Frontier Potato Salad

TGIF! I decided this week that I was going to share my potato salad recipe that I created for my Mom's restaurant. When making this, I had certain requests I needed to follow. The first, was no egg. Whoa, potato salad with no eggs? OK. Also they wanted to use red potatoes instead of Yukon, which is no big deal really. They also weren't really a fan of traditional potato salad, so I needed to spice it up some, literally. It turned out great and they loved it. They eventually added bacon to it, but I think that's up to you. I'm going to share the non-bacon recipe but you can add bacon if you want. So here you go, try it out next time you BBQ.

Ingredients:

• 8 medium red potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups of real mayo
• 2-3 tablespoons regular mustard (depends if you want less mustard or not)
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 3 green onions (3 bulbs)
• 1 jalapeno
• 1/2 of a large onion
• 2 teaspoons of dill weed
• 1 teaspoon salt (kosher if you have it)
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of paprika

Directions:

1. Cut potatoes into quarters, leave skin on.
2. Boil water and cook potatoes for 15-20 minutes or until skin starts to peel a little. Leave skin on though!
3. Chop green onions into small pieces.
4. Chop up dill weed, if needed.
5. Mince onions, use food processor if you need to get it that small.
6. Cut jalapeno open and de-seed it. Chop into small pieces, but not too small.
7. Get your 1.5 cups of mayo and 3 tablespoons of mustard ready
8. When potatoes are done, place in a big bowl.
9. Slightly mash up potatoes so there are no large chunks, but not so much that it turns into mashed potatoes.
10. Throw in mustard, mayo, green onions, onions, and jalapeno.
11. Add the salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of dill weed.
12. Slowly and carefully start to mix up everything, don't let it get too mashed potato like.
13. Add paprika and dijon mustard.
14. Mix one more time very gently.
15. Throw one teaspoon of dill on top to garnish.

And there you have it! A unique and yummy recipe that I created on my own. Make this at your next party and I'm sure people will love it. For my vegan friends, substitute the mayo with vegan mayo and you should be good to go.

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Weight Training Burns More Fat Than Cardio

This post is all about what the title says, weight training burns more fat than cardio. Now I could just stop there and hope you believe me, but let me tell you why and what exactly it means. Cardio is by no means bad or a waste of time, but when it comes to getting lean and losing fat, weight training is your best option for better and faster results.

Let's take a look at cardio. Usually this is done on a treadmill, track, elliptical, bike, or running outside. Big benefits from cardio are it helps your heart, builds your endurance, and can help with weight loss. Although it has some benefits, there are some reasons why it is not the best option for cutting fat. First, it is boring for the most part. Treadmills have to be the most boring piece of equipment and same goes with the elliptical. Beginners and people taking it easy usually use this equipment because it is safe to use and doesn't take a lot of thinking to do it. Although it does work your heart out, it doesn't ever stress the heart to deal with sudden changes, which is something your muscles needs to grow stronger. When you are doing the cardio workout, your body is working, but when you stop, your body stops working quickly after you are done. This means that you don't get the benefit of your body burning extra calories. The last thing that makes cardio undesirable is that you have to do it for hours to get the results of just 30-45 of weight training.

So let's talk about weight training and why it is better for losing fat. When you weight train you are stressing your body more by adding weight to range of motion movements. Doing this causes your metabolism to boost and burn lots of calories. Because you are stressing your body and making your heart work harder, your body continues to burn calories even after your workout is done. The term associated with this is called Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). This alone is why weight training burns fat better than cardio. Weight training also builds your muscle that replaces the fat in your body. Now you are losing fat and gaining muscle, which is something cardio cannot do.

Now I am not saying to stop doing cardio. It still burns calories, some people find it fun, and it can improve your stamina if you are into sports. Personally I don't do cardio on gym days because I would rather weight train my full body. Once a week I will have a cardio day to build stamina and improve my running and swimming. If your only goal is to lose fat though, I would highly consider switching to weight training primarily for best results.

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Natural Cures

I found this poster on a Facebook page and thought it was something everyone should know. We don't always need medicine from the doctor to heal ourselves. Mother Nature made it to where we can heal ourselves with items grown from the soil. Taking care of our bodies should be the number one thing we do in our life.

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Black Bean Sliders

I think over the weekend I am going to make some black bean sliders in respect to my vegetarian friends. If you're reading this Moe, come over. I got this recipe from a page on Facebook. Check them out... https://www.facebook.com/VegetarianRecipes247

The burgers:

• 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp canola oil, divided
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium chipotle pepper, seeded & minced
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lime juice
• 3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
• 3 tbsp minced cilantro

The sauce: 

• 1 California avocado, chopped
• 1/4 cup minced cilantro
• 2 tbsp nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 small chipotle pepper, seeded & minced
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 8 whole wheat dinner rolls, but in half
• 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced

Instructions 

The burgers:

• Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a medium skillet set over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft. Add garlic, chipotle pepper, cumin, salt and pepper. Saute for additional 2 minutes.
• Scrape the mixture into the food processor. Add black beans, brown rice and lime juice. Pulse until the beans are chopped, but not pureed.
• Scrape the black bean mixture into a large bowl. Add the breadcrumbs and the cilantro. Stir the mixture until combined.
• Divide the mixture into 8 equal portions (about 1/4 cup each) and form into patties. If the mixture is too moist to form patties, add more breadcrumbs.
• Place the patties on a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap and cover with additional plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a large skillet (preferably not nonstick, so a good crust can form) set over medium heat. Add the patties and cook for 3 minutes per side. If the skillet is not large enough to fit all of the patties, cook them in two batches.

The sauce:

• While the patties are resting in the fridge, make the sauce.
• In the bowl of a food processor, combine the avocado, cilantro, yogurt, lime juice, olive oil, chipotle pepper and salt. Puree until smooth.

Assembling: 

• Divide the avocado sauce between the rolls (about 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sauce per roll). Top each with one black bean patty and one slice of tomato. Serve.

Sounds like a lot of work but really it's just a bunch of ingredients to give the burger texture and flavor due to lack of beef. Comment below if you give this a try and I will do the same!

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Why Losing Fat is Important.

Found this picture on Facebook and had to share. This does not mean if you are real skinny that you need to lose more fat. This is for people who are above their BMI and need to lose fat.

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Smoothie's False Identity

We have all had smoothies before. There are several places to go to get them like Smoothie King, Smoothie Factory, and Jamba Juice. They promise good health and the perfect drink before or after a workout. Packed full of vitamins and minerals, smoothies seem to be a very tasty way to stay healthy. Today I am going to tell you why I think smoothies are overrated and why you should be more careful when choosing one to supplement your diet or workout.

I have been a big fan of smoothies for a long time. They taste great and you feel like you are being supercharged. I never would of thought something that seemed so healthy could actually be worse for you than the products they try to replace. For this post, I will use Smoothie Kings drinks for my examples.

Sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. That is what you get when you order almost anything off the menu. Yes, a lot of it does come from real fruit and that is great and all, but the amount of sugar is mind blowing in some of these drinks. They still use syrups and other liquids in these drinks that are not natural fruit. The protein shakes like Gladiator and The Shredder have fairly low amounts of carbs and sugar, so that's good. They also pack a lot of protein so I can safely say they are good for after workouts. Although, when you add the two fruits to it, they do get a little bit of sugar added. The rest of the drinks, start at around 30 grams of sugar for a small drink and can go up to 200 grams for a Hulk large. The Hulk large also has 60 grams of fat. That is like eating 3 hamburgers from McDonalds with 4 large cokes to chug it down with. Granted, the McDonalds meal has tons more sodium than the Hulk large, but I still don't think it's a "healthy" drink.

Another thing I hate about smoothies is that they are so expensive. For a medium, plus the tip they make you feel guilty about, it is around $8-9. Wow! For around that much I could go to Le Peep and have an egg and ham breakfast with fruit and a tall glass of water and it would be miles healthier and delicious. I could think of a dozen more options I could spend that money on that would get me a better meal than a smoothie.

The last thing I will say about smoothies is that you need to make sure you research them before you make it a habit and become overweight all of a sudden by being "healthy". Get a smoothie if it makes sense, otherwise pass and get something better.

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Fitness Apps

If you are reading this blog, then chances are you are technologically aware enough to have a smart phone. Whether it's Droid of iPhone, they both have apps that you can download from their market. Today I am going to share a few of them that I have used before and liked.

Pumping Weight
iOS App
This is real useful when planning out your workout routines and charting your progress through the weeks. It let's you chart how many reps and sets you do for each exercise and categorizes muscle groups. I started using it this week and it helps me log my workouts easily.

iMuscle
iOS App
This is amazing! It starts with a 3D body and when you chose the area you want to work on, it shows you a list of exercises to do that work that specific muscle. You can also log workouts and track your progress. This is a little more detailed than the one above, but I personally will probably start using this one after a while.

MyFitnessPal
iOS and Droid
This allow you to keep track of what you eat through out the day. The database of foods they have is very current and accurate. I used this when I first started dieting and it really helped me control my eating habits. After a while I didn't need it because my habits were gone.

RunKeeper
iOS and Droid
I'm not much of a runner, but this app makes running a little more fun. This is a GPS enabled app that tracks where you run and logs your time and distance. It allows you to set goals and you can even brag about your improvements on Facebook. It's pretty much like the Nike+ but Nike isn't paying me so I am sharing this one haha.

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