Chocolate Cherry Trail Cups + Workout to Flip For

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Jennifer FIsher

Snacking, snacking, snacking – lots of snacking going down at my house because I am my three teen boys are always so hungry. I’ve been experimenting with some homemade energy bars and trail mixes and have come up with the perfect combo – Chocolate Cherry (Protein) Trail Cups. My husband mentioned after gobbling one up that it reminded him of a Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte Lara Bar — so, I made a Larabar copycat recipe without even realizing!

Nut Butter, Dried Cherries, Oats and More - TheFitFork.com — So many wholesome yet yummy ingredients in this recipe.

Food Processor - Cherry Chocolate Trail Cups - TheFitFork.com

These healthy snacks are super easy to whip up and using a food processor makes the task even less time consuming. The tip to making sure these treats hold up to any adventure is to make sure the crumbly mixture is moist enough to stick together when pressed between fingers. If it seems too dry, throw more nut butter or sugar-free chocolate syrup in 1 teaspoon at a time.

I’m taking my batch of trail cups for some long-lasting energy when the family heads out on a ski trip soon. I created this recipe with protein power as one of the ingredients to balance the dried fruit and chocolate. I don’t want to hear ANY “I’m hungry mom” complaints when we’re dangling our skis and snowboards off a lift 10,000 feet up.

Chocolate & Cherry Energy Cups - TheFitFork.com

Chocolate Cherry (Protein) Trail Cups Recipe

1 ¼ cup Love Grown Super Oats*
1/3 cup chocolate protein powder (like Quest Nutrition Chocolate Milkshake)**
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2/3 cup raisins
½ cup pecans
1/4 cup nut butter of choice (I used almond)
1/3 cup dried tart cherries
2 tablespoons Stevia-sweetened cocoa syrup***
¼ cup mini chocolate chips

*You may use regular rolled oats and add 1 tablespoon of chia seeds.
**If you don’t want to use protein powder, add an additional ¼ cup oats and 1 tablespoon nuts.
** I used NuNaturals Cocoa Syrup, but you can use any chocolate syrup

Add oats, protein powder, cocoa powder, raisins and pecans in work bowl of food processor. Processes until ingredients are broken down but still fairly coarse
Pulse in nut butter and syrup until mixture is moist and sticks together when pressed between fingers.
Pulse in cherries and mini chocolate chips until just combined.
Place approximately ¼ cup loosely scooped mixture into muffin tin that has been prepped with a paper liner. Press mixture down with back of spoon of fingers until compacted.
May be stored in the refrigerator in airtight container for several weeks. Makes 15 :”cups.”

Oh, and I have a workout you’re going to flip for – if you don’t have a tire, a heavier med ball can be substituted.

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Sweaty with Chance of Meatball (& Wilted Greens) Stew + Tabata WOD

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

Yes, I realize that I’m opening every blog post this month with “it’s still hot in Austin.” Even as a huge fan of warm weather, I’m starting to get sick of it too. So, what do I do? I make soup and stew! Nothing like slurping up a piping hot bowl of my Wilted Greens, Beans & Meatball Stew after a run in near 90 degrees or a no air-conditioning CrossFit WOD. I’m not being snarky, I’m being serious – I’m not going to let Mother Nature infringe on the length of my soup season. And, good news, the weathermen are predicting a cold front . . . . we’ll be dipping down into the upper 70s for the high this weekend. HA!

Looking forward to Austin’s upcoming “cold front” !!

While my Chipotle Squash & Chickpea Soup is always yummy, the soup in my pot this week is a delicious, easy and super healthy Wilted Greens, Beans & Meatball Stew that I first created for Litehouse Foods. The beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever winter greens you have on hand like spinach, kale, collard greens, mustard greens or Swiss chard – use a mixture, that’s even better. It’s always sad to say my temporary goodbyes to vine-ripe tomatoes and zucchini as the sun fades out on summer, but the farmer’s market will be brimming with all of these vitamin-packed, nutritious winter greens. According to the USDA, dark leafy vegetables are plentiful in potassium, manganese and iron. Not to mention, they are all a good source for vitamins A, C, K and E as well as calcium, folic acid and fiber. So eat up!

Wilted Greens, Beans & Beef Meatball Soup Recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
¼ cup chopped celery
¼ cup chopped carrot
8 ounces sliced button mushrooms
6 cups beef broth
1 15-oz can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Litehouse Food Instantly Fresh Garlic (or fresh chopped)
1 tablespoon Litehouse Food Instantly Fresh Parsley(or fresh chopped)
1 tablespoons Litehouse Food Instantly Fresh Chives (or fresh chopped)
1 ½ teaspoon Litehouse Food Instantly Fresh Thyme (or fresh chopped)
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 Parmesan rind (dry end from wedge optional)
8 cups of coarsely chopped mixed winter greens (spinach kale collards chard)
24 pre-cooked “mini” or “party size” lean beef meatballs
Garnish: shaved Parmesan cheese if desired

In 6-quart Dutch oven or stock pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrot and mushroom and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, or until softened and lightly caramelized.
Add broth and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add beans, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, chives, thyme, pepper, and parmesan rind. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add one half of mixed winter greens to pot; stir for 2 to 3 minutes to allow leaves to “wilt” down thus providing room for remaining greens. Add remaining greens and continue to stir and cook down for approximately 2 minutes.
Cover pot with lid and keep heat on low. Reheat meatballs according to manufacturer’s instructions in microwave or oven. When reheated, drain on paper towels, if needed, and add to stew. Use a spoon to remove any remnant of the parmesan rind.
To serve, ladle among four bowls and top with shaved parmesan cheese if desired.
Serves 4

Please visit the Living Litehouse blog for lots more yummy and convenient recipes that will work with your healthy lifestyle.

To help you work up a sweat, I’ve got a Tabata workout that will definitely make you earn that piece of cornbread with your soup. If you’re not familiar with the Tabata concept, it’s basically 20 seconds of high intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest and then repeat, repeat, repeat for four minutes. Tabata workouts are meant to increase the capacity of both your aerobic and anaerobic systems – do a couple per week and you’ll be a machine! However (disclaimer), my Tabata workout kicks it up from 4 minutes to 15 minutes – I must really like to suffer. If it’s too much for you, please stop and catch your breath with extra rest in between exercises.

Tabata #WOD + Recovery Wilted Greens & Meatball Stew #Recipe #EAT #Fitfluential

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So, would you rather drink a smoothie on a cold day or have soup on a hot day? What is your favorite soup?

The Run, Jump, CrossFit, Trampoline Secret I Just Can’t Hold In!

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

No worries thanks to #AlwaysDiscreetatTarget

Okay, this post is just more proof that I cannot be easily embarrassed, much to my three teenagers’ mortification. That’s one of the better things about advancing in age (and, no, I’m not talking about having older kids who prefer to hang out in the video games department while on shopping trips to Target), but rather the fact that there’s not too much that can make me blush. I mean, geeze, when you are a blogger your life is pretty much on full display – have you SEEN my Instagram account?!

An ALWAYS DISCREET #selfie at Target!

I’ll ask complete strangers what they think of so-and-so, I’ll pose for selfies in the store aisles, and I’ve done handstands and cheerleader jumps in public. I don’t have a problem complaining if I’m getting bad service or a product doesn’t meet my expectations, I hate flying under the radar and blending into the crowd and “YES,” my dear children, I AM wearing this outfit to your football game and/or band concert.

So, do you really think I mind walking into Target to stock up on P&G Always Discreet products? No, in fact, I wanted to load up my cart with tampons, granny underwear, lice shampoo, athlete’s foot spray and other unmentionables that might make my boys (and the cashier dude) really squirm! But, I behaved myself!

Loading up my cart — hey, where did the kids go?!

So, if you’ve had three kids like me – three really large babies with really big heads, you may have had some issues with bladder leakage. This is really all THEIR fault! For years, I would show up at my races wearing shorts that I knew would camouflage the problem and bring along a spare pair to change into right after crossing the finish line. This still didn’t prevent the stress of worrying just how bad “the situation” would be. I’d heard that doing kegels religiously could help, but amazingly it was CrossFit that help tighten up my innards and pulled everything mostly back into place. Sometimes there can still be a little “oops” and an almost unnoticeable liner from Always Discreet keeps me confident to run, trampoline, and jump rope without worry of a puddle.

If you shop at Target (and who doesn’t?) text DISCREET to TARGET (827438) for instant coupons on Always Discreet – they also make pads and disposable underwear in addition the little liners. BTW, coupons expire 12/31/14. Also, now through October 25, when you buy $20 of Always Discreet products, you get a FREE carrying case ($6 value). Look for the Always Discreet display at your local Target! Target has online savings going on, too – enter promo code DISCREET at checkout for a $1 savings. You can also use Target’s “Subscribe and Save” service and have Discreet delivered straight to your door. You’ll get 5% off your order; free shipping and even an additional 5% off if you use your red card. Find out how to get a free sample and more details here.

Care to share on this one? Pees do . .. uh, I mean PLEASE do!

The Run, Jump, CrossFit, Trampoline Secret I Just Can’t Hold In! #AlwaysDiscreetatTarget #CleverGirls #ad

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

#LoveYourAge and Prevention’s #R3Summit

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

To me, the alleged compliment, “aging gracefully,” sounds so woefully outdated that I cringe every time I hear it – it’s like saying, “forget about your dreams, your purpose here on Earth is now positively correlated to your night cream’s effectiveness. Hope in a Jar, I always hated that name. It’s such an old-fashioned and sexist concept, this idea of a woman living out her middle age years and beyond with some sort of passive resignation – hanging up her goals while trying to hang onto her looks. I realize that most of the time, the term “aging gracefully” is bestowed to women who are embracing their natural beauty over a plastic surgery-enhanced appearance. Well, how wonderful (insert sarcasm); however, isn’t the focus still on the exterior image and recapturing youth?

val jen suzanne litehouse caramel cashew bars post

We love our ages — we’re fit, fabulous and all over 40!

Before any guy who reads this blog gets his boxers in a bunch, the sexism around “aging gracefully” is almost exclusively self-inflicted and further perpetuated by women. You don’t hear of some middle aged man deciding he’s too old to wear his bathing suit to the beach or arm wrestle with his juniors. I’ve never overheard two old guys gossiping about “how good” another man looks for his advancing age – they’re just one upping each other with the profit of deals inked, the size of fish caught, golf handicaps dropped or some other measure of manliness. For the most part, the men I know have audacious goals and are always moving forward despite beer bellies, balding heads and furry ears.

I think it’s time we women start focusing less on aging gracefully and instead just live all our years left to the best of our abilities – and let passion trump polish! You are never too old to keep pursing a life dream or set the bar higher on what drives you now — women like Dara Torres and Julia Child stand out in my mind. Dara Torres for sticking with her passion as a world class swimmer long after colleagues had turned in their goggles – extra Olympic gold in the process!

And, Julia Child for finding her passion later in life – she didn’t even enter culinary school until age 36 and then later wrote the iconic Mastering the Art of French Cooking which ended up as a syndicated television show she hosted well into her later years.

“Find something you are passionate about and stay tremendously interested in it.” – Julia Child

So, I’m off my soap box now and want to let everyone know about Prevention magazine’s Love Your Age Day on October 1^st. Like me, the folks here want you to actually start living life rather than worrying about how many candles are on the cake. Prevention magazine has a lot of great content on this topic in the October issue and is kicking it off with a #LoveYourAge celebration on Instagram or Twitter . Please join me in posting a picture that shows how you love your age – don’t forget to hashtag it #LoveYourAge and also #TheFitFork if you have room so I can find the awesomeness of my readers!

I have so many reasons to love my age, but today I’ll share the fitness reasons that (surprise) have nothing to do with running. First, a biggie for me this year was finally getting my muscle up in CrossFit. It took me TWO YEARS of practicing but I was not going to give up! Also, I haven’t been able to do a backbend in TWO DECADES and recently got it back this year (ha- a pun), so this will be the #LoveMyAge pic I’m going to post:

Prevention will also be hosting a Love Your Age panel featuring the amazing Andie MacDowell at the R3 Summit in Austin, Texas on October 16^th and 17^th. The entire R3 Summit is about how you can refresh, revive and reinvent yourself at any age – other topics and the health and wellness conference include beauty, happiness, health, healthy epicurean, mind and body, and peak performance (the founder of barre3, along with others, will be on site leading workouts).

If you are interested in attending (I went last year and it was AWESOME), Prevention has a special offer for my readers! Enter code R3VIB at checkout for $20 off your R3Summit ticket. Also keep up with announcements and other happenings on social media with #R3Summit. Wear your workout gear and I will see you there!

What accomplishment are you most proud of this year? How do you #LoveYourAge ?

This post is sponsored by Prevention magazine, I received passes to the conference and other goods in exchange for promotion. However, all opinions and commentary are my own.

Nike 5.0 Free Review & a Workout They Rocked

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

JD Sports out of London (insert trumpet fanfare) sent me a pair of Nike Free 5.0 TR Fit 4 Print to try out and review. I haven’t run in Nike in like FOREVER, so I was super excited to get my feet to the street in these stylish running shoes that I’ve been hearing so much about. JD Sports mentions how this product is part of the Crosstown Running rage. What is that? I’m from Texas, y’all, but I think it has something to do with Londoners getting into the lifestyle and community of running – and showing off their street chic style while running or just hanging out in their stock of versatile fitness gear.

So, what do I think specifically of the Nike Free 5.0 TR Fit 4 Print? Well, there’s no arguing that the shoe is quite fashionable for pounding the pavement on a run, leaping parked cars in parkour class or just knocking back some beers after work with friends. With quite a lot of print color combos, it’s easy to find just the right ones for your personality – or difficult, if you’re a complicated, multi-faceted . . . err, indecisive person like me.

As for the technical aspects, the shoe is light and has a breathable, engineered mesh upper which I like, especially in this Texas heat. Nike flywire technology provides just enough support and lockdown on the forefoot and an inner sleeve hugs the heel for a snug (but not tight) fit. What I really like about the running and fitness shoe is the sole, which has a nice bit of traction yet is still really flexible meaning – this bodes well for transitioning from a run right into a workout with jumping, burpees and fluid multi-directional movements. I NEED shoes that are flexible in the midfoot and toes and the Nike Free 5.0s totally delivered. Now, if you’re a runner that needs a bunch of stability and support due to biomechanical issues, this may not be the dream shoe for you. But, for the runner who needs a neutral, lightweight, high-performing, flexible shoe – the Nike Free 5.0 will be your new besties!

You also may be wondering what it was like to order running shoes from an overseas store. I was skeptical of delivery time at first but, honestly, my shipment arrived in about the same amount of time as here in the good ole U.S. of A. Now, these shoes did hop the pond by way of London to Dubai to Austin, so they moved a great distance quickly – I hope that translates into my running performance! One thing to know if you are buying running shoes or trainers from the UK, footwear is sized differently. For example, my women’s size 8.5 in America is a women’s size 6 in England – but don’t worry, they have size charts to help you out. JD Sports doesn’t just sell Nike, they also carry Adidas, Asics, Fila and more . . . you really should really check out all their running shoes and get yourself some of that British style!

So, to celebrate all this shoe can DO, I created a workout filled with all the moves it will help you perform better – like running, jumping and multi-directional movements! While you COULD do the Crossfit inspired WOD alone, it’s much more fun to pair up with a friend to push you all the way through the final 2k run! Have fun!

Have you every worn this or any version of the Nike Free? Whatdidjathink?

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Category Archives: CrossFit

Chocolate Cherry Trail Cups + Workout to Flip For

Sweaty with Chance of Meatball (& Wilted Greens) Stew + Tabata WOD

Wilted Greens, Beans & Beef Meatball Soup Recipe

The Run, Jump, CrossFit, Trampoline Secret I Just Can’t Hold In!

#LoveYourAge and Prevention’s #R3Summit

Nike 5.0 Free Review & a Workout They Rocked

Wilted Greens, Beans & Beef Meatball Soup Recipe

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