Bits and Bites_6.23.14

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Monday already, huh? Yikes. I swear I blink and another month is almost over. I wish I could press pause. But alas! Summer is here and the weather has been perrrrfect. I'm trying to soak up every moment! This past weekend, I worked both days, but, was able to squeeze is some fun out in Seaport on Friday night. On Saturday after work, Rob and I walked down to Castle Island to dive into the best it has to offer... ie) the best comfort/fried food in Southie. Gotta indulge, my friends. (I quickly passed out on the couch less than 3 hours later)

Anyway, as promised here's a few more articles that I thought you might enjoy for this week's "BITS":

This article does a nice job of explaining what "cage free" "natural" "gmo free" and other labels mean.

This is one of the best articles I've found on eating healthy/organic/gmo free on a tight budget. Great tips!

This article provides you the 8 foods that the experts will NOT eat. I agree.

And here are my weekly "BITES":

Breakfast with a buckwheat berry waffle from whole foods, smoothie (frozen organic berries, ground flax, chia seeds, 1.5 tbs raw almond butter, cinnamon, and water to blend), and strawberries.

Another typical lunch: organic hard boiled eggs, these snap pea crisps I found at whole foods (gmo free!), real sugar snap peas, organic raspberries, organic cheese stick.

Easy, delish salad I made last week for dinner: local lettuce, grilled chicken that I tossed in my fav buffalo sauce, organic tomatoes, feta, castelvetrano olives (legit best olives ever - I've made non-olive-lovers starting liking olives after feeding them these), and yogurt blue cheese dressing.

I've been making this little guy to satisfy my sweet cravings: two little pieces of 80% cocoa dark chocolate with raw pb in the middle.

Just one look at the ingredient list on Ezekiel raisin English muffins and you'll know why I've been eating them for years. First of all they are so healthy, secondly - so filling, third - so tasty! Here I put almond butter on one half and organic grass-fed butter on the other.

Another self-explanatory lunch. Organic eggs, kiwi, cheese, snap pea crisps.

A Whole Foods salad bar lunch: curry chicken salad, spinach and a few wheat noodles.

My delish Saturday evening dinner with Rob. (like I said, gotta indulge). I had the lobster roll and some of the fried clams. Rob had the double cheeseburger (I had a bite -OMG) and the hot dog.

Anddd, this morning's strawberry-mango smoothie: Almost two cups of frozen mangos and strawberries, 1.5 tbs almond butter, tsp ground flax, tsp coconut flake, water, and cinnamon.

Hope you are all enjoying this weather as much as I am - have a great week! xo

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Friday Favs_6.6.14

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Yay, Friday! A short edition of Friday Favs is back! Last weekend, Rob, Rachael, Chris, Kim, Billy and I went to the Cape for a couple days. It was the perfect quick getaway and I can't wait to go back. This weekend, I'm looking forward to some sunshine and getting organized before a couple of busy weeks. Summer is upon us, my friends! Soak it up!

For those of my friends who live in Mass... you know this is THE most welcome site (especially on the first trip of the season)

The little path that led to the beach from our Cape house. O.K. Ave was the next street over - what a perfect name! Everything's ok on O.K. ave.

Rachael snapped this photo of Rob and me on our last day. We went down to test the water... it was surprisingly warmer than expected. I can't wait to dive in!

I've been all over of my smoothie game again lately. This one consists of berries, water, cinnamon, almond butter, ground flax, and chia seeds. 

Last week was Ella's 8th birthday... my mom made her favorite, carrot cake. We watched the little ones while Ella was at school - safe to say they love frosting!

Hope you all have a fun-filled weekend! It's supposed to be gorgeous in the Northeast! xo

Smoothie Staples

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If you've been following me on Insta... you know I've been on a serious smoothie kick lately. What I love about smoothies is that, well, they taste delicious, and, they pack so many beneficial nutrients and vitamins in one punch. I'm not much of a kale-lover, but, you can't taste it in smoothies and the health benefits of kale are unparalleled. I love the idea of fueling my body with so many vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, omegas & antioxidants first thing in the morning (super health-nerdy - don't care). 

First let's start out chatting about what "Smoothie Staples" I keep in my fridge:

1. KALE: Extremely high in Vitamins K (helps with blood clotting & bone health), A & C. Also a great source of manganese, copper, iron, B6, fiber, potassium, and calcium. It's antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and great for cardiovascular system due to cholesterol lowering properties. There's more - click it to read it.

2. BERRIES: Who doesn't love berries? I buy them frozen this time of year. Extremely high in antioxidants, vitamin c, fiber, vitamin K, and manganese.

3. ALMOND MILK: I like THIS BRAND. It has less sugars and fake stuff than the other brands. (SILK almond milk is actually a better choice than Almond Breeze believe it or not - read the ingredient list). The health benefits are basically that it's high in vitamins because they are added. I just really prefer it to regular milk and personally feel that it offers more health benefits.

4. MANGOS: High in the B vitamins, Vitamin C, carotene, copper, & fiber.

5. AVOCADO: Extremely high in Vitamin B5, fiber, Vitamin K, Potassium, Vitamins C & E

6. CHIA SEEDS: High in omegas, fiber, protein, and high in protein considering their size

7: GROUND FLAXSEEDS: Omega-3's, Fiber, a little protein, and B1

8. ALMOND BUTTER:  High in monounsaturated fats, vitamin E, manganese, biotin, and copper. A good source of magnesium, molydenum, riboflavin (vitamin B2), and phosphorus

9. CINNAMON: Super high in antioxidants. Good source of calcium, fiber, & manganese.

Ok now that we have the benefits down... let's get into the tasty recipes!

The GREEN MONSTER! Cup of kale, cup of frozen mangos, half an avocado, vanilla almond milk, cinnamon, ginger, tbs of ground flax. Sprinkle with cinnamon and ginger and serve.

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KALE-RAZZLE DAZZLE! Cup of kale, cup of raspberries, whole banana (save a couple slices for the top to make it pretty), cinnamon, vanilla almond milk, almond butter, chia seeds, ground flax seed, sprinkle with cinnamon. 

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ALMOND BERRY BURST! Half banana, almond milk, tbs almond butter, 3/4cu kale, 1/2cu organic berries, tsp of chia seeds and ground flax seed, cinnamon, ginger, 1/4cu coffee.

BANANARAMMA COLD-KILLA: 3/4cu Kale, 1/3 avocado, frozen mangos, banana, vanilla almond milk, cinnamon, ginger. (Rob was fighting a bad cold last week and I started to get a sore throat this week --- BUT, between shots of apple cider vinegar (we'll talk about that another time) and these smoothies - my sore throat is pretty much gone - no joke)

QUICKIE COLD ZAPPER: I was freezing this morning so I didn't want my frozen fruit - I ended up using a regular mango and it came out great: Cup of Kale, 1/3 avocado, 1 whole mango, cinnamon, almond milk, tbs shredded coconut.

I'm going to keep on making these so I'll continue to post the recipes on Insta - what's your favorite smoothie staple?! Have a great week! xo