jeudi 17 octobre 2013

Grilled Steak Fajitas


ingredients

3 red, yellow, and/or green sweet peppers, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons fajita seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound boneless beef top sirloin steak, cut 1 inch thick
4 8 inches whole wheat tortillas
Purchased salsa (optional)
Dairy sour cream (optional)

directions

1. Fold a 36x18-inch piece of heavy foil in half crosswise. Place sweet peppers and onion in the center of the foil. Drizzle with oil; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of the fajita seasoning and the garlic. Bring up the opposite edges of the foil; seal with a double fold. Fold in remaining edges, leaving space for steam to build. Set aside.
2. Sprinkle the remaining 1 teaspoon fajita seasoning on both sides of steak; rub in with your fingers. For a charcoal grill, place steak and the vegetable packet on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium coals. Grill steak until desired doneness, turning once halfway through grilling. Allow 14 to 18 minutes for medium-rare doneness (145 degrees F) or 18 to 22 minutes for medium doneness (160 degrees F). Remove steak and keep warm. Grill vegetables about 20 minutes or until tender, turning packet once halfway through grilling. (For a gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium. Place steak and vegetable packet on grill rack over heat. Cover and grill as directed.)
3. Meanwhile, wrap tortillas in foil. Place tortilla packet next to steak on grill rack; grill about 10 minutes or until tortillas are heated through, turning packet once halfway through grilling. Thinly slice meat into bite-size strips. Divide meat among tortillas; top with vegetables. Roll up. If desired, serve with salsa and sour cream.

Crispy Fish and Peppers


ingredients

1 pound fresh or frozen (thawed) small fish fillets (such as grouper, catfish, or tilapia)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 - 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup sliced and/or chopped miniature sweet peppers
1 lemon, cut up

directions

1. Rinse fish and pat dry with paper towels.
2. In a shallow dish, whisk together buttermilk, egg, and Cajun seasoning. Place flour in another shallow dish. Dip fish in buttermilk and flour. Repeat to coat fish twice.
3. Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Carefully add fish to hot oil (working in batches, if necessary). Cook for 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until golden. Add more oil, if needed. Drain on paper towels.
4. Drain oil from skillet; wipe clean with paper towel. Add peppers to skillet and cook 2 minutes or until crisp tender.
5. Serve fish with peppers and lemon. Makes 4 servings

dimanche 13 octobre 2013

Fast Chicken Fettuccine


ingredients

8 ounces fettuccine
1/4 7 ounce jaroil-packed, dried tomato strips or pieces
1 large zucchini or yellow summer squash, halved lengthwise and sliced (about 2 cups)
8 ounces chicken breast meat, cut in cubes
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan, Romano, or Asiago cheese (2 ounces)
Black pepper, freshly ground

directions

1. Cook in lightly salted boiling water according to package directions; drain. Return pasta to hot pan.
2. Meanwhile, drain tomato strips, reserving 2 tablespoons oil from jar; set aside. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon reserved oil over medium-high heat. Add zucchini; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove from skillet. Add remaining reserved oil to skillet. Add chicken; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until no longer pink. Gently toss zucchini, chicken, and tomato with cooked pasta. Sprinkle each serving with cheese and season to taste with pepper. Makes 4 servings.

samedi 12 octobre 2013

Fajita-Style Quesadillas


Healthy Dinner Recipes Under $3

ingredients

1/2 medium red or green sweet pepper, seeded and cut into bite-size strips
1/2 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 fresh serrano pepper, halved, seeded, and cut into thin strips*
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 6-inch white corn tortillas
Nonstick cooking spray
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (2 ounces)
2 thin slicestomato, halved crosswise
1 tablespoon snipped fresh cilantro
Light dairy sour cream (optional)
Cilantro and lime wedges (optional)

directions

1. In a large skillet cook sweet pepper, onion, and serrano pepper in hot oil over medium-high heat for 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are just tender. Remove from heat.
2. Lightly coat one side of each tortilla with cooking spray. On the uncoated side of two of the tortillas, divide half of the cheese. Top with onion mixture, tomato slices, the 1 tablespoon cilantro, and the remaining cheese. Top with remaining tortillas, coated sides up.
3. Heat a very large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Cook quesadillas for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until cheese melts and tortillas are lightly browned. Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges. Serve warm and, if desired, with sour cream, additional cilantro and lime wedges.

vendredi 11 octobre 2013

5 Reasons To Keep A Fitness Challenge In Your Life Every Day


A fitness challenge can have a wide variety of meanings. Obviously what is challenging to one may not be to another. Body chemistry and conditioning plays a large role in the things you are capable of accomplishing, and those that perhaps are too much. For some, it means setting personal goals and keeping the conflict internal. For others, there always needs to be a mountain of motivation to climb, whether it is the friendly competition of another, or an actual mountain. Regardless of what it is that best motivates you, it is necessary to find some fitness challenge to complete every day. And you don't have to be an athlete to need them in your life. Here's why:
A fitness challenge keeps you motivated. Results are not going to come overnight. You may not even notice them when they do come. It might take the looser fitting pants to get across the point. But if you can set a goal for yourself every day, those results are more likely to come sooner rather than later. Make sure that you target a different part of your body to strengthen in the process. That way you can make exercise part of your daily routine without straining one particular area.
Secondly, a fitness challenge makes you feel better in areas that are not associated with bones or muscles. The area, of course, is the mind. When you know that you're operating at your best physically, you're going to feel better in every other area of your life. It may even make you more successful in business.
Thirdly, remember that a fitness challenge can be fun. It doesn't have to be something that you dread every day. If you like to run, then run. If you like to swim, get a membership to the gym and use the indoor pool. Weather need never force you to sacrifice the things that make exercise fun. And it does have to be fun, to a degree, if it is going to become routine.
Next, you should find a challenge to face every day, because it will help you fight off disease. It is well understood by doctors all over the world that just 30 minutes of exercise per day can help you fight off cancer, heart disease, and other silent killers.
In addition to fighting disease and keeping you physically and emotionally healthier, staying fit with daily exercise challenges ensures that you look your best for that special person in your life. Within any relationship, partners agree that they find their significant other more attractive when that person shows initiative in taking care of their bodies. So not only can a fitness challenge save you from physical and emotional hazards, but it can also lead to a life of happiness with a person you love.
If you are looking for an appropriate fitness challenge, have we got one for you! Visit our site to learn more about your fitness challenge today, and well get you started down the road to a healthier you!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5025520

jeudi 10 octobre 2013

Eating Before Your Workouts? You Might Be Sabotaging Yourself!


If you're looking for something to eat before your workout, stop. Fitness gurus can argue about carbohydrates, protein, vegetables, or some miracle supplement, but medical science has delivered a definitive answer to the question of what you should eat and when. It's like nothing you've ever heard before.
What should you eat before exercising?
Well... how about nothing?
While it is true that starchy carbohydrates, found in snacks such as bananas and oats, do provide slow-releasing energy which can enhance performance during a high intensity work-out, this is not actually relevant when it comes to losing fat.
Peter Aspel, Professor of Exercise Physiology at the Leuven University in Belgium, has found that those who fast before exercising lose more fat through that exercise than those who do not.
Mr. Aspel conducted an experiment wherein he instructed a team of seven people to cycle three days a week, followed by an intense exercise regime, one hour later, fasting in between. He then instructed a further seven people to complete the same program of exercise, but without fasting. The results of the experiment show that those who fasted prior to each exercise session lost more fat than those who did not.
If the body has modest resources of carbohydrates to draw on in order to fuel exercise, it will soon move on to burning (or "oxidizing") the body's fat reserves. Aspel recommends as much as six hours of fasting before such an exercise regime, in order to achieve optimum results. Therefore, the long-held belief by many athletes that a run before breakfast is a great way to burn fat holds steadfast, and has finally gained scientific support from a highly reputable source. If, due to your schedule, you are unable to fast for such a long period of time before exercise, it is still wise to maximize the amount of time that you go without eating before your exercise, anywhere up to the previously mentioned six hours. In short, this will all mean that any exercise which you then do will have the best chance of burning fat.
What's the catch? You're so cynical... but there are two. First of all - this is really hard. If you're exercising on an empty stomach, it stands to reason that's when your reserves of energy are at their absolute lowest! Ron Maughan, is a sports professor at Loughborough University in England, and USA Today interviewed him on this very subject. Here's what he said. "That might help you get very good at burning fat, but you won't be very good at whatever exercise it is you are doing. Without enough fuel, you won't get the intensity of training you need to get improvements."
Now far be it from me to disagree with a doctor (very far be it), but I think he's only half right. During times like this, you're going to have less energy - but speaking from personal experience, your body is just going to find a way to help you when times get tough. Think about the guys in the prehistoric ages who woke up hungry and had to chase down a giant saber-toothed tiger or something! Think they were tired? You bet. But did they find a way to survive? You bet. That extreme burst of energy comes from something Ori Holfmeker calls "The Sympathetic Nervous System", and when you munch on a donut before your morning workout, you're wasting that sympathy like a guy prank calling from his hospital bed.
An Incoming Danger?
Needless to say, this approach takes discipline the first few times. It's often the case that if one puts oneself through a lengthy period of self-discipline, then one is more susceptible to blowing it at a later time. If someone is to fast six hours prior to exercising, this person will be more likely to indulge in what they have been depriving themselves of later on in the day. What we're saying here is: don't start gorging yourself as soon as the workout is over! Of course, this adds to the argument that the best time to fast is the time that people normally and most naturally fast, anyway: during sleep. If you fast during your sleep, you will be far less aware of such - if at all - and less tempted to indulge, later in the day.
In other words, a short, intense, early morning workout before you eat is often the best way to start your day.
At this stage, you may be feeling as if this plan might not be for you: that it is too difficult or that it is simply not suited to you, whether that be due to concerns over your age or any health concerns which you may have. But the truth is that this is a useful way for people of all ages, shapes and sizes to organize their exercising. In fact, Professor Aspel asserted that this process of exercising will even help people who are suffering from diabetes. This is because fasting before exercising produces muscles which are better suited to absorbing glucose, a process which is essential for the treatment of diabetes.
This might seem like a drastic change to your current regime, but it's really important that you not dramatically increase the workload that you've already got going. Take this program and tailor the ideas to your individual needs. Why? Because you're going to maximize the benefits of whatever system you're following. That means there's no need to overwhelm yourself with a program which does not reflect your current needs, strengths and weaknesses.
Following this method will be a great step in achieving your weight loss goals! If you're still looking for help working out to burn fat [http://www.makeaweightlossplan.com/weight-loss-techniques/working-out-to-burn-fat/] after the fast is over, visit Make A Weight Loss Plan. It's a great source for motivation and useful tips, and subscribers get a free copy of our free guide [http://www.makeaweightlossplan.com/book/] to lasting weight control!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6706216

Health Benefits Of Green Tea


1. Green tea helps burn fat 
It can help speed up the metabolic rate because its antioxidant effect helps the liver to function more efficiently.
2. Green tea protects against heart disease 
It has been shown to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, because its potent antioxidant effects inhibit the oxidation of LDL cholesterol in the arteries.
3. Green tea can help lower blood pressure 
A major cause of hypertension (high blood pressure) is an enzyme secreted by the kidneys called angiotension- converting enzyme (ACE).
4. Green tea can help protect against diabetes
When starch is consumed, it requires the enzyme amylase to break it down into simple sugars that can be absorbed in the bloodstream.
5. Green tea can help prevent food poisoning 
As it can kill bacteria, drinking green tea with meals may reduce the risk of bacterial food poisoning.
6. Green tea can prevent bad breath 
Drinking green tea – which is a natural anti-bacterial agent – with food may help kill the oral bacteria that cause cavities and bad breath.
7. Green tea guards against hepatitis
Viral hepatitis is often triggered by high levels of iron in the liver. Green tea lowers iron levels throughout the body, so may have a direct anti-viral effect against certain strains of hepatitis.
8. Green tea can protect against cancer
There is growing evidence to suggest that green tea contains compounds that fight cancer. The tea contains a compound called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which helps inhibit blood vessel growth.
9. Green tea can help prevent arthritis 
A recent study found that antioxidants in green tea may prevent or reduce the severity of symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.
10. Green tea improves your immunity 
Gargling with green tea boosts immunity to influenza and flu, according to a study in Japan.
11. Green tea can protect against Alzheimer’s disease 
A recent two-year study of a group of people aged 80 and over found that 96 per cent of those who drank ten cups of green tea a day showed no signs of cognitive impairment, compared to only 12 per cent who didn’t drink green tea.
12. Green tea can help fight allergies 
Researchers in Japan have identified a compound in green tea that, in laboratory tests, blocks a key cell receptor involved in producing an allergic response.