Barefoot Girevik

We are now almost one week into the first ever Spring Makeover Challenge at Sturgeon Valley Athletic Club and the weekly weigh in is looming.  I wonder how all of the participants are feeling about their efforts so far. The thing that I love about this particular challenge is its emphasis on health and learning healthy new habits that are designed to be sustainable even after the challenge is over.  Yes, it is a weight loss challenge where people are competing to lose the most weight each week but the coaches are all doing their best to ensure that the weight loss is being done in the safest way possible. On the eve of our weekly weigh in, I want to remind everyone that even though it is a competition, in the end, it is your health and safety that we are concerned with.  A good amount of weight loss for a week is 2 lbs. There is a bit of leeway of course depending on the individual and their particular program, however excessive weight loss initially is likely water...

Happy Valentines Day! Alright, maybe I jumped the gun a bit with the 'Happy' wishes a few days early but I love Valentines day.  Do you have any big plans this year?  May I suggest a fun idea?  How about this year, instead of going out to a fancy restaurant, why not stay in and cook a heart healthy meal together?  I have put together a menu built around heart healthy foods and the recipes that go along with it to ensure that your heart keeps beating strong for your main dish. Menu: Appetizer: Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto:   Just like it sounds, heavenly spears of crunchy asparagus spears wrapped together with a piece of salty prosciutto.  Asparagus is chock full of anti-inflammatory nutrients and antioxidants, among them, vitamins K and C respectively.  Heart disease is known to be a chronic disease that evolves due to excessive inflammation and oxidation.  Two key steps in preventing heart disease is to ...

Fighting off Cold and Flu Season Every year as Christmas draws near, I hear the same thing from several friends and relatives.  (Think back, I bet you either know someone who has said this or maybe you've said it yourself.)  " There is always someone sick in our house every Christmas! "  Why is it that some families get through the holidays unscathed and perfectly healthy while others struggle?  The best way to fight off any kind of sickness at any time of the year is to make sure that your immune system is healthy and has all the support it needs to keep you going strong.  I know it isn't fun when someone in your house is sick and can't join in the festivities.  Why not start planning ahead?   Start now , boosting your immune system and your family's and arm yourself with the proper tools to fight off infection. What are some of the things you can do? 1. Rest:  Make sure you are getting enough.  Getting enough sleep isn't just a...

In case you missed it, there was a big football game on Saturday night.  Packers vs Niners playoff game.  It didn't end the way I wanted it to but lets not go there.  If you have been following my blog you know that I like football and you also might know that my team is the Green Bay Packers.  For Christmas last year my husband gave me an NFL cookbook with menu suggestions and recipes for every team in the league.  It isn't always easy to come up with dinner ideas day after day after day after...well you get it.  So on game day it is nice to just flip to the corresponding page of my cookbook and find inspiration. On Saturday the recipe for "Fish Fry with Hush Puppies" caught my eye.  I had fish so I was sure I could make it work somehow.  The problem was that the recipe for the fried fish contained buttermilk, cornflake crumbs and all purpose flour and the hush puppies were deep fried lumps of cornmeal batter. I wasn't about  to sabotag...

The weather is starting to get quite cold and with the cold air comes the frost.  If you have any good apples still hanging in there, you may want to try a good preserve recipe so you can stick them away for the cold winter months.  My Granny had a beautiful garden and orchard on the farm and always had loads of apple and crab apple preserves.  They were always such a treat for us.  I decided this year to try canning for the first time because I finally had enough apples on my tiny tree to attempt it.  The recipe is shared below, we cracked open a jar for Thanksgiving dinner and they were delish. Crab Apple Preserves: Ingredients: 6 cups water 1 cup maple syrup 2 Tbsp lemon juice 4 lbs crab apples cleaned and picked over 1 stick cinnamon If you like cloves, you could add +/- 1 tsp of whole cloves.  I am not crazy for the taste of cloves so I didn't use them. 3-4 quart size canning jars with lids and rings How to: Set canning jars into a la...

Can you tell I'm a Packer fan?  Right now I am relaxing after a long day of teaching and learning with a cup of my special Autumn Spice Coffee.  (while listening to the Packers kick some Saints butt) Until now, this was my own special recipe that I didn't share with anyone.  Everyone has to have a few secrets. I decided that this is just way too good to keep secret.  I tend to think of coffee the way some people think of Red wine.  I like to add interesting combinations of flavours before brewing to see what I come up with.  Just experiment, there will be some disasters, there always is but then there will be that one that is just awesome.  On a cold, fall afternoon, there is really nothing better than a good spiced cup of coffee.  Recipe is below, try it out, come up with your own combinations of flavours, play with it. Autumn Spice Coffee  Ingredients: Good quality coffee beans (I like Kicking Horse, Grizzly Claw) Cinnamo...

As football season is now well underway, I thought I should share some thoughts on proper nutrition for our athletes.  Nutrition for an athlete is all about optimizing your performance. Food is fuel, period.  This is not to say that your fuel shouldn't taste good. It just means that some thought and a little work need to go into it. The first item on the menu?  WATER.  I can not stress this enough.  Our bodies are made up of approximately 60% water.  Water helps transport oxygen in your blood, it cushions your joints, helps with metabolism and aids in brain function (just to name a few things).  If you let your body get to a dehydrated state and your brain cells do not have enough water to function properly, they will have to work much harder and you will end up with a headache.  Your body needs oxygen to fuel the reactions to produce energy for your muscles. If your body doesn't have enough water to aid in the transport of oxygen through ...

Almost a year ago   I posted The Evolution of A Recipe showing how I have changed the recipe for Impossible Cheeseburger Pie over the years so that my family could continue to enjoy it even though our eating habits have changed.  I have made yet another change to that delicious recipe and want to share it with all of you.  Below is my recipe from a year ago with a couple changes.  Most of it will stay the same, the change is to the biscuit mix.  I have hi-lited the changes by changing the text colour to red.  Happy Cooking! My NEW Paleo Version Impossible Cheeseless Burger Pie Ingredients: 1 lb. extra lean ground grass fed beef 1 med. yellow onion chopped 1/4 tsp sea salt 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper 2 fresh chopped Jalapenos (I remove the seeds so they aren't quite as hot) 2 cloves garlic smashed and chopped 2 tsp chili powder 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp paprika 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne 1 1/2 c. Almond or coconut milk 1/4 C Coconut Flour 3/4 ...