Date #4 & Brussels Sprouts Pizza

Happy Friday! Are you having a good day? So far, my day has included food shopping, cleaning, cooking, and Kaylin had her fourth date with Ryan. Now that they’re getting older, they’re interacting so much more. Its fun to watch. Amy (Ryan’s Mom) and I took the kids for a walk. After, we played bubbles:

  the kids played peek-a-boo:

    

and played toys:

and then Kay crashed:

While she slept, I got a few things done around the house. I also made dinner (I’m teaching Attack tonight and its always easier to cook ahead of time). I decided to make Brussels sprouts pizza. I couldn’t remember where I saw this idea, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind (once it was in the oven, I realized it was Jessica’s brilliant idea).

 

Since I couldn’t remember the source pre-bake, I came up with the following:

Ingredients:

• 10 oz Brussels sprouts
• 2 tablespoons olive oil + more for drizzling
• 1 clove garlic, diced
• desired quantity shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese
• diced pepperoni (optional)
• raw pizza dough (enough for 1 crust)
• Italian or garlic & herb seasoning (optional)
• Cornmeal

Directions:

Two options on cooking the Brussels, you could dice them up and cook them on the stove top in oil  and diced garlic until just starting to brown OR you could steam them first, slice them, and then cook them up in the oil/garlic (this is what I did).

In the meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 475 degrees F. Stretch out your pizza dough and place it on a pan or pizza stone covered with cornmeal. Bake pizza crust ~5 minutes until just starting to brown. Remove crust from oven. Top with Brussels sprouts/garlic/olive oil mixture. If desired, drizzle additional olive oil on top. Add pepperoni, cheese, and top with Italian seasoning. Put back in the oven and cook until desired level of crispiness is achieved.

Just after adding the Brussels, olive oil, and pepperoni:

Cheese:

 

Finished product!!

   

What are you up to this weekend? I’m teaching Step tomorrow morning and then we have a fancy pants dinner planned. Sunday, I may fit in a run and otherwise??

Monday Things (Vegan Chickpea Soup)

How was your weekend? Ours was really nice. We had a lot of time together as a family (love) and I got in some great teaching time at the gym. I also had a wonderful coffee/shopping date with my friend Amelia. She recommended these delicious little broccoli bites:

These are SO yummy! And they’re not breaded. They have sweet potato and spinach bites too- trying both out soon! Dr. Praeger’s makes great in a pinch food!

Kaylin’s Aunt Jenny & Mimi purchased her new outfits. They got them from an awesome store called Crazy 8. Kaylin loves animals on her clothes. Here she is modeling a few of the new outfits:

 

 

This one says Cutiesaurus.

Thanks Jenny & Mimi!!

I re-made one of my favorite recipes for vegan chickpea soup (made with cashew cream). I used a combination of yellow squash and corn instead of all corn- SO good! This one has cheese on top so…its not exactly vegan, but definitely delicious:

   

Do you have today off or are you working? I am not working my “day job”, but I am teaching two classes! Enjoy your day!!

Weekly Workouts & Meal Plan

How are you? Hopefully you’re having a good weekend. My heart goes out to all those impacted by this terrible tragedy in Connecticut. Occurrences like this will always boggle my mind….How could someone do such a thing?

On a much lighter note, I used to share my weekly meal and workout plan, but got out of habit. I enjoy seeing others post this information because it always gives me great ideas, so I figured I’d try to start doing it again.

Weekly Workouts (note: these are on the heavy side right now because we have a few injured instructors and one that just gave birth so I am subbing a good chunk):

• Friday: Taught Body Attack
• Saturday: Taught Body Step
• Sunday: Rest
• Monday: Teach Body Step
• Tuesday: Teach Body Attack
• Wednesday: Teach Pump
• Thursday: Run

Meal Plan:

• Friday: Grilled chicken salads (Josh and I are sort of on a salad kick- favorite add ins are cheese, mini cucumbers & avocado)
• Saturday: Out! Not sure where yet
• Sunday: Stuffed shells & salad
• Monday: Leftover shells
• Tuesday: Tomato soup & grilled cheese
• Wednesday: Black bean burgers & pineapple rice
• Thursday: Breakfast for dinner (omelets or pancakes)

What are you eating this week? Any fun workouts planned?

Today has been a really fun day so far. Kaylin woke up early and sat on/pushed around her new bike from impatient Santa who brought it to her early:

Then we headed to the gym where I taught step. I brought Kaylin in the room early to help me setup and she decided to try it out herself:

Future Les Mills instructor!  My WONDERFUL friend Amelia came and took class and we hit up Starbucks after. She brought Josh and I the BEST Christmas presents including jam from North Carolina (nom nom), a Starbucks card (best gift ever), and beer! Thank you so much girl!

Rest of the day is pretty open (Kaylin and I are hoping to take Josh on a surprise mini trip). What are you up to?

Kaylin’s First Food: Butternut Squash (Video)

Kaylin had a doctors appointment last Friday! Everything went awesome! The doctor noted that she may be ready to start trying some food and recommended we give her a bit about an hour and a half after her “breakfast time” bottle and an hour and a half after her “dinner time” bottle. I had decided a while ago that I didn’t want to start her on the traditional rice cereal, but real, homemade foods. Josh’s Mom had purchased the Beaba baby food maker from Williams Sonoma for me for my baby shower:

I had wanted this gadget ever since we had started even just THINKING about having a baby! Although you can totally steam and puree vegetables and fruits using other methods, the baby food maker does it all. I decided to try butternut squash as her first food, and purchased a pre-chopped version from Harris Teeter:

I placed 200 grams in the baby food maker and added the appropriate amount of water.

The squash was cooked in 15 minutes. I drained the water and added 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and pureed away. I placed the baby food in the fridge over night.

And then we gave it a go:

 

After this video she really started trying more of the food and seemed to really enjoy it=success!!

Cute Kids Snack

I found this recipe on the Williams Sonoma website and think it is just the most adorable and easy recipe idea for kids. It is an apple pie with toast crust! Here is the recipe, enjoy:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/recipedetail.cfm?objectId=ACB305EA-00CD-5EF4-A9221A7F861165F1