(last pic is for my sister, Maggie)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

On most weekends, I like to cook and bake a few things that will take us into the workweek. For the past few weeks, I’ve been making Peas and Thank You’s Chocolate Chip Zee bars. They’ve been a great snack to take along to work and to the gym. However, I ran out of gluten free oats this week, so I decided to come up with my own “protein bar” recipe!

Whole Grain Brown Rice and Buckwheat Protein Bars

These whole grain bars are gluten free! Made with buckwheat and brown rice flour, these bars have a dense, cake-like texture that compliments mix-ins nicely. Nuts and raisins were added to this batch, along with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice for a protein-packed, trail-mix inspired snack!

Ingredients

1/2 c. buckwheat flour*
1/2 c. brown rice flour*
1/2 c. vanilla protein powder (I used Promasil Vanilla Soft-Serve flavor)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum (optional)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch allspice
pinch nutmeg
1/3 c. chopped mixed nuts (or any nut of choice)**
1/4 c. raisins**
1/2 c. applesauce (no added sugar)
1/2 c. soy milk (unsweetened)
1 T. vanilla

*Using a coffee grinder, grind 1/3 c. plus 2 TB buckwheat groats to make 1/2 c. buckwheat flour. Grind 1/3c. plus 2 TB brown rice to make 1/2 c. brown rice flour. Sift well.

**If you want to make chocolate chip bars, omit the nuts and raisins and add in 1/4c. to 1/3c. chopped chocolate or chocolate chips.

Directions

1. Sift together buckwheat flour, brown rice flour, vanilla protein powder, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt and spices. Mix well.
2. Add in chopped nuts and raisins, mix with flour to coat.
3. Mix applesauce, soymilk and vanilla in separate bowl; pour into wet ingredients.
4. Mix batter well, spread into a greased 7×11 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool, cut into 10 bars.

Nutritional Info for 1 Bar (even though it says “0 bars”)

For an extra special snack, microwave a bar for 10-15 seconds, and then add a layer of peanut butter on top! Lip-smacking good!

Happy Friday! Workouts this week have been great, but kind of boring so I won’t ramble on and on about them! I did a video blog where I talked (for nearly 9 minutes) about my experience with the LiveFit trainer, but I posted it at a weird time on Monday, so you may have missed it! Check it out!

I was meeting my friend Gretchen at the gym after class today, but I realized that I forgot my shoes. My friend, Erika, was brave enough to work out in her Uggs this week- but I decided to bike back home after class to retrieve my shoes. I was a little irritated that I had to bike back home and then BACK to campus, BUT- I got in 40 minutes total of bike riding, so I didn’t have to do any cardio at the gym Hooray!

Recycled sweaty "Excited" picture from this summer!

Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Shoulder
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Chest, Abs and Cardio
Wednesday: Legs after Work
Thursday: Arms, Abs and Cardio
Friday: Back, Rear Delts and Cardio

Daniel and I actually have plans this weekend! We’re doing some kind of date night tonight- we’ll probably go out to dinner or use our LivingSocial coupon we just purchased:

I know the lovely Kate at A Healthy Passion also purchased the deal. Wine is good. I know Lindsay from Cotter Crunch would agree too

Tomorrow we are going to cheer on the Cats with Gretchen and her boyfriend at a local restaurant! Yay for actually getting out of the house and hanging out with friends on the weekend!

We’ll get in some grocery shopping and I’ll do some cooking for the week. Sunday we’ll go to church and my dad will actually be in town!

Yippee! Have a great weekend!!!

Hey everyone! I posted about my experience with Jamie Eason’s 12 Week LiveFit Trainer on Friday, but I wanted to come and do a quick video recap of my experience so far! Please ignore the awkward blurry hand gestures and overuse of “ums”! Enjoy!

Thanks for watching! Seriously, if you have any comments or questions, leave them in the comments section on this page or just ask me if you see me!

Love you all!

Holly

Hey Friends! I found this fun survey on Chelsey, Tina and Janetha’s blog and I thought it was a fun little “getting to know you” survey! We hope you’re all having a wonderful Sunday!

-Holly, Daniel, Silas and Mowgli

1) What is one of your favorite ways to spend a Saturday?

Not working! Sleeping in (till 8), having a SLOW morning with coffee and breakfast and taking time to recharge from the previous week with the husband! A nap is not required but welcome, and getting in a workout is always nice too! Ending the day with a home-cooked meal, nothing better!

2) List your top three favorite TV shows.

1. Modern Family
2. Parenthood
3. Grey’s Anatomy

3) Would you rather be in pictures or take them?

Both. I like having my picture taken, but I also like taking them!

4) Why do you blog?

I like that I have a whole website dedicated to what we’ve done over the past few years! It’s a mini-memory lane for me! I also enjoy blogging because it helps me to stay connected with people that I don’t see very often!

5) Share five websites that you visit regularly…

• Gmail
• Facebook
• Twitter (follow me!)
• Google Reader
• Get off My Internets (<—HILARIOUS site if you read some of the “bigger” blogs. Check out the forums page)

6) If you could have lunch with one person from your Twitter list who would it be?

Can I say my husband? We never get to eat lunch together

7) List a few of your favorite snacks.

• PB&Honey on a rice cake
• Homemade Chocolate Chip “Zee” Bars from Peas and Thank You
• Yogurt or cottage cheese
• Oranges

8 ) Do you have a pet? If so, what kind?

Mowgli (getting high on catnip)

Silas (1.5 year old Border Collie Mix)

9) Which three material possessions would you struggle to live without?

• A jacket
• Socks
• My Wedding Rings (they mean a lot to me)

10) What’s your favorite drink?

COFFEE. Or anything bubbly (sparkling water with a splash of juice? Yes)

11) Do you enjoy cooking?

Have you seen our UPDATED Recipe page? Check it out!

12) Do you have children?

Nope!

13) What are your favorite hobbies?

Running, Cooking, Playing with the Dog, Talking to people, Photography, Blogging, Thinking about cleaning the house (Ha!), Exercising. Pretty much anything you see on the blog. And feeding Kale to the dog while snapping a photo.

14) Would you consider yourself to be shy or outgoing?

Pretty outgoing. I need alone time sometimes though!

15) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change?

I’m really bad with my time management.

16) Who is your favorite actor/actress?

I have a hard time remembering actors/actresses. I guess I’d say Jude Law and Rachel McAdams.

17) What’s the coolest thing you’ve done this week?

We saw Tin-Tin in 3D! And then we tried a “dive” restaurant (It’s located about half a block away from some of the strip clubs here in Lexington)- but it had FANTASTIC Thai food! Jasmine Thai Restaurant on Winchester Rd, check it out. The Tom Ka Kai was great!

(click on picture for source)

18) Do you live near your family or far from them?

Near! Our families live about an hour away (in Louisville). My dad and sister live out in Cali, and my other sister is in North Carolina for college!

19) List three of your talents.

• Photography (working on it)
• Personable
• I speak clearly (don’t really know if it’s a “talent” but maybe it will get me somewhere someday!)
• AND I’m really good at giving Silas belly rubs

20) What is your greatest attribute?

I keep hearing I’m pretty personable. Sometimes I ramble on when I meet someone new, but what you see is what you get, so that’s gotta count for something! (Although, if I am hungry, you will get the hungry-angry or HANGRY version of Holly- I’m not able to hide that “bad” side of myself very well)

P.S. If you don’t know enough about me yet, you can click on over to the NEW About Me page and read even more! Yippee!

Answer one of the above questions about yourself!

This has been a great week of posts! I really do enjoy blogging, and my brain was just “with it” this week. I have a whole list of things I want to blog about, so hopefully I can take a little bit of time during the weekends to get a few posts ready for the week! I think it’s time to bring back Fitness Fridays!

On Fitness Fridays, we share some of our favorite workouts from the week! I’ve been taking a break from running (still). I tweaked my hamstring during the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, and it’s been “healed” enough for me to do like 10 miles a week (2 or 3 short runs). Anyways, it’s cold outside, and I’m more than halfway into a 12-week lifting program (more on that in a second). I still love running, and I’ll definitely pick up my mileage once the weather warms up a bit!

So, about this lifting program. I’ve been following Jamie Eason’s 12-week LiveFit Trainer.

I started sometime back in the beginning of December, and I haven’t missed a week of training! I know that Chelsey from Clean Eating Chelsey is getting ready to begin the program, and Janetha from Meals and Moves is nearly finished with 12 weeks of workouts!

Anyways, I’m in week 7 of the program and I’m still loving it! I will admit, some of my motivation is wearing off (sometimes I just don’t want to go to the gym), but it does help that I work at a gym, and there is a fantastic gym on campus that I have access to.

If you don’t’ want detailed information about the LiveFit trainer… scroll down until you see my lovely pseudo page break: *******************************

Phase 1

The LiveFit trainer has three four-week phases. Phase 1 focuses on proper form and building muscle- NO CARDIO! That’s right. If you hate cardio, this is a wonderful program. Cardio does get added in during later phases, but all you have to do during the first couple of weeks is get to the gym and LIFT!

Phase 1 is pretty beginner friendly. You just go to the Phase 1 homepage (click the picture above and it will take you there!) and you click on the day that you’re on, and your workout pops up.

If you click on each of the exercise names, a BodyBuilding.com video will pop up with proper technique pointers for each exercise. There is also a link on each workout that allows you to print off the PDF of exercises, HOWEVER- I did not like using the PDF option because there weren’t pictures. I just copy and pasted each day’s workout into a Word document so that I could have the exercises, reps and a picture to take with me to the gym.

Phase 2

Phase 2 intensifies the lifting, and cardio is also added back in! You can do whatever form of cardio you want- running, elliptical, stair-stepper, etc! I’ve been doing some of the “prescribed” cardio, but I’m not looking to lose weight, I’m trying to build more muscle. Phase 2 has you doing 30 minutes of cardio 4x per week, and I probably only do it two or three times per week (the third time being on a day off from lifting- I’ll take short run with the dog or something).

Phase 3

Phase 3 is all about lifting in supersets (one exercise following another, without rest. Once the exercises in a “set” are completed, you rest before doing those exercises again instead of resting between each set of each exercise). Phase 3 turns the “cardio” into High-intensity Interval training (think SPRINTS!) The goal of phase to is to help you lean out and maintain your muscle that you worked so hard for in the first 8 weeks!

The Meal Plan

One thing I feel like I should mention- the trainer DOES have a recommended meal plan. It basically focuses on high protein, lots of veggies, and whole foods. I’m NOT following the diet for a few reasons: I’m not trying to lose weight, I’m pretty happy with my current diet, and I don’t feel like stressing myself out with trying to have the “perfect” diet that the site recommends (it would take a lot of prep work and planning).

*******************************

My Experience

If you read through all of that, bravo! The LiveFit website has every imaginable tool that you could ever need, and there’s a Facebook group too that has great support, recipes and more!

I never really lifted before this program, I may have done “arms and abs” at the gym, but I did the same exercises and never really changed my weights or number of repetitions. I’ve seen a good bit of muscle growth, especially in my arms, back and chest. My legs do feel more toned, and I know that having stronger legs will only benefit my running. I haven’t lost any weight (thank goodness), but I’ve lost a few % points of body fat. Again, not really my goal, but it is cool to know that less body fat with the same weight means that I’ve put on some muscle!

I kind of “cheat” with the workouts. I don’t really want to go to the gym 6 days a week, so I’ll often group a “leg” workout day with a Shoulders or a Chest Workout day and just nix the cardio (in Phase 2) all together. I definitely feel like I have enough strength to do two major muscle groups in one day (*If there are abs on that day, I save those for last because I don’t want to be sacrificing my form because of tired abs).

This program has been a WONDERFUL introduction into heavier lifting, it has taught me SO MANY new exercises, and seeing increased strength and muscle is definitely motivating.

First Pic: Taken on the First Day of the Trainer. Second Pic: Taken on the last day of Phase 1. Third Pic: Taken Today (Phase 2, end of week 8)

I know this was a NOVEL of a post, but if you have any questions, please ask! I’ll answer the best I can! Thanks for tuning into another Fitness Friday, I promise next week, I’ll just do a rundown of exercises (and maybe I’ll even get some of what Daniel is doing!)

My sweet cousin asked my sister Maggie and myself to photograph her wedding this coming August! This is the spark I’ve been needing to light the fire under my butt to learn more about photography and how to use my camera!

I’ve been following this 31 Days to a Better Photo blog series, and I’ve gotten more comfortable with using the various manual settings on my camera! I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos, but I want to begin with high quality photos so that editing will enhance the photos (instead of “fixing” them).

I’m working on fine-tuning my still life photography so that I feel super comfortable with using the manual settings, but I really need to get some real life people to practice with! Does anyone want a free photo shoot? Seriously, if you do, let me know, I’d love to spend a few hours snapping away with you!

Here are some pictures of the Peas and Thank You Chocolate Chip Zee Bars that I made (again) this weekend! These pictures have had minimal editing. The only thing I tweaked was the white-balance. That’s still something I’ve gotta learn how to tweak while I’m shooting… The pictures below were all taken when I was messing with the aperture of my camera- I wanted to nail that “blurry background” look that I love so much!

And here are a few more pictures, I just love my husband and my dog!

Thanks to ALL OF YOU… our blog reached

10,000

views today!

Just wanted to say thank you!!! Have a great Wednesday Night!

Good Wednesday to you all!

I have a huge favor to ask, will you visit the Seki Japanese Restaurant page on Facebook  and “Like” some photos for us? Just go to their “Photos” page and look for the photos that I posted!

The first place winner of the photo contest wins $50 to Seki! We did a post about a date night visit to Seki here- Date Night at Seki! Seki is Lexington’s BEST Sushi Restaurant, be sure to check them out if you have the chance!

Seki Japanese Restaurant

1093 South Broadway

Lexington, KY 40504

Hours

• Mon-Friday: 11:30 – 2:30 and 5:30 – 9:30
• Saturday: 5:30 – 9:30
• Sunday: Closed

Be sure to click the “Like!” button!

*Edited to add a few more e-mails that Daniel found in his inbox!*

My grandfather is a funny guy. He’s always busy doing something or another, and he always brings up the (seemingly) most random topics to talk about. He’ll say to me “Holly Bee, do you remember the garden of Mrs. So-and-So that was one or two houses down on the left from your house in Winston Salem, North Carolina?” (I was like 2 years old when we lived there.) Or “Do you remember the time that Grandma Betty and I came to stay with you for a week when your parents were out of town?” To this story, Grandma always adds “And we carried your potty seat in the back of the car?” (Again, I was under the age of two.)

We call my grandpa “Poopaw”, and I have no clue why we started calling him that. I think I’ll just continue to call him grandpa in this post so you don’t weirded out by seeing “POOPAW” written all over the blog…

He’s still sharp as a tack for his age- he’s almost 90 years old! WOW!

And now…. some phone calls and e-mails for your reading pleasure:

A phone call:

Holly, if you aren’t home, this is probably not gonna help. But maybe wherever you are, on Channel 18 is the people with dogs like Silas doing tricks at a Dog Show. And there’s a lot of dogs there that look like their closely related to Silas and they’re doing all sorts of things you know, it’s a really great show.

E-mails:

may i borrow mogli carrier for 2 days ? Hat lady on Della drive caught a raccoon in her wire trap Friday night. They took him to a park near airport.

recently lost my knee-pads (14 years) perhaps near little storage building. Save if you or dan. should see. I really miss them. Call and I will come , many grandma requests on hold because old sore bony knees require protection.

Subject: P.C. Working

-send messages quick before it quits again !

dear h.bee:  Please send top three or more  things that Silas prefers to do for day time games.Does he have nap time ? If so what hours are preferred ?

dear holly b. we need a mower check soon. remove and sharpen blade clean filter etc. I don’t have a dan cooper address any more ?

Please print for me: 

Keep doors locked and teach Silas to bark when stranger approches .With dan. in house extra security is needed especially if strangers are ladies. Next time you all come to leawood please bring Silas so B.J. can see examples of his new teachings. An indoor demo. would be especially interesting for both of us and appreciated. The date will then be known as SILAS APPRECIATION DAY!

Dan is the delux model in the limited edition catogory. Chances of any more being made is extremely remote.

thinking a recent visit from col. gas ,the cover was not replaced properly so check each time to be sure they “don’t forget”. Your dad says gluten free oats was a good thing so it will keep if not opened . Will dan eat some ? Turkey was extra super but so is FRESH fish rabbit ,squirrel etc. I will never believe all pilgrims ate or liked the same things. (nor indians)Deer or bear could be tasty too if properly seasoned and roasted. If Dan had been there he could have solved any problems concerning the prepartion or cooking.

Anyways, we love “Poopaw” and Grandma too. I thought it would be fun to share some of the silly things my grandpa say Enjoy your Monday!