Being Healthier

Since I have been such a busy bee, I will begin with the end of the week !

Busy Bee Cafe for  Lunch
I was quite excited to try Busy Bee Cafe since hearing good things from a professor about their use of local and seasonal foods. We have gone to “The Hive” before, which is their late night bar, but had yet to eat at the cafe. After meeting Andrea, I ordered “The Arugula Salad” which said it had “arugula, dried cherries, goat cheese with a citrus vinaigrette” for $8. I added Ahi Tuna for $4, but was clearly disappointed when I was given this small bowl containing only arugula and a dusting of white ( cheese?). The portion is deceiving in this photo below. That bowl was just higher than but about the same size as a regular cereal type bowl. The tuna was approximately 2 oz.

Thank goodness Andrea had ordered Fried Green Tomatoes for an appetizer! I ended up eating plenty of these to fill me up.

It was great to see Andrea and catch up but I will definitely rethink eating at Busy Bee again. The “salad” if you could call it that was merely a serving of lettuce, fresh and tasty, but just plain old arugula. I think it was ridiculous to pay $8 for lettuce! It was quite odd too because Andrea’s enjoyed her veggie sandwich with a side salad, which was rather colorful and large at $7. 

I came home after spending $20 on lunch really hungry! Jeff made me a fantastic (big) dinner of Spare Ribs, Baked Beans and Grilled Asparagus

The portion here is deceiving here as well so I thought I would mention that I do trim the fat and there is quite a bit of it to trim on each.  There is quite a bit of lean meat as well, so my intake of actual meat was probably about 4 oz. after trimming and sharing with Jeff.

Some other eats of the weekend include:
A huge peach and big bowl of Cinnamon Puffins

Smoked Salmon “Pizza” wrap

I threw some reduced fat cheese, steamed local kale, smoked salmon, and organic tomatoes onto a whole wheat wrap and toasted it for dinner! It was quick and rather tasty! The smoked salmon is from Trader Joes and from a new vendor, it was $1.99 for 2 servings. I really enjoyed it compared to the last time I tried a smoked salmon from TJ, which ended up being way to salty. This was just right!

Jeff is such a great fiance! He grabbed me lunch from William’s Gourmet Kitchen but I will do a separate post for that!

Dinner last night was also courtesy of the Super Future Hubster, Jeff.  He did the dishes as well! That was so nice to come home late to dinner done, ready, and a clean kitchen! Thanks babe!

BBQ chicken breasts, roasted corn and beans with extra veggies and garbanzos! Lots of antioxidants, fiber and protein – my three favorite (food) things.

Body:
3 mile run! I haven’t run since the beach that first week of August so it felt great to get going again. I am still hoping to train for a marathon this year but realize I may not have time to get up to 26.2 after this break from my wisdom teeth. They throb every time I exercise, which is more annoying than painful though.

I am taking it really easy, seeing how much I can train and feel like I could at least do the half in November maybe a full by January.

Yoga! I did my own mix of moves to stretch out after and it felt fantastic!

Elliptical on Saturday, plus some upper body strength moves including planks, tricep extensions, and walking push ups.

Mind:

Homework! We had two problems for Food Service class which were using The Factor Method to re-calculate recipes for Carrot Cake and Pepper Steak. It was busy work, appropriate for a busy bee kinda day.

Other mental tasks this weekend included finding and reading an article on the DASH diet plan for Lifecycles Class ( Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), working, and reading for Medical Nutrition Therapy.
 
I also managed to finish the first chapter in End of Food by Paul Roberts. So far it is a very interesting book and making me want to head in the direction of Nutritional Anthropology! It discusses how we began as meat eaters, our digestive system adapted to meat only. As plants ( and we) flourished, we soon evolved into eating fruits, seeds, legumes, nuts and still meat when available. It was not until many years later that grains were farmed by man, much like cows for dairy. The lactose intolerant population does not have the enzyme to digest dairy. I found it interesting that we might not have developed the enzyme to digest gluten, due to the later development of grain products.  Has anyone read End of Food?

Soul:
Andrea is moving to California and I just don’t know what I will do without her here! My friend left for law school, another friend went to France for the semester, and now Andrea is leaving. I am excited for her new adventure but hope she returns soon!

It was great to celebrate Nate’s birthday ( Andrea’s husband) this weekend AND I made decent money for my past few shifts at work!!! $$$$$$$$$$ I hate to say it, but it feels great to start getting some cash in the bank.

How was your weekend?

Do you ever throw things together and they come out much better than expected? I seem to do that when I have no recipe in front of me, but if I try to follow recipe, I botch it up somehow! Dinner wednesday was a classic example of this! A recipe Jeff’s mom gave me for a cous cous salad was the idea that fell into my head when scouring the pantry items for dinner. I loved her recipe and ate it for weeks it seems, but couldn’t find it anywhere on wednesday night. So, I tried to throw together a similar dish with what I was seeing in my kitchen…

Ingredients:
1 cup Whole Wheat Organic Cous Cous- cooked to direction with a tsp. olive oil
1 can low sodium Garbanzo beans- rinsed
1 small zuchinni- washed and chopped

5 organic cherry tomatoes, washed and chopped
~10 baby bella mushrooms, chopped
- Sliced chicken breasts

* Chicken Breasts- I cooked three small(ish) boneless, skinless breasts (that I had pounded with a pot inside a plastic ziploc to tenderize) in a skillet with nonstick spray ( my splurge this week in groceries was nonstick spray because I never use spray, oil or butter. I usually never need it but it’s nice to have!). I seasoned with garlic salt, Pesto Rice Vinegar, and cooked approximately 7 minutes on each side until the inside temperature was at least 165 * F ( no more pink!).

Cook the cous cous and add all the veggies while cooking the chicken separately. Slice and add the cooked chicken, keeping everything well tossed while warming together. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

This dish was an example of extending your budget of protein. The cous cous and garbanzos do offer complete amino acids ( so you get a complete protein) with the combo of these ( why I like vegetarian). However, you also get complete proteins from chicken breast itself ( why I like eating meat!). Adding all of this together allows you to extend the whole meal, and your protein source with your grains & veggies. You get “more for your buck” so to speak. It is also filled with fiber from the whole grains, garbanzos, and fresh veggies. Some use of organics lessen your pesticide intake, some use of local veggies boosts your economy. To me , that is being healthier.

 

Breakfast Thursday:

Regular oats mixed with water, topped with frozen pineapple , some banana slices and PB2. Find out more about PB2 here. I need more than this and found that out today! It just didn’t last me long enough through food service class but maybe when we are cooking ( and sampling) in there, it would be enough.

I brought my lunch to campus since I am in class straight from 9- 12:20, 1:00- 3:30, and 4-6! After eating breakfast, I made this smoothie and didn’t know how well it would hold me over either!

This was in our grad room/ lunch room. Black table tops = cool photo. My green smoothie included: frozen spinach, locally grown Kale, frozen pineapple, frozen Papaya, frozen cherries, milk and protein powder. I brought an orange and bottle of water as well. This did last through my last class, but I was hungry and tired when I finally got home!

Our Professor and some students started a garden on campus and they had this sale of produce with excess leftover. So I brought home some of that extra:

Tiny green peppers, tomatoes, basil, a tiny potato and a couple of radishes… Not sure what I will do with them yet or if they are ripe enough ?

Veggie dinner…

I did make some pork tenderloin for Jeff but was too hungry when I came home to wait for it! I had more locally grown kale, veggies, mashed potatoes and I had some leftovers of the chicken cous cous as well.

A few chocolates for dessert thanks to the Bridal Expo handouts…

Body:
Lots of walking on campus Thursday, but no formal exercise! A long day of classes and lugging around books makes me a tired gal! Excited for a Run on friday!

Mind:
Class all day leaves me so tired! I should say, my thoughts below are what I gathered from the same lecture this week in two separate classes- Medical Nutrition Therapy and Lifecycles Nutrition by Dr. Fisher. Hopefully, these classes diverge through the semester!

Society is now becoming aware of problem with food access and excess in this country, this obesity epidemic is leading to tremendous health care issues like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Those health care costs are sky rocketing, no wonder we need health care reform.

“Well there is a McDonald’s on every corner” or “There is a vending machine on every floor of the school”.  We complain about the problem yet the school has the vending machine for HFCS filled Sodas on every floor because Coca Cola paid for their school’s goal posts or Scoreboards on the football field!

People should Eat Smart Move More but if the kiddos are living in government housing with no sidewalks or safe place to play, we can’t exactly expect them to be getting in exercise?!?! Schools offer to have nutrition OR physical education as part of core requirements, yet, both are necessary.  There are so many issues that may be addressed but not being put into action. What needs to happen to stop the cycle of one hand feeding another that leads to the overfeeding of America?

Soul:

Looking forward to Lunch on Friday with Andrea!! It will be so nice to catch up with her! We are going to a fairly new place that offers local, seasonal foods too!

I am in need of yoga for my spiritual fulfilling… maybe I will go to “soaking prayer yoga” today after my run?

Wedding:
Thinking about having the wedding closer to home…. still want to look at this one last place that seemed to be just perfect! I will have to schedule a visit when Jeff and I can get some time to go.

Rather, since I’ve been gone… I have had so much to do! Thank you everyone for keeping up with my posts this week despite the randomness of posting times. The first full week of classes was really busy but helped me figure out when I will be able to post (3 times a day if I bring my laptop with me) and if I needed to bring my laptop to campus ( yes!). On that note, I need to buy myself a quality bookbag to lug “Food for Fifty” by Mary Molt around along with all the others like Nutrition Assessments text. Anyone know of really good ones? I kind of feel like a 10 year old that MUST have that super cool transformer backpack or something…

Anyhow, this will be a photograph full post of my eats this week! I will be back to a shorter , more frequent posting schedule now that I have my wits about me for courses.

Monday Breakfast:
Started the week out right with a bowl of Bulgur Wheat with Soy, made with bananas, pineapples, milk and water. Chocolate PB2 for dipping! I love the lower calorie, higher nutrient content of this grain! As I have said before I’m sure, it has 10 g of protein, 5 g of fiber and about 110 kcal per serving (1/4 cup, dry) so that is awesome to stick with me through long morning classes!

Lunch:
This was a quick decision because I had come back home, forgetting things for the gym and very hungry! I heated up a can of Split Pea Soup with Ham after I added my own veggies to this, here is what it looked like:

And here is what the can photo looks like:

Not only do those vegetables look bigger and better on the can but so does the ham.. Interesting marketing Healthy Choice… mine looks much less colorful even after I added extra veggies to it! It would be healthier to make a large batch of homemade soup to freeze, however, this canned soup is approximately 480 mg of sodium ( much less than most other brands of canned soup). Also, We were out of town this weekend so it was an easy option that was easy to eat ( yes my wisdom teeth removal does still hurt so I am trying to take it easy when I can)

Monday Dinner:

I did a quick stir fry with fresh and LOCAL bean sprouts & green snow peas, mushrooms and some frozen veggies as well. For the “rice” I made Kashi Original Pilaf ( non-instant but it only takes 20 minutes or so ) which had great grains like wheatberries and barley. The protein came from chicken breasts that I had cooked in a skillet with a sesame-ginger , low sodium, HFCS free marinade and salt & pepper.  It was quite tasty!

Green Smoothie for Breakfast (Tuesday)
Another fresh start!

I love having breakfast ( a learned habit!) because I usually wake up really hungry and it starts your day with a source of excellent fuel. If the rest of your day can just follow in that healthy direction, you’d be all set!  I used frozen pineapple, frozen cherries, Locally Grown Kale, Frozen Spinach, milk and protein powder. I really enjoy the freshness the kale and spinach bring, but it does taste a little veggie so beware if you make it!

My mom had bought me a few of these bars to try, and I grabbed one on the way to class for lunch/snack

It has quite the “protein” taste that may be bitter if you aren’t used to higher protein bars and it was quite gooey for some reason. When I came home, I had some fresh fruit (black plum) and veggies to round it out a bit.

Dinner was Vegetarian Style…

I took kidney beans, mushrooms and local bean sprouts and heated them up in a skillet. After steaming some locally grown Kale with lemon juice, I added that on top of the beans and such. Then, I put it all inside a whole wheat wrap with a side of veggies.

This was so tasty and satisfying! Tons of filling fiber from the veggies, wrap, and beans! I love kidney beans in wraps and I especially loved the Kale steamed in lemon juice! The bean sprouts were crunchy, the kale was chewy, the beans were mushy, and I did sprinkle some melty cheese inside too.

Body:

• - 4 mile walk with Jack (Monday) + Yoga ( detox from yogadownload)

  - 30 Day Shred Level 2 and Level 3 (Tuesday) – I did this back in April for 30 days and did get fantastic results, unfortunately, it made it more difficult to run because of all the quad moves. I love to have it on hand for at home workouts!

  - Gym (Wednesday)- Elliptical, Abs, Bike ( 10 minute cool down)

  Mind:
  
  Oral Surgeon Appointment in the morning to remove the clover oil things from my dry-sockets. Right after that , I had to head to campus to meet with my advisor about my thesis/ practicum to graduate this spring! We discussed options, if I do the thesis it usually makes me more profitable for PhD. programs, however, if I do the practicum- I finally get some actual experience in the field which I really need! I need to decide which option I want to do, but I did find a few ways to use blogging as part either! Isn’t that interesting? When I have a set proposal, I will discuss more on here for sure!

  Right after that meeting, I had Medical Nutrition Therapy Class! Such a busy morning…I am drafting a post about that class this week!

  Food Service Class on Tuesday was all lecture, no cooking yet! We discussed menu planning, types of menus ( static vs. cycle, selective, etc.).

A la carte: price food items separately, customer chooses menu items individually

Table de hôte: complete meal at a fixed price

Pre fixe: the price for the meal is fixed but there may be choices within menu categories
Soul:

This week was so busy, the yoga really helped me de-stress and focus my spirit. Classes this week really made me feel kind of lost! I hate to say it, but the focus seemed to just be “ solving the nutritional problems” of the U.S. Fighting adult obesity, childhood obesity, “excessibility” of food (my own made up term for the excess of access to unhealthy food in the U.S such as vending machines on every floor of buildings). At the same time, we need to be fighting malnutrition within obese adults, hunger for the impoverished, fighting the government for health care reform because most of the top chronic diseases in the country are diet-related… It is all such an overwhelming task for the field of nutrition to conquer, and for me, I see the big picture and want to fight it all. My purpose in life seems to be different than what I thought it would be and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do about all these issues I am passionate about!
What are you passionate about?

 

 

 

Sunday we had a flight late afternoon but had to check out of our hotel at noon, so we went with friends downtown to brunch and tour around more. I ordered Poached Eggs, Grilled Tofu and Homefries

The tofu was soaked in some sort of maple, soy marinade but the menu had not indicated this. I was pleasantly surprised though!

A big side of fresh, delicious fruit and whole grain toast completed this meal. I was so satisfied that I wanted to keep eating all of it. I did not manage more than a few of the homefries since the tofu and fruit were very filling!

We headed down after brunch to the Lake Champlain waterfront

There are mountains in distance but they didn’t seem to turn out on here well..

Duck-bath!

and gardens..

and we hiked back up this hill, which has a “Skinny Pancake” restaurant on the corner that serves all kinds of crepes…

At the airport awaiting our flight, Jeff chose to have a granola parfait with vermont yogurt, granola and fruit.  ( I stole a few bites)

And I chose this HUGE cookie the size of my face..

Jeff and I split this but didn’t finish more than half together. It was alright but that cookie from The Doubletree blew this away!

We had two connecting flights, so we barely had a chance to grab dinner at the airport before shuttling to another terminal to board our last flight home.

I think the place was called California Burrito, and I ordered the Hickory Chicken Burrito Bowl. It came with lots of veggies like peppers, onions, romaine, salsa and had guacamole as well as chicken with a tasty hickory sauce.

Way above the clouds, the clouds in the distance looked like mountains with the sun setting over them.

We arrived home pretty late and went to pick up Jack from the in-laws ( Thanks Mom & Preston!) and get sleep!

Body:
Got up fairly early to workout in the Hotel exercise room, which was awesome! They had so many great new machines, including a few ellipticals with TV’s attached to each!
Cardio: Elliptical 35 minutes
Abs: Planks and Ball Twists

Mind:
I read through the latest Bon Appetite and a few suduko puzzles on the plane.  I also read our assigned chapters for Medical Nutrition Therapy on Nutrition Assesments. It was mostly a refresher but some detailed info on all those letters you see for labels, RDA , TUI, DV, … there are many more but maybe I will conjure up a post on that shortly!

Soul:

I wish I had gotten to see more of Vermont, however, it is so nice to be home!
A few things Kate and Todd did at their wedding are great ideas that Jeff and I will probably incorporate in some ways into ours so it was helpful as well as lovely to see them share their special day with their loved ones.

The morning of their wedding, Tracy and myself headed to downtown Burlington to do some shopping and grab brunch as well. The guys were having their groomsmen brunch so we ended up touring around a farmer’s market, shopping in a few small stores, listening to this odd combination of a cellist & banjo player

We grabbed some breakfast at Bruegger’s, which was fun for me because I have never actually eaten there.

This western wrap had eggs ( unfortunately not fresh), onions, peppers, bacon, and chipotle dressing. Really quite tasty and I’m sure much more unhealthy than I like to think, at least there were veggies!

We had eaten so late and shopped for so long that we had to hurry for the 4:00 pm ceremony here at The Unitarian Church on Church St.!
The Groomsmen

Kate’s Father walking her down the isle…

Vows…

Everyone was all smiles after! Jeff and I with our friends Tracy and Joe…

Shortly after this photo, we were off to the country club for cocktail hour. I had a small plate of ham wrapped asparagus, and cheese with a Bloody Mary

A few ladies that have known Kate since she was very young had seen me snap this photo, which intrigued them to ask me about it. So began our conversation on how I take pictures of everything I eat, graduate school in nutrition and such! If any of you ladies stop in to Being Healthier, Hello, It was so nice to meet you!

Passed appetizers that I tried included olive bruschetta

a Chicken skewer

a stuffed mushroom…

and a vegetable spring roll

( there was also shrimp which I cannot eat so no photo!)

I had a glass of Malbec with dinner, which had a Caprese Salad course

Beef that melted in your mouth it was so tender, with roasted potatoes and vegetables

And then there was Cake! 

I also had coffee with my slice, but I couldn’t seem to place the flavors! I think it was filled with raspberry and lemon mousse, covered with yellow buttercream.

I did have plenty of cocktails…

However, none of those Corona’s were mine! Rest assured health-seekers, I stuck to a few glass of wine and spent the entire evening dancing it off. We had a blast!

We ended up continuing the celebration in downtown Burlington after the reception ended. The conclusion to the evening was the taxi ride back to the hotel with many shared bites of ” Putine” from Nectar’s….
I have no “justification for the health” of gravy covered french fries other than they were shared and we had danced a lot! Hope you enjoyed the celebration! I know we did and we are so happy for Teddy and Kate! Congratulations!

Hello Vermont!
Jeff and I flew up to Burlington VT for our friends wedding, Teddy and Kate. We had to wake up at 4:30 am to get our flight on time, so we had bananas on the shuttle ( camera was packed) and in the airport grabbed a bottle of 2% Milk.

Did you know that this whole bottle is 240 kcal, 16g protein and 10 g of fat ? I think it was a healthy option, lots of protein staying power for the morning, although I would have preferred organic had it been available. Marketing can be so tricky for consumers though, “reduced fat” is better than whole because it reduces the saturated fat and total fat. However, many people would not realize that this bottle has 2 servings, each with 5 g of fat making the total 10g per bottle.  Not exactly the impression that “reduced fat” gives.

And what goes better with milk than a warm chocolate chip cookie? Well we didn’t have them together, but after our second flight from Philly to Burlington we had a courtesy shuttle to the hotel. Upon arriving to the Doubletree, we were greeted with warm chocolate chip cookies…

While not the ideal healthy snack, they were ooey, gooey, warm and crunchy with macadamia nuts! I nibbled on half to hold me over until we could get to down to lunch.

We ate at the hotel restaurant because we were both pretty hungry and wanted to eat asap! I had a house salad with a cup of turkey noodle soup. I am still leaning towards easier foods to eat so the soup sounded fantastic and it was quite tasty! I couldn’t quite get all those crunchy carrots down but I did manage to eat most of that salad!

As we ate, more friends arrived and we headed out to see downtown Burlington.

This ice cold Allagash Tripel Ale was quite tasty! According to the label, it had notes of honey and passionfruit with a grapefruit aroma… It was technically a heifeweizen, similar to wheat ale and not too bitter but quite strong since it has 9% alcohol, much higher than other beers. Go for the good stuff! I would much rather sip on one strong microbrew, which helps deter the “stuffed” feeling several light beers can give you as well as the calorie build up.

Onto the rehearsal, which went by so quickly! It is amazing how many of those wedding t.v shows depict awful rehearsals with no one listening, chaos, and loud bridezillas! This was the complete opposite, everyone was eager, joyful, and attentive!
The groom’s brother in law, groom, one of the best men, Joe.

Jeff ( the other best man) walked the mother of the groom, Linda down the isle. Isn’t that sweet!?

The bride-to-be and her father

Practice

With their parents on either side of them…

Let’s go to the rehearsal dinner!!!

We did stop at the hotel before dinner and I luckily grabbed a shot of all of us having a beer in the room..

Back Row Left to Right: Joe (b.m), Teddy (groom), Jeff ( b.m), Steve (b.i.l), Ron (Father of Groom)
Front Row Left to Right: Me (wife-to-be of Jeff  & friend), Kate ( Bride), Stacy (sister of groom), Linda(mother of groom), Tracy (wife of Joe & friend)

The dinner was at this fantastic dessert place, Chefs Corner Cafe Bakery ( 415 Essex Rd in Williston, VT) . The couple had the bridal party at the rehearsal dinner and then invited all the remaining out of town guests to dessert afterwards. I think that was such a great idea that Jeff and I will probably do the same!
 
What a fantastic greeting of meringues!

Of course I had a glass of vino (or 2), and oogled at the display case!

As an appetizer, vegetable quiche

I had a great big salad, with greek salad on top, Tomato Gaszpacho, and Chicken Marsala.

The dessert table was quite impressive!

Vermont Maple Cheesecake, Flourless Chocolate Tarts with Strawberries, Shortbread Cookies, and mini Bostom Creme Puffs
Jeff and I split this selection…

We did not finish that shortbread cookie…but did manage the others!! Scrumptious! Thank you Momma Ted and Ron!

The guys… The groom and his close friends

The happy couple:

Aww…

• 
   
  “In summation” it was a great evening with great family, friends and food! I know many of them read Being Healthier, so I wanted to make this post a little more personal with some of the photos for their enjoyment, Hope all readers enjoyed! 
  I have many more photos that I will be emailing them a link for ( Momma Ted, Kate, Todd…)

I finally have been able to “nom” foods, mush them around and actually get down something other than milk-based such as ice cream, yogurt, smoothies etc. This could not have come at a better time because this weekend was our friend’s wedding! I would have hated to miss out on rehearsal dinner and the delicious reception!
 
Normally, my coffee is bold drip with the occasional sugar, sweetener, or cream. Feeling a little low on energy and desire for variety, I decided to try a small Mocha Caramellatte from Gloria Jean’s, made with (healthier) skim milk.

 
( I have had to go really early in the morning back to the oral surgeon to have my two dry-sockets packed with clover oil every other day… so I had grabbed this on the way since my stomach was rumbling but I needed to have my teeth worked on…came back to the oatmeal after the appointment! ) It was fabulous!

Also fabulous was this breakfast of oats made with 1/2 water 1/2 milk, 1/2 banana, frozen cherries and PB2…

Lunch was instant kashi moroccan pilaf which has a great list of grains (wheatberries, barley, etc.) that are all packed with antioxidants. I also loaded up on antioxidants with extra vegetables: frozen spinach and frozen corn. On the side, I mixed a serving of tuna salad using water packed tuna, plain organic greek yogurt, and a teaspoon of light mayo.

Before class I grabbed this guy

This bottle contains:
1/2 a banana
1/4 of a pomegranate
7 Red Grapes
1/3 of an Orange
1 and 1/2 Apples
3 Cranberries
11 Strawberries
13 Raspberries
8 g Flaxseed
4.3 g Omega -3
B-Vitamins, Potassium and Vitamin C!

I have to admit, I wanted to have their Green Machine but the campus vending was all out. Ideal for my situation (having been unable to chew for so many days and lacking normal fruits and veggies) this made me feel great, healthy, and filled with plenty of superfoods! I hope these become a trend for the average, busy American that only manages 1-2 servings of fruits or vegetables a day ( An ideal amount is 9 servings per day!!!).

Special Treat!

It took me a good 30 minutes in class to eat this chocolate chip cookie bar our professor made for our class! I bet I looked really odd to those that didn’t know four of my teeth had been pulled out but I didn’t mind taking my time to enjoy this treat!

Dinner was a mix of mac and cheese my mom had made for me while she was here, mashed up with extra spinach and tomato sauce…

One of the questions I most often hear is “What is one thing Americans need to do to help reduce the obesity epidemic?” And I always think “Eat more fruits and vegetables and less saturated fat!!” The easiest way to do this is have frozen veggies and fruits on hand since they have a long shelf life and are frozen fresh. Just throw them into meals like I did today!

Body:
Tons of walking around campus!

Mind:
Class… Packing…

Soul:
It feels so wonderful to be able to eat at least somewhat again!

Congratulations to Todd and Kate!

I’m working on our friends’ Wedding recap post and it should be up after class tomorrow!!

 

August has always been seemingly the change of seasons for me. Growing up in the North, the leaves would start changing and the addition of a cool evening breeze would be classic signs starting as early as August. In the South, it seems as though the weather just gets steamier through September! Despite the heat, Fall semester has begun, which signals to me that Autumn will soon be here. And, a very busy Fall it will be for this lady!

Body:
I haven’t been able to do much of anything except rest and recover from my wisdom teeth extraction. Even with yoga, the pressure of my head being upside down would not have been possible with this chipmunk cheeks! However, since starting classes I have had to walk way more in the past two days than in the past ten!

Mind:

 Fall Courses:
Medical Nutrition Therapy- nutrition therapy related to obesity, celiac’s, other autoimmune disorders, and many other conditions. The course also teaches nutrition assessments and medical terminology.

Food Service Management- food safety and meal preparation for crowds! We will have a Top Chef face off at the end of the course where each half of class prepares 3 different courses to compete against each other.

Lifecycle Nutrition – we start with the adults & elderly care this semester, next is childhood!!

Food and Society- we try to solve the nutrition problems of the world

- Thesis -potentially, I could have hours for this as well!

I think it will be an interesting semester, especially with my part-time hours hostessing , blogging, articles for the examiner, and wedding planning!

Soul:
Jeff is back again from his business trip- he has been traveling non-stop so it feels really nice to have him back home.

Resting has been just what I needed to prepare for this upcoming schedule! (“The calm before the storm” right?)

Eats:

I struggled with taking photos for this past week because honestly, I was barely eating! I knew what would happen as far as losing my teeth and being swollen in pain. However, I didn’t realize I would be unable to chew at all or open my mouth much more than to exhale. In addition to that, I had no appetite whatsoever so I was not miserably hungry!… The medicine required me to have something in my stomach, so that included lots of smoothies, made with protein powder, frozen fruits and milk

Applesauce, which has the first ingredient of high fructose corn syrup… not too healthy

So I also had ( thanks to my mom!) some pomegranate applesauce with no added sugar and antioxidants along side lots of yogurt!

I didn’t eat the fruit on the bottom yogurts but I did eat all the others!

I also ate melted ice cream but didn’t manage a photo of that! Thank you to everyone that left me comments and tips for getting wisdom teeth out, I appreciated your thoughts so much! For anyone that needs to get theirs out, I didn’t realize that it would be so difficult to get in vegetable servings! I should have stocked up on more SuperFood smoothies or green smoothies like the Naked company makes! As always, drinking tons of water was very helpful too!

 

 

 

Yes, this will be another wedding related post but I assure you its filled with food and fun!

I was finally feeling well-enough to do something and just so happens, The Southern Bridal Expo was in town that day 11 am- 4pm. There is no way I could handle 5 hours of that but I felt strongly that I should not miss this show!

My close friend Andrea had informed me about this show but since she had to leave for Vermont last minute, she couldn’t make it. I didn’t even want to buy tickets too far ahead because I was concerned I might not even be able to go!

My newly-engaged friend Sarah, my mom, and myself excitedly headed to the Bridal Expo not sure of what was in store for us. We made sure to bring mailing labels to enter into drawings or easily hand out information to vendors we liked. It was easier and less time consuming than writing out everything by hand at each booth.

They were offering tons of vendors including caterers, DJ’s , photographers, cake bakers, dress shops, dress cleaners, wedding consultants, event planners, table setting displays, florists, fashion shows, door prizes, reception sites, ceremony sites, hotels, travel agents, and more.

Of course I loved the Cake Displays… and the free samples! So I shall start there.

Cakes

Sweet Memories Bakery

This was a white chocolate buttercream with raspberry cream filling. I could only lick the frosting because of my teeth.

Edible Art

Spice Cupcake with cream cheese frosting

Swank Cake Designs

Caterers

J.Beau Bennett from Beau Catering was very nice and quite knowledgeable! I hope he checks out my blog as we really enjoyed talking with him.

Aside from their delicious samples of Local Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta and NC Pulled Pork Slaw, we had a chance to chat with him about his NC based catering business.  They use recyclable, reusable, sustainable products and green practices whenever possible. We also enjoyed his philosophy on using local, fresh ingredients from farmers in the area.

Table Settings

A high-top table- I haven’t seen these before for weddings!

Printed linens are a big trend I think…

I love this platinum color tablecloth and napkin.

and I liked this gold setup

 

I didn’t enjoy the centerpiece, but kind of liked the candelabra
I do like the chair decorations, flowers, ribbons, etc.

Florists

I tried to smile but literally couldn’t- despite being not nearly as swollen as I was the past few days!

Paper (Invitations, Save the Dates, etc.)

Invitations can be so expensive, over $10-$13 for some of the companies at the expo! This company is a “do-it yourself” type, which lowers the cost to about $3-$4 each. At 100 guests, that is a difference between $300 and $1000 !!! I am really going to keep this companies info for the future.

I did give out some mailing labels to some companies that were giving away $100 gift cards towards invitations, etc.

My mom and I and Sarah also entered in to many other vendors’ giveaways for honeymoons, gift registry items, free photography sessions, and more. It was a great afternoon but very long, lots of walking, lots of talking, lots of information gathering! The fashion show we were looking forward to was incredibly too slow! We really wanted to see as many gowns as we could but since it was going too slow and you need to try on your dress anyway- we skipped out early!

I also found yet another Beach Resort for our reception site! I think it is “the one”- pricing, location, photos, accommodations, ambience, architecture…

I am keeping it “mum” for now until Jeff and I have a chance to discuss it in detail and potentially visit!

What are you doing for dinner tonight?
I can’t chew yet but I can mash things with my tongue so I want to live vicariously through you!

 image source

  

This image is from The Sea Pines Resort, the last stop on our Hilton Head Island wedding location search. This view is of The Calibogue Sound and the candy cane striped Lighthouse of Harbor Town.

If you look in the pan shot above, you can see the lighthouse if you start scrolling to the right and you see the first building sticking out. That building is this villa, which is just behind the 18th Green ceremony site and available to rent for our wedding…

and walk directly out onto the green in the Calibogue Sound

I tried to put together a panoramic view collage of just how much grass there is and what a fantastic view this is.

We would get “the best of both worlds” at Sea Pines.  A spectacular sunset view of the sound and golf course for the ceremony but then we can have the reception at The Beach Club, which offers a full bar and plenty of covered/uncovered, oceanfront deck space.

 

Before the public beach but below the deck is a great area for a dance floor with a bandstand as well. I think we would have our guests dance in the sand and part of the deck instead of renting a floor, after all it is a beach wedding!

 

This space is commonly used for the dance floor .

Again, you have to imagine nicely covered chairs and decorated tables set, fabrics wrapped on the ceiling … no mustard and ketchup bottles!

 

 

Sea Pines has reception options galore. Another option that could serve as our indoor backup is The Lakehouse Restaurant & Pub

Where the buffet would be set…

 

It has a fantastic lake and golf course view with an outdoor terrace just in case guests wanted to sit outside

and also a small couch lounge for those that need a rest

The reception could be held in The Plantation Room

It has white washed walls, a wall of mirrors and an opposite wall of windows overlooking the golfing green and a skylight

This is my sister’s favorite option as it is indoors with a beachy feeling and a great view.

Our guests could rent villas, or rooms at this world-class luxury hotel: The Harbor Inn, which is the only 4 Diamond Member of Hotels on the island.

(That is my sister and brother-in-law on the right, who did a wonderful job of helping me the whole vacation!)

The staff at Harbor Inn is entirely from Europe, specifically they must be from England or Scotland to work there! ( Jeff’s British Grandmother would love this place, especially the service). They have daily butler service on each floor ( cookies, tea, crumpets and scones etc.).

They have several lounge areas for guests that are incredible

The Fountain Terrace

 

This terrace has two adjacent terraces to hold rehearsal dinners, ceremonies , and small receptions as well.

One of the cutest spots in Sea Pines is Harbor Town.
There are a ton of small shops to stop in with touristy things but it is also fun to look at the huge boats in the marina …

After touring all the sites, we had delicious ice cream that was melting as soon as it was placed into our hands. Oh the joy of ice cream dripping everywhere. It was gone in a matter of seconds!

( mine was heath, and my sister had sherbet).

After that we got in some exercise with kayaking

and we concluded with dinner at Topside.

(Yes this is a Food Blog… not a wedding or travel blog… so on to the Food!)

Great view

Not so great Service. However, the food was pretty good …

I had the blackened mahi with vegetables and whipped potatoes, a garnish of pineapple salsa. It was cooked very well, seasoned well but the potatoes were cool upon arrival.

Christal’s Bleu Chicken Pasta

It was similar to an alfredo but the blue cheese in the sauce was definitely fabulous.
Greg’s Grouper

Mom’s Veggie Orechetti Pasta tossed in a sweet and sour sauce ( an odd combo- I liked it but she didn’t)

The afternoon in Sea Pines was an eye-opener for wedding venues and the first time I ever went kayaking! I truly loved this venue, unfortunately, it is slightly more expensive than the other venues. There are plenty of Pros but only a few big Cons so we are thinking through our options still!

Have you ever been to Hilton Head?