Beer, Wine, and Sunshine

Good morning! Today is the last day to enter my Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts giveaway.. are you in on it yet? Also, I’ve announced the winner of my Peanut Butter & Co. giveaway. Such excitement to start the week!

We had another fun-filled weekend with Nathan’s mom. Friday we went into San Francisco to shop. We were on a mission to find Nathan a new suit and were especially successful leaving with 2 suits! We also finally had success at Liguria Bakery. Our most favorite pillowy-soft foccacia bread has been on our radar for months and every time we’ve had the chance to get over to Liguria, they’ve been closed or sold out. Friday, however, we picked up a plain square and a rosemary garlic square. It’s just the best!

After a beautiful day in the city, we made our way to Jupiter in Berkeley for a little patio beer, pizza, and salad action. It was too nice a day to let it go to waste so we spent as much time outside as possible.

Saturday was another day of amazing weather and what better way to enjoy it than in Sonoma? We tried a couple new places—Gloria Ferrer for sparkling wine and charcuterie, Viansa Winery, Park 121 Cafe for lunch, and Meadowcroft Wines. While we don’t typically purchase any wine when we go tasting, we couldn’t pass up the cab franc and port. They’re definitely bottles that we’re going to be saving for a more special occasion. Two-buck chuck does just fine on a regular basis 😉

Saturday night, we had a wonderful dinner at Homestead, a farm-to-table style restaurant that changes their menu daily based on the freshest ingredients they can get. Nathan and I had been eyeing this place for practically a year and had read great reviews so we were pretty excited to finally try it out. It definitely lived up to our expectations! I ordered the pan seared black cod, chickpeas, artichokes, grilled treviso, almond pesto; it was seasoned perfectly, the skin on the cod had a nice crisp to it and it was overall a pretty light dish. The housemade sourdough levain with housemade sea salted butter to start out was a real treat too. I probably could have eaten a whole loaf of that bread!

Nathan got the pork loin, spaetzle, grilled onion, sauerkraut, whole grain mustard. He agreed that the flavors in his dish were on point and it was also rather light.

Sunday was pretty much back to normal; we dropped Nathan’s mom off at the airport in the morning and I headed into work. Back to reality, I guess. Ahh, it’s gotta happen sooner or later, right? We’re currently guest-less for 2 1/2 weeks before my friends get here and while we’ve enjoyed having company and are looking forward to more, we’re definitely going to the enjoy the quiet and home-cooked meals!

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Leftovers
Monday – Crunchy stuffed buffalo chicken with ranch roasted potatoes and asparagus
Tuesday – Burrito bowl with perfect black beans [<–the best!] and chicken
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – Thai chicken satay noodle salad with coconut peanut dressing
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

Link Love #63

I feel like I’ve hardly been on the interwebs at all since I got home so this post was a fun one. I usually have a bunch of posts that I share and add to my link love post throughout the week, but this time I had a bit of catching up to do! Apparently I’ve unintentionally decided to take a little social media detox and I think it’s a good thing. I’m loving all of the family time and I’m happy to put my computer and phone down to soak it all in. I hope you’ve had the chance over the holiday to do the same.

Health

3 Things I’ve Learned About Feeling Overwhelmed – Family Sport Life via Cotter Crunch

3 Things I’ve Learned About Feeling Overwhelmed – Family Sport Life via Cotter Crunch
Tips On Staying Healthy This Winter – Hungry Healthy Happy
7 Ways To Bounce Back If You Feel Like You Ate A Bit Too Much – MindBodyGreen
Nutrition Tips and Recipes for Vegan Runners – Running on Real Food
How Journaling Can Help Stop Mindless Eating – Mommy Run Fast

Fitness

How to Modify Exercises (A Beginner’s Guide) – Pumps & Iron

How to Modify Exercises (A Beginner’s Guide) – Pumps & Iron
Pre-Turkey & Pie Burner Workout + Weekly Workout Recap – Peanut Butter Runner
Turkey Day Tabata Workout {No Equipment Required} – Trainer Paige
Give Planks Workout {video} – Fitnessista
Burn Off The Cocktails Workout – Lifting Revolution

Food

White Chocolate-Dipped Brown Butter Ginger Cookies with Pistachios – Ambitious Kitchen

White Chocolate-Dipped Brown Butter Ginger Cookies with Pistachios – Ambitious Kitchen
Healthy Vanilla Almond Milk Latte Rice Pudding – Fit Foodie Finds
Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprouts, and Parsnip Toss with Wild Rice, Cranberries, and Feta – Destination Delish
Salty Maple Squash with Ginger Scallion Rice + Turmeric Brussels Slaw – The First Mess
Fig-Glazed Bacon Sliders with Brussels Sprouts, Grapes, Walnuts and Mint Yogurt Sauce – Iowa Girl Eats

Food for Thought

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

What I Ate Wednesday #112: Taking It Easy

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relishing every single second at home. I’ve spent my last 2 afternoons with this cute little nugget.

She’s a big fan of walking right now and even though she may be walking right by me, just being with her is the best! She really is the cutest.. I’m not biased at all either, you know.

Between all of the travel and excitement, I’ve been doing my best to keep my diet up to par with my normal eating, but I have to admit, it’s not my first concern. I’ve taken very few pictures which is so rare for me. But it’s nice to let my brain go for a change.

[Pre- & Post-Workout]

Before my workout, I grabbed a handful of trail mix to get a little something in my stomach. And almost immediately after my workout, I trained my dad. In between, I had one of these limited edition Think Thin bars. These new lean protein & fiber bars are some of my faves!

[Breakfast]

I was shocked when my mom didn’t have any homemade nut butters on hand when I got here so that had to change immediately! I grabbed some almonds from the store and whipped up a batch of almond butter for my oats.

[Lunch]

I’ve been doing a pretty solid job of not finishing breakfast until close to 11 a.m. which means late lunches have been what’s up. I was out shopping with my mom and we stopped at a nice cafe for lunch. The salmon on this Mediterranean salad was so good! And it was the perfect fuel to finish my shopping date and head over to see my little bean.

[Dinner]

This is an older picture from the last time I made the crunchy stuffed buffalo chicken, but that’s what was on the menu last night with roasted potatoes, eggplant, and salad. Mom and I have been making a pretty good team in the kitchen. Thanksgiving’s going to be fun! 🙂

[Evening Snack]
I spotted some SweetTango apples at the store the other day.. they’re pretty much my favorite aside from Fuji, so I snagged a bunch! And to top it off, I had a spoonful of almond butter. Best way to start and end your day!

Food for Thought

Do you have a favorite meal when you go home?

Chinatown Hops

Bar hopping is not a new concept, especially to this corner of the interwebs. Saturday, however, we did a little different kind of hopping; we hopped around Chinatown for some dim sum! But before we get into that, I got to spend a little extra time with Nathan on Friday. He worked from home so we took a little lunch break to try a new Mexican place.

Pork al pastor salad with extra guacamole!

It’s a good thing we got out when we did because I wasn’t feeling so hot later that night. All I wanted for dinner was a big bowl of mac and cheese [you know, the kind with the powdery cheese..] and some roasted brussels. Seeing as how we had none of the above [don’t worry, that was remedied on Saturday!], Nathan made me a delicious egg, cheese, pork, and ketchup bagel sandwich. And, of course, some chocolate chip cookies on the side. What a guy 😉

I can’t remember the last time I had a bagel before this.. YUM!

Thankfully, my bagel-wich did the trick and Saturday I was up and ready to go for some dim sum Chinatown hopping. First up was the finger food.

The biggest baked pork bun I ever done seen!

Chicken & pork shumai + Shrimp & chive dumpling

That pork bun was ridiculous. We split one because they were so big! The dough was so soft and a little sweet, kind of brioche-y. Oh man, I could go for another right about now.. Anywho, then we went for some of the hot food.

Chinese BBQ chicken.. not the prettiest, but one of the tastiest!

Chinese BBQ Pork.. I loved Nathan’s enthusiasm ha!

Alright, so maybe we hopped over for some beer after our Chinatown excitement.

Pumpkin beer + stout. It’s that time of year!

And then we went for a little walk to the water where I finished a half marathon.

I WIN!!

Ha! I couldn’t believe they still had everything up from 2 weeks ago.. obviously I had to go for it.

Such a beautifully clear day.

Saturday was awesome; exciting but relaxing. I wish everyday could be like that. Yesterday was pretty darn relaxing too and after the gym I picked up a little treat that my mom sent out to me.. just a package of my favorite local Baltimore granola!

Apple quinoa granola is just that exciting.

I have a feeling that bag isn’t going to last too long. But in the meantime, I should probably do something about the rest of my meals.

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Crunchy stuffed buffalo chicken with ranch roasted potatoes & broccoli
Monday – Lemon tarragon turkey burgers with baked onion rings
Tuesday – Pomegranate jalapeno chicken with bacon pomegranate brussels sprouts
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – Honey balsamic chicken leg quarters with caprese stuffed portobellos
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

Have you ever tried dim sum before?
What’s your favorite comfort food?

Link Love #57

Today is the kind of day that has become more and more common over the past couple months. I have an early morning at Athleta—6 a.m. to be exact—and whereas I used to be completely bummed that I’d miss my morning workout. These days, if a 6 a.m. shift means that I take an unplanned rest day because I just don’t feel like going to the gym when I get home, well then so be it.

Last week as I walked home from work, I tried bargaining with myself.

It’s not that long of a workout.
If I go to the gym before I sit down at home, I can definitely do it.
No cardio today. Just hit the weights and get it done.

Then I realized how tired my legs really were. Which made me realize how tired my whole body was. And if I just go home, put my feet up, and rest a bit, I’d be able to hit it harder at the gym the next day. And that’s exactly what I did. I’ve said it before, but it really is a hell of an idea to actually listen to your body. Who would have thought that you own body knows what’s best for it? It’s certainly a challenge for me and I know it is for others too, but it’s something that I’m really focusing on, especially with the holiday season coming up. That said, I want to challenge you to focus on listening to your own body more. Deal? Deal.

Health

Got a Nutrition Question 2: Iron. Are You Getting Enough? – Food & Nonsense

Got a Nutrition Question 2: Iron. Are You Getting Enough? – Food & Nonsense
Three New Natural Supplements and How We Use Them – Cotter Crunch
10 Smart Tips for Eating Healthy on a Super Tight Budget – The Kitchn
I’m a Fitness Professional, but I Don’t Think Fitness Should Be Your Life – Trainer Paige
Exercising For Your Health is NOT a Joke – Slim Sanity

Fitness

Back to Basics Arm Workout – Peanut Butter Fingers

Back to Basics Arm Workout – Peanut Butter Fingers
This Exercise Can Give You Kim Kardasian’s Butt & Jessica Biel’s Abs – Lifting Revolution
No-Equipment Tabata HIIT Workout (Lower Body) – Fit Foodie Finds
5 Stretches Every Runner Should Be Doing – Jamie Walker via HuffPost Healthy Living
Med Ball Tabata Workout – Pumps & Iron

Food

Caramelized Sweet Potato and Kale Fried Wild Rice – Iowa Girl Eats

Caramelized Sweet Potato and Kale Fried Wild Rice – Iowa Girl Eats
Healthy Sticky Chocolate Fudge Cake (like, super fudgy no joke) {Gluten, Dairy + Grain Free} – Top With Cinnamon
Baklava Whole Wheat Biscotti – Yeah…immaeatthat
Carrot Noodles with Mushrooms and Sausage in a Cashew Cream Sauce – Inspiralized
Breakfast Baked Acorn Squash with Greek Yogurt, Honey & Pecans – Ambitious Kitchen

Food for Thought

How do you plan on listening to your body more?
What’s one of your favorite posts from the past week?

Another Low-Key Weekend

With my crazy work schedule as of late and Nathan coming home from Vegas and promptly getting sick, a low-key weekend was just what we needed. Plus, in 2 weeks we’re heading back home for some more family time and a wedding that we’re both a part of so we need to save up all of our energy for that!

Friday night wine.

Saturday brunch. First time trying kippers!

Fabulous Saturday dinner – garlic herb roasted chicken, basil panko roasted cherry tomatoes, shaved parm, balsamic bbq, and red wine.

A new favorite healthy bites recipe – Coconut Vanilla Latte!

Nathan’s California burger tour continues to Habit Burger, voted the best fast food burger.

Habit Burger ranks #1 for me over In N Out or Five Guys. It helps that they actually have a few things on the menu for me to choose from!

Like I said, low-key but much-appreciated! Now we’re ready to take on this week’s craziness.

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Leftovers
Monday – Quinoa Crusted Chicken Strips with BBQ Honey Mustard, roasted potato wedges, & garlic broccolini
Tuesday – Sloppy Joes with corn, avocado, and quinoa salad
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – Kung pao chicken stir fry with green beans
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

Did you have any fun plans over the weekend?

Link Love #33

I’m really excited for tonight. I fully plan on eating a nice, big spoonful of peanut butter, granola, and lots of rice with dinner! I know I haven’t kept Passover 100% but I’ve at least tried. I think I’m just now to the point of wanting things because I can’t have them.. like pizza. I can go a looong time without pizza, but I do like to at least have a bite when Nathan orders it. Well, now I just want a whole pie! And chocolate chip cookies. And lots and lots of peanut butter haha!

Continuing on the Jewish note, last night Nathan turned on a movie called When Jews Were Funny. It’s ridiculous and pretty darn funny.. though I’m wondering if it’s as funny if you’re not Jewish. Oy vey!

Ha! Onto a little love.. can you tell I’m ready for some bread and peanut butter? 😉

Health

Regaining Your Common Sense: Why Doing LESS Leads to a Leaner Physique – JillFit

Regaining Your Common Sense: Why Doing LESS Leads to a Leaner Physique – JillFit
Maintaining Gut Healthy and Gluten-Free Living – Cotter Crunch
Guest RD: Fueling for Sports – Fresh Food Perspectives via Kath Eats Real Food
14 Habits of People With a Healthy Relationship to Food – HuffPost Healthy Living
When Elimination Diets Backfire – U.S.News Health & Wellness

Fitness

10 Minute Hard’core’ Abs Workout – CandyFit via Burnbrae Farms

10 Minute Hard’core’ Abs Workout – CandyFit via Burnbrae Farms
15 High-Intensity Workouts You Can Do Just About Anywhere – Carrots ‘N’ Cake
8 Kettlebell Exercises to Tone and Tighten Your Thighs – Lifting Revolution
Transitioning From the Treadmill to the Track – Wildly Fit
What is Glycogen Depletion Training? – NYC Running Mama

Food

Brown Sugar Blueberry Banana Bread with Blueberry Butter – Averie Cooks

Brown Sugar Blueberry Banana Bread with Blueberry Butter – Averie Cooks
Carrot Cake Loaf – Lexi’s Clean Kitchen
Kale and Wild Rice Bowls with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette – Iowa Girl Eats
5 Ingredient Inside-Out Peanut Butter Cups – Edible Perspective
Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Crispy Baked Tofu with Honey Sesame Glaze – Cookie + Kate

Food for Thought

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

What I Ate Wednesday #82: Passover Style

Have you entered my Bob’s Red Mill giveaway yet?

Back in the day I absolutely dreaded Passover. No pasta? Are you kidding me?!

These days it’s more “no legumes?!” There’s a lot less dread going into the holiday since my diet has changed but I do miss my peanut butter, green beans, peanut butter, sugar snap peas, peanut butter.. I mean, I don’t discriminate against other nut butters, but I always go back to the peanut. Before I get into my Passover eats, let me just say that I’m not super strict. I follow the gist of the holiday and many of the rules, but I don’t turn my life upside down and completely rid my house of anything that isn’t K for P.

Breakfast

Probably my most difficult swap because I love my grains with breakfast, but I figured it out. I mashed half of a banana with 6 egg whites and cinnamon, scrambled that, and added some pre-roasted kabocha at the end. I topped it with my coconut cashew butter and called it breakfast! Like I said, I don’t discriminate against other nut butters.

I also had a nice treat to go with my breakfast. At Seder, I found the Afikomen [yes, I’m extremely proud of myself] and this awesome coffee was my prize!

Lunch

I brought a salad to Seder with bell pepper, roasted kabocha, and craisins. I made a ton just in case and ended up bringing some home [darn] so I just used that for my lunch, added some jicama, grilled buffalo chicken, and avocado. Man, Passover is tough 😉

Snack

Possibly my new favorite smoothie smuice. It’s chock full of veggies so it’s not too sweet [mom, are you reading?] but it also doesn’t taste too “green”.. know what I mean? I still used some protein powder in this even though it’s not necessarily K for P. I check the ingredient list and decided it was a go. I had half of the mix between lunch and dinner and threw the other half in the fridge.

And then I went back for more.. does that kind of defeat the purpose, Whitney?

Also, I needed to show off my new cell phone case.

Dinner

Oh hey there pasta! Sort of.. I had to adjust this recipe for Mediterranean Smothered Chicken to make it Passover-friendly so it pretty much ended up being a really tasty tomato sauce with chicken and zucchini noodles. Still a winner nonetheless.

Snack
Apple with coconut cashew butter.. because how could I say no to more nut butter?

I realized with all of the Passover recipe round-ups that I never did one, so here’s a quick list of some of my Passover-friendly recipes!

• Apple Pie Pancakes [without the peanut fluff and granola toppings]
• Pumpkin Coconut Flour Pancakes [again without toppings]
• Fiesta Citrus Chicken
• Grandma Barr’s Tzimmes
• Spaghetti Squash Kugel
• Eggy Quinoa Stuffed Squash
• Sweet Potato & Zucchini Latkes
• Charoset
• Creamy Coconut Cashew Butter
• Maple Cinnamon Walnut Butter
• Maple Cinnamon Walnut Butter Quinoa Granola
• Roasted Banana Berry Chocolate Cups
• Strawberry Yogurt Bites

Food for Thought

If you keep kosher for Passover, what do you miss most?
If you don’t keep Passover, what would you miss most?

Mexican, Beer, and Baseball

Have you entered my Bob’s Red Mill giveaway yet?

Hi friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend; we took advantage of the weather and spent a lot of time outside.

Friday night we hit up a Mexican joint for dinner called Cancun. They, as with many restaurants in the area, pride themselves on their local, organic ingredients. I got a humungo salad that puts Chipotle to shame!

They also have a ridiculous salsa bar.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Saturday we played in wine country. Though we didn’t go for any tastings, we just spent the day walking around Healdsburg and Santa Rosa; they’re such cute little towns. We stopped at SHED for lunch which was such a fun place! Not only do they have a small cafe and take out food, they also sell kitchen, gardening, and other home goods plus they have their own fermentation bar. You know I got their home brewed black tea ginger kombucha.

I loved how colorful the salads were! My favorite was on the left; golden beets, watermelon radish, asparagus, and lima beans in a light vinaigrette. It was a bit pricey there for what it was, but everything tasted great.

On our way back home, we hit a ton of traffic. Luckily it was as we approached Petaluma, so we took a detour a grabbed some beer while we waited for the traffic to die down.

Not a bad way to pass the time 😉

Yesterday was for baseball. We opted for the Giants’ opening weekend instead of opening day and the weather was amazing!

The game started off pretty slow but the Giants’ ended up pulling out a big win in the bottom of the 10th with a walk off home run! Funny story.. I was at an Orioles game with my dad and Nathan 8 years ago. My dad and I almost never left games early but Nathan had to get up real early so we made an exception. We ended up missing a walk off home run which, at that point, my dad had never seen. To this day, he still won’t let Nathan live it down, even though he’s seen quite a few! It’s been a running joke ever since.

At least he’s happy 😉 Seeing the walk off definitely made me miss my dad. I wish that he was there with us! With that, I leave you some Orioles lovin’.

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Leftovers
Monday – Passover Seder [we found one to go to! Yay!]
Tuesday – Mediterranean smothered chicken over zucchini noodles
Wednesday – Balsamic grilled flank steak with roasted carrots
Thursday – Margarita chicken with lime cauli rice  and guacamole
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

What did you do over the weekend?

Because I Can.

I can run. But I’m not a runner.

Moving has been a lot more difficult trying than I expected. Don’t say “I told you so” Mom! I’ve really learned a lot without even really noticing; a lot about my relationships with people, a lot about what I want [or have no idea what I want..] out of life, and most importantly, I’ve really learned a lot about myself.

Without a job, I have a lot of time on my hands. That’s not to say I’m not filling that time—blogging, job searching, side work, studying for my personal training certification—I definitely keep myself busy. But that’s a lot of time by myself and it’s a lot of time thinking, whether I like it or not. It’s brought me to think about being comfortable with myself. It’s brought me to realize that I can throw my old routine to the wolves and still make it out alive. I also think about the things that truly make me happy.

I’ve really learned more about myself in these past few months than I thought I would. Last week was kind of rough [read: I was rough on myself.] It seemed like no matter what I was doing, who’s method I was trying, what workouts I was doing, the scale went up [I know. Toss the scale.], my clothes felt tighter, and I just didn’t feel great. I took an extra rest day because my legs legitimately hated me and the thought of moving. So Saturday night, I decided that Sunday would be a run day. I wanted to prove to myself that I can still run.. at least a 5K. Because everyone runs, so why shouldn’t I?

So I ran. I ran a 5K, then I walked a little, and ran a little more. I totaled 5 miles on the treadmill and then met Nathan for a quick run over to get some coffee. And in that time I realized that I can run, but I’m not a runner. I don’t enjoy it. My body doesn’t enjoy it. It doesn’t clear my head. It’s just not fun for me. But you know what? That’s ok. I don’t have to be a runner because other people are. Hell of an idea, right?

I enjoy lifting—I enjoy Best Body Bootcamp [darn this being the last one!]—and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ll still do 5Ks because I like the feeling of finishing. And I’ll still run when I feel like it every now and then. Because I can. Not because it’s what good for other people. It’s crazy that it took so long to figure out.

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Chipotle Mango BBQ Chicken Salad [this one got pushed from last week]
Monday – One Pot Moroccan Chicken + Chickpeas with Pistachio Couscous and Goat Cheese
Tuesday – Baked Turkey Meatballs, Honeyed Cauliflower, & spiralized veggies
Wednesday – Chicken and Asparagus Lemon Stir Fry [with added mushrooms. Because why not?]
Thursday – Pork Carnitas tacos with roasted red pepper, pineapple salsa, and rice
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Buffalo chicken, baked onion rings, and roasted brussels sprouts

If you’re ever looking for help with meal planning, shoot me an email!

Food for Thought

Do you enjoy running?
What’s on your menu this week?