Will be back soon!

Hey everyone I hope you enjoy the holidays.. Im going to take a few weeks off blogging to enjoy my time with the kids. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Quinoa??

Some people are still unsure what Quinoa is all about... Since we cook it like brown rice, quinoa is commonly considered a grain. However it is technically a protein-rich seed that is relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and swiss chard. Quinoa is also considered a complete protein containing all nine essential amino acids needed for muscle growth and repair.

One cup of cooked Quinoa provides

220 calories

8g protein

39g carbohydrates

Chicken and Corn Lettuce Wrap

So I was craving something fresh yesterday and came across this recipe. I used the left over chicken from the last recipe I posted! Although I wasn't able to use fresh peaches or corn it still was delish!! Simply amazing!

Ingredients:

2 boneless chicken breasts cooked and diced

1/4 tsp ground cumin

juice of 1 lemon

juice of 2 limes

2 ears of corn (or frozen corn in my case thawed)

2 plum tomatoes

1 sweet yellow onion

1 jalapeno pepper

1 peach diced (or frozen peaches in my case thawed)

2 avocado cubed

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

sea salt and pepper

1 head of lettuce or romaine lettuce works

Be creative add celery or green onions for extra crunch!

Mix all ingredients above, fill your lettuce leaf and enjoy! Or eat it like a salad too..

Balsamic Dijon Chicken

Ingredients:

4 5oz boneless skinless chicken breast

1 tsp olive oil

2 shallots, minced

8 oz cremini mushrooms, quartered

1 cup farro

1.5 cups low sodium vegetable broth

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Marinade:

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Pinch each sea salt and ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Prepare marinade: In a bowl or zip lock plastic bag, combine all marinade ingredients. Add chicken, turning to ensure that breasts are completely coated with marinade. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or seal bag and refrigerate until needed.

2. Set your rice cooker to the regular setting. Place 1 tsp oil in rice cooker bowl. Add shallot, stirring to coat, then close or cover with lid. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until shallots have softened. Add mushrooms and cook for 8 more minutes, covered and stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are soft and have released water. Stir in farro and cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally for 3 minutes.

3. Stir in broth. Place chicken, discarding leftover marinade, on top of farro mixture. Close or cover with lid and reset

rice cooker to "regular' setting. The program should take about 1 hour, depending on the rice cooker. Chicken is done when its internal temperature reaches 165F.

4. To serve, place 3/4 cup farro-mushroom mixture on each plate and top with 1 chicken breast. Sprinkle with parsley!

So as you can see in the picture I didn't f0llow the recipe. One because I didn't have farro on hand and two I wanted to eat the chicken along side a fresh salad. If you choose to cook it like me all you need to do differently is place the marinaded chicken along with juices in a 13x9 dish. Add your mushrooms and shallots and then a little extra vegetable broth. I then mixed the mushrooms around and tried to saturate them so they soaked up the juices. Cook on 350 for 30 min then flip chicken and cooked an additional 30 minutes or until done. It turned out super flavorful. It almost tasted like french onion soup!

Plyometric move with a little weight!

So as most of you know I've been doing CrossFit for a year now and love the results! We do incorporate plyometrics along with gymnastics, endurance and olympic lifting. One of the moves that I use a lot with my one on one personal training clients is jumping lunges and jump squats. This is an incredible explosive movement that will surely lift up your backside! Start without weight then progress with dumbbells.

Start with a lunge (no jumping), then add a squat as a precursor to the jump. Tack on another jump every time you repeat the sequence, until you get to 10 jumps. Then start over at one and do it again. Push hard for five to ten minutes, but rest and get back into the workout when your ready. (Basically lunge, then feet shoulder width apart squat then jump and land in another squat, stand up then lunge forward on opposite leg and repeat sequence.)

Once you feel secure with your stance and landing add some weight. A jump squat with dumbbells is highly metabolic! Once you do these you'll hate them but love them too. When you have that feeling about an exercise or movement you know it works!!

Scallops and Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

1 lb brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered

2 tbsp minced shallots

2 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

Juice from 1 whole lemon

Pepper to taste

1 lb scallops

Instructions

Place sprouts in a steamer basket and steam in a large saucepan over 3 inches of boiling water until tender, about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, whisk oil, shallots, salt, lemon juice and pepper in a bowl.

Toss scallops in oil-lemon mix and sprinkle with more pepper, if desired.

Place scallops in a skillet on low heat and brown on both sides, cooking for 10 minutes total.

Add the sprouts to the scallop mix and cook for 2 minutes. Serve.

Finishing Fuel Shake

1 medium kiwi

1/4 cup diced honeydew melon

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1 scoop whey protein powder

3/4 tsp orange flavor extract

Ice cubes if desired

Maple Walnut Chicken

Ingredients

4 (4-6 oz each) boneless chicken breasts

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs fresh thyme

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

3 tbs pure maple syrup

1/2 cup water

Instructions

Combine olive oil, thyme, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Rub chicken with seasoning and let stand

In a 12’ nonstick skillet, toast walnuts over medium-low heat 4-6 min or until golden and fragrant, stirring constantly. Note: walnuts may burn quickly if left unattended.

Transfer walnuts to dish, and turn heat up to medium under the hot skillet.

Add chicken to same skillet. Cook 12 min or until done, turning frequently.

Transfer chicken to a clean plate.

Add vinegar to the chicken drippings in the hot skillet and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Add maple syrup and water, and simmer 6-7 min until slightly thickened. Stir in walnuts and serve on top of chicken.

Turkey Vegetable Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey or chicken

2 medium carrots

1 red or green bell pepper

5 large mushrooms

fresh parsley

1/2 yellow onion

1 garlic clove

2 tsp garlic salt

2 tbsp italian seasoning

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1.Preheat oven to 350

2.Combine carrots, bell pepper, mushrooms, onion, garlic and seasonings in a food processor and blend until well chopped

3.Empty the food processor into a large bowl, add the ground turkey and mix together completely.

4.Form meatballs and place on a non greased baking sheet. Bake each for about 25 minutes, or until completely cooked.

Almond Flour Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 Tbs coconut flour

2 eggs

1/4 cup water (consider soda water for slightly fluffier pancakes)

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp sea salt

coconut oil

fresh berries

Instructions

1. Combine almond flour, applesauce, coconut flour, eggs, water, nut

meg and sea salt in a bowl, and mix together completely with a fork.

The batter will appear a little thicker than normal mix.

2. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat with 1 tsp coconut

oil.

3. Drop 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan once it is fully heated. Spread out

batter slightly if desired.

4. Flip like a normal pancake when the bubbles start showing up on the

top, and cook for another minute or two.

5. Add more oil to the pan and repeat with remaining batter.

6. Top with fresh berries