Good old St. Paddy's Day is tomorrow, and while I didn't make any Irish soda bread last weekend or have a blast celebrating at any parades, I wanted to share a green recipe in honor of the holiday. My heritage is part Irish, and I have lots of St. Paddy's Day memories: my family getting together at my grandma's house (who was Italian, but loved any excuse to celebrate!) for corned beef & cabbage (hold the corned beef for me), potatoes and Irish soda bread; and day drinking at many Irish parades in Jersey as a college kid. I kind of would like to be wearing green shamrock stickers on my face and day drinking with my girlfriends right about now actually, but any who... here's a fun little holiday tidbit: The color green being associated with Ireland dates back to at least ... [Read More]
Archives for March 2015
Hiking to Wind Caves at Gaviota State Park {Santa Barbara Area}
Happy almost weekend! What's the weather looking like where you live this weekend? I know that some of the U.S. is seemingly getting out of its polar vortex for the season, so I hope that all you who have been cooped up inside for awhile have time to enjoy some more mild temperatures. In San Diego it's supposed to be pretty hot and sunny - in the mid to high 80s all weekend - so I'm going to try to soak up the sunshine outside as much as I can! Speaking of being outdoors, today I'm talking about my favorite outdoor workout: hiking - more specifically, hiking to wind caves in California's Gaviota State Park. This outdoor workout was part of my getaway with my hubby a couple of weeks ago. First I told you guys all about the Danish town of Solvang that we stayed in, as well as our ... [Read More]
5 Tips to Avoid Overeating + MealEnders Giveaway!
Portion control is so important when it comes to eating healthily. You can be consuming all nutritious, delicious food, but if you're eating too much of it, it's going to throw your body off. Besides having an achy stomach, feeling lethargic, and not being able to trim down (if that's your goal), it can even make your brain feel foggy if you overdo it with your portions. I think it's safe to say that we've all been there in having that uncomfortable feeling in your gut when you've eaten too much. I love to enjoy great food, but I also hate that stuffed feeling that makes me feel uncomfortably full. Like with most things, I think it's all about balance and moderation. Because of all of this, I make sure to pay close attention to not only what I'm eating, but how much I'm putting ... [Read More]
Cinnamon Almond Butter Date Truffles
Hey friends! Hope that you had a fabulous weekend. A highlight of my last few days included meeting up with my friend Trish and her little pup for a hiking doggie date.... Temperatures were in the 80s on Saturday, but it didn't feel too hot because it was nice and breezy. Harley wasn't slowed down by the warm weather and was her usual maniac, super friendly self. Another fun thing I did over the weekend was volunteer with a group called CropSwap. The organization is dedicated to harvesting produce from farms, which would have otherwise gone to waste, and getting it to people who can't afford to buy fresh fruit and veggies. As a health coach whose passionate about the importance of nutrition and eating a healthy diet full of whole foods, I wanted to get involved because I ... [Read More]
Wine Tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley
Happy Friday friends! Since the weekend is almost here, I thought that today I'd talk about one of my favorite weekend activities: wine tasting. Besides just loving to try new wines and compare and contrast different varietals and vintages, I enjoy visiting wineries because I like to hear firsthand the stories behind the wineries and their products. There tends to be so much passion put into winemaking, and I love hearing about it. I also am in love with the beauty that typically surrounds wine country. This love affair first started when I studied abroad in Italy in college, met a local restaurant owner who offered to take two of my friends and me on a winery tour, and spent a day in the Italian countryside sipping wine with winery owners who spit their wine out in a seemingly ... [Read More]
Healthy Foods I Eat (Almost) Daily
Being the food lover that I am, I get excited to try new recipes that sound delicious to me, experiment in the kitchen or dine out at a new eatery. While this blog perhaps should have been named something to do with being a picky foodie due to my propensity to eat mostly high-quality, healthy foods and never eat anything that once had a mother, I am most definitely a girl who loves to eat good food. Just saying! ;-) Although I like to get creative with my meals and try new foods and dishes, I definitely also have some favorite foods and go-to meals that I eat nearly every day. These are foods that I keep in my house all the time and feel like my kitchen is incomplete without. I thought I'd share the list with you guys, so here we go! An apple a day keeps the doctor ... [Read More]