Category Archives: Lighter Options

June 14, 2012 · 8:16 pm

Greens & Grille

I always love catching up with my friend Erica and this past time was no exception. We met up after work for dinner and ended up chatting and snacking for three and a half hours. Of course, it still wasn’t long enough.

We met up at Greens & Grille, a restaurant with two locations, both in Orlando. We met up at the location by the Mall at Millenia, and the second one is near UCF.  They serve up fresh salads, soups and sandwiches. You can order off their premade, signature menu, or you can pick your own ingredients to build your own creation. All of the protein is thrown on the grill prior to being placed on your salad or in your sandwich. Erica and I both ordered salads from the signature menu.

Greens & Grille Salad

I ordered a cobb salad with grilled shrimp.

Greens & Grille Salad 2

Their prices do run a little high for salads (about $10), but they’re huge, and everything is very high quality. I don’t know why, but ordering salads out always tastes better than when I make them at home.

After gabbing for awhile at Greens & Grille, we headed around the corner to Tutti Frutti for some froyo. They offer soy bean froyo, but I stuck with the normal variety. The soy bean based froyo boasts being fat free, gluten free, has no artificial sweeteners, and has more protein.

Tutti Frutti froyo

I got a  swirl of pineapple and coconut for a pina colada flavor and topped it with chocolate chips, kiwi, blueberries and a plop of whipped cream. I love mixing chocolate and fruity flavors.

It was a sweet ending to a fun time!

Do you prefer sweet or tart froyo flavors? I usually go for the tart, fruity flavors.

7 Comments

Filed under Frozen Yogurt, Lighter Options, Millenia, Vegetables

March 17, 2012 · 1:54 pm

Going green

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Kevin is half Irish, so I consider myself close enough. This morning, I realized that I don’t really own any green articles of clothing. After some digging, I finally remembered my green J. Crew Bermuda shorts.

green shorts

Today has already been full of green. We met with a potential florist, which was really fun. We still have to meet with one more, but I’m really liking how our vision is coming along.

My breakfast this morning was a Pinterest-inspired green treat. I saw photos of these floating around and decided to try to recreate it without following any sort of recipe. How hard could it be?

Eggs in avocado baskets

Ingredients:

  • 1 avocado, sliced in half lengthwise, pit removed
  • 2 medium eggs (I used jumbo and had some excess whites leftover)
  • Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With a sharp knife, shave off a piece of avocado from the back side of each half, so it has a flat surface to balance on. This way it won’t roll everywhere. Place on a small baking sheet.

Take a spoon, and hollow out a larger area around where the pit was. Crack one egg in each hollowed out avocado. Crack salt and pepper over the top. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, depending on how runny you like your eggs.

avocado and eggs

Avocado and egg in one of my favorite combinations, so I knew I couldn’t go wrong with this recipe. And I love how simple it was to make. Parko had an early morning vet visit, so I ate breakfast pretty late, which resulted in a mid-afternoon snack instead of lunch.

asparagus and spinach

I sautéed two handfuls of baby spinach and some baby asparagus with olive oil, salt and garlic powder then topped it with parmesan cheese. Perfect for my green day!

Hopefully the trend will continue tonight with some green beer. I hope you have a great, green day!

How are you celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day?

7 Comments

Filed under Eating In, Holiday, Lighter Options

November 9, 2011 · 9:33 pm

Turkey Robinson

I love Food Network and Cooking Channel. All through college and when I lived alone, Food Network was constantly on, and I learned a lot of my cooking skills by just watching cooking shows without even trying to replicate the recipes exactly. I would just use the shows as inspirations for meals. A few weeks ago, I had 5 Ingredient Fix on while I was folding clothes and her recipe for Turkey Robinson stuck in my mind.

I decided to give my own spin on it by omitting the beans and using peas instead of spinach. I had read some reviews that it could be a little bland so I heavily seasoned the turkey meat with onion powder as well.

plate

I served the turkey over bowtie pasta. It was a little under seasoned but some grated parmesan on top added the perfect amount of salt. I really liked how light the meal was since the sauce was just chicken broth, and none of the flavors overpowered the rest. Ground beef would have been too heavy and overpowering.

Kevin doesn’t like turkey nearly as much as chicken or beef, but I think he’s warming up to it.

Parko went to daycare today to get some socialization where he got a bath. After Parko is bathed, they always put him in a bandana, and it just warms my heart.

Parko

Kevin hates when they put the bandana on him because he feels like it emasculates him, but he lets Parko keep it on for a few hours to humor me. I love the bandana!

Do you ever cook with ground turkey? What’s your favorite cooking show?

15 Comments

Filed under Eating In, Lighter Options

November 7, 2011 · 8:41 pm

Breakfast salad

I used to give Kevin a hard time because he never knew how I prefer my eggs. In his defense, I don’t always order my eggs the same way. In my defense, I do feel like knowing how your significant other prefers his/her eggs is just one of those things you’re supposed to know.

For the record, my favorite way to take my eggs is over medium with a dipper or something to mix the yolk with. Hard boiled comes at a close second.

Over the weekend, Kevin decided to give my favorite eggs a whirl and fried up two perfectly yolky eggs for my breakfast. In a random decision, I decided to take them over some leftover kale.

eggs and kale

I tossed the kale with olive oil and sprinkled it with garlic powder. After Kevin transferred the eggs, I sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top. The combination was delicious and kept me full well into lunch. The runny yolk made the perfect salad dressing, and it was a great high-protein breakfast. I can’t wait to try this combination again. I think it will be on regular rotation.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten for breakfast?

16 Comments

Filed under Breakfast, Eating In, Lighter Options

September 8, 2011 · 9:14 pm

Designer Greens

Last night my good friend Erica and I braved the thunderstorms to catch up and celebrate her birthday a little early. We headed out to Designer Greens in Waterford Lakes. I had never been but had heard great things.

Designer Greens was actually opened by a UCF alumnus, and it currently has two locations: one at Waterford right by UCF and one across the street from the University of Florida.

Their concept revolves around offering fresh ingredients to assemble your own custom salad, or you can choose from one of their own suggested concoctions. They also offer soups and flatbread paninis.

Erica ordered the Waldorf salad, which had grapes, granny smith and gala apples, candied pecans and goat cheese. She received raspberry dressing on the side. The fruit looked really fresh. They chop up all the ingredients for your salad as you order.

waldorf

I should also add that this is a half order. Their portions are pretty big.

I opted for their half and half special, which includes a half order of any salad and a half panini sandwich. To continue the avocado kick I’ve been on, I ordered the avocado sandwich and the spicy buffalo panini.

avocado and buffalo chicken

The avocado salad had chunks of avocado (duh), hard boiled egg, mandarin oranges, red onion, corn, candied pecans and goat cheese with citrus dressing. The panini came with Boar’s Head buffalo chicken, tomatoes, onions, cheddar cheese, gorgonzola cheese and a lot of buffalo sauce.

Everything was really delicious and fresh. I liked that you could see them assemble everything in front of you. Despite all the healthy fats and protein in my salad, it was surprisingly light and refreshing. The spicy buffalo sauce with the warm, melted cheeses in the panini was a great combination.

I left feeling really content with my meal but not overstuffed like is often the case when eating out.

What is your favorite salad ingredient? I’m such a sucker for any candied nut or hard boiled eggs. I pretty much like hard boiled eggs anytime.

10 Comments

Filed under East Orlando, Lighter Options, Waterford Lakes