Eats as of Late {Part II}

April 28, 2015April 28, 20156 Comments

It’s been a hot minute since I shared my eats with you, huh? In case you missed part one, you can find it here.

I feel like RM and I have been eating out a bit more than we really want to be eating out, but now that the weather is warming up a bit (well, sometimes!), it’s just so much more fun to go out and get drinks, which usually leads to us grabbing dinner out. We leave for Italy in about 3 weeks, so I’m hoping to cut back on eating out until then. For now, here’s what we’ve been eating- enjoy!

Coconut Crusted Healthified Chicken Tenders {gluten free & dairy free}– RM came up with this recipe and he’s used it on chicken and fish and it’s quickly become a staple for us!

Italian Meatloaf– I came across this meatloaf from PaleOMG and I’ve probably made it 5 times at this point. Every part of it is so delicious and it’s been a great lunch meal.

In January, RM was doing the Whole30, so we were more limited with our meal options. Insert lettuce tacos! So good and so healthy.

Curry dishes have also frequented our meal rotations. We love this dish because it’s easy and healthy and just so darn tasty! We’ve made the dish with chicken and with shrimp and have decided we like shrimp the best.

These Smashed Sweet Potato Guacamole Bites from Running to the Kitchen were a HUGE hit at the Super Bowl party I went to.

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My 30th Birthday Celebrations

April 23, 2015April 22, 201512 Comments

Well, it’s official: I have the best friends, family and boyfriend around! Everyone made my entire birthday week SO special- I wish there was a better way to show my gratitude, but hopefully this post will help.

As I mentioned last week, my birthday celebrations started the weekend before my birthday with the Wine Fest. From there, my birthday was an amazing day from start to finish! Finally getting a chance to check out SoulCycle was such a fun thing, and doing it beside my sister and Jess was even better 🙂

After our workout, we walked over to Seasons 52 for lunch. Have you guys ever been there or heard of it? I’m not one for big box chain restaurants, but since this one was so close and since I had heard such great things about it, we decided to check it out. I’m so glad we did because it was awesome! Everything was so light and fresh. We talked to the waitress and although everything on the menu is currently under 475 calories, they are shifting towards removing the calorie count since they are starting to incorporate more super foods that generally have higher calorie counts. Think: avocados, nuts, etc. I think this is awesome because it’s true- just basing your meal on calories isn’t going to be the healthiest option (but that’s another post for another time!). Anyway- I got the fish tacos (surprise, surprise) and a glass of rose and my sister got a flatbread which came with a wine flight AND a glass of wine for $15- amazing deal.

Later in the evening, I got dressed up and met RM in the city and we grabbed a drink at Rumba (the bar in the Intercontinental) before heading to dinner.

He took me to Cinquecento, which is an Italian restaurant in the South End. We were supposed to go there for Valentine’s Day, but due to the weather, we ended up staying local, so it was a nice surprise that he chose that restaurant for my birthday. I sipped on the most delicious glass of bubbly rose and then enjoyed my Tagliatelle alla Bolognese. RM got his favorite dish, the Branzino con Scarola Brasata e Funghi, which was also delicious. I was SO impressed with both dishes- I’m suddenly hungry as I start thinking back to the meal!

Lastly, RM surprised me with a molten chocolate lava cake and ice cream which was to die for!

And… now for the party recap! I told RM that I didn’t care about a surprise party, I just didn’t want to be the one to plan it. With that said, he reached out to my sister and my friends in various groups in my life and planned one hell of a party. I had no idea where we were going or who would be there or what to expect, so I did what any other 30 year old would do: wear pleather pants, new heels and my reddest lipstick 😉

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Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Protein Balls {No Bake!}

April 7, 2015April 8, 20156 Comments

Good morning! I have quite a little treat for you today 🙂 I was inspired by a project DailyBurn is working on this spring season and decided to see what I could come up with. The focus? Protein-packed meals/snacks/pre-workout recipes that will be shared on their Facebook page as a way to provide their followers with some new breakfast recipes, bar recipes, pre-workout recipes, fuel-for-long-days recipes, etc. As I am often on the go and working out a lot, proper meals and snacks with a strong protein base is necessary in order to keep me satisfied and fueled properly to get through whatever crazy things I have on any particular day.

This request couldn’t have come at a more perfect time because I had just made some peanut butter banana oat bars and wanted to tweak the recipe a little. I had stumbled on the idea of making these bars when I saw Athena tease us on Instagram with this recipe and because I was trying to find a way to use up the HUGE jar of peanut butter I had picked up at BJ’s. I also had some very ripe bananas that needed to be used, so it was really just a recipe waiting to happen! By going by the look of Athena’s bars and perusing the internet for some other bar “staples”, I ended up creating a recipe all on my own- something that’s not always easy for me when it comes to baking!
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San Francisco Recap: Part 2 {Wine Country!}

March 5, 2015March 4, 20158 Comments

In case you missed my part 1 recap of my recent girls trip to San Francisco, you can read it here.

I went to bed on Friday night dreaming of our Saturday in wine country. The last time (and only time) I went to wine country I was all hopped up on Vicodin due to a broken elbow just a day before my trip. Let me just put this on record: wine and Vicodin together are not a good idea… just trust me on that!

We woke up early on Saturday since our driver was due to pick us up at 9am. Since the girls had blow out appointments, I headed out on a short 2.5 mile run. The humidity seemed terrible (probably because I’m so used to the super dry weather here in Boston) and the hills were not my friend. But, I did feel so much better after I did it!

Shortly after 9, we were all settled in with bagels and bubbly and en route to Sonoma. How cute/amazing are these little mini cans of bubbly?! I’m obsessed- thank you for introducing me to them, Kel!!

The car ride there was so fun- we played trivia with the driver, sang to T.Swift and got to know each other better. Three of Kelly’s friends joined us (Heather, Kim and another Amanda) and they were a super fun addition to the group! Our first stop was Scribe Winery since Kelly is a member and could get free tastings for everyone. Although the morning fog was still present, by the time we left, it was beautiful, warm and sunny. And, let’s face it- the wine still would’ve tasted just as good had the fog not worn off 😉

I don’t know about you, but starting my day with a wine tasting at 10:30am was pretty fun. The wines here were my favorite and I ended up buying the Rose. I also loved that they put out snacks for us 🙂

Solid first stop!

Once we finished, we went to the Sonoma Cheese Factory to pick up sandwich lunches for our next stop at Nicholson Ranch. They let us set up shop at an awesome table in the sun with some pretty gorgeous views.

We did a 6 flight wine tasting and the wines were really good! Nothing that I wanted to buy and send back, but still very tasty.

I mean, do you think we could’ve asked for nicer weather? I don’t. Nope, it was pretty perfect.

Kelly’s friend, Kim, is a member at Rutherford Hill Winery, so we headed to Napa for our final tasting (she gets 4 free tastings as part of her membership!). I didn’t take any pictures while we were there, but it was so fun! We ended up getting a couple of bottles of the Pinot Grigio and hanging out at the picnic tables with some mutual friends who live in San Francisco, too (they ended up being in Napa for golf, so we texted the crap out of them to come meet up with us!).

On the way back to San Francisco, we made an obligatory stop at The Fremont Diner to share some of their famous Salted Caramel Milkshakes.

And yes, they tasted just as good as they sound… if not better!

The rest of the ride can be summed up by this picture… the end of wine country day… enough said:

Once we got back to the city, we changed quickly and headed back to Fillmore Street to have some much needed dinner (we drank A LOT of wine throughout the day!) at Palmers. Apparently they are known for their burgers, but I opted for meatballs (surprise, surprise) and Brussels Sprouts.

Our last stop for the night was at Mauna Loa, but none of us lasted long at this point.

To be honest, I’m not sure how we lasted until 11pm after the day we had!

What an amazingly fun day- thank you so much for organizing, Kelly! And, for sharing your friends, who are now our friends (because they’re super awesome!) 🙂

Questions for you: Have you ever been to wine country? What’s your favorite type of wine? Do you like milkshakes?

Weekending: A Valentine’s Day Blizzard

February 16, 2015February 16, 20154 Comments

Good morning, friends! I am so happy that I have today off, and I hope all of you do, too! My plan today is a workout and then going up to Kittery to meet my parents for lunch since I won’t be around this weekend when they come to help my sister move. I wanted to go spend a few nights up there, but with the snow and parking, I just couldn’t make it work 😦

I’m sure you’re probably so sick of me (and a lot of other Boston bloggers) venting/complaining about the snow- I get it. It’s totally annoying, but somehow talking about it makes me feel a little better. Misery loves company, right? Anyway, with the way this winter has been over the past 3 weeks, it’s really no surprise that another blizzard would hit the city over Valentine’s Day weekend. I honestly felt so bad for all the restaurants because it’s no doubt they all suffered from people cancelling their reservations. I’d love to say we were different, but once we heard about the storm, we opted to stay local and just bar hop by foot (in boots!) rather than get dolled up for a fancy dinner. It ended up being perfect.

Friday night, I had plans on heading to the gym after work, but I did something I rarely do: skipped it. My bag was packed and it was in my plans, but as the day wore on, I realized I was really sore from Thursday and just wasn’t feeling it. I’m so happy I skipped it because traffic was insane and it took me over an hour to get home from work as it was. I was picturing a hungry, tired, post workout Monique in that situation and it just wasn’t pretty 😉

Roberto picked me up and we ended up throwing together a really great, simple dinner: gluten free panko coated fish, sautéed veggies and millet . Everything about it, especially paired with a few glasses of wine and some good catch-up convos with RM, was perfect!

And, just when we thought it couldn’t get better, it did! I came across this post from Athena’s Friday Favorites and knew I needed to make it for RM. As you know, we try to eat *mostly* paleo, so this seemed like a great addition to our Valentine’s Day weekend. While they were good on their own, I decided they needed (yes, needed) frosting, so I made a simple one of unsweetened bakers chocolate, water, peanut butter, vanilla and confectionary sugar that made the dessert!

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