Double Deuce

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING ROOMMATE CHERRY GAMMELIN!

This weekend has been so much fun and I wish I could elaborate but I have a ton of work to do. I want to share with you guys two delicious meals!

I've been to Brown Sugar many times but had never tried the Chicken Almonds before and it was awesome -- sauteed sliced chicken with onions, mushrooms, pineapple chunks, scallions and roasted almonds. How cool is the presentation in the pineapple?



up close


This morning we went to Union for brunch and I had an egg white Zucchini Fritatta with goat cheese and roasted tomatoes. It was the perfect size and the toast and homefries were equally as delicious as the fritatta. Their Bloody Mary and Pimosa with pomegranite puree were pretty fab as well.

I definitely drank way too much coffee this morning with way too much splenda. I have my Dad to thank for my love of sickeningly sweet coffee. Oh, I also ate at Sol Azteca Saturday night but unfortunately forgot to take pictures...probably cause of the amazing company! :)

I can't wait for my sculpt and stretch class tomorrow ...the gym is screaming my name.

Happy Friday!

I'm sooo happy that it's Friday even though the weather is grey and rainy here in Boston. I have a big weekend of visitors, concerts, and birthdays which means lots of dining out! Does anyone have any fun plans this weekend?

See you guys Sunday night for a recap :)

A Day in the Life

Thefoodcritic asked what I eat on a daily basis so I thought I would share what a typical day of eating is like for me. The past few days I've replaced banana in my yogurt for beautiful, ripe strawberries. Warmer weather = delicious strawberries! I also switched up my yogurt from my favorite TJs to Stonyfield Farms organic non-fat French Vanilla. While it's not as sweet as TJs, and I'm all about the sweet, it has a really great thick and creamy consistency. I think I may switch over to Stonyfield yogurt permanently.

Breakfast: the usual with strawberries


Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly with a granny smith apple, baby carrots, hummus with some chick peas mixed in and a few dried apricots


Dinner: Spinach salad with a Morningstar Farms Mushroom Lover's Burger, dried cranberries, almonds, a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss Cheese broken up (only 35 calories per wedge!), and sugar snap peas with a side of baby carrots with hummus and roasted pepper eggplant dip, kashi crackers, and a granny smith apple


Snacks: Some reduced-fat Triscuits and a low-fat string cheese, a Crunchy chocolate almond bar and a Fiber One Oats & Chocolate bar - I LOVE these but they're made with high fructose corn syrup which is no bueno




This particular day was pretty hectic. Normally I prefer to have a salad for lunch and try not to overload on bars, but when I'm running around they're the easiest thing to eat on the go.

After losing 30 pounds my weight loss came to a halt and I reached a plateau. I've found that bumping up the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables and increasing my cardio helped to break the plateau. A great rule to go by when eating -- how colorful is your plate? If you sit down to a meal and don't see an array of colors, chances are you aren't getting enough of what your body really needs.

Beautiful Day

I hope everyone went and got some free JP Licks today! I had a small half caramel half oreo yogurt, delicious! Next week the Coolidge Corner location is going to have coconut yogurt. Is it sad that I go on the website and check out the 'Yogurt Calendar' ...yes.

Did anyone go today? Try anything new and exciting?

Chocolate, Chocolate & More Chocolate

Is there anything better than a decadent dessert?!

I've aquired alot of frozen desserts over the last few weeks that I've been wanting to try: Vitalicious VitaBrownies, Skinny Cow Chocolate with Fudge Cones and a new SmartOnes sundae flavor, Mint Chocolate Chip. It's like every time I go food shopping I find something new and exciting! With boxes piling up in the freezer, I decided it was time to try some of this stuff.


Skinny Cow Chocolate with Fudge Cones are awesome. They definitely hit the spot when an ice cream craving hits. The chocolate ice cream is creamy and has swirls of fudge in it. The cone is crunchy and even has solid chocolate at the bottom of it, and for 150 calories and 3 grams of fat this cone is pretty decent. I want to try the vanilla with caramel cones soon!


Vitalicious VitaBrownies are kind of fun in that they're super tiny and sprinkled with walnuts, but I definitely prefer the Vitalicious chocolate muffins. I won't buy these again. The brownie was small and dry, but I have to say for 100 calories and 6 grams of fiber they're not that bad.


The SmartOnes Mint Chocolate Chip Sundae was really refreshing because of the creamy mint ice cream. My favorite part of the sundae was the tiny chocolate chips on top. Aside from being really tiny, this sundae is pretty awesome for 150 calories and 3 grams of fat because all of the compenents don't scream diet food: mini chocolate chips, fudge, creamy mint ice cream, and a cookie crust base.

While these desserts are low-cal compared to regular ice cream and brownies, they're not foods I eat on a regular basis. I'll definitely be turning to the cones and sundaes once it gets warmer out though!

Random rant - I wish JP Licks would post nutrition info on their website or anywhere for that matter. I heart their Oreo fro-yo and while it is non-fat, who knows how many calories and grams of sugar are actually in it. JP is giving away a free cup or cone to celebrate Red Sox Opening Day on April 8, let me know if you try any fun flavors!

Greek / Turkish / Middle Eastern Amazingness

I love ethnic food: Mexican, Japanese, Thai, the list could go on forever but I ESPECIALLY love Greek and Middle Eastern cuisine. I’ve strolled along Newbury Street countless times and had never noticed Café Jaffa on Gloucester until friends started raving recently about how delicious and cheap the food is.

After all the praise, I finally went tonight for dinner. I ordered the Baba Ghanoush Plate which came with a salad and pita. Baba Ghanoush is smoked eggplant blended with onion and spices. I expected it to come on top of the salad, but instead it came along side it. While it was really really pureed, almost to the consistency of hummus, it was still pretty delicious.

My Baba Ganoush after I had dipped some pita in it


Rachel’s Falafel and Houmus Plate, I tried the hummus and it was tasty


As far as cheap Middle Eastern food goes, this was probably the best I’ve had in Boston.

New York Favorites:
-The Pita House
-Gilshar
-Mykonos

The Most Important Meal of the Day

I've never been much of a breakfast person because I'd much rather get the extra sleep or take the time to straighten my hair, but this semester has really thrown me off. My class schedule is kind of all over the place and I tend to have class when I would normally have lunch, which forces me to eat lunch much later than I'm used to. A few days into the semester I realized I needed a much more filling breakfast than my usual chocolate caramel GOLEAN Crunchy bar ...my fav!

Lately I've been loving my vanilla yogurt concoction -



-1 sliced banana
-1/2 cup Trader Joe's Organic non-fat French Vanilla Yogurt
-1/4 cup Kashi GOLEAN
-1 tablespoon sliced almonds
-1 tablespoon golden raisins

Eating a legit sit down breakfast is a new thing for me. What are some of your favorite quick and easy things to make for breakfast?

Size Zero

I came across the BBC documentary SuperSlim Me a few days ago. Ironically, I was about to go the gym and ended up watching the whole thing on YouTube. You can find it in six parts, here's the first part -



If you have the time to watch this weekend, go for it. It's interesting to see what happens to someone when she's only consuming 500 calories a day... but I don't think the documentary affected me the way it was intended to. When it was over instead of feeling anger toward the fashion industry and Hollywood I just felt defeated and fat!

For everyone that gets a chance to watch, what do you think?

A Guilt-Free Indulgence

I came across this fudge recipe on Hungry Girl around the holiday's and have made it a few times since. It couldn't be any easier and I totally suggest it next time you have a chocolate craving!

Ingredients:
2 cups canned pure pumpkin
1 box Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies Mix (the 18.3-oz. Family Size box)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine pumpkin with the brownie mix in a large bowl; stir until smooth (do not add anything else). Spray a small baking pan (8" X 8" work best) with nonstick cooking spray and pour in the mixture. Cook for approximately 35 minutes. The batter will remain very thick and fudgy, and it should look undercooked. Remove from oven. Cover with aluminum foil and let cool in fridge for a couple of hours. Cut into 36 squares and serve.




Hungry Girl suggests spooning in two tablespoons of Better ‘n Peanut Butter after pouring the batter into a baking pan for an extra kick. I typically use whatever low-fat peanut butter I have on hand and swirl it around with a knife but this time I chose not to put in the peanut butter. After the fudge has cooled it's also nice to sprinkle some confectionary sugar on top.

Serving Size: 1 piece (approx. 1.3 oz.)
Calories: 63 (depending on peanut butter/confectionary sugar)
Fat: 1g
Sodium: 56mg
Carbs: 13.5g
Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 9g
Protein: 1g

I use up any leftover canned pumpkin by mixing it into yogurt, fat-free CoolWhip, and even Kashi. But don't worry if you don't like the taste of pumpkin, there are no traces of it in the fudge!

The Real Spring Break

For spring break, six of my girlfriends and I went to Laguna Beach. It's not always easy to eat well while on vacation, but everything is OK in moderation. After a week of eating, eating and more eating I thought I would share some of the dishes I had.

Our first night in Laguna we went to Javier's Cantina & Grill Crystal Cove. It was packed which was surprising for a Monday night, and the atmosphere was great. I had the Fajitas de Pescado which was swordfish served on a bead of sautéed chiles, onions and tomatoes. It was served with white rice, black beans, and warm tortillas. The swordfish was cooked perfectly and was a great way to celebrate Amanda's final 22nd birthday fiesta! :)

Sorrento Bar & Grill -- The greatest thing about Sorrento's was the diverse martini selection. I had the Rosemary 'Bricked' Organic Chicken with Santa Barbara Greens. The greens were awesome because they had dried cranberries in them which I'm a little obsessed with. The chicken was really moist but not all that flavorful because I took the skin off. My Pear Pressed Martini was delicious and had a big piece of pineapple floating in it. :)

Sushi Laguna -- I love sushi but unfortunately this roll sounded better on the menu than it actually was. The Mango Salmon Roll was made of mango and salmon (shock), and had some scattered macadamia nuts on top. The chili sauce scattered on top added flavor, but the salmon was kind of gross. Overall the roll was disappointing but the salad was crisp and the ginger dressing was quite tangy.

La Sirena Grill -- This place was a lot more chill than most of the other restaurants we went to and just as good. I had a Blackened Salmon Salad with avocado, tomato, cucumbers, grilled red peppers and papaya salsa. The sweet salsa definitely made the salad.

Another one of my favorite salads of the trip was at Mosaic Bar & Grille at the Montage. The restaurant is located in between the hotels two pools with a phenomenal view of the Pacific. I wish I had taken a picture but the salad had salmon, string beans, asparagus, cherry tomatoes with a delicious and light honey lime vinaigrette. I could have eaten that salad everyday for lunch when hanging out by the pool! In February Spa Montage was voted best in America by USA Today, so you can stop in and get a facial after enjoying your salad.

Mozambique Restaurant & Coastal Lounge -- This place was super fun. They had salsa lessons going on and the sangria had tons of fresh raspberries in it. I had the Black & White Seared Tuna Steak. Sooooo good! The tuna was crusted in sesame seeds with green tomato relish on top and came with baby bok choy and wasabi mashed potatoes. I think this was my favorite meal of the entire trip, and the mustard sauce around the dish went perfectly with the tuna. Such a good meal, if you're ever in Laguna Beach make sure to check it out!


Sprinkles -- This red velvet cupcake was to.die.for. I love almost anything sweet, and this cupcake was amazing. Sprinkles cupcakes are super moist and the cream cheese frosting was perfection. I hate to say it but I loved this cupcake a lot more than any I've had at Magnolia which tend to be denser.

I had a small piece ...mmm

Sophia and Amanda cutting into a Red Velvet

Making healthy choices when on vacation is tough. I love seafood, so for me it's easy to find high protein low-fat dishes to enjoy without feeling deprived. Whenever I order a salad that doesn't come with a choice of dressing I order it on the side to ensure the lettuce isn't swimming in fat. I'm definitely trying to detox after all of last weeks goodness!

I’m not sure when but at some point over the last four years I became addicted to the Food Network. I don’t love to cook but there’s something about watching others cook that I find I seriously interesting – my friends and family can all vouch for this.

In early September 2007 I began to change the way I eat. Between watching countless cooking shows over the years and trying to live a "healthier lifestyle," my outlook on food has changed. I've become much more concious of the choices I make while dining out and preparing food for myself. I've learned that it's all about finding a balance, and I continue to learn more and more each day.

I hope to share my taste and experiences with you through pictures and stories.

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to comment on anything that catches your eye!