Lean Lena

Lean Lena January 28, 2014

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Hey guys! Happy Tasty Tuesday!

Just checking in today with a quick recipe that has been my “go to” breakfast lately. These cottage cheese pancakes are super delicious and come together in 15 minutes! Mix the ingredients the night before, make pancakes in the morning in 5 minutes and be happy. 🙂

You can also add some protein powder to this recipe for extra protein boost to your breakfast.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 7 minutes

Cook Time: 7 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 1 serving

Serving Size: 2 pancakes

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Ingredients

2-3 tbsp. cottage cheese (I used 1% fat)
2 tbsp. whole grain flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients until well combined. The mix may be lumpy because of the cottage cheese.
Make pancakes.
Enjoy!

https://leanlena.com/cottage-cheese-pancakes/

www.leanlena.com

Filed Under: breakfast, fitness, recipes, Tasty Tuesday Tagged With: breakfast, dessert, healthy breakfast, pancakes, recipes Leave a Comment

Lean Lena January 27, 2014

Motivation or…Monday?

Hey guys! How was your weekend? Mine was busy! Between the Saturday morning workout, Carmen’s basketball game and a killer workout aka house cleaning on Sunday, it feels like there was no weekend at all!

Anywho. Did you have a good week last week?

Mine was terrible.

I felt demotivated, lazy, blobby and overall so-so sorry for my poor self!

Result – only two workouts last week:

Monday night spin class with MJ

Saturday spin with Johnny D.

Between Monday and Saturday, for 4 days that is, I did sweet nothing.

I don’t know what came over me these past couple weeks…I am just generally not feeling good. Not at all.

Everything seems useless, pointless and done in vain.

What do you do when you feel that way? I try find positive things around me and count my blessings.

So, I’m gonna try!

{1} I have a wonderful family!

Carmen’s science project got 2nd place at the fair!

{2} I got my CPR certification – one step closer to becoming a spinning instructor

{3} I am in good health and so is everyone I love.

{4} I make kick $ss salads and everybody knows that 🙂

yep, like this one

Ok, so that’s 4 blessings – one for each day last week that I felt crappy and didn’t workout.

Now I need to suck it up and go spinning tonight even if I have to drag my butt to the gym. Because guess what? I am NO QUITTER!

How do you motivate yourself on days you feel like crap and don’t want to workout?

Filed Under: fitness, Motivation Monday, spinning, Spinning Instructor Tagged With: bicycling, fitness, fitness motivation, spinning 2 Comments

Lean Lena January 24, 2014

Five on Friday

Hey guys! Happy Friday!!!

Here I am again with five things that I am loving lately.

{{ONE}} Conscious box

Oh. My. God. I saw the ads pop up a lot on the internet, and finally decided to try it. The idea behind it is – you subscribe for certain number of months (can be as little as one), and every month you get a box of goodies – all healthy and organic stuff. When I ordered mine, they had a promotion running where you had to pay shipping only and get the first box for free.

Check out some things I got in my box:

Mighty Leaf Tea

Beauty Bursts!

Wholesome sweeteners

and lots of other wonderful things that made me a one happy camper!

Would you like to get a conscious box? Then you need to head over here.

{{TWO}} Lemon Bars

So last weekend I was browsing through Facebook and stumbled upon a great recipe for Lemon Bars.

I have never made those before, I don’t think I ever had one either, but they looked so good and easy to make that I decided to go for it and make a batch.

Aren’t the gorgeous?

You can find the recipe for these wonderful things on Lauren Kelly’s blog.

{{THREE}} Oranges Infused Water

Well, you guys already know from my previous Five on Friday post that I have been addicted to oranges lately. It got worse – now I infuse water with oranges 🙂

{{FOUR}} “Women, Food and God” by Geneen Roth

What a wonderful book!

Buy Women Food and God on Amazon

Initially, I heard about this book from the list of recommended reading for the “Yoga Fit Yoga Lean” certification course with Beth Shaw.

What a wonderful reading it has been! Very refreshing and useful book to read for those who what to look deeper into their relationships with food 🙂

{{FIVE}} My New Food Scale

Long time ago I got myself a food scale. Loved it! So easy when you need to control your portion size or keep track of the recipe ingredients.

Time went by and one day my kitty dumped a pot of dirt onto the scale (didn’t you see it coming?) 🙂 Well, I was “smart” enough to wash it off with water. My scale stopped working…

So I was on the market for a new one. It amazes me how ridiculously expensive these things are! So I went searching on Amazon for two reasons – the prices for these at the store just did not seem reasonable, and reason #2 -me being a ~~lazy~~ busy person. Here’s what I found.

And that concludes my Five on Friday! Have a wonderful weekend, guys, and…

Your turn! Tell me about your Five on Friday!

Filed Under: dessert, Five on Friday, recipes Tagged With: dessert, fitness, fitness motivation, five on friday, good food, recipes, Vodka the Kitty, weight loss 4 Comments

Lean Lena January 20, 2014

Weekly Exercise Recap

Hi guys! How are you this fine Monday morning?

I feel like I didn’t sleep at all last night…still not awake! I blame the weather…

Anyway, I wanted to share my weekly exercise recap with you – with ups and downs of the last week. Here we go!

{{MONDAY}} Spinning

As always on Mondays, I took a spin class with Jim last week – 12.5 sweaty miles and pure joy of great music and company.

{{TUESDAY}} Weights and Strength Training

Usual weekly meeting with Jim at the gym 🙂 Awesome as always! I am starting to feel more confident in the weights room on my own. I think I can have the sessions with Jim once in 2 weeks now instead of weekly, and keep going by the usual schedule (twice a week) on my own.

{{WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY}} – Unplanned Rest Days

I don’t know what happened. I had a crazy week at work and a couple of commitments in the evenings, but generally – I was just not feeling it. I could not motivate myself to workout. I was sleepy all the time, very sluggish and lazy – all those 3 days. Felt terribly guilty for not working out, but still could not bring myself off the couch in the evenings.

{{SATURDAY}} Walk and Weights

On Saturday morning I finally started feeling guilty enough and feeling like I owe myself a workout 🙂 So I got up bright and early and headed over to the YMCA.

Normally I do my Saturday double – spinning+yoga, but this time I felt like changing things around and bringing some variety to my workouts.

So I walked a mile on a treadmill:

And then did some weights!

All that made me feel just GREAT, which immediately resulted in this happy “selfie” in the car 🙂

After the awesome workout and all the “selfies” were done, I headed home and made myself a super energizing power smoothie.

1/2 cup (firmly packed) kale, 1 frozen banana, 2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 tbsp. Vega protein powder, 6-8 whole roasted almonds

{{SUNDAY}} Yoga Practice and Home

A while ago I got a free gift from Yoga Journal – a DVD (first in a series) with home yoga practice. I didn’t subscribe for the rest of the series since I rarely get a chance to workout at home, but got to keep the first DVD they had sent me. Yesterday, while hubby was taking a nap, I decided to give it a try! I have to say – I regretted not subscribing to the series! It was a great flow with just enough challenges for my home practice.

I absolutely loved practicing yoga at home – I dimmed the lights, turned on my candle warmer, fought off the kitty who was extremely interested in my yoga matt, and just spent an hour doing something for myself. Who doesn’t love that? I should definitely do it more often!

And that concludes my weekly exercise recap!

What was your favorite workout last week?

Filed Under: fitness, Motivation Monday, spinning Tagged With: fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, plankaday, spinning, weight loss, yoga Leave a Comment

Lean Lena January 18, 2014

Recipe: Coconut Milk, Kale and Steelhead Trout Soup

Hi guys! Happy Saturday morning to you!

What are you up to today? What’s cooking in your kitchen?

Are you planning anything special for Saturday dinner? I got a very easy to make and super delicious dinner idea for you today.

Last week I was cooking something with coconut milk. You know how it goes with coconut milk, right? You never really use the whole can and whatever is left over ends up in the trash couple weeks later. A few days ago I was facing the same problem so I got online to look for some recipes that would help me use up the leftover coconut milk that was calling my name out of the fridge.

That was when I stumbled upon this great recipe from the Healthy Green Kitchen. I have played around and changed it up a little bit to my liking and based on what ingredients I had in my fridge (like steelhead trout instead of salmon). Oh, and next time you need an idea of what to cook for dinner – you head right over to the Healthy Green Kitchen! It is exactly what it is called – healthy and green! Winnie has a ton of great recipes on her blog that I will definitely be trying out. Thank you for this recipe, Winnie! I hope you don’t mind my modifications 🙂

Coconut Milk, Kale and Steelhead Trout Soup

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 3 servings

Calories per serving: 201

5.2

Coconut Milk, Kale and Steelhead Trout Soup

Ingredients

4 cups homemade chicken stock (I used the stock I had from making a whole chicken in my crockpot the night before)
1 1/2 cups whole coconut milk
1 steelhead trout fillet, approximately 6-8 oz., cut into cubes
1 (tightly packed) cup of chopped kale, stems removed
1 cup cubed acorn squash (peeled)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (plus a few leaves for garnish)
2 tsp brown sugar, coconut sugar, or palm sugar
Freshly squeezed lime juice, for serving (to taste, I used 1/4 lime per serving)

Instructions

Place all the ingredients (except fish) into a medium pot.
Bring to boil and simmer until the squash is cooked through.
Add fish and simmer for another 5-7 minutes or until fish is cooked.
Another option here is to pre-cook the squash, since of all the ingredients it takes the longest to cook through. If you do that, you can add all the ingredients to the pot at the same time as it won't take as long for the squash to cook.
Ladle soup into bowls.
Garnish with cilantro and serve with lime on the side.
Enjoy!

https://leanlena.com/recipe-coconut-milk-kale-and-steelhead-trout-soup/

www.leanlena.com

Filed Under: dinner, lunch, recipes Tagged With: dinner, good food, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, lunch, recipes, soup Leave a Comment

Lean Lena January 17, 2014

Five on Friday

Hey guys! Happy Friday!

I hope you had a wonderful week and are ready for an even better weekend!

While you’re still waiting for it to come, here’s my “Five on Friday” – a weekly post about 5 things that I have been loving, liking, enjoying, etc.. lately.

{{ONE}} EOS – Lip Balm

Blueberry-Acai

Love those things! Carmen got me hooked on those – she started collecting them a while ago. I got her a set of lip balm and hand lotion by EOS for Christmas. She already had the lip balm flavor that was in the package, so I kept it for myself 😉

I am not a lip balm/chopstick kind of person at all…But I LOVE this series! It is sweet, too!

{{TWO}} Nike Air Total Core Cross-Trainers

$70 at Kohl’s.

I have shoes for running and walking, so I was looking for something light and easy to slip on for my cross training. Found it!

I love these shoes! They are extremely lightweight, comfortable and stylish!

Let’s go lift some heavy stuff!

{{THREE}} CND Creative Scentsations Hand & Body Lotion – Pear & Dandelion

It looks like this post is going to be about girly stuff 🙂 Oh well, let it be. Next on the list is this magic hand and body lotion.

What’s interesting – I don’t like any other kind from this CND series – just pear and dandelion. I absolutely cannot survive the winter without it! I use it mainly as hand lotion, but it is good as body lotion as well. I buy it in 31 OZ bottles. Seriously!

{{FOUR}} Naval Oranges

Image and Oranges Source

I made my husband go to Walmart at 9:00 PM and get me those the other day. It says it all!

I crave them, I eat at least one a day and I don’t see the end of it in the near future.

{{FIVE}} Ceramic Candle Warmers (Electric)

LOVE those things! After searching everywhere – Target, Kohl’s, Walmart, etc., I got mine from Amazon.

You put in a candle in a glass jar into this thing, plug it in, it heats up and melts the candle. I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful it makes my house smell! I got a candle with the holiday season scent and we enjoyed it so much! It also lasts a lot longer that if you would light up that candle.

Your turn! Share links to your “Five on Friday” posts with me or just comment here! I would love to hear what you’ve been loving lately.

Filed Under: Beauty, fitness, Five on Friday, Uncategorized, Weight Lifting Tagged With: beauty, fitness, five on friday, healthy snack ideas, holidays, home improvement 5 Comments

Lean Lena January 15, 2014

Food Highlights: Crockpot the Saviour, Salad-a-Day and more

Hey guys! Happy Hump Day!

It’s downhill from now on – Friday is almost here, so hang in there!

How about I tell you of my food highlights of the past couple week as part of my “What’s on my Plate Wednesday” blog series?

Here’s the deliciousness I’ve had!

Breakfast

I am still a big fan of oatmeal with my 1000 ideas of what to top it with. Remember my post about 15 ways to eat your oats? Well, I keep adding on to those ways pretty much every morning 🙂

Oatmeal with marshmallows, raisins and cinnamon chips

Been a huge fan of oatmeal + marshmallows combination!

I also enjoyed some savory breakfasts with added protein and fats.

Hardboiled eggs, capers, wheat berries and a cheese cookie

Hardboiled eggs, ranch, capers, wheat berries and a cheese cookie

Egg sandwich with black forest ham and cheese on an English muffin

Lunches

I have committed to eating one salad a day! It is not a streak, or a challenge or any other group activity of any sorts – just my personal commitment 🙂 So I have been pretty much eating salads for lunch in the past couple weeks (with a few exceptions where leftovers from dinner were just too tempting).

Baby spinach, sweet potato, organic chicken breast meat, black beans, leeks, hardboiled eggs, quinoa

Baby spinach, quinoa, sweet potato, avocado, hardboiled eggs

Baby spinach, canned beets, feta, sliced almonds

Dinners

It’s been a very busy few weeks – both for me and Mr. H. – at home, at work, in life in general. Trying to eat healthy with a busy schedule can be quite difficult and with the general stress of this kind of schedule the failure to eat healthy is even more upsetting and discouraging.

That is exactly the moment where my crockpot comes into play making healthy and nutritious food while I am at work 🙂

My all-time favorite – crock pot split pea soup with smoked ham

Crockpot chicken with stir-fried veggies

If we have more time in the evening, we might throw something on the grill:

Like these pork chops with kale and quinoa salad on the side

And…then, of course there are times where my best intentions collide with my husband’s appetite 🙂 Like last Friday, I made a wonderfully healthy pizza with whole grain crust, mushrooms, olives, meat and leaks…

Looks great, right?

and then Mister Husband made me dump half a bag of mozzarella on top of this goodness and we ended up eating this:

Oh well, life happens 🙂 I just love my husband and mozzarella too much 🙂

That pretty much sums it up, guys!

What was the best food you ate lately?

Filed Under: breakfast, dinner, lunch, recipes, what's on my plate wednesday Tagged With: breakfast, dinner, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, lunch, oatmeal, recipes, salad Leave a Comment

Lean Lena January 14, 2014

NY Resolutions: Status Update

Hi! Happy Tuesday, guys!

I thought I’d give you a status update on my New Year Resolutions post today.

So…one of the resolutions was to become a spinning instructor in 2014.

I have been thinking about it for a while now and even did some research before making that resolution! There are a lot of options out there for all kinds of goals, willingness to travel, price ranges etc. etc..

I looked into online training and certification with AFPA.

I looked into going to Philly for a pre-conference training and certification at the SCW MANIA in February…

Another option for instructor training I was looking at back when I first started thinking about becoming an instructor was with Mad Dogg Athletics. Last time I checked, the closest to me (geographically) instructor training session they had was in Washington, DC. It’s not that far from me, but would still require travel, time off work, accommodation and meals expenses on top of the training cost, that I wasn’t really looking forward to, so I kept researching.

Once I made this resolution in the beginning of this year and made it public, I looked at their website again and…they had a session scheduled on Saturday, February 8th, 30 minutes away from where I live at a local YMCA!!!

Of course I signed up right away!

Marked my calendar!

So, on February 8th I am going for a 9 hour spinning instructor orientation training.

Last Friday I got a box in the mail from Mad Dogg Athletics.

with my Instructor Manual in it!

Now – study, study, study!

Also, on Thursday this week I am taking my CPR certification class. Mad Dogg Athletics does not require CPR certification card for the training, but I will definitely feel better if I have one! 🙂

Ok, so for those of you who are looking into becoming a certified spinning instructor, here’s how to do it with Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc.:

Head over to their website and find the next instructor training session near you.
Register and pay for the training online.
Receive your Instructor Manual in the mail.
Study, study, study!
Attend the training session and receive your certificate of completion, which allows you to start teaching.
Take the online assessment test at your convenience.
Upon successful passing of the assessment test, get your instructor certificate in the mail – valid for 2 years.
Earn the required number of STAR point (CEC’s) in two years by attending their events, taking online courses, or other continuing education events/training (which you can later petition to be counted as your CEC’s).
Renew your certification in two years.
Enjoy being a spinning instructor and teaching! 🙂

Pretty awesome, huh?

I can’t wait for my training and getting certified – SO super excited!

Question: have you started working on making your NY resolutions a reality yet?

Filed Under: events, fitness, fitness events, new experiences, spinning, Spinning Instructor Tagged With: bicycling, fitness, new experience, spinning Leave a Comment

Lean Lena January 13, 2014

Motivation Monday – Last Week’s Exercise Recap

Hey-hey, my fitness gang! How are you this wonderful Monday? Ready to face the week?

I feel ready and excited! Why? Because it is a new start. New beginning of everything – it is your chance to start the week off right by eating healthier, exercising more and being happier 🙂

So, let’s look at my last week from the exercise standpoint. Here’s what I did:

Monday: Spin Class – 12.5 sweaty miles!

It was freezing cold outside that night and I left the sensor for my heart rate monitor in the car. I realized that after I got changed for my class and decided to ride “naked” rather than go back to the car in my capris and cycling shoes. So, “naked” ride it was! I have to say, it felt a little weird not to be able to see your heart rate, but it was definitely liberating not seeing the calories burnt. I think subconsciously as I approach my goal number of calories burnt during the class I stop working as hard as I should. So, I definitely enjoyed my “low-tech” ride on Monday!

Tuesday: Weight Lifting and Strength Training with Jim at the Gym

I feel like I am still burning calories from that one. It even hurts to type, leave alone steer…

I have noticed that I got a little too comfortable with my routine with the weights… Those personal trainers, they can read minds, you know? Just as I thought that I wouldn’t mind increasing the weight/number of reps, he did just that!

Oh. My. God.

That step forward is always killing me the first time I take it. I just hope that next time will be better and I will enjoy it a little more, and maybe suffer a little less afterwards… 🙂

Wednesday: Always Yoga Day, I mean ALWAYS.

After my killer workout on Tuesday it was a very much welcome practice. Looooove that stretching.

Thursday: a day of relaxation and not knowing what to do with myself

Is it just me or is there anyone else who feels like he/she is getting fatter by the minute on a rest day? 🙂

I do!

Anyway, it was nice to spend the evening “couch-potating” with hubby and catch up on the new Big Bang Theory.

Friday: Rest Day

Was originally supposed to be a yoga day, but I just wasn’t feeling it. So I listened to my ~~lazy mind~~ body and made it a rest day. 🙂

Saturday: Spinning+Yoga

Totally paid for my two rest days by making it a “Saturday Double”:

Another 12.4 sweaty miles!

Followed by a relaxing yoga class

Sunday: Yoga

Was initially supposed to be a “pump day”, but I got caught up in the 49-ers game and only made it to yoga. Hey, it was totally worth it!

And that is what I did last week!

Tell me: what was your best workout of the past week?

Filed Under: fitness, Girls Gone Sporty, Motivation Monday, plankaday, spinning, Weight Lifting Tagged With: fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, plankaday, spinning, yoga 2 Comments

Lean Lena January 10, 2014

Five on Friday

Hey guys! Happy Friday!

As usual, here is the Five on Friday post – five things, events, adventures, foods, etc.. that I am loving/enjoying lately.

{{ONE}} Trip to get our wedding rings.

I dug this picture out from that trip and it made me feel so good!

We went to Frederick, MD to get our wedding rings and stopped at a Starbucks on the way. We were still unmarried, happy and full of goof like above 🙂 Now – the only thing that’s changed is the “unmarried” part. Yep, still full of goof 🙂

It was a great trip on a beautiful September day that I will always remember with warmth in my heart.

{{TWO}} Healthy Living Blogs Tea Swap

Yeah, I participate in a lot of swaps… But I can’t help myself – it is so much fun and I get to meet new people!

The idea behind this one is so simple and so fun – you get a name and an address of a person and you send them 2-3 teabags of your favorite tea. You then receive tea from somebody else on the swap in return. So – you get to meet 2 people.

Here’s what I got from Mindy at Just A One Girl Revolution

I sent my tea package to Jessica at Fit & Fab Yogi. I haven’t heard back from her, but I hope the tea made it to her and she enjoyed it.

If you are interested in participating, keep an eye on the Healthy Living Blogs website for the new round of the program to start

{{THREE}} Meal Prep

I love it. Simply love it.

I usually get my “cooking bug” all active on the weekends anyway so why not put it to a good use and prep some meals for the coming week? Exactly – no reason why not.

Last week’s salad prep for hubby and me

Things I usually make:

Quinoa
Hardboiled eggs
Sweet potatoes
Beet roots (boiled/steamed)
Chicken breast (baked, grilled, fried)
Wheat berries
Roasted nuts

These are the ingredients to throw together a great salad to take to work for a healthy lunch! And it saves you time on the weeknights when you are tired and oh so tempted to grab some comfort food for lunch or go out.

Seriously, who wouldn’t want this for lunch, right?

{{FOUR}} Single Serve Blender

I got this baby for Christmas from my husband and I am absolutely loving it!

Neither of my family members is a big fan of smoothies, so the single serve is just perfect! It has travel cup, too – so it is super easy to just make one serving, detach the cap and drink on the way to work.

Look what goodness I have made so far:

cherry-banana goodness

If you think that making a smoothie is a rocket science – it really is not. Check out this cheat sheet for making smoothies that I am using, curtsey of Super Skinny Me.

{{FIVE}} Polar Loop

I know I have more gadgets than I can handle already…But this is something to wish for 🙂 Love the way it looks and what it does!

Maybe…maybe if I am a good girl, Santa will bring it for me next year 😉

Check out the features and prices:

Awesome, right?

Now – your turn!

Share your Five on Friday with me.

Filed Under: family events, fitness, Five on Friday, gadget-head, lunch Tagged With: family, fitness, five on friday, gadget-head, good food, healthy lunch, lunch, smoothie Leave a Comment

Lean Lena January 3, 2014

Resolutions Anyone?

Hey you, guys! And Happy New Year!

I hope you had a great time off with your loved ones, enjoyed the holidays and all back in the groove now.

New year is the time for resolutions, decisions, new goals and re-evaluation. It is to the point where it is borderline pure pressure and stress, isn’t it? Everyone is asking about your resolutions, sharing theirs, and looking for “resolution buddies”. Uuuurgh! Pressure. I hate pressure. Pressure has the reverse effect on me – the more I am pressured, the less I want to do it. For me, what does the trick is ME actually WANTING to do something. So. Let’s get the pressure off of you and have you relax for a couple minutes while you read this. This post is about me and my goals for 2014 as well as looking back at 2013. No pressure on you, navigate away if you like 🙂 Or…Keep reading 🙂Continue Reading

Filed Under: fitness, new experiences, running, spinning, Weight Lifting, Yoga Tagged With: bicycling, C25K, fitness, fitness motivation, new experience, running, spinning, weight loss, yoga 7 Comments

Lean Lena December 27, 2013

Five on Friday or I Am Back

Hey, guys! Long time no post, huh?

I know…I know… Time to catch up and get back to my blog!

Today I am back with Five on Friday, which pretty much sums up what I have been up to while I wasn’t here with you. So, here we go!

{{ONE}} Christmas!

Where I come from, New Year is a lot bigger celebration than Christmas, and Christmas is celebrated on a different date, too (January 7). However, I came to love this wonderful holiday since I moved to the US. I love seeing smiles on people’s faces, giving and receiving presents and, of course, eating all the yummy things being cooked around this time of year!

We had a beautiful Christmas tree with a lot of presents under it!

And the kitty who thought those were all his gifts:

I got a great present (one of many)!

Braun Single Serve Blender!

Oh, now you just wait until I start blending those wonderful smoothies and sharing recipes with you 🙂

{{TWO}} Christmas Food – That’s Right, a Separate One for This!

Don’t you love Christmas for all the wonderful foods that bring back the memories of childhood, and make you feel safe and happy? I do! And since I am not American, I brought a little bit of my home to this year’s Christmas table.

Russian potato salad – “Olivye”

Crepes stuffed with cottage cheese and raisins

Oh, and of course we had to make cookies to honor the American traditions!

By the way, did you know the story of the Peanut Butter Blossoms? Check it out here!

We also had a beautiful center piece for the Christmas table that I brought back from my company’s Christmas Party:

{{THREE}} The Evil Stepmother Speaks

A little over 2 years ago I became a wife to a wonderful man, and a step-mother to 2 great kids. As great as they are, it wasn’t all cakes and flowers between us. The kids struggled with getting used to having me in their life full time, having to share their daddy with me, finding a place for me in the new family paradigm, adjusting to the changes I brought into the family….Throw in the adjustment due to being newly weds who had never lived together before and you got a pretty “explosive” mix there. I was blessed with great kids who were trying their hardest to adjust, be nice and loving. With the most wonderful husband, who has been my shoulder to cry on, my biggest supporter and The Man of the family. With an understanding and kind ex-wife who stayed out of the way when it came to our house vs. her house, our life and our decisions. Who has been my silent supporter all the way for the sake of her kids’ happiness.

Even with all that – we have had and are still having issues, difficulties, tension and disagreements, which are bound to happen in any step-family.

Having no friends around to vent to, what do you do? Right, you get online and Google the “happy step-family”. So I did.

I am very happy to have found Barb Goldberg’s blog that I read as a book – cover to cover. I am thankful for the feeling of not being alone on this anymore that reading her blog gave me. (And for oh so many “Thank God, I thought I was crazy” relief sighs that I took while reading her blog).

I don’t agree with everything she writes about. Not everything she writes about applies to me and my situation, but I can certainly relate to a lot of what she is saying. Thank you, Barb, for the hope you gave me with your blog posts! They are so inspiring and motivating!

{{FOUR}} Dr. Kevin Leman and the Birth Order Factor

To continue educating myself on the subject mentioned above, I grabbed my Nook and started looking for books to read to find answers to the questions I have about stepfamilies and step parenting.

I stumbled upon Dr. Kevin Leman’s works on birth order and how it effects the relationships in families. I downloaded his book “Living in a step family without getting stepped on”, and even though the book is mostly about blended families where both spouses have kids from previous marriages, I found it to be a great resource to understanding how the whole family dynamics works, and where the issues come from. Great read!

{{FIVE}} Back to Working Out

For the past month (oh my God…was it really THAT long?) my exercise has been very sporadic…2 weeks in Russia where all I did was walking from dinner table to dinner table, then Christmas with all the cookies and other delicious foods and practically no activity! It is time to get back on track here!

I did go to my regular Monday spin class!

Tonight – yoga, and my usual Saturday Double tomorrow with my hubby joining me for the spin class part of it. How exciting is that?

And that concludes my Five on Friday post!

Your turn!

Filed Under: dessert, dinner, events, family events, Five on Friday, holidays Tagged With: dessert, dinner, family, five on friday, good food, healthy dinner, holidays, salad Leave a Comment

Lean Lena November 15, 2013

Five on Friday

It’s that time of the week again, my friends! TGIF!!!

So…here we go, Five on Friday – five things I am grateful for, things that I am liking, that entertain/amuse/puzzle me – all good stuff!

{{ONE}} Kat – My Best Friend.

Everybody should be as lucky as I have been with people in my life. I have the most wonderful friends in the whole world, and the best friend ever that I have had since the first year of college.

Somewhere on the way to a folk rock fest

Her name is Katerina and we met when we were both trying to go through the admission exams at college to be a translator.

We’ve been friends for many years, and haven’t seen each other for the last two. I am very-very-very excited about my upcoming trip to see my family and my dear friend! Lots of things to catch up on!

{{TWO}} Jim at the Gym

Told ya – I am incredibly lucky when it comes to people that come into my life.

About two years ago I took the first yoga class at the local YMCA that Jim taught and I have been addicted ever since.

In the two years I started going to his spin class every Monday, 3 of his yoga classes a week, and I now have personal training sessions with weights every Wednesday with him at the gym. Yep, my readers know that I spend a lot of time with Jim at the gym.

I am incredibly grateful to Jim for never ending inspiration, support, sharing his experience with me and letting me enjoy his company.

Seriously, the guy rode almost the entire Lewis and Clark Trail on his bike – he is DANG AMAZING.

Check out his blog – I read it as a book – cover to cover!

{{THREE}} Sugar Free Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

I am so grateful for these! They have been my go-to cheat treat for a long time now 🙂

{{FOUR}} Ice cream.

For its size, Carlisle, PA has A LOT of ice cream places. We have Bruster’s, Meadow’s, Leo’s, Rita’s, and now – Sweet Frog.

Sweet Frog

Leo’s ice cream pie

Meadow’s

I live in heaven!

{{FIVE}} My Polar FT-40 sports watch and heart rate monitor.

I am so glad I got it! It is a great tool to give you an idea of what you’re doing activity wise, keep track of your heart rate and fitness level.

Take it to your yoga class

It will connect to your spin bike monitor so you can see your heart rate during the class

Take it with you when you go for a bike ride outside!

And those are my Five on Friday!

Your turn!

Filed Under: fitness, Five on Friday Tagged With: dessert, fitness, five on friday, good food, people in my life Leave a Comment

Lean Lena November 12, 2013

Apple-Eggnog Baked Oatmeal

Hi guys! Tasty Tuesday here!

So, you have definitely noticed by now that I am a big fan of oatmeal 🙂 I love it and can think of 15 ways to eat my oats!

But I also keep coming up with new ways for you and me to enjoy oatmeal!

Last weekend I got inspired by the season and came up with a recipe of Apple-Eggnog baked oatmeal. It turned out so well my husband said it was the best yet! Give it a try while we still have fresh apples and eggnog on the store shelves at the same time.

For this recipe I didn’t use fresh apples, though – just because I still had leftover dehydrated apples that Noah sent me as part of the Foodie Penpals box exchange.

Apple-Eggnog Baked Oatmeal

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 60 minutes

Yield: 9 servings

Serving Size: 1 serving

Calories per serving: 189

4 g

Apple-Eggnog Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

3 cups dry oats (I used Giant old fashioned oats)
1 cup eggnog
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup dehydrated or fresh apples, cubed

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F
Mix dry ingredients until well combined.

Combine liquid ingredients in a separate bowl.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry.
Mix well.
Spray a pan with a non-stick spray.
Pour the mix into the pan.

Bake for 45-60 minutes.

Enjoy!

https://leanlena.com/apple-eggnog-baked-oatmeal/

www.leanlena.com

Have a great rest of your week, guys and eat healthy!

Filed Under: breakfast, healthy snack ideas, recipes, Tasty Tuesday Tagged With: breakfast, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy snack ideas, oatmeal, recipes Leave a Comment

Lean Lena November 11, 2013

Motivation Monday – Last Week’s Exercise Recap

Hey, guys! Happy Monday to you!

Hope you had a great weekend.

I haven’t done a Motivation Monday post with weekly exercise recap in a while – simply because I haven’t been exercising nearly as much lately due to my bad cold and later – bronchitis.

All better now and pretty much back in the game! So here’s what has been happening on the fitness front in the past week.

Monday and Tuesday – rest days (good start to the week, right? 🙂 ) as I was still recovering from my cold/bronchitis.

Wednesday – had a wonderful yoga class with Jim at the Y. One of my co-workers joined me for the class and we had a great time!

Thursday and Friday – rest days (told you I was taking it easy).

Saturday – did my usual double. Oh did that feel good!

11 sweaty miles!

Followed by a great yoga class!

Sunday – in addition to running errands (lots of walking), cleaning the house (lots of walking), and meal prepping (lots of walking), hubby and I went to the gym to lift weights! I love working out with him!

I think it was a pretty good week for the condition I was in, and that I managed to stick to the rules:

Credit: indulgy.com

It was a little hard to get back in the game after the 2 week break, though. The first week I didn’t know what to do with the free time I suddenly got on my hands due to not working out! But the second week (when I got a taste of doing nothing and having extra time), I felt like I am slipping back into my natural laziness! Couldn’t let that happen.

Credit: www.motivationblog.org

Credit: www.losgatosfitness.com

Because once you take that exit, you realize there is no turning back!

What did you do for your exercise this past week?

Filed Under: fitness, Girls Gone Sporty, Motivation Monday, spinning, Weight Lifting Tagged With: bicycling, fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, spinning, yoga Leave a Comment

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