An Easter wrap-up...

Morning, everyone!  Hope you had a BEAUTIFUL weekend.  I have to say ours was pretty awesome from start to finish, starting with a totally impromptu first trip to the beach this season...

I couldn't even handle the bright blue skies without a trip to see that beautiful blue water for one more day.  There was still a cold chill in the air, but who even cares?  Not these kids, that's for sure...

Sandwiched in the middle of the weekend was some Easter fun at Nona's house, where 1st Easter treats were eaten...

...and traditional Pastia was made.  98% made by Katie, which was pretty awesome to say the least.

...and of course rounding out the weekend was hunting for eggs (at, ahem, before 7am👀  That even beat Christmas morning!)...

...treat sampling...

...church going...

...and spending most of the rest of the day wrangling the kids in the yard since it was a warrrrrrrmmmm, high 80's Easter in NJ this year...

...and eating.  Oh gosh and EATING.  So much so that I barely want to talk about food this morning...buttttt we must press on.

Weekly recap:

Monday:   Sheet pan Sausage & Peppers with Parmesan Garlic Cauliflower Rice 

  

More 'real life' vs awesome Internet photographer pictures comin at ya😉  And don't let my sub par photo stop you!  This dish was absolutely PHENOMENAL.  Not to mention, SUPER HEALTHY, EASY AND PHENOMENAL.  What a great combo.  

Tuesday:  Kale Chopped salad with Maple-Almond Vinegarette

  

Hahahahaha...I can't EVEN with that 'comparison photo', or LACK there of in the comparison department😉  But again, don't let that stop you from making this recipe.  We've made it a zillion times and it never fails to impress.

Wednesday:  BBQ mini meatloaves + lightly glazed roasted carrots

I didn't even get a photo of this meal given that, after wrangling 2 kids to see the Easter bunny and some playtime at the mall, we got home and made dinner and ate like starving zombies😉

Thursday:  Dinner at Chickie & Pete's

Another photo I completely forgot about, as I got swept up chatting with my fabulous cousin.  We, of course, split some of their famous fries and I spied a new menu item that I loveeeed:  Caesar salad with meatballs!  I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeee meatballs (and pizza crust!) with salad...so this was RIGHT up my alley, and quite delicious!  We also split an order of ricotta donuts, because FUN.

Friday:  Nachos + Salad + 1/2 bacon cheeseburger at Frankie's Bar & Grill 

So not only was the blue water calling me to head East on Friday, but also the prospect of visiting one of our VERYFAVORITERESTAURANTS down Point Pleasant.  We found this place a few years ago when a beach picnic plan was foiled by a rainstorm and we got drawn to this place from the INSANE aroma of charcoal grill being shared throughout the town😉  I have a sweet affinity for 'set plans' that change to be even more memorable and this night will always be one of my favorite "beach memories."

And on top of that, the food and the atmosphere of this place is always just kinda shore perfect.  Sorta loud, sorta cozy and ALL sorts of delicious.  We didn't want to go TOO crazy, so we went about splitting their nachos and their salad (even this SIMPLE SALAD is just SOOOOGOOD!)

 

...and we also split a bacon cheeseburger.

Not NORMAL "Good Friday/Lent" fair...but I kinda resided this year to the fact that there are a lot worse things I can do in life than eat meat on a Friday during Lent.  But who knows?  Maybe next year I'll want to observe, but this year I felt like it was OK to realize it's not THEMOSTIMPORTANT thing I could do for the world during Lent.  

I don't know.  Maybe I'm just explaining my Catholic-guilt away😉

ANYWAY...

We also had to make our inaugural trip to Hoffman's of the season...

...where Katie got into the fact that she & I could get 2 different flavors of ice cream and we could swap and share😉  

Sharing to get to try more??  That's my girl!

Saturday:  MORE Sausage & peppers with cauliflower rice

YEP.  THAT'S how much we loveeeeeeeed this dish!  So nice, we had it TWICE.

Sunday:  EASTER

Which was not just ONE course of homemade ravioli, meatballs, salad & fresh bread...

(here's Katie & Lils making the ravioli since I didn't get a picture of them at the table!)

...but a SECOND course of ALL this deliciousness...

A fun combo of efforts of my Mom & Mother-in-Law's traditional Easter dishes.  VERYYYYYYYY delicious!

I also held off allllll day from eating any treats to save room for dessert, but had a few bites too many (of rice pudding, pound cake with strawberries & chocolate cream pie...yum) and felt STUFFED by the end of the night.  Not surprising since everything was just plain DELICIOUS.  But definitely ready to jump back into a SUPER healthy day today!  Weeeeeeeeeeeee.  Thankfully I had gotten my 'healthy lunch food prep' done on Saturday, so we're all set for a strong week ahead.

Andddddd the exercise to wrap it all up:

Monday:   Jillian Michael's Yoga Slimdown-Level 2

Tuesday:  Taught Vinyasa yoga + 2 mile Walk  with mixed weights

Wednesday:  Taught gentle (my hip hurt this day, so I took a rest)

Thursday:  Taught Hatha + 5K Walk

I did the walk when I came home from dinner.  I was tired when we were leavin the restaurant and as I was walking in the door, realized that I had enough energy to bang something out and this particular workout was calling my name.  Felt sooooooooo good that I got that done, even when I thought I was too tired!

Friday:  Dance + weights + planks

Saturday:  Taught Hatha + an insannnnnnne amount of running around😉

Sunday:  Body slimming yoga

Had to laugh that on a rare Sunday that I had off from yoga, I STILL found myself doing it😉  This was just the one that was callin out to me.

LOTS of WORDS.  TOO many words from me, I'm sure.  So have a great week!!

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As always...thanks for reading! 

Memorial Day Weekend Recap...

Kicking off the summer with...

Strawberry-basil chicken burgers...

For real...

Strawberry pickin'...

Girl's nights/mini-baby showers, which led to Katie's favorite gift:  ALL THE TISSUE PAPER...

(this went on for an hour)

Family weddings...<3 p="">

Parade watching... 

A too-tired to cook Memorial Day trip to The Pour House for good ole short rib cheese fries & pork nachos... 

...and a "Sweet Cheese" burgers (topped with blue cheese, cheddar & maple-mustard) ...

...and of course, ICE CREAM...

...as only the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop (now in Philadelphia) can do, with an "American Gangster" (vanilla cone coated in chocolate covered pretzels & a chocolate dip + dulce de leche)... 

In short:  I'm exhausted & ready for a salad.  Hope you guys had a fabulous long weekend and are set for the week ahead.  Have a good Tuesday!

Images of Easter...

Morning, all!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend.  Ours was great...even if I think I'm going to sleep till ThursdayJ  Here's a peek at our weekend...

Guzzeling water as I type thisJ  Back to no treats today.  Have a good Monday!J

Mission: Pastry...

Thursday Recap:

Breakfast- 2 Cracker Barrel Pancakes + 2 turkey sausages + fruit cup

I'm not really quite sure how, in the 9,000 times my Mom & I have went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast in the last few years, that I have never gotten ONE picture of their pancakesJ  NOT ONE!  (maybe because, like yesterday, I left my phone in the carJ)  But they are seriously some of my all-time favs, since they are a bit 'funnel cake-esq' with their crispy edges.  I added the turkey sausage & fruit cup for extra satiety since I knew we had a busy afternoon and I didn't want to have another EXHAUSTION REPEAT of TUESDAY....ekkkkk!

And busy turned into EXCEPTIONALLY busy, when we all headed to the Best Dressed for Less kids consignment sale.  My Mom & I have been going to the twice (now three) time yearly event since right before Katie was born and LOVE getting name brand finds for 3,4 or 5 dollars.  Can't beat that for kid's clothes that they usually wear only a few times.  The only problem?  It was opening day and we were FAR from the only people at the sale and the line stretched THE ENTIRE LENGTH of this building by the time we were ready to check-out at 12pm...

THANK GOD for my Mom & her best friend, who waited in line while I kept Katie busy and had to sit myself down quite a few times in the near TWO HOURS they were in line!  (We've NEVER been there when it was THAT busy!)  I still can't understand the logic that I can exercise with not too many problems but STANDING IN ONE PLACE makes me feel dizzy and exhausted...???  Pregnancy is WEIRD.

So anyways, thanks to that big breakfast, we were at least held over during that epic shopping trip and for the rest of the afternoon as well.  And when dinner time rolled around, I was SO VERY GRATEFUL to have a quick, back-up meal waiting in my fridge...

Dinner- 2 Mafalda manicotti & meat sauce + salad 

Soup was on the menu for last night and these were on tap for Saturday, but they got bumped WAY up when I just DID NOT feel like cooking last night.  THANK YOU to my Tizzi Roe who shared these with my Mom and then shared them on with us!J  YOU SAVED DINNER!  And these were just so divine.  Paper-thin crepes stuffed with ricotta.  I had made the quick meat sauce (cause I was TOO LAZY TO MAKE MEATBALLS!) to make em extra filling, but honestly, they were really filling on their own.

We even had a happy camper at dinner last night...which has been a rare occurrence around these parts.  She's just not much of a dinner person (but is currently eating chickpeas for breakfast as I type thisJ), but she happily housed some manicotti, meat sauce (which SHE thought were meatballs) and a TON of salad.  Hallelujh!

And then,of course, the crown jewel of the evening came from a special trip here... 

I still say Nino's Pastry Shop in Hamilton, NJ has THE best cannolis I've ever eaten, but yesterday we were on a mission for something else....

MISSION:  ST. JOSEPH'S DAY PASTRY! 

Leave it to us Italians to make one of the most DIVINE pastries as part of a Saint day observationJ  The week of March 19th is SERIOUS business at bakeries around the north East, cranking these light as air pastries filled with custard out all the day long.  They were so in demand, in fact, that the custard ones were being pulled OUT of the fryer and into eager shoppers hands, since they couldn't make them fast enough to meet the demands of the hungry massesJ

We split the cannoli-filled (with their indescribably perfect cannoli cream) and one traditional custard and savored all the goodness....and a tip of the cap to St. Joseph, of courseJ

Now to go about my day making healthy choices after typing about pastriesJ  This should be easy...not at allJ

And, to much of Jersey's dismay, we woke up to an overcast morning after a BRIGHT but chilly Thursday.  I just let Penny out in the backyard and said "ohhhh...it smells like snow."  We'll see what Mother Nature has in store for us...and hopefully it's a tease to warmer days ahead.  Easter dresses are on the forecast soon, Momma Nature, so ya might wanna get your stuff together.  Just sayinJ

Have a great weekend, everyone!J

Lesser of many evils...

Tuesday (St. Patty's DayJ) Recap:

Breakfast:  Healthy Shamrock Shake Smoothie

Complete with banana, spinach, chocolate chips, a DASH of peppermint extract, water, coconut milk & protein powder.  I made this early in the morning and thought it would keep me full for a bit, but since I had a few errands to run, I grabbed one of these on the way out the door...

Bought these in bulk at BJ's Wholesale and am loving how CLEAN these taste, compared with other granola brands.  Only problem was even this granola bar held me over for .2 seconds while shopping and running errands, and half way through Target, my feet were DRAGGING.  Literally:  DRAGGING.  So as soon as I could, I hightailed it to the closest mall for some lunch.

Lunch:  Chicken Quesadilla 

I figured this grilled chicken + cheese combo was the lesser of MANY evils in the mall food courtJ  Me & Katie split the 'dilla, while I tried not to steal too many of her chips & guacamoleJ 

This kept me full and mostly energized for the rest of the afternoon.  It was a good thing since after running errands, Katie had an EPIC play afternoon with her cousins, complete with a tea party & many an application of lip gloss (chap stickJ).  The kids played for so long, in fact, that I had to text Scott to start getting dinner readyJ  

Dinner:  Irish Nachos

I mean, why NOT use St. Patty's day as an excuse to have seasoned, oven-baked potato slices topped with melted cheese, bacon crumbles and green onions and call it dinner?

I DID get a "I didn't know that's all we were having" from Scott...but I think he enjoyed em enough in the endJ  A side salad woulda been a good idea too....if I didn't think of it about 2 seconds before we were about to sit down and eatJ 

Dessert:  Irish Potatoes 

Fun sharing these with Katie yesterday, and at only 50 calories a pop, not TOO bad of a celebratory dessertJ  And, ya know:  CoconutJ

And not too long after I polished off the last potato for the night, the DAY-LONG fatigue that started around 11am and never REALLY left me, caught up when I finally hit the couch around 7:30.  And when Scott noticed me fighting to keep my eyes open by 8:00, he suggested I just hit the sack and I obliged GLADLY.  My body wouldn't have let me workout yesterday even if it wanted too.  I was just too beat and was out like a light by 8:30.     ....while I'm assuming MANY a folk didn't even start partying yetJ hahahahahahaha

Anyway, here's hoping I feel more refreshed today, especially since I'm DYING to get to my power yoga class this morning.  Off to making a filling breakfast to get me through!

Have a great Wednesday!J