Healthy Cooking Tip

On nights like tonight when I am in a hurry to do something hearty for dinner, I am glad that I make super big batches of my healthy breadcrumbs. They are great in a pinch to cover pork chops, fish, or chicken for a healthy alternative to the nasty processed store breadcrumbs. Tonight I covered pork chops in them, baked in the oven for 30 minutes and had a healthy, crunchy, yummy dinner!

Here is how to make em!

3-4 pieces of sandwich bread (great time to use the heels of the bread that no one eats!)
couple dashes of onion powder
salt and pepper
1-2 garlic cloves minced
splash of olive oil

In a food processor rip up bread into pieces and add all the other ingredients. Pulse a few times until they are coarse crumbs. Lay on cookie sheet and cook 5 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven. Stir well and cook another 5 minutes. Stir again and bake until brown and crunchy, about 3-5 more minutes. Now you can dredge your meet, dip in bread crumbs (push them in) then place on wire rack in cookie sheet! If you are daring you can add a few slivers of parmesan cheese, or shredded mozarella on top....YUM!

Tonight we had diced tomatoes from our garden on top with asparagus...so delicious! The kids even cleaned their plates and asked for seconds!

I recommend making a double batch and keeping extra on hand for weeknight emergencies! This is a great crunchy outside for chicken cour don blue as well!

Lacking motivation

Ugh. 2 weeks down and 8 more to go. Feeling a motivational low the last few days. It was a well-timed day off today and my knees are no longer feeling disconcertingly achy. Unfortunately I stepped on the scale today, though, and it took a little wind out of my sails. Pants fit differently and I feel much more energetic, but the scale didn't tell much of an impressive tale.

Guess I need to redouble my efforts! Tomorrow is upper body strengthening... goal = 1 second hang in pull-up position. I know, I know... not super-impressive, but we all have to start somewhere!!! :)

Week 2 done!

I gotta admit, taking the time to write about this is harder then I thought. I guess when your dog eats your internet cable and you keep forgetting to bring one home it's even harder :) So today is Sunday, I'm bored, I'm finding it very hard to eat properly, I actually missed getting up at 3:40am...what the hell is wrong with me? I did go for my 4 mile walk which is nice, but still...the rest of the day has been a waste. Making Lasagna for the family which they are excited, but I'm gonna pass. Kosama has been great, I am feeling stronger and stronger so it must be working. Kettle-bell's really shocked me Wed. They were harder then I thought, and I was really sore in the mid section. I am finding that my soreness is delayed a day now. Yesterday my forearms hurt which would have been from the kickboxing on Thursday. Wierd.
Well, I hope my crazy ladies have had a great weekend!

Week 2 already?

WooHoo - we got bloggers! I have to agree with Tara - HOT YOGA is awesome! Didn't quite know what to expect of it but love it. So far the only day I'm not excited about is plyometrics which is tomorrow. You would be surprised but waking up at 3:40 in the morning is not as bad as I thought, I was almost lost yesterday without it. I think I actually missed Kosama yesterday. I get a heck of a lot more done in a day with this. Today was upper body and I'm not a fan of all the push ups we are doing but my arms are definitely not by best asset so I guess I'm going to have to trust the coaches on this one. Food tracking has been going great, we catered a meal on Saturday night and I didn't eat 1 bad thing. I was very proud of myself. Have a great rest of the holiday, what's left of it I guess... And I am going to try Brandi's fish she made. She shared a bite at work and it was yummy and I hate fish!!!

Great Dinner!

I have been struggling to put together meals that are considered 100% A in calories, fat, vitamins and minerals. I found a good one tonight that I adapted to be healthier...not only did Josh and I love it, the kids scarfed it down! Thought I would share!

4 – 5oz cod fillets
1 T butter
1 onion
2 big spoonfuls sour cream (maybe like ¼ c)
A few springs of Dill chopped (either buy it in the herb section, or you can buy the concentrated dill at HyVee in a tube – also in the herb section then use like 2 T)
I garlic clove minced
Squeeze of lemon juice
Handful of almonds chopped (maybe like 15?)
Parmesan Cheese grated (maybe ¼ cup?)
Dried parsley

Put butter in square baking dish and put it in the oven. Turn oven to 400 degrees and let the butter melt while it preheats. Slice onion thin. Once butter is melted spread onion around the bottom of the pan.

Season fillets with salt and pepper and dried parsley and lay them on top of the onions.

In a bowel mix sour cream, dill, garlic, cheese and lemon juice. Spread on top of fillets. Place in oven and cook for 18ish minutes until the flaky.

While the fish cooks, chop the almonds and toast them. Just put in a pan with a little non stick cooking spray, stir for a few minutes until they smell toasted. When fish is done, top with almonds and enjoy. Good with broccoli and a salad!

LOVE IT!

Ah, hot yoga, where have you been my whole life? I've always thought I'd enjoy yoga, but am still surprised by how great it was. Class flew by today, and I could have done another 45 minutes I think.

I've secretly been thinking that if I "had" to skip a class (sorry team) maybe the weekend would be a good one, but now it is my favorite. Guess I'm back on track with my goal of making it every single day. And now that I'm adjusted to waking up so very early every day, I think I'll just do the 5am class even on my days off... which is nice because I don't lose any family time.

But seriously, what kind of crazy lunatic have I turned into? Hopefully a healthier one that can wear cuter pants! :)

So tired...

OK, OK, Heidi. So you don't want to be the only blogger, huh? :)

Not my best rock star day in Kosama today. Apparently you should have more than 3 hours of sleep to be able to make it through that number of lunges, squats, pushups, and crunches. Yikes! On Call + Kosama = disaster! I feel like I should apologize to the instructors for totally sucking. :)

But even after a day like today I'm still completely loving it and so glad we're doing this... Totally looking forward to yoga tomorrow... although I have a sneaking suspicion it isn't going to be as zen and relaxing as I'm imagining! :)

I'm alive???

I can't believe I finally have made it thru the pain. I feel great...lower body today and it was great. Walked my 4 miles, ate well, now watching a movie with my hubby. I can't believe waking up at 3:40am is actually working out in my favor???? Huh...who knew?! Tomorrow would be Saturday, and yes that means YOGA!!!! I'm so excited! So I guess you can tell, all in all a very good day. Wonder when my other crazy ladies are gonna start blogging?

Kickboxing - My new favorite?

Last night my father-in-law was in town which I was excited to see him. I knew that meant I would be cooking for them after golf. We grilled steaks, had mashed potatoes (which no carbs for supper rule meant none for me) and beets from the garden we had canned. I was pretty excited about the beets until I realized I just put a half a stick of real butter in them :( So I got out the broccoli and steamed it for me. Yeah... Got to bed really late, couldn't sleep most of the night because every time I move I hurt. So when the alarm went off today, there was no jumping out of bed, I wasn't the cheerleader I claimed to be yesterday. I thought for a split second that I should hit snooze...but didn't. Got up, did my pre-work out routine, protein shake and I was off to Ankeny. I have decided Luke, the Nutrishop guy, is my angel. He was right. The difference between how I felt when I got out of bed and how I felt by the time I got there is night and day. I was ready for kickboxing. I just have to say it is awesome. Why haven't I ever done one of these classes before? I never knew I had so much energy to punch/kick a bag. It was amazing.... the hour went by so fast and I already can't wait until next Thursday. I left class and called my hubby and told him we are buying one of these for the gym in the new house! He thought I was a little chatty when I called but oh well. By the time I got home, reality set it. I'm back to being sore all over! A good sore, one that you know you did something good. I walked a couple miles to try to stretch out my muscles but we will see. Ok...welll I'm off to golf with my mother-in-law if the weather holds out. Hope I can swing the club!

My First Post

I felt it only right to start off this blogging train with an explanation of what the craziness is about. This blog is for Charlene, Brandi, Heidi and Tara to fill everyone in on what it is we are doing! We started an extreme makeover journey on Sunday called Kosama. It is a 10 week program modeled after P90X that incorporates extreme cardio (plyometrics, kickboxing and yoga) with strength training. We committed to 10 weeks at 5am, eating well, and keeping each other motivated in order to lose weight, feel healthy, and potentially win $1000!

I will tell you that I did my part by binge eating the week before, so I had just that much more to lose ;) I also tried to look extra pudgy in my before photo...so if anyone ever sees it that is NOT what I look like...promise! HA!

Wish us luck! Day 3 is over and I am not feeling too bad....although I could really go for a HUGE peanut butter and banana sandwich right about now....mmmmm....

Heidi's day 3 thoughts

I just want to start out my first post by saying this...even though there may be a lot of complaining I really am LOVING this program! I hurt in places I didn't know that I could. Day 1 was interesting - getting weighed, fat %, inches, assessment, and worst of all...a before picture. I sucked it up, and smiled pretty. Day 2 is plyometrics. This is going to be something I think will be a love/hate relationship. It's so challenging but yet once the hour is over I feel like I could take on the world...once I catch my breath :) Day 3 the alarm goes off and I pop out of bed like a cheerleader ready to take the field, make my protein shake, take my pre-work out energy and out the door I go. My 45 minute drive was interesting as I tried to decide if my legs were going to work, but I just put it out of my mind and in I went. I think it helps there is a 4am class because when you walk in the door the music is on and I am all of a sudden ready to go, can't wait to get started. Today was upper body/abs and I loved it.
My body parts that hurt today? - my thighs are killing me. I have 2 steps to get up onto my deck and thought I would die to get up them. Once in the house our only bathroom is upstairs, and with all the water I'm drinking have crawled up them quite a few times. I sneezed and was reminded of the ab workout we did! I didn't think my arms were that bad till I was unloading the dishwasher...yikes. Well, off to bed, I'm already 45 minutes behind schedule but luckily have the day off!