Clean Eating Sweet Potato "Burgers" + Weekend Recap

Soo it's almost August and this is really confusing to me?? I have a 3 day work week as I'm flying to Atlanta on Thursday to be in one of my college BFF's weddings (her bachelorette party was in Charleston 2 weeks ago)! I am zoo excited (and a tiny bit nervous that the bridesmaid dress isn't going to fit considering I have done nothing but travel/eat/drink my face off for the last 8 weeks).

Anyway, last week I made these sweet potato "burgers" as my lunch for the week and they were delicious paired with spinach, tomatoes, avocado, and of course Greek Yogurt. Sidenote: I wonder if I'll ever get tired of Greek Yogurt and/or avocados?

Servings: 6 patties

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins (to bake the potato) + 20 minutes (to cook the patties)

Ingredients

• 1 cup of sweet sweet potato, mashed (I did this by microwaving 1 sweet potato for 10 minutes) ($1.00)
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and mashed in a bowl ($1.00)
• 2/3 cup oat flour (old fashioned oats in the blender)
• 1/3 cup whole old fashioned oats
• 2 tablespoons cajun seasoning
• 1 tablespoon garlic seasoning
• dash of salt and pepper

Combine the mashed potato and mashed garbanzo beans in a large bowl and mix well. Add the oat flour and oats and mix (I mixed with a spoon- no fancy tools here) until you have a pretty thick consistency going. 

Form the mixture into 6 flat patties and cook over medium heat in a non-stick pan (I always use coconut oil spray) for about 10 minutes on each side. Note: I didn't have any problems with mine falling apart but if you do, just add more oats.

So the weekend was pretty mellow. Friday afternoon, Harrison, Andi and I battled miz traffic on I-95 to get home to Richmond.

I had all kinds of grand plans for our trip such as: meeting up with friends Friday night to go to the bars, haircut, brunch with friends, dinner party, neighbor's play, more partying. However we were both exhausted and slept most of Saturday (much needed) sooo only 2 things on my agenda happened, and that's ok. Learning to live with things not going according to plan here..

We were in town to see my neighbor in a teen production of Footloose and had a few cocktails with the neighbors before heading to the performance. Our neighbor Pete had tried this cocktail in Canada and it was so delicious (3 parts prosecco, 2 parts Aperol liqueur (it's an orangey tasting thing), and a splash of club soda. So refreshing!):

Then we headed over to the production and it was incredible. The dedication and talent that we saw was insane, and who doesn't love Footloose?? 

Confession: I cried about 5 times during the play. Does this happen to anyone else? Live performances of all kinds (especially involving kids) just make me so overwhelmingly happy and the waterworks start. #embarrassing

Family after the play- that's our neighbor Claire the star in the middle!

Afterwards we stayed up for awhile drinking then hit the road Sunday morning to get back to DC. Since I'll be gone for Harrison's birthday (August 1st- we're separated for 2 different weddings womp womp), we are currently celebrating 10 Days of Harrison and last night I tried to make my own version of his favorite cake which is KFC Chocolate Chip Cake. Turned out pretty good! Recipe and recap of 10 Days coming next week!

Charleston Recap + Everything You Need to Know About Visiting Charleston

Ok so I just had an amaazzzing weekend celebrating an old college BFF's bachelorette party in Charleston. I hadn't been to Charleston since another bachelorette party five years ago (5? 4? 6?). Despite being around college friends and attempting to party like I was in college, I did survive and I did have an amazing time. So here's the scoop on Charleston (one of my BFFs lives there so she told me about the places we didn't go).

Beaches:

Isle of Palms: This was a nice quiet beach with a few restaurants and bars but definitely not party city. Fortunately we brought our own party so this was no prob. Saturday we took a shuttle 30 minutes into downtown Charleston that cost $5/person so def not bad.
Sullivan's Island: Closer to Charleston, location of Charleston's University of Georgia bar so obvi I went there.
Folley Beach: This party beach was our college fav. Lots of people, lots of boozing, kind of like a college party.

All very bachelorette friendly as you can see.

Bars:

Husk Bar: This place is well-known for its restaurant but my friend (a real live local!) swears by the bar scene at night.
Midtown: This was very bachelorette-party appropriate. Live southern rock band, lots of college kids, shots all around. My friend lost her phone here and at the end of the night left her name and phone number for the bartender to call her if he found her phone if that tells you anything about how the night ended there.
Republic: This place was pretty sweet because it had table service with flaming bottles and a dance-y dj playing inside but a live band playing outside.
Market Street Saloon: We fortunately didn't make it to this one but everyone said it is THE bachelorette spot. A Coyote Ugly bar (aka dancing on the bars) that forces the bachelorette to dance on the bar.
*Sidenotes about the bars: If you want to hear live music, Charleston's noise ordinance forces it to cut off by 11pm. Also taxis are maaaddd expensive BUT this weekend was their first weekend with UberX so I definitely recommend using that. Or booking a shuttle ahead of time for a big group. Just be ready for that major expense.

BACON FRIES THIS IS REAL

Restaurants:

Fish ($$$): Thai-French-Seafood fusion. Sounds weird, tastes amazing. We ate here on Saturday, it's definitely on the fancier side but not SUPER fancy.
Xiao Bao Biscuit ($$): Asian soulfood. SAY WHAT? My friend swears everyone has to eat here.
The Grocery ($$$): Farm-to-table, all local, all goodness. BFF says this is where they go when they're in the mood for something fancy. I am dying to try it, also dying to go back to Charleston asap so we'll see how that goes.
Rarebit ($$): Could eat literally everything on this menu. Also could drink every drink on the menu. Yeah yall.

See: Ghost Tours. This is Philadelphia Alley which caught on fire forever ago but apparently you can hear people's screams at night. EEEEk

Things to do:

Beaches (above)
The Market: They have a big market place full of fun things to check out.
Carriage tour: This was totally unnecessary for me because my friend took me around town and explained everything to me but I really recommend this if you don't have someone showing you around. Charleston is so rich with interesting history.
Ghost Tour: A place this full of history has got to be haunted right?

Ok now for my photo dump of amazingness.

Woke up to this view every morning:

Hey franz!

The girls on the beach. The MOH brought us all tank tops that said "that's what she said" and the bride's said " yes". Funny.

The 3 of us met in the dorms freshman year and lived together 3 years of college. Now we are all getting married within 9 months of each other. Weird right?

The above mentioned bacon fries with the lobster roll from Fish. Yes please.

I was seriously impressed by all the greenery in IOP.

Squinty eyes = Lindsay trying to drink like she's in college

With my tour guide Steph! On the battery.

Steph told me this color is Charleston's pink and that is why so many buildings are painted pink in the city. Look for it when you're there!

Hi cute tiny streets!!

Obligatory dog pic of my friends' dog Merlot. HI!!!

Clean Spaghetti = Squoodles + Meat Sauce and a weekend recap

Last week I mentioned squoodles + meat sauce being my favorite meal of the week- my friend Maggie brought me squash from her mom's garden so I made it out of those, something about knowing my own friend picked the squash out of her garden made the squoodles taste so much better!

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

• 3 large squashes (squash? squashi?) (FREE from your bff's garden)
• 1 lb lean ground turkey ($3.50)
• 1/2 onion, chopped ($.50)
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped ($.50)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, diced ($1.00)
• 1 jar clean pasta sauce (I get mine at Trader Joe's for $1.89)
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Season the ground turkey with the Italian seasoning and parsley. Brown the meat over medium-high heat. Once the meat is almost browned, add the green pepper and onion to the pan. Stir constantly over the medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes, add the jar of sauce and garlic. Cook for an addition 5-7 minutes over medium heat.

While the sauce is cooking, slice the squashes long-way into thin strips, then chop those thin strips into about 4 long skinny strips like this:

Toss the squoodles with the olive oil, salt and pepper then microwave for 2 minutes or until tender.

Once the meat sauce is done cooking, top your squoodles with it and enjoy! We also sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top and enjoyed with 2 buck chuck. Life is good!

This weekend was the first time I was at home with no major plans, visitors, weddings, etc in over 2 months!! It was so great! Friday I had a half day at work and stayed hungover until 10 pm so spent some quality time with Olivia and Elliot and the rest of the SVU crew.

Saturday we went to my friends' wedding brunch. They got married a few weeks ago in Seattle but we couldn't go because Harrison was the best man in another wedding so I was so glad we got to celebrate with them! 

Harrison and I grabbed lunch at Ted's Bulletin where we had- wait for this- homemade bacon and peanut butter poptarts. Liiiiikeee whaaaat

Then we did a little bar hopping for a friends' bday and I tried all kinds of new beers, my favorite being the 312 Urban Wheat.

I bopped over to Bethesda to meet up with other friends for the World Cup and we turned it into an all-night affair ending with karaoke, always a good night.

Sunday I did some massive cleaning and planted some herbs to grow myself (after asking above-mentioned Maggie 10,000 questions):

Andi had a play date with a neighbor named Ruby and they were adorable as usual- Andi clearly loves the camera, look how she is looking at it! That's my little diva!

And that was it! This week I am SUPER PUMPED because it's one of my college BFF's bachelorette parties in CHARLESTON!! I'm flying out Thursday afternoon and cannot freaking waaaiiiittt!

Linking up today with Biana, Leeann, Kimberlee

Best Clean Eating Breakfast Burrito EVA + Best 4th of July Weekend EVA Recap

Oh hay Monday, I was hoping you'd forget to come this week! Womp womp. This weekend while experiencing a massive hangover I concocted a breakfast burrito that fixed everything (the lifesaver also could have been the bloody mary that accompanied the burrito but I think it was a team effort).

Servings: 1
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, baked (I poked a few holes in mine and threw it in the microwave for 8 minutes- hangovers do not allow for oven waits) ($.80)
• 1/2 Cup Black Beans ($.50)
• 2 Eggs, cooked over easy (or however you like your eggs)
• 1/4 cup salsa
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon onion salt
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tortilla (I use Ezekiel tortillas)

Scoop the sweet potato out of the skin and spread it evenly over the tortilla (your sweet potato should be soft and cooked through, if it isn't microwave it a little longer). Layer the black beans on top of the sweet potato, then add the eggs, then add a layer of salsa. Sprinkle the seasonings on top, roll up and enjoy (a full stomach and less of a hangover).

Soooo 4th of July was awesome this weekend! I live across from a big park (in DC! I know!) that has a giant open field where people shot off huge fireworks all night. We cooked out with a bunch of friends and my parents came too! It was a blast (pun intended, man I'm funny).

tried to capture it on my iphone...not so much

Saturday was my mom's birthday and I was so excited to celebrate with family and friends in DC! We did bottomless mimosa brunch at Chadwick's followed by kayaking on the Potomac. Could not have asked for a more perfect day.

Then I had some epic CHICKEN AND (red velvet) WAFFLES- WHAT - at a new restaurant near my house called Smith Public Trust:

Sunday Andi had a friend over and I died from cuteness. Meet Eva:

Sunday night we had a little Netflix binge and I watched E-mail Order Bride. Just trust me on this one. It's worth the hour.

Tell me: do you have any good clean eating hangover remedies? What should I watch on my next Netflix binge?

Linking up today with Bella, Bianna, LeeAnn, Kimberlee, Wendy, Secret Blogger Club

BBQ Chicken Salad + Weekend Recap

Ahhh the longest week in the history of the work world, at least in DC. Anyone else feel that way? Like most of the city is on vacation so no one is doing work but I am saving my vacation days for other things, and every tourist in America is in DC for the week so my commute is longer (STAND TO THE RIGHT ON THE METRO ESCALATORS, WALK ON THE LEFT- people breaking this rule literally add 10 minutes to my morning commute! Wait I think tomorrow's post will be about how to be a good tourist in DC), the highs this week are close to 100 so we are slowly melting to death and I can't think about anything except how excited I am for my favorite holiday: the fourth of freaking JULY! AMERICA! COOKOUTS! ALL THE THINGS!

Ok anyway onto the recipe, this is super easy and a great refreshing summer salad. The chicken and avocado add lots of protein and other stuff to keep you full so it's niiice.

Servings: 2
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, thawed and sliced into strips ($5.00)
• 3 tomatoes, diced ($2.00)
• 1/2 red onion, diced ($.50)
• 1 cucumber, diced ($.80)
• 1 avocado, diced ($1.00)
• Optional: 4 slices of bacon, chopped up (we use turkey bacon)
• 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce of choice (I always use Sweet Baby Ray's, duh)
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• Any other seasonings you normally add to barbecue chicken (we have a grilled chicken rub that I looove and I usually add some cayenne pepper too)

Cook the bacon in a large frying pan. Season this chicken with the garlic power, onion powder, and seasonings of your choice. Once the bacon is done cooking, remove from the frying pan and allow to cool for a few minutes. In the same pan, cook the chicken strips for 15-20 minutes flipping occasionally, until they are cooked all the way through and there is no pink left.

Chop up the bacon and chicken strips, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss. Enjoy! I took mine to lunch the next day, Harrison ate all of his at one time as an after dinner "snack". Typical.

So this weekend one of my high school friends got married in Lancaster, PA. This was my first time in that area and it was definitely interesting, and of course it was a blast to reunite with my best friends from high school. Here's a little recap of the interestingness of Amish Country:

Saturday morning before we left I received a 911 text from a friend who got there the night before that it was impossible to buy booze in the county the hotel was in so I packed a suitcase of the essentials:

The reception was held at a nice country club, this is our attempt at a reunion picture but we're missing tons of people because it is impossible to get everyone in a group picture, even though Katy Kodak over here gets pushy and bossy to try to get one every time:

Took some nice pix on the golf course and I wore my first Rent the Runway dress and loved it (Sachin + Babi):

Bride and groom had their first dance:

After partied at the hotel bar until 3 am (I am getting too old for this)

Stopped at this barn-looking place for some Amish lunch:

With this guy in the front:

Sampled everything from the "Lancaster Favorites" section of the buffet- sidenote: I thought Amish food would be pretty clean, like from the ground and meat and stuff but no. Amish food = heavy cream, butter, milk everything. I tried everything since we were on vacay and I paid for it later.

Tried a slice of Shoofly Pie:

Sat in some traffic...

Most of the town looked like this:

Stopped in to some Amish markets and found some interesting items such as this Poo-Pourri which you spray in the toilet before you doo doo and it supposedly masks any odors...

So no one warned me that there would be OUTLETS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE in Lancaster! LIKE WHAT? This is me in front of the Loft Outlet feeling slightly excited but slightly terrified for what was about to happen to my bank account:

I booked a dog sitter through a site called Rover.com which was recommended by a friend. You type in your zip code and search sitters by people who are willing to come to your house or let your dog stay at their house. We had an awesome sitter named Dana H who sent picture updates all weekend like this one:

We will DEF be using Rover again- it was so easy and inexpensive, and I loved that Andi could stay home. The sitters have background checks and recommendations, and this service is available anywhere. AND if you use my unique link you get $20 off your first booking! Click here to receive $20 off and definitely let me know if you have questions because as a crazy dog lady who feels bad taking advantage of her friends 5 weekends in a row, this is the best possible service.

Linking up today with Biana, Kimberlee, Leeann, Delicious Dish Tuesday, Tuesday Recipe Swap- come play!