Cardio Cooking: Make a low fat brisket, while you burn calories with “Bubbie”!

My mother in law, “Bubbie” has once again, taken on the cLEANmomma challenge. Aside from the 5 lbs, she recently lost, (Go Laney!), she recently gained a new way of  cooking. Watch how “Bubbie” cooks a fab brisket, cLEANmomma style!

I must say… watching Bubbie do her butt lifts while braising beef is as educational as it is entertaining!

Watch video! Then follow recipe and work out by reading below.

Now that you watched the video, lets get down to brass tax and learn how to truly tone up and burn your muscles with out burning your meal!

Take a peek at my family recipe, listed below. Its delicious as well as low in fat, (For a brisket that is!)

Ingredients

• 1 3 to 4 pound beef brisket
• 1 envelope dry Lipton onion soup mix (feel free to use onion and mushroom soup mix if you like)
• 1/ 2 ( or a dash more) cup of ketchup
• 1/4-1/2  cup of regular Coca Cola ( you don’t need a lot of this, but the sugar and the carbonation helps tenderize the meat)
• One large peeled potato
• carrots
• 1/4 cup chicken soup
• Golden raisins, (optional but it really sweetens it.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Trim meat of as much fat as possible. This is KEY! ( I like to trim before I cook and after.)
3. Place the brisket in a 9 x 13 shallow baking pan and sprinkle with the dry onion soup mix.
4. Shmeer the ketchup over the top.
5. Pour the 1/4 cup of chicken broth
6. Add diced potato, (not too small), raisins, carrots into pot.
7. Pour 1/4 cup the Coca-Cola over top.
8. make sure the ingredients are not only on sides of pan, but on top of the brisket.
9. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake in preheated oven 3 to 4 hours or until brisket is fork tender.
10. Important: Remove the brisket from the oven, and let it rest for at least 20 minutes. This will give the meat time for the juices to re-distribute.
11. Slice thinly against the grain.
12. Put meat back into oven, sliced with juice and slow cook for an hour more. (optional, but it makes it that much yummier!)

The work out.

Note: This is all about form and technique, and the movements are quite subtle. Remember to breathe through them. If done correctly, they are amazingly effective!

As you are mixing your ingredients together, chopping your potato or slicing the brisket, take this opportunity to “TASKERSIZE” Here are some simple core and lower body movements that will really tighten and tone your muscles.

NOTE: There is plenty of idle time while your meat is slow cooking so throw in a few more work out moves while you wait for the timer to BEEP! ( You can pull additional moves by clicking the category, “Down and dirty quick tips” , or scroll down.

Mixing your ingredients. – Works core, tush, quads and back of thighs.

While  standing in front of mixing bowel and your ingredients:

Make sure that you are standing tall, abs are engaged, (tight but where you can breathe)

Make sure your shoulders are down and relaxed to create “Working arms”

Your legs are shoulder width apart. Keep your hips square to your counter.

Get into a squat position.

As you mix your ingredients your body will naturally want to wiggle. (By keeping your hips square to the counter top, and your abs tight, you will isolate the muscles in your core and really feel the burn.)

Maintaining a squat position will work the thighs and tush. The deeper the squat, the more advanced. It’s very subtle but if your form is correct, it is amazingly effective!

Do this for 30 seconds, rest and repeat.

Chopping and cutting your ingredients- Works core, tush, quads and back of thighs.

Try this to strengthen and tone the back part of the thighs, quads, tush  and core while chopping your potato, and slicing your brisket.

Note: It is very much the same as above, but instead of holding the squat, you pulse in your squat, as you cut or chop.

(Be careful, you are holding a knife. If this is too tricky for ya, obviously, don’t hurt yourself by doing it.)

Make sure that you are standing tall, abs are engaged, (tight but where you can breathe) and your legs are shoulder width apart.

Keep your hips square to your counter.

Get into a squat position. Instead of holding the squat this time, pulse up and down keeping your hands level while cutting.

By keeping your hips square to the counter top, and your abs tight, you will isolate the muscles in your core and really feel the burn.

Get in 2 sets of 10 -12 of pulsing slowly and 2 sets of 10 -12 while pulsing double time.

Releve/ Calf raises- Works your core, calves and thighs. You can do this at any point while you are in your kitchen while holding your counter top for support.

Get in 2 sets of 10 -12

Face your counter top

Make sure that you are standing tall, abs are engaged, (tight but where you can breathe)

Make sure your shoulders are down and relaxed as on the counter top. The less you hold the counter, the more of a core work out you will gain, (balancing is great for strengthening your abs.)

Your feet should be hip distance apart.

Keep your hips square to your counter.

Now that you are in correct form, bring your heels off the ground and hold for 1 count.

Do this 10-12 times, for two sets!

Thrown in your own sets of something, you can always mix it up a bit in your own kitchen.

THE KEY TO “TASKERCISING “IS YOUR FORM!

Happy cooking!

P.S. Would love to hear any of your questions ideas, recipes or comments!

It’s your body, your mind, your life, your CHOICE!

For more “TASKERCISING” exercises you can do almost anywhere…Order the cLEANmomma DVD!

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Is your clutter creating chaos! Do this, it’s amazing!

It is sooooo hard to stay organized, specially when you are managing more than yourself. I can get an aneurysm just from sifting through my kids notes from school, bills, brought home pieces of art and random hair clips stuffed in tiny lunch box pockets. That being said… I stumbled up on this fabulous organizing guru, Debbie. I started following some of her advice and OMG… she’s amazing.

Read her blog below and learn how to makeover your clutter chaos.

P.S.

If you want to take it four steps further… throw in some squats, leg lifts and plies, while shuffling through your papers, hehehe

Post by Debbie:

One of the most frequent requests I get from potential organizing clients is help with the never-ending stream of papers that come and go every day. So this week I will start the first in a series of posts dedicated to helping you create The Ultimate Family Command Center . . .

How many times a week do you answer the same questions about where various papers are in your house?

“Where’s that piece of paper with my friends phone number?”
“What happen to that credit card bill that was due sometime this week?”
“Where’s the take-out menu for the pizza place?”
“Who has the invitation to the party the kids were invited to this weekend?”
”Where’s a pencil and paper to take down a phone message?”

Despite efforts to go paperless, most household are over-run with paper piles. And if the papers aren’t over taking your kitchen counters, they are most likely relegated to that infamous junk drawer.  It may be in the kitchen, or in an office desk.  (Or maybe you have multiple junk drawers.)  Some place where you throw those little bits of miscellaneous papers, clippings, and mail.  We’ve all been guilty at one point or another of this form of organization.  But when it comes time to find these various objects, how easily, and better yet, how quickly, are you able to retrieve them?

My answer to household paper clutter is creating “The Ultimate Command Center.”

Similar to an airplane’s cockpit, which is a place for everything the pilot needs to communicate with those on the ground and simultaneously control the aircraft, the Family Command Center is a central place for managing household communication and running the family’s daily activities.  A Command Center manages: input (papers coming in), processes (what we need to do with those papers), output (papers going out), supplies, and frequent references.  It is the go-to spot for all the things you need to help your house run smoothly. 

When I put a Command Center together for a client, I encourage them to locate it in a central location, preferably near where you most often enter and exit your house.  Since the kitchen is usually the hub of the house, an ideal location is in an upper cabinet in the kitchen near the phone.

But you can also create a space in your home office.  If you use your computer for scheduling or contacts, you might want to locate the Command Center near the computer.  Just make sure it’s a functional space and that the location works best for you.
Find a way to incorporate a cork board or magnetic board.  I usually try to attach a cork board directly to the inside of the cabinet door using wood glue.  This keeps the board out of sight, but very accessible.  Use this board to post a list of frequently called numbers, lunch menus, invitations, grocery list.

Setting up the System

Step 1: An Organized Junk Drawer

The first step is to create an “organized junk drawer” for all those office supplies you’re constantly asked for over the course of a day.  This will be their new “home.”  Each item will have its own space and the major rule here is:

ALL ITEMS MUST BE RETURNED TO THIS SPOT WHEN YOU ARE DONE USING THEM.

The goal here is for everyone to know where these items can always be found.  You can purchase inexpensive containers or you can re-purpose items you may already own:  small bowls, trinket boxes, clean baby food jars, the top of a glass butter dish, an empty mint box.  Have fun with it and make it as creative and attractive as you’d like, that way you’ll be more likely to keep it tidy. Another tip is to consider calling it something other than the “junk” drawer (you don’t want it to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, now do you?). How about “utility drawer” or “office supplies drawer”?

Step 2: Papers In/Papers Out

There are different supplies and products you can use to put your Command Center together, but the basic set-up includes slots or cubbies for each member of the family for papers that come and go on a daily basis:  mail, children’s permission slips, notices, etc.  It is also useful to have a slot for incoming bills, as this will be the place where you sort the mail every day. In the pictured command center, the labeled slots are in the black organizer inside the right half of the cabinet. These don’t have to be expensive, just functional. Most times simple black stackable paper sorters work beautifully.

When you first implement this system it may be hard to get your kids, or even your significant other, into the habit of checking and using their slot.  So I like to place little surprises in the slots occasionally to motivate them to use it.  A piece of candy, a new pencil, love notes . . . just something to create the habit of using the system.

So what will become of all those papers once they make it into the cubbies? Wednesday I’ll post Part 2 of this series, which will focus on creating a family resource binder, so stay tuned for more! In the mean time, if you have any questions about setting up your own Command Center, please leave a comment below.

Simply yours,
Debbie

What is a cLEAN Diet™?

This program is about making SMART food choices – as we all know, exercise alone will not get you all the way there…trust me.

I have to tell you, there is nothing like a glass of milk and a bag of Oreo cookies after I put my kids to sleep. However, over the years I really learned the real term “moderation”!

Stephanie Lecovin, my ultimate bff and a certified nutritionist, has had a major influence on my eating habits (and my life). Together she and I have put together a meal plan to help you start making (what we hope will become) lifelong changes in the way you think about food. Not only will you feel better, but as a result of fueling your body with quality food  (and yes, you can still have chocolate cake!) you will also shed those unwanted bulges around your thighs and tummy.

Believe me – I’m the first one to spit out the tofu salad, but with these simple lifestyle changes:

• I started to lose weight
• Since I ate more often, my appetite was under control
• I had more energy

I will be sharing my thoughts and tips on how to make life changes (while still enjoying the jar of peanut butter with chocolate chips).

The cLEAN Diet is part of the cLEAN Momma program, available on DVD, but  I’ll be continually posting FREE eating tips and recipes for you to check out.

Remember… moderation is the key, and if that doesn’t work for ya, try duct tape!

Eat to Live… Don’t Live to Eat…

(unless its chocolate.)

What Is the cLEAN Routine?

The cLEAN Momma Routine is what I call “Taskersizing”, The art of doing a task while you exercise. I mean seriously, isn’t multitasking what we do best ladies?

Being a complete maxed out mommy with fat-tushaphobia, I was determined to find a way to shove a workout into my day. Realizing the gym was not a possibility after my son jack was born, I was desperate to figure out a way to sweat, even if it meant running laps around my house while my child played around me. As I ran around the house (yes, I actually did this), I started picking up toys and cleaning gunk off my counter tops. This slowly morphed into a really effective bootcamp-style work out that really made me feel stronger and more fit.

I had found a way to save time (what time? I can barely breathe), save money (that’s another story), but most importantly, achieve a better workout that I was getting at the gym, plus I got my dishes, laundry, and floors done at the same time (not to mention the excess baby weight finally came OFF)!!

How do I do it? With the help of fitness expert Dr. Geoff Lecovin, I’ll teach you how to incorporate the exercises through out your day to day routine (that I recommend three times a week to see the full effect), as well as give you a step-by-step guide to turn this into a 45 minute sweat-your-butt-off-cLEAN Routine Bootcamp!

What if I don’t clean my house? Will this still work? If you breathe, than the answer is yes. These exercises are designed to be incorporated into basically anything – playing with your kids, brushing your teeth – you get the picture. The bottom line is this… “NO more excuses people!” You can get it all done with and have time to spare (I suggest a very hot bubble bath, tabloids and a locked door)!

Look for more Taskercising Tips at cLEANmomma.com!