What I ate Wednesday October 4, 2012

Happy Hump Day! Since it is Wednesday, I am linking up with Jenn today, for WIAW!

Before I talk about today’s eats, I want to share my recipe for last night’s dinner experiment. It turned out REALLY good and was SO easy to make! I’ll definitely be doing it again!

I know, not the best (or most appetizing) picture, since I took this with my phone, but my little dinner experiment was delish!

Slow Cooker Chicken and Kale: (serves 3)

Ingredients:

– 2 bunches of Kale (chopped)

– 1 yellow onion (chopped)

– 2 fresh tomatoes (chopped)

-1 small can of chopped tomatoes

– 3 frozen skinless boneless chicken thighs

– 1/4 cup pasta sauce

1/4 cup water or chicken broth

– 1 clove garlic (minced)

– 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

– 1 Tbsp garlic no-salt seasoning

– pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Place frozen chicken at the bottom of your slow cooker.

2. Pour can of tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, pasta sauce, onion, garlic and seasonings on top of the chicken.

3. Top with chopped kale.

4. Pour water or chicken broth on top and cook on high for 4-6 hours.

5. When ready, divide kale amongst three plates and place one piece chicken with tomatoes and onion on top each bed of kale. Enjoy!

For today’s eat, we started off with our “usual” breakfast of Fage Greek yogurt topped with chia seeds, flaxseeds, strawberries and Kashi cereal. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture. I also had my morning latte made with our french press! After breakfast, we headed to Keenan’s swim class at the Y.  On the way home, we stopped at Sacramento Beekeeping and Honey store to buy some local honey, since we ran out of our Costa Rica honey. The store is awesome! They have two big vats of honey and you can either bring your own container to fill or purchase one of their containers. You pay by the weight of the honey. Since I didn’t do my homework ahead of time, I purchased one of their containers, but I will be sure to bring my own next time! The honey is local wildflower from California’s Central Valley (Sacramento to Lodi). It is really good! I’m excited to use it on pancakes, maybe even mixed into my yogurt and for baking!

Such good local honey!

Once we got home, we had lunch. Since Keenan didn’t finish all of his yogurt this morning, he ate the rest of it for lunch, followed by his favorite: a peanut butter and honey sandwich (made with our new honey!). He loved it (of course!). He kept saying, “Eating new honey!”

Keenan’s lunch (or part of it!).

For my lunch, I made myself a half sandwich of turkey, tomatoes, spinach and leftover grilled zucchini spread with Costco’s yogurt jalapeno dip, SO good! I also had some carrots, the rest of the tomato and zucchini on the side. This was probably the best sandwich I have ever made! The grilled zucchini made it so flavorful! A little while later, I also made myself an iced coffee using my husband’s awesome coffee concentrate.

My delicious lunch!

An hour before heading to CrossFit, I had half of a banana with a tablespoon of peanut butter for a snack. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it!

Today’s workout was a good one. The skill was max rope climbs in a minute for 3 rounds and I was able to do 3 climbs in a minute for each round! The WOD was a 12 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of 150 double unders, 90 abmat situps and 30 handstand pushups. The prescribed/elite standard for the handstand pushups was having a deficit of two 25 pound plates, which I was able to to do! It was the first time I did them with a deficit, so I was pumped! Since I could only do 1 handstand pushup at a time, it slowed me down a bit, so I was only able to do a total of 258 reps (barely completing 1 round!). Anyhow, it was a great workout! I love doing handstand pushups, so it was a fun one for me!

Once we got home from CrossFit, I fixed dinner for Keenan and me, since my husband was out of town for work. Keenan had some leftover chicken from last night’s dinner experiment, along with some cooked carrots and avocado with a glass of milk. After dinner, I also made him a small vanilla ice cream cone as a treat, since he finished all of his dinner by himself (no feeding by me!).

Enjoying his dinner and glass of milk in his “big boy” fish cup!

Enjoying his ice cream cone!

For my dinner, I made myself a “mega” salad topped with tomato, artichoke hearts, pepperoncinis, carrots, avocado, roasted walnuts and chicken. It hit the spot! Even though I don’t like it when my husband has to travel for work, I love that I get to make big salads for dinner! I love salad so much that I could probably eat it for lunch and dinner everyday! 🙂

My “mega” salad!

Oh, before I forget, here is the video of my round-off back handspring at our gymnastics class last weekend! I can’t wait to go back and add a back tuck!

Also, I want to tell you about my Reebok Nanos 2.0. I have worn them for two days now and I absolutely love them! They are SO comfortable and soft on your feet, but still have a firm platform and minimal drop for lifting. I don’t think I can go back to wearing my New Balance Minimus.

Well, it is getting late, so I’m off to bed. Speaking of sleep, I certainly need more of it! It is a continuous goal of mine…more to come on this tomorrow! Good night!

Question: What did you eat today? What are your favorite slow cooker recipes? Since Fall is here (though, it sure doesn’t feel like it!), I love to use my slow cooker making chili, stews, soups, pot roasts, etc, but I would love to try some new recipes.

Heading to a weekend full of CrossFit! September 14, 2012

Today has been a rather busy day. I have my CrossFit Level 1 Trainer Course this weekend, so I have been running some last-minute errands (aside form going to the gym this morning) and finishing up some odds and ends around the house. After Keenan woke up around 7:30 this morning, we ate a quick breakfast of toasted pancakes with peanut butter and banana slices and headed to the gym for a great partner WOD. There is nothing like bear crawls when your hand is torn! 🙂

After the gym, we ran some errands, making sure to stock-up on plenty of band-aids and athletic tape for this weekend! Once we got home, we had lunch (though, I had to clean up a little mishap of Keenan “cleaning” his little potty with the toilet bowl brush, thus spilling the nasty toilet/poopy water all over the floor of our half bathroom). I made Keenan a turkey and cheese sandwich and I had my “usual breakfast” of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt bowl with chia seeds (we finally got more yesterday!), flax seed, Kashi cereal and a nectarine.

I’m really excited for this weekend, but a little nervous at the same time. I’m not quite sure what to expect, but I know I’m going to learn a lot and meet some really cool people! While I’m away for the weekend, the boys will be having a “guys’ weekend” at home, so who knows what that will include?! This is actually the first time I will be away from both my husband and Keenan for two days! I’m definitely going to miss them, but it will be nice to have some much needed quiet time!

I’ll miss these guys!

Since I still have to shower and pack, I better go! Have a great weekend, and I can’t wait to share all about my trainer course with you on Monday!

Oh, before I forget, the winner of the Sweaty Bands Giveaway is: Natalie! Please message me through Facebook with your address, so I can send a Sweaty Band to you, Natalie!

Sweaty Bands Review and Giveaway!! September 13, 2012

Happy Hump Day! I can’t believe it is already Wednesday. The week seems to be flying by. Anyhow, I was so grateful that we didn’t have to rush off this morning. Our YMCA cancelled Keenan’s swim class this morning because they are having some issues with their pool. It was great to be able to stay home and play! However, Keenan had a dentist appointment in the later morning, so we still had to get dressed and go somewhere. We had a relaxing breakfast of our “usual” (yogurt, flax seed, strawberries and Kashi cereal) and I made myself a tall iced coffee using the coffee concentrate my husband made last week.

Before heading to his dentist appointment, we did some finger painting outside, thanks to our good friends, Heather and Elias, who gave him them for his birthday! He loved it! He did one small canvas painting and two others on regular construction paper.

Keenan’s artistic creations!

He even managed to get paint on Slinky (since she wanted to sit right next to us)!

Before Slinky rubbed off all of the paint, I managed to snap this picture!

After we painted, we played some piano together and then got ready for his dentist appoint. It was Keenan’s third time going to the dentist for a check-up, and he was absolutely terrified (the other two times, he was fine)! I’ve never seen him so scared, poor thing! He clung to me and kept saying, “Go in the car, Mommy!” On the ride to the dentist office, I kept talking to him about how nice our dentist is and that she will give him a new toothbrush and a sticker when he is all done, but that didn’t seem to help!

For lunch, I made Keenan a peanut butter and honey sandwich with banana and I branched out and made something different for myself: a mini “pizzawich!” I took half of a sandwich thin and placed a little bit of my homemade pasta sauce and then topped it with with 2 slices of turkey, a slice of tomato and some mozzarella cheese (since it was leftover from the spaghetti squash tomato bake with turkey added). It was delicious! I’ll definitely be having that again, soon!

Now, onto Sweaty Bands!

Isn’t the packaging cute?

The kind folks at Sweaty Bands sent me one of their headbands to try out, to see how it holds up during one of my grueling CrossFit WODs. I was completely impressed!  I wore it for two workouts, one that included running 200 meters five times, overhead squats and chest-to-bar pullups and another one doing 100 box jumps, 80 v-ups, 60 lunges, 40 hollow rocks and 20 burpee tuck jumps. For both workouts, the band never moved. It stayed perfectly in place! They are definitely rated the #1 Fitness Headband in the world for a reason! It fit snug on my head, but very comfortable at the same time (not too tight where it gives you a headache). I’ve tried many headbands throughout the years, hoping that the next one that I buy will not slip or slide off as I workout. Sweaty Bands is FINALLY the first headband that stays put, keeping my hair in place and out of my face (all while still looking good)! It will be the only band that I will use from now on! I absolutely love it! As an added bonus, Sweaty Bands makes a thousand different colors, prints and patterns, as well as the ability to customize some for a team or brand, etc. There are also a few sizes to choose from: 5/8, 7/8, 1 (the one that I tried) and 1.5 inches. I’d like to buy the larger, 1.5 inch “model”, next!

Pre-workout.

Post-workout…still in the same place, without having to mess with it!

WIN ONE! Sweaty Bands was SO generous that they offered to send a band to one lucky reader! To enter: Click over to Sweaty Bands, check out all of their styles, and leave a comment on this post about which one you would like to have.

Earn an extra entry by:

1. Post on YOUR Facebook page or Tweet “I want to win a Sweaty Band from Sweaty Bands and Fit ‘N’ Well Mommy at http://www.fitnwellmommy.com”

2. Like Fit ‘N’ Well Mommy’s Facebook page or share this post on your Facebook page. *Make sure to leave a second comment on this post with your FB post, Tweet or Like!

*The giveaway ends this Friday, Sept. 14th at noon. Good luck!

In the meantime, if you would like to get your very own Sweaty Band, they have a great promotion of 20% off your entire purchase, running from now until Sept. 28th! When checking-out, just enter the promo code: “thanks!”