Healthy and Sane

Entries Tagged as 'salmon'

Watch out for that straw

February 9th, 2010 · 20 Comments · breakfast, salad, salmon, snacks

I’ve been such a clutz today! It all started bright and early… I was making a lovely green monster for myself and Adam. Adam tried it and said it needed to be sweeter so I went back to the living room (that’s where our fridge is right now) to grab some more frozen bananas and berries. I blended them nice and fine, but when I was ready to taste it again the straw was no-where to be found!!! Adam and I searched for that damn straw, and came to the conclusion that the all mighty vitamix blended it together with those extra berries. After 25 minutes of smoothie making (that’s how long anything takes with no kitchen these days), I had to pour it all into the toilet. :(

Plan B – breakfast pizza! Yeah, unfortunately that did not go very smoothly either. I burnt the first tortilla!! :( I nearly gave up on the whole-breakfast thing but persevered. My second pizza was delicious. :)

Other annoying mishaps of the day:

  • The eggs I planned on using for my lunch salad went bad. I had to go to plan B once again – chicken.
  • I dropped the rest of the grape tomatoes all over the floor after prepping my salad.
  • I put down a bag with groceries on the ground while looking for my keys – it went sideways and spilled all over the stairwell.
  • I opened a water bottle to have with dinner and half of it squirted all over me, the couch and the floor.
  • The grape tomato with dinner I pierced with a fork fought back and ended up all over my pants.
  • The power was tripped twice while making Adam’s dinner.

I am NOT making this up. It was one of those days. I’m ready to pretty much relax and not touch anything for the rest of the night! ;)

BREAKFAST

Breakfast pizza!!!

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TJ’s flour tortilla with Barney Butter, ground flaxseed, TJ’s european style nonfat yogurt, 1/2 banana, Zoe’s granola, dried bing cherries + coffee

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How about a slice?

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[419 calories]

PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

Walnut stuffed date

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[80 calories]

WORKOUT

My ankle is almost all better, but I decided to be smart and take a low impact spin class instead of running. It was a good class. Shannon even joined me. :)

LUNCH

Mixed greens, grape tomatoes, broccoli, snow peas, shredded carrots + grilled chicken…

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… dressed with 1T Annie’s goddess dressing

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[269 calories]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dressing. I really think it transforms a boring salad into something nutritious AND delicious. It’s high in fat and calories though, so I always stick to 1 tablespoon at a time. It’s thick, so it coats the greens well if you shake the salad bowl. :D

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK ATTACK

I always crave something sweet and bad for me in the afternoon. This guy did the trick today. I have a few boxes stashed at the office for “emergencies.”

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[120 calories]

DINNER

Not having a microwave at home is making things even more difficult these days. I got creative by using our griddler for these crepes.

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The star(s) of dinner were Trader Joe’s smoked salmon and spinach crepes that I picked up tonight + grape tomatoes and an apple

Open wide…

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The filling was kind of bland so I added some capers. Much better!!

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A crispy fuji apple was great for dessert. I’m trying to be good. :D

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[all together = 322 calories]

Total calories consumed (so far): 1241

I aim to eat at least 1475 calories (my BMR) so I’m sure I’ll make a little snack in a bit. Funny how last night I was starving after consuming over 1600 calories, and today I’m totally fine with less than 1300.

Speaking of calorie counting… I received a question on my previous post that I figured I’d address right here on the blog since some of you may be wondering this as well.

Q: How do you get such accurate calorie counts?

A: I own a food scale so I weight most of my food while prepping it and write it all down. I then input all the ingredients into Sparkpeople.com. It’s not 100% exact but I think I get pretty close. For most of my meals out, I just try to order something healthy or treat it as a splurge. For those circumstances, estimating the calorie counts is usually a guessing game that I don’t find particularly useful. I hope that answers it. Let me know if you guys have any other questions for me :grin:

Biggest Loser and Lost are BOTH on tonight. What to do, what to do… ;) Are watching tv tonight?

Edited to add: While watching Lost, I ate 3 coconut macaroons, 1 orange and a few spoonfuls of Barney Butter. Total calories consumed ~1,575. See, nothing to worry about! :)

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Mid-week date night at Stephi’s on Tremont

February 3rd, 2010 · 7 Comments · Boston, restaurant reviews, salad, salmon

After a super productive conference call at work, I practically hopped home. I was super excited to see my husband!! Of course our favorite thing to do together is eat, so we quickly went through a restaurant list relatively close by and decided to have dinner at Stephi’s on Tremont. I really loved it the first time I went there with my friend Katie, and couldn’t wait for Adam to go back there with me. :)

The restaurant has a really clean, yet cozy atmosphere (btw, by clean I mean clean lines – not the levels of dirt ;) ).

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The menu is centered around comfort foods as well as lots of creative salads. My eyes almost instantly locked on the salad I just “had to have” but we’ll get there in a minute. ;) First there was wine… the l’Oca ciuca “the drunken goose” sangiovese blend to be exact. Hehe, drunken goose. Yeah, yeah, I’m that mature. :lol: I had this glass:

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The lighting was dim so please forgive me for the slightly blurry photos. I hope you can imagine the deliciousness of this garlic baguette. It was soaked in garlicky butter and was definitely worth the calories. I had 2 little pieces.

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For my entree, I ordered the miso glazed salmon salad: fresh Atlantic salmon, shaved romaine, pickled vegetables, sesame seaweed salad, sliced avocado and fried ginger served with sesame honey vinaigrette and ponzu. I love that I can get a large salad for an entree and Adam can get something a little more hearty at the same place!

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My salad was gigantic.. and here is its good side. Mmm, pickled veggies..

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Some dressing on the side because they possibly had some onions in it (I didn’t taste any onions – score!).

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This salad was so fresh and delicious! All the flavors were well rounded and very Asian (read: lots of ginger) – there were no fillers here (well, I guess the lettuce could be called a filler, but it was great with the sesame vinaigrette). The pickled vegetables (radish? and carrots) were the most unique and since I’m obsessed with everything-pickled lately, I couldn’t get enough of them. The salmon, although small, was super tender and just melted in my mouth (I very rarely say that about salmon outside of a quality sushi restaurant). I definitely could never make this salad in my makeshift kitchen!

Last time I went to Stephi’s, I was able to resist dessert but I couldn’t let this happen twice!! You know where this is going…

When I look at dessert menus, I quickly scan for all things chocolate (sometimes a cherry pie will convince me to make an exception). The fudgy brownie bread pudding with hot fudge, creme anglaise and vanilla ice cream sounded heavenly. According to our waiter, it was freshly made this afternoon. Wow, that’s fresh! It was so pillowy and creamy – I really enjoyed it. Adam stole a few bites but otherwise I pretty much devoured it. My belly was super happy. What a great dinner!

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Our date night on a random Tuesday night was a great success! The whole experience was great from the atmosphere to service and of course the food. I was in a fantastic mood when we got to Stephi’s but I left even happier. I hear their brunch is great too, and I can’t wait to check that out. :D

***

If you’d like to read my other restaurant reviews, check out my Restaurant Reviews page.

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Dinner with the family – entertaining part II

December 7th, 2009 · 18 Comments · Cooking Light, Ellie Krieger, dessert, entertaining, fish, salad, salmon

After making a successful dinner for my dad last weekend, I decided to make a 3+ course dinner for my aunt (she’s here from Russia for 2 weeks) and my parents. I really love having people over for dinner, but I also get a little nervous about making sure that everyone’s happy. Adam was a big help in prepping the space. The Christmas tree was ready for our guests…

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Our house smells like Christmas!!

Fresh flowers in the vase…

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And the dining room table set…

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Everybody – have some wine! [This was a fantastic Chianti my dad brought.]

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FIRST COURSE

We started with a nice salad: mixed greens, arugula, roasted apples, pomegranate seeds and hazelnuts

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I thought all the salad ingredients complemented each other really well – the sweet and savory balance was spot on (she pats herself on the back…). :D

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I followed this recipe for the dressing (cut the oil by 1/2).

I also decided to make little appetizers with the Pepperidge Farm puff pastry (I received a free coupon for it from Foodbuzz).

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These guys were inspired by a pasta I used to love at an old local restaurant in New York.  They’re topped with vodka sauce, roasted asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts and a graded parmesan. Delicious!!

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My plate:

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SECOND COURSE

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The star of the show: sweet-spicy glazed salmon. This is one of my favorite salmon recipes – I follow this recipe from Cooking Light, substituting 1/2 honey mustard and 1/2 country dijon mustard for Chinese-style hot mustard.

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Haricot verts, steamed then sauteed in a tiny bit of EVOO with garlic.

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Couscous pilaf (recipe based on p. 12 of The Best of Cooking Light, Great Plates) – ww couscous, dried cherries, almond slivers, lemon zest and S&P.

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My plate (I ate 1/2 of it… getting stuffed!)

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The salmon was a hit! This glaze is fabulous!! :grin:

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The cherries in the couscous were my favorite. I <3 cherries :D

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Let’s not forget the veggies. Simple preparation doesn’t mean simple taste.

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DESSERT

The almond, cherry chocolate clusters made their appearance on the dinner table. This recipe is already becoming a staple in my entertaining repertoire because it takes just minutes to make and everybody loves these clusters!

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All 12 were gobbled up! :mrgreen:

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My aunt also brought a dessert – a local specialty called “chuck chuck.” Her mother-in-law made this particular batch with nearly every ingredient home-grown. This is little homemade pastry noodles, fried then covered in a honey glaze. The eggs are from the chickens they have and the honey is from their own honey-combs. Pretty awesome. We picked on this sticky mess all night. Mmm…..

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Teas galore :)

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My first portion (I had a whole lot more of the chuck chuck)

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Family pic for evidence ;) Happy bellies…

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I’m really in the holiday spirit now!! Thank you, parents, for my early Chanukkah cash. I’m off to shop! Oh, I have to go to work first? Ok, ok… :D

See you guys later! :mrgreen:

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Being bullied into PT

October 2nd, 2009 · 14 Comments · Ellie Krieger, breakfast, pizza, polenta, product reviews, salmon, shrimp, snacks

Ah, I wrote a post last night and forgot to publish it!! I was wondering why you guys didn’t comment :???: I ended up making cookies for the guy and told him that I need to think about it but that finances are tight right now. The truth is that I could pay for it in theory (it may be a little painful but probably doable if I cut out some other things), but I can’t decide if I really need it (I can’t just spend $300+ without really thinking about it. Maybe one day when I’m rich and famous ;) ).  Do you think I made the right choice? So here it goes…

I have a little story from today. Bare with me… I need your help!!!

I planned on doing some speed work on the treadmill today. It got COLD here in Boston, so speed work seemed like the perfect answer… 10×400s were on the schedule to be exact. I “met” someone else that is running the Boston half marathon, and emailing back and forth with Betsy this morning got me even more excited about the race. I was so ready to run today… until I got on that treadmill :( Even during my warm-up walk I was feeling off. I couldn’t walk as fast as I’m used to because it hurt my shins. Not a sharp pain, but something that was definitely nagging me. Then I sped up to a slow warm up run. Once again, I couldn’t do my usual warm up. It hurt. I continued for a few minutes, hoping I just needed to warm up, but then started worrying that I’m actually contributing to an injury. I got off the treadmill and decided to talk to a trainer. Long story short, the guy was a postural therapist and offered to look at me. He said my alignment was completely off, that I wasn’t using my right hamstring and let all my left leg do all the work, yadda yadda yadda he scared me shitless. He then said he could “fix it” if I came back in an hour for a session. Sweet! I was shaking I was so scared that I couldn’t run. The session was great. He stretched me for 30 minutes, massaged my right calf (which was the problem), made me do some random exercises (one legged squats, etc.) and then I went back on the treadmill. It seemed to be ok now. He said my alignment was good now.

I asked the guy if I owed him anything for the session and he said that this one was free, but that I should really schedule some follow up personal training sessions, where he’d show me strengthening exercises so that I run more evenly and don’t get injured. He said he’ll also thoroughly stretch me out before every session and that this should really help. He was ready to schedule my next appointment but this was just a lot of information thrown at me in one hour’s time, and I wasn’t ready to fork over hundreds of dollars for a package of training sessions. I told him I’ll email him with my schedule, but now I’m not sure. It’s a lot of money and I feel like I’m being bullied into this. I think the sessions would help and I know that I’m not running straight (that’s why my right hip always hurts after my long runs) but I don’t think I urgently need to start seeing a personal trainer either. This is so hard. What would you do in my situation? I’m leaning towards sending him a very nice email telling him I can’t afford it right now and bringing some cookies over. :) … Or should I suck it up and get some sessions since they’ll help me in the long term?

By the way, I went back to the gym after work and finished what I started – 10 x 400 at 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.5, 8.6, 8.5, 8.5, 8.5, 8.6 with recovery at 6.5. It was hard but I knew I would feel a million times better if I finished, and I did!!! :D

BREAKFAST

Inspired by the week’s CEiMB recipe for New York Breakfast hosted by imafoodblog.com, my breakfast was a yummy lox/tomato sammie. I somehow ended up with a whole lot of bread at home, including some new light bagels so I didn’t buy the bread Ellie recommended for this.  Now that I think about it, though, by substituting a bagel for pumpernickel bread this breakfast became even more “New York.”

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*These bagels are somewhere in between a mini bagel and a regular bagel in size; they seem a little less dense that a regular bagel (good thing!) and are only 110 calories. I like them! :)

So for breakfast I had 1 Kim’s wheat bagel with 1 laughing cow wedge + some wild lox and a sprinkle of dried dill

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Mmm, lox <3

+ some TJ’s nonfat European style yogurt with tomato slices. I love that I had a serving of veggies for breakfast! :D

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MID-MORNING SNACK

1/2 FFL english muffin + Barney Butter and 1/2 banana

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LUNCH

Leftover parmesan polenta with roasted mushrooms + shrimp

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+ 1 serving of sea salt somersaults (my favorite flavor!!)

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And 3/4 serving of TJ’s chocolate covered edamame. I was definitely stress eating at this point because of my mini injury. :oops:

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At some point, again out of stress, I ate a brownie (unpictured). I wasn’t proud of it at the time, but at the end it fueled me through a kick-ass workout so I guess it was ok. Sugar is good sometimes!

DINNER

Tortilla pizza: TJ’s low carb ww tortilla with pizza sauce, organic part skim mozzarella, roasted mushrooms and black beans + carrot sticks on the side. Sometimes these tortilla pizzas totally take care of my pizza craving (like today!!). So easy, quick and delicious :grin:

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LATE NIGHT SNACKING

‘Nuff said. Seriously, no more eating out of the bag!!!!!!

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Please help me figure out what to do with this trainer/postural therapist thing! Thanks, guys – you’re the best!! :mrgreen:

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Never ending to-do list

September 28th, 2009 · 13 Comments · breakfast, salad, salmon, snacks

It’s a little after 9pm. I just finished dinner and am now for the first time sitting down to relax. I wish I could say I’m truly relaxing, though, because my head is spinning with everything that needs to get done. There is laundry to be folded (has been sitting in the washing machine for a few days now), I need new cosmetics and need to research the green chemical-free alternatives, some of my clothes need to be ironed and the blogging “wish list” is never ending. Oh yeah, I also need to decide on what I make for dinner this week. The meals need to be fast because there will be longer hours at work again. Somehow another day has gone by and my to-do list has not shrunk one bit. Do you ever feel like you’re constantly going full speed, yet nothing gets done?

Despite the crazy schedule (another late meeting prevented me from working out after work :evil: ) my eats were delicious. I tried to eat a little cleaner today given the abundance of this weekend’s treats.

Breakfast: egg & cheese with tomato on a FFL english muffin + mascadine grapes

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These grapes are giant and are super cool. Their skin is very thick and tart but their flesh is really meaty, sweet and delicious. Have you ever mascadine grapes?

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Mid-morning snack: some grapes my co-worker gave me. They were so sweet!

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Lunch: mixed greens, carrots, heirloom grape tomatoes, roasted red peppers, black beans, roasted almonds + buttermilk-herb dressing and shaved organic cheddar cheese.

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My favorite was the crunch of the roasted almonds and carrots and the creaminess of the black beans. The roasted peppers were kind of random – I was just trying to bulk up the salad with veggies. Next time I’ll skip them. Black + roasted red peppers are a weird combo. One at a time is better :)

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Lunch dessert: 1/2 FFL cinnamon raisin english muffin with Barney Butter and fresh raspberries. I knew I needed a little somethin’ after the salad and this hearty dessert prevented me from hitting up the vending machine at the office!

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Mid-afternoon snack: fruit & nuts – 100 calorie almonds pack + 2 dried prunes. Yum! :D

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Dinner: cheddar crusted salmon + sweet roasted broccoli

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See the crust over the salmon? That’s cheese!! I sprinkled the salmon fillet with S&P and shredded some cheddar over it before plopping it (top side down) on the skillet until perfectly cooked (inspired by this recipe). I knew the salmon was perfectly done when I could easily remove the skin from it. The broccoli was roasted by following this recipe. I thought sweetening the broccoli with some sugar was fun and different although I don’t think broccoli necessarily needs any sugar; I love it as is. :D Adam loved this sweetened version!

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Dessert: Kashi dark chocolate oatmeal cookie + a glass of riesling

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Mmm, wholesome cookies.

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And now I’m snacking on these as I’m typing. They are definitely addictive and incredibly delicious (I also got the chocolate kind – not as good). I need to separate them into little baggies for portion control asap! New addiction alert!! :mrgreen:

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How was your Monday? Do you find that you’re refreshed after the weekend and ready for the work week or dreading to go back?

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