Well, I’ve been going to the gym with my friend Jackie for the past 8 weeks. We’ve been doing the Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide along with my sister and some other friends… We have what you may call a “support group” to help us cope with our inability to endure daily struggles, like stairs or chairs or anything involving muscles, especially 1-2 days post workouts.

Anyways, after sushi sake with my class this past weekend, I felt the need to be healthy again… I needed something to wash away the guilt of the unlimited sushi and sake bombs I took advantage of. What’s more guiltless than grilled chicken? Not much. Here’s’ what I did:

Garlic and Lime Grilled Chicken:

Ingredients:

1 large chicken breast

1/4- 1/2 tsp salt (to taste)

1/2 tsp garlic powder 

1/4 tsp onion powder 

1/4 tsp pepper

Juice of half a lime

Olive oil

Directions:

**PSA: If you don’t have a grill pan, get one. I have a cast iron one and I use it all the time. It’s truly priceless, especially when you live in New York, or somewhere cold, where you can’t grill outdoors all year-round. A screaming hot grill pan will still give you a nice char flavor in your chicken (or whatever you’re cooking on it!)

Spray or lightly coat your grill pan with olive oil, and then set it over high heat. While it heats up, butterfly your chicken breast (cut it down the middle lengthwise, but stop about a half inch short of cutting all the way through- so the chicken opens like a book). Flatten the chicken out and then evenly sprinkle both sides with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders. Squeeze half the lime juice onto it.

Once the grill pan is smoking hot, cook the chicken breast on it. After about a minute or two, adjust the position of the chicken slightly (so as to get a crossed char pattern). The chicken takes about 3 minutes to a side, depending on the thickness- just check the doneness by cutting through a thick part of the chicken- should not see any pink!

Take the chicken off the heat and serve!

Avocado and Tomato Salad:

Ingredients:

1/2 an avocado

4-5 grape tomatoes (cut into halves or thirds)

1 tbsp finely chopped red onion

Juice of half a lime

1 tsp apple cider vinegar 

Olive oil

Salt

Directions:

Slice your avocado into thin wedges. If you don’t have a nifty avocado tool like this one (this is a life changing kitchen tool for an avocado lover), you can halve your avocado, scoop out the half with a large spoon, place it yellow-side down on a cutting board, and slice it lengthwise into half-inch slices. Place on a plate (I like to fan out my avocado slices so every part gets seasoned pretty equally).

Cut up your tomatoes and add to the avocado. Sprinkle some salt over the avocado and tomatoes.

Whisk together the lime, vinegar, chopped red onions, and about 2 tbsp olive oil. Pour your dressing over the avocado and tomato… And enjoy!!