January 13, 2011

Choppin Broccoli.


No not the SNL song by Dana Carvey. I made a nice hearty yet low calorie broccoli soup. It was seriously delicious. I was surprised that it was so hearty tasting, but the ingredients were so light. It's one of the soups from the Whole Living Magazine January 2011 issue. It was pretty good with cheese as well. I just ate it with Brie and it was absolutely delicious. I've been eating tons of dark chocolate lately, so this was a really nice break.

1 head broccoli (1 pound), cut into florets, stems thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves put into a garlic press
One 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained (white ones)
2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 ounce shaved Parmesan, for serving

Steam broccoli florets and stems until tender and bright green, about 3 minutes. Let cool slightly. Reserve 1/2 cup florets for garnish.
Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add beans and stock and bring mixture to a simmer. Remove from heat and add broccoli; puree in batches in a blender until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish and enjoy but don't spill on your pants like I did.

Enjoy,
Mish

January 11, 2011

Bridal Clutch, CHECK.


Super excited about a bridal clutch that I just got at an excellent price on the J Crew Sale. This adorable nugget above ended up being $24.00. Wanted to share it. Also got a pewter gray/white strapless dress at a bargain price to match with a white necklace for any future bridal events or showers in the summer! Figured it wouldn't go to waste. Thanks for J Crew Aficionada for letting me know the code. Enter MUSTHAVE {30% off sale (no min) & free shipping ($150+); expires 1.16.11}

Green Corner


Ah! I just bought my first cleanse at a new place that opened up right by my house. Exciting stuff! I have almost little to no control over the quantity of food that I eat, so this should certainly be interesting. Green Corner is located right around the corner from my apartment, and they have offered the best deal that I've seen yet as far as a cleanse is concerned. Sorry Blue Print Cleanse, until I'm walking down the aisle, your smoothies are just way too overpriced for me, although I love your branding! I'm super excited to see how this goes. It's only 3 days long and is $107.00 from Gilt Groupe today. Offer expires on January 18th. Very reasonably priced. Description below from the site. Cheers to a healthy start to 2011. By the way, I've made it a WHOLE week and 2 days without drinking (seems like it's been 5 months already because I love wine so much, but hey, I'm only human). I'll let you know how I feel after I'm done with this. I think I'll end up doing it during the last few days of January before the engagement party with my parents. Store is located at 1800 N Damen, and I can't seem to find if they have a site up yet. Looks like a great place though.

"The blends, mostly veggie-based, are designed to deliver all the nutrients you need without adding any unnecessary sugars, fats or other roadblocks to your shape-up plans. They’re also straight up satisfying, mixing in crowd pleasers like ginger and apple to get your taste buds tingling."

January 9, 2011

Ski Bunny.

Two nights before my trip to Breckenridge to meet up with the future mother and father in law, plus the (fine I'll use this word) fiance and sister in law, the whole couch fiasco happened. The fuse also blew, and nothing was turning on, including the internet. The night before my flight took off, I went to 3 different parties and was pretty wasted when I got home. So I was trying to use an envelope to write down my flight information so I wouldn't forget it, since I, of course, didn't have the chance to print anything out the day before at work because I was too concerned with getting to the first holiday party on time with the bowl my fantastic co-worker (slash full time entertainer/cook) had lent me for my September housewarming party. Phew. What a mess. I made my flight on time & checked in at the airport. Not my style, but it worked.

Thursday and Friday before NYE, I skied. It was -8F without wind chill factor (-30F with the wind chill). You've got to be kidding me. Of course I prefer a beach and a tequila beverage, but I didn't want to be a huge weenie so I just bit the bullet, ignored my snow pants that made my hips look approximately 10 inches wider than they are normally, slapped on a toe warmer pad (lovely photo below of my foot) and did a ski school course & then went out on the slopes with the family. I did just fine. Only two falls in a few days (I've still got bruises to prove it). I was not told that no blue runs existed on the first set of slopes I did on Friday with the Malcolm family! Oh well. Nothing like being told "Mish, we lied to you. There are no blues here, only BLACK DIAMONDS." Oh boy. At least that seemed to be the push I needed to get my skiing groove back. I actually think that I'll like it more in the future than I ever have before. Maybe I'll just stick to spring skiing! Plus, I unfortunately didn't get to wear the barf colored tie die awesome one piece that I intended on wearing, since it was just too cold to fit the necessary layers underneath it. We did the typical "sit in the hot tub in a snow storm" act for a while a few days in a row as well. My toes were completely frozen, so it hurt at first when I sat down! All in all, a great trip.


Tofu Smoothie Magic


Thought I'd share my favorite way to get protein these days. Tofu in my smoothies. I read about this as one of the suggestions from one of my favorite sectors of Martha Stewart's empire: Whole Living magazine & website. Recently, I've made two smoothies using almond milk and tofu in them. Yes, tofu. I know you'd think that sounds absolutely disgusting, but it's really a creamy and wonderful protein addition to any smoothie, nearly making it taste like a milk shake as far as consistency is concerned. My favorite version of this that I'm actually consuming right now is what I'm going to call a Healthy Banana Milkshake. Ingredients below. Seriously try it, you'll love it. Photo from Whole Living.

1 cup vanilla almond milk
1/5 serving size Lite Firm Tofu (mine is from Whole Foods)
1/2 scoop vanilla soy protein

1 banana

1 small handful of ice cubes
1 tiny pinch Truvia sweetener (I think everything is better with this stuff in it, and it's certainly healthier than Splenda, my ex, since it's a good deal more natural ingredient wise)