A Kind Alternative

I will be honest. I am a bit nervous about Thanksgiving. I absolutely love holiday food...I mean, who doesn't? The difference between me and a lot of people is that I HAVE NO DISCIPLINE. I rely on small food portions prepared daily before I go to work to help me keep my intake IN CHECK. When I have a table full of food (delicious food) in front of me, I have a tendency to over eat. I am especially weak in the dessert department. This is where my "kind alternative" comes in... I have found a great recipe for Pumpkin -Carrot Bars with cream cheese frosting. I cant wait to try it. Low in calories while remaining full of flavor, these pumpkin bars make a great dessert and they're relatively guilt-free. They're high in vitamin A, and a bar only contains 70 calories and less than two grams of fat. With nutritional stats like that, it's OK to go back for seconds. I hope I am not the only one who tries these out!

Pumpkin-Carrot Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting
Modified from SparkPeople

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup Earth Balance (or other butter substitute)
2 eggs
2 large egg whites
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin pie filling
2/3 cup finely shredded carrot

Cream cheese topping:
4 ounces light cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon skim milk

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Spray a 15 x 10 jellyroll pan with cooking spray.
2. In small bowl, whisk flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, and baking soda.
3. In larger bowl, use electric mixer to beat sugar, Earth Balance, and brown sugar until crumbly. Add eggs, egg whites, pumpkin pie filling, and carrots. Beat until well blended.
4. Add flour mixture and mix until well blended. Spread onto greased pan.
5. To prepare cream cheese topping: mix together cream cheese, sugar, and milk until thoroughly blended.
6. Drop teaspoon-fulls of topping over pumpkin batter and swirl and cut mixture into batter with a butter knife.
7. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan completely on wire rack before cutting into squares.

Makes 48 squares.

All About the Burn

I am happy to say that I have finally begun to shed some pounds. Fifteen pounds as of this week, actually. This is very motivating to me, and makes me want to step it up even more. Thus....this post. I found this on one of my fav. blogs, fitsugar, and had to share it's simple, but effective message. :)

If you're trying to lose weight, cardio is your best friend. Workouts that get your heart rate up, such as running, biking, and using a cardio machine, are the best way to burn calories and reduce your percentage of body fat. Another fact to point out is that the faster you move, the more calories you'll burn. I'm not suggesting that you have to sprint through your entire workout - increasing your pace even a small amount will make a difference. Here are two ways to increase your speed when doing cardio.

1. Add intervals. After warming up, move at your usual pace for one minute, then increase your speed for one minute, then return to your usual pace for a minute. Repeat this sequence for 30 minutes, and then cool down. Need a plan to follow? Here are some interval workouts for all types of cardio. Remember, interval training is proven to reduce belly fat.
2. Increase your overall pace just sightly. Running at a pace of 5 mph (12-minute miles) burns 263 calories in 30 minutes. If you run a bit faster at 6 mph (10 minutes per mile), you'll burn 292 calories. It may not seem like a big difference, but if you run five times a week, you'll burn an extra 145 calories.

Increasing your speed when doing cardio won't take a lot more energy, but it'll sure make a difference to your body. You'll burn more calories, which translates to a slimmer, more defined frame. It will also help with your endurance, and make you stronger.

Owl's About Some Boots?

Ok, so I admit....bad title. BUT OH SO GOOD BOOTS! I love these rain boots and must have them A.S.A.P.! Aren't they just too stink'n fun for words??

How Fantastic is He?

I was reminded today that The Fantastic Mr. Fox will soon be out in theaters! YAY!! After the long wait, Wes Anderson's new show will be filling me with joy in the very very near future. Check it out!!

Just in Time for Halloween!!

Browsing the world wide web tonight, I came upon one more great (free) printable just in time for Halloween. You can download buckets, decorations, masks....loads of fun stuff.

Check out this Halloween fun!

Cool/Free Printables

I have been collecting these different little gem printables from different websites for a while now. They are super cool, fun, and best of all...FREE. So...break out your good card stock, and don't let the art of written correspondence die. :)

A big thank you to all the FANTASTIC blogs who were generous enough to post these freebies!


Free Holiday Gift Tags from The Paper Seed

Pretty boxes and envelopes from ISLY (I Still Love You)

Envelope labels from Oh Smile

Cool card from MUFN inc.

Kind of Weird, but I Kind of Buy It....

I was doing some reading, and I stumbled upon this little gem of interesting info. Considering the knee issues I have had, as of late, I'm thinking there might be something to this. I found it in Prevention magazine, and it's basically saying that certain physical traits give you clues about your health risks.

• Finger length: For women, if your index finger is shorter than your ring finger, then it means you have double the risk of osteoarthritis of the knee. If yours is longer or even with your ring finger, you're in the clear, but if it's not, do exercises to strengthen your knees, such as squats and lunges. Arthritis and finger length are both related to low levels of estrogen, so that's why the two are connected.
• Arm length: Extend your arms in T-position out to the sides and measure the distance form fingertip to fingertip. If the distance is less than 60 inches, you're at a higher risk for Alzhiemers. So do activities that stimulate your brain and your body. Take a painting class, learn to play a musical instrument, play chess, or take dance lessons.

There's more, so keep reading.

• Small calves: Women with calves that measure less than 13 inches around have a higher risk of stroke. One thing you can do is drink green tea daily.
• Length of legs: Women with short legs have a higher risk of developing liver disease, so if you're concerned, limit your alcohol consumption.
• Wrinkle in your ear: If you have a linear wrinkle in your ear lobe, which starts on the back of your ear lobe and runs across, then you have an increased risk for a heart attack, bypass surgery, or cardiac death. So do all you can to take care of your ticker by doing cardio regularly, getting your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked by your doctor, eating foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and maintaining a healthy weight.
• Sense of smell: If you can't identify foods by their smell, you have five times the risk of being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in the next four years. So protect your brain by getting enough omega-3's.