This is my 16th (and final) week of Booty Camp and I can’t believe how much I’m going to miss it! When I started I was scared that I had thrown myself into the deep end, but it turned out to be the perfect thing to not only get myself ready for bathing suit season but to start taking my health seriously. I can’t believe how negligent I had become with nutrition and exercise and I’ve definitely noticed a difference with my energy levels (which was my main reason for signing up in the first place).

I will keep you updated with my measurements and “after” photo after my last session on Thursday so stay tuned!

However, you may also have noticed that this blog has changed a little bit. When I started it I only intended for it to be a short-term blog following my 8-week progress throughout Booty Camp, but then I signed up for another 8 weeks and it snowballed from there. This blog kept me accountable and motivated, and the people I’ve connected with since starting back in April have really inspired me.

AND I’ve thrown myself into yet another deep end and will be starting a new (and more terrifying) challenge in August. I won’t tell you what it is right now so you’ll have to come back at the end of the week to find out.

Goat Cheese and Sundried Tomato Spread

All you need is four ingredients, a food processor and five minutes to create an intensely flavoured spread.  Serve with homemade melba toast or slices of grilled crostini.

Keep a jar with leftover oil from the sun dried tomatoes in the fridge and you can toss with pasta or add as an ingredient to all sorts of recipes.

3 – 4 sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil
1 (150 g) package goat cheese (chevre)
1 – 2 teaspoons oil from the sun dried tomatoes

If your food processor has a mini-bowl with a steel blade, use it for this recipe.  Place sun dried tomatoes in food processor and process until tomatoes are chopped and in small pieces.

Add goat cheese (“chevre”) and 1 teaspoon oil from the tomatoes.  Process until smooth, adding more oil if necessary.   Note: the more oil from the tomatoes that you add, the creamier the texture and richer the flavour.  Remove from food processor and place in small bowl.  Makes about 1 cup spread.

This recipe is courtesy of Strewn winery’s cooking school (the only winery/cooking school in Canada). These wraps were easier to make than I thought they would be, and were actually kind of fun to assemble. You can’t go wrong with feta cheese and spinach. No need to buy those pre-packaged appetizers anymore!

Phyllo Triangles with Spinach, Feta & Shallots

The buttery phyllo triangles are filled with cooked spinach and feta cheese then folded like a ‘flag’ before baking.

2 tablespoons oil
1 – 2 cloves garlic depending on size
2 shallots, peeled and chopped
2 – 3 cups spinach leaves
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten so that yolk & white are mixed
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Phyllo pastry
Melted butter

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a baking tray with parchment paper; set aside

Peel and mince garlic.  Peel and finely chop shallots.  Add oil to fry pan, heat over medium.  Add minced garlic and chopped shallots.  Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile remove any tough stems from the spinach; cut into strips.  Rinse and dry spinach in salad spinner.  Add spinach to shallots, cook 4 to 5 minutes and wilted.  Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.  Add crumbled feta and egg.  Season to taste with salt & pepper.

Lightly brush melted butter over 1 sheet of phyllo pastry.  Place a second sheet on top and lightly brush with butter.  Place a third sheet on top and repeat.  Cut into 4 lengthwise strips.

Place about 1 tablespoon filling in the centre of the lower left corner of one pyhllo strip.  Fold phyllo over filling to form a triangle.  Continue folding – like a flag – until you come to the end of the strip.  Place on parchment-lined tray and brush with a little melted butter.  Repeat with remaining strips.   Bake for 10- 15 minutes and lightly browned.  Continue making more triangles until filling is used up.  Makes 16 to 20 triangles.

Fresh Vegetable Rolls in Rice Paper Wraps

This is a spicy and refreshing appetizer with fresh greenhouse and storage vegetables. The spring rolls can be made several hours ahead of time, covered and held at room temperature until ready to serve

1 3-inch piece English cucumber
1/2 sweet yellow or red pepper
1 medium carrot
8 – 10 snow peas
Coriander (cilantro) leaves
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon white sugar
Black pepper
8 (8½-inch round) rice paper wrappers
Warm water

Cut the cucumber, pepper, carrot and snow pea into very thin matchstick strips. Place vegetables and coriander on a large plate in separate piles.

Combine vinegar, sugar and back pepper in a small bowl.

Take one rice paper wrapper, and soak it in warm water for 5 to 10 seconds. Place on a cutting board, and top with 1/4 of the filling ingredients, and 1 or 2 coriander leaves.   Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the vinegar mixture over the vegetables.  Roll the wrapper tightly around the vegetables and put on a plate. Cover with plastic wrap.  Repeat with remaining ingredients.  Makes 8 rolls.

Peanut Sauce

1 clove garlic
1/2-inch piece ginger
1/2 cup Valencia peanuts, unsalted
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil

With the food processor running, mince the garlic and ginger.  Add the peanuts and water, and process until smooth.   Add the soy sauce, lime juice, pepper flakes, and honey.  Pulse briefly.  With the food processor running, drizzle in the sesame oil.  Makes 1 cup.

No, not that kind of bar. I’m talking about the delicious kind of bar, and these ones are incredible. After I workout I like to treat myself to a snack at The Big Carrot and I usually head straight for the granola bar aisle. I’ve tried a few but I am not a fan of big juicy raisins (the way they burst in your mouth makes me think of eating bugs, too much information?). So today I tried the Apricot-Almond M-Bar made by Goddess Gourmet in Toronto and I couldn’t eat it fast enough, they’re so good!

This particular bar has 14g of protein, contains mostly organic ingredients, and is vegan but other M-bars have at least 12g of protein and come in 14 different flavours.

This banana walnut cookie recipe is the perfect healthy base for any style of cookies so have fun experimenting with dark chocolate chips, dried fruit, different nuts, or a blob of almond butter. I’ve been tweaking this recipe for the past year and now I’m finally ready to share it with all of you like I promised in this post. Enjoy!

Banana Walnut Cookies

Ingredients
3 bananas
2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2-3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
half package walnut pieces (or pecan pieces)

Preheat the oven to 350. Mash the bananas into an even paste, then combine the rest of the ingredients. Let stand for 15 minutes. Drop by tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes (be extra cautious because the bottoms burn easily).

Note: The dough will not spread out so there’s no need to place the cookies too far apart on the cookie sheet.

I haven’t talked very much about my goals since starting Booty Camp, because frankly I didn’t have any specific ones. This was actually pretty strange for me since I’m usually a very goal-oriented person, but I just didn’t know what I wanted or should expect from the whole experience. This week there’s a break from Booty Camp and my next 8-week session will start next week, so I vowed to try something new and I knew exactly what it was going to be — aerial silks.

I had my first silks class yesterday with Natalie Fullerton (that’s her in the video, and she also performed at the launch party for 20-something), and I loved it! I couldn’t stop smiling all the way home. I went into the class expecting it to be close to impossible — I have very little upper body strength and I definitely can’t do a chin-up let alone hold myself up in the air with my arms. I was not defeatist about it, it actually gave me more motivation to try as hard as I could and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t impossible at all. Plus everyone was so supportive, and some of the most basic moves look great so I walked away feeling on top of the world. So, here it is:

Goal #1: Do aerial silks (I’ll get more specific with my skill level once I learn a bit more).

This is my 8th week of booty camp, but I’m going to continue for another 8 weeks starting on June 6th so I’ll be posting my final “after” photo at the end of July. I’m really excited to get my measurements tonight and I’ll be sharing them with you in the beginning of next week.

But here’s what I wanted to talk about today, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. I’m sure most of you have heard about it or seen a few episodes, and I might even be kind of late to jump on this bandwagon but check out Jamie Oliver’s TED talk above (oh and if you haven’t heard of TED before then clear your schedule and get comfortable!).

Most of my friends love talking about food, and I’m lucky to know many amazing cooks who inevitably wind up sharing recipes, helping in the kitchen and putting their wisdom into some of the meals we eat together. But some of you might not have this kind of food network so I’d like to share mine with you. Going forward I’ll be publishing some of my healthy recipes along with guest appearances from some of the wonderful cooks in my life, and if you’d like to contribute feel free to get in touch with me: dayna.boyer@20-something.ca. Cheers!

Booty Camp Fitness welcomes women of all ages and levels of fitness, and provides a total-body workout (each session is 1 hour) that combines:

• Circuit training
• Hand-to-hand cardio combat (no contact)
• Core strengthening
• Body sculpting
• Yoga

To target trouble spots and sculpt you from head-to-toe.

The prize:

A 4-week Booty Camp session at any of these locations (please check to make sure there’s a Booty Camp near you before getting your heart set on winning). The winner will have one year to use her prize before it expires.

How to win:

This is the easy part (cause trust me, Booty Camp is not easy!). All you have to do is comment in my Booty Camp Diary any time throughout the next 8 weeks OR retweet the link to my blog in Twitter — make sure you RT @20somethingca so I can find you.

Click here to find out more about Booty Camp Fitness or check out this profile we did on Booty Camp creator, Sammie Kennedy.

Contest closes May 28, 2010.

I sat down on the couch, and then immediately popped back up. Silence — no cracking. I tried it a few more times before calling my boyfriend in the room to witness. I didn’t tell him what was going on and simply demonstrated — he noticed the absence of cracking right away (that’s how loud it had been before)! No words can describe how relieved I am. I happily put a little extra oomph in my lunges yesterday at booty camp, and smiled quietly to myself while the other recruits groaned through another set. Oh, lunges if you were an animate thing I would kiss you!