The Grand Finale: BPC Day 3

Posted on May 6, 2011 by HungryChildInTheCity

I did it! I made it all the way though the BluePrint Cleanse!

I’m pretty proud of myself, not going to lie. I didn’t think I could go three days on juice alone. It wasn’t nearly as I thought it would be. The key is to be busy so you don’t focus on what you can’t have, instead of focusing on all the extra energy you do have.

I started my journey three days ago:

BPC Day One

BPC Day Two

Day one I was excited and found out that I actually liked the green juice as well as the pineapple one. I did not like the red one, nor was I thrilled with the cashew milk. I had more energy and for the first time in months, my stomach didn’t hurt! Day one was pretty easy, until TBW started talking about how badly he wanted a cheeseburger. While I wasn’t hungry, I had to ask him to stop talking about food.

Day two started out okay, and I got a really amazing full night’s sleep, but I started getting a little hungry in the late morning, especially after a co-worker came back with some delicious smelling fast food. It was a little touch and go there for a while, but I finally felt okay in the late afternoon and made it through the day without cheating. I did have more energy, but couldn’t stop thinking about food! A shopping trip helped distract me and in the end I was fine.

Day three also started out pretty great. I once again woke up with some super energy and shot right out of bed when my alarm went off. It was great to wake up feeling so rested, not to mention no stomach pain! I didn’t miss food, didn’t want food, and was actually really looking forward to the juices. Around noon I was a bit hungry even after my juice. I took a walk around the block to get my body moving and clear my head of foodie thoughts. By the end of the day my mind wasn’t sleepy but my body sure was. I went to bed feeling pretty good – and proud of myself for not eating and sticking to the BPC juices for three whole days!

Are you wondering about the aftermath? Thursday morning I woke up feeling extremely rested. A girl could get used to this! I jumped out of bed ready to start my day. TBW had gone out and gotten us fresh fruit to have for breakfast, since you have to come out of the cleanse slowly, so I took some freshly cut up mango to work with me. I ate about half of the fruit that was with me, which was very little. I was already feeling very full. At lunch I had a spinach salad with veggies and a light dressing – little of it. I didn’t want to overwhelm my stomach by ordering a massive pastrami sandwich on rye…I was nervous it would make me sick.

Frankly, I missed the juices! I really, really wanted to have my green juice for breakfast. I really wanted to have the burst of energy I got out of the pineapple juice. I was looking forward to the great night’s sleep my body craved. Regrettably, BPC is pretty pricey, so I can’t stay on the juice. Three days was enough for me right now. I wish they would lower the prices so I could do this all the time. Instead, I am trying to maintain my feel good life with fresh veggies and fruits, which, interestingly enough, I crave much more than a gigantic burrito or a slice of pizza. Weird. Before this, I would have given anything to be sitting in front of a massive spread of Chinese food. Now I want some cucumbers with balsamic vinegar or fresh strawberries.

I hope this lasts, but who knows? Old habits die hard. If you haven’t tried BPC yet, you probably should. What have you got to loose? I think everyone, no matter what your size, eating habits or how healthy (or not) you are can benefit from BPC. Even my hair is more shiny and my skin looks great. I don’t think I lost any weight really, but that wasn’t the point of my cleanse.

I hope to do it again ASAP!

If you have done a cleanse, what results have you found? If you felt healthier, what did you do to make that feeling last?

Posted in Healthy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

BluePrint Cleanse: Day 2

Posted on May 4, 2011 by HungryChildInTheCity

Someone is eating fast food. Hashbrowns and bacon. I want I want I want.

I am not a McDonald’s lover. Sure, the occasional roadtrip calls for some of their hashbrowns or a stop for some nuggets, but on the regular, I don’t eat there. I am not really a fast food person. Taco Bell is another story, but they are few and far between in Manhattan, so I don’t eat that either. In any case, a co-worker was definitely eating fast food for breakfast and I could smell it and it smelled pretty awesome.

This is new for me. Smelling other people’s food and wanting it. Especially something that I would normally not crave, a la fast food.

When I started the BluePrint Cleanse yesterday, I wasn’t really craving food too much. This morning, when I woke up, I wasn’t hungry. I drank my first green juice and was totally fine, happy, even. Then, around 9:15AM, someone brought their grease coated bag of fast food into the office and it’s all I could think about. Instead of going crazy or hating this cleanse, or worse - cheating - I took my bottle of water downstairs for a very short break to restore my sanity.

My little break worked really well, I wasn’t craving the food anymore and was perfectly fine when I got back to my desk. I had juice 2 around 11:00AM and loved it. It’s my favorite out of he 5 different flavors (the green one repeats!). I tweeted that I loved it so much and wanted to buy just that juice and found out Whole Foods on Bowery carries the individual juices! Many thanks to Emily for letting me know!

At lunchtime, I still wasn’t hungry, but drank the second green juice of the day (juice 3). I left my office to run an errand and took the juice with me. It was nice to be outside in the sunshine, if only for a minute. It took me about 15 minutes to drink the whole green one, but I felt okay doing it.

When I got back upstairs, I realized I felt a tad queasy. I knew I wasn’t going to be sick or anything as dramatic as that, but I did feel a bit…off. Maybe lightheaded? It was hard to tell. I drank two big bottles of water to try to alleviate my symptoms and felt a little better. I still wasn’t hungry, but I also noted that I did want to eat something. I guess, like Dori, I missed the process of eating.

Luckily, Ali kept checking on me throughout the day (and last night) to make sure I wasn’t going crazy and seeing if I needed anything. Yep, please send me a salami sandwich! It’s all I wanted yesterday.

TBW is less than thrilled with the cleanse, he likes the juices well enough, but wouldn’t stop talking about food, which I knew was a gateway to eating, so I had to ask him to stop. He hasn’t cheated yet either, and I’m pretty pumped he got on board so I didn’t have to do it by myself. If he had ordered takeout last night, I would have faltered for sure.

I think I am just a bit sick of the juice. I could see buying individual juices and using it as a meal replacement in the future worked into my regular daily routine. If I am already feeling this way today, I would assume tomorrow is going to be rough.

By 4:00PM I was feeling significantly better – I guess all that water helped! You know what doesn’t help? Reading other food blogs. I want to cook more than ever. My biggest problem (other than being on a juice only cleanse) is that I need a large food processor.

But I digress.

I drank the spicy lemonade (juice 4) at 4:00PM. How poetic. I found it much more light and refreshing than day 1. Funny how that works. I drank it much faster than yesterday, but almost as soon as it was done…

I craved food.

After almost two full days without eating, I suddenly could think of nothing else. I wanted pizza with the cheese scraped off and anything doughy, preferably garlic knots. I wanted a breakfast smoothie too. Something with almond milk and strawberries and peanut butter and bananas. I wanted to dip pretzel chips in nutella. And I wanted Julie’s Clementine Sandwich Cookies…

I knew I had to stop thinking about food. But I just couldn’t. Why was this cleanse so easy for everyone else? Ugh.

I decided the only thing that could make me feel better was some after work retail therapy. I walked to Saks and started perusing the evening wear. I do have a black tie wedding to attend this weekend…

After purchasing a gown and trying on every single pair of shoes on the 8th floor, I headed home. I was starting to get a headache, and it was almost 9 by the time I walked in the door, almost five hours since my last juice…or sip of water. Now I understand why even spacing of the juices and proper hydration are so important during the cleanse. It was the first time I felt pretty sick while cleansing. I practically spilled juice 5 all over me as I quickly drank the whole thing. I also noticed that I like juice 5 even less than yesterday, but I guess enjoying the spicy lemonade more than yesterday makes up for it. I would have preferred another green juice.

I’m not tired as I write this, but I do feel like I need to lay down. My whole body feels tight, and I’m hoping tomorrow’s massage helps that out a great deal. My office gave me a gift certificate for a swanky massage for my birthday, so I’m using it tomorrow since BPC recommends getting one during your cleanse to move some of the toxins out of your body. I will let you know if I feel different when it’s over.

I drank my last and final juice for the day, juice 6 at 10:00PM, and go to bed before the recommended two hours between sleep and the last juice are up. Day 2 is complete and I’m still standing (but now craving Mexican food!).

What foods do you crave when you know you shouldn’t have them?

Posted in Healthy, Reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Ever Popular BluePrint Cleanse: Day 1

Posted on May 3, 2011 by HungryChildInTheCity

I have been thinking about doing a cleanse for some time now. I have read about a few of them, but nothing really seemed to appeal to me, or they all looked really pretty gross. I heard about the BluePrint Cleanse from multiple people who had done it, some people multiple times. Talking to friends about their experiences I found that for the most part, they really liked it. Some felt light headed at some point, some hated the juices, others loved them. Some followed the plan to a T and others made up their own version. I finally decided to give it a try. It’s only three days, what’s the worst that could happen?

On Sunday night, our BluePrint Cleanse arrived, as promised at 8:00PM. Everything was still cold and packed neatly into its boxes, ready to be stocked into the fridge.

TBW agreed to do the cleanse with me, so we carefully unpacked our boxes while cleaning out our fridge to accomodate the many bottles. Good thing we are only doing the three day version, because we dont have much more space!

A BPC juice filled fridge!

Our very full fridge was emptied out pretty quickly on Monday morning as I drank the first juice, a green one. I was really not looking forward to it, as I had heard from most people that it was pretty gross and you had to choke it down.

You know what? I liked it. I really did. It wasn’t terrible at all. It tasted like veggies. I like veggies. No big deal.

After being pleasantly surprised, I took juices 2, 3 and 4 and popped them into the handy cooler bag with the reusable ice packs BPC provided. I was ready to go to work!

Since I drank the first juice at 7:00AM I was feeling hungry around 9:30. I had a plan in my head to drink the first one when I woke up, the second one at 11:00AM, the third at 1:00PM, the fourth at 3:00PM, the fifth when I got home from work and the sixth before bedtime. My timeline was broken at 10:00AM when I drank half of the second juice. I was immediately satiated. I figured I would drink the rest when I got hungry again.

Juice 2, half gone!

I was concerned about not spreading out the juices properly and skipping some. This happened to Dori, as she wasn’t hungry most of the day, and therefore skipped some of the juices. At 11:30AM I had the rest of juice 2. It also went down smoothly, and tasted mostly like pineapple juice, with a hint of mint. Pretty good.  In the middle of all of this, Sara and Ashley tweeted me to make sure I was drinking plenty of water and/or herbal (decaf!) tea. I did so, but frequent trips to the bathroom were also in order. I had to pee every five minutes!

Aside from being a little inconvenient, (my work kept getting interrupted and the bathroom is really far from my desk) I felt great. It was the first time in weeks that I didn’t have a stomachache. I have been having a lot of tummy troubles lately, where foods I used to enjoy are making me sick. I’m figuring it out as we speak (read?) but I was so happy to be sitting at my desk and not be crazy uncomfortable.

By 1:15PM I was hungry (again!) and went for juice 3, the second green juice of the day. It took me much longer to drink it all than it did this morning. I finally finished it 30 minutes later and followed it up with a bottle of water. Not bad.

The crazy thing was, I didn’t crave food too much. I don’t know if it is the cleanse or if I was just happy not to have a stomachache. I smelled food from a co-worker at one point and thought about food for a minute, but it passed very quickly. A few times today I craved a salami and cheese sandwich on a roll. Again, that craving passed extremely quickly as well. It’s a weird thing for me to crave. I don’t really eat sandwiches for lunch, nor do I often get salami and cheese on a roll.

By 4:15PM I was not hungry, but really excited to try the spicy lemonade. Everyone seems to love it! It’s the last juice I brought to work with me, and it’s still cold in it’s BPC cooler bag. The juices never even made it to the fridge. Admittedly, I kept forgetting to put them in there, but it totally worked out.

Spicy lemonade was a little disappointing. It had a spicy aftertaste, but the drink itself was a bit bland. Meh. Not the afternoon delight I was expecting. In any event, I figured what’s left of the day (juices 5 & 6) are brand new to me, and curiosity got me excited to try them.

After work I walked a little before getting on the subway. I did have more energy than normal at that time of day. I ran a few errands and headed home. Once I got home and changed out of work clothes, I went straight to the fridge for juice 5.

As I opened the fridge and saw the remaining juices for the day and realized something: I’m almost finished with day one!

Cool. I wasn’t cranky, I had a bit more energy and felt totally fine. Pumped to try the 5th and red juice, I twisted the top off at 6:45PM. It wasn’t bad at all. It reminds me of carrot ginger dressing that tops a salad at Japanese and Hibachi restaurants. It definitely had hints of sweetness, which was nice after two green juices full of veggies. The red juice is going down faster than any other today. Hmmm. So far, I don’t hate this cleanse even a little bit. It’s weird because I am a total foodie. I eat pretty much everything, I eat large meals and many of them, so I thought this was going to be nearly impossible. Instead I’m finding that I feel good and look forward to the juices, while not being hungry or cranky or crave food so badly that I want to crack.

I wanted to make sure I didn’t drink the last juice less than two hours before I went to sleep, as directed by BPC, so at 8:20PM, I opened the final bottle of the day. Cashew Milk, as they call it, was milky white and smelled incredible. One sip later and I was less than thrilled. TBW loved it, and I certainly drank the whole thing, but I just expected more. It had a light cinnamon taste which was nice, and it didn’t taste bad, but it just wasn’t the amazing treat I had envisioned from everyone else’s feedback.

At the end of my first day I was in a good mood, not too hungry, although TBW and I were craving meat, he wanted a large bacon cheeseburger and I still wanted salami. But it was more of a discussion of food rather than wishing for it. When I got into bed my stomach was rumbling a little bit and it felt really weird because I could feel the juices rolling around in there. Sorry if that’s gross, but it’s true. I fell asleep a happy camper, though.

You want to know what’s awesome? I slept through the night. For the first time in months. I went to sleep and slept peacefully through the entire night. What’s in this stuff?? I am officially excited for day 2!!!!

Have you done the BluePrint Cleanse or any other? If so, what did you think of it?

Posted in Healthy, Reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

The Month of April

Posted on April 27, 2011 by HungryChildInTheCity

You know what happened to me the month of April? A lot.

It’s been almost 30 days since my last post and I have been just so totally swamped there was little time for blogging. I almost didn’t have time to shower and brush my hair. Just kidding, I made time for that. Barely.

In any event, April is always a good month because the first couple of warm days start to hit and sunshine makes everyone a happy camper. Especially me.

I have been taking photos as I went through April and have a few to share with you.

Pretty trees in Central Park on my way home from work.

Wafles and Dinges! It's warm enough to wait on line!

Wafles and Dinges is one of my favorite NYC street cart indulgences. They sit outside my office all day on Friday, basically calling my name to come over and get a waffle covered in Spekuloos. Don’t know about Spekuloos? Oh boy. It’s a gingerbread cinnamon spread that looks like peanut butter but is not quite as thick. You can actually order it on their website, and I highly recommend that you do.

Then I went to a Yankee Game during Opening Week! My iPhone took this cool panoramic shot!
We sat in the Delta Sky Box. It was very cool and fancy. The seats were incredible!
The pretty girls I went with!

The Yankee Game was a lot of fun. I liked how they come and take your order right in your seats! If you don’t love baseball, then you should probably go just for the GARLIC FRIES. They were amazing. We all had kickin’ breath afterwards, but it was totally worth it.

April also brought about another trip to one of my favorite restaurants in the city, DBGB. It’s a slightly fancy gastropub, and the food is outstanding. It opened about a year ago and I have been at least 5 times. You should know that it is ridiculously far away from my apartment. I wrote a review of it a while back and you can find it on the link above. The lats time I went, I took some pictures.Vegetarians, look away!

This picture is a little weird looking, but their homemade sausages are completely worth it.

Komodo Oysters? YES PLEASE.

House made Pappardelle with slow cooked brisket with red wine, pearl onions, mushrooms and smoked bacon. DREAMY.

As if you don’t know by now, I of course ate at The Palm again. Multiple times. But this sunny weather makes me think of fresh fish, so I ordered the sea bass.

Crunchy outside on a bed of steamed spinach. Score.

In an effort to update my wardrobe a little and add some color, I have been scouring Gilt Groupe looking for jewelry. I bought these earrings and am obsessed with them!

Fun Summery Earrings!

I also kicked off my summer by spending a weekend on Fire Island. It was the first weekend a big bar in the town next to me opens for the season, so I went out there with a group of friends for three days. It was absolutely wonderful, and even though it rained all day and night on Saturday, it was completely worth it. I didn’t take any photos that weekend except of my friend Kate’s adorable dog.

He has one blue eye and one brown one. Cool!

He was very cuddly which was good because it was very cold out there!

I also managed to make it to a Mets Game as well…on Opening Day! My dad is a really big Mets fan and always has been, so he took myself, my step-mom and my brother. It was a little drizzly outside, but still a lot of fun. I took a panoramic photo of that stadium too, but it seems to have disappeared off of my phone. Sadface.

My month ended (almost!) with Easter Sunday at my mom’s house in Westchester where she made a phenominal meal of roasted root veggies, mushrooms and wild rice and roasted lamb with homemade tzatziki sauce, which is one of my favorite dishes. Recipes to follow. It was such a nice Sunday, the weather was gorgeous but very hot. My friend Ali came for the festivities too and it’s always nice to have her. My mom pretty much thinks of her as part of our family now.

I know you are supposed to make New Year’s resolutions, but I am ready to make some Mid-Year Resolutions. Next week I am trying out the BluePrint Cleanse, because I want to detox my body and get myself into a better state. I also want to start working out again…or at least making subtle changes like walking two subway stops further than I normally do.

I don’t know if it will stick, but hopefully this cleanse will be just as good for my mind as it will be for my body.

How was your April? I know it’s not over yet, but do you have any plans to give yourself a makeover before summer starts??

 

Posted in Food and Drink, Friends, Manhattan, The Palm | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Why Do You Blog?

Posted on March 30, 2011 by HungryChildInTheCity

So I started blogging because my good friends Ali and Teddy were doing it and it was fun to read about their lives. I thought I would like becoming part of a community that shares recipes and foodie recommendations. I found that community, mostly through Foodbuzz, but also through fellow bloggers that have stumbled across my site or I have stumbled across theirs.

Now I blog because I think it’s fun, and I have had a lot of great feedback from family and friends that read every time I post! I still can’t get over that people actually care about what I’m doing. It’s a cool feeling. Not only are people who I know in real life reading and liking my blog, I have people who I have never met liking it too!

Yesterday, Allie at Big City, Baby Carrots bestowed upon me the honor of being one of the 10 bloggers she picked for the Circle of Friends Award. I know it’s not an official award or anything, but it was so awesome for her to think of me! In her words: “The Circle of Friendship Award goes out to 10 other bloggers whose blogs inspire me with their creative recipes, thoughtful posts, and amusing life stories. They also are bloggers who offer comments on my blog that are both encouraging and make the whole blogging thing worthwhile…”

I was really touched that she thought of me! This is why I blog. Because I am hoping that someone, somewhere is reading what I have to say and liking it. I also appreciate that she likes my comments. I try not to comment unless I have something I really want to say, instead of just commenting for the hits to my site. It was great to be recognized as a thoughtful blogger!

You should really check out Big City, Baby Carrots because it’s a great blog. You can also find it in my blogroll. AND, she just passed the bar exam and is officially a lawyer!!! So excited for her.

In completely unrelated news…

Remember when I told you some of the things that make me warm weather ready? I have another one to add to my list. Probably the most important summery-item of all to me:

BRAND NEW OLIVER PEOPLES SUNNIES!!!

I like them because they are sorta vintage and there are no rhinestones or any other bling bling on their. I’m a simple girl I guess.

Why do you blog? What motivates you to continue to blog each day, each week, ect? Have you ever been honored as a blogger, by an organization or a fellow blogger?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Sorry Vegetarians, This Post Won’t Help You

Posted on March 28, 2011 by HungryChildInTheCity

I have a few cooking tricks up my sleeve. Not a lot, but a few. Some are fool-proof. Roasting a chicken and some onions is one of those great dishes. It’s super easy and people always seem to be impressed with your kitchen prowess, which is crazy because even the most novice of cooks can make this dish.

I work pretty long hours, at least 10 hours a day and that means I am usually in no mood to cook an elaborate meal when I get home. TBW cooks sometimes, but we usually order out or heat up a frozen Fresh Direct pizza or something to that effect. We don’t get fancy.

We do eat out a lot, so last Sunday we made a roasted chicken and shared our dinner with Jen while watching the series finale of Big Love. This recipe does take a while in the oven, so just be prepared to wait for it, but on a cold winter’s day, there is no better way to heat up your apartment. Not to mention the smell is incredible too!

Ingredients:

  • One whole chicken (yes, with skin, bones, the works.)
  • One whole lemon.
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Good Olive Oil
  • One whole Spanish onion

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Place the uncooked chicken on a baking sheet with a lip around the edge. You don’t want the juices running all over the place!
  3. Rub the chicken thoroughly with olive oil, salt and pepper. Use as much salt and pepper as you like, but make sure the entire chicken gets olive oil.
    Covered in salt, pepper and olive oil. 

  4. Cut a lemon in half. Place both halves inside the body cavity of the chicken. Sounds gross, but it’s a great way to keep it moist and add even more flavor.
    Lemon into the chicken. 

  5. Place the chicken uncovered in the oven and cook for about an hour and a half. Make sure you check on it every so often towards the end, you don’t want to overcook it!
  6. Cut up the onion into large slices. Set aside.
  7. With about 20-30 minutes left on the cooking time for the bird, sprinkle the chopped up onion all over the baking sheet with the chicken on it and drizzle (light drizzle!) olive oil over the pieces. Put the whole thing back in the oven to finish cooking. (If you can, do this without fully removing the chicken from the oven. Just pull the baking sheet out far enough to get onions all over)
  8. When the chicken is done, pull it out of the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes with a piece of tin foil loosely over the top. If you cut into it too soon, all the juicy goodness will come out and you will have a dry bird. Not so tasty.
    All roasted and golden brown. Ready for eating! 

  9. Carve and serve with the roasted onions. I usually do a veggie with it and a baked or mashed potato.

Keep in mind, depending upon your oven, you may need to cook this more or less than prescribed above. You can also make this without the onions, obviously, but the aroma they make while they cook is worth the tears while you cut it up!

Click Here for the full recipe as it’s posted in Me and My Kitchen.

Go ahead and try this recipe out, let me know what you think, and what the people you feed it to think!

Posted in Food and Drink, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Summer is Coming.

Posted on March 28, 2011 by HungryChildInTheCity

I know it’s cold today in New York City, but I thought the best way to beat the cold weather blues is by talking about warm weather loves.

I love so many things about the summer. I go to Fire Island every summer and have since I was six years old. My family has a house out there, so every weekend from May through October is spent at the beach. It’s my favorite time of year, and lately I have been getting into the summer groove with the following things.

 

New coral heels to wear to work from Gilt Groupe! Such a great summer color.

 

Lobster (from The Palm of course!) Such a great summer food. I love cooking it right on the grill!

Roadtrips! My friend Jen and I roadtripped to Jersey last weekend. That’s a shot of the George Washington Bridge on a beautiful clear day.
Fresh fruit. Specifically strawberries, blueberries and plums.

 

Friends! What's better than a nice cold beverage with friends in the summer? Phil and Dave were happy to have cold beverages in cold weather with me last week in Brooklyn.

 

Great tans! My friend Lauren is very tan after her recent trip to Miami. I'm jealous, as I am clearly very pale. Everyone looks better with a tan! We took this one last night at Brother Jimmy's in Midtown.

There are so many other things that make me think of summer. Once I get out to Fire Island for the season, I will definitely make sure to take a lot of pictures so you can see exactly what Fire Island is. In the meantime, I’m still looking forward to summer and have started counting down the days to Memorial Day. (Exactly 60 days from today, in case you were wondering.)

What makes you think of summer, even in the cold weather? What are you most excited for in the coming months?

Posted in Summer, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

My Favorite Italian Pasta.

Posted on March 18, 2011 by HungryChildInTheCity

I adore Penne a la Vodka. It is my go-to pasta dish. I order it when I go out, I have made it at home, whenever I can get my hands on it, I gobble it right up.

I think it’s a great warm winter dish and an equally refreshing summer dish. I add more cheese in the winter, more basil in the summer. It’s also a great recipe because you can easily double or triple it to feed a lot of people, it’s vegetarian which suits everyone and even picky eaters take seconds.

It’s also difficult to mess this one up. You can change the recipe around to add shrimp, chicken, other veggies…whatever you can think of. Everything goes well with vodka sauce!!

 

Click Here to check out the recipe I posted. Happy Eating!

Posted in Food and Drink, Recipes, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Standard St. Patrick’s Day Post

Posted on March 18, 2011 by HungryChildInTheCity

Everyone is blogging about St. Patrick’s Day. I get it. I did the same thing as everyone else in NYC…went to a bar with friends for a few brewskis. I didn’t drink any green beer (I think it’s sort of gross). I went with an ice cold PBR instead.

I wore a lot of green to be festive though, and had some whiskey to honor the Irish. My friend Rachel and I made grilled cheeses for dinner in an effort to put something cheap and fast in our tummies so we could get out there and meet up with everyone! We went to Sin Bin and most people were wearing green to celebrate. Some people even brought their kids. I think that’s really strange. To each their own, I guess?

In any event, not everyone was rocking green, but we became resourceful!

My friend Ben refused to wear green, wo we gave him this sticker instead.

My friend Sarah and I. I wore a green scarf, necklace and tee-shirt. I was festive!

I didn’t get to eat any corned beef or Irish soda bread, which was disappointing, but maybe next year? I’m currently in the process of typing out my Penne a la Vodka recipe I mentioned yesterday, so you guys can try it out.

How did you spend your St. Patrick’s Day?

Posted in Friends, Holidays, Manhattan | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Green Makes Me Happy

Posted on March 17, 2011 by HungryChildInTheCity

Green is my favorite color. So it is only natural for me to love St. Patrick’s Day, even though I am not Irish. Green is fun, any shade is pretty and it makes me happy. The take away is that I love St. Patrick’s Day because green is awesome and it’s completely acceptable to wear all green, all day.

Since I work in finance and it is not acceptable to dress casually all day, I did what I could with bright green, while still keeping my outfit client-ready.

Green Moccasins from J. Crew!

So much fun. I will have to put on heels at some point, but for now, I’m sticking to the green flats. It’s also warm enough out to wear my ankle length black dress pants that I love to death, so all around it’s a happy day. In keeping with my happy theme, I ate my favorite breakfast.

S'mores Luna Bar

It’s tasty and easy to throw in my bag. I hate eating a big breakfast, it makes me sleepy by lunchtime. If you know anywhere to get Luna Bars in bulk, leave a comment to let me know! (No, Costco doesn’t carry them…believe me, I looked!)

Enough about my morning, want to know what I had for dinner? Penne a la Vodka. That is probably my favorite Italian pasta dish. I have a great recipe to make your own vodka sauce at home and it’s really good. I will post it soon.

Penne a la Vodka

I ate everything on my plate of course. I like this recipe because there are not huge chunks of tomatoes but there is a lot of basil, so it’s the perfect sauce for me. I am not a fan of tomatoes in large pieces in my sauces. I find it too overpowering of the other flavors involved. I also never thought I could make a good vodka sauce until I found this recipe, and if I can do it, anyone can.

Alright, I have to get some work done so I can maybe leave a tad early and get the celebrations started!

What are your St. Patrick’s Day Plans? I hope you’re wearing green today!

Posted in Manhattan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments