Venus Crossing with Liss

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Hobo Packet Dinner

This meal is a blast from the past for me. I grew up making it over the campfire at summer camp. And with my mom at girl scout campouts (she was the troop leader). One day recently, it came to mind randomly and I knew I had to make it for my kids. So this is my take without the campfire, and the results are just as good as I remember! Bonus points for being super healthy, has great macros, and is downright delicious.

Got my hands on the new (ish) Quest Blueberry Muffin protein bar! This one is my hands down favorite new bar in a LONG time! 5 stars 💪💪💪💪💪 It was amazing both room temp OR warmed up for 30 sec in the microwave. I want to buy more to bake out into cookies; I bet they would taste just like blueberry muffins. Go try this one ASAP!

SCORED at GNC this past week; all this for $75!!!! Got the Quest bars for $11 PER BOX, that is less than $1 per bar and they normally run about $2.50 each. Got the box of ON bars free for buying the 5 lbs container of ON whey. Combining coupons and offers for the win. I saved at least 50%! Boom!

Side lying external shoulder rotation - a tiny weight is very effective here! I did 3 sets of 8 with a 5 lbs plate and am sore! That is a foam roller under my arm but you could use anything on hand.

When you're trying to flex your back for #flexfriday but your glutes get you off task 😂 I do put a lot of work in back there!

New hair ❤ ashy silver "bronde", channeling my inner Daenerys Targaryen (if you read the books, the show got her so wrong)!

Alright, so onto the recipe. I had help from my #1 assistant, my daughter. She was a big fan of this recipe and loves that she can pretty much do all of it herself while I ~~work~~ observe ;) we have made it serveral times now and I think it will stay in regular rotation! P.S. Most recently I tossed some spinach over my packet when it came out, and it was a lovely addition of greens!

Hobo Packet Dinner

serves 1 (easy to scale up and down)

Ingredients:

4 oz lean ground beef (I used 85%/15%)

1 red potato, sliced

1 medium carrot, chopped (or baby carrots, chopped)

0.25 cups onion, sliced

1 tbsp all-purpose meat seasoning (I used Chupacabra)

Foil

Optional- 1 cup fresh greens (I used spinach)

Directions:

Prehet oven to 400*F. Tear a piece of foil about 12" long. Form meat into patty and place into center. Top with potatos, carrots, and onions. Sprinkle seasoning on top. Fold foil into packet, place on cookie sheet. Bake in ovenn for 45 minutes. If you want to add the greens, throw them on top of the vegetables in the packet as soon as they come out of the oven. Enjoy!

Totally forgot to get a pic with the spinach on top! *Imagine* it, k? Haha!

Nutritional Facts per serving:

If you have picky eaters, this might be one a recipe where they will actually eat their vegetables ;)

X-Liss

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Flat Out Skinny Pizza

So I grabbed these Flat Out wraps the other day at the store. The nutrition was spot on: 90 cals and 9g protein!

And they have been so handy since then. I have used them for this pizza recipe I am about to share (my favorite use), burrito/taco night, and for a wrap for crack chicken.

Our new 1000 lbs rated flat bench for the home gym! Because I sort of, ummm, broke the edge of the other one doing 300 lbs hip thrusts off of it

#gymproblems

Finally got my hands on the new(ish) @questnutrition Rocky Road protein bar. It was not my favorite room temp, prefer white chocolate raspberry or coconut cashew for that. It was DANG good in the microwave for 30 sec then topped with a tbsp on PB on top though ;)

Glute march! Super duper glute pumper. Also a great isometric glute exercise to ensure equal cheeks ;) do in higher rep ranges. I did 3 sets of 20 each side.

Well I was hoping to get to tell you TOP SECRET Venus news today, but I gotta wait. So instead here are my legs, I think this may be the most definition I have ever seen to date! All from the Venus workouts (and of course our nutrition calculator) WOOT! And know all of us here at Venus are working extra hard to bring you something SUPER exciting in the near future!

Flat Out Skinny Pizza

Serves 1

Ingredients:

... feel free to add toppings of choice, I decided on a few olives too at the last minute ;)

Directions:
On a non-stick cookie tray, lay out your flat bread and cover with pizza sauce. (My kids and hubby used the personal size thin crust for this.) Spread out your greens over the pizza sauce then your pepperoni, top with cheese. Bake at 400 F for about 10 minutes. (I had a special helper, who loved this dinner btw!) Enjoy!

Nutritional facts:

373 calories

Pretty good macros for a huge serving of pizza huh?!
X- Liss

Sunday, January 8, 2017

2 Minute Pumpkin Pie

I am still on a pumpkin kick, y'all. It is still cold right? I think I am good until at least spring break haha!

This recipe is THE ticket though- 5 ingredients plus 2 minutes and you have a tasty protein-filled dessert. YES! 233 calories and 19 grams of protein. BOOM!

Anyway, I got this new Quest Nutrition Protein Cereal bar the other day in the waffle flavor. The calories are super low and the calorie to protein ratio is perfect! It screamed out it needed to become a pie crust though, and so I got to thinking. Thus, this recipe was born!

Since I ran out of cereal bars though, I have to admit, I have made just the pie several more times without the "crust". It is THAT good. Seriously, tastes like the real deal!

I have a few new videos for you before we get to that recipe ;)

American deadlift - so good for high reps and glute pump!
*Stop at knee level, feels like a traditional deadlift on the way down
*When you come up, contract your glutes to drive upward
*At the top, really drive your pelvis forward with your glutes. It almost feels like a hip thrust.
I like to do 2-3 sets of these for 21 reps.

Overhead press PR! Did not go up in weight but got 2 reps in instead of 1! On overhead press, be sure to squeeze your glutes. I know it sounds weird bit it works!

Happy #flexfriday :)

Left was almost 3 years ago in Boise when my bestie Coach Jenny and I had just started working for Venus ❤ Right is this morning during workout when I realized I had on the exact outfit! Maintenance is a tricky game but Venus helped me figure it out. The only program I know that does teach that VERY critical part. What is the point in getting into great shape if you can't keep it?

Alright, so onto that recipe. It is SO simple, just a handful of ingredients!

2 Minute Pumpkin Pie

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 large, Egg

1 bar, Quest Cereal Protein Bar - Waffle Flavored (I think the cinnamon one would be good too!)

0.50 cup, Pumpkin Puree

3 tsp (0.5g), granular Stevia (can sub sweetener of choice)

0.25 tsp, Spices, pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Spray individual sized ramekin or bowl with non-stick cooking spray. Crumble your Quest cereal protein bar into the bottom in bite sized pieces. In another small bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients then pour over the protein bar. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. I topped mine with a little plain fat-free Greek yogurt. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:

Nutrition Facts
Servings 1.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 233
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 10 g	16 %
Saturated Fat 4 g	20 %
Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 196 mg	65 %
Sodium 241 mg	10 %
Potassium 122 mg	3 %
Total Carbohydrate 29 g	10 %
Dietary Fiber 7 g	28 %
Sugars 12 g
Protein 19 g	39 %
Vitamin A	75 %
Vitamin C	6 %
Calcium	15 %
Iron	13 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.