cranberries

Cranberries are a great addition to many dishes especially during the fall and winter. The are more prevalent in the stores as soon as Thanksgiving nears. Of course they are always available in juice form and most the time you can buy canned cranberries. I like the fresh cranberries available in the produce section. Last year I made a yummy cranberry orange relish. 12 ounces of fresh cranberries, one orange chopped(whole including peel), 1/4 cup orange liqueur. Blended in a food processor to desired consistancy. The original recipe called for 1 cup of sugar. I don't recall how much I added last year, but you can do it to taste. I liked this relish or (fruit salad) so well I think it could double as a side dish and not just a topping.

One cup of raw cranberries has 46 calories and 5 grams of fiber. It's also a great source of Vitamins E, K, and C as well as manganese.

Nasty Little Thoughts Can Go Bye-Bye

As Thumper's mom said in Bambi "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say nothing at all" or something like that..... Stephanie over at Back in Skinny Jeans had a great post today about Self Sabotage. If you would not say it to someone else, why would you say it to yourself? We all need to stop and remember to treat ourselves with the same respect and admiration that we show to others.
I have at times been very guilty of this(most of my life). However over the past year I have made great improvements. It really does help to remind yourself if you wouldn't tell your best friend something negative about her body why would you tell yourself that the stretch marks on your hips look so disgusting you should never be seen in public in a swimsuit. Because you would never say that to someone else and even if they did have stretch marks on their hips and were wearing a bikini you would admire them for wearing it anyways.
When I was back home on vacation I had to go through some of the stuff I had left at my parents house. In one box we're some pictures of myself golfing in college. The first thing I thought to myself was wow I was fatter than I thought. How could anyone want to talk to me without thinking I was gross and disgusting? I just automatically assumed everyone that saw me at that point in my life must have thought I was disgusting. Instead at that moment I should have told myself great job for getting in shape and eating better. Look how much healthier I am now. Or I was still an important person then, weight and looks should not be the only thing determining my importance. Truth is people still cared about me then and I still had friends. All that negativity was so unnecessary.
So even though I went into the fitness industry and I am definitely a lot healthier than I used to be. I still struggle with self acceptance. It really is about learning to love yourself for who you are. Sometimes that takes stepping outside of yourself and looking at yourself through someone else's eyes. If you don't take care of yourself who will? Hop on over to Back in Skinny Jeans and read Self Sabotage. Keep your thoughts positive!

Smoky-Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

Have I ever mentioned that I love Rachael Ray. She basically taught me how to cook via the Food Network, and how to be creative with food and ingredients. It's not that I didn't know how to boil water or anything;) I grew up in the kitchen baking and cooking recipes out of my moms Betty Crocker cookbook. I never really felt I was a great cook though. Don't get me wrong I could follow a recipe and it would turn out, but I never felt I could just throw something together with what I had in the cupboard or know what to do if I was missing an ingredient. Rachael has a simple way of putting together quick recipes which incorporate healthy ingredients for the most part. When I cook I figure the more veggies and fruit I can throw in the better. It's healthier and lighter that way, and you can eat more if you like. So when I find a recipe to try a lot of times I'll double the veggies or throw a little extra this or that in. It's a little easier to do that when you are cooking than when you are baking.Who doesn't want to eat great tasting food. Just because we want to eat healthy doesn't mean we can't enjoy the flavors and dishes we love!
Check out Smoky-Spicy Sweet Potato Soup it was in the October issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray. It has a nice kick to it, so if you aren't' a huge fan of spice go light on the chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. I on the other had love spicy stuff, and I only put one pepper in. So that gives you an idea of how spicy they are. I did not have bacon when I made it, but I did have bacon fat. So I used 1 tablespoon of bacon fat instead of 2. You can prob even cut that out if you like. I froze the leftovers and have a had some yummy quick lunches!

Happy November!

I'm back from my fabulous vacation. My husband and I went back home for about 10 days. It was so much fun! Saw my niece for the first time and she was adorable:) W kept very busy seeing family and friends, eating at all our favorite restuarants, going to hockey games, and just hanging out. Oh and by the way I am very proud of myself for working out while on vacation. After taking a year or so off of hockey I played 3 times while I was home. Yes I still have all my teeth. Playing again reminded me how much fun it was and what a great workout too. One of my friends had a stationary bike in her living room and thankfully I brought my ipod so I had my workout playlist. Throw in a couple days of pilates and I did pretty well I think. Had to burn off that Canadian beer somehow.
Now that I'm back and it's November already, wow when did that happen? I have a lot to do. Like send Christmas cards out....to more than 5 people:) I think my hubby and I need to get a picture taken this year. We don't really have any other than our wedding and Chrismas party pics. Holiday baking projects; which involve me trying to healthify my fave recipes. I also love decorating for the holidays. Working on a Fall tableset at the moment. I have also started the search for great Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. I will try to put a collection of ideas together for you guys. Also keep checking in for recipes. I have a couple sweet potato recipes to post.

The winning vote goes to pumpkin

Thanks for the vote to see some pumpkin recipes! With Fall and Thanksgiving coming up pumpkins are everywhere. I personally am not a huge fan of pumpkin pie, but I do like using pumpkin in other recipes. Did you know that you can substitute pumpkin for the oil or butter in a recipe? Yes it works just like apple sauce in that it keeps it moist and holds it together (well I think it helps hold it together). The other day I noticed I had a can of pumpkin that needed used so I went to the website on the can and found a recipe pumpkin carrot swirl bars. They sounded great and hey it even had carrots! Click on the recipe title to go to the original recipe. I for one did not have all the ingredients and two like to tweak recipes to make them healthier if I can. So here is what I did: I made it twice so I'll give you the info for both of them. My first attempt I did not have cream cheese so I omitted the topping,and just made the "bar" part. I also did not have enough carrots so I substituted some shredded apples. It was delicious. We were going to our friends house to watch a football game, and I got so many compliments! It was super moist, and oh by the way I also made it in a 9x13 cake pan instead of a jelly roll pan. Which made it more cake-like than bar-like. The second time around I changed a few more things. For the sugar I changed 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar to 1 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup shredded apple. Then I substituted half of the flour with whole wheat flour. The results we're great. It was still very moist. One thing I would change next time is instead of buying pre-grated carrots I would grate my own. The reason for this is that the pre-grated ones we're dryer and instead of the carrots melting into the cake, they we're more prevalent and chewy. Which is ok unless you are trying to hide the fact that there are extra veggies in there;)

Dance like No one is watching!

I'm sitting here watching dancing with the stars. Wishing I could move with such grace and control let alone have the confidence to put all my effort into it without a few drinks beforehand;) I love to dance and I miss going to the club with my girls. It's great cardio if you think about it. To find out how many calories you burn dancing go to exrx.net So if you are lacking the motivation to go out for a run or any workout for that matter. Turn on your favorite playlist, close the curtains and dance like no one is watching!

Saturday morning

I love Fall. It was definitely chilly this morning when I crawled out of bed. The leaves are starting to change and the air is nice and crisp. Nothing better than putting on a cozy sweatshirt.
I taught a yogalates class this morning, then headed off to attend a yoga class for myself. It was an intermediate/advanced class, and I was hoping to learn something new. The class was 90 minutes long, but it flew by. It was very relaxing even though we we're still working hard. She was a great teacher, and I learned some new variations that I can pass on to my students. After class I headed over to my favorite local coffee shop to have a cappuccino. One of these days I'll bring my camera and take a picture. They draw those fancy designs in the frothy milk. You almost don't want to ruin it, but it tastes to good to do that:)