Sweet Temptations

...they are everywhere today!!!

First I walk into the office, arrive at my desk and see these:Totally forgot I ordered some from my co-workers daughter a while ago. Thankfully I kept them on my back desk, out of site...well I did have 1 of the lemon cremes with tea this afternoon. Man those are going to be dangerous...perfectly lemony cookies with creamy lemon cream in the middle. Mmmmm
The rest are going home to hang out in the Freezer...I love Thin Mints and Samoas frozen!!

The other treats I found today were:I couldn't resist! Reeses Pieces!!!! I had about half this little baggy and want to save a few for my oats tomorrow!!

Reeses on a Plan

At least my breakfast was healthy...

With the fresh blueberries and bananas on hand I couldn't resist a cereal medley...I love blues and nanas on cereal.

• Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax
• Kashi Autumn Wheat
• PB Puffins!
• Skim Milk
• Most of a banana (ate the rest)
• handful of blues
  
  Perfection.
  

The rest of my day was healthy too...just unphotographed: More TJ's Roast Red Pepper Tomato Soup with veggies mixed in, 1 slice GH Nine Grain bread toasted with American cheese and sliced tomato, and a carrot! It was a very Red and Orange Lunch :)

Beautiful, Delicious, and Small Plates

There are some really amazing gals here in (and around) Boston, blogging their little hearts out every day and I was so lucky to meet so many of them last night. We all gathered at a cute little place called Small Plates in Harvard Square...I can't believe I've never seen this place before!!

I couldn't remember everyone who was there (I know...bad blogger) luckily sitting next to me was Sabrina with her trusty laptop in tow taking down everyones names AND blogs! Check them all out here!!

Of course seeing as Sabrina and I are both getting married this year it wasn't hard to find stuff to talk about haha. A couple of the other girls in my immediate vicinity (long table syndrome...didn't get to chat much with the other end)...were Mac Duff, Sarah, and Karley (a reader!!). It was great talking with you girls!

I didn't arrive too hungry but it took FOREVER to get our food so I was ready by then! I ordered 2 small plates...

First was the Warm Squash ‘Fettuccine’ with Tomato Romesco! Funny, we were all expecting Spaghetti Squash! But it totally wasn't...it was zucchini and summer squash in thin strands with a very flavorful tomato sauce hiding under that pile. It was SO DELICIOUS!! I definitely want to try to re-create this dish!

Next was Crabcakes with Cucumber Raita & Remoulade Coulis
I'm always a sucker for crab cakes and these did not disappoint!

Since dinner was on the lighter side I figured why not go for dessert...I decided to go for the Colombian Coconut Rice Pudding with a Shot of Mexican Hot Chocolate
I don't think I've ever had rice pudding, but I am so glad I decided to try it out. It reminds me of sweet creamy coconutty steel cut oats...but rice. This started giving me so many ideas for my oatmeal while I ate this! I want to try out coconut milk or something....mmmm. The "shot" of Mexican hot chocolate was a great accompaniment..although I only had a little. It was like DARK chocolate hot cocoa with a kick...warmed the back of your throat with the spice in it.

Sabrina also was kind enough to share her chocolate cake...THANK YOU!!
This was chocolate HEAVEN!! I ate all of this taste so I did not finish my rice pudding :)

Tuesday feels like Monday...

I was SUPER excited for my OATMEAL this morning though!

Fruit and Chocolate Oats!! (more fruit less chocolate), but my PB of choice for this bowl was most definitely...Check out that coconut in there!!

The Oatmeal du jour

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup skim milk, 1/4 cup water, salt
• 1/2 banana (most cooked in, saved a little for the topping)
• 1 large strawberry chopped and blueberries mixed in after cooking
• 1 tsp Apricot preserves mixed in (refreshingly tart addition as a sweetener)
• Topping:
• 1 small strawberry
• more blueberries
• little piece of banana
• 2 choc. chips
• coconut
• little of Zoe's granola
• Gourmet PB!!!

I had never had the fruit in my oats before...delectable!! Although I think this would be EVEN better with Steel cut, so I may do that this week.

No picture lunch but it wasn't very exciting... TJ's Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup, GH bread toasted with Smart balance, 1 carrot.

Went to Dance Class Tonight...YAY! My fav day of exercise all week :)

Dinner was a delicious salad...

• green leaf lettuce
• baby spinach
• carrot
• red onion
• cucumber
• Strawberries (ok they were 2 for $4...so I'll be eating LOTS this week)
• a couple candied pecans
• Annie's Raspberry Vinaigrette!
  

Also, 1/2 flat out wrap with SABRA roasted red pepper hummus, and Honey Maple Turkey on the side...I didn't want either flavor to take away from the other so I ate them separate instead as 1 big wrap.

Be My Valentine (part 2)

This year and last year Brian and I have celebrated Valentine’s Day and our dating anniversary (Jan 26) on one weekend in between. This year was our fabulous dinner in Portland, ME at Fore Street. We also make a delicious dinner on Valentines day. Last year we did a seafood risotto…mmmm. This year we went classic Steak House style!

We had lots of errands and things to do before dinner thought, so I made us a energy packed breakfast.

Veggie Omelets!

These babies contained (for two people):

• 2 Eggs and 2 Egg whites
• a little Skim milk
• onion
• orange bell pepper
• broccoli
• tomato
• 1 garlic and herb laughing cow dotted throughout
• reduced fat cheddar

Served with a toasted homemade Choco-Coconut Muffin!

I spread a little Cashew Butter on some of my muffin…I couldn’t believe I found CASHEW BUTTER in my MOM’s fridge!! GO mom! (It was in there next to the Almond butter…yay for my influence hehe)

Our first stop was at a really nice meat shop in Wellesley, MA:
John Dewar & Co., Inc. My aunt told me about this place and they apparently supply meats for many high end restaurants in Boston! Perfect!

We went all out:

I have only ever eaten Dry Aged steak at really nice restaurants and never see it in regular grocery stores, so I was very excited to purchase one. A $30 steak for the two of us is still way cheaper than getting this at a restaurant!

I also grabbed these…because, well I love pickles :)

The rest of the day included:

• stopping at Great Harvest for some bread! (we each got loaves of the 9-grain bread, and also got lunch there)
• To the jewelers for my 6-month inspection on my engagement ring!
• An Unplanned purchase at the jewelry store…Brian got his wedding band!! It’s so cool…I’ll post a pic when we pick it up sometime this week :)
• Visit the grandparents
• DINNER!

A steak needs some sides:

And a nice red wine of course…I picked this up at TJ’s Friday night after trying a sample. It was really full bodied and flavorful, and I Liked it which is key since I don’t love all red’s.

On to the main event: the meat! I probably eat red meat 1 or 2 times a month…if that! So if I do I want it to be goooooood.

It was 1.5 – 2” thick!!!

We seared it in a HOT cast iron pan for 2-3 minutes on each side, then placed it into a 325 degree oven for 8-10 min. Or so that what we were told.

(**We were also waiting for the meat thermometer to read 140 (med. rare), and it just wasn’t getting there, so we left it in a little longer…BAD MISTAKE! It wasn’t completely overcooked…still pink inside but I was SO upset, a steak like this NEEDS to be med rare or you might as well have just picked up a regular old grocery store piece…it was still good but I was really really disappointed…STUPID MEAT THERMOMETER!!!!)

The sides were delish though haha…

Oven roasted red potatoes with onion, garlic, EVOO, S&P!

Grilled Asparagus with EVOO and garlic, splashed with lemon at the end.

Dinner is Served

Dessert was simple yet decadent…

Picked up some of this deliciousness at WF’s

• Used the crepes I bought last week at WF’s
• heated in the micro
• Spread with the Choc. Hazelnut Butter (practically the same as Nutella),
• Topped with sliced banana and strawberries
• Rolled up
• heated a little again
• topped with 1 scoop Dulce de Leche ice cream (for him) and half a scoop for me, and half a scoop of vanilla.

His

Mine

I’d say minus the steak snafu, it was a success! And delicious to boot! I must say I had a FABULOUS Valentines Day!

Yay for no work tomorrow!! Mom and I are shopping for a dress for HER to wear at the wedding…this should be entertaining haha. We are staying FAR far away from bridal store “Mother of the Bride” dresses, I can’t stand those things!

Be My Valentine (part 1)

Happy Valentines Day

Brian and I just finished a delicious homemade dinner and dessert...but that will have to be the next post because there's just too much to share all at once :)

I mentioned it before, but I am doggy sitting Willow for the weekend while mom is in Atlantic City (with my aunt for my cousins cheerleading competition!!).

I went straight to her house after work yesterday to a freshly groomed puppy and some Valentines Day treats from mom :)
(cute little red neck bandana with white hearts)

Yay Mom!! She always sent fun Valentines Day packages to me while I as at college :)
Chocolates for Brian and I (clearly labeled “Milk” and “Dark”…I’m the “Dark” and Brian’s the “Milk”)
Not sure what those are…I hope they are the ones filled with caramel and marshmallow though!
OH yeah baby!!
So I may have dove into those without waiting for Brian (he wasn’t coming til this morning!!)…I mean really, what was I suppose to do ;)

If you notice in the first picture of the treats there appears to be a teapot behind the card…that’s because there was, and it was on a book:
A cute new little teapot for me and fun tea party cookbook!!!!


Well I guess I don’t need to get Brian too many chocolate treats! So I hit up TJ’s for some other fun snacks…

Brian’s Valentines Day Treats

• La Fin Du Monde – one of his FAVORITE beers…a Belgium of course.
• TJ’s milk chocolate covered English Toffee!
• Cinnamon Almonds – the boy loves his cinnamon
  

Don’t worry before I dove into the Godiva, I had a healthy dinner with what I managed to put together from Mom’s fridge:

• 1 Arnold WW Sandwich Thin
• 1/2 with low fat cheddar and red onion; toasted; dipped in BBQ sauce
• 1/2 spread with hummus, topped with feta, tomato, and baby spin!
• 1 carrot
• Smurf Plate!! (from my childhood)

Brian arrived this morning with a few treats in tow for me too!

Bridget’s Valentines Day Treats

Gorgeous flowers!! I LOVE flowers :)
And a little perfect size box of chocolates from a little shop in AndoverOnce again I immediately dove in…Ummmm PB&J Truffle!!! He knows me so well haha!

After breakfast we had a full day of errands and fun things, then made an awesome Valentine’s dinner! Next Post will recap all that fun stuff.

Hope you all had a great Valentines

P.S. check out the Country Bob's Giveaway at Itzy's Kitchen!