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!

 

 

4th of July Weekend

What an amazing weekend!  4th of July weekend has always been my favorite because the weather is gorgeous, the food is always phenomenal and all of my friends and family are together.

Friday morning, my sister and I woke up bright and early, real early… 5:45 a.m. to be exact.  We had plans to go for an easy jog before the festivities began, but got caught up just talking, hanging out and prepping food for the day ahead.  For the past 20 years, the 4th has always been a big day at the Hanson household.  The town parade goes right past my parents house and all of our friends and family come to watch and hang out at the pool after.

Another tradition that has lived strong through the years is the ice water bucket.  I’ve seen all these people doing the ‘ice water challenge’ on Facebook which is awesome because it goes towards a great cause, but that ‘challenge’ has been happening to me since I was six.  My parents neighbor somehow always sneaks up behind me and throws a giant bucket of ice cold water on me.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying lots of great food and refreshing drinks by the pool.

Friday night, however, was a little different.  One of my best friends invited Brian and I to join her and her boyfriend on his boat to watch the fireworks by Navy Pier.

We had a blast – it was a perfect night to be on the boat.

The next morning, we were a little slow in waking up, but I was excited because it was my BIRTHDAY!  I’m lucky to share the same birthday weekend as one of my best friends, because we always think of a fun way to celebrate together.

This year, a lot of our friends joined us in day-drinking festivities at Homeslice Wheel House in Lincoln Park.  We reserved a portion of their patio and got a sweet drink deal that included all-you can drink for three hours – mimosas, bloody marys, beer and wine galore!

Plus we ordered pizza, obviously.

Chicken and Jalapenos on a pizza = my dream.

The celebration did not stop after the party, my family came down Sunday evening to take me out to dinner and shower me with amazing and thoughtful gifts.

We went to one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Chicago, Riccardo Trattoria.  The restaurant is so intimate and authentic, I feel like I’m in Rome every time I go there.

As I said before, this weekend was amazing and I wish I could replay it all over again.  Luckily, I took today off to recover from the weekend and get back on track with my eating and workout habits 😉

How did you spend 4th of July Weekend?

 

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!

Summer Spritzers and ‘Staycations’

Good Morning!

It is absolutely GORGEOUS outside today… the humidity has left Chicago and I finally feel comfortable opening up my windows again.  Good thing too because I am currently on STAYCATION 🙂  That’s right, I’m off work today and tomorrow and plan on enjoying the sunshine as much as possible with family, friends and Bailey.

This morning I got up bright and early and took Bailey out for a run.  Of course my phone and iPod were both on the verge of dying so I didn’t have anything to document the beautiful scene outside, but if you live in Chicago you know what it looks like!

My run was a quick and simple 5 mile loop around the neighborhood followed by a good amount of stretching.

Last night I had one of the best meals of the summer that was hosted by Brian’s cousin Diane.  She always knows how to throw a great party, so when Brian told me that she was offering to cook us dinner to celebrate my birthday I agreed immediately.

When we arrived she was working hard cooking up little zucchini quinoa fritters for us to enjoy as an appetizer.  Along with a delicious and refreshing watermelon spritzer.

This drink SCREAMED summer.  Pureed watermelon, Gin, Lime Juice and Club Soda.

So good, I had to have two!

The appetizer/drink round was followed by a crisp avocado salad and personal grilled pizza’s.  Diane had threw together a bunch of dough and portioned them out to the perfect personal size.  Before we threw the dough on the grill, we needed to prep all of the toppings and boy did she have the best choices!

Onto the grill went tomatoes, mushrooms and marinated shrimp.  Plus, she also had sauteed fennel and onions on the side as well.

Once the vegetables were done, she brushed the pizza dough with a little olive oil and put them on the grill just until they were slightly crispy but not too brown.  Then came the fun part – making your own pizza!

I topped mine with just about everything including sliced fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded fontina cheese and shredded basil.

Brian’s looked pathetic compared to mine (Brian’s is the bottom one), he clearly does not have the Italian gene in him 😉

The pizza’s went back on the grill for only 4 or 5 minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese and get the bottom of the crust nice and crispy.

They turned out SO SO well.  Oh my gosh, they were so delicious.

The evening ended with a delicious strawberry/blueberry shortcake, some white wine and lots of laughter.

I’m so blessed to have such good friends in my life, especially ones who are good cooks!

Bon Appetit!

25th Birthday & The 11 Mile Run

Good Morning!

We just had quite the eventful holiday weekend as I’m sure many of you did as well.

Friday

… Was my 25th birthday!!!! I ended up having to go into the office to run payroll that day, but there were not too many employees around so I was able to get a lot done.  Around noon, my family came and took me out for a birthday lunch!  I gave them a quick tour of the office before we headed out as got them to sample some delicious brownies my co worker had brought in for me.

Have you seen the ones on pinterest that have pretzel bites and salted caramel on them? Yah- so good!

After work, I met Brian out at the new Brewery in Lakeview called DryHop.  We have been anxiously waiting to try the place, but it has been SO busy ever  since it opened a month ago.

We weren’t in a huge hurry to eat right away so we posted up at the bar and grabbed a few Brews.  I tried “The Jury” which was an American Pale Ale while Brian had the “As The Crow Flies” which was a vanilla porter… I liked his better 😉

After 40 minutes or so, we snagged a table and sat down for dinner.  We ordered the mussels as an appetizer which were deliciously cooked in a white wine/butter mixture with shallots and garlic.  As my main course, I ordered the Lamb Pastrami sandwich which was to die for! Seriously so good, it had gruyere cheese, arugula, pickled onions and some sort of aioli on it.

The sandwich was extremely filling, so I saved half of it for a 2;00 am snack later 😉

After dinner, Brian and I headed home to change for the night out!  I ended up choosing the bar ‘Untitled’ as my bar of choice for it’s delicious cocktails and fun atmosphere.

A lot of my friends were able to come out and help celebrate and dance the night away!

Saturday

The next morning was a little rough so we took our time sleeping in and making breakfast before heading back out to the suburbs to hang out with me family.

I had to refuel and hydrate real good because my dad and I were slotted to play tennis around Noon.  It was a beautiful day on Saturday and not extremely hot so I definitely wanted to spend the majority of my time outdoors.

My dad and I played about an hour of tennis while Brian and Bailey played around the park.

I have been playing tennis with my dad since I could basically hold a racquet, it has always been one of my favorite activities to do together.

After tennis, we headed straight back to my parents and immediately jumped in the POOL! Best. Feeling. Ever.

The rest of the evening was spent just relaxing and catching up with my family.  My dad even through together a delicious snack while hanging at the pool that consisted of roasted peppers, goat cheese and pesto.

SO GOOD.

A giant delicious thin crust pizza followed the appetizer which had mushrooms, green peppers and giardiniera on it.  Pizza totally hit the spot – it’s been a long time since I’ve had pizza that wasn’t originally frozen from Trader Joe’s.

Sunday

I made sure to hydrated plenty throughout Saturday because Sunday Runday was on the calendar for 11 miles!

My friend Lindsay and I (yes, we have the same name) woke up bright and early to beat the heat and start the day off right!  It was an absolutely beautiful day for a run – I was so excited to get out despite the fact that my muscles were a little tight from the tennis match.

About 4 miles in I was feeling good, but all of sudden had to go to the bathroom – like real bad!  We had to make a pit stop and I decided that eating pizza the night before a long run was probably not the brightest idea I’ve ever had – but it tasted so good!

After the bathroom break, I felt great and we completed the 11 miles in under 2 hrs. at an average pace of about 10 min/mile.

We finished are run conveniently close to a Starbucks so I grabbed some iced coffee with soy milk and a multi grain bagel with cream cheese.  This hit the spot!

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing…

At home stretching…

By the lake…

And at the dining room table 🙂

After dinner, Brian and I took Bailey on a quick walk and also stopped by Sports Authority so I could stock up on some running fuel!

Candy for the win!