Leftover Pumpkin Recipe

If you have leftover pumpkin from Thanksgiving, here is a very yummy and healthy recipe for you! I love scones because they are not full of sugar but still taste awesome! I have experimented with many different flavors too but thought this would be a good one for this time of the year!

Here is the recipe: 
 
1 cup ground oats (flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup water
1 egg white
1/3 cup pumpkin
1 serving protein powder (vanilla)

Mix all together and drop onto baking sheet or as I did into a muffin tin. Bake for 20 minutes at 375. Enjoy!

This made six single servings and here is the nutrition breakdown per serving:
168 Calories
14 Carbs
10 Fat
7  Protein

Have a favorite healthy holiday recipe you want to share? Just comment below! 

Want to Burn Belly Fat?

Almost everyone I know wants to burn off their belly fat, and they always ask me which abs exercises they should be doing. They are totally shocked when I tell them that abs exercises will not help you to lose that belly fat. What you should be doing instead are intervals.
Intervals are the ultimate way to burn off that belly fat! Until you burn off the layer of fat on your abdominals, any type of abs exercise that you do will not do a thing for you. You could have an amazing looking six pack under that layer of fat, but until you add intervals into your fitness routine, you will not be able to see them.

What are intervals? Intervals are short bursts of high intensity followed by an active recovery period. Intervals are much more effective than long, steady state cardio.

To illustrate, one of my clients and her husband were on the treadmill side by side. She was doing intervals and he was running at a steady pace. After about 20 minutes, she discovered that she had covered more distance than her husband, and she had burned more calories.
Intervals can be done on any cardio machine, or even while walking. You just need to increase your pace for a short period of time, followed by a slower pace for the same amount of time.
Here is an example of what I do for intervals on the treadmill:

*Warm up for 2-3 minutes at 3.5 mph, slight incline.
*Increase speed to 6.0 for one minute, followed by decrease to 3.5 mph for one minute. If I want to really push myself, I will increase the high intensity every other interval, until I reach 7.0 mph.
* I then repeat this anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 minutes, followed by a cool down of 3-5 minutes.

You can start to add in some form of abs exercises after you finish your interval training. Just remember that abs exercises only work on your abs from the inside out and to lose that belly fat, you need to add intervals to your routine.

I was able to drop 1% body fat AND about .5 inch off my waist just by adding intervals over the course of the past few weeks. Try it and see just how it works for you!

Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions!

No Carb, Energy Bar...

So starting in November, I have decided to cut way back on carbs. No, not NO carbs, but eating good, fibrous carbs and leaving out the starchy, high GI carbs, such as grains, oats, potatoes. It's along the lines of the Paleo diet, which pretty much consist of meats, fresh veggies, berries and nuts.

So when I wanted to make an energy bar last night, I had to find a recipe with no oats. I checked out Marks Daily Apple and found this great recipe! 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup pecans ( I used cashews)
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup almond butter (although cashew, hazelnut, walnut and even pumpkin butters will work well too!)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup almond meal (simply pulse approximately 1/4 cup of almonds until it creates a coarse flour)
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of raw honey (although, this is really kind of optional because the egg will help hold the mixture together)
1/2 cup unsweetened whey protein powder (or 60g)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries or blueberries (didn't have any, so used dark chocolate chips instead)
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut to sprinkle on top

Method:

1. On a cookie sheet, toast nuts and shredded coconut until golden brown. In order for them to cook evenly, you need to shake up the tray at least once during cooking…trust us!
2. Once toasted, pour mixture into a food processor and pulse until nuts are chopped and the mixture becomes coarsely ground (sort of the consistency of bread crumbs).
3. In a mixing bowl, melt coconut oil and almond butter (about 30 seconds). Remove from microwave and stir until smooth.
4. Add vanilla extract, honey and sea salt. Mix thoroughly.
5. Fold in nut mixture, almond meal and protein powder until mixed thoroughly.
6. Add whole egg and mix thoroughly.
7. Fold in blueberries/cranberries.
8. Press mixture into an 8 by 8 loaf pan (a modification that we made to keep everything crisper and help the bars to hold together).
9. Cook in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.
10. Remove from oven, sprinkle a ¼ cup of shredded coconut on top and place under broiler until top begins to brown. ( I didn't add the coconut to the top)
11. Let cool for 10-15 minutes. Cut into 12 pieces/bars.
12. Enjoy or stack on wax paper/parchment and store in an airtight container.

**The only thing I would change next time is maybe use less coconut oil. I do like the taste of coconut, but it seemed a bit overpowering. But these are absolutely yummy!! Of course next time I plan to try the dried fruit!

Have a favorite healthy recipe you want to share? Send me an email at angie@fitchickexpress.com and I will share it with all the Fit Chicks!

Thanksgiving Food Drive with Fit Chick Express!

November 22nd at 6:30pm --Dr. Courtney Conley of Timbre Integrated Health will be coming in to do FREE lecture on "Walking Pain Free".  

Your ticket to the lecture will be 3 canned items which we will be donating to the OUR CENTER.

**This will also be a FREE Fit Chick Class (5:45pm) to anyone who is attending the Walking Pain Free Seminar.

Walking Pain Free will be a presentation on recognizing your own foot type, each participant will get a free pedograph, or foot analysis; and what types
of shoes to wear for that foot type. Different pain syndromes will be
discussed, such as ankle/foot pain, knee pain, hip and low back pain
and recommendations on how to get better!!

**Everyone who is present in the class, will get a gift certificate for a $29.00
initial consultation, that includes an examination.

Please RSVP for this event by November 20th by sending an email to angie@fitchickexpress.com.