Homemade Gift Idea: Nutritious Granola Mix!

I'm always on the hunt for a good DIY gift idea, whether for Christmas or birthdays.  I'm definitely the crafty-sort!  I like giving people gifts that are personal and custom to their tastes.

This recipe is no exception, the rich, nutty flavours speckled with jewel-toned dried fruits make a tasty breakfast with yogurt or an easy snack on the go.  And it makes a ton of it!  Let me know if you try it and like it! :)

Easy Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

I freaking love this recipe.  It's really good warm or cold, totally up to you.  It also keeps really well in the fridge so you can have it all week!

Quinoa Salad 

Adapted from here

2 cups chicken stock

1 clove garlic, smashed

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 large cooked chicken breasts - cut into bite size pieces

1 red onion (optional, Chris hates onion)

1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives

1/2 cup of tomatoes, cucumbers (or any vegetables you like)

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1. Bring the chicken stock and garlic to a boil. Stir in the quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard the garlic clove and scrape the quinoa into a large bowl.
2. Gently stir the chicken, onion, veggies, olives, feta cheese, parsley, chives, and salt into the quinoa. Drizzle with the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Stir until evenly mixed. Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold.

If you try this recipe, let us know!

Tips for HealthIER Holiday Eating

We get so many questions from people asking how they can stick to their diet during Christmas or Thanksgiving.  With the mounds of stuffing and glistening gravy in front of you, its hard not to stuff yourself into a coma!  Here are a few tips to balancing your meals and not going overboard during the holidays.

Healthy School Lunches: Yummy Chicken Tomato Soup!

I made this for dinner one night, hoping to have leftovers for the lunch the next day.  The boys had 6 servings between the 2 of them, (despite being full after the first bowl, tsk tsk) because they loved it so much!

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School Snack Ideas

Everyone around me seems to be heading back to school: Taryn is off to do her fancy phD, my sister-in-laws are heading off to university, high school and elementary school.  I feel like I'm missing all the fun back to school shopping!  But then I remember all the exam cramming and report writing... maybe I don't miss school so much.

To make your life a little bit easier, I've been brainstorming some ideas for easy snacks you can pack and take with you when you're in the middle of class and hunger punches you right in the kidneys.  Or stomach.  Whatever.

Let us know in the comments below what YOUR favourite healthy snacks are for school!

click to continue for the recipe!

Simple, Easy, Healthy - Back to School Snack!

Here's a healthy chickpea recipe that you can follow on Sunday nights. 

Ingredients: 

1 can of chickpeas - drained and rinsed thoroughly 

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil 

2 dashes of table salt

1 tsp of black pepper

+ your own spices. I add cayenne pepper and cajun spices (I like spicy!)

Detox Grocery List

The first step in beginning a detox program is to detox your HOME! Here are some general guidelines about how to live in a healthy home:

Next up! Grab your reusable grocery bags, its time to go grocery shopping! While shopping, stick to the outside perimeter of the grocery store. Make sure to hit up the organic section, if your local store has one, and pick up some essential gluten-free items. Even better than the grocery store, if you town or city has a local farmer's market, make sure to pop in for a brief 'holla' to save boat loads of money on fresh, organic and local produce. NOMS!

Here's what to purchase for your detox:

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Delicious Detox Dinner!

Vegetarian, Low-Carb, Fresh, Detox Stir Fry! 


Recipe:

1 clove(s) garlic, raw

0.25 large Onion, raw

1 spear(s) broccoli, raw

2 medium Carrot, raw

5 piece(s) Mushroom, brown, Italian (crimini), raw

2 medium stalk(s) celery, raw

2 cup(s) cabbage, raw

2 tbsp(s) Vegetable oil, sunflower, linoleic (60% & over)

4 head(s) Bok choy, pak-choi, raw 1. Heat your wok or pan over low-medium heat. 2. Add sunflower or canola oil. 3. Add in garlic and onion until onion is translucent. 4. Add it harder vegetables first: broccoli, carrot, celery and cabbage. 5. Add in 1/4 cup of water and cover. 6. Add in softer vegetables: mushroom and celery. 7. Add 1 cup of water and cover. 8. Stir occasionally. 9. Add in baby bok choy pieces and cover for 3 minutes until they turn bright green. 10. Add your favourite low-sodium soya sauce, pepper, cayenne pepper, oyster sauce or terriyaki sauce (be careful, these commonly have gluten hiding within the ingredients list!) Serve immediately and store extras in a tight zip lock container. Enjoy! Nutritional Information (based upon recipe analysis from EaTracker.ca) Calories (kcal) 205.3 Fat (g) 8.7 Protein (g) 14.3 Carbohydrate (g) 26.2 Sugar (g) 13.7 Fibre (g) 10.5 Vitamin A (RAE) 2136.4 Vitamin C (mg) 401.1 Vitamin D (μg) 0.0 Vitamin E (mg) 0.0 Thiamin (mg) 0.4 Riboflavin (mg) 0.7 Niacin (NE) 7.8 Folate (DFE) 591.6 Vitamin B6 (mg) 1.8 Vitamin B12 (μg) 0.0 Calcium (mg) 924.4 Iron (mg) 7.2 Sodium (mg) 593.5 Potassium (mg) 2445.5

6 Day Detox - The Rules

Beginning on a Sunday and finish on Friday night so you are ready to go for your event on a Saturday.

Here's what's being cut out of my diet for the next 6 days:

• Increasing water intake.
• Increasing green tea intake.
• Decreasing caffeine that's derived from coffee, chocolate and energy drinks. 
• Decreasing carbonated beverages including soda pop, sparkling waters as well as fruit juices (too much white sugar!)
• Including raw fruits and/or vegetables with every meal. 
• Decreasing sugar and salty snacks, replacing them with fresh fruit or roasted soy beans or chic peas. 
• Eliminate white sugars and artificial sweeteners (even though they are low-calorie, there are far too many health risks associated with them)
• Limit the amount of meat, especially those that are frozen or ground chuck (they are drenched in sodium and are often fatty).
• Eliminate frozen foods. Go for fresh fruits and vegetables! 
• Eliminate trans fats. 
• Eliminate fast food! Too many fast food restaurant meals are high in white sugars, unnecessary calories, saturated and trans fats and have waaaaay too much salt/sodium! Ick. 

The purpose of this detox is to take a break from the unhealthy foods you've been bingeing on and replace your meals with meals, which your body will actually benefit from. The recipes will be posted daily on our blog (www.rachhfit.blogspot.com) as well as on our dailybooth account (www.dailybooth.com/rachhfit). Follow me on Twitter to find out great ideas for cardio (@RachhFit) and keep up to date with all our detox reviews and recommendations on www.YouTube.com/RachhFit. 

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What I Ate Today (Rachel)

Taryn and I get a ton of requests every day to show you guys what we eat. So here's my version of what I eat in a day!

Breakfast
I'm a big breakfast eater, I can eat a soon as I wake up (and often my tummy wakes me up early to eat!).

What I Eat in a Day!

Although we have a dailybooth account (www.dailybooth.com/RachhFit) Rachel and I were thinking to ourselves, hey! We vlog an entire day of what we eat and why...unfortunately Rach went to Texas and I went to work and so I wasn't able to complete a vlog...so here's a BLOG!

This is what I would eat on a typical weekday. And its not to say that every day is perfectly balanced. Some evenings I will have icecream or chips because I feel like it. My mindset is that you should never restrict yourself of something, unless it is horribly unhealthy for you, because your craving will get even bigger and stronger! So when I do eat chips, popcorn, icecream, chocolate or candy (mmmm...swedish berries...) I try my best to eat "in moderation." Meaning I consciously eat and watch my serving sizes so I don't over do it.

Berry Delicious Recipes!

Yes... I'm quite behind on this one... but here are some of my favourite berry recipes from our May FOTM!

Lose those Lovehandles!

So, if you haven't noticed yet, I'm just going to lay it on the line and let you know that, yes, I am a nerd. And as a nerd, I never take anything at face value. Meaning, if someone were to say "eat 5 apples a day to help lose your lovehandles" I would ask "what is it in apples that helps oxidize fat?" Yeah. Nerd-esque I know! So what I've done for you in this blog is explain what lovehandles are. Why they develop. And how to get rid of them, with specific tips and tricks.

What are lovehandles?

Lovehandles are located above your iliac crest (hip bone) and are excess adipose (fatty tissue) that collects over top of your oblique muscles (part of your core muscles).

Carrying excess fat around our waist isn't just a body image concern, because we all hate the way they fall over the back of our jeans, but large lovehandles and excess abdominal fat can lead increase your risk of developing serious health risks like: cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure (hypertension).

BREATHE! Don't worry if you have small lovehandles! Everyone carries excess fat! It can be a good thing!

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Pizza for Breakfast?! - March Food of the Month!

So our healthy and delicious food of the month is Eggs!  Taryn and I had such a good time cooking these recipes for you girls and hopefully you like them as much as we do!  


QUESTION:  What are YOUR favourite ways to eat eggs?

Pizza Frittata

(from the Get Cracking Website)

(Makes 4 servings)

1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
1/2 cup (125 mL) diced onion
1/2 cup (125 mL) diced sweet green pepper
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) sliced mushrooms (8 oz/250 g)
2/3 cup (150 mL) sliced pepperoni (3.5 oz/100 g)
8 eggs
1/4 cup (50 mL) grated Parmesan cheese
Seasoning Mix (see recipe below)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup (125 mL) pizza or tomato sauce
3/4 cup (175 mL) shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oil in a 10-inch (25 cm) non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, green pepper and mushrooms. Cook, stirring, until vegetables are soft. Add pepperoni; cook for 1 minute.

Beat eggs and Parmesan cheese in a medium bowl. Stir in Seasoning Mix (or 3-1/2 tsp/17 mL bulk Seasoning Mix) and salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over vegetable mixture in skillet. As egg sets at edges, use spatula to gently push cooked portions toward the centre of the skillet; tilt skillet to allow uncooked portions to flow into the empty spaces. When frittata is almost set, place pan under preheated broiler to cook top.

Remove from oven, spread with pizza sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Return to oven until cheese melts. Cut into wedges and serve.

Seasoning Mix (Bulk measurements are in italics)
1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) dried oregano (1/3 cup/75 mL)
1 tsp (5 mL) dried basil (1/4 cup/50 mL)
1/2 tsp (2 mL) garlic powder (5 tbsp/25 mL)
1/2 tsp (2 mL) onion powder (5 tsp/25 mL)
1/4 tsp (1 mL) dried thyme (2-1/2 tsp/12 mL)

Combine seasonings in a small bow; stir until blended. Use as directed above.
Store bulk mix in a glass jar; stir before using. Use with 6 months.

Tips:
* Frittata recipe may be halved and cooked in a small skillet.
* Frittata can be cooked completely on the stove top; proceed as above, cooking frittata until set before adding pizza sauce and cheese, then covering skillet with lid to melt cheese.

The PERFECT Hard-Boiled Eggs

(from AllRecipes.com)

"The use of a little salt and vinegar makes these hard boiled eggs easy to peel with no tearing or sticking."

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon salt 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

6 cups water 8 eggs

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Combine the salt, vinegar, and water in a large pot, and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the eggs one at a time, being careful not to crack them. Reduce the heat to a gentle boil, and cook for 14 minutes.
2.	Once the eggs have cooked, remove them from the hot water, and place into a container of ice water or cold, running water. Cool completely, about 15 minutes. Store in the refrigerator up to 1 week.