‘The Biggest Loser’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Recipe: Green Beans with Crumbled Feta Cheese

April 24, 2013 · Narrative

When I’m looking for healthy recipes, I’ve found that the Biggest Loser cookbooks, and recipes from the Bigger Loser celebrities (Allison Sweeney, Jillian Michaels, and Bob Harper) are a great source. Most of the recipes are very simple to make and don’t call for any overly exotic ingredients. Combine that with a tasty and guilt-free meal? Count me in.

Unfortunately, when it comes to green beans, it’s just me. Because try as I might, the kids are still not on board with green beans. To their credit, they eat all sorts of other vegetables, so I shouldn’t complain. But it also meant I had an awful lot of green beans to eat on my own after making this recipe. #greenbeansfordays

Thank goodness I liked ’em.

I found this recipe in an old issue of People magazine, and it’s from Biggest Loser host Allison Sweeney. Although the original recipe called for chicken to be mixed in, I skipped that and served grilled chicken on the side. Crazy simple to make, definitely flavorful, and a great dish to make use of fresh produce as we start to head into farmer’s market season.

Hungry for more green bean recipes?
The feta vinaigrette on this green bean salad recipe was definitely worth making.
And if you’re feeling on being a little less virtuous, this green bean casserole was to-die-for.

Tomorrow? A quick kids craft!

Psst … still time to help me out here!

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Book Review: Believe It, Be It {by Ali Vincent}

January 5, 2013 · Narrative

One of my ongoing goals, year after year after year, is always to read more.

I loved reading as a child and teenager, and would hole myself up in my room for hours on end.

I still love reading just as much now as I did then, but as a mom to two young children, it is just more challenging to carve out the time to do so.

Because at the end of the day, sometimes all I want to do is crash with nothing more than the remote, some bad reality tv, and a big glass of iced water.

The thought of reading sentences, and fully comprehending them, is sometimes too much to bear.

But I always aim to do better.

And with that, on January 4th, I have already read my first book for the year. Notable in and of itself, but even more so because it has been sitting on my bookshelf, unread, for a good two years.

One down, many many many many more to go.

If you are a fan of The Biggest Loser, Ali Vincent is no stranger to you. If you’re not, she was the first woman to win The Biggest Loser (2008). And she looks amazing.

Believe It, Be It was a quick and easy read, giving some behind-the-scenes peeks into the show, discussing her strategy, and how her weight gain all started. Although it largely is about the story of her weight loss journey, there are motivational bits throughout that can help kick start you on any journey. Ali is honest and candid as she relays her own story. Her trainers, particularly Jillian, are big advocates of getting to the root of the weight gain, because if you don’t figure out the cause of why it all happened, you might not be able to prevent it from happening again.

“Don’t go on just wanting something. Start consciously planning where you want to be.”

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Recipe: Black-Eyed Peas with Mushrooms

January 1, 2013 · Narrative

Our family is filled with traditions. And superstitions. And must-dos.

And black-eyed peas on the New Years’ Day dinner table has been around for as long as I can remember. And as it is reported to bring forth good luck and good fortune, it’s not one of those weird traditions that only our family does.

Because I’m almost certain that the “green cars are bad luck” is a superstition that only we must obey.

When it comes to certain foods bringing you good luck and fortune, you can believe or not. But if there is a modicum of possibility that eating a spoonful or two of black-eyed peas might bring it about, you can bet that I’m all in.

Over the years, we’ve had a variety of black-eyed dishes, some more palatable than the next.

But this one? This one here might just be a keeper.

Black-eyed peas for the win.

I won’t lie and tell you this is a quick dish. But it’s not complicated. The biggest time suck is cooking the black-eyed peas. You can obviously save quite a bit of time by buying them already cooked (in a can). But that’s if you actually don’t appear at the grocery store on New Years’ Day, like me, and expect to find a can available.

I should know better.

But it all worked out.

Hearty. Flavorful. Well-seasoned. And super, super healthy.

And let’s not forget all that prosperity that will be heading your way this year as you down spoonful after spoonful of this.

Because really.

That right there is enough.

Tomorrow? Eat.Live.Be. 2013.

Yep.

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Recipe: Hearty Turkey Chili {Weight Watchers}

November 27, 2012 · Narrative

Your mind and the way you think is a funny thing sometimes. We get so regimented in things that we’re used to, that sometimes doing something a different way never even occurs to us.

And in this particular instance, that rings true with me and corn bread.

I’ve always been a take-it-or-leave-it kind of girl when it comes to corn bread, mostly leaving it because often times I just find it too dry for my liking. I’ve probably made corn bread less than three times in my life.

Madeline doesn’t care for it. Nick only likes the Boston Market version. Which, by the way, is rumored to be easily created by combining a box of Jiffy corn bread mix, and a box of cake mix. Strange, but reportedly the perfect way to get their slightly sweet taste.

Back to my story. During the great Hurricane Sandy power outage of 2012, we found ourselves at my friend Carmen’s house for dinner, where she had a big pot of homemade chili simmering away on the stove. On the kitchen counter, a basket of cornbread. Normally I would have skipped it, but as she added toppings to her own bown of chili (cheese? yes, please!), she put the corn bread right into the bowl too, breaking it up into pieces and eating it with the bitefulls of chili.

Sheer genius.

And something that had never occurred to me before.

So last week, as I left my sister’s Thanksgiving dinner with leftover corn bread in hand, I was focused on one thing.

Making chili to mash it into.

Because now I can’t think of a better way to eat corn bread.

Since I don’t think the corn bread she served, from a NYC bbq place, is super healthy, I set off to find a healthier version of chili to balance it out. No dice in the Biggest Loser cookbook (though they do have a white chicken version), I found what I was looking for on Weight Watchers’ web site.

Hearty Turkey Chili.

Chili, but healthier.

Guilt avoided.

Or side-stepped.

Along with the lean turkey meat, the chili is loaded with vegetables, so it’s good for you in other ways too.

It took under 45 minutes to make from start to finish, and was the perfect low-key evening meal for me and the kids (and with enough leftovers for lunch the next day for a co-worker and I).

Well, just one kid. Madeline refuses to try anything that is in the soup/stew/chili family. Nick was all too happy to eat her share. And a banana and two yogurts.

#hellogrowthspurt

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Recipe: Healthy Cobb Salad

December 16, 2010 · Clean Eating, Narrative

I think after sharing the Pumpkin Bread recipewith you yesterday, I should probably follow it up with something uber-healthy. I’m sure it’s in some Food Blogger Code of Conduct Manual somewhere, even though I’ve never been a rule follower. Just ask my parents.

I’m a big fan of Jillian Michaels, she of Biggest Loser fame. Oh yeah, and all her books and DVDs. Not so much a fan of her barking boot camp onscreen personality, but more so the results that she exacts from her ardent followers. So it seems only reasonable that when I saw her recipe for a Healthy Cobb Salad, I should tear it out of the magazine and make it. After catching up on celebrity gossip and the latest divorce, wedding and baby news. It was, after all, in People magazine. Priorities, people, priorities.

One of the things I love about these types of salads is that it’s a great way to please everyone at your table. Jamie doesn’t like hard-boiled eggs, so she gave her share to Nick. He happily took the eggs in turn for being able to give up his cherry tomatoes to her and Madeline. And avocado slices? Sign me up. The crispy turkey bacon? More for all, please.

Clean eating, for sure. Delicious salad, no doubt. And guilt-free all the way, baby. Now, who wants more pumpkin bread?

Project 365
December 16, 2010, Photos #280-284
This morning while I was waiting for Nick to get picked up for school, I sat down to shoot off a quick e-mail. Madeline happened to be up early for once, and just as I clicked “send,” she came over and shoved half a cupcake in the garbage can. I followed her back to the living room, namely the cupcake crumbs too. If the trail of crumbs, her green-frosting’d face or the crumbs on the couch weren’t clues, the cupcake wrapper on the floor in the living room would have done her in. Little weasel. Pushed a chair to the counter, and stole a cupcake from the plate that I was taking to the office.

Some mornings, my breakfast just doesn’t make it into the nice insulated bag.

A couple of our front steps are crumbling, and in the crumbling pieces, I spotted a little love. I know Sarah will appreciate this one.

Love this bracelet. The picture makes it look like it has tiny silver studs, but they’re sparkly stones instead. Picked it up at Joyce Leslie on Black Friday for under five bucks. A little bit of sparkle. A little bit of badass. A whole lot of me.

Folks, I’m outta here until Sunday. Have an awesome, belly laughter-filled weekend!

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