Gobble Gobble…

Nov 262012

Hellloooooo there! If, like me, you were away from work for part of last week due to Thanksgiving and therefore were not checking blogs on a regular schedule, then welcome back!!

If you are an international reader, or maybe you just don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, then hello and sorry for my absence!

I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving filled with fun family time! I know my weekend was awesome and I cannot wait to tell you about it.

I kicked off my Thanksgiving-tastic weekend on Wednesday afternoon when I was able to leave work at 3:00 p.m. Wooo!! Leaving early is the best feeling ever. I felt like I had so much time to do things (although in reality, the time ran out quickly haha). I wound up going straight over to my dad’s house to hang out with my little sister, who had a half day at school. We spent the afternoon playing Glee singalong on the Wii.

We also did some type of dancing game on Wii which was really hard! I tried to follow the routine for “Oops I did it again” (oooh yeah, former Britney fan over here) but it was really difficult to follow the moves without knowing what was coming next. My sister didn’t have any trouble with it all though, so maybe I’m just uncoordinated? Who knows.

After playing around for a while, we had a quick dinner and then I headed out with my high school friends! We went to two bars in downtown Bethesda: Union Jacks (they actually have one of these in Ballston which I’ve been to before and had wayy too much fun) and Blackfinn.

It was so great catching up with old friends!

Here I am with the main girls- Hana and Sam! These two (along with Bianca, who was unable to come unfortunately) were my BFFs in high school. I’m so glad we are still just as close!

Here we are with the boys- Kiku and Tim. They were part of our main crew in high school too.

Then we ran into one of my sorority sisters, Betsy!! I loooooove Betsy and was so surprised to see her there. She is living in NYC now (a few blocks from Hana) and I had no idea she was going to be at the bar. What a great surprise!

Betsy is also friends with Hana through another friend, Lauren, below. I actually knew they were friends but apparently I forgot lol woops. So many great friends to see!! (and a random photo-bomber lol)

We had such a great night!!

On Thanksgiving morning I woke up bright and early to watch the parade with my little sister. My dad got us some fresh bagels (remember I mentioned them last week?) and we ate them while watching all the floats go by on TV. Watching the parade with a seven-year old is quite fun!

Soon it was time to help my dad with the cooking and get ready for our guests! Everyone came over around 1:00 and I was busy in the kitchen helping my dad with the squash, green beans, and mashed potatoes.

Then it was time to eat!

We had about 15 people come over (all from my stepmom’s side) and had two turkeys, a ton of stuffing, and all the usual sides.

My plate:

Everything was delicious!! My dad doesn’t cook too often, but when he does he doesn’t hold back!! I was so proud of him for pulling it all together. It’s hard to cook for so many people!!

After dinner the cousins all sat around playing Clue. We weren’t all that clear on the rules and we kind of messed up at the beginning, but it was really fun! I’m sure all the wine I had by this point only increased the fun level haha.

After our stomachs had time to digest we broke out the desserts! My cousins brought a huge pumpkin pie (it was soooo good! I need to get the recipe for you guys) and some fruit cake.

After dessert I spent the rest of the evening watching the Cowboys/Redskins game with my dad (and the Redskins won baby woooo!!!!) while my aunts were all chatting downstairs.

It was a fun Thanksgiving!

On Friday morning my mom came to pick me up and we caught a bus to NYC!! My aunt recently moved to a beautiful apartment in the Upper West Side, and we went up for the weekend to spend some time with her. We arrived around noon and spent the whole day hanging out with my aunt and uncle! Plus since we were in New York Fabio was able to come over which made me a happy camper

Of course my aunt pulled out all the stops and made some amazing appetizers for us to much on.

Seriously, is she amazing or what?

After enjoying some appetizers and wine, we headed out into the city! They live right near Central Park so we took a little stroll through there and wound up in Columbus Square. Luckily for us, they already had their Christmas decorations up (man are they on top of it).

It was beautiful!

Sorry for the blurry pic- all that wine will do that to ya’ haha.

We found a cute little bar that overlooked Central Park and we all enjoyed some cocktails. I chose a “juice box” which was delicious but very sugary and I knew it would give me a headache so I only had one.

Fabio ordered a raspberry martini which was hilarious since it was bright pink. After this, Fabio wound up ordering pink drinks all weekend as a joke. My uncle tried to tease him about his feminine drinks but Fabio was good at “owning it.” Or so my uncle says

After this bar we went to one more bar called Whiskey Park, but at this point I was content to just chat with my family and I didn’t snap any pictures. Sorry!

After that bar we headed to dinner. We chose a really cute little Italian place across the street from my aunt’s apartment and we were charmed by its friendly staff and delicious food.

We all had some meatballs to start…

And then I had a chicken mushroom dish for my entree.

I’m aware that the pictures look horrible (bad lighting + too much alcohol = crappy pictures) but please trust me- it was all delicious!!

After dinner my mom and Fritz went back to their hotel while Fabio and I decided to hang out with my aunt and uncle some more. We went back to their place where Fabio and my uncle ensued in a fierce game of darts.

Unfortunately Fabio lost every. single. game. Haha! Poor guy- my uncle was pretty serious and actually played so that you have to hit a specific number and a specific section of the board. Have you guys ever played that way?? I usually just go for the bull’s eye haha.

After darts we convinced my aunt and uncle to go to the bars with us (haha yes!! awesomeeee) and we enjoyed plenty of unnecessary extra drinks and even a few tequila shots (ugh what a terrible/awesome idea).

It was such a fun night and was so great to be able to go out with my aunt and uncle!! Fabio and I kept saying they were just like us…plus a few years Love them!!

The next day we all walked through Central Park and then headed to Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I had never been to that particular museum before and I was blown away by how big it was!! There was so much to see and it would have taken us forever to get to it all. My favorite exhibits were the Egyptian and Bernini ones.

The Egyptian exhibit had tons of ancient scrolls with hieroglyphics on them that were so well-preserved! I couldn’t believe how in-tact everything was! There were also some mummies that were pretty cool.

As for the Bernini exhibit- you could easily say he is my favorite sculptor of all time. We saw some of his work in Rome at the Borghese museum, but it was really great to see more. He is just so talented and so great at capturing movement. If you’ve never seen his work before I definitely recommend checking it out. I’m not huge on art but anyone can appreciate his realistic style.

After the museum we had a nice brunch at Arte Cafe where we enjoyed bottomless drinks for $18 and some great food.

Fabio ordered a pink drink, again.

And we split a pizza and a chicken sandwich (unpictured) for our meal.

After brunch we went back to my aunt’s place, packed up our stuff, and said our goodbyes. My mom and Fritz took the bus back to Maryland while I went with Fabio to his house in Queens.

We had a relaxing evening and spent most of our time recovering from all that drinking

On Sunday morning we packed up our stuff once again and drove back home to Virginia, but not without stopping for some obligatory pizza first!

Nothin’ better than NY pizza, I tell ya’.

We got home in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day unpacking, cleaning, and relaxing. Although I didn’t expect us to be very productive once we got home, we were actually able to get our Christmas tree up and decorated!!! Hoorayyy!!!

Now everything feels much more festive

Phew. Sorry that was such a long recap, but I had so much fun and wanted to share it all with you!!

Question of the day: Do you travel over the Thanksgiving weekend or stay in one place?

I’m so glad I traveled this Thanksgiving weekend because I had such a blast both at home and in New York. And, if I’m being honest, the NYC bug kinda bit me after talking to my high school friends, sorority sister, and family who lives up there. Maybe I should give it another try in a year or so?? We will see…

Thai Turkey Burgers

Recipes 5 Responses »

May 012012

Good evening everyone! Hope your Tuesday was terrific (sorry, I can’t help adding some cheesy alliteration now and then Winking smile ) Anyway, I had a great day and I hope everyone else did too!

Workout

Today’s workout was half fail and half success. Here is the fail part:

I woke up this morning to the sound of pouring rain. You know, the sound that helps you fall asleep in the summer when the windows are open? Oh wait except I actually had to get out of bed and go run. In the pouring rain. Great.

Luckily Jack was not feeling the weather either so we made our outdoor run very brief and then sprinted back inside. While Jack loves swimming in water, he hates showers and the rain. That is a-ok with me. So unfortunately my morning jog was not the full mile that it usually is. Oh well.

My afternoon workout was much more successful. I did another Insanity DVD (Cardio Power & Resistance) and was sweating like crazy! This afternoon was much hotter (I think it got around 80 degrees at some point today) and we haven’t turned our AC on yet. So, while it’s not hot at all when I’m just sitting around the apartment, by the time I was done doing the warm-up for Insanity I was drenched in sweat. Nothin’ like a little sweat to make you feel like you got an extra good workout right?

Recipe

Tonight’s recipe is for Thai Turkey Burgers with Peanut Sauce, another one from Iowa Girl Eats. She is seriously one of my favorite bloggers because all of her recipes are so flavorful, healthy, and easy. This recipe has actually been on my list (yes, I keep a list of recipes I want to make. Call me a nerd) for a long time but for some reason I never got around to making it until tonight. Why did I wait so long??

This was also the first time I ever made home-made turkey burgers. I’ve used ground turkey before but only for recipes like tacos or chili. I think what made me branch out and try these burgers was the combination of Asian-inspired flavors and peanut sauce. Yes, these burgers have a peanut sauce that is made with peanut butter. If you know anything about me you know I’m obsessed with peanut butter. So, I obviously had to try them out.

Good thing I did! They packed some serious punch and I loved the spicy Asian flavor combined with the sweet honey peanut sauce (don’t worry they weren’t too spicy and you can always cut down the hot sauce or red pepper flakes). Not to mention that in addition to the lean, fat-free turkey, they are made with carrots and broccoli and topped with baby spinach. So many veggies in a burger. Yep. These get five stars from me.

To get started I first mixed all the ingredients for the peanut sauce together in my food processor. It does seem like a lot of ingredients, but as I said I like Asian food so I already had all these on hand. Most of these are the kind of ingredients that you buy once and then don’t have to buy again for months years, because really, how often do you need to buy rice vinegar?

I mixed these together with water, garlic, and peanut butter in my food processor until everything was blended.

I made sure to set some aside for topping my burger, but most of it went right into a large bowl along with some chopped carrots and broccoli (thank you Slap Chop).

Also into the bowl went some cilantro, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Then I added in the ground turkey and mixed everything together. With my hands.

Mixing the meat was actually kind of fun. I felt like a kid playing with a big pile of play dough. Except instead of play-dough it was delicious peanutty raw turkey. Kinda gross.

Then I formed the mixture into 4 patties (one was HUGE! Fabio will get that one in his lunch tomorrow) and cooked them on a hot pan for about 4 minutes on each side. It was kind of hard for me to tell when they were done, so I would recommend using a meat thermometer or just cutting into one to check.

When they were cooked through I served them on a toasted sandwich thin topped with the remaining peanut sauce and some baby spinach for crunch. I also had leftover sweet corn & quinoa and asparagus. This combination was SO delicious. It was the perfect balance of sweet and salty.

Seriously, if you like Asian flavors at all you must try these burgers. They are delicious!

Thai Turkey Burgers (Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats)

Makes 4 burgers

Ingredients

1 lb 99% fat-free ground turkey breast
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli
3 tbsp. chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
4 buns (I used Arnold Sandwich Thins)
baby spinach leaves

For the peanut sauce

3 tbsp. smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. soy sauce (I used reduced sodium)
1 tbsp. water
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. chili garlic sauce (I used siracha a.k.a. the red one with the rooster)
1 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. ground ginger (I like having the pre-minced kind in the squeeze bottle)

Instructions

Combine peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, water, garlic, sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, honey and ground ginger in a food processor or blender. Blend until very smooth. Reserve some sauce for topping the burgers and set aside.
Combine remaining peanut sauce with turkey, carrots, broccoli, cilantro, salt, and red pepper flakes in a large bowl. Mix well and form into 4 patties.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and spray with non-stick spray. Cook patties for about 4 minutes on each side or until burgers are no longer pink in the middle.
Place a burger patty on each bun and top with reserved peanut sauce. Add baby spinach for crunch and serve.

These are so good and I will be adding them to my regular recipe rotation for sure! Do you guys like Asian foods? I love making them at home so they don’t have all the fat and sodium that take-out places would. After I made these today Fabio demanded that I make our favorite orange chicken dish sometime soon, so you’ll probably see that pop up too. I guess that means he liked the burgers?

Turkey Sausage Bowl

Recipes 1 Response »

Apr 192012

Good evening! I hope everyone had a great day! My day was ok…not awesome but good enough Smile

Workout

This morning’s workout was a little tough. Fabio, Jack, and I went for our normal one-mile jog but it rainy and cold out so we were pretty sluggish getting started. Those few nice days really spoiled us! I can’t wait until summer when everyday is warm and sunny. Darn you April showers. Once we got up and got going though, the jog was great! We saw some bunnies and birds, and as usual Jack did everything he could do to catch them. It never ceases to entertain me when he jumps on a tree and looks up longingly. Next time I’ll try to snap a picture of it!

This afternoon’s workout seemed like it was going to be awesome. It was rainy again so Jack and I went on another quick one-mile jog and then I popped in an Insanity DVD. Because we have been running to the dog park so much lately I haven’t been doing the entire Insanity workouts for a while. I was really starting to miss my favorite circuits and was ready to jump right into this workout. My body, it seems, had other plans. On the third round of the warm-up I was doing some power squats and I felt my back cave in in a weird way. I immediately hobbled to the couch and stretched my back for a few minutes. I had some trouble standing up and spent the next half hour simply stretching my back out to try to fix the problem. It was clear that the rest of my workout was not happening Sad smile So frustrating!

Now, this is really interesting to me. I have never had any back problems. Ever! However, I will say that my mind was not completely focused on my workout (I was excited to cook dinner and work on the blog!) so when I was speeding up the moves for the last round of the warm-up, I wasn’t focusing on my form. What do I always hear the Insanity trainer, Sean T, saying? “Form over speed!!” He means make sure you do the move correctly and don’t rush through it. Well, obviously today I didn’t do a good job of that. Now I know to really take him seriously and pay attention to my form. Because I wasn’t careful, my workout was cut short and now I’m in pain! Ow!

Oh well, lesson learned.

Recipe

Tonight’s turkey sausage bowl dinner was delicious! It was super easy and tasty and I will definitely make it again soon! I also already had most of the ingredients on-hand so it didn’t take a whole lot of planning. That’s a win-win in my book!

First I defrosted some lean, Italian turkey sausages we had in the freezer.

I’ve used turkey sausages like these in the past and always really enjoy them! They have tons of flavor with a lot less fat than regular sausages.

Next I salted a pot of water and brought it to a boil. Once the water was boiling I added in some pasta (I used regular angel hair but if we had some whole grain pasta I would have used that). I let the pasta cook for a few minutes while I got everything else ready.

While the pasta was cooking, I heated a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat. While it was heating, Fabio chopped up some broccoli and onions.

One of Jack’s favorite treats is broccoli so he may have eaten a few of the stalks Winking smile

By this time the pan was hot so I went ahead and put the defrosted turkey sausages in the pan. I cooked them until they started to brown and firmed up, flipping them a few times to cook each side.

Once they were mostly cooked I removed them from the pan and Fabio sliced them into smaller pieces. Meanwhile, I cooked some onions and bell peppers until they softened up. Then I added the sliced sausages back into the pan.

Close up:

When I buy bell peppers I usually buy a bunch at a time and cut them all up as soon as I get home. Then I put all the bell peppers that I don’t need right away into a zip-top bag in the freezer. That way whenever I need peppers I just pull out a few pre-sliced peppers from the freezer. It’s so easy! You must try this!

Anyway, I let the sausage, peppers, and onions hang out for a bit and turned my attention back to the pasta. At this point it only needed a few more minutes, so I went ahead and dumped the broccoli in with the pasta. This way I could cook them both in one pot! Less dishes to wash at the end of dinner is always a plus for me.

When the pasta and broccoli were done I drained them and added them to the yummy sausage, peppers, and onions mixture.

I seasoned the mix with some salt, pepper, and olive oil and then stirred everything up. Fabio begged for some parmesan cheese on top so we added some of that too. Then he wanted to add some tomatoes and though we were already serving up our dishes, I let him throw some in. I couldn’t turn down an extra veggie (although isn’t a tomato technically a fruit?). Both the cheese and tomatoes added just a little bit more comfort to this bowl of yumminess. De-lish.

Turkey Sausage Bowl

(serves 2-3, we had one medium-sized bowl for me and one LARGE bowl for Fabio)

Ingredients

Whole wheat pasta
1 bunch broccoli florets (we used about 2 cups)
3 lean Italian turkey sausages
1 cup red, yellow, and/or orange bell peppers
Half a medium onion, chopped
Olive oil, salt, and pepper for seasoning
3 small cut tomatoes (optional)
Sprinkle of parmesan cheese (optional)

Bring a salted pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. When pasta is almost complete, add broccoli florets and let it cook with the pasta for 2-3 minutes or until crisp-tender.
Meanwhile, brown the turkey sausage over medium-high heat until almost cooked through (sausages should be firm). Remove from pan and slice. Set aside.
In the same pan, cook onion and bell peppers for 2-3 minutes or until they become soft.
Reintroduce sliced sausage into pan.
When pasta is cooked, drain pasta and broccoli and add to sausage and onion mixture.
Toss the mixture well to incorporate. Season with a small bit of salt, pepper, and olive oil. Add tomatoes and parmesan cheese if desired.
Eat, slurp, and enjoy!