Super Clean Cream of Asparagus Soup Recipe - protein packed!

Ingredients (4-5 servings):

1 medium onion, diced

2 pounds of asparagus, trimmed and cut in one inch pieces, remove the “woody part”

4-cups of chicken stock

1/2-cup Greek yogurt, nonfat or 2% fat

salt and pepper to taste

1 TBS of cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add asparagus and cook until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove and drain. Reserve 2 cups cooking liquid from the boil.

2. Dice onions and sautee on high heat until slightly browned.

3. Transfer cooking liquid and asparagus to a food processor and puree until smooth. (If you don’t like biting onion, you can puree the sautee too. Otherwise just leave it to stir in by hand later.)

4. Combine asparagus puree with chicken broth in a medium stockpot and heat over medium until warm. Stir in yogurt, salt, pepper, onion, and cayenne. Serve!

Food that’s too good to be true…PB2!!! For those of you looking for a healthy peanut butter option, this is it. PB2 is 85% less fat and cals than reg peanut butter (not that PB is bad for you…) It’s a powdered form and all you have to do is add water! BIG FAN RIGHT HERE. Anyone else use this?

It’s only $6.99. So worth it. You can get it on Amazon.

Protein pancake hearts <3 Recipe here.

Why You Should Eat Young Coconuts!

Here are some quick facts:

1. Young coconut water can replace Gatorade because of it’s naturally occurring high concentration of electrolytes.

2. Young coconut water is a universal blood donor - it is identical to blood plasma and has been used to save lives!

3. Young coconut meat or jelly has a high concentration of plant nutrients that help fight free radicals meaning it helps reverse and prevent damage in the aging process.

4. The water in 1 young coconut only has 39-42 calories!

5. “Coco” in Spanish and Portuguese means “monkey”

6. Coconut water has more potassium than a banana! 650mg vs. 450 mg.

Watch my vid on how to chop one up and why I think they’re so good!

If you can’t buy a fresh coconut and chop it up like me (umm that was it’s own story), then you can also try some Zico coconut water. It’s supposed to be pure coconut water and the nutrition facts seem to be in line with what I found for natural young coconut water.

The meat is super delish too and yesterday I ate a whole young coconut up by myself. SUPER YUMMY!!! Especially post workout.

Now keep in mind that coconut water is not the same as coconut milk. The milk is made by grating the meat from a mature coconut (which has more cholesterol and calories) and mixing it with the water. A cup can have up to 550 calories and most of it is from fat!

Here’s the nutrition facts for 1 young coconut.

I was lucky to grab a box of 9 coconuts for $7.99 at my local asian food grocer. I think they are normally more than $2 each. What a treat - loved the meat and juice but gotta be careful not to overdose! I can easily get carried away…

Have you ever had fresh coconut?

Is Happy Hour making you “fat”?

I get emails about whether or not I have sworn off alcohol as a fitness guru - and the answer is yes, but not for the reason you may think. Even though alcohol is a high caloric drink with little to no nutritional value, the reason why I don’t drink is because I am pretty much allergic to it. Umm yes you heard me right. It’s quite sad.

If any of you have Asian friends, you’d know that our kind turn bright shades of red after a shot. It is commonly referred to as “Asian Glow”.

It’s due to our inability to metabolize alcohol. I get headaches, feel nauseous, and my heart rate skyrockets. Here’s the funny thing about my Asian Glow though…I am like a human upside down thermometer. The redness starts at the top of my head and works it’s way down…the more I drink the lower that red line goes. And yes, it is literally a red line.

If I drink 1 Margarita, my face, neck, and collarbones will be red. Then from my shoulders down I am regular skin color. If I drink 6 beers (my friends forced me to do this as we went tubing down a river in Connecticut for 8 hours) the redness will stop at my belly button. I have pictures of me wearing a bikini with a half red body. It’s hilarious. And disgusting.

Anyway, I swore alcohol off for good a year ago when I was at a concert and some friends made a coke and vodka mixture for me that was pretty much 10% alcohol and 90% soda. Within 30 minutes, I went blind. I went blind for a good half hour and it was one of the scariest experiences I have ever had. Couldn’t see anything…my eyes were open but it was pitch black. I was helpless and it was scary. 

So yeah, anyway, there’s my bit on alcohol. If you guys are looking for lite drinks, I am sorry I cannot be of much help, but I hear diet soda and rum or vodka are great for people watching their calories.

Check the pictures above to see how many calories you may be mindlessly consuming over the weekend. Make sure you don’t ruin your clean and hard week! It’s not worth it! Of course though, have fun and indulge, but be mindful!!!

For now, I will get buzzed on life instead ;)

<3 Cassey

Photo from: Womens Health Base