Blackened salmon

Growing up, my parents cooked all fish the same way: with orange juice concentrate, until it was rubbery.

So I always thought I hated fish. 

A few months ago, back when I worked at the Market Street Grill, I had some of their blackened salmon one night, in an attempt to be gluten free. I figured I would soldier through the nasty fish. Plus, that served it with snap peas, so at least I could enjoy that. 

And it was so good. 

Turns out, fish tastes really great cooked(I'm a big fan of sushi), and my parents were just murdering it every time they made it when I was growing up. 

So when my mom bought a big salmon fillet earlier this week, I begged her to let me cook it, because I hated to see that beautiful fish go to waste. 

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder 

1 tablespoon oregano 

1 teaspoon sea salt 

1/2 teaspoon black pepper 

Dash of cayenne(to taste)

1 salmon fillet 

4(ish) cups of snap peas 

2 tablespoons of butter 

I scaled my fillet, and then patted it down with a paper towel, to soak up some of the extra moisture. You don't want it to be entirely dry, but you wanna draw some of the moisture out. 

Put a cast iron skillet on medium heat and warm up a few tablespoons of oil(I use coconut). 

Mix up the spices, and then gently rub into either side of the fish. 

When the pan is hot, plop the fish into the pan, and then DON'T TOUCH IT. Seriously. Leave it until it's cooked about 2/3 of the way up the fish, and then flip it, cooking the second side. 

While that's cooking, heat up 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet. Once it's melted, add about 4 cups of snap peas(I just eyeballed it, I'm not sure how many cups it was...).  The peas are done cooking when they're tender, but not soggy. 

My little brother, who is an INCREDIBLY picky eater, sheepishly asked for seconds. I gave my mom my recipe so (hopefully) no one ever has to eat the rubbery orange fish ever again. 

I apologize for the crappy pictures. It was a spur of the moment meal, so I didn't have time to grab my camera(I thought I was cooking tomorrow night...) so these were all from my iPhone. 

Happy cooking! 

Pre-workout

I follow this girl on Instagram that recently decided to take control of her fitness, and she's always posting things about her journey. So, a few months ago, she posts a picture of C4(which is a brand of pre-workout) and it piqued my interest. 

I started seeing posts and ads for pre-workout everywhere. I have a good friend who I consider to be my fitness guru, so I came to him with my questions. 

His view on pre-workout was as such: caffeine isn't necessarily bad for your body(this is a contriversial topic...depends on who you ask...), it's low calorie, and generally sugar free/low sugar. It gives you a boost of energy, and he said that, on days that he was lacking motivation, he would take a few scoops. 

I've been looking around for some to try, and I recently found myself in the vitamin shoppe, and I grabbed some that was on sale. 

I have to say, it did not disappoint. 

I took two scoops about 20 minutes before my workout. I felt energized the whole time, my endurance was higher than normal, and I was more motivated/willing to workout harder than I normally would. 

Here's the problem. 

I did my workout that first day at about 7 pm. So, taking caffeine a few hours before I was planning on going to bed? Yeesh. Not a good plan. I tossed and turned all night, so confused as to why I was still awake. I was tired, but my brain wouldn't shut off. At about 12:30 am, I realized what the problem was, and I took 5 mg of melatonin so I could sleep. It kicked in after about half an hour and I was asleep by 1:30 am. 

It made my morning kinda rough, but I stuck through it. I took my pre-workout about 20 minutes prior to my warm-up run. This time, I was working out in the morning though. But, just to be safe, i only took 1 1/2 scoops. I still had the energy I wanted, but it wore off quicker. So by the time I went to bed that night, the caffeine had worn off, and I was able to sleep normally, without needing melatonin. 

So. My verdict on pre-workout? Yes. As long as you're smart about when to take it, you'll be golden. Highly recommend it, just use it wisely. 

You Are Beautiful

A few years ago I attended a seminar called “Time Out for Women”. This seminar had an hour set aside for a new seminar they were testing out called “Time Out for Girls”. As the name suggests, this session was for the younger generation.

What I want to share with you is one of the many things we talked about; Body image, self-esteem, and positive reinforcement.
The lady teaching gave us a challenge. Every day when you wake up in the morning head down to the bathroom mirror, look yourself in the eye, smile, and tell yourself that you are a beautiful daughter of God. She told us to do it every day, but not to let the meaning of what we were doing slide from our mind.

We went on to talk about how words are powerful and how you talk to yourself is extremely important. Not just out loud, but in your head, because that’s where most negative thoughts reside. Can you say “I’m ugly” in your head while also saying “I am beautiful”? Go on, try it. I’ll wait.

You can’t! It’s impossible!

So when you are getting down on yourself and feel terrible; stop, take a look in the mirror, and think again. I am beautiful. Say it. Say it as often as possible. It’s not vain, it’s confident. You are beautiful. Do not let anyone say otherwise. That includes you.

Embrace your beauty instead of trying to fit into the mold of someone else. After all, there's only one you, and the world would be lost without you. Trust me. 

~La vie est belle, Bri~

Bacon, anyone?

If you pack your breakfast full of sugar, your whole day is gonna go downhill. I promise. 

Protein for breakfast? Now we're talkin. 

If I'm going to punish myself with scrambled eggs(sorry, not sorry), I'm gonna do them right. 

Ingredients: 

3 eggs 

1/2 red bell pepper

2 strips of nitrite free bacon 

Olive oil(if needed) 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Dice the bacon. My pops home cures his bacon, so it's actually healthy. Best of both worlds. Just make sure there's no nitrite. 

Dice up the pepper, and then cook that and the bacon in a hot pan. 

While it cooks, mix up your eggs. Once the bacon is almost done, add the eggs. 

I usually top mine with Hatch Green Chile, which adds an extra 3 calories, I believe? 

Ta da. The end.

Caloric content: 343 calories. 

That may sound like a bit, but really, it's way less than you'd get eating pancakes, and the protein from the eggs and bacon will keep you going way longer. :) 

Roasted Asparagus and Chicken

Okay. This sounds like the most boring food alive. It probably is.

I used to hate asparagus. Until about two months ago, when I went to sprouts and saw that Asparagus was crazy on sale and I figured I could do something to it to make it taste good.

I fed this to my roommate's fiancée and he asked me to teach her how to cook. So, I'm guessing that's a victory.

Roasted Asparagus and Chicken

So. Cook that Chicken up however you like. Sometimes I stick this on a cookie sheet with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and onions, and bake it at 350. Or sometimes I pull out a skillet and do it that way.

In all honesty, my favorite part of this meal is the asparagus.

1 bunch of Asparagus
Olive Oil
2 cloves of garlic
Salt
Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400. Snap the ends off the asparagus and lay it out on a baking sheet. Drizzle it with the olive oil, and then season with salt and pepper.

Mince the garlic, and then sprinkle that on top of the asparagus.

Drizzle the vinegar overtop(Usually about 3 Tbs.). Bake until tender and a bit crispy on the tip, about 7 minutes. 

Serves: 1

Calories: chicken- about 55. Asparagus-about 30. 

Bring me back for round two

I have been highly hesitant to actually write this post, seeing as the last time we all did fitness goals, they didn't last all that long (minus Bri) and this blog just kinda...failed...

About two weeks ago, Bri sent a group text to Elle and myself, asking for some fitness ideas. We spent a good hour or so exchanging ideas, before we decided that we would try out the whole "keeping each other accountable" thing again. This time, we've texted each other at the end of the day with a report of everything we ate, and all the exercise we did.

I honestly can't tell you how nice it is to feel accountable to someone. There are some days where I'm ashamed to text Bri and tell her what I ate and how little I worked out. But there are other days that I just feel like a proud mama bird, with all of my accomplishments of the day, paying off.

Living on my own, I have a lot of control over what I eat. However, I also get tempted easily to just eat junk. I work a lot, so fast food is such an easy option. Way too easy.

Another reason keeping myself accountable to Bri is that it keeps me from indulging in my old ways.

For the past 9 months or so, I have struggled with anorexia. Every time I (think I) beat it, I relapse. It has been a real struggle. And one question that would be posed is, "well...if you're anorexic...how come you're not skinnier?" which is a totally valid question. The problem arises when I don't eat for a day or so, and then I binge eat. It's so easy to feel justified in eating a ton of junk when you haven't eaten for 24+ hours. But then you feel bad all over again and it starts over. It's a vicious cycle.

When you're putting your body into starvation mode every day, your body stores fat more easily. So, you may lose a few pounds if you don't eat for a day or so, but then as soon as you eat, you'll gain that back, because your body doesn't know when it will get a chance to eat again.

So. As I do my very best to beat this, it is so nice to be accountable to someone. I feel guilty every time I update Bri on the daily eatings and I leave out a meal or two.

The easiest way that I have found to beat this, is to count calories. Normally, I would be against this. But it's so nice to see a visual representation, so I can see when I'm feeding my body well enough, and so I can see how good I'm being and how far I've come from where I was 9 months ago.

And so, (on good days) I will be posting recipes, per Bri's request, complete with caloric content.

And trust me. I'm a poor college student. All the recipes will be way easy and way affordable.