Yesterday was seriously a whirlwind, but, ridiculously FUN day! My morning was ultra-productive.
I cleaned the house, did laundry and kept up with my commitment to my AMAZING friend to do the Couch to 5K.
She is running her 1st 5K (Turkey Trot at Thanksgiving) and I am doing the C25K with her. SHE is the reason I get my run on most mornings and she is 100 million % rockin’ it!
After running, I was craving the craziest, but, tastiest breakfast I’ve had in a awhile.
I knew TWO things I wanted…..my FAVORITE hummus ever from The Hummus Guy.
I pick this Black Bean with Chipotle Harissa Hummus up at my local Farmer’s Market.
1 points+ for TWO Tablespoons.
Plus a “Crispy” Morning Star ChikPatty ~ I LOVE these because they really do taste like “fried chicken”. (4 points+)
All on top of two slices Trader Joe’s FF Multi-Grain Bread (8 points+).
It’s totally like a Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich with a creamy sauce and sweet bread.
After breakfast, I was off to pick up Tracey of TJ’s Test Kitchen to head off to the First Ever Fit Bloggin’11 Nor Cal Meet up.
The Fit Bloggin’ Local MeetUp is an extension of the annual Fit Bloggin’ Conference held by Roni. She encouraged everyone for all over the world to host their own local meet up on July 9th to continue the fun.
Thanks to Susan ~ Foodie McBody for hosting it at her house.
Her house is absolutely amazing ~ it’s totally like being in a cabin in Lake Tahoe.
If this was my table, you would totally see so many of my food pics on it ~ I LOVE it!
Then again, I pretty much want her kitchen too Is it funny to say that the kitchen (especially if it has a pantry) is my FAVORITE room in the house.
After everyone came back from a 3 mile hike around the park, the food came out.
We decided to do a “Potluck” so everyone could bring and share one of their favorite HEALTHY treats.
Oh….all the cameras came out as soon as the food hit to table too. I LOVE Food Bloggers!!!
Here is the lowdown on all the deliciousness that was served. I WISH I had room to try it all, but, I really tried to focus on the things I couldn’t get all the time and that I really wanted.
Chobani showed up for the party too
Plus some Booty!
I was intrigued by the little notes/recipes that everyone put up to show how to eat their treats.
I am ALL over trying anything that will change my life!
I have to admit that the combination of the creamy, yet, tart greek yogurt topped with the caramel like brown sugar and crunchy, sweet strawberry is incredibly delicious.
It might just be my new thing to eat this summer.
My Vegan Pasta Salad ~ only 4 points+ a cup.
Brown Rice ChickPea Salad
I will be the first to admit I was a little scared to try Shrimp Ceviche because it made me think of Gazpacho which I do not really dig too much.
However, I have to say I am HUGE fan of THIS Shrimp Ceviche from Cooking Light ~ it was slightly spicy, slightly sweet and totally refreshing like shrimp cocktail.
Tracey’s fantastic fruit display with marshmallow yogurt dip!
You when Tracey & I first met, I knew we were meant to be really great friends because together we have a matching place setting.
She has the bowl and I have the coffee cup, salad plate and dinner plate.
The ironic part, we both only have one each that we bought to show food pics ~ ;like minds!
Desserts!
I do LOVE that we unintentionally put the veggie tray in the midst of all the desserts….lol.
Angel Food Cake!
Banana Nut Bread topped with Nutella!
Fresh Strawberry Pie!
Lemon Bars!
The Red, Dark & Blue + Red, White& Blue Cookies Tracey and I made (2 points+ each)
My Plate #1 ~ everything I was craving and that I knew the points+ for. (4 points+ for all of this!)
LOVE!!! I am totally making this…..I wish I could give you all a sample right here to try.
BBQ Chicken Mango Aidell’s Sausage (4 points+) plus a little taste of the brown rice salad.
Dessert! What can I say ~ I am IN LOVE with the Red, White & Blue Cookies….(4 points+)
I think what it is that makes them so good is that it’s like having this buttery, melt in your mouth oatmeal cookie with yogurt covered cranberries and blueberries ~LOVE!
After lunch, I did my little presentation that was about Taking Your Blog To The Next Level. It was a combination of everything I have learned from all my conferences and tips that I received to share from Zesty Cook.
I had a blast meeting everyone and having new friends that live near by to meet up with. I cannot wait to get together with these girls again for lunch, shopping, blog chats and more.
Thanks again Susan for being a fantastic host!
Make sure you check out all their blogs ~ if I missed anyone, please let me know and I’ll be glad to add you to the list.
- TJ’s Test Kitchen
- The Healthy Engineer
- Pancakes and Postcards
- Food food body body
- Journey To Marvelous
- Marlene’s Mantra
- Attune Foods
- Terre Pruit ~ the NIA Instructor!
- Weight for Deb
- Way To Wild
Annielies at Attune gave us all these super cool BPA Free Recyclable bowls and Attune Food Pro-Biotic Chocolate Bars!
If you all know Tracey, she LOVES coffee….especially in the afternoon. But, I learned today she LOVES The Apple Store more….she wanted to go there BEFORE we went to Starbuck’s.
Venti Iced Coconut (2 pumps with 1/2 & 1/2) Americanos (2 points+).
Tracey took me to Eco~Shoppe…I think I might be IN LOVE with store. There are so many great, environmentally friend things.
We both ended up buying these super cool BPA Free Iced Tea Makers….but, what I LOVE is that you can use them for so much more….INFUSED Water, Lemonade, etc.
After our shopping excursions, we realized we were next to the BEST SUSHI PLACE of all time ~ Yokoso Sushi.
Even on a summer day ~ Miso Soup seems to always hit the spot (2 points+)
Japanese Miso Salad ~ Their dressing is SO GOOD I almost think I could lick the bowl the way I want to every time I have Trader Joe’s Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette…..it’s probably a good thing we were in public or I might have (3 points+)
We shared Edamame ~ I think its AWESOME you get 1/2 cup edamame in their pods for only 1 points+.
This is the roll I DREAM about…..I could eat this a couple of times a week and NEVER get tired of it.
TUNA STEAK ~ Spicy Crab Meat Topped with Ahi, Avocado, Green Onions, Tobiko SRIRACHA and special sauce made extra spicy for me = LOVE!!
I estimated this based off a Spicy Tuna Roll at 1 points+ a piece. (8 points+)
We are busy helping our friends move into their new house today so menu planning may happen tomorrow. My goal is going to be to shop from our fridge/freezer!
See you all tonight over at Friends for Weight Loss for our 1st challenge to help reach our Labor Day Goals, a new tip and guest recipe.
Have a fantastic Sunday all ~ off to burn some calories movin’ it !
Great re-cap post! Makes me HUNGRY for sushi again! lol 🙂 It was such a fun day thanks for taking so many great pictures! You did an amazing job presenting!! I gotta send you th epic I took so you can add it to the post! I need to blog…just got home from a bike ride, but I wanted to see your post! 🙂
The Fit Bloggin’ meetup looked like so much fun! Thanks for the recap! Will you be posting a recap of your presentation?
What a great potluck! I esp love the ceviche !! I just made my friend Kim’s recipe on Fri (click over to see)… Hers has *ripe* (non xmas tree) mango, avocado, red onion etc. The best part is, if you only like shrimp, you could totally use that… or if you only like scallops you could do the same thing. It’s all about what you like 😉 And it’s SO easy. I literally just got a text from my brother who made it Sat and took it to a party…. everyone loved it 😀 woo hoo
OMG some new food blogs! I was just telling Bryan this morning how I could read them ALL day!! Your day sounded wonderful, and, as always, I love when you show us the new things you’ve found 🙂 Great post Danica!
Looooooooooooooved this recap. Of course my favorite pics are the ones of people taking pics of their food. Only in a group like this would we not be considered totally freaky! LOL. Wonderful to meet you and thanks again for the awesome presentation. AND anytime you wanna get together in Berkeley (Tacubaya?) give me a shout-out!
Yesterday was so much fun and it was great meeting you!
I’m sorry I missed your presentation but I bet it was amazing 😀
My friend and I lovvvved your cookies by the way..everyone should try to make them at home!
Looks great. Keep me posted. I’m a norcal girl & new blogger;)
Glad to have finally met you. I guess I didn’t make the cut on your list of blogs above!
Hi Robyn,
Hmmmm, I will have to see if I can swing posting my presentation. I know some video taped it so maybe I can share that or my notes that I plan to type of and email all 🙂
Danica
Hi Marlene,
I am soooo sorry, I knew I missed someone! I used your list you posted last night as my starting point and I didn’t remember to add you in. I have updated my post now to include you too!
Thanks for letting me know and it was great to meet you too!
Danica
Great recap! I had so much fun meeting you and listening to your presentation. And guess what… I did my last two posts with Windows Live Writer, for the first time! woot 🙂 thanks, you’ve changed my life. 🙂
That looked like so much fun,thanks for taking the time to share it with us. I love the idea of just doing that with a bunch of WW friends and having a time to share our fav healthy foods and get ideas which I certainly got from this post! Love the strawberry with yogurt and brown sugar !
ps . I was really wanting to know what kind of icing was on that angel food cake because I am going to make something like that for a friend’s birthday and the first blog I went to (Marlene’s Mantra) has the recipe 🙂
Hello Danica and Readers:
TRAVELLED from NH to Portland, Maine for the closest Trader Joe’s…it was like Christmas and stopped, looked, and tried to remember all your favorites. IMPOSSIBLE, my mind was blown… Did remember your favorie dressing Asian Spicy Peanut…the girl opened a bottle expecially for me to sample. She suggested this dressing over Broccoli Slaw. Such nice people work for TRADER JOE’S. I blessed the day I found your blog.
What a great blogger meet up. Look forward to checking out the blogs I don’t already read! and I’m so going to try the yogurt/strawberry/brown sugar trick! Have a great day Danica!
Wish I lived closer so I could have attended and meet you in person. What a great meet-up. (And the cookies looked good on the dessert table. Ha!)
What a fantastic day! Have to comback for some of those link to blogs & recipes 🙂