What I Ate Wednesday

Happy Hump Day!

How is the mid week treating everyone?  Things are bueno over here, just getting some last minute things ready before vacay.  In 3 days I'll be laying on a lounge chair on RCL Anthem of the Seas.

Thank God the heat wave has broken...I was melting and sweltering all last week.

So today's post is coming as a request!  Love them and keep them coming!  The question I get asked a lot is what do I eat?  Every day I keep it pretty simple.  I mostly live by the motto if I can't pronounce it, I can't eat it.  For example, if I can't pronounce the ingredients (and I teach syllabication for a living lol) I won't eat it.  This falls into my #1 and #2 food shopping rules:

1.)  Shop the outside of the supermarket and avoid the aisles.  All of the good-for-you-foods are on the exterior of the supermarket.  The protein, veggies, fruit, and nut milks are on the outside of the supermarket.  The only things I buy from the inside aisles are: chocolate chips (I'm only human lol), vanilla, cinnamon, and apple sauce (organic and unsweetened).

2.)  Read Your Labels!  There should be no added sugar in anything you buy!  Sugar has lots of secret names such as fructose, sucrose, glucose, corn syrup, syrup, etc.  If you're buying tomato sauce it should have tomatoes as the ingredients.  If there are a bunch of other ingredients put it back and walk away!  Glen Muir makes a great tomato sauce with no added junk.

Ok so back to what I eat every day.

I also follow the food rule of breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.  That means have your biggest meal when you wake up, a moderate meal (calorie-wise) for lunch and your smallest meal for dinner.  I eat every 3 hours and have about 5-6 small meals a day.  I'm not a dietitian, but I'll share what has worked for me.

Breakfast-

If I'm running (Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday) I'll have a baked breakfast cookie as a pre-workout.  Then when I return I'll have 1 cup unsweetened organic almond milk, 1/2 cup old fashioned oats (not packets...those have wayyyyyy too much sugar), a tsp of vanilla, and a tbsp of cinnamon.  I'll add in 1.5 cups of blueberries.  Then I'll add in a spoonful of organic natural peanut butter (make sure the only ingredient is peanuts!).

I'll also drink 32 ounces of water every day to help me feel full.

Mid-morning snack-

14 baby carrots and a tbsp of harissa.

Lunch-

Grilled chicken with veggies (peppers, broccoli, cucumber, tomato) and then I'll add in a cup of low sugar fruit like blackberries or raspberries.  I'm also loving plumcots.

Afternoon Snack-

Homemade green juice.  Nature's Red Bull!  I juice super greens, a green apple, 3 sticks of celery, 2 big carrots, a thumb sized piece of ginger, 2 lemons, and half a cucumber.  So so so good!

Dinner-

Stir Fry is my favorite dinner!  I'll sauté shrimp, zucchini, cauli-rice, and yellow squash in coconut oil.  I'll then make some quinoa and add it all together.  I'll also add a little red pepper flakes, garlic, and Italian seasoning.  Once I've drained the excess oil from the finished product I'll mix in a tbsp of harissa.  Delish!

If I don't stir fry, I'll do steamed veggies and chicken or salmon.  I usually grill all the meat on Sunday nights and then freeze it so I can easily access it during the week.

Greek Salad is another fave in my dinner rotation.  I add in cuke, Jersey tomatoes, kalamata olives, goat cheese, and a red onion over romaine and spinach mixture.  I drizzle a little tzatziki over top and it's done!  Easy peasy!

Zuke boats are another favorite!  Halve a zucchini and scrape out the middle.  Add the middle mixture to a bowl of cooked ground chicken or turkey, chopped spinach, goat cheese, chopped onion, chopped tomato, and then stuff the zuke with the mixture.  Drizzle a little balsamic on top and boom you're done!

Cheats and Desserts-


Cheat meals or as I like to call them rewards meals are usually enjoyed after one of my exercise heavy days such as Sunday (long runs) or Tuesdays/Thursdays when I've done a run, lifted weights, Pilates, and Barre.  More calories exerted=More calories needed!  Ice cream has a lot of calories so I think that makes logical sense right?  Maybe?  ;)


Ok, I'm a huge believer that you get a cheat day (or 2...a week)!  Once a week I let myself have an ice-cream.  I get the large swirl custard with cookie dough pieces in it.  I regret nothing because I've worked hard the whole week.  This also keeps me accountable and makes it easier to turn down the donuts or M&Ms in the office at work.

Also, a lot of recipes can be made healthier by substituting coconut oil for butter, maple syrup or honey for sugar, whole grain flour or almond meal for white flour.  Substituting dark chocolate for milk chocolate also helps a wee bit, but hey, every little bit counts!

Alcohol-

My signature drink when out is a shot of tequila with seltzer and a slice or lime.  So good and at 90 cals it won't mess up your whole clean eating week.

Another drink I love is to order a shot of vodka, seltzer, and then bring your own Crystal Light lemonade/pink lemonade packet.  100 calories and it tastes just like the vodka lemonades that can easily clock in at 200+ cals and an insane amount of sugar.

I hope you enjoyed this post!  Remember, what we eat is a personal choice and fuel your body with nutritious foods that make you feel good.  If fries make you feel good, have a few not the whole thing!  This is the hardest thing for me.  If a bowl of M&Ms are in front of me, you can bet that I'm going to eat that whole bowl.  I never buy M&Ms because I know they'll be gone.  I'm not good at moderation, so I need to just not have them in the house!

Enjoy the rest of the day!  What are some of the things you are loving to eat now?  I'm loving healthy fresh produce!  Grilled peaches are my new fave!  They're sweet and full of nutrients.  Plus they're only around for a few months so they're like a little treat that won't ruin your hard work.

xoxo,

e

Getting Back on the Wagon

Happy Hump Day!

How are you all today?  Thanks for all the love on Amanda and Tony's wedding post!  It was such a beautiful wedding and I was so happy to celebrate with them!

Ahhhh, celebrating.  After 2 solid weeks of non-stop fun (starting with a fabulous beach trip, Deb's birthday, Miami trip, and then Amanda's wedding week!) I am feeling the effects.  I haven't been eating as well, letting the sugar monster rage, sleeping less, and enjoying some cocktails and champagne.

source

So now it's time to put the ice cream down and head back to my usual healthy lifestyle.  While the prospect of skipping my favorite treat for a few weeks is making my heart hurt, I'm excited to have my energy back!

It's crazy how much food effects my mood, speed, and overall well-being.  After the junk food coma I've been living in for the past weeks, I've noticed that I'm a lot sleepier, slower with my running speed, and just feeling kind of blah.  

To get back on the wagon, I decided to hit the ground running even though I'm exhausted and still adjusting to life after the parties!  So when my friend Lindsay asked if I wanted to go to rooftop yoga in Philly, I jumped on the chance!  I knew that the day after the wedding I wouldn't feel like running 12 miles, but yoga would feel amazing!  

Look at that view!

We headed into the city for the Katie Gould led class.  The class was awesome!  It takes place on the roof of the now closed Bok Technical School in South Philly.  The school has been restored and still features classrooms that still resemble the school in its prime.  They still have the original signs that say Boys' Gymnasium and Girls' Gymnasium.  They have blown up yearbook pictures as decor and the whole thing just screams city cool.

The class was the perfect combination of challenging, relaxing, and restorative.  The Bok School has also become part of the Philly pop up bar scene so after the class, we headed across the hall to the bar.  Still detoxing from the wedding fun, I opted for a coconut and jackfruit popsicle (their popsicle guy wasn't there yet so I settled for a water) and Linds had a mimosa.  We hung out on the rooftop, caught up on girl talk, and took in the view. It was just what I needed.  For more information the link is here!

Monday was Bachelorette Finale!!  Who was happy with her choice?  I didn't think JoJo got the best crop of guys, but I do agree with her choice.  I think Jordan was best suited for her.  

We hosted our usual finale party with some of the ladies that participated in the Bachelorette Bracket. We decided to make it an ice cream party, so everyone brought either an ice cream or a topping to share.  

Our ladies!

Nom Nom Nom

I had a coconut milk cookie dough ice cream base with marshmallow fluff, whipped cream, hot fudge, a gummy worm, a few gummy bears, peanut M&Ms, regular M&Ms, brownies, and mini Twix Bars.  Baby steps getting on that wagon ;)

Tuesday was a full on wagon day!  Starting with this salad beauty!  I picked up a kale, carrots, sunflower seed, and cabbage salad that I mixed with pear Jersey tomatoes, and baked chicken.  Twas delicious!  Also, PLUMCOTS ARE BACK!  So.Excited!

I'm trying to get my self back on the wagon because I have a race in 5.5 weeks and I want my usual energy and mood back to where it is supposed to be!  It's healthy and normal to enjoy life, but then we have to reel it in and get back to normal.  I'm trying to allow myself the ability to find balance in living a fun life full of friends, outings, and delicious food, but also keeping my workouts and majority of eating healthy.  I'm also trying to find balance in not making myself feel guilty and beating myself up for falling off the wagon.  Does anyone else struggle with this?  That feeling of guilt if you don't eat perfectly healthy?

Have a Happy Hump Day!  I'll see you all later :)

Health Nuts

Happy FriYAY!!

I'm baaaaack and so excited to be with you all again :)  The end of the school year really took total control of my life, but after a week off I'm ready to play again.

So what have you all been up to?  I've been super busy with all of the upcoming vacations/weddings/tutoring/training/subbing Total Body Blast as of late...but that's for another post!

THIS ONE is about being a health nut!  I came across Nuts.com and was challenged to give some tips to go along with the 5 tips for leading a healthier life campaign.  As you all know, I'm a HUGE peanut butter lover, so I jumped on this chance.

A healthy lifestyle is something that I continually strive for.  Healthy is different for everyone and therefore a healthy lifestyle is not the same for everyone.  I try to live by 5 rules:

1.)  MOVE!  Every day I try to hit my 12,000 Fitbit steps.  I'll cop to wandering the house or putting on Zumba Youtube videos on before bed if I'm short some steps.  Our bodies were made to MOVE!  I know I always feel better after a day full of activity.  Running, dancing, biking, walking, spinning, Pilates-ing (is that a word?  Did we just invent this a la Shakespeare?) and lifting weights all keep me sane and healthy.  I always like to invite my friends to join me on workout adventures because it adds to the fun and keeps me accountable.  Would I miss this chance to Zumba with my girls every Monday night?  HECK NO!  

My friend and I a year apart...matching!
This happens once a year for some unknown reason...and only once a year

2.)  Sleep!  Ahhh, my biggest health fail.  I try and fight the good fight and every week I tell myself tonight I will sleep 8 hours, tonight I will sleep 8 hours, but then I end up getting about 6...maybe 7 if I'm lucky.  I always feel rejuvenated after a solid 8 hours of sleep.  

3.)  Hydrate!  I just bought a 48 oz Nalgene water bottle (in pink of course) and I LOVE it!  I try to fill it up twice a day.  I also start my day with 32 oz of hot hot hot water.  I find that it helps to keep me full and then even if I start slacking on my hydration throughout the day I know that I have atlas had 32 oz of water.

4.)  Me time!  Everyone always says to be present.  I think we need to be recluses every day.  I am a healthier person when I take 5-15 minutes to do nothing but hide out in my room with a book or a blog post.  We need to hide out and get some alone time to recoup and be the best person we can be.  I think being selfish is A-OK in this situation.  

5.)  Fuel!  We all need to eat good, healthy, nutritious food to keep our bodies moving to their best abilities.  Last night I had a cheat day and enjoyed The Melting Pot's 4 course meal...did I love it?  YES!  Did I feel it today when I was working out?  ABSOLUTELY!  Healthy foods fuel our lives and let us perform to our best abilities.  As a runner it is super important for me to pay attention to what I put into my body.  One of my favorite things?  Nuts!  I start the day with a dollop of peanut butter in my oatmeal.  (And I mean the REAL thang...the only ingredients in your peanut butter should be drum roll please...PEANUTS!)  I also love adding nuts like almonds or pecans to my salads.  Pine nuts add an amazing crunch to my favorite salad (pear+greens+goat cheese if you're wondering).  And I love adding walnuts to chocolate chip cookies.  I also love melting some dark chocolate (70% Cacao) and mixing it with pistachios.  Next, I fridge them for a few hours and voila!  My sweet tooth craving has been met along with getting some healthy fats, antioxidants, and protein.  

Sometimes I find it hard to find a healthy snack to meet my nutritional needs and that's when I always turn to nuts.  I can't remember a road trip in which I did not have a baggie of almonds or a self-made trail mix.  They are filling, healthy, and so versatile!  They give me that crunch that I love, plus whatever else I'm craving that day.  

If you're looking for some yummy treats head over to this site for some ideas!  The RD at Nuts.com has some great ideas for you!  https://nuts.com/healthy-snacks and https://nuts.com/healthy-snacks/high-protein

Looking forward to seeing you all soon with a little recap of what I've been up to lately!

xoxo,

e

What I Ate Wednesday #2

Happy Hump Day!

How is everyone's week going?  Mine is pretty bueno.  I've been doing a lot of cooking lately.  I'm excited to catch you up on some of my new recipes!

I'm excited to continue this new series on the blog.  As I said in my first WIAW post, I love reading what other people are eating/cooking/making, etc!

I'll cut right to the chase and let you all in on my recent eats.  I've been eating A LOT lately and I feel like I need to reel it in a little bit.

I've been eating these oatmeal breakfast cookies from The Fitnessista every Sunday, Tuesdsay, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before my 5 mile run.  They're the perfect amount of food to give you energy without weighing you down.

Oatmeal has been the staple breakfast, but I'm getting CARRIED away with the peanut butter.  I need to cut back on that.  A jar every week is not the healthiest thing ever.

My breakfast foodgasm<3

Lunches have been grilled chicken and veggies.  I've also added a dollop of Wholly Chipotle Bean Dip. It's a great organic, pronounce everything in the label product.  At 35 calories a serving, I'm sold.  Plus it's deceivingly spicy!  

All of the watermelon.  GET IN MY BELLY!  

Deb made banana chocolate chip bread.  I had a slice today.  Twas fab! 

Dinner the past few days has been pita pizzas.  Don't hate me, but I'm not a *HUGE* pizza girl.  I think I ate too much as a child (every Friday holla!) and now I'm just meh about it.  BUT on Monday nights the girls come over for Bachelorette and we make a healthy dinner.  I had dreams of artichokes and Jersey tomatoes dancing in my head and I decided to make a pizza!

Not the BEST pic...

Recipe:

Whole grain pita from Wegman's

One sliced Jersey tomato

1 oz goat gouda

1/4 of Cento artichoke hearts

sprinkle of garlic

sprinkle of Italian seasonings

sprinkle of oregano 

What I'm most excited about is THE RETURN OF JUICE!  

Recipe Here

I've also been visiting the Farmer's Market recently for my blueberries, cucumbers, and tomatoes.  All about that Jersey produce!

I've also been loving purple grapes.  

Happy Wednesday!  I have a morning run, a tutoring session, a visit to the bank, Staples for ink, and Pilates/barre/weights, and tentative dinner plans with Cara.

Enjoy your day!

-E

Welcome Back Juice

Happy Tuesday!

Sorry this is posting so late!  I've been a bit of a crazy person lately.

I worked at ESY (extended school year) this morning.  It was lovely being back!  I miss teaching on the regular.  Yes, I love my summer, but I still miss my little nuggets.

I'm going to review my new juicer!  I bought the Hamilton Beach juicer from Target.  It was on sale for $49.99.  You can find it here.

source

So far, I've loved using this juicer!  I've made 3 juices now and I love it.  

Pros:  

*The color combo!  How cute is the white and lime green?  

*Super Sleek!  I like the streamline look of it.  Very modern, but not annoying.

*Price!  At under $50 you really can't go wrong

*Dishwasher safe parts!  Except the base of the juicer and the sifter part, everything is machine washable.  I still wash it by hand because I'm pretty sure that's what caused my other juicer to explode.  My other juicer did not have dishwasher safe parts, but I was lazy and would stick them in there.

*Little Cleaning Brush!  It comes with a little white cleaning brush to help get all the nooks and crannies clean.

Cons:

*No cup for the juice-As the picture shows, the spout drops into nothing.  Obviously, you have to put a cup under there, but my old juicer had a lipped measuring cup with a  lid that fit right next to the juicer to help you measure, avoid splashing, and mix the juice.  This one doesn't.  I use my old juicer's lipped measuring cup in conjunction with the new juicer.  

*Slicing--You do have to slice the bigger apples to make them fit, but that's NBD.

So far, I'm really happy with this juicer and have been enjoying bringing juices back into my life :)

Recipe:

1/2 cucumber

1 green apple

sliver of ginger

1 lemon

1 C greens (kale, spinach, chard)

2 stalks of celery

10 baby carrots

Delish!

*This is not sponsored by Hamilton Beach or Target.  Just my own feelings*

Happy Tuesday!

-E

Reading, wearing, watching, listening, eating

Happy Tuesday!

Today I'm copying one of my favorite bloggers Gina and being a lazy blogger.  These posts are kinda my favorites because I'm a nosy girl and I like finding new things to read, wear, watch, listen to, and eat.

Reading  

Yes, Please  by Amy Poehler.  Love her.  She was always one of my fave SNL ladies.  Molly Shannon Mary Catherine Gallagher will always have my heart.  Amy Poehler is like that silly best friend that you always need in your life.  Reading her book is the perfect mixture of true emotion (the divorce chapter made me sad and laugh all at once) and easy reading humor.  Her honesty and goofiness shine through.  When anyone else reads a book by a famous person, do you read it in their voice?  I do.  Apparently the book is also an ebook and Amy actually reads it.  Pretty shaweet!

HIIT IT!  Gina Harney.  I started reading her blog listed above a few years ago and I'm hooked.  I love her.  She's so funny, cool, and awesome.  Like a best friend in a blog.  She's a healthy lifestyle blogger, but not annoying, preachy, or restrictive.  Girlfriend loves Scandal, wine, and chocolate…gotta love that.  Her book is part cook book part exercise book.  It focuses on HIIT eating and exercising.  I've been using her recipes (veggie marinara, baked breakfast cookie, and turkey lentil muffins) this week and I'm hooked.  The food is delicious, can be frozen, and is all healthy and filling.  Her food doesn't taste "diety" because it's not…it's whole and healthy.  Everything fills you up and keeps you satiated for hours.  I can't sing her praises enough!

Wearing  

Pink jammies from Victoria's Secret.  These are my Christmas jammies and I'm so in love with them because they're pink and grey striped, cozy, and warm.  Also, I'm sporting some mismatched socks.  Looking hawt over here :)

Watching

The Bachelor.  I'm kinda loving Chris but I can't believe how much of a kissy boy he is.  It's week 2 and all the girls have been kissing him!  Crazy train!  I also don't know who I like best.  I kinda like Tracy and Trina, but I'm not sure yet.  

Agent Carter.  Is anyone else watching this?  I'm missing Scandal and Nashville and trying to fill the void with this.  I'm also a huge Superhero dork (I once attended a 12 hour Marvel Movie Day with my dad.)  You all also know that I'm kind of in love with Captain America.

Don't Judge!

I think the show is kinda ehhh, but I'm already invested so I'll stick with it.  

Parks and Rec.  I'm going to ride this Amy Poehler wave all the way out.  She's awesome.  Plus, when did Chris Pratt get super attractive?  

Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta, my dad and I watch every Friday night.  We're cool and we know it :)  My dad usually picks the best dress…with an insanely high accuracy rate I might add.  I'm such a proud daughter

Listening

Currently I'm obsessed (along with the rest of the world) Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud.  Have y'all seen the video?  It's perfect!  The dancing, the lyrics, the melody--all perfect!  As a dancer I get super judgey of people dancing in music videos.  I don't consider twerking a dance skill, so when I see beautifully choreographed excellent dancers dancing, it makes my little heart pirouette with giddiness.  

Since I'm always a true country fan first, I've been jamming to Blake Shelton and Ashley Monroe's Lonely Tonight and Brad Paisley's Shattered Glass.  Blake and Ashley's jam is the perfect song if you're trying to convince yourself that you should text your ex.  Brad's song is a girl power anthem.  

Also, I can't get enough of Meghan Trainor's Lips Are Moving. 

Eating  

GRAZE!  I recently cashed in one of those Graze vouchers that I read in Health Magazine and I really like it!  It's $7 a box (I order twice a month and that includes shipping) and you get to pick a box of 4 healthy and proportioned snacks.  I have munched honeycomb flap jacks and dark rocky road.  Honeycomb flap jacks are like little granola bars but lighter.  (AMAZING!!)  Dark rocky road is a nut combo with dark chocolate drops.  In.  LOVE!  I also have a Brooklyn Bites (not too sure I'll like it.  It's savory and I'm a sweets fein.)  I also have Eleanor's Apple Crumble tomorrow.  Yum, yum, yum!  Can't wait!  It was actually really sweet because I forgot I ordered it and then it came in the mail yesterday.  Not a bad Monday in my book.  You should definitely try out this company.  

What are you ladies and gents doing now?  Feel free to link up and let me know!  I'm always looking for a new book, eat, show, song, etc!

Love Always,

E

Instagram Editing Apps

Happy Thursday!

Only one more wake up until the weekend!

I don't really have any cool apps to make my IG pics super awesome, so I'm going to turn it over to y'all.  What do I need?

I don't want to bore you, so I'll tell you all about my fabulous trip to visit Amanda.

Amanda and I have been friends for 15 years.  Like most of my friends, we have a serindipitous meeting story.

When we were in 3rd grade our kindergarten aged brothers were having a playdate.  Our mom's had arranged for us to also have a playdate.  We weren't sooooooo keen on the idea.  We didn't know each other at all.  We were in the same grade, but so were 200 other kids.  Well, after about 5 minutes and eyeing up her fabulous Barbie collection, we became friends!

Amanda recently moved and this past weekend I went for a visit.  It was lovely!  It was full of girl talk, shopping, and eating!

Sparkling Strawberry Sangria <3

1 Sweet Potato Taco (amazeballs)
1 Rio Taco
Garlic Kale
OMG Paladar, you outdid yourself!

We split a pineapple upside down cake with cinnamon ice cream 

The Target had 2 floors!
You're not in Jersey anymore, baby!
This is a cart escalator!
Cool beans, bro!

We sampled/compared Justin's PB Cups and Trader Joe's Cookie Butter Cups
If you're wondering...it was a tie ;)

Well, I'm off to worky work and then a conference.  Today at worky work we're having a Brown Box Lunch.  The Corner Bakery Cafe is catering our lunch and I can't wait to eat my chicken salad and cookie!  Fingers crossed it's chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin!  Then, it's Friday!

Love Always,

Erin

Favorite Fall Recipe!

Happy Oxymoron Day!  aka Happy Monday!

Everything is bueno over here.  This weekend was a work-hard/run-hard/play little weekend.  I feel very accomplished having finished lesson plans for October.  I'm going to be looking forward to 2 very busy weekends.  This weekend one of my friends (we met in 5th grade) is going to be coming home for a brief visit and we already have Friday dinner plans!  Saturday, I'll be in NYC at Columbia soaking in a writing conference.  Sunday, I'll be in Maryland visiting Amanda at her new condo.  We're planning on lunching it up and shopping it up!

I finished the 5k in 27 minutes.  Pretty proud of myself.  I ran hard!  As I've said before, I'm not a fast runner.

Momma and I getting ready to run

Parentals before their walk

The race was for Sean Fischel.  A local student who lost his courageous fight with HLH over a year ago.  It was a beautiful day for a 5k and a wonderful way to remember a superhero.  It was so inspiring to see the community come together and raise money to help a great organization.  In a hard world, it's nice to see so many people come together for good.  

Today's link up is about our favorite fall recipe.  Well, I love to eat almost as much as I love a Real Housewives marathon, so this is right up my alley!

My favorite fall recipe is cheap, easy, and healthy!

Cliffnotes Baked Apple Pie aka Cheap College Kid and I Only Own a Microwave But Want Apple Pie

1 red apple

honey (as much/little as you desire)

cinnamon (as much/little as you desire)

a sprinkle of oats or 1 graham cracker

Cut up the apple

Place it in a microwave safe bowl

Add honey and cinnamon

Microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds

Check the tenderness of apples

Add 30 more seconds if necessary

Take out of microwave

Add graham crackers or oats

Enjoy!

It tastes delicious, costs very little, and is healthy!! 

My other Fall go to recipe is:

Popcorn and M&Ms

-enough pop corn kernels to fill the bottom of a brown paper lunch bag

-1 brown paper lunch bag

-as many M&Ms as you like (more...always more M&Ms)

-cinnamon to your liking (more is better if you're anything like me)

microwave popped popcorn (the kind where you actually buy the kernels and put them in a brown paper bag for 1 minute 30 seconds...not the gross store bought mircowave popcorn)

Then add Fall themed M&Ms to your popped corn 

Add a sprinkle of cinnamon 

Voila!  Crunchy, spicy, chocolatey goodness!!

I hope you enjoyed your little recipe feast here!  What are your favorites!?

-E

The Best Salad You Will Ever Eat and Labor Day Festivities

Happy Labor Day!

Let's take a moment to thank our unions for establishing labor codes so we all can work in healthy, happy workplaces.


My Labor Day has been busy busy busy!  Tomorrow is my first day of school as a teacher (EEK--enter mini-freak out here) and I have been cutting out all of my behavior charts, signs, and parking lots.  I'll explain later (when the pictures are up).  I also packed my lunch for the week and got all of my clothes ready for tomorrow.  Anal much?  Absolutely!

I'm going to try my best to get into a good groove with work and the gym.  My plan is to pack my stuff and just leave it in the car and run there after work.

This weekend we had a family BBQ.  Deb made the best salad ever!  I'm going to share the recipe with you because I'm just that nice it's just that good.  It's a pear salad and it's amazing!

Here is the recipe::

-1 pear sliced up

-As many pine nuts as you want

-Greens (I used spinach and arugula)

-Sprinkling of goat cheese

Dressing::

equal parts honey, EVOO, and pear infused vinegar

Then, I chop up all the salad ingredients and munch until my little heart is content.

My lunch tomorrow is going to be superduper healthy because:

source

Breakfast:

Smoothie bowl with a mixture of:

-frozen strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries

-1 banana

-almond milk

And garnished with oats and cinnamon

Lunch will star::

-Pear Salad with corn (we had corn on the cob with our last summer BBQ)

-apple and almond butter

Snacks will feature:

Veggies and hummus-am snack

Baked Breakfast Cookie-pre gym snack

To all of my Teacher Friends I hope you have a fabulous first day of school!

xoxo,

Erin

It All Started With a Juice Stand...

Happy Monday!!   (oxymoron much?)

Well Bloggies we have a special treat on the blog front today!  I have a guest blogger for you!  She is one of my best friends, a fellow SPED, and all around fabulous lady!  It's Queen of Yummy Drinks Jaclyn!  (She also has reached all the levels of precious!  A feat in and of itself)

I'm trying to force her to get her own blog (and as soon as she does I'll do a link up so you all can read it because I'm sure it will be just as precious and fabulous as she is!) about juices, sassy waters, and smoothies!  Ever since we became friends some 5 years ago I have always asked her about her intriguing drinks and drink concoctions.  This girl was drinking coconut water before anyone knew what it was.  I'm pretty sure 90% of the things I say to her are, "What are you drinking?"  "Where did you get that?"  "What's in that juice?"  "Can I smell that juice?"  "OMG I need to get that!"

How did we meet?  Well, that's a serindipity story if there ever was one.  We met during Welcome Week at TCNJ in 2009 and welp, it wasn't exactly best friends at first sight.  No, no, it was enemies at first glare.  I am super duper competitive (I know, shocking right?  The girl who hides all of her Black Friday goodies is competitive?  Say whaaat?!) and our floor (T7 what what!) was competing in a cake baking contest. One of my friends and floormates is actually a cake decorator and I knew we were going to win.  I was sitting with my fellow floormates literally creating a human shield so no one would copy our design (we took everything too seriously...maybe this is the reason our floor was regarded as the most competitive floor...) and I look up and see Jaclyn eyeing our cake.  Well I threw some serious shade and we were enemies from then on.  (Jaclyn really was just admiring our beauteous cake)  Well, fast forward a few months to second semester frosh year and guess who is in my class?  Jaclyn.  Well I avoided her like the plague and she did the same to me.  Well one day we had to switch seats and I had to sit next to my new enemy, Jaclyn.  Well, soon enough we dropped our shade throwing ways (Jaclyn is an excellent shade thrower if you were wondering.  Puts me to shade shame!) and became besties.  We bonded over being precious (obviously lol) and The Office.  It turned out that we had two classes together and we both dubbed our math class as the college equivalent of The Office.  We quickly realized and concurred that our prof looked like Creed but acted like Michael.  A famed Dr. Michael Scott quote:  "Sometimes I look at the test scores in this class and go wow I have smart students.  Then I realize that I taught you and that makes me responsible for your intelligence."  Also, this Creed/Michael hybrid didn't show up to class one day.  So we waited the obligatory 20 minutes and then left.  We passed him in his office and all ran.  The Dwight in our class stopped to tell him we all left and he goes, "I just got so swept up in the math problem I just lost track of time!"  Presh!  We also realized we had a Phyllis, a Stanley, a Toby (literally this poor kid would get one step into explaining a problem and Professor Michael Scott wouldn't let him finish.  He would say, "______ sit down!  No that's not even right!"  P.S. his work wasn't ever wrong lol.  We had a Meredith who would tell us all about her drinking and partying.  We even had a Jim and Pam.  (They didn't last longer than the semester though...)  You already know we had a Dwight!  Anyway, we became fast friends and I can't imagine my life without her!  So much serindipity!  On top of that we have both been practicum partners for the past 4 years.  You know how some friends can't work together?  Yeah, we don't have that problem.  We work best together!


Anyway, one thing we bond over is juicing!  We juice all the time!  Jaclyn is the Queen of Juice though!  Below are some of her delish recipes and pictures of her creations!

I hope you enjoy!

This is my favorite one! It's a juice made of freshly juiced oranges and pineapples, seltzer water, frozen grapes at the bottom to keep it cold, a couple ice cubes, mint leaves on the top, and a strawberry and a pineapple slice on the side. It's light, healthy, refreshing, and perfect for the summer. I call it the Summer Sparkler! 

This is my favorite pink fruit smoothie. This one happens to be all vegan. Made of ice, filtered water, pomegranate seeds, oranges, kiwi, bananas, sunflower seeds, and a little bit of honey. I don't know if you need to know this information, but to make the kiwi slices stick to the side, I washed out the mason jar with water, didn't dry it, and put it in the freezer. After a few minutes, I took it out and put the kiwi on the inside of the jar (they stuck because they were room temperature; also I sliced them very thin). Then I put the jar back in the freezer for a few minutes. Finally, I poured the smoothie in.

This is an infused water with a tropical twist. Water with cucumber slices, lemon slices, and mint. Can let it sit in the refrigerated for a few hours or over night.  Know as sassy water. Then I took it a step further and added a splash of freshly juiced pineapple. Serve in a tall glass over ice, with a cucumber slice, a lemon slice, and some mint leaves on top. Very good for staying hydrated and detoxing from any processed foods.

Isn't she a great photographer, too?!  Her pictures are all of her drinks and taken at her lake house!  Here are a few of my fave Jaclyn and Erin pix!  Also she makes a mean Malibu Bay Breeze with Cranberry/Pineapple ice cubes so you don't dilute the flavor!  Amazing!

Typical!

Pre 22nd Birthday Drinks!

Jac's 22nd!  This is Typical Life:  Jaclyn looks lovely and I'm an Awkward Turtle

KDP Chords Ceremony!

Graduation Girls!

We Heart Denim! 

Bathroom Selfies!

Also, today I was supposed to go to AC with the padre and broski for a little meeting Dylan had.  Well, the agenda also included lunch at a tacky little AC restaurant and obviously, outlet shopping!  Well, that didn't happen because of a leetle car trouble.  But have no fear!  I still got to shop :)  The Lillypulitzer.com New Year Cheer Sale was on!  I told myself, Erin you have $40.  I wasn't optimistic because I was afraid that the internet would crash like it did this summer when I tried to score some cute stuff...but miraculously the Lilly gods were on my side and I got this dress for $39!  Under budget and everything!

Lockwood dress in Get Nauti!

So cute right?!  I think it will be perfect for my New England vacay this year!  I'll probably wear it on the cruise next summer, too.  (And intermittently throughout my life <3)Yes I'm a dork and themey but you all knew that!  (I wore an outfit today to AC that had Dylan muse, "Fern, you look like one of those rich Housewives on those shows you watch!"  Mission Accomplished!  When you go to AC, the theme is always glitter or mobster's girlfriend, amIright?)  I digress.  I thought this dress was also fitting because as we all know Lilly started as a juice stand!  Kinda ties in Jaclyn's juice recipes!  Also, it is about 1 degree here in NJ and I wanted a little summer in my life!

P.S.  If you haven't gone to the Lilly sale:  go.  shop.  prosper!

A huge shout out, thank you, and hug to my precious juicer friend Jaclyn and her yummy recipes!  I can't wait to try them!  If you have any juice recipes please share in the comments section!  

Love love love,

Erin