Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

I'm currently at the lake with the family soaking up some sun!

YAY- Road Trip!

I slept until the glorious hour of 9 AM this morning. It was incredible. I took my time getting everything together this morning and made it to the lake just in time for lunch. I had a chipotle black bean burger topped with melted Swiss on a whole-wheat sandwich thin with cucumbers, tomatoes, ketchup, and mustard. We had a nice little spread of sides from Catherine's Market, and I rounded out my burger with broccoli salad, roasted mushroom salad, and a farro and vegetable salad.

Yum!

This afternoon's festivities included a boat ride, baking whole wheat chocolate chip cookie bars (recipe to come later), eating watermelon, and a walk with my dad.

We just finished up our dinner feast which included steak and tons of colorful veggies- corn on the cob, steamed green beans and onions, roasted asparagus with cherry tomatoes, and a half a sweet potato. Lake dinners are always so delicious!

If you're going to eat a lot, it might as well be veggies right?

Since I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks, I'll catch you up to speed and show you some foods I've been loving lately:

1. Salads:

I crave leafy greens (even more than usual) when the weather gets warm and have had some pretty spectacular restaurant salads recently...

Brio's Grilled Salmon Salad. Always a favorite!

Cheesecake Factory's Skinnylicious Spicy Chicken Salad. I have to say- they really did something right with this new Skinnylicious menu. 

Berry Good Salad from Urban Cookhouse. Berries, grilled chicken, pecans, and feta- what more could a girl want from a salad?

Panera Bread's Strawberry Poppyseed and Chicken Salad with a whole grain baguette on the side. I was pretty impressed with this salad's nutrition stats-only 330 mg of sodium for the whole thing!

2. Vegetarian Meals.

So wholesome. so pure.

Quinoa topped with green lentils and roasted sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts and drizzled with Bone Suckin' BBQ sauce.

Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms from Whole Foods are delicious, especially with Alexia's Waffle Sweet Potato Fries to go with them.

Sunshine Burgers are really the best veggie burgers. Too bad they're so dang expensive!

Tofu and Veggie Stir Fry (tofu, carrots, cabbage, bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, and tamari) from Golden Temple. 

3. Sunflower Seed Butter and Chia Seeds.

I've been on such an almond butter and flaxseed kick lately, I've totally neglected these guys. I will never do it again- these two star ingredients have helped make my breakfasts even better than usual.

Oatmeal made with almond milk, chia seeds, sliced banana, blueberries, blackberries, chia seeds, and SunButter.

Greek yogurt bowl with 1/4 C oats, sliced banana, blueberries, chia seeds, and SunButter.

4. Ice Cream:

Does this even need an explanation?

Whole Foods Cookies and Cream Gelato!

Vanilla + Salted Caramel Pretzel fro yo with Reese's, almonds, and raspberries. Fro yo is my one true love.

In other news, I shot a gun. Yeah, you heard me.

 I feel so hardcore.

And finally my workouts for the week:

Monday: Spinning + YStrong (basically the same thing as BodyPump)
Tuesday: YCross (55 minute bootcamp style class) Holy cow. I was DYING during this class. Great workout!
Wednesday: Spinning
Thursday: 45 minutes on the AMT + yoga
Friday: 1 hour personal training session (we used resistance balls, medicine balls, and bosu balls). My abs are feeling it today!
Saturday: 4 mile walk
Sunday: off

Hope you all have a fabulous and relaxing weekend!

Done WIth Finals

Hope everyone had a festive Cinco De Mayo!

I'm officially done with exams and have a little break before summer classes start in June. My meals were pretty repetitive this week and looked a lot like this:

Overnight Oats topped with Love Grown Foods granola for a quick and easy breakfast.

Pomegranate Chobani, 1/4 C oats, 1/2 diced apple, blueberries. and 1 T almond butter. I love yogurt, fruit, and nut butter!

Packed lunches- pb&j on sprouted wheatberry bread, an apple, and veggies.

Whole wheat naan pizza with pesto, sautéed spinach and red bell pepper, part skim mozzarella cheese, and chicken sausage. This might be my favorite food in the entire world. I can't even explain how good it is.

On Thursday night, my friend Killette and I met for frozen yogurt. It was a great way to celebrate exams being over, but they have obviously upped their prices because this cup cost over $6.00! When the cashier told me the price, my jaw dropped, and I even questioned her to see if the price was accurate. I didn't even get that much yogurt!

I got a mix of caramel pretzel and vanilla and topped it off with granola, pb cups, and coconut.

After work on Friday, I headed to the lake for the second weekend in a row! I also had this awesome lunch at Organic Harvest:

I ordered half of the Jack and Veggie Panini on 3 seed bread and a cup of the Italian bean and pea soup. I love how wholesome all of the food here is!

My brother left for his internship in Houston this afternoon, so we had a going away party for him last night! He cooked us steaks, and my mom prepared tons of veggies. 

Filet (half for me), sautéed mushrooms, half a sweet potato, half an ear of corn, green beans and onions, and asparagus and cherry tomatoes. Talk about a plate full of delicious foods!

Kodiak Cakes are quickly becoming a Saturday morning breakfast tradition at the lake!

Topped with the requisite pb, berries, and light maple syrup.

I had a relaxing morning at the lake watching two episodes in the second season of Downton Abbey! 

Has anyone else watched this show?? It's so intriguing!

Before my brother left, we had one last lunch ride and lunch again at Sinclair's. This time I ordered the Shrimp and Avocado Salad, but I substituted the cheese and artichokes for tomatoes and almonds. Much better combination, in my opinion!

I headed back to Birmingham mid afternoon to meet Laura for a fun Mexican dinner at El Barrio, a new to us restaurant. It was an outstanding meal!

We started out with sangrias and chips and salsa. Everything was so fresh, and the salsa had beans in it, which made it extra good.

For my main course, I chose the Veggie Quesadilla, which was filled with spinach, mushrooms, charred corn, and goat cheese. Hello, favorite foods! It also came with a salad to round out the meal.

Now that we've gotten the food out of the way, here's what my workout schedule looked like this week:

Monday: spinning + pure barre 

Tuesday: 25 minutes elliptical + yoga

Wednesday: spinning + yoga

Thursday: spinning + yoga

Friday: yoga + 1 hour walk

Saturday: 30 minute run + sit ups and pushups

Sunday: haven't decided yet!

Let me just saw how amazing I feel after practicing yoga 4 times this week. Exercise is so therapeutic!

Have a great night!

New Study Snack

2 finals down, 2 more to go!

Here are some food highlights from the week so far:

As I'm sure everyone probably already knows, I have a slight obsession with Greek yogurt, but this week I tried something that took my obsession to a whole new level. On Sunday, the cashier at Whole Foods asked me if I'd ever tried freezing Greek yogurt before. I told him I hadn't, and he assured me that I must try it ASAP because it would be life changing. Later that night, I stuck an Apple Cinnamon flavored Chobani in the freezer for 30 minutes and sprinkled some Love Grown Foods Sweet Cranberry Pecan granola on top. It was so good I've had it two nights in a row!

Favorite new study snack.

Last night I was STARVING when I got home from back to back classes of pure barre and spinning. After studying and taking tests all day, I was ready to burn some energy! It was my last day before my pure barre sessions expired, but I really wanted to do some cardio too, so a double workout it was. Both awesome classes! I threw this dinner together in about 10 minutes, and it totally hit the spot.

Couscous topped with sautéed spinach, red bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, a tuna burger, avocado, and Bragg's Liquid Aminos.

For lunch today, I met a friend at a new restaurant called Taco Mama. It had a really cool, casual vibe and the food was really good too! Even though they had delicious looking things like flounder tacos on the menu, I decided to create my own salad with chicken, black beans, tomatoes, grilled onions, and guacamole. It came with a cilantro lime vinaigrette on the side, but I just used salsa. It was very fresh and filling!

Salsa + guac = best dressing ever.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Weekend At the Lake

So, does anyone still read this thing?

I've tried posting at least a dozen times in the past month but didn't even know where to start since I haven't been blogging regularly.

I'm so far behind, I guess I'll just start with this weekend.

After work on Friday, I headed down to the lake to hang out with family and study for my finals in a relaxing environment.

I got there just in time for a late afternoon boat ride. After cruising around the lake, we got to work in the kitchen.

My brother made his famous shrimp pasta for dinner. His secret ingredient is vodka sauce with sautéed mushrooms and green onions. He swears by capellini pasta, but me and the rest of my family used whole-wheat spaghetti.

My brother's culinary creation in all its glory. He plated the meal himself and even garnished it with parsley. I dressed it up a little more with some colorful veggies.

I contributed to the meal by making Courtney's Love Blondies for dessert. When I saw this recipe called for Love Grown Foods granola (my favorite), I knew I needed to make it. It was a winner and will definitely be adding this to my favorite recipes collection!

I forgot to take a picture until after we'd already dug in.

I enjoyed my blondie with a scoop of strawberry ice cream- it was a delicious combination!

I spent the rest of the night studying. I took a break to watch Thursday's episode of Missing and called it an early night.

Breakfast the next morning featured Kodiak Cakes- I've gotten my whole family hooked!

Toppings included peanut butter, banana, strawberries, blueberries, and light maple syrup. Complete with a mug of coffee.

After breakfast, my dad and I utilized the workout room. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical, then lifted some weights, and did some sit ups and pushups.

We went on another boat ride and went to lunch at Sinclair's while we were out. We sat outside and had a beautiful view of the lake. I ordered the grilled fish po boy and requested vegetables as the side. The fish served on the sandwich was basa, which is a type of catfish. I'd never had it before, but everything was quite good!

After lunch, I studied for a few more hours and then headed back home because I had a movie date with Laura to see The Lucky One!

I thought it was a really cute movie and didn't mind staring at Zac Efron for 2 hours either!

I didn't take a picture, but I had banana oatmeal prepped with water and skim milk and topped with ground flaxseed, cinnamon, almond butter, and raisins this morning for breakfast. I actually took the time to make it on the stove today, and it tasted so much better!

After church, I came back home and made this lunch. Scrambled eggs with sautéed spinach, cherry tomatoes, and chicken sausage. On the side, I had toast spread with Crofter's raspberry jam.

This afternoon included studying at my favorite coffee shop and a yoga class to clear my mind and relieve some stress.

I just ate dinner at Whole Foods and am thinking about going on an evening walk. It's such a pretty day!

I had filled up on all the good stuff- kale energy salad, Asian slaw, edamame succotash, sweet potato orzo, chickpea and roasted vegetable salad, tomato and onion salad, and tuna salad.

More studying in the future...and probably some Greek yogurt with granola!

Have a good night!

Spring Break

Wow. So long time, no blog post.

Here's what you've missed:

• I haven't been running lately. My heel started hurting really badly a couple of weeks ago, and I self-diagnosed myself with Achilles Tendonitis. I've been doing a lot of stretching and icing my heel, which seems to help. Although I haven't been running, I've still been doing plenty of exercise- spinning, yoga, pilates, arc trainer, lifting weights, etc. I've actually kind of enjoyed taking off the pressure of training and just had fun being active. I've missed so much training time, I'm not sure if the Country Music Half Marathon will actually happen or not.
• Last week was my Spring Break, and I went to the beach with my parents for the week and Atlanta with Laura for the weekend. It was a nice, relaxing time and was good to get away. At the beach, I ate some delicious food, did a few spin classes and vinyasa flow yoga, read, and soaked up some sun. Laura and I had a total foodie day in Atlanta, which included Dekalb Market, Trader Joe's, frozen yogurt, Whole Foods, vegan chocolate chip cookies, and good meals.

Be prepared for lots of pictures....

Yoga at the beach is perfection.

Forgot how much I love pancakes, especially when they're whole wheat and covered in peanut butter, fruit, and agave nectar.

Dinner at George's:

Pan roasted Gulf grouper with hibiscus syrup, organic black rice, and pineapple slaw.

Lunch from A Few Good Apples:

Can't get much better than a black bean burger on a whole wheat bun.

Smoothies are the perfect refreshing snack at the beach. This one contains strawberries, blueberries, frozen yogurt, and almond milk.

Dinner at Café Thirty-A:

Arugula salad with shaved pecorino, pine nuts, and lemon/garlic vinaigrette.

Wood Oven Roasted Wild King Salmon with roasted red bliss potatoes, sautéed greens, and carrot and orange sauce.

Lunch at La Crema Tapas and Chocolate:

Since it was a tapas bar, we ordered a few dishes to share.

Sangria to start.

Eggplant Curry Hummus.

Serrano Wrapped Figs- marinated in white wine spread with honey goat cheese and wrapped in serrano ham.

La Crema Salad- spinach, tomatoes, caramelized walnuts, cranberries, and goat cheese. My ideal salad.

Espresso Cookie Sandwich- two warm triple chocolate cookies with a whipped espresso cream and chocolate sauce drizzled on top. This is one of the best desserts of all time. 

Dinner at Basmati's:

Thai Red Curry Shrimp- fresh shrimp wok seared with garlic and basil served over grilled eggplant and finished with a coconut red curry sauce.

Lunch at Wild Olives:

Grilled Mahi Salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, and mandarin oranges.

Dinner at Borago:

Arugula salad with gorgonzola, toasted walnuts, lemon, and EVOO.

Roasted Eggplant Lasagna with squash, zucchini, mushrooms, tomato fondue, and three cheeses. No pasta in this tasty vegetarian dish.

Dinner at La Fonda in Atlanta:

MA is always the best hostess ever!

Laura and I always have fun trips together.

Two of my favorites.

Veggie Tacos- two soft tacos filled with grilled squash, mushrooms, broccoli, onions, peppers and pimentos, with fresh spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar and Monterey jack cheese and a mojo-mustard dressing. I also had a Prickly Pear Margarita- it was good.

Lunch at Cakes & Ale:

The most beautiful Cafe Au Lait I've ever seen.

I ordered the arugula salad.

Yogli Mogli:

Original tart and blueberry yogurt with berries, mochi, and coconut.

Dinner at Local Three:

Spring Pea Hummus.

For my main meal, I ordered the Spring Vegetable Composition- polenta, asparagus, spinach, mushrooms, onions, squash. Delicious!

Now you're all caught up. Hope you have a great week!