Early Morning Workout (Mutts Included!)

It was an early Saturday at our house.  It seems like that's been happening and going to keep happening now that it's getting warmer and brighter outside earlier.  Neal gets the joy of working on the weekends.  I actually will have to put in 30min- and hour today. (I pray no more than that!)  I didn't get to post yesterday because I worked OVER 12 hours! Yuck!  We had just enough time to cook and eat dinner together before I went back to work and then straight to bed.  However, I do value that I get to work from home, that makes it seem like 12 hours isn't so bad. 

After waking up at 5:15am, cooking breakfast, and sending Neal off with a PB&J - I know you must think that's cute :) - I leashed up the dogs and put them, some water, and myself into the car.  We were off to the riverfront! 

I absolutely love walking along the riverfront in our neighboring city, Newburgh.  It semi reminds me of some walks I took along the Greenway in Murfreesboro, around the Dam in Loudon, and through the beautiful subdivision I grew up in 5.5 hours from here in East TN.  I truly love Tennessee.  Well not really West TN since I have never lived there, but Middle is good and East TN is just the most fabulous region.  Who wouldn't love having the smokies out your backdoor?!

We stayed out for 36 minutes and I burned about 240 calories. Some parts we jogged, but mostly we just walked.

Sasha and Walden are sometimes embarrassing. When two early morning runners jogged past us Walden went crazy and began barking and jumping, which in turn made Sasha do the same. I felt horrible. It was only about 7am and they were waking up the neighborhood!  They are still great dogs though.  Mamma's babies!

We took a little pause for some leash adjustments.  As you may see, Sasha poses well for pictures.

Walden was a bit spastic and didn't pose so well without me holding him!

We did get to see lots of very pretty iris in bloom! 

I love all the homes along the river front.  It's a great mix of old and new, and all of them have such pretty landscaping.  I will have to take more pictures to share when I am not trying to walk 2 dogs and take pictures.  :) 

I get a kick out of this sign...I am not sure it's something to be proud of that you were the first part of the State taken by the Confederates and they didn't even have to fight you...

After walking the riverfront, we returned home and I did Tone it Up's Bikin Strap workout. (30 min 196 calories!)  I love Karena and Katrina's Bikini series.  Not only do you get daily workouts sent straight to your e-mail, you get great videos demonstrating the moves, awesome nutritional tips (who knew drinking water boosts your metabolism!?), and some fantastic motivation from two hard-working and inspiring women.  Best of all, you don't need a gym to do their moves!  All you need is some lighter weights, a mat, and a kick-booty-happy-go-be it mindset!  I am currently working on my vision board.  I will share that with you later.  I completely 150% recommend signing up for the Bikini workout series by clicking here and scrolling to where you see the same picture I posted below on their blog!

Now set yourself off right with a smile and enjoy your day!  Let me know if you sign up for the Bikini Series and what you think of the workouts and tips!

Lemon Seasoned Chicken Kabobs and Spicy Sweet Potato Chips

The very first thing I ever grilled on my own was kabobs.  I had always let my father, my husband, or whomever else was cooking handle the grill.  That's changed since I have learned that I can cook up some mean kabobs!  They may be more simple than a sirloin, fish, or even some veggies, but they certainly ROCK!

I wanted to take full advantage of yesterday's nice weather, so that's why kabobs were on the menu.

Look out beautiful they turned out!

Ingredients

1 Green Pepper

1 Onion

1.5 lbs Chicken Breasts or Tenders

(I also highly recommend using PINEAPPLE - so delicious!  I wish we had some!)

Seasonings (to taste)

Garlic

Lemon Juice

Salt

Pepper

Liquid Smoke (I recommend not using too much, this flavor is strong!)

• First thing is first, if you are using wood skewers, soak them in water so they won't burst into flames as you grill. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but I do it anyway...you don't have to do it, it's just habit for me. :)
• Next cut up a green pepper, an onion, and 1.5 lbs of chicken tenders into chunks.
• Put all your chunks into a bowl and season to taste with the seasonigs listed. (or be adventurous and try your own seasoning!)  Let the flavor soak up for at least 30 minutes.
• Next, alternate your meat, onion, and pepper chunks onto your skewers.
• Get your grill hot, I always cook at medium-high, not sure if that's proper or not though, that's just me.  You just need to keep an eye on them, turning them once or twice to evenly grill.  Neal did grill these last night (I was working on the chips) and they turned out beautifully.
• Before serving, we squeezed some more lemon on them.

Here's some photo love!

Soaking up flavor:

Skewers are put together:

Grill time! 

We served this with homemade Spicy Sweet Potato Chips.  These chips were so great!  As we did with the chicken, we seasoned them to taste.  We don't really measure a lot of our spices out, we eye ball them.  Some people may disagree with that method, but if they are tasty, what does it matter?

Ingredients

2 medium Sweet Potatoes

Olive oil

Chili Powder

Creole

Pepper

Salt

Garlic Salt

Cumin

Cayenne

Paprika

(or use any "spicy" seasonings of your choice)

• Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
• Cut then ends off your sweet potatoes, then slice them into into thin pieces and put them onto cookie sheets as shown.
• Use a brush to apply your olive oil.
• Gather your spices and mix them together in a small bowl.  Evenly distribute these spices among your sweet potatoes.
• Put your sweet potato chips in the oven for 20 minutes.  You will want to check on them after 20 minutes and they may or may not require a little time.  Once you pull them out, let them cool on the cookie sheets a little, we find that this helps to make them slightly crispier.

Here's some more photo love!

Cut up sweet potatoes:

Brush your olive oil on your sweet potato chips:

Spice things up by adding your blend of spices and bake for 20 minutes at 450 degrees:

Now enjoy your beautiful meal!

What's your favorite food to grill?  If you try this, tell me what you think!

Mountain Climbing Preparation

What's on your leap list?  What do you want to do before you finish college, get married, have kids, or do some other life altering event? 

My leap list contains climbing the Grand Teton in Jackson, Wyoming!  I have wanted to do this for a few years.  I lived in Jackson Hole during the summer of 2009.  It's the most beautiful destination I have ever been to in America.  I even wanted to live there after finishing college!  I am now so excited to be able to go back in 3 months and Climb the Grand with my husband, brother, father and his girlfriend. 

It's exactly 3 months to the day that I make my dream of climbing the Grand Teton a reality!

This is a great post on what I will be doing with Exum Mountain Guides in preparation while in Wyoming, but I need to amp up my workouts to gear some of my endurance and strength training for this climb while I am here at home.

Here's a little pic of me while in Wyoming!

This is another great blog about 2 adventurous outdoor loving, casual hiking, non-technical, previously non-professionally trained people that are provided with the opportunity by Exum, Marmot and Mountain Athlete to do some extreme preparation to climb the Teton.  I like their video blogs!  I think I could give some of these workouts a try (free ones from Mountain Athlete here), but I will follow the advice of the disclaimer at the top of the posts: 

"DISCLAIMER: You don't actually have to train like this to climb the Grand. This is just what some hardcore athletes do to stay in shape.
Plus, some people just like to suffer."

Here's another pic I took this past year on a trip to Salmon, Idaho and then to Jackson Hole, Wyoming (that's the Teton Mountains and the BIG ONE is the Grand!)

I will keep ya'll posted if I find any great workouts you should try too!

A pic from my favorite place in Moose, WY (right outside Jackson Hole).  This was taken on the deck at Dornans!

When I originally uploaded this picture to FB, it was titled "Now that's a nice rock!"  Am I talking about the ring (a little blurry) or the mountain!?  I THINK BOTH!!!!!

Some Facts about the Grand and Jackson Wyoming

• Elevation of Jackson is 6,451 ft above sea level.  (Evansville, IN = maybe 1,000)
• The Teton Climb we are doing is 2 days. 
• Day 1 is 6 miles to the Lower Saddle which sits 5,000 feet higher than Jackson...so we are at about 11,620 feet above sea level.
• Day 2 is our ascent to the top which rests around 13,770 feet above sea level.
• Day 2 climb begins at around 3 am!  Holy Moly!  That's 2 hours earlier than I normally wake up!
• At the top we will be able to see 3 states:  Wyoming, Idaho & Montana.  I believe those are three of my favorite states (besides TN - east TN in particular - and FL)...oh did I leave out Indiana...my current state...hmm oops, guess I just did that!
• After reaching the top, we will descend by repelling and down climbing our way back to the Lower Saddle, fuel up with some grub, grab our gear, and hike back down the mountain.
• I believe I will sleep well that night :)

I can hardly wait to take this trip of my dreams!  I can't wait to share this adventure with Neal, Dad, Greg & Kim!

So what's on your leap list?



Scrumptious Veggie Burger with Egg & Spinach! What!?

This has been one of the longest days ever.  I started working around 5:45am and finished around 5:30pm.  Granted, I was able to take a "long" break this morning to eat and shower, and another break in the afternoon for lunch, but it felt like the work day would never end. 

Exhausted by staring at a computer for so long, I attempt to write to you about this lovely sandwich I made for lunch.

This Veggie Burger with Egg & Spinach was fabulous! 

Ingredients

1 Whole Wheat English Muffin

1 Morning Star Sirloin Patty (or burger patty of choice)

Drizzle of Olive Oil

1 1/2 Cups Spinach

1 Slice Swiss Cheese

Sprinkle of Black Pepper and another of Garlic Salt

Butter - enough to lightly spread on the muffins

You should try this yourself!  

• First, heat a small - medium sized skillet with a drizzle of olive oil. 
• Prepare your veggie burger patty on a separate skillet or in the microwave. 
• Add your spinach to your warmed skillet with olive oil and add black pepper and garlic salt to season.  Saute/make it wilt.  Then break up the cheese into pieces and mix that with the spinach.  Once it's well mixed, put your spinach mixture aside. 
• Drop an egg onto that same hot skillet and cook it over medium.  If you don't want runny eggs, cook it longer or make an X in the middle of the yolk to break it half way through. 
• Toast your English muffins and butter them.
• Layer your warmed veggie patty, egg, then spinach onto your English muffins 

Your perfect lunch (or dinner) is served!



This kept me full and satisfied for a long time.  The little bit of butter and garlic salt added the perfect amount of salty flavor to this mix, and I just love having an egg on my sandwich for extra protein and flavor!

What's one of your favorite cooked at home lunches?

P90X Shoulders & Arms with a Side of Pecan Encrusted Fish

Good morning!  Walden woke up around 5:30 am, ate breakfast, and now he's sleepy again!  If only I could go back to bed.  Look at him, he's taunting me!  Is that a yawn, or is he just sticking out his tongue!?

I wanted to write a quick post before I start getting ready for the work day.  I was incredibly tired last night and I didn't post after my workout and dinner, so I am making up for it now!

Neal played tennis with our friend who made the incredible coconut creme pie so it wasn't a gym day for me either.  For my workout, I popped in the Shoulders & Arms P90X video.  I wasn't feeling too well, so the workout was done at moderate intensity.  I did end up burning 287 calories in 51 minutes. I wanted to share with you the general layout of this workout with the weights and reps I used.  

You can find many of these workouts by doing a google search, but purchasing the videos and working out WITH Tony Horton is the way to go! He keeps you motivated, working hard, and doesn't let you slack off with long breaks in-between circuits! I highly recommend P90X. I have attempted to do the whole 90 days 2 times now. The first time, I did two months, and then stopped. The second time I was going strong and did a month of the "Lean" program before I was forced to stop due to some eosinophilic esophagitis. (try saying that 3 times fast!)  Now, I try to do one of his videos a week because it forces me to do circuit training using lighter weights with more repetitions.

We thought dinner was going to be a bust last night.  As we tried to cover our tilapia in crumbled pecan pieces, we (mostly I) grew agitated because the pecans not only weren't sticking to the fish, they began clumping together so I had to lay them in patches on the fish!

However, dinner did turn out to be absolutely delicious!  We served the fish with a side of asparagus.

Besides Pecans, the fish was coated in a little salt, a little pepper, some garlic salt, and then some freshly squeezed lemon after it was cooked on the stove top.

Have you ever done the entire 90 days of P90X?  What did you think?  Do you have one workout you like better than the others?