Valentine's Day Weekend

Happy Oxymoron Day!

Hopefully you are enjoying all of the benefits of a 3 Day Weekend:

• sleeping in
• doing nothing
• watching Netflix
• eating healthy, yummy, takes a while to make breakfast :)

I'm doing 2/4 of these things.  I'm eating my fave breakfast (oats, almond milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and blueberries sans Whole Foods organic peanut butter) 

Is it bad that I'm counting down the days until Lent is over because I miss PEANUT BUTTER MORE THAN SWEETS!? 

Yup you read that right, this sweet tooth is missing her pb more than chocolate/candy/sweets/cake/brownies etc.  

I've also noticed that without pb in my oats I'm STARRRRVING by 8 am.  

Anyway, back to the weekend recap...this isn't a post dedicated to my love of peanut butter...

This weekend was a great one!  It was crazy/hectic/busy/full!  

This was a 4.5 day work week-4 days of work .5 days of professional development.  Since it was a short week, the weekend technically started on Thursday night with a Scandal viewing party.

Life Advice!!

Friday was PD.  Confession time:  I still get lost EVERY SINGLE TIME we have PD in the high school.  Most of our PD is held in my district's high school and I still can't navigate the building.  I swear the stairs change like Hogwarts. 

Friday was a half day, which usually means that the rest of my afternoon will be crazy busy!  This one followed suit.  We were done at 1, but I went back to school to get some work done.  After that I ran to pick up movie tickets for The Choice and then I headed to the gym.  After the gym I had to go pick up my usual Friday salad from Seasons 52.  I had to get the Sesame Salmon salad because it's a Friday in Lent.  Don't worry BBQ Chicken Salad no seeds sub goat cheese, we'll be reunited in April!     

Deb and I went to see The Choice on Friday night.  It was all the things Nicholas Sparks movies should be: romantic, tragic, set in NC, and have row boats.  

Saturday was spent with a gymstravaganza then grocery shopping blitz followed by babysitting.  I was finished babysitting by 5:15 so I went to Whole Foods for dinner (Here's looking at you Chana Masala and vegan chicken salad) and laminated my booty off.  I watched Madoff and was just mehhh.  I liked it, but I wasn't hooked.  

Sunday aka Valentine's Day, I was supposed to take a barre class with a friend, but I couldn't find the studio.  Womp Womp.  I went home, headed to mass, and then ran errands.  

Attention Teachers:  BareMinerals give a discount!  Who KNEW?!

I know I'll instantly regret buying these buzzers for my class

Why do I bring Daddio with me?  

I made Valentine's Day dinner after a super schweaty gym session.  I made baked eggplant part goat gouda with brussel sprouts.  

Before 

After

Vegetarian Valentine's Day for the WIN!!

Recipe:

1 eggplant sliced to your preference  (throw away ends)

1 28 oz. Glen Muir fire roasted tomatoes  

4 cloves of gahhhlic (unless you don't like it gahhhlicky than use 2)

Italian seasoning, rosemary, and oregano to taste

2 TBSP whole grain bread crumbs

6 oz. goat gouda sliced/cut/grated (whatever makes your heart happy)

4 TBSP EVOO

1 bag frozen spinach

Slice eggplant into your personal thickness preference 

blend tomatoes, garlic, and seasoning until smooth (I used the pulse 5 setting on my Vitamix)

Combine EVOO and seasonings in a bowl.  

Brush mixture on both sides of eggplant slices and place in bottom of baking pan

Add one layer of sauce and half of the spinach

Repeat eggplant brushing and add another layer of eggplant/spinach

Cut/chop/grate the cheese and put that on top of the eggplant/spinach

Sprinkle whole grain bread crumbs on top

Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

Brussel Sprouts:

Place sprouts in a bread pan

Cover with EVOO, Balsamic vinegar, garlic, and seasonings to taste

Stir with a fork until coating is even

Bake at 400 for 45 minutes

I hope you all had a blast on Valentine's Day!  

I spent it watching The Bachelor At 20 and drinking some Menage Trois Silk.  It's a red blend and I highly recommend it!  I'm not a red girl AT ALL...but I loved it! 

How beautiful did Jade look?  OMG she's beautiful.  Tanner looked so cute, too!  Ever since 27 Dresses,  I always look at the groom when the bride walks in because I want to see his reaction.  It was so sweet.  I melted a little bit...okay a lotta bit.  It was so good to see all of The Bachelor alums.  I feel like I've been there since the beginning and I have to ride out this crazy roller coaster until I die.  

P.S. Ashley I...Jared still doesn't love you.  I'm sorry, honey, but it's true.  

Love and Hugs,

E

Weekend Recap

Hey Y'all!

Happy OXYMORON DAY!  aka Happy Monday...

Did everyone have a good Super Bowl Sunday?  I thought the game and commercials were kinda meh this year.  I liked Ryanville, though.  I would live there :)

Half-Time was pretty good.  I'm not a huge Coldplay fan so I was pretty much just waiting for Queen B to come to the field.  She killed it like always.  I was kinda sad that Bruno didn't jam out to Crazy In Love.  But a girl can dream right?

The famsquad and I kinda hung low at our house for the game.  I made a daaaalish pulled chicken recipe:

1 pound organic chicken breast (cut into chunks)
1 jar Wegman's Sesame and Garlic sauce
10 hours in the CrockPot

It tasted like healthy sesame garlic wings!

After 10 hours the chicken cut like buttah so I just pulled it apart with a fork and tossed it over some broccoli.  Twas yummy and much healthier than wings just saying.

This weekend was a whirlwind!  I think that when I become superintendent I will make a mandatory 2 hour delayed opening the day after the Super Bowl...because let's admit it, we all need some extra zzzz's.

Friday was fabulous because my school hosted it's annual Souper Bowl.  Souper Bowl means that all of the staff members bring in either a soup, bread, or dessert.  Everyone goes crazy over the smorgasbord of heavenly treats.  We get to sample the soups in muffin tins and then dive into my favorite thing...DESSERT ISLAND!

Bread Mountain 

All Za Soups

I sampled chicken tortilla sans tortilla, Tuscan bean and chicken, stuffed pepper soup made by madre, and turkey chili.  All were delicious and I left in the biggest soup coma ever.  I made brownies and they were a big hit.  I'm always nervous when I make a "healthy" version of a classic that people will not want to eat them.  I was wrong.  They were happily devoured.

My brownies are the ones on the red and white plate

Friday night was a chill night for me.  After a gym sesh I headed to Seasons 52 and received quite the treat when they comped my salad.  Shout out to Mandy!  They said that since they frequently mess up the salad (it's not their fault, I like to customize my greens:)) and since I go every weekend, they wanted this one to be on the house.  How could I argue??

Saturday Sweat Fest was followed by a rushed food shopping trip and a marathon cookie baking session.  Since I give up sweets, alcohol, and peanut butter for Lent, I was packing in my cookies and baking and treats before Wednesday...yeah, we'll stick to that instead of saying my raging sweet tooth was back in full force.

Saturday night I spent the evening with Zach and his family.  Zach was back for a weekend (YAY) and we celebrated the best way we know how!  Dinner at Grand Lux (Zach kindly texted that they had Erin Approved Salads) and Dolly Parton's 9-5

Zach's dog all dressed up for Dolly! AKA animal print, tulle, and hot pink :)

.  I rolled with the beautiful beets and goat cheese salad.  I also sampled an Asian Nacho.  YES!  All the YES!  Imagine wontons with peanut sauce and wasabi!

Almost too pretty to eat...almost

Zach knows I'm a HUGE Dolly Parton fan and asked if I wanted to accompany him and his family.  I quickly agreed!  The show was amazing and full of Dolly songs and style.  She even made a cameo (ok it was a hologram but any Dolly showing is better than no Dolly showing amiright?) at the beginning of the show and at the end.   I just love her.

Before the show in the front row

Sunday was spent meal prepping for the week--Hello lettuce wrapped chicken tacos!  Lonchi will be a fiesta this week.

Double Crockin' It

Then, Kate and I met up for lunch at Season 52 (twice in a weekend!  **High Fives Self**)  Got the usual and then we wandered around and ran errands.  Errands are always more fun with your bestie.  When I got home I finished my errands and prepped lunch for Monday.


Monday is my favorite day because it's BACHELOR MONDAY!!  I'm Team Lauren B, Lauren H, Becca (even though I don't think they have a lot of chemistry) and Team JoJo!  I think Bachelor really stepped up their game in the girls department this season.  I like most of the girls and have a hard time picking just one to root for.

One more giant pb oats breakfast before Lent starts.

I swear there really are oats...if you look carefully you can see them :)

I hope everyone else had an awesome weekend.  I have a 4.5 day week this week and I am in desperate need of that catch up day.

XOXO,

E

Snow Daze

Happy Tuesday!

Raise a glass for it already being 1 day into the work week!

Does anyone else go stir crazy during snowstorms?  I can't sit still and therefore I start to get a little cabin fever after being cooped up for a day.  I know some people can binge watch Netflix for a weekend and be fine with it, but not me.  I need to move around.  P.S. SOOO happy they added Parks and Rec Season 7!  I came late to the P&R party, but I'm pumped to watch Season 7!

Snowpocalypse 2016 started on Friday around 9 and went until Saturday afternoon.  I was bored by Saturday at 7 am.

Friday night, Deb and I attended Grand Conversations.  Grand Conversations is a 2 Day PD workshop that our district offers in which educators are invited to screen a movie on Friday night and engage in a book discussion on Saturday mornings.  There are about 4-5 choices for both the movie and book.  This year I read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  I would highly recommend this book to everyone and anyone.  It's a non-fiction text which links success to its many factors and links all of these successful outliers to events/people/times that are seemingly out of their control.  These factors all contributed to their successes and can't be overlooked.  It was a fascinating work and definitely made me think.

The theme this year was Honoring Educators.  I was on the panel that planned the event and I suggested watching Boy Meets World.  If you've never seen the show...I don't know if we can be friends anymore.  Anyway, one of the main characters is Mr. Feeny, a beloved teacher and next door neighbor to our hero Cory Matthews. Mr. Feeny ends up teaching Cory and Co. for the entire 7 seasons the show aired on ABC in the mid 90s to early 2000s.  Anyway, it passed through multiple rounds of debate and thus I was appointed "leader" of the BMW movie chat.  I picked 6 episodes from the seasons that highlight Mr. Feeny's impact on the lives of his students.  Pretty shweet gig considering BMW constantly floods my DVR.  See, Deb...I was working this summer when I spent copious hours glued to the TV rewatching a show I've seen 90,000,000 times.

source

Registration began at 4 and I grabbed a bucket of popcorn, some candy, and water bottles for my viewers and headed to the designated classroom.  Luckily I had zero technical difficulties.  Then I sat and waited.  Waited/hoped people would show up.  It never crossed my mind that no one would pick my movie to view.  Finally at 4:30 I went to check to see if anyone had signed up replenish my candy stock and ran into Deb and a few other people who just so happened to be coming to BMW!  SCORE!  Not going to lie, I was getting nervous that it would be me and Deb (who would pity watch with me) viewing BMW.

We had 7 people!  The same as 3 of the other movies.  McFarland drew the biggest crowd.  Success!

We all watched the show, laughed, cried, and relived our 90s nostalgia.

After the movie we headed to the library for a yummy dinner from one of my favorite local restaurants.  If you're in the South Jersey area and have not had Vincenzo's you need to stop reading this and GO!  The best Italian food!  I rolled with a Greek salad and chicken and mushrooms.  I'm still dreaming about it :)

Since Jonas the Blizzard was on his way, we ended up nixing the movie discussions and someone from each group gave a 2 minute synopsis of the movie.  I was nominated from my group to give the synopsis.  I hate summarizing (can you tell I'm not a brevity does not befall me?) and ended up saying um and like wayyyyy more than I should have.  I also am proud of myself for not coming across as a total fangirl.


Friday night was spent cuddling up with my super hot boyfriend Chris Evans.  Just kidding, my dog.  Just kidding, these cookies!

recipe here

Giant almond meal cookies the size of my face...couldn't be happier.  Okay, maybe if Chris Evans was actually cuddled up with me whilst eating the cookies, I'd be happier :)

*Side note, I usually use 1.5 cups almond meal and 4 TBSP coconut oil because they tend to be too dry if I don't*

Cookies+Say Yes To The Dress Atlanta=perfect snowy night

Saturday was spent doing absolutely nothing.  I'm not going to lie, I was super salty about this Saturday snow storm.  Saturdays I like to spend all morning at the gym Zumbaing, Pilatesing, and Pouding.  Then, I go to Wegman's for some samples and grocery shopping.  Saturday I made fudge.  It was good, but wayyyyy too sweet.

To counter the sweetness I had some green salad.

1 Granny Smith apple

1 Cup Super Greens

sprinkle of pine nuts

goat cheese

dip of pear infused vinegar

At 10 pm I realized I had 958 Fitbit Steps so I did some half-assed Zumba.

I was in a sugar coma most of the day. Does anyone else feel like death by sugar after eating too much of the sweet stuff?  At 25 I should know when to say stop to the cookie binger.  Maybe at 26...

I don't like shoveling snow.  It's not the physical aspect of it, it's the coldness aspect of it.

I often times go back and forth with the idea of getting married. Having a house full of pink things, girlie decor, a DVR full of Real Housewives, Say Yes To The Dress, The Bachelor, and appropriately closed toilet seat covers really speak to me in a positive way. HOWEVER, when we get over 2 feet of snow and the idea of shoveling becomes a reality, I decide that yes, marriage is in the cards for me. Having someone shovel your snow is worth having one less pink picture frame. It's called compromise. I've heard that's essential to a marriage.

I am all for equality between the sexes, but I don't want to shovel.  I'll make him dinner/drinks/dessert if my future hubs promises to shovel us out.  I'm gonna put it in my vows.  You think I'm kidding?


Do you want to know what else is fun about snow daze?  When it's midnight and you're taking a shower and realize that you have NO HOT WATER!  Thanks Jonas!  I froze my little butt off in that shower.


After my Sunday gym session, I ended up having to shower at the gym.  Thank you RH&FC for not only being an amazing gym, but for having hot water :)

source

Does anyone else feel totally awkward and out of sorts showering somewhere besides your own shower?  I never know how to work the shower head (consequently feeling like an idiot and giving myself a pep talk a la The Help:

Come on, Erin.  You are smart, you are kind, you are important.  You also have a freaking masters degree and should be able to work a stinking shower head!  Get it together girlfriend!  Also, all of the hooks were full of other people's shower supplies (seriously who leaves their shower supplies at the gym...on the shower caddy?) so I had to move a little bench over.  So.  Awkward.  Then there's the packing of shower supplies.  Oy vey.  I looked like a crazy bag lady walking into the gym today.  Also, I didn't want to pack my full sized shower supplies so I had to revert to the good ole fashioned travel extras leftover from my vacays this summer.  Apparently I only buy Bath and Body Works scents that make me smell exactly like an over-perfumed tween.  #lovely.  That stuff doesn't just dissipate over time, if anything it gets stronger.  Like Kelly Clarkson.  Or the plague.  I was a multi-scented perfume nightmare.


After my shower experience, I ventured to Target and Wegman's for the essentials.

Cait and I went to Farmicia for dinner.
Sunday I also spent making some Sunday sauce (in za Vitamix) with ground turkey.  I plan on pairing it with some sweet potato veghetti for din din Monday night.  I curled up with Real Housewives of Potomac and stared at all of the work I will have to do on Monday.  I also missed my 12,000 Fitbit steps by 2!  2!  I think it actually stopped working because I was at 11,998 for like 10 minutes.  I spent 3 minutes jumping just to try and win those 2 coveted steps, but alas, they didn't register.  Now I feel like a loser.  Is anyone else super competitive with their Fitbit?  I can't tell you how many times I spend wandering my house or watching Fitnessista Zumba videos on Youtube to try and hit my step goal.  If there are any other Fitbit freaks out there, I feel your (competitively neurotic) pain.


Monday.  Ahhhh, Monday.  The day to play catch up on all the laundry and schoolwork I put off.  Monday is also BACHELOR MONDAY!  Who do you all like?  I like Becca, both Ashelys, and JoJo.  My school is doing a Bachelor Pool and I can't wait to see who wins!

It's been a fun few snow daze, but I'm ready to get back to normal.  All of this sugar is killing me.  I know, I know, I could just not eat it all...but what fun is that?

XOXO,

e

*Fingers crossed that the kiddos aren't too cray cray this week*

Weekend Recap

Happy Oxymoron Day!

How was everyone's weekend?  Mine was fabulous and busy!  Just the way I like it :)

I'll rewind and pretend that I'm college Erin and we'll start on the first night of a college weekend aka Thursday night!

This summer Thursday night has transformed into Thursday Girls Day!  Every Thursday some variation of my favorite gym girls come over for dinner and hot tub time.  This is reason #25226 why I just love my gym (okay maybe it's reason #2 why I love my gym.  Reason #1 is Pilates)--The people are awesome!  I love my gym girl friends.

Pink at night sailors' delight!

This week was pizza and Jersey wines aka Peach and Blueberry :)

To die for

We also had some Phillies Graham Slam ice cream with hot fudge and marshmallow.  Pretty baller.

Dark picture, but just use your imagination and then multiply that by 1,000,000 and that is how good this is!
It tastes like a s'more!

Thursday night was filled with all the ingredients for the makings of the perfect girls night:
-Food
-Wine
-Life story swaps
-Boy talk

Friday morning was a 6 mile run followed by back to back tutoring sessions.  I squeezed in some arm work later on and then was off to Princeton to FINALLY see Cara!

Luke's new CD came out!  I had to buy it…but I was disappointed that he isn't wearing his baseball cap.
Love a man in a baseball cap

In college Cara and I used to go to Princeton multiple times a week.  The highlight of our week was Wawa Wednesday.  We drove "the long way" through the countryside all the while jamming to old school (ok, middle school era) jams.  Think Pussycat Dolls, Fergie, Nelly Furtado, Ashanti, Nelly, etc.  Then, we'd stuff our faces with the nectar of the gods that is Wawa.

Add caption

You might be saying, why is this a big deal?  There's Wawa's everywhere.  Well, not in North Jersey!  We literally had to drive into PA to find the closest Wawa!  That is wrong.

Well, Wawa was our respite to all the crazy that college was.  It was our constant, our love, our Mecca.

Well guess what?  PRINCETON WAWA IS NO LONGER IN EXISTENCE!

Where did you go?

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.


  


We would have starved had this been 2 years ago.


EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED!  NOT ONLY WAWA BUT HOUSE OF CUPCAKES!

Cara said it best, "It used to be a little place where they just so happened to serve cupcakes, but now it's like BOOM CUPCAKES!"

We used to get cupcakes after Wawa every Wednesday.  They really are the best cupcakes in the world  and now the place is chocked full of all kinds of sweets:  cupcakes (duh), cookies, cake, fudge, ice cream, chocolate covered lovelies.

The inside is also no longer an English tutor theme…it's Tiffany blue!  Whaaaaaa?



We had dinner at The Witherspoon Grill and even though our waitress was a grump, this didn't impede our appetites.

Add caption

Oh, hello delicious bread and olive oil buttah!

Bread :)

Grilled peach salad! I'm loving grilled fruit right now!

YUM!

It was great to see Cara and reconnect on our old stomping grounds…even if everything is different and I hate it.

source

Saturday was a workout heavy day--gotta get that half marathon endurance up.  Three short months and I'll be running my Wine and Dine Half in Disney!

After the gym, Deb and I drove into Philly to watch my godcousin's improv show.  He was hilarious!  I seriously was crying laughing.  He's very talented and we were blown away by his talent.




Deb humored me and let me go to the Rittenhouse Square Farmer's Market.  I get the irony…I leave my farm filled town to go to the city for a Farmer's Market.


BUT….look what I found!!  Fairy Tale Eggplant!  How cute are these?!

The answer is VERY adorable!

I also stopped by my fave vegan restaurant in Philly--Hip City Veg!  They have all the faves but veganized--The Bella Burger is my personal fave.  It's a buffalo sauce topped mushroom burger.  FAB!

I got a Groothie :)

Finished this in about 2 minutes

Sunday was a long 11 mile run which I completed in 1 hour and 33 minutes!  My personal best for 11 miles :)  I celebrated my victory with a solo trip to Ocean City.  Does anyone else love solo beach days? I got to read, wander, and eat all by myself.  It was glorious.  Usually I love being around people, but I also am a true Sagittarius and need my alone time.

Perfect Day!  

I also managed to eat some fudge.  It was tricky but I managed.  It was vanilla fudge with cookies inside.  It was disgusting ;)

I may or may not have licked the wrapper clean

Doesn't this picture look like God is smiling on OCNJ?

I like to think so

Lunch was grilled shrimpies from Ike's!  Seriously amazing!  I brought grapes with almonds with me.  Grapes remind me of the shore.  Whenever I was little and we'd visit the shore, Deb would always pack grapes for us as our snack.  This tradition has stuck with me.

I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home for some din din.  I ended up talking to my neighbor when I got home.  She was my Mr. Feeny aka she taught me from grade 4-8 and she's one of the most inspiring and influential teachers I ever had.  We chatted about ghosts, going to the beach alone (and how we love it), teaching, and friends.  I always enjoy chatting with her because I leave feeling rejuvenated and reinvigorated and ready for the school year.

I hope you have a fabulous Monday!

I'm off to work and then it's another Bachelor in Paradise Party with the girls!

XOXO,

E

How To Cut A Pineapple

Hello!

Happy Thursday!

This was initially supposed to be for Tuesday but I was working so it had to wait. 

Monday is one of my favorite days of the week. Why would anyone love Monday you ask?

The reason is 3 fold (if you didn't just imagine Chandler sticking his 3 fingers up from the box, I don't know if we can be friends anymore...)

1) I love the idea that it's a new week with new adventures. We get to start fresh. Also, Monday's during the school year mean that I get to see my kiddos and work which is one of my fave things to do)

2) Zumba! Don't get me wrong, Monday's can be wonky so nothing sets me right quite like a good booty shake. 

3) Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor in Paradise is inevitably on!  My love for the franchise stems back to my childhood. I have the finest memories of being 8 years old (I know that's probably too young...but the show was different back then) and watching with my Mom-Mom. We'd discuss at great depth the compatibility of the people and just enjoy each other's company. Such good memories. 

When my Mom-Mom died I continued to watch the franchise. Eventually, I met fellow awesome people who also loved (or were forced to watch because they lived with me in college-cough Ra cough) the show. Cait and I started watching it together in high school and would text or fb message through it in college. I also may or may not have told a guy I was dating in college that I had class Monday's from 8-10 so I could watch it without having him interrupt my text time. This show holds a very special place in my heart for all of these reasons. 

Jess has since joined our group and we've made it a Monday night tradition to cook, drink wine, and watch the show together. Deb has been dropped her judgmental nature and began watching whole heartedly with us. 

Well, Monday began BIP!  This is one of my favorite versions of the franchise because it actually works. Hello Blake and Holly! Hello Lacy and Marcus! Hello Michelle and Cody!  Ok the last couple isn't married, but I'm holding out hope for them!  

To keep with the Mexico theme we had this:

So freaking good! If you read my WIAW post you know the deal on this meal. If not here are the deets:

-Jen's chicken salsa recipe

-About 2/3 avacado

-1/4 c brown rice

Sides were a small green salad courtesy of Jess and grilled pineapple and peaches courtesy of dad. 

All were amazing! Next time I'll probably not use as much water in the crock pot. I'm always afraid I'll burn the food if I don't use enough water. 

Finally, drinks were provided by Cait. 

Miscast punch with fresh raspberries and strawberries. 

While preparing for the meal du jour, I experimented with cutting a pineapple. Usually I buy precut pineapple, but today I figured I'd save a few bucks and cut it myself. BIG MISTAKE! HUGE!

Took me so long. Plus I had no idea how to cut it. I should have asked Pinterest or YouTube for guidance but I was already elbow deep in pineapple so I rolled with it. 

Attempting! PS I'm not naked here under my apron, I was laying out when I realized that I hadn't cut anything for dinner and grilling. 

I had a little fun with this pineapple hat. 

Anyway, who are you loving this season?

Ashley and her sister are hilarious together. I feel like they need their own VH1 show. 

Ashely S is great! Dan better not break her pomegranate and onion loving soul. 

Enjoy the rest of your day!!

E

To The Farmer's Market We Go...

Hey People!

How was your Monday?  Mine was bueno!

During the summers I tutor Tuesday-Thursday and I always enjoy my Monday Off Day.  I slept in and woke up to a text from Deb asking if I wanted to go to the Farmer's Market!  I accept trips to the Farmer's Market like the contestants on The Bachelor accept roses.

I love Farmer's Markets because I love to support local farmers, healthy produce, and cooking!  I love to find new recipes based on what is fresh this week at the market.  This week I bought corn for our Bachelorette Girls' Nites!  I made this corn recipe and I highly recommend it.  It's the perfect combo of spicy, sweet (thank you Jesus for Jersey Corn), and cilantro!  I love it so much!  I used OOVO instead of butter to up the healthy factor.


Turned out pretty darn delicious, eh?


Other Farmer's Market finds:

Local PB!  Could life be better?

Jersey Corn

Did they know I was coming?

Maybe I took a dip (or two) into the jar...

I used the PB to whip up some of Gina's baked breakfast cookie!

Amazing like always :)

Last night's dinner was full of deliciousness!  Since I slept in on Monday, I didn't eat lunch--just grapes!  

Dinner was healthy buffalo chicken lettuce wraps.  Gracias to the chef!

We also had Mexican corn and a healthy garden veggie past salad.  

WHAT HAPPENED TO BEN Z!?  THERE WAS SO MUCH CRYING LAST NIGHT!  I get physically uncomfortable when people cry and last night I was twisted into a pretzel over the level of uncomfortable I was.  Excuse that last sentence's poor grammar…but you get the picture!  So much crying!  It's all gonna be okay you guys.  Also, Ben Z, call me…

Have a Happy Tuesday!

XOXO,

E

WHAT THE HECK BACHELORETTE?!

Hey All!

Happy Tuesday!  I'm half way through the work week now and I feel like time is slowing down yet simultaneously speeding up and out of control.  Insane!

Monday is a Zumba and lifting kinda day around here.  Zumba was great.  Sometimes Zumba can be wonky if the instructor isn't good or you just have a case of bad music.  THIS Zumba was everything I could have ever wanted--fab songs featuring oldies plus newbies and the best instructor!

Did everyone watch Bachelorette last night?  WHAT THE HECK?!  I'm not loving this season.  I was never a huge Kaitlyn fan--Team Becca all day err day-but I thought Kaitlyn was the lesser of two evils so I was rooting for her over Britt.

I'm not loving these random, sporadic rose ceremonies.  I need one every week at 9:37 people!

Confession time:  Every week my friends come over and we pick our faves and call them our Bachelorette Husbands.  Weird?  We respect each other's dibs and are encouraged to like them for them only.  We take our fake future husband rules just as seriously as real boyfriend/husband Girl Code Doctrine dictates.  I'm a fan of Ben Z (except I feel like he sold Josh--my friend's BH down the river).  My other friend's BH is Shawn.

Shawn's date was precious!  Loved the moonlit boat ride.

I like that Ben H tries really hard to open up.  Also he looks like Peter Brady and I kinda can't get past it.

That group date was a cluster of lunacy!  First of all, why is Nick back?

source

I'd be mad, too!  Plus, who writes lyrics like that at a family friendly mariachi contest?  

Also, why all the contests Kaitlyn?  Did anyone else notice that she always does things where they have to perform and she sits back and laughs at them? She makes them look ridiculous just to get a laugh.  That's MEAN!  Every other season has the Bachelor/ette interacting with other guys/girls on the date.  She just stands there and creates situations that are not conducive for interactions!  Also, the fighting does have to stop--it is primitive and coming off as desperate.  

Anyway, at our party last night we decided to roll with the Tex/Mex theme and make vegan quesadillas!  I had these at Wegman's this weekend when I was eating all of the samples

shopping.  

So good and so easy!

Salad beat with tomatoes, avocados, cukes, greens, and a splash of pear infused vinegar.

Guac with baked Ezekiel chips! 

She tore up a wrap, drizzled some OOVO and salt on them and then baked them.  To. DIE. for.

Collage of the yummies<3

It's Better Bean Wholly Chipotle Black Bean Dip in an Ezekiel wrap with some Monterey Jack Daiya sprinkled on top.  DAAAALISH!  

We ate and watched the crazy unfold.  I'm not a huge fan of this season, but I love the show itself so I'll watch it.  My friend brought up a good point--after Andi everyone else just kinda falls flat.  She was one of the elite Bachelorettes.  No one will top Jenn Scheft in my mind, but Andi was great!  She had a job (mad she isn't a lawyer anymore), was funny, took it serious enough without being weird, and she was just cool to hang out with.  Don't you love how I act like I know her?  

Also, my friends and I joke that only Bachelorette can you tell 25 guys point blank that you're looking for a husband after 2 weeks and no one blinks/runs for the hills.  

Have a Happy Tuesday!  We're having extreme heat up here in the Northeast so to my NJ friends--stay cool!

xoxo,

E