Happy Saturday, and a very Merry Christmas Eve to those of you who are celebrating <3

(My very favorite Christmas ornament from the “meeting place” )

Lots of moving and shaking over here…

after breakfast,

we finally finished putting together the master bedroom

(So much better than it was, and Bella gave it the seal of approval)

and I spent the morning wrapping gifts, which is one of my favorite holiday to-dos.

Whenever I wrap gifts, two things happen:

1) I can’t help but think of the scene in Love Actually where Mr. Bean takes 8 years to wrap the necklace and adds the sprig of holly, candies, and other random stuff (“this isn’t a bag, sir, this is so much more than a bag”)

and

2) I’m grateful that there isn’t an anxious customer watching me the entire time

Josh Groban Holiday on Pandora is awesome gift-wrapping music, by the way.

I’m really excited because Christmas brunch is over here tomorrow morning. Everyone is coming over early to feast, drink coffee, and open gifts. We’re inviting some of the single guys over from the squadron too- it would be terrible to spend a holiday away from family alone. There will be plenty of shenanigans and food over here.

Here’s what’s on the menu:

-Fruit plate with pears, apples, and clementines (LOVE the cuties so much!)

-Spinach, mushroom and cheese quiches (one sans cheese and onions, since my bro is lactose intolerant and my Tata hates onions)

-Cinnamon rolls with orange cream cheese icing

-Nana is bringing a ham over, and madre is making her famous coffee cake

I’m off to take a Zumba class –the one I usually teach- and then back home to make cinnamon roll dough and get ready to head to my dadoo’s house. We always have Christmas Eve over there, and I can’t wait to see everyone <3

Be back later tonight with lots of pics

Have a wonderful, happy, relaxing day!

xoxo

Gina

until the Pilot comes home.

Or anyone else comes over.

At least she makes me feel like her BFF for most of the day

Bell has a little bit of cabin fever, hence the stink eye. I don’t teach on Tuesdays, so I almost always manage to get in a long walk with her, but with a lot of pre-Thanksgiving to-dos, a work meeting, class with the Pilot and a lunch date with a friend, it didn’t happen. I owe ya, Bellerton.

Some snacks:

Grapes and tea

2 eggs with homemade salsa –I tried a new recipe this weekend and just needs a couple of tweaks- and a brown rice tortilla

Lunch was courtesy of BJs Brewery with a friend and definitely included sharing a gluten-free pizookie. So good

Tonight, before heading home to get ready for class, I stopped to get all of the ingredients for what I’ll be making for Thanksgiving. After debating back and forth –it makes it challenging to decide when I already know the legendary goodies my fam will be making- here’s what I chose to roll with:

-Pumpkin chocolate chip bread (for brunch at the madre’s)

-Quinoa, cranberry, walnut and goat cheese salad with balsamic dressing

-Marbled pumpkin cheesecakes with gingersnap crust (two- one to take to lunch/dinner at my uncles, and one to have here at the casa for our late-night pre-Black Friday shopping dessert party.. sugar buzzes are excellent for fighting crowds)

-Cool ranch kale chips… for us… and they’ll be gone before they’re done dehydrating. I’ll post the recipe tomorrow

Off to bed!

xoxo

Gina

Today’s tip: Not falling asleep very easily, or just need a second to clear your mind and relax? One of my favorite tricks is to count backwards from 300 by 3s, but tonight we learned a new relaxation technique: close your eyes, and in sequence, think about each color of the rainbow, an object in that color, and make the object move, shrink and dance around in your mind’s vision, before clearing it out and onto the next color. Here’s an example: for red, I envisioned the color red and then a red heart in the middle. I pictured the heart moving around, shrinking and growing and then dancing off my mind’s “screen” before focusing on yellow. I pictured a yellow sun, and did the same. You follow the colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) and it’s so relaxing, especially if you’re mindful to breathe deeply and go through each color slowly.

Apparently it’s a popular technique but I’ve never heard of it before. I almost crashed out sitting on the floor, so it worked pretty well What’s your favorite relaxation technique?

Happy Sunday!

A little later blogging today, since we’ve spent the past 12 hours or so sleeping and bringing this list to life:

Today I’m making a baby meal for a family and it’s also the Pilot’s b-day BBQ (his actual b-day is tomorrow).

There’s going to be a piñata, so I’m thinking it will be a good time

Last night, after chilling for a while after work, I got started on the cake and cupcakes.

I’m making Ina Garten chocolate cupcakes/cake with peanut butter frosting <—all things that are good in life

+ crushed Reese’s on top and on the sides of the cake

After making the cakes, the Pilot made me a midnight omelet:

[Not my legs, haha]

Morning! Hope you’re having a great day so far <3

Thanks for all of the tips about Bell and possibly adopting a friend for her. We decided to wait it out and reassess in a month to see how she’s doing. And in the meantime, make sure to give her lots of love and attention, starting off with an extra long walk this morning

Last night was Mexican Monday over here

I told the Pilot to hurry up and get home from work… I had a lot of guacamole and couldn’t possibly eat it all alone

To go with our guacamole and chips, I made quesadillas- chipotle-lime shrimp (from Costco) and goat cheese for me on a teff tortilla, and shrimp and queso fresco for the Pilot on corn tortillas.

Grilled the quesadillas on the George Foreman and served with refried black beans.

Delicioso

I’ve been trying to think of menu ideas for our housewarming party, which is in two weekends! [This weekend we won’t be able to prep since we’ll be partying it up in Philly]

Mexican is usually perfect for a crowd, so here’s what I’m thinking for a tentative menu:

-Green corn tamales

-Beans

-Mexican rice

-Mini chimichangas [from El Molinito]

-Homemade horchata and Sangria

-Chips, salsa, guacamole

-Fruit skewers with lime juice and mint

-Tres leches cake

I’m going to be cooking up a storm next week

If you have any ideas, let me know!

I’m off to meet a friend for bfast and then getting started on the day’s to-dos.

See ya laterrrr <3

xoxo

Gina

Something to talk about: How’s your Make August Awesome checklist going? We’re halfway through the month!

I still need to: go for a swim, get a new cookbook and sign up for a fitness event

Why hello How are you? Hope you’re having a chillax kinda Sunday <3 It felt heavenly to sleep with no alarm this morning… when I woke up at 8:30, it felt like I had slept for 3 days.

After crawling out of bed, taking Bell out and putting on the Casey Anthony trial, I made some bfast:

Gluten-free toast with apple butter

I LOVE apple butter, but it’s usually loaded with sugar. This Eden organic version only contains apples and apple concentrate, and tastes fantastic

+ the smooooothie

-1.5 C almond milk

-organic frozen strawberries

-raw cacao powder

-Sun Warrior

-bananner

-frozen organic spinach – it was my first time using frozen instead of fresh, and I didn’t notice a difference in taste at all. Usually the more frozen components you can use in a smoothie, the better, since you won’t have to use ice. (Frozen banana is always better than fresh in smoothies)

I’m off to the gym to battle the Stairmaster –that thing is a BEAST. and I love it- and then prepping some food for tonight. My cheffer bro and I are going to grill at the madre’s house for the fam. I have no idea what he’s making, but here’s what I have planned:

Black bean burgers and sweet potato fries

(That picture is actually from Bleu Pub in Valdosta.. and is causing some serious hankering right about now)

Massaged kale salad

(Even kale non-believers love massaged kale salad)

Mixed berry crumble

Of course, whenever we cook together it turns into a friendly competition. I’m ready for it

Enjoy your Sunday and I’ll see ya this afternoon!

xoxo

Gina

Something to do:

FIREWORK BLAST! A quick workout to bust out in between holiday festivities:

 

-Jog (or mock jump rope in place)- 2 minutes

-Jumping jacks- 30 seconds

-Lunge right leg- 30 seconds

-Lunge left leg- 30 seconds

-Jumping lunges- 1 minute

-Squats- 30 seconds

-Hold the squat position- 30 seconds

-Burpees- 1 minute

-Push-ups- 30 seconds

-Plank- 1 minute

*Bonus: try to do it 3 times throughout the day!

-New Fashion post

Hi guys! How’s your Friday going??

Mine started off with the MOST difficult power yoga class I have ever taken. I did my first side crow everrrrr (!), lots of headstands and inversions, a bajillion utkatasanas (chair pose) and chatarungas. I was trembling at the end. Wow.

Green juice to the rescue:

-Green apple

-Spinach

-Parsley

-Lemon

I came back to the casa and made the usual for bfast (I can’t get enough!)

Cleaned a little, did the laundry thang, and for snack, I busted out some of THIS:

Daiya!

I’ve been wanting to try it forever, but couldn’t find it at Whole Paycheck. When Ryan and Lindsey told me how life-changing it is (and where exactly it was—it’s in with the regular cheese), I made sure to grab some today

Topped some kamut bread with the Daiya and put it in the microwave to melt.

Mother of pearl.

Daiya doesn’t want to be cheese… it IS cheese.

My only complaint is that it’s a tad greasy… but so is real cheese, so it’s all good

Expect lots of Daiya-covered creations in the near future.

This afternoon, I hit up the grocery store –the Publix here is LEGENDARY- and got supplies for tonight’s dinner.

The menu:

-Greens salad with balsamic vinaigrette

-Roasted veggies

-Homemade spelt ravioli with goat cheese and pumpkin sage sauce

-Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting

Off to finish dinner and then it’s feast time!!

Have a lovely night <3

Gina

Zumba song of the day: “La Negra Tiene Tumbao” Celia Cruz

Thank you SO much to the Foodbuzz Project Food Blog voters! I’m in round 2- wahoo!!

Hi guys How’s your day going?? Mine has been bueno- today has been a little frantic because I’m making dinner for the commander’s familia.

The menu:

-Chicken Enchiladas

-Mexican fruit and veggie salad (cucumber, strawberries, pineapple, jicama, bell pepper, tomato, red onion, lime juice and cilantro)

-Chipotle-style Basmati rice with lime and cilantro

-Chocolate chip gooey butter cakes with ice cream

For realz

Check out who can smell the chicken roasting already:

Doesn’t she look like a crazy obsessed chicken fiend?? Goofer

I started off this morning with the usual bfast cookie dough cereal (skip the mashed banana, add more milk):

The star of the show was 1/2 a crumbled AllieBar that I traded some macaroons for at the Summit

Those things are GOOD. Love that they’re a little salty, chewy and not too crumbly.

After bfast, I made the pilot some huevos and toast and went to Wizzle to fight for my sanity.

When I got back to the casa, I decided to break into these bad Johnnies:

Raw Chai Raweos!

I’ve had these before in Tucson, but couldn’t wait to try to try them again.

Like a supersoft blonde Oreo, with a creamy filling and strong chai flavor. Lurve.

I’m off to get crack-a-lackin on the cooking for tonight, meet the girls for a smoothie, get my workout face on, train two clients and then take dinner over to the commander’s familia. I think I’ll save some for the Pilot, too

Have a wonderful day!

xoxo,

Gina

My thoughts on Eat, Pray, Love: After a glorious dinner at Bleu Pub last night with the girls, we went to go see Eat, Pray, Love, which I’ve been anxiously awaiting all summer. The verdict? It was really good, but not as fab as I thought it would be. I LOVED the book, but even with the beautiful scenery and perfect casting, it was missing something. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie that’s as good as the book, though Does that even happen??

Today’s workout jam: Please help a girl out on this one My iPod needs some sweet new songs- what are you loving right now??

Hey everyone! Happy Sunday Hope you’re having a good morning afternoon. The pilot and I slept in quite a bit today, but last night’s dinner party was a success.

While I was prepping everything, I wore my POM apron.

Set out the appetizer plates:

And the row of appetizers

Hummus, smashed up in the mortar and pestle (Opa style!) with garlic, cumin, cayenne, awesome extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and tahini

With bleu-cheese stuffed olives, carrots and snap peas

Tuscan White Bean Dip (using a little on the canned liquid to thin it out, instead of the plain yogurt)

Crack, for dipping

Goat cheese stuffed mushrooms

(used millet bread instead of regular sandwich bread, to make them gluten-free)

The salad was mixed organic greens, with anjou pears, crumbled goat cheese, rawnola, and Organicville agave-sweetened balsamic dressing

Table setting:

The guys’ lasagna and the girls’ lasagna (using goat cheese instead of ricotta for the butternut squash lasagna)

My plate and bowl:

(x2… so good)

And the best part:

(Vegan gluten-free almond butter chocolate chip cookies for the girls with coconut bliss vanilla ice cream, vegan chocolate chips, and alaska organic vegan chocolate syrup.. the boys had Pillsbury chocolate chunk cookies with Ben and Jerry ice cream)

PIZOOKIE!

Pizookie! Pizookie! Pizooooooooookie!!!!

So as you can see, it was a foodgasmic night with wonderful company

The pilot and I are going to make breakfast and then start cleaning the disaster that is our upstairs. We never caught up after our Gatlinburg vacay and then went to Tucson, so it’s time to make it spic and span

I’ll be finishing the Winter Shape Up workouts today (launches TOMORROW am!) and also filming a Zumba video.

See ya for dinner

xoxo,

Gina

Hey! Happy Indian Food day! How’s your morning going??

So, last night was amazing!

If you’ve been reading the bloggy for a while, ya’ll know how much I adore dinner parties and usually have one each week. I LOVE having people over to wine and dine Since I was gone a month for school and then came back and went to Cali, I haven’t been able to have a dinner party in over a month! Well, Girl’s night is back

For appetizers, we had:

Classic hummus and Mary’s Crack

Carrots, bell pepper and cucumber

Herbed spicy olives (from the Publizzle deli), whole wheat pita and Garlic and artichoke spread (recipe in Eat, Drink and Be Vegan)

Cheese plate (with herbed Harvarti, goat Jack cheese, creamy Chervrie goat cheese and sliced persimmon)

My appetizer plate:

(x2)

For our dinner, we had:

Autumn salad

Mixed greens with sliced apples (with lemon juice so that apples wouldn’t brown), candied walnuts:

Candied Walnuts

- 1 cup raw walnuts

-1 T cinnamon

-1/2 t sea salt

-1 t vanilla extract

-1 T maple powder (ground maple sugar)

-1/4 cup agave

Toss to coat and dehydrate on mesh screens at 115* for 24-36 hours

©2009 The Fitnessista

 

and balsamic vinaigrette.

Butternut squash and goat cheese lasagna:

I followed this recipe from Cooking Light but changed a few things:

-used goat jack cheese instead of parmesean

-used brown rice lasagna pasta (which I was a little nervous about since I’d never used brown rice pasta before—it came out wonderfully)

-a mix of goat jack cheese and creamy goat cheese in lieu of the ricotta/egg mixture, as I wanted this meal to be cow-dairy free. I shredded 1/2 C goat jack cheese and stirred it into a bowl with an 8 oz Chevrie goat cheese, and added pepper, sea salt and a pinch of nutmeg.

- for the sauce, I did my sneaky almost-homemade sauce. I make this sauce from start to finish using only one 28-oz can of San Marzano (the best!) crushed tomatoes. Instead of doing an additional can of fire roasted crushed tomatoes (as the recipe calls for), I stir in a jar of organic marinara sauce –usually a basil and herb flavor- into the homemade sauce. It tastes amazing!

Check out all the layers:

My plate:

Then, the best part:

Raw Malted Chocolate Tarts with coconut-almond macaroon crust, chocolate mousse and Sicilian sea salt

I can’t give this recipe away because it’s on the menu at 105degrees –I received a sacred copy of the full menu and all of the recipes when I worked there in pastry- but take my word for it—it’s face rocking delicious.

(all of us could only finish half of our tarts- we were getting full and those babies are RICH!)

And of course, we had an abundant amount of THESE:

POMtinis!!!! Using this recipe

Blasty with friends: Check.

Delicious food and drink: Check.

Gossip and shenanigans: Check, check.

I’d call it a successful evening

Time to hit up the gym for legs with Ashley and Jeni then to PetSmart with the puppers.

See ya later with a fun interior decorating post!

xoxo,

Gina

Hi everyone! Happy Friday!!! Hope you’re having a wonderful day

I woke up and took the puppies on walk #1, then met Ashley at the gym for some back, biceps and abs.

Here’s what we did:

It was awesome

When I got back to the casa, I was hankering for oats and eggs, so I had both.

1/3 cup oat bran cooked in water (I’m out of almond milk), with mesquite, cinnamon, vanilla extract, pinch of sea salt, a smashed banana and 1/2 T almond butter

And perfect fluffy eggs with cayenne and sea salt

  (1 egg + 1 egg white)

With some green tea to fight these sniffles.

I spent the morning being insanely productive by making phone calls, cleaning the casa (downstairs is done! hollerrrrrrrrr), working on the new website (the goal is to launch it by my birthday!), and planning out girl’s night.

It’s been over a month since I’ve had a dinner party(!) so some friends are coming over Tuesday night for a feast

Here’s what we’re having:

Smoked paprika hummus and crudités

Cheese plate with herbed olives, persimmon and whole grain pita

Artichoke heart and sundried tomato Belgian endive boats

Smoky marinara, butternut squash and goat cheese lasagna

Autumn salad (baby greens, radicchio, endive, candied walnuts, red pear and a sherry vinaigrette)

Raw Malted Chocolate Tart on Coconut-Almond Macaroon crust (recipe from the restaurant) topped with chocolate mousse

POMtinis

Sounds good, no?

So the plan is to make and freeze the lasagna and dessert this weekend and do all of the fresh stuff and prep on Monday. Girl’s night, how I love thee

After my productivity whirlwind, I got snacky and decided to make some lonchi. My grocery stash is dwindling and I had NO CLUE what I wanted to make for lunch.. that is, until I saw HEABy’s post today. Sweet potato curly fries?????!!!! I was all over that

While I waited for the sweet potatoes to cook, I had some wilted spinach. 1/2 bag added to a sautéed shallot on medium heat, and seasoned with sea salt, chili powder, cayenne and lemon juice.

And for the curly fries, I spiralized a medium sweet potato and seasoned it with sea salt, EVOO, chili powder and cayenne. Then baked at 375 for 30 minutes.

Topped with goat jack cheese and fresh parsley:

A-freaking-mazing.

Well I’m off to walk these puppies, train a client, hit up the health food store and then chill for the rest of the night. I want to feel 100% for tomorrow’s 5k!

Be back later with pictures of the puppies in their Halloween costumes

xoxo,

G

Something to talk about: Do you ever find yourself in a lunch rut?? What foods do you tend to stick with? Are you someone who always needs to have something new, or could you, like me, eat the same things every day??? I just don’t because ya’ll would be bored with me