Super Strawberry Smoothie & Salad

It's a Strawberry Kind of Day

Smoothies - Wheat Germ, Flax Seed, and Strawberries
When we were in the local A&P last week, my partner decided to get some wheat germ.  I am not sure he knew what he was going to do with it but he figured it looked healthy so why not?

While researching what to do with wheat germ, I found a recipe for a blueberry peach and wheat germ smoothie.  Since then I have taken to adding wheat germ to my smoothies alternated with flax seeds.  I find the flax seeds are better when I prep a smoothie the night before and they can sit in the yogurt and almond milk until the morning, but the wheat germ is great on the go!  I have a the Oster shake blender so I can prep everything in the container slap on a lid, wrap in tinfoil and drink a smoothie at work.  The tinfoil is just in case it leaks, it doesn't destroy my shoes or workout gear. Wheat germ just needs to be shaked up once I get to work.

This allows me to have a filling breakfast after teaching in the morning without a lot of work and it is something I can drink in meetings and on the go.  People often think I have coffee, turns out it's goop.

This morning I used some 1 tbsp wheat germ with:

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 big spoonful plain yogurt (exact measurements are not happening after the gym and before work)
• 5 or 6 big strawberries, mine were frozen.
• 1 banana
• 6 or 7 chunks of pineapple - it looked delicious in the store so I bought it

Salads - Strawberry Avocado
Salads are my go to for a busy day. I often will bring leftover chicken or tuna in a pouch and have that in addition to a salad bought at the Fresh & Co.  But today I made my own salad in a leftover sushi container with a recipe from Facebook! It included:

• Big Bunch of Spinach Leaves
• 6 strawberries cut up
• 1 avocado cubed
• handful of sliced almonds
• 1 tbsp feta
• 1 piece of cut up chicken
• balsamic dressing 

*photos from the internet

A Runner's Vacation In Paradise

I have not been as diligent as a good blogger should. Unfortunately, the work/life balance lately has landed often squarely on the work side, leaving me to not have as much time for fun blog posts.  However, I have been following a pretty good diet leading up to our big trip to Costa Rica, which is now officially over!  Back to freezing NYC COLD.  However, the days in Nosara were beautiful, pura vida!  I will happily return next year and look forward to perfecting my surfing skills.  It's a great vacation since you don't feel bad eating since much of the food is healthy fish and greens and they have a juice bar and you're always on the go!  It's just a few cocktails and desserts thrown in for good measure.  But returning was rough!

In the meantime, under six months to go for the wedding, the 5 month countdown starts right before St. Patty's and we're hoping to sign up for some races this weekend, so back to the diet and hopefully back to the blog to share with you my Tuesday boot camps, Spinning Profiles, races and recipes.

I did get to use my favorite Oscar Spinning Profile this past Wednesday, from Fame to 8 Mile, all Oscar nominees,so that was a lot of fun, and made returning to the cold not as bad.  But, in commemoration of my trip a few pics from a perfect vacation.  We started each day at 6am with a sunrise run on the beach then had a healthy breakfast, did some surfing and yoga with a stop at the juice bar, hit the pool for siesta, had some drinks, sunset surfs, and more.  We stayed at the Harmony Hotel Nosara, which is just beautiful and a 5 minute walk to the beach.  I would recommend it in a minute.

Our back porch at the resort.  There was an outdoor shower too! And specially made products from Red Flower that smelled amazing!

We started every morning with a run along this beach. 

There's nothing like having your toes in the sand!

Another view of our back porch, you can see how much time we spent in the water by the suits and this my surfboard and our shower!  I did much better surfing this time.  I am still learning but it's going better. 

And it was a 5 minute walk to the beach and we ended with either a sunset surf or evening stroll.  This palm tree marks the path back to the resort and was the sign of our run ending, which when it was 90 degrees was well earned. 

And sometimes we ended the night with a few cocktails! This is a tropical sangria.

Nosara has the most beautiful sunsets!

You always have to buy something on vacation!

Chia Seed Pudding (or the goop I've been eating for breakfast that doesn't taste terrible)

So, soon after getting engaged, booking our wedding and booking a trip to Costa Rica for the winter, I realized I was going to have to watch what I was eating, meaning I could no longer watch as the Ben & Jerry's Fro Yo went from full to empty, I had to have some control. I am of the opinion that crash diets don't work and only result in me suddenly giving in to temptation and going on week long pizza and ice cream benders, which is what happened in December so new year, new college try.  With Costa Rica that much closer, I am definitely motivated.  The last thing I'd like is to weigh down a surfboard so it sinks.

So, we set up the juicer that had been in the box for a month, bought veggies, pre-made brown rice and quinoa (a food I couldn't pronounce 5 years ago), and bought some proteins.  I went back to making healthy lunches.  Then when the Food Network magazine showed up with Giada's stay healthy tips, it seemed fate. I tried most of the recipes she had in the magazine including the crispy chick peas and a green juice and for breakfast, this chia seed pudding. I had bought chia seeds awhile back and had no idea what to do with them, but I was willing to give them a fair shot. 

I made a a few adjustments to her recipe, but it worked out. I had enough for 3 servings. Her recipe is here. I made mine like this:

1 cup of almond milk
1 cup of plain yogurt
1 tbsp of honey/maple syrup (I didn't have enough maple syrup so I used honey)
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tbsp of chia seeds

Mix and I poured into a big container and each day took about a 1/2 a cup with chopped berries (strawberries and blueberries) and granola to work.  The granola was recipe of Giada's as well with oats, sliced almonds, coconut and cranberries. Surprisingly it was delicious. I've eaten it now for 3 days.

The last of my chia seed pudding, which looks a little like goop.

Mouth Watering Mac & Cheese | Sinful Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few weeks ago, when we had thought winter was here to stay, I got in a comfort food mood and made two of my finest masterpieces (read: really good dishes).

Mouth Watering Mac & Cheese
My mom makes a delicious mac & cheese and I almost never make it, which means that often times i end up CRAVING mac and cheese like a crazy person. However, I've often deviated from my mom's recipe and experimented with adding bacon, veggies and other cheeses.  Here I used Ina Garten's grown up Mac & Cheese Recipe, which can be found on the Food Network, here.  However, I made a few substitutions, since I had a ton of really good VT cheddar from the Cheese and Wine Shop in Hoboken, I used that and a little mozzerella to equal 8-9 oz of cheese and I topped it with panko bread crumbs.  Also I used crispy bacon and roasted brussel sprouts in the recipe.  I love roasted brussel sprouts.  I started by roasting the sprouts with EVOO and S&P for 20-25 minutes until cripsy.  I like them almost burnt.  Then I fried 6-8 strips of bacon.  Then I made the cheese sauce (as per Ina's directions except with the Cheddar and Mozz instead of the other cheeses she uses) and cooked the pasta and mixed everything in one big bowl and then I put it in a big dish and cooked, according to directions about 40 minutes. 

Awesome mac & cheese with bacon, brussel sprouts and cheddar. Oh boy!

Sinfully Delicious Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

The HGTV/Food Network stars seemed to be my inspiration for cooking these days.  I follow David Bromstad of HGTV on Twitter and when he posted this cookie recipe to twitter it was too much not to make them.  And then when my better half and his brother were off to the Giants game in the cold, it seemed like an even better idea. Once again, I made some changes to this recipe but otherwise followed exactly.  My edits:  instead of 3 tbsp of salt I used 2 tbsp of regular salt and 1 tbsp fleur de sel, or a hand harvested sea salt I got in the Cheese and Wine Shop (that place is great!) and instead of 2.5 cups of choc chips, I used 1.5 cups of chocolate chips and 1 cup of butterscotch chips so you can got a sweetness, chocolately, saltiness that was delicious. I am a huge fan of salted caramel so this was right up my ally.  The only thing to note with these cookies is they get huge so put lots of space between them.  Enjoy! Here's David's Recipe.

Here’s my famous Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe! (from David Bromstad) They disappeared too fast for a picture, but make them!
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
3tsp salt - I used 2 reg and 1 Fleur de Sel
1 cup unsalted butter-2 sticks at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips - I used a combo of butterscotch and chocolate
I like my cookies crispy so I cook them at a lower temp. For regular cookies cook at 375 degrees until golden brown.
I like to cook at 325 degrees and let those babies marinate in perfection! They will be crispy. I don’t have a specific time but when I see the tops getting golden brown I pull them. Let them set for a few min, put on a cooling rack and eat the crap out of them!

Enjoy the holidays - Pasta & Powersquats and see you in the gym on Dec. 31st!!!  

A little view of our Xmas Card!

 

6am Winter Wake-ups (aka No Holiday Weight!)

Since our trip to Nashville and my running partner's knee injury, I haven't been working out as much as I should. I lost interest. I did the HoBOOken 5k with my running buddy and my good friend Jen who came down for the 5k.

I had the best costume I've ever put together - not super original, but I loved the outfit, especially the spiffy socks with little capes on the back - thank you Amazon!!

Then I was always running (hehe) out of time to run, but in the past few weeks I've been trying. With my trip to Costa Rica and wedding approaching, I know it won't be long before I have to squeeze into a bathing suit and also a wedding dress, which I picked out this weekend!

The gorgeous hotel we're staying at in Costa Rica's pool which is directly in front of the beach!

I've been slowly getting back on track the last 3 weeks.  I've been running about 30 minutes outside 3-4 days a week, teaching spin 2 days a week as well as bootcamp once a week and adding in sessions at Local Barre once a week.  I've also been trying to cook healthy, making a ton of soups to take to work, as well as serving lots of veggies for dinner and trying to cut back on the PSL's from Starbucks. *sigh*

Purple sweet potatoes, carrots and organic chicken from the Farmer's Market in Hoboken.

New Workout
I also tried a new workout last night at Sky Club in Hoboken, the Monday kickboxing, it was great.  My hands still shaking from hitting the bags and the cardio and bootcamp style exercises definitely upped the workout. 

Tough Tuesday Workout
I've been very bad about posting the Tuesday workouts and I'll admit, last week no one wanted to come to the gym, it's been getting cold in Hoboken and getting up at 6am doesn't sound all that great. 
 

However, this morning as luck would have it, I rolled out of bed, put on my winter gear and expected maybe 2 for my 6am class but we had twice that with 5 showing up.   We did a pretty good workout this morning.

HIIT Style Workout

What you need: mat, bench, risers, one set handweights, one bar with weights.

Warmup: Run, Jacks, Jump Rope, squats and lunges and stretches.

Workout
 8 rounds 20 sec on 10 off (in between the sets of 8, one minute jump rope (JR))

Pushups (I did them on my knees after doing all the pushups for KB last night)
JR
plank or plank walk (forearm to pushup position) for 4 rounds and rollups for 4 rounds (hold boat pose for 10 seconds in between)
JR
Squats
JR
Alternate Bicep Curl and Tricep dip (option: add a weight in your lap for more of a challenge)
JR
crunches/hold up during rest
JR
dead lift (last 4 alternate one-legged dead lift)
JR
Foot ball run drop down for the ten seconds (4 rounds), pushups (4 rounds)
JR (switch to 20 seconds)
MT climbers (4 rounds), crunches (4 rounds)
JR (20)
squat jumps/alternate with squats for 2 and lunges for 2

Cool down.

Back to Healthy: Post Vacation Shape Up

It's been a while since I posted anything to the blog and there's a very good reason for that - it was my birthday!! My birthday was in October and we had just finished the Hoboken Urban Challenge (and it was challenging) - when we took for Nashville and Memphis.  Now we've been to Nashville, but I've never been there not sick, and we were going to see the Lumineers at the Ryman Auditorium!

Lumineers at the Ryman - Pretty Awesome!

It was an amazing trip, but we did ALL kinds of eating.  We ate everything in Nashville and Memphis. I tried fried chicken for the first time, we ate tons of mac and cheese, and all kinds of carbs! And we barely did any running, certainly not enough to keep up with the food and the drink.

Birthday Treats were in addition to all the food we ate!

 For my birthday we got to the Memphis Zoo, which was adorable, we got there at 2pm and we were able to see the whole zoo in 3 hours.  We were back near Cat Country at 5pm, and we got to see all the lions, tigers and other cats up and about. And I got to take in a sea lion show and they are my favorite!!

The lionness and lion in Cat Country! 

My favorite animals the Sea Lions!

 When we got back home we continued our bad eating binge and ordered pizza, went out to dinner, got sushi and Chinese - it was a bad display.  So Sunday we finally got back on the horse and went for a run, which felt tiring but great and decided to make use of the veggies we got at the Hoboken Farmer's Market and we did some shopping for pantry staples.

What I made:

A Veggie Barley Soup - some fresh and some frozen veggies, with Chicken Stock and Quick Cooking Barley, this cooked up in ten minutes after the veggies softened added the chicken stock and barley simmer 10 min and then add the frzn veg and 10 minutes more.

I took this took work several days.

I also bought tons of squashes at the farmer's market.  I made a butternut squash soup with roasted butternut squash and chicken stock, and with the rest of the roasted squash I put that in quinoa with spinach, toasted pine nuts, sauteed apples and carrots and golden raisins, I added a bit of lemon/olive oil and S&P and it was delicious.  We used the other half of the quinoa last night with some other roasted veggies when we both got home at 10pm.  I had roasted kale, eggplant and mushrooms earlier this week and we put that with the quinoa and it was delish. We are using the rest of the roasted veggies tonight in pasta.

Also this week we (finally) used some of the fresh fish we got at the farmer's market, we made swordfish with spaghetti squash.  This was my first time using the spaghetti squash and I was imitating a recipe from Becco I had had (Lidia's restaurant!).  I roasted the squash after I cut it in half flesh side down with EVOO and S&P for about 40 min, heated some sauce from Rao's and boom  - side dish.  We also had green beans.  The spaghetti squash was a big hit! I will definitely buy some this weekend and will be buying one for my mom as well. I ate the leftovers at work.

Spaghetti squash, green beans and a veggie burger.

At the grocery store, I also stocked up on milks (almond and regular), yogurts, fruits, salad, the rice and quinoa and pasta, some meats, and veggie burgers and string cheese so I can make some healthy stuff for work and home.  I still have leftover soup and I am planning to do it again this Sunday.  We have to get ready for our wedding this Summer and heading back to Costa Rica.

On the running side I went running this Thursday for 2.5 miles and it was awesome.  The rest of this week was a  BIG week at Sky Club. I subbed a Monday Spin which meant I was there 4 days this week.  The classes were amazing and it felt great (but sore) to teach spin M,W,F and bootcamp Tuesday. I'll post the bootcamp workout and our obstacle workout later this weekend.

Are you shaping up for winter or enjoying a break?

Niantic Bay Triathlon (and a Surprise), Camping and Catch up!

A Big Surprise Waited for me at the End of the Niantic Bay Triathlon!

I have not been blogging in awhile, sorry for the drop off, but a lot has happened since the Niantic Bay Triathlon last month!

Catch Up
I am still teaching classes and we're still rocking our Tuesday bootcamp workouts, and I'm going to start up with those again this Thursday. (Promise!)

I have a few triathlons to catch up on, first and foremost, Niantic Bay today. But we also did the Tobay Triathlon on Long Island for the first time and I did the Women's triathlon for the 3rd time.

Races
The Niantic Bay Triathlon is one of my favorite out of the Hartford Marathon Foundation races. I love the location.  The swim is great (especially when no jellies!), the bike is scenic (who doesn't love a course where people blast music to get you up the toughest hill?), and the run is flat and so scenic (which as a lousy runner - I love).  The whole experience makes you want to get up and do it again.

Quick Race Recap

Swim 13:19
I beat my best swim time by almost 2 minutes coming in at 13:19.  I made myself move to the front and tried to stay with the leaders as best I could. I definitely think there was a strong current pulling us in because I felt like I'd landed back on the beach in no time flat and despite being unable to find my wet suit strap I got a helpful hint from the announcer on the shore.

T1 2:28
Shocking! Considering it normally takes me 20 minutes to get out of a wetsuit, but I must've been in high spirits.

Bike 45:25
Not a bad showing for me, exactly where I wanted to come in at.  I was hoping to be at an hour after the bike and that's just about where I was. I was glad to see the family blasting helpful tunes up the hill.

T2: 1:27
After a smooth showing on the bike I ran down the hill, if you've never done Niantic Bay, there is a big down hill after the bike and you need to remove your bike shoes to get down quickly and safely. 

Run 35:38
Running is always my downfall and since my great illness of May and June, I haven't been running like I should.  But, I was pleased to keep my average pace under 12 minute miles and to run the entire course with only a small stop for water at mile 1.5.

All in all it was a great race, and I had always thought I'd never go under 1:45 on this course and I made it in 1:38 so that was a huge success!

Crossing the finish line at the beach!

But the best part was still ahead.  Turns out I got a big (semi) surprise at the end and was rewarded for my hard work with a proposal. (That's why I've been busy!)  Wedding planning, working and running around can make you crazy!

Slightly better than the Niantic Bay medal. 

A great day with the additional surprise of having our favorite kiddies and their parents there! And my mom and dad! 

Fortunately, we also did not have to right back to work after getting engaged and were able to enjoy my first camping trip in the Maine Woods.  We went up to Portland, Me. and had a great weekend just outside Portland at a campground and then staying in Portland. A few highlights

I only spent one night camping and though I enjoyed it, it wasn't without challenges. It took us awhile to build a fire, which almost meant no s'mores (I almost went home!)  We had an animal sneak in to test out our left out beers at midnight and he came back a few more times. And I had to pee.  But all in all it was great. We had s'mores, pancakes and enjoyed a day at the beach the next day.

Our Humble Home for one night outside Portland.

Delicious goods from Two Fat Cats. 

We taste tested most of Portland after fending for ourselves at the campground. We had ice cream and fried clams near Old Orchard Beach.  We ate pie for Breakfast at Two Fat Cats (and whoopie pie) and we had croissants at Standard Bakery.  We ate a great meal at 5 Fifty Five and a out of this world meal at Fore Street. Fantastic foodie town Portland. And we had lobster rolls, all over!!

My wall climbing. 

We did a lot of biking, walking, running and other activities while on vacation. Our last day it was rainy and I was feeling pretty tired. I had done a triathlon that weekend!  So Thursday morning we went for a long walk and stumbled across this park which had awesome obstacles.  We tried to do each one and it gave us a great workout.  I am thinking about signing up for Hoboken's obstacles course race in a month and this was a good test!

Well I will get back to Tuesdays this Thursday.  We had a great workout this morning.  Post my end of summer spin playlist and recap the latest 2 triathlons soon!  We have one more triathlon this season this weekend HAMMERFEST in Branford. It's scheduled in amongst wedding venue searching! Last week's triathlon was in and amongst dress shopping.   Then its on to some runs before the cold sets in. But all in all.

Yes, we spent a lot of money in the life is good store, but look how cute this towel looked on Long Island's beaches.

Bricks, Burpees and Fireworks! (and watermelon)

It's been a few weeks since I posted because last week was July 4th! And what should have been a super slow week turned into a crazy week!  I decided to take a break from Zuzka Light for a week and go with the daily hiit workouts!  If you go to workouts you can see a list of all their workouts and they are completely free!

Weekly Workouts  - July 1 to 7
Monday - REST I am loving Monday as my REST Day
Tuesday - Daily HIIT workout and swimming (See below for workout)
Wednesday - Spinning
Thursday - 4+ mile run for July 4th in the heat even at 9am!
Friday - 3 mile run, class at Local Barre and Yoga Up at 6am to avoid the heat!
Saturday - Brick Workout (16 mile bike and 2.5 mile run) and Stand Up Paddle Boarding. up at 5am to drive to LI and avoid the heat!
Sunday - 16 mile bike ride in hilly Jersey - HOT!

Over the holiday, we definitely treated ourselves, we did a lot of grilling good chicken and fish and veggies at home but we did a lot of treats as well.

On Thursday after a run in the sweltering heat and humidity that is Hoboken we enjoyed a beverage at the Biergarten. 

Then we watched the fireworks that night from our balcony.  We made chicken burgers, portabello mushrooms, corn on the grill and an assortment of veggies. 

On Friday I worked from home in the morning and got to enjoy my flowers.

I made this watermelon mojito from a recipe on Saturday after our brick workout along with a sweet and savory bbq sauce and it was delicious.

Daily HIIT 
What you need: two sets of weight - I had 8's and 12's, bench and a mat
Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and stretching for the hip flexors, shoulders, calves, etc.

Workouts - for section 1 and 10 - 50 seconds on 10 off
Section 1
Plank tricep kix, alternate halfway
Tuck jump burpee
Extend leg row L
Fly
Extend leg row R
Lunge bicep curl
Row high up
Plank KB
Bike chest press
Sandbag swing

Section 2
Left step up jump - power off the bench
Shot put R
Shot put L
Right step up jump
Plie squat side kick
Weighted scissor pass
Toe touch R
Toe touch L
Cross leg reverse curl L
Cross leg R

Switch lunge kick up 20 reps
Side burpee 20 reps
Supergirl deadlift 20 reps 
Dive bomber knee tuck 10 reps
Jacks 20 reps
3d pushups 10 reps
Side to side 20 reps
Ab chopper 20 reps
Sumo twist 20 reps
Plank knee side to side 20 reps

 BBQ Sauce Recipe - measurements are by the eye!
1/2 cup ketchup
scoop of marmalade I used orange cranberry
1/4 cup orange juice
dollop of Dijon mustard
little cayene pepper
S&P
Bring to a boil then simmer

This weekend I am getting ready for the Litchfield Hills Triathlon.  I have to have my race prep and race recap for you this week and next week!

Muffins, Mozzarella and Billions of Bananas (Recipes)

In my last post I talked about the successful Spin-a-thon I held at Sky Club Fitness and Spa in Hoboken this past weekend.  The event was great and raised more than $500.  I am very proud of all the attendees and I was exhausted after it was over.

I bought so much food to prep for the event, I put together candy bags for every attendee (it's close to Valentine's Day!) and I brought oranges, bananas, bagels, granola bars and trail mix. Unfortunately, people did not eat as much as I anticipated, except for the oranges and I brought home a bunch of bananas and more.  While granola bars will stay and be great for summer biking, what the heck was I gonna do with all these bananas??

So during lunch I googled banana recipes and I cranked out these recipes.

Oatmeal Banana Muffins.
I made a few tweaks, I added 2 tbsp peanut butter and 2 tsp of vanilla and instead of a loaf I made muffins, baking them at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/banana-oatmeal-bread-10000000222215/
I have eaten one each morning with yogurt and fruit on the side. 

Strawberry Banana Fro Yo
Since there were a ton of bananas I also bought some vanilla fro you and jazzed it up with this recipe
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/mango-banana-frozen-yogurt-10000000223070/
Unfortunately Mangoes are not in season so I used strawberries and I did not have reg. milk so I used almond. I don't have an ice cream maker but I put it in an airtight container in the freezer. The mixture tasted so GOOD!! I could've drank the whole thing as a smoothie right there! I tried a bit yesterday and it rocked.

I also had a lot of mozzarella cheese leftover from making pizza the night before so I threw together rice and pasta for that night and the rest of the week.  The pasta lasted us that night and my lunch for the next day. And the brown rice I ate last night and we'll eat tonight.

Pasta
Whole wheat spaghetti cooked to package directions
Pesto store bought and reheated
Pine nuts - toasted in a dry skillet
Sauteed kale and spinach and zucchini - in a skillet w/EVOO and S&P
Mix all ingredients together with 1 cup shredded mozzarella and 1 tbsp parm

Rice
Cook Brown Rice to Package Directions in Low Sodium Chicken Stock
After it's done, fluff with a fork and add crushed tomatoes and mozzarella. and 1 tbsp parm.
I ate with a veggie burger and a salad and tonight I am serving with turkey breast.

Tuff Wkend & Tuff Tuesday Bootylicious Workout (2/5/13)

This weekend I went back and forth between super fitness and super unhealthy, which is not good at all for my upcoming Costa Rica trip in 3 weeks. I got back on track today after eating the remainder of the ice cream from our football Sunday. Whoops! Saturday we were all about being healthy, working out frequently, leading off with a 4.5 mile run in the morning, then participating in a Spinning segment of our Successful Sky Club Spin-a-thon and Zumba-thon!!  We raised $525 for the Shelter. I also tried Zumba, which did not seem like my kind of work-out at all but my friends certainly got into it. I noticed when I went to spin all the soreness from my run 3 hours before kicked in and my legs felt like lead but we made it! I will post the playlist soon!

On Sunday my diet fell apart, and Monday I took a rest day, but today we were back to healthy eats and working out.  I took part of the workout from a Zuzka Light workout and when I did it Sunday but legs and butt were killing me so I thought in honor of Beyonce's epic performance at the Superbowl we would work our legs and butt extra hard with lots of squats and lunges.

For this workout you will need: one step with 4 risers, light weights (5lbs) and heavy weights (10-12lbs) and a ball.  

Warmup - Run/Skip/Jacks, squats, lunges, stretches, marching it out.

Section 1 50 sec on 10 sec off
Rope Skip
Jump Lunge w/light weights, curl, press arms out
Skip
5 pushups, 5 rows R, 5 pushups, 5 rows L, repeat
Skip
Jump up on Step 5x, step over, 5 leg lifts sitting on step (lean back on sit bones pull legs up and knees in), run around step repeat
Skip
Jump Squat
Skip
Arnold Press

Abs
30 Pulses (10 slow, 20 quick)
Froggie Crunch - legs at 45 degrees in diamond, pulls knees in when you push out lift head & shoulders x 15
Scissors x 15
Reverse Crunch x15
Regular Crunch x 15
on the Step sit on sit bones same as for leg lifts except bicycle legs for 20
Using the ball dig in your heels and lift your hips, 15x
Legs over the ball crunches 20x
Plank leg lifts for 20 (in your plank, lift with legs straight R & L alternating)
Forearm plank mt climbers
With feet on the step tap side to side in a plank for 10


Section 2 (50 sec on, 10 off)
Skips
with R foot on step and no weights reach down tap the floor and then reach up like you are putting a box away in a high closet shelf for 40 seconds for last 10 jump up springing up off left leg
Skips
Same thing with left foot on step
Skips
Squat Curl Press w/ heavy weight
Skips
One legged squat foot on step 30 Seconds/One Legged Dead lift 20 sec (R leg on step)
Skips
Repeat with left leg on step
Skips
With one heavy weight squats with legs wide and alternate upright rows

Legs
Squats 20x w/heavy weights
Screamer Lunge (in front of step, step back right then step up with right, drive left knee up) 10x w/ light weights
Dead lift 20x w/ heavy weights
Other side for Screamer Lunge 10x
Plie Squat 10x

Repeat Abs Section

This workout took about an hour and I burned about 500 calories so it was a darn good high energy workout. Before the workout I went for a 15 minute interval run on the treadmill. I did not use 1lb weights for skipping this week since I will be doing kickboxing later, and last week I thought my arms would fall off with all the weight lifting I did earlier in the day.  Hope that you soon start to notice some bootylicious results with your workout!

Remember to always consult with a physician before beginning a workout and Keep on tri'n!

Baked Tilapia and Roasted Tomatoes!

Thanks to the Food Network Magazine for this delicious recipe that I tried a variation on last night and it was delicious and easy, which was good since it is cold in New York City and it's making me tired and cranky.

I had bought tilapia a few weeks ago and froze it and took it out yesterday morning to defrost.  I got home at 7:15 and dinner was done by 8 and much of it was baking time rather than cooking.

Here's how I did it:

Side Dish: Baby Brussel Sprouts and Roasted Potatoes
I love my brussel sprouts really cooked with a nice dark roast to them. So I put baby brussel sprouts that I'd rinsed in with yukon golds that I had quartered in a dish with cooking spray.  I put on a few tbsp of EVOO and some S&P and tossed.  I put in a 400 degree oven and about halfway gave it a toss. The originally recipe just said potatoes but I like to have a green at dinner.

The Tilapia & Roasted Tomatoes
For the fish I put cooking spray in a glass dish and added quartered cocktail tomatoes.  I added diced Kalamata olives that were pitted and added EVOO, S&P, and some dried thyme.  I gave it a toss. The recipe in the FN magazine called for capers and vinegar but since I am not a fan - I left it out.  I put them in to roast for 15 minutes and after pulled them out and put the fish on top. I brushed the fish with a mix of EVOO, S&P, champagne vinegar and dried thyme.  I let cook in the oven for 10 minutes. 

I layered the fish on the brussel sprouts and potatoes and served with the sauce from the roasted tomatoes on top. It was delicious and got winning reviews at our house! 

Winter Cold Means Hot Soup! (and News About a Spinathon)

I have been delinquent in posting workouts lately despite my aforementioned New Year's resolution. Unfortunately, work has picked up, attendance in bootcamp is down and the winter cold has spread the flu to my house again.  So I've been slacking. I plan to post last Tuesday's workout later today and will also post the workouts I've done on my own. Yes, the winter cold also meant numbers were DOWN at the gym.  This may mean no more bootcamp in the winter!! Insert Sad Face. :( I will continue to post workouts I do on my own and this may mean more time to devote to Zuzka Light workouts.  I've been doing pretty well eating wise, we did head out to dinner Sunday night at The Brass Rail in Hoboken but by Tuesday I was back to healthy eating, lots of fruits, veggies, greek yogurt, lean proteins and a few whole grains for fuel. As for spin, numbers have been through the roof but this week with the New York cold no one wanted to get out of bed and I only had 5 people in class.  Thanks for coming guys!

On a positive fitness note, on February 2nd 2013, we'll be holding the 2nd Annual Spin-a-thon at Sky Club and a newly added Zumbathon!  Last year, we raised $700 and collected many canned goods for the Shelter. I am hoping with the addition of Zumba to raise over $1,000 and collect more donations.  We have 4 great instructors lined up for each 2 hour event and I am working on getting some awesome prizes. I have a list of places to call and am securing donations.  I've posted/sent the event to various websites and blogs across Hoboken and details can be found here.

As mentioned, the past few days in New York have been freezing.  I wore light grey tights to walk to the Path the other day and my legs turned purple through them it was so cold.  I decided it was time for soup after seeing Ina Garten's twitter post about how she made her hearty winter minestrone soup.  See her blog about it here. On Tuesday I went out and bought all the ingredients (sorta).  Then someone in the house got the flu and I got a late start Wednesday. I decided to modify the recipe to a crock pot.  She cooks it in a dutch oven, which normally I am a  big fan of but it seemed to long for post work and especially since someone would be home all day the soup could simmer away. It tasted great with a lil parm on top last night and I had leftovers for us both today. 

What I did
A little drizzle of olive oil
A layer of carrots
A layer of celery
A layer of butternut squash
Sprinkle of salt, pepper and thyme
As for the sorta, Ina's recipe calls for canned tomatoes, which I thought I had but no they were pureed but oh well, in they went!
Container of low salt organic, chicken broth
Cup of Water
Bay Leaf
Rinsed and Drained can of white beans and half-3/4 a can of garbanzo beans - rest of the can went in my salad for work.
Set to Low for 6-7 hours or until person at home answers the phone to turn it to warm. I am not sure who out there works for 5-6 hours or just 8 but call me if you do and tell me how you use the crockpot. I find I am gone from usually 9-7 or later, having worked from 10-6. So that's more like 10 hours a day.
When I got home, I cranked it up to high and added orzo, 2 tablespoons of pesto, a dash of white wine and lots 2 cups or more of spinach and let it sit for 40 minutes until the orzo cooked and the spinach wilted. I did have to stir it a few times.
Serve HOT with parmesan cheese.

We each ate a big bowl full and a little bit more.

On the Menu! Brunch! Lemon Ricotta Pancakes & Whole Wheat Waffles

I think everyone would agree that brunch is the best meal you can get.  It takes place in the middle of the day so there's no rushing. Fits in nicely after a morning workout.  It's an excellent way to kill a few hours with out of town family.  Alcohol consumption is encouraged during the day time and in many cases in our brunch bar town, there's no reason to dress up so you can wear your yoga pants or leggings (aka eating pants) to the table. Plus the food is delish. Who doesn't love pancakes, eggs and waffles?  However, local brunches with the bacon, alcohol and stuffed french toast don't fit in our new healthy 2013 diet so I made us brunch this weekend after a swim/spin class on Saturday and a 5.5 mile on Sunday that my boyfriend and I did together.  He did some time on the trainer Saturday so he earned his brunch reward.

Saturday Pancakes - Lemon Ricotta.  This recipe was inspired by pancakes we had in Sonoma, CA at the Mission Inn's restaurant - they were lemon ricotta and amazing.  They were totally not low-fat but I made an effort to cut the hfa

Dry Ingredients
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp baking soda
.25 tsp salt
whisk together

Wet ingredients
1 cup nonfat milk
3 tblsp part skim ricotta cheese
3 tblsp vanilla Greek yogurt
3 tblsp Coconut Milk or almond milk
1 tablespoon honey
1tsp vanilla
1tsp lemon extract
2 tsp lemon zest
2 eggs
2 tblsp canola oil
whisk together

Stir wet ingredients into dry.

Put some Pam on the griddle and cook like you would regular pancakes. I had some leftover bananas so I put some mushed bananas into half my pancakes.  They were delicious.  We ate with syrup and fresh cut strawberries.


Sunday Waffles - Whole Wheat Waffles with Blueberry Syrup
On Sunday we had a 5.5 mile run and wanted to reward ourselves with waffles. I had gotten a really nice waffle iron some time ago when I first moved in by myself from Williams and Sonoma. I never used it by since Billy and I moved into our house 3 years ago we've used it all the time. Today we tag teamed the waffles, I made the batter and he cooked it up.

Dry ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
.25 cup almond flour
.25 Corn meal
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp baking soda
.25 tsp salt
whisk together

Wet ingredients
2 eggs
1 tbls vanilla
1 tblsp almond extract
2 tbsp canola oil
2 cups almond milk
whisk together

Mix the ingredients together and we served with blueberry syrup and a lil bit of powdered sugar and margarine.

Enjoy!!

Healthy Dipped Strawberries

After dinner I always love a little snack of something and fruit simply never seems to satisfy, but I promised myself I'd put away the nutella, the ice cream and the cookies for the sake of our upcoming vacation.

The newest food network magazine came today and with it - a dessert idea.  I made some variations on the recipe and crafted this...

Healthy Dipped Strawberries
Mix a few spoonfuls vanilla or plain Greek yogurt with a dash of good vanilla and honey in a bowl
In another bowl mix together a few tbsps of brown sugar with heaping spoonfuls of granola I was about a 3-1 ratio.
Dip cleaned berries in the yogurt to coat and then roll in granola
Set on a plate on let chill in fridge - I had them in there for an hour and they were firmed up and the brown sugar got a little drizzly.

Enjoy!

these were bar non - my favorite low cal dessert recipe.  I will be making them again soon!

Super Green Smoothie and Super Playlist

Today was a ROUGH day.  I would've loved to have slept in until noon but unfortunately Spinning duty called EARLY.  So I decided to start the day with my new favorite playlist! Not driving to work I don't get updated on the latest top 40 hits but with the Rush Cycle class the other day and some research I put together a pretty super playlist.

Super WED/FRI Playlist
Mumford and Sons - I Will Wait - Warm Up
In My Mind (Axwell Mix - 6min) - Ivan Gough - Moderate Hill - Run in 2 and Jumps (8cts, 4cts, 2cts)
Try - P!nk - Hill climb - saddle - up to 3 on the chorus
The Time (Dirty Bit) - Black Eyed Peas - Flush and then 40-20 temp and sprint 4x
Pound the Alarm - Nicki Minaj - Run in 2 at the chorus pick up the pace then at pound the alarm 2 ct jumps
Push and Shove - No Doubt - Hill Climb - all saddle on the chorus when it slows up add A LOT of road and really climb up
Mountain Sound - Of Monsters and Men - Recovery 90 seconds and then a run in 2, ending in a light climb
One More Night - Maroon 5 - Hill Climb in 3
Catch My Breath - Kelly Clarkson - seated sprint - double time at the chorus
White Ladder - David Gray - Cool Down

Super Smoothie
I came home and had an awesome green smoothie. Mixing together the following in the Bullet:

Ice
1/2 cup Silk Light Soymilk
4 strawberries
6-8 pieces of pineapple - precubed from store
Big tablespoon full of chiobani vanilla yogurt
Handful of spinach

It turns a nice shade of pinky green - I enjoyed it while taking a look at my flowers and then heading to yoga at Sky Club for early lunch yoga!

Remember to ask your doctor before doing any exercise and to enjoy and keep on tri'n! For more information on spinning check spinning.com

Exciting News and what Pasta and Power Squats Is

  Pasta and Power Squats: A Girl Fires Up the Gym and Kitchen is a blog about my adventures as a group exercise instructor, runner and triathlete as well as my kitchen experiments, good or bad as they are. I was certified as a fitness instructor in 2006 to supplement my nonprofit income at my first job. Now, I love both jobs equally and don’t think I could give one of them up. 

I just added twitter to my blog so you can follow my posts on twitter and a gadget to receive P&PS by email.  Super getting social today!