I wanted it to be a super quick meal, so I took a pre-cooked flatbread from Trader Joes and topped it with pizza sauce.

And a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese.  Then baked it for 5 minutes until the cheese was melted.

Once melted, I topped the pizza with fresh arugula, red pepper and a sliced pear and baked for another 5 minutes, until the crust was turning golden brown.

Lastly, a sprinkled some stilton cheese with dried cranberries over the top and turned on the broiler for 1 minute until melty!

This pizza was delicious!  Sweet and savory all at the same time.  It was great heated up the next day, as well.  Surprisingly, the arugula did not wilt too much!

Last Saturday, we took a trip out to Springfield, MA and spent the day at the Big E!  If you don’t know what the Big E is, it’s the Eastern States Exposition.  A huge fair/carnival/etc that runs for 2 full weeks (3 weekends) every Setember.

This was my first time at the Big E and I was shocked as to how big it really was.  We spent a good 9 hours there and missed so much stuff!

We started and ended our day at my favorite part of the fair – The State Buildings.  Each New England state has their own building where they sell different foods and souveniers local to their state.

We started with cider donuts and hot apple cider from Vermont!

It was very fun to see what was inside of each state building, Vermont was by far the best with their apple cider, maple cotton candy, flatbread pizza, soaps, Ben & Jerry’s and t-shirts!  But, other’s had fun things to offer too.

Massachusetts

This was my first time trying golden raspberries and they were delicious!

We took a detour from the State Buildings and toured the rest of the grounds…and stopped at the giant slide!  I watched while my husband and friends took a ride.

We hunted for the giant butter sculpture!

And, found some piglets!

A giant pumpkin.

A talking veggie show.

(We also spent a lot of time watching the Vita-Mix demonstration which was awesome!)

Then, it was back to the State Buildings for dinner.

A Maine baked potato with cheese and chives.

And, another slice of Vermont’s flatbread pizza!

It was such a fun day!  Can’t wait until next year.

• Trader Joe’s O’s
• Uncle Sam’s Flax Cereal
• Bob’s Red Mill Museli

It was a good mix of cold and crunchy.  Topped with a super ripe banana for potassium.

It was a crazy day at work, so all of a sudden it was 2 o’clock and I was more than ready for lunch!

Good thing I packed a salad from home.

CSA lettuce topped with tabouli, chopped raisins, sunflower seeds and feta cheese.

With a yogurt and apple on the side.

After a mid-afternoon snack of a Brownie Larabar, I was ready for our pizza party!

I chopped up some peppers, kale and chicken sausage for toppings.  Cooked before makingthe pizza.

Dough and Pizza sauce from Trader Joe’s:

Whole wheat and my favorite garlic and herb dough!

Their dough and sauce are made with simple ingredients!

Pizza #1 - Whole Wheat dough with mozzarella cheese, chicken sausage, green pepper and feta cheese.

We cook our pizza on a preheated (in a 400* oven) pizza stone, which works great!  I pre-bake the dough for about 5 minutes, add the toppings, then cook for an additional 7-10 minutes.  They come out great everytime!

Pizza #2 – Garlic & Herb dough with mozzarella cheese, red pepper and sauteed kale.

I enjoyed a slice of each (minus the chicken sausage, which I removed) and they were both delicious!

Pizza really is a simple meal to make, especially if you use pre-made dough and sauce.

We stopped in for a snack at Crumpet’s Tea Shop, right off of the market.  It was packed, and delicious!

They offer a wide variety of crumpets, but I kept it simple: crumpet with raspberry jam.

Brant was a little more adventurous and ordered the green eggs and ham!!  The eggs were mixed with pesto to give them the green color.

After our much needed snack, we explored some more.

We found a chocolate shop!!

Then, made our way down to the waterfront to get some views of the Puget Sound.

The waterfront had some great views and other fun stuff, too.

My crazy husband having fun!

After some gorgeous views of the water and of the city, it was time to eat!

We headed up the flights of stairs from the waterfront to Pike Place and came across this Gum Wall!!

We had no idea what is was, but there were tons of people coming to see it!  Including, a wedding party taking photos around it.  Yuck!

We looked it up at lunch and here is what we found from Wikepedia:

The Gum Wall is a local landmark in downtown Seattle, in Post Alley under Pike Place Market. Similar to Bubblegum Alley in California, the Gum Wall is a brick wall now covered in used chewing gum. The wall is covered several inches thick, 15 feet high for 50 feet.  The wall is by the waiting line for the Market Theater, and the tradition began around 1993 when patrons of Unexpected Productions’ Seattle Theatresports stuck gum to the wall. Theater workers scraped the gum away twice, but eventually gave up after market officials deemed the gum wall a tourist attraction in around 1999. People initially stuck coins to the wall using the gum, and some people create small works of art out of gum.  It was named one of the top 5 germiest tourist attractions in 2009, second to the Blarney Stone. It is the location of the start of a ghost tour, and it is a popular site with wedding photographers.

(Source)

Very interesting…

We enjoyed a great lunch at The Alibi Room!  They have happy hour everyday from 12-6pm, serving beers and food at a discount.  We have found that happy hour is a huge deal in Seattle!  Even fancy restaurants take part.

The Alibi Room is a whole in the wall directly across from the gum wall.  Apparently, it used to have an amazing view of the waterfront, but a building was built in between the two!  The food was still delicious and the atmosphere was great.

Beer was about $3 and each of the food options were between $4 and $7 for happy hour.  We were starving, so we took full advantage of our first lunch in Seattle!

Bruschetta

Spicy Mac & Cheese

Pizza!

The afternoon and dinner to come!

It felt great out last night.  A cool breeze was coming off of the water and there were a lot of people out running and walking.  I never see that many people in the mornings!!  I ran for just over an hour and felt great!  Refreshed after my day.

I came home to make a quick dinner.  My first thought was a pita pizza, my next thought was a quesadilla.  Then, I combined them!

A Pizza-Dilla!

Start with a wrap of choice.

Spread half of it with tomato sauce (or tomato paste as I did here).

Then, layer on your cheese and toppings of choice.  I went with pepper and italian seasoning.  The cheese is a blend of cheddar and mozarella.

Drizzle with bbq sauce, if desired.  I love bbq sauce, so this was a no brainer for me.

Fold the wrap in half and grill on the grill or grill pan for a few minutes on each side until the cheese is melted.

Mmmm…a delicious, eat with your hands, quesadilla!  That tastes like pizza.

This could be great as an appetizer too!

Last week, I was sent a great package from Barbara’s Bakery.

This bag was filled with a lot of goodies!

How generous?!  They sent me a full sized box of their Original Puffins and Shredded Oats, 2 of my all time favorite cereals as an adult.   Along with some sample packs of their newer flavors, including Multigrain Puffins and Fruit Medley Puffins Puffs.

I haven’t had a chance to try all of the packs, but I have been enjoying the Original Puffins this week!  [I will make sure to let you know how I like the other flavors as well.]

Yesterday morning, I enjoyed a bowl of Puffins.

In the bowl, I mixed the following for a satisfying breakfast:

• 1 cup of Pomegranate Kefir (from Trader Joe’s – surprisingly delicious and not too sweet!)
• 1/2 cup Original Puffins
• 1/4 cup Museli
• 1 chopped apricot

Very refreshing.

Mid-morning, I snacked on some trail mix (dried fruit + nuts) to hold me over until lunch.

For lunch, I was craving Panera Bread.  I actually don’t like too much there and I always get the same exact thing.  It’s something about the bread and the veggies that I love about the Mediterranean Veggie!

Sans onions and feta, with an apple instead of chips.

Yum!

I also snacked on a raw fig bar that I had been saving from One Lucky Duck in NYC.

It was really good!!!

Once home, we went on an hour long walk around Southie, then had an early dinner of Pizza and Salad before we headed out to see Inception.

Garden salad.

Alfresco pizza with tomatoes, basil, ricotta and mozzarella.

It’s a beautiful Saturday here in Boston.  We are off to enjoy the day!

We didn’t have much on the agenda yesterday, so I took Brant on another ‘walking tour’ of my favorite places to pick up some souvenirs to take home.  It was HOT!!  But, still very enjoyable.

First stop, the Union Square Farmer’s Market!  The fresh produce was calling my name, but I held off for our CSA.  I took some photos, though.

We did grab a container of blackberries to eat on our walk with our bagels and they were delicious!

How cute is this coffee shop on wheels?! 

NYC Love Street Coffee.  Brant picked up some iced coffee.

At this point we were dying of heat, so we hailed a taxi to take us to our next stop – Organic Avenue.  I have been wanting to visit the store, but hadn’t had a chance on my last few trips to the city.  I am glad we had time today!

Organic Avenue sells juices, smoothies, raw foods, supplements, etc.  They also offer juice and raw food cleanses, and even deliver it to your door!

Their juices come in these great glass bottles (which you can return for a refund), but I wanted to take a few home with me, so I picked out some juices to buy – Coconut Mylk, Blueberry Spirulina Smoothie and Veggie Love.  I will let you know how they are once I try them!

We were ready for lunch after this stop, so we walked back to Union Square, stopping at Liquiteria for a Peaches-N-Dream Smoothie on the way.

The smoothie was made up of peaches, strawberries, bananas, apple cider, cinnamon, aloe vera and energy memory.  It tasted great.

We went to Dogmatic for lunch.  It is a fun ‘fancy sausage’ take-out place.  They cook their rolls on a fancy machine that leaves a hole in the middle.  They pour in a sauce of your choice and fill it with a sausage of your choice.

All of their food is free from hormones, antibiotics, preservatives and artificial flavors.  I chose the asparagus with sun-dried tomato & feta sauce with a side salad.

Isn’t this a neat concept?  And, it tasted great too.

After a quick stop at One Lucky Duck for a raw Moonpie and Mallomar to take home, we were on our way to dinner at Otto Pizzeria.

Otto’s was opened by Mario Batali and is apparently modeled to look like an Italian train station.  And, they are a Certified Green Restaurant!

We started with some Antipasti – Poached Figs, Broccoli Rabe, Summer Squash, Green Beans.  They were all great, but I especially liked the green beans and the fig!

For my entree, I ordered the Swiss Chard & Goat Cheese Pizza – so garlicky, but so good!

The pizza was spread thinly with goat cheese and then topped with swiss chard stems and leaves.

It was a delicious meal and I left feeling stuffed and ready to make our way to Citifield for the Dave Matthews Concert!

Below are just a few fun finds from the market!

Radishes

Garlic Scrapes

Workout

After taking ALL of last week off of exercising, I started to really miss it.  I spent the first half of my week panicking about my test, and the second half having trouble getting motivated!  All of a sudden I didn’t have to study anymore and I was completely exhausted.  I figured that catching up on sleep was the most important thing for me to do.

But, it’s a new week and I’m back at it!

After work today, I hit the road for a much needed workout.  I ran 5.25 miles in 51 minutes, then walked for another 9 minutes to give me 60 minutes of cardio.  Once home, I spent a good 20 minutes on strength, balance and stretching exercises.

After taking a break from weight training, I am trying to focus on my stability and balance before jumping right back into it.  That last thing I need to do is get hurt!  Tonight, I focused on a circuit session with squats, lunges, pushups and plank, then stretching.  It felt good to stretch so much!  So many people jump right into weight training and forget how important it is to stabilize your core before hitting up a tough routine.

Breakfast

For breakfast, I had some Steel Cut Oats that I had previously prepared.  Yesterday, I made up a big batch of oats for the week.  I used 1 cup of steel cut oats and 4 tbsp of freshly ground flax seed.

This morning, I took out a serving and mixed in a little bit of milk, 1/2 of a mashed banana and 1 tsp cinnamon, then heat it up in the microwave.  It surprisingly came out just like normal!  I am trying to find ways to make my breakfasts easier in the morning to be able to enjoy then instead of eating on the go all the time.  This worked wonders…and I have enough to last me all week.

I added 1 tbsp vanilla almond butter, raw granola and a few chopped strawberries for toppings and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast!

Native strawberries might be my favorite summertime fruit!

Lunch

For lunch, I packed my leftover Cabbage Pizza from Saturday with some hummus and salsa for dippers.

And, the last of my Saratoga yogurt with a few strawberries and Kaia Raisin Cinnamon granola.

Before my run, I snacked on a Pear Ginger Prana Bar, then came home to make an easy summertime dinner.

Dinner

The Clean Food cookbook is quickly becoming a favorite of mine.  Terry Walters, the author, has so many wonderful and simple recipes in the book (and, I cannot wait for her new cookbook to come out soon)!  It is definitely worth purchasing.  Over the weekend, I sprouted some grains to have for the week (more on how to sprout later this week!), so dinner was easy to put together.

Sprouted Quinoa with Strawberries and Lime (recipe from Clean Food)

I chopped up the following:

• 1 heaping cup strawberries
• 1/2 jicama
• 2 tomatillos
• 1 daikon radish
• bunch of radishes from farmers market
• 2 avocados
• 2 apricots

And, mixed up a dressing which I changed around a bit since we didn’t have all of the ingredients the recipe called for.  We mixed up 1/8 cup olive oil, 4 tbsp lime juice, 1/8 cup lemonade, 1 chopped jalapeno.

I added the dressing to the sprouted quinoa and fruits.  I kept the avocado separate and gently mixed that in afterward to keep it from getting mushy (this technique worked well!).

This was such a refreshing meal served on a bed of lettuce.

I enjoyed it with a few small slices of black bean bread and a glass of my Mint Mojito Iced tea.

I love summer!

Once I was up, I knew I had to start the morning off on the right foot, so I made Brant and I a treat for breakfast – Pancakes!  Not just any pancakes, though.  These were souped up Banana Almond Oatmeal Pancakes.  And, they were yummy.

I followed the recipe exactly from Fitsugar (see recipe here).  Her recipe makes 12 smaller pancakes, but I like my pancakes thick and filling, so I made the pancakes twice as thick.

I am not a big pancake or waffle eater because I always find that they keep me full for about 10 minutes…there is not much substance or protein in a plain pancake, so it makes sense.  However, two of these pancakes with toppings kept me pretty full for the majority of the morning.  It must have been the oatmeal.

They were fluffy, but dense, so if you like light and fluffy pancakes, these definitely aren’t for you.  I topped my pancakes with a little greek yogurt, banana, chopped almonds and maple sugar.

Next time I would add more banana and cinnamon to the batter!

For lunch, I wanted to do something with the cabbage from our CSA, so I searched for a recipe.  I found the perfect recipe for Japanese Pizza on 101cookbooks.com (see recipe here).  I love pizza and this seemed like a really easy and healthy alternative.

I made sure to wash and dry my cabbage thoroughly, since it came straight from the farm.

The recipe called for shredded cabbage, but I was too impatient to chop it all, so I threw it in my food processor.  It was more grated than shredded, but it worked!

I doubled the recipe to make individual pizza’s for Brant and I, which was a perfect amount (I only ate 1/2 of one).  Once the ingredients are all mixed together, you cook the pizza in a pan on the stove.

Flipping the pizza was easier than I thought.  After cooking the pizza for 4-5 minutes on one side, it was time to flip.  I slid the pizza out onto a plate, put another plate on top and flipped!  Then, slide back into the pan to continue to cook.

Once done, I garnished with almonds and cut it up on the cutting board.

Then, served with a few dipping sauces…guacamole hummus and tomato paste.

It was really, really good!  The pizza itself did not have too much flavor, but it is so basic that you could add anything that your heart desires.  The dippers provided more than enough flavor for me, but I like plain things.

For a lunch dessert, I broke open some chocolate bars that I bought yesterday.  Endangered Species chocolate started selling some new organic dark chocolate, so I picked up one in each flavor.

How good do they sound?!  Of course, I tried a little of each.

It was tough to pick a favorite, but I really liked the Dark Chocolate with Goji Berry, Pecans and Maca!

Have a great Saturday!

• Pushups
• Squats with Overhead Press
• Deadlift with Upright Row
• Lunge with Biceps Curl
• Lunge with Triceps Kickback

Then, I set out on a 5 mile run.  It was so humid today!  But, breaking a sweat felt great.

For breakfast, I couldn’t decide what I wanted.  Finally, I decided on a fruit smoothie with 2 small quiches.

The mini quiche muffins contain eggs, cottage cheese, parm cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and basil.

They are delicious!!

The smoothie contained:

• 1 frozen banana
• 6 frozen strawberries
• 1 cup lime coconut water
• 1 tbsp pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

Pepitas are a great source of iron, amongst other things.  I have low levels of iron probably from not eating any red meat and have been taking iron pills for about a year now.  I decided that I wanted to try other ways to boost my iron, so I started adding a tablespoon of raw pepitas to smoothies and it seems to be working!  I don’t feel sluggish like I do when not taking the iron pills, so I can’t wait to get my iron levels re-checked!

For lunch, I broke into an yogurt bowl.  I had 1 serving (1 cup) of plain greek yogurt left in this container.  To the container I added an apple, chocolate banana granola and cinnamon!  It was yummy.

Full of lots of good stuff which actually kept me satisfied for hours.

Mid-afternoon, I snacked on a Prana Bar and a few slices of watermelon.  I wasn’t sure about this flavor bar, but once I tried it, I loved it!  It was tart without being too tart…and the amaranth adds a bit of crunch.  (Full review to come!)

Dinner was low key.  I had a few pieces of Veggie Pizza.

The pizza contained spinach, onions, zucchini, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.

Do you notice any difference in my photos from today?!  I got a new camera, so I can finally have some good photos of my food!  Just a new point and shoot for the time being…yahoo!