As you know I've been back on my game for the last few weeks with eating clean and training again. My motivation has been off the charts lately and I feel fab!

Over the four day thanksgiving break Chris and I worked out twice and felt really great about it! We always have really good intentions to workout over holidays and vacation but we rarely ever make it to the gym (oops!).

When Monday rolled around, I was even more stoked to get into the gym again! Monday I ran on the treadmill, Tuesday I worked upperbody and ran, Wednesday lowerbody and abs, Thursday upperbody and today I was short on time so I grabbed my kettlebell and found a total body workout on YouTube to do in my living room. It was a great at home workout and really had me sweating! I used to have an "oh well" attitude when I missed my chance to go to the gym but lately I've been getting into the habit of fitting workouts at home to make up for lost time!

Total Body Kettlebell Workout by Hotgymgirl

Last year I was cooking kabocha quite a bit until I realized it wasn't sitting very well with my stomach and made me really gassy (TMI sorry!). I spoke to a couple people and they suggested either cutting it out completely or eat it without the skin because they maybe be the cause of the problem. So at the time i just thought it was best to just cut it out. But this week I decided to give the kabocha squashanother try. I cooked up the squash with cinnamon and ate it without the skin. It tasted just as delicious as I last remembered! It still bothered my stomach a little but it wasn't half as bad as it was last year! So far I've enjoyed it in my eggs, with a side dish to my chicken and nth is morning I made a pancake with it!

Kabocha Squash Coconut Pancake

Makes 5 small pancakes - 1 serving

2 whole eggs 1/2 cup mashed kabocha squash 2 tbsp organic coconut flour 6 tbsp or 3/8 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk Cinnamon & stevia to taste dash of baking soda

I used my Pumpkin Almond Butter (aka Pumpkin Pie Fluff) for the topping.

Cook kabocha squash the day before. Remove the skin from the kabocha and mash in a bowl, mix in eggs. Once mixed add in remainder ingredients except the almond milk. Start adding the almond milk in 2 tbsp at a time until the batter is not thick. My recipe called for 6 tbsp.

Set your stove to medium to medium-low heat, preheat frying pan. Heat will vary depending on the type of stove you are working with. I have a gas stove, so my stove top gets very hot and cooks my food very quick. Once the pan is hot, toss in a small scoop of extra virgin coconut oil to coat the pan or use Kelapo coconut oil cooking spray. Pour the batter into the pan, cook pancakes for a couple minutes on both sides until golden brown brown, flipping once. Bon Appétit!

Do you workout during the holidays? What is your favorite winter squash recipe? 

xoxo - Amber