Perfect Chili

Oh, hey!!

Last night, we spent some major time on our kitchen floor.

Good news: It is ALMOST done!

Bad news: My kitchen sink leaked,(long story) and I’m worried it got under the new flooring. ugh.

Good news: Leak fixed (I think).

More good news: I made chili last night!

Now, for those of you long time readers, you know I don’t like beans. I am a huge texture person and I think beans are furry. Yes, they are nutritionally packed but I just don’t like them, however I do recommend them. Brent does eat them though. In fact, he LOVES them. He asked for chili yesterday and since I have been pretty lazy with making dinners this week since my kitchen is covered in sawdust.. I pulled out the crockpot to help out a bit.

Yesterday was a rainy day so it totally hit the spot!

Fall Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground turkey ( I used lean turkey)
• 1/2 onions, chopped
• 4 tsp. of garlic minced.
• 2 (14 oz.) cans diced tomatoes (do not drain)
• 6 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 Tbs. Dijon Mustard
• 1 Tbs. chili powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Directions:

Ready..

Cook your turkey in a skillet and combine all ingredients except for the cornstarch into the crockpot.

Set on low for 3 hours, then add cornstarch and stir well and let cook for one more hour.

Done and Done!

I served it with some easy twist parmesan rolls.

 

Workouts:

Yesterday: GPP, 6  mile run on the treadmill. oh joy.

Today: Burpalooza, and Bi’s and Tri’s

Now, I am officially not going to do one more burpee until…

I hope all that are able can come out to this. We have some great sponsors and free swag and some pretty hot shirts!

Something completely random:

I have been loving the fall weather! But something I’m going to miss..

Fresh PEACHES.. I ‘m thinking this may be my last batch of perfect peaches.

Sigh..

Hope your having a great week so far!

Questions of the day:

Now, that I have a lot of wood floor.. what do I use to clean it?

What seasonal fruit do you miss through the winter?

How long was your last run?

Roasted Coconut Butternut Squash with Apples.

Happy Monday!!

I have a yummy fall recipe for you!

 

First off, my day started off at GPP after sleeping in a little this morning. It is still dark at 6am and when my alarm goes off I feel like its more like 5 am..I was planning on going for a little run this morning but I am not a fan of running in the dark by myself so I hit snooze and went back to bed.  I went to GPP for “Hit the Deck” a little later.

I have always been a fan of this workout and it is a awesome workout when your traveling!

I got a quick run in afterwards, like 2.41 miles quick.

My friend, Ashlan ran NWM in San Diego yesterday and was teaching pump at skills tonight and I offered to help her out with a few tracks. Squats and lunging are everyone’s favorite movements post 26.2 right? It was an awesome class!

Then I ran another 1.5 miles on the TM.

Our kitchen has been quite the project. Next time you think about doing flooring, plan on about a month of work, lots of caffeine, headaches and new plumbing.. more on that later.

Roasted Coconut Butternut squash- with Apples

Fall is all about the squashes. The aroma they give while baking just gives me the feely goods.

Comforting, warm and HEALTHY!

Add some apples to the mix and you have a match made in heaven.

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash or the lovely pre-cut squash from Costco.
• 2 med. Apples
• 1/3 C. Coconut Oil.
• Cinnamon- to taste.

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Cut squash and apples into cubes.

Spread butternut squash and apples on baking sheet

Melt coconut oil and pour over squash and apples and mix until most pieces are coated with oil.

Sprinkle cinnamon of the top

Bake for 15 minutes, Stir around and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Done and Done!

So simple and makes a great side to any meal!!

Even if you have to eat it out of tupperware..

Yep, my house is still in rambles…

No kitchen table, no floor, and little counter space..

But the twins have been loving having picnics!

Mom, not so much.. but hey, they are happy so that is all that matters!

Big shout out to my sister. Yesterday was her birthday! We celebrated with a little cake and ice cream.

Wow, my phone takes amazing pictures.. eek.

She is now 24. what a young'un. –thanks heather for being you. Love you to pieces!!!!

Heather actually shares a birthday with my mom who passed away. She probably wouldn’t want me to share her age.. because once you hit 30 you don’t reeeeally get older right? (That’s what she always said…)Happy Birthday Mom and Heath. xoxo

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite Squash?

Construction Zone

Hey guys!! TGIF!!

Sorry for posting sooooo late, but we have been a bit under construction tonight.

More on that later.

Last night I headed out with the girls to a haunted house! I haven’t been to a haunted house since… high school?

I love haunted houses, but I guess the $20 price tag to walk through them brought out the cheap skate in me the past few years…

Side note: Whenever Brent and I think the other person is being cheap or just doesn’t want to pay the price for something - for example: jeans, movies, lulu, tips, etc. - We instantly start whispering cheeeeeeaaaap in the others ear… I like to pinch pennies where I can but I am one person that doesn’t mind paying the extra dollar for quality stuff, good service, fundraisers, benefits etc. Good thing I am married to an accountant huh?!

Anyway…

We were able to find some discount tickets for the haunted house we were going to so that helped ease “cheap ghost” in me. My sister came, some girls I used to work for at the dental office, and my friend Melissa from my gym.

I put on make-up, did my hair and even wore jeans.

It happens people. ---- Rarely.

Since I do so many race reviews, I figure maybe I can throw in a haunted house review.

Tis the season.

We went to Nightmare on 13th in SLC. Since it was a weeknight it wasn’t to packed and didn’t end up having to wait in line for to long.. maaaaybe 30 minutes. I was impressed that once you get inside they have a little fright show while you wait. The mechanics throughout the haunted house was pretty cool. This guy was right out front- he moves and talks.

While we were outside we took advantage of a quick photo op with some tall zombie horned dude.

The haunted house included several different rooms and took us about 45 minutes to get through. There were zombies, clowns, spinning crap, spiders, insane asylum, chainsaw man the basic haunted house. I loved all the extra stuff the haunted house had built in like the floor dropping, moving walls, creepy jumpy things, water falls, door slams etc. I didn’t like that there wasn’t very many creepy people though.. you know the ones that follow you around and breathe down your back, or pop out to scare you? I found out later that the characters are actually all just volunteers.. you go, they do your makeup and put you in a room and your on your own.

Maybe that is why I overall thought the haunted house was lame sauce. Oh, and it was a sauna inside. Literally, I was melting! I’m not one person to get super hot like that either, but it was pretty steamy in there.

We got a free pic though! Which is a great bonus right?

My last post I mentioned a big purchase..

We purchased flooring!!

When Brent and I moved into our house a few years ago, the white linoleum has always been a eye sore.. I hated it. The carpet had been well used.. but because we couldn’t afford it at the time we put off replacing it. The living room had tannish carpet and was pretty hashed to begin with, add two toddlers in the mix and that carpet has seen its last day. We decided it is time to take it out and bring in the new!

We headed to prosource flooring on Wednesday and went through so many samples of hardwood, tile, and laminate. Considering, time, mula etc. we decided on laminate.

I don’t want carpet in my living room (Ill get a big rug) so we are putting the laminate through high traffic areas, living room and the kitchen!

It is quite the process.

I can’t wait to see it finished!

Tomorrow I’m teaching pump while Brent works on our floor.. I have got to keep the kiddos out of the house most of the day so I may get a little shopping in..

Don’t tell the cheap ghost.

Wednesday Stuff.

 

Some days when I sit down to blog, and I realize I did not take one picture of anything spectacular. You know, like food or swass. Weird right? But, how impressive is my oatmeal every morning for the next 10 weeks looking?

This is pretty much my pre-workout meal everyday!

• 1/4 C. Gluten-free rolled oats
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of berries
• Cinnamon ( I love cinnamon, so I sprinkle it on like mad.)
• Few drops of Liquid Stevia

I microwave my oats with a little bit of water and the egg, for about 1:30 until the egg is fully cooked, then mix everything else in!

I did snap a pic of my workout today though for you all!

This was sweaty one and my hip flexors are now stronger then my traps.

The timer was set for 2 minutes, as soon as the buzzer went off we sprint 200m outside, through gnats and then come inside do 5 burpees and squat until the 2 minutes is up! – Rest ONE minute then did it again, 9 more times.

Some people had some pretty impressive squat numbers today! I tried SO hard to break 50 but alas. NO can do with these long legs. But I really tried to focus on making sure to drop below parallel each time. Also, there were 4 “Candice's” at the gym today..Pretty stellar.  I’m “Cand” on the board.

After the last class tonight a few of us did 50 more burpees to make it 100 for the day to prep for the BURPEE MILE in two weeks. If you are local, please make an effort to come out to this and support “no more victims.” A little bird told me there is going to be a bounce house and some free swag for all who attend. --- In the words of NIKE,—JUST DO IT.

I coached a few classes today at GPP and I must say, there are some inspiring folk around. I love sharing my passion with them and watching them achieve their goals by watching them WORK for them! I love my job.

Alright, now I have big news for you all.

Especially, my pinterest peeps.

I got the latest and greatest right here.

Its JUST like pinterest but a food blogger, food lovers dream.

Because it is ALL about FOOD!

It is YUMMLY! --- (Whoever made that name up wasn’t thinking straight…)

But regardless of the weird name of the site, it is pretty legit.

When you sign up – It’s free!

It asks what your preferences are, what you like/dislike, allergies, Vegetarian, Vegan, Meat-lover, soy-free, wheat-free etc.etc. and filters the recipes to your craving. Pretty sweet!

Now I can pin (or should I say yum?) a million recipes I probably will never make.. except for the quick and easy ones that use minimal ingredients and take less then 10 minutes. Is there a filter for that?

Yes, I am a food blogger…..

with kids.

Hope you guys had a great day! We are half way through the week! Brent and I made a pretty big purchase today, that I am stoked about.. more details to follow!

Question of the day:

What do you think about Yummly? Be my friend?

What do you eat pre-workout? If anything?

If you would name a website about food… what would you name it? (Yummly, is taken….)

Week One

I want to do a quick weekly review of my 12 week plan that Porter developed over at Total Health and Wellness. This is a bit overdue but hey, better late then never right?

I went over the plan here. So, I am just going to go over the nutrition, the workouts and the progress that I have made.

The Nutrition:

The first week, my calories and carbs were upped. I ate just slightly over 2,000 calories each day, spread between 8 meals per day. First meal is at 8:30am and the last at 9:00pm.

I eat every 2-3 hours- NO sugar, no tropical fruits.

Some meals were larger then others but my macros were about 40 carb/30 protein/20 fat at the end of the day.

*I weigh/measure each and every meal.

*I have a LOT more dishes to do.

*I need to purchase more measuring cups….

*When I prepare food, I try to prepare extra for the next meal/days…

*Not all the meals are super pretty, and they are commonly eaten out of tupper ware. ---Fancy right?!

*I can eat a whole bag of Costco broccoli in a week, or less.

*I really miss frozen bananas with almond butter..

Dessert each night is a protein shake just made with water. Not exactly a dessert… but I can take it for 12 weeks!

(Any New Girl fans out there?)

I am never hungry, and it is completely do-able. I have to pack meals sometimes if I know I won’t make it home in time. I have not cheated once yet! So, I guess you can say- So far, so good!

The Workouts:

Throughout the week I completed-

The GPP workouts every day. 70%-100% effort.

+4 lifting days- slow, controlled lifting. It is two different workouts formulated by THF.

Taught 2 body pump classes, 1 body attack class, and shook it in 1 body jam at skills fitness.

 

The Progress:

I have my measurement record at GPP and Porter takes my weight and body fat percentage each week and figures out my lean mass and fat mass.

I started at 22.9% body fat and by the end of week one I was at 19.9% and down about 2.5 lbs.

I do love the consistency of the this plan and I do feel better overall, but still have been having stomach cramps and bloating issues every so often, mainly if I apples or grapes? I wonder if high fibrous fruits have something to do with them?

I am going to start working on going to bed a little earlier.. (as I post this at 11:30 PM..) and be better about my supps. I’m good at remembering my meals when I am out on the go but forget some supps some times, and drink MORE water. I’m not to bad on this but could be better!

Week 2 is almost over… so here it goes!

Question of the Day:

How much water do you drink per day?

Need more?

All about Burpees!

Happy Monday!

I spent most of the day catching up around the house after neglecting a few chores this weekend…

I actually got most of it done before 9:30! I love when I have productive mornings!

I hit up GPP today for the WOD which was Burp-o-rama!

You do 10 burpees on the minute for 20 minutes.

Fantastic right?!

I have some great friends that like to push the limits a little- So we did 12 burpees every minute up until round 10 then we went back to 10 for the last half and the last minute we did burpees until the buzzer! I had sweat in my eyeballs. It was great.

I love that this workout can be done anywhere, that it is a total breather and I am a hot mess afterwards. –By the time you finish this workout, you will feel like you ran 10 miles in only 20 minutes! This is my go-to workout when I am out of town and can’t make it to the gym.

There is a big event coming up and if you are local, you need to COME!

REGISTER HERE!

This is going to be epic and all proceeds go to “no more victims”

Doing burpees for a mile may sound CRAZY, and HARD but it won’t be as bad as your thinking. We will do them all together and like this!

You CAN do it!

Join the Facebook page! If you are out of state, you can still register to donate for the cause!

Every dollar helps!

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I’m still on board with my new diet plan, which is still going great and is pretty easy to follow.

Its not much different from how I used to eat, just more often. Like every two hours-often.

I’m LOVING squash right now! Especially the pre-cut butternut squash from Costco! Cutting a squash totally counts as a second workout and I don’t want want to workout more then I get too.

Somebody even got a haircut today!

And someone even threw a tantrum…

Don’t mess with this one.. No worries- the terrible twos are just what some moms make them out to be.. but she calms down pretty quick and is all smiles and giggles from there!

Much better!!

Question of the day:

What is your favorite squash?

Anybody run a race this weekend?

Zucchini-Pumpkin-Banna Bread

 

Phew! How is that for a title?

Yesterday, after teaching Body Pump, my friend Mindy and I went for a run in Mueller Park Canyon. The leaves are truly beautiful and perfect shades of orange and red.

It was an easy run due to the stop and go going up because we weren’t the only ones with the idea to hike, run or bike the canyon yesterday.

We enjoyed the time up there and had a great time running and chatting about everything.

When I got home I was in the mood for some fall baking!

I have a ton of bananas that were on their last peel and needed to be used ASAP!

What is better then banana bread?

          Add a Zuchinini that has been sitting on your counter for a week..

          Then some pumpkin just because it’s the first day of fall.

          Don’t forget chocolate chips just because it’s the weekend.

BOOM.

 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. All purpose flour
• 1 1/2 C. Whole wheat flour (I used Bobs Mill)
• 2 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 tsp of pumpkin spice
• 1 1/2 bananas (mashed)
• 1 C. Organic Pureed Pumpkin
• 1 Zucchini (grated)
• 1/2 C. Plain Greek Yogurt (I used Chobani plain 0%)
• 2 T. Almond Milk
• 1/4 C. Raw Honey
• 1 egg
• 1/4 C. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (melted)
• 1/2 C. Carob Chips-Optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread coconut oil with paper towel in two 9x5 loaf pan (or pam/non-stick spray).

In a medium bowl add flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and salt.-Mix well.

In a larger bowl add banana, pumpkin, zucchini, yogurt, milk, honey, coconut oil, and egg. –Mix well.

Combine flour bowl to the large bowl until well combined.

Fold in Carob Chips.

Pour batter into loaf pans and bake for 50-55 minutes.

Use toothpick to check and make sure the center of the loaf comes out clean and ready!

Let cool in pan for about 10-15.

ENJOY!

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite fall recipe? Feel free to link your recipe in the comments!