Easing Back Into the Flow & Freestylin' in the Kitch

As I've mentioned, January has been INSANE/ AWESOME/ STRESSFUL/ WONDERFUL. World premiere of my one-woman show, applications sent out for artist residencies, planning my (rapidly) upcoming wedding, began auditioning for MFA Acting Programs and working three jobs. I'm incredibly grateful for all the opportunities being thrown my way, but my body is ready for a break!

Admittedly, my contest prep and diet were the first things to fall by the wayside when the rest of my life picked up pace. I'm doing some soul searching to determine if I'll be able to dedicate the time and effort I know I'd need to in order to feel like I'm properly prepared for the upcoming bikini show, but that'll be a different post.

My food has been pretty wholesome and delicious these past few days, thankfully. I've been feeling a bit weak and tired (coming down from all the cortisol/ adrenaline combo of the past few weeks, no doubt), so I've been embracing good carbs in a major way. Not exactly a prep diet, but at this point, feeling good is my priority. In the meantime, I got my workout on today at home, and though it was VERY BRIEF, it felt GOOOD.

20 Pushups
60 KB double-armed swings (20 each 8, 10 and 12 kg)
20 KB lunges with single-armed press (10 x arm w/ 8kg)
The Power of 10 Jumptstart Workout

Tonight after work, I snagged what I could carry from the grocery store in preparation for Snowpocalypse Part 3 (fingers crossed for another snow day!), and found some inspiration in the produce aisle.

YUM!

So I set to free stylin'! As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I'm not really a recipe sort of girl. I learned how to cook at a pretty young age, and I haven't turned back since! I'm pretty adventurous in the kitchen, and it usually serves me well...

Tonight's non-recipe is named Cousa Canoes, because that's what they look like, and I LOVE alliteration.

First, I cooked up some quinoa.

Then I chopped up a red pepper that was on it's last leg (I HATE THROWING AWAY FOOD).

And split/ scooped five mini cousas. What's cousa? A green summer squash that looks and tastes like the love child of a zucchini and a yellow squash.

COUSA CANOES!

In a large bowl, I mixed my chopped red pepper, the quinoa, the innards of the cousa and some leftover tilapia that I had prepared earlier (exciting coincidence).

For a majority of my life I suffered from a tree-nut allergy. I've recently discovered that I've outgrown it, and am happily embracing tree nuts as a vital part of my life. Yum. I picked up some lite coconut milk at the store... HOLY MOLY, is this stuff creamy. I need to figure out something else to do with it, but since I was so excited to use it, I added a few tablespoons to my stuffing mix.

Stir in some seasonings, fill up the cousa canoes and top with shredded Parmesan if you please.

My oven was at appx. 350 F, and they went in, uncovered for about 30 minutes... All of the filling was cooked, so it was basically a matter of heating/ melting/ fusing...

Happy, happy times.

Do you follow recipes, or make it up as you go?

SNOW DAY!

Today, I woke up to this!

And Bloomberg FINALLY decided to give NYC a snow day. Thank you. I REALLY needed this day to do some much needed catchup on work, school and wedding planning. The fiance was working from home today!

Mr. Mom decided to make us breakfast! YAAAAAY!

ROLLUPS! According to Joe, they're best described as "crepes that my dad makes". Whatever that means. They're like skinny pancakes. Or fat crepes. I have suspicions that they are (or could be with some minor adjustments) relatively healthy... I saw soymilk, whole wheat flour and eggs...

I'd give you the recipe, but then I'd have to kill you. Or Joe would have to kill me. They're his dad's top secret recipe. He'd be disowned. 

What do you do with rollups? "You put stuff on them, and roll them up," says Joe. Sounds good to me! Be forewarned, this is really the fork in the road, and at this point, you choose your rollup's fate- light and fit or decadent and sinister...?

How about seedless black raspberry preserves and plain 0% fat greek yogurt?

Or fresh strawberries and fat free whipped topping?

Joe REALLY likes toppings...

And of course we both needed our AM fix...

Lunch was equally exciting! Fried brown rice with spinach, sugar snap peas, carrots, bean sprouts, mandarin oranges, pecans, sunflower seeds and my new obsession, peanut flour.

Colorful food makes me happier than not-colorful food.

Made better by our new dishes and beautiful handmade bamboo chopsticks! Wedding shower/ Christmas gifts!

I think he liked it...

Todays workout consisted of playing with the cutest kid I know!

And walking home capturing shots of how gorgeous my nabe is when it snows...

All in all, a perfect day. :)

My Newest Obsession

After hearing some bloggie pals obsess over the stuff, I decided I had to have some, and sent Joe on a mission to stop at TJ's before his rehearsal and bring me some. 

Which was quite kind of him in this weather...

I'm. So. Happy.

I couldn't decide what to do with it first. Peanut butter hot chocolate won out. 

 YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

The nutrition in this stuff is pretty impressive... 2 tablespoons of the flour (which can be mixed with water to make a paste, or with other things fore exponential varieties of deliciousness) contain 55 calories, 2g fat, 575 mg potassium (17% DV), 2g fiber, 1g sugar and 8g protein. Nice, right?

Yummytown Microwave Banana Oat Cakes AND...

I'm a busy girl, so it follows logically that I like fast things. Fast trains. Fast workouts. Fast food (of my own creation). So everytime I come across a recipe like this, I'm THRILLED, to say the very least. 

Something else you should know about me: I absolutely loath ripe bananas. If there's more yellow than green, I'm not really interested... And OVERRIPE bananas? I gag just from smelling someone eating one. The only thing I hate more than overripe bananas is throwing away produce, especially if it's still salvageable in some capacity. It literally, physically hurts me to waste food. So when a bunch of bananas have lost their lustrous green hue and morphed into a sallow and angry yellow, I begin to panic. "How will I use them?" "What can I make that won't totally derail my diet?" "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?"

Which is why I'm so grateful to Averie of Love, Veggies and Yoga for this FAST, SIMPLE, CLEAN, NUTRITIOUS and DELICIOUS way for me to get rid of my culinary arch-enemies. A plus? They're legal for all my vegan/ GF friends!

I doubled her recipe (making 2 cakes) and didn't use any add-ins aside from cinnamon, though she lists some yummy options. I topped with a bit of RF Peanut Butter, and was a happy, happy girl. 

I used: 

1 banana on the verge of death

6 tbs oats

1 plop of cinnamon (if you're new to the blog, I'm not so great w/ measurements)

Mix it. Mash it. Divide in 1/2 and microwave each portion in a bowl for 90 seconds on high. Enjoy on your prettiest plate.

(Forgive the crappy picture quality- I had to take it with my phone because the fiance took the camera to work)

I later enjoyed a lemon lime seltzer and blueberry pomegranate spritzer, because I'm a non-alcoholic lush.

Dinner was extra lean ground beef cooked with taco seasoning and apple cider vinegar served with chopped tomatillos, avocado and salsa. Joe added a tortilla to his, but I went au naturale...

So. Friggin. Yummy.

Serious distractions... A BUSY WEEK.

Outside of the gym, I've got a few things going on, including 3 teaching jobs, applications/ auditions for MFA programs, a few volunteer gigs, planning my (rapidly) upcoming wedding and a dancing, acting and writing career. The last one has been the real kicker lately, as this week has been dress/tech/load-in week for my upcoming one-woman show, A WOMAN IN PROGRESS at La MaMa E.T.C's Club. Rehearsals have been grueling, but with the love and support of my colleagues and friends at Mind the Art Entertainment, it's been an enjoyable process. It has, however, been seriously damaging to my training schedule/ diet for the past 2 weeks. In a major, major way. I leave in the morning before the gym opens, and I return home after it's closed, and by that point, I'm inclined to simply crawl into bed and savor the precious few hours before I have to be back at the theatre. 

I was planning on competing in bikini on March 26th, which puts me at 9.5 weeks out. There's another show on April 9th which puts me 11.5 weeks out, but it's the Saturday before I get married.... 

What would you do?

More food porn...

I. Love. Food. 

Contest prep diet is going ok... not perfect, but not terrible...

Holy nooks and crannies... I <3 breakfast. It's a proatcake (protein and oatmeal pancake... obvi)!

Plus a little PB

Oy- I look rough here... Don't judge... I just got done teaching dance and busted my knee on the way home (damn you NYC snow)... So Joe made me pork tenderloin and blue potatoes with caramelized onions! Whatta guy! 

Recap of Week 1 and Bring on Week 2

Contest Prep Week 1 went pretty well- got 5 good days of working out in... Scheduling is getting tight because my show is opening in 2 weeks (oy) but I'm determined to not let that derail my prep too much (diet was OK for the most part, with one shameful instance of convenient pizza sneaking in)...

Here's what week 2 will look like (I'm hoping)

Day 1
Cardio- 1 hr (30 TM, 30 elliptical)
Biceps, Triceps, Shoulders, Chest, Core

Day 2
Cardio (20-TM, 40 Elliptical)
Quads, Glutes, Calves, Hammies, Core

Day 3
Biceps, Triceps, Shoulders, Chest, Core

Day 4
Cardio
Biceps, Triceps, Shoulders, Core, Back

Day 5
Cardio
Quads, Glutes, Calves, Hammies, Core

.... Diet so far, so good...

Day 1
-Egg White Spinach Omelet w/ Sprinkle of Parmesean
-Iced Coffee w/ Soy

Food Porn.

I. Love. Food. And I love taking pictures of food! I hope you like looking at pictures of food, because I'm posting a bunch! Enjoy my culinary adventures of the past few days!

Homemade Hummus. So easy, so healthy, so delicious.

Baked Salsa Chicken. Ole!

Avec Haricot Verts! Tres bien!

My super beast salad. The photo doesn't do the size of the bowl justice. 

Days 1 and 2 of Contest Prep!

Yesterday's post mysteriously vanished. :(

A recap:

YESTERDAY- Day 1

40 Mins of Cardio
Triceps
Biceps
Chest

Meal 1: 9:30a
Egg White Mug Scramble w/ Turkey Sausage
Iced Coffee with Soymilk and 0 cal sweetener

Meal 2: 11:30
1 Scoop Warrior Whey Chocolate

Meal 3: 1:30
Oatmeal w/ Vanilla Protein, Peanut Butter and Cinnamon
Iced Coffee (Soymilk and 0 cal sweetener)

Meal 4: 3:30
Cucumber Pineapple Salad
Tea

Meal 5: 5:30p
1 Scoop Warrior Whey
Handful of Almonds

Meal 6: 8p
2 deviled eggs (4 halves) with 1/2 yolk mixed with homemade hummus

Today: DAY 2

40 Mins of Cardio
Calves, Quads, Glutes and Hammies!

Meal 1: 10:10a
Oatmeal, Peanut Butter, Warrior Whey Chocolate
Iced Coffee w/ Light Soymilk and 0 Cal Sweetener

Meal 2: 12:10p
Guacamole with Stone Ground Whole Wheat Crackers
1 deviled egg with hummus mixture

Meal 3: 2:30p
1 scoop Warrior Whey in Water
Iced Coffee

Meal 4: 3:30p
Light Vanilla Yogurt Cup with Almonds

Meal 5: 6:30p
Super Yummy Salad! Green leaf lettuce, carrots, avocado, grilled chicken breast, tomatoes, a sprinkling of craisins, lemon and lime juice and a drizzle of low sodium terikyaki and blueberry balsamic vinegar

HAPPY SWEATING!

P.S. Check out Run To The Finish's Sunfood Giveaway!