Happy Labor Day Weekend!
I hope everyone’s weekend is off to a great start. I am back from the Hamptons and it feels good to be back.
I missed Jamie. He puts up with my spur of the moments shots...I interrupted his draft :/
I had a great time there, and it felt good to relax and be out of the city, but I was really excited to get back to Jamie, the gym, and my bed. Even though my room in the Hamptons was practically the size or our entire apartment.
My room in the Hamptons
It extends way far in other directions too. So nice.
Cute little reading nook in my Hamptons room
Our Hamptons backyard was on the bay
The pool
Back of the Hamptons house
The backyard-where I did my circuit workouts 
The Bay
The living room at the Hamptons
This morning I set an alarm for 8:00 AM and went straight to the gym. I LOVE starting my Saturday with a workout.
Hooray for starting my day with a sweat sesh!
Months ago this guy stopped me on the street (of course when I was walking home late from work and did NOT feel like talking to him) and literally talked to me for a good 45 minutes about this salon deal before I finally caved. He lowered his price significantly from what he was originally offering. So I paid for the stupid thing, and then never made an appointment.
Finally, a few weeks ago, I decided to bite the bullet and make an appointment. I mean, I paid for it, desperately needed to do something about my ratty hair, and felt like a little pampering might do me some good.
The salon was on 5th Ave so I was worried everyone would be extra pretentious. But, I got a really nice hairstylist and after meeting her was just excited to feel pampered. And hopefully feel like I looked better when I left.
Well, it definitely was awesome pampering. I was there from 11:00 AM-3:30 PM, with all sorts of special hair treatments and endless drinks and magazines.
The end result?
I really don’t like it. I think I look like a bimbo. I usually don’t get much done to my hair in way of color because I don’t like the fake blonde look. If anything I want my hair “cleaned” up by lightening my naturally darker roots.
My stylist assured me she was giving me a “natural” look.
Sadly, not the case. I left the salon feeling worse about how I looked than when I went in. 
The pictures actually make it look better than I think it does in real life…
No more dark roots
The new 'do
But, I figure everyone has those hair cuts/colors at some point, and it really isn’t that big of a deal. It did feel really nice to relax, be pampered, and feel like I was doing something girly, and for myself.
By the time I got back it was already 5:00. Since I haven’t been around much since getting back, Jamie and I relaxed for a bit before making dinner.
I had some fresh marinara sauce I needed to use up, so I decided to go for one of my favorite winter dishes. Even though it’s still really hot here.
Chicken Parmigiana! I bought some local, humanely raised, zero antibiotics, etc. chicken breasts, some salad ingredients, and used an Ellie Krieger recipe:
Ingredients
- 4 slices whole-wheat bread (1-ounce each)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 4 teaspoons paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 cup skim milk
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 (6 ounce) skinless boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
- Olive oil cooking spray
- 1 jar good-quality marinara sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)
- 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- 2 tablespoons (1/2-ounce) shredded Parmesan
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the bread in the bowl of a food processor and process until fine crumbs are formed, about 25 to 30 seconds. Put the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, until golden. (You will wind up with about 1 1/3 cups toasted crumbs.)
In a medium bowl, toss the crumbs with oregano, garlic powder, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and milk together. In a third bowl stir together the flour, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Dip each piece of chicken, 1 piece at a time, in flour, shaking off excess, then egg, then bread crumbs, shaking off excess.
Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Place breaded breasts in a glass baking dish and spray on each side with cooking spray, about 5 seconds total per side. Bake breasts until cooked though and crumbs are browned, about 15 minutes. Top with marinara sauce, mozzarella and parmesan and return to oven for an additional 10 minutes, until cheese is bubbling.
Nutrition Facts: Per Serving
(Serving size, 1 piece chicken with sauce and cheese)
Calories 410; Total Fat 11 g; (Sat Fat 4.5 g, Mono Fat 2.7 g, Poly Fat 1.2 g) ; Protein 50 g; Carb 31 g; Fiber 2 g; Cholesterol 110 mg; Sodium 1200 mg
Excellent source of: Protein, Vitamin A, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Phosphorus, Selenium
Good source of: Thiamin, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Iodine, Magnesium, Manganese, Potassium, Zinc
I thought it was really good!
I served it with organic linguine from Whole Paycheck; a simple salad of spinach, goat cheese, strawberries; and some Cabernet Sauvignon. Because I love wine.
Now it is time to relax. We are watching some Wire, some Entourage, some Ducks football (go Ducks!), and relaxing. Jamie is working on his Fantasy Football draft, too.
Our room-Yep, that's pretty much it. Not much floor space. Just a bed and tiny desk
Hope you all have a great Saturday night! So glad we still have two more days!
Cheers,
L
