Anyways, the marathon was the highlight of my week so far but the rest of the week as always revolved around food.  Since I do a lot of recipe testing for my express lunch time lessons, I wanted to share one of my favorite quick and cheap recipes that’s perfect for lunch or a casual dinner – an egg salad BLT. This recipe was originally featured in Best of Cooking Light and it was love at first bite. I adore how light yet creamy the egg salad is, and the addition of lemon zest really brightens it up. Also, I’ve used nonfat Greek yogurt in place of sour cream on many occasions and it works wonderfully.

Side note: Martha Stewart’s method for hard-boiled eggs creates perfect eggs every time.

The best part? The contrast between creamy eggs, juicy tomatoes and crispy, salty, smoky bacon. Oh yes!

What are your favorite quick and cheap recipes? Please share with all of us in the comments!

enjoyed in the past – but with better pictures

“Old” tomato goat cheese strata (yikes!). Visually improved tomato goat cheese strata:

Same delicious recipe from Cooking Light. Now hopefully you’d actually want to make it

How is your week going so far?? Mine is flying by and I’m not too happy about it. I have things to accomplish!! Although now that I think about it, this weekend I’m going to NY to go wedding dress shopping with my sister (and hopefully celebrating my best friend’s 30th birthday… if I can get a hold of her!) so it’s going to be a good one. So I guess it’s ok that it’s coming so soon.

As I mentioned in the my previous post, my sister’s wedding is definitely motivating me to get a little more serious about healthy eating. I’m not going on any crazy diets but I am being a little more mindful about what I’m eating. I put up a big calendar on the fridge reminding me of the “big day” (sort of funny saying that since it’s not my wedding) and a few pictures of myself at a lower weight for motivation. It’s only been 1 day, but I feel like I’m approaching this in the right way and feel good about weight loss results that are sure to follow!

The best part? I have a few old favorites to ensure I’m eating satisfying healthy meals. Like this strata. It comes together quite quickly, uses ingredients I always have on hand (well, I happened to have fresh sage on hand this time, but I’d just use dried if I didn’t) and it’s so warm and comforting. It has (whole wheat) sourdough bread and goat cheese. You can eat it for breakfast or dinner. And one quarter of the pan is a serving. Really, what’s not to love?!

Diets, shmiets. I’ll stick to this!

What are your favorite healthy and satisfying recipes? Please share with me in the comments!

My dad’s side of the family is Jewish and although I lived in Israel ages 12-15 (middle school) I have to be honest that I don’t know enough about all the traditions in detail. For example – Passover to me (and this is the extent to which we followed it) is a week long holiday during which you’re not allowed to eat leavened bread. I’m ashamed to admit that that’s kind of all I seem to remember from my torah studies in Israel.

So when Cara reached out to all the local Jewish food bloggers with an idea of a dinner party honoring the tradition of Passover with a twist, I was excited to learn more and of course participate in the eating  

A few non-Jewish blogger friends joined us as well. Aside from Cara and me, Shannon, Jen, Megan, Amanda, Renee and Melissa ended up sharing a fantastic Seder plate inspired dinner at Cara’s home!

[Our Seder plate]

This may get slightly geeky… bare with me Some Passover basics:

The holiday honors the the story of the Exodus, in which Israelies were freed from slavery in Egypt. It is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread to rise. In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten. That’s why matzo, which is unleavened, is the primary symbol of the holiday. (Thanks Wikipedia )

On Passover eve, a Passover Seder (ritual feast) takes place, which begins with retelling of the Exodus story and eating (or merely placing) certain symbolic foods on the Seder plate. A traditional dinner follows, which actually does not have anything to do with the Sedar plate. That’s where Cara decided to combine the 2… a modern twist on the tradition. Why not?

We each decided to prepare a dish inspired by a symbolic ingredient on the Seder Plate. The “rules” stated that each dish should be following Passover guidelines (no flour and anything leavened, no wheat, barley, oats, spelt, or rye) and general kosher guidelines (no meat + dairy together, no shellfish, no pork) but otherwise it didn’t need to be traditionally Jewish. Pretty fun, no?

[Prepping for the meal ahead]

So much good food to be had!!

Here is what we came up with…

Melissa made the horseradish cauliflower latkes inspired by the chazeret (bitter herb), which symbolizes the bitterness of slavery the Jews endured in Egypt

These were a really fun twist on the potato latkes. Still crispy on the outside, soft on the inside… and a bit lighter/less starchy.

Renee made the charoset, which is a sweet, brown mixture representing the mortar used by the Jewish slaves to build the storehouses of Egypt.

Jen used the traditional ingredients of charoset (nuts, apples, cinnamon) to make the crunchy apple slaw with cabbage, broccoli slaw, apples, almonds and scallions. Unfortunately I couldn’t have any due to the scallions but it looked super fresh and crunchy. I’m ready for summer!!

I made a massaged kale salad with roasted beets, goat cheese, walnuts and prunes, inspired by the karpas (green vegetable other than bitter herb) which is usually dipped in salted water which represents the tears of Jewish slaves.

[I “massaged” the kale with some lemon juice, basil EVOO and some sea salt, then added the mix-ins. Everyone seemed to really love it. I sure did ]

Amanda also made some horseradish and matzo crusted asparagus, which combined a few of the Seder plate elements (chazeret, karpas). Such a fun roasted veggie!

No Seder plate is complete without z’roa, which is typically lamb or goat shankbone, symbolizing the Passover sacrifice through lamb that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem, then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night (fun fact that I just learned – vegetarians substitute beets for meat…looks like I got it covered in my karpas inspired dish!). Cara tackled this job with her spiced lamb and pickled eggplant filled matzo crepes.

I am not typically a fan of lamb and was just going to have a bite not to be rude, but I absolutely LOVED this dish. It was definitely the highlight of the meal for me (partly because it was such a surprise). Cara braised the meat for hours, making the meat super tender while allowing it to soak up all the spices. It had a really great sweet and sour balance. If lamb always tasted like this, I’d be all about it

Last element of the Seder plate beitzah, which is hard boiled egg symbolizing mourning (over the destruction of the Temple and our inability to offer any kind of sacrifices in honor of the Passover holiday). Megan got this covered with her deviled eggs!

Let’s not forget the matzo!

Bloggers in action

Cara is an amazing hostess. Look at these pretty napkins that were on each plate (all different and so bright!).

… and of course there was Manischewitz wine which I’ve never had before. Yup, it tasted like grape juice. This stuff could definitely be trouble

Everything was so so delicious. Food bloggers definitely know how to cook! When it was time for dessert, Shannon’s wasabi white chocolate truffles with crystalized ginger were the perfect chazeret inspired dish!

[The wasabi was mellowed out by the sweetness of the smooth wine chocolate – the ginger actually added some bite. These little truffle babies were amazing!]

Cara also surprised us with a little bonus dessert – chocolate dipped almond butter merengues. Still kosher for passover!

Such a fun concept to honor the Passover tradition in a new way. I loved learning more about my culture and hanging out with old and new blog friends.

Hug sameah and happy Passover to my Jewish friends (and family)!!!

Do you usually celebrate holidays in traditional ways?

Obviously I’m going to eat (hopefully some super quick meals that are more “assembly” rather than “cooking” will still be satisfying) but exercise is the easiest thing to push off the schedule when life gets in the way. So how do you find time to exercise when it seems like there is no time to spare? My answer for now is going to be “You have to make it a major priority“. My deadlines are not for a few weeks but it’s a lot of work and I have to have the discipline to work with this in mind. The last few days may get tough, but until then I’m willing to do whatever it takes – that may mean waking up early on some days, or working until very late because I want to go to the gym during lunch. I also will try to increase the intensity of my workouts so that less time at the gym still provides me with a quick burn that I crave. Finally, that also means that some other things will have to suffer. I am sure my DVR will miss me dearly (or maybe not, I know I’ll miss it) and as previously mentioned, elaborately cooked meals will be out of the window for the next few weeks. Some healthy take-out once in a while will also give me a little extra time. Lastly weekend work will surely be required. It’s easy to get so stressed out about work that you don’t allow any time for other activities and burn out quickly, but I’m going to attempt to still take care of my body in the meantime. Do you have any other tips?

Onto today’s eats…

BREAKFAST

Raspberry apricot scone, siggi’s vanilla yogurt, fresh raspberries and strawberries

I froze this scone last week and microwaved it for a minute this morning. Unfortunately the microwave totally fried it. This was a little softer than a rock.

MID-MORNING SNACK

I had 1 almond stuffed date form the little batch I made last night. Here is how the whole “process” looks…

(From left to right): whole medjool date, medjool date cut open with pit inside, date stuffed with almonds, date stuffed with pecans, date stuffed with one of each.

A few closeups… easy, right?

So yeah, I had the guy on the left this morning. He tasted oh so sweet.

LUNCH

Leftovers from last night’s dinner at Panza saved me time today as well.

“Free form lasagna” - black pepper pasta sheets, chicken, mushrooms, spinach, plum tomato ricotta sauce (I had mine without the chicken)

Panza was a really great restaurant (casual, yet inviting, great service, delicious unpretentious food) and this dish was fantastic. I loved the fun shapes of the pasta and the chunky tomato ricotta sauce. If I go back there and order this dish again (very likely!), I’m going to ask for extra mushrooms.

After taking this picture, I also added a handful of cannelloni beans for protein. It was a great lunch!

WORKOUT

After all this talk about finding time for exercise, I did in fact find some time for a bootcamp class tonight. I’ve gained weight recently and its impacting my performance at the gym but it’s not going to stop me from keep trying. In fact, I’m using it as a challenge to get back into it and get even better than I was before!

DINNER

Super quick! Beet greens, diced tomatoes, pesto potato salad, roasted beets, goat cheese and pecan fritatta

Quick side note: the pesto potato salad I made for the pool party on Saturday. It’s this week’s CEiMB recipe hosted by The Not So Skinny Kitchen (recipe here). I am not a fan of the mayo-based potato salads but this one was quite delicious. The fresh peppers were an especially delicious addition – they added a great crunch and lots of brightness to this dish. Pics from the pool party set-up…

So yeah, I threw some of the leftover potatoes/peppers into the pan for some extra heft and carbs. I also pre-roasted the beets end of last week (sliced, at 350* for about 20 minutes). Tonight, I sauteed some beet greens in a sprayed skillet, then added 1/2 can of diced tomatoes, roasted beets and potato salad, cracked 2 eggs and finally threw a few pecans in. That was on the stove for a few minutes, then under the broiler for a few more. Done!

Another un-photogenic meal that was really delicious. Obviously beets + goat cheese go well together. The rest of the ingredients enhanced this combo further. Look at all these veggies!!

This was the perfect quick dinner… and the perfect ending to a great day of eats. I will say I’d love something sweet right about now but it’s getting late and I can probably do without. Maybe at least a sweet apple is in my future.

What are your go-to recipes on a super busy night? Mine will have to be sandwiches and stir-fries.

How do you fit exercise in during super busy days/weeks/months? I’m all ears!

BREAKFAST

Spinach, grape tomato and feta omelet

I used 1 egg and 1 egg white for this guy. As you can see, it completely fell apart but man, was it delicious. Salty from the feta, fresh from the pop of the tomatoes. Yum!

With the omelet I also had a little piece of toast, and grabbed this orange to go.

LUNCH

We had pizza at work during a meeting. I picked what I thought was a mushroom/artichoke pizza – that one looked wonderful… until I discovered a ton of pepperoni under the veggies. No picture but let’s just say I was picking at my food like a 5 year old. I had a whole mountain of peperoni on my plate and a million napkins all around me when I was done. So professional. I had 2 slices and stayed away from the super market cookies. I had something way better for me waiting in the fridge…

TREAT

Some of you were close with your guesses in my last post. I made cookies ‘n cream cheesecake bars following this recipe from Food for Living. I literally saw it yesterday morning and then stopped by the grocery store on the way home to pick up the ingredients and baked them that night. I like having healthier baked goods around so that I’m less tempted to stop by a bakery and buy something 10 times worse for me and way more expensive.

I resisted the urge to have a whole photo shoot of these guys. Lauren already did a wonderful job. The cheesecake bar tasted so delicious. The crust was thin and moist, the cheesecake was creamy with a touch of sweetness. I like that these are not overwhelmingly sweet. You can really taste the quality of the ingredients. I love making cheesecake bars – this recipe is a keeper!

WORKOUT

After work I headed to the track for a workout with Boston Performance Coaching. You may remember I’ve done it once before and was terribly hard on myself. It was a tough workout, one I wasn’t particularly excited to go back to (since I’m not even training for a race) but I wanted coach Ali to look at my running form again so I signed up. The Harvard Track was actually being used for some kind of a race so we went to this dinky little side track and did laps there. That made them much shorter and a lot more manageable. Still hard but doable. This time Christina (I think?) was coaching and she said my problem is my arms. I cross them while I run which is inefficient and hurts my back. I tried to relax my shoulders down this time. Something I must work on. She was right. I felt very accomplished after we finished and actually ended up walking back home too, which was a little over 3 miles. It was nice out and Adam was out so I took advantage.

Speaking of running – who wants to see super embarrassing race photos of me? You can find them here. Terrible stuff.

DINNER

Get ready for some more ugly food…

All I could think about was a quesadilla on my walk home. So that’s what I had. Here are the insides:

Corn, peppers, mushrooms

Spicy black bean sauce and grape tomatoes – plus Cabot horseradish cheese all over (I couldn’t find our grader so I used a microplane)

All folded and grilled on the pan – a giant mess! (the little dish is the stuff that felt out that I still wanted to eat )

It burnt instantly on one side and wouldn’t brown up on the other. It was exactly what I wanted, taste wise though. A little spicy and definitely veggie-full. I had some more spicy black bean dip with lime tortilla chips while prepping and after dinner. I think these need to be banned from our house. So good, I can’t handle it.

I ended up watching too much trashy tv before finally going to bed so I’m a bit slow this morning. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to enter my giveaway (here).

Have you had any ugly food lately that was still tasty?

The choice of this recipe came at the right time. I have a confession: I’ve been bored with my breakfasts lately. I don’t know what it is – they have been delicious, that’s not it. I just wanted something new and exciting. Something completely different from the usual yogurt, english muffin, oats, smoothie, Barney Butter and some kind of fruit combination.

So despite the fact that I’m typically a sweet breakfast kinda girl, I was excited for this recipe. Adam was too.

I meant to prep the ingredients last night but then time got away from me. So I set the alarm for 30 minutes early and got to work. I steamed the potatoes (they retain more nutrients if you steam them instead of boiling them) and then followed the rest of the instructions to the T (except that I of course omitted the onions). In 30 minutes I had breakfast. A delicious and new and exciting breakfast. Success!

Mmm, runny yolk. It really pulled it all together. A little hot sauce over the top brightened up the dish further.

This was flavorful and filling. I have a feeling I should be very satisfied until lunch time.

Are you into a savory or sweet kind of breakfast? What’s your favorite breakfast combo lately?

BREAKFAST

The breakfast pizza is back! This one was made of ww wrap, 1T Barney Butter, oikos, 1/2 pear, Zoe’s granola and cocoa nibs

SO good – so many textures + flavors (+ it’s pretty filling in a perfectly satisfying way)

MID-MORNING DESSERTS

Leftover Easter desserts were all over my office. I partook in some of them…

+ another little piece of sweet ricotta pie. I thought I was done with sweets by then.

LUNCH

Another meatball banh mi sandwich. I had to

+ an orange. I missed these guys!

PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

Chocolate granola bar

WORKOUT

Abs + Rack-it-Up classes. We had a new instructor who was a million times harder. I was dying on set #10 of push-ups (only a slight exaggeration – actually maybe that’s not an exaggeration at all).

DINNER

Dinner was fabulous once again. I followed this recipe from Cara’s Cravings for spinach & artichoke frittata. I used 3 eggs, 2 egg whites (all the eggs we had left), and added some chickpeas (maybe 1/2 can) for satiety + grape tomatoes for freshness.

I am so annoyed with how horrible the pictures came out because this was a really great dinner! The gooey goat cheese was definitely the star ingredients but all the other veggies played very nicely together. The grape tomatoes were a great idea too, if I say so myself.

Okay, so this was dinner. After that I had 1 cookie dough (last one) and then some roasted almonds, then a zbar, an orange and a serving of trail mix. I think it was a combination of wanting more cookies (we didn’t have any) and guilt associated with my mile-long to-do list that I wasn’t doing anything about. Also with the fact that I already ate way too much today and yet someone still craved more sweets (I know, I know, many of you find that if you eat sweets, you want more of them but I can’t cut them out of my diet. I will go crazy!). Anyways, it’s done and over with. Today is a new day (although I’m not going to lie – it’s really hard to start over when you still feel disgusting. The idea of food just grosses me out right now. Bleh).

So here is the schedule for this week…

Today – run/walk with Shannon during lunch, drinks with reader Melissa and husband at night

Tomorrow – SHRED class during lunch, photography class after work

Thursday – yoga class during lunch, Taste of the Nation after work (is anyone else going to that?)

Friday – ARUBA!!! But before that, I also need to try my bathing suit on and not freak out, pack all clothes, get my nails done, pre-schedule guest posts and do a few million other things. Getting on that plane will feel SWEET.

What’s your week looking like? I always seem to overbook myself, especially before vacations.

During my lunch break I went to City Sports and bought myself all sorts of fancy shmancy running stuff – a water belt, running gloves and a new warm long sleeve running tee. It got COLD here in Boston. How many gadgets can you fit on one person?

After work I got dressed and set out for a run. I didn’t have a distance in mind and I wanted to take it easy just in case I decided to run the half marathon this weekend after all. Um yeah, the run did not go well. My legs were heavy and I just wasn’t into it. The entire time I was thinking about all these other things I was excited about doing after my half was over – like more bootcamp classes, trying a new zoomba class my co-workers have been raving about, bringing yoga back into my life – all these workouts that had to be on the back burner while I was training for the half! I put all my energy and thoughts into preparing for Sunday’s race. I think I’m ready to move on. Over the past 3.5 months running has become more than a challenging workout – I learned to love it, but I need to spread the love a little. I’ll still run on occasion during the winter, but I want to concentrate on strength, yoga and spinning during the colder months. I’ll pick up running again next year when it warms up

BREAKFAST

Egg, ham & cheese on a FFL english muffin + coffee

LUNCH

Delicious randomness: corn tortilla, green and yellow beans, borlotti beans, roasted root veggies, grape tomatoes, goat cheese

SNACKS

Caramel, pecan, chocolate chip brownie from Tendercrop Farms

Apple (ha!)

2 Ryvita crackers with Sabra hummus and a hard boiled egg – great combo, although I’m not in love with these crackers

DINNER

I had a fun dinner planned but somehow didn’t realize it required cheese, and we were all out. Plan B was a random pasta dish with wild mushrooms based on this recipe from Cooking Light. I used TJ’s lemon parpadelle pasta, added lemon zest to the mushrooms, omitted the onions, and subbed skim milk + 1 laughing cow wedge for the whipping cream. I really enjoyed this dish although it could definitely be more saucy. Adam thought there was too much lemon and mushrooms and asked if I could take the rest for lunch. Oh well, at least I didn’t slave over dinner for hours

Dinner also included a glass of white wine and some chocolate covered almonds for dessert. Can’t wait for those things to be gone. Note to self: never buy a giant container of choc covered almonds again!!

I’m off to bed, getting up early to take a strength class with Coco. I’m excited to dedicate more time to other kinds of workouts besides running. What’s your favorite type of exercise?

Molly, Kirsten and I picked up our numbers earlier today. We’re all super excited

Oh and I FOUND MY IPOD NANO!!!!! No clue how it got there, but it was in my smaller purse. Seriously, it must have jumped in there on its own because I really don’t know why it would be there. Either way, I’m not complaining. Yay!

YESTERDAY’S EATS:

Next post will likely be a race recap!!

What I found interesting is that despite feeling uncomfortable in my big pants, I am hesitant to put them in the donation bin. They are only 1 size larger than I am today! What if I gain a few pounds? If you’ve lost weight before, did you hold on to your old clothes or got rid of them as soon as they got too big? I got rid of pants that were several sizes too big, but these ones I’m struggling with… even though I feel like I’ve reached my comfortable weight (i.e. I stopped dieting and am maintaining this weight with little effort)!

BREAKFAST

Banana oats with white chocolate chips, almonds, pecans, raisins and cranberries + coffee

Warm and creamy. I gave a taste to Adam because this bowl was just extra good and he said he wanted me to make oats for him next time

LUNCH

Turkey/laughing cow/grape sammie on Nature’s Pride whole wheat + carrot sticks

The combo of creamy cheese, slightly salty turkey and super sweet grapes was divine. All of you non-vegetarians must try this sandwich!!!!

SNACKS

Oikos + 1/2 banana + Nature’s Path Heritage cereal (unpictured – added the cereal last minute at my desk)

Chocolate chip z-bar

100 calorie almonds pack

DINNER

I haven’t had time to hit the gym again (work ) so making a healthy dinner was the only way I could “treat” myself. I followed this recipe for parmesan polenta with eggs and roasted mushrooms.  This dinner took a lot longer than the promised 20 minutes (could be my sloooow oven and only 2 burners), but it was really worth it!!! This is comfort food for me.

I am really obsessed with mushrooms and their woodsy flavor paired so nicely with the creamy cheesy polenta. We only had 1 egg left, so I decided to add shrimp to Adam’s dinner. While I was cooking the shrimp, I forgot about my egg and it cooked a little too long. No runny egg. I bet it would have really tied everything together. In any case, I LOVED my dinner (Adam just liked it)

After dinner I watched the Biggest Loser (ok, I totally understand now who Jillian referred to as the devil… she clearly hates this girl!!!) and ate some pecans and 2 Kashi cookies. I didn’t need those; I just really wanted this food for the taste of it. I went to bed feeling quite guilty, although I know it wasn’t really about the nuts or cookies but rather a combination of feeling bluh all day (boo baggy pants), being hungry all day (I fed myself healthy snacks to remedy that), skipping the gym (need to make it a priority no matter what!) and then eating when not hungry. Every time I feel like I lose a good amount of weight and start feeling good about my body, I begin to gain. I think I felt guilty because I was scared.

How do you dress? Do baggy clothes comfort you or do you like to show off your curves?

Only a few days left to enter the Lazy Baker cookie mix giveaway. Get those extra bonus points. The cookies are worth it!!!