Foodie Friday: A Sarah Fit Breakfast

Something very strange has happened in my house this week. We’ve gone out for dinner almost every night! And suddenly I realized I didn’t have an awesome recipe to share for my Foodie Friday post.

I turned to my trusty friend, Pinterest, for an awesome breakfast idea (since I’m also out of all of my breakfast staples) and came across this bad boy. Breakfast quinoa? Carrot cake? Done.

It was a great decision. Such a fast prep and so tasty, I’m glad I have extra shredded carrots and quinoa ready for breakfast tomorrow too! I even went ahead and figured out the nutritional info so hopefully you’ll feel even more inclined to make this right away! And then head on over to SarahFit.com and thank Sarah for her delicious creation 🙂

Nutritional Stats
Per serving

280 Calories  /  8g Fat  /  46g Carbs  /  6g Fiber  /  11g Sugar  /  8g Protein

Giveaway Winner!

Congrats to Jennifer Shaw on winning a case of tortilla popchips! Please email me at Brittany@BarrAndTable.com with your address so I can forward it over to the wonderful people at popchips!

Jennifer Shaw says : September 28, 2012 at 2:14 pm
I love pop chips! I can’t wait to try tortilla, looks yummy!

And finally, a huge thanks to popchips for being an incredible FitBloggin’ sponsor and a great company to work with for this giveaway!

*Winner has until 11:59pm EST on Sunday, 10/7/12, to respond. If I don’t hear back from you, I will be choosing a new winner.

Foodie Friday: Garlic-Chipotle Love and a Popchips Giveaway!

If you haven’t already gathered from my last couple posts, FitBloggin’ was awesome! Part of what made it so awesome were all of the amazing sponsors.

One of my favorite sponsors of the weekend was popchips. Not only were the chips delicious (and kept us full all weekend), but the people were awesome too. Popchip rockstars, anyone? 😉
Skip to the giveaway!

With Mary, Kate, and Jami

They were there introducing the new line of tortilla chips and I can vouch for each of the flavors; amazing! The chips are light and airy, like the traditional popchips, but have the corn flavor, so you don’t miss a regular fried tortilla chip at all. When they asked if I was interested in doing a giveaway, how could I say no?!

Popchips teamed up with award-winning Chef Aaron Sanchez who created four recipes to pair with each of the flavors of the tortilla popchips and beer. The first recipe on the list caught my eye — Grilled Chicken Cemitas and Garlic-Chipotle Love with salsa tortilla popchips and Goose Island 312.

Just so happens, we have some Goose Island 312 in the fridge right now and who can turn down some garlic-chipotle love? Not us! I put my own spin on this recipe and am so happy to share it with you as it got rave reviews from my biggest critic (the fiancé, naturally)!

Fiesta Citrus Chicken and Garlic-Chipotle Love

Serves 2

Ingredients

Chicken
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
McCormick salt-free fiesta citrus seasoning [some more FitBloggin’ swag!]
Salt
1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 roma tomato, diced
1 100-calorie packet Wholly Guacamole

Garlic-Chipotle Love Sauce
8 garlic cloves
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 large chipotle in adobo, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Peel garlic and put the garlic cloves and coconut oil into an aluminum foil packet and place in the oven.

Season the chicken breast liberally with the fiesta citrus seasoning and a pinch of salt and let sit for about 5 minutes. Heat a pan over medium heat and drizzle with EVOO. Once the pan is preheated, place the chicken in the pan. At this point you should have a nice sizzle, but you don’t want the oil splattering; if it is, turn the heat down.

Cook the chicken on the first size for about 5 minutes or until it has a nice crust and then flip. Turn the heat down to medium-low after flipping to ensure that the chicken cooks all the way through the center.

As the chicken is finishing, remove the garlic from the oven. If you have a mortar and pestle, that would be the best to use. If not, you can just simply chop everything very fine. Mash the garlic, chipotle in adobo, lemon juice, and salt into a paste. I added about 1 tbsp of water to thin it out a bit.

Plate your chicken with some guacamole over top and the garlic-chipotle love sauce over that, and a sprinkling of diced tomato. I served mine over Israeli couscous with a side of coconut oil roasted brussel sprouts and broccoli and, of course, salsa tortilla popchips and a Goose Island 312.

Nutritional Stats
Per Serving

315 Calories  /  17g Fat  /  9g Carbs  /  3g Sugar  /  1g Fiber  /  31g Protein

Popchips Giveaway!

Popchips has offered to send one of my lucky readers a case of their new tortilla popchips! You have up to 4 chances to enter. Be sure to leave separate comments for each entry. Entries will be accepted through Thursday, October 4th, 11:59pm. Winners will be chosen Friday, October 5th.

1. Leave a comment telling me which flavor you’re most excited to try. (Mandatory)

2. Follow @popchips and @BarrAndTable on twitter and leave a comment telling me. (Optional)

3. Like popchips and Barr & Table on facebook and leave a comment telling me. (Optional)

4. Tweet “I entered to win a prize pack of new tortilla @popchips from @BarrAndTable! http://wp.me/p2mo7x-8Y” and leave a comment with a link to your tweet. (Optional)

*This giveaway is for U.S. residents only.

What I Ate Wednesday #18 – FitBloggin’ Eats!

This past weekend was spent at FitBloggin’ and it was a weekend full of fun workouts and delicious food. So delicious that I was often going back for seconds. But that’s ok because of all of the workouts, right? Right!

And you bet I tasted everything on the menu!

[Breakfast]

Friday – Sponsored by Weight Watchers Cheese

• Hot breakfast quinoa
• Cheese-stuffed turkey breakfast sausage
• Cheesy quinoa frittata
• Strawberry whipped cream cheese muesli [big time fave! I’ll be creating this one at home!]
• Fresh fruit
• Coffee

Saturday

• Oatmeal and quinoa bar with fruit fixins
• Hardboiled Egglands Best eggs
• Coffee

[Lunch]

Friday

• Puree of Celery Root Soup With Apple Mascarpone and Chive Oil
• Mixed Green Salad With Sliced Almonds, Cranberries and Pears in a Lemon-Champagne Dressing
• Five-Bean Salad With Chickpeas, Soybeans, Kidney Beans, Black Beans and Crisp Green Beans With Red Onion and Tomato in a Sherry Vinegar Dressing
• 15-Spice Slow-Roasted Chicken
• Prairie Grain Baguette with Roasted Turkey, Gouda, Butter Lettuce and Dill Aoli

Saturday

• Mushroom Tea Soup
• Local Greens With Shaved Fennel, Radish, Tomato Confit and Basil Dressing
• Quinoa Salad With Cucumber, Bell Pepper, Red Onion and Cilantro
• Broiled Salmon With Wilted Greens
• Grilled Mediterranean Vegetables on Focaccia With Hummus and Sprouts

[Snacks]

There were so many snacks in between sessions and after workouts that I couldn’t keep track. But they were all delicious and included some of the following:

• Hardboiled Egglands Best eggs
• Bagel thins with The Laughing Cow cream cheeses [Cinnamon cream cheese people! I need to find it!]
• SoyJoy bars
• Popchips! Soooo many popchips!

[Dinner]

We were on our own for dinner, so Friday night I met up with Nathan and we headed over to our favorite bar, Max’s, for German Beer Fest (so FitBloggin’-appropriate, right?!) I essentially had a liter of beer for dinner because I didn’t like the way the food menu looked. NBD.

P.S. Nathan did get another liter after his baby beer 😉

Saturday I went with a bunch of the lovely bloggers over to Blue Agave, a local restaurant with a Mexican-inspired flare, and had a house salad and a skinny girl margarita. Or 3. That gathering was followed by the FitBloggin’ reception, sponsored by Unilever. They passed some delicious bites, but my favorite was the orange-glazed turkey meatballs. They will definitely be making an appearance in my kitchen soon!

[Goals]
While my past few weeks goals have been fitness-oriented in pushing myself for a better time in future 5K races, this week I want to concentrate on food. I’ve definitely found myself falling off the healthy-eating wagon over the weekends (see the liter of beer for dinner above!), so I want to challenge everyone to a healthy weekend ahead! That’s not to say I won’t have a few drinks over the course of the weekend, but like the Tone It Up girls say, weekends make up almost half of the month. That’s a lot to fall off of the wagon! So let’s do this 🙂

Speak Up!

What are your goals this week? Do you have trouble staying on track over the weekends?

FitBloggin’.. It’s What’s Trending

I’m completely exhausted. I can’t walk or sit down. And I cannot stop smiling.

I had been looking forward to FitBloggin’ for months and was so psyched when the weekend was finally arriving. I knew it was going to be super informative and a good time, but I don’t know that I realized exactly how much fun I was going to have.

Over the course of 2 1/2 days, I spent my time working out, collecting swag, munching on some rather amazing food, collecting swag, listening to presentations, and, oh yea.. did I mention collecting swag?! I think I smell a few giveaways… 😉

Friday morning started bright and early with 6am yoga. And while everyone kept telling me I was crazy to be waking up so early when I was taking a day off of work, I knew I didn’t want to miss any of the workouts, and I’m so glad I didn’t! We also got a little taste of crossfit with 2 sets of AMRAP squats, sit ups, and burpees, and finished off with an awesome workout with Cathe Friedrich. If I had to choose a favorite, I’d go with Cathe’s workout; definitely left there sweating!

That last picture on the bottom left cracks me up! That was some sort of squatting shoulder push up and yes, it felt just as silly as it looks!

Saturday’s workouts were extra sweaty which I was totally ready for. Bootcamp with Erin from Power Fitness was by far my favorite workout of the weekend. When she said “don’t stop moving,” she meant it, 6am or not! She’s a pistol and I absolutely loved her!

Trampoline BOUNCEcamp with JumpSport followed and Jami was the only one brave enough to make a fool of herself with me. It was a good workout that got a little crazy at the end and I would absolutely do it again! The last workout on Saturday was ZUMBA. Holy moly was that fun! It was my first ZUMBA class and I let myself go!

The food on all weekend was great and we were quite ravenous after our workouts. Buffet style = going back for seconds!

I’ve already started planning some new recipes inspired by these meals and can’t wait to share them! (Mmmmmmm muesli!) And I definitely had my fair share of popchips. No complaints here.. they were such a great sponsor!

As for the biggest part of FitBloggin’, the presentations, I walked away with an incredible about of information that I can’t wait to break out. One of my favorite presentations was Harnessing the Power of YouTube by Sarah. I took the most away from her talk and can’t wait to put some of her ideas to use! Look out for some video posts soon 😉

In the midst of all of the workouts and chats, I got the opportunity to meet some of my favorite bloggers; Brittany from Eating Bird Food and Julie from Peanut Butter Fingers. I’ve been following their blogs for quite some time now and it was so great to finally get to chat with them in person.

And with that, I leave you with some of my absolute favorite moments of the weekend. I can’t thank Roni Noone enough for putting this amazing conference together and for doing such an incredible job with everything. I had the time of my life and hope to see everyone next year in PORTLAND!!

*Thanks to Kate, Mary, and more for the pics!

Foodie Friday: Chipotle Honey Lime Chicken

I’ve mentioned before that Nathan is a chicken lover, so when I get the seal of approval on a chicken recipe, I know it’s good enough to share.

This chicken is spicy, tangy, and a little sweet; a little bit of everything good. It really hit the mark and we were more than pleased to have leftovers for lunches this week, especially Nathan, as I’m spending my Friday and weekend at FitBloggin’!

Chipotle Honey Lime Chicken

Serves 6

Ingredients
3, 1lb split chicken breasts
*Your favorite creole-type seasoning [I use Todd’s Bayou Dirt]
2 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped
3 tbsp honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Season the chicken liberally with your spice mixture and place on a wire rack on a baking sheet. Place in the oven for about 35 minutes.

While the chicken is in the oven, mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. After about 35 minutes, take the chicken out and baste with the sauce. Put the chicken back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the oven and baste one more time. Return the chicken to the oven for about another 5 minutes, or until cooked completely through.

Take the chicken out of the oven and let rest about 5 minutes before digging in!

Serving Suggestions
I served this with roasted brussel sprouts and broccoli. It would also be great sliced up and served over brown rice or quinoa with other roasted or steamed vegetables.

Nutritional Stats
Per serving

183 Calories  /  5g Fat  /  11g Carbs  /  1g Fiber  /  9g Sugar  /  26g Protein

*If you don’t have a creole-type seasoning, you can combine the following spices to taste: Salt, black pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, chipotle powder, oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, sage, and rosemary. If you don’t have all of those spices, don’t fret! Just season with your favorite combo!

Foodie Friday Fun!

Foodie Friday is my way of sharing some of my favorite recipes from the week for those of you that want to try them out over the weekend and I want you to share yours too! Post your favorite recipe that you made this week and share it with me! Click the link below to add yours.

Copycat This or That

Starting at about 6:15 this evening, my weekend (including Friday) will be consumed by FitBloggin’, a conference “for bloggers interested in fitness, wellness, good food and a healthy lifestyle. Two days of education, networking, friendship and fun.” I am SO. STINKIN. EXCITED! Nathan and my parents got me my ticket for my birthday and I couldn’t have asked for a better gift.

I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to learn about how to improve my blogging and get in some fantastic workouts with everyone, including yoga, crossfit, trampoline BOUNCEcamp, and more! I’m also excited to finally meet so many bloggers that I’ve been chatting with over the interwebs and others whose blogs I’ve been following, like Brittany @ Eating Bird Food, Julie @ PBFingers, Gina @ Skinnytaste, and so many more!

Courtesy of Robert McClintock

And in the spirit of FitBloggin’ and a healthy living blog, Brittany shared a “This or That” survey that peaked my interest and seems oh so appropriate for the upcoming weekend!

1. Run/workout in the heat & humidity or freezing temps and snow?
I’d have to say heat, maybe not humidity. I mean, I do hot yoga because the stretches are so much deeper and it just feels good get a good sweat!

2. Have washboard or flat abs?
Flat abs. In reality though, I’d take either. No arguments here!

3. Dr. Oz or the Doctors?
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Dr. Oz and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Doctors. Soooo Dr. Oz by default?

4. Cardio or strength?
Both!

5. Cravings: Protein or carbs?
Carbs. Carbs. Carbs! Growing up, I practically ate pasta everyday. These days, I crave oatmeal for breakfast like no one’s business!

Check out my delicious oatmeal recipes!
Chocolate Protein Oats
Cinnamon Raisin Overnight Protein Oats & Quinoa
Pumpkin Spice Latte Proatmeal

6. Jillian Michaels or Bob Harper?
Tone It Up! 😉

Honestly though, I haven’t done either of their workouts but I think I’d have to say Team Bob.

7. Frozen Yogurt or Ice cream?
Froyo all the way!

8. To train: upper body or lower body?
Lower body. There’s just nothing like waddling around like a penguin the day after an awesome workout!

9. Protein powder or food with protein?
Food with protein. While I like using protein powder in shakes and pancakes, I definitely prefer a more natural option on a regular basis.

10. Lunges or squats?
Squats. Lunges are quite possibly up there with burpees.

11. Sweet or salty?
Sweet! My sweet tooth shows no mercy!

12. Workout attire: cute or comfy?
At this point, comfy. Though, I find myself looking online recently for some cuter options.

13. Body Pump or heavy lifting?
Heavy lifting with some Body Pump thrown in every now and then for good measure.

14. Yoga or pilates?
Yoga. Hot, hot yoga!

15. Nike or Adidas?
Asics?

16. Running on treadmill or outdoors?
Outdoors as long as it’s not too humid or too cold!

17. Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s?
Both! I have a Whole Foods so close to me that I usually opt for that, but I do love Trader Joe’s when I can make it out of the city. (Especially when I can get to Virginia!)

18. Summer or Winter Olympics?
Summer. I love the swimming!

19. Exercise classes or videos?
These days it’s videos since I don’t belong to a gym, but when I did, I’d go for the classes!

20. Steamed or roasted veggies?
Roasted, for sure! There’s just nothing like a perfectly roasted squash or brussel sprouts! Or maybe a roasted squash soup? 😉

Speak Up!

Do you have an opinion about any of the survey questions? I’d love to hear your thoughts!