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After a failed attempt to go to Curves tonight (who knew they closed at 7:30!! so early!!), I decided it’s time to take my health and fitness in my own hands. I’ve had this Lifetime Fitness Ladder bookmarked for months but just now got around to reading about it. I like the idea. It’s a ladder of daily exercises that you slowly increase at your leisure. It’s not time consuming and you can do it all at home with no extra equipment!

One of the tips of the Lifetime Fitness Ladder is to schedule a regular routine. I’ve always had a hard time motivating myself to go exercise since the only time I can go to the gym or run was after work. After a long day of work, exercising is the last thing I want to do! With this routine, I can do it when I wake up, right before I shower since it doesn’t take up much time.

Since I’m incredibly out of shape, I’ll be starting with the Introductory Ladder. An example of the ladder is like this:

Rung - 1
Bend - 2
Sit up - 3
Leg lift - 4
Push up - 2
Steps - 105
Count - 1, 30

There are 15 rungs in the Introductory Ladder that increase in quantity with each rung. The website explains in detail each of the very simple exercises: bend, sit up, leg lift, push up, steps. Since this is the Introductory Ladder, the exercises are more easier than the traditional versions. After you are comfortable, you can move onto the real ladder.

The guy who created this ladder said he was able to get to rung 28 in 90 days while losing 20 lbs. I’m not interested in losing that much weight, but I hope that this will get me more fit and increase my stamina. I want to one day tackle half dome and other strenuous hikes. I hope I will be able to stick with this!!!

To read all of the details go here: Lifetime Fitness Ladder

I love crockpots! I’m the laziest cook and crockpots are the epitome of lazy cooking. I just discovered this cool blog where a women decides she is going to crockpot every day for a whole year! She documents her recipes with pictures and a verdict. I’m so inspired.

Her latest is korean ribs…yummmm
and I totally have to try this Trader Joe’s leg of lamb. gourmet!
and who knew you could make CREME BRULEE with a crockpot???

Check out the rest of her recipes here.

Last week I made dinner for some of my friends. Since I work pretty late, it’s hard to throw a dinner party on a weeknight but with these easy peasy recipes, I managed to do it pretty easily!

Easy Crockpot Ribs - Place sliced onions on the bottom of your crockpot. Slice ribs into serving pieces and place into crockpot. Pour 1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce all over the ribs. Turn on low and cook for 10 hours.

Baked BBQ Chicken from Allrecipes

Creamed Spinach from Allrecipes - I also added some diced onions and fresh chopped garlic to this recipe. BTW, this recipe was such a hit! Everybody really liked it and it was SO easy!

Corn - I just like to warm up a can of corn with butter on the stovetop. Everybody loves corn!

So there ya go. If you buy the ribs and chicken on sale, this meal is actually very cheap too with the amount of people you are able to feed! Yum!

I love eating clam chowder and other soups in a bread bowl. But where do you buy the bowls?! Now you can make your own using Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits (which are probably very unhealthy but OH SO GOOD!).

How to make these biscuit bowls:

1. Lightly crumple several 25×12-inch sheets of foil into 3 1/2-inch balls. Set the balls onto cookie sheets.
2. Press or roll each biscuit into a 5 1/2-inch circle.
3. Place each circle of biscuit dough over a foil ball. Shape gently to fit around the foil, forming a bowl shape. Make sure the dough does not touch the surface of the cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Carefully remove biscuit bowls from foil balls.

Yummy!!!

OMG, this website is awesome. I loooooooooove food blogs. The pictures always look so yummy. The recipes are usually tried and true and by people who really know food. Now when I feel like making something I can turn to this search engine to find a great recipe.

Food Blog Search

Like chocolate chip cookies!

by Megnut

Fried Rice

by Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen

Linguine with Clams

by Cookbook Catchall

A lot of the recipes have step by step instructions and cooking tips/tricks. Much more personable than browsing around AllRecipes or Epicurious.

DROOL!

I’ve been trying really hard to eat breakfast lately. But usually I run out of time or I get bored of eating the same thing everyday. Saw this recipe for oatmeal breakfast cookies on Slashfood and it sounds like a yummy and easy way to eat breakfast every morning! MMMM.

¾ cup brown sugar firmly packed
½ cup butter
1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups ripe mashed bananas (about 2 medium)
¾ cup crunchy or regular peanut butter
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups uncooked oats (quick or old fashioned)
½ cup raisins or other bits of chopped dried fruit

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl beat brown sugar and butter until creamy. Add egg and vanilla, beat well. Add bananas and peanut butter, beat well. Add combined flours, spice baking soda and salt, mix until blended. Add raisins.

Drop 2 to 3 tablespoon heaps of dough about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Don’t over bake. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

This Superbowl bash menu from Rachel Ray really makes me want to throw a super bowl party!

What is it about anything miniature that makes it look so much cuter and tastier?… like these mini hot dogs!

More recipes:
50 big game party recipes
Super Bowl Party Recipes
26 recipes for a winning superbowl sunday

The Superbowl is on February 3rd this year so if you’re planning on throwing a party best start sending out the invites now!

One of my ongoing goals is to eat healthier in the new year. Yeah, I always say that. But it’s always nice to remind myself of the bad vs good foods. I’m not disciplined enough to completely cut out bad foods, but I can at least reduce my intake of them! Here’s a list of foods to eat or avoid for a healthier heart!

Avoid:
bacon - wahhh, my fave! :(
carbonated beverages - i’ve been drinking more water yay!
processed carbs (white bread, pasta, rice) - i’ve been trying to replace these with their brown/wheat alternatives

Eat More Of:
walnuts - 14 a day is recommended
olive oil - i see eating no knead bread dipped with olive oil in my foreseeable future!
red wine - one glass once or twice a week. i’m not a big wine drinker but I did find one I really like that’s also cheap! (thanks cheryl)

This is the actual recipe that was “used” in the movie Rataouille. The recipe is actually from Chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry in Napa Valley. Which is definitely a restaurant I have to eat at once in my lifetime. (Click here for how to get French Laundry reservations).

Onto the recipe!

Ratatouille

FOR PIPERADE
1/2 red pepper, seeds and ribs removed
1/2 yellow pepper, seeds and ribs removed
1/2 orange pepper, seeds and ribs removed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
3 tomatoes (about 12 ounces total weight), peeled, seeded, and finely diced, juices reserved
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig flat-leaf parsley
1/2 a bay leaf
Kosher salt

FOR VEGETABLES
1 zucchini (4 - 5 ounces) sliced in 1/16-inch rounds
1 Japanese eggplant, (4 - 5 ounces) sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
1 yellow squash (4 - 5 ounces) sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
4 Roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR VINAIGRETTE
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Assorted fresh herbs (thyme flowers, chervil, thyme)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

1. For piperade, heat oven to 450 degrees. Place pepper halves on a foil-lined sheet, cut side down. Roast until skin loosens, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Peel and chop finely.

2. Combine oil, garlic, and onion in medium skillet over low heat until very soft but not browned, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes, their juices, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf. Simmer over low heat until very soft and very little liquid remains, about 10 minutes, do not brown; add peppers and simmer to soften them. Season to taste with salt, and discard herbs. Reserve tablespoon of mixture and spread remainder in bottom of an 8-inch skillet.

3. For vegetables, heat oven to 275 degrees. Down center of pan, arrange a strip of 8 alternating slices of vegetables over piperade, overlapping so that 1/4 inch of each slice is exposed. Around the center strip, overlap vegetables in a close spiral that lets slices mound slightly toward center. Repeat until pan is filled; all vegetables may not be needed.

4. Mix garlic, oil, and thyme leaves in bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle over vegetables. Cover pan with foil and crimp edges to seal well. Bake until vegetables are tender when tested with a paring knife, about 2 hours. Uncover and bake for 30 minutes more. (Lightly cover with foil if it starts to brown.) If there is excess liquid in pan, place over medium heat on stove until reduced. (At this point it may be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Serve cold or reheat in 350-degree oven until warm.)

5. For vinaigrette, combine reserved piperade, oil, vinegar, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl

Every month(? actually I’m not sure how regularly they send these out), TJs sends out their newsletter of new and recommended products. I looooove it. Their products are usually so good and cheap! Yeah, if you don’t live near a Trader Joe’s I feel sorry for you. I have 2 within 5 mins of where I live and also another 2 that are 5 mins from where I work. Heaven! Anyways, here are my picks from their most recent newsletter which is holiday themed.

Dark Chocolate Belgian Truffles $3.99 - I’ve been looking for a less pricy alternative to Godiva’s. We’ll see if these can compare. For the price, it doesn’t really matter though! From the newsletter: The fillings are coated with a solid chocolate shell and then finished with a generous dusting of toasted almond flakes, buttery, crisp crepe cookies, white chocolate shavings or sprinkles of dark chocolate. These would make great gifts for coworkers!

Nonalcoholic Holiday Sparklers $2.29 - I love martinelli’s so I’m sure I’ll love these. They come in blueberry, pomegranate, or cranberry.

Salami made with wine $3.99 - I love trying anything new and this salami infused with wine (chianti or pinot grigio) sounds yummy! I can’t wait to try this with boyrobot who loves salami.

Cranberry Apple Chutney $2.29 - Even though Thanksgiving just passed, I don’t feel like I got my fill of cranberry sauce. This might just hit the spot on my next turkey sandwich!

Angus Cheeseburger & BBQ Pork Sliders $4.99 - I don’t know what it is but food that is a smaller version of the real thing just makes me want to eat it even more! I love sliders so I’m quite happy to find out they are stocking these now. Can’t wait to put some in my fridge.

Mini Biscotti With Cranberry & Pistachio $6.99 - Ok, I’m not sure if it’s the “mini” part or the fact that I love cranberries and pistachios that draw me to these biscottis. They are also supposedly made a bit softer than your typical biscotti. Can’t wait to try these.

Ok, I think those are my main picks but there are tons of other things that interest me. The way they describe each product makes it sounds so scrumptious and of such good quality that I want to try them all. If you’d like to see the rest of the newsletter, you can do so at their website (bottom left corner).

Thanksgiving is all about the FOOD for me. So here are some recipes that caught my eye!

Pumpkin Pie Blintzes
Homemade Cranberry Sauce - so easy!
Store bought stuffing mix showdown - i used trader joe’s
No knead bread in a hurry - i still need to try making this
Roasted brussel sprouts - i have some weird obsession with brussel sprouts right now hehe
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Mac N Cheese - my friend’s macncheese recipe was loosely based on this one!

And here’s a recipe for pumpkin fritters that I saved but forgot from where…

Pumpkin Fritters

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup milk
2 large eggs
3 cups grated, raw pumpkin
1 cup frozen or drained canned corn kernels

Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Add the milk and eggs and stir until mixed. Add the pumpkin and corn kernels. In a deep fryer or heavy pan, heat enough vegetable oil for deep frying. The oil should be very hot, 375*. Drop three or four large spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil. Let them cook for three or four minutes, turning once, or until they just start to brown. Remove them to dry on paper towels. Serve immediately drizzled with maple syrup.

I made my first turkey this weekend during our early Thanksgiving potluck! I was pretty nervous since it was my first time and if you ruin the turkey, the whole meal is shot since it’s the main part of the meal. Oh the pressure! Anyways, after getting some tips from my friend who usually makes the turkey, I discovered the easiest and fastest way to make a Thanksgiving turkey. I’m no longer scared to make the turkey. Bring it on! Next year I want to experiment more with the seasoning. :) Here’s my easy peasy foolproof recipe for Thanksgiving turkey.

First, how to decide how big of a turkey to buy? The general rule is 1lb/person which is enough to have a little bit of leftovers too.

Ingredients:
1 Turkey
2 stalks of celery (sliced)
1 medium onion (sliced)
Various seasonings: I used garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika and thyme
1 Reynold’s Oven Turkey Bag (very important!!)
Vegetable oil or butter
1 Tbsp flour

I bought a pre-brined turkey from Trader Joe’s. I highly recommend this since the turkey turned out great and super moist!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

1. Open the turkey and drain any excess liquid. Rinse the turkey with cold water. Throw away the turkey neck and giblets (unless you want to keep to make soup or gravy!). Pat the turkey dry with a paper towel.
2. I used butter since everything with butter tastes better to me ha ha. If you don’t want to use butter, you can use vegetable oil. Brush the turkey with whatever you choose. Then sprinkle the seasoning all over the turkey.
3. Shake the flour into the Reynold’s oven bag which you should put in a pan that’s at least 2 inches deep and will fit the turkey. I used one of those disposable roaster pans for easy clean up. Also, if you’d like you can spray the bag with a nonstick spray.
4. Lay the celery and onions in the bag.
5. Place the turkey on top of the veggies in the bag.
6. Tie the bag up with the twist ties they provide and cut 6 1/2 inch slits into the top of the bag. If you have a meat thermometer stick it through one of the slits so it sits in the thickest part of the inner thigh.

The turkey is ready to pop in the oven now. BAKE 2 to 2 1/2 hours for a 12 to 16 lb. turkey, 2 1/2 to 3 hours for a 16 to 20 lb. turkey, and 3 to 3 1/2 hours for a 20 to 24 lb. turkey, or until meat thermometer reads 180°F. For easy slicing, let stand in oven bag 15 minutes before opening.

Since I did not have a meat thermometer I put it in the oven for about 3 hours for a 12 lb turkey. The nice thing about using the Reynold’s bag is that you can keep it in longer without worrying about it drying out! I highly recommend using a Reynold’s bag to cook the turkey in.

The result??

It was a super moist turkey and SO EASY! Clean up was also easy. Thanks for my friend for recommending me to use the Reynold’s Turkey oven bag!

Aside from the turkey, the potluck was so fun. There was so much food and it was all SO GOOD! One of my friends bought this yummy dessert wine:

Riunite Lambrusco…mmmmmmm!

And another friend brought this mac n cheese that was SO GOOD. I must get the recipe so I can share with you all! And a mocha creme cake from this korean bakery. I love asian cakes because they are not too sweet.

Also, we joined the internet phenomenon of videotaping ourselves watching 2 girls 1 cup. I hope to get a copy of that video soon. It’s sooo funny.

I know I don’t usually post on the weekends but I was reading about this kiwi pomegranate salsa and I can’t decide if that looks good or….not so good. I like all three ingredients separately (love them actually) but together I can’t imagine what that would taste like. Thoughts?

This is such a great and helpful post! Simple Dollar has written up very detailed instructions, complete with pictures, about how he makes his homemade bread. As a single person, I often times will buy a loaf of bread and unless I eat bread for every meal the whole week (no fun in that!), I usually end up wasting the bread because it ends up going bad. Reasons why it’s great to make your own bread:

1. It’s cheaper
2. You can control the portion size so less goes to waste
3. You can experiment with adding different spices….mmm garlic bread!
4. There’s no preservatives or harmful additives in homemade bread

The only reason I can see why not to make your own bread is the time it takes to make it. Maybe on a lazy Sunday afternoon I can try this recipe and have bread for the rest of the week! Simple Dollar’s post makes it seem like it’s not too difficult!

Have a lot of leftover halloween candy? Squidboo has a bunch of recipes you can make with them like apple candy bar salad, butterfinger layer cake, candy bar cake, and more. They also have suggestions on other things you can do with your leftover candy.

For halloween, I decided to go trick or treating at the last minute. I think I might have been the oldest person out in that neighborhood that night haha.

My top 3 favorite halloween candy I got this year:
1. Fruit Flavored Tootsie Rolls. I don’t know what it is about these, but I love them haha
2. Full size candy bars/candies. This year I got a full size bag of sour skittles. score!
3. Gummy fast food. You know the gummy hamburgers, french fries, etc? Even better, this year I got a SOUR, gummy hamburger. My fave!!

Top 3 least favorite:
1. A bag of peanuts. This is about as bad as getting an apple for halloween!
2. Smarties. Not enough flavor for me and way too many people give these out.
3. Regular, chocolate tootsie rolls. OMG, these are the most common and cheapest candies you can get. Why even bother giving these out??? Sorry if I offend anyone who likes these but there is nothing special about Tootsie Rolls. They are just small pieces of non-special chocolate!

At least I did not get any CANDY CORN. My all time least favorite candy of all time haha.