Corn and Black Bean Dip

Corn & Black Bean Dip

This is one of those great go to recipes that you will use over and over.  There are so many ways to use this. It can replace your regular salsa.  Add it to plain rice or use it as side dish by itself.

·         2 cups corn -fresh works best but frozen will do

·         1 -15 ounce can black beans rinsed

·         1 chopped colored bell pepper

·         1  jalapeno chopped  (you can keep the seeds in if you like it spicy)

·         ¼  chopped red onion

·         1  tablespoon  cumin powder

·         Juice of 2 limes

·         ¼ cup red wine vinegar

·         Salt and pepper to taste

·         10 dashes of hot sauce  -choose your favorite

  Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. You can enjoy right away, but its best to let the flavors come together awhile. This recipe is a good starting point but play around with it to make it yours. You can adjust the heat levels easy enough or substitute vegetables.

  Farmers market season is in full swing so be sure to support your local market.  Use this link to find a Farmers Market near you.

Buy Local Eat Healthy
Live Fit Connecticut
-Keith

Achilles CT Hope and Possibilities Run

  Connecticut is loaded with great health and fitness events.  It’s not uncommon to have 10 different 5K events in one weekend.  Most events have a great cause and all have inspirational stories within.
                Achilles International CT Chapter had their second annual 5K/10K this weekend and had both a great cause behind it and the inspirational stories were overflowing.

Achilles International is an organization whose mission is “To enable people with all types of disabilities to participate in mainstream running events in order to promote personal achievement.”  Achilles pairs together athletes with a volunteer or volunteers to help them train, become familiar and proficient with special equipment if needed, provide guidance and running advice during races and help with race day logistics.

This was Achilles CT Hope & Possibility Run’s second year and they had 500 registered runners come out to support a great cause. Some of the participants included visually impaired, hand cycles and push rim athletes.  There were athletes from CT, New York, and Boston.  One visually impaired athlete rode a bus all the way from Rhode Island!

I had a chance to meet with Erin Spaulding President of the CT chapter at the Gaylord Gauntlet Mud Run back in June this year.  She was with her team of volunteers and adaptive athletes navigating the obstacle course.  I got a sense of her passion for the mission. So I had to see their event for myself.

Everyone was a winner for participating in such a worthwhile event and a big congrats to all the top finishers:

Male 10K:                                                                  Female 10K:

1.       Marc Fucarile                                                     1. Ashley Marino

2.       Jordan Zinn                                                         2. Olivia Rustic

3.       Kris Thomsen                                                     3. Jillian Harpin

Male 5K:                                                                              Female 5K:

1.       Darrin Reed                                                          1. Betsy Overstrum

2.       Mic Nugs Medeska                                             2. Katie Smith

3.       Henry Clayborne Jackson                                  3. Brielle Curtis

The run was put on by the Hartford Marathon Foundation and they always do a first rate job.  Keep a look out for this next year.

Buy Local, Eat Healthy, Live Fit CT!

-Keith

Workout at Mortensen Plaza

                If you’ve had a workout program for any length of time, then you know that even the best programs can become routine (pun was intended).  Instead of a complete overhaul of your program to find excitement, you could try adding something to it.  If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion…WIP Into Shape.

 This is an event by Riverfront Recapture that takes place on the Mortesen Riverfront plaza.  WIP Into Shape is led by WIP Fitness which stands for Work In Progress.  The event is held every Tuesday night through the summer and is free to participants.

A lot of times with events like this there are bugs to work out, but WIP Fitness pulled it off without any snags and everyone had a great workout.  There were around 50 people who participated, all at different levels of fitness, and all were challenged. 

The workout consisted of:

·         The warm up- as a group

·         The main work out

The class was broken up into three groups, one group per station and three stations total.  At each station there were three separate exercises, each with a modification to meet the needs of different fitness levels.  The class rotated through each exercise then moved to the next station.  Coach Laura did a great job of explaining the exercises before and keeping the program on track.  Laura Keever-WIP Fitness Co-owner, Patrick DellaPace- WIP programing and fitness director, and Coach Laura all made the rounds answering questions, coaching and encouraging.

·         Finishing Exercise-as a group was an all out Tabata style workout for four minutes, 20 sec on and 10 sec off with high knees, the burpees, then plank jacks and repeat!

When you are stuck doing 15 miles per hour home from work, caught in a  Nor' Easter, this is what we in CT dream about.  The night was perfect without a cloud in sight, fresh air over looking the beautiful river.  Outside being active with family and friend- great event!

                WIP Fitness offers group fitness classes in West Hartford and Avon.  They are also coming to Pratt Street in Hartford opening soon. 

                Riverfront Recapture is a “Private non-profit organization leading the effort to reconnect Metropolitan Hartford with the CT River by providing access to four riverfront parks in Hartford and East Hartford.” They offer other events in the area worth looking into.

Buy Local Eat Healthy
LiveFitCT
-Keith

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