10,000 YouTube Subscribers and roasting a whole chicken

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Thank you all so much for your support and for getting me to 10,000 YouTube subscribers! This is a huge milestone for me and I am so excited to share it with you. In case you have not subscribed yet... DO IT! I post at least one new workout video every week! They are all full length videos so all you have to do is follow along with me. It takes the thinking out of "what should I do for a workout??!" I am always taking requests, so feel free to message me!

Last night I made a WHOLE roast chicken (for the second time in my life). I do not mind eating chicken, but when it comes to looking at and touching a raw piece of meat it kinda grosses me out. BUT I have to say that cooking a whole chicken is SO easy and actually tastes pretty darn good!

Keeping the skin on when you roast a chicken is great because it gives the chicken so much flavor, keeps it moist, and you do not need to add any other sauces or dressings.  I take the skin off before I eat the chicken, though I think some people may eat it.

After over an hour of cooking... this is what happened!

I looked up different recipes online and grabbed ideas from them.

I rubbed my chicken with salt, pepper, and Herbes de Provence. I squeezed a little lemon on top and then stuffed the lemon up the chickens butt. That was the weirdest part for me!

For side dishes I blanched some broccoli, and in a separate dish I cut up some carrots, celery, and some cute little baby potatoes, seasoned it with salt pepper and a little EVOO. I put everything in the oven to cook together.

check out the blogs below on how to cook your bird:

Perfect Roast Chicken: Food Network

Making the Basic: Simple Roast Chicken (Annie Eats)

While your chicken is roasting how about you do this workout? It is awesome because you DO NOT need a mat and it is PERFECT to do in your kitchen while your meal is cooking.

Enjoy! And keep me posted on how your roast chicken came out. (Makes great leftovers too! Chicken on salad!)

How NOT to blow your healthy eating this July 4th weekend.

July 4th means a lot of food, drinking, and dessert. But it does not mean that you have to throw your healthy eating out the window! This is what I would do before heading out this weekend:

1. Workout before you leave for your BBQ or outing.  (you could workout after but I like before better)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSrdAwUfCUM&w=560&h=315]

2. Drink a lot of water the morning of. I would eat a light breakfast. Maybe an egg, avocado and toast? Or some nuts and a banana. You could even do a green juice! I would never leave my house with an empty stomach. That would just set me up for disaster. Get something in your belly so you are not starving causing you to overeat.

3. I always try to bring a healthy side dish or appetizer. I am bringing a hearty and delicious salad to my families BBQ. Bringing something is helpful because if there is nothing on the "healthy" side at your BBQ, you know you always have your dish to fall back on!

4. If you are going to a place where there will be a lot of people, loud music and drinking it is easy to get caught up in the excitement and just start shoving food in your mouth. Try to be mindful. Find a seat and enjoy your beer (or cocktail!) and food. Sitting makes a HUGE difference and will somehow make you feel more satisfied.

5.  Fill your plate with veggies or salad, first! Then you can add in your protein and starch. I would grab a sweet potato or brown rice if that is an option!

How I will fill my plate:

- half my plate will be filled with a salad or veggies of some sort

- a protein (probably grilled chicken). About the size of my cell phone, or smaller.

- possibly some type of starch. Brown rice? Sweet potato?

- and I will always leave room for dessert!!!!

6. How I will choose my dessert: I will most likely scope out the table and choose something chocolaty. I love chocolate. And I will take just a little to satisfy me. Look at the table first, then pick your favorite dessert. Who knows, it might even be the fruit!?

7. Try to avoid sugary margarita mixes and drinks. I would stick to the less sugary drinks. After every alcoholic drink grab a water. If you are hosting a BBQ maybe you can try one of these: (Thanks Sarah!)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMPFQxfl5kE&w=560&h=315]

So there you have it. Do not stress about what you are eating, just enjoy every bite. Holidays should be fun. Do not deprive yourself, that will just lead to over indulging. Enjoy your friends and family (or whoever you are with)! Be mindful of what you are putting in your body. And if it is a chocolate chop cookie, enjoy and embrace every bite :)

Be safe and  happy fourth!

Cooking class in Vietnam

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Brandon and I took a cooking class today! As part of the class we went to a Vietnamese market and picked our own produce. The produce was abundant but there were also things in this market that I had never seen before. Out in the open were pig brains and every part of a cow you could think of. There are no fridges in the market, so everything is fresh and must be sold that day. We saw live fish having their heads cut off, and most shocking to me were frogs that were being slammed on a counter in order to kill them. I accidentally took a video of this, but have decided not to show it.

This is the culture in Vietnam, so I am being open minded. All very interesting.

Brandon and I have a driver/tour guide while we are in Saigon. His name is Hung!

He is the sweetest! He is Buddhist and as part of his practice he and his wife buy a fish from the market twice a week and set it free in the Saigon river. He does not believe in killing animals, even mosquitos!

For our cooking class today we made 3 main dishes:

I tried to take a video during class, but this was a little difficult. I did get a quick one though and will post later.

First dish was a mustard leaf roll. Inside was carrots, onions, coconut stalk, lotus stem, lemon basil, mint, and some other green thing. Ill get that name later :)

This green wrap really reminded me of a wrap I made with Elyse from Lillybelle foods! Just a Vietnamese version.

Next: sticky rice fritter aka fried rice balls

Inside these balls I chose not to put meat, rather I stuck with veggies.

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They were crispy on the outside and very dense. The chef said this is traditional Vietnamese street food. It's cheap and filling!

Last dish: fresh rice noodles with BBQ pork! I do not eat pork so I took a picture of Brandon's dish. I just made mine sans meat. There was not much cooking for this one other than making the sauce and grilling the meat.

The sauce was made of mostly:

Kumquats Garlic Water Fish oil Sugar Salt Chili peppers Pepper

Sing Ciào! Off to De Lat tomorrow!

PS excuse any typos! This is all done on my phone!

Wegmans in Virgina

Hi all. I am on my to Virginia!! I am in a car and have some time on my hands so I am going to write out this whole post on my phone and drive at the same time!! Just kidding (about the driving).

Whenever I travel I try to stop at a grocery store along the way to grab some healthy snacks that do not take preparation and can stay without refrigeration. I stopped at Wegmans food market (first time in there!) and saw they had breakfast sandwiches. Most of the sandwiches were already prepared with either cheese or bacon or both. I asked if they could make me an egg white on a whole wheat English muffin, no cheese or meat. It was simple and hit the spot.

After my breakfast I walked around and explored the store a little bit more. There was so much produce and the store just kept going and going. I really wanted to buy a green juice, but couldn't find any. I am not sure if I missed them, but I was a bit disappointed at their juice selections.

I bought bananas, cucumbers, granola, almonds, cacao energy bites and a pear! Enough snacks to last me the weekend.

Do you have a Wegmans in your area? Supposedly one is opening in Boston!

Have a superb weekend :)

Delicious healthy chocolate chip cookie

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I love chocolate. I love dessert. I really do. So when Elise (from Lillybelle Foods) told me about her recipe for a healthier version of a chocolate chip cookie I was alllll about trying it.

Regardless of being considered more healthy, I LOVED IT ! Try it, and YOU tell me how amazing it is, k?

• The only sweetener in the cookie is honey (and the chocolate chips)
• No butter! We used only coconut oil

YUMMMMMMMMM

Ingredients:

½ c whole wheat flour

½ c almond meal

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1  egg

2 T honey

1 ½ tsp vanilla

½ cup chocolate chips

1 T coconut oil, melted is ideal

2 T almond milk

Directions:

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine all wet ingredients in a smaller bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry and add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 6 cookies.

For a vegan version, use 1 T ground flax seed +  3 T warm water instead of the egg, and use maple syrup instead of honey.