This week's balance...

Week one, two, three & four...

Monday:  Greek Salsa

Didn't I JUST post on Friday about how I set a menu for the week and try to stick with it??  Well, here's already an example of how some days don't go as planned and of course it's the 1st meal of the weekJ  Plan = Salad.  Unplanned = a larger lunch of Greek salsa (and swooon, pita chipsJ) because I ended up with a few unplanned meetings and lunch became dinner with no time in betweenJ  

Life happens.

Tuesday:  Puffed tacos with Edamame guacamole + Trader Joe's fire-roasted peppers and onions

Also planned:  Lettuce wraps.  Too fun to ignore:  Puffed tacos.  These are already on tap for the menu this week too, because we COULD NOT get over them.  I don't fry in the house often or hardly EVER, but the 1 minute dip in hot oil with the corn tortillas just creates MAGIC.  Crispy AND pliable at the same time.  Magic, I tell you!

And the edamame guacamole was a combo of curiosity met with a bag of shelled edamame that needed to be used in my freezer.  Verdict:  it was fine ON something.  But as a chip dipper?  No, thank you.  Pass me the good old avocado guac, please!

Oh yeah...and there may or may not (or definitely MAYJ) have been a couple fried tortillas topped with cinnamon, sugar & a dust of nutmeg.  Because...do I need a reason?? 

 Wednesday:  Spinach artichoke cups + salad 

Also known as:  An excuse to eat (my favorite guilt free!) spinach artichoke dip for dinner under the guise of using up old, broken up wonton wrappers to make cups.

Thursday:  Cornflake chicken with Honey-mustard apple slaw

LOVED the coating and CRUNCH of this chicken!  I'm going to make it again ASAP, but this time with a more savory slaw, since that's ma jam.

Friday:  Lemon spaghetti + salad and a side of "The Office"

I LOVEEEEED this Giada recipe SO much because it was so simple & classic.  Just like Pam Beesly.

And yes...Friday dinner, especially cozy spaghetti, in front of the TV is just SOMUCH happiness.

Saturday:  Leeky, Creamy Chicken and Dumpling Soup

I'm currently LIVING for this soup...so much so that I just ate the leftovers for lunch and think I need to have a pot of this laying around for lunches EVERY week.  We slashed the heavy cream in half (used 1% for the rest) and it was just...homeJ Especially after a FULL day at yoga teacher training.  (more on that below)

Sunday:  Baked chicken chimichanga with mashed avocado

One of Scott's very own Pinterest pin picks and a great way to kick off Cinco de Mayo weekJ In full disclosure, I totally broke my side salad rule in favor of another one of these 'changas.  They were just toodamngood, but definitely not the smartest choice.  If I had one and a salad, it would have felt just as satisfiying.  

Oh well, onward!

Splurges:

Tuesday:  That cinnamon-sugar tortillaJ

Wednesday night:  1 scoop...

Saturday:  Mini Rocky Road Blizzard filled with marshmallow

Scott told me about the new 'core' blizzards last week and I wanted to try em ASAP.  But I gotta say that marshmallow center was kinda way too SWEEEEEEEEEEEET.  And I'm a gal who can HANDLE HER SWEETS!

Sunday:  Homemade cake pop at Katie's friend's birthday party...weeeeeee!

Other yummy recipes this week!

Broiled grapefruit with ginger-sugar & mint

And yes...still drinking my hot waterJ

My FAVORITETHINGEVER of the week:  Toast with hummus, diced marinated grilled artichoke hearts (Trader Joe's), diced kalamata olives & feta

This felt so super Mediterranean and was BEYOND tasty!   I had this with an orange for more breakfasts or lunches in the past two weeks than I can count.

Tone it Up Cucumber Rafts

I made these for an on-the-go snack, so it was a good thing I snapped the picture 'before' because as soon as I grabbed these on the go, they toppled over in the container and turned into a big pile of strawberry/cucumber messJ  But at least it was a tasty messJ

Sunday Morning Breakfast:  Olive oil lemon skillet cake with caramelized Meyer lemons

Made in my Grandmom's good ole skillet!  Double love!J

Even Lily was a fanJ

Exercise:

Monday:  Taught gentle yoga

Tuesday:  Tap class

Wednesday:  Power yoga

Thursday:  Kundalini yoga  (umm...intense.  In many ways)

Friday:  NONE!  Felt lousy.  Knowing when to rest is just as important as exercise!

Saturday:  Helped facilitate three yoga classes at this year's teacher training.  I feel so lucky to help the new group of teacher trainees and remember where I was a year ago.  Still so crazy to have gone through that amazing experience and actually BE a teacher THIS year.  I'm incredibly humbled & honored to be back there and experience it all again on 'the other side.'J

Sunday:  Tone it Up Beach Bod Workout + Inner and Outer thighs  Love those girls!  Even Katie likes when I put on the videos "with those 2 girls"J

Onward to a new week!J

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As always...thanks for reading!

By request...

 Wednesday Recap:

Breakfast:  Flax & Almond Meal Pancake with peanut butter & maple + 1 cup strawberries

Snack:  Luna Bar

Workout:  Power Yoga Class

Everyone in my classes have beens so sweet and surprised I'm still hangin in.  I tell em I'M still shocked myself what I can still do aka-haven't fallen over yetJ hahahahahhahaha

Lunch- 1 SMALL Fast Food cheeseburger
By the time I chatted with some peeps and left the gym, I was pretty ready for lunch and a few-days craving for a cheeseburger seemed like the perfect for a quick lunch (so I was more interested than eating than taking a photo by the time I got homeJ)  And since what I wanted was one SMALL burger (no fries), my little splurge clocked in at 270 calories!  Not a healthy/everyday lunch, but certainly not a break in the calorie bank.  It was just enough, I savored every bite and had no guilt since I had just what I wanted and stopped when I was done.  Weeeeeeee!


Dinner:  Whole Wheat Spaghetti 

The small burger somehow kept me full all afternoon, long enough to take Katie to play at the mall playground and to a make-up dance class.  And when we were on our way from class, she had one request:  SPAGHETTI.  And since Katie isn't usually much of a 'dinner person.' we were OK with granting her request, even if it was a bit off the Bikini SeriesJ...

She even photoed her dinner for you, blog-styleJ

Dessert:  Wednesday night Treat night

Brought to you from our take-home desserts from Kim's in the Mix.  And even though I kept bouncing back & forth between all of the amazing choices, my first instinct won out with my final pick of Wedding Cake....

Kim's somehow makes a basic vanilla/vanilla cake PHENOMENAL.  Vanilla flavor to the hilt.  LOVE.

And I managed to sneak a quick bite of Scott's Blueberry praline pound cake before he devoured the rest.  The pound cake was vanilla and dense layered with a bright center of tangy berries & crunchy praline...JUST. SO. GOOD.

The only bummer about treat night?  It was Survivor Final night too...BOO!  We always hate when Survivor's overJ  I guess Wednesday treat night will now be a night of catching up on "Ridiculousness,"  "Impractical Jokers," & "Inside Amy Schumer" nightJ 

Anywaysss....have a great Thursday!

How to avoid 'diet deprivation'...

Morning, all!  Hope you guys had a great weekend.  And much like most Mondays:  I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S MONDAY ALREADY!  This was definitely a 'get whipped up in a tornado and crash back into Monday kinda weekend'J  aka.- we were busy, but THANKFULLY, still got to relax a bit.  We got it kicked off proper with a trip Saturday morning to our fav 'brunch' place:  Tortilla 

Press...and um, a lesson in how much can change in under 2 years....

ANYWAY...

I had been thinking about it since I heard Katie's dance class was going to be cancelled for the weekend a couple weeks agoJ  So, yeah, I was excitedJ

We had all our favs, including the TODIEFOR cinnamon coated tortilla chips...

"Brunch nachos": aka- hash brown potatoes topped with peppers & onions, BACON, cheese, salsa, guacamole & sour cream....

And my 'savory' pick of the day:  Chilaquiles with a side of chorizo coins...because I seriously CAN NOT get enough of ALL THE CHORIZO! 

I enjoyed all of that while STILL managing to not go overboard and left 'just full' rather than "OHMYGODSTUFFED," which felt like a victory unto itselfJ  Scott was even surprised just HOW full he felt, even though he ate quite a bit less than usual.  He was full right until dinner, but I needed myself a mid-day pick-me-up in the form of this Blueberry Muffin smoothie.  This pic doesn't even do the beautiful purple hue justice...

Kristin had posted a recipe for a Strawberry Shortcake smoothie on Friday and I was SOEXCITED to try it that I made it post-yoga for lunch on Friday afternooooonJ  The 'secret ingredient' to both the strawberry & blueberry smoothie is a 1/4 teaspoon of lemon zest, which really makes it magically taste like a baked product.  SOOOOOOOO GOOD!  Give both of em whirl!

We kept the rest of the weekend a balance of 'splurges & saves.'  The splurges being some brown butter coated popcorn on Saturday night, while we lounged around and played Mario PartyJ 

My Mom offered to take Katie for the night and in lieu of a wild night on the town (which, in our world, would really just be dinner & a movieJ), THIS was as far as we got to any partyinJ  hahahahahaha

We also savored up an Orange Saffron Cake for Sunday morning breakfast that Katie was VERY PROUD & excited to eat since she helped me make it...

A flourless orange-saffron cake topped with an orange, honey, saffron syrup, it was soooooo sweet, Springy and delicious!  We enjoyed every bite with NO LEFTOVERS since we made a 'quarter cake' recipeJ

And in the 'save' category, our dinners for Saturday & Sunday night were not one....

...but TWO rounds of lettuce-wrapped tacos! 

I was VERYCLOSE to having a 'moment of weakness' on Sunday night and asked Scott if he just wanted to order pizza.  Not because I REALLY wanted it, but because I just felt so BONE-TIRED after a day of cleaning out a room to make into Katie's new 'big girl' room that I just couldn't even fathom getting up to cook...even though I knew dinner was going to take less than 15 minutes to make!  (and if I only told you how much of that actual 'cleaning' involved me pointing and TELLING Scott where to move stuff/clean, you would wonder how I was so tired tooJ)  But Scott SAVED the BIKINI SERIES DAY and whipped up these tacos in no time...Hallelujah!    

Our two-big 'extra wins' with this recipe:  

1. We made each night's worth of them with less than 1/2 pound of ground turkey per recipe (vs. the usual pound we would normally use)
2. We swapped the sour cream for "Skinnygirl Sour Cream" which was just non-fat Greek yogurt mixed with a squeeze of lemon juice.  Now I'm not really a big fan of the sour cream/Greek yogurt swap ALL the time, but on these tacos, you HONESTLY could NOT tell the difference.  The lemon must cut the yogurt tang quite a bit, making it much more smooth & sour cream- like. 

The rest of the tacos were piled with avocado, a sprinkle (vs. a TORNADOJ) of reduced fat (I NEVER do non-fat!) shredded cheese, peppers, onions and black beans.  And when wrapped in a lettuce wrap (which I REALLY enjoy, actually), they make for a REALLY healthy/fun meal.  Again-there is TOTALLY a time & place for REGULAR sour cream, taco shells and all that fun stuff, but if you're not gonna REALLY miss them, why not just try a few of these swaps to just make em that much more healthy?  You can always have the FULL BLOWN tacos next time!J

  

Telling myself that I can ALWAYS have the 'full blown' stuff (and having it when I REALLY WANT IT!) at another meal keeps me from feeling deprived and wanting to try out the 'healthier variations' more often.  It totally makes the splurges & saves more easy to balance without any feelings of deprivation.  That, plus eating 5-times a day (on this series) keeps you full and your blood sugar balanced so you never really crash/feel super hungry leading you to be REALLYSTARVING by the time you pick what you're going to have when you sit down to eat.  And if you can stay out of 'that zone,' it's MUCH easier to make healthier/rational choices 98% of the time.  Definitely something I've noticed in the last 2 weeks of this Bikini Series.  ONTO Week 3! ...

Well, and after THAT ramble....

Have a good Monday, everyone! 

Weekend Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Desserts (Plural:)...

Morning, everyone!  Hope you guys had a great weekend!  We had a pretty quite one around these parts since, after being PERFECTLY FINE for dance class on Saturday, Katie came home and felt a bit under the weather and stayed there almost all weekend.  She was fine 85% of the time, but if she actually STOPS and does THIS at any point in the day...

...you know she's not feeling 100% since she NEVER slows downJ  It made for a good excuse to lay low for the weekend.  Aside from a heading out through the snow to get our taxes done on Friday and a trip to my yoga studio Saturday night, we kinda just hung around....getting a lot done in the meantime, which felt SOOO good!  Got so many odds and ends done just from putzing around the house and actually completing tasks that we had been putting off, that they all added up to feeling like we had organized almost the whole house without too much effort.  It always feels good when you can feel relaxed AND productive, ya feel me?? 

ANYWAY....we also had some good eats over the weekend (of course...), and I have a little of each course to show ya this morning.

Breakfast:  Angel Food cake french toast

Nothin says Sunday morning like an excuse for CAKE for breakfast, amiright?? 

This didn't need much but a few strawberries & a sprinkle of powdered sugar (and maybe some whipped creamJ) as a topping since, again: CAKEJ

Lunch:  Trader Joe's 5 Cheese Frusta

AKA.- folder pizza.  This total impulse TJ's purchase was a little decadent for a lunch treat but an oh-so-worth it/once in awhile one.  12 minutes in the oven and this delicious little number tasted fresh and full of spices and gooey cheese surrounded by a crisp crust that didn't taste like a freezer product AT ALL.  At least the 440 calories kept me full for the rest of the afternoon, so there's thatJ.

Dinners:  Tuscan Bread Soup & Caprese Chicken Lasagna

So since I had 2 heads of basil QUICKLY wilting on my counter on Saturday morning, I took, NOT EVEN KIDDING, about 45 minutes to whip up these 2 meals and then I was OFF cooking duty for the rest of the weekend.  How fabulous was that?????

First up was Bread Soup filled with kale & butter beans...

Complete with a "LOOK HOW THICK IT IS"/typical spoon pictureJ 

And then for Sunday dinner:  Caprese Chicken Lasagna, filled with sundried tomatoes, chopped artichoke hearts, shredded chicken and basil-spiked ricotta, this baby came together in near-minutes with the help of my food processor to give everything a quick chop.  Seriously, the 'hardest part' was poaching and shredding the chicken.  The rest came together SO FAST.

And I can't even TELL you how happy I was when, come Sunday night, all I had to do was pop this in the oven for about an hour.  Sigh...BLISS.  I love to cook, but I ALSO love a homemade meal with minimal effort even MOREJ  (and in even LESS effort news:  The recipe makes enough for 2 meals...YES!)

Desserts:  In the homemade corner:  CANNOLI POKE CAKE

I took my HALF-A-CAKE plan even smaller and made QUARTER CAKE for less leftovers (just halved the HALF recipeJ)  Condensed milk soak cake topped with a ricotta & marscapone cannoli cream, this one was swoon worthy.  (although still can't top the COCONUT varietyJ)

And in the non-homemade corner:  Scott & I had a little sampler party on Sunday night of Ben & Jerry's latest CORE flavors...

Flavored ice cream circling a cookie core center...

...we loved every sample...buttttttt I have to say the Boom Chocolatta! with the chocolate center was definitely the fav of the three.  I'm not really a chocolate ice cream person, so let that speak for itself!

So how's that for a trifecta for ya?  Think I got all your meals and very important chocolate courses coveredJ 

And I thought most of ya'll would be happy to know that one of my MAIN 'chores' for the weekend was the final strip down all of my St. Patty's AND SNOWMAN decorations for the season.  I'm not necessarily sure I've EVER been so excited for spring.  Not because I was particularly overly tired of winter, but just because I'm excited for all things pastel & sunny.  Definitely Katie's faultJ  So hopefully I'll help swing the tide of the temperatures and we'll see some warmer days soon.  Gotta get out all the bunnies & chicks out today to maybe swing the tide even MORE.

Have a good Monday!J

Celebration: Coconut...

Morning, everyone!  How was your weekend??  Mine feels like a bit of a blur at the moment, since it went by so fast (cause, ya know, I'm sure I'm the ONLY ones who feels that way on Monday morningsJ)  It was a pretty gloomy and overcast one around these parts, but thankfully all of the 'celebrating' we planned on doing was inside. 

First stop Saturday night was a trip to one of my fav restaurants, El Tule, in Lambertville, NJ...

Now just pretend the above picture was taken at night after a drenching rain storm that left the area in a bit of a gloomy fog and that would be more accurate photo of our eveningJ

Thankfully it was nice & cozy inside.  And to start the night, the one thing I KNEW I needed in my life at the moment, and the reason I finally narrowed down my birthday dinner to El Tule, were THESE:

Chirizo Nachos, you have my heartJ  The chorizo gives em just a little extra hit of spice that makes these oh-so-happyJ  These could have just been my dinner entree and I would have been happy.

But what made me even HAPPIER was when I realized my favorite 'brunch item' was actually part of their dinner menu, just disguised as 2 entire entrees rather than a little of each.

The Aji de Gallina is tender, shredded chicken in a mild, yellow pepper sauce.  Something about it is just so dreamy when mixed up with the white rice to soak up all the sauce.  So glad to know it's on the dinner menu (and you can also get the 'other half' of the brunch menu in the lomito saltiado aka. meat & onions in a red sauce)

And for dessert, the entire table got a round of tre leche cake (cake soaked in three milks) and let's just say no one went home unhappyJ

And the party continued right on till Sunday morning with some Coconut-crusted french toast with coconust syrup (which was pretty unphotogenic, so it's not pictured hereJ) 

And after a dinner of FAB garlic & honey BBQ boneless wings from Wings on the Go, we finished off the weekend with some COCONUT POKE CAKE... 

Coconut cream & condensed milk soaked vanilla cake topped with coconut-laced whipped cream and MORE coconut....ohhhhhhh, I was one happy girlJ

And thankfully Scott masted making Half-a-cake, so we don't have tooooo much of this little guy laying around since it could EASILY be breakfast, lunch & dinner todayJ  But, as usual on Mondays, it is BACK to the grind today, no coconut involvedJ  Hope your weekend was just as tastyJ

Have a great Monday!J