Creamy Black Bean Dip

Howdy Folks!

Today has been another day full of paining! Ugh, once you start painting, it seems to never end! It really will look so nice when we are done though! (Will that day ever come???)

No workout today folks-so no sweaty picture today! A painting picture will have to do! My right shoulder DOES hurt from reaching to the ceiling all day;)

I did sneak in a little time today to make a creamy black bean dip! YUM! Basically I ran out of hummus which is my fav snack during the workday with some veggies. And I had a can of black beans I've been meaning to use.....Creamy black bean dip it is!

Afternoon snack to fuel up for painting!

Creamy Black Bean Dip

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

A couple chunks of roasted red pepper

1 minced clove of garlic

2 T. diced onion

2 T. of olive oil

S & P

A couple squirts of lime juice

I added all of these ingredients to my Magic Bullet and pulsed until combined. Taste and add more ingredients if you like-jalapeno, white beans, onions, scallions, tomatoes-whatever you like! Make this recipe YOURS!

1 PointsPlus per a 2 T. serving. Serves about 12.

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While I was in the "big city" of Salina yesterday for my dad's wrestling tourney, I went to a health food store my sister-in-law told me about-Vita-Villa. OMG, PEOPLE! I am TOTALLY in love with this store and will hit it up whenever I'm in town! All of the obscure health ingredients my fav city bloggers write about, this store has! It IS pretty expensive, but sometimes a splurge is in order! I picked up a variety of Amy's soups, Arctic Zero cookies & cream ice cream (1 pint is 150 calories!) and 4 varieties of http://www.larabar.com/.

Many of my favorite bloggers gush about Larabars all the time, so I definitely wanted to see what all the hype was about! I wasn't impressed and definitely want some reasons why these are the best bars! First, the bars I bought are between 5 or 6 PointsPlus each. Which would probably be a meal bar along with something small. No big deal, but they are TINY and I was definitely hungry within a half hour of eating it:( Second, the chocolate chip brownie kind I had really wasn't all that great....

Oh well, if you you'd like to email or comment about why YOU love Larabars-I'd love to hear it! I'm still trying to keep an open mind!

I hope you're all keeping warm on this Sunday evening! It's snowing pretty heavy here in northcentral Kansas!

Desserted Tip of the Day: Did you know that adding up smaller workouts throughout your day has the same health effects as one long workout? So try to walk to work, do some crunches on your lunch break and in general just get moving!

(Note: the smaller workouts have to be at least 10 minutes long.)

Quesadilla Inspiration

Hey Peeps!

Finally Friday, Friends, or the Triple F if you will;)

Today I have to tell you about my FANTASTIC lunch! Well, first I had a hearty bowl of delicious mystery soup from yesterday;) But I also got a great idea from a fellow blogger who I LLOOOVVEE to read every day! It's The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, and she had a mouthwatering blog the other day about quesadillas! Her vivid photos and tantalizing descriptions of each ingredient really inspired me to get my Mexi on! Of course, in a more "Weight Watcher-y" way;)

Side Note: I've come to realize that EVERY recipe I have provided on my blog is TOTALLY adaptable to ingredients you like and have on hand! So please, do a switcharoo on whatever you like! Tell me about it in the comment section!

Here's who takes center stage in my quesadilla today:

 Frank's Hot Sauce, Lil' Chub 'mator's (or cherub tomatoes:), shrimp, Light Flatout Wrap, Light Laughing Cow cheese, onions and green pepper.

1. First, defrost shrimp (if need be) in a bath of cold tap water while they sit in a colander (this only takes a few minutes). Then take those pesky tails off and discard them! Squirt plenty of Frank's on it and mix together.
2. Start sauteing (is that how you spell it?) your onions and peppers. I just thought a little garlic would be devine right now;) Now, throw in that firey shrimp!

3. While these flavors are melding (did I just make that word up?) together, spread a wedge of Laughing Cow on your Flatout wrap (or tortilla) and toss cheese-side up on a hot pan.
4. Now toss the shrimp mix on one half of the Flatout wrap.

I throw on some spinach (because wilted spinach is the best!) and some more cheese (fat free, but it's not very melty-boo!) and folded it up. I put a dallop of fat free sour cream on it. It was AMAZE-BALLS! And too easy! 6 PointsPlus

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After work, I ran and got more paint for our living room. All the texurizing is done, it just needs a coat over it. Painting is a messy, long job folks! I don't recommend it.......

B has an out of town basketball game to coach so I get an evening to myself! While I adore spending time with my love, it's definitely nice to have an evening now and then all to YOURSELF! So I worked out (of course) which was a full body weightlifting hour! It felt great-I haven't lifted weights outside of a group class for months! So I was due....

I had pretty much dried off by the time the picture was taken....but you get the jist:)

What to do now? I might get started on painting, I might give myself a pedicure, I might just pop in a movie and veg out! Good night kids! I'm getting up bright and early to cheer on my dad's wrestling team at a tournament! Go BRONCOS!

Desserted Tip of the Day: Don't skip meals-in fact, eat less at your major meals and add a few extra smaller meals throughout the day. This jump starts your metabolism by eating a protein-rich breakfast and keeps it humming along by eating a couple hundred calories every couple of hours.

Mystery in my Crockpot

Hello Loves!

Today started with a Green Goddess-you know it's gonna be a good day...

After work, it was my very first Zumba class of the year!!!! YEEEHAAWWW!

After Zumba: I'm starting to like putting sweaty pics up of me! This might be my schtick?!?!?! BTW: Isn't "schtick" a cool word? Note to self, use "schtick" more often. Anywho.....

I came home to my Mystery Soup I spoke of yesterday:)

Yumminess....

This is not so much a recipe as just a reminder that your CROCKPOT IS MAGICAL! Seriously! Have no time to cook your food? Thow it into a crockpot, friends! Here's what I put into my "mystery soup."

12 oz. of chopped up turkey (or 6 servings of meat of your choice)

1 16 oz. bag of frozen mixed veggies

1 1/2 boxes of fat free, low sodium chicken stock (6 servings)

chopped up some extra veggies I had: onions, carrots, celery

Through in 2 bay leaves and sprinkle of dried rosemary.

I topped my personal bowl with some Tastefully Simple seasoning salt-but this is just for your own taste.

Uh, this is fool proof, peeps! You can really through anything you want in it! Noodles would be excellent! Want it vegetarian? Do tofu instead of turkey and veggie broth instead of chicken broth! And BTW: a big hearty bowl is only 2 PointsPlus! Seriously folks, try this now!!

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As you may know (or can tell by all my point counting) I'm following the new Weight Watchers plan. So far so good I must say! I didn't, however, lose any weight this past week after following the plan perfectly! Boo! I know from experience that I'm not going to bring myself down over this. Your body works in mysterious ways and you need to give it time to adjust! Anyway, I thought I would measure myself since I haven't done that in 5 weeks. Well, kids, I lost 3.75" in those 5 weeks! EVERYONE MEASURE YOURSELF, NOW!

Desserted Tip of the Day: Please don't let the scale be your only measuring point of success. Measure yourself, how do you feel in your clothes?, check blood pressure, body mass index, can you run faster or longer? All of these things should be happy goals to get you to your ending point! Relish and celebrate the small accomplishments!

The City of Manure

Hello Friends! I'm trying out a new look!

Today started off with some delicious, hot oatmeal insanity from miss hungrygirl.com herself!

It looks like baby poop...but don't let that deter you! It's super filling and delicious! 5 PointsPlus

During lunch I ran errands which included buying paint for our wall painters/texturizers tomorrow! WEEEHHHHHAAAA! I can't wait to have a pretty house!

When I got home from work, I did 6 sweaty "Just Dance2" songs and finished with practicing some new Zumba choreo for a half hour for my new class tomorrow!

I was sweaty and tired! If you say Zumba isn't a workout, I just did it for a half hour tonight! I USUALLY Zumba-it-up for an hour! I'm a mess after that!!!

Here's a little Midwest story for all you city folk! You don't get these type of stories in big city's!

A sprayer truck was hauling manure from one side of town to the other. He thought traveling down Main Street of our downtown area was a good idea. His sprayer went "on" right when he hit downtown and manure flew in CHUNKS for 4 blocks all through the downtown! It was wet, stinky and my lil' car could of seriously got stuck in a manure poo-chunk right on Main Street! HA! Welcome to Kansas, folks!

I hope you had a lovely day! I plan on making some mystery soup-which means throwing a bunch of leftovers in a crockpot! HA! We'll see how it turns out!

Desserted tip of the day: Remember to eat within 2 hours after a workout. Try to get a 2:1 ratio of complex carbs to protein. This helps restore your muscles. Low fat chocolate milk is an excellent choice!

My Nike Free's!

Hello Beauties!

I meant to blog earlier tonight but The Biggest Loser pulled me in! I have to say that I've never watched this show before! I know, I know...I should be watching it since I'm into fitness and all. Honestly, I seeked it out because of Rulon, the famous Greco-Roman wrestler that has a gold medal from the Olympics. My dad is a wrestling coach and I've been around it since I was born, so wanted to watch because of him. Well, every 5 minutes of that dang show had me tearing up-gheesh! Those people have some heart! I was a little leary that one guy lost 41 pounds in one week! Is that even healthy or sane? Well, it gives me some motivation to lose at least 10;)

I started back at the day job this week after 10 glorious days off! I'm going to be positive and say it's nice to get back into a routine....but you REALLY know what I'm thinking;)

The best part of my day was getting in a HARD workout in my NEW Nike Free's! If you haven't heard of these shoes yet, they have a super flexible sole and they're almost feather-weight. I could feel the muscles in my foot working harder than ever and I really felt like I could jump! Sometimes cross trainer shoes can get a little clunky and heavy.

Lookin' Good!

Ok, maybe that was the 2nd best part of my day....

Lunch was so delicious....I could have had 5 plates of this! A veggie whole wheat pita with a schmear of hummus, alfalfa sprouts, grape tomatoes, onion, bell pepper and a sprinkling of Tastefully Simple Dried Tomato pesto (I don't make the pesto, I just sprinkle the dry mix on EVERYTHING!). Serve that with Amy's Organic Tomato Bisque Soup-HEAVEN!!! If you haven't tried any of Amy's soup, please do yourself a favor and BUY PRONTO! My fav is the low fat black bean-it's perfectly spicy! I'm not gonna lie, I have to drive 30 minutes to get this soup, but it's sooo worth it!
PS: This whole lunch is 7 Points Plus!

By the way, I know this pita is not part of my New Year's Resolution, but in my defense, I bought these low fat whole wheat pita's the middle of December and I need to eat them up cause my husband won't!

What is your favorite go to healthy lunch? Soup is always on my list-fast, easy and filling!

Hello Dolls!

Here's a little view of what me and hubs have been working on with our painting the weekend:

Pretty rad, huh?!?! It really changes the whole room and I LOVE it! The painter who will texturize our walls is coming tomorrow. I can't wait!

In other news, my brother bought me the CD "The Beginning" by the Black Eyed Peas for Christmas and I had the opportuntiy to listen the whole thing through and it really just reminds me how AWESOME the BEP's are to workout too! I mean, they are PERFECT workout music-definite beats, up tempo, electronica-LOVE IT!

Source

So, with this CD in mind, I thought I would give you just a few of my favorite tunes to sweat too. These are songs that TRULY inspire me to MOVE. I hope they do the same for you!

In no particular order:

Ditty by Paperboy
My friend Jessica and I have an ongoing debate on what song we would walk out to if we were a professional sports player. After thinking long and hard, THIS is most definitely the song I would come out while doing the running man! Love it!

Drop It Like It's Hot by Snoop Dogg
This may not be the fastest song of the bunch, but boy does it have a driving beat and for some reason I just want to groove!

Faith by George Michael
Who doesn't like this song? And for some reason George-y has a better arse in that video than most women, so that just makes me want to move harder to achieve that greatness:)

Fever for the Flava by Hot Action Cop
WARNING: This song has some "suggestive" language so if you get offended easily, you can skip over this one. You really can't deny the way this song makes you wanna head-bang. Even if you are not a head-banger, you'll find your head moving uncontrollably to this beat!

I Wanna Sex You Up by Color Me Badd
Ok, again, not a fast song. But dang it if I don't LLUUURRRVEE thing song! I mean, I make my car shake when this song comes on because I'm dancing so hard!!!!!

Ignition (remix) by R. Kelly
This is a throw back to my college days and a shout out to the boys of ATO at Simpson College! Those boys would blare this song at parties and EVERYONE would jam! This song reminds of the good ole' days which always makes me wanna work harder! I can still sweat like a 20 year old-right?

It's Tricky by Run DMC
Running man alert!!! Although they are still "singing" this song, it's in a very loud, jarring manner, yet, not offensive. This song definitely will make you MOVE!

These are just a few of my favorites and more will come later! Please let me know your favorite songs to jam too! I'd love to look them up!

New Year's Resolution

Hello Kiddos!

How was your New Year's eve? I hope whether you stayed at home to watch the ball drop in NYC or you went out and got crazy (I did the latter;), I hope it was a perfectly stellar evening!

We went to a local bar where a band was playing and danced the night away!

I'm dragging today.......pajamas until 4 pm, Food Network on the tube 24/7, naps on the couch-I would say it was a successful day;)

Now is the time to think of a resolution for 2011. I'm not big on the tradition. In fact, I don't think I've ever made one seriously! I try to be the best version of myself all year round (cheese it up!). But this year, I have two that I'm setting out for.

1. Lower Debt. Right after B and I got married, we took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, and boy, that was THE BEST THING we could have ever done! Before, we thought we were doing good with our money; We learned real fast we were so wrong in so many ways! We're actively putting all (or most) of our extra money into our debt. We've paid off thousands of dollars so far and we feel like we have a "purpose" with our money now!

2. Lower my carb intake. I'm no nutritrionist or health expert, but I literally read about it every day and love learning and researching it! And especially after doing P90X and learning about their eating requirements, it became pretty apparent to me that I was eating WAY too many carbs! I mean, EVERYTHING literally has carbs in it, not just bready things! So even if you don't eat any "bread-type" products throughout your day, you will get more than enough carbs! I hate that fact-dang it!! So I'm going to try to limit myself to one whole grain carb a day and I have to "earn" it by working out first. You should intake some carbs within 2 hours after a workout-so that's my goal! This will be a challenging one, but I think my body will thank me for it;)

And that's it, folks! I'd love to hear what your resolutions or goals are for 2011! I personally want to make this a very healthy and fitness-oriented year!