Garden Bug

The weather has been great today!!

I started the day with some coconut chocolate oats on my way to the gym!

I was almost done with it by the time I decided to take a pic.. wow. that looks sick—but it was really good I promise!!

I snacked on a Quest Bar between classes.

These bars seem to be all the rave lately… I like the nutritional stats on them but I wouldn’t say they taste as AMAZING as everyone raves. I bought a bunch of them a few weeks ago, and keep them in my car “just in case.” They are a good filler and I heard if you actually warm them up in the microwave they are even more amazing. They are also a little more pricey then normal bar but they are gluten free and all natural but have dairy, so they do bug my stomach a little.. soooo its up to you. I like them but don’t think protein bars should be or are a necessity in any diet but if you tend to be on the go a lot, these are a great option!

On my way home I decided it would be a good day to do some yard work before it gets too hot.

Here are some real life facts:

* I don’t like yard work. Never have.

* We haven’t touched our flower gardens (ALL 5) since we moved into our house 2 years ago!

* I don’t even have gardening crap. Just a shovel.

* I was sure I would find a dead animal or something in the “amazon”.

* All plants were dead.. besides a tree or two… not sure if they are actually weeds though..

I spent two hours digging out trees aka large weeds with a man shovel.

Lo and behold, I found some flowers and NO dead animal.

I’m still not done… but notice I filled my ENTIRE garbage can and then some! Garbage day isn’t untill next Tuesday…umph. On the bright side…1 out 5 flower beds almost done, I got a long way to go. I will admit, I kind of had fun doing it today and on the plus side got a little sun out of it! I think I may of gotten the garden bug! I’m excited to plant new flowers and all that jazz! {I know nothing about flowers…}

I better get some gloves.

Meanwhile, Tanner and Baylee played with the next door neighbors, who recently got a new toy! If you follow me on instagram you know this is a BIG deal….

T was in absolute heaven…he is obsessed with anything “Cars” and usually has a “ka-chow” in each hand!

After hard work, I was more then ready for lunch!

I had some sweet potatoes already cooked and in the fridge and I whipped up some tilapia and broccoli quick and threw some of the most perfect $6 raspberries ever and probably ate a few more while the tilapia was cooking.. I put my protein pb sauce on top of the sweet potato which was perfect in every way.

I had another quick salad with turkey, spinach, avocado and peppers before heading to teach a body attack class, which didn’t sit to well actually.. I think I just ate it to soon before class. 

After class I went to pick up the kids at grandmas house and she made us a great dinner! We haven’t seen her for awhile and I had good time chatting with her.

My friend tagged me in this video on facebook tonight and I think you will get a kick out it.

1. If you’re a Les Mis fan.

2. If you have a gluten/dairy allergy.

Do you like to garden?

Which protein bar/granola is your favorite??

Olympic Test

Happy Monday!!
I hope your week got off to a good start today, and if not, tomorrow is a new day right?!
We had a great weekend!

• Wicked
• Wheelers Farm
• Olympic Marathon

I know this picture has been posted on about a million other blogs, but how amazing are these women! Seriously. When Flanagan crossed the finish line and fell to her knees I just wanted to get down and crawl over to her and pick her up.I have never ran a marathon in 2:37? and probably never will..  What a team. They inspire me for sure!

• A hike with this handsome guy

This morning I had planned to go to GPP first thing but a certain little boy woke up at 4:30 am and demanded blues clues. Yep. Blues Clues. Three hours to be exact. I tried to fall asleep but was interrupted after every episode… MAAAAILTIIIIME….
I decided to push back my workout to a later time in the morning and made a little breakfast in hopes to catch a little energy.
Breakfast:

3 eggs + 1 whole egg, spinach, mushrooms, and peppers. Along with half of a frozen banana and almond butter that was devoured while my eggs cooked.
Mid morning I whipped up a protein shake to take on the go for post workout, along with lunch because I had some errands to run this afternoon and knew I wouldn’t make it home in time for lunch.

In the mix:

• 1 C. Almond milk Vanilla unsweetened
• 1/2 banana
• 2 handfuls spinach
• 1 scoop elite Egg Vanilla
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• Ice

Workout:
I went to GPP for the WOD then did a quick 3 mile run after.
Lunch:
I totally ate in the car while running errands- Lucky me even forgot a fork. Totally classy.

When I got home and got the twinners down for a nap I was craving cake.
Microwave Blueberry Muffin

I haven’t made one of these forever. Mainly because I only have ONE can of pumpkin left…

Mix together:

• 1/2 C. pumpkin
• 1/2 C. egg whites
• 2 Tbsp. Coconut Flour
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
• 3-4 drops of NuStevia Vanilla Drops
• 1/4 C. Frozen Blueberries

Cook in microwave for 5 minutes.
Workout #2
When Brent got home from work, I went to Body Attack and then did half of this workout I created earlier. I was sweating after just one round!
I have been loving watching the Olympic sprint competitions and wanted to see how fast I can push myself. Watching them has definitely been motivating to get my training in!

Ready, Set. BANG!
Dinner came after another fun park trip!
 
These two would swing ALL day if I would let them. I don’t mind taking them to the park everyday. It gets a little energy out for them and their excitement for the park makes me smile.
Dinner:
Dinner came together pretty quick.
Roasted yellow squash, simple spinach salad and some grilled chicken covered in Walden Farm Honey Dijon Dressing.


I am loving all the fresh veggies, I have collected from friends gardens… I really may start my own next year but I’m afraid plants come to my house to die.
Now, I’m just relaxing on the couch with a little Olympic Gymnastics. I should probably go to bed just in case someone wakes up again.. (he usually sleeps great, but lately I think he has just been dreaming blue clues.. or maybe cause it’s the only time of the day we have to actually watch TV?)
Pretty good start of the week!
Question of the day:
Which Olympian inspires you?
Do you have a garden?

Salmon Veggie Penne Alfredo

Today was GPP Birthday! We had a party all day long, with giveaways and free food to fuel and recover with pre and post this sweat fest!

source via gppfit.com

Janetha and I both tackled the workout first thing this morning! Here we are post workout. Very sweaty…. super sweaty.. it takes true blogger love to stick together for 2.2 seconds to take a picture. Okay not really… Bloggers take pictures regardless of the smelly, dirty, or sweaty, situation. Right?!


Here is a few of the besties post their workout. I pretty much lived in my sweat today. Yep.
I love this workout so much that it sounded more appealing to do again rather then running for 30 minutes tonight so I went back later and did it one more time.. Phew! Those rough boy squats were a bit tougher and uglier that 2nd round. 7 minutes of pure “heaven.”
LUNCH:
My twins LOVE noodles, and they pick around their vegetables. Today I combined them and they ate the entire bowl! It was pretty amazing!
Salmon Veggie Penne Alfredo
serves 4

Are you ready for this?
Here is a healthy alternative for a classic comfort food.
Ingredients:
1 pkg Brown rice penne pasta

For sauce:1 tablespoon smart balance butter
1/2 tbs minced garlic
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
Pinch of ground nutmeg
3/4 cup organic low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 container of chobani plain Greek yogurt
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Veggies/Meat: You can use any combination of veggies you have on hand. I had some left over salmon in the fridge so I used that but chicken or even canned tuna would work as well.

• 1/2 purple onion diced
• 1/2 C. mushrooms sliced
• 1/2 red pepper, yellow pepper and orange pepper
• 5 Asparagus spears diced
• Cherry tomatoes
• 12 oz. Salmon

Directions:

Prepare pasta by cooking according to package directions.
While pasta cooks, melt butter in a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook two minutes.
Combine xanthan gum and nutmeg in a small bowl; whisk in chicken broth until smooth. Pour into sauté pan, raise the heat, until sauce is at a simmer, whisking occasionally.
Add 1/2 cup of the cheese and whisk until melted. Remove pan from heat.
Whisk in yogurt until smooth. Remove from heat
In separate pan sauté veggies- I went with purple onion, asparagus, green, red and yellow peppers (Leave tomatoes out to top it off at the end.)
Heat up/cook your salmon.
Toss fettuccine with sauce then mix in veggies and salmon and top with cherry tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This dish is very filling. It has all and everything you need high protein, carb, healthy fats to get you through your afternoon. I love stuffing as many veggies as possible into my pastas!
ENJOY!!
We spent the night hanging out at the park with cousins and grandpa. I love seeing these huge smiles on T and Bee’s face’s

PURE JOY! And yes, baby went swinging and sliding with  all night long.
Question of the Day:
What is your favorite pasta?
What gives you pure joy in your life?

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cake Cookies and A Smoothie!

Happy MONDAY!
Do you ever get an itch to workout?
I get that itch almost every Monday. I think I do because Sunday’s are generally my rest day and I’m just plain lazy. (I’ll get back to the itch in a minute..) I even made a to-do list on Sunday to keep me busy, but it got tossed to the side and we ended up going for a walk and making cookies instead.  Something about not being able to keep two TWO year olds inside for a long period of time, which usually backfires on my to-do list that is usually cleaning anyway..
A walk and cookies it is!

Gluten Free Chocolate chip Cake Cookies.
How is that for a title?

These babies were BIG. They had a soft cakey texture and were worthy of eating along a big glass of milk.
GLUTEN FREE Chocolate Chip Cake Cookies
Yields about 16 cookies
Adapted from here
Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 C. Gluten-Free Flour (I used Bobs Mill)
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/4 xanthan gum
• 3/4 C. Apple Sauce
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 C. Firmly packed brown cane sugar
• 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 2 C. Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
Combine Dry ingredients in a medium bowl (except chocolate chips, set them aside)
Combine wet ingredients into a large bowl
Slowly add dry ingredients by using your hand mixer at a medium speed, until creamy.
Stir in Chocolate chips.
Drop dough onto greased cookies sheet by rounded tbsp. or two
Bake for 9 minutes. Until Golden Brown

Let stand for about 2 minutes before digging in.

Amazing lightning, I know.. .(hey, it was 9:30 at night)
Going for walks is one of my favorite things to do on Sunday with my family.

We didn’t bring the strollers for the twins and they kept up pretty well! We even took a break on the grass for a bit, which turned into quite the wrestling match.


I just love these two.


By this morning I was ready to work hard,I had the “itch” and let me tell you, I got worked.

Workout with links of each exercise can be found here.
This was a new workout at GPP today, A new challenge, I was ready to push and that I did. This workout put me on the floor, and I feel good about it. I was able to complete the 4th round in 5:56. My goal was to sub six and I barely made it. Burpees and the lunge steps were the worst for me!
I came home and made this blueberry quinoa recovery shake! I changed it just a bit from Tina’s recipe.

In the mix:

• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 1/2 C. Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
• 1/3 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 scoop Elite Egg Protein (Smooth Vanilla)
• Handful of Kale
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal

It hit the spot! I’m pretty sure it was 100 degrees by 9am today. This kept me full for hours too! I was able to run errands all afternoon without even thinking about food.. (that never happens… I love food…)
By the time I got home I got the babes down for a nap and settled down with one big salad.

Packed full of veggies, which was glorious in every way.
I have even better news for the day.

I finally got a new PHONE!! No more shards of glass in my thumb/face.. scotch tape or putting people on mute during important conversations! It is an I phone miracle.
Question of the day:
What is your favorite kind of cookie?
How long does it take you to get the workout “itch.”

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

Yes, please!

This morning was a hot one, and after my workout I needed something to cool down with. I made this recovery shake and decided to have some eggs on the side for a little extra fuel for my busy morning.

In the blender:

• 1 1/2 C. Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
• 1/2 tsp. Chia Seeds
• 1 banana
• 4 Strawberries
• 1 scoop Elite Egg Protein
• 5-6 ice cubes

It was good recovery after spending my morning here:

After a mile warm-up run, It was time to take on the BAT.


Source
I felt up to a challenge today and used heavier weights and even ended up putting a #25 plate on my back for the planks! Phew! My arms are DONE!
I made it home just as Bee woke up. I love cuddling her in the mornings, she is calm and snuggly. As soon as she gets going she never stops.. neither of them do really… Not sure where they get that one.

I think we will spend a little more time at the park later, they had too much fun yesterday and can’t wait to go down the “weee” (slide) again.


Catch ya’ later!
You may be interested:
Cartwheels? via gppfit.com
Kate Beckinsale Workouts via fitsugar.com
Get your good going! via mealsandmiles.com