Cigna Blogger Meet Up! #CignaRunTogether – Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend

Hi all,

One more installment from Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend and it’s to tell you about the fun I had at the Cigna blogger meet up at Napa Rose. Cigna is the main host of the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend and they are a great host! The sponsor a lot of health and fitness information for runners at the expo and moderate or host a lot of the speakers at the expo.

The are a major health insurance provider in the US and they are committed to helping people find doctors and stay healthy. It’s all about prevention!

I was lucky enough to get invited and well… here we go!

Friday morning I went to Disneyland rode a ride and then it was time to head over to the event. Since this was my first blogger event, I was definitely having a bit of a fan moment. I was getting to actually meet so many people I’ve been chatting with and following on Twitter and Instagram in person and all at once. I had some jitters at the beginning but we were welcomed and then it was time for some healthy cooking demos!

Jitters go away when food is involved (also my friend Patrick was there which helped a lot!) 🙂

Each group was going to get to have some small group time with the chefs at Napa Rose and see how they prepare each meal with simple and fresh ingredients. I felt so spoiled and honored to be there!

I was in Goofy so our first station was the salad station!

Group Goofy!

Station 1 – Salad

After chopping some fresh berries for the salad garnish. We made a simple vinaigrette with oil, water, vinegar, mustard and salt and pepper and then we tried adding some things to sweeten it up. First we added regular sugar and then we remade it with honey. The honey was the winner in my mind!

Our helper Carlee!

Making some homemade herb infused oil!

We also learned that to keep your veggies crisp, after chopping them, you want to put them in an ice bath. It’ll keep them wet and cold so they don’t wilt or dry out. As a twenty something still learning how to “really” cook, this seemed really upscale to me!

Here was the finished product!

Station 2 – The Main Course!

Chef Chris started off by showing us how to cut a chicken, not sure if this is a piece of knowledge I’ll use often but it was cool watching him do it! Our goal was to cut off the chicken breast to prepare.

We were making chicken with farro and fresh veggies. Yum! Farro was a new item for me and it was really yummy! It’s a grain that is cooked in a similar way to rice but has more of an “oat-y” flavor and has a little more texture because it has more of a husk than rice. After cooking the farro he combined it with some smoked Gouda and herbs and turned it into deliciousness!

Chef Chris started the chicken on the stove in a pan but after browning it on both sides, put it into the oven to finish cooking. And then voila!

Station 3 – Fruits and Dessert (aka the best one!)

It was all about eating in season so we got to try a bunch of really perfect fruit. Peaches, figs, plums, cotton candy grapes, melon, and a white chocolate covered gooseberry. Everything was delicious!

First time eating fig!

White chocolate covered gooseberry!

At this station we also made a delicious crumble that would be good on pretty much anything! It was like a granola so adding it to yogurt or ice cream would be a great pairing.

Station 4 – Smoothies

And last but not least station 4 for some pre and post race smoothies!

The pre race smoothie was all about about good carbs, a little protein and caffeine! This smoothie had coffee, almonds, soy milk, a little cocoa powder, and some peanut butter. It was pretty tasty but very banana-y for my taste.

The post-race smoothie was pretty good too! It had Greek yogurt, dragon fruit, blueberries, and flax seeds. It was yummy and a great punch of protein for post-workout!