Crockpot chicken, Mellow Mushroom

How was your weekend? Mine has been so sweet...I am definitely having the Sunday night blues (I don't wantttt to go to work tomorrow). Before I even get to the weekend, I just wanted to direct you to this awesome crock pot recipe for Chicken and Corn Chili. I made this earlier this week and Josh LOVED it.

Onto the weekend:

Friday: Taught Body Attack, went out to dinner at King Street Grille with Josh, Jenny (Josh's sister), and our friend Jeremy, movie at home

Saturday: Taught Body Step, went food shopping with Jenny, went to the beach with Josh, Jenny and Jeremy, cleaned up the house a bit, went to dinner at Mellow Mushroom in Mount Pleasant. We sat in their new outdoor area and listened to live music. The weather was perfect. We got almost the exact same things as last time. The menu:

Josh and his sis:

Jenny and I (excuse the semi wet hair):

Hummus App (toasty and delicious):

Create my own salad:

Jenny's Greek Salad:

Josh's pizza (pepperoni and artichoke):

Sunday: Got up and went for a 3.75 mile run with Jenny. We ran to the gym and then took Body Pump. It was an amazing workout! Did lots of house work and then ran out for a little shopping with Jenny. Tonight we had Esi's shrimp for dinner (delicious again!).

How was your weekend?

Congratulations to both Heather and Meghann on their races!!!!!!!!!!

Fiesta

Happy Friday!!!! Any fun weekend plans?

Josh's sister arrived last night and will be living with us for the month of June while she takes a class at a local college. We are SO thrilled she is here. To celebrate, we had a mini fiesta last night. Josh's friend Jeremy also joined us. I made Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies (I used smart balance, egg whites instead of eggs, and both baking soda and powder vs. just soda):

A peach and blackberry crumble:

Hummus and veggies, pretzels, crackers:

Turkey meatballs (1/2 lb lean ground turkey, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, 1/ cup parm cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic, 1 egg white, roll into balls throw in crock pot with sauce- cook) with garlic toast (Arnold's thins) for the boys:

And I made some black bean dip (for the veggies).

It was a yummy little fiesta!

Today is the usual work, then I teach Body Attack, and then we may go out somewhere for dinner. Hope you have a good one!!

Asian Turkey Meatballs, Weekly workouts

Love these short weeks- we're halfway through already!! Hope you're having a good one. Last night, I took this recipe for Asian Turkey Burgers and turned it into meatballs! I simply rolled the mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls and placed them on a sprayed baking sheet. I cooked them at 350 for approximately 20-25 minutes (make sure they're cooked through). I put the meatballs over a little pasta and steamed veggies topped with a little stir fry sauce and some sesame seeds (note: I was inspired to make the burger recipe into meatballs after seeing this post on Dishing up Delights).

A few of you asked me to talk a little bit more about my weekly workouts. I try to switch up my workouts because I think our bodies and minds get bored/are more likely to hit plateaus if we're always completing the same exercises. Here is a typical week of workouts:

Monday: Run ~ 6 miles, ab work (10-15 minutes), stretch
Tuesday: Teach 1 hour Body Attack class (cardio, upper & lower body conditioning, abs, stretch)
Wednesday: Take 1 hour Body Pump class (weights)
Thursdays: Lighter workout- shorter run or walk (or off if I'm dragging)
Friday: Teach 1 hour Body Attack class
Saturday: Teach 1 hour Body Step class (cardio, lower body conditioning, abs, stretch)
Sunday: Off

I think having a day or two off every week is important! I also think you should LISTEN to your body. PUSH yourself in your workouts, don't just go through the motions. BUT don't push through pain- either take it easier or take a day off. Drink lots of water and fuel your body with healthy foods :) Any questions? Hopefully this was helpful! Different things work for different people, so find what works for YOU!

Oatmeal Bread, Shrimpy Salad

Hello! First off, thank you for all your feedback on my blog!! I plan to do an "About me" post, focus on more fast/healthy recipes, and talk a little bit more about my workout routine in the next few posts.

How is your memorial day weekend going? Ours has been lovely so far. Friday, I taught Body Attack and then Josh and I went out to dinner at Crave. Saturday, I taught Body Step, went shopping with my mom, did some house work, and then Josh, Josh's friend Jeremy and I went out to a dinner/movie theater called Cinebarre. We saw Night at the Museum, which was super cute. I also enjoyed some chips and salsa at the theater which was heavenly :) Today, I took Body Pump, did tons of house work (silly rain- I wanted to go to the beach), and relaxed.

I have been doing some cooking/baking this weekend and wanted to share a few of my favorite meals. First, I made this easy oatmeal bread. I added 1/4 cup of raisins to the mix. Its a fairly simple and yummy bread.

I also made up a very yummy shrimpy salad tonight. I cooked up some shrimp (you can do them either in a frying pan with just a bit of oil or you can boil or steam them). I topped them with a little Cajun seasoning. For the salad, I mixed spinach, water chestnuts, walnuts, orange slices and the shrimp. As a dressing, I mixed together a little olive oil, lemon juice, and a sprinkling of pepper. Very yum:

And....as requested ;), here is the frankster, destroying our furniture:

Any big plans for memorial day? I'm still hoping it will somehow be sunny tomorrow and we can head to the beach. I also hope to get a run and some good food in (as always!)

Pulled Chicken

After I made Aggie's Pulled Pork(delicious), I knew I wanted to make pulled chicken. I wanted an EASY recipe, so I came up with the following-

Ingredients
3 frozen chicken breasts
1/2 bottle bbq sauce
1/4 cup hot sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions
Mix bbq sauce, hot sauce and brown sugar. Place frozen chicken breasts into crock pot and pour sauce on top. Cook on high for 3-4 hours (since you're cooking from frozen, you want to make sure you kill any bacteria). Remove chicken breasts to cutting board (chicken should be falling apart) and shred with two forks (or a fork and a knife).


Remove sauce to a separate bowl. Put shredded chicken back into crock pot. Add desired amount of sauce back in, stirring until pulled chicken has desired consistency (some people like it more saucy). Keep crock pot on low until you're ready to serve.


We had one of Josh's good friends over for dinner tonight, so I made Josh and his friend oven fries and pulled chicken sandwiches.

How is your week going? Mine has been busy but good! So far, week has gone like this:

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Monday: Work, workout (run 4 miles/practice new body attack tracks- 1/2 hour), clean house

Tuesday: Work, workout (taught Body Attack), laundry/iron, real housewives of NJ (loving it)

Wednesday: Workout (Body Pump), work, errands, ??

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I'm thinking about making some changes to the bloggy. Is there anything you want to see more of? Baking? Veggie dishes? Easy recipes? Weekly workout plans? Let me know ;)

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookins, Josh's Graduation

I cannot believe that is has been a week since I posted! I had a super busy week and weekend, so I apologize for my absence! This weekend, we took the long drive up and back to Maryland (17 hours in the car in a 36 hour period!) for Josh's MBA graduation from University of Maryland. Here are a few pics (sorry some of them are dark):

Inside Graduation-

The adorable graduate-

Congrats Josh! We got back last night and were totally exhausted. Today was spent playing catch up around the house, putting in a 6 hour work day :(, running 6 miles, and baking! I made these Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies from Erin Cooks , which taste like a combination of a cookie and a muffin (hence Cookins):

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used a little less)

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg (I used egg whites)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup oatmeal (not quick-cooking)

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

2 bananas, cut into 1/4 to1/3 inch pieces

Directions:

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper (I just did them on a non stick cookie sheet and removed them right after they came out of the oven)

In a small bowl, stir the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together, set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended, about 1 minute. The mixture may look slightly curdled. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated. Mix in the oatmeal. Mix in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Use a large spoon to mix in the banana pieces, mixing just until they are evenly distributed and some of the pieces are mashed but most are still visible, about 20 seconds.

Use a tablespoon to drop heaping spoonfuls of dough (about 3 level tablespoons each) onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies 3 inches apart. Note: I used a large scoop.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the edges are lightly browned and the tops look dry, about 18 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, than use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container, layered between sheets of wax paper, at room temperature for up to 3 days.

What did you do this weekend??

Polenta, Mother's Day, Cookies, Guac

Lots to cover in this post, so it will be mostly pictures...

First, I made Joy the Baker's Vanilla and Brown Sugar Breakfast Polenta yesterday for Josh- TOTALLY delicious (I subbed skim milk for the whole milk). Since Josh just had the one bowl, we have tons leftover and I plan to make Polenta Sticks later this week.

I wanted to show you guys a few pictures of my mother's day yesterday. I put together a bouquet of hydrangea and Bells of Ireland for my mom. Also included in the picture is the wrapped up carrot bread I made for her.

Josh and I took her, my Dad, and my Aunt out to a restaurant near their houses called Frank's Outback.

My parents:

Josh and I:

When I got back, I made up some cookies for Josh's lunches this week. I made Maria's AMAZING Oatmeal Cookies with Lime, Coconut, and White Chocolate. I made mine using key lime juice. They are seriously incredible:

One last note, the Peta's Vegan College Cookbook is on sale! To celebrate, I will be making a few recipes from the cookbook throughout the week. Last night, I tried their Unholy Guacamole on top of a salad. YUM!

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Restaurant Review: Morgan Creek Grill, Upper Deck, Isle of Palms, SC

Hope everyone is having a great Mother's Day! My day has gone a little something like this: went for a run, did some house cleaning, did a little baking, drove to meet my Mom, Dad, and Aunt for lunch with Josh, came home and cut Josh's hair/relaxed! I will post my Mother's Day/baking pics probably tomorrow, for now...a restaurant review!



Last night, Josh and I met our friends Jill and Chip out for some dinner at Morgan Creek Grill. We choose to eat in the less formal/bar setting upstairs. The restaurant has a BEAUTIFUL view of the water:

We ordered chips and salsa to share:

Josh got pulled pork:

And I got the Morgan Creek salad (my tummy was a little rocky and I wasn't super hungry):

My Review:

Mehhhhhhhhhh. While the view was gorgeous, the service was slow, and the food itself was just OK. The live music was wayyyyy too loud (even for a bar). I was a little disappointed by this trip and don't think we'll be returning to Morgan Creek.

Josh's Review:

View was solid, beers were cold and fresh, and the weather couldn't have been better. Unfortunately, their pulled pork was sub-par. I'm sure it wasn't there specialty, but I'd expect more out of a restaurant in South Carolina. I'd also like to note that the guy playing live music (keyboard) had a ridiculous hair cut.... if I can even call it a hair cut. He had the "I'm going bald but I have a ponytail so screw you" look. To his credit, at some point he must have had to go through a sweet mullet phase, so kudos Mr. "I play music no one has ever heard of on the keyboard" man.

Nice Saturday, Carrot Bread, Skinny Tina Bars

Hello! First off, I wanted to thank you all for your understanding/sweet comments on my last post. Second, I hope you're having a lovely weekend. It has been a very pleasant one around here so far!

Friday: Taught Body attack, made some Skinny Tina bars (with chocolate chips since Josh isn't a huge raisin fan), relaxed


Saturday: Taught Body Step, ran to Costco for some shopping, ate lunch from Pita Pit outside in Charleston


Made some carrot bread to bring to my mom tomorrow (note: if you use this recipe, the loaf took about an hour and 5 minutes cooking time for me):

Tonight, we had a lovely dinner out with our friends Jill and Chip. I will post a restaurant review tomorrow! Good night and Happy Early Mother's Day to all those awesome Mamas out there!

A side note...

Hey guys-

This isn't a real post, just a note :) I received a comment asking why I alter meals/don't always eat the same thing or as much as Josh does sooooo I wanted to clarify. First, I don't post everything I eat here (duhhh). I eat about 5-6 smaller meals a day while Josh usually eats 3-4 larger meals, so my dinners are usually smaller than Josh's (not to mention he is 6'2"-6'3" and I am 5'1"). Second, I don't eat as much meat as Josh, so usually my dinners will end up looking a little different. Third, if I eat something smaller like a salad for din din (like last night), I usually keep munching afterwards. For example, last night I had an apple with peanut butter after my salad. Just wanted to clarify!

Big S Farms/Calzones

Two more days until the weekend! Was your Wednesday good to you? Mine was VERY nice. I took Body Pump this morning, worked, then did a little shopping (although I didn't end up buying anything, it was fun to look!). When I got home, I found a lovely package filled with the salsas:



and sauces...

I won from a contest on Lucky Taste Buds! These products are from a wonderful company called Big S Farms. I was super excited to try these products, so tonight I used the Tennessee Lightning Habanero Hot Sauce:

in one of the two calzones I made for Josh. Big S describes this hot sauce as: "For the purist. A special blend of our red habanero varieties including scotch bonnets. Apple cider vinegar and a touch of salt make this sauce one of our favorites. It's getting hotter."

Tennessee Lightning Calzone:

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Ingredients:

1/2 cup pizza sauce

1 tsp Tennessee Lightning Habanero Hot Sauce (or more if you're daring ;))

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cooked chicken breast, shredded (or chicken lunch meat shredded- which is what I used!)

Pizza dough

Olive Oil

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Directions:

Preheat oven to 450. Mix together first four ingredients. Roll out pizza dough and stuff with filling. Pinch shut and brush with a little olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

The second calzone was stuffed with pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, baby spinach, artichokes, and prosciutto.

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For me, I made up a huge salad with spinach, green pepper, onion, jicama, tomatoes, broccoli slaw, broccoli, black beans, corn, and topped it all with Big S Farms Fire on the Mountainside medium salsa. Big S describes this salsa as, "Rich red tomatoes, onions, cilantro and our special blend of habanero varieties combine to give the world of salsa a kick in the hot seat."

Both Josh and I loved the Big S farms products! The hot sauce is VERY spicy but delicious! The salsa is amazing- your can taste the freshness of the tomatoes! Thank you Vance (Big S Farms) and Michelle!