Month: May 2015

EOM Fitness for May 2015

May 2015 has come to an end and June will be here in a couple of days.  I don’t know if it is because of all the end of school year stuff going on with my kids or what but this month flew by, in my opinion.  My workout schedule for the past month was down to four days per week instead of five or six.  I decided to dial it back a little and do like a Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday schedule this past month.  workout cat with band

 

yoga journal magazine with great yoga practices and other info

This past month I also decided to change things up by using my Core workout book along with a new Yoga Journal Magazine I bought back in April.  I did do a couple of my Cathe workouts from an older dvd set X-train.  I love my Cathe workouts and usually include at least a couple each month.

Core workout book

I think I bought the Core workout book many years ago either at Half Price Books or Sams.  I really like this book and how there are routines at the end to do like the one shown above, the Power Workout routine.  The book uses an exercise ball, medicine ball, some weights and an exercise band for some of the exercises.  I like that there is minimal equipment.  It was nice to do these routines and put on some good music to workout to while doing them.  As you can see by the top photo the cat likes the book and workouts in there as well.  He was usually sitting by the band or on the book when I had it opened up.

Core Strength Training book

The other book I used this month along with the Core book was the one above, Core Strength Training.  I checked this one out from my local library.  I like how this book is set up and explains the exercises and there are detailed color photos, too.  I was trying to do at least four of the exercises on the days I was using my Core book.  There are lots of great exercises to increase your mobility and strengthen your abs and back for everyday activities as well as sports like golf.  I pointed this out to my husband since he golfs a lot and he frequently gets out my weights or bands to do a few exercises the day before he goes golfing.

This past month I have also been using a couple of other new books I recently bought at Barnes and Noble.  The first book I bought a couple of months ago, it is called Raw Energy by Stephanie Tourles.  I just stumbled across this book while actually trying to find another book and loved all the recipes in there.  Everything is made with healthy and wholesome ingredients and most of them are pretty simple to make.  The concept is that everything is made with raw natural ingredients and nothing is cooked at a high temperature so the food retains the natural occurring enzymes.  There are a few recipes that use a food dehydrator but nothing is cooked over 175 degrees.  This interested me since my husband bought a dehydrator about eight months ago to dehydrate the hot peppers we grow every year.  I wanted to be able to use the dehydrator for more than that and apples which is about all we had tried.

Raw Energy book by Stephanie Tourles

This book contains recipes for cereals, dips, fruit and vegetable juices, nut milks, smoothies and a variety of snacks.  I have already made several recipes from this book and they were all good.  At the front of the book she explains the raw concept in detail and lists the equipment and ingredients you will need to make things in the book.  The author, Stephanie Tourles, has also written a few aromatherapy and body care books and I own two of those as well.  I knew when I saw this book it would be good and I have not been disappointed with it.

Power Hungry book

The other book I just bought a few weeks ago is called Power Hungry by Camilla V. Saulsbury.  Again this was a book I just stumbled upon at Barnes and Noble while searching for another book that I never found.  This book is all about making your own Cereal, Energy and Protein Bars with lots of variations within each recipe to create a different type of bar.  So far I have tried a few and liked them.  There are some recipes that require cooking some of the ingredients on the stove top or even baking some of them in the oven for a few minutes but there are also some raw recipes that do not require baking or cooking.  I also like how she classifies some of them as knock off recipes for things like Fiber One bars, Kind Bars and Larabars.  I know I have found, and even tried, some of these types of recipes from pinterest but they have not been as good as the ones in this book.  This book is worth the money if you are interested in making your own good quality bars with natural ingredients.  Also, there are tips in the book on storing the bars and how long they keep or can be frozen for, etc.

Well, so far it has been very rainy here so I have not been able to get out and ride my bike or swim like I normally do in May.  Maybe June will bring some sunshine so I can start biking to the store again and start swimming some for some exercise.  As far as my planned activities go I will probably stay with a 4 day a week schedule and plan to do weight training and yoga for this coming month.  What are your workout plans for June?

Have a good weekend!

-Kimberlee

 

Baking Homemade Bread

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This past month I have been baking a lot of homemade bread.  While I have always made homemade breads I mainly used my bread machine with the dough cycle and then baked them in the oven.  After checking out a new book from the library, called Make Ahead Bread by Donna Currie I have decided I like using my Kitchen Aid Mixer (which is 21 years old by the way and a wedding gift from my aunt) to create some really great homemade bread that my whole family seems to love.

Oatmeal Honey Date Bread

The first recipe I tried from the Make Ahead Bread book was this Oatmeal Honey Date Loaf.  This bread is so good toasted in the morning for breakfast, especially with a homemade walnut butter or almond butter.  I also used some of the leftover slices that were getting a few days old to make french toast that was another great breakfast.

Oatmeal Honey Date Loaf

The concept of this book, Make Ahead Bread, is really simple and makes baking homemade bread manageable for anyone, even those who have a busy schedule.  Basically you make up the bread in your mixer with a dough hook the day or evening before, let it rise once for about an hour, then shape it into your loaf or place in a bread pan.  After those steps you then refrigerate the bread where it continues to slowly rise some more, take it out the next morning or approximately 24 hours later and then bake according to the directions.

There are lots of great recipes in this bread book that go beyond a normal loaf of bread.  The book has recipes for buns and rolls as well as flatbreads, pizza crust and pastries.  There are also some recipes for what to use the leftover bread for and some spreads and nut butters, too.  So far I have made the loaf above as well as Sourdough Rye Bread, White Wheat Loaf and the Hamburger Buns recipes.  All of them have turned out great.  I like the book so much and the recipes that I have tried that I decided to buy it so I now have my own copy.

I have also discovered that using good quality flours and other ingredients is crucial to having the bread turn out well.   A few weeks ago I decided to break down and pay the extra couple of dollars for the Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour instead of the other bread flour I was buying at the grocery store.  I love this bread flour!  If you go to the Bob’s Red Mill site you can get a coupon for a dollar off.

Artisan Bread Flour from Bob's Red Mill

There was a recipe on the label of it that I also tried and have made twice now called the Amish Country Loaf.  This bread is a basic white bread recipe and it makes two loaves but I decided to make some of the dough into sandwich buns that turned out good.

Amish Country Loaf Bread

Amish Country Loaf

 

Recipe for Amish Country Bread from Artisan Bread package

Above is the recipe from the package of the Artisan Bread.  It is a very simple recipe with just a few ingredients and it tastes wonderful.

21 year old Kitchen Aid Mixer

The above photo is of my Kitchen Aid mixer.  This mixer was one of the best wedding gifts and I am so thankful to my aunt who bought it for us 21 years ago.  It is still a workhorse (with a few scratches) and it is trying some new things now that we have bought the meat grinder attachment and the ice cream attachment – both work well.  I have not bought ice cream in a few months now and it is very easy to make your own with the kitchen aid attachment – the key to it is to make sure you keep the mixer bowl for the ice cream in the freezer all the time and to make sure you add cold ingredients to it when making the ice cream.  I find that it is still soft, kind of like soft serve ice cream, after 20 minutes of churning but once you freeze it for couple of hours it firms up.

I have recently checked out another bread baking book out from the library called The Big Book of Bread from Betty Crocker.  I tried the french bread recipe from there today and we will be having it with dinner tonight.  This book has a lot of various yeast bread recipes as well as quick breads, coffee cakes and muffins and gluten free recipes, too.  I foresee another book purchase in my future since I really like a lot of the interesting recipes in this book.  There are also recipes for using your bread machine.

I am so glad I have gotten more use out of my Kitchen Aid dough hook.  I use the mixer all the time with the regular mixer attachment or the whisk attachment but have not used the dough hook much at all in the past 20 years.  The dough hook is now making up for lost time in the past few weeks.

Do you have a Kitchen Aid Mixer and if so what are your favorite things to make with it?  Also, if you have a good bread recipe let me know about it in the comments.

Have a great day!

-Kimberlee

 

Asymmetrical Knit Wrap Pattern

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This knit wrap is a fun and easy design I recently finished.  This is a free pattern that I am sharing on my blog.  It is the perfect project for an advanced beginner.

asymmetrical knit wrap pattern from Kimberlees Korner

Asymmetrical Knit Scarf or Wrap  – click on this highlighted link for the free pattern.

I originally saw a wrap like this on pinterest about a month ago.  The pattern was a free pattern on Ravelry but it was written in another language – there was an English version but I was not sure I understood the way it was written – even the person who wrote it said their English wording might not be so easy to understand.  So, I decided to create my own version using a worsted weight wool and acrylic yarn.

The yarn I knitted my wrap in was from Knit Picks – Chroma Worsted in the color Theatre.  I have had in in my stash for at least six months now.  If you decide to use that same yarn the pattern will take 2 1/2 skeins but you will need to buy three, obviously.  If you use another worsted weight you will need approximately 575 yards.  back of asymmetrical wrap from Kimberlees Korner

This accessory can also be worn as a scarf, doubled around the neck for warmth.

Asymmetrical scarf or wrap pattern from Kimberlees Korner

Click on the highlighted text of the pattern name above for the free pdf pattern.  You can also find the free version of this pdf pattern on Craftsy.

I hope you enjoy the pattern – happy knitting!

 -Kimberlee