Author: Martha Gimson

Like I said in my Instagram and FB video posts, Teachers and Healthcare workers have ZERO time to eat during the day, often having to make the decision to pee over finding food because they LITERALLY have 3 minutes.
These recipes are easy to make, freezable, and portable. They are good to go to keep in a lunch bag with an ice pack to grab and go during the day when you can’t get time to eat a real meal.

Pumpkin Pie Bites

• 1/4 c pureed pumpkin OR 1/4 c applesauce
• 1/4 c honey
• 1/2 c peanut butter- slightly melted
• 3/4 c old-fashioned oats – ground in blender/food processor
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (can omit)

Combine pumpkin or applesauce, honey, and peanut butter in a large bowl. Add oats, chia seeds, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir well. Scoop using a small scooper or spoon. Roll into balls of desired size (approximately 1.5 inches). Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until firm. Store in fridge or freezer.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 scoop collagen peptides
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients until combined. Scoop 1.5 inch balls and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Flatten the balls slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Store in fridge or freezer after cooling.

Protein Pancakes

• 6 eggs
• 2 scoops protein powder – chocolate or vanilla
• handful of spinach

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Cook like a pancake. These can be stored in the freezer or fridge, separated by parchment paper/wax paper. You can top the pancakes with any kind of nut butter, too. Make them mini-sized for easier snacking! Yield depends on size of pancakes.

Easy Turkey Bacon Egg Bites – taken from https://exploringhealthyfoods.com/easy-turkey-bacon-egg-bites/

• 12 eggs
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 slices of turkey bacon – cooked and chopped – may substitute pork bacon for turkey
• 3 tbsp of fresh parsley, chopped – can omit

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together eggs, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Mix in bacon and parsley. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray (VERY IMPORTANT). Scoop 1/4 cup of egg mixture into regular-sized muffin tin. Bake for about 12 minutes. Eat right away or store in fridge or freezer. Reheat in microwave or eat cold.

Time savers on busy nights

This week’s dinner theme is SHEET PAN DINNERS. I cannot stress enough how easy these are to prep and make. Literally, CHOP, DUMP, SEASON, and ROAST. Done and Done. Line your sheet pan in foil and you don’t even have to scrub the pan.

You can prepare these in the morning and keep in a bag in the fridge until you are ready to use. Then, at dinner time, dump the bag on a sheet pan and pop into a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 and you are good to go.

The real secret to these pans are the seasonings you add. I love a good premade spice blend because I don’t have time to figure out how to mix and match individual herbs and spices. I can handle olive oil, salt and pepper, but outside of that, it gets dicey. My favorites come from Trader Joe’s, and my NEWEST FAVE is “Everything but the Leftovers”. It smells just like Thanksgiving because of the sage and onion, etc. but it brings out the best flavor in anything you roast. I even put in on my scrambled eggs, and hot damn, those things are taken to a new level.

So, here is how I plan to construct my sheet pan dinners this week:

Monday: Italian Chicken Sheet Pan

• Main Ingredients: Boneless chicken thighs or breasts, tomatoes, whole green beans, onion
• Seasonings: Balsamic vinegar, dried basil, dried or fresh rosemary
• Chop tomatoes and onions into large chunks and trim the ends of the beans.
• Marinate chicken with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, basil, and rosemary
• OR – if you don’t have time to marinate or just forget to, you can season with oil, s/p, and herbs. Wait on the balsamic vinegar until after roasting because it will burn if you pour it on the chicken before you roast it because it will just sit on top.
• Toss your vegetables and chicken onto the sheet pan and spread out nicely. Roast at 375 degree for 25 minutes or until the chicken is done. Hit the chicken again with a drizzle of balsamic for more flavor.
• Serve with crusty bread, pasta, or roasted spaghetti squash or zoodles.

Tuesday: Chicken Fajita Sheet Pan

This is easy – just follow this recipe from The Pioneer Woman: https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a103105/sheet-pan-chicken-fajitas/

Wednesday: Cajun Sausage Sheet Pan

• Another easy one: https://preventionrd.com/2018/02/easy-sheet-pan-cajun-sausage-and-veggies-whole30-weekly-menu/

Thursday: Shrimp and Tomato Sheet Pan

This goes with pasta or rice : https://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/shrimp-tomato-sheet-pan-supper/

Sunday: Pork Loin with Potatoes and Root Vegetables

This one is my favorite because it’s easy but makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something elegant.

• Ingredients: Pork loin, russet potatoes, parsnips and/or carrots
• Seasonings: Keep it simple: Oil, salt and pepper.
• Chop, roast at 450 degrees for 20-30 minutes, and serve. Make sure your pork has reached at least 140 degrees at its thickest part. If the vegetables aren’t cooked crispy enough for you, just pop back in the oven for a couple of minutes while the pork rests.

This month, let’s show our Core some love. I propose a Plank Challenge! We will start on Monday, Feb 1 with a 30 second plank. We will increase our plank daily by 5 seconds, taking Sunday off. By the end of the month, you will be doing a 3 MINUTE PLANK!

You may choose to plank on your hands or elbows. You may also drop a knee or both if you need a brief rest, but pop back up for as long as you can before you need another brief break.

Remember to keep your back straight, and your body in a straight line from your head to your heels. You are technically cheating when you allow your bottom to pop up. This takes the fire out of your core, which is the point of a plank.

Feel free to get creative and throw in a side plank on each side, if you need a little inspiration or break. You can alternate between your hands and elbows, as well, if you get some pressure point discomfort.

Don’t “suffer” alone! Recruit office buddies, family members, friends and neighbors! We could all use some Core Strength!

You’ve heard about it for a few years, but what the heck is Intermittent Fasting? Like you don’t eat? For how long? Just what?

Ok, so there are a couple of different types of intermittent fasting. What I am going to tell you about is the 16:8 Method. This involves 2 windows of time: A Fasting Window and an Eating Window. Your Eating Window is fun part because you get to eat, obviously. How you do this is rather simple: 1) Start your fast right after you finish eating for the day. For me that’s about 7-7:30 pm. Then, you just don’t eat again for 16 hours. The best part is that the majority of this time is spent asleep so you don’t miss it. 2) 16 hours after you stop eating you get to open your 8-hour eating window! So, if I stopped eating at 7 pm, I get to start eating at 11 am, and keep eating until the window closes again at 7 pm. All of that equals 16 hours of fasting, and 8 hours of eating = 16:8.

Here is what happens during that Fasting Window that makes this method so valuable to your health. First, your insulin sensitivity improves and the levels of insulin in your body drops quite a bit. Having a lower insulin level allows your body to have access to the stored fat …. so you can BURN IT OFF! We’ll get into that in a minute. Secondly, your levels of HGH or Human Growth Hormone goes through the roof. HGH is what your body uses to help burn fat and build muscle. Thirdly, when you are in the fasted state, your digestive system is allowed to REST so your body can devote its energy to cellular repair. Fourthly, and the one that excites me the most, fasting allows your body to release norepinephrine, which is a FAT BURNING HORMONE!

I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention but Intermittent Fasting is a huge strategy to help facilitate Fat Burning. So, does Intermittent Fasting mean you can’t have anything at all during the fasting window? Please say no...

Actually, you CAN have some things during this window. What you’ll want to make sure you avoid are things that have fiber (because fiber will make your gut get going), and fewer than about 50 calories. What is allowable?

• Black Coffee or tea – may use skim milk, unsweetened nut milk/creamer, stevia
• Water – sparkling or still
• Bone Broth
• Unsweetened nut beverages like almond milk, oat milk, soy milk, coconut milk, cashew milk
• Powdered collagen peptides but keeping it to under 50 cal per serving
• Vitamins and medications

Personally, I drink coffee with an unsweetened coconut/almond milk creamer and a stevia. I’ll drink about 40 oz of water, as well, before I break my fast around 11 am.

When its time to break your fast, make sure you are getting a really good meal that is packed with the macro nutrients you need: Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates. We’ll get into the Macro Nutrients in another post. Until then, Happy Fasting!

Dude – me, too. That’s why I workout in the privacy of my own home. Now, there are many of you who L-O-V-E the gym. COVID has closed many gyms and alienated a lot of those denizens, leaving them looking for a way to get a great burn. Look no further than your own home.

Gym equipment is super hard to find these days, so here are a few easy ways to make your own resistance.

Obvious choice, free weights/dumbbells. If you can get your hands on these then GREAT! I have a full set that I use daily. If you can’t find any, let’s explore your options:

Fill a milk jug (8.6 lbs)

Cat litter bag (check the bag itself, but you are looking at 10-40 lbs)

Jug of laundry detergent (about 8 lbs per gallon!!)

Gas grill propane tank (a full tank weighs about 37 lbs)

RESISTANCE BANDS are the BOMB

I HIGHLY recommend getting resistance bands for an easy and SUPER EFFECTIVE workout. You can find these online but I recommend the ones from FASTer Way because they have attachments that make it possible to do all sorts of gym inspired moves. Check them out here: FASTer Way Strength Bands