Roasted Butternut Squash and Spinach Salad

Hey, hey, hey.

This morning I taught my 6am lovelies.

I wanted to teach something like this, but I’m pretty sure I would get fired.

So instead we focused on muscle strength.  Normally I do muscle endurance and/or muscle power intensive workouts, but I felt like changing things up a bit.  Pyramid style workout it was, adapted from this post with some slight changes.  We did three circuits of the following moves:

• Split Squats
• Dumbbell Bench Press
• Lateral Shoulder Raise
• Low Pulse Lunge
• Bent Over Dumbbell Row
• Alternating Bicep Curls

For the first set, we did 15 reps with a moderate sized weight.  Second set was 12 reps with a heavier weight.  Last set was 10 reps with an even heavier weight.  In between sets I busted out some “oldies but goodies” – cardio routines I used to do ALL the time.  Why did anyone even used to come to my classes?  I used to be so boring!

We finished up class with some tricep dips, and the same 5-4-3-2-1 Ab Challenge I did the other night.  When we were doing the leg lifts, I was counting down from 10 and accidentally skipped the number 8!  Who does that!?  Then I was laughing at myself as I was teaching, which made my abs burn more, but I couldn’t tell if anyone else actually thought it was funny.  I may have heard a snicker from Ashley and Jess to my left, but I couldn’t be certain.  Either way, how awkward.  Sorry, number 8!

Today’s eats were pretty standard, so I won’t bore you with the details, but I do want to share last night’s dinner recipe!

Roasted Butternut Squash & Spinach Salad

Recipe inspired by Two Peas and Their Pod

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/2 an onion, sliced — the original recipe called for red onion, I used a yellow one I had on hand
• 3 cloves garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1.5 cups whole wheat elbow pasta — the original recipe called for orzo
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries — I used raisins since I already had them
• A sprinkle of your favorite cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil.  Place butternut squash cubes, onion, and garlic cloves on prepared baking sheet.
3. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and gently toss.
4. Place in the oven and roast for about 40-45 minutes or until the squash is tender.  Make sure to stir the squash a couple of times while it’s cooking.
5. While the butternut squash is roasting, cook the pasta as directed on the box.  When done, drain and place in large bowl.
6. Once squash is done, add it along with the garlic and onions to the pasta bowl.  Stir in the chopped spinach (you don’t have to cook it!) along with the raisins and season to taste if needed.

The cheese part is optional, but I enjoyed dinner yesterday with a bit of feta and lunch today with some shredded mozzarella!

At first I didn’t think this salad would be anything special, but it was actually quite satisfying.  I loved the extra little flavor the raisins added to the mix.  Plus, it was super easy to make and perfect to throw into a Tupperware for an on the go meal.

What’s your favorite thing to eat as leftovers!?

Time for Wellcoaches class — can you believe we are already over halfway through the program!?  Then a few hours of R&R before faceplanting.  Gotta be up early again to sub for Spin in the am.  Have a fab night!

Humpity Hump Day

What’s shakin?

No, I’m not confused on what day it is.  Here’s a little wrap up of my Hump Day yesterday!

First of all, I worked from home.  I knew it would be a good day when I found out that both Triners and Slesh were both going to be telecommuting as well.

For breakfast, Trina & I made protein pancakes.  I whipped up a delish new banana recipe, inspired by Peanut Butter Fingers.

Banana Cinnamon Protein Pancakes

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 a banana, mashed
• 1/4 cup cottage cheese (you could also use yogurt if you’re the kind of person that gets grossed out by cottage cheese, even though I promise you can’t taste it!  Trina used Chobani apple cinnamon for her batch and said the apple flavor was so good).
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pumpkin pie spice

Directions

1. Spray pan with cooking spray, heat to medium heat.
2. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, mix well.
3. Pour batter onto the pan to form pancakes, allow to cook until pancakes turn golden brown, about three minutes.
4. Flip pancakes and allow to cook until batter is no longer runny, about two more minutes.
5. Top with your favorite toppings!

I topped with banana slices, pumpkin pie spice, and a dab of light syrup.

They tasted extra good with a medium iced hazelnut coffee with skim milk and one splenda from Dunks!

After a morning of work related things, my parents stopped by to say hello since they were in town for an appointment.  It was nice out so my mom and I walked to Brighton Center, and she treated me to a lunch at Cafenation.  My dad had to get back to work, so he couldn’t join us.

I ordered the Californian panini:

Turkey, brie cheese, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, and red onions with homemade avocado sauce — on multigrain, with a side of greens topped with homemade balsamic dressing.  Perfect lunch (I forgot how much I love brie!) and nice to catch up with Georgia.

<Insert more work related and around the apartment related things here>

For dinner (and lunch and probably dinner again today), I whipped up some of this:

A concoction of whole wheat elbows, butternut squash, spinach, raisins, and feta cheese.  I’ll probably post the recipe later today.

Finally, last night’s workout was a fun double sesh over at CBC!  Ashley and Liz both did a fantabulous job subbing for Erin and Andy.

Nice job, ladies!  I sweat so much that I didn’t even feel guilty munching on a couple of Stacy’s Garden Veggie Chips when I got home.

How was your Humpity Hump Day?  Anything fun happen?

Time to tackle today’s to do’s – there’s a lot of them!