Fresh and Easy Guacamole

I am a huge fan of avocados. I had a perfectly ripe avocado yesterday and ever since Cort and I ate at this Mexican restaurant on Beverly Blvd a few weeks ago I have been craving guacamole, so that's what I made! 

Fresh and Easy Guacamole 

Ingredients:

-1 Avocado 

-1 handful of cherry tomatoes sliced in half

-1 can of no sodium black beans, drained and rinsed

-2 Tbsp fresh lime juice 

Directions:

-Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mash together

-Enjoy with chips, on a sandwich, or on top of a salad! 

The lime juice made it taste so fresh and the cherry tomatoes really brightened it up, I'm a huge fan!

I had a big spoonful of the guacamole on top of my salad for lunch. For dinner I picked up some shrimp and scallops at Whole Foods and made a healthy stir fry complete with veggies and my favorite paprika cauliflower rice. 

After dinner I was glad to relax and spend some time with Cort. He works pretty much all day so I always look forward to when we are able to just hang and catch up! 

I enjoyed an enormous bowl of my chunky monkey greek yogurt ice cream topped with a new chocolate muffin recipe I am experimenting with, YUM!

I hope everyone is having a great week! 

Strawberry n' Cream Frosty

Happy Memorial Day! 

Today started off with a killer workout. It is tradition in most crossfit gyms to complete "Murph" on Memorial Day, a WOD in memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy who was killed in Afghanistan at age 29 in 2005. So, Cort and I went to Brick at 11 this morning to take on the following... 

For time: 

1 mile Run

100 Pull-ups

200 Push-ups

300 Squats

1 mile Run

When we got back, I made myself a quick shake with this awesome new superfood blend I bought at Matthew Kenney's restaurant, MAKE. I love this place, and wrote a post about our amazing dinner there a few months ago. It is called the "Green Dream" and it is a blend of spirulina, maca, tocos, mesquite, hemp powder, chia seeds, and vanilla.  I mixed a scoop of the Green Dream powder with two cups of almond milk. It was delicious! 

So, onto the Strawberries n' Cream Frosty! Last night I was so excited to use these new ice cube trays that Cort got for me. I have been looking for ice cube trays everywhere after seeing this article, so many good ideas! 

 I filled the tray with almond milk and plain greek yogurt. After freezing it for a few hours, I put all of the cubes in a blender with a handful of frozen strawberries and another splash of almond milk, and that's it! 

It was SO thick and creamy, it reminded me of a strawberry frosty from Wendy's! I will definitely be using these almond milk and greek yogurt ice cube for now on, it makes such a difference! 

=)

Home Sweet Home!

Last week Cort and I took the red-eye back home after our last final. It was pretty rough trying to sleep on the plane so we only got about an hour of sleep but Cort was able to surprise his sister and make it to her graduation! Such an awesome picture! Congrats Rachel! =)

My mom picked me up at the airport and I was so anxious to get home and see my girls...

They are too stinkin' cute. 

My mom started a garden early this spring that I heard a lot about but hadn't seen in person yet. I couldn't believe how massive it was! 

She planted kale, butter leaf lettuce, spinach, red leaf lettuce, a variety of herbs, radishes, beets, tomatoes, and snap peas. So you better believe I made myself a fresh salad every day. 

It was so cool to be able to walk outside and pick my own lettuce! I can't wait until I can have my own garden, it's definitely worth the hard work. 

Veggies on veggies on veggies... yummm!

My mom always makes sure to stock up on food when I come home, so I had a lot of my usual favorites as well... oatmeal included. 

I spent lots of time with friends, including an awesome workout at Bob's with Natalie, Jodie, Becca, Cort and the kids. 

=)

I was able to take three Pilates classes with my mom too. I absolutely LOVE Pilates, it feels so good to stretch instead of beating up my body like I normally do. Not to mention it is a crazy good workout for your core. If I could afford it I would absolutely keep it up out here but for now I will just have to sneak in some sessions when I go home. 

We stopped at the mall to get pedicures on the way home from Pilates one of the days, my mom insisted because my toes were looking pretty rough. I decided to give in and be girly for once. 

I also made sure to spend lots of time relaxing by the pool, I'm definitely going to miss my house this summer, it's the best!

And finally, there was lots and lots of snuggle time with the dogs... 

 I'm going to miss them like crazy this summer! Therefore I am 98% sure I am going to adopt my own, but we will see. 

Our flight on the way home was almost 6 hours which wasn't too fun. I was glad I packed us an absurd amount of food. The lady sitting next to me probably thought I was crazy, I kept pulling out more and more food from my bag. I packed us salads that I made with a hard boiled egg, butternut squash, and tomatoes, as well as cut up veggies, apples, grapes, cherries, a pear, kiwis, LARA bars, and trail mix. The only thing we had to eat before going through security was the greek yogurt, but everything else we could bring right through security! It was definitely worth it, because the food they were serving on the plane didn't compare and it was nice to have some fresh food to munch on. 

When we got back, I made a trip to whole foods to stock the fridge, and Cort got to work on putting together more furniture from IKEA (he's the king at that kind of stuff... I just provide support and snacks).

Oh! And I was the lucky winner of NutButterRunner's Nuttzo giveaway. That's right, I had a delicious jar of my absolute obsession, NUTTZO, waiting for me when I got back!

And that's all for now... I am currently working on converting my blog to a new site so hopefully that'll be done soon! Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone! 

Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Walnut Lentil Sauce

Okay so normally the recipes I make include oats, nutbutter, flaxseed, or greek yogurt. So I am super proud of this spaghetti squash recipe because it turned out wonderfully!! The sauce is so thick and flavorful and the spaghetti squash was a great low-carb alternative to regular noodles. 

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash

1 can of tomato sauce 

1 tbsp of tomato paste

10 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1/2 cup green lentils 

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 Tbsp parsley

1 Tbsp oregano 

2 Tbsp basil 

1 garlic glove, chopped finely 

1 handful of spinach 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375. While that heats up cut your spaghetti squash in half, scrape out the seeds, spray with cooking spray (I used coconut oil cooking spray), and lay face down on a baking sheet. 

2. Place spaghetti squash in the oven for 45 minutes.

3. While that roasts in the oven, combine all of the other ingredients into a pot on the stove. Bring sauce to a boil, stir, and then let simmer until the 45 minutes are up! Stir every 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Take the spaghetti squash out of the oven, scrape the insides and get excited because it literally looks just like spaghetti noodles which is too cool! 

5. Serve spaghetti squash with a big spoonful of sauce and enjoy!

The sauce is awesome. Cort loved it as well. The walnuts were my favorite part, they gave it a nice crunch that you wouldn't normally think of adding to a sauce.

 I had it again the next day for lunch and it was just as delicious. 

I also made another batch of Nuttzo banana muffins last night. Mostly because I was procrastinating and didn't feel like studying, and also because they are so delicious. This time I added a packet of chocolate Vega Protein Powder. 

Well I have two more finals to go and then it is finally SUMMER! Can't wait. Have a good week everyone! 

Nuts for Nuttzo!

This post is going to be one big scattered mess because that is what the past two weeks have been like. We are finally moved in to our new place and it is awesome! But we had a heck of a time getting settled in. We still have no couch (it was backordered until this Saturday), and have had construction guys working in the bathroom all week but everything is slowly coming together!

I am absolutely in love with my our new kitchen and have been making a bunch of yummy dinners lately. 

Except our first night here. I was exhausted from moving and really didn't feel like making dinner so we decided to throw together a protein smoothie. Vanilla Vega Sport protein is what I like to use. I then added a frozen banana, frozen mango, plain FAGE yogurt, and two large handfuls of spinach for a nutritional kick! 

After stocking our fridge with all the essentials, I stepped it up a notch and started getting fancy in the kitchen.

 I made a batch of Nut Butter Runner's "Banana Nuttzo Mini Muffins", this recipe is so easy and Cort and I ate the whole batch in a just a few days. 

I had one on a delicious little snack plate, and then paired it with my Chunky Monkey Greek Yogurt Ice Cream. As if that dessert could get any better. =)

So if you haven't seen my posts on twitter or instagram, I've become obsessed with Nuttzo. I got a jar after reading about it on other blogs and I really shouldn't have. Because it is so darn good, like I can't stop eating it.

Besides using it in those muffins, I have made delicious oatmeal with it...

And I made Cort Nuttzo stuffed french toast with it...

SO GOOD. I buy mine at Whole Foods, but if you don't live near a Whole Foods (which is a shame, darn you Mechanicsburg), you can order it here. Now is it more expensive than most nut butters? Yes. But that's because it is high quality and delicious and totally worth it. In fact, just take a look at the ingredients in the original flavor... "Organic Peanuts, Organic Cashews, Organic Almonds, Organic Brazilian Nuts, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Organic Flax Seeds, Organic Hazelnuts, Sea Salt." 

 Nothing artificial, all healthy nuts and seeds. It is the perfect way to refuel after a workout. I am officially nuts for NUTTZO! =)