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?

What I Ate Wednesday #8 – It’s Hot Out There!

Last weekend was a hot one. And calling it a “hot one” doesn’t even do it justice. I believe temperatures reached close to 110° with the heat index! Needless to say, we did not have a very eventful weekend trying to stay inside the whole time. It was a perfect mall day so we ventured out to Bass Pro Shops to fill up on some fishing equipment.

Nathan loves to fish and I, too, enjoy fishing. But I’m not sure Nathan always enjoys fishing with me. It goes a little something like this..

1. Nathan hooks the worm for me
2. I cast out
3. I catch a fish
4. I call Nathan over to take the fish off the hook for me because I do not want to touch that thing!
5a. Nathan throws the fish back in the water and hooks another worm for me
or
5b. I let the hook set for too long and the fish swallowed the hook so Nathan has to re-tie me on and hook another worm for me

What?! Don’t judge! (I also usually end up with a plastic worm after 2 or 3 times of Nathan having to hook a worm on.)

Now he thinks he can try to get me to go stream fishing with him. All of this happening while we’re walking through a stream? I’ll have to report back on how successful this is.

In the meantime, let’s get to my Saturday eats, shall we?

Breakfast
A pineapple protein pancake and bombshell spell courtesy of Tone It Up. Any surprise here? No? Great!

Lunch
Before our trip to Bass Pro Shops, we made a quick lunch stop at DuClaw Brewing Company. They are a brewing company out of Maryland that have a few brew pubs in the area. The foods good and the beer is great! The Mysterium is a Belgian-style spiced ale and I love it. Alright, so this may be Nathan’s beer, but I had a few sips! I also had a delicious strawberry salad with chicken.. definitely recommended!

Snack
Not pictured, but super tasty.. baby carrots and mango curry hummus from The Wild Pea. Once again, highly recommended! They have so many delicious flavors, both sweet and savory. Ever seen peanut butter chocolate chip hummus? Get on it!

Dinner
Look familiar? It’s my tilapia stir-fry with chili peanut sauce. And it was delicious! I’m planning on making a big batch of that sauce to have around for everything. So good! You should really try it 😉

And we’re talking fitness, eh? Well if you know anything about a Tone It Up girl, you know that we love our bootycalls!

If you just gasped, you clearly don’t know what a bootycall is!

I get up at least 45 minutes early every morning to get in some cardio and abs. It was rough when I first started, there’s no doubt, but now I can’t start my day without it! My favorite cardio workouts in the morning are typically pulled from the SELF Drop 10 Challenge, created by the lovely Tone It Up ladies themselves, Karena and Katrina.

These cardio workouts are called HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. It’s such an awesome way to jump start your metabolism in the morning and burn more calories in a shorter amount of time than a regular steady cardio workout. If you’ve never tried a HIIT workout, definitely check it out. They’re all the rage! 😉

Speak Up!

What’s your favorite workout? Do you like to workout in the morning or the evening?

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?

What I Ate Wednesday #5 – My Favorite Sensible Dessert

Another week, another What I Ate Wednesday post! But this one has a recipe.. check it out!

Recently my eats have been looking rather similar on the day-to-day front. And I’m perfectly ok with that! Breakfast is looking something like this..

A Tone It Up pineapple protein pancake (and dare I say, I’ve totally mastered the flip!), topped with a drizzle of maple syrup, a couple diced up strawberries, some blueberries, some unsweetened shredded coconut, and a little extra sprinkling of cinnamon. Along side of that, I have the Bombshell Spell, which is a deliciously wonderful way of getting a little shot of apple cider vinegar into your life. These recipes come directly from the Tone It Up Beach Babe plan that you get when you purchase their membership plan, and are a part of the 5 Day Slim Down that I did last week. Since mastering the pancake, I’ve been craving it like no other. I could seriously eat it everyday.. sometimes twice a day!

Snack #1 is 1/2 grapefruit sprinkled with Stevia or Truvia and some coffee with almond milk.

For lunch, I’m loving some teriyaki marinated tofu with homemade pineapple salsa all wrapped in collard greens. It’s a relatively new-to-me idea to use the collard greens as wraps, but it’s wonderful!

My absolute favorite afternoon snack is my new Peanut Butter Cup Protein Shake, and the past few times I’ve made it, I put 1 cup of spinach in. You don’t even taste it and you get that little bit of extra veggie.

For dinner, I mixed it up a bit. This delicious bulgar wheat salad with asian slaw and chicken really hit the spot! I found a recipe awhile back for Asian Quinoa Salad, but when I found myself at the store looking for quinoa that wasn’t there, I grabbed the bulgar wheat and went to town! Other than being a wheat product as compared to a grain, bulgar wheat has many of the same nutritional aspects as quinoa. It’s high in protein, low in calories, and low in fat as well! It also has a little bite to it that I really enjoy. Please excuse the not-so-lovely picture..

And now onto my favorite sensible dessert. I’ve pretty much made it every night for the past couple weeks.

Apple Pie Parfait

1 serving

Ingredients
1 apple – I prefer fuji
1/4 cup fat free vanilla greek yogurt
Cinnamon
Walden’s Sugar-Free, Calorie-Free Chocolate Syrup

Directions
Chop up apple into bite size pieces and toss with a little cinnamon. Put the apple in a glass and top with half of the yogurt, a little sprinkle of cinnamon, and a drizzle of the chocolate syrup. Repeat for the other half of the apple and yogurt, and devour!

If you really want to get fancy, throw some dark chocolate chips in there or even a little unsweetened shredded coconut.

I really love this as an after workout dessert because the yogurt gives me a little bit of protein, but it’s not too heavy before bed.

Speak Up!

What’s your favorite sensible dessert?

What I Ate Wednesday #4 – 5 Day Slim Down Edition!

Tone It Up has become a way of life for me and when this month’s WIAW theme of Sensible Snacking, I knew I wanted to share a regular day’s worth of eats. This week I’m doing the 5 day slim down, which essentially is a way to give your body a break from processed foods and helps you slim down. I’ve done it a couple times before and I love it! It’s not too intense and I feel so refreshed when I finish.

This week’s pictures are through the eyes of Instagram.. enjoy!

Breakfast

Tone It Up pineapple protein pancake with slice strawberry, some blueberries, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a little drizzle of maple syrup, and some unsweetened shredded coconut. Hello heaven! You wouldn’t believe this delicious pancake is so healthy and loaded with protein!

Mid-Morning Snack

My usual snack in the morning is 1/2 grapefruit sprinkled with stevia or truvia while I’m sipping away on my coffee with almond milk. Talk about sensible snacking.. grapefruits are so good for you! In fact, the lovely ladies at Tone It Up wrote an entire post about them!

Lunch

The slim down plan includes recipes for tons of delicious collard green wraps, but seeing as how I ran out of collard greens, I decided to make my wrap into a kale salad. So delicious!

To combat the bitterness of raw kale, I always try to marinate the greens overnight with a touch of EVOO, vinegar (white wine, balsamic, ACV all work!), lemon juice, salt, and pepper. This helps to soften the kale and gives it great flavor for your salad!

I topped my marinated kale with a fresh pineapple and red pepper salsa, and a homemade teriyaki turkey burger.

Mid-Afternoon Snack

A cup of almond milk and a Tone It Up bounce back smoothie. This smoothie tastes much better than it looks! Another example of sensible snacking, this smoothie, filled with tons of raw fruits and veggies, really fills you up and isn’t heavy at all.

Dinner

More turkey burgers! Nathan and I went to Sam’s club on Sunday and really loaded up on ground turkey so Sunday night I went to town! I made about 20 burgers.. half teriyaki and half herb.

I had 2 small herb turkey burgers topped with some delicious mango habanero salsa with a side of roasted asparagus and cherry tomatoes. I roasted the veggies with coconut oil, which is rather new to me, but reading all about the benefits, I knew I had to try it. Kasey, Ms. PowerCakes, herself, uses coconut oil all the time and you just can’t argue with those results!

Dessert

One thing I love about the 5 day slim down is that it offers you a nice little dessert. I was just sticking to a piece of fruit, but after reading Kasey’s post on what to eat before bed, I’ve been adding 1/4 cup of fat free cottage cheese or vanilla greek yogurt to my dessert. And while this may look rather indulgent for a before-bed snack, I’ll assure you that the delicious chocolate syrup seen here is Walden Farms Sugar-Free, Calorie-Free Chocolate Syrup, as seen here, gifted by my foodie penpal last month! That stuff hits the spot!

I enjoyed my delicious yogurt with a drizzling of chocolate syrup, a sprinkling of cinnamon, and a kiwi on the side. A wonderful way to end the day!

And all of this on a “diet?” Well, that’s what is so wonderful about Tone It Up. It keeps me full and satisfied, and never bloated! I couldn’t ask for much more!