Best Body Bootcamp

I'm so happy to have started Best Body Bootcamp again!  I've really missed it.  My biggest challenge is not having a treadmill.  We ended up leaving it in St. Louis, because there's not a great place for a workout room in this house.  So, I have put one of my bikes on a stand and I pedal away, yet going nowhere!!!

What do I love most about this program?  I can do it at home, at my own pace and not have to smell all those yucky guys who hang out and gyms!  I get enough of smelly guys with Chip and Zach here at my house, I don't need any more boy stink in my life!

I don't publicize my numbers, sorry to disappoint you!  I will let you know that my main goal is to just keep on track and challenge myself.  I'm happy to announce that aside from having a monster headache for two days, I completed the first day of exercises and easy cardio without a lot of trouble.  I tried to keep myself from bouncing due to the headache, but I'm hopeful it will improve by the end of the day.

On top of bootcamp I just completed a class on Coursera.  Have you checked it out yet?  It was wonderful, a bit time consuming, but very informative and FREE!  The class I completed was Nutrition, Health and Lifestyle: Issues and Insights.  They offer many classes in a wide variety of topics.  You should check it out!

And, I am also do a 30 day challenge to change my eating patterns and eat cleaner.  It's a bit of a challenge, but I am making small changes every day.  Just another thing I'm doing to keep myself healthy.

What are you up to?  What changes are you making to your exercise, diet and life?  I wish you luck in anything you are working on!

AZ Brewery Tours

Today I would like to wish my husband a very Happy 24th Anniversary!!  I love you!

What do you think of Zach's lovely art work?  

Last Sunday was my husband, Chip's, birthday.  We decided to book a fun afternoon with AZ Brewery Tours.

Not to be missed if you are a beer lover and are tired of the super big commercial breweries.  Coming from St. Louis, I truly appreciate the craft brew and frown upon the big guys.  The smaller breweries take such pride in their product and have a true love for what they do.  It's the complete opposite from what goes on with the "big" guys (you know who I'm talking about).

I booked the tour a couple of weeks ago.  I planned on a public tour, which means there would be about 9 others in our tour.  Well, on Saturday night, while sitting at the Diamondbacks game, I receive a call from John (the owner) letting me know we are the only ones booked for Sunday.  So, I asked Chip and he said yes, that was fine.  It ended up being a tour with just the three of us.

Since it ended up being a private tour, John picked us up at our house instead of in Tempe.  How awesome is that?  We climbed aboard the little shuttle bus (seats about 12) and headed to our first destination.

Now, let me tell you, we are not overly familiar with Phoenix/Arizona breweries other than the ones we have tried in a restaurant or from recommendations.  So this was completely new to us and a great experience.

Okay, North Mountain Brewery was our first stop.  They just opened about three months ago.  This place is awesome!!!!  The food was off the charts good, the beer was incredible and the owners were so accommodating and friendly.  We will be going back!  It's only about 20 minutes or so from our house!  We bought a growler of their Funk 49 (super yummy).  They also served us Belgium pretzels and lumpia.  Holy cow!  I could have sat there all day long!

Our flight of beers to sample.  Followed by a great tour of the brewery.

After tearing us away from North Mountain, John took us to OHSO.  Awesome place!

They have a bar for dogs, treats made just for dogs, bicycles converted into fans and a brunch that is amazing!  I just don't know what to share!  How about photos?  Yes,  photos will be perfect!

A place to do bike repairs and hydrate your dog

A wonderful patio area.  Can you see the bikes?  Yes, they are working fans!!!

Beer (of course)!

Zach's Biscuits and Beer Gravy - so delicious!

Final stop was Four Peaks on Wilson Tasting Room.  A huge flight of beer to sample, a great tour and a lot of fun.  They have one of our favorite beers Kilt Lifter.  Yep, that's really the name!  It's very good.  Another great place to hang out.  There are windows behind the bar that look out into the brewery.  They do not serve food, but do have food trucks that come by every so often.  We had a great tour of the brewery and a wonderful time just hanging out.

The Kilt Lifter Tank!

Now that's a flight of beer!

It was a wonderful afternoon spent celebrating Chip's birthday!  Please consider booking a tour with AZ Brewery Tours.  John is a wonderful guy and is truly passionate about beer.  He has great stories, information and recommendations!  We now have a couple of new places to go when we have guests (or maybe when we're just in need of good food and beer) in town!

Scallops

I am so, so sorry for being absent for so long.  With the passing of my cousin, traveling, mourning, Chip's birthday (a post on that very soon), getting back into the swing of things here and just living, well it's been a challenging week and a half.  But, I'm back!  I appreciate your patience and all your kind words.  It means so much to me, I cannot even begin to put it in words.

Saying Goodbye

This past week I had to do something I never thought would happen at this time in my life.  I had to fly to Indiana to say goodbye to my 27-year-old cousin.  He passed away in his home in Austin, TX on Monday.  It was one of the most difficult things my family has had to endure.

He is a fantastic young man who left us too soon.  He is missed so much and will be missed until each of us takes our last breath.  He was working to make great changes in the world .  He was a lover of sports, especially Cardinals baseball, Colts football and Pacers basketball.  He was so caring and compassionate.  He was a giver.  He was passionate about everything in his life.  He was a wonderful son, cousin, brother, and a new uncle.

I wish we hadn't lived so far from each other, that we had more time together, I wish for so many things.  My greatest wish is that all of us heal and realize how important each day is with our family.  We never know when it will be the last day or last conversation.

My advice to all of you:  may your final words every day to those you love be I LOVE YOU.

I hope to be back with recipes this week.

Quinoa Veggie Burgers

I love a challenge, especially when it comes to food!  We are all about eating meatless numerous times a week.  We have found since we eliminated beef from our diet we can't "stomach" it anymore.  Seriously!  It upsets out stomachs any time we eat it.  I suppose this is true of any food you choose to not eat and then it enters your system.  I am currently reading Wheat Belly and am extremely intrigued by the elimination of wheat in our diets.  I don't see that happening real soon, but I think we will embrace it later in the summer.  I will keep you posted on that, I promise.

Back to the task at hand.  I love a good veggie burger.  They are difficult to find.  They are too spicy, too bland, too dry, they crumble and the list goes on and on.  My biggest complaint is they are so darn small!  Well, that has changed!  These were delicious and so filling.  I served them on tortillas because I feel a traditional bun ruins the veggie burger, I'm not sure how to explain this to you, but I just feel like it gets lost in all that bread!

Cookie Butter Pecan Granola

Oh how I love to make granola!  I eat it by the handful, in my yogurt, or add it to a mix to take hiking.   When I came across this recipe I knew I had to give it a try.  Have you all had cookie butter?  It's like Biscoff spread, but it's from Trader Joe's.  So delicious!!!

Do you have a favorite granola?  Do you prefer store bought or homemade?  I make a batch of granola every month or so.  Yes, I like it that much!  Now I am going to get my bowl, fill it with yogurt and add some of this outstanding granola.  Have a great day!

Poblano, Mushroom and Sweet Potato Tacos

Good Morning!  I hope you're enjoying your short week.  Honestly, when you don't work (like me) it doesn't seem a lot different.  But, it was nice to have that extra weekend day to spend with Chip, even though he gets really confused when he has an extra day off!

My son is officially home for the summer!  He starts work next week, so I get to reconnect with him this week.  We actually took a hike together, it was weird how few people are on the trails in the middle of the week.  It was very peaceful and kind of nice.   We have also been to the movie (saw Gatsby - we highly recommend this film) and run a few errands.  We have a fun weekend planned.  We are taking a City Cycle tour/pub crawl on Saturday afternoon.  I will definitely tell you all about that next week!