Greek Yogurt

The Greek's really have something going for them.  Even if their only contribution to the world is feta cheese and the almightly greek yogurt, I'd be happy. Ah, but then there's Santorini, olives, and PHYLLO! But I digress... allow me to share some of my tastiest/healthiest greek yogurt treats.  First and foremost, here's why it's awesome:

1. 23 grams of protein in one cup... need I say more? Ok I will.
2. 5 different active yogurt cultures... why does this help you?
   a) It does wonders for your digestive system... I don't want to get too descriptive on this... but, basically these cultures keep your system clean and running 'smoothly'. Got it?
   b) It has been proven to help prevent colds.  These cultures boost the immune system significantly,  making it much harder for creepy cold germs to have any luck breaking through.
 3. It has half the sugar of regular yogurt.  I'll talk about sugar in depth in future posts, but, keep in mind that sugar has more negative properties than you'd even imagine (sad, I know).

Ok, here's how I eat it!

Recipe #1
Breakfast, Lunch, or Snack
What You'll Need
- 3/4 cup of nonfat greek yogurt (or one of the single serving containers)
- 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of frozen berries  or regular berries (trader joe's has the best selection of frozen berries at the least expensive cost)
- dash of cinnamon (antioxidant POWERHOUSE - we'll get there later)
- dash of vanilla extract
How to Prepare
- At home: Just defrost the berries a bit and mix together
- To pack for work: Put the berries, cinnamon, vanilla in a ziplock and then mix with your yogurt when you get to work (easy peasy)

Recipe #2
Creamy salad dressing! (Take the yogurt out of this to get my regular dressing sans creaminess)
- 2 parts extra virgin olive oil
- 1 part red wine vinegar
- tsp of yellow or dijon or honey mustard (I like dijon or whole grain mustard in this recipe)
- tsp of agave nectar or honey
- 2 tsps of greek yogurt
- salt, pepper, dried oregano
- one garlic clove - minced
Mix it all together and serve.  Please note that when I cook - I don't measure - so these are pretty qualified guesses on measurements, but, taste it to see how you like it before serving. This will last for days in your fridge so don't worry about it.
- Fage is my fav - I think it's the best, but, choose whatever you like the most.  Chobani is my #2.

Workout tip of the day: Not doing any strength training and not sure where to start? Do 20 proper squats tomorrow morning.  
Check your form:  
- Sit your tush back as if you are sitting in a chair
- Push through your heels, not your toes or balls of your feet
- Check to be sure that your knees do not go over your toe's.  This can do damage to your knees... so make sure you're watching that.

That's all I have today - feel free to reach out to me with questions! Have an awesome Friday!

First! (Buffalo Chicken Salad)

I have a feeling my blog is going to be a little different from other blogs, in that, I don't plan on writing multiple paragraphs at a time, unless I plan on telling a story.  For those who know me... that may take a couple paragraphs and go off on a few tangents until I circle back to the close of the story.  Instead, I'm going to provide my first recipe for the buffalo chicken lovers out there (ah, I consider myself a buffalo chicken connoisseur).  It's a simple salad that I make whenever I have a buffalo craving.  This recipe contains 3 tips! Enjoy!

You'll need:
- baby spinach (or any leafy green that you enjoy)
- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast or 2-3 tenderloins (tip #1 try to buy cage-free, hormone-free chicken - read your labels)  Trader Joe's sells bags of frozen chicken tenderloins for $7.99! They last me at least two weeks and are hormone and cage free with no added preservatives (preservatives are BAD)
- Buffalo hot sauce (I like Frank's) (yes, there's a lot of sodium so watch your intake throughout the rest of the day)
- 1/4 avocado
- Veggies (whatever you have! green beans, carrots, tomatoes, red/orange peppers).  Today I only had green beans and avocados and it was still delicious
- Blue cheese dressing
- Greek yogurt (tip #2 this should be a STAPLE in your refrigerator)
- 1 tbs of feta or part-skim mozzarella
- Chicken broth (tip #3 this should be another staple in your refrigerator - use it instead of olive oil when cooking in the frying pan on your stove top)*
- Salt, crushed red pepper, pepper (staples)

How to:
- Arrange your leafy greens on the plate
- Cut the quarter of the avocado into chunks (save the rest for the rest of the week)
- Add in your veggies of choice
- In your frying pan - pour in the chicken broth, add salt & pepper and throw in the chicken - cook on both sides until it's done 
- Put the chicken in a bowl and toss it with your buffalo sauce then add to the salad
- Toss on the cheese
Dressing:
- Take 1 tbs of the blue cheese dressing (because the fat free kind is gross and has more sugar in it) and 1 tbs of greek yogurt, mix together and add a little white vinegar if you have it... pour it over salad 
You're done! Mangia! 

Notes: by my calculations, this salad has about 300-400 calories, depending on how much chicken and cheese you use. It will definitely fill your buffalo craving.  Is it one of my healthiest dishes in terms of antioxidant levels, and sodium? No, but that's not the point of today's meal.  Today's meal was filling a craving and had good fats from the avocados, lean protein, and vitamins and minerals from the leafy greens.  Plus, we cut down the fat levels in the dressing but still kept the flavor.  I hope you enjoy!

*note: I'm a HUGE proponent of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and use it in most of my cooking (which you will see), however, this meal is FAST so I use the chicken broth, plus, it doesn't need any extra fat considering that the dressing is not homemade (i have the perfect homemade dressing recipe that will be included in my next blog)


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