Where have the last 2 weeks gone?

I am still working away at the document review job and trying to balance working that job up to 10 hours a day with job searching, working my 2nd job, keeping up with the house, etc . . . I have still been on Twitter, because I can easily do that on my blackberry while I'm at work. Other internet use is a little off limits for me!

I still want to write a few more posts about the Healthy Living Summit, and today's post is dedicated to Elisabeth at Jogger's Life. I bought her Almond Coconut Macaroons at the Healthy Living Summit Auction. Look at this bag of macaroon goodness!




Look how cute she package them up!! I saved all the ribbon to use for something later. I really loved the tags she attached too. I would love to know how she made the tags because they are very professional!

I didn't get to talk to Elisabeth, but she did notice me in the elevator eating one of her Macaroons and introduced herself and her boyfriend (he was the only male attending besides Zesty). Elisabeth must have one great boyfriend to go with her to the Summit! My husband traveled to Boston with me (thanks Steve!), but declined my invitation to get him a ticket to go to the Summit.

My husband and I love these Macaroons so much that we want to get a dehydrator. Do you have a dehydrator, if so, which brand/model and what have you used it to make??

Once I find a free day, I hope to revamp my blog. The Healthy Living Summit had me inspired to make blogging easier and create a new site.

Healthy Living Summit Part I - The People I Met in Boston!

I finally have a chance to blog about my exciting weekend in Boston at the Healthy Living Summit. I decided that this post will mostly be about the people that I met and I will use future posts to talk about the speakers, products, and content of the event.

My husband and I left Pittsburgh later than we had planned on Friday morning and hit a lot more traffic than we had imagined, so I didn't get to our hotel until 7:05. Luckily I usually don't take long to get ready, and the event was just next door to the hotel. So I quickly got ready, had my husband take pictures on the balcony of our room, and was off to the cocktail party at Rustic Kitchen.

There was food set out along the bar, which was refilled all night. I guess because I sat in the car the entire day I wasn't too hungry. I pulled off the cheese from some flatbread and ate just the flatbread, then when I got back to my room I ate a larabar.



I was a little nervous about attending the summit having never met another blogger in person. So I was very relieved that Rose overheard me check in with Mark and came up to me. She instantly made me feel a lot better about the night. I think that is the nature of people coming from Western Pennsylvania. Thanks again Rose, and I can't wait to see you again! I also had the chance to meet Meghann and talk to fellow Pitt Alum Caitlin. Also pictured here are Chandra, Anna, and Meg.


I was also happy to finally meet a woman that I have admired since the early days of her blog - Heather. I admire Heather for many reasons including her honesty, bravery and intelligence that are clearly reflected in her blog. I remember feeling hopeful when I first read her post about her past life at a large firm and her decision to leave that life to go back to school for teaching, because back then I was still employed at one of the largest firms and the world and was hating it! Not many people can understand the life which is a junior associate, so I am glad I had the opportunity to talk with you Heather and hope we can meet again! (By the way - I'm 5'7 and was wearing heels, which clearly wasn't a great idea).

After a super late night and long day of driving there was no way that I could make it to exercise in the morning. I did have time to get ready and grab a Starbucks before the summit began. After reading other blogs and twitter the morning of the summit, I felt guilty that other attendees could fit in a workout, but I couldn't. While I love blogging, sometimes I think I am too quick to compare myself to others and beat myself up for not being perfect.

My husband took a picture of me before I left for the summit. Sorry for this photo, because I swear it was like he was sending me off for my first day of school! I was all set with my Greens+ bag that was full of samples and information about Greens+ Superfood.

When I got to the Summit I first ran into a reader of blogs named Kirsten, who has a wonderful taste in clothes as does Meghann, as they were sporting Ann Taylor Loft clothing that I own too!

I also saw Betsy and her sister Emily sitting down for breakfast and quickly grabbed a seat with them. I had never met Betsy, which I should have done before Boston as she is a fellow Pittsburgher. She is talented in so many ways as is apparent on her blog, and has such a great sense of humor. If you need someone to hang out with while Joe is busy studying during his first year of law school, let me know!

I successfully passed out a ton of Greens+ samples.

Ladies, if you have any feedback for Greens+, please leave it in the comments or email me. I am sure Diane from Greens+ would love to hear what you think.

Whit (as she is know to the bloggers, but apparently not to her family and friends) was so much fun . She is a fellow Cancer with a July birthday. I found her to be one of the most outgoing people I met at the Summit and just a very enjoyable person to be around. Whit is on the left, with 2 other sweet girls - Meghan and Amy.

Even just talking about the people I met, could go on forever! So for now I'll just say I was glad to meet people whom I felt like I had been stalking for so long.

When I got back to the hotel room, I organized all my swag, that I really can't wait to sample. Some of it has already found a way to my belly, and I'll let you know what I thought of everything that I tried in another post this week!

We left Boston to drive to NYC yesterday afternoon, because my husband works in NYC almost every Monday and Tuesday. Traffic was horrible so we didn't get into the city until almost 8pm last night.

div>This is me sporting the Healthy Living Summit shirt in Times Square. Some woman in the elevator noticed my shirt and said "Healthy Living where was that?" I was tired and didn't know what more she wanted to know, so all I said was "Boston".

I am actually working in my hotel room today on the document review project that I was hired for temporarily. Plus it is a bit too hot to be touring the city today.

I have more to share with you about the Healthy Living Summit, so stay tuned!

Boston Bound!!

So sorry I'm behind on blog reading, writing and commenting, but I have good reason . . .

For the last two weeks I have been doing something attorneys call "Document Review." In short - it is not much fun, leads to endless headaches, and causes me to come home and refuse to open my computer screen. I am conducting electronic document review, which means I read documents that may be helpful in order to win a case in court. For instance if I was doing a criminal case (which I am not) and I am reading through some guys emails that is on the stand for murder and he is emailing a friend about said murder. Well that is what you call a "sexy document" and what I search for all day. The problem is reading thousands of pages of materials for 10 hours straight on a computer screen really is horrible for the eyes, mind and body. Well that explains my absence. I am hoping I get a permanent position soon and will not have to work as a contract attorney doing document for much longer!

I am trying to get out the door by 6:30am because the drive from Pittsburgh to Boston will be about 10 hours! I am on my way to the Healthy Living Summit! You can catch me on twitter while I'm driving!

I am packing in my car a box of samples from Greens + to deliver to everyone at the Summit.

I am also bringing this basket of goodies for the Healthy Summit Auction to benefit Caitlin's TNT!! These are all goods from Trader Joe's. So if you are attending the Summit, make sure to check out the auction and get yourself some yummy treats!

Off to pack up! Be back during this weekend with updates on the fun!

A winner and some sweet treats!

I put 27 in the random number generator, because I added numbers for those who tweeted and linked back and the winner was Lynn and Christy of The Actor's Diet.

I started a 3 week long legal project as a contract attorney, while still working nights and weekends at Ann Taylor, and trying to find time for job searching.

I haven't tried any new recipes in the last week, so I thought I would rave about some sweets I have enjoyed in the last couple weeks.

I normally make my bake goods from scratch, and when I saw these Immaculate Baking Co. cookies that appeared a little more natural than other refrigerated brands, I had to try them. I have also tried the triple chocolate flavor. I love that these are quick and do not leave the mess that goes along with homemade cookies


The cookies are very tiny, so they are good if you just want a bite size treat.

My wonderful husband brought me home this Divine White Chocolate with Strawberries bar.

This was so good. It had a strawberry shortcake taste. I loved it. I tried the Divine Dark Chocolate with Fruit and Nut, but I wasn't as big of a fan.

Have a nice night!

Free samples of Greens+ for all readers!

A few months ago, I picked up some Greens+ bars from Whole Foods, because they looked like a good item to take on vacation with me, in case I wasn't getting my usual amount of fresh produce. One serving of Greens Plus delivers the equivalent of 4 to 5 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. I was pleasantly surprised by the bar and emailed Greens+ to compliment them on their product. Diane from Greens+ asked if I would like to try some other products by Greens+.

I have used the natural Whey Protein Powder in a few smoothies and couldn't taste it in my smoothie (my husband said he could taste a difference). As you can see the powder has a green tint.My plan is to challenge myself for 1 month to try to have some form of Greens+ at least once a day and see if I feel like I have more energy and glowing skin. I'll keep you posted on how I'm using Greens+ and what I think of the Orange Greensicle, because I haven't tried it yet.

These green products may not be for everyone, so Diane wants you to find out what you think for yourself. Greens+ will send samples to anyone who is interested in the products. They just have to e-mail Diane at diane@greensplus.com with your name and address and mention my blog.

Now these will just be samples, not full size products. If you want to get a full size Greens+ product just comment below. For an additional entry post this contest/sample giveaway on your blog and leave a comment with the link to your post. Tweet about this giveaway using my twitter id @ahealthylawyer, and I will give you another entry.

I will pick a winner Tuesday August 4 at 10am.

* * * * * * * *

Unrelated to the above giveaway, I was so excited to find mini Larabars at Whole Foods today!! I have been wanting these to be sold every since I got a few at a race.

Also, I was in NYC last Monday and Tuesday and look who I ran into on the street . . . Seth Rogen. I love him!

Off to enjoy the rest of my day!

A wonderful birthday in the 'Burg!

Wednesday was my 27th birthday, and it was a great day. My husband took the day off work to spend with me. We went on a 15 mile bike ride, went out to lunch, and tried to go get massages, but traffic was bad so we had to reschedule for last night.

Back in June, when we were in Paris, Steve bought be an early birthday present from here...

Steve had MBA classes the night of my birthday, which left the night free for a date with my mom.

My mom took me to one of my favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh : Cafe Zao.

I started with the Zao salad, which I love because the vegetables are so fresh and it even has some hearts of palm and artichoke.


For dinner I ask for a vegan plate (they said they have a vegetarian dish on the menu) and each time I have been here it is totally different. They basically use a different starch and different vegetables each time. The pepper was stuffed with a white bean mixture. There were some portobello mushrooms under this pile. I ate half of this dish and took the rest home for another lunch.

For a starter my mom ordered this ravioli. This was the biggest ravioli I have ever seen!!

For dinner my mom got a chicken breast. This was boneless but I guess they stick that bone in it for presentation purposes. She had a lot of leftovers as well.

Cafe Zao is in the Cultural District of Pittsburgh. After dinner we walked to the Benedum to see Copacabana. I have never seen this musical before, but really enjoyed it. My mom and I have season tickets to the theater and in the summer go to musicals almost every other Wednesday.

I'm off to spend the Saturday with my hubby and puppy. Have a great weekend!

Would Garfield know this Lasagna is vegan?

I think my food processor may be one of my favorite appliances in my kitchen. This vegan lasagna is so simple thanks to my food processor. In a minute I have am awesome filling for my favorite lasagna, or maybe the only lasagna I'll eat. This recipe is from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

Instead of the mushrooms called for in the recipe, I used summer squash and mixed it with the Newman's Own Sockarooni Sauce. I used Ronzoni Healthy Harvest whole wheat noodles.

After a layer of sauce I add noodles, the tofu mixture, and then more noodles.

Here is the lasagna out of the oven.

mmm mmm good!

While I'm on the topic of tofu, head over to Amanda's giveaway at Run to the Finish!

The Cookie Table - a Pittsburgh Wedding Tradition

It is the belief of many people in Pittsburgh, that you can't have a wedding without cookies. Wedding guest are used to skipping traditional appetizers of vegetables and crab cakes and filling up on cookies while waiting for dinner to begin. Cookie Table is actually an entry in Wikipedia

The must-have cookie table is a tradition reflecting the diverse ethnic communities of steel-mill towns, especially in western Pennsylvania, who perhaps could not afford a wedding cake. So neighbors, aunts, cousins, grandmothers, and mothers would all bake dozens of cookies. Most cookies have thousands of cookies and the trays are replenished continuously throughout the night. Boxes or bags are provided so that guests can take cookies home with them.

Usually family or friends try to make some cookies with the bride's wedding colors. In the picture below, you can see some thumbprints with the blue color that match the bride's flowers and the color of the bridesmaid dresses. At my wedding the table had many purple cookies and even purple chocolate covered pretzels.

Most weddings have lots of buckeyes, which are the peanut butter and chocolate cookies on the tray.

Here is a view of part of the cookie table. I couldn't get the whole table in one picture!

We packed up two boxes to take home with us.

At some weddings in the past I have OD'ed on cookies and felt awful the next morning, so I was happy to only have one cookie at this wedding and a half a piece of the wedding cake.

Of course Steve and I did plenty of dancing!

Happy Monday!

Have you ever been to a wedding with a cookie table?

Follow me into my fridge!

If you didn't notice on the right side of my blog, I am now on Twitter, so follow me!


This post is a bit random, because I have been eating a lot of left overs and have not been cooking or baking.


First off let me say that I hopped on the "banana soft serve" train and loved it. I added some peanut butter to the food processor with the bananas.

Next, I missed out when Tina posted all the Blogger Fridge Pictures, so I snapped one this morning.

The top shelf is milk and juice, I use the chocolate soy milk in my coffee (iced and hot) and the almond milk in my smoothies. The second shelf has a bunch of leftovers in the back, and in the front is a huge cabbage from my CSA and a corning ware dish of washed and prepared lettuce for salads. The third shelf has a ton of yogurt, salsa, hummus, eggs, and Trader Joe's nut butters. The fourth self has farm fresh peaches (which I think will need to be used in a recipe because there are so many, Bisquick, and organic grape tomatoes (there is wheat germ and whole wheat and spelt flours in the back of this shelf, but not visible in the picture). Finally, the two drawers are filled with produce from out weekly CSA share.

Finally, Sophie hasn't had much blog love lately, so here she is posing for the camera!

I am attending a wedding tomorrow night, so I should have some pictures from that, including pictures and a post about the Pittsburgh Cookie Table tradition!

Do you have anything fun planned this weekend?

Well rounded dinner, in a pie?

Have you ever had too many veggies in your fridge at one time and were worried that some made go bad before you had time to eat them? Well the following recipe is something I make almost weekly to use up vegetable from my CSA.

With our CSA, there has been a few weeks where we were overwhelmed with greens. For instance, this past week we had chard, beet greens, and brussel spout greens to use. So we washed them and chopped them and turned them into an impossible pie.

Growing up my mom often made me a version of Impossible Pie, and I think it has that name because the pie has no crust to start, but then when it comes out of the oven it turns out as a pie.

When making an impossible pie, anything that is going to go into the pie must be cooked before baking. So, while my husband cleaned and chopped the greens I began to heat some EVOO with some minced garlic and onions, which were also from the CSA. I then added the greens to the pan with a half of a bag of Morningstar Farms crumbles. I seasoned the mixture with salt, pepper, and some Mrs. Dash Italian Medley. I sauteed this mixture for about 5 minutes.

All of these greens were for 2 pies and I still had some sauteed greens left over. I put enough of the filling to cover the bottom of the pie pan. For my husband's pie I covered the top of the greens mixture with some pepper jack cheese.

For the mixture for 1 pie, I used 3/4 cups of liquid egg whites, 1/2 cup skim milk, and 2/3 cup of Heart Smart Bisquick. While Bisquick isn't the cleanest item in my kitchen, this whole pie uses only 2 servings of Bisquick because 1 serving is 1/3 cup. I hope to work on altering this recipe to add some whole wheat.

Here is the pie all done and ready to enjoy.

I have made these pies with broccoli, zucchini, and all sorts of greens. It is a great source of carbs, protein, and healthy fat. If you aren't afraid of too many vegetables in one meal, you can serve this with a side salad or some soup.

Triple Berry Pie, oh my!

I had a lot of berries in my possession, and wasn't sure how I would eat them all. So I searched the Internet and came across a recipe for Crumble Berry Pie.


I started out by taking my refrigerated pie crust out of the fridge to bring it to room temperature and preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I cleaned about 4 cups of fresh berries and put them in a bowl.

I then prepared the filling to add to the berries. I added the following ingredients to a small sauce pot:

1/2 cup splenda (I'm trying to get away from using fake sweeteners, but I have a huge bag of splenda to use)
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 dash salt

Turn the heat to medium and continuously mix with a whisk until the mixture begins to thicken and then remove from stove top. Use a spatula to remove the filling mixture from the pot and mix it into the berries.

After the filling was complete, I prepared the topping. I mixed together:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats

1/4 cup butter (I used Smart Balance Light), melted

2 tbsp of POM Juice (added if crisp is too dry, any juice may work)

I only added the POM juice because my crisp was still very dry. Then add the crisp topping to the pie, covering all the berries. Put the pie in the oven for 30 - 35 minutes.

Here is the pie with the crisp topping, after it was pulled out of the oven.

My husband loved this recipe and enjoyed it with some ice cream for his after dinner treat last night.

This was a quick, easy and rather impressive dessert if you need to bring something to a picnic this summer!

Head over to Oh She Glows for an Amazing Grass giveaway. I haven't tried Amazing Grass yet, but boy is it popular in the blog world!