...and Bacon.

Thursday Recap:

7:00-7:30am:  Dance/weights x2/1 minute plank

8:00am:  Coffee with creamer

10:00am:  Breakfast- Apple Crumb Vitatop

12:30pm:  Lunch- Tuna & Avocado salad

Why...WHYYYYYY has it taken me so long to combine 2 of my favorite things on the planet??  (excluding the third: coconut...let's not get crazy here!J)

1/2 can of tuna + 1/2 mashed avocado + a little onion = a new favorite!

I'm gonna venture and say the riper the avocado, the more resemblance to 'mayo tuna' this is going to have.  Just an FYI!

Served up with some sour cream & onion Pop Chips....which I had just bought at the store AND tore into out of sheer starving desperationJ 

CRUNCH! 

And despite being STARVING beforehand, this lunch kept me REALLY FULL for HOURS.  I didn't even think about any snacks until I realized it was almost time to leave for the gym and I need SOMETHIN.

MAIL DELIVERY TO THE RESCUE!

So I had seen a 3-month subscription to Bulu Boxes on Living Social for 50% a couple months ago.  And since I HEART me some 'health samples' and who doesn't heart getting mail, I forked over my $15 and gave it a whirl.

And in this month's:

The perfect pre-workout snack!  

140 calories, 13 grams of protein and WHO could turn down an excuse for a 'rice krisipie treat' drizzled with vanilla frosting in the name of health?? 

NOT ME!  That's for sure!  This kept me completely full for:

5:00-6:00pm:  Body Jam class

We did the "Kicking & Screaming" class last night and I thought the roof was about to fly off the place!  So much energy and I was completely DRENCHED by the time we were done.  Effective to the maxJ

6:30pm:  Dinner- Asparagus "Tart"

Thank goodness I had an awesome dinner ready & waiting for me when I got home!  I'm venturing to say that at least one dish a week for the next month is going to include asparagus since they are HOT at the farmer's market right now!  And this week, they had my FAVS:

The super skinnies!  I roasted them up with some olive oil, garlic powder & salt for about 30 minutes on 350.  Meanwhile, I also cooked up 3 slices of bacon to crumble & set aside.

Next up was this little number that I had in my freezer.... 

I heart puff pastry & wonder WHY IN THE HELL I don't use it more often every time I cook with it!  It's a fun way to shake up making a 'pizza'...and bonus:  there's no dough to roll out!

I simply laid out the defrosted pastry on a cookie sheet (this was from my toaster oven) and topped it with the roasted asparagus, bacon & crumbled goat cheese: 

Scott popped this in the oven at 300 degrees around 6pm and dinner hit the table by 6:30 SHARP! 

YUM!  What a little magic just 4 simple ingredients can make.  Tangy & creamy goat cheese, earthy & sweet roasted asparagus...not to mention buttery puff pastry and bacon.  Do I need to say any more??  

I ate my 2 slices and quickly turned my attention to my salad before telling Scott "you can have the last piece.  And don't ask me if I'm sure because I will change my mind!" 

Normal conversation around hereJ

Meanwhile Katie inhaled one of her favs!  

The BEFORE picture: 

...and the AFTER!  

Scott & I can't decide if we're THRILLED she loves all these random things...or if it's just gonna be the ammunition of "YOU USED TO EAT EVERYTHING!" when she goes through her picky/fussy stagesJ  It's still up for debateJ

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how we (well, I!) ended the evening with HYSTERICAL, UGLY cries during "The Office" series finale!  It was absolute, 100% PERFECTION.  

Ughhh...I'm getting emotional AGAIN!  Let me stop!

Anyway...hope you guys have a great weekend!  We'll be gettin down on Friday with our "Friday tradition" tonight and  on Saturday, we're heading to a new restaurant that serves up one of my favorite dishes!  (here's a hint...and NO!  No plane tickets are involved in this ventureJ)

Have a great one!!

With a twist...

Wednesday Recap:

8:00am: Coffee with creamer

9:30am:  Breakfast:  Pineapple & Mango Smoothie

In the mix:

• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• Pineapple Chobani
• Trader Joe's Mango cream bar 

And thankfully I didn't add anything else 'heavy duty' into the mix, as I ended up having to blend this in Katie's baby bullet.  My ol' blender has had ENOUGH of me and I think she's finally ready to end her days with us....which she let me know by nearly igniting in flames on my counterJ  No joke.

Enough said...

10:30-11:45am:  Power Yoga

One arm/one leg downward dogs, tree to airplane pose, eagle to side crow balance ...yesterday's class was all about FOCUS.  Oh yeah...and I sweat like I ran 7 marathons.  PHEW!

12:30pm:  Lunch- Leftover Roasted Cauliflower Salad 

3:30pm:  Snack- Grapes 

6:00pm: Dinner- Caprese Chicken with a TWIST! & roasted broccoli

So our dinner started out with 2 of the normal ingredients in caprese salad:  Fresh basil & roasted tomatoes...

But my secret little twist to change it up:  I swapped the normal mozzarella for some GOAT CHEESE!  Sundried tomato goat cheese to be exact! 

Grill the chicken, spread on the melty goat cheese & top with a flurry of tomatoes and TONS of basil and dinner is fresh and ready in about 10 minutes! 

Everything is better with roasted tomatoes & fresh basil, in my opinion and the tangy goat cheese just gave it that little something extra to make it a little more special than standard.  Totally delish!

And why, you ask, is my portion of roasted broccoli so measly? 

Well...as the minutes crept closer to dinnertime, so did my appetite.  And not following my advice from yesterday of having that 'last minute snack', my "snack" ended up being nearly my entire portion of roasted broccoli which I housed while making the chicken.  Which AGAIN, I will repeat, took mere minutes. Dumb.

But what's NOT dumb... 

8:00pm:  Dessert...

Yes, I must confess that I dipped into Katie's stash of animal crackers from my Mom (sorry, Mom!) and made one of my favorite combos!

It's almost sad how happy this makes me...hahaha J

Have a good Thursday!

A box of cake & a prince...

Tuesday Recap:

8:00am:  Coffee with creamer

9:30am:  Breakfast- Mint Vitatop

One of my fav 'tops...mainly because it reminds me of CHRISTMAS!  (shockerJ)

12:00pm:  Lunch- Peanut butter & homemade jelly on 1/2 wheat pita

2:30pm:  Snack #1- Grapes

4:30pm:  Snack #2- Cherrios with almond milk

I have been getting STARVING every day just SHORT of when we're about to eat dinner.  I figured I can either ignore it and end up like a ravaged animal once dinner hits to table OR snack so I can be a little less manic waiting for dinner.  I went with Plan B.  It was a good decision for all parties involved...especially to spare Scott the WRATH of 'hangry.'  

Yes...It could get ugly.

ANYWAY!

6:00pm:  Dinner- Roasted Cauliflower 'Salad'

This used to be one of my go to dishes for a 'prep on Sunday/have lunch all week' deals.  And it only took me 3 years to go "BING!  THAT COULD BE DINNER TOO!"

In the mix:

• Roasted cauliflower
• 2 cups cooked couscous (cooked in chicken or veggie broth!)
• 1/4 cup chopped dill
• 1/4 cup chopped chives
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• juice of 1 lemon
• olive oil & salt to taste

We also had some spinach we tossed in there...add whatever you have in the fridge!

Yet another dinner where I picked up the dish & it was light as air...which can't be a BAD thing, right??  Not to mention it's SUPER delicious for something so simple.  The easy roasting of the cauliflower & the tangy dill and chives realllly make this dish exceptional.

It was also Katie approvedJ

Her first trial of couscous was messy...but she seemed to like itJ

8:00pm:  Dessert

Soooooo my curiosity was certainly peaked after I was told on Friday night to 'not go in the basement fridge.'  

Ummmmm...OK.

Now if he said freezer, I would have had some guesses, but the FRIDGE was a curiosity!  But all was made clear as I was handed this little number on Mother's Day morning...

Hahahahahaha....a 'dessert tapas'??  Yes, Scott (well, 'Katie') did a good job with this oneJ hahahahahhaha

Not only was there a SMALL sample of all of the cake flavors sold by Momofuku, but even a visual aid to help you pick the flavors, like a chocolate box!

Isn't that funny??  There was a little 'sampling party' happening last night and the flavors that came out on top were the traditional birthday, the strawberry lemon & the PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE made with COCONUT cake!  I wish I had TWO bites of all of thoseJ hehehehehehehehe  

And umm....so I guess I shouldn't be complaining about Jersey weather when it's going to 29 to 106 degrees in Iowa???  That's just plain INSANITY.  I try not to watch the news too much because it's too depressing, but some of these weather reports are just as crazy!  At least we had the good news of having a handsome Prince visiting our shores yesterday afternoon...

I don't often like using the word, but I'm gonna have to here:  This is ADORBS!

I digress.

Have a good Wednesday!

Double dose & detox...

Hey everyone!  Well, I said the weekend was going to get swept away, but I didn't think Monday was going to be tossed in the boat tooJ  Oh well...at least you get a double dose of decadence & a Monday DETOX todayJ hahahahhahaha

Here's a typical family pic from Mother's Day...more on that in a sec!

But first up:  Our "FIRST FRIDAY" Burger!

In keeping with Cinco week theme, we went full blown FIESTA with this Chipotle Burger with Nacho cheese top!

A chipotle-spiced & bacon burger topped with gooey melty cheese sauce, red onions, bright cilantro & CRUNCHY tortilla chips!!

With Scott making the epic decision to top not one, but BOTH sides of the bread with CHIPS!  Double crunch!

What a GREAT burger to start our new 'tradition!'  Spicy, gooey & lots of crunch, this one was a fiesta for SURE.

And on the side...something I figured went RIGHT along with 'farmer's market summers':  Zucchini tater tots!

Shredded zucchini, onion, breadcrumb, cheese & an egg tossed together & baked in mini muffins for little poppable bites of deliciousness.

My only word of warning:  Make sure you DRAIN the zucchini & onion after it's shredded & bake these until VERY golden!  I drained them, but did not cook them long enough (even though it was longer than the suggested 15 minutes) and I thought they were still a little water-y.  About 10 more minutes would have firmed up these bad bears perfectly!

But if you want a good way to sneak some veggies into your kids, I think this might not be a bad place to start.  They were really tasty & I didn't think they had a very 'veggie' taste at all.  (nor did they taste like  'tots'...but really, what can??J)

The rest of the weekend was spent introducing Katie to the alpacas at the farmer's market...

She was unimpressedJ

What went over better was her first taste of fresh squeezed orange juice from Tortilla Press...yum!

While I inhaled my first 'breakfast quesadilla' of the season...this time mixed with chicken, cheese & farmer's market fresh chili-rubbed asparagus...

I don't know what the hell they do to their quesadillas at the Tortilla Press stand, but they are always OFF the CHARTS delicious!

And fast forward to Sunday when my Aunt (and Katie's Godmom!) graciously decided to host Mother's Day brunch this year and laid out a spread fit for a king....or princessesJ  hahahahahaha...

And who enjoyed this the most & left the rest of us in the DUST with her appetite???

She inhaled nearly every drop of egg casserole, french toast bake, fruit salad & potatoes with peppers & onions we left on her high chair.  I think she literally left ONE grape.  Seesh!

But she made up for it by spending the next hour running around my Aunt's yard, enjoying the gorgeous dayJ

And after spending Sunday NIGHT celebrating our niece's 14th birthday (WHERE DOES THE TIME GO???) at Red Robin, it was SUPER BACK TO THE GRIND Monday morn!

8:00am:  Coffee with creamer

10:30am:  Breakfast- Banana Vitatop

Oddly enough, I usually never think the non-chocolate flavors are very filling (don't ask me why!), but I guess after housing a blue cheese & bacon burger the night before...well, I just wasn't that hungry.  EEK!

12:30pm:  Lunch- Green Monster

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 3 handfuls spinach

The classicJ

4:00pm:  Snack- Handful of Trail Mix 

5:30pm:  Dinner-Herb Salad

I also called this one the "Million flavors salad!"  In the mix:

• Red leaf lettuce
• chopped dill
• diced chives
• shredded basil
• sundried tomato goat cheese
• toasted white beans
• mini turkey pepperonis
• sprinkle of grated cheese
• olive oil & lemon juice dressing 

I picked up the plate & it felt like air...which I figured was a good signJ  It was light, but heavy on flavor.  Each fork-full hit you with a new dose of herbs, pepperoni or salty cheese.  So good.  I'm definitely going to try to add lots of herbs to our salads over the next few months.  It just gives it a fresh flavor KICK that can't be beat.  

6:30-7:50pm:  Beginners Power Yoga class

Namaste!

And in non-food news, anyone from NJ agree with this statement??

We went from humid and GROSS at the end of last week to turning the HEAT back on yesterday.  Which is all fun & games until my sinuses decided to acknowledge this new wave of wind with another round of feeling drowsy & just EH.  MAKE UP YOUR MIND weather!  All this switchin is good for no one.

AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON MY TERROR THAT ALL THIS COLD WEATHER LATE IN THE SEASON WILL LEAD TO A WARM FALL.  DO. NOT. EVEN. GO. THERE!

Sigh.

Alright...composure regained, as I bid you adieu for the day!  Have a great Tuesday!J