Hawaiian BBQ Pizza Party

While at work last night I got a craving for two things: BBQ pizza and chocolate. Together those two items my have been disastrous, but separate they're both decadent and delectable! Now just how do I have these things but stay healthy at the same time?

I've been doing so well on my Fit Girl journey that now it's almost to the point of being a lifestyle. After three months of clean eating (not always) and attempting to get regular exercise, I can say that I've hit the ten pound mark. This is something I knew I could do since day one but it's surreal to actually see it on the scale. I've been here before, just a couple of years ago I weighed less than this, but to see the numbers diminish and to know that I can say I will never allow for my body to be that heavy without proper medical cause again- that's so fulfilling. I can only imagine where I'll be two months, even two weeks, from now! 

I took my first Orange Theory Fitness class a week ago and I was super skeptical going in, but it was free so I didn't care whether I liked it or not. Tonight I'm purchasing my first ever paid gym membership because that was hands down the best one hour workout I have ever had. When in college I frequently went to the school's gym where they had everything you could want out of a fitness center. I took classes anywhere from Zumba and Pilates to basic core and strength workouts; did the same kind of routine week after week with little to no results. After college a friend and I went together to Planet Fitness and we would workout for an hour or so and saw nothing. I know eating habits make a larger impact than the gym does but to see no results can be defeating. Even after the workouts, and the days following, I didn't see much results or feel any soreness- in my eyes it wasn't working. With Orange Theory you basically have a personal trainer by your side the entire time telling you what to do and they're making sure you're getting the best possible workout for your body. I'm going to start with one class per week and then after I feel committed enough I'll bump it up to two classes a week. 

"Blah, blah, blah, we didn't come here to read about fitness, where's the pizza?!" Okay, okay, I'll dish it out now. After a quick Pinterest search on the way to my car I found a recipe for Hawaiian BBQ Pizza that I thought was good enough for me. I was basically using the recipe as a guideline for what ingredients I needed to purchase, I wasn't going to follow it while baking my pizza. I grabbed all of the ingredients from Publix as well as some other things I needed to make some cookies (I know, not very Fit Girl of me, but sue me!) and I headed home to whip up a masterpiece. While the pizza was in the oven I calculated the nutrition facts and it came in at a pretty good standing in comparison to the other Fit Girl's Guide meals I've been eating. The only thing was the sodium was a little (okay maybe more than a little) high... but I'm not telling you to eat this every day! My initial plan was to bake it on a pita bread like my regular pita pizzas but even with the single serving pizzas I usually have too many toppings and it becomes a mess. So I settled for a normal whole wheat pizza crust. With turkey bacon, chicken breast, red onion, and pineapple this BBQ pizza came in at under 400 calories per serving which is almost as much as a single Fit Girl's Guide dinner so I was right where I needed to be! I'll put the recipe down at the bottom of this post.

For the chocolate craving I decided to make peanut butter no bake cookies because I thought I could make them in a healthier way than usual. Well with 1/2 cup of butter I don't know how "healthy" I could've made these cookies. I followed this recipe and substituted a couple things for healthier options. Instead of regular milk I used almond milk, I used 100% dark cacao powder to get all of those delicious antioxidants, and I added one scoop of vanilla protein powder to get that extra boost of protein because I honestly don't get enough without it. I ran out of parchment paper when it came time for them to set so I laid the rest down on aluminum foil- don't do that. The ones on foil didn't set at all! While they're still delicious and edible with a spoon, they don't have their cookie-like shape; I moved them over to the parchment paper to dry out. 

I hope you love my pizza recipe and I hope you give both of these delicious treats a try! 

Happy baking!

Hawaiian BBQ Pizza 

Servings per pizza: 4 || Serving size: 1/4 of pizza

Calories: 389 || Fat: 12 g

Carbs: 51 g || Protien: 22 g

Ingredients

1 whole wheat pizza crust

1/2 C favorite BBQ sauce (I used Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet)

1/2 C canned chicken breast 

1/2 C pineapple tidbits

2 slices of cooked turkey bacon (I used Jennie-O)

1/4 C chopped red onion

1 C mozzarella cheese

cilantro, garlic powder, and fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread BBQ Sauce evenly over pizza crust. Top with 3/4 C of the mozzarella cheese. Place all other toppings on and top with seasonings and remaining 1/4 C of cheese. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in preheated oven. Let cool for a couple minutes before slicing into quarters. Serve & enjoy!

Source: Cooking Classy

Cookie Butter & a juice called Yellow

Once a foreign world to me, Trader Joe's has become quite a staple these days in my "Fit Girl" life. I can remember when the TJ's opened up in Winter Park and how excited everyone was; "why is everyone so hyped up over a grocery store? Oh goodie, produce and milk!" It was a strange concept to me, for one to like a store so much so I stayed a Publix regular and didn't give it a second thought especially since it was located out of my way.

One day after a few drinks at Mitchell's Fish Market my friends and I ventured in to the land of fresh produce just to see what all the talk was about. I left with $3 wine, fruit leather, and a jar of cookie butter, there were zero complaints. If you've never had cookie butter let me explain- you can literally eat it off of the spoon, it's that fantastic. I like it best with bananas and sometimes put a small spoonful in my oatmeal. In the aforementioned shopping trip I didn't do much price scouting or give any thought to the produce so I didn't come back to Trader Joe's anytime soon after.

At the beginning of the Fit Girl journey I purchased all of my detox week's food at Trader Joe's and was completely overwhelmed. I went into the store on a time crunch and with an anxious (and very much acting like a bored child) boyfriend accompanying me so things were already off. The organization of this store is what first threw me off; the isles aren't labeled, but they're grouped together sensibly once you figure it out. I mean, there are only like four isles in the entire store but they manage to have everything that you need.

That day I chose to not buy my cashew and almond butter there because the price tags on those items were a bit steep but everything else seemed to be fairly cheap. They get away with having such low prices by not selling any brand names, everything in Trader Joe's is their own unique brand. One of the things I've really liked about this store is I find the produce stays fresh longer; I think this is because their vegetables are so fresh in the store that you're bringing them home quicker than you would be from any other big-chain grocery store. Something else I like about this place is their atmosphere- I don't know if it's because it's in a well-to-do area or what but the people at this store are always so friendly and the cashiers always try to strike a conversation which I think is really nice.

I haven't compared the prices yet to that of Publix but I surely plan to in the future because I feel like they are cheaper at Trader Joe's which (if true) is phenomenal. I'm going to continue shopping here, even if I have to refrigerate my bread because it lacks preservatives. If you haven't checked out a Trader Joe's I would recommend it if you're ever given the opportunity. It's a place that makes me happy, and I'm sure it will make you happy too!

Sweet Potato Burrito

As you all know I recently took part in the Fit Girl's Guide 28 Day Jumpstart. Over the course of 28 days I am proud to say that I lost 6 lbs; the next challenge starts on April 18th and I plan on diving right back in with that one! Throughout the challenge I picked up on some healthier eating habits which were the main aide over these past few weeks (I worked out like 60% of the time that I should have) and they've allowed for me to be more experimental when it comes to choosing what meals to make at home. 

Today I was wondering what I'm going to have for lunch before I have to head off to the night shift at work and just as I was contemplating just heating up some leftovers from last night I remembered that I still have ingredients from last weeks meal prep. My inspiration for this dish came from Fit Girl's Guide's Sweet Potato Street Tacos which were surprisingly delicious and probably one of my top tree meals from the jump start. 

I got up off the couch and set my phone (and all of its distracting, not to mention time consuming, apps) aside. I pulled from the refrigerator and pantry a few items that I thought I would be needing- sweet potato, black beans, chicken, spinach, tomato, cheese, and sour cream along with cumin, oregano, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder from the spice drawer. And I mixed it all up in a skillet and viola! my meal has been made. I put it all on two left over wheat tortillas and had enough to eat for dinner tonight or tomorrow. What makes this meal even easier was that both the chicken and the black beans were already in my fridge ready to go from last weeks meals. 

Below I'll leave the recipe so you can try to make this yourself at home; I'm not putting any measurements because I didn't measure anything and you can do it to your own meal plan preferences. Let me know what you think and any suggestions that you may have.

Happy Fit Cooking!

Sweet Potato Burrito

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato-diced

Black Beans

Tomato-diced

Chicken-diced

Spinach

Jalepenos 

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Sour Cream

Tortillas

Spices-Cumin, Oregano, Paprika, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder

1. Microwave the sweet potato in a bowl with a little bit of water for two minutes to soften them up and make cooking quicker
2. Saute the chicken and cooked sweet potato in a skillet over medium heat
3. Cover with spices and then drizzle with olive oil. Stir to combine the ingredients
4. Add in black beans, diced tomato, and jalepenos. After a few minutes add in spinach and allow to wilt before transferring to tortilla
5. Spread the sour cream on the tortilla and then sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese
6. Top with the sweet potato mixture, roll into a burrito and enjoy!

Go go kitchen gadgets!

I have an obsession with shopping... I know what you're saying, "well you're a girl and every girl-" blah blah blah. No. Like I buy things I think I'll need when in fact I don't need them at all. Then I'll have them in my apartment just sitting in a drawer or cabinet somewhere only to never use them more than twice. For this reason exactly I have for sets of knives, two garlic presses, four cutting boards, two vegetable peelers, an egg separator, and other things like those. Some were hits and some were misses, I'll share with you the bottom and the top items on that list!
First up, the garlic press! For some reason this diet made me really think that I needed to own a garlic press, so I bought one at TJ Maxx. I purchased a Zyliss brand one, it's white. The packaging stated that there was no need to peel the clove of garlic prior to pressing it. look at the picture below and tell me if you think that worked...

See it barely worked. So after this you have to open the press back up and remove the skin. I guess on a good note it "easily" peels it for you. 

But when you open it back up the garlic is stuck in the grooves of the top, so you have to pick it out and put it back into the compartment to be pressed again. The second picture shows the second press, it results in more garlic but you have to use a spoon to take it out. Honestly this thing is a bitch to clean; the garlic gets pressed (go figure) into the red piece and you have to pick it all out. My general consensus was that this is a terrible item, especially after reading a bad review on it- but then I got another one: the Cuisinart garlic press. 

My Cuisinart garlic press is more difficult to use but easier to clean, not really anything better. 

You put the garlic in the same as the other one, unpeeled. You press. And you get nothing. So then you have to reopen it, remove the skin, and press it again. 

As you can see, after pressing it again you do get garlic out of it, but considering the first press resulted in nothing I don't think this is a lot. I usually put two cloves in when I'm cooking just so I can yield enough. I use this one over the other one simply because it's easier to clean, not because of its efficiency. When you scrape the remaining garlic out this is what you have left-

Needless to say, I'll be purchasing a higher quality garlic press. 

Next on my list is my can opener, as boring as that sounds. I didn't actually purchase this one, my mom gave it to me because she didn't like it; I love it! This bad boy removes the entire top of the can and leaves the edges dull so you don't have to worry about cutting yourself. This is definitely something I would recommend anyone to go pick up. I've seen them for sale at stores like TJ Maxx and HomeGoods as well as grocery stores. 

Last but not least in anyway is an item I had to pick up for my FitGirl journey (down 6 lbs now!). One week called for breakfast sandwiches and they suggested using an egg ring so your egg fit neatly onto the english muffin. This little guy makes making muffin-shaped eggs a breeze! I got mine at TJ Maxx for like $4 so I'm pleased. I'm still unsure, though, why it's a pig. 

Happy cooking!

I would rather be hiking

Lately I have been a wild streak of adventure and hiking. It's a collaboration of being active, being outdoors, and getting Stella some exercise that makes me enjoy it so much. I grew up in the middle of literal no where, so the woods is something that I am quite familiar with. One of my best childhood memories involves a patch of palmetto bushes! When I was younger (probably around 8 or 9) my stepdad created a series of tunnels through the insides of a large patch of palmetto bushes on our property. This isn't something that's easy to describe, but just try to imagine a bunch of children crawling around on their hands and knees in the bushes. It's something that I don't think any child is experiencing today with the surplus of technology and the lack of outside playtime. To say playing out there was fun is an understatement. I also have very fond memories of my dad and I walking a few trails when I was younger, we even got lost a few times as I do recall; but anytime spent with my dad was fun for me and still is today. So my history with nature is very much entwined with who I am. When I moved to Orlando in the Fall of 2011 I found myself concerned that I would never see a cow again, yes that was a real thing... yes I did cry about it, but that's how women are for some reason (it probably wasn't about the cows). It might not be that nature is such a big deal to me, it may just be that I want to have some serenity and sense of ruralism in this metropolis. Sometimes the city can be a wonderful place and then other times you just want to know that there are still places where the birds sing proudly and the wind blows without the background noise of a freeway.

With the discovery of nature trails here in Orlando came the spark of desire to hike them all! (Or at least the ones that Stella is allowed to join me on.) So far I have hiked six different locations, a couple of them I've gone a few times and always with Stella. My favorite so far has been Wekiwa, and that's simply because of the vastness of the entire park.

Go outside! (And bring Fido, too!)

Lately one of the things I enjoy doing the most is taking Stella on hikes here in Orlando; every time I have energy and free daylight hours I take her somewhere to run. I can honestly say though this new found hobby was only discovered through the use of a running app: Nike+ Running.

A friend and I had gotten our dogs together a couple of times to go for walks and we would unknowingly walk as far as seemed fit and turn around to return to our cars, that seemed fine to me. I mean, why do I need to know exactly where I'm going and where I've been, it's just dog walking right? Yeah that's what I thought too until I tracked my walk using the Nike+ Running app. 

I first discovered this app from a photo that was posted on Instagram and honestly thought it was cool because the map of the walk was overlaid onto a picture from the actual walk, making it a super easy way to share a cute picture as well as your fitness accomplishments. After downloading the app and testing it out for the first time I was disappointed to realize that it doesn't work that way on Android, it's just an iPhone update, so every time my phone updates apps I anxiously await to see if that's one of them, alas it hasn't yet happened.

Despite the lack of sharing abilities I still use the app and do so quite frequently. Not only does this app show me the exact path I walked/ran, it tells me my fastest mile times, my pace, calories burned, and it keeps track of total miles. So far, using the Nike+ Running app we have hiked a total of 28.30 miles! There are also accomplishments that it gives you for different things and this is motivating to me to see how I've been doing. 

When we go hiking I like to take the map of our walk and overlay it with the map of the trail, it's usually an almost perfect match (except for that time we got lost at Wekiwa, but I'll save that story for later). I don't know if I would've found my hiking hobby if it wasn't for this app and I know that Stella enjoys it far more than I do. For now I'm simply walking on these hikes, but I think soon I will start to try and run them too. If I were to rate this app I would give it 4 out of 5 stars and that's only because of the missing Instagram sharing option, whenever that comes out it will be a perfect match for me! I'm sure from the images below you can see how much Stella enjoys our adventures.

Stay tuned for more about our hiking adventures and my nature bucket list!

A Polenta Worth Blogging About

As you all know I'm doing the 28 Day Jumpstart, it's going good, thanks for asking! Currently I've lost three pounds and I think that's pretty spectacular considering I've only really changed my eating habits. The meals have all been good (this weeks lunch isn't my favorite but it's alright); dinner this week is an alternation between Pumpkin Lasagna and Polenta. I know you're probably stuck on the fact that I just said PUMPKIN Lasagna so let's get this out of the way. It's normal cheese lasagna with pumpkin puree added into the mix and it's is actually pretty damn good- but that's not why we're all here so on with the show!

I've never made polenta before and I didn't know what it was, honestly. My friend and I scoured all of Wal-Mart searching for polenta and after asking a man who had no clue what we were talking about we resulted to grabbing cornmeal instead. This was only because in the FitGirl recipe it says polenta/cornmeal/grits. Little to our surprise on the back of the bag of cornmeal there was a recipe for polenta! Granted I didn't follow said recipe, it was just reassuring that it was there and I knew I was getting the right thing.

Operation Fit Girl

Lately I've been completely unhappy with my body and I've been trying to turn it around. Earlier this month I came across an Instagram account called FitGirlsGuide  and this is a company that sells and promotes weight loss books. The books include inspirational messages, complete meal plans, as well as weekly workout routines. At the time when I looked at it they were advertising that the next "challenge" was to start on March 14th. Without  second guessing I quickly clicked on the link and purchased the entire package of ebooks. This included: The Detox, Fit Girl Cookbook, Fitkini Challenge, 28 Day Jumpstart, Fit Girl Bootcamp, and a journal to go along with the bootcamp. At the time it was on sale for $125 (the books individually retail between $20 to $50); I think it was a good deal. Immediately I began to look through the books and decided that I didn't want to wait until the 14th, I was going to the detox starting on Monday.

For some reason I wasn't content with simply going to Publix to pick up all the groceries on the supplied grocery list, instead I ventured thirty minutes away to Trader Joe's. There I spent around $85 on everything minus a couple items; so altogether I spent approximately $100 for the detox food. The meals for the detox were alright, some were my favorites and some I will never try again. The point of the detox is to cleanse you body from all of the sugars and fats and to basically restart your pallet and prepare yourself for a healthier diet without completely jumping full throttle. 

Currently I am three days into the 28 Day Jumpstart and LET ME TELL you this is the best money I've spent. Groceries for this week were around $60 (not bad if you ask me) and I've been  eating pizza and tacos! What diet let's you eat that? I'll wait... oh that's right you probably don't have an answer because they don't. I was skeptical about these tacos but oh my goodness they're good, you can't even tell they're healthy. Another great plus about this one is you can eat chocolate too! 

All in all I would totally recommend this to any girl out there trying to lose weight or trying to get fit. Not only because it provides you with all the tools and information you need but because there is such a large support system on the Instagram end of it. So many girls start these challenges each month and for many (definitely me) it becomes more than a thing to lose weight, it becomes a lifestyle.

I'm looking forward to making these changes and I'm excited to see where this journey will lead me. Follow along with my FitGirl journey on my Instagram account.