Saucy Chicken Sausages

Hi Lara,

I have to admit it: I have a new guilty pleasure. Luckily it isn't too guilty, just something savory enough to satisfy my "salty tooth" while also managing a balanced lifestyle. It started with the innocent purchase of chicken sausages, but not just any chicken sausages, they were spinach and feta. It was harmless enough at first, but this new pleasure has evolved into a grand love for all types of chicken sausage, and during my most recent visit to Trader Joe's I found myself putting more than 3 types of chicken sausage into my shopping cart! Luckily I can freeze the ones I don't use while I test-try all the new flavors, but they're so simple and delicious how could I resist??

My most recent purchases, I also bought chicken apple sausage but I already cooked them!

All I do is put some oil into a saucepan and raise it to medium heat. I let the stove heat up for a minute, the cut the uncooked sausage and toss the slices into the pan. The packaging says to let cook for 10 minutes, but I find that after 7 (if my saucepan is especially hot) the sausages cook pretty nicely. It's a personal preference, but I can't wait for you to try these!

My beautiful spinach & feta at their initial toss into the pan

Golden-brown perfection <3 

T-minus one month until I see you for Thanksgiving!
Xoxo,
Kim

Smoothie Bowl

Hello Sweet Sister,

You're absolutely right, it's time to hop back on the blogwagon!! For the past few weeks at school, I've really enjoyed steering away from a lot of bread and dairy. I know that I did that sophomore year of college, but it's sort of feeling like a good time for me to adjust to it again. I'm not cutting them out completely, you KNOW I love my sandwiches and brunches, but I want to cut down. Ya feel?

My diet has been a ton of fruits and vegetables, soups, and proteins. My chef here in the Kappa house makes the absolute best food, and I'm sure you've seen a bit of it on the "Whatpattymakes" Instagram handle I created for her! Willpower is hard, but I want to look my best for when I graduate and enter the real world.

However, that doesn't mean I don't want to treat myself. Tonight, courtesy of stalking too many health Instagrams, I came across something called "banana nice cream". This merely entails taking frozen bananas, a bit of almond milk, and maybe some extra fruits and sticking them in a fruit processor. The results should turn out ice cream-like. Unfortunately for me, living in a sorority house, we don't have a food processor. Luckily, we have a blender.

Because the banana was super frozen and the blender was not particularly strong, I had to add more almond milk than I would have liked. The results were a bit soup-like, and so I created a smoothie bowl. I also added strawberries to the mix, and topped it off with a bit of cacao pieces. Overall, not a bad first attempt!

This is the Kappa fruit salad; I picked out all of the Strawberries for my dessert! Definitely munched watermelon, grapes, and pineapple during the process though...

WHOOP THERE IT IS!!! Agreeably, not anything like ice cream. Think more along the lines of a "smoothie bowl," which is totally all the rage right now anyways.

Hope you're at least kind of impressed! 

Love you,

Lara

The (Not So) Simple Sandwich

Hi Lara,

I know we talked about how we've "fallen off" the blogging bandwagon, and with grad school and a final senior year, could we blame ourselves? The answer: no. But we DO need to make a better effort keeping up with one another, especially with each other's personal food journeys. Those are certainly the most important. I thought you might want a sneak peek into what I packed for lunch tomorrow: The (Not So) Simple Sandwich. "What does this sandwich contain?" you may be wondering. Well, I'll tell you!

She's a beauty, isn't she?

The (Not So) Simple Sandwich

Two slices whole wheat bread

Yellow mustard

Smoked deli turkey

AVOCADO!

Cucumber

Organic Turkey Bacon

Love from your favorite food fan base,

Kim

Sweet Green Smoothie

Larbear,

I used to think I didn't like smoothies; they were too sweet and the ones that Mom used to make us in high school always had a mixture of sneaky vegetables and cookies and cream mix for "nutrition purposes." Kind of put me off my moo shoo if you know what I'm saying. However, the other day I figured I should start over my own concoction of sorts, and decided to make my new favorite smoothie! I call it: Sweet Green Smoothie (see title of post), and it's everything you could possibly want in a breakfast smoothie.

**Note, some measurements were eyeballed, usually (made in a blender) comes out to 2 servings

The perfect breakfast in a cup

Sweet Green Smoothie

Coconut Water

A splash of coconut milk 

3 strawberries

1/2 frozen banana

Drizzle of honey

2 pitted refrigerated dates 

Handful of spinach, kale, and chard

Handful rolled oats

1 tsp unsalted, crunchy almond butter

Let me know what you think of it!

Xoxo,

Kim

Portobello Steaks

Lara,

OKAY. This is seriously one of the most amazing recipes I've ever made, no exaggeration, and you need to make it asap. Vegan portobello steaks, doesn't sound too rich or exciting, but literally I kid you not when I tell you I may be making this recipe every week now. So here it is, the best and most easy recipe ever:

Portobello Steaks
2 Portobello mushrooms (cut out stems, remove gills with a spoon)
Several handfuls of spinach (be generous, spinach shrinks to nothing)
1 chopped white onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 cup broth (beef, vegetable, chicken, etc. I used vegetable but it's whatever you prefer)
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1) Put a thin layer of broth into a large frying pan and let heat for around 2 minutes on high heat
2) Put minced garlic and onion into broth and let sit for another 2 minutes
3) Add spinach, spices, balsamic, and another splash of broth
4) Add portobello mushrooms and the rest of the broth, cover and let sit for 5 minutes
5) Flip mushrooms and cover, cook for an additional 5 minutes
6) Add additional broth if necessary to avoiding sticking
7) Spoon everything (liquid/veggies) onto a plate with curved edges to avoid spilling
8) Enjoy!! ***

***I also heated up 1/2 turkey burger to sprinkle onto my mushroom for some additional protein, so good!

Portobellos with scooped out centers (the one on the left is a little flimsy, but still delicious!)

Minced garlic and my medium white chopped onion

Everything in the pan!

The finished, glorious product. The mushrooms are under all of the veggies, I promise :) 

Xoxo,
Kim

Clean Eats

Lara Love,

With our impending trip to Chicago around the corner, I'm getting more and more excited to see you! I can't wait to share my new workout routines and healthy recipes with you as we traipse around Chi-Town like a couple of old pros. I'm learning to incorporate more protein into my diet; I've increased my weight training and I was seriously lacking in calories and protein throughout my day. 

An amazing spinach and arugula salad topped with chicken, chopped carrots, sweet potato chunks, cucumber, chopped red/yellow bell peppers, steamed cauliflower, and shredded cabbage

I started by simply baking boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the oven at 400 degrees for 40 minutes--which I would reheat at meals and chop up to put with salads and other fun "nutrient bowls" as I like to call them. After spending a week blending the chicken and tricolor quinoa with veggies, I decided to get a bit more creative and try my hand at turkey burgers! I blended the ground turkey in a bowl with an egg white (substituted instead of a full egg), freshly minced garlic, chopped white onion, oregano, garlic powder, pepper, chili powder, and crushed ice. I drizzled a bit of olive oil into the pan and let it heat for 3-4 minutes, formed my patties, then let them cook on one side for 4 minutes, and 4 minutes on the other until each side was a golden brown. 

All the ingredients blended together in my big red bowl

There was one lone patty that cooked after these 4, and they all smelled so good!

Front plate holds the 4 1/2 (I ate 1/2) turkey burgers, the back plate holds my beautiful baked chicken

So there you have it: my delicious protein increases and the recipes to go with them! One last bright and colorful meal before I let you go romp all over NYC for the rest of the day...my post workout meal :) 

This magnificent nutrient bowl contains sweet potato, quinoa, steamed cauliflower, fresh cucumber, and 1/2 can of light tuna. 

Xoxo,

Kim

Healthy Eats and Spaghetti Squash

Dearest Lara,

Your chopped salad looks amazing, I love putting an emphasis on fresh, crunchy foods during summer (what else is new?) because the Tucson heat pretty much turns everything to warm mush. Moving past that lovely image. I'm not going on any special "diet", but I am putting a large emphasis on the quality and quantity of foods I'm putting into my body; so no excess sugars, fatty foods, or anything of that nature, and nothing that lacks portion control. I'm trying to turn this into a lifestyle here. 

With that being said, I started my day off with two egg whites and 1/2 grapefruit to fuel my morning workout. My workout consisted of 35 minutes on the treadmill (alternating between walking, jogging, and sprinting), and plenty of upper body weights and ab work. Post workout I was starving, and so I warmed up some chicken I had baked the night before, tricolor quinoa from Trader Joe's, and a handful of steamed asparagus. 

Spiced up the egg whites with some pepper & garlic powder; my breakfast was made classy with tea of course

So yummy! Topped everything with some balsamic vinegar for some extra moisture and flavor

My day was mainly monopolized by moving things out of my old house, and because I'm on the 3rd floor, that was not an easy task. Especially when it's 110 degrees outside and the AC isn't on. I came back to our house only slightly defeated (I have to finish moving out today), and starving. I made a delicious salad out of spinach, arugula, chopped yellow bell peppers, yellow tomatoes, cabbage, several scoops of quinoa, broccoli, and 1/2 can of light tuna. 

Topped with balsamic vinegar, it soaks into the quinoa perfectly!

My friend Lauren came over later in the day, and we decided it would be fun and time well spent to make our home home-cooked dinner. After scouring recipes on Pinterest (of course), we stumbled upon one for spaghetti squash with brussels sprouts and chickpeas. Though it was extremely time consuming, the bulk of the time went into simply baking the spaghetti squash, and after it cooked we sped through the preparation. 

The spaghetti squash took a while to cook, so we steamed broccoli to munch on in the meantime!

Baked the squash at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, the rotated 1/4 and baked another 30 minutes

Removed the seeds from the squash after slicing in half, then scooped the rest into a big bowl

The brussels sprouts were baked in a pan with truffle salt, pepper, and olive oil for 15 minutes, then combined in a pan with chopped onion (sautéed for 6 minutes prior), fresh minced garlic, and dried basil

Added the spaghetti squash, chickpeas, lemon juice, and more truffle salt pepper: VOILA! Perfection.

**The full detailed recipe, along with many amazing others, can be found at:

http://blog.rateyourburn.com/blog/post/2013/09/11/-xx-spaghetti-squash-recipes.aspx

Keep in mind it was 2 people against 1 huge spaghetti squash, and Lauren took home NONE so I now have spaghetti squash for days. Weeks even. 

Have an amazing day at work!

Xoxo,

Kim

Back on Track

Dear Kim,

After going abroad in the fall, to heading back to school, and then immediately beginning a whirlwind summer that involved both your graduation and plenty of travel, I hardly had time to think twice about my health. This is an issue, however, because we both know the second that I look at a donut I put on 10 lbs. Whoops. Needless to say, now that I am back and settled in NYC, while I will indulge sometimes, I will also be much more conscious about my health. Starting new internships means that I need to both look AND feel my best so I can perform to the best of my ability; no one wants to hire a lazy, unappealing young woman.

SO on that note, I began my workout routine again yesterday afternoon. This mainly consists of getting my butt on the treadmill once a day to burn off the extra calories that I gained whilst consuming copious amounts of carbohydrates and sugars. After at least 400 calories are burnt, I feel much happier (and sweatier) hopping off the treadmill to continue with the rest of my day.

For breakfast yesterday I made a shake with water, frozen pineapple, mango, and strawberry and I added in chia seeds and coconut oil. It was definitely VERY filling. Following that, I met up with a friend for iced coffee with a dash of skim milk. Lunch was rushed, but I had a protein bar and an apple. After my internship, I did my workout, and then for dinner I had a great big Chop't salad with a Kombucha on the side. I MISSED MY KOMBUCHA. Thank god for Whole Foods. My salad had kale, spinach, turkey, avocado, cucumber, broccoli, tomato and red onion. The dressing was 'Spa Balsamic'. I couldn't finish it all last night, and so I saved the rest of it for breakfast the next morning.

 My delicious Chop't Salad! I love getting to create my own salad...and I think everything tastes better chopped.

Just the pictures is enough to get me to start drooling...

Thanks to a bit of jet-lag this fine Tuesday morning I wound up waking up at 4:30 am and wasn't able to fall back asleep. Luckily I had wanted to be productive this morning anyways, and so I went to the gym to get my morning workout over with. After a well-deserved shower, I plopped the remainder of my Chop't salad on a plate, and I cooked up some egg beaters with some mushrooms thrown in for good measures. This is day #1 of my second internship, and so I want to be filled with protein to perform fabulously! Naturally, I had to start this day off with a Kombucha, and so that was an additional key element to my morning meal.

I apologize the pictures is sideways, but I'm in a bit of a rush this morning so I have enough time to get ready! You get the picture of how delicious it was ;)

Can't wait to update you on how today goes! 

Love you,

Lara

Florida Fun

My magnificent Lara,

I would say that one of life's biggest challenges is to go from bikini season to vacation season, and back again. It's all to easy to forget that one's body can't eat junk on vacation constantly, something that tends to slip my mind frequently--especially on my most recent trip to Florida! Margaritas (living the 21 lifestyle now), ice cream, french fries, you name it and I was eating it. Ryan and I had the most amazing time visiting Scott and Maisa (for those of you who don't know: our older brother and his girlfriend) in Orlando; we ate our way through the city and then some. But have no fear! Beach runs and the occasional salad allowed me to continue fitting in my tropical clothes.

Had to take advantage of the sunny weather before the afternoon storm hit! I was struggling to keep up with him...

Digging into the "Kitchen Sink", aka 8 scoops of ice cream, brownies, cake, hot fudge, oreos, and 1 full can of whipped cream

We made our way around the countries in Epcot! Margaritas and nachos in Mexico :) 

My saving grace: the grilled chicken and veggies I ate before I left for Florida. Coated my stomach with some pre-vacation goodness

However, next month I'm not only going to visit Ryan in Tahoe for the 4th of July, I'm also going to Vegas for a friend's 21st. This calls for some serious tuning. Bring on the broccoli, pre-planned meals, and workout clothes, I'm trading sundaes for squats!

My new Lululemon pants (a graduation gift, thank goodness). Let the morning workouts begin!

Xoxo,
Kim

Salad Fiend

Dear Kim,

The weekend can leave me feeling a little unsettled and worse for the wear; college weekends don't always mean the same thing as weekends in the real world. It's late night, late snacks, and a late bedtime. So that's why, when the weekend ends, I promise myself that I will make the most of the next week to get back into the healthy flow of things.

Enter: Lara's Salads.

I will admit what we both know, we're salad fiends. And we LOVE it. We know we could have them for every meal, and ours will always be the prettiest ones at the table. I won't lie, I do get compliments daily on my beautiful salads, and we all know we have salad-making abilities.

Pictured below are the ones I made for lunch and dinner yesterday...enjoy, and be jealous :)

 For lunch!! In addition to my salad which had spinach, edamame, tomatoes, romaine, and carrots, I had a tomato soup with a little bit of added sriracha...my obsession. I know you don't like spicy, but I could literally drink a bowl of that deliciously spicy stuff.

Aaaand for dinner I had a salad with romaine, spinach, mangoes, mini oranges, chicken, and a separate bowl for brussel sprouts!! YUM!

Xoxox,
L

Spinach Delight

Hi Lara,

It's so exciting to have you back in Arizona again! I'd say you should just move here, but considering I won't be here next year, maybe you should stay on the East Coast and I may come to you. I'm so glad you finally got to try one of my favorite snacks of all time: veggies and chicken. I usually eat it post-workout, but since we were busy watching a movie yesterday and I took the day off, I decided you should have the good-fortune of trying it anyways.

Spinach, sweet potatoes, and delicious delicious chicken (with a spritz or 2 of spray butter)

And lets not forget my all-time obsession snack, the coconut almonds. I know, I know, I've been talking these up for months, but they didn't disappoint did they? This week I'm going to try my best to be "good," after all Vegas IS in 4 days!! Just have to survive my 3 midterms first...help?

These are a lifestyle choice. Once you try them, you will be addicted! They're good in oatmeal or as a stand-alone snack: beware

Xoxo,
Kim

New Discoveries

Dear Kim,

From my last post, a lot of things have happened. I'll list out a few:

1. WE TURNED 21!!!
2. I realized that I absolutely cannot live without a water bottle that has a straw attached.
3. I got a morning radio show, so I have the pleasure of waking up at 5:30 am every Wednesday morning (We'll see how much longer I can survive)
4. Most importantly, I've eaten some great breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks.

I will refer to #4 because as we both know...this is a food blog. Prepare yourself, I'm about to share my goodies with you:

 Getting bored of the same old yogurt, chia seeds, granola, honey, and banana, I swapped it up for a little plain cheerios, almond milk, and banana. It was a nice crunch to start the day, and I didn't feel like my mornings were becoming monotonous.

 A BEAUTIFUL DISCOVERY IN THIS GREEN CONCOCTION!!! It's a delicious green-goddess shake from a Health Spa down the road. I'm currently in a class that's assisting this health spa with their Public Relations, so we're allowed to use the gym for free. It's a bit of a hassle to get to, but when I'm there, I can't NOT get one of the shakes. This shake had spirulina, spinach, kale, apple, lemon, and ginger. The ginger really cleared out the sinus system, and it was a lovely afternoon cleanser.

 Lunches at Kappa Kappa Gamma are always perfect, and this one was no exception. My chef is a straight genius, and everything she touches turns out flawlessly. The soup is a vegetable soup, which was a blend of tomato, spinach, onion, green peppers, and a few other goodies I can't remember. The balsamic/walnut salad complimented my brie and tomato open-faced sandwich perfectly. Jealous yet?

 There's a new restaurant on campus called "Strong Hearts". It's vegan and everyone is obsessed with it. I had heard a lot of buzz about the Portobello Salad, and so I figured it was time to try it out. It definitely didn't disappoint. All the veggies were crisp, the avocado was scrumptiously soft, and the portobello had a marvelous flavor. I am getting it again sometime this week, I just haven't decided when.

 My good friend Jess and I decided to take a day trip to go to a neighboring town with cute restaurants, a frozen lake, and little boutique shops. I treated myself to this ahi-tuna salad. You know I love me some ahi-tuna, and being at college, I rarely get good fish (except when my chef makes salmon. YUM). Naturally, I had them add onions.

One of my sorority sisters showed me this little concoction, and I absolutely love it. It's just hard-boiled egg whites cut up with olive oil, pepper, and salt. It's really great, and it makes for a super filled, easy breakfast. You need to try it!!

If you aren't drooling yet, you must be blind ;)

Love you,
L

Rush Week

Dear Kim,

You are an inspiration! I can't believe that you're doing so much work at school and are also getting into grad schools left and right! I don't know how you're doing it; I wish I could be there to congratulate you instead of an all-cap text message from miles and miles away.

Here, I've been spending the last week trying to survive sorority rush while maintaining my health. That's pretty much impossible to do when I'm seriously sickly and ill. After the first weekend of rush I came down with a cough, a fever, and a runny nose. It was honestly shocking because I swear the entire time I was using Germ-X and taking Airborne! The pictures I'm about to show you took place during rush week and, in my opinion, are the highlights of my rush week:

It all starts with a little bit of medicine. I took anti-flu medication, an Airborne, and plenty of green tea. I must be made 99% of green tea by now.

Good morning! I drank a cup of orange juice to get down all of my vitamins (vitamin D and fish oil) and made myself an open breakfast sandwich with almond butter/chia seeds, half an english muffin, and banana. Quite filling if I do say so myself.

Munchin' and lunchin! I made myself a huge salad with salmon and roasted brussel sprouts, and then our chef also made a really delicious, purely vegetable soup. Our chef, Patty, is a culinary goddess.

Afternoon snack!! We always get fruit salads and this day was no exception. The fruit was fresh and scrumptious (even though I'm in snowy Syracuse...) and a warm cup of coffee for a day that I was so tired to keep me up!

Nothing like a crunchy salad to keep up my morale on a blizzard-y day! Definitely could have used another bowl of that vegetable soup though...

I'm already feeling better a week later :) must be all the delicious fuel I'm putting into my body, are you impressed? Can't wait to see you in a couple weeks!!

Love you,
Lara

Sushi Me

Lovely Lara,

I can't believe how you balance both school AND sorority rush, you truly are an inspiration (or twinspiration?)! I've been pretty caught up in school work lately, so I haven't felt as if I've spent enough time with friends who aren't either A) in my classes or B) actually live with me. I'm a scholastic hermit. In order to celebrate the fact that I got not one but two interview requests for master's programs this week, I decided it was time to treat myself and catch up with an old friend.

My interview request for Northwestern University! Still feels surreal...

I haven't seen my friend Josh in what feels like years (okay, maybe only a month or two), so when he texted me to meet up and talk, I knew it had to be over food. And who doesn't love a good roll of sushi now and again? Answer: heartless souls. Usually I indulge in several rolls and pick at each one until I'm feeling nice and bloated. This = bad for my self esteem. Instead, I selected a roll that was both substantial yet light: the beloved Rainbow Roll.

My all time favorite "go-to" roll. Added a little splash of eel sauce for taste

T-3 weeks until I get to see you! You better be ready for tons of love, kisses, and delicious food when you come out west :)

Xoxo,
Kim

Breakfast Recovery

Dear Kim,

Rush has just about zapped all of the energy from my system. For two days straight I was a nonstop bouncing bean, and all of that exertion has finally taken its toll on me. I am exhausted, sickly, and quite frankly, weak. That's why I decided to really bulk up on my breakfast goodness to make sure I was strong enough to carry through a full day of classes and work!

Naturally I had to have my liquids, which involved one cup of Airborne (the pink cup) and another of orange juice. Normally I don't believe in the power of juice, but I figured that I'd take all the help I could get since my nose literally won't stop running. Not pictured are my Mucinex tablets, Vitamin D, Fish Oil Pills, and a single Advil to stop my morning headache. I was a regular 'ol pharmacy. 

I also toasted an english muffin and mashed up crunchy almond butter with hemp seeds and chia seeds. The texture of the almond butter with the additional seeds is really delightful and makes for a crunchier spread! And what's breakfast without a little power fruit? I sliced up half a banana and tossed the other half to Amber.

Fingers crossed I start feeling better soon, I don't know how much longer I can breathe out of just my mouth in this 5 degree wintery weather...

Love you!

Lara