Another Splash in the Pool for Biggest Loser Workouts

Exercise No Responses »
Feb 172012
 

Yesterday, we had our second workout in the pool.  It was much better (harder) than the first workout.  We only had about 16 people or so.  Last time we had 40.  I think the smaller numbers made the group more manageable.  Both Adam and Bobbie were the instructors again.  After a brief 5 minute warm up, we divided into two groups.  Adam worked with one group on the deep water and Bobbie worked with the other group in shallower water.  We had floatation belts on for most of this workout.

With Adam in the deep end, we did things like cross-country skiing, jumping jacks, knee lifts, etc.  All of these were done without touching the bottom.  Then, the groups switched and we did a different series of exercises with Bobbie.

Later in the class, we did some work with the noodles.  There are some stiffer white noodles that get used for classes since they are stiffer.  You can do bicycles and other cool exercises with them.

The last part of the class, I was back in the deep end.  To make it harder, we didn’t use the floatation belts.  So, we were treading water the whole time.  We formed a circle and then tossed a small water basketball around.  It’s incredibly hard to throw a ball and keep treading water.  We started just throwing the ball to the person next to us and then we made things more interesting by throwing the ball to whomever we wanted.

I left the workout before the formal stretch and cool down since the kids were in the playroom and needed picked up.

I enjoyed the workout and I am looking forward to trying Yoga for the first time next Wednesday.

 Posted by at 7:12 PM

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 9

CSA No Responses »
Feb 162012
 

We had a productive day today.  The kids and I went to story time at the library, cleaned two bathrooms, did the dishes, did 2 loads of laundry, went to the gas station, the post office and two stores.  All of this occurred before lunch!  After nap time, we took Nick to his swim lesson and then picked up our Fresh Fork CSA (where I put the cold items in a cooler with ice) before returning to the J so I could take a class.  Whew!  No wonder I’m tired.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive this week:

  • 1 whole pasture raised chicken
  • 1 pint frozen raspberries
  • 1 quart farmstead yogurt
  • 1 8-oz. piece gouda cheese
  • 1 1lb bag of granola, either Krispy treat or spelt granola (vegan)
  • 3 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes
  • 1 bag mixed salad greens
  • 1 quarter peck gold rush apples
  • 1 package tofu

Here’s a group shot:

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The chicken is in the freezer.   I had just cooked our last chicken this week and we still have stock in the fridge.  We’ll probably cook it soon since it takes up quite a bit of room.  The greens look really good this week, so some more salad will be in the mix.

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I am always glad to see yogurt.  We’ve been buying this brand at Heinen’s whenever there isn’t any on the truck.  I love that my kids eat plain yogurt with a bit of homemade honey sweetened jam.  We’ll use the apples in our oatmeal for breakfasts.  We were down to our last one today.

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My kids were happily surprised to see “more raspberries”.  We haven’t been getting them in our CSA, but we have been eating frozen ones from our summer picking for the past few days at home.  They have been very popular, so I don’t expect these to last long.  There was a problem with a truck this week, so we were given a choice of waiting until the next pick up for the Yukon gold potatoes or taking sweet potatoes.  We love sweet potatoes and already had some white potatoes at home, so we opted for the sweet potatoes.

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All of the local cheese we have received has been great.  Gouda is one of our favorites.  The tofu is a new product for the CSA.  I’ve poled several people and everyone describes it differently.  The best description that I have heard so far is that it’s really firm, but crumbly.  I plan to freeze it and make tofu sausage crumble with it.  I also heard that I need to freeze it for two weeks.  So, that’s what I’m going to try.

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The granola is one of my favorites.  I bought an extra bag for $5 because it’s so good.

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All in all, we have another great batch of local goods to work with.  I’m going to do some meal planning in the next day or two so we can use our pantry staples and new products for some tasty dishes.

Kettlebell Workout!

Exercise No Responses »
Feb 152012
 

Today, my partner in crime and I met with Jen, our trainer.  A week or two ago, I had inquired about doing a kettlebell workout.  I was so glad that today was the day.  I had been intrigued by them ever since I attended a demo about them at the Fit Bloggin’ conference last year.

I spent about 20 minutes on the elliptical for a warm up.

Then, we met up for our workout.  All of our weights through the rows used the kettlebells.

  • Multi-Directional Lunges x 5ea. way

3 sets of the following:

  • Kettlebell Swings 15lb x 1:00 minute
  • KB Push Press 12lb x :30 seconds each arm
  • Windmill 5lb x 15ea side
  • Twisting Squats 15lb x 30

2 sets of the following:

  • Tactile Lunges 15lb x length of gym (passing the kettlebell under your leg after each step of the lunge)
  • Bentover Row 15lb x 20ea. side
  • Mountain Climbers on Slideboard x 50 (with crazy booties to help my feet slide)

1 set of the following:

  • Box Squat to Press 18lb bodybar x 20
  • Isometric Bicep Curl 12lb x 20ea arm

My partner in crime had to leave a bit early.  Jen helped me stretch out well.  I think that was a good thing.

An hour is a really long time to do strength training.  I’m already sore.  It was crazy.  It was hard.  It was good for me.  I could fall in love with kettlebell training.   I can’t wait until next week’s workout.

 Posted by at 7:59 PM

Homemade Marshmallows with Hot Chocolate

Adventures with Nick and Sally, Recipe 1 Response »
Feb 142012
 

On Saturday, as part of Nick’s birthday, we decided to make marshmallows.  He had been watching Good Eats with Alton Brown on the Food Network this week.  He watched the marshmallow episode 4 times and really wanted to make them.  On Friday, we went off to the store to buy the needed ingredients such as sugar and gelatine.  He loved carrying the recipe around the store and helping gather the ingredients.  I had heard lots of things about making them.  Some people said it was easy, while others said that I should prepare Nick in case they don’t turn out.

Stephen joined in the fun to help make them.  He and Nick worked on measuring the ingredients.

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Nick and Sally double checked the recipe.  The recipe is really simple.  In a mixing bowl, gelatine and cold water soaks, while a sugar mixture cooks.  I loved that the mixture needed to cook, but we didn’t need to stir constantly.  We were going for 240 degrees.

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After the mixture cooked, we added it to the gelatine mixture.  Then, the mixer needed to beat on high for 13 minutes.  It was loud and the stand mixer definitely got a workout.

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We were quite excited to see marshmallow fluff in the making!  The last step was to add the vanilla.  The mixer goes crazy during that step.

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Then, we spread it in the pan with the help of oiled gloves and an oiled spatula.  The gloves were GREAT!

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Sunday morning, we turned them onto a cutting board and with a little cutting, our individual marshmallows were born.

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I don’t see us ever putting the mixture into a piping bag for making marshmallow bunnies, but we’d definitely make this recipe again.  They were so creamy and delicious.

We took them to Nick’s family party on Sunday and served them with our version of Alton Brown’s  homemade hot chocolate.  We did make a couple of changes to his recipe.  We only had 1/2 cup of Dutch Process High Fat Cocoa and used it along with 1/2 cup of Natural High Fat Cocoa.  Both of these were from Penzeys.  We omitted the cayenne pepper, but added a teaspoon of cinnamon.  Our powdered milk was non fat.  We combined all of the ingredients in the food processor to help the mix have an even texture.  It worked great.

This was the best hot cocoa and marshmallows that I’ve ever had.  Nick can’t wait to make them roasting!  I guess we’ll be having a fire this summer.

 Posted by at 7:17 PM

Nick’s Birthday Weekend

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Feb 132012
 

Nick’s birthday was on Saturday.  We started the morning with waffle making.  After breakfast, we let him open his gifts from his Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle.  He got a new Richard Scarry book.

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He also received a set of tube pipes that match his Saxoflute pipes from a couple of years ago.  He got busy building.

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He took a time out to admire the 4 inches of snow we got overnight in honor of his 4th birthday.

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After I walked to the gym and we got the driveway cleared, we headed to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  The roads weren’t so great on the way down, but we ended up with about 45 minutes there.  Nick enjoyed the Discovery Room by playing with these dominoes and doing the Balto puzzle.

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We stopped at Wendy’s for a quick lunch.  Then, we stopped to pick up some CSA items.  Our goal was to meet up with friends at Mitchell’s Homemade Ice Cream around 12:30PM.  Nick enjoyed strawberry.

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He also enjoyed a few gifts.  A set of Thomas puzzles and a Dr kit were both big hits.

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After nap time and dinner on Saturday, we set out to make homemade marshmallows.  One step is to run the mixer on high for 13 minutes.  It was a little loud.

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The birthday celebration continued Sunday evening with family at great grandma’s house.  We enjoyed hot chocolate and marshmallows along with birthday cake.

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Nick had a great birthday and the whole family had fun, too!

 Posted by at 8:46 PM

Geauga Family Farms CSA Winter Extras Pick Up

CSA No Responses »
Feb 122012
 

Geauga Family Farms CSA is offering an egg share for the next 4 months.  Apparently, the hens that were raised in anticipation for the winter CSA are finally up to full production.  So, they had an excess of eggs and wanted to do an egg share.  We didn’t really need an egg share, but since there was a local (Cleveland Heights) delivery available, we ordered some extras.  We picked up our goods yesterday in the midst of celebrating Nick’s birthday.

GFF was offering a $10 produce bag.  I had no idea what we might get.

Here’s a photo of our bag contents:

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Carrots, lettuce, parsley, cabbage, potatoes, and I believe collard greens.  I have to say that I wasn’t overly impressed.  The lettuce and cabbage were frozen.  I cleaned the lettuce and put in in our greens container.  I didn’t try it out yet.  The outer couple of layers of cabbage were also frozen.  I haven’t tried to cut into it yet.  You can see the frozen green in the photo.  The carrots were the best we’ve had, but it was only enough for each of us to have a couple of bites.  Parsley is hard for us to use.  We usually make tabouli, but we don’t have the other ingredients for it.  I think I’m going to try to make chimmichurri sauce.  I’m glad I tried the grab bag, but I’m not sure I’d order it again.

The honey and maple syrup were the main reasons for our order.  I’ve become picky with my honey.  I really like the wildflower honey from Schmidt Family Farms and the Miller’s Country Jam honey.  The Miller’s Jam is available through GFF, so I ordered it.  It was $5 a pound and we got 4 pounds.  I also ordered a quart of maple syrup for $14.  This is a good price for local maple syrup.  I’m excited for new production in March, but we were running really low. I picked up a dozen eggs for good measure.  They were $3.25.

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I’m not sure we’ll place another extras order next month, but it’s a nice option for us during the winter.  I’m excited for the summer produce season.

 Posted by at 10:25 PM

Sore Quads

Exercise No Responses »
Feb 102012
 

Yesterday, my partner in crime and I had our trainer workout with Jen.  Last week, I remember commenting that we didn’t do much leg work.  Some workouts are more balanced for  upper and lower bodies.  Others focus more on one or the other.  Well, we made up for it yesterday.  My quads are really sore.  I’m reminded of my workout every time I stand up and every time I use the stairs.

I was on the phone about our home refinance, so I didn’t really get a formal warm up.  I also didn’t feel all that great, but I try hard not to be a whiner.

Here’s the workout

  • 2 sets of the following:
  • Squat to bench/Curl/Press 5lb x 30
  • Overhead Tricep Pull Dropset 50lb->10lb x 12ea
  • Standing Row Dropset 60lb ->20lb x 12ea
  • Lateral Lunges x 20ea
  • Isometric Front/Lateral Raises 3lb x 20ea
  • Step-up to Reverse Lunge x 15ea
  • Bench Pushups x 15
  • 45degree sidebends 10lb x 15ea
  • Good Mornings x 15
  • Walking Lunges w/ Overhead Press 10lb x length of gym (1 set)

I’m pretty sure it was the 2 sets of 3 different lunges that did in the quads.  Apparently, I have weak quads and need to keep doing more exercises.

Despite the quads, my arms and shoulders and even obliques  are feeling pretty good today.  I’m so glad to be doing these small group workouts.  It’s so different strength training for a full hour.

Despite my quads, I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 25 minutes of walking on the indoor track.

Next up:  My first workout at Anytime Fitness in the AM.

 

Anytime Fitness

Exercise No Responses »
Feb 092012
 

I’ve been a member of the JCC for almost four and a half years.  I have been pretty consistent with my workouts during that time.  Lately, I’ve been really looking at my workout schedule and the type of workouts that I work into my schedule.

  • Monday Spinning: This is a great workout for me.  It’s a full hour of cardio and is challenging.
  • Tuesday Water Aerobics:  I’m still working on making this class more challenging.  I love the water and incorporating it into my routine feels good.
  • Wednesday ??:  This is my “pot luck” day.  For me, this usually means a rather unplanned workout.  If we get to the gym in time, I’d like to take the power sculpt class.  In reality, that doesn’t happen and my options are limited since we leave early to go to the library.  I don’t want to strength train since that is on my Thursday schedule.  I usually end up with the elliptical.
  • Thursday Strength Training with Trainer:  This is one of my best workouts of the week!
  • Friday ??: This is another “pot luck” day.  We get to the JCC late so the kids can enjoy Teacher Debbie.  So, all of the classes are out.  Currently, I’m walking the track for a bit to cheer on my partner in crime as she trains for a 5K.  I’m looking into a small group yoga class, but nothing is set up yet.
  • Saturday/Sunday:  Although I try to be active on the weekends, the reality is that I don’t get real workouts in.  This also means that I’m only get strength training once a week.

So far, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday are great workouts.  Wednesday and Friday aren’t.  I need to figure out how to get exercise in on the weekends.

To help with this goal, I joined another gym.  I know it seems crazy, but our weekend time is precious.  It takes me 13 minutes to drive to the JCC and another 5-15 to park, walk inside, go to the lockers, and get started.  To get a 45 minute workout, I need at least an hour and a half.  Anytime Fitness is just over a half mile from our house.  If I drive there, I can be putting on shoes at home one minute and working out 5 minutes later.  Ideally, I’d like to walk/jog up to the gym, do strength training and walk/jog back.  I think I can get a really good workout done in an hour.  The gym is open 24/7.  I have a key fob to use to enter and it’s a secure spot.  I don’t plan on working out at crazy hours, so there will always be people around.  My weekend goal is to be back home by 8AM and that’s when the JCC opens!

I’d also love to get one or two extra cardio workouts in during the week.  But, the weekends are my first priority.  Saturday is Nick’s birthday and I’m planning to start my day out with a workout so that we can spend the rest of the day having fun.

 Posted by at 9:27 PM

Biggest Loser Gym Workout

Exercise No Responses »
Feb 082012
 

Last night, we went back to the J after nap time so I could do the 6PM workout.  This year, we’ve had more variety in the workouts… pool, cycling, gym, etc.  I missed the first gym workout, so I was glad that I could attend last night.

There were about 40 people in attendance.  4 of the JCC personal trainers put us through our workout.

We had a basic cardio warm up with walking, shuffles, and other movements down the gym court and back.  After that warm up, we did a series of 1 minute exercises.  We did things like push ups, step ups, oblique twists, knee lifts, partner rows, and a few others that currently escape me.  The trainers incorporated bands, body weight, and the BOSU into the workouts.  We ended with a nice stretching period.

The trainers did a pretty good job of mixing it up and keeping us moving.  My only complaint is that we were crowded for the warm up.  They had us line up in two lines and do our movements down the court.  We really needed to be in 3 or even 4 lines to have enough space between us.

All in all, it was a good workout.  I’m glad I made the effort to attend.  It’s so much easier this year since the workouts are all at 6PM and Kid Kare is open until 7:30PM.  It allows me go and take the kids with me.

The next Biggest Loser workout is next Thursday in the pool.

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