Body Step Launch & Kaylin Happenings

How was your weekend? I hope it was a good one. Mine was pretty relaxed (or…as relaxed as a weekend with an 11 month old can be). On Saturday, we had our Body Step launch. One other instructor and I handled the release:

Apparently Body Step helps bring on pregnancy . My fellow instructor and two others in the crowd were rocking the bumps:

The launch went great! My Mom came down to participate too- love when she is there for our launches!!

I had a request for more Kaylin pictures…so I clearly have no problem obliging. Some Kaylin happenings as of late:

We walked the bridge with our friend Amelia:

Kaylin discovered she’s a comedian:

Kaylin got a new chair from Pottery Barn:

She likes to sit in it, watch Mickey, and chew on Legos with her feet crossed:

She has been enjoying eating lots of delicious foods! Her favorites as of late include pears, peaches, cheese, and yogurt:

She also is moving around like crazy. Walking soon? Perhaps. I’m not rushing it! Her moving around means she's torturing Frank on the regular:

I cannot believe she is going to be a year soon! I have loved watching her grow and change over her first year. She is definitely the little sunshine in our lives:

We are having a big Mickey/Minnie birthday party for her- can’t wait!

What has brought a smile to your face lately?

Peet’s Iced Coffee (Giveaway) & Happenings

 

How are you? Things have been crazy, busy over here- but all good stuff! This past weekend, we celebrated Josh’s Dad’s birthday, had Kaylin’s swimming lessons, had our summer themed body pump launch (I’m on the far left):

and we threw a baby shower for one of the other group fitness instructors at our house:

We decided to have a brunch shower and everyone brought a dish. I put together a SIMPLE parfait bar (Greek yogurt, homemade granola, and strawberries):

I also provided the water, juice, hot and iced coffee. Lucky for me, Peet’s had recently given me a sample of their Baridi coffee (disclaimer: I received the coffee sample for free). According to the company:

“Peet’s has just introduced Baridi, a blend of beans specifically roasted and meant to be poured over ice and enjoyed cold. As for the prep, forget about just throwing hot brew over ice or you’ll get tasteless watered-down coffee.:

Peet’s provided instructions with the coffee:

1. Prepare a concentrated brew: 2/3 cup coffee to 2 1/2 cups water in a drip coffee maker

2. Cool just brewed concentrate quickly by adding 2 1/2 cups ice directly into the carafe:

3. Stir until ice melts completely:

4. Pour over ice and enjoy:

SO yummy! Want to try Peet’s new blend yourself? Giveaway information below!

The shower was fabulous. The food was so yummy- quiche, green salad, fruit salad with nutella/Greek yogurt fruit dip, muffins, scones, vegetable tray, cheese & cracker tray, etc! Nom! Wish I had gotten a picture of the full spread. Some of the ladies:

Now for the giveaway! Peet’s is offering a a Baridi Iced Coffee and 16 oz Tumbler Gift set to one Itzy’s Kitchen reader. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by Friday, July 20 at noon telling me how you take your coffee. You DO NOT need to have a blog to enter. Winner will be randomly selected

Thank you to everyone who entered my DiGiorno giveaway. All winners have been contacted via email.

Have a great day!

Pasta Salad & Pizza Giveaway

Baby & bridal showers and weddings…my summer is FULL of them! I actually really enjoy showers- especially baby showers. Seeing all the cute baby clothes and the adorable mama’s to be? I can’t get enough! Recently, I attended my friend Lindsay’s shower. You may remember her, as she used to be a blogger!

Her friend Madeleine did a great job pulling everything together:

I contributed two items, Paula Deen’s spinach salad (I subbed sunflower seeds and slivered almonds for the pecans):

and my friend Jordan’s pasta salad. Jordan and I were friends in college. After college, he and Josh moved in together…and then I moved in. Jordan was a good sport about having me around… and he shared with me the best pasta salad recipe. Its not super healthy…but it is super delicious:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 package, Good Seasons pack of dry Italian dressing mix
• 3/4 box pasta, cooked according to package directions
• 2 stalks celery, chopped,
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 2 carrots, chopped
• cheese (your choice on type and quantity), cut into cubes
• salami (your choice on type and quantity), cut into cubes

Directions:

Mix together white vinegar, sugar, vegetable oil and dressing mix. Stir in all other ingredients. Let mixture chill in the fridge for a few hours and serve (mix before serving)

On a side note, DiGiorno recently gave me coupons to try out their new pizzas (disclaimer: I received these coupons for free). According to DiGiorno:

• New DIGIORNO Pizza Dipping Strips are a great-tasting shareable take on the celebrated pizza experience. They feature the delicious combination of a DIGIORNO thick crust pizza, in twelve easy pull-apart strips, and two dipping sauces – zesty marinara and creamy garlic. DIGIORNO Pizza Dipping Strips are available in three varieties – DiGiorno Pepperoni Pizza Dipping Strips, DiGiorno Three Meat Pizza Dipping Strips, and DiGiorno Four Cheese Pizza Dipping Strips

• New DIGIORNO Italian Style Favorites deliver a collection of three Italian-inspired, premium varieties on a rising crust with a touch of olive oil and herbs. DIGIORNO Pizza Italian Style Favorites are available in three varieties – DiGiorno Italian Style Favorites Meatball Marinara pizza, DiGiorno Italian Style Favorites Chicken Parmesan pizza, and DiGiorno Italian Style Favorites Meat Trio pizza.

Unfortunately…my store was out of both! So, I picked up two of their rising crust pizzas to test out:

Both pizzas cooked up in about 20 minutes. We had a friend over to taste test with us and served the pizzas with a side of fruit:

While I normally prefer a thin crust pizza, the crust on this pizza was fluffy and delicious! We preferred the cheese over the peperoni, but both were good. Want to try DiGiorno?? I have four coupons to giveaway to four winners! To enter, tell me your favorite pizza topping. The winners will be randomly selected (you do not have to be a blogger to enter). The contest will be open until Monday, July 16 at noon.

Coconut Lime Chicken Strips & Swimming

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a good weekend. What did you do? I had a great weekend filled with friends, Kaylin’s first swim lesson & a baby shower. I also donated blood!! I will dive into the baby shower (and food) in another post. This post is going to focus on coconut lime chicken strips and Kay’s first swim lesson.

Its secret recipe club time again!! As a part of the club, each month you’re assigned another Secret Recipe Club blogger to make a recipe from. If you want to join, click here to sign up.

This month, I was assigned Lisa from Parsley, Sage & Sweet. Lisa is a HUGE baseball fan and used to blog about it. Now, she's all about the food. Lisa cooks and bakes everything from scratch (which is awesome).  I found her take on Edesia’s Coconut Lime Chicken Strips and knew I had to make them. I followed her recipe almost exactly. I subbed regular coconut (for the desiccated coconut) and almond milk (in place of the coconut milk). Although my pictures aren’t very pretty…the result was delicious! Pre-bake:

and post! With purple potatoes, Brussels sprouts & jalapenos:

Thanks for the great recipe Lisa!!

Ok, onto the swimming! Kaylin had her first swim lesson this weekend with Amy’s Ryan.

Both of them did awesome! Kaylin adores the water:

 

I will posting a little more regularly in the upcoming weeks. I’m going to share a pasta salad recipe and I have a couple of giveaways.

Do you love the water?? I was a total fish as a kid and still enjoy floating around.

Sweet & Salty Granola & Wedding Showers

Hey All! Happy almost Fourth of July! I hope you have a good one. Plans?? We’re headed to my Aunt’s house for a party. I cannot wait. I wanted to share with you a couple things today: 1. A Z bar review, 2. a granola recipe, and 3. a little bit about one of my besties wedding shower this past weekend.

Z Bar review:

I recently received the new Zbar Crispy Cookies ‘N Cream bars to try out (disclaimer: I received these bars for free). I was super excited to try the new flavor, as I’m a big Zbar fan.

The bars are definitely sweet, but very delicious. They’re the perfect substitute for an oreo, cookie in general, or other sweet craving. They tasted cocoa krispie-esque to me.  I enjoyed mine after a workout:

Recipe:

I attended one of my best friend’s wedding shower this past weekend. All of the bridesmaids and the mom’s of the bride and groom helped make the food for the occasion. Since I was traveling to Boston from Charleston, I made something I knew wouldn’t get too smashed up on the plane ride, granola!

For one of the granolas, I used Heather’s recipe with a few modifications. The ingredient list is shown below, and the baking instructions are on Heather’s blog:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup pumpkin & sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1/3 cup dried currants
• 1/3 cup dried apricots, diced
• 1/3 cup dried figs, diced
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup natural cane sugar  
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg white

This granola is unreal good!

Shower!!

As I mentioned above, I headed to Boston this past weekend for the shower:

I hadn’t been back to Boston (where I went to high school) in a VERY long time. It was so fun to walk (and run!) around my old town.

Even more fun? My friend Kelley’s bridal shower! I cannot wait for Kelley’s wedding- it is going to be incredible.

Kelley’s sister, Future Groom, & Kelley:

Kelley’s Mom & Sister did a TON of work for the shower. Everything was just perfect. Some of the food:

The centerpieces, which included cookies and some of Kelley’s favorite candies (circus peanuts & sweet tarts- I am a HUGE circus peanut fan too):

More food:

My granolas:

Even more food:

The cake:

The favors:

The games (hilarious):

My bestie:

Bridal party (I’m the tiny tot in the back row, middle/left with the white/navy on):

Such a great weekend!

And now, I’m home with my favorite girl! It was SO hard to leave her:

What did you do this past weekend?