Woah-Heat Wave!

Holy Heat Wave!

If you're reading from the Northeast, you know exactly what I'm talking about! We've got a serious heat wave going on over here! I can't complain too much though, I do spend a great deal of time inside with the comfort of air conditioning.

This week past week and current one, like most this summer, have been busy ones indeed! I've been working quite a bit lately and have also been keeping myself busy on the weekends. (Sorry about the lack of posts!)

I had a great picnic this weekend with my good friend Serena from school. Isn't she gorgeous?

Check out our awesome spread! We each made sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly on a TJ's sandwich thin, and hummus-turkey-lettuce-feta on my favorite cinnamon raisin bread) as well as a plethora of veggies, fruit, and some homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I've been experimenting quite a bit these days with my cookie recipes trying to get a really good one to enjoy as a treat as well as with my breakfasts. Let's be real, there's no better way to start the day than with a cookie! ;)

I've had some pretty great eats this week. The highlight being a HUGE pancake I made for myself on Monday morning. Guys, seriously, you need to make this!

Recipe:
-1/3 cup whole wheat pancake mix
-1/3 cup milk
-1 egg
-lots of cinnamon
-1/4 tsp vanilla

Toppings:
-1 sliced banana
-PB&Co. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl heated with milk to make a thin glaze.

Wow. This was great! And kept me full all the way until lunch! I'm definitely going to be recreating this one soon!

Some other random eats:
Always a winning snack: an apple with peanut butter (crunchy is my favorite!)

Some dinners: above--sauteed zucchini and onions topped with whole wheat rotini and tomato pasta sauce. Below--whole wheat pita filled with my leftover salad from Pump Energy Kitchen which included mixed greens, turkey breast, edamame, carrots, cucumbers, and some other goodies I can't remember. This was topped with feta cheese and my Dad's homemade steak sauce! You know the stuff!

Below--a huge salad with veggies from the garden! Nothing fresher and more organic than vegetables grown in your own garden :) topped with some Morning Star breakfast links, salsa, and a whole wheat bun top with Kingsbury sauce.

 Breakfasts--cereal bowl with blueberries and strawberries.

 Oatmeal mess with cashew butter and blueberries.

YIABowl! With strawberries and blueberries, and then topped with one of my experiment peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bites. So good!

I picked up a box of Barbara's Shredded Spoonfuls Multigrain to try since I'm running low on my favorite Flax Plus. I've already had 10 a couple of handfuls, yeah it's that good! I can't wait to try it tomorrow morning for breakfast! I've got a couple of over ripe bananas to use, so I'm thinking a banana cereal bowl for breakfast. Although... I've been craving some banana bread since seeing The Fitnessista's Baller Banana Bread! Ahh decisions decisions decisions!

I guess you'll just have to check back in this weekend to see what I'm up to in the kitchen and what I end up making! :) Until then, goodnight!

First Feeding

As per usual, this week was a beast. Thankfully, it was only a 4-day beastly week since this past Monday was 4th of July. Happy 4th of July by the way! :) Mine was pretty good, eve though I didn't get to spend it with my family. I won't even mention the copious amount of food I ate that day, it's a little embarrassing. Ha.

Anywho! This week was pretty busy with work and my internship but I did manage to meet up with a friend for dinner during the week which was great. We got to talk about our upcoming semester in Madrid, where I'll be studying abroad in the fall--I'm super exited! More details to come!

I also got to meet up with my great friend from school, she just got back from Barcelona the other day so of course we had to lots to catch up on!

Some of this weeks eats:

This is continuously a great cereal combo--Nature's Path Flax Plus, a crumbled homemade banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, cinnamon, blueberries, and milk. Usually this is what I like to have for breakfast on the weekends because it's harder to bring on the train to eat, but I recently discovered how I can eat it on the train and so this will definitely be making more of a breakfast comeback!

 I love apples with sunflower seed butter. Period. So. Good.

 First pancakes of the summer! Gosh, I wish I had enough time in the morning every morning to make myself whole wheat buttermilk blueberry pancakes. Yeah, say that 5 times fast. Topped with peanut butter cinnamon raisin sauce (PB&Co. CNPB and milk heated in the microwave).

 Wow. Just wow. I love these pita pockets. I filled these with a little bit of left over bolognese sauce, fresh from the garden lettuce, green beans, and cherry tomatoes, and feta cheese. Then I placed them in a skillet to heat it all up a bit and get the pita a little crispy on the outside. Delicious!

I'm really loving veggie burgers these days, like really loving them. BOCA, Dr. Prager's, Amy's. You name it! Dr. Praeger's Curry veggie burgers are awesome. You should have one. Above is a whole wheat hamburger top with a BOCA Flamed Grilled Burger topped with a delicious salsa and some carrots and cherry tomatoes on the side. There were more veggies on the side but I got hungry while preparing dinner and about half of them disappeared. Woops :)

So today was the highlight of my week! One of my coworkers is Hindu and was having his son's First Feeding celebration today. He invited all of us from work to attend and join him in celebrating his son's first official bite of solid food! I was so honored to be invited to this event, I absolutely love learning about and experience new things from different cultures. It was great to meet some of his family and enjoy some homemade Indian food (my favorite!)

This was only the first plate of three. Yeah, I went all out today. I mean it's Indian food, can you blame me?

Isn't this the absolute most beautiful baby boy you've ever seen? I wish I had a better quality picture, but you'll just have to believe me when I say that this little boy has the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen.

That's Rana and his son! So precious!

Today was a wonderful day spent with friends and great food! Tomorrow starts off another week but I'm excited to see what's in store!

July 1?!

How is it already July?! Someone please tell me where June went! My goodness, this summer is passing me by a little more quickly than I would have liked. Non-the-less, I can't say I've been sitting around doing nothing, which is perhaps why I find myself face-to-face with July 1.

This week was a little rough, and by rough I mean, I didn't want to go to my internship in the afternoon and sit at a desk while it was a gorgeous 85F outside.

I mean really, can you expect me to stay inside (without a window!) when Bryant Park looks like this? No. That's what I thought too, so I stayed here for the remainder of my day :) Perfection.

Later on Wednesday evening I met up with some friends who are also staying in the city this summer for a wonderful dinner down in Soho. We decided on Gaia Italiano Cafe, a cute little cafe on East Houston Street. It was truly rustic Italian--fresh ingredients, native staff, and warm hospitality. Right up my alley!

They're known for their paninis so you know I had to try one of those! I've gotten on a tomato kick so I went with the "Bubi Panini"; mozzarella di bufala, chopped cherry tomatoes, and basil on top of their freshly baked panini bread. It was delicious.

 My only complain was that there was a little too much olive oil, where it was dripping on my hands and lingering on my lips (in a not good way). But other than that the whole experience was great! It was wonderful to meet up with my friends again, I miss them!

Earlier this week, my best friend from home sent me a care package. She hit the nail on the head with this one. Truly out of the park. She knows me so well and sent me such good treats. She knows how much I love my "bars" and sent me (new to me) one to try from Nature's Path.

Pumpkin and Spice! I've been meaning to try this flavor for a while but thought I should wait until it was "pumpkin season". Foolish me, good thing my friend wasn't thinking this! :) It was so good! Just the right amount of sweet and salty. I loved the addition of the pumpkin seeds and flax seeds. I'm so glad I tried this and can't wait to buy a box of them soon!

Some other eats of this week:

 A sliced apple with a (hidden under there) slice of toasted Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin (my favorite!!!) bread topped with cashew butter and more sprinkled cinnamon. Because let's be real, can you ever have enough cinnamon?
About cashew butter, I bought a jar about 5 weeks ago and have been slowly using it. It's not my favorite, but it's growing on me. It definitely has a distinctive cashew taste though...hmmm...duh, Cindy! :P

One of my favorite cereal combos: Nature's Path Flax Plus Mutligrain, Cascadian Farms Multigrain Squares, blueberries, and milk!

YIAJ--Chobani plain greek yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, and lots of cinnamon! Kinda wish I put some sunflower seed butter in there, but at the time, it just didn't seem like it would be a good combo with strawberries...now I know :)

This was lunch at work the other day: a slice of 7-grain toast, roasted broccoli, mini salad with tomato slices, chick peas, cous cous, parmesan cheese, and cottage cheese. Delicious. I also had an unpictured kiwi. I love kiwi--such a good summer fruit!

I've also been doing a lot of reading, which I absolutely love. I just finished "The Kite Runner" and started reading "Water for Elephants" yesterday morning--I'm almost finished! It such a great read, albeit sad, but apparently I'm into that right now? ("The Kite Runner", "Revolutionary Road"...)

I've got another early morning tomorrow but then Sunday and Monday off for the holiday! Yippee--the first "weekend" I've had yet this summer :) I'm hoping to get some more reading in and lay out in the sun for a health dose of summer color.

Happy (early) Fourth of July!