Category Archives: Going Healthy

Going Healthy, Life, Parenting

Indoor Rowing With a Toddler & Cold Brew Coffee

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Is there something you’ve wanted for years but haven’t been able to get it for some reason? Okay, fine, there’s probably more than just something and more like a lot of things. But for me, one of them was an ergometer so I could enjoy indoor rowing at home.

After many many years of blah-blahing to Going Mom about how I want one, I finally earned enough points on my Amazon card to pull the trigger; or should it be rigger? 🙂 Just a little rowing joke for you, you’re welcome. And of course I had to share my purchase on Facebook, but only because Amazon asked me to after I hit “submit payment”.

Rower Purchase Shared on FB

It finally came this past Tuesday and I quickly worked on putting it together. With my favorite little helper, of course.

Helping Daddy Put Together Rower

Think something’s too easy for you? Throw in a toddler or two and that should solve your issue; instant increase in difficulty! But we love them! Avery was super interested in everything I had out and thought everything was up for grabs.

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What if I push this button?

 

Thankfully Kelley was able to keep Avery at bay long enough for me to have it assembled and ready to test before it was too late. I skipped the usual walk (it was freakin’ cold outside anyway), and opted to do a 5k row which took just under 20 minutes. Ahhh, I love it!

But there is one thing that’s an issue…..Avery. She’ll walk right into my arms as they’re pulling back which results in me knocking her over. Poor girl, she just laughs and thinks I’m playing with her. It’s sad, really.

Again, thanks to my wife holding Avery back as best as she could, the first row went mostly okay. But the next day, when Kelley was at work, I wanted to try for another 5k. After Avery finished….umm, whatever she was doing with it…..

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I’m gonna have to work with her on how to properly use equipment.

Anyway, I finally got to it with Avery circling me like a shark and I was a surfer with an open wound. Then she went in for the kill and put her hand on the railing as I was pushing back, and oops! Avery’s shark fin hand got hit by the rolling seat.

The good thing is that I slowed down just before since she moved behind me, but the bad this is that I hurt her precious little hand and she was screaming to let me know. I held her, for a while, but the screaming ensued. I was finally able to set her down and finish my workout (the hand incident happened only 2 minutes into it) and she kept her distance the remainder of the time.

I’d like to think she now knows better, but something tells me she’s still too intrigued by the machine to keep away. You could call it a hunch, but she makes it apparent as well. Especially when I said “raise your hand if you still want to get close to the rower” and she responded with….

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Yeah, so there’s that.

My foot is still not healed from when I fractured it this summer since I started running on it before it was fully recovered. Call me stubborn, call me dumb, call me whatever, but I’m hoping this rower will keep me from running while still giving me that tired, sweaty workout I seem to crave. Time will tell, and then I’ll tell you here.

In the meantime, I have this beautiful French Press full of black gold (not oil, coffee!!!) in our fridge right now in an attempt at my first homemade cold brew coffee.

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I’m letting it steep for 24 hours and then I’ll press and strain the highly concentrated coffee into another glass. I’m sure I’ll try some before diluting. You know, just to “test” it at full strength. Then I’ll dilute in a 2:1 coffee to water ratio.

Maybe some Pyure Sweet Stevia or SweetLeaf English Toffee Liquid Stevia for something extra fancy and tasty, but otherwise, I’ll enjoy it cold and black. I’ll let you know how it goes soon. Maybe it’ll fuel another 5k row, or even 10k if Avery keeps her little hands off the rail!

Have you ever used an indoor rower (i.e. ergometer)?

Ever make your own cold brew or try some already made before?

Going Healthy, Life, Promo

My Top Picks for a Healthy Lifestyle

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Hi there! This will be quick. Just wanted to let you know I have a new page (see above) called My Healthy Food, Cooking, and Fitness Store where I listed my favorite foods, kitchen gadgets, and fitness equipment. If you want to start or maintain a healthy lifestyle, check it out, I’ll be adding more soon.

It’s all through Amazon where you can buy my favorites for your home and start enjoying healthy, delicious food that you can easily cook. Add in fitness equipment and you’re off to a new, healthier and happier you!

If you’re not sure what to do with some of the food, check out my other new page with Healthy Recipes your whole family will enjoy. Yes, even those picky toddlers…..

One for me, none for you, dad.
One for me, none for you, dad.

See? You’ll have them taking healthy food you cooked right out of your hands!

Soon, I’ll create a post where I share actual products I use the most along with ideas on how to get started with them. For now, please check out my list of favorites for a healthy lifestyle and let me know what you think.

What is the biggest thing you want to change most? Being more active, better nutrition, both, or something else?

Food, Going Healthy, NuttZo

Sugar Free Green Coconut Carrot Bread Recipe

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The other day I posted a picture of my Sugar Free Green Coconut Carrot Bread on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and promised a recipe was coming soon.

Since I like to deliver on my promises, I’m sharing it with you today. Consider yourself lucky, or maybe it should be forewarned…..hmmmm. Here’s the thing…..

I do about 90% of my cooking via the microwave. My main cooking method is steaming, mostly veggies, and microwave steaming is quick, efficient, and retains the most nutrients compared to roasting, sauteing, boiling, etc. I still cook with these other methods, just not often.

Now, many people avoid microwaves at all costs for fear that they’ll turn radioactive or some other harm will be done. This was a concern for me at one time, so I looked into it and was convinced it was a safe, if not safer cooking method. Think about the carcinogens resulting from grilling, roasting, or toasting, that’s not safe either.

Anyway, I wrote a post on my old healthy food blog, Just Add Cayenne, titled Is Microwave Cooking Safe that you can check out for my reasoning if you’d like. But that’s my preferred method, and that’s how I make most of my breads.

I’ll let you in on my little microwave bread cooking tool that I absolutely love; it’s a microwave omelet cooker! Yep, it’s the Nordic Ware Microwave Omelet Pan and you can get it off of Amazon for less than $7. The link is my affiliate link and I’d be ever so happy if you went through it to make your purchase. Check out my other favorites on the Amazon sidebar to the right.

I’ll save my microwave cooking details for a later post, but for now, how about that bread recipe? I adapted it to be cooked in the oven, so you’ll have to wait for my microwave version. It’s a lot faster, using less ingredients, and still delicious and healthy!

healthy, bread, cooking, recipe

Sugar-Free Green Coconut Carrot Bread Sweetened with PyureSweet Stevia

Get These Ingredients….

  • 1 egg + 4 egg whites
  • 1 cup steamed carrots
  • 1/2 cup steamed spinach, only drain a little of the excess water and leave the rest*
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups oat flour; could probably use whole wheat, spelt, kamut, or high quality protein powder too
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour
  • 1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut; I used the kind from Let’s Do Organic
  • 1/2 cup PyureSweet Stevia; if using pure or liquid stevia extract, use the equivalent of 1 cup of sugar which can be between 1 to 2 tsp depending on brand.
  • 1 Tbs Cinnamon; you can use less, but I’m obsessed
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • Pinch of sea salt

Now Do This….

  1. Add wet (first 4) ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and puree until mostly smooth.
  2. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. 
  3. Add your puree to the dry ingredients and mix with a large spoon or spatula making sure everything is incorporated.
  4. Pour into a loaf pan and bake 50 – 60 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees. 
  5. The bread is ready when a fork or knife comes out clean when inserted in the center.  Cover the top with foil for the last 20 minutes to avoid burning.

*The water from the spinach helps retain volume and moisture since baking with stevia requires less bulk than if using sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc.

Give this to your kids and call it “Green Monster Bread” or something fun like that and feel good knowing they’re getting healthy food for their constantly growing body. Avery knows what’s up….

baby, food, healthy, recipe, parenting

And of course, this bread’s deliciousness is only compounded when you put a think layer of NuttZo on top. Remember, save yourself 15% on the best organic nut & seed butter in existence and used code liley15 when purchasing from their product page. It’s good for you, good for me, and everyone loves it! Winning all around! If only I can get Avery to give me back the jar…

nuttzo, babies, parenting, nut butter, healthy

What are your thoughts on microwave cooking?

Have you made bread in the microwave before?

Since we never go out to eat and I take on cooking mostly all meals in our house, it’s a must and I swear by the microwave. Never mind that odd glowing I get around 3am……