What’s for dinner? Marinated Flank Steak and Spring Rice

We had a visit from an insurance nurse yesterday (she was SO fun) so we couldn’t eat after 12pm and our appointment was at 6pm.  When you think about NOT eating it makes you crazy hungry.  Hubs asked if I wanted to go to a restaurant after the visit and I indicated we would have to WAIT for our food, so no.

Instead, thinking ahead, I marinated a flank steak and made the rice side after she left.  I really had a taste for an Asian flavor.  The steak turned out well and it was quick on the grill.

Flank Steak

• 1.3 pound flank steak

Marinade

• 2 T low sodium soy sauce
• 1 T oyster sauce
• 2 gloves chopped garlic
• ½ teas restaurant style pepper
• 3 scallions sliced
• ¼ cup light extra virgin olive oil
• Zest of one lime
• Juice of one lime

Using your whisk, emulsify your ingredients.  Place the steak in a freezer bag and pour your marinade over the top.  You can marinade it over night, or for 3 hours like I did.

Using indirect heat, we turn the middle burner off, grill to your liking.   Five minutes on one side, fine on the next, then check for your level of preference.  If you’re wondering if it’s done, we usually cut it open in the middle to see if it’s what we want.  We put it back on the grill for 5 one side, and 5 on the other.  Hubs likes his well.  Me I like pink.

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While Hubs was busy grilling, I made this really quick delicious rice side dish.  I think I’d like to make it with bulgur if I could ever find it.  Rice is not a friend to diabetics so I really load this up with the good carbs – vegetables.

The secret to this side dish is the dressing.  Fresh lime is my go to citrus.

Spring Rice side dish

Juice of one lime

• 1 cup of the mini carrots chopped
• 1 green pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 2 stalks of celery slivered
• 3 tablespoons of flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 bag of Success brown rice, prepared

Dressing

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon restaurant ground black pepper
• Juice of one lime
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ cup extra light olive oil

 

Follow the directions on the Success rice packaged.

In a medium bowl place all your veggies and herbs.  Toss.  In a small bowl, add all the dressing ingredients and emulsify with a whisk.  Pour over your veggies and mix while you wait for your rice to be done.  When the rice is finished, drain well and add to the veggies.  Toss.

So we didn’t wait too long after the visit and dinner was done in a flash – or maybe 20 minutes.  And here’s a shout out to my new friend Nurse Mary.  Hey!

 

Inspire me.

Inspiration.  What do we need to be inspired to do anything?  What do we need to do to live a healthy lifestyle?  Wow, there are so many passionate individuals out there that are so willing to help people follow their passions or create a healthier lifestyle and they live in Googleland.

Let’s take for instance Polyvore.  It’s the devil, just saying.   Polyvore is a visual stealer-of- time but provides the untrained shopper some really great ideas on what to put together ESPECIALLY if you’re a I-want-what’s-on-the-manikin buyer like me.  What goes with what, what’s trendy, and I think I’m too old for that outfit, oh P.S. I’ll take those shoes without the heels thank you.

What about lifestyle changes.  One of my favorite sites is Skinny Ms.  These powerhouses of writers are prolific in exercise and recipes articles.  As I’m writing this they seem to be having technical difficulties and it looks as if they are converting to Tumbler and a magazine format.  Nevertheless I’m giving you the Pinterest link.  They also have a recipe site too.

Did I say Pinterest?  Just spend a month there and you’ll find your muse.

One other site I just love for lifestyle changes is Les Mills Bodypump or any of their exercise programs.  You can find them in local gyms – like the Centegra one in Huntley.  Or they even have an in-home program through Beachbody, of P90x fame.

My gym, Fitness 19 in Algonquin, has actually started posting on Facebook those things that will help you achieve your personal best in the gym.  They point you to sites for your diet too, such as clean eating.

The Biggest Loser and Weight Watchers are two other sites that you could go to.  Just so happens I have a few articles on inspiring people, but they happen to be of my interests – lifestyle changes and sewing.

Sometimes my mind and heart are full of ideas.  Sometimes I think I’m going to explode if I don’t get them on paper or physically do it in the gym.

Recipe Rebuild

There’s a lot that you can do to make your lower fat and calorie dishes taste better than sticks and twigs. I purchased the Nordstrom’s Family Cookbook and on the front cover there was a fantastic looking meal. When I read it there was no way with the amount of fat and extras that I could even consider eating it. Sooooo what can you do?

1. Take out the cream use skim milk

2. No need for wine or chicken broth for liquids. Six eggs and 1/2 cup of skim milk did the trick.

3. Use Lower fat Swiss cheese instead of Gruyere.

4. Add more protein.

5. Pancetta, while delicious, is really high in fat and sodium. Substitute bacon or turkey bacon and drain it well.

Broccoli and Swiss Cheese Bake

• 6 slices of bacon, cut up, fried and drained
• 1 head of broccoli, cut up into smaller pieces
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 3/4 cup ham, diced
• 1 package of Sargento’s Swiss cheese low fat
• 6 extra-large eggs
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sauté the bacon and drain when crisp. Leave only about 3 Tablespoons of the bacon grease in the pan. Add the broccoli, ham and shallots to the pan and sauté for 10 minutes.

With a slotted spoon add the broccoli mixture to a prepared 9 x 13 pan. Layer the cheese on top of broccoli.

Using a whisk and a medium bowl beat the eggs, milk and salt and pepper. Add to the broccoli mixture. Sprinkle the mixture with the bacon.

Bake for 30 minutes till eggs are set.  Let the bake stand for 10 minutes before eating.

This was REALLY good.

Turkey Breast for your success this week

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

This is a small adaptation of the Ina Garten’s Food Network recipe.  Talk about tasty!  When you’re not in need of a huge bird, or even a small one, a turkey breast is really the way to go, even when you’re thinking healthy.  This recipe will help you to be prepared for a healthy lifestyle success because it makes just enough for everyday sandwiches or dinners.  It’ll be done, sliced, and in the fridge for use all week.

I also made potatoes that are a healthy response to a carb.  I used only three red potatoes (one for each of us), washed, sliced, and laid them out in a small roasting pan sprayed with Pam.  I used 3 Tablespoons of chopped red onion (you could use a shallot), sprinkled with kosher salt and pepper.  I drizzled extra light olive oil and baked at 350° for 35 minutes.

• 1 boneless turkey breast, 3.5 to 4 pounds.
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 stalk of rosemary, chopped
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground sage
• 1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon restaurant ground black pepper
• 2 Tablespoons or more of good olive oil to make the marinade spreadable
• 2 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup dry white wine

Preheat the oven to 325°.  Place the turkey breasts skin side up on a rack in a foil lined roasting pan.  (easy clean up)

Combine all the remaining ingredients except the wine.  Spread the mixture evenly over the turkey breast.  Pour the wine into the roasting pan.  Roast the turkey at 15 minutes per pound till the internal temperature reaches 165°.  Remove the roast and cover with foil.  Let rest for 15 minutes.  Slice and serve.

42 and counting

JAMMED day.   Daisy and I dropped the son at the Crystal Lake train station for his last test in Law School – woo hoo.  Stopped to pick up an Einsteins coffee – love the vanilla hazelnut coffee - there’s no sugar in the making of the coffee.  Daisy waited patiently for me because we were headed to Dippin Doggies for her grooming appointment.

Next, Fitness 19 with a 30 minute elliptical cardio, Butt Challenge except I can’t do the lunges. Therefore, with a 20 pound bar I did very small squats – can’t bend the knees too far.   Moved on to back exercises  -  I used a 20 pound bar for both of these exercises lift over head & the bent over row.  Using a  25 pound plate weight (adjust to your level)  lift it over head, then left, back to center then right.  This last exercise, I have to say, is my VERY favorite exercise because it makes my back feel so good.

Picked Daisy up, showered, interviewed students who attended the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates (interview to be up next week), picked up more flowers for the garden, quick stop at the grocery store, home to garden, picked up son at train, picked up dinner.  By days end it’s the recliner for me.

It was really nice to be in the high school again.  I haven’t been there in some time.  I saw a lot of friendly faces and caught up with a few people that happened to be in the same area I was in.  I’m so impressed with the fact they knew I was coming and why.   I can’t wait to write up the interview.  These kids are fantastic.

New knees on the horizon

I’ve noticed something about me that’s become part of who I am these days.  When faced with very serious life challenges I become inertly quiet and block out everything, catatonic in a sense.  It’s a defense mechanism to protect myself from godforsaken fear.  I’m not ignoring you, really I’m not.   I’m still processing what I have to do to do an inner talk to chase away the fear.

After my stroke, which really changes you in many ways – mine I think for the better – you reassess everything.  The fear crept in when things happened physically that I could not anticipate nor control at that moment in time.   The fear of losing everything, the fear of death, the fear of a lost future, the loss of the capacity to be the person I was, and the fear of facing the future to change a lifestyle that was in need of a serious overhaul.  I was not done with my life.

Well we’re over that now but that’s when it happened, the catatonic process of shutting out the world to conquer fear.  Maybe that’s what I needed and did not know how to conquer a fear I had never faced.

So, enter Dr. James Bresch.  I heart this guy.  We had a very serious discussion about double knee replacement yesterday with my hubby sitting next to me.  We’re going forward because now it’s a quality of life thing.  A little about the good Doctor – he’s almost part of the family now.  He performed three of my son’s surgeries and has been my BFF with cortisone shots for the last three years.  His capacity to explain the process is technical while sensitive to patient reactions.  He’s a compassionate man who wants to do what is best for you.  He’s VERY technologically up to speed to make the shortest rehab possible.  He’s very up front with you too.   He’s using the Journey Knee – the knee for active women together with the Visionaire Patient Matched Instrumentation technology to make the iplement as close to my orginal terrain of my knee. 

I asked all the questions I had been mentally thinking about, while Sal asked other questions.   There was one that popped up after looking at the replica of the knee that I did not anticipate.  

Me: “What happens to that tendon when you replace the two sections you’re talking about?”

Dr. B:  “That is a very good question.  That’s the ACL and it’ll be removed.  The replacement piece, which is made of the world’s hardest substance, will take its place.”

Me:  “Is that what hurts the most?” 

Dr. B:  “No, it’s when I have to bend your knee back to create your new knee.”   

Me mentally, “Why did I ask that question?”

So, it’s on.  It’ll take six to seven weeks of prep time before the surgery.  MRI’s, my doctor, the making of the parts, getting in the gym to develop my core and upper body muscles more so I can lift my legs better afterwards.  But the essential thing is the support system I have.  My husband is the best.  He just gets this stuff.  My friends and family are SO supportive because they know that “Thor” can come out at any time during this process.

I do feel better about this today.  I was given two shots of cortisone to get through the next six weeks because we have a law school graduation to get through with all the planning and a dozen little birthday parties, home redecorating, gardening…and the list goes on.  Life happens.  It’s one day at a time. 

Keeping it fresh

Thought I was going to lose my mind the other day with older songs when there’s such a cache of new work out there to keep me moving on the elliptical.

I visited a few sites that had playlists and none of them really incentivized me at those critical moments when you need motivation to not lose focus, because let’s face it – unless we love being bored out of our minds you need music to keep you pumping to get 400 calories extracted out of your system.  Agreed?

I’m a Maroon 5 fan but not an “f” fan.  So please excuse the profanity in the first song.  You’d think they could take the #@$% out of the song.

Exactly 43.6 minutes.  You can skip through one or more to get to 35 minutes.

UPDATE:  ADDITION  Bourne Vivaldi    The Piano Guys (just heard this at 1:30am and knew  it would be a good first song to get you movin on that train)

Payphone   Maroon 5    (start the elliptical at level 10)

Burn it Down   Linkin Park (the first part of the song is slow but the push is coming)

I’m not Dead   Pink (heart my girl)

Not Myself Tonight    Christina  – always a little racey

Wild Ones   Flo Rida

Fighter   Christina – did you see her do this on The Voice on Monday a week ago?

Bad Influence   Pink  (confession time, I sing to this one)

Rain Over Me    Pitbull  -  (crank your elliptical to 15)

We are Young    Fun    (come back down to level 10)

Everybody Talks   Neon Trees (love the lead singer – seat dancing on this )  ALERT:  you can’t get “It started with a whisper…”  out of your head for a few days.

Drive By    Train   (You’ll be jamming on this one…)

Chasing the Sun   The Wanted   (this’ll give you the last push to get finished and get those last 40 calories clocked)

So this should do till the next time.  If you have besties, send ‘em my way.  I’m always looking to keep it fresh.

REALLY? #!@%

Lesson learned, or not.

Each day I pretty much prepare to go to the gym weather I do or not.  So it’s usually Old Navy yoga pants, Old Navy scooped neck tee shirt and a Nike zip up. Why do I say this?  Well I had an emergency need for a hair appointment for a cut and color.  YES, that’s an emergency.  “Can you come now,” the receptionist asked?  Of course I can and off I went for a cut and color. 

Now mind you, if you’re ready for the gym and you’re a female, you are wearing a sports bra which is not ideal when trying clothing on, but what the heck.  So, on my way home I thought I’d stop in a few stores looking for a new top.  Taking into consideration the foundations I was wearing you have to mentally adjust what it would really look like.

I have to say I’m not a fashionista nor do I know the “finer” points of sales in women’s clothing.  I took the lovely little black and white polka dot top off the hanger and it had a cami under it that didn’t go with the top.  I didn’t like the top and brought it back on the floor to the sales woman indicating there had been a cami under the garment.  “Oh, that’s a body shaper that I provided for you,” she said. 

My stare must have gone to her soul.  As a woman who is striving to lose weight, who works out, who watches all carbohydrates with an evil eye, it’s really disconcerting when sales people make a silent suggestion that you need it.  OR maybe I don’t wear spanks/body shaper cami’s and it is customary in this establishment to do those things.  DIDN’T go over well, just saying.   In fact it probably was THE most deflating comment I’ve experienced in a few weeks.

Would they offer it to Adele, Jennifer Hudson, or Kelly Clarkson?  I did purchase a top.  It is the VERY first garment that I could EVER purchase there because I can fit into XLs now.  Love my little bag, but I’m pissed.  I’ll probably return it and keep the bag.

So need to turn this around and make it a positive to make me work harder, I guess.  Sigh. Eff.  Actually I want Adele’s dress.

The Ripped Rep, Aaron Schock

This story ran last May in Men’s Health Magazine:  The Ripped Representative

United States Representative Aaron Schock – photo credits GQ

http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/aaron-schock-fitness

This article was written about United States Representative Aaron Schock from Peoria, Illinois.  I was in Jewel and walked by the magazine counter and saw him on the front cover of Mens Health and I KNEW HIM.   That was not the young man that walked the halls of the Illinois House of Representatives! 

Since going to Congress he’s changed his routine for better health.  Ask ANY Representative or Senator, whether State or Federal, and they’ll tell you eating is a challenge especially when you are invited to so many events.  Exercise becomes an even bigger challenge when you don’t fit it into your schedule on a regular basis.  

Last May this was his work out template.  From Men’s Health Magazine:

The Schock-Your-Body Workout Want tricked-out traps? Dominating delts? Abs the size of a woman’s fist? And all while holding down a high-stress day job? Set your alarm a little earlier, and try Rep. Aaron Schock’s workout routine.

5 to 7 days a week, choose from…

*a 60-to 75-minute P90X training session

*a 60-to 75-minute weight routine, focusing on high-weight, low-rep exercises, and alternating upper-and lower-body days

*3 sets of 30 pushups and 30 situps; plus a run (5 miles) or swim (1 mile)

If you are interested in learning more about  P90X here’s the link: http://www.beachbody.com/product/how-p90x-works-muscle-confusion.do

Tony Horton is the creator of P90X and here’s what he has to say when you think you can’t:

“Don’t say I can’t.  Change it to, “I currently struggle with _______.” ”

Doesn’t that change the enitre way you think about something that’s challenging?

Meet Jen Kelly and Be Inspired to Good Health

Believe in Yourself

Jen Kelly is an athlete.  She is a tall beautiful well-spoken blonde who is an inspiration to many who are making lifestyle changes to become healthy.  This past year Jen completed her first ever Chicago marathon.  Jen use to weigh 326.8 pounds.  Yes, she is fall-off-your-stool amazing.

Chicago Marathon 2011

I met Jen at Fitness 19.  I knew she was an athlete by how she worked out; it was not your normal routine.  She could have been a triathlete for all I knew.  I told my husband that I thought for sure she was on a women’s professional sports team.

Motivation to Begin:  Always active in High School, Jen played basketball.   When she went to Harper College she did not continue in sports.  She did however, have a gym membership.  She would go for a month then stop for awhile and start up again.

Weight was always a struggle.  She could always lose 50 pounds but could never break that barrier.  She would gain it back plus more.  She hit an all-time high of 326.8 pounds.

Between Christmas and her 30^th birthday, her brain just clicked in.  Her doctor said her vital statistics were good but he warned her that the consequences of carrying the weight would catch up to her.  I asked her, “What made the difference this time?”  She WANTED to make the change and she wanted to be happy.

Her sister Kathy convinced her to attend Weight Watchers.  Jen  was ready to commit.

The Process:  January through September of that year she lost 50 pounds.  She faithfully attended her Weight Watchers meetings.  The food journal became a very important tool in her weight loss success.    She constantly worked out during that time.   Then Jen hit the 50 mark again.  The scale wasn’t moving.  This time she knew she needed to CHANGE the way she was working out to break the barrier.

Fitness 19 was offering a 90 Day Fitness Challenge which combined a trainer with a full range of techniques to reshape your body.  Jen was ready to crash the 50 pound barrier.  The program included a fitness evaluation before and after, nutrition information, small team workouts, cardio and fat burning tips all with a trainer.

Working out as a group was motivating; it was less intimidating than a one-on-one trainer.  The scale started to move in the right direction as the shape of her body changed.  She not only looked better, she felt better.  This was the best decision because it kick-started her weight loss that motivated her to stay positive about her lifestyle changes.  The weight came off faster.  She would never have done any of the free weights without the challenge.

Jen committed to success every day by packing her gym clothes up to have in the car so that after work she would head right to the gym to do cardio and weights.  Jen explains that psychologically when you get home you’ll not want to go back out after work.

Now:   It’s been three years since she commited to a better way of living.   “I already have a plan for eating and exercise,” Jen says.  Weight Watchers is still in Jen’s success lane.  The stories of those at the meetings give her inspiration and the ability to cheer on those that have had success.  She still journals which holds her, as she says, “accountable to yourself”.   (See endnote on food journals.) [i]

For now she is enjoying her life and is experiencing lots of things that she didn’t believe she would do.  “I use to sit in the background.  Now I have a quiet confidence that brings me out of my shell.”

Exercising and clean eating[ii] are her habits now.    She indicated she has found another habit, exercising and clean eating, to replace her bad habits.   Is Jen perfect in sticking to her choices, “No, I still indulge but I pick and choose more precisely what I eat.”  Jen counts calories and protein.  If you don’t  know the calorie content immediately her advice is to “Google it”.

“When you’re on Weight Watchers you learn to go to the grocery store.  The food I buy now I never purchased before,” she said.

You can tell when talking to Jen that she is very humble about her program.  “I will never go back to where I was,” a confident Ms. Kelly exclaimed.   Jen competes with herself always trying to attain the next thing – a better run time, a better work out, or a new physical competition such as the Tough Mudder – May 19 in Twin Cities, WI, Chicago Rock n Roll Half Marathon (7/22/2012), the Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon (12/2/2012).

Training Routine:

• Cardio 6 days a week at least 30 minutes unless specifically working on cardio, then it’s 60 minutes.
• On cardio/weights days its 30-40 minutes cardio and a minimum of 30 minutes on free weights alternating lower body/upper body.
• At her peak of training she spent 7 days at the gym.  Today, she never goes lower than 5 times to the gym per week.   Weight training is essential to losing weight.
• Jen sees a trainer 1 to 2 times a week.  What did a trainer help her with?  “I learned the correct technique for each muscle group to obtain the optimum strength and to not hurt yourself.”
• Marathon Training.  Jen started in June of 2011 on a 19 week program to work up to the Chicago Marathon.  There was a running team through Centegra Health Bridge in Crystal Lake that they all worked together to prepare for the 26.2 miles of Chicago streets.   She had no after affects that stopped her from competing the next week in the Urbanathalon sponsored by Men’s Health.

Lifestyle food choices:  clean eating

• Jen eats non-processed food.
• Protein – chicken, beef, fish, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt and protein drinks (smoothies for the morning)
• Veggies – all kinds.
• Jen’s advice:  You need to set yourself up for success every day and have a plan.  You need to figure out your menus.

Encourage others:

• Jen would encourage others to put yourself first and that the changes you make be for you.  You have to believe in yourself.

 Success Plan:

• Journal everything you eat.
• Plan your meals around clean eating.
• Weight Watchers worked for her.
• Be prepared to bring your workout clothes with you to the gym.
• Become a member of gym.
• Work out with a trainer.
• Plan for success.

Stats:   

• Height:  5’9”
• Before:   326.8 pounds
• Now:   175 pounds
• Loss of 151.8 pounds

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[i] “The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost,” said lead author Jack Hollis Ph.D., a researcher at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. “Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records. It seems that the simple act of writing down what you eat encourages people to consume fewer calories.”  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080708080738.htm

[ii] What is Clean Eating?  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/livestrongcom/clean-eating-5-simple-ste_b_632545.html