Sundays

There are many reasons why I love this time of year: the holidays, sleeping in when it’s cold and I’m buried beneath layers and layers of blankets, making a fire at home, jumping into the hot tub when it’s freeeeezing at night and Sunday football. I LOVE football season. It’s a tradition at our house now to spend Sundays on the couch in our robes with laptops and dogs by our side while we watch the games and share a cup of coffee and yummy snacks. In other words, it’s a great excuse to be lazy

Thought I’d whip up a good breakfast this morning. Eggs + cream + spinach + sausage + cheese + leftover avocado sauce from a Mexican meal we had a couple nights ago. Cook on the stovetop as you would any omelette, but finish it off in the oven set at 425 degrees. I used convection bake for a quicker blast of heat and left it in there for about 4 minutes.

…and this thing We spend Sundays snuggling on the couch together.

Hump Day juice

Happy hump day! I kicked off the morning with kale / cucumber / ginger / lemon juice and am feeling sooooo good. I can’t believe I ever ditched juicing; I forget how good it is for you! I clocked in about 9 hours of sleep last night (shocker) after listening to this meditation CD that was recommended by my yoga teacher. All I remember is laying in bed listening to the CD and then it was 7:30am. No asthma attack in the middle of the night either yay!

Bfast

This is turning out to be my favorite breakfast. Almond milk (I’ve ditched the soy) + Ezekiel almond cereal + banana + raisins. Washed it down with some leftover Starbucks coffee.

Saturday morning

Saturday morning involves hiking with the dogs, farmers market and this! Almond butter waffles with banana and maple syrup and fresh juicy honeydew melon from farmers market. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Breakfast in a Baby Le Creuset

How cute is this baby Le Creuset skillet? Apparently this style is discontinued but we scored a new though somewhat scuffed one from eBay. It measures 6 inches diameter and is so adorable. I made a fluffy omelette (farmers market eggs, fresh tomatoes from our garden, dried basil, parmesan cheese) in it today.

Waffles

I’ve been making these banana-topped-maple syrup-laden waffles lately for Chris’ breakfast. Do you like my new acacia wood plate? I just purchased it from Amazon

Green Juice!

Great way to start the morning: kale/celery/lemon/ginger/apple juice

Kicking the day off with farmers market/yoga/dog walking/WORK!

Breakfast!

Watermelon/cucumber/lemon/ginger juice

Followed by Ezekiel cereal, almond milk and bananas. YUM!

Waffles

Seriously. How could you NOT want to eat this for breakfast?

Recipe found here.

Healthy Italian Omelette

Working from home definitely has its luxuries: I take pilates sessions at noon when the studio is empty and quiet, I can run errands whenever I need without having to “clock out”, I work with my dogs at my feet and, oh, I get to watch Dr. Oz at 4pm! Yes, I’ve become addicted to Doc Oz and find myself glued to the TV set to see what health news he is going to share.

Yesterday’s episode focused on gallstones, which was horrific and intriguing all at once. Inspired to eat a little healthier, I whipped up a nice Italian omelette for Chris this morning (no meat!) and it was delicious.

Ingredients: 2 egg whites + 1 egg yolk, handful of spinach, one tomato chopped (I used a San Marzano from our veggie garden), ricotta cheese, salt + pepper, a tiny bit of olive oil

What to do: Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. In a non-stick pan, saute a handful of spinach in a little bit of olive oil and season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Add the chopped tomato and cook a little bit more. Whisk the eggs together and then pour over the spinach and tomato. Add a few dollops of ricotta cheese and then transfer the pan to the top shelf of the oven. Let it bake for 5 minutes or less (watch it, depending on your oven). Remove from oven and add a few more dollops of the ricotta cheese.

Enjoy!

This is for you, Nikki!

One of my childhood best pals, Nikki, who I met when I was just nine years old and living in Hong Kong came to visit LA this past weekend. I haven’t seen this girl in 15 years! And it was like nothing ever changed between us…we chatted like we had just seen each other yesterday. That’s how you know that you’re great friends. You don’t have to see each other often, but when you do, it’s like nothing has changed.

Nikki randomly found my blog last year (ps: she lives in Hong Kong) through someone else’s blogroll and has been a dedicated reader ever since. So when I saw her this past weekend, one of the first things she said was “You need to update your blog!” I agree. I haven’t touched this thing in ages so this post is just for her! And it’s about what to do with leftover hamburger buns…um, make a breakfast sandwich, hello! Scramble some eggs, throw on turkey and cheese and heat in pan panini-style.

Mexican Breakfast Sandwich

So my fiance – whoa! so fun saying that – LOVES mexican food. Our first meal consisted of leftover tacos on Monday Night Football I usually make him a few breakfast sandwiches during the week before work as my standard go-to breakfast item, but I thought I’d do something a little different this morning and incorporate his favorite white corn tortillas. Here is how you do it:

Pizza di Spaghetti

Thank you Giada de Laurentiis for coming up with this brilliant recipe! I made this for breakfast and it was so delicious I made it again for dinner (spaghetti update: we now only have 1/2 a container left…it’s the final stretch!) I added more parmesan because I wanted it to be extra gooey and tasty.

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2cup grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnishing
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups leftover spaghetti with olives and tomato sauce, recipe follows
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Add leftover spaghetti and combine well.

In a large 10-inch non-stick skillet, heat extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add spaghetti and egg mixture, spreading evenly and pressing down in pan. Cook until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Carefully invert onto plate, add a little more oil to the pan, and slide mixure back into skillet and cook the other side for 6 minutes. Turn out onto serving platter and cut into wedges and serve warm.

Breakfast For Him: Berries + Eggs

Farmer’s market fresh. That’s the only way to go when you’re dealing with eggs and fruit.

Breakfast For Him

I’ve been making breakfast for him almost every morning for as long as I can remember and yes, I DO love doing it. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right? And how hard is it to make a simple breakfast sandwich: wheat bread, a bit of mayo, organic sliced turkey, cheddar slice…all pressed into a panini (I use our teakettle and let it sit on top of the sandwich to press it down). I usually scramble the eggs but this AM I fried the egg, so you’ll see the yolk kind of oozing out a little bit.

I know this is a great way to start his day

Breakfast of Champs

Ah, the breakfast sandwich, how I love thee. Especially when you’re flattened panini-style. Something about pressing a sandwich takes it from sub-par to amazing, even if it just holds two eggs, a slice of havarti cheese and a piece of bacon. Oh, not to mention the slight smear of chipotle mayo in there.

- 1 large piece of white sourdough bread, cut in half
- 1 slice of havarti cheese (or any cheese that you prefer)
- 1 tablespoon chipotle mayo or just regular mayo (or none!)
- 2 eggs
- 1 slice of bacon

*Heat the pan to medium and cook your bacon slice until it’s nice and crisp. Drain the fat on a paper towel and pour out the remaining grease from the skillet into a paper cup (for it to cool down so you can throw it away.) Do not wipe up the grease from the pan. This is what will make your eggs taste so darn good – bacon grease (I know, super unhealthy but we eat this way once in blue moon so don’t judge).

*Scramble the two eggs into the remaining bacon fat. Set aside.

*Spread your bread slices with the mayo and assemble the sandwich in this order: bread, eggs, cheese, bacon, bread. Place the sandwich on the same skillet you’ve been cooking with (there should only be a very tiny hint of bacon fat now sitting in the pan) and press the sandwich down with a sandwich press. If you don’t have one, get resourceful and let your tea kettle sit on top of the sandwich – about 2 minutes per side until it’s crisp, golden and FLAT!

Banana Pancakes

I’ve been having a hankering for pancakes recently and adopted my foodie girl’s recipe from LuaLosAngles. I did make a couple changes, however, and instead of macadamia nuts I added mashed bananas at the end and was too lazy to clean up multiple bowls, so I just used one (I know, shame!)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

3 tbsp butter (unsalted & melted)

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 cup of mashed overripe banana

In a mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Add the buttermilk, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract.

Beat with a mixer until  you get a lumpy batter

Heat a non stick frying pan or griddle over low heat.

Depending on the size of the pancake you like pour a portion of the batter into the non-stick frying pan or griddle. Once the sides of the pancake begins to harden and bubbles start to appear on the top of the pancake flip it over.

Cook for another minute or two and remove.

It’s amazing how light the pancakes were thanks to the buttermilk! I topped mine with butter (of course) and maple syrup.

Hawaiian French Toast

I woke up this morning craving Hawaiian French Toast, one of THE easiest recipes to make since, well, it’s all about the hawaiian bread. Instead of serving it with maple syrup, I substituted agave syrup and also added a side dish of mascarpone cheese and blueberry preserves. Oh, and a few slices of bacon for my better half.

Hawaiian French Toast

- Kings Hawaiian bread. You can use ANY loaf size of Kings Hawaiian bread AS LONG AS IT IS Kings Hawaiian bread. I use the mini loaves.

- 2 eggs

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- butter

- 2 tbs white sugar

- agave syrup to taste

- 2 tbs each of mascarpone cheese and preserves

- Beat two eggs and add the vanilla extract and sugar. Soak the bread into the mixture and coat on both sides. You can fit about six halves on a plate. Heat up the butter (about one tablespoon) on a hot skillet and set the loaves on there to cook until golden brown on each side. Dab some butter and dust with powdered sugar.

Hot Tub Time Machine

One of our favorite things at the house is the hot tub. After a long day at work, muscles aching, brain fried, it’s just nice to sit back in a giant vat of scalding hot water with power jets against your back. Kihei is digging the hot tub cover just like Guido…during a warm day, the cover gets nice and hot and I think the dogs like to lay there and nap.

This is the first weekend I did NOT shop for special groceries for our Saturday and Sunday night dinner. WHOA! That’s a first but one of my many attempts at saving some money. Instead, we raided the pantry and did what we could with random things lying around the fridge. I think I created an awesome dish that fuses both Mexican and Asian cuisine…I’m going to call it “Sexy Mexy”: leftover carne asada meat from a previous taco bar BBQ party re-sauteed in butter, olive oil and garlic +  yellow noodles from the chinese grocer in Chinatown + Braggs Amino Acid + sesame oil. This was for Chris…

I had the same noodles but topped with a fried egg and soaked hikiji seaweed, then doused with Braggs Amino Acid. MMMMMM!!!

Then, after dinner I pre-made my lunch for the next day: more noodles (hey, it’s cheap!), edamame beans from the freezer, more seaweed, macadamia nut oil and Braggs Amino Acid. So delicious (I sneaked in a little taste while I was tossing the whole dish….yummmmm!)

I also grabbed some fresh kale from our garden because I wanted something salty but healthier than potato chips. Ah ha! Kale chips!! I’ve tried them before and they are so good and packed with flavor and nutrients. It’s so easy to make, too: wash a bunch of kale, chop the leaves off the stems and discard the stems, massage with olive oil and some sea salt, and then bake for 15 minutes. Enjoy!!

Flowers, Dogs, and My New Challenge

Alot has been going on lately so I’ve been too busy to post (yet again!)

Here’s a scene from work…clothes, models, photo shoots galore! Hectic work schedule this week, like, 12 hour days.

We have an amazing rose bush next to the side of the house and it’s blooming like crazy. I picked a couple roses and placed them on my favorite little table from Culver City’s HD Buttercup in glass bowls to add some color to the living room. I love free flowers!

I feel bad saying this on a food blog but Kihei has worms She has already been de-wormed twice and still has them. Vet said she just has a major infestation of roundworms so she’s been looking a little skinny since all her nutrients are getting sucked out of her. I feel so bad for the little pup but she’s as cute as ever.

Hmmm…how do I get her into the Marley & Me sequel??

We got hibiscus today from Home Depot and planted them in giant terracotta pots. Aren’t they pretty?

Oh! So my new challenge….yeah, I’m trying to save money BIG TIME right now. I’ve decided to spend $25 for the work week and make that last me all five days for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. Tough, right? I went and bought bagels, eggs, cheese, soy milk (for oatmeal) and a big tub of FAGE yogurt. I have some pantry staples like walnuts and raisins that will add flavor to the yogurt so that can work as breakfast and snacks. I’m most likely going to be eating breakfast sandwiches for my lunches and possibly dinners ha. Here’s one from this morning: two scrambled organic eggs, one slice of monterey jack cheese, and half an Alvarado Street Bakery sprouted wheat bagel toasted.

Speaking of saving money, I had a dinner the other night out of some pantry items: edamame, seaweed, and Braggs Amino Acid. YUM!

101 Breakfasts For My Boyfriend

I think I want to start a new blog called “101 Breakfast for My Boyfriend” lol. Lately, my obsession is making breakfast for Chris and then snapping pictures of them. I think I’m obsessed with doing this because I never eat any of the food I make for him. Guys can get away with eating buttery eggs, greasy meat, and a load of carbs and not gain weight it seems like. Me? Not so much…Here are a couple of breakies I’ve been making for Chris. I love the new canvas I’m using to display the food. It’s the beautiful reclaimed teak dining table we bought

Scrambled organic eggs with spicy sausage and topped with burrata cheese, served alongside warm tortillas.

Scrambled eggs and chorizo, served alongside more tortillas.

Scrambled eggs with leftover steak, served alongside toasted rye bread.

I call this “The Eyes Have It” because the eggs look like eyes, no? I found these interesting little “pizzas” from the local farmers market. They are thin crusts topped with a layer of meat and sauce. The package comes frozen but I heated two slices up and topped each with cheese and a sunny side up egg.

Mmmm….Giada de Laurenttis’ “Pizza di Spaghetti“. This is seriously my favorite way to use leftover spaghetti.

Breakfast Is My Favorite Meal

…and I don’t eat it enough. During the week, breakfast for me is coffee even though what I really want is a hearty plate of french toast and eggs. Mmmmm. Luckily, the weekends are devoted to cooking and eating ALOT and I always start off the mornings with a breakfast bang. Take last weekend. I was craving, what else, french toast and eggs but not just any french toast…I wanted hawaiian french toast made with the little sweet rolls from Kings Hawaiian Bakery. Double mmmm. Paired with a broccoli egg frittata, it was simple yet yummy and made my day.

Kings Hawaiian French Toast:

- 2 eggs, beaten

- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

- powdered sugar

- maple syrup

- six small little Kings Hawaiian rolls (the mini ones)

- 1 tablespoon of butter

Beat two eggs and mix with vanilla extract. Cut rolls in half and dip into egg mixture. Heat a griddle with butter and when the pan is hot enough, throw the rolls on there and cook til each side is golden brown and crisp. Sprinkle powdered sugar and drizzle a little maple syrup and try not to eat it too fast.

Broccoli Frittata

- 1.5 cups of frozen broccoli

- 3 eggs, beaten

- parmesan or pecorino cheese

- tablespoon of olive oil

- salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to broiler status. Beat three eggs. Saute the frozen broccoli in a tablespoon of olive oil in an oven-safe skillet. When the broccoli is cooked through, pour the eggs on top and cook over medium heat until the bottom is set (you can see when it is because it starts getting firm along the edges.) Shave a couple of tablespoons of parmesan or pecorino on top of the eggs and then set it under the broiler for about 2 minutes. Cut into four pieces and chow down!

Cravings for Asian

I’m PMSing. Plain and simple. But I’ll get to that later.

I went to the gym at 6:30 am this morning and got an awesome 3.5 mile run/walk in. I used to be panting like mad when I ran at a 5.8 speed for more than 10 minutes (around a month and a half ago) and now I can go for 20 minutes without stopping at 6.2!! Crazy cool! The human body is amazing, isn’t it? After the treadmill, I did some shoulder and ab work. I keep forgetting to bookmark certain strength moves in my fitness magazines. I need to do this so I go into the gym with a focused plan on which exact moves I plan on doing. Oh well, next time.

I skipped breakfast but made Chris a yummy wrap with eggs, melted cheese, and sausage in the spinach tortilla. Is this not the most awesome looking wrap?? HAHA! Check out the perfectly browned sides and how it’s all sealed tight! I must admit, one of my favorite things to do is cook Chris breakfast. I love it. It’s like the kitchen is my pretend cafe and he sits at the bar watching me cook.

Lunch was asian potstickers, this time baked til golden and crisp. And, oh my, was it super yummy. The potsticker wraps I got are from an asian market in Denver, CO. I bought a bunch the last time I was there and brought it back with me in an ice-pack. This particular wrap is very chewy and doughy…just the way I like it. I served it alongside a little bowl of soy sauce, siracha, and honey.

So back to my PMS. I am craving asian food, asian food, asian food! The past couple days my cravings were for greek food and now all I want is sushi and tofu and brown rice. I was chatting with a friend earlier, who informed me she dined at Native Foods today for lunch and had their Hollywood Bowl: Ginger marinated and seared tofu spears over organic brown rice, steamed veggies, and organic greens in out tangy freshly roasted peanut sauce. OMG sounded soooo good! I was determined to have asian for dinner, and that I did.

I went to Whole Foods and got salmon avocado sushi with brown rice, a pack of marinated tofu, and something new I have never noticed before: macrobiotic soba noodle salad from M Cafe in Culver City, CA! I’ve heard great things about M Cafe but have never been so I was super stoked to find this at Whole Foods. Apparently, M Cafe is a macrobiotic restaurant. According to Wikipedia, the macrobiotic diet involves eating grains as a staple food supplemented with other foods like vegetables and beans, and avoiding the use of highly processed or refined foods. Sounds pretty darn healthy to me! I like!

I gobbled up the soba noodle salad (so freakin good) and had one of the two pieces of tofu. By the time I got to the sushi portion, I was getting kind of full so I ate only the sushi filling and left the rice on my plate. No worries, the brown rice can be served tomorrow with the leftover marinated tofu for another asian lunch

Oh, and I can’t forget to mention I had a HUGE bowl of chocolate peanut butter swirl ice cream from Purely Decadent. It was made with coconut milk, too! AAAGH!!! Way too good.

TGIF

I started my morning off with a 6:30 am workout at the gym. It was still semi dark when the alarm went off and all I wanted to do was stay in the super warm and comfy bed and snuggle with my lover man. But NO. I made a commitment (which I really hope I stick to) to go to the gym AT LEAST three times a week so off I went. I did 40 minutes of a steady 6.1 run on the treadmill interspersed with a couple minutes of uphill walking at a 3.5 grade. Then, I did “skull crushers” with an 8lb weight on the stability ball (my butt was on fire), worked my core with lower leg lifts squeezing the giant ball, and finished with a yoga-style “plank” move. I was sooooo sweaty but it felt sooooo good. Plus, I have been really stressed out with personal things and there’s nothing like an ass-whooping workout to make me feel better. I still can’t believe I am saying that working out relaxes me!

For breakfast, I sipped on my kale, cucumber, lemon, ginger, apple, pear juice that I pre-made last night. I had a big client meeting early in the morning to jet off to up in Pacific Palisades and I knew that between my workout, showering, and getting ready, I would have zero time to juice in the morning. Mmmmm….perfectly crisp and tart and refreshing – da bomb!

I was starving at 11am from my morning workout but didn’t have anything with me to eat and I was still up in the Palisades. I’m watching my spending right now so I didn’t want to buy anything either. When I got home for lunch, I whipped up a simple salad with butter lettuce (my fave!), gluten-free croutons (I got these only because I couldn’t find the regular croutons at the market but these are super yummy), and dressing from Annie’s. I get SO hungry after eating just a salad so I added a veggie taco made with corn tortilla, 1/4 an avocado, 1 tablespoon of hummus, 1 tablespoon of tzatziki, and more butter lettuce. Hmmm….sounds more like a Greek taco.

Dinner was AWESOME. We decided to have casual date night but our usuals, like thai and sushi, just didn’t sound so appealing to me. I’ve been eating alot of hummus and tzatziki lately so I wanted to quench my thirst for some greek food. I jumped on YELP.com and found what looked like a hole-in-the-wall greek food joint in a weird part next to the LAX airport. They got amazing reviews, though, so we decided to give it a shot (no pics, sorry!) It’s called Aliki’s Greek Taverna and you can check it out here.

We split a spanakopita appetizer that came with a side of greek salad with feta and olives. The spanakopita was sooooo tasty – the crust was light and flaky and crisp and soft all at the same time and the filling was surprisingly light. For our main course, I ordered the red pepper gyro sandwich that came with garlic hummus and Chris got the pork souvlaki dish that came with green beans, rice, and tzatziki on the side. Of course, I finished the entire sandwich and couldn’t say no to dessert: baklava that was perfectly sweet with just the right amount of nuts. Mmmmm. I only ate like a quarter of this, though, because somehow along the way I lost my appetite for my sweet treat. All good, though, I took the rest home and may have the rest with some lemon tea after I close up this post for the day

Cheers to Friday night!!!

WEEKEND RECAP: Liquid Diet + A New Favorite In The House

The first half of Saturday was spent on the liquid diet…

Post-workout shake that I made with 3/4 cup frozen berries, 8oz of almond milk, 1 small banana, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, 1 tablespoon of flax meal, handful of ice cubes, and a tiny drizzle of maple syrup.

Time for a smoothie

Berry banana flax shake

Yes, I recycled my Jamba Juice up from the night before. I was craving a smoothie and ordered the Protein Berry Workout shake at Jamba Juice…disgusting. Someone put way too much whey in there and it ended up chalky with a bitter aftertaste. Yuck! So I threw it out and saved the cup. Ha!

Part 2 of the Saturday liquid diet included my monster margaritas I fill up a glass with ice cubes, pour in tequila so that it’s about 2/3 of the glass (yeah, I’m dangerous like that), squeeze in three halves of lime, and drizzle in a little bit of agave syrup. Stir, sip (or chug), and get the party started.

Check out the crazy tequila Chris' neighbor gave him

Saturday evening was spent on a brand new recipe, which is now the house favorite. I posted a video on Claire Robinson from Food Network’s 5 Ingredient Fix (my new favorite cooking show because she makes cooking so easy and her on-screen personality is likable) and her Grilled Shrimp with Caper Tzatziki dish. We decided to make it and it was SOOOO FREAKIN GOOD. No joke. I could eat that dish all day everyday. We bought a pound of fresh wild caught jumbo shrimp from Bristol Farms and grilled it for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side. To accompany the shrimp and tzatziki, I made a three-bean salad with northern white beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, artichoke hearts, avocado, and greek salad dressing. Chris made rice for his dish, and I had mine without. Below is the recipe for the tzatziki:

1/4 cup of capers, chopped up

1/2 cup of plain non-fat Greek yogurt (FAGE brand is the best)

1 small shallot clove, minced

*Mix it all together and season with salt and pepper to your liking. Dip the shrimp in it and enjoy!

Wild caught jumbo fresh shrimp chillin' on the grill

The three bean salad

The super easy and super tasty caper tzatziki

Grilled shrimp with caper tzatziki and three bean salad

WEEKEND RECAP: The Calm Before the Storm

The west coast is getting slammed with rainstorms this week (which we need) but thank god the weekend remained dry and somewhat sunny. I don’t mind rain during the Monday to Friday work week because I’m stuck inside the office all day anyway, but my weekends are spent taking bike rides and jogs around the neighborhood and I did not want that agenda getting spoiled.

Here is some of the food we had over the weekend. I tried to eat light and healthy as evidenced by this salad. I got a chicken caesar from Bristol Farms but dressed it up my own way. I took the romaine and the chicken, added corns and peas and olives and a light sprinkle of parmesan and omitted the caesar dressing that it came with (too fat and heavy) and used a Whole Foods balsamic dressing instead.

On Sunday morning, I made Chris eggs benedict. He’s convinced I am trying to fatten him up, which is somewhat true hehe. Chris is so naturally lean that he’s lucky he can eat whatever he wants, and not really gain any weight. But the boy does watch his portion sizes and always tries to balance a heavy meal with a light one so good for him.

Later that afternoon, Chris made another sandwich snack for him during the football game: english muffin toasted with cheese, salami, and turkey. I would have had some but I was already snacking on bananas with almond butter (I have been craving peanut and almond butter this entire week! So good.)

The weekend was pretty awesome because we stayed home and chilled. But on Saturday night, we got free tickets to go see the Clippers play the Cavaliers at Staples Center and it was SO much fun. What a great game, except the Clippers had the lead pretty much the entire time only to lose by one point. THAT is going to be another rant of mine soon. Oh, check out #23 The King (also known as LeBron James lol) and one of my top 10 Sexiest Men

GET BAKED: Apple Pancakes

Chris’ mom made delicious apple pancakes on Christmas morning for the family. It tasted like a very light bread pudding that wasn’t too sweet. Warmed up and drizzled with some maple syrup, it was divine especially when served with a steaming cup of tea. Below is the recipe, courtesy of Chris’ wonderful mama!! Thanks, Connie!

Ingredients:

Couple tablespoons of butter (maybe three or four)

6 gala apples

½ cup of milk

2 T. sugar

1 t. vanilla

6 eggs

1 t. nutmeg

½ t. salt

½ t. cinnamon

1 cup flour

Brown sugar

1)Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2)Butter in a 9X12 pan

3):Peel  apples-Slice, quarter, and quarter again

4)Put  apples into 9X 12 pan with butter melted until bubbly.

5)Blend the following  in a blender:

• ½ cup of milk
• 2 T. sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 t. nutmeg
• ½ t. salt
• ½ t. cinnamon
• 1 cup of flour (add last)

6)Pour above blended mixture on top of apples

7)Spread brown sugar all over the mixture.

8)Bake 425 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or longer.

The Morning After

Bobby Flay says, “The best part about Thanksgiving is the day after because of all the leftovers” and I wholeheartedly agree. This morning was a great excuse to throw in some leftover turkey into breakfast, which was enjoyed by Chris, my mom and I. Chris made his rendition of Thanksgiving Hash, which was a medley of potatoes, sweet peppers, egg, spinach and turkey. Then he slapped on (what else) bacon to finish the dish. Bon appetit!

PS: I captured him cooking this morning on my Flip camera, so I plan on editing and posting a video very soon! Stay tuned.

A Different Kind of Breakfast

Well, I wouldn’t really call it breakfast but this is what I ate this morning around 10am and it really hit the spot. A whole tin of Chimes Gourmet Ginger Chews, which are perfectly spicy, chewy, gummy and yummy. They have just the right amount of spice and zing to wake you up in the office and keep you alert. If you’re a ginger fan, I urge you to try these. I know for sure that Bristol Farms and Cost Plus carries Chimes Gourmet Ginger Chews but you may be able to find them elsewhere.

Let’s Start The Morning Off Right

I’m 95% over that nasty sinus cold bug I caught over the weekend, which had me laying like a limp doll on the couch sniffling, coughing, blowing my nose, exhausted….yuck! Something is going around because I know so many people who are going through the same deal – I guess it’s the new season and all. Luckily, I think all my juicing and healthier eating has boosted my immune system somewhat because it would normally take me a good five full days to recover from something like this and this time it only took me around two and a half days to feel better. Not bad!

So this morning I happily bounced into the kitchen with a renewed sense of energy and whipped up delicious breakfasts for Chris and I. Always inspired by Amanda at The Grains of Paradise, I made a breakfast wrap for Chris. Mandy made a mediterranean version (which is soooo yummy) but I made him a California version (hehe) which consisted of avocado – that’s the California part – with salami and cheese. I used this awesome lavash wrap that I got from the farmers market near our house (only $1.99 for 18 pieces!! What a great deal! And healthy, too) and then grilled the whole thing on our Le Creuset grill pan. I loved hearing the crisp, crackle and crunch noise of the wrap when I cut it in half – it was perfect and Chris inhaled everything down to the last bite. He gave me the thumbs up. Woohoo! Again, it’s an iPhone picture

And for me? I made a super tasty cucumber, carrot, ginger juice and used one of those disposable juice cups you get at the juice bar. It makes it more fun to sip, I think Note the pretty light orange color.