Sushi Celebration (12.08.2008)

Before I get to last night's celebratory dinner, I wanted to share a delicious salad combination I threw together for lunch yesterday. Sounds a little weird, but it worked. Also had a whole wheat bagel toasted with a light babybel cheese on the side.

• Baby spinach
• zucchini, chopped
• hearts of palm, sliced
• dates, sliced
• honey roasted almond slices
• reduced-fat feta
• Annie's goddess dressing

Yesterday was a big day for my boyfriend because he hit a goal that he had been working towards ALL YEAR at work. It called for a sushi dinner celebration, but first, we had to go to spin class at the gym. Cant get off track yet...after being so consistent last week.

Did 45 mins of an extremely hard spin class with some of the best music ever! Then I did about 10 mins of abs and stretching.

We hadn't had sushi in awhile, so we decided to head to RA Sushi in Harbor East area of Baltimore.

Started off with a glass of pinot grigio and some pork gyoza that I didn't get a picture of because we were starving. You can see the empty, messy plate in the background. I dripped a bunch of the sauce on the plate.
Have to get the edamame...love this stuff.
My new favorite roll of all-time. King Crab Roll. Crab mix, cucumber, avocado rolled & topped with king crab & served with an asian pesto sauce. It was all about the sauce on this one.
Shrimp Tempura Roll. This one had asparagus in it and was good, but not my favorite.
Tootsy Maki Roll. Crab mix, shrimp, and cucumber rolled & topped with crunchy tempura flakes & drizzled with a sweet eel sauce.
We also had one other roll that I swear I took a picture of, but cant seem to find it. Of course I can't remember the name either. Sorry about that, but I do remember the decadent dessert we had. Oh man - this was incredible. A banana, stuffed with chocolate, flash fried - served with green tea ice cream. WHOA. It was fantastic. But wait, the banana and green tea ice cream make it healthy, right? ;)
This morning I woke up with enough time to pack lunches because I needed to use up some of the veggies we had on the verge of going bad. I quickly chopped up zucchini, yellow squash, and red pepper to saute with a little PAM over medium-high heat. Added lots of fresh ground black and red pepper.
Meanwhile, I cooked up the extremely quick pinenut couscous. (NearEast brand) It literally takes 5 mins.
I combined the veggies and couscous, but also added some leftover sliced, grilled chicken and reduced-fat feta cheese.
I am counting down the minutes until lunch and I can enjoy this.
Also had enough time to prepare some quick oatmeal.

• 1/2 c oats
• 3/4 c skim milk
• raisins
• sliced almonds
• cinnamon
• agave nectar
• sliced banana
• spoonful of almond butter

Some of you left comments about the Trader Joes almond butter being watery and I agree - it needs salt and is too watery. But now I need to get through this jar before buying another type. Maybe I should use it in a recipe. I think I remember someone out there making a banana/almond butter bread combo, so I now I just have to find it. Or maybe almond butter cookies? I havent baked in weeks.
Anyone have a good recipe using almond butter?
Have a great Tuesday.
**Edited to Add** Please head over to Hangry Pants where Mark and Heather are doing a Food Drive - blogger style. Leave a comment to help support a great idea and a great cause.