Meals for the Week plus Harbor East Fit +

Hi again!  I'm finally back in town for a month or so after spending the last 3 weekends away celebrating moms and sisters and vacationing.  It's time to get back to food planning!  

Breakfasts: 

Various smoothies, including strawberry banana, banana almond butter, and Skinnytaste's Skinny Green Monster Smoothie.  

Lunches: 

Spinach-edamame-hummus wraps

Lean Cuisine Spa Collection meals

Leftover salmon with spinach

Snacks: 

Strawberries and apples

Mini Babybel Light cheese

Dark chocolate

Dinners: 

Monday/Tuesday:  Quick & Easy Sausage Pasta (I use chicken sausage)

Wednesday:  Salmon with Sriracha Sauce and Lime with sweet potato fries

Thursday:  Hummus-crusted chicken with zucchini

These are all meals I've made before, and they're all healthy and delicious.

Speaking of healthy, I just purchased a ticket for Harbor East's Fit +, a health and fitness expo where according to the website, guests will enjoy live music throughout the day from The Water  and  DJ J.Gray; healthy food, drink & cocktail offerings from Whole Foods Market, Gordon Biersch, Lebanese Taverna and Talara; in addition to fitness demos, healthy cooking instruction, giveaways from City Sports and much more!

The expo is next Saturday, June 29th, and needless to say, I'm pumped to check out the fitness classes and other offerings!   I think it's great that the community is putting on an expo like this to showcase the many health and fitness options in the city.

What healthy meals do you have planned for the week? 

Bachelorette Weekend!

Hi all!  I'm back in Baltimore after a wonderful weekend with my sister and her friends in Charleston, SC.  We had a great time celebrating her upcoming wedding.  A few snapshots of the weekend:

We had lots of fun decorations, including a pinata!  Pastel monograms seemed to be the theme; the bride even had adorable monogrammed tanks made for all of us!

On Saturday evening, we got all dressed up to go to dinner at The Grocery.  I loved the decor and ambiance of the restaurant, and I tried soft shell crabs for the first time!  My meal was good, but I couldn't quite get over the whole eating the entire crab thing.  Then it was off for drinks and dancing. :)  

It was really great spending time with my sis and her friends! 

Can't wait 'til the wedding!  Less than a month! <3

Truth Tuesday + A Little Bit of Everything Swimming Workout

Good evening!  Yesterday turned out to be a nice little evening, as the husband and I went to the Orioles game for an impromptu date night. But first, meals for the day: 

Breakfast: 

That's not too interesting of a picture, huh?  Breakfast was a banana-cinnamon-honey-almond butter-soy milk-non fat Greek yogurt-ice cube smoothie.  It managed to (barely) hold me over until lunch. 

Lunch:   

Lunch consisted of a grilled chicken, spinach, and hummus wrap, plus an apple on the side.  Then I had a few squares of dark chocolate. :)

Snacks: 

After PT (ankle is now taped, as my therapist said the ankle brace may be putting pressure on my foot/toes, causing pain), I decided to grab a Starbucks latte (iced skinny hazelnut macchiato) before heading back to work.  We had no coffee in the house, so I was in serious need of caffeine.  Then, at the end of the day, I snacked on grape tomatoes with Greek hummus.  There may have also been a spoonful or two of almond butter somewhere in there too.  After a strength training workout, it was time to shower up and go to the Orioles game.  After walking back from my PT appointment, I had decided we needed to enjoy the nice weather at the baseball game, so I texted the husband to see if he was in.  Of course, he was. 

Dinner: 

One of the things I love about Camden Yards is you can bring food into the game.  So we usually stop by one of the many hot dogs vendors outside the gates and pick up hot dogs (3 for $5, can't beat that!).  We each had 1.5 hot dogs.  YUM. 

The other things I love about Camden Yards are the view and the company! :) <3  

I also wanted to share the swimming workout I've been doing lately.  I've found I've got to mix things up in the pool to avoid becoming hopelessly bored.  

Using different tools (pull buoy, kickboard) and strokes (freestyle, backstroke) helps the time go faster and also emphasizes different muscles. 

Don't forget to STRETCH after!  

'Til next time! 

Vacation Pics + Tips

Hi friends, hope your Monday is going well.  I'm sure glad we drove back from North Carolina yesterday instead of today, because today's weather is just awful for driving.  I hope everyone is staying safe and dry.  We encountered a bit of crazy weather ourselves on Friday - Tropical Storm Andrea.  We got mostly high winds (and surf) and short periods of extremely heavy rain.  

The calm before the storm...Thursday's view of the beach.

Some tips for keeping fit on vacation:

1.  Choose light, healthy foods for breakfasts and snacks so that you can enjoy local specialties and other yummy dinner food.  For example, I bought plenty of fruits like bananas and strawberries, and also Greek yogurt for breakfasts and snacks so I could eat dinners like crab cakes, scallops, burgers, and steamed shrimp without feeling too full.

Steamed shrimp seasoned with Old Bay, with a side of corn on the cob, potatoes,and sausage.  

2.  Sneak in some exercise by swimming a few laps in the hotel/resort pool, running a few miles on the boardwalk, or even waking up early and doing a quick body weight workout.  Some good exercises to try:  planks, push-ups, triangle push-ups to work the triceps, bicycle crunches, burpees, bridges, and squats.

3.  Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!  Staying hydrated is key to looking good and feeling good, especially after spending a long day on the beach or indulging in a few extra cocktails.  

Hanging out on the porch after the storm, sangria in hand.

4.  Walk instead of cabbing or driving to nearby attractions, restaurants, and grocery stores.  It may take longer, but it enables you to better explore the area.  You may discover something interesting that you'd never see whizzing by in a car.

5.  Engage in some active leisure time, like going for walks on the beach, or playing putt putt. 

Before Saturday's unexpected rainstorm drove us off after 12 holes!

In the end, we go on vacation to relax and unwind, so stressing about not fitting in regularly scheduled workouts or eating perfectly is counterproductive!  We likely burn more calories than we think playing in the surf and exploring the sights, and the gym is always there for us when we get back home!  

I had an awesome time at the beach, as usual, but it's good to settle back into a routine, at least until I head to Charleston this weekend for my sister's bachelorette!  

 What trips are you looking forward to this summer?  How do you stay fit on vacation?

Truth Tuesday (Strawberries Galore!) + Vertical Loading Workout

Happy Tuesday!  More like Happy Thursday for me, because we're leaving tomorrow night for our long weekend at the beach!  :)  If today's meals had a theme, it would be strawberries (hey, gotta get rid of that 2-pound container of strawberries somehow).  Strawberries are high in fiber, vitamin C, and antioxidants.

Breakfast: 

I mixed things up a bit with my smoothie this a.m.  I knew I was planning to use a banana for my lunch, so I only used 1/2 a banana, along with 3 strawberries and a small handful of sliced almonds, plus the standard ice cubes, soy milk, and non-fat Greek yogurt.   

Lunch: 

We didn't have any grilled chicken or edamame ready to go, and I just bought some almond butter, so decided to try an open-faced almond butter, banana, and honey sandwich.  YUM! :)   Before I went to the gym,  I had a peach, and then had a glass of soy milk when I got home.

Dinner: 

Spinach salad with grilled chicken, blue cheese, almonds, strawberries, and raspberry vinaigrette.  The creamy blue cheese pairs really well with the strawberries.  For dessert,  I'll have some dark chocolate!

For today's workout, I decided to try Vertical Loading in a circuit training format, which is used by NASM.  Vertical loading is when you do one set of an exercise for each body part, and then go back through and complete another set.   This gives some of your muscles a chance to recover while you are working the others.  For example, say you do a chest exercise first, and then go on to your back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and legs.  By the time you get to your chest again for the next set, your chest muscles have had the chance to recover.  However, since you've been working the other muscles, you're not taking rest breaks - allowing it to be a circuit training style workout if you complete each exercise without stopping.  Today's workout:  

I'm not cleared to do any kind of leg exercises, except for the ones assigned in therapy, but adding leg exercises will complete the circuit.  You can also do a full body exercise first.  I decided to mix things up a bit and do one set of two different exercises for each body part.  This is kind of tough to do at a crowded gym, since I moved from the free weight area, to the machines, to the area with benches.  I found the Twisting windmill move on Women's Health online and added it to my Work It! Pinterest Board. 

Time to pack so we can get out of here tomorrow at a decent hour!! 

Question:  Have you been incorporating yummy strawberries into your meals?  What workout did you do today? 

Meals for the (Short) Week + Ankle Update

Hello again!  We did our shopping for the week at Whole Foods after the movies, and the results aren't terribly exciting.  They're actually pretty similar to what we ate last week.

  I still have several items from last week's meals, including frozen blueberries, hummus, wraps, and Babybel cheese.  I'm planning on blueberry and strawberry smoothies for breakfasts, wraps with spinach, hummus, and edamame/chicken for lunches, and various salads with chicken for dinners.  I think a combination of spinach, chicken, strawberries, blue cheese, and slivered almonds sounds pretty tasty.  For snacks, we picked up some peaches instead of apples, and of course I had to get some dark chocolate.  I'm really looking forward to eating meals like steamed shrimp, oysters, grilled burgers and corn on the cob, and crab cakes at the beach later this week!  

I haven't done an injury update in a while, but if you've noticed my workout plans for the week lately, you can see I'm still not running, or even doing a lot of other types of cardio.  My ankle (and now foot/toes) doesn't seem to be improving with Physical Therapy, which is incredibly frustrating.  I'm out of the boot because I started having knee pain again, and am wearing an ankle brace when I work out/walk longer distances.  I'm going to try decreasing my cardio even further by only swimming (I was cleared to use the exercise bike and the elliptical for short time periods) to see if that helps any.   Since I have several trips coming up, I don't have that much time to work out anyway, so it's a good time to scale back.  However, not knowing if scaling back is even going to help makes it more difficult to implement.  If I don't notice improvement in the next few weeks or so, I might consider going to a podiatrist because the ankle/foot/toe pain scares me and I don't want it to become a permanent thing.  I was so pumped at the start of this year because I was planning to get into running more seriously, including training for and running my first half marathon.  I've accepted that it probably isn't going to happen this year, and now I'm just hoping to be able to run the 5K we're signed up for in August.  

Well that's it for me tonight!  I try not to be a "Debbie Downer" up here, but I wanted to explain the lack of workouts.  

Do you guys have any more exciting meals planned for the week?  Any fun races you're looking forward to?

Scenes from the Weekend - Back in VA

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!  We got back to Bmore from Virginia late yesterday evening.  It was really nice to spend time with our families.  Pics from the weekend:

Me at my parent's house Friday evening, drinking a glass of Pinot Grigio while cooking spinach and garlic.  My mom handed me the apron to wear over my white dress.  We were cooking Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach from SkinnyTaste.

The finished product, plus salad made with lettuce from my dad's garden.  Yum!  After dinner, we went shopping for jewelry for my sister's wedding (no luck) and then headed to the local Sweet Frog.

I went with a combination of cake batter and Oreo cheesecake yogurt and cookie dough bites, Reese Pieces, and chocolate sprinkles :)

On Saturday morning, the husband and I met up with his mom for brunch at The Broken Egg Bistro.  The portions were enormous, as you can see!  I enjoyed an egg white Mediterranean omelet with spinach, feta cheese, garlic, and tomatoes.  It also came with a biscuit and hash browns.  And it's not brunch without a mimosa, right?  In this case, a peach mimosa.

Then it was time to say goodbye!

Now we're off to see Iron Man 3 and then cruise through Whole Foods to pick up a few items for our short week in Baltimore.  Back later with meals!

Meals for the Week: Keeping it Simple

Happy Memorial Day!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, with friends and family, good food, and some fitness thrown in too.  A THANK YOU to our servicemen and women who made and continue to make the good things in life like these possible.

Meals this week are going to be pretty simple, with minimal prep time.  We're here through Thursday night (or Friday morning), and then going home for the weekend to celebrate the husband's mom's retirement!  Then, more travel the next two weekends, with our trip to the Outer Banks next Thursday through the end of the weekend, and my sister's bachelorette party in Charleston the following weekend!

We went grocery shopping today for meals for the week:

Breakfasts:

Strawberry banana smoothies

Lunches:

Wraps with chicken, spinach, and hummus

Vegan Hummus Spiral Wrap (Shape via Popsugar Fitness)

Dinners:

Spinach and orzo salad with grilled chicken (Self) - Note we had this for dinner tonight and it was delicious and quite easy to assemble.  

Spinach, strawberry, feta cheese, walnut, and chicken salad

Snacks:

Apples and peanut butter

Carrots and hummus

Mini Babybel® Light cheese

 Lindt  A Touch of Sea Salt dark chocolate 

Workout Plans for the Week:

Circuit training incorporating cardio x2

35-minute swim

What meals and workouts do you have planned for the week?  Any fun almost-summer plans that you're looking forward to?

Healthy (and Cheap!) Date Ideas - Baltimore edition

Happy Friday friends!!  Now that it's nice outside (supposedly), I thought I would share a few healthy and inexpensive date ideas (or heck, do with your pals ideas really) for getting out and about this summer.  I've done all of these except number 3, but I plan to take part as soon as my ankle is ready to go!

1.  Have a picnic in Federal Hill Park, which offers a great view of the Inner Harbor and beyond.  There is also a small playground for kiddies, and there's always people walking their dogs.  Maybe even throw a Frisbee around to burn off a few of those picnic-fare calories.

Disregard the super stern facial expression; I was having fun, I swear!

2.  Tour the Walters Art Museum in Mt. Vernon.  It’s even open until 9:00 pm on Thursdays, so you can grab some dinner and drinks first at Brewer's Art, Minato, Sacha's, or one of the many places in Mt. Vernon.  Or check out the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) near Johns Hopkins Homewood campus.  You can even stroll around the Sculpture Gardens for some exercise.

3.  Participate in free Wellness classes at the Inner Harbor, sponsored by the Waterfront Partnership.  They are offering a variety of classes on Saturdays and Sundays, May 25th to September 29th.  

4.  Go on a hike at nearby Patapsco Valley State Park or Gunpowder Falls State Park.  You can even rent bikes, inner tubes, and kayaks near Gunpowder Falls from Monkton Bike Inc.

5.  Finally, my personal go-to, wandering one of the many Baltimore Farmer's Markets on Saturdays and Sundays.  Selecting fresh produce, and grabbing pastries, yogurts, omelets, and coffee for breakfast is a wonderful way to start your weekend days. :)

Curbside at the Baltimore Farmers' Market  Bazaar

Though these are all places/events in Charm City, the basic activities can be found in almost every city!  Get out there and do something different with your mate this weekend!  

Any other fun, healthy date ideas that I missed?  What do you have planned for the weekend?

Truth Tuesday + First Frittata

Good evening!  I'm winding down after dinner and figured I'd go ahead and post my meals for the day, including my first attempt at a frittata for dinner.

Breakfast:

An old standby, oatmeal, with pecans, cinnamon, and a little bit of honey for sweetness.  Kept me full until lunch time.

Lunch:

Banana-spinach-blueberry smoothie (with soy milk, non-fat Greek yogurt, ice cubes, and a bit of honey).  I've been using my farmer's market spinach and I have to say, it definitely has a more "spinach-y" taste than the baby spinach I usually buy.  I have to put in frozen blueberries and honey to make it sweeter and the colder, the better.  

Snack:

 A Fiji apple from the farmer's market - delicious.  Then, I ate a few spoonfuls of peanut butter before lifting weights. :) <3 peanut butter.  After the gym, the husband and I took the dogs on an early evening walk (husband has been ill so he wanted to get out of the house) and ended up sitting outside Starbucks and sharing a venti Mocha Frappuccino® Light.  When we got home, I prepared dinner.  

Dinner:

On the menu was the Asparagus and Swiss Cheese Frittata from Skinnytaste.  This was my first attempt at making a frittata (haven't made a quiche or any other egg-based "breakfast dish" yet either).  It was pretty easy to make; I just steamed the asparagus and added them to my skillet with cooked garlic, and then whisked together the other ingredients and poured them in the skillet for a few before throwing the skillet in the oven for about 15 minutes.  We also ate the rest of the strawberries we bought at the farmer's market on Sunday.  I want to try other variations of frittatas now, perhaps a spinach one next?  

Now I think I'll eat a few pieces of dark chocolate and drink some Tazo Zen tea.  Good night!