Get full and get fit!

And just like that Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is less than a month away! What a funny holiday Thanksgiving is… don’t you think? We spent all day cooking huge portions of food dosed with butter and cream and other ingredients that are really good for us (NOT) and then we eat, drink, pass out and go to bed just to wake up the next morning to leftovers and do it all again! Still got turkey? Sick of looking at it? I’m right there with you so I decided to use up all my leftovers and make turkey pot pies and freeze them for when I’m feeling like getting full again!

Picking an outfit for Thanksgiving is so fun… when you’re the chef!

Speaking of feeling full, I still am. We had taco night last night featuring….. you guessed it…. TURKEY! I’m over it! I still feel a little bloated (I wonder why?!) so I kicked my butt into high gear this morning with these short circuit exercises below. You can do these anywhere- your garage, living room, outdoor patio- wherever! These are short workouts with tall results and I promise you’ll get all that pie off your thigh in a matter of days! If you don’t recognize some of these moves below, just Google them. And don’t forget to stretch… yoga is a great way to balance any hard workout especially because you’ll use muscles you hardly ever use when lifting weights and running etc. Come take my class, I literally teach all over town!

Turkey Taco Night!

___________________________

CIRCUIT ROUTINE ONE- FAT BURNING- repeat 3 times

-Jump rope x 100

-Jump Lunges with Oblique Twist x 20 (twist into front leg)

-Pike Push-Ups x 10

-Oblique Side Plank x 15 each side

-Wide Push-Ups x 10

-Walking Lunges with Butt Kick x 20

-Tricep Push-Ups x 10

-Down Dog to stretch

____________________

CIRCUIT ROUTINE TWO- UPPER BODY- repeat 3 times

-Run 10 minutes

-Supermans x 15

-Tricep Chair Dips x 20

-Pile Jump Squats x 20

-Forearms, Forearms, Hands, Hands x 20

-Ball Taps with feet in the air x 30

-Power-walk 10 minutes

___________________

CIRCUIT ROUTINE THREE-AB BURNOUT-300 reps!

-30 crunches

-20 bicycle crunches

-30 toe touches

-20 reverse crunches

-15 side plank hip lifts-right side

-30 crunches

-15 side plank hip lifts-left side

-40 Russian twists

-30 bicycle crunches

-15 oblique v-ups-right side

-20 reverse crunches

-25 oblique v-ups-left side

-10 leg lifts

_____________________

Phew! You made it! Now back to food! This is a quick and easy recipe and you can literally use whatever you have leftover from the big day to create these pies. I wish I could say I actually made the pie crusts, but I am lazy and they were on sale for $2.50 (and you get two) so why waste precious time when you can get them frozen? So un-chef’s wife but I’m fine with it, really. We had a lot of green bean casserole and butternut squash leftover so I tossed them into this recipe too but left out the cranberries and scalloped potatoes… I’ll eat those later on the side!

_______________________

Turkey Pot Pies- makes two pies

Ingredients:

-2 frozen pie shells

-2 cups leftover turkey, chopped into small pieces

-1 cup leftover green bean casserole

-1 cup butternut squash

-1 8oz. package of peas, thawed

-5 celery sticks, chopped finely

-3 carrots, chopped finely

-1/2 red onion, chopped finely

-3 cups leftover gravy

-phyllo dough for lattice (optional)

-1 beaten egg (for top of pie)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375.

2. Chop all up the vegetables and turkey and add them to a large bowl. Mix well.

3. Pour the mixture into 2 pie shells.

4. Then heat up your gravy and pour on top, covering most of the mixture.

5. For a lattice crust, follow the steps below in the apple pie recipe or just take the other frozen crust and place it on top, cinching the sides.

6. Place in the oven for 60 minutes or until the crust begins to brown.

7. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving…. Gobble Gobble!

_______________________

Lastly, I want to share with you the “dessert” pies I made over Thanksgiving. I used my Gram’s famous apple pie recipe and added pomegranates into the dish which turned out lovely! Not only was it pretty to look at, it was pretty good tasting too!

_________________________

Apple Pomegranate Pie- makes two large pies

Ingredients:

– 8 large apples (I used a variety of Cortland and Granny Smith)

-seeds from 3 large pomegranates

-3/4 cup light brown sugar

-3/4 cup white sugar

-2 T cinnamon

-1 T each nutmeg, apple pie spice and ground ginger

-1 egg beaten (for top of pie)

-2 pie shells (I used the frozen kind… don’t judge!)

-phyllo dough for lattice topping (optional)