Workout Wednesday 3/19/14

Happy Wednesday! This week’s workout is actually a new one for me; I did it over the weekend and I loved it. It’s very effective and super easy to do at home. The BeFit Go: 20 Min Total Body Toning Workout video combines cardio, strength training, and body weight exercises for a quick yet complete full-body workout. Plus it’s only 20 minutes AND it managed to make my inner thighs sore, which is quite a feat!

The video calls for weights and a kettlebell, but if you don’t have a kettlebell you can just use one of the dumbbells instead. They give you a couple rests between sets, but I jogged in place during that time to keep my heart rate up instead. This is by no means necessary — do whatever works for you! There are quite a few deep squats (probably why my thighs were so sore), so be sure to use proper form to avoid injury: keep your back straight, butt tucked, abs tight, and make sure your knees don’t go over your toes. I find it’s helpful to do this in front of the mirror a few times to create some muscle memory before you start.

Click through below to get the workout:

Healthy Grain-Free Eggplant Vegetable Lasagna Bake

Confession: I love eggplant. Can’t get enough. It’s always been one of my mom’s favorite vegetables, and though I never ate it much as a kid, apparently that preference still got passed down to me somehow — but I’m not complaining!

I was craving some sort of Italian something, so I decided to take what was in my fridge and throw it together to make what ended up being a gorgeous layered eggplant “lasagna” — no gluten, no dairy, no nuts, seeds, or grains. Just vegetables and a little bit of homemade meat sauce, but you can omit the meat for a vegan/vegetarian option. Serious perfection.

Raw Vegan Ginger “Bananavo” Pie with Cacao Pepita Crust

Happy Friday! Today is 3/14, aka Pi Day. So instead of doing my bi-weekly Food Feature Friday, I’ll be posting a pi(e) recipe instead! This pie isn’t your typical pie. It doesn’t contain any flour, butter, or sugar. There’s no milk or cream. Yet it’s one of the creamiest pies I’ve ever eaten. So what is it, you ask? It’s raw. And vegan. And as far as the internet has told me, this pie doesn’t exist. Yet. Execpt for in my stomach. Right now.

I’ve been wanting to make a raw vegan pie for a while now, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. While I don’t follow a raw or vegan diet, I do tend to incorporate raw/vegan foods into my diet fairly often — and who says your diet has to have labels anyway? Anything that’s healthy, delicious, and REAL is good enough for me. I also wanted the pie to be GREEN for St. Patrick’s Day on Monday! So it’s a Pi-Patrick’s Day Pie. That’s a thing, right?

I’d never used avocado in baked goods before, and the interwebz told me that Avocado Pie is a California “tradition” — but seeing as I’ve lived in California, oh I don’ know, my entire life and have never tried it before, I think they might be wrong. The traditional recipe calls for condensed milk which is obviously a big no-no if you’re dairy-free or vegan. So I decided to add cashews and banana instead. (P.S. Banana + Avocado = Bananavo… get it?)

So what’s it like? The avocado-cashew-banana base is thick and creamy and while it tastes ever so slightly of avocados, the ginger and banana definitely shine through. The subtly sweet cacao pepita (pumpkin seed) crust pairs perfectly with the soft spice of the filling. And all you need is a food processor to make it. What’s not to love?

Workout Wednesday 3/12/14

Hello and welcome to Workout Wednesday! Each week I’m going to post a FREE workout video that you can try for yourself at home. You may not know this, but I’m a huge fan of workout videos. In fact I lost almost 40 lbs without ever setting foot in a gym! Jillian Michaels’ videos were some of my go-tos during my weight loss journey, and this week’s video was one that I used often as I progressed further into my fitness routine.

This video is slightly longer and more challenging than many of the workouts I’ll post, but it’s worth it. As with many of Jillian’s other programs, she combines various exercises to form effective cardio strength training circuits that help you shed fat while sculpting your whole body from head to toe. This video has seven sets, so prepare to sweat (and be sore tomorrow)!

Click through to get the workout below

Garlic Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I have a secret. I’ve only eaten brussel sprouts twice in my life, this being one of them. Gasp! I know! How could such a veggie lover not have experienced such a wonderful vegetable?

Well let’s be honest… up until the past few years brussel sprouts were, well, slightly less than glamorous in the food world. It was like one day they went from smelly and “ew” to totally posh and trendy (thanks in large part to bacon, I think). BUT there’s another reason I never had brussel sprouts before. My dad LOATHES them. I mean totally and completely hates them. They are the bain of his existence, hence they were never allowed in the house despite the fact that my mom didn’t mind them. Pretty funny, huh?

Although there’s something even more peculiar. My dad is the reason I first tried them. One day he apparently got a little spark in him that made him go to Whole Foods (which isn’t exactly his type of store) and buy us dinner from the food counter. Orange glazed brussel sprouts were one of his picks, just to “give them another chance” — he spit them out as soon as he took a bite. I thought they were okay, but not great. A little sulfurous. Now I just think they weren’t cooked right, because these were delicious.