Wonderful, yet easy to make apple cake (sheet cake)

Wonderful, yet easy to make apple cake
Preperation time: ~20min

Ingredients:
Dough:
150 g of butter
160 g of sugar
4 eggs
1 pinch of salt
4 Tbs milk
1 pt vanilla sugar or  1tsp vanilla extract 
2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda
300 g of flour
3lbs apples or other fruit
Topping:
1 cup of sliced almonds
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preparation:

Wash, peel and slice the apples.

Preheat the oven to 350°.
Stir butter and sugar until fluffy, add in the eggs and beat until mixed properly. Continue adding the other ingredients and beat until you have a smooth dough. Spread the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or greased with butter. Set the apples in the dough and spread the topping equally across the pan.

Bake at 350° for about 35-40 minutes.

Home Workout Review!

Since I am "retired" from triathlons, my athletic ambitions consist of going to the gym and working out at home. I have only had a gym membership for the last few months so I have utilized a lot of home workouts up to that point.

FREE Nike Training Club app for the iphone

    This app is for men and women, even though there are only girls demonstrating the exercises. Here are some reasons why I love it so much:

- It has a ton of different routines that you can do for various athletic abilities, so you will never get bored. Routines last from 15 mins to 45 mins.

- It's quick and easy to get started with: choose a routine, review the exercises, gather equipment if any, and hit the start button.

- The points system and the workout rewards, i.e. a sports celebrity workout, keeps you motivated to keep going and maybe add on a 15 min ab workout to reach the next level!

- There is a short video clip with verbal instructions for every exercise, so you can review before you start or during your workout if you forgot how to do something.

Scooby's Workshop: Home Fitness and Bodybuilding Workouts

    This guy, Scooby, has a ton of videos on Youtube and a lot of information on his website. I love his youtube videos since they show correct weightlifting technique and how to do a lot of stuff at home. He has training plans for men and women of all levels on his website. His approach to exercising and nutrition is that less is more. He doesn't advocate the use of supplements or pricy workout gear.

Fitocracy

    I use this app to track all of my workouts. They have a large exercise database and also have a quest library. Like the Nike Training Club app, you can earn points by completing workouts and quests. You can join groups and compete in their challenges. A lot of the quests are things that you can do at home like burpees, planks, pull-ups, and body weight routines. You can also earn points for walking, hiking, and shoveling snow. This app is also free!

Bodyrock.TV

I used this program a lot once we first moved here but then kind of drifted away from it since the NTC workouts were better for me. It is still a great program and since the workout only last 15-20 minutes its even better for people who are short on time. They have greatly improved their website and info recently but the one thing that kind of turned me off from their workouts is that they use a lot of equipment in their workouts and it's not stuff that most people would have around the house. So if you choose not to purchase the equipment they use (which is how they make money) then you will have to modify the exercise but typically they show modifications for each exercise. They also show modifications for beginners.

Vegetable of the month: Leeks!

After seeing many people at the supermarkets here purchasing this lovely green and white vegetable, I decided that I needed to try them. They are a vegetable I had seen often, but I had never eaten it before. Recently I have started cooking more with them as they are plentiful here and inexpensive.

Leeks are in the same family with onions, garlic, scallions, and shallots. They have a mild onion flavor and won't overpower a dish. They are a good source of many nutrients such as: Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Folate, and Vitamin B6.

Leeks are easy to prepare and cook! The leeks I buy already have the long green fibrous leaves removed. All I have to do it trim the ends and wash them well. Sometimes they tend to have a small amount of dirt near the top of the vegetable. I typically make soup with leeks. They can also be added to a stock, braised with meat, or simply sauteed.

I encourage you to try leeks! They are easy to cook, have a great flavor, and are a good source of nutrients.

Click here for my recipe for leek and potato soup! Please share your favorite ways to eat leeks.

Leek and Potato Soup

Potato and leek soup

I had never eaten leeks prior to eating leek and potato soup at a restaurant recently. I loved it so much that I came up with this recipe. It tastes slightly indulgent and is filling without being a calorie bomb. 

Ingredients:

2.2 lbs of potatoes- rinsed, peeled, and sliced.

1 large yellow onion or 2 medium onions- chopped

3 medium leeks- trimmed, rinsed, halved, and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces.

2 TBS olive oil

6 cups broth

pepper to taste

1 TBS rosemary

1/2 cup chopped smoked ham (optional)

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add oil, onions, leeks, and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent and the leeks have cooked down some. Next add the broth and potatoes. If you are adding and ham or bacon then add it here too. Bring the broth to a boil and then reduce heat until potatoes are cooked through, about 10-15 minutes. Next blend the soup well using a blender or a immersion blender. Now the soup is ready to eat!

Other ideas:

-Add other vegetables. I had some broccoli that needed to be used and so I chopped it up and added it with the potatoes. 

- Top with lowfat sour cream or shaved cheese.

Potato, leek, and broccoli soup