So let’s talk about eating out. While I really love the whole process of preparing meals at home, from the menu planning to grocery shopping to cooking and finally eating my creation (best part when I see someone else enjoy my food as much as I do!), going out to eat is still one of my favorite ways to spend time with Adam, friends and family. Similarly to cooking at home, I love the whole process of searching for the perfect spot for the occasion, the anticipation of a great night out, then dressing up and finally experiencing the whole event. It is an event, isn’t it? From the atmosphere of the restaurant, to service to the wonderful food shared with lots of wine and laughs – there is so much to experience! There are nights and dishes I remember for years. They are special to me. Most of them I’d never dream of recreating but once in a while I eat something simple yet perfect and I vow to try creating a little restaurant meal right in my own home.

This is one of such meals.

This dinner was inspired by our favorite dishes from a spanish tapas restaurant, Jaleo, on our trip to Washington DC over the summer. The place was recommended to me by several readers and twitter friends, so one random day, we decided to rest our feet and have a glass of sangria with a few apps at the bar. There was no planning – it was a spur of the moment decision when we stumbled upon the place. I think because we had no expectations, it was especially surprising how much we enjoyed the few bites we had that first visit. So much that we had to go back 2 days later and have a whole meal!

Although every single thing at Jaleo was fantastic, hands down are two favorites were pan de recapte con anchoa (traditional Catalan bread with peppers, tomatoes and salt-cured Spanish anchovies) and gambas al ajillo (the very famous tapa of shrimp sautéed with garlic). These are my versions of these dishes.

For the play on pan de recapte con anchoa, I actually started with my mom’s recipes for perzzi (roasted peppers) and sinii (eggplant/tomato spread) and layered them over fresh slices of baguette, topped with garlic-marinated anchovies. I find the salt anchovies to be very pungent. They are fantastic melted into sauces or whipped into dressings, but I prefer the marinated kind when eaten “straight up.” The anchovies seem to mellow out as the vinegar breaks down some of that intense fishiness.

Aren’t these gorgeous? They were delicious

Next up, I followed America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe for Spanish-style garlic shrimp. I love how garlic is used in three different ways in this recipe (to marinate the shrimp, infuse the olive oil and finally to cook with shrimp). I used a dried habanero (much spicier than the cascabel chile that’s traditional) so my shrimp also had a bit of a kick. We like it spicy in these parts

This turned out fantastic! It was hard to not soak up every morsel of that garlicky spicy oil with baguette slices. So simple yet so perfect. I think it would be a fun dish to serve to company too with everyone just digging in straight into the skillet.

Simple roasted cauliflower to lighten up the fare:

Are you a tapas fan? Do you ever recreate restaurant dishes at home?

Next up: I’m getting crafty with my super awesome food art project. Can’t wait to share it with you!!

With that said, I always thought it was a little too advanced for me… until one day Shannon had me and Kerstin over for a little ravioli making fun (ok, that first picture of me is embracing. I think I’m going to have to pre-approve all future pictures of me in the blogosphere ).

We made the most delicious butternut squash/mascarpone ravioli and that’s when I realized that with the right tools, homemade ravioli is actually quite easy! I added the KitchenAid pasta roller attachment to my wishlist that very night and was very happy when Adam purchased it for me for Christmas! He’s a good husband!

Well, over 3 months later I finally made my very first batch of ravioli at home! Shannon was coming over to hang out so I put her to work as well. It really is easy – I’ll show you!

We made pasta dough out of 150g Italian 00 flour, 50g white whole wheat, 2 eggs and a pinch of salt. You start by making a little well for the eggs (see above), and gently incorporating the eggs into the flour – one at a time.

With a bit of muscle (and a bit of water, if needed) these few simple ingredients become pasta dough!

Divide into little pieces, and cover under a damp (not wet!) towel.

Roll each ball into a disk, and then it’s time to use your fancy equipment! There is a knob on the right of the attachment – start with 1 (thickest) and work your way up to the thickness (or should I say thinness?) of preference (with a bit of trial and error, we learned that “5” was perfect for ravioli).

With each round, the pasta sheet becomes thinner and longer!

Whoa!

Fold into thirds (or more) and repeat 2 or 3 more times (again, starting with 1… going up to 5). This will result in a smoother texture of pasta.

Ready to turn those pasta sheets into ravioli?

We made 2 different fillings – mashed potato and mushroom (Russian inspired) and shrimp, sundried tomato & feta. Both were fantastic!!

I had this “fancy” ravioli mold which produced very pretty ravioli but was a pain! Here is what the process looked like – you could also just free style it (you’ll see below we switched to that method after a while).

Don’t these look professional? We were very proud!

Repeat with the shrimp filling.

This pasta sheet was done at a “6” thickness – it was too thin to hold the shape together. See what happened? No bueno.

Btw, if you have any extra dough after shaping your ravioli, you can combine all your scraps and run them through the machine again – you may just have another batch there!

Fresh pasta cooks very quickly. These were ready in 2-3 minutes in boiling water.

Here are the free-styled ones (we sauteed them in a bit of EVOO, balsamic vinegar and chopped basil). So yum!

It took a bit more effort and love but the results were well worth it. I can’t wait to continue experimenting with different pasta dough recipes and fillings.

Have you ever made ravioli from scratch? What fillings should I try next?

The very first night we watched Eat, Pray, Love on demand (which btw, I was not a fan of… probably because I read the book and movies never live up to books) and the Italian bel far niente (aka “the beauty of doing nothing”) really stuck with me. Why should I feel guilty for taking days off to accomplish a whole lot of nothing and just relax? We all need to recharge our batteries. The rest of the weekend was definitely dedicated to bel far niente. You better believe that cooking and eating was no trouble at all! [My mother in law, Jane, and I shared the responsibility.]

There was seafood…

Shrimp with penne in a creamy herb sauce (+ garlic bread)

I made lobster mac & cheese

[The men cooked and shelled the lobster, I did the rest. It was cheesy and creamy – the perfect Maine treat!]

And couldn’t pass up the seafood lover’s omelet (crab + lobster) at the Boathouse in Rockland.

SO good!

I <3 lobster!

And then there were blueberries… we dug deep into Jane’s recipe archives and found some gems from 1994!!! I was 12 at the time. Good thing I’m older because I could make these babies. Oh my! <—that’s me blushing, yes that good!

Lemon blueberry muffins. Heaven!

The very last morning, Jane treated us all to freshly made yogurt blueberry pancakes. They were moist and full of giant blueberries bursting with flavor.

[Email me if you want the recipes for either of these, I took pictures of the printouts!]

These were my favorite food things but the best part was definitely doing only things I felt like doing. I spent some “quality” time with magazines (scissors in hand – what can I say, I found it relaxing!) and watched more House Hunters than I’d care to admit… but that ended up being for the greater good too! The second we got home to Boston, I hooked up my laptop to the internet (together at last! ) and started researching bathroom vanities, tiles, window curtains, table runners, area rugs and more. Apparently the beauty of doing nothing has its advantages. My creative juices were flowing and I was dying to put them to use. Better yet? I was happy to come back to work today. They were happy to have me back too!

Are you able to take time off and just enjoy it or do you need to be forced into relaxation (like being “locked” in a cabin with no internet access and cell reception)? I think the Italians got this right. I’m going to try to bring some of that bel far niente spirit more into my life. It really is fun!

Last chance to enter the UNO’s giveaway!

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!

This week I did something kind of fun. Remember CEiMB Thursday posts? Well obviously I’ve been a big slacker on that front but I still love Ellie and take inspiration from the CEiMB group and other Ellie recipes. This week I challenged myself to an Ellie recipe a day in honor of “my” week on CEiMB. I chose the recipe for the baked falafel sandwiches (here) that hopefully all the group members will be excited about making and will enjoy eating. Let’s start with that one and I’ll show you what I else I made this week. Some good stuff not to be missed here!

I remember seeing this recipe on an episode of Healthy Appetite some time last year. It looked so easy and the idea of baked falafel (instead of fried) really intrigued me. Can it still taste good? How will it compare to the “real thing”? This week it was time to find out!

I followed the recipe for the falafel pretty closely, except of course omitted the onions. They came out flavorful and delicious although admittedly a lot drier than their fried counterparts (I’m assuming oil is usually used a lot more liberally in the “filling” too). The taste of cumin and coriander added decisively Mediterranean flavors. If I ever get a craving for falafel, I won’t hesitate to dig up this recipe again. By the way, Adam loved this

You may also notice that this is not exactly a “sandwich.” This is where I decided to add a little twist to the recipe. We had some fresh pizza dough in the freezer so I decided to make falafel flatbreads instead. I rolled out the dough and grilled it. The tahini sauce was transformed into a drizzle by a generous addition of non-fat yogurt and some lemon juice to cut the tartness. Some lightly dressed greens and fresh cucumbers and heirloom tomatoes from the farmer’s market completed the flatbreads. It was one delicious summer meal (don’t remind me that summer is almost over, ok? I’m in denial and I plan on staying there until meals like that can no longer be enjoyed out in the summer heat.)

So that was Monday. We “traveled” to Italy the following day. I actually decided to make a recipe I missed on CEiMB a few weeks ago – shrimp and liquine fra diavolo (recipe here). It got great reviews and this used to be my “go-to” meal at outings to Italian restaurants. I think I had a bad experience once and that kind of ended that trend. But no more, here is what Tuesday’s dinner looked like (what you don’t have a glass of wine mid-week with your dinner? You do? Ok, good! )

I actually put a little twist on this recipe as well. I decided to serve this with zucchini “pasta” instead traditional linguine the recipe calls for. I got this idea from an old post by Sabrina – her pictures make it look like legit pasta, while mine were more like zucchini ribbons (btw, I tried the mandolin method and a vegetable peeler actually worked better – it created thinner strips).

By the time I was done with dinner, it was getting dark so I’m sorry for these blurry photos. I had to fight with lighting. But let me tell you – this was AMAZING. I can’t stop thinking about it. I used diced tomatoes with chiles, which added additional heat and the zucchini ribbons soaked up all the saucy goodness. They do NOT taste like pasta. I don’t even want to call them that. They are thin strips of zucchini, working in perfect balance with the spicy tomatoes, shrimp and garlic. I was lucky enough to score the leftovers and could not wait for lunch today. SO good.

Lastly, on this rainy Wednesday night, it was all about comfort food – lasagna. Well, technically – portobello lasagna rollups (recipe here).

This was a bit more involved than I meant it to be for a weeknight meal but it was VERY much worth it at the end. We somehow ran out of spinach so I dug into my freezer and found some frozen asparagus. That was quickly “steamed” in the microwave and jumped into the rollups. I also bought baby bellas because they are cheaper than portobellos and had to be chopped anyway. Lastly, I used TJ’s organic tomato sauce instead of making my own. It’s my favorite sauce – it’s healthy, organic, delicious, costs next to nothing and takes no effort. Shortcuts are sometimes good. Really good.

Can someone say no to this?

I think not (ok, maybe if you’re vegan. lol)

This one is going straight to our favorite recipes list (PS. I’m going to organize it one day!). Adam was in heaven. I think his dad may drool a little onto the screen. Am I right, Jim? (lasagna love runs in the family).

How is your week going so far? Does any of the above tempt you?

Yesterday was another busy day as I was trying to tackle the rest of my to-do list, complete a longer run, and prep for a casual bbq. Adam was a HUGE help. I gave him a grocery list with like 50 items on it (some kind of obscure) and he bought everything but one (which I was fine without at the end of the day). Awesome! I love grocery shopping but sometimes a little help in that dept helps!

My long run was kind of bluh. It was HOT out by the time I got out (almost at noon) and I took lots of water breaks and gave up kind of early. I think I covered 8 miles (maybe a bit more) but maybe ran 6.5 of them and not all in a row. Oh well, hopefully there will be better runs this week!

My breakfast/pre-workout meal:

FFL english muffin with BB, strawberry rhubarb jam and 1/2 banana + coffee

Sorry for the terrible photo. I wasn’t even going to take a picture because you’ve seen it a million times, but then I took a quick one just in case. haha

I ended up kind of grazing for the rest of the day, so let’s call the eats below snacks, lunch and dinner.

Shrimp, mango & avocado ceviche in mini fillo shells. I think I’m going to submit this recipe to the phyllo contest. It turned out delicious after a few tweaks.

I munched on an orange and some cottage cheese while prepping these babies (unpictured).

Then the boys brought over some chips and salsa to munch on during the Celtics game. OMG, this black bean is like crack. So spicy and flavorful. I wanted to eat a whole jar with a spoon and call it dinner.

Let’s see the label a little closer. You guys need to find it asap!! I added it to my grocery list right away.

I did eat an actual meal eventually – Applegate Farms grass-fed organic hot dog & sauerkraut + grilled veggies

Did I mention how much I love grilled veggies? I think I did.

Dessert: bake-off test recipe #1 – break-up bars (recipe here)

I tried these  bars for the first time at the cookie swap party in January and they were definitely a favorite. I omitted the toffee (couldn’t find it + they are rich enough without it) but otherwise followed the recipe closely.

I’ve never baked with so much butter (more than a whole box was used for this batch) but man – these truly are incredible!! They took a while to set (I suggest throwing them in the freezer as the last step) but the wait was well worth it. So rich and decadent. I cut them into 64 little two-bite pieces and I think they can be enjoyed in such moderation guilt free (I had one of the bars pictured).

Shortbread + caramel + fudge = sounds like a winning recipe to me!!! I’ll keep on testing though, just in case

My birthday is this Saturday so I’m calling this my birthday week. I’m actually excited for it. See you later!

I’m going to be honest. I wasn’t sure about these guys. Fresh basil and mint scares me in large amounts and the herbs were sure to stand out with such a short ingredients list. Furthermore, right before heading home to make these for lunch, I read Liz’s less-than stellar review of these and got scared even more. I am happy to say everything went without a glitch!

I cut the amount of rice vinegar in the sauce by half (saw the too-vinegary complaint in several reviews) and the sauce was perfect. Nice and spicy (and a little sweet), well balanced. The rolls were an ease to roll too – way easier in fact than I thought they would be. I made sure to soften the rice paper one at a time, and then quickly stuffed it with all the cut-up veggies, shrimp… and noodles?

Oh yes, noodles! After taking the above 3 photos, I realized I forgot about the noodles. I made them, but they were on the other side of the table and totally escaped my mind. So now that I caught this little mistake, the other 3 rolls had their noodles. See the 2 rolls on the left in the pic below? Yes, much better!

Last thing I forgot to mention, I used my mandoline to finely cut the carrots and decided to do the same with some fresh zucchini I had in the fridge. It was a good call, I’d do that again. And yes, I would make these again. Go light on the mint, heavier on the shrimp (1/roll is not enough!) and definitely keep the zucchini addition. Adam’s only complaint was that there weren’t more of these. Success!

I can’t wait to make other types of summer rolls too since I now have about 300 rice paper rounds left. Any filling ideas?

****

After work, I got back to my kitchen to bake some cookies. Adam and I are attending 2 parties this weekend. What better gift to bring than some freshly made vegan cookies!

First party – all ready for travel!

Dreena’s super-charge me cookies

I used a combo of raisins and cranberries as dried fruit. I’d add even more dried fruit next time – maybe some tart dried cherries? Mmm, cherries.

And Dreena’s “you got peanut butter in my chocolate” cookies (also from Eat, drink & be vegan; recipe can be found here)

.. and then I went a little crazy with the photo-shoot.

So here is the verdict on these 2 recipes. I liked the super-charge me cookies. I enjoyed the oats and the combo of the choc chips with dried fruit. I really think some tart cherries will be perfect in these. I’d even add more than 1/2 cup as per the recipe. Load ‘em up!!

The choc/pb cookies came out pretty flat and tasted a bit burnt to me. I cooked them for exactly 11 minutes as per the recipe, so I’m not sure if this was the intended taste or if something went wrong in my kitchen. I *may* make them again. We’ll see. Everyone at the first party we went to liked my cookies. We’ll see what the other reviewers will say tonight.

Have you ever made vegan cookies before?

Any fun plans for this weekend?

Ok, so back to yesterday. It was such a great day. The crazy awesome weather called for a super girly outfit and despite the fact that I only got to go outside for maybe 10 minutes during the day, I still felt like summer was here. Combine that with a kickass workout during lunch and the fact that I was hours away from not seeing the office until mid-next week, the day just flew by. It ended on a high note too – my photography class was awesome!! You see I was actually kind of dreading it because I wanted to enjoy the aforementioned sunshine with maybe a nice glass of sangria in my hand, but alas, I paid for the class and I am determined to get the most out of it. Guys, learning what your camera can do is the coolest!!! The second I stepped foot in the class, I was just so happy (forgetting about the traffic jam and detour that cost me an hour of my life I’ll never get back… oh and that 20 minutes I was looking for parking afterwords). I get it now. I GET IT. Wanna see a little sample of what your camera sees on automatic? This is obviously a white peace of paper (on a light gray table).

Looks dark and grayish, right? Here is what the picture looks like at 2 stop higher.

Ahha, that’s what the white paper actually looks like. The exposure meter gets confused sometimes – it wants to take all the pictures at light gray. That’s why using the camera on manual really does make the difference. Our cameras are smart but sometimes they are just off. Pretty cool, right? I was super intimidated to use the camera on manual mode before, but now I’m excited. It’s really quite easy and you have so much more control over the final photo. Instead of the camera deciding what looks best, you get to do that. I can’t wait to learn more over the next few weeks. I hope to be an expert by the time the class is over.

All right…. how about some food photos?

BREAKFAST

2 banana walnut muffins with peanut butter and cherry preserves + coffee

Close-up…

I ate them like little muffin “sandwiches”

Who says healthy food is boring?

PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

WORKOUT

Abs + spin + stretch. Every part of this workout made me feel out of shape but it felt so good to sweat. I am still surprisingly tight from the patio work on Sunday. I guess I was squatting for hours and this did a number on my legs.

LUNCH

I thought I could make a turkey sandwich for lunch but apparently we had no turkey at home. Oops. I grabbed every veggie and spread from the fridge and threw it in my Baggu for work. This is what you get as a result…

ww toast with baba ganoush + ww toast with hummus, 1/4 large avocado and cilantro + carrots and daikon radish and sprouts

Random, I know! Quite yummy though.

DINNER

IT’S CEIMB Thursday! (Well, I ate it on Wednesday but blogging about it on Thursday, so it counts.) This week’s recipe for garlic basil shrimp (recipe here) was chosen by Tea and Scones. It was a bit ambitious of me to cook something right before my photography class but it seemed easy and quick enough.

Can I share with you one of my pet peeves when it comes to recipes? Including “cooked” ingredients that you normally wouldn’t already have cooked on hand. I get cooked chicken or something. You may have leftovers of that, but I doubt anyone in the world just has cooked orzo hanging around the house.

So I skimmed the directions for the recipe and didn’t see a grain and decided to serve the shrimp with quinoa since it’s quick. Only later I realized that it was supposed to be served with orzo and I think that would have been much better. This was quick and easy. Adam’s review: “Nice simple dinner. I like it!” … but I wasn’t blown away (neither was he). I think the orzo could have really absorbed more of the wine sauce, while the quinoa was too hearty for it. I’d give this recipe another go. Definitely a good one for a weeknight (short ingredient list and quick). I bet feta would be a nice addition too.

SNACKS

“I’m stuck in traffic and I’m hungry” snack – KIND almonds & coconut. VERY sweet but I like the whole almond chunks!

Post class snack – I’m always hungry for some reason after class! So I accidently bought 4 jars of almond butter at Shaw’s yesterday. I couldn’t help myself – both kinds were on sale. Here is a little comparison of MaraNatha and Barney Butter.

Their ingredients list is identical but look at the color difference between the two. Are they using different kinds of nuts?

I had mini toasts with each nut butter (added some banana slices after tasting them plain). My verdict? Both are awesome – in fact they are pretty darn close in taste. It’s hard for me to cheat on my beloved Barney Butter. Ideally I would actually love to recreate it at home, but until then, I would probably buy whatever is cheaper (without the sale, Barney Butter is usually cheaper).

That was the perfect way to end the night, although I was totally pumped and couldn’t go to sleep. I kept telling Adam all these new things I learned at photography class. I guess I’m a geek.

All right, I’m off. Going to the Taste of the Nation event tonight and will do a review of that event soon (most likely will write it on the plane tomorrow morning and will publish it as soon as I can). It should be an amazing event for a great cause (all proceeds go to stop childhood hunger) and they are all over the country so if you like what you see, maybe you’d want to attend your local one.

A few other “logistics” – I am not sure if I’ll be able to blog during vacation. I’m sure I’ll stop by to say hello at some point, but I probably won’t do full day recaps. We’ll see how it goes. It’s hard for me to stay away from this blog. In the meantime, I’ve received a few guest posts which I will feature during my absence. So definitely check in and say hello to the wonderful ladies that wrote such inspiring posts. Happy Thursday! I’m off to pack….

BREAKFAST

TJ’s organic moral fiber blueberry muffin + coffee

Those clementines in the box in the back were calling my name, so I finished breakfast with one

MID-MORNING SNACK

LUNCH

Lunch was SO good! I go home for lunch on Mondays… love that! I just threw a bunch of frozen and fresh veggies + cooked wild rice + shrimp in the wok and voila – delicious lunch!

Stir fry with cauliflower, broccoli, red pepper, carrots, wild rice, shrimp with Jenna’s sesame sauce + sesame seeds

Yes, it tasted as good as it looked

+ another clementine

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

I am once again obsessed with KIND bars. I need to stock up. These bars are a little too sweet but the whole nuts are the best. This bar had whole almonds and macademia nuts. I’m nuts for nuts!

WORKOUT

I went back to one of my favorite classes at the gym after work – Rack it Up. It’s basically Body Pump/Group Power with a different name, and I LOVE this class. It’s been forever since I’ve been but I was able to lift the same weight as before (surprised myself actually!). The only thing was my legs. I used to lift 53lbs (includes 3lbs for the weight of the bar), but yesterday 33lbs almost instantly gave me leg cramps. I went down to 28 for the lunges track and still my legs were shacking. I hope I can run today! Anyways, I felt super strong and find these types of classes very inspiring. The guy next to me said he loves when I come because I can lift more than any of the guys (that included him, btw). Haha, love that!

DINNER

Leftover turkey, mushroom, spinach and cheese lasagna. Still awesome!

LATE NIGHT SNACKING

Oops, another one caught mid-bite

+ an orange and a zbar. I’m going to try to start “closing the kitchen” after dinner + dessert (if I need it). All these snacks add up!

Where would you go on quick vacation if you had a few days to kill?

BREAKFAST

This morning I was quite productive making breakfast…

1 FFL english muffin with Barney Butter and apple butter + pear slices and pom seeds

Pretty and yummy

[388 calories]

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

3 AK MAK crackers with laughing cow cheese and avocado

[190 calories]

So creamy – I love this combo! Isn’t laughing cow cheese so versatile?

WORKOUT

I attended a pilates class during my lunch hour today. I planned on also doing a 3 mile run before or after class but I was “done” after pilates. I thought I’d be able to come back to the gym after work so I can cross both workouts off the list, but my husband surprised me with an earlier arrival from his business trip… so instead I went on a little date.

LUNCH

I bought all sorts of fun convenience foods at Trader Joe’s yesterday – mostly cut up veggies and lots of fresh produce but these fresh spring rolls with shrimp caught my eye and I thought they’d make a perfect lunch one of these days. I was right! Super fresh and fun!!

The rice wrapper was stuffed with vermicelli noodles, steamed shrimp, cilantro and carrots. The dipping sauce was sweet with a bit of spice. I really enjoyed this after my pilates class. I felt like I was at a spa.

[330 calories]

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

A bit of sugar was consumed in the afternoon… good thing I stock my drawers at work with lots of healthier sweets.

[120 calories]

These really satisfy my brownie cravings on a good day (sometimes I still need the real thing though!). It hit the spot today.

4 chocolate coconut macaroons – so satisfying!!

[120 calories]

After a super productive work day, I definitely deserved a little impromptu date my husband. I’ll share it in a separate post. Check back tomorrow afternoon if you want the details.