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egg scramble
In What We Eat

Egg Scramble

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We love eggs for breakfast so we will throw whatever we have in it.  And I mean whatever when I say it! We have done scrambles with shrimp, feta, tomatoes, crab, steak, etc.  You name it, we have probably tried it (mostly lean protein sources and veggies of course)!

Ingredients

  • one egg
  • one cup egg whites
  • 1/2-1 cup of each veggie: spinach, mushrooms, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, and/or tomatoes
  • 4 ounces of lean protein such as homemade turkey sausage, shrimp, ground chicken, or ground turkey
  • 1/2-1 tbsp ground flaxseed
  • 1/2 avocado on the side
  • season to taste with salt, pepper, or Nature Seasons
  • If you are in your workout window, you can also add a slice of bread, an English muffin, or a banana.

Stacy’s Suggestions and Preparation

  1. Use a large frying pan.
  2. Spray with Olive oil spray.
  3. Warm your extra protein such as ground chicken, shrimp, or sausage.
  4. Add in your veggies.
  5. Add in your seasoning.
  6. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. We love using the egg flip tool below.
  7. Add in egg and egg whites.
  8. Continue moving mixture around the pan.
  9. If you are adding tomatoes, I suggest adding them towards the end so they don’t get too mushy.
  10. Once eggs and whites are thickened, remove from burner.
  11. Slice up your avocado and get your toast ready.
  12. Scoop onto a plate and enjoy!

                                                                                                         

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woman by water doing a plank
In How We Move

Arms and Burpees

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Welcome to your weekly Wednesday workout! In this workout, you will do 6 burpees between each set of arms. Each set consists of bicep curls, tricep dips, shoulder to overhead, and plank up/downs. It is beneficial to have some type of weight or water bottles for the biceps and shoulder to overhead but not necessary. Squeeze at the top if you don’t have any weight.

It looks like this:

  • 6 burpees
  • 20 bicep curls, 20 tricep dips, 20 shoulder to overhead, and 20 plank up/downs
  • 6 burpees
  • 15 bicep curls, 15 tricep dips, 15 shoulder to overhead, and 15 plank up/downs
  • 6 burpees
  • 10 bicep curls, 10 tricep dips, 10 shoulder to overhead, and 10 plank up/downs
  • 6 burpees
  • 5 bicep curls, 5 tricep dips, 5 shoulder to overhead, and 5 plank up/downs
  • 6 burpees

If you don’t want to do burpees, you can do crunches, abs or hold a plank for one minute. Do your warm-up, get your equipment ready, set a stopwatch, and get to work!

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In Pilot's Wife

The 5 Love Languages

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Do you and your partner speak the same language? You may think I am wondering about how you communicate verbally with your partner, but I am talking about your emotional Love Language. Just like two people who speak different languages may have a hard time understanding each other, people who do not understand each other’s Love Language may have difficulty and frustrations within their relationships. That’s why we feel the 5 Love Languages are so important to learn.

When I met my husband, I was surprised and impressed that he had read the book “The 5 Love Languages” written by Dr. Gary Chapman. It is a great, easy read. The premise of the book is that there are 5 Love Languages and people give and receive love in one of the five ways. When you and your partner understand each other’s Love Language then you can fill each other’s love tanks.  This book will teach you a lot about yourself as well as how to improve your relationships with friends, family, and significant others.

In the book, you will learn that the 5 Love Languages are: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch. All 5 Love Languages are important, but a person is usually stronger in giving love in one Love Language and may receive love in another. Take the quiz to find your Love Language here.

stacy and jeff outside mi scuzi restaurantMy husband and I talk a lot about our relationship and the 5 Love Languages. In the beginning, we decided to incorporate the 5 love languages as a way of getting to know each other better. Because we lived in different states, we decided each month to do Words of Affirmation via email on a specific day of the month. We would write to each other and state one thing that we liked or enjoyed about the other and what we liked about our relationship. It also gave us an opportunity to “talk” about what was going well and what we wanted to do to make our relationship better.

The next year, we decided to take turns picking a Love Language. Each month we would choose a new Love Language to focus on and come up with a special way of expressing that to each other. One month, we did Quality Time. We took away distractions, such as phones and TV and just enjoyed a whole day together. Another month, we did Receiving Gifts. We set a monetary limit as to just show appreciation as opposed to trying to outdo each other with some extravagant gift. One month, we decided to make dinner for each other as Acts of Service. He  was in charge of the main dish, and I was to make the side and salad. We picked a few items from a recipe book, but we didn’t tell each other what we were making until we started preparing the meal. We poured some wine and got started. It ended up going perfectly together and was a wonderful evening!  These are just a few examples of simple ideas that can be fun and bring you closer together.

Because we were both previously married, we have learned a little bit about what worked and what didn’t work. One thing we try to focus on is putting each other first. We do our best to keep our relationship strong by keeping the lines of communication open. Yes, there will always be stressors, but we talk about them, and we figure out together how to get through them. Relationships are hard work, but when you are willing to work together, you can also make it fun.

One of the questions he asks me is, “What can I do for you?” This simple question means the world to me, especially when I am “In the Bathroom with Gram”. I am learning to ask him the same thing, especially when I see him a bit overwhelmed. We try to motivate each other and pick each other up every day. I am truly blessed to have found someone who enjoys a lot of the same things I do. And I am doubly blessed that he is willing to do these things with Gram in tow 🙂

Other little things we do to keep our relationship strong is we like to cook together, we usually go to bed at the same time, we keep phones and TV out of the bedroom, we go to the gym together, we try new things together, and we spend time away from each other and from Gram, which is important as well. We would love to hear if you have read the 5 Love Languages and some of your ideas for each language. What keeps your love tank full?

Stay Strong & Be Inspired, Stacy

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open face egg sandwich
In What We Eat

Open Faced Breakfast Sandwich

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We usually workout in the mornings, therefore, we have our high energy carbs (see Eat Better and Move Better) for breakfast.  We also eat a lot of eggs because we love them.  We buy organic, cage-free brown eggs.  We also use cage-free egg whites.  One meal we like for breakfast is an egg sandwich.  A lot of times we put so much on it that we have to make it an open-faced sandwich!

Ingredients

  • one egg
  • 6 tbsp egg whites
  • cheese if you wish
  • turkey sausage or extra protein of your choice
  • one slice bread/muffin of your choice
  • 1/2 avocado

Recipe and Preparation

  1. Spray pan with olive oil spray
  2. Pan fry one egg (break the yolk) with egg whites
  3. Flip it over and if you like cheese then melt cheese on it. (We buy vegan cheese slices or we make our own vegan cheese) 
  4. Make homemade turkey sausage and fry it up in a separate pan. Or add another protein if you choose. If you are going to use lunchmeat, try to use Boar’s Head. If you need help with other proteins here, let us know.
  5. If you have worked out and are in your “window” then you can add bread or toast to your meal.  We like Ezekiel bread or muffins.
  6. Additions can be avocado on top of your sandwich or avocado butter on your toast. You can also add tomato slices.
  7. Once they are all done to your liking pile them up and eat them!

We usually just search the internet using Ecosia for recipes as I need them then adapt to what I have in my cupboard.   I used the recipe above from Simply Scratch for the turkey sausage.  I substituted ginger for sage but it worked for me.  There are many variations out there.

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shrimp scallops and riced cauliflower
In What We Eat

Seafood Fried “Rice”

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We love seafood. This is an easy alternative to the traditional Seafood Fried Rice. This recipe replaces fried rice with cauliflower rice, which you can find in the frozen food section of the grocery store. We usually buy frozen wild-caught shrimp and scallops at Costco. You could also use whatever protein you enjoy such as chicken, pork, or beef. Then cut up whatever veggies you might like with it. We love adding mushrooms and spinach but peas and carrots would be more traditional.

Ingredients

  • 20 pieces of shrimp (2 servings depending on serving size and size of shrimp)
  • 1/2 to 1 cup of scallops
  • 1 cup of mushrooms
  • 2 eggs slightly whisked
  • 2 cups of spinach
  • 1 package of frozen cauliflower rice (10 ounces)
  • 1 tsp Natures Seasons
  • 1 spoonful of minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tsp flaxseed
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos (alternative to soy sauce)

Preparation and Instructions

  1. Cut veggies and seafood into bite-size pieces.
  2. Heat oil olive in a large frying pan on medium heat.
  3. Add seafood and veggies to the pan. Season with Nature Seasons. Add butter and garlic. Stir frequently to avoid burning. Mix in the whisked egg. Frying time is about 10-15 minutes or so.
  4. While that is frying, make the cauliflower rice in the microwave which takes 5 minutes and 30 seconds.
  5. Add the cauliflower rice to the seafood/veggie mix.
  6. Add the Bragg Liquid Aminos. Mix it in.
  7. Enjoy this tasty Seafood Fried Rice! For a more detailed recipe, click here. For Vegan Fried Rice click here.

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box with kettlebell and wall ball on top
In How We Move

A Long One

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This workout (click on workout for video) may take you a little longer than the others.  It is a great total body workout. I suggest timing yourself today to see how long it takes you, then in a month after you’ve continued on your fitness journey, repeat the workout, and see if you improved your time 🙂 Then in another six months, time yourself again.

  • 100 step-ups (vary the height of the step)
  • 90 sit-ups (your choice of ab exercise)
  • 80 jumping jacks (step side to side or use a jump rope)
  • 70 squats (use a chair or add weight)
  • 60 kettlebell swings (vary the weight)
  • 50 lunges (hold onto a chair or add weight)
  • 40 shoulder to overhead (vary the weight)
  • 30 burpees (step back or add in a push-up)
  • 20 push-ups (knees or toes)
  • 1:00 minute plank (knees or toes)

One way to modify this workout is to cut it in half. Go through it once, take a two-minute break, and go through it again. If you need other modifications or challenges, please email me or comment below.

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books held up by a hand
In What We Use

Books we Read

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We are always trying to learn how to improve our health and well-being as you read in “Eat Better and Move Better“. Here are a few of the books we have read.

One book that was very eye-opening was “How Not to Die” by Micheal Greger. The first part goes over the top 15 causes of death in the United States and how they are preventable by the food we eat. The second part goes over his Daily Dozen of recommended foods to eat every day to prevent disease. Very informative. Good Read.

Another favorite is “The Ripple Effect”, by Dr. Greg Wells.  Living by the mantra of “improve just 1% each day”, Dr. Wells shows you how SLEEP helps you EAT better, which helps you MOVE better, which helps you THINK better, which in turn helps you SLEEP better.  It’s a continuous cycle to improve your life.

We read “Becoming a Supple Leopard” by Dr. Kelly Starrett when we are feeling sore. He has great tips for improving athletic performance, preventing injury, and treating aches and pains.

One of our favorite relationship books is “The 5 Love Languages” by Dr. Gary Chapman. There are five ways people give and receive love. Knowing yourself and your partner’s love language can make a world of difference in your relationships.

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fiery number 7
In How We Move

7 Rounds of 7 Reps of 7 Moves

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Although we are only posting workouts on Wednesdays, you should try to do something to get your body moving every day, whether it be a 15-minute walk outside or getting up from your desk and walking the stairs in your office every hour. You can also repeat our Weekly Wednesday Workouts two to three times a week. Also, please comment or email me if you need suggestions for modifications or further challenges. And please let me know what else you would like to see!

In this workout, you will do each movement 7 times then move on to the next one. You will repeat the whole round 7 times.

  • 7 jumping jacks
  • 7 air squats                                                                      
  • 7 push-ups
  • 7 sit-ups
  • 7 burpees
  • 7 lunges
  • 7 tricep dips

Besides modifying each movement as described below and on this video, you can also modify the rounds. If you get to four rounds and feel like you have done enough then stop. You can also take a one minute break between each round to give yourself a rest.

For the Beginner:

  • 7 jumping jacks=step side to side with arms up
  • 7 air squats=squat onto a chair and stand back up                                                                       
  • 7 push-ups=push-ups against the wall
  • 7 sit-ups=crunches
  • 7 burpees=step back, no push-up
  • 7 lunges=hold onto a chair for balance
  • 7 tricep dips=on the ground

To make it more Challenging:

  • 7 jumping jacks=jump rope
  • 7 air squats=use a weight                                                                      
  • 7 push-ups=knees off the floor, chest to the ground
  • 7 sit-ups=use weight
  • 7 burpees=chest to floor
  • 7 lunges=use weight
  • 7 tricep dips=legs straight out, add weight

 

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