Balsamic Roasted Veggies

The other day I had the Food Network on in the background while I was doing something else. On comes Trisha's Southern Kitchen, one of my favorites because I have loved her since I was a little girl. On this particular episode she was making a side of roasted vegetables for her dinner and I just knew I needed to make my own variation. A few days later this is what I came up with:

What you Need:

• Cubed sweet potatoes
• Cubed butternut squash
• Chopped brussells sprouts
• Chopped zucchini
• Chopped yellow squash
• 1-2 TB Light Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder
• Salt Pepper
• Balsamic Vinegar - I used Fig Flavored

What to Do:

1. Chop up and cube all your veggies, I made this in a huge batch for lots of leftovers but it can be made in any amount
2. Add into large zip lock bag, add in olive oil, shake in bag to coat
3. Place on baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder
4. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes or until slightly crispy
5. Drizzle with fig Balsamic and a dash of Parmesan cheese (optional) and enjoy

I loved the outcome of these veggies so much I have made them several times since, new staple for veggies in my household.

Favorite Back Workouts

**Oddly enough this was a posted I typed up several weeks ago and never finished to post so glad I finally got around to it

As I have mentioned before, my workouts are primarily concentrated on weight training, because that's what I enjoy and it gives me the best results. Lately my favorite body part to work has been back. I think this is because there are so many great exercises that you don't have to repeat often. Also since it is such a large body part I feel like it is time well spent adding muscle mass in that area.

 

These are just a few of my favorites that I incorporate into my workouts on back day. Right now my split includes working both back and chest together so an example of a total workout would be:

 

• Chest Press X3
• Back Extensions X3
• Pectoral Flys X3
• Rear Flys X3
• Assisted Pull ups X4
• Chest Cables X3
• Rows X 3
• Push ups X 3

As you can see I typically do 3-4 exercises per body part with 3 sets of 8-12 reps, often in a pyramid starting with a low weight for 12 reps, then increasing the weight and decreasing the reps for each set. Another thing to note is I am still doing assisted pull ups since I cant do them unassisted yet but am thrilled with the progress I have made there, I started with my body weight in resistance and now am only using about 50 pounds in resistance slowly working my way to zero.  

 

I am loving seeing the muscle progression in this part of body and plan to keep it up.