Topped off the weekend with burgers, dogs, a few beers, tastes of spiked Arnold Palmer…and spodee.

Plus a side of beautifully steamy Philly sunset and great tunes on the roofdeck.

M: rest

T: weights – upper

W: 3.03 mile run (26:38 min, 8:47 min/mi)

Th: weights – lower + 45 mins spinning

1) Squat

• 15 x bodyweight
• 12 x 40 lbs
• 12 x 60 lbs
• 10 x 80 lbs
• 10 x 90 lbs
• 10 x 100 lbs
• 5 x 110 lbs
• 5 x 110 lbs
• 2 x 120 lbs

2) Romanian deadlift

• 12 x 35 lb dumbbells (70 lb) x 4 sets

F: weights – upper + abs

S: active rest – walking & biking at beach

Su: 4.75 mi run (41:08 min, 8:39 min/mi)

PRODUCE
Mint: John and Rachel Glick, Quarryville, PA
Romaine Lettuce: Sunny Harvest Co-op, Kirkwood, PA
English Peas: West Farms, Milford, DE
Strawberries (Low Spray): Fifer Orchards, Camden-Wyoming, DE
Spring Onions: Sunny Harvest Co-op, Kirkwood, PA
Red Radishes: Sunny Harvest Co-op, Kirkwood, PA
Organic Red Russian Kale: Landisdale Farm, Jonestown, PA
Asparagus: Fifer Orchards, Camden-Wyoming, DE
Red Ace Beets: Sunny Harvest Co-op, Kirkwood, PA

CHEESE
Buttercup Brie: Cherry Grove Farm, Lawrenceville, NJ

DAIRY/PROTEIN
Dozen Cage-Free Eggs: Sandy Ridge Farm, Elizabethtown, PA

Baked Penne Bolognese

Ingredients:

• 1 lb penne pasta
• 1 jar marinara or other red sauce (use one without additives or make your own)
• 2-3 cups bolognese (I used Lidia Bastianich’s Long Cooking Bolognese Ricetta Antica With Milk – I make a big batch of this and freeze a couple containers for baked penne, lasagna, etc.)
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 8 oz full-fat mozzarella cheese (buy a block, not shredded)
• ¼ – ½ cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
• Ground pepper, to taste
• Olive oil spray

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F
2. In a boiling pot of salted water, cook penne until slightly harder than al dente.  Drain and rinse with hot, then cold water and set aside.
3. Cube mozzarella into ¼ inch cubes and mix with ricotta and ground pepper.
4. Coat a 9×13 inch glass baking dish with olive oil spray, then layer sauce, pasta, bolognese, mozzarella/ricotta and an even sprinkle of parmesan.  I do about 2 layers of this then end with a layer of pasta with sauce and parmesan.
5. Bake, covered, 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 20 minutes if you like a crispy top!

T: weights – lower

1) Squat

• 10 x 40 lbs
• 10 x 60 lbs
• 10 x 80 lbs
• 10 x 90 lbs
• 5 x 110 lbs
• 6 x 110 lbs

2) Deadlift

• 10 x 40
• 10 x 60
• 10 x 80
• 10 x 90

3) Single-leg deadlift w/25 lb dumbbell

• 10 (per leg) x 4 sets

W: rest

Th: weights – lower

Warmup: sled push (high grip out, low grip back) 3 x 90 lbs + sled

1) 5 rounds of superset:

• a) sled push (high grip out, low grip back) 180 lbs + sled
• b) 12 squats holding 25 lb plate

2) Russian (straight-leg) deadlifts

• 8 x 35 lb dummbbells (2) x 3 sets
• 8 x 40 lb dumbbells (2) x 1 set

F: rest

S: 4.16 mile run (36:39 min, 8:49 min/mile)

Su: Pinnacle hike (~8 miles, 4.5 hours)

Here are a few photos from my Pinnacle Rock hike yesterday.  It was a gorgeous day at 80 degrees and sunny and I highly recommend this for a weekend outing.  Much of the white/blue trail is shaded which was a huge relief for us, but there were lots of bugs.  Thank god for sunglasses  blocking them from buzzing into my contact lenses!  My knee held up well and soreness/stiffness level is only at about a 2 today.

This is at pulpit rock, the first vista along the white trail.

And this is pinnacle rock at the very top – all part of the Appalachian Trail.

Stella was scared shitless of the big sections of rock but was a trooper!  There were a few sections like this along the path, but nothing the two pups couldn’t handle (Stella is a lab and Ame’s pup is a lab mix but little dogs would have a rough time).  I let her off the leash for most of the trip, but good thing she was leashed at the end because we crossed paths with a porcupine!  I had never seen one in the wild before…

Stella was so tired today that she could barely muster up the motivation to get out of bed for her morning walk and breakfast.

My mountain man look:

It was great to get out and do something new in the fresh country air.

I have been dabbling with this brand of bcaa’s that a friend gave me.  This may be somewhat of a placebo effect, but I notice a small improvement in my level of soreness the day after weight workouts when I drink the disgusting stuff.  It is sickeningly sweet.  I do like it because it dissolves well.

M: rest

T: weights – lower + abs

W: weights – upper (do a./b. exercises as superset)

1. smith machine bent-over row

70 lb x 12 x 4 sets

2a. smith machine bench press

70 lb x 12 x 4 sets

2b. standing straight-arm lift w/dumbbells

I have no idea what the technical term for this exercise is but you basically go from arms down in front of your legs(palms facing out), shrug straight up and bring dumbbells together in front of you and flex your chest…yay for perky boobs)

8 lb dumbbells x 12 x 4 sets

3a. pullups w/resistance band assist

12 x 3 sets

3b. face pull

50 lb x 12 x 3 sets

4a. seated skull crushers

30 lb barbell x 12 x 3

4b. seated dumbbell bicep curl

15 lb dumbbells x 12 x 3 sets

5a. seated high cable curls

10 lb plate x 12 x 3 sets

5b. cable triceps kickbacks

10 lb plate x 12 (per side) x 3 sets

6. hanging knee raises

10 x 3 sets

Th: 2 mile run, no time

F: rest

Sa: 4 rounds of the following:

1. sprint 200m
2. 25 squats
3. 25 push-ups (did these on my  knees)
4. 25 squat jumps
5. 10 triceps dips
6. 25 situps

Su: 3.07 mile run (28:49 min, 9:23 min/mile)

I was at the beach this past weekend and ate a bunch of junk (for me) food (e.g. wine, pizza, pasta, custard…yum) so I’m trying to eat clean this week.  My favorite ‘clean’ weeknight meal is almond meal-crusted tilapia.  I post this constantly on instagram so you guys are probably sick of seeing it.  Too bad.  It’s delicious so here it is yet again…I realized I never actually posted the recipe.

I buy the individually shrink-wrapped & frozen filets and defrost them the day before needed.  Rinse, pat dry, and roll in trader joe’s almond meal.  Pan fry on medium-high heat in a non-stick pan with about a teaspoon of olive oil.  Flip once.  That’s it…they literally take 10 minutes start-to-plate.

Filed under: ACL, Anything and Everything, Fitness, Recipes, Restaurant Reviews, tour guide tuesday, weekly fitness update, weekly workouts Tagged: almond meal, tilapia ]]> http://kristastes.com/2012/05/16/fitness-5-7-5-13-and-something-fishy/feed/ 1 kristastes tilapia http://kristastes.com/2012/05/09/clams-and-linguine-in-20-mins-or-less/ http://kristastes.com/2012/05/09/clams-and-linguine-in-20-mins-or-less/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 18:17:21 +0000 kristastes http://kristastes.com/?p=7368 ]]> When I was 3, I was sucking down cherrystone clams like a boss (ask my mom).  Yea, I was a little weird then and that hasn’t changed.  Neither has my love of shellfish!

This recipe takes about 20 minutes start-to-finish.  Serve with a green salad and crusty bread to soak up every last bit of juice.

Clams and Linguine (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-6.5 oz. cans cherrystone clams (roughly chopped) + the juice (I use trader joe’s brand, $1.99/can)
• Large handful Italian parsley, chopped
• Salt + pepper, to taste
• 4-5 servings whole-grain spaghetti
• Grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Boil a pot of salted water and begin cooking pasta when you begin step 2.
2. In a large sauté pan, heat butter and olive oil on medium heat for 2 minutes.
3. When butter begins to melt, add garlic and simmer in fats for about 2 minutes.
4. Add chopped clams, half the chopped parsley, sea salt and black pepper.  Simmer 2 minutes, and then add clam juice plus the rest of the parsley.  Heat everything about 3 minutes just before serving over pasta.  Top with grated parmesan cheese.

1. deadlift – 40lb x 15, 60 x 10, 80 x 10, 100 x 6
2. back squat – 40lb x 15, 60 x 12, 80 x 10, 100 x 4, 110 x 4
3. (superset w/bench) bulgarian split squat – 15lb x 10 per leg x 3 set
4. (superset w/split squat) barbell bench – 40lb x 15, 50 x 12, 60 x 10, 70 x 1, 70 x 3
5. single-leg wall (swiss ball behind back) squat – 10 per leg x 3 sets
6. goblet cross-behind lunge – 12 per leg x 3 sets
7. speed squat w/isometric hold – 15 reps x 15 sec hold x 3 sets

S: rest
Su: weights – upper + abs

4 sets of each superset:

1. a. 100 jump rope / b. db bench press 20lb x 12 / c. db bent-over row 20lb x 12
2. a. 15 squat jumps / b. db shoulder press 15lb x 12 / c. lat pulldown 60lb x 12
3. a. 20 switch lunges / b. barbell bicep curls 30lb x 15 / c. bench dips x 12
4. a. preacher curls 25lb x 12 / b. resistance band triceps extension x 15
5. a. band reverse fly / b. assisted pullups 110lb x 8
6. a. cable kneeling crunch 100lb x 25 / b. hanging knee raises x 10 / c. russian twists w/10 lb med ball 10lb x 40

On Friday, a big group of us met up at Silk City to hang in the beer garden and celebrate [Master] Millie’s completion of her graduate program (yay!!).  Even though it began to thunderstorm at one point, we stuck it out and were perfectly dry under the tikki bar.  Everyone else evacuated.  Pshhhhh, wussies :) Just kidding…I would have, too.

We eventually went inside to work our dance moves, then over to 700 club which has the most bizarre dance floor.  Imagine dancing in the furniture section of goodwill, complete with dj booth…is that a good descrip, philly people?

Saturday was filled with roofdeck cinco festivities – pulled pork tacos, jalapeno margaritas, mexican hot chocolate brownies (genius!), a banjo/mandolin/guitar jam sesh.

I had a bunch of pico de gallo leftover from making it for the party on Saturday, so last night I used it up on chipotlesque salad bowls!

I rubbed a couple of chicken breasts with cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne and salt, seared them well in olive oil on both sides then finished them in the toaster oven at 400°F for about 20 minutes.  Chopped them up on a bed of romaine and topped everything with pico, guacamole, pinto beans heated with chicken broth and same spices as chicken (+ oregano), shredded cheese, homemade lime-cilantro rice (leftover brown rice heated with 2 cubes dorot frozen cilantro + lime juice), greek yogurt, and homemade cilantro dressing (olive oil, lime juice, red wine vinegar, honey, 4 dorot frozen cilantro cubes, salt, pepper – blended in the ninja).  I am really loving those cilantro cubes!!  I have to stock up next time I’m at Trader Joe’s.

1)    Dumbbell bench press

• 20lb x 15 x 2 sets
• 25lb x 10 x 2 sets

2)   (Superset) 12 per exercise x 3 sets

• a)    Straight-arm cable pull 30lb/20lb (I  can’t find this anywhere online boo)
• b)    Reverse cable crossover 10lb per side

3)    (Superset) 12 per exercise x 4 sets

• a)    Cable crossover 20lb per side
• b)    Pull-ups w/resistance band assist (2 short, 2 wide grip sets)

4)    Assisted Pull-up to failure 100lb assist

5)    Resistance band reverse fly 12 x 3 sets

6)   (Superset) 12 per exercise x 3 sets

• a)    Lever preacher curls (plate loaded) 25lb/30lb/35lb
• b)    Triceps extension with resistance band

7)    (Superset) 12 per exercise x 3 sets

• a)    Weighted/bodyweight bench dips 10lb plate
• b)    Bicep curls with resistance band

8)    (Superset) x 3 sets

• a)    Cable kneeling crunch 90lb/100lb x 25
• b)    Hanging knee raises x 12

Broad street is this weekend…I jealous of everyone running!  I will just stare at my BSR photos from last year in the meantime.

Good luck friends!! :)