Veggie Recipes and HIIT Bike Workout

Happy Friday everyone!!! I hope you all had a good week and are looking forward to a fun and relaxing weekend!

I was browsing on pinterest the other day and found two recipes that I really wanted to try out! One was for Carrot Fries, and the other was for zucchini broiled with parmesan. I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to try, so I incorporated both into my dinner! I also picked up some organic ketchup from Trader Joe’s on my way home just to enjoy with my “fries!” (on the side were some pinto beans and some un-pictured Greek yogurt).

The carrot fries recipe was super easy. I just had to cut up the carrots in to “fry” size, toss them in a bit of olive oil and salt, and then put them in the oven at 425 for 20 minutes. BAM! Carrot Fries!

They tasted pretty good! Probably closer to sweet potato fries than regular carrot fries, but nevertheless delicious!

For the Zucchini Parmesan, I sliced up the zucchini, tossed it in olive oil and then sprinkled parmesan on top (also courtesy of TJ’s). I put it in the oven on Broil for about 10 minutes.

I think if I made these again, I would broil one side without any cheese, then flip it over, add the cheese, and broil the other side. It was good, but mushier than I had wanted. I also think I’ll try this with some eggplant!

So this Friday I decided to participate in “FLOW”, or Fittness Loves of the Week, which is a similar link-up “party” as What I Ate Wednesday. You can check out Lindsay’s site, In Sweetness and In Health, to find links to other bloggers who have posted about fitness or have posted workouts! Check it out!

I’ve mentioned a couple times this week that the bottom of my foot is bothering me. On Monday it was excruciating pain, now it’s more of a dull pain. Either way, I’m keeping off it until it’s completely better. I’m way to scared of making it worse and then not being able to run my Half Marathon in a month!

Not being able run has been hard on me, mostly because it’s not just running but I can’t walk either! If I can’t run, then I love to go on long walks! It’s just such a stress-relief for me. I can, however, use the stationary bike without any pain. I find the bike horribly boring (and it hurts my butt!) but my friend, Maddie, suggested a workout that her trainer told her about. I tried it out and loved it! It really kept my mind occupied!

HIIT Bike Workout

Start with a 5 – 10 minute warm up (I slowly increased from 6 – 8 on resistance)

As you can see, each minute you do the higher resistance for 5 more seconds than the minute before, until you hit a whole minute at resistance 12! Let me tell you, those three minutes in the middle were rough! But it’s built like a pyramid, so from that point down it just gets easier!

And remember, you can always adjust the resistances to what works best for you! I also cooled down for another 9 minutes going from resistance 8 to 6. The whole thing took me 40 minutes, but you can cut it much shorter by shortening the warm up and cool down. I just made them longer since that was replacing my runs!

Have you ever made “fries” out of something other than potatoes?

How do you feel about the stationary bike?