Highlights From My Few Days in Florida

I’m back from Florida with a recap highlighting some of the things I did and ate.

I was in Florida for basically five days, which felt like a day and a half. Wow, how time flies!

Love the baby palm trees!

I think that because I’ve been going down to South Florida so often again, it doesn’t even feel like a vacation, more like I’m just going down to see Heather and we have things to do in an area I know pretty well.

Love and Hip Hop Baby Shower Set Up

So remember that Heather and I both work in the events industry? While I’m still sorting out my next steps after leaving my company, Heather is busy with rental decor 24/7, designing the most beautiful tables all over South Florida.

I chose this past weekend to go down to Florida so that I could help her set up a baby shower for reality stars on Love and Hip Hop Miami.

set up crew

Heather has such an eye for tabletop design. The layout was beautiful. The mix of liquid velvet and sequin linens were to die for and totally what I would choose for my own event!

Once set up was done, we had some fun posing with the balloon decor. The shower will be in an episode on VH1 this summer! I can’t wait to see it.

What I Ate (Highlights)

I never capture everything I eat but here are some highlights!

Pizza and salad are always a favorite combo for me — Sicilian Oven is a really good restaurant, even if it’s not New York pizza.

We had a delicious lunch at Prime Catch in Boynton Beach. This eggplant dip and pita bread were really good for sharing.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’m trying to eat more wild salmon for the health benefits which is why I had it added to my salad for lunch. Normally I would order without the added protein but I went for the salmon and I think it was the best salmon I’ve ever had.

Crumbl is right near Prime Catch so we preplanned a stop for cookies after lunch.

I went with the classic chocolate chip cookie and it did not disappoint. I did take bites from a few of the other cookies but come on, chocolate chip is the best. We all know that.

This greek salad with a side of hummus was very satisfying after we spent hours setting up the baby shower layout.

If you saw my instagram stories earlier this week, you saw that I went to Lifetime one day. I took a heated Warrior Sculpt class and was so super excited about it! I will talk about it more in Monday’s workout recap but from the Lifetime Cafe, I had a PB&B Smoothie and a Southwest Bowl (I think that’s what it was called) which I ate a few hours later for lunch.

I loaded a box from the Whole Foods food bar one day too. Don’t ask me what was in it! I don’t really know but I chose a lot of roasted vegetables and a few different grain salads I think.

One night we had dinner at Lulu’s in Delray.

We shared a hummus appetizer and then I had some sort of bowl. I wanted the Buddha Bowl but they were out of it.

Candy! I need a candy bag after dinner.

I always pack a peanut butter sandwich for the airport and as an emergency snack!

And finally, I can’t close out a trip to Florida post without mentioning Stoney Clover. While I didn’t take pictures of all of the pouches I used, here’s a picture of the pouches in my tote on the plane. That’s one clear travel pouch and a mini pouch.

And that’s about it! See you Monday to discuss my workouts from this week.

Red Lentil Pasta + Dinner at Toku + Other Recent Meals

It’s Wednesday already! I was off on Monday which always makes the week go so fast.

I have some recent meals worth sharing so let’s take a look.

I had a bialy with vegetable cream cheese at Bagel Boss the other day for lunch. So simple and always perfect!

I picked up Chopt again for myself and my friend. We both order from the Chopt app and then I bring both salads to her store to eat lunch.

Sweet Green is opening in the area really soon but I prefer Chopt. It’s not that I don’t like Sweet Green and I am sure I will sometimes go too, but I still really like my Chopt salad even though it’s pretty basic.

My son’s birthday was last week! We went to Toku for his birthday dinner. I snuck a picture of the crispy rice tuna appetizer, my absolute favorite.

I think it was in last week’s post that I mentioned how much I enjoy Trader Joe’s organic red lentil pasta. If you haven’t tried it yet, you just must.

I made the red lentil pasta for dinner the other night with a salad. It was so good! I cooked the pasta (it takes like three minutes!), drained it, and then added sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Also, this is the first picture I took using my new iPhone 14!

Trust me, I’m still eating a lot of pizza.

I always get a whole wheat margarita slice from Mario’s at least once a week and then I also go to La Piazza to bring home the grandma pizza.

Of course, the corner slice got cut off in the below picture. I didn’t realize when I quickly took the picture that I missed the best part of the pizza! I love a corner slice.

4 Salads To Discuss + Whole Foods French Fries

I went to put together a recent meal post and realized that I only have a whole bunch of salads to share!

I suppose this isn’t too surprising, I live on salads for lunch and also have salads pretty often for dinner.

Chopt

I stopped for a salad from Chopt after buying a few things at Twenty5A.

I’m back to not knowing what’s in my Chopt salad. I updated the ingredients in the Chopt app a while ago and I just click reorder every week without looking at what I’m getting. Although, I do know that I still get the crispy chickpeas — I love crispy chickpeas!

Town Bagel

I love a chopped salad from Town Bagel and also love that it comes with a bagel of choice. Considering the price of a salad at Chopt only includes four toppings, the salad from Town Bagel doesn’t limit your toppings and comes with a bagel. It’s a much better deal.

I also ordered a small side of vegetable cream cheese for my whole wheat everything bagel. I ate half of the bagel and salad and brought the rest home.

New Favorite Salad Combo

Can we discuss my excitement over this simple combination of salad and french fries? I had gone to Whole Foods for a few things and decided to buy the Whole Foods 365 Organic Crinkle Cut French Fries. I hadn’t bought them in a while but always loved them so much!

This is likely my new favorite quick dinner combination.

Cheesecake Factory

I wasn’t sure which salad to have at The Cheesecake Factory now that I switch between the Barbeque Ranch (without chicken) or the Vegan Cobb.

I ultimately went with the Vegan Cobb salad after sharing the Thai Lettuce Wraps.

Donut Day + Levain Bakery + Birthday Cake

I have good desserts to share with you today plus a few recent meals. Let’s get started!

Another week, another Chopt salad. This time I had a reward to use so my lunch was basically free.

I had this greek salad for lunch in East Hampton. The little slices of pita bread that come with the salad are shockingly delicious. They are a bit crisp on the outside with a touch of garlic.

I couldn’t wait to stop at Levain Bakery while out east. I picked a chocolate chip walnut cookie to eat instantly and brought home a few more cookies including a dark chocolate chip cookie.

Classic Levain Bakery cookie photo. I say it every time – Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookies are THE BEST.

I really like the sushi from Toa lately.

I needed a donut on National Donut Day. I went with a classic chocolate frosted donut from Dunkin donuts with sprinkles.

I brought home a chopped salad and a bagel from Town Bagel after my run on Sunday. While I had half of the bagel with vegetable cream cheese, I didn’t realize how little of the salad I ate until the next day when I had almost a full salad leftover to eat for lunch!

I’m on a CAVA kick lately. It helps that I had a gift card which means I’m now going to CAVA for a bowl vs making dinner at home.

My birthday was over the weekend but I’m not making a big deal this year therefore we aren’t discussing it beyond this slice of chocolate cake.

6 Recent Meals To Share Today!

I didn’t forget that I wanted to talk about how I’ve been making my oatmeal recently.

The problem is that not only did I not take pictures the last time I made a pot of oatmeal, but I am also now finding myself in the mood for Ezekiel raisin bread toasted with peanut butter for breakfast instead.

I’ve been in a major stir-fry mood lately!

Instead of basing my dinners around potatoes, I’ve been eating a lot of brown rice.

This stir fry came together so easily. I used up some of the vegetables I had in the fridge and then added frozen broccoli, Trader Joe’s colorful carrot coins, chickpeas, Island Soyaki, and avocado.

After my run at the beach on Saturday, I stopped at Town Bagel once again to bring home a chopped salad. All salads come with a bagel. I also bought vegetable cream cheese.

Like I always say, food hits different after a sweaty, warm-weather run.

I had lunch in the city at Sarabeth’s last week.

One of my most favorite coworkers was in from Israel. We have worked so closely together for well over seven years and was the first time meeting in person — it was a very exciting moment for us!

I had the power bowl for lunch.

I clicked reorder in the Chopt app over the weekend and it told me that some of my ingredients were no longer available. This was the first time in a while that I had to select ingredients for my salad rather than just click the reorder button. I think this is now my current order:

• Romaine
• Crispy Chickpeas
• Avocado
• Beets
• Picked onions
• Hearts of palm
• Roasted Brussel sprouts
• Spicy sweet peppers
• Lemon tahini

We took out from Toa on the weekend and I think this sushi put me back in a routine sushi mood. It was delicious!

• Peanut Avocado Roll
• Shrimp Avocado
• Spicy Tuna Naruto

Stoney Clover Cup + Recent Meals From This Week

Here’s a little glimpse at what I’ve been eating since last week’s foodie post!

First, I’m very busy switching between my two new Stoney Clover cups and four different heart straws with various adorable straw toppers.

I’m drinking a ton of lemon water these days!

Do I need to tell you again that the whole wheat margarita pizza from Mario’s with a salad is the best dinner ever?

This dinner bowl below is filled with ingredients from Trader Joe’s:

• Cauliflower gnocchi
• Broccoli
• Asparagus
• Trader Joe’s Vegan Bolognese Sauce
• Parmesan Cheese

I quickly cooked it all in a pan with olive oil for dinner and ate it while still kinda working.

During the week, I make a salad for lunch while working every day. Like literally, every day.

When I make a dinner salad with roasted potato wedges, I usually put the roasted potatoes on the side of a salad. This time around, the potatoes ended up mixed into the salad.

Also in the salad was:

• Romaine
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Chickpea
• Feta Cheese
• Balsamic Dressing
• Trader Joe’s Three-Layer Hummus

More pizza! This time, grandma slices.

Recent Meals + Pizza + Garden Vegetable Hash from Trader Joe’s

Wednesday posts always seem to sneak up on me.

It’s been a few years since I used to take pictures of (almost) everything I eat. This means that I have to remember to take some photos in order to share what I’ve been eating. I’ll go a few days just eating and living without thinking about Wednesday posts and then suddenly it’s an – oh right, I need to take a few pictures – situation.

So here’s a look at a few meals from the last few days. We are going in no particular order here and I think I have less to share because instead of remembering a few more meals to capture, I’ve been busy with pictures of my Stoney Clover x Target purchases!

Just had to sneak a Stoney Clover picture in this post!

Recent Meals

I saw the Trader Joe’s Garden Vegetable Hash on the shelf while shopping so I decided to buy it as something different to eat.

I cooked it in a pan with olive oil and chickpeas, added extra diced onion, and also added roasted potatoes. This was really good! I read somewhere that people are really liking this garden vegetable hash in omelets. That sounds like a good idea if you eat eggs, which I really do not on a regular basis.

A stop for my weekly salad from Chopt in between going to Target stores on Saturday was very necessary.

After my run and after shopping the Stoney Clover x Target launch earlier in the day, I still needed to check out the other Target locations in my area to see what was left.

What was left were empty shelves! I was not surprised.

No words are needed for my favorite whole wheat margarita pizza and salad combination.

Yesterday I had to go to the post office. I hate going to the post office because the line is always so long. And so slow.

The post office is in the same shopping center as Monte so I figured I would reward my post office wait with a slice of the whole wheat vegetable pizza to bring home for dinner.

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With all of the Stoney Clover excitement, let’s not forget it’s Sephora Spring Savings time too! Here are my Sephora picks if you missed the post last week!

Recent Meals + Trader Joe’s Shop + Rainbow Cookies

I’ve been working hard on putting together Friday’s post which includes my top Sephora Spring Savings picks. I can’t believe it’s just about time for the sale again!

I’m excited to share that with you and equally excited for the Stoney Clover x Target collaboration to launch this weekend too. Is it Friday yet?!

In the meantime, let’s talk about recent meals.

What I’ve Eaten Recently 

I couldn’t decide which pizza to get at Gino’s so I went classic with one regular and then added a grandma slice.

Note: Just like I mentioned last week when discussing how I no longer have a runner’s appetite, I cannot eat both of these slices in their entirety.

I had the regular slice with a salad and picked at the grandma slice — and then started to feel extremely full.

It had been a while since I last had a bowl from Cava. I still like Cava but it’s like I always say – it’s more out of convenience than an O-M-G I must have a salad from Cava.

I live nearby so it’s an easy decision when I want something fast. If I didn’t leave nearby, Cava likely wouldn’t be a destination for me.

Here’s a look inside my Trader Joe’s shopping cart…

All the necessities are here!

I decided to have vegetable sushi one night — such a rare choice for me these days.

I wanted something basic for dinner Monday night after work so I made chickpea pasta shells and broccoli with butter and parmesan cheese.

A greek salad with roasted potato wedges is probably one of my favorite weeknight dinners. It’s easy to throw together and just so good. I just need about 35-40 minutes to roast the potatoes, sometimes a little less. It just depends upon the size of the potato and how many wedges I get when I dice it up.

My dad brought me rainbow cookies the other day. I keep them in the freezer so there’s no pressure to finish them and then I have a fun snack when I remember they are there!

What I Ate In Florida

 

I’m back from Florida!

I really shouldn’t use an exclamation point on that statement because I wasn’t exactly happy to leave the warm weather to return to what is still winter here in New York.

Ugh.

Anyway, I’m ready to share some of the meals I had while in Florida. While I thought about saving the post until next week, I have it ready so let’s discuss!

What I Ate In Florida

Oh, so before we jump into the meals, I was in the Boca Raton area to get some quick sunshine, see my friend Heather and go into the office with her (we both work in the events industry — total coincidence), and see my grandmother. A few days away was just what I needed!

We went for lunch at True Food Kitchen straight from the airport — I totally forget which salad this is but it was loaded with roasted vegetables and very good!

Later in the day after going to Town Center and the pool, we went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I hadn’t been to this particular Cheesecake Factory, I think, since maybe 1998? I remember going during college when I would come down to visit Heather really often but I don’t recall after that.

Breakfast looked like this every morning.

I ate my oatmeal and fruit outside in the warm sunny air every day and loved every second of it.

I had this iced tea one day too. I don’t recall what type it was but it was decaf, fruity, and good.

We brought salads from Raw Juice to the beach.

I went to see my grandmother for dinner one night.  We went to an Italian restaurant near where she lives in Delray.

I had a greek salad with some garlic knots. The food was good but the coffee wasn’t hot enough (according to my grandmother and she made sure to tell the waitress – don’t ask).

I’ve known about Farmers Table for a long time and finally tried their delicious food to see what the hype is all about!

I didn’t know what to pick so I picked two sides –  the roasted Brussels sprouts and the buffalo cauliflower. I LOVED what I chose and really liked the buffalo cauliflower.

Eaten by the pool.

Another day by the pool I tried the wok-fried quinoa cauliflower with sauteed zucchini and squash. I would eat at Farmer’s Table regularly like everyone else in Boca if I lived there! It’s really that good.

We went for dinner one night at a restaurant in Mizner.

There were lots of appetizers for the table and then I also had a salad. I had some of the margarita pizza which was fine because I was hungry but I could tell the sauce was from a jar. This is what happens when you leave the New York area and want to eat pizza. You can’t fool New Yorkers when it comes to pizza!

After dinner, we walked over to the candy store because I needed something sweet and chocolate.

I took a quick picture of my bag of candy not realizing the picture was blurry!

It was not easy to leave the BEAUTIFUL weather to come back to New York, that’s for sure.

However, whenever I see the city from the plane as we are landing, I am always very happy.

In next week’s Favorites post, I will share which Stoney Clover pouches I used and some of my other favorites from my trip.

Have a nice weekend!

Plant Wise + A Stop At Trader Joe’s

It’s that time of the week when we chat about recent meals!

Since Plant Wise is only open on weekdays, my goal is to try to get out on Fridays for a quick lunch. It’s usually a little quieter for me workwise, at least in the sense that I should be able to run out to at least pickup lunch and bring it home.

Maybe not every Friday, but sometimes.

I went to Plant Wise last Friday to grab lunch! It was so cold outside that I immediately chose the half and half bowl – half of the avocado quinoa salad and half tomato chickpeas.

I don’t know how Plant Wise makes the “tomato chickpeas” but they are warm and delicious, with a black beanball included too.

I had this combo once before at Plant Wise and although it’s REALLY SO GOOD, it’s too filling for me for lunch. It’s nutritionally dense and filling with all of the chickpeas, quinoa, guacamole, and the black beanball!

In other news, it was another week, another Chopt salad situation.

How many posts have I said this exact same statement?

I made a stop at Trader Joe’s after a one-hour massage on the weekend. Even though I had already gone food shopping, I needed a few more things. My son wanted eggs and I wanted to make my vegan cacciatore for dinner.

I used the organic package of peppers, mushrooms, and onions along with that new-to-me vegan bolognese pasta sauce to make this easy vegan cacciatore dinner.

Whole Foods also has a vegan bolognese sauce which I tried a few months ago — I like this Trader Joe’s version slightly better.

The Vegan Creamy Dill Dressing that I bought from Trader Joe’s is really good too! I had never tried it before but ever since buying it on the weekend, I’ve used it every day for salads.

I make this basic greek salad quite often with either a baked potato or baked sweet potato on the side. It’s the perfect easy dinner solution for me.

Are you having any trouble buying the usual foods at the grocery stores right now? I can’t seem to find my favorite Ezekiel Raisin Bread and Trader Joe’s is constantly out of frozen broccoli. Those are the two main items I’m missing each week right now!