Day: May 22, 2013

Chicken Cordon Bleu… with a new twist!

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Hey there! Boy do I have a yummy meal for you this week. I know I say that every week, but this one was really quite delicious, probably because Chicken Cordon Bleu has always been one of my “favorite” meals that momma gag’s makes (close second or third to Chicken Parm). Last week, I stumbled across the idea of using goat cheese and turkey, instead of ham and swiss when I was reading through Fitnessista’s blog. She posted a picture of her Chicken Cordon Bleu-ish meal and I was sold!

What made this meal even more appealing was that we had bought extra chicken a few weeks ago since it was on mega sale AND I had new package of goat cheese in the fridge. Love that!

Chicken Cordon Blue… with a new twist!

  • 2 Chicken Breasts (mine were very small… TWSS… but you can use bigger ones if you want!)
  • 4 very thin slices of deli ham (stuck with ham for this meal)
  • 2-3 tbsp goat cheese (1-1.5 for each breast)
  • sea salt
  • pepper
  • paprika
  • Mrs. Dash

1. Preheat your oven to 350*. Stack 2 slices of ham together and spread the goat cheese in the middle (X2 if you’re using 2 chicken breasts). Roll the ham up just like you’d roll a wrap.

0072. Rinse your chicken and use a knife to cut the breast open in half so you can stuff your ham and goat cheese rolls in them.

3. When you stuff the chicken, use toothpicks to hold everything together. Sprinkle a nice amount of sea salt,009 pepper, Mrs. Dash and paprika on the chicken and place in the oven to cook for about 15-20 minutes (time will change depending on how big your breasts are).

012I like to make a little slice in my chicken before taking it out of the oven to make sure it’s all cooked. Once it is cooked, take it out of the oven.

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(Look at that ooey, gooey melted goat cheese!)

To accompany the chicken, Danielle made some risotto (not sure where she got the recipe from, but any risotto recipe would work) and I steamed up some broccoli. I also made a quick batch of an easy white sauce (1/2 tbsp butter, 1/2 tbsp and about 1/3 cup of skim milk) because, well, I loveeeee sauces and feel that any French meal should have a sauce (hence why French cuisine is my favorite). Nothing fancy, but the chicken was SO flavorful that simple sides were absolutely the way to go.

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There you have it! The risotto took the longest to make, so if you skipped that or substituted it for something else, the meal would probably take you less than 45 mins start to finish. I have 1/2 of my chicken breast left for tomorrow- can’t wait to eat it!

Questions for you: What is your favorite cuisine? Favorite side dish?

Wednesday Workout: 6 Moves Circuit + 2 Focus Moves

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Hey everyone! I am trying to get you a workout and a recipe every Wednesday… let’s see how long I can keep it up! As I’ve mentioned, last week I went to one of my favorite instructor’s boot camp class at the Wellington BSC. I love her because she is a super tough instructor, but not tough just because we do the same move for a million reps, but rather, because she is always bringing in fun, new moves and is always changing it up!

Since I loved the class so much (and it totally kicked my butt!!), I decided to take the general format and bring it to my UXF Burn class at the Central Square BSC. I changed up some of the moves, but otherwise, it was pretty much the same!

6 moves circuit + 2 focus moves

The idea was that you keep the 2 focus moves (focus/core moves because they are full body exercises that get your heart rate up without having to do cardio) at 60 seconds each as your starting point. The whole class stays together for these. For the circuit moves, people were able to go more at their own pace. I did make 2 of the rounds be 30 second intervals for the 6 moves instead of 15 reps to keep everyone together, but for the last round, I timed them to see how quickly people could finish. Congrats to Graciella for finishing first!! 🙂

Here are some notes on the moves:

  • Heavy weighted squats- we used a barbell here (like in BodyPump) and I encouraged people to go much heavier than normal!
  • Deadlifts- we used the same barbell for these as we did for squats
  • Squats w/weighted chest push: hold 1 weight (or a medicine ball!) with both hands at chest height. As you squat down, push your arms out to a full extended position. As you rise up from your squat, pull your arms back in. This is great for your shoulders and chest!
  • Frogger Burpees: take 1 big jump forward, and then bring yourself down into a REAL burpee, meaning your whole body is on the ground. Push yourself up, jump to turn around, and do a big frogger jump back to your spot (and then go right into the burpee). Holy sky-rocketed heart rate from these!

To finish off class, we did an Ab Tabata consisting of the following 2 moves: Mountain Climbers and Plank Jacks. I also threw in some more of my favorite ab moves (leg lefts, in and outs, swimmers, etc.). And then, because I wasn’t ready to quit just yet, I made them do a “Power Blast”, to leave class energized and awake! Our Power Blast was a sumo squat straddling the bench, and then jumping both feet up onto the bench- 20 reps. I wanted to do Donkey Kicks over the bench, but we ran out of time:(

I hope you like this workout! Let me know if you need clarification on any of the moves! I am totally loving REAL burpees lately, so class members, take that as a warning 😉

Questions for you! What moves are you loving right now? What is your “go-to” hard class to attend? Ever done a frogger burpee?