Chicken Florentine with Pasta

If you've been a long time WITK reader, you remember my early days in Colorado.  I was a year into my Postdoc and was also working as a fitness instructor.  After my move from Colorado to Connecticut, and subsequently to New Jersey, I haven't had the free time necessary to teach classes at the gym.  And I miss it so much! 

I was teaching nine classes a week when I was living in Colorado.  Bodystep, bodypump, bodyflow, TurboKick, bootcamp classes, it was all so much fun.  I had my regulars in each class and the people I gave a hard time when I didn't see them week after week.  We had a party everytime I stepped foot in front of the class, I had a great time making fitness fun with my gym friends.  Maybe some day I'll find the time to teach again.

It's been a year and a half since I started working here in and I've found my groove with work and the commute and I've started exploring the different gyms in Montclair.  And let me tell you, there are a lot of gyms in Montclair!  We have a fitness center in our apartment, it's the group fitness experience that I miss.  You know I've started taking Crossfit classes (and they are so much fun!).  This week I took advantage of an Amazon local deal and got a Barre fitness membership.

If you are a former dancer, cheerleader, baton twirler, you should really give bar classes a try.  There was totally a former ballerina in the back of the class I took this Saturday.  She was making us all look bad!  The bar class I took was a cardio and strength class.  We lifted weights, used slide boards (which I haven't seen in years!), did core work and worked our balance.  It was great and I felt taller and stronger at the end of class.  Plus, it's so fun to work out with a group of ladies and just have fun.

And...  I've signed up for my first HALF MARATHON!  Yikes!  I've got six weeks until I loop around Central Park in the More/Fitness Women's Half Marathon.  Are you in NYC?  Why don't you come out and run with me?  It will be fun... I swear...

I'll be following a fast-paced six-week training program to ramp up my distance to 13.1 miles.  It incorporates running along with crosstraining, so I will still have days to hit the Crossfit and Barre gyms.  To keep myself on track, I've added a fitness link up there at the top!  If you are looking to run a half or just want to workout with me (c'mon, it'll be fun!), follow along and we'll all be on our way to a healthier summer.

Wilde Week #6

1. Boyfriend had to go out of town this week for a dinner and meeting. This left me all alone for one night. What did I choose to do? I went back to Brooklyn and made cookies at Momofuku! Then I proceeded to eat way too many of them. So glad I went, now I finally understand all the nuances in the Milk bar cookie recipe! I was doing it all wrong!  Stay tuned for some delicious cookie recipes in the near future. Coming to NYC anytime soon? Sign up to go to a class yourself! Great way to spend a weeknight!

2. Books of the week Crossed and Reached by Ally Condie. Yes, I finished both sequels to Matched this week. I told you they were quick reads. Perhaps it's because I'm reading a bit below my age bracket. Whatever, they were fun books. The second book, Crossed, was a bit slow at times and didn't always feel like it was part of the same story as the first. book. The final book, Reached, was fast paced, interesting and a good way I finish the series. There were a few things that I wish Condie would have explained (like where in the world was this supposed to be set? Which country fell?) but all in all this was a fun series to read. Going on a beach vacation? Bring these books.

3. Crossfit this week - It was benchmark week, which is something they do every few months to give you a sense of how you are improving. Now I know I can row 2000 meters in 9:02 minutes and that next time I have to crush that time! Last Sunday we did pull-ups and on Monday I realized that I haven't done pull-ups in like fifteen years. OUCH!  I could hardly raise my arms to wash my hair!

4. Is anyone else glad Community is back on tv? They teased us so long about when it was coming back and now we've got Halloween episodes airing near valentines day, Christmas episodes airing near Easter and a fear that there won't be another season! C'mon NBC, I just want to watch funny TV!  I just can't wait to see what Chang is up to now.

5. Nail color of the week?  Swiss Cottage from nails inc LONDON.  It's green from one angle and blue from another, very fun.

6. I'm so ready for summer now. I've been searching for a cute bra, that doesn't look like a bra, to wear with backless shirts. Victoria's Secret Pink to the rescue! They have tons of these pretty lace bralets that look just adorable peeking out from under a shirt. Can't wait for warmer days!

7. Our verizon fios box needed replacing a few weeks ago because someone couldn't watch HD hockey.  So they sent us a new one.  When we finally got around to hooking it up and sending the first one back, the second one once powered up had a loud, insessant and annoying squeak.  Grr, constant squeaking couldn't be put up with.  I sat online with customer support for an hour to confirm it was broken and they sent me a new one.  Guess what, this new one doesn't work either.  It refuses to comply with the remote controls commands.  It's like the 1800's in here and we have to change the channel with the buttons on the box!  This box is going back as soon as I can get someone at Verizon to talk to me in their online chat support.  Let's say I'm a little peeved, I just want to watch House Hunters.

Restaurant Wars 2013 - Olive Garden

The biggest problem with going to Olive Garden? Getting a table. It seems no matter what day of the week you go, you will be waiting for a table unless you arrive at three o'clock for dinner. Yet for some reason, people are willing to wait over an hour for soup, salad and bread sticks. Well wait no more, make it all at home.

In order to test out the OG, boyfriend and I ventured out to dinner on a very specific night. February 13th. This year February 13th was both the day before Valentine's day and Ash Wednesday. When we arrived at 7:30, we were escorted right to a waiting booth. That's a first in my book.

The person who really likes OG in my house is BF. He calls it classic Italian comfort food. What you would want your bowl of carbonara to look and taste like. The dishes are all simple, straightforward and require no fancy words to describe. It's not the food your Italian grandmother would prepare, unless she was cooking for two dozen. 

To keep with that classic OG menu, BF and I both got simple dishes. BF went with a chicken Parmesan and I decided on a chicken and shrimp carbonara. Both meals came with the traditional OG soup/salad and bread sticks, and I ordered a cherry Italian soda to round out my meal.

First, do not order the cherry Italian soda unless you have a real love of children's cough syrup. It was dead on in flavor and probably had twice the amount of sugar. I took a sip and ordered a water as replacement.

Next, the general rule with the bread sticks is a follows - eat them before they get cold or prepare to sword fight with them. Once these little gems cool off, they take on a other worldly strength. I had ideas on how to avoid this issue at home.

Our meals were just as expected. BF dove into his chicken Parmesan whole heartily, until he realized he ate too many bread sticks and couldn't eat anymore. My carbonara came out looking creamy and delicious, and incredibly oily. I found out the next day as I had my leftovers just how much oil was in my dish. I love carbonara and this was good, it's just not something I could eat on a regular basis.

The plan for home. Recreate the OG experience from bread sticks to salad to main course. Lighten the fat load and try to maintain the flavors. 

Olive Garden salad at home is pretty easy.  The salad itself is just lettuce, pepperoncini, black olives, red onions and croutons.  Black olives are gross, so I omitted those.  It's pretty true to when I go to the restaurant.  The dressing has quite a few copycat recipes online that I based my final recipe on and apparently those are very similar to the actual OG recipe (I couldn't believe that they actually use mayonnaise in their recipe).  Where I took a big left turn is with my carbonara recipe.

Want easy and delicious bread sticks?  You need two ingredients.  Pizza dough and garlic salt.  I used a pre-made pizza dough from the grocery store and cut in into eight pieces.  I rolled each piece into a bread stick-like shape and spritzed them with cooking spray.  After a light sprinkle with garlic salt and eighteen minutes in the oven, we had bread sticks that didn't harden up in two minutes.  A little denser than the OG variety, but BF and I both liked the pizza dough sticks better.

The OG carbonara dish I received was covered in cheese and dripping in oil.  I made a simple and classic carbonara with grilled chicken.  BF was a little sad that my version wasn't under a layer of cheese, but it was something I could actually have before going to the gym.  After our dinner at the OG, we went home and melted into the couch.

Next time you want some Olive Garden and don't want to wait for a table, just pick up a few ingredients and make it at home!  Or you could sit in the bar area, they serve the full menu at the bar and the wait is usually much shorter!