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red sox game

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Jen

We headed to the Red Sox game tonight.  It was a gorgeous night in the city, not too hot with a cool breeze, so it was perfect for a game.

We had awesome seats behind home plate.

I love the energy at Fenway Park.  Everyone is always so excited to be there.  But, the game tonight was pretty boring.  Kansas City got 7 runs in the 4th inning which set the tone for the rest of the game.

It sure was fun to be there, though!

Before the game, I obviously ate some dinner.  I got home from work too late too meet Brant and his cousins for dinner, so I grabbed a quick Almond Butter & Jelly Sandwich on whole wheat before heading out.

I had a few minutes to kill once I got over to Fenway and I was still hungry, so I stopped by UFood Grill.

I had never been there before, but the concept is pretty cool.

From the website:

Real food — it’s that simple

The most important thing at UFood Grill is taste, hands down! Our chef has designed a broad menu of better-for-you versions of traditional favorites and innovative original creations. We take a back-to-basics approach to tasty, healthful cooking, where everything we serve is rooted in quality—from choice meats, to natural and organic ingredients, fresh produce, whole grains, and light cheeses and dressings. All of our menu items are baked, grilled or steamed. Nothing is fried—we don’t even have fryers in our restaurants!

They serve all sorts of stuff – wraps, panini’s, burgers, soups, smoothies, frozen yogurt and salads.  I was really excited to try it out, but tonight I was just in the mood for some veggies to pair with my PB&J and I needed something really quick!  Luckily, they have a lot of sides to choose from and they are all $1.99.  I ordered a side of the steamed veggies and vegetarian black beans.

Don’t let the photo fool you, these sides are small!  But, they were so good!  The veggies were steamed just right…not soggy and limp as many steamed veggies are in restaurants.  And, the black beans were so flavorful.  It was a great compliment to my sandwich.  It is great to have an option for healthy foods as ‘fast food’.  These were real veggies and beans.  I would go back there in a second to try something else (or just for the sides again!).  It was good to get some more food before heading into Fenway where the healthy options are quite limited.  Luckily, with a full belly I didn’t crave a big soft pretzel!

After the game the cravings hit and we took our guests to J.P. Lick’s for some ice cream!  I had a small with the Chocolate Fudge sorbet, which was super chocolaty.

Yay for 3 day weekends!

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Filed under: Eating Laps, Restaurant Reviews | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

vega & smoothies

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Jen

TGIF!  And, a 3 day weekend!  Yahoo!  The summer has begun. 🙂

We have a fun weekend planned, starting with a Red Sox game tonight, so I can’t wait to get out of work.

I wasn’t feeling all that great when I woke up this morning, so I sipped on some tea while I did some work.  When I was feeling up for it, I made up a smoothie.  A twist on the Chocolate Cherry Bomb:

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 3/4 cup frozen cherries
  • 1 cup frozen spinach
  • 1.5 cups almond milk
  • 1 packet Chocolate Vega Health Optimizer

I love my smoothies!

For lunch, I grabbed another 13 Bean & Veggie Chili from my freezer.  I forgot to snap a photo, but imagine it looking like this…minus the crackers.

I also snacked on a homemade granola bar and a yogurt, which I put in the freezer to make it more cold and creamy!  Have you ever done this?  If not, you should!  It’s almost like ice cream. 🙂

Now, onto something fun…

I’m not sure if I have talked about Vega at all on the blog, so I’ll mention it again. 🙂  In a nutshell, Vega = Awesome!  They offer a few different bars and powdered protein that are 100% plant based.  The company was started by Brendan Brazier who is an Ironman triathlete.  He eats a vegan diet and needed vegan bars and powders to fuel him through the Ironman challenge.  So, he came up with a plant based protein powder, sports drink and bar.

(Source)

I have not had the bars or sports drink, but I have had the Smoothie Infusion and the Health Optimizer.  My favorite is the Health Optimizer, which they have in a few flavors including Vanilla Chai, Chocolate and Berry.  It includes a combination of protein from hemp, yellow pea, brown rice, flax and chlorella.  Together they combine to give your body all of the essential amino acids that it needs to thrive.  I could go on and on about how much I love the products and the concept behind them, but instead I will point you to their website so that you can see all of the wonderful features and benefits of vega – check it out here.

(Source)

Vega has been around for awhile, but I just found out about them recently from Gena’s blog, Choosing Raw.  Back in February, she wrote a post on her interview with Brendan Brazier which was awesome.  he made some great points that made me think about the way I eat now and how I fuel myself for my workouts and refuel afterwards.  This one part really caught my attention about refueling after a workout:

Really, exercise is nothing more than muscle tissues and cells being broken down.  And when you rest, the body grows back stronger — it overcompensates.  Good food provides the building blocks for this process. The body pools the resources you take in through food and helps you to grow muscle back.  If you eat poor nutrition, cells don’t grow back after athletic strain—they don’t have the resources—or they grow back abnormally (which can proceed to cancer).  So although lots of athletes load up on junk food after grueling performance—they figure they can afford to, or that they’ve earned it, now that a competition is over—it’s actually the worst time to eat junk food, because that’s when the body will assimilate most quickly and seriously.  If you want to eat junk, fine, but eat it later—not right after a workout, when the body will assimilate it directly, and be less likely to filter it out.

Brendan makes many great points throughout his interview, so be sure to check out the full interview if you have interest!

A smoothie would be a perfect post-workout treat.

Now, I just have to add that I do not think that protein powders should replace whole food protein in your diet.  However, I do think that after a strenuous workout, it is a quick and easy way to immediately get protein into your muscles for recovery.  It is a ‘quick’ fix when you are on the go and do not have anything else to fuel your body.  I do usually add a form of protein powder to my smoothies because it is a good way for me to get in some extra protein in the morning or after a hard workout, when I normally just want fruit and/or carbs!  I have stopped eating meat and do run alot, so some extra protein is good for me, but this may not be for everyone.  Make sure that you do what is best for your body.  I am just here to give you some tips along the way! 🙂

Have a great weekend!  I’m off to the Sox game!

Filed under: Eating Laps, Product Reviews | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »