While I am running around my house, finishing up 5 million last minute things before leaving for San Fan, I thought it would be a good time for a guest post. The lovely, and soon-to-be mommy Gina [Finessista], has brought a fabulous post our way. Definitely 100x better than anything I could come up with right now. Hellooo traveling nerves! Gina is one of the sweetest, most kind + thoughtful people I’ve ever met. So sad we won’t be reuniting this weekend!

Similar to when Lori + Michelle guest posted, I also asked Gina to write about her 5 favorite ingredients + 5 favorite workout moves. She has even provided us with a video for the 2nd part of the post. Gina, you are amazing!

Hi Edible Perspective readers! I’m so excited to be guest posting for Ashley, whom I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with in real life. [Just in case you were wondering, she’s 100% as awesome as you would imagine her to be from reading her blog.] I got to meet Ashley at last year’s Foodbuzz festival and she has always inspired me with her creative recipes and beautiful photos.

My name is Gina and I blog over at a little place called The Fitnessista, which is a collection of recipes, workouts and adventures with my Pilot husband and white maltipoo named Bella. Our family is growing, as we’re expecting our first human baby in early January.

I teach group fitness at a local health resort, and also love to throw dinner parties, shop, Zumba and spending time with the fam. We were recently stationed here in Arizona, where I’m from, so it’s been amazing to be back where I grew up after being away for so long. So for today’s guest post, Ashley asked me to write about my 5 favorite ingredients and 5 favorite workout moves. Here we go:

5 Fave Ingredients

1.) Almond butter

I LIVE for this stuff. I used to be a peanut butter fanatic, and once I tried almond butter, it was all downhill from there. Once you go almond, you never go back ;) It’s great for savory recipes (like spicy almond butter sauce for stir fries), adding into baked goods and sweet treats, and is also perfect straight out of the jar- spoon is optional :) My favorite brand of almond butter is Woodstock Farms and I also love to make it at home. Ashley has a lot of amazing nut butter recipes here on her blog, too. [Thanks Gina!!]

2. Goat cheese

Goat cheese has a unique tangy flavor compared to regular cow’s dairy cheese. It’s fantastic mixed into a salad with green apple or berries, candied walnuts, arugula and balsamic dressing.

3. Sun Warrior protein powder

Sun Warrior is the best-tasting that I’ve tried, and I’ve tried pretty much every protein powder under the sun. The nutrition stats are also stellar, since it’s minimally processed, vegan, and contains Stevia as its sweetener. I love mixing it into oats, goat’s milk yogurt, morning smoothies or perfect protein pancakes.

4. Dark chocolate

Kind of like almond butter- good to add into recipes.. or perfectly wonderful by itself :)

5. Kale

Especially in a massaged kale salad, or as kale chips.

5 Favorite Workout Moves

Here’s a short hotel cardio workout I filmed a while ago, which includes many of my favorite workout moves, including: -Plie squats -Squat jacks -Tricep dips -Planks -Push-ups Hope you enjoy!