Happy Friday!  How did the week treat you?  Hopefully pretty well!

Today I kind of have the “day off” because I got my studying complete for the week yesterday and I don’t have to nanny this afternoon.  I’m really looking forward to getting some housekeeping type things done (financial, certification renewal, etc…) as well as having a little fun like giving myself a manicure and reading a bit 🙂

Tomorrow, Brian and I are hitting the slopes with some friends.  Wish us luck!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well 🙂

As usual…here is my Five Things Friday!

Five Things I Ate:

• Yummy scrambled eggs with spinach and Texas Pete hot sauce with a side of strawberries and banana.  Love my fruit in the morning 🙂

• Slow Cooker Greek Chicken Soup inspired by the Fitnessista.  I made a couple of tweaks to make it low FODMAP and served it up with a salad.

• Mediterranean Chopped Salad 🙂  This salad was very tasty and kind of made me think of summer even though it snowed this week 🙂

Here’s what I put in this yummy mixture:

Mediterranean Chopped Salad

Yields:  2 meal sized portions

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chopped baby spinach
• 2 cups chopped romaine
• 1 cup chopped cucumber
• 1 cup shredded chicken
• 1/3 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped carrot
• 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 10 kalamata olives, quartered (this makes it taste very olivey, so if you are not a HUGE olive fan you will want to add less)
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine the spinach, romaine, cucumber, chicken, bell pepper, carrot, and olives in a large bowl.  Toss to combine.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and the olive oil.
3. Add the spices directly into the salad, then add the lemon and olive oil mixture.  Toss to combine, adjusting the flavor by adding more oil or lemon juice as needed.
4. Enjoy!

*Brian added a little quinoa to his portion and loved it!

• Coconut milk yogurt…I tried it again!

• I think it turned out…but it still seems a little runny.  I probably should have drained off the water, but I didn’t.  Oh well!  On it’s own the yogurt has a little bit of a vinegary taste (weird…I know), but when it’s blended with fruit it tastes really creamy and delicious.  It was a fun experiment, but I don’t love it as much as I thought I would.

• And speaking of fro yo…I had some watermelon sorbet with strawberries and blueberries.  This was dairy free and while I’m not sure about what all the ingredients were, I think it did ok with the tummy.  I was a little hesitant to serve myself some watermelon sorbet because honestly, I never would have picked to eat that in a million years BUT I was at the fro yo place and tried a bit of it (it was the only non dairy option) and it tasted pleasantly sweet, tart, and delicious!  I was happy with my choice 🙂

Five Workouts I Did:

• Taught Bodypump
• Boot Camp
• Indoor Cycling
• Yoga at Home (Brian introduced me to Tim Senesi on youtube and it was great!)
• Tabata/Total Strength

Five Things Making Me Happy:

• A new-to-me coffee place with coconut milk that is only 1 mile from my apartment!

On Wednesday, I took my studies to Roostercat because I saw online that they had coconut milk lattes and coffee drinks.  While I LOVE almond milk lattes (and almond milk in general) it is a high FODMAP food, so I’m trying to steer clear right now.

The coffee was great, the atmosphere was peaceful and I was able to be super productive 🙂

• Snow!  It snowed a lot on Wednesday and it was so pretty 🙂  I couldn’t not be happy about it.

• Skiing this weekend!

Two weeks ago when we skid, I was in ski school all day long. While I was successful and confident by the end of class, I was under very close supervision the entire time.  This weekend should be challenging yet fun and I’m excited to test my skills!

• Working out with Brian

It was really fun trying out new classes with Classpass and The Dailey Method, but this week it has been fun to get back into my routine of working out with Brian as my workout buddy.  Somehow, I was even able to convince him to go to an indoor cycling class with me 😉

This was after our at home yoga class doing this video!

• Completing this map project 🙂

I have had the supplies since we moved to Denver back in August so I just needed to DO the work.  Yesterday, I sat down and just did it and I am so pleased with this new artwork.  I took maps from places that were big trips for Brian and I (NYC was our first vacation together and the Italian maps from Florence, Cinque Terre and Milan were from the honeymoon) and put them into frames.  Very simple, but it looks so good and I love that the maps are special to us 🙂

 Blog Posts I Have Loved:

• The Lowdown on Bars via The Real Life RD 
• Meal Plan (featuring one of my recipes!) via Civilized Caveman
• How to Create an Inspiring Workspace via Nutrition Stripped
• Grain Free Breakfast Sandwich via Fitting It All In
• Getting the Most Out of Your Gastroenterologist Visit via Kate Scarlata
• A Case for Hunger and How to Deal with It via Jill Fit
• Yes I’m Eating Meat to Cure my Chronic Illness via Mind Body Green
• Mocha Muffin Bread Pudding via Cotter Crunch
• Do Yoga with Me (FREE Yoga resource!)
• Workouts that Don’t Leave You Wired via The Fitnessista

Your Turn!

• What do you have going on this weekend?!