Super simple preparation, the air-fryer shines to produce moist and tender chicken in less than 30 minutes (not counting marinating time, of course). You can add different spices, just keep the basic oil, lemon and yogurt base.
AIR-FRYER CHICKEN SKEWERS (from The Bewitching Kitchen)
3 boneless chicken breasts, cut in 1 inch pieces 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/2 cup yogurt, low-fat or full fat 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar 1 Tablespoon agave nectar 1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence 1/2 tsp black pepper salt to taste 1 red bell pepper, cut in squares olive oil spray
Make the marinade by whisking vigorously the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, yogurt, and agave nectar. Add the Herbes de Provence, pepper and salt, mix well.
Place the pieces of chicken in a bowl and add the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes to 4 hours.
Soak wooden skewers in water while you marinate de meat. Make sure to you skewers that fit inside your air-fryer, or cut them in the appropriate length. Remove chicken from the marinade. Thread pieces of chicken and a couple of red bell pepper pieces in each skewer.
Turn fryer to 400F or as high as it will go. Spray the basket with olive oil, place the skewers inside, spray some more olive oil over them. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove them to a baking dish and cover with foil for 5 minutes. Uncover and serve.
Comments: Another one for our rotation. Our fryer held 7 skewers with no issues, but smaller fryers might force you to cook in batches, so keep that in mind. If onions are not a problem for you, thread some together with the red bell pepper for even more flavor. You can also take this preparation heavily into Middle Eastern territory by incorporating cinnamon, turmeric, allspice, whatever you feel like.
We enjoyed ours with simple white rice and broccoli. A perfect meal for a Wednesday evening!
Lemon Cakes can be a bit tricky as far as flavor goes. I have made a cake from a super reputable source that promised to deliver the most intense, most lemony flavor coupled with a moist and tender cake. It was tremendously convoluted, a ton of work and to be absolutely honest with you, the America’s Test Kitchen version delivered it all for 1/10 of the trouble. Which is saying a lot, as they are known for never cutting corners.
They are super strict about copyright issues, and rarely reply to requests asking permission to publish their recipes, however I was able to find this one online. If you’d like to make this deliciously lemony cake, pay a visit to this site. No difference from the recipe found in The Perfect Cake (2018), a cookbook I highly recommend. To bake this particular version, I used the Bavaria Bundt pan from Nordicware, but any pan with 10 to 12-cup capacity will do the job. I just love the way they un-mold like a dream!
When I make a Bundt cake, I donate it whole, so I cannot share a picture of the crumb, but I’ve had excellent feedback about this baby. In fact, I’ve made it three times already, using different Bundt pan shapes. Always a winner!
Time flies! Last time I wrote a fitness-related post was in April 2020 (click here). In that post you can also find links to all my previous reviews of exercise systems such as the three series of P90X. Today I share my review of 21 Day Fix, by Autumn Calabrese. I have been using her videos for almost 3 years, and love them! She has the perfect personality to make you challenge yourself, says the right things, mixes the right amount of fun with work. The little quotes spread around this post all came from the her classes, as short messages to focus on and be inspired by.
First let me start with my single criticism of the whole thing. I do not like the underlying message of “change (fix) your body in 3 weeks”. That is simply unreal and a huge turn off for me. However, I decided to ignore this pet peeve and give it a try. So glad I did.
You are supposed to exercise daily – yes, daily – for 21 days straight, following the schedule provided and it goes as shown below (this calendar uses a slightly different version of 21 Day Fix, mine did not have the Barre Legs). Source: Pinterest. When I first got the system, I did the full three weeks with no changes or substitutions of workouts, and after that I just went back to my own routine, which in fact changes a lot depending on what goes on. For instance, I did have a ski accident in March 2023 that affected my workouts quite a bit, I could not do much lower body and walking. You can see what I’ve been doing regularly now in the end of this post.
Basically you do the same exercise each day of the week, no rest, although Both Yoga Fix and Pilates Fix are “easy days”. Could be almost regarded as rest days. Keep in mind to follow the system to a T, you are also supposed to incorporate all the nutritional guidelines, which I fully ignore. I do not measure portions and I don’t count calories, so my review only centers on the exercise component.
Since warm-up is short and breaks are kept to a minimum, the whole thing flows nicely and the 30 minutes go by super quickly. I love that! Now let me go over the different videos.
TOTAL BODY CARDIO
This is the starting video, and let me be honest, it is the hardest. The first exercise is not for sissies, she starts with SURRENDERS. If you are not familiar with fitness lingo, Surrenders are exercises in which you start standing up, kneel on one knee first, then the other side, gets up using the first leg only, then the other one. All that holding weights on your shoulders. Weights are optional, and you can instead help lifting with your hand assisting the movement. So every single exercise has a modified, easier version.
After 60 long seconds of surrendering yourself to discomfort, come side-shuffles, squats, jumping with weights, weighed jogging (pretty tough), knee pulls (challenging also), oblique crunches. Overall a great way to work your whole body with a bit of aerobics also in a few of the moves.
UPPER FIX
One of my favorite routines of the program! Next day I always feel my biceps and triceps have done some work, my favorite move is the one from the picture above, “Transverse Twist”, as it goes into a pretty nice rhythm with the music. You can challenge yourself more if you grab heavier weights, or go easy. No matter what you decide to do, it is a fun routine that targets not only upper body (shoulders, arms, upper back), but also the abdominal area (you will do some floor routines in the end, circle crunches and scissors for instance). I do Upper Fix once a week for sure (more about my personal schedule in the end of this post).
LOWER FIX
Another great routine with heavy focus on legs, just a few exercises with some aerobic component. I normally do this routine on the days I don’t go jogging or for a long walk, so it is not a video I use often. Maybe once every couple of weeks.
PILATES FIX
Pilates is going to feel pretty good compared to what came before and will come next. Some exercises are very challenging for me, for instance the Superman, which I dread with every cell of my body. Maybe it is my scoliosis speaking. But I still try it. Overall, as expected from Pilates, it will target nicely the abdominal, lower back region of your body, and also work a bit on flexibility. The routine starts with the famous 100’s, which wakes up the abs right away… Several exercises in plank position, something I am particularly fond of. I should probably do it more often than once every couple of weeks.
CARDIO FIX
Back into the tough side of life! This is challenging because it is mostly aerobic but often including weights. I sometimes drop the weights just to concentrate better on the rhythm and try to keep up with their pace. If I grab the weights I have to go considerably slower. Skater jumps brings me memories of P90X, and Mountain Climbers are nice and although done in plank position, they make your heart pump fast.
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DIRTY 30.
This set is slightly aerobic, but it requires weights so there’s a bit of resistance training. Side lunges, Renegade Rows (love those, from plank position you lift weights one arm at a time from the floor to work the back muscles). Squats are a big part of the series too. It is not extremely challenging but it will make you sweat.
YOGA FIX
Absolutely perfect to finish the seven days of workout! All the usual suspects, Sun Salutations, Crescent Pose, Chair Pose, Warrior 1, Warrior 2, Triangle Pose, all done in a nice slow pace to stretch your body and soothe the muscles.
TEN MINUTE ABS
Ok, I must tell you this is in my opinion worth the price of the full set of DVDs. I used to think that nothing could beat the famous AbRipperX from P90X, but this one did it. Ten minutes of ab exercises, each one performed 20 times, you go the full cycle of 11 moves, then repeat them. I do them so often that I don’t even put the DVD to play, I do them from memory. Love it!
So my thoughts on 21 Day Fix: this system will be great for anyone, starting from any fitness level, as every exercise can be toned down to your goals.
MY PERSONAL FITNESS ROUTINE
My personal routine now is one in which I exercise every single day, except maybe one or two days each month for one reason or another. Every other day I start my morning super early with a treadmill HIIT. I walk fast for 4 minutes and then run at full-speed (7 to 7:30 min per mile pace, that is as fast as I can safely go) for 30 seconds. Repeat that 6 times. It takes me 30 minutes and I am absolutely drenched in sweat when I am done. I usually follow that with a nice walk later in the day to loosen the muscles a bit. Most days I also pick one video to hit other parts of the body. I have so many to choose from, but these are the ones that are part of my rotation. All these systems have been reviewed in the past (I actually started P90X 15 years ago!). All links available in this post.
21 Day Fix: all videos of the system, according to my mood. Ten minute Abs usually twice each week, Upper Fix once.
From P90X original system: Plyometrics, KenpoX (kickboxing), Shoulders & Arms, Legs& Back, Yoga, and Ab RipperX
From P90X III – The Challenge (push-ups and pull-ups non stop), The Incinerator (heavy arm and shoulders workout)
From Jessica Smith – Abs 360, Metabolic Conditioning, several of her walk strong videos.
Systems that I reviewed before but totally abandoned: T25, P90X II
I hope you enjoyed this review, and if you have been wondering about a nice way to exercise at home, think about 21 Day Fix. Order it here. (I am not affiliated and as you probably know by now, I don’t get anything for reviewing or recommending products. I only review things I love).
Bewitching Kitchen 