We got take out and watched State of Affairs so it was pretty relaxing. My mom turned me onto the show. It is kinda like Homeland and Scandal combined so if you like those shows you should definitely check it out. Throw some Katherine Heigl in the mix and I am all in.

If I wasn’t tired I am sure we would have watched a couple more episodes.

Saturday I woke up early with Ava and let Marc snooze a bit more. I made us a similar breakfast to last weekend. Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes and Omelets with spinach. YUM!

I headed to the YMCA a little before 11am to attend the launch of our new program GROUP RIDE. Talk about sweat, fun, and butt kicking it was great. I don’t do a ton of cardio besides my boot camp workouts so this was refreshing and I was happy to get in some extra cardio while supporting my co-workers.

After the workout we got some amazing samples from Green & Tonic which is an awesome health food store in Greenwich. I am all for healthy smoothies & snacks especially free ones

I quickly got home showered & changed so we could head to our first kids party of the weekend. It was a 1st Birthday party and Ava enjoyed every second.

She got to play with kids her age while we hung out with our college friends for a few hours.

It was a great first Birthday Party.

Sunday started off slow, the roads were super icy and there were weather alerts not to travel because of black ice. We didn’t rush out of the house at all which was nice, so I did some food prep and started to make some dinner for the Patriots game. Shortly after I decided I wanted to do more cardio. I did a Quick Cardio Circuit at home.

Check out that MAX Heart Rate…. 191!! Clearly I was working hard. I will share my workout with you this week. I was dripping sweat but loved it. As much as I enjoyed doing the spin class on Saturday… I would much rather be jumping around and doing fast paced cardio (burpees, pushups, X-jumps, etc.) I know I’m weird!

Around 2pm I headed to our second birthday party of the weekend. Unfortunately Ava didn’t make this party, she was a little under the weather so Marc stayed home with her.

We headed home around 4… I finished prepping some food and then watched the Patriots game. THEY ARE HEADED TO THE SUPERBOWL and we couldn’t be more excited WOOHOO

Have you ever done a choreographed spin class?

What was a highlight from your weekend?

I am the breakfast queen and I would never skip my favorite meal. I was in the cooking mood so I whipped up some Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes. I had 3 cans of pumpkin in my panty so I figured I should probably try to use some up.

These pancakes came out great! Plus they are healthy, tasty, and filling. We all loved them, even little miss Ava.

PALEO PUMPKIN PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 almond flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup pumpkin

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp honey or maple syrup (optional: I didn’t use it!)

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Heat coconut oil in a pancake pan and spread evenly.. or use baking spray. Scoop out mixture onto the pan. This recipe makes about 5 pancakes.

I added a few mini chocolate chips to a couple of the pancakes and they were delicious! Also, If you don’t have pumpkin on hand or you don’t like pumpkin, you could easily use mashed bananas as a substitute!

Enjoy

Have you ever had almond flour before? If Yes, what is your favorite recipe

Pancakes or Waffles??

Here is a Photo Recap of the weekend:

Friday we got several inches of snow and both Cooper & Ava had some fun outside in the afternoon.

I made a super delicious & healthy breakfast Saturday with Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes (recipe to come this week)

Who doesn’t love bacon???

I did a workout at home Saturday. I had no desire to head to the gym, sometimes I like working out at home by myself with no one around!!

 I did the Insanity Asylum Day 1 body weight workout. It is super challenging and only 25 minutes. After I finished I had a burst of energy so I tackled some more pull ups. I complete 5 sets.. this time the repetitions were a bit different. Set #1: 2 reps Set #2: 7 reps Set #3: 5 reps Set #4: 4 reps Set #5: 3 Reps

My arms were very tired and my shoulders were so tight so I decided to treat myself to a 10 minute chair massage at a local salon. I highly recommend it. I walked out feeling like a million bucks and I didn’t have to spend a lot!

In the afternoon my family came over to watch the Patriots game with us. We made a big chili and had some delicious food.

Ava wore a Patriots dress for the game and I wore my jersey. This was the first time we wore matching outfits.

The Patriots won.. so we will be sure to dress up again next weekend

Sunday morning I attended my co-worker Michelle’s Group Power class. We are launching the new workout this week and she was the first to teach it!

Now it’s my turn to teach the new Group Power workout this morning. I don’t know why I’m nervous but I guess it is good nervous feeling!! I’m sure I will be wiped after this class, there are a lot of pushups and my arms are slightly sore going into it.

What is something fun you did this weekend? 

Do you watch playoff football?? If so who are you rooting for?

Once I got to the 1 week mark, I wasn’t thinking about what I was eating next or what I should grab out of the fridge, it became routine. I found what worked for me and went with it!!

My breakfast typically looked like this… or some variation of this!

I don’t necessarily agree with people that say white potatoes are bad. They are still a whole food, they have lots of potassium (they helped to keep me full!)

I didn’t eat them every day, but the days I just had eggs and veggies I was hungry earlier.

For snacks throughout the day and night, I stuck with fruits, veggies, salads, nuts, almond butter, muffins, plantain chips, smoothies, avocado, and roasted plantains. I did have coconut milk ice cream one night.. it was okayy.

Lunches were the easiest for me.. they always consisted of leftovers from dinner the night before. I love no-brainers.

Come dinner time I was always at a loss of what to eat, there were some days I didn’t want a single veggie!! Those nights ended up being take out like Thai Food, Salads, or from a prepared food place!

I made these zoodles and they are amazing, I will share the recipe with you soon.

I did have some cheat snacks... snacks that I wouldn’t even call a CHEAT. They are healthy to me and foods that help me enjoy life. I have low blood pressure so I craved salt during Paleo and I really wanted these things.

Here are a few!

PEANUT BUTTER seriously come on. It was 2 ingredients Peanuts & Salt.

Popcorn (homemade with popcorn kernels & coconut oil)

Brown Rice (I had a small serving) it just goes with spicy Thai food

Overall, Paleo made me feel better, I was less bloated, I felt good, and I loved that I was making smart choices. My workouts were full of great energy and I felt strong.

It did make me realize that I am a healthy eater and there are other foods I enjoy that are HEALTHY. The first thing I had that wasn’t paleo was a yogurt parfait… it tasted like heaven! I seriously thought I could eat them all day. HAHAH

I decided to keep with Paleo 80/20. I am still going to enjoy the foods that I think are healthy that are not on the Paleo meal plan but I like how I feel right now!

Have you ever followed a meal plan or diet and stuck with it for a lifestyle change??

What kind of foods in your diet are healthy and what are some things you should probably eliminate??

I have been loving a lot of things lately and I want to share some of them with you

First up… (which I can’t believe I didn’t share with you earlier this week) is this picture from Sunday morning. I met Peter King at Starbucks on Greenwich Avenue. We went for a typical morning walk and Marc spotted him typing away on his laptop in Starbucks. After our walk he was still in there so I decided it was meant to be that I go in and say hello. I told him we were huge fans! In case you don’t know Peter King, he is a sportswriter and works for Sports Illustrated, he also worked for the NFL, NBC, and is the author of 5 books. He was SUPER nice and friendly… and pretty much made my day!

(please excuse the bad hair and sleepy eyes, it was relatively early!)

I am also loving some Paleo eats… Plantain Chips and avocado.

and also Leftover Turkey Chili over spaghetti squash.. you gotta get creative on Paleo!

Marc and I were looking for a sweet treat Wednesday night so we had a serving of this Almond Milk Ice Cream by So Delicious. I haven’t had a treat like this in a while so I savored every bite.

Coconut Milk… have you ever had it? It’s so tasty… I have used it in my smoothies, Paleo muffins, and coffee this week!

This post wouldn’t be complete without a picture of Ava!! She has been so much fun this week.. I mean she always is but this week is extra special.  She is standing up alone and likes to dance. I would post the video of her dancing but my mom and I are screaming and signing in the background so its pretty embarrassing.

HAPPY FRIDAY

Your turn…. share some of your favorite things this week!

I will definitely be slowly adding them back into my diet once the challenge is over.

i did have a scoop of peanut butter and some home-made popcorn over the weekend but I needed it… my body told me to have it so I am okay with it

Here are my Paleo eats from yesterday

I had several people comment to me that it looks so delicious and they wanted to know the recipe.

Are you a fan of over easy eggs??

When you like a meal do you eat it a lot?

I had sauteed spinach and pan fried potatoes in Coconut Oil and topped that with 2 over easy eggs. It was SOO Good, you need to try it.

For mid-morning snack I ate a banana, a homemade Larabar, and some baby carrots! Odd combo but the carrots came a little while later.

Lunch was some leftover grilled chicken with grilled veggies over a spring mix salad with a vinegarette dressing. I also had a baked Sweet Potato with olive oil & salt. Super healthy but filling!

I found myself eating an afternoon snack earlier, I guess I wasn’t really too full from that salad! I didn’t have almond butter so I had an apple with some mixed nuts on the side.

I made a crockpot PALEO Turkey & Bison chili for dinner. I will post the recipe this week. I liked it a lot!

After Boot Camp Marc made some Pan Fried Tostones  (plantains lightly fried in coconut oil with sea salt) So sweet and salty!

(Missing from the pics was some plantain chips that I snacked on!!)

That’s it for today!

What did you eat?? 

For more food posts from WIAW check out Peas and Crayons Blog

I am sure I am missing something! Somehow that always happens and I end up running back to the store

Are you in??

GROCERY LIST

o   EGGS

o   BACON

o   LEAN GROUND BEEF & GROUND TURKEY

o   CHICKEN

o   STEAK

o   PORK LOIN

o   TUNA

o   SALMON

o   PEPPERS

o   ONIONS

o   POTATOES

o   SWEET POTATOES

o   BROCCOLI

o   ASPARAGUS

o   CELERY

o   BABY SPINACH

o   AVOCADOS

o   CUCUMBERS

o   TOMATOES

o   ROMAINNE LETTUCE

o   FROZEN STIR FRY MIX

o   BANANAS

o   APPLES

o   ORANGES

o   STRAWBERRIES

o   ALMOND MILK AND COCONUT MILK

o   COCONUT OIL & OLIVE OIL

o   NUTS

o   ALMOND BUTTER OR SUNFLOWER BUTTER

If you are looking for a couple on-the-go snacks some LARABARS & RXBars are Paleo approved!

I will be posting some meal & snack ideas tomorrow I hope you are having a lovely LABOR DAY weekend!