Snowed-in Dining Decadence

Good Morning!

I am currently snowed in at Eric’s and in my pj’s…life doesn’t get much better! If you’ve been following me on twitter or know me in real life you may know that the last 5 days have been a little bit crazy! I had my first internship interview last Friday, at a state college’s counseling office (next year I will be completing a 700 hour counseling psychology internship). Eric kindly took the day off for me to make the drive, it was a little far but close to his sister’s house. While I interviewed, Eric got to play with this little munchkin:

His niece, Riley. She’s been featured on here many times, and I always take the opportunity to show off how cute she is to all of you 🙂 The benefit of spending the day at his sisters house and with Riley?? Great Thai food for dinner! We started with scallion pancakes and miso soup and each got our favorites, curry dishes for Eric and his sister and brother-in-law, Rama Garden with shrimp for me.

The weekend wasn’t too eventful, I have a on-again off-again sinus infection that keeps wiping out my energy. Sunday we I spent at Eric’s house for the day, celebrating his mom’s birthday with his family. It was a relaxing day spent hanging around the house, playing Apples to Apples, and eating Chinese food. While I spent the day at Eric’s my family was with my 92 year old grandmother, beginning to pack her to move into assisted living. She is the healthiest 92 year old I’ve ever met (and yes, I’ve met a few) but unfortunately she is experiencing rapid onset of senile dementia. She is confused but happy and now we, as a family, can rest easy knowing that she is getting the constant care and attention that she needs. I believe that she will improve a bit with the added stimulation and social interaction that she had been lacking (outside of our family) for the last few months.

So my Monday was a combination of packing and moving my grandmother, my second internship interview, and packing and moving my grandmother some more. I enjoyed some great family the day Monday and yesterday and I am reminded of how lucky I am to have such a wonderful and loving family.

After two days of packing and two interviews, I was so ready for a night of good food, wine and relaxation:

Eric and I made a soup recipe I found using my new iTouch app from Epicurious. The soup was Green Bean, Zucchini, and Potato Stew from Bon Appetit Magazine.

It was a great italian style stew but a little heavy on the cayenne pepper. I am not the hugest spicy fan but even Eric agreed that it could have used less heat. We topped it with some grated romano cheese and served with with some Trader Joe’s chicken tenders:

I’ve recently made the decision to begin eating meat again. I’ll still be having some vegetarian meals, but with my anemia being such a problem I’d rather been having more energy and feeling better. More on that another time, but we have more important matters to attend to…such as the best french toast everrr!

That would be Trader Joe’s Sprouted Wheatberry Bread, 1 egg+3 whites (I could have used less but I like the added protein), and cinnamon topped with smashed banana and almond butter. I wanted a sweet but healthy topping for my cinnamon toast since my childhood memory of the dish consisted of topping it with butter and a thick layer of brown sugar. I had a fairly ripe banana and the idea was formed. I mashed most of the banana in a bowl, tossed in a tablespoon-ish of natural unsalted almond butter and stirred to combine. I split the mixture over the two pieces of french toast and an amazing breakfast was had 🙂

I highly recommend this as a morning breakfast treat 🙂 I think it gave me the fuel to accomplish two of my Fit Blogger Charity Challenge workouts. I am grateful that they can all be done in the comfort of your home since the outdoors look like this:

I think I’ll let Eric and his brother’s do the shoveling 🙂

Tell me: what’s your favorite way to spend a snow day?

Enjoy the day!

lots of love,

Em