Food + Fitness

Things are looking a little different around here, right? How do you like the makeover? For my first post under the new theme let's have a recap of last week.

I was really excited about Monday's run. Last week I broke my 10 minute pace and I was thrilled to keep it up on the 2 mile run on Monday. I also completed a 15 minute Tone It Up yoga routine to try to stretch out my leg. I noticed my right calf was a tad painful and I didn't want it to get worse.

Weekly Recap: Food + Fitness

My week was essentially this: wake up, drive, do lawyer-y things, drive home, run, eat dinner, fall asleep on couch while watching Suits, wake up to shower, go to bed. Repeat four times. Today I finally had an office day and was able to catch up emails, motions, and other documents that probably should have been done earlier in the week. Oh well. I also finally settled a case that I have been trying to settle for...5 weeks? Okay. 

Anyway, here is my weekly recap of some food and fitness.

Last Saturday was a bit of a binge for my husband and I. We woke up and had some delicious lemon and cheese pastries--I had lemon, he had cheese--from our favorite local bakery.  These things are massive and delicious to the last morsel. That glaze on top? Mmmm. We skipped lunch because one of us (not me) ate two pastries for breakfast. But for dinner we were in the mood for raclette so we broke out the raclette grill, boiled some potatoes, picked up some meats, and began melting cheese.

Is there anything better than melted cheese? Also, yes, sometimes we use our finest chinaware AKA paper plates. Don't judge me. Who enjoys doing dishes?!

Sunday was spent working on the miniature dollhouse with my mom. Afterward my dad surprised us with a delicious steak dinner. He really went above and beyond. I enjoyed every bite and it was fun to have dinner with my family. We ended the night with some ice cream from my favorite ice cream shop (which I stop at almost every time I visit my parents). 

Monday was the beginning of this loooong work week. I decided I need some extra oomph to get going and I made a slice of whole grain toast topped with smoked salmon and avocado. I'm such a millennial, right? I kid you not, I had this breakfast three times this week.  

Lunches throughout the week were the ReadyPac Bistro salads I blogged about last time. I am obsessed with these salads but you can check out that post for more info.

I'm super proud of my workouts this week because I was pretty consistent. I went for a run three times during the week and did some other workouts on the other days. I know that might not sound like very much but for me it's a big deal and is very consistent. I've been using MapMyRun to keep track of my runs/walks because I think it will be nice to be able to look back at prior runs and see if I improved with time/distance. Right now I try to stick with 2-3 miles and a mix of running and walking. Unfortunately, it's supposed to be super hot out this coming week so I'm not sure I'll be able to get my runs in but I'll try my best. 

Yep, that says my average pace is 14:04...I'm super slow. But I'm faster than I would be if I stayed sitting on my couch! I want to work up to running the full three miles and then try to bump it up to five miles. Not sure what I'll do after that but for now those are my goals. I learned that running outside is SO MUCH harder than running on the treadmill. 

For my other workouts I incorporated some jump rope (yes I bought a jump rope off Amazon for $6) and Tone It Up. I recently got their app on my phone and I have been having fun following the daily workouts. I did the I'm With the Band workout (which incorporated training bands and was a totally glute killer) and I really like the check mark screen that comes up after you complete the workout. It's immediate gratification for completing your workout! And yes, I put it on my instagram stories. On Thursday I tried to complete a jump rope workout I found on youtube. I was SWEATING hard core and it was so gross.  But it was satisfying at the end so...all was good!  

Now back to food. I also made a super easy shortcut flatbread margherita pizza. It was so cheesy and tasty and it allowed me to use some of my basil from my herb garden.

I also made mushroom and green bean risotto this week because I was craving something creamy. It was super tasty and shockingly low calorie for the creamy deliciousness it was.

On to the weekend! How was your week?

Weekly Roundup: Food + Fitness

Ughhh. This week I contemplated not even putting up a Weekly Roundup because I have been sick. And it wasn't the...

...kind of sick. It was the can't focus, can't think, body pain, fever, sore throat, coughing, no voice, knock out cold that had me thanking my lucky stars that I don't have any kids. Seriously, how do moms do it?! I can't remember the last time I was sick like this. 13 years ago?? Anyway, because my husband can fend for himself I was able to curl up in bed and just focus on getting better--and that's exactly what I did. He was so sweet though and did act as caretaker when it was really bad. I guess we did take that "in sickness and in health" vow. Glad to know he'll stick to it! Lol.

I first started getting sick on Sunday morning which kind of sucked because it was Easter and all and I was visiting with family. Not that I let it stop me. I came in second in the Adult Easter Egg Hunt (don't mock me) only because of a certain fall and my sister stealing THREE of my eggs. LOL. But when we left I had a massive headache, fever, and chills all at the same time. I went right to bed and then worked on and off from home over the next two days. Food and fitness just wasn't a priority this week. But I will share some highlights, because consistency is key to establishing a blog serious, right?

Food

To be honest, most of my meals looked like this:

Yep, LOTS of tea consumed over here this week. On the plus side, the tea I was guzzling was imported to the United States from England's Fortnum & Mason store where Husband and I had our tea tasting during our honeymoon. It had the authentic taste and transported me right back to London so it was a really nice (and tasty) way to distract myself from the nastiness I was feeling physically. And I got to break out my rarely used high school mug, so that was nice. I could live at Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly if they'd let me. I have a major obsession with their "hampers" but I won't buy one because they are so expensive and I can't imagine the importing would go very well.

As for meals, I honestly can't remember what I ate when over this week. I know that one of the nights I had some leftover Easter ham and mashed potatoes, which were delicious. We also grilled up some burgers (tonight) which has me soooo excited for summer. I cannot wait for summer cookouts, barbecues, and just grilling various dinners and hanging outside. Obviously it's too cold to grill in the winter so I'm super excited that the weather *should* be getting nicer. Any day now...

Husband is such a good doctor. He obviously knew I was sick and he surprised me with the "Doctor's Orders" AKA matzo ball soup and potato latkes. I neeeeed to learn how to make matzo ball soup. It is so delicious. I don't care that I'm not Jewish. Whoever said chicken noodle soup is the sick soup was wrong. Matzo ball soup is so much better.

And because I was too lazy to pack lunch this week I did stop at Chik Fil A after my doctor's appointment on Wednesday. When Husband saw the Chik Fil A bag all I could say was "I'm sick" and duck under the covers. Such clean eating, right??

Fitness
As for Fitness, if you count burrowing under covers, coughing excessively, and walking from the bed to the couch as a workout then I worked out A LOT. If you don't think those things qualify (you'd be right), then I did a whole lot of nothing.

I'm not 100% back to normal yet--I still have a decent cough--but my throat feels like it is functioning again so I'm hoping to get to the gym this week just to do a slow jog. I didn't need to get sick this month. My tough mudder is in like....a month! I need to be training! Lol.

Weekly Recap: Food + Fitness

Let's just say last week's food and fitness wasn't recapped because it was my husband's birthday and...well, birthday cake. And birthday french fries. And birthday cheesecake. And birthday macarons. And birthday Cheesecake Factory. And well, you get the picture. Suffice it to say there was an overwhelming amount of food and an underwhelming amount of fitness.

Luckily, this week was better. Sort of. If  you count getting back on the wagon Wednesday night as being back on the wagon. Oh well. I was out and about most of the week because one of my cases started trial and the partner I work for was handling that so I handled the other appearances throughout the week. That being said, there some tasty eats this week!

FOOD
For example, this parmesan garlic chicken with brussels sprouts:

It was a new recipe I tried from Delish.com, one of my go-to websites for food inspiration, and it was very "delish" indeed!

Other food throughout the week included a really delicious yogurt drink from Lush. I had never had it before but I figured you can't go wrong with strawberry and raspberry. It was so tasty and its also made from a dairy in Georgia that uses only grass-fed cows for the milk. It tasted just like my favorite Strawberry & Creme Frap that I used to get from Starbucks so it was really satisfying but only had 230 calories in it.

I also enjoyed Fawen Cauliflower & Broccoli soup with turmeric. I stumbled across it when I was in the soup aisle a few weeks ago and was intrigued by their bottled hot or cold "grab and go" capability. Naturally, I brought one with me on a court day and drank it cold. It was really tasty and the perfect lunch while I was driving down the turnpike. Then I used the second one to try warmed up in a proper bowl. It was also good--although--it's not the most beautiful soup you'll ever eat. Maybe that's why it comes in a non-see-through package! Lol.

FITNESS
Three days of workouts is not so bad, right?? Lol. I did some sprint splits on the treadmill on Wednesday night, which resulted in both my arms and legs being sore yesterday...and today. Am I the only freak who loves the feeling of soreness? Probably. Anyway, Husband joined me on Wednesday and I sneakily took this stunning photo of him on the stair climber machine. He would kill me if he knew I took it...oh well, #bloggergonnablog!

I did a little (emphasis on little) rowing too. My gym just recently got this machine and I'm slowly becoming obsessed with it. It reminds me of when I saw The Notebook and decided I wanted a house on a lake so that I could row every morning. Lol at that dream. Maybe one day! I like rowing because I CAN REALLY FEEL IT.

Thursday was gorgeous out--it made it past 60 degrees! Husband and I took advantage of the fantastic weather and took a brisk walk outside. Can I just say how nice it was to be able to open the windows and screen door again? I can't wait for it to be nice like that all the time. But of course, today is Friday, Good Friday in fact, and alas it is rainy. As I type this I'm watching the rain fall. Tonight feels like a 50 minute cycle kind of night.

So, how was your week? Did you have any good food? How about good fitness?

Weekly Round Up: Food and Fitness

So let's get into the first Weekly Round Up. Some food highlights for the week:

Monday. I made a point to actually wake up early on Monday and fix myself a proper breakfast. It ended up being too much food (I ate less for lunch because I wasn't that hungry) so the southwestern style egg with avocado and yogurt was a filling and delicious start to my week.

Tuesday's dinner was something new. I learned that cinnamon and chicken is best left...in separate dishes. We tried a sheet pan dinner with cinnamon-seasoned chicken, sweet potato, apple, red onion, and brussels sprouts. It reminded me of fall so maybe the dish would have been better if I was eating it September, October, or November. I did learn one thing though--brussels sprouts are delicious! I have been missing out!

Mmmm brussels sprouts..

Wednesday's lunch was a tuna salad stuffed avocado. It was delicious! I LOVE avocado and I would eat it with literally anything but the tuna salad stuffing was scrumptious.

Thursday I made some delicious peanut butter granola bites. They were made with only 5 ingredients (Quaker Oats, prepackaged granola, peanut butter, honey, and a bit of chocolate chips) and required literally no baking/cooking...so they were so easy to whip up in no time at all. These make the perfect breakfast, pre- or post-workout treat, or on-the-go bite and I plan on keeping these on hand constantly to fuel my snacking addiction.

Friday was some pork, red potatoes, and green bean dish. Pretty standard and a good go to.

Workouts were a little less exciting this week...I only did three. On Tuesday I did a 30 minute vinyasa yoga flow followed by the Cha Cha Slide plank challenge. That was much harder than you'd anticipate! On Thursday I did a quick 30 minute run. This morning I did an hour's worth of yoga and now I'm sitting here thinking to myself girrrl you're going to have to do better than that! No excuses but I hate going to the gym this time of year because then I don't get home until late and all the parking spaces are taken at my apartment complex. I literally cannot wait for the weather get nice again so I can just run outside.

Trying Something New - Weekly Round Up: Food + Fitness

Hooray! Something new here on the blog! I'm thinking of starting a new weekly post series here on the blog called Food and Fitness.

Why keep track of food and fitness?
If you follow my Instagram at all then you know that my time is pretty much split between the office, driving, eating, working out, nail polish, and my cross-stitch project of the moment. I spend so much time with food (I do all the cooking at our place) and I would love to start sharing some meals that we try. I would also love to have posts where I could get tips, inspiration, recipes, and feedback from visitors here on the blog. After all, everybody eats! Plus, I think blogging about the meals and workouts will help hold me accountable throughout the week so that I keep motivated to make healthier choices.

What kind of food will these posts have?
I'm not a picky eater. So these posts will likely feature the variety of lunches, dinners, snacks, desserts, and maybe a few breakfasts from throughout the week. I don't have any food allergies and I really do eat ALMOST anything (except cilantro, ick!) so there should be a variety of food choices and meals. If you're looking for some food inspo, perhaps these posts can help!

What workouts do you do?
As far as working out goes....I'm not a pro. But I do like trying new workouts to keep things from getting stale. I switch it up all the time but I like to run, do yoga, row, cycle, HIIT, and do exercise DVDs. So we'll see which workouts I do throughout a week. I think these posts will definitely motivate me to complete some workout.

When will these posts go up?
Once a week. I'm thinking on a weekend day. Perhaps Saturday morning? I'm not sure. But I'm excited to start incorporating more lifestyle stuff to this blog and I hope you all find it interesting in one way or another!

I also think I might add in some bits throughout the week of whatever happened so maybe this series won't be just food and fitness. Who knows. We'll see!
As always, if you have any feedback, tips, advice, etc, I would love to hear it! Just leave it in the comments below or send me an email.