Green Street Smoked Meats

Last week, a group of friends and I decided to get together and grab food/drinks after work. There are a lot of new, interesting and delicious places that are popping up everywhere, but the West Loop seems to keep hitting it right on the mark. If you are unfamiliar with the West Loop of Chicago, it is directly west of the loop (shocker) and is home to some of the best food/restaurants in the city: Au Cheval (known for their incredible bacon cheeseburger), Girl & The Goat/ Little Goat (Stephanie Izard’s famed dish – pig face), Avec (bacon-wrapped dates), The Publican (Serrano Ham and Beer), RM Champagne Salon, Nellcote, The Aviary, … just to name a few 😉

We all decided that we wanted something low-key, but with awesome food and drinks, so Green Street Smoked Meats it was.  I had not yet been to GSSM, but as an avid lover of all things barbecue I was on board.

The first cool thing about this place is that the entrance is in an alley.  An alley that has been transformed into an outdoor eating mecca with communal picnic tables and twinkle lights galore.  When you enter, you are immediately greeted by a bearded staff member who explains the order of events – get in line and pick out your meat/sides, then go to the bar to order your drinks.

(blurry – I was so excited! … but you get the idea)

The smell inside the building was intoxicating and seeing the giant smokers with chefs pulling out delicious, succulent meats almost made me go weak at the knees – how could I decide what to order?!

Since we went right after work, the line went by fast and before I knew it I had decided on pork ribs with a side of potato salad and house made spicy pickles. – I’m literally drooling right now just thinking about it.

We passed by the bar to grab some margaritas and beers and headed outside to snag a table.

Fist of all, the sides were AWESOME.  I could have eaten two containers of the pickles which were not super spicy, but had a good kick from the spice/vinegar combination.  The potato salad was light, not overly dressed with heavy mayo and the potatoes themselves were perfectly cooked – love red-skinned potatoes.

The ribs, oh those ribs.  Do you see that rub?! They were phenomenal.  Juicy and succulent, you bet I took off all that meat straight down to the bone.

I had little bites of other dishes that were around me as well – smoked brisket, broccoli salad, frito pie (oh, yes).  Everything was phenomenal and BONUS under $20!

We took our time eating through our plates, going back up to the bar for a second round and enjoying the beautiful weather.  I’m fairly certain we could have sat there all night if it wasn’t for that dog at home we needed to take care of at home…

If you are ever in Chicago and are looking for a fun place to grab food/drinks, I highly recommend making your way over to the West Loop.   Stroll around, take it all in and wander over to Green Street Smoked Meats for some amazing smoked meats and strong drinks in a causal setting.  You won’t regret it!

Love and Marriage

Today is just one of those mornings I didn’t want to get out of bed. I wanted to wake up and for it to be Saturday morning all over again. My little sister, Kristan, came in town from Charlotte, North Carolina to celebrate one of our closest family friends getting married.

I haven’t seen my sister since the end of July so to say that I was excited to spend the weekend with her was an understatement.

We brunched, shopped and of course partied.

The wedding ceremony and reception was held at the gorgeous Salvage One venue in Chicago. If you are unfamiliar with this particular spot, it’s a vintage furniture store that they transform on the weekends. All the furniture was eclectically mismatched, but uniquely cool and retro. There were chandeliers of all shapes and sizes hanging from the ceiling and even a pair of old church bells.

My favorite detail, however, was the marquee Chicago sign in the courtyard.

The ceremony was quick, but beautiful. The bride, a lover of all things French, chose classic French bistro music as her background to the ceremony.  The mother and fathers of the bride/groom wrote touching letters addressed to the couple and a Willie Nelson song was even recited before two pronounced their vows.

Everything was beautiful.

I feel extremely fortune to say that I still have friends from when I was in grade school. That we have been through dress up plays, middle school fads, first time love, first time heartbreak and all that there is in between together. All the way to marrying the love of her life… It’s truly special.

Beer, Workout, Eat, Repeat.

Hi, friends!

This weekend was an interesting one to say the least… and as I type up this post the Bears are off to a piss poor start, so let’s hope that changes by the time I’m done here.

Friday after work, a group of friends and I had tickets to go to the ‘Lions, Tigers and Brews’ beer festival at the Lincoln Park Zoo.  If you live in Chicago, then you know Friday was just an awful, awful day to be outside.  It was 55 degrees, windy and rainy.  Yuck.  I had a sweater and leather jacket on, but that really was not enough to block the piercing wind while holding a cold beer.  Needless to say, the “festival” was very short lived for me and my crew.  We managed to snag about 3 or 4 beers (the lines were outrageous considering the weather), and visited the lions.

He was the best part of the fest.

The low-key Friday was okay by me because we had ANOTHER beer festival to go to on Saturday, and luckily this one was indoors 🙂

The Chicago Beer Festival was held on Saturday in the Great Hall at Union Station.  There were two sessions you could attend and my friends and I choose the 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. time slot.  Day drinking at it’s finest.

The Great Hall is huge and there were at least 50 different breweries at the event.  Including:

• Lagunitas Brewing
• 3 Sheeps Brewing Co.
• Summit Brewing Co.
• Dark Horse Brewing Co.
• Off Color Brewing
• Finch’s Beer Co.
• Atlas Brewing Company
• Penrose Brewing Company
• Founders Brewing
• Rogue
• Transient Artisan Ales
• Local Option
• Bell’s
• Upland Brewing Co.

… and so much more.

Upon entering the event, we received our ‘tasting’ mugs, which were actually a really decent size for tasting pours!

We took our time pretty much sampling every vendor.  I sampled all kinds of IPA’s, Saisons, Porter’s, Cider’s, etc.

My favorites from the day were:

• P.2 Pale Ale from Penrose Brewing Company
• Really Cool Waterslides IPA from 3 Sheeps Brewing
• Crooked Tree IPA from Dark Horse BRewing
• Rasberry Ale from Dark Horse Brewing
• en Seine Pearis Saison from Bucket List Brewing

So yummy!  We had an absolute blast at the event – it’s always fun to go with such a great group of people!

After our 4 hours were up, we were HUNGRY (and severely buzzed) so food was in order.  We headed over the Haymarket Brewery, because clearly we had no had enough beer yet, and ate some delicious pizza.

After that Brian and I headed home to let Bailey out and uhhhhh pass out.  🙂

I was up bright and early Sunday morning to immediately start working off all of the beer/pizza that was in my body.

First, a long morning walk with Bailey.

Then, a spin/pump class at Go Cycle courtesy of my ClassPass subscription.  The class I signed up for was called ‘Go Pump’ and was 40 minutes of cycling followed by 20 minutes of weights.  Go Cycle is not just a spin studio, they have lots of other combo classes such as:

• Go Core: 30 minutes of cycling followed by 20 minutes of core
• TRX Training
• TRX Express
• Go Yo: 40 minutes of cycling followed by 20 minutes of yoga
• Go Ripped: Alternating intervals of cycling and weights

My instructor was Sara B. and she was AWESOME!  High energy, tons of fun… she even danced during some songs!  I absolutely loved the class.  I left SUPER sweaty and my booty was on fiiirreee.  I will definitely be going back and can’t wait to try out all the other different types of classes.

Welp, the Bears still aren’t doing good, but it’s only the 2nd quarter.  Here’s hoping they big home the W!

 

 

ClassPass – Fitness at your fingertips

Last week, when I returned from my wild and wonderful vacation, I was offered the opportunity to attend the ClassPass launch party at Flywheel spin studio in the Gold Coast.  ClassPass is a fitness start up that helps people find fitness classes that they love. For $99 a month, you get 10 classes you can use to visit any studio that you want. Some of these studios include:

• Pure Barre
• 105F Bikram
• Atlas Performance
• Bar Method
• Chicago Kettlebell Club
• DHF Lakeview
• Exhale Chicago
• Go Cycle Studio
• South Loop Crossfit
• Core Chicago Pilates
• … and so much more!

Most studios have two or three locations around Chicago, so you can find a class that is close to where you live or where you work.  Currently, ClassPass is available in Chicago, Boston, New York, L.A. and San Francisco.

When I arrived at the launch party, I was informed that the spin class I was supposed to attend was already full!  I’m not going to lie, I was really bummed and a little annoyed until they handed me a sweet swag bag and offered me a free ClassPass monthly trial.

Ummm, okay!  (p.s. not the biggest fan of the hashtag, but the tank top and water bottle are super cute)

Last night, I attended my first class of the month – Pure Barre in Lakeview.

I’ve heard a lot about barre classes and have actually attended one a while back, but knew there was a lot of hype surrounding this specific studio.  I was excited to try something new and nervous at the same time because I knew a lot of the moves require flexibility, and that is just an area I do not excel in 🙂

When I got to the studio, I was immediately greeted by one of the instructors.  The first thing she asked me was, “Is this your first time at Pure Barre?”  A little embarrassed to admit it I replied “yes” and was immediately glad to hear I was not the only one.  The instructor took me around the studio and introduced me to the instructor who would be leading the class.  They showed me what types of equipment I would need and a little bit of what to expect throughout the class.  I was very impressed with how nice and helpful everyone was.

Since the instructors did a good job of engaging me, I decided to go ahead and buy a pair of their signature socks (yes, I’m a sucker for new fitness stuff).

I loved all the fun colors I got to choose from and have to admit that they class would have been a lot harder without them.  The grips on the bottom help you grip to the carpet so you aren’t sliding around during the workout.

Once the class started, I noticed that I guessed the correct attire to wear to class.  Lies – I Google imaged ‘Pure Barre” and saw that everyone in class was wearing some sort of tights and a tank.  I’m a nerd.

Now to the fun part – the class itself.  It was definitely challenging in a way that will probably have an awesome effect on my abs and thighs, but it’s not one of those classes that you leave completely drenched in sweat… unless I was doing everything wrong.

Everything is done in little movements and high repetitions.  After 2 minutes of making the same small, controlled motion you definitely start to feel it… and may even start to shake!  “Shaking is changing”, or so they say!

The class moved at a very fast pace so that I never really got bored or lost focus.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and will definitely go again.  I may, however, pair the class with a run outside or some other type of cardio because I felt like I needed something else to round out the workout.

I’ve already mapped out the other classes I want to try through ClassPass at other studios that are close to me.  I’m really excited to try new things and find out if there is something else out there I could add to my regular routine.

I’ll be sure to let you all know how the rest of my ClassPass experience goes… stay tuned!

 

Chicago Activities – Fall Edition

Well, friends it’s starting to feel like fall more and more everyday. Cooler temperatures, less humidity, Monday night football… Is it too soon to break out the fall decor?

Last night, one of my favorite fall activities started… Outdoor soccer!

What makes fall soccer better than summer league? Well the fact that I can run/sprint around the field without feeling like I’m going to die from the humidity is a good start. You don’t have to worry about getting stung by bees on the field – oh and you can bust out those sweet high school soccer sweatshirts you know you’ve been holding on to for said occasion. They are “vintage” now, so you totally look cool wearing them.

Last night I was a fall cliche if you ever did see one. Soccer game at night (we won!), Monday night football upon my return home with a big bowl of leftover chili and a piece of jalapeño cornbread. All I needed was a pumpkin spice latte (homemade, of course) and I would have completed the fall madness.

There are some really fun fall activities going on around the Chicago-land area that I’m very much looking forward to and you should too:

Beer Festivals

Lions, Tigers and Brews – September 12th

The Chicago Beer Festival – September 13th

Oktoberfest Festivals

Berghoff’s Oktoberfest – September 10th – 12th

Oktoberfest 5k – September 18th

Oktoberfest The Dawson – September 20th

Logan Square Beer Fest – September 20th

Oktoberfest St. Alphonsus – September 26th, 27th and 28th

Fall Movies

Gone Girl

Fury

Interstellar

The Hunger Games – Mocking Jay Part 1

The Drop

Fall Concerts

Riot Fest – September 12th – 14th

The Black Keys & Cage the Elephant – September 27th and 28th

Lily Allen – September 30th

Fall Weddings

We have three!!!!

There is so much more to do… how will we get to all of them!?!  Bust out your flannel, y’all and embrace these fun activities!

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Another weekend has come and gone…

This one was full of lots of activity, laughter and of course… wine 🙂

Saturday morning started with a nice 4 mile run on a blue bird sky day.

We are now entering my favorite season to go on runs and I can’t wait to get back into race mode with a few I have scheduled these next couple of months.

After I dropped Bailey off at home (oh yes, she came with me!), I headed out to the grocery store to stock up on some items for the weekend.  Specifically, items to make chili and cornbread for football Sunday!  When I got back home, I realized I forgot to pick up items to bring to the Carrie Underwood concert I was headed to that evening.  I frantically pulled whatever was in my fridge/pantry and came up with this awesome pasta salad:

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

• 1 lb. cavatappi pasta
• 1/2 cucumber, diced
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, diced
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. First, start by making your dressing for the salad.  Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Place a large pot of water over medium high heat and bring to a boil.  Cook your pasta according to package instructions or until just al dente.  It should be noted here, that you can use what ever fun pasta shape you have in your pantry.  However, I would not use a long linguine or spaghetti type noodle for this dish as it wouldn’t hold the dressing quite as well.
3. Once your pasta is cooked, set aside to cool.
4. Dice the cucumber, olives, sun dried tomatoes and place in a large mixing bowl.  Add the cooled pasta to the bowl and the vinaigrette.  Add the spinach and toss to coat.  I find it easier to toss the spinach once the vinaigrette has already been added.
5. Top with crumbled feta cheese and enjoy!

We enjoyed this and so many other great items at our Ravinia picnic – shout out to Kristin’s veggie “deep dish” pizza!

The concert itself was just okay.  I love Carrie Underwood, but she didn’t have an opener and only played for an hour and half so we all left a little disappointed.

Sunday morning, Brian and I headed over to Kendell College for an extravagant brunch to celebrate the graduation of our family/friend, Diane.  Diane took a year-long culinary class through the college and we were able to see all of her hard work come together as the brunch was completely hosted by the students!

We dined on so many great dishes…. (and sipped on lots and lots of prosecco!).

The favorites among our table were the grits and leek gratin.

Our weekend ended on the couch watching endless amounts of football and enjoying homemade chili and jalapeno cornbread for dinner.

Pretty successful weekend if I do say so myself!  Hope you all enjoyed yours 🙂

 

My Favorite Protein Pancakes

Howdy!

Well this week started with a bang, I have so much to get done before our road trip to West Virginia it’s unreal.

The good thing is that I had a nice and relaxing weekend to get all geared up for an ultra productive week.

Friday, my coworkers and I enjoyed some adult beverages after work.

This delicious New Glarus Wisconsin Ale brewed with Cherries.  Yum.

… and the Southern Tier Brewing Pumking at home.

(no, I didn’t buy the whole case unfortunately).

You might be thinking… Lindsay… it’s just way to early for such fall type drinks.  Well you are wrong, my friend.  This girl right here lives in the Midwest for a reason.

In keeping with the shotgun fall cuisine, I woke up Saturday morning craving my favorite protein pancakes:

The Best Protein Pancakes Ever

Serves: 2

Ingredients: 

• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 6 egg whites
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tbsp. almond milk
• Chocolate chips
• Banana slices (garnish)
• Almond butter (garnish)
• Pure maple syrup (non of that fake shit)

Directions:

1. Mash the banana in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk together.
3. Cook like regular pancakes… add some chocolate chips if your heart so desires
4. Top pancakes with some fresh banana slices, a dollop of almond butter and a drizzle of pure maple syrup.  bada bing bada boom.

These pancakes helped fuel our morning workouts at the gym.  I opted to do one of the Spartan WOD’s:

3 vertical jumps (max effort).  Fully recover after each set.  Repeat 3 sets of 3 jumps.

Split Squat Iso Hold.  Accumulate 60 seconds per leg.  Fully recover.  Repeat 3 sets

Accumulate 60 seconds in High Pull-Up Hold then accumulate 20 push-ups.  Fully recover.  Repeat 3 times.

Run 30 minutes – zone 1.  (aka – slower pace)

I was super sweaty after this one.  I typically sweat a lot, but the gym was humid and hot from the weather outside so it just tripled everything.  My running partner, Lindsay, probably would have been embarrassed if she was with me 🙂

Saturday evening, Brian and I attended the 40th birthday of one of our good friends.  I was so busy eating the delicious appetizers and tasting the signature cocktails that I forgot to take pictures of this wonderful event.  After 5 or 6 cocktails… it was a Liiitttllee hard to get up in the morning.

We had big plans to visit the suburbs, however, so there was no time to waste.  It was the PERFECT day to spend outside by the pool.  Bailey thoroughly enjoyed rolling around in the mud pits that have accumulated from all of the rain we have been getting.

She was pissed when we had to give her a cold hose bath.  Basically, she participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

P.s. I saw this on insta this weekend and couldn’t stop laughing…

I can’t even.

 

Strength Moves I’m Loving Lately

Lately, I have really been loving the workouts the Spartan Race series sends it’s participants every morning.  They are always a combination of strength and cardio and a lot of the moves are ones that I would never have incorporated into my regular routine.  These same moves have also been introduced to me through my work’s kFit wellness program.  Our trainer, Sam, gives us personal attention to make sure we are performing at our best and to make sure our technique is correct.  The great news for people like you who might not get daily emails or daily training is that a lot of the moves they use can be found online! (slash, you should totally sign up for a spartan sprint.  It will challenge you in a new way and your body will thank you for it).

Here are some workout moves I have been LOVING lately:

Split Squat ISO Holds

This is a great move for beginners in strength training… don’t be timid if you find yourself having a hard time balancing at first.  Start on the ground and elevate yourself a couple inches until you can get to the full position.  This move workouts your glutes, hamstrings, quads and engages your core.  A full body win.

Hindu Squats

Another great squat variation that helps build lower back strength, endurance and speed.

Hindu Push-Ups

These push ups are so much more than a shoulder workout.  They increase mobility and work on your arms, back, chest and legs.

Bird Dog

This stability exercise engages your glutes and entire core.

Burpees

I love to hate them, but notice a major difference in my body when I incorporate these daily.  I feel stronger on my runs and actually feel like I could go for longer.

You can use these workouts to build your own circuit at the gym, outside or in your home!

Yesterday morning I was up bright and early to catch the bus and make it downtown to our 6AM kFit Bootcamp class.  It’s been a little stormy here lately, but we were fortunate enough to be able to attend the class outside!

I always initially come to this class tired and crabby.  It takes everything in my power to get me out of bed at 4:45 a.m. and I have never been a ‘natural’ morning person.  Within 10 minutes of our workout, I was feeling great and in the zone.  Funny how that happens, right?  Yesterday’s circuit focused a lot on Push-Ups – killer – and Squat Cleans with medicine balls.  By the end of the workout we had done close to 100 pushups and 80 squat cleans and I was feeeellinng it.  In a good way!  After the class, my coworker and I DIVVY over to our local gym a couple blocks away so we can shower and get ready for work.  I could barely lift my arms to shampoo my hair I was so tired, haha.

Work went by quickly which was great and even more great because I knew my workout for the day was over and I could do WHATEVER I wanted when I got home.  My extra time was spent taking Bailey on a nice long walk around the neighborhood and stopping to smell the flowers.

True story: she ate a flower just before I took this picture.  Silly.

Our dinners have been spot on lately.  Fully embracing the summer produce.  My favorite thus far has been the local pan seared trout:

We picked up these beauties from Whole Foods on Monday and boy were they delicious.

Nothing better.

Ta Ta for now!

 

Cooking, Cleaning & Running Fools

Hello, hello!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

My weekend kicked off right after work on Friday with my birthday present from Brian… a cooking class!  I’ve been talking about us going for a while now and was thrilled when I saw what he got me!

The class we took was called ‘Street Food’ and was themed around various snacks and bites that you may find sold on the street in different countries.

Here was our menu:

Beer battered fish tacos

Beef kefta kabobs

Lemongrass chicken banh mi

Cheese and bean pupusas

The class was held at the Merchandise Mart Chopping Block location, so it was super simple to get there directly after work.  Brian brought a bottle of pinot noir, we tied on our aprons and got to work.  In most classes, you work with another couple or group to prepare your various dishes.  Our class was completely full, so we were able to partner up with two other people and boy did we have so much fun!

I love cooking, I cook almost every night, but all of these items are ones I never would have just come up with on my own.

Our favorites were definitely the Beer battered fish tacos which we made with Two Brother’s Cane and Abel.  The second runner up was the Lemongrass chicken banh mi’s.  So juicy and tender, plus the crusty french bread really makes the entire sandwich.  We left completely full and happy!

I was up bright and early Saturday morning to meet my workout buddy, Lindsay at our gym.  We warmed up on the treadmill for 25 minutes alternating between a steady jog, uphill walk and sprinting.  Once we were nice in warm we completed the following workout:

Loved it!  It was so nice being at the gym so early because we didn’t have to fight for space to complete this circuit.

Saturday was such a busy day.  Immediately after our workout, I showered, grabbed a few things from Whole Foods across the street, my two of my best friends for brunch at Toast, came home and cleaned for 4 hours and then hosted a group of my closest friends for cocktails and appetizers!

Phew.  The whole day was awesome.  Even though it was jam packed, I had so much fun seeing all my different groups of friends and my workout really carried my energy level throughout the entire day.  Win!

Sunday was no less chaotic.  My parents and our family friends were over at my apartment at 10:00 a.m. ready to watch the Air and Water show (thank god my apartment was already clean).

We grabbed some sandwiches and salads from Pastoral and headed over to the lake around noon.  Unfortunately, Chicago decided to be cool and cloudy yesterday so the Air and Water show didn’t really happen, but our fun little picnic did!

I was a great way to round out the weekend… and let me tell you I slept like a BABY last night.  Fun times.

Italian Turkey Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

It’s been a loonnnngggg two days.  Between recovering from Lolla and catching up on a bunch of work stuff, I have been craving a good, hearty and homemade meal.  Since my heating habits were not exactly perfect this past weekend, I wanted to make something relatively clean and nutrient-filled.  I browsed a couple recipes online and landed on PaleOMG’s recipe for Turkey and Spinach Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.  The meal looked excellent, however, I was also really craving Italian so I improvised a little from the original recipe.

Italian Turkey Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Adapted from PaleOMG’s recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 2 fresh garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 tbs. fresh basil, minced
• 1/2 tbs. red pepper flakes
• 1 lb. organic ground turkey
• 1 cup canned plum tomatoes, diced with juice
• 2-3 cups fresh spinach
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Crumbled goat cheese, for a garnish
• Aluminum foil

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

2.  Poke holes in the sweet potatoes with a sharp knife and wrap in aluminum foil separately.  Bake in oven for 50 minutes to 1 hr, depending on size and width.

3.  Prep your ‘Mise en place’, a French phrase which means putting in place or prepping for your meal.  Dice your yellow onion, mince your garlic cloves, mince the fresh basil, pull out your spices and spinach and separate everything so they are all ready to go when needed.

4.  With 15 minutes left for the sweet potatoes to cook, drizzle the olive oil into a large saute pan and add the onion.  Cook the onions over medium high heat for 5-6 minutes or until they are translucent.

5.  Add the ground turkey, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  Cook until turkey is browned.

6.  Once browned, add the plum tomatoes and fresh basil and simmer until turkey is cooked through, about 3-4 more minutes.

7.  Turn off the heat from the saute pan and add the spinach.  Stir until spinach is wilted.

8.  Pull the sweet potatoes from the oven when done and cut open down the middle.

9.  Add turkey stuffing to potato and garnish with a sprinkle of goat cheese.

10.  Enjoy!