Aspiring Gardener

Has anyone tried those upside down tomato planters? Do they really work? I've seen the same thing for strawberries too. Also, if I put one on my covered balcony in Las Vegas, would they grow well and would that keep them safe from the bugs? I guess these questions are mostly for Inger-Lis, but if anyone else knows anything, that would be useful.

Interval Training

I saw this on Discovery News and thought it was so cool. Maybe I should be a guinea pig and try this out.

Interval Training Can Cut Exercise Hours Sharply

One hour a week of steep intervals? Maybe followed by a few days of walking or yoga. . . hmmm.

I have added on yet another reason to get in better shape today- I said I would go back and work at the farmer's market again. 12 hours of heavy lifting, walking, etc in all sorts of weather. The first day is April 3rd, so I think I will try this interval training, with a little weight lifting in between and yoga. I am interested to see how it works and if it helps make Farmer's Market less destroying to my body.

Lemon Pepper chicken and Roasted Veggies

I developed this recipe last week out of laziness and a strong craving for lemon pepper. It is super fast to put together, and only requires a casserole dish (and food of course). I loved this recipe so much I tried to make it two nights in a row, only to discover I was out of chicken! Its still pretty good sans meat.

The amounts listed will feed about two adults and a child, but the beauty of this recipe is you can easily add more chicken and vegetables to feed an army if you needed to. This recipe makes a well rounded meal of lean protein and vegetables high in vitamin C, potassium (good for workout recovery), fiber, and beta-carotene. Spinach salad goes great as a side dish.

Due to the "throw together" nature of this recipe, exact quantities are hard to guess. This is a pretty forgiving recipe though and can be easily adjusted to suit taste

Ingredients:

2 potatoes or parsnips
3 carrots
1 large orange yam (technically a sweet potato)
2-3 chicken breasts

Seasonings:
Lemon pepper
Salt
2 T olive oil or butter Note: I love the butter, but olive oil really is the healthier choice here.

Preheat oven to 350. peel and cube all vegetables into fairly uniform size- about 1" cubes. Cut chicken into slightly bigger chunks. Place together in shallow casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil, or cut butter into pieces and spread through out.

Liberally sprinkle lemon pepper over chicken and veggies and sprinkle salt to taste. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes or until chicken is done and veggies are cooked to desired tenderness, stirring casserole once or twice during the cooking process to mix spices and oil.

*if you are a little short on time, you can always cut the meat and vegetables up smaller to speed up baking, but they will turn to mush quicker too. I like the veggies a little al dente and the 1" size seems to cook them uniformly with the chicken.

Bon appetite!

Exercise, Exercise, and more EXERCISE!!

I've been working out to the Jillian Michael's dvd "30 Day Shred" for well, almost 30 days now. I have noticed that it's helping me drop lbs and it makes me feel better, but I can't help notice that my arms are still flabby! UGH...does anyone else have this problem and if not, how do I mend it without lippo? I work on toning my arms, shoulders, biceps and triceps with the Jill dvd, but is there something else I should be doing? I'm open for suggestions...so lay 'em on me!

First Order of Business

We need a name and a few more friends! Becky and I were discussing what we wanted this blog to be about, and chiefly, we want it to be about everyone! We want a place where we can chat about healthy living, weight loss, and finding a balance between living on carrot sticks or Big Macs.

First order of business, we need a blog title. Any suggestions?