Weekly Nutrition and Fitness Checkup

I have been doing P90x for the past 4 weeks now and have been on a regular eating schedule with bi-weekly cheat days. Since the beginning I have lost 9 pounds and gotten right back to my pre-pregnancy weight. (Cris was born Oct 8th.) My highest pregnancy weight was 180. So I lost 20 pounds right after delivery and then these additional 9 pound when I decided to eat right and workout. I probably would have been right around 145 right about now, but thanks to Thanksgiving, lol, I'm not quite there yet. But don't worry I will be soon.

With my success, I reached out to my mother and sister because they are trying to eat right and exercise too :) I have asked that they send me a food log of their week and I'll assess the plan based on their individual goals to find areas of improvement to help them real their fitness goals :)

I challenge all of you to take a more serious approach to your goals. Make a plan and stick to it. Include rewards for yourself for motivation and you'll be more likely to succeed.

If you need help, just email ahkeeia@yahoo.com, or comment on this post. Also if you would like weekly analysis of your food logs email and we'll discuss special offers. :)

I'm phinally a Prophyte!!!!!!

So I have been waiting for a little while now to have neos of my own and they are phinally here!!!! Welcome my lovely sorors of "Paradigm Shift" FA2K11!!!! I am so happy you're my sister :)

Holiday Pancakes!! :)

So I know I have been M.I.A. for quite some time, but...................... I had my little bundle of joy!!! Cristopher Trent Ward was born October 8, 2011. Since then I have been super busy taking care of home and I'm back at work, so I haven't quite figured out how to balance work and life yet, but I'm working on it, lol. And I must say shout out to my cousin, Deidra, because she always gets on me about not blogging, lol. So thank you ma'am. I'm back at it :) .............. Anywho, on to the idea de jour :)

I absolutely love making pancakes for breakfast. I'm also a huge fan of adding fruit and nuts to them to make for a  more exciting pancake. My thought for the holidays is to add those staple ingredients into the batter to create the most delicious Holiday Pancake :) I immediately thought of Egg Nog. It tastes like thick, spiced milk with a little tang, lol. My next thought was pecans. Though I don't like pecan pie (I just haven't created a recipe for it, but I will soon and I'm pretty sure I'll like it, lol) Pecans are a staple ingredient for the holidays along with pumpkin and nutmeg. So combining all of these ingredients into your already prepared pancake mix will make the most delicious pancake of all time during the holiday season.

Here's how to do it :)

1 cup Pancake mix (the just add water kind)
1 cup cup Egg Nog
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree (from a can)
1/4 cup Pecans (chopped)
1 tbsp Nutmeg or Cinnamon
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

In a large bowl, whisk all the ingredients together until the batter is smooth. Cook like you would your normal pancakes. Large griddle on medium high heat. 3 mins per side or until golden.


Hope you enjoy :)

"No Sugar Added" .... Don't Be Fooled!!!

So lately I have been noticing that many food products say one thing on the front of their packages, but the nutrition labels tells a different story. I thought I might share some knowledge with those of you who have been fooled by pretty labels.

The biggest myth or false advertisement of them all is "No Sugar Added" in juice brands. WTF!!?!?!?! Whoever came up with this idea totally sucks. If you read the nutrition label on those brands, it STILL has about the same amount of sugar as the regular version. (ex, reg 33g sugar, "no sugar added" 27g sugar) The difference is pretty much nonexistent.

I searched long and hard for a juice that didn't scream DIABETES!!! After much searching and nutrition label reading, I finally found a juice that I can feel good about drinking. It is the DIET version of  Ocean Spray Cranberry. It still taste delicious, but it more healthy for you. And get this, even though it has only 2g of sugar per 8oz the label does not say "no sugar added". Pay attention to what you are drinking and what you give to your loved ones, especially those with health problems. Sometimes taking the extra minute to read can make all the difference between living a healthy lifestyle and killing yourself slowly.

Pork and Apples are happily married.

So  my cousin, Deidra, got on me about how she is disappointed that I haven't been writing on my blog. Made me feel really bad :( But honestly, the creative juices have left the building. I think they are on the way back soon though. Just the other day I was thinking about adding new foods to my life and one of the foods that I rarely eat, other than bacon (delicious!!!!!!!!) is pork. So I thought I'd give it another try today.

Now-a-days most chefs will say that pork is a lean meat and now can be eaten when cooked to medium. I'm not quite sure about the lean part and I definitely don't suggest or recommend anyone to eat their pork under well done #ImJustSayin. Despite all that I bought some thin pork chops and decided to cook them today, and since pork and apples make a good combo, I tried a version of my own. Here's what I did.....

4 Thin Cut Pork Chops
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Garlic Salt
1 tsp Seasoning Salt
1 tsp Paprika
1 1/3 T Cinnamon
1 T Sugar
2 large apples peeled and cubed
1/2 cup Water
2 T Olive Oil

Firstly, make sure the pork is clean and patted dry. Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat with 1 T OliveOil. Mix together 1 tsp of all the spices except the sugar. (Save the rest of the cinnamon and sugar for the apples) Sprinkle both sides of the pork with the mixture.

While waiting on the pork to marinate a little bit, in a small pot, add the apples, water, sugar and cinnamon. Turn on high heat and cook until apples are tender. Very careful add the mixture to a blender and blend until you have apple sauce. (Word of caution, hot mixtures and blenders don't usually mix, but make sure you have a towel over the top of the blender so the top doesn't come popping off from the steam.) Set to the side. (Also if you don't have a blender, you can serve the apples as a thick, syrupy, chunky sauce. Might be even better :) Just add less water to create a thicker consistency.

When the pan is hot enough, add the pork and cook for 5 mins on one side. Drizzle the other 1 T of Olive Oil over the top of the pork when you are ready to flip. Flip and cook for another 4 mins.

When plating you can either spoon the apples sauce on top of the pork or on the side is a dipping sauce. Good either way :)

Homemade Strawberry Vinaigrette

So I woke up one morning and had the strangest craving for a strawberry salad with walnuts and blue cheese crumbles, but I didn't have any dressing to top it off with so my creative juices got to flowing.

I decided to try my hand at making a vinaigrette. Here;s what I did:

1/4 cup  Sliced Strawberry
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Canola Oil
2 T Balsamic Glaze
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Sugar
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar

Simply blend in a blender until smooth and just a little runny. You may need to add more or less oil for the perfect consistency, and there you have it, Your own Strawberry Dressing!!! Yummy :)

Father's Day Meal for Trent

So I thought I would prepare a meal that all men should love, Steak and Potatoes, lol. Good idea too, becuase Trent loved it!! Here's what I did......

I made Sirloin Steak with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes and Garlic Roasted Asparagus Spears.

I cut some Yukon Gold potatoes into 1-inch pieces and boiled them for about 5 mins. I then put them in a casserole dish with Olive Oil, Onions, Rosemary, Garlic Salt, Onion Powder, and Pepper. I baked them for about 40 mins.

For the Asparagus, I simply seasoned with Olive Oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper, and roasted for 10 mins.

The steak was easy as well. Simply pat the steaks dry with a paper towel then season with whatever you have. Heat a skillet to medium high heat. Add olive oil and cook steaks on each side for about 5 mins to reach medium well temp. This is the most important tip of all. When you take the steak out of the pan LET IT REST. Meaning, do NOT touch it, cut it, poke it or anything!! Let it rest on the cutting board, loosely covered with foil for about 5-10 mins. This will help the meat stay moist and redistribute the juices.

All in all  this was a pretty easy meal to cook and does not take a lot of effort.

P.S. I start my new schedule at work and I'm super excited about it!!! :) AND I go home to Memphis in 5 days for my Baby Showers!!!! Yay!!!!