Veggie Burgers that are Out of This World!

My friend Rhonda treated me to the most delicious veggie burgers I've ever tasted. She received the recipe from the Whitewater Restaurant Cookbook. Enjoy!

WHITEWATER VEGGIE BURGER

Makes 12 burgers

Developed by Pat McInnis of Alligator Pie Catering.

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp vegetable oil

I onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp cumin

1 ½ tbsp chili powder

1 – 19oz can black beans, drained, rinsed and roughly pureed

1 tsp oregano

¼ cup parsley or cilantro, chopped

2 tbsp sesame oil

½ cup almonds, roasted and chopped

1 cup sunflower seeds, roasted and chopped

3 cups fine bread crumbs

1/2 cup soy sauce

5 eggs

2 cups carrots, grated

2 cups oats

flour for dredging

2 tbsp vegetable oil

In a large skillet, sauté onions and garlic in oil. Place in large mixing bowl and let it cool a little. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well and shape into patties. Dredge lightly in flour. Heat vegetable oil in a large pan to brown the burgers on both sides, you may need to do this in batches with a bit more oil.

Alligator Pie Catering recommends serving these burgers on whole wheat buns topped with sprouts and Roasted garlic Aioli or Tzatziki.

Cucumber...My New Best Friend

Thanks to my dad's recommendation, I’ll be adding cucumber to my weekly grocery list. Not only is it a low calorie snack (only 8 calories in half a cup), it’s filled with vitamins and minerals including Folic acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc. It’s also a great source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can give you a great pick-me-up when you’re feeling tired. Eating a few slices before bed is said to fight off evening binging and morning headaches.

Other interesting uses for Cucumber:

• Rub a freshly cut slice on your shoes…it will provide a quick and durable shine that looks great and will repel water.
• Use it to fight bad breath by pressing a slice to the roof of your mouth for 30 seconds.
• Remove an unwanted pen or crayon mark by slowly rub the outside of the skin on it.
• Try rubbing it on your skin to reduce inflammation.

Listening to Your Body!

Getting adequate rest after a hard workout is critical! The body actually repairs and strengthens itself between workouts so continuous training can actually work against you, making you weaker in the long run. A muscle takes anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to fully repair itself, so it is never recommended to work the same muscle group two days in a row. You also shouldn't work out more than 4-6 days per week.

The most important thing you can do regarding proper recovery is to listen to your body. If you’re feeling tired, sore or notice decreased performance, it’s time to take a day or two off. Many experts actually recommend taking an entire week off every six weeks of training. Our bodies are usually very good at telling us what we need and when. The problem is that sometimes we don’t listen and just push through. That’s when we can experience over training syndrome that can lead to depression, inability to concentrate, irritability, excessive fatigue and insomnia among other things.

Shake it Up!

Thanks to Lindsey, here's a recipe for an extremely delicious and healthy shake.

Peanut Butter & Banana Shake

What you need:

1 Frozen Banana (cut up in chunks)

1 Cup Milk

1/4 Cup of Vanilla Yogurt

1 TBSP of Peanut Butter

1/2 TSP of Vanilla

Dash of Cinnamon

(option: I like to add a scoop of Isagenix's Whey Protein Powder to the mix & a few ice cubes)

Simply blend the ingredients together in your magic bullet (or blender) and Enjoy!

It's Exercise in Disguise

Millions of people are flocking to Zumba classes in more than 110 countries for a reason. It's so much fun you forget your'e working out. Zumba is a Latin inspired dance fitness class that uses an infectious mix of high-energy music and rhythms like salsa, merengue, calypso, reggaeton and bollywood pop. Zumba mixes resistance training with cardio intervals, allowing you to burn maximum fat and calories and tone your entire body (especially your mid-section). You can burn anywhere from 400-1000 calories in an hour depending on how hard you want to push yourself. The moves are so simple that anyone can do it. One of my favourite rhythms is Cumbia and the song Fuego. Click here to check it out on YouTube.

So "Ditch the Workout and Join the Party"... Watch for my Zumba Fitness classes coming soon.

A Delicious Post Recovery Snack

My colleague in New Brunswick recently served a delicious fruit & nut bar as an excellent post recovery snack at Fitness Alpha. In case you're curious, click here to learn more about her Fitness Alpha Program...the video segment starts at 9:10AM.

Not only were these bars a hit at my boot camp this morning...the kids also gave them two thumbs up!

Fruit & Nut Bar

20 min prep
SERVES 18

2 cups rolled oats
2 cups crispy rice cereal
1 cup dried apricot, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup pecan halves, chopped
1/2 cup golden raisin
1/4 cup sunflower seed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

SYRUP MIXTURE
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey(creamed)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter or almond butter

• Prepare 9x13 pan with non-stick spray (or line with parchment paper).
• In a large mixing bowl, toss all dry ingredients. Feel free to substitute your preferred nut or dried fruit.
• In a saucepan, combine brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil and allow to boil one minute. (Note: boiling the sugars is what helps the bars become firm and not sticky, so this step is important).
• After boiling, turn off heat; add vanilla and peanut butter. QUICKLY pour this hot mixture over the dry ingredients and toss to combine.
• Pour warm mixture into prepared pan. Wet your fingers and press the mixture down into the pan to compress the bars so they will slice evenly.
• When cool, use a sharp knife to cut into 18 bars (1 long lengthwise cut and 9 cuts across).

Enjoy!!

Eating on the Run

It's spring and that means, if you're like me, more fast food dinning. I'm running the kids from one activity to another and sometimes there just isn't time to make a healthy meal at home. Eating out makes it really easy to indulge; and one evening out can easily set your weight loss efforts back a week or more. The good news is that more and more restaurants are catering to the health conscious, so if you plan ahead you can get good nutrition even on the run. Two of my favourites are Subway and McDonalds.

Pick the 6" Roast Chicken Sub with mustard & all the veggies. It's only 319 calories with 4.5 grams of fat. Just be careful about adding any of their high-fat creamy sauces. The meatball sub is also a killer...the 6" is 560 calories with 23 grams of fat.

At McDonalds I just love their NEW Southwest Salad with grilled chicken. It's 340 calories with 12 grams of fat. The dressing is what can kill you. I usually opt for a quarter pack of their Southwest Ranch dressing which runs me another 40 calories and 4 grams of fat. Big Macs, of course, are one of your worst choices with 540 calories and 29 grams of fat.