For Sweets Sake

A Look Forward

2010-09-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

There's a lot going on with the blog, as well as in our lives lately. Things are busy as can be! Which I really like. There are times when I'm really busy that I'm stressed, grouchy, or just tired, but when it's all said and done, I'd rather be busy busy busy than bored any day.

Coming up in the coming months and things to look forward to:

fiance and I are perfecting the art of eating well on road trips with so much traveling this month. I'll be sure to share our tips and tricks!
I have discussed becoming vegetarian or vegan for awhile. Fiance thinks it's a bad idea, but I might try to go a week or 2 with no meat and see what eating habits I might have to change, balancing getting enough nutrients and see how it goes! Meat Free Week will probably be in the near future.
We have a wedding in less than 2 weeks, and ours in less than 4, so expect many wedding posts in the future. Great for you brides and grooms to be! And great for everyone who just likes looking at wedding pictures..or is that just me?
Fall is festival time in Florida (because summer is way too hot!) expect lots of random food adventures on southern festival style

The biggest change with the blog though, is the location. Because typing - is too difficult and time consuming, I'm making it easier for everyone and moving to www.sweetssake.com

Not only that, it is a wordpress blog and a new design and format thanks to Boy Meets Food! He helped me through the transition and I'm officially up and running on wordpress as of today! It might be a little shaky for awhile. I'm still getting used to the new home, but I'm hoping it will allow for things to grow and develop in the future!

Overall, lots going on. Lots to look forward to. Lots of reasons to keep coming back to the blog, but just at the new location!

Back In the Saddle

2010-09-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

After the fiance being out of town for a few days last week and a weekend out of town together, we have officially gotten sick of eating out. It's fun every now and then. And when I'm by myself, I like to splurge on things the fiance doesn't like :) but it's so good to be home and to get the chance to cook.

We also had a chance to get back into a bit of a routine. Work, gym, cook, eat, fiance studies, I blog. What a night! We also had an interesting discussing with the new guy in the produce department of the supermarket about things being labeled properly...or in his case, improperly. I don't think he knew the difference between any of the veggies. We were on a hunt for okra, but ended up just having to go to another store for it. A supermarket in the south without okra is practically a sin I think.

So our first dinner at home was chicken, chickpeas and green beans!

It was almost 8pm by the time we came home so it was a pretty quick meal. We just grilled the chicken in the dark...and by we, I mean fiance because our yard in the dark scares me. I'm 25 and scared of the dark. I admit it. Don't judge.

The green beans were frozen that we defrosted with a little garlic gold and lemon juice on them.

And the star of dinner was definitely the chickpeas. It was super quick and easy to make too! I found the recipe from some cool vegan sisters who have some great recipes! We made it pretty similar with some small changes.

Spinach and Chickpea Delight

Ingredients:

2 (15.5-oz) cans, or 3 cups cooked, chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
EVOO (about 2 tbsp.)
4 large handfuls fresh, baby spinach (about 4 to 5 cups)
1/2 cup marinara or tomato sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 red onion, diced (only if there isn’t some in your sauce)
sea salt
pepper
Basil
Oregano

Directions:

In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, combine EVOO, garlic and onion and saute until onion is softened
Add the marinara sauce, red wine vinegar and spinach, stiring continuously until spinach is wilted
Add chickpeas and stir until everything is evenly coated, adding in the sea salt, pepper, basil and oregano to taste.
Serve and enjoy!

We started out with the marinara sauce in before the onion was softened and the onion didn't get quite as soft and brown as we would have liked. We also didn't add the oregano and basil until the end. It wasn't in the original recipe but when we first tasted it, we though it could use a little more seasoning. We used Organic Ragu sauce and it was really great in the dish! Fiance said we should make more soon, so that's definitely a good sign! Thanks Katelyn and Rebecca for a great recipe!

and it's off to bed for this busy bee! another work day tomorrow, but atleast it's Wednesday!

Home Sweet Internet

2010-09-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

Hi! Long time no see! I just went 3 days without internet. No joke. Probably the first time this has happened...well since last Labor Day and the last time I was at my grandparents house. They have dial-up. We're trying to convince them to get cable but I don't think it'll happen. So while there, we must be rustic. We have no fancy internet phones, there is no wireless, I felt like we were stranded and lost from the world.

Ok it wasn't that bad. We were busy so the weekend went by quick! This is the first time I've lived within driving distance so it's become a Labor Day tradition to drive the 6 hours to the Tampa area where they live. I spent a lot of my weekend like this...

Lovely. Best part of a road trip is definitely the snackage! We had bananas, cereal bars, random juice or snacks we picked up a long the way and, my absolute favorite.

My first pumpkin spice latte of the season! Yum!! I may have to get another one soon. They're addicting!

There was much eating, because when my Grandma offers you food, she will not stop offering it to you until you've eaten it all and the pecan cake as well. It's just how it works at Grandma's. You understand.

My grandparents are in their late 80's so they don't really understand the world of blogging. In fact, their exact response when I told them what I wrote about was "Why would anyone want to read about what you eat??" I told them I try to mix up old recipes and make them healthier and share recipes, to which my grandmother gave me a Danish cookbook and told me not to change any of the recipes. I told them my mother (their daughter) really liked it and read it a lot and if they got cable internet they could read it. They told me very nicely that they thought that was a waste of time. How things have changed in the past 80 years!

We did have a lot of fun, and they always have the nicest sunsets at their house

After a long drive back today, we're home. Getting ready for some Hokie Football tonight! We have a lot more road trips coming up soon, so we're going to unpack, repack and head back out in 2 weeks! Then our wedding 2 weeks after that! Yikes! Time to get busy! This week there will be much cooking though because we have NO food at our house! We'll see what I come up with for this week's menu :)

Sweets-Less September For Sweets Sake

2010-09-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's September already! So much is going on!

1 month from today is the wedding! Finally! After a year and a half of planning a wedding, I'm super excited to get to see it all come together!

We also expect some changes in the near future. I'll let you know whenever we know, but for now, it's just the waiting game, knowing something is going to change, but not knowing when, where, what...it kills me!

We have lots of road trips planned! Visiting my grandparents, going to my cousin's wedding and at the end of the month, we're DRIVING to Pennsylvania. Want to talk about a long road trip. We're doing it overnight too (atleast that's the plan for right now) so it should be some lovely pre-marriage bonding. Or the worst 17 hours of our lives. Either way. I think it'll be even harder then when I originally drove down here because I will know, in a little over a week, we'll just have to turn around and drive back to Florida. Yuck. But we have lots of boxes, clothes and random stuff so it will be a lot cheaper and easier just to drive.

I also thought this was a great idea of Jen's. She's doing sugar-less September! I'm thinking I could stand to have a sweets-less September and join her in her challenge!

We all know I like sugar..a little too much.

Beignets in New Orleans are NOT sugar free. I actually don't think New Orleans knows the definition of sugar free.

Fried twinkies at the mullet festival last year. I've made better decisions in my life.

So I'm not necessarily cutting out sugar completely, but just cutting back. With weddings and travels, I'm sure we'll be eating out more than usual this month, so it will be good to cut back on something and hopefully look good for the wedding! Some rules I'm setting up for myself:

Stevia is still ok for my coffee and some baking
Use sugar as a treat, not an every day event. I don't need to satisfy my sweet tooth with every craving. I want to think of it more as a special treat for a special reason...my cousin gets married, I take my grandparents out for ice cream since I don't see them very often, we've driven for 15 hours and might die...those types of things ;)
Say no to candy in the office!! there is a candy bowl in the waiting room of our office. Did I mention my office is pretty much IN the waiting room? Every time I leave, I walk right past the candy bowl. It's not good. I don't take a piece every time, I don't even take a piece every day, but sometimes that sugar at 3pm is just what I need to make it through until 5. That's gotta go! No more! Hello September! Goodbye Candy Bowl!
Every time I want sugar, try to replace it with something healthy and wholesome. Maybe use a Green Monster to satisfy my sweet tooth. Try eating a piece of fruit in the afternoon for a sugar pick-me-up and pass on the candy bowl. So I'll get more fruits and veggies, more good calories, less bad calories!

I've given up sweets and junk food before. I know the hardest is the first few days, then you stop craving it or thinking about it as much. Hopefully I can last the entire month!

Wedding Music

One thing we're working on this week is some songs for the DJ to play at the wedding reception! I don't listen to the radio very often and my wild and crazy college days of going out ~~every night~~ on weekends are over, so I'm not really on top of the music scene these days! Does anyone have any suggestions? Have you been to any weddings lately and had some songs that got everyone up and dancing? Let me know! Please please please comment some ideas!! If you say the macarana, I will never talk to you again. Thanks guys!! :)

Redecorating...fo' free!

2010-08-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

I would LOVE to redecorate. I've never stayed anywhere for more than a year though. We've lived in this house for a little over a year now, but we have a hunch we might be leaving in the next year or so. We are hoping our next move, when we'll be together, married, and not straight out of college broke as a joke, we can actually put some money into nice furniture and decorations. But since I can't decorate, I love it when our friends redecorate...because we take some of their old things! We got really lucky when one of fiance's coworker's wife decided to redecorate when he was away. That's totally something I would do, so look out fiance! We hadn't seen their things, but fiance knew we had been talking about getting an area rug for awhile and jumped at the opportunity! We have great hardwood floors, and not knowing what kind of flooring we'd have when we moved, we didn't want to spend money on something we might only use for a few months.

It worked out so perfect because his things look like they match our house perfectly! Their size, color, everything looks like we bought them on purpose for our room!

Excuse the slop of things everywhere, we had to shift things around a little bit to put the rug down. The puppy loves the rug! Next investments: coffee table, tv stand or some kind of nice table and maybe mount the tv. I have all kinds of ideas. I fight my urge to revamp the living room on a daily basis, even though Crate and Barrell teases me with emails every day. Why must they torture me so?

Cool lamps, not sure what we can do with them just yet.

Matching rug that is the perfect length and width for our entryway. The entry way could use some kind of table or something better to hang our coats and put our shoes in.

Some cute pictures. We're debating on putting these in the living room, dining room or bedroom. We have very little wall art and what we do have is kind of mix and match so I'm excited to have some wall art...and fo' freeee!

My favorite is a really pretty rug we decided to put in the dining room.

The other stuff I probably wouldn't have picked out for myself, but this I totally would have. It makes the dining room look a lot more formal and it goes great with the room. Next investment might be some kind of hutch or buffet, but again, that depends on what kind of space we have in our next house. So for now, I will live with a mostly empty dining room.

What's that you say? This is a food blog? Oh right, I lost focus. I'm so excited about the new stuff! It's like we went on a shopping spree! and spent $0. Everyone's dream come true right?

Dinner was quick,

Some grilled mahi mahi with grilled asparagus and mushrooms and cous cous. We put Garlic Gold on the mushrooms and asparagus. Fiance is a total Garlic Gold addict now. He took one bite of the asparagus and it looked like he had died and gone to garlic heaven. So good! Just the extra flavor it needed! Don't forget you can check out Garlic Gold and some other products here!

That's sadly all the food I have for you. I might bake later this week, we'll see how it goes.

Do you like redecorating or does it totally stress you out? Do you like our new look?

Weekend Wrap Up

2010-08-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

So this weekend turned from a lazy weekend to a very busy one! I managed to get a good run in on Saturday morning, then fiance and I went shopping! This was probably our first big clothes shopping outing together. Usually if we need something, I'll just run out and get it and leave him at home. He wanted new pants though and I jumped at an excuse to go shop...naturally.

First, after my run, I made green monsters for 2!

Spinach
Almond Milk
Greek Yogurt
Frozen Strawberries
Maca Powder
Strawberry Protein Powder
1 banana

All added in proportions to try to make 2. I didn't have to add too much milk. I stuck with the usual 1 serving of yogurt instead of adding 2 and put in a whole banana, more spinach and a little more strawberries, maca and protein powder. It turned out to make almost enough for 3!

A rainy Saturday so the pics had to be inside, instead of outside in the green that they matched.

So then it was off to Destin to shop! We are lucky enough to live only 20 minutes from the Sandestin Outlets so we have great, fairly cheap shopping. I'm used to making roadtrips to Pittsburgh or Hagerstown, MD to find good shopping, so living here has been quite the shopping treat! Someday I'll be rich enough that I can enjoy it a little more ;)

After shopping we came home, expecting to do nothing on a lazy rainy Saturday but had an impromptu dinner party. I should listen to Sabrina's advise and never make anything new for a dinner party. This was actually going through my head as I searched the kitchen for food to make for our guests. I came up empty handed on enough ingredients for an old trusty treat and ended up digging into our Harry& David's bag. We went into their outlet store looking only for a mid-shopping snack of samples. And came out with some Moose Munch and S'more treat we thought we'd give a try.

It's as easy as mixing and cooking, easy for a quick dessert right?

I mixed up the graham cracker crust

and added the toppings

Tossed it in the oven for 40 minutes

And while it looked delicious, the graham cracker crust fell to pieces. It turned into a brownie with a dusting of graham cracker and marshmallow on top. Next time, a little more butter and making sure I push it together really well before layering. It tasted fine, nothing I'd probably get again, but very glad I had it at the time! It saved the party and gave people something to eat while I submitted them to slave labor of bow tying. Even the male counterparts joined in the fun and tied some bows with us.

The moral of the story: Don't make a new dessert for guests, and always leave your unfinished work out on the kitchen table to entice guests to help you out and therefor, finishing the project (and all the wedding favors) faster than you could have done by yourself! Overall, a successful night!

Yesterday, we football, and tonight is Bachelor Pad so I'm off to fill my mind with trash. Have a good night everyone!

Baby Goes to College

2010-08-29T05:31:00.000-07:00

Well the day was bound to happen someday. Although, I can say, when I was in high school and my youngest brother was just barely in elementary school, I couldn't possibly forsee this day in the future. But yet, here it is. After 26 long years, my parents finally have an empty house.

I grew up with 4 brothers. 1 older, 3 younger. There is only about 7 years between the oldest and youngest so we were all going to soccer together or a group of 2 or 3 of us would all be at the same school at the same time. But then one by one, we moved out.

I left, then my older brother and then the younger ones started trickling out of the house. And last Tuesday, finally, the baby went off to college.

You know, this baby brother who's over half a foot taller than me (I'm pretty tall for a girl at 5'9"ish. think about that)

He started his new life at Duquesne University, where another brother goes, and not far from Pitt in Oakland where another brother is at right now. So he's definitely not alone.

So what does the best big sister in the world do when the baby goes off to college?

Send some things....only the biggest necessities in college. Coffee. Snacks.

All coffee essentials, because sometimes you forget to grab some from the cafeterias on campus and then you're stuck with black coffee while trying to pull an all-nighter. Not that that's ever happened to me. I'm always prepared.

And of course, last weekend we baked treats to go with it all.

Rice crispy treats! Tom's favorite. True or false, he made about 3 more batches with this one and ate like 90% of them in 2 days. That's very true. Someone has a sweet tooth.

And chocolate chip cookies. We love the King Arthur Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. They're the softest and best cookies we make I think, and our cookie repertoire has really improved over the past year, so that says a lot.

What more does a freshman in college need in life? Don't say it! My mom reads this thing! College is great though. I made some of my best friends ever. My best friend, I met our very first day of college. We had some great times. There were definitely some ups and downs, lessons learned, but isn't that the point of growing up? I'd love to go back and relive all the fun, just without the drama.

What were your dorm room necessities? Do you wish you could go back to the cramped dorm room living in order to relive some of Freshman year?

Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

2010-08-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

It's nice sunsets like this in our back yard that make me enjoy the summer time. It rained earlier this evening so the weather was nice and cool and the sunset was perfect! Especially after I had such a fall filled night last night!

I made some Pumpkin Pie Vegan Overnight Oats last night to enjoy the last of the pumpkin can this morning. I still have a few more cans so there will be more pumpkin to come in the near future!

I ran off to work and came home starving. We put dinner in the oven while we went outside to enjoy some of the sunset.

Then came back inside. We sliced up a sweet potato to make some sweet potato chips with honey and cinnamon.

and baked some salmon with Savory Salmon dry rub (from Sam's Club) on it.

It was a great dinner.

and a perfect night to spend doing some more wedding favors! You didn't think I was done did you? We need to buy more ribbon this weekend and hopefully we'll finish up next week!

What's your favorite part of late summer? Mine is definitely all the great vegetables and the weather starting to feel like fall! I also have an unusual love of office products. I used to love going back to school shopping!

You Wish

2010-08-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

You lived at my house tonight. It was quite the night of feasting.

Note: None of this is "diet" food. It is a rare splurge. This splurge of madness is brought to you by....

Pumpkin! Oh pumpkin, how I have missed you. I haven't seen pumpkin in the store in...ohh 8 months or so. I missed it oh so much! I saw it in the store and had to get some! I may have gone a little overboard...

on second thought...you can never go overboard on pumpkin! Yum!

I LOVE fall. I don't think there's any better time of year. I love pumpkin, pumpkin spice lattes, cooler weather, changing leaves, the smell of the leaves, everything. I was so sad last year when I was in Florida all fall long and didn't get to really enjoy it. I'm so excited to go home in a few weeks to get married in the crisp New England fall!

We had a wonderful dinner brewing in the crock pot. Nothing like a big slab of beef after a hard day's work.

With green beans and stuffing. It was so good! We put some Garlic Gold and lemon juice on the green beans. It was a great citrus garlic mix.

And now, what better to do with pumpkin than to make one of my favorite pumpkin treats! I have never attempted making "gobs" but today seemed like the perfect day to try making something new and celebrate the return of pumpkin. Some of you may call them "whoopie pies" but where I'm from, they're called gobs! I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and went at it!

The smell when I first opened the can make it feel like fall in 95 degree heat.

Pumpkin mixed with brown sugar. Nothing is better. I promise you. After it was all mixed, it's as easy as putting it down on a baking sheet. I really thought making them would be a lot more difficult. It was actually as easy as making cookies!

I whipped up some frosting (aka sugar, egg white, and shortening. Nothing I would normally ever try, but like I said, this is a splurge, a rare moment when I didn't replace white flour with spelt or wheat. I made everything as directed, not throwing in chia seeds or almond milk at all. Do not try this at home unless you want pure bliss for a minute or 2 of your life. Moderation!)

And the end result

Pure perfect pumpkin sweet goodness. I split half with fiance, packed up a bunch for him to take to work, froze a few and wrapped up 2 to keep in the fridge for us to snack on the rest of the week. If I didn't immediately freeze, I would have eaten them all in the next 2 days, no question.

Plan ahead for keeping yourself under control when making a full recipe of your favorite treat! I've made the mistake many times of having a full plate of cookies one day, and none the next. And this way, more people get to enjoy them later and we get some in a few weeks! Perfection.

So, do you wish you were at our house tonight now?

I remember running through the wet grass

2010-08-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

I hit the pavement this evening. 2.5 miles, probably the longest I've gone in a few months. Probably since I lived in Philly and used to run Forbiddon Drive in Chestnut Hill with my friend Ashley a few times a week. I love fall because the weather starts to cool down, but it gets darker sooner. Not fun. My 6pm run is almost dusk.

While on my run, I listened to a flashback playlist with a lot of my favorites I haven't heard in awhile. Kanye Stronger was involved. Some All-American Rejects, which used to be my all-time favorite band to run to. And then Better Than Ezra came on and it took me back to high school cross country! I used to play Desperately Wanting before cross country races, it totally pumped me up and kept me going at the end when I definitely was ready to stop. Don't you just love how a good song can make the work out so much better?

Afterwards I came home and scarfed down a strawberry green monster before I even had a chance to take a picture! Fail me. Sorry! It had...

Almost an entire bag of spinach. I kid you not. I'm trying to eat more greens.
Fat Free Greek Strawberry yogurt
About 10 frozen strawberries
A splash of almond milk
1/2 scoop strawberry protein powder
1 tsp maca powder

It was delic. Probably one of the best green monsters I've made. It tasted like strawberry juice.

We cleared off our kitchen table to enjoy dinner.

Mahi mahi grilled with lemon pepper seasoning on it, cous cous and mixed frozen veggies.

Ok, so the table wasn't that clean. There is still ribbon everywhere, but I pushed it out of the way enough to enjoy dinner.

Well, it's time to relax for a bit before bed time.

What's your favorite work out song lately? Have any suggestions for a new playlist??

And then there were ribbons

2010-08-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

Good evening everyone! Today was a rough day back to work. Sooo not in the mood! But alas, I made it in and out alive. Actually, I got to dip out a little early because of working through a few lunches last week. I came home to sit on the couch and relax!

When fiance came home, I bought an excessive amount of candy (not for me) and then came home to make these...

and some of this...

with a raspberry walnut vinaigrette. Delic.

Now fiance is locked up doing school. He's taking classes 4 and 5 of his grad school program. I'm a little nervous about him taking 2 classes this semester. He insists it will be no big deal, but I'm thinking being locked away 3-4 nights a week studying is going to get old quick...probably by Friday. He started part time grad school last fall and he'll be done in less than 2 years now, so he's getting there!

But I won't be lonely, atleast not until after October. I have these keeping me company.

oh ribbon...how I'm starting to hate you. I thought it would add a pretty touch to the favors. I'm started to regret that decision.

Well I'm off to tie some bows and watch the Bachelor Pad. Catch you kids tomorrow ;)

Wedding Favor Making Madness!

2010-08-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has had a good weekend! Ours has been busy but productive!

Yesterday after breakfast we got started on wedding favors. Printing out stickers, putting them on the favors, there were ribbons, paper cuts and much fun had by all. Ok, maybe not fun, but we're completely done with about 15 favors and 2/3 done with the others. I don't want to go into too many details because I want it to be a surprise for the wedding attendees but I hope they all turn out ok!

There were trips to the craft store and many bags later...

We needed a break for food. Due to our lack of interest in cooking, we decided to try somewhere new. We went to Ciao Bella Pizza in Niceville. It's nice, the pizza is very Italian, but better than anywhere else we've been in Niceville for pizza. But nothing too special.

I'm not much of a pizza fan, but this one was pretty good. We got Pizza Del Pastore with wild mushrooms, onions. Gorgonzola cheese, proscuitto, mozzerella and tomato sauce. We also tried Steak Cacciatore sandwich. I hated the sauce, gave it to fiance and stuck with the pizza.

yumm!

This morning we woke up early again. I ran the 1.5 miles I should have done earlier this week. Whoops! At least I got around to it eventually. A quick run to the grocery store and we came home to do more wedding favors. I'm ready for this wedding to be here! It's been a year and a half of planning, I can't wait to see it all come together in 6 weeks!

Dinner tonight we decided to try Tina's Mac and Cheese with Cauliflower. I was a little nervous about it. I'm a plain jane with classic meals like mac and cheese. I thought the onions or parsley would be a little too much for me to handle. But it turned out delicious! I really loved it!

It looked and smelled soo good!

We dug right in.

Really great recipe! If you like cauliflower and mac and cheese, you should definitely try it!

We had to eat at the coffee table since our dining room table is covered in favor making madness.

We're just cool like that. ;) There was a lot more cooking that went on today, but that has to wait for another post because it's a surprise for someone! I'll tell you all about it after I ship it off!

Have you gotten married lately? What was your most exciting wedding project? Have any time saving words of wisdom?

Why can't every morning be Saturday morning?

2010-08-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday morning everyone! I LOVE Saturday mornings. They are the most relaxing day of the week. I love leisurely rolling out of bed. I love the smell of coffee and being able to sit down and enjoy it. I love having the freedom to do whatever I want! Every Saturday is a chance for something new and the possibilities are endless! It is a much needed break from the work week.

So what are your Saturday plans?

This morning I decided to hit the pavement early. And by early, I mean 8:30am because I hate waking up and feeling like I must go-go-go! right away. I wanted to beat the heat, but I wanted to slowly get going. Moral of the story...I probably should have gone an hour earlier. It was fine when I started, but when I finished my 2.5 miles around 9am, it was so hot and humid! I sprinted to shady areas and would walk and enjoy the shade and cool breeze, then go off running again, searching for shade. I finished though and went straight to the yoga mat to stretch it out. 30 minutes of a yoga DVD later and my cold and funk are completely gone. I feel so relaxed and refreshed! Why can't every morning be Saturday morning?

I made up a quick breakfast after yoga.

1 scrambled egg, 2 egg whites+apple+coffee with skim milk and Stevia. My first cup of coffee all week actually! I've been trying hard to cut back on caffeine, but nothing says Saturday morning like a cup of coffee!

In other news, I made my Open Sky shop a little easier to access and added it as a page above. I also added 2 new products so check it out!

Well, we're off. We're 6 weeks from wedding day today. We have favors to finish, programs to figure out, ribbons to cut and tie. We have a couple busy weekends coming up so we want to get as much done as possible! Be back tonight or tomorrow morning with stories of our craft store shopping spree!

Hip Hip Hooray!

2010-08-20T05:38:00.000-07:00

It's Friday! My plans this weekend=SLEEP and knock this cold. I lead such an exciting life. You can be jealous. Actually there is some majahhh baking going down in this house this weekend. It's for a special baby brother who went off to college this week. Hopefully he doesn't check out the blog before he gets his special "baby goes to college" box of fun!

In other news, last night I was supposed to go to dinner with some work friends. I canceled due to the feeling that I was going to pass out at any minute. I came home and fell on the couch. I also was supposed to run 1.5 miles yesterday. I might have to pull a double header on Saturday and Sunday to get my miles in. (Don't I sound like a real runner now? When really, every mile is a struggle. I am such a faker!)

At some point we were digging in the fridge for food and discovered a good number of zucchini on their last leg. I've ran into this problem before and had a failed attempt at zucchini bread. So we tried zucchini muffins instead!

They look very gross when you're mixing them up.

And then 30 minutes later (we made jumbo sized muffins so it took a little longer)

It was Jenna's recipe and Jenna never seems to let me down with her recipes. Going to culinary school must make the difference :)

Much softer and better. I'm taking one for a later morning snack!

This morning I made superfood overnight oats in an attempt to knock out the bad in my body and bring in some good...but then I was running late and slopped it all together into this...

In the mix was overnight oats, I promise. Hidden under a lay of banana soft serve then topped with peanut butter, cacao nibs and dark chocolate chips. In the oats was

1/2 cup rolls oats
1/2 cup almond milk
Goji berries
maca powder
chia seeds
strawberry jam

This morning I whipped up 2/3 banana with about 3 strawberries for some banana soft serve. And inhaled everything, almost the bowl itself, as I flew out the door. 1 more day of work then I can relax and rest up. For another week. Does anyone else feel like it's never ending?

Happy Friday Everyone!

The Food Slump Continues

2010-08-19T05:30:00.000-07:00

The mystery is solved. I believe my food slump is from a variety of things. First of all, it has been raining every second I am not at work for about a week now. I see sunshine out the window while I'm at work, but for some reason, when it hits 5pm, it seems to start raining. Like the weather just knows I can actually leave the building then so it must punish me. Not nice Mr. Weatherman. Second, I realized last night I am not just insanely tired or kind of blah feeling, but I am actually sick with some bug. Last night I just couldn't move. My body aches, my head throbs, my throat scratches, what a mess! I've been chugging tea in hopes of getting better. The show must go on and probably the third reason for my cooking slump is that I must go to work, I must attend this training, and I must suck up my cold, carry some tea bags in my purse for later, and sit through the last day of training. Yuck!

This morning's tea. Some Tazo Calm. yumm! I like anything with rose petals in it though. It makes me feel like I'm drinking something pretty. It's a girl thing.

Last night, I got a special delivery...

I love me some Garlic Gold!

I think I might be adding this to my shop soon! I really liked it but it wasn't what I was expected. It is a vinegar free Vinaigrette so that was interesting. I expected more of a zing from the lemon but it was very mild. Oil and garlic were the dominant flavors. I drizzled some on this salad.

Arugula, feta and walnuts. But I wanted more of a vinegar flavor so I ended up adding some balsamic. I think the Garlic Gold would be amazing cooking with so I'm excited to try it as more than just a dressing.

Have any miracle cold remedies? I'd love one right about now. Have a good Thursday everyone!

Food Slump

2010-08-18T05:18:00.000-07:00

So I'm going through a bit of a food slump. We haven't made anything new in a few days, the same old food is boring me to the point that the smell makes me not hungry and I can't find the motivation to make something new. My days are busy and at night I do my workout and then immediately look for the shower and my bed.

I have been doing really good at keeping up with my workouts, even though I could probably go to sleep immediately after work and sleep all night long. I did 2. 25 miles yesterday. The first mile is starting to feel more comfortable, but beyond that, I need to walk for a minute every 4 or 5 minutes. It took me about the same time to do 2.25 miles as it did to do 2 so I'm walking less and less.

But then there's food....

I made this bowl of oatmeal this morning.

and as soon as I put it in the microwave, I didn't want it anymore. I mixed it around in my bowl, but if I took a picture of it now, about 20 minutes later, it would look almost identical to the original bowl. I know I'll be starving before lunch time and might break and eat crackers or something bad for me that is lying around so I want to eat it to be full and avoid temptation, but I just really don't want it.

Have you ever been in a food slump? What helps you get out of it? Mine seems to be caused by a lack of energy, which kills me creative juices and makes me less interested in cooking in the morning/evenings.

Cookies and Tomatoes

2010-08-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to leave everyone hanging all weekend. It was very very busy and we spent maybe .2 seconds sitting around, which was on Sunday night when we were both exhausted. A quick recap:

Saturday was a pretty great day. We spent the morning with our friend's at Krul Recreation Area in Blackwater River State Park. It has a great swimming area that was fun for our friend's little boy. It was the only cold water I've felt since I've been in Florida so that was very refreshing. We went on a walk around the park area and then fiance and I went in search of other trails. But we got caught in a rain storm and hurried home.

Afterwards, we mowed the lawn, then we headed out for a movie, dinner, barnes and noble trip (probably our favorite store, I swear we go there atleast once a week, even if we don't buy anything) and dessert :) It was very nice and relaxing day. Sorry I don't have many pictures!

Yesterday, fiance surprised me by cooking most of the meals!

Eggs and turkey bacon and some fruit! yum!

Then it was the massive house cleaning of 2010. Our house now shines. No dog hair in the corners, no laundry left undone, no dusty shelves to be seen. When it's all done I wonder why I don't do it more often, but then I look at the clock and realize it took both of us working on it about 5 hours to do. Mystery solved. We weeded out our tomato plants too and I'm thinking we might have some tomatoes soon!

I did do some of the cooking yesterday, but that was only to make cookies. Since I usually cook up a storm on Sundays and make soup or muffins or quick meals for the week and to freeze, I felt bad I hadn't done any of that this weekend. So I made Angela's recipe for Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cookies. They're easily the best vegan cookies I've ever had in my life.

Fiance says I need to triple the batch next time because he could eat them all in one sitting. I threw some chia seeds in there too to mix things up. My advise, make sure you let the chia seeds sit in the wet ingredients for about 5 minutes before mixing together. Mine didn't get saturated enough so they were a little crunchy.

Reading my blog, I think we had done enough for 1 weekend by now, but no, I still had a run to get in. We walked a lot on Saturday but I didn't get my 2 miles of running in. So I just switched the days and decided to run yesterday and count my walking day as Saturday. I set out for a run in the sprinkling rain and finished in about 28 minutes. There was some walking and stretching in there, so I was happy with that. When I came home I was very surprised to see this feast:

I didn't have to lift a finger! Fiance was obviously very hungry so he piled on the carbs. Homemade meatballs, whole wheat pasta, and homemade garlic bread. Yum! With a cookie for dessert that I could hardly fit in my stomach, but the smell of peppermint was still lingering in our house so I couldn't resist.

It was a great weekend and had a blast so it's a little sad to go back to work, but I'm hoping we'll have some fun things to do this week too to mix things up! Have a good Monday everyone!!

Fitness Hurdles and a winner!

2010-08-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone who participated in the Garlic Gold Giveaway! Hopefully I'll have more giveaways in the future for everyone to try some great products so keep checking back!

First off, today is Fitness Friday!

Some of you know I used to be a big runner. For the past 3 weeks I've started back on a mission to become a runner again! I also used to live and breathe basketball. Funny throw back picture moment:

Too funny! I was probably in 7th or 8th grade in the top photo and the bottom one was maybe 5th or 6th?

Moving on, I've found my workouts still really really challenging. I have a hard time running for more than 1/2 mile before I need to walk for a minute or 2. I've gone about 2 miles now and tried to run 4 days a week, atleast for 1 mile. It's definitely not coming to me as easily as it did when I was 16. I guess that's partly because I'm 10 years older, but I wish it would get to the point that it is comfortable for atleast a mile or 2. But it's only been 3 weeks. I still have a long way to go. I'm hoping it gets better!

Have you starting a new sport or activity that's been really challenging for you? What helps you get past the fitness hurdle?

Now because I know you're all excited...the winner of the Garlic Gold Giveaway is...

Thanks Erica! You should have some Garlic Gold at your home soon!

I hope everyone is having a great Friday! What are you weekend plans?

Practically Fried Okra

2010-08-13T06:15:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by Kath's Better-Than-Fried Okra, as I am with a lot of her healthy recipes. I saw okra in the store, and now being a resident of the south, I thought it would be fit if I tried it. It was similar to my bok choy experiment. Okra is a food I may have tried once? I've definitely never cooked it before though. Everyone in the south seems to be big fans, so I figured it was best to give it a shot!

Okra is not very photogenic. But we chopped away. We were going to go with Kath's recipe, but then realized our corn meal went bad...in 2009. So we had to work with what we had...and because it was nearing 7pm and I was hungry! We scrambled an egg with some milk and dipped the okra in it. Then dipped them in bread crumbs.

It was a msesy job, but somebody had to do it.

I drizzled on some olive oil and sea salt and popped them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

The okra was delicious! It was crispy from the oil but a much healthier option than frying them up in a bath of oil right? Just humor me and tell me I made the right decision. I like okra a lot I've decided. It's not quite on the list of all-time favorite veggies, but I would not turn away from it if I saw it on a menu.

For the rest of dinner we had salmon and noodles.

It was quite the feast!

Don't forget about the Garlic Gold giveaway! It ends today at 5pm EST!

OJ Challenge + Giveaway!

2010-08-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

I was feeling like my stomach was doing carthweels all night last night. Rather than cook or work out, we mostly just layed around all evening long. Lazy, I know. But sometimes you need a night like this. It was just what I needed to get me through the rest of the busy work week!

This morning, my fiance, knowing my love (read: obsession) for coffee told me he think I would die if I went without it.

Enter, one cup of OJ.

I will take your bet, fiance! And I'll show you! I don't need coffee in my life! I like having it, but I don't need it! He thinks I'll be grouchy and snippity this afternoon and have headaches from withdrawal. I have always insisted, while I adore coffee, I try to keep it under the suggested 300mg of caffeine a day, so under 2 cups of coffee a day. He thinks I sneak coffee and caffeine throughout the day. There are days when I may have a cup of coffee and a glass of iced tea or some dark chocolate. So there may be days I dance with the 300mg boundary. But that's rare. Typically it's about 1 1/2 cups of coffee a day. Half a cup before work, 1 cup at work. End day.

I've found other ways to keep my energy level up, which is why I think I've been drinking less and less coffee. I honestly, drink it more for the flavor now than anything. Nothing says morning to me more than a cup of coffee.

I actually have a good guidance counselor friend who has had a fun lazy summer of getting married, vacationing in Jamaica, laying out all afternoon in the sunshine, and only working at her school part time. Now the school year is coming up, she wants to keep up the good workout routine she's started the past few months, but she feels exhausted at the end of the day. My advice for a caffeine free, energy filled day: ( Please note, I am not a nutrition counselor or RD. My advise is only from my personal experiences. This is what works for me, it may not work for others, it's best to listen to your body and seek professional help if you feel you need more guidance)

I always get my 8 hours of sleep. It's a priority to me. I know there will be days when I can't get that, but as long as I have a pretty consistent sleep routine when I can, it helps for not just that day, but many days down the road.
And then, there is the greatness of greens. The more greens I eat, the better I feel all day long. A green monster in the evenings after a workout keeps me going til bed time. You can even make one pretty quick for the AM for a breakfast on the go option! I try to add maca powder to my green monsters. I notice a huge difference in my energy level when I eat maca powder regularly. I'm not trying to push you all to use it, it's just something I've used and found it has had a lot of great benefits...if you can ignore the taste.
The season regulates if I can workout in the morning here in Florida. In the winter, there's more sunshine in the morning, it's not humid or a big deal to work out in the morning. In the summer it's about a million times more humid in the mornings than in the evenings. A morning workout can get your body moving. For others who would rather work out in the evenings a great morning wakeup is yoga! I do yoga in the mornings when I need a pick-me-up. It stretches me out, keeps my stress level down and helps me slowly ease into my day and keep my energy up all day long! It's usually just a 30 minute DVD, not an intense yoga workout, but it's gets you moving!

I hope this helps some of you! I know I had a hard time when I first started in the "working world" with having the energy to do anything else after working 8-12 hours most days. I took extra hours to get some extra cash and felt really burnt out after only about a year of working full-time. I've found some things that have worked for me and made my days a lot better and more enjoyable!

Now, I promised everyone a giveaway! To celebrate Open Sky I thought it'd be a good opportunity for one lucky reader to get to try one of the products I'm selling on the shop.

I will send you this Garlic Gold sampler pack! All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what helps you keep your energy up all day long without caffeine! Want an extra chance to win? "Like" my facebook group and then write me a comment letting me know that you did (or that you already do!). You can get one more chance by following me on twitter @emilytara and again, leave me a comment letting me know! Make sure to include your e-mail address. I'll pick a winner tomorrow evening at 5pm EST! Good Luck everyone!

If you're too anxious and want to buy some Garlic Gold right now you can go here! And don't forget about that 25% off with EXCITE25!

The Little Things + Giveaway

2010-08-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone. Because I love you all so much, I have a great giveaway for you!

Coming up tomorrow morning! Oh what a teaser!

I was talking to some friends today about our favorite things. Obviously, food is one of my favorite things, but there's a lot more to my life and I thought it'd be a fun afternoon to look at some of my favorite things through pictures!

I love beaches and the ocean

Especially at sunset, and especially when someone is asking me to marry him (cliche, I know but it's my favorite, he knew it, he did good!)

and drinking from coconuts on the beach

Obviously, this guy is one of my favorites

I used to love this car...

Then someone tried to steal it and screwed up the ignition. Sadly, we had to get rid of Betty last year. There's been a hole in my heart ever since.

I love DC, especially on the 4th of July

and Pittsburgh

I love Penn State

and Virginia Tech

I love my job as professional bridesmaid

but why do all of my friends make me wear green?

I also love being the only girl helping the guys get ready for a wedding

and baby sitting cute nephews of the bride

I love having a big family

and I really love cake.

What are your favorite things?

Crazy like Foie Gras

2010-08-11T05:32:00.000-07:00

I'd love to say I lead a very exciting life. That is obviously why I started the blog. That's not true at all though. Some days are just down right boring. I get up, I work, I come home, workout, eat dinner, watch the season finale of Hell's Kitchen. End Day.

Dinner was prepared by fiance while I was running.

Whole wheat 3-cheese tortellini.

With a side salad of spinach, onions, feta, and some salad topper fruit and nut mix with a little raspberry vinaigrette.

It was delicious. And good job Holli for winning Hell's Kitchen! I really thought Jay had it, I was very surprised at the end. It almost made me want to cook something crazy like foie gras. Then I remembered I'm far from a chef. But it'd be fun to try some day!

I wish I had more exciting stories to tell you. I hope everyone is checking out the Open Sky store! Don't forget 25% off until Monday with code EXCITE25! Let me know what you think of Open Sky if you do end up getting something! Have a good Wednesday!

Open Sky Grand Opening!

2010-08-10T08:02:00.000-07:00

I hope you are all as excited as I am about this! I think it'll be a great opportunity to make this blog more interactive. It'll allow you, my dearest readers, to buy some of the products I use and love. Hopefully it will help you create some of my recipes, or follow me along in a workout and share tips and tricks a long the way! My ultimate goal of my blog is to make this an open forum for people to share their stories, motivate each other, and help everyone reach their goals! Open Sky's mission to make buying and selling more personal really spoke to me and I'm really happy to be a part of it!

So without further ado, my store!

I'm starting out with 2 products I've used and LOVED. The store will grow as I start to get feedback from everyone and as I keep trying new things that I want to share!

First off, Caftea Campire S'mores Coffee!

I got this from Tina's Open Sky a few weeks ago. I am a coffee addict. I am also a huge fan of s'mores! I was worried when I ordered it that it would be super sweet and the s'more flavor might overpower my beloved coffee flavor. It is very sublte though. Just enough of both flavors. I was really impressed and really enjoy this flavored coffee!

The next product I got when I traveled home to Pennsylvania in the beginning of July. I was so excited to try it, I even took it out with me since I was planning on getting dinner out that night with friends.

I've used it when cooking several times and it's become a staple in the kitchen! If you like garlic, it's a must have. It adds so much more flavor. I've tried a few similar products and they just don't come close to the quality of Garlic Gold.

And now, the best news. I am a girl who can't say no to a discount. If you buy a product on Open Sky between now and August 16 you get 25% off! All you have to do is use the code EXCITE25! I'd love to chat with you all more, but I'm off to go shopping on Open Sky! I'll be back this afternoon after work, a 2 mile run, and figuring out what's for dinner...hmm...any suggestions??

Bok Choy Stir Fry

2010-08-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

So what does one do with bok choy? I was at a stand still in the grocery store. Staring aimlessly at a variety of greens, most of which I've never used. I was struck by the funny name and suddenly determined to buy bok choy, but as soon as I got in the car, happy as a clam with my recent purchase, I was perplexed with what one might do with it? Or better, what is it?

My discovery...it's kind of like cabbage.What did we do in the days before Wikipedia? I remember no internet, but I'm not sure what I did when I had a problem or question. Do kids even use encyclopedias these days?? I digress.

So we decided to make a stir fry with the bok choy and other random veggies that were going bad. The end result was absolutely delicious. Luckily, I had a lot of random asian sauces and oils in my pantry from an attempt at pad thai a few months ago. As soon as we set our frying pans to medium though, I was stumped again. How do you cut bok choy??

I went with a standard chop method. Is that even right? I'm not sure. The show must go on.

Bok Choy Stir Fry

EVOO
sesame oil
soy sauce, sugar
fish sauce (it was really a haphazard of mixing at this point)
garlic
ginger powder.

I wish I had exact measurements for you, but it was more of a feel. And it would really vary depending on the amount of veggies you add. The veggies:

Broccoli
About 10 mushrooms
3 heads of bok choy
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
3/4 onion left over from last nights salad

We cooked up shrimp on the side. Then we mixed it all together, made some cous cous to go on the side and we got this!

yummm!

That is steam from delicious, straight off the fryer goodness.

I really like the taste of bok choy. It does taste a lot like cabbage. The flavors in the sauce went really really well with it too.

Perfect dinner after a 1.25 mile run. Today was just an extra day I threw in of running. Tomorrow is 2 miles, according to my plan. I still struggle a lot on my runs, it's not coming as easy as I thought it might be on week 3, but I'm still trudging along. I thought I'd throw in some extra miles this week to hopefully get into more of a rhythm.

What did you have for dinner tonight? Have you ever tried bok choy? Have any recipes you use it with you'd like to share?

Check out more great bok choy recipes here!

Bok Choy

OPEN SKY opens tomorrow on my blog! Please please please swing by to see what is in the store! Not only that, but I have a great discount for everyone! Get excited!! I hope you all fall in love with Open Sky the way I have!!

The secret to a good cup of coffee

2010-08-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday everyone! I tried something today that may change my life. I make coffee at home or at work to save money. I practically never get coffee out. When I do I'm always so jealous of how great it tastes. But today, I solved the puzzle. Freshly grinding the beans before brewing makes all the difference in the world! Now as I sit here sipping on my Mountain Moonlight organic, fair trade, freshly ground and brewed coffee I'll tell you about our day yesterday.

It started out like any other day in Florida. It was sunny. Then it rained. And this cycle continued all day long, making it nearly impossible to do anything. We attempted cutting the grass and trimming the hedges but we got about half way through the front yard before a downpour. We were planning on having a picnic. We went to the store, bought all of the goods, came home, saw more thunder and lightening and just gave up our hopes and dreams and settled for fiance experimenting on how to make the best steak ever. I did not object.

He sat down with his Mastering the Grill for nearly an hour, taking the steak out of the fridge, making sure it was room temperature, pre-heating the grill, doing everything that I'm usually too lazy or too hungry to mess with. Who has 30 minutes after working all day to sit and wait for the steak to be room temperature? Not I. I kept myself busy in the kitchen though preparing a salad and baked potato. For probably under $10 we had a meal that would cost you atleast $30 out on the town. The end result was well worth the wait!

Isn't that one big piece of steak? Neither of us could eat it all.

and my delicious salad. Dried cranberries, walnuts, onions, feta and spinach tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette. I decided next time I'm making my own dressing though because it was pretty bland. But overall it was still good!

Hope everyone has a good Monday! :)