Raw Recipe of the Week- Kale Chips

Okay enough of my bikini body being at the top of the page!





I decided I would share my version of kale chips since I eat them on a very regular basis.

Step 1: Pull kale leaves from the stems into a little bigger than bite-size pieces. (They will shrink as they dry)

Step 2: Wash and dry leaves. I do this by placing my salad spinner bowl in an extra large bowl of water, it makes it so much easier. It's also great because I can water my plants with the wash water instead of dumping it down the drain : ) Then spin away!

Step 3: Make the sauce by putting these ingredients in the Vitamix:

1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup cashews that have been soaked for 8 hrs. and drained
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
3-4 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. agave nectar

Blend these until smooth and creamy. Imagine the consistency of ranch dressing.

Step 4: Pour sauce over kale leaves in a big bowl and stir until the leaves are all well coated.

Step 5: Place on teflex sheets in the dehydrator and dry for about 8-10 hours at 108 degrees.

Step 6: Avoid eating them all at once off of the trays : )

Enjoy!

Nicole

Way Out of my Comfort Zone

Okay, I can't even believe I am posting this but I promised you all long ago that I would post some before & after photos of myself. Well, I have been sticking at this weight for a few months now so I thought I would show you the changes that have been made from eating Raw, organic, vegan cuisine. Here goes nothing!



Ugh, is it over yet? I am short of breath and my palms are sweaty! Did I really look like that. It's actually good for me to see these side-by-side. Makes the difference a little bit more noticeable.

For those of you who don't know my story, please click HERE. I am not trying to be Miss Fitness or anything, just a better wife and mom : )

Thanks for entertaining me,

Nicole

Clean Eating Recipe of the Week- Mediterranean Chickpeas

This is a recipe from Tosca's latest book, "Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Cookbook". I thought it would be perfect for my readers since tomorrow is football Sunday and this seemed like a great dish to serve for that!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 small purple onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 stalks of celery, coarsely chopped, leaves included
4 Roma tomatoes, washed and chopped
2 cloves garlic, passed through a garlic press
1 red bell pepper, seed, deveined and coarsely chopped
1-2/3 cup chickpeas, canned or cooked
Juice of 2 limes, freshly squeezed
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
Pinch of dried thyme
1/2 tsp. sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil over medium flame in a large skillet. Add onion and celery and saute for 5 minutes.

2. Add tomatoes, garlic and bell pepper, cooking for another 5 minutes.

3. Stir in chickpeas, lime juice, herbs, salt and black pepper and continue cooking over medium heat for another 8 minutes until heated through.

4. Serve hot.

In the summer time this would also make a great cold salad! This is a very versatile and is an example of the great recipes in this latest book. I hope you enjoy it and purchase one of your own!

Nicole

Sorry for the picture quality, my scanner isn't working so I had to improvise : )

Drum Roll Please............

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the winners are:

1. Mindy

2. MsByn

3. Brenda C. Wh.

Please contact me so I can ship these to you : )

thefitnessfreak@cox.net

Thank you all for entering! I decided to give away 3 instead of 2 because I am in a giving modd this morning : )

Nicole

Books in Review- Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Cookbook

Okay, I got my copy of Tosca's new Eat Clean Cookbook and I am SO excited! I have been considering High Raw, All Vegan for the winter months so I have been on the prowl for cookbooks that would fit the bill. I purchased the Eat Clean Cookbook for my family but was pleasantly surprised to find that I had found my cookbook without even knowing it.

I went through the book cover-to-cover and here's what I found:

41 Vegetarian Recipes
77 Vegan Recipes
25 Meat Recipes

Yep, there are more vegan recipes than anything. This is so cool! Even better, most of the vegetarian recipes could easily be made vegan. For those of you who are meat lovers you could easily add it to any of the recipes if you wanted.

Another plus for me, there are hardly any soy products in the recipes. Because of my thyroid disease I cannot have any soy and it's hard to find vegan/vegetarian recipes without it. Yippee! I also am in love with the addition of coconut oil in this book. It is a great oil! Read about it's benefits HERE.

I am beyond happy with this book! I know it has something for everyone. Most importantly, it has all whole, natural, fresh ingredients and there's nothing better than that! I hope you go out and get a copy, I'm glad I did : )

Click HERE for an excerpt from the book.

Nicole

*P.S. Don't forget to enter my Chia Seed GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

Chia Seed Giveaway!!

For those of you who missed my post on the awesomeness of chia seeds take a look HERE. Also HERE is an article by Angela Stokes about chia seeds.

For those of you who would like to win one pound of chemical free chia seeds here's what you can do:

1. Become a follower of my blog and comment about it or

2. Become a fan on facebook and comment about it or

3. Leave me a comment on my blog or

4. Leave me a comment on my facebook fan page.

5. Yep, it's that easy! Even if you're already a follower of my facebook page or my blog just leave me a comment and I'll enter you in the drawing too!

I will randomly choose two winners and announce them on November 7th! Enter soon and enter often : )

Nicole

Workouts in Review: Kickboxing- Why I love it!

I workout at home everyday. Yes, everyday! That means I have a LOT of workout DVD's and I'm talking in the hundreds! I LOVE working out and I like to mix it up which explains the obscene amount of workouts. I strength train 3-4 times a week and do cardio 3 times a week plus I add in a session of yoga to keep myself flexible. Now I know that many of you don't have hours upon hours to workout and neither do I. I try to keep it around an hour a day and to do that sometimes you have to multitask just to squeeze it all in. Well I am here to tell you that kickboxing is a GREAT way to squeeze it all in!

When I am building my rotation every month I always put kickboxing in it. Why you ask? Because it works every muscle in your body with the added bonus of working your lungs and your heart as well. Yeah I know, technically they're all muscles but you get the point. Kickboxing is a serious multitask workout! If you have never done kickboxing before you are missing out! Kickboxing will make you sore, and it's a good sore. You will feel it in your arms, your lats, your abs, your legs and your butt.

The workouts I go to most often are my Turbo Jam workouts. They are fun and the time flies by. Chalene Johnson is a great instructor, very motivating. I feel so good when I'm done and that's enough of reason in itself. A better reason is the soreness I feel the next day that tells me I worked it! My favorites are all of the Cardio Party DVD's and the Punch, Kick and Jam.

My 2nd most used are the kickboxing workouts from Cathe. Cathe's workouts are tough stuff! She is a no nonsense instructor and her workouts are great. She can kick my butt like nobody else. The great thing is that her kickboxing workouts have low-impact premixes so you can avoid jumping if it's not your thing.

My 3rd most used workout is Kickbox Core Cross Train with Patricia Moreno. This one I use during my active recovery week. It's low impact but really works my core which has always been a problem area for me. I am really cues in on my core the rest of the day when I do this workout. Patricia is really good at reminding you throughout the workout to tighten your core. Since I can forget every now and then, this is a good thing : )

I currently own 12 kickboxing DVD's and guess what? I have my eye on a new kickboxing workout. Actually, I've had my eye on them for awhile but as you can imagine it's hard to convince my hubby that I am in need of yet another one. I have been pining away at Ilaria Montagnani's workouts. She has a Black-Belt in Shorinjiru Karate and has meticulous form. The three I have an eye on are: BodyStrikes, PowerStrike 5 and Abs & Push Ups Plus. Christmas is coming soon but I don't know if I can wait!


How many of you are kickboxing fans? Do any of you own any of the workouts I mentioned? I want to hear from you!!

Nicole