Ari's Menu

Little changes making a big difference.


Easy and Delicious

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Last night I had big plans of all sorts of recipes I wanted to try for dinner, but by the time evening rolled around I was super exhausted. I decided to just put some things together and hope it worked out. After scanning the house, I picked a package of frozen butternut squash ravioli and a bag of kale and decided we were having ravioli and kale chips. I drizzled the kale with about 1 tbs of olive oil, sprayed some fakey no calorie cooking spray (yeah, I’m classy) added freshly ground salt and garlic pepper, and some sriracha and baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about kale chips and they totally delivered! Yummmm. Salty/crunchy craving satisfied!

To dress the raviolis, after cooking and draining

I added about 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 tbs goat cheese, and 1/2 tsp fig butter. I figured it could go a million different ways, but I love all of those things separately so I would probably love them together.

It was the perfect easy and delicious dinner. Oh my gosh, it was so so delicious. I would make it again and again and again! We ate our dinner on the couch watching the end of Project Runway and then starting to watch Bride’smaids. While we were watching, this happened

Winston seriously laid on top of Clementine like that for a good 10 minutes as if he had conquered her. He didn’t want to let her up, but after being content laying underneath him for a while, she got squirmy and wiggled her way out. I love these crazy puppies.

Everything Oatmeal Cookies

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Ok, here (finally) are the cookies I’ve been promising since my rest day turned into baking day!

 

Everything Oatmeal Cookies

yield a whole bunch, like 60+

  • 2 large over ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
  • 1/4 cup Splenda
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp coconut extract
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
  • 2 cups Koala Crisp (or other puffed rice cereal)
  • 1 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup shredded coconut (I used sweetened–feel free to be healthier than me and use unsweetened)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened dried cherries

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375

2) In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda.

3) In a large bowl, beat together banana, sugars, egg whites, and extracts.

4) Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix until combined.

5) Gently fold in cereal, chocolate chips, coconut and cherries.

6) Bake for 9-11 minutes until slightly golden and just barely set.

7) Let sit for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!!!

Rest Day

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Today I woke up and had no idea what to do with myself. I never take a rest day on a Thursday. No run. No spin. Derrrrrr….what do I doooo? I decided to try to get some use out of my free morning and started out by making some oatmeal. Steve was at work and I wanted pretty pictures, so I took out his fancy shnazzy camera to document 🙂

I always chuckle when I cook my oatmeal in the Paula Dean butter warmer. Irony. What would oatmeal be without nut butter on top?!

Are you ready for the best part? Okay, let me preface with the fact that I really do not drink a lot of soda. I used to live off of it–no water, only soda, then gave it up completely, then reintroduced it occasionally, drank too much again and now I am back to every once in a while. Well Michelle came home last night with one of my favorite things in life–diet cream soda! Yes, I drank one at breakfast, I have no shame!

Yummmm. Breakfast of champions.

Winston and Clementine also enjoyed their own breakfast of champions.

“Moooommmm, stop staring at me and let me eat my breakfast! All those clicks you’re making are really ruining my moment here”

“Also, I’m long and cute. Jealous?”

After breakfast, I decided that if my morning wasn’t going to revolve around my work out, then obviously it had to revolve around food. Confession: I LOVE grocery shopping. It can (and this morning DID) take me up to 2 hours. I’m a freak. We’ve acknowledged this. Let’s move on. I will go to multiple stores and browse and read labels and look for neat new things I’ve never seen before. I love actually having the time to not have to rush through it every once in a while. Today was TJ’s and Fry’s.

I also got a hot coffee (whaaaatttt? It’s still almost 100 degrees here, but I wanted it!) on the way home. It was almost free, but then it wasn’t. I prefer it when it is free ( 😉 )

“Look I cost money, therefore I am less cool. But I have steamed soy milk, therefore I am awesome.” Yes, my coffee speaks, doesn’t yours?


It appears I may have a small pumpkin and fig problem…

I spent the rest of my time before work baking some pretty amazing cookies, but you will have to wait until tomorrow for them because it is 10pm, I barely got home 30 minutes ago, I’m beat and have to be up early to run 6 miles tomorrow. Yikes. I’m scared. But excited. Stay tuned for a post tomorrow I’m super excited about! 🙂

 

PS: LOOOOOK!!! I can take pretty pictures too! I took all of these myself!

The Return of Fajita Wednesday!

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It feels like forever since Steve and I had Fajita Wednesday! This afternoon when I noticed the meat thawing in the sink, I got so excited! As I was driving home from work I was so hungry I kind of wanted to start chewing on my limbs, but walked in the door to the smell of delicious fajitas!! One of the best things in life–walking into a house that smells like food. In case you didn’t know, I am the luckiest girl on Earth and my hubby is always game to make (or at least go retrieve) me dinner when I work late. I love him. Tonight’s fajitas were extra special because they included TJ’s Carne Asada! I very rarely eat red meat. For a long time I would not under any circumstances, but now I just choose lean meats as a healthier alternative unless I REALLY want that red meat and let me tell you, this carne asada is WELL WORTH those extra calories! I’ve tried the pollo asada and it’s good, don’t get me wrong, but it isn’t the same.

As Steve finished up the cooking, I added some romaine, cilantro, fat free sour cream (yes, I DO eat sour cream and not just plain yogurt AND I use the fake full of additives fat free sour cream and I like it), and salsa to my bowl, topped it with the cooked veggies and carne and then added some red fat cheddar cheese on top. So amazingly delicious.

He cooks and takes amazing photography, and sometimes does my laundry and he can fix anything and is the BEST home DIYer. He’s PERFECT! Oh and he’s BUFF! Added bonus 😉

Off to watch some Top Chef and ice my achilles!

So Much Coffee

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Every time I wake up early, Winston stays in bed and stares at me with the saddest longing eyes like he’s saying “Mom, please don’t go. Come back to bed and snuggle with me.” Yes, I legitimately cuddle with my dog in bed. You are free to judge me. It won’t stop me. I got up at 5:45 to meet Kara for an early morning run around the lake. I love this route. Each lap is almost exactly a mile, slight hills, adventurous travels through the apt complex, nice scenery and of course, the ducks!

This time we must have encountered them 3 or 4 different times and each time they angrily quacked at us like they were pissed that we were interrupting their important waddle time. Those ducks crack me up. We finished 3 miles with a 9:55 average pace. Whoot.

Mile 1: 10:45

Mile 2: 9:50

Mile 3: 9:13

Talk about negative splits! My first mile is always soooo slow. It’s like it takes my body the entire mile to get warmed up and ready to actually run. I need to work on that my next week day run. Tomorrow is a rest day because Friday we are running 6 miles!! Every long run makes me equally nervous and excited. New challenges, new accomplishments! After our run, we headed to Starbucks for water and iced coffee. I got my usual: Grande SF caramel iced coffee with soy, light ice (light ice=MORE room for coffee!) I also ordered Steve a coffee to take back to him, but then I got home and this happened

Second time in a week I’ve tried to surprise him with coffee and he had the EXACT same idea. Ironically there were no days in between where either of us got each other coffee. Steve laughed and said “We need to coordinate or something.” I don’t know, looks like we’re pretty in sync to me! Two iced coffees hanging out in my fridge, soon to become one 🙂

After our I showered and got ready, I met the other Kara (hair Kara) at Forever 21 for some shopping. The new-ish one in AZ Mills is HUGE and I’d been wanting to go. I got a pair of shorts that are about 10 years too young for me, a super cute emerald green shirt that I didn’t even try on because I loved the color so much annnnnnd, the most exciting part, an ALADDIN SWEATSHIRT!!!!! I saw it and new I had to have it since we open on Friday (get your tickets, peeps–these kiddos are amazing!) I will take pictures of the new clothes (including my super awesome pumpkin shirt I bought at Target for $10 to be festive) once I have Steve around to take actually good pictures.

After shopping I had to make a super annoying trip to the tmobile store because my battery full on died–like unable to be brought back to life died. Soon my over heating phone will kill this battery as well and then MAYBE they will give me a new phone that actually works. By the time I got home I was soooo hungry and wanting the fastest lunch possible, so I took out this frozen pizza I bought at TJs a while ago.

I jazzed it up with some crumbled red fat feta cheese and sriracha on top, but I was so hungry I didn’t want to wait for the oven to preheat. My oven seriously takes years. It’s annoying. So I set it to burn broil and cut the cooking time almost in half. Well the burn button did it’s thing and I ended up with a pizza that was cold in the middle and burnt on the outside. I’m an awesome cook, can’t you tell?

Well, like I said, I was ready to gnaw my left arm off hungry, so I put it in the microwave for 40 seconds and then ate it anyway. It was not great my friends, but not awful. It did the trick. I would buy it again for an easy meal, but even cooked correctly, I don’t think it would have been anything too fantastic. Alright, off to get some life errands done that I’ve been neglecting, then off to work. Have a good day everyone!

Impatient Salad Making

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You know what I hate most about making salads? Putting away ingredients! I always complain to Steve about how I hate putting everything away at the end and he looks at me like I’m lazy and ridiculous, but seriously! When I start taking everything out, it’s exciting–Oooohhh I could add this and this and THIS! Then the chopping is semi therapeutic–that or I’m a freak, well I am a freak, but not sure that is the main reason 😉 Anyway, by the end when my salad is looking delicious and my stomach is growling in anticipation, I always get so annoyed that I have put a million and one ingredients away before I can eat. Boo. Today I was especially sad to put away the ingredients from this salad

 

Romain, tomato, cucumber, low fat cottage cheese, reduced fat feta cheese, red bell pepper, carrots, cilantro, black bean burger, and salsa. So many things to put back in the fridge after! But totally delicious and worth it. This may sound like the silliest thing ever, but I am a messy person who hates mess and loves salads. This is my life.

I started my day with Linda’s spin class! Linda is prob my favorite of all the gym teachers. This woman just ran a freaking marathon on Sunday and was here today kicking ass on the bike with us. She pushes me, she inspires me, and I want to be like her. Today was challenging, as always, buuuuuuut—I upped my flat road to gear 10!!! Whoot! I was so excited about it–double digits! She said there is one man who’s flat road is gear 14! Well, not that I’m competitive or anything, but obviously, I have to get to 15.


In other news, I am determined to recreate my own sugary kids cereals the healthy way. Any ideas where I can find some base recipes? Especially Lucky Charms! I spent a while looking today with no luck, but when I added a few marshmallow (yes, dad–the Kosher kind!) to my left over Koala Crispies, I knew I had to conquer one of my favorite bad for me foods in the world–cereal! Hopefully coming soon!

I’m off to watch some Biggest Loser and then get some rest! I have an early run with Kara in the am!

Technology Fail

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Hi friends, happy Monday! Today is actually pretty fantastic because I thought I didn’t have to work until 2:40, but then I realized I don’t have to work until 5:30! Hooray!! I got up nice and early to start my run at about 6:15, but I had forgotten to charge my phone which meant I would have no music, so I stuck it on the charger, caught up on some blog reading for half an hour and then figured it should be ready. It was, but my Garmin which I had charged yesterday stilllll said low battery >:(

Uggghhh so frustrating. I tried to put it back on for a few minutes, but it was no use. I stared at it dumb founded for a good minute. Derrrrrr. What do I do now? I live in the 21st century and don’t know what to do with out fancy gadgets. Then I had a stroke of genius remembered that I actually am an intelligent human being and that I did actually run a few times before I got good ole Garmie. I remembered the 3 mile route I had been taking around my hood and set out feeling naked with no Garmin to keep track of my time or distance. It was hard to push myself at the end with out it, but I still covered a little over 3 miles in about 30 minutes. It was a good run, I just hate not knowing exactly, you know?

I came home and made the most delicious breakfast sandwich ever. I toasted a sandwich thin, spread 1 tbs almond butter on one half, and 2 tbs pumpkin and a couple drops of sugar free maple syrup on the other, then topped with lots of chia seeds and half a sliced banana. Yum

I always read blogs where they say they ate half a banana and I always wonder what happens to the other half? I tried to wrap mine back in the peel, but ended up eating the rest when I got back from Starbucks anyway haha, I spent a couple hours at Starbucks working on choreography and catching up on blogging. I still have so much more to get done, but honestly can barely find the motivation to do anything other than sit on my butt and eat. Yikes. This girl needs a vacation! Back to work on Fiddler ‘ography. Have a lovely day everyone!

Date Night: The Yard House

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With my crazy schedule, I almost started to forget what Steve looked like there for a while! Saturday my friend John Luke offered me comp tickets to go see a show with him after Aladdin tech, and as much as it would have been a great opportunity (he wanted to introduce me to a producer he works with), the idea of being at the theater all day, and then going and putting on my professional face and talking myself up seemed about as fun as shoving an ice pick in my eye to maybe not be the best choice for my mental health. Steve and I had been kind of talking about having a date, but I wasn’t sure what was going to be happening that night, so mid way through rehearsal I texted him and said “Date night!” He immediately responded asking where to which I replied “Anywhere new with beer.”

Last weekend he had gone to The Yard House with his brothers and told me they had over 100 beers on tap! I was obviously beyond jealous, so that is where he picked 🙂 Aaaaannnd the restaurant was super close to the theater so my amazing step dad ended up giving him a ride so I could meet him and only have one car. The Yard House has an upscale pub feel–you can drink beer and feel classy. Perfection. The second I sat down, I opened right to the beer page. I started with a vanilla porter that was absolutely delicious.

I tried to make it last as long as possible, but I am a fast drinker. I down my iced coffee in about 2 seconds, and when beer is delicious, it is hard for me not to just down it. Bad habit, Ari. Just before dinner arrived I ordered a blend of a chocolate stout and some fruity beer. I had high hopes.

But I did not like it AT ALL. Yuck. Gross. Icky. Boo. Luckily, Steve thought it was good.

“Look at meeee! I have two beers!” What is it with people and needing two of things? I’m not happy at home unless both of the puppies are sitting on my lap and I can pronounce “I have two puppies!” When I was little my dad would give me two desserts. One in each hand. It is seriously the best. I’m in tech week and Steve gets two beers? Boo. In gross beer’s place, I ordered a mix of the original vanilla porter with Sam Adams cherry wheat. This one was better, but honestly, I shouldn’t have messed with a good thing and I should have just stuck with what I was enjoying. I only ended up finishing about half of the second one. Trust me, I did not need any more haha.

For dinner, I ordered a roasted veggie sandwich on wheat bread with sweet potato fries.

I was sooooo hungry and it was beyond delicious. I only ate a few of the sweet potato fries, but they were so freaking good. So crispy on the outside, so soft and mushy on the inside and perfectly seasoned. Sweet potato fries are one of those eat sparingly foods that just make me so happy. I also really really love veggie sandwiches. It may not sound that exciting to you, but it’s something that I get all happy about when I see it on the menu. I’m weird.

Steve got fish. His was delicious. Mine was better 🙂

It was so amazing to get to spend some time just the two of us. I did not speak about work the entire night. After dinner, we walked around Scottsdale Fashion Square for a little bit, before heading home and being old and lame sitting on the couch and going to bed at 10pm. Perfection. I love my life long boyfriend. He makes my heart happy and my life full! Date nights are an important part of marriage or any relationship. Make them happen. You need it! 🙂

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

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Tonight is an other Starbucks birthday! In about an hour, Steve and I will be heading out to PF Chang’s to celebrate our friend Eddie’s birthday. In case you missed Kara’s and Bekki’s birthday posts, I am the resident birthday treat maker and Steve is the resident photographer amongst this group 🙂 Eddie asked for peanut butter chocolate rice krispy treats, and although I was less than excited (these are so easy!), I’m a good listener 🙂 And it ended up being nice because they were fast and I ended up really liking them. Plus they are one of the least unhealthy desserts anyway, so I didn’t have to make too many adjustments.

While I started “baking”, Steve played with his fancy new camera lens and insisted on taking pictures of me. He caught me with only one chin–that’s all it takes to make me happy in a picture 🙂

Maybe next time, he should let me shut the fridge first 😉 Anyway, onto the recipe!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

yield 25 servings

  • 10 oz marshmallows (I used organic vanilla ones from Whole Foods. They’re made with Kosher gelatin so my dad can approve! 🙂 )
  • 2 tbs Peanut Butter & Co White Chocolate Wonderful (or any pb you like really), divided 1 1/2 tbs & 1/2 tbs
  • 1 tsp vanilla nut butter flavoring
  • 6 cups chocolate brown rice cereal such as Koala Crisp
  • 1 tbs fat free half and half
  • 1/4-1/3 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Place marshmallows, vanilla nut butter and 1 1/2 tbs peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for approx 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until marshmallow and peanut butter melt together when mixed.

2) Mix in cereal 1 cup at a time.

3) Transfer into wax papered & sprayed 13×9 pan.

4) Use a sprayed  piece of wax paper to push down and evenly distribute.

5) Evenly disperse chocolate chips, pressing them in upside down.

6) Melt remaining 1/2 tbs peanut butter in the microwave.

7) Stir in 1 tbs fat free half and half and a drop of vanilla nut butter.

8 ) Spread in a thin layer on top of bars.

9) Let cool for 1 hour, cut and enjoy!

 

Notice how AMAZING Steve’s photography is getting? Look at that!

I may or may not have already sampled them…

They are delicious 🙂

Skinnified Sunday: White Chocolate Chip Lemon Blondies

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Hi friends! So I actually made these blondies on Monday after feeling like I hardly got to do any of my normal weekend cooking and had the spontaneous urge to bake, although really, when do I not want to bake? I LOVE lemon pastry. The middle layer of our wedding cake was lemon with cream cheese filling. It’s pretty much one of my favorite things on Earth. Also, I find that brownies are REALLY good with yogurt instead of oil. I almost never use real oil anyway and I never really mind, but I find it works especially well in brownies. So here’s what I started with…

White Chocolate Lemon Blondies

  • 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  • 155 grams white chocolate, chopped (reserve 30 grams)
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

My swaps:

  • Nonfat vanilla yogurt for butter (-fat, -saturated fat, -calories)
  • Grain sweetened white chocolate chips and way less of them for white chocolate (-sugar, -calories)
  • Whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose (+fiber, +protein)
  • 5 egg whites for 3 eggs (-fat, -saturated fat, -calories, -cholesterol)
  • 1/2 cup organic cane sugar + 1/3 cup Splenda for 1 cup sugar (-sugar, -calories)
  • 1 tsp coconut extract for 1 of the tsps of vanilla (+yum)

Skinnified White Chocolate Chip Lemon Blondies

yeild 20

  • 6 oz non fat vanilla yogurt
  • 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 5 egg whites
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup Splenda
  • zest of one large lemon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp coconut extract
  • 1/4-1/3 cup grain sweetened white chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) In an electric mixer, combine yogurt, egg whites, sugar, Splenda, lemon zest, and extracts.

3) Add in baking powder, salt and flour.

4) Pour into a greased 9×9 baking sheet.

5) Evenly distribute white chocolate chips on top.

6) Bake for 30 minutes, until set, but gooey.

7) Enjoy!

I cut them pretty small and they only ended up being about 50 calories a piece, so Steve and I decided two + Cool Whip and sprinkles was the perfect serving size 🙂


Whisked Away

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Wayyyyy back in June, I promised Jason what I thought would be a pretty amazing 30th birthday present–a private (ish–6-8 people) cooking class from Whisked Away. Whisked Away was started by a chef named Maggie and she has all these cool cooking classes right out of her home! So you get to cook in a real normal home kitchen–I mean it was a little fancy, but not like things you couldn’t have in your own home. It took a lot of time and energy to coordinate scheduling with 6 different people with different schedules as well as Maggie’s busy class schedule, but we finally (3.5 months later) got it together!

It actually could not have worked out more perfectly. Race in the morning, cooking class in the evening! Rehearsal in between–wah. When we walked in, there were chairs and recipe packets all set up for us. Luckily, we only sat for the first 10ish minutes–I am a doer, not a watcher and I was getting antsy! As soon as we started cooking, the class began to exceed all of my expectations. First of all, can we talk about how they let you bring wine?!

Also, they had the dinner table all set up for us. So nice!

The class we chose was titled “Elegant Dinner Party”, a 5 course meal including tomato dip, zucchini gratin, polenta souffle, stuffed tenderloin, and bread pudding. I was a little disappointed when I realized that we didn’t get to make each all of it–we each chose a course to work on. But I quickly realized how ridiculous it would have been to have 6 versions of everything! Our group included Steve, Jason, Bethany, Steve’s friend Josh and his girlfriend Ashley. I told Jason he got to choose first since it was his birthday present and of course he chose the meat, and Bethy asked to work on it with him. I quickly grabbed dessert. I know. You’re shocked, aren’t you? Steve wanted the appetizer (tomato dip) so that he could be done more quickly and photograph. Ashley chose the zucchini and Josh chose the polenta.

I was the star student and finished first, so I got to assist with the tomato dip and the polenta. I made sure to rub it in everyone’s face and Jason tried to accuse me of taking the easiest dish! I just really love dessert, okay?!

I must confess that as soon as we looked at the ingredients for all the dishes, my eye immediately went to words like heavy cream and butter. And the measurements next to them 2 cups, 12 tablespoons. I had a little bit of a mini freak out in my mind, and I wanted to say “Oh, would you mind if i went and bought some fat free half and half instead?” I don’t remember the last time I bought HEAVY CREAM. 6 months ago, I wouldn’t have eaten any of it. Not a bite. And I would have cried on the way home. Instead, I breathed, gave myself a pep talk, and let myself relax a little with a couple glasses of wine. I kept my portions small so that I wouldn’t feel guilty, and just let myself enjoy my evening. It was hard at first, but then it wasn’t. And I realized how far I’ve come in finding balance. This Sunday, I made 2 accomplishments: running a race, and eating heavy cream. What a weird sentence. I fully believe they were both equally important to my health, because healthy living begins with the mind 🙂

As we continued on in the cooking, I started talking more to our teacher Kaylyn and Andrea. Turns out they are both runners with an interest in healthy living and Kaylyn has her own work out clothing business! We talking about healthy living blogs, running, training, cooking, and life in general. I was so happy to talk to people who have run races and have similar interests! Their company was definitely an added bonus and a highlight of the evening! I can’t wait to order some of Kaylyn’s amazing positive affirmation clothing–I will need some uplifting work out gear for this half marathon training!

Look at all those people in one kitchen! Those of you who have ever been around while I’m cooking must know I had to take a deep breath not to freak out about everyone being in there at once! Haha. Well the rule is “If you’re in the kitchen, you have to be functional.” Everyone was 🙂

Doesn’t Josh look fancy in his apron? Somehow he ended up with the frilliest one with a boob outline and everything. Hot.


Pre-baked polenta souffle


Steve went to take pictures from the outside to be artsy. Obviously, I was having a blast.

Good job, Bethy and Jasy!

Bring on the meat!!!

My FAV!!! The zucchini gratin. Zucchini + goat cheese + heavy cream. How can you go wrong?

Polenta!!

Once we all finally sat down to dinner

My masterpiece!! Bread pudding with a bourbon butter sauce. Holy deliciousness.

TAAAAADDDDAAAAA!!!!!

It was seriously one of the best nights of my life and I can’t wait until the time when I can return and try again with a new menu. Until then, stay tuned for some skinnified versions!

Ari + Whole Foods = ♥

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Happy Monday everyone! Today is actually my easy day! Subbing a ballet class, teaching an acting class, and one voice lesson. I’ll take it! I actually get to see mi hermano tonight!! We’re going out to dinner. I feel like I haven’t seen him or Cindy (his mom–yes, my family is confusing.) in forever. I’m also excited because for the first time ever, we are performing together for his piano recital! We compromised by picking a song by each of our favs–Turning Tables by Adele and Paradise by Coldplay. I have no idea when we will have time to practice, but I just love creating music with him, and it’s so nice to get a chance to sing!

Last night, Steve and I went on one of my favorite errands–to Whole Foods! YAY! Did you know some things are actually super cheap at Whole Foods? Rolled oats in the bulk section for 69 cents a pound! We totally stocked up on oats for about $2. Also, whole wheat pastry flour for about $1.20 a pound. On the other hands, I might have to break up with chia seeds. $10 a lb just seems so ridiculous to me! I know they’re good for you, but are they really that beneficial nutritionally to be worth $10?! I mean if I want to add extra fiber, can’t I just use ground flaxseed meal for 1/4 the price? Thoughts?

Also not cheap, in an attempt to work on my food packing issue, I jumped back to my 19 year old self and actually bought packaged food.

Only when you’re attempting to be healthy with boxed food, it is NOT cheap. I miss the day of a box of macaroni for 99 cents. The mac and cheese cups and the noodles only require hot water and a microwave and both have decent amounts of protein. I also bought out the bar section

I really try not to do the bar thing all too often, but I hate not having an easy protein fix ready to grab when I need it, so I stocked up. Plus they were on “sale.” I hate when you get something on sale, but it is still overpriced. Oy. I can’t help it, I’m Jewish 🙂

After some wise words from the smartest person I know (my mama!) I have realized that I really just need to invest in a lunch box with some ice packs and go back to making easy to go meals for the week like I did this summer. I love my mom. She always has the smartest advice. Also, before I bugged her to read mine, I don’t think she had ever read a blog in her life and now she calls me and says “So I read on the blog…” I’m a lucky girl to have parents who support everything I do and are just wonderful 🙂

While at WF, I also picked up my fav grain sweetened chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. We were completely out, and this girl likes to spontaneously bake! And lastly, I also spent too much money on these gems

Why is it that anything with butter in the title is always delicious? Nut butter, honey butter, butter butter, pumpkin butter, fig butter. It’s never a let down. TJ’s was out of my fig butter on my last trip, and I used up the very last of my figgy goodness by making oats in a fig butter jar this weekend. Oats in a jar–not just for nut butters. It was delish. So anyway, I spent more money than I should have buying this new kind at Whole Foods. It better be spectacular!

In other news, my Garmin arrived on Friday! Whoot!! It’s pretty 🙂 So this morning I had to take it out for a little test run. I was surprised by how annoying it was at first to have it making my wrist all sweaty, but definitely worth it to track my pace. I feel like I was a little too focused on checking it out and I wish I would have focused more on actual running, but happy to see my pace average around a 10 min mile. I still have to set it up to track my pace for each mile and to pause when I stop. I stopped at the water fountain twice and stopped for a minute or so to stretch at one point. I wasn’t feeling fantastic this morning, so I kept it pretty short. I’m still trying to figure out what to eat right before I go out so that my tummy doesn’t hurt. So distracting! Plus, for some reason it just felt extra hot today. Anyway, not 100% happy with what I pulled out this morning, but it could be worse.

I’m really glad that I bought it already. I read some race recaps this morning from other blogs that were really inspirational to me and really hammered in why I want to some day run a marathon.

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