The simpilest things...

So last night was one of those "I'm not too sure about this" type of dinners that turned into rousing rounds of "why does this taste so good????"  I spied a simple recipe for grilled veggies & polenta in this month's Food Network Magazine and thought I'd give it a whirl.... 

While we were prepping it all up, we both had kind of doubtful expressions that this could be all that good.....but trust me:  It oh-so WAS!

The one part of this recipe that really intrigued me was that all of the veggies....

 

...and polenta got brushed with a fresh herb oil.

Which I quickly whirled up in our mini food processor.... 

• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of cardamom
• salt & pepper
• And a handful of fresh basil, parsley & fennel frawns

 A little sprinkle of salt over everyone and they were left to grill up for about 10 minutes....

10 minutes later and the grill turned all of these goodies into pure MAGIC!

We have crunchy broccoli....

Sweet oranges with a touch of carmelized sugars from the grill... 

Mild & savory tomatoes & diced peppers... 

And of course, the sliced polenta... 

A little sprinkle of Parmesan cheese all over and we were in business!! 

I can't even TELL you how great this simple plate of veggies was!!!!  You just need to trust me and try it out ASAP!!!  And we loved using the polenta as a vehicle to swoop up all the good veggies.  Especially the tomatoes & peppers! 

 And on top of all that great stuff, we even discovered a  favorite "new" grilled veggie!

Readers, meet fennel.  Fennel, meet readers... 

My prior experience with fennel was that my family would sometimes have it for Easter, so I was pretty skeptical.  But I could NOT get over how fantastic this was.  The best part was the charred ends....SOOOOO GOOD!  Fennel will always be on my grilled veggie list from now on.  

This whole dinner was spectacular...down to the last orange rinds drop! 

TRY THIS ONE OUT ASAP!!!!

And since we had an uber healthy dinner, we thought it would be a good time to sneak in a little treat we had been wanting to try all month:  The Dairy Queen Blizzard of the month-Brownie BatterJ 

OK...apparently, you only have until tonight to get this (since tomorrow is JULY!!  CRAZY!!), but I highly suggest running to your DQJ  The ice cream tasted like a melted chocolate milkshake (much like the ice cream at Van Dyke's) and it was swirled with a TON of brownie pieces.  Soooo good!!

And I had to laugh that the mini blizzards now came accompanied with mini spoonsJ hahahhahahaha 

Soooooo a total great meal from start to finishJ

Hope you guys have a great Thursday....soooo close to that holiday weekend!!!!

Late & Pretty....

Sooooooo....sorry this post is getting up so late today.  I passed out on the couch last night..ummm...EARLY and didn't have a chance to upload my pictures untll just nowJ  On one hand, you weren't missing too much as we just had leftover gravy with penne....

...and a couple homemade raviolis thrown in for good measure...(thanks Mom!) 

But on the other hand, I had one pretty breakfast & lunch to show you.... 

Blueberry waffle & peach for breakfast, a handful of crack peanut butter pretzels for snack and this beauuuutiful salad and fresh Jersey cherries for lunch: 

In the mix:

• Red leaf lettuce
• scallions
• craisins
• 1 wedge Laughing Cow
• Diced red pepper

...all polished off with the last of my Champagne Pear Vinaigrette.  Time to restock! J

Alright...well, we've ALREADY had an awesome dinner that I can not WAIT to share with you guys in the morning (early...I promise!!) and now we're headed off to get a special sweet treat.  Stayed tuned & have a great night!

Tuesday doesn't work as well....

Hey everyone!  Soooo...how does "Motivational Tuesday" sound this week?? hahahahahhahahahaha....

After all of the "madness" in NYC on Sunday, I was VERY ready for a healthy, green dinner last night!  Although, I was in a weird mode and for ONCE in my life did NOT want a sweet/salty (strawberry/chicken) dinner and just wanted my chicken with a "side salad."  That was a long explanation for something so silly.  SORRY!

In the ....mix??  plate?? 

• Chicken, grilled in Montreal Steak Seasoning
• Red leaf lettuce
• avocado
• scallions
• craisins
• red pepper
• Parmesan Ranch Dressing

And my exercise for the week:

Monday:  Bethenny 40 minute yoga

Tuesday:  Weight Loss Yoga-Level 2 & 3

Wednesday:  30 minutes dance + weights

Friday:  1 hour 'Yoga for the Warrior'

Saturday:  1 hour + (heavenly!) Power Yoga

Sunday:  Lots of NYC walkingJ

I PROMISE to get back on my audio clip track next week!  I have tons to share with you guys, yet the time to sit down to record them has been eluding me!  I'll work on it for next MondayJ  Anyway...have a great rest of Tuesday!

How to celebrate the end of 6th grade....

We spent an absolutely GORGEOUS day in NYC yesterday with our niece, Isabela, to officially celebrate the end of her school year!  And how do we do that in NYC???

...with bomboloni , boats, burgers &...bars(??) J

                 
Our first stop once we got into the city was to the Sullivan Street Bakery...

Owned by Jim Lahey, creator of the "no knead bread" (a true lifesaver!), this place was already selling out of bread & pizza....at 10:30AM!!!!!

But we started our day with a couple sweet treats.  Scott & I split a yummy espresso, chocolate chip banana bread cake.  But the highlight was those little cream filled bomboloni!

Mmmmmmmm...they tasted JUST like a zeppole (my childhood favorites!), with a slightly crisp outside & a doughy & chewy inside...and then STUFFED with sweet and creamy vanilla bean custard....

Oh man...soooo good!  I wanted to chow down on 10 more of these.  Buttttt...with so much left on the menu for the day, we had to press onJ

Next up, Izzy & I headed over to ride the "Beast," the 45 mile per hour speedboat that goes WHIPPING around the Hudson river....

(Scott had to hang back...he doesn't do too well with boatsJ)

But while you're flying around at top speeds (and TRYING to avoid the sprays of water being kicked up!!!!....unsuccessfully, I will say!  DO NOT ride this on a chilly day!!!J) you get spectacular views of the city....

...the greatest skyline in the world....

....and awesome views of Lady Liberty herself! 

The boat even turned around so everyone got a great shot with the statue.  It was awesome to see her so close!

After that dizzying ride, we headed downtown to a restaurant I had read about just this past week in Food Network Magazine called Whitman's.  While we waited for our main dishes, we snacked on some sweet potato & blue cheese (YUM!) fries while playing cards (yes, they had cards on the table to help pass the timeJ)

Whitman's was featured in "FNM" for its claim to fame: the "Juicy Lucy".  A burger stuffed with SOO much cheese that it comes with a warning to beware of the hot dripping center....

Oh yeah, and it was really tasty tooJ  But alas, I just had a bite as I had my eye on my OWN interesting choice on the menu.  Are you ready?????

A Peanut butter & bacon burger!

I know, I KNOW....you can be skeptical all you want, but I'm telling you one bite would change your mind!  Savory, creamy peanut butter against the charred burger & finished off with the crispy, salty bacon.  Oh my...it was just DELICIOUS!  Sometimes it's the simplest, silly thingsJ  I love that someone probably just said "hey, I like all of those things!  Let's throw em together" J  It works, folks!  It worksJ

Next we took the longer than expected walk for a dessert 'path' recommended by a friendJ  First up was Francois Payard's bakery on West Houston Street....

Everything in this joint, from cookies to macaroons, looked impeccable so it was tough to narrow down our choices!   But finally I went with the Fleur de sel filled eclair...

...and when I say FILLED, I MEAN FILLED!!!  This thing was BURSTING at the seams with the buttery, savory goodnessJ

Izzy had tried out the Mexican vanilla bean ice cream sandwiched between 2 BROWNIES...yeah, it was as good as it sounds!

And finally, nearly everyone's favorite was Scott's Milk Chocolate Espresso Le Gâteau Roulé (yes, I had to look that upJ)

I usually think cakes like this tend to be dry & dense, but this one was super moist from all of the layers of smooth & silky ganache swirled in.  Oh man...SPOT ON!

And finally, our last spot (HEY! Finishing 6th grade requires three two desserts!) we headed down to ANOTHER place my friend had recommended.  Popbar sells terribly expensive gelato on a stick in a bunch of yummy flavors...

...and then the fun part: You get to dip them in either milk, dark or white chocolate AND then a variety of toppings.  Cool, right??

They were heartbreaking enough not serving coconut gelato yesterday (tears), so I had to settle for a banana bar dipped in milk chocolate & rolled in coconut.  1/2 of this baby was more than enough for me, these things were SUPER rich!!!  But the place is ultra modern & I loved the concept...so yeah, Popbar!

After that, it was a little more strolling...and maybe one more stop for a "take home treat" from Sweet Revenge....J

...and then it was time to head home, complete with a bit of a sunburn thanks to the nearly cloudless day!  Hope you guys enjoyed our recap as much as we enjoyed our dayJ

I'll save all of my "Monday Motivation" stuff to share with you tomorrow along with our "Monday Salads"...until then, have a great day!

Around the table....

So I had a PRIMO lunch yesterday afternoon that I could not WAIT to tell you guys about!  It was one of those meals where the words "I. Am. Happy" came out of my mouth about 15 timesJ  (always a good sign, right??)  This delectable lunch was courtesy of Molto Bene in Hightstown, and since their menu was so tempting, my friends & I decided to once again pick a bunch of items and share em around the table.  Here were my picks from "least" to favorite....

Oh, poor spinach salad with farro and ricotta salata, you were lovely...but honestly, you just had some tough competition.  I apologize for being the sole dish that wasn't scraped darn near clean...J

Next up was my 'pick':  the polenta fries with mozzarella cream.  Mmmmmmmm....crispy on the outside and super creamy on the inside, if you've never had them: try em!  They're so unique!

OK, and between the last two items, it was a TOUGHHHH call because BOTH of them were SOOOOO good!!!!!!!  But I must give '2nd place' to this pancetta, chianti soaked pear & balsamic glaze pizza... 

Oh man...I wasn't too sure about this one, but one bite and I was dying!  Soooooo good!  Charred, chewy crust with sweet Chianti pears, salty pancetta and smoooooth cheese...TO. DIE. FOR! 

But, I must say, the one item I was MOST excited to try and TOTALLY lived up to the hype was the 'meat & cheese tray'.... 

Joy....pure joy!!!!  And what put me over the top???  The little cups of HONEY and Italian marmalade.  OHHHHHH Holy sweet & salty heaven!

So EVERY bit of my prosciutto & fontina, arugula & honey on flatbread....

...and mortadella with parmigiana, arugula and jam were met with sighs of happiness & smiles!

I can't wait to try a whole new round of completely DIFFERENT items Next time we visit....they have so much good stuff!!!!!

So if you want to kick back, lounge around for nearly 3 hours and have a great meal to boot like this little guy....

...go enjoy Molto Bene!  You won't regret itJ

Friday night was spent at a luau at a friend's house.  I'm hoping she sends me some pictures because her & her family treated us WAY too good!!!!  Aloha!

As for tonight, it was spent having a grilled pizza party on the back porch with our niece....

...and I'm now listening to various rounds of Wii party being playedJ  We have some SUPER fun "surprise" plans for my niece tomorrow...and it should be some good reading for you guys too!  Stay tunedJ

OK, I must run off to play some Michael Jackson dance party...have a great night & a wonderful Sunday!