Taco Toppings

We're back to What I Ate Wednesday, err I mean, Tuesday in my case. Lots of goodies yesterday to share with ya'll.

Of course breakfast started with overnight oats. I'm enjoying this breakfast again this morning as I am typing away since I'm heading out the door in a few minutes. Today's combo is nothing different and just as delicious as yesterday.

A protein shake to hold me over until lunch time. More peanut butter & oats, but with liquid egg whites. Enjoyed Rocky style haha ;)

Lunch was enjoyed at the beach since it was absolutely gorgeous day yesterday. Mid 80's with no humidity, it felt like a September day.

Happy Birthday

not to me.

not to Troy.

and not to Cooper.

but to Wishbone <3

Crazy Cheesy Chicken Parm

Hey all. I'm linking up with Katie for Marvelous Monday. Anything that will make Monday mornings better is a-okay with me. Hope you're starting your week off on a positive note!

Marvelous is going for a walk for the first time since I've sprained my knee. It's been more than a week and it is still not 100% back to normal, but slowly getting there. I did just a little over a mile. Even though we weren't going fast it felt good just to stretch my legs out. Cooper was pooped by the time we got back.

Marvelous is trying a new ice flavor at Ralph's. Chocolate peanut butter cup is delicious especially when you get scoops with lots of candy in it! By the way, isn't that the most perfect circle scoop?! The weirdest things make me laugh haha.

Marvelous is the gluten free chicken parmesan and pasta for takeout on Saturday night. We ordered from Francesca's, which I've had their pizza and it's nothing to rave home about. So I was in the mood for a real meal instead. Holy cow, was this baby loaded with cheese. Troy couldn't believe I almost finished the entire thing. I was starved and it was deeeeeeelicious. Definitely will be going back there for dinners now, no more pizzas.

Seven Thing Friday

Woot woot for Friday! Surprisingly this week flew by for me which I didn't think would happen since I can't work out yet. But no complaints here. Happy Friday!

1. Has anyone been watching America's Got Talent this week? I've seen the comedian Kevin Downy Jr. twice before. As soon as he came on tv, I was like where do I know him from? Troy and I have seen him in Atlantic City (one of our favorite stops) and at one of Troy's NORML fundraisers. He's funny but not hilarious. I was rooting for Fresh Faces!!

2. Speaking of tv shows, we're currently watching all the seasons of 24. Jack Baur is the man. I get a kick out of all of their old cell phones. They remind me of the super cool one I had back in high school- the Nokia. It didn't even have a keyboard so I had to do that weird texting with three letters at a time.

New Products Lately

Lately I've been trying so many new products, thought I would share some with you guys!

Dread Head Chef salsa from my Colorado trip. Strawberry mango is a flavor you rarely see, but it's a yummy combo. It's sweet and spicy. I've been loving it on top of toast or tortilla chips.

Okay this isn't a new product for many people, but it's new to me. Usually I'm not a fan of granola, but I love the cranberry oatmeal clusters in there. Beware it is addicting!

Drew's garlic and peppercorn dressing is SO tasty. If you are a fan of garlic, you will love this one. I've been pouring dumping it on salads, chicken, and dipping veggies in it.

WIAW- Carb Cravings

Jumping back on the What I Ate Wednesday bandwagon. So let's get a look at my Tuesday eats!

For breakfast a handful of blackberries thrown on top of my cold overnight oats. Delicious.

Some hardboiled eggs and a peanut butter oat shake before lunch.

For some reason I can't get bread out of my head lately. I could eat it everyday all day. So I made myself a huge turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, and everything flavored hummus. I've realized the key to keeping gluten free bread from falling apart is to toast it!

Macros & Metabolic Damage

Lately I've been doing a ton of research about my macro needs and metabolic damage. When I went off my food plan a couple months ago, I went crazy-food wise haha. I definitely binged out on everything that was off limits because I missed all of those foods. Even having egg yolks were a treat! Haha that is kind of pathetic to me. I mean is one egg yolk really going to mess up my whole eating clean plan? For me the answer is no.

Now that I don't have to be that super strict, it's been nice to enjoy all those foods again. I probably gained about 4-5lbs since May just by increasing my calories back up what they were before I started leaning out.

Lobster Time

So I found out that I somehow sprained my knee. Luckily the doctor said no gym for a week and to ice it everyday and I should be good to go! Unfortunately I couldn't convince Troy that the doctor said a tropical drink would fix it. But I did manage to convince him that a Starbucks would help. This is how much of Friday night was spent. There is a huge pile of magazines on my floor that I am trying to get through.

Even though I was wobbling around, we did make it out of the house for a nice dinner one night. I've been wanting to go this beach restaurant for awhile now, but it's been insanely too hot the past week. So since it cooled off a bit, we decided it was a go. The only downside was it was SUPER windy.

Bad Form

As you read this I am not biking to the beach. I decided not to the bike race for alot of reasons.
1) The weather is 95 degrees
2) I don't know if I could even make it 25 miles in this heat
3) I hurt my knee yesterday.

It was a good thing I didn't register in advance because I somehow ended up hurting my knee. I'm trying to figure out if it was all the squats or the incline walking I did on the treadmill. Either way my something hurt it! It just goes to show you important the right form is.

Family Workouts

Even though it was close to 95 degrees yesterday I still got my butt to the gym. You know those days were you are in no mood to workout? Yep that was me. I worked up a sweat just driving to the gym since my car was so hot haha. Nothin' like sweating before your workout even starts.

I started my leg workout with the weighted one legged squats. They are one of my favorite moves forms of torture hah. Since I started with it I went heavier than I usually do. Whew, by the time I got to my walking lunges, I was feeling it.

Then out of nowhere I started to feel nauseous. That hasn't happened in so long since I've switched to only training legs at night. Maybe it was the combination of the heat too. But I made sure to take extra rests in between sets. I went through about two bottles of water just in 45 minutes.

Hummus Tuna Salad Recipe

Hey all! I hope you are all staying cool this week. This heat wave up in the North East is no joke. Now I realize I could never live somewhere that is 90+ for the entire summer. I am melting everyday haha.

Since we all know what a typical day of eats looks like for me, I figured I would post a new lunch I've been eating nonstop. It's convientent, easy to prepare, and only uses five ingredients. I am linking up with Jenn today to share my recipe for What I Ate Wednesday.

Win win if you ask me!

Hummus Tuna Salad

• 1 can of tuna
• lemon juice
• 2 tablepsoons of hummus
• handful of cherry tomatoes
• pepper

1. Drain the can of tuna. Mix in 2 tablespoons of hummus (I used original flavor). Combine cherry tomatoes in the bowl.
2. Add a squirt of lemon juice and a sprinkle of pepper on top.
3. Eat and enjoy :)

I used to feel bad for all my coworkers when I would eat tuna for lunch in the break room. It is smelly, but has so much protein in it. Overtime they all got used to and one coworker even starting eating it too!

I loved how the hummus replaced the mayo perfectly since I am not a big fan of mayo. I am betting garlic and lemon hummus would go perfect in this mix too.

I'm off to take care of some things! See you guys tomorrow.

-Ashley

Practice Ride

Last week was the un-official start of my training plan for the Wounded Warrior Bike Ride. Originally I had planned on stepping up my spin classes for the past two months to practice. But since I was traveling for a majority of the month that just didn't happen.

Troy and I decided to bike ride together one day last week to get some more practice miles in. The only downside was we decided to pick the hottest (like 93 degrees) and the most humid day there was.

The route we chose was 12 miles there and back to a nearby park through the woods. There was at least a breeze while we were riding and lots of shade.

I think training in the heat is a positive because the hot weather slows you down so much. When you finally workout outside on a cool day, you feel so much faster!

We made sure to pack lots of water to stay hydrated. I have gathered quite a large collection of re-usable water bottles. Both of us decided to skip riding around the actual park because it was so hot. We did spot paddle-boating, which I am a huge fan of. This is on our to-do list next time we bike here.

Part of me is still debating whether or not I should do the bike ride. Even though I didn't train for it as much as I would have liked, my cardio endurance is still there. Plus I have been consistent with strength training my quads and hamstrings.

The only problem is I have no one to do the ride with! Everyone I had planned on doing it with backed out the last minute. The race is on Friday so I still have a few more days to register. Part of me doesn't want to do it alone because I would want company on a three hour bike ride. And I keep having visions of me falling off all alone to the side of the ride while everyone just keeps passing me by. Delusional, I know!

In the past years I haven't been able to do it since I was always working. So since I'm off this year I was really looking forward do it. We shall see...

**Question- 
Have you ever done a race or bike ride alone?!

Butternut Squash And Cinnamon Vodka

Sounds like a strange flavor combination, but I promise it is rather marvelous. I'll explain in a second...

 This weekend was a pretty low key one in our neck of the woods. Troy and I spent Friday night watching the show, 24, all night long. Once we start a series we need to finish it asap.

Since Friday night we spent glued to the tv, we ventured out Saturday night to meet up with friends. But let's back it up to the morning. I figured we would be out late that evening and Sunday would end up being a rest day. You know when you're in one of those zombie states at the gym? Yeah that was me on the treadmill. I did some HIIT cardio for 30 minutes and called it a day.

Starbucks iced skinny vanilla lattee as a post workout treat!

Fun Facts Friday

1. I love rebounding workouts for cardio. They don't feel like a workout at all since they're so fun. Jumping on a trampoline and burning calories is awesome. My gym offers these classes but they're never at times I can go. I was considering buying my own to have at home. There is so many to choose from. I want to make sure it can fold up, not going to break in a year, and is a decent price. Anyone have one at home??

2. Laguna Beach was on tv yesterday (perfect for throwback Thursday right). While getting sucked in to watch an episode when they all travel to Cabo. I noticed they stayed at the same hotel chain, Melia, as I did in Dominican Republic.

Ice Pop Failure

Today I planned on telling you all about the really cool festive fourth of July dessert I made the other night. The only problem it was a total flop.

I followed this recipe exactly for raspberry lemonade ice pops. Originally I thought I would use raspberries and blueberries to make them red, white, and blue. They're cute right?!

The recipe sounded easy enough. Except they came out nothing like the picture haha. The colored layers didn't stay put and all mashed into one. And for the record, it is really hard to get the ice pops out of those plastic cups. The popsicle stick just pulled right out of alot of them. I don't know where I went wrong, but it was not quite the festive holiday treat I was going for haha.

WIAW-Started With The Freezer

It's time for What I Ate Wednesday...and yesterday was alot of food!

Breakfast started off in the freezer yesterday. Yes you read that right, the freezer haha. I didn't prep my oatmeal cookie the night before. So when I make in the morning, I pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes to get it cold.

Cold and crunchy it was!

Overtraining And Using Exercise As Punishment

Waking up late this morning, yes I think I am still in vacation mode. After being away for more than a couple days, it always takes me awhile to get back into a normal mode. Setting up my workout schedule, food prepping for the week, and cutting back on my intense love of ice cream all happens.

In typical vacation fashion I ate a TON of food while away. Ice cream every night? You betcha'! There was no counting calories or planning out meals. I ate whatever whenever. It's been hard cutting back on the sugar and desserts this week. In the past when I would come home from vacation, I would feel the need to "punish" myself the following week. Whether it was cutting back on calories, spending two hours at the gym doing cardio daily, or not taking enough rest days. It was an unhealthy way to live. I would indulge, feel guilty, and then punish myself through exercise.

PA Travels

Hey all. It's been awhile since we've really chatted! Let's see where we left off in my travels in PA.

After settling into our hotel and doing same shopping damage at the outlets, Mom and I headed over to Kitchen Kettle Village. It's one of our favorite spots for delicious treats.

You can spend at least an hour in the Kitchen Kettle store. They have literally a ton of salsas, jams, jellies, apple butters, pickles, and baked goods. Name it and they've got it. The best part is you can try every single flavor out before you buy them. We stocked up on an apple raspberry jelly which is just out of this world good.

And I Just Ran Past A Cow

Happy Friday everyone. Cheers to a long weekend :)

1. How do people workout at 5am?! Seriously I got up at 4:30 and by 7 I couldn't keep my eyes open. Plus I was ready for lunch by 10:30 haha. I think I ate about 7 meals the other day instead of my usual five. Major props to early morning workout birds. It's tough waking up that early.

Fourth of July Treats

Happy Fourth of July!! I hope you're reading this while being off from work and enjoying the sunshine outside today!

We planned a spontaneous (breaking out of my comfort zone!) trip to one of my favorite areas of Pennsylvania- Lancaster. We left at 5am on Wednesday to beat all the traffic, which worked out really well. After arriving and switching hotels last minute, we are ready to get our party on for Independence Day! Apparently I am loving the exclamation points this morning haha ;)

Since I'll be out and about today enjoying the holiday, I've rounded up some of my favorite July 4th. recipes!

Love this twist on a classic dessert by Plain Vanilla Mom. Combine everyone's favorite dessert into an ice cream smore. Brilliant.

WIAW- Trying A New Smoothie

Unlike last week I did manage to take some pictures of my food yesterday for What I Ate Wednesday or really Tuesday in my case.

Breakfast started off with my favorite overnight oats. No matter how good they taste, they will always look ugly!

Dear July,

Dear July,

I hope you bring lots of sunshine for long beach days, warm nights to run out and get the ice cream truck, less mosquitoes since I already have 3 bites on my face (oh so embarrassing), planning and actually booking a trip for next winter for Troy and I to celebrate 8 years of being together (seriously, where has time gone?), that carefree summer spirit, a new job possibly, checking more fun things to do off my summer list, and just fun.

You know that feeling when you're young and out of school for the summer, that the days all mesh into one, time doesn't matter because you're always free, the summer represents all those endless possibilities and I hope my summer has at least some of that feeling.

Getting Our Grill On

Happy Monday! Not only is Monday off to a great start for me, but Katie has finally had her baby! So go over and send her lots of love for her new baby boy!

This weekend was the perfect mix of relaxing and busy. Friday evening was spent gettin' our grill on! Mom and I made a quick food store run to pick up some last minute items. This why I don't usually go to this food store since they have a Starbucks. Hehe but since it was Friday, I was all TGIF haha.

Luckily my mom's boyfriend did all the grilling so Troy and I just go to eat. And oh boy, did we eat alot. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the spinach and feta sausage, way too spicy for me.