fat loss

Cleaned out the pantry, made a Paleo recipe!

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The last three weeks my husband and I have been making a conscious effort to eat some of the “miscellaneous items” out of our pantry before we move into our new house. Less to carry, less wasted.

After three weeks of eating all of the good stuff, we’ve been reduced to the interesting remainders on the back of the shelf. You know what I’m talking about: those random cans of tomato puree and diced succotash and other strange pabulum that you bought because they were on clearance sale or because you saw some really posh person put in their cart so you figured it must be delicious.

So, yeah. Dinner has been an interesting event in our house the last few nights.

Feeling creative this morning, I threw the following items into the crockpot, set it on low, and let it cook all day:

  • 1 can of Hunts diced tomatoes, Garlic flavor
  • 1 can of tomato puree
  • 1 jar of Bertolli basil marinara
  • 1/2 bottle of leftover Cabernet Sauvignon
  • 2 cans chopped button mushrooms
  • 1 small jar [approx 12 oz] of artichoke hearts [I’ve always wondered what I was going to do with those.]
  • 1 can of drained black olives
  • 1 jar of roasted red pepper [approx 10oz]
  • 2 cans of organic chunk chicken, well drained
  • 4 tbsp dried onion flakes
  • 4 tbsp dried basil
  • 4 tbsp dried, roasted garlic slivers
  • 2 tbsp oregano

When I got home, my house smelled like Buca di Beppo. It was amazing. Since my husband wouldn’t be home for a while and I wasn’t really hungry yet, I decided to add a bag of baby carrots and two chopped zucchini to the mix, letting it cook for another hour.

Inadvertently, I seemed to have made one of the best pasta sauces in the world. It’s incredible.

The sauce is rich and flavorful, but extremely low in fat. The tastes seem to deeply concentrate in the crockpot – I didn’t add a single speck of salt to the dish in any way.

I decided to serve the sauce over my last three bags of spinach Miracle Noodles [looks funny, tastes great!] and I’ve been in olfactory/gustatory Heaven ever since! Amazing!

And, coincidentally enough – it’s Paleo-friendly. A win:win!

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

Just cycling along…

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One of my favorite exercises happens to be the one that feels LEAST like exercise: riding my bike with my husband.

This morning, we decided to crack out the old mountain/hybrids and go for a ride to strategically check out some homes that we’re interested in. The kicker, here, is that these homes are ALL over town. Literally. There were at least two miles between each property and we set out to see no less than six of them.

For two hours, we trucked around town, crossing from Orlando to Maitland, Maitland back to Winter Park, and then Winter Park back to the Baldwin Park area. If you’re not familiar with the Orlando-area, we biked roughly 22 miles. WOW.

Amazingly, the entire trip was a blast. I never felt tired [until the very end, of course] and I was in good spirits the whole time.

Perhaps the distraction of the sights, of having to meander safely through traffic, and the excitement of seeing our [potential] new home drove out the mental struggle that tends to accompany a long workout. I was entertained and enjoying myself, so it really didn’t feel like exercise. It felt like a fun trip with my husband and a beautiful day to be a Floridian.

This leads me to the conclusion that the easiest way to make exercise a daily part of your life is to make it a daily ENJOYABLE part of your life. Whether it’s a bike ride with your spouse or a kickball class with your best friend, a good workout is most effective if it’s savored and anticipated.

If you’re struggling to incorporate more exercise into your day-today, try riding your bike to pick up the few items you need from the drug store or suggest swapping your ladies night out into a ladies sweat-out and join a boot camp glass together. You can find tons of them – often free – locally by going to sites like http://www.meetup.com!

Chances are, you’ll appreciate the after-effects of a good workout much more than you will a night of heavy wine-guzzling!

Besides, how could you choose to go out drinking over rocking one of these awesome helmets with a friend?

Coolness: Defined

Yes, I wear this out in public. It’s the best!

On that note, it’s back to work for me.

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori