Happy Wednesday! I had a very fun night last night with two lovely bloggers! More on that later. I mentioned the other day that I was going to continue on my little Passover diet at least until after I go on vacation! I kept it again all day yesterday until dinner (I was not turning down sushi!) I lost a couple of pounds during Passover and felt a lot less bloated. Remember those 3 pounds I gained at the end of January after inTensati? They are finally gone! It is not just because of the lack of bread in my diet. The whole week I ate less calories overall. Normally I might have a bite of a mozzarella stick at dinner, some croutons on my salad, a bowl of cereal before bed, etc. Those are all extra snacks that add up and prevent me from losing any weight. It was nice to have some control over those snacks during the past week. Exercise was not cutting it. I also could not drink beer during Passover so that probably helped too. Don’t worry, I still had plenty of vodka and wine and managed to lose some weight. It is possible! I’ll be completely satisfied when I fit into this one pair of pants that I got last year. Almost there.  

I’ve been making omelets every day for breakfast. Yesterday was 1 egg and 2 egg whites. I did have some matzoh on the side because I feel bad throwing out the box!

For lunch I made a turkey and cheese wrap but with salad  and broccoli slaw instead of a wrap. I used my cool EasyLunchbox! Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win your very own EasyLunchbox set!

I had an apple for a snack after lunch. An hour later I had another apple. That is what happens when I don’t bring gum to work. I’m really trying to cut back!

After work I met my lovely Queens blog friends Mari and Monique at the bus stop for some sushi at Ginza! You may remember my first date with Mari back in October! It went so well that we had to go back! It turned into a triple date this time

After an hour long adventure trying to get there via the bus, we made it! I convinced Mo to have some saki with me! It did not take very much convincing.

Last time we were at Ginza, Mari told me about an octopus salad appetizer. Octopus usually scares me so I would not let her order it. I did promise her I would try it next time and I kept my word!

I was pleasantly surprised. It did not look as scary as some octopus platters I’ve seen. The sauce on it was delicious! The texture was similar to shrimp and it had delicious cucumbers and cabbage underneath. I even went back for seconds.

We decided to start off with 3 brown rice rolls to share.

Mo and I shared a Salmon Avocado Roll (on the left). The middle roll was called the Liki 4: spicy crab and shrimp. Delicious!

The star of the show and least healthiest of course was the roll on the right…the Godzilla roll! It was Fried Spicy Tina, Avocado, Scallion, Masago, topped with Spicy sauce.

My first plate:

The rolls are so amazing there. I’ve been craving Ginza ever since we went months ago! We were starving girls after our crazy bus adventure so we decided to split 2 more rolls.

The first roll was an Amanda Roll: Spicy Tuna, Kani, Cucumber, Scallion, and Crunch, with Avocado, Mango & Sweet Sauce on Top.

The bottom roll was a Shrimp Tempura Roll.  My second plate:

The Amanda roll was amazing! I loved the mango on top! Fried sushi is the best. It was a wonderful treat!

We ended with some pineapple chunks for dessert.

The staff at Ginza were so friendly too! We asked our server for a picture of us and the sushi chef joined in!

Great dinner! I skipped the gym yesterday but woke up bright and early today for a workout. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and burned 402 calories. I am hitting up H&R Block for some taxes after work so I made sure to get some cardio in this morning. Now I have to go try to track all of that sushi and saki on iChange. Have a good one!

Related posts:

1. Sushi Blog Meetup!
2. Sushi Coma!
3. Sushi & Saki!

Hello! Hope everyone is having a nice weekend so far. I just got back from my first day of school! It went really well! More on that later! First I will do a little recap of yesterday.

I had a boring omelet for breakfast but lunch made up for it!

Brown rice salmon avocado roll with a side of spicy black bean shrimp soup!

I loved the soup! There were so many little shrimpies in there!

I went to Core Fusion after work since I did not wake up in the morning. It was with Paige-one of my favorite teachers. She is really hard but makes jokes the whole time so I never have to think too much about the pain!

I went home starving and had no food in the house except for these!

The stats are pretty good…

I made lots of veggies to go with the chicken!

I topped everything on a salad with a few slices of mozzarella cheese.

Nice fast dinner! I also had a few Bud Light Limes of course!

This morning I woke up at 7:00 to get ready for class! Not fun waking up that early on weekends! I made sure to have a nice breakfast since we are not allowed to eat in the theatre.

Scrambled egg whites and mushrooms with 2 spelt cakes on the side. This kept me full until around 10:30. I got really starving but they said we get kicked out for the day if they see us eating! I will just have to deal with it! Finally at 12:00, we got a 2 hour lunch break. We all got assigned a health counselor and restaurant to meet them at today! I met my counselor at Josie’s with about 5 other people. I did not take a picture since it was my first time meeting everyone but I had a great lunch! I got:

Grilled Asparagus, Sweet Potato, Zucchini & Portobello Mushroom Wrap:
mesclun greens & sundried tomato-white bean-goat cheese hummus

It was delicious! I will definitely be back there soon! I got a Starbucks after lunch because I was struggling to stay awake in the morning! I am definitely having coffee first thing tomorrow!

The class itself was really good! It took place in the Jazz Lincoln Center at Columbus Circle…hello Whole Foods There were about 1800 people there so it did not really feel like class!

I had to sit all the way up top in the morning but got a spot nice and class after lunch! There were people of all ages from all over the country! I felt lucky to be just a subway ride away from the school after people told me they flew in from Florida and Michigan for the weekend. There were a few speakers such as the director of nutrition from Harvard, the founder of IIN, and another guy who will be helping with the business side of things. It was a ton of information for one day but everything was very interesting! A lot of the classmates spoke up about why they were there which was very inspiring. A few girls had diseases and wanted to learn how to use food to help make them better. There were tears in a lot of people’s eyes! Everyone seemed so passionate about their health and really wanted to be there. Tomorrow is another day! It is nice to finally be in school learning about something I am interested in!

Class ended a little early and Core Fusion was a 5 minute walk away! I made it in time for the 4:00 class! I am glad I brought my workout clothes just incase! It was another wonderful class

I came home and made another Morningstar Farms chicken pattie for dinner! This time I made a sandwich with cheese and ketchup! Yum! More peppers and mushrooms on the side.

I am probably just going to relax for the rest of the night since I am exhausted! I am lonely without Daisy here! Blahh. I better get my stuff ready for school lol. Have a good one!

Don’t forget to enter my snackTAXI Giveaway!

Enter Jocelyn’s Awesome Giveaway too!

Related posts:

1. More Fun at School and Skinny Margaritas!
2. Weekend 3 at Nutrition School!
3. Passover Eats

Good Morning! Hope everyone had a nice weekend! Sunday night ended up being a saki bomb night! I went to Chikurin which is a delicious sushi place across the street from my apartment.

Hot saki is the best. It goes down so easy and does the trick right away I started off with some edamame.

I also got miso soup and a salad with ginger dressing.

I got a Rainbow Roll for my main course. This is one of my favorite rolls! It is basically a California roll wrapped in salmon, yellowtail, tuna, and fish eggs.

As we were leaving, the server handed me a bottle of saki and said it was a gift for Valentine’s Day! Such a nice surprise!

We went to a bar next door after dinner and had one more beer. I may have poured some of my new saki in there

Monday morning was a nice relaxing day off work! I fixed my hangover with a delicious breakfast from Tower Diner!

I got an egg white omelet with mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, and feta cheese. I had some of my roommate’s turkey sausage as well.

Later in the afternoon, we headed to the casino in Yonkers! We had $30.00 in vouchers plus a $20.00 food voucher which expired yesterday! It was great starting with free money. I was up $100 right away but was not ready to leave so I lost it. Oh well! It was really fun. We used our food voucher in the cafeteria. I found a place with whole wheat wraps. I got turkey and cheese and it was huge!

Nice dinner for free Made up for some of my losings. I won enough last time I was there so I did not feel too bad.

1) Do you like to gamble?

2) What is your favorite thing to eat to cure a hangover (if you drink!)

Don’t forget to enter my Lite Choice Giveaway!

Related posts:

1. Sushi and Saki Triple Date!
2. Sushi & Saki!
3. Movie Hopping and Saki Bombs!

I’ve always wanted to take a professional cooking class. I get jealous when I read food blogs and people my age know how to make elaborate dinners! I do not consider myself a good cook and do not even know the proper way to chop a vegetable! I like to make quick and easy meals that are healthy. I am used to just throwing together a salad or making some pasta with red sauce. I never use recipes since I usually don’t understand a lot of the directions or I don’t have the necessary kitchen tools! Last week, an opportunity arose to finally take a cooking class at a reasonable price and for a good cause!

My friend Dori held an amazing auction in support of breast cancer. She needed to raise $1000 so that she could run her first 1/2 marathon on her birthday! One of her items up for bid was a professional cooking class. I immediately knew that was the one I wanted to win! I bid high enough (sorry Melanie!) and won!

I happened to meet my cooking teacher a few days before my class at Core Fusion! Dori and I took a class with her before work so it was nice to be able to meet her before she actually came over to teach me. Her name is Mercedes and she is one of the pastry chefs at the Ritz Carlton. She met Justin Timberlake. I wanted to cry when she told me this. It is my lifelong dream. Any connections….send them my way!

Okay enough fantasizing. Mercedes and I emailed back and forth so that we could create a menu and come up with a shopping list. I decided on an Italian dinner and asked that it be somewhat healthy! We came up with this:

Appetizer:
Italian and Mushroom Bruschetta

Entree:
Whole Wheat Pasta with Artichokes, Chickpeas, and Spinach

Dessert:
Chocolate Molten Cake

She emailed me a shopping list that looked a little something like this:

Kosher Salt/ Pepper
Olive Oil
Tomatoes
Fresh Mozzarella
Basil
Mushrooms
Red Wine
Cannelli Beans
Baguette
Whole Wheat Pasta
Red and Yellow Bell Peppers
Chickpeas
Artichoke Hearts
Parmigiano Reggiano
Spinach or Kale
Valhrona Chocolate( I will bring)
1 pound of Butter
Flour
Eggs
Sugar
Anglaise( i will bring)
Fresh Berries

Strainer, saute pan, cutting board , knives , microplane , whisk , bowls

I had many questions for her about this list. This proves how much of an inexperienced cook I am!

What is a microplane?? (She brought one of her own).
Is it okay to use normal table salt instead of kosher salt? (She brought her own sea salt instead).
Should I get cooking wineor regular drinking wine? (Regular wine; Cooking wine is awful).
Should the artichokes and chickpeas be canned or fresh? (Try to get them fresh but if you cannot find them, canned will be fine).
May I use Stevia instead of sugar? (Yes).
May I use Smart Balance spread instead of butter? (Yes).

I also had to do a little google search to see what Parmigiano Reggiano and Anglaise was! Mercedes was extremely helpful and enjoyed my questions!

I spent my Sunday going to 3 different supermarkets to find everything. The hardest thing to find was the baguette. Finally I found one at store number 4! I was all ready to go!

Mercedes arrived Sunday night at 6:00pm and we got started! She brought a saute pan and sharp knives since I don’t own this stuff. I really want to buy good knives now after my experience!

We poured ourselves some wine before getting started!

We used this wine to cook with as well.

We started off by making the Italian and Mushroom Brushetta. We sliced the baguette on a bias with a serrated knife.

We sprayed a pan with EVOO and sprayed some on the bread as well. I used my handy dandy Misto.

We rubbed some fresh garlic on the bread too. We then put it in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 degreesto toast. We used mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese for the brushetta topping. Mercedes taught me the proper way to cut an onion and mushroom!

I also learned that you are not supposed to wet mushrooms to wash them. You are supposed to wipe them off with a paper towel. I’ve been doing it all wrong…

We mixed them in a bowl, sprayed the saute pan with EVOO, and then let them cook.

I loved when Mercedes said, “Pour the red wine all over the veggies.” Okay!!

Next I learned how to slice a tomato…cut it in half, cut out the white part, and then cut it into long, thin slices.

We chopped up the mozzarella the same way and added EVOO, salt, and basil. I only had the basil in a shaker but she said fresh basil is better for next time.

Once the toast was cooked, we topped it with the mushrooms and tomatoes.

They were both delicious! The wine on the mushrooms gave them so much flavor!! They really tasted like they were from a nice Italian restaurant!

Get ready for my favorite part of the night (besides the chocolate cake)…..

How to roast a pepper!!

This seriously amazed me. So easy yet something I never ever knew!

All we did was turn on the flames and place the peppers on the stove top!

So cool! I always thought you could just roast peppers in the oven the same way I usually roast broccoli! We left the peppers there until they turned a little black.

We wrapped them in aluminum foil and let them cool down. That’s it!

After about 10 or 15 minutes, the peppers were soft and smelled great! I am going to be roasting peppers all the time now!

Next we poured about half of the box of pasta into a pot. We added a little olive oil and salt to the water.

I could not find fresh artichokes or chickpeas during my supermarket sweep so I used canned ones. We rinsed them for a while under water to get rid of those BPA’s and salt!

 I was able to find fresh spinach. We chopped off all of the stems.

We cooked the spinach on a pan with EVOO, salt and pepper.

We added the chickpeas and artichokes once the spinach was nice and cooked.

We added the wonderful roasted red and yellow peppers also.

Then we transferred as much pasta as we could from the big pot to the pot with the vegetables and stirred everything together.

Next it was time to shred the Parmigiano Reggiano. I’ve never bought this cheese before but it was delicious!

We grated the cheese over the pasta and vegetables using Mercedes’ microplane.

Heaven!

My plate…

A 2nd bottle of wine was opened.

This was so delicious and flavorful! It was probably the best pasta dish I’ve ever had! I love that it is something I can recreate myself!

The artichokes gave everything so much flavor. The grated cheese was so fresh and a perfect topping for this dish. I could not stop raving about it!

Last but not least, dessert!! I was very excited for Chocolate Molten Cake!!

We decided to make just 1/2 of her recipe since I did not want too much extra cake tempting me in the apartment every day! The following recipe made 5 cakes:

1 cup chocolate
1 cup butter (or Smart Balance)
2 yolks and 4 eggs
3 oz. sugar (or Stevia)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ounce flour (1/4 cup)

Luckily Mercedes brought over some Valhrona Chocolate for the dessert. I measured 1 cup and poured it in a bowl.

I added the butter to the bowl with the chocolate and melted them both in the microwave. We did 20 seconds at a time to make sure not to overcook anything. I think we stuck them in for about a minute total until they were melted.

In another bowl we added the eggs, vanilla, and sugar. We whipped it until it turned as white as possible. Next time I would use my hand blender because this took a long time! Next we poured the melted chocolate  into the egg mixture and added the flour. We poured the chocolate mix into aluminum cups (sprayed with Pam).

It reminded me of the chocolate river from Willie Wonka!

We cooked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. They are suppposed to be soft in the middle and the chocolate is supposed to “erupt” out of the molten cake!

I chose blackberries so Mercedes instructed me to get a white plate. If I would have chose cherries, a black plate would have been fine. Now I really wish I did not buy a black plate set from Target! White looks so much prettier in pictures.

We spread the anglaise on the plate. Anglaise is basically an ice cream base (cream, sugar..all the good stuff).  We spread it in a circular motion and then to the right of the plate.

I added some berries next to the chocolate cake and a beautiful dessert was created!

With some more red wine of course!

The cake was amazing! It was warm, soft and perfect. I loved the combination of the cake with the berries and anglaise! I think we left the cakes in for about 2 minutes too long since the chocolate was not exploding in the inside. It was still much softer than it was on the outside. It was such a decadent treat! My roommate approved as well!

Mercedes and I were chatting about some other desserts I love.  I asked for some recommendations on fruit desserts. She explained how to make fondue and caramelized fruit! I also said I am a huge fan of pudding! She told me pudding is super easy and that she would show me before she left! Luckily we had all of the ingredients on hand!

Chocolate Pudding

2 cups of skim milk (or whatever milk you prefer)
1/2 cup sugar or Stevia
1/2 cup chocolate (cocoa powder works too)
1 tbsp corn starch

 I first mixed the milk and chocolate in a bowl.

I added the sugar and corn starch and stirred everything in a pot over high heat on the stove. I mixed until it thickened.

Once it thickened, I poured the pudding in a bowl and let it cool. Mercedes said a film could form on top but that it is fine to just pull it off. Then she said to refrigerate it and it would be ready in no time! So easy!

I had an audience

This was an amazing experience! I learned so much and Mercedes was super friendly and helpful. I am definitely motivated to try out some new recipes in the future. Thanks Mercedes!

Related posts:

1. Veggielicious Whole Wheat Pasta
2. Cooking With Eggland’s Best!
3. Core Fusion Meetup and Pasta!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend! The exterminator just came so I am staying in my room for a while so I don’t breathe in those chemicals! I found out that it was just for roaches and no mice. Still gross but a huge relief!!! Okay, enough about critters and onto food!

Friday after work I went to the gym for a while. The boy was working in Times Square so I was waiting for him to get off. I did 45 minutes on the treadmill and 25 on the elliptical. He was still not off after that so I decided to walk to Times Square! That was probably at least 50 blocks! Finally I found him and we walked around looking for somewhere to eat. We ended up at Europa Cafe. 

I always thought Europa Cafe was just one of those little places that serve salad and pizza that you just take to your table. The location by Central Park had a really nice restaurant attached to it that served alcohol! I’m wondering if all of the locations have this; especially since they are opening one in Forest Hills. That would be very nice!

We ordered a bottle of much needed wine. 

I got the West Coast Vegetarian Wrap.

It contained chick peas, sundried tomatoes, watercress, fresh alfalfa sprouts, avocado and goat cheese all inside a whole wheat wrap. 

This wrap was delicious! It had all of my favorite things (goat cheese, avocado, chick peas…) My only complaint was that it was on a white wrap instead of whole wheat. The waitress was kind of clueless when I asked about it. She said that’s just how the wraps come. They should change it on the menu then. Oh well.

The boy ordered the most amazing chocolate mousse cake!

YUM! We went home, drank a beer, and passed out!

Saturday

I woke up and made some juice.

I used carrot, romaine, kale, apple, cucumber, and lemon. It does not look so good in that picture but it was not bad!

I took Daisy to the vet and then came back and made a bowl of cereal.

I added someone’s Apple Jacks to make my Cheerios a little more exciting!

I ended up passing out for 2 hours. The vet was way too early! I woke up and went to Subway for some lunch.

Turkey, ham and cheese with lettuce, cucumbers, sweet peppers, tomato, mustard, and pickles.

We went to the movies after for a nice little double feature We saw New Moon and then 2012. Both were really good! I am not an obsessive Twilight fan at all. I did not read any of the books. I just happened to see the movie and really liked it so had to see New Moon. Maybe if I read the books I would understand the hype? I don’t know.

By the time we were done, it was 11:00 and we were starving! We ended up at Uno since it was the only thing open.

I started off with a nice big Blue Moon.

I got the same thing as last time since it was so delicious!

ROASTED VEGETABLES & FETA WRAP”:
A whole wheat and flaxseed tortilla filled with roasted vegetables, caramelized onions, tomato, feta, lettuce and balsamic vinaigrette.

Can’t go wrong with all of those veggies! I got home around 2 and passed out!

I have a lot of cleaning to do now! I had to take everything out of my kitchen cabinets for the exterminator. This is not gong to be fun! Have a nice Sunday!

Related posts:

1. The Pizza Diet!
2. 5 Burro Cafe and Tequila Fun!
3. NYE and Five Burro Cafe!

Hello! I am watching the Phillies and we are winning 6 to 1! Wahoo! I also just got back from Kickboxing and my teacher that I am in love with asked me where I’ve been the past few weeks! Oh yeah. He noticed Anyway, I will do a little recap of yesterday and today plus a review of a new product I love!

On Sunday, I had a bowl of cereal around 4:00 in the afternoon! I slept very late after being out till 6:00 in the morning the night before. I had Kashi Go Lean Crunch with bananas and raisins (also my dinner tonight because I was too lazy to make anything!)

I pretty much did nothing all day since I was so sleepy from Halloween! I got some Subway for dinner to eat while watching the game.

Turkey, ham, cheese, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, sweet peppers, mustard, and popchips on the side!

Watching the game with Daisy May!

Nice lazy Sunday for everyone!

This morning I woke up and made a yummy juice.

I was a little nervous to try carrots because I know a lot of people that hate carrots in their juice. I followed a recipe from the juicer instruction manual and was pleasantly surprised.

I think the key was using 2 big apples so that I could not taste the celery and carrots too much. I will definitely be making that one again. I must say people really like to stare on the subway when drinking an orange or green drink. Guess there is nothing better to look at.

I got to work and made the usual oats.

I took a walk to Hale and Hearty Soups for lunch to get my favorite salad ever.

Mixed greens with edamame, carrots, cues, broccoli, avocado, and carrot-ginger dressing. I really think I need to try carrot-ginger juice since I like the dressing so much. Slightly nervous though. Maybe tomorrow I will be a brave one.

I was not satisfied after the salad and really wanted some chocolate. I took a walk around the Chelsea Market and spotted gelato! I had every intention of just asking for a sample and leaving but the lady was super nice. I felt terrible just walking away so I ended up with a small cup. I forget the flavor name but it was vanilla with hard chocolate pieces. YUM!

Right before I left work, the munchies hit again. I was probably just bored since I had no Internet but I still felt the need to have a snack. I pulled out this baby.

About a week or two ago, I received 2 cookies from the folks at Nutridel.

There were 2 flavors, Flaxseed and Pecan.

About Nutridel (from the Nutridel Website)

NUTRIDEL is an artisan, gourmet cookie, made by hand in small batches with all-natural, earth-loving high quality ingredients. Our cookies contain no animal or dairy products. They are baked to perfection, and the result is a crispy, crunchy snack you can enjoy any time with guilt-free pleasure!

The brand is a concoction of the words “NUTRItious” and “DELicious”, exactly what our cookies represent. Our products are 100% natural, contain no additives, preservatives, artificial colorings, flavorings or sweeteners of any kind. They are loaded with seeds, grains, nuts, fiber and sweetened with a touch of molasses.

I tried the Pecan as soon as I received the package. You know I can’t resist cookies in my desk! Check out the awesome nutrition facts:

59 calories for one cookie? Yes! I can’t eat just one but knowing that 2 cookies was still close to 100 calories made me happy. The short ingredient list was nice to see too: whole wheat flour, wheat bran, amaranth, pecans, molasses, sunflower oil, and natural pecan essence. A+!

The Flaxseed cookie had very similar nutrition facts to the Pecan.

I loved the thin, crunchy texture of the cookies. They were also pretty big in size for only 57 calories. I guess I would compare them to crackers but with a delicious taste. The Pecan and Flaxseed tasted pretty similar to me but I really enjoyed both. Perfect snack for my mid-day munchies! I would definitely purchase these cookies again! They also come in Almond and Oatmeal so I am very curious to try both in the future!

Well I am off to go finish watching the game! Stay tuned for a giveaway tomorrow! For now I will leave you with some other bloggy giveaways!

Andherlittledogtoo’s Yoplait Light Giveaway

Danica’s Nature’s Path Giveaway!

Related posts:

1. Chocolate Chip Raisin Applesauce Cookies!
2. Cookies and Clouds at Cupoladua Oven!
3. Late July Animal Cookies and Wedding Week Food Plan!

Happy Friday and almost Halloween! My computer is still broken at work but I wrote most of this post last night just in case! Now I am at Lite Choice again finishing it off. Nice excuse to have fro-yo 2 days in a row! Anyway, I will start with the winner of the Progresso Panko gift pack!

Here are your random numbers:
The winner is Gina from The Persuit of Awesome! Congrats Gina! Please e-mail me with your address so I can get your prize out to you. If I do not hear from you by next Friday, I will choose a new winner.

15
Timestamp: 2009-10-30 02:33:24 UTC

Now onto some food since it’s been a while! I basically ate the same thing on Wednesday and Thursday so I will just talk about one of the days!

I started off with a green juice at 6:00 in the morning!

Cucumbers, apple, celery, and ginger. I had no clue how much ginger to add in but I really enjoyed the extra spice. I think I could use a little more next time!

I went to the gym and did 8 minutes on the elliptical, 20 on the treadmill, and 10 on the stepper. I had a mild case of gym A.D.D! I got bored on every single machine but at least I tried!

Breakfast was some McCann’s brown sugar oats with goji granola.

Lunch and dinner were exactly the same! Turkey, ham and cheese on Arnold’s sandwich thins!

With dinner I had cucumbers, popchips, and hummus on the side. Oh and a few beers while watching the game!

Dessert was wonderful!

I used pumpkin butter, chocolate chips, and Oikos all over a baked pear.

The pumpkin butter and Oikos made a wonderful addition to my pear! Don’t forget to become an Oikos Facebook Fan!!!!! They are a great company so have to show them support!

*This is a submission to the Stonyfield Na-Moo-Ste Sweepstakes! Wish me luck

Last night after work I ended up going to Core Fusion. It was a teacher I had for sport a while ago but he did not remember me! It was a great class as usual! I ended up staying in for the game because I figured I’d be going out plenty this weekend. What is everyone doing for Halloween?? I am probably going to a party on Long Island but no clue what I am being yet!

Okay, I need to add something. I just got up to order my fro-yo and the guy next to me is on a porn website!! Who does that at an Internet Cafe??? I saw naked men and other sexual devises on his screen. EW!

Well I am off to since my time is about to be up and I need to leave this place!! Hopefully next week my Internet will be fixed! Don’t need to Come back tomorrow for a special Halloween post! Trust me, it will be worth your time!

Related posts:

1. Progresso Winner!
2. Gluten-Free Winner, New Snack Favs, Run Success!
3. Live the Life You Love Event!

Good Morning!!

What a weekend it was! Thank you for all of your nice comments regarding my photo shoot for Shape! I am beyond excited about the whole thing! I had a pretty relaxing weekend after such an awesome Saturday morning!

After brunch, my friend and I decided to go to the movies since it was so gross and rainy outside. I brought a few snacks since we decided to see 2 movies. I knew we would not be eating again till around midnight!

We saw Law Abiding Citizen and then Couples Retreat. They were both very good!

We got out at 12 and looked for a place to have a late dinner. We were thinking about doing Saki and sushi but the restaurant was closed already. We finally decided to eat at UNO which was open till 2. We both hadn’t been there in at least 10 years!

I started off with a Blue Cosmo: Stoli Blueberry, Ocean Spray 100% Juice Cranberry & Blueberry Blend, Cointreau, & Lemon Juice.

Yummy!

I found the perfect wrap for dinner!

I think it’s funny that they say the calories are between 550 and 960. Maybe because they give you a choice between veggies and fries? I chose veggies so hopefully mine was closer to the 550!

It was delicious! The roasted veggies were so good. I kept adding more and more in the wrap since they kind of stuffed most of it with lettuce.

I also enjoyed some my friend’s fries. He got a Firecracker Grilled Chicken sandwich.

We also had Bud Light Limes before we left.

I passed out right after dinner since I was up since 5:40 in the morning!

Sunday

I bought lots of organic veggies from Whole Foods on Friday so I could start using my juicer finally! I decided to make the boy and I fresh orange juice!

I only had 3 oranges and we barely got 1 glass out of it. Next time I will buy a lot more! He was very impressed with the juice! It was so refreshing!

I used the pulp for my dying plant!

Not sure if it will work but it is worth a try!

I also made an omelet with Laughing Cow and a slice of toast with Crofter’s superfruit spread.

I wanted something sweet after so I made a baked apple with cinnamon, pumpkin butter, and chocolate chips!

Oh and whipped cream too! Haha forgot about that.

I cleaned all day and made a great dinner! I am going to wait till tomorrow to post about dinner because it involves a giveaway!

Today!

I had a very productive morning already! I woke up at 5:50 in time to make juice and go to the gym!

I decided to keep it simple for my first time and used cucumber, pear, and celery.

It was pretty good! It gave me lots of energy for my workout! I did 50 minutes on the elliptical and 5 minutes of abs. I got to work starving and made a bowl of apple cinnamon McCann’s Irish Oatmeal with a banana and black tea. Yum!

Well I am off to get ready for lunch! I brought a tuna and LC sammy with Michael Season’s Cheese Curls! I am excited!

Monday Question of the Day! (Must win this vacation!)

Bachelor Seeks Help with Time Management
Q: I am thinking about hiring a life coach to help me better manage my time. You see I am about to turn 40 and my work schedule keeps me in the office and on the road most of the time but this routine is growing tired. Now that I am hitting this milestone in years I would like to spend time enjoying life and hopefully find someone with whom to share it. Can a life coach help me out and if so can anyone recommend someone good who also does phone sessions?

Thanks for all of your help so far! I’ve been getting some great responses! Have a nice day!

Related posts:

1. To Juice or Not to Juice…
2. Whole Foods Round 2, Beer Garden, New Diner!
3. Late Late!

Hello! The photo shoot went great this morning!! I promise I will talk more about it later in the post! First a recap of Friday because everything I ate was delicious!!!!!!!!!!!

I was a little hungover Friday morning which usually means I crave Energy Kitchen’s breakfast wrap! I knew I shouldn’t spend the money since I had oatmeal in my desk but it was so worth it!

Egg whites with mushrooms, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese in a whole wheat wrap! MMMM!!

I was craving a nice big salad for lunch after the wrap. I decided to keep the good food going and order my favorite salad from Hale and Hearty Soups!

Salad with edamame, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, avocado and carrot ginger dressing.

I had to get 2 bags of soy crisps from Energy Kitchen since they require a $10.00 delivery. The soy crisps were a bad choice because they killed my stomach. I didn’t chew any gum all day so that I would not be bloated for the photo shoot but the chips did the same thing gum does! Oh well!

Once again…another favorite meal of mine for dinner!

Whole Foods!!! I got baked tofu, edamame, carrots, broccoli rabe, grilled mushrooms, fall vegetable mix (roasted broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts), butternut squash, and more! Oh and I tried bbq seitan for the first time and hated it. The tofu is way better there!

Heaven! I decided on no Lite Choice because of the photo shoot (it also bothers my tummy). I had some pudding instead!

It had graham cracker crunchies in there. YUM!

Okay…now I will explain a little more about the photo shoot! Everyone on Facebook probably knows but I did not announce it on here yet!

I sent in a bunch of before and after pictures and wrote up my story again. About 2 months later, they contacted me for a phone interview! They said I would be in the January issue!! So exciting!!!

They said I would have a photo shoot and asked me to pick some of my favorite activities for the picture. I chose Core Fusion and spin. Core Fusion did not work out so we had it in New York Sports Club’s spin room!

Shape sent me 6 work out tops, 6 different pants, and 2 shoes to try on for the shoot! I spent last night trying on every single item until I found one that fit me well. All of the shirts were yellow which scared me a little since I never ever wear yellow! It ended up looking great in the pictures!

The shoot was a lot of fun because I got to have a few friends in the background so it would look like we were really in a spin class! My sister, Dori, and Melanie came with me. It was an Israel reunion!! (I met both Dori and Melanie in Israel and my sister went too!) We can’t wait until some random person we went on the trip with reads it!

We got to the gym at 8:00 in the morning. I was up at 5:40!! The photographers were setting up when we arrived! So cool!

A little preview shot!

I have to mention that the people at the gym were nuts! There was a spin class starting at 9:30 and we were booked to have the room till 9:00. A few people came strolling in around 8:45 to reserve bikes and were SO PISSED that we were using the room! We told them the class was still going on and that we’d be out by 9:00 and they seriously got so mad. Do they really need to be in a spin class 45 minutes early?

We had such a good time! The photographer was super fun and nice! He kept saying how beautiful and great we looked. He also let us play my iPod which was all fun techno music. So great! Stay tuned for the January issue of Shape!!!!!!!!!

After the shoot we were going to take the 9:30 spin class. We tried to sign up before the shoot and it was booked! There were 9 people on the waiting list. Insane! Instead my sister and I took a Total Body Conditioning class and then did 15 minutes on the elliptical. The class was great! It was extra fun working out in my nice Lululemon gear! First time ever wearing gym clothes from there!

I was starving when I got home so I went to the diner with Jackie and got a yummy veggie egg white omelet!

I also treated myself to a Pumpkin Spiced Latte from Dunkin! Now I am awake! Delicious!!

I am off to go relax! In case you missed it yesterday, I will be posting a question for the next 3 weeks to help me win a vacation to Grenada! Your answers to the question will gain me entries so any help is appreciated!

Question of the day:

Has this ever happened to any of you and how did you deal with the emotions of loss (denial, grief…anger)? Why do men feel like they have to pull away once they get married, please enlighten me!!!!

Have a good rest of the weekend!!

Related posts:

1. Time to Do the Friday Dance!
2. Juice Time!
3. Spark Wellness Launch Party!

I had another great night last night but first I will recap the rest of the day! Lots of great food!
 
Morning Workouts!

I made it to the gym both yesterday and today before work! Unfortunately I was unable to actually workout when I got there yesterday. As soon as I started walking to the subway, I felt a horrible pain in the top of my right leg. This is the same pain I experienced the last 2 times I went for a run. I’m not really sure how to stretch it since it is in a weird area. I guess I should ask a fitness teacher next time I take a class!

I got to the gym and tried doing some light walking on the treadmill. After about 5 minutes, I decided the pain was a signal to take a rest day. Instead, I decided to relax in the steam room for 15 minutes. It felt nice and I am pain free today. I did 38 minutes on the elliptical this morning.

Since I had so much extra time yesterday morning, I decided to go to Energy Kitchen to redeem a coupon I had for a free wrap! Best breakfast ever!

Egg whites with mushrooms, tomatoes, and low-fat mozzarella cheese in a whole wheat wrap!

Love it!

Lunch

I ended up back in Hale and Hearty Soups of course! I was craving Tuesday’s salad again!

In case you forgot…mixed greens with avocado, cucumbers, carrots, edamame, broccoli with carrot ginger dressing! I also decided to take advantage of the combo deal. I got a delicious vegetable soup.

I want it again now but I was good and brought lunch today!

Spark Wellness Launch Party!

After work, I headed downtown to go to a party that Melissa invited me to. I got a little lost but saw some lovely buildings on the way!

The party was to celebrate the launch of a new website called Spark Wellness. The website is run by is a collective group of 4 practitioners that focus on nutrition, acupuncture, fitness, and holistic health. The party was in their main acupuncture office which had a relaxing and comfortable atmosphere. Melissa is friends with Hadley, a nutrition counselor and one of the founders of the website.

I arrived and picked up a cup of delicious wine. I also tried out a new energy drink made with acai. It was yummy!

There were beautiful vegetable and fruit and cheese platters.

I helped myself to some grapes and cheese. I also had some veggies with delicious hummus.

It was a very nice party and was especially nice seeing fellow bloggers Melissa and Gena.

They gave us some fabulous goodie bags on our way out.

3 samples of Artisana raw nut butter, organic nail polish, Zico coconut water, brain water, and Indian spice packets. There were also discounts for CleanPlatesNYC, Kula Yoga, MixMyGranola, and Spark Wellness Consultations.

I was pretty hungry for dinner after so I decided to go to Whole Foods! This was my first time at the Bowery location!

I made a big salad with broccoli, edamame, cucumbers, sprout salad, chickpeas, string beans, and hummus. I was a little disappointed because they had no baked tofu! I did really like that they had hummus as an option because the other locations usually make you buy a whole tub!

I got a whole wheat roll to dip in my hummus on the side. Delicious!

I’ve really been enjoying this week. It is nice working out in the morning and going to bars, blogger events, and dinners every night! Next week I will have Daisy kitten back so I’m sure I will be home a lot more! So excited! Tonight I think I am going to a bar to watch the Yankees game! Phillies all the way but Yankees are my 2nd choice Be back tomorrow with a bar recap and the Silk Heart Health winners!!

Related posts:

1. Applesauce Winner and Bachelorette Party!
2. Bridal Party, Birthday Party, Blog Meetup!
3. Weekend Party Time and Monday Goals