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!

 

Zucchini Noodle Lasanga

Good morning!

There are a couple things that made me really happy this morning:

1. Blooming flowers in my apartment.

1. My upcoming trip to West Virginia over Labor Day weekend.  I will be visiting/staying with my relatives and they are treating Brian and I to a white water rafting trip on the New River Gorge and zip lining through the canopy.  Needless to say, B and I are super pumped.  I need to figure out what I will be wearing on all these outdoor adventures… ie: I should probably buy some shoes that are suitable for rafting.  Hopefully I can find something inexpensive and not have to splurge on a pair of Chaco’s.

2. FOOTBALL SEASON!  I just marked all the Bears games down in my calendar last night and got super nerdy excited about it.  Football season means chili and cornbread season which is one of the best seasons of all!

Last night after work, I met Brian at Whole Foods so we could do our grocery shopping/meal planning for the week.  Here’s what’s on deck:

Monday: Zucchini Noodle Lasagna

Tuesday: Local Trout & Salad

Wednesday: Chicken Fajitas

Thursday: LH dinner with a friend; BS leftovers

Friday: Garlic Mustard Drumettes with Quinoa

Saturday: Takeout

Sunday: Dinner at my parents house

Produce

• 3 medium zucchini
• garlic
• cucumber
• bell peppers (2)
• broccoli
• avocado
• jalapeno (3)
• Lemons (2)
• Blueberries

Meat

• trout (2 portions about .8 or .9 lb)
• ground turkey
• chicken drumettes

Dairy

• shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 small container of ricotta (15 oz)
• Greek yogurt (4)

We had a lot of staples in our freezer/pantry for our meal plan this week, so our overall price was under $70.  Win!

Once we got home and unloaded everything, I got straight to work on making the lasagna.  There is something so comforting to me about lasagna, but I always feel a little too full when I order it at restaurants.  I stumbled across Skinnytaste’s Zucchini Lasagna and knew it would be a crowd pleaser in my house.  Plus, this is a wonderful recipe for the summer when everyone’s gardens are bursting with fresh zucchini!

The only real modification we made to her recipe was that we used ground turkey instead of ground beef and we used my mother’s homemade family marinara sauce instead of canned tomatoes.

Although the recipe is a little labor intensive…

 

The end result is SO worth it.

Oh and don’t be like me and forget to take a picture of the lasagna and gooey, hot and delicious… right out of the oven.  Fail.  Use your imagination, people 🙂

Be sure to check out her recipe here and give it a try!

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.

Sprint Your Heart Out

These past two days have been full of non-stop fun and excitement!!!!

Kidding.

The workouts and cooking have been fun, but if you are one of those people who thinks that cleaning and doing laundry is fun… I am just not there with you.

Tuesday after work, I had a few major errands to run before heading to the gym at night.  I have recently received feedback from our personal trainer at work that I should start incorporating more sprinting in my workouts so I decided to come up with something fun to do on the treadmill.  Although I really hate the treadmill during the winter months, I have really enjoyed going back in a couple times per week.  I missed seeing my usual suspects after work 🙂

I tell you this workout is a major sweat inducer and really gets your heart rate up.  As always, you can modify the speed based on your fitness level, but always make sure you are pushing yourself and breaking outside of your comfort zone.

Side note… I totally wore gray capris that day and needless to say with all the sweat that was dripping off my body, I looked like I peed my pants.  Funny.

After my workout, I had a quick protein shake at the gym and then headed back home to cook dinner.

On the menu:  Skirt Steak and Steamed Broccoli

Brian and I didn’t stay up real late that evening because I had a strength-focused kFit workout downtown in the loop at 6:00 a.m.  We used a lot of medicine balls to perform squats, overhead presses, lunges, etc.

Although it’s a pain in the ass to wake up at 4:30 a.m., in order to make a bus at 5:00 a.m., so that I can be downtown in time for this class… it is always worth it.  The trainer can whoop my ass like no one else can and I’m much more motivated throughout the day to eat healthy/make good choices when he gives me advice first thing in the morning.

Speaking of making good choices, each week my company commissions this start-up company, Fooda, to bring local restaurants onsite for us to buy lunch.  Yesterday’s choice was Farmer’s Fridge and all of their choices were amazing!  Have you heard of them?  They have a couple kiosks around the loop which have fun salads in a jar type options as well as wraps and little snacks.

I went with the Chicken Kale Cesar Wrap which had a whole wheat tortilla, sweet potato, pomegranate seeds, pumpkin seeds, Parmesan, kale, chia seeds, and a vegan Caesar dressing all wrapped together.

It was so fresh and filling, plus it was only $7.00 which for a loop lunch spot is very affordable.  It’s really hard to find a lot of healthy and fresh lunch options in the Chicago loop.  My usual repertoire is a mixture of the local cafeteria salad bar, Pret A Manger, Protein Bar and basically packing my own lunch.  It’s nice to have a new option added… I highly recommend you check them out.

WOD & Whitefish

I finally did something I was always a little apprehensive to do… I signed up for a Spartan race!

Thanks to Brian, I am now a participant in the 2014 Spartan Sprint at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI.  Yes!  This is the same venue Brian ran last year in which I watched him climb high ropes, lift heavy weights, do countless box jumps and climb tall walls.  I remember as a spectator thinking, “I don’t know if I could ever do that”, but as I watched all the participants go by I noticed that they were from all different fitness levels.  And if they could do it I could too.

My biggest challenge will be to improve my upper body strength.  While the obstacles are the not the same every year, I know that this is one of my weakness that could definitely make the course more challenging if I don’t train properly.

With that being said, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the Spartan Series sends you WOD’s as a part of your registration fee.

With 11 weeks to go until the race, I wasted no time and started my training yesterday.

Since it was supposed to rain last night, I decided to take my workout indoors and complete this series at the gym:

 

(Note: don’t repeat the 3 miles 3x, only the strength circuit)

It was an adapted version of what they sent us because I am also training for a 10k and need to make sure I get enough distance running in.  I felt really great after completing this workout and knew that I was going to be sore the next day which is always a good thing 🙂

After my workout, I headed over to Whole Foods to stock up on some groceries for the week.  I saw in the seafood section that they had a local Whitefish on sale and decided to give it a try.  I seriously love seafood… I’m fairly certain I could eat it every single day.

I seasoned the Whitefish with some herb & lime seasoning salt I have from Frontera Grill, a Rick Bayless restaurant.  That and a little black pepper was all the seasoning it needed.

Depending on the thickness of the fish, Whitefish does tend to cook a lot faster than Salmon does.  I seared these babies on medium high heat in a couple tablespoons of olive oil until done and flaky – about 3 minutes per side.

We squeezed a little fresh lemon juice on top and whipped up a side salad and that was that!

A delicious, fresh and light dinner.

Bon Appetit!

 

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!

 

Garlic & Herb Shrimp Skewers

It’s weekends like these that have me convinced I live in the most beautiful city.

Brian, Bailey and I took full advantage of the gorgeous weather and spent 90% of our weekend outside. I did all sorts if great outdoors activities from playing tennis with my dad and sister…

To swimming in my parents pool.

Early morning runs and a great strength workout with my buddy, Lindsay.

Long walks along the lakeshore path, taking in all the views.

And refreshing cocktails on the back porch (yes, this counts as an outdoor activity!).

What truly wrapped up the entire weekend was a fresh Sunday Dinner. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but cooking Sunday Dinner is one of my favorite traditions. Growing up, this often included homemade meatballs, homemade pasta sauce and fresh spaghetti. Today, it’s heavily revolved around what’s seasonal and fresh. Thus, Garlic and Herbed Shrimp Skewers was born.

Garlic & Herb Shrimp Skewers

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 cup minced fresh basil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tbs. Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup good olive oil, I used a herb-infused olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Soak your skewers in water for 1 hour before beginning to prep your meal.

2.  Mince the garlic

3. … And the Basil

4. Combine all of the ingredients above with the shrimp and let them marinate for 1 hour.

5. Skewer the shrimp.

5. Grill the shrimp for only 1 – 2 minutes on each side.

Enjoy!

Flank Steak and Caprese Salad: Meal Planning Win

Good Morning!

I’ve seem to develop some sort of summertime cold.  Don’t you just hate those?  Is it allergies?  An actual cold?  A sinus infection?  Who knows?!  I seem to always make it through the winter without getting a cold, but come summertime it always hits me.

I was fortunate enough to be able to work from home yesterday as Bailey’s battle wound (hornet, read yesterday’s post) had not really shown improvement and I wanted to be able to monitor it and talk to the vet about what to do.  Brian calls me the ‘helicopter mom’, which is fine.  When a giant – liquid-filled mass forms on my babygirl, I’m going to be worried!  Plus, this is the first time this has happened and I just want to make sure we were doing the right thing.  FYI, if your dog ever has an allergic reaction to a bee or hornet sting, benedryl and ice will do the trick.

Speaking of Bailey… this weekend Brian and I received something truly awesome from my sister’s boyfriend.

A gorgeous painting!  A while back, I asked if he would consider painting a picture of her and when he agreed he made sure to keep it a surprise the whole time.

Well, we couldn’t be happier with the picture he chose and wasted no time hanging it in our living room.  Love that face.

Last night, among a bunch of different errands, I managed to find my way to the grocery store to stock up for this week.

Meal Plan

Monday: Flank Steak and Caprese Salad

Tuesday: Sweet Potato Hash with Friend Eggs

Wednesday: Turkey Wraps with Salad

Thursday:  Bourbon Glazed Chicken and Quinoa

Friday: Wing It

Saturday: Company Picnic/Leftovers

Sunday: Spaghetti Arrabiata

Into my shopping cart went:

• Tomatoes (3)
• Sweet Potatoes (2 medium)
• Bell Pepper
• Lettuce
• Avocado
• Thyme
• Basil
• Jalapenos (3)
• Corn (2)
• Peaches (2)
• Chicken Breast (1 lb.)
• Flank Steak (1 lb.)
• Turkey Deli Meant (1/2 lb.)
• Greek Yogurt (4 individual sized)
• Fresh Mozzarella
• Organic Eggs
• Chicken Stock
• Frozen Pizza
• Hibiscus Lemonade
• Chicken Noodle Soup (Boxed variety)
• Frozen Fruit

Grand Total: $80.49 – Anything under $100 is a win in our household!  Meal planning is the best.

The rest of the evening was spent cooking this delicious summer meal.

(If you’ve never cooked flank steak before: Season your steak with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Set your grill to medium high and grill each side for 5 minutes for medium rare.  LET THE MEAT REST for 10 minutes before slicing up portions against the grain and voila!)

Playing ‘Heads Up’!  Note to self: Brian does not get song references.

And watching cute dog videos.

It was an awesome night!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust Season

So as you know, yesterday was the USA world cup soccer game.  I so badly wanted to just grab a six-pack of Oberon, order Pizzeria Serio and call it a night, but those Tone It Up girls were eyeing my from the corner reminding me that it’s summer and that my Italian genes don’t take well to mass amounts of carbs and cheese.  So alas, I gave into my craving via the more ‘healthy’ way… a Cauliflower Pizza Crust version.

I found this recipe while perusing Eating Bird Food’s recipe index and decided to finally give it a try.  A while back, I made the sweet potato crust version and it turned out stupendously, so I was confident that this would be the same way.

Healthy Pizza with Cauliflower Crust

by: Eating Bird Food

Ingredients

• 1/2 head of cauliflower (2 cups riced)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

2. Prep a cookie sheet or pizza stone by grease it with oil.

3. Remove the stems and leaves from your cauliflower and grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater.  If you have a high-speed blender, this would work too.

4. Sauté cauliflower “rice” in a non-stick skillet over medium heat and cook until translucent, approximately 6-8 minutes. (You can use the microwave for this as well. Just place cauliflower in an uncovered microwave-safe bowl and cook for 8 minutes.)

5. In a bowl combine the cooked cauliflower with all remaining ingredients.

6. Spread dough out evenly over foil (or stone) – about ¼ to ⅓ of an inch thick. The pizza should be about 9-10 inches in diameter.

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden, crispy on the edges and cooked through the middle.

8. Remove the crust from the oven.

9. Top with pizza sauce and toppings. Be careful not to add too many heavy toppings as you don’t want to weigh down the crust.

10. Broil the pizza for 5 minutes, or until the toppings are hot and the cheese is melted. Allow the pizza to cool for 2-3 minutes then cut and serve immediately.

When you are craving pizza, nothing really beats the real thing… let’s be honest, but this recipe was really easy to make and provided a healthier version of what I was about to consume.  My bikini hanging up in the bathroom thanked me.  The only comment I have about this recipe is that I probably would have kept the crust in a little longer… it’s didn’t crisp up the same way the Sweet Potato crust did, which made it a little hard to actually eat with your hands.  I’m from Chicago, so I don’t mind fork and knifing it, but you get what I mean.

Pizza. Win.

Ta Ta for now, folks!

Turkey Bacon, Kale and Sweet Potato Hash

Hello! Hello!

It’s been a rainy couple of days here in Chicago which just makes me want to stay in bed and snuggle with Bailey.  This morning when I rolled over to see if she wanted to go outside, I got the ‘leave me alone’ look and thus I rolled back under the covers.  While I appreciate cooler days in the summer here and there because of the lack of central air conditioning in my apartment, cool weather + rain, just ain’t right.  No one likes to run or do activities in cold rain, which means we are all forced to go back indoors and face… the DREADMILL.

It’s been a ‘coon’s age’, as my friend Cassie would say, since I have been to my gym due to the awesome weather we have had and amount of activities I have scheduled outdoors.  Can’t say I really missed the gym, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the Xsport by Piper’s Alley had gotten a little face lift since I had been last.  Also, they hand you a towel when you walk in rather than you helping yourself which is good because there were many times over the winter when they were completely out upon my arrival.

Since I was not really please I was having to do my workout indoors, I stuck with a quick 35 minute tempo run on the treadmill.  I alternated between speeds of 6.8, 7.0 and 8.0 to give my tush a little push and lift.

After my run, I headed to the mats to stretch, per usual, and did an awesome AB workout from Tone It Up!

On my way home, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for dinner.  Earlier in the day I had seen Iowa Girl Eat’s recipe for a Crispy Kale, Bacon and Basil Farmer’s Market Hash, and knew I wanted to make something similar to it with the ingredients that were available in my pantry.  So alas, this is what I came up with:

Turkey Bacon, Kale and Sweet Potato Hash

*Modified from Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients

• 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 3 strips of turkey bacon, diced
• 2 organic eggs
• 3 cups of kale, torn into small pieces
• 5 large basil leaves, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. paprika
• Hot sauce – garnish
• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tbs. butter

Directions

1. Add the diced turkey bacon to a large skillet and sauté until crisp in 1 tbsp. olive oil.  Drain the crispy turkey bacon on a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.

2. Add the butter and diced sweet potatoes to the pan and cook for 8 – 10 minutes or until browned.

3. Add 3 cups of kale and saute until wilted.

4. Throw the turkey bacon back into the pan with the garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper and cook for 3 more minutes on medium – high heat

4. While the hash is finishing, fry up two eggs in a separate pan

5. Plate the hash and top with one or two fried eggs as desired

6. Garnish with a dash of hot sauce and enjoy!