The GM Diet Plan : DAY SEVEN

OMG!! Huzzah! The LAST DAY! I have lost 7lbs!!

Today we just kind of followed the same stuff we have been doing, cucumbers and lemon, unsweetened iced tea, and veggies.

Day Seven

Eat brown rice, fruit juices and all the vegetables you can possibly stuff! On this day, you will feel 7-10 lbs lighter from all the rinsing and flushing. Do not use white rice - use pulses for a protein substitute.

But tonight, honestly, we couldn't help ourselves and we went to Olive Garden. Granted it's cheating, but we got soup and salad and only had ONE breadstick each. We also found that we were decently full with one helping, though I got more salad and had a bit more soup.

The GM Diet Plan : DAY THREE

I lost another 2 lbs! For a total of 3lbs so far! :D

Yesterday was so much easier than day one, but today so far is my favorite!!

TMI though, I woke up with the WEIRDEST morning breath ever. I dunno if it has ANYTHING to do with this cleanse, but it was odd.

Anyway, I digress.

Day Three

A mixture of fruits and vegetables - all the salad that you can eat day! No bananas and no potatoes. Day Three prepares the system to start burning excess pounds.

So today started off with me finishing off all the fruit I had leftover from Day 1. It consisted of a lot of strawberries, cherries, an apricot and an apple.

For lunch we made a big huge greek salad. You can find my recipe here.


Obviously we omitted the copius amounts of feta cheese, and I was a little lighter on the olive oil, and added a bit more lemon, but it was basically the same.

Dinner was my favorite. I did another veggie stirfry, but this time I used a lot more vegetables.


This has virtually no fat! Mmmm! Onions, garlic, carrots, sugar snap peas, zuchinni, summer squash, and asparagus (fresh from my garden), lightly sauted in olive oil and a pat of butter, then seasoned with fresh cracked black pepper, and lightly salted.

We got better corn and boiled it this time, and it came out much better.


To make it this way, simply put corn into a pot of cold water, and let it come to a rolling boil. It should take about 10 minutes, but you could cook it for as long as 20. I didn't do it this time, but usually I will add a pinch of sugar to bring out the natural sweetness in the corn. DO NOT salt the water, it will make the corn tough.


So my dinner consisted of, leftover lunch salad, veggies and corn with spray butter and sriracha rooster hot sauce! Can I get an ON NOM NOM?

I am soooo not looking forward to tomorrow.

Orzo Broccoli Pasta Salad

So my friend Becca is 38 weeks pregnant and her shower is today. I have been asked to bring a variety of things and take care of little tasks throughout the day. I have chosen to make a super yummy Orzo Broccoli Pasta Salad because I like it and I wanted to share this super easy recipe so you can wow all your friends at BBQ's this summer.

I first saw this pasta salad at Albertson's, and figured I could make it myself better and cheaper. This is my attempt. Spoiler Alert, I was right.

You will need.

1 lb Orzo Pasta
1 head Broccoli
Crumbled Feta Cheese
Oregano
Marinated Artichoke Hearts, chopped (optional)
Greek Dressing (you can use my recipe, or buy some pre-made to save time. I used Girards Greek Feta Vinagerette cuz I was in a hurry and it's really yummy. Either will work.)


Start off with the box of Orzo. You can find it in the pasta aisle and if you don't know what Orzo is, it's tiny rice shaped pasta (you can find it commonly in rice pilaf!) A one pound box of Orzo pasta should run you roughly under $2.

Boil it according the package directions and then let it drain in a collinder in the sink. It should look something like this. (I used 2lbs, so mine is a little more full.)


Rinse it with cold water, and let the pasta cool while you fix up everything else.

Next you are going to want to take a head of broccoli and chop it into little tiny bits. I use the stems as a guide and just try to trim them as small as possible.


Once you chop all the broccoli, (sing this song as you do it!), you are going to want to blanch it crudite style! It's easy, I'll take you through it.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While it's waiting to boil, set up another bowl and fill it with ice water.


Drop the broccoli into the boiling water and let them cook about 2 minutes.


Next you are going to want to fish the veggies out with a slotted spoon, and transfer them into the bowl of ice. This halts the cooking process and keeps the veggies bright green and crisp, while taking away that "raw" taste.


Drain! That's it. Easy huh?

Next we are going to want to transfer the cooled pasta into a serving bowl, add the broccoli, crumbled feta, artichoke hearts, oregano, and greek dressing. Toss and Voila! Easy pasta salad that's yummy and impresses everyone. Enjoy!


This pasta salad can be made days in advance. In fact it will last in a sealed container for up to a week in the fridge.

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza

So last week I met up with an old friend for lunch and catching up, and after hemming and hawing over where to go, one mention of Sammy's Woodfired Pizza and it was decided.

Becca and I enjoying our friendship.

Sammy's started in San Diego in 1989, but I wasn't privy to their delicious food until 2001 when I went to the downtown location with my friend Josh for dinner. I had forgotten about Sammy's until recently when my mom and I went to meet some old family friends there for lunch where I serendipitously found myself staring at their new revamped menu which included gourmet salads and an extensive tapas list.

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza
Various Locations in
Southern California and Las Vegas

Rebecca and I started off with some of those awesome tapas. We ordered the Lebni Mediterranean Cheese with grilled herbed flat bread, and an order of their Hummus, which came with the same bread.

Lebni Mediterranean Cheese with grilled herbed flat bread.

The cheese is sometimes a bit too much if you've never had it. It's almost like a cross between sour cream and cream cheese, as it's soft and a bit tangy. They have really good hummus, pretty smooth and not too garlicy.

Nomming on tasty cheese.

The best part of these, is that they are so big you will have more than enough for leftovers to take home for later. I had my left overs with my salad later that night with dinner. I just threw the flat bread into the toaster oven to warm and crisp up those edges again and it was perfect.

Hummus with grilled herbed flat bread.

I got a half order of their Chinese Chicken Salad. It's made with cabbage and bok choy and it's got lots of veggies and mandarin orange slices. Their dressing is light and flavorful and they order half and full sizes for sharing. The half salad is large enough for lunch or dinner, and I even had extra left over.

Chinese Chicken Salad.

Bec went with the Thai Chicken Pizza. It comes topped with Thai Chicken, Julienne veggies, peanuts, lime juice and a spicy Thai peanut sauce. I'm pretty much a purist with pizza, and I am not too keen on these fancy "gourmet pizzas", but I tried a slice of this and it wasn't too bad.

Thai Chicken Pizza.

Becca's friend is a waitress here and she gave us a free Messy Sundae since Becca told her I was going to blog and review the restaurant. It's not just a clever name.

Messy Sundae.

This big ol' Messy Sundae was pretty much the end all to be all of the meal and frankly we didn't think we could get through it until we dug in.

I can haz a messy sundae?

The monster is topped to the hilt with fudge, caramel , whipped cream and walnuts.

Bec and I dig in and indulge.

We ate a lot of whipped cream and toppings before we hit ice cream, but Bec is expecting and is due in May and the baby really enjoyed the sundae. You can create you own Origami Messy Sundae here.

Most Sammy's locations are in San Diego, with a few in the Los Angeles Area and a bunch in Las Vegas.

I Heart "Heart" Salad

For Valentine's Day, I planned a great meal in my head. I knew that I wouldn't be able to see Brian until AFTER the 14th, so I kept the recipe in there and acted upon it later. The center of the Valentine Meal was the Salad, which I dubbed Heart Salad based on the ingredients.

You will need;



Hearts of Romaine Lettuce (either chopped yourself , or in a bag; I went the easy route)
"Fancy" Lettuce
Jar of Artichoke Hearts
Jar of Hearts of Palm
Can of Beets
Candied Pecans (I used Trader Joe's, but you can candy them yourself if you want)
Red Wine Vinegar Dressing

I started by draining the can of beets and using a paring knife, carving them into hearts. You can use a small heart shaped cookie cutter, which are very easy to find this time of year, or you can be all fancy schmancy and try to carve them yourself.




It took patience and a steady hand, but eventually I carved them all. Next I drained each jar of "hearts" and cut them into bite size peices.



Next fill a bowl with the hearts of romaine and "fancy" lettuce. What I call "fancy" lettuce is basically radicchio, arugula, baby spinach and the like.



For the dressing I used a premade Red Wine Vinaigrette and fixed it up with some garlic, oregano, lemon juice , a bit of the oil marinade from the artichoke hearts and a bit more red wine vinegar.

Throw everything in the salad bowl and drizzle with the dressing.



Serve with your sweetie.

<3

Santorini Island Grill

Today I ventured up to Poway for some Greek food at this place Dana used to work at and RAVES about. Santorini Island Grill. It was ok.



Their Hummus was decent, not as good as Gaby's but pretty good. Kristi pointed out that they don't use a lot of tahini so it doesn't have that "greasy" texture. Their pita wedges were pretty amazing though, soft and warm.



I got the 1/4 Greek Chicken meal and they were out of rice, so I substituted more salad for rice. How you can let a restaurant where the MAIN side dish is rice, run OUT of rice is beyond me. Their salad wasn't bad, but I felt it lacked substance, no romaine lettuce, just iceberg, cucumbers and some gross floppy tomatoes. (I prefer the Greek salad I made over this)I wish I would have thought to ask for the chicken breast, but I didn't and as my luck would have it, I got the leg and thigh. The meat was tender and juicy, but I just wasn't really in the mood to pick off the bones.

For fast food this place wasn't bad, and if I'm ever in the area and want Greek I might stop in again. The service was ok, but I think the main reason we didn't get the most amazing service was that Dana went into ex-waitress mode and took care of us a bit better, plus I think there was beef between her and our waitress from her days working there.

Trader Joe's really got it going on.

The other day, I braved the Southern California rain and drove to Trader Joe's in La Mesa. I wish there was one a bit closer to my house, but oh well.

If you've never been to Trader Joe's, it's really a treat. I personally LOVE the grocery store. I love going up and down all the aisles and checking out all the cool stuff they have. I even make a very OCD list when I go. It's super therapeutic for me.

If you aren't sure whether or not you have a Trader Joe's near you, you can check their locations here.

Honestly when I moved to Georgia, knowing that they had both Whole Foods AND Trader Joe's in Atlanta was a HUGE selling point for me.

Yesterday consisted of at least one Trader Joe's item per meal.

I started off by having their Chicken Apple sausage; cut length wise and grilled.



I also had one egg; scrambled, and half a bagel, toasted with Better'n Peanut Butter for breakfast. You know how much I love me some Better'n Peanut Butter.



Breakfast; roughly 400 calories.

For lunch I took the Trader Joe's reduced fat Greek Salad, removed half of the feta cheese, diced up the cucumbers and tomatoes and doctored up the dressing. I dumped out about half of the dressing and to the remainder, added lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and some olive oil and oregano. It was much lighter and tasted a lot better.

On the side I had 1 tbsp each of the Garlic and Spicy Hummus from the Trader Joe's Hummus Quad. To dip I had 3 of their Corn crackers, and 1/2 of their flat bread, broken into pieces.



Lunch; roughly 330 calories.

For dinner, I tried the Trader Joe's Asparagus Risotto.  1 cup is 200 calories, and it comes frozen in the bag, ready to heat and serve. I just cooked one cup, seeing as I was the only one eating and put the rest back in the freezer.

To doctor it up, I added some more asparagus, picked fresh from the garden earlier in the day, cut it up and tossed it in.

Keeping asparagus stalks trimmed, and resting in a glass of water in the fridge helps keep them fresher longer. As they go unused, trim the stalks down and replace the water.



For my protein I grilled 2 chicken breasts with lemon and cracked pepper, drizzled lemon juice on top, added a bit of water, before putting a lid on it to cook. One for dinner, and one breast for lunch the next day. (I spread some hummus on a flat bread, and added half the second breast, shredded and folded it in half and made a mini sammie and it was so yummers.)

I also treated myself to 4oz (about 1/2 a cup) of red wine with dinner. "They" say that 4 oz's a day is a good heart healthy amount of wine and antioxidants, plus it makes you feel warm inside, and when it's raining and cold, anything warm is welcomed in with open arms.

Here's what dinner looked like.

Dinner; roughly 450 calories

The "sauce" on the chicken, is the lemon juice, water and yummy stuck to the pan bits, simmered and reduced. It had a nice tang to it, which went very well with the creme fraiche and onion in the asparagus risotto.

Gaby's!!!

I was up in LA this weekend for work and some hang out time with my friends Jordan and Shaun. They met me on the Westside and let me choose the restaurant this time, so I didn't have much choice but to pick Gaby's Mediterranean in Culver City.

Three years ago, I discovered this shining little gem while looking for a place to cater my 25th birthday party. We showed up, ordered one of this and that, and sat in food heaven for a few hours. So I feel like I have an obligation to share my find with everyone I meet.

Gaby's has 3 locations on the Westside, but the Culver City one is my favorite. Parking totally sucks, but they have a great outdoor covered dining patio.

We started off with some pita, and zaatar. I've tried to make my own zaatar, and it didn't turn out so well, so if anyone has a recipe for it, let me know!!


The boys ordered "Mountain Dew" but instead got "Mango Juice". I suppose the term "lost in translation" is fitting here.

Anyway! I've tried a lot of hummus in my life. I'm a bit of a hummus freak, if you will. I even attempted making my own, which wasn't nearly as good as this lil puppy.



Gaby's hummus is so amazing that we had to order two. Seriously. After we ran out of pita bread, Jordan was eating it with a fork, which kinda grossed me out, but it really is that good.

While we waited for our food, we ordered an Apple Hookah. We are HUGE Hookah freaks, and I usually don't smoke hookah unless I am with the boys. The fact that they had hookah made both Jordan and Shaun VERY happy.



For all those hookah lovers out there, the apple hookah had a nice sweet flavor, and a spicy tang at the end with almost a licorice aftertaste. It almost tasted like I was smoking absinthe!

I ordered my favorite thing, Lemon Chicken and I substituted a Greek Salad for the house salad.



Personally, it had a bit too much feta cheese for my liking, but after I picked most of it out, it was really yummy. They have a great Greek dressing.



The Lemon Chicken was a total cheat on my whole "eating healthier" thing, but OMG isn't this so worth it?! The chicken was uber tender and the rice is so yummy with the sauce on it. I didn't inhale too much of that sauce so I still think I am pretty ok.

Shaun got the beef kabobs, with rice and house salad.



And Jordan got the Salmon kabobs with rice and house salad.



Everyone pretty much finished their plates. We sat around for about another hour finishing the hookah, paid the check and headed home. We were all stuffed and the whole meal, drinks, hookah AND tip was only around $25 each. I love that Gaby's has such great filling meals but not too much out of pocket.

Sammies for lunch!

I had yet another sandwich at the San Fransisco Saloon, but this time I opted for a side salad and not the black beans. I asked for a Italian or a vinaigrette but instead got some creamy mustard dressing. It wasn't bad, but unexpected. A few too many veggies on the salad for my taste, so I picked off the ones I wasn't too keen on. Carrots FTW.



Super good, as always.

Pat & Oscars

Today the family went to the Mall to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Usually my mom and I have movie/lunch dates and we go see something really mushy or girlie together. It makes me feel like less of a sap if I'm taking my mom, plus I don't really enjoy super girlie movies now that I'm older and have taste. But since Benjamin Button got such great reviews, and so many award nods, my dad wanted to tag along.

It's hard to eat out at the mall, especially "healthy". Sure there is subway, or salad bars, but those get old quick. We had an hour to kill. We wanted to sit down. We wanted GOOD food.

Enter, Pat & Oscars! It's a Southern Californian chain and in my opinion an institution. I have been noshing at Pat & Oscars since high school, and it's always so good.

It's the kind of place where you ask your friends, "Where do you wanna eat?", and someone will say, "Well.. there is always Pat & Oscars." and everyone says,"OMG PAT & OSCARS OMG YES!".

My dad had never been there, but my mom and I had been to many events catered by them. I've mentioned before that my dad is VERY PICKY when it comes to what he believes is "good food", and folks, I think we have a winner.

They have these really great meal combos for 1,2 or 4, and be warned, they are HUGE.

We got the Lemon Chicken meal for 2 which came with a WHOLE chicken, a medium greek salad and 8 breadsticks.



I had a plate full of salad,2 breadsticks with their YUMMY House Mustard Dressing, (makes it taste like a hot pretzel! OMG YUM!!) and a chicken breast, skin removed.



Anything my mom and I couldn't eat, my dad finished. I thought with the amount of food we had we would have at least a few leftovers, but that idea quickly faded. It was more than enough for 3 people for lunch. Even the meals for one are pretty big. The whole meal cost under $20, and I'm sure the next time any of us are in the area, be it for a movie or just shopping, that we will stop in for lunch again.

On a side note, the movie was pretty good. Kind of a tear jerker if you see it with your mom, but still cute. The makeup and CGI was amazing. A bit different than the short story, and longer than needed, but still a nice movie.

Greek Salad

Not many salads really turn my head. Especially not Greek salads, but I decided to cook dinner tonight and really do it up Greek Style, and what goes better with Greek food, then Greek Salad?

The recipe is super easy, yummy, and decently healthy. This is what you need;



Lettuce, chopped. I used Hearts of Romaine and a head of Iceberg, but you can use whatever types of lettuce you like best. Make sure that you use a lettuce knife when doing a chop salad, or rip it with your hands so it doesn't brown.



Tomatoes, sliced/diced/whole depending on the type you use. I used grape tomatoes cuz they are sweet and delicious and I halved them down the center. Cherry tomatoes will also work and are small enough, like grapes to slice in half or use whole. If you're going to use a larger tomato, I suggest dicing them into bite sizes.

Cucumbers, peeled, and cut into bite size pieces. If you prefer you can half it lengthwise and remove the seeds, or use an English cucumber. I don't mind the seeds, so I just left those puppies in.



Olives, of the Greek or Mediterranean variety. They usually can be found in the deli section of the grocery, or even in the olive section. I chose a green and kalamata mix.

Throw it all into a bowl in that order and it should look something like this...




Next you need to make a dressing, this is where it really sets itself apart from other crappy salads. It's a slightly modified version of a recipe I saw on For The Love of Cooking.





* 6 tablespoons olive oil
* Juice of 1 lemon
* 2 garlic cloves, pressed
* 3 tsp red wine vinegar
* Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
* 1/2 tsp dried oregano

Whisk it all together until it's creamy and then pour over the salad, top with some feta cheese, and toss. Voila!



I made this for my very picky father who actually finished his whole plate and asked if there were seconds. Then he proceeded to tell me that he needs this recipe. So I think it's a homerun!