[Fitness] My Favorite Ab Workout

It's been really quiet on the blog the past few days because life has been so busy for me. Between job interviews, first day of work, our furniture and kitchenware finally showing up, unpacking, organizing, rearranging, social events every night (have you seen The Place Beyond the Pines?), catching up on school work... the list could go on and on. However, our new place is looking great (I can't wait to share pictures!), I'm making friends in this new town and life outside the blog is all caught up... for now.

Over the next few days I'll be back with more recipes (whole wheat garlic flatbread, guacamole and some tasty breakfast cookies), but for now I thought I would share with you my favorite ab workout.

With summer right around the corner (it's hard to believe, I know), I'm sure your minds have briefly entertained the idea of swim suit season. And what goes better with a bikini than a pair of rock hard abs? This workout is a killer. It is by far the most effective ab workout I have ever done. It works every part of your abs -lower, upper, obliques and hip flexors. I guarantee that if you commit to doing this workout 4-5 times a week between now and when you hit the beach you will  strutting up and down the shoreline showing off your new, toned abs. So without further ado, let the sweating begin!

 I'd love to hear your thoughts on the workout or if you have an ab workout that you'd recommend.

Happy crunching!

Love,

Joy

Honey Almond Milk Latte (Gluten Free, Vegan Alternative)

Some days you wake up at 4 AM  for no reason. And once you're awake you wonder how you were ever asleep to begin with because your mind is buzzing. Sometimes when this happens you think to yourself, this would be a great time to catch up on any one of the four books I'm reading at the moment. And sometimes you have every intention of doing just that, but somehow when reaching beside your bed your hand "mistakes" your ipad for one of your books. Before you know it you are deep into the throws of reorganizing your Pintrest boards and reading blogs for two and a half hours. ....This is all completely hypothetical of course.

When one wakes up at four o'clock in the morning, coffee is of no question. That is unless it's freezing cold outside and really, since you don't have a job you shouldn't be spending money on coffee even though there are so many adorable coffee shops downtown that you can't wait to try. 

Enter the homemade latte. The best part? You can make it without an espresso machine! Even though I'm probably making my old Starbucks manager and all the Italian guys at the little cafe I used to work at cry. But when you're pinching pennies sometimes you just have to make sacrifices. Sorry guys.

Honey Almond Milk Latte

• 1 Tablespoon Instant Espresso, feel free to do more or less depending on how strong you want it. (I recommend the brand shown above, it's good as far as instant coffees go)
• 1 Tablespoon Hot Water
• 1-2 Cups of Almond Milk (basically you want enough to fill your mug, if your mug is huge, double the espresso amount)
• Honey to taste (Vegans feel free to use Maple Syrup or Agave)
• Sprinkle of Cinnamon (or any other spices you have-nutmeg, cocoa or vanilla powder would also be good)

Over medium heat warm the almond milk in a small pot until it's reached your desired temperature, if you have a thermometer aim for around 145-160 degrees. Use a whisk to quickly stir the almond milk while it's heating if you want to create some foam for your latte. Once it's warm, stir in the honey to melt it. Next, dissolve the instant espresso in hot water in the bottom of a mug. After stirring and completely dissolving the espresso slowly pour the almond milk/ honey mixture over the espresso. Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and enjoy your homemade latte.

P.S.- The good news in all of this Pintrest reorganizing- You can now follow me on it! Just click here to get to my boards.

Happy Wednesday!

Love, Joy

Curried Lentil Salad (Vegan, Gluten Free)

Sometimes you experiment with great results, other times not so much. I am pleased to say that my Curried Lentil Salad was the later.

 When you first move you don't have a lot of food or a lot of spices or a lot of tools to work with. Sometimes you aren't used to your new refrigerator and its frigid temperatures and wake up to find all of your produce frozen. And sometimes you're sick of eating cereal and want to eat something cooked, homemade, something that was cooked with care, not poured out of a box. Insert this salad. This was a concoction derived from saving my produce that had frozen so they didn't taste so good fresh anymore, but hadn't gone bad and also wanting to use what I had in my pantry so I didn't need to buy more food at the grocery store.

The only pot we have (while we wait for the rest of our stuff to show up) is my wok. So that is how I cooked the lentils. I wouldn't recommend it, it's takes a long time, but if that's all you have it works. Plus, that means that's this entire salad was prepared in one pot, that's how simple it is.

Yes, I did use a frosting spatula to stir this salad with. Hey, sometimes you just have to work with what you have. This simple, tasty salad would be great as a side, a light lunch or dinner or just because you want to impress your friends and family with a pretty dish. No one said simple can't be fancy.

This recipe is more of a guideline to recreate the salad yourself. None of the measurements need to be exact. Just play around with it to make it match your taste preferences. Feel free to add some fresh ground pepper if you'd like, I just didn't have any.

Curried Lentil Salad

• 1/4 Cup Lentils
• 1 Red Pepper
• 3 Cups Spinach
• Sea Salt to taste
• Muchi Curry Powder to taste
• 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Splash of Red Wine Vinegar
• A Few Cilantro Sprigs

Makes 1-3 servings.

Cook lentils according to package directions, adding the muchi curry powder and a pinch of sea salt. Slice the red pepper and saute with the olive oil until browned on the outside. Remove from heat and add the spinach, stirring it occasionally, just until the spinach is slightly wilted. Add salt, cilantro and red wine vinegar to taste. Add the lentils. Serve and enjoy!