Last night I discovered an amazing sushi restaurant that all of my New York readers must experience at some point! My roommate has been trying to take me there for months now but it is located in Great Neck so is pretty difficult to get to. Luckily I brought my car to New York recently so we decided to drive there last night. The restaurant is called Sushi Palace and is all-you-can-eat for just $20.00! I usually try to avoid places like this because I immediately think of two things: 1) low-quality sushi 2) eating way too much. I am not good at the whole stopping when full thing, especially when there is delicious sushi on my plate! My roommate assured me that the sushi was fresh and made-to-order so I agreed to try it. Sushi Palace is also BYOB (oh yeah)!

Jackie and I drove there and it was just 20 minutes away from our apartment in Queens.  There was even a free parking lot behind the restaurant (a very rare luxury in New York). We arrived at the restaurant around 7:00 p.m. and did not have to wait for a table. It did get very busy about an hour after that so I would recommend going on the earlier side. We were handed an appetizer list and sushi list and got to check off anything (almost everything for us) from the menu! We took full advantage of the $20.00 all-you-can-eat deal. Evidence pictured below….

Japanese Mushroom Soup

Spring Rolls

Seaweed Salad

Seafood Udon Noodles

Garden Salad

Edamame

Round 2! More Salads and Sweet & Sour Soup

Sushi Part 1: Eel Avocado Roll, Crunchy Shrimp Roll, Sashimi!

Sushi Part 1: Salmon Avocado Roll with Crab, Salmon & Tuna Sashimi

Rock Shrimp (AMAZING)

Aged Tofu

Green Tea and Red Bean Ice Cream

Talk about sushi coma! I’m going to go ahead and say that we got our $20.00 worth! I loved everything that we ordered besides the tofu (just because it was too slimy for me). I can’t even put into words how delicious the rock shrimp was!  All of the sushi was very fresh and the food came out super fast! The service was incredible for such a busy restaurant. If you are able to visit Sushi Palace, do not leave without trying the Red Bean ice cream! If anyone needs a ride to Great Neck, do not hesitate to ask me. I’d be happy to eat at this restaurant again ASAP!

Have a great Friday! Happy 11/11/11!

Do you like all-you-can eat restaurants and buffets? Why?

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Related posts:

1. Sushi Date and College Memories
2. Sushi Coma!
3. Sake Bombs at Sake Sushi!

Happy Friday! I am heading to South Beach tomorrow morning so I decided to leave you with a giveaway to enter while I am gone. I do not plan on blogging while I am there. I do plan on laying on the beach while drinking margaritas for four days. So excited!

Giveaway Time!

Last week, I received two cans of Wolfgang Puck® soups to try out: Hearty Garden Vegetable and Tomato Basil Bisque.

About Wolfgang Puck® soups (source):

When the end of the day comes in the blink of an eye and you suddenly find yourself with a grocery trip still on your to-do list, it’s time to get creative. Wolfgang Puck® soups are delicious pantry problem-solvers – and many varieties are also USDA-certified organic and gluten-free!

Stocking your pantry with versatile, affordable staples that can be used for a variety of dishes – and to please a variety of tastes – can help prevent end-of-day dinner panic. Shelf-stable products like soups and stocks, beans, canned tomatoes, pastas and rice are affordable and easily adapted to suit any season, time frame or taste.

Wolfgang Puck’s soups are the ideal solution – great as stand-alone meals in a pinch, but also easily incorporated into gourmet, restaurant-inspired recipes like Eggplant Parmesan, Mussels Marinara, Gazpacho and Wild Mushroom Risotto. These recipes range in preparation time from 20 to 45 minutes, so there’s one perfect for every family’s dinner schedule!

The Hearty Garden Vegetable was a delicious dinner option for when I was short on time but wanted something easy and healthy.

A medley of select farm grown vegetables and barley bring you a taste only a chef can deliver.

The Tomato Basil Bisque was also delicious and is gluten free!

A wonderful rich blend of organic tomatoes, sweet organic cream, and a touch of aromatic sweet basil.

I love that the soups are all natural, preservative-free and contain no added MSG! They did not taste salty like most canned soups so I did not have to worry about adding water to the broth. I would definitely purchase these soups in the near future.

The kind folks over at Wolfgang Puck are offering THREE Missy Maintains readers a chance to win the following gift basket!

There are three ways to enter (please leave a separate comment for each entry):

1) Head to the Wolfgang Puck website and let me know which type of soup you are most interested in trying.

2) Follow Wolfgang Puck on Twitter.

3) Tweet about the giveaway. “Win a @wolfgangbuzz soup gift pack from @MissyMaintains. 3 winners! Enter here: http://bit.ly/k0CsR3”

I will choose the winners on Wednesday, June 8. Good luck and have a great weekend!

Related posts:

1. Progresso Reduced Sodium Soup & Fitness Ball Giveaway!
2. Campbell’s Soup Giveaway!
3. Swanson Health $50 Gift Card Giveaway!

Lately I’ve been in a soup kind of mood. I guess it is the 30 degree weather and the fact that my heat did not start working until tonight! The problem with most canned soups is the crazy amount of sodium! I am too lazy to make homemade soup from scratch so I am always on the lookout for soups with natural ingredients that are made with little sodium. Last week, the folks at MyBlogSpark offered to send me 2 cans of Progresso Reduced Sodium soup. Honestly, I was much more interested in trying out the fitness ball that came in the box with the soup! I’ve always wanted my own fitness ball!

They also sent me a fitness ball DVD, a pedometer, and my favorite soup cup! I have one from last year and love how the entire soup can fits perfectly into the cup. It also keeps the soup from exploding in the microwave. I’ve had that happen one too many times.

Progresso Reduced Sodium Soup comes in five flavors:

Italian Style Wedding, Minestrone, Garden Vegetable, Beef and Vegetable, and Chicken Gumbo. They contain hearty vegetables and legumes to provide 1g of heart healthy soluble fiber in every bowl.

For more information about Progresso Reduced Sodium soups and great recipe ideas, visit www.progressofoods.com.

I tried the Reduced Sodium Chicken Gumbo a few nights ago for dinner.

I like that the soup is high in fiber and protein. My issue with it is that I never eat just half of the can. A whole can still has 960mg of sodium! I would not buy this on a regular basis but it did taste good! I guess anything with that much sodium would taste great….

I also tried the Reduced Sodium Tomato Parmesan.

Pretty similar nutrition stats…

Once again, I ate the whole can so my dinner turned out to be super high in sodium. I ate a salad, broccoli, and Riceworks chips with the soup to feel more satisfied but still felt that half a can was just not enough.

This dinner was very comforting for a cold, fall night. I just woke up very bloated the next day from all the sodium! I guess that is why they sent me the fitness ball!

If you want to have as much fun as I do on the fitness ball, enter my giveaway below! You will win your very own fitness ball along with 2 cans of Low Sodium Progresso soup, a pedometer, a fitness ball DVD, and cool soup cup!

How to enter:

1) Leave me a comment telling me if you use a fitness ball and what you do with it! If not, what is your favorite way to work your abs?

2) Tweet this giveaway. “@MissyMaintains is giving away Progresso soup, a fitness ball, and a pedometer! Enter here: http://bit.ly/cHw8oL”

I will choose a winner this Monday, November 8th. Good Luck!

Related posts:

1. Campbell’s Soup Giveaway!
2. Wolfgang Puck Soup Gift Basket Giveaway!
3. Progresso Winner!

Last week I mentioned that I was getting sick a lot. I had a sore throat Thursday and Friday and it got a little worse yesterday. I thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss some preventative measures to take when feeling a little sickness coming on!

1) Juice!

This morning I consumed 2 large kale leaves, almost an entire cucumber, 2 celery stalks, an apple, and lemon juice.

I definitely think juicing every morning is a great way to prevent colds.

Raw juices of fruits & vegetables are extremely rich in vitamins & minerals, trace elements, enzymes & natural sugars.  They exercise beneficial effect in normalizing all the body functions.  They supply needed elements for the body’s own healing activity & cell regeneration thereby speeding the recovery. (Juicing Source)

2) Get Some Fresh Air

Would you rather breathe in this…..

or this…..

I love New York but I am also aware that I am breathing in pollution and dirty air every day. It is important to take a break  and escape from the city every now and then. I knew I was going to be sick when I had my awful sour throat on Friday. It is kind of funny that I felt completely fine on my hike but couldn’t breathe as soon as I got back into the city.

3) Eat Those Comfort Foods

Foods like soup, eggs, cereal, and ice cream always make my happy when I am sick. Yesterday I had a lunch date with Marina at Sea Thai Bistro (our usual). I really needed soup. The only way to get it was to get the lunch box special. It was a ton of food for $12.00 but probably much more than I needed. I chose the vegan lunch box option since the soup sounded better than the other lunch box options!

The lunch box came with the Sea House Soup, It was filled with tons of vegetables and definitely helped me feel a little better.

It also came with Vegan Duck. I was not a huge fan of the fake duck. It was a bit too rubbery for me. I stuck with the veggies.

I got more greens in my diet with their delicious salad.

I think fried foods count as a nice comfort food too! The dumplings and peanut sauce at Sea are delicious.

I also had breakfast for dinner I had an omelet on an Eziekal English muffin with apples and Better N’ Peanut Butter Chocolate Dip. Perfect.

You get my point. I know some people lose their appetite when sick but that is not usually the case for me. I think it is really important to get enough nutrients when sick.

4) Drink Water!

I found this nice little picture that pretty much explains it all:

5) Take Your Vitamins and Cold Remedies

I’m a big fan of ZICAM, Cold-Eeze, and Vitamin C of course I usually take these when I feel a cold coming on. They seem to decrease the severity of my cold symptoms.

6) Rest

This is obvious but a lot of people just keep on going and going when they are sick. Not enough sleep will lower your immune system and make things worse. Don’t be afraid to take a day off work or school if you really need it. Your coworkers probably don’t want you there anyway.

7) Light Exercise

While rest is important, I think exercise can help depending on how sick you are. Last week when I was sick, I had a high fever and could not get out of bed. I was not about to go break a sweat on the elliptical! This week, I just have a stuffy nose and slight cough but feel fine other than that.  I think a little sweat session can do a body good in this case. I actually felt much better after Core Fusion Cardio last night. All of the sweating was a nice detox for me. Just be sure to cover your mouth and disinfect the machines please!

These are just a few of the things I’ve done in the past couple of weeks to help with my fevers and colds. I am sick of being sick! Hopefully this cold is my last one for a while!

What are some of your tips for preventing sickness?

For more health and wellness tips, subscribe to my free newsletter:

Related posts:

1. Sick Day
2. To Juice or Not to Juice…
3. Sicky Eats!

Hey everyone. I thought I’d share some of my Passover meals with you from the past couple of days!

Passover started at sundown on Monday so I made sure to load up on some carbs during the day! I had a big bowl of oatmeal with baked apples and cottage cheese for breakfast.

I went to Amy’s Bread for lunch and got a delicious hummus salad. I had a freshly baked organic whole wheat roll on the side.

Hi Daisy! She found a new home

On Monday, I did not go to Passover Seder because I did not want to take 2 full days off of work. I decided to go on Tuesday instead. I made my own dinner at home after some Core Fusion Cardio.

I started off with Miso Soup.

I liked that this only had 25 calories but it also had no taste! I tried to be good and buy low sodium but I ended up having to add my own salt. Oh well.

I also made a big plate of veggies! I enjoyed my “Passover dinner.”

Yesterday I took the day off so I went to Core Fusion, the dentist, and dermatologist in the morning and to Passover Seder at night. I had a slice of matzoh before my wonderful Core Fusion Cardio class! My doctor appointments did not go so well…had to get a biopsy for a mole that looked funny and have 2 cavities! I’ve never had a cavity before! Wahhh  

I stopped for a yummy salad during my adventures in the pouring rain and wind.

Around 3:00, I headed into Long Island for dinner. It was at my brother in law’s house.  I did not take pictures but we had a ton of delicious food! Everything from matzoh ball soup to brisket to chicken to sweet potatoes, etc. There were probably about 15 different desserts! Yumm. It was a lot of fun.

This morning I made a mushroom and Laughing Cow omelet with some whole wheat  matzoh for breakfast!

Lunch was a quinoa salad with roasted broccoli, chickpeas, lemon & feta cheese. This was delicious! I was excited when my sister told me quinoa was kosher for Passover. It looks like a grain but technically is not!

That’s it! I remember Passover used to be so hard for me to keep but now I am enjoying it. It also keeps me from eating cereal at 11:00 at night for no reason! This is good timing since I will be on the beach in a few weeks!

1) Do you celebrate Passover? Do you keep it?

2) If you celebrate Lent, what did you give up? Did you keep it?

Related posts:

1. Sicky Eats!
2. Equinox Classes and Pre-Passover Sushi
3. Soup Craze!