is SUPER important so I can get you on the right list!

That’s all for today friends!

Yesterday’s workout:

I didn’t sleep well the night before and literally had to drag myself off the  couch but it ended up being my best workout of the week. I hit the treadmill for some more intervals but decided I was going to jog during my recovery instead of walk.

Here’s what I did:

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So here’s the deal. This workout was a bit of trial and error. For the first mile, I ran the very first minute at 8.0 and decided it wasn’t fast enough so I bumped it up to 8.5. That mile too 8:12. For the next mile I did all 8.5/6.5 and it was 8:06 which I realize isn’t exactly an 8 min mile per the title but it’s pretty darn close! For mile 3, I was tired. So for the first 4 minutes I did 8.6/6.6. Then for the next 4 I did 8.6/4.5. Once I hit 8 minutes I was at 2.92 miles so I bumped it back up to 8.6 and finished mile 3 in 8:35. It was amazing!!! At first I felt bad that I had to walk for the second half of that last mile…but then I realized that all three of my miles were still faster than the fastest one I did on Saturday! Next time I’m going to try to do all of them at 8.6/6.6.

–Lindsay–

Over the past couple weeks I’ve been tagged by a few bloggers (Caitlin, Meg & Lindsay) to do an About Me post. I was having trouble coming up with lots of random facts to share about myself, but when I saw this post from Ashley, I immediately started writing one of my own in my head….So here’s just a little bit more about me:

If you looked…

If you looked into my home, you’d see…
tumbleweeds of dog fur rolling down the hallway
an ever-expanding home gym in the basement
a pile of mail, some dirty dishes and a vase full of flowers on the couter
a pile of scrapbooks filled with memories
a collection of mismatched plates, jars & other food blogger props
a husband dancing around like an idiot, just to see me smile…

If you looked into my car, you’d see…
a dirty apron and a name badge so I don’t forget them on my way to work
an extra pair of shorts, a t shirt and tennis shoes, because you never know when you might have time for a workout
a rust spot from when I tried to parallel park in college & backed into a truck
a clean towel in case I get caught in the rain
2 pairs of sunglasses, a coffee mug and a pile of papers because I’m terrible at remembering to bring things inside
A single earring because the other one fell below my seat about 6 months ago and I’m too lazy to fish it out
the dog’s favorite tennis ball so we’re always ready for a trip to the dog park
the colorful wooden spoon my mom gave me the day I moved out of the house for good, to always remind me of home

If you looked into my gmail, you’d see…
countless blog-related emails
followup messages as I try to organize my potential internships
tons of junk emails that I’m too lazy to unsubscribe from
a million daily deals that I still don’t have the money to buy
an email from a good friend so i never forget how lucky i am to have her

If you looked into my phone, you’d see…
hundreds of pictures of my animals
snapshots of random things I eat
photos of my hubby and voicemail messages that never fail make me smile
pictures from trips of taken and days I’ve loved, so I never forget what makes me who I am

If you looked into my head, you’d see..
shadows of worry and self doubt about the future
snippets of pride each time i do a killer workout and survive
a never-ending list of things I need to do, recipes I want to make, workouts I want to try and places I want to visit
memories of fun times with friends, both near and far
a newly developed confidence in myself

If you looked into my heart, you’d see..
a fierce desire to share my passion for health and nutrition with others
an indescribable amount of love for my husband, family & friends
an aching sadness because I know that I can’t fix everything that’s wrong with the world
an overwhelming amount of love for my abandoned shelter pets
the crazy amount of happiness I get from helping others
the courage to follow my dreams…

Your turn! What would I see if I looked into your ___________?!

Yesterday’s workout:

Put together a tabata workout to try out my new gymboss timer! Inspired by this flamingo workout:

This workout was a fun way to change it up. I enjoyed the challenge of doing things like shoulder presses on one leg. I used 15# dbs for most of the exercises, 25# db for the deadlifts.

Today’s Workout:
Hit the treadmill for some intervals. I chose 8.5 as my fast running speed and 4.5 as my recovery speed. I wanted to cover 3 miles. Here’s what I did:

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This workout was great! It pushed me but was still doable.
I was definitely tired by mile 3 which is why I slowed down my fast run speed…
but I still finished the 3 miles in 27:00 minutes.

–Lindsay–

Hi Friends-

No new recipes today…Today’s post is straight from the heart (and a little long, sorry about that). Recently I’ve been doing a lot of work on my blog and it’s got me thinking about some of the things I’ve learned over the last year and a half.

I thought I would share them with you guys in the rambly sort of way I do best, so here we go…in no particular order:

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 -Blogging is hard. It’s hard to find several hours a day to devote to blog writing, reading, cooking and taking pictures. It’s hard to constantly be creative and try to think of new things that you haven’t blogged about, let alone anyone else. It’s hard to be organized enough to line up guest posts or prep extra posts when you have a busy week coming up. But I make time and I put in the effort, because I love it.

-You could easily drown in the sea of social media if you let yourself. When I first started blogging, the only thing I worried about was publishing the post. Occasionally I’d share the link on my personal facebook page. That was it. Then I made a facebook page for my blog. Then I got a twitter account. Then I joined pinterest. And now, it feels like between stumble upon, posterous, tumblr, foodbuzz, youtube and others, that there are million other social media sites that I’m not even using…and quite frankly, I don’t have time for all of them. So I choose to stay active on the social media sites I enjoy most, instead of stretching myself a million different directions and not enjoying any of them.

-You will get jealous of other bloggers Do I get jealous when a blogger gets their 98th picture accepted by Foodgawker while I can’t get them to accept even one of mine? Yes! Or when someone makes it into the Foodbuzz Top 9 for the 10th day in a row? Absolutely. Or when someone gets the same number of pageviews in a day that I do in an entire month? Sure. But I’ve come a long way since I started blogging because I realized that it just doesn’t matter. I can be happy for them and their successes, while still being proud of myself and the things I’ve accomplished. I can work really hard on a recipe or a post and just because it doesn’t get a certain number of page views or pins or whatever, DOESN’T MEAN IT ISN’T AN AWESOME POST! If you find yourself being jealous of other bloggers,  remember that somewhere, someone out there might be jealous of you and the amazing things you’re doing!

-You don’t have to do everything other bloggers are doing. On the food side- You don’t have to spend 1 hour after you cook a meal taking pictures of it every single night. If you’re not in the mood, snap a quick picture and dig in. Your blog can still be successful if you don’t take amazing pictures. One the fitness side- You don’t have to go out and run 20 miles every day to call yourself fitfluential, a runner or an athlete. If running 3 miles is hard for you, then every.single.time you run 3 miles, you should be proud of yourself because that is an accomplishment for YOU. Quit comparing yourself to others and start celebrating all the awesome things you can do.

-No one can make you feel inferior unless you let them. There is absolutely no reason why your 20 minute workout can’t be considered just as good as someone else’s 2 hours of running.  I’ll probably never run a marathon…let’s be honest, I can’t run more than 4 miles without a) feeling like i’m going to die and b) being just plain bored. I don’t enjoy running long distances, so i’m not going to do it. I do enjoy putting together an amazing 20 minute circuit workout and calling it a day…so that’s what I’m gonna do- And that’s fine!

-You don’t have to blog multiple times a day, or even every day to be successful. There are bloggers out there who religiously blog 3 times a day. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It works for them…I admire their dedication and their ability to come up with that much stuff to talk about. And I read those blogs and love them…but I’ll never be like them. AND THAT’S OK. It took me a long time, but i finally realized that I don’t need to blog every day in order to keep my readers. In fact, sometimes I go three days without blogging, and guess what! NOTHING happens. People still read when I do post, they still comment, they’re still there if I decide to put living life ahead of blogging. And just because I don’t blog every day doesn’t mean i’m not dedicated to my readers. Blogging is supposed to be fun! If I turn it into a chore/competition/requirement, then what’s the point?

-Just because you’re a food blogger doesn’t mean you have to like all the same foods as everyone else. I don’t like kale chips, or coconut water, or dates filled with peanut butter … And I don’t have to pretend to like them just to fit in.

-Numbers don’t have to matter I realize that some people blog to make money or as their full-time job…and to them, it probably does matter how many page views they get because for them, page views = pay check. And that’s fine. But that’s not me. Blogging is not really a source of income for me. Sure I make a little money here and there….like enough to treat myself to an extra frozen yogurt, or occasionally pay someone to do some behind the scenes techy stuff to my blog…but it’s nothing life changing. AND THAT’S OK! When I first started blogging, I looked at my stats page every day. I let whether I had a lot of page views or not as many as normal control my mood. It stressed me out constantly and I was always feeling pressured to do something bigger and better. So I stopped looking. Quit cold turkey. Now I never look at my numbers unless I have to submit them to a company for an opportunity. And it was so freeing! I know not everyone takes this approach, and that many people will continue to check their numbers all the time…but for me, it works. It helps me keep myself in check and helps keep blogging what it’s supposed to be- FUN. I blog because I want to, and it doesn’t matter if there’s one person reading my post every day, or one thousand.
*This doesn’t mean I’m not interested in growing my blog, gaining readers or making improvements to my site…it just means that I’ve learned to not let the numbers dictate my feelings or rule my life!

SO, some of those things may have been viewed as blogging negatives, although I don’t really think they are…but I wanted to also focus on some of the positives…

-The blogging community is the most inspirational & motivating group of people I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve never been surrounded by so many amazing people that share the same interests as me, get excited about the same things as I do or are as supportive as they are. If I’m lacking motivation to go work out, I turn to Twitter and am usually up off the couch within 5 minutes. If I don’t know what to make for dinner, I just open my google reader and I usually have about 27 ideas by the time I’m done reading all the new blog posts. If I have an amazing workout and I tweet about it, I immediately have at least 5 people telling me what a good job I did or how awesome I am. It doesn’t get any better than that.

-You can make good friends through blogging. Even though I’ve met very few bloggers in real life, there are several that I consider to be some of my best friends. I email them about life and they can relate. I text them when I’m stressed about school because they’re going through the same thing. I send them packages on their birthday because I know it will make them smile. It’s been an amazing way for me to find some new friends, which is something I never expected would happen when I started this blog. Embrace every opportunity. You never know when one will positively change your life for the better!

-After all your hard work, you will have something you can be proud to call your own. When I started my blog, I had no idea how long it would last, or how much a part of my life it would become.  When I look back at some of my first posts, it’s fun to see how much I’ve grown as a person, developed my identity as a blogger and gained confidence both in blogging and in life. And you know what? I’m freakin’ proud of myself. I’m proud of how awesome my blog looks. I’m proud of how many hours of work I’ve put into blogging. I’m proud of myself for the times I’ve stepped outside my comfort zone. I’m proud of all the new foods I’ve tried. I’m proud that I’ve inspired other people to make healthier choices….

I’m proud of ME.

And if you can relate to this post at all, I hope you’re proud of yourself too for all the amazing things you’ve done with your life! I hope you’ll stop comparing yourself to others,  stop trying to be someone else…and start to enjoy just being you!

Cheers!

–Lindsay–

Sunday’s Workout: I seem to be in a running mood this week, but sometimes I like to break it up with a little break or two. I set out with the goal of running 3 miles total, one mile at a time. In between, I did three 4-min tabatas to give myself some active recovery!

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I ran the three miles in 27:52 (9:17 pace) and each Tabata took 4 minutes. I rested for 1 min after each Tabata. I set the treadmill at 6.5mph for each mile. It was tough, but not impossible. By the time I got halfway through the last mile, I wanted to take the speed down to 6.0 SO BADLY but I fought a mental battle with myself and told myself I could do it at the speed I was at, and I did!

Today’s Workout:

Suddenly it was 11pm and I hadn’t done my workout yet! After 2 days of cardio I decided to do some heavy weights w/ some of my fav arms & legs exercises.

For me, theses were heavier weights than I usually use to do my high rep circuit workouts so this was a challenge for me. I tried to pick a weight that I would really struggle with in the last set. This took me 20 minutes and I felt great

Hi friends!

I was gonna write a fun post for you guys today all about me. Instead, I’m spending the morning at the vet.

Let’s recap:

One week ago, Tucker got a giant cut in the pad of his foot. We kept it clean and wrapped all weekend but it was too deep and we knew he would need stitches.

Monday: off to the vet we went. He got internal and external stitches, they gave us a cone collar and said to keep him from jumping for 2 weeks (HA!)

Tuesday: I had I go to work and leave him alone til hubby got home. I put the cone on and put him in his cage. Hubby came home 2 hours later and the cone was off and the bandage was ripped.

Wednesday/Thursday: we were worried he would hurt his foot more if he kept trying to get the cone off so we left him occasionally with the paw wrapped and sprayed with bad tasting stuff. Every time hubby came home the bandage was nibbled on but relatively intact. He pulled it off a couple times while we were home and we put it back on.

Friday: the foot seemed to be bothering him more. I skipped class to stay with him, then we decided to go out to dinner. When we got home 3 hours later, he’d eaten the entire bandage and pulled the stitches out! We gave him hydrogen peroxide and he barfed up most of the bandage…

Saturday: we’re off to the vet to probably get more stitches…and spend more money…sigh….

He’s lucky we love him!

Today’s workout: Hubby and I have to stagger our workouts this week so one of us can watch the dog…so, he went first and ran 4 miles in 40 min!

I put together an interval workout for myself with my fastest treadmill speeds ever! It’s a 10 min cycle so you can choose how many times to repeat it to get to your desired workout time.

I did it twice and covered 2.3 miles in 20 minutes, then finished out to get to 3 miles by doing the next five min at 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 6.1, 6.0 (one min each) and then a min at 6.5 and a min at 7.0 to finish 3 miles in 26:50!

Before today I’d never gone above 8.0 on the treadmill so this was pushing it for me. If you need a little extra time to recover, especially after the first cycle you can walk 30 sec at 4.0, run 30 sec at 6.0 and then leave the speed intervals the same. That’s what I did for the second cycle.

Here’s what it looked like:

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Hi Friends!

Happy Thursday. Today I just wanted to share a quick post for you about my newest kitchen appliance- my pressure cooker!

My parents got me this Fagor Duo 8-Quart Pressure Cooker for Christmas and I love it. I’ve always kinda felt that the pressure cooker is a somewhat unnecessary kitchen appliance. And in a way, it is. Anything you can do in a pressure cooker, you can do another way…it just takes longer.

I remember while I was growing up, my mom would use hers occasionally…and I always thought it was cool to watch, but never thought about it much more than that. A few years ago, when my parents moved…the pressure cooker was one of the larger things my mom took with her. I remember thinking that was weird, because their new kitchen was much smaller and it seemed like it was taking up unnecessary space.

Well, my friends, now I understand why…because IT’S AWESOME!

The first thing I used it for was brown rice. This baby can cook brown rice in 15 minutes instead of 40! Not quite as fast as my Uncle Ben’s 90 Sec Brown rice, but still…15 minutes is a huge improvement!

Next, I knew I wanted to try it on with some dried beans. As you guys know, I like to make a whole bag of dried beans at once, and then I portion them into ziploc bags and freeze them so I can just pull them out when I need them! However, I’d just made a batch of black beans right before Christmas, so I didn’t need to make any more of those…

But I still wanted to try it out! So, I picked up some dried chickpeas. I make a lot of hummus and roasted chickpeas but I’ve never been a fan of dried chickpeas. The first time I bought them, I wasn’t a fan of how they turned out….but I decided it was worth another shot with the pressure cooker!

So get this- using a pressure cooker, you can go from dried chickpeas (not even pre-soaked) to totally cooked in 40 minutes!!! AMAZING!!!! And even more amazing? Hummus from dried chickpeas can be ready in 45 minutes! LOVE 🙂

So, the fast rice is awesome, the quick hummus is amazing but probably my favorite use for my pressure cooker so far is hard boiled eggs! 7 minutes to perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs that peel SO EASILY!

Guys, I know you’ve all struggled with peeling a hard boiled egg. You know how frustrating it is when the shell only comes off in tiny little pieces, and then they get stuck to your fingers and to the egg itself and it’s just one big frustrating mess?! Well this definitely solves the problem.

I did some online research about the best way to pressure cook eggs and a lot of things I read said you needed to keep the eggs separated so they didn’t bang into each other or they would crack. So for my first test, I stood the eggs on end in beer bottle caps. Truthfully, I spent the whole 7 minutes praying that the whole thing didn’t explode in my kitchen.

But despite my concerns, it worked perfectly and they were all still standing when they were done. Then I decided that it seemed like a bit of unnecessary work getting them all balance in there. So the next time I just put a bunch in there and hoped for the best. Another success. A couple of them did crack, but it wasn’t until the egg was already at least partially cooked, so there was no messy water, just a few cracked shells that made them even easier to peel!

I’m in love, I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it 🙂

Next on my list- pressure cooker risotto. My mom makes it all the time. Perfectly cooked, without the one hour of constant stirring.

I guess what I’m trying to say is….if you have the room for it, and you see one on sale- grab yourself a pressure cooker. So worth it!

I also found this awesome website Hip Pressure Cooking that’s basically devoted to how cool pressure cooking is.

So tell me, do you have a pressure cooker? Do you want one? Do you have a favorite pressure cooker recipe?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Today’s Workout:

Put together a bench workout that only require the use of a bench and your body weight. It can be done anywhere there’s a bench. In your basement, at the gym, at a park…

Here are the reps I did for rounds 1 & 2: Jump-ups (20,22), Pushups (27,31), Lunges-right & left (26, 29), Dips (31, 30), One Leg Step-ups- right & left (23, 25), Leg lifts (25,26), One leg squats-right & left (20, 22), In & Outs (29, 32), Calf Raises (45, 45).

Here’s me doing my best to explain all the moves in writing:

Bench Jump-ups: Start straddling the bench. Squat down and jump up with both feet landing on the bench. Step down and repeat.
Incline pushups– Place your hands on the side of the bench and do a pushup
Decline pushups– Place your hands on the floor and your toes on the bench and do a pushup
Lunges: Place one toe on the bench and step out with the other leg. Move up and down, forming a 90 degree angle with your front knee, then switch legs.
Dips: Place your hands on the side of the bench and use your triceps to move your body up and down
Step-ups: Start with both feet on the ground, stepup with one foot, follow with the other, and then back down
Leg Lifts– Lay on the bench with your legs hanging off one end. Bring your legs up so they’re perpendicular with the floor and then back down to parallel.
One legged squats: Balance on one leg, squat down and touch your but to the bench and stand back up.
In and Outs: Balance your butt on the bench and lean back. Pull your arms and legs into your chest. Lean back and extend your arms and legs out, then pull back in as you sit up.
Calf Raises: Stand on the edge of the bench or on the ground next to the bench and raise up and down on your toes.

Hi Friends!

Happy Monday. Just popping in to share a few things with you guys.

First of all, I did TONS of work on the blog over the weekend…it was exhausting but hopefully it will be helpful you guys as readers and that will make it all worth it!

Here’s what I did:

1) I finally got all of my recipes into Recipage. Check it out by clicking the Recipes tab at the top of the page. You can now search for recipes in a variety of different ways including cooking method, key ingredients and alphabetically.  You can easily print or email recipes, as well as tweet them, pin them or share them on facebook! So excited about this!!

2) I made a tab for Foodie Penpals. All the details of the program can be found there so be sure to check it out if you’re not already participating. If you ARE already participating, feel free to share the link with your readers in posts and on twitter to help continue to spread the word!

3) I updated my About Me tab!

4) I made a Workouts tab. I’ll continue to post my weekly Fitness Friday posts, but I’ve gone back and inserted some of the individual workouts into old posts on the day I did them. That way, you can go to the workout tab, choose a specific workout you want to do and it will link you to the post that contains that workout. This will allow you to bookmark and share specific workouts instead of an entire week’s work that you get in the Fitness Friday posts.

5) I made an Inspiration tab. Some of my recipes were just too simple or not specific enough to work in Recipage. I also had several series posts I’ve done like Lindsay’s Lunchbox & WIAW that were on my Recipe page before and wouldn’t work with Recipage. So, the Inspiration tab is somewhere you can go for easy lunch and dinner recipe inspiration, series posts, blog link love and other odds and ends posts.

Whew….I think that’s it for now! I’ll keep you posted as other changes occur!

I’ll leave you with my new favorite side dish. It couldn’t be easier to make…just 3 ingredients!

So tell me: What was the best part of your weekend?!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Weekend Workout:

Hubby took a rest day on Saturday and I hopped on the treadmill for a quick run to loosen my legs. Started at 6.5mph and increased by .1 every minute up to 6.9 and back down.

I covered 2.21 miles in 20 min. I hit the two mile mark at 17:54 and then finished out the last 2 minutes. I felt good about this workout because I ran the whole thing, even though I wanted to stop several times. It got me sweating but still let me feel like I was stretching my legs.
Today’s Workout:

Put together a workout full of partner exercises to do with the hubby!

We took it kinda easy this workout because we were working through all the exercises and figuring out exactly how to do them. Feel free to increase the number of sets/reps you do with your partner.

A few moves that might need an explanation:
Throwdown situps– One partner sits on the floor with their knees bent. The other partner kneels on their partners feet, put their hands on their partner’s shoulders and pushes them down. The partner on the ground should engage their abs to resist as they go down to the floor slowly and then sit back up
Hamstring Drops– Have your partner kneel in front of you with their feet behind them, soles in the air. Stand on the soles of their shoes and push them forward. The partner will fall to the ground and land in pushup position, then pull themselves back up, engaging their hamstrings.
DB/Med Ball Situp Handoffs– lay down opposite each other on your backs with your feet touching, one person holding a med ball or dumbbell. Sit up and pass the weight to your partner, do another sit up and exchange the weight again. You can also lock your legs together to help your feel from coming up off the ground.
Plank Walkup Hand Slaps– Start facing each other in plank position with your palms on the floor. Both partners lower onto one forearm, then the other, then push back up onto one palm, then the other. Then lift your right hand, slap your partner’s right hand and repeat but slap their left hand.
Situp Punches– One partner lays on their back with their knees bent. The other partner kneels on their feet and holds their hands up over the partner’s knees. The partner on the floor does a situp and lightly punches their right hand across into their partner’s right hand and their left hand across into their partner’s left hand. Do another situp and repeat.
Twist and Pass– Stand back to back. Both partners twist to one side, pass a db or med ball and twist to the other side and pass it again. Two passes is one rep.
Leg Throwdowns– One partner lay on the floor. The other stands behind their head so the partner on the floor can grab their ankles. The partner on the floor lifts their legs off the floor and the standing partner throws them down to the floor. Repeat.
Wheelbarrow Pushups– One partner grabs the other partners ankles and lifts them into the air. The partner with their feet in the air does pushups. Switch partners.
Resistance Band Tricep Extensions– Each partner holds one end of the same resistance band and alternates doing tricep extensions.