Top Tricks to Keep Moving

Staying physically active and having healthy meals are the best things you can do for you (and your family). Those are the reasons why we keep bringing delicious healthy recipes and many motivational tips to keep you moving!
Here is another great list of tricks, from FitSugar, that will motivate you to exercise on a daily basis:

1. Channel that glorious post workout feeling. Whenever you feel the instinct to skip a sweat session, imagine how accomplished and energized you feel after just 30 minutes or an hour of exercise. Just get there already.
2. Make a date with a friend or fitness trainer. If you set a time to meet someone, you'll feel obligated to go, even when your mind and body are telling you otherwise.
3. Create a healthy post workout routine and make time for it too. Reward yourself after a workout by scheduling extra moments to relax in the steam room, blow out your hair to perfection, get a hot coffee, or simply sit and enjoy an apple.
4. Schedule your workout early in the morning before the day's distractions detour you from lofty intentions.
5. Carry a motivational token or photo with you. When you feel like caving, look at it.
6. Instead of going home to watch your favorite show on the couch, suit up and watch it on the treadmill. If your gym doesn't have TVs on each machine load up your iPod or iPhone.
7. Try something new. Sign up for an exercise class you've never taken before, take a hike to a lookout spot, ride your bike to a new trail or work out at a different time.
8. Avoid taking a physical dip by fueling your body with a healthy pre-workout snack. You'll have something to burn and a boost of protein to keep your eye on the prize.
9. Give yourself a gold star. Plot out a reward system and treat yourself when you hit your goal of workouts per week, weight loss, or the finish line.

Source: Shine

Game Series: Stromboli

Are you feeling really adventurous for the game this weekend? If you like pizza, this is the perfect twist for a superb(owl) meal: Stromboli. Make a variety of fillings, including dessert versions, using the same dough. You can either make the dough or buy it frozen. With Stromboli on the table, who cares what team wins....

Basic Stromboli

Servings: 6 servings

• Basic Pizza Dough, recipe follows
• 1/2 pound hot chicken  sausage, removed from casings and crumbled
• 1 cup sliced yellow onions
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell peppers
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green bell peppers
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced seeded and stemmed jalapenos
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 pound sliced lean turkey
• 1/2 cup sliced black olives
• 2 cups grated provolone
• 2 cups grated mozzarella
• 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water to make an egg wash
• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a large baking sheet and set aside.

In a large skillet, cook the sausage over medium-high heat until browned and the fat is rendered, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well on paper towels. Discard the fat from the pan. Add the onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos and cook, stirring, until very soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and cool.

Punch down the dough and divide half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the dough to a large rectangle, about 10 by 14 inches. Spread half of the cooled sausage mixture across the dough leaving a 1-inch border. Overlapping slightly, layer half of the turkey, olives, provolone and mozzarella cheeses over the top. Using a pastry brush, paint the border of 1 long edge with egg wash. Starting at the opposite long end without egg wash, roll up the dough into a cylinder, pinching the edges to seal. Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining ingredients. Let the dough rise, 20 to 30 minutes.

Brush the top of each stromboli with egg wash. Bake until nearly completely golden brown and starting to crisp, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle each stromboli with Parmesan cheese and return to the oven until the cheese is melted and the dough is golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let stand 10 minutes. Slice thickly and serve.

Basic Dough:

1 cup warm (110 degrees F) water

1 (1/4-ounce) envelope active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups bleached all-purpose flour 

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, sugar, and 1 tablespoon oil and stir to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until all the flour is incorporated but the dough is still slightly sticky. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky, 3 to 5 minutes.

Oil a large mixing bowl with the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Source: Based on recipe from foodnetwork

Spinach Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Pizza

Pizza is an ol' game companion. They go along incredibly well, especially when you have to feed a mini-stadium at home. Here is a healthy and yummy version for this weekend! Obviously, if sun-dried tomato and spinach are not big hits for the crowd, change it!(But try to be healthier and more creative than just replacing the veggies with sausage and peperoni).

Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Pizza

Servings: 6 portions

• Cooking spray, preferably canola or olive oil
• 1 14-ounce package firm water-packed tofu, drained
• 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/2 cup chopped soft or reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes (see Tip)
• 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound prepared pizza dough, preferably whole-wheat

Position rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 475°F. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
Finely crumble tofu; pat dry. Place in a large bowl and use your hands to combine with spinach, tomatoes, Parmesan, mozzarella, basil, onion powder, salt and pepper.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about the length of the prepared baking sheet and twice as wide (approximately 16 by 18 inches). Transfer the dough to the baking sheet, allowing the extra width to hang over on one side onto a clean surface. Spread the filling on the dough in the pan, leaving a 1-inch border. Fold the overhanging dough over the filling. Fold the edges closed and crimp with a fork to seal. Make several small slits in the top to vent steam; lightly coat the top with cooking spray.
Bake the stuffed pizza until well browned on top, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly before cutting.

Per serving: 291 calories; 7 g fat (3 g sat, 2 g mono); 10 mg cholesterol; 36 g carbohydrates; 1 g added sugars; 18 g protein; 4 g fiber; 607 mg sodium; 419 mg potassium.

Source: EatingWell 

Eco-Friendly Pull-Along Dog

Your toddler wants a dog, but you are not so happy about it...mmmm. Try to negotiate a Pull-Along version. He/she may take it!

This very cute eco-friendly Pull-Along dog moves its head and body as you pull-along. It is made of solid wood from renewable forests, painted with water-based, lead free and non toxic paint. What's more, you can get it for under $10!

By EverEarth