Five Things Friday {7/25}

Happy Friday! Today starts my weekend, Nathan is working from home, and the weather has been gorgeous here so we’re hoping to sneak out mid-day for some sunshine. We’re both ready for some relaxation.

1. Tomorrow we’re headed out on another road trip down to Carmel. It’s one of the places we’ve been talking about exploring but just haven’t made the trip yet. Like I said, the weather’s been beautiful so we’re planning on leaving early, grabbing some lunch when we get there, and laying out on a blanket on the beach. Relaxation at its finest. [Maybe a bottle o’ wine, too?] If you have any suggestions for restaurants or other places to go in Carmel, we’re all ears!
2. I recently received a pair of PRO Compression socks to review as part of the #KeepItTight Campaign with Fit Approach. To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure how much I really expected them to help. But after a bunch of shifts at work this week where I’m on my feet for hours at a time, as well as my workouts, slipping these bad boys on at the end of the day has really made a difference.
   

   With a little O’s action in the background!

   The idea that compression socks increase blood flow to your legs has been proven and dare I say my calves and feet have felt less tired and sore by the next morning. If you want to give them a try for yourself, use code PINK at checkout for 40% off your entire order!

3. I killed the salted caramel brownie brittle. Which, of course, means there was brittle dust at the bottom of the bag just begging to be sprinkled on some PB&J yogurt. Obviously. Best idea ever.
   

   Bloobs, figs, & brittle dust.

   

   Cherries & brittle dust.

4. My Swanson 45th Anniversary giveaway ends Sunday night. Don’t miss out on your chance to win a $45 gift card to get some awesome products!
   
5. Baby girl. [And her mama.] That is all.
   

   1 month till squeezes!

Food for Thought
What are your plans for this weekend?

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?

What I Ate Wednesday #91: Berrylicious

I love this time of year. The kitchen is almost always stocked with fresh fruits and veggies but right now everything is at its peak. We’ve been seriously stocking the fridge with lots of fruit; it’s hard not to when everything is so good!

It’s usually not until I sit down and look at my meals for the day as a whole that I see some sort of theme going on. Yesterday’s theme was berries. I wouldn’t mind having that theme happen more often either.

Breakfast

Quite possibly the ugliest oatmeal ever, right? Blueberries really have a way.. I just swapped my usual 1/2 banana in my oatmeal for 1/2 cup blueberries. It was pretty wonderful if you can get past they bowl of gray.

Lunch

I have a thing for hot lunches these days and zucchini noodles are such a fast fix. I also have a serious cheese craving going on so I got Laughing Cow White Cheddar wedges the other day. I threw one of those into the mix with chipotle cherry sauce, ground turkey, shredded carrots, and zucchini noodles. I topped it off with avocado and BAM! Delicious lunch.

Snack

It’s been a while since I’ve had a Balance bar, but honestly, I was running out the door hungry and it was the first one I saw. The caramel nut blast is pretty darn tasty!

And since I felt the need for something sweet and berrylicious when I got home, I grabbed some almonds I just got from Blue Diamond—toasted coconut and blueberry—and threw them in a bowl with some raspberries and dark chocolate pretzels. I swear, Nathan was trying to hide those pretzels from me! Also, the blueberry almonds are not something I would typically buy myself, but they were much better than I expected!

Dinner

You guys. This chicken. I’m in love with the marinade! I ended up making extra to go on the side because it’s so good. I used this feta chicken kabob recipe and toasted pecan and blueberry couscous salad on the side. I ended up cutting the amount of couscous in half and adding some leftover quinoa that I had. The whole dinner was so good and I’m glad I made a bunch for leftovers!

Snack

An apple and a little more homemade sourdough. We’re still riding the struggle bus when it comes to making bread but we’re getting closer. Maybe one day soon we’ll be successful.. here’s to hoping!

Food for Thought

What’s the best recipe you’ve tried lately?
What’s your favorite berry?

Roasted Banana Berry Chocolate Cups

With Valentine’s Day being on a Thursday, I knew I wanted to be able to whip up a quick and easy dessert. [Nathan was in charge of dinner!] Even though we had a great idea to make homemade dim sum together, we knew that it would have to wait for a weekend. When I saw Tone It Up’s post of Valentine’s Day desserts, I knew I had something to play with.

Makes 10 cups
Adapted from Tone It Up

Ingredients
– 10 squares from 6.8 oz dark chocolate bar
– 1 medium banana
– 3/4 cup non-fat, plain greek yogurt
– 1 cup berries; sliced if using strawberries
– 1/4 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut; toasted
– Ground cinnamon [optional, for garnish]

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Microwave the chocolate chunks in 30 second increments until smooth. Spray 10 mini cupcake liners lightly with non-stick spray and paint the melted chocolate on each of the liners to about 1/4″ thickness. Place the cups in the freezer for 20-30 minutes until hard.

While the cups are in the freezer, place the banana on a cookie sheet and into the oven, still in its skin. Roast for 15-20 minutes until very brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. After the banana has cooled, mash it up and mix it into the greek yogurt.

Remove the chocolate cups from the freezer and peel out of the liners. Spoon some roasted banana yogurt into each cup, top with a few berries, some toasted coconut, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Serve immediately.. they won’t last long! 😉

Nutritional Information
Per cup

97 Calories  /  5g Fat  /  13g Carbs  /  2g Fiber  /  9g Sugar  /  3g Protein

Food for Thought

Did you treat yourself to a Valentine’s Day dessert? Did you make something special or order out?

What I Ate Wednesday #28 – A Jewish Christmas

I can’t believe it’s the last WIAW of the year! 2012 has flown by faster than I ever thought possible and I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season. I have absolutely loved seeing all of the posts and pictures with all of your holiday traditions. It definitely made me wish I was celebrating Christmas this year! But since we don’t, yesterday was a pretty normal day for us.. besides sleeping in on a Tuesday 😉

[Breakfast]
I reached the end of a jar of JIF Natural, so naturally my sweet breakfast scramble was dumped right in there! And of course, it was topped with a little extra PB and some homemade almond butter (I started with Chelsey’s recipe as a guide). A side of freshly brewed cinnamon coffee was more than welcome.

[Lunch]
I didn’t snap a shot, but we went to my parent’s house for “brunch”.. aka bagels, lox, whitefish, etc. Imagine it looked something like this..

Except I had a salad with chicken on top and some lox and whitefish on the side. My mom makes all of the fish herself, so I can never pass it up!

I also brought over a blueberry crisp that made almost exactly like my apple crisp. This time, knowing that it would be going into the oven the next day to warm it up, I decided to bring the blueberries to a boil on the stove with lemon juice, lemon zest, xylitol, and cornstarch to thicken it up. Then I refrigerated it overnight, topped it with granola right before going in the oven, and baked for about 20 minutes. It was heavenly!

And since I didn’t get to snap a picture of my lunch, I decided to share with you my gangster look. What can I say, it got warm in the car!

[Snack]
Homemade almond butter mixed with Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter on celery sticks. Try this.. you won’t be disappointed!

[Dinner]
Leftovers galore! I mixed the last of my roasted squash and turkey stew with some Asian style tofu macadamia nut stuffing, quinoa, roasted broccoli, pecans, and a little chili sauce. It was delicious!

[Dessert]
Sliced apple with peanut fluff and 1/2 crumbled white chocolate cherry macadamia nut cookie.

I certainly didn’t have the typical Christmas day meals but they definitely hit the spot!

Food for Thought

What was your favorite dish this holiday season?

Sundays in the Kitchen

Somehow, even after a 4-day weekend, Monday still seems to come too soon. So to drown my pre-work week sorrows, I decided to spend the day in the kitchen cooking and baking up a storm!

I had a special request (weeks ago.. oops!) for chocolate chip cookies, so I started there. Last month, Brown Eyed Baker had a chocolate chip cookie throwdown featuring 4 recipes, one of which was our favorite from Alton Brown. Showing Nathan was a mistake.. he immediately wanted to have a throwdown of our own. Rather than having our throwdown, we decided to try the winning recipe; The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

How can you resist chocolate chip cookies like that?! We certainly couldn’t and the verdict is in; we may just have a new favorite chocolate chip cookie!

To combat the indulgent cookies, I got my healthy cook on and prepped some delicious meals for the week. A new recipe from the Tone It Up girls, Carrot & Pumpkin Soup, will be making many appearances this week during lunch along with Jamie Eason’s Turkey Meatloaf Muffins via Sarah Fit. We also have some honey wheat rolls, bulgogi beef prepped for tonight’s dinner, and my latest creation;  Blueberry Ricotta Muffins. I was so happy with the way they came out. They’re super moist and are perfect to have with a little jam.. or in my case, peanut butter. Because everything is better with peanut butter!

Blueberry Ricotta Muffins

Serves 12
Adapted from The Lean Green Bean

Ingredients
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk [I use Almond Breeze]
1/2 cup low fat ricotta cheese
1/2 cup pumpkin puree [Not pumpkin pie mix! I use Libby’s]
1 egg
1/4 cup demerara or brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Optional Toppings
Jelly or jam
Any nut butter
Earth Balance Coconut Butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients from coconut oil through vanilla extract. Slowly mix in your flour and baking powder until that is just mixed through. Don’t over mix! Gently fold in the blueberries so they are equally distributed.

Grease a muffin tin and scoop into tins in 12 equal parts. Bake for 30 minutes, turning halfway through. Let cool, top with your favorite topping *cough peanut butter cough* and enjoy!

Nutritional Stats
Per muffin

124 Calories  /  4g Fat  /  20g Carbs  /  3g Fiber  /  10g Sugar  /  4g Protein

Food for Thought

Do you prep your meals for the week on Sunday?

What I Ate Wednesday #12 – Baltimore Restaurant Week

Baltimore Restaurant Week is one of my favorite weeks of summer. I guess winter too, but someone summer just seems better!

I absolutely love trying new restaurants and this is the time to do it. You get to taste 3 courses for $30, and if you choose the right place, you’re really getting a steal! Often, the restaurants on the list serve entrees ranging from $20-$40, so to add an appetizer and dessert to that makes it all worth it.

This time around, we decided to check out Salt. It’s a trendy little restaurant that we’ve been to before, but it’s been years. And while we usually use restaurant week as an excuse to try something new, we just couldn’t pass up the incredible menu.

Being that we went out on a Friday, the first part of my day is uber normal. Aka not so exciting. Except for this awesome pancake!

[Breakfast]

Chocolate coconut protein pancake topped with Earth Balance Coconut Peanut Spread, coconut, and cinnamon plus Bombshell Spell with ZICO. I’m absolutely obsessed with the coconut peanut spread. It’s like a little taste of heaven melted over chocolatey goodness!

[Snack]

(not pictured)
Apple

[Lunch]

(not pictured)
Mixed green salad with cucumber, tomatoes, onions, green bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, diced avocado, & chili sesame tofu. This tofu recipe is divine and so simple. I’ll be sharing it soon!

[Snack]

(not pictured)
thinkThin Creamy Peanut Butter Blizzard + a few pieces Almond Maple Pecan Snackle Mouth. The blizzard was a fun way to mix up my usual protein bar and the little chunks at the very bottom were so tasty! And the Snackle Mouth is really something special.. I was lucky enough to win a couple boxes and I hope to be featuring these (or some new products soon to launch!) in a giveaway very soon!

[Dinner]

The most exciting part of the day. Everything on the menu sounded absolutely phenomenal and we couldn’t make any decisions without asking for recommendations (of course!)

Primaterra Pinot Noir • Roasted Red Pepper Tapinade with freshly baked bread

Cool Vichyssoise Soup
Dungeness crab, pommes frites, chive oil

Country Pork Terrine (not pictured)
Pistachios, figs, dijon mustard

I went for the soup, Nathan for the terrine. We were both equally pleased with our choices and it was something new for each of us to try.

Grilled Swordfish with Charred Gazpacho Vegetables
Lemon and olive quinoa, avocado puree

Crispy Creek Stone Farms Beef Belly Confit
Ginger glaze, white kimchi with asian pears, spicy sriracha creamed corn

The swordfish had been recommended to me by a friend and the side dishes sold me. It was delicious and I savored every last bite. But Nathan totally won. The beef belly confit was rich and savory with a slight sweetness from the creamed corn, which wasn’t all mush, as some would assume. If I went back the next day, I’d get the beef belly confit, hands down!

Key Lime Tart
Coconut meringue, blue berry coulis

Goat Cheese Donuts
Lavender honey, vanilla sea salt, coffee ice cream

Finally, the best way to end a wonderful meal; with an even more wonderful dessert. I opted for the tart while Nathan chose the donuts. Really, he’d choose anything fried, but drizzled with honey and ice cream on the side? He couldn’t say no! They were fantastic, but I definitely preferred my key lime tart. It was light, sweet, and tart, and just the perfect ending to the meal.

[Summer Staples]
Fresh fruits and veggies. Not a day goes by that I don’t get my fill of all of the freshness that summer has to offer and Salt definitely feels the same way. All of my favorite restaurants are those that take advantage of the freshest ingredients available and plan their menus around that. Why offer farm-raised tilapia when rockfish are jumping?

Speak Up!

What would you have ordered? Are you a meat-and-potatoes kinda person or a sea-foodie?

What I Ate Wednesday #7 – Sunday Brunch

Sundays are definitely one of my favorite days. Morning yoga in the park, hitting up the farmers market, and on some special Sundays, we do brunch.

One thing you need to know about Nathan and me is that we love deals. Groupon and Living Social are my best friend. So much so, that people poke fun at me for work.. “Oh, you’re going out to eat? What kinda deal did you get?” I have no problem with this because as a foodie, trying new restaurants (for half price, mind you) is nothing less than awesome!

This past Sunday’s brunch was at Lebanese Taverna. It may not have been a new restaurant to try, but we absolutely love the food there, so when a deal popped up for brunch, we were on that like white on rice! Or hummus on pita.. you choose 😉

I realized when I went to put this post together that I didn’t take pictures of any of my food from Sunday, except brunch sooo here’s a quick break down!

Breakfast
Cinnamon raisin protein oats & quinoa. This recipe is coming soon and you don’t want to miss it!

Brunch
Lebanese Taverna deliciousness!

Homemade Bread
This is important enough for it’s own line. Have you had their bread?! It is incredible.

Red Sangria
Pomegranate wine, triple sec, brandy, cinnamon, basil, apples, and plums. I would order that every time!

Our Feast!
Hummus, Baba Ganoush, Lebanese Salad (cucumber, tomato, mint, & onion), Chicken Kabob, and Beef & Lamb Shwarma.

My favorite parts? The baba ganoush and beef & lamb shwarma. I could eat all of it. All day. Everyday.

Booza
An ice cream trio with Pistachio-Orange (my fave!), Vanilla Cardamom (Nathan’s fave!), and Honey (the overall crowd-pleaser.)

Clearly, it was too warm outside to let the ice cream pose for a picture, so naturally, we devoured it! Sorry. (Not really.)

Dinner
Leftover thai.. steamed bean thread noodles with fresh ginger, hu-nu, onions, carrots, baby corn, scallions,bean sprouts, pork, and bean sauce in a hot pot and a side of edamame. This comes from a place called Thai Arroy. It looks like a little whole-in-the-wall, but it is the best thai food in Baltimore!

Snack Time
Homemade peanut butter froyo. This is another recipe coming soon and definitely worth checking out! It’s so easy and much cheaper than going out 🙂

Like I said.. I didn’t do such a great job of taking pictures on Sunday, so now you’re subjected to a bad Instagramed phone picture. For this, I truly apologize.

Speak Up!

What’s your favorite Sunday tradition? Are you a Sunday brunch-er?

And don’t miss my giveaway; you have until tomorrow night to enter! You could win a case of the delicious CalNaturale Svelte! Yum!

What I Ate Wednesday #6 – Heavy Seas Ale House

I love nothing more than trying new things.. especially when it comes to food! I’ve been mixing up my meals a bit this week and trying new easy recipes. I also got to try a new restaurant in Baltimore; Heavy Seas Ale House. The food was delicious and the drinks were even better! So let’s get to it, shall we?!

Breakfast

Perfect morning quinoa with blueberries & almonds and a Bombshell Spell. All directly from the lovely Tone It Up Nutrition Plan!

Sensible Snack #1

1/2 grapefruit sprinkled with stevia. Alright, so not everything is getting mixed up this week, but what can I say? I’m a fan of the grapefruit!

Lunch

Summer shrimp salad.. another one from the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan. This is such a great meal for warm days! It’s so light and delicious and frankly, I’m a fan of topping anything with avocado!

Sensible Snack #2

GT’s Guava Goddess Kombucha is one of my absolute favorite drinks lately! If you have never heard of or tried Kombucha, get on it! And I would highly recommend the Guava Goddess, Gingerade, and Gingerberry flavors.

I was also so excited to try The Good Bean Chocolate Berry bar. These bars are full of fruit and no nuts! Typically I love almonds and cashews and other nuts in my bars, but this one replaces that crunchy texture with chick peas. So delicious and you really don’t miss the nut! (And how can you top dark chocolate and berries?!)

Dinner

We celebrated my parents’ 35th wedding anniversary at Heavy Seas Ale House. Nathan and I had only been there once before for drinks, but had been wanting to return and try the food; we’d heard so many good reviews!

Heavy Seas has become known for their beer cocktails. The first time we went there, I got the Gold Ale Cucumber Margarita. Holy yum!

“Heavy Seas Gold Ale”, resposado tequila, fresh lime juice, cucumber and house made golden ale syrup with a salted rim.

This time I had to try something new.. here we haveAny Port in the Storm. Again, holy yum!

Gosling’s Black Seal Rum, house made ginger syrup, lime juice, and “Heavy Seas Gold Ale”

We started out with 1/2 dozen raw Washington oysters. I’m not a big oyster fan, but I always try one when we get them. My parents loved them! I much preferred the Spicy Beer Nuts. I would definitely recommend them, but watch out.. they’re addicting and the spice builds!

Pecans tossed with sweet spices and “Marzen”

My mom and I both got the Crispy Rockfish Special over mussels and cockles, topped with zucchini, roasted corn, & bacon in a tomato broth. Delicious! I was happy to learn that crispy didn’t mean fried. It was cooked in a pan, skin on, so the skin was nice and crispy, but the fish was not at all oily.

We finished off with a lovely Flourless Chocolate Cake with bay leaf chantilly creme on a beautifully (and deliciously!) decorated plate. And to our surprise, every table gets to end their meal with these wonderful homemade mini chocolate chip cookies with a touch of spice! I have to say, I think I preferred the cookie to the cake!

I will definitely be returning to Heavy Seas to try some more delicious food! I hear the burgers and oyster po boy sandwiches are out of this world, so I think next time we’ll be trying out their lunch dishes. Can’t wait to report in on that!

Speak Up!

What’s the best dish you’ve had a restaurant recently?

Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes – Take 2!

A couple weeks ago I posted a recipe for Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes. They’re absolutely delicious, but having oats in them makes them not so Tone It Up-approved, so I decided to play with the Tone It Up protein pancake recipe and figure out a way to make a new zucchini bread protein pancake that is equally as delicious. It took a few tries, but I found the winning combination!

Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes.. Tone It Up Style!

Ingredients
3 egg whites
1/2 banana
1 packet Perfect Fit Protein or 3 tbsp protein powder
1 tbsp fat free cottage cheese
1 tbsp psyllium husk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 – 1 tbsp cinnamon; I like a lot of cinnamon!
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup zucchini, finely shredded

I find the psyllium husk and baking soda are key for having a nice, flippable pancake!

Directions
Finely shred your zucchini and squeeze all of the excess moisture out, as you would do with frozen spinach. This is very important because excess moisture will make your pancake fall apart!

Add all ingredients except shredded zucchini into a food processor and process until well combined. Toss in your zucchini and pulse a few times until it is just incorporated into the rest of the batter. You want to keep some of the texture of the zucchini!

Let the batter sit in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. This allows the batter to setup and thicken a bit so you’re left with an easier batter for flipping.

After refrigerating, preheat a small pan over medium-low heat and coat with non-stick spray. Pour your batter into the pan and be very patient! You’ll have a wait a few minutes while the first side sets and cooks part of the way through so you don’t have a messy flip. This is usually the time that I take to prep my toppings.

Ready to flip! Very carefully, inch your spatula under the pancake and slowly flip. It’s ok if some of the batter moves around because you’ll just cover it all up with the pancake after it’s flipped.

Cook about 2-3 more minutes on the second side and serve!

I’ve been loving a little drizzle of maple syrup, a couple sliced strawberries, blueberries, unsweetened shredded coconut, and a sprinkling of cinnamon on top. So delicious!

Speak Up!

What’s your favorite kind of pancake you’ve ever made?