Category Archives: foods

Two Workout Wednesday

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Yesterday’s national tequila day resulted in this:

A grapefruit margarita from Earl’s. I was supposed to teach bootcamp last night, but when I got there, the front desk notified me that the client cancelled. So, I rung up my good friend Nicole, and we had a drink! She got a strawberry one:

 

I ended up just having dinner there as well. I had a salad with cajun chicken, black beans, corn, avocado, and tortilla strips. It hit the spot. AND perfectly complimented my margie!

 

TODAY was a different story. I got my Best Body Bootcamp workout in this AM at the gym by my house, then I drove straight downtown and taught a seriously intense bootcamp. Here’s the recap!

Intervals on the treadmill:

Followed by 2 rounds of the core circuit given to us for Week 1.

SWEATY!

Then, at bootcamp:

Each move was performed for 50 seconds with 10 seconds of rest. Each round was done 2x through. In the first round, the 3rd and 4th move were done with the left leg, and in the 2nd round the right leg. Got it?

Round 1

  • weighted squats
  • jump squats
  • weighted lunge pulse (first time through, left leg forward. second time through, right leg forward)
  • weighted side lunge (first time through, left leg steps to the side, second time through right leg steps)

Cardio Set

  • high knees (30 sec)
  • butt kicks (30 sec)
  • 180 degree jump squats (30 sec)

Round 2

  • kettlebell swing (you can use a dumbbell)
  • squat hold
  • squat and press (hold weight in left hand, squat, and as you come up- press the weight up over your head. switch to right hand the second time through)
  • reverse lunge and twist (first round, step back with your left foot, twist your torso and the weight to the left. Second time through, do it to the right)

Cardio Set

  • high knees (30 sec)
  • butt kicks (30 sec)
  • 180 degree jump squats (30 sec)

Ab Circuit

  • Crunches
  • V-ups
  • Plank holds (60 sec)
  • Bicycle crunches
  • leg lifts
  • 2x

My workout plan for this bootcamp was inspired by Day 2 of the Best Body Bootcamp workout- my class loved it!

******

Tonight’s dinner was the Chicken Enchilada pasta that I posted yesterday. And it didn’t disappoint. It was super easy to make, even easier to eat, and I’m guessing the leftovers are going to taste best!

 

I’m off to walk the pup!

Tomorrow, I’ll be talking about bunnies. No, really.

Still looking for anyone interested in writing a guest post. Contact me!

 

 

Quinoa Cooking Trick

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Happy Weekend, everyone! I am massively busy with homework this weekend, but I wanted to check in and let you in on my latest discovery.

Yes, it looks like your typical throw together meal. And it is. BUT. The preparation was a liiiiittle bit different this time. And guess what? It’s a time saver!

Typically, directions for quinoa have you put the quinoa and water in a pot, bring to a boil, then put on low heat (covered) for about 15 minutes. Well- here’s what I did. I tossed the quinoa and water in the pot. While I was waiting for it to come to a boil, I diced up some yellow pepper and zucchini. As soon as it was time to cover the pot and bring to low heat- I tossed the veggies in the pot. That way, the veggies would steam while the quinoa was still cooking. 

Seriously, I’m a genius.

About a minute before it was ready, I threw in some pasta sauce my dad made from scratch last week.

 

Meal= delicious.

At some point in the day, I also took Layla for a walk. And in typical fashion, these are the photos I got:

 

 

 

Oh, and this also happened last night:

 

We had a party. A party of 2. I also got obsessed with Sons of Anarchy. Booze and bikers. Good Friday night.

 

 

Frittata-ing and Sweating

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Gah. I am sore this morning. I’m getting old, so I’m sore just about every morning. But this time, it’s from a super sweaty workout I did last night. I was dripping with sweat halfway in, and couldn’t wait to get this thing done. Afterwards (aka: after I caught my breath and could stand upright), I was pumped to get it under my belt. I’ll give you the workout, but first I want to recap yesterday’s eats first(and a recipe!)

Breakfast: Multi-Grain Cheerios with almond milk….in my new bowl!

Lunch: Plain 0% Greek yogurt, salsa and a dash of taco seasoning (eaten with blue corn organic tortilla chips)

 

Oops. I already ate it before I could get the shot.

Dinner: FRITTATA! I searched around the internet for a recipe, and ended up concocting my own (to make do with what was in the fridge)

 

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

  • 1 cup diced zucchini
  • 1/4 cup diced onion
  • 1/2 cup quartered tomatoes
  • 1 cup cooked ground beef (I added a touch of taco seasoning to mine)
  • 6 eggs
  • salt
  • pepper
  • basil
  • olive oil
  • 1/3 cream cheese (I used light)

Directions

1. Heat 2 tsp of olive oil on a 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Add the zucchini and onions; stirring for 1 minute. Cover the skillet, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes, until zucchini is tender but not mushy. Add the tomatoes, basil and desired amount of salt and pepper, and cook until the moisture is gone- about one minute.

2. In a bowl, whisk eggs. Add the zucchini mixture, ground beef, cream cheese, and additional salt and pepper if desired.

3. Set the broiler to low. Clean 10 inch skillet, then coat with olive oil (about 2 tsp). Put the skillet over medium-low heat. Add the frittata mixture. Allow it to cook for approx 4-5 minutes; until edges are browning. As this is cooking, lift the edges and tilt the pan to allow uncooked egg to cook.

4. Take skillet and place in the broiler for about 3-4 minutes; until top is golden. Slide onto plate and serve

******

Now, the workout you’ve been waiting for. All you need is a set of weights. This should take you about 45 minutes. Each set will be titled with a set of numbers. You will do each exercise through for the first number of reps specified, do another set with the second number, etc. (i.e.: If it reads 1-2-3-2-1 you will do 1 pushup, 1 situp, 1 burpee, 2 pushups, 2 situps, 2 burpees, 3 pushups, 3 situps, 3 burpees, 2 pushups, 2 situps, 2 burpees, 1 pushup, 1 situp, 1 burpee. Get it? For moves requiring work on both sides- like lunges- you will do that number of reps for each side.)

Get ready to sweat!

Pyramid/Cardio Progression Workout

10 minute warm up (dance around, hop on an elliptical, walk the dog)

5-7-9-7-5

  • weighted lunges
  • 180 jump squats
  • jump squats

2 minute cardio blast: 30 sec. jumping jacks, 30 seconds jump rope x2

9-11-13-11-9

  • bicep curl
  • overhead press
  • single leg deadlift

2 minute cardio blast: 30 sec. plank jacks, 30 sec. jog in place x2

13-15-17-15-13

  • crunches
  • leg lifts
  • heel taps

2 minute cardio blast: 30 sec. toe taps, 30 sec. jump rope x2

DONE!

(see what I did there? Progressed those pyramids to increase in reps. I’m so clever. Bwahaha)

Check out those sweaty gams. Ps: I have no idea why there appears to be a dimple in my right knee.

 

And in other news: Prior to my legs getting drenched in sweat, Layla and I hit the pavement for a walk. It was hot, and she has a fur coat on. Not a good combo. Her AC was on high for quite some time post-walk.

 

And now, I get to spend my Friday doing homework. Because apparently this week the professor wanted to bombard us with work. One paper would have been fine. But, I get to do TWO group projects (do you have any idea how hard that is when your group members are scattered all over the world?!!) and some blogs (that should be easy since I am kinda doing something similar -ummmm- now).

What has everyone got in store for the weekend? 

 

Recipe Roundup and a Run

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If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll notice that I did not pull through on my promise to post a couple of delicious recipes last night. Why? Because I had a sudden urge to find the most perfect Save the Date cards, followed by the urge to eat a bag of skittles (cringe) then jump around with my dog for 10 minutes before heading to the gym to run for 49 minutes. 49 minutes? Yeah, it just worked out that way.

Working backwards, my treadmill workout looked like this:

And for some reason, my boobs decided to get REAL sweaty.

No wonder people were looking at me. I thought it was because I was all awesome on the treadmill. Not the case.

My face was extremely red because

  1. I just ran 4.25 miles
  2. I’m an old lady and had to stretch my lower back after running and the blood rushed to my face
  3. Both 1&2

The correct answer is #3

On to the recipes!

Recipe Numero Uno: Apricot Salsa

How fresh and colorful and awesome does that look? The recipe was easy: roasted red peppers that I roasted myself, cilantro, apricots, cucumber, jalepeno, red onion, lime juice. Cut that shizzz up, and mix it all together!

And if you want to get all fancy-like, do what I did and plate it as such:

However. DO NOT do what I did and accidentally add 4x the amount of jalepeno. That salsa was HOT. I was en fuego. Muy caliente. And the worst part? Because I decided to chop all that crap up sans hand-protection, my hands are now on FIRE. That’s right- 16 hours post prep and my digits are still burning. Oh jalepeno, you done me wrong kid.

Recipe Numero Dos: Macaroni Salad (no pics!)

This is no ordinary macaroni salad. No. This is The Pioneer Woman’s Macaroni Salad. AKA: The blog lady that I have been following for years and just now made a recipe of hers. For the first time. I have had my eye on those cinnamon rolls though. Those will happen. Soon.

Recipe Numero Tres: Gooey Cinnamon Muffins

I saw this recipe come up on my Google Reader from cookies and cups yesterday morning, and the timing couldn’t have been any more perfect.

Layla thought so too. As you can tell, after laboring tirelessly to get these puppies made, I enjoyed them suckers in bed. Because I can do that. Don’t worry I was multi-tasking by watching What Not to Wear doing homework.

And I kept trying to get a shot sans the dog, but it didn’t happen

Guess that’s the price you pay for eating at her level. (NOT meant to be a metaphor!)

And that’s all she wrote. For now!

Pizza, Pushups, and Pink

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Top of the mornin’ to ya, folks!

It is finally the end of the week (let’s all pause to do a collective ‘phewwww’).

I have no workout for you today (but if you want one, check out my Workouts page!!!) partly because my body is dead. More specifically, my right hamstring. I don’t think I have ever pulled a hammy in my life until today. Cray-balls. But, I still want to get in some sort of activity since I plan on throwing back a few brewskies with T-t-t-tyler tonight.

Instead of a workout post, or a recipe (which I gave you last night) I thought I would provide a few bits of entertainment.

1. This video art is hilarious. I don’t know if it was better with the musical accompaniment, but I was laughing my little ass off.

2. Make this pizza this weekend. If you are like Jessica (and me) then you should make two and force your man to indulge as well. Hey man, I made you food. And it has meat in it. The other ingredients should be minor details for you and therefore you should eat it. Otherwise, there is a comfy looking couch over there that may become your new bed.

3. Ok, now I feel guilty. No workout post, but a pizza post?! That’s cruel. So, while your pizza is baking away, try this workout. It’s quick and easy. And you’ll sweat. And then be tempted to eat another piece of pizza..

We interrupt this post for some SUPER SAD news:

I hand washed my 2 new pink Lululemon pieces last night. And, well…

Actually, the bleeding was the least of my worries. The worst part was that the sweat from my workouts while wearing them STAINED. As in, my Wunder Unders permanently display swass and my tank shows awful back and ab sweat. I was torn apart last night. So much money spent on 2 pieces and both are ruined. You bet your bippy I emailed AND tweeted to Lululemon about my problems.

Enough of my ranting..I have an episode of What Not to Wear to watch.