Moving on, Spring has finally arrived in New York and we have been soaking it up. On Monday morning, I got an e-mail from my professor saying that class was canceled. It was like a first day of Spring miracle (even though it wasn’t actually the first day of Spring)! I texted Tommy and we made plans for a picnic and baseball at the piers. We grabbed takeout from our fav place, San Loco, and headed down to the piers. I got my usual Guaco Taco, a hard shell taco wrapped in a soft shell with guac in between. So good, if you’re a guac addict like myself.

The boys quickly ate and headed off to play ball. It is so fun to watch Munchkin and Tommy play together, and I think I can’t say he’s a baby anymore.

He looked like such a boy running around in the grass, catching and throwing the ball. I’m not sure when this happened. I’m pretty sure he just learned to walk, like five minutes ago. Since I still had my second class on Monday, we had to cut our game a bit short, but it was an amazing way to spend the afternoon.

On Tuesday, I got to spend the day outdoors, once again. I headed to Crossfit, while my guys headed to the park down the block from the box. Since we all have been having cabin fever cooped up in the box, we spent basically our whole WOD outdoors. We started out with tire flips and Continental bar deadlifts and finished off with burpees, kettlebell swings and sprints.

I’m still getting over a pretty yucky cold, so the WOD was extra challenging, but it felt so good to run around outside in the sun.

It also helped that I had my guys there cheering me on at the end – so motivating!

The temps are supposed to be dropping again today after last night’s thunderstorms, but it was great to get a little taste of summer. Then again, at this point, anything is better than snow!

How’s the weather in your area? Have you gotten a taste of summer yet?

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Enough complaining about the weather because I have something yummy to share! I was out of ideas as to what to make for dinner last night, until I went to the mailbox that is. I got the latest issue of Everyday with Rachel Ray and while flipping through the pages, I came across a recipe for Mexican chicken and I just happened to have basically everything I needed to make it.

Chicken breast topped with sliced tomatoes, red onions, jalapenos and cheese on a bed of arugula and avocado tossed with lime juice and olive oil. I didn’t really have high expectations for this dish, since the ingredients were so basic, but all the flavors came together perfectly!

Mexican Chicken

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute
• Olive oil, for drizzling
• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 tomatoes, thinly slices
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, sliced with seeds and ribs removed
• 1 cup of shredded cheese (I used mozzarella)
• 2 avocados
• juice of one lime
• 2 cups arugula

Preheat over to 450 degrees. Place chicken breasts into a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and rub with spices. Top each chicken breast with alternating slices of tomatoe and onion. Sprinkle jalapeno peppers on top and bake for 20 – 25 minutes. During last 5 minutes of baking, top each chicken breast with cheese.

Meanwhile in a large bowl, combine diced avocado and top with lime juice and salt and peppers. Allow the flavors to marinade for a few minuted before tossing in the arugula and drizzling in olive oil. Plate the arugula and avocado salad and top with a chicken breast. Dig in!

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I cooked up the quinoa the way I would make my regular oats. Two parts milk to one part quinoa. I added in cinnamon, apple and dried blueberries to make an incredible breakfast. The only down side is that this takes a bit of time to cook, and isn’t weekday friendly.

Luckily, this Veggie Tofu Scramble is very weekday friendly and this is why I’ve been enjoying it every morning this week.

Spinach, green peppers, tomatoes, tofu with a bit of sriracha and garlic salt scrambled together on a hot, hot skillet. If this doesn’t make you smile for the rest of the day, I don’t know what will.

Oh wait, yes I do! How about some Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna.

Just looking at these pictures makes me want to reach through the screen and grab it. It was incredible!

But what’s a good dinner without a good drink, right? We picked up this lemon juice beer from the Beer Boutique, a new beer store that opened recently in Brooklyn.

White Aphro is a Belgian style Wit Ale made with lemon peel, ginger & lavender and tasted amazing.

The Beer Boutique has this crazy contraption in which they can put on-tap beer into plastic bottles that will keep for up to 6 weeks. The machine first fills the bottle with CO2 so that the beer stays carbonated and it shakes it while pouring it into the bottle. According there are only 5 machines like this in the world!

And no day is complete without dessert. Be it healthy like the watermelon I enjoyed on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

..or indulgent like the Coldstone Ice Cream Munchkin and I shared yesterday.

And since calorie-less ice cream is yet to be invented, I turn to fitness to keep myself in check!

My favorite way to burn calories is through running. If you would’ve told me two years ago that I’d be running a 10k in a few months, I would’ve laughed in your face. Until a few months ago, the extent of my running experience consisted of being a sprinter on my high school track team. Those long legs came in handy!

When I first started running for distance, it was an incredibly difficult transition for me. I started out way too fast, burned out way too quickly and ended up walking home disappointed and discouraged. I believe that this is why I wasn’t successful in my running last year and never got to race.

This year, something just clicked. I stopped running on the track which made me feel like a hamster in a wheel and I just took it at my own pace and had a good time with it. I listen to music and dance along with it while I run run on the street. I set mini-goals for myself like I want to get to the park and get a drink at the water fountain before turning around to go home. Lemme tell you, getting to said park is now a breeze, but it felt nearly impossible when I was starting out.

I am planning on running three races this year. Two of them are more for fun and one is my ‘serious’ race. I am doing the NYC Color Run on August 25th (keep an eye out on the Fitfluential blog for my recap!), the Down and Dirty Mud Run 5k and the Rock and Roll Brooklyn 10k in October. Since these are my first races ever, I’m going in with a goal of just finishing. Once I see how I do in these, I think I will be able to step up the training and work on speed, but for now I’m happy being the tortise in the race. Slow and steady wins anyway, right?

So long story short…I love to run!

What’s the best thing you ate this week? What’s you favorite way to burn off those eats?

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…and then I dropped it on the floor taking it out of the oven. Lesson of the day: always put the oven glove on all the way!

Luckily, I was able to salvage most of it and got two dinners out of it.

Oh yea, it’s a Mexican lasagna. A vegetarian Mexican lasagna…with tofu. Bet you didn’t see that one coming!

Veggie Mexican Lasagna (inspired by Peas & Crayons)

• 4 whole wheat tortillas
• 1/2 can re-fried beans
• 1 15 oz can black beans
• 1 orange pepper, diced
• 8 oz firm tofu
• 1 jar salsa
• 1/2 diced jalapeno
• 1 cup Mexican blend cheese

Dice tofu into cubes and sautee in a large skillet with pepper, jalapeno and salsa until tofu is scrambled.  Spoon salsa into the bottom of an oven safe baking dish. Spread re-fired beans onto one side of the tortilla and place into the baking dish. Layer tofu scramble, black beans, cheese and salsa before topping with the next tortilla. Repeat until all the tortillas are layered and top with extra cheese and black beans before placing into a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Carefully remove it from the oven and let stand for a few minutes before digging in.

Check out that layer action…yum!

Enjoy!

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Munchkin and I slept in until almost 10 and it felt sooo good to get enough sleep. I’ve been staying up pretty late to study and the alarm always seems to ring too early in the mornings. After making Munchkin a quick breakfast, I headed out for a run. I decided to take my old running route for a change of scenery and I think I know why I had a difficult time getting into running last year. I used to run in circles around the park and it kind of sucked. I kind of felt like a hamster on a wheel, no change in scenery and I kept passing the same people who were going the opposite way. Towards the end I felt like I needed to say hello to them because we had seen each other so many times. To add to the awkwardness, I wore crop yoga pants to run in and they kept sliding off my butt, but I got through it.

Needless to say, I think I’ll be sticking to taking the scenic route from now on… and buying more leggings.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I wanted to strengthen my core and challenged myself to plank everyday. Looks like I’m not the only one! Steph from Steph’s Bite by Bite started the #PlankProof challenge, so every Wednesday, be sure to show off your planks and tweet with hashtag #PlankProof. So far, so good for me with the planks. My endurance is increasing slowly, but surely.

I was really glad that I got my workout in earlier in the day, because I had a big, fat Greek wedding Mexican dinner. After Tommy got home from work, we had to go to the mall to switch out my cable box because it just stopped working, in the middle of the Lion King, no less. Since it took us a while to get out of there, we were starving by the time our dinnertime rolled around. We went to one of our go-to places, the kind of place where everything on the menu is good, Pop Diner.

I love their Muchos Nachos, so we started with them..and that’s probably where we should have stopped because they were super filling.

I had still ordered a Mexican Salad for my entree which was delicious, but I was stuffed! The salad consisted of lettuce, tomatoes, corn, black beans, shredded cheese, pico de gallo and grilled chicken while I topped off with a bit of guac. I loved the look of the tortilla bowl, but I didn’t even have room to try it.

I also decided that I need to recreate this salad combo at home on a regular basis because it was really good! I just wish I had saved more room for it!

Before I finish this post I just want to say..Go Rangers! Tommy and I actually hit up Crumbs last night to see if we could find this cupcake, but no luck, they were all sold out!

Have a great Saturday!

How long can you hold a plank for? What’s your favorite salad combo? Are you a hockey fan?

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When we got to Mojave, we were told there was a 20 minute wait, so we waited and the bar and got a drink. I started the night off with a Blood Orange Margarita. Holy moly, it was good!

Soon after, the hostess called out our names and we got seated at a nice table in the front of the restaurant. Since it was Cinco de Mayo, there was a Mexican band playing so we got to boogie during our meal.

Mojave had a special Cinco de Mayo menu and we started out with some Queso Fundido.

The dip had real pieces of crab meat in it and was amazing!

For my entree, I ordered the Salmon Relleno.

I also got another drink to enjoy with dinner – a Sangrita! A frozen margarita flavored with Mojave’s special Sangria. Can you say yum!?

Overall, we had a great Cinco de Mayo! The food and drinks were delicious and Munchkin had a great time dancing, clapping for the band and playing mixologist with his two cups of water.

What did you do this weekend? Did you do anything to celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

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After the park, Munchkin was ready to nap and I got to do some homework, which was oh-so-exciting.  After school, Tommy met me at the subway and we went to get some Mexican for dinner.  We have both been craving Mexican for weeks and have been looking for a good place to go in our area.  We went to a place called San Loco in Williamburg and the food was pretty good. As we were walking up, I told Tommy that we used to hit up this place after a long night on the town in college. The place is open all night long and they also serve alcohol, in case you don’t get enough at all the surrounding bars.

We both got Burrito Grandes which had chipotle chicken, rice, beans, cheese, pico de gallo, onions, sauce and sour cream in a flour tortilla.  They have hot sauces in four levels of spiciness, with the hottest being called stupid.  We opted for just the hot one. The burrito was your basic burrito, but I really liked it.  They use refried beans which are my absolute fav in burritos.

We also shared a side of Macho Nachos that were topped with chili, guacamole, pico de gallo, cheese, jalapenos and sour cream. These were good, but the way they were served, left some naked chips on the bottom and there is nothing worse than naked chips. The chilli was also lacking some spice.  We both agreed that the actual chips were better than other nachos, but the topping were a bit lacking.

We still have a few other Mexican places we want to try, but overall San Loco was pretty good and since it’s only three blocks from my subway stop, I might be making pit stops there occasionally.

Continuing with my Thankful November list, D is for dishwasher.  Now I know this seems like a really silly thing to be thankful for and so many people go without one, but our broke over the summer and it really sucked having to constantly hand wash all the dishes. I especially loathed washing all of Munchkin’s cups that have tons of little parts which have to be cleaned thoroughly.

Munchkin and I are going to run to the supermarket because I have a plethora of squash in my kitchen and I want to put them to good use for tonight’s dinner.

If you like Mexican, what’s you favorite dish?

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