Sparkpeople | Apple Crumbles

Make Mince Pies and Make A Wish

Great email from SparkPeople.com today: Top 5 Reasons to Love A.M. Exercise Exercising early in the morning "jump starts" your metabolism, keeping it elevated for hours, sometimes for up to 24 hours! As a result, you'll be burning more calories all day long--just because you exercised in the morning. Exercising in the morning energizes you for the day--not to mention that gratifying feeling of virtue you have knowing you've done something disciplined and good for you. (Much better than a worm!) Studies have shown that exercise significantly increases mental acuity--a benefit that lasts four to ten hours after your workout [...]

By Joanne|2009-12-15T19:47:50-05:00December 15, 2009|Exercises, Food, Food thoughts, Quick Meals|3 Comments

Apple Crumbles Ratatouille Recipe

Hope you enjoyed a happy hump day? The weather was great in New York today. There were a few things going on such as me becoming the Administrator of Spark Utica team. Yeah! :cool: If you haven’t looked at the SparkPeople site yet, please take a peek. It is a terrific site for fitness, motivation, healthy nutrition, recipes and so much more. I’d love to have you join our group or one that is dear to your heart. I finally received my fresh olives today. There was a great little sampler of dried olives in the package called Olivasecca. [...]

By Joanne|2009-09-16T16:57:38-04:00September 16, 2009|Exercises, Food thoughts, Life|1 Comment

Bay Scallop and Shrimp Scampi Plus an Exercise Tip

Here is a great tip from SparkPeople.com: Circuit Training is a great way to do resistance training and aerobic training in one workout. You select a certain number of exercises, and go from one exercise to the next with little or no rest, until you've completed all of them. A circuit can be set up any way--it's fun to be creative. You can do a full body circuit, a lower body circuit, core circuit, upper body circuit, etc. By doing the exercises consecutively, your heart rate stays in the aerobic zone, at the same time developing lean muscle tissue. You can also [...]

By Joanne|2009-08-05T18:02:47-04:00August 5, 2009|Exercises, Food, Food thoughts|3 Comments

Baking Vegetables and Red Snapper Cajun Style en Papillote

When I went home for lunch today, there was an acorn squash on the counter screaming “Use Me!” “Use Me!” The noise was outrageous. There was a lonely plum tomato also calling out, in more of a baritone voice, ”My time is almost up…slice me”. I couldn’t stand it so I planned a “Use All Vegetables” side dish for tonight. We will call this “Screaming Squash and Friends”. Screaming Squash and Friends Oven Baked Vegetable Dish. Serves 6-8 –Based on a Sparkpeople recipe for Italian Vegetable Bake. 1 Plum tomatoes, sliced ½ onion, sliced ½ package frozen green beans, about 6 oz ½ green pepper, [...]

By Joanne|2009-06-11T18:56:54-04:00June 11, 2009|Food, Food thoughts|2 Comments

An Alfredo Recipe, No Cream Please

SparkPeople sent along a recipe a few weeks ago and I've been dying to try it. The original name was "Tofu Fettuccini Alfredo Recipe". I have changed it to "Tofu "Alfredo" over Vegetables". The result was very good. A lot of flavor and it paired well with the vegetables. If you eat pasta, definitely try this over your favorite homemade or store bought pasta. Have you ever wondered about that name "Fettuccini Alfredo"? What does it mean? Well here's one version at cookthink. In summary, it was created by a Roman restauranteur for his pregnant wife back in 1920. It's name is really, [...]

By Joanne|2009-05-21T18:53:56-04:00May 21, 2009|Life|4 Comments

Rowing, Cakes, and Pizza

Beginning with Rowing....Great Exercise Tip from Sparkpeople.com Using the Rowing Machine Rowing is a great aerobic exercise because the smooth, low-impact, and non-load bearing movement works the whole body and can challenge almost any fitness level. With the proper technique, rowing will evenly target all your major muscle groups (legs, arms, and torso). Be sure to warm up and stretch before your workout, and do not continue your exercise if you feel pain in your lower back. Sit on the seat and fully extend your legs onto the foot pads. Grab the handles with an overhand grip, pulling it [...]

By Joanne|2009-04-08T19:33:01-04:00April 8, 2009|Life|3 Comments