Okay, so last night I tried the “mock’ mashed potato recipe and I’m happy to say that it was a great success!

After boiling the cauliflower for 7 minutes, I threw it in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients. I didn’t have fresh garlic so I used garlic powder and I drizzled a little EVOO to get it moving.

Finished product:

Disclaimer: Do NOT eat this before an event, going out or going to the gym. Cauliflower is a cruciferous veggie and they cause gas and bloating. Not pretty. Nonetheless, a very delicious alternative to mashed potatoes!

While the cauliflower was boiling I decided to grab my yellow squash and make “squash chips” before they spoiled.

Sliced up squash drizzled with EVOO, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano and paprika!

Dinner is served!

I am incapable of skipping dessert, so this was immediately following:

After dinner, I forcefully went to the gym thanks to some motivational text messages that reminded me of the two bites of Portillo’s chocolate cake I ate after lunch. (I really need to just throw that out).

I promised I’d show you my snazzy new running sneaks, so here they are:

And here is my new nike thermal hoodie that I bought for $35 from $65 (thank-you-very-much!) I loved that it has a cut-out for your pony tail – perfect for running outside! (Please ignore my dorky pose, just pay attention to the pony tail feature)

You may have noticed that I have gone a little picture happy with my new Photoshop app, but that’s because it’s so much fun!

Anyway, today is Thirsty Thursday so bust out that H20 and get crankin! (I was craving Dunkin Donuts – easy cream, no sugar of course!)

Workout plan today: Run 2 miles plus strength.

A little motivation:

I don’t really know anyone that’s not a fan of potatoes – in any form. I heard about “mock” mashed potatoes a few years back, but never took the time to try them, so I figured this is a perfect opportunity to share my experience and hopefully get you to try them too!

Basically, in order to create this dish, you replace potato with cauliflower. Sounds like an odd substitute, but I can totally see how this can be delicious. The plus side is the texture/color is similar and it’s much more figure-friendly.

I did some research and decided on this recipe from Foodnetwork.com: (I suggest you watch the video too).

Ingredients:

• 1 medium head cauliflower
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/8 teaspoon straight chicken base or bullion (may substitute 1/2 teaspoon salt)
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh or dry chives, for garnish
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

• Set a stockpot of water to boil over high heat.
• Clean and cut cauliflower into small pieces. Cook in boiling water for about 6 minutes, or until well done. Drain well; do not let cool and pat cooked cauliflower very dry between several layers of paper towels.
• In a bowl with an immersion blender, or in a food processor, puree the hot cauliflower with the cream cheese, Parmesan, garlic, chicken base, and pepper until almost smooth.
• Garnish with chives, and serve hot with pats of butter.
• Hint: Try roasting the garlic and adding a little fresh rosemary for a whole new taste.

I’m going to make this tonight, take pictures and let you know if this was a success. I urge you to try it too and tell me what you think! On the fashion front, I’m really excited about my new purchases (black leather riding boots and a cable knit sweater) there are more, but if I list them all my mother might kill me. So, I’ll stick to these two… for now

Yup, this was taken at work in our conference room.

Leather Riding Boots: Enzo Angiolini $100 from $200

I don’t think I love anything more than a good bargain. It really is a problem. I just can’t seem to justify spending full price on items when I know they will be almost half-off in a few months! There are always a few exceptions to the rule though… for instance, going to Paris and buying a vintage Chanel handbag from a cute little boutique hidden in a secret cobblestone pathway perhaps. Hey, a girl can dream…

First off, Happy Hump day! I’m so thankful that it’s already Wednesday – just a few more days until freedom!

Last night when I got home, I slightly over dosed on Kashi heart to heart cereal (dry- always dry and straight out of the box) so I went to the gym 30 min before zumba and jumped on the elliptical. As my friend Lea likes to say, “I ate it, now negate it.” and that’s exactly what I did. I completed an hour and a half of cardio – elliptical, zumba and some abs! When I got home my mom had made shrimp stir fry – delicious! I then had to make my lunch for the next day, so I decided to make another batch of shrimp stir fry with different spices and sauces!

Ingredients: Frozen cooked shrimp, frozen stir fry veggies, organic shoyu sauce, toasted sesame oil, salt, pepper, cayenne, and garlic powder

Frozen veggies should be in everyone’s freezer. They are perfect when you don’t have a lot of time or are too lazy to start chopping away. I also added half a red onion and a yellow squash to the mix.

Final product:

Pack it in a Pyrex and lunch is ready to go!

Since I was already in the kitchen and I knew that I had to get up at the crack to run – I had to plan ahead. Lunch was done, but I had to think about breakfast. So, I made my protein pancake mix – which takes like 2 minutes (this time I added flax seed meal, pumpkin spice and a cap full of organic maple syrup for my sweet tooth) and put it in the fridge.

Breakfast ready for cooking:

Okay, on to the good stuff. This morning I got up bright and early – 6:20am after hitting snooze three times. Yup- you heard correctly! It had to be one of the most difficult things to do – getting up when its dark outside and cold. Absolutely dreadful. To prepare for this, I practically brainwashed myself last night – which really helps btw. Sometimes it’s just mind over matter. The more you convince yourself that you will go, the more likely it will happen – so that’s what I did! If you even allow an ounce of doubt that you will get up – game over!

Once I was officially up, I splashed cold water on my face and applied spf 55 in case the sun came out strong – which it did

My workout gear was ready to go so that I wouldn’t have to waste any time. It was 50° this morning so I wore my Nike thermal running pants that I got for 20 bucks at the Rack!!

Evidence: The running path – bright and early!

My run. Well, I’ll be honest – running that early isn’t really my forte, but it had to be done. I had to push myself even harder than usual and had to take a few walking breaks because I decided to sprint for a quarter of a mile, but all -in-all I finished in under 35 minutes. I didn’t really care so much about my time – my goal was just to get it done and I did!!

Workout goals for this week:

• Monday: Run  Ran 3 miles
• Tuesday: Zumba plus 30 minutes elliptical
• Wednesday: Run Ran 3 miles
• Thursday: Pilates or Cross-training
• Friday: Early run
• Saturday: Run
• Sunday: Bumday

Day one of “October Goals” and I’m proud to say mission was accomplished! After registering for my first 5k yesterday, I guess you could say I got a sudden burst of motivation. At work, I made a list of what I wanted to accomplish once I got home which was: run three miles outside, make dinner and lunch for the following day. That’s it. Those three simple things that sometimes just aren’t as simple as they sound.

To ensure that I did those three things –  these are the steps I took:

I have a very small window of energy when it comes to working out after work and I’m typically hungry once I get home (and if you know me when I’m hungry, you know it’s not pretty.) To solve this crisis, my first decision was to work out before dinner instead of after – this way I don’t have enough time to get lazy.

The next step was figuring out what I would eat for dinner and when to do it all. When I workout right after work -already slightly hungry- I know if I don’t have food ready once I’m done working out I will probably eat anything and everything in sight. So, to prevent this situation I first decided what I would eat based on ingredients I knew I had at home (sweet potatoes, red onion, bell peppers and yellow squash.) Then, I decided to do my own – similar- version of my friend Lea’s “Accidentally Indian” recipe.

When I got home, I immediately grabbed my ingredients and started chopping away. I had the ingredients ready to go in a few bowls – took about 5 minutes tops. Once I finished that, I changed into my workout clothes – grabbed a handful of Kashi heart to heart cereal because I was hungry – and ran out the door. It was an absolutely perfect running day! I went to a path by my house and ran three miles in 32 minutes!! I finished off with a mile walk to total a 45 minute workout.

As soon as I got home – clearly starving now – I got to work in the kitchen. No, I didn’t shower first. When I’m hungry there’s no time to do anything, but eat!

Ingredients:

• 2 small sweet potatoes (High in Vitamin A, lots of fiber too!)
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 red bell pepper 
• 1/2 red onion (helps reduce your risk of ovarian cancer and heart disease – can cause bloat, but who cares it’s delicious!)
• Feta Cheese
• Spices: salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne

Chop or slice all the ingredients. Separate the sweet potatoes, as those take a little longer to cook. I actually nuked my chopped sweet potatoes for a minute first, before putting them on a large skillet with a good amount of EVOO. Then I spiced them and let them cook on med/high heat for about 10 minutes. Flip them around half-way through. Take them off the skillet and put them in a bowl. Put the other cut up veggies in the skillet and cook those for 5-7 minutes on medium heat. Put the sweet potatoes back in for the last few minutes, top with some crumbled feta cheese and serve! It’s DE-LICIOUS and packed with nutrients!

I used enough ingredients so that I can make two servings and bring some for lunch tomorrow (which was my other goal, cook more so that I don’t eat out.) That’s the trick when preparing meals – you need to cook once and eat twice!

Overall, Monday went beautifully. I’m proud of myself and hope to keep the enthusiasm as high as it was yesterday. It wasn’t easy doing the run, but I kept repeating “change isn’t comfortable” and pushed myself to keep going. The end result was “I can totally do this!” and so can you!!

“With self-discipline most anything is possible.” — Theodore Roosevelt