Stairway to Strong Workout

My love/hate relationship with the Stair Master inspired me to take my stair workout to an actual staircase!  Do this at home or find some stairs at a local park or school that have a good amount of steps! Depending on the amount of stairs you use will depend upon how easy/hard you make your workout.  If you choose a place with a lot of stairs, you can modify the workout by only going halfway up instead of the whole way.






Warm Up: About 5 minutes
Walk up and back down the stairs
Jog up and walk back down

At the bottom of the stairs:
3X Through

Dips (12-15 reps)
Windmill Push Ups (12-15 reps)
Mt. Climbers with hands on first step (45 seconds)
Rest 30 seconds then repeat 2 more times

Jog up steps/walk back down

3X
Plank step ups (30-45 seconds) (Start in plank position on hands in front of bottom step.  Walk yourself up one hand at a time to first step, then back down)
Hop Ups (45 secs to a minute) (Start on ground in front of first bottom step, hop up onto first or second step and back down)
Plank Tuck In's (In plank position on hands with feet on bottom or 2nd step, tuck right knee in toward your left elbow and alternate)

Cross over lunges up the steps/walk back down (alternate legs, skipping every 2 or 3 steps)
Tip Toes/walk back down (walk up the steps on your tip toes...calves!)
Rest

3X
Step Ups onto 2nd or 3rd step ( 30-45 seconds-one leg at a time)
Incline Push Ups (on second or third step)
Hip Bridges (Feet on bottom step or 2nd highest step)

Walk or jog up steps and back down
Stretch

Homemade Tomato Bisque

Cooler weather is here, which means time for lots of soups and croc pot meals!  I had attempted homemade tomato soup a couple years ago, but did not like how it turned out (although the boyfriend LOVED it.)  Now, I hate tomatoes! I love ketchup, sauce and tomato soup, but when I had made it the first time it was too tomatoey for my liking.  Since we had fresh tomatoes that needed to be used up, I decided to give it another try and it turned out delicious!

Ingredients:

2 large containers of grape or cherry tomatoes

2 cups of chicken broth

4 large fresh tomatoes (peeled,diced)

1/2 onion diced
2 Carrots

2 cloves of garlic minced

salt & pepper

onion powder, garlic salt & garlic powder and pepper

olive oil

1 cup of milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  On a baking sheet, spread out the tomatoes and sprinkle with a tablespoon of olive oil.  Once the oven is ready, bake/roast in the oven for about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, put in another 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil and put on medium high heat.  Throw your onion, carrots and garlic into the pan and saute for 5-6 minutes.  Then, add your roasted tomatoes from the oven, chicken broth, fresh tomatoes and spices.  (Add spices to your liking).  Then add in your cup of milk.  If you like your soup creamier, you can always add a little more milk.  Bring soup to a boil.  Once it starts boiling, bring it down to a low simmer.  Cover pot halfway and let simmer for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, let soup cool and then blend it with an immersion blender (or if you don't have one, you can blend in a regular blender and return to pot).  

After blending the soup together, serve and enjoy!  I enjoyed the soup with some grilled cheese on Ezekiel bread.

Chicken with Veggies and Potatoes

Last nights dinner!  Chicken with red and yellow peppers, onion, zucchini, red potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Ingredients: (To serve 2)
Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts (Cubed into smaller chunks) (2 pieces)
Red Pepper (1/2)
Yellow Pepper (1/2)
Zucchini (I used about 3/4 of a large one)
Red Onion (1/3)
2-3 Medium Red Potatoes
1 Medium Sweet Potato
Olive Oil
Onion Powder, Paprika, Salt & Pepper for seasoning

*Chop chicken and potatoes into cubes, slice peppers and onions and chop zucchini slices in half.

Heat a little olive oil in a large deep pan.  Add in potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Stir to cover and season with onion powder, salt, pepper and paprika.  Cover with lid and cook for about 20-25 minutes until potatoes are tender and cooked.  (Make sure to stir occasionally).  Cook chicken cubes in separate pan and season with salt and pepper.  Once chicken and potatoes are cooked, set aside onto a plate.  Add a little olive oil to the pan again and add in your peppers and onions.  Cook on medium heat until they turn a little brown, then add in zucchini.  Season veggies with all the spices listed above, and cook for an additional 5 minutes or until zucchini is tender.  Add your chicken and potatoes back in and warm it all up and serve!!