Missy Maintains » avocado

Birthday Celebrations, Lost Phones, Cop Cars, Graduations!

MissyMaintains — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:18:28 +0000

Hello! Where do I even begin about the weekend I had? It all started with one of these…..

Friday night was Mari’s birthday dinner at 5 Burro… of course! There were 5 of us there. It was Mari, Me, Mo, Carol, and Gigi. Carol was visiting from California so it was nice to finally meet her! There was about a 45 minute wait to be seated so we all got pretty buzzed from the margaritas before dinner. I actually had to send my first one back…tragedy! I ordered an Apricot margarita but it was all ice on top and syrup on the bottom. The ice and syrup would not mix! It looked a mess! Not a typical 5 Burro margarita. I went with the Strawberry instead since it was premade and could not be messed up.

Gigi, Mari, Me

I decided to stick with something healthy for dinner since those frozen margaritas are the complete opposite of healthy! I got the Grilled Shrimp salad.

I have to give credit to Mari for all of these pictures. Mine are gone forever. More on that later.

Mari and I split the guacamole to top over our salads. It was perfect!

Enjoying margarita number 2….

The table next to us definitely started to get annoyed because there were a million cameras going off at once! That’s what happens when you bring 4 bloggers to a restaurant together. The other table behind us did not mind and offered to take some pictures for us!

We decided to continue the celebration so we headed next door to another bar. We ordered some birthday shots. 1 birthday shot turned into 8 or 9 birthday shots.

They were all girly shots and seemed weak so we kept ordering more! Probably not that best idea! It was really fun though! Eventually we drank enough and headed our separate ways. The next part of the night went from amazing to awful….

The bar was only 2 subway stops away from my apartment. I went to get on the train and asked some guy if it was going local or express. You never know at that time of night. The guy told me it was local so I believed him and got on. Of course, the train went express and went 4 stops past mine! Once the train finally stopped, I got off to turn around and go back towards my apartment. It was 100 degrees underground and I was tired and pretty tipsy. I needed a local train again but an express train came. I did not feel like waiting for the local so I decided to take it back to where I started and just get in a cab or walk home. I got back to where the bar was and saw one of those black town car cabs. I got in. He asked me how much I wanted to pay. I said $5.00. He said $7.00. I said fine. He drove me the 5 minutes to my apartment. He asked for a $6.00 tip on top of the $7.00!!. I think he was trying to trick me. Whatever. I did not fall for it. Anyway, that part is not too important! I just dislike cabs.

I finally got home and dumped out my purse to find my Droid. I was supposed to call Mari and Mo to tell them I got home okay. The phone was not in my purse. I dumped it out about 5 more times and looked everywhere but there was no phone. I started hysterically crying and ran outside to find the cab but he was long gone. I think I left it on his seat or it fell out of my purse. I walked down the street to find a pay phone and saw some cops. I cried to them about how my phone was gone and asked if I could borrow theirs. Instead, they put me in the back of their cop car to see if we could find the cab. I knew I would never find him since he was in a black car but we drove back to where I got in the cab anyway. No luck. Luckily that was my first time in the back of a cop car…and hopefully the last! They drove me around for a little until they got a call about an assault. They told me I had to get out so they left me a block or two away from my apartment. I really don’t think that was too smart of them to leave a drunk crying girl on the street! I still wanted to at least call someone so I decided to walk towards CVS since I knew it was open 24 hours. The guy let me borrow his cell phone and I left a few voice mails to let everyone know I was alive. I tried calling my phone but it was dead of course. I walked back home with no phone but luckily still had my apartment keys!! I felt lost with no form of communication. I don’t even have a working laptop right now! I realized I could get online through my iPod touch so I was able to email Mari to let her know I was okay! What a night!!

The next morning I was supposed to be at school at 9:00. I decided I needed to just sleep and then go to Verizon in the morning. There was no way I was sitting in school all day feeling sick and worrying about my phone. I felt kind of guilty missing my 2nd to last day of school but I had already completed all of the graduation requirements so it was not a huge deal. I went to Verizon and ordered a new Droid but they are on back order. Luckily I have insurance but still had to pay $90! Ugh. I activated an old phone for now. This will be Droid #3 in one month. So sad. I dropped my first one after 2 weeks of owning it and cracked the screen. I am horrible with technology! I will NOT lose or break the third one!!!

I stayed in on Saturday because I did not want to risk missing my last day of school on Sunday! Yes, I celebrated National Tequila Day a bit too early!! Luckily I did not miss much on Saturday. Class on Sunday was a lot of fun. We did not have an official graduation ceremony or anything but received diplomas and danced a lot!

It is official!

It is kind of embarrassing to talk about how I graduated as a certified health coach in the same post as the story above!! Oh well, I am human and it was a very special occasion. Accidents happen!

After class, I celebrated with Dori and Kristine at a bar called Banc. We split a pitcher of the Cucumber Splash: Fresh Lime Juice, Simple Syrup, Fresh Cucumber House Infused Absolut Vodka, Mint Garnish, On the Rocks.

It was so refreshing! Next we headed over to a cute restaurant called Penelope for some dinner. Kristine goes there all the time and raved about the Veggie Burger! I had to get it!

She was right! It was delicious! There was this amazing pesto mayo on the English muffin! Loved it!

Dori got the FBLT (fakin’ bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato with black pepper balsamic mayo on sourdough).

We loved it there! Now that I am done with school, we are going to make it a Sunday tradition to go to Core Fusion followed by drinks and dinner! Besides my phone drama, it was a really fun weekend!

1) Have you ever lost your phone? I want to hear stories!

Pizza and Beer!

MissyMaintains — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:10:55 +0000

Happy Friday! Let’s start things off by choosing the winner of the Omron GoSmart Pace/Distance Tracker Giveaway!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

11
Timestamp: 2010-07-16 13:36:40 UTC

The winner is….Mari! Congrats girl! Hope you enjoy your new pace/distance tracker!! Just in time for your birthday!!

Back to yesterday….

I was craving cereal in the morning so I stopped at the nearby deli for some breakfast ingredients.

I can’t be trusted with large boxes of cereal so the single serving Kashi bowls are perfect! I made a delicious yogurt mess!

The deli has a new kitten! So cute!

I’ve been bringing lunch every day this week. I made a turkey and cheese wrap with Food Should Taste Good chips and cucumbers on the side.

After work I had another intenSati class! The class was actually a special event hosted by Well+GoodNYC. Anyone who is a subscriber to their newsletter was invited to attend intenSati for free last night! It was perfect for me since I am not allowed to do the Warrior Challenge! The class was really fun and led by Natalia, my favorite teacher. She always has so much energy and keeps letting me on her guest list! Love her! The Well+Good girls gave away a Lululemon gift bag at the end but unfortunately I did not win. One of my blog readers was at the event too so she came up to me to introduce herself. That always makes me feel special! I think the Well+Good girls took a lot of pictures during the class so I will be sure to let you know when they are posted (unless they are extremely embarrassing)!

**Edited to add: Here is the link to the article! You can see me in the 2nd picture!

After class Mari and I walked over to Whole Foods for some dinner! I made an awesome salad!

It contained avocado kale salad, seaweed salad, broccoli, beets, peppers, eggplant, tofu, and more! We sat outside and people watched while eating. We got some very weird looks while taking pictures of our food!

I probably should have went home and went to bed after that because I had another 6:30 am intenSati class planned! I got invited to the W Hotel so I ended up going out for some drinks instead! I had 3 Stellas by the end of the night. I totally planned on just having 2 drinks but the bartender brought me out a free one. No complaints here!

Next thing I know, it is 1:30 in the morning and everyone decided they wanted some pizza! I could not resist a slice when I saw this:

So good!! Probably not the best idea to eat that at 2:00 am when I had plans to wake up at 5:00 am for a workout! I obviously woke up feeling dehydrated and nauseous so I decided it would be smart to sleep for another 3 hours and skip intenSati for the morning! There is a free outdoor intenSati class at 5:30 tonight so maybe I will take that one instead! I definitely still want to work out at some point today after all the pizza and beer last night! I’m not sure what else is going on this weekend but I do have an 8-mile hike on Sunday! The best part is that there will be a wine tasting at the end of the hike! Talk about a motivator! Can’t wait!

1) What are you looking forward to this weekend?

2) What was your favorite workout this week?

Eggcellent!

MissyMaintains — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:38:21 +0000

Hello! I just got back from another wonderful intenSati class with Mari! We are crazy and went at 6:30 last night and at 6:30 this morning! Last night was insane! Every time Patricia Moreno is teaching, about 100 people show up! Mari and I were pushed against the back wall! That’s what we get for getting there a little late. I think Patricia turned the heat on because it was super hot in there. The mirrors got all foggy and we were drenched! Patricia started drawing hearts and writing “Good Job!” on the mirrors! It was tough but felt amazing! This morning’s class was great too. Mari was my personal trainer after class and kicked my butt with arm weights. I hope we do that after every class from now on!

I had some extra time after class today so I stopped at Energy Kitchen to get my favorite breakfast!

I got egg whites with mushrooms and broccoli on a multigrain wrap. It was much needed after my killer workout! I am also sipping on a giant coffee of course!

I realized I’ve been eating eggs for breakfast every morning! I get in new breakfast phases pretty much every other week. During winter, I get in my oatmeal phase. About a month ago, it was a cottage cheese and pineapple phase. The cottage cheese started to make me nauseous so now I am in my egg phase. Next week will probably be something different! Gotta keep it exciting!

On Saturday I went to the Tower Diner for brunch and got a lovely egg white, feta cheese, and mushroom omelet. There was a fire next to the Tower Diner about a month ago so it was closed ever since. I was so excited to see that they finally reopened it. Unfortunately the liquor store and my veterinarian are both still shut down. So sad.

I had whole wheat toast and a piece of turkey sausage on the side. I skipped the potatoes. The diner still smelled like fire but had pretty new booths and menus. I think all of Forest Hills was going crazy when it was shut down! It is the best diner around!

On Sunday I went to brunch at a vegan restaurant called Sacred Chow with Marina and Maggie. I didn’t get real eggs obviously but they were close enough! I got the tofu scramble. It came with salad and potatoes but I got fruit instead of potatoes.

The tofu was delicious! It tasted just like real eggs. All 3 of us ended up getting the same thing. Next time I must try the Banana French Toast!

On Monday I made another awesome egg breakfast- an omelet quesadilla!

I melted American cheese on a whole wheat wrap and topped the omelet with sliced avocado. So good! I added some salsa on the side for dipping!

I made a very similar breakfast on Tuesday but with hard boiled eggs. It took 5 minutes to prepare and was nice and easy to bring to work!

It was very filling too! Avocado and eggs make a wonderful combination!

Eggcellent!

1) How do you like your eggs prepared?

2) Are you in any breakfast phases right now? Eggs? Oatmeal? Yogurt?

Don’t forget to enter to win an Omron Pace/Distance Tracker!!

The Chocolate Banana Burger

MissyMaintains — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:39:59 +0000

Happy July! I wanted to let you guys in on a little deal before I get started! A few of you have emailed me expressing interest in attending my school, Institute for Integrative Nutrition. They are holding an Independence Day special where if you enroll by Tuesday, July 5, you will receive a $300 tuition scholarship plus a “Let Freedom Ring” gift bag .

Here’s what’s in the “Let Freedom Ring” gift bag:

7 Habits of Highly Effective People 50 Card Deck
Achieve Everyday Journal
EnviroSax MiniSax
Goji Cranberry Cacao superfood bars by graduate Moria Felber
How to Find the Work You Love book
Strengths Finder book
Write it Down Make it Happen book
IIN logo goodies

Just call (877) 730-5444 to speak with an Admissions Advisor about enrolling. You don’t have to live in New York to attend because they have a distance learning program. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions about the school! Also, if you mention my name when enrolling, I will personally send you an extra $50.00 check! Let me know if you are interested

Yesterday’s Eats

I’ve been having the same breakfast every single morning this week: a Chocolate Banana Burger!

It doesn’t get much better than that! I finally ran out of the Nature’s Pride wheat buns so looks like I’ll have to move on! Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter is dangerous in my apartment anyway. I will explain later. The tub is almost gone just after 1 week. Oy.

I brought a lovely lunch to work! I made a salad with a Morningstar Farms Mushroom Lovers burger, avocado, hard boiled egg, and grilled mushrooms.

Delicious lunch! I also brought a snack to munch on for the side. The folks over at Smile.ly sent me Snikiddy Cheddar Cheese baked fries to try out.

About the fries:

50% less fat than regular potato chips
Gluten and wheat free
No preservatives
No corn syrup
No trans fats
Low in saturated fats
No hydrogenated oils

I liked that there were a ton of fries in the bag for just 130 calories. I don’t think I would buy them because the ingredient list is just way too long and they don’t really have any nutritional value. They were fun to munch on though! I guess they are a better option than french fries!

After work I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the elliptical and some hand weights. I also walked outside for another half hour to pick up a package at my sister’s. I made up for not going to the gym in the morning!

I made another fun salad for dinner!

It contained salmon cake bites, edamame, mushrooms, avocado, and hard boiled eggs. I used my cool egg slicer that I got at the Eggland’s Best event!

So fun! It made slicing my eggs much easier. Daisy spotted the hummus on my plate.

One more…

I had an intense chocolate craving after dinner, like always. I searched my fridge and freezer and found a Chocolate Heart Thrive bar. I heated it up in the microwave for 30 seconds and then went a little dessert crazy….

Apparently just the bar itself was not enough. I wanted more chocolate for dipping! Then I saw a banana and decided that it would be fun to dip in the chocolate peanut butter. Then I saw whipped cream and decided to make it like a sundae! It was delicious! That was all fine until I went in the fridge again. I made myself another banana chocolate burger earlier in the evening to bring for breakfast today and just could not let it sit there. I ate half of that too. Blah. I guess I can’t make such a good breakfast that involves chocolate the night before because it is too tempting! Maybe it is just a bad time of month. I don’t know. I didn’t let it get to me. Instead I just set my alarm for 5:45 am and hit up the gym this morning. I knocked out 45 minutes of cardio plus some arm weights. Good to go. I was just sad this morning when I only had half of a breakfast left! I ate it as my pre-gym snack. Perfect. I will try to be a better intuitive eater today. It was just one of those nights!

1) Do you struggle with intuitive eating? Can you stop when you are full even if you are craving something?

2) Are there any foods you crave after a meal? Chocolate and fruit for me!

Core Fusion Sale & New Challenge!

MissyMaintains — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:27:50 +0000

Hello! I have a few exciting things to talk about today.

1) Core Fusion!

Exhale Spa is currently on sale at Rue La La! That means Core Fusion classes are much cheaper than usual! You guys all know that I’ve been waiting for this for months since I can’t afford a normal membership. I am very excited to start going again! I was in some major Core Fusion withdrawal! The sale goes on for 2 more days if you are interested! I plan on going a ton in August since I am starting a new challenge in July…

2) New intenSati Summer Warrior Challenge!

You may remember my January intenSati Challenge!I was required to take 3 intenSati classes per week. I also got a free month pass to Equinox gym! I loved the class and was sad when it was over! As soon as I heard about the July challenge, I applied and got accepted a few days later! This one is going to be a little more intense than the last one! I have to go to 4 intenSati classes per week and 2 of them have to be morning classes! The morning classes are at 6:30 am which means I will have to wake up at 5:00 in the morning! Luckily Mari also got accepted so she will be responsible for making sure I get my butt out of bed! Thank you Mari, lol. I get a month pass to Equinox again so I put my NYSC membership on hold for now. I can’t wait for all of the amazing classes at Equinox. I have to admit that I am extra excited for their fancy showers again! My first class is this Friday morning!

3) New Contest from Dove!

Dove gofresh just got better with a boost of NutriumMoisture™. To celebrate, Dove has launched its “Better Than Ever Contest.” The contest asks you to share what in your life is better than ever and submit a “before” photo and a “now” photo in one of the categories below, and then explain why your life is better than ever!

Categories:

Play: Have you gone from bunking up in hostels to staying in quality hotels? Have your vacations gone from spring break to lifetime adventures with family and friends? Tell us how you’ve enhanced your passions.

Love: Did you exchange a burn-out boyfriend for a loving man? College parties for dinner parties? Show us how your relationships have evolved.

Live: You used to microwave mac n’ cheese but now you cook meals made from scratch. You used to share an apartment but now you’re decorating your own pad. Show us how your living has gone from surviving to stylin’.

Style: Have you upgraded your hairstyle? Traded trucker hats for ballet flats? Show us how you’ve come into your own when it comes to style.

One Grand Prize winner will receive a spa and adventure getawayfor two to Sedona, Arizona, plus $1,000 to use towards making your or someone else’s life better (Think: charitable contributions, gifts, or anything that makes the world a better place!). Runner-Up prizes such as a Nintendo Wii™, Sony® BRAVIA® Theatre System, gift cards to Home Depot, Crate & Barrel and Sephora will also be given to four winners, one from each of the categories Love, Live, Play, and Style.

I thought you guys might be interested in this one! I would love a spa and adventure getaway!!! Good luck to those who enter!

4) Yesterday’s Eats!

I am still doing great with last week’s goals by making breakfast, lunch, and dinner at home. I even went to bed at 10:30 Sunday and Monday night! I am still tired every morning but feel a little better! Yesterday for breakfast I made PB & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams and a banana on a Nature’s Pride whole wheat bun.

Heaven! The buns are so big and fluffy! This breakfast kept me full for 4 hours which was nice too!

For lunch I made a wrap using my roasted veggies from Sunday night! I added Sabra Caramelized Onion hummus.

I packed some kale chips on the side using my cool EasyLunchBox! Great lunch!

I went to the gym after work and did 45 minutes on the elliptical. I also did 3 sets of biceps, shoulders, and back using a body bar. Oh, and I did a plank and some push ups. I always get proud of myself when I do this stuff on my own and not in a class!

I had a few roasted veggies left to use for dinner so I knew I was going to make a big salad. I found some salmon cakes in my freezer to top my salad with.

I made 5 salmon bites and added avocado, veggies, and hummus.

Delicious! I was not completely satisfied so I had a huge bowl of grapes for dessert! I added some chocolate brownie crumbles and whipped cream on top. That did the trick!

Well I am off. Gotta go buy my Core Fusion classes! Wahoo!

1) Are you taking on any new challenges in July?
2) What is your favorite “healthy” dessert?

Birthday Margaritas!

MissyMaintains — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:56:53 +0000

Hello! Thank you for all the birthday wishes on my last post! It was a very fun weekend! I will do a recap of my festivities!

Friday

After work Dori took me out to dinner for some margaritas at a Mexican restaurant called Cilantro! We made sure to only have one drink since she was running a 10K the next morning. Luckily one was all we needed! The margaritas were giant and strong!

The chips were amazing too! They weren’t your typical tortilla chip. They were more like veggie chips with a few tortilla chips mixed in! I felt a little better about eating a ton of them even though they probably aren’t that much healthier than chips. It was my birthday so who cares!? Loved the fresh salsa too.

We both went with the Vegeterian Fajitas. They were delicious!

We asked for extra guacamole instead of sour cream and pico de gallo.

I could live on guacamole. YUM. The fajitas came with whole wheat tortillas which was a nice added bonus! I really loved Cilantro! Good choice Dori!

I’m sure you can all guess where we went to next….

It wouldn’t be a real birthday without The Lite Choice! I got Cookies N’ Cream. We were sad when they charged us for Any Flavor Any Time. I don’t think that is supposed to happen. Oh well..totally worth it!

Saturday

I had school Saturday and Sunday so I am having my real birthday celebration next weekend. It was “Dress for Success” day at school on Saturday!

It was fun getting all dressed up. It was more fun wearing sweatpants and flip flops to school on Sunday though! Class was amazing! I will talk more about that in another post! Saturday night we went to Melissa’s rooftop for a BBQ. The view is amazing!

My new goal in life is to move to her apartment complex one day. I would be on the rooftop every single night of my life! We had a great time there.

Sunday

It was rough waking up for school after lots of sangria and vodka but I did it. Class started with some Masala Bhangra! I was so excited when Sarina Jain showed up on stage! The quick 20 minutes of dancing woke me up!! After school my friend Kaity took me out for a birthday dinner at 5 Burro! I had 2 of these…

I went with the Grilled Shrimp Mexican Salad. Amazing as always!

Perfect way to end the weekend! I am looking forward to more celebrations next weekend! Tonight I will be getting back into workout mode with some Core Fusion Cardio. It’s been about a month since I’ve gone to a Core Fusion class so I am pretty excited!

*Stay tuned for a giveaway tomorrow!

*Check out my post on Hollaback Health about my thoughts on the Ask Me Anything forum!

Staying Healthy at Big Events!

MissyMaintains — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:45:35 +0000

Hello! Hope everyone had a nice weekend! The hot weather made me happy! My weekend consisted of a Bat Mitzvah, drinking at night, and relaxing. Sounds good to me! Let’s talk about how to make some healthy choices at an event like a Bat Mitzvah with many unhealthy, tempting options all day!

That morning I went to the gym and did 45 minutes on the elliptical. It is always a good idea to get a nice workout in if you think you want to indulge at the event. I think it is totally fine to have a few treats at events like this since you most likely don’t get to eat this stuff every day. I also knew there was an open bar so I tried to go for the healthier options during the event! Always have to save room for those drinks!

After the service, there was tons of cookies, brownies, and fruit. I was starving for lunch by this time so I did not want to fill up on too many cookies. Instead I opted for fruit, coffee, and a piece of the chocolate below.

The chocolate tasted like Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies! Amazing!

Once it was time to eat I ran over to the salad bar first and filled my plate! Strawberries are amazing during this time of year! I love summer.

Eventually I made my way to the open bar. I started with a glass of wine. No, that is not ice cream next to my wine. It is mashed potatoes! So pretty. They also had bacon, cheese, sour cream, etc. to top over the potatoes but I skipped all of that.

I also had a piece of chicken stuffed with spinach. I had a small piece of steak as well for some extra protein but don’t know what happened to that picture!

There was also a pasta bar, pizza, chicken fingers, and ravioli. I was still a little hungry so I opted for another salad with some fries on the side.

I had a Blue Moon as well! (Or maybe 3 of them).

They had a “make your own sundae” bar for dessert. I was stuffed from 3 Blue Moons so I skipped dessert. Sometimes alcohol is my top priority!

I took the train back to New York just in time to meet some friends from college! They were all visiting from Maryland. I hadn’t seen a few of them in 3 years so it was an amazing time!We met at a Tapas restaurant in the Village called Sala. I had a few glasses of Sangria, a salad, and shrimp dish. It was really nice there!

We continued on to a few more bars. Dori joined us for the festivities! We enjoyed some $14.00 (crazy) pear and mango martinis at a beautiful rooftop bar! I had to warn all of my Maryland friends that drinks would not be $3.00 like they were used to! Gotta love New York!

Dori and I ended the night with omelets at a diner at 2:00 in the morning! I am thankful for Twitter because it helped Dori and I remember the events that occurred that night!! See @dysterious’ timeline if you are interested. It will give you a nice laugh.

Sunday was a lazy day. I went to Piu Bello for a nice greasy lunch to cure the hangover.

I got the Vegetarian wrap with avocado, goat cheese, and olives. I kind of forgot there were olives in there and had to pick them out! They are my least favorite food. Other than that the wrap and fries were both amazing! It felt great to sit outside in the 80 degree weather! I consider moving to Florida more and more every day.

Piu Bello is known for their gelato so I got Cookies N’ Cream!

I got home and spent the rest of the day checking out computer desks at Simplydesks.com. I will be doing a review of an item from the website very soon! I can’t decide between a new office chair or little portable laptop desk! We’ll see.

Great weekend! The Bat Mitzvah made me miss my own 10 years ago! I gave out really cool boxers that said, “I had a Sunsational time at Missy’s Bat Mitzvah! I’ve always been obsessed with tropical hot weather! One of these days I will get some pictures on here from that day. I had thick bangs and braces. Typical.

1) What are your tips for eating healthy at a big event?

2) What was your 80′s hair style?

Stay tuned for a Thriv shirt giveaway tomorrow!
Take the The Lite Choice Survey for a chance to win a $20.00 gift certificate!

The First Low-Carbon Restaurant!

MissyMaintains — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:00:44 +0000

Last night I had the opportunity to try the “planet’s first low-carbon, vegetarian restaurant” called Otarian. I won a gift certificate from Foodbuzz to visit the restaurant during it’s opening week. A few things that make Otarian different:

Locally sourced ingredients with a no-air freight policy.
All-vegetarian menu to reduce CO2 emissions.
Used oil is turned into bio-fuel.
All packaging is recyclable or compostable.
Everything in the restaurant, down to the floor and seating, is made from reclaimed materials.

I went with Monique since I remembered that she told me she entered the contest and few weeks ago and was dying to try it out for herself! We went around 5:00 on a Sunday night so the restaurant was pretty empty. The decor was really modern and unique.

Before we walked in, we got to try samples of the Potato Onion O Dill (filled with potatoes, cheese, onions and dill). It was delicious! I thought about taking a 2nd sample but Mo reminded me not to be greedy

We checked out the menu and wanted pretty much everything! We decided to order a few things to share.

We were wondering why they didn’t use dishes and silverware but then saw that all of the containers were compostable. I guess running a dishwasher all day would be worse for the environment!

We chose 3 items:

The Avocado Tomato Mozzarella Salad with Pesto Dressing:

The Roasted Vegetable Lasagna:

And the Portobello Mushroom Burger:

I started with half of the salad and half of the lasagna.

They were both delicious! The salad was especially amazing because of the pesto dressing. Mo and I both wanted to buy a big bottle to take home! I love that the menu tells you what items are vegan, gluten-free, kid-friendly! The menu also tells you the Otarian Carbon Saving, the amount of Otarian carbon, and a meat comparison. For example, beef lasagna uses 5.21 kg carbon, the veggie lasagna uses 2.58 kg, so the saving is 2.63 kg. Definitely makes you feel good about eating there!

The star of the dinner was the Portobello Mushroom burger. Check this out:

It was layered in the delicious pesto and mayo, and topped with lettuce, tomato, onions, and cheese. Amazing! We found out later that we could have requested vegan mayo! I would come back anytime just for this burger.

We finished everything and threw out our containers in the special compost bin

We were both very impressed with Otarian. The food came out super quick, the prices were reasonable, and the food was delicious. I love what they are doing to help the environment. Hopefully many more restaurants will follow their model. They have one location in London and two in New York. Hopefully I can make it there every now and then during my lunch break!

After dinner we decided to find a Lite Choice for some dessert! Luckily there was one a few blocks away. I got a mix of Dark Chocolate Truffle and French Vanilla with crunchies.

I always get very excited to see my sign in the stores! I post a “Weekly Wellness Tip” at the start of every week.

Mo told the girl behind the counter that I was Missy from the sign and she got all excited! She asked if she could have her picture with me. I felt all special lol.

We used the special “TLC Twitter code” and got a free water bottle too! Little things like that are exciting! P.S- Don’t forget to take the TLC Survey for a chance to win a $20.00 gift certificate!

Stay tuned for a Greenworks Cleaners giveaway tomorrow!

More Fun at School and Skinny Margaritas!

MissyMaintains — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:08:00 +0000

Good Morning! This weather makes me happy. I like being able to walk outside for an hour during lunch! Today I am going to do a continuation of my weekend at school. I made a big breakfast before I left the house to make sure I could last all morning.

1 egg and 2 egg whites with mushrooms, vegan mozzarella cheese, and ketchup on an Ezekiel wrap. It was delicious and did the trick at keeping me full for a while!

I got to school at 9 and immediatly knew it was going to be a good day when we were told a celebrity personal trainer would be working with us first. The trainer was Joel Harper, creator of the Fit Pack Workout DVD.

We were told to get up out of our chairs for a 15 minute workout! We started doing all kinds of moves like neck rolls, hip rolls, jumping up and down, etc. Imagine 1100 people in a huge theatre doing hip rolls. It was a lot of fun! He also showed us some stretches we could do while sitting which felt very nice. It was a great way to start the morning.

Next our teacher spoke to us about vegetarian diets and how to reduce animal foods. He spoke about some of the reasons people go on these diets- Mad Cow disease, genetic engineering, animal rights, and/or to live longer. He also mentioned that some people end up going on the “junk food vegetarian diet.” There are plenty of foods that do not contain meat but are also artificial junk. I liked this line that he said,”You do not want to be cruel to animals but you do not want to be cruel to your own body either.”

He said most A or B blood types are less dependant on animal foods. Quinoa and beans are great sources of protein for vegetarians. Beans can be “challenging” for some people so he recommends using smaller beans, cooking them well done, adding no salt, soaking the beans, adding spices, or eating refried beans.

Cravings

Next we talked about some reasons people get cravings. I found these pretty helpful and could relate to a lot of them:

Not enough water
Primary food (missing love, exercise, meaningful career, relationship).
Balance between yin & yang (inside coming out). For example, if I craved ice cream as a child, I will want it more now because it will give me comfort because of my relationship with that food. Very true by the way!
If you don’t have food for a while and then have it, you will crave it more now.
Cravings by season (summer-ice cream, winter-animal food)
Lack of nutrients (crave salt because of lack of minerals)
Crave non-nutritional forms of energy (alcohol, coffee)
Hormonal (chocolate before menstruation)

Next Arthur Agatson, author of the South Beach Diet spoke to us. I was pretty excited about this one! If you’ve read my “About Me” section before, you would know that I originally lost a lot of weight after reading this book. I never knew about whole grains, refined sugars, and the glycemic index before reading it. This was not just a diet for me. It really changed my entire way of eating right before I entered college. I kind of wanted to give him a giant hug! His talk was a lot of graphs and science so I won’t get into it too much but it was fun to hear him speak.

Lunch!

I walked over to Lenny’s Sub Shop and got the best wrap EVER.

Look how pretty! I got the Vegetarian Delight: Avocado, romaine, tomato, carrot, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, red cabbage, sweet peppers & honey mustard

With some soy crisps on the side. This was seriously the perfect wrap. I loved all the pretty layers and the delicious honey mustard! I might be back every time I have school!

Later in the afternoon, Lynn Goldstein spoke to us. She is a registered dietitian and also went to Integrative Nutrition. She went through each of her sessions and what she spoke about with clients. She showed us how to calculate body weight, calories, body fat, etc. She spoke a lot about digestive issues as well. If you guys want me to get into more detail let me know. That could be a whole separate post in itself! I know everyone wants to learn more about constipation, IBS, and gas! It was cool to see how she incorporates what she learned at IIN with her nutrition practice. She focuses more on primary foods when with her clients (mood, energy, relationships, energy, and stress etc).

The highlight of Sunday was when our teacher told us to get up and stretch. We do this several times throughout the day along with deep breathing. This time he told us to start jumping up and down. All of the sudden the lights go off, strobe lights start flashing, and he starts blasting, “The World is Mine!” (Techno song that I love). Everyone just starts dancing and going crazy! There was so much energy in the room. I’ve never had so much fun at school.

After class, I went to Core Fusion and then Applebees for dinner! The first thing I saw on the table was this:

The Skinny “Bee” Margarita! Love it!

It tasted great! Hard to believe it was just 100 calories! I started with a house salad.

I got something from a new section on the menu “under 500 calories.” I got
Seasoned, grilled shrimp skewers on citrus island rice served with seasonal vegetables. This was 330 calories I think? Kind of hard to believe when I saw how big it was!

The shrimp was delicious! The sauce was a little spicy but nothing I could not handle. The broccoli was good but a little buttery. I ate 2 rows of shrimp and saved one for dinner yesterday! Yum!

I have some homework so I am off!

1) Do you like reading about what I learned in school? Do you want more/less detail from my notes?

2) What is your favorite thing to get at Applebee’s?

Salad Heaven and Meetup!

MissyMaintains — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:13:37 +0000

Good Morning! I feel like I have a lot to update you on! I will get started with some of my eats from Monday and Tuesday. I may save my workouts for a whole separate post since tried a few new classes at the gym and don’t want to make this a novel!

Monday’s breakfast was the usual Nature’s Path oats with Fage and banana.

For lunch, I met up with Marina from A Veggie Girl (And Her Cat). She sent me a text the day before and asked if I wanted to go back to Sea Thai Bistro since we loved the food last time. Of course I agreed!

The entrees come with a free appetizer so I got the Roast Tofu Salad.

It had mixed greens, cucumber, onions, onions, carrots, grape tomatoes, and a delicious peanut dressing. I loved the brown sauce on the tofu!

My entree was the Steamed Mix.

It was very good except there was no tofu like the menu said. I had enough tofu in my salad anyway so I did not mind. Marina and I had a lot to chat and gossip about so it was a fun lunch!

I was very excited for dinner since I knew I had a lot of leftovers from my cooking class! I started off by making a side salad with some Parmesan Reggiano and fresh part-skim mozzarella.

I also made a serving of pasta and a mushoom brushetta to munch on.

Just as delicious as the night before!

She wanted all that cheese! I let her have some whipped cream a little later.

I tried some of the pudding we made for dessert but there were chunks in there so I had to throw it all out

I asked Mercedes why and she said we should have strained the the pudding when pouring it. I also asked if I could have used something other than cornstarch. After watching Food Inc, I don’t want to use any ingredient with corn in it. She said that arrowroot or tapioca also work. I will try making the pudding again soon!

Tuesday

I had no oatmeal left so I ran into the health food store and got a V.L.T!

It was very good. It had tempeh bacon, lettuce, tomato, vegan mayo, and dill weed.

I love switching up my oats with these sandwiches every now and then.

I got a great salad for lunch from Lobster Place in Chelsea Market.

It contained salmon, grilled squash and zucchini, olives, tomatoes, and feta cheese. Olives are my lease favorite food so they were tossed but the rest was delicious!

I had another salmon salad for dinner! I went to the Westside Market since it was pretty close to my gym class. I also got avocado, broccoli, and chickpeas.

With some Salt & Pepper popchips on the side!

Guess what was across the street?

The Lite Choice! I got 1/2 French Vanilla and 1/2 After Eight Mint with cookie crunch. I really loved the mint! It really tasted just like one of these!

Last but not least, I want to thank Molly from Something Beautiful for this amazing package! Definitely one of the best giveaway prizes I’ve ever won!

I can’t wait to try out the pumpkin pancake mix and dark chocolate covered cranberries! I hope to start cooking with the Trader Joe’s Cookbook too! Thanks Molly!

I will be back a little later with some new exercise class reviews and Core Fusion news!

1) Have you ever made pudding from scratch? What ingredients did you use?

2) What is the best giveaway or contest you’ve ever won?

Don’t forget to enter to win a free cup/cone to TLC!