What About Me Wednesday + Meal Planning

Hellooo! Isn’t it fantastic that it’s already Wednesday?! Oh how the world would just be a better place if Monday was officially part of the weekend :) So today I want to share with you a new thing that I’m going to try out here on the blog. I’m starting a segment called What About Me Wednesday where each Wednesday I’ll share a random fact or FAQ with you all and I hope that you’ll share some back with me! That being said, if you have any questions you want me to address - be it about cooking, tips, recipes, eating my way through Manhattan and New Jersey, Shaun, our kitchen or apartment, etc - please ask and I’ll try my best to answer. Sound ok?

So for today’s What About Me Wednesday, I’m going to share a little secret that has nothing to do with cooking. I am the farthest thing from an early riser.

But oh how I wish I was! I’m completely envious of people who wake up at 5:30 everyday, get in a good workout and then have the entire day ahead of them. I am just not one of these people! If I can work out in the morning, it’s a rare occasion and it takes a whole lotta convincing myself to do it. I struggle every morning to even wake up for work on time. What can I say, I love my warm and cozy bed! My mom is a super early riser and I really, really wish that I had gotten this gene. I think I'd get so much more out of life if I was this way. What about you? Are you an early riser? Or a night owl?

For the second part of today’s post, we’re talking meal planning. I have really been trying to get in the habit of planning out our meals each week. It’s a bit time consuming, but I’m hoping to get into the swing of things as the weeks go on! I scour magazines and cookbooks for what I want to try out and then head out to the grocery store to get my supplies for the week.

just a small sampling of my extensive cookbook collection
So today I’m sharing this week’s meal plan that I devised on Sunday morning. I try to plan out each dinner and then have a few things around to suffice for lunch since both Shaun and I bring our lunches to work almost everyday. For this week’s lunches, I made a batch of lightly dressed egg salad (still working on the perfect recipe) and a tray of whole wheat farfalle with lots of veggies. And here’s the dinner rundown:

Sunday
Dinner: mushroom & spinach tarts with salad (recipe coming soon!)

Monday
I had planned to make cod with broccoli quinoa pilaf, but someone decided that he wanted buffalo chicken nuggets instead. I made him go out for the ingredients.

Tuesday
I had planned to make pizza (with whole wheat dough and fresh mozzarella) but Shaun didn’t feel well so he didn’t want dinner. I had zumba and pilates, so by the time I got home, I simply heated up some leftover nuggets with a few slices of cheese and crackers. A dinner of champions.

Wednesday
The original plan was for leftovers, but since I have fresh cod in the fridge, we will probably have this tonight.

Thursday
I broke out my new Ina Garten cookbook and added her roasted shrimp with feta to the menu. We’ll see how this new recipe goes!

Friday
I had originally planned to either go out or order in, however, since I didn’t make the pizza on Tuesday, this is a viable option for Friday’s dinner.

Saturday
I hardly ever cook on Saturday because we are usually out and about!

So that’s how I had planned out the week of meals. I also filled in the gaps with lots of fruit, veggies and Chobani Greek yogurt (our new favorite snack!). To plan out our meals has taken a lot more effort than I thought it would, but I think that it’s the best way to eat healthier and also do some cooking in advance so that I’m not starting from scratch every single night after work. There was one point where we were eating dinner at 9:00 each night, which is just not a healthy way to live!

So what do you think? Have you ever tried meal planning? Any tips to share? 

Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Muffins

I hope that everyone had a great weekend! Sorry that I didn't get a post up yesterday, but I was enjoying a day off from...everything! On Saturday and Sunday, Shaun and I did lots of work around the apartment, including a complete makeover of our entryway coat closet. A few trips to Home Depot, a coat of BM's Stonington Gray, some new shelves, and we're in business for a sweet and spacious closet. Hurrah! But by Monday morn, I was pretty spent. Meanwhile, though I took the day off from life (and may have spent much of the afternoon catching up on Parenthood), I still managed to get myself in the kitchen to cook up a few things to share.

With a bag of blueberries in my freezer (I bought them fresh and then realized that I don't actually like them unless in the form of a baked good), I had a jonesing for some blueberry muffins. And to make these healthy, I changed out a slew of ingredients. While these aren't exactly a dessert muffin, they are perfect for breakfast or on-the-go and are guilt-free to boot. Oh and I almost forgot to tell you that they are virtually sugar free too!

Although we woke up to an inch of snow, I just had summer on the brain, so I brought out my sweet yellow baking cups which were not only cheery, but also mimicked the fresh lemon in the muffins. And I just love how the blueberries burst to make a pretty pattern seeping through. There's just something about lemon and berry that just reminds me of warm weather! Oh and I should mention that I'd never worked with whole wheat pastry flour before, but, while a bit grainy, they kept these muffins nice and light, rather than dense as regular ol' whole wheat flour would have.

Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Muffins
*Adapted heavily from Betty Crocker
1 tbsp Splenda brown sugar blend
3/4 C almond milk
1/4 C applesauce
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 C blueberries

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line your muffin tin. I also like to set out all of my ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, lightly whisk the milk (I used almond, but any of your choice will do!), Splenda, applesauce, honey, egg, vanilla, lemon juice and zest.

With a wooden spoon, stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix until just combined. Measure out and fold in the blueberries.

Fill 12 muffin cups equally, about 3/4 full.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Serve and enjoy immediately (or cool on a wire rack). These are great warm with a tiny bit of light butter and/or cinnamon sugar. Though these aren't sweet in the slightest (these are healthy muffins people!), the blueberries give a burst of juicy flavor that I simply love. For a sweeter muffin, I recommend adding more Splenda blend or even a sugar topping. And to make this more decadent, substitute whole milk and oil for the almond milk and applesauce.

So there you have it. A healthy muffin that couldn't be easier to throw together. I will undoubtedly be enjoying one of these for breakfast tomorrow! So what do you think? What foods or flavors remind you of warm weather?

Say Cheese!

As you may remember, my simply amazing (albeit injured) husband got me a pretty sweet (as in, thoughtful AND rockin'!) Valentine's Day gift. Though we usually don't exchange big gifts, this year he surprised me with a shiny, brand new Kindle. I know, my jaw was on the floor with surprise while I simultaneously squealed with excitement.

Of course, this absolutely upped the pressure that I get him something pretty fabulous as well. Since we long wanted to {finally} try out a Mario Batali restaurant together (I had only been to Otto in the past, where this classy photo was taken...),

I thought it would be the perfect, surprise gift for my husband who always, always takes me out for dinner. A little table turning, if you will. And since I wanted to get a little creative with my gift (you know, rather than just proclaiming Happy Mario Batali Dinner Date Day!), I created a cheesetastic poem to announce our future date. Did I mention that I also read it aloud to him with perfect inflection, eye winks and all?

I attached it to a bundle of Mario Batali menus from all of his restaurants in NYC so that Shaun could pick which he wanted to try. And because I love you guys too, I thought I'd share my foray into sappy, cheesy greeting card writing here on the blog. It's a first for me, so I hope you enjoy.

To my love
It’s Valentine’s Day
and what can I say?

My sweet honey pie
I’m not gonna lie
You’re the love of my life
and I adore being your wife

A love that will never end
You’re my very best friend
Just thinking about you makes me smile
For you, I’d swim the Nile ;)

Your gift was so sweet
I just couldn’t compete
I scoured the (online) mall but,
what’s better than an e-book after all?

So I pondered and obsessed
And discounted all the rest
And then I thought, hey that’s it!
A romantic dinner that’s candlelit

Mario Batali is the guy
Let’s hope his shorts don’t show any thigh
You choose the place if you get my gist
For next Friday evening is the date of our tryst

I really hope that you like this idea
Or a sad little wife I will be a
If you’re smiling, I’ll say “Phew!”
Because I’m simply incomplete without you

I love you more each day
in every single way
...so I really hope you’ll say
Take me out on a date next Friday!

Still there? Don't worry the cheese factor isn't lost on me, and as soon as Shaun decided on Otto as his choice, he proclaimed that I just had to share this on the blog. So tonight is the night of our date and I'm so excited! I actually have been to Otto before, but Shaun has not. The cheese platter with brandied bing cherries and truffled honey alone is worth the trip.

Yep, I've been dreaming about this since the last time I was there. In fact, the truffled honey is worthy of Best Thing I Ever Ate status. I cannot wait to finally take Shaun here so he can understand what I've been raving about for the last 1+ years.

So that's how Shaun and I will be enjoying his Valentine's Gift this evening. Not too shabby huh? So for today's question, I just want to know...what super sappy/cheesetastic things have you done for a loved one?