Cassey Ho's Blog, page 77

Paleo Zucchini Muffins (grain free, gluten free, sugar free)

Hey guys!

Last week, I had the pleasure of testing a couple zucchini inspired baked pastry recipes! And I am so happy to tell you that we’ve got a keeper!

Introducing my moist, dense, decadent, and perfectly sweet…

Grain Free, Gluten Free, Sugar Free Paleo Zucchini Muffins

I made these in muffin holders because I wanted to portion out my servings, but if you want a traditional Zucchini Bread look, then use a regular bread pan and slice. Same recipe!

INGREDIENTS (makes 12-14 muffins):

3 cups of grated zucchinis (about 4 medium zucchinis with the water squeezed out!)
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp tapioca powder
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 eggs
1/2 – 3/4 cups of 0 calorie monk fruit sweetener (depending on how sweet you like it)
1/2 cup of light butter, softened

DIRECTIONS:

1 – Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2 – Grate your zucchinis. Make sure to squeeze it as dry as you can! If you don’t, your muffins will be wet after baking, and not in a good, moist way! Use paper towels or a cheese cloth.

3 – Mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl.

4 – Then line your muffin pan with muffin liners. Or if you’re using this recipe for zucchini bread, no need to line anything!

5 – Pour the batter into the muffin liners.

6 – Bake in oven for 50ish minutes, checking towards the end to make sure centers of muffins are baked the whole way through.

Once done, they will look like this…

HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THEY!!???!!!!

The best part is, even though these are grain free, sugar free, gluten free muffins – SAM APPROVES!!! Guys, you must try it! Moist. Soft. Just the right amount of sweetness. And full of amazing ingredients that are GOOD FOR YOU. You don’t even taste the zucchini.

I am so happy to have a little time to experiment in the kitchen. This is relaxation for me – cooking, baking, creating…I love it so much, and I just love feeding people. I hope to bring you more recipes throughout the year!

NUTRITION:

(Per muffin, with walnuts)

163 calories, 14 g fat, 6 g carbs, 6 g protein

(Per muffin, no walnuts)

135 calories, 11 g fat, 5 g carbs, 5 g protein

The post Paleo Zucchini Muffins (grain free, gluten free, sugar free) appeared first on Blogilates.

The Blogilates February 2020 Workout Calendar!

Hey guys!

I know I say a version of this all the time but…I cannot believe we’re already a whole month into 2020! WHAT!!!

February. It is Valentine’s month. The month of love, romance, red roses, heart shaped everything and LOTS of chocolate! When it comes to Valentine’s Day, usually everyone gets so caught up with their relationship status. We always focus so much on our relationship with others, when really, we need to BEGIN taking care of the relationship we have with ourselves. You can’t give love if you don’t have any for yourself. Everything starts with the relationship you have with yourself.

So this Valentine’s season, I want us all to embark on a little self love journey together. You ready?

I want you to take part in my 7-day #BodyLoveChallenge beginning February 10th!!!

What is it!? Well each day, I’m going to ask you to take a moment to do something that’s gonna boost your self esteem and strengthen the relationship you have with yourself and your body. And you know what? THEY WORK. How do I know? I’m excited to tell you that I teamed up with my friend and mental health specialist Kati Morton to come up with these daily actionable challenges for you guys! After 7 days of completing the tasks, I promise that you will notice a change in the way you view yourself. You’ll stand taller, walk more confidently, and see more beauty in others and in yourself. I can’t wait to do these 7 daily tasks with you.

So, are you in? If so – comment “I’m in!” in the comments!

Also, if you complete all 7 daily tasks, you will be entered to win a ticket to the 4-day POP Pilates Retreat this summer in Scottsdale, AZ (worth $1398)!!!! AHHH!!!! This will be the biggest prize I’ve ever given out!!!

So – how do you enter?

You will need to post the challenge of the day, everyday for 7 days, from Feb 10 to Feb 16.
You must follow @blogilates and @poppilatesofficial.
You must tag @blogilates and @poppilatesofficial in each post.
You must hashtag #bodylovechallenge in each post.
You can complete the challenge on your Instagram feed or your Instagram story! If you choose to do stories, we will be asking for downloads of the stories to ensure that you completed all 7 days.

Good luck to all! This is open to POPsters from ALL OVER THE WORLD. Yup, I’m serious.

ALSO – if you wanna take your Body Love Challenge to the next level – come to a live POP Pilates class for FREE anytime between Feb 10 to Feb 16 at your local 24 Hour Fitness! My instructors will be playing girl power anthems on their playlists so class is gonna be extra empowering! Make sure to wear pink or red in the spirit of Valentine’s Week! Click here to check the group exercise schedule.

Now that we’re gearing up celebrate our bodies and the amazing things they can do, let’s check out the February 2020 Workout Calendar! This month is going to be SOOO GOOD! I can feel it!

Download JPEG | Download PDF

When you download the PDF, you’ll find that each video is linked! Just click and it will take you to the YouTube video listed!

Also, I recreated the calendar on Coda and you have to check it out! It looks so good and I will be back to doing them every month on there.  You can check off your workouts there (for free!!)

Here’s what your week will look like. Each day has its own focus! Get ready to sweat

Insanely Moist & Buttery Zucchini Bread Pudding (Vegan)

Hey guys!

It’s pre-Sam birthday week (his bday is on Feb 2) and that means…I have an excuse to bake some fun creations! Last night I stayed up til 3am baking 2 recipes (we had a crazy schedule and I couldn’t start baking until 11pm). I almost lost hope around 1 am because I had a disaster with my vegan coconut cream cream frosting.

My frosting was not acting like frosting. Instead of being thick, it was being drippy. There was no way I would be able to frost my cake.

But it was a blessing in disguise.

I decided to turn my 3 layer cake recipe into bread pudding and O-M-G this is literally one of the best desserts I have EVER made! So I present to you my…

Insanely Moist and Buttery Vegan Zucchini Bread Pudding!

Bread Ingredients:

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp tapioca powder
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup zero calorie monk fruit sugar
3/4 cups vegan butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
2.5 cups shredded zucchini
1 c walnuts (optional)

Glazey Frosting Ingredients:

4 oz vegan butter (1 stick), softened
1.5 cups zero calorie powdered monk fruit sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup of unsweetened almond milk (or any nut milk)
1 can of canned coconut milk

Directions:

1 – Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2 – Grate your zucchini. You do not need to squeeze the water out. 2.5 cups is roughly 2 medium zucchinis.

3 – Now mix together all of your bread ingredients.

4 – Once you have a thick bread batter, pour onto a lined cake tray.

5 – Bake for 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees F. If you spread your batter thin across the tray, you will need less time than if you pour it into a tall cake pan. Just do the toothpick check! When you think your cake is done, dip a toothpick into the center of your cake. If it comes out clean, you’re good! If it doesn’t, then keep baking!

6 – Once your cake is ready, take it out and let it cool.

7 – Once cooled, crumble it up with your hands and put the cake pieces back in the tray. We’re gonna pour the bread pudding glazey frosting on it next!

8 – To make the glazey frosting, just pour all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix by hand until you get a smooth consistency.

9 – Now pour 1/2 to 3/4 of the glazey frosting onto your cake until the pieces begin soaking it all in. If you feel like you need more, just add another 1/2 cup of almond milk to your glazey frosting.

10 – Put everything back into the oven and bake at 350 degrees F for another 20-30 min. This will allow the glazey frosting to soak into the bread. VERY IMPORTANT.

11 – Once the top is golden brown, remove from the oven, pour the rest of the glazey frosting on top of the bread and SERVE warm!!!! Or you could leave the glazey frosting in a separate bowl and have people pour it on themselves. OR you can put them in these cute mini mason jars like I did and top with glazey frosting and walnuts!

I highly suggest serving these warm. Every just popping them in the microwave for 30 sec will elevate the flavors tremendously!

Seriously guys…SO GOOD! It tastes buttery, creamy, warm, cozy, slightly sweet, soft, moist, dense, and just so so good!!! OMG I am in love with this zucchini bread pudding recipe. And the best part is…it’s vegan…AND Sam said it’s one of the best things I have ever made! Yay!!!!

Nutrition (per serving, makes 12 servings):

Without walnuts:

357 calories, 24 g fat, 28 g carbs, 5 g protein

With walnuts:

423 calories, 31 g fat, 30 g carbs, 6.5 g protein

 

Those are the macros assuming you’d evenly use all the glaze – which is a super generous amount!

Let me know if you end up making these and tell me how much you LOVE THEM! OMG seriously, I cannot wait for you to taste them! THEY ARE HEAVENLY.

The post Insanely Moist & Buttery Zucchini Bread Pudding (Vegan) appeared first on Blogilates.

I’m putting on the ultimate fitness retreat…

Imagine this. We’re hanging out in the desert with larger than life cacti…

Spending 4 days at a gorgeous hotel and spa…

With lots of instagrammable moments like this…

And this…

And even your bedroom is instagrammable!

Healthy meals served to you all day…like this…

Or this…

Or this!

Fun workouts all weekend long that will motivate you to move…

Meeting your life long workout buddies…

Intimate dinners and discussions about stuff you can’t normally talk about…with people who’ll actually “get you.”

A pink carpet! Evening gowns!

Fun photo shoots GALORE!!

A POPFLEX fashion show featuring unreleased designs…and a chance to model in it!

Imagine coming out of the weekend with your spirit lifted, your body sore, a new fire lit inside of you and the CONFIDENCE to go conquer anything!

You guys, this summer I’m hosting the POP PILATES RETREAT in Scottsdale, Arizona and I want you to be there. I want to train you. I want to talk to you. And I want to see you GLOW UP over the course of 4 days. Because I promise you, you will leave changed.

Normally the POP Pilates retreat has been exclusive only to my certified instructors, but this year, I’m opening it up to the Blogilates community. If you have been on the edge of getting certified and starting a career in fitness, then I am inviting you to come! I’ve even built in an instructor training in Scottsdale, so that if you’re making a long trip, you’ll get everything done at the retreat.

Here’s what you can expect!

4-day fitness retreat in Scottsdale, AZ!
Swag bag worth over $100+ of my favorite health, wellness, and fitness brands upon arrival! (For early bird registration before Jan 31, 2020)
3 night accommodation at the fun Saguaro Hotel & Spa!
Delicious hand crafted, healthy meals
POP Pilates Instructor Training Workshop
Workouts all weekend: POP Pilates, PIIT28, Sunrise Yoga and more!
Perfect Form Training
Flexibility and Splits Training
Self Care, Body Positivity, and Confidence Building sessions
Social Media Secrets 2020
Fitness entrepreneurship sessions
1 VIP Ticket to POP Prom!
1 VIP Ticket to the Welcome Fiesta!
Many many chances to hang with me and @SirGeorgeTheMagnificent

If you wanna come, click here! We even have a payment plan set up to help you out. If you have any questions, comment below! I’ll be answering! Ahhhh I can’t wait to see you in Scottsdale ahhhhhhh!!!!!! It’s gonna be so much fun, so much crying, so many revelations, and so much random dancing! Whoooo!!!!

The post I’m putting on the ultimate fitness retreat… appeared first on Blogilates.

Shocked.

Complete shock.

Shocked.

Complete shock.

Shocked.

Complete shock.

Shocked.

Complete shock.

Shocked.

Complete shock.

I went meatless for 20 days and this is what happened… | Day 20 of 20

YOU GUYS!

I officially finished my meatless challenge! I was strictly lacto-ovo vegetarian for 20 days straight! Very proud of myself. Before I get into the details, I wanted to let you know that I released a new series on my YouTube channel called “12 Minutes to Toned”!

 

These are intense 12 minute workouts that are timed, and also set to the beat of the music. They are fun, intense, and will make you die. I mean, it’s Jan 2020 – of course we’re gonna go hard!!! This week we are focusing on arms! And omg – your triceps, biceps, chest, shoulders, and traps will burn. Like SERIOUSLY.

It’s 6 weeks of brand new 12 minute workouts that will challenge you and change you. C’mon. Let’s go HARD.

Also – totally obsessed with the decor for my new set. I love love love interior design and had so much fun designing this one to feel fresh, semi boho-y, and semi havana-y. Do you LOVE!!???? Cuz I LOVEEEEE.

Now…onto to the findings from my meatless experiment! I went lacto-ovo vegetarian for 20 days straight, meaning I could have anything I wanted except for actual meat. So eggs and dairy were ok. In general, I tried to be as grain free and dairy free as possible. This experiment was inspired by the controversial Netflix movie The Game Changers which tries to prove that plant based athletes are stronger than meat eating athletes.

20-Day Meatless Experiment Goal:

To see if going meatless would increase my fitness performance and my energy levels!

20-Day Meatless Experiment Results:

 
Day 0
Day 20


Weight
116.6 lbs
114.8 lbs


Body Fat %
20.1%
19.6%


Muscle Mass
35.2%
35.4%


Abdominal Muscle Tone
Some definition.
Light to no definition.


Cardio performance
Good
Good – no difference.


Strength ability
Good
Good – no difference. Lifted the same weights.


Energy Levels
Good
Good – no difference.


Mental Clarity
Good
Good – no difference.


Quality of Sleep
Deep
Deep – no difference.


Skin
Normal
Had a 2 week rash on my face. Still on my face.


Digestion
Normal
First week I was bloated and had slow and blocked digestion. The next couple weeks, it became normal.

 

Analysis:

Body composition:

I went down in weight and body fat a bit, but nothing too significant. The one thing I noticed the most was that I started feeling softer all over. I began noticing a loss in muscle tone in my abdominal region, which is the most difficult place for me to see any definition.

Fitness performance:

Overall, I did not see a difference in my fitness performance or my energy levels, which was kind of a bummer! But at least it did not decrease. I purposefully did not want to time myself doing a sprint on Day 0 versus Day 20 because I wanted to be extra conscious and attentive of how my body FELT. I did not feel a difference in my cardio performance or in how much weight I could lift. Everything pretty much stayed the same.

Mental clarity:

Mental clarity was on point before and stayed on point after. No changes.

Sleep:

With sleep in general – I just don’t sleep enough. It has everything to do with the amount of work I need to get done daily. I averaged about 5-6 hrs of sleep a night on my 20 day experiment, which is about the same as what I was doing before. I’m tired by the time I get to bed, so I knock out immediately. Quality of sleep? Really good/the same before and during the meatless challenge.

Skin:

Ok, I have no idea if this has anything to do with me being meatless but I developed a terrible red rash on my left upper cheek that has been on my face now for over 2 weeks. Usually weird face stuff goes away after a couple days, but this one is still here. I am not exactly sure what this is caused by and I am surprised that it hasn’t gone away yet.

The only thing I did differently during this time period was I tried using a derma-roller on my face the first week of the challenge. It’s a little rolly device that has mini spikes on it. You’re supposed to roll it on your face and it’s supposed to poke your skin so that your face will want to produce more collagen to repair the pokes. It is indeed a modern day mini torture device for beauty. Ha!

Once I saw the red rash come in, I stopped using the derma-roller. And now it’s been 2 weeks and the rash is still on my face. Not sure what happened, but I hope it heals soon.

Digestion:

The first week or so of the challenge, I was having terrible digestive issues. I was bloated, constipated, and my stomach hurt. I believe it was due to the fake meat I was eating. A lot of times fake meat has wheat gluten in it, and in general, I eat pretty much gluten free. So – that was bad. Once I stopped ordering fake meat from restaurants like Veggie Grill and focused on getting my protein more from eggs, tofu, and the occasional Beyond Burger, things got better and my digestives returned to normal.

Conclusion:

My goal was to see if going meatless would increase my personal fitness performance and my energy levels. My results show that everything stayed pretty much the same.

In The Game Changers, they really tried to paint the picture that vegan athletes are much stronger than non-vegan athletes. They did a wonderful job showing how very specific vegan athletes excelled in their sport. But, what they did not do was look at the bigger picture to give the audience a fair understanding of how the top athletes eat. They never laid out the best athletes in each sport to examine what their diets were. It would have been interesting to see what % of them were vegan vs non vegan and to correlate their diet to their ranking in their sport.

So, what now?

The 20 day meatless experiment allowed me to get super creative with my veggies, and I enjoyed cooking so much on this challenge! I will continue to cook and eat with a much more plant-based focus, but I am not going to continue eating vegetarian for now. It was difficult to be a low carb vegetarian whenever we ate out at restaurants and I would often leave feeling hungry. Almost anything vegan or vegetarian had bread or grains in it, and those things make me bloat intensely. Additionally, my blood test results confirmed that the best diet for my body would be low carbohydrate, and I have found that to be true.

The takeaway?

Eat more vegetables, fresh fruit, nuts and seeds in general.
Eat whole foods and avoid processed foods, meaning things that have a ton of added sugar, are fried, or have ingredients that sound chemical.
Realize that your body is unique. We have different genetics and biochemistry, so what works for me may not work for you, and vice versa. You need to do your own experiment.
When watching documentaries and reading things on the internet, don’t believe everything you’re being told. Do your own research – ALWAYS. Read articles from both sides and come up with your own truth.

Should you try going meatless?

YES! You should. Sam went meatless with me for 20 days and he survived, so I know you can too! I’m a huge believer in committing to something new, different, or difficult, and learning something you didn’t know about yourself. You may discover something that could change the rest of your life. Or maybe not – but at least you’ll know what your limits are!

Yesterday’s Day 20 Food Log:

Tofu with cauliflower fried rice and a side salad of butter lettuce and cilantro dressing.

A snack of plain greek yogurt. I added in some monk fruit sugar to sweeten it up!

A fun middle of the day drink.

Sweet strawberries for snacks!

OMG it looks like the seaweed is on fire – haha.

Dinner! Went to a restaurant called Gjelina in Venice! It was really good. I ordered a bunch of veggie appetizers and shared with our table. This was the kabocha squash! There was a lot of olive oil, pomegranate seeds, and some green leafy thing on top. Super good.

Roasted beets.

 

Japanese sweet potato.

Brussels sprouts!

Maitake mushroom! So crispy and good. I also had some roasted cauliflower but forgot to take a pic of that.

I was really craving some ice cream, so Sam took me to Target to get some Oatly. OMG. It was perfect. The original plain flavor is my favorite!

Alright you guys! That is all for today! I hope you enjoyed reading my 20 day meatless challenge posts. I will write to you again soon.

The post I went meatless for 20 days and this is what happened… | Day 20 of 20 appeared first on Blogilates.