I couldn’t believe it when I looked at my clock and noticed it was 12:30pm. My stomach was screaming for some food at this point, so I took 15 minutes to wolf down my lunch, in my car, while driving around preparing for an event. Good thing I packed a wrap today (easily consumable). The crack wrap was so good, the best thing I have ever eaten, and I know I am just saying that because I was starving beyond belief when I ate it. It was comprised of a WW wrap, hummus, Dijon , spinach, roasted red pepper, and pickles. What an excellent combination!

I also had a small side salad that was also extremely wonderful; however, a bit hard to eat on the road. I think I missed my mouth a few times and ended up with some avocado on my black pants! Darn, slippery little things they are. The salad was romaine, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, avocado, a few orange pieces (leftover from yesterday’s orange at lunch), and blueberries. Fantastic!

After reading Tina’s post on her salad rut, I started thinking about how I could probably eat just about anything in my salad. The best salads are the ones with a vast combination of all things- veggies, fruits, healthy fats, and some kind of crunch. Lately, I’ve been re-introducing beets into my salads and forgot how much I LOVE these little additions. One time, my friend looked at my salad and said “Lauren, I want to eat healthy but I just can’t bring myself to put those nuts and fruits in my salads like you do.” Haha! Are you kidding, those are the best parts! Oh and by the way, I always say, the very best part of the salad, is the last bite. The last bite seems to soak up all of the wonderful flavors so I am always sure to savor this part.
You will never get tired of eating salad, so long as you have enough ideas to spice them up and let me tell you, the possibilities are endless when you have a bowl of leafs to start with.

Well I was on my own tonight. Toly was at his aunt’s 50th Birthday Party, Russian style, in Baltimore but I had to work late. Since it was such a long day and it was getting late, I wasn’t much in the mood to spend an hour in the kitchen making my own dinner, so I pulled out something from the good old freezer (something I rarely do). I forgot I had another Kashi Mayan Harvest Vegetable Bake stashed in the back. I’ve tried this one other time and was soooo impressed. I heated up the last of the broccoli as well and also threw together, yet another salad. Since I wimped out on my main course, I thought I should put some love into the salad tonight.
First, I roasted diced butternut squash in a little honey and balsamic. Then, I dressed some greens with chopped apple, cabbage, raspberries, shredded zucchini, crumbled goat cheese, and a little maple fig vinaigrette and added the warm squash at the end. Amazing salad, once again!

I’m exhausted and plan to sit my booty on the couch, pour me some wine, give myself a pedi and work on my “maybe” new blog page.

We have a great weekend planned. There will be a wedding, some shopping, homemade pizza….. Can’t wait!

Hope you all had a wonderful week and are looking forward to an even better weekend

Since I did so well today with getting my tasks complete, I decided to reward myself by going home for lunch. I would go home more often (since I live a mile or two away from my work) but I find its so hard to go back once I am home. Anyways, being at home gave me the chance to have a “hot” lunch for a change. I heated up an Amy’s Organic Spinach and Feta pocket with some steamed broccoli. These spinach pockets are a definite favorite of mine. I microwaved it for a few minutes and then popped it in the toaster to get a crisper crust, but I accidentally burnt the top..opps! Oh well, Sammy was quite happy with my burnt crust top.
I also cut up some orange slices and grapes. Fruit is so good right now, I seriously can not get enough of it. I am going to go into fruit overload pretty soon, but when everything is so darn cheap and good, its almost impossible not to buy and consume it all.

So as I was making out a store list for next week, I was thinking about the “staple” foods that I buy. I usually purchase the same necessities every week, and then depending on what I am making for dinner, I will get the extra ingredients. Here is a list of what I came up with for my staple food items.

• Cottage Cheese
• Soy Milk
• Cereal (Bran flakes and All Bran)- I just these as my base and then add another portion of a fun cereal to this mix.
• Vegetables (pretty much any and everything)
• Fruit (strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and whatever else is on sale)
• Lettuce (Spinach, Kale, Romaine)
• Yogurt (Greek and Dannon)
• Frozen Fruit (I eat this practically every day)
• Oats
• Peanut Butter and fruit spreads
• Egg Beaters
• Cool Whip (aka, crack or my guilty pleasure)
• Newmans Own Double Fiber Whole Wheat Bread (The best bread in the world!)
• Seltzer water
• Feta/Goat Cheese

That’s all I can think off the top of my head, but I am sure this is more. It’s pretty safe to assume that these things will always be in my kitchen.

So what about you? What are you’re staple food items???

Continuing on with the day…

Toly and I conducted our normal Tues/Thurs lifting after work. I’m finding that lifting is getting much easier for me, so I’ve gradually been upping my weight. It took months and months, but I am finally seeing definition in my twig arms (which is what I have been striving so hard for) and a few people have actually commented on them. Heck yeah, finally all the gruesome weight training is paying off!

Check out these two studs. Sammy apparently had a rough day and felt that he needed a much deserved belly rub.

We worked up our appetites for a good dinner- Grilled Chicken Sausage, Sweet Potato Fries (regular for him) and Salad.

Check out this sweet potato. One of the biggest I have seen! I used a little less than a 1/3 of this monster.

The chicken sausage was TJ’s Sweet Apple Chardonnay (love these) with some sauteed red onions and spinach for a quick and tasty relish. You need to give this a try, all I do is saute red onions and once they are soft, I throw in a pinch of brown sugar until they become browned and caramelized. I add a big handful of spinach at the end and splash balsamic vinegar to deglaze and pan and bring all of the flavors together. It’s sooooooo good, trust me!

Salad tonight was a beauty- Romaine, chopped green apple, dried cranberries, walnuts, purple cabbage, cucumber and feta.

T’was a very tasty meal, if I do say so.

One more question- I am thinking of converting over to World Press?!?! I’ve been playing around, and I definitely like the layout better and they seem to offer more features that I want to add to my blog. For those of you who use world press, what do you think? I like Blogger, but I really want to add some more features and I can’t seem to figure out how. Every time I think I find a new template or layout and I go to download it and upload it into Blogger, it fails! Any suggestions???

Hope you had a tremendous day!

Do you ever have those days where you feel like you under attack? All you want to do is escape from the rath of everyone else’s trouble but you feel trapped?

Okay, sorry to be such a Debbi-downer, but it really has been just one of those days. Oh well, tomorrow is another day right?!?!

I did find some time to escape for lunch today. Yes, this meant resorting to taking my lunch break in my car, but honestly, I prefer to eat lunch in my car. I find that if I eat at my desk, I won’t actually stop working or I get interrupted frequently and I hate eating in the lunch room because its like an ice box. I can barely chew over the shattering of my teeth. So my car is actually quite nice. I turn on the radio and grab a good magazine and I really do get a few minutes of peace and solitude.

I consumed the usual salad, only today, I tested out a new product that I want to share with you. I recently discovered tempeh and love it! When I made it last week, I simply baked it in a little dressing or sauce and it was superb, but at the store this past weekend, I noticed a product called Tempeh-Tations which are flavored tempeh bites. You can heat them or eat them cold, which is perfect if you add them to salads. I had the Zesty Lemon flavor but I believe they also make these in a teriyaki flavor as well.

My thoughts….these were quite good. They contained the same chewy nutty texture which is what I love about tempeh and were very flavorful. My only complaint is that they did have a bit of a bitter taste, but I think that was from the lemony coating on them. I’m wondering if they would taste any different heated? Overall, I would buy them again, maybe in the teriyaki flavor next time, and they are perfect to throw on a salad for a quick, filling addition.

So although the day kind of blew, I did have the wonderful feature of Wednesday night BFD to look forward to. We skipped last week, which made me ever so anxious for tonight’s selection. It was a true diner-ish breakfast- omelets, home fries, and toast.

My Greek Omelet- Shredded zucchini, spinach, sundried tomatoes, kalamative olives, and feta with butternut squash home fries and a piece of blueberry crumble bread, toasted with some TJ’s bluberry preserves.

Toly’s Denver Omelet- Bacon, Ham and Cheese with regular home fries and the same kind of toast.

Oh breakfast for dinner is just wonderful. If you haven’t tried this, what are you waiting for? It’s cheap, quick, easy and oh so good!

So that’s about everything for today. I think I need to end this yuck-o day on a good note. There is some vanilla soy fro-yo in the freezer that is going to be my remedy.

Hope your day was much better than mine.

So, as some of you may know, Toly and I had a bit of an “unexpected” honeymoon experience last year when our 9 day Cruise to the Caribbean turned into an all “at-sea” excursion with a few stops in North East, including Newport RI, and Manhattan. (Lesson learned-don’t book a cruise during prime hurricane season!) Regardless, we still had a great time; however, we want to plan another “honeymoon” in the near future, especially while we still have the time and means to do so. We have been looking at a few different options, mostly at all-inclusive resorts, but the more I think about it, the more I am turned away from the idea of another tropical escape. My true dream would be to travel across the world to someplace incredible and for me, this means Italy .

Casually, I brought this notion to Toly, just to see what kind of reaction I could conjure, and surprisingly, he didn’t turn it down. He agreed that we could take a look at some options and talk with a travel agent. Obviously, NOTHING has been decided and we aren’t thinking of taking this trip until next spring, but even the mere thought of spending a vacation in Italy makes me elated. We have adventurous souls and love to experience new cultures, so traveling to another country and partaking in their civilization is ideal for us to spend our 2nd honeymoon.

Have any of you ever been to Italy or any other amazing places out of the country? Any suggestions, ideas, tips? We really have no idea at this point, so any help from anyone would be so wonderful!!

But on to the here and now, dinner this evening. I don’t know about you all, but the weather seems to completely affect my appetite and cravings for certain foods. When it’s damp and raw, I crave warm comfort meals, like grilled cheese and tomato soup. So, I listen to my body and make just what I feel and Toly always happily complies.

I also feel that if you are going to make a classic like grilled cheese, you shouldn’t compromise. Seriously, how boring is white bread and American cheese? Let’s make this quintessential sandwich a little more “adult” shall we?

Assemble and Grill (I use my Foreman as my Panini press). Oozy, gooey, deliciousness and so incredibly fresh!

Toly’s grilled cheese was a bit more traditional. He had melted provolone, bacon and tomato on the good Panera bread.

I can’t imagine eating a grilled cheese without the classic pairing of Tomato soup, so I also heated up a can of Amy’s Organic Chunky Tomato soup. (Best tomato soup ever!!!)

There was also corn for Toly and steamed broccoli for me to complete the plate.

Now I am getting ready to turn on the John and Kate Plus 8 season premier that I missed last night. I use to watch the show casually (Toly always hated it) but now with all the crazy hype, I am dying to see what the new season will be like. Ugh, once again, I get sucked in to mindless celebrity smut, but hey, it’s cultural right?!?!

I’ve mentioned before that joining my dad on these adventurous trips is one of my favorite things to do. We’ve made it a father/daughter tradition and since we are both werid-o foodies and highly appreciate the exact same unique things, we absolutely LOVE spending the day food shopping.

We started our day by heading down to IKEA in Whitemarsh, MD. I’ve been wanting to hit up IKEA for awhile since I am currently re-doing our bedroom. Funny though, I didn’t end up buying anything for the bedroom but rather random little dishes and gadgets for the kitchen. (Dang, this always happens to me when I am at IKEA).

Oh well, it was fun and I picked up a bunch of cool things.

Then, our most anticipated stop of the day…Trader Joe’s. Ever since I introduced my dad to this place a few weeks ago, he has made the hour long trip 3 different times now.

I was a little more prepared this time around, and had a good idea of some things I knew I wanted to get and some other new things I couldn’t pass up. Don’t worry, you will be seeing a plethora of these throughout the next few weeks in my meals.

After TJ’s, I became famished (shopping really works up an appetite) so I broke open my box of Fig Cereal Bars. These were awesome. Tasted like a fig newton but only better.

We made a few stops on the way back home, but sadly we had to cut the day a little shorter than usual because my dad had to get home for a picnic.

Toly spent his day being a very productive husband. He not only cleaned the windows, organized his closest, vacuumed the whole house, and cleaned out his office, he managed to find time to run to the store and pick up dinner to make as well.

He picked up a steak for himself (this is what happens when the boy shops by himself) and a piece of tuna for his truly.

He grilled the steaks along with some corn. I put mine on top of a big salad (completely craving a huge salad today) with some grilled veggies.

It hit the spot quite perfectly!

Very productive day and now I’m beat. Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day!!

Tonight, I was invited to a low-key cookout at my parent’s house with my sister and brother in law. (Toly was out with friends, so I went hubby-less)

I arrived a little early to enjoy a glass of vino with my mama. I brought her favorite, Peach Chardonnay. We sat outside, talked, and enjoyed the views of my dad’s increible garden. Seriously, this man is a garden guru. It puts mine to shame, but I do get to reap the bounty whenever the harvest arrives!
My dad got to work on the grillin’. He made incredible burgers-100% beef and turkey/spinach with goat cheese.

I had about 1/2 of a turkey (these things were mammoth, as most of the things he makes tends to be) on a slice of grilled tuscan bread, lots of pickels, a mater, and hummus.

Hope your Memorial Day weekends are off to a fantastic start. I have been looking forward to a 3 day weekend for some time now, and the weather here is going to be perfect for picnics, outdoor fun, grilling and much more.

We have a few things going on this weekend but really not too much, which is nice. Today, I woke up bright and early and did my 10 mile long run. It was so wonderful. After running, stretching, showering, breakfast and the grocery store, I’m just now sitting down to lunch. I have a hair appointment in about an hour and I really really excited to get a new do!

Lunch was a “clean the fridge” and make room for new stuff kind of thing. I had a bunch of things that I needed to use up so I threw together a “kitchen-sink” salad. The mix included

• Spinach/Romaine
• Cucumber
• Radish
• Carrots
• Strawberries and grapefruit
• Roasted Broccoli
• And tempeh

Drizzled with some Poppyseed dressing and watermelon on the side. I also quickly made a “Green Monster” that consisted of Kale, Strawberries, frozen mango, pom juice and soy milk.

Tonight I am headed to my parents for a cookout and Toly is going out with the boys. I’ll be back with a recap of the picnic from tonight.

Tomorrow is his “blind date” so more on that to come as well.

Okay now what you’ve all been waiting for. The Winner of my FIRST OFFICIAL GIVEAWAY….

(thanks to Random.org for selecting….)

Lucky number……

32!!!!!!

Courtney at http://www.hungryyogini.com/

Please email me your address and I will send you your prize!!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered. I will be doing another giveaway shortly so stay tuned. And to all new readers out there, thanks so much for stopping by. I really look forward to meeting more of you guys and getting to know you all.

Hope you have a great weekend planned!

See you later!

So I know that just yesterday, I was telling you all how I haven’t been splurging this month on dinners out, and totally forgot that I had this event planned for tonight. Opps!

Tonight, I had plans with my very good and oldest friend in the world, Jillian for a wine tasting happy hour event downtown. Jillian and I have been friends since we were 4 years old, grew up in school together, she introduced me to my current hubby, we went to college together for a little, were in each other’s weddings and now still love local. Unfortunately, we are both crazy busy these days and don’t get the opportunity to spend much girl time together like we use to, but we had planned to get together for our b-days for awhile.

I recently received a promotional email from a local restaurant that is located in the city. Every Thursday, Zia’s Red Door offers a happy hour wine tasting where you pay a flat rate of $15 and sample three different wines as well as appetizers. Both being wine-o’s, I thought this would be perfect for Jillian and I!

Zia’s was a neat spot. It’s located in the heart of downtown, right on restaurant row, and although it doesn’t differ immensely from most of the other places on 2nd street, it was worth a try. We decided to sit outside (being a gorgeous night) and dined al fresco style on the sidewalk of the city.

There were 3 wines featured. A Sauvignon Blanc, a Grenache, and a Shiraz. The Shiraz was by far my favorite out of the three.

The apps were quite nice as well. Steamed mussels, a crab and lobster dip, and some kind of lamb. (yuck! Even though I don’t eat or even like much meat, I tried it but I promise you I don’t like lamb)

We sipped out wines and enjoyed our apps over some good catching up time. We got a little more hungry and decided to order something substantial off the menu. Both of us felt that salads were in order, and chose to each order a featured salad and split. (I love having friends with the same foodie tastes as me, it makes dining out so much more fun!)

Jillian order the Caprese salad and I ordered the Seared Tuna. Both were awesome and totally hit the spot.

It was a great night and I am definitely happy that I gave in a little and went out and enjoyed myself. Even though it was still a relatively “in-expensive” outing, it was well worth the money just being able to catch up with a good friend, over good food and wine.

Hope you all had a great day!!

GIVEAWAY REMINDER!!!!! Only 2 days Left!!!!

How is everyone?? Just another day in the neighborhood for me. It has been a very quite week, which is nice, but it doesn’t really make for interesting posts.

Oh well, guess they all can’t be fascinating. I wanted to mention that I have been keeping up to date with my May monthly challenge of “Love Yourself”, but I just haven’t been talking about it. So far this month, I have been quite satisfied with my current routines, things, and have been productive in counting my blessings for the things that I have. I haven’t made any “unnecessary” purchases, well, we did buy a new bedroom suite, but that was something that we definitely needed. Last week, Toly and I went shopping because he needed new work clothes. I was thinking of buying a new dress for all of the upcoming weddings we have this summer, but then I realized, I really don’t need a new dress. I have so many already. So, I declined my wants and appreciated what I already had. Felt good too.

We also have been maintaining the “eat at home” mentality for the majority of the month. We only had one or two situations that called us to eat out (for special occasions) but other than that, our special date nights have been at home.

Speaking of special dates, a few weeks ago, I thought of a creative idea to add some flare into our already wonderful marriage. We do try to plan “date” nights at least once or twice a month but they have become very ordinary. Dinner/Movie only goes so far. So, I thought it would be fun to start making “Blind Date Days” for one another. Here is how it works. Each month, one of us will plan a unique event(s) for the other that will entail only the things we know he/she will love. The rules are, it HAS to be something we know the other would fully enjoy and you can not spend more than $30. I decided to go first, and I will be doing Toly’s Bind Date this Sunday. But that’s all I can say right now because he reads my blog everyday. Stay tuned for more details….

Lunch today was sort of spectacular, which is why I am sharing. I made such a worthy salad that not only was quite beautiful, it tasted amazing. The key component was BBQ tempeh. Last night, I simply cubed a bit of tempeh and tossed it in some BBQ sauce, then baked for 20 min. Holy goodness, I love love love tempeh!!! It’s nutty, it’s chewy, it’s nothing less than amazing.
The other components included, leftover squash and spinach (from Monday’s dinner), cucumber, baby spinach, red cabbage, roasted broccoli, strawberries and dried cranberries. With a light drizzle of poppy seed dressing, this salad delivered!

And then dinner was great too! I know it’s supposed to be BFD, but for some reason, I wasn’t feeling it tonight (and I don’t want to overdue the BFD tradition). It was hot today and I felt more along the lines of a soup and sammy supper. I made Kath’s Nutty Vanilla Sweet Potato Soup with Kale (which is probably one of the best soups I have ever had) and a Portobello Panini.
The Panini was roasted bellas in a blackberry and balsamic reduction (thanks LC for this wonderful idea!!!), spinach, avocado, and white bean hummus on pumpernickel bread. It was the best dipper for the sweet potato soup. I loved this meal!

Toly had a turkey bacon club on pretzel bread with a can of Progressive corn chowder. Not as exciting as mine, but he did enjoy it.

Off to get ready for the Idol results. What do you guys think? Chris or Adam???? Guess we all shall see shortly.

Have a great night!