Makes Me Nostalgic

One of my favorite memories growing up was learning how to cook with my grandparents. I was really fortunate to have two sets of grandparents who lived relatively close to my family and were super involved with us growing up. 

I was also super fortunate that they were all amazing cooks. Like amazing. No wonder I love to cook because between the grandparents and my parents, I definitely saw the power of fresh food and creativity in the kitchen. 

Now if your family is anything like mine, you know that the special foods are all busted out near the holidays. For us, that means some serious Italian food for Christmas. Which means this cookie that my family calls Wanda (but we pronounced Wan-see) but you might know it as Frappe or Chiacchiere. Pretty much it’s fried dough with powdered sugar on top that I can eat by the bucket load. It’s that good. Simple and light but super delicious especially with coffee. 

That was always our dessert on Christmas and I LOVED it. I was obsessed with it. So I asked my grandparents how to make it. 

My grandpa had this HUGE circular cutting board and a specific pastry cutter AND rolling pin for this adventure. I’m not even kidding. Now they’re mine. 

Let’s talk about how excited he and my grandma were for this opportunity to teach a grandkid how to make really a part of our heritage. I must’ve been like 8 years old but I still can feel how excited they were to share this part of our family with me. 

Side note: my grandpa, God love him was umm let’s say particular about certain things. Especially when cooking. Like he had his way and not to say your way was wrong BUT his way was better. Oh and if all of your cookies weren’t the same size (this went for meatballs too), the whole batch got tossed and you had to start from scratch. I’m not kidding. But I loved that kind of attention to detail he had. 

Anyways, fast forward to the special trip my grandparents made just to see me and teach me how to make this cookie. 

I’m standing there in my parents kitchen, circular cutting board and all, sandwiched between them, listening to them bicker OVER my head about who made it better. It didn’t stop there. Then it was them telling me why each of them had a better method and why I shouldn’t listen to the other one. 

I loved it. I couldn’t stop laughing, they were just so serious about the whole thing and I kept thinking “it’s just a cookie”.

But it’s so much more than that and now every time I cook anything of Italian fare, I’m flooded with all those memories of times I won’t get back but I’m happy to have with me. 

This recipe is my way to do Italian without losing the simple things that make it delicious, while keeping it healthy. 

Give it a shot. Let me know what you think. 

Cold Weather is My Jam...and So is Coffee

Back to cold af mornings and you won’t hear one complaint from me. I absolutely hate when you wake up for the day and it’s already hot and you’re already sweating. It seriously drives me nuts. So bring on all the cold weather. Well San Diego cold at least. 

You know what makes cold mornings even better for me? Well a bathrobe for sure but also caffeine. There’s nothing better to me than waking up on a chilly morning, getting cozy again and then getting fully caffeinated for my day. 

That’s why the recipe linked in this blog is my total jam. But it took a second to figure out and wrap my head around. Not only because I was like “butter in coffee? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard” but also because you have to get the right amount of all the healthy fats in bulletproof coffee to make it taste delicious. 

Holy shit though once you nail it, that frothy goodness is all you need. Especially on fasting days. I’m all about it. I could talk about how healthy fats for women promote healthy brain function, heart function and curb late afternoon sugar cravings but really who cares? We’re all adulting. Caffeine is a must. 

The other rad thing: research coming out shows that women who upload (which is the fancy pants way of saying HAVE MORE) healthy fats in the morning are totally setting themselves up for success. Why you ask? Well…the increase of healthy fats helps you to curb the energy crash that can lead to a sugar increase in the mid-afternoon AND healthy fats in the super long term help to prevent things like Alzheimer’s and dementia. I know you might not think about things like that, but I definitely think about my long term health…constantly.

My word to the wise though: if you’re new to incorporating large amounts of healthy fats into your healthy lifestyle, don’t go all crazy with it. Start with small amounts and gradually increase it over time. Otherwise you might have an adverse reaction that could act as the kind of cleanse that’ll have you spending your chilly morning in your bathroom. Just sayin. And if you need to know what to do because you’re not sure, I’m always here to help. 

I Double Dog Dare You

I double dog dare you to go one day without making a single excuse as to why you can’t create and maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

Then all of a sudden, the baby weight you wanted to lose becomes just extra weight because your baby is now 10 and not a baby anymore and you have NO idea how to even shift your mindset so you can see yourself naked and think damn I’m fine.

I hear ALL the excuses every single day with what I do. I almost want to dare you to give me an excuse you think I haven’t heard before because rest assured, I’ve heard them all. With over 10 years in the fitness industry, working with numerous populations, every person has that go to excuse that holds them back from the goals they’ve set for themself.

You want to know the one difference between the successful people who get the transformation they want and the ones who don’t?

They WANT IT MORE. They want change so badly they can taste it and nothing is going to stand in their way, including those thoughts that used to be all of their excuses.

I was that way after my injury and after my delivery with Grace. The thought of resigning myself to this shitty new normal gave me hives. I couldn’t handle it. I wanted change so badly, I couldn’t focus on anything else. It consumed the majority of my thoughts, and the majority of my actions. Did I always know how I was going to make the change happen? Nope. Definitely not. But I knew I wasn’t going to give up on myself.

The desire to change has to outshine any bullshit you’ve created for yourself in your mind. You just have to be willing to figure it out. 

So how badly do you want that change you’ve been dreaming about?