Awesome Week

Good morning!!!!!! How has everyone's week gone?? Once again, I apologize for the irregular blogging, but this week has been super busy and I wanted to spend time with my family. Plus, Wednesday was my birthday, and we were out most of the day anyway. Anyway, I have a brand-new workout and recipe to share with ya'll today!
First up, here's my new circuit workout! Of course, you can always either cut it in half or complete just the strength or cardio portions if you don't have a whole lot of time....the entire circuit took me about an hour to finish.

Cardio Set 1:
0-5              Warm up at an easy-moderate pace
5-17             30-60-90 style run (30 seconds max intensity, 30 seconds rest, 60 seconds moderate-hard intensity, 60 seconds rest, 90 seconds moderate intensity, 90 seconds rest)
17-20          Cool down

Strength Set:
For each strength set, complete the arms circuit and then the legs circuit 1-2 times
Arms:
Woodchop w/ lunge (12 reps each side)
Rotating tricep kickback (15 each arm)
Hip hinge with reverse fly (12)
Lateral Lift  (6-8 on each side)
Pike walk pushup combo (5-6)
Shoulder Press (10)

Legs:
Dumbbell sumo squat (10-12)
Elevated reverse lunge (10 each side)
Jump lunges (12, with one lunge on each side counting as 1 rep)
Weighted squats (15)
Bicycle Crunch  (20)
Squat + lunge combo (squat, kick one leg back into a reverse lunge, repeat) (8-10 each leg)

Cardio Set 2:
Use any cardio machine
0-3             Go at a moderate-light intensity
3-5              High intensity
5-15           Repeat 0-5 2 more times
15-20         Cool down

Repeat the entire strength set again. 


And there you have it....yet another cardio/strength circuit! :D Also, if you want, throw in some ab work at the end!!  Also, check out my brand new playlist (with song suggestions from my dad and sister!)

Now, for the recipe!!!! Not surprisingly, it is yet another muffin recipe....I do have a chocolate dessert that I'll be posting about very soon though! :D 

Coffee Cake Streusel Muffins 

Ingredients:

Streusel:

Combine 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 2 tablespoons butter and cinnamon to taste in a small bowl until crumbly.

Muffins:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil or applesauce (a combination of the two would probably be great)

Preparation:

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In another, smaller bowl, combine the egg, milk, and oil. Stir wet ingredients into dry until just moistened.
2. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of batter into 12 greased muffin tins. If desired, sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on each muffin. Finish filling the muffin tins with the remaining batter. 
3. Get the streusel mixture and distribute evenly on top of all of the muffins. 
4. Bake at 400 for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean. 

Yum!  

Just to quickly update ya'll on the zinc thing, I'm making sure to get at least 100% of my RDA of zinc and will see what that does to my salt cravings over this next week. I'm really hoping that it works, and definitely enjoyed learning more about the importance of a balanced diet! 

What are your New Year plans???

Rest.

Good morning!!! Hope everyone had a wonderful, blessed Christmas. Sorry about the lack of posting.....I really wanted to spend some quality time with the family! We definitely relaxed and hung out a lot this weekend and took yesterday to remember the true meaning of Christmas. What did you do this weekend?


In a completely unrelated note, I have a recipe, and also a topic that I have recently done some research on to talk about! First up, the recipe:
Super soft sugar cookies

 

(not my picture, but this is how they turned out)

based on this recipe

Ingredients:

Cookies:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 - 3 1/2 cups flour (I started out with 3 cups, but ended up needing to add some to the dough)

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting:

5 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

8 tablespoons milk

Food coloring (I used green)

Directions:

1. Beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in another bowl and slowly add to the butter mixture until everything is well mixed. 
3. Chill dough for at least an hour. 
4. Separate dough into about 24 pieces, flatten each one into a thick circle. Place about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. 
5. Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes. The cookies should be a very light golden color. If you overbake, they won't be as soft. 
6. To frost, mix all of the frosting ingredients together and spread on cooled cookies. I also topped mine with some red colored sugar to make them even more Christmas-y!

These were seriously really delicious!!!! :D Sugar cookies are probably my third favorite cookie....the first being oatmeal raisin, and the second, chocolate chip. What is your favorite kind of cookie????

Now, just really quickly, I want to talk about something that I've noticed in myself for the last little while. 

I have this huuuuge craving for salt. I mean, I know I exercise regularly, which is one cause for salt cravings, but what I've been experiencing has been more than that. I'm still slightly underweight, so I did some research to see whether or not that has anything to do with massive salt cravings. What I found out, according to here and here, is that due to the fact that I have dealt with an eating disorder, my body's chemistry is pretty out of whack. A zinc deficiency can lead to a loss of appetite, and anorexia, or malnutrition can lead to a zinc deficiency, creating a cycle. In turn, this same zinc deficiency can cause all of the body's electrolytes to be out of balance, including sodium, causing massive salt cravings. Interesting, no? Anyway, I'm going to try adding more zinc-rich foods to my diet to see if that's the root problem or not. 

Well, that's about it for today....hope you all have awesome weeks! 

I Got the Wrong Test.

Morning!!!!!! How is everyone doing? We had a really nice weekend over here.....didn't get out too much and had some family time! What did you do over the weekend?


So yesterday, I was going to take my last exam of the semester, which is the reason that I didn't post or comment on many blogs. I spent practically the entire morning studying and prepping. When I sat down to actually take the test, however, I didn't know hardly any of the answers! I even pulled out all the other tests that I have taken during the course of the semester and none of the questions were even close to being the same. So, we called the school and found out that my test was based on an old book that was completely different from our more current book. Also, that particular teacher happens to be on holiday, so I may or may not be taking that exam this week..... it was frustrating, but at least I didn't have to take a test that I wasn't prepared for!

Today, I have one of my sister's favorite lunches to share with ya'll! It's really sort of a non-recipe, but delicious nonetheless. A couple of days ago she told me that if I ever wanted to use any of her food for the blog I could, so here we go:

We eat a lot of pasta here, which my sister loves. Usually we have some leftover after a big dinner. So, one of my sister's favorite ways to clean stuff out of the fridge is to make "pasta bowls". Basically all we do is take some leftover pasta and throw whatever else is in the fridge that looks good on top. This can be leftover chopped veggies, cheese, roast chicken, lunchmeat, cream sauce, etc. One thing she always does is season the pasta bowl with a sprinkle of barbeque dry rub and seasoned salt. Here's a picture of her most recent bowl:

There's penne and spaghetti pasta, cream sauce, a little cheese, some roasted ham, onions cooked in soy sauce (really, really delicious!) and her regular seasonings in there!!!! When I make a pasta bowl, I usually whip up some quick tomato sauce, because its my favorite!

Anyway, there ya have it....a quick lunch that helps get rid of stuff sitting in the fridge! :D What's your favorite clean-out-the-fridge meal?


On the agenda for today is making my last few batches of cookie dough, whipping up some frosting and hanging out with the family! What are ya'll up to today?


That's about it....se ya'll later!

Christmas Decorations=DONE!

Heey!!!! I can't believe that it is already Friday! This week has pretty much flown by! I do have one more Challenge Exam left, but I'm not taking it until next week because of the process that it is to receive my exam.
Only a year and a half left to go in high school!!! Whohoo! :D

So last night, my mom, sister and I were at home and we decided to (finally) get our Christmas decorations up. We've been meaning to do so for a little while now, but something always seemed to come up! It was really fun to take everything out of the box and decorate! We've put up our tree, stockings, nativity scene, and other various decorations. A funny story about our nativity scene: Something that kind of bothers my dad about the Christmas story that is told most often is that the three wise men couldn't actually have been there when Jesus was born....they arrived about two years later due to their journey. So whenever we set up our nativity scene, we put the wise men on another table across the room to represent the fact that they were on their way to Bethlehem. Is there anything that your family does differently than most on Christmas? Besides the whole nativity scene thing, we also have a pickle ornament that our parents hide in the tree on Christmas morning. Whoever finds it first gets a special prize (usually something small in our family!). My sister found it last time so I am determined to find it this year! :D

There's our little Christmas tree!! You can't tell in the picture, but it is pretty wobbly so we had to tie it to those bars on the window with some thread to make it stay! :D

Well that's about it for today....

What are ya'll doing this weekend??

My Life is Crazy Right Now...

Hey!!!! So it's been a while since I last posted, huh? Sorry about that.....a lot has been going on! I've finished  my finals and now only have two tests to take to earn credit for the two one-semester classes that I just finished. What have you all been up to?


First of all, I have some very happy news!!! Our friend here, Patricia, who was pregnant, gave birth on Tuesday! It is a little boy named Bruno! I'll post a picture of him when I have one. :D

On Friday, I tried out a new-to-me workout that was on Pinterest! It was an at-home bootcamp that really had some pretty simple exercises. However, it was set up in such a way that it was really tough and a great, quick workout! For me, the hardest part was definitely the 90 seconds of pushups...I felt like death afterwards! In a good way though...haha. Anyway, here it is:

If anyone tries this out, or has any links to another good at home bootcamp, please share! :D 

So, in baking, I have learned an important lesson. Heavy cream makes everything better. Cream scones, cream sauce and now, cream muffins. I realize that it isn't the healthiest ingredient around, but I figure that since we, as a family, usually eat pretty healthily, indulging every once in a while is perfectly all right. Plus, there's mango in these, so that counts for something, right? :D 

Mango Cream Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (or milk, for "lighter" muffins)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 mangoes, peeled and diced

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2. In another, medium sized bowl, combine the sugar, melted butter, cream, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add the liquid ingredients and the diced mango to the dry ingredients, stir only until just combined. 
3. Fill 12 greased muffin tins with the batter. If you want, sprinkle some sugar on the top of each muffin for some "crunch" and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Before I go, I have a couple of questions for ya'll!

What's your go-to at home workout?
I really liked the bootcamp that I just did, Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred and Turbo Fire HIIT workouts.

What are your Christmas plans?
Not that I know of....we're having a ministry get-together next Wednesday, but I don't think we have much planned for Christmas day.

Well, of to take some (more) tests!!

See ya'll later!

Vlog 2 and Other Things

Morning everyone!!!!! How has your week gone??? Mine has been good, just a little busy. I'm getting ready for a bunch of tests today!
A little while back when I asked for vlog topics, Erica asked what it was like to transition to living here.....so here's my answer:

Don't mind the looovely facial expression goin on here. :P Oh and the fact that I awkwardly say "um" about 500 times during the 5 minute video.

Today's post is going to be a little more random than usual because of the fact that my brain is currently all over the place anyway.....oh well.
Last night we visited some friends for dinner and I took some caramel corn to give to them as an early Christmas present because they'll be out of town over Christmas. Well, it was gone by the end of the night....that's a sign of a good recipe, I guess! My dad has actually requested that I make him some to put in his stocking. What I really want to do is come up with a chocolate popcorn recipe and combine the two in one huge bowl!!!! Does anyone have a chocolate popcorn recipe? That would be really awesome! :D

This weekend looks like it is gonna be pretty busy! On Sunday we're throwing a party for the women of the community. We've been working with them on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and this weekend will be our Christmas celebration. It is going to be lots of fun but also take up a huuuuge chunk of the day. What are your weekend plans?


Well, sorry for the nut case post.......hope ya'll have awesome weekends!

Stuff Happens

Hey! First of all, thanks so much for your kind words about dealing with negative comments on my last post!  Sorry its been so long since then......things have been a little crazy. This past weekend was really fun....we mostly just hung out here at home, which I think we all needed. My dad hadn't had a "day off" since his birthday a couple of weeks ago. I know I'm a little late, but what did you do this past weekend? 


This week should be my last of school, if I manage to get all of my tests done....I've ended up taking a little bit of time off so far this week because things came up that I didn't want to miss out on because of school. It will all get done fairly soon, though.

Yesterday, I attempted to make chocolate crinkle cookies to be a part of my Christmas cookie present. Look how cute they are when they turn out:

What I didn't realize was that the dough has to be chilled and stay chilled. It is the middle of summer here, and we're 8 degrees south of the equator. As soon as that dough came out of the freezer, it started to melt.I put them in the oven anyway, and ended up with delicious, chocolate-y, ugly puddles of goo. Appetizing, no? So, guess what I'm not making this Christmas season.  Oh well, I have something to look forward to when rainy season starts in June. :P 

I just got back from an awesome spin class! I haven't been in a few weeks, and it is amazing how much the class kicked my butt after taking some time off! Speaking of workouts, I have yet another circuit to share!!!

Instead of my usual cardio/strength/cardio/strength/cardio set up, I decided to do two longer cardio portions and cut out the third. It's pretty awesome how just tacking on an extra five minutes to the first two cardio sections made the workout seem more intense! Here ya go:

Cardio 1= HIIT sprints:

Run as fast as possible for 1 minute.

Recover for 1 minute. 

Repeat 10 times.

Weights 1= Arms:

Bicep Curls (15)

Bent over fly (12)

Tricep Kickbacks (15 each side)

Shoulder Press with Twist (12) 

Tricep Pullbacks(12)

Scaption and Shrug (12)

Repeat 2X

Cardio 2= Hills

Minute        Incline        

0-3                1         Walk at a comfortable pace

3-5                1         Jog-not as fast as you can go, RPE of 5 or 6

5-9                1         Tabata Intervals (10 seconds recover, 20 seconds all out sprint)

9-11              3         Jog

11-12            5         Jog, slowing down as needed

12-13            7         Slow jog

13-14            9         Walk

14-15           11        Walk

15-16            1          Walk to recover

16-20            1          Tabata

Weights 2=Legs:

Plie Squat w/ upwards row (15)

Curtsy Lunge w/ lift (15 each leg)

Weighted Squat (15)

Jump Lunges (15 each side)

Calf Raises (25)

Double Crunch (12)

Repeat 2X

There you have it, a full body workout that takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to complete. I was definitely feelin' it after this one, and really enjoyed including hills in my cardio, because I tend to avoid hill running. Having a shorter time limit helps me "push through" workouts that I normally would not do.

Well, it is time for me to get back to studying...finals here I come!
What are you up to this week? 

Snacks and Thoughts

Morning!!! Who else is glad that it is Friday? I've done a lot of studying and test prep this week, so I'm definitely looking forward to relaxing this weekend!!! What have you been up to this week, and what are your weekend plans? 


As for the holiday baking list, I haven't gotten very far on putting it together, but here are the ideas that I have bouncing around right now....just things that I've seen (mostly on blogs :D) that look delicious.....I'll probably know for certain what I'm baking next week!

Hot Cocoa Cookies

Caramel corn

Thin mints

Sugar cookies

homemade oreos

Caramel-Filled Snickerdoodles (!!)

and maybe some spiced nuts for something a little savory

That's about all I've got for that list right now.....like I said, mostly just things that look good, I don't exactly know that I'll bake any or all of these things!

I do have a couple of really yummy snacks to share with ya'll today!!!! First up, single serve rice pudding based off of the recipe from this site!

Single Serve Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup plain rice, cooled
• 1/3 cup plus 1 T milk
• Cinnamon to taste
• Honey to taste ( I used a couple of tsp)
• 2 tsp flour (I didn't have cornstarch)

Directions:

Combine rice, milk and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low temperature, and whisk in the flour. Cook for a few minutes until the pudding has thickened. Turn off heat, stir in honey, and enjoy! 

Seriously, this was a great, different breakfast!!! :D Some cocoa powder would have been wonderful in it too!

One more "recipe" that I would like to share is based off a couple that I have seen online, like at HEAB. Two ingredient fudge!!!!!! My recipe turned out a little different, because measurements here are different than in the states, but it was still really tasty!

Two Ingredient Fudge

Ingredients:

180 mL (scant 3/4 cup) full fat coconut milk

1 large bar of your favorite chocolate (I used a really yummy dark chocolate bar....but you could use whatever you want for this!)

Directions

Combine coconut milk and chocolate in small saucepan. Heat until the chocolate has melted completely. Pour into a small pyrex and freeze for 45 minutes to an hour. Take out, slice and store the fudge in the freezer. I got about 24 smallish slices.

Because the ratios that I used were different, my "fudge" is a little softer than traditional fudge but still delicious!

I realize that this post is getting kind of long, but I just want to talk about one thing quickly before I go. I have recently received some emails concerning my blog. For the first time, they were pretty negative. Being a relatively new blogger, and having a pretty small blog, I had never really come in contact with that side of things until now. Don't really want to go into detail, but I would like some advice on how to deal with negativity in the blog world. I mean, I realize that not everyone is going to like what I talk about, and never really expected that, but it was still a bit of a shock when I read what some people think of me. Either way, I know who I am, and who God wants me to be, so I'm not about to change that just because a few people don't like that. I'm just trying to keep a positive attitude about it all, because I really have enjoyed blogging and "meeting" all you awesome people out there!! :D How do you deal with blog negativity?

Well that's about it for today....hope you all have wonderful weekends!!!