HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

We had a great last couple days. On New Year Eve, we went to Capital Grille with Stephanie and Mike. It was sooo good. Capital Grille is definitely one of my favorite steak houses in Boston. For drinks, we ordered the Stoli Doli signature cocktail. It was sooo smooth and easy to drink. For dinner, I ordered Seared Tenderloin with Butter Poached Lobster. This was described on the menu as: seared tenderloin served with fresh lobster, cooked slowly in butter to bring out its flavor and tenderness. Holy tastiness! Trust me, this was totally healthy. hahaha. I still have until Friday to pile on the pounds before biggest loser begins!
I know this doesn't look attractive, but trust me on this one, it was delicious. I ate one piece of meat and all of the lobster. Dave and Mike ate the rest of my steak. We went back and forth on getting dessert, but Stephanie took the reigns and ordered the Cheesecake with fresh berries. This was to. die. for. OMG. Stef and I probably ate 98% of this ourselves.
After dinner, we wanted to go out for a few more drinks so we went to Charley's Saloon for a few more cocktails. We were the last ones at the bar; it wasn't exactly bumping. I continued on my pineapple theme and ordered Pineapple Sky Vodka with Sprite and Cranberry Juice. Around 11, we headed home to enjoy the New Year at home. I was probably asleep by 12:02. I'm such a winner.

New Years Day I finally got moving around 12 and I shopped and returned my little face off. Then I got over to the gym and ran 3 miles in 26 minutes and lifted legs. They closed my local BSC so I have to go about 20 minutes from my house, but its a really nice gym! Then I grocery shopped and got home to prepare dinner for me and BFF Courtney! (Dave went out to play Poker with the guys...so we had a sleepover party)

On the menu- my second attempt at a Black Bean Tortilla Pie from Annie-Eats! I basically took her recipe, added ground lean meat, banana peppers, green chilis, a can of diced tomatoes and a bottle of beer!
Black Bean and Beef Tortilla Pie

Ingredients:

Ground Beef (90% lean)
4 flour tortillas
1 large onion, diced
handful of banana peppers/1 small can of green chilis
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp. ground cumin
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 (15-oz.) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
12 oz. beer
1/2 package frozen corn
4 scallions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 can of diced tomatoes with chilis

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add beef, onion, peppers, chilis, tomatoes, garlic, and cumin; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, and beef is cooked through. Add beans and beer to skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid has almost evaporated, 8-10 minutes. Stir in corn and scallions and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper. Fit a trimmed tortilla in the bottom of the springform pan; layer with ¼ of the beef and beans mixture and sprinkle evenly with some of the cheese. Repeat three times, using all of the remaining cheese on the top layer. Bake until hot and cheese is melted, 20-25 minutes. Unmold pie; garnish with scallions. To serve, slice into wedges.

I served this along with a big salad with tons of veggies and Courtney's favorite- Chick Peas! I think she said she wishes she was a chick pea today. Weirdo!

Then I gave Court her gift! Pink powersuit! haha
She wore that and I wore this awesome outfit:
We played Wii and watched TV all night. I was supposed to wake up at 6 to meet up with the new running group, but it was snowing and I chickened out. I've done absolutely nothing today. But we're snowed in! I'm gonna try to get moving soon, but not very motivated. Happy New Year!

Oh lets also talk workouts and dinners..this is more for me to look back on, I know most of you don't care...
12/25: 2 miles outside with Dave
12/26: ran just under 6 miles outside with Mike without my Garmin
12/27: off
12/28: off
12/29: off
12/30: Ran 5 miles on treadmill, lifted legs
12/31: off
1/1: ran 3 miles on treadmill in 26 minutes, lifted legs
1/2: off (not on purpose- but it was too snowy to run)
Maybe I didn't write about workouts in awhile because I didn't workout a hell of a lot this week... oops!

Planned Workouts:
1/3: 7-8 miles on treadmill, lift legs
1/4: PT
1/5: possible track workout/Boot Camp
1/6: Run 4-5 miles, interval
1/7: Muscle Conditioning
1/8: Run 3 miles, lift legs
1/9: finally run with Running Club 8-10 miles

My friend Leah who I ran track with in college, wrote me out a training plan for the Providence Marathon. She also ran a 3:11 Boston. Yes, you read that right! Amazing! The plan starts January 11th. I haven't signed up for the race and will probably wait awhile to sign up to see how my injuries heal up. But I'm going to do the plan. I'll write more about that next week! Also on the agenda this week is the Biggest Loser weigh in on Friday! Bring it on!

Okay dinners for the week!
Saturday: Chicken Gyros (just made this, yum! will post recipe soon)
Sunday: Roast Chicken with Smoky Tomato Sauce
Monday: Honey Glazed Chipotle Chicken
Tuesday: leftovers
Wed: Mushroom cakes with Avocado pesto and Red Pepper Coulis
Thurs: White Bean Chicken Chili
Fri: leftovers

Lots of Chicken! Can you tell it was on sale this week)
Off to enjoy the snowy night. Wish it would stop so I can actually run OUTSIDE!