Dairy free tomato soup! YUMMY!

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Yesterday I made a tomato soup. I read different recipes and came up with my own. The final product was delicious. A definite thumbs up!

Ingredients:

10 vine ripe tomatoes cut in quarters

5-7 garlic cloves

EVOO

1-1.5 tsp cumin

1tsp coriander

salt

pepper

basil

oregano

1 Cup chicken or vegetable stalk

cayenne pepper (optional for a little kick)

goat cheese (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450

Dice tomatoes into quarters and put them in a baking dish. Cover the tomatoes with EVOO and add plenty of salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. I would say add enough salt not TOO much, but do not be afraid to add the pepper, oregano, and basil.

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In the dish place 5-7 garlic cloves. They will get nice and soft as they cook in the oven and will add great flavor to your soup.

Place the tomatoes and garlic in the oven for 35 minutes. As they cook you will notice juices emerging from the tomatoes and a wonderful smell will fill in the air! Mix the tomatoes twice. Once after 15 minutes and again after 25 minutes.

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After the tomatoes are cooked, carefully take the dish out of the oven as the tomatoes will now be sitting in a lot of tomatoes juices.

Heat a large pot (one that you would make a soup in) and add EVOO or vegetable oil, crushed garlic, cumin, coriander, and a little cayenne pepper if you want a kick.  I would add about 1/2 tsp-1tsp of each, less for the cayenne. Feel free to add more of the seasonings and make sure there is enough oil so that the seasonings do not get stuck to the bottom of the pot. Do not let the garlic burn. Put the fire on medium to low heat. You want it to sizzle for about 3-5 minutes. Keep mixing.

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Add the tomatoes and all of their juices to the pot of seasonings and mix for a minute.

Add 1 cup of chicken or vegetable stock. Mix everything and simmer on low for about 3 minutes.

Take the tomato mixture off the heat and let it sit and cool down. After about 10 minutes  blend everything. You can puree if you have an immersion blender. Or you can pour it in your blender like I did! Works great.

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I made the soup with a grill cheese sandwich on the side. YUM. For my camera man I added a tsp of crumbled goat cheese, in his bowl, to give it a little more creaminess. Camera man said he LIKED the tomato soup!!!! This could be one of the very few dishes he has given positive feed back on. WOW.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Are your triceps feeling jiggly?

It always happens. The time between Christmas and New Years where people start to slack at the gym. My class numbers slow down and then BOOM come the New Year the number of students in my classes sky rocket and people are back at it. I myself have been eating more "sweets" than normal, and my workout schedule has been all over the place... so really no schedule. This is partly due to the fact that a lot of my classes have been cancelled due to the holiday and new year.

I just got back from lunch with my mom and future sister in law. I got a salad nicoise, actually one of the best salad nicoise I have ever had. And then we split the masterpiece featured above. We didn't even know where to start! It was huge, so we didn't end up finishing it, but it was good. It was filled with vanilla and raspberry ice cream and some kind of vanilla cakey stuff.  I also had a cup of peppermint tea. YUM.

Here is a video to get you back into the groove. Lets target those triceps, and get rid of the jiggle in time for the new year. On Friday I will be posting a full body workout to get you ready for your New Years little black dress!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r15_bd548Vc

Pomegranate: how to deseed (and EAT!) the crazy fruit

How many times have you bought and eaten a whole pomegranate? Probably not many. I am assuming because they are such an odd fruit and so hard to eat.  With some searching I found and tested a method that makes eating a pomegranate SO EASY.

If you are not familiar with the fruit I'll update you!

Pomegranate is a fruit that has edible seeds. The skin is red and tough and not edible. You can get pomegranate juice all year round, but the season for fresh pomegranates is September through January.

BEST WAY TO DESEED A POMEGRANATE!!!

After you take the seeds out of your pomegranate there are plenty of ways to eat:

1. Scoop with a spoon and eat- my favorite way

2. Freeze and then eat. Refreshing snack.

3. Toss in your salad to add some color, nutrition and a fun crunch.

4. I have also added them to my greek yogurt, YUM!

How do you eat your pomegranate seeds?

The rare times that I drink pomegranate juice is with my mixed drinks, eeek! BUT a glass of Pomegranate juice  has more antioxidants than red wine, green tea, blueberries, and cranberries. Pomegranates  are just all over amazing and contain high levels of flavonoids and polyphenols. They also contain potent antioxidants offering protection against cancer and heart disease. So go get your pomegranate today and show off your NEW cool deseeding trick!

Steps to a beautiful back

Video 1: pulling your shoulders back

1. Good Posture! What is good posture?  I used to think it was just when you would sit up straight (that is part of it) but the REAL posture comes from pulling your shoulder blades together and pulling your shoulders away from your ears and back. When you pull your shoulders back, make sure not to stick out your rib cage or your belly. Good posture also comes from pulling your stomach in, engaging your deep abdominal muscles and supporting your low back.  Now I want you to FREEZE and check the placement of your head. It is most likely hanging too far font and putting a lot of strain on your neck and shoulders. Try to stack and lengthen your spine and not let your head fall too far front. Now pull your shoulders down and back and check out video #1.

Video 2: back work on your stomach (soon to be mama's ...I would not do this)

2. This is a GREAT back exercise and routine. It's all about pulling the shoulders back, baby. Do not let them fall front. Think of sliding your shoulder blades down and away from your ears, and then pulling them together.

Video 3: seated rows (make sure you are sitting up tall)

3. Seated rows: AMAZING. You can do this at home, no big machines needed! All you need is a resistance band. Many people focus too much on pulling their elbows back, when the focus should be on your shoulders and shoulder blades.

Video 4: Standing posture workout

4. Standing arm workout! Focus on triceps and back. This workout is a MUST! And you can do it anywhere... even when waiting in line at the grocery store...maybe??!

I am also guilty of bad posture, slouchy shoulders, and just too tired to care.

BUT 90% of the time I am aware, I make that effort, and it has paid off. You can do it too. Set yourself a reminder on your computer or your phone. " Pull your shoulders back" or "posture".  This change will make you taller, appear learner, and will for sure give off that confident and successful vibe.

What is YOUR favorite back exercise? I would love to hear!

OPEN hip flexors = TIGHT butt

Not seeing the results you want from all that butt work you have been doing? Your tight hip flexors might be getting in your way. The Hip flexor stretch is my favorite. Tight hips affect many of us, either from a long day of sitting at work, a long commute, or just overuse.  We tend to use our hips and activate them even when they are not needed.  Your butt and hip flexors are opposing muscles. Having an open hip flexor muscle not only feels great, but it can also help your butt muscles get tighter and help wake them up a little.  And who doesn't want a butt that's awake?!

Try this stretch and then pair it with the butt workout below! http://youtu.be/0kuEFwEV_zU

After your hips are nice and open make sure you do some butt work. Open your hips then tighten your butt!

http://youtu.be/_lZCJbs59ic