Day 21!

Today's Whole30 email came at an appropriate time - it discussed building new habits, which ironically is my biggest struggle, as seen by yesterday's snacking!

The email states that although we have been going for 21 days to build new habits, it takes much longer, 66 days, to form a habit. The habits that I am changing have also been built over a long period of time so it is much harder to break them, change them, and create new ones than 21 days. My fear is the end of the program and going back to eating desserts all of the time. I'm only human and I can't deprive myself forever, so although I have already committed to continuing to eat Paleo after Whole30, paleo brownies, cookies and pizza will have to exist in my life, just not every day, every week or every month. I now know I can go 21 (hopefully 30) days without dessert so why would I give it up on day 31! I need to continue eating Whole30 for myself, my health and my well-being.

I want to start writing in a habit worksheet as suggested by today's Whole30 Daily email. This will help me keep track of where I was, what I was doing, who I was with, and what I was feeling when I craved sweet, or needed to snack, etc. I need to recognize the cues that triggered a habit so that I can create a new habit for the same cue. I already seem to have gotten over the 3pm snacking slump at the office, but what I really seem to be struggling with is the weekends at home with access to my pantry and fridge at all hours. I can't not have food in my house, especially because I live with someone else and we buy in bulk, so how can I not be tempted by the food I have on hand. How can I go into the fridge for water and not reach for a date? I also want to break habits like eating LaraBars or RxBars for snacks or post workout meals because those are like candy and they are my crutch - I look forward to them because they are sweet and remind me of dessert. That is not the point of the bars and I need to slowly rid my daily diet of them, except in the cases of emergencies.

I remember when I quit smoking cigarettes, I had to change the cues and triggers. I assocaited a cigarette with a specific route I walked every day to work so I had to take a new route so I wouldn't be reminded of having a cigarette. I needed to have dessert after dinner instead of a cigarette (I created a new habit by ending an old one and now I am trying to do the same with Whole30). The 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months and 3 years have always been the hardest for me (I am on 3.5 years now without a cigarette) so I expect this week, my 3rd week on Whole30 to be difficult. I am not home a lot at night so I won't be in control of dinner and have less leftovers for lunches so I need to stay focused and control and not give in to the temptations of snacking and meal replacement bars/treats.

I have been sticking to my Whole30 goal of going to Bar Method 4 times a week so even though this week will be tiring and long, I need to keep up my routines because they are new habits that I am working to create. I have started reading It Starts With Food and I hope to finish it in the next 10 days but even if I don't I will continue to read it because it is so important to learn the science behind my Whole30 program and since I might continue it after 30 days, I need to keep reading!

I have a few things coming up that I know will be difficult for me regarding eating:

1) Thursday I am having some friends over to hang out. I plan to cook a Whole30 approved meal but it doesn't mean they won't want dessert or snacks.

2) April 14 is Passover and even though I have planned my Whole30 approved dishes, I need to avoid my favorite dishes and desserts.

3) April 19 I am going to a Bridal Shower - should I eat before I go? Should I bring a LaraBar or RxBar to have in case there is no food I can eat? What food will there be that I can eat?

4) May 3 Ryan and I are going out to dinner for my birthday and although I will have steak and vegetables since it is a steak house, we have already planned to get the Baked Alaska for dessert. It is what this restaurant is known for in NYC and the point of going to this restaurant is for this specific dessert and I don't want to upset Ryan by not going here because we planned it months ago. It will be a special treat and maybe if I go all of April without dessert even after Whole30, it won't derail me and set me back into my old habits. I don't want to call it a "reward" for doing Whole30 because Whole30 has taught me not to reward myself with food because that was an old habit (do well at work, get cupcakes, go all week eating well, have cake). But I don't want to have regrets either so Baked Alaska will happen. And I don't want to feel guilty about it so it is 1 dessert, 1 time and before and after I stay focused and on Whole30 track!

5) In June we are going to Puerto Rico - a lot of meat and vegetables which is fabulous but I need to avoid the rice and dairy. Also, it is a business trip for Ryan and a vacation for me, so I will be alone a lot so I need to control my snacking. Just because no one is around to see me eat, doesn't mean it didn't happen!

6) SUMMER: ICE CREAM! Ryan and I love getting ice cream on a warm summer night. I don't want to always say no or feel left out. I need to look into sorbet and small portions and not every day or week!

7) September we are going to San Francisco. I plan to eat clean, but also not miss out on anything. We will not be gluten free or paleo for this trip, but we will be aware of the food we eat. I plan to do a Whole30 immediately after the trip!

I know these things so far ahead but I have to plan, I have to recognize my weaknesses and figure out how to overcome the tough moments in my life related to food!

This morning Ryan and I went to Trader Joe's early and bought a lot of meat and vegetables for this week. I still don't have a plan but I have food and I will work backwards to find recipes based on the groceries.

Meal 1 was a delicious omelette with turkey, spinach, bruschetta and avocado and almonds with a side of Spicy Chicken Sausage and zucchini fritters cooked in bacon fat.

We are going out tonight from 4pm - 6pm (prime cooking time) so we are not planning a big Sunday dinner like usual. I bought a steak for myself and have leftover brussel sprouts so it will be a cook, but Whole30 approved dinner! We are going to a cocktail reception for Clark University, where we went to college and met, to meet accepted new students. I plan to have Meal 2 around 1pm and will have a LaraBar in my purse for an emergency because I am sure none of the food will be something I can eat. I don't want to feel like I need to eat since I should still be full from Meal 2 before Meal 3 but being around the food is a trigger and I want to be prepared just in case! 

Have a great day!

XO

Day 9 Struggles - Too Much Food! and a fresh new Day 10!

Well, I over-ordered groceries this week. I meal planned and worked really hard to coordinate dinners and leftovers for lunch and had a large FreshDirect order delivered Saturday and yesterday my dinner plans were ruined as were tonight's due to spoiled food. I guess by trying to save money and buy a lot of food and have leftovers, I wasted money because now I have to throw food out and re-buy. I am starting to plan next weeks meals and I think instead of ordering FreshDirect, I am going to buy 2 nights worth of food at a time at the grocery store on my way home from work to ensure that my food is fresh. It is really frustrating to have meal planning sabotaged because that is when I would go off track and snack and binge and eat whatever I could find. Luckily last night I thought quickly about what to cook and only slightly went off plan.

Last night I had planned to make shrimp. I was craving fresh seafood since I had been eating a lot of meat this week and had ordered 1 pound of fresh shrimp (guess I should have ordered frozen). I was debating between coconut shrimp, shrimp stirfry and shrimp fra diablo. While I was deciding, I prepared cauliflower rice which wasn't too bad but I will have to work on the recipe to make it more flavorful and a better texture. Cauliflower rice was really easy to make - I put cauliflower heads in the food processor and pulsed until it looked like rice. Next time I might do this in batches because some was rice and some was mush from over-pulsing. Then I heated a pot with ghee and added the "rice" and covered and let cook for 10 minutes!

 This is where things got complicated...I was already making the rice, and I had vegetables frying in a pan with coconut oil and my shrimp was spoiled. Obviously I was making a stirfry at this point, but what to stirfry...I quickly looked in the fridge and grabbed the last remaining coconut chicken leftover and cut it up and threw it in the pan with the vegetables. I added some balsamic vinegar (I really need to buy coconut aminos because balsamic stirfry is just not the same, it's just a salad)! It was quick, easy and I was done thinking about cooking. I was full from the meal, but I guess I wasn't satisfied because my mind quickly started wandering to what I wanted to eat next. Trust me, I was not hungry, but being full and satisfied are two completely different feelings. I grabbed the last 2 dates wrapped in proscioutto and hoped this would fix me need for sweets - but alas, it did not and I ended up eating the remaining half of the cocoa RxBar. So although I didn't go off whole30, I still snacked and was not happy about it. However, I did not feel as guilty as I would have had I gone to the freezer and grabbed ice cream and other sweet treats. At least I knew that I needed protein to satisfy me which is why I gravitated to the RxBar. After that I was full and happy(ish) and had some peppermint tea before going to bed early.

Today I took the morning off from Bar Method to spend time with Ryan (tomorrow is class 500)! We had a wonderful breakfast together. He had an apple raspberry nutribullet and a sausage, cheese and vegetable omelette with a side of bacon. I decided to get a little creative and get away from my usual omelette and used the remaining cauliflower rice to make tortillas! They were perfect and so filling and I honestly liked them better than cauliflower rice (which was more like cauliflower mash). I added an egg to the leftovers (which were about 1 cup) and placed the mixture in 3 circles on a sheet of parchment paper and baked at 375 for 10 minutes on each side. Then I took them out of the oven and put them in the pan to fry them and make them crispy for 5 minutes on each side!

I used the last coffee-cocoa short rib and made vegetable-rib mix and topped that with an egg white and served it over the tortillas. Honestly, as similar as this was to dinner, this was so much better! It was a bit sweet from the ribs, a bit crunchy from the tortilla, and packed with vegetables (broccoli, peppers, cherry tomatoes, avocado). There is another lunch meeting today so let's hope this gets me through the endless platters of sandwiches that will be served. I brought leftover spaghetti squash and turkey bolognese and salad for lunch. There's still one more serving of spaghetti squash left so I have to figure out a creative way to use that (squash tortillas?).

Lately I have been feeling good - less bloated, full, happy...today, maybe because of the dinner situation last night, I am feeling a little down and frustrated. It is so upsetting to plan and get excited about meals only to be let down. I also woke up early this morning to marinade chicken for tonight, but of course, the chicken spoiled. So now I don't know what to make for dinner and will have to pick up some ingredients on the way home. I also have to buy ingredients for burgers tomorrow so it looks like I will be spending more money on groceries this week than I had planned. I am also feeling a bit "bloated" in the sense because I have been eating a lot of meat and vegetables and need some variety to my meals - that is why I was looking forward so much to fish last night. I just feel weighed down a bit and need to "lighten" up. A lot of my meals seem to be the same - a meat stirfry with vegetables. I think week 2 is hard because I was so excited and motivated week 1 and week 2 is a bit more "real." Hopefully I can prepare some exciting meals for next week and better plan grocery shopping. I don't want to lose my drive for Whole30 and eating clean - I am still not craving sweets or chocolate so I know everything is working, but in order to keep it up, I need to satisfy myself with better meals so I don't start snacking again!

Have a great day everyone!
XO

Spin, Breakfast, Tacos and a Cleanse!

Last night I went to spin and Nicky K. was subbing for Pablo who was traveling this week. Her class is so much different than Pablo's and I'm glad I got to experience her teaching. She did a lot of interval training, more out of the saddle to the saddle and back out again to get us moving wheras Pablo does one song standing another seated - Nicky does both in one song. She walks around with high energy, singing along to the music and is full of energy. She doesn't bike along with us as much as Pablo and she is very strict about resistance and following along and reminding us of our RPM but it's great energy, a hell of a work out and I felt the class feeling lighter and tired. When I got home, I had a salad that I made for lunch but never ate which was spinach, shaved brussel sprouts, peppers, tomato, carrots, cabbage, walnuts, goji berries and almonds. I had very little arctic zero chocolate peanut butter to finish my meal but got in to bed early because I was so worn out.

I had some great activity yesterday with Bar Method and Spin and had 5 WW activity points and over 14,000 steps. Again, the fitbit did not track spinning too well because I was locked into the bike and not "stepping" but it felt great to get my body moving!

I did not go to Bar Method this morning because I wanted to give my body a chance to rest and my muscles to repair. I had done Bar Monday, Wednesday and Thursday morning this week and spin Thursday evening so I felt okay taking the break. However, we are going out for Mexican tonight with a lot of friends for Tina's birthday so I really wanted to push myself this week to work out and eat clean in preperation for this meal. We are also going for gluten free pizza tomorrow night (made with a cauliflower crust) before going to see Bryan Cranston in "All The Way" so hopefully I can get to a Bar class tomorrow morning so I don't feel so bloated from the dinners. But I don't want to feel like I miss out on anything and I can still go out with friends and be included so since we are having pizza tomorrow, and I refuse to miss out on pizza I think I am going to go with a chicken fajita (without the tortilla) for dinner tonight. It is fresh vegetables and protein cooked on a sizzling black skillet served with salsa. It sounds fresh and clean and if I can avoid the tortilla then it won't be as heavy a meal as it could be.

Ryan and I had breakfast together this morning. He is so busy with work and was up early this morning getting a research paper done before 10am so I made us breakfast while we sat on the couch and watched the Today show (did you see the Sochi rescue puppies? So cute!)

Ryan had a bacon and provolone omelette which I whipped in the nutribullet to make it extra fluffy and light. I also made his a spinach, apple, goji berry, almond, walnut, raspberry, blueberry nutribullet! I also put some Eleven Madison Park granola on the side for some added love!

I made an egg white and oatmeal pancake blended with chia seeds and a Tbsp of pb2 chocolate powdered peanut butter. I topped it with a banana and yummy toppings (all weighed out ahead of time to be 0 WW points). Toppings included 2g walnut pieces, 3g slivered almonds, 5g goji berries, and 4g hemp granola cereal. It was heavy, filling and delicious and I hope it keeps me full through the morning. I am going to get a salad from Just Salad for lunch with spinach, kale, broccoli, asparagus, banana peppers and butternut squash for 0 points because I know dinner will put me over, but I don't want to worry about it since I saved all of my weekly 49 points just for this weekend and the dinners we have planned.

Ryan is leaving on Wednesday through Saturday for a business trip to Houston, TX. He has been working so hard on his research and presentation and I am so excited for him! While he is gone, I schedule a colonic at Gravity East Village for Thursday. I work out, I eat well, but I still feel...well...backed up. With spring starting, I want to feel relieved so I decided to go with a colonic to clean my system out. I am going to follow this up by starting another 10 Day Advocare Herbal Cleanse which will help restore all of the good bacteria that is expelled from my body from the colonic. The colonic at Gravity East uses the gravity system which fills your body with water through a tube and then, with a different tube, relieves toxins and waste from your body without suction (which puts a lot of pressure on the body). They will be able to see waste that is old and built up and we can decide from there if another colonic is needed sooner rather than later. I am also planning to do an infrared sauna treatment afterwards which will further rid my body of heavy metals and toxins. In July when I was doing my bloodwork for my thyroid, my heavy metals tests came back high for Mercury and Lead so this will be extremely beneficial and hopefully I will feel better afterwards.

In order to prepare for the colonic (and the advocare cleans), I am going to eliminate beans and legumes from my diet 4 days prior, dairy, fried foods, and soda 2 days prior (not that I eat that anyway) and 1 day prior and the day of, no meat. I am going to eat a lot of salads (just like I normally do) but cut back on anything that isn't raw, steamed, blanched, or slightly cooked. With Ryan traveling this will be much easier! Monday I am having friends over for lunch and was planning to slow cook pork and sweet potatoes. This will be a good "last supper." but still be healthy and clean. I am doing a FreshDirect order with a lot of vegetables, salmon, tilapia, no refined carbs (pasta, bread, grains), and some quinoa. Since I am eating clean prior to the colonic, the Advocare Herbal Cleanse will be a great follow-up and will help restore my body after cleaning it out! I am not looking to lose weight with the colonic, I just want to clean myself out from all of these "leftovers" so that I have room to fill my body with clean, good nutrients. I feel like I eat well and workout but something is missing. I still feel "crappy" (pun intended) and I find it hard to "stay on track" because I don't "feel good." I feel bloated and heavy and not normal no matter how many salads I eat. And not feeling well leads me to eat the bad stuff like the ice cream and chocolate and chips. If I can jumpstart my emotions and how my body feels, then it will be a lot easier to fill it with really good stuff! And yes, I am being a good wife, and doing this when my husband is not home. Everything should be expelled from the body during the session and you won't run home feeling the need to go to the bathroom, but Ryan will not want to talk about it and hear about the treatment so it is better to do while he is away!

I might do a Cooler Cleanse Juice Cleanse the day of the colonic so that my stomach is empty. I have to stop eating 4 hours prior and stop drinking 2 hours prior so that my stomach and bladder are empty which lowers the need to go to the bathroom during the treatment.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. It should be warming up soon, so go out and take a walk and enjoy life!

XO

7 Years

Today Ryan and I are celebrating 7 years together. We met 7 years ago at Clark University at Hughes Hall where we lived on the same floor a few doors down from each other. We have stayed together through 1.5 years at Clark University, 2 years long distance while we both finished our Masters Degree and 1.5 years living at my parents apartment and 2 years in our first apartment together in Brooklyn where we got engaged and married last March. It's a special time as we are also about to celebrate 1 year of marriage! I couldn't be happier spending this time with my best friend (and our wonderful cat Haley who is celebrating her half birthday as well today as she turns 6.5 years old).

We started the morning early with a FreshDirect delivery - we got a few premade salads (Nicoise, Grilled Salmon and Blue Cheese/Pistachio) and a few dinners for the week. Tonight we are going to make coconut rice with Chicken Tikka and a side salad. We also have Grilled Salmon with Lemon and Capers and Mashed Yams. FreshDirect sides in a snap and meal helpers are so easy to prepare and most are gluten free, clean and contain no preservatives or hydrogenated oils. They make meal time easy and fun and keep us from microwaving a meal that has a lot of sodium and isn't the best option - though sometimes they are what we need to just eat and be done with the meal quickly. I also got everything we need to make Chicken Parmesan with gluten free linguine for Friday's dinner!

Ryan has been working so hard on the apartment and staying up late to make the track lighting in the living room perfect. He installed a dimmer last night and hung a picture in the entryway. Everything is really coming together beautifully and I have to give Ryan and lot of credit. I may be able to spend money non-stop to decorate the apartment, but without the lighting and photos on the wall, it wouldn't be a home! Our dining room table should be arriving this weekend / early next week so we are going to get the track lighting up soon so we aren't drilling the ceiling above a glass table!

This morning I was up early for the food delivery so I made Ryan breakfast - bacon, scrambled eggs with cheese wrapped in a corn tortilla (left over from taco Sunday) and a red juice that had spinach, pear, orange, apple and a beet! The color was beautiful and I think he liked it, though he mentioned that next time I should not juice the rind of the orange because it makes the juice bitter and not sweet!

It got really cold and bitter this morning so I couldn't bike to work, but I took the bus and was at the office within 15 minutes of leaving my house! I did a focus group last night and biked home in under 10 minutes! It's such a great thing to be able to commute so quickly. It's cold in the winter though so I'm not biking as much as I would like and I just hope in the summer bikes are available at docks where I need them and I don't have to go looking for an available bike!

Have a great day everyone and stay warm!
XO

Gnocchi Friday and Taco Sunday!!!!

Having a table to eat at makes it a lot more enjoyable to have family dinners. And the dishwasher makes cleanup much easier, so cooking is more enjoyable when I don't have to worry about how many pots, pans and plates Ryan will have to wash later! Tacos were always difficult for us to eat at the old apartment because we used to many bowls to layout the toppings and we couldn't enjoy the meal knowing how much clean-up would be involved in eating the meal. But last night we made tacos and the cleanup was fast and easy and we sat at a real table and not one that folds up and we had a real family dinner - including Haley rubbing on our legs trying to get some meat.

Our taco bar included turkey breast, bison, spinach, tomatoes, salsa, cheese and refried beans. We wanted to purchase items that would be used again for other recipes or snacks so that we didn't have useless ingredients in our fridge that went bad. I hate wasting money on groceries that are not multi-purposeful. And tacos are a great way to use extra ingredients that would otherwise be going bad. We had left over bison meat from earlier in the week and before freezing it and forgetting about it, we cooked it up and crumbled it and added some taco seasoning and had a great addition to our taco bar! We used both hard and soft yellow corn tortillas but we both agreed the hard tacos are so much better - a lot messier but the crunch is so much better than the corn tortilla which is small and just as hard to eat.

My total WW Points for having 2 hard shells, 2 soft tortillas and 4 oz. bison, and 1/4 cup refried beans and 1/4 cup taco shredded cheese and all of the vegetables was 14 points.

We did a lot of other cooking this weekend as well. Friday night we used Cappello's gnocchi and made crispy pan seared gnocchi with chicken sausage and spinach! The serving size for the gnocchi is 2 oz. (5 WW Points) but it seemed like such a small amount so I had 2 servings of gnocchi and half a chicken sausage link. The total WW Points was 14. I love making the gnocchi crispy because otherwise the potato is too mushy. Gnocchi cooks fast and pan searing it also gives me more time to prep the sausage and vegetables and warm the gnocchi up in some olive oil. It was a great dinner, and one Ryan and I have made before - Cappello's gnicchi was really fresh and tasted great. This dish is so versatile - you can use any vegetables, different meats (or no meat) and add spices and herbs to keep it fresh. I want to make this next time with bacon! Bacon with any meal is always perfect! I added broccoli to our recipe Friday night to use up the florets that we had left. Feel free to use any vegetables or leafy greens that you like!

Crispy Gnocchi with Chicken Sausage and Spinach
Servings: 1
Weight Watchers Points: 14

2 Servings (4 oz.) of Cappello's Gnocchi
1/2 link, Applegate Farms Organic Chicken & Apple Sausage, Mild
1/2 tsp. olive oil
1/3 cup spinach
1/3 cup broccoli

1. Boil water in a saucepan - once water is boiling, add Gnocchi and cook following instruction on the box (3-5 minutes). When gnocchi float to the top, they are cooked through! Drain and set aside.

2. Heat a saucepan over medium and add olive oil.

3. Add chicken sausage and cooked gnocchi to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes, flipping both the gnocchi and chicken sausage to brown on both sides.

4. Add spinach (and other vegetables) and cook until wilted.

5. Serve and Enjoy!

We spent all weekend working on the apartment - Ryan installed track lighting in the living room with my dad and my mom and I went shopping at Home Goods - we went twice because they had so much great stuff. I hate having "stuff" but we bought some great pieces that make the living room feel warm and inviting and lived in. We need to hang some photos in the living room and bedroom. The place is really coming together nicely and I can't wait for our dining room table to arrive so we can be "done" for awhile with setting up. I just want to live there and enjoy it without thinking about the next project. Haley seems very comfortable in the new apartment. There is so much space for her to run around. She even wore herself out this weekend exploring the new place!

Saturday we were really busy with my parents and went out for a great Italian dinner. It's called Frank's Pizza and the front part is a regular NYC Pizzeria with no frills but if you walk through a back door, it leads to a beautifully small dining room that feels like you are stepping into Italy. It even felt like we were eating in Italy because the meal was long and you got to rest in between each course and the food was delicious. Ryan and I split the hot antipasto to start which had mussles, clams, eggplant and stuffed mushrooms. For dinner I ordered clams and mussels with a red sauce with a side salad instead of having it over pasta. Ryan had shrimp fra diavlo. My mom got eggplant and my dad got the same meal I did, just over pasta. We had tartufo's to finish the meal. Everything was perfect and it was a great way to end a long day.

Sunday we went to Home Depot early to get parts to finish the track lighting. We decided to take citibike there and the bus back! The bike ride was easy early in the morning ebcause there wasn't a lot of traffic. We got there in under 15 minutes! Before we left Ryan had scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast and I had an egg white and oatmeal pancake. I love cooking in the new kitchen!

We got back from Home Depot and had a quick lunch before we got started working! We made tuna fish salad with spinach, carrots, celery, avocado and "The Real Deal Veggie Chips" for some added crunch. We used Dijon mustard instead of mayo and I weighed the avocados because even though they are healthy fats, they are also a lot of WW Points. I used 30gm of avocado for only 1 point.

This week is pretty busy and I don't think Ryan and I will have much time for meal prep but I did put a FreshDirect order in for tomorrow so we will have some easy dinners to prepare at home like Salmon, Stewed chicken, fresh produce for salads and juices and sweet potato side dishes. I also got everything to make Chicken Parm! Tomorrow is our anniversary, celebrating 7 years since we met at Clark University. Friday is also Valentine's Day so we decided to make dinner together Friday to celebrate everything. Ryan's favorite meal is chicken parm so we are going to make Baked Chicken Parmesan with gluten free breadcrumbs! I can't believe tomorrow is 7 years that we have been together. We have gone through so much and practically grown up together. I met Ryan when I was 19 - I am now 26! My life has become intertwined with Ryan and I could not be happier to have married my best friend. March 1 is our 1 year wedding anniversary and it seems to have gone by so fast! I can't wait to celebrate many more memories together as a couple and as a family!

This morning I took citibike to Bar Method. I went really slow because the roads were slushy from a brief snow last night. It took me 19:57 minutes! It was cold but I enjoyed the freedom of being on my own time and not relying on a bus or subway. I loved working out before my workout too - my calves and thighs are burning!! Bar Method was great too. Because of the move I have only been 3 times in the last week so I was shaking for the full hour. And my already burning thighs suffered more with waterski seat work! Hopefully now that we are more settled in our new location I will pickup my regular Bar Method schedule (M, W, F, Saturday/Sunday). I still have to think about how to commute there when it rains because I am sure I will not want to bike and get wet on my way there. There is a crosstown bus that I can take, I just have to figure out the schedule that early in the morning!

I had an "Amazing Green Acai Bowl" from Juice Generation for breakfast (I ate it too fast to photograph) and have Juice Generation Coconut Ceviche and Daily Detox juice for lunch. I want to limit my spending on food and meal prep more at home so I ordered some great stuff from Fresh Direct that will come tomorrow morning before work! I love the Acai Bowls and Juice and Raw Food though so maybe only on Bar Method days will I get it since that is 3 times during the work week. It's expensive but it is so delicious, filling and healthy.

I have a focus group tonight after work so I brought a cookies and cream quest bar to snack home before I go home. There is a citibike dock outside of the location I will be at tonight so I plan to bike home!

Have a great day everyone!

XO

A Successful Week Begins With Meal Prep

Meal prepping takes time, energy and patience. But prepping for a few days at a time can mean the difference between staying on track or being tempted by sugary, gluten, high carb foods that surround us every day. Prepping means an effortless few days of knowing exactly what you are eating and how much. This doesn't mean you have to always eat that meal on that exact day because we all know things come up and plans change, but having a pre-portioned, gluten-free, clean meal prepared helps us stay focused and determined. With a meal in the fridge at work, we can still take part in the group lunch and bring our own rather then give in to the cheesy goodness of pizza or sandwiches or chinese food. I try to meal prep 2-3 meals at a time - this prevents salads from getting soggy and allows me the choice to treat myself 1-2 days a week.

After breakfast, Ryan and I went to Trader Joe's. We stuck to the perimeter of the store and didn't buy any frozen foods. Our cart was a rainbow of fresh produce for juicing and salads and we picked up healthy nuts. Ryan wants to start making oatmeal for breakfast so he isn't eating eggs and bacon everyday. Oatmeal is a great filling, delicious, warm meal and topping it with berries and walnuts/slivered almonds adds healthy omega-3 fats to the meal. Trader Joe's has a gluten-free, wheat-free bag of rolled oats. On the back of the bag is a recipe for gluten-free oatmeal pancakes that we might make for dessert one night this week!

When we got home with all of our fresh groceries, I decided to meal prep breakfast for the week and 2 lunches. Breakfast is my hardest meal all week because I am not home 4 mornings a week. My mornings begin at 5am with a spark and a glass of water. By 6:30am I am working out at Bar Method and by 8:30am I am headed to the office for breakfast. Meal replacement shakes have a lot of sugar and only keep me full for 2 hours. I tend to over eat when I have a meal replacement shake. And while Ryan is home juicing and eating oatmeal, I am at the office with very limited options since I can't cook. Quest bars are great because they have 20g of protein which helps my muscles heal after I work out, but protein bars are not great to eat every day! I was talking to my friend Victoria who has adopted a Paleo lifestyle. I asked what her breakfast consists of and she says she meal preps with crockpot oatmeal which can be stored and egg cups! I always prep lunch and never thought to prep breakfast so today I created a new habit.

I made scrambled egg with spinach and onion cups and packaged them up to bring to work with me tomorrow and have in the fridge for the week! They were extremely easy to prep and I hope they taste just as good as they look!

Scrambled Egg Cups
Servings: 2 Cups, makes 12 cups
Weight Watchers Points: 1

4 eggs
3/4 cup All Whites 100% Liquid Egg Whites
1 cup spinach, chopped
1/4 cup onion
salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

3. Line a muffin tin with cupcake/muffin liners or spray tin with oil.

4. Spoon egg and vegetable mixture evenly into muffin tin

5. Cook for 20 minutes until tops of cups begin to brown

6. Remove from oven and let cool before eating. Store in container in fridge for future meals!

Lunch was easy to prep. I made a grilled chicken salad cucmber, tomato, broccoli slaw, mesclun, Trader Joe's grilled chicken 2 oz: 2 points) with a side of red pepper hummus (2 tbsp: 2 points) and celery/carrots. I bought Trader Joe's Cilantro salad dressing for the salad (2 tbsp: 1 point)

I was so happy to have bought only fresh groceries. In the past, over half of what I purchased was frozen meals, but we are learning to buy fresh meats, fresh produce and nuts and plan our meals ahead of time so that we shop from a grocery list that is created from recipes. I love looking recipes up online and making them my own and Well Fed 2 has been a great addition to our cookbook collection. Victoria also recommended Against the Grain and I have already ordered it on Amazon today! I love having a friend to share recipes, struggles and successes with. Victoria and I met in college but have not seen each other since graduation 5 years ago. It is amazing to connect now over our similar lifestyles and be able to talk about food we love and how amazing we feel having adopted a gluten-free, clean eating lifestyle. Her transformations have been incredible and I love seeing the changes in other people, including Ryan. Eating clean is so easy and Ryan and I have never felt better! I have been following Victoria's story on her blog

Ryan and I are headed back out to buy fresh scallops and bacon to make a warm scallop and spinach, bacon salad for dinner tonight!

XO

Weekday Family Breakfast

Well I did it, I slept in until 6am. Now I know what you're thinking - that's sleeping in? Well it is when my alarm usually goes off before 5am. I was sore this morning, I was doing cobra stretch and oblique stretches in bed before I could even think to roll out of it. I guess a night class can help change my body along with my usual morning classes. It is important to change your workout routine so that you constantly surprise your muscles and they don't get bored and used to the routine. This also means changing what time of day you work out. During the holiday vacation I took late morning bar classes and I found them more challenging than my usual 6:30am class. This is because my body was not used to working out at this hour and my muscles were fatiguing faster. So my usual Bar Method schedule is now:

Monday: 6:30am
Tuesday: 7:30am
Wednesday: 6:00pm
Thursday: Off (or 6:00pm
Friday: 6:30am (or 7:00am)
Saturday: 8:30am
Sunday Off (or 8:30am)

It is good to have some variation and be able to have a few mornings to sleep in and I loved eating breakfast with Ryan and Haley.

Today we made an extra large fresh orange juice to share. He had scrambled eggs with bacon (no bread) and I had an egg white omelet with kale and tomato. I was planning to have my favorite egg white and oatmeal pancake but I wanted to keep my daily points low early in the morning and since I was having a juice, I had a vegetable egg white omelet instead. Fruit and vegetables are only 0 WW points when eaten whole but once you change their original state by cooking or juicing them, they count as points. And fruit has a lot of sugar so it raises the points for a juice very quickly. I prefer my juices to have 1 piece of fruit for every 2 vegetables, but Ryan has juiced everything in our fridge and we used the last of our produce from Sunday's groceries.

Ryan and Leslie's Morning Juice
Servings: 2
Weight Watchers Points per serving: 4

1/2 cup Kale
2 oranges
1 apple
2 beets
2 carrots
2 apricots

Kale and Tomato Egg White Omelet
Servings: 1
Weight Watchers Points: 2

1/2 cup All Whites 100% Liquid Egg Whites
1/2 cup kale
1/2 plum tomato

I topped the finished omelet with flax seeds for added omega-3 benefits and enjoyed with a side of sliced banana.

I am not used to eating so early (7:30am) so I was worried I would be hungrier sooner for lunch than my usual 1:00pm timing, but I am still full and satisfied from the juice and omelet. I was going to surprise Ryan with Almond Flour pancakes for breakfast this morning but he wanted to stick to a healthier, more protein filled weekday breakfast and save the pancakes for this weekend. Again, loss of words but I am so happy. I am going out with friends for sushi for lunch today and can't wait!

Tomorrow is my last day on the Advocare 10-Day cleanse and then I go back to taking the MNS Trim line products. I feel like the cleanse was a great way to start the new year. It helped me get back on track with eating gluten free and with eating clean. I will take measurements tomorrow and compare to January 1. I am going to wait to weigh myself until mid-January - as a Weight Watchers Lifetime Member I have to weigh in once a month and be within 2 pounds of my goal weight. When we got back from Italy on November 11th, I had gained 6 pounds and had to drop 4 to be within my range. It was a hard 2 weeks but I managed to drop the 4 pounds by December 23rd - right in time for the Holiday season. I want to give my body a break from the holidays and be able to process this new diet of gluten free and clean eating and weigh in at the end of the month. Again, I'm less worried about the number on the scale now but in order to receive Weight Watchers tracking and membership for free, I do have to hop on the scale at least once a month. But since doing this cleanse and changing my eating habits, my clothes are fitting much better and I feel more confident when I look at my body. I don't need the numbers to define how I should feel. My size 2 pants still fit and I feel good wearing them. I just hope to be able to improve my activity as the weather warms up and balance my good eating habits with good workout and activity habits. And now that I have a partner in the kitchen who eats clean and is starting to measure his serving sizes, maybe I will also have a partner to remain active with. Ryan and I love taking evening walks together and he is loving taking monthly Bar Method classes - maybe he'll even join me for a 6:30am class one day soon!!

My coworker tried the Nibblr snack Apple of my Pie which I gave her since it contains wheat. She said it was absolutely delicious and wants to buy more! I love having the delivery of these healthy snacks to my office. Even if they just start stockpiling in drawer, it is great to know that I can always reach for a healthy pre-portioned snack. And I love being able to share these snacks with other people!

Have a great day!

XO

Deep Freeze!

I woke up this morning and it was still a real feel of -4. The deep freeze is keeping me from wanting to get out of bed! I wanted to stay curled up in my warm blanket and not face the outdoors! But after hitting snooze and realizing I would miss the local 4 train that would get me to SoHo on time, I scrambled out of bed and started my day. I threw on my lululemon pants with leg warmers and bar socks and a sweatshirt and grabbed my watermelon spark, my lunch from the fridge and bundled up in 2 jackets, scarf and gloves and hurried out the door. I got to Boro Hall with 2 minutes until the train and stood on the platform freezing my shaking glutes off! At 5am when the train pulled up, I was surprised to find a seat and be able to read my book - I am loving "The Art of Racing in the Rain" and cannot put the book down!. You would think this early in the morning I would always have a seat, but no matter what time of day, the 4 train is always unbelievably packed. I am usually pushed again the door or standing in the middle of the car, too short to reach the overhead bar to keep me balanced. I find myself bending my knees, tucking my seat, sucking in my abs and holding myself in this position which surprisingly keeps me balanced through the entire train ride. It's also a really great extra workout! I got off at Spring and pulled my hood over my head and ventured towards the Bar Method studio. The wind was hitting my head and giving me such a headache and I could barely feel my toes even though they were stuffed into my boots with 2 pairs of bar socks and leg warmers, making my shoe a size too small. Is it sad that I try shoes on with my bar socks and usually have to go up 1/2 a size than normal! Does anyone else do that? I only own bar socks so I have to make sure my shoes fit with them on!

The studio was warm and I started to forget about the deep freeze outside. I love the mornings that I spend with the instructors and clients. Even though we are all complaining about the cold weather, it's still a great start to my morning. I love waking up and feeling part of a community and enjoying the work out that I do.

Ryan made a fresh orange juice this morning and had a side of bacon, egg and a gluten free english muffin. He has noticed such a change in his hunger and need for food since starting to juice and eat clean. Last night he said he can totally see how people can juice for a few days at a time and claim to not be hungry. He always looked at me sideways when I said I was juicing for 24 hours as if to say 'how could you go without food for a day!' But it is possible and sometimes it is worth it to give your body a break from chewing, digesting and the process of eating. It is hard for me during the week to make juices at home since I leave at 4:45am and I am actually jealous of Ryan's breakfasts now that they aren't loaded down with unnecessary carbs. Juice Generation has a great selection of cold, fresh pressed juices and I try to pick one up from time to time as a meal replacement (Hail to Kale, Daily Detox and Very Veggie are my favorite and so easy to recreate at home). They also have delicious raw food entrees that can be eaten alone or combined to create a raw cleanse with the juice. If you haven't already, try the Cashew Cheese Ravioli, it is mouthwatering good. He also said that he only had 1 piece of bacon, 1 egg and half of the english muffin because he wasn't as hungry and didn't need the food as much as he thought he did. This is such a difference from Monday when he had 2 scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of bacon and the whole english muffin and even a bigger difference from last week when he had a bagel, cereal, muffin and yogurt! What he has accomplished and the gift he is giving himself and his body by making such a wonderful lifestyle change is truly unbelievable and amazing. He has become my partner in life and we are finally working together to improve ourselves and our life together! And from the looks of it, Haley is even being tempted by Ryan's orange juice! I can't wait for tomorrow morning when I can sleep in and have breakfast with them. I am craving my egg white and oatmeal pancake!

At work, I had a nibblr delivery. Nibblr is a personal box of pre-portioned, healthy snacks that can be delivered weekly or monthly. The snacks come 4 to a box and contain high quality ingredients that are great to snack on while on the go or at your desk all day. Some ingredients are figs, coco nibs, almonds, wasabi, dried fruit, and other fun tasty things!! The names of each snack are also fun like "Autumn Crisps, Coco's First Date, Ale House Blend, and Copa Cabana-Rama." I love having these snacks in my desk for when I get a salty or sweet craving and I know that since they are pre-portioned, I can't overeat. Nuts are really healthy but contain fat (good for you fat, so don't be afraid to eat them), but it is important to stick to a serving size to keep the snack healthy. I had to give away one of my Nibblr snacks "Apple of my Pie" because on the back it listed that it contained wheat. Didn't want to tempt myself with yummy cinnamon apple but I saved "Mediterranean Mix, Coco's First Date and Wasabilove" for another day! And the nutrition facts are listed on each pack, so I have already figured out the WW points and labeled each snack! At only 3-4 points per snack, they are the perfect addition to a healthy meal.

I also received an amazing text from my brother this morning that got me really excited. He said that since Sunday mornings egg white and oatmeal pancake that we made together, his energy his higher, he's working out more and he wants to eat healthier. He had tilapia with mashed parsnips last night and has asked me for more healthy breakfast and snack ideas!

I am so impressed with him! He has always had a great workout ethic and knows to eat proteins in order to keep his muscles and body bulked and toned. But sometimes people need help understanding nutrition and how it leads to healthy eating habits and even better workouts. When your mind and body are working together, you will have increased energy, increased muscle definition, a clearer mind, and be more focused. Ryan even is noticing a change and wants to get on a better workout routine since eating better. He usually hates going to the gym late at night after work/dinner because it's crowded but he said he is going to start going no matter what time it is, and would even consider a few early morning workouts before breakfast. He also signed up for his 3rd Bar Method class with Amanda Suchy on January 20th. It's exciting to have my whole family involved in my healthy journey and make it a lifestyle change for everyone. It will certainly make family dinners and holidays easier if we are all focused on clean / gluten free eating!

Today's lunch is another spinach, kale, grilled chicken and nut salad. Now that we have a lot of produce in the fridge, it is easier to bring healthier meal options for lunch and not be forced to buy something. Ryan doesn't even have a loaf of bread hiding on a shelf and he hasn't had a sandwich for lunch this week. He is enjoying his salads and we are both feeling excited go to grocery shopping on Sunday!

I want to try one of Ryan's gluten free brownies that he made last night so I am saving my WW points to indulge in that. I might heat up a garden lites spinach souffle at 7:30pm when I get home! I have found that I am not as hungry throughout the day now that I am incorporating nuts (healthy fats) and eating clean and gluten free. My energy is still high but I am not listening to my rumbling stomach as much. I am more focused on eating small meals every 3-4 hours to sustain my energy and feelings of being full. I love that my mind isn't always focused on my next meal in a negative way but in a positive way because I am excited to eat and am no longer seeing food as the enemy that will make me fat and cause my to look at my body negatively. I actually feel better this week than I have in a long time. I noticed a flatter stomach, toned arms and legs and clearer skin. I am less worried about the number on a scale and more how my clothes fit. It's liberating!!

Stay warm again today!

XO

Sunday Funday

I love Sunday. It's a fresh start to my week. It's when my weight watchers weekly points restart so I have a full 26 daily points and a new 49 extra weekly points. It's when mentally I tell myself that I am starting over, that whatever bad habits I had last week are in the past and this is a new week.

My week ended with a delicious family dinner - and I mean the whole family because Haley tried to steal Ryan's fish right off of his plate. She attacked him without any teeth or nails and fought him for that delicious dinner. And then she sulked off and rolled onto her back and looked really cute and who can say no to her!

Dinner was sautéed lemon pepper swordfish steaks, curry rice pilaf and carrots/cauliflower medley. 

Lemon Pepper Swordfish Steak

Servings: 2

* 2 swordfish steaks, 5-6 oz. each

* 2 tsp coconut oil

* salt and (lemon) pepper to taste

1) Season swordfish on both sides with salt and lemon pepper. Do not use a fork to flip the fish as it will cause it to loose juice and flavor. 

2) Heat pan over medium heat until hot. Add 2 tsp. of coconut oil

* coconut oil will be solid in the jar. Scrape a tsp and let it melt in the hot pan. 

* do not use too much oil with swordfish as it absorbs the oil very quickly while cooking. 

3) When the pan is hot, place swordfish steaks into pan. You will know the pan is hot enough when the oil sizzles when you add the fish. 

4). Cook for 4 minutes and flip. Again, use a pancake spatula to flip the fish and not a fork as all the juices will come out!

5) Cook for 3-4 more minutes and serve hot. 

*swordfish can easily over cook and will become very tough and not as good to eat.

We had Near East Rice Pilaf, curry as a side and Birdseye steamfresh cauliflower and carrot medley. The fish was perfectly cooked with the juices sweet and lemony. The curry flavor of the rice added some great spices to the plate and even though the plate looked like all yellow foods and lacked anything green, Ryan and I both enjoyed the dinner!

We finished eating and watched more episodes of Weeds and ate a big bowl of microwaveable light butter popcorn topped with Trader Joe Antioxidant Trek Mix (almond, cashew, cranberries), goji berries and chocolate covered pomegranates! The salty sweet combo was so satisfying!

Unfortunately, my stomach craved more a few hours later and of course since it was Saturday and I had extra weekly points left, I mentally allowed myself to have another dessert. I didn't actually need it, but the lack of activity this week has led me to over eat a bit. My weakness is late night cravings. Especially when Ryan is showering, I sneak a few bites of anything I can get, usually cereal or rice cakes, and pretend that because no one saw me eat it, it doesn't count...but I am only hurting myself and my own body by doing this. If I snack it, I track it! So last nights snack was a plain rice cake with nutella. Not the worst thing to eat, and took care of my chocolate addiction!

Today was an early morning. I wanted to start my week off right so I made it to the 8:30am Bar Method class with Anna Trepanier. I love her Sunday morning class- it's early, today it was cloudy, grey, cold, and who wants to be up that early on the last day of the weekend, but Anna is so bubbly and energetic that she makes the class a lot of fun and her outgoing personality makes me forget how much pain I am in from all of the shaking (most of the time)! And today I was shaking so much. My muscles felt so tight from relaxing all week and I definitely noticed that I was less flexible than usual. It was a tough class but I always feel so much better after!

Sunday January 5, 8:30am w/Anna T.

Warm-up and Arms

Thigh
Seat
Abs
Back Dancing
Final stretch

I love the Bar Method SoHo studio. It has become my second home. I love all the staff and clients and feel like we are a family. We share in birthdays, holidays, weddings, births... I crave class and the social aspect of being at the studio. I love waking up and being somewhere early in the morning that I love with friends and people I care about. I love all of our conversations or sometimes just sitting in the studio or in the lobby in silence waiting for class to start. We all share a common love for the workout and the energy at the studio is addictive. I went to the Boston studio 2 years ago when we were at Ryan's parents for Christmas. It isn't just SoHo, I felt love at a different studio too. It was like going to a home away from home! 

I love sharing my love for bar with as many people as I can because it has changed my life. The workout has changed my body and the community has changed my mind! A friend from college said she was taking her first bar class today because I have inspired her. It felt so good to know that I was helping people positively! I want to help people and effect people in a wonderful way! I really hope she loves the class she takes. I don't know what studio she is going to but barre classes have a lot of similarities and I hope she feels a great burn and the bar method shake! That shake lets you know you are deep in the muscle and that you are pushing your body to its limits and changing the shape of your muscles. You are warming your muscles and then stretching them to elongate and tone your body! 

I tried a pure barre class once but I didn't feel the same way I do with bar method. The teacher didn't take the time to introduce herself or know everyone's name. I didn't feel like she went around and adjusted me and fixed my position. I felt like I was going to hurt myself because I was not in the position correctly but she didn't take the time to adjust me. The class was fast and didn't focus on the stretching as much which is so essential to changing your body! At bar method, the teachers know every students name and even though it's weird to be called out in a room full of 25 other people, you feel acknowledged and present in the class. You are part of the community. And the teachers spend time adjusting students hands on so that we don't hurt ourselves. They're training is long and hard and it shows in their work and the time they take to understand how each exercise works different parts of our bodies!

After breakfast I walked to my parents apartment to see my brother. I stopped to pick up oats and egg whites and made us an egg white and oats pancake. I added chocolate protein powder to his because he said he was headed out to the gym soon. It was fun to spend some time alone with my brother and eat breakfast. He was surprised at how good breakfast was and how easy!

Ryan texted me that for breakfast he made an orange and apple juice! I was so happy to hear that he was juicing even without me home making him do it!! After you "detox" and clear the junk out of your system, your body starts craving real food. The artificial sugars and carbs make us sick. They are not nutritional so even though they satisfy us in the moment, they do nothing for our bodies so we tend to over eat because we don't receive enough fiber and protein to stay full for a long period of time. Ryan's body is getting rid of gluten and is ready for real fruits and more fiber. He had an udi's blueberry muffin too and 1 cup of apple chex gluten free cereal to go with his juice (he actually measured the cup which he never does- he is starting to understand the importance of reading and understanding nutrition labels)!

After breakfast I carefully made my way home to help Ryan with the laundry - the streets are so icy I was sliding everywhere. It's a workout all on its own just not to slip and fall!

Lunch was perfect. Ryan wanted another juice so we juiced kale, apple, celery, cucumber, grapes, beet and pineapple. It was so sweet and was a great green juice that we will absolutely be making more often. We also made tuna salad with mustard (instead of mayo), balsamic vinegar, egg whites and Trader Joe's healthy chopped 8 vegetables (broccoli, peppers, radish, celery...). Sometimes it is worth paying for the convenience of having the vegetables pre-chopped. If it saves me time I am more likely to eat healthy!  The tuna salad was 1 point (2 oz. premium albacore tuna in water) with 7 back to nature gluten free white cheddar crackers (1 point), baby carrots and the juice (4 points). I sometimes like to add avocado to my tuna in place of mayo. 

Ryan wanted to buy more fruit for morning juices so we headed back out to Trader Joe's. I hope there is enough room in our fridge for all of these healthy foods! I am so happy though that he wants to eat better and better his health that I will help him any way I can!

We also stopped at key foods while we were out and I was so surprised to see a Gluten free shelf in the middle of the store! I was pleasantly surprised because it made shopping a bit easier but it was also sad to see how few items there were in comparison to the rest of the store. I just hope it expands and doesn't get smaller as the year goes on and the fad diet of going gluten free dies down as everyone forgets their New Years resolutions. It's a lifestyle change, not a diet and it takes time, effort and determination!

Tonights dinner is chicken piccata made with almond meal instead of flour!

Ryan prepped the salads. I admit to be a control freak in the kitchen because I like to measure everything, but it's fun to have Ryan in the kitchen with me and helping cook. Salads are also 0 points so he can't mess it up ;)

Gluten Free Chicken Piccata

Servings: 4

Weight Watchers Points: 7

1 pound chicken breasts

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1/2 cup Swanson's Chicken Broth (not all broth is gluten free so check before you buy)

1/4 cup almond meal

1/4 cup drained capers

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

1) Wrap the chicken breast in saran wrap and pound it thin. You want it to be about  1/4 inch thick and make sure it is pounded evenly to ensure even cooking. Repeat with all pieces. 

2) Spread 1/4 cup almond meal on a plate. Season with salt and pepper and mix. If you prefer you can season each piece of chicken separately. 

3) One piece at a time, dredge one side of the chicken in the almond meal. Flip and coat the other side. Repeat with all pieces. 

4) Heat pan over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp olive oil until oil is sizzling and hot

5) Add chicken to the pan and cook for 4 minutes on the first side. Flip and cook for another 4 minutes. You don't want to over cook chicken because it will taste rubbery!

6) Remove chicken from the pan and place on a plate. You can cover to keep them warm, but they will be returned to the pan to heat once more before serving. 

7) Add 1 tbsp butter to the pan and let it melt.  Don't let it brown because you don't want it to burn.

8) Add 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/4 cup capers and the lemon juice to the pan. 

9) Stir the liquid and be sure to scrape any brown bits from the side of the pan. Let it simmer until the liquid reduces to about half.

10) Add the chicken back to the pan and heat on each side for an additional minute. 

Serve chicken and drizzle sauce over each piece. 

*we did not have capers so they were left out of our dish tonight. 

Ryan said dinner was so delicious and he can't wait to have it again. He also said it was such an easy dinner to make!! We had left over curry rice that we served as a side and Ryan's salad rounded out a perfect Sunday night dinner. Haley didn't fight us for it this time but we still gave her a piece! Now she's on our bed surrounding herself with all of our clean clothes. So when I show up to bar tomorrow morning covered in white fur, you will all know why!

Today's activity was a success. I walked a lot this morning to Bar Method and then to my parents. I get off the train at Chambers street which is 3 subway stops away from Bar Method and a good 15 minute walk. It's good to warm up before my exercise and get extra activity in - especially when it's been so cold and I didn't know what else we would be doing today. I walked from bar to my parents apartment which was another 30 minutes because I had to walk so slow with the icy streets. And with all of the grocery shopping we did today, my fitbit calculated 14,321 steps and my activity link said I got an extra 3 activity points. My daily activity points are 2 so today is an improvement over the past few days. We got out of the house and moved a lot and I feel so much better!

Ryan is watching the Green Bay Packers game tonight so I am going to enjoy some mindless reality TV and get to bed early for my 5:15am Bar Method wake up call. 

Goodnight!