good food Archives - Page 7 of 9

Lean Lena February 24, 2014

Weekend Cooking Spree

Hey guys! How was your weekend?

Mine was busy!

The weather was just gorgeous here this weekend, but sadly, I didn’t get to do much outside.

On Saturday morning hubby and I headed out to the Y to take Jim’s indoor cycling class. It was so nice out that I decided to take my new Vibram Five Fingers for a walk.

Love-love-love them!

Since my Spinning® instructor training I noticed that my workout attitude and the overall “feeling” at a cycling class has changed dramatically! For some reason I was always going for the speed – thinking that if I go faster, it will be better for me, I will burn more calories and all that crap. Well, that all has changed now. I am doing speed work, too but generally try to apply more resistance on the wheel than I used to and focus more on my heart rate rather than the RPM.

Taking the training also changed my entire perspective on what a bike set up should be – I have my saddle a lot higher now and I’ve noticed that it is making it much easier on my knees – a lot less cracking! 🙂

Anyway, with that in mind, I went pretty close to my usual distance on Saturday but burnt the number of calories I haven’t burnt in a cycling class in a long time.

I did take a nice two-hour nap on Saturday after this class + yoga. I just had to! It was the best nap of my life 🙂

When I woke up from my nap, it turned out the youngest had gone for a sleepover, so suddenly me and hubby had the evening to ourselves. We headed out for dinner to a Chinese place, and then decided to do some wandering around TJ Maxx. Well, I never leave that store without a score (yep, I rhymed that on purpose!)

Got me some yoga socks 🙂

I’ve been eyeing those for a while, but they just cost some ridiculous money it seems like. These were $3.something a pair so I got them and will give them a try this Wednesday!

On Saturday I also managed to squeeze in some meal prep into my day somewhere between the two workouts and the nap.

Homemade hummus, quinoa, water infused with cucumber and frozen mint leaves

Did you notice I got my water infusing water bottles that I mentioned here? 🙂 I just love the one with the orange cap except for one thing – it had a huge sticker on the front. Being an OCD driven woman, I took it off and now it’s sticky. Some Googone will have to be applied – and that’s just too many motions for something I want to get in the mail and simply enjoy. If you don’t have an OCD, you will do just that without Googone – enjoy 🙂

The one with the red lid and bottom – I haven’t quite figured it out yet – the infuser part comes out through the bottom, if you don’t put the bottom lid back on tightly – it leeks. It’ll take me a while to make friends with this one 🙂

Anyway! On Sunday morning we slept in and hubby made me an awesome brunch.

crispy bacon, poached eggs, potatoes and English muffin

And then it started…My cooking bug was obviously up and full force this weekend. I just couldn’t stop cooking!

I did my lunch prep for the week:

Cut up some bananas to freeze for my smoothies:

Made some more infused water (oranges and tangerines):

Made these super awesome breakfast corn muffins with cheese and ham:

By the time I was done with my meal prep, it was time to make dinner. So I threw together this chicken with veggies.

And yes, those are pecan bars you see in the background – I made them, too. What? The oven was warm anyway 🙂

Tell me: what fun stuff did you do this weekend?

And as always – stay fit!

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, dinner, fitness, healthy snack ideas, lunch, Motivation Monday, recipes, spinning, Spinning Instructor Tagged With: bicycling, breakfast, dinner, family, fitness, good food, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, healthy snack ideas, infused water, lunch, muffins, recipes, salad, spinning Leave a Comment

Lean Lena February 18, 2014

Tasty Tuesday – Foodie’s Guide to Snacking

Hey, happy Tuesday! Tasty Tuesday! 🙂

Are you a snacker?

I am a “snacker”. Oh, I am such a “snacker”.

I am one of those people who needs to eat every couple hours. WHAT to eat is a big question here as you want to keep your body fueled, not overwhelmed by what you put in your month in between the meals.

I have been on the hunt for perfect snacks and sharing my finds with you today.

{ONE} Homemade Peanut Butter and Banana.

First of all, you can easily use store bought PB if you don’t feel like making your own. If you do feel like making your own, check out this recipe here that I used. I should have processed mine a little longer though – it is a little crumbly.

{TWO} Smoothie

There is nothing like a good smoothie to keep me going until my next meal!

Usually I put all the ingredients for my morning smoothie in the blender cup the night before and put it in the fridge. Whirl it up in the morning after breakfast and take to work with me. This way I don’t reach for that candy in the break room at work but drink my delicious smoothie that keeps me going until lunch.

The flavor possibilities are endless and you are your own chef!

My “must include” ingredients are frozen fruit and cottage cheese/yogurt – they create the thick and creamy consistency that I like.

{THREE} Homemade Hummus

Love it! Try making it using this recipe and you will never buy hummus again! Have it with veggies or tortilla rounds.

{FOUR} Fruit

Perfect snack! Sweet, juicy and good for you. Prep some the night before or on the weekend (rinse, peel, cut, pack in zip lock bags) and take to work.

{FIVE} Nuts

If you love nuts as much as I do, it is probably very difficult for you to avoid buying and eating nut bars. Am I right?

Choose raw nuts over nut bars and spare yourself that extra added sugar. Don’t buy the “super-protein-and-fiber-packed” promises on the labels. Just eat raw nuts instead.

{SIX} Homemade Granola

Is a super-snack! Make a batch on the weekend, pre-pack in zip lock bags or small plastic containers and enjoy during the week.

Here’s a recipe for you to play with – add/substitute the ingredients depending on what you like and keep it healthy!

Add fruit and/or cottage cheese/yogurt to it and you got a perfect snack or breakfast!

{SEVEN} Baked Oatmeal

This is not only a GREAT breakfast, but also an awesome snack – one of my all-time favorites. Make a whole batch on the weekend and you have a ready snack/breakfast for the whole week.

One of the base recipes is right here for you – play with it as you like.

Enjoy with yogurt, fruit and/or cottage cheese on top.

There you have it – 7 snack ideas for 7 days of the week.

To sum it up, here are some general guidelines when it comes to snacking:

Prep-prep-prep. Don’t be lazy to do your meal/snack prep on the weekend – you’ll be happy you did. Rinse and pack fruit and veggies, make a batch of baked oatmeal, granola or hummus and pre-pack for the weekdays. Cut up and freeze bananas and other fruit for your smoothies. Put all the ingredients in the blender cup the night before for your morning smoothie. You will thank yourself later.
Always carry a healthy snack in your purse. Never leave the house without one. What happens is – you are out and about – > you get hungry – > Les Big Mac. Don’t let it happen and have a healthy snack with you.
Make smart choices (choose raw nuts over sugar packed nut bars).
Before you buy, ask yourself – can I make it myself? If you can – make it!
Let fruit and veggies always be your number one choice when it comes to snacking.

Share: link up your favorite snack recipes below or share in comments: what is your favorite snack?

Stay fit!

An InLinkz Link-up

Filed Under: breakfast, fitness, healthy snack ideas, recipes, Tasty Tuesday Tagged With: breakfast, fitness, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy snack ideas, oatmeal, recipes, smoothie 2 Comments

Lean Lena February 8, 2014

Recipe: Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey guys! Happy Saturday!

I hope you’re having a wonderful day. While I am at a very exciting event right now, which I will tell you about in the beginning of next week, I have scheduled this post to share a great recipe I have recently discovered.

I was looking for a recipe for oatmeal cookies last week and found this one in my recipe keeper. I honestly don’t know where it came from, but with a few changes to the original recipe, it turned out great and not so damaging 🙂

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 ripe banana, mashed
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ cup old fashioned oats
1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 oz dried cranberries
2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375º F
Beat butter, sugar and banana together until light and fluffy
Add eggs, mixing well
Combine oats, flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl
Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition
Stir in dried cranberries and chocolate chips
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown
Cool on wire rack

Makes 18 cookies @ 173 calories per cookie.

Have a wonderful weekend, guys! Stay fit and warm.

Filed Under: dessert, healthy snack ideas, recipes Tagged With: baking, dessert, good food, healthy snack ideas, oatmeal, recipes Leave a Comment

Lean Lena February 4, 2014

Tasty Tuesday – Homemade Hummus Recipe

Hey guys! Happy Tasty Tuesday from the snow covered PA!

My back yard yesterday

you can see on the patio table how much snow we got

and on my garage light…

and the trees still look like they came out of a fairy tale

So this past weekend, in preparation for the Big Game, I was thinking about the snack menu and decided to go with tortia rounds and homemade hummus.I then embarked on a long and complicated journey of finding a perfect recipe for it as I had already had a few unsuccessful attempts in making hummus at home.

I found this recipe here and decided I will share it on my blog with you guys and so I could go back to it myself when I need to.

The link above has great pictures of the process and a lot of details on “how to” and why not any other way, so I am just going to do the facts here 🙂

Homemade Hummus Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Homemade Hummus Recipe

Ingredients

One 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini
Half of a large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 to 3 tablespoons water
Dash of ground paprika for serving

Instructions

In the bowl of a food processor, combine tahini and lemon juice. Process for 1.5 minute.
Add the olive oil, minced garlic, cumin and the salt to whipped tahini and lemon juice. Process for 1 minute.
Add half of the chickpeas to the food processor then process for 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl, add remaining chickpeas and process for 1 to 2 minutes or until thick and smooth.
If the hummus is too thick or still has tiny bits of chickpea, with the food processor turned on, slowly add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water until the consistency is perfect.
To Serve: scrape the hummus into a bowl then drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the top and sprinkle with paprika.

https://leanlena.com/tasty-tuesday-homemade-hummus-recipe/

www.leanlena.com

I hope you’re enjoying your week so far and staying warm!

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

Lean Lena January 31, 2014

Five on Friday – Foodie Pen Pals Reveal Day

Hey guys! Happy Friday to you!

I hope you had a wonderful week or just happy that the work part of it is over if you didn’t.

So, traditionally on Fridays I post about five things I am loving lately. This time this post happens to fall on the same day as my Foodie Pen Pals Reveal Day, so I am going to tell you all about that in the form of Five on Friday post! 2 in 1. Behold!

This month I was paired with Andrea from TN! After a quick exchange the boxes were on the way. Before I knew it – mine has arrived:

The box was sooo big!

So, here we go – things I got in my wonderful box!

{{ONE}} PB2

If you live in the woods (like me), you’ve never heard of such a thing as powdered peanut butter 🙂 PB in my family is a sensitive subject – because everyone is addicted to it. We try not to buy it because it disappears faster than we remember that we’re trying to eat healthy. The only time I buy it is when I need it for cooking (seriously!)…But before I can even start thinking about cooking with PB – it disappears.

So – this thing here is a perfect solution to my problem! Those PB addicts will not eat powder (I know that because it has been sitting in my kitchen cabinet for 2 weeks now and nobody touched it).

{{TWO}} Bob’s Red Mill – Hot Cereal

Another first for me and look how wonderful it is to have it for breakfast!

{{THREE}} Sweet Potato Chips

I LOVE sweet potatoes! In any form and shape and size.

Omnomnom!

This is how much I got to have of them before they vanished…mysteriously

{{FOUR}} Wasabi Peas

These had to be donated to the husband – turned out to be too spicy for me. He was very happy!

{{FIVE}} Pot Holder and Bag Clips

Even though you don’t have to send anything but food, Andrea was so kind to include these wonderful presents for me!

All in all, look what a great box I got from Andrea:

Have you ever participated in Foodie Pen Pals? No??? You gotta do this! Head over here and register!

Check out the pervious boxes I got from my Foodie Pen Pals:

Stay fit and have fun, guys!

Filed Under: Five on Friday, Foodie PenPals, healthy snack ideas, new experiences Tagged With: five on friday, foodie penpals, good food, healthy snack ideas, new experience 4 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 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 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 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 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 9, 2013

Peanut Butter-Banana Energy Bites

Hey, guys! Happy Saturday!

I am a snacking person, and snacks are a very important part of my daily meal plan. The only problem is – if I don’t watch it, my snacking gets out of control and I just eat all the unhealthy crap I can get my hands onto! To avoid this, I do a few things:

– I plan my snacks for the day.

– I ALWAYS have a snack with me when I leave the house.

– I make sure I have healthy snacks.

I wanted to share one of my go-to recipes for a healthy snack with you today. These guys come together in under half an hour and are very delicious!

Peanut Butter-Banana Energy Bites

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 14 bites

Serving Size: 1 bite

Peanut Butter-Banana Energy Bites

Ingredients

2/3 cup of creamy peanut butter
2 tbs honey
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 cup oats (quick or old-fashioned)
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Cocoa powder for rolling

Instructions

Melt peanut butter and honey in a microwave. It melts very quickly, so make sure you keep an eye on it.
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add peanut butter and honey mix to the dry mix.
Add mashed banana.
Combine well.

Roll into balls and roll them in cocoa powder.

Refrigerate for minimum of 2 hours before eating.

https://leanlena.com/peanut-butter-banana-energy-bites/

www.leanlena.com

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

Lean Lena November 8, 2013

Five on Friday

Hey guys! I’m back with Five on Friday!

{{ONE}} I will never get tired of saying this – I am so glad I said that “Yes” to the most wonderful guy in the world! This past week has been an emotional roller coaster, and I am so lucky to have my husband who supports me, worries about me, talks to me, holds me and loves me every step of the way.

{{TWO}} Fall and Soups.

Yes, those two come together for me personally. I love the whole mind set change when it comes to fall cooking.

Crockpot Chili

Chicken Pho

{{THREE}} My new Philips Performance Earphones.

Finally got those! Can’t believe it took me so long to stop this frustration with the regular ear buds falling out of my ears while working out.

{{FOUR}} My very own Shellac manicure “factory”.

The whole set purchased a while ago on Amazon has paid for itself a long time ago. Love doing my own nails!

The Miracle Factory

Ready “product”

{{FIVE}} Everybody. Everyday. Fitness Challenge at work.

This is something my company does every year and it’s the first time I participate in it. All the participants are part of the teams and the goal is to be active every day, and log the number of minutes of activity planned vs. actual. The logs are then submitted to team captains, who log them into a neat program for the whole team. It is a 6 weeks challenge and my performance this week sucks 🙂 Mostly because I’ve been sick for the past couple weeks…

Your turn!

Filed Under: Five on Friday Tagged With: dinner, family, five on friday, good food, healthy dinner, healthy lunch 2 Comments

Lean Lena October 24, 2013

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Muffins Recipe

Hey, guys! How is your week going?

Mine is hectic and busy, but I live in the hope for Friday, which is right around the corner!

Anyway, just wanted to share a great recipe with you today.

I have found the original recipe over at My Whole Food Life and modified it a little. If you like simple healthy recipes, be sure to check out this blog. Melissa has a ton o those for you!

Now let’s take a look at how to make these super delicious and easy pumpkin muffin!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Muffins

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 9 muffins

Serving Size: 1 muffin

Calories per serving: 125

4.1

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup maple syrup or raw honey
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
2 T apple sauce
4 T almond milk
1 ripe banana, mashed

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl.
Mix wet in another.
Add wet to dry and mix until wel combined.
Spoon batter into lined muffin pan.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Take out of the oven and let cool on a rack.

Enjoy!

https://leanlena.com/pumpkin-pie-oatmeal-muffins-recipe/

www.leanlena.com

Stay fit, friends!

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

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

DIRECTIONS:

Connect with me:

Archives