The Great Sage DC/MD/VA Blogger Meet Up

I hope everyone is having a FAB weekend so far. Yesterday at work we did a wine and food pairing tasting, which went extremely well. At Cecile’s we have a wine and food club, and we featured 4 wines and 2 dishes from the club for the tasting yesterday. The dishes were pasta carbonara, and horseradish encrusted beef tenderloin. My co-worker did the cooking (he went to culinary school) and did a fabulous job. We also had Charlie Adler from Taste DC in talking about food and wine pairings. It was quite an exciting day at the store. After the tasting I headed to Clarkesville for a DC/MD/VA blogger meet-up that I coordinated. I was pretty proud of myself because I am usually shy when it comes to things like this, and I was able to step out of my box and get together a great group of bloggers. We met at The Great Sage, and organic vegetarian restaurant.

I met up with Aurora, Kat, Matt, Sana, Anne, Ashley, and Jacquie for a fun vegetarian meal and good conversation. It was interesting because we all don’t necessarily have ‘food’ blogs, but we all blog about something to do with health, nutrition, food, or exercise. I loved learning about everyone and seeing all our different personalities come together.

Everything on the menu looked so good, but I ordered the soup of the day, which was spicy curry coconut soup, and the Herbed Quinoa with Shitakes for my main dish. The quinoa came with sautéed shiitake mushrooms, spinach, and caramelized pearl onions with parsley-garlic oil. It was Soy and Gluten free (not like that matters to me, but it was on the menu).

Everything was so delicious! Even the bread and olive oil with herbs they put out at the beginning of the meal was wonderful. I was so surprised at how much flavor each dish had. It is really remarkable who good veggies and quinoa can be! Everyone got something different, and everyone seemed to enjoy thir food a lot. I was too stuffed for dessert, but got a small pot of hot green tea to sip on.

It was just what I needed. And after we said some goodbyes-a few of us headed over to Roots, my fave local green market, for some goods. It was such a breath of fresh air to meet so many NICE people who have the same interests as me. I hope we can continue doing these meet-ups more often. Thanks everyone for a great night! And thanks to The Great Sage for a wonderful meal-I will definitely be back!!!

This morning I woke up with a new mindset. Lately I’ve been so down about what has been going on with my ankle, and not being able to exercise like I’m used to, that I’ve just been eating whatever I want, whenever I want. And with my metabolism, I can’t do that! My clothes are tighter, I have less energy, and I just don’t feel well overall. So today I decided that I am going to start March off on the right foot (Even though technically March is tomorrow, I like to start things on Sundays). I can’t keep going on like I have been because it’s bringing me down in all aspects of my life. I’m getting a physical in late March, and I want to make sure my cholesterol is not through the roof. I just need to be more aware of what I’m eating and cut back a bit.

I made oats for breakfast for a filling start to my day.

I made my oats with unsweetened chocolate almond milk and Quaker oats, and topped them with 1 Tbs MaraNatha peanut butter, and some berries. I was given this peanut butter to sample, and I have to say I loved the consistency. I’ve seen MaraNatha nut butters everywhere and have wanted to try them so I was thrilled when they contacted me to sample and review their products. I’ve been eating a lot of almond butter lately, so going back to peanut butter was a nice change. It was pretty yummy, and had to limit myself to ONE tbsp. I didn’t have any fresh berries so I just used frozen berries that I heated up in the microwave for a bit.

I didn’t even need to use sweetener because of the peanut butter, but the berries made it a little tart. My Sunday has certainly been lazy, and I LOVE it that way. Chris and I went to Cosi for lunch where I got a half tomato soup and half greek salad with fat free balsamic dressing. I do love me some Cosi!!!! And tonight we are going to a jazz club in DC, which I’m pretty excited about because I love jazz. I know it makes me sound like an old fogey, but I do.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. GO USA HOCKEY TEAM!!!!

A Mann’s Dinner

TGIF! Hope everyone had a wonderful week, and is planning on some fun things this weekend. Here is what I’ve been enjoying lately…

I made a dinner brought to me by Mann’s Packing Company. I have mentioned them a few times, but I made a dinner featuring 2 of their products the other night. Mann’s is a family owned company that carries fresh-cut, washed, preservative free, and ready to eat veggies. They carry a wide range of vegetables including sweet potatoes, butternut squash cubes, vegetable medleys, sugar snap peas, snacks on the go, and most importantly broccolini.

When I met them at the health and nutrition showcase, I was immediately interested in their products because I am a huge fan of healthy foods that are convenient. I don’t think I’ve ever told you this, but I absolutely love veggies, but I HATE cutting them up. Their pre-cut veggies make cooking a well balanced and nutritious meal SUPER easy. Their vegetables come pre-cut, and washed in plastic bags that you can stick right in the microwave.

But with all this news going around about how dangerous it is to microwave plastic now-a-days, I made sure to ask about their packaging. I was assured that all of their products minus the leaf singles and snacks on the go can be microwaved in their bag. The packaging is a new technology that is 100% safe for the vegetables and the consumer. The plastic is also 100% BPA (BisphenolA) free. That alone made me a true believer in this company.

I decided to make the Mann’s cubed sweet potatoes, Mann’s broccolini, and barbecue salmon for dinner the other night.

Sorry for the less than stellar pictures.

This dinner was maybe one of the fastest dinners I’ve cooked, and there was practically no clean up. I marinated the salmon in All Natural BBQ sauce and grilled it on my grill pan. I sauteed the broccolini in a pan with some olive oil, hilmalayan sea salt, and fresh ground pepper. While that was cooking, I cooked the sweet potatoes in a pan with a little macadamia nut oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice. I know I could have microwaved the taters, but I wanted them crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The sweet potatoes looked like they were a little burnt, but they didn’t taste burnt at all. They were fabulous! The broccolini was a little tough, but I’m pretty sure I don’t know how to cook it properly. And the salmon came out juicy and perfect. It was an excellent, well rounded, EASY, week night dinner. Thank you Mann’s for the samples-you have made cooking dinner so much simpler!

I’ve also been enjoying some great breakfasts.

Starbucks egg white and spinach whole wheat wrap with a chai tea.

A French Meadow Bakery Sprouted 16 grain and Seed bagel with raw almond butter and pumpkin butter. This is an oldie but goodie. I don’t know what it is about the combo of nut butter and pumpkin butter, but it is clearly my favorite. These bagels are sprouted grain so they are supposed to be extremely filling. Unfortunately, I was not too pleased with these hearty bagels because they contained 270 calories each and did not fill me up like I had hoped.

There were some other eats in there, but nothing too exciting.

What is exciting is that I picked a winner for the Chobani Cho-case giveaway! By the way, I got a lot of questions asking about my Chobani ice cream. I am going to post the ‘How- To’ recipe soon! Its such a thick and creamy treat, and I think everyone should try it.

Ok, ok..enough babble…the winner of the Chobani Cho-Case IS……

Evan Thomas of Food Makes Fun Fuel.

Congratulations Evan!!!! Please email me your address and information to eatdrinkandbehopeful@hotmail.com.

This weekend I’m attending a blogger meet up at a vegetarian restaurant I’ve been dying to try called The Great Sage. I can’t wait to meet some of the bloggers I’ve been following for soooo long. Hope you all have a GREAT one!

What are you plans for the weekend?

We all Need a little Inspiration Sometimes

I am really excited for this post because this will be my first time interviewing someone on my blog. When I was at the Editor’s Showcase for Food and Nutrition I met a very inspirational person, and he really made an impression on me. Thankfully, he was willing to do an interview with me so I could share his story with all of you. Writing a blog about living a healthy and satisfying life, I felt his story fit right in. His name is Jothy Rosenberg, and he is a two-time cancer survivor, amputee, entrepreneur, and now author. He lost his leg to a rare cancer at the young age of 16, then a lung at 19- and was told after 10 months of brutal chemo that he’d not survive. In teenage rebellion, he went to Utah and skied for 100 days straight because he “wanted to die doing something he loved.” Now he is a grandfather living a healthy and thriving life at the age of 53. I mentioned this before, but just in case you missed it, a few of his accomplishments include:

• Open water swim between Alcatraz and San Francisco- 16 times
• Nearly 200 miles in the annual Pan-Mass Challenge bike race -7times and raised $52,000
• Double black-diamond skier
• Founded six start-up tech companies and earned a PhD
• Author of a new book Who Says I Can’t

This interview is a little long, but I didn’t want to cut anything out because I think his story is so important and really inspirational. With out further adieu: An Interview with Jothy Rosenberg.



Q: After losing a leg and nearly one lung, what motivated you to become an avid skier?

I was as devastated after losing a leg at age sixteen, a lung at age nineteen, having a year of chemotherapy, and all the while thinking I would die any day. It felt like I had three disabilities: the visible one (leg), the invisible one (lung), and a psychological one (thinking I would die). To get through life at all I needed to find a way to regain a sense of self-confidence. I did that through athletics. I’d been skiing since I was a kid, so I went to Utah to become a ski bum, skiing for 100 days straight and achieving such black-diamond skill that I was offered a job as a ski instructor. My ability to ski better than most two-leggers was the first of many physical triumphs.

Q: You are a competitive athlete in so many sports. Do you have a favorite? Why?

My favorite competitive sport is cycling. I discovered this community of fund-raiser bike riders. Their camaraderie, their commitment and their energy is palpable. And it has become addictive for me. Most of all, this is where I learned that just doing what I needed to do for me actually helped other riders (especially if I passed them on a hill).

Q: I understand that you have raised more than $100,000 for cancer research, AIDS and other charities? How did you accomplish this?

It all started with the AIDS ride. A colleague said to me, “it’s sad that an amputee can’t ride from Boston to New York,” which inspired me to ride a bicycle, one-legged and one-lunged, from Boston to New York City for the AIDS ride. I way exceeded what I thought I could raise and that made me realize people were excited about me doing this and I might be able to capitalize on that and raise quite a bit. Soon I realized that the 192-mile Pan-Mass Challenge bike-a-thon across Massachusetts, which is focused entirely on raising money for cancer research, was the perfect fit and for the past seven years that has been my primary cause. Additionally, since I was doing the Alcatraz swim every year anyway, I decided to also use it as a fund-raiser for Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program, where my wife leads the HIV team. All told, I have raised $100,000 for all these causes and I have no intention of slowing down.

Q: Why did you write the book Who Says I Can’t?

Many people over the years have told me that my story is inspirational to them. Becoming an inspiration was purely an accident. It took me a very long time to recover enough to look outside myself and my struggles and realize that I could motivate others around me. With this book, I hope to shorten the recovery time for someone or simply motivate those who have been knocked down to pick themselves up and “try.”



Who Says I Can’t is about the effect hearing words like “you have little chance of survival” has on someone’s personality. It’s about how one can not only survive, but also fight back, recover and thrive. This is not a “cancer book.” Instead, this book, written with more than a thirty-five-year perspective, is about human perseverance, adaptability and strength.

Q: If you could give one piece of advice to someone about how to be hopeful in the face of adversity, what would it be?

The existence of the word “considering” should motivate us all to shatter the boundaries that the word places on us. The term demeans children, women, ethnic groups, overweight people, disabled, and many more. When someone tempers your accomplishments with the word “considering,” or rejects your aspirations with the phrase “I bet you can’t,” the best defense is to show them that you can and you will. -End-

Thank you Jothy so much for giving me the opportunity to hear your story and share it with others. After hearing how motivated and strong he was, and is, going through what he has gone through, it made me thankful for what I have, and made me look at my life a little differently. A while ago I would have considered myself a quitter at times. When times got tough, I would quit. But I have since then changed my ways, and this is just another story to make me realize that I really CAN do anything I put my mind to.

I hope his story inspired you as much as it did me. Thank you all for reading, and go check out his book!

Don’t forget to enter my Chobani Cho-Case Giveaway! I will be picking a winner on Friday at 5pm EST!!!!!

Question: Were you ever inspired by someone to change your ways?

A little of this, A little of that Part Dos

I finally got my camera back so now I can show you all my other eats from this past weekend. And at the end of this post there is a little surprise for you!

I sipped on another cilantro smoothie from Living Raw Food. This one had one orange, the juice of one lime, coconut water, ginger, organic raw coconut, organic raw maca powder, organic cayenne, organic cilantro, and a pinch of salt. I took one of Sarma’s recipes and tweaked it again. The recipe called for 2 pears, but I used the orange instead and added the maca for extra energy. I have to admit this combination was disgusting, but of course I drank it anyways-I had nothing else!

I also had a veggie wrap on a La Tortilla 100 calorie tortilla. These are a new item from La Tortilla Factory that they asked me to try. I’ve tried their other wraps and enjoy most of them, but this was a new one for me as well.

I topped my tortilla with a 3 heaping Tbs of organic hummus, fat free feta, Annie’s Organic honey mustard, organic spinach, tomatoes, and avocado.

The tortilla wasn’t amazing, but for only being 100 calories it was pretty good. I thought it was going to taste like cardboard, but was surprised that it didn’t. However, I think I would have liked it better warm. The hummus and honey mustard totally made this wrap.

I also enjoyed some more of these Mann’s small veggie packs. These things are so great because the veggies are fresh and you don’t have to spend time cutting them all up. Just grab and go, and you have a healthy snack.

Sunday night we had dinner at Chris’s family’s again, and his step-dad made us another amazing dinner. Patrice, Chris’ step-dad, just did a show at the International Food and Wine Festival in Washington, DC on Valentine’s Day. I was so bummed I couldn’t make it.

We started the dinner with some pate, prosciutto di Parma, saucisson (French for a large, dry-filled sausage), cornichons, and French bread. I tried a little of everything.

The main course was red snapper that he had cooked whole, and a vegetable medley of edamame, carrots, artichokes, and an amazing unknown sauce. I was enjoying the dinner too much to ask what was in the sauce. It was melt in your mouth good.

The main course was followed by salad with Romain lettuce, endive, and his special balsamic dressing. I am still trying to perfect his sauce, and so far I believe it is balsamic, dijon mustard, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. But it is probably my favorite dressing of all time. We always eat salad after our meal instead of before because it helps with digestion and breaking down the food. And dessert was a small apple tart. I was too busy talking and eating to take pictures…sorry.

So now lets bring you up to speed again. Today I had another surgeon appointment with Dr. Cooper at Georgetown University Hospital. It went really well, and he told me that after looking at my CAT scan I will need surgery. What looked like arthritis before is just part of the fracture. And yes I said fracture, not stress fracture. What we thought was 2 stress fractures was actually one big fracture and another stress fracture. The stress fracture is 95% healed, but the fracture is not. Because the bone will never heal, he thinks the best thing to do is go in there and take it out. He said I should be back to my regular life in no time, which is GREAT news for me. Now I just have to wait for a surgery date and get it done. He also said that I wouldn’t be able to run like I used to. Well I can still run, but I also need to incorporate swimming and biking as well. He wants me back on my feet as fast as possible because I am already developing dis-use osteoporosis. This just happens when you don’t use that body part (in my case it is my ankle) in a while, and it should be fine once I start using it.

And now for your surprise! Here’s a hint.

(source)

I’m not sure if you’ve notice or not, but I’ve been enjoying my fair share of Chobani lately. I have always eaten Stonyfield Oikos and loved it, but I was willing to give Chobani a try. I like Chobani because it is packed with protein, comes in so many amazing flavors, and is pretty reasonable in calories for the size of container. I’ve been eating it on waffles, with granola, in smoothies, and even making ice cream with it. The wonderful people over at Chobani have offered to give one Eat, Drink, and Be Hopeful reader a CHO-case of their own. Isn’t that great? A CHO-case is a case of four blueberry, four strawberry, and four peach yogurts. That’s a lot of yogurt!

(source)

You have FOUR ways to enter this time. Here they are:

1. Go to the Chobani website (www.Chobani.com) and leave me a comment letting me know what Chobani flavor you like the most. Or what flavor you would most like to try.
2. Mention this giveaway on your blog and link it back to mine. Then comment letting me know that you did so. If you don’t have a blog leave a comment letting me know.
3. Tweet “I want to win @LaurensGourmet Chobani Cho-case Giveaway! http://wp.me/pAJNI-1nc″ Then comment again letting me know.
4. Subscribe to Eat, Drink, and Be Hopeful. Then comment again letting me know.

I will be picking a winner this Friday at 5pm EST.

Again-unfortunately this giveaway is for US residents only. Sorry to my international readers!
How easy is that? Well get goin’-enter the giveaway! I wish you all the best of Luck!!!

Owl House Red Wine

I thought it was about time I did a wine post. After all, my blog is about food, WINE, and traveling…right? I decided to write about one my favorite wines we carry at the store. I featured this as my February Wine of the Month, and it’s called Owl House Red. Owl House comes from Ledgewood Creek, a large (350 acres) vineyard operation located in the Suisun Valley, located on the southeastern border of Napa. While Ledgewood’s main focus is growing grapes for other winemakers, they began to vinify some of their own fruit in 2001. Today they’re best known for their Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnays – solid wines at very good value prices.

About a year ago, Ledgewood introduced a new wine that featured some of the estate’s Rhone varietals blended with some Cabernet and Merlot. The winery won’t disclose the exact blend it uses for Owl House red, but at the store we are pretty sure it’s mainly Grenache and Syrah plus some Mourvedre and, possibly, Cinsault. All I know is this wine is delicious!

Classic aromas of ripe cherry, licorice and vanilla lead to a soft, juicy, mouthful of ripe fruit, spice, and a bit of earth. It’s a round, plush, wine that’s all too easy to gulp without a thought, but that has enough complexity and depth to stand up to a little attention, too. The tannins are very ripe and light, and an attractive hint of walnut emerges on the finish. This wine is a lot of bang for the buck. It goes for about $8.98 a bottle and drinks like a $30 bottle. It is a great value wine, which is what we all need to be drinking more of these days. This wine is great with burgers, stews, or just on its own with family and friends.

A little of this, A little of that Part Uno

I’ve been running around a lot lately so I just wanted to recap my eats from the past few days. I left my camera at Chris’ family’s house so this is only part one of my eats. Part two will be coming later with a SURPRISE! Besides my dinner at Guapos-this is what’s been going down lately.

First we have Italian pasta I brought back from Italy topped with a home-made tomato cream sauce (homemade meaning- I combined Alfredo and marinara sauce), with a side of roasted asparagus and a mixture of turnips and butternut squash my mom made. I ate the the butternut squash and turnips on top of the pasta. The combination was ridiculous! I also sprinkled some nutritional yeast on top for a little protein and B vitamins. I think nutritional yeast is great because it is a complete protein, and it is naturally low in fat and sodium.

There was also a lot of this…

Chobani ice cream. I made many variations of this amazing deliciousness. I take a Chobani yogurt and stick it in the freezer for a few hours. Once it is a nice frozen consistency I put it in my mini food processor with Raw cacao powder and/or Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams. Mix it all up and you have a thick chocolaty ice cream with tons of protein. Chobani really packs in the protein.

Leftovers from my dinner at Guapos. I took the fillings out of the tortilla shells and ate it with the Mexican Rice. Gotta love leftovers!

I also munched on some of these veggie packs. I received these from Mann’s Packing Co. to sample. I met them at the Health and Nutrition Showcase in NYC, and really liked the products they offered. These little veggie packs are really convenient to bring with you when you are on the go. They only thing I wish was different was the Ranch dressing. It would be better if it was organic and the ingredient list was a little easier to read. But other than that the veggies are fresh and crunchy.

There was pasta topped with veggies that I sauteed in a little coconut oil and topped with creamy tomato sauce. Such a comfort meal.

And of course-don’t forget the drinks. No silly-not THOSE kinds of drinks. The good kind!

Perrier with Meyer Lemon. Meyer lemons are thought to be a cross between a true lemon and a mandarin orange. I saw these at Whole Foods and had to try them. I also brought Emergen-C back in my life. I had about one of these a day. I was feeling a little sluggish, and wanted to make sure I wasn’t getting sick.

That is all the food for now. More to come soon with that Surprise I mentioned earlier. Have I mention lately that I am dying to go out and run, and not being able to is absolutely killing me? I can’t wait until my appointment tomorrow to find out a little more about my ankle and hopefully find out when I can WALK again! I hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

Guapo’s is a Winner in my Book

A winner has been picked for the Amazing Pirate’s Booty Giveaway! Thank you so much for participating. But before I give up the goods, I am going to make you wait, and tell you about my girls night out last night. My friends Kelly and Ashley and I were planning on cooking dinner and having a girls night in. Our plans fell through because of the horrible traffic, and we ended up having one of my funnest nights out in a long time. We headed to a Mexican restaurant called Guapo’s, which I was excited about because I love Mexican food. I try to eat a well balanced diet everyday so once in a while I splurge on a night out and just enjoy myself. And that is JUST WHAT WE DID!

I loved the look and feel of this restaurant. It made me feel like I was in Mexico. The restaurant was clean, and the staff was very friendly. It was just a very inviting, fun atmosphere. We started with a pitcher of margaritas and some chips and salsa. We also ordered guacamole for the table, which came in a small little tortilla shell and these amazing puffy flour tortilla chips.

Lots of talking, munching, and laughing later we ordered our meal. By that point I was so full from all the chips. I always eat too many chips at Mexican restaurants. For my meal I ordered the Tacos Oaxaquenos which was 3 tacos filled with strips of steak, green peppers, red onions, tomatoes, and cilantro; topped with fresh pineapple and avocado. The tacos were served with Mexican rice, re-fried beans, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa on the side. I had asked for flour tortillas, but my tacos came with soft corn tortillas, which was also fine. I usually have a really hard time deciding what I want from a restaurant, but this was easy because it was all my favorite things in one dish, and it was delicious.

I could only eat one taco, but I saved the other two for lunch today. After dinner we had a lot of time to let our stomachs rest, and just talked for a while.

The restaurant was really busy so our waiter didn’t come over often, which was good and bad. Good because it gave us more time to hang out together and we could take as long as we wanted, but bad because if we needed anything it was hard to get someones attention. Honestly-I was having too much fun to really care. We figured if we’ve gone this far, we should go all the way and ordered a Mexican coffee, which was coffee, Kahlua, tequila, and whipped cream. Surprisingly good!

And for dessert we ordered the fried ice cream and sopaipillas with ice cream to share.

The desserts were very good, but we had a hard time finishing them all.

It was such a fun night with my friends. We laughed so hard, and it was exactly what I needed after the week I had. Guapos had great food, friendly service, and reasonable prices. It is a little more expensive than your hole in the wall Mexican restaurant, but worth every penny for the food and atmosphere. I will definitely be back.

In ankle news-I went to Georgetown Hospital yesterday to see Dr. Paul Cooper about the 2 stress fractures in my ankle. He is supposedly the best in the area, and I was really happy he was able to meet with me.

(Source)

I had X-rays done there, and after he looked at my MRI and X-rays told me that not only do I have the fractures, but it looked like I had severe arthritis in my ankle, and I have the ankle of a middle aged person. He said the one stress fracture is 95% healed, so that is good news, but I wasn’t liking the sound of the arthritis. He thought this was a very unusual case and had me get a CAT scan done as well. I will be meeting with him next Tuesday to find out what my CAT scan shows, and I just hope it is better news than I received today. I’m very worried about why this is happening to me and what this means, but all I can do is stay calm and try to not worry about it until we figure it out. Easier said than done…right?

Ok now to the good news-I was so pleased with the amount of people who participated in the Pirate’s Booty Giveaway. I’m happy to say the winner is……drum roll please….

Missy from Missy Maintains
is the winner of a chest full of Pirate’s booty snacks!

CONGRATULATIONS Missy! Please send me your address to eatdrinkandbehopeful@hotmail.com. I hope you love all these snacks as much as I do.

And if you didn’t win-don’t worry because I am hosting another giveaway NEXT WEEK! You will have another chance to win another great prize.

Alright-I think this post is long enough for now. Have a GREAT (rest of your) weekend!

Breakfast Made Fast

Is it really February 18th already? I mean seriously…where has the time gone?! Have you been watching the winter Olympics? I haven’t been watching them much lately, but I watched last night, and I couldn’t get over how incredible Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White were. They are such amazing athletes, and so inspiring! I met Shaun White 2 and half years ago when I worked at E! and I still can’t believe it. I should have gotten his autograph or something, but I was so nervous when I met him that I could barely speak. Watching those two last night got me so pumped to continue watching the Olympic games.

Anyways…I made a great breakfast this morning, but first lets backtrack to yesterday. After my cilantro/mango smoothie I had some leftovers of my Southwest Fajita Bowl for lunch. It needed a little heat so I just added some hot pepper flakes. I seem to be adding hot pepper flakes to everything these days.

For a snack I tried a new bar that was given to me to sample. This was a Gnu Foods Cinnamon Raisin Flavor & Fiber bar. I liked this bar, but I also thought it was a little dry. It’s positives are that it has 12g of fiber, 3g of fat, 130 calories, and is all natural. All great stats for a snack bar. On the other hand the bar has 32g of carbs, and is a little bland. I thought the flavor was kind of dry and blah. If you are eating the bar to fill you up and get your fiber then the bar is great. But if you want a delicious snack in the middle of the day…then maybe not so much. I’m interested in trying the other flavors.

For dinner I had zucchini in marinara topped with some nutritional yeast with some Trader Joe’s asparagus risotto. It was so delicious and I didn’t take any pictures. I was just trying to enjoy my night without any interruptions. We all need a night like that sometimes. I also made some ice cream using a frozen Chobani, 2 Tbs raw cacao powder, and agave in my mini food processor. AH-MA-ZING! Try it..trust me.

When I was perusing the blogs yesterday I came across Tina’s 3 minute Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. I’m a huge fan of Tina’s blog, Carrots ‘N’ Cake, (it was actually one of the first blogs I started reading), and I love her easy ways to make nutritious and healthy foods. I couldn’t wait to try this cookie. I had all the ingredients except for the egg whites, and I tweaked a few things.

• Instead of egg whites, I used 1 Tbs flax seeds in 3 Tbs of water. It works like a charm every time!
• I added some organic dark chocolate chips
• Instead of raisins, I used Newman’s Own Organic dried cranberries and cherries
• Instead of all purpose flour, I used spelt flour
• Instead of brown sugar, I used a little Agave

I popped the cookie in the microwave for 3 minutes and it was ready.

I topped my cookie with a little raw almond butter and had some coffee on the side.

I don’t know if it was the changes I made to the cookie or the strength of my microwave, but my cookie came out just a little burnt in the middle. Other than that it was pretty darn good. I will definitely be making this cookie again. Thanks Tina!

I forgot to mention this a while ago, but I recently watched the movie Food Inc. What an incredible eye opening movie! I know this movie was talked about all over the blogs since it came out so I won’t even go into a discussion about it, but honestly if you haven’t seen it, GO SEE IT NOW! I am also in the process of reading Michael Pollan’s Food Rules, and would highly recommend it was well. It is a quick and easy read, but it gets right to the point of things. I love how simple and to the point this book it. He has very good points that we should all follow on a daily basis. I believe he is coming to my area in April so I am very excited to see him in person.

I have a busy day ahead of me. Lots of cleaning, errands, and hopefully some exercising. Fun Fun! Have a wonderful day, and don’t forget to enter my giveaway. I’ll be picking a winner tomorrow at 5pm EST!

I would love to know if you have seen Food Inc. and what you thought about it? All comments welcome.

Bringing the Southwest to the Northeast

WOW-you guys really like your Pirate’s Booty! If you haven’t entered yet, click HERE to enter to win a huge Pirate’s chest filled with a variety of Pirate’s Booty snacks.

I will be picking a winner on Friday.

Here in the DC area it has been freezing cold, and we still have piles of snow and ice everywhere from the 2 huge snow storms last week. I don’t know how people up north do it, but this is ridiculous, and I am so ready for spring. So in honor of trying to heat things up a bit, I made this awesome southwestern meal last night.

I used all ingredients I had on hand and made a big southwest fajita bowl. The main ingredient in the dish was Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Brown Rice. I was given the rice to sample, and thought it was perfect for the main ingredient in my easy quick southwest fajita bowl. Uncle Ben’s offers a variety of different rices, but I decided to use the NEW Boil- in- Bag Whole Grain Brown Rice last night. Uncle Ben’s Boil-in-Bag Whole Grain Brown Rice is naturally low in fat and provides the full day requirement of whole grains in one serving. On top of that it’s gluten free, sodium free (love that), saturated and trans fat free, and cholesterol free. I’m liking this stuff already. It is also a natural source of fiber, iron, niacin, thiamine, and B-vitamins. WOW!

The rice is incredibly easy to make too. All I had to do was stick the rice bag in a bowl of water and pop in the microwave for 10 minutes. Boil, drain, eat. That’s it! And it is very easy clean up.

While the rice was in the microwave I started cutting up and sautéing some of the veggies for my bowl. I decided on red peppers, onions, tomatoes, avocado, corn, black beans, and cilantro. The makings of a perfect southwest meal.

I prepared it like this so Chris and I could throw in whatever ingredients we wanted and make our own. It seemed more fun that way. But of course I chose a little of everything. I mixed the organic black beans and corn in with the rice and then topped mine with everything else.

My bowl was fantastic. So much flavor, and the cilantro just made everything explode with flavor. I absolutely love cilantro, and after reading about all of it’s health benefits, I fell in the love with it even more. I mean check this out. This is taken right from the Eat This! website, but I just had to show you all.

1. Protects against the Salmonella bacteria
2. Reportedly works as a natural chelation treatment
3. Aids in digestion and helps settle the stomach and prevent flatulence
4. Is an anti-inflammatory that may alleviate symptoms of arthritis
5. Protects against urinary tract infections
6. Prevents nausea
7. Relieves intestinal gas
8. Lowers blood sugar
9. Lowers bad cholesterol (LDL) and raises good cholesterol (HDL)
10. A good source of dietary fiber
11. A good source of iron
12. A good source of magnesium
13. Rich in phytonutrients and flavonoids

I also had some leftover Chinese take out veggies on the side and a cozy hot carob drink for dessert.

It was such a creative, healthy, fun dinner. And just because I love cilantro SO much, I decided to include it in my breakfast. Cilantro in the morning? Who knew? I found a recipe in Sarma’s Living Raw Food that looked really yummy, and I tweaked it just a bit and swapped pineapple for frozen mango.

This breakfast cocktail included 1/2 of a large organic cucumber, frozen mango, organic cilantro, agave, vanilla extract, and coconut water. Coconut water has a high potassium and mineral content. One cup of coconut water contains more electrolytes than most sports drinks and more potassium than a banana.

It was so fragrant and had a really bright color to it. The taste was something I have to acquire since I’m not used to drinking cilantro in the morning. But I didn’t mind it either. I would love to try this smoothie with pineapple, but the mango worked just fine.

Now I must get going because it’s time for work! Have a lovely day!

P.s. Don’t forget to enter the Pirate’s Booty Giveaway!

HOORAY for GIVEAWAYS!

It’s TUESDAY! (In case you didn’t know ) I woke up this morning and started my day with a hot water with lemon and cayenne pepper. I tried this drink a few days ago (forgot to blog about it) and really liked the way it made me feel. It’s revs up my metabolism and gives me some energy. I think I have the cayenne pepper to thank for this. I also had a little sweat sesh. And I mean little…but hey it’s something right? Again-I did all these exercises with 5lb weights. Here it is:

• Bicep Curls: 3 sets, 15 reps
• Tricep Extension (used both weights at same time for total of 10lbs: 3 sets, 15 reps
• Overhead Dumbbell Raises: 3 sets, 15 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Chest Press: 3 sets, 15 reps
• Lying Dumbbell Flys: 3 sets, 15 reps
• Resistance Band Rear Delt Row: 3 sets, 20 reps
• Oblique Side Bends (used both weights at same time for total of 10lbs on each side): 25 reps, 1 set each side

I did this entire circuit as fast as possible and without any breaks. What a difference it makes when you don’t take any breaks. It is HARD! I usually take a 1 min break or 30 second break in between exercises when I normally do strength training or weights, but this time just pushed through and really felt the burn.

P.s. I love the websites that show you how to do the exercises. I find them so helpful!

I brought my breakfast to work, and just grabbed the easiest thing I could find. YOGURT! The nice people over at Chobani sent me some samples of all their flavors of yogurt. I am a huge Greek yogurt fan, and was excited to try their new flavors. Today I chose Pineapple flavor, but also needed something for crunch. So I grabbed these new Nutridel cookies that were also sent to me to sample and review.

I tried the cookie on it’s own, and then crumbled it up in my yogurt. I really enjoyed the flavor and consistency of the cookie. It tasted slightly sweet and crunchy and had a wonderful oatmeal flavor. What I loved even more was the ingredients and awesome nutrition facts of the cookie.

These cookies are cholesterol free, trans fat free, egg and dairy free, and preservative free. They are also high in fiber and antioxidants and have no refined sugars. And on top of that they taste great! I loved this yogurt/cookie breakfast combination. I ended up eating both cookies which was a total of 124 calories which still isn’t that bad.

I am not normally a big fan of the Chobani yogurts, but I loved this pineapple flavor. I think I liked it because it was sweeter than the others ones. I always have liked pineapple in my yogurt, and this was great.

Thank you both to the people over at Chobani and Nutridel for making my breakfast delicious, satisfying, and VERY filling!

Now onto the fun part! I have multiple giveaways set up for the next few weeks because I want to offer my readers some of the fantastic products I’ve been enjoying. The first giveaway is a pretty exciting one as I love love love these snacks. I’ve mentioned how much I like them a few times on my blog before, but honestly I have to say they are addicting. I have already gone through all the samples they gave to me, and wish I had more. What am I talking about you may ask? Well I am talking about a product most of us know and love. PIRATE’S BOOTY! I met the people behind Pirate Brands at the Health and Nutrition Showcase and they are generously offering one of my readers a HUGE Pirates chest filled with all their new snacks.

And let me tell you-the flavors are incredible. There is barbecue, sea salt and vinegar, sour cream and onion, veggie, aged white cheddar, and New York pizza. Pirate Brands also offers a variety of snacks including their new Potato Flyers, the beloved Pirate’s Booty, Original Tings, and Smart Puffs. They have it all.

I absolutely love these snacks because they are all natural and have a very simple and easy to read ingredient list. It is a wonderful little snack if you want something to munch on. And what’s even better is they come in a single serving bag. AWESOME! So if you want to win a pirate’s chest filled with all these wonderful goodies you have three ways to enter.

1. Go to the Pirate Brands website and leave me a comment letting me know what Pirate snack you would like to try. Click HERE for the website.
2. Mention this giveaway on your blog and link it back to mine. Then comment letting me know that you did so. If you don’t have a blog leave a comment letting me know.
3. Tweet “I want to win @LaurensGourmet Pirate’s Booty Giveaway! http://wp.me/pAJNI-1le ″ Then comment again letting me know.

Three Ways and Three Days to enter. I will be picking a winner on Friday at 5pm EST. This giveaway is for US residents only. Sorry to my international readers!!!

GOOD LUCK!