Cauliflower Cheese/Alfredo sauce, A MUST in EVERY healthy girls recipe book!

ABOVE ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITE WAYS TO USE MY CAULIFLOWER SAUCE!!! You can also just eat it as a creamy soup!!!  Be creative!!! add a little meat in the sauce if you like, seafood?  mushrooms?  The sky's the limit!

Yield: 2 and 1/2 cups of sauce

Ingredients
1 cauliflower head
1/2 cup hot cooking water
1 chicken bullion cube or if you want less salt, use low sodium chicken broth instead.
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (optional, but I recommend it)
1/4 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
nutmeg, to taste

Instructions
Clean the cauliflower head from green leaves, and chop it into reasonably large but manageable pieces. Place it in the big sauce pan with water, bring to boil and boil for 30-40 minutes until cauliflower is really soft. Remove from heat and drain cauliflower from water. You should have about 3 and 1/2 cups of cooked and sliced cauliflower pieces. Do reserve some cooking water.
Dissolve 1/2 of a chicken bullion cube in 1/2 cup of very hot reserved cooking water. (or, if you're using low sodium broth, just use 1/2 a cup of that.
In a food processor, combine drained cooked cauliflower (from step 1) and 1/2 cup of hot reserved cooking water you just made (from step 2) with 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and process really well, until a very creamy sauce forms:
Transfer sauce into a large sauce pan and keep it warm on the stove top. Season with salt and pepper, and nutmeg (optional), to taste.

November Studio Class Schedule

Belly Burner printable workout

Try this AWESOME printable move for you abs!!! To up the intensity of th move, lift your fit off the floor and time yourself as you circle your arms.  Go as long as you can for 3 sets!

Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup!

Serves: 6 bowls

INGREDIENTS
16 Roma tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
2½ medium yellow onions, cut in half lengthwise
One garlic head (see directions - use 8 roasted peeled garlic cloves in soup)
1½ tbsp olive oil (for drizzling)
Salt & Pepper (for drizzling)
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp maple syrup (I actually used coconut palm sugar)
2½ cups water
1 cup light coconut/almond milk
Splash Hot Sauce
Bay Leaf

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 400f or 200c.
Cut tomatoes and onions in half lengthwise. To prepare the garlic for roasting, peel the outer skin from the entire head of garlic. Cut the top of the garlic head off in order to expose the top of the garlic (making sure that the majority of the garlic is still intact).
Place the tomatoes (facing up), onions and garlic (exposed garlic side up) side-by-side on a parchment-lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Roast in the oven for 60 minutes. Check after thirty minutes to ensure that garlic and onions are not getting too dark. When perfectly roasted, the tomatoes, onions and garlic should begin to shrivel and begin to darken.
Let the vegetables cool down for 5 minutes after taking them out of the oven.
In a large pot using an immersion blender or large blender, blend the tomatoes (with the juices that accumulated in the pan while roasting), onions, 8 peeled garlic cloves, paprika, basil, oregano, water, coconut/almond milk and maple syrup until perfectly creamy smooth.
Simmer in large pot for 5 minutes with bay leaf to allow the flavors to come together. Season with a couple splashes of hot sauce to taste (optional).

Get rid of SADDLEBAGS with this fun printable workout!

Add these moves to your lower body workout for the day, or do them by themselves!!! Try and get though 3 rounds!
-e

Garden Ratatouille

Do you need to get more veggies in your diet?!? THIS IS A DELICIOUS WAY TO DO IT... PLUS!!! You're WHOLE FAMILY will LOVE IT! Yes, Ratatouille is French, but that's doesn't mean hard-to-make! Impress your family and friends with my tasty garden Ratatouille!

You’ll need:
¼ cup grapeseed oil (olive or coconut oil would work too)
1 red bell pepper, diced small
1 yellow bell pepper, diced small
1 yellow squash, diced small
1 zucchini, diced small
1 small eggplant, diced (Japanese is preferable, but a small, standard eggplant will work. If you use regular eggplant, I recommend salting the cubes ten minutes prior to cooking, then drying to remove any bitterness.)
½ red onion, diced small
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp Reggiano cheese, grated
1 tsp fresh marjoram, finely chopped
1 tsp thyme, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, julienned (sliced thin)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

How to make it:
1. In a large sauté pan or skillet, heat 2 Tbsp grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add the peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Season to taste. Remove the peppers with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on paper towels.
2. Next, cook the squash and zucchini, stirring occasionally, until slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Season to taste. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on paper towels.
3. Cook the eggplant, stirring occasionally, until slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Season to taste. Remove with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on paper towels.
4. Add the onions and cook until slightly caramelized, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook until it releases its aroma, about 2 more minutes. Return the reserved vegetables to the pan and reheat, stirring. Toss in the herbs and cheese, and taste for additional salt and pepper. Serve warm. Makes 4 servings.

Personal pumpkin raisin quinoa bread!

Pictured with a little almond butter on top

Are you DYING for warm satisfying sweet bread?!?! Well... HERE YA GO!

This is the base recipe i use all the time, then I just mix and match and play around with it, add cocoa powder and banana for a chocolate banana bread... applesauce, zucchini, the sky's the limit!

Personal Microwave pumpkin raisin quinoa bread!

(serves 1)

Ingredients

1 tbs Ground Flaxseed

1/2 cup Unsweetened 30 cal Almond Milk

1/3 cup 100% Pure Pumpkin Puree, canned

1 tsp Apple Pie Spice, pumpkin pie spice (or sweet spice of choice)

2 TBS STEVIA

1/8 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Quinoa Flakes (get it at the health food store, you’ll use it again)

Small handful of raisins, or dried fruit of your choice

Directions:

1. Spray a mini loaf mold (make sure it's microwave-safe) with cooking spray.  I just used a square bowl I had.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, stir everything together

4. Scoop batter into the prepared pan, tap on the counter to level the batter, then microwave for ~5 minutes, or until surface springs back when tapped. Let cool slightly, then dig in!

TIP:  You can make this banana bread, or apple bread!  Simply replace the pumpkin with the same amount of smashed ripe banana, or unsweetened applesauce, but remember, If you use pumpkin, you’re getting a VEGGIE!!!!  And we all need more veggies!!!!!

THE ENTIRE LOAF IS UNDER 200 CALORIES, SO EAT IT ALL!!!!!

PRINTABLE CHAIR BOOTY CHALLENGE!

Try one of my favorite lower body workouts!!!  Do each move on the right leg and then move and do each one on the left leg!  Try and get through 3 rounds!!!!

Jody lost an ENTIRE DRESS SIZE in just 4 weeks!!!!

Jody was such a joy to train!!! She's a women after my own hart, a "foodie" who loves to try new things!!! She completed my 30 day extreme weight loss challenge with flying colors!!!

Though I've never been a gym rat, I've always worked out. From Jazzericize to jogging, I've done it. There was a chapter in my life where a regular routine without a strict diet was enough. There was also a chapter in my life where I made all the excuses in the book as to why I couldn't make it to the gym. "I'm so tired." "I've got errands to run." "I'll do it tomorrow." Tomorrow would turn into the next week which would turn into the next whenever, until nearly a year had passed without me setting foot in a gym. It was a cycle... That is, until I got engaged! Wow, was that a motivator. But like most brides, the honeymoon ended and the motivation disappeared. Now I'm 40. Long gone are the days when a simple workout routine without a care in the world what I ingested was enough to maintain my weight. Even worse, weight gain became the name of the game for me. 

I knew that I needed more than a special event to motivate me to stay focused. What I needed was a mindset shift and a lifestyle change. Committing to that has been my greatest obstacle. But Erin's 30-day challenge put me on the right track and gave me the tools to continue the adventure on my own. 

First, her workouts were a revelation. Not only were they challenging, but they targeted muscles I had never worked before. I actually felt frustrated that I had not known about the "right way" to workout for all these years! "Fatigue your muscles," was her constant message. I had never done that, not to this degree and frequency anyway. As a result, I gained lean muscle and dropped an entire size in four weeks! Erin's workouts are also very practical for working woman and for moms. While I did them in the gym, anyone can easily do them at home with a few inexpensive pieces of equipment. But the workouts aren't enough, as Erin points out. A diet rich in nutrients and clean foods is essential to losing fat so you can see the lean muscle you gain. It was Erin's menu and recipes that surprised me the most! They are all so simple to prepare. More importantly, they are delicious! Every recipe has become a part of our family cookbook because even my teenage kids love the food! And she even leaves room to satisfy those inevitable cravings in the evening. 

Erin's strategies of eating 5 to 6 meals a day has become my new "norm." I never feel hungry and because I love to eat I now get to do it more often! Combining the workouts with clean and frequent eating (combined, too, with weekly meal prep) are essential to success. In fact, I lost 8 pounds in 4 weeks (which is a lot for me due to an unrelated health condition). And truthfully, it was rather easy... except for the killer workouts! But as the inspirational quote goes, "It never gets easier. You just get stronger." I still have a long way to go to reach my goal, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. And now I have the tools for success! No more excuses. No more "tomorrows." Thank you, EM Fitness, for giving me TODAY!

printable AB workout! "TEMPLE OF DOOM AB CHALLENGE!"

Some of my favorite moves to tone your tummy!  Print it off and give it a try!  Try and do 3 or 4 rounds... or as many as you can of each! xoxo

Lentil Sloppy Joe smothered sweet potato's!

*There are soooo many options with this!!!  if you don't want to make it vegan, make your sloppy joes with browned ground beef or turkey

*You can add more veggies like zucchini, broccoli, or mushrooms!

*You can smother something else besides a sweet potato, like a grilled portabella mushroom, stuff a pepper, or zucchini... etc. 

(You can also just throw all the ingredients in your crock-pot if you want!!!! xo

OK, HERE'S THE BASIC RECIPE

Serves 6

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 red or yellow sweet pepper, diced
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 cup (200g) French lentils
1- 28oz (796ml) can tomato sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
3 baked sweet potato's

*top with sliced avocado if you like!

Bake your sweet potato's

Heat the olive oil in a medium, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion, pepper and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, or until they soften. Sprinkle in the cumin and chilli powder; cook for an additional minute.

Add the lentils, 3 cups of water, tomato sauce, tomato paste and Sriracha. Increase heat to high and bring the lentils a simmer. Cook uncovered for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more water if the level falls below the lentils.

Taste the lentils, and if they are sufficiently tender (stoves and pots may vary) add the salt and balsamic. Stir and serve over 1/2 a baked sweet potato