Friday Favs - Snack Attack

It's no secret that I LOVE snacking (and do it frequently!). I always try to have healthy snack options with me to keep myself from making bad snack decisions when I get hungry between meals. Here's a few of my recent fav healthy snack foods. 

Harvest Snaps Snapea Crisps

These are SO GOOD! I would have never thought peas could trump potato chips but these are really the perfect salty snack. The macros aren't too bad on these too, unless you eat the whole bag at once (not that I would know anything about that).

Chobani Bites

I love all things Greek yogurt, and these smaller 100 calorie tubs are perfect for snacking, especially if you have my portion control issues. The coffee with dark chocolate chips flavor is sweet but not too sweet and the chocolate chips taste super decadent.

Hi I'm Skinny Sticks

These are GMO free and have way less fat than most potato chips but are still super tasty. The sweet potato sticks are sweet like cinna sticks, but I think I like the salty crunch factor of the multi-grain sea salt is my favorite.

Apples and Almond Butter

While I love the convenience of packaged snacks and the excitement of finding cool new products, sometimes you just can't beat the classics :)

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with any of the above brands. I would love it if anyone sent me snacks to review or just because, but it hasn't happened yet.

Meal Prep Monday - Travel Edition

Happy Monday! I'm off today on a 3 week international work trip. I'll try to update if I can, and I have some short fun posts scheduled to up while I'm gone so I won't completely disappear :)

Because I'm leaving town, I didn't do my normal weekly meal prep. But I thought it would be fun to give you a look at how I prepped to stay on track with my health and fitness goals during my upcoming travel. 

Fit Packing List

One of the reasons I've never had success working out during business travel was laziness and lack of motivation a crazy travel workload not bringing the right gear. I stick to a carry on suitcase plus a backpack for all my trips. Fitting in a pair of sneakers is hard, and forget about any other equipment. Here's what I managed to squeeze in this time to hopefully keep fit while still traveling light.

Wet Bags

One of the hardest parts about working out on the road is ending up with a bunch of sweaty clothes in your suitcase afterwards. Because my suitcase is so small, I usually do laundry about twice a trip, but that can be a long time to keep stinky clothes from contaminating the clean ones. To solve this issue, I bought this Planet Wise Diaper Wet Bag (I figure here is no way my workout clothes are smellier than dirty diapers!) and these Eagle Creek Pack-It Compression Sacs. The compression sacs also helped me fit squeeze more in to my tiny suitcase.

Fitbit Flex

(Image Source)

I debated whether or not to bring my Fitbit Flex. I was worried that it would look weird and suspicious in the airport x-ray machine, and that it might get lost or stolen. But, I also tend to walk a lot during my trips and walking is one of the easiest exercises for me to do on the road. So being able to quantify how much I am actually walking seems like it could be a really good way to increase my activity level. While the pros outweighed the cons, the same arguments didn't hold up for bringing my Polar FT4 which I am sadly leaving behind. I fully expect to have extreme separation anxiety.

Printable Workouts

I printed out my favorite no-equipment-needed Blogilates Printables, and a couple other printable workouts from FitSugar.

Cellphone 

Besides my favorite Nike Training Club, I downloaded two new fitness apps with me. Skimble Workout Trainer, a free app with a huge library of free workouts that vary in and are searchable by length, intensity, equipment needed, and body parts worked. You Are Your Own Gym is a paid app including over 200 body weight exercises which you can do as part of set programs or use to make your own customizable workouts. Along with the apps, my arm band and headphones are also key to turning my phone into a fitness tool. I've heard good things about Yurbuds and picked up a pair to replace my mysteriously missing old pair of earbuds.

Healthy Snacks

When I go to the airport, I usually treat myself to a bunch of food I don't normally get to eat (like a bagel breakfast sandwich. mmmm), but this time I'm packing a bunch of healthy snacks. I also get really dehydrated on long flights, so I'm going to try to drink a lot of fluids before getting on the plane, including some coconut water before I have to go through security.

So that's the low-down on my business trip fitness preparations. I'll definitely let you know how it works out and any lessons learned when I get back. Wish me luck!

Eating hard - DC Restaurant Week

Along with the week between Christmas and New Years, the week of my birthday, and any week-long vacation, DC Restaurant Week is one of my favorite weeks of the year.

Twice a year, more than 200 DC restaurants offer 3-course lunches for $20.13 and 3-course dinners for $35.13. The list of participating restaurants always includes many of the top rated (and normally super expensive) places in town, making it a great chance for people like me with foodie aspirations and slim wallets to live the high life at a reasonable price. Because of my undying love for the event, three dinner reservations is a totally acceptable number to make during restaurant week. And the great deals on good food totally trumps any worries about overindulging. 

Here's the low-down on where the bf and I ate this week.

NoPa Kitchen + Bar

NoPa is a fairly new offering from DC power-restaurateur Ashok Bajaj of Rasika, the Oval Room, and Ardeo Bardeo fame. The Washington Post's critic gave it a pretty harsh review, but we thought restaurant week would be a perfect time to check this new place out without breaking the bank.

It was pretty good but didn't blow us away. I ordered the chicken because it was one of the few things the Post critic did like, and it was just ok. Well cooked but not really exciting. I left about half of it on my plate.

The best thing on our table was these brussels sprouts which were an extra $6 add on. Worth. It. They were super crispy and were roasted with pear, sesame, and some kind of magic. We may or may not have gotten into a fight over them. And there were only two of us.

Besides the brussels sprouts the second best thing about NoPa was the wide range of tasty craft cocktails at the reasonable (for downtown DC y'all) price of $10 a pop. I had the Chinatown Shake and the Mojito which I enjoyed, and the bf's 800 F and Tonic (with house made tonic and lavender) was amazing! I probably wouldn't do dinner here at normal prices, but might come back just for drinks. And a side of brussels sprouts.

Capital Grille

The Capital Grille is not my favorite steakhouse in DC, but we went with a big group and they are one of the few places that always have reservations for large parties open during restaurant week. And $35 is a pretty good deal for an app, steak, and dessert. 

I had a clam chowder for my app that was good but pretty unremarkable (even forgot to take a picture). My filet mignon was cooked perfectly and super tender, though the bf thought it was too salty.

The Capital Grille also has a pretty sweet wine deal during restaurant week. The appropriately named Generous Pour gets you unlimited glasses of wine from a set wine list for $25. This is a great deal since most of the wines on the full wine list are in the $10-$15 range, which means you get your money's worth if you have two glasses, and REALLY get a bargain if you have 3+ (not that I would know...) I especially loved the selected Pinot Noir.

Graffiato

We saved the best for last with a reservation at Graffiato Thursday night. Graffiato is run by former Top Chef contestant Mike Isabella and serves Italian inspired small plates family style. I love small plates because you get a lot more variety. And I love family style because then I get to go halfsies on all the food instead of fighting over the best dishes with the bf, as in the case of NoPa's brussels sprouts. 

Everything we ordered was good, but I particularly liked the heirloom tomato gazpacho which included "compressed melon" which tasted like the essence of a fresh, sweet, summer squeezed into a candy-like little melon package. The spaghetti was also really fresh tasting, and the handmade noodles were awesome. The Jersey Shore Pizza was not our favorite, although we still liked it. I mean, you can't really go wrong with pizza topped with an entire serving of calamari. But, even though the pizza itself was good (I would eat multiple Graffiato pizza crusts plain if they were ever giving out extras), the calamari had a little too much oil and breading and got lost in the pizza.

The ricotta cavatelli was probably the best thing on our table. The sauce was a warm and hearty lamb ragu which tasted lamb-y in the best way and balanced the ricotta cheese perfectly. The cavatelli were like smaller, lighter and fluffier gnocchi. It was the perfect comfort food, which is exactly what I want out of a great pasta dish.

Dessert was a close second to the ricotta cavatelli, especially the panna cotta. I have no idea what lemon-opal basil sorbet is, but it was ah-mazing, really fresh and light, and sweet and tart at the same time.

The service at Graffiato was also excellent. In addition to attentive and fast service, the staff was great when I somehow managed to dump my entire glass of (delicious and homemade) prickly pear and jalapeno soda all over my lap and the table at the start of our second course. The waitstaff came over immediately with towels, thoroughly cleaned off the table and my chair, replaced my soda, and offered club soda to try to deal with the bright red stain on bright yellow skirt situation. I would definitely love to return in the future after restaurant week is over!

All in all we had a pretty delicious restaurant week this summer. Restaurant week officially ends August 25, but some restaurants have extended the special menu for another week. To find a reservation, visit the event website here.

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week or any of the above restaurants in any way. I just really like great food and good deals. If anyone wanted to give me a free dinner to write a review, I'd probably do it, but no one is offering. So my blogger integrity is definitely intact and all opinions are 100% my own. :)

Workout Wednesday: Revolve Spin Class Review

Can't believe it's already Wednesday! The week is flying by and I have so much to do!

In an ongoing (probably futile) effort to get some more "work" vs "eat" balance on the blog, I'm sharing a review of a great workout I  did this weekend: the Revolve Charity Ride for Rock Recovery.

First, let me say that before this class spinning was one of my least favorite exercises, despite only trying it a couple times in college. I'm pretty sure I would've rather run for 45 minutes than taken a 45 minute spin class, which is saying a lot if you know anything about me and running. So what convinced me to take a another spin class after over 5 years? It wasn't (surprisingly) a huge bucket of free margaritas. It was a good cause! 

(Image Source)

Rock Recovery is a DC-based nonprofit whose mission is to support the journey to freedom from disordered eating. The organization works to bridge gaps in treatment faced by those suffering from disordered eating by offering an affordable, robust individual recovery program, well as nationwide community empowerment programs.

On Saturday, Revolve Washington DC held a charity spin class with all proceeds going toward Rock Recovery. For $25, you got a 45 minute Revolve indoor cycling class, free shoe rental and snacks, and the warm and fuzzy feeling of making a big difference to a small charity doing great work. Despite my negative impression of spin classes, this was too good of a deal to pass up. So I recruited a friend and dragged myself down to Revolve in Arlington on Saturday afternoon.

The Class

After we signed in, we gave our shoe sizes to the helpful Revolve staff member and velcro-ed ourselves into our free rental pairs of Shimano cycling shoes. All riders in Revolve classes are required to wear cycling shoes that clip into pedals, but they have shoes for rent if you don't have your own. Fun fact: according to Revolve, studies have shown that cycling shoes provide a more secure position in the pedals allowing you to produce more pedal strokes and get nearly 30% more out of your workout! Plus they look cool and make you feel like a serious athlete! (or is that just me?)

After getting our shoes on, we stored our gear in one of the free combo lockers, picked out our bike assignments, and headed into the studio. Once inside, the Revolve instructors were super helpful with setting up our bikes and explaining what the different settings did. It was a little weird to clip in, but after getting in the clips it was pretty comfortable pedaling. At least until the class started. Then things got serious.

The class consisted of a mixture of standing and sitting sprints, hill climbs, and intervals led by our instructor Stephanie who was accompanied by an awesome playlist and various lighting effects. This was an INTENSE workout, but Stephanie's energy, the great music and club lighting combined to make it energizing and fun versus depressingly hard. After 45 painful but surprisingly enjoyable minutes (plus some warm up pedaling while waiting for my fellow riders to get set up), I had burned 428 calories and my leg muscles felt tired in a very good way.

Pros:

Instruction: Stephanie had great energy and was kept the class motivated without yelling or badgering. She gave off a very supportive, yet tough at the same time vibe, and her instruction really helped me push myself

Music: I can't emphasize enough how big of a difference the awesome playlist made to the whole experience. There were several times I found myself grooving and singing along to the music even at the end of a crazy hard hill or sprint! AND as an added bonus, some of Revolve's music is available for free on Spotify.

Intensity: This was definitely an intense and efficient workout, burning a lot of calories in a short amount of time.

Cons:

Price: While I was happy to pay $25 for this charity ride, classes at Revolve normally cost $18-$12 a ride (depending how many you purchase at once) and a year membership will run you $95 a month. This is pretty pricey, especially when you consider that many full-service gyms in the city cost $50-$70 a month. 

The muddy hill: It's a little hard to describe, but basically while we were doing a tough hill and continuously increasing resistance, Stephanie was telling us to visualize the steepest most horrible hill ever full of mud getting stuck in our tires. Definitely killed the whole fun/party vibe for me. This was, however, the only moment in Stephanie's instruction that I didn't like.

Super sweaty from a great workout!

Bottom Line:

I really enjoyed the class. It was a great workout, and was honestly fun at the same time, something I never thought I'd say about a spin class. Plus, the class raised $800 for Rock Recovery! I would love to take another class and check out some of Revolve's other offerings, but the price is too steep for me to take on a monthly membership or go too often.

Monday Meal Prep: The Other White Meat

Ack can't believe it's Monday already! I had a great weekend full of volleyball, a new spin class (more on that later this week) and, best of all, the return of the bf!

As much as I enjoyed going mostly veg for the last two weeks, the bf's return also means the return of meat to my meal prep rotation. We also have a lot of dinners out this week, because it's DC Restaurant Week! I love restaurant week! I'm planning on at least 3 dinner reservations, so I didn't prep as much as normal.

Breakfast

Breakfast this week is more grab and go mason jar goodness. This week's recipe features this yummy KIND granola that I picked up on sale.

Recipe:

Calories: 372 | Fat: 11 g | Cholest: 0 mg | Sodium: 207 mg | Carbs: 43 g | Fiber: 12 g | Sugars: 12 g | Protein: 18 g

1/3 cup KIND Vanilla Blueberry Clusters

1 1/3 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp sliced almonds

1 tbsp raisins

1/2 banana

2 egg whites

1/4 cup coconut milk

Mix everything in the mason jar and refrigerate overnight.

Protein

I knew that I wanted to try a new meat recipe this week, and decided to go with pork. And because you all know I am super lazy, I decide to make it in the slow cooker. I found a bunch of tasty looking recipes on Pinterest, including this one from Paula's Healthy Living, and gave it a shot.

Slow Cooker Pork Loin

Recipe:

Makes 8 servings

Calories: 150 | Fat: 3g | Cholest: 84mg | Sodium: 366mg | Carbs: 2g | Fiber: 1g | Sugars: 2g | Protein: 26g

1 2 pound boneless pork loin
5 garlic cloves
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp Braggs liquid aminos (or soy sauce)
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp Mrs. Dash
2 tsp black pepper
3-4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

Mince the garlic and then mix with all ingredients through black pepper. Spread over the pork loin and marinate overnight in the fridge.

Place the pork loin in your slow cooker (cut in half if necessary) and pour in as much vegetable or chicken broth as needed to cover the pork loin.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

This pork was super simple to make and was pretty moist and flavorful. We ate it on its own for dinner, and I think it will go really well with a variety of sauces throughout the week.

Sides

Since I didn't want to make too much food, I just baked a couple sweet potatoes and boiled and baked some zucchini and squash slices.

Workouts

Following my August Workout Calendar, here are the (all FREE) workouts I have planned for this week.

Monday: Core
Blogilates Hard Core Workout
Fitness Blender 10 Minute Abs and Obliques
Purely Twins 8 Minute Plank Workout

Tuesday: HIIT
Fitness Blender Berserker HIIT Workout Challenge

Wednesday: Arms
Blogilates Arms on Fire
Nike Training Club back and arms

Thursday: HIIT
Blogilates Pop HIIT 1

Friday: Legs
FitnessBlender Butt and Thigh Workout

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Run/Play
Fitsugar 45 Minute Treadmill Hill Workout

Skinny and Delicious: Cinnamon Vanilla Frappe

Happy Friday! My weekend actually already started since my work is on a 80 hours in 9 days schedule for the summer. But if you need a little pick me up to get you through the afternoon, here's a great low-calorie option.

The base of this recipe is this awesome new concentrated cold brew coffee from Trader Joe's that I picked up after I saw it on the fabulous Run Eat Repeat's Instagram. This stuff is great just mixed with the milk of your choice, but I thought I'd kick it up a notch by using it to make a healthier version of the delicious iced blended coffee drinks that are so hard to resist in the summer

Cinnamon Vanilla Frappe

Recipe:

Calories: 80 | Fat: 2g | Cholest: 10mg | Sodium: 150mg | Carbs: 7g | Fiber: 4g | Sugars: 6g | Protein: 4g

1/2 cup Arctic Zero coffee
1/2 cup Almond Breeze almond coconut blend
1/4 cup Trader Joe's cold brew coffee concentrate
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend together 1/2 cup Arctic Zero coffee flavor (did you know that's the recommended serving size? I always thought it was the whole pint lol), 1/2 cup almond breeze almond coconut blend, 1/4 cup trader joe's cold brew coffee concentrate, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp vanilla extract until smooth. Serve, and enjoy, preferably outside on a pretty day with a good book :)

Tempeh Hand Rolls

I can't believe it's only Wednesday! Is it just me or is this week going by super slowly?

Here's another tempeh recipe I came up with during last week's experiments. 

Tempeh Hand Rolls

When I was planning my tempeh meals, I really wanted to make summer rolls a la this yummy looking recipe from Blogilates. But for some reason, I couldn't find the normal spring roll wrappers I've used before at the closest grocery store, and was way too lazy to drive to my Asian grocery store of choice. Luckily, I was able to find one package of these soy wrappers stuffed next to the nori on the Harris Teeter shelf and so I decided to roll with it (pun intended).

Recipe:

Calories: 371 | Fat: 17 g | Cholest: 0 mg | Sodium: 948 mg | Carbs: 33 g | Fiber: 11 g | Sugars: 5 g | Protein: 19 g

Rolls/salad:

1/4 package marinated and baked tempeh

1/4 cup cooked quinoa
2 sheets yamamotoyana sushi party wrappers
6 oz (about 1/2 the bag) broccoli slaw
9 Hi I'm Skinny Sticks

Sauce:
2 tsp braggs amino acids (or soy sauce)

1 tbsp black vinegar

4 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp chili garlic sauce

1/2 tbsp sesame oil

Slice the tempeh into thin slices and cut the soy wrappers in half.

Place one of the cut soy wrappers in your hand and spread 1/4 of the quinoa, 1/4 of the tempeh, and about a tablespoon of broccoli slaw on the wrapper.

Fold a corner of the wrap over the filling with your thumb and roll into a cone shape. (Yamamotoyama has good step by step directions for doing this here).

Secure with a toothpick. If you somehow get all your ingredients prepped before you find the soy wrapper directions online and discover you don't have any toothpicks in the house (not that that would ever happen to me), you can try to get creative by cutting carrots into toothpick-like shapes and trying to poke them through your wrappers. This is a little difficult, though, so you should probably just get some toothpicks.

Repeat steps for the remaining wraps. 

Mix together sauce ingredients. Spread a little bit of the sauce over the leftover broccoli slaw. Top with crumbled Hi I'm Skinny Sticks for crunch.

Arrange your rolls over the broccoli slaw salad and enjoy, dipping liberally in your sauce.

Despite not staying together as well/being as pretty as Blogilates' summer rolls (although some of that may have been due to my makeshift carrot 'toothpicks'), these hand rolls were pretty tasty. The nutty texture of the tempeh gives the roll substance and the broccoli slaw provides a nice crunch. Successfully rolling up all of the ingredients in the wrappers did take some fiddling, but I think it was worth it for the fun factor of eating them in a cute handheld package. All in all, not bad for a quick ingredient substitution.

For more fun with tempeh, check out my giant miracle noodle bowl.

Meal Prep Monday: Beyond Soy - More Meatless Options

Did everyone have a great weekend? Not gonna lie, Monday came a little soon for me but I'm pushing through.

I really enjoyed going mostly meatless last week, and since the bf is away from ANOTHER week, I decided to explore more non-soy vegetarian options for this week's meal prep.

Breakfast

For this week's breakfast, I decided to try out breakfast cookies. They taste pretty similar to my zucchini banana coconut flour muffins only in cookie form. And who doesn't love cookies for breakfast?

Coconut Flour Raisin Breakfast Cookies 

Recipe:

Calories: 74 | Fat: 2g | Cholest: 26mg | Sodium: 83mg | Carbs: 8g | Fiber: 3g | Sugars: 4g | Protein: 3g

3/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup grated zucchini
1 mashed ripe banana
1/4 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients (coconut flour through salt) together in a large mixing bowl. 

Mix together the wet ingredients, fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined, then fold in the raisins. The batter will be fairly wet but not runny.

Separate the dough into 15 slightly flattened balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake for about 25 minutes at 375 degrees, or until the cookies are brown around the edges.

Makes 15 cookies

Protein

For my non-soy meatless protein, I decided to go with legumes. Legumes are some of the best protein sources among plants and as a bonus are also fairly cheap. I was inspired by The Lean Green Bean's Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers, but I decided I wanted to use some lentils I had sitting in the pantry forever, and I decided I wanted to make them in muffin form. Here's what I ended up with.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Lentil Muffins

Recipe:

Calories: 96 | Fat: 3g | Cholest: 0mg | Sodium: 29mg | Carbs: 12g | Fiber: 6g | Sugars: 2g | Protein: 5g

1 medium baked sweet potato
1/2 ripe avocado
2 cups cooked lentils
1 cup cooked quinoa
2 egg whites
1/4 cup oats
4 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 chopped red onion
4 gloves chopped garlic
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin

Preheat oven to 350.

Mash up the sweet potato and avocado. Add in the lentils, quinoa, and the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Use your hands if necessary. The mixture will feel similar to meatloaf. 

Divide into 14 greased muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

I really like these muffins. They are very lentil-y, so it is definitely not a good way to "hide" lentils. If you aren't a fan, you might want to use more oats and less lentils. 

I ended up also having a lot of leftover cooked lentils so I'll be using them in other ways throughout the week too.

Sides

I boiled a batch of corn on the cob. I love how good and cheap corn is this time of year! I also cooked up a big batch of chickpeas in the crockpot using these instructions. I plan to try roasting some to eat as a snack, and the chickpeas will also help me get in my veggie protein. 

I also got my usual giant pile of produce.

Workouts

Following my August Workout Calendar, here are the (all FREE) workouts I have planned for this week.

Monday: Core
Jessica Smith TV Kickboxing Abs
Plank-a-Thon Pilates Workout | Pilates Bootcamp With Cassey Ho
Blogilates Uh Oh! Obliques

Tuesday: HIIT
FitnessBlender HIIT Like a Girl 2

Wednesday: Arms

Blogilates Victoria's Secret Angel Arms
Blogilates Plank Workout for Flat Abs and Toned Arms

Thursday: HIIT
Blogilates POP HIIT 5

Friday: Legs
FitnessBlender Butt and Thigh Workout

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Run/Play
Volleyball Grass Doubles Tournament! Won this weekend, hope I can keep the streak up :)

Q: Any vegetarian or vegans who are also soy free? What do you do for protein?