Did you dream about a burger?

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Malin

Whenever we are grilling burgers I always skip the bread as I am not really doing so good with it and t that’s ok but to be perfectly honest I do miss to be able to hold it and the texture of the bread. So I have finally been introduced to unmodified Potato Starch that apparently have been proven to improved insulin sensitivity, lower blood sugar levels, reduced appetite and various benefits for digestion just to mention a few. So I decided to try a recipe making burger buns and it was healthy and heavenly!

2 Eggs
1 pinch of salt
1/2 tablespoon unflavored coconut oil
1/2 dl water
1/2 dl coconut flour
0,5 dl unmodified potato starch
2 tablespoons psyllium husk
1 teaspoon baking powered
sesame seeds

How to:

Whisk the eggs until it’s fluffy. Add the coconut oil and the water and keep on wishing. Mix the rest of the ingredients and add to the eggs and keep on mixing. Let the “dough” rest for a few minutes before you wet your hands in water (so the dough don’t get stuck to your hands) and make small buns. Before placing in the over for 10 minutes at 300-350 F sprinkle sesame seed over them.

Patties

1 pound minced beef or your preferred protein

1 egg

garlic

oregano

Paprika powder

chili sauce

salt and pepper

chopped olives

Mix it all together and make patties, before placing them on the grill add your “grilling seasoning” and top off with your favorite toppings.

Hickory BBQ salmon with Horseradish infused vegetables

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Malin

This spring has been crazy hectic but yet full of fun and excitements but one thing that has been suffering is how I eat. I normally don’t eat anything with sugar or any vegetables that grows from under ground. The thing is that with all the guest we have had I have indulged in Swedish chocolate, homemade cinnamon rolls and much more that my body don’t do so well with (nor my weight). Anyhow now it’s time to clean up and get back on track so tonight I made an amazing salmon on the grill that for sure will enjoy more than once this summer.

Before I got started I soaked the hickory smoked wood chips in water and started the grill and was letting the chips get real hot so they would emit as much flavor as possible.

1 pound of salmon

salt and lemon pepper

Vegetables

Asparagus

Zucchini

Red onion

Red bell pepper

1 tablespoon of horseradish

2-3 tablespoons of butter.

Chop up the vegetables and melt the butter together with the horseradish and mix in a little salt and pepper. Brush the vegetables with the mix and grill together with the salmon.

Shrimp and fish roe farrago

1/2-1 cup of sour cream

1 crushed garlic clove

Dill

Fish Roe (I get this at my local sushi joint)

10-15 Shrimps

1 Red chili

Salt and white pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and let it “rest” in the fridge for half hour to an hour…Enjoy

The core is everything

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Malin

Being strong is one of the most wonderful feeling that I know and even if the journey can be painful there is few things that beats the feeling when you realize you can push your body to new limits. And as a house needs a strong foundation so does your body and therefore is he core one of the most important areas to strengthen (not only because you will look good in a bikini).

This is a few moves I did yesterday to strengthen my abs so I can do even more fun things at my yoga practice 😉

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I started out doing a slow pull in followed by as equal slow hip adductor and then finish off with a pushup. I did not have to do a crazy amount before I started feeling the nice familiar burn 😉

I kept on working my abs but did a different variation to get deeper into my shoulders and upper back. This was a pike from a shoulder stand…

From there I popped up to my hands and did another 10 pikes from the hands

To finish the series off I oblique crunches…from a push up position you swing your knees to the outside of your triceps alternating the sides.

What is your goal!

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Malin

What is in your grocery bags?

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Malin

I am a pretty good planner when it comes to what I am making for dinner but lately I have been working out of what I have had available in front of me. Then yesterday came and I finally sat down and planned my week ahead and went to my new favorite store Mariano’s and Costco and this is our first dinner.

Sweet Potato Soup with Coconut milk

1 big Sweet Potato

Ginger

Cumin

Chili flakes

Lemon Grass

2 cups of Water

1 cube of vegetable bouillon

1 can of Coconut Milk

Coconut Oil

a small “squeeze” of agave nectar

1 Sausage from Greenridge Farm

Chopped Cilantro

Direction: Boil the sweet Potato for about 5 minutes, drain and use a hand blender to make it into a smooth paste.

Fry the lemon grass, chili, cumin and ginger for a couple of minutes in the coconut oil.

Mix in the spice mix with the sweet potato, add the water, bouillon and coconut milk and let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes.

Fry the sausage and chop the cilantro. Serve the soup with sausage and cilantro…mmm

That is how a recovery run should go down!

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Malin

Oh gosh, this weekend has been really busy with one thing after another. The premier of “The Ghost Pirates” was at seven o’clock friday evening, all the kids had practice really hard and did an amazing job and Mira was really buzzing when she got off stage. She though it was so much fun so the next morning I found her totally dressed up with bright red lipstick and a pair of my highest heels on ready to bring on the world.

But in-between all the birthday parties, hockey and theater I managed to get my 7 miler in and it is amazing how your mind works. I mentioned my 4 mile recovery last Wednesday and it was sooo hard and I was disappointed because half way through it felt like it was never coming to an end.

This time around, I knew I was “turning” around at 3.5 mile and was running “home”. The only thing that gets me is the “sprint session” in the middle of the run, they are truly killers for the legs so for the rest of the afternoon it looked like I had **** in my pants…haha.

So when Sunday morning came around I had a choice to make…the 3 optional miles. The thing is optional is not really optional unless you hanging on by thread so I decided I was not going crazy. I took it nice and easy and I really enjoyed the brisk sunny morning not meeting a single soul on my first run of the season through the forest preserve! My legs were a bit stiff as expected but I went straight to a well deserved hot yoga session and what can be better for both the soul and the muscles to reach for your fullest potential to complete the workout week…this is truly how a recovery run should be like!

A recovery run should be easy, right?!

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Malin

This morning the alarm went off at 4.45, I was taking Knut to his early morning skate and although I was tired I knew what I had to do. I went down in the kitchen brewed my coffee, that is a must for me in the mornings and boiled my eggs. I was running around the house getting everything together and before I knew it I grabbed my coffee and it was time to leave. So I thought I have my eggs when I got home, no big deal.

But for all the parents out there you know how it goes when you are about to send the kids off to school. They need to get dressed, you have to pack their lunch, homework and so on, once again time slipped between my fingers and it was time to go to the bus. I had a busy morning in front of me so I put my head down and got to my business and it was not until my way to the gym I realized how hungry I was. It was just so odd because my egg breakfast normally last me until lunch and I remembered I had not yet eaten, the eggs was still in the pot on the stove…haha, what can you do?

I had to run and I was so excited knowing it was my 4 mile recovery run, I told Megan (my trainer) that this was going to be a walk in the park! I knew it was my own fault being so forgetful and I could blame no one. Also I have my pride to protect, right? So all I could do was to make the best out of it and pretend it was a recovery run knowing I had an amazing yoga session in front of me to stretch me out!

This is how it was supposed to feel like…

…but this is how it really felt…haha

Lets make oatmeal…hmm, delightful?!

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Malin

In our family it’s just Knut and me that really likes oatmeal and this was often on the menu as both my parents were working and would not have time to spend an hour in the kitchen.

Although oatmeal is not really a low-carb alternative it has a fairly low Glycemic Index and when adding flax seeds reduces the effect on blood sugar. So today after working out a fair amount and rushing out to fit the kids activities in this was a perfect alternative.

Oatmeal

1 cup oatmeal
2 tablespoons flaxseed
2 cups water
a pinch of salt
Milk

Strawberry jumminess

4-5 sliced fresh strawberries
a splash of water
a pinch of stevia

Directions: Bring oatmeal, flaxseed, salt and water to simmer and stir occasionally for about 2-5 minutes. In a different pot add strawberries, stevia and water and simmer for the same amount of time. Serve the oatmeal hot with strawberries and cold milk…you will be surprised!

It will be what you want it to be!

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Malin

This week has been a little slow and it seems like a lot of people is sick or feeling sluggish and I would guess it’s the weather change. This will only give excuse to the unwell but for the rust of us, we don’t have one!

As you probably have figures out by now I am training for 1/2 a marathon but this doesn’t mean I given up on weight lifting. I like to “feel” that I worked out the day before, yes I sort of thrive on being sore. The thing is, trying to get all the miles in we have planned for every week and being tight and sore is not necessarily a good combination. But to every problem there is a solution, right? And mine is called YOGA!

This hour gives me the opportunity to center myself, release all the tension in my muscles but also focus on the goals I have ahead of me. So yesterday when I was doing my first run of the week, 6 miles. 2 miles warm up then 20 sprints a 30 seconds then running normal pace and legging it the last 1/2 mile and it was tough. The wind was gusting in my face and my heart pounding at 185-190 beats/minute and I’m not lying, it felt like I was running in syrup. That is when I came back to that place I go to when I’m doing yoga. Again it doesn’t mean it stopped hurting but I knew that I could do it and so I did!

This is why I’m running the Chicago 1/2 marathon!

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Malin

I will never forget when my friend told me that she was suffering from Lam or its real name “Lymphangioleiomyomatosis”

We stood on the shore of Lake Michigan a warm summer evening of 2010. I was about to travel back to Sweden for 4 weeks when she explained she suffered from LAM, a rare type of lung cancer that destroys the lungs and makes it harder for the oxygen to enter into the blood stream. Oxygen therapy will help stabilizing the oxygen-blood levels although eventually a lung transplant is evident.

I was heartbroken, confused and angry and there was nothing I could do so this is why I am running the 1/2 marathon…I’m running for my friend and her life!

This is her story!

The year was 2004 and she just had her first son and had decide to get back to exercising. This was nothing new to her as she had always played soccer and always been living a healthy lifestyle. You know, that comes with being an athlete.

So when she started working-out she noticed a strange cough during exertion, she dismissed it as being out of shape after the pregnancy and went along with her normal life. Shortly after, she was excited to learn that she was pregnant again. When she tried to return to normal activity after the birth of her second son, she developed shortness of breath, coughing that produced blood, and severe abdominal pain just like a knife was stabbing her over and over again. One of these episodes landed her in the Emergency Room six months after her second son was born.

She was told she had LAM and leaving the doctor’s office, the first thing she did was google LAM. She learned that her “new disease – LAM” had a life expectancy of 8-10 years with no treatment or cure and she had a new born and a toddler at home! It was then that she was faced with the fact that she had a rare disease and that it would be a rough road ahead.

I’ve seen my friend doing really well but I have also seen her really sick and this is nothing I would wish upon anyone. The LAM foundation has done an amazing job researching and have come a long way since I met my her. They have found a drug that stabilizes LAM but it is not a treatment.

As scientists continue to find similarities between unconnected diseases, we know that successful research in LAM has led to discoveries that impact diabetes, heart disease and other cancers. I am raising money to increase awareness for LAM and to support the successful and tireless efforts of the LAM Foundation. I am running this marathon for my friend and for the over 3,000 women worldwide who have LAM and can’t run their own race.