Dairy Free Gluten Free Meats Paleo

Orange Chicken

My take on orange chicken is sweet with a hint of spice and just delicious!

Orange Chicken12647471_787663951361416_5689343526242293921_n

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 chicken thighs, diced

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1 cup orange juice

3 heaping tablespoons honey

¼ teaspoon ground ginger powder

¼ teaspoon cayenne

½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar

⅛ teaspoon sesame oil

½ teaspoon ground garlic powder

Place diced chicken and tablespoon olive oil  in a frying pan and heat on medium until white and fully cooked, or about 10 minutes.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl until well incorporated and add to the pan. Cook about 20 minutes on medium until the sauce has thickened and serve with a side of rice and your favorite vegetable!

Workouts Yoga

Yoga Balance- 3 Ways

Yoga is a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practiced for health and relaxation.

Improve your focus, help regulate your blood pressure and protect your spine, therefore perfecting your posture- all with yoga! These benefits are only a few to be had when you practice yoga.

Yoga not only benefits your torso through stretching and holding poses but also works to strengthen the body with each move. The following balance poses can be tough but great and become quite easy with a little bit of practice.

 

Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)

Strengthens: legs, core, and back

Stretches: legs and ankles, muscles around your knee, hips and groin. shoulders, chest and spine

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Dancer’s Pose (Natarajasana)

Strengthens: leg and spine

Stretches: shoulder and thigh

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Balancing Stick (Tuladandasana)

Strengthens: leg, core and back

Stretches: spinal column and leg

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Yoga is easy enough to do everyday and such a great addition to any exercise plan. From vinyasa yoga to holding specific poses, your body will thank you.

 

The Life I Live

Tip Tuesday

Tuesday’s Tip Of The Day

burger

When you are cooking burgers, push a hole into the middle of each burger (almost all the way through but not quite) to keep them from shriveling up!

Dairy Free Gluten Free Paleo The Life I Live Vegan vegetables

Roasted Cauliflower

Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables, it’s so versatile and can take on different flavors and textures. In this recipe, cauliflower is mixed with garlic and olive oil and roasts up nutty and delicious.

Roasted Cauliflower

  • 1 head cauliflower, chopped or sliced and broken up into pieces20160504_195431
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil (to coat)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine ingredients together in a bowl. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper (for the fastest and easiest clean up!) and spread cauliflower evenly on the baking sheet. Bake until it begins to brown on the outside or to your preferred texture for about 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Like this recipe? Check out my other books, and watch for more to come!

Want a paperback copy? Reply in the comments and I’ll send you one!

Cardio Workouts

Treadmill Circuit

Treadmills can accommodate cardio workouts of all kinds and as an inside activity, work great in any weather!

Speed and Incline Combos- Walking Only2016-05-23_13.52.29

 

4.0 speed and 0 Incline for 5 minutes- warm up

4.0 speed with 2 Incline for 3 minutes

4.0 speed with 5 Incline for 3 minutes

4.0 speed with 8 Incline for 3 minutes

4.0 Speed with 10 Incline for 2 minutes (or as long as you can)

You are panting and sweating at this point. Don’t give up yet!

 

3.0 speed and 2 Incline for 2 minutes

3.0 speed and 5 Incline for 3 minutes

3.0 speed and 8 Incline for 3 minutes

3.0 and incline 10 for 3 minutes

 

Finish off with something that is comfortable but still makes you work! I did 4.0 speed at 2 Incline for an extra 20 minutes.

 

Great job!

 

Recipes

Garlic Parmesan Turkey Burger

turkey burgers

Turkey burgers and snap peas are a great combo. You have got to give these burgers a try..they are delish!

1 tablespoon olive oil- for the pan

1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup bell pepper, diced1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup shake Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon pepper
1-2 tablespoons garlic spice mix of your choice

Combine ingredients and form into patties. Cook on medium heat in a sauce pan with the oil about 5 minutes on each side and serve with whatever vegetable you like.

About

25 Things You Don’t Know About Me

emmy tulips1. I love garlic

It’s so healthy for you and acts as a natural antibiotic. I use it daily in cooking and cannot get enough.

2. I am a clean freak.

I always leave my house staged and detest clutter.

3. I am the worst singer ever.

Though I sing, in ridiculous tones, to my husband daily. Everything from Happy Birthday to renditions of Christmas songs with my own made up lyrics.

4. I once got lost in Mexico.

I was walking around one day alone and realized I was lost, with no phone number or address to find my way. I remember a huge yellow building that was at the end of the street my host family lived on and found my way before dark. Phew!

5. I love lilacs.

My future house will have light purple, dark purple and white lilacs. Lilacs are my idea of the first official sign of summer

6. Fireworks are my most favorite thing and therefore the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. 

7. In college, I used to call into radio stations to contribute to the morning talk shows.

8. I love Spanish.

And everything about it. The food, culture, music and language are amazing.

9. I moved to Panama for 5 months with my boyfriend (now husband) in the winter 2013, which happened to be one of the worst winters in WI since we have been alive.

10. I have watched children professionally for over 20 years, that is ⅔ of my life that I have spent with other people’s children!

11. I love to play

I love to play games and with toys and on playgrounds, especially swinging. I think this is why I so enjoy my time with kids.

12. I am a girly girl.

I love to paint my nails, dress up and and my nails and hair.

13. I am a tomboy too.

I grew up fishing, camping, hiking and generally outside. I still love all of these activities

14. I am obsessed with the show Dawson’s Creek.

I literally watch the entirety of all 6 seasons a couple times a year, and this started several years ago. Meaning I have watched it through 5+ times. (I am currently in the middle of season 5.)

15. I make my own wine.

I would love to do it up big and mass produce my own brand with labels and flavors and all, but for now it is just for me and my peps.

16. To-Do lists are my thing

I make them for everything, everyday. There is no better satisfaction then checking off tasks after I accomplish them.

17. I like all music except for Scream-O. You know, where you can’t hear the words just a lot of shrill screaming? Ya, I don’t like that.

18. I would walk everywhere if I could.

I love to go walking, whether it is my first time exploring a place or if I got there as often as I can. I always try to carry something when I walk because my fingers swell terribly:/

19.Don’t touch my face, ever. Just don’t. 

20. My eyes are human levels. 

If something is hanging crooked, I have to fix it. Even in public,  it bothers me and my husband teases me about it.

21. I am not a huge sports fan.

But I love baseball. I am a Milwaukee Brewers fanatic.

22. I am short.

I have a very short torso but my legs are long and the same length as friends that are 3-4 inches taller than myself.

23. I have very waxy ears.

I have to clean them out daily and hate to wear earbuds because I am always battling my incessant earwax.

24.Deep fried oreo’s are my most favorite indulgence. They are beyond delicious

25. I experienced love at first site.

I don’t even know if love at first site is as thing, all I know is I knew I loved my husband before I even met him and from the very first second, I knew that he was the one I wanted to spend my days with.

Making Wine The Life I Live

Wine Me

 10 elements to consider BEFORE deciding to become a Winemaker

    1. You have to buy a deluxe kit- that includes everything you need- except for the rest of the things that you need.

    2. You will read through the directions and have a clear idea of the steps, equipment and processes- because you googled each word you didn’t know within the steps, a picture to go along with the name of each piece of equipment and what exactly the directions meant for each process.
    3. You will have to return to the brewing store- several times.
    4. You will test and monitor the temperature of the room you now refer to as your laboratory- morning, noon and night- for weeks in anticipation of thinking of considering to maybe think about considering starting your first batch of wine.
    5. You will make a plan and read the instructions, then reread the instructions, and read them over a final time- as while in the process you can ONLY touch things that have been sanitized. This means if you are doing this yourself or don’t know the next step- you have to start ALL OVER. Leading me to sanitation..
    6. IF YOU DON’T SANITIZE EVERYTHING TO THE EXACT DETAIL AND SPECIFICATION -all of your time, energy and money will go down the drain with your yucky wine.
    7. Sanitation is the most important part of this process and you need to be sure that everything is properly cleaned and then sanitized. Each piece of equipment, including the bucket and carboy, need to be fully submersed within the the sanitizing solution for no less than 2 minutes. Disclaimer- several pieces of equipment float…
    8. And last but not least in regards to sanitation- the bucket and carboy, both of which are 6 gallons need to be fully filled with sanitation solution as to be correctly sanitized- and the “Easy Clean” solution included in your kit is a mere 8 oz. For each gallon of STORE BOUGHT OR SPRING FRESH water, you need a tablespoon of solution. Therefore- the amount of cleaner in your kit is not enough to see you through primary fermentation, much less secondary fermentation, stabilizing and clearing or bottling of your wine.
    9. Plan to spend several hundred on the equipment and the kit and the extras (that you don’t need because everything you need is in your deluxe kit).
    10. Lastly, PRAY that the time and effort and money invested into your new passion were not squandered within the first step of this process- due to improper sanitation.

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 This experience will be stressful enough to cause need for drinking wine prior to your wines completion.

All jokes aside, this was my first experience with wine making. I started drinking wine after college due to urging from a friend that, “Moscato is SOOO delicious.” It in fact, is. I now am a connoisseur of all types of wine and last summer attended a wine making class in which I left proclaiming that I would soon be a master the art of fermentation and that would be my new profession. Haha. For my birthday I was gifted said wine (Cabernet) deluxe kit. Cab is one of the hardest to make due to the temperature necessity and the aging process.  I love my new kit and am excited to make more batches of wine for consumption