FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Swag Bag Snackin’, In Pictures

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Breakfast: HLS Swag Bag Uncle Sam Strawberry Cereal with Almond Milk

Lunch: Custom FRESH Salad – Spinach, Cucumbers, White Beans, Beets, Red Onions, Asparagus, Avocado & Cilantro Jalapeno Vinaigrette

Snack: HLS Swag Bag Adora Chocolates

Dinner: HLS Swag Bag Mini Fillo Shells with “Cheesy” Spinach & Zucchini

I told you the Healthy Living Summit swag bags were the best ever!  Seriously, I can’t believe that three of the four things I ate today were swaggy goodness.

HLS attendees – What have you tasted so far?

Check back tomorrow for the stuffed fillo shell recipe!

The Summit Top Five, In Pictures

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1.  Staying four to a room – If I would have reserved a hotel room for just myself, I wouldn’t have met three super awesome, highly diverse, healthy blogging friends.  Getting to know a ton of new amazing women, specifically my roommates, was my hands-down favorite part of HLS.

2.  The food –  Every aspect of the food was perfect: quantity, timing, variety, freshness.  You name the detail, it was considered.  I had not one ‘I wish I had’ moment during the entire day, which is rare.  It also made me questions why conference food is traditionally so yuck.

3.  Hearing Dawn Jackson Blatner speak – Dawn tops my list of impressive public speakers.  The fact that her food philosophies are directly in line with my own may be a slight cause of bias, but her knowledge of the subject, confidence, and ability to hold the attention of our group for two 1-hour sessions is undeniable.  A major HLS highlight is that we got to chatting at the almond butter buffet and I was able to tell Dawn, at her request, specific reasons why I enjoyed her as a presenter.  She is thebomb.com.

4.  Twitter – Can you believe #HLS was a trending hashtag in Philadelphia this weekend?!  I loved the ability to connect with people that I would have otherwise not known how reach and read their thoughts on the conference/Philadelphia/etc. throughout the weekend.  We’re so hip!!

5.  Motivation – Although I never officially met Freya of Brit Chick Runs, I can now understand why she traveled all the way from the UK to be at this very event.  EVERY attendee brought their own set of experiences, successes, motivators, struggles, insecurities – we’re all real people and weren’t expected to be anything other than real people.  Meaning, nobody here had it all figured out, but we all had the common goal of striving to be better, balancing our struggles with a new found friend’s motivators and getting one step closer to healthier, happier.

I can’t thank Meghann enough for not only planning, but encouraging me to attend, The Healthy Living Summit.  This event is truly one of a kind.  I’m sad to leave my new friends, but I am reassured by the proven power of bloggers keeping in touch in the virtual world.

See you next year HLS-ers! XOXO

Good Morning Plane

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Good morning plane, I’m going to be seeing a lot of you this week. DC today, Tampa tomorrow, Phili Thursday, Tampa Sunday. Helloooo frequent flyer miles!

Thankfully the Starbucks line was freakishly short and I was able to grab an iced coffee because I’m feeling especially groggy this morning, even as far as Monday mornings are concerned.  And caffeine is a necessity before a DC landing as I know the second I arrive it’ll be non-stop work.

I also know that for the next 36 hours I’ll be at the mercy of my team of dudes and their burger and beer cravings. Even in the most sarcastic of tones, I can’t express to you how awesome that is… Fingers crossed I get to sneak away and order take-out. But just in case, I made sure to get some freshness in form of a fruit cup in.

See you soon DC!

Just Another Cafe Hey Day

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Let me just start with…  It POURED today in Tampa!  So much so that I buckled a golf umbrella, spent 45 minutes driving four miles, and considered writing someone of importance requesting that Tampa now be called Atlantis.  And when it came time for lunch, I wanted only two things: something close and something cozy.

I speed dialed my favorite neighbor, Cafe Hey, and placed an order for the VLT sandwich and kale salad.  I butchered the VLT even more than usual (sorry chef!) by adding avocado (duh!) and nixing tomatoes and vegenaise.  The next modification would happen in the privacy of my desk…

I mile high piled the kale salad on my sandwich and went to town – cuban toast crumbs were a flyin’!  I didn’t care though, the dressing on the kale salad and the crunch of the lettuce and sunflower seeds were so darn good!

Here’s to hoping for a dryer tomorrow!