Turkey Burgers

Turkey Burgers

1.5 Pound Ground Turkey

1/8 C bread crumbs

1 egg white beaten

1/8 C diced onion (or dehydrated)

1 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 C fresh parsley (or dehydrated)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and form into 4 patties. Grill till burgers are between 165-180 degrees. While grilling sprinkle patties liberally with worchestire sauce on each side and sprinkle with a little season salt. You can also put a little oil in a skillet and heat. Serve with the same condiments that you would for a hamburger; bun, cheese, mayo, mustard, bbq sauce, lettuce, tomato and onion.

I learned the coolest trick tonight about how to form perfect hamburger/turkey burgers using a lid. I used a large peanut butter lid.

Find a lid that is slightly bigger than the size of your hamburger bun. Cover the lid in plastic wrap. This will make it easier to remove the patty after each use.

Place a good amount of ground beef inside the lid.

Press meat down firmly into the lid. Remove any excess meat or add more if necessary.

Flip patty out and continue to make as many burgers as needed.

Spring Sprint

Less than a week ago my trainer asked me if I wanted to run the Spring Sprint 5K race with her this weekend. Yeah, you heard me right...this weekend! I was like "No, I am totally not prepared"; she begged and I gave in. She was like, "please, run this with me". Do you know what that means? It means that I will see her at the start line. She is fast and will probably be done by the time I am half way thru. She has promised to turn back and run me to the finish. So I guess I am running a 5K this weekend. I am totally not prepared but I guess it will give me a starting point.

My trainer, Tammye, has also challenged all of the girls she trains to complete a physical challenge on May 28th. This will include a 5K run, doing 1200 stairs and a strength circuit all in one day. I guess that this 5K will better prep me for that day of torture. The goal is just to complete the challenge. I am getting mentally prepared. I know that I can do it!

The Scale

So, it's been a while since I posted a pic of the scale. I am going to try and get back on track of posting every week or 10 days. Here it is. I know that when I was posting more regularly I was being held more accountable.

After seeing this picture my toes looked so bad, I gave myself a pedicure. They look great now...check out the next pic with my nice, bright red toes :)

Living Social

I have bought quite a few things from Living Social. If you have never heard of it, you should sign up. Pretty much they post amazing one day deals, then you have about 6 months to redeem. Some examples are color, cut & style at an Aveda Salon for $60 (reg. $120), Schlaak manicure & pedicure for $30 (reg. $60). I have got massages half price, trips to local attractions and museums at big discounts, etc. The deal yesterday was one month at Ladies Total Fitness, a local gym, with unlimited use and classes for $10.

I love my private gym and small group personal training but I have been wanting to try spin. I also had several friends sign up for the deal so I figure if I just go to two classes it was worth my money because individual classes are usually around $5. Some of them were looking for a workout partner so I thought the least I could do is pay it forward and go workout with them a few times.

I am really excited to try their RPM spin class. It is on Fridays and Saturdays; I know you can burn approx. 500 calories in a 50 hour spin. It is also nice cause they have childcare. I am really not interested in joining the gym but it will be nice to be able to get in a few extra sessions this month and prep for summer. I have only been to spin class one other time and it was years ago (like 10 years ago). My cousin-in-law, Bryna, convinced me to go with her. She is in really great shape, check out her blog here. Anyways, it was terrible. I was not in good shape and very overweight at the time. I literally couldn't hardly walk for days. It felt like I had ridden a horse all day long and my muscles and butt bones hurt like crazy.

Yet, I am excited to try again. This time I am more in shape, weigh less and think it will be a great workout and burn. Wish me luck! I also know that I will be using a padded seat cushion so my tush doesn't get quite as sore. All the spinners I talk to say that you get used to it. We will see.

More torture

Here are a few videos of some of the latest torture that I have went through. Try these at home for some fun and a challenge. It is hard to post these videos....I know that they are not attractive and that my workout clothes accent every problem of my body. Not quite the same as posing in a new outfit from Macy's or a new dress, however I wanted you all to see what I am doing. This literally is 5% of the workout. It is too hard to show you everything but I figure I can give you little bits and pieces. Also, most of what I am showing you, you can do at home as they are compound movements only using your own body weight or small dumbbells.

Wide Stance Push-ups with Squat Jumps

Sit-Ups with One Armed Bridge

French's Onion Chicken & Artichoke

Here is a good low fat/low carb recipe. You could even use less flour or whole wheat flour if you are really trying to reduce carbs or use egg whites if you are really trying to cut calories. If you have never tried artichokes; you should! They definitely have a unique flavor but if you like asparagus there is a good chance you will like artichokes too. Growing up in California, we ate them on a regular basis as majority of them were grown just about an hour from my house. Majority of people I knew served them with mayonaise (sounds odd but try it, its yummy), however once I met my husband he introduced me to dipping them in butter. You can use low-fat mayo though with some cracked pepper and lemon; you can't really reduce the calories of butter. Both ways are good. Here are some other ideas for dipping sauce (click here).

French's Chicken & Artichoke
2 C Frenchy's Dehydrated onions (you could use generic)
2 TBSP flour
1 egg (or 2-3 egg whites)
3-4 Chicken Breasts or 1 pkg Chicken tenders (boneless/skinless)

Directions:
Combine onions & flour and mash with rolling pin. Dip chicken into egg and then put in a bag and shake. Cook at 400 for 20 minutes.

Artichoke
Trim the stem off the artichoke and trim the thorny leaves with scissors. Steam artichoke for 30 minutes. I like to use a steaming basket but if you don't have one you can just put an inch of water in the pan. Cover and let steam. Serve with butter or mayonaise.

My sister-in-law did a blog post on how to eat artichokes. If you have never ate one you may want to check it out.

Truvia

This week I decided to try Truvia natural sweetener. This is nothing new to me. I have known about stevia, the plant it is derived from, for over a decade now. My husband's family is really into natural health and they were using stevia before it was ever approved by the FDA. I had tried the liquid which I liked for sweetening some things such as smoothies, hot tea, etc but it kind of had an after taste to me.

I really do like the Truvia. It seems sweeter than sugar though so you don't have to use as much. However I don't notice the after taste that you have with splenda, equal and others. Today I sprinkled half of a packet on some strawberries and blackberries; even that was a little sweet and I could of used less.

One thing I like about stevia is that it is natural and has a glycemic index of zero. Here is a little comparison chart to other sweeteners.

Pineapple Bliss

We had some neighbors over for dinner and dessert the other night and I wanted to make dessert but nothing too calorie dense. I remembered seeing an angel food cake with pineapple in a magazine and decided to try it out. It was super super easy. I had made it about a year ago and remember it being lovely and yummy. Everyone enjoyed it and it literally took me 10 minutes to make.

Pineapple Bliss Cake

Store bought Angel food cake

1-1.5 C cool whip

20oz can crushed pineapple

4 serving pkg vanilla pudding

Seasonal berries

Directions

Mix can of pineapple with pudding mix. Slowly add in 1 C of cool whip and fold in. Cut angel food cake in thirds and add pineapple cream between layers. Top with seasonal berries. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Today I noticed this recipe for Pineapple Bliss Cupcakes (2-3 points a piece) on another blog that I follow. Looked delicious and a similar concept. Check it out.

The Dress

My church is pretty casual. We accept anybody...come just as you are. So it is not unusual to see people in jeans. However, this Sunday was a special sunday. For the past year we have been in the process of buying and building a new building. Today was the first Sunday in the new church so I decided to dress up. I had several posts about my Ann Taylor, size 12 dress that I had gotten to wear in Chicago. I did wear it while I was there but then neglected to get a picture. I can't wait till I can wear it without the sweater! It was plenty warm enough today but still not that confident about my arms. So...here it is for those of you that asked.