21-Day Challenge

Wow, April is almost here already! With summer fast approaching, I quickly realized that I should start getting swimsuit-ready (I may have realized this a little late, haha). Every year, I have the goal to look great in a swimsuit, to get a flat stomach, blah blah blah. But this year I'm approaching the situation from a different angle.

My goal is to become confident in my body, and to treat it well. I've been trying to eat natural foods and exercise more, but sometimes "trying" simply isn't a big enough motivation. With the help of Fitness Magazine, I have committed to their "21-Day Total-Body Makeover Workout." In a nutshell, it is not intended to push you to your absolute limits or go on a crash diet. The goal is to help get you into the habit of exercising five days a week, have a good mindset, and form a healthy lifestyle. Want to join me on this challenge? Why not, it's only three weeks of your time!

WEEK 1
Mind: Dedicate five minutes a day to keeping an exercise journal, noting how you stay active. Seeing yourself achieve daily goals builds momentum.
Body: Do 2 sets of 8-12 reps per move twice a week on nonconsecutive days and 25-35 minutes of cardio five days a week.

http://www.pinterest.com/marielleeeee/fitness/

WEEK 2
Mind: Plan ahead. Rather than wait for a break in your day to exercise, schedule it the night before.
Body: Do 3 sets of 8-12 reps per move three times a week and 35-45 minutes of cardio five days a week.

WEEK 3
Mind: Find solutions, not excuses. If you don't have time for a full session, break it into 10-minute bits. Once you've started, it's easier to keep going than it is to quit.
Body: Do three sets of 15-20 reps per move 3 times a week and 45-55 minutes of cardio five days a week.

Click HERE to view the full article, as well as a list of exercises to do for the weightlifting segments of the body portion of the challenge. If you don't have free weights or a medicine ball, the site is full of weight-free exercises that you could try instead.

Three weeks. Twenty-one days. That's it. No excuses. What's stopping you from finally being fit, healthy, and happy? I'll check up with you all every week until we've finished this. Ready, GO!

Food Friday | Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

For my second installment of Food Friday, I have actually cooked food! These creamy, cheesy chicken enchiladas were heavenly. This was the first time I had made enchiladas completely from scratch, and I was surprised how simple it was.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
• 2 cups (8 oz.) pre-shredded 4 cheese Mexican blend cheese
• 1 2/3 cups plain low-fat yogurt
• 1/3 cups butter, melted
• 1/4 cups chopped onion*
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic**
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (10-12 oz.) can condensed reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of chicken soup
• 1 (4.5 oz.) can chopped green chilies, drained*
• 8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup (2 oz.) finely shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions*

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces. Season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic salt, and chili powder. Grill or bake until done. 
3. Combine first 9 ingredients in a large bowl. 
4. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working with one tortilla at a time, brush oil over both sides of tortilla. Add tortilla to pan; cook 5 seconds on each side or until toasted and soft. 
5. Remove from pan; arrange 1/2 cup chicken mixture down center of tortilla.
6. Roll jelly-roll style. Place filled tortilla, seam side down, in a 13x19 inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining 7 tortillas. Use remaining chicken mixture (about 1 cup) to spread over enchiladas. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle evenly with cheddar cheese and green onions. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese melts. ***

*Note that I don't particularly like these ingredients, so I replaced the chopped onion with onion powder and the green chilies with chili powder. You do you.

**I just used garlic powder instead.

***If you are making food for multiple people, then ignore this note. If you are making food just for yourself, then hear ye, hear ye! After combining all the ingredients (when I cooked this, I halved the recipe), I used enough chicken mixture to fill up and coat only one tortilla. I stored the rest of the mixture in the fridge so I could make one enchilada at a time from then on. That way, it is fresh, for the most part, every time you cook one! Considering the fact that I halved the recipe, this chicken mixture lasted nearly a week - about 5 enchiladas! Also, I just put the single enchilada in a smaller baking dish when cooking it. 

Enjoy!

Food Friday: Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Welcome to the first ever Food Friday! I will be the first to admit: I am a terrible cook. Therefore, every week I will be posting a new, simple recipe that even I can cook with the hopes that I can begin to eat something other than bean burritos. Though, with the weather warming up, I thought I would start off this weekly tradition with a refreshing smoothie!

And isn't this single-serve Hamilton
Beach blender so handy?!

During my two years in college, I have learned that one of the hardest things to do is eat healthy and spend frugally. Fruit and vegetables can be so expensive, and sometimes it makes more sense to instead reach for the hot dogs and top ramen. However, I have set goals for myself to be healthier lately, so no more hot dogs for me. If you are pressed for time, money, and want to eat smarter, then try out this delicious smoothie!

Ingredients:

Note that I don’t measure anything, so these are rough estimates!

1 banana

½ cup fat free milk

1 raw egg* 

1 handful baby spinach* 

1 scoop Slim Fast chocolate powder (I use the cheap knock-off brand)

6 ice cubes

*Don't be afraid of these ingredients - you don't even taste them in the end!

Blend it all together and voilà, enjoy! 

Thoughtful Thursday | Expand Your Talents

“Hide not your talents, they for use were made,
What's a sundial in the shade?” 
― Benjamin Franklin

Everyone has a talent. The real challenge is figuring out what that talent is.

For example, my talent is writing – I have known this from about the age of nine. Eleven years later, I am writing for a university magazine. But over these years, I have made an effort to figure out what other talents I may have. Benjamin Franklin might say that my talent of writing is a sundial in the sunlight, while my other talents are hiding in the shade. So for many years, I have ventured into the shade to locate these hidden talents.

In my junior year of high school, I turned out for the cross country team. I told myself that if I could only get in shape, I may be able to be successful in this sport. However, I soon learned that I am easily distracted and running in circles for over three miles does nothing to entertain me. Not to mention I always came in second-to-last in all the races. So instead, I joined the dance team and found a sport that was both entertaining and fun!

When I was about twelve, I decided that I was the next Picasso. I asked for sketch books and pencils for Christmas, and went out to draw the world! It was extremely clear, even to me, that the best I could do were stick figures and robots. Instead, I picked up a camera at age eighteen and began snapping away. Now, I have no idea how skilled I actually am, but it is a talent that I enjoy. Just last week, my roommate and I journeyed out to a nearby park so that I could take a few pictures of her. Here are a few of my favorites:

And it’s nice because the camera always ends up in my subject’s curious hands, so I always get a few nice pictures of myself as well! 

New York, New York (Part III)

I descended down the stairs, leaving behind the bustling noises from pedestrians hurrying up and down Fifth Avenue. I pulled out my prepaid metro card, swiped it, and pushed through the turnstile. Now the real question was, how do I get where I need to go? I downloaded a subway map off the app store and began deducing which train I should board.

It was dirty, crowded, and uncomfortable. The train lurched forward and I held on to a pole for dear life as we sped south. I exited the train and got on a transfer. Don't ask me how I knew when to transfer or which train to get on, it just all seemed to work out. Luckily, the second train was clean and occupied by families.When we reached what I assumed to be the correct stop, I got off and walked up the stairs into the streets of the financial district in Lower Manhattan. As I wondered the streets, I accidentally stumbled upon Wall Street, and many interesting buildings. But as my phone was quickly dying, I attempted to resist these distractions and figure out where I was going.

After walking in many circles, asking for directions, and finally phoning a friend, I found my final destination: the 9/11 Memorial.

It was absolutely breathtaking! It was incredible to see where these two monumental buildings had once stood, as well as the efforts that were being made to reconstruct them. And in their exact places were two beautiful memorials. As the sun was setting, the fountains lit up and all was calm as passersby reminisced this awful destruction over 12 years ago.

The Survivor Tree

 

Soon after I left the memorial, my phone died as I searched for the correct subway to board. About four trains and an hour later, I finally made it back to midtown. It was a long day, so I stopped by a cafe to charge my phone and get a genuine New York coffee. It was the best vanilla late I have ever tasted! I will be sure to go back here when I visit again.

I finally met back up with my friends to go to the top of the Empire State Building. Unfortunately, it was too foggy and they weren't letting anyone up because you wouldn't be able to see the city below you. Disappointed, we instead went into all the shops along Fifth Avenue, took pictures outside the city library, and walked around Times Square.

But all too soon, our last night in New York came to an end as we sadly retreated to our hotel to pick up our bags and load them into the car. We drove away, stopping once to take one last look at the skyline. Right then, I promised myself I'd be back.

Stay tuned for the last installment of my New York blog series... Philadelphia!