Month: August 2012

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In this lovely installment of “don’t make me write a blog post about you”, I would like to discuss the subject of integrity. For those of you who question how relevant this is to my blog, I say to you,” I have a blog and I’ll rant if I want to!”. Kidding! Gosweetandskinny is about the SWEET and skinny life and this can certainly help you out with the first part of that! Integrity is a really easy way to make your life work for you and strengthen your relationships in all areas of your life and I think it’s something in our text crazed, facebooking iPad world that has gone to the waste side!

I have noticed more and more that my lady friends and business contacts can become huge black holes for communication at times! Not to be sexist, but for men when it comes to business I usually get a speedy response but that hasn’t been the case with some female contacts lately. I’ve felt like a crazed girl after the third date waiting for a text back about a business lunch! It’s absolutely ridiculous! Now, I know I’m no saint and can be completely guilty at times of falling off the planet for a day or two when I’m super busy BUT I would never make plans with someone and then just not get back to them or completely ignore a text MSG/email/etc. Ladies, we need to look out for each other, help each other fulfill our personal and business goals and I am telling you the foundation for everything is your integrity!

What does that mean? Answer every call, respond to every txt right away? Not necessarily, it’s probably easier than calling someone back or remembering to text later but I know how annoying an electronic leash can be so you can get back to people in an appropriate time frame. However, it is important to get back to people! Relationships are so crucial to our livelihood and you want to have a reputation of reliableness and communication in both the your personal and professional world. You know how annoying it is when a guy your dating is posting in Facebook while not answering your texts? Guess what? It’s just as annoying when it’s a different scenario with a business contact. You can’t hide in our social media crazed world. You don’t have to say yes to every meeting or tackle every project, just say something and stick to it. If you say your going to do something make it happen and if you physically can’t do something then let them know that. Under promise and over perform but never the opposite.

After some recent incidents inspiring this blog entry, I’m definitely going to give myself a big integrity check up and make sure I’m keeping up with my word. I’m going to clear and file my inbox tonight so that I can easily see which messages need my attention and I’m going to schedule a time each evening to check my txts and vmails to make sure I respond to everyone even when I’ve had a crazy day. What will you do? We can all improve our integrity and we’re not always going to be perfect but if we make an honest effort we’ll be well on our way!

Thoughts, feedback? Email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com, you know I’ll get back to you! 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

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I had the luck of running into the “Cinnamon Snail” truck downtown while running to an audition the other day. So naturally I promised myself a treat after I delivered a stellar performance! I had heard of The Cinnamon Snail through the vegan grapevine and started following them on twitter (@veganlunchtruck) to be up to date on their locales, however this rendezvous was just serendipitous. These lovely people had quite a gamut of delicious treats for me to choose from but after wavering back and forth I made the executive decision to go with there signature treat – the cinnamon snail ( aka a vegan cinnamon roll) and some deliciously yummy coconut milk iced coffee. It was fantastic! You could not even tell it was vegan, taste and texture the same as a yummy cinnamon roll anywhere. My only nitpicky complaint would be that I would have loved it warmed up a little bit, but that could just be a personal preference of mine. The iced coffee was out of this world and I definitely want to catch up with them soon to sample more goodies! Oh and also worth noting that they had some incredible looking gluten free treats on the truck as well. So follow @veganlunchtruck on twitter and stop by and indulge in some vegan goodies when their in your hood! Then, let me know what other amazing things you recommend from them and I’ll be sure to test them out when we meet again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

I made these delicious morsels yesterday for my boyfriend’s birthday and they turned out ah-mazing, if I do say so myself. Now, if your New Yorker, you should be ordering them online and having a fresh batch delivered to your home office, but if your an out of towner, I’ll let you in on a few tips so you can play at home!

strawberry secrets

Well first of all, whenever I’m making a fruit infused cupcake I always use fresh organic fruit. Ripe, fresh strawberries chopped up are the heart of this fabulous treat. I puréed about 3/4 of the pint of strawberries in my blender and added it to the vanilla vegan cake batter base. With the remaining 1/4 I chopped into small pieces and folded it into the tofu cream cheese icing. The icing just tastes incredible and it’s so simple! It tastes just like a strawberry fribble from Friendly’s, for those of you who know what that is.

Secondly, I found this amazing strawberry infused apple sauce that I used instead of oil to not only add some moisture and strawberry flavor to the cake but it also makes the cupcake a bit lower in fat and cals by eliminating the oil!

So there you have it! Two easy steps to change your plain vanilla cupcake recipe into an adorable strawberries and cream creation! Play around and enjoy!

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Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

In the six months I spent living in Brooklyn, I developed quite a pizza tooth, I’d guess you’d call it. I had never particularly cared for pizza till I lived in Bensonhurst and started ordering from the famous pizza joint from Saturday Night Fever.I couldn’t help it, I was a gone. My all tim favorite pizza they had was a vodka sauce pizza covered in mozzarella. Oh, just writing about it is torturous!

Anyways, so normally I’d say’ “order the pizza eat one or two slices and freeze the rest for another day” but I don’t live in Brooklyn anymore and the pizza here just doesn’t compare! So in an act of creativity and desperation, I bought some vodka sauce and decided to make a healthy, protein packed, skinny, almost pizza. It turned out delicious and guilt free! Just enough to get that fix, try it out!

SKINNY VODKA PIZZA

whisk 3 eggs or egg whites together and pour into a pam sprayed pan on your stove top (just like making an omelette). After you flip it and your pancake like omelette is almost done, spread some vodka sauce all over at your discretion and sprinkle it with your favorite low fat or fat free shredded cheese. Cook till the cheese is sufficently melted and enjoy! Your own mini protein pizza, guilt free and satisfying!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

Yesterday, I had an amazing morning running the Damon Runyon 5K for Cancer at Yankee Stadium. My friend Julie and I raised money for cancer research and got to enjoy the exhilarating 5K course around Yankee Stadium, including two laps on the actual warming track right on the field. I had a blast and boy was I a ball of sweat when we finished! It felt great! However as soon as I got home (and after I jumped in a shower) I decided to whip up a protein shake for myself to hold me over till my early dinner plans. The random, absentmindedly made concoction came out so yummy I had to share!

THE PINK DRINK 

one packet of vegan vanilla protein powder (bought at Whole Foods)

1 cup of vanilla almond milk (but you can use coconut milk, rice or soy!)

1/2 cup or so of ripe organic strawberries

1/2 a tray of organic ice cubes

Blend away!! Also, feel free to add some Truvia or agave in there if you want it to taste more like a strawberry milkshake. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

An article caught my eye and I just had to pass it along to you guys! According to Food Safety News, the average American consumes about a pound of honey per year, thats over 400 million pounds of honey year! Now wait, that’s not even the bad part. The scary thing is that over a third of all the honey that is brought into the United States in most likely to have been smuggled from China and contain illegal antibiotics and lead!! Gasp. Of course, idiots buy these imports because they’re significantly cheaper and the FDA does a less than thorough check on imports. So please, be safe, only buy honey that says “Made in the USA”. Even better, head out to your local farmer’s market and buy some local honey! You’ll support a local business, probably get way better honey than in a supermarket and you can rest assured that there won’t be any illegal antibiotics in it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)


Oh, dating in a big city, where do I start? First, let me tell you single ladies while it may seem like a daunting, even frustrating task at times, I ask that you embrace the last remaining trace of chivalry in New York City, the free dinner. Please take full advantage of this lovely little gift, I strongly advise making a list of current restaurants you’d love to try, places that have healthy options and of course your personal favorite go-tos. So next time, when that cute guy is stuttering over his words trying to ask you to dinner, you can chime right in with “actually I’d love to try (insert trendy new restaurant name here)” and make his life a little easier. Men love a woman who knows what she wants and if your giving this prospective candidate an entire evening of your time you should at least know your going to get a good meal out of it! Plus trying new places together is a great bonding experience for you both with no pressure on either of you if it’s a dud.

Okay, I’m no Patti Stanger here so I’ll stop with the dating advice and get to the skinny stuff, which is more in my line of expertise. Although, I’m pretty sure I’m in a more stable relationship than that Millionaire Matchmaker, any who. Moving on…Sometimes, when we finally find a guy who makes us all warm and gooey inside, it’s a little harder to say no to getting that artichoke pizza at 2am or indulging in a giant sundae at that cute ice cream shoppe. I mean he’s telling you how beautiful you are all the time and your ordering take out in bed in together, next thing you know none of your jeans fit and you throw your scale out the bathroom window. Sound familiar? It happens to the best of us! So here are a few quick tips on how to get yourself in check, be happy, stay skinny and enjoy your dating life with out packing on the pounds.

If you want the salad, ORDER the salad.
Sorry to rant here but I absolutely abhor those girly mags that tell you a guy’s fantasy is when a girl orders a big steak or cheeseburger on a first date. Personally, if his fantasy was you eating a fried cockroach on a first date, would you do THAT? Right, point made. I’m not saying you can’t order the steak if your totally craving one. I’m just saying that if you really want a salad or something light, or your really happy that you’ve been sticking to your new healthy eating plan, don’t be afraid to stay true to yourself. You have nothing to prove to this man, you should eat the same way you would eat if you were all alone at that restaurant.

Sharing means caring. It also means less calories for you!
Ladies, this really is the best of both worlds. Sharing is really romantic and can show you a lot about a man but what it REALLY does is let you have your cake and eat it too (and isn’t that what it’s all about!?). Example, I order my Waldorf salad appetizer, my boyfriend orders fried zucchini blossoms (a favorite of mine) and I get to feel good about eating the healthy salad and sneaking a few blossoms in. It allows you to try a little bit of something potentially naughty and still have a plate of something nutritious in front of you. This is also great for dessert! I love dessert, as if you couldn’t guess from all the cupcakes! However, when I make my boyfriend split a dessert with me I’m able to eat half the calories (if I’m really hungry) or just take a bite or two if I’m full but it was one of those things I had to try. Everyone wins!

Don’t be ashamed to doggy bag it.
I confess, I may have watched that movie “He’s Just Not That into You” more times than most men have seen “The Godfather”, and we all know they watch that on repeat. Anyway, there is a little segment in the movie where a guy is talking to the camera and giving some signs about how you can tell if a woman is not going to sleep with you after a date. One of the signs is if she doggy bags it. This is ridiculous, both funny and absurd. Once again let me say, who cares what he thinks?! I don’t like to waste good food and why should I be forced to finish every thing on my plate? Which is why I recommend taking half your meal to go, or whatever your not actually hungry for. There is no need to eat more than your fill when it will make a perfectly delicious lunch for tomorrow!

As for if your going to sleep with him, well honey, I’ll leave that up to you. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

Today after returning from a much needed gym session I was far too hot and sweaty to cook or to consume anything hot whatsoever, and there in my nearly delirious mind pops the idea of cold oatmeal. A couple years back when I worked at an office down by Wall street, I had found cold oatmeal at the local coffee shop and found it extremely odd. In fact, I was pretty turned off by it, to be honest. However, one day when I was aching for some soy milk oatmeal with strawberries and bananas (they did it up, goooood!), they were all out of the hot variety and I was offered the refrigerated version. In desperation I succumbed to the bizarre treat and there a love affair was born. Now to my surprise, it had never actually occurred to me to make this at home till this very morning. So I grabbed a coffee cup, added the usual ingredients and let it sit in the fridge for 10 minutes or so while I checked my email and it ended up being the best summer breakfast I’ve made to date. I’ll now probably be eating it for the next month till I get sick of it because I’m that obsessed! Okay, enough about how much I love it, here’s the quick and easy recipe, try it for yourself! Thank me later. 😉

REFRIGERATOR OATMEAL

1/2 cup quick oats
1 cup vanilla almond milk (but you can use whatever milk your partial to)
a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
1/2 a banana chopped up

Mix it all together, put some plastic wrap or a cover over it so it doesn’t get any of your fridges’ smells and leave it for 10 minutes or so. Enjoy!

P.S. This photo is actually taken at my bedside table, and yes I do have battery operated candles cause I tend to fall asleep while reading. True story. Now you’ve seen my bedroom, things are getting a little more serious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

Let’s just get this out of the way, I grew up in Jersey (yes, shut up and no, I don’t recall anything like Snooki at my high school). Moving on, so as a Jersey girl I pretty much grew up around diners. Diners were your multipurpose please everyone eatery. We went to them after church for breakfast, we went to them after our theatre performances and we hung out at them till the wee hours of the morning when we were in high school ordering cheese fries and driving the poor waitresses to drink. There was a kind of family to the diner, it was always there, always open and had almost anything you could want to eat. So naturally when I passed this gem down in the meatpacking district on 14th and 8th avenue I absolutely had to try it for myself!

While “The Diner” is more of a trendy new york eatery then what we have in the garden state, it keeps true to the diner classics. It has a wide spread menu of almost anything your heart could desire plus a few healthier, trendier bites and most importantly disco fries. They also have a kick-ass Mom’s grilled cheese special which is a thick, cheesy grilled cheese paired with some creamy tomato soup and small side salad. That’s a must try. They have a pretty solid selection of milkshakes (another diner staple) and they even serve MUD coffee! This is a very handy thing to know because if your down in the area you can stop in for a quick latte to-go.

This time I decided to roll the dice with their homemade veggie burger topped with guacamole and sprouts on an english muffin. I’m somewhat of a professional veggie burger critic now since any vegetarian will tell you that finding a really good one, is no small feat. Safe to say, I have traveled far and wide (around the tristate area) to find a yummy burger made from vegetables!

So when I tell you this burger pretty much rocked my socks off, you know you need to try it. Now, I’ll get through the honest somewhat disappointing stuff first because the over all experience was fabulous. I personally didn’t care for the english muffin, it wasn’t toasted, it was just kind of blah and I ate my burger with out it. No harm done. The burger it self was pretty amazing, I couldn’t tell exactly what was in it but it seemed like a large amount of vegetables and then some barley and beans (but don’t quote me on it). Topping it off with guacamole is just genius and something I am copying at every BBQ I serve veggie burgers at. The guac compliments the burger in a way that ketchup and mustard just can’t. As far as the sprouts, well to be honest, I didn’t really eat most of them. They don’t really do much for me but by all means be healthier than I and chop em down! Of course, I was a bit naughty and got a side of sweet potato fries instead of a side salad. C’mon, I’m at a diner, how could I not sample the fries?! They passed my test with flying colors and were all too quickly devoured.

To wrap it up, the servers were lovely and attentive, the veggie burger was a hit and I will be hitting up “The Diner” plenty more. They have a great selection of healthy choices too, if the veggie burger isn’t your thing. Google it, stop in and let me know what you think!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

So I hope you’ve all checked out my “Tuesday Tip” video about how to make this delicious summer salad but I figured I’d also post the recipe in case you don’t want to re-watch the video 20x as you make the salad and dressing (although be my guest if you do! ). I can not tell you enough how light and yummy this fresh blueberry and walnut salad is, I even made some grilled shrimp with garlic and olive oil tonight for dinner to mix in with the left over salad I had from making the clip. Total win for me! Folks, try this at home! 😉

BLUEBERRY SUMMER SALAD and DRESSING

For the salad combine the following ingredients in a large bowl and toss!

10 cups of baby spinach

2 cups of blueberries( or your favorite seasonal fruit)

1/2- 3/4 cup chopped and toasted walnuts

1/2 cup of crumbled goat cheese

For your dressing combine the following in a small pyrex or pouring cup and whisk away!

2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp of blueberry preserves (or whichever seasonal fruit you’d like to use!)

1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

2 tbsp of chopped up chives

a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper

2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)