My morning snack today included veggies, string cheese and hummus. I rarely snack on vegetables, as I typically gravitate toward fresh fruit, peanut butter, a smoothie or Greek yogurt. 

I initially planned to make myself a salad for lunch, but after snacking on raw vegetables this morning, I was in the mood for something different. 

I made myself a bowl of Monterey Pasta Company lobster ravioli, topped with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese.

I also ate two plums as I waited for the ravioli to cook on the stovetop and Sadie stared at me with intense longing for a bite of people food.

She kills me.

I haven’t bought plums in ages and randomly purchased five this week. I ate three yesterday and two today. All gone!

I must remember to buy them again in the future because they were so much better than I remembered. I also think I managed to snag some exceptionally delicious plums, because I remember biting into my fair share of tart plums in my day.

The Maze Runner Trilogy

Last week, Ryan and I finished reading the final book in The Maze Runner trilogy, The Death Cure. (The second book is The Scorch Trials.)

When we first began reading the books, I promised you guys a review and I’m here to deliver!

Michelle recommended that I read The Maze Runner since she knows I really enjoy dystopian novels and loved The Hunger Games and Divergent. (Side note: I know The Hunger Games is crazy-popular right now and if you read and loved the books in that series, you must read Divergent. I actually liked it even more than The Hunger Games.)

The Maze Runner follows Thomas, a teenage boy who wakes up in the middle of the Glade with his memory completely wiped. Boys just like Thomas, whose memories have also been wiped, live in the Glade, a large, desolate place surrounded by stone walls with doors that open out to a seemingly never-ending maze every morning and close every night.

Thomas and the other Gladers are determined to find a way out of the maze and figure out who put them there and why. Some of the Gladers are able to remember bits and pieces from their past and these little glimpses into the outside world add to the intrigue of the book.

The arrival of the first girl to the Glade knocks Thomas off his feet as he realizes he has a serious connection to her. Gradually Thomas realizes his role in the Glade is an important one and one he must take very seriously if the Gladers ever hope to get out of the maze and understand their new world.   

I don’t want to say too much more in case you decide to read the second and third books, but the additional books in the trilogy continue to follow the Gladers and their adventures. The books are action-packed, fast-moving and every chapter ends in a way that makes you want to keep reading.

Of Possible Interest

• How To Make Your Own Home Gym (HuffingtonPost.com)
• Four Body-Toning Moves You Can Do with Just a Chair (FitSugar.com)
• Foods to Eat for a Healthy Mind and a Healthy Heart (MSN.com)

You know you’re working hard when thinking about jogging instead of walking sounds like a break.

Can you tell I tackled some incline walking this morning?

I spent 20 minutes on the treadmill completing this workout:

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Keeping the speed at 4.0 while haulin’ hiney at a 12.0 incline is tough!

After my time on the treadmill, I completed an upper body workout that focused on my chest, triceps and shoulders and included the following exercises:

• Push ups
• Upright rows
• Tricep dips
• Overhead press
• Chest press on exercise ball
• Side shoulder raises
• Tricep extensions
• Front shoulder raises
• Tricep pull downs

Great workout!

Breakfast

My morning meal repurposed last night’s dinner!

I chopped up the remaining slice of the artichoke and broccoli quiche and added it to a scrambled egg mixture made with two eggs, milk and fresh mozzarella cheese.

Served with a side of whole wheat toast.

I am also on day two of sipping on a new kind of coffee.

I bought Newman’s Own vanilla caramel coffee at Publix on Monday and after my first cup yesterday, I wasn’t sure it was going to be a winner. I’ve come to realize that it often takes me trying a new flavor of coffee two to three times before I really start to like it. I think this is because I have an idea of exactly how the flavor will taste in my mind, so when I actually try it, it’s never quite right.

Luckily this flavor is growing on me! I would power through it even if it wasn’t though because I’m not about to throw away $7 worth of coffee.

Time to get to work! I will be going out of town again on Friday afternoon, so I want to be sure to get a lot done in the next two days.

And I’m off!

Those eggs I had for breakfast? They sparked a craving in me bright and early and I knew I’d be making breakfast for dinner tonight.

Bring on the quiche!

I wanted to make a yummy quiche, but didn’t have any pie crust on hand, nor did I feel like making one from scratch, so I set out to find a recipe for quiche with a non-traditional crust.

I found a recipe for artichoke quiche through MyRecipes.com that I figured I could tweak. I upped the veggie content in the dish and changed a handful of other things in order to use ingredients I had on hand.

A combination of cooked pearled barley, egg whites, garlic and cheese ended up serving as my crust and I loved the dense, chewy texture.

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Artichoke and Broccoli Quiche with a Barley Crust

• Adapted from Artichoke Quiche, MyRecipes.com
• Makes six slices

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked pearled barley
• 3/4 cup reduced-fat shredded cheese
• 6 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 small garlic clove, diced
• 1 (14-ounce) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
• 3/4 cup almond milk (regular milk will also work)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 cup chopped broccoli florets
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine barley, 1/4 cup cheese, 2 egg whites, garlic salt and garlic. Stir together and pour into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake for 5 minutes.
3. Arrange artichoke quarters on bottom of barley crust and sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.
4. Combine remaining four egg whites, milk, onion, mustard broccoli, salt and pepper and pour over cheese.
5. Bake for 55 minutes or until set. Let cool for 5 minutes and cut into six wedges.

I had two extra-large slices and really enjoyed the quiche. There is only one small slice remaining, so it’s safe to say that this quiche was a hit in our house.

After dinner, Ryan and I took Sadie on her evening walk and now I’m feeling extra cozy in my pajamas and am off to read The Paris Wife! I’m about halfway through this month’s book club selection and am enjoying it so far.

Gotta love leftovers!

Lunch today came together quickly thanks to reheated leftovers from last night’s dinner. All of the sausage pieces were gone thanks to Ryan, but the remaining wheat berry risotto was still fantastic.

I added a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top because I’m cheesy.

Since today’s portion wasn’t that large, I also ate a cup of Fage 2 percent Greek yogurt on the side.

If you see a green tint the the yogurt, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. I added a spoonful of pistachio pudding mix to the yogurt for some sweetness and flavor. Yogurt pudding! It’s a great little treat!

Now for some wedding fun!

Wedding Statistics

Since the wedding-related posts that pop up on this blog always seem to be relatively popular (dating duration before engagement + average engagement length), I figured a handful of you guys would likely find the following collection of statistics as interesting as I did when I read them at the gym this morning!

In the February 2012 issue of Ocala Magazine, a large portion of the content is dedicated to weddings trends and wedding planning.

Even though I am already married, I still love reading about weddings. And yes, I even have a “Wedding Ideas… For Other People” board on Pinterest. I’m pretty sure everyone who got married before Pinterest took off wishes that site was around when they were planning their big day!

Well, one page in the latest issue of Ocala Magazine included a plethora of wedding statistics compiled by Caroline Fischer, many of which completely surprised me.

Most Popular:

• Most popular month for weddings: June, followed by August and May
• Most popular engagement month: December
• Most popular wedding location: Istanbul, Turkey, followed by Las Vegas

By the States:

West Texas has the youngest average brides, New York has the oldest. Nebraska and Iowa have the largest weddings, while Hawaii and Nevada have the smallest wedding guest lists.

The most expensive wedding areas in the United States in 2010 were Manhattan ($70,730), Long Island ($51,811) and North/Central New Jersey ($49,374). (Floridians: South Florida was number 10 on the list.)

Averages:

• Average number of weddings per year: 2.3 million (6,200 weddings per day or 44,230 weddings per weekend)
• Average budget: $26,951
• Average number of guests: 178
• Average cost of wedding dress: $1,124
• Average cost of bride’s ring: $6,113
• Average cost of groom’s ring: $468
• Average cost of a wedding cake: $591
• Average age of bride: 25.3
• Average age of groom: 26.9
• Average number of bridesmaids/groomsmen: 5

(Sources: www.weddingstats.org, www.soundvision.com, www.partytime-rentals.com, www.weddingbusinesstoday.com)

Question of the Afternoon

• Did any of these wedding statistics surprise you?

I remember reading a handful of wedding statistics when Ryan and I started planning our big day and felt completely shocked by the average cost of everything. Wowza!   

For those of you who tweeted to me last night during The Bachelor, yes, Lindzi did bring Ben to my new hometown of Ocala to meet her family!

And yes, Ocala is known for horses. Ocala is actually known as the “horse capital of the world.”  Fancy, huh? I live in quite the happenin’ place!

Ryan and I were waiting to see if Lindzi took Ben anywhere out and about in Ocala to get some more ideas of fun things to do in our little town, but they stayed close to home. Looks like riding horses really is one of the main forms of entertainment here!

Too bad our steed is a bit smaller than most…

Workout

Today’s workout began with 10 minutes on the arc trainer, followed by 10 minutes on the elliptical.

Then it was time for some strength training! I spent about 35 minutes completing the following exercises:

Breakfast

Last night as my mushroom and spinach wheat berry mock risotto was simmering, I took advantage of the wait time and chopped up a bunch of vegetables to use throughout the rest of the week.

It was a nice lil’ time-saving shortcut that came in handy this morning!

I used chopped onion, red and yellow pepper in a three-egg and cheese scramble and loved the added punch of flavor and color. Plus, they  were much prettier than typical scrambled eggs! 

These eggs were so good that I’m considering making tonight a “breakfast for dinner” kind of night!

Question of the Morning

• What is your hometown’s “claim to fame?”
• What do you think your hometown should be known for?

Ocala is all about horses and Orlando was definitely known for all of the Disney theme parks, though there is so much more to both places! If you have plans to travel to Orlando, I highly recommend venturing outside of the parks and taking in some of the other wonderful things that the city has to offer. I list my favorite “non-theme park” activities in this post: Orlando: The Non-Theme Park Side.

I started clicking around my blog and quickly stumbled upon my butternut squash and wheat berry mock risotto. I loved that recipe! It was a huge hit in our house with both me and Ryan and I figured I could play around with different vegetables and come up with another wheat berry mock risotto dish for dinner this evening.

Wheat berries are much chewier than rice and I love the texture they add to a creamy dish like this mock risotto.

I decided to use an onion, mushrooms and spinach to add flavor and nutritional value to the meal and it turned out fantastic!

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Mushroom and Spinach Wheat Berry Mock Risotto

Serves: 3

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 1 1/4 cups Portobello mushrooms, chopped (about 4 ounces)
• 1 cup uncooked wheat berries
• 1 (14-ounce) can reduced sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 8 cups fresh spinach
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 links cooked chicken apple sausage, sliced (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat
2. Add onion; cook 10 minutes or until tender and golden, stirring occasionally
3. Add mushrooms; cook 3 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally
4. Add wheat berries; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly
5. Add broth; bring to a boil
6. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally
7. Uncover, add parmesan cheese and chicken sausage, stir
8. Add spinach, stir until spinach wilts and cook for an additional 3 minutes or until liquid is absorbed

This dish can easily be made vegetarian by using vegetable broth and omitting the chicken sausage. Such a yummy meal!

Other risotto-inspired recipes that have popped up on PBF:

• Cauliflower and Eggplant Barley Risotto
• Shrimp and Zucchini Barley Risotto
• Goat Cheese and Butternut Squash Barley Risotto
• Butternut Squash and Wheat Berry Mock Risotto

After dinner, Ryan and I took Sadie on a 30-minute walk around the neighborhood before coming home to watch Jeopardy. I miss the college tournament on Jeopardy! I was killin’ it when the college kids were on last week and was humbled yet again this evening when the questions returned to their normal level of difficulty. C’mon, Alex!

Hoping to cram in some reading before The Bachelor starts. Home town dates tonight!

Right before lunchtime today, I headed off to the grocery store.

I’m pretty sure cheese and beer wouldn’t make a nutritious midday meal and since that’s basically all we had in our fridge, I needed to pick up some food.

Much better!

Lunch

After unloading the groceries, I fixed myself a plate for lunch.

As I was unloading the groceries, I ended up eating a good amount of the fresh mozzarella cheese I bought with the intent to make a caprese salad for lunch, inspired by the one my mother-in-law made yesterday.

Well, after eating a bunch of the cheese before I had a chance to assemble the salad, I opted to use a bit of it in a sandwich instead since I figured that would come together faster and I didn’t feel like chopping vegetables.

At the rate I was eating cheese, all of it would’ve been gone before I had a chance to sit down to eat a salad, so a sandwich ended up being a fast and equally delicious option.

I ate the fresh mozzarella atop toasted honey wheat bread with yellow tomato slices, spinach and pesto.

Sides included strawberries and raw almonds.

Oh healthy food, I missed you and your vibrant colors!

I also wanted to say thank you for all of the yummy dinner suggestions you guys posted in the comments section of my morning post.

You now have me drooling over new dinner ideas! From casseroles to breakfast pizza to pasta dishes and homemade soups, I am pumped! Sometimes all it takes to get out of a food rut is taking the time to plan and get excited about meals again. Hoping tonight’s dinner is a winner!

I definitely notice that eating sugar makes me crave more sugar. There were quite a few vacation days that started with snacking on leftover dessert or sweet treats before 9 a.m., causing my sweet tooth to run rampant for the rest of the day!

It was glorious, but I’m also ready to get my normal energy back.

Workout

Getting in the gym at 5: 30 a.m. wasn’t too bad. I figured I’d be totally pooped, but Sadie woke me up at 4 a.m. to go outside to the bathroom and I tossed and turned in bed until the alarm went off an hour later. While I would’ve preferred a sound sleep for my last hour in bed, I think it made it easier to wake up since I wasn’t really sleeping well anyway.

Today’s workout began with 20 minutes on the elliptical while reading a magazine. Then it was time to workout my legs!

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This was a great return-to-the-gym leg workout. I would bet good money that I’m going to be sore tomorrow. I did the squats in a wide stance, so my quads were feelin’ it!

Breakfast

Our food is extremely limited at the moment. A trip to the grocery store is necessary today!

Fortunately I had a pack of English muffins stashed in the freezer from when they were buy one get one free at Publix and made myself an egg, cheese and jelly sandwich.

Two fried eggs + Muenster cheese + Raspberry jelly

I was really cravin’ fresh berries this morning to eat along with my breakfast sandwich, so I have a feeling a pint of blueberries will be one of the first things I pick up today!

I am also hoping to make some new-to-me dinners this week. I feel like I’ve been in a bit of a food rut lately, so if you have any go-to recipes you’ve been loving, please feel free to share in the comments section. I’m hoping to make some kind of a dinner meal plan before I head out to the grocery store so I don’t revert back to buying all the same stuff I’ve been buying that’s losing its luster.

We are back in Ocala and are officially reunited with the princess herself!

I missed that crazy face.

While we were in Sanibel, my mother-in-law and her boyfriend kindly watched Sadie for the weekend. We’re pretty sure she had a blast chasing the reflecting light in their yard and commanding their undivided attention. She’s already passed out on our couch and we only arrived home 10 minutes ago, so I think she had a good time!

After breakfast this morning, Ryan and I drove to his mom’s house in Sarasota to pick up Sadie, eat lunch and spend a few hours with his family.

His grandma and her boyfriend came over to visit and brought their adorable maltese, Dottie.

Isn’t she a sweetie?

She is a little camera shy, so getting those two pictures of her took some coercing… or some super-fast picture snapping!

We ate a late lunch that seemed more like a gourmet dinner. I was a fan!

My mother-in-law is a fantastic cook and prepared a meal that began with fresh caprese salad, topped with olive oil and salt.

The main course included lots of delicious food and I filled my plate, returning for seconds of almost everything. 

And no meal at my mother-in-law’s is complete without dessert.

Vanilla ice cream and whipped cream on top of fresh strawberries and a slice of shortcake was the perfect ending to a fantastic meal.

Ryan’s mom sent us home with the leftover meat which will be tonight’s dinner.

We made great time on the drive back home.

The ‘90s pop station on Pandora served as our road trip music.

Gotta love Sister Hazel. Ryan said he owns their first CD and it’s somewhere in a box in our house, so my mission tonight is to dig it up! I love popping in old CDs after not listening to them for years. Nostalgia!

Tonight’s plans include being a lazy bum on the couch and catching up on old shows on the DVR.

See ya bright and early in the morning!

Our final day in Sanibel concluded with a bang.

Ryan and I were up nice and early and went for a walk on the beach after I grabbed a quick snack of a Luna bar and several handfuls of granola.

The walk from our condo to the lighthouse and back is exactly three miles. It’s the perfect distance for a morning or late-afternoon stroll and I’ve loved completing the walk every day! I’m going to miss it tomorrow.

On our walk this morning we saw a dolphin swimming just off the shore which was pretty neat!

And then two little boys tried to swim with it and scared the dolphin away. I don’t blame them for trying. I think everyone secretly hopes they’re the “dolphin whisperer” and will magically be able to swim with wild dolphins.

After our walk, everyone was awake and we met up for a late breakfast at The Island Cow, the same place we visited on Friday for lunch.

Another funfetti muffin to start!

My aunt, sister and I all ordered poached eggs with grits, breakfast potatoes, toast and fruit and really enjoyed our meals. I also had a taste of Ryan’s breakfast burrito and loved his meal choice as well.

After breakfast, we spent the afternoon on the beach, soaking up the sun (with sunscreen!), reading, talking and walking along the shore. My dad was traveling for work and wasn’t able to join our gang until this afternoon, so we were all excited when he arrived around 2:30 p.m.

We enjoyed a shortened cocktail hour outside our condo before heading off to an early dinner at The Green Flash, a nice restaurant on Captiva Island.

The drinks kept comin’ at dinner and our meal was very good.

Vodka + Water + Lime for me… I’m a vodka girl through and through when it comes to liquor.

Along with our drinks, we shared an appetizer of parmesan artichoke hearts and a basket of warm bread with butter.

I had a bit of the artichokes and two pieces of bread which were both decent.

My entrée was definitely the highlight of my dinner experience. Bring on the mussels and garlic bread!

My goodness, the broth that came along with my mussels was fantastic. I had everyone dipping bits of their meal into my remaining broth because it was that tasty.

After dinner we had only one thing on our minds.

A trip to The Bubble Room.

There’s no place quite like The Bubble Room on the planet. It’s a restaurant where knickknacks rule and creepy toys pop out at you around every corner. It’s both magical and freaky all at the same time.  

Aside from the stimulating décor, we always make sure to make a trip to The Bubble Room during any visit to Sanibel for their phenomenal cakes.

We ordered six of the humongous slices of cake for our group to share to bring back to the condo.

I know it may look a little strange, but the orange crunch cake is their number one seller and it tastes fantastic. In between layers of moist cake is a brown sugar and almond crunch layer that is unlike anything I’ve ever had in a slice of cake before. So delicious!

My favorite cake was their coconut cake but everyone else agreed that the orange crunch reigned supreme.

Sugar coma, for sure. I’m quite ready to get some vegetables and healthy food back in my belly tomorrow but tonight’s vacation eats were pretty amazing!

Time to face plant into bed.

Goodnight!