Finding Food, Fitness, and Fun on the Internet

I have been completely devoid of creativity the last few days. I always turn to the internet for recipe and workout inspiration, but usually I like to put my own twist on things. Not this week; this week, I don’t want to have to think at all. I want every last step plotted out for me. Luckily, there are a ton of brilliant bloggers out there who make it easy to do a quick search and find exactly what I’m in the mood for when it comes to both food and fitness.

Food

• I saw this Sweet Potato, Sausage, and Sweet Potato Hash from So Good Paleo on Carrots’n’Cake and made it the very next day. It was healthy, simple, and flavorful, and the leftovers tasted just as good as the dish did on the first day.
• Whenever my husband and I go out for Chinese and there’s Mongolian Beef on the menu, it’s his first choice, so when I saw a crockpot version on Very Culinary, it was a no-brainer. I used about half the cornstarch the recipe called for and replaced the white wine with chicken broth because I didn’t want to open a bottle for only a quarter of a cup. I ate it over roasted spaghetti squash with some onions and peppers, and it was a big hit with both me and Cesar.
• I made these scrumptious Cake Batter Energy Bars from Chocolate Covered Katie. I didn’t use the sprinkles, so mine are nowhere near as cute as hers are, but they taste fantastic. I don’t think they are going to last very long in this house because I find myself cutting off tiny pieces pretty much every time I walk by the refrigerator.

Fitness

• During the first few intervals of this Treadmill Torture from One Fit Foodie, I was thinking to myself that the recovery periods were longer than necessary; then I got a little deeper into the workout, and I quickly realized I was wrong. As much as I love distance running, I also really love spending less than 25 minutes on the treadmill and still feeling like I got in a quality workout. This routine definitely gave me that feeling of accomplishment.
• This Burpee Blast Upper Body Workout from JillFit.com pretty much rocked my world. It was 20 minutes of intense, focused, heart-pounding, muscles-on-fire awesomeness. I will be using the Compact Chain concept that the workout utilizes when I come up with some of my own workouts in the future.

This song has been the soundtrack for much of the time I’ve spent in both the gym and in the kitchen this week. I’m a tiny bit obsessed with it at the moment.

Sometimes I really wonder how I ever survived without the internet…