Crossfit Boston Trial Class & Slow Cooker GIVEAWAY!

Hi Guys!
I wanna tell you about my first ever Crossfit workout, and then I have an exciting giveaway for you!!
 
Everything I know about Crossfit, I've learned from reading Tina's blog  When Tina started going to Crossfit regularly and showing her impressive results on her blog (hello sixpack!), I was impressed and wanted to learn more about it.  Slowly and surely, Crossfit started popping up everywhere I turned, it became many bloggers workout of choice, and even some of my friends starting doing it. 

If you know anything about Crossfit, you know that it is expensive, effective, and wildly popular right now.  The workouts are short, intense, and challenging.
Tracy and I have been wanting to try it for a while, so we finally got the courage and went in for a trial.

Boston has a few "boxes" so we picked Crossfit Boston since it is the original "box" of Boston.

On Monday nights  they offer a free trial class, so we signed up and made the trek over there after work.  If you live in the area, you can sign up too, just go here.  They offer a free week's worth of workouts, which is three days.

The WOD (workout of the day) was:

Front Squat
15 minutes to work up to a heavy 5

Conditioning
42 Wall Ball 20/14
21 Hand Stand pushups
21 Clean highpull 135/95
30 Wall Ball 20/14
15 Hand Stand pushups
15 Clean highpull 135/95
18 Wall Ball 20/14
9 Hand Stand pushups
9 Clean highpull 135/95

 For us newbies, it was altered to:

21 regular Push-ups
21 Dead lifts (45 lbs)
21 Wallballs (10lb medicine ball)

15 Push-ups
15 dead lifts (45 lbs)
15 Wallballs (10 lb medicine ball)

9 Push-ups
9 Dead lifts (45 lbs)
9 Wallballs (10 lb medicine ball)

Tracy and I finished in ~10 minutes.  Afterwards, I felt nauseous, but I must say, it was super fun.  I could see myself getting really in shape if I started going there.  All the coaches were so supportive and I was impressed by all the attention they were giving potential members.  I would love to sign up, if I had the money, and that is a BIG if. Crossfit is expensive, but if you are looking for an intense workout, and a lot of personal attention, it's a great place to get in shape.

Giveaway Time!

I was contacted by SlimKicker about doing a giveaway for a slow cooker.  Slimkicker is a cool website that turns your diet and fitness goals into a game with points, rewards, and challenges.They offer recipe ideas for various diets and even have their own diet tracker app.  They are looking for some new challenge ideas, and thought you guys could help. 

The winner of the giveaway will win this lovely deluxe slow cooker/steamer.

Unfortunately, you have to put in a little effort to win this giveaway, but still, it's totally worth the chance to win (in my opinion)!

To enter, just leave a comment with an idea for a healthy challenge.

Some ideas I came up with:
"I would challenge myself to eat more veggies by having a side salad with my dinner as many nights a week as possible"
"I would challenge myself to take the stairs instead of the elevator as many times a week as I can"


Slimkicker will pick a winner and let me know in about a week!  I really wish I could win because my slow cooker looks like this:

Good Luck everyone!

Tips for commenting:

• If you choose anonymous, please put your name at the end of the comment box
• If you choose the Name/URL option, you can leave the URL part blank.
• You can log in and comment through your google account, your email address will not be public

WIAW: Time Flies....

Hi guys!
Today is the last WIAW of July! Eeek.  How has this month gone by already?  I hate that about summer, it goes by way too fast.  I know the rest of the summer is going to fly by wicked fast since I have a bunch of exciting things planned:  weddings, shows, beach days, barbeques, and of course the Healthy Living Summit.

As usual, I want to say a big thanks to Jenn, from Peas and Crayons for hosting this big food diary party.  






Here's a collage of what I ate (on Tuesday) in no particular order:

Breakfast: Oatmeal + PB
Morning Snack: Banana
Lunch:  Moroccan Cous Cous + Chicken from Busy Bee bakery
Snack #1:  Blueberries + Currants(so tart!)
Snack #2: Carrot sticks and hummus (not pictured)
Dinner: Trader Joe's Butternut Squash Ravioli, a side salad with baby spinach, chick peas, olives, & carrots, and a slice of TJ's tuscan pane bread + butter (not pictured)


My favorite part of the day was dinner; the butternut squash ravioli was amazing!

I recently started shopping at TJ's and I am in love.  It has awesome food at reasonable prices.  I only wish they had a deli counter where they slice the meat for you.  I don't know if this is every location, but at mine they only sell their deli meat in pre-sliced packs.  :(  That's my only TJ's complaint!


Workout:
I was thinking of either going for a run, or riding my bike to the gym, but the rain put a damper on both of those plans.  Instead I did an quick little workout in my living room. 

I did the sunset workout from the Tone it up girls.  Love them.  Try it out at home!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

This is the yummiest and frothiest smoothie I've ever made.  I always make smoothies with an assortment of fruit, but tonight I decided to try something a little different.  I love peanut butter and banana together, so I knew I would like the combo in a smoothie.  I added the sprinkle of cinnamon on top for a little hint of flavor. Delish!

Ingredients:

 Cinnamon-Milk-Peanut Butter- Banana- Honey 

& Ice cubes

I didn't measure anything out, but I used 1 banana, 4 ice cubes, a splash of milk, a healthy scoop of pb, and a squeeze of honey.  It will turn out good no matter how much you use.

   First, turn this ^ into this --->

 Blend the ice cubes with milk, and then add in the peanut butter and bananas.

 Blend until smooth and frothy.

 Sprinkle with Cinnamon and enjoy!

This makes a great breakfast, dessert, or bedtime snack; amazing at any hour.

Maggiano's Giveaway Winners!

Hi Guys!

I used a random number generator to pick the two winners for the Maggiano's Giveaway. Yup that's right! Two winners! Maggiano's actually gave me two gift certificates, and since I'm trying not to be selfish, I'm giving them both away.  :)

Two lucky people will win a $20 voucher to Maggiano's to use on delicious food like this:

The winners are comment number 4 and comment number 6

Congratulations to:

4.

  -----and-----

6.

Number 6 please contact me so I can get you your prize!  Macncheesenpeas@gmail.com

The Recipe Redux: Summer Currant salad with Honey Balsamic Vinagrette

This month's Recipe Redux theme was "Beat the Summer Heat with No Cook Meals."  This is right up my alley because lately I just haven't wanted to use my oven.  In fact, I re-named our toaster oven the "roaster oven" because I've been using it to roast vegetables instead of using the big oven.
Using the big oven turns our apartment into more of a furnace than it already it. It's a pretty good compromise because it uses less energy to heat it up, and it doesn't affect the temperature in the kitchen as much as the oven does.

This recipe challenge takes it one step further, and doesn't require any cooking at all!  Just a few chops here, a few grates there, and a whisking at the end to make the dressing.  Simple as that!


Salad Ingredients:
Baby Spinach
Walnut nuggets
Red Currants
Cucumber
Carrots
Purple Bell Pepper

Dressing:
Olive Oil
Honey Dijon Mustard
Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:

Wash all veggies and spinach

Chop up the veggies into desired sizes
(I use a cheese grater for the carrot slices)
Remove red currants from stems and sprinkle over the salad

To make the dressing:
Combine 2 tbsp Honey Dijon with 2 tbsp Olive oil, and 2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
Whisk together

Pour dressing over salad and enjoy!

This was a fun salad to make (and eat) because it's so colorful.  I love the purple bell peppers I got from my CSA, and the red currants are a flavorful addition to the salad.

Red Sox Game & Exciting News!

Yesterday I was having a little bit of a rough morning.  You know...just one of those days, and just when I thought things couldn't get worse, everything got better!  I had two awesome things happen to me in a span of 5 minutes.

1.  My friend Katie texted me that she had Red Sox tickets for the game that night and invited me to go!

--------and then---------

2.  I checked my email and found out I was a finalist in the Wild Harvest Breakfast recipe contest! My recipe was selected to be a top 5 finalist.

I was so happy!  It just reminded me that good things do happen, and to never let anything get you down too much, because you never know what awesome opportunity is waiting just around the corner!  :)  Your luck can turn around in an instant!  (p.s.  positive thoughts rock, and I know that was corny)

I quickly showered and went back into the city to meet my friend.  For me, Red Sox games mean Fenway franks and soft serve in a mini helmet.  No trip to Fenway is complete without them!  Although this is my favorite food option at the game, they recently added some healthier choices, which I think is awesome!  You can read about them here: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/blog/dailydose/2011/04/healthier_eats.html

Since I'm just not a sports person, I rarely watch what's going on in the game and just go for the atmosphere and the food.  I still love going to games, and always have a good time, especially with friends!

Katie, Me, Melissa

This game happened to be really boring, and I'm not just saying that because I don't like watching sports! Only one run was scored.  I think we lost, but I can't be sure because I left halfway through the 9th inning to try and beat the rush to the t.

Such a fun night!  I love doing things on week nights just to make the week go by faster


Now on to the #2 exciting thing.  I can't believe my messy falling-apart omelette was selected!
Ahhhh!  I'm actually kinda embarrased that this picture is up on the website for everyone to see:

Can you even call that an omlette??  Oh well, I guess it's the taste that counts!
I've never come this close to winning a contest in my life, so this is a really big deal to me, especially since the prize is so sweet:

"The winning breakfast will be announced on August 18th, and served at HLS. The recipe creator will receive a $500 gift card to use at any SUPERVALU store, including Albertsons, JEWEL-OSCO, Shaw’s, ACME, Farm Fresh, Cub Foods, SHOPPERS, Shop ‘n Save and Hornbacher’s."

The other finalists are:

Black Bean Quiche with Mango Peach Salsa by Kristin of FoodFash

Cherry Vanilla Granola Muffins by Alicia of The Wannabe Foodie

Greek inspired Egg Scramble by Kelly of Cupcake Kelly

Trail Mix Pancakes with Peanut Butter Maple Sauce by Heather of Then Heather Said

I wanna say "Good Luck" to all the finalists!!!  I can't wait to see who wins!



P.S.  Don't forgot to enter my giveaway for the Maggiano's Gift Certificate, I'll pick a winner on Monday. :)

Maggiano's Little Italy- Boston Food Bloggers Dinner & A Giveaway!!!

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to dine with the Boston Food Bloggers at Maggiano's Little Italy located in the heart of Boston's Theater district.  I had never been, nor had I ever met any of the Boston Food Bloggers so I jumped at the chance to be a part of the event.  Tracy and I rsvp'd and got super excited to meet some like-minded bloggers and nosh on some delicious Italian food.

On the day of the dinner, the weather was horrible! It was pouring, and thundering, and lightnining.  Ekk!  Neither one of us had an umbrella, so we stopped in the barber shop below of office to ask if they had any umbrellas that customers had left behind, and to our luck, they did!  We hopped on the t, and got off at park st, and walked over from there.  I only got splashed by a car once, so I guess it wasn't too bad.

drown rat look = not cute

Once we arrived, we were seated in one of Maggiano's function rooms and we met the general manager Jeffrey Tryzbiak, and the PR lady Julie Dennehey,  also a blogger! :)

They started us off with Sangria!  Yum!  You all know how much I love Sangria.  Shortly after the drinks arrived, they brought out a bunch of flatbreads. 

After the flat bread came out, they continued to bring out large portions of different dishes for us all to share.  This was a platter of sausage, roasted potatoes (roasted to perfection I might add!) and a few veggies.

The salmon was awesome.  It was served over orzo that had ham in it!  Interesting, but tasty combo.

The pasta was fun, I love bow ties, but I think they are called "farfalle" in grown-up land, but I wouldn't know because I don't really live there.

The desserts were unreal. They brought out two kinds, a cheesecake and a strawberry pie.

I really liked the cheesecake, it was so rich.  All of their desserts are made in the restaurant, which is pretty cool.  Since they are a chain restaurant, you might expect they have their desserts shipped to them, but not Maggiano's.

Tracy and met a bunch of the other bloggers, and was lucky enough to be seated next to David the Tornado. As you can seen, we became fast friends, haha.

He was an awesome guy.  I loved talking to him about running, photography, and graphic design.  He has one of the coolest jobs I've ever heard of.  He is a package designer for Trader Joe's.  How awesome is that?? Here's an example of his work.

What would I do without my BBB (best blogging buddy)?? I would be too shy to go to things like this alone! 
Dinner was so fun, and I'd like to thank Maggiano's for having us, and treating us so well!  I really felt important. :)

now....Giveaway Time!!!!

Maggiano's was generous enough to offer some $20 gift cards for us to give out to readers. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below (comments are open to everyone now, so you don't have to have a blogger account to leave one)  I'll pick one winner on Monday!  Good Luck!!!

What I Ate Wednesday: Beat the Heat

Hey Guys!
It's time for WIAW(What I ate Wednesday) again!  Thanks Jenn, over at Peas and Crayons for hosting!




I love the theme for this months WIAW because July really is all about fun, fitness, and food.  I even made a summer bucket list to make sure I can squeeze in as much fun fitness and food as possible!

I named this WIAW "Beat the Heat" because it's been so hot, and it really changes how I cook and eat.  I know some people say they have no appetite in the hot weather, but I definitely do not feel that way.  I have an appetite year round!  All food here was consumed on Tuesday, July 17th.

7:30 am Oatmeal with Peanut Butter (forgot to snap a pic so here's a nice picture of clouds!)

9 am 1 medium iced coffee from Dunkin'.
Today I finally caved and got an iced coffee.  I've been getting a hot coffee everyday! What is wrong with me?  Since today was 95 degrees, I decided that an iced coffee would be more enjoyable.  And it was definitly the right choice.
Side note:  Does anyone else say "Ice" coffee or "Ice" tea instead of Iced?  I usually say "Ice," but some people have corrected me. 

10:30 Morning Snack: Banana

12:00 Lunch- I usually like to pack my lunch, but I've been super lazy due to the heat.
I got a Southwest Tuna Wrap at Au Bon Pain, and it was delicious!  Only $6.  Tracy and I ate outside in the sweltering heat by the food court. 

2:15pm Chobani Yogurt with Cinnamon and Blueberries (not pictured)  This might be my favorite afternoon snack of all time.

Work Out:
I've been following a half marathon training plan, and today's scheduled run was 3 miles.  I braved the heat and got out there.  I was going to go to the gym to do my run, but lately I just don't like the treadmill.  I ran at about 5pm, when it was 94 degrees.  I was a sweaty mess by the time I got back, but it was so worth it.  I felt pretty proud of myself for not wimping out.

This week I have a 4 mile run on Thursday, a 2 mile run on Friday and an 8 mile run on Sunday.

6pm Dinner:  Pulled BBQ Chicken with summer squash. CJ had the day off so he set up the crockpot and made some BBQ pulled chicken.  It was so yummy, and pretty easy to make.  Just set it and forget it! 
We also sauteed some summer squash for our veggie on the side. :)  It was a nice easy meal that didn't require too much time in the kitchen.

8pm Dessert:
We made smoothies  Nothing like a nice, refreshing smoothie to end the day! 

Hope you all have a great Wednesday!


P.S. Tonight I'm going to a Boston Food Blogger's Dinner at Maggiano's in the North End.  I'm really excited because this will be my first time meeting the members of Boston Food Bloggers.  If you are a food blogger in the area, there are still some tickets available!  I can't wait to tell you guys all about it.