Eggs in Purgatory

with marinated mozzarella

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup each finely diced onion and red bell pepper

¼ cup minced garlic

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz.)

1 can diced tomatoes

Salt and Pepper to taste

6 eggs

4 oz. marinated mozzarella (look for Cappiello brand)

Or use fresh mozzarella sprinkle lightly with garlic salt to marinate.

DIRECTIONS:

Sauté onion, bell pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes in oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until soft. About 5 minutes

Add crushed and dices tomatoes, bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Crack eggs on top of sauce, cover and poach until whites are set but yolks are still soft, about 5 minutes.

Preheat broiler with oven rack 6-8 inches from element.

Divide eggs and sauce into serving dish (like a ramekin style baking cup) Or you can just leave them in the pan. Top each egg with cheese, transfer to the oven on a baking sheet, and broil until cheese is golden, about 2-3 minutes. Serve immediately 

Zucchini Boats

Zucchini Boats

Now you don’t have to lock the door and hide behind the couch when the neighbors come by to pawn their “abundant” crop of extra-large zucchini’s! Make zucchini lasagna!

Ingredients

1 large zucchini, cut in half lengthwise

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 1/2 pounds ground beef sirloin

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 tablespoon dried basil

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 (26.5 ounce) jar Prego spaghetti sauce, divided

2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Scoop out and discard zucchini seeds, leaving the hollowed-out shells. Sprinkle the garlic salt into the hollowed-out zucchini, and set aside. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a mixing bowl, mix the ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs, basil and Parmesan cheese together with the onion mixture. Stuff the zucchini halves with the meat mixture, and place them into a baking dish. Spoon about half the spaghetti sauce over the zucchini, covering all the meat and allowing sauce to drip down the sides of the zucchini boats.

Bake in the preheated oven until the meat is no longer pink in the center and the zucchini are tender, about 45 minutes. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the zucchini, and return to oven until the cheese melts, about 5 more minutes. Heat the remaining spaghetti sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat while the zucchini boats are cooking. Serve the zucchini boats with the additional sauce on the side.

Black Bean Soup with Lime and Cilantro

Black Bean Soup with Lime and Cilantro       

 INGREDIENTS

4 cups cooked black beans (or 2 cans)

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped red onions

4-5 cups reserved bean stock or bean stock and water

1/2 canned chipotle chile

1/2 cup lime juice

Salt, to taste

Lime slices, garnish

Finely chopped cilantro, garnish

Dollops of sour cream, garnish

 DIRECTIONS

Heat the beans by your preferred method.

While the beans are cooking, heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.

Add the onions and cook slowly until browned. Puree the 3 cups of beans with 4 cups of the reserved stock in a blender or food processor. Add the onion mixture, chipolte chile, lime juice, salt and process until velvety smooth. If the soup is too thick, thin it with the remaining 1 cup of stock.

Add remaining beans and stir gently. Reheat the soup to serve it hot. To serve it cold, cool the soup to room temperature and chill it in the refrigerator 4-5 hours, or in the freezer, stirring occasionally, 1 1/2 hours. Either hot or cold, garnish each serving of soup with a dollop of sour cream, a slice of lime floating in the middle and a sprinkling of the cilantro.

Best Breakfast On The Beach

After a great night at San Diego Monster Motor cross, we woke up ready for a healthy, hearty breakfast. Being so close to the beach, we thought we would take a drive over to the marina near Dana Harbor where we love to stop for oysters on the half shell. Fortunately it was breakfast that we were after... 


We crossed over the bridge to Mission Beach to see what we could find. It had been raining all night and it looked like it was finally about to let up. We could see the clouds breaking up over the ocean and decided to walk the boardwalk.  


We have been down here many times before and usually have a beer on the roof and enjoy the sun. After parking we couldn't help but notice North Shore Cafe - best breakfast on the beach

Who could pass that up? Especially after seeing the menu. From the hostess that greeted us at the door, the outstanding service by our waitresses, to the ambiance of just being right on the beach in the morning. 

Compliments to the chef!!! Not only was it the best breakfast on the beach, but one of the best breakfasts we've had at a local restaurant. 


Presentation, Portions, TASTE, price, - "impeccable" and Bloody Mary's to boot!


We will definitively be coming back and next time we will try the "Bucket of Mimosa's".  

7 Mental Tricks To SUPERCHARGE Your Exercises and Get More Out of Every Rep You Do

By Nick Nilsson

Stuck in a rut? Hit a plateau? It's time to stop phoning in your workout and put some BRAINPOWER into action.

One of the most common issues I see with people in the gym, ESPECIALLY those who are having trouble getting results, is a lack of mental focus on the exercises they're performing.

Sure, they're going through the motions and in a lot of cases even lifting a substantial amount of weight...but what they don't realize is that by really engaging their BRAIN in the act of lifting they could be getting MUCH better results with the same amount of effort.

So to help with that, I've put together a list of my favorite "mental notes" for some of the most common exercises in the gym...using this can make an immediate difference in your exercise performance and even add some substantial weight to your lifts!

1. Bench Press - Push Your Body Through the Floor

Instead of focusing on pushing the BAR away from you, try imagining as though the bar is stationary and you're pushing your BODY down through the floor. This mentally changes the bench press exercise from an open-chain movement (where the resistance is moving and your body stays stationary) to a closed-chain movement (where the hand or foot is fixed and cannot move and your body is all or part of the resistance, like a push-up).

Closed-chain movements are more effective for muscle fiber activation and by at least MENTALLY changing the movement to a closed-chain exercise, you can potentially achieve some of the benefits of it.

2. Deadlifts - Fall Backwards

When doing a straight bar deadlift, as you're pulling the bar up your shins, mentally picture yourself falling/shifting your weight backwards as you're pulling up. This helps improve the leverage of the lift, using your bodyweight to help get the bar up. When you just pull straight up, you don't get this advantage. And wear long socks or pants if you don't want deadlifting "battle scars" up and down your shins because that bar should stay as close to your legs as possible :)

3. Squats - Pull Down on the Bar

To lock your torso and core into the squat, grip the bar HARD and pull down on it as you squat. Imagine like you're trying to bend that bar in half over your back. This locks the back muscles into a more solid position and helps stabilize the torso during the squat. This is especially critical as you start moving heavier weights in order to protect your spine.

4. Seated Cable Rows - Push Your Sternum into the Handle

To really maximize the contraction in the lats and other upper back muscles when doing a cable row, when you come to the top of the movement, instead of focusing on pulling your shoulders back and in (which is still effective, don't get me wrong), actively try to push your sternum (breastbone) into the cable handle. I find this gives an even stronger contraction than trying to pull the elbows in as it gives you a goal in FRONT of you to focus on achieving. The back contraction then happens automatically.

5. Barbell Curls - Push Elbows Together

At the top of a standing barbell curl, hold that position for a few seconds and try this...push your elbows together as though trying to touch them together. Because your hands are locked onto the bar, I find this increases the contraction by attempting to increase the degree of supination of the forearm. Even though it may not actually increase the supination, the act of TRYING is what will force the greater contraction.

It works because the OTHER major function of the bicep muscle is supination (elbow flexion is the first), which is basically rotation your hand from a palms-down position to a palms-up position. This elbow trick at the top works that supination function.

6. Seated Dumbell Shoulder Press - Bring Your Chest Up to Meet the Dumbells

When doing this exercise, as you lower the dumbells into the bottom position, I want you take a deep breath in and try to mentally focus on bringing the chest UP to meet the dumbells while keeping your shoulder girdle DOWN. It's important when doing this that you bring the dumbells ALL the way down as far as you can...until they almost touch your shoulders.

This trick will force you to reduce the weight you're using but it's going to work the actual shoulder muscles twice as hard and take the emphasis off the triceps, which tend to take over in the shortened range of motion that most people gravitate to with this exercise (because they can use more weight).

It works by increasing the amount of stretch that gets put on the deltoids at the bottom - shoulder girdle down and chest up is what does it. It'll be humbling at first but work with it and your shoulder development will SKYROCKET.

7. Stiff-Legged Deadlifts - Raise the Toes and/or Paw the Ground

This exercise is notoriously hard for people to feel the hamstrings working. I used to have this problem myself for a LONG time so don't feel bad if it's happened to you. I've got two techniques for this one...one is actually physical and the other is mental.

The physical trick is to elevate your forefeet...I usually use foam wedges or a couple of 25 lb plates. Set your heels on the floor and set your forefoot area on the raised edges of the plates, similar to a calf stretch...and this works BECAUSE it puts a stretch on your calves. Now do the exercise. I felt this in my hamstrings the very first time I did it.

The mental trick is to imagine pawing the ground with your feet as you start the lift. Think of a bull about to charge and it's pawing the ground....essentially, you're to activating the hamstrings at the hip by attempting to produce forward motion. Since you're planted on the ground, you're not going to be going forward but the mental intention to move forward will result in hamstring activation.

And if you put BOTH of these tricks together, your hamstrings will be SINGING when you're doing SLDL's :)

CONCLUSION:

Give these mental tricks a try next time you train any of these exercises and you'll know what it means to LOOK like you're doing everything the same yet FEELING like you're doing a completely different exercise.

I can promise you'll feel your muscles working a way they've never worked before and you will BLAST past strength and muscle plateaus.

------------------

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of", all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and BurningFat FAST". 

7 Simple Rules For What You Should Be Eating Right Now...

By Nick Nilsson 

What you eat on a daily basis determines just about everything you can possibly imagine that goes with your body...your health, mental energy, body composition, athletic performance...you name it and what you eat has an impact on it.

These 7 simple rules are here to give you a little nudge in the right direction and make things a little easier for you in your own daily choices. At the bottom of the list, I've also included some good resources you can take advantage of to help you eat better.

Rule #1 - If your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize it, don't eat very much of it

Many of the highly-processed pseudo-foods weren't around 50 years ago. Food was more "real" back then and it's an ideal you should strive for now. This basically means choose foods that are less processed and closer to their natural state. Notice I didn't say "don't eat it"...which leads me to Rule #2...

Rule #2 - No food ultimatums

The moment you say "I will never have pizza again," you will immediately start thinking about how much you miss having pizza, even if you hardly eat pizza to begin with. It's like telling somebody not to think about elephants...you just did it, didn't you :). Same idea with food. That's why I never tell myself I can never have something...if I've got a specific goal and that food won't help me achieve it, I just say it's not on my list right now and I can have it later. No big deal.

Rule #3 - Don't keep junk in the house

And don't tell me you need to have junk food and sweets in the house "for the kids." If it's really for the kids, lock it up in a closet and give your kids the keys so you can't get at any of it then tell me if it's for the kids. Here's the other thing...your kids don't need that junk either!

Anyway, off on a tangent there - that's one excuse that gets me really whipped up. Bottom line is this...if you don't have it in the house, it takes a lot more effort to eat it. If it's in the house, it'll get eaten. If it's not, it won't. Simple.

Rule #4 - Multi-course meals will wipe out your digestion

The more different foods you eat in one meal, the harder it will be for your body to digest it all. Different foods and nutrients require different enzymes to digest...by combining too many foods in one meal, you will overload your digestive system and make it less efficient. If you frequently have digestive issues when you eat, try something radical and eat just one food per meal and see what happens. This is especially true of fruit and dairy. Fruit is best eaten separately and by itself.

Rule #5 - You don't have to eat 6 meals a day

That "small, frequent meals" rule you may be familiar with is actually based on a study that showed a very small increase in metabolic rate when a person eats a meal. This evolved into the idea that eating a bunch of small meals helps increase fat loss and nutrient utilization.

Naturally, this was immediately seized upon my supplement manufacturers who promoted the idea that you can't possibly eat FOOD that many times a day, so you should take our meal replacement supplement for those extra 3 meals.

Here's the thing...no study has ever confirmed that it's more efficient to eat 6 small meals as opposed to 3 big meals (or even 2!) in terms of body composition results. ZERO. Think about this...if you're constantly supplying your body with food, why would it need to burn bodyfat for energy then?

Rule #6 - Try to eat organic whenever possible

It's true...eating healthy can actually be pretty expensive. Unhealthy foods are generally cheaper because they can be manufactured in large quantities. Healthy foods are more expensive because they are more labor-intensive.

The payoff is that you won't die as soon when you eat healthy foods as opposed to unhealthy foods. I know that's putting it bluntly, but it's true. And you won't suffer from all the food-related diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes and MANY others (honestly, the vast majority of diseases and conditions being treated by doctors today are entirely avoidable with a good diet).

So when it comes to eating organic, just do the best you can. Get it when you can and realize this...when a food is of higher quality, it's more digestible and you're going to get more nutrition out of it and you can eat smaller servings (at least that's what I keep telling myself when I eat grass-fed beef...DANG is that tasty...it's hard not to eat twice as much of it).

Rule #7 - Take supplements intelligently

I judge supplements primarily on their nutritional value, not for how many bolts of lightning appear in their magazine ads. The majority of the supplements I take are there to help support my nutritional state, not to muck with my physiology.

I take a multivitamin, protein, vitamin C, vitamin D3 (for immune system function - VERY important in the winter!), magnesium, krill oil, fish oil, BCAA's, K2, calcium, and a few other things, depending on my current goals. All that exotic garbage you see ads for in the magazines is mainly just that...exotic garbage. You don't need it.

Will Fruit Make You Fat?

By Nick Nilsson

Learn the truth about fruit...is it the diabolical diet-killer it's

sometimes made out to be or is it just fruit

and actually pretty good for you?!

The answer to the question of whether fruit can or will make you fat isn't as simple as yes OR no...because the answer is yes AND no.

Sound confusing? It's not so bad!

There have been studies done on fruit sugar (fructose) and how it's metabolized in the body and liver, which I'll get into in a bit, but I'm also going to talk about fruit from a practical standpoint.

First, here is why it WON'T make you fat...

Fruit is a fat-free (with rare exception, like avocados) and fairly low-calorie, high-fiber food. It's going to be hard to eat ENOUGH fruit to result in an excess of calories, resulting in noticeable fat gain...hard, but not impossible.

You would have to look long and hard to find somebody who ate a lot of fruit and had gained a lot of fat because of all the fruit they ate. Fruit roll-ups, fruit juice (with 10% real juice), Fruity Pebbles and Froot Loops...maybe not so hard, though I do have to say high fructose corn syrup is NOT a fruit just because it has the word "fructose" in it, so that doesn't count.

And I don't know about you, but I have yet to hear of somebody sitting down in front of the television and not realizing they ate an entire bag of apples or saying their doctor told them they need to lay off the bananas!

"Real" fruit actually contains a lot of water, nutrients, fiber, etc...healthy stuff...stuff your body NEEDS. It's generally when we start mucking around with fruit that we start to run into problems.

In the words of Homer Simpson..."This jelly donut has purple stuff in it. Purple is a fruit."

That being said, there ARE metabolic issues with fruit and fat.

Yes, it IS true that the body has certain limitations processing fructose (the type of sugar found in fruit).

Fructose can only be stored as glycogen (glycogen is the carbohydrate storage molecule in the body) in the liver, not in the muscles. Muscle cells lack the proper enzymes to convert fructose into this storage molecule.

So that leaves the liver for storage...

When liver glycogen levels are full and your body can't store any more carbs in the liver, fructose IS easier for the body to convert into fat than other carbs because of its molecular structure.

This fat is NOT immediately converted into bodyfat, however. It becomes free fatty acids circulating in the bloodstream. If they're not burned, they CAN be stored as bodyfat.

But the OTHER good stuff you find in fruit, notably the fiber and vitamins and minerals, outweigh the "dangers" of storing a little extra fat.

And here's the point that a lot of people miss, especially when they hear that fruit has the potential to work against fat loss when on a diet...

If you're dieting, you should be in a caloric deficit. This means that your liver glycogen levels should very RARELY be full. You're in a deficit after all!

Therefore...

1. The fructose should have little chance of being converted into fat.

2. If some excess fructose IS converted to fat, chances are good it'll be USED by the body soon after being converted to fat because you're in a caloric deficit.

Granted, just like ANY other carbohydrate, if you eat too much of it, it can be stored as fat. If you're a competitive bodybuilder peaking for a competition, you MAY have to watch your fruit intake to be sure you come in at your leanest.

But for the average person looking to drop bodyfat, fruit is not something I would be too worried about (unless you're on a low-carb diet, in which case you're watching ALL carbs anyway).

I would be FAR more concerned about a person drinking too much of that diet soda garbage while dieting before I'd even be slightly concerned about them eating an apple.

Bottom line, my stance is this...DO NOT feel guilty about eating fruit, even while dieting. Treat it as you would any other food with calories in it and simply be aware of your intake because ANY food has the potential to make you fat, especially if you eat it when your body doesn't need any more calories for that day.

If you want to minimize the impact of fruit on your fat-loss diet, eat it in the morning when liver glycogen levels are naturally at their lowest point. This will help ensure fructose won't be converted into fat.

Honestly, there are MUCH more important things to worry about when it comes to fat loss...your training and overall nutrition are much more important than worrying about eating too much fruit.

------------------

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of", all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "DirtyLittle Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,"