Best trip ever!!!!!

We just back from this morning’s taping of Live! with Regis and Kelly. It was SO COOL to be part of the audience! I was giddy with excitement and totally star-struck!

Before heading to the show, our group met for an early breakfast at one of the hotel’s restaurants.

Check out the wallpaper! Hello!

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast buffet.

I was psyched to see a big platter of fresh fruit.

I haven’t eaten much fruit lately, so I loaded up.

I also had some Greek yogurt and granola with breakfast.

And some much-needed water and coffee. (I’m feeling a bit hungover this morning. Meh.  )

Then it was time to head to ABC for Live! with Regis and Kelly!

It was really neat to see the studio and set in person, but both were much smaller than I expected.

The stars of the show!!!!!

Regis and Kelly chatted with the audience members during the commercial breaks. They were both really friendly and outgoing.

Chocolate expert and chef Jacques Torres showed Kelly a number of his chocolate recipes, so she demonstrated a few on the show.

They looked delicious, especially the chocolate-covered strawberries, which she shared with a few audience members after the show.

Kelly also shared a bunch of Hershey’s Kisses with the audience by tossing them into the crowd. What a clown!

While blogging this post, I snacked on a couple of whole wheat pretzels to help settle my stomach. Ugh.

The cake decorating competition is up next!!!

I had such a blast tonight! Let me tell you, the Electrolux people know how to show us food bloggers a good time!

Our evening started with a welcome reception at the Spotted Pig, the famed Gastropub in the West Village.

At the Spotted Pig, we mingled with fellow bloggers and the Electrolux team, and enjoy a wonderful cooking demonstration by the restaurant’s chefs.

The menu for the evening was quite impressive– and, of course, delicious!

• Devils on Horseback (bacon wrapped prunes stuffed with pears)
• Onion & Thyme Tarts with Ricotta
• Chicken Liver Parfait with Onion Marmalade
• Cheese Beignets with Smoked Paprika
• Seared Beef Filet with Horseradish & Arugula
• Hummus with Feta, Olives & Flatbread
• Broccoli Rabe & Roasted Garlic Frittata
• Crispy Duck Confit with Cabbage
• Six Root Vegetable Soup

I pretty much ate one of everything!

I also enjoyed two glasses of white wine at the event.

The Six Root Vegetable Soup was absolutely outstanding! It was the perfect winter comfort food. Rumor has it that the Spotted Pig will share the recipe with us!

Holy yum!

It was great meeting a bunch of new food bloggers tonight and hanging out with some of my old favorites: Sabrina, Meghann, and Megan.

I’m psyched that I finally met Megan of Megan’s Munchies! I’ve been a long-time reader of her blog. She’s so sweet and down-to-earth in person.

Until tonight, I had no idea that I liked duck. The Crispy Duck Confit was soooo tender and delicious.

After the event at the Spotted Pig, we headed to Plunge for a regional gift exchange, a fantastic idea from Sandy of No One Puts Cupcake in the Corner. Since all of us bloggers traveled from different parts of the country, she thought it would be fun to exchange food items that were specific to our region of the country. Best idea ever!

We had a great time exchanging gifts with one another. Everyone had a fun story to share.

At Plunge, I enjoyed a Grapefruit Cosmopolitan, which was really sweet, but still yummy.

For my exchange gift, I brought a pound of Dunkin Donuts coffee. In return, I received a bag of Uncle Jerry’s Handmade Whole Wheat Pretzels from Sabrina.

I’m looking forward to breaking into this bag!

Diana of Spain in Iowa scored with her goodies from Hershey, Pennsylvania! Lot of chocolate!

She and her husband were really cool people to meet. I loved chatting with them.

I also enjoyed a couple of Dove chocolates while the gift exchange game went on.

At the end of the night, the remaining bloggers shared a bottle of Dia De Los Merlot that Joseline brought from California to share with the group. It was an awesome (and affordable!) red wine. I highly recommend it!

After two glasses of white wine, a cosmo, and a few sips of red wine, it’s definitely time for me to go to bed. We have an early morning ahead of us! Breakfast is at 6:30!

Good night!!!

Ahhhh! I’m so excited to be here!

The Electrolux people hooked us up with an amazing hotel! I’m obsessed! Well, actually, I’m obsessed with every fancy hotel that I encounter!

I’m going to sleep like a baby tonight!

Love the silk robe! I’ll definitely use that!

Swag!

The view from my room!

After spazzing out with excitement, I met up with Sabrina for lunch.

We walked over to Chelsea Market, a funky enclosed food court, to find some eats.

Sabrina and I walked around and checked out our options before deciding on Friedmans Lunch.

Friedmans Lunch serves traditional American food in a laid-back, cozy setting. I loved the decor– an open kitchen, dark wood tabletops, chalkboard menus, and vintage wallpaper.

With lunch, Sabrina and I drank water from an old wine bottle. It was very hip.

For lunch, I ordered the Vegetable Sandwich on sourdough. Inside was lots of veggies– carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, sprouts– and a nice thick layer of hummus.

The sandwich was served along side some field greens and a delicious pickle.

It was an excellent lunch!

After lunch, we headed back to our hotel. Our first stop was the roof deck that overlooks the city. Check out this view!

Randomly, we ran into Meghann up there, so we took the opportunity to snap a photo together.

I’m going to squeeze in a quickie workout then get ready for a cocktail party!

It was so hard saying goodbye to my boys this morning. I’ll only be away for 3 days, but I’m really going to miss them! I’m already looking forward to giving them each a big hug when I get home.

Of course, it was tough to say goodbye– look at those adorable faces!

I made it to the airport in no time at all. (I’m really going to miss living so close once we move.) I also checked-in and made it through security in record time. I’m getting so much better at this travel stuff. Although, tall boots aren’t the easiest option for going through security. I prefer traveling in flip-flops!

While waiting to board my flight, I snacked on a peanut butter Cinch bar.

On the plane, I drank some water, read a magazine, and blogged this post. The flight from Logan to JFK was less than an hour, so it was over before I knew it!

Taking a photo of yourself on a plane is weird, but I did it anyway. It was for the blog.

Almost there! I can’t wait to say ‘hello’ to New York City!

Happy Monday!

I had all of these great plans for this morning, such as going to the gym and visiting a new cafe for breakfast, but instead, I slept in and bummed around the apartment. Oh, well. I might as well save my energy for the Big Apple!

Breakfast

The selection of fruits and vegetables in my refrigerator was pretty much non-exist, except for a pathetic-looking bag of spinach. I didn’t have many options for breakfast, so I whipped up another Sweet Spinach Pancake with Barney Butter smeared on top.

Mmm… Barney Butter.

I made a strong batch of iced coffee the other day. Yowsahs!

Dual Snack Bowl Promo

OpenSky is offering a special deal for Carrots ‘N’ Cake readers: 2-for-1 Sagaform Dual Snack Bowls! This is a great bowl for chips and dip, veggies and hummus, or whatever else you want to put in it! Just add 2 bowls to your shopping cart and then enter the coupon code “2for1snackbowls” at check-out. You’ll get two Dual Bowls for the price of one! There is a limited quantity, so be sure to act fast.

Question of the Day

Have you ever visited NYC? If so, what was your favorite thing about it?

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Happy birthday, Meghann! Can’t wait to celebrate with you!

See you all from New York City!!!!!

P.S. I’ll be tweeting about the whole trip, so be sure to follow me on Twitter!

Murph loves football almost as much as me!

(Obviously, he got really into the game!)

I love the Super Bowl, but I don’t like football. Today is all about the food for me!

When we arrived at our friends’ house, I considered drinking a beer, but seltzer + pomegranate juice sounded much more appealing. Plus, I have a big day of travel ahead of me and I didn’t want to feel sluggish in the morning.

Tonight’s dinner was a bunch of appetizers, which were spread out over the course of the evening.

We started with Jalapeno Con Queso Cheddar Dip and Spinach Con Questo Cheddar Dip from Bear Pond Farm. A few weeks ago, the nice folks there sent me a ton of their dips to try. I brought a couple of different ones to our Super Bowl gathering for everyone to enjoy.

Bear Pond Farm’s “Kiss the Dip” cheddar dips are made with American white cheddar and all natural ingredients– cheese being the first! They’re also gluten-free, made without artificial colors, and totally de-lic-ious! The Jalapeno Dip had a nice strong, semi-spicy flavor and the Spinach Dip sort of reminded me of a creamy spinach-artichoke dip.

We ate the Jalapeno Dip right out of the refrigerator and heated up the Spinach Dip in the microwave. We ate them both with Roasted Garlic Triscuits. Mmm! I loved BOTH dips!

A little while later, the buffalo chicken nachos came out to play!

Holy yum! I ate like a million of these babies!

And if crackers + dip and buffalo chicken nachos weren’t enough, we finished off the night with Devil’s Food cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Marie and I tried to “healthify” the cake mix recipe by using canola oil instead of vegetable and replacing half of it with canned pumpkin. We didn’t tell the guys about the ingredient changes to see if they could taste the difference. They actually commented on the moistness of the cake and how wonderful they tasted. Mission accomplished!

I’m not one to turn down a cupcake, especially one with cream cheese frosting, so I dug right in. I’ll start my diet tomorrow!

I can’t believe that I am going to NYC tomorrow for 3 days. I feel so unprepared! I still need to finish packing! Gah!

See ya tomorrow!

P.S. Be sure to check back in the morning. There will be a fun OpenSky promo!

I think it’s so funny when dogs watch TV. Murphy was really into the AKC National Championship on Animal Planet this afternoon. For a good 10-15 minutes, he stared intently at the dogs on TV. Actually, he’s still watching.

I bet Murphy is wondering why he isn’t in the dog show. He’d obviously win the Toy category!

Snack

I’m going to a Super Bowl party later this afternoon, so instead of eating a “real” lunch, I just ate a couple of snacks. I know there’s going to be lots of delicious food at the party, so I left plenty of room.

Mid-morning, I made myself an iced coffee with non-fat milk and scoop of chocolate whey protein mixed in. Mal has been making this combo lately and loving it, so I had to give it a try. Verdict: Tastes like chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast. Remember those things? I used to drink them all of the time. Yuummm!

Around noon, I made myself two whole wheat Arnold Sandwich thins with Barney Butter spread on top. Again, this probably wasn’t the most nutritious snack, but there’s slim pickings in our kitchen due to Project Eat It So We Don’t Have to Move It.

I’m off to run some errands (including signing our new lease!) and then to the Super Bowl party.

GO SAINTS!!!

P.S. My 3-Minute Oatmeal Raisin Cookie was featured on the DailySpark today.

I had a nice little morning all to myself today. Mal spent last night at Mohegan Sun for a bachelor party and my lazy-pants pug slept until almost 9:30 this morning, so I enjoyed some quiet time to myself. I took the opportunity to participate in a couple of my favorite pastimes: trashy television and baking experiments!

For some reason, I can’t get enough of the Real Housewives of Orange County. There’s just something about them and their whacked-out lives that I love to watch.

Breakfast

Ever since I baked a batch of delicious Chickpea Blondies, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of incorporating beans and veggies into unlikely recipes. There was some spinach in the refrigerator that I wanted to use up, so I decided to include it in a pancake recipe. Why not, right?

Sweet Spinach Pancake

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup oats
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed meal
• 2 tbsp strawberry preserves
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 cup liquid egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 handful of spinach
• Cinnamon to taste

Directions:

• Add all ingredients to a food processor (or blender) and mix well.
• Preheat a skillet, spray with non-stick spray, and pour batter in while shaping it into a large pancake shape with a spoon.
• Heat until partially cooked and then flip.
• Once cooked through, top with syrup, peanut butter, or fresh fruit.

On top of my pancake, I spread a spoonful of Barney Butter, which got all melty and delicious. It was the perfect topping.

Besides the color, I couldn’t taste the spinach at all. The strawberry preserves, cinnamon, and vanilla were the dominate flavors, and the texture was light and fluffy like a regular pancake. Mmm!

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I loved my laid-back morning, but I have a feeling that today is going to be a busy one!

See ya!

What are you doing for the Super Bowl?

Yay for girls’ night! The bachelorette party was such a fun time!

The evening started with manicures at MiniLuxe, a modern nail and beauty lounge on Newbury Street.

The inside of MixiLuxe was funky, yet adorable at the same time.

It didn’t take me long to decide on a polish color for my nails. In honor of my trip to New York City for a cake decorating event, I chose a light pink shade called, “I’ll Take The Cake.”

“I’ll Take The Cake” probably wasn’t the most exciting shade to pick, but I wanted something that would last until the end of my trip. I usually go with dark colors in the colder months, but as soon as dark polish chips, it’s so noticeable. I thought a light shade would be a better option. Hopefully, it holds up!

After our manicures, we had about 40 minutes to kill before our dinner reservation, so we popped into Trident Booksellers & Cafe just down the street.

In all of the years that I’ve lived in Boston, I can’t believe that I’ve never stopped into Trident– I’ve walked by it a million times! It’s totally my type of place. I could see Mal and me spending hours there– perusing books and sipping coffee. I can’t wait to take him. He’ll love it!

At Trident, I ordered a mulled spiced cider and sipped on it while chatting with my girlfriends.

Then, a little while later, it was time for dinner at Tapeo!

Tapeo has been on my restaurant list for MONTHS now, so I was psyched that the Maid of Honor picked it for dinner.

I’ve heard such great things about Tapeo’s Spanish tapas. I couldn’t wait to try them for myself!

The table ordered a round of cocktails, so I went with a glass of Chardonnay.

Cheers to Jen, the bride-to-be!

We had about 12 people for Jen’s bachelorette, so we basically ordered a ton of different tapas to share around the table. I took at least one bite from each plate.

(The lighting in the restaurant was really dim, so apologize for the blah photos.)

Despite the unappetizing photos, everything that I tasted was delicious!

I also want to take Mal here!

It was a great night with my lady friends!

I’m exhausted, so I’m heading straight to bed! Good night!

My middle name is “Productive” today!

I checked-off almost everything on my To List, including a 6-mile run and 4 loads of laundry. Awesome! The only task that I wasn’t able to complete was buying a new printer cartridge. None of the probable places in Southie sold the kind that I needed. Oh well. I guess a trip to Best Buy is on my list for tomorrow.

After running on the treadmill at the gym, I refueled with some banana oats + Barney Butter. Soooo delicious! I missed my beloved BB so much!

I also re-hydrated with a bottle of Peach Mango Mandarin Skinny Water. Even though I had to water it down, I think this flavor is my favorite.

I’m headed to a bachelorette party this evening. We’re getting manicures then going to dinner. I’m really looking forward to some girl time!

Enjoy your Saturday night!