Crustless Veggie & Goat Cheese Quiche

April 30, 2015April 30, 20154 Comments

Would you look at that- I’ve posted for FOUR days in a ROW this week! I know, I’m just as surprised as you. I’m so happy that I had time to post this recipe for you, though, because boy oh boy is it tasty! Not only that, but it was super easy to put together: chop & sautee some veggies, whisk some eggs, bake and voila! You don’t even have to deal with making or rolling out a crust, which not only saves you time, but saves you some calories, too! What you end up with is a healthy, nutritious and yummy dish to eat for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner.

That’s the beauty of quiches, right? They’re so versatile since you can literally eat them for any meal of the day. And, if you add veggies you’re getting an even better bang for your buck. I don’t like to add TOO many veggies, though, because they get in the way of the egg consistency that I love about quiches. This one ended up coming out super fluffy, which I think may be due to how much I whisked the eggs and milk- my arm was burning by the time I finally stopped!

Crustless Veggie & Goat Cheese Quiche

Ingredients

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Wednesday Workout: Upper Body Resistance Band Workout

April 29, 2015April 27, 20154 Comments

Good morning! I’m back with a short, but effective upper body workout for you that requires just one piece of equipment: the resistance band! This is a piece of equipment that you don’t see me using much on the blog (I think this workout is the only other one on the blog that uses the band), but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think it’s a great, it just gets pushed to the back for some reason. However, while I was working from home on Monday, I was looking around at my fitness corner, thinking about what I wanted to do for a workout and the bands were calling to me!

So, I decided to create a few workouts that use the band that I’ll share with you over the next few weeks. One of the things I love most about resistance bands is that they don’t take up much space so it’s super easy to take them on the road with you- in your car, carry on, suitcase, laptop bag… you get the idea. While I’m not planning on letting workouts get in the way of my time in Italy, I do plan on bringing one so that if I feel like getting in some movement (other than walking) and time permits it, I’ll have something to use. When I traveled for work I would always bring a band with me to use for my hotel room workouts.

For this workout, we are doing just 4 moves, but if your band is tight enough, you’ll feel it by the end of the 3-5 rounds! I’ve got a video in case you want to workout with me, otherwise you can just take the image below and do the workout on your own time 🙂
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Eats as of Late {Part II}

April 28, 2015April 28, 20156 Comments

It’s been a hot minute since I shared my eats with you, huh? In case you missed part one, you can find it here.

I feel like RM and I have been eating out a bit more than we really want to be eating out, but now that the weather is warming up a bit (well, sometimes!), it’s just so much more fun to go out and get drinks, which usually leads to us grabbing dinner out. We leave for Italy in about 3 weeks, so I’m hoping to cut back on eating out until then. For now, here’s what we’ve been eating- enjoy!

Coconut Crusted Healthified Chicken Tenders {gluten free & dairy free}– RM came up with this recipe and he’s used it on chicken and fish and it’s quickly become a staple for us!

Italian Meatloaf– I came across this meatloaf from PaleOMG and I’ve probably made it 5 times at this point. Every part of it is so delicious and it’s been a great lunch meal.

In January, RM was doing the Whole30, so we were more limited with our meal options. Insert lettuce tacos! So good and so healthy.

Curry dishes have also frequented our meal rotations. We love this dish because it’s easy and healthy and just so darn tasty! We’ve made the dish with chicken and with shrimp and have decided we like shrimp the best.

These Smashed Sweet Potato Guacamole Bites from Running to the Kitchen were a HUGE hit at the Super Bowl party I went to.

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“I don’t know if I can, but I’ll try”

April 27, 2015April 27, 20156 Comments

“I’ll try”… two words that are music to a fitness instructors’ ears! As a fitness instructor, it’s not only my job to lead a safe, challenging workout, but it’s also my job to try and get people out of their comfort zone, to teach them new things and to give them encouragement to try something new. Something that they may not think they can do.

But, there’s a fine line with being motivating and helpful and encouraging and with pushing people too far and making them feel UN-comfortable. So, I’ve always got this in the back of my mind when I go over to help correct someone’s form or ask them to try it a different way or to increase their weights. Some people take really well to this, but some get offended, which is always a tough situation. When I correct someone’s form, I NEVER intend on offending them; merely, I’m doing it to help them do things the correct way to avoid a potential injury.

In my class on Wednesday, I had a few new people. I like to ask if anyone is new at the beginning of class so that I can make sure to keep an extra eye out for them throughout the class to make sure they are using correct form and are doing ok (pushing themselves hard enough, taking it down a notch if necessary, etc.). I was having them do Goblet squats with the focus on squat depth, ie: feet a little wider than hip width, kness and toes at a 45* angle, dropping deep and keeping the chest up. One new participant was doing more of a plie squat, which is fine… if we were doing plie squats 😉 Since we were doing a Goblet squat, I went over, moved my mic away from my face and talked her through form correction for the Goblet squat, which is when she said “I don’t know if I can do that, but I’ll try”.

Source
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My 30th Birthday Celebrations

April 23, 2015April 22, 201512 Comments

Well, it’s official: I have the best friends, family and boyfriend around! Everyone made my entire birthday week SO special- I wish there was a better way to show my gratitude, but hopefully this post will help.

As I mentioned last week, my birthday celebrations started the weekend before my birthday with the Wine Fest. From there, my birthday was an amazing day from start to finish! Finally getting a chance to check out SoulCycle was such a fun thing, and doing it beside my sister and Jess was even better 🙂

After our workout, we walked over to Seasons 52 for lunch. Have you guys ever been there or heard of it? I’m not one for big box chain restaurants, but since this one was so close and since I had heard such great things about it, we decided to check it out. I’m so glad we did because it was awesome! Everything was so light and fresh. We talked to the waitress and although everything on the menu is currently under 475 calories, they are shifting towards removing the calorie count since they are starting to incorporate more super foods that generally have higher calorie counts. Think: avocados, nuts, etc. I think this is awesome because it’s true- just basing your meal on calories isn’t going to be the healthiest option (but that’s another post for another time!). Anyway- I got the fish tacos (surprise, surprise) and a glass of rose and my sister got a flatbread which came with a wine flight AND a glass of wine for $15- amazing deal.

Later in the evening, I got dressed up and met RM in the city and we grabbed a drink at Rumba (the bar in the Intercontinental) before heading to dinner.

He took me to Cinquecento, which is an Italian restaurant in the South End. We were supposed to go there for Valentine’s Day, but due to the weather, we ended up staying local, so it was a nice surprise that he chose that restaurant for my birthday. I sipped on the most delicious glass of bubbly rose and then enjoyed my Tagliatelle alla Bolognese. RM got his favorite dish, the Branzino con Scarola Brasata e Funghi, which was also delicious. I was SO impressed with both dishes- I’m suddenly hungry as I start thinking back to the meal!

Lastly, RM surprised me with a molten chocolate lava cake and ice cream which was to die for!

And… now for the party recap! I told RM that I didn’t care about a surprise party, I just didn’t want to be the one to plan it. With that said, he reached out to my sister and my friends in various groups in my life and planned one hell of a party. I had no idea where we were going or who would be there or what to expect, so I did what any other 30 year old would do: wear pleather pants, new heels and my reddest lipstick 😉

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