Where did my weekend go?!

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Oh, that’s right… 8 hours of it was spent at the South Station BSC. It’s amazing how much faster the weekends go by when a whole day gets taken away from you!  Let’s get caught up, shall we? I don’t have many pictures, so I apologize in advance for the wordy post!

The kickboxing exam went pretty well, I think.  I won’t know for another 4-6 weeks whether I passed or not, but I think I definitely passed the practical part of it.  The written part, on the other hand, was incredibly hard! All those joint actions and muscle talk is so hard to keep straight! I found myself doing the movements- awkwardly- while I was trying to figure out if a jab had a shoulder flexion in the execution phase. Bored, yet? The best part of the day was the instructor. Her name is Aimee Nicotera and not only was she incredibly knowledgeable (and jacked!), but she was hilarious and totally made us feel like rock stars… definitely helped to settle my nerves! Plus, she gave us some sweet hand wraps:

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I mean, I felt pretty B.A. when I had these on! I wonder what my students would think if I showed up to class with these on?! I might try it just to see their reactions…

I finished the exam around 5 and I promptly opened the wine I had chilling in the fridge for me as soon as I got home. I bought it for the name, but I’ll be honest, it was not my favorite chardonnay I have ever had. Now, don’t let that fool you into thinking I didn’t drink it… that is basically a sin in my family… no wine shall ever go to waste!

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I got up this morning and immediately felt every muscle I worked yesterday (love that)… I was especially happy when I realized it felt like I had done 200 bicep curls yesterday.  The bicep muscle is one of the antagonist muscles when throwing a jab, meaning it is working to retract the arm in the second phase of the punch, so that means I was punching correctly, yay! (again, thanks Aimee).

Best way to loosen up tight muscles? Head to the gym, of course! I NEVER get to go to the gym to do my OWN workout anymore, so I was so excited. Plus, the Wellington BSC just put in this awesome work area:

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It was like play time at the gym!! My roommate has a personal trainer so I did a couple of rounds of one of her workouts- killer! I am obsessed with TRX bands, but I could live the rest of my life without ever touching those ropes again:)  And, I was in Dynamax heaven when I saw all those balls! Anyway, amazing workout… I was especially happy about it when I saw the buffet at the Langham Hotel. Cafe Fleuri sure knows how to serve an unbelieveable brunch!! There was a sushi station, pasta station, omelet station, meat carving station, fruit station, crepe station… and a chocolate fountain. I died and went to foodie heaven!

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009Of course I had dessert, too, but I got too excited and forgot to take a picture.  If you’re in the Boston area and looking for a phenomenal brunch, definitely check out Cafe Fleuri… it is worth every penny!

Phew! That was a lot to catch you up on! I am hoping for a relaxing night filled with some cooking, a little wine and maybe even some TV! Really living on the edge now;)

Questions for you: What did you do this weekend? Busy or not busy? Go to brunch anywhere good? I want to know!

TGIF!

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Boy am I happy for Friday!  This whole week I was a day ahead, always thinking I was a day closer to the weekend than I actually was. The worst, right?! Not that I was really trying to rush along the week…I have my kickboxing certification from 9am-6pm tomorrow (REALLY not my ideal Saturday) and I am feeling nervous about that! I was tossing and turning all night thinking of the combinations they want us to know and how to cue punches and kicks (I call this Fitness Instructor Problems… any other fitness instructors have issues like this?!). Needless to say, I am a little sleepy today!

Let’s see… what have I been up to since I last checked in?  Ohhh, yesterday my coworker and I treated ourselves to lunch at Sportello for their “Lunch Box” lunch.

001I swear, this is the best lunch deal in Boston! You get either a full sando or a 1/2 sando and small soup, homemade chips or popcorn, a drink and a cookie…. all for $11!!! Incredible, really.  Since I was asked to sub the Total Body Conditioning class before teaching my regular Kickboxing class, I decided to get the full sandwich. I went with the Turkey instead of the veggie for extra protein… best decision ever! It was roasted turkey, cheddar, red onions, greens and some amazingly delicious ranch sauce. Toasted. YUMMM.

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I grabbed a seltzer water from the vending machine and was pleasantly surprised with this new flavor

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And, to top of lunch, I got us one of these bad boys to share:

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That, my friends, is a Maple Pancake Cupcake.  I don’t like bacon (I know, I am the crazy one), but the cupcake was just as delicious without it. WOW. (We may have done extra jumping jacks in class because of this treat!)

I wish every lunch could be as good as yesterday! Other than that, my day wasn’t too exciting. I did have a blast teaching TBC. We did 60 second stations (5 rows with a difference exercise in each row, 4 different rounds) and I think everyone liked it… I’ll be sure to post that workout soon:)

I’m teaching tonight and then will be at the South Station BSC tomorrow for far longer than I would like to be. Hoping the day goes well- these types of things stress me out so much!!

Questions for you: Have any good lunches this week? Bacon- love it or hate it? What’s on the agenda for the weekend?

A New Take to Leftovers

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Ugh. What a miserably cold, windy and rainy day! I am still not sure why I decided to wear tights and straighten my hair today (really, I had no real reason to do either of these things… except I didn’t wash my hair yesterday since I didn’t work out, so straightening it was the best option I had… shhh it’s not that gross!).  At least I had my cute Sperry Rubber Slip On’s on (does that make sense? I hate when 2 of the same words are next to each other in a sentence):

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That’s really all I had going for me this morning, though. The T was delayed and the masses of people ON the T was horrific. I don’t plan on going outside for the rest of the day:)

Anyway, I need to tell you about my dinner last night! Tuesday’s are my “rest” days from the gym, so last night I went home, did 30 minutes of self-practice yoga in my room and then thought about what I could have for dinner.  I wasn’t really in the mood for stuffed peppers or taco salad, but I did want to use some of the leftover pepper stuffing.  Enter: a “Taco” Quesadilla! This week, I ended up buying these wraps. They are the perfect size (most are so big!) and really low in calories so it’s a great way to get a little carb fix in without feeling too guilty about it!

All I did was layer a little shredded cheese on half of it, some of the taco mixture from Sunday and then a little more cheese.

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And, voila! A delicious and relatively healthy weeknight meal.  I didn’t even feel like I was eating leftovers- that’s the best part!

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Now, if only I had something a little more exciting for lunch… This week I have been getting back to the basics with healthy salads, greek yogurt and fruit. My coworker and I call this “Moe’s Leaning Tower Lunch”.

001It’s quite the struggle carrying all those containers from the kitchen to the lunch room (it’s a much farther walk than you would think!).  Broken down, it’s a salad with veggies, quinoa and goat cheese, dressing, greek yogurt (really liked the Hannaford “Inspirations” brand!) and strawberries. Yum, yum, yum! (and, when I have a salad for lunch, I feel like I don’t have to worry about eating as many vegetables at dinner time… please tell me I am not the only one who uses that type of rationalization…)

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I am excited to teach UXF Burn tonight- Hoping I have a huge turnout like last week.  I am feeling MUCH better and I am ready to kick people’s butts tonight:)

Hope you’re all staying warm and try!

Questions for you: Leftovers: love ’em or hate ’em? How is your week going?

My “Farewell” TBC Workout!

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As I mentioned earlier, I taught my last TBC class at the Allston BSC on Saturday morning. Since the workout was a good one (and sure to make your glutes scream a little lot the next day!), I thought I would share it!

This workout is definitely more designed as a “class” type of workout due to the length and format, but if you’re familar with taking classes (and even if you aren’t!), you can totally do this workout on your own or with some friends!  As always, honor your body and listen to it- I want you to push yourself, but I want you to be safe as well.

Farewell Workout!

Equipment: BOSU ball, Body Bar, Heavy & Light Weights, Mat

Please note: If you do not have access to all of these pieces of equipment, that is fine! As long as you have weights, you can still do this. Perform the moves working from Set 1 to Set 3, OR, you can pick a set and go through it 3 times if you prefer. Your choice!

Farewell workout set 1 Farewell workout set 2 farewell workout set 3

I apologize that these are a little hard to read, but if you click on them, they will appear in a new window where they will be clear and ready for printing!

Questions for you: What is your favorite gym “tool” these days? Exercise you’re loving at the moment? For me, I’m loving the Dynamax Ball and BOSU balls. Favorite exercise? 1 legged & 1 armed rows- holy core work to balance!

Stuffed Peppers and Taco Salad

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Hi there! I teased all of you with some pretty tasty looking pictures from our dinner last night, so I thought it was only fair to share the recipes with you!  Per usual, I did not follow a recipe and did not measure anything out, but hopefully you can follow along from the pictures and “make it your own” with some of my suggestions!

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Stuffed Peppers

I chose to use 3 peppers today.  I washed them, cut the tops off and cleared out the seeds. I decided to steam the peppers tonight, versus baking them or using the crock pot. I steamed them for about 10-12 minutes (I just went until they seemed to be getting soft… use your judgement!)

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While the peppers were steaming, I cut up the veggies.  Tonight, I decided to use peppers (didn’t want the top part to go to waste!), onions, broccoli and mushrooms. I sauteed these with a little EVOO, salt & pepper… and wine 😉

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017Once the veggies were 95% cooked, I added in some frozen corn.  After all of the veggies were cooked, I moved them to a bowl and started to cook the ground chicken (1 lb).  We found low sodium taco seasoning which helps to make this meal even a little healthier than it already was!

019Adding in some black beans is a great way to get in some extra protein! Once the chicken, beans and taco seasoning are finished cooking, add this mixture to the bowl with the veggies and mix everything together.

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At this point, you’re all ready to stuff your peppers! I topped mine with a little cheese and baked for about 15 minutes at 350*, finishing up with a little broil action to get the nice, toasted cheese on the top!

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Don’t they look so delicious?!  You’ll notice that the one on the left looks a little different… that is because instead of using the taco chicken and veggie mixture, I simply used some of the veggies (before I mixed in the taco chicken and beans), quinoa, goat cheese and marinara.  Lately, I have been making a batch of quinoa on Sundays so I can have it handy throughout the week to add to salads and other things, so I thought I would use some in a stuffed pepper.  I have to say, my sister and I both really liked this vegetarian version of the stuffed peppers!

Taco Salad

Simply take the veggie, chicken and beans taco mixture that you made for the stuffed peppers and serve atop a bed of lettuce. Top with some salsa and tortilla chips and you’ve got yourself a tasty, healthy taco salad!

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So, there ya go! This meal did not take long at all to put together and the cleanup was also minimal- loved it! Let me know if you make it, and feel free to shoot me an email if you want more specifics on anything! Enjoy:)