Highlights:

- I can’t stay out of the kitchen for too long. Last night I made a recipe that’s been on my list for a whole year. Yes, this one is from July 2009 Cooking Light issue – phyllo pizza with feta, basil and tomatoes (recipe here). It sounded (and looked!) delicious so I thought this would be a perfect dinner to make on a meatless Monday. Now here is the kicker – have you ever worked with phyllo? It was crazy. The sheets of dough were SO thin and they were definitely sticking together and breaking the second I touched them. The recipe said to use one sheet at a time and spray it with EVOO spray (layering it with the cheese mixture every 3 sheets). I fought it for a few rounds and then started grabbing 2-3 at a time. I was nervous that it would result in a rubbery final product but it was one of the best things I’ve made in a long time. So flaky and light, the cheese melted beautifully between all the layers and the super fresh tomatoes enhanced the dish even further. It tasted like a cheat meal but it wasn’t! I will never attempt to make something like this on a weeknight again (especially since work was waiting!) but I think I need to give phyllo another go. It’s too delicious not to.

- The chocolate chip cookies from yesterday’s post were from The Best Light Recipe cookbook. I made them as a thank-you for our neighbors but we never saw them so I brought them to work instead. This cookbook is amazing but I have to say this recipe was just okay. The cookies were a little too crunchy and actually got rock hard after a few hours on a plate. I had to warm them up to bring them to life. Warm cookies are always better!

- No gym today. I get too overwhelmed on Mondays. I feel like I’ll never meet my deadline. Hopefully it will all come together soon (I definitely made a lot of progress over the weekend).

That’s all I’ve got for today. Here is yesterday’s breakfast and lunch (snacks were unphotographed – imagine a breakfast cookie, a serving of almonds and 1 plum).

Cya tonight!

BREAKFAST

FFL english muffin with crunchy Barney Butter and fresh local strawberries + coffee (of course)

Mmm, these guys were so sweet! Produce really is so much better during peak season. I’m eating as many strawberries as I can these days because in a few weeks there won’t be much of these berries at the farmers market. PS – english muffin + almond butter + any fruit is a great combo… and I mean ANY. Try it!

WORKOUT

Abs + spin classes. My abs were on fire (and somehow I did more today – I don’t learn! ). I had 2 almond stuffed medjool dates before my workout. Dates are a great pre-workout fuel!

LUNCH

Leftover pasta with roasted tomatoes, garlic and white beans. It was a bit better the next day, I guess the flavors developed.

Since it was July 3rd and our office was looking pretty dead, I left around 3 to hit up the farmers market and do other grocery shopping before the long weekend. Eventually hunger hit…

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

TJ’s Tuscan Pane with Samira’s Homemade baba ganoush and roasted beets

You know all about my obsession with all of the above ingredients so I won’t bore you.

DINNER!

This was my favorite meal of the day. I just love having a grill and the best part about it is that I still get to cook something special. We don’t just throw premade patties on the grill and call it a day.

On the menu for this Friday night, we had a “man meal” as per Adam’s request. I interpret it as pizza, steak & cheese subs or burgers. Last night it wasn’t just any burger though – we made spicy poblano burgers with chipotle cream (recipe here, I didn’t make the pickled onions for obvious reasons ).

I made the patties, Adam did the grilling. The burgers were expertly grilled. He’s becoming good

Instead of pickled onions, I topped my burger with sauerkraut.

Wow, this was one good burger! A little spicy from the roasted poblano peppers, nice and moist from the addition of soft bread and smoky and hot from the chipotle cream. The chipotle cream is $$$, I tell ya.

Corn on the cob, just simply grilled. For some things, simple is best.

Dinner all together. This was an awesome man meal that can be enjoyed by a lady like myself.

After dinner our friends came over for a few drinks on our patio. The weather was gorgeous! I had 2 glasses of the Perducci sustainable white.

This is a great general white – pretty smooth and not very sweet. I’m a fan.

Lastly, no day can be complete without dessert. Tiffany requested chocolate mint ice cream which I attempted to lighten up by using 2% milk and half-and-half instead of whole milk and heavy cream, but for some reason it wouldn’t harden. Does anyone know why? Instead, we had chocolate mint milkshakes with oreo cookie pieces. And yes, we spiked them up with a bit of Bailey’s mint.

It was one good night.

All right, the boys are getting rowdy in the pool so before this post costs me my laptop, I’m going to sigh off. Have a great weekend everyone!!!

I did “force” myself to take pictures of my breakfast and dinner today. Lunch was yesterday’s dinner leftovers.

BREAKFAST

2 multi-grain waffles with Maranatha almond butter, fresh local organic strawberries (amazing!!) and strawberry rhubarb jam. Good stuff.

After writing my previous post, I actually did end up making a virgin bloody mary to-go. It was gone too soon. I was dreaming of having another one all day. And I did when I got home. Yes, I’m addicted.

Snacks throughout the day included an orange, a banana bread clif bar, some cookies, cheese, bread with baba ganoush and I feel like there was something else but I really can’t remember.

DINNER

Grilled lemon-soy mahi-mahi with noodles and snap pea-radish salad (based on this recipe from Cooking Light)

This dinner had so many components, I was pretty proud of pulling it together in roughly 40 minutes. It was pretty yummy but nothing extraordinary. I actually think the leftovers will taste better (I doubled the recipe) since the sauce will have time to absorb into the fish, noodles and veggies. The noodles were definitely my favorite part. The mahi-mahi is also a great meaty fish.

Local snow peas and radish

Mmm, noodles. I felt pretty fancy making the carrot ribbons.

No workout today but I do have a pilates session scheduled tomorrow morning (eek, I am NOT a morning person) that I have to attend, otherwise they’ll charge me for it. Hopefully starting the day with exercise will put me in the right healthy mindset. Plus it’s farmers market day. That always makes my day.

See you later, alligators. I’m hoping my next post will be a lot more upbeat.

Everyone has their own reasons to “go meatless.” I believe that one can maintain a healthy body on a carnivore diet (with lean meats, omega 3 rich fish and of course portion control and a balance with veggies, fruit and whole grains) but I strongly believe in incorporating more meatless dishes into our weekly repertoire because of the impact this has on the environment.

From the Meatless Monday site… Why Meatless?

• REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide . . . far more than transportation.[3] And annual worldwide demand for meat continues to grow. Reining in meat consumption once a week can help slow this trend.
• MINIMIZE WATER USAGE. The water needs of livestock are tremendous, far above those of vegetables or grains. An estimated 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water go into a single pound of beef.[4] Soy tofu produced in California requires 220 gallons of water per pound.[5]
• HELP REDUCE FOSSIL FUEL DEPENDENCE. On average, about 40 calories of fossil fuel energy go into every calorie of feed lot beef in the U.S.[6] Compare this to the 2.2 calories of fossil fuel energy needed to produce one calorie of plant-based protein.[7] Moderating meat consumption is a great way to cut fossil fuel demand.

Every single person can help reduce the demand for meat (especially inhumanely raised meat) by going meatless more often. I knew I was already doing my part (I know I could always do more by becoming a vegetarian but it’s just not realistic for my lifestyle – we can only do our personal best) but committing myself to a Monday seemed limiting. Well, I’m taking on the challenge!! I like that I can plan a whole day of meatless eats (not just a random meal here and there). I think it happens by mistake once in a while but being more conscious about it made it fun. And you know what? I had some kick-ass eats today. Let’s review them!

BREAKFAST

Breakfast pizza + coffee

Ww tortilla, Barney Butter, nonfat yogurt, mango, Kashi golean cereal, shredded coconut + choc chips

So yummy!

MID-MORNING SNACK

LUNCH

Star ingredient #1: Ellie Krieger edamame “hummus” (recipe can be found here)

It was super galicky and very delicious. I used my vitamix so it was super creamy too. Love it!!

Star #2: grill… well a grill pan for now

Whole wheat Tuscan pane with edamame hummus, heirloom grape tomatoes, grilled zucchini and goat cheese – all pressed together

OMG – seriously I couldn’t get over this deliciousness. Goat cheese + grilled veggies is seriously the best combo on earth. Love <3

MID-AFTERNOON/PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

Clif mojo mountain trek mix bar

WORKOUT

I’m still getting over (or into?) a mild cold so an intense cardio workout was just not in the books. I attended a Body Pump-type class and it was tough. I sweated like crazy and loved every minute of it. What else is new?

DINNER

A little snack while prepping dinner: Doctor Kracker “flatbread” with edamame “hummus”

+ a meatless dinner – ma po tofu with steamed broccolini (recipe can be found here)

I used light tofu, omitted the beef and rice and added broccoli to the broccolini to bulk it up. This made 3 good servings with these lighter substitutions.

I LOVED this meal. It was quite spicy (I used 1T of sriracha) and tasted super authentic. I could see myself ordering it at a Chinese restaurant and being a very happy camper. Some brown rice would have been great to soak up some of the sauce but I thought we’ve been eating too much rice lately so that’s why I omitted it this time. I wouldn’t hesitate to make it again… and you shouldn’t either!

A lovely super charge me cookie to end a lovely day of meatless eats

What do you think of the Meatless Monday movement? If you’re interested, you can pledge to go meatless on Mondays here.

This weekend was sure action packed. Adam and I attended my friend Molly’s good-bye party on Friday night (she’s opening a frozen yogurt shop in Northampton, MA). It was bitter-sweet. I’m super excited for her but I’m so sad she’s leaving. I could go on and on about what a large part of my life Molly has played in the past year, but I’ll just leave it at wishing her lots of luck. She knows how I feel. And Molly, I can’t wait to come visit!! Seriously, how many of us would dream of doing something like that?!!

Saturday was Josh’s birthday party (ha, I think it’s funny that more and more of my friends now have links to their names – blogs, sites, etc.). We first met Josh and Melissa at Josh’s beer tweetup, then again for dinner at American Craft. We learned that Josh loves bbq and poker so naturally Adam was game for attending his birthday party.

At the party, we enjoyed some snacks…

cheddar and bass beer bread…

Sweet potato (baked) fries

… and of course beer

And bbq. This was the best bbq spread I’ve had in my life. I opted for the vegetarian option and it did not disappoint (both Josh and Melissa are vegetarians so they know that veggie burgers are not the only thing you can make on the grill).

Salad of mixed greens, walnuts, cranberries and feta + grilled sourdough bread (with a drizzle of EVOO) with feta, grilled peppers, zucchini and yellow sqush. OMG – this meal was mind-blowing. I cannot wait to recreate it!!!!!!

Side note: we bought a grill on Sunday!!!! Our first one – what’s your favorite grill recipe? I want to put this baby to use!

Back to the party. I brought my vegan cookies and everyone loved them. This guy was double fisting both kinds while mmmm-ing. That’s a good review in my book

There was also some rock-band action. I did not partake but Adam rocked out on a guitar.

And of course there was birthday cake. Actually two! Black forest cake:

Double chocolate

I had a few bites of this guy. Wowza, that’s a lot of frosting!

Sweeter than the cake were the FOUR cookbooks Melissa gave me. She’s built up quite the cookbook collection and is actually running out of space in her living room. I made out like a bandit, that’s for sure. Thanks, Melissa, I’m SO excited to put these to use!!!

Sunday was a lot more chill yet somehow I still had no time to blog. Let’s run through the days eats quickly, ok?

BREAKFAST

+ banana walnut muffin & coffee (to-go)

LUNCH

Teriyaki chicken wings + carrots and turnip (baked) fries

Adam has been craving wings for weeks so I told him I’d make him some. No need to feast on the fried version when you can satisfy the craving at home. I made a homemade teriyaki sauce that tasted awful so I dug deep into our fridge and grabbed bottled teriyaki sauce instead. Hey, I tried! I marinaded the wings for 4 hours in 1 cup of bottled teriyaki sauce + 1/4 cup of water (the sauce is soooo salty, I wanted to dilute it. I bet you can use an even higher water/sauce ratio). Then I broiled these babies for 5 minutes on each side, while reducing the marinade down on the stop-top. Note: if you want to baste the marinade onto the chicken, make sure to reheat it so that you kill all the raw-chicken bacteria. Then I covered the wings in sauce and baked them at 375* for 30 minutes (25 mins covered, 5 uncovered), basting them with the marinade after 10, 20 and 25 minutes. Time consuming but that’s how you get this sticky glaze. Adam was in heaven. Mission accomplished!

In my second oven, I baked a pound of carrots and a pound of turnips with 2 tsp of coconut oil and S&P – baked at 450* for maybe 30 minutes. Between me, Adam and his dad, we consumed TWO pounds of veggies. I think Adam did most of the heavy lifting (I ate 4 wings as well).

A super-charge me cookie for dessert

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

Mango + walnuts – who took this awful photo?

DINNER

Thai green curry mussels (recipe can be found here – I added spinach to the sauce and raw tomatoes to finish)

The sauce was too mild. I added extra green curry paste, salt and pepper to the leftovers. Hopefully that does the trick!

Dessert: Barney Butter stuffed banana

… and a little later: a serving of TJ’s nutty american trek mix <3

Let’s quickly talk about activity. I’ve been trying to implement the 20-minute rule but didn’t make exercise a priority this weekend (I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather). Saturday morning before the party I got Adam to go for a walk with me. We walked for quite a bit and ended up stopping for a slice of heaven.

Ernesto’s portobello mushroom + garlic slice (yes, this is one slice – 1/4 of large pizza – Adam and I split it) – it was amazing!

Needless to say, after this I had no chance in hell of convincing Adam to turn the walk into a run. Better luck next time! Sunday I didn’t even get 20 minutes in. Time totally got away from me. I feel strongly about the fact that you always have 20 minutes for at least a walk. I need to make sure to make it happen. No excuses!!

How was your weekend? Do you use the extra time to check things off your to-do list or is it all about fun?

I was feeling a little anxious at work. It was about 3pm on Friday and I just wanted to go home. Instantly my body reacted by “craving” cookies (how is that a normal response to such situations I still don’t know). I also was really tempted to skip my after work workout because I knew I still needed to unpack and it was bothering me. Just the thought of skipping my workout brought so much guilt that the cookie cravings intensified even further. I haven’t had a good sweaty workout in over a week and I needed it… yet I was trying to sabotage myself. In my heart and mind I knew I was being irrational, so I started thinking about some Fit from Within tips that would put me in the right mindset.

Take the responsibility, not the blame

I had too much sugar the day before and really wanted to eat cleaner today, but I wanted cookies. I was feeling guilty just about this desire before I even “acted on it.” So I changed my attitude. Blame is demeaning, responsibility is empowering. Instead of blaming myself about my food choices the day before (something I cannot change), I chose to do something about my choices today! Instead of prohibiting myself from buying cookies (punishment), I chose to think about how I can have something much smaller that will not weigh me down and will allow for a great workout I really needed (a much better mentality).

This made all the difference. I didn’t really want the cookies anyway. I just needed a quick escape from work. This 100 calorie dark chocolate bar was sweet and chocolaty – exactly what I wanted without all the calories, fat and guilt from Paradise Bakery cookies.

Alter your definition of success

I had ambitious plans for my workout – it’s been so long, I wanted to make it count. Instead of setting high expectations for myself that just made me want to quit before I even started, I allowed myself to be proud of just going to the gym. It’s not easy for me to go after work. If I can’t make it there during lunch, the probability of me going really diminishes… especially on a Friday. I ended up having an amazing workout after all – I ran 3 miles hard, followed by 20 minutes on the elliptical + some stretching. I felt radiant for the rest of the night. Success!

PS- the gym brought even more inspiration. From the locker room board:

All right, so here are the rest of yesterday’s eats…

BREAKFAST

Ww tortilla, Barney Butter, oikos, 1/2 banana, Zoe’s granola & dried bing cherries + coffee

Breakfast pizza!

LUNCH

2 zucchini roll-ups

+ a fantastic salad!!

Arugula, grilled zucchini, cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, cannelini beans, pumpkin seeds and goat cheese – dressed in lemon juice and balsamic vinegar

All together, with water

This lunch made me so happy – so many flavors and textures. I just love grilled veggies with goat cheese and seeds. Mmmm

SNACKS

DINNER

If we stay in on Friday night, I always try to make something a little more special for Adam, aka a “man meal.” These smothered steak burgers from Cooking Light fit the bill.

I followed the recipe to the T, except omitted the shallots. The mushroom mixture was definitely the highlight. The burgers turned out quite juicy as well. I served mine on a Food for Life bun – so hearty. Mid-way I also added a pickle and some ketchup.

Delicious dinner. I already have plans for the leftovers too

What’s your definition of success?

Katie is as health conscious as I am (maybe even more – she’s getting married in 6 months!) so our whole menu for the night was from Cooking Light. Awesome!! I started with a glass of this Louis Latour Pinor Noir. I’m not the biggest fan of Pinot Noir but this was a crisp bottle – a nice way to start the meal.

Mike made sure to refill my glass when it was getting low, so I have no idea how much I really drank (maybe 4 glasses?). Between the 4 of us, 2 bottles of beer and 4+ bottles of wine were consumed. The guys did most of the heavy lifting Like I said, it was a good time!

After getting the tour of their place, which is gorgeous (!!!!), we sat down for dinner. Our first course was a roasted cauliflower soup, finished with truffle oil (recipe can be found here, onions were omitted and hazelnut oil was replaced by truffle oil).

It was so thick and rich, I hesitated about finishing my portion but everyone else polished theirs off so I slowly followed suit. I was shocked to find out that this was only 87 calories/serving. Seriously, Katie didn’t tell me she used Cooking Light recipes until the end so I thought she chose to serve us full fat meals for dinner. The truffle oil gave it a real depth. Very delicious!

Next up, Mike got to carve the roasted chicken (recipe to come).

On the side we enjoyed some hericot verts…

… and whole wheat couscous with dried fruit

My portion (I had a little bit more of the chicken).

The chicken was the star for sure. I’ve actually never roasted a chicken before and was impressed with Katie’s skills – it was so moist and flavorful! She rubbed it with spices under the skin, so when the skin was removed, there was a lot of flavor. She convinced me to give it a go once we have our kitchen back.

And now, my favorite part of dinner (shocker, I know!) – dessert.  Katie cutting the cake…

She made this carrot cake with toasted coconut cream cheese frosting. OMG – so incredible!! The cake was super moist and rich and full of plump raisins and then the cream cheese frosting put it over the top. Perfectly sweet with a fun twist of toasted shredded coconut.

We all loved it (including Adam who supposedly hates carrot cake and coconut – yes, even he wanted seconds). Speaking of seconds, I couldn’t help myself. My sweet tooth nearly always wins, what can I say And that, my bloggie friends, is how you consume nearly 700 calories in just dessert!

I took pictures of the rest of my eats from earlier in the day, but I’m going to leave them off so this meal gets its full blog glory.  The dinner was absolutely fabulous! Thank you, Mike and Katie for hosting us!! We can’t wait to have you over for dinner again when our kitchen is done!

When you have people over for dinner, do you try new recipes or serve tried and true classics? Healthify them or make it a full splurge and stick with the full fat versions? I’m all about doing it Cooking Light-style!

BREAKFAST

Part I – 1/2 cup 4% cottage cheese + 2 kiwi fruits

Part II – office coffee with Agave nectar + bran muffin

PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

1/2 banana with a packet of Barney Butter. I forgot how much I love this snack!

WORKOUT

As mentioned, my workout today rocked! I planned on doing 5 miles on the treadmill and believe it or not, I haven’t done that in months. I was actually nervous before going to the gym today, something I used to experience before super long runs. My game plan was to start out easy to conserve some energy. It worked like a charm – this run was fantastic!! Here is what I did…

• 0.15 mile walk at 4.5 mph, 0.35 miles at 6.5 mph – warm-up. Then the 0.2 mile intervals began…
• 0 incline at 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0 mph
• 0.5 incline at 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0
• 0 incline at 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0
• 1.0 incline at 6.8, 6.9, 7.0, 7.1
• 0 incline at 6.9, 7.0, 7.1
• 1.5 incline at 7.0, 7.1
• cooldown at 4.5 mph – incline 1.5-4.5

Total distance = 5.5 miles (5 mile run, 0.5 mile walk), total time 50 minutes – it was awesome!!!

I did an additional 10 minutes on the elliptical after that, just because I like round numbers. Total workout time = 1 hour.

LUNCH

Baby spinach, carrots, grape tomatoes, cauliflower, black beans and Annie’s balsamic vinaigrette

+ 1/2 FFL english muffin with laughing cow cheese

All together…

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

I was hungry all afternoon so I couldn’t help but snack away. Healthy and Sane YouTrailMix:

The dried apricots in it are waaay too hard. Quite disappointing. The rest of the mix is awesome (of course it is – it’s a combo of my favorite stuff! )

Reese’s snacksters

DINNER

I promised Nasoya I’do a video of how to use their wonton wrappers, so today was the day since our kitchen will be gutted soon. Here is the video for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think!!

[A special thank you to Adam for being the videographer. ]

To make the dumplings, I used this recipe from Cooking Light. I couldn’t find ground chicken breast, so I took an organic chicken breast and processed it in my food processor, then cooked the ground mixture on the skillet before mixing it with the rest of the filling ingredients (since I didn’t bake my pot stickers, the filling had to be pre-cooked). They were delicious, dipped in TJ’s gyoza sauce. I had quite a few while filming. Yum!

Dessert – Bridget’s chocolate almond orange macaroons – SO good!

Great day all around. I had a really fun time making the video. Tomorrow I plan on doing the video tour of our apartment because the construction on the kitchen is starting this week!!! So exciting.

Are there any videos you’d be interesting in me doing? I think I’m on a video kick now.

My morning started with baking some cookies for a cookie swap party later in the afternoon, hosted by Shannon. Choosing a recipe for a blogger party was a tough job – do I go healthy? indulgent? fancy? simple? So many decisions! At the end, I decided that we’ll be eating so many cookies, a lighter recipe may be welcomed. Cooking Light’s espresso crinkle cookies got great reviews online, so I stopped over-analyzing things and got to work.

Of course I had to taste 1 fresh out of the oven Not bad. I wasn’t blown away but Adam approved them + after making 45 cookies, I kind of had no choice but to bring them.

When I got to Shannon’s, I couldn’t believe the spread! I knew we’d have 11 guests (which means 11 types of cookies), but each one was more gorgeous than the other. My heart was racing just thinking about all the cookie deliciousness I was about to consume. Mmm, cookies

Yeah, like I said, the spread was no joke! I’ll do the pictures do most of the talking here – every.single.cookie was absolutely amazing!!! Yes, I’ve tried them all by now.

Tina’s butterscotch choc chip bars. So many chocolate and butterscotch chips. Yum!

Shannon’s maple bacon toffee oatmeal cookies. The bacon was very subtle – these were just good oatmeal cookies, with a little secret ingredient

Bridget’s chocolate almond orange macaroons (Ooh, I guess I haven’t tried these yet. I’ll let you guys know how they are once I finally do!)

Adrienne’s lime meltaways – yep, these lime treasures were definitely melt-in-your mouth delicious!

Kelly’s choc chip orange cookie dough truffles – loved the orange twist!

My espresso crinkles. Everyone seemed to enjoy them after all. Maybe I was overcritical.

Kerstin’s chocolate peanut butter bar – OMG – soooooooo amazing. They had dense peanut butter base with pretzel and Whopper pieces inside, all covered in chocolate. I could easily eat the whole tray if left with them in a room all alone.

Nicole’s lemon almond cranberry crescents – such light, sophisticated little bites.

Rebecca’s break-up bars – shortbread base, caramel and milk chocolate. I believe the word I used was “sick.” These were everyone’s favorites.

Mary Kate’s black & white cookies – a classic cookie perfectly executed.

Savory spread (courtesy of our host)

Salmon mousse with cucs and crackers

Wholly guacamole guac + salsa + TJ’s chips

Mini quiches with pears, walnuts and gorgonzolla

Chai infused almonds

Bacon chips (I purchased from Foodzie)

Bloggers in action. It was funny – I’ve been out with bloggers on several occasions, but we were really not holding back on picture taking this time

Cookie tasting…

Many questions were tough!

The party was so much fun!! Cookies + blogger friends = match made in heaven.

After the party, I headed straight to my parents’ house to unload some of the cookie loot. Look at all these cookies!!!

My parents of course had lots of wine and food for us.

And my mom even made cake!! Yeah, apparently I haven’t had enough sugar quite yet

I wasn’t too crazy about this one (my mom was testing out a new recipe) so she brought me an old favorite – gorka!

Oh yeah, I had a tiny bit of rice pilaf with chicken wings just to say I had “real” dinner.

Pink sparkling wine – yeah, life sure was sweet today.

I am in a serious sugar coma. I left some cookies with my parents and took the rest home. I’m bringing the whole container straight to work tomorrow morning. I promise, I’ll be a good girl.

Which cookie would you have tried first?

P.S. Let me know if you’d like a recipe for any of these. I can find out for you.

I typically eat breakfast before work, then a snack around 11, workout at noon, lunch after that, mid-afternoon snack and dinner later at night. On Mondays, it’s all out of whack. My mid-morning snack usually gets eliminated as I patiently wait for lunch (if I bring it to work, I often dig in around 11:30) and then dinner is super early so I can digest before class. Today I went home for lunch to assemble a crock pot dinner, so it was ready for me at 5:20 when I got home. I hope it digests quickly – I got some sweating to do soon

BREAKFAST

A maple cranberry goat cheese filled muffin (say that 10 times fast ), 1/2 cup of 4% cottage cheese and a sweet ripe persimmon + coffee

[408 calories]

LUNCH

TJ’s whole grain flax seed wrap with Laughing Cow wedge, 2 turkey slices and red grapes + fresh cauliflower, baby carrots and a few extra grapes

[271 calories]

Wrap close-up… I love this combo! Sweet + savory = delish

Today’s photo-set up…

Hardcore, I know!

SNACKS

A handful of raisins from this little box

[~42 calories]

Hershey’s chocolate snacksters (from a very old stash – still good though )

[100 calories, duh]

DINNER

Star ingredient: grass fed beef chuck stew meat

I did a little research for crock pot recipes and found this one from Cooking Light for beef daube provencal. This recipe was featured on their “All Time Best Recipes.” Sounded promising There was quite a bit of prep-work but then I could leave for work and it cooked itself. Perfect!

The beef was super tender. I liked this… I don’t know about the best recipe ever, but both Adam and I enjoyed it

Dessert – 3 squares of the dark chocolate bar filled pear caramel (from my xmas stocking )

+ a little pack of roasted almonds (I think you’ve seen enough pics of them, right? )

[dinner = ~600 calories, all together]

Total calories consumed today: ~ 1500

Time to kick some butt!!!! What’s your favorite crock pot recipe? Hook me up, peeps!