Tacos 2 Ways

Hey!

Tonight we had vegetarian and traditional tacos using my Mom's taco recipe and another based on Mama Pea's Roasted Chickpea Tacos - a vegan alternative to tacos that doesn't use fake meat (of which I am not a fan of)..

Originally I was going to make my Mom's tacos since I had half a pound of ground beef to use up.

See,  we love Mexican food !!!  Here we are taking a cooking class in Mexico :)

Mother Mercer's Taco Filling
Serves 4 with leftovers :)

1 lb Ground Meat (we usually use ground turkey but I had beef on hand)
1 packet Taco Seasoning (I like McCormick)
1 can of diced tomatoes

Brown your ground meat in a non-stick skillet, add seasoning, and diced tomatoes... Simmer until meat is cooked through and your desired consistency if reached.
This is a simple recipe but makes the best taco filling!

But then I saw a can of garbanzo beans in the cupboard and remembered that I had been wanting to make Mama Peas's tacos.  So - I made both.

Her recipe is here.  But instead of using all of the spices - I substituted the rest of the taco seasoning packet I had.  I was going to let my sister try them.... but then I read that the McCormick taco seasoning has milk in it!  How random!

So they are no longer vegan, but they still are delicious.  Plus they are definitely not vegan when you add cheese and sour cream to them... but at least they are vegetarian! :)  Here are the finished products!  Both were amazing of course - I really liked the roasted garbanzo beans -- this is the first time I have eaten them this way.

Toppings included sour cream, cheese, and avocado :)

We had roasted broccoli on the side - kind of random but we love roasted broccoli right now :)

Love, Allison

Rained Out

Hey!

  I should have remembered more about foreshadowing from my high school English classes --

This morning on my way to work - a cab went speeding by me while I waited for the bus and splashed water all over me a la Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City --

I should have taken that as a lesson and not headed out on a run with Milos and Scout when thunderstorms were in the forecast

We were caught in the worst downpour ever complete with lighting over our heads and thunder!  We were in Central Park and quickly took the nearest exit as to avoid being struck by lightning!  Poor Scoutie wasn't too happy!

Running with Scout is something new I have been trying this week.  I took her out earlier in the week and she did 1.7 miles without even panting!  She is a trooper!  And she loves to run, she was actually pulling me up the hills!

Our run was much more enjoyable in the sun :)   

I am currently blogging from Starbucks and enjoying my weekly Mocha Coconut Frappucino Light!  If you get the Light version a tall has ONLY 110 calories!!!!!!!  And it tastes like a million bucks!  I will shed a tear when they retire it at the end of the summer :(

I'll be back later with a dinner inspired by Mama Pea!

Love, Allison 

I (WANT) Need a Smartphone

Hey!  

Let me explain this title.....  I was at a museum today snapping some pics on my small basic phone....then i wanted to put them on my blog, so I had to :

1)  Text pics to Milos's iPhone 

2)  Save pics to iPhone

3)  Email pics from Milos's iPhone to my email account 

4)  Download pics from my email account to the computer 

5)  Upload pics from the computer to the blog

----- Am I missing something here?  Shouldn't this be easier?  I could get an iPhone but I refuse to pay that much for a data package :)  I choose to mooch off of my boyfriend!  Haha!

Well -- I went though all that hassle to bring you this amazing world-class sketch from none other than yours truly!  

 

This is probably the best drawing I have ever done -- I plan to brag about this for years to come, frame it, and hang it somewhere prominent :)

Today, Kendall and I started our Sunday morning the usual way -- with Peacefood Cafe -- only the most wonderful vegan cafe in the world!  We go so often that they know us there -- it is pretty cool -- it is our Monk's (for all you Seinfeld fans).  We then walked through the park to go to the Frick Museum

 -- an awesome former home of an art collector with all the art on the walls!  There were all my faves -- Vermeer, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Ingres..... 

 After we browsed the collection they were having a free sketch in the courtyard -- the museum provided the materials and you supplied the creativity.  Kendall and I spent some time sketching away -- this is one of the reasons I love NYC -- museums and spontaneous fun :)

You can see Kendall in the far left sketching -- our mother and her are REAL artists

Kendall and I concluded our perfect Sunday morning with a stop in G Free NYC ( a gluten free store near out apt) for Sample Sundays -- I tried some delicious gluten-free pizza and picked up some brown rice pasta.  I have been wanting to try it for a while, so I will let you guys know how it is :)  No, Kendall nor I are gluten-free but we like new foods and experimenting :)

From http://www.maxvite.com/270/3214/Tinkyada_Brown_Rice_Fusilli_Gluten_Free/product.html

Topping off the perfect Sunday was a run with the boyfriend to test out the new shoes ( I think they did well!!) and some NYC street food :)  

Please excuse the Diet Coke can in the background -- it was a moment of weakness.........

and with that, hope you have a great start to your week!

Love, Allison

Hey!  Happy Weekend To Everyone!!!

Saturday started nice and early with the exciting addition of my new stainless steel straw that I bought through Tina @ Carrots 'n Cake's Opensky Shop.  There was a flash sale on them so I snagged a deal!  I have been wanting a reusable straw but the glass one my sister owns does not work for me (ie: I broke it), so the stainless steel seemed like a better fit for my occasional clumsiness.  

Breakfast was PB, banana, and chia seeds on a Bagel Thin!!!!  Milos and I buy a double bag of Bagel Thins at Costco and still go through these in like 4 days -- yesterday Milos ate one with breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  Hehe!  At least they are only 100 calories!

We had rain and hevy mist on Saturday, but I was still able to RUN THE FARTHEST I HAVE EVER RUN!  3 miles might not seem like a big deal, but for a girl who has never run in her life this was a huge accomplishment :)  Milos pushed me the last half a mile or I probably would have given up!  

To reward myself and my tired feet I bought real running shoes!  I had been running with really awful shoes that hurt my feet, so I went to a running store near my apartment and had my gait analyzed.  Its a really cool thing to do, they tape your feet when you run using a bunch of different shoes and see which works best.  With my luck, I ended up having the worst pronation when I run :(  So I had to pass on these cool flashy running shoes......

From http://barefootrunningshoes.org/2009/12/29/introducing-the-newton-running-shoes/

And choose between the two highest motion control shoes they sold -- I chose this grey number -- I might not get noticed in them but at least my feet will be happy and injury free :)

Since it was finally cool enough to bake in the apartment, I made a box of No Pudge Raspberry brownies that I had been saving from my trip to Wegman's.  They are deeelicious!!!!! 

I decided to fancy mine up with some whipped cream cheese and raspberry preserves.  But these were not just any preserves, they were NYC's Sarabeth's preserves in Raspberry Key Lime!  It was amazing and gone way to quickly.   

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

Love, Allison

SEE'S the day

Hey!

I have definitely been enjoying the warm weather in NYC!!!  However, don't ask me how I feel tomorrow, since its supposed to be 97 degrees!

One thing that made my week was this box!

If you can't read that -- it is See's Candy from CALIFORNIA!!  One of the lovely families I work with brought it to me after they visited CA.  They thought I would enjoy a piece of home here in NYC!!!  They were sure right!  There is now one bite out of each chocolate missing.... woops :)

Another thing that made my week was getting in a yoga class!  I am trying to go to at least one class a week.  I am going to the Yoga to the People studio -- only $5 a class for HOT Vinyasa (100 degrees in the room!)  I love this class soooooo much because its a great power/cardio workout and you get to sweat out a tons of toxins!  I am loving my new Camelback water bottle I won through Allie's blog!

Lastly, I am loving this Lightened Up Protein Power Goddess Bowl from Angela at Oh She Glows that was the perfect to replenish after yoga and the perfect was to off-set all of the See's Candy!  Woops :)  Check out her blog for the recipe!!!  It was healthful and tasty - the boyfriend even liked it!  I prepped all the ingredients before yoga which helped a ton!

 

But you know what started off this great week?  I got a ticket to the Healthy Living Summit in Philly!!!!  I will get to meet all my favorite bloggers in person and attend a bunch of cool seminars about making the best of your healthy living blog!  I can't wait!  

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Love, Allison

Pink and Red

This weekend I went to the Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival!  It was something that has been on my life's to-do list and I am so glad I was able to go now that I am out here on the East Coast!

 

It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen!  DC was amazing as well -- it is definitely one of my favorite cities, so clean, so friendly, and steeped in history.  Plus, it is home to this awesome bakery that Tina had recommended on her blog.   Baked and Wired was OUT OF CONTROL!  Here is an up close version of my "Unporked Elvis" - which was a banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting and a chocolate drizzle!

Now that I have made you hungry, here is a fitting pink red and white dessert that is fitting for any time of year!

After making WAY too much red velvet cake for my boyfriend's birthday, I froze one of the cake layers after wrapping it well in both plastic wrap and foil.  I took it out about 30 minutes before making the cake balls and it defrosted beautifully! Even if the cake had dried out a little from the freezer, mixing the frosting in to the cake would negate that fact. 

Red Velvet Cake Balls!!!!

The recipes for the red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting can be found from Smitten Kitchen.  For the cake balls I probably used 1/3 of the cake recipe and 1/2 of the frosting recipe.  You will also need about one bag of white chocolate chips.   

Directions: 
1)   Have a lot of fun crumbling the cake into sand-like pieces - make sure to use a large bowl!

)

2)  Add enough frosting until you get that "red velvet" taste but not too much that the cake would not hold together in a ball.  Refrigerate mixture, then form into balls on a cookie sheet.  I then froze the cake balls on the cookie sheet before dipping them in the warm chocolate so that they would hold there shape.  

3)  I then meted some white chocolate chips in the microwave and dipped away.  After these hardened in the freezer, I ended up storing them there so they would stay fresh longer.  Trust me, these may look small and innocent but there is a lot of cake and frosting crammed into a small area!  So eat wisely!

 

Enjoy!

Love, Allison 

Blogging Again!

Hey -  


  I have been a very bad blogger lately - I have been more into reading blogs than writing my own.  But that's ok -- I want the whole blog thing to be fun -- and when I HAVE to do it, it will soon cease to be more of a chore than a creative outlet.

  The past few weeks have been fun and we have been able to explore the city more and more since the weather has been slowly improving.  Today, I got home from work and raced outside for a nice walk in the 66 degree weather! with a wonderful iced coffee from Zabar's :)  I felt like myself again and remembered why I moved to New York - walking in the city is so much fun!


  Here are just a few of my eats from the past week -- my point and shoot camera I got for my undergrad graduation from UCI is slowly dying - so I have been reluctant to use it.  But I am going to hijack Milos's camera since he never uses it and hope to take some foodie pics this weekend with it.  

OATMEAL - with lots of topping a la Kath

               On top of her whipped banana oats with chia seeds I added TJ's organic peanut butter (the best!) with Ambrosia granola, more banana, and Sarabeth's Blood orange marmalade!  If you haven't tried Sarabeth's jams than you MUST!  They are the best I have EVER had - there is not a lot of added sugar, so the beauty of the fruit shines through!    

Fruit and Goat Cheese Salad - with Zabar's bread!

                   I topped TJ's organic spring mix with the following:

                                                            - grapes

                                                            - sliced TJ's grilled lemon pepper chicken

                                                            - TJ's blueberry goat cheese

                                                            - sliced TJ's roasted beets

                                                            - sliced button mushrooms

                  On the side: A raisin pumpernickel roll from Zabar's (its my goal to try them all!)

Have a good weekend!  I have next week off!  Its mid-winter break!

See ya later!, 

Allison