Colorful Weekend Antics

What a fun weekend! The weather was so nice and, despite our Friday night antics and an early Saturday morning, it was actually pretty relaxing. But of course Friday is our night out on the town which started with a couple brewskis, baked garlic wings [with amazing homemade ranch!], salmon salad, and pizza.. with potatoes~! Plus, outdoor seating makes everything better too.

We decided to walk the streets of Berkeley after dinner and ended up at another bar with cocktails that were only $6.50 a pop! With a deal like that, you can’t say no, right? We also were chatting up the bartender, being another east coaster, so I asked him for the obligatory “look, we’re drinking!” picture. Or 10.

We’ve been meaning to actually explore the nightlife around us and I’m glad we finally started to. We also happened to walk by a Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop and after reading a couple of Tina’s recaps from her visit, I had to go in and try the Coconut Seven Layer Bar. It was a good choice. A very good choice.

Maybe I should have said no to the $6.50 cocktails because I had a 6 am wake up call for the Color Run. I did it last year in D.C. and was looking forward to meeting up with another Tone It Upper for this one.

It was so great to meet Lisa and we got a nice, early Saturday morning run in and were done before 9 am! I also stocked up on a couple bottles of ZICO.. I love a good race sponsor 😉

The rest of Saturday was pretty quiet [may or may not have been because of our rowdy Friday night] but we made up for it yesterday. For breakfast we tried Bartavelle Cafe, a small coffee shop next to Acme Bread Company, which just so happens to be our favorite bread in the area. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, and because it’s what they’re known for.. and because I’ve never had it, I got their avocado toast and an egg. The toast absolutely lived up to the hype! In fact, it might just change my breakfasts for a little while.

We also took a little cruise down to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. The weather was too perfect to ignore and I found a cute spot with outdoor seating, awesome salads, and wine in a mason jar. Right across the street, there was salsa music playing and people were totally impressive with their dance moves. Despite the terrible traffic getting there and home, it was such a great way to spend the day.

I’m loving this weather and I’m so glad I was able to spend so much time outside this past weekend.

Weekly Meal Plan

Monday – Buffalo chicken/tofu, baked onion rings, and roasted brussels sprouts [moved from last week’s menu]
Tuesday – Spaghetti squash casserole
Wednesday – Corned beef with spiralized carrots & cabbage
Thursday – Korean BBQ chicken stir fry
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Cauliflower crust pizza
Sunday – Lentil vindaloo

We had tons of leftovers last week and were able to stretch things a bit more than expected which was awesome. I’m hoping this will be another good week for leftovers too! If you’re looking for meal plan help, shoot me an email.

Food for Thought

Have you ever had avocado toast?
What’s on your menu this week?

Sometimes You Just Need to Rest

Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend and didn’t have too hard of a time staying awake during that rousing game last night. I also hope you’re not a Broncos fan.. eesh! Sorry about that..

We didn’t have much planned for the weekend, but ended up really relaxing. Friday I went to another awesome yoga session with the SweatGuru team.

Rooftop yoga in the sunshine.
Source: Sweat Guru Facebook

Nathan and I went out for dinner and drinks. And despite the fact that I mentioned feeling “off”, I thought it was a good idea to have a couple beers with my smoked bbq tofu sandwich. Which was awesome.

They LOADED that bad boy up with avocado! Part of it fell off the other side 😉

Fast forward to Saturday morning, 4:30 am I decided I should be nice to Nathan and lay down on the sofa instead of continuing to toss and turn. Turns out that “off” feeling I had Friday night was me getting sick. Go figure. Luckily I had a rest day planned already but with my morning starting as early as it did, breakfast came at a whopping 6:45! Oats, of course. And coffee.. LOTS of coffee.

My fave.

A couple hours later, I saw a tweet from Nicole with this recipe. Holy cannoli I needed that in my life! I had to sub some ingredients, but it ended up being a darn tasty snack.

And looking a lot like my breakfast.

Lunch time rolled around and Nathan had been dying to try the famous fried chicken sandwich from Bakesale Betty. I opted for a salad from The Mixing Bowl and I would definitely go back! Nathan, on the other hand, felt differently about his sandwich. Unfortunately it wasn’t a hit for him.

The salad didn’t come with kabocha squash. I just saw it elsewhere on the menu.

My weekend excitement kind of ended there going out, but luckily the good food didn’t end. The rest of Saturday and pretty much all day Sunday was spent on my butt trying to beat this cold. Or flu. Or whatever it is. At least I got some fresh air on Saturday though!

We did make our pizza and wings for the game yesterday and it was awesome! The naan pizza worked out great and the wings were incredible. You’ve never seen such clean chicken bones.. the meat literally fell right off the bone. We demolished a good 2 lbs.. whoops! Haha can you blame us?

These wings could be famous. Seriously.

By last night I was feeling a lot better and I’m hoping that all that rest really helped me kick it. Two days off from workouts and I’m ready to kill it at the gym.

Weekly Meal Plan

Saturday – Leftover spaghetti squash casserole for me. Leftover mango beef stir fry for him.
Sunday – Korean BBQ chicken wings & naan pizza.
Monday – Grilled jerk chicken for him & mahi mahi for me with roasted asparagus and plantains.
Tuesday – Green chile turkey burgers with cajun roasted potatoes for him and zucchini noodles for me.
Wednesday – Vietnamese Bun Cha Gio’
Thursday – Black rice salad bowl with chipotle orange chicken, cashews, & feta.
Friday – Going out!

By the way, the Move Nourish Believe Challenge with Fit Approach and Lorna Jane starts today! Have you joined yet?

Food for Thought

What did you do for the Superbowl?
What is your favorite comfort food when you’re not feeling well?

What I Ate Wednesday #71: In the Kitchen [Recipe]

Since having more time to play in the kitchen, I’ve tried some pretty out-of-control recipes. I’ve also found that it’s nice to not have to rely on my packed salad or snack if I’m feeling something different when my stomach starts grumbling! In true WIAW fashion, I want to share yesterday’s eats and a fun recipe!

[Pre-Workout Snack]

Perfect snack before my workout!

FlapJacked sent me some samples of their protein pancake mix. I tried the Banana Hazelnut pancakes on their own, but decided to play with the Buttermilk mix and one of their recipes that they sent along for muffin tops. I give you my Banana Nut Protein Muffin Tops! I don’t know about you, I can’t stand going to the gym hungry and this little bite [only 45 calories!] was perfect.

[Breakfast]

Sliced almonds > whole almonds in granola. Dang. Good thing for nut butters!

My favorite, as always. Oatmeal with banana, my homemade coconut cashew butter, honey vanilla-bourbon peanut butter, and crunchy quinoa granola. I always look forward to this breakfast during my workout.. whatever pushes me to finish sooner, right? 😉

[Lunch]

GIMME ALL YOUR VEGGIES!

I’ve been feeling the pizza thing lately so I decided to try STUFTmama’s No Grain Flatbread. While that was baking, I was sauteed up some mushrooms, kale, edamame, roasted corn, & a salmon patty [Trader Joe’s is the best]. I spread some of Nathan’s homemade tomato sauce on the flatbread, piled my veggies and salmon on top, and added some avocado. Delish!

[Dinner]

Totally lived up to its hype!

So many people have been raving about the Paleo Spaghetti Squash Casserole that I had to give it a try. Nathan cooked with me last night and we whipped up something pretty fabulous! We used 1/4 lb beef chorizo and 3/4 lb turkey.. tons of flavor! We also added a bunch of extra veggies and it ended up making 8 servings.. although there are only 5 left haha! This is definitely a recipe you might see on the blog in the future.. we’re going to have some fun with it next time.

And as usual, I finished my day with an apple.. but I’m pretty sure you know what that looks like 😉 Now onto the fun stuff..

Banana Nut Protein Muffin Tops

Makes 26 muffin tops

Ingredients
– 1 cup FlapJacked Buttermilk Protein Pancake Mix
– 2 medium bananas; mashed
– 2 egg whites
– 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk [I use Almond Breeze]
– 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
– 1/4 cup roasted macadamia nuts; chopped
– 1/4 cup raisins
– 1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.

In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients. Using a tablespoon, drop the batter onto the baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes until golden brown.

I love that these little guys are so light and fluffy from the pancake mix!

Nutritional Information
Per 1 muffin top

45 Calories  /  1g Fat  /  7g Carbs  /  3g Sugar  /  1g Fiber  /  2g Protein

Food for Thought

Have you tried any of these recipes from the other bloggers?
Have you ever baked using a pancake or waffle mix?