Z3 High Octane Bars

Last week I attempted my first Century bike ride with several members from T3. My 100 mile ride was mainly fuel by Hammer Perpetuem, Hammer Heed and Gu Gels. I even had some Shot Bloks with me, but I didn't take any on the ride.  In the middle of my ride, my stomach felt a little bloated and I remembered thinking I would be in trouble if I had to get off my bike and run at this point. 

I am an avid podcast listener, primarily in the fitness and nutrition categories. (Go figure, huh?) Several podcasters including Ben Greenfield and Jon of Garden Variety Triathlon Podcast, discuss fueling concepts which go against the current high carbohydrate, pure glucose protocol. Ben Greenfield promotes a low carbohydrate lifestyle for the endurance athlete. Jon promotes a plant based diet for triathlons.

As a Type II Diabetic, fueling with pure glucose doesn't make sense to me. Sure, I know I need the fuel for my system, but what is it doing to my glucose levels? When the glucose burns off, will I bonk? All of these questions made me wonder about alternative fuels which can incorporate fat, protein and glucose while eliminating preservatives and additives. 

Most of the energy bars I've tried seem to have some type of icing or chocolate covering on them. Has anyone else thought about this? How am I supposed to eat this things without becoming a hot, sticky mess while eating coated energy bar in August in Louisville, KY??? 

I have found a mission. I am going to find the perfect energy bar which I can create (No laughing from those of you who know how little actual cooking or baking I do.) which isn't coating with sugar which will melt all over before I even have a chance to enjoy them.  

Mixing the ingredients

I put a request out on Facebook asking friends if they have any recipes for me to try and I got crickets chirping. So instead I decided it was time to check things out with my friend Google. I found a Z3 High Octane Bar. The recipe is simple, requires no oven (which is fabulous on a hot summer day where the temperature is 102) and contains fiber, fat, protein and carbs. Each bar contains 340 calories, 45g Carbohydrates, 5g of Dietary Fiber, 16g of Fat, and 10g of Protein. 

The ingredient list was simple and straight forward, which of course I need: quick oats, natural peanut butter (I chose Chunky), honey, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, flaxseed and whey protein powder. I also picked up supplies for an additional batch to mix up some bars using dried pineapple and white chocolate chips. Hey, if I'm going to do this,  I might as well have the flavors I really enjoy, right? 

Z3 High Octane Bars

After mixing together the ingredients, all you have to do is press the mixture into an 8x8 pan and refrigerate until ready to serve. I tried a square of the High Octane Bars and they were really quite yummy. I am still concerned about the melting factor considering the bars do have chocolate chips in them, but I thought was a good start to my quest for the perfect energy bar. I am going to package a couple into snack size baggies and try to use them this weekend during my practice ride on the IM-Louisville bike course. 

Do you have a recipe for a energy bar you would like me to test? Send it me! I'm on a mission!

Menu Plan Monday

It's Menu Plan Monday. I'm trying to get back into the swing of being a "stay at home mom" (who works out all day long). So the crock pot is definitely going to be a very good friend of mine for a while. 208 days til IM-Louisville! 






Monday: Sweet & Sour Meatballs with whole wheat pasta. I've renamed Monday "Meatball Monday". It just seems we have this recipe quite often on Mondays. Now that I'm teaching ZUMBA at 4:30 on Monday nights it's a quick, easy recipe for my daughters to make and have ready by the time I get home from class.


Tuesday: Ham & Bean Soup We had a ham in the freezer from a band fundraiser last year. It was definitely time to cook it up and enjoy. I'll probably have a few recipes over the next week or two with leftover ham. 


Wednesday: Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken with rice & broccoli. ** New Recipe **


Thursday: Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas ** New Recipe **


Friday: Leftover Buffet


Saturday: Grilled Summer Sausage with sweet potato fries and baked zucchini chips. The baked zucchini chips will be a new recipe, but I'm sure I will love them. Probably not my two picky eaters. 


Sunday: Healthier General Tsao's Chicken ** New Recipe **

Purple Chicken

Now that I am going to have more time to plan family meals I need to start getting my list of go to recipes together again. I always think of my friend, Elizabeth, when it comes to meal planning. She has her list of recipes which her family enjoys and makes them often. 


A year or two ago I asked my family what recipes I make that they like. Camo-man replied, "Frozen Pizza." Ahhh, the love and support of your life partner! (Grrrr)

Tonight at dinner, Hollywood reminded me of the Purple Chicken recipe. I tend to find new recipes, give them a try, have my 2 picky eaters tell me they don't like them and then never make them again. Do you see a problem here? Yes, I know. I have food issues. 


Back to the story....I made a chicken dish which turned out purple. It called for grape jelly and I didn't think about the effect the color would have, but I do have to agree with my family. It was definitely not visually appealing. Yes, it looked like the picture to the left...but not quite. 


Purple chicken. 
That is my goal. 
To NOT make purple chicken ever again. 

Afternoon Snack: Nacho Popcorn - 45 Calories and Under 10 Grams of Carbs: A Great Diabetic Snack

Afternoon Snack: Nacho Popcorn - 45 Calories and Under 10 Grams of Carbs: A Great Diabetic Snack

Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Casserole Recipe | MyRecipes.com

Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Casserole Recipe | MyRecipes.com

I used to be a cereal eater in the morning. However, early  morning carbs don't really mix well with my diabetes. So I'm working on getting more protein in the morning. In searching for a lighter breakfast casserole, I found this recipe from MyRecipes.com.

This is one of my favorite recipes to help me eat protein at breakfast. I'm always searching for this recipe...so it finally dawned on me to link it to my blog so I can always find it. I'm making a double batch today. One to eat and one to freeze for later. It's made with turkey sausage and tastes delicious. Pair it with some fruit salad and my mornings will be off to a great start!

Menu Plan Monday: October 19th

With a few moments to spare, I'm trying plan my menus for the week. It may be called Menu Plan Monday, but I'm getting it done on Sunday! My goal for the week is use primarily what I have on hand to create meals for my family. Payday is Friday and we need to stretch those grocery dollars until then! We also have a busy week with basketball games for Sunshine on top of my kids' other activities and trying to get my workouts in.

Monday night is a low key night for us. Not too much going on so I'm going to take advantage of it and actually cook dinner that night. Tuesday & Thursday we have basketball games. So those nights will be crock pot nights. Wednesday I plan on pulling out a meal from the freezer thanks to 30 Day Gourmet. Friday will probably be leftover night because Sunshine has a late basketball practice and then she'll head straight off to the dodgeball tournament. Saturday we have three different cookouts to attend. So we'll have to take a dish to share to some or all of those. Sunday we'll have a nice family lunch after church before I head off to play volleyball and swim for the evening.

So here it is: My menu plan for the week of October 19th
Monday:       Almond-Crusted Tilapia with Crunchy Quinoa w/Almonds and Apricots
Tuesday:       Crockpot Enchiladas from 30 Day Gourmet
Wednesday:  Cashew Chicken from 30 Day Gourmet
Thursday:      Crockpot Sweet & Sour Chicken w/mango from 30 Day Gourmet
Friday:          Leftovers - Waste not Want Not!
Saturday:      Mom's Taco Salad & My World Famous Chex Mix (actually from Pampered Chef)
Sunday:        Salmon Burgers with Mediterranean Salad

That's the plan. Now I've got to stick to it!

Chocolate Latte

I was curious today after talking to a few friends about making a smoothie with high protein. Being diabetic, I obviously can't go crazy on all of the carbs. I found this recipe on Men's Health from the Abs Diet for Chocolate Latte:

The Chocolate Latte (Powerfoods: 4)

1/2 cup 1% chocolate milk

1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt

1/2 banana

1 tablespoon peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon finely ground coffee

2 teaspoons chocolate whey protein powder

6 ice cubes

Makes 2 8-ounce servings

Per serving: 171 calories, 10 g protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 6 g fat (2 g saturated), 2 g fiber, 116 mg sodium

It sounded delicious: banana, chocolate and a splash of coffee?? Why not try it? Of course, I had to modify the recipe since I didn't have any bananas. I even searched the deep recesses of my freezer to see if I had a frozen one back there that I had forgotten about, but couldn't find one. So, no bananas. Strike 1. No whey protein powder either. Strike 2. 

But being in an inventive mood, I decided to make my own substitutions. I'm not sure the culinary experts of the world would agree with my choices (Remember that I am no Julie or Julia or even a Liz & Janice), but I had to make due with what I have in my pantry. So, here is my version of the Abs Diet Chocolate Latte.

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup Oiko's Plain  yogurt

5 dried apricot

1 tablespoon peanut butter

1 teaspoon instant coffee

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 sleeve of plain instant oatmeal

1 tablespoon of wheat germ

Makes 2 8-ounce servings

I tried it without the apricots and oatmeal at first, but naturally it was a little runny. The apricots and oatmeal definitely thickened it. The smoothie was surprisingly quite good. I didn't even taste the apricots really. I was afraid it would be an odd mix of peanut butter & apricots. Next time, I will definitely make sure I have bananas on hand because what could be better than peanut butter, chocolate and bananas? Honestly, probably nothing!

I wanted to take a picture, but honestly it doesn't quite look appealing. Honestly, it reminds me of something from when my little princesses where still in diapers. I was worried the smoothie would leave me still feeling like I need to eat something, but to be quite honest my belly is full and satisfied and now it's time to get ready for church. 

Time for Soup

It's fall and that means it's time to break out the soup recipes. My favorite over the past has been Weight Watchers Core 0 pt Vegetable Soup. I've actually purchased the ingredients and I'm ready to make a batch today. The next recipe to try just might be Taco Soup Recipe from Sparkpeople.Mmmm, soup, it warms the heart and soothes the soul.

Grilled Chicken & Polenta with Nectarine-Blackberry Salsa Recipe - ACE Healthy Recipes - American Council on Exercise

The picture on this link was enough to make my mouth start watering. This looked yummy and delicious. Grilled Chicken & Polenta with Nectarine-Blackberry Salsa Recipe

MMM: Almond Crusted Tilapia

I'm on a kick right now of finding healthy recipes. Notice I said finding them because actually going to the store, buying the ingredients and cooking them is the difficult part. I can plan, plan, plan, but it's the implementation which gets lost. Once I get past this small block of time where I can actually sit down and look at healthy recipes, it's very difficult to find MORE time to prepare a grocery list, shop and cook these incredibly good tasting recipes. OR - which this irks me off more than anything - I find the time to shop, but then I don't have time to cook during the week and I end up with rotting produce.....wasted money, wasted food AND wasted time. I hate to waste! I guess that's part of growing up with a Depression-Era father. Waste not. Want not.

Anyway, here is another recipe which I would love to give a try sometime. Maybe one of these fall weekends I'll have the time to prepare a grocery list, shop and cook all in one weekend. I might find the time come.....January?

Anyway, here is the recipe for Almond Crusted Tilapia from Meal Makeover Moms.

Soup Recipe

I found another soup recipe I'm going to try as soon as the weather actually starts to feel like FALL and stays there! This recipe is from In Good Taste and it's Spicy Sausage, White Bean & Spinach Soup. Now let's face it. Camo-Man, Hollywood & I will love this recipe. Diva Princess and Sunshine will dig out the sausage and eat it, but I can't live my life trying to satisfy them. Maybe some day they'll come over to my side and realize healthy eating is soo much better and more tasteful!

Recipe: Homemade Chocolate Protein Bars

I found a recipe today on SparkPeople that I think I might need to try. It's Homemade Chocolate Protein Bars. I love homemade food. The problem is finding the time to prepare it myself....and then making it again if I like it. Oh well. I'm not perfect. Maybe I'll just gather all of these recipes for a cold, wintry weekend and spend the entire weekend cooking and prepping food to keep my family and myself healthy.

Cannellini Bean Salad with Tuna, Peperoncini, and Parsley

OK, that's obviously not me baking
in the kitchen. Maybe Mrs. Cleaver?

While trolling through my food blogs, I found this recipe Spicy Cannellini Bean Salad with Tuna, Peperoncini, and Parsley from Kalyn's Kitchen. I've decided to give this recipe a try for lunch this week. If food is going to fuel my body, I want it to be tasty, flavorful food and this recipe while simple enough for a poor cook like me offers plenty of flavor. I'll post a review later this week.

Recipe:Garlic Pita Chips

I am constantly looking for some good recipes to replace the processed foods that my dear husband seems to think he "needs" in his lunch. I understand the desire to crunch and munch, but hate thinking about all of the unnecessary and unhealthy additives that food manufacturer's put into our food. I found a recipe for Garlic Pita Chips from MyRecipes.com. I think I might give this a try and see if my two picky eaters: Sunshine & Diva Princess will take the bait!

Working my plan

The start of the week always begins on Monday and let's face it. Mondays can be hell. So why start the week in that fashion? Am I going to do that? No, not me.  So let's start it right with a PLAN!


Monday:
Workout: Ride my bike to the pool and swim, swim, swim and interval run, and ride home
Dinner: Spicy Chicken (chicken in crock pot with taco seasoning and chicken broth)

Tuesday:

Workout: Ride my bike in the morning and swim at 11

Dinner: Sweet and sour meatballs

Wednesday:

Workout: Bike to the pool and swim, 5k run, and ride home

Dinner: Sloppy Joes

Thursday:

Workout: Ride in the morning and swim at 11

Dinner: Swim-A-Thon dinner with swim team

Friday:

Workout: Pilates and stretching

Dinner: Michelle's Signature Salmon

Saturday:

Workout: Tremont Triathlon

Dinner: Spicy Shrimp Casserole

Sunday:

Workout: Bike

Dinner: ......running out of ideas here! Any thoughts??? Maybe I can get Jeff to grill something.

Exercise & Menu Plan for week of 2/22/2010

Planning, planning, planning. It's all in the planning. And as far as menu plans, who has been doing that one lately? After looking over my budget deficit spending this week, it's time to come up with a good plan. So away we go......


Monday
D: Spicy Chicken (chicken in crock pot with taco seasoning and chicken broth)
WO: Swim (technique drills), Run 5 miles, bis & tris, volleyball


Tuesday
D: Sweet & Sour Meatballs
WO: Herrin Circuit, Legs


Wednesday
D: leftovers (Sorry, I am working day and night!)
WO: Treadmill intervals, chest & back


Thursday
D: Sloppy Joes
WO: 4 miles at moderate pace, shoulders


Friday
D: Michelle's Signature Salmon
WO: Swim for endurance


Saturday
D: dinner at brother and sister -in-laws
WO: 12 mile run, rock climbing


Sunday
D: Oh who knows?
WO: REST


What is your plan for the week?

Humpback Whales at the River Plex

Today has truly been MY kind of day. After dropping the kiddos off at school, I came home to do a little cleaning (very little), a load of laundry, and started my vegetable soup. Finally about 9:30, I was ready to head to the River Plex.

I got to the lap pool and horror of horror saw someone from Tremont there. I thought to myself, "Oh man! Now he is going to 1) see me in a bathing suit and 2) see my drown as I pretend to know how to swim."

Eh! Oh well. He saw my in my tri outfit last year. How much worse can this be?

I don't know what the staff is doing at the River Plex, but by golly, the water sure is cold when I get in. I don't remember it being this cold last year. Wow! It usually takes me a minute or two to get brave enough to submerge my entire body. Finally, my body was acclimated and my cap & goggles were ready and I was off!

I pushed off the wall and I heard a creepy voice in my head telling me I was cheating. What??? Where did that come from??? Oh thanks Fatty! The Fat Cyclist wrote an article recently about training for a triathlon and how pushing off the wall after each pool length. Yes, Fatty, I know, there aren't walls in the lake at Canton. Damn. No more pushing off for me. I'm ruined.

I started out with 2-50s for a warm-up. Nice and easy. Just get the blood pumping. I've read about some swimming workouts where the warm up is 500 yards. YAH! Right. That's about my goal for the day!

After my warm-up, I started focusing on technique. Dragging my fingertips through the water for 50. Pulling only (no kicking) for 50. Focus on keeping my elbow up high for 50. After a few 50s, I was feeling kind of lame because the Tremont boy was 2 lanes over and hadn't stopped yet.

"Guess I'd better show him with my endurance and do a whole 100!" And to kick it up a notch, I threw in flip turns! This is when I discovered the humpback whales at the River Plex. My first flip turn was a FLOP turn. I took off too far from the wall and didn't get a good push off. (Sorry, Fatty, it was all in the name of technique!) On my second turn, I waited a stroke later to start my turn and WHOALA! I flipped, turned and was off again in no time...and that's when I felt it.

The humpback.....my buoyancy had suddenly changed. I had a humpback. When I did my flip turn, I apparently pulled my butt up out of the water and now had an air bubble wedged in my.....well, it was wedged. I had one air bubble in my ear and another keeping my lower body afloat. Boy, was I embarrassed when I finished my 100 and there was Mt. St. Helen's erupting around me.

"No, honestly, Mr. Tremont boy. I did not just relieve myself through my lower blow hole."

I think that's when I scared him because he exited the pool a little while later. I did another 100. A few more 50s and then a whole 200!...and then a couple more 50s. All in all I did 1000 yards today. NOT CONTINUOUS, no, thank you very much, but I am still working on my technique. Come March 1st....I'm going for endurance. Although I must say, swimming is kind of boring. I've always been the independent fitness guru but staring at the trash at the bottom of the pool can get quite boring. I need something to distract me and I'm thinking I need to get an Interval Waterproof Headphone System. Dang, I wish Fatty would give one to me.

I finished my workout and stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home. Yes, I went to the grocery store starving. I'm sorry, but it needed to be done. I didn't buy a bunch of junk though. I'm pretty pleased about that. On the way home I was listening to the Meal Makeover Moms and discovered a recipe for Banana Brownie Waffles which I just HAVE to try out on my kids. My girls eat processed white bread gross waffles most days for breakfast. I'd love to make these. 1) They are healthier. 2) They are chocolate. They won't even have to KNOW that they are healthy....but of course, my kids know I don't normally cook anything UNLESS it's good for you.

BUT now it's time to be off for work and coaching volleyball.

As the snow flies...

Since yesterday was a snow day in our little town, I took advantage of the time to catch up on the things that I want to do. It’s amazing how far behind you can get in 4 days of just dealing with things that I need to do. I read a few blogs. I reviewed my meal and workout plans. All as I watched the snow continue to fall throughout the day.

My favorite recipe right now is based on a recipe from Hungry Girl. Berries & Cream Oatmeal Pudding. I’ve modified the recipe from Hungry Girl 200 under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories to suit my needs…and my pantry. The creamy warm goodness of this recipe cannot be beat. I love Hungry Girl’s creative take on meals. Her recipes are something usually quick & easy and she’s not afraid to say exactly what products I need to buy in the store. For me, who is NOT Martha, Hungry Girl is a great help!

For dinners this week, I’ve also tried two recipes from my latest Diabetic Living magazine. Zesty Sloppy Joes were definitely a winner for me. Not only did I make the sauce from scratch, the meal was full of, yes, ZEST & spice. My DH& I loved this one. I also made Mediterranean Meat loaf this week which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. I did modify the recipe because I didn’t have bread crumbs in my pantry. I used Old Fashioned Oats instead. Meat loaf rarely gets me excited, but I did enjoy this recipe…and I’m still enjoying the leftovers as well.

Yesterdays workout was The Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout with the lower body toning segment. I will review the DVD soon now that I have completed the lower body toning, but let me tell you a secret now. It is a good one! Jillian does lead this DVD. She uses HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training. In this video, HIIT is broken into 30 seconds cardio segments followed by 30 seconds weight training/toning with no rest between. Hmmmm! I love this DVD. I just wish I had more like it! I completed the Last Chance workout and felt good. I decided to hop on the hamster wheel and do a hills workout to complete my lower body toning. I warmed up for 5 minutes and then raised the incline for 4 minutes, lowered to a 2% incline for 1 minute and then returned to a higher incline for 4 minutes repeating this interval until I had finished 30 minutes on the treadmill.

By the time I was done, my legs felt like I pushed them quite a bit, but I wasn’t exhausted. I felt great! The adrenaline rush had already kicked in. I love working out! REMEMBER THAT FEELING?

WWCore Vegetable Soup 0 pt

One of my favorite recipes to get me through the winter months and helps me eat my vegetatables is Weight Watchers Core Vegetable Soup for 0 points. Plus, the bonus feature is that it's a crock pot recipe. Put all of the ingredient in and walk away for a few hours. I love anything that is EASY! My crock before I even chop up any vegetables.

I added the chopped up vegetables....and a few hours later....

YUMMY YUMMY HOT SOUP! I usually have at least 1 cup per day through the winter. One batch lasts me about a week.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

10 oz spinach, baby, washed
2 medium carrots(s), chopped (NOTE: I like things easy. So I chop a few baby carrots.)

2 medium stalk celery, chopped

1 large onion(s), chopped

1 clove garlic clove(s), minced

4 c vegetable broth, low-sodium

28 oz canned diced tomatoes, no-salt added

2 leaf bay leaves

1 T dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, crushed

Place all ingredients in a slow cookers; cover and cook on high power for 5 hours. Remove bay leaves, stir and serve. Yields about 1 cup per serving.