This week, however, I was on a mission to finally make things that have been on my to-make list for AGES. I bought the ingredients weeks ago and this week was the week!!! Wanna see what I’ve been up to in my kitchen? Come, come!!

Jen posted about these salmon burgers last August during her burger week and raved about them. I love smoked salmon and thought it was such a fun addition to the mix.

Unfortunately wild salmon is very lean and I overcooked these. They tasted like dry smoked salmon patties – the sauce was the only saving grace. I mixed greek yogurt with sriracha and diced grape tomatoes. They added some spice and freshness.

The next night I wanted to make something with goat cheese. I cooked some ww pasta, sauteed mushrooms and spinach, threw in some leftover lamb sausage and then topped it all with creamy sundried tomato and goat cheese sauce.

I was a bit disappointed with how thin the sauce turned out… but it ended up thickening significantly as it cooled.

Adam actually said this was one of the best things I’ve made in a while! After a few bites I was hooked too – creamy and slightly tangy, with a pronounced sun-dried tomato flavor and just a hint of nuttiness from walnuts.

Btw, I only used 2-3T of sun-dried tomato olive oil (from the jar the tomatoes were in) instead of 7. This was plenty rich as is!

Next up, a craving hit. I NEEDED cheesecake asap. Although I live across the street from the Cheesecake Factory, I stay away from their 1,000+ calorie slices.

Instead, I went with an old (healthier!) favorite – honey yogurt cheesecake bars (ick, my photos have improved over the years, huh?).

I did have some meyer lemons so meyer lemon cheesecake bars were born (I added a bunch of juice and zest and subbed agave nectar for honey to let the lemon flavor stand out).

Can you see how light these are? They taste decadent but also very airy unlike the more traditional dense cheesecakes. I really love this recipe!

Agave isn’t as sweet as honey so these weren’t sweet enough for my liking (and the meyer lemon flavor was still lost) so I drizzled some maple syrup over the bars once cooled. I guess they ended up being maple syrup cheesecake bars!

Whatever you call them, these were delicious! How would you make the lemon flavor be more pronounced? I was afraid about too much liquid if I continued to add lemon juice….

Last recipe! I told you I was busy in the kitchen this week!!! GRANOLA.

While most of you (from what I read ) seem to be obsessed with cereal and granola and need a lock on your cupboards, I’m much more of a trailmix/nut/cookie girl. Cereal, as delicious as it is, isn’t a “trigger” food for me.

That was apparently because I’ve never made homemade granola – totally different ball game! I made Flour Bakery‘s granola last month and was amazed at how much I loved it. In fact, I ate a whole container-worth in just a matter of a few days… and it was supposed to be “for Adam.”

So this week I tried again. I followed NY Times’ recipe for olive oil granola (found through Tri to Cook).

I thought you could just throw everything in and bake, but I learned a lesson here. Yeah, someone didn’t read the instructions well! Add the dried fruit at the end - my beautifully sweet dried apricots turned into rocks!!! No worries, I picked them out and carried on with my newly established granola obsession.

Adam said it was the best granola he’s ever had!! I actually can’t choose between this one and Flour’s – both are fantastic. A little salty, crunchy, nutty. Yeah, I’m going to be honest – this granola has been enjoyed more often than not, straight out of the jar. And I’m ok with it

If you meal plan, how often do you deviate from the plan? I was so proud for following through because there is not much better than a delicious homemade meal.

On next week’s agenda – take ice cream and granola bars off the list. I hope to report back next week with some pictures for evidence

These recipes were all made from pantry items and meat/bread from the freezer and they all tasted like cheat meals. My taste buds had no idea this was diet friendly food. Just the way I like it! : )

Chicken parm meatball “subs”

Almost every single savory recipe on Healthy Food for Living looks like something that Adam (and I) would love. They’re comforting; they’re “man meals” which makes for one happy husband (and hey, I like me some man-food too. What’s not to love?). These chicken meatballs were full of Italian herbs and parmesan cheese – a little sauce and cheese put them over the top.

[1 Point Plus per meatball. This dinner was 10 points. The bun is a large hot dog bun.]

Jumbo bran muffins

On Saturday morning I woke up craving a big healthy muffin. When Adam asked where I wanted it to be from, I said “from my kitchen.” So I got to work…

While making coffee, the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook jumped out at me. I love that the Points Plus values are right there and I don’t have to take that extra step of calculating nutritional info (btw, I linked to the book through Amazon… if you buy it or anything else on Amazon, I’d really appreciate if you would start your shopping from Healthy and Sane (link on the right column)… I get a few percent commission from your purchase but it doesn’t cost you any extra. This money would be reinvested back into the blog. Thanks in advance!!). Anyways, sorry for the detour… back to the muffins…

The word “jumbo” was the draw here… who doesn’t want a JUMBO muffin for just 5 Points Plus. Sign me up!

The perfect way to start a morning. The strudel topping was unbelievable and I loved the sweetness of the raisins. Yum!

Chocolate gooey butter cookies

Paula Deen is who you think of when you think of healthy food, right? A few years back I had the Food Network on and she was making these cookies. They looked so incredible that even though I normally can’t stand Paula, I went straight online and printed out the recipe.

Finally this weekend I decided to make them. I stumbled upon the old recipe printout and figured it was now or never (I plan on cleaning out my recipe binder in a few weeks and plan on only keeping things I’ve made and loved. Everything else will go. It’s time for a clean beginning!)

These were incredibly easy to make and came out pretty well. The recipe made 36 cookies, only 3 Points Plus each! [I used reduced fat cream cheese… couldn’t help myself.]

I brought them to the Superbowl party and people seemed to enjoy them. I thought they weren’t chocolaty enough but maybe it was just the cake mix I used.

The slightly cakey texture (not muffin-like!) was pretty awesome.

Yes, I ate as many cookies as the amount of pictures I took. That’s what happens when you park yourself right next to the party food table. Oh well. The rest of my week has been going really well (diet wise). More on that in the next post!

What have you been cooking lately? I’ve definitely been a bit of a slacker lately so I was really happy to finally spend some quality time in the kitchen this weekend!

The book starts with an outline of Dr. Axe’s diet, defining “real food” and “fake food.” I didn’t really care for the tone of it – it seemed a little gimmicky with claims like “refined sugar is lethal when ingested by humans!” (yeah, ok!) which in my opinion actually undermined some of the good messages like avoiding hydrogenated oils and artificial sweeteners and focusing on hormone/antibiotic free, organic meats and eggs vs. their conventional counterparts. Some of the suggestions also lacked sufficient rationale. For example, the diet allows for small portions of grains but they must be unprocessed and glutten-free. I didn’t understand why glutten-free (for people that do not have glutten allergies) was recommended and further why some recipes in the cookbook portion called for glutten-free pancake mix. Is that unprocessed? Again, why is it better than whole wheat flour?

The book and I generally didn’t get off on the right foot but I was mostly interested in the cookbook portion and that’s what I set out to review. Majority of the recipes included nice looking photos, which I always appreciate (although a few of them did not match the description entirely… a bit sloppy). I also liked the little shortcut signs for meals that are quick, pre/post workout, low on energy, kid-friendly, etc.

Most of the recipes appeared pretty simple and straight forward and many of them sounded (and looked) delicious. Perhaps because of the intro section, for the most part I felt like this was a diet book (first) with supplemental recipes (second), rather than a cookbook with certain nutritional guidelines. The one clear miss in the cookbook section was the fact that there were no serving sizes noted. In some cases it’s obvious, but for things like shakes, for example – I had no idea whether I was going to get a whole pitcher or just one glass.

Recipe review time!

Chicken Bryan

This called for 4 tablespoons of oil and 1/2 cup of butter for 2lbs of chicken. I’m all for not being scared of healthy fats but that confused me and I just couldn’t do it. The end result with significantly less fat, was still pretty delicious. I found the bitterness of the lemon rind a bit too strong on day 1, but it actually mellowed out in a few days in the fridge so the leftovers tasted better.

Egg Tahini Salad

A bit of a misnomer because it was actually a salad with eggs… not an egg salad. Am I too anal? Again it was a bit annoying that serving sizes were not included but I made a portion and while I had to thin the dressing out with some water, it was quite flavorful and I enjoyed it (the addition of tomatoes was my own and I thought it was brilliant! )

Next up I made the kale shake which I thought was vile. There is no picture here because after 2 sips (I forced a second one just to make sure I wasn’t crazy), the whole thing went down the drain. I usually force myself to eat whatever I make because I hate wasting food but this one was no go. The ingredients list included kale, cayenne peppers and bananas – this was either going to be genius or well, a disaster. You know what I thought of it by now

I’m happy to say it was smooth sailing from here. The rest of the recipes I tried were super flavorful, easy and very satisfying.

I made the raw marinara sauce with ground grass-fed beef (which I pan fried before mixing with the rest of the sauce) and served it over whole wheat gnocchi. The base of the sauce is sun-dried tomatoes which packed so much flavor. Loved this!!

The rest of the ground beef went into the making of the bison burgers. I know beef isn’t bison but I thought the spices that went into the patties were delicious – I’m sure they’d work great with bison! (Note: the roasted butternut squash and cream cheese additions were my own).

Next up, I made the blueberry bliss snack bars. I don’t know how many the recipes was supposed to make – I shaped them into 2 and had a fun little photo shoot.

These were sweet yet wholesome. I chopped my almonds coarsely and enjoyed their crunch. I also think that making bars into rounds makes them feel like cookies and extra special. I sure felt special eating these

The last recipe I tried was of the avocado mango salsa. It wasn’t much different from other avocado mango salsas I’ve tried but I was happy to have this sweet/sour combo again. It paired beautifully with grilled shrimp with I served over red quinoa.

At the end of it all, I think Dr. Axe got some of my trust back. We had a rocky start (and that kale shake is seriously disgusting!) but all these eats were clean, fresh and delivered strong flavors. I bookmarked a lot of the recipes for a potential review and definitely still plan on trying them out!

Would you like to try the recipes yourself? I have one free copy to giveaway!

Here are the rules; there are 6 ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – tell me what your favorite cookbook is and why.

2+3) Follow me on Twitter (please tell me in the comments what your twitter name is so I can confirm). For an additional entry, you can also tweet about this giveaway (my twitter name must be included to qualify – that’s @elinacooks fyi)

4) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

5) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

6) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. The giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry) and will end on December 11. I will randomly choose a winner using random.org and announce him/her on Sunday. Good luck!

b.good hooked us up, I tell ya! We had every kind of mini-burger: veggie, turkey, beef and chicken.

Burgers as far as the eye could see…

Everyone waiting patiently for me to take photos

Table #2:

Southwestern chicken salad – my favorite!

Sweet potato fries – these guys went fast!

Fruit shakes: mango and banana/strawberry

Ok…. go!

Brian (Bridget‘s husband) and Alicia

Melissa and Josh

Brian, Lauren, Bridget’s butt (hehe), Shannon and Alicia

My plate:

I finally tried the veggie burger!!! It has onions in it but I couldn’t taste them. I’m super happy about that one because sometimes I really do prefer a black bean burger vs. a meat one. El guapo is my favorite burger combo at b.good.

After eating and chatting, we eventually settled down on the couches. That’s pretty much the only thing I like to do on a full belly.

[Kyle and Tiffany are on the left (I think they're the only ones that I haven't covered yet ) although perhaps Bridget should get a real introduction as well (she's second from the right) ]

Everyone was relaxing… except Adam. He was doing some intense entertainment apparently.

This dinner was a great way to spend some time with my blogger friends. The food was healthy and delicious, we have minimal clean-up (just some wine glasses, oh yeah – I had Yellow + Blue savingon blanc which I liked and some Y+B rosse which I didn’t) and we have plenty of leftovers for the next few days. Now that’s a party that accomplished quite a few things!

Thank you, b.good, again for offering to cater this dinner and thank you Lauren, John, Melissa, Josh, Bridget, Brian, Shannon, Alicia, Tiffany and Kyle for coming!! If you don’t know these awesome bloggers already, check out their blogs (linked above) – they each offer a unique food blogging perspective and even some fashion talk.

And just to make sure we cover all the bases, here are my eats from earlier in the day…

BREAKFAST

Banana oats with Barney Butter and cherry preserves.

Yes I’m crazy. I ate hot oats on a hot summer day. No, you won’t see it again for a while.

WORKOUT

50 min spin + 10 min stretch. I was drenched! I think that means I was using my time wisely.

LUNCH

Mixed greens, tomatoes, roasted beets, CEiMB pesto potato salad, pinto beans and goat cheese + 1T goddess dressing. I could really drink that stuff. Ok, that’s gross…. but I kind of could.

SNACKS

Shelling peas (I ate 1/2 of the bag)

+ banana with Barney Butter (unpictured)

Good day. Time for bed.

Have you ever had a party catered? I could really get used to this kind of luxury.

BREAKFAST

FFL english muffin with crunchy Barney Butter and fresh local strawberries + coffee (of course)

Mmm, these guys were so sweet! Produce really is so much better during peak season. I’m eating as many strawberries as I can these days because in a few weeks there won’t be much of these berries at the farmers market. PS – english muffin + almond butter + any fruit is a great combo… and I mean ANY. Try it!

WORKOUT

Abs + spin classes. My abs were on fire (and somehow I did more today – I don’t learn! ). I had 2 almond stuffed medjool dates before my workout. Dates are a great pre-workout fuel!

LUNCH

Leftover pasta with roasted tomatoes, garlic and white beans. It was a bit better the next day, I guess the flavors developed.

Since it was July 3rd and our office was looking pretty dead, I left around 3 to hit up the farmers market and do other grocery shopping before the long weekend. Eventually hunger hit…

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

TJ’s Tuscan Pane with Samira’s Homemade baba ganoush and roasted beets

You know all about my obsession with all of the above ingredients so I won’t bore you.

DINNER!

This was my favorite meal of the day. I just love having a grill and the best part about it is that I still get to cook something special. We don’t just throw premade patties on the grill and call it a day.

On the menu for this Friday night, we had a “man meal” as per Adam’s request. I interpret it as pizza, steak & cheese subs or burgers. Last night it wasn’t just any burger though – we made spicy poblano burgers with chipotle cream (recipe here, I didn’t make the pickled onions for obvious reasons ).

I made the patties, Adam did the grilling. The burgers were expertly grilled. He’s becoming good

Instead of pickled onions, I topped my burger with sauerkraut.

Wow, this was one good burger! A little spicy from the roasted poblano peppers, nice and moist from the addition of soft bread and smoky and hot from the chipotle cream. The chipotle cream is $$$, I tell ya.

Corn on the cob, just simply grilled. For some things, simple is best.

Dinner all together. This was an awesome man meal that can be enjoyed by a lady like myself.

After dinner our friends came over for a few drinks on our patio. The weather was gorgeous! I had 2 glasses of the Perducci sustainable white.

This is a great general white – pretty smooth and not very sweet. I’m a fan.

Lastly, no day can be complete without dessert. Tiffany requested chocolate mint ice cream which I attempted to lighten up by using 2% milk and half-and-half instead of whole milk and heavy cream, but for some reason it wouldn’t harden. Does anyone know why? Instead, we had chocolate mint milkshakes with oreo cookie pieces. And yes, we spiked them up with a bit of Bailey’s mint.

It was one good night.

All right, the boys are getting rowdy in the pool so before this post costs me my laptop, I’m going to sigh off. Have a great weekend everyone!!!

So here we go, nice and simple today. Work is crazy but I still found time to take a minute and mindfully enjoy some very delicious foods.

BREAKFAST

Breakfast started with a little help from this weekend’s trip to the City Market in Burlington, VT. This is a community-owned grocery store, which means that many products from small local producers were available (for a few pictures of what it’s like inside the market, check out my previous post – you can click on the pictures to enlarge). I came in to find Liz Lovely cookies, which I discovered just days prior to our trip to Vermont through the Foodzie blog (which is very dangerous by the way, I’m a sucker for all the cute stories of small producers) and ended up clearing out their dessert bar. Ok, this may be a slight exaggeration but you better believe that the only thing that stopped me from doing exactly that is the expiration dates on the products. They were freshly baked and clearly should be consumed asap. One of the products that I just could not resist was this package of Butterfly Bakery raspberry apricot breakfast scones.

I absolutely adore apricots and these plump cookie-like scones (looks-wise) were a love at first sight. The first bite sealed the deal for me. Soft and buttery, with real raspberry and apricot chunks – this is the best scone I’ve ever tasted and I don’t think any future scone can stand a chance. These are perfect! I think I may freeze one and see how it preserves, because I’d love to stock up on a future trip to Burlington. And there will be a future trip. I’m obsessed.

I enjoyed the scone with coffee and an oikos (this batch is the best for some reason – so fluffy!). I didn’t end up eating the strawberries until dinner time. This was one good breakfast!

LUNCH

Lunch was pretty special too. I had a lunch date with Lauren and Shannon. It’s been forever since I’ve seen Lauren and I’m so glad that Shannon keeps popping in during lunch to my neck of the woods because that means we can see each other more often. Caffe Jaffa was our meeting place.

Look who I spotted already at the table… hi, Lauren! (hehe, I was trying to be sneaky but she noticed me)

Caffe Jaffa features American and Middle Eastern fare. I wanted nothing more than hummus. So that’s pretty much what I ordered – a hummus plate that came with a Greek side salad.

The lettuce was fresh, the feta and dressing (which I had on the side and just dipped my fork into) were both delicious. A great simple starter!

Mmm, hummus! Standard stuff (maybe even a tad too grainy for my liking). I ate about half with a warm pita.

The girls both ordered the hummus/baba ganoush/falafel platters (which is SO the way to go!) and I snuck a taste of Lauren’s baba ganoush and had one of Shannon’s falafel balls. Both were outstanding! The baba ganoush was very creamy, the falafel was flavorful and not at all greasy (although of course, it is still deep fried so one should enjoy such things in moderation).

This lunch was so fun! We chatted for a while, only stopping to take bites of our food. It was hard to go back to work, I’m not going to lie.

SNACKS

Before heading back to the office, Shannon and I did stop by the Copley farmers market. I bought more shelling peas. I think I have a problem (good thing they’re just nutritious peas).

Snack of champions!

DINNER

Since we’ve been out all weekend, there was not much in the fridge for groceries (I bought beets and greens at the farmers market – these would take too long to cook for a weeknight). I’m still impressed with how I pulled dinner off. And it was a good one, let me tell you!

About 3 weeks ago, Jen posted this recipe for salmon with strawberry and tomato salsa that I’ve been dreaming of ever since. The only problem is – wild salmon is expensive. I was waiting for it to go on sale but the day never came. Strawberries are only going to be in season for a few weeks and I happened to have some amazingly sweet ones from Quebec on hand. We also had half a container of grape tomatoes in the veggie drawer in the fridge and wild salmon burgers in the freezer. Hey, how about a salmon burger with strawberry and tomato salsa? Oh yeah!

The strawberry tomato salsa is the prefect balance of sweet and savory with balsamic vinegar’s acidity balanced out by the smooth and creamy laughing cow cheese I topped the ww burger buns with and of course by the incredibly juicy wild salmon burger (the burgers were from Whole Foods by the way – I highly recommend them!). Adam and I couldn’t get enough of this – so unique and fresh. Summer fare with a twist. This recipe is definitely going on the favorites list!! Thank you, Jen, for the inspiration!

Dessert was another City Market purchase.

Think 7-layer bar but better. I ate 1/2 of the package and it took a lot of will power not to go back to the kitchen and finish the rest. The white and semi-sweet chocolate chunks worked beautifully with walnuts, almost short bread-like crust, and of course the toasted coconut. I’m stopping now because the kitchen is not that far away.

The little pleasures in life. I don’t hate this.

Have a great day! And say hello if you have a second to spare. I was feeling a bit abandoned earlier but something tells me these yummies will bring you back.

All right, now that we got all these logistics out of the way, let’s talk about something I’ve been super excited about lately – EXERCISE! A little while back I wrote kind of a sad post about struggling with overeating and just not feeling “it” in general. The very next day, I forced myself to go to the gym to sweat it out and haven’t looked back. I’ve been an exercise machine ever since. I can’t stop. It’s been amazing (and made a difference in my eating as well). Finally activating my 7-day pass at Healthworks just added more excitement. There are so many classes offered and I want to try every one of them. I’ve been going to Fitcorp (my current gym) and Healthworks and loving every second of it. I love when the snowball effect works in the right way. It’s all about finding something that you absolutely love (and that may change with time) – doing the “work” is then effortless. I actually look forward to every class!

So now let’s talk food. This is Sunday’s eats. I didn’t have a chance to blog about them earlier (and there is some really good stuff here!) so I actually left my camera at home on Monday and took a little break from picture taking. You still get to see a whole day’s worth of food (from Sunday) so I think it’s all good.

BREAKFAST

A few weeks ago, Lauren blogged about a healthy carrot cake sandwich that can be enjoyed for any meal of the day. I kept it in the back of my mind and even bought a special mango, pineapple, raisin bread that I thought would be great with it. I was right!

Look at this beauty from Sunday’s breakfast…

The back side

Since the sandwich just has a touch of sweetness, you don’t feel like you’re eating dessert for a meal yet it is still kind of exciting. I may have another one of these soon. Carrots are not an ingredient I use often in breakfast so why not throw it in a little more often?

WORKOUT

Body Pump at HW. Hurts so good…..

LUNCH

Beet salad, leftover L’Espalier chicken and feta wrap

Awesomeness.

SNACKS

Low fat cottage cheese + strawberries

L’Espalier macaron

Wow. I forgot how much I love macarons. I know this is a big no-no but I just had to take a picture of the inside. The paste was fantastic and the outside “shell” was so delicate, I definitely felt like I was eating a real treat.

Here is another TREAT. Sunday was Father’s Day of course so I baked my dad some pecan pie bars (recipe here). He loves nuts as much as I do (it runs in the family actually ).

Mmmmmmm – short bread crust, caramel-like pecan filling. These are not low fat/calorie by any means but SO worth it.

I probably had a square and a half throughout the day (I never actually had a whole one – just kept picking at it at different times). Oh, and if you make it – a little less sugar works beautifully. I used 1 cup for half a batch and it was perfectly sweet. If you love pecans, this is better than pecan pie (and way easier to make)!

DINNER

I mentioned before that my grandmas from Israel are here. Well, they still haven’t seen our new condo so I invited everyone over to enjoy some pecan bars and last minute, Adam and I decided to make dinner for everyone too.

Apps – pita chips, TJ’s garlic tzatziki (SO good!!) + grapes

The main fare – grass fed cheeseburgers (with whole wheat buns)

Toppings: tomatoes, avocado, pickles

Smashed grilled red potatoes (and sweet potatoes)

A big salad – mixed greens, carrots, grape tomatoes, grilled zucchini and pine nuts

My plate:

Everything was super yummy. For the burgers, btw, I almost always use 2T ketchup, 1T worchestershire sauce + 1/4t pepper for 1lb of meat. It makes really juicy and flavorful burgers. The potatoes were yummy as well.

A little dessert wine to end the meal. It tastes like white grape juice

And that was Sunday. Have you tried any new workouts lately? I’m going to a step class today – it’s been years. I can’t wait!!

I was feeling a little anxious at work. It was about 3pm on Friday and I just wanted to go home. Instantly my body reacted by “craving” cookies (how is that a normal response to such situations I still don’t know). I also was really tempted to skip my after work workout because I knew I still needed to unpack and it was bothering me. Just the thought of skipping my workout brought so much guilt that the cookie cravings intensified even further. I haven’t had a good sweaty workout in over a week and I needed it… yet I was trying to sabotage myself. In my heart and mind I knew I was being irrational, so I started thinking about some Fit from Within tips that would put me in the right mindset.

Take the responsibility, not the blame

I had too much sugar the day before and really wanted to eat cleaner today, but I wanted cookies. I was feeling guilty just about this desire before I even “acted on it.” So I changed my attitude. Blame is demeaning, responsibility is empowering. Instead of blaming myself about my food choices the day before (something I cannot change), I chose to do something about my choices today! Instead of prohibiting myself from buying cookies (punishment), I chose to think about how I can have something much smaller that will not weigh me down and will allow for a great workout I really needed (a much better mentality).

This made all the difference. I didn’t really want the cookies anyway. I just needed a quick escape from work. This 100 calorie dark chocolate bar was sweet and chocolaty – exactly what I wanted without all the calories, fat and guilt from Paradise Bakery cookies.

Alter your definition of success

I had ambitious plans for my workout – it’s been so long, I wanted to make it count. Instead of setting high expectations for myself that just made me want to quit before I even started, I allowed myself to be proud of just going to the gym. It’s not easy for me to go after work. If I can’t make it there during lunch, the probability of me going really diminishes… especially on a Friday. I ended up having an amazing workout after all – I ran 3 miles hard, followed by 20 minutes on the elliptical + some stretching. I felt radiant for the rest of the night. Success!

PS- the gym brought even more inspiration. From the locker room board:

All right, so here are the rest of yesterday’s eats…

BREAKFAST

Ww tortilla, Barney Butter, oikos, 1/2 banana, Zoe’s granola & dried bing cherries + coffee

Breakfast pizza!

LUNCH

2 zucchini roll-ups

+ a fantastic salad!!

Arugula, grilled zucchini, cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, cannelini beans, pumpkin seeds and goat cheese – dressed in lemon juice and balsamic vinegar

All together, with water

This lunch made me so happy – so many flavors and textures. I just love grilled veggies with goat cheese and seeds. Mmmm

SNACKS

DINNER

If we stay in on Friday night, I always try to make something a little more special for Adam, aka a “man meal.” These smothered steak burgers from Cooking Light fit the bill.

I followed the recipe to the T, except omitted the shallots. The mushroom mixture was definitely the highlight. The burgers turned out quite juicy as well. I served mine on a Food for Life bun – so hearty. Mid-way I also added a pickle and some ketchup.

Delicious dinner. I already have plans for the leftovers too

What’s your definition of success?

No worries, though, because I feel fantastic today!!!! Weeeee I’m going to thank you and a few friends I was able to meet up during the day that just made yesterday a really great day despite a slow start. As planned, during lunch I met up with Shannon for a long walk. It was exactly what I needed. We just walked briskly, sweating and catching up on all things non-food related and then I dove into it and just spilled everything I’ve had on my mind recently – all the conflicting thoughts, all the behaviors I’m ashamed of. She had no “answers” (she often goes through the same struggles) but it was just really good to get it all out of my system. Go to Shannon’s blog and thank her for the little therapy session we had, otherwise I would have written novels and novels here. Haha. Seriously, it’s amazing how a brisk walk with a friend really clears your head. You guys should try it sometime!

BREAKFAST

So I wasn’t hungry in the morning but I knew I needed to eat. The perfect solution – SIAB (smoothie in a bowl).

This guy contained: 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 water, 1/2 frozen banana, frozen mango chunks, frozen organic strawberries, frozen spinach, almond butter, 1/4t xantham gum, 1/8t guar gum

It tasted like a refreshing sorbet!!! I added some Kashi GoLean cereal on top, mostly for esthetics but actually ended up enjoying the crunch. Awesome, awesome breakfast!!!

LUNCH

After a long walk, my hunger finally came back. I was super happy about that because this lunch was amazing and I didn’t want to just eat it like a robot.

Leftover spinach, artichoke, chickpea and tomato frittata

I know the pictures don’t make it look like anything special, but please trust me – this is a fantastic dish! Make it and you won’t regret it!!!!!

For lunch dessert, I had an orange.

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

Needed a sugar fix…

And then some more food to tie me over until a 7pm dinner – 1/2 FFL english muffin with 1T Barney Butter and 1/2 banana + tea

I forgot how much I love this snack – it’s so comforting. You will likely see it again tomorrow.

DINNER WITH FRIENDS

So we had some fun dinner plans as well. Adam and I met up with Melissa (@mgonyeo – she’s a twitter goddess!!) and husband Josh at American Craft for dinner + drinks. Josh writes a beer blog so we wanted to make sure he could try some fun new beers. I knew the beer menu would be fantastic, but I’m always nervous about eating at a bar. Food just always seems secondary and for me that’s just not good enough.

I started the evening with Ommegang Hennepin as per Adam’s suggestion

I loved this beer!! It’s a saison, which I usually like. Has a very full body and a very smooth taste. Later Adam told me it had 9% alcohol. Well, I couldn’t tell from the taste! Good thing I have high tolerance, though, huh? Jeez

For my meal, I decided to get a burger. American Craft offers a “make your own burger” with a natural beef, turkey or veggie base, then lots of creative toppings. I ordered a veggie burger with cheddar, garlicky greens and mushrooms + mixed greens.

The veggie burger was homemade at the restaurant and as per the waitress, was their take on falafel. This was my very first time having a veggie burger at a restaurant because they usually have onions (this one only had onion powder, which went undetected by me). You guys, this was the best veggie burger I’ve ever had!!!!!!!

It was soft and slightly chewy + super flavorful and all the toppings of my choosing were great as well. The garlicky greens were VERY garlicky and I love me some garlic. Hopefully I wasn’t breathing it onto everyone. The challah bun was also out of this world amazing. I originally planned on only having half of this, but there was no way I could stop myself at just that. It was seriously amazing. The mixed greens instead of fries also insured that I wasn’t in a food coma for the rest of the night. I did steal a few fries from Adam.

So after some food (everyone liked their meals, btw – we’ll definitely be back. I will be craving that burger without a doubt!!), we decided to try our luck at getting a table at the Publick House. The Publick House is very famous around these parts but this also means that there is always a wait… as we found out, even on a Tuesday. It’s ok, we waited patiently, with a few drinks in our hands.

I got a pint of the Original Sin hard cider. Creepsville (haha, Adam – just for you!)

About half an hour later, we finally got a table. Hi, Josh and Melissa!

Josh was a smart man and ordered a cheese plate – gruyere on the left, chimay on the right

I had 2 toasts with both cheeses and a bit of the whole grain mustard (which btw tasted like nothing). I believe the bread had some cheese baked into it – it was excellent. Both cheeses were great too – I surprisingly preferred the creamier chimay (usually I’m a hard cheese kinda girl). It tasted like a harder and slightly stronger brie. Yum!

We all stayed past our bedtime, leaving the restaurant at 10:15. It was just so much fun. Thanks, Melissa and Josh, for driving all the way to Brookline to meet with us. I think a day spent with friends is what the doctor prescribed for me. Oh, and I just have to say this….. 2 more days until Aruba! Yay!!!!

If you’d like to guest post on Healthy and Sane while I’m away, please send your posts to elina@healthyandsane.com by tonight (Wednesday) or the latest tomorrow morning. Thanks so much! K, back to the grind….

After setting up my profile (I have 2 pig tails, light brown hair and a very stylish purple outfit ), the board (also a scale) weighs you and then you go through a few balance tests. Then your “Wii age” is determined. Last night my Wii age was 45 because my balance was way off, today it was 47 – the Wii told me I clearly have memory problems. Oops I am, however, in the “normal weight range.” At least the Wii got some love for me

There are 5 categories of exercise. I picked a few “aerobic” ones to warm up (included some hoola hoop and step – oh yeah, it was quite the scene!), then some strength moves and finally finished with a few yoga moves. I think I’ll probably do yoga more than the other ones but the strength moves are pretty good. Adam did the same ones so the system ranks us. I like it when I get to beat him. A little competition is good

For your viewing pleasure… I can’t believe I’m posting these (the hoola hoop video that Adam took will have to remain private… I look like I’m having a seizure).

I had fun, but this certainly can’t replace my “real” workouts. I think it’s a really great tool for beginners to get into exercise. The sensors in the board tell you if your form is improper. I discovered that my weight always shifts to the left, so that’s something I need to work on. Adam and I plan on tracking our progress on the Wii. We set some weight loss goals for the summer (nothing crazy for me, just a few pounds for fun so I can show improvement on the system).

BREAKFAST

Coffee banana oats with chuck chuck

LUNCH

B.good turkey burger with homemade cinnamon apple chutney, roasted butternut squash, and cheddar. This burger is not on the menu, but you can ask for it on Mondays and Tuesdays for the next few weeks. As soon as I found out about it, I had to get it!!

Is that onions on my burger?!!

Let’s try this again:

Much better!! I asked if there were onions on it and the girl said no. Good thing I decided to take a picture of it before heading back to work or else this would be a disaster. The girl was really apologetic and I got a free coupon for a burger for next time. It was almost worth nearly missing my meeting (I was scarfing this down literally outside of the conference room). SOOO good (is that a foodie combo or what?)!!

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS DESSERT

A little chocolate covered wafer from Japan from my co-worker:

Yum!

100 calorie brownie by Glenny’s:

This brownie was actually pretty good for being 100 calories and low fat, and I believe there are no junk ingredients either. Not bad, not bad… I’d get it again if I wanted to be really healthy but was also craving a brownie.

DINNER

Mixed greens, roasted asparagus, hericot verts, grape tomatoes and 1/2 sweet-spicy glazed salmon fillet

+ crackers with Samira’s Homemade baba ganoush (see below)

This baba ganoush is locally produced and it’s amazing!!! I actually couldn’t stop eating this (imagine another giant piece of ww bread with a thick layer of it + a few spoonfuls straight from the tub). It’s so smoky and delicious!!! (I bought it at Whole Foods).

And that’s how you do it!

Whoa, is it really 11pm already? Time flies by when you’re having wii fun

Have you tried Wii Fit? If so, did you like it? If not, do you have any interest in it? I’m all for fitting exercise in, in a fun way

Waterpik giveaway here.