Guac Recipe, 3 Out-to-eat Lunches in a Row, Spicy Shrimp Linguine Recipe, 8 Miles/back/biceps, I’m MVP!

Yay! We are so all feeling the gucacamole, although I am SO with a few of you – cheese dip does rock my face in a big way, and of course salsa/pico de gallo is pretty badass. Not gonna lie!! Here is the recipe we used by combining two recipes from Eat Better America:

2 medium avocados, peeled and pitted
1 ½ tbsp lime juice
½ tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Dash cayenne pepper
¼ cup red onion, finely diced
¼ cup tomato, finely diced
1 tsp jarred minced garlic

In medium bowl, mash avocados. Stir in 1 teaspoon of the garlic, the lime juice, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Stir in onion and tomatoes. Serve with baked tortilla chips or vegetables for dipping. Nutritional Information (entire recipe): 610 calories, 36 carbs, 56 fat grams and 8 protein grams.

It looks like we all used VERY similar ingredients, although some of you really sparked my interest with jalapeno, cumin, garlic salt/powder and cilantro – yum!! I’m looking forward to making it again later this week for another recipe. :)

Backing up as per usual… I’m a sucky blogger. :( Monday. I had a lunch with an external vendor + an internal client at Red Salt – very cool pub with awesome décor in Roswell, Ga.! I had some pizza, as well as a few of Jenn’s fries and a couple of chili shrimps – so good! Then I worked…. after work I walked 4 miles and did abs – woo – burned 230 calories! I ended up at 1,801 calories, 172 carbs, 83 fat grams and 89 protein grams. Here’s what I ate.

Tuesday I had lunch with my team to celebrate the year at Hudson Grill. I had the salmon Caesar salad along with a boatload a couple of chips/spinach artichoke dip. After work I came home and ate more. TOM is here for sure – bottomless pit…. No workouts. I ended up at 1,778 calories, 159 carbs, 82 fat grams and 99 protein grams. Here’s what I ate. It's official: I much prefer eating 3 400-calorie meals and a few snacks instead of HEAVY meals and no snacks. Ew. I truly HATE feeling full from eating too much at one time.

Yesterday I had lunch at Eclipse de Luna with my department – an awards ceremony – the Marketing Choice Awards (we all vote on people/projects/etc.). I’ll post some pics tomorrow when I’m back in the office! The ceremony was fun, and my awesome team nominated me as MVP so I won – very sweet speech and nice prize! ($250) It was very nice to be recognized, especially by the people who work closest to me. :) Here's some pics:

Me and Stace

Me, Amanda and Em - they won MVP on their teams!!

Me opening my award - i'm a dork - i thought there may be a letter or certificate but it was a gift card only, I probably looked like a greedy girl!

Me hugging my boss's boss's boss who gave me the award- she had the nicest things to say. :)

I had a great time at the event chatting it up with some peeps I rarely see as we all stay so closed off in our cubes, and had fun with Stacy of course. We kept each other “good” and had salad, mozzarella/tomato caprese, a few shrimps, a spinach empanada and one small dessert. Heaven. Then we had a glass of wine. But never fear – we still hit up the gym post-wine! We walked 3.5 miles and ran 1 mile, then followed it up with back and biceps – burning 349 calories. Woo! When I got home I made a yummy dinner/new recipe – Spicy Shrimp Linguine from Cooking Light. It was pretty fabulous!! Here’s the recipe for FOUR servings:

8 ounces uncooked fettuccine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tsp garlic cloves, minced
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cups chopped tomato (about 2 medium slicers)
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup freshly reduced-fat Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain. Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add red pepper and garlic to pan; sauté 1 minute. Add shrimp; sauté 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and next 4 ingredients (through salt); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Divide mixture into four bowls and top each with 1 tbsp parmesan cheese. Nutritional Information: 411 calories, 50 carbs, 9 fat grams and 33 protein grams. SUPER filling and, if I do say so myself, like restaurant quality. It seemed creamy and fattening. Hehe It’s a keeper FOR SURE!

So… things I need to do blog wise:

• Post the yummy Sausage Spaghetti recipe we had on Tuesday night! I didn’t take a picture, but I’m going to have it tonight so I’ll take a picture and post it!
• Post the recipe for Eat Better America’s Chicken Tortilla Casserole. Austin loved it; I haven’t gotten to try it! Maybe I’ll have it for lunch and post tomorrow!
• Post a picture of the guacamole we made. We’re going to make it again this week!!
• Tell you guys about this AMAZING thing I bought on Tuesday… I’m so very excited and think it’s definitely going to come into play on the blog. I can’t wait for it to arrive. A few hints: I ordered it from Urban Outfitters. It’s going to involve me taking up a new hobby and learning some new skills.

I'm off to read blogs now - WOO!

1. Where are you with the holiday shopping?! We're d. o. n. e. Yessss.

2. How do you prefer to eat? 3 large meals a day? 6 mini meals? I strongly prefer 3 300-450 calorie meals and 2-3 100 - 250 calorie snacks!