MUST TRY: Cheap, yummy, & healthy recipe.

What uuup?

Even though I'm super busy, I'm kinda, sorta finding a bit time to blog. :D
I'm sure you're just excited as I am! :P hahah

Since I decided I want to help my readers make healthy, and cheap food choices (including myself), I came up with this super yummy soup recipe! Well, actually it was one of my teachers recipe that I modified it adding more stuff or substituting ingredients. :) So it turned out waaay yummier!

If you don't like soup (just like Auston) then give this recipe a try! It will change your mind. It has plenty of different veggies (different colors and textures which is super important in preparing meals), meat (skip it if you're vegetarian), low in fat and calories, and best part: it's super cheap, can last you for the whole week, freezes well and doesn't take long to make!!

                                               Pumpkin veggies and meat soup

Ingredients:

• 1 can (14oz) pure pumpkin puree (substitute pumpkin for tomatoes if you don't like it)
• 1 can (14oz) chicken broth 
• 1/4 cup small shell pasta (I use whole wheat because it's healthier)
• 1/2 lbs ground chicken, turkey, or beef (as well as some oregano, basil, parsley and salt sprinkled on it when the meat is cooking)**  I double this recipe when I make it, and both Auston & I have enough of it for the rest of the week.
• 1/4 cup finely chopped spinach
• half zucchini cubed
• 2-3 large carrots pealed and chopped
• 2-3 celery sticks finely chopped
• half a small onion chopped
• 2 garlic cloves chopped
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 2Tbsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 3 Tbsp fresh Parmesan or whatever cheese you have. Feta and goat won't work ;) (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions: 

1. Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook until the onion is soft. Make sure to stir often so they don't burn or stick. 
2. Add chicken brother, pumpkin, parsley, basil, and oregano. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 mins covered. 
3. Meanwhile that's simmering for 10 mins you prepare the meat. In a saucepan add the meat, no need to use oil as it has enough fat to not stick to the pan. While it's cooking sprinkle some salt, and additional  parsley, basil and oregano as desired. Cook it all through.

•  We used beef as that's what we had to prepare first as it was in the fridge for longer. 

     4. To the pot add the cooked meat, spinach, celery, carrots, and pasta. Cook 10 mins covered at a low boil. Add zucchini and cook for 7 more mins. *Note you will need to add water while it's cooking so it's not thick and doesn't stick to the pot/ burn. Make sure to stir once in a while.



    5. Check for your veggies and pasta to see if they're tender. If not add 2-3 more minutes and check again.

When it's ready scoop it out in a bowl, and sprinkle some salt, pepper, as well as the pre measured cheese if you so desire.

Also, this freezes really well. After you see if you like it, make it a double recipe and freeze it in servings.
I decided I wanted my serving to be 2 cups and that came out to 178 calories for my serving. Very yummy, healthy, and filling. If you don't care about the calories, and just want to eat something healthy and yummy don't measure the calories haha. I only did that to see how low/high my serving for this recipe was. 

I made this recipe, this past Sunday and we had yummy toasted sour dough bread with butter on the side.
As a dessert we had this freaking amazing frozen yogurt  that Auston bought last weekend. Very healthy and suuuuper amazing!

So there you go, a healthy, yummy, and pretty cheap recipe. 

Let me know if you try it out and what you think! :) Or how'd you make it better!

xxx Disola

Instagram: albanianicandy

For your entertainment:

If you dare...

What's up everyone?
Hope you had a great weekend! Last week we talked about nutrition, exercise and rest. Today I thought about sharing with you one of my favorite go-to workouts at home, when I don't have enough time, but still care about getting in some exercise in my day. I dare you to try it out! Mainly because I created it, and because it's fun. :)
(It's not super hard, but it's enough to kick your butt a little bit depending on how good of a shape you are)


Disola's quick at home/ anywhere workout routine:

1. 25-30 burpees
2. 20 crunches
3. 20 left side crunches
4. 20 right side crunches
5. 20 pushups/ girl pushups

 30-60 secs break

1. 30 secs jump rope fast (you don't need a rope for this if you don't have one)
2. 30 high knees
3. 30 butt kickers
4. 20 air bike 
5. 20 toe touches

30-60 secs break

1. 20 jumping jacks
2. 30 lounges
3. 20-30 punches while you're sitting in an air chair (keep your legs in a 90 degree angle)
4. 15-20 dips
5. 20 mountain climbers

If you need some extra time to catch your breath, please do!
Repeat this depending on how much time you have and the workout you want to get. Most of the times I'll do it twice or three times. When I really don't have enough time I'll just do it once for sure. 

As previously stated, while working out make sure you have a bottle of water next to you, and drink small amounts often to stay hydrated.

A few things to keep in mind:

• You cannot spot reduce fat i.e. if i do 200 crunches I'll have a flatter tummy. Your overall body fat percentage should decrease for you to see that flat tummy/ those abs. Once more, exercise in general, and eating well will help you with that.
• Watch your portions-- often times we tend to overeat. Be careful with that. It's okay if you do it once in a while, but if you do it everyday you'll end up putting a few/ a lot of pounds eventually.
• When working out keep a proper form. When you do so you have less chances of you getting injured while working out, and you get better and faster results too.
• Always try some new workout. Go to a Zumba class, or try Yoga, go for a hike etc. By switching it up your body doesn't get used to certain workouts and you still get a great workout. Plus Zumba for example is so much fun! You're dancing, having fun, and exercising on the same time! 
• Don't overdo a workout. if you can't do it keeping a correct form after a certain number of reps then stop doing it. That way you don't hurt yourself.
• Find a workout partner. That makes things so much more fun! Plus, sometimes it can get competitive and you push each other so stick to a workout longer. Also, there's less chance you'll skip the workout if there's two or three of you going to the gym together. 
• If you're sore the next day try and eat food with lots of protein i.e. eggs, meat, milk. Protein will help your muscles recover faster, and you won't be sore for a long time/ too many days. 
• Make sure you get 7-8 hours of sleep each night as if you're fully rested you'll be energetic the next day, fully rested, and ready to have another killer day. 

Alright cuties! That's it for today. :)
Let me know what you think if you do try my workout. I'd be happy to get some feedback.

Until next time, have a fabulous day!

xxx Disola

Instagram: albanianicandy

For your entertainment:

Rest & Exercise (Part 2 of healthy eating)

Oh hello there!

Thanks for visiting my blog again. That makes me happy :)
I hope the tips and suggestions I put up here help you a bit, and you get to make a smarter, healthier decision next time you go grocery shopping, eat out, or think about exercising.

This post is the second part of how to be healthy (The broccoli must die entry). I will be focusing mostly on exercise and rest today.
Last time we talked about proper nutrition, how to stay in track, what to do and what not to do.

• Nutrition (continued)

By the way I totally forgot to add this to the nutrition entry Wednesday, but eating breakfast is absolutely super important. When you're sleeping you're not giving your body food those 7-8 hours that are sleeping. If you wake up and don't give yourself food in the morning your body goes into starvation mode- trust me, you don't want that happening! It's an awful thing to do to your body! Just like those stupid diets "Drink/Eat this and you'll magically loose weight." or the ones "Starve yourself to loose weight". BTW I'm not even going to talk about those types of "diets" because they really piss me off, they're awful and damage your health/body and since I'm talking about how to be healthy, and how I stay healthy that's completely out of the picture.

Fun fact: those that never skip breakfast are more likely to stay at a healthy weight when they get older. So logically as you get older you have more health problems and being overweight could be one of them for you, unless of course, you eat that yummy breakfast of yours! ;) Then it's one less problem you have to worry about.

• Exercise

If you are friends with me on Facebook, or are following me on Instagram (albanianicandy), you probably know that I love exercise/ working out. It used to be something casual for me a few years ago, not really important to me. I'd play soccer twice a week, go hiking twice a week, play volleyball 6/7 days in the summer, go on walks everyday and that was about it back then. It wasn't really a workout per say, and I never saw it as one. However, I made sure I was doing what I loved, having fun, and I naturally stayed active due to all the physical activities I participated in.

Today, exercise is a must and important to me. It's not about being thin!!! (Those exclamation points were for the ones that think it's everything about how much you weight/ what size you wear.) It's about being strong and happy!

Please refer to my iLIFT post a few weeks ago, for different fitness goals you might have. Also, I'm not a specialist by any means. This is all the stuff I've been learning and reading about for the past few years for fun, as I'm really into health/food/fitness nowadays. Also, it's a plus that my fiance is a Health Coach and knows pretty much everything I ask him, and muuuch more!

If you're trying to get in good shape, I'd suggest some cardio with strength training/ weight training. If you do a combo of that you'll get in really good shape in no time-- you have to stick with it AND be patient with yourself though. It's a process and it still needs time. Nothing happens overnight. ;)

From my experience and my research, exercise is great for your overall health. It gets you stronger, you release the school/work/life stress out, revs up your metabolism, and you are happier and more confident in yourselves. Who doesn't want these benefits??!
Imagine an almost (bad) stress free life, being super productive, energetic, happy, confident, and strong.

The broccoli must die.

Hi everyone!

Once more I got lost among school work, my job, internship, working out and now *drum roll please* wedding planning! It's been a pretty tough few weeks, not gonna lie. Seeing the fiancé about twice a week was a little hard at first. Now we're managing our time pretty well I'd say-- that way we get to at least see each other more, even if it's going to the gym together.

Since we haven't had much free time, hardly at all to be honest, and being healthy is still a priority for us we're making sure we're giving our bodies the best nutrition, rest, as well as staying active even in our busiest days. I've talked to a few people and it seems to be challenging for most people to give themselves the good, healthy food, rest, as well as exercise.

Let me tell ya a few tricks that work for me, and could possibly work for you as well. The biggest one is PLANNING. Funny, huh? We'll let me tell ya that it works! Just try it out before you judge me/ what I say. ;) Here's everything broken down about Nutrition. STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO (REST & EXERCISE). WILL BE PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY.

Nutrition:

• Plan your meals ahead.

  Plan your grocery store trips, what you'll buy, what you'll make, and when everything is happening. That way you save a ton of time wondering around what you'll buy, what you'll make, as well as don't buy things you don't need etc.The great thing about meal planning is that you also don't have any food gone bad as you're planning on using everything at a certain time. Who doesn't want that??! We've all been through the fridge scene "Ohh, I bought that?!?! Oh. Well. It's gone bad now... Oops. I forgot... Next time I won't let anything go bad!". And the scene almost always happens to repeat itself, and you've wasted a bunch of money. Again. If you're like me, in a tight budget, trying to make everything work then you don't want that happening!

Since I'm pretty busy I try and have my grocery store trips on the weekends/ typically Saturdays. Then Sundays is the fun part of it! I cook for the whole week, prep my veggies, etc. If you're like me and love the kitchen then you'll have a blast preparing everything! I make sure to have some music playing, or talking to my parents, and other family members.Sometimes Auston (the fiancé :D) joins me and we have a real party in the kitchen prepping yummy, healthy food and enjoy each others company <3. 

Grocery shopping Saturday night with Auston.

As I said earlier, prepping your food ahead will 1. save you money 2. save you time and 3. will help you stick to your healthy eating.

• Stick to what you planned!!!

It'll be hard the first few times but slowly, slowly your body will get used to eating the healthy foods and stop craving the junk that you might currently be eating. And no. The cravings won't completely go away-- unless you have some super magical power and yours go away. Honestly, we're human and we have those types of cravings. You just have to learn how to deal with them the correct way. And that requires time and dedication. Honestly if I'm craving something I'll eat it! However I don't go crazy on it... Everything on moderation (don't ask me about my bag of M&Ms that I've been eating for the past week while I do my Math HW though). I figured if I'm always eating healthy and crave something yummy and not healthy i.e.  ice cream (I like this triple chocolate ice cream from Smiths-- seriously death by chocolate. There's so much of it in there you cannot imagine! Never seen a more chocolaty ice cream. Ever.) I will still eat it. Uh huh. Again, everything in moderation. That's the key!

That's Auston's fridge. :) Most of the food is pretty healthy there. Super organized, you know where everything is/ stuff is easy to find, therefore no food wasted/ gone bad. The fridge got more stuffed on Sunday when we made yummy food/prepared meals with what we bought Saturday night.

• Drink your water ladies! (And gents if you're reading this, it applies to you as well.)

Make sure you're hydrated. Even if it's freezing like it's here in Utah you still need your water! Maybe not as much as in the summer but you still need it.  I drink about 2 liters of water every day. And yes. I go to use the restroom every 10 mins. Thanks for asking. :) haha If you have a hard time having water try having always a water bottle with you. Sip water every now and then and you'll eventually finish your daily water intake. :) That's what works for me-- trust me I hated drinking water before. One or two glasses was how much water I'd have a day. That's really bad! Now I need my water. :)

• Skip the soda.

By that I mean all soda! Even the diet ones. They're horrible for you! Yes, they might have zero calories but have you seen the ingredients?!?! They're substituting the sugar with ingredients that your body has a hard time breaking down or cannot break down, and that's bad for you. Plus they still spike your blood sugar and you'll want/ crave more sweets afterwards. Then you're trapped into the junk food circle again. If you're craving a soda, have fruit juice instead. Make sure there's no sugar added as if it is, it will have the same effect on you as soda. Now, at the ingredients list you'll still find the sugar at the juice and that's because fruits are high in sugar, but it's better for you to have sugar from natural sources than artificial ones.

• Eat plenty of fruits and veggies each day. 

This is actually pretty important and a lot of people just skip this just because they hate veggies, or because fruit is high in sugar. Your body still needs them! Remember that. The best way I've found to help myself eat my veggies (no problem with fruits-- they're YUMMY haha), is prepping the veggies I like and try and skip on the ones I hate, or have them with something else so I can somewhat hide their flavor. i.e. I love carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, cauliflower but hate celery. In order to have my celery I blend it out with whatever snack that I'm having. This was actually Auston's idea. What a genius! You can even have celery with some natural peanut butter. That works great as well! Oh and remember to have fruits and veggies in different colors. It's okay if you feel like this: