Hi friends! Things have been quiet over here this week... because my real life has been hectic! The past week has been a whirlwind, between getting through the busiest time of the year for my publicist job, celebrating a friend's birthday locally in San Diego (with a private Pilates class & smoothie hangout!), then packing, getting organized, and setting off to Las Vegas for work. Last night I flew from Vegas to New Jersey, where we are in the midst of wedding busyness leading up to my brother's wedding this weekend. So, as you can imagine, there has been a lot happening in my world. BUT! Today I'm back to share one of my favorite recipes. It's a goodie! Pretty much everyone that knows me well knows about my love for pancakes. They're my favorite fancy ... [Read More]
Archives for April 2017
Chocolate Pistachio Energy Bites [gluten free]
I'm such a sucker for any kind of place where high-quality food is the focus. Farmers' markets. Gourmet food shops. Italian markets. Bakeries. I love it all. It's no secret that I love experimenting in the kitchen, and finding new foods and ingredients gives me inspiration to try new recipes... plus I just love eating food, obviously. A few weeks ago, I was walking to a Starbucks to work for awhile before meeting a friend for dinner, when I passed by a spice shop. I've seen it before when it was closed for the day, but this time it was open. Naturally, I walked in the shop and moseyed around smelling and tasting things. I wound up leaving with some goodies - all that were new to me, with the exception of local cinnamon infused honey (I pretty much buy that whenever I see ... [Read More]
Weekend Getaway to Idyllwild: Where to Stay, Play & Explore
Last weekend, my husband and I decided to seize the holiday weekend and take a quick road trip together. We both have been super busy and have travel coming up, so we welcomed the thought of getting to spend time together in a relaxing setting. Having done so many road trips around California, I started looking for a place we'd never been to before. I wound up finding a place we had never even heard of called Idyllwild. Located a few hours from busy San Diego life, Idyllwild is a little town nestled in the mountains with a population of under 4,000 people. It sounded like the perfect getaway spot! Where to Stay. After doing some research, I booked us a suite at The Grand Idyllwild Lodge. Described as the boutique luxury lodge, the hotel has a modern but woodsy kind of feel to ... [Read More]
Pasta Shells with Easy Arugula Cherry Tomato Sauce [vegan]
Sometimes keeping it simple is the best. Every Easter when I was growing up - and really, almost every other holiday - my family would go over to my grandma's for a big family get together. I've talked about my amazing grandma before, but she loved to cook for everyone - and she pretty much always overdid it with how much food she made. There would be a ridiculous amount of dishes for everyone to enjoy. From a giant antipasto salad and homemade breads, to a gigantic spread for the main course, to probably half a dozen desserts, complete with her annual bunny-shaped Easter cake, my grandma always spent days preparing. She also always made me eggplant parmigiana because I loved it (and later on, I developed an allergy to it, probably from eating it too much!). One type ... [Read More]
Striving for a Healthier Lifestyle? Surround Yourself with Healthy People
It's been said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. While we often think about healthy living as largely a sum of eating habits and activity level, sometimes we tend to forget about the importance of mental health and surrounding ourselves with healthy, positive people to help us lead healthier lives ourselves. When I was a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to become a health coach, we talked a lot about what we refer to as 'primary food' - the things that feed you that aren't food, like relationships, career, physical activity and a social life. Relationships are such a big aspect of health, and they have the power to bring us up or hold us down throughout our lives in such significant ways. I got to thinking about this topic ... [Read More]
PB & J Banana Muffins {vegan + gf}
As with most food bloggers & writers, I love to bake and cook for loved ones. Whenever we have guests in town, I enjoy feeding them well. A lot of the time when I meet up with girlfriends, I'll bring them some of my latest kitchen creations to try. I show my love for people by making them nutritious, delicious food. When I stay at my parents' house in Jersey, it's fun to make snacks, dinners, and desserts for everyone to enjoy. A few weeks ago when I was there, I was a little off of my Chef Nicole game because I was under the weather, but I still whipped up some yummy recipes for them. One night I made creamy spring veggie & asparagus puree soup for dinner, because I knew my mom would dig it (She did!). I also made my most recently published Shape recipe, blueberry banana Greek ... [Read More]