Pre-made Smoothies

Trying to add more fruits & veggies in my diet has gotten me to experiment quite a bit and try new recipes. It’s been a constant struggle trying to find ways to incorporate these in a creative way…and keep it going. Never one to quit, I tried a new method this week- prepping smoothies & freezing them for the week:

mine didn’t look this cool so I borrowed this from Google

Part of the reason why I went with pre-made smoothies is because I’m lazy it’s easy and convenient to pull out of the freezer the night before, and have them completely ready in the morning. I also am a huge fan of smoothies because you can sneak things in that you might not eat individually, and not taste them as much in the mix.

Like these bad boys:

EEESssh. Just looking at them makes me shudder.

Beets have a TON of health benefits associated behind eating them. WHFoods says ‘Beets are a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains. Betanin and vulgaxanthin are the two best-studied betalains from beets, and both have been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support.’

Basically that means beets are good eats. I just do not like them at all! So the smoothie was the only way to go.

I created 4 pre-made smoothies on Sunday (since this is only a 4 day work week) and included this in the line-up:

-canned beets

-raspberries

-blackberries

-canned peaches

-canned pineapple

-greek yogurt with honey

There was really no rhyme or reason for why I chose these ingredients (besides beets). I just strolled the aisles at the grocery store and picked what sounded good at the time. I made the first 3 smoothies with all the ingredients, and the last one with just peaches, pineapples, and greek yogurt + honey. I figured after 3 days of beets, I’d readily welcome a ‘fun’ smoothie.

So….. how did it go?!

I’m a beet-liever!

I will never add beets to my salad or sandwich, or eat them plain… but I can do them in a smoothie. And I really loved knowing the good stuff I was putting in my body. Between the smoothies and the 2+ servings of baby carrots I took with me to lunch, I was able to get 5 or more servings of fruits/veggies everyday!

Plus, it was way cheaper than buying Naked Juice or some other natural fruit smoothie drink for a weeklong span. Needless to say, I am definitely planning to incorporate this into my routine.

Talk to me:

What is one fruit or veggie you absolutely cannot stand? 

What are your favorite things to put in smoothies?

Beet-liever or beet hater?

my first sponsored race!

how was everyone’s weekend?! mine went really well, just too fast (as per ush!)

on Thursday, I got offered a sponsorship from Renewal by Anderson to run Girls On The Run 5k in Ypsilanti, this Sunday (today!!)

There were three pretty cool things about this race- 1. I LOVED the cause behind it 2. It was on my alma mater campus (EMU) and 3. I got sponsored to run it (read: free race!)

With temps scheduled to be in the 80′s, I knew going in that this was not going to be a PR race for me. As much as that sucked, I decided to just have fun with it and enjoy running a race on my old campus. Plus, I finally got to meet my Twitter friend, @watchmegorun!

Megan, Brandon (from Renewal by Anderson) and me

Megan and I have Tweeted a zillion times so it was pretty cool to actually meet her IRL. She’s running the Bayshore Marathon next weekend, so she was planning to make this a fun run also. We set out at the start and waited for the race to begin!

At the starting line

The race started at 10am (the latest start for a race I’ve ran ever!), and it was around 80 at that point. HOT HOT HOT. We took off and had to dodge and weave a bit, but it started to thin out after the first mile. It was HOT! We were sweating just waiting at the start so I knew we were in for a doozy. We did pretty good though, and only had to take a brief walking break near mile 3. We ended up finishing in just under 31 minutes- not bad considering the temps!

Happy to be finished!

Even though I could’ve done without the heat, I had a blast getting to run a race for an awesome cause! I also felt like a legit running star getting sponsored to run this race. If any of my Michigan friends are looking to get sponsored, Renewal by Anderson will be sponsoring runners all summer! All you have to do is ‘like’ their Facebook page and check out their next races!

Enough about me, let’s talk about you:

Did you race this weekend?

Do anything else fun??

Who doesn’t love free stuff?

So not too long ago, I found out that Target has a samples page to try out some of their new products! All you have to do is click on the categories and select what you are interested in trying. They ask you a few simple survey questions, and then you get them mailed to you:

I selected the Beauty Bag and got this cute little bundle in the mail! Products included:

Nivea Extended Daily Lotion

Neutrogena visibly bright daily facial cleanser

L’Oreal Paris Magi Lumi Light Infusing Primer

Simple cleansing facial wipes

Pantene Color Preserve Volume Shampoo

Boatload of coupons

I was really impressed by how much came with in the bag, and how cute the little pink and purple striped bag was. Hello, new travel make up carrier!

Of all the products in here, my favorite is hands-down the Neutrogena cleaner. I’m very picky when it comes to facial cleansers (probably as a result of going to cosmetology school) and usually use products for sensitive skin or with gentle ingredients (irritated skin is never a good look), but those types of cleansers can often feel too lotion-y and hard to tell if you got it all off your face (like conditioner- does anyone else have that problem too?!)

This cleanser felt gentle on the skin, but I could tell when it was washed off. My skin did look brighter and I really enjoyed the clean feeling I got from it.

I also really like the Simple cleansing wipes because their products are tailored to sensitive skin and they have no alcohol, oil, perfume or dyes in their product. I could easily use up a whole box of these from working out alone, and love how you can still get that clean, crisp feeling on your face without  the risk of getting all of your hair wet or messing up a hairstyle that washing your face can cause.

I enjoyed getting to go through all of the products in this basket, and am feverishly stalking continuing to check back on the Target website for when they release more sample categories. Definitely worth checking out!

 

What are some of your favorite skin care products? 

 

Mother’s Day Brunch

Happy Monday to you all! Hope your day is getting off to a rockin’ start!

Mother’s day is always an important celebration in our family, simply because my mom is so awesome:

My mom and I on Christmas, with McKenna photobombing

This year, my family and I have celebrated a lot of holidays by having a brunch, so I thought hosting the brunch in honor of my mom on Mother’s Day would be very fitting.

These recipes are very easy to follow, the ingredients are pretty inexpensive and the end result is majorly delicious so I wanted to share them with you!

Cinnamon Roll Cake

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but all I can take credit for is the picture. I  got this recipe from Chef-in-training and it was delicious! My mom loves the cinnamon swirl coffee cake from Starbucks, so I was hoping to imitate that idea with this cake. I honestly think it tasted better!

Cheese, Egg, and Chicken Sausage w/ Apple Quiche

I have been making quiches for years, and they are always a big hit. What I love about a quiche is that the ingredients are so interchangeable, you can have endless possibilities! Here is the recipe I followed for this one, but you can always subsitute the meat for veggies or other types of meat, different cheeses, etc:

Ingredients:

5 eggs (I used egg beaters)

8 oz of cheese (I used Mexican mix)

1/2 cup milk

2 chicken w/ apple sausage links, diced

Pie crust

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients, pour into pie crust. Bake for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

 

Strawberry Kiwi Bellini

These were so easy to make and just added a classier touch to ordinary champagne! You can also substitute the fruit for other choices, but I really think the strawberry kiwi was perfect.

Ingredients:

Strawberries, pureed in food processor

Kiwi, pureed in food processor

Champagne (We used pink and white Korbel- you don’t need to get an expensive bottle because you’re mixing it)

Directions: Layer the kiwi puree underneath the strawberry puree and pour champagne over it.

 

Enjoy!

What did you do for Mother’s Day?

Any must have brunch recipes you would like to share?

Cake and burn out week

how is your weekend going thus far? mine has been pretty swimmingly!

Yesterday, Nate and I went out to Mitchell’s Fish Market to celebrate our 1 year anny:

I cannot believe it’s been a whole year! It was nice to reminisce on all the things we’ve been through in our first year of marriage. What could be better than that? Oh, here’s an idea:

The bakery that made our wedding cake gave us an anniversary cake, same batter as our wedding (mint chocolate chip)! Mmmm

After all the festivities, I went to sleep pretty late but got to sleep in (til 8:30) so I felt pretty up for my run. This week, I’ve felt a little burned out from running; think the past few 20 miler weekly totals may have been a bit much. Physically my legs feel fine (compression socks FTW), but mentally I just haven’t really wanted to run.

I even skipped a 3 miler the other day and opted for the bike. I thought that and taking a day off would be enough, and I modified my long run goal today (last weekend I ran 9.1- today my goal was 6-7). We got a later start in the day because Nate wanted to study first, so by the time we got out there it was around 70 degrees and felt really muggy.

My pace was fine, I felt a bit fatigued (thinking it was because of the heat and muggy-ness), but I kept myself hydrated and took a GU around 4.5 miles. I just wasn’t feeling it mentally at all.  I had  mild freak out during my run- what if I’m too burned out to keep up my training? What if something is really really (really) wrong with me?! I quickly quieted those thoughts and finished the run just around 1 hour, 6.3 miles total.

After the run, I spent some time thinking and noticed that I have a pattern of hitting a ‘burn out’ week every few weeks or so. I’ll go from being all ‘I lurrrrve running, run run run and run some more!’ to ‘ugh run again? today? meh’. It seems to go away after about a week, but noticing the trend did help me realize that maybe it’s just a natural part of being a runner to experience mental burn out.

Do you ever have burn out weeks? What do you do to combat them?

How did you celebrate your 1 year anniversary?

Anything fun going on this weekend you’d like to share?

One year ago….

Happy First Anniversary, Nathaniel. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Fun with Greek Yogurt!

For the past couple months, I’ve been incorporating Greek yogurt into my meals, mostly in smoothie form. While Greek yogurt has many health benefits- often double the protein and half the sugar of other yogurts, live bacterial cultures and calcium, its taste can be less than desired. I generally opt for Fage Total 0% because that’s what Costco carries, but it’s a good brand and product also. Adding it to a smoothie is a pretty easy way to get more Greek in your diet, but I wanted to figure out other ways to mix it in as well.

 

Here are a couple different recipes I’ve used successfully to make tasty Greek yogurt treats:

Greek Yogurt Dip

About 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil (I use Tuscan Olive Oil, infused with herbs)

Pepper & Salt to taste

2 tablespoons of Feta cheese

Mix together until well blended. Perfect for burgers or dipping vegetables.

 

Greek Yogurt Muffins

 

Greek Yogurt Sugar Cookies

These cookies were more cake-like than your average sugar cookie, but still delicious. I topped mine with a bit of Nutella and was in love!

What are some ways you get more Greek yogurt in your diet?

Do you hold yourself back?

Have you ever felt like this:

 

‘I’m not living up to my true potential’

‘I want to do more with my life’

‘I am afraid of trying my big dream/idea/venture because of…..’

‘I could never live the life I really want/have the body I really want/etc because of…’

‘I feel like my life is passing me by’

?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, you are not alone. These are called self limiting thoughts, and unfortunately, we are trained to have them in our lives from pretty much day one. These questions can hold you back from making the income you want, having the body you’d like, running the marathon of your choice, be with the spouse we’d like, or any other big dream that you may have. The reason these thoughts creep into our sub-conscious is because we know there is something better out there that we want, but we are afraid to go after it.

Doesn’t that sound silly? You know there is this great alternative to your current situation out there, and you could have it (just as well as anyone else could), yet you don’t? Why not? It’s because we let these limiting thoughts create obstacles that we deem insurmountable. But let’s dig even deeper: why do we allow these obstacles to exist? It’s because of fear.

Fear can come from many other avenues than just scary movies and monsters. Fear of stepping outside of your comfort zone, fear of being different, fear of failure, and fear of being alone in your quest are all many ways that we excuse not pursuing our dreams wholeheartedly.

I have trouble with fear too. Currently, I spend a lot of time thinking about my impact on the world; what I want to do and how I want to do it, only to come up short. I have a lot of ideas, but the self limiting thoughts creep in: ‘Alexis, you don’t have time to add that to your schedule- you’re busy enough!’, ‘How are you going to make a living doing that?’ and ‘it’s not enough to make the impact you’d want, so you shouldn’t do it anyway’ are many of the self limiting thoughts I experience.

Just last summer, I remember staring blankly at my computer screen, which showed a registration confirmation for my first 5k. I was completely panicked. ‘How are you going to make running a part of your already busy schedule? You could get hurt, you could not make your target goal (which at that point was to not walk during the race), you will miss out on time spent with friends and family’. The self limiting thoughts were endless.

But you get to the good stuff when you embrace your fear, feel it, and do it anyway. I started slow, running just barely a mile a couple times a week. Soon this progressed into 2 miles, which took what seemed forever until I felt comfortable. Part of my self limiting thoughts were right- I did miss out on time with friends and family, I did get sore often, and it was hard getting up an hour early some days just to get a run in.But I still did it, and I kept going.

When I crossed my first finish line, I felt invincible (and exhausted). Something inside of me said ‘take that, limiting thoughts. Go eff yourself. Mmmm a banana and coffee sounds great right now’

(Okay, so my brain was a little ADD post race)

That experience taught me that if you let your limiting thought control your future, you are letting them win without even putting up a fight. I could have walked a bit during that race, and I still would have won over my limiting thoughts. The fact that I stepped outside of my comfort zone only proved that 1. my comfort zone is a constantly growing space and 2. I am much more capable than what I realized

So for this beautiful Friday, wherever you are, I encourage you to think of one limiting thought you have fed yourself for too long that you want to change. It can be about anything. Even if it seems simple, if it’s held you back in any instance of your life, it is no laughing matter.The more that you show yourself what you can do, the more you will want to continue to do more. It’s time to show these limiting thoughts who’s boss, and what better time to start than now?

Talk to me:

What are some thoughts you’ve had that held you back (previously and currently)?

Did you challenge them? What happened?

If you have some you want to challenge now, and feel comfortable sharing, please do. My next post will be about mine (eek!)!

Sometimes you must start small to go big

For a lot of people, working out can seem like a bit of a chore- it has the word ‘work’ in it for a reason. We get stuck in routines, working regular schedules and following certain habits throughout the day. If you have not made working out part of your regular routine, it can seem difficult to start.

An unfortunate reality for many.

A lot of people ask me how I have time to go running or work out while working full time and maintaining a social life. I have to prioritize a lot (do I want to sleep in or do I want to get a long run in?), and sometimes I decide that I’d rather just go home and watch How I Met Your Mother. It happens. The important thing though, is to make sure nights like that are rare in occurrence. Motivating yourself is the only way to keep a fitness routine in your life. The hardest part is often the first step.

The answer is always yes!

Once you’ve decided that you want to start working out, you sometimes get this ‘WOOOOOSH’ of motivation and feel like you are going to conquer the world! You plan to start working out 2 hours a day, and eat salads and grilled chicken. And brown rice. Doesn’t that just sound yummy?!

Okay, so you can certainly make those foods into yummy meals, don’t get me wrong. But too often people try to do too much at once, get overwhelmed, and give up quickly while feeling defeated.  When it comes to incorporating a healthy lifestyle into your own, quality over quantity will always be best. If you make small changes at first, they compound into bigger ones.

Here are some ways you can make small changes for the better and get more physical activity and healthy food into your life:

If you work a desk job, start by walking for 5-10 minutes around the office every hour. Slowly incorporate that into 20 minutes during your lunch hour three times a week, and so on.

If you generally eat a donut or some sugary cereal for breakfast (or worse- you don’t even eat breakfast!), try swapping the sugar snaps for raisin bran instead (or oatmeal). Skip the donut and make an egg white omelet with turkey bacon.  If you don’t even eat breakfast, start off with toast or something light, and add on as you go.

If you plan to work out after work, bring your clothes with you to work. Change into them before you leave for the day. I find that when I do this, I am 100% likely to go to the gym. I am already dressed for it, after all.  If you wait until you get home to change, there are too many distractions- tv, food, kids, adorable puppy faces (the ultimate motivation sucker in my house!) which can cause you to say ‘oh I’ll just skip it this once’ which can turn into weeks and months.

Get a workout buddy! There is usually someone in your workplace or neighborhood that is feeling similar to you- they want to start a healthier lifestyle but just don’t know where to begin. If you have a workout buddy that will hold you accountable to meeting 3x a week at the gym, you are significantly more likely to keep a fitness routine. Can’t find a buddy? Sign up for a group fitness class! The group energy level will help you stay committed and interested in fitness.

Creating a lifestyle of fitness and proper nutrition is not always easy peasy, but when you put in the effort and are rewarded with results (be it feeling healthier, looking slimmer, lowering blood pressure/cholesterol, etc) it can easily become addicting. Adding on miles to my running log keeps my motivation level high, and always has me in anticipation for my next run.

 

Remember: Small changes= big results.  Commit to 3 small changes for the next 2 months! Let me know what your changes are and how you plan to be held accountable for them.

I’m Back!

…..I know, I know, I’ve been gone WAY.TOO.LONG. I’ve been a little busy.

Deets on the past 2 month-ish:

I ran a 10k:

In my post-run glory

On a whim, I signed up for the Martian 10k and donned my alien sunglasses to run in style. My goal was just to finish, and I ended up running at 54:11!! 

I got sick immediately after my kick ass race and PR:

The 48 hours following my race

I have NO idea what it was, but it was like a mix of the normal flu and stomach flu. Needless to say, NUUN was my best friend. But I bounced back and got back into the running routine.

I signed up for my very first 10 miler!

Cheesy post run smile

I know what you’re thinking- ‘But Alexis, you were terrified of the 10k! What the heck is wrong with you?’

Truth is, once I hit 6 miles, I realized that I loved challenging myself. Have I ran 10 miles yet? Nope. But the race is in June, so that gives me plenty of time to train. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve really started to get into running. Luuuuuurve it.

Hubs started running!

Okay, so I don’t have any pics of him running, but he started! And soon he’ll love it just as much as I do! (Just beliebs…)

 

Long story short for now. Stay tuned……