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?**

“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.

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!

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!

okay, okay, so nothing beats movie theater popcorn, i know.  but sometimes we have to compromise and i was really happy that i incorporate a good number of these suggestions from the huffington post (10 movie snacks to pack instead of buying popcorn - she forgot to say buying, but that’s what she meant…)

some of my favorites include:

-puffins (new obsession: pb/chocolate puffins. i think i’ll write a post about these babies soon!)

-club soda. yum!

-100 calorie bag of popcorn (see why i think she meant to say buying popcorn in her title? it’s not the popcorn that’s a bad idea, it’s the salty, buttery, oversized movie theater popcorn that is ;))

-sliced bell peppers (love the weeks when these are on sale!)

-sliced apples (i think fruit is so much “snackier” when it’s sliced. is that weird?)

-100 calorie pack of almonds (i bought these at the store and once i got a feel for about how many almonds were in 100 calories [about 17], i started just buying a bigger bag and individually wrapping them myself. much more cost effective!)

-edamame (you can buy the pods, fully cooked and slightly salted at trader joe’s - they’re frozen, but i keep them in the fridge to defrost - and they make a GREAT snack full of protein)

-grapes (the more “poppable”and fun a snack is, the happier of a girl i am!)

what are some of your favorite snacks to bring to the movies when you don’t want to indulge too much in the prices and calories at the concessions?

what movies are you looking forward to this summer? i haven’t gone to the movies in ages and have such a long list i want to catch up on.

hello, hello. happy monday. i don’t know about you, but i’m all for going back to the weekend. basketball games to watch, minimal work to do. ahhh… i miss my comfy bed already.

whenever bananas are past their prime in my apartment, i feel bad just tossing them, so i always throw them in the freezer and save them for a rainy day (read: banana bread or banana scones. i need to make some banana muffins!)

i’ve also been tossing fresh bananas in my smoothies for ages now. but mixing the two? frozen banana in the smoothie? hmmm… a suggestion from food frenzy and peanut butter fingers led me to the conclusion that frozen bananas in a smoothie make it taste like ice cream! i was sold.

looking for a treat last night (while watching my new obsession, party down, on netflix), i decided to go for it. my only wish is that i had something to thicken the shake/smoothie up a little bit (protein powder, xantham gum) so it’d almost be soft serve-ish. even so, it was delicious as it was! it’s also one of the easiest things i’ve ever made. the worst part was feeling all frost bite-y when i had to get the peel off the icy banana!

1 frozen banana

3/4 cup skim milk

1 Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

[this makes one delicious serving!]

now get ready for the incredibly complicated instructions…

first, put everything in the blender. then blend.

pour and enjoy!

mmmm. so cold and delicious. and not bad for you, in the grand scheme of desserts!

click here for a printable version of the recipe!