Sauces, Strawberries and Squats

A quick wrap up of my week to kick off the Peanut Butter Runner blogging!

I normally only teach BodyPump twice a week and some Saturdays but the past couple weeks I’ve been subbing a ton! All of this teaching also happened to coincide with the release of BodyPump 73 (new releases quarterly) and the squat track is a killer. There are 120 squats in the new track so I’ve done approximately 840 squats over the last two weeks – YIKES! Here’s a link to a quick Les Mills video about the new release (skip to the last 3/4 of the video to actually see some of the release).

image – les mills international

I went to a Sauces and Stocks cooking demonstration on Wednesday night. I wasn’t expecting to learn much but it was actually very informative and fun. The event included a full sit down dinner using different sauces and stocks that they were demonstrating.

Before we got started with dinner we went back in the kitchen to check out a vinaigrette being made in the gourmand kitchen (also known as the cold kitchen).

Then we went to the main kitchen to check out the HUGE pots of stock they were making. The chicken stock cooks for 24 hours and the veal stock for 48. Wow!

First up was a salad with apple cider vinaigrette, sugared bacon and pecans, tomatoes and Gorgonzola.

Our entrée was Veal Oscar that was finished with béarnaise sauce at our table after the chef finished demonstrating it! This was probably the best veal dish I’ve ever had!

And dessert was apple turnovers with vanilla creme anglaise, vanilla bean ice cream and dried cranberries. I thought it was an interesting dessert selection since it felt like such a Fall dish but it was still tasty!

It was a fun and educational evening! I can’t wait to try some of the recipes in the handout.

I was ready to keep it healthy the next couple days after such an indulgent meal. Thursday and Friday featured the same mix for my morning oatmeal.

Bob’s Red Mill 10-grain hot cereal, rolled oats, milk, water, half banana, raisins, cinnamon, pinch salt and topped with almond butter and Crofter’s.

I always prepare my oatmeal on the stove top while I’m getting ready and then transfer it to a Tupperware and eat when I get to work. I only have about a 10-15 minute commute so it’s usually still pretty toasty by the time I dig in!

Lunch the past two days has been variations of salad featuring strawberries.

Today’s salad featured spinach, strawberries, pineapple, almonds, feta, shredded purple cabbage, roma tomatoes and a dressing of orange juice, white wine vinegar, dijon mustard, honey and olive oil. With a side of Kashi crackers.

I am typically more of a sandwich than salad girl at lunch but I’ve really been making an effort lately to get more veggies in at lunch.

Not too much planned this weekend. Yoga, running, getting together with friends and lots of packing! We’re in the process of closing on our first house! It’s been a maddening and exciting experience and we’re so ready to move in.

Have a great weekend everyone! (Well, all 10 people reading this!)