Greedy Girls Guide

I was surfing around looking for something new to cook and post this week and rand into this great low calorie and low fat Beef Stroganoff recipe on www.cookingdonelight.com. I don’t eat beef so I will substitute the beef   for cubed Turkey cutlets or Turkey Meatballs, but i love the use of portabella mushrooms in this recipe and using  yogurt to substitute for sour cream.

Enjoy

Light Beef Stroganoff

A classic, Russian culinary masterpiece revamped into a low calorie, low fat, and delicious dinner. The Portobello mushrooms called for in this recipe have an unbeatable meaty texture that makes them well worth the few extra cents they will cost you to make this dish. However, if you can’t find Portobellos, another type of mushroom will work just fine.

This low calorie rendition of this traditional dish will “blow you away” with it’s rich, creamy, full-bodied flavor. Unlike it’s “traditional” counterpart, this meal eliminates the heavy cream and butter (therefore eliminating a bunch of unnecessary fat and calories) – but the taste won’t let you down! Family members and dinner guests, alike, will NEVER suspect that is a healthy dish.

1 pound boneless beef top sirloin steak

1 large onion, cut lengthwise and thinly sliced

1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt

1/2 cup fat free sour cream

3 tablespoons chopped chives, divided

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ketchup

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon olive oil

6 ounces portobello (or button, cremini, or baby bella) mushrooms, sliced

3-1/2 cups wide whole wheat noodles (or egg noodle, if you prefer)

Cook the pasta according to the package directions; while pasta cooks, start the beef.

Cut the beef into strips or chunks and set aside.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and place it over low heat; once warm add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes (or until tender). Remove the onion from the skillet and set aside.

Combine the yogurt, sour cream, 2 tablespoons chives, flour, ketchup, mustard, salt and pepper in small bowl; set aside.
Heat the teaspoon of oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and mushrooms and cook (stirring very frequently) for 3 to 4 minutes or until beef is lightly browned; return the onion to skillet with the beef and mushroom and reduce the heat to low. Stir the yogurt mixture into the skillet until well blended and slightly thickened (about 2 minutes). Serve over the noodles, sprinkled with the remaining tablespoon of chives.

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Makes 4 servings. Per Serving: 246 calories, 6 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 22 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 0 g added sugar, 22 g protein, 206 mg sodium, 62 mg cholesterol

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Week of 9/28/09

A  magazine round-up wouldn’t be complete I didn’t  throw in something about the great contest our favorite magazines like to throw every few months. In October Women’s Heath is giving away an Eco Prize Everyday of the month. See Women’s Health October 2009 Issue p 20 for more detail,

Get a Motivations Makeover (Self- September 2009 p. 129)

This is a great quiz article. First you take a short 7 question quiz then based on your answers you calculate what motivates your diet and weight loss habits the most. Each motivation type also gives you tips on how to improve based on your motivators

Nutritional Scoops: Organic Investment (Women’s Heath October 2009 p. 30)

This quick feature gives you an idea what fruits are worth buying organic, and which are not. I’ll save you the time reaching for this one according to their research:

• Buy Organic- Apples, Grapes, Pears, and Cauliflower
• Don’t bother with Organic Winter Squash, cranberries, sweet potatoes, and broccoli

Lace up for Better Life (Shape Magazine October 2009 p. 136)

We all know that weight and long term health benefits of exercise but this article points out 10 additional benefits, from better memory to improved work performance.

What Michelle Wants (Women’s Health October 2009 p 129)

Love or hate her husband’s politics, you can deny the fabulously fit body of Michelle Obama. Arguably the healthiest role model we’ve had in the white house in over a decade, in this article Michelle does an exclusive interview with Women’s Magazine. She discusses her motivator for her love of sports, talks abut the healthy snacks she leaves around the white house’ and of course an MO interview would not be complete without a peak at her Ultimate Arm Workout.

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In honor of my favorite show’s (Grey’s Anatomy) 2 hour season premier on Thursday my Inner Fat Couch Potato (IFCP) decided to make her fall appearance and boy it was quite a show.

First let me tell you who my IFCP is. My Inner Fat Couch Potato is the little something in me that would rather watch reality TV than take a walk, would rather eat chocolate cake than carrot sticks, and who is afraid of all things diet and fit. LOL, sounds familiar everyone has an inner Fat Couch Potato. My IFCP is my number one reason for increased weight gain in the fall and winter seasons.

And like all things my Inner Fat Couch Potatoes has a season, and a mine is Fall. After an active summer of longer days, weekend excursions, outdoor sports and play; my inner Fat Couch Potato can’t wait for the season premiers of all my favorite shows when I’ll be glued to television not move much more than my finger to click the remote.

Thursday during an amazing Grey’s Anatomy Premier my inner Fat Couch Potato made her premier too. It was horrible during the course of a 2 hour show I ate dinner (not bad, baked chicken and rice), 2 glasses of wine, hummus and pita chips, there was nothing sweet in the house so I had a bowl of cereal, a 100 cal snicker, and then I topped it off with 2 Lindt chocolate truffles. My only saving grace here is that I cut down the amount of junk food I keep in the house, but even 5 “healthy items in 2 hours time is still horrible. By he time the 11:00 News came on I felt like a horrible glutton and to top it off it was time for bed so then I didn’t even do much to work it all off.

If I keep this up this will be me by Sweeps Week:

So, after such an explosive IFCP season premier I decided  to put together a list of things that I can do to combat my Inner Fat Couch Potato so she won’t ruin my waist line while I’m enjoying my shows.

1. I’m going to work out before the show. No more waiting by for the 9pm show to start I’m committing to get in at least 30mins before any night with the Tube and note this is in addition to my normal workouts.
2. Get off the couch and sit on my balance ball. Just sitting on your balance ball engages you core, so sitting on he ball while you enjoy your shows gives you a much better benefit than sitting on the Couch.
3. Rid the house of snacks. I’ve already done a good job of this as you can tell from Thursday but I need to keep up the good work and don’t turn to things like cereal when there is nothing better to eat.
4. Last walk or run in front of the tube. It’s OK to watch television while working out especially if the alternative is sitting on the couch. You should still dedicate some TV-less workout time when you can fully concentrate and focus on your workout. But, to burn a few extra calories try walking in place during the show and maybe grabbing you hand weights during commercials.

Greedy Girls’ Fans that’s my plan for fighting back my Inner Fat Couch Potato, wish me luck. Preparation is key, so take a moment to devise your own plan and let us know how you deal with yours

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As you know I read a lot of health and fitness magazines, from time to time I like to highlight some of the articles, workouts, recipes, etc. here on The Guide, I’ve gotten a great response from some of the things I’ve posted and decided to start a weekly posting to bring you more about the great articles that are out there. So for the next few weeks I’ll be posting my Monday Magazine Round-up highlighting some of the great articles I’ve read throughout the week and whenever possible lining to the sites where you can read them for free . Tell me how you like this new feature and of course I’ll keep it going. Enjoy

Week of 9/22/09

Beauty All Stars- (Fitness Magazine- October 2009 p 32)I love all of these yearly beauty awards every time I see them in one of my fav magazines I jump at the Article. I’ve found plenty of great new products over years after reading these beauty awards. Here are a one that peeked my interest in this year’s Fitness Beauty Awards; Best Make Up Remover- Wet and Wild $1.99. Just when I was about to by the Mary Kay version for $18 at $1.99 this is defiantly worth the try.

Sole Search-(Fitness Magazine- October 2009p 77) Fall must be get new sneakers time both Fitness Mag and Self Magazine (Find Your Sole Mate- September 2009 p 144) had articles highlighting the importance of getting the right shoes and giving you a little quiz to determine what’s the best shoe for you. Although the Self article gave more shoes shopping options, the article in Fitness Mag was a letter more comprehensive and the terms and advice were closer to what I experienced in my own recent sneaker shopping excursion where I got a professional assessment of my feet and running (more to come about this on the guide)

Self Healthy Food Awards (Self Magazine September 2009 p81) Just like beauty awards I lie food awards too. This round –up is more in line with my fav books Eat This Not That. Self goes through 5 major food groups and rates the best of everything from Yogurt to Coffee.

Your Firm Abs Formula (Self Magazine September 2009 p 101) This page is part of larger Reach Your Goal segment Self is doing but I particularly enjoyed this sections because it gave you great cardio workouts you can do in either 20, 40, or 60 mins on the bike, walk, run or elliptical to whittle your middle. It also has a little box that highlights foods that help prevent belly fat with an eating plan on page 108.

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Here’s Part 2 of my Workout Hairstyles series, today’s post is for relaxed straight hair.  This is a great style if you have a perm, new color, or for any reason want to keep your hair secure and out of the way while you workout.  I focus on African American or Ethnic hair because that’s what I have but these styles can work well for a variety of hair types.

Over the years I have struggled with the dreaded issue of  what to do with my hair when I workout, because of  the frequent sweating and need for washing even a mild fitness routine  can cause a lot of damage to hair especially for African American women .

I’ve found a few styles that have helped with this issue so I thought I would share these here with my Greedy Girls Fans in hopes of helping others get through their workout hair issues. Since I wear my hair in different ways they require different workout styles I have decided to break this up into a 3 part series to look at how to style varying textures.

Check out the other post in the series:

• Part 1- Curly Natural Hair
• Part 3- Don’t do this to your hair

I hope you enjoy feel free to let us know how you style your hair for workouts.

Technorati Tags: african american, african american hair, avoid damage, ethnic black, ethnic hair, exercise, Exercise workout, fitness. sweating out, hair issues, hair style, maintain hair, relaxed hair, straight hair, sweat, women, workout hair

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