What Have I Been Up To Lately?

Posted on February 15, 2012 by motivating jess

Well certainly not much of this…

Way to go Jess, WAY TO GO

But a whole lot of this…

Sweet & Spicy Glazed Salmon Sandwiches

Eat, Live, Run

French Macarons with Almond Buttercream

Macarons

My Favorite Version of Overnight Oats

Recipe Below

Creamy Rotelle with Basil Yogurt & Mozzarella

Ancient Grains for Modern Meals

My Favorite Baked French Fries

Garlic, Rosemary, Kosher Salt, Pepper & Olive Oil

Farro Soup

Super Natural Every Day

Honey & Rose Water Tapioca

Another from Super Natural Every Day

Yes, one more from Super Natural Every Day

Lemon-Zested Bulgur Wheat (my version below)

My Favorite Overnight Oats

1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
scoop of chia seeds
pinch of cinnamon
1 tablespoon sunflower butter
banana slices

Mix the milk, oats, applesauce, chia seeds and cinnamon altogether. Keep in the fridge overnight. Add sunflower butter and banana slices and enjoy!

Lemon-Zested Bulgur Wheat

Adapted from Super Natural Every Day

1 cup light coconut milk
3/4 cup water
1 cup fine or medium bulgur
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup chopped raw almonds
vanilla soy or almond milk (or your favorite milk)

In a medium saucepan, bring the coconut milk, 3/4 cup water and salt to a simmer. Stir in the bulgur and bring mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer the mixture for 5 to 20 minutes until the bulgur is creamy, but still retains some texture.
Take off heat and stir in poppy seeds, lemon zest, honey and chopped almonds.
If you want to eat this for breakfast for the week like I do, add your favorite milk to an individual serving and warm up in the microwave.

How Can I Make This Work?

Posted on January 18, 2012 by motivating jess

I mentioned yesterday how I already managed to use my rest day. And then once again, I did not get up to workout this morning. Awesome.

Back up plan was to go home and complete my strength training after work. I came SO close to skipping out again. Then I remembered how much I love TV (I know, I should be embarrassed to admit that, but I just do) and how I hadn’t watched my favorite show yet, Biggest Loser. What’s better than working out while watching Biggest Loser?

I followed another one of the circuit workouts from Peanut Butter Fingers and it took me about 25 minutes. Those burpees are a killer!

Since I had already eaten most of my points allowance for the day, without a longer term workout I decided to keep dinner pretty light. I boiled a serving of soba noodles in vegetable broth and added slivered red pepper, shredded kale, garlic and fresh cilantro to the soup. I added some heat with a pinch of crushed red chili pepper and Sriracha sauce. Nothing better than a large bowl of noodle soup on a freeeeeeeeeeeezing night.

I know you’ve been on the edge of your seats waiting for this week’s salad brigade. Are you ready???

Let’s get a close up of those chickpeas!

I spotted this recipe from Oh She Glows and knew I would be a fan. Rather than eating in a wrap form I added each serving to romaine and spinach greens.

Not only did I have a salad of the week, but also a special breakfast from Skinny Taste. Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries and Bananas…

I was skeptical of one serving keeping me full until lunch, but I haven’t been hungry any day this week so far before lunchtime. Pretty impressive.

Okay, onto finding a treadmill workout for tomorrow morning that might help me hate the treadmill a little less. Have a great night!

Sunday Salads

Posted on January 8, 2012 by motivating jess

How was your weekend? It was amazingly warm here on Saturday. Ben and I had a nice and easy run around our new neighborhood, couldn’t pass up the awesome temperatures in January.

So it’s Sunday and you know what that means! Time to make the lunches. As usual I’ll be having salad, but so will Ben this week. What do you have your lunch? Do you dine out or bring in your lunch? Anyone else have a routine like me on Sunday afternoons?

I often get asked how I actually keep my lettuce in edible condition for the week. I think the key is buying fresh (non pre-packaged) lettuce, chopping, washing and then drying with a salad spinner. I’ve seriously never had a problem with my salad greens wilting.

Ben’s salad of the week – green leaf and red leaf lettuce, shredded rotisserie chicken, lemon & garlic olives, cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.

My salad of the week – green leaf lettuce, cucumber, kalamata olives, 1/4 cup hummus and 1/4 cup tabouli. If you ever need to make a quick and easy salad and don’t have dressing on hand (or want something healthy), add hummus and shake, shake, shake. Each leafs gets a nice hummus coating.

Dinner tonight was another round of Holiday Soup from Oh She Glows. You should definitely make this.

Complete with a mug of Godiva hot chocolate.

I’m pretty happy with my workout recap.

Wed – Run 2 miles & more cardio Jillian Michaels Level 2 Ripped in 30
Thurs – Strength training Ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill
Fri – Cardio Jillian Michaels Level 2 30 day Shred
Sat – Run outside Ran 2.5 miles outside on a beautiful day
Sun – Strength training Jillian Michaels Level 1 Six Pack Abs

This week I definitely need to get some more miles in, 995 more to go in 2012!

Mon – Run 3 miles & 15 min Stairclimber
Tues – Strength Training
Wed – Run 3 miles & Cardio
Thurs – Strength Training
Fri – Cardio
Sat – Run outside
Sun – Run 2m & Strength

Time for bed, goodnight!

Brrrrrr

Posted on January 3, 2012 by motivating jess

I have to say, my new commute is pretty awesome. Not only do I have a guaranteed two miles of walking every day, but the majority of my walk is along Newbury Street. Pretty awesome, except maybe for my bank account.

Other than the Somerville Jingle Bell, this has really been the coldest day we’ve had so far. Brrrrrr, definitely a night for soup.

I loved checking out the top soup recipes of 2011 from Oh She Glows. Love soup! I made this one tonight and was perfect for a chilly evening.

Holiday Soup for the Soul

I realized after I shared my resolutions yesterday, that I totally disregarded my workout plans for the week. Not surprising that resulted in not working out today. Great job kicking off that New Year Jess! Well, I still have the opportunity to win a gold star this week, it’s not over yet.

Wed – Run 2 miles & more cardio
Thurs – Strength training
Fri – Cardio
Sat – Run outside
Sun – Strength training

Wish me luck!

The Final Batches

Posted on December 23, 2011 by motivating jess

And done!

Festive Cherryettes

40 cookies

• ¾ cup shortening
• ¼ cup butter
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 T vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans
• Candied cherries

1. Combine and cream well shortening, butter, powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Add sifted flour and chopped pecans and mix into a soft dough.
2. Shape into balls about 1” in diameter. Place on greased baking sheets. Press a little hole in center of each ball with tip of finger and place half a candied cherry in each.
3. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.

Yuletide Cookies

4 dozen

• ½ cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 T milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 1/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¾ cup finely chopped pecans
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon

1. Combine and beat thoroughly shortening, sugar, salt, vanilla and milk. Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Add to mixture. Blend in flour and baking powder.
2. Mix together pecans and cinnamon.
3. Shape cookie mixture into ¾” balls and roll in cinnamon-pecan mixture. Place balls 3” apart on greased baking sheets.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Snowy Christmas Cakes

40 cookies

• ¾ cup shortening
• ¼ cup butter
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 T vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans
• Powdered sugar

1. Combine and cream well shortening, butter, powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Add sifted flour and chopped pecans and mix into a soft dough.
2. Shape into balls about 1” in diameter. Place on greased baking sheets.
3. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. Coat while hot by shaking in a paper bag with powdered sugar. Cool and shake again in powdered sugar.

And my all time family favorite…

Grandma’s Danish Butter Cookies

4 dozen

• 1 cup butter, softened
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 pinch of cream of tartar
• 1 tsp vanilla and almond extract, mixed
• 2 cups flour
• Red currant jelly

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. On increased cookie sheet, mix, make small balls, press lightly in center and add small amount of red jelly. Bake until very light brown, about 7-8 minutes.

Merry Christmas!

Next Up…

Posted on December 20, 2011 by motivating jess

on the cookie train is a couple of batches of Sugar Cookies. But not just any sugar cookies, my Grandma’s sugar cookies.

Normally if I stop off to have some drinks after work I tend to get very sleepy and ready for bed, but not tonight! Tonight, I was ready to make cookies as soon as I walked in the door. It must have been that Jillian Michaels work out to start today (I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I’m allowing myself one cookie per batch and I forced myself not to stop off at CVS on the way home for candy).

Here they are:

And here’s MY cookie of the night.

My goal is to make a total of nine batches of the cookies to spread amongst the family. There are six recipes in total and I double half of them. So the current status is three batches down, six to go!

Sugar Cookies

3 1/2 dozen

• ½ cup shortening
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 2 T milk
• Colored sugars
• Powdered Sugar
• Water

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine and beat thoroughly shortening, salt, vanilla extract, sugar and eggs. Add sifted flour, baking powder, and baking soda and blend. Add milk and mix well.

2. Measure out level tablespoons of dough on greased baking sheets. Flatten cookies by stamping with a flat-bottomed glass dipped in flour. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. After mostly cooled, ice cookies with mixture of powdered sugar and water (test out the ratios until you have a thick enough consistency). Sprinkle with colored sugars shortly after before the icing sets.

My Grandma’s Tradition

Posted on December 19, 2011 by motivating jess

The week of cookies has begun!

Every Christmas my Grandma would make our whole family our very own tins of her homemade cookies. Every Christmas I would eat mine in approximately .5 days.

These posts are not to make you want even more sweets after you are probably already sweeted out, but it is to share a family tradition. I’m not sure that I will be able to share all the recipes before Christmas since I also have to bake them, but I thought to kick off this Monday I would share my first completed batch (I have now taken over the cookie baking tradition as it’s more than enough for me to handle so I can’t imagine how much work for my Grandma this would be, but I use her authentic recipes and do not stray from the list).

First up, the Christmas Cookie Wonderland. I made these first as they are the most work since it involves rolling out Christmas shapes. I even have my Grandma’s cookie cutters.

A key ingredient when rolling out cookies and trying desperately not to ruin the shapes while doing so is LOTS of flour and a glass of vino.

But only one glass, because you do want the cookies to come out well, baking is an exact science after all.

Ready for colored sprinkles and candied cherries…

Voila!

One batch down……………ummm just a few more to go….yikes….

Happy Baking! Tell me about your family traditions!

Christmas Cookie Wonderland

Makes around 3 – 4 dozen

• 1 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
• Bell, star and wreath cookie cutters
• Egg white
• Colored sugars
• Candied cherries

1. Combine and beat thoroughly shortening, sugar, salt, extracts and eggs. Add in flour and mix well.
2. Roll small portions of dough 1/4” or 1/8” thick on floured board. Cut with assorted cookie cutters. Place 1” apart on greased baking sheet. Brush with egg white. Sprinkle with colored sugars and candied cherry bits.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes until light brown.

Somerville Jingle Bell 5k

Posted on December 18, 2011 by motivating jess

My one day of exercise this week and it was a fun one! The Somerville Jingle Bell 5k.

Every year I had seen the runners in Somerville with their red and green tights and I was jealous. Finally, I remembered to sign up. This is a super fun 5k and everyone dresses up. There were some pretty impressive costumes. My favorite were these reindeer towing Santa’s sleigh.

Hilarious.

I ended up making my costume out of a bit of garland, some ridiculous red velvet bows and LOTS of safety pins.

Thankfully my costume and others kept me entertained, because it was freeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing out. We’ve been having weirdo warm weather through most of November and December and although yesterday was in the 40′s (not exactly warm) today was only a high of 28. It was a little shocking to the system and my lungs were not so accustomed to the icy breathing. And clearly, my running shape was not quite what it should be so I really need to get back in the game, that’s for sure.

Ben was nice enough to save a table for us at Foundry so we could grab brunch immediately after the race. French beignets with lemon curd sauce and Eggs Florentine. Yum!

I was pretty proud of myself for remaining productive throughout the day today. I took care of my grocery shopping (including all of my necessary week of cookie ingredients, more on that later), wrapped all our Christmas presents, laundry, lunch for the week made and dinner.

Tonight’s dinner was another round of these delicious Spicy Black Bean Burgers and trying out Heidi Swanson’s Cauliflower Soup. You can find the recipe here. I was hoping to make this as part of Christmas Eve dinner with my family so wanted to test it out in advance. It’s a keeper!

One note, probably best to follow Heidi’s direction and use an immersion blender for this soup (going to buy one). Sometimes when you put hot soup in your blender and even remember to hold the top down, it still explodes, just saying, totally hypothetical situation of course.

It’s Been Awhile…

Posted on December 17, 2011 by motivating jess

And I’ve missed you! I missed my blog, but it’s been a little crazy with starting a new job, a new commute, moving in less than two weeks and all this during the craziness of the holidays! I might be a little bit stressed these days, which has not resulted in the best sleeping habits, which has not resulted in early wake up times for exercise. Oops.

That sounds kind of like an excuse, right? You’re right. It is.

BUT tomorrow is the Somerville Jingle Bell 5k so I am guaranteed some exercise. Looking forward to creating my crazy outfit tomorrow morning!

I clearly don’t have much to say in the way of exercise and the same goes for cooking, but here is one new recipe I tried over a week ago and loved.

From one of my cookbook favorites, In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite. I was really happy with this recipe. I was bummed that I had forgotten to marinate the steak the night before so was worried I would have bad results, but even with a 45 minute marinating time (at room temperature) this was excellent. Check out the recipe here. Quick Grilled Flanken with Chili, Sesame & Ginger, served with sautéed brussel sprouts and a baked sweet potato on the side.

As I’m writing this I have Legally Blonde in the background on TV and Elle Woods reminded me that exercise gives you endorphins and endorphins make you happy. Thanks Elle!

On that note, here’s the plan, what I’m hoping is a realistic plan.

Sun - Somerville Jingle Bell 5k
Mon - Run with Back On My Feet or Cardio
Tues – Strength Training
Wed – Cardio or Run with Back On My Feet
Thurs – Strength Training
Fri/Sat/Sun – Something on one of these days

I think it’s realistic not to plan specifically for Christmas weekend, but to plan at least one workout.

I just remembered I do have one more thing to share. Check out my latest list of books read for 2011, I have read some really good ones over the past few weeks, I highly recommend. My new (but temporary) commute on the T has allotted me lots of reading time which has been really nice. In fact, I’m really checking off my list of books that I wanted to read so I am ready for some of YOUR suggestions. Please share!

Hope you are having a nice weekend spent with friends and family!

I’m Not Going to Bother Making Excuses

Posted on December 5, 2011 by motivating jess

I could tell you all sorts of reasons why I dropped off on my workouts and healthy eating halfway through the week, but tonight, I’m not going to bother. I have a million and one excuses, but let’s be honest, it comes down to a little something called laziness and lack of self-control. The end.

So, I did start out the week fairly strong, but no gold star for me!

Recap

Mon – Run with Back On My Feet Yes
Tues – Strength Training Yes
Wed - Run with Back On My Feet No
Thurs – Strength Training Yes
Fri – Something Different (at least 30 minutes) No
Sat – Run 2m & Strength No, but I walked a lot
Sun – Run 4m No

Ben and I spent all day in the city on Saturday and did quite a bit of walking. It was a chilly, but beautiful day. Love the ducks we came across!

Apparently they didn’t want their picture taken!

Okay, enough putting this off, this week’s workout is…

Mon – Rest, you know, b/c I really needed another day off from working out??
Tues – Strength Training
Wed – Run with Back On My Feet
Thurs – Strength Training
Fri – Run with Back On My Feet
Sat – Cardio & Strength
Sun – Run 4m

A few things I need to remember:

Working Out = Happier, More Energetic Jess

Working Out = I Automatically Eat Healthier, It’s Magic

Eating Healthy & Working Out = GOLD STAR which = Rewards

What do you tell yourself when you need some motivation? I always appreciate hearing other’s tips!

PS If you are looking for a twist on some comforting chicken noodle soup, try this recipe from Eat, Live, Run. Made it last night and Ben and I both loved it!

motivating jess

Tag Archives: soup

What Have I Been Up To Lately?

How Can I Make This Work?

Sunday Salads

Brrrrrr

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