Mini Apple Cinnamon Donuts

 

This weekend I received my Sunbeam Mini Dessert Maker from Amazon so I was SUPER excited to try it out. After much deliberation I settled on trying apple cinnamon donuts since I had an apple left in the fridge to utilize. I did some researching and decided I'd base my recipe off of Sally’s Baking Addiction’s Strawberry Frosting Donuts.

Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 12 Minutes

What You'll Need (makes 14 mini donuts):
- 1 cup of All-Purpose Flour
- 3 packets of Splenda (or any equivalent)
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 4 Tbspn of Non-Fat Vanilla Greek Yogurt
- 2 Tbspn of milk (I used almond milk)
- 1/4 cup of egg subsitute
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 Tbspn of Unsweetened Applesauce
- 1/2 of an Apple cored and diced
- 2 Tbspn of Ground Cinnamon

How To:
- Turn Dessert Maker on OR turn oven on to 325 degrees
- Spray Dessert Maker or donut pan with cooking spray
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and baking powder
- In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, milk, egg substitute, vanilla, apple sauce, and ground cinnamon
- Slowly mix wet ingredients with dry while adding apple pieces
- DO NOT OVER MIX!
- Fill Dessert Maker or donut sheet completely
- Close Dessert Maker and donuts should be donebetween 8-9 minutes
- If baking, donuts should be done between 8-11 minutes
- Remove and let cool
- Mangia!

Nutrition (per serving):
- Calories: 40
- Fat: 0.4 g
- Carbs: 7.7 g
- Protein: 1.6 g

Tips:
- Do not mix by hand! Use an electric mixer. I did not do this and ended up immediately over mixing the batter.
- I made a frosting with reduced fat whipped cream and low-fat vanilla greek yogurt. You could also use apple butter. Yummy!
- I wish I had thought of this earlier, but you can also add protein powder to your batter to make it just a tad bit better for you.

Carribean Chicken with Tomato Salsa and Rice

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Mmmm. Ever since I got back from the beach I've been trying to think of ways to replicate a Carribean Jerk Chicken meal I had. Surprisingly, I was able to get it right on my first try! This dish is really easy to make and you can modify it to your own tasting.

What You'll Need:
- 1 Serving (1/2 the package) of Perdue Chicken Short Cuts
- 1/2 Cup Diced Tomatos
- 1/4 Cup of Chopped Onions
- 1/4 Cup of Chopped Green Chiles
- 1/2 Cup of Instant White Rice
- 1 Cup of Pineapple Juice
- INSTEAD OF tomatos, onions, and chiles, you can buy pre-made salsa from your local grocery store

How To:
- Soak chicken in pineapple juice for as long as you want. Soaking isn't necessary but it enhances the flavor
- Cut up tomatos, onions, and green chiles
- Boil water for rice
- Place rice in water, cover, and remove from heat
- While rice is cooking, place chicken and pineapple juice in medium saucepan and cook on medium for 5 minutes or until chicken is warm/hot
- Serve homemade salsa and chicken over rice
- Mangia!

Nutrition:
- Calories: 330
- Fat: 2 g
- Carbs: 55 g
- Protein: 21 g

CharityMiles App

Again, thanks to my Pinterest addiction, I stumbled across an amazing new phone app. The app is called CharityMiles and it’s a great way to support charities through walking, running, and biking. It’s really simple to use and the best part is that all the money donations come from large corporate companies. So this is how it works. First you have to download the app from the app store or the android equivalent (it’s a purple app with a runner and a heart on it). Once you’ve downloaded the app all you have to do is connect it to your Facebook so it can share your fundraising with your friends. When you’re about to start your run, walk, or bike, you just open the app, select your “mode of transportation” and your charity and the app will do the rest for you. The application uses GPS tracking software to accurately track the distance you’ve gone. For every mile you walk or bike you raise $0.25 and I believe for every mile you bike you raise $0.10. The only downside I can see so far is that because it’s based off of GPS tracking, walking or running on the treadmill doesn’t count. BUT I’ve looked around and I’ve heard you can expect the application to support treadmills this coming Fall. The application has many great charities such as…

-        Wounded Warrior Project

-        Autism Speaks

-        Stand Up To Cancer

-        ASPCA

-        And a lot more

 
Throughout your journey the app updates you on how far you’ve gone, the time, and the impact you’ve had. This is from a walk I did for the ASPCA.

 

After you’re done with your walk all you have to do is share it on either Twitter or Facebook so everyone knows you supported a great cause. If you don’t share your exercise then the sponsors don’t pay so make sure you share it!! If you forget to share it you can always go back and post it to make sure the charity gets the funds. Typically you won’t make more than a couple of dollars at a time but think about if you did it every day while you were grocery shopping or running errands. It’s a great motivation to get people out and active to help support their favorite charities!

My First Attempt at Juicing

This is my lunch juice

Well I had been thinking about doing a juicing cleanse because of all the benefits I had read about (i.e. rids your body of toxins and what not) so of course I just went out and bought one. I tend to just go and do things because if I think about it too much then I start double guessing myself. This habit has its' pros and cons. So I did a little bit of research, went to Walmart at 9:00 pm and bought a Hamilton Beach juicer. I had already chosen what juices I would drink and told myself I needed to do this in order to clean everything out. I'm not going to lie; I've been feeling a little "stuffed up" so I figured it might help. So here's how things played out...

Breakfast:
Before I had my first juice I decided to do a "Saltwater Flush" that I had learned from doing the

Master Cleanse a year or so ago. Just to clear a few things out you know. So then I decided to make my juice which, for the most part, was easier than I expected. I had pre-cut up my ingredients the night before so I just put them into the juicer and there it was. My breakfast juice included...

- 3 medium-large carrots

- 3 medium fuji apples

- 1 red bell pepper

- juice from 1 medium lemon

- 3 medium-large celery stalks

- 3 large romaine lettuce leaves

 

It didn't sound too disgusting until I started drinking it. For the most part I like all the ingredients listed above but I want nothing to do with them when they're all thrown together. The ingredients make about 32 oz of juice and you're supposed to drink it immediately after making it. I threw up in my mouth about half way through but I forced myself to finish it.

Lunch:

I had cleaned out my juicer and packed it in my car to take to my boyfriend's house during lunch so I could have my second meal. My lunch juice consisted of...

-15 strawberries with green leaves intact

- 5 cups of red grapes

Luckily for me this one tasted WAY better than my breakfast juice. I was able to get about 3/4 of the entire thing down (so about 24 oz) before I felt like I was about to puke. I don't understand why they tell you to drink 32 oz of the juice in one sitting. That's way too much and is way too heavy on my stomach.

 

Dinner:

I caved for dinner and had an actual meal. I don't feel like too much of a failure because the goal of my cleanse was to clear out my system since I had been feeling "stuffed up" and it sure did the job. I made numerous bathroom runs.

 

Tips:

- Drink TONS of water

- Don't drink all of the 32 oz, have about 16 oz

- Don't be surrounded by people who aren't supportive or else you might cave...like me.

- Do your research on cleanses. There's a bunch of different fads going on out there and you'll want to choose a healthy cleanse.

Polar H7 Heart Rate Monitor

Taken from Polar's website

I recently purchased the Polar H7 HRM in hopes that I would track my caloric burn and heart rate more accurately. I don't trust the machines at the gym to accurately tell me how hard I'm working. Before purchasing the Polar H7 I did a lot of research because I was really hoping that my needs would be fulfilled with a Jawbone UP or Fitbit Flex. Sadly though with the amount of weight training and other multisport activities I do, neither of those fitness bracelets would be the most beneficial to me (even though I think they would look really cool in mint green on my wrist).

Anyways, after doing some research I decided I, personally, did not need a Polar watch because I wasn't looking to have something beep at me every time I went out of my target heart rate zone (yes, I know you can turn this feature off). Being a college student, trying to save for everyday expenses, my needs were fulfilled with just the H7 and my handy-dandy iPhone. I keep my iPhone on me while I work out to listen to music as well as use it as a stopwatch for my ab workouts.

Setting up the Polar H7:

I currently don't use any of the apps that the H7 is compatible with so I decided to download the app it was designed to work with: the Polar Beat. After nearly throwing the entire package out the window, I was able to rip the plastic casing apart and grab the HRM, chest strap, and instruction manual. The instruction manual offers very little instructions (ironic, I know). It said to lightly wet the chest strap before putting it beneath your bosoms, so that's what I did. I wet the strap, clicked the monitor in place, and to my surprise it stayed in place. I went to the Polar Beat app and opened up "Settings". It first asks you to fill out your basic information (age, gender, height, etc.). Now the important part; syncing the H7. Luckily, this is a lot easier than it could've been. All you do it go to "HR Sensor" under "Settings" and the Polar H7 shows up immediately. That's pretty much it. You just pair it. If the app can't seem to find the HRM, make sure your Bluetooth is on.

First Week with the Polar H7:
So far I'm really enjoying the heart rate monitor. It's easily worn with little to no slipping underneath my sports bra. I usually forget it's there to be honest. My typical workout includes a 5 minute warm up run, strength training, and some interval running. I use an armband (TuneBand to be exact) so I haven't had a problem with the receiving distance. The only complaints I have so far is that the app has randomly stopped working once and luckily I noticed in time to probably only work out for about five minutes without my heart rate and caloric burn being recorded. The caloric burn seems to be fairly accurate. It's relatively low compared to what the treadmill states I've burned so I'm going to go with that one. On the application you can state what type of exercise you are doing but I have a tendency to forget to change it from strength training to running and vice versa. One thing I'm really pleased with about the H7 is that it has encouraged me with my interval training. To maximize fat burning you're supposed to do interval training (dramatically increasing and decreasing your heart rate for short amounts of time) and the H7 allows me to monitor my heart rate accurately so I know when to switch gears. After my workout session I manually create a new exercise on my "Lose It!" app and just record the time and caloric burn.

So to sum everything up, I highly recommend the H7 for anyone who wants to accurately track their heart rate and caloric burn.

Plankaholic

Whenever someone asks me what my go-to exercise for my abs are I immediatly say planks. There's so many differnt types of planks that vary from beginner planks to much more difficult ones. If you're still trying to ease your way into the planking world (exercise planking, not that stupid one that I see posers doing on random objects) I suggest starting with the basic frontal facing and side planks for 30 seconds. As these become easier for you, you should increase the time to 1 minute and then a minute and 30 seconds. I know this can get boring so if you're trying to mix it up here is a list of a couple of my favorite plank variations with the links to instructions on how to do them on youtube.

Up-Down Plank – trust me this is a lot harder than it looks

Plank Jacks- make sure you have appropriate running shoes for these or else your toes will be hurting

Spiderman Planks- these work your obliques like no other

Side Plank Twists- I originally saw this in my yoga class

Wall Plank- You can also substitute the wall for an exercise ball

Toe Touch Plank – Fairly simple to do and you can always increase the intensity

Hip Dip Planks- I could not do these for the longest time, and even now I sometimes lose my balance

 

There you guys go! My top 7 favorite variations of the traditional plank. I typically choose three of these and some form of sit up between each with three sets. Any of your favorites that I didn't mention? 

Daily Donk Challenge

Good evening! Today, July 1, marks the third month of my fitness devotion. I started weight lifting, eating right, and doing cardio exactly three months ago on April 1. I wish I had taken before pictures because it would just make me that much more proud of myself and I would hope it would inspire others as well. Making the decision to start getting in shape is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my entire life. Sometimes you just have to jump in head first and I feel like deciding to turn your life around is one of those things. So in honor of not "half-assing" a lifestyle change I have decided to do a 30 day squat or "donk" challenge. 

I found this on Pinterest (my guilty pleasure) while looking up new ideas for my leg days. Though squats aren't anything new, doing 200+ of them a day is. One thing I know for sure is that my butt's going to hurt. If anyone decides to do the challenge with me please let me know! Good luck!

Update (7/8/2013): So I went out of town this week to go see a concert and forgot to do the challenge...BUT can't just give up so I went right back to the days I missed and now I'm back on track.

Update (7/18/2013): Today is day number 15 for me so I'm exactly half way done with the challenge. I've found it's easy to break down the reps into twenty as the numbers get bigger. I've also calculated how many squats I will have done after I've completed this challenge: 3,295 squats. That's a hell of a lot of squats to do. If my butt's not looking good after this, I have no idea what will do the trick.

FINAL Update (8/4/2013): I finished the squat challenge on Friday and it felt so good! I only had one hiccup along the way but that was it. It's a whole lot easier to do the larger number of squats when you do sets between other reps. I'm going to have to say that though my butt did get a little more firm, my thighs are what toned up the most. I lost fat in my legs. Can't complain since that's one of the harder things to do. It was a rough road and it certainly wasn't easy to do 150+ squats a day, but it was well worth it.