This evening I met up with Gracie from Girl Meets Health at Blue Sage, a vegetarian restaurant in our area.
I’d never been to Blue Sage before, but heard rave reviews about it from both Mike’s mom and a few websites. I was excited to give it a try!
While looking over our menus, we were brought a basket of pumpernickel bread with a white bean spread.
I tried a slice but wasn’t overwhelmed, so I saved my appetite for the delicious hummus appetizer we ordered to share:
Smoked Red Pepper Hummus Sampler:
Smoked red pepper hummus with chive infused olive oil, falafel topped with tomato almond romesco & pistachio topped baba ghanoush. Served with toasted rosemary focaccia slivers.
Gracie had never tried falafel before, and this was a perfect introduction to it- crispy with a dense, hearty inside. The tomato almond romesco sauce was a nice touch as well!
The menu was absolutely full of delicious choices, so I had a tough time picking an entrée! After much deliberation, I finally settled on the Green Curry Shepherd’s Pie:
Giant Israeli couscous, brocolini, butternut squash, candy stripe beets & sun burst squash in a mild green curry coconut broth. Topped with sweet & savory Okinawa purple potato rosette.
Can you say DELICIOUS? This dish was absolutely full of different flavors that complemented each other perfectly. I especially loved the chunks of beets and mashed potatoes. Gracie ordered the Blue Plate:
Pine nut crusted roasted garlic glazed portobello skewers, smoked sweet potato mash with grilled avocado succotash salad
With a mountain of mash like that, it was perfect timing that her latest post was on sweet taters! I tried a bite, and they were even better than the ones in my dish.
As you can see, the portions were HUGE! We definitely got our money’s worth. I brought home several pieces of foccacia slivers with hummus and baba ghanoush, as well as about half of my entrée. My parents enjoyed it as a late dinner, and loved it just as much as I did!
We were already pretty full from dinner, but with an excellent dessert menu like this, we knew we had to sample something!
After much deliberation, we ended up sharing the Hazelnut Toffee Basket, filled with rich chocolate buttercream mousse, carmelized bananas and toasted hazelnuts.
Holy yum- this was definitely the highlight of the meal! It was incredibly rich and chocolatey, which of course is right up my alley J Apparently, this is their most popular dessert- I can definitely see why!
In addition to the delicious meal, I really loved getting to know Gracie better! She’s such a sweet girl, and we have a lot in common…I’m so glad to find a blog friend in the area!
* * *
The rest of today kind of pale in comparison to my feast of a dinner, but here goes!
Kashi GoLean, blackberries and almond milk
After breakfast I combined days 1 and 2 of the third week of the Fitnessista’s summer shape up plan:
- 12 bent over rows (5 lb weights)
- 15 stability ball back extensions
- 15 pilates corkscrews
- 12 back extensions with a twist
- 15 weighted stability ball crunches (8 lb medicine ball)
- 12 modified bent over L/I raises (3 lb weights)
- 15 saxon side bends on each side (5 lb weights)
I followed it up with 30 minutes on the elliptical: 5 minute warm up, 1 minute of sprinting followed by 2 minutes at an easy pace, and 5 minute cooldown.
All of that really worked up an appetite, and broke out my TJ’s habenero tortillas for lunch! I made a peanut butter quesedilla with a generous slathering of PB&Co. The Heat is On spicy peanut butter. Perfect combination- and super spicy! The peanut butter definitely delivered way more of a punch than I expected it to, which was a good surprise. I also had a champagne mango and some cherries on the side.
For my afternoon snack, I wanted to make Jenny’s Chovocana pudding, but my plan was foiled when I realized we didn’t have any bananas! Instead, I made Averie’s raw vegan chocolate mousse. I used my food processor to blend:
- 1 small ripe avocado
- 2 T cocoa powder
- 2 packets of Truvia
The result was heavenly! Super rich and creamy- it took me forever to finish because of how thick it was!
- 1 small ripe avocado
- 2 T cocoa powder
- 2 packets of Truvia
The result was heavenly! Super rich and creamy- it took me forever to finish because of how thick it was!
With a Mickey baby spoon, of course J
Time for bed- I’ve got to be up early tomorrow. Bonne nuit mes cheries!
One of the many things Gracie and I talked about was how and why we started our blogs- if you have one, why did you start yours? Is the blogging community what you expected?
Spicy peanut butter- yay or nay? I loved it, but my mom was grossed out!
37 comments:
Their plating is so beautiful! You both look beautiful!!
I have never heard of spicy peanut butter.. interesting!
I started my blog after reading others for a year and thought it would be a way to hold myself accountable for exercise and food and also a way to express my feelings about our infertility struggle...that is now over!!
Gracie is an awesome person. We got to meet her at Fitbloggin! Your dinners look delicious. We started our blog to share our journey of finding balance with eating healthy and fitness. We love to be in the kitchen and wanted to share with others recipes and tips for creating healthy delicious food. :)
Amazing looking meal! Those portions are huge though. That bowl looks like you could sit in it!
I need to go out with friends to nice restaurants once in a while. It can be such a great sensory, social experience and is definitely worth the occasional splurge! Blogging community: I LOVE the friends I have made. Sometimes I feel a bit left out from more mainstream blogs and sometimes I feel like people don't like my blog, but that's really just a self-esteem issue. My blog is pretty small with a small readership. Sometimes I wish I had more followers, but it's mostly a place for me to share my thoughts. I do wish I could reach more people who might be struggling with mental and physical health issues. But overall, the friends and great relationships I have with other bloggers (and getting new ideas and recipes!) outweigh the fact that sometimes I feel like my blog isn't that important.
what a great meal! and great company!!! you girls are both such blonde bombshells :)
i saw jenny's recipe today and need to make that - can't believe avocados are in such a chocolaty treat!
I looovee eating with baby spoons! I have one too and I love eating fun food with it (:
All the pictures from the restaurant look simply amazing...I wish there were more high quality restaurants in my area.
Aw, what a lovely dinner- I love both of your blogs and love the matching pose picture.
I think I started my blog because of other food blogs. It used to chronicle everything I ate but then turned more into a general random blog.
looks like such good food. i have never been to a vegetarian restaurant before. i need to get on it!
i love spicy pb. i had a jar to sample from krema and it was SOOO good. it was the crunchy kind too which i never get so that was also a good change.
That restaurant looks great! The food sort of reminds me of our Blossom meet-up!
I read healthy living blogs for a little over 3 months, when one of my classes started using Wordpress. I had been super interested in starting my own blog, and I just saw this as a sign :)
food looks good! im going to have to find some vegetarian places in my area and try them now.
aww i love gracie! how cool you two met up! :) I looove red pepper hummus but i'v never had faflafel either! xx
That hummus plate looks awesome! And of course that Hazelnut Toffee basket does too. You and Gracie are both so beautiful. Glad you had a great time!
And I wanted to make Jenny's choco pudding too but, like you, am out of bananas! Averie's looks just as yummy though :)
Sounds like a great blogger meet-up, and a great meal. Sometimes it's fun to go to vegetarian restaurants, because they always seem to have such creative meals. Those falafel look really good.
That place looks divine! I wish I could find a blogger in the Milwaukee area. I feel like all bloggers are kindred spirits! Haha.
Yum, that restaurant looks amazing! I wish we had vegetarian restaurants like that in my area!
You two ladies look smokin! ;) Glad you had fun.
I don't even really know why I started blogging, but I'm so glad I did. The blogging community is so full of positivity and support - it's truly inspiring!
Glad you both had fun! I read both your blogs and I am also from the Philly area. It's nice to read bloggers that I feel like I can relate to!
great menu and photos! I love falafel.. but DC needs more veg restaurants!
What a nice dinner!! You two are completely gorgeous and you actually look a little bit alike! And your meals, holy YUM!!! I couldn't believe how tall that pile of mashed sweet potatoes was in comparison to Gracie! And your bowl.. HUGE!! Gosh and that dessert... I'm so jealous!!! We don't have any restaurants like that around here!
Averie's chocolate mousse looks soo good.. I can only imagine how creamy it must be from the avocado!
I basically started my blog to give me something to do with the down time from my injury and to chronicle my experience. But now, it's so so so much more than that! And the blog world is WAY different than I expected! I never thought i'd "meet" so many new friends and the support from the community is just.. mind blowing!!!
And thank you for your sweet comment!! I know how hard it must be to have Mike in NYC for the summer... yeah, absence does make the heart grown fonder but it's also not so much fun haha especially when you just started to date! But I don't get to see him all that much anyway because he works SO MUCH so I can relate.
And the peanut butter banana soft serve? Yeah, must try that!!!
Have a fabulous day! Love you!
I love it when, as a vegetarian, the entire menu is open to you! I'm used to being limited in my options.
I started blogging when I was an exchange student in Belgium and really hesitated before jumping into the blogging community, but it has been more than I could have imagined and I love it!
Beautiful meal!
I love vegetarian/vegan restaurants! There are only 3 in the Cleveland area, so pickings are slim, but they are both so different that I can still change it up! Looks yum though!
I recently went over a friends for dinner and for dessert she made avocado mousse, but she put out fresh berries for dipping! AMAZING! also, the other night I made it for my mom and I with half of an avocado, and since we were feeling decadent, we topped one Nature's Path flax waffle with it and then added sliced strawberries and bananas... oh my yum!!
I haven't started blogging myself, but I've been thinking about it. The only thing holding me back is if I would be able to have the time. So i don't know :/
Yay to spicy peanut butter! The Heat is On is the only PB&Co. not in my collection :0( I'd definitely put it in a Thai dish with shrimp!
Wow, that dinner looks delicious and you both look absolutely beautiful :) It would be great to find a bloggie friend in the area... the community is full of so many wonderful people, which is one of the reasons that I started blogging, actually. I wanted to become part of such a supportive community and get to know some of the girls better. I also started blogging because I love to write, and saw it as a creative outlet for my writing. Finally, I wanted to document my recovery and perhaps help someone out along the way.
Blogging definitely has its ups and downs, and for a while there I was getting burnt out, but I'm really starting to love it again now that I'm no longer making it such an obligation.
I've never actually tried a spicy nut butter, but I don't think I'd be too keen on it. I always prefer having my nut butters with something sweet :)
Hope you're having a great day, girl! <3
Aw so fun that you got to meet Gracier! Love her! I have to let you guys know next time I'm in Philly. I am there all the time visiting the parents! That restaurant looks amazing! I love anything hummus and falafel!
Spicy Peanut Butter? I've never even heard of it but I'm intrigued...
And the blogging community is way more than I thought it would be. I love it. You ladies are awesome!
i really need to start trying more vegetarian restaurants - that meal looks delectable.
spicy peanut butter! you crazy, girl! but then again, i've never had peanut butter that's not just straight peanuts and salt (i am a traditional gal, i guess), so who am i to say?
Green curry shepherd's pie?!? Yum!!! Looks like such a fun veg restaurant!
Awww you girls are adorable and gorgeous! Love all the blonde going on there.
Um, that dinner looks ridiculously good. I don't even know what else to say about it.
I started my blog because I was fed up with school publications and fed up with reading other blogs but not having my own. It's turned into it's own beast now, and I lovelovelove it.
Hmm, spicy peanut butter may be a no-go for me. Although, I do love TJ's spicy peanut vinaigrette, so maybe I would like it!
Have a faaaaab Wednesday, love! xoxo
what a fun date!! and i'm so glad gracie's first falaffal experience was one to be reckoned with :)
spicy pb? ehhhhhhhh i'm not sure! i'm gonna say no haha i think i want my pb to be creamy and sweeeet!
i love meetups. that looks like a yummy restaurant!
The food looks amazing! It's jumping off the screen at me ;)I decided to start my blog after reading so many of other people's with the same ideas and interests, although mine is not nearly as polished!
Blue Sage looks phenom! I wish there were restaurants like that around here. And your tortilla looks so good, I LOVE when they're kind of doughy. Hope you're having a great week so far pretty lady!
That curry looks to die for! You are both so pretty! I began blogging as a way to help me be more honest with myself and to make sure that I ate healthier. I didn't eat well for a very long time, but it is much easier to do so with such wonderful supporters that are also going through the same thing.
Ad for the PB, I'll try anything once, so why not?
I hope you're having a fantastic day, darling!
Great eats! You girls are adorable and I'm loving all of the footwear!!
I started my bloggie to track calories/lose weight - but now I love the community and the peeps - so fun to find like-minded peeps!
Wow, that meal looks and sounds great. I will have to look up that place next time I head back to Philly!
I started blogging to share my love of food, health, travel, etc. with others since I didn't have the same connections necessarily in my everyday life. The community is so amazing and inspiring.
I am not sure about the spicy pb thing...gotta try it I guess.
I want to try "the heat is on" so badly!! I haven't been able to find it though :( Its definitely a yay for me!
That looks like a great meal! I started my current blog because I wanted a platform to share my thoughts, opinions, and pictures, and I love meeting new bloggers through their own sites. I never thought that this would be such a big part of my life, but given the amount of time I spend with my computer, I don't think it'll be going away any time soon!
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