Take it or Leave it

Dare I say Saturday was actually busy? But busy in all the right ways. Run (longish of two this weekend, one happening today), attacking Comcast until they reduced my bill (which you should know is now $30 less thank you very much), chatting it up with the coolest buddy around, running errands and working on applications. All the things I needed. But back to Sunday.

I feel antzy because as I say bye to phase one of Best Body Bootcamp, I am welcoming in phase two which SCARES ME. Probably because it is a lot of new things I have never done, requires a bit more planning and heck, change is hard! But what what I have loved overall about BBBC is that I feel more confident in the gym. For some reason, going in with a ‘mission’ as I call it, makes the workout seem so much more doable. Plus I have been jamming out while doing it which surprisingly has helped.

How did my goals go?

Goal 1: Stretch – SUCCESS? Have you heard me complain about that weird pain? Have you heard me whining about being overly sore? I think not. Why? Because I have been stretching like a maniac. Hello Alex, why didn’t you do this earlier? Taking the time to stretch was not only good physically but so good mentally. Remember this Alex, pack this gem away.

Goal 2: Focus on form – SUCCESS! I made sure I had a bit more time for each workout and reviewed it the night before so I understood what I should be doing. Form also helped with not feeling weird nagging pains. Boo ya people boo ya.

This week while I may feel a bit intimidated by the workouts, I am trying to set goals that go beyond the xyz of the plan. Don’t be fooled, each workout will be done but I will be paying a bit more attention to the life in-between each workout.

Goal 1: Stress less. Whoa, big one for me. I am going to introduce you to the Alex cycle. I stress, stomach gets upset (like bad upset), can’t sleep, I stress more and it begins again. You see the problem? What this means for me is really making sure I spend a bit more time in the self care department. Last week I called my family once. That is scary low for me. This week I will be reaching out more, finding those smaller pleasures and trying to stress less. Lofty I tell you.

Goal 2: Switch it up in the kitchen. Um, I am beyond sick of eggs and tuna. They get the job done at the price I can afford but oh boy am I sick of these staples. Whatever this means for me, I know I need to focus a bit more on finding that kitchen love. Popcorn for dinner can’t cut it this week.

I said I wanted to bring back my kitchen love. The way to do it is to find those kitchen pantry staples that can make anything taste good. It was difficult though to make sure that these were gluten free and most of all, tasty. I was pretty intrigued when I stumbled on Dave’s Gourmet, Inc. Dave’s Gourmet’s products are both national and international that started with one killer hot sauce and quickly developed into a more diversified specialty food company.

I was lucky enough to be able to try three of their Gourmet pasta sauces as well as three of their hot sauces. I think I have included these in every single one of my dinners in the past week. I am that obsessed. First up were the Gourmet Pasta Sauces; Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce, Organic roasted Garlic & Sweet Basil Pasta sauce and Organic Red Heirloom Pasta sauce. I have to say, I am super picky when it comes to pasta sauces. My mom always homemade ours and what I loved was that there was no sugar put in it (my dad was diabetic but honestly it tasted better without it, even for this sugar lover). Well friends, these stood out in flavor. Not only was the flavor there but there were thick chunks of tomatoes (for the exception of the Butternut). I made some killer turkey meatballs, added them to the Organic Red Heirloom sauce and wham, had a delicious dinner. No joke, I had spoonfuls of this sauce straight from the jar. The Butternut Squash sauce was the most unique thing I have tasted. It had the full taste of butternut with hints of onions, fresh garlic, roasted red peppers and this underlying sweetness from the squash. This heated up was amazing. You could smell it a mile away.

When it comes to hot sauces, I can’t eat many of them because of the gluten. Hearing that these puppies were gluten free I gladly tried the Hurtin’ Habanero Sauce, Crazy Caribbean, and Roasted Garlic Hot Sauce. I will not be sharing them, that is all I have to say. I added these to eggs, on turkey bacon, on some roasted veggies… I couldn’t get enough. The Crazy Caribbean is made with Rican Red habanero, cane vinegar, fresh carrots and garlic, this seriously crazy combo that just worked. If you like hot sauce, you need this stuff. Period.

Check out their website and get some for yourself. I will not be sharing over here!

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A Sunday that feels like a Saturday. I am all about that.

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