notes, quotes & anecdotes of a year fast passing

for the past couple of months, i’ve been eating a salad every single day for lunch. i pack up my shoebox sized tupperware container, load it up with bright veggies and filling protein and go on my merry way. it always takes me tons of time to eat, packs in the nutrients and leaves me feeling full for hours until it’s time for my afternoon snack.

instead of store-bought dressing, i keep olive oil and balsamic vinegar at my desk and shake a little on every day. easy, peasy!

you might think i’d get bored eating a salad every day for lunch, but they’re so versatile, it feels like an entirely different meal each time i eat it! also, instead of woofing it down, i’m able to take longer to eat and stay fuller longer, as well. try it for a week, you won’t be disappointed!

eliz’s tips for a great salad:

1. not to sound like the barefoot contessa, but start with good lettuce. my favorite kinds are romaine and butter lettuce. you might prefer arugula, spinach, spring mix, kale or iceberg. find out what works with you and go with it.

2. load it up with basic veggies - i aim for all different colors and textures in my staples. bell pepper, cucumber, celery and tomato always find their way into my lunch, but maybe carrots, sprouts, radishes, olives or onions are your cup of tea! if you think having 5-7 servings of vegetables a day seems daunting, recognize that you could easily have one serving with breakfast (think veggie omelette or green smoothie!), two servings with dinner and a big salad could easily take care of another four servings of vegetables! wham, bam.

3. don’t forget the protein! protein is what will keep you full, rather than feeling like you just ate a bowl of rabbit food. whether it’s chicken, deli meat, shrimp, salmon beans, hummus, a veggie burger, tofu or tempeh, just get that protein in the mix!

4. change it up & give your salad a theme. although i eat a salad a day, i don’t eat the SAME salad every day. that would get really old really fast. some days it’s greek, others it’s mexican. sometimes it’s mediterranean, others it’s roasted vegetables. keep yourself interested!

5. don’t be afraid of leftovers! instead of letting leftovers in your fridge go to waste, incorporate them into your salad. just the other day, i cut up a leftover turkey burger, sweet potato slices and roasted zucchini from the grill. traditional salad fixins? no. delicious? yes. the next day, i had leftover chicken, peppers and onions from fajitas - i threw that in with some avocado and i had an instant mexican fiesta!

6. don’t go overboard with the “goodies” - you could have an amazingly nutritious salad and throw it all down the drain if you load on lots of croutons, cheese, creamy dressings, etc. some of those treats, in moderation, are fine - let’s be honest, i wouldn’t DREAM of having a greek salad sans feta cheese! just be smart about it so you’re not burying all the benefits that drew you to a salad in the first place. (also, unsuspecting culprit… watch out for low fat/fat free dressings. when they take out the fat, they replace it with SUGAR and that’s not helping anyone. make your own dressing with olive oil or make sure you read in the ingredients carefully.)

7. most importantly, make it your own. maybe you hate celery - then don’t include it. maybe your favorite food is strawberries - include those! whatever you do, make it appealing to YOU or else you’ll never enjoy it.

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salad combo ideas:

greek salad: romaine, bell peppers, cucumber, olives, feta cheese, grilled chicken

roasted veggie salad: romaine, roasted zucchini, squash, onion, bell pepper, brussels sprouts, kidney beans

mexican salad: romaine, sauteed onions and bell peppers, grilled shrimp, avocado, black beans, tomatoes

summery salad: butter lettuce, strawberries, peaches, goat cheese, walnuts

asian salad: shredded lettuce, orange segments, baked salmon, sesame seeds, water chesnuts

everything but the kitchen sink salad: also known as a clean-out-the-fridge salad. literally… your dinner from the night before on a big bed of lettuce!

**QUESTION: what are your must-have salad ingredients?**

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!

…say what? yes. bert & ernie sweet potatoes.

i was grocery shopping last week and had two sweet potatoes on my shopping list. i didn’t purchase just any old sweet potatoes, though. i purchased bert & ernie sweeties! what does that mean, you say? take a look for yourself.

plus…

equals…

told you! perfect, eh? i almost felt guilty eating them ;)

if only i was technologically savvy enough to get my old home videos onto the blog, i would show you the time i made bert & ernie jack-o-lanterns when i was four. it’s some fantastic cinematography, let me tell you.

okay so i figured the title of this post might scare you off, but i promise. this is one of the most delicious breakfast breads (or muffins) that i’ve ever had. and the best part is that after you eat it, you don’t have to feel guilty for eating a 600 calorie sugar bomb that makes you miserable for the rest of the day. win-win, right?!

things that make this banana blueberry bread healthier are that it uses: no oil, no butter, no sugar and it DOES use whole wheat flour. plus, it’s jam-packed with fruit, whole grains and even some healthy fats in the form of optional walnuts.

if you haven’t run away yet… congratulations! now you get to see how EASY the recipe is and make a loaf or some muffins for yourself. you’ll thank me later.

3 bananas (the riper the better!)

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1/3 cup vanilla almond milk

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

2 Tablespoons agave nectar

2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup blueberries

1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped (optional)

(now that you’re done with the collecting, let’s move onto the doing! …have you missed me saying that?)

to get started, preheat your oven (do you like our brand spankin’ new one?! so many colors!) and spray your 9x5 loaf pan (or muffin tin) with nonstick spray.

mash up your bananas in a large bowl (i went with the potato masher method) until they’re nice and gloppy (sorry for the unappetizing adjective).  next up, add your lemon juice, agave, almond milk and apple sauce and stir it all up. set this bowl to the side for a hot second.

in a medium bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. then pour it into the big bowl and stir until everything is well-combined.

once everything is mixed together, fold in your blueberries and walnuts until they’re evenly distributed. pour the batter into your loaf pan and pop it into your 350-degree oven for 45-50 minutes. the bread will be nice and light brown on top and a toothpick should come out clean from the middle.

let it cool for 15-20 minutes, slice and enjoy!

click here for a printable version of the recipe!

hi friends! is everyone getting excited for the super bowl? i’ll admit that even though i work in sports, football is one of my least favorite to watch.. it’s growing on me, though. in total girl fashion, though, my favorite reasons to tune in are the commercials and halftime show! i still remember when i had a super bowl celebration with my friend katie in middle school just so we could watch ‘nsync at the halftime show. and who could forget the wardrobe malfunction, too?! my dad’s favorite commercials usually involve monkeys or talking babies. what about you?

living in connecticut, it seems like this is the perfect battle ground for giants and pats fans to duke it out on sunday. if i didn’t have to work, i’d certainly make a spread fit for a fantastic super bowl party. even though i can’t cook up a feast, here are some healthier ideas for you to whip up for your friends while you watch the big game! and i promise that most are pretty easy to make and easier to enjoy, too.

baked brie

if you’re planning a little upscale get-together, this is the perfect dish. SO easy to make and since it’s not covered in puff pastry like lots of other brie recipes out there, you can indulge on some other treats during the game, too! click here for the recipe.

bruschetta

two great things about this dish is that it’ll seem a heck of a lot fancier than it really is AND the farther in advance you make it, the better it’ll taste. no need to rush around just before kickoff! click here for the recipe.

buffalo chicken dip

i admittedly am not a huge fan of spicy foods, but since you can control the heat in your own variation of this recipe, i say go for it! perfect on chips or veggies (especially celery!), i love my mild take on this favorite. click here for the recipe.

guacamole

if you’re looking for another dip to complement your spread, go for guacamole! so fresh, healthy and delicious, i can never keep the bowl full enough. click here for the recipe.

turkey chili

throw some corn bread in the oven, too, and this is such a hearty and delicious addition to your table. plus, if people get too stuffed on all the appetizers and finger food, this will make great leftovers! set out some fixin’s like sour cream, extra onions and cheese for people to dress up their own bowls. click here for the recipe.

turkey meatball sliders

last year for the super bowl, i made a huge pot of turkey meatballs to freeze and eat for leftovers, but also grabbed some fresh dinner rolls from the grocery store. i split them open, popped one turkey meatball on each, sprinkled some mozzarella and quickly browned them in the oven to make the cutest turkey meatball sliders to add to everyone’s plate! click here for the recipe.

crispy shrimp tacos

even though i call these crispy, they’re not even fried, so you don’t have to feel too bad about eating them. if you want to incorporate some seafood into your dishes, this is a perfect way to have some finger food from the ocean. similar to the chili, you can put out the cooked shrimp, avocado, lettuce, tomato, mango, onion and tortillas and let your guests create their own! and trust me, people will be impressed. the colors in these are so stinkin’ beautiful :) click here for the recipe.

black bean, corn, tomato & avocado salad

this dish is so versatile, i would HIGHLY recommend serving it. you can put it next to chip as a dip, people can sprinkle it on top of their crispy shrimp tacos or chili and it makes a great vegetarian option for people that want some protein but aren’t interested in the turkey, chicken or seafood options. click here for the recipe.

then, of course, if anyone has room for dessert, you could make some fun cupcakes (like these hamburger slider cupcakes. you’ll really throw your guests for a loop!) or cookies that are simple to serve and people can just grab them on their way back to the couch. keep all these delicious snacks and plenty of beverages on hand and i guarantee you’ll have some happy campers, whether the giants or the patriots win :)

if there are any other recipe ideas you’re looking for, check out the recipe rundown page for some more inspiration. happy cooking!

xxoo,

eliz