Just a quickie

I had a day at work, but I am trying to stay positive since I get to see my sister tomorrow and go to a couple wineries around the area!! I am wicked excited. So today's food was just leftovers in the fridge but I got my latte this morning. Man I love a good latte and Java Journey's does the best! They have great flavors of regular and decaf. Which if you are are decaf. drinker you know that the flavors are hard to come by. They have a list each season with different types of lattes but they will make whatever flavor you want with any of the beans that are on hand. This morning I got a large non-fat german chocolate cake latte, 2 shots reg. 1 shot decaf. and sugar free coconut syrup. I mean to start off the day with chocolate and coconut and not feel guilty is the greatest!! So if you are ever in MD on Owings Mills Boulevard, stop in. You will not be disappointed.

From the website:

Serving delicious varieties of fine quality coffee and tea, along with tempting pastries.

.....Meet with friends over a cappuccino and biscotti .....Enjoy a latte while working on your laptop .....Purchase fragrant tea and aromatic coffee beans to brew at home, or a bagel and a great cup of "java" to go!

A few of my favorite things.

Hi! So I decided that today's post would just be a list of a few of my favorite things. I have been eating pretty much the same stuff since Monday and seriously how many pictures of the same pancakes and I post...lol!! So I figure I will just jot down a couple of items and then maybe post a pic or two later.

Chocolate Mint Clif Bars...yum!
Chocolate Peppermint Luna Bars...can we see a theme coming..lol.
Nut butters..any and all I am wide variety nut lover (okay don't take out of context...lol)
Puffins... Seriously I can eat the whole box in one sitting.
Dark Chocolate. Like super dark...close to bakers chocolate as you can get!
Cookbooks. I have a ton but I love them and I am so addicted.

Okay so I will actually post what I had for breakfast and lunch today. So breakfast was a wrap with 2 eggs, spinach and goat cheese. Of course I forgot my camera so we can just imagine how it looked..lol. Lunch was chicken soup from Ellie Krieger. ( I know but her cookbook rocks and I made a ton of stuff) I did modify it a bit. I added broccoli and left out the celery and used couscous rather than orzo since I had it on hand. I paired that with a slice of walnut bread and yum lunch!!




I totally have to share...I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and found the greatest dark chocolate ever. It comes pre cut into wedges and for 2 wedges it is only 70 calories. Since it is dark chocolate with a hint of heat, 2 is plenty to satisfy your sweet tooth. The chocolate has hints of ancho and chipotle peppers with a kick of cinamon. If you love heat and chocolate this is the perfect match. It is not hot but has a slow burn to enhance the deep chocolate flavor. So good!!!



What is some of your favorite things?

Giveaways!!!

Great basket of food giveaway at livin lovely and healthy!
"These baskets are full of sun dried fruits, fruit bars, apricot kernels and I see some chocolates in there too"

Danica is giving away Gnu bars. Click Here!

One Frugal Foodie is giving away some Go Max Go candy bars. Click Here!

An Apple a Day is doing the Last Giveway in May...man I am a poet!! Click Here for some last chance goodies.

Missy is giving away a great new Click Espresso Protein Drink. Click Here for some energy!

Back to work

Just a quick post since most of today's meals were what I had already eaten yesterday...lol. But more pics and a recap.

Breakfast was a large black coffee with 3 Whole Wheat Pancakes smeared with Strawberry sauce.


Lunch: Buffalo meatballs, spinach, tomato and green goddess dressing


Dinner was a chicken soup with broccoli, carrots, israeli couscous and a slice of walnut bread with some goat cheese spread....I will add that pic later..lol.

And of course to finish it off and to show it one more time, those S'mores!!!!

So this evening I went to the gym and tried one of Tina's, carrotsncake.com, running workouts. Holy Moly I am beat! It was great. I plan on doing another one tomorrow.

Prep prep and more prep...

Man today was rough...lol. I always feel like I need a vacation after a vacation. So yesterday I decided to spend the day prepping food for the week. It also gave me great stuff to add to my blog and some awesome pics. I broke out the cookbooks and decided on Whole Wheat pancakes with fresh farm market strawberry sauce from the The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger. Yum!!! I made the whole batch and froze two portions, which was great for this morning. I just popped them in the toaster and bam breakfast.


The strawberry sauce was so simple. I just took 1tb of honey and a pint of fresh strawberries and heated them up in a sauce pan until the strawberries were mushy and easy to mash.

Then for lunch I made a seafood salad with scallops, lobster and shrimp. I put that over a bed of farm fresh spinach with some homemade basil pesto. I finished it off with the slice of walnut wheat bread with a smear of goat cheese.


I had some buffalo that I had to use up so I made a bunch of meatballs. I had mine over some spinach and tomato with a drizzle of green goddess dressing, also an Ellie Krieger recipe. It was a great food day.


After dinner I grabbed the fruit and just cut it all up to make it easier for this week. I love grab and go. I also decided to try out a s'more recipe that I got from Alice from sweet life. Man those were friggin the best!!!!



I mean seriously how good do those look!?!

Brew at the Zoo!

This weekend has been so crazy that I haven't even had a chance to post about Brew at the Zoo. My sister and her boyfriend came to visit and we went to the Baltimore Zoo on Saturday. It was a blast. We walked around the zoo first and saw all of the animals and even got to feed a giraffe!!

We were walking into the zoo and everyone was staring at the ground. It was a huge snake just crawling along the walkway! We were joking that he had finally just made a break for it and escaped.



This is the giraffe that we got to feed. It was really good and something I never thought that I would do!

Then we headed into the area for Brew at the Zoo!! This was our second event and let me just say that it gets better and better. We started by enjoying some Dangerously Delicious Pies. I had seen him on the Food Network and had wanted to try the pies. I was not disappointed. It was so friggin good. Of course I had to get the Baltimore Bomb. It had crushed up Berger Cookies, a Baltimore staple. Yum!!! I shared it with everyone since a couple of bites was all I needed.

Then we hit the beer and wine tents. You get a 40z shot glass when you enter and its free tastings all afternoon. I think we sampled just about everyone..lol!



There were a bunch of different wineries this time around, so it was a great mix of wines and beers. For a complete list of all of the local beers and wines just click the link to Brew at the Zoo above. So about 2 hours later we decided that we had tried all that there was to offer and we were definitely feeling the sun and the booze..lol. So off to home we went. It was such a great trip and I am hoping that it becomes a tradition each year!

This is how photo's turn out after a few...lol!!! I love it.

I have spent most of today prepping and preparing food for the week. I can't wait to put up the pics from today.

Party Party Party

So I went to my brother-in-laws 40th surprise birthday and it was really fun. I didn't drink or eat anything since it was a bar and the food was totally not worth it. So we came home around midnight, stopped by the grocery store and got some pizza, and cracked open a few bottles of wine. So yeah I don't really drink so this morning was rough..lol! A big bottle of Powerade Zero, a bunch of Tylenol and some fruit salad I am starting to feel a little more normal.

A yummy mix of watermelon, cantaloupe, blackberries and melon.

I have no pictures from yesterday at all since it was clean like the wind day. I ended up eating some yummy oatmeal at 7:30 am than a sandwich at 5:00 pm and then some pizza at 12:30am. I was all over the place..lol. Today is Brew at the Zoo and I am wicked excited. I will definitely have brew and zoo pictures from that.

So I am posted my yummy breakfast that I had on Thursday since its so pretty I have to put it in here..lol.

This mix was really great. Banana, almonds and raisins. I will definitely make that again.

For lunch I had a salad that I made from my garden! I added raspberries and thin asparagus that I had picked up from the farmer's market. I can't wait until I start getting veggies from my CSA!

***Giveaway giveaway so Sarah is giving away some Sonny & Joes hummus! A whole sample package.

Off to get ready for the zoo!!

Friday is finally here

I am so excited its Friday! I have my sister coming into town, my other sister's husband's 40th birthday party and Brew at the Zoo all this weekend!!!

So Danica is having a great giveaway.
"The contest you all have been waiting for since I went to the rockin' Hungry-Girl Book signing! I am giving away one signed copy of Hungry-Girls NEW 200 Under 200 Cookbook."

The first cookbook was great I can imagine the recipes in this one!

Another great giveaway....Zesty is giving away 10 hours of Blog Consulting/Design Makeover, which is awesome and something that I need desperately!

The weekend is almost here...

So yesterday started off great. I got up had a wonderful run (I am gearing up for the Falmouth Road Race in August) and was totally looking forward to pancakes! So I decided to run off course with my recipe and yeah not a good idea..lol.


I put it in the pan and tasted the batter, picked up my phone and ordered an egg white avocado wrap from the Flying Avocado! It was really yummy. I did have one issue. Normally the breakfast meal comes with a little side of berries but yesterday mine came with some red skinned potatoes. So I ended up tasting the small one and it was good but definitely not berries. Of course I had forgotten my camera at home. (I know seriously how does one that blogs about food forget to take pictures of food..ugh)

Lunch was a wrap with some thin sliced pastrami and a slice of cheddar. I snacked on protein bars and some delish apricots. I was so excited when I went into Giant and saw they finally had fresh apricots. I love them!!

I ran around after work and when I finally got home at 7:30 my husband had made quesadillas. I was so happy and ready to eat! They were filled with ground turkey and lite mozzarella cheese and topped with mango salsa, tomato salsa, avocado and some fresh cilantro from the garden.

I love how he does presentation. Any time he makes dinner he always likes it to look good..lol.
For dessert he went and got me some almond biscotti and a tea from Java Journeys. He is so good to me.



It was time for bed. Looks like the pup was already there!!!!

Happy noshing!

Flowers....

Man I am in love with taking photos of flowers. I know its not super food related but I have to share....



Okay so a couple of food photos...cilantro from my garden:

Mint:


Happy Tuesday!

Bonefish....

So tonite was just one of those nites that I did not want to cook. So my husband suggest we eat out. But where to go, where to go. I knew I didn't want to blow my whole day with eating some take out pizza or burgers. So I decide on Bonefish Grill. What a great decision!! I ended up getting the tuna sashimi for my appetizer and a salmon salad for my entree. We then split some strawberry shortcake for dessert. So good and I feel great!

Salmon with some chimichurri sauce over a bed of mixed greens, asparagus, green beans, fennel and some goat cheese...can you say yum!!!

Another shot

So yeah I forgot to take pictures of the strawberry shortcake. I don't think that it lasted that long on my plate..lol. What a great meal!

Alysa's Baby shower

Today was a pretty bland food day. Must go grocery shopping!! So, I will share pics of the baby shower I went to on Saturday. Its funny how when you have friends your age and they start to have babies, its hard to imagine them as adults and parents. But she is going to make a great mom!

Some healthy eats!

I mean how cute is that idea. Life Savers and Good and Plenty's

And the favors had the picture of Madilyn. There were some really cute ideas and games.


I followed the advice of the other blogger's and had a piece of the one thing that I wouldn't normally make at home...spanikopita! It was really yummy and I didn't feel guilty at all.

There she is!

Happy Eating!

Owings Mills Farmer's Market

This morning was the Grand Opening of the Owings Mills Farmer's Market!

I was so excited to see who would be there and what goodies would be offered. When I first got there I was taken over by the beauty and fragrance of fresh flowers. They were gorgeous. They offered hanging baskets, plants to grow and fresh cut. The prices were very reasonable and the selection was varied. I ended up buying two of the fresh cut flowers to put in my kitchen.

Hanging plants

Hanging plants

Fresh cut

I then moved on to the next booth that offered some very unusual spreads. Infused Spreads by E 2. They are a company based out of Baltimore that makes jellys, jams, marmalades and spreads to put on anything from bread to meat. The items offered are definitely not your run of the mill spreads. I sampled the orange chipotle and another one with mango. They were both delish. However, I ended up buying the Grapefruit, jalapeno mint marmalade and the Christmas morning Sweet Potato Butter! I can't wait to try them. The flavors are unique but balanced. The orange chipotle was a interest mix of citrus with a hit of heat. I am not to into super sweet spreads the heat took it down a notch and really brought out the orange flavor. I will definitely be going back for more. If you are interested in contacting them: infusedspread@yahoo.com

Yum!!!

I moved to my left and found a table of Msprity's spa Luxuries. Homemade scrubs, soups, lotions and gels. The smells were incredible and the fact that the products are homemade with natural ingredients was even better. I was given a sample of the lotion ( I love samples!) and liked it so much that I ended up buying a few products. I walked away with some lip balm ( the woman who made the products said it was the best!) and some microderm facial cream. I can't wait to try them. She also offers pamper parties! I am totally booking one. I love the fact that I can get a bunch of my friends together to drink wine and relax. Book me one today!!!

The next stop was a table with information about Grass-fed Beef and Lamb.

KOL (Kosher Organic-raised Local Foods)


We are a values-based business. We believe that people, animals and the environment should benefit in every step of our production. More and more health benefits are being found with sustainable, 100% grassfed meat. We produce post-industrial beef and lamb sourced from local family-owned farms who organically raise their animals entirely on pasture. Our animals receive no hormones, antibiotics, animal biproducts or preservatives. In an effort to reduce our carbon footprint, the animals are shechted and kashered within 2 hours of the farms on which they were raised; the products are wrapped with minimal packaging.



You can go on the website and place an order. They have drop offs once a month. They are working on the website and in about 8 weeks you will be able to go online and order and have the products shipped directly to your house.

So moving right along..lol. I couldn't help but notice a table with the biggest, reddest and juicest looking strawberries. These were definitely not the strawberries that you would get in the plastic packaging at the grocery store. These looked delish! I grabbed up two containers. Of course one for me and one for my husband. I knew there would be no sharing..lol! And snagged a bunch of asparagus as well.



I then went to the Mallow Munchies tent (mallowmunchies@yahoo.com) and found what will probably be my husband's favorite treat. She had 6 different and delish types of rice crisp treats. They included original, PB&J, Dipped, Marble, Caramallow and Crunch. Each with its only unique flavor and toppings. The best part is that the marshmallows are made from SCRATCH which gives this treat a very fresh and homemade taste.


I rounded out my trip with a stop at the Springfield Farm stand. They have organic free-range eggs, butter, chicken, turkey, beef and wild game. You can order from the farm website and they will bring it to the Farmer's Market each week. The best part is you know where your meat is coming from.

"Sustainable agricultural methods are practiced where the animals are given nothing which is not natural – no hormones, antibiotics, chemicals, etc. All animals are offered free-range during the grass growing season. In addition to chicken eggs, seasonal duck eggs and seasonal goose eggs, chicken, turkey, duck and seasonal goose are raised for meat. Beef (grass-fed and natural), grass-fed lamb, pork and rabbit are also available. All animals are treated humanely, allowed to associate with each other and cared for when sick using homeopathic remedies first."
Spring Field Farm website

So this morning I had 2 organic free range eggs with some hand picked strawberries and a slice of homemade french herb bread! It was so good. I even went into my garden and added some fresh thyme, oregano and chive! You can't get much fresher than that.

It was so yummy!!