Your Opinion

Have you been consuming your weekly doses of pizza? Because I have not. It's been a long dry spell (about 6 weeks now!) and I'm beginning to have pizza withdrawals. 

I guess I can't say I've been 100% pizza free; there was one instance where the husband and I dropped into a pretty good smaller pizza chain in Las Vegas. Then another weekend spent drinking and carrying on with friends landed us in a fantastic little New York style pizza place in Hermosa Beach. And finally, I dabbled in a bit of the local Pizza Hut fare one delirious evening and instantly regretted it because that was by far one of the most disappointing pizza experiences I've had yet. 

I won't go on about those pizza endeavors, but I can say that I've missed making my own za in my own oven with my own pizza stone. The good news is that I will have all my pizza paraphernalia back in my possession by this weekend! My husband and I have been patiently waiting to move into our house and get our stuff out of storage (adios, living out of a suitcase!), and alas, the weekend has arrived during which we will be transitioning from temporary house to permanent home. And I will personally be transitioning from the pizza-withdrawl-shakes-syndrome to fat-kid-at-heart-gets-her-pizza-tools-back-and-dives-headfirst-into-mozzarella-and-dough-recovery. Praise the Lord! Sure, I'm looking forward to having a real address, decorating the house, and sleeping in my own bed again. But I must say, the weekly pizza binges are a thing that I value highly in my life, and now that I've started, I simply see no end to the tradition.

So, pizza eater. The wait has been long. But it is almost over. You've demanded pizza and I intend to provide it. So set aside a calorie allowance for some choice za, and stay tuned.

Isn't that just one witty little t-shirt? It brings a smile to my face. I found it on Jac Vanek but have no intentions of buying it. ($44 for a spool of cotton and some iron-on letters? Puh-lease. I could craft that up in 20 minutes for less than $5.) But hey, that's just my opinion. 

Post-Turkey Day Recovery Workout

The turkeys and cranberries have been eaten, I'm stuffed with stuffing, and the pumpkin pie is long gone. Another Thanksgiving success and as usual, I have friends and family to thank for it all. However, the workout routine took a minor hit during vacation time and today was day one to get back into it.

Did it hurt? Yes. More than a little.

Was it fun? Sorta. But not entirely.

Did it completely cancel out a weekend of Thanksgiving bingeing? Not even close, but it's a start.

For some workout inspiration today, I headed over to LaurenConrad.com and searched for something fast, simple, and effective. Miss Conrad did not disappoint!

I have been a fan of LC since her reality TV debut, and I enjoy seeing the cute and pretty things found on her website. Although she may not have gained fame for her fitness expertise (more so for the cute and pretty things), she endorses workouts and nutrition tips that are balanced and sound. The workout of hers that I did was intended to be a treadmill workout. However, since I have a slight disdain for treadmills and the weather today permitted an outdoor workout, I hit the outdoor track to complete all this.

LC's workout goes as follows:

I modified the workout so I could do it on the track. Also, I'd never be able to do some of the exercises for 3 minutes straight without modifying (like jump lunges and push-ups…that's just whack). Here's how it all went down:

• Warm-up: 5 minute jog
• 25 regular push-ups (not modified/on knees)
• 1 set of 15
• 1 set of 10
• 800m run at 7:30 per mile pace (2 laps on 1/4 mile track)
• 2 sets of 20 jump lunges
• 800m run at 7:30 per mile pace (2 laps)
• 3 sets of 10 sumo squats
• 800m run as fast as my feet would carry me (about 7:00 per mile pace)
• Abdominal workout - 2 sets of each:
• 10 crunches with feet off ground, knees bent to 90 degrees
• 12 bicycle crunches (24 per side, rotating)

Then I rounded out the workout by jogging the long way home, which took about 16 minutes going at a moderate pace. If you're not up for the jog or just don't have time, be sure you get at least a little cool down jog or walk in before you call it quits. 

After a good stretch and plenty of water, I feel ready to get back into it. At least until Christmas. 

Body Remix

Lately my posts have been inconsistent and sparse. For this, I do apologize, but as for my excuse, I am in the process of moving. The move started in October, and between hotels and temporary housing, my husband and I are still not in our permanent home. Hopefully I'll be back up and running with some decent blog posts consistently by the new year!

In the meantime, I have not forgotten about exercise. Actually, I've been pretty consistent about that. One of the first things I did when we got to our new city was scope out the gym. Although the layout was a bit unusual (cardio machines facing each other…what's up with that?) it looked like it had a decent amount of equipment, so I shed my sweatshirt and decided to hop on a StairMaster for a little while. Well, not even 30 seconds into firing up my iPod, I was approached by a staff member telling me that I could not work out wearing the tank top I had on. What? Am I really being excused from the gym because of my workout top which I wear all of the time and have never even thought someone would deem it inappropriate attire for the gym? Yes. It happened. Apparently I'd missed the sign at the door indicating that no one may wear anything sleeveless in the building.

The top I was wearing looked similar to this one, from Target:

So with my tail between my legs, I scurried out of the building while nervously pulling my sweatshirt back on. That was so unusual! I mean, could they not have just let me wear my sleeveless, racer-back style workout top that completely covers my midsection just that one time, because it was my first time? I guess not.

Anyway, I decided to go do my own workout instead, in a place where sleeveless tops are permitted: the great outdoors.

Outdoor track, all ready for an athlete!

I did a Nike Training Club workout. If you missed the post where I raved about this app, here's the rundown: it is awesome; you can virtually customize your workout; you will get a great workout every time; the app is free.

I did the one titled "Body Remix," however, I did not have any equipment (not even a mat!), so I really had to improvise with some of the moves. I'll give the rundown of what I actually did here.

Open the app.
   > Click "Get Toned"
      > Click "Advanced"
         > Click "Body Remix" (the first workout on the list)
And get started! Now if you have equipment and want to do the workout as it is all laid out, be my guest. You will get a fantastic workout. If not, follow along here:

Feeling excited to work out. Let's do it!

• 1 minute: Back pedal and jog forward
• 2 minutes: Slide and glide (left and right)
• 2 minutes: Light jog
• 1 minute: Recover
• 1 minute: Burpees
• 1 minute: Push-ups
• 1 minute: Plank
• 1 minute: Ski jumps (sometimes I call these "speed skater jumps")
• 2 minutes: Walking lunges
• 2 minutes: Bunny hops (get low into a squat position, take tiny jumps forward on the balls of your feet)
• 1 minute: Bicycle crunches
• 1 minute: Toe touches
• 1 minute: Kick-downs (laying on your back with legs straight up, lower legs to the ground without actually touching the ground, then sweet them back up to the starting position)
• 1 minute: Push-up to frogger (do a push up, hop feet forward and to outside of hands like you're doing a burped with a wide jump, hop them back so you land in push-up position, repeat)
• 2 minutes: Squats
• 1 minute: Triceps push-ups
• 1 minute: Walking lunges
• 30 seconds: Mountain climbers
• 30 seconds: Knee tucks (start in a push-up position, hop feet in and bring knees towards chest, then hop back to starting position, repeat)
• 2 minutes: Standing hamstring stretch
• 1 minute: Pretzel stretch (glute stretch)
• 2 minutes: Standing quad stretch

And you're done!

This is how I felt when I finished that workout:

But I lived to tell you about it!

I included a few instructions above, but if you get the app you can see full instructions as well as short video clips of how to do each exercise. Any modifications that I made were not so complicated that you can't figure out what they are. And if you think so anyway, just leave a little ol' comment here!

Farewell, My Fair South (Pizza)!

The first time I told someone in California that I am from "down south," they thought I was referring to southern California. Let it be known, I am from the southeastern part of the United States. Namely, I have lived in Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi. (Whether Florida is "the south" is arguable, but I'm going with it for the sake of the region I'm in currently.) Although I've traveled in many of the upper 48 as well as Hawaii and abroad, I have really only ever really known heat, humidity and the two seasons of the south. Needless to say, coming to California has been more of a climate shock than a culture shock.

Maybe I'm missing the south already, just a little bit? Maybe I didn't say my goodbyes thoroughly enough to the hot, damp air and southern hospitality I'm so used to? We'll see how I feel about the air come summertime, but for now, I'd like to pay a tribute to one last pizza; the last pizza I ate in the south before my departure, and a truly remarkable one at that.

Ladies and boys, I present to you, Antico Pizza.

Thought by some as one of "those" places that you have to eat at while in Atlanta, I'll admit, they serve up a great za worth trying.

Located on Hemphill near downtown, also known as one of the shadier areas of the city, and boasting a menu that at least half of which is written in Italian, be prepared for a cultural experience upon entering the vicinity of Antico.

Having never been there before, my husband and some friends and I took the advice of the employee working the cash register when it came to ordering some za. She seemed more fluent in Italian than English herself, so I'm not really sure what we ended up ordering. But I can say this - it smelled divine and tasted amazing.

I'm pretty positive that the pizza in the foreground of the above photo is the Margherita, and there's a good chance that the one in back is the San Gennaro. Both were excellent. I kept eating a slice from one then a slice from the other until I was just so stuffed that no more would fit into my pizza-loving belly.

You can tell by eating this za that the ingredients are truly remarkable. They are a far cry from your standard pizza place's cheese and crust. Just a simple bit of mozzarella is all that's needed to top a pizza and Antico really hit the nail on the head with that one. Not to mention the crust! Oh what mastery they've achieved in crust making. It's crispy but not cracker like. It's chewy but not doughy. It is baked to perfection and topped with ingredients that compliment it perfectly without overpowering it. If I could be a fly on the wall to observe the craft of dough making and crust baking, I would probably get swatted down and murdered, because that's what you do to flies. But I would like to know what foreign secrets are imposed on this dough!

Let's just say, the pizza bar has really been raised for me. Although I am 1/8 Italian, I don't expect that I can pull off an Antico-level pizza. However, I will certainly try to acquire fancier (yet budget-friendly) ingredients for pizzas that I make in the future (yep, I'm still not a millionaire). At the very least, I'm going to go for better mozzarella and fresher spices. And who knows…in two to five years I might even be making the sauce from scratch!

Oh what a joy. I want to get started already!

New Girl

This southern lady has been officially displaced! And my, what a journey. Seven days, 3 time zones, and over 2000 miles later, my husband and I are officially in California. 

I would have loved to make this a post about all the delightful pizzas I ate and exciting workouts I did along the way, but that simply did not happen. Between being on the road, visiting friends along the way, seeing the sights in cool cities, eating the other good foods those cities had to offer, and having to crash in hotels after hours of driving only to pick back up and do it again the next day, I was lucky to work out at all during the journey. 

I mean, let's be real here; the first stop was in New Orleans. For mealtime I was more in the mood for seafood than pizza; for cardio I was willing to count the couple of hours spent wandering around the French Quarter that evening as my workout. Sure, it's a little unconventional, but life on the road is not a typical thing for me, so as long as I promised myself to hit it hard in the gym once we got to the destination I knew that everything would be just fine. Without regular workouts I just don't feel like me.

So we've arrived and it's time to begin!

But first, I thought I'd just share with you a little of what I did manage to do while on the road. That's right - no gyms, no equipment, and at the mercy of mother nature. Spoiler alert: I did a whole lot of running.

New Orleans: I think we've covered that one thoroughly enough already.

Houston: 30 minute run around a golf course near a friend's apartment. What drew me to that run was a combination of things. First, the friend we stayed with is a real runner and hardcore athlete. Yes, she's one of those athletes that has medals hanging on her wall from all the races she's completed, most of them being half marathons, duatholons, or some other crazy long distance. Second, the trail around the golf course was a closed loop. Translation: I will not get lost! That's pretty key when going out for a run in a strange new place. It was hot and humid there, but nothing I haven't experienced in the south before. 

El Paso: 30 minute run around Fort Bliss. Unlike in Houston, I did not have a tour guide telling me where the best place was to go run. However, since this was an Army Post, I felt pretty sure that I would not run to the "bad part" of town by accident, and also, that I would be able to find my way back to the hotel afterwards. Success and success. It was a chilly morning run (got out before the sun came up!) and the climate was rather dry, but it felt refreshing to do that before hitting the road.

Las Vegas: 30 minute run around a friend's neighborhood. What's up with all these 30 minute runs? I don't know. But in this case, our friends lived in a small gated neighborhood in which the longest route was a loop that took me 6 and a half minutes to run. I ran the hell out of that loop until I reached 30 minutes and nearly complete boredom from literally running in circles. Afterwards I did about 10 minutes of core work inside (just some crunches, planks, and push-ups), and about 10 minutes of stretching. More cool, dry weather and it is drying out my sinuses and making me so thirsty for water! Adapting to the dryness is definitely the most noticeable adjustment I'll have to make being out west.

Alas, we have arrived in the high desert of California and perhaps more interesting than my first run were the gorgeous sights I witnessed while out on foot. Behold…

…and not a single filter was used on those photos! I don't need a hashtag to tell you that, and besides, filtering those natural sky blues would do them no justice!

Now let's be clear about these mountains. They are real mountains. Compared to my well-known rolling hills (which I'll admit, are by no means easy), when running in this area you're either going up a long hill for a long time or down a long hill for a long time. There is no in-between. Oh, and did I mention I am now at an elevation of nearly 2500 feet? It's no mile-high city, but I'll definitely need to acclimate. 

So run number one of many more to come went a little like this…

• I had no idea where I was going. I just followed the sidewalk and main roads.
• My it's windy here! Thank God I didn't get caught in a dust storm.
• 42 minutes total (longer than I originally thought I'd be running), and about a 9:11 pace (slower than I thought too, but hey, whatever).
• Totally exhausted and thirsty when I was done. The combination of a higher elevation and drier climate caught up with me later that night, but I slept like a log. That was lovely. Tomorrow: another mountain! 

Turkey, Bacon and Spinach Pizza with Old Bay

Have you ever tried food seasoned with Old Bay? If you have, you've probably tried it with seafood. And it was probably delicious. But I say...ignore the conventional, add this to your pizza! I don't remember specifically the last time I had any food seasoned with Old Bay, but I will remember this turkey, bacon and spinach za forever.

Does the picture have you convinced at all? I know you can't taste it through the screen, and even if you try really hard you probably won't be able to smell it either. But if I might just fill in those blanks for you, the taste is like no pizza you've ever experienced. This is one for the top 10 list for sure. A quote after the husbands first bite: "Wow. I think you did it again." That was a proud moment for me. And the smell is just outta control. Like whoa. Old Bay has got a savory, spicy, earthy aroma that you'd most likely encounter in restaurants around the Gulf Coast. But bring it into your kitchen, and oh my! And did I mention that there's bacon in it? That alone should get your tasters and smellers in gear.

So, gather your ingredients for the za toppings:

• 1-2 cups pizza sauce
• 6-8 slices of bacon
• 1/2 chopped onion
• About 1/2 lb. ground turkey
• 1-2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
• About 2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Get cooking, good looking!

• Place your pizza stone into a cold oven. Turn the temperature to 500. 
• Fire up the stove with a skillet on one burner. I love my cast iron skillet, but if you don't have one you can still cook these foods in a normal sort of pan. While the skillet is heating, chop your bacon into small pieces - smaller than bite-sized. Place those pieces in the hot skillet and begin to cook these, but don't cook them all the way through just yet. Maybe keep them on there for about 2 minutes.
• While the bacon is in the pan, chop up your onion. Add those pieces to the pan and cook with the bacon until the onion pieces are translucent, about 3-5 minutes. 

Bacon + Onions = Divine smelling kitchen

• Add the ground turkey to the pan and keep breaking it up so you don't have any large chunks. 

Use about 1/3 of a package of ground turkey

• Now add the magic. (Cue to add the Old Bay.) You don't need a ton of this - really less than a tablespoon would be fine. I didn't measure mine specifically - just sprinkled a smattering on there until it was fragrant!

Oh, hello back there, Old Bay.

• When your turkey is cooked through, turn off the heat. Add the chopped spinach to the mix and stir it around until it wilts. You may have to do this in batches, as raw spinach tends to occupy a lot of volume. 
• Now get your stone out of the oven and place it on your work surface. Place prepared pizza dough on top of the hot stone, followed by the sauce. Spread the sauce evenly on the dough working it as far to the edges as you can. 
• Top that with the bacon/onion/turkey/spinach mixture, evenly topping the pizza. Sprinkle the mozzarella on next, followed by the chopped parsley. 
• Place it back into the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. I did a bit of a thinner crust with this one, so mine cooked in under 10 minutes. Just keep an eye on it and you'll know it's done when the crust and the cheese on top turn golden. 

Yummy yum-ness. You'd better come with your appetite and your pizza party hat on. You've just made a real masterpiece, friend. You really don't understand the magic and wonders Old Bay can bring until you've tried this pizza. During the eating of this pizza I constantly asked myself...what is this sorcery? But all I can figure out is that I will need to stock my kitchen with some new Old Bay very soon if this za making continues. 

Za and beers for two, thank you!

Deluxe Greek Pizza

If you're thinking this za looks familiar, then you're probably remembering my recent Mini Greek Pizza. No need to be confused and no need to be alarmed. I am not a pizza repeater. The Mini was a grand and tasty thing, but this Deluxe truly lives up to that title.

This pizza is loaded down with tangy flavors and fresher than fresh toppings. It was one of those so-good-out-of-the-oven-you-burn-the-roof-of-your-mouth tasty ones. It's a pizza I've been wanting to make for quite some time now but never seemed to have all of the ingredients at home all at once. But suddenly that all changed and the Deluxe Greek became a very delicious reality.

Pizza toppings:

• 1-2 cups pizza sauce
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• About 1 cup chicken breast meat, chopped
• Handful of Kalamata olives, sliced in half
• Handful of marinated artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• About 3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
• Half avocado, diced
• Half cucumber, diced

There are really two "sets" of toppings for this pizza: the ones that go on before the pizza goes into the oven, and the ones that go on after the pizza comes out of the oven, just before it is served.

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 500 with a pizza stone inside.
• Prepare your crust - roll it out on a lightly floured surface and cut it into a circle that is the same size or just smaller than your pizza stone. Let it sit there while the oven preheats and you prepare the rest of your toppings.
• The rest of the prep work is really nothing more than just chopping up ingredients. I used some leftover oven-baked chicken seasoned with tomato basil pesto as a topping, but if you don't have that on hand already like I did, that's the only cooking prep you'll really have to do. (Spread the pesto over the chicken and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.)
• Chop the chicken, tomato, artichoke hearts, and olives into bite-sized pieces and set them aside. (These are the toppings that go on first.)
• Chop the cucumber and avocado and set those aside separately. (These are the post-bake toppings.)

• When the stone is completely hot, take it out of the oven and place it on your work surface. Place the prepared dough for the crust on top of that.
• Spread your desired amount of pizza sauce on the crust, and spread it out evenly, going as close to the edges as you can. Then add on the first set of toppings, sprinkling them around evenly to the edges (chicken, tomatoes, olives, and artichokes).
• Top it off with your two cheeses (mozzarella and then feta on top) and carefully place it back in the oven. Bake it for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is golden on the edges and the cheese is melted on top.
• Take it out of the oven and place it back on your work surface. Immediately sprinkle the last two toppings on it - the cucumber and avocado pieces. Let it sit and cool for a few minutes before slicing. 

One thing I wish I'd used more of on this pizza were the Kalamata olives. These are not the puny, pathetic little black olives that you typically see atop the pizzas from major major pizza chains and subs from franchised sub shops. These are different. They are larger, full of flavor and downright excellent. And they just want to share all that flavor with you and your taste buds. Sadly, I only had about half a jar of these in my fridge. I suppose they were just so tasty I never even noticed how quickly they had been disappearing! 

Another thing I'd recommend is red pepper flakes. Sprinkle them all around! Spice is good. I actually sprinkled a bit over the whole za as soon as it came out of the oven, and then more onto my individual slices. It really brings all the flavor flaves together - salty feta, tangy olives, creamy avocados, fresh and crunchy cucumbers, savory pesto chicken and artichokes, and then there ya go with that spice. 

The 12's Workout and a Long Run

Maybe it was all the pasta I've been eating this week, but I had a LOT of energy yesterday and frankly, felt like I could conquer the world. When I realized that was an unrealistic goal, I decided to just do a really long workout instead.

So this is a workout in which a few circuit-style exercises are embedded into a long run. I am always a fan of that. The entire run was a loop (not just out and back) for a total of 6 miles. It's a run I've done before, but I have never stopped in the middle of it to do another workout.

The first run segment was 2.2 miles. I did this in my best time yet - 17:35 for a 7:59 pace. Woop!

At my pit stop, it was time for the circuit workout.  Since my favorite number of all time is 12, I decided that I would do 12 reps of everything. Not an incredibly hard workout, but with 3.8 miles still ahead of me, I didn't want to collapse when I was done with it all. 

And here's your motivational text image to get you through it:

Push-ups: you can modify these if you need to, of course.

For the step-ups with a leg lift, I was lucky enough to have picnic tables under a pavilion where I did this workout. If you don't have that, you  can just do alternating lunges. Basically just take a long step forward, bend both knees to about 90 degrees (but don't let your back knee touch the ground) and then come back to standing with both feet together. Switch your lead leg and repeat. 

If you want a little extra sumpin-sumpin' to work your booty, you can do a step-back lunge with a leg lift. For that, start standing with feet together, take a long step backwards, and bend both knees to 90 degrees (just don't let your knee touch the ground). When you come back to standing, lift your back leg as far up behind you as you can, hold it there for a "one-one thousand" count, then carefully return to your starting position. That's basically what I did, except I was stepping up onto the bench of a picnic table and lifting legs up and behind. Count each rep as one, so that will be a total of six per side.

Burpees, oh burpees. They are hated by some, despised by many. But burpees and I have come to terms with each other. I can think of few other exercises that work so many muscle groups so well. Burpees cover your shoulders, arms, quads, hamstrings, core, and of course your heart because they will get that heart rate up. Do what you have to do - grit it out, sing a song, yell and scream, breathe - but just do them.

Now for the part where you see "bicycle crunches"...I didn't do those for all three rounds, but if you can't think of any other abdominal/core exercises then bicycle crunches are a good choice. Other ones I did to switch it up: v-crunches and v-bicycles. Other options for you:
1-minute plank
12 toe-touches
12 cruches with feet up, knees bent to 90 degrees
1 minute flutter kicks

Wasn't that fun? Okay, running again. Just picked up where I left off and finished the loop!

So I slowed down a little bit. 9:08 pace. Can I blame the burpees maybe? I think I'll do that. But that's the thing when you go run a loop. It's not like an out-and-back where you know you can just turn around whenever. When you run a loop you get to the point of no return: the halfway point. You could turn back, but it would make no difference. If you go any further there would be no point in turning back because then you would just be adding distance. And no matter what you do, you have to get back to where you started, preferably before the sun goes down.

I've known runners to ask friends to drive them out to a certain point, maybe 6 or 7 miles from home, and then leave them there to run back. (Remember when I said that runners were a little bit crazy? Yeah, that's what I was talking about.) That is dedication, and that is discipline. Not to mention, it takes confidence and courage to train that way. You have no choice but to get it done!

So if you do this workout, or even just an abbreviated version of it (I'll admit, that is a lot of running), set your mind to start and keep going until you arrive at the finish line. Don't cut out any parts halfway through. You may suffer a little bit, but you will gain a lot physically and mentally.

If you're a Pinterest regular like myself, or if you've even seen examples of seemingly "crazy" workouts (you know, the kind where you're doing hundreds of reps, or even thousands, of a huge variety of complex exercises?) you probably think that sort of workout is simply absurd and never going to happen. Like it's for someone else and not for you. While it's true that "those" workouts are not for everyone, it does not mean they are for no one. And I guarantee that the people that lead those workouts once thought the exact same thing and they did not start exercising like that overnight either. And also, they are still learning.

I'll save my own tale of the unlikely way I became a fitness instructor for another day. But what I can say - and what I do say - to those in the classes I teach is, "Push through it. Don't stop. You can slow down and catch your breath or modify the exercise, but don't stop."

Pizz-adventures

Well a weekend has passed and I just found myself too busy to make a pizza! It's kind of a sadness when a weekend goes by and I have not eaten the delightful combination of bread, tomato sauce, and cheese. But life goes on - I'm not starving. Hence I bring you, travels and pizza. After all, my own za making would be nothing if it were not for nearby pizzas that inspire me. 

• First, The Buffalo.

I probably would not have thought to make a buffalo chicken pizza on my own had it not been for The Bufflo at CJ's Pizza in Columbus, MS. This lovely za is covered in wing sauce, chicken, onions, crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, and a spiral of ranch dressing. 

Not too shabby. 

Not to mention, CJ's was apparently voted "Best Pizza" for 3 consecutive years. I don't know who voted (I know that I didn't), but I would definitely say that CJ's does have the best pizza in town. Given of course, I live in a very small town (we're talking about a population of less than 30,000) and the only other pizza joints are Papa John's, Domino's and Pizza Hut. So not to say that they don't deserve that award, but I don't think anyone else could really compete with them. 

 

I do have to hand it to them - for a little pizza shop in a strip mall, they are a force to be reckoned with. Their large pizza is huge. Really, it could feed four hungry people and there would still be leftovers. And it's fresh. You can see back into the kitchen where they do all the prep and that dough is being tossed by hand. My other recommendations from their menu: the Pesto Gourmet (pesto sauce, ham artichoke hearts, onion, sun dried tomatoes and feta cheese) and the Chicken Florentina (ricotta cheese, chicken, spinach, mushrooms, fresh garlic and olive oil). The Rock & Roll is also a good, but that's something I would call "man food": pepperoni, onion, green pepper, jalapeños, ham, sausage, cheddar cheese, and crumbled bacon. 

Although the buffalo chicken pizza was tasty and satisfying during this particular eating adventure, it was just a bit greasy. In the past it has not been quite so greasy, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they may have just been a bit too heavy on the bacon this time around. Too heavy on the bacon? Impossible! You must think I'm insane for saying that. But yes, the bacon bits themselves were very large - more like small pieces of ham instead of tiny bits of bacon. But like I said, that was unusual for this place as we have ordered that pizza at least 6 times before and have never had it turn out that way.

• Second, Pizza Rustica.

You're probably looking at that picture and thinking, the heck is a salad doing on that pizza? Hear me out. That is arugula, which is a close sibling of our friend spinach, which is by no means uncommon on a pizza or any other dish for that matter. 

Yes, I know this pizza looks a little bit, well, different. But my goodness, once you tasted it you would not care if it looked like roadkill. 

This is from the restaurant La Famiglia which we visited while on vacation in Destin, FL earlier this year. This Italian restaurant serves more than just pizza, but since we hadn't filled our weekly pizza quota prior to this restaurant visit we just knew that za was what we were ordering. This one is topped with mozzarella and gorgonzola cheeses, tomatoes, ham, grilled chicken, and of course, arugula. What made this pizza so memorable was the crispy thin crust and the gorgonzola, which I never would have thought to use on a pizza as that is one cheese I've never really cooked with. And the fresh crunch of a little arugula on top was just the perfect thing to finish it out. 

Pizza lovers, gather round the table at La Famiglia when you have the chance. Our waiter that evening told us that the place was started up by three "very Italian" sisters. He didn't say they were somewhat Italian, or even half Italian. He said very. So it made sense that the food was so enjoyable...I guess those three really knew the cuisine of their motherland! 

Workout Week

I confess, I have been a bit of a slacker lately. My workouts have been less frequent, less intense, and shorter than they were earlier in the year. I could chalk that up to about a hundred different reasons...work, studying, football season, doing things around the house, the weather changing, wanting to spend time with friends, I'm too tired, Breaking Bad episodes...and so on. They're the same old stories that I always heard when I was working as a personal trainer, but it all boils down to the same darn thing: excuses.

Now I know better than anyone that some excuses are very valid. And I also know that willpower has a lot to do with it. When I write out a workout for myself to do, I may doubt myself a dozen times and make bargains in my head. Maybe we can just do two rounds instead of three?...how about I do mountain climbers for 30 seconds instead of 45?...halfway into this workout already, I think it's okay to cool down now because it's been hard enough. But in the end it's only me who it's going to affect. And the more I allow myself to to this the more I'm going to make it okay.

Don't get me wrong...I have not fallen off the wagon completely. I just see myself slipping a little bit here and there and it's just time for a check-in.

So this week I have made it a goal and priority of mine to get back to my usual "hardcore" workouts each day. I feel confident that somewhere during each 24-hour period I can find one or two hours to get some cardio done.

So for today I'm posting the week's worth of workouts. I know it's only Wednesday, but part of the reason I'm posting beforehand is so that I can hold myself accountable to actually do it.

Monday:
Long run in the morning, 44 minutes.
Done and done. Great way to start the week!

Tuesday:
10 minute run at 8:30 pace
10 minute circuit-style workout (3 rounds)

• 10 push-ups
• 30 seconds high knees in place
• 20 crunches
• 10 burpees 

10 minute run at 8:30 pace or faster
Done. The runs were great but I was feeling it on the burpees. Really had to push through that last set!

Wednesday:

• Nike Training Club Workout: "Razor Sharp."

If you don't have this (free!) app, I would highly recommend that you get it for interval workouts.
To get to this 30-minute workout, go to the app's main screen and then press "Get Workout."
> Choose Goal: "Get Lean"
     > Choose Level: "Advanced"
          > Choose Workout: "Razor Sharp"
You'll need a few pieces of equipment for the workout (dumbbells, medicine ball, and a mat), but you can always improvise or go without. I, for one, do not own a medicine ball so I plan on either using a dumbbell or nothing at all for those exercises.

• 20 minute run at a moderate pace. 

This is the Godzilla of my weekly workouts. When will I do it? Probably around 6pm tonight, when I get home from work (but hopefully earlier), and that means I will probably make a late (9pm-ish) dinner. No, I don't enjoy eating dinner that late, but it happens from time to time and that's just life.

Thursday:
Long run in the morning, 50-60 minutes.
When? After the sun comes up but before it gets too hot outside. The plan would be to start the run between 6:45 and 7:00 am.

Friday:

• Yoga (45-60 min).

Now is a good time to share yet another one of my favorite workout resources: DoYogaWithMe.com. I've searched far and wide on the interwebs for free yoga videos and I have found many. However, this is the best I've found so far. Typically when looking for "yoga" online I've either found basic picture-tutorials or brief videos that skim over a small selection of yoga poses. Do Yoga With Me offers full classes that you can follow along and even choose your level of difficulty and class length. No yoga master myself, I typically opt for beginner or intermediate classes that are one hour or shorter. I've only done a handful but I've never been disappointed. And even sweeter - you don't have to pay a dime or even join with your email address. Finally, fitness the way it should be - free and accessible to all. I say "namaste" to that!

• Light to moderate-paced jog (20-30 minutes).

When? Ideally in the morning, as is ideal for workouts in general. It's not a work day for me, but that doesn't mean there's nothing else to do that day or evening. 

Spicy Breaded Chicken and Butternut Squash Pizza with Muenster Cheese

While everyone is going all pumpkin-crazy because fall is upon us (although I'm having a hard time noticing that because it's still around 90 degrees most days here in my corner of the world), I am all about the butternut.

Butter-what? Yes, butternut. Squash, that is. Don't get me wrong, I think pumpkins are great. Starbucks can make one hell of a melted ice cream drink using a little pumpkin flavoring. And you can make your own, lighter varieties of those drinks at home using some real pumpkins. Or you could use any other winter squash - one of which is butternut.

I could go on and on about how great this vegetable is...low in calories, jam-packed with vitamin A, tons of B6, and a respectable amount of potassium. With a little seasoning and a bake in the oven, it is just a delight to eat. Probably the most difficult part about cooking a butternut squash is cutting it open. Last week I baked one up until soft (about 50-60 minutes in the oven at 350), pureed about a cup of it, and incorporated it into some mac & cheese. Excellent choice, if I may say so myself - you could not even detect the squash and the mac was just so tasty, not to mention, secretly healthy.

If you don't believe me on the health of this stuff, check it out on World's Healthiest Foods, one of my favorite nutrition resources, thanks to my physician.

Even a medium or small-ish sized butternut squash gives you plenty to eat, so after making my mac & cheese I had a sizable amount of leftovers. And since I will never let a leftover go to waste, I just knew that a pizza was where some of these squash cubes were going to end up.

Ingredients:

• About 1 cup pizza sauce
• 1 cup butternut squash, cooked and cubed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt, pepper, seasonings, to taste
• 1 cup chicken breast pieces, baked and breaded
• 1-2 large eggs
• 1-2 tablespoons milk
• 3/4 cups breadcrumbs
• 2-4 tablespoons spicy seasoning blend
• 4-5 slices muenster cheese, cut into fourths

Directions for the prep:

• Preheat your oven to 350.
• For the butternut squash: Cut the butternut squash in half and place on a lightly oiled pan, cut-side up. Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil on each half and add any seasonings on there you like. I did garlic powder, salt and pepper, although a little bit of cayenne pepper goes very nicely on butternut. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the flesh of the squash is very tender. Cut into cubes when done.
• For the chicken: Prepare an egg wash mixture (1-2 eggs and 1-2 tablespoons of milk), and a breading mixture (3/4 cup breadcrumbs, 2-4 tablespoons your favorite seasoning blend. I'd recommend something with a little spice in it.). Coat the chicken pieces in the egg wash first, then in the breadcrumb mixture. (I used chicken breast tenderloins, but you can use regular chicken breasts or any other chicken parts.) Place on a lightly oiled pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through but not dried out. Cut into small pieces when done. 

 

Directions for the za:

• Place a pizza stone in the oven and turn the temperature to 500. 
• Roll out some dough for the pizza crust. I did a thin and crispy white/wheat blend of a crust, which was delicious, of course. 
• When the stone is hot enough, carefully take it out of the oven. Place it on your work surface and place the dough for the crust on top of that. 
• Evenly spread pizza sauce on the crust, and then add all toppings. I didn't do my toppings in any particular order this time - it was really just a mix of cheese, chicken, and squash. Yep, nothing better than a good random medley of toppings on a pizza inspired by fall, my third favorite season!
• Pop it back into the oven, bake it away for about 10 minutes (maybe only 8 or so if you did a thin crust like me), and then take it out to cool it and enjoy! 

I sprinkled just an angel's dusting of black pepper onto the finished pizza. But what I should have done was sprinkle a leprechaun's handful of red pepper flakes. The mild nutty sweetness of butternut squash can handle a little heat. And that is just what I intended to do with these leftovers. Now that is nutty.