Monday, September 10, 2012

Red Velvet Cheesecake Birthday Surprise

Hello!

A few weeks back, a friend of mine had a birthday and I wanted to give her a special gift. I knew that she is a red velvet cake fan. I decided not to go the tradition route with the cake, but instead to try something different with red velvet. After scavenging the website for a while through countless cakes, cookies, and brownie recipes, I finally found one that intrigued me. It was a red velvet cheesecake recipe. Once, cut up into your favorite shape, they are bite sized and visually very appealing. They are pretty easy to make and taste great. Let me know what you think if you decide to bake it or tell me, which is your favorite red velvet dessert?

I got this recipe from Our Share of the Harvest. The only thing I adjusted in my recipe was the amount of sugar. I used 1 1/2 cups instead of 2 cups of sugar.

Below are a few pictures I took. I also like photography and was trying to be creative.



Monday, August 6, 2012

Frozen Banana on a Stick

YAY OR NAY??

I just recently met someone who introduced me to this. Its a frozen banana (I added the stick part for fun and hopefully for convenience)

I just took it out of the freeze and was going to cut the frozen skin off with a knife. Well, it turns out not to be as easy as this person showed me previously, and I began to wonder why....
It finally dawned on me that once the banana is ripe (browning) the banana's skin becomes thinner and once out of the freeze it is easier to peel with a knife.
Also,  I just learned while letting my banana rest as I type this; let the banana thaw a few minutes and it will become easier to peel. 

Either way, what do you guys thing about frozen banana on a stick? Is it worth the hassle of having to shave the skin off?

I will say that the taste is pretty good. Its as creamy as ice cream with a lot fewer calories!

Skinless Frozen Banana 
It's delicious I just finished it!


Experimenting with Rhubarb

Let the Rhubarb Experimentation begin!

This weekend I was inspired to begin experimenting with Rhubarb. What all of you out there don't know is that this post has been incomplete and under construction for about a week because I just couldn't decided what I wanted to do with Rhubarb!

A short history lesson: Rhubarb is a vegetable, a relative of the garden sorrel,  that was first found growing in the wild in the mountains of the Western and North Western provinces of China and the Tibetan territories. At some point cultivation of this veggie began throughout Europe and the US. Originally, this plant was used for medicinal purposed because of its abundance of vitamin C and dietary fiber. It wasn't until the 18th century that it was used for culinary purposed by Britain and America.

Rhubarb has a great taste. It's tart with a hint of sweetness. Much milder than a lime and more pleasant to the tongue. :-)

The first dessert that I chose to make with Rhubarb was a Blueberry and Rhubarb Cobbler. It was my first time making a cobbler And using rhubarb. I had never tasted one before and so, naturally I was both nervous and excited to make and try something new. It was fun searching through lots of recipes online to see what ingredients people were using to mix with the fruit portion as well as for the top crust layer.
In the end, I chose a recipe that did not have rhubarb in it and I just added it to the fruit mixture.
The recipe that caught my attention was from the August (current) issue of Bon Appetit, a favorite foodie magazine aka guidebook of mine. What I found interesting about this recipe was that the chef chose a biscuit  to top the fruits below it.
This recipe was easy to make and did not not take a long time to put together!
Below are a few pictures of my Blueberry and Rhubarb cobbler followed by the recipe I used to make it (I altered the original slightly). Below that there is a link to the original recipe from Bon Appetit. Enjoy!

Let Cool for 1 Hour. It will sink a little, but that's okay! :-)


It had just come out of the oven and was still boiling and beautiful!


Ingredients


  • 1 1/2 cups plus 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. sour cream
  • 2 cups fresh blueberries 
  • 2 1/2 cups fresh rhubarb cut into 1/2" pieces
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest


Preparation

  • Preheat oven to 375°. (I usually wait to preheat the oven until everything is mixed and I'm just about to start assembling.) 
  • Whisk 1 1/2 cups flour, 3 Tbsp. sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter (make sure its cold); using your fingertips, incorporate until only pea-size lumps remain. Gently mix in sour cream. Knead in bowl until a biscuit-like dough forms, 5–7 turns (overmixing will make dough tough).
  • Combine remaining 3/4 cup sugar, remaining 3 Tbsp. flour, berries, juice, and zest in another large bowl. Toss to coat. I poured my mixture into a glass pie dish, but it can also be poured into an 8x8x2" glass baking dish or divided among six 6-oz. ramekins. Tear biscuit topping into quarter-size crumbles; scatter over berries.
  • Bake cobbler until juices are thick and bubbling and topping is cooked through and deep golden brown, 20–25 minutes for ramekins or 45–50 minutes for baking dish. I adjusted this to 45 minutes in the middle of the oven and then another 10 minutes in the 1/3 portion of the oven because my cobbler was not baked through enough. Let cool for at least 1 hour in the baking dish.


You can also find the recipe by clicking here: Blueberry-Drop Biscuit Cobbler.



References:

The Rhubarb Botanical Information, http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/botanical/, (from the Rhubarb Compendium by Dan Eisenreich)




Friday, July 27, 2012

Morning Work Out

I woke up later than usual today and found that I did not want to do my usual 45 minute to an hour fat burning cardio-machine workout! By the way it is OK and even encouraged to switch up the type of exercise you perform on your body in order to get the best results. When a person sticks to the same routine for too long, their muscles become familiar with that movement and it becomes easier to do and thus less energy (ATP) is used, which means less calories are burned, which means less weight will be lost!
Instead I will do my core, leg and arm work out. This consists of 8 different core workouts that I do consecutively without more than a 10 second break, followed by 5 different leg workouts and I usually end with push ups and dips if I am at home, if I am at the gym I also add pull ups to my routine.


A few of my friends have asked me about my routine so here are some pictures that I got off the net. Hope it will be helpful.

Core


1. I either do a Pilates or plank position for 45 sec to 1 minute to warm up.
Pilates:  Lay on the floor making sure the lower back is touching the floor. Think belly button to floor. Lift legs about 30 degrees, raise head and shoulders and hold them there and lift arms straight up along the side of the body. Once in this position, the arms in unison, will begin to push down towards the floor, without actually touching it, a 100 times. Make sure to breath while in this position. Stay focused on Breathing and pressing those arms down and back up and back down etc...This is a great warm up! It should look like this:



Plank:  Grab a stop watch and make sure that your body is, like a plank, and completely leveled. Make sure your back is not arched and your butt isnt too high up. Keep your abs tight. Look at picture below.


2. Regular Crunches. I do one or two sets of 30. You don't want to do too many at first. That will only cause  you to tear muscle, which will hurt for days and will cause you to most likely not want to do this exercise again.


3. Bent legs, arm at sides or behind head:


4. Bicycle exercise: Make sure that the shoulders are off the floor. Also, make sure to do this on both sides. I usually do 1-2 sets of 30. 


5. Leg lifts: Lie on your back, knees pulled up to chest and hands under your butt to support your lower back. Uncurl legs straight out, keeping them six inches from the floor. (Don't let them touch the ground!) Lift legs straight up so that they're perpendicular to the floor and add a small lift of your butt. Curl legs back into the start position. Do three sets of 10.



6. Side leg lifts: This specifically targets the outer thighs, glutes, lower abs, and obliques.Do three sets of 10 on both sides.



Read more: Best Body - Get a Better Body - Real Beauty 

7. Full Sit ups. Doesn't matter how many you do. Its more important to do them correctly! Watch Video below.


8. Plank side leg liftsLie on your side with your body straight, leaning on your elbow, forearm pointing forward. Brace your core, front and sides. Raise your body off the ground so that you form a straight line, from shoulder to feet. Reach to the sky with your top arm.
Movement: Sweep the top arm down, take it under your body and reach as far back as possible, while holding your hips up.



Jorg J. Mardian Exercise Therapy, Personal Training, Nutrition has some great advice on what to pay attention to when doing core exercises.
Mistakes to avoid
Don’t pull on your neck with your hands, and don’t let momentum carry you through the set; make your abs work on each and every crunch. Also, avoid holding your breath and don’t let your lower back arch off the ground.
Crunches are also the best flat stomach exercise because there are tons of variations. There is the reverse crunch, the oblique crunch, the ball crunch, the bicycle crunch, or even the vertical leg crunch just to name a few. The abdominal crunch allows you variation to avoid boredom and to work all the abdominal muscles and create the flat stomach you’ve always wanted.
Just remember that exercise alone won’t give you a flat stomach. You also require the following:
  1. Cardio to burn body fat.
  2. Flat Stomach Exercises
  3. A healthy diet to show off that flat stomach.
  4. Consistency in working out.
Legs 

(For those of us with knee injuries, please be very careful with the exercising that require you to bend your knees. Listen to your body and if something doesn't feel good, Stop doing it.)


Squats: Bend through your knees until your hips come to or lower than parallel. Once your hip joint is lower than your knee joint you Squat up again. Every muscle works when you Squat: your legs move the weight, your abs & lower back stabilize it, your arms squeeze the bar, etc. The Squat is NOT just a leg exercise, it's a full body exercise. I do two sets of 10.



Lunges: Step forward with the front leg and bend both knees while keeping your core engaged and the rest of the body balanced and stable. Don't let the back knee touch the ground.You can make this exercise a bit harder once you get the hang of it, by holding a free weight in each hand. I do two sets of 10.



Side Lunge Instruction:



Side Leg lifts:  
Outer Thigh:
 

Inner Thigh:



Arms 


Push Ups: Very important in doing it correctly otherwise you can sustain injuries.Your arms are carrying all of the weight. Keep the rest of your body leveled out! Same as in plank position!



Dips: Specifically target triceps. Lower your body by leaning back on your arms and bending your knees. Lower until your buttock is below the edge you are holding on to, hold for a moment and come back into the starting, straight arm, position.  Make sure you are Not moving forward, but instead moving yourself down towards the floor. Keep the core engaged.



Pull Ups: Work all the major muscles of your back, as well as your grip strength, forearm strength and biceps. In short, it works nearly all the muscles of your upper body including parts of your shoulders, chest, and triceps.




*Always attempt to check your body positioning with every exercise. It may seem tedious at first but that is the best way to check that you will be performing the exercise correctly, safely and getting the best results.


*It is also a good idea to perform stretching after a workout to lengthen all of the muscles that have been engaged in work throughout your session. 


** Please understand that I am not yet a certified personal trainer. Everything that I have learned so far has been from my studies, receiving training from other personal trainers, exercise enthusiasts and exercise magazines, dvd's, etc. These exercises are not necessarily beneficial for everyone. This is my routine for the moment until my muscles become too familiar with the movements or until I get bored. It is important for you to understand how to properly perform each of the exercises to ensure that you do it safely and to get the most effective results. If you are trying some of these for the first time, I would do it in front of a mirror or with a friends. Do Not continue performing any exercise if you feel it is too difficult or are feeling pain other than the normal soreness from a workout. If you are not generally an active person, it may be a good idea to consult with a physician before performing these workouts.**

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Quinua and Bean Salad

Hello World! Please bare with me as I very slowly, carefully and cautiously dip one toe into this world known to all as Blogging.
Without talking way to much more about it let me actually jump into it head first, since that's what I do best.

Today, I am at home. I am listening to one of my favorite stations on pandora which I called CSS station, but its got so many other fun artists on it! Let me see if I can share it with you all now..... Pandora Radio: Nina's CSS station share

While I listen to this station, I am also studying for my CPT, Certificate of Personal Training from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), exam which is coming up within the next month, . Currently, I am working through Chapter 20 which is how to Develop a successful personal training business. Don't get to excited! My study guide is Not following in the order of the textbook. :/ But! so far the studying is going well and even though I am taking a break from it to write my first blog post, I am thoroughly enjoying studying for this field.

I decided to start writing now because in a few minutes I will be cooking. I love to cook! I will be making a Quinua, black sesame seed and black and kidney bean salad. I will also make baked kale chips and grill up some veggies. Once I am done I will post a picture and the recipe.

Beans are still hard after a full night of soaking...something I wasn't prepared for..so what i read online was that you can simmer the beans for an hour with the same or similar spices...lets see what happens....
By the way, its also my first time making kale chips...less light olive oil next time around! :-)
It took me about 2 hours to make everything on this dish.

I am going to show you that you can make it look how you wish. Either layering one on top of the other or mixing everything together. Have fun with your food! make it your own creation! :-)
After all, it all goes down and digests the same.



Best part are all the left overs!!

Here is the link to the salad:   Quinua and Black Bean Salad