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?

#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.

Headstands and Hot Dogs + Healthy Chip #Giveaway

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

First, let’s just get the headstand out of the way. This is not your ordinary inversion. It’s a headstand that will challenge you to the very core as you tighten every muscle trying to maintain balance – I’ve thrown in balance busting elements including WIND and WEIGHT! To try this, you’ll need a heavy-duty garage fan, 4 to 10 pound medicine ball and the ability to safely kick up and hold a headstand for at least a minute (you don’t want to crash into the fan). To add in the balance challenges, grab a medicine ball between your feet on the way up, fully extend legs upward, and then bend knees downward. Repeat as long as possible. To test your balance further, continue the upside down medicine ball leg presses, but have a friend turn the garage fan on full blast. Whoohoo!

Hot dogs are a staple of summer – I can’t imagine how many dogs the world has downed at ball parks, boardwalks, and backyard barbeques. Sure, some foodies might be too high faulting for a hotdog, while fitness-oriented folks may shy away assuming all frankfurters are loaded with fat, random animal parts, chemicals and other questionable stuff. Okay, well maybe the most widely available hotdogs are not so “hot” in the nutrition department, but there are lots of healthier options around today including this round up of grass-fed, all-beef hotdogs from Health.com.

It can be quite confusing to pick a healthy hot dog!

Definitely read labels; that’s your job as a consumer. For example, when the package rattles off ingredients such as “by-products” or “variety meats,” this means the hotdog may have as little as 15 percent muscle meat , the amount required by the USDA. Depending on your preference, make sure beef or grass-fed beef is the number one, first ingredient. Also, if you think you’re getting an uncured, chemical-free hot dog, think again because I don’t think it’s possible. It’s common practice, even by “healthy” companies, to label products as “uncured” and “nitrate free” . . . . .wait for it . . . “with the exception of nitrates naturally occurring in celery salt.” It’s not like celery salt is innocently added to perk up a hot dog’s flavor. Instead, when this water-dense plant is grown in nitrate-rich water and then dried, ground and passed off as “salt,” it also passes on (you guessed it) a concentrated level of nitrates. Studies have shown that hot dogs labeled “nitrate free” contain between ½ to 10 times the amount of nitrates found in conventional hot dogs – WOW! Check out this interesting article on What’s Inside the Bun from the New York Times.

Sonya Thomas competes in the 2012 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Eating Contest at Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York

Champ Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas getting it done!

So, even with all of these questionable issues at hand, I’ll still eat an all-beef hot dog every now and then, especially in the summer. Really it’s about moderation, I’m only eating one hot dog at a sitting, a couple times a year – and not trying to break the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island. By the way, the men’s record is 67 hot dogs and the women’s is 45 – in ten minutes! Okay, so this is more than a little gross, but so morbidly fascinating – and it does sort of appeal to my competitive spirit. But, for now I will just weenie out and remain a spectator!

Another way to make your hot dogs “healthier” is to top them with fresh, nutritious ingredients. I recently shared my recipes for “Healthy Hot Dog Toppings” on Litehouse Foood’s Living Lighthouse blog. Instead of adding gut-busting chili and cheese, I used the new line of Opadipity Greek Yogurt Dips to create gourmet dogs. Head over to Litehouse Foods to check out my Greek God Hot Dog, Garlic Green Machine, and Cha-Cha Chipotle Dog!

Okay, you can’t have hot dogs without chips – and of course, I’m talking about healthier chips! Food Should Taste Good (aka FSTG) recently sent me a box full of their delicious, nutritious flavors to test out – and I also get to give some away! I’ve loved these tortilla chips for a long time . . . . but had only tried the Whole Grain flavor until recently . Holy guacamole . . . there is a Guacamole flavor . . . and an Olive flavor . . . and a Jalapeno Cheddar flavor and a gazillion other creative flavors – too many to mention!

I love that these chips are made from real ingredients, have zero trans fats, and no cholesterol – plus, they are certified gluten free and Kosher, making them the perfect anytime snack for pretty much everyone! My husband eats these healthy chips straight out of the bag while I like to crunch them up and use them as croutons on my salad. Or with dip, dips are good – especially my favorite Chipotle Ranch Dip made with Greek Yogurt. And with my new favorite FSTG chips – Jalapeno Cheddar. Chips, super double good. Dip, good. Got it? Good. Now get it! Or, win some good food (see Rafflecopter app below):

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grate Expectations – Seared Steak Thai Salad – #GrillIt #WinIt

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

There’s something special about summer grilling – relaxing in the great outdoors, keeping the grill master company with good conversation and a cold beer, and enjoying the season’s bounty sizzling off the grates. It’s the perfect way to wind down after a long day, except for when it isn’t. When the thermometer is hovering over 100 degrees, the mosquitos are as big as dragonflies, and dirty barbeque smoke is making your eyes water, it’s time to head back indoors!

Dean on grill duty, getting a little smoke in his eyes!

But, how can you get that that grilled outside flavor from the cool comfort and convenience of your kitchen? Well, I have had some luck with a grill pan that sits right on your stove top, but even better is the Searing Grill from Hamilton Beach – it heats to a really high temperature to lock in the natural juices in the lean protein or produce you are grilling. The grate marks it makes are gorgeous, food looks like it has been flipped around by Bobby Flay. Clean up is easy, the grates can go in the dishwasher and slide-out drip pan washes easily in the sink – no more standing out in the backyard with your grill disassembled and for a spray nozzle hose blasting.

I’ve tested a few of my favorite grilling recipes on this awesome indoor grill –- from my Tuscan Grilled Eggplant to Mojo Chicken Breast with Citrus pictured above.

I also created a delicious recipe for Seared Beef & Mango Thai Noodle Salad Recipe for Hamilton Beach’s blog, EverydayGoodThinking.com. This easy recipe keeps things cool, the lean beef and mango sear quickly on the grill while the rest of the veggies don’t need any cooking – even the thread-thin noodles only need to soak it hot water from the sink. Head over to EverydayGoodThinking.com right now to get the recipe and more!

So, yay! Thanks to Hamilton Beach, I get to give away one of these Searing Grills so you can #GrillIt ! Enter via the Rafflecopter app below and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you are the winner!

Oh and speaking of grilling, it’s not too late to register for my “Live Well, Grill Well” class at the downtown Whole Foods in Austin, Texas. I would love to have a packed house!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Creamy Jalapeno Beef Fajita Omelet for Father’s Day Breakfast

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Jennifer FIsher

Me with my dad — he’s always there to support and cheer me on at a race!

Father’s Day is almost here and I’m plan to let my pops know he’s tops with a hearty, healthy breakfast. Although the gesture can’t compare with the endless years of love and support, I’ve received from my father, it does speak to one of our favorite shared hobbies – eating Mexican food!

I like to keep my recipes as heart-healthy as possible — we have a family history issue going on. My recipe for Creamy Jalapeno Beef Fajita Omelet is pumped up with protein from lean beef, eggs and black beans and lower in fat – no cheese was needed thanks to a flavorful assortment of nourishing veggies. I know what you’re thinking though – beef for breakfast?! Actually, lean beef is a much healthier option than bacon, pork sausage and many other breakfast meats. For example, 2 ounces of beef skirt steak has about 124 calories and 6.5 grams of fat compared to 306 calories and 23.5 grams of fat for an equal portion of bacon! I made this recipe on behalf of Litehouse Foods, and used their delicious Creamy Ranch Dressing – just a little dab will do you on this Father’s Day breakfast or brunch recipe.

Creamy Jalapeno Beef Fajita Omelet Recipe

Cooking spray
1/4 cup canned black beans that are rinsed and drained
1/4 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
4 grape tomatoes halved lengthwise
1/4 red bell pepper seeded and cut into ¼” thick rings
1/4 small sweet onion cut into ¼” thick slices and rings separated
½ fresh jalapeno pepper cut into ¼” rings
2 ounces precooked and seasoned beef fajita strips
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites (or ½ cup of egg whites from carton)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh red onion
1/4 cup Litehouse Food Jalapeno Ranch dressing

1. Spray medium skillet with cooking spray and add black beans, corn, grape tomatoes, red bell pepper, sweet onion, jalapeno pepper, and beef fajita strips. Sauté over medium-high heat for 3 to 4 minutes or until ingredients are heated through and vegetables have soft-crisp texture. Remove from heat for use later.

2. Combine salt, egg whites and egg in medium bowl, breaking yolk and combining with a whisk.

3. Coat omelet-sized nonstick skillet with cooking spray and bring to medium heat. Pour egg mixture into skilled let egg mixture set slightly.

4. Tilt pan and carefully lift edges of omelet with a spatula, permitting uncooked egg to flow underneath. Sprinkle cilantro and red onion on top.

5. Cook approximately 3 minutes; carefully flip omelet and cook for another minute. Spoon vegetable, beef and bean mixture onto one side of omelet, reserving a red pepper ring and jalapeno for garnish. Carefully loosen omelet with a spatula; fold in half over filling. Slide omelet onto a plate with reserved veggies.

If you’re feeding a crowd (or a really hungry father) my Healthy Beef & Egg ‘Barn Raiser’ Bake will fuel up dad for whatever adventures the morning brings.

By the way, if you are in Austin, come to one of my “Live Well, Grill Well” classes that will be held at Whole Foods on June 22 & June 28. I will be teaching everyone, including Alex, Booker & Sara from MIX 94.7, how to make their summer meals sizzle . . . not fizzle!

What do you plan to do with your dad on Father’s day? Does he have a favorite breakfast?

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