For the past few weeks I have been prepping food for the week on Sunday.  While I have always wanted to do this, I just never got around to it (Procrastination Queen right here).

But recently I’ve definitely been inspired by Lindsay’s Sunday Food Prep posts – and I love having food ready for the week!  I would much rather get it all done on Sunday and have more time to relax after getting out of work Mon-Fri.  Prepping food on Sunday has also helped me eat breakfast in the morning.  I used to be a religious oatmeal breakfast eater but since starting my full-time job, I have been slacking.  I feel like I am always rushing to get out the door that I either forget to eat breakfast or just don’t have the time.  Since I have started making either breakfast bars, hardboiled eggs and quinoa bakes on Sundays – all I need to do is pull it out of the fridge and I am good to go!

Here are some of the things I prepped for this week:

(clockwise from top left:  Spinach burger mix, spinach burgers on the grill, baked sweet potatoes, hardboiled eggs, list of recipes, sweet and spicy cucumbers, Thai Curry soup, grocery list – not all ingredients for every recipe are included in grocery list)  Not pictured:  Healthy Quinoa Egg Bake, Quinoa Energy bars, cut up celery and made large batch of quinoa.

We had the Thai Curry soup tonight for dinner.  It is one of my favorite recipes.  So easy and super flavorful.  I actually substituted hashbrowns for the potatoes this time around and I found it really bulked up the soup.  Try it out if you have a Trader Joe’s in your area and you like curry!

Quick Weekend Update:

This weekend went way too fast…but don’t they all.

Friday I went to happy hour with a few girl friends after work.  Wonderful conversation as always.  Brittany is engaged (I am a bridesmaid!) so we chatted wedding stuff which is always fun!

I met up with BLC and Brittany’s fiance at a bar down the street when every one dispersed.  Overall, a very nice night.

On Saturday BLC and I laid around for a while.  We watched about 40 episodes of Dexter and took a nap.  & it was glorious.

When we finally got up and started moving, we decided to go into the city for dinner and dessert.  We got pizza in SoHo which was good, but nothing to write home about.  The dessert was definitely the highlight.

Chobani Soho!  I have been wanting to try this place out for-ev-er!  & it did not disappoint!  BLC got the Peanut Butter and Jelly which was sweet and salty – plus I am a sucker for Chobani and PB.  I got the Fig and Walnut which was delicious.  I love figs!!  I definitely want to go back and try some of the savory flavors.  & the best part?  We got to take home the adorable little glass bowls.  Love them!

After our great experience at Chobani SoHo – we headed up to Trader Joe’s Wine Shop for a few bottles of wine and the Trader Joe’s next door for dog food and a few other items.  Even though the line was long (as usual) it went pretty fast and we were headed home in about 45 minutes.

We got home around 8PM, drank some wine, watched some more Dexter (addicted – we are almost done the 7th season and I am soooo sad) and passed out.  Nice little relaxing Saturday.

So that’s my weekend!  Hope you all had great weekends…too bad it is Monday tomorrow.  Wah.

Hellooooo!  This week’s What I Ate Wednesday is brought to you by my weird daily snacks.  & also, some food from BLC & my night out after a long, terrible day at work (on another note – is it Friday, yet?).

So since I have to get to work, let’s get to it!

Breakfasts:

I mixed this protein with milk – it was pretty good!

In the mix:  eggs, soy chorizo, & some cheese.  Plus, freshly juiced orange juice!! Yum!

I just tried this new protein smoothie.  It was pretty good but it tasted too much like grapes for me.

Lunch:

My go-to lunch.  Every day.  I love those N*Joy oatmeal kits!  So good and super convenient!

Snacks:

I started eating carrots with Sunflower Butter – it is addicting!  I have heard of celery and Sunflower butter so I figured, why not carrots?  I was not wrong

Tomato slices and Frank’s Red Hot – SO GOOD!  If you like Frank’s, of course.  & I love my Frank’s Red Hot!!

Dinners:

I made a delicious broccoli cheddar soup with grated carrots, shittake mushrooms & potatoes.  Plus, there was plenty of leftovers!

On Monday, BLC took me out to Traif right down the street from us for a nice, relaxing dinner after a loooooong day.  It was super tasty.  Clockwise from the left:  Calamari, complimentary Hot Toddy, Eggplant stuffed with Muenster Cheese & Scallops.  I will be adding a review to my Restaurant Review page soon

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What weird snacks do you love?!

It is time for my Weekly Chase!

Let’s recap last week’s goals:

1. Incorporate more veggies into my day before dinner. ((Included baby carrots as my snack at work two days last week and had a salad one day for lunch – I call that progress!))

2. Read for 30 minutes per day.  ((I read on the train on the way home from work every day this week which equals out to about 20 minutes and I read before bed every night!  WIN.))

3. Go to at least one fitness class this week. ((Soulcycle with Megan on Thursday and Kickboxing on Friday!  WIN +1!))

4. Follow my weekly training as closely as possible:

Monday – Rest (Done.)
Tuesday – 2m (Done! Before work even! 2m in about 22minutes)
Wednesday – Rest (Done.)
Thursday – AM 5m Tempo (Did not happen b/c I was going to Soulcycle that night AND I didn’t feel like getting up at the crack of dawn.)
Friday – Kickboxing (Done.)
Saturday – LR 6-7m @ 11:26 & Bikram Yoga (5m LR in 53:29.  I was super sore & my body was exhausted so I kept it to an easy 5m and skipped the Bikram Yoga)
Sunday – Rest/1m walk with Freckles (Walked about 1.5 miles with Freckles and did planks/crunches)

Overall, I was pretty happy with how my goals when this week!  Now…on to the next!

1.  Drink more water during the day while at work.

2.  10 push-ups a day.  *Kickboxing and Soulcycle made me realize how weak my upper body is!!

3.  Read two magazines this week and at least 15 minutes of reading my book per day.  *I have a stack of unread magazines that I need to start working on!

4.  Go to The Running Company to get a running analysis and buy new running shoes!  & cross-training shoes for all of those classes I am going to

5.  Follow my training schedule as closely as possible:

Monday – Squats, lunges and crunches.
Tuesday – 3m in the AM.
Wednesday – Bikram Yoga.
Thursday – 4m speedwork in the AM & Power Yoga in the PM.
Friday – Rest.
Saturday – 6m LR in the AM & Booty Ballet class at 1PM.
Sunday – Walk with Freckles.

So that’s that!

What are yours goals this week?!

Hellooo! Welcome to another edition of What I Ate Wednesday! I’ve been pretty proud of myself for changing my daily food choices because my eating habits at work have been pretty bad since I started in October. I wouldn’t always eat breakfast. I would occasional buy chocolate cookies for lunch. I ate so much at dinner because I was starving. Yes, I am completely aware that sounds absolutely terrible. It’s so much worse considering I have always prided myself in eating healthy. & that was entirely true for the past 4 years…until I started a full-time job where I just now started feeling comfortable eating in the office, using the kitchen and leaving to go buy lunch. Irrational? Maybe but either way I am glad to finally start getting back to my healthy eating routine. Yay for Alex!

So on that note – Here is what I’ve been eating at work!

I always start my day with coffee from 7-11 (usually Hazelnut with a little bit of fat-free half and half) and a banana with Justin’s peanut butter.

I’ve been really obsessed with these little cups of oatmeal for lunch. They come with toppings (this one had a little baggie of nuts and a little bag of brown sugar) and I got them at 7-11 for $1.25 each!

Yesterday I had one with cinnamon sugar, dried apples and then I added blueberries and Sunflower Butter. Unfortunately, it was a deal and I bought out the store…so no more of these little guys for me. Bum City.

I’ve been trying to drink more water so I fill this guy up at least 3 times a day after I am done my coffee.

I bring snacks to munch on during the day – yesterday was carrots and

pretzel crisps! Much better than chocolate chip cookies every day

I only like to have one cup of coffee per day so if I am needing a little more caffeine I will have some black tea. This is my new favorite! (Review to come!)

For dinner, once I get home from work, I will usually make dinner for BLC and I. Monday was a big salad with salmon.

Tuesday I got home late from work so we ordered from a Diner around the corner from our place. I got 2 eggs and hashbrowns which I topped with a can of salmon, salsa and some Frank’s Red Hot. It was delish..and now I am going to eat it for breakfast!

Hope you enjoyed my eats!

What are you eating for lunch today?!

So I had been doing mini-goals each week before the end of the year when I noticed that one of the bloggers who I spotlighted (Molly Ritterbeck!) was hosting a link-up called the Weekly Chase where you post your goals for the week – Perfect, right?! So here is my first Weekly Chase!

1. Incorporate more veggies into my day before dinner.

2. Read for 30 minutes per day.

3. Go to at least one fitness class this week.

4. Follow my weekly training as closely as possible:

Monday – Rest
Tuesday – 2m (Done! Before work even! 2m in about 22minutes)
Wednesday – Rest
Thursday – AM 5m Tempo (1m warmup; 3m @ 9:58; 1m cool)
Friday – Kickboxing
Saturday – LR 6-7m @ 11:26 & Bikram Yoga
Sunday – Rest/1m walk with Freckles

So that’s that!

What are your goals for the week?!

My apologies for posting so late! Today was my first day back at work & I’m still getting over my flu-like cold. Can’t wait to be completely better!! Silly cold keeps lingering…but let’s move on

My WIAW is gonna be a recap of my New Years Eve eats! Since I was still pretty sick, my day of food was kinda random – but still full of some good stuff!!

BLC made me some Trader Joe’s pumpkin muffins – delish!

I enjoyed 2 muffins with some ((real)) butter!

The muffins & a lemon Chobani made up my breakfast. I gotta say…lemon is not my favorite flavor of Chobani. It’s just okay IMHO.

Around lunch time my sick self convinced BLC to take me to McDonalds for a sundae.

With extra hot fudge. The cure for any illness

A little bit later I was craving chips and salsa – so that’s what I had! (I may or may not have had triple this amount but ate most of it before I remembered to take a picture…oops)

At this point of the day, I was still in my pajamas so BLC & I decided to keep it low-key for NYE. We rented Ted & Savages (both were pretty good) on demand and reheated leftovers my mom had made for me while we were in Philadelphia.

I had two giant bowls of matzo ball soup – AKA Jewish Penicillin. My mom literally makes this every time I get sick. Soooo good. If you don’t know, it is basically chicken noodle soup minus the chicken and plus matzo balls (a type of fluffy dumpling). My mom makes the best matzo ball soup. Trust.

While BLC & I laid around and watched movies,

We drank wine &

Ate cheese with crackers. I always buy this cheese for parties. It is a little different but super tasty! Plus, goat cheese is my jam.

& then I passed out before the clock struck midnight. I am a party animal!

What did you eat on NYE?!

This week I figured that it is only appropriate that I post my five favorite Christmas presents to continue the holiday spirit for as long as possible!  It always seems like the holidays go by so fast but I had a wonderful time with my family so I can’t complain!

Plus, I got some awesome presents!

So here are my Five Friday Favorites: Christmas Present edition!

1.  Steve Madden Combat Boots!

I have been wanting these boots forever but I could not seem to find them in my size.  But miraculously, my brother’s girlfriend found them for me!  I cannot wait to wear them!  They even have an awesome accent blue zipper and tribal patterned lining for when I want to fold them down for another look.  I’m obsessed.

2.  A new briefcase

This gift was totally necessary…no more cramming my files for court in my giant purse.  I am officially a grown-up.  Thanks, Mom & Dad :)

3.  Nike Long-sleeved Running Shirt

This gift was from BLC and I love everything about it!  The color, the design and the fit are all perfect.  Plus, it had thumb holes!  Yes, I am in love with thumb holes on clothing just like every other fitness/running/crossfit blogger.  It’s an epidemic.

4.  New York City for Vegetarians Guide Book

This book was a complete surprise from my Mom – but I love it!  While it is pretty easy to find vegetarian options at most restaurants in NYC, this book is filled with all the best options all around the city.  I can’t wait to try some of them out!  & I will try to review them on my Restaurant Review page (which I have been pretty terrible at for the past few months…sowwy).

5.  Beautiful earrings

I am not a big jewelry wearer.  I wear my wedding ring and I used to wear silver studs in my ears until I lost one of them.  That is it.  But BLC is the absolute best when it comes to picking out jewelry for me because it is always exactly what I would have picked out myself!  (BTW, he picked out my engagement ring all on his own & I wouldn’t change a thing)  BLC gave me these diamond studs on Christmas Eve while we were outside with snow falling around us.  He is such a romantic…sometimes

& they are screw on so I don’t have to worry about losing them!  Because that would be bad.

6.  Kira Calendar!

Yes, I know I said FIVE friday favorites but I just had to include this present.  It is a calendar full of pictures of my niece, Kira (AKA the most beautiful baby in all of the world).  I know that whenever I am in a bad mood, I can just look at this calendar and it will be able to put a smile on my face.  I just love that little girl!

Five Favorite Blog Posts:
1.  2012 in Running at Losing Weight in the City.  I know this survey is going around the blogosphere but I saw it for the first time over at Theodora’s blog.  I will most definitely be posting my 2012 in Running survey soon.  Such a cute idea.

2.  Free Kindle books at the Library at Katy Widrick.  Did you know that you could get free Kindle books at the library?  I did not – but how great is that??

3.  Cookie Dough Nut Butter at Oh She Glows.  How delicious does that sound?

4.  Vegan Tamales at VeganAmore.  Can’t wait to try and make them!

5.  Healthified Spin Art Dip at Peas and Crayons.  I just found this website (I obviously live under a rock) and all of her recipes look absolutely amazing.  This one especially!!

Five Lovely Links:
1.  Three quick recipes for lentils.  Lentils are inexpensive and have a ton of health benefits!  Looking forward to trying some of these recipes.

2.  20 Books to read before they hit the big screen.  There are a few on this list that I will definitely be reading.  Especially the Wolf of Wall Street because Leonardo Dicaprio will be starring in the movie & I love him.

3.  Why Champagne may be a healthier choice.  Like a need a reason to drink my champs?

4.  Health Trends 2012 – What we don’t want to see in 2013.  This article was pretty interesting.  I don’t know if I agree with all of their choices but still, food for thought.

5.  Best Fitness Gear of 2012.  I want it all!  Cheribundi made it on there (Love their tart cherry juice!  Tip:  Put it in the freezer for about 1 hr 40 minutes for a cherry slushy) & Zico Chocolate Coconut Water – another one of my favorites.

What was your favorite Christmas gift?  I got a gift card from my MIL and need some ideas on what to spend it on

Have a great Friday all!

Hello everyone! I hope your Holiday was splendid! Can’t believe it is already over and I have to go back to work tomorrow – luckily it will only be a 2 day week

I have been in Philadelphia since Saturday spending time with my family – as well as eating lots of delicious food & drinking festive drinks!

I hope you enjoy my What I Ate Wednesday – Christmas Edition!

Breakfast
Clockwise from left: cheesy eggs with bacon (I did not partake in the bacon), bagels with lox & cream cheese & overnight French toast.

Snacks
Clockwise from top left: pomegranate seeds, chocolate fit chews, holiday cookies, Lindor chocolates & chocolate chip cookies.

Beverages
Clockwise from the top left: cookies and cream hot chocolate, champagne, beer, homemade eggnog, Cherry-osa, the spiciest Bloody Mary ever & lots of coffee.

Dinners
Clockwise from left: Feast of the Seven Fishes (scallops, calamari, flounder, pasta with clam sauce, crab cakes, cocktail shrimp, Caesar salad with anchovies), large salads & deconstructed lasagna (recipe to come).

Just for fun
Clockwise from top: my Yankee Swap gift – $20 worth of ramen noodles!, my adorable Santa niece, Kira & my adorable Santa pup, Freckles.

What was the best thing you ate during the holidays?!