Girl loves coffee

This morning, I literally sprung out of bed before the alarm went off because my body was subconsciously excited to try the coffee I picked up at Trader Joe’s yesterday.  Just the smell of coffee beans makes my mouth water and instantly improves my mood.

Trader Joe’s French Roast didn’t disappoint!

Breakfast #1 today was a 3 egg white scramble seasoned with my go-to seasoning combo:  salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes.

I served the egg whites up in 1/2 a Joseph’s low carb pita, and a bit o’ ketchup.

Egg white pita

Stats:  86 calories, 7g carbs, 1g fat, 14g Protein, 2g Fiber

Breakfast #2:  1/2 a Thomas’ Whole Wheat Bagel Thin and 1 tbsp Trader Joe’s almond butta with Trader Joe’s pomegranate Greek Yogurt!

gotta give it a good stir

Both the almond butter and the yogurt were DELICIOUS.  I’m now officially obsessed with Trader Joe’s!

Stats:  265 Calories, 27g carbs, 10g fat, 21g Protein, 5g Fiber

 

Lunch = Big ole salad with 2 tbs balsamic dressing and a Turkey/Ham Lettuce wrap with 1/2 a Laughing Cow french onion cheese wedge with some leftover Gionino’s hot sauce!

That's a lot of veggie action!
Lettuce wrap prior to rolling
Salad with balsamic vinegar
me holding my lettuce wrap like a trophy

I think it’s safe to say I have mastered the lettuce wrap 😀

Side note — how weird is this??  http://www.sushipopper.com/default.aspx

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Trader Joe’s & Melt. Mmmmm.

Today I made my very first trip to Trader Joe’s, and I was pretty impressed.  Everything in the store looked edibledrool worthydelicious but I narrowed my purchase down to: 

  • Jalapeno & cilantro hummus
  • pomegranate greek yogurt
  • French Roast Coffee
  • Almond butter!
  • Salmon Patties
Trader Joe's Goodies

While in Cleveland, we also had lunch at Melt and devoured the blackened chicken gourmet grilled cheese and 3 bean chili with chicken AND hand cut fries with malt vinegar.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm………. 

Pic is blurry because I was too hungry to focus the camera 🙂
3 Bean Chili + Chicken

Even though Trader Joe’s has a ton of delectable goodies for me to try, I was a little sad that they didn’t have more low calorie or low carb options.  I need to find a store in the area that sells the crazy healthy items I’ve thus far only been able to find on the internet.  I just put in my next Netrition order, so that shall fill the void in the meantime. 

Some recipes I’d like to attempt this week (or sometime soon): 

Also searching for some healthy tapas recipes for the jewelry party I’m hosting Wednesday evening.  The BF thinks these jewelry parties are like cults, I however enjoy them because it brings together a random group of women for a fun female-only evening.  That sounds like a cult worth joining 🙂 

Some thoughts of the tapas: 

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Slumber party in the Cleve

A few friends headed up to Cleveland tonight for a slumber party!  We broke up the meals between us all, and we made the dinner. 

On the menu:

  • Grilled chicken
  • Corn on the cob
  • Bruschetta
  • Big ole salad

Bruschetta is one of our absolute favorite appetizers to order when we go out to eat.  Here’s the recipe I use as a starting point:  Double Tomato Bruschetta

I don’t make too many modifications to this recipe, except for doubling the tomatoes and most of the seasonings (except the oil).  That really stretches out the recipe while cutting down on the total fat/calories per serving.  I also add about half of a thinly sliced red onion (surprise surprise ;)).  We use a lot less cheese too — just to keep it a little healthier.

big ole plate of bruschetta garlicky goodness
ginormous salad
chicken and cobs of corn

I heard through the grapevine that tomorrow’s breakfast will include chocolate chip pancakes….  So it sounds like I need to hit the hay so it can hurry up and be breakfast time 😉

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I am a food blogger.

A few months ago, I had no idea the world of food blogging existed!  What I love most about blogging about food is that I now have a creative outlet in life.  I get the opportunity to write about one of my greatest passions — FOOD — while simultaneously expressing my personal opinions and feelings.  How awesome is that?

My  boyfriend Jarrod posed a question that I found very interesting.  He asked which came first — the food blogging world or the movie Julie and Julia?  I must admit, prior to the movie I had never even considered starting a blog.  I knew I was passionate about food, but I figured nobody in their right mind would be interested in reading a blog that was just about food.  That is until I found a blog that was centered almost entirely on food and to which I was instantly enamored with.  (Thank you Peanut Butter Fingers!)  So I figured, what the heck.  It doesn’t really matter if anyone else enjoys the blog — all that matters is that I enjoy the blog.

So here I am.  A new blogger trying to find her way in this crazy blog world 🙂

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Lunching

I always find it hard to stick to a good eating schedule on the weekends. There always seems to be a ton going on and a ton of good eats tempting you at every corner!

I woke up at about 7 this morning, downed a small bowl of cereal and went back to bed shortly after. That’s pretty unlike me on the weekends (the back to bed part, not the cereal obviously), but today it’s pretty gloomy outside and it doesn’t look like I’ll be making a big dent in the yard work today. Instead I’ll be working on cleaning up my pigsty of a house before heading to Cleveland for a slumber party with friends.

For lunch today I made a turkey/ham wrap using a lite Italian Flat-Out wrap.

my favorite fixin's

 

wrap pre-roll

 

perfection!

 

I still got my mad burrito lady skills!  Only thing that could make this wrap taste better is a little grillin’

quality time with george

 

hot and melty!

 

Saturday lunch spread
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