BBB update, cookies, and christmas!

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

It’s a new week, people. Not a fun new week, however. Sure, it’s cyber Monday, but it’s also back to school for me. 2 more weeks of this nonsense and I am DONE!

The last few days have been pretty fun though:

There were 2 good workouts- Saturday was a combination of strength circuits and short cardio bursts (all done at home) and Sunday was a nice long spin at the gym. On Friday, I got my new armband in the mail, so I was finally able to use my iPod touch yesterday. I loved it! It’s super minimal, has awesome no-slip fabric(?) and has a small pocket for a key!..or money!..or both!

Wait, let’s go back to my at-home workout on Saturday. 3 words: Single. Leg. Burpees. I have officially added that to my list of all-time favorite exercises. We were meant to do a lot of burpees in this phase of BBB, but after doing Workout A last week, I just wasn’t feeling the layout, so I rearranged it for my Saturday workout. Lots of single leg burpees mixed in with other compound exercises. By the end of my workout, I was walking around like I just got off a horse. FANTASTIC!

I haven’t really been in the mood to follow the Best Body Bootcamp workouts lately, but I am thinking of vaguely following them (at least the strength portion) this week and getting in a LOT of my own cardio through running, spin, and kickboxing. Hey, since I’m on the topic of cardio AND it’s that time of the year where getting to the gym can be hard, I thought I’d share THIS post with you. It’s a lot of cardio exercises you can do to get your heart rate up up up! And you can do them from the comfort of your own home. You are so welcome.

On Saturday evening, I headed over to Leigh’s for a Calgary blogger meet-up. It was super fun! There were about 10 of us, and it was really nice to put faces to names of bloggers I have been checking out lately. Plus, it felt REALLY nice to be able to socialize. You have no idea.

I ended up bringing a batch of my favorite ~~crack~~ no-bake cookies. Alison asked me to post the recipe (you may regret this, Alison!) Here it is:

What you’ll need:

2 cups sugar
4 tbsp cocoa
1 stick butter (that’s in American butter. For you Canadians, it’s 1/2 cup butter)
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter (don’t substitute with other nut butters, it really doesn’t come out right)
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups quick oats (you can use cook and serve, but it really changes the consistency)

What you do:

1. Put the sugar, milk, butter and cocoa in a large saucepan and bring to a boil (stirring constantly). Allow it to boil for 1 minute.

2. Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter, vanilla and oats until fully incorporated.

3. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture on foil or waxed paper and allow to set and cool completely.

4. Eat all of them and then make another batch to share.

At the meet-up, we also did a white elephant gift exchange. I lucked out (ALL the gifts were awesome) and went home with a few goodies:

Some locally made toffee- which I ate half of last night and it was deliciously yummy and fantastic

Some lemony soap shaped like a wedge of pie

And some handmade Christmas cards. Love the glitter!

This AM, a couple of packages arrived from my parents. Yippee!!!!!!!! I love getting stuff in the mail 🙂

Ok, ok. One is for me, and the LARGER one is for Tyler. Mom said we could open them right away, so I tore mine open. [Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to leave Tyler’s unopened until he gets home from work?! Ugh, the agony]

I already knew of one thing that was in my package- so I really did have to open it right away. My mom made us a beautiful tree-skirt!

She’s a really awesome quilter, so I have no reservations in pimping her skills on the blog. If anyone wants her to make something for you, I could totally hook you up. (With a commission of course)

Then, some other really sweet goodies:

Soap in a coat! The bar of soap was wrapped in wool felt that acts as an exfoliator. It smells of delicious lavender.

A cute little snowman! He’s already up on the mantle 😉

A luxuriously soft infinity scarf and headwrap. Now I have an excuse to get dressed and leave the house today ~~to shop.~~

And, without further ado, I would like to wish my parents a HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY 46th anniversary today!!!!! (SHIT, that’s a long ass time)

And good luck to my dad who is having surgery today- a wonderful gift to give your wife on your anniversary. Let’s just hope mom doesn’t make nice with the wine before having to drive him home! (kidding, mom. Sort of. Not really.)

Thursday Things

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

1. Check out this little craft I did yesterday that cost only $5 and took about 5 minutes to complete:

Each of those 81/2×11″ frames were 25 cents and the scrapbook paper was 99cents a sheet!

I have two other christmas craft projects that I might wait to complete over the weekend (it includes paint and candles and glitter and glue and all that jazz)

2. Last night’s dinner was FANTASTIC. I took the recipe from SkinnyTaste, and only tweaked it a bit. <—because I am terrible at converting ounces to grams and then usually halving the recipe for just the two of us. Yes, pretty much everything here is in grams which drives me freaking batty.

Chicken and Broccoli Noodle Casserole

Here’s what you need:

2 large boneless chicken breasts
3 cups no yolk noodles
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large crown of broccoli
1 tbsp butter
1/8 cup minced onion
3 tbsp flour
1 cup shredded cheddar
3 tbsp parmesan cheese
2 tbsp bread crumbs

Here’s what you do:

1. Put the chicken in the crock pot on high for roughly 4 hours and shred with two forks when it’s done. (submerge the chicken in chicken broth, enough to cover the meat- this is not included in the list of ingredients0

2. Cook the noodles until they are almost al dente. Strain and set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 375, spray 8×8 with cooking spray.

4. Put the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and allow it to simmer for about a minute. Then add the broccoli florets. Turn the heat to low and cover the skillet to allow the broccoli to steam.

5. In a large pot, add the butter. Once it’s melted, throw in the onion and allow the onion to soften for a few minutes. Add the flour until incorporated. Then add the chicken broth and whisk thoroughly. Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil (stirring occasionally). Once brought to a boil, turn it back down to medium heat and allow 6-7 minutes for mixture to thicken. Remove from heat, and add the cheddar cheese and 1 tbsp parmesan. Mix well.

6. Add shredded chicken, noodles, and broccoli to the cream mixture in pot.

7. Pour the mixture into the 8×8 dish. Top with remaining 2 tbsp parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.

8. Bake for 20 minutes, then allow it to sit under the broil for a couple minutes to allow the top to brown.

9. Eat! (We added some sriracha to our portions. yum!)

(I always use the smaller plates for my meals, and leave the big plates for Tyler. Perception of having the plate full can really deceive your eating habits!)

3. I worked out at home yesterday and did the strength workout B from Best Body Bootcamp. It was an interesting workout, and I adjusted a few moves to accommodate the equipment I have. The toughest one was what I substituted for hamstring curls- I actually used my gliding discs for these. Yikes, my hammies were screaming after that set. There were cardio intervals within the supersets and I finished it off with some kickboxing. Check out this super flattering picture.

(Notice that my HEAD is wider than my entire body. Oy)

4. It was during my workout (in ‘my’ room) that I noticed it’s been a while since I updated my calendar.

Just a few months off. No biggie. But July is my favorite. 4th of July, my birthday, summer= all happy things.

5. A lot of people do throwback thursday pics. Since I am now 3000 miles from home, I couldn’t really bring any of my stuff with me, so I don’t really have any of my childhood pictures. But I do have this gem that my mom somehow brought this summer.

It was my understanding that in 5th grade, prescription sunglasses were HOT. Looking at it now: NO THEY’RE NOT.

6. I got shout outs on both Leigh AND Alison’s blogs today (ladies, I am totally stealing that post soon!) Woo hoo!

7. It’s not a new song, but it’s been a huge player this week in my workouts. Love me some hip hop/electro mixes (mostly the hip hop part though). The best part:

Ugly girls be quiet, quiet, pretty girls clap, clap like this
Ugly girls be quiet, quiet, pretty girls clap, clap like this

(I obviously clap)

Pretty Girls (Benny Benassi remix)

What song (new or old) do you have on heavy rotation lately?

If the boot fits..

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Happy Friday, internets!

The sun is shining and I am in a good mood (rare). Tyler gets outta work early and he’s taking all next week off. And we are going to a corn maze/pumpkin patch tomorrow. And Sunday we are having our Canadian Thanksgiving. You bet your bippy Tyler’s the one sticking his hand up that turkey butt.

I think listening to FIT Radio first thing this AM helped too. I like being in a dancey mood while I’m brushing my teeth and eating spoonfuls of Nutella (and not in that order).

So yesterday, I went shopping. The mall I went to takes forever to walk around, and I got through about 3/4 of it and still hadn’t found anything I was there for. Sure, I tried on stuff that looked good, but either the jeans looked redic on me if I tried to sit down, or they didn’t carry my size shoe. Yeah, I know I know I wasn’t there for winter boots, but dude they were calling to me yesterday. I finally got my tush in a sweet pair of jeans THAT WERE ON SALE- so I figured that justified that boot purchase I scored right after.

You bet the top was on sale, too. Hello, orange clearance sticker! (Wearing the lulu headband from Chelsea– thanks girl!)

Dinner last night was a success. I wanted Mac n Cheese like it was nobody’s business, and I wanted to make it from scratch. So, I played around with this recipe.

Mac n Cheese Y’all

Here’s what you’ll need:

A box of macaroni
1 tbsp butter
1/4 c flour
1/4 c minced onion
2 cups milk
1 cup chicken broth
1.5 cups shredded cheddar
2 tbsp Frank’s buffalo sauce
4 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup bread crumbs
8 pieces BACON

Here’s what you do:

Cook the bacon. Once it’s cooled, crumble and set aside.
Cook the macaroni according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Spray baking dish and preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a BIG ‘OL skillet, melt butter. Add flour and stir with a whisk (here’s what I did because I was feeling bad ass. I used the same skillet I used for the bacon and I didn’t drain all the grease. I know, it’s fatty, but I have been super healthy all week and I figured a splurge is a splurge is a splurge).
Add onion, milk and chicken broth and continue stirring with a whisk. Increase heat and stir until it comes to a boil and begins to thicken.
Remove from heat; add cheese and buffalo sauce. Once it’s fully incorporated, add macaroni, baby spinach and crumbled bacon. (Again, I HAD to add the bacon because I intended for Tyler to eat dinner)
Pour the mixture into prepared baking dish, top with parmesan and bread crumbs.
Bake for 20 minutes, then broil for a few minutes to brown the bread crumbs.

I was mindful of my portion because I planned on some cardio afterwards.

And cardio, I did.

25 minutes of SUPER INTENSE spinning, and 10 minutes of sprint intervals. Topped off with 100 stability ball situps.

Ok, and now onto serious conversation. Let’s talk sleeping arrangements. In Boston, Layla had her bed and I had mine. A queen sized bed. And usually Layla slept on her bed, except in the winter and when I wasn’t home. But she had her designated space and I had mine. Since moving here and adding another body into the equation, things are different. She still has her bed, and Tyler and I have our King. Let me draw for you how we usually go to sleep: (note: characters are not drawn to scale)

To clarify, I put a skirt on my character. And no, we don’t smile when we sleep, but that’s how I draw my stick figures.

Then, at some point in the night, when we are sound asleep, something happens.

Tyler is super comfy, and I am smooshed off the bed from the pup. And yes, at that point, I DO have a frown on my face. There is so much dead space in the middle of our bed. It’s like Layla wants me gone, and needs to keep an eye out-from a distance- on Tyler to make sure he gets a good night sleep.

PREPOSTEROUS I SAY.

I have things to do, so I must be off.

Plans for the weekend?

Sweet-n-Sour Crockpot Chicken

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Happy Friday, Folks!

Dinner last night turned out, so I’m going to share the recipe with all y’all.

Sweet-n-Sour Crockpot Chicken

Here’s what you’ll need:

Chicken (I used two breasts, so adjust accordingly)
Sweet-n-sour BBQ sauce
1 green pepper
1/2 yellow onion
10 oz pineapple chunks
Rice

Here’s what you do:

1. Pam (or grease) your crockpot.

2. Throw the chicken in (you can use thawed or frozen, just adjust the cook times accordingly. 2-3 hours thawed, 4-6 frozen)

3. Coat the chicken with sweet-n-sour sauce. (for two breasts [tee hee hee] i used 1/2 bottle)

4. Throw in chopped pepper, onion and pineapple (keep them in large pieces).

5. When that’s all ready, make rice. Take two forks and pull apart the chicken, while it’s still in the crock so it can absorb more juices. Then throw your crockpot crap over the rice. Then eat it.

It’s really really good. It gets the rice all saucy-like. It’s practically like chinese takeout, except there’s no MSG. And you can control the amount of sauce. Add in more veggies if you want to be SUPER healthy!

******

Yesterday’s workout:

25 minutes kickboxing

10 min quick run with the dog

lots of combo moves with my gliding discs (like lunges with lateral raises and such)

upper body combo (bicep curls/overhead press, hammer curls/tricep kickbacks, yadda yadda yadda)

100 stability ball situps.

Today’s workout:

~~Running around the house like a maniac because I couldn’t solve the last problem of one of my homework assignments.~~

Walk the dog.

40 minutes Spin

30 minutes full body strength moves

******

Tonight I have yet another new-to-me recipe to try out, some Apricot Ales (Shout out to Kysha, WHAT WHAT!) and a boozy/awesome concoction to try.

G2G (that’s ‘gotta go’ in teenage text talk)

Recipe break!

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

It’s me again.

I have been doing homework ALL.DAMN.DAY. Lots of reading and researching and discussion questions…ay yay yay.

I have been breaking it up with household chores, errands, walks, and intermittent exercises.

And recipe making. Since it’s time for me to take another mental break, I decided to write a post to share my recipes from today!

First up, Summer Salad. This was inspired by a recipe from Athena’s blog-she actually made it for me when I stayed at her place last month. I didn’t have the exact ingredients, so I made up my own.

Summer Salad

Here’s what you’ll need:

cucumber
tomatoes
onion
garbanzo beans
kidney beans
olive oil
lemon juice
S&P

Here’s what you do:

1. Dice up the cucumber, tomatoes, and onion (I am not listing amounts because that’s up to you. I made just enough for lunch/dinner, but you can obviously make as much as you want- and add more of the ingredients you like better)

2. Rinse the beans.

3. Mix all the ingredients. For my batch, I used 2 capfuls of lemon juice and 3 capfuls of olive oil.

4. S&P to taste.