Food Food Food : Smoothies & Sandwiches

It's been a little while since I did a post dedicated to food updates so here's a look at my eats as of late! 

Smoothies!-In Baltimore's blistering humidity, there's nothing better than a refreshingly cool smoothie made with real fruit. 

Strawberry banana and peach mango smoothies from Milk and Honey--a local food market deli and café in Mt. Vernon 

This is the "Agent Orange" smoothie from Liquid Earth--a vegan/raw restaurant in Fells Point that specializes in fresh pressed juices, smoothies, and of course vegan and raw food options that are amazing. I always say that if I could make things like they do at Liquid Earth, then I could easily be vegan. You don't even miss the cheese!!

Sandwiches!-For whatever reason, I've been really craving sandwiches lately. Usually a big salad or wrap sounds better to me but sandwiches have been my main jam this month.

This is a 3-seed health bread, avocado, tomato, and arugula toasted panini from Milk and Honey. It was seriously spectacular. I would have one every day if I lived closer. 

Out to Dinner!- Went with two friends to this great local B'More restaurant called Ryleigh's Oyster Bar. I'm not a huge fan of raw oysters, which is of course their specialty. But the rest of their food is great too. It's a laid back bar type atmosphere...perfect for watching the world cup games while enjoying delicious food that is well above bar quality. I will definitely be going back there soon!

We started with their grilled octopus appetizer that came with roasted red bell peppers and balsamic glaze. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the octopus was cooked. It wasn't too chewy at all. 

We obviously had to get an order of the cheesy crab pretzel...another one of their famous appetizers. I told myself only to have one bite but come on...IT'S A CHEESY CRAB PRETZEL for crying out loud! We easily devoured those guys.

Main course: seared scallops with brown rice and lemon aioli. Another slam dunk. I know that scallops can be a bit controversial because of their texture but I love 'em. I actually could have had a few more than the three they served me :P 

Yet again, another sandwich. I picked up some sunflower spelt bread from the market and have been using it for my sandwiches these past couple of weeks. Between the bread went homemade tuna salad, hummus, goat cheese, and mixed lettuce. Apple on the side per usual.

And less than a week later, I was back at Liquid Earth for lunch with friends. I had the "powerhouse sandwich" which included tomatoes, sprouts, munster cheese, and mushrooms on multigrain bread. For being a traditionally vegan restaurant, they threw a giant piece of cheese on my sandwich, but I wasn't complaining. 

Random fruit salad for breakfast one morning.

The BEST homemade dinner I've made in a while: Feta and artichoke stuffed peppers! We used this recipe but subbed quinoa for the rice. They were so easy to make and packed in a punch of flavor with a spicy kick from the chili flakes. I will most definitely be making this dish over and over again.

So there's the eats of the past few weeks! I'm off to Cape May, NJ in a couple of days to celebrate the 4th with my family at the beach. Updates to come from there :) 

Hellish H.I.I.T--but actually awesome, so do it.

This H.I.I.T workout was designed by Joey (who is now officially a certified personal trainer--woohoo!!). It may not seem so bad when you first look at it, but you have been warned...it's really really tough. Try it out next time you don't have a ton of time but want to get in a really solid sweat inducing workout.

HIIT

For time:
.10 mile sprint at 85% effort
10 pushups
10 kettle bell thrusters
10 burpees
^repeat 10 times!!
1 mile run

In the end, you will have sprinted a mile, done 100 pushups, 100 kettle bell thrusters, and 100 burpees! Not to mention that last mile you kicked ass on (most likely). Do it once a week and time yourself each time to see your progress each week. The first time I did it, it took me 30 minutes to do the 10xcircuit and then I ran an 8.12 mile. The second time, it took me 27 minutes to do the first part with an 8.06 mile at the end. So it's a steady improvement but my goal is to break 25 minutes for the first part and then run the mile in under 8 minutes. I'll let you know when (if) that happens ;)

Let me know if you try it out! I've said it before and I'll say it again and again-- I really love hearing from y'all!!

Special thanks to Joey for writing up this killer workout!

Recap and Groceries 101

I know it's been way too long! It proved to be a whirlwind end to the year with finals, end of year events, and too many friends graduating from Hopkins.Then it was off to Charlotte to spend a nice week at home and to see my younger brother graduate from high school (he's off to run at Boston College next year!).

Lol- Congrats Ev!

We love our G-Daddy

After that relaxing week of family time, I was jetting off to Aruba with my two great friends. We had such a blast--there was sun, clear blue ocean water, a lazy river, snorkeling, scuba diving, drinks, and as always..amazing food. I can't even begin to explain the plethora of fresh fish that I had at almost every meal. And to top it all off, we even managed to work out every day while there!


We were primarily doing the circuits from the first week of Kayla Itsines' 12 week training guide while there, but we also incorporated a few days of low intensity, long workouts like walking, jogging, and biking. Usually we knocked out the workouts in the morning before heading out to the pool/beach so that we wouldn't have to worry about doing it later in the day after a draining day of laying in the sun ;) I highly recommend working out in the morning while on vacation because there's nothing worse than a) thinking about it all day while you're trying to relax with a poolside cocktail and b) having to come in from the beach earlier than you wanted to because you have to get to the gym before dinner. Basically it's just sad all around so knock it out in the morning!

A few notable pics from the best/much needed vacation :)

Post-workout smoothies

Some lunch-time frozen beverages. It's vacation, so we indulged! 

My first time scuba diving! So amazing.

But enough about the vacation (although I could go on and on about it all day long)...onto the point of this post!

Grocery Shopping 101!! 

I got a few requests to do a post about what I generally buy each time I go to the grocery store and since I was long overdue for groceries post-vacation, I thought I'd document the trip to Harris Teeter (which is much like Giant, but a lot nicer and with more variety in my opinion).

My cart at the store..I clearly had a lot to stock up on

The fruit: apples (bought at farmer's market), bosc pairs, lemons, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and cantaloup. I'm a HUGE fruit person so I tend to buy a lot of it..any thing from berries for smoothies, to bananas for cereal, to cantaloup and apples for cutting up for a quick snack...i like it all

Breakfast items: Kashi Raisin Vineyard cereal (a new buy, it's pretty good and not too sweet which I like), vanilla almond milk, lots of greek yogurt, and fresh-squeezed OJ

Veggies: Sooo many veggies here...spring mix, celery, tomatoes, zucchini and squash (from farmer's market), brussels sprouts, onion, peppers, carrots, mushrooms, and "pico de guaco" (salsa+guac in one container-great for salads and wraps!)

Protein: Faux-chicken strips, tuna, chickpeas, and black beans

Grains: a lot of quinoa, crackers for snacking, and "flat out" wraps (a new try, but I definitely will be buying them again. So soft and only 100 calories..plus flax!)

Miscellaneous: Peach green tea, EVOO, edamame hummus, goat cheese, lemon herb aioli, and almond butter 

Tuna salad wrap and a pear on the side for lunch...this has been my exact lunch for a few days in a row now. 

Kashi Raisin Vineyard cereal with strawberries and a banana, mini flax waffle on ze side!

So there you have it! That's mostly the things that I buy when I go to the store...obviously not the exact same things are purchased every time, but hopefully you get the general idea of the things I tend to purchase.

Also, some of those items were used in recipes--such as the lemon herb aioli being used to make a tuna salad (recipe to come soon!)--so if they seem a bit random, that's probably why.

That's all I've got for you today, but I must say that I'm really happy to be back blogging again. It truly makes me feel so blessed when people tell me they read the blog and have missed it while I took that hiatus. Hopefully that won't have to happen again anytime soon! I'll be back tomorrow with a great circuit to try!