Beer, Wine, and Sunshine

Good morning! Today is the last day to enter my Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts giveaway.. are you in on it yet? Also, I’ve announced the winner of my Peanut Butter & Co. giveaway. Such excitement to start the week!

We had another fun-filled weekend with Nathan’s mom. Friday we went into San Francisco to shop. We were on a mission to find Nathan a new suit and were especially successful leaving with 2 suits! We also finally had success at Liguria Bakery. Our most favorite pillowy-soft foccacia bread has been on our radar for months and every time we’ve had the chance to get over to Liguria, they’ve been closed or sold out. Friday, however, we picked up a plain square and a rosemary garlic square. It’s just the best!

After a beautiful day in the city, we made our way to Jupiter in Berkeley for a little patio beer, pizza, and salad action. It was too nice a day to let it go to waste so we spent as much time outside as possible.

Saturday was another day of amazing weather and what better way to enjoy it than in Sonoma? We tried a couple new places—Gloria Ferrer for sparkling wine and charcuterie, Viansa Winery, Park 121 Cafe for lunch, and Meadowcroft Wines. While we don’t typically purchase any wine when we go tasting, we couldn’t pass up the cab franc and port. They’re definitely bottles that we’re going to be saving for a more special occasion. Two-buck chuck does just fine on a regular basis 😉

Saturday night, we had a wonderful dinner at Homestead, a farm-to-table style restaurant that changes their menu daily based on the freshest ingredients they can get. Nathan and I had been eyeing this place for practically a year and had read great reviews so we were pretty excited to finally try it out. It definitely lived up to our expectations! I ordered the pan seared black cod, chickpeas, artichokes, grilled treviso, almond pesto; it was seasoned perfectly, the skin on the cod had a nice crisp to it and it was overall a pretty light dish. The housemade sourdough levain with housemade sea salted butter to start out was a real treat too. I probably could have eaten a whole loaf of that bread!

Nathan got the pork loin, spaetzle, grilled onion, sauerkraut, whole grain mustard. He agreed that the flavors in his dish were on point and it was also rather light.

Sunday was pretty much back to normal; we dropped Nathan’s mom off at the airport in the morning and I headed into work. Back to reality, I guess. Ahh, it’s gotta happen sooner or later, right? We’re currently guest-less for 2 1/2 weeks before my friends get here and while we’ve enjoyed having company and are looking forward to more, we’re definitely going to the enjoy the quiet and home-cooked meals!

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Leftovers
Monday – Crunchy stuffed buffalo chicken with ranch roasted potatoes and asparagus
Tuesday – Burrito bowl with perfect black beans [<–the best!] and chicken
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – Thai chicken satay noodle salad with coconut peanut dressing
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

A Love-ly Weekend

Gooood morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and hopefully a nice Valentines Day too [if you celebrated.] Friday was a bit crazy for both of us and by the time we got out for dinner, all we wanted was something cheap and easy. Mexican it was!

It was the last dinner of my 2 week vegan experiment and what could be a better way to finish it off than with grilled veggies, rice, black beans, and lots of guacamole? Oh right.. fresh tortilla chips and salsa, too 😉

Saturday was all about taking it easy. In all of the running around that we’ve been doing lately, we decided that pulling the married card out and relaxing all day sounded like the best way to spend Valentines Day. We hit up the farmers’ market bright as soon as they opened to get the main star of our dinner—rotisserie duck l’orange. I guess we cheated a little bit in a way by not making the main dish like we usually do, but hey, it was hard to pass up! And such a gorgeous day, too. Which is why we took the opportunity to spend more time outside and walk over to the nearby rose garden.

Too bad we forgot that it’s still winter [yep, 75 degrees in February!] and there were only about 10 roses to be seen. Ha! We’ll have to make our way back over there in a couple of months.

The rest of the day was spent watching movies and having a few drinks on the couch.

Only the finest in our house! The perfect apertif while we were cooking up some roasted brussels & potatoes to go with the duck. We also popped open a bottle of Black Zeppelin, a 2009 Syrah blend, that we bought in 2012. It was surprisingly better than we had remembered!

Don’t worry, I’ll fill you in on the rest of the food on Wednesday. Except for dessert.. a homemade personal pan blueberry square topped with Tahitian Vanilla gelato from Lush, down the street.

Sunday was for workouts, working, errands, and the start of the new day bed for all of our guests! Ikea is the best.. ish.

Don’t worry Mom and Dad, the room will be a little more put together in a week and a half when you get here! Looking forward to this week being a little quieter. And actually being able to do some real meal planning. I missed meat and seafood!

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – 20 Minute Thai Basil Turkey and Lemongrass Rice Bowls
Monday – Kung Pao Salmon and Chicken with Sweet Potato and Broccoli
Tuesday – Leftover duck l’orange with citrus fennel and avocado salad
Wednesday – Smoky Chipotle Beet and Quinoa Burgers
Thursday – Burrito Bowls
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

Did you celebrate Valentines Day?

Familiar Faces and Sunset Views

Good morning, friends! Have you entered my WIN giveaway yet? It ends Thursday at 11:59 pm PST so make sure to get your entries in!

We had a really fun and totally exhausting weekend over here. My friend, Jordan, came to San Francisco for work but since he was here for a couple of extra days, we got to spend some time together. It was so great to see a familiar face [even though we will be seeing him again in just 2 short weeks!]

Nathan and I both had some work to do on Friday, but we definitely made up for that Friday night. Moscow mule anyone?

Aside from the drinks, Friday was pretty tame.. especially in comparison to Saturday! We went all over the city in an attempt to show Jordan as much as possible in such a short time. Obviously when we show people around, it’s all about the food. There was dim sum.

There was beer.

There were fabulous sunset views.

And that’s just the start! Between this past weekend and Thanksgiving next week, I will absolutely be watching my extra snacks this week haha! Yesterday, Nathan and I started the day early, went for a nice walk, hit the gym, and got our lives back together. In just 1 week, we’ll be packing our bags and heading back to Baltimore for 2 weeks and I’m psyched! But for now, gotta focus on getting through the week.

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Asian quinoa meatballs with roasted broccoli and baby bok choy
Monday – Thai chicken satay salad
Tuesday – Leftovers
Wednesday – BBQ chicken with roasted brussels and caramelized shallots
Thursday – Leftovers
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

What’s your favorite way to show someone around your city?
Did you do anything fun over the weekend?

Chinatown Hops

Bar hopping is not a new concept, especially to this corner of the interwebs. Saturday, however, we did a little different kind of hopping; we hopped around Chinatown for some dim sum! But before we get into that, I got to spend a little extra time with Nathan on Friday. He worked from home so we took a little lunch break to try a new Mexican place.

Pork al pastor salad with extra guacamole!

It’s a good thing we got out when we did because I wasn’t feeling so hot later that night. All I wanted for dinner was a big bowl of mac and cheese [you know, the kind with the powdery cheese..] and some roasted brussels. Seeing as how we had none of the above [don’t worry, that was remedied on Saturday!], Nathan made me a delicious egg, cheese, pork, and ketchup bagel sandwich. And, of course, some chocolate chip cookies on the side. What a guy 😉

I can’t remember the last time I had a bagel before this.. YUM!

Thankfully, my bagel-wich did the trick and Saturday I was up and ready to go for some dim sum Chinatown hopping. First up was the finger food.

The biggest baked pork bun I ever done seen!

Chicken & pork shumai + Shrimp & chive dumpling

That pork bun was ridiculous. We split one because they were so big! The dough was so soft and a little sweet, kind of brioche-y. Oh man, I could go for another right about now.. Anywho, then we went for some of the hot food.

Chinese BBQ chicken.. not the prettiest, but one of the tastiest!

Chinese BBQ Pork.. I loved Nathan’s enthusiasm ha!

Alright, so maybe we hopped over for some beer after our Chinatown excitement.

Pumpkin beer + stout. It’s that time of year!

And then we went for a little walk to the water where I finished a half marathon.

I WIN!!

Ha! I couldn’t believe they still had everything up from 2 weeks ago.. obviously I had to go for it.

Such a beautifully clear day.

Saturday was awesome; exciting but relaxing. I wish everyday could be like that. Yesterday was pretty darn relaxing too and after the gym I picked up a little treat that my mom sent out to me.. just a package of my favorite local Baltimore granola!

Apple quinoa granola is just that exciting.

I have a feeling that bag isn’t going to last too long. But in the meantime, I should probably do something about the rest of my meals.

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Crunchy stuffed buffalo chicken with ranch roasted potatoes & broccoli
Monday – Lemon tarragon turkey burgers with baked onion rings
Tuesday – Pomegranate jalapeno chicken with bacon pomegranate brussels sprouts
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – Honey balsamic chicken leg quarters with caprese stuffed portobellos
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

Have you ever tried dim sum before?
What’s your favorite comfort food?

Beer is Kosher for Passover

Well that was a fun weekend! I hope you all had a great Easter if you celebrate. I continued my Passover.. celebrations? Sort of.. I just couldn’t go to Mikkeller and not get beer. Ha! At least I haven’t had bread and grains, right?

When I was little, I was telling my family what I had for lunch at school during Passover and mentioned that I had onion rings but only ate the outside. My older brother was pleased to point out that I only ate the breading. I still get made fun of! Passover officially ends Tuesday at sundown so I’ll continue to keep the spirit until then.

Anywho, Friday night we went into San Francisco and met up with a couple Fit Approach-ers at Mikkeller before heading over a sketch comedy show. It was our first time heading into the city at night and we made it taking public transportation and all. Win! I was really bad about taking any pictures that night though.. whoops.

Saturday I had plans with Alyse to go to a new VinBata class and somehow [after a couple drinks] Friday night she convinced me to go to the UrbanKick class before that. I’m so glad I went because they were both so fun! I’m not used to taking classes having a gym in my apartment complex so it was a really fun change of pace.

UrbanKick was a full hour of nonstop moving.. think Zumba with a kickboxing twist. Loved it! VinBata was really great too; it started with a few minutes of yoga warmup, then into about 25ish minutes of tabata training, and ended with 25ish minutes of vinyasa. I was completely squatted out after UrbanKick so the tabata part was rough but it was really nice to end with some good stretching.

Alyse, Rocky [the VinBata instructor], and me.

Nathan and I were both beat Saturday night so we just stayed local and tried a new pizza joint. Luckily for me, most of the pizza places also have other great options on the menu so I got a really good salmon fix.

Yesterday was a lazy day. I had the idea of going hiking just to get outside but we both weren’t feeling it so instead, we had more beer! We went over to Cato’s for lunch where they were having an adult Easter egg hunt. The egg that Nathan found got us a chocolate and a free beer. Heyooooo! Obviously because we chose the healthy option, we decided to take a post-lunch walk.. for gelato 😉

We split a cardamom orange zest and it was amazing. So much flavor on such a small spoon! Oh, and you know, in case you missed this on my Instagram feed yesterday..

Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday – Grilled chicken with zucchini fritters & pasta [for Nathan]/guacamole [for me]
Monday – Vegan bolognese.. except with ground turkey 😉 over zucchini noodles
Tuesday – Chipotle-style chicken rice/salad bowls with homemade salsa
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – Parmesan-crusted chicken with shaved brussels sprouts salad
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Green harissa chicken stir fry rice bowl

Food for Thought

What’s your favorite class that you’ve taken at a gym?
What fun plans did you have over the weekend?

The Great Peanut Butter Cup Debate

Have you entered my LÄRABAR giveaway yet?

Another relaxing weekend is in the books. Friday night involved some serious curly fry consumption and it really hit the spot!

Except I took a picture after we were 75% through them..

We had dinner at Barney’s and since I’m not a burger gal, I went with the salmon burger. Unfortunately this might be one of the only places that I’ve come across a frozen patty since moving to California. That didn’t stop me from eating the whole thing, but it made the curly fries that much better!

Saturday was super slow. We started our day at the Oakland farmers’ market and took a nice long stroll around the city. We ended up at Ike’s for lunch; they’re known for their huge sandwiches and it was no joke. We both could only finish half of our sandwiches before heading to the Sierra Nevada Torpedo Room. Because as I said before, it’s not a weekend without beer!

Sunshine and beer. What more do we need?

Tastings are always the best when we want to try everything on tap! This might also have something to do with our demolishing of the sandwiches after we got home. And my nap. It was a good nap!

Yesterday was also pretty slow; we took a little run over to Farley’s for breakfast. Nathan is just starting to run so of course my thought for distance goals involves different places we can run to for breakfast. Always thinking about the food! Post-breakfast I went to the grocery store to stock up for the week and made a pretty exciting find.

PEANUT BUTTER CUP SHOWDOWN!

I’d heard about the Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups a few months ago but hadn’t seen them before. We already had some Reese’s at home so I figured we needed to do the taste test. The obvious differences are that the Reese’s comes in a wrapper and the Butterfinger is more squared off. I also noticed that the Butterfinger cup is a little thinner.

Team Reese’s or Team Butterfinger?

The results are in. I’m still 100% Reese’s and Nathan votes Butterfinger. Honestly, I feel like the Butterfinger cup was pretty darn similar to a regular Butterfinger bar. I wasn’t a fan of the crunch and much prefer the creamier texture of the Reese’s. Nathan’s always been a Butterfinger guy so that’s his excuse. I guess I’ll accept it. I also took a poll on Instagram 🙂

I washed my peanut butter cups down with my favorite vegan salad around—the wilted kale salad from Source. The salad comes with sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, avocado, & house dressing. I also added “cluck” on top to make it even more filling.

Holy cluck!

And we finished off the weekend with more caramelized onions. This time on a killer cauliflower crust pizza with pesto, balsamic onions, ground turkey, and smoked mozzarella. Holy. Cannoli. We win!

Best. Combo. Ever.

Weekly Meal Plan

There weren’t many sales this week and since we’ve been stocking up on leftovers, we’re going to be cashing in. If you’re looking for meal plan help, shoot me an email.

Monday – Vietnamese Chicken, Avocado + Lemongrass Spring Roll Salad With Hoisin Crackers
Tuesday – Pork Tenderloin with Chipotle-Cranberry Sauce & Brussels Sprouts with Quinoa & Cranberries
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – Shish Tawook (Grilled Chicken Skewers) with Roasted Garlic Avocado Mayo, Garlic Parmesan Fries, & roasted asparagus
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers
Sunday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

Regular or curly fries?
Team Reese’s or Team Butterfinger?

What I Ate Wednesday #78: Larabar Review, Recipe, & Giveaway!

Lately I’ve been having some fun in the kitchen experimenting with different recipes I’ve found on Pinterest and trying to use up some random ingredients in the pantry. Well, for us it’s really the coat closet acting as a pantry but hey, when you have limited space, you make things work, right? [Right.] On top of that, I’ve been in touch with LÄRABAR and was offered the chance to sample a few bars to review and do a giveaway. How could I say no?

I chose the Coconut Cream Pie, Chocolate Chip Brownie, and Chocolate Coconut Chew to review and they also threw in a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip too! Do you see a trend here? Not surprisingly, they were all fantastic. One of my favorite things about LÄRABAR is you know what you’re getting. Have you seen the ingredient list for the Coconut Cream Pie bar?

Dates, Unsweetened Coconut, Almonds, Cashews, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

It doesn’t get much simpler than that. And so many recipes across the internet that resembled bite-sized versions of a Larabar, I knew I wanted to try my own version of them.

Blueberry Lemon Cookie Dough Bites

Makes 18-20 bites
Adapted from Lemon Cookie Dough Bites

Ingredients
– 1/3 cup rolled oats
– 1/2 cup dried blueberries
– 1/2 cup macadamia nuts; roasted
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
– 6″ slice lemon peel
– 2 tsp water [Optional]

Directions
In a food processor, add the oats and process until broken up. Add the remainder of the ingredients and process until everything is crumbly. You may need to add up to 2 tsp of water if the dough isn’t sticking together well enough. When it all comes together, measure out bites in 1/2 tbsp. You should get 18-20.. depending on how much you eat in the process [guilty!] 😉

Nutritional Information
Per 1/2 tbsp bite

45 Calories  /  3g Fat  /  5g Carbs  /  1g Fiber  /  3g Sugar  /  1g Protein

Breakfast
In true St. Patty’s Day spirit, I made myself a matcha green tea smoothie with banana, spinach, protein powder, and almond milk.

Lunch
And continuing on the green train, I made a nice big kale salad with roasted pork [from last week’s meal plan] and a side of avocado toast. Because I’m obsessed now.

Afternoon Snack
Crumbled 2 blueberry lemon bites over some plain greek yogurt with granola. Hit the sweet spot!

Dinner
I cheated on my meal plan. In all fairness, I was invited out for some shopping and dinner, so I finally tried the Public Market and got a TON of tandoori chicken over salad. Nathan was quite pleased to have the leftovers for lunch yesterday. And I did at least follow through for him and made the baked onion rings and roasted brussels.. both came out awesome and I was pleased to have those in my lunch yesterday!

Evening Snack
Apple and homemade chocolate pudding.

Giveaway Time!

Enter for your chance to win a box of 16 mixed LÄRABAR flavors!

Food for Thought

Which LÄRABAR flavor are you most excited to try?
Have you ever made your own bites at home?

Colorful Weekend Antics

What a fun weekend! The weather was so nice and, despite our Friday night antics and an early Saturday morning, it was actually pretty relaxing. But of course Friday is our night out on the town which started with a couple brewskis, baked garlic wings [with amazing homemade ranch!], salmon salad, and pizza.. with potatoes~! Plus, outdoor seating makes everything better too.

We decided to walk the streets of Berkeley after dinner and ended up at another bar with cocktails that were only $6.50 a pop! With a deal like that, you can’t say no, right? We also were chatting up the bartender, being another east coaster, so I asked him for the obligatory “look, we’re drinking!” picture. Or 10.

We’ve been meaning to actually explore the nightlife around us and I’m glad we finally started to. We also happened to walk by a Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop and after reading a couple of Tina’s recaps from her visit, I had to go in and try the Coconut Seven Layer Bar. It was a good choice. A very good choice.

Maybe I should have said no to the $6.50 cocktails because I had a 6 am wake up call for the Color Run. I did it last year in D.C. and was looking forward to meeting up with another Tone It Upper for this one.

It was so great to meet Lisa and we got a nice, early Saturday morning run in and were done before 9 am! I also stocked up on a couple bottles of ZICO.. I love a good race sponsor 😉

The rest of Saturday was pretty quiet [may or may not have been because of our rowdy Friday night] but we made up for it yesterday. For breakfast we tried Bartavelle Cafe, a small coffee shop next to Acme Bread Company, which just so happens to be our favorite bread in the area. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, and because it’s what they’re known for.. and because I’ve never had it, I got their avocado toast and an egg. The toast absolutely lived up to the hype! In fact, it might just change my breakfasts for a little while.

We also took a little cruise down to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. The weather was too perfect to ignore and I found a cute spot with outdoor seating, awesome salads, and wine in a mason jar. Right across the street, there was salsa music playing and people were totally impressive with their dance moves. Despite the terrible traffic getting there and home, it was such a great way to spend the day.

I’m loving this weather and I’m so glad I was able to spend so much time outside this past weekend.

Weekly Meal Plan

Monday – Buffalo chicken/tofu, baked onion rings, and roasted brussels sprouts [moved from last week’s menu]
Tuesday – Spaghetti squash casserole
Wednesday – Corned beef with spiralized carrots & cabbage
Thursday – Korean BBQ chicken stir fry
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Cauliflower crust pizza
Sunday – Lentil vindaloo

We had tons of leftovers last week and were able to stretch things a bit more than expected which was awesome. I’m hoping this will be another good week for leftovers too! If you’re looking for meal plan help, shoot me an email.

Food for Thought

Have you ever had avocado toast?
What’s on your menu this week?

Because I Can.

I can run. But I’m not a runner.

Moving has been a lot more difficult trying than I expected. Don’t say “I told you so” Mom! I’ve really learned a lot without even really noticing; a lot about my relationships with people, a lot about what I want [or have no idea what I want..] out of life, and most importantly, I’ve really learned a lot about myself.

Without a job, I have a lot of time on my hands. That’s not to say I’m not filling that time—blogging, job searching, side work, studying for my personal training certification—I definitely keep myself busy. But that’s a lot of time by myself and it’s a lot of time thinking, whether I like it or not. It’s brought me to think about being comfortable with myself. It’s brought me to realize that I can throw my old routine to the wolves and still make it out alive. I also think about the things that truly make me happy.

I’ve really learned more about myself in these past few months than I thought I would. Last week was kind of rough [read: I was rough on myself.] It seemed like no matter what I was doing, who’s method I was trying, what workouts I was doing, the scale went up [I know. Toss the scale.], my clothes felt tighter, and I just didn’t feel great. I took an extra rest day because my legs legitimately hated me and the thought of moving. So Saturday night, I decided that Sunday would be a run day. I wanted to prove to myself that I can still run.. at least a 5K. Because everyone runs, so why shouldn’t I?

So I ran. I ran a 5K, then I walked a little, and ran a little more. I totaled 5 miles on the treadmill and then met Nathan for a quick run over to get some coffee. And in that time I realized that I can run, but I’m not a runner. I don’t enjoy it. My body doesn’t enjoy it. It doesn’t clear my head. It’s just not fun for me. But you know what? That’s ok. I don’t have to be a runner because other people are. Hell of an idea, right?

I enjoy lifting—I enjoy Best Body Bootcamp [darn this being the last one!]—and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ll still do 5Ks because I like the feeling of finishing. And I’ll still run when I feel like it every now and then. Because I can. Not because it’s what good for other people. It’s crazy that it took so long to figure out.

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Chipotle Mango BBQ Chicken Salad [this one got pushed from last week]
Monday – One Pot Moroccan Chicken + Chickpeas with Pistachio Couscous and Goat Cheese
Tuesday – Baked Turkey Meatballs, Honeyed Cauliflower, & spiralized veggies
Wednesday – Chicken and Asparagus Lemon Stir Fry [with added mushrooms. Because why not?]
Thursday – Pork Carnitas tacos with roasted red pepper, pineapple salsa, and rice
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Buffalo chicken, baked onion rings, and roasted brussels sprouts

If you’re ever looking for help with meal planning, shoot me an email!

Food for Thought

Do you enjoy running?
What’s on your menu this week?

Link Love #20

You’ll never guess what happened yesterday. The last box was unpacked! Given, we still need to figure out where to put things, but damn, it feels good to get rid of boxes! That said, still accepting any creative storage tips 😉 But now for a little weekly love..

Health

Is Intuitive Eating Always a Good Thing? – the Real Life RD

Is Intuitive Eating Always a Good Thing? – the Real Life RD
Skinny: The Ultimate Compliment? – Snack Therapy
9 Self-Destructive Habits to Ditch in 2014 – Babble
Fit Myths That Need to Go: Fat Makes You Fat – Thrive Personal Fitness
If you could have good health from a pill, would you still exercise? – Fit and Femenist

Fitness

Burn It to Earn It Circuit Workout – Fitnessista

Chefs in the kitchen + a new circuit – Fitnessista
Wednesday Warm-Up: 4 New Running Drills – Cotter Crunch
Box Exercises Beyond Step Ups and Box Jumps – Lifting Revolution
Love Your Total Body – Tone It Up
New Workout Video! Ropes, Push Press, & TRX Plank Power Circuit. – Powercakes

Food

Thai Peanut Beef – Damn Delicious

Thai Peanut Beef – Damn Delicious
3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Mousse – Minimalist Baker
Bulgogi: Korean Beef BBQ – A Spicy Perspective
The Big Vegan Bowl – Oh She Glows
The Winter Abundance Bowl – My New Roots

Food for Thought

What was your favorite post from the past week?