Friends Don't Let Friends leave Bar Method Hungry!

This morning was very hard to get out of bed and get to Bar Method. The temperature dropped 30 degrees over night and the polar vortex and winds of 20mph returned! But I was determined to go because this weekend is filled with eating and I don't want to regret anything!

Lara taught the 6:15am class and we did kneeling seat work which, although on the floor, is really difficult! I was shaking and trying to hold my tuck and not sink into my non-working leg and breath and I think I got through it okay.

My morning was made even better by a great friend! We walked to Juice Generation together and shared a wonderful conversation and ordered Acai Bowls. There's something about sharing stories and a love for good food that made my morning so much brighter and warmer.

My friends at Bar Method are truly inspirational women. Most are hard working, some are moms, some are older, others are younger, but they are inspiring. They motivate me to work hard, to look good, to feel good and they always keep a smile on my face, even when my legs are shaking and I am cursing the fact that thigh work is going longer than 6 minutes or we added a zinger to seat work. These ladies are my Bar Stars!

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

Bacon Wrapped Steak

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted, apologies for my absence. Ryan and I have been consumed with moving and packing and we have barely had a home cooked meal at all this week. We go to work, come home, pack and go to bed in an apartment filled with cardboard boxes. I go to Bar Method in the morning so that I can stretch and hopefully get my muscles to stop hurting from all of the packing and lifting and sorting and cleaning! It's a crazy mess and I just cannot wait to be officially moved this weekend! I have been getting a steady 3 Activity Points per day between morning Bar Method classes and spending the evenings packing! I feel good this week - I feel healthy, strong and my clothes are fitting, I am not over eating. I am happy! And that is the best part! I feel good. I have a positive attitude and everything else is falling into place around me!

The last home cooked meal we made last weekend was delicious though and I have been meaning to share the recipe. It is a quick, easy, delicious one that is sure to please everybody!

Bacon Wrapped Steak
Servings: 2
Weight Watchers Points: 10

1 pound Premium Black Angus Beef Sirloin Filet (or any steak/meat of your choosing)
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 slices of bacon

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2. Salt and pepper both sides of steak.

3. Wrap each steak with a slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick

4. Heat coconut oil in a pan over medium heat.

5. Add steak and sear on both sides, 1 minute per side.

6. Transfer steak to a baking sheet and place in the oven for 10 minutes for medium rare.

7. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes

Serve and enjoy!

We had this with a side of broccoli florets and Ore-Ida steak fries (gluten free)!

Because all of our food and cooking supplies are now boxed up, I have been eating breakfast and lunch out which is getting to be expensive, but I have been enjoying it. Breakfast has been a rotation of Acai Bowls from Juice Generation. I have switch between Amazing Green (9 WW points), Almond Butter Bliss (12 WW points) and Coco Acai (11 WW Points)! They have all been extremely delicious and filling. Sometimes I don't even realize it's lunch time when I check the clock at 1:30pm. I am full, but not stuffed and I feel light and good after eating them! I might have to budget these in a couple times per week even after the move! The points values are high for the bowls (a lot higher than my usual 4-6 WW points I allocate for breakfast), but they are keeping me full longer and I have found myself not snacking throughout the day. Even with the higher WW points, I am still sticking to my daily 26 points and not going over! It's a different feeling to be full and satisfied by a meal and not hungry all the time.

For lunch I have been sticking with salads and have been surprised by Subway chopped salads. The Double Stuffed chicken salad (5 WW points) is filled with all of the veggies they have to offer, 2 pieces of chicken and a little olive oil (though it doesn't really need the dressing) and it is clean, light, simple and really good. The oven roasted chicken salad is only 3 WW points, but the double stuffed is a lot more filling! I have also been enjoy lemon chia seed water which is really great for a satisfying beverage and the chia seeds help keep you full for a long time! The seeds expand in the water and become like a jelly paste and expand in your stomach to trick you to think you're really full! I have been having this at night since we don't have much at home for dinner besides Garden Lite Souffles and Quest Bars. I love the refreshing taste!! It is just 1 tbsp of chia seeds and a slice of lemon (1 WW point).

I have also spent this week listening to The Institute for the Psychology of Eating Online Future of Nutrition Conference. Its a 5 day podcast with experts in the field of health, wellness, nutrition and fitness. My favorite podcasts have been with David Perlmutter (author of Grain Brain), and Mark Hyman. I will share some of their insights in a separate post. I have learned so much and am excited to be on a path of self wellness that is supported by experts and becoming more popular and less of a fad or trend.

I hope everyone has stayed warm this week despite freezing temperatures. Surprisingly, we are going to have a heat wave of 40 degrees this weekend so I hope everyone has a fun Super Bowl weekend!!!

XO

Amazing Green Acai Bowl

This mornings bar classed kicked my butt! I didn't go to class last night so I knew I had to get up, bundle up and get to the studio no matter what! Amanda K. had me shaking during warm-ups so I knew it was going to be a good class. She pushed me deeper, made sure my form was perfect and got me so far into my stretches! The exercises themselves were great, but today, the stretches felt even better. In this cold weather, when all I do all day is sit at a desk and sit in my house, I needed to stretch. And after not going to class for 2 days (and only going Sunday and Tuesday this week), I wasn't as flexible as normal and Amanda helping to push my legs father apart during the final stretch is something I really needed (even though in my head I was screaming in pain).

Last night, Ryan and I had breakfast for dinner! Bacon and egg white and oatmeal pancakes. We both just wanted a warm and simple meal and this heat the spot. However, I followed this up with cereal and some dessert, so not my best eating moments. I was still full this morning from my late night snacking.

After class I headed to Juice Generation to get an Amazing Green Acai Bowl (9 WW Points) for breakfast and Coconut Cerviche (2 WW Points) and Daily Detox Juice (3 WW Points) for lunch. I just wanted clean, light and good foods today.

The bowl included acai, banana, spinach, kale, almond milk, hemp seeds and hemp granola. All of the Acai bowls are gluten free (though the hemp granola is not certified gluten free because the oats are made in a facility with other gluten products) and they are so filling and delicious. Don't let the green color turn you off; this bowl is sweet, crunchy and healthy!! The spinach and kale are not bitter like you would think, and it's like eating a green juice with a spoon. I love the crunch of the granola too. The green bowl is the lowers in WW points of all the bowls (PB Acai has 14) and I prefer to keep my points lower in the morning just so I can have a larger dinner or room to snack during the day, but the bowl keeps me full for a long time and I find myself not as hungry in the early afternoon so I can eat lunch later. I want to try Coco Acai next :)

Countdown to our move is officially 1 week and I could not be more ready - I am excited for a new start and ready to decorate and feel at home in a new place! I am overwhelmed with excitement and joy and happiness!!!

Tomorrow I have a busy day with bar method and packing and hopefully going to an LIU Brooklyn basketball game. I want to make a filet mignon wrapped in bacon for dinner too so let's see if I can get it all done!

Stay warm everyone - temperatures are still dropping and I keep piling on the layers! Welcome to the days of stretchy pants, leg warmers, bar socks and sweaters!!

XO

Juice Generation: Raw Cleanse

Today I left my 7am Bar Method class feeling great after a really hard workout - Fold-Over Friday kicked my butt! Thank you Danielle...but after Wednesday's big meal with my family, I did not eat very well yesterday. I am eating a lot of fruits when I am "hungry" and the sugar is making me crave even more sugar. I have not cooked a meal at home in a few days either and so I am snacking a lot and having late night cravings. All of these bad habits have left me feeling full, bloated and uncomfortable.

So today I am doing a raw cleanse through Juice Generation. The cleanse involved 3 juices, 1 entree, 1 snack, 1 dessert. By eating/drinking every 2 hours, I feel full but not ravenous and I am cleaning my body of toxins and filling it with fresh vegetables, juice and raw food. My menu is below! I love all of the drinks at juice generation and the raw food is delicious. I usually eat the Cashew Ravioli for lunch on its own so today I decided to try a new entree! The juices are cold pressed which means not a lot of heat is used in the juicing process - this ensures that you are getting the most juice possible from the fruits and vegetables and also most of the nutrients remain intact.

It is expensive though and now that Ryan and I have a full fridge of juicing vegetables and fruits, I would rather cleanse with fresh juice made at home, but this cleanse was a last minute decision and one I really enjoy doing. I have tried Organic Avenue and find their juices intolerable. They are bitter and hard to finish. I find myself angry for spending so much money on a juice I barely finish. But the juices at Juice Generation are sweet, unique, colorful and keep me full all day without any headaches or stomach pains. I choose to incorporate raw food into my cleanse because I don't like 6 juices in a day - I feel great for 24 ours but wake up feeling weak and hungry. The next day, I usually over eat to compensate for the lack of eating I did during the cleanse. By incorporating food into my cleanse, I keep myself full and satisfied. I also love ending the day with a sweet chia, fruit dessert! I have made chia pudding at home before (I will do that this weekend and post the recipe) and it is such a filling dessert and with a little chocolate added to it, my sweet tooth is always satisfied! If I were to do a second day of cleanse, it would be very easy to do a full juice cleanse after having done a raw cleanse because my body has been cleared of toxins and has already experienced meals being replaced with juice.

Juice #1 (9am): Hail to the Kale (Kale, Watermelon, Apple, Lemon)

Juice #2 (11am): Daily Detox (Carrot, Cucumber, Lemon, Apple, Ginger)

Entree (1pm): Young Coconut Pad Thai (Cocount, Pepper, Carrot, Cabbage, Onion, Scallion, Jalapeno, Sesame Seeds, Cilantro, Lime, Almond Butter, Ginger, Wheat-free Tamari, Raw Agave, Garlic, Cayenne, Almonds, Chili Flakes)

Juice #3 (3pm): Very Veggie (Apple, Beet, Carrot, Lemon, Spinach, Tumeric)

Snack (5pm): Zucchini Linguine (Zucchini, Sun-dried-Tomato, Parsley, Oregano, Thyme, Garlic, Onion, Olive Oil, Lemon, Raw Agave, Chili Flakes, Tomato, Basil, Hemp Seeds, Pine Nuts)

Dessert (6pm): Seasonal Fruit Tart (Thai Coconut, Almonds, Cashews, Dates, Raw Agave, Vanilla Bean, Lemon, Sea Salt, Strawberries, Blueberries)

Hail to Kale is green and sweet. The watermelon perfectly compliments the bitterness of kale. I could drink this all day, everyday. It is my favorite! It is great starting the day with a light green juice. It is not thick so I always have to remind myself to sip it slowly over the course of 1-2 hours and supplement it with water to keep me fuller longer.

Daily Detox is orange and a bit thicker and has a tangier taste (from the carrots and ginger). It is more filling than the first juice, so it really helps get through the second hour of juicing before having the entree (or snack if you aren't that hungry by lunch time). Keep drinking water and you will be fine for a couple of hours!

Very Veggie is a deep beautiful red (beets) and is the thickest of all the juice. I like to drink this one in the afternoon because by 3pm, that's when I begin grazing and get my sugar rush and crash. 3pm is when the work day has slowed, I realize I won't be eating again until I get home and my body panics and gets very hungry, even if I know I am not. The thickness and heaviness of the apples, beets and carrots make this drink filling and satisfying. The added benefit of turmeric (an antioxidant to support immune health, clear skin, healthy blood flow, and joint health) and the iron from the spinach make this a juice I feel really good to be drinking. I feel like I am feeding my body everything it needs without any of the chemicals or processed foods!

I purchased the Juice Generation recipe book so that Ryan and I can make all of these juices at home as well as some of the raw foods like Acai bowls! I love the way eating and drinking clean and fresh foods makes me feel. I hate feeling like I have given up on my body because then my mind is slower, my focus is off and I feel less determined to get back on track. One day of bad eating should feel indulgent, but it should not be rewarded with a second day of bad eating. Get back on track and reward yourself by treating your body right.