Citrus Quinoa Salad June 14, 2012

Since I moved to Charlotte last Saturday, I have been incredibly productive solely based on the fact that I have no one to hang out with yet!  While I know quite a few people who will be living/working in Charlotte, most of them are moving here later in the summer or were out of town this week.  Needless to say, I am thrilled that I will be having some company this weekend though–my friends Samantha, Jenna and Anna will be coming up from Chapel Hill and Greensboro to visit!  I am excited to explore the city with them, as I haven’t ventured away from my apartment too much the past few days except for the obligatory post move trips to Target and a stop at Harris Teeter.

In the past few days I have purchased (and assembled) a whole bedroom set from Ikea, unpacked and organized everything, stocked my fridge, worked out every day,caught up on some forms for my new job and cleaned my apartment!  I’ve also been cooking quite a bit and today I want to share a fun summer recipe with you all.  This recipe is adapted from Iowa Girl Eats‘ Superfood Salad with Vinaigrette.  I edited her recipe a bit, as I was looking for a light lunch rather than a substantial, hearty meal.  Also, I didn’t have all of the ingredients available, so I improvised some to make an easier, cheaper (I am financially independent now, after all) version of her salad.  I was very pleased with the way it turned out, and I have leftovers that will hold me over for a couple of days!

Citrus Quinoa Salad

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

For the Salad:

• 1/2 cup dry quinoa
• 1/3 cup red onion, chopped
• 1/2 avocado, chopped
• 1 orange, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 1 cup chicken broth (you could also use vegetable broth)
• salt & pepper

For the Lemon Vinaigrette:

• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 garlic clove (I used prepackaged minced garlic–super easy!)
• dash of sweetener (I used stevia but you could also use sugar or agave nectar)
• salt & pepper
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Place quinoa and chicken broth in saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until all liquid is absorbed.  Set aside quinoa to cool.
• For the lemon vinaigrette, combine lemon juice, garlic, sweetener, salt & pepper and olive oil in mixing boil.  Whisk ingredients together.
• Combine cooled quinoa with the red onion, avocado, orange pieces, corn and salt and pepper.  Top the mixture with the lemon vinaigrette.

As if the dish didn’t have enough citrus in it, I enjoyed it with a glass of lime seltzer water!

 

The Hershey 20 June 13, 2012

Hello friends!

After about a three month hiatus, I am back to blogging!  In March, I vowed to take a break from blogging until I got a job.  Although cooking and blogging served as great stress relievers to me, I couldn’t allow myself to take the time and energy to do these things while feeling the pressure of graduation and the real world upon me.  I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill on May 13th and was still jobless on graduation day.  I had interviewed and interviewed for every position imaginable, but each companyseemed to require 3-5 interviews, each of which were about 2 weeks apart.  To say I was discouraged and disheartened to be jobless on the day of my college graduation is an understatement.  Both of my brothers had multiple job offers upon their graduation from Duke and I felt like I couldn’t live up to their success.

 

However, about 9:00 a.m. the morning after graduation, I was awakened abruptly (I had been out late celebrating the night before) by a phone call from a District Manager at The Hershey Company offering me a position as a Retail Sales Representative!  The interview process for Hershey’s was brutal (I went through about 6 or 7 steps before receiving an offer) but it all paid off in the end!  I was fortunate enough to receive two additional job offers over the week or two following graduation but ultimately decided to accept the position with Hershey’s which had been my first choice position from the beginning.

 

I am thrilled to begin work for Hershey’s next Monday, June 18th!  I told them that I was very open to relocation (I was secretly hoping for San Diego) but they ended up offering me a position in Charlotte.  I actually could not be happier with Charlotte!  I am still close to home (Greensboro), and I have a lot of friends that will be in Charlotte.  It will be so nice to get a taste of city life yet still be able to venture home to Greensboro or back to Chapel Hill quite easily!  Also, Hershey promotes 90% from within, so they aim for individuals to only spend 1-2 years in each position so that they can get a rich, diverse experience with the company and really come to learn and excel in multiple aspects of business; yet relocation seems to be an option with each promotion, so I am hoping to live in a lot of different cities over the next few years and have a lot of different, unique experiences!

I moved to Charlotte a few days ago and am loving it so far.  My apartment in very nice and large and has a GORGEOUS kitchen (tour forthcoming!) Furthermore, I will be living with my friend Erin who also went to UNC.  Erin and I have known each other since our sophomore year of college when we started a mentoring program together and we spent upwards of ten hours a week together planning, organizing and directing our organization.  The best part about living with Erin though is that she also loves cooking and food!  Check out her AWESOME food blog here.  Her blog is amazing and I am hoping she can help me some with mine (I haven’t been happy with the layout/appearance of mine for a while and she is a lot more tech savvy than me and I am hoping she can help me personalize mine).

 

One of the main things I am excited about in starting my new career in my new city is really getting into a routine and establishing healthy habits for myself.  The very first encounter I had with a Hershey’s representative was at the UNC career fair back in March.  One of the first things she told me was “Working for Hershey’s is great, but while I’m sure you’ve heard about the Freshman 15, they don’t tell you about the Hershey’s 20!”  She joked with me about gaining 20 pounds when she started working for Hershey’s.  This is definitely something I do NOT want to experience!  Fortunately, my apartment complex has a gym and I have been working out every day since I moved here– I know it is important to establish these healthy habits early!  Furthermore, Hershey’s is very focused on the health and well being of their employees (I guess they don’t want overweight people selling chocolate!) so they have a lot of incentive programs for healthy eating and exercise.  However, Hershey’s produces Hershey’s kisses, Reeses, Icebreakers, Kit Kats, Twizzlers, Almond Joys, Mr. Goodbar, Symphony bars, etc. so I know it will hard to be surrounded by these products on a daily basis and not indulge regularly!  Luckily for me, I enjoy salty foods more than sweet foods 🙂

 

 

I’ll be sharing new recipes soon, but in the meantime, you should check out Erin’s (my roomate) recipe for spinach and feta egg muffins.  I made a half dozen of these this morning and they turned out great!

Feeling the Burn March 14, 2012

Yesterday was one of those rare, glorious days where I didn’t have any commitments before my first class at 2:00 p.m.  I slept in until about 10:00 a.m. (ahhhh) and then decided to get my workout in early.  Usually I don’t workout until after I get home from all of my classes and meetings for the day, but I actually loved working out early and only having to shower once!  I wish I was more of a morning person so that I could wake up at 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. and workout early every day.  However, even on the days when I do get to sleep in, I struggle (a lot) to wake up in the mornings…so no super early workouts for me!  Besides, good sleep is just as important to your well-being as working out 🙂

Since my ankles have been bothering me lately but I wanted to get in a good workout I decided to do one of my Jillian Michaels’ DVDs.  Yes, I have multiple.  So I pulled out “6 Week Six Pack.”

This was my go-to workout last summer when it was so hot outside and I didn’t want to endure the heat on a run.  I must warn you, this DVD is not for the faint-hearted!  Whew!  I forgot how hard of a workout it is!  I love it though.  The workout is 30 minutes of intense ab work with  cardio intervals interspersed.  Unfortunately, Jillian doesn’t believe in water breaks like I do, so it is 30 minutes of non-stop exercise followed by a 5 minute cool down.  What I love about this workout is that she incorporates HIIT (high intensity interval training) training between ab workouts.  So even though the ab workouts are intense, it just gets even tougher when she tells you to endure a minute or two of burpees.  Or mountain climbers.  Or plank jacks.  In addition to working your abs, Jillian also focuses on your back, which is important when strengthening your core.  I’ve never done this workout for 6 weeks straight as recommended, as I like to use it every once in a while to switch up my routine, but I feel incredibly confident that anyone would definitely feel some serious stomach definition if they did it consistently.

While the workout felt great last night, today I have been feeling the burn.  A lot.  I’ve never dreaded getting up to plug in my computer power cord so much.  I am sore all over.  Abs, legs, sides, back…you name it.  I think I’ll wait a couple days before working out with Jillian again!  I recommend her DVDs to anyone who wants to get a quick, intense workout in the comfort of his or her own home.  Make sure you vacuum your carpet first though!….there are a lot of moves that require you to be lying on the floor and having bits of dirt and leaves stick to your sweaty body makes the workout even less enjoyable 🙂

Since I’ve been sore all day today, I decided I’d just go for a run tonight and skip out on any strength training exercises.  I did a nice 1.5 mile loop around my apartment.  I had some ankle pain, but nothing too unbearable.  I want to ease my way back into running.  Besides, the weather lately has been amazing and it actually makes me WANT to run.

Sunday Ritual March 12, 2012

Pretty much every Sunday, I do my grocery shopping for the week.  Creative, I know.  The hoards of other people at the store every week tell me that I’m not the only one with this idea.  However, for me, going to the store takes A LOT of preparation.  I spend an hour or so (sometimes more) perusing the internet for new, healthy recipes with  ingredients that I’ve never tried before.  After coming up with a list of meals for the week, I make my shopping list.  Now that I’ve learned my way around a grocery store pretty well, I categorize my list into different sections of the store–produce, dairy, canned goods, protein, etc.  My shopping list ends up looking something like this:

In addition, I make a list of the meals I am going to make for the week, along with a few ideas for side dishes.  If I didn’t do this, I would end up forgetting why I bought a certain ingredient and it would go to waste!  At the top of the meal list, I also write my goals for the week.  This week, in order to detox after Spring  Break, my goals including exercising at least 4 times during the week, no alcohol, and drinking 64 oz of water a day!

Then I hit the store!  I enjoy grocery shopping a lot.  Probably significantly more than the average person.  It’s right up there with cleaning in terms of things that are therapeutic, stress-relievers for me.  While this is probably very atypical for most college students, I’m betting it will serve me well later in life!  After putting the groceries away, Brad and I went for a walk.  I think we walked about 1.5 miles or so.  I thought about running, but today was the first day in a while that my ankles have been pain-free, so I didn’t want to mess them up!  I love walking around Chapel Hill, especially when the weather is nice.  I’m also loving the daylight savings time!  The sun was shining our entire walk, and we didn’t get back until about 7:30 p.m.

Tonight I finally tried the Tikka Masala sauce that I bought a few weeks ago at Whole Foods.

It was delicious and had a mild curry flavor.  I simply cooked bite size chunks of chicken in a little olive oil, then added the sauce, covered the mixture, and allowed it to simmer for about 10 minutes.  I served it over brown rice.

I also served the meal with a simple cucumber salad with cucumbers, red onions, a dash of sugar and white wine vinegar.  I thought it be a cool, refreshing side to offset the spice of the Tikka Masala.  However, the sauce was incredibly mild, so it turned out to just be a tasty side dish 🙂  Plus, I got to use my new mini serving dishes!

Now it’s time to catch up on emails, look at my assignments for the week, and get back into the swing of things for school!

Southern Charm March 11, 2012

I’m back in Chapel Hill after a wonderful Spring Break trip with friends.  Our trip was from Sunday-Friday, and we definitely hit all of the charming southern cities with lots of tourist appeal–Charleston, Hilton Head and Savannah.  When I last updated, we were still in Charleston, which was a lot of fun.  I’d say my favorite (and cheapest) meal of the whole trip was in Charleston!  As I mentioned, Brad and I met up with our HS friends, Mark and Anna, for lunch at Old Towne Grill and Seafood Restaurant on Monday.  The name of the restaurant is deceiving, as the lunch menu consisted of primarily Greek and Mediterranean foods.  We were even brought pita bread to munch on before our meals arrived.  Regardless, I was thrilled because seafood pretty much dominated our diet for the trip, so it was nice to have a change.  I ordered the falafel pita and it was amazing.  The falafel was perrrrfect.  Normally when I get it at Med Deli in Lenoir (UNC’s dining hall), it is slightly hard and crunchy.  This was perfectly moist in the middle.  It was heavenly.  I ordered a side of steamed veggies as a side and nearly finished the entire meal (something I never do with falafel because it is so dense and filling).

After lunch, the four of us walked around Charleston and wound up at Wet Willie’s, a frozen daiquiri bar notorious for its strong alcoholic slushies.  I erred on the side of caution and ordered one of the drinks on the menu that wasn’t followed by a warning regarding the alcohol content.  The bar tender told us that one of the drinks, appropriately named “call-a-cab,” has the alcohol content of SIX beers.  Yikes!  Our slushies were quite refreshing and perfect for a warm day.  After finishing off our drinks, we went for a walk in a water front park.  This is probably my favorite area in all of Charleston.  It is SO beautiful.

That night, we met up with Brandon and Rebecca, and two of our other friends, Ben and Walker.  We went to a disappointing dinner, where I ordered what turned out to be an incredibly unappetizing Caesar salad that had about 2 croutons and 4 tough, overcooked, grilled shrimp.  Ick.  The eight of us spent the evening together, visiting at the hotel and walking around Charleston.

Tuesday, Brandon, Rebecca, Brad and I drove to Hilton Head.  I had never been before, and this was probably my favorite city of the trip.  Whereas Savannah and Charleston were overwhelmingly touristy and had bars and restaurants everywhere, Hilton Head was classy and upscale and didn’t feel at all like a tourist trap.  I came home and told my Dad he ought to retire there!  If he doesn’t, I sure will.  In Hilton Head, we spent most of our time at our resort at the jacuzzi and pool.  It was a gorgeous resort and was quite empty.  That meant empty pools and hot tubs!  Tuesday was filled with relaxing but Wednesday we did some sight seeing.  Before lunch, Brad and I went for a run along the beach.  I had never done a beach run before, and it was tough!  It was especially hard because I have been having some pretty severe ankle pain recently.  I think I’m due for a new pair of running shoes!  The scenery during our run made it all worth it though:

After running, we all went for a late lunch at The Salty Dog Cafe.  It was warm enough to sit outside on the deck and enjoy our surroundings.  We all raved about our food.  My grilled chicken sandwich was so tender and juicy!  It definitely exceeded my expectations.  After lunch, Brad and I went to the t-shirt shop to buy the obligatory Salty Dog Cafe souvenir tee.  I swear I see at least one person wearing one of these shirts per day!  Then we headed to the Hilton Head lighthouse and walked around the surrounding area.

That evening, we ate at Brad’s favorite restaurant in Hilton Head, Old Oyster Factory.  Brad’s grandparents used to have a place at Hilton Head, so he spent most of his summers there.  This was great because he was able to recommend restaurants and he knew his way around!  At least we didn’t have to listen to the annoying GPS lady in one city!  This dinner was phenomenal.  If you’re ever in Hilton Head and looking for a nicer place to eat, I’d definitely recommend it.  Brad started his meal off with an oyster shooter, consisting of a raw oyster, pepper vodka, cocktail sauce and horseradish sauce.  GROSS!  He loved it though.

For dinner, I ordered a Filet.  I had consumed SO much seafood at this point, and the cost was comparable to the other entrees, so I thought it’d indulge.

It wasn’t until I was about 3/4 of the way through the steak that I remembered–no meat except chicken and seafood!  Ah, I was so disappointed in myself.  Fortunately, however, I have greatly decreased my red meat intake, so I’m still pleased about that 🙂  Brad ordered the almond Mahi Mahi, which was also tasty.

Dinner was great, and entertaining to say the least.  Our waiter was VERY dramatic.  I was snickering quietly every time he spoke.  I honestly have never met someone SO dramatic and SO excited about the food and SO excited about the wine and SO eager to tell us the specials and SO sorry when he brought out Brad’s drink late.  You get the point.

However, the REAL drama came a few hours after dinner.  Brandon, Rebecca, Brad and I were all hanging out at the hotel when Brad pointed out that his face was really red.  I looked and he was completely covered in hives.  His face was bright red, splotchy, and it looked like he had developed acne so bad that it was sure to be a dermatologist’s nightmare.  It turns out he had been munching on some trail mix, and it seemed he was having a severe allergic reaction to something in the mix.  I ran downstairs to get Benadryl from the front desk.  By the time I got back, the rash had spread all over Brad’s neck, shoulders, back, chest, arms and hands.  I gave him the medicine right away, and called my Mom.  Who else knows how to handle an emergency like Marilyn?  She urged me to call a cab and head to the ER.  I spoke to Brad’s Mom on the phone as well, and told her what was going on.  Brad and I went downstairs and waited for a cab.  By the time it came, his rash had improved slightly, but I still wanted to head to the hospital, as he told me his breathing was labored.  While in the ER, I was a nervous wreck, but Brad was just calm and excited as ever.  “I’ve never been to the ER before!”, “Look, Lisa, my hospital bracelet makes me look like a wounded warrior!”, “Wow, my doctor’s name is Snowman.  What a funny name.”  Whew.  I’m glad he was having such a good time, because I sure wasn’t!  To make a long story short, the doctor gave Brad more meds and urged him to follow up with an allergist.  What a night!  That makes the 3 times in 3 weeks that I have been to the emergency room for the people closest to me.  Let’s hope that was the last visit for a while.

Thursday, we headed to Savannah.  It was a beautiful, charming town.  We did a lot of walking by the river front and checked out several bars and restaurants.  That night, we went on a haunted pub tour of Savannah that had been featured in Southern Living.  The tour wasn’t a bit pricey, but it was TOTALLY worth it.  The tour lasted 2.5 hours and was filled with ghost stories, pubs, and cemeteries.  This was probably my favorite thing we did all trip.  We learned a lot about the history of Savannah, which is known for being a necropolis (city of the dead) and the most haunted city in the U.S.  I am pretty brave and I love horror movies, but the tour left me a little spooked.  Even our tour guide, who started doing tours in 1999 (and didn’t believe in ghosts/spirits at the time) said that she has had some encounters that made her quit touring for 3 years and she said “Let’s put it this way:  I consulted a Catholic priest for what I experienced…and I am NOT Catholic.”  She didn’t go into her personal experiences or encounters, but alluded to the fact that they were very scary.  I have no idea if I believe in ghosts or spirits, but this tour definitely sent a chill down my spine.  I don’t want to give a lot away, but I think you all should do a haunted pub tour in Savannah!  We drove back to Greensboro yesterday, and it’s a good thing because I needed to recover from all of the delicious food I ate, the alcohol I consumed, and the scary stories I heard!

Charleston Charm March 5, 2012

So far, spring break has been wonderful.  We arrived in Charleston at about 2:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon.  We were a little early for check in, so we decided to drive around and get our bearings.  I was in Charleston for a couple nights during spring break last year, so I wanted to find some the main landmarks like the open air market and rainbow row.  After driving around for a while, we made a quick stop at Piggly Wiggly then headed to the hotel for check in.  We settled in and then got ready for a night on the town!  The weather would have been great, if it wasn’t for the wind.  We took a free trolley downtown, but the wait for it to arrive was brutal.  The wind was so cold…it made me wish we had gone a little farther south for SB!  Once we got into the heart of Charleston, we walked around for a bit then decided to try Charleston Crab House for dinner.  I ordered the crab cake sandwich and was quite disappointed.  The crab cake was tiny and the bread of the sandwich completely swallowed the crab cake.  Plus, the crab cake was perfectly formed…it looked like it had been frozen then slapped in a frying pan.  It was quite a let down.  However, with dinner I ordered a local amber ale, Palmetto Amber Ale made by Palmetto Brewing Company.  The beer was delicious!    Delicious enough that I ordered two 🙂  It was slightly malty and had a rich flavor.  Brandon and Rebecca enjoyed the Palmetto Porter.  I tried a sip, and it was good, but a little too heavy/dark for my tastes.  It definitely had an espresso taste to it.

After dinner, we walked around town for a while and made our way into a couple different Irish pubs–Molly Darcy’s and Tommy Condon’s.  I guess there is something about Irish pubs that necessitates that they be named after people!  We chatted with the nice Irish bar tender at Molly Darcy’s for a while, and I sipped on a Harp beer.  Then we headed to Tommy Condon’s for some live music!  It was fun, but we were all exhausted from a long day and an early morning, so we called it a night around 11:00 p.m.

This morning, I was pleasantly surprised by the continental breakfast.  There were lots of options including eggs, sausage, biscuits, coffee, bagels, and muffins.  In an attempt to eat healthy, I chose light vanilla yogurt, chai tea, a piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter, and a small bowl of Cheerio’s.  What I really wanted though was a biscuit and sausage patties!  After breakfast, Brad and I went to the hotel gym and I got in a good run.  Now, we’re heading back to downtown Charleston to meet up with some friends from UNC who we have known since high school!

“Gah, I feel like Chef Boyardee!” March 4, 2012

My cooking patterns lately have been incredibly up and down.  Sometimes I go a week or two cooking exciting meals with new ingredients every night, and then other weeks my dinners will consist solely of canned soup or frozen lean cuisines.  Oddly enough, these trends don’t seem to coincide at all with the amount of school work I have.  In fact, some nights, I have SO much work to do but I allow myself an hour or so break to cook a nice meal for myself–it’s actually a great way for me to unwind after a long day.  As a person who has an extreme Type A personality, I get so much satisfaction out of the systematic process of cooking–finding all of the ingredients I need, washing/chopping all the veggies, following the directions  of a recipe step-by-step, cleaning the mess I make, etc.  The whole process is somehow therapeutic for me.  However, there are still some nights when I have SO much to do that I can hardly even allow myself a ten minute break to eat anything!  Recently I had a night like this, and Brad volunteered to make dinner for me!  While it’s very hard for me to relinquish control and let someone else cook for me, I decided to give it a try…and let me tell you, it. was. (surprisingly) wonderful.  Somehow I was able to be incredibly productive while Brad was cooking, and I didn’t find myself peering over his shoulder every few minutes to make sure he is doing things correctly (yes, as much as I hate to admit it, I have a bad habit of doing this).  He made us whole wheat pasta with shrimp, minced garlic, chopped onions and a light cream sauce!  Brad even bought actual garlic cloves to peel and mince, just to impress me.  I always buy the jarred minced garlic…super easy!  Needless to say, I was impressed with his cooking.  He was too, because as I was studying, I heard him exclaim from the kitchen, “Gah, I feel like Chef Boyardee!”  I’m glad to say that he actually put Chef Boyardee to shame with this tasty dish:

When Brad found out that I was going to blog about this, he was very upset he didn’t put spinach or something green in the pasta.  He thought the pasta would look bland and tasteless.  Well, spinach or no spinach, I can assure you that it tasted delicious.

The chef in action!

He even surprised me with a bottle of white wine!  Overall, the meal was fantastic, and it was great to eat a home cooked meal on a night where I would usually eat a lean pocket.  I think maybe I’ll let him cook more often!

Growing Up

Last Sunday, February 26th, I celebrated my 22nd birthday.  I had a great, fun-filled weekend that included a girl’s dinner at Panzanella (my favorite Chapel Hill/Carrboro restaurant) with my roommates, Meg and Kristen, and my friend Katie who was visiting from Wake Forest, a party at my apartment with a lot of my Chapel Hill friends, a birthday brunch with my family, and a fun trip to Durham for dinner and drinks with my boyfriend, Brad!  It was the best weekend I have had in a while, and it was just the right amount of fun and relaxation before all of the midterms and meetings I had this week before Spring Break.  While birthdays are always fun, this one was the first I have had where I have actually felt that I am “growing up.”  The glamor of being 21 has started to fade, and the reality of the world after college has started to settle in.  Based on the presents I got from my parents, it is clear that they realize I am growing up too!  Last year’s 21st birthday looked like this:

Lots of alcohol from my friends/family!

This year, however, the presents I got looked like this:

Magic Bullet!

Serving tray

Kitchen utensils

Surprisingly, I actually like this year’s presents just as much than last year’s presents (if not more!)  I absolutely love cooking and being in the kitchen, and it was fun to get some new supplies.  I also love hostessing and entertaining, so my parents gave me these adorable mini tasting bowls and silverware along with two cookbooks, one with recipes for mini desserts, and the other detailing mini appetizer recipes.  I plan to get a lot of use out of these!

 

I was also spoiled because my parents brought me a tasty vanilla cake, and my roommate Kristen bought me a delicious chocolate ganache cake!

Needless to say, my healthy eating habits took a bit of a hit this week!  However, I still managed to run some, and I am feeling great about my progress with the Couch to 5K training program. 

I may even go so far as to say that I am beginning to enjoy running!  When I don’t have the time to run, I even feel a little disappointed.  Let’s hope this feeling sticks!  Tonight my sister  joined me for my run.  Although she really didn’t want to come and complained about any hill we encountered, I think she ended up being proud of herself for coming along.  I wish I was going to be with her all week to keep her motivated!  However, tomorrow morning, I am headed on my Spring Break trip to Charleston, Hilton Head, and Savannah with Brad and a couple of our friends!  I am incredibly excited to have a week off from school spent relaxing with good friends!  Let’s hope I can manage to eat reasonably healthy while dining out this week and find time to continue my running habit.  I made sure Brad packed some work out clothes, so here’s to hoping that he joins me!

Anyone have any suggestions of great places to eat or visit in Charleston, Hilton Head or Savannah?

Lent February 23, 2012

For as long as I can remember, I have given up something for Lent, the 40 days before Easter.  Typically I give up something that is relatively easy, as I don’t want to fail at my goal and I don’t have THAT much self-restraint.  This year, however, I am giving up/adding several things which may be a little more difficult for me.  First of all, I LOVE Mexican food.  The chips and salsa, the margaritas, the rice….I love it all.  However, my true weak spot is queso dip.  Every time I go to a Mexican restaurant (which is a lot because I literally cross the street from my apartment complex and I am at one), I order queso.  I always indulge.  I come up with some reason that I should “reward” myself with queso.  “Oh you got an A on your exam…order queso!”  “Oh, you finished your paper early…order queso!”  Or sometimes even, “Oh you woke up on time today…order queso!”  All roads lead to queso.  I gave it up from January 14th-February 14th this year just because I know how unhealthy and fattening it is.  Abstinence from the queso slowly got better over time, so I think I am ready for round 2!  I am also going to give up soda.  I have always wanted to give it up permanently, but I never have the willpower.  Fortunately, I have trained myself to like Seltzer water, because sometimes I just crave a  cold, carbonated beverage.  I have also been drinking a lot more tea, hot and cold, recently.  So this is my attempt to give up soda for good!  I finally made the switch to Diet soda which I drink exclusively now, but it’s time to nix pop all together.  Even when I made the switch to Diet, I realized that it still isn’t good for you.  In fact, diet soda can still make you fat.  Alas.  Another one of my aims for Lent is to give up all meat except for chicken.  I also want to significantly lower my chicken intake.  I will still eat fish, but after doing some research about the potentially cancer-causing hormones in meat, it doesn’t seem worth it to keep eating it excessively.  Someone close to me was recently diagnosed with cancer, and I got curious about the recommended diet for individuals with cancer.  Everything that I found recommended little to no meat.  Something I read suggested that, if one is going to continue eating meat, he or she should eat no more than 6 oz. PER MONTH!  So I am attempting to greatly decrease my meat consumption.

In addition to my self-imposed dietary restraints for the next 40 days (and hopefully beyond!), another one of my aims is to run at least 3 times per week.  In my desperate attempt to love running, this is a big (and crucial) step!  So far, I’ve run twice this week, and I plan on running at least two more times.  While giving things up for Lent has become rather normalized for me (I was raised Catholic and was taught to always give something up for Lent), it’s also just a great reason to step back and think about where I stand and what new goals I have.  For those of you who have already recoiled on your New Year’s Resolutions, now is a chance to start fresh!  Although, I’m a strong believer that any given day can be the day that you start changing your life.  In the words of Ben Davis, all you have to do is do it.   It’s really an easy concept, it just takes some willpower.

What did you give up for Lent?  Or what new practices to you hope to incorporate into your life?

The ACTUAL Fat Tuesday

Yesterday, Fat Tuesday, was a great day.  As usual, I didn’t have class until two, but it was the first time in a long time that I didn’t have an early meeting before class.  I scheduled late classes so that I could sleep in, not so that I had to wake up early and go to meetings all the time!  Anyways, I relaxed and made myself a fried egg sandwich for breakfast, along with Greek yogurt, coffee and orange juice.  It was a great start to the day, and I enjoyed it while I did a little work on my computer.

Then I went to class at 2:00 and came back home afterwards to get a little more work done.  I picked Brad up from the business school   at 5:00 and we ran some errands including a trip to WHOLE FOODS!  I think I’ve only been to Whole Foods twice in my life.  This is largely due to the fact that it is impossible for me to go in there for less than an hour.  Even if I am going for one ingredient or product, I wind up going up and down EVERY aisle and looking at things that I have no intention of buying.  I feel like a kid in a candy shop.  I kept saying to Brad, “this is heaven.  This is ACTUALLY heaven.”  Fortunately, he was patient and just stood by as I squealed over products I have read about on my food blogs, researched, or have been dying to buy.  We were only going in for salmon, but I wound up with quite a few other items.  Despite the fact that I bought quite a bit, I felt as if I used INCREDIBLE restraint.  If anyone ever needs a gift idea for me, a Whole Foods gift card is the way to go!  Here is what I ended up with:

Among my items were Tikka Masala (an Indian simmer sauce I have been wanting to try), garlic hummus, baby arugula, guacamole, avocado vinaigrette salad dressing, sesame rice crackers, Somersaults, blue corn chips and a bottle of Tazo pomegranate tea and Honest Tea Peach Oolong tea.  I also told Brad to pick one ingredient and I would come up with a meal with it.  He chose mascarpone cheese!  I know this is used in a lot of desserts and cheesecakes, so I’m excited to try it in a main course!  I’m trying to come up with some ideas before I execute, so any creative ideas are welcome.  After we got back from the store, we grilled salmon and veggie skewers.  The weather was beautiful, so we decided to soak it up.  Brad manned the grill while I made butternut squash risotto and a white wine reduction sauce for the salmon.  Everything turned out delicious!

The day ended as great as it started with a UNC victory over NC State that we watched with our friends Brandon and Rebecca.