Treats in the heat.

Last night's dinner was another specialty a lá Doug. There was brief talk about taking advantage of a special at Domino's Pizza, but remembering how much cake I ate over the weekend and into Monday, I quickly shut that idea down. So back to healthy meal planning we went.

We ended up with a Quinoa salad, topped with grilled chicken and homemade vinaigrette dressing:



For the salad mix, Doug tossed together diced tomatoes, sliced radishes, green onion and cooked quinoa. For the dressing, he whisked together:

• Minced garlic
• Lemon juice
• Olive oil
• Dijon mustard
• Apple cider vinegar
• Cayenne pepper
• Ancho chile powder
• Dried cilantro flakes
• Salt & pepper

The chicken was cooked on the grill and brushed with Famous Dave's Texas Pit BBQ sauce. If you want to go meatless, this salad would go great with black beans and corn.

Fresh, clean flavors and a great summer dish that required minimal use of the stove. Works for me! And apparently it also worked for Randal, who did a great job of cleaning up some quinoa that spilled on the floor:



Before dinner, I already had dessert on the brain, so I decided to try a couple of recipes I had seen in the latest issue of Oxygen Magazine, both of which featured whey protein powder.

The first recipe was a batch of Almond Butter Whey Cookies:



Bite-sized, of course:



For this recipe, you'll need:

• 1/2 cup Oats
• 1 tbsp creamy almond butter (I used Barney Butter; it's so smooth!)
• 1 scoop whey protein powder (I used Designer Whey's chocolate variety)
• 1 egg white (or 1/4 cup liquid egg whites)
• 2 packets Stevia (or sweetener of choice; I used a generous tablespoon of granulated Splenda)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 cup carob chips (optional; I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)

(I also added about a tablespoon of cocoa powder for extra flavor, along with a dash of salt.)

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl, then stir in the wet ingredients with a spoon. The dough will be really sticky and kinda difficult to work with, but mix as well as you can.

Use a teaspoon to make the dough into golfball-sized portions. Bake in a 350˚F oven for 10 minutes. I ended up with 10 cookies instead of 12, but whatevs. Each cookie is about 30 calories!

Things to do differently next time: While the chocolate flavor in these cookies was spot-on, Doug and I both agreed that they were DRY. Like really, really, I-need-copious-amounts-of-milk-stat! dry. I'm already planning to make another batch, but I will definitely play around with adding milk and/or unsweetened applesauce to give them some much-needed moisture. A little softer, and these could be a pretty satisfying, guilt-free treat when the chocolate craving hits.

The second recipe I tried was for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups:



In a blender, add:

• 4 oz water
• 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I used Designer Whey)
• 1 tbsp peanut butter (I used Peanut Butter & Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams)
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1-2 packets of preferred sweetener (I used a generous tablespoon of granulated Splenda)

Blend until well mixed, pour into a muffin tray and freeze for 1-2 hours. (I used a mini muffin pan and ended up with 10 cups total.)

Things to do differently next time: As far as the recipe goes, I don't think I'd change much because they tasted pretty darn good. But they're also super-messy to eat because it's basically like eating pieces of a frozen fudge bar without the stick. That said, I think this recipe would work as a really great base for a low-cal ice cream. I'm going to try mixing it with a few cups of almond milk, freezing it and seeing what I end up with. Given the creaminess of the cups, I think the ice cream would turn out pretty good.

Hows & Whats.

Time for another edition of Hows & Whats.

HOW I'm currently eating:
DISCLAIMER: As with any nutritional plan, always seek guidance from a professional first; this way of eating is what currently works for *me* and may not be the best option for you.

Oh, food. You and I always seem to be at odds, depending on the week and where my head is at. For the time being, I'm aiming for higher protein and less sugar, using Jackie Warner's book as a guide:



I actually bought this book shortly after it was released, just never got around to doing a proper review. I know it probably comes across as just another fad, but it's actually a pretty decent read when it comes to food. And nothing is banned; the main goal is to eat less refined sugar and processed foods, which pretty much every one can benefit from. I'm fond of this plan because it works best for my current way of eating (eat clean for 5 days, then allow for some treats on the weekends), but also forces me to improve my meal composition (less sugar, more protein, more veggies and focusing on whole grains & fruits for carb sources). Each day, I aim to eat 4 servings of lean protein, 3 servings of veggies (though I allow myself more if I want), 2 servings of fruit, 2 servings of healthy carbs (oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, pasta, wheat bread or wraps, etc.) and 1 serving of healthy fat (olive oil, nuts, avocado).

It's not rocket science by any means, but since my fitness goals include improving my sprinting speeds and increasing my lean muscle mass, Jackie's nutrition plan is pretty much spot-on for properly fueling my workouts. Before following her plan, I was eating healthy (for the most part), but had cut back on protein and found myself eating more carbs, in addition to drinking more alcohol and overeating on the weekends. Doing so was starting to affect my athletic performance; I just always seemed sluggish whether I was running or lifting and was taking longer to recover, thus bailing on more workouts. Getting back into my protein groove has already kept me from half-assing a session and has kept debilitating muscle soreness in the backseat.

I'm into my second week of following the plan and have noticed a dive in my junk food cravings and my appetite is starting to subside as well. First week, I dropped 3 pounds, so I can't complain. And because there's no counting calories or tracking involved, it's keeping my anxiety and binges at bay. I'm not hungry either, which is kind of a big deal. As with any healthy eating plan, there is some more prep involved (taking time to cut up veggies for snacks & lunch; boiling eggs and mixing protein shakes the night before, etc.), but nothing I haven't had to do before.

HOW I'm currently sweating:
Right now, my routine is pretty basic: 2 days of cardio, 3 days of strength/weights, 2 days of rest. For cardio, I head to the gym and do some sort of mix of the following, for about 45 minutes or so: sprint intervals, incline walking, stairmaster, elliptical or spinning. I try not to do any single activity for more than 20 minutes because I have a confession to make: I'm officially bored with cardio.

Back when I first started to lose weight, I adored cardio and despised strength training. Anyone who's followed me from my LiveJournal days knows this is true. It seems after getting into Jari Love and Jackie Warner workouts, I finally learned to love lifting and compound strength exercises. They just always seem to give me that edge when trying to meet a goal, be it improved definition or fat loss. I STILL meet women to this day who shy away from weights or believe they shouldn't start lifting until they're closer to their weight goal. For any ladies reading this, please, please, please- don't put off this type of training any longer. You will NOT get big and bulky (unless you're getting testosterone injections, lifting 300+ pounds AND eating a steady diet of chicken & creatine supplements). Study after study has proven time and time again that weight training boosts fat-loss efforts, improves performance in other fitness activities and improves bone density. You can scarf down all the milk and calcium supplements you want (*raises hand*), but adding some extra resistance in your workouts will ward off osteoporosis and fractures even more. Running, yoga and Zumba are all great, but don't be afraid to pick up some dumbbells a couple times a week.

Ok, stepping off of my soapbox now.

WHAT I'm currently reading:
Well, technically, all I should be reading is my ACE Personal Trainer Manual, but I need a break from that every once in a while. Right now, I'm pretty much obsessed with Oxygen Magazine. 

I'm letting my subscriptions to Shape, Self and Fitness all expire because I relate to less and less of their content every month. I don't identify with flavor-of-the-month celebs or the numerous underweight models featured on every other page, parading as fitness role models. And when I'm in the mood to read about exercise, I want to read about just that; not flip through dozens of pages featuring beauty products and $500 boots. Can you feel the rage?

Well, Oxygen is not like the others. Forget the anti-aging moisturizers and bring on the butt-kicking workouts! I've gotten 2 issues so far and just reading them makes me feel like a strong, healthy bad-ass. They cover a variety of workout types, share great clean recipes, tell inspiring success stories and feature models who truly do exemplify what eating healthy and working out should look like, without any fluff.

Don't get me wrong; those other women's health mags deserve some credit, but they just seem so shallow to me now. And honestly, if I see another Kardashian being played up to be a source of health/fitness inspiration, I'm gonna need corrective surgery to pull my eyes from the back of my head.

Bonus: You can score a subscription from Magazine Deals Now for a more than reasonable price. (I've used this site tons in the past; it's legit. If you sign up for their mailing list, you get sweet discount codes too.)

What are some of your current Hows & Whats?

Q-Q-Q-Q-Quinoa.

I'm pretty terrible at post titles. Whatevs...

So, I'm a new fangirl of Oxygen Magazine. I was about to give up on women's health/fitness magazines, but Oxygen seems to know what's up. It's great to see ripped, fit women doing tough workouts as opposed to the usual underweight bikini model pretending to be disappointed by what she sees on the scale in an article about weight-loss. ANYWHO, rant aside, I found a great Spanish-style quinoa recipe on the Oxygen site and decided to give it a try last night.

I opted for the version that used pinto beans instead of peas. I also left out the green onion because we were out.



Turned out great! I sometimes (well, all of the time) find myself stuck when thinking of new ways to jazz up quinoa and this recipe was just what I was looking for. It reminded me of really well-seasoned, hearty Spanish rice.

To boost up my protein intake, I served it with some salmon:



I seasoned the salmon with taco seasoning (we likes to keeps it classy like dat) and topped it with my new obsession:



There are only a billion different jarred salsas out there, so I don't usually buy it, but I'm officially a whore for Frontera. One of my new goals in life is to eat at a Rick Bayless restaurant, based on this salsa alone. There's also a red pepper-garlic variety that's pretty great too.

Turned out to be a tasty meal, no thanks to my lazy sous chef:



Oh well. Being cute does give one a lot of free passes in life.

This dish would also great with grilled chicken, pork, ground beef or turkey. And to keep it meatless, add more beans (black or kidney, perhaps?) and/or tofu. Looking forward to trying the leftovers with cheese & sour cream.

Hope everyone's having a great week!