Bar Belles At Home

Skinny Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins

caroline — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:01:11 +0000

My husband and I took our son strawberry picking for the first time this past week. When the woman at the farm asked how many buckets we wanted, I said two thinking that wouldn’t get us too many strawberries. Boy was I wrong! We ended up with 10 pounds of berries and I have been trying to figure out “healthy” foods that I can make with them. At first I thought I would make some jam……BUT that has so much sugar and is pretty time consuming. Time I don’t really have. So, I found a recipe for blueberry muffins and I adapted it just a tad to make it healthier, strawberry muffins. As for the rest of the strawberries, many have been frozen for smoothies, some cut up for lunches, and the rest will top our homemade buttermilk waffles this weekend. Hope you enjoy!

Skinny Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of old fashioned oatmeal
5 oz of nonfat strawberry or pomegranate Greek yogurt (I used Trader Joes)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup baking Truvia
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups fresh strawberries, cut up

Prep:
Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray 12 muffin tin with LOTS of cooking spray so the muffins don’t stick. Next, you will blend all of your ingredients EXCEPT for the strawberries in a food processor (or a blender-I think the food processor works best). Pour your batter into a bowl and fold in your strawberries. Pour batter into 12 muffin tins, evenly. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool, serve, enjoy!

**These actually tasted better cold out of the fridge this morning with breakfast.

Baked Chicken Chimi’s

caroline — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:06:59 +0000

My favorite Mexican dish is chicken Chimichangas. They are probably the MOST unhealthy dish you could eat at a Mexican restaurant. Fried and cheesy. I saw a pinterest post for baked chimichangas recently and I decided to try and create my own “healthy” version. I succeeded! Since time is tight these days…….this dish SO quick and easy and SO tasty! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast (I am loving the Smart Chicken lately)
1 packet Ortega, low sodium, taco seasoning
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup salsa (I used the medium wholly guac brand salsa)

Mix these above ingredients together and put in the crockpot on low for about 3 hours. Shred the chicken and leave on warm for another 1 hour or so.
**My crock pot gets REALLY hot, so if your chicken is not shreddable after 3 hours, then poke a few holes in the chicken and keep cooking for a little bit longer until is shreds easily.

6 tortillas-lo carb style (again, I use la tortilla-81 calories per tortilla…..keeps the calorie count low)
1 bag reduced fat mexican cheese.

Heat oven to 400. While oven is heating up, place a Tbsp of cheese in center of tortilla and spoon chicken mixture on top. Fold tortilla up so that it is in the shape of a square. Brush with canola oil (I only used about a tsp for all 6 that it made. Place in baking dish. Make sure you spray with cooking spray. once you are finished making all 6 chimichanga’s, cover with aluminum foil.

Cook for 15 minutes. Turn on the broiler. Take off the foil and top each chimichanga with a TBSP of reduced fat Mexican cheese and broil for about 5 minutes until the tops are crispy and browned and are puffed up.

Extra toppings: Top with fat free sour cream, guacamole, and salsa.

Approx. calories per chimichanga are 250. That is not including your extra toppings.

Parking Garage Workout

caroline — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:41:20 +0000

This weekend is the bridge run weekend in Charleston. I realize it is great for businesses, but it is not great for traffic! I have run the bridge a few years in the past and I have decided that it is too many people for me when I can run the bridge any day of the week ) I wanted to bring those of you who aren’t running the bridge (because you don’t live in Charleston or simply do not want to deal with getting up at 4:30 am to get your car parked downtown and then get your body over to Mount Pleasant, all the while fighting thousands of people to get your start spot) a KILLER leg and cardio workout.

I know I can really get sick of the same old treadmill, elliptical, bootcamp style workouts……If you want to scorch up to 600-700 calories in 50 minutes, then try this. Find your closest parking garage and GET TO WORK Girl! (make sure to take a friend who will not only help push you but will also help keep you safe…..don’t go alone. Too many CRAZY people in this crazy world!). This workout is a fun way to help burn lots of calories and also help ramp up your boring old routine.
WORKOUT: (takes about an 45 minutes to hour to finish)

Run the steps from the ground floor to the top of the garage.
Once you get to the top, run back down one flight at a time. Then when you get to that level, sprint to the opposite set of stairs and back again. Run down to the next level. Sprint across, and down to the next level. Do this until you reach the bottom of the steps.
Run back up to the top of the garage-this time you will skip every other stair.

Once at the top, you are going to:

Complete 50 walking lunges, then run half way down the stairs and back up again.
Complete 40 mountain climbers (each side-so 80 total), then run to the flight of stairs above the one you ran to before and back up again.
Complete 30 squat jumps, then run to the flight of stairs above the one you ran to before and back up again.
Complete 25 pushups, then run to the flight of stairs above the one you ran to before and back up again.
Complete 20 dips, then run to the flight of stairs above the one you ran to before and back up again.
Complete 15 burpees, then run to the flight of stairs above the one you ran to before and back up again.
Complete 10 star jumps and you are DONE!

Great workout! Keep up the hard work and I will see y’all back here again next week.

HIIT Butt Buster

caroline — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 02:29:21 +0000

So maybe I will never look like Allyson Felix……or any track superstar but………I am on a MISSION. A mission to lose the last 7 lbs of my baby weight. Yes, I still have 7 more to go and my baby is a year. Yikes! I have been busting it 6 days (2 days of high intensity cardio training, 1 day of just cardio, 1 day of “bootcamp”, and 2 days of about 20-30 minutes of cardio plus weights/plyo) a week outside and at home and this is one of my favorite “cardio” workouts that I added in recently.

20 minutes running (treadmill or outside)

0-2 minutes- fast pace walking
2-4 minutes-jogging (on a 2% incline if on a treadmill)
4-5 minutes- sprinting
Repeat 3 more times until you hit 20 minutes

25 minutes on an elliptical or bike (whatever you have access to-can just run if you don’t have these cardio pieces available)

0-2 minutes at a moderate pace
3-4 minutes pop squats
4-6 minutes minutes at a moderate pace
6-7 minutes jump lunges (aka jumping split squats)
7-9 minutes minutes at a moderate pace
9-10 minutes pushups
10-12 minutes minutes at a moderate pace
12-13 minutes jump squats
13-15 minutes minutes at a moderate pace
15-16 minutes reverse lunges with a hop (30 seconds each leg)
16-18 minutes minutes at a moderate pace
18-19 minutes superman pushups
19-21 minutes minutes at a moderate pace
21-22 minutes star jumps OR burpees
22-25 minutes cool down

Smothered Beef Enchiladas

caroline — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:20:41 +0000

Yum! These are amazing! Delicious even on the third round of leftovers ) My husband loved them more each time we ate them. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Oh and did I mention how incredibly easy they are to make? Enjoy!
Ingredients:

2 lbs chuck-flat iron steak (make sure the cut of meat is approx 6g of fat per serving-or less!)
1 can enchilada sauce
1 4oz can green chilies
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 onion diced
4 garlic cloves (fresh) diced
1 can fat free refried beans
1 pack lo carb la tortilla tortillas (should be about 80-100 cals per tortilla)
1/2 packet of reduced fat Mexican cheese

Prep:

Put all of the ingredients from the steak to the garlic cloves into crock pot and cook for 4-5 hrs until you can shred the beef. Shred beef and let cook another 30 min. Drain onions and beef from the juices, but make save to save that sauce. Lay tortillas flat and spread 1 heaping TBSP of refried beans on it. Top w beef and onions, roll into enchilada. When you get finished making all 8, you will top with the cheese and the saved sauce. Bake at 300 for 10 min. Each Enchilada is approx 350 calories. Top with fat free sour cream or 0% plain Greek Yogurt.

**You can also substitute chicken or boneless pork chops in place of the beef. This will lighten your dish up even MORE!

Top 10 for a home gym

caroline — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:52:49 +0000

I am listing my favorite pieces of gym equipment that you should have at home in order for a great BarBelles workout. The first 5 are an absolute must and then second five are ones that I love but ones that are not necessarily NEEDED for your killer workouts. If you are doing my workouts, you won’t need anything else. These will help whip your butt into shape. Remember, your body is your BEST exercise tool! All you need is a little motivation………

1. Weights (dumbbells)

2. Stability Ball

3.Bosu Ball

4.Jump Rope

5. Bands

6. TRX or other suspension training

7. Sliders

8. kettle bells

9. Medicine Ball

10. Plyo Box

Brussel Sprouts Beneficial

caroline — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:04:43 +0000

Growing up my mom MADE me eat brussel sprouts. Back then, I thought they were disgusting! In order to choke them down, I would drench them in ranch dressing. Not exactly healthy and I definitely can’t afford to be drenching anything in ranch dressing these days. I am on a quest to lose the last few baby lbs. Now that I am older and able to try things when I want to try them, I have found a new love for brussel sprouts. My two favorite ways of cooking them are by roasting them and just adding different toppings to them.
Brussel sprouts are a super food. They help fight off certain cancers, help you to lose weight, and they help lower your cholesterol. These tiny cabbages are low in calories but help fill you up. Perfect!!! These little guys are a yes in my book!

Greek Brussel Sprouts:

15 brussel sprouts, washed and quartered
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fat free feta
2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
ground pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Turn your oven on to 350. Cut your brussel sprouts into quarters and tomatoes into halves. Place in small casserole dish or on cookie sheet. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and pepper and garlic powder. Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on how roasted you like yours. Top with your crumbled fat free feta. Serves 2-3. Enjoy!

Savory & sweet Sprouts

15 brussel sprouts, quartered
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp goat cheese (reduced fat)
2 Tbsp dried cranberries

Turn your oven on to 350. Cut your brussel sprouts into quarters. Place in small casserole dish or on cookie sheet. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on how roasted you like yours. Top with goat cheese and dried cranberries. Serves 2-3.

Bikini Beach Abs

caroline — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:37:41 +0000

With the temps getting into the high 70s/low 80s here in Charleston this week, I thought it was perfect timing to show y’all a great abs routine. These 8 exercises will help sculpt and strengthen your abdominal and lower back muscles. Don’t forget you HAVE to do cardio in order to shed that layer of fat first! We don’t want to bulk up your abs with the exercises. So, after a run or spinning class do this quick 15 minute routine.

Turn on some good tunes and complete each exercise 10 times if you are a beginner, 15 times if you’re an intermediate, and 25 times if you’re a superstar………. and then repeat! Have fun!

Towel sliders

Plank toe tappers

Ankle touches

Leg raises

Toe touches

90 degree situps

V-ups

Windmills

No Gym Required

caroline — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:11:39 +0000

About half of the girls I train on Tuesday evenings are pregnant right now. That means that I need to come up with workouts for both pregnant and non-pregnant women to do at the same time. This fun, effective circuit training workout is only about 25 minutes long and will have you sweating in no time. If you aren’t pregnant, you can really push yourself with these 7 exercises. If you are pregnant, you can get a good sweat going and sleep well at night……just don’t over do it and remember to ALWAYS consult your doctor before doing any of my workouts!

Burn about 300 calories with this 25 minute workout you can do outside. Don’t have a trx or a bosu ball? Try using a band in place of the TRX and a bench or step in place of a bosu ball. Grab a partner and have fun!

NOT- Pregnant	Pregnant
SPRINTS from one fence to other (approx 15 yds-one way)	Frankensteins (keep arms parallel and straight in front of you as you kick your straight leg to your hands)
TRX chest press/Flys	Band Chest Presses/Flys
Bosu Ball side squats	Bosu Ball side squats
BURPEES (squat thrusts)	Modified burpees (squat thrusts)
Shoulder Presses	Shoulder Presses
Plie squat with Calf raise-weighted	Plie squat with Calf raise-NOT weighted
Walking Planks	Walking Planks- on knees

**Complete each exercise for 45 seconds. Do 3 rounds for a total of approx 25 min.

Lasagna Soup

caroline — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:47:20 +0000

If you live in any other part of the country besides the southeast, you are probably experiencing winter weather. Charleston, SC on the other hand is experiencing very WARM spring-like weather (Ugh). This is why I have decided to crank down my air conditioner, turn on some Christmas carols, and make some hot, yummy lasagna soup to warm the soul. Once again, it is an easy, quick recipe.

Lasagna Soup:

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (I used 93/7)
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves (fresh), chopped
2 cups mushrooms
1 cup carrots, chopped
6 cups low sodium chicken broth
1- 10oz can Italian style stewed tomatoes
14 oz tomato sauce, low sodium
2 cups bow tie pasta (or whatever kind of pasta you have around)
1 Tbsp basil (I used dried)
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
2 cups spinach
Italian cheese for toppings, reduced fat

Prep:
Brown meat in large pot. Add in onions, carrots, mushrooms, basil, italian seasoning, and garlic and sauté for about 3-4 minutes. Add chicken broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Add in pasta and let cook for about 8 minutes. Turn down heat to medium and add in spinach. Let wilt. I let mine sit for about 10 minutes so that the pasta really soaks up the tomato sauce and broth. You can eat whenever the spinach wilts or you can let it sit and simmer. Serves 6-8. Top with fresh mozzarella or italian shredded cheese. Enjoy on your cold (A/C) winter night!