So here are my DO’s and DON’Ts based on my experiences:

DO

• Adjust your own expectations. This is a mid-week gathering and you have a full time job. No one expects a feast of all feasts. Which brings me to…
• Have a manageable plan. Last week I gave myself the task of making 2 apps and 1 dessert which I quickly whipped up together the night before. Everyone was more than happy with just that and a cooler full of beer!
• Get help – from your guests and your grocery store Guests always ask what to bring – give them specific instructions (beer, dessert, etc.) or go a step further and make it a potluck gathering. Last night the feast below (and more! we had to use a side table) was all put out by my guests!! A few items from the grocery store completed the table. You don’t have to cook every single thing from scratch. Cheese + cured meats went quickly. Crostini from fresh baguette + ricotta and sour cherry jam (all store-bought) was one of my favorite appetizers of the night! Even on the night of the party, get help from your guests with last minute touches if you need it. Many of them offer help, take them up on it if it’s going to ensure you’re not stuck in the kitchen all night while everyone else is having fun (although that shouldn’t happen if you actually plan right – see don’ts.)
• Have a partner in crime – Adam buzzed people in and was making sure everyone had a drink in hand and enjoyed each other’s company while I was still finishing up my dish.

• Make things ahead of time. I know this is obvious but man, was I reminded of this last night. I left a lot of things to last minute and paid the price. I like dips and dishes that can be warmed up or baked right before the party. Do the work ahead of time and you’ll be much more likely to enjoy the party you’re hosting!

DON’T

• Don’t over commit – seriously, don’t! I know you may feel like people have high expectations because you’re known as the food blogger or a really great cook, but remember – this is a midweek party. Keep it simple and manageable and your guests will be happy. I promise!
• Don’t be cocky – Last party went so smoothly that you think you can just wing it and end up watching 5 episodes of Top Chef Just Desserts instead of prepping the night before? (totally hypothetical ). Nope – not a good plan. Have a plan and execute on it  – this is how you keep your reputation as the hostest with the mostest!
• Don’t be a perfectionist – Last minute things at work so you couldn’t get off early to make sure everything was 100% ready before your guests arrived? It’s OK! As I was still making the pizza monkey bread below and needed my guests’ help, I kept rambling about how I was the worst host ever. Megan said something so sweet that really brought me to reality. She said: “Elina, look around. Everyone is having fun in the living room. You’re among friends. And you’re human.” Phew! It’s good to be among friends.

Last night’s guests were some of my favorite blogger friends: Meghan, Megan, Elizabeth, Cara (and husband Ben), Lizzy, Bridget, Shannon (and boyfriend Mike), Melissa and Josh, Kerstin, Ranjani, Tiffany (and husband Kyle). Check out their blogs if you don’t follow them yet!

I made this pizza monkey bread again last night but since this post is getting too long, I’m going to ask you to wait a little longer for the recipe. I promise you it will be worth the wait. Just ask the people above!!

And these Russian cheesecake lollipops will be shared on Russian Bites next week. Be sure to check back there! Edited to add: here is the recipe. Don’t miss it!

Speaking of Russian Bites, please give me some love on my post on vareniki (vegetarian Russian dumplings). Thanks! You’rethebestest.

Are you an entertaining guru? Share your do’s and don’ts with us!

Before this wave of inspiration came upon me (which by the way I totally credit the It Was Always Meant to Happen That Waybook… thanks Christie for reviewing it!! You all should buy it asap if you can relate to my struggles with food), pizza was on my mind. And well, I have the need to share such important things with you. ; )

Are you a pizza fan? What does “perfect pizza” mean to you?

To me, it means a chewy, doughy crust and incredibly fresh ingredients. Basically, it’s pizza from Picco. I’m obsessed!!

So obsessed in fact that Adam and I have had it the past 3 Sunday nights we’ve been in town… and I’ve ordered the exact same thing (salami & cherry peppers with garlic, rosemary, chopped tomato, fresh mozzarella, romano & basil) – this never happens!! Absolutely obsessed. It’s incredible. And now it’s our little Sunday night tradition.

Of course for those of you who don’t live in Boston, this little nugget of information is quite useless. I know! But don’t worry – I am now officially on a mission to create the perfect pizza crust, inspired by Picco!

This was Saturday night’s pizza (mushroom for me, buffalo chicken for Adam).

I used the dough recipe we tried at the King Arthur cooking class (scroll down that post to see the gorgeous pizza that came from that experience!)… which combines 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1.25t instant yeast, 3/4t salt, 1T olive oil and ~0.75cups of warm water. It is quick and easy… and it’s even better on the grill! Yup, I grilled our pizzas on Saturday [apparently I was in a grilling mood this weekend]!

You can’t really tell from this photo but the grill marks are all on the bottom and under the sauce. I brushed the rolled out dough with EVOO and put it directly on the grill. A few minutes later I flipped it (when little bubbles formed), left it on for a minute or so and then removed it to apply the toppings. The pizzas then went back on the grill, which I then closed to let the cheese melt for a few minutes and let the other side of the crust cook a bit more.

It was definitely the best pizza I’ve made so far! The dough was nice and crispy on the bottom but soft with a bit of chew all over! I thought it was close to Picco’s until we had it the following night… and so the search for the perfect dough continues! 

I think Picco uses sourdough crust… it was just so chewy with large air pockets, very reminiscent of sourdough. Have you ever made sourdough pizza crust? I need to find out how to do that and get on it STAT!

Pizza is one of my favorite food groups!

Please share your favorite pizza stories and recipes in the comments!

The mindful choices symbolized by a little tomato on the menu imply that the item may be reduced calorie, lower in fat, lower in sodium, etc. There is no set standard for what qualifies as a “mindful choice.” I did find that all the items appeared to be lower in calories, were more veggie centric and were prepared in a healthier manner (baked vs. fried; brown rice vs. white, etc.). Sounds more mindful of health guidelines, no?

Bloggers Melissa and Natalie were also in attendance (check out their new website dedicated to fun events in Boston!), as well as my friend Judith – between the 5 of us (including Nami) we sampled every single mindful choice. Yes, there was a lot of food. And yes, it was a lot of fun!

APPETIZERS

Farro salad with chips – a whole grain barley with diced tomatoes, cucumber and balsamic vinaigrette

[160 calories, 8 g fat – without chips]

Farro is a grain I rarely eat so I was really happy to see it on the menu of a chain restaurant. The balsamic vinaigrette added really nice acidity and the tomatoes and cucs added nice freshness. I say skip the chips (order this as a side!) and dig in with your fork. Yum!

House Made Guacamole with chips – red onion, cilantro, lime juice

[230 calories, 11g fat; without chips]

I did not try this since it contained onions, but everyone LOVED this guac. We don’t need to talk about the fact that avocados are good for you, despite the higher fat content, right? Ok, I didn’t think so.

Stuffed mushrooms – portabella, shiitake, goat cheese, bread crumbs and romano cheese

[140 calories, 9 g fat]

These were “meaty” and cheesy. Delicious!

SALADS

Walnut crusted warm goat cheese – baked goat cheese atop field greens, with fresh blueberries and low-fat blueberry pomegranate dressing

[250 calories, 17g fat/srg – whole dish = TWO servings!]

My love for all-things goat cheese is not a secret and this walnut crusted ball of heaven was my idea of a perfect salad. I think it would be really amazing to spread the goat cheese over some toast. Mmmm. Beware – this dish contains 2 servings!

Power salad with fat free raspberry vinaigrette dressing – chicken breast, spinach, plum tomatoes, carrots, feta, red grapes, goji berries, raisins, soy nuts, almonds, pepitas, and craisins

[270 calories, 7 g fat; 2 servings/dish]

Wow, there is a lot going on here, doesn’t it? I had a few bites and saw the potential of all the sweet/ savory/ crunchy/creamy toppings being fun but I didn’t actually get to taste them all in one forkful. Entrees and pizza were coming up next so I was a bit distracted, but I think this definitely could be a delicious power meal!

ENTREES

Chicken Milanese salad with balsamic vinaigrette – bread and baked chicken breasts, topped with a salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, red onion, kalamata olives, parmesan and balsamic vinaigrette

[430 calories, 29g fat, including dressing; 2 servings per dish]

I normally would not eat meat at UNO’s (until they start serving organic chicken!) but I tasted a piece for the sake of a review. Man, this was good. It was perfectly crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and very well seasoned. It is possible to have delicious “fried” chicken without frying (again note that 1/2 dish is meant to be a serving, if you eat the whole thing it becomes less of a “mindful choice.”]

Lemon Basil Salmon

[240 calories, 17g fat; without sides; 2 servings/dish]

This was nicely cooked – I loved the lemon/garlic/basil seasoning on top. A bit of butter also added a nice richness without making it greasy. Delicious!

PIZZAS

Harvest vegetable pizza on a 5-grain flatbread – house made salsa, garlic roasted cherry tomatoes, basil, peppers, spinach, broccoli, caramelized onions finished with cheddar and mozzarella

[410 calories, 22 g fat; THREE servings/dish]

UNO’s is obviously known for their pizza and despite not being the ultra buttery deep dish, this pizza delivered! I loved everything up until this point, but this pizza was hands down my favorite. I loved the abundance of veggies, especially the roasted tomatoes and broccoli. This is also made to order, so I was able to request it without the caramelized onions. Note that each pizza is 3 servings, which makes it the most caloric dish if you eat the whole thing (my advice: don’t ).

Roasted Eggplant, Spinach and Feta on 5 Grain Flatbread

[290 calories, 11g fat; 3 servings/dish]

I’m surprised this pizza is lower in calories than the one above given that pesto is higher in calories than salsa. Perhaps there is less cheese on it? This was good if you love pesto as your pizza sauce but I personally preferred the harvest vegetable above.

DESSERT

Mini granny smith all American

[320 calories, 14g fat]

Mini macadamia nut white chocolate cookie sundae

[660 calories, 35g fat ]

Mini bananas foster

[350 calories, 17g fat]

Mini hot chocolate brownie sundae

[370 calories, 16g fat]

Obviously, dessert is no health food. I appreciate that UNO’s offers mini-versions of many of their top desserts but of course they should still be treated as treats (they’re small but pack a caloric punch – see mini macadamia white chocolate cookie above]. I did not love these. They were super sweet and a little fake tasting in my opinion. I’d stick to savory offerings at UNO’s and have dessert at home.

All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised by UNO’s mindful choice menu items. Everything tasted fresh and flavorful and I would not hesitate to go back there again!

Has it been a while since you’ve been to UNO’s? One lucky Healthy and Sane reader will win $25 UNO dough so you can try any of the above items (or their deep dish pizza… hey I won’t tell ) yourself!

Here are the rules: there are 7 ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – Tell me whatever you want, like what your favorite pizza topping is or what you’d order if you won!

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 handle @elinacooks and a link to this post must be included to qualify)

4) Subscribe to Healthy and Sane by email

5) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

6) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

7) 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 on this post for each entry. The giveaway will end on February 22. I will randomly choose 1 winner using random.org on the following Wednesday. Good luck!

Edited to add: Nami just sent me a $10 off $25 coupon. If you live near the Boston or Newton restaurant and stop by, be sure to present it. Ok, I’m really done now. lol

Does vegan cheese taste like “real” cheese? Or at least, can it taste good?

I present to you, the contestants!

I halved one small pita and made little pita pizzas. Daiya topped pizza:

Lite (dairy) cheese pizza:

Some ‘shrooms

After 5 minutes in the toaster oven (quickest dinner ever!)

Can you tell what’s what?

Yup, that’s daiya cheese – didn’t melt as much but I’m sure it would if I gave it more time in the oven. I just wanted to compare the two with the same oven times.

“Regular” pizza with light cheese melted a bit better for sure. But how did these taste?

This lite cheese is not great but I’m more about the crust, sauce and toppings when it comes to pizza. Daiya mozzarella cheese tasted rich and cheesy but unfortunately it tasted like blue cheese to me, not mozzarella… and I can’t stand blue cheese. I took a second bite to give it another chance but just couldn’t stomach it. 20 minutes later Adam was home and gobbled up my leftover half with Daiya. He said to tell you all that it tasted really good, blue cheesy but way better than he thought. And he doesn’t pity vegans as much anymore… that’s basically a quote.

Have you ever had vegan cheese? What did you think? It was fun conducting this little experiment! Anything else you’ve been wondering about? Maybe I can be your guinea pig.

Just 2 more days left to enter the Now Eat This! cookbook giveaway!

So anyways, before I got off on that tangent, I actually wanted to say that I know there has been a lot of weight loss and goal setting talk on the blog lately, but let’s not forget the food!! Delicious healthy (or healthier) food! Here are two meals I made over the past two days that I actually was craving… and I enjoyed them immensely. Neither one was the absolute healthiest it could be but it was absolutely delicious. That counts for a lot in my book!!

Filipino adobo chicken

As you can see, this is chicken drumsticks – which of course is dark meat. Dark meat has a little more fat and calories but sometimes it’s a worthy treat. That extra bit of fat also keeps it moist and flavorful. I removed the skin (before cooking) so it was actually a really good compromise between skinless white meat and dark meat with the skin.

The marinade was a mixture of soy sauce and apple vinegar and created this wonderfully salty and acidic flavor that flavored every ounce of the meat. Braising it for about 45 minutes made the meat fall off the bone tender. Yummmm

Two drumsticks were 4 Points Plus. Oh and in case you’re wondering, the pink stuff is the “red” cabbage salad I blogged about on Russian Bites. The recipe for the sour cream cabbage on the right side of the plate will be revealed on Thursday on Russian Bites as well. (I told you I’ve been busy in the kitchen!)

Last night’s dinner was pizza. I had plans to host a girls night at my place and thought it would be fun to make our own pizzas. I prepared the dough the night before and refrigerated it, took it out 45 minutes before dinner (to let it come to room temperature) and soon enough we were ready to roll. My girls night was actually cancelled last minute, but that doesn’t mean that Adam and I couldn’t enjoy some homemade pizza anyway!

o

This is the first time I actually went heavy on the cheese. It was part-skim mozzarella so it was a bit lower fat than you’d typically get at a pizza parlor but really it was about the quantity of it (probably over 1 cup on the whole thing, I didn’t measure). You see, I LOVE pizza (it’s my favorite savory “cheat food”) and the homemade kind never really satisfied my craving the way “real” pizza did. I realized it was because I always try to make it too healthy at home. This time I made it just right.

I topped it with jarred marinara sauce, part-skim mozzarella and random stuff we had in the fridge – namely fresh mushrooms, spicy peppers and leftover grilled chicken. It was almost as good as take-out and still a million times healthier and cheaper. Do you have a favorite pizza crust recipe? This one was easy and pretty good but Adam and I wanted a bit more chew.

Do you ever make dishes a little less healthy than they could be to make them feel more like a treat? I used to be either healthy all the way or pretty indulgent (when I’m eating out). I still don’t think I can ever cook with a stick of butter (I’ll let chefs do that and not tell me, lol) but I think there is something to be said about taking it up just a notch once in a while.

A few more days left to enter the Better Butter peanut butter giveaway. Get those extra entries in!!

While the girls were cooking…

The boys were playing video games…

Typical! haha

Cranberry sauce, stuffing, apple cider roasted turkey and mashed potatoes… this was going to be a monster pizza!

Mmm, I want you in my belly!

With a holiday spirit and full bellies, it was time for the main event. Let’s carve these babies!

I feel very comfortable with a knife in my kitchen but this was quite scary. Check out Kyle’s face (on right) – doesn’t he look concerned? Haha. The boys actually ended up taking the top off for me.

Much better!

I’m such a girl sometimes. I was saying how while this was fun, I was looking way too cute in my clothes for such a messy job. Kyle gave me his old t-shirt and then I was ready to get down & dirty!

My template of choice:

Working diligently:

Voila! I’m such a proud pumpkin mama. I think my little guy is SO CUTE. I’m mildly obsessed.

Everyone else took much more ambitious projects on… pretty cool, huh?

Can I keep him forever?

Have you ever carved a pumpkin? What’s your most impressive pumpkin carving accomplishment? Kyle carved Homer Simpson 2 years ago – that was pretty sick. I can’t WAIT to do this again next year. I’m going to try something more ambitious next time now that I’m a pro. Ha!

*I was eliminated from the Project Food Blog competition on this last round. Thank you all SO much for voting for me and giving me the opportunity to get that far!!

PS – Tomorrow I am unveiling a project I’ve been working on for a while. I can’t wait to share it with you! Come back here to check it out.

PPS – Hi Karley! Thank you for working up the courage to say hello to me today. I am always really happy to meet my readers in person! I promise, guys, I don’t bite!

I actually ended up going to Whole Foods to buy ingredients for a dessert pizza. Doesn’t that sound like fun? But then I saw a small container of garlic marinated anchovy fillets and this ingredient just spoke to me. Dessert pizza will have to wait for another day.

I am really into anchovies lately ever since trying a few different kinds of crostini with anchovies on our recent trip to San Francisco and Napa. So it was decided.

• Whole wheat and honey crust. I used this super quick recipe – it literally took less than 20 minutes from start to finish – perfect for even a weeknight!
• Tomato sauce. My absolute favorite sauce is Trader Joe’s organic tomato sauce. I much prefer it to the traditional “pizza sauce” – its a big tangy and very fresh tasting. I am never tempted to make my own. Why mess with perfection?
• Organic part-skim shredded mozzarella
• Garlic marinaded anchovy fillets
• Hot pepper rings
• Avocado

I know this sounds funky but trust me, it REALLY works! (I made little taste test crostini first to make sure I’m not crazy and Adam and I both decided that this was an amazing combo so I proceeded with making it into pizza.)

Come join me in some pizza making…

Dough pre-rise

About 9-10 minutes later:

A failed attempt at hand-turned pizza:

The dough wasn’t elastic enough, I decided to knead it for a minute and then just roll it out. Easy!

[Tip: shape your dough into the final shape you want it to have - I "beat it" into a circle before rolling it out.]

Pierce with fork, pre-bake at 450* for 3 minutes

Let’s build our toppings!

After baking at 450* for 8 minutes

Top with avocado and get your plates ready.

Let’s eat!!

The anchovies are a little salty and have balanced flavors of garlic and vinegar, the pepper rings add some nice heat and the avocado provides some creaminess. This is my spin on a traditional pizza recipe.

What’s the most unique pizza combination you’ve ever enjoyed?

PS – Voting for challenge 5 entries begins Monday at 9am EST. If you’d like to support me, please follow the link on the widget (in the left column). Thanks again!!

Highlights:

- I can’t stay out of the kitchen for too long. Last night I made a recipe that’s been on my list for a whole year. Yes, this one is from July 2009 Cooking Light issue – phyllo pizza with feta, basil and tomatoes (recipe here). It sounded (and looked!) delicious so I thought this would be a perfect dinner to make on a meatless Monday. Now here is the kicker – have you ever worked with phyllo? It was crazy. The sheets of dough were SO thin and they were definitely sticking together and breaking the second I touched them. The recipe said to use one sheet at a time and spray it with EVOO spray (layering it with the cheese mixture every 3 sheets). I fought it for a few rounds and then started grabbing 2-3 at a time. I was nervous that it would result in a rubbery final product but it was one of the best things I’ve made in a long time. So flaky and light, the cheese melted beautifully between all the layers and the super fresh tomatoes enhanced the dish even further. It tasted like a cheat meal but it wasn’t! I will never attempt to make something like this on a weeknight again (especially since work was waiting!) but I think I need to give phyllo another go. It’s too delicious not to.

- The chocolate chip cookies from yesterday’s post were from The Best Light Recipe cookbook. I made them as a thank-you for our neighbors but we never saw them so I brought them to work instead. This cookbook is amazing but I have to say this recipe was just okay. The cookies were a little too crunchy and actually got rock hard after a few hours on a plate. I had to warm them up to bring them to life. Warm cookies are always better!

- No gym today. I get too overwhelmed on Mondays. I feel like I’ll never meet my deadline. Hopefully it will all come together soon (I definitely made a lot of progress over the weekend).

That’s all I’ve got for today. Here is yesterday’s breakfast and lunch (snacks were unphotographed – imagine a breakfast cookie, a serving of almonds and 1 plum).

Cya tonight!

As you may have guessed, we spent most of the afternoon/evening trying to clean up the mess. We extracted over 10 gallons of water just out of our carpet in the hallway. Thankfully Adam built up this little barricade between the living room and hallway so at least it prevented the water from going too far into the rest of the place (our bedrooms are dry). Our living room floors are 100% okay (we are still trying to figure out whether there is a risk of mold growing under there, but the carpet is soaking wet days later. The shop vac is unable to extract that much water at this point so we’re not sure what to do.

Anyways, we’ll get through it, I’m sure. Maybe we’ll at least become friends with our new neighbors out of this. They were extremely helpful – unclogged the sewer drain, brought lots of towels and around 7pm on Saturday even brought us dinner, fresh out of their oven. How incredibly nice is that?!!!

We weren’t going to stop until the mess was cleaned up, but when she came over with a hot pan of lasagna and meatballs, we realized we were actually starving. Talk about a random act of kindness. Adam and I couldn’t get over this. Definitely one of the nicest things a stranger has ever done for either one of us.

By the way, my laptop charger got submerged in water and is not currently working so I’m using Adam’s laptop which is painful (switching from a mac to a pc is not as easy as one might think), so I’ll try to keep it brief. Basically, this whole flood in our condo is a metaphor for my life. It been ridiculous at work, I feel like I can’t catch up with anything at home and the last drop in the bucket which I can’t ignore is that I gained so much weight recently that it’s affecting everything from how my clothes fit to my fitness level at the gym and how I generally feel about myself. I stepped on the scale last week and let’s just say that I haven’t seen that number in 4 years (!!!). I’ve been ignoring this issue since then but it’s time to clean up the flood mess!! I am not going to feel bad about myself, I’m going to do something about it. The plan of attack:

- Plan meals for the week and stick to the plan!! It’s ok to make minor adjustments based on taste preferences at the moment but I will stick to 3 meals + 2 snacks + 1 dessert (in moderation) equation until some progress is made in the weight dept.

- No mindless snacking/eating. My hours at home are going to get all out of whack over the next few weeks as I spend majority of my time in the office. That usually means stress eating. As mentioned above, I will make sure to stick to the pre-planned meals and snacks only. When life gets crazy like this, structure should be a good thing. I can do this!!!

- Continue making exercise a priority. I’ve been pretty good about this recently. I hope I can continue to keep it up despite the longer hours at work. I usually need a mental break mid-day anyways. A good sweat session should kill 2 birds with 1 stone (or something along those lines that’s less gross ).

How does this sound? I think it sounds good. I did A LOT of prep work last night for the next few days. Hopefully this builds up the momentum I’ll need.

So since I haven’t blogged in a few days, here are the highlights of this weekend’s eats.

Iggy’s ww bagel with olive jalapeno cream cheese and tomatoes

These tasted like sugar cookies with a pomegranate twist. Amazing!!

Beet/pesto/goat cheese and pecan panini + leftover b.good southwestern chicken salad

Spinach/artichoke hearts and mushroom calzone from Mangia (a treat on Friday night)

It was really delicious. We’ll definitely order from that place again!

I had the leftovers for lunch on Saturday. Yum!

+ Carly’s Confection 7 layer bar with a twist. So much white chocolate goodness. Another amazing treat for sure.

Sunday brunch at Sel de la Terre

Virgin bloody mary (I had to go to work!)

I had 2 of these. They weren’t very spicy but were definitely delicious.

Bread basket - I helped myself to a mini cinnamon roll and a cracker

For my entree I ordered the brioche French toast, strawberries, honey roasted almonds and vanilla butter.

It was really fantastic!! I removed that big butter blob and didn’t use any maple syrup because it was already rich and flavorful on its own. The strawberries were amazingly fresh and sweet as well. The sides of the french toast were perfectly grilled and the middle was kind of goey (souffle like) which normally would gross me out but it was so tasty that I didn’t care about texture. I would order this again in a heart beat (I ate half for brunch and then ate the other half later in the day as a “snack”).

Garlic/thyme smothered pork chop over qunoia and roasted rhubarb (adopted from this recipe).

It was great having a home-cooked meal again! Adam and I ate every morsel of our plates and I can’t wait for leftovers which I plan on making into a sandwich tomorrow.

All right, time for work! I apologize in advance for my random blogging schedule. I’m thinking of doing a picture collage at the end of each day and noting how my plan of attack is working so far. What do you think? Are you up for it?

I’ll be back with a bang in a few weeks. I have some giveaways in the works and a few posts that just need a little more research time. Happy Monday!

BREAKFAST

Oikos, 1/2 banana, healthy and sane YouTrailMix

Lots of good stuff in there.

LUNCH

A few days ago I saw Shannon’s post on shaved asparagus & egg pizza and decided that I had to make that right away. I had all the ingredients on hand… except wait, my pizza dough got moldy. Bleh. Tortilla wrap to the rescue!

I used 1 oz of goat cheese and only 1 egg to make it a lunch sized meal. It was a really fun dish but I think more goat cheese would balance it would more. It needed something else. Ooh, maybe some hot sauce… or more goat cheese. Ha.

Runny egg yolk…

I was actually on a conference call while making and eating this so there was no time to make a side salad as I planned. I grabbed a cherry & chocolate granola bar instead. I LOVE these bars!!

So here is the first new thing I tried today – while eating lunch/working, I was icing my foot. It’s been sore since the half (actually it’s been sore after most long runs lately but obviously 13.1 miles is the longest run I’ve done and it’s taking forever to recover). I’ve been stretching, getting massages on occasion, but I’ve never iced! It felt so much better right after but I think I was just numb. It still hurts a bit now. I’m going to keep it low impact for the next few days.

SNACKS

+ almonds + roasted broccoli. I roasted a bunch while at home waiting for our new dining room table to deliver and munched on it throughout the afternoon. SO good! Back at the office, I also had a mojo bar. We’re all out of fruit. I hate snacking on bars all day long but you do what you gotta do. I told you I was hungry all day!

WORKOUT

Another new thing – I tried pilates at a real pilates studio last night. The pilates at my gym got so lame but I know it can be a good workout. We used a circle and some 2lb weights. I forgot that there are all these “gadgets” you can use in pilates. I remember using the circle back in the day when I was going to Healthworks. Maybe they have better classes there than my current gym. I’m going to have to check it out. For now, I got a mini membership at the Boston Body pilates studio through buywithme and I can’t wait to get more into it. They have reformers too. I have a personal training scheduled for next Monday. So fun!!!

DINNER

You guys didn’t tell me how amazing rhubarb is!!! That’s another new ingredient for me to cook with – I bought some at the farmers market last week and planned a meal around it. I followed the recipe for superb marinated pork fillet roasted on rhubarb from Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef (recipe can be found here).

Of course I had to healthify it a bit. I used ONE tablespoon of oil instead of FIVE (come on Oliver, that’s so unnecessary!). I also used 2 slices of prosciutto per pork chop instead of 5 (does he like the number 5 or something?).

I used the orzo blend from TJ’s to serve this dish over. I made this before pilates but had to run to the class and I was dreaming of it.

And it was even BETTER than I could have imagined. The pork got smoky from the prosciutto juices and the rhubarb was so tender, juicy and sour. I just loved that sourness. Next time I’m going to quadruple the amount of rhubarb. Amazing!!!

The last of sour cream ice cream for dessert.

Have you tried anything new lately?