Restaurant Status Salad

If you told me all I could eat for the rest of my life was salad, I probably would not be mad (as long as the cafe rio sweet pork salad is included). Quality restaurant status salad that is, and that is what this salad that I am sharing with you today is - quality restaurant status salad. I LOVE SALAD! It is my absolute favorite meal to have for lunch.

I was inspired to make this particular salad because some of my absolute FAVE salads from some of my favorite restaurants are very similar. (Balsamic Grilled Chicken Salad from Sammy's Wood Fired Pizza and grill; Gorgonzola Salad from Red White and Brew)

I was also inspired to make this salad because I wanted to make a BOMB, MOST DELICIOUS, and HEALTHY balsamic dressing!!! And nailed it, make this dressing and you will not be sorry. You will want to put it on every salad for the next nine years of your life.

ALSO if you're not a big salad fan because they're not filling enough - wrong! - there are options to make them VERY filling!! 1. Add protein (I actually added chicken to this salad, it just wasn't finished cooking when I took the pic) 2. Nuts (walnuts here!) 3. Cheese!! Yum. Blue Cheese is so filling and delicious, but my other favorite cheese for salads is Feta. (any cheese will do) 4. Grains (quinoa, wheat berry, ect.)

Restaurant Status Salad:

Spinach
Red Onion
Tomato
Avocado
Walnuts
Blue Cheese
Grilled Chicken (optional) ...also when I say grill I mean cook in frying pan with olive oil, s&p

The BEST Balsamic Vinaigrette You Will EVER Have:

1/2 c. Balsamic Vinegar
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
3 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
3 tablespoons Honey
7 tablespoons Greek Yogurt
1 tablespoon Olive Oil

Add all dressing ingredients into a jar and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE!!

Half Iron

Wow all I can say right now is that I AM SO HAPPY THAT I have a husband that is taking a NORMAL Sunday nap right now instead of running 12 miles outside today!!! Finally! It feels so good to be back, back to normal life. The half ironman was fun and swimming, cycling, and running is a huge part of Sammy's life - it is his favorite hobby and makes him happy, which I am so thankful for but at the same time it was really hard at times. For example, him training before and after work therefore waiting until at least 8:30-9 to eat dinner every single night. I also missed the social life we use to have dearly, and I am excited to have it back again. Not to mention extra time with just the two of us. Training for these kinds of things takes up SO MUCH time which I did not realize before he started.

I know Sammy will want to do another one soon... in fact he now wants to do a full next year, but hopefully I can talk him into waiting a while. And when I say a while I mean 10 years HAH, no but seriously I need a break a ten year break, I want my husband back. Sure if he didnt have a full time job I would support him doing these things as much as his little heart desired but working full time and training in his spare time was kind of hard for me! Hey girls/wifey's need attention and we all know it.

However, it was SO SO much fun supporting him and I am so glad that Sammy got to do this. It makes him so happy and I am proud of my happy, healthy, hard working husband. He is in such good shape right now and it truly is amazing to see the never ending endurance my babe has!

I am also so so happy that Sammy's parents and Kristin drove down from CT to watch sammy race. It was so nice having company to help cheer Sammy on and he couldn't be happier that they made the trek down to come support him. Together we watched the race for almost 6 hours and in between the times we wouldn't see Sammy for a while we went into downtown Fredricksberg, VA which is where the race was to drive by Civil War sites (Sam's favorite thing to do - Sam is Sammy's dad) and to grab a bite to eat.

After the race we went to 2Amys Pizza (the best italian pizza on this planet). I scarfed my face like I had just completed the half ironman myself because it was a long day. We then went to Coldstone and ate our ice cream outside in wonderful 70 degree weather, and then finally went home for the night.

This morning//Mother's Day!! we got up and went to breakfast at Ted's Bulletin on Capitol Hill with Sammy's family! I had never been there before, but since the moment I have moved to DC I have heard that their homemade poptarts and milkshakes are TO DIE for!! For an appetizer we tried the pop tarts and they were absolutely AMAZING and so dang adorable with sprinkles on them! We didnt try the milkshake since it was breakfast time and we had loads of ice cream last night, but I'm excited because that just gives Sammy and I a reason to go back to Ted's for dinner soon! Then for dessert after breakfast (ha - sad, we had breakfast dessert) we had these insanely good huge gooey malt chocolate brownies, and blonde brownies too! I have probably gained 10 pounds since the Cowley's got here, but that never doesn't happen because they eat the best food of all time and they try EVERYTHING, which I LOVE! It is so much fun trying everything insight that looks good, that is literally what they do so it is fun to be a part of the clan!

My water bottle baby.

Race Morning

 Transition #1 from swim to bike!

 I had awesome peeps to chill with in the meantime. 

 There's my baby comin in strong!

 YAYYY!! FINITO! 

 The only thing Sammy asked me to do was to have Mexican cokes and a bottle opener ready for him at the finish line. Hehe. Cuteness. 

 Sammy & Sam

 H A P P Y   M O T H E R S   D A Y ! !

 

 Fresh, homemade Pop Tarts from TED'S!! 

 We tried the brown sugar cinnamon and brown sugar and also a nutella hazelnut Pop Tart! Both were to die for, but the brown sugar was our absolute fave. 

We then had the best breakfast ever!
Their hash browns are bomb dot com. 

I want to take Talia and Derek here when they come to visit in two weeks!

New York

Last weekend I went on a girls trip to NY with 2 of my VERY best friends in the world. I can not tell you have refreshing and marvelous it was to not only be in such a fun place, but finally back with good friends who I have missed dearly out here (but tear that BAMFE wasn't all together on this trip - next time!!).

This was not your average NY trip.. you know checking out the empire state building, time square, rockefeller center, financial district... ect. we all know the list goes on. Instead it was something NEW and different!! My friend Kirstin lives in Manhatten so that is who Melissa and I stayed with and when she asked what we wanted to do we let her know that we did't want to just do the average touristy stuff - and we didn't!! We had an amazing time doing new things and eating our way through New York!!

[Forgive me for the crappy iPhone photos!! I didnt feel like carrying a bulky camera around all day]

 Mel and I on our way! We took a bus up to NYC from DC, so nice because it's only $25 per way and takes 5 hours!!

 First stop after we met Kirstin was S'Mac! It is a delicous place where they serve all kinds of macaroni and cheese!! It was SO amazing!! We got this sample platter that let us try like 8 different flavors. My favorite was 4 Cheese for sure! The whole rest of the day I was stunned at how good this place was. 

Then we rented bikes and rode around Central Park

 Friday night we went to a restaurant called Co. and had amazing italian pizzas. 

 After Co. we got Magnolia's for dessert!

 My ULTIMATE favorite dessert!! Magnolias Bannana Bread Pudding

Okay.. and maybe cake ties with the pudding since frosting is the closest thing to heaven.

 The next morning we got up and made stuffed french toast!! Inside the two thick pieces of french toast we put the most amazing cream cheese mixture that tasted like frosting!! It was so amazing with strawberries on top. We topped it with nutella and Trader Joes cookie butter.

Eww we just woke up two seconds ago.. naast. But I needed to put this pic up to show how cute Kirstins apartment is!

 After breakfast we took the subway to Brooklyn to go to the Brooklyn Flea Market!! I was especially excited because not only do I love flea markets, but I hadn't ever been to Brooklyn before!

 It was seriously the greatest farmers market I have ever been to.

 There was theeee BEST food at the Brooklyn Flea Market!

 After the flea market we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan

 We went to dinner in Little Italy

 And got dessert here at Rice to Riches!!

 They had SO many amazing flavors of rice pudding!

Dylan's Candy Bar.. of course, how could we not?

 After dessert we took the tram to Roosevelt island!! It was SO much fun, and you can use your metro card with no extra cost to ride the tram! Everyone should do this, it was so fun!

 The next morning we got brunch at Cafeteria. In my opinion EVERYONE needs to go to this restaurant when visiting NY, it was so so good! Not to mention chic and fresh.

 After brunch we went to Levain Bakery.
Everyone also needs to go here too!!
And make SURE you try the chocolate peanut butter cookie!!
These cookies were to die for, and SO gooey on the inside!
You cant tell here but these cookies are HUGE.

 Of course we couldnt make it more than a half hour before passing another glorious bakery. We had to try the macaroons and they were amazing.

 Zabars!! My favorite market/cafe in NYC!

 Lot's of cheese in hereeee!! I brought some home to Sammy:) with some other goodies.

Riverside Park

 Kirstin infront of her apartment!

 We walked the Skyline before we had to catch the bus back to DC.
I also believe everyone needs to walk the Skyline in NY! It's so fun, it's like a boardwalk but above ground so there are amazing views and there are gardens and trees up there with you!