Recipe of the Week

Chicken Enchiladas
Serves 4Ingredients:
4 corn tortillas
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken (skinless, white meat)
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup sweet corn
1 cup medium or hot salsa
1 cup plain low fat yogurt
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup reduced fat shredded Jack cheese

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Warm tortillas according to instructions on package. Combine shredded chicken with black beans and sweet corn. Mix salsa, yogurt and sour cream and spoon half the salsa mixture into the chicken, beans and corn. Blend well. Divide chicken mixture among the tortillas. Carefully roll tortillas and place them seam down in the baking dish. Spoon remaining salsa mixture over the tortillas. Sprinkle cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Nutrition Information (per serving):

Calories 368

Calories from Fat 78

Total Fat 8.6g (sat 5g)

Cholesterol 75mg

Sodium 883mg

Carbohydrate 39.7g

Fiber 3.7g

Protein 32.8g

This recipe was found here

Super Bowl Weekend

As many of you know, this weekend is the Super Bowl. One of the most watched sporting events world wide, which basically translates to: "during this 4 hour time period more people will be sitting on their couch enjoying finger foods and washing them down with their favorite beverage than any other time of the year."


The game will feature the Pittsburgh Steelers VS Arizona Cardinals


It seems as though many of the "professional" analysts are predicting a close game, and with about a 50/50 split when it comes to picking the winner. What I also noticed was many are predicting a high scoring game, which should make for some exciting football.

To make the game more interesting try to do some physical activity after each point scored. A simple activity that will work is jumping jacks.

• Field goal: 3 minutes
• Touchdown: 6 minutes
• Extra point: 1 minute
• 2 pt conversion: 2 minutes
• Safety: 2 minutes

So each time points are put up on the board, rally your fellow viewers to get on their feet and burn off some chicken wings. If you don't want to miss Larry Fitzgerald's touchdown celebration you could wait until half time to take care of your activity, although that may be a large jumping jack deficit to make up.

My prediction is: Cardinals 28- Steelers 24. If my prediction rings true, that will be 52 minutes of jumping jacks and around 500 calories burned.

Feel free to post comments including your predictions, or alternatives to sitting down and watching the game. Enjoy the Game!

Back From Vacation

I apologize to those of you, who I hope check the blog regularly, for the lack of posting but I was on vacation for a week, and busy the week before with training. My excuse is, I was here:

Enjoying this:

For a week away from work and the Internet. But I am back and have two posts ready. The first one is a challenge.

The challenge is the 1 mile solution, and here are the details:

28% of all trips in the USA are within 1 mile of home. The vast majority of these trips are made by car. We should encourage people (who are able) to replace one car trip per week within a mile from home with walking or cycling. One trip becomes two, then three, then more. The benefits for the environment, the pocketbook, and our personal and community well being would be huge.

For more information you can click here

It would be great if those of you who chose to work on the 1-mile solution could share your achievements by leaving comments on this blog.

Recipe of the Week

Cocoa-Banana Frozen Dessert
Serves 6

Ingredients:
4 very ripe bananas
2 tablespoons pure unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons real maple syrup

Cooking instructions:
1. Peel the bananas and place in a blender or food processor along with the cocoa powder.
2. Add the vanilla extract and the maple syrup.
3. Blend till very smooth. Pour into individual custard cups or small bowls and freeze until just frozen.

Nutrition Information:
Per serving
Calories: 118.1
Protein: 1.4 grams
Fat: 0.7
Carbohydrate: 30.0 grams
Fiber: 3.0 grams
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg

This recipe and others can be found here

Recipe of the Week

This weeks recipes are designed to provide alternatives to Fritos and Chili Cheese Dip while you partake in a weekend of football.

Deli-Style Turkey Rollups
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 cup arugula or baby spinach leaves (not packed)
4 slices all natural nitrate-free deli peppered turkey breast
4 slices of havarti cheese or Rustico with Black Peppercorns cheese

Cooking Instructions:
Lay 1/4 cup baby spinach or arugula on each slice of turkey. Top each with a piece of cheese. Roll up and cut in half before serving.

Nutrition Information:
Per serving (1 roll/43g-wt.):
130 calories (90 from fat),
10g total fat,
7g saturated fat,
7g protein,
1g total carbohydrate (0g dietary fiber, 0g sugar),
30mg cholesterol,
240mg sodium

This Recipe can be found at Whole Foods

Simply Delicious Hummus
Serves 5

Ingredients:
2 large garlic cloves
1 1/2 cups (cooked) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander Cayenne, to taste
2 tablespoons minced parsley
Lemon wedges and a selection of olives, to garnish

Cooking Instructions:
Process garlic in food processor. Add garbanzos, tahini, water, lemon juice, soy sauce, cumin, coriander and a pinch of cayenne (you may add more later to increase the heat), and process till it becomes creamy, dense and smooth. Refrigerate. Before serving, let hummus warm to room temperature. Mix in the parsley. Serve with lemon wedges and olives.

Nutrition Information: Per Serving (103g-wt.):
130 calories (35 from fat)
4g total fat
0.5g saturated fat
5g protein
19g total carbohydrate (4g dietary fiber, 0g sugar)
0mg cholesterol
260mg sodium

This recipe can also be found at Whole Foods


Apple Cranberry Crisp
Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:
3 to 4 medium to large crisp red apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup apple juice
1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 cups granola

Cooking Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine apples and cranberries and pour into an 8- or 9-inch square baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together apple juice, flour and pumpkin pie spice. Pour over the fruit. Sprinkle granola evenly over the fruit and lightly press down. Bake until hot and bubbly, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm, room temperature or cold.

Nutrition Information: Per serving (about 3oz/90g-wt.):
100 calories (20 from fat)
2.5g total fat
0g saturated fat
0mg cholesterol
10mg sodium
19g total carbohydrate (2g dietary fiber, 10g sugar)
2g protein

This recipe is also at Whole Foods

New Years Resolutions

On the first of the year many people establish a resolution to improve themselves that is meant to be carried out for the next 365 days. However, most people end up abandoning these resolutions by the time Valentine's Day rolls around and are quickly immersed in old habits. Hopefully all of the participants in the prevention program set a September 7th resolution, or whatever date your class may have started to lead a healthy lifestyle not only for the next year but for your lifetime. Being equipped with the proper tools provided by the lifestyle coaches should assist you during moments of weakness, low motivation, cold weather, burnout and also with in home and restaurant menu choices as well as innovative ways to be physically active.

Here is a look at the Top 10 New Years resolutions from The Goals Guy.

1. Lose Weight and Get in Better Physical Shape
2. Stick to a Budget
3. Debt Reduction
4. Enjoy More Quality Time with Family & Friends
5. Find My Soul Mate
6. Quit Smoking
7. Find a Better Job
8. Learn Something New
9. Volunteer and Help Others
10. Get Organized

For a more extensive look at these goals click on the link above. Each resolution is accompanied by a description with different strategies to help you accomplish it.

I usually don't make New Years Resolutions, but this year I decided to join the masses and see if I can stick to it. This is what I intend to do: Stop feeding my dog human food. The more I think about it it kind of seems like a cop out resolution because I am not required to do much more than eat a bit more instead of giving it to the dog.

It would be great if readers of this post could add comments regarding their own New Years Resolutions. Happy New Year!