Off to the races!

… Well, almost
I can officially say I will be taking part in the lululemon Seawheeze half marathon in Aug. There is no turning back and I cannot fall of the bandwagon.
I’m disappointed I did not get my partner Matt registered. I was able to register in 9 min then immediately went to register him. 45 min waiting only to have it sell out. On the bright side, two of my good friends are going with me!
At least I won’t be all alone.

Have you ever done a long distance run? I would love to hear some tips and tricks to help me along my journey as well as on race day.
Even if you have not ran a race a little encouragement and motivation will help too 🙂

Have a fantastic day!

Two Ingredient Cookies

Two ingredient anything seems to be all the rage lately. If you’ve been a reader of my blog from the start you know I have been a huge advocate for the Two Ingredient Pancake
I have heard and seen pictures of peoples two ingredient cookies consisting of oats and banana. Craving chocolate chip cookies I decided to experiment with this.

Ingredients
2 Bananas
1 cup oats (I used large flake)
Optional mix in’s (chocolate chips, nuts etc)

method
Set your oven to 350degrees

Grease your cookie tray. Since we are trying to be all healthy and stuff keep your hands off the butter and use coconut oil.

Get those arms working and mush the banana in its peel to soften.
Use a fork to make it into a soft mushy mess, conveniently contained in your mixing bowl of course.

Add your oats and mix until all of your oats are moist. Then add the mix in of your choice.

If your a delicate little flower you can use a spoon to scoop your batter into a cookie tray or if your not lame you can just use those 10 flanges you were born with.

Bake in the oven for about 15 min. If they fall apart on you give it a little more time.

Voila! Cookies!!!
Bon Appetit!

editors note next time I’ll throw the oats in the food processor or blender for a little wiz. I found my oats to be a little to big

Off to a rough start

Yesterday was the official start day of my training and eating healthier.
It started off well with a nice sleep in with the beau and successful morning shakes.
Puttering around catching up on laundry and all the fun stuff in life left me drained. I had a headache and felt off. The only culprit I can blames caffeine, I always have one cup of coffee a day so not having on yesterday morning was killer. By 5pm I had to try a run, we downloaded this app which sets you up on a route around your area and we were set to do 5km. We started to run and by 0.5km My head was pounding! I pushed to try and finish but at 3km I couldn’t take it anymore so we headed back home.
I would strongly suggest to anyone who is looking at changing their diet AND training plan is to start the meal plan a week before. Training when your body is in detox is hell!
Today is a rest day but I’m back and at it tomorrow.
here’s hoping for a more successful Run.

To check out my daily fitness activities check out my Twitter & Instagram

I’m Back!

A post from me!
But it’s been Over 6 months!

Yes… I know I know I have been MIA for the later half of 2013.
I experienced a bit If a rut in dealing with my ulcer and a few other issues. Blogging went from the back burner to completely off the stove for quite a while.
I miss being tied to this blog as it keeps me on track with all my health care and fitness goals.
Being honest, I’m not completely out of this rut but I need to make some changes if I want to get back to where I was. I miss being happy, feeling good and having energy.
I WILL turn this around.

I am all about making easy lifestyle changes and making things fit into everyday schedules but this year I have made a drastic decision to get my ass in gear.
If all goes well on feb 3 I will sign up to do the Seawheeze at the end of August. The Seawheeze is the lululemon half marathon. It was part of my goals last year but it was sold out by the time I went to register. I refuse that fate this year. I have mentally committed to this race and I will register for this event if it’s the last thing I do.

I will be blogging 1-2x a week to share my trials and tribulations as well as updating my social media pages daily so make sure to check them out.

Facebook- The Weight Is Over

Twitter- SimplySarah

Instagram- SimplySarah

Cute Cucumber Sandwiches

Growing up I always loved to make cucumber sandwiches. They were so good and so refreshing.
Looking up lunch ideas I came across these cute cucumber sandwiches sans bread.
Here is my rendition of the cutest little lunch idea

Ingredients
One cucumber (thicker kind, Long English are too narrow)
1/2 avocado or Hummus
1Tbsp cream cheese (optional)
Alfalfa sprouts

Directions

Take your cucumber and cut it in 3-4 pieces then cut in half.
Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and throw the seeds in your composter.

Mash up avocado and optional cream cheese. I used hummus for my second batch.

Scoop filling into both sides of cucumber and toss some sprouts on top. Put both sides together to make your sandwich.

Here’s the finished product. As you can see I added some celery, it serves two purposes- snack and to help the sandwiches from not moving around.
You can certainly eat these whole but since I am the most ungraceful eater ill just eat them as halves.

Let me know how you like them!
Check out how they fit into my morning routine here—-> Successful morning routine

Fresh Watermelon Salad

I’m in love with watermelons in general. I saw a recipe similar to this in a chatelaine magazine a long time ago. I did not rip the recipe out but I did guesstimate and made my very own recipe out of the ingredients I could remember. It was and ever has been magical! My favourite summer salad.

Watermelon Salad
I usually eyeball ingredients but ill do my best to add units.

1 small or 1/2 large watermelon
1 English cucumber
Handful fresh mint
1/2 lime
Dash of balsamic vinegar (optional)
Salt

Cube watermelon and cucumber into bite sized pieces and put in a bowl of your choice. Roll the mint and chop finely, add to bowl. Squeeze some line juice and add some salt to taste. If you would like add some balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy! I sure did 😉

How busy is too busy?

It’s been a while since I posted last. I’ve been pushing more 12 hour days than id like. I need a better way at combining all of my things. So far I only have one day off a week but its clearly not enough. Then as soon as June is done I have only part time work since teaching dance is done for the season. Ah the dilemma.

I’ve been working on a new song list for a group fitness cardio dance blast class. It’s a 60min cardio and conditioning class I’m calling ” dancing through the decades”. I’m pretty excited about it. Throughout the 60min it goes from music of the 50/60’s, right through to the 90’s. Now that I’m certified I can actually start teaching at places. I’ve just got to get past the nerves. I don’t do we’ll with new things. I know this and I’ve just gotta go for it.

Hopefully ill be adding some exercise videos to this blog instead of recipes only. That’ll be fun.

That’s all I got for today. Tomorrow im volunteering with the lovely Hannah Hart of my drunk kitchen and MyHato on YouTube. Then the rest of the day is mine!!!! Maybe some time to put together some videos 🙂

What are your favourite parts of the fitness classes you’ve participated in? Any dislikes?

Cabbage rolls with carrot purée

These are not your typical cabbage rolls. If you are an avid reader of my blog you will know that I am recovering from a stomach ulcer. The ulcer friendly foods I was confined to were cabbage,carrots, zucchini, rice, etc…
These ingredients got old fast so I had to become creative. Traditional cabbage rolls slathered in tomato sauce is one of my favourite dishes. That being said it did not take me long to come up with cabbage rolls.
Without further adieu here is my adaptation:

Ingredients
Cabbage rolls
1cup cooked Rice
1Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 medium Carrots
1/2 zucchini
1 head green lettuce

carrot purée
5 carrots chopped
1cup of vegetable broth (preferably homemade)

Directions:

Start a pot of water to boil. Make sure this is big enough for your head of cabbage.
If you are planning in enjoying these right away preheat your oven to 350

Sweat your onion and garlic in your coconut oil. Dice up your carrots and zucchini to tiny pieces and add to your Pan with onions and garlic. Cook until the carrots turn bright orange. This only takes a few minutes. They will cook once more so be careful not to fully cook these yet.
Add this mixture to your cooked rice and set aside.

Your pot of water should be almost ready. Fill a second bowl with cold water and ice cubes. Take your cabbage and peel back the first layer and cut out the core.
Place the whole head in the boiling water. You will notice that the leaves will separate from the head of cabbage. This is when I took then out and put into a cold bath. Do this until you have no cabbage left. I’m not sure how necessary the cold water bath was but I know it will stop the cooking process so they don’t over cook and I thought handling would be easier with them not burning hot.

After that is done I put my carrots for my purée in a pot. I put some broth to just cover the carrots. I guesstimated my measurement because I actually did eyeball this one. Then bring this to a boil until carrots are soft

As your carrots cook lets get to the rolling. To be honest I’ve never made cabbage rolls ever so I’m pretty proud about how I managed to make these work.
The rolling method is not complicated. Add your rice and veg mixture to the middle centre of your cabbage rolls. Roll the stem side in and under the rice. Fold both sides in and roll to the top. This picture is probably best to look at:

Voila! Not too shabby if you ask me 🙂

As you can see I just used a square baking dish to put the rolls in.

By now your carrots are probably ready. Transfer the whole pot into a blender. Set to purée mode and go to town. If its not blending add more broth a tablespoon at a time.

Now your ready to slather this on your pro skill cabbage rolls.

You can put this in your oven now or later. Make sure it’s 350 for about 30 min.
Enjoy

Back to the daily grind

Sorry for not posting over the weekend. I was way to tired at the end of the nights and just didn’t feel like it. I can tell today that PMS was to blame for my defiance in posting lol.

Well I hope that every one had a wonderful weekend. I came to a few tough situations socially.

On Saturday which was a really busy
Matt’s family friend was in town. They decided they wanted to go out to eat. We did some research on some restaurants where I could go. If I didn’t go it would be rude but if I did and did not eat in a restaurant that too would be rude. After a quick search we discovered Karmavore. Its a vegan cafe/grocery store for people who are vegan, raw, celiac, lactose intolerant among other allergies and lifestyles. It was perfect! I was able to get a raw vegan burger. I explained my situation and they adapted my meal just for me 🙂
Here is my delicious “burger” wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun.

I urge you to check it out if your in the area.

So Saturday night Matt’s friends invited us over for a BBQ. I was devastated. I went but ate before hand. We needed to bring an appetizer so that is why I made my bruschetta..,which I could not eat. Matt was nice enough to inform the hosts that I had to eat before hand for health reasons. I had hoped no one would notice I wasn’t eating but of course everyone did. So now instead of blending in I was on spotlight. I didn’t want to elaborate about my ulcer but I got “..the foods not good enough??” from one of the guests, followed by a laugh to make a joke but I still was upset about someone thinking that about me. So to save my reputation I had to explain. I had never met these people before and didn’t want to come across as some yuppie who is better than anyone. After this situation I faded in, which in my embarrassment was perfect for me. The other hardest part is all the food there. It all looked so good. I had eaten at 430. Everyone else ate at 7. By this time I was hungry and thinking I should have packed a snack. By the time 10rolled around when we left I was starving! I’m sure partly psychological because everyone else was eating the entire night except me but none the less I was starving.
I bunged in almonds when I got home. Not a good idea being close to bed but I did anyway.

So that’s most of the exciting notes worth noting about this weekend.

Have you found yourself in these type of situations? How do you handle it?

Fresh tomato bruschetta

I made this bruschetta recipe yesterday for a potluck BBQ at some friends house. Unfortunately due to my stomach conditions I could not eat this. Matt was my taste tester so I trust his word. It was well received at the potluck as well.

Fresh Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients
2 packages cherry or grape tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic ( I love using lots)
1/2 red onion
Handful fresh basil and parsley
Parmesan cheese to taste
Squeeze of Lemon
Baguette

Start by cutting your tomatoes. I like them quite small. I dislike finger appetizers that fall all over the place. I find finely chopped bruschetta is easier to handle.

Next, I used a mandolin for the onion. I also hate huge chunks of onion all of a sudden in your mouth. It can be overwhelming.
Then mince your garlic. I just use a sharp chefs knife to make it small. Like onion it can be overwhelming when to large.
I love fresh herbs and they make this recipe. If you use dried its honestly just not the same. If you roll your herbs in a ball and cut them that way it’s a lot easier. Chop your herbs fine as well.
Originally I did not add the Parmesan cheese. After Matt tasted it sans the cheese he suggested adding it. Since its salty in itself I did not add salt to this recipe. *Tip: if you grate your cheese with the fine grater it goes a lot farther. You won’t end up using as much cheese. This is both useful for your bank account as well as your calorie count.
After you add the cheese cut your lemon and squeeze into the mixture. You can always add more as you need.

Now that its all in a bowl you can mix it all up and let it sit for a few hours. This helps all the flavours meld together.

You can use a lot of different things as a vehicle for your bruschetta. As a kid I used to put in on toast or a bagel. Last night we just cut some baguettes cut on an angle. We opted not to toast the bread but you could, just be careful not to over do it otherwise you’ll have raw gums trying to bite into it.

Once your ready,spoon your mixture onto your bread. Don’t do it too soon. The bread could become soggy if it sits too long.

I really hope you like this recipe. Like most of mine they are fast easy and frugal. Hopefully soon ill be able to enjoy bruschetta 🙂