Health Tips - Apples

Meal Prep Ideas - Miso Salmon

The Ingredients

I am one of those people.  The one that stinks up the break room because I brought fish for lunch. But honestly, I don't care because fish is so delicious. One of my favorite things right now and Som's is Miso Salmon.  It is super easy and you can put it in anything.  Usually I will saute zucchini and mix it in some udon noodles.  Then when it's lunch time, I break up the salmon on top after I warm it up.  Oh and when warming up the fish less than a minute is enough.

Again, this is super easy.  It's only 4 ingredients!

Also I used white miso this time but red miso is just as good.

Ingredients

1 lb salmon

Marinating the Salmon

¼ cup soy sauce

1 ½ tbsp miso

2 tbsp water

Directions

1. Mix soy sauce, miso and water
2. Place salmon in plastic bag and pour in miso mix.
3. Marinate for 30 mins or longer
4. Preheat oven to 425°F
5. Bake salmon til cooked through about 15 minutes

XOXO,
Sothea

Miso Salmon

Health Tips - Garbanzo Beans

Meal Prep Ideas - Turkey Lettuce Wraps

This could possibly be one of my favorite things to eat.  It is easy and delicious!

Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

12 ounces ground turkey

1 Tbsp olive oil

8 ounces mushroom, chopped

½ onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce

3 Tbsp McCormick Asian Seasoning

Ingredients For Serving

8 - 10 butter lettuce leaves

2 ounces Japanese Somen Noodles

Sriracha

Directions

1. Cook the Somen Noodles as per package directions
2. Brown the turkey in the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until no longer pink.
3. Add the mushrooms, onions, and garlic and cook until the mushrooms soften.
4. Add the soy sauce and Asian Seasoning and cook 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
5. To serve: add a small amount of noodles into each lettuce leaf, top with the turkey mixture, and drizzle with Sriracha, if desired. Wrap the lettuce leaf to enclose the filling.

Printable Recipe

Meal Prep Ideas - Salads

I love salads but I hate getting the premade ones at the grocery.  Half the time I find lettuce that isn't good.  Then I'm disappointed. So I make my own. Our salads are not boring either.  I think that's one of the reason why people dislike salads.  They just picture a pile of lettuce.  (That's how my sister in law is)

Power Greens Salad

I also love salads because they are so easy to make.  It makes meal prep day go by a lot faster.  This week we had two different salads for lunch. First one, I'll call the Power Greens Salad.  The greens are baby spinach, baby red and green chards, and baby kale. I sliced red onions and a red bell pepper for added taste and color. I also add chicken.  You can bake, grill, slow cook the chicken. Whatever is your preference.  The salad dressing is the most difficult part.  It can turn a seemingly healthy meal into an unhealthy one.  So watch what you get.  For me, a tablespoon of dressing is enough. That helps keep my calorie count down.

Chickpea and Broccoli Slaw

For this Chickpea and Broccoli Slaw, I bought a bag of broccoli slaw, already cut up and added with other ingredients.  I added red onions and chickpeas to it.  It also has a side of cucumbers, chicken, and hummus. Hummus can be a great subistute for salad dressing.

Two simple salads that are not boring.

Enjoy,
Sothea

Meal Prep Ideas - Salmon Cakes

We are meal preppers.  Every Sunday is meal prep Sunday.  Doing this helps us stay on track.  We try to apply the 80/20 rule.  80 percent of our meals for the week are healthy.  Having meals already ready makes it so we won't reach for something easy and highly processed.

One of the meals for the week included Salmon Cakes.  It is a very simple recipe.

Ingredients

½ cup diced red onion

1 cup diced celery

2 cans salmon (about 6 ounces per can)

½ cup coconut flour

2 eggs beaten

3 tbsp light mayonnaise

2 tbsp mustard

2 tsp paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Drain salmon
3. Mix all ingredients
4. Brush 12 cup muffin pan with olive oil
5. Add mixture to fill each cup, pat down with spoon
6. Bake for 20 minutes

Printable Recipe

We had this with asparagus and Royal Blends Rice.  This one had a combination of light brown rice, red quinoa and freekeh. We love this blend because it cooks a lot faster then regular brown rice.

Happy Meal Prepping!

Cooking Tip - Quinoa

Our Favorite Things - VivoBarefoot Running Shoes

We are starting a new section about Our Favorite things.  None of these things will be things that we want to try out.  They will be items that we actually use and love.

I want to start off with my favorite running shoes.  They are by VivoBarefoot. I have a lot of shoes, probably too many but these are my go to running shoes. They have what they call Pure Barefoot Technology.  It makes for a more natural run.  It provides a more natural shock absorption, natural motion control, and natural sensory feedback. Another thing I love is that it has a wide toe-box. I was blessed with my mother's feet and my feet are a little bit extra wide in front.  This makes it harder for me to find really comfortable shoes. These are super comfy and I have no problems with them at all. Also when I first started running, I used to get shin splints.  These shoes actually helped out a lot.  I don't even remember the last time I had one.  

You can also find these shoes on Amazon.

~Sothea

I Hate Cardio

“I hate cardio!” I’m sure that we are not the only people that constantly hear this phrase.  There are many reasons that people give for hating cardio such as “I hate running,” “It hurts my knees.” “I hate the elliptical machine too.”  Som hates cardio too but the benefits from cardio are so great that it just has to become a necessary evil.  We found there are a couple of machines that are not as “evil”.  Our two favorite machines for cardio are the Arc Trainer and the CrossRamp.  They are both very similar to the Elliptical but they have a slightly different range of motion. Both have very similar benefits to the other.

Benefits

Low impact cardio

Good for people with knee problems, joint problems, spine problems, osteoporosis because it is less stressful on knees and joints

More challenging then Elliptical =  more calorie burn.

 
The only big difference in benefits is that the Arc Trainer mainly focuses on glutes and quads.  While the CrossRamp can be changed to focus on a variety of different lower body areas.  Both are good alternatives to the treadmill or Elliptical.  Also they are a great way to get your cardio in while building muscles in your lower body.  Both of us dislike the Elliptical so for cardio, we trade off between these two and running on the treadmill.

  

*We are not personal trainers.  Just two people that want to share tricks and tips we have learned on our journey.  This information is for general purposes only. Always consult your doctor before beginning any training or diet/supplement program.

Meal Prep Ideas - Pancake Muffins

I love pancakes but hate to make them in the morning.  I'm not a morning person.  I'm rather grumpy until I have my morning coffee.  Since I love pancakes and I hate making them in the morning, I've tried baking them with my weekly meal prep.  They are actually pretty good.  

I use Birch Benders Gluten Free Pancake Mix.  We buy ours at Sprouts Market but you can order from Birch Bender's website as well. We've tried other gluten free mixes and we've found that this is the best one.  Their regular pancake mixes are also excellent.

To start off, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.  Mix the ingredients according to your pancake mix.  I found that whatever it has to make 6-7 pancakes will make 6 pancake muffins.  Put in liners and back for 20 minutes.

Also you can add other things to the muffins.  For the picture to the right, I added peanut butter chips after I put the mix in the liners.


For the Strawberry Pancakes Muffins, I cut the top off a strawberry and put one in the center of each pancake muffin.

The Bacon Pancake Muffins were inspired by Adventure Time.  Our niece and nephew used to sing the bacon pancake song all the time.  For this one, I cut and cooked the bacon.  I only cooked it for a couple minutes.  I didn't want it to get crispy.   I added the bacon and chopped green onions to the mix.  

For the Almond Butter Pancake Muffins, I melted almond butter in a bowl in the microwave.  Then I added it to the mix.  This one was a more subtle taste. So when you serve it, spread a little almond butter on top for a little added flavor.

Enjoy,

Sothea

Meal Prep Ideas - Turkey Chili with Great Northern Beans

I cook all the time.  I've enjoyed turning recipes into a healthier version and trying to perfect it. One of my favorite recipes is for Turkey Chili.  I love chili and because of health issues I no longer eat red meat.  This has become a staple at our house. Usually I don't follow a recipe but for the blog, I am starting to write down what I use.

Turkey Chili with Great Northern Beans

Ingredients

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound ground turkey

1 Serrano pepper, diced

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup less sodium chicken broth

2 cans of tomatoes – no salt added

2 can Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Avocado or Cheese (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes.
2. Add the turkey and brown it, breaking it apart as you go, for about 4 minutes
3. Add serrano pepper. Chili powder, cayenne pepper and stir.
4. Add chicken broth, canned tomatoes, and beans; bring to a low boil
5. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stir occasionally
6. Remove from heat, season with black pepper to taste.  Top with avocados or cheese.

Printable Recipe

Enjoy,

Sothea

Health Tips - Fooducate

We are huge fans of the Fooducate app.   It is great for those who want to live a healthier lifestyle or just trying to improve their diets a little bit  The app lets you scan barcodes at the grocery store and it will give a letter grade for the products.  It will give a summary that will include things like is it gluten free?  Is it GMO?  How processed it is?  How much sugar is in it?  It will also list alternatives for a product.

It makes our decisions while grocery shopping easier.  The other day Sothea couldn't decide what canned salmon to get.  So using the Fooducate app, she scanned three choices, looked at the grade and summary and was able to pick which one she liked best.

It does have its flaws though.  If you were to search for Talenti Blood Orange Gelato, it would list blood oranges as one of its alternatives.  Talenti Gelato, blood oranges are not quite the same. Regardless it's worth the try.

If you see us at the grocery store, scanning products that is what we are using.  We aren't trying to be super strange!