Link Love #42

This week is all about go, go, go for me. So that’s exactly what I’m giving you—some quick link lovin’! Enjoy 🙂

Health

7 Signs You Should Eat a Burger, Fries, & Even Ice Cream – Lifting Revolution

7 Signs You Should Eat a Burger, Fries, & Even Ice Cream – Lifting Revolution
Why You’ll Fail At Losing Weight – Workout Nirvana
Chronic Inflammation and Turmeric Ginger Lemonade – Cotter Crunch
A Note (Rant) on Fattism & Fat Shaming – Food & Nonsense
If Mama ain’t healthy–ain’t nobody healthy. – Carla Birnberg

Fitness

5 Ways to Truly Brace Your Core – Trainer Paige

5 Ways to Truly Brace Your Core – Trainer Paige
10 Reasons Why You’re Not Getting Results in the Gym – FitKnitChick
Partner Plank Resistance Band Pull Downs! [Workout Video] – Powercakes
5 Ways to Get a Strong Stomach – Running Rachel
HIIT + Abs Workout – Reach Your Peak

Food

Inside-Out Grain Free Oreos – Fit Foodie Finds

Inside-Out Grain Free Oreos – Fit Foodie Finds
Most Ridiculous Breakfast Sandwich Ever – Bev Cooks
Blueberry Pie Bars – Averie Cooks
Spicy Salmon Sushi Bowls – Heather Christo
Whiskey Braised Short Rib Flatbread – How Sweet It Is

Food for Thought

What was one of your favorite posts from the past week?

Link Love #38

Yesterday was one of those days that I’m not really sure where it went. I know I had a killer workout [partially thanks to 2 days of rest!], delicious breakfast, and went to work. And from there, the rest of the day flew! Work was nuts thanks to a huge Memorial Day sale. But I love that.. keeps me running around and the time flies by like nothing! It was a pretty darn good day and I came home absolutely pooped. And now it’s time to really kick off the week. Happy Tuesday, friends!

Health

We All Need to Rest – The Lyons’ Share

We All Need to Rest! – The Lyons’ Share
Immunity Boosting Recipe:Tangy Broccoli Slaw Salad – Cotter Crunch
Are You Unknowingly Holding Yourself Back? 5 Reasons We Fear Success – JillFit
Why It’s More Than Okay To Have “Fat Days” – Lifting Revolution
Pre-Workout Nutrition: What do we need and why?! – The Little Honey Bee

Fitness

Cardio Core Workout – Pumps & Iron

Cardio Core Workout – Pumps & Iron
Lower Abdominal Workout – Jessie Loves 2 Run
Blast and Burn Circuit – Fitnessista
Pre-Wedding HIIT – Slim Sanity
5 training elements to include in every workout – FitKnitChick

Food

Sweet Tea Oven Fried Chicken Sliders with Jalapeño Cheddar Corn Slaw + Crispy Onions – Half Baked Harvest

Sweet Tea Oven Fried Chicken Sliders with Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Slaw + Crispy Onions – Half Baked Harvest
Almond Butter Cups Revisited – Peachy Palate
Double Chocolate Banana Bread Oat Bars {vegan and gluten free} – Ambitious Kitchen
Asian Lamb and Noodle Toss – Bev Cooks
Red Cabbage Smoothie – According to Elle

Food for Thought

What was one of your favorite posts from the past week?

Link Love #31

I have a random request for all of you, specifically those of you in the bay area: I’m looking for a Passover seder to go to next week. If you know of any places to go or have friends in the bay area that might know of anything, help a girl out! I’ll definitely be drooling over the recipes below next week.. 😉

Health

9 Traits Naturally Thin Women Have Towards Food – Lifting Revolution

9 Traits Naturally Thin Women Have Towards Food – Lifting Revolution
Why You Need More than One REST DAY – Cotter Crunch
6 Essential Truths I Learned From Winter Exercise Hibernation – The Sweet Life with Ericka
Effortless Eating: Nutrition Made Simple – Eat, Lift, & Be Happy
Transitions – Love Life Surf

Fitness

18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine – Greatist

18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine – Greatist
No Equipment Required Conditioning Interval Workout – Your Trainer Paige
Factoring Fitness At Work – Mom’s Little Running Buddies
Crank It Up {Workout} and Principle of Overload/Progression – Fit ‘N’ Cookies
60 Minute Boot Camp Workout – Peanut Butter Fingers

Food

Avocado Citrus Crunch Salad with Oat Croutons and a Buttermilk Drizzle – How Sweet It Is

Avocado Citrus Crunch Salad with Oat Croutons and a Buttermilk Drizzle – How Sweet It Is
Goat Cheese and Brussels Sprouts Skillet Pizza – Love & Olive Oil
Salsa Verde Chicken and Black Bean Burritos – Bev Cooks
Carrot Cake Banana Bread with Thick Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting – Ambitious Kitchen
Brussels Bacon and Leek Fritters – Bell’alimento

Food for Thought

What was one of your favorite posts from the past week?

What I Ate Wednesday #73: A Quick Recap

Have you entered my Peanut Butter & Co. giveaway yet?

I have to be honest, I don’t have much sugar to coat yesterday. It was just one of those not-so-awesome homesick kinda days. But like I told my mom, at least my food was good! When you’re someone that enjoys good food, that counts for something, right? Right. So let’s get to it, shall we?

[Breakfast]

Beautiful, no? 😉

I found these quick, 3-ingredient pancake recipes on Whitney’s blog the other day and just happened to have half of a sweet potato leftover from Monday night’s dinner. I played around a bit, adding some spinach, a couple peanut butter chips, and doing 2 egg whites instead of 1 egg. Of course it was topped with more coconut cashew butter and chips. Heavenly.

[Lunch]

You know it’s homemade when it falls apart more and more with each bite!

Monday night I made chipotle black bean burgers and they were awesome [even Nathan approved]! I was feeling a sandwich for lunch and decided to whip up some almond flour sandwich thins. I made a half batch [12 total at 2 tbsp per thin] and they turned out great. I layered up some kale, red pepper, chipotle ketchup, a little parmesan, and avocado with my burger and pretty much ended up scooping everything off the plate by the end haha.

[Afternoon Snack]

It’s hard to make this look pretty..

The chocolate brownie Quest bar baked in the oven at 375 for 5-10 minutes honestly tastes like a brownie. And brownies need coconut cashew butter, right? I think I need to find the Cookies N Cream bars!

[Dinner]

Alright, not the prettiest again.. really tasty though!

The recipes from Half Baked Harvest have been on my weekly menu for weeks now. They’ve pretty much all been winners and this one pot Cincinnati chili is no different. I made it early in the day, let it simmer on the stove for a few hours, and added some frozen roasted corn and kale at the end. I served it over zucchini noodles and threw some cashews on top. So easy and so many leftovers!

[Evening Snack]
An apple. Again.. and a few PB M&Ms because they’re the best.

Food for Thought

Are you a Quest bar fan?
Is there a blogger that you’ve found and consistently loved their recipes?

Will Run for Beer

Have you entered my Peanut Butter & Co. giveaway yet?

Well this was another relaxing and fun weekend! Friday night I met up with Kara for a drink at Prizefighter. I hadn’t been yet but heard that they were known for their cocktails. Since it was rainy, I was feeling something nice and warming and opted for the Nuevo Viejo.

I could use some help on my cropping skills.

We met up with Nathan at Summer Summer for some delicious Thai food for dinner. And lucky for us, they had a good amount of options on the happy hour menu.. cheap date 😉

Saturday was pretty laid back. It’s been raining constantly since Thursday so that doesn’t really make for fun times outside. We went out again for dinner to get out of the house and revisited The Bureau 510. I got the Mother Nature sandwich that I was eying the first time and it was great.

Grilled tofu, avocado, alfalfa, onion, red pepper spread, butter lettuce, lavash whole grain

I also got an awesome package from Caitlin and immediately had to dig into my goodies!

She’s the best!

Greek yogurt mixed with TJ’s chocolate coconut milk ice cream, topped with a sunbutter GoMacro bar and a few PB M&Ms. Perfect night time treat!

Yesterday I braved the rain and met up with Melissa, another Tone It Up-per, for the Park Chalet Beer 5K. Being sick all week, I considered skipping out because running in the rain may not be the best idea, but I was feeling much better so I decided to give it a go and I’m so glad I did!

We met some friends along the way

I’m usually not one for enjoying the rain, but there was actually something nice about it. Maybe because I was actually treating this as the fun-run that it was so I was just taking it all in. But that definitely deserved a brewski [or 2] afterward!

Cheers to finishing the run!

Those beers really did me in and I was happy to get home and into warm, dry clothes. Nathan took the reigns on dinner and roasted a beautiful bird! I added some roasted asparagus and naan on the side and heated up some korma sauce. Indian in a snap 😉

He knows his way around a bird!

Weekly Meal Plan

Saturday – Went out
Sunday – Roast chicken, asparagus, & naan with korma sauce
Monday – Chipotle black bean burgers, roasted potatoes, & side salad
Tuesday – Healthier Cincinnati chili over zucchini noodles
Wednesday – Leftover roast chicken with panzanella salad
Thursday – Black rice salad bowl with chipotle orange chicken, cashews, & feta [a repeat from last week!]
Friday – Valentines Day! We always work together on dinner and dessert and we’re still discussing our options.

We also have a new addition to the kitchen.. now we just have to hang it!

I could use some help with my chalkboard handwriting!

But now we won’t have to check the blog for reminders on the menu 😉

Food for Thought

Have you ever done a race or fun run in the rain?
What’s on the menu at your house?

Link Love #6

It’s been another week of some really great posts and I’m excited to share some of my favorites with you!

Health

What Makes Superfood Super? – Svelte

What Makes Superfood Super? – Svelte
This is your body on sugar | the science behind food cravings – fitknitchick
Counting Calories Is Flawed. But Here’s Why I Still Do It. – Greatist
Let’s Be Real: Before & After Photos Are B.S. – MindBodyGreen
Not Happy is Okay, Too – Speak Happiness

Fitness

Burpees Everywhere – Life to the Full
10 simple tips for running your first half marathon – Run Wiki
The Best Exercises for Your Weightlifting Routine – Workout Nirvana
Motivation Monday: 5 Ways to Get Better Results from Strength Training – Cotter Crunch
5 to 50 Ab Workout – Pumps & Iron

Food

Loaded Greek Goddess Chickpea and Quinoa Pita Chip Nachos – Half Baked Harvest

Loaded Greek Goddess Chickpea and Quinoa Pita Chip Nachos – Half Baked Harvest
No Bake Elvis Bars – Oh She Glows
Healthy “Fried” Brussels Sprouts – Carrots ‘N’ Cake
Vegetarian Coconut Rice Bowls – Bev Cooks
Paleo Spaghetti Squash Casserole – SlimSanity

Food for Thought

What is your favorite post from the past week?

What I Ate Wednesday #51: Pinterest is My BFF

I really do have entirely too many recipes pinned and sometimes I get into a kick where I want to make everything! Unfortunately, most of the time I have high hopes and it just doesn’t pan out. This past week, however, I’ve been making, baking, and devouring! It’s been fun.. especially the devouring part 😉

For Lunches – Kale, Edamame, and Quinoa Salad from Ambitious Kitchen.

Kale, Edamame, & Quinoa Salad – Ambitious Kitchen

Kale, Edamame, & Quinoa Salad – Ambitious Kitchen

I pinned this recipe forever ago. Seriously, my board says it was pinned 43 weeks ago. That’s almost 11 months ago and I still had yet to make it! It looked like a perfect, summery salad so I added the ingredients to my shopping list and had this salad for lunch for two days. I added beets and feta on day one and left out the mango because it wasn’t ripe yet. Day two had the mango and beets, no feta. Either way, it was dynamite! A definite repeat.

For Dinner – Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa Salad from Bev Cooks.

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad – Bev Cooks

As good as it looks. Actually, it’s better than it looks. The recipe says that it serves 4 and after consulting with Bev, herself, it was noted that is for a side serving. I added some sweet potato to the mix and doubled up my side for dinner! Best of all, I had 2 side servings leftover which I’m turning into lunches by topping a bunch of swiss chard with it and adding a few extra things like tomato and mango. Another success!

For Snacks – Paleo Bread from Elana’s Pantry. Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Fudge from Ingredients of a Fit Chick.

Paleo Bread – Elana’s Pantry

I saw this bread in Gina’s post last week and was very intrigued by it. I’ve never made paleo bread before but the idea of bread out of almond flour sounded wonderful! I thought I had all of the ingredients but ended up having to sub half of the almond flour for brown rice flour when I ran out but it still came out great! I think I could have taken it out of the oven a couple minutes earlier since it is a little bit dry, but I guess that just means I have to smother it with peanut butter, right? 😉 [The other half of that broken piece in the middle didn’t last much longer than this picture!]

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Fudge – Ingredients of a Fit Chick

My sweet tooth has been out of control lately and when I saw this sweet treat a couple weeks ago, I knew it would come in handy! I love having snacks like this at my fingertips for when the cravings hit. Let’s see how long they last!

I have also found one of my most favorite salads at a restaurant ever. Most of the time when I order a salad, I’m disappointed by the size. I understand not everyone eats salads out of mixing bowls, but apparently at Looney’s, they are all for it! The picture doesn’t do the size of this salad any justice. Nathan’s friend told me if I couldn’t finish it, he would be happy to help. He must not know me very well..

Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken – Looney’s Pub

If you ever find yourself at Looney’s Pub, the Greek salad topped with grilled chicken is highly recommended!

Food for Thought

How often do you go back through the recipes you’ve pinned to make something new?

Are you a “normal-sized” salad eater or do you go for the mixing bowl?