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!
* 2 swordfish steaks, 5-6 oz. each
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.
