Wine and Coffee Bar, in the same building? Awesome!

Last night I went over to my friend Alaina’s apartment to go over a few of her wedding details (YAY)!  Afterwards we met up with my sister(-in-law) Lauren, and walked over to Northside Social, which is a coffee shop downstairs and a really cool wine bar upstairs.

We hadn’t eaten yet so we decided to order their special, Pulled Pork sandwich with chips.

 

 

oh my goodness those sandwiches were amazing.  Whoever thought to put white cheddar cheese on a pulled pork sandwich and press it was a genius, please hand him/her a medal. The three of us shared a bottle of wine, (which was meh just alright), then headed over to Firefly, where we were introduced to the most amazing dessert ever created!

 

They put cookie dough in a ramekin, and put it into the broiler so that just the top, sides and bottom are cooked, and top it with some vanilla ice cream, and chocolate syrup! Wow, really? I am so sad I never knew this existed.  If you haven’t tried it, I urge you to head over to FireFly in Arlington and give it a taste.  Alaina admitted she had gone to FireFly on Thursday and had already had that dessert, so she tried something new.

 

It was some sort of chocolate cheesecake, it was good, but not up to the caliber of the cookie dough. mmmm. I think I had a dream about it last night :)

This is what I did this morning:



Erik was away at Richie’s bachelor party so I took that opportunity to sit outside with my coffee and coupon! I will have more updates from today’s events tomorrow!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Question: What is your favorite dessert, and where is it from?

Running of the Brides!

Last night I stayed at Patti’s house in order to get ready for the Running of the Brides!  We woke up at 5:30 am and left the house by 6am, but when we got there we realized we obviously had no idea how crazy some DC brides are.  The ladies in the front of the line had camped outside of Filenes Basement for 2 days! Who honestly has that much time? 

Our team consisted of me, Patti, Kristy, Sam, and Patti’s mom and dad!  Us ladies had matching camo shirts, and when we got there we had about 50 or so brides in front of us.  The line was ridiculous:

The line behind us was even more ridiculous, haha 

We waited in line, had some McDonalds, and people watched until 8am when they opened the doors, and it was mass chaos.  Brides and their team members were running and screaming like, well crazy people.  This is what the poor store had to deal with:

Just look at all those poor expensive dresses laying on the ground.  Once we got into the store all of the wedding dresses had already been pulled off of the racks!  So we had to go to plan B which was find the group with the largest pile and stand next to them.  We found this nice group who had a pile of about 100 wedding dresses, which technically was against the rules because rule #1 was no hoarding, regardless they needed the same size dress as Patti did, so we took the dresses they didn’t like.  You have to understand the system; if you don’t have a wedding dress to trade you are not going to get one… ever…. Unless you find some nice people and beg them for one dress they don’t want.  Which is obviously what we had to do.  But it was all worth it because Patti found her wedding dress!!!  She did suffer a minor injury, probably caused by one of her own bridesmaids! Haha

We had a really great time, and I will most definitely do it again for anyone else that needs a cheap wedding dress!  Well folks I must rest now, it was a long morning of bridal stampedeing !

Question:  Have any of you ever been to the Running of the Brides?  What did you think?

7 Random Facts!

I am very honored to have been given my very first blog award, “One Lovely Blog”, from my friend Caroline.  Please check out her blog, Engineer And and Oven, she makes some of the most amazing dishes!

There are some rules to abide in order to accept this award and they are:

1. Post linking back to the person that gave you the award
2. Share 7 random things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered blogs
4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.

So, I would like to dedicate this award to the following blogs ( I will keep updating this with other blogs):
1.  The Turowski Family
2.  The Fashionista Foodie
3.  Oh Jones...
5.  Hip2save.com
6.  Krazycouponlady.com
7.  Eating with My Mouth Open
8.  The Lunchbox Diaries
9. 
10.
11.
12. 
13.
14.
15.

7 Random Facts About Me

1. I consider myself a pretty athletic person, but I have a really hard time running long distances.  I feel like I have 0% lung capacity, I am totally winded after about 20-30 minutes of running. 

2. I lost 30 lbs after my freshman year of college with the South Beach Diet, and the help of my dad!  I was a lifeguard that summer and I borrowed a south beach book from my neighbor, and my dad would follow the meal plan and make my lunches and dinners everyday. I am so very thankful for his help, and all of his love.  He really changed my life :)

3. Similar to my friend Caroline, I was a fast-pitch softball pitcher for 14 years, therefore my right bicep is larger than my left.  Everyone calls it my “Man arm”, unlike Caroline I don’t think my arms will ever be the same size.

4. I love watching NASCAR races.  I don’t really know why, but I enjoy watching them.  I went to my first race about 4 years ago, and it was awesome.  I would love to go to Talladega, or to Indy.

5.  When I was younger, and really up until 2 years ago, I was terrified of dogs!  When my cousin and I were little we were both bit by a Dalmatian and since then I have been terrified of dogs; that is until I met Sean and Brandy’s dog Dolly, and fell in love with one of her puppies Ella!

6. I hate seafood.  I think it smells funny, and I won’t eat it.  I have gotten better though, I used to not be able to be in the same room as any sort of seafood without feeling sick, but now I just don’t eat it.  I will on occasion eat salmon, tilapia, and crab meat (only in crab dip), trust me I have come a long way.

7. I recently started couponing and I love it! I guess this fact isn’t really random since I talk about it all the time, but it is really hard to think of random facts that people will care about. haha.

Thanks again Caddie!!! 

Free Nats game!

 This is a view from our seats without zoom! Yes we were that close, and the tickets were free!  Erik got them from someone at work, and we had a great time!  Here are some more pictures from our seats:

It rained a bit but not too much that we had to leave our seats.  Well actually, the guys got up to get more beer while I stayed in our seats, and while they were gone it rained a bit.  And of course as soon as they got back the rained had stopped completely! haha.

These are pictures of the President’s Race! Ah their heads are so large haha

Unfortunately they gave up 4 runs in the 9th inning and lost the game :(  Still, it was a really great night!

I am off to bed!

Question:  What is your favorite sport to watch, and have you ever gotten really good seats?

Childhood snacks are the best!!!!

I love apples with peanut butter.  That is my new favorite morning snack.  We bought some organic natural peanut butter from Costco and some organic apples, and I have been cutting them up for snacks. 

Super Sized Glee tonight!!!!  My friend Caroline gave me my first Blog award, but I need to do some work before I can blog about it! Look for the blog this weekend.  For now it is TV time :)

I hope everyone has a great night!!!!!!


Question: What is your favorite childhood snack?

Summer is here??

Mother nature is really throwing me a curveball.  I am not 100% complaining but I would really like to have a couple of months of spring weather with no humidity.  It was really really nice today, I wish I didn’t have to sit at a cube inside all day.  It was a bit too hot to drive home with the windows open *sad face* but I got to talk to my bestest friend Bethany on the phone on my drive home, so it wasn’t all too bad :). 

Today during lunch Kirstie and I went to Super Fresh, and got a sweet B1G1 free deal on 93% fat free ground beef. I got 7 lbs of beef for $18, sweeeet.  I might go back later this week to get more.
 
Tonight’s dinner was nice and light:

 Lemon & Pepper chicken, Rice, and veggies.

The chicken was perfectly cooked, as usual, and had a lovely lemon pepper taste.  Before dinner I did the P90x Legs & Back routine, and Erik did the Chest & Back routine. I will be sore tomorrow! 

Well we are going to watch The Event! Hope everyone has a great night!

Has anyone found any good coupon deals this week? (Brenda? anything?!

Beautiful Spring Weather =

eating outside!!!  This morning Erik and I made our traditional Sunday morning egg sandwiches, and ate them outside!  It was delightful. We wanted to go for a bike ride today, but we knew that all the mountain biking trails in our area would be muddy, so we decided against it.  Our front and backyard however, did need a nice mowing, so Erik mowed the lawn while I sat on our patio furniture and enjoyed the sun with my Kindle!

After Erik was done mowing the backyard, I helped him pick up some dead grass and throw down some new grass seed. We are determined to get our lawn looking perfect in time for our first official summer BBQ.  During this time Ella was running around like a mad dog, sniffing the grass seed, and running away from the hose.  Hilarious!

Afterwards, Erik grabbed two beers and we sat outside and enjoyed the weather some more.  I was reading my kindle and Erik was reading his book when he decided to pop out his Christmas Present from Diana!   Diana got him outdoor speakers for our Ipod, and we set it up while we read.  Honestly it was one of the most relaxing days ever!  When the sun was no longer shinning on our backyard, we decided to have lunch outside, I didn’t take a picture of it because it was a similar sandwich to the one we had yesterday.

Later, we went over to Erik’s parent’s house to hang out, and decided to stay there for dinner. The ladies went to the store while the men talked.  We had decided to have Brats, potato salad, and corn for dinner. yum yum yum. (sorry no picture, you will just have to imagine how good it was).  We doodled around their house for a while longer, while we waited for the crazy storm to pass. There was an insane amount of lightening and thunder.  But it sure did feel nice to have the windows open.  :)

Well folks, that is all for today! 


What is your favorite aspect of springtime?

-Mine is being able to sleep with the windows open.

Yet Another Rainy Saturday!

ugh, I am sick of rainy Saturdays!  Our football game was canceled again this week due to the rain we got last night.  I guess it didn’t rain all day, but still, it was wet.  We spent the morning cleaning the house, which was much needed. I finished the laundry and we went to the gym! 

Hyojon had mentioned he could get us a free weeks pass to his gym, so we took him up on the offer and headed to the gym.  It made me realize how much I really do miss having a gym membership.  I love P90x, don’t get me wrong, but I think I needed the push of an actual person to motivate me.  I started out with a 15 minute warm up on the elliptical, then headed over to the studio for Body Pump class.  It was a fantastic workout.  I think my body was ready for me to mix up my workout a bit.  I know I will be feeling this class for a few days.  We have been talking about getting a gym membership again, and are trying to get a family plan with Sunny and Diana.  The best part about Gold’s Gym is that because they are so huge, you can go to any gym within a certain radius around your “home gym”, I think its around 50 miles.  ANNNDDD the classes are included in your membership, love!

After the gym, we had lunch:

 

and Erik washed both of our cars :), and Lauren came over to watch the CAPS game!  They won, and it was an awesome game to watch!  Sunny, Diana and Anya also came over and we made burgers and hot dogs for dinner.  Diana called my burgers “crack burgers” haha. They are really yummy, but most of the credit has to go to Erik for the way he cooks them. YUM!  I made some homemade french fries, that did not turn out too yummy, but we ate them anyway, obvi.   The rest of the evening was filled with laughter and some silly dancing! I love our family!


Well I hope everyone had a great night!

It's Friday!!!!!!!

I went back to Rite Aid to finish up my cleaning supplies deal. I got about $50 worth of cleaning supplies for $14! I was pretty excited about it. I can't wait to see what they have for deals next week. Tonight's dinner:

Buyers and fries!!!! Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm so good!

Well it's Friday, so I am going to cut this short and go enjoy the night with my Hubby :) I hope everyone has a great night!!!

My hubby makes a meeeaaan Pizza!

Look at what I came home to today!  Erik got home before I did because I was stuck in traffic, bleh, but  when I got home Erik had already put our pizza together. It was soooooo yummy! It made my night.  Unknowingly I bought the most delicious pizza crust, it was some sort of Asiago cheese crust.  He topped it with some sauce, turkey sausage, mozzarella cheese, spinach, and onions.  Here is what it looked like after it came out of the oven!

Perhaps getting stuck in traffic isn't always a bad thing :) 

Have a great night everyone!!!!

Coupon Crazy

 

Here are my week’s coupon finds!  I got $40 worth of stuff for $14! The Nivea deal this week was ridiculous.  I got 4 Nivea body washes and made $1.04! The Air wick air fresheners were 5 cents each.  Here is the inside scoop on how to get these deals, brought to you by hip2save.com:

Buy $15 worth of Conair or Scunci Hair Accessories and Get a $7 +Up Reward

Nivea Body Wash for Men or Women $3.99
Deal Scenario:
Buy 4 Nivea Body Wash $3.99 each
Total = $15.96
Use 4 $3/1 coupons from the 4/17 RP
Pay $3.96
Get a $5 +Up Reward (when you buy $15; limit 1 offer per household)
Final Cost FREE + $1.04 moneymaker!

AirWick Aerosol Air Fresheners 9 oz. Buy 1 Get 1 Free
Buy 2 Air Wick Aerosols 9 oz. $1.49 each
Use the Buy 1 Get 1 Free (up to $1.39) coupon from the 4/17 SS
Final Cost $0.05 each!

Glade Aerosol 9.7 oz., Candles 4 oz., Scented Oil Refills 1 ct. or Scented Oil Candle Refills 4 ct. 2/$5
Use 2 $1/1 aerosol coupons from the 4/3 SS
Final Cost $1.50 each!

You can check out her website for more deals. There are some other deals at CVS that I wanted to do, but every time we go to CVS they are sold out of the things we want. BAH. I might have to go on Sundays instead of waiting until the work week to go during lunch. Also at Rite Aid if you spend $30 on cleaning products you get $10 back.  The best part about this deal is that you don’t have to spend the $30 all at once, your wellness card tracks your points for you. It is awesome!

Okie well Glee is on soon! Have a nice night!!!!

Bachelorette Parties are Fun!

Look at how cute she is!  This is my friend Alaina, and this is how we dressed her up for her party!  We had a really great time, I was able to meet her sister and her best friend, and they are awesome! This party further confirmed my prediction that their wedding is going to be epic!  We had dinner at a place called Matchbox, in Chinatown.  Has anyone ever been there? They have some amazing pizza!  If you haven’t gone there I suggest you go!

Today we took Ella to the doggie park, and she was so freaking cute.  She ran around for like hour and eventually her legs started to get wobbly so we took her home.  The dog park was packed!  After the doggie park we went back to our house and I made some yummy Panini’s before we headed over to Sunny and Diana’s house.  Erik and Sunny went to the driving range to hit golf balls while I helped Diana in her backyard.  And when I say helped I mean I stood around and watched her work, then spread some flower seeds in her garden.  I had planned on going to the driving range but when we got to Sunny and Diana’s, I noticed Diana wasn’t going to go with us so I wanted to stay and hang out with her, aka I was not dressed to get muddy in the garden.  So I did what I could and we yakked a lot about various things :)  It was a fun afternoon.

After we left Sunny and Diana’s, Erik and I had a terrible moment of weakness!  We went to McDonalds’ and got chicken nuggets and french fries.  Darn it, they were good! haha. We knew that we had softball games afterwards so we were too upset about shoveling fatty foods into our bellies.  We won both of our games, which was a feat, because we were down in both games.  But we came back, they weren’t the prettiest games, but a win is a win!

Alright folks that is all for today! Hope everyone had a great night!

Why does it always rain on the weekends?!

Has anyone ever noticed that the weather is really nice during the week when you are stuck in your office at your cube, but when it comes time for the weekend it rains?! Ugh it really isn’t fair.

Because it was so nasty out we slept in until around 11!!! It felt very nice, and we didn’t feel like we wasted the whole day, so I guess the rain is good for something.  After we got up we went to Sweetwater Tavern with Melissa and a few of her friends.  I got a yummy cheeseburger and Erik got the pulled pork.  Has anyone ever had the pulled pork sandwich at Sweetwater?! OMG I didn’t even know it existed, it was amazing! This afternoon I am going to Alaina’s bridal shower and her bachelorette party, I am so excited.  Richie and Alaina are getting married in a few weeks!  Richie and I have been friends since FIRST grade!, can you believe it!?  We both went to Virginia Tech, which is where he met Alaina, and I love her, they are perfect for each other!  The wedding is going to be epic!!!! 

Well I am off to hang out with my ladies! I hope everyone has a great rainy Saturday!

Busy Friday off!

I have been soooo busy today. I got up this morning and after Erik left for work I started my workout. After my workout was done I headed out into our backyard to plant my flowers and mulch the garden! Boy was that a crazy long task. I started at 9:30am and finished up around 2:00pm. I did take a break from 10:30am- 12 pm, to do some other things I needed to get done.

But I pushed my lunch back, because I wanted to finish all the gardening and take a shower before I sat down to eat. I didn’t think it would take as long as it did, but it was well worth it! Here are a few pictures of our yard:

I am very proud of my work :) Job well done, if I do say so myself! I had a yummy turkey sandwich after my shower, and then decided to head out to Giant to get some groceries for the week. I took the Giant ad and planned our meals around what was on sale, and what we had a lot of, and I saved $20 and was under our weekly budget by $30!!!! Great Success!


When I got home I hung around with Ella a bit before Erik got home from work :) We watched some tv and had Hot Dogs for dinner, before we headed out to the Nationals game with our friends Nalini and Sundeep. We had a great time and we had pretty great seats. Next time we go, I will check the weather and bring my softball glove. Every time the ball was hit we would freak out a bit because none of us had brought a glove and we were close enough that we could have gotten hit by a foul ball.


After the game, we met up with my friend Melissa (who came to stay with us for the weekend) and our other friends for Sarah’s birthday at Murphy’s Irish Pub! We had so much fun, Murphy’s is always a good time!


Well it’s late and I am tired! Talk to you guys tomorrow!!!

Yummy Pasta

Nothing really too exciting to post today other than our dinner :) I suggest adding a little spice to it because it was a bit bland. You can also add some chicken if you want some more protein! Here is the recipe, enjoy!
Penne with Creamy Wild Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
1 Oz dried wild mushrooms
1 cup boiling water
2 tsp olive oil
1 8 oz pkg sliced mushrooms
1 Tbsp fresh thyme
1 clove garlic minced
1 cup FF ricotta cheese
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese grated
1 egg yolk
1 tsp sea salt
1 14 oz box dreamfield penne pasta
Directions
place dried mushrooms in a medium bowl, pour boiling water over and let them soak for 20 minutes. Drain keeping the water, slice the mushrooms.
Heat oil add fresh mushrooms thyme and garlic, saute for 10 minutes add wild mushroom and continue to saute for 3 more minutes.
while mushrooms are cooking combine ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, drained mushroom water, egg yolk, salt, puree until smooth.
cook pasta in large pot
add pasta and pureed cheese mixture to pan with mushrooms, combine adding additional pasta water if to thick.
Number of Servings: 5
Today’s workout was Kenpo X! I knew the first week would be hard but I think this time it is harder than the very first time we started P90x.  That will teach me never to stop working out!!! 
Well folks I am off to bed, I have tomorrow off! I have lots to do! :)

Spaghetti and wine with friends!

Sean and Brandy invited us over for spaghetti dinner tonight and it was delish! Before we went over there Brandy calls me on my drive home to let me know that there was a shooter on the loose around their neighborhood!  Apparently this guy had gone into his former place of employment and shot and killed a few people :( , then drove off and ended up in their area.  Brandy said there were cops and helicopters everywhere, and that they hadn’t caught the guy yet, but when we drove into the area all the police activity was gone.  We later found out that he walked into the police station and turned himself in, whew!
We had a great time, chatting, eating and drinking wine.  We played a wine game, where we had four bottles of wine and ranked them in two categories. First we ranked them, based on which one we thought tasted the best, then which one we thought was the most expensive. The last time we played the cheapest bottle was the most popular, it was similar this time.
Well folks its bedtime! Talk to you guys tomorrow!

Couponing is amazing!

Today I had my first crazy couponing experience with Kirstie, and trust me when I tell you it was INTENSE haha. There were coupons everywhere, seriously, I was dropping all the coupons on the ground, Kirstie couldn’t find half of her coupons, it was a mess, but all in all a great success.

I bought all this stuff:

 

for $15.  You can’t even get 2 of these products for $15, it is absolutely ridiculous.  The total before the coupons was $45!!!  It was such a rush, haha, isn’t that sad? I admit we were a bit unorganized, mainly because I had no idea what I was doing, and I needed to cut a few coupons in the car before we got to Rite Aid, but we will get better the more we go.  I want you to note that I got THREE Almay products, originally $7.50 each, for $7.

Here is how I did that at Rite Aid:

It was buy 2 get one free @ 7.50 each.

I used 3 $1 off coupons found in the Super Saver in 4/10’s Washington Post

Plus I get $5 rebate check from Rite Aid

Final Cost: $7 for all three

Cool huh? And the contact solution was free! I love free things.  We also went to CVS and I got 3 Fuze drinks, and a Chocolate Easter Egg for $.77.  Tomorrow we are going to Target to get some more free stuff :) Anyway...

Tonight’s workout was Plyometrics! I was already really sore from yesterday’s workout, so it was harder than usual.  For dinner tonight I finally made the Orange Glaze salmon from Clean Eating:

Baked Salmon with Orange Glaze Recipe

Makes 2 servings

From Clean Eating Magazine

Ingredients

10	oz. salmon
2	cups spinach, Chopped
1	cup mushrooms,Sliced
2	Roma tomatoes, chopped
4	tbsp Low sugar marmalade
1/2	tsp ginger, minced
1/2	tsp garlic, minced
1	tsp Tahini

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Place salmon filets in a 13x9 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Mix remaining ingredients until well blended and spoon over salmon. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until salmon flakes easily. Top with orange glaze.
   
2. Glaze:
   
3. In a microwave bowl, combine ingredients. Stir well. heat for 3 minutes, stopping to stir every minute. Let cool. 

It was pretty good, a nice light “summer” dish. And for dessert courtesy of Trader Joe's, Apple Strudel:

Alright folks, it’s time for biggest Loser, have a nice night!

89 Degrees in April?!

Mother nature is honestly confused.  The 89 degree day was nice, it was a bit humid but I am not complaining. I saw this at costco today:

Has anyone ever heard of this stuff? It seems genius and super logical, why didn’t I think of foam in the gutters?!  It is on sale until May, $10 off, we are still debating on whether or not to get it.  Any ideas?

We took Ella for a walk because it was so nice out, and she loved it!  When we got back I did not want to work out at all, but Erik motivated me to do the work out.  I had Core Synergistics last night, while Erik had Chest & Back.  The workout made me sore this morning, so it did what it was supposed to!  Since it was so hot I didn’t want to turn the oven on and make the Orange Glaze salmon, so instead we had Chicken Salad Sandwiches.  They were yummy, sorry no picture.

Alright folks, House is on! I hope everyone has a good night!

Sports filled Sunday

This morning I went to Ride Aid and bought a Sunday edition of the Washington Post.  After talking endlessly with my friend Kirstie, I am going to take some lessons in couponing.  Just looking through the coupon inserts of the Washington Post, made me realize that I have really been throwing money away.  There are coupons in there for virtually everything I buy, its unbelievable. With Kirstie and the help of this blog called Hip2Save.com, I will be starting my money saving.  I am pretty excited because I love saving money, and I consider finding deals a bit of a hobby. This is my coupon baggie, until I make it over to target to get a coupon organizer.

I ordered the Sunday Edition of the Washington post for home delivery, although in order to get some of the deals you need 3 or 4 copies of the post, we will see what happens.  After my coupon clipping it was already time for lunch, and this is the masterpiece I created:

I personally think it looks like a Panini from Corner Bakery or Panera, but nope I made it myself, and it was in fact even more delicious than it looked. Turkey, fresh mozzarella cheese, spinach, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes on Panini bread from Trader Joe’s. YUM

After lunch and much confusion we went to our last football practice before the season opener next week.  We played a little 4 on 4, and it was a really good practice, despite the number of people.  After practice, Erik and I made a trip to Home depot and bought mulch and flowers!

While we were getting ready to drop the van off at Erik’s parents house, Erik lost his wedding ring! He was going to close the van door and it flung off! I told him to go drop off the car and I would stay back and look for it.  I raked the front yard for about an hour and I couldn’t find it, we were both so upset, but as I was walking to put the rake back I spotted it!!! I guess my raking really did work! WHEW!  We had our usual Chicken Nugget Tortellini for dinner, then headed off to our softball games!  We won both games 11-4 and 14-11, I love softball!!!!!!!!!

Well I am off to bed! 

Good Stuff Eatery is Amazing!

We met our friends Philippe and Oriana this morning in Eastern Market.  We loaded up Erik’s car with Ella and her bed, and headed into the city.  It wasn’t a very sunny day to go walking around DC but we knew it would be less crowded and it wasn’t raining so what the heck!  Philippe and Oriana recommended we go to a place called “The Good Stuff Eatery”, and it did NOT disappoint!

 I love burgers, they are another one of my food weaknesses, and this place had one of the most delicious burgers I have ever had.  I should have taken a picture of the line that formed outside of the place, it was ridiculous.  But we soon found out why people were willing to wait in line.  They had some really yummy mayo dips for the fries, oh my goodness, seriously if you have never been you must go!  We walked around eastern market a little more before heading home, this was Ella in the back of the car while we were driving home:

I think we wore her out! haha. The burger and fries were so filling I skipped out on dinner! Erik had some Cho-nola :) 

Well folks I hope everyone had a great Saturday see you guys tomorrow!

FRIDAY, need I say more?!

I don’t think so, oh how I love Fridays.  Traffic was horrible today, but it really doesn’t matter because the weekend is here!  We decided not to workout tonight, bad I know, but we were both exhausted when we got home.  So exhausted that I didn’t make dinner and we went to Taco Bell.  I really have nothing else to talk about today haha, so I won’t bore you, I will just leave you with the fact that we are going to Erik’s parents house tomorrow morning for WAFFLES!

Have a nice Friday Everyone!

Kenpo Thursday!

I really love the P90x Kenpo workout, Erik and I were talking about enrolling into a karate class, or I was thinking to follow in my friend Kirstie’s steps and start doing kickboxing, maybe next winter. I really like working out at home, because I don’t feel like I am throwing money away during the summer when I would rather be outside playing sports than in a sweaty gym.

For dinner I made another Clean Eating recipe: Chicken Asparagus Casserole.

This picture does not do the meal any justice, I almost didn’t put the picture up.  Here is the recipe:

Baked Chicken & Asparagus Casserole

• 1 Cup water
• 1 Can Campbell’s condensed 98% fat free cream of broccoli soup
• 1¾ Cups cooked wild rice
• 24 Asparagus spears
• 4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 Ounces low fat Monterey Jackcheese, shredded

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together water and soup.
• Spread rice in a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish. Arrange asparagus stalks lengthwise atop rice, then lay chicken breasts on top.
• Pour soup mixture over everything and sprinkle with cheese.
• Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

After dinner I ate this wonderful dessert that my sister-in-law Anya got me from the Swiss Bakery:

It was a mini cheesecake, and it was fabulous.  She said it was a few days old, and that when they are fresh they taste even better. We also got these Asian Pears from Erik’s parents, aren’t they cute with their little hats on?!

haha, they weren’t as ripe as others I have had, but they are still yummy.  Well folks that is all for tonight! I hope everyone has a great day tomorrow.

Picture Fail, but workout success!

I broke my picture a day challenge *sadface*, but I have a good excuse. It all began at lunchtime, when I decided that I wanted a slice of Costco pizza, if you have ever had one you know how amazing they are.  Needless to say because we have been “eating clean” for the past week, I did not feel well after the pizza.  When I got home I had no desire to cook the dinner I had planned on making, and we had enough leftovers in the fridge so that Erik could have something for dinner, so instead Erik and I took Ella and went for a run.  We ran a mile, then came home and did our P90x Shoulders & Arms plus Ab Ripper workout! It felt awesome, hopefully we can do that again tomorrow.
After our workout I still wasn’t in the mood for anything fancy so I made some Turkey sandwiches for both of us and that is what we had for dinner.  I should have taken a picture of it, because it was a pretty sandwich, oh well.
Well folks that is all for today. I hope everyone has a nice night!

My Baby Car is creating bad Juju in the driveway

I didn’t want to ruin yesterday’s positive post with this news, but as I was driving home yesterday my Flat Tire light came one AGAIN. You may be asking, “Didn’t you just get your car back from the service center on Thursday?”  and my answer to that is “Yes, yes I did!”.  Ugh I am so frustrated.  I called Erik on my drive home and he told me to meet him at the service center.  The scene I was playing out in my head was not pretty, thank goodness I had to go to the bathroom and Erik talked to the service guy.  His name was Mike and he is the first service guy I have dealt with that actually offered up other reasons why my senor was going off all the time.  He re-set the sensor and told me that if it went off again to call him and they would change out the senor.  Thank goodness my car is still under warranty. 

After we got home I got out of the car and Erik turns to me and says, “so guess what, my check engine light is on!”... Really?! BAD JUJU. 

He took his car into the dealership this morning and they told him it was the egr valve.  He says apparently it needs to be cleaned out every so often but the dealership doesn’t perform that service regularly.. I don’t really understand why...  Anyway long story short, because my husband is brilliant and got the extended warranty for this car it cost us $37 instead of $800. Whew!

Lunch today was leftover taco stuff I made into a Taco Salad! It was really good, I used the salsa and the light sour cream as a dressing:

My mom and sister came over for dinner tonight, in honor of what would have been my dad’s 55th birthday.  I miss him so much *sadface*, but I know he is in a better place.  Tonight I made Clean Eating’s Eggplant Parmesan, I didn’t have Bulgur or cous cous so I just used some Uncle Ben’s rice.

Eggplant Parmesan with Bulgur and Pine Nuts

Source: Clean Eating Magazine, Sept/Oct 2009

Serves 6

Olive oil cooking spray

3 large egg whites, lightly beaten

3/4 cup whole wheat panko or bread crumbs

6 tbsp low-fat parmesan cheese, grated

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

2 globe eggplants (about 2 1/4 pounds total)

1 1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth

1 cup bulgur (or cous cous)

2 medium tomatoes (about 14 ounces), cut into large chunks

1 tbsp no-salt-added tomato paste

2 cloves garlic

12 large basil leaves, divided

1 cup part-skim, low-moisture mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Coat 2 rimmed baking sheets with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Place egg whites in a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, combine panko, parmesan, oregano, garlic powder and salt. Trim ends off eggplants and cut each eggplant crosswise into six 3/4-inch slices. One at a time, dip eggplant slices in egg whites, then panko mixture, arranging coated slices on prepared baking sheets. Bake until eggplant is tender and golden brown, about 25 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over high heat, bring chicken broth to a boil. Stir in bulgur, cover, turn off heat and set aside for 30 minutes. (For cous cous: Add cous cous to a bowl, pour in boiled chicken broth. Cover with a cloth or large plate, let sit for 10 minutes then fluff with a fork.)

4. While eggplant is cooking and bulgur is softening, combine tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic and 8 basil leaves in a food processor and pulse to make a chunky sauce. Transfer to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened slightly, 8 to 10 minutes.

5. Remove eggplant from oven and preheat boiler. Arrange an oven rack about 8 inches from heating element.

6. Spoon tomato sauce over eggplant slices, dividing it evenly. Sprinkle mozzarella over tomato sauce, dividing it evenly. Use a spatula to place 6 eggplant slices on top of 6 others, making six 2-slice stacks on 1 baking sheet. Broil until mozzarella is browning on top and melted in the middle, about 3 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, chop or thinly slice remaining 4 basil leaves. Stir basil and pine nuts into bulgur. Serve alongside eggplant parmesan.

Oh this one was also delish! This is a picture of me and my mommy while we were waiting for dinner to cook.

Well we are going to watch “The Kids are All Right”, have a nice night!