Stir Fry and Ab Workout

Ok, now to the good stuff :)

We have been on this kick of stir fry. I have always heard how easy it is to make and how cheap so I finally decided to try it. It is true...super easy and super cheap! We do some chicken with our stir fry vegetables and serve it over plain brown rice.

Stir Fry Chicken and Vegetables

2 chicken breasts (thaw, cut into bite size pieces, marinate in Italian dressing)

1-16 oz package of Deluxe Stir Fry Vegetables (freezer section of Wal Mart, Great Value brand)

1 tbsp oil for chicken

2 tbsp oil for vegetables

2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 cup cold water

Directions

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in large skillet (or WOK if you have one) on medium high heat

Add chicken and cook 5-6 minutes until done

Add 2 tbsp oil and 16 oz package of frozen veggies

Cook 4-5 minutes with the lid on

Mix soy sauce and ginger and add to veggies during the first 4-5 minutes

Combine cornstarch and water and gradually add to veggies after the 1st 5 minutes

Bring to a boil and cook for another 3-5 minutes until thickened.

With stir fry, the veggies are supposed to be a little crisp. I prefer mine more tender, which is why I cook with the lid on, to keep the steam in. It just depends on how you prefer it.

I have also bought a HUGE bag of Birds Eye frozen stir fry veggies that comes with the sauce already package for you. It is easier and cheaper than making the sauce yourself. I have done it both ways and they both taste very good. I have also used a mixture of shrimp and chicken. If you use shrimp, do not marinate before. Add it at the same time you add the vegetables to the pan and cook until they are pink.

Rice

1 cup brown rice

2 cups water

Combine in saucepan, bring to a boil

Cover with lid and reduce to simmer.

Cook 35-45 minutes.

I serve the chicken and veggies over the rice and add some low-sodium soy sauce to the rice after its on my plate.

I have got to learn how to take better pictures of my food. They are kind of boring. And pay no attention to the serving size. :)

I love this meal because it is sooo good for you and fills you up!

ABDOMINAL Workout

Your CORE is one of the most important muscle groups to keep strong. It helps you do things from cooking dinner to running marathons to lifting weights (or kids) to laundry. You use your core ALL THE TIME!

It is important to do AB workouts and take a day off in between. The day off will give your muscles time to rebuild and rest before you work them out again. That is true with all muscle groups but most people thing ABS are the exception. They are just like any other muscle group when it comes to working them out.

Here are a few moves I try to do about 3 times a week.Plank/Side Plank

Get on the floor with your forearms and toes holding you up. It will feel like push up position except you are using your forearms to hold you up verses your hands. Keep your butt down, your back straight, your CORE tight and your inner thighs squeezed tight. Keep your head and neck in line with your back (you should be looking straight down). Hold this position for 6o seconds. If you cannot do 60 seconds, start with 15 second intervals. Hold for 15 seconds, rest 10 seconds, hold 15 seconds, rest 10, etc. Build up to holding for a full 60 seconds.

Next, turn from plank to side plank. Keep your left elbow/forearm on the floor, turn towards your right side and position your feet one on top of the other. Put your right arm straight in the air. Hold your hip high, keep your CORE tight and legs straight out. Hold this for 45-60 seconds and switch the the other side and do the same.

I found pics online, hope that helps with my explanation above.

3 way CRUNCH

Sit Indian style and lay down with your legs still crossed. Once lying down, puts your hands behind your head and do a crunch. Concentrate on pulling your belly button into the floor. Do 15 reps. This will work the lowest part of your ABS.

Immediately switch to having your legs bent like a normal crunch. Keep your hands behind your head and do a crunch, still concentrating on your belly button. Do 15 reps. This will work your middle ABS.

Immediately switch to having your legs straight up in the air and cross your ankles. Keep your hands behind your head and do a crunch, still concentrating on your belly button. Do 15 reps. This will work the upper ABS.

The one I don't have a name for :)

Lay on your back with your legs straight out in front of you. Grab a dumbbell (I use 5 lbs) with both hands. Hold with your arms straight above your head. Push the dumbbell up (using your ABS) while bringing one leg straight into the air and make contact with dumbbell and foot. Come back down and do the same with the other leg, alternating legs. This should be a continous movement. When you come up with the weight you should be on your lower back/upper butt, balancing with your abs. I hope that makes sense...its hard to explain on here. Do 15 reps with each leg (30 total).

Hope you can decipher the ab workouts. It is a lot harder to explain a workout move without pictures. Maybe I'll have Dan take a picture or video of me doing the moves next time and it will be easier to explain.

Enjoy! Let me konw if your trying the recipes or the workouts!

Have a good week!

Wedding/Rehearsal Dinner Pics

Me and Lauren at the reception. I'm so glad we're friends! Lauren was my Maid of Honor at my wedding and her husband, Justin, was Brian's Best Man. So fun!

Mom with all the men in the wedding. All the groomsmen are like adopted sons to her. I love this picture. That's about all the wedding pics I have. I have lots from Rehearsal dinner though.

Me and my new sister-in-law!

Mom and Dad looking stylish in red. I'm so blessed to have them as parents!

Me and my handsome hubby!

Sydney and her family.

The bride and groom at rehearsal dinner. Love this pic of you guys!

My computer is being real weird right now so I am going to have to do a 2nd post with my recipes and workout......

Lately

Here is a glimpse of why I have not posted in a while.......
My brother got married this past weekend. I have been attending showers and working on getting ready for the big weekend. Everything was perfect and fun! I'll post wedding pics later.

Lauren (my best friend from high school who is married to Brian's best friend from high school) and I hosted a shower at Lauren and Justin's house. We did a "Home Depot Gift Card" Shower and watched the Hogs play Georgia.

A few pics of the decor....

This is Brian and Sydney (Brother and Sis-n-law) at their couples shower in LR hosted by my parents friends.

I forgot to take a pic of dinner last night but I'll still post the recipes.

We had grilled chicken, sweet potato fries, and a salad.

For the chicken, we just thawed it out, let it marinate in Italian dressing for a couple of hours then Dan grilled it. I have no clue how to grill or I would post some tips :) SORRY!

Sweet Potato Fries (my absolute favorite side dish)

2 sweet potatoes

Olive Oil

Natures Seasoning & Tony Cacheres Seasoning

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash potatoes and cut into steak fries. Put in a large gallon bag with 1/4 cup (estimating) olive oil. Shake till all fries coated. Pour onto a baking sheet and spread out evenly. Sprinkle with Natures Seasoning and Tony Cacheres. Bake 10 minutes and remove. Flip with spatula, season other side and bake 10 more minutes. Total baking time is about 35-40 minutes but you need to flip them every 10 minutes.

They are good for you & DELICIOUS!

Exercise

A couple weeks ago Dan and I decided to do a new workout together and for those of you who don't know...that is VERY rare. Dan works out on his own and does his own thing. He does not like to work out with me. I was so excited when he asked if I wanted to try this new workout he found in his Men's Health magazine TOGETHER. We were both pretty sore the next day from it. It only took us 20-30 minutes to do the whole workout so it definitely doesn't take much time to get in a good workout. What I loved about it was that it combined resistance and cardio so you got a little bit of both. If you're a runner it would be a great exercise to do if you do 2-a-days or if you're just trying to workout and stay in shape then its a great, short but beneficial workout.

Find somewhere you can mark off 40 yards to sprint. We went up to the community softball fields and just ran down the baseline.

1. Do 10 squats (no weights)

2. Sprint 40 yds

3. Do 10 push ups

4. Sprint 40 yds back

That is one set.

Repeat 5 times (magazine said 10 times but we had never done it so we started out with 5 and we were sucking wind by the end for sure)

We gave ourselves 1-2 minute break between each set.

Until next time....

Blog Revamp

Ok, so it has been FOREVER since I posted on this blog. I decided to revamp.

Last time I wrote, I was headed to UCA for the Dietetic Internship. Well....a year and a half later, I graduated from the internship. I am currently studying for my RD exam and looking for a job. I decided with my free time I am going to post recipes and pictures from the meals I cook and exercise/workout tips and ideas. I am very passionate about eating....and eating healthy...and working out. I love coming up with new, creative meals and hopefully I can inspire and motivate some of you to try something new!


I wish this had posted under the recipes, but some day I will figure all this out. The picture above is from dinner last night. Baked chicken, green beans, and oven baked fries. The picture below is the creamy honey mustard I made to dip the chicken in. YUM!

FOOD

Sometimes Dan and I really CRAVE fried foods because we rarely eat them. When we are craving fried foods I will make my "healthy" version of chicken strips and french fries and I always add a green vegetable in there too. Last night was one of those nights. I made chicken strips, baked fries, green beans, and a homemade honey mustard dipping sauce.

Oven Baked Chicken

4 chicken breasts (or you can buy already cut tenderloins)

1 cup oats

2/3 cup reduced fat parmesan cheese

2 tbsp parsley

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup Italian dressing

1. Thaw chicken and cut into strips. Marinate in Italian dressing for at least 1 hour if not longer.

2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a plastic bag.

3. Spray in a baking sheet with cooking spray.

4. Dip each piece of chicken in dry ingredients, coat thoroughly and place on baking sheet.

5. Once all chicken has been coated, spray the tops with cooking spray.

6. Place in a 400 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

7. Remove and enjoy!

Homemade Creamy Honey Mustard

1/2 cup fat free sour cream

2 tsp dijon mustard

2 tsp honey

Mix ingredients until combined. Use for dipping oven baked chicken (and fries).

Oven Baked Fries

Baking potatoes

Season salt, Tony Cacheres, Nature's Seasoning (seasoning of choice)

Cooking Spray (I use olive or canola oil)

Cut potatoes into steak fries, coat with cooking spray and seasonings. Bake on 400 for 10 minutes, flip, recoat, and bake another 25-30 minutes.

This is not a regular meal around our house but it is one of our favorite splurge meals! It is a great way to fulfill the craving for fried foods without all the added fat.

EXERCISE

As most of you probably know, I am a runner. I have been for almost 7 years now, which seems CRAZY to me. I learn so much new stuff about running, exercising, working out, etc. every day that I feel like I still don't know everything I should know to be a runner. I hope I can give a little insight from what I have learned over the years that may help you in whatever exercise you enjoy. I definitely don't claim to know much but have learned a lot from past mistakes!

I do not run every day of the week. On my days off from running I cross train (XT). For XT I like to do some plyometrics. Plyometrics is a type of exercise that incorporates high impact, jumping moves to improve strength and power. It is a good substitute for speed workouts if you are looking for something different. Sometimes I will use a workout video or I will just do some things on my own. Yesterday was a video day.

A few of the exercises from the video that are my favorites include:

- Squat jumps: start in squat position and jump (making a full 180 turn) landing in a squat position. Repeat, turning back and forth for 30-45 seconds. Do as many reps as you can in that amount of time. This works glutes, hamstrings, quads, and core really well!

- Pogo jumps: stand on one leg with arms straight up, bend at the waist and touch fingertips to the floor. As you raise back up, jump on the one leg and land back on the same leg. Repeat for 30 seconds on each leg. This is great for your core because of the balance it takes to bend over and touch the floor. It is also great for calf strength.

- Wide in-and-out Abs: start on all 4's with your hands directly underneath your shoulders and your feet spread wide (plank position with feet wide instead of close together). Using your lower abs, jump your feet towards your arms and back to starting position (keeping them as wide as possible). Repeat for 30-45 seconds. This one is hard to describe but I hope that description helps. It is great for your abs, obliques, and shoulders.

Those are the only moves I will share with you today. More to come!

Hope you can enjoy these recipes as much as we have and maybe try some new exercise moves!

Have a great Wednesday!

Jenny Odom

UCA Bound

Dan's one of many fish he caught!

Just chilling and eating a little lunch.

Eric and April...my brother and sister-n-law.

My studly husband :) Driving up the river...freezing!

View from our backporch.

Hello All!

The news Dan and I have been waiting for all year finally was revealed yesterday. I was accepted into the UCA Dietetic Internship!!!!!! It starts May 18 and I will finish in August of 2010. After that I will be eligible to sit for my Registered Dietitian exam as well as have completed my Master's. I am so excited! I set my alarm for Midnight on Sunday so I could wake up and check it. Once I checked it, I didn't go back to sleep until about 4 and my alarm was set for 5 b/c I was meeting a girl at 5:30 to run. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep and I had to babysit all day yesterday. It was hectic but worth losing sleep over. I am so thankful the Lord worked everything out so perfectly. He knew I would be at UCA this whole time and He provided that house in Vilonia for us. That way it is a much shorter drive than if I had gotten into UAMS or Nashville :). Thank you Jesus! Nothing else going on here. I have my last final for school today and my last clinic for LEND tomorrow. We are leaving Friday to go to Nashville, TN for the big race! We are so excited about the weekend and I am somewhat nervous. I am praying the weather is perfect and my legs are strong! I know it will be a lot of fun even if the race isn't what I am hoping it will be. We are getting to see a lot of family and spend time with them and that will be well worth the trip. My cousin Valerie and my birthdays are next week so my grandma is having a little cookout for our birthdays after the race. It will be great. I'll post pics later.

Thanks for all your prayers for the internship. I know the Lord heard and He definitely provided. The pics I am posting today are from our White River trip a couple of weekends ago. I finally downloaded them onto the comp.

God Bless!

Overdo

Hey guys,

I realize this is long overdo but at least I am getting to it now! Since the last update a lot has changed in our lives. A brief up date is as follows:

We have bought a house in Vilonia, AR. We close on May 1 and will be moving, painting, and laying hardwood those first 2 weeks of May. We are super excited! I will post some before and after pics later! That will put Dan 30 minutes closer to work so he is pumped about that....as well as am I so I will see him sooner in the day :)

I find out in 7 days about the internship. I will update when I know something about that.

I have one more LEND class and 2 clinics until my UAMS class is up and one more class and a final before stats is over for the semester! I am super ready for that. Friday is my big presentation on my research project and leadership project for LEND. It makes me extremely nervous to talk in front of people but it is real informal so that helps. Once I do that I am finished...so that is incentive to get it over with too!

My marathon is in 2 weeks. I am finished with long runs and ready for the race! I feel very good about it. All my long runs were good and within my goal time so I am hoping that the week of the race is the same. I know it will be good no matter what! I am just excited about a mini-vacation and time with the family.

Dan bought a new car! I don't remember if I told y'all that but he got a 2008 black Altima. We love it. Gas mileage is 10x better than the ole truck. We miss the truck but are happy about saving money for now.

Dan and I went fishing this last weekend on the White River with Eric and April. It was so much fun! We got there late Friday and fished all day Saturday and then enjoyed some Tommy's Famous pizza Saturday night. We caught lots of fish and are ready for a fish fry!

I am currently babysitting my friend Timbre's son...Mason. He is a cutie patootie! He's a rotten little boy but so fun to be around. He is 4 months this week. I don't know what I am going to do at the end of April as far as keeping him more. I keep him 2x a week now but when I find out about the internship next week we will decide about if I continue to keep Mason. I was tutoring a girl for about a week also. She is a dietetic student at UCA that was struggling in Physiological Chemistry 2 but ended up dropping it after the first week of tutoring. Guess that's not my calling in life :) Oh well!

I think that is a brief update on us. I will try to do better from now on.

Hope y'all are having a wonderful Monday.

God Bless!

Catching up

Above is our neighbor's son, Brayden, with Rex. He asked me how much I would take for Rex last night and offered up $1000. I told him there was no money in this world that could buy Rex from me. He is my baby boy!

Me and Libby in the chair. She found her spot on the couch real quick. If she's not in our lap that is where she is laying.

Dan had out the cheese. They were being good!

This is the cabin we stayed at in Jasper. So cute!

Resting after having gone through the cave.

Photo looking out of the cave to the entrance.

Dan loves when I take photos of him :)

Waterfall we climbed up.

Well, I have gotten a little behind. Where did I leave off...

That's right, Daniel and I were headed to Altus to hang out with Lauren and Justin and the McCains. We had a blast. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures, but we had fun. We wine tasted at all 4 wineries and had dinner at Wiedekher's, which was delicious. It snowed on us the whole time, which was not fun to me. After all the wine-tasting and dinner we headed back to the McCain's to play a little Sing Star. If you haven't played it, you need to. It was so much fun. And for those of you who know me, know that I am a HORRIBLE singer---but nonetheless, I still enjoyed.

The next weekend, Dan and I went to Jasper, AR for his birthday. Back up a couple of days and his birthday celebration was Wednesday (even though his bday wasn't until Thursday). I sent him on a scavenger hunt on his way home from work and then he ended up at the house where I was cooking a candlelight dinner. I think he enjoyed it. My goal was to make him feel special, I think it worked. On his actual bday, I went to work with him and then we celebrated that night with dinner at Kanpai's with his family. It was so yummy sushi! Finally, Friday we left for Jasper. We stayed in a log cabin that was awesome! On Saturday we slept in, got up, made breakfast, laid around then went hiking for the afternoon. We went into a cave that had a cool waterfall. It was just beautiful. Dan goes all the time so I was excited to finally see what he loves so much. I was not disappointed at all. After hiking we had dinner at the infamous Ozark Cafe. It was good except for the raw fish they served me. No worries...we got our dinner free. After dinner we went back to the cabin and played dominoes until 2 AM. And for those of you who know Dan and I...we don't stay up that late, EVER! So it was lots and lots of fun...we laughed a ton and just enjoyed the beautiful weekend in the mountains. We came home Sunday and went to LR for Dan's final bday celebration at my parents. Dad cooked steak and sweet potato fries. It was delicious. Then started another busy week.

I had my final Saturday class this weekend and had to give an oral report. All went well there. Glad that is over with. We played the Wii with our neighbor and his son last night. We are also keeping Libby...Dan's parent's toy poodle. His grandpa is in the hospital and not doing very well so they have been staying with him for the last few days. We are dog sitting until further notice. Rex and Libby love each other. THey do get very jealous of each other though. Today has been productive. Dan put some weed-killer in the yard, I cleaned house, we got groceries and worked out, now we are about to get showered and do some grilling. I love days like this!

Anyways, enough for now. I will get back to you sooner than later.

God Bless!