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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Baked Crab Cakes

Baked Crab Cakes

2 (4.5 oz) cans fancy lump crab meat
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1 large egg
2 tablespoon light mayonnaise
1 teaspoon brown mustard
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
Cajun seasoning (season to taste)

Fat free tartar sauce


1. Drain crab meat and place in mixing bowl with parsley and Cajun seasoning.
2. In a smaller bowl, scramble egg, mix in mayo and mustard. Add mix to crabmeat and gently blend in with crab meat, careful as to not break up lumps.
3. Mix in bread crumbs. Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for one hour.
4. Remove from refrigerator and form into 4 to 6 (depending on preference of size) balls, then press into cakes. I like using a slider hamburger press, it makes 6 perfect cakes.


Place in a baking dish sprayed with olive oil and bake at 375 for about 25 minutes until golden brown.

Mix Cajun seasoning with tarter sauce and serve on the side.


Nutritional info TBD.






Monday, February 13, 2012

How to cook chick peas

1. Soak dry chick peas overnight (10 to 12 hours) in fresh water (use LOTS). Pick out any darker, nasty looking peas.

2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas thoroughly.

3. Add water to large pot until chick peas are covered, and then add some more. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Cook on medium heat for about 2 hours, maybe less or more. Add a bit of salt right at the end of the cooking time.

Try to start with enough water, but if you have to add more, use boiling water.
You know they are done when they have an even, softer smooth bite and are reasonably tender to a fork.

The cooking time is not an exact science; you will need to bite into a chickpea to see if it is fully cooked.

4. Drain chick peas & use as you would canned in any recipe. Keep in fridge.

EASY, PEASY!!!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Once Upon a Time...

...in a far way castle there lived a beautiful princess who.....****screeech***. (Insert record scratching noises).

OK, there was no beautiful princess nor a castle. But there was a girl who woke up one day and decided to change her life. And the story also includes a handsome man who came along to help save the day. Plus eventually, a NOT-AT-ALL-EVIL, but very beautiful stepsister, moved into the picture to complete this fairy tale. I digress, so let's get down to bidness.

My name is Wendy Kennedy. I am a normal, average, regular woman going about life, doing the 9 to 5 gig. Living a moderate life, not feeling very adventurous nor very excited about life. I was happy, I thought with my marriage, with my family, just floating along seemed ok.

Then I am not quite sure what happened, but around my 40th birthday, I had an epiphany. The day was beautiful, the sun shone down and I decided I was going out for a walk one evening, which I did quite a lot. It was a nice walk, just around town.

I came back to the house, and a friend of my son's was there visiting. She asked me if I was out for a run. My husband (who denies he said this..haha), opened his mouth and said, "Haaa, Wendy is no runner". It was like time stood still with those words. SILENCE. The world stopped rotating on its axis. I looked at him with the Glare of Death, walked into the bedroom and sat down on the bed. "Wendy is no runner". Over and over in my head I heard it. Then it was like some alien being had taken over my mind...why the HELL was I NOT a runner?? I had legs, and a heartbeat. I often dreamed of running but thought it was something above me, that I was perhaps incapable of doing. Hell to the NAW baby. It. Was. ON. Like Donkey Kong.

I came out to the computer, sat down and hit up Google. I found a Learn to Run clinic starting in Lethbridge. The next day, I walked into that running store, whacked down my credit card on the counter and said, "Sign me up".

I have never looked back since that moment. Perhaps I owe it ALL to my husband for saying what he did. Perhaps it was divine intervention that day. I am not sure. But from that moment, the old Wendy was dead and gone. The new girl in town had a drive & determination and a new attitude. It took it's toll at first. My husband didn't know WHAT the HELL had possessed me and who was the person he was married to? He didn't understand why I was doing it and to be honest we almost gave up on us at one point because I changed so much and he stayed right where he was. It was rough. After he saw this was no whim, and it was for reasons that he was now beginning to understand and appreciate, he became my biggest cheerleader and to this day could not be more supportive of the things I undertake.

My body was changing...I wasn't overweight, just out of shape. My story isn't one of weight loss of mass proportions. It's a story of getting healthy, getting up off my ass and DOING something and changing my attitude towards life and everyone that was in it. Change was a'comin' baby. Buckle up for the ride.

This lead me to try new things, like ChaLean, which then lead me to talk about it, and often. I had more questions in my inbox week after week, because people could see the changes in me and wanted to know LOTS about it. Then I decided to create a Facebook group, for my little circle of friends, for them to post questions and me answer them, all condensed into one place. So from that came the creation of I See Fit People. I believe the initial invite was to 6 of my close friends. The next day I log in there is something like 20 people. What the hell? Where did they come from? The next day, more...I didn't really know why but people were interested in what I had to say. So I went with it. I talked about what I knew, what I learned and listened to them as well with their feedback. ISFP was growing! WOW!

I think I was at around the 400 mark when I decided to create a Facebook page, which I did. Everyone had to rejoin there and that took a while to build back up, but it did.

All during this time, there were replies from some guy who seemed to be getting comfy at ISFP. His name was Matt. He seemed to say everything I was thinking and his replies always resonated with me. It was like his hands were typing my words. It. Was. Bizarre. Hmmmmm.

One day I was talking about how much I WASN'T going to be following along with the P90X nutrition plan, and how I was doing my homework on my own to get one that worked for me. In comes a message from Matt, offering to send me the Insanity nutrition guide. Why was he doing this, I wondered? Stalker? Crazed Asylum escapee? Was he was genuinely interested in helping? LOL...so I said OK! From that one single moment of interaction came a whole series of events that have changed and shaped BOTH our lives. We talked about everything, learned lots about each other, and we quickly discovered we were basically the same person, living in separate countries, in two bodies. Our passions, drives, likes, the way we lived our lives...bang on with one another. It was creepily awesome! We forged an amazing friendship, though we had never actually met in person til almost a year later when I ran the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon.

When we saw each other for the first time, it was not unlike having a meeting with an old friend you knew your entire life. We click. He was someone who got me like I had never been gotten before. (And yes I am quoting Adam Levine).

After that meeting I decided Matt needed to join me at ISFP. It was always just a woman's perspective on the page and it needed something more. So I asked and he accepted. Since then we have grown..yeah...just a little bit. I believe we were at 800 or so when he joined and we have never looked back.

Now after yet ANOTHER meeting of the minds and yet one more race, the Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon in Vegas this past december, Matt & I got to meet in person another soul mate and third pea to the pod, Rachelle. She was one of us...that came across loud & clear online. But in person...it was SCREAMING at us and we knew we had to bring her on board at ISFP. She fits us like a glove and also gets us! We asked, she accepted.

So fast forward to right now. This is the story of Wendy, I See Fit People and how it all came to be. It started because I wanted to help not only myself but my friends. It grew to become something I had never dreamed of but I am now terribly grateful for. These past 2 years this wonderful group of people has helped both Matt & I through some horribly hard, sad times but you also celebrated the happy, life changing times as well. You all gave us the strength to go on and face another day when we felt like giving up. You had our backs and motivated US when we needed a kick in the ass. You are OUR constant reminder that we can do whatever we set our minds to.

We log in daily with a new found attitude to be better than the day before, to try new things, to go outside of our comfort zones. It is because of I See Fit People coupled with my drive to seek kickassedness that I am the person I am today. I AM changed. You helped me. We help each other. I wake each day and want to try new things...I want to do it all! I may not get everything scratched off my list, but I am going to give it a fighting chance!!! I also owe Matt more than I can ever repay him. For that I have to extend my sincerest THANK YOU...to everyone.

So this is where the story of girl meets boy meets another girl continues. You wanted to know our story..this is it! With each passing day we WILL continue to write in the book of I See Fit People. Every new day is a blank page and we plan on filling it up with AWESOMENESS!! I hope you are here with your pencils sharpened and ready to write a story of your own!!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Edamame Hummus

After finding several recipes and not really loving them all, I decided I would come up with my own. I still think I may tweak it, but it was SO tasty and I am pretty happy with it. It has a milder flavor than chick pea hummus and I opted for Almond butter instead of the usual tahini. Give it a try! It is perfect with baby carrots and pita chips!

The hummus was really creamy as well despite it's appearance!

Cheerio,
Wendy


Ingredients

1 1/2 cups frozen shelled edamame
1/4 cup Almond butter
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
juice of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1/2 lime
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh cracked pepper

Directions:

Microwave edamame, covered, for 2 to 3 minutes. Cool. In a food processor or with immersion blender, puree the edamame, almond butter, water, lemon zest, olive oil and juices, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin & coriander until smooth. If it still needs thinning add a bit more lemon juice til it is of desired thickness.


Per Tablespoon:

Calories: 52
Total Fat: 4 g
Carbs: 2 g
Protein: 2 grams



Buttery Coconut Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal

Words cannot express my glee for this little concoction. Come to mama. :-))

In small bowl add:

1/2 cup rolled oats (use a hearty variety..I use Rogers Porridge Oats)
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
dash of salt
liberal sprinkling of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Molly McButter

Then stir in:

1 cup of water
2 Tablespoons Sugar Free Coconut Syrup (I used DaVinci)
splash of Butter vanilla (or reg vanilla)
1 Tablespoon large flake unsweetened coconut

Directions:

Mix the above in a sprayed oven-proof bowl. Sprinkle on coconut.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.


Calories: 211
Fat: 7 g
Carbs: 33 g
Protein: 9 g