HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY and WIAW

 Happy Fourth Everyone. I know its a day to celebrate our Independence from England but I also believe now-a-days I like to think of it as another opportunity to thank all of our military and their families. Without all of these amazing men and women, and their supportive families Independence Day would just be another day of the year. So thank you!

 Now onto WIAW! This month Jen wants us to to focus on the 3 most important Fs... Not that F get your mind out of the gutter! I am talking FOOD, FUN, FITNESS!

Food I have been loving on lately!

Oatmeal with fresh berries a dollop of PB some almonds and a splash of almond milk

Chicken, barley, red peppers and roasted asparagus

Smoked Salmon with avocado, spinach, goat cheese and onion on a bagel flat

Stuffed Sweet potato- Need I say more?

Egg whites, asparagus, zucchini, onion, avocado and goat cheese all on a Flax Oat Bran Pita

 

 My fun!

Spending time with my nephews. They love coming to my house because only a short drive away in the "down town" (if you can call it that haha) part of our city is a splash park for kids. So yesterday they came over and I sat in the blistering heat and laughed as I watched them run around in the fountain. 

My Fitness!
I have fallen back in love with yoga.  I have started going 2 days a week again and I am loving it! That is really my only group fitness class of choice. I am pretty much a loner when it comes to working out. I like getting in, focusing, and getting my workout on. I am loving my box jumps although my a*s does not quite share my love haha.

So there you have it, my week of Food, Fun and Fitness! What would your week look like if you documented it?

Have a safe and happy 4th of July! Do you have anything fun planned today?

Ciao and lovin' yoga

Alexis 

Gluten Free Protein Pancakes

I am a huge fan of Protein Pancakes.. so much so that we eat them about 2 times a week to help fuel us through our days.I have made countless different versions pumpkin, sweet potato, plain (all found here) I have made carrot raisin and most recently Peanut Butter apple.. yum. I even made a more traditional pancake using flour like normal people do lol.

Well, needless to say, Sunday I woke up and really wanted Protein Pancakes but after opening the fridge I realized I had no Eggs. It was Sunday shopping day after all, but it still made me a sad sad girl. After staring in my pantry and fridge for what seemed like an eternity, (which in actuality was probably 3 min) I decided to make some GF protein pancakes (with the option of being vegan with just a small tweek) which I had everything I needed to make this a success... or at least I hoped it would be successful!

What You Need
Dry

1/2 cup Almond Meal
1 Serving of Protein (you can use vegan protein)
4 Tbsp Ground Flax seed
1/2 Cup Granola (Check Out Love Grown Foods for GF version )
Wet
12 Tbsp water
4oz Cottage cheese (you would need Vegan Cottage cheese to make it a complete vegan breakfast)
4Tbsp Almond Milk (or milk of choice)

What You Do
1. In a Med. sized bowl combine Flax and water to make a "Flax Egg"
2. Combine all other ingredients into bowl and mix well.
3. Heat pan on med heat and spoon batter onto oiled pan. Cook until brown and then flip (about 2-3 min)
4. Top with your favorite topping. I use my homemade jarred Chia jam.

Brian decided to sleep in Sunday and was pleasantly surprised to wake up to breakfast and coffee done... Well I may have gone in the room 10 times to get him to wake up, but once up he was happy LOL. I am not what you would call a "sleeper" haha.

He LOVED THEM! Score one for me! I hope You enjoy too!

Ciao and Pancake Love

Alexis

No Chocolate wanted!

Today is a good great day all because it is FOODIE PEN PALS reveal day!!! WOOT WOOT

This month I got an AWESOME package from Michelle. Michelle is not a Blogger YET but she plans on starting one shortly.  

 When Michelle asked me if there was anything I didn't like I immediately answered chocolate to which I got a response of "So, listen to this: My Foodie Pen Pal emailed me yesterday asking the same questions I asked of you.  The answer I gave for "Any intense likes or dislikes?" was "I might be the one woman in the world who doesn't like chocolate."  I couldn't have asked for a better pen pal and I am pretty sure we were destined to be Non Chocolate Loving friends forever haha

So my box was packed with wonderful, tasty and most importantly NO CHOCOLATE!!!

 Mini Pops, So Long Potato Crisps, Surf sweet organic gummy bears, 2 z bars, vegan Jerky, 2 different nut butters, tea and a sea salt pepper mixture from England.

-I have to say the Gummy Bears were amazing. They were not super sweet which I like and I enjoyed them fro a few days... a few bears after dinner, means I didn't feel guilty about eating them :o)

-I have to admit I was a little skeptical of Z bars, because I am not a big processed food eater but I have to say, I packed these when I was running low on food and OMG they were supper Delish. I don't know any kid that wouldn't enjoy these :o)

-I have not decided yet how I feel about the vegan jerky :o) Maybe I am just spoiled that my family hunts and makes their own jerky and it is pretty darn good. 

All the other treats I am saving this week for out airport ventures. I may not sure the nut butter though because I am a PB, Almond butter... pretty much any butter FREAK. Brian will just have to wait and see if I am feeling particularly giving haha. 

Thank You again to Michelle for the awesome Chocolate Free package!

If you are interested in joining in head on over to Lindsay's blog and check out all the details.

If you’re interested in participating for July, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.
You must submit your information by July 4th as pairings will be emailed on July 5th!
*If you’re from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I’ll see if we get enough interest this month!

Ciao and Chocolate love loath 

Alexis

Learning to Love Biking!

A while back I wrote about breaking out of my comfort zone and I am still trying to hold true to this challenge. For me I have never been a fan of biking. I grew up when roller blades were cool and sadly enough my bike got stolen off my front porch so I just stock with the blades lol.

I decided when I got back from my road trip to PA I was going to park the car and bike A LOT more! So that's what I have been working on and so far it's going pretty well. I by no means have a nice expensive bike like my sister, who rides 100miles for fun <---- CRAZY, but it gets me where I need to go and back again, sometimes :o)

Today was my rest day. I decided to do some yoga then bike to my tutoring session I had scheduled. It was a great choice. On the way home I took a different route, that not only put more miles on my legs (plus) but also changed the scenery.I love the area that I live in because I get to see so many interesting things... today included

1. Horses- more than once
2. Vultures - this one kind freaks me out because I secretly think in my head that I will seem like a better option for them every time I pass haha.. I know I am crazy. It didn't help that I had to pass 2 groups of them. 
3. A Goat- yep I didn't make this up
4. A squirrel who apparently was trying to commit squirrel-icde, he ran right between my front and back tire... totally freaked me out
5. A heckling Cricket who followed me for a few feet making noises in my face

I have to admit, I loved every minute of it! My mind was free to think about everything else and nothing at all. I enjoyed the wonderful weather and the amazing views that I so often take for granted. So I am glad that I have chosen to step out of the comfort zone and I am slowly learning to love like biking.

I will continue biking and I hope I continue to grow fond of it and enjoy it even more as the summer goes on.

Have you learned to love anything you have recently distanced yourself from?

Ciao and pushing pedals

Alexis

Bosu-Balance-Brilliance

If you were stranded on a Desert Island.... Stop me if you know how this ends....

Fitness wise, if I were stranded on a Desert Island and could only bring one piece of equipment with me, I know exactly what I would bring! My #1 piece of transportable fitness equipment would be the BOSU.

 

 This half "ball" is so versatile its ridiculous. You can use it solely to work on balance or you can incorporate weights and give your entire body from head to toe a workout. I love doing normal workouts and adding in the Bosu. Today I did squats, single leg dead lifts, and bench press all using the Bosu. I have very good balance so I like to take it up a notch and flip it over so I am standing on the flat portion while trying to balance myself and my weights on the very top of the ball. Its not as easy as it sounds. 

For Squats I grab a bar add some plates and I go at it. Today I focused on slow movement while balancing. This engaged my glutes and core even more because the movements were super slow, which meant balancing became a bit more difficult. I honestly felt these squats from my stomach down. 

*on a side note* I felt even better when one of the men working out came up and asked me to show him how to do it. He seemed to be very impressed with my balance and let me know he had never seen anyone do squats on the Bosu before. May sound lame but it makes me smile when men recognize women's workout capabilities too and seem genuinely impressed. 

If you haven't yet tried out the Bosu, I highly suggest it. The same workout  you normally do will seem like a whole new experience. You will notice the differences right away. Start slow and as you feel comfortable try a new challenging move, it gets easy so you will work harder...

Once you have tried out the Bosu reach for some sensible snacks!

This week my eats haven't been to outrageous and the weather has been far from nice (it has rained everyday for about 2 weeks) so I have not had a chance to get real photos with my real camera so you will have to settle for phone pics... sorry! 

 Ceviche- Not only is it delish but its packed with protein, omega 3s and barely any fat

 Cherries- They are super expensive right now but I couldn't pass up the yumminess this week. It makes it even better eating it out of a Christmas bowl lol.

 Cottage Cheese and Dried fruit- One of my favorite cures to a late night sweet tooth

 Pita with avacado (and chicken sometimes) I have been making these pitas for about 2 weeks now... what can I say ADDICTED!

So those are my munchies of choice this week. I can't lie, it will probably be my snacks next week too :o)

Thanks again to the amazing Jenn for hosting WIAW! So if you haven't yet, head over to Peas and Crayons

and link up your eats. 

Ciao and Beautiful Balance, 

Alexis

Not Feeling so Hot

I had big plans for my workout today... I planned on hitting the weights hard and leaving it all out on the floor. However, when I got to work I lost all appetite, and desire to do anything but go home and crawl in bed.


Not sure what happened but somehow between the house and the gym I got all sorts of not feeling great. Normally I am one to workout sick no matter what, but today it was my stomach and I was not  at all willing to chance it.

I finished my shift, headed home and exchanged my dress clothes for a t-shirt and boxers :o). However I HAVE NOT given up the desire to work out. I am taking it easy right now and trying to slowly consume small bites of food here and there. I had a nice size bowl of cherries and so far I am doing ok...

So far that is about all I have had the desire to eat, but I will try something else in a little while. If this continues I am hoping to at least get in some Tabata or my 10 min circuit. Perhaps if the rain stays away I will do just a nice slow jog. I figure anything is better than nothing.

So what leads me to this questions... Do you workout when you are not feeling well or do you just modify what you had planned?

Ciao and gym blues

Alexis

Summer Sorrows and Friday Favorites!

I have to say, I love that being a teacher brings me a 2 month vacation every year. That being said, it is not all its cracked up to be. I hear the typical " must be nice to have two months off" or "hey at least you get a summer vacation" all the time and even from my siblings that are not teachers. Here is what people don't understand. Yes I get 2 months off from work but this also means I DO NOT get paid for 2 months... so unless you are good with your money during your 10 months of work you will struggle hard core over summer break.

That being said... I AM BORED!!! haha Brian owns his own company so he is still working and I am at home alone all day. I am so used to working that having nothing to do during the day is foreign to me and I have a hard time filling the hours of the day. After I wake up and make breakfast, and workout I am pretty much done with my to-do list tehe.

SOOOOO... I have been cleaning and organizing but this is not good for the ADD in me. I continuously start in one room, lose focus, and move on to the next room. Needless to say my house looks like a bomb exploded because I have started cleaning every room and have yet to finish any of them... anyone else have this problem?

This brings me to my favorite thing this week. I do have A LOT of free time so I get bored and try new things, which has brought me to creating my all time FAVORITE pita chips. I love them so much that I have eaten them just about everyday. They are super simple, healthy, and best of all DELISH!!!!

So my favorite product of the week is Pita Chips. I wouldn't be able to make then so quickly if it weren't for this guy ------------------>
I am completely obsessed with Joesph's Flax Oat Bran Pitas! We use these in our house for everything! Breakfast wraps, sandwiches, they even sell a Lavash bread which we use for our flat breads. What is even better is that Publix started selling them so now I can have them whenever I want LOL. I came up with making them into pita over the weekend when we had our simple cookout with my mom. We were having Ceviche and I wanted something to scoop up the goodness. So I made these... and it has been down hill from there. HAHA




So then this week they have been made 3-4 times all thetime coming up with new ways to use them, I am starting to get creative with the toppings :o)

 Dinner: Grilled Turkey Burgers with Grilled Pineapple and a side of pita and guac.

 Snack: Good ol' Pita and Guac

Lunch: shredded chicken breast, fresh avocado and pita. 

The lunch was by far my favorite. It was AMAZING!!! The best part is the pitas are only 60 cal. each so even with a serving of quac. you are still sitting below a 200cal snack. Its a winner in my book. 

How to make them... 

1 pita sliced into little triangles

lightly brush with coconut oil or Extra virgin Olive Oil

sprinkle with a little salt (or any seasoning you want) 

Bake on 350 for 8 min. Any longer and they will be WAY TO WELL DONE. They are thin so they don't need much time.  

Can't get any easier than this. So I hope you give it a try. I will probably having a replay of the lunch version of my favorite again today :o)

Well I have gone on long enough so I will let you go with one question... 

What is your favorite super easy snack/meal to make?

Ciao and Pita love

Alexis