Life Hack :: Makin the Most of Brown Bananas.

While bananas aren't as mean as avocados, getting the perfect bushel with the perfect lasting ripeness is still quite the feat. Too green and you wait a lifetime to eat one, too yellow and brown spots for days! I mean who eats all their bananas in one day?! <don't do that. They are full of vitamins but also lots of naturally occurring sugar> Shortly into the week, you may encounter the all too common case of the browning nanners...something like this:

Well I'm here to give you a couple tasty life hacks to put those ripe nanas to good use and not waste anything...while still keepin it clean!

One favorite trick is these frozen almond butter banana bites. How often do you just need one little treat to end your evening with? Ladies, am I right? Well these are guilt-free and delicious and use your browning bananas. Simply slice your nanner into thin discs and then layer almond butter between two discs.<Don't forget to be checking your almond butter labels to ensure you're only getting ALMONDS and maybe sea salt if you prefer it>
I line a flat plastic container with them and stick them in the freezer. They'll be ready as soon as an hour or two later. Easy to grab a few after a meal and nip that lil sweet tooth in the butt.

Second hack with those brown bananas also involves a frozen treat. Ever miss ice cream?!? Again, I somehow feel it appropriate to direct that question at the ladies... Well this is the easiest faux "ice cream" you'll ever make and it's awesome!
When the bananas are brown, peel them and break them into 3 or 4 pieces each and drop them in a gallon size freezer ziplock bag. I try to always have bananas in the freezer to be prepared to whip up this little treat. Depending on how many people you're making it for, throw 1 or 2 bananas worth of frozen pieces into a food processor. The taste of the over-ripe bananas is already sweet so you can scoop it out and eat as is:

OR you can toss in some other optional items. Sometimes I mix in unsweetened cocoa powder, a spoon of almond butter, or even frozen cherries for some zing! I mean look at these pictures. You would never know this wasn't real ice cream...and you can leave the guilt with BlueBell.

Just a quick treat tip to look like a brown banana boss.
Finding Fit AND Frozen Treats,
Lisa

Veggies on Veggies on Veggies :: Just add Paleo Jalapeno Ranch.

I posted a photo recently on my Instagram (@designerlisa) professing my desire to include more raw veggies in my meals.

Hopefully the reasoning is somewhat common sense to most. Anything in it's truest form is going to be the most beneficial to your body. That is, afterall, the overriding point of eating in a "clean" or "paleo" style lifestyle. We were intended to consume real, true food and it was intended to fuel our bodies in a medicinal way...and any time the food is morphed or modified or manipulated into something processed and different, it becomes just the opposite of medicine...harmful to the body. Now, don't hear me saying that we can't cook and create beautiful culinary delishness in the kitchen...I'm simply referring to using real, whole foods in the way that we create the concoctions.

While that may seem a bit of a rabbit trail, it is true that the more you cook, steam, bake, fry your beautifully healthy and fresh produce, the more your nutrients are forced out of the food. It is not reasonable to assume you can just simply eat raw veggies all the time and not go a little insane. Cooking and making fun variety out of real foods is still HEALTHY and good for your body. BUT, the point of this post is to encourage mixing in plenty of RAW veggies. The raw, pure forms of vegetables and fruit are so full of wonderful vitamins and minerals, natural anti-inflammatorys and anti-oxidants, that you'd be crazy to not want to feed your body with these natural medicines.

This past week, I decided to start adding in more salads in my meal preps, in effort to get more raw produce in my daily intake. But salads don't have to be flavorless, mundane or boring...

No way that's a "healthy" salad, right? WRONG. This colorful beautiful salad is full of real, fresh, raw ingredients, and...incidentally, has been the object of much desire in the office kitchen too! Fresh veggies, clean meat, and a delicious home-made dressing to top make this a healthy and flavorful lunch.

So here's what I tossed in here to keep it simple, from bottom to top:

• Cherry Tomatoes 
• pre-chopped Veggie Mix from Trader Joe's (cabage, celery, radishes, jicama, carrots...all kinds of goodies)
• Broccoli Slaw also from Trader Joe's
• Arugula, and/or other power greens (spinach, kale, chard...)

Notice the name of the game is pre-done...while it is great to have time to prep, chop and dice all the veggies, I also have to admit that I find HUGE value in the ready-to-go various veggie options at Trader Joe's. This makes this meal so fast and easy...

With the base of the salad easily done, I just cook up some meat to put with the salad. In this instance, I cooked up some ground turkey doused in some Flavor God seasoning. I store separately to either heat or mix in cold when I dump it at work. Any kind of good quality meat you like with your salads will do from tuna and chicken to turkey, beef or bison. Pick your poison!

The other element of prep is the salad dressing. I go through phases of liking just some olive oil and lime juice or vinegar...but lately (as seen in a lot of my posts) I've become addicted to a tasty homemade concoction that I came across on the Living Loving Paleo blog! She has a wonderful variety of delicious recipes. And her jalapeno ranch has rocked my world! I've included a link the the recipe HERE! It is truly delicious and adds great flavor to anything instantly! With an avocado oil base, it is a great source of healthy fat and a small bit goes a long way.

For the purpose of my salads on the go, I have divided mine into small 2oz containers. I also bring a little container with some Frank's Red Hot Sauce as I have a sudden obsession with a lil kick and love the mix of a little Frank's in my salad too.

I bring my mason jar, my meat, and my little condiments to work. I keep a large mixing bowl there which I use and wash each time I bring a salad so I can easily just dump everything together, mix it well, and ENJOY!

It's a seriously wonderful way to change up the ole salad and bring in lots of nutrients and LIFE to your meal prep!

Mix and dump yall!
Finding Fit,
Lisa

Resolving to Resolve in 2015.

You wouldn't want to leave a James Bond movie, not knowing if Bond saved the day AND got the girl.
You wouldn't want to make it through a mystery novel to find the last chapter missing with all your answers.
And we all definitely needed to know if Rachel got off the plane (spoiler...she did.)
Common thread? Resolution.

There is a constant need for resolve in our lives. Even if books, movies and Friends episodes aren't your pick (though you should reconsider the FRIENDS thing. I mean, come on, she got off the plane!!!), there is a need to finish, complete or tie off all the loose ends in our lives, whatever they may be. We seek to see a before and after, a beginning and an end, a final result to give validation to whatever journey or process it took to get to that point.

You're probably a sharp cookie and can see where this is going...yes, I referenced cookies...and yes, I'm forging head first towards a talking-to about New Year's "Resolutions"...
Now before you think I'm ringing in the new year as some cynical party pooper, let me assure you I am your glass half-full, rainbows and butterflies (and compromise), goal setting, dream chasing, everyone's foam-finger-waving-cheerleader, let the good times roll, girl.

With that said, I admit I have a hint of scoffed eye-roll reaction any time I see the ads for "New Year's Resolutions" and the posts pop up on social media outlets. How many of us have set a lofty New Year's Resolution, fallen short, messed up or jumped the tracks within weeks, subsequently taking on either disappointment in your own failure or a laugh-at-yourself attitude in celebration of the reality that we knew we set ourselves up to fail anyways?? I heard my pastor say "if we succeed, it goes to our head and if we fail, it goes to our heart". He was talking about the building of character in regards to trial and perseverance through failures and successes. Rather than skeptically laughing at our inevitable let downs, why don't we fix our hearts on joys and lessons of each up and down. Rather than posting some formulated list (I'm a list maker, so I'm not hating on my fellow kind), start focusing on the small adjustments that will posture your heart and mind in a place to truly be in God's Will and I truly believe your personal best will just become a side effect of that!

It's the list of resolutions put out there as some pretty veneer of what we think others believe our lives should look like. It's the list of ideals we see as missing from our lives, even if they may not truly be reasonable for ourselves. It's the comparison to what others have done and what others may have that paints a rosy picture in our heads of what we have to do to get there. My issue with it is just that...when we are searching to match our lives to others' rosy picture lives and set grand "resolutions" that truly won't have the resolve we search for.

I do not want to discourage goal setting here. I just know that it is easy to decide that January 1st starts some grand gesture to completely change your life...and it often comes with no resolve by the following December. So why don't we think of ways we need to better our behaviors, our thoughts, and our habits, our prayer life, our attitudes...and start to work towards that character. After all, "where the ideal is lacking, Grace abounds" so even as we fall short, God's grace has already stepped in as more than enough.
  
As the quirky Kathleen Kelly said in You've Got Mail, "Whatever anything is, it oughta begin by being personal". And while we have to forgive Meg Ryan for strutting like a dude that whole movie, the girl has a point. Is it personal? Does it come from a place of wanting yourself to be better for you, or moreover, better because you know you were made for more? Because you are not your own? To make strides towards taking on your role as child of God?  The process of "becoming" is a gritty one and there is no true final moment of "oh I'm done". Your button doesn't pop. The timer doesn't ding.
We are not promised a garden of roses in this life. But we did have 365 days in 2014 and what will be the difference over the next 365 days until we are ringing in 2016 with a whole new list of resolutions? Character. Character is to be built in trial, perseverance, and endurance as in Hebrews 12: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us".

With the top five resolutions set each year being the following...

1. Lose Weight
2. Get Organized
3. Spend Less/Save More 
4. Enjoy Life to the Fullest
5. Stay Fit and Healthy

How could there possibly be anything wrong with picking New Years Resolutions? Especially coming from a girl who started a blog about seeking her personal best? There isn't. I am all for working to better yourself especially if you can recognize the season you're in as God's refinement and gritty work in your life.
But my plea here today, is that while listing off all the wonderful new beginnings 2015 will bring you, you remember we were made for more. Our worth and value is not in our goals and resolutions and whether we see the outcome desired. Our worth and value is in our Creator. And. Well, my heart skips a giddy beat when I think of the best and ultimate resolve that is spelled out in Revelation. And even then, it's a beginning...to eternity with my Jesus. This is the only resolution which my identity and worth reside within and I couldn't be more thankful.

So ring it in guys, For Auld Lang Syne,
Finding Fit....even in the new year,
Lisa

We've Had a Request, People :: Veggie Packed Meatballs.

Welp. We've had a request. A friend of mine asked me what to do when she is needing to eat something on the way to a workout, but doesn't have the time to fix something right then or needs it on the go. This is a great question AND a very important element of feeding your body at the right moment.

While I must remind you I am NO expert or nutritionist, I know some stuff. There are two key windows to fueling your body to really take advantage of your hard workout efforts! One would be the hour or so leading up to a workout and the second would be that 15-30 minutes after a workout when your body is recovering and makin any gainzzz you can off your ever-so-recent hard work. Just like when you eat at any point during the day, your snacks are just as important to keep completely balanced with your macro-nutrients. Getting a balance of protein and carbohydrate (come down people...this is referring to carb dense, nutrient-ful veggies, not glowing buttered rolls and other complex carbs) is vital to serving your body fuel and not consuming wasted, invaluable calories.

My favorite easily prepped such snack is the Veggie Packed Meatball. I prep these at the start of the week and store them by two's for an easy to grab snack on the way to Crossfit or as an afternoon pick-me-up.
A lot of people have their own variations, and to be honest, I change it up based on what I remember to buy each week but I'll share the gist!

What I use:

• 1 pound ground meat of choice (ground turkey or ground beef both work great)
• 1 egg
• 5-6 strips of cooked bacon (I prefer to bake mine to be crispy)
• 1 cup/or a handful of baby carrots
• 2-3 handfuls of leafy (LEAFY) greens...I use spinach, kale and chard or whatever other power greens I have on hand
• 1/2-3/4 cup of sun dried tomatos
• 1 shallot
• a little salt and pepper
• really, the list can be endless, zucchini, shredded sweet potatoes, peppers, green onions or anything like that will be great add-ins!

Then What:

1. Heat oven to...you guessed it, 415!
2. Pulse all the veggies in a food processor along with the bacon. You can puree if you prefer but I like it to look like this with some chunks still in there for better texture.
   
3. Let's get messy...in a large bowl, hand mix the veggie mix with the ground meat, salt and pepper and one egg. Hand mix it all until thoroughly incorporated. 
4. I line a deep pan with foil as there will be some juices baking out from the meat and grease/spray with some EVOO
5. Create ball shapes about 1.5-2" in diameter and spread out evenly across your pan
6. I like to drizzle a little Frank's Red Hot Sauce across the meatballs for some added flavor baked into the top!
   
7. Bake the meatballs for about 25-30 minutes depending on your oven. You can check them to see how the meat looks and I often cut one open to do a little taste test if they look done!
8. I put these in containers of 2 and eat them cold on the way to Crossfit or sometimes after. I also have been known to eat a few of these for breakfast in a pinch and they're great reheated or cold....in my opinion.

Having things like this already prepped and packed full of nutrients makes it easy to grab the right kind of snack and keep that metabolism going throughout the day!

Get to snackin!
Finding Fit,
Lisa

My Meal Preps Take 2 :: The Juggling Act.

Well a two month wait for the second installment on my meal prepping was probably a little overkill, but I've been busy, people. And now that December is half-way over, let's just say we're lucky I've remembered to breath...and I know I'm not alone on that feeling.

I believe the last meal prep process blog ended somewhere around you've got a food haul: now what? (Check out that meal prep post to see what sort of things are making it home with me from the grocery stores) So today, we'll focus on getting from shopping cart to this:

 

The easiest way for me to explain my own chaotic process is to walk you through my tasks. Some Sundays I get home with all my loot and have a sudden feeling of overwhelming impossibility...so I just turn the oven on. First things first, people. Oven at 415 and I know I can make anything happen.

Turning around from the oven, your counter may look something like mine...well let me tell you how I start. Bacon. Just bacon. Bacon seems like a perfectly reasonable and thoughtful way to start a meal prep. I throw a tray of bacon in the oven to crisp up while I move on to other elements. And, let's face it, once the bacon is employed, everything else just falls into place.

For this meal prep, I knew I was planning to prep a couple dishes to bake and needed to get those in the oven and then could tend to more stove top elements. Paleo Shepard's Pie and Pizza Spaghetti Pie took precedence on this. Browning meat takes little attention at first so I started to chop my sweet potatoes for breakfast bowl while monitoring the meat. Balancing two stove top elements while prepping other veggie elements like the mashed cauliflower top for the shepard's pie and baking the spaghetti squash for the pizza spaghetti becomes quite the juggling act. Phone, microwave and oven timers are deployed in the hopes of keeping the balancing act going.

Removing the bacon, I choose a veggie (broccoli or brussels sprouts) to spread across the pan's bacon grease and toss that pan back in the oven (after spreading evenly and seasoning of course)! Getting the shepard's pie and spaghetti squash dish in the oven along with some veggies, I move on to that breakfast bowl.

Brussels after roasting in the bacon grease and FlavorGod seasonings!

I got the sweet potatoes simmering in oil over medium heat with a lid to steam them for softness. While that cooks, I browned more meat for this dish and moved on to getting an additional protein ready. This week it was salmon...I prefer my salmon a little crispy on the edges so it's easy for me to season this up and throw it in the oven next to the veggies with the casserole dishes on another shelf. As long as timers are kept straight, it's easy to just allow all these elements to cook at that same temp...at least for this multi-tasking chef.

Once the meat and sweet potatoes are ready for the breakfast bowl, I scramble up a pan of eggs and get this all mixed together. <<I'll be posting this recipe (and any others not up yet) later>> With one breakfast simmering together, I start in on my veggie packed meatballs <<Again, I'll share these soon>>.

 ...While I can, let me take a moment of confession: I'm Lisa and I have some OCD tendencies. This often causes me to use any down moments between spatula tossles to wash dishes and keep up with the kitchen...making the overall experience less overwhelming, and more controllable....that's all...

So back to these meatballs. I keep this simple and am able to pretty much dump a bunch of veggies in the processor and pulse a couple times. Gettin my hands dirty, I get these suckers rolled and into the oven in almost record time. I mean, it's pretty impressive. Ha

The meatballs headed into the oven. Recipe share coming soon!

As sides and dishes come out of the oven I begin to portion these out into my individual containers to get more pans out of the way and get more grasp on how many of each dish I will have for the week. The remaining time is a balance of chopping, washing and bagging some fresh raw veggies and any fruit or nuts for snacks as well as getting the dishes out to portion and pack up.

One question I get a lot is about storage containers and fridge life...
I find this sort of personal preference. Always check your eggs and other dates as the original food's expiration dates should be maintained as the meal's shelf life. In effort to be able to prep for my whole week, I do not ever have issue with reheating meals or eating the same thing a few times a week. Others may prefer to prep a few days of food and then prep more mid-week, but my preference is to knock it all out!

As for containers, my favorite meal containers, as you can see from the picture, are actually from Snap Kitchen (or My Fit Foods or Simply Fit...or whatever ready made meal place you've got...). They have great sizes, bpa free, a nice tight seal and they stack and fit well everywhere, storing the right size meals. I typically dump my food on a paper plate to spread it out and heat up but you can also heat up directly in these (unless you've got the whole fear of plastic thing going on). I collect these containers from week's I don't meal prep or from friends who don't keep theirs and love having them ready to use for my own meals.

In regards to what all I try to prep...
That depends on the week a little. Ideally, I would have 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and at least a few dinners if not all of them. I also am sure to have something yummy for an afternoon snack or pre-workout fuel (the meatballs) and raw veggies and nuts for healthy snacking options. Just remember to be considering your macro-nutrients and fueling your metabolism throughout the entire day with real whole foods.

With all of these elements ready and raring to go, there's no room for cheats, going hungry, or having to spend extra money throughout the week for food. 

If I can prioritize this in my busy schedule, you can too. Start simple and get excited to see how your love for cooking will grow, or as in my case, come out of nowhere!

Happy prepping friends!
Finding Fit,
Lisa

Taking Thanksgiving :: Roasted Bacon Brussels Sprouts

Welp, the Holiday season tis definitely upon us. One such tra-la-la-festive day was our recent beloved Thanksgiving. Turkey, dressing, casseroles, mashed taters, steaming starches, all things pumpkin, and pure indulgence are all elements associated with this holiday...right alongside the pilgrims...

Wearing 'pants that give' is just wise planning and a post-meal food-coma-induced nap is an expected sidebar to ridiculous amounts of football and Lifetime Christmas movies (yes this day makes it officially okay).

Family, friends, and loved ones gather round with hearts of gratitude to break bread together...except THIS girl would have no grain breakage. That's right. I wanted to take Thanksgiving and let it know, just like the rest of my life, that this day of thanks and celebration would not have to revolve around food on food on food #onfood.

Since completing the Paleo challenge in November, I have decided to go into events and holidays with a planned mindset of whether I was going to allow a cheat or not and that's just what I did this time. My mindset for Thanksgiving? I could have it if I wanted at that specific meal, but not before or after and not in excess. So I headed on home to a loving and supportive family. With just our immediate family this year, we went ahead and cut out a few items, including the homemade rolls from heaven and my favorite mama's apple pie. To bypass the mashed potatoes, I whipped up some simple roasted rosemary sweet potatoes and my now well-known-amongst-my-friends roasted bacon brussels sprouts. 

While I did opt to allow myself 2 bites of steaming stuffing and a small scoop of creamy green bean casserole, that was it. I kept the rest of the meal clean and did not feel one bit deprived. Where I would have reached for a second scoop of something (even the clean eats), I sat back and realized I was satisfied and had met the taste bud needs across the board. I never hit the indulgence phases of too stuffed to move or regret. And ya know what? Thanksgiving wasn't any less thanksgiving without all things gluten-filled.

I even whipped out a batch of my favorite Paleo chocolate chip cookies so I could opt for a cleaner route while pumpkin pie and a cheesecake sampler were dished up. Again, I did not feel deprived one bit. The few minutes I thought I'd stray, I just had to mentally LOCK IT UP and I was good.

Moral of the story? I did have a few bites of cheat for Thanksgiving meal but kept it planned and precise and have zero regrets. After all what's not to like? Turkey? Good. Veggies? Gooood. Family time? GOOOOOD. (Please enlighten yourself on that FRIENDS reference because It. Is. Good.)

I have been meaning to share my go-to brussles sprouts method for a while now; and, after making it for several Thanksgiving events this season, it is time to share my ways!

Roasted Bacon Brussels Sprouts::

What I use:

• Package of Pederson's Uncured Sugar-free bacon
• Large bag of Brussels Sprouts, chopped (you can often find pre-chopped sprouts in some stores like Trader Joes or Whole Foods as well)
• A spritz of Avocado Oil or EVOO
• Salt&Pepper
• Garlic Powder

Then What:

1. Oven at 415*, line a lipped baking sheet with foil
2. Line the bacon out side by side across the tray and bake for about 15-18 minutes, just check for crispiness based on your oven.
   
3. While bacon bakes, wash and chop your sprouts. Easiest is to cut in half and place those flat sides down and then chop them lengthwise into about 3 pieces each half. Once you have a rhythm down, it's very simple!
   
4.  Remove your baked bacon and set aside, leaving the tray filled with bacon grease. THIS is the secret key ingredient :) Good ole bacon fat (from healthy bacon, of course!)
5. Spread your chopped brussels out across the grease in as thin and even a layer as possible. Spray with a spritz of your oil of choice to get the tops to roast well and season with a good covering of garlic powder and pepper and a dash of sea salt. 
   
6. Bake on the top rack for about 20 minutes, checking and shuffling them at least once. I like to have some crispy texture in there at the end so mine may bake for a little longer.
7. Crumble bacon into them to serve fresh and flavorful! 
8. I often make sprouts to use throughout the week (sometimes without the bacon step if I'm in a hurry) and they are great reheated with fried eggs over them for breakfast or alongside a protein at lunchtime!
   

Bacon on my friends!
Finding Fit,
Lisa

STRESSED | DESSERTS :: Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies.

When Dallas decides to drop 30 degrees and wobble back and forth between a tease of fall and the looming winter cold, and the hustle of a crazy busy time of year grabs you, it becomes increasingly hard to avoid those warm cozy foods...more specifically desserts...
Is it a coincidence that "desserts" is "stressed" spelled backwards?! I think not. Something about the reward of a warm cookie with an afternoon coffee calms that right eye twitch...just me? Surely not.

A friend of mine found this recipe for easy Paleo cookies online a couple years back and we've both sort of adopted it to our own thing. While this is not a Whole30 approved treat, it is technically a "clean eat" and is a great occasional treat as long as you share them with friends and don't eat them all. Prepare for simplicity.

What I used:

• 1 cup almond butter (each one creates a different texture in your cookie. I prefer to use a crunchy almond butter...make sure it is just almonds and no oils or additives!)
• 1/4 cup raw honey (or agave)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup Dark chocolate chips (Enjoy Life is a dairy free "paleo friendly" brand that makes awesome dark chocolate chips. I bought mine at Sprouts)
• ...that's it. No seriously.

What Had Happened Was:

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Mix everything in a bowl with a spoon
3. Line a cookie sheet with foil and use some coconut oil or EVOO to grease the pan
4. Use the spoon to make drop batter on the foil, spread about 2" apart. I usually make 8-10 cookies from this.
5. Bake for 7-8 minutes
6. Remove and let cool on the pan a bit
   

I like to keep them in the fridge for a cool gooey treat at a later time too. 
As a reminder, this is a fat dense treat and still has natural sugars that you have to consider when treating yourself. That said, everyone deserves a little "stressed" spelled backwards every once in a while. Enjoy!

Finding Fit,
Lisa