RECIPE: Pomegranate Glazed Steak with Roasted Green Beans

4:53 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

Me: "Andrew, may I have a quote for my blog about how you liked dinner last night?"

Andrew: "I thought the flavors were uniquely balanced with a tangy sweetness of the pomegranate combining with a chili spiciness that made a delightful surface texture on a perfectly cooked mid rare piece of meat."

Me: "Seriously?"

See what you think. I cleaned my plate. I know, I know! But, really it was delightful. I served the dish with a fun kale salad: chopped raw kale, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, all mixed up with cashews, blueberries, red onion slivers and feta.

For the steak: The recipe asked for skirt steak. We used a nice flank steak instead, leaner and cheaper. Just as yummy.

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

2 TBSP chili powder
1 Tsp ground cumin
1 TBSP light brown sugar
1 1/2 Tsp salt plus additional for seasoning
1 1/4 pounds skirt steak (or flank steak)
1/4 cup honey (I used agave because that's what I had in the house)
1/2 c pomegranate juice (The store was out of those little containers of just pom seeds so we seeded a whole fruit and I used fresh orange juice instead)
2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
1 pound green beans
2 TBSP olive oil
Fresh black pepper
1/4 c slivered almonds
1/2 c pomegranate seeds

1. In a small bowl, combine the chili powder, cumin, brown sugar and salt. Rub the spice mixture onto the steak and set aside for 20-30 mins.

2. Meanwhile, whack together the honey, juice, and vinegar in a small saucepan.  BRing to a boil over Med-High heat; simmer until reduced by half and thickened, 3-5 mins.

3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spread the green beans on a large baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast until crisp-tender, 8-10 mins. Remove from oven and toss with almonds and pomegranate seeds.

4. Heat a grill pan or skillet over med-high heat. Cook steak for 3 mins on each side for medium rare. Let rest 5 mins, then slice into 1/2 inch strips.  Drizzle with glaze and serve with beans (and salad).

BONUS: Save leftovers for a great steak salad lunch the next day!



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Change your HABITS - Do the Work

8:46 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments


#1 Set yourself up for SUCCESS: Ask yourself a few questions to get focused and steer your life in the right direction…
Where do I want to end up?
What can I do to be sure I get there and faster?
How am I doing? Is my plan working?
What do I need to do differently if I‘m of course?
Who do I need to be to be?

“Life isn’t about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself.” George Bernard Shaw

#2 ATTITUDE and Outlook: Check in everyday and find a way to boost yourself up. Think about it…
What would make me happy today?
What can I do to make sure I feel really good?
How can I make other people feel good so I can too?
How do I get in touch with the parts of me that make me feel really great?

“How you judge your self-esteem is how high you are likely to rise.  The reputation you have with yourself is the single most important factor for a fulfilling life.”

“Every achiever I have ever met says, ‘My life turned around when I began to believe in me.” Dr. Robert Schuller


#3 Get CLEAR about what is IMPORTANT:
What do you really want out of life?
What is most important to you?
In general, what motivates you?
What do you value most in life?

“People with goals succeed because they know were they are going.”

“There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.” William Barclay


#4 Watch your WORDS: Remember…
Language shapes our reality
Language represents thought
We use language to process our experiences
We believe what we say in our minds
Changing our words, changes our thoughts, which changes our reality

“We become what we thing about all day long.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
#5 Break Bad HABITS and make new ones: Take a look at your day, week, year? Notice what happens again and again.
Write it down.
Change a negative behavior at the front end.
Do something different. Anything.
Hook onto a new habit and go for it.

”Definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” Albert Einstein.

“It’s not what we do once in a while; it’s what you do day in and day out that makes the difference.” Jenny Craig

#6 Get SMART:
S – SPECIFIC (I will lose weight v. I will lose 3 pounds this month)
M – MEASURABLE (I will exercise more v. I will hit the gym 3x/week)
A – ATTAINABLE (I will lose 15 lbs this month/ I will lose 3 pounds this month)
R – REALISTIC (I will workout every day/ I will workout at the gym 2x this week and add 500 steps to my day.)
T – TIME BASED (Have an end date in sight to stay on track. Don’t put it off.)

“It is the moments of choice that continually shape our lives, so choose wisely!” JJ Satangelo

#7 Take ACTION: Take a few minutes to think about this.
Are you ready? Really ready?
Are you ready and willing to change, to act?
Will you do whatever it takes?

“If one advances confidently in the directions of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined he will meet a success unexpected in common hours!” Henry David Thoreau

#8 Stick to it. Be PERSISTANT and CONSISTENT: How are you going to make sure this happens?

“I will block out ________ minutes a day/OR week, to work diligently on my tasks and goals.”

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not, nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education with not, the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination are omnipotent!” Calvin Coolidge 13th President.


#9 Put it in the POSITIVE:
Reframe your beliefs and attitudes and give them an optimistic, confident spin.
Read NYTIMES Article J

“Excuses are the tools of the incompetent.” – Unknown.

“A negative attitude wipes out discipline.” Toni Robbins.

WORKBOOK:
10 ways to improve/build self-esteem NOW
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

TO Get CLEAR
What 10 things do you really want to have this year? Write each one out in short, clear, concise sentences.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.


Get SMART
Rewrite your top 3 goals here…
1.
2.
3.

What are you going to do NOW? Break your goals down into action steps here….





GET LEAN IN 2013 – TIPS to help you meet your weight loss goals….

Attitude and Skills and KNOWLEDGE = Success

1.     Keep a journal. Gather information.  Notice habits. Be detailed and specific.  How are you feeling now? Is your cholesterol too high? Do you have skin problems? Bloating? Unexplained weight gain? Headaches? Muscle aches?

2.     Drink water first thing every morning. Drink more water all day.  Aim for ½ of your body weight in ounces. Add a glass for every 30 mins of exercise, strength or cardio. Add a glass every day you drink alcohol. Drink more when  its hot outside.

3.     Think before you bite.  Go slowly. Chew. You deserve this time.  You deserve to understand your body. And most of all you deserve to look and feel fantastic. Taking the time to learn how you react will give you the power to control your weight for a lifetime. Remember: FLAB and HALT

4.     Fuel yourself from the start. Break your fast within the first hour of waking. Take note of how you are feeling this morning. Did you sleep well? Are you hungry? What sounds good to eat? This meal should get you ready for a great day, energized and satisfied.

5.     Focus on fruits and veggies. Eat more of them.  Steaming is great. Saute or roast to preserve natural sugars.  Know that fruits and veggies contain sugar. Natural, yes, but if you are getting too much of it, weight loss gets harder.

6.     Include lean protein at every meal and snack.  Try to consume 80-100 grams of protein daily. Greens and veggies with no protein won’t do it!
Examples*:
Beef, Lamb, Poultry, Beans, Fish, Eggs, Nuts and Seeds, Cheese.

7.     Fuel workouts with carbohydrates during or after. Choose carbs wisely.  One serving a day of dense carbs (rice, pasta, bread) seems best for most people on a mission for fat loss. When trying to lose weight save dense carbs for after a hard workout to use them up appropriately.

8.     Plan ahead. A week, a day…you have options, figure out what works best for you. This is important. Being prepared could be the #1 way to break out of a weight loss rut.  Use goal setting techniques to set yourself up for success.  Organizing meals and snacks ahead of time will help you act on your intentions and turn those small steps into habits.

9.     Have fun. Enjoy yourself! If wine is something you enjoy, have a glass or two of red – it’ll even help flush out sodium and act as a natural diuretic. Being stressed out will pack on the pounds. Truly, life is all joy, right?! If you want to maintain your glowing health and weight loss being joyful is a MUST!

PROTEIN CONTENTS

Sunflower seeds: 5 g per ounce
Pumpkin seeds : 9 g per ounce
Almonds : 8 g per ounce
Cheese : 8 g per ounce
Chickpeas: 5 grams per ½ c
Chia seeds: 5 g per 2 TBSP
Rice: 5 g per 1 cup
Animal protein: about 7 g per ounce

FOODS FOR FAT LOSS                                                            FOODS TO AVOID

Egg whites
Garlic and Onions
Organic Spinach
Chickpeas
Blueberries
Zuccini
Snow peas
Winter Squash
Beets
Nut butters
Avocado
Apples and Pears
Greens

BREAKFAST IDEAS

Flax Granola with Coconut Milk and Blueberries
Egg White Scramble with Veggies
Pear Slices with Nut butter
Yogurt with Pumpkin Seeds and Cinnamon








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ARTICLE : Go Easy on Yourself

10:58 AM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

Go Easy to Get Healthy

I love to share this NY Times article with clients and friends.  We are so hard on ourselves when tackling meeting our goals, especially weight loss.  I've always had a suspicion that when my good intentions turn into negativity, or deprivation my progress begins to slip.
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Paprikash!

2:29 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

I was gifted with some awesome new cooking tools for Christmas.  So I took that as an invitation to up my game.  Often times I'll cook entire meals with one or two pots, the same broken spatula and whatever knife is most handy.  I've even used the unwashed pan we fried breakfast bacon in to saute dinners collard greens. I'm all about simplicity.

Trying to lighten up favorite recipes or putting my own a spin on things has become quite a passion.  This week I finally (resolution complete!) put all my recipes from magazines or printed from websites into protective plastic and organized in a binder. It looks great and I'm excited to add to it.

Last night, I had time to grocery shop and whip up something we've never had before. Chicken Paprikash.  It just sounds good. This version came from Clean Eating, one of the only mags I love enough to subscribe to and get in the mail each month.

Cooking for just two, I cut the protein and fat portions in half but still made the whole lot of veggies. Here's the full version, serves 4.

Ingredients:
2 TBSP whole-wheat flour
4 tsp sweet paprika, divided
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 TBSP olive oil
4 6-oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper, optional
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken or veggie broth
1/2 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt
1 tsp chopped fresh dill

1. In a big bowl combine, flour, 1 tsp paprika, and salt.

2. In a large skillet, heat oil on med-high. Dredge chicken in flour and spices, shake off extras. Add chicken to skillet and cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove from pan.

3. Add onions and peppers to hot skillet. Stir occasionally, until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Add garlic, remaining paprika and cayenne. Cook until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add broth and scrape up brown bits from bottom of pan. Return chicken to skillet. Reduce to simmer and cover. Cook until chicken is fully cooked and veggies are nice and tender.

4. Remove chicken and divide among plates. In small bowl mix yogurt and dill. Add mixture to skillet and veggies, mix until think and smooth.  Spoon over chicken. Sprinkle more dill on top.

I served Andrew's portion over cooked egg noodles and mine over top an almost obscene amount of roasted veggies. This dish would go great with mashed cauliflower, or roasted acorn squash.  Andrew wants to try it with polenta. Yum!

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Thursday Thoughts Ed. 61 - Just for Fun

2:07 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments


Whether you set down resolutions in November like I do, or tally up your accomplishments at the end of the year like my friend M.H, the close of December is a perfect time to review what you did right in the last 12 months. Don't stew of screw-ups, you can deal with that stuff later. End the year on a high note by celebrating your triumphs. Study after study shows that positive thinking plays a significant role reaching personal goals, including, weight loss efforts. What better way to kick start your New Year’s resolutions than by taking a look back with optimism?

How did you treat yourself better this year? (I've given myself permission to see an Acupuncturist every couple of weeks. Normally I'd think even the small cost was too much for something that feels so indulgent.  This year I realized how much the sessions have improved my everyday well being. We are all better for it! Right on!)

How did you treat others better? (Taking time to catch my breath and calm my thoughts before reacting in an intense conversation has helped me keep cool and leave the unhelpful, harsh words out of the dialogue.)

What new beginnings and resolutions did you see and set during the year? (From new jobs, deepening friendships, the women's successes in this year's Healthy Habits class, 2012 saw the start of lots of great things.)

Having trouble answering the questions yourself? Maybe a little game of "madlibs" will inspire you!

Try this....Fill in the blank from SELF one of my favorite inspirational magazines:-)

In 2012, I finally chucked my ____________(embarrassing closet lurker or nasty item in the basement).  I'll never tell you how long I had it. 
The most delicious thing I ate in 2012 was___________(memorable meal).
Last year, _________ name of buddy/wife/boyfriend/mom was my biggest fan.  Thank you!!!
Because I rocked ___________ (cool thing you did), in 2013 I will reward myself by____________(special indulgence). 
Too bad the song _________ (your personal "Gangnam style") can't start playing when I walk into a room. 
The nicest thing someone said to me last year was__________ (great compliment). 
I was scared when I ___________ (feat of strength or bravery).  But I did it anyway, and I felt so _____________ (big emotion).  Next, I want to _____________ (badass activity). 
This year: I will reserve mroe time for ____________ (feel good priority) and less time for___________(lame waste of time).  Gotta get myself in gear.  Here I go!


P.S. Our SUPER SALE lasts until the end of the year, only a few more days (crazy!) don't forget to reup your supply of personal training sessions, individual nutrition coaching sessions and massage.  Treat yourself to a healthy new year.

And we've got a special for all your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers who've heard you raving about your "awesome gym"...

For the last 5 days of the month we will offer Zero to Join and an Awesome Free Pedometer that tracks daily steps, logs total steps for the week and a calorie chart for ease of calculating calories burned within those steps and an NWPT Water Bottle.

Don't forget to tell them all the cool stuff they get:-)

Ends December 31st and we close at 1:30pm so get them in today!!!! We will help them with their goals to change their life forever 2013!!!

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