Pancakes for breakfast on Sunday mornings have become a regular at our house! One of the great things about pancakes is that they can be made in so many different ways. You can also add things in to customize them for the many tastes of the family.
My favorite pancake recipe is with almond meal and oats. We always add a banana into the mix and then will add other fruit or chocolate chips for fun! On special occasions we get shipped cream too!
Another great thing about making pancake sis that the whole family can take part in making them! 

When you make pancakes, you don't' need to compromise on nutrition and they can actually be loaded with nutrients and good for you!  I recommend experimenting with flours. We really like buckwheat flour too.

My Go To Pancake Recipe
Ingredients-
1 ripe banana
2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup oats
1 egg
1 cup milk
1tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla
1 tsp coconut oil

Mash the banana into the bowl, add all other ingredients and stir. After spooning the batter onto the griddle add in fresh fruit or chocolate chips. Before serving top with whipped cream, peanut butter, or syrup. We usually just eat ours plain or with peanut butter.

Nina Pears

52 New Food Challenge

Have you heard of the 52 New Food Challenge? This is a book that introduces a family food challenge for the year. The challenge is to eat a new/different food each week of the year. You then keep track of the different foods you tried as a family and can talk about them and rate them.
I don't know about you, but if I put Kumquats on my child's plate and expected them to eat them, they wouldn't even try them because of the unknown factor. What are they? What do they taste like? Kids generally stay away from the unknown.
However, if you recognize that is something new and you have never tried it as a family before and even play around with different recipes, kids will be more apt to give it a try and may even love it! I love this idea and approach. Not only will it help my kids try new foods but it will encourage me to try new recipes and get out of the rut of making and eating the same exact foods on a weekly rotation.
I can not wait to try this! The book categorizes different foods by the season and maps it all out for you so you are not trying to figure it out on your own every week. However, I love to walk through the produce isle of Whole Foods with my kids and find unique things and buy them and try them!

I will be implementing this at our house! Does anyone want to join us? I would love to start a group to share recipes, reactions, and stories!

Please let me know if you are interested!
ninapears@hotmail.com

Nina Pears

Chili and Corn Bread clean eating sugar free

When it is cool outside and football is on, there is no better go to dish than chili and corn bread. There are a million types of chili and most are delicious, some are healthy.
This is a light chicken chili loaded with vegetables and super easy to make.

Put all ingredients int eh crock pot and cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8 hours

2 frozen chicken breasts
1 can black beans
2 cups fresh pico de gala
2 cups frozen corn
1 diced yellow aquash
1 diced zuchinni
1 cup diced sweet peppers
Optional- chili peppers it up

Before serving, take the chicken out and dice it up then add back tot the crock pot, stir and serve

can top with cheese and onions

Homemade Sugar Free Corn Bread
3/4 cup corn meal
1 1/2 cup almond flour
1 egg
2 tsp baking powder
dash salt
3 packets stevia 3 tsp stevia  Can be substituted with honey- 3 tsp honey 

Nina Pears

Raw Balls

One of my favorite things to do is look at ingredients and try to mimic a project but make it even healthier. This weekend, we purchased some raw balls. They are dried fruits and nuts rolled up into balls and are delicious. They are super expensive and also have agave and honey in them. They are similar to real fruit and nut bars. I love to experiment with these and have an easy healthy snack to grab on the go. We had a little time tonight and went through our pantry and created our own raw balls.
We made a few different kinds. The kids picked things they liked and experimented. The kids were able to be 100% hands on and helped in all aspects.
We didn't measure anything out. We just made an equal blend of all ingredients. It it turned out too sticky, we added more almond flour and if they were too dry, we added a little water to the mix.

1. In the food processor, blend unsweetened dried figs, almond flour, splash of water, cocoa powder, and coconuts. Blend until evenly blended. You could add oats too.
Then roll in to balls and roll in coconut. Everything we used was unsweetened.

2. In the food processor, blend unsweetened apricots, applesauce, cinnamon, and almond flour. You could add oats too. Blend until evenly blended.
 Everything we used was unsweetened.

3. In the food processor, blend oats, almond butter, applesauce, and cinnamon. Roll into balls.

We place them all on a pan lined with wax paper and freeze. You can eat them frozen or let them thaw for a couple of minutes first.

These are husband and kid approved and 100% guilt free!

Nina Pears

Crazy Mornings!

So much of my day happens before I even start my day at work.
I am up early and take advantage of every second I have. I love lazy mornigns and having the freedom to go at my own pace.
Unfortunately, those mornings only come once in a blue moon. Having 3 kids, animals, a husband is gone at least 3 morning in a row every week, and a job where the kids come with me to work means we have an all out sprint marathon every morning. Yes  a sprint marathon. No there is not such a thing but that is what our morning is. We go non stop like chickens with our heads chopped off from 5-8.
Every morning, I seem to learn something new or adjust our routine to try to make it more efficient than the day before.
Here are my tips to a stress free workout...
1. Set your alarm early enough so you have at least 5 minutes of quiet time to yourself- I make sure I can enjoy my first cup of coffee in peace in quiet
2. Try to get a workout in. You will start the day off on the right foot doing something for yourself and it will make the rest of the day so much better! 
3. Set out clothes the night before for yourself and the kids
4. pack lunches the night before
5. Have kids help!
    pack their own snack, make their own breakfast or help where they can, pack their own bag
6. Divide up morning responsibilities and chores amongst the kids. Everyone has a job in the morning.
7. No screen time.
8. Reading or homework time. It keeps them bust and engaged while you are scrambling to get everything ready. 
9. Have the kids get in the car 5 minutes before you are leaving. Then they will be in there for a minute while you do a final sweep to make sure everything is done and nothing is forgotten. And by the time you get to the car, the kids will be in it and ready to go.
10. Have a checklist of essentials by the door- backpack, lunch, snack, homework. Double check one last time before departure.

And the next part of the day can begin...

Nina Pears

Insanity Max 30- Month One progress and results

I am 30 days in to Insanity Max 30 which is the official half way mark. Let me remind you that I hate cardio and almost did not do this program because I was intimidated by the intensity. I am so glad I broke through my comfort zone and tried it. Then I am so glad I have an accountability group to post in everyday so I see it through. It make sit hard for me to walk away from the program when I have to check in everyday.
To be honest with you, the first week was hell. The whole program is based on pushing yourself as hard as you can. I felt if I was going to do it, I was going to go all out. Everyday was a mystery when it came to the workout. I didn't know what was coming next or how far I could go. There were times when I felt light headed and like I wanted to throw up because I was pushing myself to my max. That first week, the accountability group was key! I needed the support to keep me in it. When things are difficult for me, I have an easy time giving up.
After the first week, I started looking forward to this workout. I wanted to compete with my previous times and push myself even further. Everyday I did and I was able to see the gain in mental and physical strength. The moves that I thought were insane like diamond jump burpees or suicide burpees or scissor pushups were now doable and actually kind of fun because they were so out of the ordinary. I started counting how many I could do and making sure next time I pushed myself to do more. I also did whatever it took to beat my previous max out time. It was such a competition against myself like it should be. We really are our own and only competitors. There were some days that I had set backs and maxed out earlier than the previous week but that just pushed me even harder to beat it the next time.
After 1 month, I have gained so much strength. I measure it by my max out times. The cardio challenge acts as your fitness test each week. I increased my time by over minute during the first month. I also pushed myself harder each week to go faster or have better form. I saw the biggest increase in the Tabata workout. This workout is more strength based than cardio based and I increased my time by 15 minutes.
Physically, I can not believe the difference in definition. My muscles are so much more defined now all over my body. I notice it most in my abs and legs. Instead of just having thick legs, they look muscular and you can actually see the definition in my abs. I have lost 7 inches all over my body with the most significant loss in my thighs. I lost an inch and a  half in each thigh. 7 inches in a month is pretty crazy!
But most significantly, I feel great! I love this workout and how it makes me feel. Everyday I am able to see progress and crave the next day's workout!
I have also learned that this work out can be done at any fitness level. There is a modifier that does similar moves but with less intensity. You can also stop and go at your own pace after you max out which can be at 1 minute. If you want results and a battle against yourself, this is the workout for you!

beachbodycoach.com/ninapears
ninapears@hotmail.com

Nina Pears

REALsolution

I love this concept and article. Let's trade in resolutions for #REAlsolutions. Let's be real for a minute, we all make resolutions and they are usually health related but we never really have a clear plan on how to achieve our resolutions and we usually don't even have the right tools.

Take me as an example. I can make a resolution for 2015 and say I want to get in the best shape of my life. But what does that look like? I am already in pretty good shape so it would be easy to not push myself and just maintain. How am I going to get there. It is too vague to every really know if I achieve it and the vagueness also allows me to lose focus and give up on it and then it is another year making a meaningless resolution that I never see through. So how much muscle do you want to gain? How much weight do you want to lose? What exactly do you want to accomplish? What is the plan to get there?

My #realsolution is to get to 125lbs by 1/30/15. I plan to accomplish this by completing Insanity Max 30.

My fitness plan for the rest of the year is to run a half marathon this spring in under 2 hrs. Run a full marathon in the fall in under 4:20. Complete Insanity Max 30 by the end of January then jump into 21 Day Fix Extreme for February and then do Body Beast to gain some muscle.

The other piece of the puzzle is accountability. We need to hold ourselves accountable by looking at our plan often. Having an accountability partner to do it with is great too. Or having a coach to support you through.

For the month of January, we have some pretty great sales on the tools that will kick start your fitness or take you to the next level. I would love to share these sales with you and help you make 2015 the healthiest and happiest year! The journey is the most rewarding process not the destination. Let's start this journey!

http://www.teambeachbody.com/teambeachbodyblog/beachbody-programs/dont-make-new-years-resolution-make-realsolution?ICID=CT_BLOG_REALSOLUTION

ninapears@hotmail.com

Nina Pears