Tone Up Tuesday: Work that BOOTY!

This is going to be my favorite workout for a while!

http://www.toneitup.com/blog.php?Beautiful-Booty-Tone-It-Up-Tuesday-5545

Thanks to the Tone It Up girls for this one!

Food Lab Friday: Collard Green Chips

Forget Kale chips! (not really, at least until you try my Collard Green Chips!)

Don't get me wrong, I love Kale Chips, but I could never get them just right, and to me they weren't as chip-like as I'd hoped for. My local market had a sale on the pre-washed & cut Collard Greens for $1 a bag!!!! (a huge bag!!!!!!)

And right there in the middle of the market, I birthed the idea of Collard Green Chips...

Preheat the oven @375 (or 350 depending on your oven.)
Place Collards on a baking sheet
Spray with Organic Olive Oil Spray
Sprinkle with some salt (or garlic salt, or mrs. dash)
Bake for 4-6 minutes (depending on how many you are making, I advise to start checking on them at 3 minutes....and every minute after that until they look crispy. Take one out and try it if you have too.

But I promise, once you get it just right you will be in crispy-crunchy heaven! :)

xoxo

Thirsty Thursday: Water

We all know water is essential to all life on the planet...but do we drink enough of it?
Sadly for most of us, the answer is NO. 

How much water do you need daily? Check out this link which will calculate how much water YOU should be drinking: weight, exercise and environmental conditions.
http://www.csgnetwork.com/humanh2owater.html

I personally try to drink 80-120 ounces per day.
(I factor the water in coffee and tea, too)


Benefits of water:

• Keeps you alive ;)
• Helps with metabolism
• Detoxifies
• Transports nutrients and oxygen into cells
• Makes you LOOK healthy 


Steps to drink more water:

• Flavor your water naturally: add lemons, limes, cucumbers, or fruit (be creative!)
• Eat Water rich foods (watermelon, tomato, cucumbers, etc.)
• Get a water purification pitcher or system that attaches to your faucet.
• Keep cold water handy in the 'fridge & ice cubes in the freezer
 (I swear nothing tastes better than ice cold water!)

I recently bought these Ice 'n' Slice Trays from Amazon.com
I will definitely be doing a product review on these in the future...
The concept is just like a regular ice cub tray only there is a slot in the center to insert sliced lemon, limes or fruit. For example you would place the lemon slice in the all the slots of the tray and fill w/ water. Freeze and enjoy!

 What steps do you take to drink more water?
 xoxo

Tone Up Tuesday

Tone Up Tuesday will feature my workout for that day or my favorite workout of the week.

We all know that DAILY EXERCISE is key to a long, healthy lifestyle!


Morning Booty Call: 45 minute brisk walk w/ my Dog :)

Mid-Afternoon Workout:

Tone it Up's Beautiful Booty Workout  x2
http://toneitup.com/blog.php?Beautiful-Booty-Tone-It-Up-Tuesday-5545

+

Tone it Up's 4th of July Workout x2
http://toneitup.com/blog.php?Happy-4th-of-July-5536

+

30 minutes on Gazelle/Elliptical




What did you do for exercise today?

xoxo

Recipe Wednesday: Hummus Salad Recipe

So I skipped Breakfast again today! I know, I know...it is the most important meal of the day!
As you can imagine, I was pretty hungry by lunch time, and I knew I needed something filling.

I came up with a pretty tasty recipe, its like chicken salad but way better for you...its healthy, natural, vegetarian & vegan! For this recipe, you can use nay flavor of hummus, and any veggies you like to eat with it. Just dice them up & mix with a few tablespoons of hummus.

Great for wraps, pita pockets, lettuce wraps, salad, or with crackers!
This lunch is UNDER 300 CALORIES! (subtract 100 calories if you plan on ditching the bread!)

SkinnyEverAfter's Hummus Salad

 (1-2 servings) 

• 1/4 cup chopped Broccoli

• 1/4 cup chopped Carrots

• 1/4 cup chopped Sugar Snap Peas

• 1/4 cup chopped red & yellow Sweet Peppers      (mini salad peppers)
 • 2 tablespoons of chopped Green Onion

• 2 tablespoons of Lightly Salted
  Sunflower Seeds

• 2 tablespoons of Hummus
  (I used Sabre Zesty Lemon)

 Mix Hummus & Veggies together in bowl.

  

Stuff in the sandwich pocket
OR fill middle of Romaine Lettuce leaf.

Hope you enjoy this recipe!  xoxo

UPDATE 8/1/12: I am LOVING this recipe, and have been eating it every day on a Romaine Lettuce Leaf. YUM!!!!

Day 1

Blog Schedule

Tone Up Tuesday
Recipe Wednesday

Thirsty Thursday

Food Lab Friday

After this week, I'm finally starting the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan (I LOVE the TIU Girls!!) They are an amazing duo - so inspiring!

I'm currently finishing up my home gym and just have a few more small pieces of equipment to buy.
The TIU girls have a lot of free workouts on their blog & a new dvd for sale called "Beach Babe Workout" - That will be on my Christmas list this year!

I also wanted to try following Dr.Fuhrman's 7 Day Crash Diet (as seen on Dr.Oz) Anyone tried it?
xoxo


(I will be adding a full week's worth of blogs i.e. the dates won't match the day of the week)