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I completely spaced that I was going to announce the winner of my reGen giveaway!  oopsie.  I also had to work on Saturday, so it’s been a little busy.  The weekend is coming to an end once again, so I’ll do a quick re-cap of randomness and share a nice dinner we had a Nora’s Wine Bar for a friend’s birthday.  

Friday . . . wasn’t too eventful since I had to work the next day.  I did make a quick experiment in the kitchen with some sardines I’ve been wanting to incorporate into something.  I know, I know you probably think, sardines? icky.  But actually they aren’t too bad and packed with protein and healthy fats.

This pack has 220kcals, 12g of fat, and 26 grams of protein.  Nice!  I decided to mix it with a can of drained chickpeas and then added the juice and zest from one lemon.  That’s it!  I made a side of kale chips and micro’ed a little sweet tater as well.  I really enjoyed this dinner, but Chris said he would have liked it better for a side.

I’m sure the possibilities could be endless with additional flavor components to add to it.

I even added some grapes to it for lunch the next day.

And for dessert I had some peaches and cream (1% milk).  My grandma used to always make it for me with whole milk and a few spoonfuls of sugar 🙂  Both Chris and I were pretty pooped and actually made it to bed by 9pm!  That’s a record.

Saturday . . . I got to sleep in till 5:30am (whoo-hoo!) and made it for a nice 18 mile bike ride before work.  I was planning on 30, but I just didn’t have quite enough time.  The weather has actually been pretty nice here recently, well, nice as in 101F.  I cannot wait till it gets in the 80s, and then winter will roll around and I’ll be complaining it’s too cold 😉

Even though I had to work, it wasn’t all that long and we were planning on going out to dinner with some good friends for a birthday in the evening. She wanted to try out Nora’s Wine Bar and we happily obliged.  We’re always up for trying out a new place of course!

It was a bit fancy but the food was really outstanding.  Many of the items are also local from the Mario Batali’s Farmer’s Market that I like to go to every Thursday.  Very Cool!

The interior was very nice and well decorated for sure.

The menu is really extensive and we had a difficult time trying to decide on what to order!

You can even sample wines if you like.  They give you a card when you arrive and you simply insert it into a slot and press a button for a sample size or a whole glass.  Fun!  I decided to try a glass of sauvignon blanc with dinner which was nice and refreshing.

We started out with the caprese appetizer with fresh buffalo mozzarella and marinated cherry tomatoes.  aaah fresh mozzarella how I love thee!

I had 2 of these.

For dinner I decided on the chicken thighs with a citrus sauce.  They were delish!

Chris got the wild boar ragu pizza which I had to have a few bites of and it was phenomenal.  It kind of tasted like a pulled pork pizza.

Our other friend got the same wild boar, but it was underneath a bed of nutty farro.  mmmm

Everyone said their dishes were really tasty.

It was so nice too that they brought an assortment of tasty desserts for the birthday girl!  They were all amazing and there was even an eggplant mousse.  I couldn’t even tell actually.  Oh yes and some pistachio gelato, milk and dark truffles, and a molten lava cake.

It was a great evening and always so fun to catch up with good friends again.  Even though it was a bit pricey, it was well worth it and I would definitely come back for another special occasion.

Sunday . . . Chris and I woke early again and barely made it to the ride that we posted for the Green Valley Cyclists.  It was a fairly flat 31 mile ride.  I’m kind of experimenting with metabolic efficiency, so I am trying to keep my workouts moderate for the next 2 weeks in the preparatory phase of training.  I’m also reducing the amount of grains in my diet and incorporating more lean protein, beans, healthy fats, and lots of fruits and veggies.  I’m basing this off of Bob’s Seebohar’s book ‘Metabolic Efficiency Training:  Teaching the Body to Burn More Fat’.  It’s actually really interesting as I have been working with and learning more about metabolic testing as well.  I can tell a difference in my definition, but I am really missing grains! (this topic will definitely be another post)

During the ride I hydrated with water + electrolytes.  After getting back from the ride I had a chocolate milk at the coffee shop to chat with other riders, and then when I got home I made this smoothie goodness.

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup Almond Breeze Chocolate
• 2 big handfuls of spinach
• 1/2 frozen naner
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 tsp peanut butter
• 1 scoop Any Whey protein powder

Chris also made me two eggs sprinkled with salt, which don’t look the best ha!

There was a lot of other munching going on today.  I think I had a handful of pistachios and cashews, grapes, banana, and I also made a munchy plate like this with avocado, carrots, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, hummus, tofu, and muenster cheese.  And of course lots of hydration.

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Ok, now I’ll stop with the blabbering and announce the reGen winner!

Erin said . . .

Sounds like a great recovery product. I’ll definitely be trying it. Thanks much for the info! I just voted, too. 

Congrats Erin!  Send me your information and I’ll get that 4-pack out to you.

Don’t forget to help Almond Breeze distribute a large donation to charities and vote for LIVESTRONG! (widget on the right)  Every vote makes a difference in the fight against cancer 🙂

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  I’m kind of bumming at the moment but hopefully will emerge stronger.  Thanks for reading, much love <3