What I Ate Wednesday #94: Can’t Stop Me Now

Because if you’re hungry, eat! Ironically enough, I wasn’t all that hungry throughout the day but when the sun set, it was all I could do to keep my hands off of more food!

Breakfast

A normal start to the day. The best protein-packed oatmeal and nut butters. Also, homemade cold-brewed coffee is too easy. Do it.

Lunch

Use your imagination.. this was really my salad from yesterday but Monday’s salad was pretty close. Tuna has been my bff lately, it’s just so easy to throw on a salad when I’m running around like a nut. Which is most days right now! I also had a few Rosemary Black Pepper almonds. Because they’re amazing.

Afternoon Snack

I’m usually starving by the time I get off of work, but Monday I was just feeling something light. I just bought some kefir to try out and while I’m not a huge fan of it on its own, I do like going half and half with some greek yogurt. Of course I added some peanut flour to make a little PB&J parfait.

Dinner

Love love love this feta chicken recipe! I’d highly recommend it but definitely go for the fresh rosemary over dried; I’ve done both and fresh really makes it pop.

Evening Snack[s]
Let the games begin! I started with a couple little pieces of pineapple and an apple. And then…..

..a cinnamon toast rice cake with peanut butter. Eaten just like this.. standing in the kitchen, broken into pieces. Because that’s normal.

And because 2 snacks just didn’t suffice..

..this stuff is delicious! And it finally filled me up. Success!

I always try to practice what I preach. Even though I wasn’t very hungry throughout the day, my body was clearly telling me I didn’t eat enough and it caught up to me by the end of the night. So just because it was after 10 pm [GASP!], I continued to eat healthy snacks until I was comfortably full. Going to bed hungry is the worst!

Don’t forget to enter my Bob’s Red Mill giveaway?

Food for Thought

Do you have a cut-off time for when you stop eating each night?

A “Crazy” New Years Eve

Remember I mentioned recapping my crazy New Years Eve? I guess you could say it was crazy in its own right..

We had never really gone out for NYE, it was always spent with my family for dinner and then with friends afterward to watch the ball drop. Since we’re still newbies around here, we decided to give the whole crazy night out a go! Boot & Shoe Service, a restaurant that is known for their pizza, was having a cassoulet dinner followed by a dance party with live music at their sister restaurant, Penrose, across the street. Sounds like a good time, right? Sold!

Dinner was fabulous but unfortunately the lighting was not so I decided to spare you and show smaller pictures. You’re welcome 😉

Dinner came with a drink ticket for the “josephine baker”—spumante, bonal, & cane sugar. It’s not the drink that I would have chosen from the list but it was fabulous! The sparkling wine cocktail was a nice, light way to start the night. Not long after we arrived, they began passing the hor d’oeuvres. The gougère—mini cheese pastries—were warm and light.. perfect for popping! The caramelized onion tart was loaded with flavor and really, you can’t go wrong with caramelized onion and a crunchy crust.

By this time, we were ready for a couple more cocktails. I went for the “elevator to the gallows” [Caitlin would be proud!]—islay scotch, housemade french prune brandy, & génépi—and Nathan chose “the upright”—amaro montenegro, cocchi rosa, suze, & lemon. After he took one sip of my drink, I agreed to share. What can I say? I’m good at choosing cocktails! I grabbed a couple of dungeness crab bites on endive with creme fraiche and an oyster on the half shell; these were my least favorite of the hor d’oeuvres.. I really enjoyed the warm bites more and I’m not a big fan of creme fraiche. I suffered through it to get the crab though!

After cocktail hour, we were seated at a long family-style table where we shared a charcuterie plate with the couple next to us. I was already being “that girl” taking pictures of everything so I thought I’d spare Nathan and not take a picture of the shared plate too! Included on the plate was duck liver pate, rabbit terrine [the best!], whole grain mustard, mini gherkins, pickled carrots, and crostini. We’ve grown to really love terrine so we definitely enjoyed this starter.

Next up was the frisee salad with marinated beets and perigord truffles. It was lightly dressed and topped with crunchy garlic chips which really pulled everything together. Unfortunately, the truffle didn’t really add anything to the dish but I loved it anyway and ended up eating most of Nathan’s beets too! The star of the meal, the cassoulet, was served next. Nathan and I shared the big ceramic pot filled with pork belly, duck, and white beans, and you bet we polished it off! It was a hearty dish and the meat fell right off the bone. There were also plenty of crispy bits which added a nice crunchy texture to the stew.

We finished off our meal with vol au vent with poached pears. We were both so full but it was too good to waste! Not too sweet and the layer of homemade whipped cream under the pears gave the dessert a nice balance. And as if that wasn’t enough, they also brought us stuffed figs. I’m not sure what they were stuffed with, but I could have eaten 100 of them!

After we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant around 11:15, we decided we were perfectly happy to head back to the hotel [yes, we’re old] and have a quiet end to the night watching the ball drop.. in New York. So bizarre that they just replayed the ball dropping in Times Square! But hey, I guess no one else does it quite like they do in New York!

Cheers to 2014!

Food for Thought

Do you have any big plans for 2014?

We’re looking forward to getting settled in California and having lots of friends and family come visit!

What I Ate Wednesday #55: Recovering

After the weekend that I had, I definitely needed to take a little time to get my food back on track this week. My body has appreciated the clean eats thus far for sure!

Breakfast

It’s been a long while but I’ve gone back to the protein pancake the past few days. It’s nice to change it up a little sometimes. I’ve been topping it with a mixture of 2 tbsp peanut flour, 1 tbsp chia seed, and a little stevia. I certainly can’t go a day without some sort of peanut butter!

*You can find Protein Plus peanut flour, chia seed, and stevia on iHerb.com. Use code ZAF482 to receive $5 off of your first order.

Lunch

Kale salads all the way! Topped with tons of veggies, the lemon basil tofu that I prepped on Sunday, and dijon hummus dressing. I just mix about 1 tbsp hummus with 1 tbsp dijon and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar. I never actually measure, but it looks like that’s what the ratio is 😉

Dinner

BRUSSELS! My favorite! Especially roasted on the bottom rack. They get so perfectly golden brown.

I threw the brussels on top of the spaghetti squash and jalapeno sweet potato turkey chili, both prepped on Sunday. I’m telling you, all that cooking on Sunday has made this week a breeze!

Food for Thought

Do you do Sunday food prep?

What is your favorite vegetable to roast?

What I Ate Wednesday #51: Pinterest is My BFF

I really do have entirely too many recipes pinned and sometimes I get into a kick where I want to make everything! Unfortunately, most of the time I have high hopes and it just doesn’t pan out. This past week, however, I’ve been making, baking, and devouring! It’s been fun.. especially the devouring part 😉

For Lunches – Kale, Edamame, and Quinoa Salad from Ambitious Kitchen.

Kale, Edamame, & Quinoa Salad – Ambitious Kitchen

Kale, Edamame, & Quinoa Salad – Ambitious Kitchen

I pinned this recipe forever ago. Seriously, my board says it was pinned 43 weeks ago. That’s almost 11 months ago and I still had yet to make it! It looked like a perfect, summery salad so I added the ingredients to my shopping list and had this salad for lunch for two days. I added beets and feta on day one and left out the mango because it wasn’t ripe yet. Day two had the mango and beets, no feta. Either way, it was dynamite! A definite repeat.

For Dinner – Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa Salad from Bev Cooks.

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad – Bev Cooks

As good as it looks. Actually, it’s better than it looks. The recipe says that it serves 4 and after consulting with Bev, herself, it was noted that is for a side serving. I added some sweet potato to the mix and doubled up my side for dinner! Best of all, I had 2 side servings leftover which I’m turning into lunches by topping a bunch of swiss chard with it and adding a few extra things like tomato and mango. Another success!

For Snacks – Paleo Bread from Elana’s Pantry. Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Fudge from Ingredients of a Fit Chick.

Paleo Bread – Elana’s Pantry

I saw this bread in Gina’s post last week and was very intrigued by it. I’ve never made paleo bread before but the idea of bread out of almond flour sounded wonderful! I thought I had all of the ingredients but ended up having to sub half of the almond flour for brown rice flour when I ran out but it still came out great! I think I could have taken it out of the oven a couple minutes earlier since it is a little bit dry, but I guess that just means I have to smother it with peanut butter, right? 😉 [The other half of that broken piece in the middle didn’t last much longer than this picture!]

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Fudge – Ingredients of a Fit Chick

My sweet tooth has been out of control lately and when I saw this sweet treat a couple weeks ago, I knew it would come in handy! I love having snacks like this at my fingertips for when the cravings hit. Let’s see how long they last!

I have also found one of my most favorite salads at a restaurant ever. Most of the time when I order a salad, I’m disappointed by the size. I understand not everyone eats salads out of mixing bowls, but apparently at Looney’s, they are all for it! The picture doesn’t do the size of this salad any justice. Nathan’s friend told me if I couldn’t finish it, he would be happy to help. He must not know me very well..

Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken – Looney’s Pub

If you ever find yourself at Looney’s Pub, the Greek salad topped with grilled chicken is highly recommended!

Food for Thought

How often do you go back through the recipes you’ve pinned to make something new?

Are you a “normal-sized” salad eater or do you go for the mixing bowl?

A Marvelous Weekend

Don’t forget to enter my Chobani giveaway!

I’m definitely sad to see my 4-day weekend go, but it ended on the right note. This past weekend was just what I needed!

After running a few errands on Saturday, we decided to hit up the movie theater to see This Is The End but not before a little lunch. Nathan has been raving about porchetta since we went to Italy so I did a little googling and found Isabella’s in Little Italy. Everything I read about this place from the amazing porchetta sandwich, to the tiny area to eat [all of 4 tables], to the super friendly service was on point. And while the porchetta sandwich wasn’t the same as Italy, Nathan was still quite pleased. I, of course, went for the Greek Salad with grilled chicken and it was awesome! The homemade feta was my favorite part.

Greek salad with grilled chicken and homemade feta

Off to the movies! One of my favorite things about our theater downtown is that they have a full bar. It comes in handy when you go to see a movie like This Is The End.. not recommended. But at least it got us out of the house and out of the sun on a scorcher of a day! And I had a super tasty cocktail. Check out that top-notch pic! 😉

St. Germain Elderflower Liquer, blueberries, strawberries, white cranberry juice, and soda water

After a quick run to Whole Foods for sparkling water and figs [the essentials], we vegged at home and watched The Amazing Spiderman on demand. Another winner.. though, it was definitely better than the movie that we paid for! We got lazy and I whipped up a little egg white scramble for dinner which turned out to be pretty awesome! Awesome enough that I repeated it yesterday for lunch.

Egg whites, broccoli, corn, kale, cheddar cheese, avocado, tomatillo salsa, and a little sriracha

Sunday ended up being a bit of later start for us.. I got up and did one of my favorite Tone It Up cardio routines, Bikini Cardio. We were going to head to the farmers’ market, but I needed some food in my belly so I chowed down on my go-to breakfast—oats with egg whites & TVP, topped with Sunbutter, coconut peanut spread, and my homemade pumpkin seed butter.

By the time we got ourselves together to head out, it was 10:30. On our walk over, we decided it was hot, late [for the market], and there would be tons of people there, so we detoured over to Teavolve. Nathan grabbed a bite to eat and I got a delicious matcha green tea smoothie. I had only tried it once before, but it was just as marvelous as I remembered. Matcha powder is so pricey though, I just can’t bring myself to bite the bullet and get some to have at home.

We found ourselves around the corner from Whole Foods again, so we ran in to pick up a few things for some serious food prep when we got home, including these gorgeous beets!

How cool are these beets?!

We got down to business and Nathan was cooking up a storm!

He’s really been jonesing for some good Italian food like we had on the honeymoon, so he made a Tuscan-style ragu. It’s delicious and perfect to serve over pasta, quinoa, salad.. anything really! He also grilled up a flank steak which is going to be great  for sandwiches and salads all week. I roasted my beets which, unfortunately, were not as gorgeous as they were raw. I also made some easy kimchi that I found from Brittany [can’t wait to taste it later this week!], Israeli salad [cucumber, tomato, red onion, lemon, EVOO, & dill], grilled buffalo tofu for my salads, and for dinner I grilled some chicken with buffalo sauce.. plenty of leftovers there too.

We’re set for the week! Lunches and dinners are going to be so quick and easy. It really does wonders to set aside a few hours on Sunday to cook up some food for the week. Hope you have a marvelous Monday!

Food for Thought

Did you do any food prep over the weekend?

Are there any foods that you love but you won’t buy because of the price tag?

Pink Lady Beet Juice

Recently I’ve seen a lot of people talking about juicing. It’s definitely something that has intrigued me for some time, but the price tag on the juicers was not so exciting. Mom to the rescue! Luckily for me, my mom happened to have a juicer that she hasn’t been using so I was happy to take it off her hands. And now with this new, fun appliance, I had to figure out where to start.

Last weekend, Nathan and I went to our local farmers’ market and I got myself a fresh juice. And I watched very closely to what was being put into it. Ingredients noted and I was off! I put my own little twist on the juice and absolutely love it! [Though it did take a few adjustments here and there..]

Makes three 1¼ cup servings

Ingredients
– 4 small beets & greens
– 2 large apples [I use fuji]
– 1 16oz package carrots
– 4-5″ english cucumber
– 1-2″ ginger root [Depends on how spicy you want it!]

Directions
Cut your fruits and vegetables as needed for your juicer and go! Feel free to adjust any ingredients to your taste.

Nutritional Stats
Per 1¼ cup serving

175 Calories  /  0g Fat  /  27g Carbs  /  27g Sugar  /  10g Fiber  /  4g Protein

Food for Thought

Have you ever made your own juice? What’s your favorite flavor combo? I’m always looking for new ones to try!

Foodie Friday: Buddha’s Feast

Often times, Thursday ends up being a dinner of leftovers from the meals we had during the rest of the week. We typically plan on going out to dinner on Friday so we’re happy to use up what’s available in the fridge. This Thursday offered up some delicious choices; homemade turkey meatballs, lemon herb chicken, and roasted spicy orange chicken.

As I was trying to figure out what intrigued me, I came across this tweet. Done! I couldn’t wait to get home for dinner!

Traditionally, a “Buddha’s Feast” bowl is a vegetarian dish, but since I was using what was already cooked, I decided a turkey meatball would be a great addition. Below is the recipe for the specific bowl that I made, but this is so versatile that you could really make it with anything! The end of this post has a bunch of different options you could try!

Buddha’s Feast

Serves 1

Ingredients
– 2 beets; sliced
– 1/2 medium sweet potato; diced
– 1 cup broccoli florets
– 2 oz turkey meatball
– 1 cup baby spinach
– 1 tbsp peanuts; chopped
– 1 – 2 tbsp spicy Thai peanut sauce [recipe below]
– 1/3 – 1/2 tbsp EVOO
– Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place beets and sweet potato on a lined baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO, season with salt and pepper to taste, and roast about 20 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven, add broccoli florets, and toss with EVOO, salt, and pepper. Return to the oven and roast another 20 minutes until all vegetables are tender.

In a bowl, add your spinach and top with roasted vegetables and turkey meatball. Drizzle with spicy Thai peanut sauce, top with chopped peanuts, and devour!

Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients
– 2 tbsp peanut flour*
– 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
– 1/2 tbsp lite soy sauce
– 1/2 tbsp garlic chili paste
– 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Directions
Add all ingredients into a small bowl and mix until well combined.

Nutritional Information
Per Buddha’s Feast bowl with 1 serving Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

371 Calories  /  18g Fat  /  37g Carbs  /  7g Sugar  /  10g Fiber  /  23g Protein

Additional Buddha’s Feast Options

Bases:
– Quinoa
– Brown rice

Greens:
– Spinach
– Kale
– Collard greens
– Swiss chard

Roasted Vegetables:
– Sweet Potato
– Broccoli
– Brussels sprouts
– Asparagus
– Beets

Protein:
– Chicken
– Beef
– Turkey
– Tofu
– Tempeh
– Beans
– Nuts
– Seeds

Dressings:
– Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce
– Creamy Tahini Nooch
– Spinach Basil Walnut Pesto Aioli

Food for Thought

Do others’ posts or tweets ever inspire your meals? How would you customize this bowl?

What I Ate Wednesday #9 – Wedding Crashers

Remember when I said I found the best part of wedding planning? Well I think in the last 2 weeks I’ve found 2 more things that rival for the best part—dress shopping and band shopping!

First and foremost, I got a dress! And I love it and I want to wear it all the time and I can’t wait to put it on again! Wanna see pictures?! You got it! On May 12, 2013  😉

After it took 5 months to find the right venue, I was worried that dress shopping was going to be a complete nightmare, but it was so much fun and it only took me 2 trips to say YES to the dress! (I had to.. really, I did.)

Secondly, band shopping has been a bit frustrating to start off. We’ve just been listening to tons of cliche demos all the while, trying not to laugh. Once we picked out a few bands we liked, we were told to go check them out. Sooooo we crashed a wedding! Yes, we were invited by the band management company, but not by the bride and groom. We got dressed up, turned it into a full on date night and had a great time!

Now onto the eats..

Breakfast
Lately, I’ve been in love with protein pancakes. I was on quite a roll for awhile with the Tone It Up pineapple protein pancakes, but decided to switch it up. Julie from Peanut Butter Fingers has a recipe for banana bread protein pancakes that I tried awhile back and absolutely fell in love with! So now, I’m on a banana bread protein pancake kick that I just can’t seem to shake. And I’m totally ok with it! Top it off with my favorite Tone It Up bombshell spell and I’m in heaven!

Lunch
A delicious spicy Asian chicken and vegetable dish with whole wheat couscous. So delicious, that I didn’t get a picture!

Snack
Strawberry yogurt bites. A little something sweet that I whipped up in no time!

Dinner
Since we had to get all dressed up anyway, we figured we might as well head to a new restaurant for an impromptu date night!

Seasons 52 was the restaurant of choice. This restaurant uses seasonally inspired ingredients with a menu that is updated weekly. (Get it? Seasonally updated.. 52 weeks in a year..)

Nathan chose it because he loves me.. aka everything on the menu is 475 calories or less. And it doesn’t hurt that the menu sounded awesome!

I ordered the organic arugula salad with watermelon, grilled golden beets, jicama, toasted pistachios, and a side of lemongrass salmon. The salad was amazingly delicious and the salmon tasted like it was totally indulgent, but it wasn’t! On the side, I enjoyed a wonderful watermelon refresher. I’m a sucker for any kind of watermelon cocktail!

Nathan got the ripe plum tomato flatbread with fresh basil, roasted garlic, and parmesan cheese, and a mixed green salad on the side. The flatbread was everything a flatbread should be. Super thin, crispy crust, not a ton of cheese, and nice and light.

And because our meals were so light and wonderful, we topped it off with their mini indulgences. I had the chocolate peanut butter mousse and Nathan ordered the mocha macchiato. Both fantastic, but I think I won the dessert round! He kept trying to sneak little bites!

My one complaint about Seasons 52 is that the closest one is an hour away. That said, we might have to visit friends in the area more so we can go back 🙂

Fitness

I’m not gonna lie, I totally killed it at the gym the other night. But my favorite part of my workout was the GNC lean leg circuit from Jess at Blonde Ponytail. If you watch the video, she tells you to do 3 rounds of this circuit, but if you’re up for the challenge, you can do it tabata style, or 8 times through.

As I got through the first 3 sets, I thought “alright, this isn’t so bad.. let’s take it to 5!” Got to 5 sets and thought “I’m doing it.. I’m going for all 8 sets!” I finished all 8 sets in 20 minutes and felt awesome! And 2 days later, I’m remembering each and every one of those moves every time I stand up. Hurts so good!

Speak Up!

Have you tried a new restaurant recently? What was the best part of your meal?