July's FoodiePenPal Reveal!!!

It is the end of July! Which means that it is time to reveal who my FoodiePenPal was for the month! For those who do not know what FoodiePenPal is, it is a program that was created by Lindsay from the Lean Green Bean.  Basically, you get paired up with a person each month to send a healthy food package from anywhere in the US.  To sign up for the program you can click on the text links above or the box to the right for more details.  

To see my June's FoodiePenPal reveal post click here!

I received my box from Emily Morris.  Emily is from Connecticut and works as a Consultant for Colleges.  Subsequently,  she gets to travel all over the US.   She's also the blogger behind the Life on Food where she shares amazing meals and recipes.   

In my box was 3 Namaste Foods meals in minutes packs.  I have never tried anything from this brand so I was excited to have received them.  My son, Chris, keeps asking me to make the pizza mix Emily sent; I'm planning on it very very soon so stay tune for that.  Emily also included an assortment of Trader Joe's Organic Fruit Wraps.  Needless to say, these were gone 5 minutes after this picture was taken.  Delicious! Another new brand for us!  I was happy to finally try something from Trader Joe's since I hear all of you guys raving over their foods on Twitter.  We don't have one here 'o(.  Awesomeness!

  Thanks Emily!

    She also included a hand written note on this adorable card.

Are you a FoodiePenPal?  Can't wait to see what all of you FoodiePenPals received!! TTYS

Another Week of exciting 1sts!! ;o))

Guys I have some exiting news to share...  I am a FitFluential Ambassador! So excited to be a part of this amazing group of people.  You should check out the awesomeness whether you are a blogger or a fitness enthusiast! Great way to keep motivated and get inspired!

How cool!!  Healthy Living Blogs featured my Olive Salad Recipe in their Recipe Wednesday Post this week... Thanks HLB!

GeneralElectric sent me Eco-Friendly yoga mats to encourage me to continue with my healthy, fitter me journey!  How amazingly sweet was that!  Joseph is taking one of the mats to work for him & the guys to use in their workout room ;o)

 So cool! Thanks GE!

 Thanks to Shopthe48 I can now get my IKEA shop on while living in AK!  Thx for the yummy treats!

500 + on Twitter!  Seriously??  I can not even believe how many amazing health and fitness people I have met via Twitter.  I am so thankful for all of your encouragement and tips! I love learning from you all!

 Did Cardio Core & Balance for my workout this morning. We are off to Valdez for some camping, hiking & fishing!  Have a great weekend and I will talk to y'all soon!!!

Do you have any exciting news to share this week?  Post them below! 

Thursday & Friday workouts, dinner and FullCircleFarms order

Happy Friday Everyone!  I hope everyone is doing well.  I had a pretty productive Cardio day yesterday!  I did a 33 minute treadmill interval in the morning...

And since we had gorgeous weather, hubby joined me for a 20 minute run in the afternoon...77 degrees and sunny BABY!!

For Taco night, (last night) we had Chard Wraps!

Doesn't this look delicious?? It was!

What's in my wrap?

left-over grilled chicken breast

grilled corn

brown rice

black beans 

salsa

onions

sour cream

jalapenos

cabage

blue cheese

My FullCircle Farm Order for next week:

I did Element Pilates for my morning workout.  P90X Leg & Back + Ab ripper X, is our plan for the afternoon. 

Running a bit late for work so I am packing a hard boiled egg and a pear for my breakfast this morning.

As for the rest of my day, we are packing for our camping trip to Valdez, Alaska this weekend!  Valdez is my favorite part of Alaska and I look forward to this trip every summer. Can't wait to share photos of our trip!!!

Do you do camping trips with your family?  What are some of your favorite healthy camping meals?

P90X, Caramel Raspnana Smoothie & Shopthe48.com

Hope everyone is doing well.  We started P90X "Lean" last Monday.  First thing on the schedule was Core Synergistic.  Monday morning I did a 15 min interval and Core Synergistic and Ab Ripper X with Joseph in the afternoon.   Yesterday's workout was supposed to be Cardio X.  We did about 5 minutes of it and realized that it was not for us.  We ended up doing Insanity's Pure Cardio workout instead.  Not a fan of Cardio X!   We will continue to switch to Max Insanity workouts on Cardio X days. 

This morning I went for a 2 mile run on the TM and plan to do Shoulder & Arms + Ab Ripper X later with Joseph.  

For breakfast I had a delicious Caramel Raspnana Smoothie.

 

To my smoothie went:

1 pack of PerfectFit Protein

1/2 cup of vanilla unsweetened Almond Breeze

1 cup of cold brewed Yogi green Kombucha tea

1/2 cup of raspberry

1/2 of a frozen banana 

1 cap full of caramel extract

5 drops of Vitacost vanilla flavored stevia

a pinch of cinamon

1 cup of ice

Perfection!

 

OK!!!  Have you guys heard of Shopthe48? Shopthe48.com is an online shipping service for items that are often undeliverable from  retailers in the lower 48 to AK & HI.  If you live in Alaska or Hawaii you will find this site interesting. I received a fun package in the mail from them containing IKEA items.  When we lived in Orlando FL our condo was across the street from IKEA.  IKEA was one of my favorite places to shop for home decor and other home essentials. This package brought a smile to my face, because I have not been able to shop from IKEA while living in AK.  

  

From Shopthe48 website:

Most online retailers don't ship items to Alaska or Hawaii. If they do, hefty fees are the norm. No problem, now you can send your purchases to shopthe48.com and we will expedite them, saving you money.
We deliver where others won't.
Shopthe48.com makes it easy to deliver direct to your home, business, PO Box and AFO/FPO addresses.
How does shopthe48.com do it?
It's simple: experience. We've been serving our friends in Alaska and Hawaii for over 20 years. We understand the challenges of living outside the contiguous United States and have created a fast, efficient process in delivering goods at low cost, without sacrificing service.

Do you any of your shopping online?  What are some of your favorite websites to shop from?

Simple Healthy Egg Salad + Celery Boat Snack

Egg Salad

Ingredients:
1 hard boiled egg
2 hard boiled egg-whites
1 tbsp. of Chobani plain non fat greek yoghurt
1 t. of yellow mustard
1 cap full of raw apple cider vinegar
a drizzle of Siracha
a pinch of cayenne pepper
salt & pepper to taste

Mash the eggs well.  Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  

This mixture is perfect for adding to a leafy green salad, for sandwiches, wraps or over WASA crackers.

Celery Boats

What I used:
2 tbsp of just almond butter
2 diced dry figs
3 celery stalks

Spread the almond butter on to celery stalks.  Place the dry figs on top of the celery boats. That's it!

Everyone that knows me knows how much I HATE celery.  This is one way I can eat celery raw.  I hope you give these recipes a try!  Let me know what you think if you do try them.

What's your least favorite vegetable? 

WIA on 7/22-7/23 & Healthy Banana Split Recipe

Oatmeal

1/2 cup of old fashion oats cooked in 1/2 cup of chocolate unsweetened Almond Breeze and 1/2 cup of water stevia, a pinch of salt, maple syrup extract and cinnamon.  Topped with 1 sliced apricot, 2 diced pineapple slices, sunflower seeds, and unsweetened coconut flakes.

Left-over Ground Turkey Salad

Green salad mix, soy beans, cucumber slices, brussels sprouts, onions, red radishes, salsa, garlic powder, salt and pepper and raw apple cider vinegar.

Instagramed Apple & Almond Butter Chobani

A diced apple, carob chips, sunflower seeds on cinnamon and stevia flavored plain non fat Chobani.

Hummus Platter

Homemade Hummus,  carrots, a pickle, 6 smoked turkey slices, 5 kashi go' lean crackers, 4 Melba toasts.

Grilled Dinner

Grilled lemon pepper chicken, grilled zuchinni, pineapple, onions and mushrooms kabobs and 1/4 of a gigantic grilled sweet potato.

Instagramed Veggie Kabobs ;o)

Grilled Banana Split?

Super Simple Healthy Banana Split (serves 2):

Ingredients:

1 cup of 2% organic cottage cheese

1/2 cap full of caramel extract

1 t. of cinammon 

2 Truvia packets

Mix the above ingredients and refrigerate.

Add in:

1 grilled banana (quartered)

2 honey cinnamon flavored brown rice cake

2 tbsp of dry dates

2 tbsp of carob chips

2 tbsp of sunflower seeds

Arrange as shown in the photo below.  Enjoy!!!

 

July's Beauty Test Tube

As  I mentioned before one of my guilty pleasures is all things MAKE-UP & beauty!  Since moving to Alaska I have very limited access to make up and beauty essentials, therefore I rely on reviews online, such as youtube, for all of my beauty items purchases.

OK!!! Does anyone know what the New Beauty Test Tube is?  For those who have never heard of the Test Tube, it is basically a quarterly mailing subscription that gives you a chance to try out new beauty items before actually purchasing them.  The cost is about $30 every 4 months (+ shipping).  You get a New Beauty magazine and a brochure explaining what each product is and how to use it as well as pricing for full size products and where to get them. Read more about it here.

Here's what I received on my July Test Tube!

Products from left to right:

1. Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Serum  (full size)
2. it's a 10 Miracle Leave-in Plus Keratin (deluxe sample size) <3
3. Neutrogena Brightening Eye Perfector (full size) <3
4. Olay Pro-X Clear Complexion Renewing lotion (sample size)
5. Smashbox Photo Finish Face Primer (deluxe sample size) <3
6. Ahava Day moisturizer (deluxe sample)
7. Lash Food (sample)
8. Mally High Shine Liquid Lipstick in "Orchid" (full size) <3
9. Lumene Time Freeze Firming Night Cream (deluxe sample)
10. Jane Iredale Tantasia (sample)
11. Hydroxatone InstantEffect (sample)
12. You also get these special offer cards below, for discounts in their store website.

Sarah Jessica Parker was in their magazine cover this month.  LOVE HER!

Are you a member of the New Beauty Test Tube?  Can you share below what you got? 

Raw Salad, B-fast & more Insanity

Happy Thursday!

Had a green salad salad for dinner last night. 

 To my salad went; brussels sprouts, soy beans, green leaves mix, onions, salsa, garlic powder, salt and raw apple cider vinegar.

In my Humble Tips post, I've shared that I try to consume at least 2 raw meals per day.  I often do raw snacks, smoothies, and dinners.

  

I found a Healing with Raw Food article with tons of inspirational stories of people who have adopted a raw food lifestyle with the purpose of healing an existing disease or to simply improve their overall health.  I'm not planning to go to the raw side (not brave enough,) however I do love learning about natural remedies people use to improve their health.  Click the text link above to view the article & video, if you are interested.

As for my workout, I did Insanity's Upper Body Weight Training this morning.  

Breakfast this morning consisted of scrambled egg-whites with diced zucchini, lean turkey slices and onions.  I had 1/2 of a grapefruit and 2 WASA crackers with zucchini slices and a hummus spread.

What are your thoughts regarding the raw food lifestyle?  Do you consume raw meals on a daily basis, or do you prefer to eat only cooked meals?

Short & Sweet HuMp Day & guilty pleasure!

Happy HuMp Day everyone! 

As always, this morning I did my daily detox and followed that with Insanity's Pure Cardio for my workout.

To vary the smoothie trend I have been in lately; I had 1/2 grapefruit and a hard boiled egg for breakfast.

For lunch: I had a ground turkey, spinach & zuchinni salad.

I cooked the ground turkey with no oil, diced tomatoes seasoned with garlic powder, pepper and spaghetti seasoning.

OK!!!  So other than my passion for healthy eating and fitness, one of my guilty pleasures is buying and collecting MAKE UP!  Consequently, I love watching beauty videos on YouTube.  One of my favorite beauty vlogers is Nicole from NVMakeupLover .  I just love how genuine and real she is with product reviews and the integrity of her channel as a whole.  Since moving to Alaska I have been forced to purchase must of beauty products online.  I rely on Nicole and other beauty gurus for product reviews.  I have never been disappointed with purchases I have made with any of Nicole's recommendations.
 LOVE her! 

Another one of my favorite beauty vlogers is Jarmaine...I just think she's hilarious! She has a whole series called the "Sexy Loser" where she shares her latest health and fitness tips with her viewers. 

I wanted to share her latest "Sexy Loser" video post:

Hope you enjoyed that! ;o)

Do you watch make-up/fitness videos on Youtube?  Can you recommend a channel?

Breakfast, Workout & How I'm dealing with Adult Acne

How's everyone doing today?  Check out my b-fast this morning!

Breakfast: 3/4 cup of eggwhites, a serving of lean turkey, 1/2 of a green pepper, 1 chopped scallion, 2 WASA crackers with a hummus spread and cucumber slices.

My workout this morning: a 10 minute run at level 7, the Jillian Michaels level 3 workout from the 30dayShred series, and the Bikini Booty workout from the ToneitUp Beach Babe DVD.

What was your workout?

As some of you may already know, I have been suffering from adult acne and was recently prescribed Minocyclin.  I had asked over Twitter if anyone wanted me to do an update on how Minocyclin is working for me.  Some of you DM me and said you would be interested.  I thought I would start by sharing my current skin care routine. 

Disclaimer: I'm not a dermatologist nor a doctor, and this is just my personal routine.  I understand that everyone's skin is different and that my routine is not for everyone.  

 I find that what I eat affects my skin. I love greek yoghurt an cottage cheese, but too much dairy can cause breakouts for me.   I've shared my meals on here, so you guys know that I live a pretty clean well balanced diet (with the occasional treat.)  Tons of fruits & veggies and plenty of water are an everyday thing for me.   I also take tons of vitamins.  For more on my diet and vitamin intakes check the On my way post.

I have been taking Minocyclin for about 2 weeks now.  I take it twice a day, everyday.  So far, I have not experienced any side effects with it.

For my morning face care routine I switched to the Sibu line which I have purchased through Vitacost.  Sibu is an organic skin care line.  I love their daily moisturizer because it has SPF protection and it does not feel heavy on the skin.  I also have been enjoying their soap bar for removing my make up at night.

For my night time skin care routine I use the Sibu soap bar to remove my make up.  For my scrub, I use the St. Yves Apricot scrub which is all natural with no parabens nor sulfates and it is also cruelty free. For my toner, I use a homemade one which consists of equal parts of raw apple cider vinegar and water.  For my night moisturizer, I use organic coconut oil.

 

Also, I do a Mint Julep mask twice a week as part of my night time routine before applying my toner.

 I have taken photos to document the progress of my skin with this routine.  My doctor suggested giving Minocyclin 4 weeks before I see any significant changes.  I honestly have seen progress already and have not had any new breakouts since I started taking Minocyclin.

 If anyone is interested in seeing the weekly progress of this routine at the 4 week mark, let me know below or send me a DM and I will post them on here.  I must warn you though, they are SCARY!

Are you dealing with adult acne?  If so, can you share your skin care routine below?

Workout, Green Smoothie & Premier Protein

Happy Monday! Who's ready for a new week full of healthy eating and fun workouts??? 

I did this treadmill interval  & the Brazilian Butt Lift Tummy Tuck for my morning workout.

I had a green monster smoothie for b-fast!

 Did you workout today?  Share your workout below!

I received the most adorable package from Premier Protein.  I am a sucker for packaging, so I appreciate the thought that went into putting this box together.  I was excited to have received this, because I am not one to purchase protein bars, so this was a fun way to try them.  The adorable box contained 6 of their protein bars, and 4 of their protein shakes.

From Premier Protein website..

For more than a decade now, we've been proud to offer innovative nutrition products to meet the different needs of our loyal customer's lifestyles.

The team at Premier Nutrition^® has been dedicated to researching and developing a variety of products with advanced formulas, outstanding taste, and exceptional nutritional values that are unsurpassed by any other products on the market.

Premier Nutrition currently manufactures several lines of nutrition bars, protein powders, and supplements. 

Protein Bars

Protein Shakes