Off again

Back on an airplane again this morning! Luckily this was just a quick flight to New York. I couldn't mar my precious blog with any more airport food, so I had a very early breakfast this morning before I left to catch the 8AM shuttle.

This lovely bowl of oats consists of Bob's Red Mill 5 Grain Cereal, 1 tsp of wheat germ, a splash of skim milk, a glob of almond butter, 1 chopped apple, and a few chopped dried cherries. Along with my cup of earl grey with skim. This was very filling, which was good. I wouldn't be eating for a few more hours at least.

We're headed to New York to edit the TV spots we've been shooting the past couple weeks. Its so cool to see everything come together after all the hard work! When we arrived at the editorial company, I had half a banana walnut muffin to hold me over until lunch, and my third cup of tea (I had 1 at the airport as well - just couldn't bare to post it!).

When it came time to order lunch, my boss was looking at the menu and said, "this looks like a Gretchen salad!" It definitely was and was of course what I ordered.

Roasted beets with walnuts, chickpeas with spinach, quinoa, and mixed greens. This was a delicious combo of some of my greatest hits!

Gearing up for a big dinner tonight - I have to come up with someplace good for us to go!

Home Cookin

So I had a ton to catch up on at work today and did not make it to the gym! I haven't been on the treadmill in over week - I'm feeling a bit sluggy. I still ate my afternoon pre-gym fuel though.


A piece of 7-grain bread with almond butter. Definitely held me over until dinner. Which was pure home cooked comfort food! I made 3 of my favorite things.


Roasted brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes and pan seared scallops. I also served some remoulade on the side because I had some in the fridge - but the scallops were so sweet and tasty they really didn't need it. I just love scallops! And they're so easy to cook - you just need to cook them in a really hot pan for about a minute per side and not over crowd the pan, or else they'll steam and not sear and caramelize.

I just finished packing - AGAIN! I haven't even unpacked from LA and now I'm going back to New York tomorrow morning. I should just be there a couple days, if all goes as planned. I packed my sneakers and I'm really going to try to hit the gym at least once! For now - I'm going to catch up on Heroes and eat my evening square of dark chocolate.

Back to Monday

Back to reality and a cold, yucky Monday. I'm happy to be home, but I'm missing the weather in LA! I was still jet lagged and out of it this morning and the wet, heavy rain/snow mix is not helping things.

My wonderful fiance went to the grocery store yesterday while I was traveling, so I actually had food to prepare this morning! I had forgotten how much food I usually carry around with me on a normal work day. Look at all this tupperware!


3 containers for breakfast, 2 for lunch, 2 for snacks! This is a lot to carry around. But planning ahead and bringing all my healthy food keeps me from eating crap during the day. Usually.

I didn't have a chance to eat my breakfast and drink my tea until 11AM. I was in a fog all morning until I had that caffeine burst.


Along with my tea, I had nonfat plain yogurt, 1 chopped apple, Kashi go lean cereal, and a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg.

I didn't know that we were having a lunch screening today - we have them pretty often. Reps from production companies, editorial houses, and music companies come in to show us their latest work and feed us. Today they brought California Pizza Kitchen. Even though I brought a salad, I couldn't resist a small slice of shrimp scampi pizza. It was yummy and very garlicky!


I took a bite before I remembered to grab my camera! A couple hours later I ate my real lunch.

A salad with spinach, tomatoes, red and green peppers, chickpeas, feta, and tuna dressed with a mix of dijon mustard, champagne vinegar, and EVOO. I always try to make my own dressing - it tastes better and doesn't have all the preservatives that are in bottled dressings. I also had my vitamins and a couple Viatcitv calcium chews. And another cup of tea! Its been a busy day and I still have a lot to do!

I've been a bad blogger...

Phew! What a crazy week! I was so busy in LA this week, I barely had time to sleep, let alone blog. But never fear, I did find time to do plenty of eating. Not only did we go to lots of fancy dinners, we were also served amazing craft service and catering on set all week. I don't think I'd ever really want to live in LA - but the food is definitely my style! There were so many fresh, healthy options. I was seriously eating constantly! I managed to get a snap of one of our catered lunches:

Obviously, this is a very full plate of grilled salmon, brown rice, salad, asparagus, grilled endive, and ratatouille. This was the general trend of the week.

So I'm also a bad food blogger because most of what I've managed to post for the past week is airport food! In an attempt to get back on track, here is my airport breakfast that I had before hopping on the plane back to Boston.


Oatmeal with dried fruit. Behind it is something I haven't had in years - a caramel latte. I very rarely drink coffee, but I was so exhausted this morning I decided to have this treat. It was yummy, but I'm definitely still a tea girl.

I flew Virgin America back from LA and they actually have a not bad selection of food you can buy.

This salad has lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, olives, chickpeas and cheese. Not bad for airplane food. I also had an unpictured ginger snap flavored Larabar on the flight.

So I just got home and I am so glad to be back! I just threw together a pasta dish from whatever I could find in the kitchen.


This has enriched rotini, chopped grape tomatoes, peas, spinach, garlic, oil-packed tuna, white wine, and splash of cream. With grated parmesan over the top. It was a big plate of food, but I was hungry and ate it all! Now, I am very ready to crash. I have to go back to New York for a couple days this week, but I think I will still be on a much more normal schedule. Hoping to actually get some exercise in!

Now, to get ready for Monday...

No snow here!

I made it to LA and I'm sooo glad I got out of Boston before the huge storm hit. Sounds like its a mess out there! Sorry to all my friends in Boston :) If it makes you feel any better, its a little drizzly in LA. And only like 70º.

I was so anxious to get out last night, that I left for the airport really early, and then had like 2 hours to hang around at before my flight left. I was bored, so I ate. I got a small cup of chocolate chunk gelatto!


As you can see, we're back to the crappy iphone photos this week. I promise they will get better when I get home!

Since I couldn't just eat ice cream for dinner, I also got a bolocco burrito.


This was their "Bangkok" with tofu, lettuce, cucumbers, asian slaw, black beans (instead of rice), and a spicy peanut sauce. I ate about half before I got on the plane, and the other half in the air with a glass of chardonnay. I honestly felt a little ill after eating this and the gelatto - it was too much food for me!

I did manage to get some sleep on the plane, which was good since I didn't get to my hotel until 3AM LA time - which felt like 6AM to me! I slept for a few more hours then woke up at 7AM. I was able to hang around the hotel for a few hours this morning and order room service!


It was actually a little disappointing. I ordered the continental and added yogurt. I guess I should have asked for plain, cause this yogurt had way too much sugar AND high fructose corn syrup in it. Yuck. I ate it with berries anyway, cause I knew I would need the protein. Also had a pot of earl grey (I also forgot to ask for milk!) and nibbled at about half the croissant.

At the office we're working out of now, and getting ready to dig into a spread of yummy mexican food they have out for us.  This is going to be a long day.  Its not even 2 here and I'm ready to go back to bed!  must get more tea.

Off again

I finally figured out when I'm getting out of snowy Boston! I'm leaving on a flight to LA at 8:40 this evening, which will hopefully get out ok. I arrive in LA at midnight, which will feel like 3AM to me, and then I have to get my luggage, pick up a rental car, and find my hotel. Fun stuff! But, I am glad I'm getting out there today and won't have to spend tomorrow waiting around not know when I'm leaving. I just hope I can sleep on the plane - I'm not usually very good at that.

So, I just had a late lunch. A salad with spinach, chickpeas, sprouts, tabouli, feta, and balsamic vinegar and EVOO. With a slice of rosemay garlic toast with hummus.


I also just grabbed a few of last night's kale chips. Possibley my last healthy meal for awhile! Dinner will probably a sandwich at the airport.

I will likely be posting very little (if at all) over the next week. I'm going to be pretty busy. Needless to say, I'll likely be eating a lot! More client dinners and craft service.

See ya on the left coast!

Banana Pancakes

After last night's festivities, I definitely needed some hearty pancakes this morning! Along with our tea, I whipped up some whole wheat pancakes with bananas, walnuts, and unsweetened coconut. I smothered mine in a little spiced vanilla butter and maple syrup from our "grand sampler" selection.


Here's the basic recipe for my whole wheat pancakes. You can add in whatever extras and flavorings you like. Fruit, nuts, spices, granola. For today's pancakes I added sliced bananas, chopped walnuts, unsweetened dried coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little vanilla extract.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs toasted wheat germ
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup non-fat yogurt
1 cup skim milk

Serving: makes about 6 5" pancakes

• Heat griddle to 375º
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and wheat germ
• Add beaten egg
• In separate bowl, whisk together yogurt and milk
• Add milk mixture to batter and mix to combine.  Don't over mix - you should have some small lumps in batter
• Heat oven to 175º
• Coat griddle in butter or cooking spray.  Ladle about 1/2 cup of batter onto griddle, spacing pancakes about 2" apart.  Cook until bubbles on top of pancakes begin to burst, about 2 - 3 minutes, then flip and cook until golden on bottom, about 1 -2 minutes more.
• Keep pancakes warm in oven on heatproof plate while cooking the rest.

That's it! They're quite tasty and filling - and good for you! Making pancakes from scratch is really not much more work than using a mix. Just requires a few more measurements. And its so worth it!

I'm now finishing off my tea and sitting on hold with Amex travel AND Virgin America. It looks like we're getting a TON of snow tonight, so I'm trying to switch my flight to LA from tomorrow morning to this afternoon. But it sounds like that will be expensive - so no idea when I'm leaving at this point!  Wish me luck!