Cardio Cooking:Burn calories before you eat them. Try this recipe/workout

When I’ve been out of the house all day, and I missed the opportunity to get in a work out, I found a way to shove one in.

I came up with “Cardio Cooking.”

Cardio Cooking allows me to really maximize my time and multi – task while chopping vegetables or slicing chicken. I know sounds crazy, but it works. Wouldn’t  you want to burn off calories before you eat them?

Some might call me insane…. but for those of you on board with this, I came up with a bunch of recipes and a way to chop till you drop.

Recipe for:  Sophie’s “Candy Chickie” (“Apricot Chicken” if you don’t have a Sophie.)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
2 pounds chicken tenderloins – cut in small pieces (the smaller the better according to my kids)
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons cider or white wine vinegar (optional)
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup apricot all fruit spread or apricot preserves

Serve with brown rice (if you can get away with it… otherwise, mix half white rice half brown rice, till your kids dig it!) Also, lemon juice and butter helps!

Directions
Heat a large skillet with a lid over medium high heat. Add oil and chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Lightly brown the chicken a few minutes on each side. Add the stock and vinegar (if you’re using it) and cook five minutes. When stock comes to a bubble, add preserves and stir to combine. Cover pan, reduce heat and simmer 10 to 15 minutes.

Your Workout!

1. Start your “Rag Drag”. (the link will take you to the RAG DRAG how-to section (isn’t that convenient?))
2. Engage your tummy muscles and create a loose upper body and controlled lower body.
3. Then, with your right leg, bring it in and out 5 -7 times alternating with the left 5-7 times. Do this while you dice your chicken and prep your food. You will elevate your heart rate and burn your butt and work your oblique’s quite a bit.
4. Next, while browning your chicken do several sets of leg lifts to the back and side. Lift your leg straight out to the side or back until your foot is 6 to 12 inches off the floor keeping your tummy tight.
5. While you are cooking at the counter top, take this opportunity to do 15 – 20 presses, like counter top push ups.
6. If you have anything to nuke in the microwave…always seize the opportunity to do something active. Instead of just standing around waiting for the beep, add some jumping jacks in. What else are ya gonna do?

Shop In Your Own Closet. It’s FREE!

Can’t afford a new wardrobe? Try out a few things I learned…

After the kids were born and I was getting back into shape, revisiting my wardrobe was something I had to face… And I had to face it  on a tight budget.

So here’s my take on reorganizing your closets, reworking the stuff that’s cute and fits and tossing out the crap!

I’ll be the first to admit it… The recent economy woes have hit my family in the worst way. Having said that, I still wanted new clothes. Who doesn’t ?

I ran into a fabulous lady at a baby shower named Joanne.  She happens to run a business (TheClosetStylist.com) where her and her partner go into your home, reorganize your wardrobe, toss out what’s ugly and doesn’t fit and rework what you’ve already got, making it fun, hip, and current. Joanne told me her goal was to turn your closet into something that is visually peaceful, functional and inspiring. This was my dream come true. Who doesn’t fantasize about being on one of those makeover shows? Well that baby shower encounter changed my life (my wardrobe, at least)!

That night, after I put my kids to sleep, I stormed into my room with a new mission, tearing into my closets like a woman hitting the clearance sale bins. After two hours of trying on everything in my closet I was done – then a funny thing happened. The next day when I was at my daughter’s dance recital, several of my mommy friends asked me where I got my new top. I just smiled. Who knew you could get an entire new wardrobe just by reworking what you already had!

My personal cheat-sheet inspired by Joanne:

1. Sort and organize:  Before you get rid of things, sort all your clothes according to type. Pants stay with the pants, skirts with skirts, tops with tops.  Get the picture? This helps you see your real inventory. Maybe you have 30 shirts and only four decent pairs of pants.
2. Purge! The next step was to go through each piece of clothes and if it was too big, or too small, I took it out (I saved the cute, too small stuff as inspiration to fit into again).  Some people say, “If you haven’t worn it in a few years toss it”.  This is about rediscovery so that rule doesn’t always apply. If you react to something with a hey, wow, I forgot about that, then keep it. If you haven’t worn it and you realize you probably won’t  – purge.
3. Color Sort: After you are done purging your wardrobe, rearrange your clothes with all like colors next to each other like a rainbow. This really helps you see what you have.
4. Store the out-of-season: Get  storage boxes and shove anything out-of-season in them. This is another way to see what you really have.
5. Store the odd shapes: Storage boxes also also great for belts and purses! This is where see-thru boxes are really helpful.
6. Get a cheap shoe rack! Nuff said – Looks good and works well. Life is better with a shoe rack vs. a shoe pile.
7. Accessorize: Funny how one basic outfit can look so different with a different belt or scarf or even some jewelry. Mix and match scarves with different tops to rework an outdated look.
8. Upscale your cheaper clothes: If you mix obviously higher end clothing with some run-of-the-mill cheaper items, that cheaper item can actually come off looking sophisticated!
9. Purge again with friends: If you are having trouble letting go of that purple and orange stripped shirt, have a girlfriend come over and tell you how ugly it is! Friends can be soooo helpful!
10. Wear your “special occasion” stuff more often! Makes every day special!