Lunch in the Garden Can Boost Your Mood

Hello everyone. I had an awesome afternoon today. My team went out to lunch at a local botanical garden. I just love my job!

I was so extremely tired before lunch, but then when we arrived at the gardens, I seemed to perk up – and wake up – a little. It’s funny how your environment can affect your mood like that. I mean, how can you not be happy and inspired by all of this color…

flower

Definitely no grey gardens here!

Before venturing into the garden for a quick stroll, we ate at the little garden cafe. Although the cafe has a very limited menu, what they serve is all natural and the produce is all organic. Even the plates and utensils are environmentally friendly – they’re all biodegradable. 

For lunch, I had a very tasty grilled veggie panini made with portobello mushrooms, roasted peppers, tomato, and goat cheese on focaccia bread. The presentation of the food was quite lackluster – it was served in a cardboard holder – but the panini made up for it.

lunch1

The sandwich came with a few crinkle chips, but I only ate a few. I wanted to save more room for the yummy sammy!

lunch2

After lunch, we headed into the gardens and they were amazing! They reminded me of gardens I had seen in Europe. We only spent about 20 minutes there, but I was still able to get some great shots.triangle garden

flower2

It was a beautiful day to take in all of the sites at the garden. And, I just love sneaking in exercise on my extended lunch hour. It makes the day go by so much faster and I burn a few calories too!

Although I was pretty full from my panini, I wanted a little somethin’ somethin’ in the afternoon. So, for a quick treat, I ate the lemon pound cake that I saved from my trip to the gardens.

Lemon pound cake

It was so lemony and sweet! It tasted a lot like Ina Garten’s yogurt lemon cake recipe, which I absolutely love.

I was still a little full by the time I arrived home from work at 6 PM, so I had a lighter dinner than I planned.

Dinner1

It was a simple dinner of roasted veggies, with about 1 cup pasta with marinara sauce. I also added 3/4 of an Italian sausage for protein and spicy flavor.

I have a few more things to get finished tonight, so gotta run! Have a great night all.

Feta Makes Everything Taste Better

Hello All. Hope you had an awesome day today. We’re having quite a few meetings at work this week, of which I’m only involved in one. But in our office, where there is a meeting there is always FOOD! And today was no exception. 

I originally brought leftover chicken stir fry for lunch, but was actually glad when I discovered we were having a catered lunch today. Hmmm…so many choices…what did I have?

Sandwich

Surprisingly, I chose a make-your-own sandwich over the salad. For some reason, a sandwich just sounded better today. I packed my sandwich with oven-roasted chicken, huge beefsteak tomatoes, and a couple of thin slices of cheddar cheese, all on rye bread (it was the best option available). I also added a few veggies as a side dish…Roasted Veggies

Char-grilled veggies to be exact. The veggies, including red and green peppers, asparagus, and carrots, were extremely flavorful. The sandwich was also very tasty but I ended up only eating half. I was starting to get pretty full so I thought it was best to stop.

And, I wanted to leave room for an afternoon treat…

Choc chip square

A chocolate chip square! It was about the size of a golf ball (3-4 bites) and had mini chocolate chips, finely chopped nuts, and even caramel mixed in. It was a cross between a blondie and a chocolate chip cookie. Super yum, and super sweet! I enjoyed it with some peppermint tea to balance out the sugar.

After viewing video timecodes for most of the afternoon, I decided to call it quits around 5:15 and head out. Tonight was a fast dinner. One that doesn’t take a lot of preparation or thought. But, it was still homemade and still quite tasty.

Sausage and Risotto

I prepared Italian sausage on our indoor grill (I still can’t seem to figure out how to use our Weber grill- my husband’s pride and joy). I also made a side of spinach risotto and threw in a few cherry tomatoes for myself. My husband does not care for chunks of tomatoes (yet he likes salsa, so that’s just weird) so he gives them all to me.

I added a little Trader Joe’s feta cheese to my risotto which really gave the dish some tang. Feta, a popular Greek cheese, has a ton of flavor so you don’t have to add very much to enhance your dish. And, I have to hand it to the Greeks. Feta seriously makes everything taste better. I add it to just about anything I can – salads, pastas, rice, veggies, and more. It’s also loaded with calcium which is very important for a runner – especially one who has osteoporosis running in her family.

Ok, enough with my feta fetish, I have a few more things to accomplish before bed. See you in the AM!

Enjoy Dessert In a Martini Glass

I was really on a roll this afternoon – but I still have a ton more to accomplish this week. 

A few hours after lunch I was feeling a bit hazy from staring at the computer screen. I woke myself from the trance with a little snack. I nibbled on a few thin pieces of Tillamook’s Vermont White Cheddar Cheese. As “block” cheeses go, this is one of my and my husband’s favorites. I put the cheese on this baby!

Kracker

You might think this is just a cracker but really this is no ordinary cracker, it’s a Dr. Kracker flatbread piece – Sunflower Cheddar flavor. If you’ve never had Dr. Kracker flatbreads, they are organic crackers made with spelt flour (wheat-free flour) and all-natural ingredients. The crackers are huge, so at 105 calories-3 g fiber, one is sufficient.

Dr. Kracker

Although they are expensive, I prefer this cracker over all others because the flavor is amazing. And, the cracker is so sturdy you can load just about anything on it, from cheese to dips, and from meats to salsa. They also have to be the crunchiest cracker I’ve ever eaten.

Dr. Kracker Ingredients

I’ve seen Dr. Kracker products at Whole Foods Markets and Fresh Market, but I’ve also heard that Costco sells them – I’m still searching for them in their miles of aisles! Plus, if you’ve ever been to Jason’s Deli, they have individually wrapped Dr. Kracker crackers in their salad bar. I always snag one extra for a work snack the next day.

For dinner, I finished the homemade chicken and rice soup that I made on Saturday. It was probably a little too warm out for soup but who am I to let good, healthy food go to waste?

Chicken soup

I enjoyed the soup with a side of 12-grain artisan bread from Fresh Market, with a little of the dynamic duo – Trader Joe’s olive oil and balsamic vinegar. So yummy!

Bread-oil

With just a small bowl of soup and a little bread in my belly, I left plenty of room for dessert. I finished off the chocolate peanut butter ice cream in the freezer (about 1/2 cup) and had mixed feelings about seeing the bottom of the carton. I was sad to see it was gone, but happy that it would not be in my house anymore!

Chocolate PB ice cream

This time, I enjoyed the ice cream in a martini glass. That may seem a little eccentric, but my husband and I have a load of glassware that we received for our wedding that has basically gone untouched since we put it in our cabinets. I often wondered why we were waiting for a big dinner party or the president to come for dinner to use our fun glassware. So, I decided to live on the edge a little and use our fancy stemware –  martini, margarita, and wine glasses –  for everyday use during meals. Also, these glasses are typically smaller than regular drinking glasses and much smaller than bowls (such as those for ice cream). So it’s really difficult to overfill them, a technique that helps you eat less but enjoy what you do have to the fullest.

Besides – chocolate ice cream in a martini glass – now who wouldn’t drink to that!