Happy 2nd Birthday Kaylin!!

I cannot believe my little girl is 2 years old today! It feels like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital:

She was so tiny, so sweet (still is). I was not one of those girls who babysat growing up…in fact, I had never changed a diaper before I had Kaylin. Surprisingly, she has turned out just wonderfully…so far ;).

We feel so lucky- she was an amazing baby and is turning into an awesome little girl:

She still loves stroller time:

and still eats a Chobani yogurt for breakfast every day. When she was still tiny, she used to sometimes eat breakfast with her eyes closed:

A year ago, we celebrated her 1st birthday with a Minnie party:

This year, it will be a fishy/sharky party at the aquarium. Amazing what changes in a year:

We love you Kaylin! Can’t wait to celebrate your big birthday #2!!

Gluten Free, Dairy Free Dinner Party (Fudgy Chocolate Cookies)

We had a few friends over for dinner last night. One of our friends has a gluten and dairy allergy, so I catered the dinner to make sure she could eat everything. I was planning on making this all corn, cornbread, but decided to go the cheat route and made Bob’s Red Mill instead. I used almond milk instead of dairy:

 

  It was really yummy!

I also made crock pot buffalo chicken. I cooked three pounds of chicken breasts in the crock pot with 1 1/2 cups of gluten free buffalo sauce and a sprinkle of garlic sauce. I cooked the chicken on high for 3 hours and then shredded it up.

  I also made vegan baked beans in the crock pot. I used this recipe, but I cooked them on high for about 5 hours (until the beans were NICE and soft):

The other ladies brought a green salad, fruit salad, and a sweet potato and caramelized onion salad. SO good!

For dessert, I made these peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips:

  I also made a version of these chocolate cookies. These are amazing!

Ingredients:

• 2 whole Eggs
• ¼ cups Olive Oil
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder, Unsweetened
• 1 1/4 cup Rolled Oats
• ½ cups Chocolate Chips (GF, DF)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a large bowl whisk eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk in sugar. Add in cocoa powder and whisk until thoroughly combined. Stir in rolled oats and chocolate chips until all the oats are coated with the chocolate mixture.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a small cookie scooper, scoop cookie batter onto lined baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until slightly hardened to touch. Let cool 10-15 minutes before removing from pan.

Lastly, I made a larger version of Jenna’s blueberry tart:

Dessert all together:

Trader Joe’s has great roses:

Me & Peanut:

The babes (minus one who was with his grandma):

Such a great time!!

A little of this, a little of that

AH! I am so, so behind on blogging. Work has been a little crazy and we just launched the new Body Step and Body Pump releases. Crazy town! So, this post will be a little of this, and a little of that.

The launches went really well this past weekend. I didn’t take a lot of pictures, but here is one from the Body Step launch. The new release focuses on a mix between athletic and dance/flavor options. I was the “athletic” instructor:

On Sunday, we had a BBQ at my Aunt & Uncle’s house. I brought Maria’s quinoa salad:

and Jenna’s blueberry tart:

I always enjoy parties at my Aunt’s house. Here is a picture of my Mom, me, Kay & my Aunt:

  

I have been cooking up a storm this week. We’ve had some really yummy dinners including turkey burgers, lighter chicken parmesan and pizza:

 

I’ve also been teaching a good bit. I feel like I have the Body Pump release down pretty solid! I’m getting there with step ;).

And…one last beautiful shot from my development while on a walk…LOVE SC!!

Tell me something about your week!

Banana Bread Protein Bars & Pad Thai

Hello! I hope your weekend is treating you well. I wanted to share a couple recipes with you. First, I recently made Page’s banana bread protein bars:

I made a few adjustments to the ingredients based on what I had on hand.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup old fashion oats
• 1/2 cup Almond meal/flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 scoops banana protein powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 large ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp. honey
• chocolate chunks

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and spray a pan with non-stick spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or by hand), smash the bananas. Add remaining “wet” ingredients (oils, honey, eggs). Once combined, add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks or chips. Pour batter into prepared pan and cook for 25-30 minutes.

Note: the batter looks WET, but don’t worry- that’s OK!!

Thanks Paige! Both Josh and I loveee these bars!

I also made a third go at Pad Thai. One of Josh’s coworkers, Sarah, sent me a link to a Pad Thai recipe that turned out just awesome. Here is the original recipe. Again, I made a few substitutions:

Ingredients:

• Rice sticks/noodles
• Desired quantity raw shrimp (deveined & shells removed)
• 1-2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon sriracha
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• Vegetables of choice (I used broccoli slaw, cauliflower, broccoli & peas)
• Toppings: cilantro and chopped peanuts

Prepare sticks/noodles according to package directions. Steam vegetables. In a bowl, whisk together sauce ingredients (soy sauce, sriracha, orange juice, canola oil and brown sugar). Set all aside.

In a wok, or frying pan, heat sesame oil. Cook shrimp ~ 3 minutes each side (or until cooked through). Add remaining ingredients (noodles, vegetables & sauce) to wok. Cook on low for a few minutes (until heated through). Serve (top with cilantro and peanuts if desired):

 

Definitely a winning recipe!!

Hope you enjoy the recipes. Aside from cooking and baking, I taught a couple classes this weekend and went for a run. Josh and I also went out to Hank’s with Josh’s parents to celebrate Josh’s Dad’s birthday! A few pictures from the weekend:

 

   

 

What’s the last thing you made?

Crazy Week & Kale Chips

How are you? I’m tired! The peanut came down with croup and sleep has been on the minimal side. Also, Josh is traveling this week, so it just feels like everything has been a little nutso around here. But…on the bright side, there's lots of good stuff going on too! We have our Body Step and Pump launches next weekend, so I’ve been working a lot on choreography. Kaylin declared her love of oatmeal this week and has even been requesting it:

 

And…I finally made Kale chips. I purchased this bag of organic Tuscan kale from Trader Joe’s:

 

I used the instructions on the bag (toss kale with olive oil, bake on parchment paper at 250 for 35 minutes). This did NOT work. So, I jacked up the temperature at the end of 35 minutes and cooked until the chips were nice and crispy. I topped them with sea salt and pepper. I thought they were very yummy!

  

and yesterday, outside work/teaching, I donated blood! It was my New Year’s resolution to give blood every 8,and so far I’m still on track:

 

Frank also got a bath yesterday. I give him a bath every week to clean out his wrinkles. You can tell he is thrilled:

 

Off to teach pump and then work. What are you up to today?

SC Aquarium & Shrimp Pad Thai

Hello! Are you loving this long weekend? I am!! We have fit in tons of family time.

Friday, after the usual gym & food shopping, we headed to the SC aquarium.

This was Kay & my’s first visit (Josh had been before). We bought a years pass:

   

SO much fun and beautiful views of the water and bridge:

 

Saturday morning, I taught pump and then Josh and I power washed our porch. Other than that, errands and cleaning. Saturday night, I made a second attempt at Pad Thai using this recipe. Although it was very yummy (and super easy), it tasted much more like peanut noodles than pad Thai. The hunt for a good pad Thai recipe continues (please send me a link if you have a good one!!)

  

This morning, Kay and I went for a run and then we all headed out to breakfast with Josh’s parents. We went to my favorite spot (Charleston’s Cafe). When we got home, I put on my working gloves and cleaned out the garden. All of this rain we’ve been having seemed to kill everything :(. Hoping to replant some fall crops (spaghetti squash?). Not sure what’s on tap for the rest of the day.

What was the best part of your weekend?

4th Celebration

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!! Kaylin and I went for a run and then we headed to my Aunt & Uncle’s house to celebrate.

I brought along the same salad I made last Sunday:

Black bean burgers:

 

and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. My Uncle made ribs and pulled pork. Josh couldn’t stop talking about how delicious the ribs were:

  My Aunt always puts together the best fruit bowls. I think I eat 1/3 the bowl :). She also made potato salad and my Mom brought coleslaw and corn:

 

Why yes, we do make enough food to feed an army :).

After lunch, we went for a dip in her pool. It felt like heaven. Kaylin ran back and forth on the stairs for about an hour yelling “I’m swimming”.

Love my family:

My cousin’s girlfriend made a ridiculously delicious and patriotic dessert. It deserves several photos:

 

 

The dessert was to celebrate my cousin’s birthday.

Tell me what you did on the 4th!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. So far, I ran/took half hour pump, food shopped, got my toes done (heavenly), and now I’m heading to the aquarium with Josh and Kay.