Friday 5: Including Gingerbread, Turkey Trot & Healthy Chocolate

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

This is what has been going on in my world this week! Hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed and blissful as mine!

1) Gingerbread Houses: My kids had a school break for the entire Thanksgiving week and they wanted to make a gingerbread house from scratch. OMG. Middle son used his geometry and algebra skills to design the blue prints while I surfed around for “structural gingerbread” recipes. Despite the all the things that could go wrong with measuring, cutting, baking and assembling a gingerbread house, the masterpiece is still standing and deliciously candy bedazzled. I’m winning Christmas already!

Kid’s Gingerbread House – TheFitFork.com

2) Dark Chocolate: Speaking of candy, did you know dark chocolate is a superfood and that makes me super happy. Check out this spotlight I did for CorePower.com on dark chocolate and recipe ideas:

3) Turkey Trot: Had a bunch of pre-feast family fun at Austin’s Thundercloud Turkey Trot! The hubby and kids joined me to stampede 5 miles through downtown Austin with 21 thousand fellow runners and walkers. Snagged a 1^st place in age group, too!

5) Beef & Leaf: Time to NOT talk turkey — my Wilted Winter Greens and Beef Meatball Stew made its print debut in the winter edition of Moxie Magazine (they also have an online version). In my nutrition-focused article, “Kale and Collards and Chard, Oh My!”, I also talk about why all the dark leafy greens proliferating the farmers’ market this time of year are so good for you.

5) Win a Cookbook: I’m excited to be a new-ish member of the Austin Food Blogger Alliance and brush real-life elbows with the savviest online taste buds in town. You can win a copy of this group’s tome of tasty recipes, Austin Food Blogger Alliance Cookbook, a great resource that serves up the uniqueness of Austin with a side dish of varied heritages the – just leave a comment at the History Press for a chance to win.

Friday 5: Gingerbread House, Turkey Trotting, Healthy Chocolate + More

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If you Turkey Trotted on Thanksgiving, tell me about it!

If you’re crazy enough to build a gingerbread house from scratch, let me know. I have a great “structural gingerbread” recipe I can share with you — no caved in walls!

Eat, Drink & Be Healthy #Giveaway

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

I run, I lift, and I stretch. By body fat ratio is low, my VO2 max is high, and my doctor usually has to retake my pulse because he can’t believe my heart is still beating. I attribute my body’s efficiencies to eating well, making exercise part of my lifestyle and all-around good genes. But, before you start rolling your eyes about, I am NOT without vices or bad habits and, well, most of them are eating related. My three worst nutrition no-nos are drinking diet soda, sometimes skipping or scrimping on breakfast, and a lack of variety in my (albeit mostly healthy) diet. Starting now through the holidays, I’m going to focus on ways to kick these little problem areas in the butt – and, to encourage you to make any healthy changes you might need to, I’m hosting a Eat, Drink & Be Healthy Giveaway! Here are my goals and giveaway items (enter through the rafflecopter app at the end of the post).

Drink Better by Kicking the Soda Can: As, I mentioned, I drink too much diet soda – way too much. I’ve been trying to break this bad habit by switching to healthier beverage options – more water, green tea, kombucha and such. I’m a relatively new fan of kombucha, just partaking in an inaugural swig about a year ago. If you’ve never heard of Kombucha, it’s a sparkling probiotic tea that has been fermented to create a slightly sweet and sour fizzy tonic. This “wellness juice” tastes good going down and helps to keep things moving along, if you catch my drift.

LIVE Soda, from right here in Austin, is one of my favorite kombucha brands because it reminds me of all the soda fountain drinks I crave – flavors include Root Beer, Cola, Ginger, Orange, Limon and even one called “Doctor” that will remind you of Dr. Pepper. It’s pretty much sold all over the place here in Austin, but check out the store locator to find LIVE Soda in your area. Kombucha also makes a healthy and hip alternative drink during the holiday party season – not everyone wants to drink alcohol. Enter the giveaway below and you may win 4 coupons for single 12-oz. bottles of Live Soda.

Eat Better by Not Skipping Breakfast: I’ve stood on a soap box about this a million times, so it’s embarrassing to admit that I skip breakfast on occasion! Eating a morning meal that includes adequate protein has been proven to reduce unhealthful snacking later in the day. But get real people, sometimes there just isn’t time to scramble eggs or even blend up a protein smoothie. But, Love Grown Foods has the best cereal called Power O’s that makes it easier to eat a quality breakfast in the morning.

I love it so much that I’m now a “Love Blogger” – what’s not to love? Love Grown Foods makes all their products without the use of genetically modified ingredients, high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils. This kid-friendly cereal looks like your typical Cheerios, l, but instead it’s made with a bean blend than includes navy beans, garbanzo beans and lentils to provide 4 – 6 grams of protein per serving. Now that’s NOT typical! Pour on a cup of milk and you’ve just added another 8 grams of protein. But, my favorite eating technique is to pile them up on 6 oz. plain Greek yogurt that has been sweetened with stevia and fruit – this bumps me up to about 25 grams of protein for breakfast which is my optimal amount! When you enter the giveaway below, you could win a “Love Drop” of four boxes of Power O’s , one of each flavor – Original, Strawberry, Chocolate and Honey.

Be Healthy by Mixing It Up: Aside from the soda, the foods on my plate are pretty darn fit and fresh. However, I tend to rely on some staples over and OVER again – like eating a spring mix salad with the same dressing and toppings EVERY night for a week. Thanks to my relationship as a blogger for Litehouse Foods, I’ve really been learning to “mix it up” for the last few years as I’ve created recipes for the company. I might still have the same “base” salad, but have learned to rotate through a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables along with lean proteins to ensure I’m not missing any important nutrients in my diet.

This awesome, Idaho-based company makes dozens of different fresh dressings, dips, cheeses, ciders and freeze-dried herbs that you can find in the produce department. These products are made fresh and need to be kept cold (except for the herbs) – no MSG, preservatives or unhealthy fats like the nasty shelf-stable stuff. Many products are even certified gluten-free and/or organic – one of my favorite product lines, OPA by Litehouse, is made with Greek Yogurt to reduce fat and increase protein. Enter the giveaway below and you could win 4 free product coupons.

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Maple Ginger Chocolate Bread Recipe & #R3Summit Recap

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

Whew, things have slowed down enough that I can share with you the great experience I had at Prevention’s R3 Summit. Happy to say that I “R3’d” the day away – relaxing, refreshing and reinventing! Some of the highlights for me were getting to spend some quality time with my mom – even though she lives in Austin, most of the time we’re together it’s with all my kids in tow. We enjoyed ourselves at the reception Friday night (I actually drank an entire glass of wine, so it we’re talking wild times) and caught the screening of Resistance, a documentary about antibiotic resistance being perpetuated the medical and agricultural industries.

HA! Cartwheeling at the R3 Summit LAST year!

Saturday we spent the entire day listening to panels on topics like eating clean, loving your age, and more – Andie MacDowell was the featured speaker and she seemed just as lovely on the inside as out. Prior to the event, I was able to “ask” her a question about getting older and it was published in an article on Prevention.com . In that interview and in-person, she mentioned that she likes to do handstands and cartwheels – a lady after my own heart. I would like to challenge her in a handstand-off! Between speakers, Mom and I got our chakra cleared, had our stress reduced with Reiki healing and took part in a few fun workouts. Again, this year, one of my favorite appointments was with the henna artist who painted me up with a beautiful tattoo – I was sad to see if fade away a couple weeks later.

Of course there was food – healthy, healing, good-for-you food. Quinoa salad, yogurt and fruit, almonds, green teas and – fish! One of the companies on site was Wild Planet Foods – they sell sustainably caught seafood (think canned tuna, sardines, anchovies – but YUMMY!) while supporting the conservation of wild marine ecosystems. They were sponsoring a Food Network-style “Chopped” competition using their canned tuna — oh, you know I was SO up for this. Ten of us battled it off to come up with a tuna recipe using a provided array of ingredients – in 10 MINUTES from start to finish. In my mind, I hatched my recipe, execution and plating strategy before we even started (that’s the competitor in me) – my finished product was Tuna & Quinoa Salad with Creamy Lemon Gremolata Dressing . . . . served in scooped out lemons. I must say, it was lovely. When I have time to sit down and recollect my thoughts, I’ll be sure to share the recipe!

So, SAVE THE DATE – I don’t know exactly when, but I imagine the 3^rd annual R3 Summit will be in October 2015 in Austin (editors told me they love, LOVE the health and fitness scene here). Meanwhile, start reading Prevention Magazine – not just the website but a good old-fashioned paper version that is mailed straight to your house! I have conveniently provided you a link to subscribe here and at the bottom of this post. This month’s issue was packed with good stuff – including a bunch of healthy chocolate recipes including this Maple Ginger Chocolate Bread (they called it cake, but I’m not going there) which I recreated with some minor tweaks for you!

Maple Ginger Chocolate Bread Recipe

1 ½ cup flour
1 cup maple sugar (or regular sugar)
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup milk (or milk substitute)
2/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup dark chocolate chips
½ cup crystalized ginger, chopped

Heat oven to 350 F degrees. Lightly coat three mini loaf pans with baking spray. Actually, I think lining the pans with parchment paper worked better.
In medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and ginger.
In another bowl or large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, olive oil and vanilla extract.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix together with spatula until just combined. Gently stir in chocolate chips and ginger pieces.
Bake on center rack for approximately 35 – 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center pulls out clean.
Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Maple Ginger Chocolate Bread #Recipe & #R3Summit Recap @PreventionMag

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Prevention provided me free admission and products to attend this event. However, all opinions and commentary are strictly my own.

Improve Vision for Confident Night Driving (and Running) + #Giveaway

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

Two rare things I look forward to in one weekend — a bowl full of candy (I shared) and sleeping in an extra hour thanks to the arrival of daylight savings time. However, it takes about a week to convince my body that it’s not going to bed too early or my stomach that I don’t really need another Snickers bar! Eventually, I adapt as we humans do – however, one pesky and potentially dangerous issue will still bother me all through the winter . . . and that is trouble with night driving.

With daylight continuing to shrink until the winter solstice paired with the clock being backed up an hour, I find myself doing more and more night driving – even just picking up the kiddos up from their sports and music practices is now done in the dark. To be honest, I don’t like driving at night. In low light, it’s hard to judge how far away objects really are (if I see them at all) and the glare from oncoming headlights can be blinding (or at a minimum, confusing) – these vision issues can (and have) affected my reaction time and I hate that feeling of driving “on edge,” white-knuckling the steering wheel. Thank goodness, I’ve never had a driving accident at night – however, statistics show that traffic death rates are three times greater at night than during daylight. Scary!

I recently discovered EyePromise, a line of natural eye health supplements featuring the nutrients zeaxanthin and lutein. These two ingredients are carotenoids that make up the macular pigment—the area of the eye responsible for protecting vision. While small amounts of zeaxanthin and lutein are found naturally in foods like leafy greens, corn, eggs and red, orange and yellow peppers, most of us would never eat enough to see improvements in eye health – that’s where the convenience of a scientifically proven product like EyePromise vizual EDGE™ comes in. I have to tell you, before finding out about EyePromise, I never even stopped to consider taking a pill to help improve my night vision. But, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I take a mutli-vitamin to fill in any gaps in my dailiy nutrition and I take supplements to help my sports performance and recovery, so why have I not been doing something proactive for my eyesight?

Driving and accidentally harming another person isn’t the only concern I have with my vision and being on the road at night. For good reason, I’m also worried about hurting myself (again) while running at night. What an awful fall I took almost exactly this time last year when I was out running at 9pm by myself, I split my chin open (requiring stitches) and gave myself a concussion – I was really lucky I didn’t break my jaw with the angle and force of the fall. Even though there were street lamps on and lots of bright stars overhead, I just didn’t see the unevenness between a pair of sidewalk pavers.

Gain Confidence #NightDriving *& Running with @eyepromise_ZV +#giveaway #ad

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On behalf of EyePromise, I am hosting a giveaway for Night Driving Confidence Kits – 3 of my readers will win one! Each kit, designed to make you feel more comfortable on the road and night, includes a car emergency tool/flashlight, headlight towel, EyePromise sport bag, coupon for EyePromise vizual EDGE and more! Simply enter through the Rafflecopter app below:

This post and giveaway is sponsored by EyePromise. While I have received compensation and products in exchange for my time, the review, opinions and editorial comments are completely my own.

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#SlowCookerMeals – Ancho Mama’s Pot Roast Recipe & Tacos!

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

Taught a class on economical cuts of beef last night – ground beef immediately comes to mind when the word “budget” is tossed around. However, top sirloin and chuck roast are both versatile cuts that can stretch your family’s food allowance and still give you that “mmmmmm” satisfaction that comes along a nice, hearty and yet healthy beef dinner.

I’ve been in slow-cooker mode for the past few weeks and want to remind you about my giveaway for a programmable slow cooker from Hamilton Beach – this modern convenience will transform your life. I broke in this bad boy with Honey Balsamic Chicken (with 3 recipes) earlier this week. Typically when I pull the slow cooker out of the cabinet, I think of time-honored comfort foods like a fork-tender, juicy pot roast.

A chuck roast is THE cut of choice when it comes to fall-apart, fork-tender deliciousness. This budget-friendly hunk of meat may look intimidating, but there is no way you can mess it up with any type of liquid-based, low-and-slow cooking method like braising or the slow cooker. Chuck roast in the slow cooker will rock your world, just add some chopped up veggies, a little broth, the spices you like and then WALK AWAY. IT’S JUST THAT EASY. I now reclaimed the time I need to manage my crazy life and workout routine — and even indulge in frivolous hobbies like gardening, reading and catching up with friends.

If you love southwestern foods, you’ll be all over this slow cooker recipe for Ancho Mama’s Pot Roast. Ancho is just a dried poblano pepper – this flavor profile adds a mild heat and smoky flavor to recipes. For convenience, I buy ground ancho chili powder at the market – you can usually find the McCormick brand on the spice aisle.

Ancho Mama’s Pot Roast Recipe for Slow Cooker (aka Crock Pot)

1 2 ½ to 3 lb boneless beef chuck pot roast
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 cup frozen corn
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 16-ounce container salsa (I used fresh salsa from produce dept.)

Trim fat from meat and cut down, if needed, to fit into 4 qt. slow cooker.
Add onion and corn to slow cooker and top with meat.
Sprinkle garlic, chili powder, pepper, and salt over meat. Pour salsa over spices.
Cover and cook on low heat in slow cooker for 8 – 10 hours or on high heat for 4 – 5 hours.
Transfer roast to rimmed baking sheet and shred. Top with strained corn, onion and salsa mixture.
Serves 8

So how can you serve this delicious dinner – well, one night we usually have it over rice and the next night is TACO NIGHT! You can’t beat the leftovers on this recipe for tacos, quesadillas or mixed into a breakfast hash.

Also, check out these 23 slow cooker meals from Cooking Light — I love this collection of recipes that represent a healthy, balanced eating plan. Easy to make comfort food CAN be good for you!

What would you do with the time saved by preparing dinner in a slow cooker? Please share in the comments.

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Category Archives: Uncategorized

Friday 5: Including Gingerbread, Turkey Trot & Healthy Chocolate

Eat, Drink & Be Healthy #Giveaway

Maple Ginger Chocolate Bread Recipe & #R3Summit Recap

Improve Vision for Confident Night Driving (and Running) + #Giveaway

#SlowCookerMeals – Ancho Mama’s Pot Roast Recipe & Tacos!