The day after…

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Malin

The Jensen’s family arrived back home yesterday morning from Aruba and still they put together this awesome party and I will admit that I have been a little bit tired today.

We were 12 adults and 15 kids that was running around in the house and having the time of our lives! The food and the drinks were just fantastic and like I mentioned yesterday this was my day of sins. The dinner was still sort of low carb inspired with lamb, herring, salmon, meatballs and a lot of other yummy stuff but I made sure I was still sinning 😉 With a swedish crew everyone knows it’s not a real party without the “snaps” so Mr Jensen had bought a bottle of Aalborg Akvavit so with the “snaps” in our glasses we were singing until our throats were bleeding (not really).

So you have to understand I have been a little bit tired this Sunday yet it has still been one of the best Sundays in a very long time and I think it is because I think that spring is finally here! We sat outside on the deck drinking coffee, listen to music and just watching the kids jumping on the trampoline. Around one o’clock we walked over to the Jensen’s to pick up the car and it was actually nice to get some exercise on my rest day.

When we came back home we started to wrap up the ice rink and I guess this is the downside of having an ice rink in your backyard. We had to clean the liner from dirt and water with broom and after sweeping and scrubbing for an eternity my upper back was killing me and here I was thinking it was my rest day…haha!

My day of sins!

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Malin

I started this morning with taking Bindi for a final walk before she headed back home to Highland Park. It was a nice warm up for the legs that are not feeling as fresh as I would have wished for doing my first run outside after the winter. I ran 3.2 miles in 26.35, this is the fastest I ever have run outside but yet I wished for a time closer to 25 minutes. I do find it harder to pace myself outside, it is so much easier on the treadmill when you see the pace on the screen but at least I now have a bench mark to work from.

When I got home my day sins began. I had a quick shower and made the breakfast I had planned for weeks with a grilled cheese, mimosa, orange, strawberries, coffee and of course some Godiva Chocolate!

This evening we are meeting up with all our swedish friends and we will have a traditional easter dinner (as traditional as we can get it lol). So I am going off to the grocery store to pick some Sparkling wine, cheese and I will also make old fashion swedish herring…like a said this is my day of sins!

I’m a concrete kinda gal…

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Malin

Being born and raised with the nature around the corner and with a family that loved the forest and fishing, something went terrible wrong with me. I love my home town and the “High Coast” and think it is one of the most beautiful places. It is great to have a ski slope in the middle of town, you can hike and cross-country ski pretty much straight from the centre of town. The view over the bay with its amazing archipelago gives you the opportunity to travel into town in your sailboat or motorboat, yet I have to admit I am a concrete girl and I love Chicago!

Me and Freddie lived in London for five and some years and we are coming up to 5 years here in Chicago and every time I drive to downtown and see the skyline I just love it and it was no different today when we made it to Lincoln Park Zoo. We had a great time this first spring like day, the kids were getting their faces painted and it was just so nice seeing all the people who had come out of their hibernation and some even in skirts and flip-flops!(Not sure what they were thinking cos the breeze from the lake is far from warm)

This was a great way to get the spring started, let’s hope there will be more days like today!

Always look on the bright side of life…

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Malin

We call it the Jesus Christ Peck Stretch!

What a glorious morning it is today as I am sitting on my porch sipping a cup of coffee in the sun and watching the kids play on the driveway. But it for sure did not start this way as I was hitting the legs in the warehouse haaaard earlier this morning.

We started focusing on the hamstring doing curls in a pyramid fashion, starting at 45, 60, 75/45 pounds. This was followed by romanian deadlifts (30, 35 and 40 pounds) to finish it off with lunging to the end of the gym and sprinting back and forth. This was just the first circuit but after the third set my legs was screaming but I thought to myself that this is it, last workout before my chocolate day begins…lol

To be perfectly honest I was hoping that we would give the legs a short break but Jonathan had something else in mind as he said; “You can’t have a leg day without squats”. I like it when he is pushing me that little bit extra as he gave me two 25 pounds kettlebells and I was not only feeling it in my legs, my back and my core also needed to work and on the last set I was almost hitting failure as my as I started to crunch my back towards the end. When we had finished our 15 weighted squats we did 15 jumping squats and as soon we were done we did high knee off the big wheel and high jumps. The workout was a good mix between working heavy weights and cardio, just the way I like it!

Coming into the final 20 minutes we worked the hips and the core combined from the TRX. I think it is funny how the painting from yesterday made itself remembered because my shoulders were hurting from stabilizing during the exercises and we did not even touch them today!

Anyhow this was an awesome workout to kick off this easter holiday that I’ve been looking forward to for weeks. Monday morning I will be to my old routines and I will set up some knew goals that I would like to achieve before I go home to the motherland this summer!

Happy Easter to you all! Now me and the kids are going down to enjoy this day at the Lincoln Park Zoo !

DIY…I am totally exhausted!

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Malin

This morning I drove the to paint store to pick up some paint and ever since I have spent this beautiful day painting our media room in the basement. Freddie think that I sometimes go a little bit over the top when I get into things and painting is one of them. It just is so hard to find a good wall to stop at and the feeling when it is done is unbeatable, just like a great workout!

I was climbing up and down the ladder rolling the roller trying to squeeze out the paint on the walls and realized that I actually almost got a total body workout at the end of it. At six o’clock I rose for the basement and I had no clue what to make for dinner so I kindly passed it on to Freddie. He is not know for being a wizard in the kitchen so he went to Chipotle to pick up some chicken salads for us…The chicken week continues…haha

After dinner I could easily just have crashed in bed but I was set on doing some cardio. The thing was I was not in the mood of going over to the gym and it was already dark outside so running was also out of the question, instead I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and now I am so ready for bed!

When was the last time you had a guilt free flatbread?

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Malin

This is a flatbread that is both gluten-free, low-carb and if you want dairy-free…

I don’t normally eat dairy, it is not because I’m intolerant it is just a choice but lately I do have a pice of cheese once in a while and tonight was one of those evenings!

Pizza Dough

2 Egg

1/2 cup/1.25 dl Hazelnut flour

1 cup/1.5 dl Almond flour

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

2 tablespoon Psyllium Husk

1cup/1.25dl Water

1 teaspoon Salt

1 tablespoon Dried Basil

Tomato Sauce

1 can of Diced Tomatoes

1 tablespoon Tomato Paste

1/2 tablespoon Paprika Powder

1/2 tablespoon Garlic Powder

Fresh Chopped Tarragon

Salt and Pepper

Topping

1 pound of Ground Turkey

Taco Spice

Mushroom

Artichokes

Olives

Cheese (optional)

How to: This is more or less the same recipe as the tortilla bread but I kept the “bread” in the oven longer to make it more crisp. Mix all the ingredient in as bowl and let in swell for about 10 minutes before spreading in between two sheets of parchment paper (It is easy to make it thin this way). Place the “bread” in the over for 10 minutes at 300F/150C. Remove the top sheet of the parchment paper and put it back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until the bread is crispy. Let the bread cool off.

I cheated a when I made the tomato sauce because I left out the simmering part but yet it turned out just fine. Just mix the ingredients together and spread it over the flatbread. Add the topping and put the tray back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

I actually did not use all the bread because I saved it for later. So when other people might be enjoying their doughnut and the only thing you want to do is to steal it and eat it. It is very nice to have your own little healthy snack, and maybe add some coconut butter on top while sipping on that afternoon coffee.

Don’t be afraid of the muscles!

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Malin

Today I worked out with some of the girls from back in the days when I first met Jonathan over at Lifetime Fitness. It always happens on the brakes when everyone’s schedule is up in the air but I love to see them because they are so much fun to hang with. I thought we were going to work legs but like I mentioned with this week when Jonathan trying to accommodate everyone’s schedule we ended up focusing on upper body instead.

I think pretty much everyone has their favorite muscle to work and for some reason my shoulders are “OK strong” and I like to challenge myself with they weight. Toady was no different I started out with a 25 pound kettle bell as we had 4 movement circuit and I will admit that the last set when I was doing 30 pounds was bloody heavy but yet so fun…lol.

The next circuit we kept on working with the pulling/pushing and I started with the “Arnold shoulder press” (I have no ambition on going down that road). Even though the weight was not that heavy I think my shoulders already had done a fair bit of work. The point was to keep it light and do higher rep counts, then go heavier on the following two exercises and do less reps.

The first heavy movements were a barbell press and I got annoyed with myself when Jonathan had to take off weight. I don’t know what it was but my pecks really hurt from Monday and I only realized lying down on the bench, so maybe I was not prepared. The last set I went up again in weight and I guess it was pure will but at least I got my 12 reps in ;).

I’m not afraid of getting bulky because I think it takes a lot of work for a woman to achieve that and it is not my goal. But I really got scared today when I was on the “bench” for the priest curls and I looked myself in the mirror. All I could see was this big two shoulders between this little head of mine and all I can think is OMG this is soooo wrong, when did this happened?! I told Jonathan and he smiles at me and goes “What did you expect when you working the heavy weight on the shoulders? The thing was, sitting like that really made up a funny angle so the shoulders came into focus because as soon as I was standing up I looked like my old self again.

This is Ms A just saying Hi…

We finished the workout with some high intensity work, squat jumps, mountain climbers and some more shoulder work. Tomorrow I am starting to do some painting in our basement and I have a feeling it is going to be painful…

Easter Bunny or Easter Chicken, What’s your pick?

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Malin

We started this day with Knut’s skate practice at 6.50am and I had a plan that I would get over to the gym afterwards, normally I shoot over straight after I send the kids on the school bus. The thing is, this week I am not working with “time slots” so I never made it this morning. Instead Mira and I started to decorate for easter and before I knew it my good friend Elise was knocking on the door and we ended up hanging out for the afternoon.

Elise and I went to the World Market to buy a lot of swedish candy as I guess it is all about being prepared. The thing is that easter for me is associated with family, friends, food and candy so on Saturday I am all about the carbs and now I am ready, so bring on the Easter Bunny…haha!

For dinner this evening I made chicken again! I think this week is turning into a “chicken week” but hey why not, chicken is both tasty and healthy right?! After we finished me and the kids were watching The Voice before it was time for them to go to bed. I was so tempted to join them but instead I pulled myself together and conquered all my negative thoughts and sweated out an hour on the elliptical in front of the TV!

Marinated Chicken

4 Chicken Breast

2 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Lemon juice

1 tablespoon Soy Sauce (gluten-free)

1 tablespoon Tomato Paste

garlic powder

Chili Flakes

Salt and Pepper

Truffle Aioli (4-6 servings)

2 Egg Yolks

1 tablespoon Vinegar

1 minced Garlic Clove

1 Deciliter/less than 1/2 cup Canola Oil

Chili Flakes

Salt and Pepper

1 Tablespoon Truffle Oil

How to: Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade and cover the chicken with the marinade before placing it in the oven for about 20 minutes 350F/177C. To make it easy for myself I roasted vegetables and they were done at the same time as the chicken.

Aioli Start by separate the yolk from the egg white and mix in all the ingredients except the Canola Oil that will be added slowly while using a mixer. Taste the aioli to see if you need more garlic, truffle oil or salt.

(this post was never published yesterday by wordpress, annoying!)

Excuse me but I am gluten intolerant!

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Malin

Yesterday afternoon we went to Pinstripes to have some lunch and bowl with the kids. The lunch menu is very good if you want a salad or love to fill yourself up with carbs, but yesterday I was not in the mood for either. I decided to go for the spicy grilled chicken sandwich so when the waiter came up to the table I asked to have a substitute for the bread as I said I’m gluten intolerant. It’s so much easier than try to explain that I don’t want to eat carbs and it also spares me to watch when the thought goes through their mind “She’s a pain in the butt!”

When the server comes with my lunch plate it is this little thin pice of chicken with some lettuce and a very very small bowl of coleslaw and I knew straight away that it was not enough food. So when I got home I wanted to make something that was fast but yet tasty…A warm Chicken salad!

1 Grilled Chicken

2 Roasted Red Pepper & Garlic Chicken Sausage (Open Nature)

Roasted sweet potatoes

Roasted Broccoli

Spinach

Cucumber

Avocado

Cocktail Tomatoes

Red Onion

Red Wine Vinegar

Olive Oil

Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper

Nice to be back!

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Malin

So yesterday was the BIG day when Knut finally received the Team Banner for winning the Wolves Cup and he did so at Allstate Arena where the Chicago Wolves was playing a game versus Milwaukee. He skated out on the ice in intermission and we were screaming like the crazy and proud parents we are 😉

Being the “time-optimist” I am I did not make it over to the gym yesterday for my run as I had planned before we had to leave for the game. So I was very glad when Jonathan had created a mix between strength and cardio in a very interval inspired workout.

We started out doing 30 seconds rope straight into the rowing on the TRX and as soon as that was done we started to throw the 12 pound ball into the wall. This three exercise together really made the arms, shoulders and back work hard and the last exercise in this circuit was fast squats touching (sitting down on the wheel).

So far I was doing ok but the thing was today was our first day of spring break and none of us had to get out of bed to get ready for school and with a dog in our house that need to go for walk I did not have time to eat breakfast. So going into the second circuit still doing intervals I ran out of “juice” in the middle of my push-ups before throwing the big ropes hard to bring the up heart beat but that was not really the hardest part. It was pushing the wheel across the gym, my lower back is still very sore from the deadlift we did on friday and I had to focus on pushing the wheel to the end.

We finished off one last circuit with the medicine ball doing squat to push over head, chops and jumping jacks pushing the ball overhead. This was a great start to the week and I can not wait to run tomorrow over at Life Time Fitness!