I’m writing this post a day late due to CEiMB rules of Thursday recipe sharing. You see, it’s my mom’s birthday today (Happy Birthday, mom!!!!!!!!!!!) so we’re going out to dinner tonight. That means that I made my featured recipe of the week on Wednesday but I’m posting it on Thursday so we’re all good 
On that note, let’s start with dinner, shall we?
DINNER
This week’s CEiMB’s recipe was chosen by Grandma’s Kitchen. I rarely make soups so I was actually excited to be “forced” to make Ellie’s lemon chicken soup with orzo (recipe is on page 86 of The Food You Crave and has been retyped here). The idea of a lemony soup sounded so fresh and appealing to me. Adam wasn’t too psyched but once in a while he has to eat things for the love of the blog (plus I know what he’ll really hate and I wouldn’t serve that to him)
So chicken + lemon sounded delicious but onions and celery did not. For some reason most soups call for carrots, onions and celery as the only veggies. Given my hatred for the 2 latter veggies, I was determined to replace them with veggies I do like… but what would work in chicken soup? My twitter friends helped me out with this dilemma (follow me on twitter if you don’t already!). I decided to add a pepper, some frozen corn and baby spinach. I also realized I had some leftover cooked wild rice so I nixed the orzo for the rice. Since I wasn’t cooking the orzo in the soup (and my rice wouldn’t absorb much of the liquid), I also cut the amount of chicken broth to 4 cups in total. I guess at the end, my soup did not resemble that of Ellie’s much… although I did still use chicken + lemon. 
Here are all the goodies!
The soup was lacking in flavor a bit so I added extra lemon juice and a dash of cayenne pepper to add depth and a bit of spice. Much better! I really liked how the egg made the soup a bit creamier. I’ll use that trick in my next soup adventure! What’s your favorite kind of soup?
[Rewind]
BREAKFAST
TJ’s european style yogurt, chia seeds, mango, muesli + TJ’s nutty American trek mix
My favorite trail mix is back at TJ’s!!!!! It’s been gone for probably a year (I thought it was discontinued) so I almost squealed with excitement when I saw it at TJ’s a few days ago. I bought 2 packages – just in case. 
Best yogurt bowl I’ve had in ages. Amazing!!
LUNCH
The yummy eats continued with an amazing sandwich. TJ’s ww Tuscan pane with pesto, turkey, mozzarella and tomato. All ooey, gooey…mmm
Steamed brussels sprouts + a pickle for some added veggie love
And an impulse V8 juice I spotted at the back of the fridge. I love this juice but need to get used to the low sodium kind.
SNACKS
Mid-afternoon I snacked on a Zbar (brownie flavor) and an orange and after dinner this guy was very much enjoyed…
Whole wheat Tuscan pane with roasted garlic hummus and avocado
Definitely lots of deliciousness all around. 
I skipped my workout for the day because my mid-morning meeting ran into lunch and I missed my spin class. I had no motivation to do my own thing so it turned into a rest day. I used the extra time at night to research Haiti relief programs and chose to donate 100% of my February blog earnings to the National Nurses United. Every dollar donated is used to send volunteer nurses to Haiti.
Happy Thursday… and please wish my mom a happy birthday in the comments. I know she’ll feel the love.
[Back tomorrow with a restaurant review]
Adam and I considered going out to celebrate, but I wanted to do that with my parents once our kitchen is done (SO close!). This way we’ll have 2 things to celebrate about. 
This guy became a casualty during my running this summer when I starting increasing my mileage – he was black, he was ugly and he was hanging on for his life. This morning I woke up and he was gone 
I swear, every time I watch the Biggest Loser, I eat! How screwed up is that?!! I had a packet of almonds and 4 squares of chocolate. I wanted to continue going but realized that there was absolutely nothing I was craving and that I wasn’t hungry, so I forbid myself from going back to the kitchen. Crisis (kind of) averted. 
