health |

The Trail Mix that Makes the Day Worthwhile

Posted on February 27, 2015 by malanger14

I’m trying to eat three smaller meals now and then a couple snacks throughout the day, but what snacks do you eat? It’s obviously super easy to grab a bag o’chips but clearly that doesn’t fit in with my self-imposed “healthy lifestyle.” So I went a-searchin online to find some kind of healthy snack that’s easy to tote to work but also good and easy to eat at my desk. That’s where I came up with their trail mix recipe. I mixed together a few trail mix recipes that I saw online and made one that fits my style.

It only involves three different kinds of fruits and nuts, but obviously add and take away as you please. I used chickpeas, almonds and raisins. I started off by pre-heating the oven to 400 degrees and rinsing and drying a can of chickpeas. Then I tossed the chickpeas in olive oil, salt, and pepper and threw it in the oven for 35-40 min. About half way through I tossed the chickpeas on the cookie sheet so that they could get toasty and delish everywhere. Here’s what they look like post-toasting:

Then I moved onto the almonds. I turned down the oven to 375 and poured about a cup of almonds onto a baking sheet. I tossed them in olive oil and chili powder just to get in a little spicy flavor and threw those in the oven for about 10 minutes. Here’s what those DELICIOUS fools looked like:

After, I just let these delicious almonds and chickpeas cool to room temp and then poured them into an airtight container with some raisins. This lasts in the fridge for about four days, if you don’t eat all of it first!!!

Taking on Lent–in my own Jewish way

Posted on February 18, 2015 by malanger14

Today is Ash Wednesday, and as a Jewish girl who up until high school went to private Jewish school, the idea of putting a cross of ashes on my head always really intrigued me. Along with that, in Wisconsin, there is a large Catholic population so restaurants with a fish fry on Fridays is pretty much the Midwestern norm.

Going along with my healthy kick for 2015, I decided to use Lent to my advantage. Since I have a lot of Catholic friends who will be partaking in observance of this 40 day sacrifice, I’m going to show my support and join them.

Here’s what I’m trying to give up during Lent:

1. No more drinking during the week: While having a glass of wine here or there is totally okay, I’ve realized that my evening vino is just empty calories for me.

2. Less carbs, more protein: My trainer is REALLY pushing the protein with me but honestly I’d much rather have a hefty bowl of pasta than a grilled chicken breast. For Lent, I’m going to try and heed my trainer’s advice and lay off so many carbs and hit the protein harder. Since they say it takes 21 days to break a habit may I’ll actually be able to adjust my carb-loving ways.

3. More cheese, PLEASE?!?!?: Like carbs, cheese is my other nemesis. Liz Lemon’s “night cheese” is my spirit-animal as I could easily sit on my couch and eat a block of sharp cheddar like it’s my job. Like carbs, while dairy isn’t the WORST thing for you, it’s also not the best so I’m going to try to consume a little bit less of the dreaded dairy.

We’ll see if these goals are reasonable ones for me to accomplish, but hey, Jews have suffered for THOUSANDS of years so why can’t I just put down the cheese knife for the 40 days of Lent?!