Of course I'll have another cheddar biscuit!

RJ finally finished up his finals this past Wednesday, so we were well overdue for a good date night! It was his turn to pick the restaurant and he was in the mood for some seafood. So, Red Lobster it is!!

Before we left, I perused the menu online and saw their new Lighthouse Menu. It lists a number of dishes that are 475 calories or less with 750 grams of sodium! I ordered the  Lighthouse portion of tilapia with double broccoli for my sides. I also got a salad with my meal, but I didn't eat most of it because I was full. The tilapia was perfectly grilled and had a fantastic grilled taste!

The infamous cheddar biscuit!

He enjoyed his shrimp :)

After dinner, we made our way downtown for some dessert. I was in the mood for ice cream, so we went to Ben & Jerry's! I ordered Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup (obviosly) and RJ got a scoop of vanilla...boring I know but the boy is obsessed with his vanilla!

Overall, a great date night with wonderful company :)

Where was your last date night?

A Day in DC!

Happy Friday!! Yesterday was a wonderful day thanks to some good friends. Leslie recently started dating someone name Eno and of course one of the first orders of business was to plan a double date! We decided to make the day of it and go to Washington DC for the day to peruse the museums and enjoy the lovely weather.

A whale!!

We got to DC around one o'clock and walked over to the Natural History museum as it's my favorite! I love the exhibits and the giant animal displays. We all had so much fun looking at all of the exhibits. Well, except the live bug exhibit. Those furry tarantulas are no joke! Blech!

"For me?? You shouldn't have!!"

Following our very educational wander through the museum, we went outside to walk around a bit and enjoy the eighty degree weather! We stumbled across an old fashioned ice cream truck that belonged to a company called Goodies. They are based in DC and they are dedicated to using real ingredients and old-fashioned practices to make amazing desserts. Eno got a root beer float and RJ got an order of their custard (which I had to taste of course to see if it was poisonous). Honestly, their vanilla custard was the best I have ever had! So creamy and the vanilla bean was the star of the show!

When dinner time rolled around, we headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings for some wings and beers! For my main meal, I ordered the grilled chicken salad with the balsamic dressing on the side. 

And of course I had to get my favorite, hard cider :) Unfortunately, they didn't have Angry Orchard, so I tried Woodchuck, but I wasn't a fan. It wasn't as sweet as Angry Orchard, but at least now I know!

I had a fantastic day and hope to repeat it very, very soon!

A delicious Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend ans spent tons of time with their mommies! My weekend was spent with my mom, as it should have :) On Saturday, we went shopping and grabbed some dinner together. We also went to the grocery store to get ingredients for Sunday!

I woke up bright and early on Sunday morning to cook my mom's breakfast. She was in the mood for blueberry pancakes, so I happily obliged! She absolutely loved them!

After breakfast, we ventured to a nearby nursery to check out the gorgeous spring flowers for sale. My mom loves gardens and flowers so this was right up her ally! We walked through some stunning displays full of colorful flowers and plants. And don't get me started on the smells! It was like walking through a perfume store!!

Me and my momma!

Following the nursery, we went home so I could cook a yummy dinner! My mother and I both love scallops but rarely get the chance to eat them, so we decided Mother's Day would be a great time to try cooking them! I made a scallop scampi with spinach fettucine, fresh salad and olive oil bread on the side. The meal was delicious and the light sauce really showcased the scallops well.  

For desert, my mom requested banana pudding and I got so excited. I had been craving banana pudding for the past few weeks and was more than happy to make it for her. The recipe was SO easy, too!

I made a box of Jell-O Vanilla Pudding let it rest for 5 minutes to harden. Meanwhile, I sliced up 3 bananas and counted out 30 Nilla wafers. I put a layer of 15 wafers on the bottom of the dish, then added half of the pudding, next came the bananas, and then the rest of the wafers, pudding, and bananas. I topped the whole thing with whipped cream and let it sit in the fridge all day. I recommend letting it rest for a few hours because the banana flavor will seep into the pudding and it is utterly delicious!!

This ish is bananas!!

My mother's day was awesome, full of love and great food. I love you, mommy and I could not ask for a better woman to look up to :) 

Do you like cooking for family? 

Swimmingly Good Date Night!

Hola, internet friends!! I hope your weekend was fantastic and I am just popping in for a Saturday recap!!

On Saturday morning I went to a diner with some friends for a yummy breakfast. In case you were wondering, I ordered oatmeal and a fruit cup. They brought out my bowl of oatmeal with a side of coffee creamers and butter. Now, I am no oatmeal expert, but do people really eat oatmeal with creamer and butter? I am more of a sweet kinda girl, and I just added some sugar to mine and gobbled it up!

After breakfast, I drove back home and met my parents at a local indoor pool to swim some laps! I know I have been talking about swimming more recently and I know some people wonder about swimming workouts. They are a great way to exercise with no impact on your knees. So if you're like me and have a recent injury or just want to give the ol' knees a break, swimming is probably the best alternative.

I want to post my usual swimming workout but I don't want to confuse anyone so I should explain something before I post the workout. One length of a standard lap pool is 25 meters. Which means if you go once up and back, you swam 50 meters. Up and back twice would be 100 meters. Get it? Okay, now on to the workout:

• 200m freestyle
• 200m breast
• 200m backstroke
• 100m kicking with kickboard
• 100m freestyle only using arms
• 100m breast only using arms
• 200m freestyle cool down

Let me just tell you, my arms we a-burnin'!!! I love feeling muscles you haven't used in a while!

After swimming, I got ready in the locker room (and what an adventure that was. Let's just say, applying mascara with a 5 year old girl staring at you is a little unnerving.) and drove back to RJ's  for date night!! We went out to a restaurant called Austin Grill which serves tex mex style food. I ordered the Chicken Silverado off their "Lite Side" menu, which are options under 650 calories:

CHICKEN SILVERADO
Grilled chicken topped with a citrus salsa, served with green rice and seasonal veggies. 

It was so good!! According to our waiter, Zach, the "green rice" is actually just regular rice with some lime juice and cilantro added for some extra flavor. I probably could have had a plate of nothing but that rice and been overjoyed. I happily ate every bite!

Afterwards, we walked around a bit and just enjoyed our surroundings. It was a lovely night and there were tons of people out walking around and having a lovely Saturday evening out!

We saw this awesome street performer using plastic tubs as drums and we stopped to watch him for a bit. He recruited some kids to help him play for a few minutes. It was so cute and you could tell the kids got a kick out of it!!

Overall, it was a wonderful night with a wonderful companion ;) I hope to do it again soon!!

Randomosity

Sorry for the long-ish absence guys!! It's been a crazy weekend full of friends and fun! I just thought I would pop in for a random post so you guys didn't think I skipped town on you ;)

So, I absolutely love trying out new variations of my favorite recipes. I was surfing the net the other day and I found this recipe for cinnamon raisin cookie over night oats. I was so excited to try it. I made the recipe exactly to her specifications, and jumped out of bed to try my new creation the next morning. I took a big bite expecting a big bowl of cinnamon cookie goodness. That isn't really what I got  :( The mixture was waaay too sweet and had a ton of cinnamon. I tried to take a few more bites but it was just too much for me so I ended up tossing it. I don't blame the recipe at all. I added too much sugar and cinnamon and I guess the flavors were enhanced by the refrigeration process overnight? I don't know how these things work. I am willing to try again, this time cutting back on the sweetness.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Overnight Dessert Oats

Yield: one serving

Ingredients

Step 1:
• 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
• 2-6 packets Sweetener* (to taste)
• 1/2-3/4 tsp Cinnamon (to taste)
• 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/16 tsp Salt
Step 2:
• 1/2 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 tbs - 1/4 cup Raisins
• 1 tbs Raw Almond/Walnut Butter
• Optional:**
• 1 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder + 2 tbs Almond Milk

Instructions

1. In your serving bowl, add the Step 1 ingredients and give it a stir (add the optional ingredients if you wish)
2. Add the Step 2 ingredients in the order shown and give another stir (I like to top the oatmeal with nut butter in the morning). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, enjoy the next day!

Notes

*I used 6 stevia packets (I told you I'm a sweet tooth!) but you can use whatever sweetener you like, such as Truvia, erythritol, sucanat or even maple sugar

**If you want to stay fuller for longer (and enjoy creamier oats), add this!

This recipe is: sugar free, high fiber, gluten free, vegan!

I wanted it to be good!!!

This blog is amazing. I have been on it for the past three days saving recipes and mentally planning out which ones I want to try!

Oh! and look at my brand new shoes I got yesterday at the outlets! They were five dollars at Charlotte Russe and I absolutely love them!

I'll be back soon with a regular post! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Cheesecake=Love

Happy Easter my loves!! I hope everyone had a wonderful day full of family fun! I know I did!

All the ladies! Birthday girl is in the middle :)

I will post tomorrow about Easter, but today I am going to talk about my fantastic night last night! My group of friends went to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate our buddy Beeta's birthday and we had a blast. The only thorn in the whole evening was that we had to wait about three hours to get a table! My dearest Cheesecake Factory, why don't you do reservations??

While we waited, we headed over to Dave & Buster's to partake in some adult beverages to take the edge off the wait.

Once we finally sat down, I dove in to the ginormous menu. Anyone who has been to CF knows that the portions are HUGE. I am talking, two-people-can-split-it-and-still-have-leftovers-huge. They are also known for having some of the most fattening and calorie-rich entrees of any chain restaurant in the country, so it's fair to say I was a bit nervous about what to order.

My nerves were calmed when I found CF's new Skinnylicious menu that has entrees under 650 calories! Eureka! In the end, I decided on the chicken pasta and was not disappointed! It was the perfect portion size and left me comfortably full (and ready for cheesecake!) The tomato sauce was also rich in flavor and I could taste the basil and garlic in there. Yum-oh!

For dessert, RJ and I split  the Chocloate Tuxedo Cream Cheesecake. Okay, okay, I ate my piece and most of his too. I couldn't help it! It was too good! A layer of fudge cake in in the middle of cheesecake and marscapone cream?? Come on, I had to devour it!

Heaven is a place on Earth...

After dinner, we headed over to Dave & Buster's for some arcade fun before finally heading home, exhausted. I had a blast hanging out with my friends and hope to do it again very, very soon!

LOVE these guys! 

How do you order at restaurants that are notorious for being unhealthy?

Running to HGTV

Good mornin' lovelies! Sorry for the slight delay on the birthday bash post, I spent my Sunday relaxing and taking impromptu naps all day :)

I woke up bright and early on Saturday, partially because I am incapable of sleeping past 8am, an partially because I was so excited for my night! I made the usual breakfast of peanut butter oatmeal with a side of fresh blueberries, then slipped on my sneakers to head to the gym.

I hopped on the treadmill and ran four miles on a 1.5 incline while watching HGTV. Running while watching Property Brothers has become a new Saturday morning tradition in my life, obviously. After some delicious foam rolling, I did a few ab and arm moves before calling it a day.

Me and Sarah!

The rest of the day consisted of a trip to the mall to return some clothes and buy my dress for the night(!)

Around 4:30, my friend sorority sister, Sarah arrived to partake in the evening festivities! It was so good to see her since she lives about two hours away and I rarely get a chance to spend time with her. We made it to the Chinese Buffet a little early and made our way to the party room where our table was set up. All of my friends arrived soon after, and we spent the entire meal joking, telling stories and laughing. It was such a fantastic dinner and I hope we can all do it again soon!

I know all of you are wondering about my food choice, and I decided to follow my own advice and order from the menu instead of opting for the full buffet. Sarah and I ordered a plate of mixed veggies to share and I ordered sushi to go along with it. A Philadelphia roll and a (yummy) vegetable roll rounded out my meal. Sorry for thew lack of pictures of dinner, I was too busy giggling and eating to even get my phone out of my purse!

After dinner, I headed home to get ready for the night out in DC! We were heading to a new nightclub called Rumors which was supposed to be pretty good. We drove into the city and parked at a friend's house to avoid the headache of finding a spot in Dupont Circle on a Saturday night. We hopped on the metro and in two very short stops, we were there!

Yeah..we crazy...

We walked in and met up with the rest of our group who could not make it to dinner. The club was so much fun! The DJ was on point, playing some older dance songs with some newer songs that had us going wild! I danced for most of the night, enjoying the time with my friends.

Overall, my birthday was amazing and I could not have asked for a better night. I got to celebrate my 23rd year with twice some truly amazing people and I will always remember it :)

D'awww :)

What show do you  like to watch while you workout?

Behind Property Brothers, my second favorite show to watch is Paula Deen's cooking show. I think all of the butter  and bacon she uses inspires me to run harder...

Where's the Lettuce?

Nanner lovin'

Top of the marnin' to ya! As I write this post, I'm chomping on a banana and peanut butter oatmeal. For some reason, I've been an oatmeal fanatic this week. I'm pretty sure I've had it about four times this week. I think I need oatmeal rehab. But on with more important things, my Valentine' date!

goorgeous!

RJ is still in school and had class on Valentine's night, so we postponed the celebrations for Friday night so we could do it up good. RJ came over about an hour and a half before dinner and surprised me with a gorgeous red rose and a lovely card. We got ready and rushed out the door to make our seven o'clock reservation. 

He picked a tiny hole in the wall restaurant downtown that neither of us had ever been to, so I was very excited! We sat down and ordered some celebratory bubbly, a french sparkling wine that I honestly cannot pronounce, but tasted delicious. As soon as I read over the small menu, my eyes gravitated towards this Quinoa salad. It was full of quinoa, black beans, red onion, and cilantro, drizzled with a vinaigrette  SOLD! I ordered the salad with chicken on top for some extra protein. RJ ordered the "Eastern Shore"a mix of tons of seafood (blue crab, scallops, mussels, white fish, and prawns) in a white wine broth. I knew I'd be sneaking a few bites of that!! 

Sippin' da bubbly

We sipped our wine and chatted about how cute the restaurant was until our food arrived. The atmosphere was low key and quiet, there were many couples probably out doing the same thing we were. When our food arrived, I was a bit perplexed by my dish. I was expecting a green salad with the quinoa mix and chicken on top, but there was no lettuce in my dish. I dug in anyways, and was NOT disappointed by my decision! The vinaigrette made the dish, and the red onion added a deep flavor that I was not expecting. The chicken was juicy and seasoned perfectly. Needless to say, I ate the whole thing. Usually, I am not a seafood person (I know, I know, a Maryland girl who doesn't eat seafood..what a sham), but last night I was feeling adventurous, so I took some bites of RJ's food. I ate a mussel (yummy), a prawn (yummy), and a scallop (delish!).  I am now a convert and will be sure to order scallops the next time I see them on a menu!!

Full bellies!

Aren't they cute??

Overall, both of our meals were amazing and we walked back to the car with full and very satisfied bellies. We ate dessert at home- leftover monster cookie bars with vanilla froyo for me and chocolate covered Golden Oreos and a McDonald's hot fudge sundae for RJ. The Oreos were homemade by me, as a gift for Valentine's day. I simply melted Ghirardelli white chocolate chips in a double broiler, dipped in the cookies, and covered them with pink, red, and white sprinkles. Voila!! He absolutely loved them! I am not a white chocolate lover by any means, but I tried one and they actually were yummy! What a great way to end date night :)

Today's agenda may include a hike and a homemade dinner made by yours truly, then out to a club to celebrate a friend's birthday! Have a wonderful Saturday!!

What are YOUR plans this lovely Saturday