0012 -- working it out

less than 90 days to the wedding so i'm in crunch time for my workouts, clearing up my skin, making sure my hair is somewhat healthy (although let's be honest, i've had 4 very drastic color changes in the last year so it's a bit beat up). last week i had a seriously menacing cold so unfortunately i worked out only twice, leaving me feeling like i have a ton of catching up to do.

i've been working out via FaceTime with my maid of honor and dearest friend, marissa. every day at 6:30 i get home change into my sweats and running shoes and we do something isometric routines to help keep up our bums and make sure our arms aren't wiggling when we wave. here are a few of our favorites (of course we add in some sumo squats, lunges, and planks too):

along with our 6 day a week workouts we've also been trying to drastically change our eating/drinking habits. instead of drinking 4 nights a week, we've curbed it to one or two and our food intake has changed from meat with most meals, to meat once or twice a week. it's been a bunch of big changes, especially for jordan but he's been a great sport about it all! i've always been a big salad fan, so i've been making this AWESOME mango dressing that reminds me of the one at native foods. i would strongly recommend it and it's good on everything from salads to quinoa!!

mango dressing (raw & vegan):
1 cup chopped fresh or frozen mango
1/2 cups safflower or sunflower oil (i used a nice olive oil that we have and didn't use the full 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup maple syrup (i used organic agave)
1/4 cup lime juice (i subbed for lemon since it's all we had)
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
blend in a small food processor or blender. extra dressing can be saved for few days too! enjoy!!

0002 -- mango pesto

these days i don't tend to cook as much as i did, although still find myself constantly perusing tastespotting for some super yummy recipes. i should take a minute and plug tastespotting since it's got to be the most visually stunning foodie site i've ever been on. as well, they have the best search feature options, just type in what you craving (say ginger carrots) and every recipe related will pop up, brilliant!

in our house we love making our own sauces and dips. most store bought condiments these days have too much sugar, sodium, or preservatives for our liking and why not do it fresh! last week we were craving pasta something fierce but it was too warm for just our usual red sauce so we agreed on pesto.

we've made pesto a few times now and it's always so good and keeps so well! this time we decided to switch it up and do something a little sweeter and more refreshing than our basic pesto and added in mango. talk about a game changer!! i would have never expected it to be so good and so addictive and really so simple to make!

Mango Pesto (adapted from Love & Lemons)
1.5 packed cups of fresh basil
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
2/3 cup diced mango
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes (we used cayenne powder instead)
a good pinch of salt & pepper

we enjoyed it over veggie pasta, mozzarella balls, diced red onion, and some fresh avocado for dinner. it was so simple and took us maybe 15 minutes to throw it all together. since then we have used it as a dip for veggies and even just a spread on sandwiches!