A few treats

I’m no food blog and I don’t pretend to be but I figured it’s ok to share some foodie stuff every now and then.

So #1. Have you ever heard of Melt? It’s an insanely intense grilled cheese place. I’m sure there are multiple places like this around the country but for me Melt is the craziest grilled cheese place I have ever seen. It has like 100 grilled cheeses on the menu and if for some crazy reason you don’t see something there you can always make up your own. This sounds great right? The catch? When I eat at Melt (which has only happened once) I feel like I am taking in the amount of calories I should take in for 2-3 days. In one meal. That’s a no no in healthy people land. So at home I made up my own melt.

It was simple. Two pieces of whole wheat toast. 2 slices of tomatoes. Sliced up avocado. Some bacon. And some American cheese. Lightly spray the pan with olive oil before you put the sandwich in to cook and you don’t even need to butter.

This made it easy to track how many calories I was taking in and totally curbed my craving for the best grilled cheese on earth.

Turns out I can make that right in my kitchen! Delicious.

Photo Mar 10, 8 56 54 PM

But sometimes you just can’t skimped out on a good thing. You have to go big or go home. And I did with this treat.

Recipe adapted from here

It’s peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough. AHHH. Are you joking me? Cookie dough I can eat without my mom yelling “get out of there, that is to make the cookies”

Here is what you will need

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips (you could use big ones too if you already have then around)
  • 8oz pkg Reese’s peanut butter cup Minis (or about 1 1/2 cup chopped Reeses cups which is what I used because peanut butter cup minis are just really expensive!)

Instructions

  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, add brown sugar and butter. Whisk until completely combined and butter is melted. Bring to a boil, remove from heat. Whisk in the peanut butter and vanilla extract. Set aside to cool.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with powdered sugar until creamy (about 3-4 minutes. On low, add in brown sugar mixture (that has cooled to near room temp). Mix until combined. Fold in mini chocolate chips and mini Reese’s cups. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Enjoy with pretzels, animal cracker and graham sticks.

And that ladies and gentleman is a treat that is WORTH the calories. But WARNING: it is so good you will have to force yourself to stop or a belly ache is sure to follow. Just trust me on that one.

Photo Mar 27, 12 58 26 PM

Keep It Coming…

Birthday Dinner Date

If you read my actual birthday post yesterday, you know that I pretty much LOVE my birthday! As a matter of fact I love it so much that I felt a little sad when I woke up today and realized that I wouldn’t have another birthday for another 365 days.

People keep warning me that the day after the wedding I am going to really feel bad… because you won’t have another one of those… well ever.

But last night I ended my birthday with a bang… Tim and I had a hot date to The Lockview Tavern in downtown Akron. I have been wanting to go here since Casey, Jen and myself attempted to make dinner plans there only to find out that they weren’t open for some reason that day (a weird sort of holiday maybe? I don’t remember). But anyway when Tim said we could go anywhere I knew I wanted to try somewhere we hadn’t been before and since we both L.O.V.E grilled cheese and because I wanted to not care about my waist line on my birthday we went to live it up with cheesy goodness smashed in between warm bread!

We actually made it there JUST in time for a few happy hour specials so I got a pomegranate martini (and I only had 1- not like my other birthday celebration at Flemings).

And in case you can’t see the true beauty of that girl right there I took a close up…

And Tim got this orange martini that had too many spices in it for me… but it did look really pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And because appetizers were half hour (for 3 whole remaining minutes) we decided the timing was right to order some of those too! So we opted for the macaroni and cheese bites (fried cheesy noodles- can’t go wrong) and a basket of tatter tots that came highly recommended by a co-worker.

After all of that food, even though we didn’t need it, we each ordered a sandwich since that was, after all, what we went there to get! I got the #2 and Tim got the #3 (and they need to update their menu online because I believe my sandwich was more than $6).

My review: My sandwich was good. Acceptable. Worth the money. May try it again. Tim’s sandwich was DELICIOUS. Perfect. Would have paid more. Will order it next time. Will make it at home.

There was something the spiciness of the peppers mixed in with the cheese that really hit the spot. The blue cheese dressing for dipping was also a highlight but you didn’t need it. Although Tim is amused that I dip EVERYTHING even before I try it. He keeps telling me that I should try things plain before I add more salt or a dressing yet I just can’t seem to break the habit of the dip.

We ended the evening with the peanut buttercup cakes that Casey got us from Pandora’s Cupcakes in Akron and well.. they were fantastic! Although I have to say I am really looking forward to Peggy from Just Desserts in Medina’s cupcakes for the wedding! These cupcakes were devoured while watching Whitney and some 90210! Looking forward to The Vampire Diaries tonight when I get home from my grad school class!!

 

Salmon Salad

I like egg salad.

I like tuna salad.

I like chicken salad.

So why shouldn’t I like salmon salad?

The answer is simple, I should!

We had left over salmon from the cookout with my mom the other night and wanted to put it to good use but wasn’t sure what I would do with it. I’m typically not a fan of re-heated fish. So I decided to make some salmon salad after being inspired by some blogs and recipes online. It was pretty simple

  • Shred the cooked salmon I already had
  • 1 hard boiled egg
  • Mayonnaise
  • Onions
  • Red peppers

Mix it all together, put it on some bread and you have a really taste and good for your sandwich for lunch!

This was so filling I could only eat half of my sandwich and it was so tasty that I am looking forward to making it again. The salmon egg mix is what really did me in I think. The unique flavors somehow someway blended together really nicely. All of that with a dash of salt and pepper on some whole wheat bread, some spinach, and some cut up tomato (which is hidden under there) and it is a lunch to be proud of!

My review: Loved it. Will have it again. Soon. You should try it.

 

Working Out

It probably goes without saying (since I usually update good workouts on here) that my work out schedule has been LACKING this week! Between birthday fun and and injury I sustained at last weeks soccer game I have been a little bit behind on my work out goals for the week. BUT I did at least get 1 workout in this week!

But to my injury. So the goalie and I got in a little bit of a fight till the death match at the game (he won I guess considering it resulted in no goal for me) and my knees took the grunt of the hit. Practically ripped off all of the skin on my left knee (and a little on my right) and it ended up throbbing for days! I did take a picture of it but trust me, it was extremely gross so I decided the right thing to do would be to delete it.

That darn turf really freaking hurts!

But on Monday I knew it was my one and only day to get a really good workout in (considering Tuesday was dinner with the parents for my bday, Wednesday was my bday dinner with Tim, and Thursday I have grad school class) so like the champ I am I wrapped up that knee and headed downstairs to complete a CrossFit routine.

Gross I know but I am glad I got the workout in this week! My mom had to tweak a few things for me (since I couldn’t kneel at all) but everything worked out and I was feeling great! My arms were a little sore on Tuesday but it was well worth it!!

It’s still feeling a little rough today but I can at least wear pants because I don’t cry when something touches it. As long as it heels by Sunday (when it is bound to happen again) I’m a happy girl!!!

The workout consisted of 1 minute work with 20 seconds in between and had…

  • Bicep curl and row on Pilates reformer
  • dip drive with Olympic bar
  • Skull crusher triceps workout
  • Press with the cable system
  • Sit-up with medicine ball side to side

Great upper body workout which was PERFECT for me since my injury really only held back the lower part of my body.

But oh my goodness those skull crusher triceps workout is HARD. I was just trying not to drop the bar on my head!

Killer Grapefruit and what the heck do I eat for lunch?!

Grapefruit Warning

haha, nice title right? Well for a while now (probably last year or so) people have been telling me not to consume grapefruit because it it interacts poorly with some medicines. As some of you know, I am on a cholesterol medicine so I this warning from family and friends was something I took very seriously!

Then this morning which I got to work an article in nutritional outlook about the adverse affects grapefruit can have on some individuals bodies that are taking certain medicines. Since this is something that has been waying on my mind for a while now, I thought I would share.

From what I gather it is the statin cholesterol drugs that it interacts with poorly so I may be OK but I’m gonna be honest… I’m not going to risk it! I think I’ll stick to my other fruits and vegetables!

Lunch Updates

So a few people have been wondering what I eat for lunch (and since today is tasty Tuesday it is appropriate) and well I don’t put too many lunch pictures up here for one primary reason…

Typically it looks funny to be sitting in our cafeteria snapping pictures of my food.

Not everyone understands.

But I have managed so be sneaky enough to snag a few.

Generally speaking, I would say, lunch if where I get the bulk of my grains. Since I try to stay away from too many complex carbs in the evening and I am usually content with juicing in the morning, lunch is where I sneak those grains in because well sometimes it is just easier!

I am fortunate enough to have a cafeteria at my office… where the food is fresh and cheap! We have a few different stations which include a deli where you can get sandwiches wraps and soups, a fiesta type station with tacos, quesadillas, and burritos, a grill where you can get burgers, chicken, or even egg sandwiches, a pizza station, a “special station” which is usually a salad or pasta salad type thing, and then a “good for you station” which has like a balanced meal (you know a veggie with a piece of chicken) and it also has soup there. I frequent the deli station most often for a few different reason…

  • The line just goes faster
  • All of the food there I have had before or can recognize it
  • I feel like I have control on everything that goes on it (although I think this is true at almost all of the stations)
  • It just feels right to me
  • They have tuna haha

So yes, my lunches typically look something like this…

But sometimes I splurge and they look like this…

And then if I have a lunch meeting I usually get a faster meal which is also catered in house by our cafeteria. My favorite is the taco bar where you go to make your own tacos! *this is especially my favorite when they remember to bring the guacamole*

Now what I do try to do is make healthier choices where I can. So for that taco salad bar for examples, I opted not to get a tortilla or the chips and just do a taco salad because I needed to make room for the delicious angel food cake I am just healthy like that Winking smile

And sometimes we are out and about for lunch whether I am traveling for work or just wanting to get out of the office. So when we were in Chicago and needed a lunch/dinner because our flight times were a little goofy I eat at fun places like Zoup! In this case I knew there would be a “boxed” dinner on the plan from Mustard Seed Café (I was fortunate enough to be flying the corporate jet this day) but again I don’t like to cram those complex carbs in at night so I thought the Zoup! a little earlier in the day was a better way for me to go. So I chose this tomato and spinach one that was delicious!

Today for example I am having some egg salad but instead of bread I brought my Garden Select Veggie chips as mostly a transporter for the egg salad to get to my mouth. Plus, I love those chips! I also put some cucumber slices, and grapes on the side for today’s lunch and of yea… a have a pack of fruit snacks (Thank you Ocean Spray)as a sweet treat!

Operation Beautiful

My commitment during the Lent season continues but I did leave the house today without writing a post-it note so it had to wait until I got home from workout class! Operation Beautiful post-it note today said…

Juice-Day 4

This morning I wanted a juice that I knew I would love so I played it VERY safe! Don’t want to repeat my first juicing experience!

  • Frozen strawberries
  • Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt
  • Vanilla Protein Powder
  • Flax Seed
  • Blackberries

All items I know and love! Plus, the color was finally normal! Tomorrow I promise to be a little more adventurous!

Questions for you

Leave me a comment on the following questions…

  1. What do you like to eat for lunch?
  2. What is your favorite afternoon snack?
  3. If you could put anything on a post-it note today to make yourself feel good about who you are, what would you write?

Playing a little catch-up

It has been a very fun weekend with lots of great thing to talk about so I’m going to share some quick highlights from a busy week and then get on to the fun stuff!

So Wednesday morning Tim and I popped out of bed to enjoy a 2.3 mile run! Before we left I enjoyed a small bowl of Fiber One cereal and Tim had his usual. So on top of the 2.3miles of running we, of course, did about a 5 min warm up and a cool down after so that put us over our 2.5 mile mark which I was very happy with. I don’t know what it is about this week but it has been harder on my legs than usual. I find that it is usually my breathing or my legs that get to me… never both thank goodness. Or one is probably just worse than the other so you don’t notice both! This week it has been my legs… I can’t figure out if they are telling me that they need a break or if I am pushing myself to a healthy limit and really taking them past their comfort zone they have been in. In any case I told myself to keep on trucking, stretch, and don’t push them beyond their abilities.

Fiber One Cereal

So yea Wednesday was a great run. I still am not fond of the path we are taking so I knew I was goning to want to change that part of it up the next day but the weather was nice and cool which helped to make it a pretty great morning. After running and getting ready for work I left after making an egg sandwich with egg whites, muenster cheese (melted of course!), basil, and an everything bagel thin.  It was easy to transport and off I went to work to enjoy another full day of training.

Egg Sandwich- delicious!

These trainings have a pretty set lunch menu and I was not fond of today’s choices. There was pasta (penne noodles) with either white or chunky red sauce, veggies, salad, rolls, and fruit on the side. I got the veggies, salad, and fruit because the thought of eating pasta in the middle of the day made me uneasy and would have really made me feel like a fat kid! I was really glad I didn’t eat it because everyone looked SOOO tired about an hour and a half after lunch. I just felt hungry haha.

For dinner Tim and I went our separate ways… which rarely happens! Turns out there was only one piece of tilapia and at the time Tim was wanting to eat I wasn’t quite hungry enough because I had some left overs when I got home from work since my lunch stunk. So when I was finally hungry I decided to make a grilled cheese sandwich with the works! I put some bacon, tomato, and pickle on that sandwich and also made a side of tomato soup. Tomato soup is a MUST for me when I have grilled cheese. I started with just a can of Campbell’s soup and then added in basil that Karla had given me from her garden, just for the taste!  I also make my soup with milk, not water, because I like the creamy soup compared to the thin soup… either way I have Campbell’s tomato soup. It makes me feel like a kid again and is just so tasty!

Looks at that steam... something tasty is inside!

Yepp- there is something tasty

And a little soup to go with it

Tell me! What food makes you feel like you are a kid again?

Thursday

Thursday Tim and I slowly rolled out of bed, not like the jump we did the day prior, and managed to drag ourselves downstairs for a little warm up food. Today I opted for a serious competitor in my favorite morning meals. Fiber One cereal w/ a bottle of water. Now if this doesn’t look like a good way to start your day I don’t know what is?

What a team!

We ran for about 2.3 miles again and had a MUCH Better route. We didn’t really do much back tracking but rather stayed on a more circular route, which I prefer. The less back tracking we do the easier I think it is because you are more or less seeing new things (even though we have taken this route before haha). Today was once again my legs I kept thinking about and not so much my breathing but it was better today. It never ceases to amaze me how differently you feel day to day during your runs. One day you are quick and feeling great and the next you can be slow and sluggish. I guess it really goes to show that what you put into your mouth and what you do throughout your day really does make a difference in how your body feels. I think we all know this, it sounds logical, but when you are running every day so it is easy to think about how you felt the morning before, it makes even more of an impact!

Before I left for work today I stirred up a smoothie and put it in my to-go cup. Turns out the breakfast for my training had a much better option for breakfast this morning than it had the rest of the week- Egg Sandwiches! I, of course, was in heaven when I noticed this but they are less concerned about healthiness so the bread was really big bagels and other not so great options.  So I grabbed a sandwich, took my seat, and then went to work on it. I took it off the bread and then added a small scoop of hash browns on top. It was egg and bacon so I added just a dollop of ketchup and just made it with a fork.  It was delicious and I was glad to have something that tasty to start off my day with!

Lunch was a little better today and a little less heavy than the day before. It was marinated chicken with mashed potatoes, salad, more fruit, veggies, and more bread. I got a piece of chicken, one small scoop of mashed potatoes that tasted soooo good, and a heaping serving of the cookies veggies. I didn’t get the salad today but I was pretty much sick and tired of that mixed salad…. They always put more shredded carrots in there than anything else and it is a little bit of an overload I think.

After the training was over, Casey and I got into my car and headed home. I was going to my parent’s house to work out but there was no actual class tonight and Tim wanted to go with so I came home first so we could drive together. Since there was no scheduled class my mom had us do our own little thing. We did about 15-20 min of  kettle bell video my mom wanted to watch and then about 15 min of a Zumba video. Ummm… I am AWFUL at Zumba although I bet it is an amazing workout and a ton of fun. I definitely would like to get better, for exercise reasons, but also because I think it would be great to learn to move your body like they do in those videos. I mean oh my gosh they are amazing. It is so sexy to be able to dance like that and well I just don’t have that sex appeal I suppose. Oh well- I think Tim was entertained watching my mom and I laugh as we tried to even come close to moving our hips in the right way.

We stayed with the rents for dinner and my mom made a delicious meal. She also takes the same approach to lettuce that I do. You can put just about anything on lettuce and make it a meal. So she cooked up come bison meat and added spices galore that made it so tasty. She also cooked up some squash and zucchini on the side, which I ended up just putting on top of my salad. I added some salsa to mine as a little dressing. On top of those items my mom also added some “good for you stuff”. She had a little shopping spree on a website called Nuts Online where you can go to purchase organic nuts, dried fruit, and other tasty treats. In tonight’s dinner my mom added Organic Red Quinoa and Organic Goji Berries. The berries added some additional texture, which I really liked. The Quinoa I couldn’t see but I think he added some delicious flavoring.

Bison w/ the Goji Berries

Veggies on the side!

So that wraps up my Wednesday and Thursday! Still going strong- and learning to love to run. I think after these first few weeks I am finally starting to feel more like a runner! Susan G. Komen- BRING IT ON!