That Time I ate my way through New Orleans and Alabama + Clean, Grain Free, Gluten Free, Vegetarian Pho

I had a work conference in New Orleans last week and thought I'd have all the time in the world to catch up on blog stuff, eat healthy, have some quality time for myself... not so much. Not at all actually. It was an amazing time though! It was my first time in NOLA - Harrison flew down on the last day of the conference and some of my friends from Florida came up for a few days on the town. Then we drove to Alabama to see Harrison's family and hit Grady, Montgomery and Birmingham (sadly we were just there for a minute, I was praying for some downtime to finally have a drink with my blog crush Nadine but it was non stop).

For New Orleans I highly recommend every single restaurant we stopped at in NOLA but my favorites were Charbroiled Oysters @ Drago's (I don't even do oysters), ghost tour with Free Tours by Foot, and Frenchman Street. My fav stops in Birmingham: The Purple Onion (Harrison has been talking about this restaurant since we met) and Kelly Ingram Park. Here are some highlights:

Bourbon Street!

Maison on Frenchman Street

Harrison's Grandma Pearl had this food waiting for us when we arrived to her house (no cell service, no internet, no neighbors. Quite different from DC life!)

Exploring his grandma's property - Harrison spent summers here!

Boppin around the farm

And now it's back to the real world womp.

Before I left for the conference I attempted some pho. Let me start by explaining that I once had  Vietnamese co-workers who introduced me to this incredible dish, but who also always ordered for me (in Vietnamese) and I have never been able to re-order or re-create the exact dish. It's not quite paleo (rice noodles, sorry) but it is super healthy and super super delicious. Mine was also a little heartier/less soupy than your average pho but I loooved it.

Servings: 5
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 head broccoli, chopped into florets ($2.50)
• 1 12 oz package of snow peas ($2.00)
• 32 oz broth ($1.50) 
• 2 cups water
• 1 package pho / rice noodles (I found mine at Wal-Mart! - $2)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 stalks celery, chopped ($1)
• 1 jalapeno, sliced and seeded ($1)
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms ($1.80) (I used a package from Wal-Mart also)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• Serve with fresh basil, fresh cilantro, and sririacha sauce

Cook the noodles according to the package directions (I just put mine in a covered bowl of water and let it set for 20 mins. Too easy).

Combine the broth, water, onion, salt, garlic and broccoli in a pot and bring to a boil, then let simmer for 15 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Serve with the basil, cilantro, hot sauce, or anything else your heart desires!

Do you like pho? Do you make your own? What is your favorite New Orleans stop?? 

Paleo Snack + Weekend Recap (late is better than never right?)

Soo it's been QUITE a week - Thursday Harrison and I flew to Memphis for my brother's SURPRISE wedding (which I've known about since October and have never kept such a big secret for so long and it was TORTURE) which was great and will get a photo dump further down.

For now though, let's talk paleo snacking. When I switched over to eating clean about a year ago, the snacks were the hardest part. Not being able to just grab a bag of chips or fruit snacks suuucked (that's right I'm 27 and still crave Welch's Fruit snacks- DA BOMB). I've kind of figured it out since (you can read about my snacking adventures here), and now I've found a new favorite refreshing snack. I prep a bunch of these little turkey rolls on Sundays and grab them on my way out the door.

Ingredients:

• 2 cucumbers, sliced thin longways (I always use my $17 NoPro Mandolin for this)
• 1 tomato, sliced thin
• 1/2 lb deli turkey meat
• salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard

Place the tomatoes, turkey, seasoning, and a dab of mustard on top of the cucumber slice and roll it up. That's it. Make a lot for the week and store in a tupperware so you can grab and go all week!

And now for the surprise wedding! My brother and his fiance are not into doing things the traditional way, so they invited everyone to their new house for an "engagement party". When everyone showed up one of the friends gathered everyone for what appeared to be a toast- talked about how they are spontaneous and break the mold and said "A good example is today. While you all think you're here for an engagement party, it's actually their wedding!" Everyone cheered. I cried. It was beautiful. Here's my photo dump: 

I found an amazing deal on a PENTHOUSE downtown on AirBnB - this view!! And it was big enough for us to host everyone for an after party and a brunch the next morning:

Thursday night we went out to see some live blues on Beale Street (if you ever make it to Memphis, Beale Street is a lot of fun!)

Ate some famous Memphis dry rub at Rendezvous:

Then went to the "Engagement Party" where they found a good use for the bathtub they ripped out of the old house:

This is when we all thought we were gathered for a toast- my brother's 2 best friends found out they were groomsmen about 5 minutes before this picture:

The happy married couple:

My MARRIED brother and me!

Have you ever been to a surprise wedding? Do you HATE KEEPING SECRETS like me? What is your favorite healthy snack??

Easy Clean Stir Fry + West Virginia Weekend Recap

Ok so PSA: frozen vegetable medlies make life so much easier. By life I mean cooking dinner but easy dinner = easier life. This is the stir fry I made last week - it made about 4 servings but we managed to finish it in one meal oops.

Servings: 3-4
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 30

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken, cubed
• 1 bag of frozen stir fry vegetable medley (I found mine at Wal-Mart)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cups rice, cooked
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil (this is to add flavor, if you don't have it you can swap it out for olive oil or whatever you do have)
• 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons pepper

Season the chicken cubes evenly with the salt and pepper. Heat a large frying pan, add the sesame oil and chicken chunks and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Cook the chicken for about 15 minutes or until the cubes are mostly cooked.

Add the bag of frozen veggies, the chopped onion and the garlic to the frying pan and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the veggies are soft.

Add the rice, add the soy sauce. Stir them all together. Eat your heart out.

PSA #2: If you live in the DC area, West Virginia is the perfect (affordable) weekend getaway. I mean look:

I swear the air was so fresh and clean and everything around us was beautiful!

How cute is the "downtown" street we stayed on? We didn't want to go all-out wilderness survival so we rented a cottage I found on VRBO- $90/night and both dogs were allowed. It was perfect.

Andi hurt her paw pad so had to wear this boot all weekend...

"downtown" had a bar/restaurant where we drank some local beer. This restaurant also served Italian, Mexican, sea food, sandwiches, sold powerball tickets, and had slots. One stop shop.

"Everything the light touches shall be your's..."

It's Friday? Already?

It's been quite a week and that's all I'm gonna say about that because no one is impressed by busy-ness. Today I'm joining Amanda for Friday Favorites- go check her out!

Favorite Quote:

I saw this on Pinterest the other day and couldn't stop thinking about it. Then at small group this week we talked about "trimming the fat" so to speak, aka cutting out things you don't need and tasks you don't NEED to do and relationships you don't need to have, etc, and instead focusing on a few important things that we are meant to be doing. I feel like I am seeing this message everywhere- I'm listening, ok??! I get it! I've spent a lot of time this week reflecting on this, and I feel like it's so relevant to a lot of things I'm doing right now. 

Favorite Recipe:

Jessica at Keeping it Real Food posted this pumpkin turkey meatloaf. OMYES. Like I said earlier, I'm out of foodspiration right now and this is a great fallish new idea to try!

Favorite Thing to GET EXCIIIITED About:

I love DC. Love love love living in this city. But I feel like I'm going to lose my f*cking mind when I don't get out of here once in awhile. SO I booked a (cheap) dog-friendly cabin in Harper's Ferry, WV (just 2 hours from DC!) and we are going to reeelllaaxxxx in the peace and quiet. Any advice? I really want to take a hike with some amazing views and drink some local beer. Those are the only 2 things on my to do list, don't mind me just livin my own dream over here.

Favorite Read of the Week:

"This is My Jail: Where Gang Members and Their Female Guards Set the Rules" from the New Yorker. A friend of mine is working on this case, it is nothing short of intriguing. It's a long read, but it is captivating. The politics of a Baltimore jail, and the female guards behind it- you read that right, female guards in a male jail. This is some next-level OINTB ish. 

Favorite Podcast of the Week:

100 Racist Recipes on The Read. Yall I live for Crissle and Kid Fury- I listen to The Read while I'm walking the dogs and I am that crazy lady laughing out loud on the sidewalk. The two of them clowning on Kimye and putting words in Northwest's mouth this week had me on. the. ground. 

Favorite Workout of the Week:

Surprise! I'm already off the Mr. Shut Up and Train wagon (guh), but I'm still exercising! And eating clean! I did Melissa's workout two days ago with dumbbells and zooomggggggg I am still hurting, bad.

Favorite Ugly Crying Face:

Love him. Love ugly cry faces. Thank you, ugly-cry-faces.tumblr.com/, you make even the worst of days the BEST.

Favorite Blog Post of the Week:

If you don't follow Tricia at Tricia Coniglio's Mostly Healthy Lifestyle you should, because every single post drops serious wisdom about food and health. Her post yesterday on Sugar is really eye-opening and is the kick in the butt I need to stay on the clean eating train. Check it out. PS where can I see Fed Up? Everyone and their mom is talking about it?

Happy Friday!! And I'm curious- what could you CUT OUT of your life? 

BBQ Chicken & Veggies + Bach Party Weekend Recap (spoiler alert: I survived)

First off, things are going to be a little sparse around these parts for the next week or two as I settle into a new schedule and figure out how to balance a bunch of new things that have popped into my schedule this fall (new programs kicking off at work, new volunteering position, dog training classes, small group, online classes etc etc).

Second off, I made this really simple Barbecue Chicken with frozen veggies the other night and it was so good for some reason:

Servings: 5
Prep Time: 10 mins + 7 hours marinating (I marinate while I'm at work)
Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs chicken thighs (I used this organic free-range chicken I got at our neighborhood farmer's market (PS has anyone seen Food Inc on Netflix? After watching, we decided we're only eating organic/grass-fed/etc which is expensive which means we eat less meat)
• 1 bag frozen broccoli and cauliflower mix (no seasonings added, no butter, nothing, just the straight up bag of frozen veggies)
• 1/2 Cup cooked quinoa
• 1 Cup chickpeas (I use them from the can)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon salt + pepper
• 2 Cups Trader Joe's Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce , divided

Before you leave for work in the morning, place the thawed chicken in a giant ziploc baggie with the seasonings and 1 Cup of the BBQ sauce, seal the bag and put it in the fridge.

After sufficient marinating time: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put your chicken into a baking dish and top it with the juices from the bag. I added some extra salt, pepper and garlic powder to the dish too. Cook for 25-30 minutes.

Heat up your bag of broccoli and cauliflower and mix the veggies, quinoa, chickpeas and chicken together, top the chicken with some extra BBQ sauce and enjoy! Also, play around with the seasonings and let me know if you find a good combo, I've been experimenting.

And now onto the bachelorette party weekend! I mentioned that I hate typical bachelorette party stuff, and my friends did a great job accomodating this. I'm going to do a post Friday about all the ideas they came up with that were perfect for the not-so-basic-cheesy-bride. For now, here are some pix:

Beach bar:

Some of our group at the beach bar:

Atlantic City is full of great sites:

They made me a poster of my Bridesmaids Invites, aka a poster of me as Beyonce which made the week:

Providence Night Club (the nightclubs and all the restaurants we went to were in our resort- the Tropicana- so it was 10 x easier to do a 20+ person bachelorette party)

Giant jaccuzzi IN our suite (not in the bathroom, in the bedroom. Why? Because Atlantic City)

And nothing says classy like a faux fireplace with slow-motion flames

And loved loved loved this dress I got from Rent the Runway

Last watermelon of the season + weekend recap

So fall kind of came out of nowhere around these parts- last week was in the 90s and today I woke up to temps in the 50s! Time to go boot shoppingggg?

Anyway before we kiss all things summer goodbye, here is a recipe for that last watermelon of the season, one of my favs: watermelon goat cheese salad hallloo!

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 0 mins
Servings: 6 (depending on the size of the watermelon)

Ingredients:

• 1 watermelon, cubed
• 1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 Cup crumbled goat cheese (Trader Joe's has it for a great price, surprise)

Lay out the cubes in a single layer. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and top each cube with crumbles of goat cheese.

That's it and it's the perfect appetizer!

Onto the weekend...My family and I flew to Memphis to visit my little brother and it was so much fun! We did everythinggg.

Drank the local beer (obligatory local beer picture for Nadine - have you had this? I loved it!)

Saw this campaign ad for a senate candidate and got pissed that as a DC resident I don't have a voice in Congress yet the people who DO get to vote choose their candidates based on posters like this?

Spent time contemplating how on earth a restaurant and bar with LIVE DUCKS in it can pass health inspections at the Peabody?

Had a sweet view for a tiny price thanks to Airbnb (even though the apartment itself left a some to be desired...but I knew that from reading reviews and saved hundreds of dollars and stayed in prime location)

Went to a concert at Levitt Shell

Ate some BOMB FOOD ALL WEEKEND (note: the restaurant menus were seriously lacking healthy items. I'm so used to DC where menus are geared towards health nuts. Even the salads were topped with fried veggies/chicken). This Memphis Po Boy was from SoulFish. Highly, highly recommend.

Spent time with my brother and his boo (people always ask if we're twins, do you see it?)

Attended the Cooper-Young Festival (As an avid day-drinker I have attended probably close to 50 festivals. This was the MOST well organized street festival I have EVER seen. I see you, Memphis!)

I stepped into a building in Cooper-Young and saw this AMAZING mural (Lap infinity, still laughing)

Suffered a heart breaking loss to South Carolina due to a matter of TWO INCHES. My man summed up my feelings:

Explored some lovely sites on a morning jog:

Hope everyone has a great week!