Jessica Paxson-Putnam’s Just Jess

Cover Girl Jessica Paxson Putnam: Just Jess – Arnold Edition

IFBB Bikini Pro and cover girl Jessica Paxson-Putnam joins us for her Bikini International journey. Follow along with Jess as she looks to crack into the top spots in just a few weeks.

Hey everybody! I can’t wait to share my journey to the Arnold stage with y’all!

I am SO honored to be competing in the Inaugural Bikini International! I began competing in 2004, became a pro in 2005, and have competed in 4 Olympia’s, but am SO excited to be competing in my very first Arnold Classic! This means so much to me because I am from (and grew up in) Dayton Ohio, so I am really looking forward to competing in my home state in front of many of my family and friends.

This is very new to me though, I have really never had to diet at this time of year. This has usually been my “off season” or down time. I will be honest with y’all, it can be a tough time of year to have to diet! Its cold, and all you want to do is bundle up and eat comforting foods!

A common question I am asked is “how do you stay motivated?”. One of the main tools in helping me stay motivated is to constantly remind myself that I am so very blessed and thankful to have this healthy body to carry me through life! The fact that many of us are physically able to get up and head to the gym for a workout is something that can so easily be taken for granted!… and we often COMPLAIN about it!!! I’m guilty of it!, but I have become VERY convicted about this.

There are so many people that would give anything to be able to wake up and go for a jog outside or put their bodies through a challenging and vigorous workout, but they may have physical handicaps etc. that may limit them from being able to do so.

I have to ask myself, how can I complain about having to do two a day cardio sessions when there is someone out there that would give anything to even be able to WALK?! That puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?!

I will be thanking and praising God (during this prep and every day of my life!) for my many blessings and all the little things I take for granted. I will stand on that Arnold stage with pride knowing I am so very blessed to be doing what I love to do!!!

Please let me know what y’all would like to hear about from me as I prep for the Arnold Classic!

Stay fit and God bless!
Jess

Follow along with Jessica on Twitter @JessFit and on her Facebook Page.

Jessica Paxson-Putnam Joins Hardbody Team

Welcome our newest contributor, IFBB Figure Pro and Fitness Model Jessica Paxson-Putnam. Jessica has been featured in numerous magazines as well as their covers. She was last year’s Jacksonville Pro Figure champion and is a sponsored by Optimum Nutrition. Those of you attending the Arnold Sports Festival can meet Jess at the Optimum Nutrition booth. We’re excited to have Jess as a Hardbody contributor.

justjess

Hello everyone! I want to thank Isaac with Hardbody.com for inviting me to contribute to the site! I will be covering a variety of different topics ranging from diet/training, to photos hoot tips, relationships, and faith. You name it, I will cover it! Please respond to my posts and let me know if you have any questions or topics you would like me to cover! Or you can email me at Jess@JessFit.com.

The first topic I want to cover is “healthy eating”. As fitness enthusiasts and competitors we all know what it means to eat healthy. Some of you may be like me though, and while I can easily grill or bake a chicken breast with some Mrs. Dash on it, I have never been much of a cook.

I really had no desire to try and cook a healthy meal, mostly because my husband is also a competitor and we eat pretty bland simple foods most of the time. Lately I’ve become interested in trying healthy recipes. Peter and I plan on having a family one day and I’m sure the kids might get tired of bland chicken after awhile! I’m thankful my hubby likes to cook also, so we have been trying out quite a few fun healthy dishes as of late. I wanted to share one of the recipes we tried the other night. It is a Rachel Ray recipe, but I changed it up to make it my own:

MUSHROOM, SPINACH, AND GOAT CHEESE STUFFED CHICKEN

Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 6 ounces
- Large plastic food storage bags or waxed paper
- 1 package, 10 ounces, frozen chopped spinach
- 12 small mushroom caps, crimini or button
- 2 cloves garlic, cracked (I used the canned chopped garlic)
- Chopped onion
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Crumbled goat cheese (as much as you want)
- 1 cup Fat free Parmesan cheese
- Can of fire roasted tomatoe or sun-dried tomatos
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated or ground nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Toothpicks

*We didn’t make it with the sauce and it still tasted great!

Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth

Directions
Place breasts in the center of a plastic food storage bag or 2 large sheets of waxed paper. Pound out the chicken from the center of the bag outward using a heavy-bottomed skillet or mallet. Be firm but controlled with your strokes.
Defrost spinach in the microwave. Transfer spinach to a kitchen towel. Twist towel around spinach and wring it out until very dry. Transfer to a medium-mixing bowl.

Place a nonstick skillet over moderate heat. When skillet is hot add chopped mushrooms, garlic and onion. Season with salt and pepper and saute 5 minutes.Transfer to the mixing bowl, adding the mushrooms to the spinach. Add goat cheese,grated cheese, and tomatos to the bowl and the nutmeg. Stir to combine the stuffing. Return your skillet to the stove over medium high heat.

Place a mound of stuffing on each breast and wrap and roll breast over the stuffing. Secure breasts with toothpicks. Add 3 tablespoons oil to the pan, 3 turns of the pan. Add breasts to the pan and brown on all sides, cooking chicken 10 to 12 minutes. The meat will cook quickly because it is thin. Remove breasts; add butter to the pan and flour. Cook butter and flour for a minute, whisk in wine and reduce another minute. Whisk in broth and return breasts to the pan. Reduce heat and simmer until ready to serve. Remove toothpicks. Serve breasts whole or, remove from pan, slice on an angle and fan out on dinner plates. Top stuffed chicken breasts or sliced stuffed breasts with generous spoonfuls of the sauce.

I ended up putting them in the oven for 30-45 min b/c the chicken breasts were big. You could serve this with brown rice also. Here is a picture of the finished product…The wine is optional