Sun? Is that you??

Oh yes! It's SO nice out today and the forecast looks incredible for the weekend :) It's about damn time! My yard is becoming a swamp with all the rain we've had.

Let's see whats been going on in the life of B-dubbs (one of my nicknames in case your wondering haha)

I've had one of those weeks where I really tapped into the freezer for my lunches to bring to work. Luckily we have a panini maker at work where I can nicely grill up these bad boys:
Yes that would be my lunch for Monday and Tuesday! Those black bean burgers are my favorite! So tasty with a little sour cream and salsa (packed in their own individual condiment containers of course), and served in a pita.
On the side I cut up whatever veggies I found in the fridge. One day happened to be carrots (orange and yellow), and green beans.
Another day was the colorful carrots and bell pepper slices...rainbow!I also came up with a KICK ASS Italian style breakfast sandwich for dinner one night too!
Started with the heal slice of Arnold Double Protein Bread...toasted

• Then I cracked 1 egg into a small pan with cooking spray
• Then I added some Tuscan seasoning to the egg!
• Onto the toast went a garlic and herb laughing cow wedge spread
• top with sliced tomato
• egg
• another tomato slice
• and finally a slice of prosciutto!
• serve open face
• enjoy.
• SOOOOOO good!!!!!!!

I enjoyed this with a little salad of green leaf lettuce, tomato, and from frozen corn kernels! Topped with some olive oil and balsamic.
So I finally gave in to all the hype about the Amazing Meal stuff, and combined with Jenna's coupon code...I couldn't say no!

Ok so I bought a packet once to try and made a typical green smoothie, but thought the Amazing Meal gave it way more of a chalky weird taste.
However I STILL ordered the 2lb canister?! No fear, I had a plan.
Since my special order came in an inconspicuous package I didn't have any measurements to go by. So I used 1 T of Amazing Meal + 1 T of my Vanilla protein powder.

Also into the blender went:

• 3/4 cup skim milk
• 3 frozen strawberries
• 2 slices of frozen banana
• 2 kale leave
• both powders
• BLEND

This was actually quite delicious...the vanilla protein powder counteracts the weird texture of the Amazing Meal, but I felt great knowing I was getting the benefits of that lovely greenish powder :)

Other items included many breakfasts similar to this:

Lots of Yogurt and Berries this week ;) ...and the last of the homemade granola.
I just can't help it...it's berry season and they are so inexpensive! I am constantly buying strawberries :)
Tomorrow is my Hair Trial for my wedding day hair style!!!!! I'll try to post pics...that is if I like it haha.

Then tomorrow night is one of my friends Bachelorette party in Boston...we have a fun party bus!

The 4th was my 1st!

This 4th of July I made a last minute decision to join my fiance and some of his friends in a 5mile road race!! (with a little encouraging from Heather!). Him and his friends have run it the past couple years...it's a little local 5mile road race in New Hampshire up near lake Winnipesaukee (right near where he grew up).

Keep in mind I have NEVER run 5miles...the most I've ever run without stopping is a little over 3miles. The other factors included being sick the week before and therefore I hadn't really even worked out in 2 weeks. Also, this had hills, including one HUUUUUUGE one!! The big hill was pretty much 1 mile straight up haha...I ended up walking a lot of it, then down hill was pretty hard too because some areas had a 14% grade and as someone who designs roads for a living, that is STEEP (you are usually not permitted to build roads that steep anymore).

Ok so after all that I finished in just under 57minutes...I was actually surprised I made it in under an hour haha! As I said before I walked a lot of it, but even walking some of those hills was a challenge. I am SO glad I did it though!! It was a great experience and I felt great after :) Looking forward to my next one (hopefully just a 5K).

Now for my PESTO!

I had purchased a nice bunch of basil earlier in the week
I had a major pesto craving. It's so simple to make and you can freeze the extra sauce.
Pesto Sauce:

• 1 bunch Basil
• 3 cloves garlic
• approx. 3-4 T olive oil
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan (or more to taste)
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• salt and pepper
• pasta watter

• Get your water going for pasta, and add pasta when ready.
  
• Peel cloves of garlic, and chop into a few pieces.
• Saute garlic in 2-3T olive oil for just a few minutes (Don't let them brown). This is just to take the harsh bite off the garlic.
• Place washed basil, Parmesan, walnuts, garlic, and oil that the garlic was cooked in...all into a food processor.
  
• Process/pulse til finely chopped. May need to scrape down sides periodically, and add more olive oil to get things moving.

• Taste it! Add some salt and pepper if needed.
• By now your pasta should be almost ready, but before dumping the water take 1T of hot pasta water out and into the processor. Add another if desired. The pasta water will make the pesto creamy!! The starches in the water just work their magic.

Mmmm pesto. I combined about half of this batch with 1/2 box whole wheat rigatoni and 2 chopped steamed zucchinis.I enjoyed some on a bed of baby spinach.
I had a treat on Thursday...NO WORK!! On Wednesday, my boss informed us that we did so well for our first 2 quarters that we get a free day off :) Too bad it was pouring out, but we got a lot done!

I took this opportunity to make a delicious breakfast. I took the rest of the Walnut Prune bread and made french toast.
The bread soaked in:

• 2 eggs
• some skim milk
• cinnamon
• vanilla

For a few minutes on each side. I made Brian a stuffed french toast with some cream cheese and jam in between 2 slices. With banana and strawberries on the side.I had 1 slice, and a side of Oikos Plain with fruit and homemade granola.
Perfect start to the day. We visited the tux place, and updated our registries!!

The wedding is only 2 months from tomorrow!!!!!!!! Crazy.

Sunshine Weekend

For a weekend that was supposed to have thundershowers, it turned out to be really nice!! I woke up to gorgeous sunshine on Saturday. Brian had left early at 6am to go fishing with his buddy, so I decided to go for a nice long walk. I'm still congested a little so I'm hesitant to do too much hard cardio. On my walk I realized it was Farmer's Market time!!!

I went to the ATM then hit up the market.Yellow Carrots!!
A fresh ball o' Mozzarella made that morning!! I decided that a caprese salad was definitely in order later that day!

I have a hard time resisting fresh baked breadThis was a prune walnut bread! A delicious bread with chunks of walnuts and prunes.

Later that day we set out to one of my favorite produce grocery stores...Russo's!

Ok so we (my roommate and I), may have driven by my reception site...you know to see if there was a wedding! They we're setting one up! FUN! Lucky biatch of a bride that day had so many Peonies!! MY FAVORITE FLOWER!! I'll admit I am SO bitter that they are not in season in Sept :(

So I had to buy some:
*sigh* so beautiful.

Remember that caprese salad I mentioned I wanted to make?
So fresh and delicious!

Well Brian caught 7 stripers but none were big enough to keep, but I asked him to come home with some fish anyways hehe.

He picked up 1.5lbs of Halibut...one of my faves!I placed it in a marinade of olive oil, fresh lime juice, lots of garlic, salt and pepper!

It cooked up perfectly on the grill. We also grilled fresh corn on the cob, and roomie made a delicious Bulgar salad!
For the corn, we husked it, brushed it with olive oil, and placed it right on the grill...rotating it a few times for about 10min total.

The Bulgar salad started with her wanting to make a quinoa salad, but I had a box of Bulgar instead :) We added:

• bell peppers - different colors
  
• red onion
  
• grape tomatoes
  
• chickpeas
  
• feta
  
• tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
• 

This was a perfect summer meal!

This morning the cooking (well baking) continued.

I made granola and muffins!
This granola contained:

• 2.5 cups thick cut oats
• 1/2 cups sunflower seeds
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup almond slices

Into a small sauce pan:

• 2 T canola oil
• 2 tsp. coconut oil
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1-2T honey (I had to use a small spoon to get it out so I don't know exactly)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Heat those ingredients until combined/thinned out. Pour over dry ingredients and mix!

Spread over sheet pan, bake at 270 degrees for about 45min, stirring once in the middle.

When you take it out, RESIST the urge to stir it around, let it just sit...it will clump together this way :)I enjoyed a little on a Blueberry Oikos

Banana Blueberry Muffins

• 1.5 cups White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 cup APF
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup quick oats
• 1-2T flax
• 2 T Sucanant
• 1/4 c. unsweetened coconut
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg (would of added more next time)
  

wet ingredients:

• 3 bananas
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 T canola oil
• 1 T Honey (I recommend adding another 1-2 T of honey or another sweetener...these came out less sweet than usual, and my usual isn't that sweet to begin with)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Add wet to dry...stir to combine.

• 1 cup blueberries - place in a small bowl and sprinkle with flour, stir flour around onto berries (this will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins).

Fold in berries, place in muffin tin that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake for 18min at 375.

I made a mini loaf with the extra batter!These were delicious and moist!! As I said before, I'd add a tad more sweet to these next time, but I love them this way too.

New House Updates: Brian's first Mow!! He's been DYING to try out his new mower, and all this rain lately has NOT made that possible, until this weekend:
Beautiful lines ;) I love that he loves to mow the grass hehe.

And that's another weekend folks...back to work tomorrow :( Boooooooooo!

Martha's Vineyard Part II - Atlantic Fish & Chop House

OK, so I started this post last night...but something AWESOME happened this morning so I had to just put it right here at the top! Thanks to Heather's giveaway, I am now the proud owner of my very own ticket to the summit!!!

I am like beyond pumped about this!! I was so ready to dominate multiple computers tonight at 7:59pm, but now I don't have too!! Yippeee!!!

and back to my regularly scheduled post:

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I came down with a nasty cold (almost flu type situation) on Monday. Thankfully the worst has subsided, but now its just like having a cold still :(

This is also a DOUBLE bummer because my roommate is running a 3.5mile road race tonight, The Corporate Challenge, and I had totally planned to run (unofficially) with her!!! I just do not feel like I'm at full strength enough though, plus congested = no running for me :( Such a let down!!!!

I was looking forward to my first race (unofficially), because I finally figured out my running issue...I was going too fast. I ran with my roommate a few weeks ago for the first time and she runs slower than me but keeping at her pace allowed me to go for much longer without stopping!!! Genius! Hahha, oh well maybe next time!

Ok back to the fun stuff...our new favorite restaurant on the Vineyard! The Atlantic Fish and Chop House in Edgartown!On Wednesday evening after some shopping we decided to go in for a drink then maybe some appetizers later as we weren't too hungry. We sat down at the beautiful marble bar at 6pm.
We decided to get some fun cocktails from their drink menu!

I decided on the Electric Blue Lemonade...not the classiest looking drink, but in my defense there was no mention of blue curacao in the descriptionIt was SO refreshing: stoli citrus vodka, lemonade, and a splash of sour mix...maybe something else too can't remember...oh and clearly the blue curacao!

Jocelyn classed it up with a French MartiniHowever, the most interesting/enticing item on the bar was the snacks. You know how some bars have little bowls of nuts, or pretzels just sitting there for you to munch on?? Well, that just won't do here...no, no. When you sip a cocktail at dinnertime here, you get something much more decadent:That's right...BACON! These little cylinder baskets of perfectly cooked crispy bacon we located at many locations along the bar!! CRAZY!

We resisted for a long time actually, but then some woman picked it up and offered it to us so we split a piece. By the end of the night we shared 3 pieces, so not too bad, just 1.5 each. I could see some people abusing this though.

About an hour later we grabbed a menu and ordered a couple appetizers.

We were started off with a delicious fresh bread basket full of 3 different kinds of bread: a multi-grain, a classic crusty but soft white bread, and an herb coated focaccia! Served with homemade olive tapenade and butter.We first got the Tuna TartareI have just begun to like raw tuna, and this did not disappoint. It was a fairly generous serving too!

Then we split the Watermelon and Feta salad!Big chunks of soft feta, juicy cubes of watermelon over arugula, olives, tomatoes, and red onion. All topped with a little olive oil, rich balsamic, and some herbs. SO DELICIOUS!! The salty feta with the sweet juicy watermelon was a perfect combination; I don't think I would of thought to put those together.

Unfortunately it was a bit too chilly to sit outside, but they have a plentiful amount of outdoor waterfront seatingmaybe next year :)

Even later in the evening, we decided to get dessert since we kept dinner light! Cue the warm chocolate chip cookies and vanilla milk!Also served with brandy-soaked cherries (I am not a big fan of alcohol soaked fruit but Jocy loved them). The milk was super cold with little bits of ice in it, and you could see the vanilla beans. The cookies were thick, soft, and warm. I had about 3/4 of a cookie and we took 1 home!

We didn't leave those seats til about 10pm!!! Hahah! We started chatting with people here and there and it was a fun mid week night out.

Because the food was so good, we couldn't help but return Friday for lunch!

After seeing the menu Wednesday, I couldn't get their Old Fashioned Tomato Bisque out of my mind!

Old Fashioned Tomato Bisque
Grilled Three Cheese Sandwich & Basil Oil

That was an easy decision. We split that soup, as well as the Barbecued Salmon Salad

Barbecue Salmon

Grilled Tasmanian Salmon Glazed with Bbq Sauce, Cucumber and Blue Crab Salad

Biggest bowl of soup ever!!Also the BEST bowl of soup I have EVER had...I don't know what is in this soup but it's incredible!! Just creamy enough, and has this perfect tanginess to it that I wish I could put my finger on!!

It came with a little grilled three cheese sandwich...mmmmmmm melty.The BBQ salmon was also divine. Tangy bbq sauce, with a cool cucumber and crab salad. This gave us both a great serving of protein!
Well I think I've gushed about this place enough. If you're ever on the island GO HERE!