Special Day for Megs

This weekend was my future sister-in-law's bridal shower!  It was a gorgeous day, the food was tasty and everyone had a great time.  It was great to see all of her sisters and mom and family and all of her friends.  My brother showed up at the end like a good fiance should!  He is too sweet - brought her flowers and everything.

It makes my heart happy to know that he is happy and is marrying an awesome person.  Megs has become one of my closest friends.  She is sweet, kind, thoughtful and very, very pretty.  Sam has waited a long time to find someone and she has made him very happy.  I know that she is happy too and glad she has found Sam! 

Here are some pics from the shower!  Love you Megs!

Esperance Roses and Pink Gerber Daisies!

Sisters

Love you Megs!

I love presents!

Looking good Sam!

Awwww!

Mom and mother-in-law

Friends Forever!  Can you tell we get our hair done at the same salon?!

Breakfast! Ezekial "English Muffin" with Natural, Raw, Organic Peanut Butter, Sliced Bananas and Agave Nectar

Happy Summer!  Memorial Day weekend was fabulous!  Spent lots of time with friends and family and we had amazing weather here in the 'Burgh.  Got some sun at the pool with my girls, had my future sister-in-law's bridal shower, BBQ'd with family and just had a really, really awesome time! 

I am watching my cousin's two little boys (almost 4 and almost 2) this morning.  They are playing quite nicely with my girls.  I was starving this morning so this is what I ate....loaded with protein cuz I am gonna need it with four little ones under the age of four running around!  ;)

Ingredients

Easy, fast, tasty breakfast!

Summer Pasta Salad - Clean and Gluten Free

Dressing Ingredients

Gluten Free, Organic Rice Pasta (found the picture via Google because I threw away the box)

Dressing

Gluten Free Summer Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 cup yellow beans, halved
1/2 cup green beans, halved
2 sweet carrots, peeled and penny sliced
3 cups cooked pasta shape of choice, whole wheat or gluten free
1 small yellow zucchini, cut into thin strips
1 small green zucchini, cut into thin strips
1/2 red pepper, seeded, cut into thin strips
1/2 orange pepper, seeded, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, left whole or cut in half
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
3 scallions, trimmed and chopped
1/4 cup chives, finely chopped
1/4 cup purple onion, finely diced
*reserve 3 Tbsp. pasta water for dressing

Dressing:
4 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. avocado, canola or olive oil
3 Tbsp. reserved pasta water
1/4 cup fresh basil
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, pressed through garlic press
Sea Salt to taste


Instructions:

Blanch beans in a large pot of boiling water for 3 minutes or until beans just begin to turn color. Place them in a bowl of ice water immediately. Do the same with the carrots. Drain well and place in a large serving bowl. Use the same water to boil the noodles until they are al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 3 tbsp. of the liquid for the dressing. Rinse pasta under cold water and drain well. Place pasta in bowl with carrots and beans. Add remaining zucchini, pepper, tomato, herbs, scallion, chives and onion to the bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour dressing over salad. Toss until all ingredients are evenly distributed.

Nutritional Value Per Serving:Calories 137, Protein 5g, Carbs 21g, Dietary Fiber 4g, Fat 3g

My Notes:

1. I prepped all of the veggies the day before which cut down the preparation time.
2. I used gluten free pasta (I am so mad, I accidentally deleted the picture I took of the pasta box).  It was the best tasting "gluten free" pasta I have made so far.  I will try to find a picture of it on the internet.
3. DO NOT OVERCOOK the pasta.  I have found that when I make gluten free, brown rice, corn flour pasta or any other gluten free pasta, it is very easy to overcook.  Trust me it does not taste good -at all.  I actually cook it for one minute less than is on the package.  
4. I made double the amount of the dressing - I was afraid the salad would be too dry with just one serving and it was.

Yoga - Do you really get anything out of it?

I get asked that question a lot.  And I am sure those of you who do yoga do too.  I know I used to ask it myself - before I started doing yoga on a regular basis.  Now, I am not a yoga expert, you won't find me doing a forearm stand in the middle of a park, but I can hold my own. 

I am the type of girl who likes a good, hard, intense, sweaty workout.  I am no pansy.  I played soccer my entire life - even in college at Penn State.  I was a forward and played against girls who were 6 feet, 180 pounds - ya - not fun runnin' into one of those broads, let me tell ya.

My friend Amy, whose blog is linked here - asked me to go to a "hot" yoga class 16 months ago.  I said sure!  Little did I know it would be on a Sunday morning and it was titled "Power Hour."  Yep - the hardest class offered at the studio and here I was doing "down dog" like a complete jackwagon.  Flip your dog?  Excuse me, what the hell does that mean!?  Crow?  Standing split?  Pigeon pose?  Tree pose?  Seriously - what is going on here!  No clue what I was doing, but I kept an eye on Amy and followed her.  I survived and have been hooked ever since.

I try to go at least 2 times a week maybe 3.  I love, love it!  The reason why I am posting about yoga is to tell you what happened this morning.  The 8:30 am class is titled, "power flow."  It is an hour and 15 minutes long - hot, vinyasa style yoga.  Dana, the owner, who I adore, taught the practice.  I wore my heart monitor, just to see how many calories I would burn (I have done this before).  At the end of the class, I haphazardly looked down at my watch expecting to see the usual - about 500 or so calories (which is a lot mind you).

I BURNED 868 CALORIES!  Holy sh**balls!

I about fell over!  Some of the other women could not believe it either!  I was shocked!  I felt so good, I was literally soaking wet with sweat and had an amazing workout.

So for those of you who think yoga is for sissies and you can't really get anything out of it - try again!   If you live locally - check out this yoga studio.  It is a great place.

www.yogainnovations.com

Okay....off my soap box...FOR NOW!

Summer Kick Off - Ahi Tuna on Kale Salad

Hi everyone!  It's Memorial Day weekend!  WOO-HOO!  I don't know about you, but I am super excited and happy.  I feel great, have lots of fun things planned this weekend and the weather is supposed to be gorgeous! 

Memorial Day weekend to me is the official kick off to summer.  This is my mom's favorite "holiday."  We always used to have a big picnic on Memorial Day.  She would make her famous potato salad, lots of family and just a fun day.  Ah, good times and memories.  M is playing golf with a bunch of his friends today, I am off to yoga and then to the pool with my girls.  Tomorrow is my future sister-in-law's bridal shower!  I am so excited!  I love, love, love her and could not be more happy for my brother.  They both are very lucky to have each other.

We had nothing planned last night so I made Ahi Tuna for the first time.  My latest issue of Oxygen Magazine came a couple weeks ago and had a great and easy recipe for it.  It was very quick and easy to make and it was super tasty.  Oh and of course is it CLEAN!

Fresh, Crisp, Kale Greens

Toasted Pine Nuts

Pomegranate Close Up

Searing...

Delish!

Seared Ahi Tuna

Seared Ahi Tuna on Kale Salad
(Ready in 25 minutes, Makes 2 Servings)
(Oxygen Magazine, May 2011, Vol 14, Issue 5, #142, p. 71)

Ingredients:
3 tbsp pine nuts
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp orange juice
Sea salt, to taste
Fresh coarsely ground pepper, to taste
2 cups kale, de-stemmed and finely chopped
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
2-4 oz. ahi tuna steaks (3/4" thick)
2 tbsp canola oil

Instructions:

1. Set a non-stick skillet on medium heat.  Add pine nuts and toss until lightly brown.  Remove from heat and set aside in a small bowl.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, toss together olive oil, orange juice, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, kale and pomegranate seeds.  Add toasted pine nuts and mix to combine.
3. Season both sides of the tuna steaks with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
4. Heat canola oil in a heavy skillet over high heat.  The pan should e as hot as you can get it.  Sear tuna on each side for 30 to 45 seconds.  Remove from pan and slice into 1/4-inch thick slices; they will be pink inside.  Fan out on top of kale salad.  Serve.

Nutrients per serving:
Calorie: 442, Total Fat: 31 g, Sat Fat: 4 g, Trans Fat: 0, Cholesterol: 51 mg, Sodium: 152 mg, Total Carbs: 15 g
Dietary Fiber: 2 g, Sugar: 8 g, Protein: 31 g, Iron: 3 mg

My Notes:

1. Buy the Ahi, if you can, at a specialty food store.  I bought mine at McGinnis on Rt. 88.  It was on special - only $14.99/pound.
2. DO NOT OVER SEAR THE TUNA!  Don't walk away from the stove as you cook it - the tuna will over cook.
3. You could definitely prepare the ingredients for this recipe ahead of time - the most time consuming part for me was plucking the seeds out of the pomegranate!
4. I added feta cheese for a little more texture and color (plus it tasted amazing).

The Master Cleanse - Final Thoughts

Thanks to all of you who supported me during this adventure!  Thanks to my BFF Laura for talking me down some pretty high buildings at times!  And of course to my hubby for his words of encouragement too.  Remember, I only did 7 days, you are supposed to do it for 10.  And of course you are not supposed to eat ANYTHING - but I noshed on whole, raw, organic almonds throughout the day as needed.  Cause I could - and I wanted to!

Here are some final thoughts.

1.  Make sure you are prepared for the cleanse.  Buy all the ingredients a few days before you begin.  If you are someone who does not have a very healthy diet, I would recommend slowly eating "clean" and light a few days before the cleanse.

2.  The first day was the hardest for me both mentally and physically - I was exhausted and very, very hungry.

3.  Drink AT THE MINIMUM 10 glasses of the lemonade a day.  This way you will not be so hungry by nightime.

4.  The hardest part of the day was from 3 pm to around 8 pm.

5.  Do the cleanse when you have NO social commitments.  Do not put yourself in situations where you are surrounded by food and drink!  It was way too hard for me to sit and watch my friends eat and drink while I sat there and sipped on freaking cayenne pepper!  ;)

6.  Give yourself ample time to poop in the morning after the SWF - cause your gonna need it!

7.  Keep a journal or some sort of notes during the cleanse.

8.  Do yoga, hot, if you can.

9.  Get a massage.

10.  Do the cleanse with someone - you will need a support person.  If I didn't have Laura I would have never finished!

11.  Use FRESH squeezed lemon juice.  Why?  Because it tastes so much better and the "live" enzymes that are released as you squeeze them are what really work on detoxifying your body.

12.  Do not make the lemonade too far ahead of time - it loses its detoxing effects the longer it sits in the fridge.

13.  Buy the book and use it as a reference.  "Lose Weight, Have More Energy and be Healthy" by Peter Glickman.  Also - refer to the website as a reference too - http://www.themastercleanse.org/.


I will think of more later!

Thanks again and good luck to anyone who does the cleanse!

MC - Day 7

I did it!  I cannot believe I actually did it.  I honestly thought I would fail.  Maybe I psyched myself out so much that it turned out to be not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  It was not easy by any means - but certain days and certain times of the day were harder than others.

Day 7 was great mainly because I knew it was ending!  Mentally I was clear and my hunger was almost non existent.  I tried to stay as busy as possible yesterday. 

I woke up and drank my last SWF (ya!).  Got the girls ready so my sitter could come and take them to the Children's Museum.  I went off to have a massage and run errands.  Massages are amazing anytime - but are really good when you are doing a cleanse.  It can help remove any toxins on the skin and is obviously very relaxing.  I figured I owe myself a little treat!  I had a zillion errands to run and then it was home to get the girls.

I drank only 8 glasses of the lemonade yesterday but I drank a ton of water.  I wanted to go to yoga - but me, being the jackass that I sometimes can be, thought the class started at 7:30 when it ACTUALLY started at 6:30.  I was so pissed when I showed up and class was already going.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr!  I looked like such a jackwagon walking in all ready and excited - the instructor was like...."ummmm Lib, the class started at 6:30."  Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.  I knew that. 

So the alternative was going to GIANT EAGLE - just like yoga, right?  Um, no.  Actually it wasn't that bad - there was no one there.  And I got to buy food that I can actually eat!  I am making an Ahi Tuna/Kale salad that I found in my latest Oxygen Magazine (thanks Megs).  I am making it Friday night.  I am off to the Strip this morning to buy the Tuna!  I can't wait and will post the recipe here, I promise!

Weight on Day 7 - 147.