Happy Monday!! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. It was low key over here. I worked pretty much all day on Friday and when I finally got home around 7:30, I was POOPED! I think I passed out at 9 p.m. #grandmastatus. Saturday I worked in the morning, got a facial in the afternoon, and then Michael made freaking awesome pasta which was immediately followed by an outing for ice cream.  Yesterday we went on a nice walk before the heat was at full force to Maple Acres Farmers Market, a wonderful farm near our place that has all sorts of amazing fresh produce and meat! We bought $8 worth of produce that would have probably been $20 at any grocery store. I'm talking 25 cents for a massive eggplant. And 3 for $1 cucumbers. Shop local - so worth it! If you're in the Philadelphia area or surrounding suburbs I definitely recommend a trip to Maple Acres.

We chilled by the pool, watched the olympics and browsed properties to buy in Italy for the rest of the day. No we're not moving to Italy, but one can dream! If couch lounging was an olympic sport, we would have gotten gold yesterday. And then we had more pasta for dinner last night with homemade marinara...can you tell we really, REALLY want to go back to Italy?!? 

Lazy weekend for the win after a crazy few past weekends.

Chewy Apricot Energy Bars

My friends bought me this new cookbook for my birthday in attempt to motivate me to post more recipes on the blog and it totally worked.

chewyapricotbook

You know I'm all about my power snacks. I just tweaked a few ingredients in the recipe to make it my own and to use up what I had and I absolutely LOVED this recipe. Its chewy, gooey, nutty, crunchy and perfectly sweet. 

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Chewy Apricot Bars via ahealthfulheart.com

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter*
1 apple peeled, cored and coarsely grated
1 2/3 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup oat flour**
1/2 cup chopped walnuts***
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cups dried apricots, diced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper
Heat oil & sugar in saucepan over low until sugar dissolves
Remove from heat & stir in nut butter
Add apple, oats, flour, walnuts, sunflower seeds and mix well
Spoon about 2/3 of mixture into pan
Sprinkle with apricots (press them into mixture) and dot the remaining oat mixture over the apricots in a thin layer
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until top is golden brown
Let cool until almost cold (or else they will crumble apart!) and then cut into 16 squares
Store in fridge for up to 3 days or freeze for later

**Recipe called for almond butter, but I only had PB on hand and it worked great - could use any nut butter!
**Recipe called for brown rice flour but I stuck with oats here
***Recipe called for almonds, again adapted here with walnuts because I love walnuts in baked goods

Hope you all have a great Monday!

XO - Rach

What did you do this weekend?

If you could travel anywhere right now, where would it be?

You can't ask a big Jewish family to keep any secrets. Since March I was planning to go home to surprise my grandpa for his 75th birthday, with high hopes of pulling through with the surprise, but what was I thinking?! Of course my family can't do surprises. 

I flew home to Florida last weekend and as I was getting of the plane, my sister calls me from Israel, literally across the world to talk to me and the first thing she tells me is that my grandpa knows and the surprise is no more. Awesome. And my sister of all people who wasn't even in the country tells me! I think my family was going to try to play it off to make me feel better. Although it was ruined, it was still a blast. It's such a treat to go home to sunny florida and soak up family time, beach time and pool time. Happy birthday Poppies, I know you're reading this! Yes, I still call my grandpa Poppies. In fact, the whole family does. 

It was back to the grind this week! Can I just say how much I love my job again. I actually can't quite call it a job when I get to train freaking awesome people all day and teach group fitness. What is life?! I'm so grateful.  I had a client last week touch her toes for the first time ever in her life and she was so happy that she cried. And then I almost cried. Definitely one of my top trainer moments so far and I haven't been doing this for that long. This is why I get so excited to go to work everyday. It's the best. 

Raspberry Swirl Chocolate Chip Bread

[yumprint-recipe id='26']YUM! This bread is my favorite. It's easy to make and the swirl makes it feel oh, so fancy.

Have a great Wednesday beautiful people!

XO - Rach

Can your family keep a surprise a secret? 

Happy Tuesday!!  How are you all doing, party people?? Everything has been good over here - had a nice relaxing weekend. I babysat, we've been watching a cutie husky, got into trouble at Lululemon on Friday, worked Saturday, taught spin on Sunday...the usual! 

Yesterday at work was also one of the best Mondays I've had in a while. We had an awesome team meeting at work and discussed the difference between motivation and inspiration.

Motivation

Motivation is what motivates you from the outside and compels you to take action...it could be money, shoes, fitting into your favorite dress, the summer coming up, etc. For me, I am motivated highly by three main things right now. Money. I mean, I gotta pay the rent and I have a few vacations coming up that I need to save for! Plus I like to treat myself sometimes with unnecessary overpriced Lululemon crops. It happens. I'm motivated by being able to turn my clients' days around when they come to train and it's the last thing they want to do. And then they leave with a smile and that feeling is the best one ever. Lastly, I'm motivated hugely by doing something I enjoy every day. It doesn't feel like work. Before I left my job in advertising I was a total energy vampire. I was miserable and I let it show. Now I feel like it's quite the opposite. What motivates you?

Inspiration

Inspiration is something from within that you connect with. It's a feeling that drives you to be more passionate and excited about something. I'm inspired by a lot of things. I remember when I was searching for a new job and complaining about my current situation, my both my parents and Michael told me "Rach, you either stop complaining, or find a way to make yourself happy..." I remember being so inspired by this idea that I literally had complete control over the changes I wanted to make. And then I did it because they all believed in me. I've always been inspired by my hardworking parents. I also am inspired every time I work with my clients and they reach a new goal. It just reassures me every time why I love what I do so much. And I'm only getting started! Are you inspired yet? What inspires you?

And now I don't mean to switch gears to abruptly but...

Spiced Carrot Muffins 

I love anything with a little spice to it. I used cinnamon, ginger and ground cloves in these muffins for a delicious blend of fall spiciness. Even though it's totally spring. 

These muffins are super hearty with raisins, sunflower seed and chocolate chips, because, well, can't bake without chocolate chips. 

[yumprint-recipe id='24'] I hope you enjoy!! 

Now I'm off to eat lunch before I head into work for another awesome, busy day.

XO- Rach

Let's chat...

What are you motivated by?

What are you inspired by?

Are you so incredibly excited for summer?