Hey everyone! Happy Memorial Day to you all! I hope everyone had a great weekend; mine was awesome and I truly had a blast, but I’m so happy to be home. There were definitely a ton of unhealthy decisions this weekend (lots of booze-drinking and fried-food-eating) and I can’t wait to get back on track.

Friday morning I headed over to Britt’s house and we hit the road at about 8 am. Traffic wasn’t too bad so we made it to the beach by around noon. Luckily our rooms were ready so we were able to get right in and unpack our stuff. Our hotel was on the bay side and we had a nice little walk-out porch. Check out the view!

Our New York friends got there before us so we quickly got changed and headed to the beach!

Hi Britt! Hi Vic!

After a few hours at the beach, we relocated to a bar called Bottle & Cork which had a really great band playing 90’s music. We ran into a ton of our friends from college at the bar and had a really great time dancing.

Later that night, my friends headed to another bar called the Rusty Rudder, where apparently my dad used to hang out in college, but Britt was feeling so hot so we stayed in. It wound up being a great decision since we had already had such a long day and still had the whole weekend ahead of us. We needed the sleep!

The next day we planned to take a bus to Seacrets with all of our friends from college! Our buses embarked for Ocean City around 10:30 am and we quickly arrived.

When we got inside it was packed and there were literally thousands of people there. I saw friends I knew from college, high school, and work. It was crazy! Seacrets is a really fun bar because it’s on the beach and there are tables in the water. It was definitely a fun day. When we got home around 6 we “napped” which turned into us all waking up at midnight and being unable to fall back asleep. This wound up being one of my favorite parts of the weekend because we just sat around chatting and watching crappy late-night TV and ordering a pizza. It was great to just be able to sit and catch up with the girls!

The next day we went to another bar on the beach and saw more friends from college. I wound up seeing these three Labradors swimming in the water near the bar, so what did I decide to? I jumped in the bay and swam with them. Like, literally, they swam to me and I was hugging them in the water. This was obviously an alcohol-induced decision and later on I realized how silly I must have looked swimming around with the dogs. Ha! Oops.

There was also a photo shoot with the Megans:

And one with me and Lauren (pre-bay frolicking):

It sure was a fun day!

This morning Megan, Lauren, and I left the beach pretty early because Megan had to work this evening. It was hard leaving the beach when the rest of my friends were staying for the day, but it was totally worth it to be able to come home and get everything organized. This afternoon I was able to clean the apartment, unpack, and do some laundry. Now I am ready to tackle the week ahead!

So, how was everyone else’s weekend? Mine was fun but definitely not relaxing at all. I need a vacation from my vacation haha!

Update on 6/1/12: My friend Catrina sent me this beautiful group picture of all of us from Sunday. Here’s the whole crew!

Bottom row from left to right: Britt, Catrina, and Emily

Middle row from left to right: Megan M, Kristen, Jess, and me

Top row from left to right: Megan C, Lauren, and Vic

Love you all!

Last night I went shopping with my friend Britt to pick up a few more items for our Memorial Day Weekend extravaganza. I know I mentioned it to you guys briefly, but allow me to give you all the full run down of details. Friday morning around 7:00 am, I will skip my morning workout in order to head over to Britt’s house (which is right by the dog park, only a mile away) where we will embark with our other friends Jess, Megan, Lauren, and Turk (nickname) to Dewey Beach, DE. There we will meet up with our New York friends, Kristen, Megan, Catrina, and Victoria. We will be there from Friday through Monday and will be hanging out on the beach with a ton of people we know from college. A lot of my coworkers will also be there, so it’s going to be a ton of fun!

Although Fabio is not coming with me on this trip (he is going up to NY for a friend’s graduation party and is taking care of Jack), he is planning to do a similar trip with his friends in July which should be a good time. It’s important to have our separate friend time after all!

Dewey Beach is located right in between Ocean City, MD and Bethany Beach, DE. Ocean City is known as more of a hangout for high school kids and Bethany is more for families. Dewey, however, is basically a bar town on the beach and we will be having fun all weekend. We will also be venturing into Ocean City on Saturday via a large bus that is taking us to Seacrets, a huge bar in the water on the bay. Can’t wait!

Seacrets, Ocean City, MD

Source

Anyway, by the time I got home from shopping with Britt, it was already 9:00 so I quickly made dinner. By the time I was done it was too late to blog, but I snapped some pictures so I could share this awesome recipe with you guys today. But, first things first….

Workout

Yesterday’s workout was another good one. I have been loving waking up early to run with Jack and then jumping into an Insanity DVD. It’s so amazing how the warm-ups kick my butt every day even though I’ve done them a million times. It is pretty much guaranteed that I will be drenched in sweat by the end, no matter what. I love it!

After Insanity I spent about 5 minutes doing some extra ab exercises (I do have to be in a bikini on Friday, after all) and then hopped in the shower to begin my day. It was a great workout, as usual!

Recipe

When I got home from shopping last night I was pooped! I wanted something quick and easy for dinner that would be filling and comforting. I looked in the cupboard to see what I was working with and I saw two sweet potatoes that I knew needed to be used soon. I looked through the recipe list I keep on my phone and saw a recipe from Kalyn’s Kitchen for twice-baked sweet potatoes with feta. I had made this recipe back in the fall and remembered loving it, so I decided to give it another go! Here’s how it came together.

First, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I washed two sweet potatoes and cut off the pointy ends. Using a fork, I poked holes all over the potatoes and microwaved them using the baked potato setting until they were soft (about 8 minutes for two).

While the potatoes were “baking,” I started getting together the filling. First I mixed feta (I used fat free), goat cheese (I used chevre), garlic, paprika, red pepper flakes, and olive oil together in a small bowl. Then I julienned (basically chopped, see video here) a few basil leaves into long strips and mixed them in with the cheese mixture.

Kalyn’s original recipe suggests letting this come together in the fridge for about an hour, but I didn’t have time so I nixed this step

Once the sweet potatoes were done cooking, I sliced them down the middle and removed the insides to a separate bowl. Be careful, they are hot!

Then I took ¾ of the cheese mixture and mixed it up with the insides of the sweet potato until everything was well combined. I then put the cheesy insides back into the potato skins.

Then I divided the remaining cheese and sprinkled it on top of the potatoes.

Then I baked the potatoes for about 10 minutes until the cheese started to get bubbly.

I served these potatoes with a small piece of grilled chicken and some asparagus.

Yum! This weeknight meal was so easy and delicious! I loved the flavor of the sweet potatoes with the salty, garlicy, cheese. You must try this!

Sweet Potatoes Stuffed With Feta, Goat Cheese, & Basil (Adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen)

Serves two

Ingredients

2 small sweet potatoes or yams
1 oz. of crumbled feta (fat free)
1 oz. of crumbled goat cheese (could omit and double the feta)
1/2 tsp. finely minced garlic
¼ tsp. paprika
1 pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp. olive oil
6-7 fresh basil leaves, julienned

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash potatoes and cut off pointy ends, if desired. Poke all over with a fork. Microwave on baked potato setting, or for about 4 minutes per potato, until a fork enters potatoes easily.
While potatoes are cooking, mix together feta, goat cheese, garlic, paprika, red pepper flakes, and olive oil in a separate bowl. Julienne basil leaves and add them to the cheese mixture. Stir to combine.
When potatoes are cooked, slice in half and use a spoon to remove sweet potato insides to a separate bowl. Mix ¾ of cheese mixture in with sweet potato insides.
Place cheesy sweet potato insides back into potato skins and top with remaining cheese.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

This recipe was simple and delicious and made the perfect weeknight side dish. I love mixing sweet and salty flavors, so this one was right up my alley. Yum!

So, do you guys like sweet potatoes? During Thanksgiving I like them in a casserole topped with marshmallows, but during the rest of the year I like them to be paired with savory flavors. So good!

By the way, I am looking for someone to guest post on my blog on Sunday while I am at the beach. I will be able to post on Friday and Monday, but if anyone wants to write a guest post for me on Sunday, I’d appreciate it! Send me an email at chelseaeatstreats@gmail.com if you’re interested!