I had the best dinner tonight! It was pieced together with two very interesting items (note that Isaac wasn’t home for this dinner), but it’s way too good not to share with you all.

1.) Baked sweet potato with cottage cheese and ketchup.

I know it sounds odd, but if you’ve been reading EBF for a while you’ll know I really like this combo and if you’ve tried it for yourself, you’ll know that despite how crazy it sounds/looks, it’s quite delicious.

I have the lovely Jenn from Eating Bender to thank for introducing me to it!

2.) Hummus and Avocado Cake

I told you it was an interesting dinner…

Although I would love to, I can’t take the credit for coming up with this delicious treat – my friend Laurel actually told me about this little combo, and I can’t be completely positive, but it might just be the “it” snack for summer 2010!

Hummus and Avocado Cakes (2 cakes)

• 2 brown rice cakes (I used Lundberg)
• 2 tbsp. garlic hummus (Sabra is my fav)
• 1/2 of an avocado, sliced
• cayenne pepper, to taste

Spread an even amount of hummus over the rice cakes, top each with 3 slices of avocado (about 1/4 of an avocado on each cake) and smash it a little to spread it out, sprinkle on the cayenne pepper ( I like it HOTT) and enjoy!

In other exciting news, the Candy Valley Cake Pops winner is #33, Anna!

Congrats lady. Shoot me an email (eatingbirdfood at gmail dot com) and your dozen Cake Pops will be on their way!

While Anna jumps up and down after finding out she’s won, I think I’ll do Somersaults.

And by do, I mean eat them. Actually, I’ve been snacking on these a lot today- after both lunch and dinner. They are small baked treats made with toasted whole grains and sunflower seeds. I like the not-too-sweet chocolate flavor of the chez cocoa variety and the crunch factor. With the first ingredient being sunflower seeds, they’re different than any other snack item I’ve ever tried. If I had to describe what the chez cocoa somersaults are most similar to, I’d say mini cookies- only they are better because the ingredient list is short and they provide a good amount of both protein and fiber.

I haven’t tried the other flavors yet – s.s. sea salt, salty pepper, and santa fe salsa, but you can bet I’ll be digging into those later this week.

The Somersault Snack Co. sent me these to review, but just so you know, I only state my true feelings about the products I review. In addition, I only accept products for review that I would be interested in buying myself if I saw them in the store. Speaking of which, I’ve seen these snacks at my local Whole Foods and you can always “like” Somersault Snack Co. on facebook for a possible chance to win a summertime snack giveaway.

Alrighty, I’m off to bed folks. It’s been a long day – we moved offices at work so I actually did more than sit on tush for 8 hours. It felt great to move a bit while at work, but now I’m sleepy.

Sweet dreams (of hummus and avocado cakes) to you!

-Brittany

Last night I came up with a new way to prepare zucchini pasta (aka raw zucchini cut into thin strips). I’ve made zucchini pasta by hand before but the old TITAN slicer was no longer cutting it (pun intended). My new love, the mandoline slicer, definitely makes life much easier -10 swipes over the sharp blades and I have a big bowl full of veggie noodles!

You could definitely eat the noodles raw, they’re crunchy and perfect when you want a cool dinner, but I thought it would be fun to cook the zucchini for a bit to create a softer texture and make the dish warm. After sautéing the noodles for about 6-7 minutes in a skillet pan sprayed with a little cooking spray they softened right up and were ready to be topped with sauce. Turns out Isaac had made some delicious tomato sauce the night before so I used that, but you could use a jarred or homemade sauce – whichever you please.

I LOVED the softer texture and warmness that the cooked zucchini pasta provided; the zucchini actually ended up tasting more noodle-like to me. Although, I will say that volume wise the zucchini definitely shrinks when it’s cooked so if you’re looking for volume eating it raw would be the way to go.

So to all my pasta lovers out there- now you can have low calorie, super healthy pasta without the funky fish odor of shirataki noodles. <– Yes, I will admit that I tried them but lets just say once was enough.

Looking for other healthy pasta options- give spaghetti squash, whole grain pasta varieties, soba noodles, or mung bean pasta a chance!

Try these links for some inspiration:

Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Tomatoes and Ricotta

Tahini Noodles

Tasty Tomato Sauce

Whole Wheat Fettuccine with Shrimp and Peas

Pad Thai with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Spicy Tofu and Mung Bean Pasta

I’m sure my little friend would fully approve.

See you all tomorrow with the winner of the Cake Pops Giveaway!

-Brittany

Hi friends. I hope your week is off to a good start!

As for me, I had my first physical therapy appointment this morning and things are looking up of the tingling leg front. Apparently the muscles on the left side of my back are overcompensating for the misalignment I have from scoliosis. The lower back muscles on my left side have become very short and knotted up and are pulling down on my left shoulder and up on my left leg. This in turn is affecting the muscles in my left leg (causing tightness) and also causing a pinched nerve in the pelvic area which leads to the main symptom I have been experiencing, the leg tingling and numbness.

I LOVED my physical therapist! She did a complete evaluation of my whole body- not just the areas I expressed that I was having pain in. In addition, she was very informative, answered all my questions and did a lot of hands-on work rather than machine exercises. And, for the first time in about 3 years (crazy that I it’s been that long since I graduated from college!) I have homework to do. The homework is 4 different exercises – all are pretty easy and one requires me to lie on the ground with one leg at a 90° angle so the other can completely relax for about 30 minutes. Sounds like a great exercise to me. I think I’ll use that time wisely and read Eat, Pray, Love since I’m trying to finish it before the movie comes out in a few weeks.

As for my eats, I’ve been trying to stick to eating clean, it’s basically a must now that my bridesmaid’s dress (for the wedding in September) is a bit snugger in the middle than I remembered it being back in the spring….

So lots of protein filled salads have been appearing for both lunch and dinner:

I’ve founds that frozen edamame is an easy way to add a little protein to a salad. The frozen bags of it cook super quickly and it cools off fast, making it perfect as a salad topper.

This one was topped with hummus, sliced tofukery, and crazy patterned green/yellow heirloom tomatoes.

On the side I had some left over baked beans and tortilla chips.

It might sound strange, but using tortilla chips to scoop cold (or hot) baked beans is really tasty. I love the sweet and salty flavor. Try it!!

I’ve also been sipping on this homemade kombucha! A family friend of Isaac’s brought me this little jar and was so excited to try it. Since GT’s was pulled from the shelves I’ve been missing it. (Alas, my bank account has been thanking me.)

I’ve never had homemade kombucha and was expecting it to taste different than the store bought versions but as it turns out, it was amazingly similar to GT’s Original. I’m almost tempted to ask her to teach me how to make it myself.

Mid-afternoon today I snacked on a another fun surprise I found at Whole Foods over the weekend, the new Carrot Cake Larabar!

1 word = amazing! I really like carrot cake and was pumped to give it a try. Let’s just say the bits carrot, almonds, dates and spices did not disappoint. It’s definitely up there as one of my favorite Larabars, probably coming in right after my most favorite, Coconut Cream Pie! Now I’m anxious to try the other newly released flavors: peanut butter chocolate chip, chocolate chip brownie, and chocolate chip cookie dough!

I’m now off to the gym, don’t worry my PT said I was allowed to exercise.

-Brittany

PS – The best part about today is that I was suppose to be moving offices so I wore “moving clothes” aka yoga pants, a thriv shirt, and sneakers. Turns out we are going to move on Wednesday instead, which means I get to wear moving clothes again on Wednesday – SCORE! If only I could wear yoga clothes everyday…

We’re back in RVA after spending a lovely evening in Greensboro, NC celebrating the marriage of our friends, Will and Beth!

Everything about the wedding was absolutely gorgeous, as evidenced by the following photos. Sadly I didn’t get any pictures of the bride and groom (they were hard to catch up with), but I did snag quite a few of the decor and food.

The Holy Trinity Episcopal Church was stunning.

These little flower vases lined the median outside of the Greensboro Country Club

And, I fell in love with the centerpiece on the name tag table in the foyer of the club. So pretty!

Upon arriving at the reception we were greeted with trays of ice water, lemonade, and pomegranate martinis… perfect for the extremely hot weather.

I down 2 glasses of water for taking a pomegranate martini to sip on.

After mingling over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres we were summonsed into the main banquet room. The wedding party was announced and finally the newly weds were introduced to the room and danced their first dance.

The room was stunning.

And, hydrangeas were everywhere from the centerpieces to the cake and the bouquet!

The first dance was danced, toasts were made and then it was time to eat dinner.

To start a delicious romaine salad with caramelized onions, mandarin oranges, pecans, cheese (I’m not sure what type, but if I had to guess, I would say goat cheese) with a balsamic drizzle.

The traditional entree was surf and turf – a steak with crab cake paired with seasonal vegetables and for the vegetarians a barley, spinach, shiitake mushroom dish with grilled asparagus.

Typical veggie options are heavy on pasta or cheese so I was pleasantly surprised to find that we were served barley as a main entree. I loved it and ate every last bite.

The cake was cut soon after dinner and served along with chocolate truffles.

I loved the light texture and fruit flavor of the cake. It was perfect for a summer wedding!

The evening proceeded with lots of dancing, laughing and just overall happiness.

As I mentioned we are home now so the rest of the afternoon will be spent unpacking, organizing, maybe a little online shopping (?) relaxing with perhaps a grocery store trip tossed in as well. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend – tell me, what did you end up doing?

-Brittany

PS – There’s still time to enter the Cake Pops giveaway.

We’re headed to Greensboro NC for a wedding today, which kicks off our 2010 wedding tour – this one in NC, one in GA (the same weekend as HLS), and one in WI. I’m excited because I love weddings, despite the fact that I cry every time! One reason I reason I like attending weddings is to pick up ideas for my own wedding (whenever that might be). I plan to take lots of photos so maybe it can help inspire some of you future brides-to-be with planning details.

The wedding starts at 5 tonight so we made the 3.5 hour trek this morning and stopped by Panera for lunch once we arrived in the vicinity of our hotel.

I got my “usual” you pick 2 – a Mediterranean veggie sandwich with black bean soup.

The sandwich and soup were delish and I saved the baked lays for later as a snack.

Now we plan to hang out at the hotel for bit and then get ready for the festivities – it should be fun.

I also wanted to say thanks for the thoughtful comments about my leg. It’s still tingling and is quite bothersome when trying to sleep, but I think it’s getting better. I recently picked up some homeopathic medication for leg cramps and numbness (zincum metallicum) and I have an appointment with a physical therapist first thing Monday morning. I really wanted to see an acupuncturist – both for this problem and for an overall check up, but it was just too expensive and isn’t covered by my insurance. :/

I’m hoping at some point it will be covered because I’m learning more about Eastern medicine and think it’s quite amazing. Of course I think Western doctors are helpful and medications are useful, but taking chemical pills with a plethora of side effects isn’t really up my alley. Plus, I’ve had success with many homeopathic or natural remedies.

Other Fun Stuff Going On:

1. Lululemon Athletica, which sells yoga inspired athletic apparel, is opening a showroom here in Richmond. It’s a smaller scale version of their regular retail store that will be open only on weekends to start. Hopefully they will do well enough to open a full store. I personally don’t own any Lululemon apparel, mainly because the closest store is currently in Northern VA and the prices are expensive. But from what I’ve heard Lululemon gear holds up really well and is worth the pricey cost. I’d love to test out that theory with a tank and bottoms of my own sometime.

Here are the details:

Location: Downtown Richmond at the corner of Brunswick and Main

Opening Date: TBA (word on the street = sometime in August)

Excited and want to be in the know? You can do what I’m doing and follow LululemonRVA on Twitter, friend Lululemon on Facebook and join their email list.

Can you tell I’m kind of excited about it?

2. Don’t forget to check out the Cake Pop giveaway I’m hosting! If you haven’t entered, do so now – the contest ends Tuesday!

3. My review of The New Rules of Lifting for Women – Phase 1 is coming soon. I’m working on it now!

Have a great Saturday my friends!

-Brittany