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From Apartment Therapy → The Best Kitchen Trash Cans: Rubbermaid, Simplehuman, IKEA, Brabantia & More

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As an athlete, it’s easy to get wrapped up in competing. Fitness activities seem to be happening all over the place these days. I know I feel left out when I’m not participating in something. We always want to push the envelope and be better than yesterday. But why? Do the activities you’re doing align with your goals? Are you doing them for yourself, or are you doing them for others?

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https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/

Name:  Natalie Macke, MPH, CHWC
Age: 29
Location: Orlando, FL

What does being a Girl Gone Strong mean to you?
A “Girl Gone Strong,” demonstrates, appreciates, and balances her relative strength in all areas of life, while maintaining vision for development. She sees her God-given strength and in a general sense, respects the fact that strength, is a multifactorial condition that is achieved from cumulative moments that lead to a notable milestone. She knows that physical strength specifically, is a highly relative biomechanical and psycho-biological experience. She takes interest in developing strength, knowing there is much to discover about herself.

A “Girl Gone Strong,” intentionally highlights strength in others, which provides her with a rich perspective on strength, as well appreciation for her own.

How were you introduced to strength training and how long have you been training?
I participated in competitive sports from ages five to 18. My predominant sport and greatest love was soccer. Conditioning was a dominant extracurricular activity of my childhood and adolescence. My brother introduced me to weight training in high school. After high school, I continued to weight train throughout college and pursued fitness modeling for a short period of time. After graduating from college, I stepped into the world of running. I started with a 5k and within months, I ran the Virginia Beach, Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon.

I continued to weight train through graduate school; though admittedly, my training took a nose-dive half way through my Master’s degree, due to a consistent 70-hour work week. After grad school, I gained interest in functional fitness training, most notably because I did not have a gym membership. I lifted most of my pregnancy, and postpartum I was doing a lot of yoga and calisthenics. Now, I find myself enjoying barefoot workouts and playing with my daughter at the park. Movement has been a large part of my life, and I truly look forward to developing other areas of strength.

What does a sample workout look like for you?
Three days at the gym: Shout-out to Noah Inscoe at Planet Fitness for his guidance.

• Upper: chest press variations, seated rows, barbell shoulder presses, shoulder raises, bicep curls, tricep kick-backs,
• Lower: deadlift variations, weighted leap frog squats, weighted bridges on a bench, jump squats with a barbell into back lunges, calf raises, weighted plié lunges, abductor/adductor machines, burpees
• Core: weighted mason twists, plank variations, superman’s, high-knees, leg lifts

Two days a week, I run for 30 minutes. Most days I work out at the park with my daughter, rotating any three from this list:

• Monkey bar leg raises
• Monkey bar upside down hanging
• Kettlebell variations
• Pull-ups
• Leapfrog squats
• Crow Poses
• Handstands
• Sprints
• Push-up variations

My overall philosophy is to view exercise opportunistically. Whether I’m at the park, grocery store or auto service department, I consciously seek opportunities to move.

Most memorable PR:
Finishing the Virginia Beach, Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in 1 hour and 50 minutes (8:39/mile).

Do you prefer to train alone or with a training partner? Why?
This changes depending on context. I gain satisfaction from my workouts being balanced with alone time and fellowship. Each context serves different well-being purposes.

Best compliment you’ve received lately: Being told I am a strong speaker; that I have a strong, feminine voice, and I need to use it more.

Most recent compliment you gave someone else: Telling a mother, that her seven-year-old daughter was very wise for her protective oversight of my daughter, in cautioning her friend to avoid observationally teaching my daughter to mirror a bench jump she was doing.

Most embarrassing gym moment:
Completely missing the bench when doing plyometric bench jumps during a busy gym hour. It’s good to laugh at yourself!

Favorite meal:
Breakfast. I love sprouted french toast, eggs, fruit, sweet potato hash, fermented cabbage, mixed greens, and microgreens. If you follow me on instagram @attainablehealth, you will see my favorite eats.

Favorite way to treat yourself:
Getting high-quality, cold pressed juices and other healthy foods at my local spots. There is something about someone else’s healthy cooking and crafting that I savor.

Favorite quote:
Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

What inspires and motivates you?
I am inspired by people who demonstrate obedience, grace, courage, humility, victory, vision, and hope. I am motivated by people who push themselves to reach their maximum potential.

What do you do?
I am a work-at-home mom. I am a Certified Health and Wellness Coach. I own, operate, and blog for Attainable Health. I am passionate about helping people discover who they are, dream who they want to be, and design how they will get there. I enjoy engaging with people who are health-seeking and health-conscious. Before staying at home with my daughter, I was a public health professional for multiple companies. I also work as a part-time accountant.

What else do you do?
I am currently working on entrepreneurial projects that align with my passion and soul purpose. I facilitate Christ-centered health workshops at my church. I love to cook, create art, and teach my daughter Spanish. I roadtrip with my husband and daughter for outdoor adventures.

Next training goal:
I have growing interest in the movement culture (think, Ido Portal). I’d like to see myself develop more strength, through complex interactions with outdoor geography and stationary objects.

What are you most grateful for?
I am most grateful for the grace of Jesus Christ in my life. Secondarily, I am most thankful for the love of my friends and family and the blessing of being a mother. All of these things have changed my life in profound ways.

Tell us about a time when you overcame fear or self-doubt.
After college, I did a lot of soul-searching and I realized that I was pursuing things that were secondary and tertiary interests in my life. My free time was spent pursuing my primary interest in life. I had some influential experiences that encouraged me to shift my focus. Though I was young, the thought of changing careers was high-risk to me; however, the risk of not loving what I do for a living superseded. I changed careers and with God’s help, I finished a rigorous Master’s degree in a year and a half, while working as a graduate assistant, which was a major blessing going through school. I was humbled to be awarded and honored as, “Outstanding Master’s Student in Health Education.”

What’s the coolest “side effect” you’ve noticed from lifting heavy?
Whether I’m deadlifting heavy at the gym or lifting my body weight into a balanced crow pose, lifting is one of the best ways I can demonstrate my spiritual, intellectual, and physical potential.

How has lifting weights changed your life?
Weight lifting was a catalyst for me to work in my continuing passion for public health and health coaching.

What do you want to say to other women who might be nervous to start lifting heavy?
Spend ample amounts of time testing your strength capabilities in nature. Go to a playground or even your backyard and explore different strength postures, balancing, and expressive movement. Preferably, do all of this barefoot, using what is available around you. In nature, there are noticeable inconsistencies. You have to think critically and intuitively about how you will move your body to accomplish a task. Whereas, when you go to the gym, you are working with engineered equipment controlled for weight distribution, as well as machines, using pulley and lever systems. A lot of the thinking has been done for you. Nature can teach us much about strength.

God’s gym is anywhere you are; meaning, to start lifting heavy all you need is your body and gravity. Go play!

All Photos: Rebecca Luisi

Feeling inspired?

Are you feeling inspired by Natalie? Read on to learn more about—and join!—our community of strong, inspiring women…

The post GGS Spotlight: Natalie Macke appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.

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If you’re renting a house or apartment for your summer vacation, you’re probably planning to do a little cooking. Whether that means grilling all week or simply using the kitchen as a place to make a pile of scrambled eggs for everyone in the morning, you’ll have to hit the grocery store at some point — so let’s talk grocery list.

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This is not your typical breakfast of eggs, potatoes and bacon. Instead, we’re talking about braised pork belly (the same cut that bacon comes from), sweet potatoes roasted with smoked paprika butter, and the runny yolk from a fried egg drenching the whole thing.

First, the pork belly. This is a cut of pork with a huge amount of flavor for a relatively low cost. Succulent and fatty, it’s one of the easiest cuts of pork to cook into mouth-watering tenderness. It takes several hours to braise pork belly, so plan to start this recipe the day before (and if you want more leftovers, plan to buy 3 pounds of pork belly, instead of 2).

Next, the sweet potatoes. They’re roasted whole, then sliced and roasted again with paprika-scented butter. Sweet, salty, smoky and delicious. The crowing glory of this feast is a fried egg on each plate, crispy around the edges and soft and runny in the middle.

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 45 minutes, plus 3 hours to braise pork belly

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds pork belly (either skin on, or off, is fine) (1 kg)
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 6 sprigs parsley
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (5 ml)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups chicken stock, or enough to just barely cover the pork belly (700 ml)
• 2 large sweet potatoes or yams, scrubbed clean
• 1/4 cup salted butter, melted (60 g)
• 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (2.5 ml)
• 1 egg for each person

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 °F/163 °C.

Use the tip of sharp knife to cut a cross-hatch pattern through the layer of fat (and/or skin) on one side of the pork belly. Cut deep enough to score the fat or skin, but not all the way through to the flesh. Season with salt and pepper on both sides, rubbing the seasoning in with your hands. Cut the pork belly into two pieces.

In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, brown the pork belly, about 5 minutes per side (watch out for splattering fat when you flip it over.) Take the pork out of the pot and pour off most of the fat. Add onion, garlic and celery, sauté 3 to 5 minutes.

Put the pork back in the Dutch oven (fatty side up) and add the parsley, fennel seeds, bay leaf and stock.

Bring to a simmer. Cover and transfer to the oven. Braise the pork belly for 2 hours, remove lid, and braise 1 hour more.

When the pork belly goes into the oven, the sweet potatoes can also go in. Use a fork to poke holes in the sweet potatoes. Wrap each in foil, place on a baking sheet, and roast in the oven until very tender, about 1 hour. Unwrap from the foil and let cool.

Note: The pork belly and sweet potatoes can be cooked up to this point the day before making the dish. Cool both (remove the pork belly from the Dutch oven) then refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 450 °F/232 °C.

Slice each sweet potato into 1-inch/25 mm thick slices, spread out on a rimmed baking sheet.

Mix together melted butter and paprika. Brush each slice of sweet potato with the butter. Set any extra butter aside. Roast the sweet potato slices 20 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the oven and brush with any remaining butter.

Turn the oven broiler on.

To reheat the pork belly, place in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Cook for just a few minutes, then put the pork belly under the broiler—not too close, about 8 inches away. Broil for about 2 minutes, until the top is browned and crisp. Cut into bite-sized pieces.

In a frying pan, fry an egg for each person.

On each plate, place several slices of sweet potato. Top with pork belly and a fried egg.

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When friends come around for a backyard barbecue, it tends to feel simple. You’re comfortable in your surroundings; you know your grill and you know your pantry. But move that gathering to an unfamiliar place, like that beach house you’re renting for the week, and suddenly all bets are off — you’re most definitely in alien territory.

So how do you serve a house full of people when you’re out of your element, but still trying to channel that easy, breezy vacation vibe? These six recipes — covering everything from breakfast to dinner — streamline the cooking process to make vacation-kitchen cooking both fun and carefree.

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Oh, eggplant, you voluptuous vegetable. Short, long, round, narrow, and of course, the classically big-bottomed, you come in so many shapes. But you also come in so many colors. Some eggplants are deep and aubergine, a purple so dark it’s black like a Sicilian man’s eyes, beckoning me. Some are playfully striated like a tiger cub. Oh, eggplant, you shape-shifter, you color-spectrum challenger, you world-traveller, you meal-maker, you. Do I love eggplant? Yes, indeed.

Now, eggplants are all lovely to look at and lovely to behold, but cooking them is when they get to truly show their stuff. From this true lover of eggplant, here are five ways to help you fall in love with it this season.

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In my humble opinion, summer just isn’t summer without pasta salad. It rounds out a barbecue, makes a simple lunch, and can become dinner when it’s just too hot for a hot meal. That’s why it’s essential to have it around when you’re on vacation and living the easy, breezy summer rental life.

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