A Tasty Sandwich for the Vegetarians Out There

The sandwich I'm about to show is based off a yummy item from Pret A Manger in NYC... I get it so often that I figured it'd just be cheaper to make it myself! Pret uses their own chipotle sauce for the top, so I decided to sub in Stonewall Kitchen's Smoky Barbecue Aioli (Stonewall Kitchen has some excellent items, all of which can be ordered online and found it most grocery stores). The aioli is amazing... I could eat it with a spoon!

Excuse my little piggy timer in the background

Pepper Jack, Red Pepper, Red Onion & Cilantro Sandwich with Stonewall Kitchen's Smoky BBQ Aioli 

Ingredients: 

• 1 loaf of fresh Italian Bread, divided into 4, then cut in half for the sandwich
• 8 slices of pepper jack cheese
• 2 red bell peppers, sliced into strips 
• 1/2 red onion, sliced into strips 
• 1/2 cup of cilantro leaves 
• 1 jar of Stonewall Kitchen's Smoky Barbecue Aioli

Directions: 

Divide up the ingredients and layer them on your sandwich... Pepper jack on the bottom, followed by the red bell peppers, red onion, and cilantro. Spread a bit of aioli on top (to taste), assemble, and enjoy! 

Tada! 

A Little Warmth for Those Cold Fall Nights

In this post I'd like to share a great recipe I stumbled upon this week from one of my favorite blogs, www.skinnytaste.com. The author has a great way of taking recipes - such as this soup below - and making simple substitutions that help cut out unnecessary calories. I highly recommend following her on Pinterest... Although the posts will definitely make you hungry!

This recipe for stracciatella is especially delicious... plus it only took 20 minutes to make! Served with a side salad or grilled cheese, it's a perfect, quick dinner for a cozy fall night.

Fun fact: stracciatella is loosely translated in Italian to mean 'little rags.' When you make the soup, the egg mixture combines to look like little shredded rags :)

Spinach Stracciatella Soup with Orzo

Spinach Stracciatella Soup with Orzo
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 6 • Serving Size: 1 cup • Calories: 126 • Old Points: 3 • Points+: 3
Calories: 113.4 • Fat: 4.4 g • Carb: 9.4 g • Fiber: 0.5 g  • Protein: 7.9 g

• 6 cups fat free chicken broth
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 9 oz baby spinach
• 4 oz uncooked orzo
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring 5 cups chicken broth to a boil. In a medium bowl, combine remaining cup of cold chicken broth with eggs, cheese and parsley and whisk well. Whisk into boiling pot and cook 3-4 minutes on low. Add orzo and cook according to package directions. When pasta is done, add the baby spinach and mix until it welts. Remove from heat,add salt (if needed) and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top with additional grated cheese.

(recipe and photo courtesy of www.skinnytaste.com) 

Top Ten: PUMPKIN EDITION

Last fall I did a post on my favorite pumpkin beer... This fall, I figured - rather than limiting myself to just one pumpkin item (which is very hard for me to do) - that I'd post ten of my favorite pumpkin-ey items for the season instead. Drumroll please...


10. 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' (if you haven't seen this, you didn't have a childhood)

9. BJ's Wholesale Club's Pumpkin Muffins (available in the store only)


8. Molly Stone's glass pumpkins available at Compliment's Gallery in Kennebunkport, ME

7. Yankee Candle's Spiced Pumpkin Candle


6. Mumkins... Look how cute they are!

5. Pumpkin Snickerdoodles (amazing. you MUST try these)

4. Shipyard's Pumpkin Ale 

3. Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte (rumor has it Starbucks is creating a pumpkin spice ice cream!) 


2. The recipe for pumpkin pie on the back of Libby's Pumpkin Puree

1. Pumpkin picking... obviously! (click here for some recommended farms in New York)



I could go on and on, but I'll stop at 10. Hopefully you get to enjoy a couple (or ten) of these items this season!

"Dear Great Pumpkin, I am looking forward to your arrival on 

Halloween night. I hope you will bring me lots of presents." 

- Linus, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Happy Labor Day!

Anthony and I took a trip to Kennebunkport, Maine this Labor Day weekend. Although I've spent many a summer in KPT growing up, I never really took to the idea of seafood until recently. Now, for someone who has spent 10+ summers in Maine with tons of famous lobster joints, as well as four years in Baltimore (which is obviously well known for its crab), I'm a little angry at myself for not figuring out that I like seafood a little earlier. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

One of our many food stops in Maine this weekend was the Cape Pier Chowder House. Not only did I have my first full lobster (mom was there to help instruct), but we also got to take in the beautiful views and a yummy local Shipyard Export Ale.

On our way home today, we made a pit stop at an EXCELLENT burger place in Manchester, CT, called Corey's Catsup & Mustard. As a vegetarian, I love when burger joints let you substitute a veggie burger into any menu item... It enables so many more options! I went with the Aunt Laurie's burger and Ant opted for the Potato Crunch burger. They were fabulously messy and absolutely delicious!

We found Corey's on my new favorite website... www.tvfoodmaps.com. You can enter in your starting and ending destination and the site will map out every food spot in between that has been featured on Food Network shows. I highly recommend checking it out!

That's all for now. Stay tuned... I think I'm going to post a top ten for Kennebunkport in the coming days!

Enjoy the pictures :)

Anthony and me on the pier at Cape Pier Chowder House 

My mom - the expert lobster cracker - and me on the pier

RIP lobstahs

The beautiful view from the Chowder House

Corey's Catsup and Mustard!

The Happiest 5K on the Planet!

This weekend a few friends and I signed up for a Color Run. Now for those of you who don't know what a Color Run is, let's just say that the master minds behind the event like to refer to it as, "the happiest 5K on the planet"... And now I know why!

Basically we showed up on Saturday morning looking like this:

And left looking like this:

It was hands down, the best race I've ever participated in. Not only do you run 3.1 miles and get sprayed with neon colors at each kilometer mark, but you get to hang out with all your fellow color runners at a massive dance party afterwards, during which you throw your own bags of color all over the place, like this:

Despite the fact that I'm still trying to get the color out of my hair and my iPhone, I can assure you we'll be signing up again next year! If you haven't done a Color Run, DO IT! They hold them in cities across the country and there were kids running/walking the course... so there's really no excuse not to!

Here Come the Bridesmaids (and some brunch)!

This past weekend, all nine of my bridesmaids came from near and far for a little bit of dress shopping in NYC. Now, nine is DEFINITELY not a small number, but I'd like to think it went rather efficiently!

My sisters and I had visited Adrienne's Bridal a couple months ago to narrow the hundreds of dresses in the shop down to just two. We then coordinated a day for all the girls to come into the city and try them both on. In order to get an honest answer from each of them, I had every girl vote on a piece of paper anonymously. We settled on a BEAUTIFUL dress that is going to look amazing on all of them (I'll refrain from using the cliche 'they can shorten it and wear it again,' although I'd like to think they could).

It was also exciting because I now have an official wedding color! It's going to be a dark purple (eggplant-ish), which should work well in early summer.

Of course the dress is a surprise, but here's a pic of me with the girls after we chose the dress... everyone still seems pretty happy despite the two hour process...

From left to right, top row to bottom: Caitlin (roommate and friend from college), Molly (roommate and friend from college), Me, Jamie (friend from college), Mary (my youngest sister), Claire (my younger sister), Casey (friend from high school), Nicole (Anthony's younger sister), Jen (friend from college), & Jenelle (college/post-college roommate and friend)

Afterwards we grabbed a bite at Essex... If you need a place to eat brunch in the City, I HIGHLY recommend it. The food was incredible. I ordered the Mexican Matzo Brei and it was out of this world.

That's all for now... onto the next adventure...

Outer Banks

This Fourth of July, Anthony and I joined some friends for a road trip to Salvo, North Carolina in the Outer Banks. It turned out to be an amazing trip that was absolutely worth the drive. Here are a few photo highlights from our time at the beach:

Looking forward to going back next year!