Weekend Eats 2-18-13

Hello, hello! It’s been a little while and a lot has happened in the past few days so let’s catch up.

I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day. I did. It was amazing, maybe even the best ever. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you may have seen I was surprised on my lunchbreak on Thursday when I came home to box of a dozen Cupcake cupcakes from Greg.

I could not have been more excited. Thankfully I had some family in town this weekend to help me eat them all. I loved every bite, but I am also glad they are gone now. I had plenty. My favorite flavor always seems to change with these, but this time around I was loving the Cookies and Cream. 

Another thing that made my Valentine’s Day so great was the Rascal Flatts concert! Greg got me tickets for my birthday, which conveniently served dual purpose for Valentine’s too. Rascal Flatts put on an amazing show. Our seats were about four rows back from the stage, which didn’t hurt either 😉

The weekend brought lunch at Black Bean Co. on Friday. 

And a dinner date with Greg on Friday night at Sesame. We started with the pimento cheese appetizer. 

I had the Napa Valley Black Bean Burger (in a bowl) – fig and bacon jam, bleu cheese, and a red wine reduction. 

Yes, it was as delicious as it sounds. And the patty was enormous, making for great leftovers the next day. 

On Sunday, I took my family to Triangle for brunch after church. It was PACKED. Greg and I go here often for Sunday brunch, and I haven’t seen in that crowded in a longggg time. It was worth the extra wait for our table and our food. Sipping on $1 mimosas helps pass the time waiting. 

I had blueberry pancakes that I scarfed down before getting a picture. You can say they were mighty delicious. 

My weekend ended after saying goodbye to my family and making a simple meal at home consisting of a vegetable medley (chopped portabella mushroom cap, broccoli, onion, sun-dried tomato, chipotle sauce, shredded cheese), and a couple slices of a garlic herb baguette. 

What was the tastiest thing you ate this weekend?

Always Room for Dessert

Normally, my general strategy to keeping myself on track and staying in shape is to eat well during the week, and then let myself splurge a little on the weekends when we go out to eat more often. If I’m watching what I eat all week, I don’t feel bad eating a burger and fries, or pizza, or a little extra dessert on the weekends.

Well, the past several days have not been normal. I have been eating out for what feels like every day for about a week now. Not normal. For me anyway. I hated to see my mom and Brooke leave Charleston, but was ready to get back on with my regular eating habits.

Then today happened. I kept breakfast pretty light as usual, with a granola bar and an apple at work. So far so good. 

For lunch, I packed myself a salad. But remembered I had a Groupon to Black Bean Co. that expired today. This place prides itself on being organic and all-natural, so I figured it couldn’t hurt too badly to use the coupon while I still could. 

What’s in the box?

Only one of my new favorite things.

The Festival Wrap: Turkey, squash, zucchini, Jasmine rice and black beans. With couscous on the side. Greg and I had fun saying couscous. We couldn’t help but laugh at each other every time one of us said it. Couscous.

Everything about this wrap tasted fresh and flavorful. My favorite bites were the ones with the squash and zucchini. Yummm.

So here we were, about half way through the day and I managed to start feeling better about food choices. I was already thinking about what dinner was going to be when Greg texted me to tell me he was taking me on a date. First, I was excited. Then I realized that meant I was probably going to have to miss my workout…again. But he reassured me we would go for a run first. Excellente! (I like to speak Spanish sometimes….I really don’t remember much from school, but will throw random words out every once in awhile, fyi). After our workout we were ready to go. 

Date night=good choice. Date night food=usually not a good choice. 

What’s one more meal of splurging a little though? I can always eat better tomorrow 🙂 I know, I know, this isn’t a healthy mindset. But I had to get it out of my system and then I can start fresh!

Besides, we went to a place where nobody could watch me eat. So it doesn’t count….

Cinebarre! A movie theater and restaurant all in one. 

I have been a couple of times before, but never eaten there. I was looking forward to trying it out. Greg got the Hawaiian pizza and I got the Cineburger and fries. Just about the healthiest thing I could find 😉 And for my serving of fruit? Red wine. See? I am a balanced eater.

The food is overpriced, like you find at any movie theater, but really not too bad. My burger reminded me a lot of Steak ‘n Shake’s. Aka, delish! Not the best quality, but they’re not claiming to be gourmet so I really wasn’t expecting much anyway.

I asked Greg if I could take a picture of our food. He immediately shook his head “no” like I was crazy. I know I would have totally embarrassed him if I did, that’s why I had to ask first! There weren’t too many people in the theater though. I don’t think they would have minded my camera flash if they knew it was for the good of Counting My Cupcakes!! Oh well. You will just have to imagine a greasy juicy half-pound burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, melty cheddar cheese and ketchup. Get the picture? Good.

After eating every last bite of that burger during the movie, we came home for dessert! I really think it’s impossible for me not to have something for dessert every night. Luckily I had some ice cream in the freezer. 

And luckily I had a clean spoon. And luckily I had a clean bowl. But who really needs a bowl anyway? Not me. 

The ice cream was good. But these looked even better. 

So I had one. 

Please don’t judge 🙂

Brooke brought these to me this week from a family friend at home. Thank you Mrs. Schloss!! 

Now it is time to get back on track. Seriously. Did I really eat that all today? Ugh. But it was all so good.

Goodnight!