notes, quotes & anecdotes of a year fast passing

“if you like piña coladas, getting caught in the rain..” it’s fine, i know you were singing that to, just as soon as you read this post title (i’m so clever!). here, let me help you out:

you’re welcome. now moving on…

lately i’ve been eating a smoothie for breakfast almost every day and it usually is some variation surrounding: 1 c. frozen strawberries, 1 c. unsweetened almond milk, 1 c. spinach, 1 c. protein powder. it’s filling, nutritious and tasty - what more can you ask for first thing in the morning? (i PROMISE if you blend it enough, you cannot taste the spinach. you might think i’m crazy for drinking veggies, but you really don’t notice it and think of all the extra nutrition you’re sneaking into your breakfast! one serving of dark, leafy greens out of the way before 8am!)

the problem was that i was out of berries last week. and also out of almond milk. what i DID have were frozen bananas and pineapple, unsweetened coconut/almond milk and then my usual spinach and protein powder. what i ended up with was nothing short of a piña colada suitable for breakfast.

one thing to keep in mind, though, is that while my normal breakfast of berries are low in sugar for fruits, both pineapple and bananas are very high in sugar. keep this baby as a treat and not as an every day drink!

ingredients

1/2 banana, sliced and frozen

3/4 c. frozen pineapple chunks

1 c. fresh, raw baby spinach

1 c. unsweetened coconut almond milk

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (optional)

(note: i already had these banana slices frozen because when i’ve got a banana on the counter that’s on its last legs, i’ll proactively slice it up before it goes bad and freeze it. perfect for smoothies or any recipe you don’t want to use a whole banana for!)

are you ready for these instructions? i know they’re pretty complicated…

dump everything in the blender. blend until smooth. pour. sip.

now look at that bright, beautiful beverage! wouldn’t you be excited to drink that in the morning? it’s practically a mocktail.

if you’re into smoothies, i also have some great recipes for an orange creamsicle smoothie, peanut butter banana & honey smoothie and a super healthy green smoothie. 

on the other hand, if you’re only interested in the piña colada aspect, check out these piña colada cupcakes! see? something for everyone.

1. don’t get me wrong, getting to work before 6am has its downsides. like the 5am alarm (and the 5:10 alarm and the 5:12 alarm…) and the fact that when i’m all alone, i sit so still that the motion-detector lights don’t know that i’m there and when they shut off, i have to wave my hands like a crazy person so they turn back on.

it certainly has its upsides, though. like getting serenaded by birds my whole trip, no traffic and getting to watch the sun rise in the middle of a light purple and blue sky. i’ll choose to focus on those upsides.

2. summer nails and summer fruit!

the nail color is bachelorette bash by essie! i wore it when i was in my friend’s wedding a couple of summers ago and have been bouncing back between that and essie’s watermelon ever since!

3) some cookout recipe ideas for you in case you’re enjoying the heat and long weekend:

black bean, corn, tomato & avocado salad (perfect for a cookout because there’s no mayo, so it can withstand being outside for a bit!)

buffalo chicken dip (always, always a crowd pleaser)

…and of course, the infamous hamburger slider cupcakes (totally worth the effort).

4. last, but certainly not least, i’m so grateful to have been selected as one of today’s foodbuzz top 9 recipes! thank you, thank you, thank you! what an honor :)

see my greek yogurt chicken salad stuffed in a tomato on the left side of the middle row?! eeeee!!! what a lovely surprise to wake up to this morning!

hope you’re having a wonderful sunday!

it feels like summer outside, so i might as well start cooking accordingly, right? thought so. it was my night to make dinner and i wanted something fast, healthy and the perfect combination of light but filling. a girl can dream, right?

i had every intention of tearing through my magazines to find a recipe before i went to the fresh market for the first time the other day, but when nothing spoke to me from those pages, i figured i’d get inspired by the fresh ingredients at the grocery store, instead.

i ended up deciding to make a lightened-up chicken salad, stuffed in a gigantic tomato on top of a bed of greens. think of it as a hybrid between my waldorf salad and orzo stuffed peppers! looking back at my checklist, this was fairly quick to make (with a few errands between steps), was definitely healthy in that it was packed with protein, veggies and pretty low in fat. on top of that, i only had a couple of dishes to wash after, so that definitely adds to the quick factor!

note about the ingredients shot - i’m losing my mind! i stacked everything up for the traditional photo and then broke it down and started cooking without ever snapping the picture. der! this photo is a recreation post-chicken cooking. i guess i’m a little out of practice…

ingredients

1-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3/4 lb)

1 Tablespoon light mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons nonfat, plain greek yogurt

2 celery stalks

3 Tablespoons Craisins (optional)

generous pinches of: onion powder, garlic powder, dill and kosher salt

2 large tomatoes

first up, poach the chicken breasts by boiling them in lightly salted water for about 10 minutes or until they’re cooked all the way through. then, set them aside to cool for a bit. it’s up to you if you want to take this break to go to DSW and pick up two fantastic new pairs of shoes. don’t worry, they were extremely discounted and i had a gift card and coupon. (read: i got two pairs of shoes for the price of one individual shoe, pretty much!)

anywho, back to the kitchen…

while the chicken is cooling, finely dice your celery stalks and set them aside. i decided i had enough, so i polished off the final 1/3 of a stalk with a dab of peanut butter! delicious impromptu snack - totally underrated! why do i always forget how great this tastes?!

next, slice the very top off your tomatoes and hollow out the majority of the inside with a melon baller to create tomato cups. set that aside. (note: i didn’t waste all the tomato guts! which looked sort of like watermelon balls… anywho, i added them to my salad for lunch the next day. easy peasy, no waste!)

when the chicken is cooled, shred it with two forks and place in a medium bowl. this can be a little tedious, but it goes by quickly and you can get some aggression out while you prep your food!

to the medium bowl, add the celery, craisins, dill, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, mayo and yogurt to the bowl. mix until everything is evenly distributed and it has reached your desired consistency.

spoon the chicken salad into the tomatoes, pop onto a bed of lettuce and serve!

click here for a printable version of the recipe!

(i hope you all appreciate my homage to friends with this title - ha!)

i kept reading blog posts about the fresh market - consider it a natural market that’s smaller than whole foods, but just as fresh and dare i say, more affordable? i wished there was one nearby, but i had never heard of one in my area. after a little poking around on the website, i found out there was one just 30 minutes from me. that’s doable!

i made plans to head there with my friend jane today (after taking advantage of dunkin donuts’ $1 iced coffee day, of course!) and had every intention of flipping through my stack of magazines for a few recipe inspirations. i figured i could make the appropriate shopping list after that and be on my way. only issue… nothing was speaking to me! instead, i hopped on off to the store and decided i’d just get inspired by the ingredients there. i loved that plan!

there was a ton of colorful, fresh produce, a really friendly staff at the meat counter, fun products that i always read about on my favorite healthy living blogs and never can find, natural snacks, bulk bins of trail mixes, candy and dried fruit, a whole line of coffee and a really easy-to-navigate layout that wasn’t at all overwhelming.

needless to say i was a huge fan! probably not worth the trek every week for my groceries, but it’ll be fun to go once a month or so!

check out my loot below! (side note: loot is actually a nickname my parents have called me since i was little. no idea why!)

a few of these ingredients wound up in the dinner i made tonight! but you’ll just have to wait for the recipe… :) in the meantime, happy grocery shopping, friends!

jezebel article that resonated all too well with me!