Cookie Time

Moving closer to the weekend! How is everyone's Thursday going so far?

Yesterday, while trying to unsuccessfully upload some pics from my iPhone to my laptop, an error message popped up. My laptop then proceeded to tell me that a catastrophic error occurred!! Well laptop, I don't think not uploading a picture of chicken is a catastrophic event hahaha. So strange. Has anyone got this error message or is it just me?!?

The weather here has been just so bleh. Now don't get me wrong, it it is warm around 60 degrees, but so muggy & foggy. In case anyone is wondering, April type weather and my hair are not friends. I spent half the morning trying to straighten the frizz. 

So, after teasing you guys with these on Sunday, I figured I'd better get around to posting the recipe in case anyone wants to try them out over the weekend. 

Oatmeal Raisin Choc. Chip Cookies

2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinniamon
2 cups of quick or old fashioned oats   
1 cup of raisins
1 cup of chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and mix well. Stir in oats; stir in raisins.

 I used these oats

  
The cookies came out with lots of oats, so maybe next time I would use 1 1/2 cup of oats instead. And I didn't measure out the raisins or chocolate chips, I just threw a bunch in til it looked right. For me, no cookie is complete with some choc. chips in it. The more the merrier.

Some may have found their way into my hand, don't know how that happened ;)

 

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes for chewy cookies, 10-11 minutes for crisp cookies.  Yields about 2 and 1/2 dozen.

  
You can see from the pic above, cookies do not last long in this house. Somebody snatched four of them before I could even snap a picture.

So excited for the return of Person of Interest tonight. My Thursday nights are just not complete without it.

 
Tell me friends, what is your favorite cookie? A classic choc. chip is my ultimate favorite.

Do you like soft/chewy or hard/crunchy?  <3333 soft/chewy

**BTW, the about me page has been updated** 



 

Wed. Eats

Let's join in the fun and do some What I Ate Wed.

8:00am
Breakfast
Breakfast cookie & 2 hard boiled eggs. (I skip the yolk)

11:00am
Post Workout 
Peanut Butter Choc. Oat Shake

1:30pm 
Lunch
Turkey wrap with hummus and spinach lettuce

  
I dipped it in some of this deliciousness

For fat free dressing, it has some pretty good nutritional stats. Sometimes the fat free ones can be loaded up on extra sugar. 

On the side, I had a new to me snack. A warmed apple with cinnamon on top. Love anything apple related, so I don't know why I never thought of this. Heated it up for 30 seconds & viola !

6pm 
For dinner, I went with leftover snap peas, baked chicken, and a potato with salsa.

The salsa surprised me yesterday, it ended up being a good combo. All of you guys that know me, know I prefer bland, non-spicy food. I made it about half way through the potato and saved the rest for tomorrow.

9pm
Vanilla greek yogurt for some extra protein. If I don't eat before bed, I wake up starving the next morning. 

This is what a typical day of eats looks like for me. I tend to eat pretty much the same foods for breakfast/lunch and just switch up dinner. As you can see, I try to eat every four hours and aim for about 5 meals a day. If I go more than four hours without eating, I am not a happy camper haha.

Tell me friends, what is your go to after dinner snack? Mine is greek yogurt, easy & convenient.

Typically do you stick with the same breakfast or like to switch it up? I like to switch up my breakfast on the weekend, but during the week it usually stays the same.

Jello Legs

Good morning!
Lots of squats, walking lunges, and leg extensions over here yesterday. Woah. Hello jello legs!

After my workout yesterday, I needed to fuel up since I was starved. I went with one of my favorite shake combinations:

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Oat Shake
 

For oats, my favorite is Bob's Red Mill brand. They can be a little pricey at $6.99 a bag, but worth it. I can't take any chances getting glutened from regular oats.

 Recipe:
1/2 cup of oats
1 tablespoon of peanut butter
1/2 scoop of whey protein powder
1/2 cup of liquid egg whites
And blend!

It looks gross, but tastes so good! In the pic above, it shows whey & soy protein. Usually I always use whey, but ran out & Stop and Shop only had whey and soy. For me, the soy makes the shake a little too chunky. 

What is your favorite shake combo or your go to post-workout snack?


While wobbling around at work last night, I put together a quick meal

After my pizza indulged weekend, my stomach was missing some green veggies. Some baked chicken with roasted cauliflower and snap peas for the win. #weekend detox

I'm off to school and work. Hopefully catch up on some really important reading on my break ;)

 Hope everyone has a good Tuesday. See you guys tomorrow !

Meals for the Week

Happy Monday guys!

To recap the weekend fun. Some of you guys asked me what type of goodies I baked up. They were for a family friend's birthday & will be posting the recipe later on in the week.

Also, nothing like running into your personal trainer at the food store when you have a ton of chocolate in your cart! Yep, true story. Although it is not all for me ! I'm baking up some goodies for valentine's day for some gifts :)

Then I watched this movie:

I totally thought this movie was about an ex porn start trying to turn her life around, but it is not. So I spent half the movie confused haha.

Some Meals Ideas:

Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps (Cooked this 2 weeks ago with the boyfriend && was a huge hit!)

Ham and Brown Rice Casserole (Substituting pork for the ham. Not a huge fan of ham. I think it's due to the slimy texture)

Meatless Buffalo Wings with Ranch Dip With Grilled Chicken
(Perfect app. for a Superbowl party & vegetarian friendly!)

Chicken Chili with Lime (Never tried chili with lime! This will be a first)

Take out prob Friday

Eggs for dinner <---(Always a winner)

My Workout Plan:

Monday - quads & abs... hate leg day :( does anyone love it?!?
It's good to get it over with at the beg. of the week

Tuesday- steady cardio on the treadmill

Wed- shoulders & hamstrings, maybe spin

Thurs-  chest & back and HIIT treadmill workout

Fri- yoga

Sat & Sun- rest uppp! 

Has anyone ever tried partner yoga? After practicing yoga almost daily 3 years ago and experimenting with all different styles, partner yoga is one thing I've never done. It seems very hard to find a studio that offers it, but an awesome yoga class is definitely worth a far drive.

Amazing if any of you out there can do this! I am the least flexible person.
Does anyone have any recommendations on partner yoga DVD's?  Might have to resort practicing it in my living room if no studios offer it.

Pics from the Weekend

No More Chinese, but Will Take More Snow

Hope the weekend is treating you all well! 
Yesterday was a long day so I spent the night in relaxing with the puppy

    
As you can see Wishbone was also clearly enjoying the night in since she is rarely allowed to go on the furniture. But since she is recovering from her emergency vet trip on Monday, rules aside. To all the people who have asked me how she is doing, much better! No more chinese dumplings dunked in soy sauce for her! Only milk bones :)

Some recent eats yesterday:

An oldie, but a goodie. Fitnessista's breakfast cookie and 2 hard boiled eggs. Good for when you are in a rush.

All day I was hoping for school to get cancelled because of the half inch snow we received. Hey, a girl can wish right? You can never be too old to wish for a snow day ;)

  
Friday night ended with catching up on some episodes of Say Yes to the Dress with mom. It seems fun to be a wedding planner without all the stress, hard demanding clients, and basically every else that comes with the job. Just planning the wedding and all the details to make people happy seems fun.

We'll see where Saturday takes me. Have a couple of errands to finish up!

xoxo

-Ashley 
 

Thanks for Friday

Hey friends ! Isn't everyone glad it's the weekend? I know I am over here.

Top things I am thankful for this week:

Next up I'm thankful for a late Christmas present from one of the clients at work. How does she know exactly what I will love?! BTW for all you Starbucks lovers out there, I had no idea if you bring in your reusable cup you get 10 cents off....Saves paper && money, can't beat that!

 

Also thankful for my new school supplies. I usually pick the cheap cardboard 25 cent folder, but decided to spring for the pretty plastic $2 one. You can't tell from the picture but the mechanical pencils are super bright and metallic. Good thing to keep me awake during my long math classes :)

 

A cheetah sweater to brighten up the week since it is freezing here in NY. I don't even know how I am going to last outside when I take a trip to Lake Placid soon. The high the other day was -2, the high! AHHHHH. Anyone have any recommendations about which clothing brands have the best leg or hand warmers? It is going to be freeeeeezing.

 

Last I'm thankful for my gym bag. Separate compartment to keep my clean clothes & smelly sneakers separate. Finally! Thanks Reebok for inventing this ;)

Back to last night, never got my workout in, my trainer ended up having to reschedule for tonight. I'm off to work today, then school for a little, and finally ending the day with some weights at the gym. I acutally had to write a post it note so I don't forget to go to class haha. Not used to having class on Fridays. 


So friends, what is making you happy this week? Any fun plans for the weekend?

Back to School

Hey guys! Welcome to Life and Fitness by Ashley. This will be a way for me to spread my love of all things fitness related, cooking mis-haps (because well frankly they happen alot!), cute dog pictures (who doesn't love puppies?!?), and my daily adventures of being happy and healthy.

So for today, back to school after enjoying a nice month off of watching reruns of Teen Mom 2. <---- One of my guilty pleasures and eating waffles for lunch.

Everything was going smoothly until....

I was sitting in the wrong class,

 yeeppppp that happened.

Ok I didn't see any dogs in weiner costumes, but that is how embarrassed I felt if I was a dog in a weiner costume.
 Luckily, I pulled it off and starting laughing. When in doubt laugh it off, I guess?

Anyway after that first day of school fail, hoping to get in a nice chest and back workout in tonight.

And then new episode of big bang theory!! Love Sheldon <33 He knows exactly how to be the most genius, perfect geek out there. So I'm off, leaving you to enjoy some big bang theory bloopers
 

 
 See you guys tomorrow with some food pictures!!