Tuesday, June 8, 2010

New Recipes Old Friendships


Every once in awhile, I formulate these knock out ideas in my mind for an incredible recipe.  Usually, it's stems around an inspiration from a cookbook, restaurant menu, or magazine.  I'm not really sure where this one came from or when, but for days, I've been dreaming of this kind of sammie…..

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich 


Dinner last night was truly sensation.  I toasted a piece of Cibatta bread, layered on wilted spinach, marinara sauce, grilled eggplant and zucchini, more sauce, pesto and goat cheese. 




On the side, roasted balsamic broccoli and a tomato cucumber feta salad. 

Before I went any further, I simply had to share this.  Shame on me for neglecting to post about killer food creation right? 

Okay, back to business….

Today was especially lovely for many reasons. 

I woke up to birds chirping and a refreshing breeze.  My 5.5 mile run flew by which is usually a good sign that the day will be a good one. 

Breakfast mix this morning delighted me….



1/4 Cup Kashi Cinnamon H2H, 1/4 Cup Cinnamon Puffins, Handful of Multigrain Cheerios, 1/2 Banana, Blackberries, Vanilla Oikos, Cinnamon PB and flax



I love this yogurt/cereal combo but for some reason, I always feel it needs more color.  Strawberries are a perfect solution to amp up the beauty. 

Reason number 2 why today was so lovely….

Reuniting with a close old friend.



Dana and I use to work together when we were seniors in high school and became very close.  She is someone very near and dear to my heart but after we graduated, she moved down south.  We've only seen each other a few other times since then, and it had been about 3 years since I've talked to her until recently.  I discovered that she was in town and immediately scheduled a lunch date! 

Our other friend/coworker Jill came along as well. 


We went to The Brewhouse, which is one of my favorite places to dine in the summer.  They have a large deck (you all know how I feel about outdoor dining) and a great menu!  

We started with the spinach and crab dip.



This was the best crab dip I have ever had!!!  I wanted to eat the entire bowl, but refrained myself because I didn't want to miss out on my main course which had me drooling at first sight.


STRAWBERRY CRAB SPINACH SALAD
Fresh baby spinach leaves topped with lump crab, sliced strawberries, sliced apples, pecans, spring onions, plum tomato, feta cheese crumbles and house made croutons. Served with an orange poppyseed dressing.


Looking at this now, I see that they left out the strawberries.  It was still fabulous without them! 


Such a great lunch and an even better time catching up with Dana.  I miss this girl and I am going to miss her even more when she moves to Kansas City in a few weeks! :( 




After work, I continued with my 2 a day plan and went straight to the gym for some upper body. 


Here are the dets…
15 min warm up on treadmill (1% incline, total 1.5 miles)
12 x 3 Overhead Press (40lbs)
12 x 3 Bench Press (40lbs)
12 x 3 Lat Pulldown (40 lbs)
12 x 3 Bicep Curls (30 lbs)
5 min cool down on stationary bike


Total time- 30 min 


Short and sweet, just the way I like my strength workouts.  I don't think I could stand to go any longer with lifting to be honest.  It gets the job done in my opinion. 


After our nightly walk with the pup, I started on dinner. 


I know it's not Wednesday, but I was feeling BFD (Breakfast for Dinner) a day early.  


I saw this idea on Kristin's blog a few days ago and new it had to be the next BFD creation. 


Southwestern Egg Bowls




I smothered Food Should Taste Good Jalapeno Chips in some enchilada sauce and layered a bed of spinach on top.  Next, I heated a mix of corn, black beans and eddamame in a skillet with some salt, pepper, lime juice and chili powered.  Lastly, I added chopped tomatoes and put this all on top of the spinach.  Then I scrambled one egg and one white with some hot sauce and put this on next.  Under the broiler for a min to melt the flavors together and finally topped with salsa, greek yogurt, and avocado. 




This exceeded my expectations! 




New BFD success that will surely make the mix. 


I'm actually feeling pretty refreshed at the moment.  It's only 7:30pm and I seem to have a good handle on this week so far.  I love when I feel put together.  Now of course, this is all subject to change depending on what else this week will bring, but I guess that is what keeps life exciting! 


Good night everyone! 





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8 comments:

  1. Don't you love when fabulous food ideas just hit you? The eggplant sammy looks incredible. And a fun lunch with old friends is always wonderful. I think I've actually eaten at that restaurant (I worked on a project in your area a while ago). The dip looks super yum. Hope the rest of your week is just as wonderful as today was

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  2. I SWEAR I didn't see your post, and titled my post New Lens Old Friends. SO WEIRD! We are totally on the same wavelength :). So jealous of your eggplant.

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  3. i think your morning breakfast bowl looks pretty colorful already from the blackberries - but you're right - nothing like a red red strawberry...

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  4. Genius recreation of the Tortilla Egg Scramble!!! Love the Food Should Taste Good chip idea - I'll have to keep that in mind. ;)

    Hooray for reuniting with friends!!!

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  5. I'll take one of everything, please! Especially that crab salad and eggplant parm... NOM.

    Looks like you had a great day! So nice that you got to catch up with your friends... it's easy to let a lot of time go by without even realizing it!

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  6. Oh that BFD dinner looks amazing! YUM! Glad you all had a great time up in Cleveland. Hooray Ohio! :D

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  7. I live alone and almost always eat alone, but sometimes it is so nice to have a meal with friends (old or new!) You look so happy eating with your friends there! Such fun!

    Hope you're having a great evening!

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  8. awe, isnt getting together with old friends so great? you guys are super cute. and that breakfast would have delighted me, too! cobb salad is my go to and this reminded me of a cobb even though it is a spinach. maybe because of the way everything was separate? how random that they left one of the main ingredients off. great workout, i am digging lat pulldowns right now! you're fabulous. i just love you!

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