Burpee Love

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

The last two nights have been fun. Why, you ask? Because I did TONS of burpees. Yes, I am now officially obsessed with them. Only took about 9 years. As soon as Biggest Loser started on Monday night (I watched it at 6pm since it was a New England broadcast) I got right into the strength portion of my Best Body Bootcamp workout. I told myself that during every commercial break of the 2 hour long show I would do 10 burpees. So, on top of getting my designated lower/upper body workout done, I also managed to get 100 burpees done! (And I had run for 36 minutes earlier in the day on the treadmill).

(Source)

Then, yesterday, I managed to bust through a 20 minute circuit workout I originally posted here. Once Bachelor (part 2) started, I did another 100 burpees- this time with an audience- then went to the gym for an AWESOME 30 minutes of HIIT on the bike.

Let’s see, burpees have been my life as of late. Other than that, I have been napping or hanging around the house, so there really isn’t that much to share. I DO have some new music that I’ve recently added to my playlist:

And I DID take Layla to the dog park yesterday to stretch her legs.

I have a new recipe that I’m trying for dinner, so stay tuned to see if I post it (totally to be determined by their outcome!)

Here are some other recipes that I’ve bookmarked:

1. Um, anything and everything CAN be made with sriracha, or ‘rooster sauce.’ This post has 50 healthified recipes that include the stuff.

2. Although there is no chocolate in this recipe, it caught my eye. PB&J is always a winner.

3. Yet another way to make quinoa.

4. Gluten Free cheddar cornbread. Yum

I have also been looking through tons of recipes that use alternative flours, etc. Some are paleo, some are not. I’m not leaning towards eating a particular diet, I just thought it would be fun to play around with different ingredients! Any suggestions?

Chia Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Aaaand I totally thought it was Tuesday. But it’s not.

Moving on!

Happy Monday, folks. What oh what do I have to share with you today? Well, there’s a recipe. That’s about it.

These cookies are seriously delicious. I was searching around the internets to find inspiration and after about 2 hours of wandering, I found it. These are chia chocolate chip cookies that I modified to accommodate what I had in the house and what I actually would want to eat.

Chia Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 c quick oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 c flour
1 scoop chocolate protein powder (I used Click, an espresso protein powder-my FAVORITE-, which gave it an awesome coffee kick!)
2 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 c butter
1/2 c brown sugar
3/4 c peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cookie pans with cooking spray.

2. In a bowl, mix oats, baking powder, flour, protein powder, and chia seeds.

3. In another bowl (or mixer), beat eggs and butter until smooth. Add peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla. Slowly add oat mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

4. Take tbsp amounts of dough, form into balls using your palms and place on cookies sheets. Bake 13 minutes and allow to cool.

I think it’s safe to say these are some of my favorite cookies ever. They have protein. And peanut butter. And chocolate. The chia seeds give it a great twist, too!

They keep their shape in small, roundish balls. Cue me eating more than intended. And they have a super yummy middle.

Ok, ok, I’m going to stop describing them. Mmmm….so good.

I managed to get in the cardio portion of Workout A from Best Body Bootcamp already. I ran about 40 minutes of intervals on the treadmill. It felt SO GOOD to get back on those nice treadmills and really push myself.

I’ll be getting the strength portion done while I watch Biggest Loser tonight. AND, as an added bonus, I’ve decided to do 10 burpees for every set of commercials (doesn’t hurt that the show is 2 hours!)

And last, but certainly not least, today is the first day of the Healthy sELF challenge.

The challenge was designed as a way for people to connect through social media as a means of motivating each other to choose healthy options in life. Healthy through food, fitness, love, etc. Today’s challenge was go to meatless. That’s kind of hard when you’re coming off a Super Bowl high and live with a guy who loves meat. But, I managed to come up with an interesting concoction. Insert: tofu tacos with slaw, tangy sauce and warmed grapefruit.

They had a lot of different flavors and textures, but it just didn’t feel like a cohesive dish. Nonetheless, I got in my protein, kept it meatless, and filled my tummy with an assortment of goodness.

Question: Do you have a favorite meatless meal?

Let’s rewind.

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I somehow how a little time before getting food ready for the big game that I have decided to catch up on my recent things on these here blog.

I somewhat touched base as I was sitting in the Albany airport, but that doesn’t really count. Let’s rewind to Wednesday night…

Ok, so Wednesday night (my last night in New York) I got dressed after the workout I did at home and headed out to dinner at my FAVORITE local restaurant with mom and dad.

Outfit: American Apparel leggings and a top I scored from JCPenney.

Dinner was at Bistro LeRoux. I seriously cannot praise this place enough. The food, atmosphere and service are all so fantastic. I ended up having Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling, 1/2 order of crab cakes, 1/2 order of poached pear salad with steak, and a lava cake with peanut butter ice cream. I’m not really good at writing about my full experience, but let’s just say that I was ‘mmm-ing’ with every bite. Ahhhh, so good! I can’t wait for my next visit home so I can go there again 🙂

As I was packing later that night, I came across my high school prom dresses. Feel free to laugh at how ugly they are!

That really concludes my trip home. Although, I did manage to wake up at O-dark-thirty on Thursday morning to get in a 40 minute run on the treadmill. I watched a Jillian Michaels infomercial to keep me motivated.

My trip home was a long one. Having a layover in Chicago in the middle of winter is practically a death sentence. My first plane was 45 minutes late, but made good time getting into O’hare. I chilled out for what was supposed to be only a 2 hour layover and had me one of these suckers:

I also had a steak salad, but didn’t take a picture because I was hungry and ate it. Duh.

I then walked all over the terminal not only for exercise, but also because the incoming plane for my gate was super delayed (I was also on the prowl for some good chocolate).

Well, I didn’t fin the chocolate that I wanted, but I ended up settling with a bag of these:

They look like GIANT malt balls

But they are SUPER WEIRD on the inside.

I also managed to take advantage of the DUTY FREE shop! I have never done that before, so it was an interesting experience.

I made my purchase, showed them my boarding pass and ID, then got a receipt with a pick-up tag. The attendant would then meet me at my gate and hand me my purchase as I was boarding the plane. Nothing like being able to carry a big ass bottle of Grey Goose on a plane!

A few hours later, I was home and reunited with my puppy!

And now begins the dog pictures. You have been warned.

Tyler and I enjoyed the first bottle of home brewed wine (It was REALLY good!) and watched the first two episodes of The Following (also REALLY good!) The show was intense.

Friday, I was left at home to get back into my routine. The morning was filled with lounging, house-things, and puppy cuddles.

My workout was the Endurance workout from Best Body Bootcamp (supersets of exercises to be repeated until you reach 100- same as last Friday). I busted them out as I watched recorded episodes of The Mindy Project. After I ran out of episodes- and finished my strength workout- I headed over to the gym for a sweaty 14 miles on the bike. I really missed the Keiser bikes while I was in New York. Oh right, and Layla joined in on my strength stuff. Forgot to mention that.

She was so excited to see me put my coat and shoes on to go to the gym, that I felt bad and ended up taking her for a walk as soon as I got home. She was kinda rude about it, but whatever.

Apparently I didn’t take her on as good of a walk as Tyler has been doing the last few weeks, so as soon as he got home, she was all over him. Traitor.

We rounded out the night with tacos and watched Flight (so glad I waited until after my trip to watch that movie!)

On to Saturday. Bacon and eggs for breakfast. YUM. And lots of coffee. YUMMx2. Then errands.

One of our stops was the mall so that I could pick up my earrings from Tiffany & Co. I had dropped them off last month when one of my screwbacks kept popping off. As the associate unwrapped my earrings, I noticed that not only did they not replace the backing, but they completely reset the diamonds in different posts WITH different (ugly) backings! And the backings wouldn’t even stay on the post! I tried to be as nice as possible, but it was pretty upsetting that they made all these changes without my knowledge. I ended up leaving them there until the Ops Mgr calls me to discuss possible solutions. Fingers crossed I get a free upgrade.

Blah. That was kind of annoying to type. I just want my friggin earrings back!

My workout for yesterday was supposed to be ‘cardio of choice.’ I chose to do a mish-mash of things at home. I did alternating kickboxing and strength moves and finished up with 100 burpees. 100 BURPEES!! Rather than breaking it up into sets of 10, I wanted to bust out as many efficient burpees as I could. I would do as many as I could with the best proper form, record the number, and take a quick break before attempting more. After 15 attempts, I hit the 100 mark. I’m totally going to do this throughout February. I’m starting to love burpees again.

And again, Layla joined me.

Once my workout was complete, I quickly cleaned up and Tyler and I headed to the Flames game! Tyler got tickets from his boss, so it was a sweet (and free) way to have a nice little date night. And of course we enjoyed beer and hot dogs.

The game was actually close, but the Flames lost in a shootout.

Which brings us to today.

PANCAKES.

Chocolate chip pancakes.

With Coffee.

HEAVEN.

Chocolate Chip pancakes

1 cup flour
1 cut oats
2 c + 2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 tsp baking powder

1. Mix ingredients. Pour batter on griddle. Top with chocolate chips. Flip. Eat.

I was planning on topping with a tiny bit of pure maple syrup, but they were so moist and gooey that it really didn’t need it. Go make these now.

Now I must go put cheese on chips and chips in dips. And watch football.

Question: What’s your favorite pancake flavor?!

Wednesday W’s

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

What I ate:
My parents and I returned to Rock Hill Bakehouse for a late lunch. I guess since its my last full day in New York I can tolerate both lunch and dinner with them today (oh and I can’t wait to tell you about dinner, even though we haven’t even had it yet!!) Anyways, this Bakehouse always has such delicious daily specials

I opted for the salad special- with a cup of the vegan split pea soup. Bother we’re so delicious and I am now incredibly full and burping raw onions.

Wedding:
Chose the hotels for our wedding. One of them wanted us to block 30 rooms! I was all ‘helllllls no.’ I talked to the curator of the property where we are having the ceremony/reception and she recommended 2 particular hotels that offer a free shuttle and great discounted rates since they often get wedding guests from their particular property. Doesn’t hurt that both are within about a mile of the location as well!

I was wandering the house as I was speaking to various hotels on the phone and I came across this little gem:

That would be me when I was about 3 years old. The daughter of friends of my parents was getting married in Beverly Hills and I just so happened to be an adorable blonde-haired little girl that they knew! Lucky me. ~~My resources~~ mom tells me the guy she married (who I was totally afraid of because he was so muscle-y) owns a ton of Gold’s Gyms throughout Southern California now. Had I not recently moved to Canada, I would so be on the phone with him inquiring about personal training jobs. Could you imagine? Training rich, tan people in California? Ugh. I can’t think of it because its making me ~~mad~~ jealous.

Workout:
Oh yes, this is a great workout. I don’t know why, knock on wood, but lately I have been in love with my workouts. This is partly because of Best Body Bootcamp, part because of the new home equipment I have acquired over the past few months, and part because of my mentality towards each workout.

For the strength portion of today’s workout, I slightly modified some moves from BBB. The idea for the circuit was to run the clock for 15 minutes and get as many rounds of 3 exercises in as you can. I don’t want to give away the moves (it wouldn’t be fair to all the hard work Tina does with the program. If you’re interested though, click the link above to find out when you can sign up for the next round!) but the 3 exercises in each round focused on lower body and chest/shoulders. After completing the first round, I danced around to loosen up for a few minutes, the got right into round 2 for another 15 minutes of 3 different exercises.

The schedule also planned for some cardio intervals. I haven’t really been loving the gym here for my cardio workouts, and I have exhausted the option of using my parent’s treadmill everyday, so I changed this to my own AWESOME cardio bit:

You see that? I did Tabatas! (Tabatas are 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times for a total of 4 minutes.) In the above picture, I alternated between two moves for each tabata. I also hopped on the treadmill for a quick 1/4 mile run before getting into the next tabata. All these, combined with the strength circuits really kicked my tush. And I loved it.

Edited to note: I actually subbed the 1/4 mi sprints with 10 stair runs between each tabata set. More sweat, more work! That’s what happens when you post about your workout before you actually do it! Never again, Jen. Never again.

And now, I leave you with Weird:

Stuffed rhino head

My 4th grade self.

Question: What exercises do you currently have on heavy rotation in your workouts?

Armed and Ready

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I have a mish mash of things to talk about. I could make this one long cohesive post, but I’m not the best at transitional writing. Or any writing for that matter.

Last night I made a BOMB ASS chicken salad. I didn’t really follow a recipe, nor did I really track the amounts of the ingredients I used, but I’m still gonna share the goods.

I used shredded chicken (boneless chicken breasts and chicken broth in the crockpot on high for four hours and shredded with 2 forks), red grapes, cashews, celery, mayo, plain Greek yogurt, spicy brown mustard, lemon juice, white vinegar, salt, and pepper.

It was super yummy and I couldn’t stop ‘mmmmm-ing’ with each bite. Something similar to this might make its way into my Super Bowl menu this Sunday…

This morning, my mom and I went to Target for some random items, then headed over to the nail salon for some pedicures. Not gonna lie, the last time I got a pedicure was when I was in New York in August. I’m not really one to splurge on pampering (at least not on a regular basis) so it’s nice to sit in a sweet massage chair while someone rubs my feet and legs with lotion. note: I specifically sat in the tub before heading out so that I could shave up to my knees. Gross, I know. But hairy legs at a pedicure is even more gross.
Also note, the massage chair at this particular salon is no joke. It kneads and chops and rolls and vibrates and does everything you could possibly imagine. With my back still being sore from my Saturday workout, it was pure bliss.

I had picked up a new shade of Essie nail polish from Target, so as soon as I got home, I slapped that shade on! (It’s called Armed and ready!!) My mom is convinced it’s grey, but it’s a deep green with a slight shimmer. I love it.

Today’s workout for Best Body Bootcamp focused on cardio, but I wasn’t really feeling it. Instead, I took inspiration from the deck of cards workout I did this last weekend with Ashley and Athena. I chose to do one cardio/more challenging ‘deck’ and another slightly easier strength ‘deck’. I got my grey gear on and was ready to sweat!

Round One:

Jump Squats

Start in plank position.

Squeezing your abs, ‘jump’ your feet as close to your hands as you can, with your feet landing wider than your hand position.
In a fluid motion, kick your feet back into plank position. and that’s 1!

Arnold Press

Start laying on your stomach, with your knees wide and bent and your heels touching in the air.

Squeezing your glutes, and keeping your heels together and knees wide, attempt to raise your heels in the air (think of squeezing enough to get your knees off the ground)
Return to start position. That’s 1!
(Like the sweet demo pics? I had my mom take them in the basement. Super pimp setup down there.)
Similar to before, I did the number of reps per face value, 10 reps for face cards and 11 for aces. The entire round took me about 23 minutes.