So a few weeks back my husband sent me this recipe to try out and I immediately got very excited and couldn't wait! It immediately went on the list of that weeks dinner!

I have adapted this recipe directly from Suzy over at The Mediterranean Dish

This recipe is in no way my own and for her original recipe directions go on and click the link above, or just scroll down and follow mine!

ITEMS NEEDED:

1. 8 Chicken Thighs, Bone In & Skin On

2. Olive Oil

3. 6 Cloves of Garlic, Roughly Chopped

4. 1 Cup Dry White Wine

5. Juice of 2 Limes

6. 2 Cups of Chicken Broth

7. 1 Bunch of Cilantro, Stems Removed, Chopped

for THE SPICE MIX:

1. 1 TBSP Seasoned Salt

2. 1 TSP Hot Paprika

3. 1 TSP Black Pepper

4. 1 TBSP Garlic Powder

5. 1/2 TSP Ground Nutmeg

WHAT TO DO:

1. Preheat your oven to 375*F

2. Mix together your spices. Pat your chicken thighs dry & season each on both sides with the spic mixture. Make sure you season underneath the skin too. Go ahead and let the chicken thighs sit in room temperature for about 15 minutes.

3. When the chicken thighs are eady heat 1 to 2 TBSP of olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Brown the chicken thighs deeply on both sides. Remove from skillet and set aside briefly.

4. Lower the head and deglaze the skillet with the white wine. Let the wine cook to reduce and then add the broth.

5. Bright the liquid to a simmer and add the lime juice and garlic.

6. Return the chicken to the skillet and toss in the cilantro.

7. Bring to a high simmer for about 5 minutes.

8. Cover the skillet and transfer to the oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cook thoroughly.

9. Remove the skillet from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with more cilantro if you would like.

Seriously this dinner was by far one of my favorites here recently, paired with a nice glass of red wine and it was perfect!!

Make sure to check out The Mediterranean Dish for SO many more incredible recipes!!

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Week 2 of training has been a bit of a roller coaster!

I woke up on Friday morning with some pain in my right knee. I started doing some research and realized it was my IT Band acting up again! This happened last year when I was training for the MO Cowbell, so I knew that a little bit of rest would be best. I also did some research to find ways to help with this issue as it seems to be recurring for me. I found my way to the use of KT Tape, I used it on my long run on Sunday and I could definitely tell a difference! I will be using this stuff religiously from here on out with my training!

Monday - was a recovery day after Sundays long run! The boys and I took a little walk through our neighborhood equaling about 2 miles... Seriously, they're getting way too big to push together! LOL!

Tuesday - I was supposed to get in some hills and stairs but it instead ended up being a Sworkit and plank kind of night. It was grandparent's day at Oliver's school so we had both my mom and Andrew's over to the house early in the AM and once they were off, Charlie and I took the dogs to get groomed (Which, plugging our groomer for a minute... She's absolutely awesome and if you ever need to get your animals groomed and are in the St. Louis area, check her out HERE). So all in all, this left no time to hit the gym in the AM before the daycare took a break from 12-4:30. Then that evening we celebrated Easter with my parents, making an evening gym trip just not happen. Alas, planking and a Sworkit workout!

Wednesday - For whatever reason the boys didn't want to sleep the night before, so finding the motivation to wake up on Wednesday morning, get myself and both boys ready and hitting the gym was a difficult task. I powered through and was extremely happy I did!

Thursday - The workout I completed at the gym on Thursday was a huge butt kicker and I loved every minute of it!

workout:

* 10 minute treadmill warm up*

*8 minute rowing*

*4 minute squats*

*6 minute rowing*

*4 minute burpees*

*4 minute rowing*

*4 minute push ups*

* 2 minute sprint rowing*

*1 minute plank*

*10 minute treadmill cool down*

... I also utilized the gym shower for the first time ever =)

Friday - I woke up Friday morning with my knee pain as stated above so we chilled at home and I decided to rest! The boys completed a really fun craft and I shared it on Friday's post!

Saturday - Again, another rest day! Our anniversary was Sunday so my husband asked what he could get for me. I never really know what to say to that so he suggested a new pair of running shoes. I couldn't pass that up, my $30 Target pair, which reliable and pretty just weren't cutting it any longer for my rigorous new training schedule. I ended up with a pair of On Running Shoes and let me just say, I absolutely love them!!

Sunday - Our weather stunk all weekend. Rained pretty much from Friday morning until well, today, Monday morning... And I can't say for certainty that it's over yet. Anyway, I was supposed to get in my long run which semi-happened. Thanks to my parents and their treadmill! The gym daycare is closed on Sundays so I was so thankful that my parents were in town and could watch the boys upstairs while I ran! Now I only hit a little over 2 miles when I was supposed to get in 5, however between my knee and wanting to ease back into things and the new running shoes I was okay with the shorter distance. After my run I met up with some friends for coffee, these friends and I were supposed to run together on Sunday morning as we are all training for a race in September. Sadly we weren't able to run BUT coffee is always a good substitute! Sunday was also mine and Andrew's 6 year wedding anniversary, so we celebrated with Surf & Turf, wine & watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!

So that about wraps it up for this past week! I hope it inspires and helps you with whatever it is that you are training for or thinking of training for!! :)

We will be celebrating Andrew's birthday today so recovery today should be fun ;)

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!

XOXO

Melissa

What better way to get your littles to workout than to tell them that this workout was specifically made for superheroes?!

My boys are loving working out pretending to be superheroes!! So to get them excited for this workout I had them each decorate their very own superhero mask!! I figured we would make an entire day out of it, make the mask together and then do the workout! They had a blast, and made a little mess but it was all totally worth it!


HERE's the link to the mask template I used!

Getting our kids to be active is definitely something that I have to really be conscious of, because there are those days where it will be 5 o'clock, dinner time and I realize the TV had been on all day... Granted that doesn't happen too often, but when it does I do have to check myself and remember that it is up to me to make sure that they are well rounded and get up and moving!

So go ahead and grab the APP and download the WORKOUT HERE and get you and your family working out to achieve your SUPERHERO strength!!

Share pictures of your littles and family working out using the hashtags #nogymnoexcuse #kidswhosworkit for a chance to be featured on my personal IG page!!

XOXO

Melissa

Last week I shared with you all a recipe from The Mediterranean Dish , you can find that recipe HERE. Today I am going to share with you all another of my absolute favorite Mediterranean recipes from the Minimalist Baker, these incredible Mediterranean Baked Sweet Potatoes are the perfect addition to any dinner or great all by themselves!

You can check out the original recipe HERE for her step by step instructions or just scroll down for my own adaptation!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1. 4 Medium Sweet Potatoes

2. 1 (15oz.) can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained

3. 1/2 TBSP Olive Oil

4. 1/2 TSP Cumin, Coriander, Cinnamon, Smoked or Regular Paprika

the GARLIC HERB SAUCE: 

1. 1/4 Cup Hummus

2. 1/2 Lemon worth Lemon Juice

3. 3/4 to 1 TSP Dried Dill

4. 3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced

5. Water or Unsweetened Almond Milk to Thin

the TOPPINGS: 

1. 1/4 Cup Cherry Tomatoes, Diced

2. 1/4 Cup Chipped Parsley, Minced

3. 2 TBSP Lemon Juice

4. Chili Garlic Sauce

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

1. Preheat oven to 400*F and line a large baking sheet with foil

2. Rinse and scrub the potatoes and cut in half length wise.

3. Toss rinsed and drained chickpeas with olive oil and spices and place on a foil - lined baking sheet.

4. Rub the sweet potatoes with a bit of olive oil and place face down on the same baking sheet

5. While the sweet potatoes and chickpeas are roasting, prepare your sauce by adding all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisk together to combine. Make sure you only add enough water or almond milk to thin so it's pourable. taste and adjust your seasonings as needed.

6. Also prepare the parsley - tomato topping by tossing tomato and parsley with lemon juice and set aside.

7. Once the sweet potatoes are fork tender and the chickpeas are golden brown - roughly 25 minutes - remove from oven.

8. For serving, flip the potatoes flesh-side up and smash down the insides a little bit. Then top the  with the chickpeas, sauce and parsley-tomato garnish and serve immediately!

Let me know if you try this recipe out! It's one of my favorites and I hope you'll love it as much as I do!

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SHIRT (C/O by Jack) | BELT (C/O SpiBelt)

About two weeks ago I participated in my third GO! St. Louis Half Marathon! It has been a few years since my last endeavor with this race (2012 to be exact) and let's just say that year was a NIGHT BEFORE entry. I wasn't prepared at all, hadn't ran in months and it showed in my time, which I don't remember to the minute but I know it was around 4 hours! I really don't know what I was thinking!

This year was an entirely different story! While my entry was about two to three weeks prior to the race (thanks to one of my best friends that I have been running with for about a year now, Kellie, we were going to run this one together!), I had been running longer runs on the regular, making up my own sort of schedule. I had been wanting to register for a while but as many of you know, races can be expensive.

So, anyway, I was all signed up and ready to go that Sunday morning! I felt really good about where I was at and knew I wasn't going to make the same mistakes that I made at the MO' Cowbell (Start was a little off, I wasn't able to go to the bathroom beforehand... Making me stand in line around mile 3 for quite a long time, which in turn threw off my entire racing groove).


The new starting line was right at the Riverfront Downtown which was absolutely gorgeous, a bit chilly being right off the river but absolutely gorgeous! I hadn't ran in the race since the course changed, now taking us over into Illinois and running OVER the Mississippi River. The sites were incredible and I only wish I had my phone accessible DURING the actual race to take pictures of the scenery we were able to run through.




I felt great, was running great all the way until about mile 10, I finished strong but I know I can do better. My legs started to ache a bit at this point and I was just counting down the last 3 miles until the finish. My original goal was the hit a 2:30:00 half, I ended up at 2:35:49... So I was a off a bit but I was still thrilled with shaving off a LOT of time from MO' Cowbell's race!

Before & After

After the race I met back up with Kellie and we made our way over to the after-party, grabbed our free Michelob Ultra's and took it all in. The weather had gotten quite hot throughout the morning so it was the perfect way to unwind after running 13.1 miles!



All in all this race was SUCH an enjoyable experience and I'm always a fan of adding medals to my collection :)


Here is the breakdown of my race brought to you by the Workout Snap App!

... That's a whole lot of cupcakes! ;)

I look forward to participating in the *FULL* next year!!