Frozen Smoothie

Hello! Today has been a really good day, but far too fast if you ask me. I ended up wandering through the Farmer’s Market by my apartment after work, and before I even got to the market, I spotted this truck:

A frozen yogurt truck! I knew I needed a snack because my stomach was grumbling, so this was an exciting discovery. I just ended up getting plain tart fro yo, and I actually ordered it in a cone but they were out and gave it to me in a cup instead.

The cone (with no toppings) was $2, and the small (with 3 toppings) was $5, and I”m cheap. So, plain it was. “Twas delicious though, and perfect for the hot, hot weather today. I made my way through the farmer’s market and am noticing such a change now because great stuff is coming out of the farms! There’s tons of fruit, greens, squash, beets, etc., and way more than there has been earlier this season. I ended up just getting  a little bit because I have the farm share coming on Thursday, but I picked up a few things that I knew wouldn’t be in there.

2 pink lady apples, baby cucumbers, cherries, cilantro, and goat cheese. I got all this stuff $17, the biggest splurge being the goat cheese which was $7, but I sampled some and it is SO good.

After my farmer’s market adventure, I decided to go to Bikram! I already worked out this morning, but it was just a quick run, and I haven’t been to Bikram in over a week, so I decided to just do it. It felt awesome. I’ve said this before, but for some reason, when I take some time off from Bikram, my first class back is always the best. I really enjoyed it and got deep into a lot of the postures, and held a few of them the whole time for the first time, which was very exciting for me.

Before I went to Bikram, I made myself a smoothie with:

• 1 cup light soy milk (1 pt)
• 1 large frozen banana (2 pts)
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries (.5 pts)
• 1/2 cup blueberries (.5 pts)
• 1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein powder (1 pt)
• 1 tsp chia seeds (.5 pts)

I poured it into a bowl:

I actually threw it in the freezer for 2.5 hours while I went to Bikram. I’d seen frozen smoothies on a few other blogs and wanted to see what it was all about. Here it is out of the freezer.

I couldn’t resist poking my finger in it immediately when I pulled it out of the freezer… thus the indent in there. Freezing it was such a great idea!! It made it take a lot longer to eat, and it was more slushy like and almost like a bowl of ice cream. It was SO satisfying and the perfect treat for after Bikram.

I am off to catch up on Treme from Sunday night (the New Orleans show on HBO!) Does anyone watch it? Awesome show!

Fro Yo Kind of Day

What a gorgeous day outside! It feels like such a sin to be inside today, but you gotta do what you gotta do to get paid…

Today’s lunch was simple but delicious.

• 1 flatout wrap (1 pt)
• 2 cups romaine (0 pt)
• 1/2 cup chickpeas (1 pt)
• 2.5 tbsp cherry craisins (1 pt)

I then doused the whole wrap in Organic German Mustard (0 pts).

It was so huge that I couldn’t even make it into a wrap, it was more like a giant taco. I don’t think I looked that cute while eating it because of the size factor, but it was goood. The cherry flavored craisins are something new I picked up at the store the other day and added a really nice flavor to the wrap. 1/3 of a cup of them is 2 pts, but that is a LOT of craisins for this purpose, so 1/2 of that was just fine. On the side, I had 1 serving of RF white cheddar cheese (1pt), a cup of grape tomatoes (0 pts), and some baby carrots (0 pts).

I was originally planning on putting the cheese inside of the wrap, but decided the wrap had enough going on without it, ate ate the cheese with the tomatoes instead. Good decision. This lunch was really satisfying and packed with a good mix of veggies, carbs, and protein, and clocked in at just 4 points.

For an afternoon snack, my department went to Yogen Fruz for a frozen yogurt outing to celebrate my boss’s birthday. It is the perfect day for frozen yogurt, so I was happy we decided to do that instead of the regular ice cream cake/cheesy poof birthday celebrations that usually go on around here. I got a small nonfat green tea frozen yogurt with mochi.

It was sooo good. I’m telling you, if you like green tea ice cream, check Yogen Fruz’s website to see if there’s one near you. It tastes exactly the same and is nonfat! Soooo good. What are your favorite toppings for fro yo? I love mochi even though it doesn’t have much flavor, the texture does it for me. I also love dark chocolate shavings, raspberries, kiwis, and just about any fruit.

Tonight I have a reception for work that I’m kind of nervous for. There’s an open bar (beer/wine) and passed hors d’oeuvres. After the reception, I may or may not stay for dinner, but I always have a really hard time being good at these types of functions. I usually have a glass of wine (or 3) and all my good intentions go out the window sip by sip. Do you have any tips for staying on track at work receptions where there is alcohol involved?

Lettuce Wraps

Hey! Today was one of the busiest days at work that I’ve had in a loooong time. I decided against taking a picture of my lunch because it was a business lunch. Not gonna lie though, it felt a little weird not to take a picture. When I first started the blog, I felt weird taking pictures and kept forgetting, and now it feels like somethings missing if I don’t! We ended up going to Old Ebbitt Grill and there were 5 of us total. We got an order of fried calamari to share to start and I had one piece of sourdough bread with real butter. So good! For my main course, I ordered the Salmon Nicoise Salad (no dressing). It was a piece of seared salmon on top of a bed of greens with kalamata olives, boiled potatoes, a hard boiled egg, green beens, chopped tomatoes, and red onions. So good, and I ate the entire thing.

For an afternoon snack, a bunch of coworkers and I headed over to Yogen Fruz. Today I changed it up and got the nonfat plain mixed with frozen cherries. I had it topped with dark chocolate shavings…

It was sooo good. I love how this place will stir in whatever frozen fruit or flavor you want to make the yogurt actually change flavors. Mmmm.

The greatest part of being so busy at work is that the days have been FLYING by. When 5 o’clock came I could honestly barely believe it. Once I stepped outside, it was still SO nice out. I think it was still around 80 degrees and sunny, but not humid at all. That’s rare for DC! I decided to take the night off completely from working out just to give my body a break. Three days of Bikram in a row plus an 8 mile bike ride thrown in there called for a day off.

My boyfriend had the night off too, so we ran to heaven Whole Foods to pick up a few things and got ingredients for Lettuce Wraps! The perfect warm weather dinner in my opinion. 🙂

I marinated some tofu right in the container with fish sauce, soy sauce, and sweet chili sauce for about 30  minutes while I put the rest of the groceries away and unloaded the dishwasher.

I also boiled the rice noodles, which only took 2 minutes and then ran them under cold water to get them cold. The boyfriend was in charge of everything else, including cooking the tofu in the wok after it had marinated. Here was the spread:

The tofu, chicken thighs in a similar marinade (for him), mango, rice noodles, bean sprouts, pickled kale and red onions (!!!), sliced red onions and cilantro, and organic green leaf lettuce. I put together 4 lettuce wraps and piled them high with bean sprouts, rice noodles, pickled onions, mango, and the marinated tofu.

They were sooooo good, but definitely a little messy.

Everything was so fresh and the textures, flavors, and colors worked perfectly together. The tofu was so flavorful from sitting in the marinade for longer than I usually let it – I have to work on my patience and give the tofu time to soak up the marinade more often! I love lettuce wraps and these were perfect.

I’m off to watch a movie and relax – be back tomorrow!