Hello friends!

Hope you’re having a nice Sunday! I tried to go to my favorite power yoga class at the gym this morning, but alas it was a) RIDICULOUSLY crowded, and b) there was a different instructor anyway. It’s sunny out today so I was like… whatever, I’m going home! 

I tweeted a few days ago about how a MASSIVE sheet of snow/ice fell from the roof right in front of the door to the house (um, good thing no one was standing there). I don’t usually use the front door that much, so I’d been avoiding it, but after seeing the postman run away in fear on Friday (he literally left the mail just sitting on the steps), I decided today was the day for a showdown.

Remember that scene in the movie Office Space where they go postal on the printer/fax machine?? Best scene ever (excuse enjoy the explicit lyrics):

Yep, that was basically me today with the ice block. I literally had the snow shovel upside down and was just going to town breaking the ice. It took me almost an entire hour to get the small area cleared! There was about a foot of solid ice… it was intense. I felt very satisfied afterwards. Yay for snow cardio!

Time to get some studying done – we have our first Nutrition exam tomorrow night. Blah! I think I’m also going to go see Shutter Island later on… it looks scaaaary

Also, the granola bars I made yesterday were a huge SUCCESS!! Here’s a teaser:

Check back tomorrow for the recipe

Enjoy the rest of your weekends!

Happy Monday! It’s snowing again in D.C., obviously.

Turner and Kris just left… boo We had such a fun weekend, but as always with weekends like this it went by WAY too quickly!

Highlights from the weekend included a decadent Sunday brunch at the Corcoran Art Gallery:

In addition to a veggie omelette and some salad, bacon, truffle, and onion mini tarts were involved… OMG… SO GOOD!!!!!!

As were mini fruit tarts – one of my favorite desserts ever!!

After brunch, we checked out some of the exhibits in the museum. Turner is getting her Ph.D. in Art History right now so she acted as our private tour guide

We also hit up the White House for some sight seeing!

Brrrrr!

And then we met up with my friend Sarah for an awesome Valentine’s Day dinner at PS 7’s. Sadly no photos due to dim lighting, but it was seriously delicious.

This morning we slept in, did some yoga (I’m loving the P90X Yoga!), and then headed out for lunch at my very favorite Thai place in the D.C. area – Sawatdee! I am obsessed. They have the best summer rolls ever that come with this really good peanut/honey spicy sauce. YUM!!

And then I got what I always get because it’s so good I can never branch out – Pad Pak with chicken Basically TONS of veggies and some chicken in a garlicky brown sauce!

They have brown rice, too, which makes me happy

I’m now getting my life back in order before heading off to class! I have Nutrition tonight from 6:30 to 9:15. It seems like it’s been FOREVER since I’ve gone to class – probably because it has been! Good ole snow.

So, how’s my Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Training going with all this snow, you ask?!

Um… yeah. My training schedule has seriously died due to the snow and not being able to run outside/leave my house. I’ve been doing lots of P90X (Yoga, and their Plyometrics X, which is a GREAT workout) and strength stuff, but running… not so much. I did manage 3.5 miles on the dreadmill on Friday, and then Turner and I (she’s training for a race, too) attempted to run my planned 7 miles yesterday morning, and even made it over to my favorite trail, but it was a TOTAL fail. The snow was so deep we couldn’t even walk on it, let alone run We ended up doing about 3 super hilly miles in my neighborhood instead since we ran out of time/it was dangerous without sidewalks. Boo. I’m really hoping to get back on track this week!

…

Anyway! The moment you’ve been waiting for:

Chobani Champions Yogurt Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered! The winner, thanks to the random number generator, is…:

Comment #90, Lee!

Congrats, Lee!! Please send your full name and mailing address to me at fannetasticfood@gmail.com

And to answer your question, yes, Chobani Champions is available in stores, but it’s really new so it doesn’t seem to be everywhere yet. I haven’t seen it around here yet, either, unfortunately!

Have a great night, everyone!

Good morning from the arctic! Class and work are cancelled again today.

…Which is a good thing, considering these are just waiting for me to open my front door:

Gah!! Icicles of death. I still have a cut on my hand from one of them attacking me on Monday morning. They’re back with a vengeance!!

The snow finally stopped last night around 7. Apparently D.C. has officially set a new record: 54.9 inches of snow so far this season!!! That beats out the old 54.4” record from 1898-99.

I feel kind of like I live on a mountain or something. Too bad I don’t own skis!

Now it’s time to start digging ourselves out of this mess… at least the sun is shining today

I’m going to head outside to do a little exploring around the neighborhood… fresh air would be a good thing!

Check back in a bit… I’m working on a super fun post including a GIVEAWAY for later today!

In honor of the snowy weekend, my friend Matt and I made a MASSIVE veggie and meat lasagna for a huge group of our friends on Saturday. Lasagna is super easy and fun to make and such a crowd pleaser, so I just had to share the recipe  

Lasagna To Feed A Crowd

(serves about 10 people)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb very lean ground beef or turkey (or kidney beans for vegetarians!)
• 3 Tbsp. minced garlic
• One small onion, chopped
• Two 26 oz. jars tomato sauce
• Chopped fresh basil
• 1 tsp. each dried parsley, oregano, and crushed red pepper
• 14 lasagna noodles (preferably whole wheat)
• About 3/4 of a 32 oz. container of part skim ricotta cheese
• 6 C chopped fresh (or frozen) spinach
• Fresh vegetables, chopped (we used one zucchini, one squash, and one 8 oz. package of mushrooms, but peppers are also great in lasagna!)
• Two 7 oz. packets of fat free mozzarella cheese
• Optional grated parmesan cheese

Instructions:

(Preheat oven to 375.)

1) First, cook the meat. Add it to a pot and with the garlic and onions and cook until fully browned (about 8 minutes for us).

2) When the meat is fully cooked, drain out the fat, then put the pot back on medium heat and add the two jars of tomato sauce. (Save a little bit of sauce in one of the jars to spread on the bottom of your pan later.) Add the chopped fresh basil and the dried parsley, oregano, and crushed red pepper to taste.

3) In a separate large pot, cook the lasagna noodles. We made a couple extra just in case. For good reason:

(Sad face. RIP, noodle.)

4) While the noodles are cooking, mix the ricotta cheese and spinach together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Also, chop your veggies of choice and top them with a drizzle of olive oil and cracked pepper, if desired.

5) When your noodles are done, place them in a pan with luke warm water so they don’t dry out. You are now ready for the fun part:

LAYERING!!

(You’ll be making three layers.)

1) Start with a very thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan so the noodles don’t burn.

2) Add a layer of noodles from your water pan. They should slightly overlap.

3) Next comes about a third of your meat (or bean) tomato sauce mixture!

4) And then a layer of veggies! Use about half of them as these are only in the first two layers.

5) Followed by CHEESE! Add about a third of your mozzarella cheese…

Followed by about half of your ricotta/spinach mixture (we only put this in the first two layers). Put it on in by the spoonful since it’s pretty sticky!

You can also sprinkle on some grated parmesan cheese here if you want.

6) And then start all over again with another identical layer. Use the noodles to smoosh down the cheese!

The final (third) layer will just include a layer of noodles, followed by the meat tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.

The fun part about lasagna is that you can basically do whatever layers you want, but here’s what we did, just to recap:

Layer 1:

1. Plain tomato sauce (to prevent burning noodles)
2. Noodles
3. Meat sauce
4. Veggies
5. Mozzarella
6. Ricotta/spinach

Layer 2:

1. Noodles
2. Meat sauce
3. Veggies
4. Mozzarella
5. Ricotta/spinach

Layer 3:

1. Noodles
2. Meat sauce
3. Mozzarella

Once you’re finished layering, pop it in the oven, covered in tin foil, for about 45 minutes to an hour. ENJOY!!