2 “Must Try” Healthy, Fall Dishes

November 10, 20157 Comments

Good morning! Thank you so much for all your sweet words on my post yesterday. I totally had one of those “omg we are getting married in 8 months” feelings yesterday. It’s so surreal, really. In an unbelievably, awesome way!

But, today isn’t about wedding talk. It’s about food talk. Because food talk is right up there behind health and fitness talk for me, which means I love talking about it 🙂 I have 2 recipes, both coincidentally from Alexis, over at Hummusapien.com, that have been huge hits. One of them I’ve actually made FOUR times at this point- crazy, right?!

The first one, though, is her Vegan Butternut Squash Pasta dish. I made a lot of variations to the recipe, making it not vegan in any way, shape or form, but I can only assume that if it tasted good with variations, it must taste equally as good if following the recipe to a T.

Here are the variations I made if you’re not looking to follow a vegan diet:

I tried a new-to-me gluten free “pasta” made with just brown rice flower and water and you literally couldn’t taste a difference.
3-4 chicken thighs, chopped into small cubes and sautéed with garlic, salt, pepper and EVOO
spinach, broccoli & onions- chopped small and sautéed in a pan with plenty of EVOO, salt, pepper and garlic
1/8-1/4 cup shredded gruyere cheese (separated)- I added half into the amazingly delicious butternut squash/cashew/vegetable broth/maple syrup “sauce” (side note: I literally could’ve just drank that mixture- it was that good!) and then topped the casserole with the other half before I baked it.

My friends were skeptical at first because it didn’t look terribly appetizing, but everyone raved about it and went back for more- I call that a success!

The other recipe that has been a huge hit with friends and RM, specifically, are her Paleo Pumpkin Bars. As I said earlier, I’ve literally made these 4 times- sometimes with pumpkin spice chips, sometimes with chocolate chips and most recently just with pecan pieces to make them a super healthy sweet treat. I mean, can you ever have too much pumpkin?!

These are moist, chewy and ridiculously flavorful- you really have to make these. It’s an order and you will thank me later 😉

I want to hear from you though! What’s a recipe you’re loving these days and have made more than once? Is there any that I just HAVE to try? I’d love to have some new recipes to add to our rotation!

Weekending: Wedding Update Edition

November 9, 2015November 8, 201514 Comments

Good morning! How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? I was loving the great fall weather. Know what else I was loving? BOOKING A VENUE AND A DATE!!! If you’ve been following B2B for a while, you already know that wedding planning thus far has been stressful. Being on a budget, having no idea what I want and having a busy schedule anyway has made the whole process just not that fun. BUT, now that we have a venue and a date I already feel a million times better. Before we get to that, let’s chat about the rest of the weekend, too.

After work on Friday, I met up with my sister at Hopsters in Newton Corner. This place is literally walking distance from my apartment and they sell lots of craft beers and delicious looking charcuterie boards and flatbread pizzas. On top of that, you can even make your own beer there, which sounds like a fun activity even for someone like me who isn’t a big beer person.

The purpose for our meetup was so that I could finally officially ask her to be my Maid of Honor! I scoured Etsy for a while until I found this bracelet, which had my sisters name all over it (literally and figuratively!)- she loves bracelets and monogramed items so this couldn’t have been more perfect. Luckily, she agreed 🙂

When I got home, RM and I made a nice healthy fish dinner, thanks to my mom’s friend Jean’s husband who caught the fish!

A little while after dinner, it was snack time. Yes, we have a snack time every night- it’s my favorite! We always try to have healthy snacks like paleo banana bread muffins or toast or something else that’s not loaded with tons of sugar. On Friday, RM toasted up some Ezekiel bread, topped it with almond butter and my mom’s homemade blueberry jam, bananas, cinnamon and ground flax seed. Delicious!

After teaching on Saturday, I rushed home to shower and hit the road to head up to Jackson, NH to look at The Wentworth Inn as a possible wedding venue.

I had spoken with Kim, the fantastic wedding planner, a few times leading up to our visit and was totally in love with the venue before even seeing it in person! It was affordable, included a lot of things in the package that most other places didn’t include (90 minutes of full open bar at the cocktail hour?! yes, please!) and seemed like a great mini destination place since it’s just 10 minutes north of North Conway. I also loved that everyone could stay on site, which eliminated the need for us to need to book buses or vans or some other type of transportation. And, they source all of their food locally, from 15 nearby farms, to be exact, and they said nothing is ever frozen. For foodies like us, we loved the sounds of that!

After a tour and long discussion with Kim, we were pretty sure we were going to book our wedding at The Wentworth… on the 4th of July! They were giving a phenomenal discount to have the wedding on that day, one that was just too good to pass up, so we are going to be getting married on July 4th, 2016! We are hoping it doesn’t throw a wrench into people’s normal 4th of July plans, but since the holiday is on a Monday, we hope that people can do celebrating on Saturday and Sunday and be with us on Monday- I promise it will be a good party!

After our tour, we decided to walk to the Wildcat Tavern for a late afternoon snack and drink since we didn’t have lunch. The trio dip platter was a fantastic option and their wine selection was incredible! Ashley- they had La Crema by the glass 🙂

When we got back to our room, RM laughed and said we apparently didn’t need to get a snack. Curious, I went over to see what he was looking at and was so surprised by the super sweet gesture that Kim had done by sending us a nice card and a cheese platter.

It’s little things like this that really go a long way with potential clients- we appreciated it so much!

After resting for a bit, we went down to the hotel bar to have some dinner. They have a full restaurant, but we prefer the bar atmosphere. The food was unbelievable- I got the lamb stew and RM got the steak and everything was absolutely delicious and so fresh tasting!

We also shared some sort of apple tart with cinnamon ice cream for dessert that went unpictured because we were too impatient to wait for me to get my phone to take a picture 😉

Another great thing about the Inn is that breakfast and breakfast tip are included in your room rate. When we saw all that they had to offer for breakfast, we couldn’t believe it! They had a really nice continental breakfast bar with fruit, yogurt, cereal, pastries, etc., but they also had a full breakfast menu. We decided to split both of the specials: blueberry pancakes and eggs benedict, with a side of homemade corn beef hash.

Oh, my, God. Everything was so fresh and flavorful and just delicious.

We hit the road after breakfast so RM could be back in time to watch the game. I decided to make good use of time and went to Whole Foods. I treated myself to a smoothie since I was hungry for lunch at that point.

We decided we wanted to do a roast chicken dinner so I prepped that when I got back before going to a yoga class.

There is a CorePower Yoga a short walk from our apartment and last week there was a day where I just didn’t feel like going to the gym so I decided to check it out. They offer a free first week for new students which is an amazing deal, so I’m trying to get the most use out of it. Yesterday, the only class they had in a time that worked for me was their Yoga Sculpt class, which is almost like a yoga bootcamp. I really wanted a restorative yoga, but I ended up really loving the Yoga Sculpt class- we started and ended with nice yoga flows, but in the middle we used weights and did all sorts of lunges, pushups, squats, jumping jacks, burpees, etc…. I was totally in my element, even in the 98* room! I felt great when I left.

I popped the chicken and veggies in the oven when I got home and everything came out SO GOOD! I have never made a roast chicken before even though it’s my favorite meal so I was a little nervous but everything tasted delicious.

And that’s about it. If you made it this far, thank you!!

Now that we have our venue and date picked, I can focus on the fun stuff like dress shopping and invites and things like that! Feels SO GOOD to have the biggest part of wedding planning checked off 🙂

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Do you prefer beer or wine? What’s your favorite dinner meal? What do you have going on this week?

Five on Friday {11.6.15}

November 6, 2015November 5, 201511 Comments

TGIF! Seemed like you guys enjoyed last week’s “Five on Friday”, so I’m back again today with another round of it.

1. Over the past year or so, I’ve really started to enjoy painting my nails (except I’m way to impatient to sit still and wait for them to dry most of the time so I either end up with smudges immediately OR I put one coat on, let it dry, and then put the next coat on the next day.). I love shopping for new nail polish’s and it’s even more fun when my nails are all nice and long like they are now. Marshall’s and TJ Maxx are my favorite places to pick up Essie nail polishes because they are half the price they are at Walgreens! Also, my freshly shined bling just makes the whole thing even better 😉

2. We are going to Jackson, NH tomorrow to look at a venue that we are HOPING and PRAYING will be “the one”. Fingers crossed- think positive thoughts for us!

3. Is it me or do fresh flowers in the house just make everything better? We have two bouquets right now and I smile every time I look at them!

4. I did something last night I haven’t done in far too long: I went to a yoga class! I have been oddly sore this week and just had zero interest in going to the gym. Rather than push/force myself into going, I opted to take a more restorative approach to my workout by taking a class at CorePower Yoga in Newton Corner, which is conveniently a short walk from my apartment. I could tell it had been too long since my last practice because my head was allll over the place. So many thoughts running through my mind the whole class, which was really frustrating 😦 New students get a free first week so I hope to get back at least 2 or 3 more times- I could really use it!

5. I recently signed up to participate in The Resolution by PMC ride at The Club by George Foreman III on January 3rd. I joined the Just Keep Spinning team in connection with the team leader who reached out to me to promote the event. Brought to you by the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), the event will offer over 2,000 people the opportunity to participate in a two-day indoor bike-a-thon with the goal of raising $1 million for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. You can participate in the event either by yourself or by joining a team- all you have to do is raise $250 and the cool thing is that 100% of every raised dollar will go directly to Dana-Farber to support adult and pediatric patient care and cancer research. If you’re interested in joining the event, you can register here and you can either create a team, ride as an individual or join Just Keep Spinning and ride with me 🙂 I”ll be riding from 12-1pm on Sunday, January 3rd and I am SO excited about it! If you aren’t interested in riding, but want to donate to the cause, feel free to check out my donation page (that I’ve yet to update and personalize yet!).

Questions for you: Tell me something about you or your week! Do anything fun? Have any good workouts? Do you practice yoga? What’s going on this weekend?

Happy Friday!! Have a great weekend- chat with you next week 😉

Wednesday Workout: Hotel Gym DB Circuit

November 4, 2015November 3, 20153 Comments

Hello! Halfway through the week- woohoo! Last week I shared a quickie bodyweight hotel room workout that I did while I was in Milwaukee. Today, I’m sharing a dumbbell circuit that I completed in the small hotel gym. The beauty with this workout is you just need a few sets of dumbbells (can do it with just one set if that’s all you have) and a small space in order to complete.

I did my cardio beforehand so this doesn’t really have much traditional cardio, but if you work through the exercises quickly with little to no rest between rounds (always keeping good form- that’s more important than speed!), you should definitely break a sweat not long after you get going.

Goblet Squats– try and go heavier than normal with this exercise since you’re only holding one dumbbell. Hold the butt of the dumbbell in your hands (like you’d hold a goblet of wine ;)… or a bowl!), place your feet in position so they are about shoulder width apart, toes and knees in line and at about a 45* angle to help open your hips so you can get lower. Squat down and then press back up.
Push Press– You can grab heavier weights than you’d use for a strict shoulder press since you’re using momentum from the legs to help push the weights up. Start with the weights at your shoulders and sink into the legs and then explode up and press your weights up to the ceiling. As your arms come down, allow yourself to sink back into your slight squat/knee bend to catch the momentum of bringing the weights back to starting position.
Burpee->row->push-up->press- How about that for a combo move?! For this one, you’re going through the moves of a traditional burpee, but adding in weights and some extra pieces to it. With your weights in your hands, squat down keeping your back straight. When the weights hit the ground, brace your core and jump back into a high plank. Do a row on the right, then the left, then a push-up before you jump your feet back into your hands and come up in that same flat back squat position. At the top, instead of jumping, just add a shoulder press.
Deadlift w/row- Standing with your feet about hips width apart with dumbbells in each hand, hinge forward from the hips into a standard deadlift position. You want your knees to be soft (ie: not locked out), but you don’t want to be bending from the knees (that would be squatting). Make sure to keep your core engaged, shoulders pulled back and chest open so that when you hinge forward, there’s no curve in your back. When you’re in the hinge position, squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull your elbows up & back. Release, come to standing & go again.
Up, Up, down, down plank- Starting in a high plank position (core engaged, shoulders pulled on your back, shoulders, elbows and wrists in line, neutral gaze & straight line from your head to your toes), drop to a low plank one arm at a time. Press back up into a high plank and repeat. Try to make sure you switch leads (the arm going down into the forearm plank first) each time and try to make sure your core stays braced and you aren’t lifting your hips as you move from high plank to low plank and back up to high plank. Check out this video if you want a visual.

There ya go! I tried to hit on all the major muscle groups to get the biggest bang for my buck. Remember to do a proper warm up and cool down, as you should before and after every workout. I’d love to know if you try this!

Questions for you: Do you use hotel gyms or try to do something outside, in your hotel room or at a local studio?

Getting out of my comfort zone & getting my butt kicked {Studio Review}

November 3, 2015November 2, 20157 Comments

Good morning! As I mentioned on Instagram last week, I had the pleasure of not only being a student in the gym/one-on-one session, but also the pleasure of getting my butt kicked. I was contacted by the Meghan, the owner of Foster Fitness, to see if I wanted to come check out her gym. Little back story- her soon-to-be father in law is a managing director at my office and knows how much I love health and fitness and knew we would get along so he gave her my information. Long story short, he was totally right! Between our love of fitness and both being newly engaged, let’s just say we had lots to talk about 😉 But don’t worry- we didn’t just talk- she lead me through one heck of a workout, too!

Let’s just say that Meghan does what’s always been my dream: she owns her own gym and runs classes and does some one-on-one training. Due to my crazy schedule, I was having a hard time getting to a class so I asked if there was any way to do a one-on-one training session and lucky for me, she agreed, so I went there on Thursday afternoon feeling so excited to try something knew. My co-worker told me that he told Meghan to challenge me, so at least I was pre-warned. Meghan had also asked me what I was looking to do and I asked her if we could go over some basic heavy lifts and get me more comfortable with barbell lifts and pushing me to get out of my comfort zone with regards to weights.

We started with a quick, dynamic workout before going through the workout. It looked a little something like this:

3 rounds of back squats with a 1 second pause X 10 reps and walking lunges w/DB shoulder press there & back. Since barbell back squats aren’t something I feel overly comfortable with, we kept it light-ish at 75lbs. It was encouraging because it didn’t feel super challenging!
3 rounds of 10 SLDL right & left and then 10 standard deadlifts with 35lb dumbbells & 10 sumo squats
3 rounds of 10 single leg hip thrusters right & left and then 10 double and then 10 chest press (I used 30lb dumbbells here)
3 rounds of 10 chest fly and then 45* angle chest press & 6 heavy step ups rt & lt
We finished with one hell of a killer set of sled pushes and then she had me do push-ups for the amount of time it took me to push the sled down and back. The kicker? I had to do as many rounds as necessary to get to a total of 50 pushups. Luckily I did it in 3 rounds!

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