1. I got locked out of the house tonight which has put me way behind on all the work I need to do.

2. Rascal is exhausted from frantically licking the window to the back door, crying, and yelping as I tried to calm him down while the locksmith worked on getting the door opened.

3. The fuse blew in the living room (again!) so I’m intermittently catching up on Desperate Housewives on my laptop and working on my blog post for Creative Loafing tomorrow.

4. It involves Indian food and the crockpot.  What’s not to love?

5. My mom came over for dinner tonight and tasted my Indian food crockpot surprise.  She’s eagerly waiting for the recipe.

6. I signed a contract with Creative Loafing that says I’m not allowed to give my recipes that I develop for the Eat My Charlotte blog to anyone before posting it there.  Obviously, I take that very seriously, when it’s my mom.

7. I somehow managed to roll my finger up in the window today while stopped at a light.  It hurts, but my fingernail has yet to turn black and fall off.  I’ll keep you posted.

8. I ran today. Only about 2-2.5 miles, but hey, it’s something. I also walked with my mom and Rascal.

9. My vegetable to chocolate ratio has been 1:1 today and I call that balance.

10.  If I manage to take my running capris off before going to bed, I’m going to call today a success.  No, a shower is not a part of my formula for success.

Name 1 to 10 random things about your day. Come on, you know you want to share!

Can you trick your tastebuds that always want chocolate after dinner by having chocolate for breakfast?

Hear me out here.

Maybe if you have chocolate for breakfast, you won’t need it after dinner.

Need: (v) the inability to think of nothing else, the desire to have something at all costs, including but not limited to an adult-size temper tantrum if the desire is not met

So, yeah.  Without getting into too much detail, I have been a bundle of nerves lately and a bundle of nerves means intense cravings for chocolate.

I’ve thrown in the towel on the New Rules of Weightlifting and not even these photos can coax me into exercising. I’ve formally exercised twice in the past two weeks, plus a few short walks.

It ain’t pretty folks.

My way of coping has been to avoid my jeans at all cost and to live in skirts and stretchy leggings.

I think I’m in denial.

In the mean time, I’m trying to find healthier ways to incorporate chocolate into my life and maybe satisfy my chocolate craving in the process.

Chocolate Cherry Parfait (serves 2)

1 1/2 cup frozen cherries
2 Tablespoons+ 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup + 1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 cup granola (I used cherry almond granola)
1/2 cup coconut flakes

In a blender combine cherries, 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder, banana, and 1/2 cup yogurt.  Blend until smooth.

In two tall glasses, equally layer cherry mixture, granola, and coconut, creating at least two layers of the ingredients in each glass.  Finish with the remaining 1/2 cup of yogurt (1/4 cup on each parfait) and sprinkle the 1/2 teaspoon of cocoa powder, equally over both parfaits.

Eat as a substitute for candy bars, chocolate ice cream, milkshakes, and any other chocolaty thing your heart desires needs.

Or eat them and live in leggings.

You know which I would choose.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a recipe, but here’s a few snapshots from my weekend in Tennessee with my family.

The first view of the mountains on the drive up.

In the kitchen on Saturday morning

Most of us had AT&T phones, which is absolutely useless in the mountains of NC and TN, so my aunt had to share her Verizon phone a lot.

The view from the second floor balcony

The family that tastes wine together…

House rule: the last one up gets smushed.

There should be a reward for the first one up, which was me all three mornings…even the morning after my brother and I were the last to bed after some umpteen rounds of Texas hold ‘em.

Friday night errands

Sunday morning pancakes

All the grandkids and my grandparents

My hair is big.

Oh well…when in Tennessee…

My grandparents and their children, my Aunt Tonya and my dad

The whole family

Take 2 — can you spot the one (major) difference?

Our view on Monday morning, after the snow the night before

Out of focus

In focus

This is one happy tree away from a Bob Ross painting…

Beautiful.

Do I really have to go to work tomorrow?

I’m being featured on several episodes of A Healthier Charlotte explaining quick and easy ways to incorporate healthy foods into a busy life.

I’m so honored and excited to be a part of this and will definitely post the link when it airs.

Speaking of which…

Are you ready for something yummy, warm, and filling?

Better yet it’s quick and easy.

Scratch that.  It’s easy and slow.

But the prep time is about 5 minutes, so let’s focus on the important part people.

This may be one of the easiest, all inclusive, one pot meals I’ve ever created.

Seriously.  The instructions are two lines, minus the part where I tell you to spoon into bowls and serve. And if you don’t know to do that, you probably shouldn’t anywhere near the kitchen.

Chock full of tender chicken, loads of veggies, and fagrant exotic spices like cilantro and curry…

..this soup is everything I thought it could be.

Check it out for yourself on Eat My Charlotte.

I am convinced that spinach is the most versatile vegetable in all the world.

Not only can you put it in sweet smoothie and blend it into baked goods (so I’ve heard), you can basically put it in almost everything you eat.

…including cheese sauce!

Cheese sauce is one of those things I tend to stay away from.  Although cheese sauce is perfectly harmless in moderation, it’s can be quite heavy and I like to eat a little lighter, especially when I’m cooking for myself at home.

This cheese sauce is different.

It’s fully of healthy ingredients like spinach and pumpkin.

It’s got a bit of spice from jalapeno and just a tad of sweet from the pumpkin.

Luscious, creamy, light and healthy…

Can you even put those four words together in a sentence?

With this sauce you can!

Cheesy Spinach Sauce (serves 5-6)

1 cup pumpkin
3 oz. shredded pepperjack cheese
1/4 cup skim milk
1/2 Tablespoon jalapeno, minced
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt + more to taste
2 cups spinach

In a small sauce pan heat the pumpkin, cheese, and milk, stirring often to combine.  Once cheese is completely melted, stir in jalapeno, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Transfer sauce to a blender and add spinach.  Blend until creamy.  Taste and add more salt, if desired.

Serve warm over pasta or rice.

**I served this sauce over butternut squash which was so incredibly yummy.  The flavors went so well together!

On the side, I had a bit more spinach.  My absolute favorite way to eat spinach right now is sauteed in a bit of butter and salt.  A little bit goes such a long way.

Can you believe that this is over half a bag of spinach?

That’s a whole lotta greens on my plate!

I threw a few toasted pumpkin seeds on top for good measure.

Another idea for this sauce — over rice with black beans and corn with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

That would be amazing.

So how light is this sauce?  If you break it up into six servings, it’s about 85 calories a serving.  Not too shabby.

***

If you’re a salmon lover or want to know why I’ve been fined by the grammar police, check out my latest SavorNC Magazine blog post.

I got up at 5:30 am this morning to prep dinner and make sure I had time to make Brad a Valentine’s Day breakfast.

We already celebrated V day this past weekend on our trip to Nashville (part I and II), so today will be a bit low-key.  But I just can’t let the day pass without doing something a little special.

I stayed up way too late last night reading The Red Queen, so getting up before the crack of dawn was surely a labor of love.

Baked Banana & Nut Oatmeal (serves 2)

1 cup rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon NuNaturals Baking Blend (or 1 teaspoon sweetner/sugar of choice)
1 banana, sliced
1/2 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
1 ounce, walnut pieces.
cooking spray or a bit of oil or butter(for greasing ramekins)
1/4 cup Greek yogurt (optional)

In a medium sized bowl, combine oats, baking powder, salt, and sweetner, stirring well to combine.  Add banana using a fork to mix and mash the banana into the rest of the mixture. Add milk and stir well to combine. Add walnuts and stir once more.

Grease the bottom and sides of two ramekins.  Put half of the oatmeal mixture into each ramekin.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or microwave for 3 1/2 – 4 minutes on high.

Top with Greek yogurt.

Share with the person you love.

What are your Valentine’s Day plans? 

Oh Monday. Life would a little more pleasant if you never came around. It seems that you go out of your way to frazzle me.

But I won’t let you get the best of me.

I’m going to do what I can to pretend you’re not here and celebrate the day in my own little way.

I won’t respond frantically to frantic emails.

I’ll put on a cheerful sweater.

I’ll take a leisurely lunch with a friend.

I’ll buy myself pretty flowers at the grocery store.

I’ll refrain from yelling at the drivers who will not let me over.

Okay. That last one is a lie.

I’ll make something for breakfast that screams Saturday…and smiles and summer and butterflies and rainbows.

Maybe my expectations of breakfast are a tad too high.

Cherry Lime Smoothie (serves 1)
The sweet cherries and tart lime make this smoothie pop with flavor. It’s refreshing and just so darn pretty.

1 cup of almond milk
1/2 frozen banana
3/4 cup frozen cherries
juice and zest of half a lime
1 scoop vanilla whey protein (or protein powder of choice)

Combine everything in a blender and blend until smoothe.

Enjoy as is, or dress it up with a bit of granola if you like. How about some cherry almond granola?

You could even add a bit of spinach to turn this smoothie into a green monster, but you’ll have to say goodbye to that pretty pink color, if you do.

Pretty, cheerful, tasty things make Monday much more bearable.

Happy Monday is almost over!

How do you get through the most hated day of the week?

As soon as we were seated, our waiter bought us both a tiny little scone, a mini poppy seed muffin, and orange marmalade.

I always forget how much I love orange marmelade.

For my breakfast, I ordered two eggs over medium, chicken sausage, sweet potato cakes, and a side of fruit (hold the pineapple).

I also had about 19 cups of coffee.

It was a late night and totally necessary.

Brad ordered the crab cakes Benedict with sweet potato cakes.

The sweet potato cakes were so delicious, crispy and sweet.  I’m pretty sure they were fried and would love to create my own healthier version.

Breakfast could be summed up in two words: very yummy. The portion sizes were way too much for one person and I wished I could ask for a doggie bag to take my leftovers back to my room. I hate to see food go to waste, but not enough to finish my plate when I’m full.

After breakfast, I set out to find a drugstore.

Random fact about me: I always need to visit a drugstore when we’re on vacation.

Usually because…
- I forgot something
- I need a travel size hairspray

Another random fact about me: I believe in hairspray.  I use hairspray everyday.  It’s necessary.  My hair can’t function without it.

It took me FOREVER to find a drug store.  If you ever travel to Nashville and are searching for a drug store in the downtown area, ask your concierge or a local for directions.  Google maps is wrong.

Did I mention that it felt like it was 11 degrees with the wind chill?

After my hour-long drug store expedition (to buy a toothbrush, clear nail polish, sunscreen, and hairspray), I coaxed Brad into walking to the Gulch area to do a bit of shopping.

I absolutely love checking out the local boutiques in new towns and and there’s not much that can sway me, even frigid temperature.

We found this awesome boutique called Apricot Lane.  I bought THREE dresses! And tried on six. They were all great finds at 50-60% off.  This one can be easily worn this winter with a cardigan and tights, but the other two are very summery.

It’s painful to wait to wear new clothes, but I’ll definitely get plenty of wear out of them when the weather turns warmer.

I later learned that there are Apricot Lanes all over the place, including one just north of Charlotte.  Sometimes I’m a little late to the party, but I’m always glad when I show up.

We visited several other boutiques in the area including Urban Outfitters and Two Old Hippies, which had the cutest baby clothes.  Brad stopped me from buying our non-existant babies Beatles and Aerosmith t-shirts.  A little premature I guess.

We went back to the hotel so Brad could nap and I went down to the lobby to blog.  We spent a few hours being lazy, then headed down to the hotel bar for a pre-dinner drink.

I spent the next hour sipping Spanish red wine and texting my mom and my best friend about Whitney Houston’s death. I’ve always been such a huge fan since I was a little girl and find the whole thing so incredibly sad. It’s actually been quite a surprise to me how saddened I’ve been by this.

What a talent.  What a loss.

After a drink, we hopped in a cab for a short ride to the Belmont neighborhood to go to dinner.

I made us reservations the day before at Cha Chah, a tapas restaurant I found after a bit of research.

The restaurant is an old garage, turned into a minimalist, trendy restaurant.

We started off with spicy hummus, bread, and pieces of fried wonton.

I chose a glass of Malbec to sip over dinner.

Our second dish was hot dates with blue cheese and bacon.  They were incredibly tasty, but how could you go wrong with that combination of ingredients?

Next, we shared the “Hot Chicken”, which was actually Tabasco brined quail with  ranch dipping sauce. 

Then we split venison with fava beans.  I’ve never eaten venison in a restaurant, and Cha Chah definitely go this dish right.  The venison was cooked perfectly.

Brad’s favorite was the duck meatloaf and I have to say that it was pretty incredible.

Our last dish was the cinnamon brioche with cream cheese ice cream.  This dessert was the perfect size — just a few incredible bites to round out an incredible meal.

After dinner, we cabbed it back to the main strip to check out some bands.

We headed back to Whisky Bent Saloon, like the night before, but found it to be super crowded.  Brad suggested we head to the second-floor loft, but when we got to the stairs that led to the loft, we stopped short when we noticed “VIP Area” written across the doors.

I tend to live by the expression, “It’s easier to get forgiveness, than permission,” so we waltzed up the stairs acting like we were exactly where we were supposed to be.  No one stopped us so we sat down on two barstools and played it cool…

…well, as best as Brad and I can manage.

By the end of the night, the owner was hugging me and telling me to come back any time we are in Nashville.  Moral of the story: when in doubt, just act like you’re in the right place.

A girl we met in the VIP Loft told us about a place called Printer’s Alley, so we walked a few block to a small alley with a few seedy bars.  It seemed like something we had to see…

We decided to go into a very busy bar where a band was playing county cover songs. This bar had a dance floor and every time the band played a slow song several couples would get out on the floor to dance.

The steel guitar player was hilarious and leaned down several times to talk to us and make fun of me for yawning or for drinking water.

Brad and I danced a few times as well.  I was exhausted after staying out late the night before, but managed to make it to a little after 1 am before asking if we could go back to the hotel.

Overall, I had a blast in Nashville.  The hotel was really nice, the food was fantastic, the entertainment was so much fun.

I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

I’m currently blogging from the lobby of the Union Station in Nashville, TN where Brad and I are spending the weekend.

The Union Station is a historic hotel owned by the Marriott.

Check out our room!

And here’s the bathroom.

Overall, I really like the room.  It has obviously been renovated recently.  We don’t have a great view and the bathroom is a bit tiny, but that’s kind of what you get when you stay in a historic hotel.  The hotel was originally a train station that opened in 1900 and didn’t become a hotel until the 1980′s.

You can definitely tell this place used to be a train station.

Check out the lobby!

I’m sitting at the little table for two in the bottom of the photo typing away.

You can’t see me in the photo, silly! I’m sitting there now and I took this photo about an hour ago.

We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Prime 108, this morning, but more on that later.

More beautiful views of the lobby…

We got into Nashville at about 6:30 last night, caught a cab to our hotel, freshened up a bit and walked down to Broadway, the main strip.

We had dinner at Jack’s Barbecue, which has a location on Broadway.

I had the regular sized smoked turkey sandwich (they have a larger size) with apples and cucumber salad.  Weird side combinations, I know.  But it was exactly what I wanted.  The smoked turkey was incredible — juicy and tender.  The apples were so delicious (mental note: make stewed apples soon!).  The cucumber salad left a lot to be desired.  My grandparents make their own cucumber salad with white onions (this version had red), vinegar, salt and pepper.  This salad needed a lot more vinegar…like A LOT more vinegar…and a lot more salt and pepper.  But that’s just my opinion.

Brad had the brisket with macaroni, baked beans, and corn bread.  I tasted everything (of course) and here’s the verdict: the brisket was wonderful, as was the baked beans, the macaroni was good, and the cornbread was just okay.  I prefer a recipe based around cornmeal, while this version was kind of cakey because it contained a lot of white flour.

Overall, dinner was great and then it was on to the bars and the music. There were so many places to choose from!

Robert’s Western World drew us right in.  It was hoppin’!

This place is an authentic honky tonk.

For all of you non-southerners/non-country folk, a honky tonk is a no-frills bar that usually features loud and live country music bands.  Beer is the house wine and the patrons are usually a bit rowdy.

Don’t worry.  Brad and I can hold our on.

The band was really good, but very twangy as far as country music goes.

I was actually surprised that Brad enjoyed it as much as he did, I being the one who likes country music.

Brad was the kind of guy in high school who pretty much only listened to alternative rock, while I grew up on a healthy dose of Garth Brooks, Dr. Dre, and Nirvana.

I’m very well rounded.

This particular band was The Don Kelley Band.  They mostly played covers and had an absolutely amazing guitarist — by far the best guitarist I’ve ever seen live.

Side note: This was an excellent choice for an outfit.  It was comfy enough for the plane, but was appropriate for hitting up the bars as soon as we arrived.

My partner in crime

After Robert’s we headed down the street and landed in the Whisky Bent Saloon where Smoke N’ Guns took the stage.

This was by far, the best act I saw last night. We *think* the bartender told us these two ladies (Alecia and Lindsey) are the backup singers for Miranda Lambert (because it was loud and we couldn’t hear well).  I can totally see that because they have a similar style.  I LOVE Miranda Lambert, so of course, I loved them.

They sang mostly covers as well, plus a few of their own.  I had such a great time listening to them.  We enjoyed them so much, we sent a round of whisky to the band.  We let the bartender choose and her choice was Fireball Cinnamon Whisky, which I think tasted like Goldschlager. Cinnamon kind of masks the flavor of everything.

I have a no shots policy. So I took a small sip to taste it and passed it to Brad.

We made a few friends and reinforced Brad’s claim that I’m a magnet for people to tell me random personal things about themselves.  It’s true.   It happens quite often.

Eventually, we headed down the strip to visit a few more music venues.  We even went in to a karaoke bar, which I declared lame and refused to participate. I’m such a wimp.

It was a late night and a good time was had by all.

More to come…

I swear these are a crowd pleaser.

I swear that, as nachos go, they’re not so bad for you.

I swear that you’ll love them.

I swear that there are chips under there somewhere.

Baja Shrimp Nachos (serves a crowd)
These nachos are perfect for any type of party where you serve/bring heavy hors d’oeuvres or as an appetizer to a southwest/Mexican themed dinner party. My guests loved them!

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
16 oz. large shrimp, tails removed
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large bag (about 16 oz.) blue corn chips
1 cup refried beans
2 cups pepper jack cheese
1 cup salsa of choice
1 cup corn (frozen or fresh)
1 avocado, cubed
1/3 cup Greek yogurt

Heat olive oil in a medium pan or skillet. Sprinkle salt and cayenne pepper over shrimp. Add shrimp to pan and sautee until thoroughly cooked on each side (shrimp will turn pink and firm to touch).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread chips evenly over a large baking sheet. Top chips with refried beans by spooning a small amount evenly over the chips. Top with shrimp, cheese, corn, and then salsa. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with avocado, then Greek yogurt by spooning small amounts over the entire pan of nachos. Serve immediately.

But why wait for a party?

You can halve this and share it with 3-4 people.

Or, make it for yourself by using small amounts of all these ingredients. You don’t need me to tell you how. You can’t screw up nachos.

Besides, sharing is for the birds when food is this good.

***

This weekend I am blogging from Nashville, TN. I’ll be popping in daily (Saturday and Sunday) to share mine and Brad’s adventures with you.

Here’s to good food and good music. We’re hell-bent on finding both this weekend.