Thanksgiving Workout

Well, we are officially running off for the holidays! I am so excited about Thanksgiving FINALLY being here, I simply cannot wait. This year, my Mom will be staying with us and her room is just about ready for her. We had the guest bedroom all finished, but then, around 1:00 AM on Monday evening I decided to completely redesign it and move all the furniture around. Two days later and we have some really cute mirrors, floating shelfs, a new nightstand, new bedding, a simple and gorgeous pendant light the hubs installed (my hero), and we are down a dresser that there really was not enough room for anyway. I also found this awesome bed from Target and am waiting for Black Friday/Cyber Monday to order it. For now, Mom will make due on the bed she has :) 

Oh, and pictures will be on the blog when it is all done, promise!

Aaand, back to Thanksgiving, the rest of our family will be arriving today as well, but we will probably not see them until tomorrow. As for what we are cooking, I am doing this vegetarian stuffing, a quick and easy bread bowl of artichoke dip, Brussels sprouts, and a breakfast crustless quiche for our house in the morning! Ahh, it will be so fun! 

Of course, with all this massive, massive eating comes a workout or two. Yesterday I did a 1.5-mile uphill run-a-thon followed by a bum workout and today I am thinking P90X Plyometrics. The little workout guide above was on the Elf 4 Health Facebook page and I thought you would enjoy it as much as I did. Goodness, we could make a pretty fantastic workout with just following what we eat. Mine would include about 30 push-ups, 150 jumping jacks, a whole ton of squats (maybe mix in some Sumo and jumping ones), and more burpees and mountain climbers than I can comprehend. And that is just the first set. Seconds and thirds would be a sure thing. 

Happy Thanksgiving! What would your Thanksgiving workout look like? 

Hands Down, The Best Stuffing Ever!

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Are you looking for a good stuffing for all those friends and family this Thanksgiving?

Every year I make the vegetarian stuffing for myself and all our vegetarian and pescetarian family members. Most years, the carnivores of the family will try a bite or two but they never get more- that is, until last year. Last year, I decided to make this cornbread stuffing and everything changed. Instead of having plenty of my stuffing left and none of the "real stuff" as they call it, mine was the first gone and I could hardly get seconds.

Vegetarians and meat eaters alike love this stuff. And really, I cannot blame them. It tastes like home, happiness, Thanksgiving traditions, a dash of sweet, and a bit of salt all mixed in one. This is seriously the best stuffing ever. If you have looked at the ingredients, you may be thinking that I have lost my mind since it has chicken broth as an ingredient. Well, I have not lost my mind and forgotten that chicken is a meat. Thankfully, this is an easy swap out of vegetable broth instead of the chicken.

The reason I did not put this recipe on the blog last year is because I needed some family guinea pigs to see if it was just as good with the vegetable broth. Turns out, it is! Even my brother-in-law's mother, a southern cook extraordinaire, loved it. So, here are the simple changes I made.

1. Switch out chicken broth for vegetable broth
2. Use 3/4 cornbread and 1/4 white
3. After adding the broth I let it sit overnight and added a bit more before sticking it in the oven.
4. No breadcrumbs over top.
5. And finally, here is a direct link to the recipe to make life a bit easier :)

This recipe is so simple and so good, I suggest everyone throw out their other Thanksgiving stuffing plans for this year and do Vegetarian Cornbread Stuffing instead! Trust me, you would not regret the decision ;)

As far as vegetarian and healthy sides go, I will also be making this Sweet and Spicy Brussels Sprouts recipe for Thanksgiving this year. Since we have some family who enjoy spicy and some that do not, my plan is to add no chili flakes to one batch and have another that is spicy enough for everyone to enjoy! Gah, I cannot wait to put all these in my mouth!

Also, as I write this I have an adorable, giant baby cat purring on my lap and snuggling my face. If you, like me, cannot get enough of adorable baby cats, I would suggest heading over to my insatgram page for blog updates and all the adorable cat pics your heart desires!

And, we will be having a motivation post a bit later today.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving internets! Today we will be spending time with lots of family and friends after just getting back from a vacation to California where we got to see lots of family as well. I am super excited for some fantastic food eating today, and of course, seeing all those people that we only get to see at special times of the year.

This year I am extremely thankful for wonderful family, great friends, and this little blog. Funny how writing about fitness can make a person so happy, but somehow, it does.

While we were in California I came to two realizations 1) we must move to California and 2) my cousins are some of my closest friends. I am so very thankful to have friends and family who get my goof ball personality and go along with it. Having great relationships is something I have been working a bit harder on this year. Let's face it, relationships can be difficult and finding people who get you can be a crafty game. I am so crazy thankful for all the amazing people that have chosen to be part of my life. Especially the hubs.

Our anniversary falls right before Thanksgiving, which works out pretty great- we get two reminders of why to be thankful for each other twice in one month! Plus, travel is something we both love to do, so we make sure to get away for a few days every anniversary. Yes, a pre-holiday trip is the best  thing ever and I completely recommend it. That trip is another thing I am incredibly thankful for. It was fantastic! Hopefully, I will be able to get some of the pics from the hubs in the next few days and share them all with you. Yippee!

Pre-Thanksgiving Workouts

Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving which means lots of family, fun, and eating. Yes, we are one day away from the time of year when glutony is not only accepted, it is encouraged. To help keep you (and me) on our fitness goals, I have found three great workouts that are all ten minutes or less. Working out within 30-minutes of beginning the feast will kickstart our metabolism and and reduce calorie retention. Even something as little as 100 quats in the bathroom can make a big difference to weight retention when eating.

Depending on the amount of free-time you have, these workouts could be done together, or seperately. Whichever way you do it, you can rest easy knowing that you worked out on a day when most people take off. That, my friends, it something to be pretty darn thankful about!

For the Bum

This is super short and oh-so great for the bum! You also need no equipment and very little room.

For the Abs

We all need some ab exercises to help with all that extra yummy goodness that will be going there tomorrow! This one is 10-minutes of sweat that just might leave you feeling it tomorrow!

For the Arms

This is conditioning for all those forks full of food we will be lifting to our mouths tomorrow. Also, I'm a bit excited about Thanksgiving and those noms that come with it!