July 2009 Cooking Light

Check out this issue, it is loaded with recipes even I can eat!

Quinoa and Pistachio Salad with Moroccan Pesto

Quinoa [KEEN-wah] is a quick-cooking whole grain supplying protein, iron, and vitamin E. Pair this side dish with simple grilled chicken or fish. For a vegetarian entrée option, use organic vegetable broth and add one (15 1/2-ounce) can of rinsed, drained chickpeas to ramp up the protein.

Yield

6 servings (serving size: 3/4 cup)

Ingredients

• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 12 oil-cured olives, pitted and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped pistachios

Preparation

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Cut red bell pepper in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 12 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand for 10 minutes. Peel and chop.
3. Place quinoa, broth, 1/2 cup water, and juice in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 12 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
4. Place cilantro and next 7 ingredients (through garlic) in a food processor; process until smooth. Combine bell pepper, quinoa mixture, cilantro mixture, and olives in a large bowl. Sprinkle with nuts.

Nutritional Information

Calories:263

Fat:15.8g (sat 2.2g,mono 8.3g,poly 2.4g)

Protein:5.8g

Carbohydrate:28.2g

Fiber:4g

Cholesterol:0.0mg

Iron:3.3mg

Sodium:318mg

Calcium:36mg

Everyone has different goals and as long as you clearly define YOUR own goals and get after them, you are on the right track. The following are two ladies who DO NOT have weight loss goals. They want to get strong! Stronger than they have even been. Both have love for yoga but just weren't seeing the results that they wanted.

Gina is a MOMMA and a group exercise instructor. She wanted a pair of ripped arms :)

Claire is getting MARRIED in the Fall. She wanted to be able to double dead clean (2) 16 kgs for reps :)

These goals are pretty specific and exactly what I like :0

Guess what? They both completed their goals by training semi-privately 2 times per week and adding in 1-2 small group classes.

SHOCKING, isn't it ;)

My perfect long weekend

Webster defines vacation as the following:

"leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure"

Everyone's idea of a vacation is different. I figured something out this past weekend, my vacation is an extension of my day to day life, with a slight role reversal.

You have heard me say how much I enjoy the studio/ training and that getting up early to a room full of eager beavers ;) is what I love most. This being said, the life of a trainer is very much give, give, give all day every day. I have seen many people forget about their own needs, and as a result they drive themselves right out of the industry.

When I'm on vacation it’s all about ME ME ME.

I had 3 AMAZING SUNNY DAYS with which I swam, drank sangria and margarita's, "slept in", read in a hammock, saw fireworks, played with horses, flew kites, made great food, practiced yoga outdoors of course played with my kb, jumped off a bridge... into the water, went rollerblading, took pictures, played with puppies, shopped and spent time with great people!

I learned that I don't necessarily have to travel far for a vacation, it's just that my focus shifts from my clients to myself

but when I come back I am recharged and ready to roll!

Singapore Salad with Spicy Peanuts

Courtesy of Steph Elkind ;)

Serves 4-6.

WARNING>>>It's easy to eat a lot of this addictive salad!

½ cup shelled raw peanuts

2-3 Tbsp Tabasco sauce

1 T vegetable oil

Dressing:

1/3 cup toasted sesame oil

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar (not seasoned)

½ cup soy sauce

¼ cup sugar

2 T minced fresh ginger

1 tsp minced fresh chile or jalapeno, or to taste

salt and pepper

Salad:

½ head napa cabbage, outer leaves removed, inner leaves washed, dried and cut into thin strips

1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

3 scallions, white part and bottom 2 inches green, thinly sliced

1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin strips

1 red pepper, seeded and cut into very thin strips

other options:

cut up romaine lettuce, arugala or baby spinach

julienned jicama, bean sprouts, julienned cucumber, radishes, daikon,…

Preheat oven to 350- for the peanuts.

Toss peanuts, Tabasco and vegetable oil in a bowl and mix well. Spread out on a small ungreased baking sheet and roast until nicely browned, 10-15 minutes. Cool and then chop coarsely.

Combine sesame oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, ginger, chile and s & p in small bowl. Whisk together.

In a large bowl, combine the veggies and just enough dressing to moisten (you’ll have leftover dressing_) and toss to coat.

Garnish with the toasted spicy peanuts.

Remember Ronnie?

The gentleman who amazed me with his dedication and love for the kettlebell? I see him almost everyday and he comes in and does his workout on his own. We have provided the equipment, the space and just a few programs. Here is an email we got today; he asked that we share it with you :)


Hey Stacey and Henri,

You should be proud of yourself because I attended Physical therapy at Newton Wellesley hospital today. I have had argument with PT since last week. I told him that Kettlebell is an excellence to apply all over body and building up strength. He thought it would not good for knee I told him. I didn't have any problem at all. In one week later. He realized that kettlebell is an excellence after I showed him a book of Lisa Shafer. He read it and see that KB emphases all legs. I told him I workout on one leg deadlifting 8/sides ( reach to three sides) it really helped my hips and knees including glutes, hamstring, and also quad. He said keep up what I am doing. He asked me to add with kettlebell. I told him to be patience and take time to build up strength on one leg deadlifting because Stacey know what she is doing with me based on her observation on me all the time. One leg deadlifting really challenge for me because I would have to reach three sides for 8 reps for two sets.

At the bottom line, he never saw kettlebell in his life. I was so surprised. I had to show him a book of Lisa Shafer.

You could share this message to any blogs or testimony :)

I am very grateful to join Kettlebell since 2006. But my main goal is to get two certifications from AOS and RKC. Because Stacey said I can do since I workout on kettlebell more than three years than her. I said to her if she can do and accomplished her RKC that mean I can do too!

And also I had watched DVD Andrea Du Cane's for special workout program that is where I learned about surgery on hips and knee.

And also Z-Health too.

Also Anthony did help me a lot. I believed in him the reason I had argued with PT at Newton-Wellesley.
Pt supported Kettlebell program and philosophy.

Hat off to all of you.

Ronnie
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.

ONE HOT MOMMA

This morning I had the pleasure of spending time with Emily and Grady May! Grady is now 6 weeks old and Emily is ready to get back to the gym safely :)

I have had a lot of first's here at Punch Gym. This morning was the FIRST time I took a mother through a workout and pushed her baby boy around in his stroller at the same time :) I cannot even explain how happy it made me! It was awesome to see Emily getting to do something great for herself and her body while having Grady just a few feet away. You can't do that many places!! I can't wait to see them both next week :)

Emily is PHENOMENAL, if you don't know her introduce yourself, you will be so glad you did.
I am thrilled to help her reach her post pregnancy goals.

Yes GOALS, I said GOALS.
We all need them.
Anything to keep us reaching for something better from and for ourselves.

Unlimited Strength Gets Results

July 1st has come and gone and our first month of Unlimited Strength was definitely a success!
Participants trained semi-privately 2x per week and came to an additional kettlebell class on their third day. Three SOLID days of strength training in a 4 week progression...I'm serious when I say that these folks got strong :))) Body composition went down and the muscles appeared! We are running the program again in August so start saving ;) Hopefully I'll get June's trainee's in for a photo soon!