Healthy for the Holidays

I am actually pretty proud that I figured out how to open a private group on Facebook.  I’ve started a group called “Healthy for the Holidays with My Bizzy Kitchen” on Facebook.  You can find me at Beth Hills Velatini and I can add you to the private group.  We’ve got 31 members so far to cheer each other on this holiday season!

I’ve realized that I need something to keep my momentum going.  When I did the DietBet, knowing that there was a final weigh in was always in my back pocket and helped me make better food choices, work out more, etc.  I am hoping this little group will do the same – I love having the support of you guys and giving it right back.

Breakfast was an open faced egg sammie – 1 English muffin, 1 egg, 2 ounces deli ham, spinach and cheddar cheese with a tangerine on the side.

I had to run to Sam’s Club for our office.  Um, turns out people get pretty panicky when we are out of Diet Coke!  I was walking around when I saw this jar of coconut oil – 28 ounces for $8.68.  I quickly put it on Instagram to ask if that was a good deal, and Joy said that she pays $8.99 for 16 ounces – score! (thanks Joy!)

Turns out coconut oil makes the best homemade popcorn.  Just sayin.

People have been asking about the strength training program I am doing.  It’s free and it’s on BodyBuilding.com.  It’s 4 days of strength, 3 days rest.  I am on Week 3, Day 2.

Hammer Strength Lat Pull: 3 sets of 10 reps

Wide Grip Lat Pulldown Or Pullup: 3 sets of 10 reps

Seated Narrow Grip Cable Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps

T-Bar Row Or Bent-Over Barbell Row: 3 sets of 10 reps

Back Extensions: 3 sets of 10 reps

Barbell Curl: 3 sets of 10 reps

Incline Dumbbell Curl: 3 sets of 10 reps

Alternate Hammer Curl: 3 sets of 10 reps

Again, some new exercises to me – like the hammer strength lat pull and the bent over barbell row.  That set took me:

I did an 8 minute cool down for a quick, 35 minute lunch time workout.

I normally spend my 90 minutes in the morning blogging, putting my food together, etc.  I don’t know where the time went yesterday – all of a sudden I looked up at I had 15 minutes to get all my shit together AND out the door!  Not a problem.  Lunch?  Beef and asparagus stir fry.  I literally started chopping veggies at 7:55.  I put my wok on high while I chopped the veggies.

Beef and Asparagus Stirfry for One

• 513 calories, 11 fat, 56 carbs, 6.6 fiber and 47 whopping grams of protein

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 4 ounces leftover beef roast, sliced
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
• 3/4 cup asparagus, chopped
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts
• 1 tablespoon House of Tsang Classic stirfry sauce
• 1 teaspoon House of Tsang peanut sauce
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce

I just sprayed my wok with Pam and added a couple tablespoons of the chicken broth to the hot wok.  I added the carrots and the green pepper while I went and put in my contacts, washed my face and brushed my teeth.  Came back and added the sliced beef, asparagus, bean sprouts, the two stirfry sauces, the rest of the chicken broth and sriracha sauce and put the lid on and reduced the heat to low while I got dressed.

Bam.  Ready at 8:02 – and I was in my car at 8:08.  It helped that I made the brown rice the night before!

I think I could eat some sort of stir fry every day and never get sick of it.

So Tony loves meatloaf.  For the longest time I didn’t like it.  At all.  Both our Mom’s used to make it with huge chunks of onions and would tell us to ignore the onions because you can’t even taste them, to which we would argue – why put them in there if you can’t taste them?

Regular meatloaf takes a long time to bake when you make a big one, so I wanted to see if I could find a recipe for mini meatloaves.  I found Wright Kitchen made meatloaf cupcakes.  How cute are these??!!

I adapted it slightly, leaving out the onions and using my homemade Rudy’s BBQ sauce with the ketchup mixture.

Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato Frosting

• 12 cupcakes – each one 173 calories, 4.6 fat, 15 carbs, 16 protein, 0 fiber

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds meatloaf mix (mine was a combo of pork, beef and veal)
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/2 teaspoon season salt
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 3 cups prepared mashed potatoes

For the Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Mix the meatloaf mixture together and divide between your muffin tins.  Divide the sauce over top of the muffins and bake at 375 (I raised the temp 25 degrees) covered with foil for 15 minutes.  Remove the foil and cook 5 minutes more.

Remove them to a plate, divide the mashed potatoes between the cupcakes – their recipe called for putting the potatoes back under the broiler for some color – I skipped that step – I had 1/3 cup mashed potatoes on mine.  Super quick week night dinner and I think if you had little kids – they would love these!

I only made two cupcakes for myself – let’s just say Tony wasn’t a huge fan of my cute meatloaf – he was like “can I just have regular meatloaf?!”  So I made two meatloaves with the remainder of the meat mixture – he ate one for dinner and meatloaf is the ONE leftover he’ll have for a cold meatloaf sandwich.  Ew.

I can’t stand how cute they are! Super tender and delicious.  And I may have added Frank’s hot sauce over the top as “gravy” at the table.

So since I am switching up my night time workouts (and may take Helen’s suggestion of taking a couple nights off during the week) I pulled out an oldie but a goodie!

Classic Tony Horton!

OMG, I forgot how cheezy this guy is!  Not kidding at one point during the stretches he says “Hey Linda, can you spread your legs a little wider?  A little wider?  Yeah, girl, that’s it!”  And to that guy?  “Look at how studly Paulie is looking!” Gag.

It was Cardio 1-2 – which I guess is level 1 and 2.  I did it at twice the speed and didn’t sweat nearly as much as insanity, but it really stretched out my quads and hamstrings that were tight from the workout the day before.

Stats for the Day:

• 1285 calories (need to get up to 1800), 131 protein, 102 carbs, 11.5 fiber and 40 fat
• 28% of calories from fat, 31% from protein and 40% from carbs
• 35 minute lunch strength – back and biceps
• 35 minute P90 after dinner

Alright, 20 minutes to get my shit together this morning AND I still have to take a shower.  No problem.   Make it a great day!