DebaRooRoo

All in a Row

2012-11-24T10:48:00.000-05:00

The trees are absolutely beautiful right now. Sadly, they're losing their leaves at increasing rates each day and I felt inspired after my recent color post to take more pictures.

I focused this post on rows of beautiful trees. The colors were even more vibrant and stunning in person.

Toasted Pine Nut & Arugula Salad

2012-11-18T18:04:00.000-05:00

This recipe is so simple I thought about not sharing it.

I've made it quite a bit lately though and decided sometimes simple can be even better to share. I've tried to find as many simple quick meals as possible lately and ditch the complicated recipes that take forever. Less pots and pans, less time, you know the drill.

This Toasted Pine Nut and Arugula salad features ridiculously easy homemade croutons, parmesan cheese, and some toasted pine nuts all dressed lightly with extra virgin olive oil. It's that simple and includes things most of us have on hand. The only thing I don't always have on hand is the arugula. You can buy a small bag ofit from the store and make a big salad or use the leftover on sandwiches, other salads, in an arugula pesto ... you name it! Point being that it's an easy non-on-hand ingredient to use up.

The salad is light and goes deliciously well with tomato soup.

Toasted Pine Nut & Arugula Salad

by Debbie Flores

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 0

Keywords: side salad entree lunch vegetarian arugula pine nuts easy lunch

Ingredients (serves 1)

Large handful of baby arugula
One piece of bread (any type! I've used multigrain and sourdough and both are delicious)
Scoop of pine nuts
Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Instructions

1. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan over medium heat for 2-4 minutes or until fragrant and slightly brown. Turn heat off and set aside.

2. While the pine nuts are toasted, drizzle the bread with olive oil, salt pepper, and cut into 3 pieces and toast in a toaster oven until golden brown. Let cool and dice into 1 inch croutons.

3. Very lightly dress the arugula with a drizzle of olive oil and light sprinkle of salt. Use tongs to gently toss the arugula and add more olive oil as needed. You want to just get a hint of the olive oil evenly on the arugula and do not want extra oil at the bottom of the bowl.

4. Add the pine nuts, parmesan cheese, and croutons. Toss and enjoy!

Color Coordinated

2012-11-16T16:12:00.002-05:00

What's Bakin'

2012-11-12T10:49:00.000-05:00

Please excuse the Iphone pics!!

This weekend we enjoyed a delicious S'mores pie .... so rich and decadent.

And these mini quiches just came out of the oven.

What's bakin' with you??

Soup with Sandy

2012-10-29T21:03:00.000-04:00

Photo by Annie.

Thank you hurricane Sandy for a long weekend! My sister Annie is "stormed" in with us and earlier today we went to whole foods for what was supposed to be only a couple of things:

We got carried away and spent the whole day in the kitchen. We prepped bread, made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and homemade butternut squash soup! The soup recipe was from a whole foods flyer and it turned out delicious. I put a little twist of my own on the recipe and can't wait to recreate it and share it with you all.

Photo by Annie!

Peeking out the window ... Sandy's not here yet!

We may have broke into the halloween candy ... and we are totally sisters ... Annie is blogging in this pic!

Boats and Birds with Liam

2012-10-26T10:23:00.001-04:00

My sister Jamie and nephew Liam met me into Old Town yesterday for an afternoon of boats, birds, and airplanes! All perfect things for a curious 3 year old and the slightly overcast weather was great for walking around.

Love, love, love this picture of Jamie and Liam.

Aunt DebaRooRoo sneaking in the pic!

We fed the little birdies and ducks and watched fish jump out of the water to steal the food.

Aunt Annie arrives to join the fun!

After Liam and Jamie headed home Annie and I treated ourselves to savory crepes at Fontaine Caffe and Creperie and tea at Killer E.S.P.

Brie and apple bruschetta.

Farmers market crepe.

Army 10 Miler Recap

2012-10-24T20:42:00.000-04:00

pre race pic!

I know it's been a little quiet here on DebaRooRoo and the last time I posted about running was week one of training for the Army 10 miler back in August. Well, the race was last weekend and I'm not quite sure were the time's gone and how it's passed so quickly.

The Cherry Blossom 10 miler was the first time I'd run 10 miles ever and the Army 10 miler presented a new challenge for me. Adam was my moral and physical support throughout all of our Cherry Blossom training runs together and he slowed down to run with me on race day. We have such different running paces (for the record he is way faster) and with one 10 miler under by belt, I wanted to train for this one completely on my own and run the race solo. He could train at his pace and I could build my confidence and discipline as a runner.

And guess what? I did it! I trained like never before (for me!) and finished the race. My overall race time was a little slower than I'd hoped for and I caught myself briefly sulking at the finish line. Adam was quick to give me the wake up call I needed though. I trained by myself. I finished the race by myself. That's really what mattered.

Post race!

Adam's dad ran too!

Army Jumpers before the race.

Veggie Sprout Sandwiches

2012-09-02T13:53:00.000-04:00

Quick and healthy! These veggie sprout sandwiches are a easy to assemble and customizable. Adam likes to put sliced chicken deli meat on his sandwich. It never hurts to have leftover veggies for sandwiches another day or for healthy snacks throughout the week.

Here's the cheese and veggie lineup: sharp white cheddar, hummus, sprouts, cucumbers and green peppers.

You've gotta pick a fresh hearty bread for this sandwich. Something nutty that compliments the sprouts and adds an extra dimension to the veggies. I bought fresh oatmeal bread from the deli counter and had them slice it right there for even less fuss at home.

It's a crunchy and satisfying sandwich .... don't you just want to take a bite?

Veggie Sprout Sandwiches

by Debbie Flores

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 0

Keywords: vegetarian sandwich hummus sprouts white cheddar cheese

Ingredients

Good Hummus (we like Cava Mezze's Traditional Hummus)
Sliced sharp cheddar cheese
Sprouts
Green peppers, thinly sliced
Cucumbers, thinly sliced
salt
pepper
Hearty bread (used oatmeal bread)

Instructions

1. Lightly toast bread and spread a healthy serving of hummus on each piece and top with salt and pepper.

2. Layer the green peppers, sprouts, cucumbers, and cheese on once piece of toast and top with the other.

3. Cut in half and enjoy!

Vacation in Chicago: The Food (Part 2)

2012-08-28T13:57:00.001-04:00

I've been dying to share the food details of our trip to Chicago (read vacation part 1 here) and Adam gets all the credit for finding the amazing restaurants. He has a couple graduate school foodies friends who gave great recommendations and researching good eats is a strength of his. Since he usually does all the research it's fun to not know much about the restaurant, trust his judgement, and show up for a great meal.

Consulting his list of places to try:

The main attractions restaurants were The Purple Pig, Frontera Grill (had one of the best vegetarian meals ever), Girl and The Goat, and Lou Malnatis.

Restaurant: The Purple Pig

I admit I was skeptical of The Purple Pig at first and thought, because of the name, it would be a meat fest with boring vegetarian options.

It turned out to be quite the opposite! I was impressed with the amount and diversity of vegetarian options on the menu. My dishes were unique and the flavors were incredible. My only critic is that the desserts were just OK.

Adam Ordered: Chorizo Stuffed Olives, Milk Braised Pork Shoulder, Bread Pudding
Debbie Ordered: Eggplant Parmeson Balls, Roasted Corn Antipasti, Sicilian Iris Fried Brioche
Shared: Tomato Bread (w/ garlic, olive oil, sea salt), wine (waiter recommended and I have no clue what it was!)

My Favorite Dish: The Roasted Corn Antipasti with mushrooms, walnuts, cheese, and fired rosemary.

Wine!

Eggplant Parmeson Balls.

Sicilian Iris Fried Brioche

Restaurant: Frontera Grill

It's really hard to get a reservation at Frontera Grill and they recommend making diner reservations 6-8 weeks in advance. We definitely did not plan that far ahead and showed up couple minutes before they opened for lunch to wait in line (!!) to grab a table.

The guacamole is incredibly fresh and I had one of the best vegetarian dishes of my life here. The Fresh Corn Torta is out of this world and blew me away. It's tangy, a little bit spicy, and I ate every last bite.

Adam Ordered: Mole Trio
Debbie Ordered: Fresh Corn Torta
Shared: Frontera Guacamole, Mexican beers

My Favorite Dish: The Fresh Corn Torta with "silky roasted tomatillo-corn sauce, corn esquites, spicy chiles toreados, "shoots" salad, anejo cheese.

Guacamole.

Fresh Corn Torta.

Restaurant: Girl and the Goat

The service, atmosphere, and food were all great at the Girl and the Goat. This is Adam's favorite restaurant from the trip and his pork was amazing. My food was creative and delicious.

Adam Ordered: Crisp Braised Pork Shank
Debbie Ordered: Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpea Fritters
Shared: Peanut Butter and Jelly Bread

My Favorite Dish: Chickpea Fritters with "caponata, green chickpeas, crave brother's mozzarella.

Roasted Cauliflower.

Pork Shank.

Restaurant: Lou Malnatis

We almost skipped Lou Malnatis all together because the wait was extremely long. What started out as a disappointment turned into a delicious pizza experience. The appetizer mozzarella sticks were cold and bland and I accidentally pre-ordered the individual size pizzas (6 inch pizzas!) which looked sad and small when they arrived at our table.

As much as I wanted to not like Lou Malnatis, the deep dish pizza was delicious and worth the wait. It's filling and the individual sized pizzas turned out to be the perfect size to avoid being completely stuffed.

Adam Ordered: Malnati Chicago Classic
Debbie Ordered: Cheese Deep Dish Pizza
Shared: Mozzarella sticks (gross!)

My Favorite Dish: Deep dish cheese pizza.

Mozzarella Sticks.

Cheese Deep Dish Pizza.

We also squeezed in coffee at Intellgenista and LavAazza, some Garrett's popcorn, delicious sandwiches at Grahamwich, and breakfast at Bodega N5.

Then - something not on his list of research and a place we found completely by accident. The Tortas Frontera (by Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill) in the Chicago O'Hare airport! Although we literally ate all trip long we had to try it before catching our flight back to DC. It's by far the best airport food I've ever had.

Vacation in Chicago: The City (Part 1)

2012-08-20T12:29:00.002-04:00

Life has been incredibly busy for us. I feel a little bit like a broken record say that, but, between Adam's year around graduate school classes and both of us working full time it seems like we are constantly trying to play catchup with chores, spending time with family, etc. He finally had a small break from classes and we forced ourselves to book a mini vacation to Chicago. I say forced because we almost skipped it all together to save money until we realized we absolutely had to get out of town.

It turned out to be a fabulous decision and we really really really needed to disconnect and take time for just the two of us. It quickly became our "eat and sleep" trip because our only plans were to eat at restaurants we've been dying to try and to rest.

We left DC on Thursday and after a very frustrating couple hour flight delay we finally made it to Chicago!!

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago and decided on the fly what we wanted to do each day. I seriously regret not bringing my real camera and tried to capture our trip with my Iphone.

My two favorite non-food highlights (don't worry, there is an entire separate post coming on just the food) were our run through Millennium park and along the water and then the architechurte boat tour of the city.

It's a bit odd for me to pick a workout as a trip highlight. I always pack workout gear when I travel and it almost always stays tucked away neatly in my suitcase. Good intentions count, right? I had no excuses in Chicago though since we ate our way through the city and I also needed to finish my first week of training for the Army 10 miler. We began our run Saturday morning in Millennium Park with a quick pit stop at the bean before heading to the waterfront.

The waterfront far exceeded my expectations and it was one of the most beautiful runs of my life. The path was filled with bikers and runners and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I only needed to run 2 miles but ended up running 3.5 to take it all in. Incredibly beautiful and motivating to run along while seeing a different side of Chicago.

The building architecture in Chicago is equally as stunning as the peaceful waterfront. Several people recommended we take an architecture boat tour of the city and I completely understand why now. It's a great city to walk around in but when you take a step back and enjoy the buildings you gain a completely different appreciation for the city and skyline. The 90 minute Chicago Line Cruises boat tour was full of interesting facts and rich with history.

Although completely by accident, we couldn't have planned the timing of our boat tour any better. We went at noon on Saturday and it was right in the middle of Chicago's air and water show. We relaxed on the boat while different fighter planes circled the city showing their off their speed and agility.

Photo by Adam.

By Adam.

By Debbie.

Check back in for The Food (Part 2)!

Farmers Market

2012-08-11T09:14:00.000-04:00

What I brought home (can't wait to share my plans for the eggplant!).

Grilled Portabella Burgers

2012-08-08T21:00:00.001-04:00

How gorgeous are these portabella mushrooms? Love. But they ain't just for lookin' ... they make incredible burgers. Burgers that could convert a meat eater or two.

Last night we got together with Adam's dad to grill out and watch last weekend's episode of The Newsroom. Anyone else watch that show? I decided to give it a try on night and before I knew it I was hooked. After the first one, I curled up on the couch and let's just pretend I didn't watch every single past episode in one sitting (because I actually did! It was wonderful.). It's fast paced, witty, and the love triangle thrown in there doesn't hurt one bit.

On the menu for me was the grilled portabella burger and it's seriously so incredibly simple I don't how I haven't made it a million times before.

All you need to do is stem the mushroom and wipe it down with a clean damp cloth. Then coat it in a thin layer of olive oil, salt, and pepper and grill it for about 5-8 minutes on each side. I like to grill the underside first (the part you pull the stem out of) and then finish it with the top down on the grill. This way, all the juices collect in the cap of the mushroom and you can melt cheese on top to lock in the flavors.

I topped my burger with sharp white cheddar and a swirl of mustard on a toasted sesame seed bun.

On the menu for the men was beef burgers topped with bacon. Adam visited a small butcher shop and had them freshly grind 8 ounces of sirloin with 8 ounces of chuck. You don't need much with good meat and he just added salt and pepper to bump up the flavor.

On the side was grilled corn on the cob (husks and all) smothered in garlic butter.

Oh, and did I mentioned Adam completely prepped dinner and grilled it all? I'm not ashamed one bit to proclaim him as the griller in the family.

We all cleaned our plates it was so delicious!

Only problem with taking pictures? I forget to get in them!

Weekend Snapshots!

2012-08-05T19:15:00.001-04:00

+ dinner with long time friend and her adorable daughter
+ wine w/ another good friend
+ laundry
+ picking up new dishes for Debarooroo
+ eats out with the hubby:
+ Sandwiches at Society Fair (Old Town)
+ Incredible Afghani food at Bamian (Leesburg Pike)
+ mani and pedi
---------------------------------------------------------------------
= a great weekend

Vegetarian Taco Truck Tacos

2012-08-01T21:35:00.000-04:00

T-t-t-taco time!

Give me guacamole and tacos any day of the week and I'm one happy girl. Some may say it's because my husband is half Mexican. But what's a girl to do when she just loves tacos? Especially these tacos ... they taste like they're straight off of a food truck.

I promise you'll love them and it's all my favorites combined.

Fresh lime juice + cilantro + guacamole + corn tortillas!

All topped with a delicious salsa verde sauce. The sauce takes about 45 minutes to make but it's extremely low maintenance. You'll want to start it first and then while you let it simmer away and reduce, you can make the guacamole and chop everything else for the tacos. You may even have some time to cleanup before you dig in for dinner.

Vegetarian Taco Truck Tacos

by Debbie Flores

Ingredients (Serves 4 (about 3-4 tacos each)

28 ounces of Goya salsa verde
1.5 cups of veggie stock
1-2 jalapenos, seeded and diced finely (2 will make the sauce SPICY)
white onion, diced
4-5 plum tomatoes, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
4 avocados
1/2 red onion, diced
4-5 limes
salt
6 inch corn tortillas (we Mission White Corn Tortillas and buy the 30 pack)

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan and briefly saute the jalapenos for 30 seconds while stirring frequently.

2. Add the salsa verde and let cook at a low boil for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the vegetable stock and bring to a boil before reducing to a simmer (still want to see bubbles!) and reduce it for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally and the sauce should be thick and coat the back of a spoon when its done.

4. While the sauce simmers, core and scoop the avocados into a bowl and mash with the juice of 2 limes before adding the red onions and salt to taste. Add more lime juice if needed.

5. Prepare the rest of the toppings by dicing the tomatoes, white onion, cilantro, and cutting wedges of lime.

6. When the sauce is done and you are ready to eat, brush the tortillas lightly with oil and heat in a pan until slightly crisp. We usually end up making rounds of tacos so we can have fresh and hot tortillas. My mom used to wrap them in a damp towel, zap them in the microwave, and then keep them warm in foil which does the trick if you are feeding a crowd (although you won't get that crisp in the microwave).

7. Assemble the tacos by layering two tortillas and then topping them with guacamole, white onions, cilantro, a spoonful of sauce, and then with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Your tacos will probably break some if you only use one tortilla and two's the way to go.

8. Enjoy!

1 Thing I'm Loving Right Now

2012-07-28T14:17:00.001-04:00

Heyyyy friends! Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend. Unfortunately Adam had to work today so I took advantage of my Saturday morning to do laundry, clean the townhouse, and run (3.5 miles - wahoo!).

Way back in March I shared three things I'd become obsessed with and I have another for you today! I can't seem to get enough of the Archer Farm pomegranate fruit strips.

They only have 45 calories a pop and they fulfill my sweet tooth for a mid day kick. I guess it's better than reaching for candy, right? It's the Target brand so they aren't too expensive!

What are your go to sweet treats?

Difficult Run & New Headphones!

2012-07-25T16:52:00.002-04:00

You all should know I'm obsessed with the Japanese Cucumber Salad. I made it for a friend Monday and we ate every last drop.

Any who.

I'm really proud of myself for running yesterday. It was one of those days where you get home from work and want to do absolutely nothing at all. The weather was crappy, the air muggy, and running was the last thing I wanted to do. But I'm trying to get back in the groove of consistent cardio and I knew I would feel so much better after sitting all day at the office if I got moving.

So Adam and I laced up our shoes and broke a sweat. The run was incredibly difficult not because we went particularly fast or far ... but because my legs were like lead and our 3.2 mile run felt like a mini marathon. It's hard not to get really frustrated with an off run but Adam made a really good point. We could have skipped it all together and the important thing is we got out there and did it.

If you ask me - half of the challenge is just getting out there and doing it.

I've also been working out with broken headphones! Only one earbud worked and it's definitely not workout a motivator. Check out my new running headphones! They make such a difference.

Tonight I'm off to cycling and tomorrow a mid day workout during lunch at the office.

Japanese Cucumber Salad

2012-07-22T19:32:00.000-04:00

My sister Jamie found this Japanese Cucumber Salad recipe and got me hooked.

It's incredible ... crisp ... refreshing ... clean.

You absolutely have to use fresh and flavorful cucumbers and the toasted warm sesame seeds are the icing on the cake. I'm fortunate to have a stash of homegrown cucumbers from my parents and they make this salad out of this world.

You can make it in advance and toast up the seeds right before you eat. Doesn't get much simpler than that if you ask me.

First DIY Ever! A Housewarming Gift

2012-07-17T08:40:00.000-04:00

I have a simple DIY for you today. In fact, I have DebaRooRoo's very first ever DIY.

Our good friends Phil and Lauren recently bought an adorable house and hosted a housewarming party. We got them a gift card for the house and I wanted to give them something additional that was both fun and practical. After spending quite a bit of time wandering around the mall without any ideas, I passed Bath and Body Works ... stopped ... and thought their soaps always smell nice and that was the start of my DIY project.

I didn't want to throw the soaps into a gift bag and call it a day. So I headed over to Target and wandered some more while brainstorming how to creatively package the soaps.

Here's what I came up with!

A candy dish (completely reusable if they throw more parties) as a base and guide for structure to form a ribbon tied cello wrapped shell.

I learned taking pictures of projects is very different from food photography and don't mind my florescent kitchen lighting in the process pictures!

I bought all of my supplies, except for the soaps, at Target and here's what you need:

Supplies
1 candy bowl (4x4 base)
ribbons
scissors
4 bath and body work foam soaps
clear cello wrap

Step 1: Cut the cello wrap so its big enough! I laid out the ingredients to make sure it was tall enough before cutting.

Step 2: Place the candy bowl in the center of the cut cello wrap and tightly nudge the soaps into place.

Step 3: The pictures came out HORRIBLE for this step and using them would have been confusing. Basically, you want to bunch all of the cello wrap together directly over the center of the soap pumps while not wrinkling the sides of the wrap. To do this, I grabbed one edge of the cello wrap and brought it to the top center over the soap pumps. Then I brought the adjacent piece of cello wrap to the center and worked around in a circle until all the wrap met in the middle. Much like folding the pieces of a fan together but in a circular motion on the top.

Step 4: Tie a bow or ribbons around the center where all the cello wrap meets and your done!

Spoiled!

2012-07-15T15:52:00.000-04:00

I spent time with my sister Jamie, nephew Liam, and parents yesterday. It was filled with home baked goods, home brewed beer, and some coffee bean roasting - check out their new roaster!

I had no clue coffee beans popped, almost like popcorn, when they are towards the end of roasting. You want to let the freshly roasted beans sit for a couple of days to build up flavor and we brewed a fresh pot from beans Jamie roasted the other day. The coffee was smooth with no residual bitterness ... delicious!

Look at all the goodies they sent me home with:

Totally spoiled! Cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash from my parent's garden. Chocolate coconut bread, more cupcakes, and some freshly roasted coffee beans.

There is honestly nothing like fresh grown produce and homemade baked goods .... Hope you had a great weekend!

Fresh Corn Tomato Salad

2012-07-13T20:12:00.001-04:00

I've got another good recipe to share with you all. This Fresh Corn tomato Salad features freshly shucked corn and basil and is completed with chunks of cheese and juicy cherry tomatoes.

I made it for a recent social event and stressed about serving a new and completely untested recipe. How will my guest like it? How will I like it? Does it need more salt? Too salty? I should have stuck to a recipe I knew! You get the point.

I put pressure on myself because I love to put good food on the table regardless of the occasion. Minutes before the guests arrived I finally realized it just wasn't worth stressing and fretting over. Believe me when I say I've had my fair share of complete recipe flops but it wouldn't have been the end of the world if the dish feel short. I still had great company on the way and I'd live to cook another dish.

Turns out it was a huge hit and was gone by the end of the night. In fact, Adam and I made a smaller portion for ourselves later in the week. And now I want to share it with you.

I followed the recipe almost to a T. It was just a tad too acidic for me and I added a dash of sugar to balance it out.

Enjoy!

Watermelon Basil Italian Ice

2012-07-10T22:22:00.000-04:00

Watermelon's one of my favorite summer fruits. No matter how you slice it or dice it, the clean crisp taste is always refreshing.

We like to buy whole watermelons, dice them up, and snack on the cool cubes throughout the week. Since there's only two of us there's always that last bit of watermelon that we just can't seem to eat but hate to waste. It occurred to me to pop it in the freezer and experiment with a watermelon freeze.

I really like the flavors and base of this recipe. It has the texture and consistency of Italian ice and it shaves right off with a spoon. I might experiment with the recipe a little next time and am debating using my dad's ice cream machine for a more sorbet type texture. I must have done something right though since my spoon kept on going back for more ... and ... I ate it all.

Watermelon Basil Italian Ice

by Debbie Flores

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: Overnight Freezing

Ingredients (2-4)

2 cups diced watermelon
1 cup diced pineapple
1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely minced basil

Instructions

1. Throw all ingredients in a blender and puree.

2. Pour into 2 to 4 ramekins and freeze overnight.

3. Thaw for 20 minutes before eating.

Buffalo Mozzarella and Pesto Sandwich

2012-07-07T19:15:00.001-04:00

The first time I ever experienced buffalo mozzarella was during the summer of 2007. A couple girlfriends and I spent a month backpacking across Europe to celebrate graduating college. We were in an open market in Venice when another American traveler bursted out of a small market and proclaimed she had the best cheese ever in her life. She insisted we just had to go inside and ask for the buffalo mozzarella. How could we resist her endorsement? We wandered inside, found the cheese counter, and ordered the buffalo mozzarella. The next couple minutes of my life were incredible. The cheese was soft and creamy and I had to force myself to stop and savor every bite.

The girls in Venice 2007.

I've never found a buffalo mozzarella cheese in the States equal to the Venetian cheese we had that day. It was that good. Regardless, I've come to find buffalo mozzarella is delicious anywhere and elevates regular mozzarella (which I still love!) to a new level.

This Buffalo Mozzarella Pesto sandwich is simple and satisfying. Freshly baked sourdough bread topped with pesto, sliced tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella. With few ingredients, it's really worth buying quality ingredients and you'll have an incredible sandwich.

Buffalo Mozzarella and Pesto Sandwich

by Debbie Flores

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Keywords: lunch vegetarian sandwich sourdough bread pesto buffalo mozzarella

Ingredients (4 Sandwiches)

1 buffalo mozzarella ball (ovaline size, 9 ounces), sliced
1 large tomato, sliced and seeds removed
pesto (make it or buy your favorite!)
8 slices good bread (I like using sourdough, also tastes good slightly toasted!)
salt
pepper

Instructions

1. Cover each slice of bread with a layer of pesto.

2. Layer on tomatoes and cheese on 4 pieces of bread.

3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with the other slices of bread.

Grillin' and Relaxin'

2012-07-03T21:02:00.002-04:00

Guess who took today off from work? Me! It's been a relaxing day and refreshing to have a "weekend" in the middle of the week with today off and the 4th of July tomorrow.

This morning I let myself sleep in a little and hit the gym for a good workout. It was way to hot to run outside so I did 30 minutes of inclined walk on the treadmill. My hamstrings were burning and it felt good to loosen up my hip flexers. Usually my workouts end once I hit 30 minutes of cardio mark, but, since I'm trying to build up my workout routines I did lunges, squats, abs, push ups and triceps dips. My muscles are getting used to the strength exercises and there were definitely points were they visibly shook. Let's see how sore I am tomorrow!

My day got even better when Adam and I met a friend for lunch a Bayou Bakery! I had a pretty delicious veggie sandwich and you've gotta go and get their beignets (seriously, delicious!). After lunch it was napping and relaxing time before we got to grilling.

Chicken breasts + olive oil + tons of salt and pepper + McCormick's Montreal seasoning = one simple and easy dinner. For sides, grilled asparagus (only needs about 3-4 mins on the grill, EVVO, salt & pepper) with Eat, Live, Run's Spinach and Cheese Quinoa Casserole.

Hope you have an awesome, relaxing and safe 4th of July!!

Orange Strawberry Banana Smoothie

2012-07-01T15:23:00.002-04:00

It's definitely full blown summer here is VA. I'm outside for less than 5 minutes and break a sweat.

Running outside in the heat is a challenge. In about a month or so I'll officially start training for the Army 10 miler and I'm trying to increase my milage now and build a good endurance base. The heat forces me to wake up early and finish runs before 8:30 or 9:00 otherwise its unbearably hot outside.

Yesterday morning was a particularly hot day for a run and the sun was blazing. I promised myself a smoothie when I finished in order to motivate and keep running. The promise paid off - I ended up finishing about 5.3 miles and then made a killer smoothie when I got back.

This orange strawberry banana smoothie is delicious and refreshing.

Orange Strawberry Banana Smoothie

by Debbie Flores

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Keywords: breakfast snack smoothie orange juice yogurt banana

Ingredients (1 big or 2 medium smoothies)

1 6 ounce vanilla yogurt (I use Stoneyfield)
1 ripe banana
1.5 cups frozen whole strawberries
1/4 cup orange juice
ice cubes (about 3-5, taste and add more if needed)

Instructions

1. Throw the yogurt, ice, orange juice, and banana in a blender and blend until smooth.

2. Add the strawberries and ice and blend until smooth (you might need to stir it a time or two).

3. Enjoy with a straw!

ICE cold. Gelato?

2012-06-28T21:55:00.000-04:00

I love walking around Old Town Alexandria. Bits of history tucked away in the bustle of every day life. This quaint ICE building is on the corner of Payne and Commerce and was built circa 1931. The doors first caught my eye and it's adorably nestled up against a modern day building.

Apparently it's being restored and will become a gelato and coffee shop and the anticipation is killing me.