TIUNJ Yoga Meetup & Brunch

I swear, I could rave on and on about the Tone It Up fitness community, and how over the years, I've been able to connect with and meet so many beautiful, inspiring women. So when Kristyn, at Creative with Kristyn, wanted to put together a NJ meet up, I was all ears. She was planning for a yoga meet up, followed by brunch nearby. She picked an awesome spot that had a beginner's yoga class that she figured would be great for everyone, even if a few of the girls had never done yoga before. She was recommended to try a spot for brunch afterwards, and made reservations for guess what - 15 women! I couldn't believe how many we had coming.

I invited my friend who just got into Tone It Up, and so we woke up bright and early and headed to the yoga studio. We parked, signed in, and waited. I was able to snap some pictures of the art in the studio. It was such a warm and inviting place, except for the lady at the front desk. When she realized how big our group was, I think the nerves got the best of her, and she started shouting to make sure we had all filled out our paperwork. Not so namaste. Once we were all settled on to our mats, things got weird. Okay, probably not weird for most people who have done different types of yoga before, but I'm a vinyasa girl - I like the flow of the moves and positions, and I like feeling like I'm actually working out. This yoga did not flow. We did several different moves, but I felt like I never got the chance to really lie there and focus on my breath, or end each move and give it closure. It was different though, and I'm glad I gave it a try.

We got the group all together, and took a great big picture at the end. It was exciting to see so many awesome women coming together. Kristyn passed out little bags of Perfect Fit Cinnamon protein tied together with an awesome friendship bracelet (how sweet, right?!). Most of us were going to brunch afterwards, and it was walking distance, so we began our trek outside while snow was falling down, which made for a very cold walk. It went fast though, and before you knew it we were waiting to be seated inside the toasty restaurant. Unfortunately, there were so many of us that they had to split us up and four of our girls had to sit at another table. We all ended up having a great time getting to know one another though, and we enjoyed such delicious food. I ordered eggs with sausage and tons of veggies with a side of potatoes, which was unlike anything I'd ever had, and it was hard to stop myself from scraping the empty plate and licking it clean. It paired nicely with my green tea.

It soon felt like I was having brunch with girls that I knew for year. Each and every girl was so open with their lives and experiences, and it was a breath of fresh air. It's a funny thing, friendships... sometimes, they just form so easily, and you can't even remember how it started in the first place. I'm glad I was able to attend, and I cannot wait for more meet ups to be planned.

Healthy Bites: Cookie Dough Overnight Oats

Two healthy recipe posts in a row? Uh oh! You might be able to tell, but I've been majorly focused on my personal training, and wellness business in the works. Yes, you read that right. This is MY YEAR, and I am the one calling the shots. So I've been training, creating, and pushing myself past limits that I thought were set too high for me to reach. It's funny how we are always looking at others and saying, "well I can't do that," instead of saying "why can't I?" YOU CAN! I tell my kickboxing class all the time, you are capable of more than you think you can do! It's just a matter of pushing past our thoughts, and going for it.

I've been testing some healthy recipes out in the kitchen. I'm always one to follow a recipe, but once you have the basics down, you can pretty much mix and match ingredients to really make something new and delicious. I'm a huge fan of cookie dough, and if I could eat cookie dough ice cream every night before bed without it affecting me, I would. So I figured what's better than going to sleep, waking up, and eating cookie dough? Few things come to mind. So I've perfected that sweet cookie dough taste in overnight oats!

Cookie Dough Overnight Oats [1 serving]

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
1 tbsp plain or vanilla greek yogurt
1 tbsp almond butter
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
splash of maple syrup
pinch of salt

2 tbsp chocolate chips/cocoa nibs

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in mason jar, except for chocolate chips and shake well.

2. Place in refrigerator overnight.

3. Add in chocolate the next morning; mix in and sprinkle on top! You can leave it out to get room temperature, or enjoy right out of the fridge!

4. Grab a spoon and enjoy!

Healthy Bites: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Overnight Oats

I've been challenging myself to make more recipes from my Tone It Up nutrition plan. I've had the plan for awhile now, but I haven't made too many of the recipes... mainly because they require a lot of ingredients that I just don't buy. I'm determined to try more healthy recipes out though, so I have more meals to choose from, and ultimately more meals to make my belly happy. While I enjoy routine meals, and don't mind having the same thing every day, it's nice to change it up once in awhile and find new meals that I enjoy. 

The other day I tried out the Overnight Oats. I had never made them before, so I was interested to see if I'd even enjoy them. I wasn't a huge fan of oatmeal a couple of years ago, and now it's a staple in my cabinet for breakfast. I figured overnight oats wouldn't be much different, but oh I was so wrong. Overnight oats are delicious, and are a combination between cereal and oatmeal... at least to me. So when the recipe was a hit in my books, I took it upon myself to wander on Pinterest for yet another overnight oat recipe. If you know me, you know I LOVE all things cookie dough, so I found a cookie dough overnight oat recipe. However, I didn't have the one ingredient that probably makes it taste like cookie dough (nut extract), and so I ended up throwing a bunch of ingredients together, and it came out tasting like chocolate chip banana bread. 

I don't usually create recipes on my own, mainly because if it turns out bad, I just wasted a TON of ingredients, and there goes my money down the trash. I tested my limits though, all the while thinking I couldn't make these taste bad, not with all the tasty ingredients I was adding. So here you have it... 

Let me know if you make the overnight oats and how they turn out! 

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

1 cup oats

1 cup unsweetened original almond milk

1/2 ripe banana

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp PB2

Splash of maple syrup 

pinch of salt

pinch of sugar

2 tbsp chocolate chips 

Directions:

1. Place banana in a bowl in microwave for 30 seconds. Mash banana. 

2. Mix all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) in mason jar & shake it really well (with lid on).

3. Place in refrigerator overnight. 

4. Add chocolate chips the next morning; mix in & sprinkle on top! (Let it sit out to get room temperature if you'd like).

5. Dig in with a spoon and enjoy! 

Dirty Girl Mud Run 2014

If anyone were to ask me if I'd jump in a pile of mud for fun two years ago, I would have looked at them like they were crazy. Now I have ran TWO Dirty Girl Mud Runs [an obstacle course mud run, just for women], and I dive head first into mud without even being told to. Last year, I participated to meet some Tone It Up girls. Right after the run, we were already planning next year. Even though the location was different this year, I was excited as ever to run with girls I had ran with the previous year, and meet even more girls! It's amazing, you'd think that girls that have never met each other would be shy or wouldn't click, but that is not the case with Tone It Up girls. We click instantly, because not only do we have fitness in common, but we are positive, happy individuals in general. We hopped on a bus together, and headed to the race. Even though we missed our race time, we were right in line for the next time - together.

Sal caught some great video in the beginning of us stretching and getting pumped up listening to the loud music, and then he followed us the whole race with his iPhone. He didn't tell me he was going to follow us, but the girls and I loved it. When I kept seeing him pop up at different sections of the race, I couldn't help but smile. Since he just graduated from a school that has taught him how to edit video (one of the many things he learned there), he was able to compile all of the video and pictures that he took, and make one incredible video filled with moments from our race.

We ran together, and when one girl fell behind, we slowed up and waited for her. We cheered each other on as we tackled each obstacle; hearing each other's support and motivation was incredible. Some of us had only just met, and to be there for one another like that, when one of us could have easily kept going, made me realize the community that is Tone It Up. When we reached the end of the race, we ran, jumped, and tackled one another in the mud - throwing it at one another, smashing it in one another's hair, and absolutely loving it.

I showered off as quick as possible, but apparently not well enough, because there was still dirt EVERYWHERE. Unfortunately, I couldn't join the girls for lunch because my brother's graduation party was later that afternoon. Sal and I hurried home, and I jumped in the shower, leaving a trail of mud behind me.

All I can say is, who's ready for next year!?

Fitness Yoga in the Park

I am always looking to try new workouts, and when I find them, I try and invite other girls I know that will love them, specifically my Tone It Up Sisters ((other girls who do the Tone It Up workouts - if you haven't, you MUST at least try them!)). I am lucky that some live close to me, so that I am able to send out a quick email and gather up as many girls as I can to join me. My friend Alisa and I had gone to a couple of yoga sessions at a nearby yoga studio, and that's when we met an instructor who also had her own yoga business, specifically holding yoga classes in the park, and yoga hikes over the summer. As soon as we heard that we'd be doing yoga outside, in a park that we both love, we knew that we needed to go. We sent out an email, and got a few people interested.

It just so happened that I had the weekend day off from from, so I asked Alisa to meet me at my house bright and early, so that we could be the first people there in case any other girls showed up. We met the instructor and a couple of other people that were joining in on the Yoga Fitness Class. We started the class doing laps around the park's lake, and alternated between sprints, lunges, and jogs. It was intense, being that it was so early in the morning, but I didn't complain - I loved the views, the deep breaths on fresh air, and the chill of the summer morning as the sun peeked out. Even though it was just Alisa and I, as well as another friend who had showed up, I was happy. I was even happier when I realized two other people that had been participating in the class were Tone It Up girls as well! We hadn't said anything to each other because we weren't sure, but right before we went into yoga mode, we asked each other and started laughing when we realized who everyone was!

We went on top of the band stand for yoga, and even though there was a fair going on in the park, once you're in that meditation state, you don't hear the people talking, selling their products, or see them staring at you from down below. It was a truly, incredible experience, and if you haven't tried a yoga class outside, I would really recommend it. You feel powerful, as if you can achieve anything, except maybe a headstand on cement. Those, thankfully, were not attempted.

Afterwards, when we were all calm, relaxed, and centered, some of us headed across the street to a local place for fresh, healthy smoothies, which were delicious to say the least. I had been to the place once before, and had gotten a smoothie that I wasn't a huge fan of, but I changed it up this time and was quite pleased. We strolled back to the park, taking our time... talking about our morning, and our daily lives. It felt so great to just live in the moment, not rushing around getting our errands done or working hard. Sometimes it's nice to just be.

Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt

I'm always, always in the mood for an after dinner treat. I'm not sure it's because that's how I was raised (after you finish all of your dinner, you get dessert), or because I just have a sweet tooth, or two or three, but every night that I go to sleep with dessert, I'm a happy camper. My absolute favorite dessert has to be ice cream, and frozen yogurt comes to a close second. Even in the dead of winter, I am always suggesting to Sal that we go and get ice cream. I've been pretty good with watching how much ice cream I consume in any given month though, and I haven't been craving it as often, but when I found a recipe for a healthier version of my favorite ice cream, I couldn't resist.

 I was scrolling through Instagram, when I came across a, what seemed to be, delicious treat - cookie dough greek yogurt. Once I saw it, I knew I needed to raid my fridge to see if I had all of the ingredients, and lucky enough for me, that day I just happened to have them all. There aren't many ingredients, which makes this dessert even easier to make, and when you taste it, it will be worth all of the effort you put into making it. It doesn't taste exactly like cookie dough ice cream, but it comes pretty close, as close as you can without all of the added fat and calories.

Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt by The Suburban Girl Gone Country

yield: 1 serving size

Ingredients: 

1 small container of Fage 2% greek yogurt

1 tbsp nut butter (I used almond butter)

1 tbsp sweetener (I used stevia)

1 tbsp mini chocolate chips 

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Take open container of Fage 2% Greek yogurt, and mix in nut butter. 

2. Add in sweetener, and vanilla extract. 

3. Stir in chocolate chips, and sprinkle some on top! 

No Bake Cookie Dough Bites

If you know me, you know that I'm obsessed with all things cookie dough... and if you don't know me, well now you know. So whenever I find a cookie dough recipe of any kind, I always want to get in my kitchen, bust out my Kitchen aid, and bake, bake, bake. I was always in the kitchen baking just a few years ago, but then I started to watch what I was eating... I mean my hobby was great and all, until I started to realize that I would be one of the many people to eat these delicious treats, especially because the baker must taste test! It quickly became a problem, and I started to use Pinterest to find alternative sweet treats, that were still just as sweet, but healthier! It was easier than I thought it would be. I was also able to find plenty of healthy recipes on Tone It Up, and that's where I found this featured recipe: No Bake Cookie Dough Bites.

Remember how I said I love cookie dough? Well I was determined to make these; however, I feared that they wouldn't taste like cookie dough bites. My fears were null and void when I took that first bite though, because they tasted JUST LIKE COOKIE DOUGH. I couldn't believe it. These bites quickly became a staple for my after breakfast snack at work. They're easy to throw in a plastic bag, and go. If you're like me and always on the run, then these are definitely great to make for the long work week!

No Bake Cookie Dough Bites by Lauren Conrad

yield: 12

Ingredients: 

- 2/3 cup raw cashews

- 1/3 cup oats

- 2 Tbsp agave syrup

- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/4 cup sweet cocoa nibs or dark chocolate chips

{opt. 1 scoop Perfect Fit Protein}

Directions:

1. Combine oats and cashews in a food processor and grind into a flour- like consistency. 

2. Add agave, maple syrup, and vanilla, and blend again until smooth. 

3. Transfer your dough into a mixing bowl and stir in the nibs or chips by hand. 

4. Roll the dough into 12 chocolate truffle sized balls. Enjoy or refrigerate!