Cooking Light Shrimp Cobb Salad

Bo and I have a tradition of cooking together on Sunday nights. Sometimes it’s a roasted chicken or a Greek salad, but regardless it is a great start to the week.

Tonight we gained inspiration for our meal from this month’s Cooking Light. As soon as we saw the vibrant, colorful cover we knew we had to try it.

The recipe was flavorful, simple, and in expensive! We had most of the ingredients which made this afternoon’s Whole Food shopping trip short and sweet. We altered the recipe a bit and used turkey bacon instead of the regular bacon they recommended and we used quartered roma tomatoes instead of grape tomatoes since we had these items on hand.

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My favorite part of this meal was that we were able to create it together! Bo cooked the shrimp and bacon while I chopped the vegetables and made the homemade dressing.

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The end result was a warm salad that left us satiated and looking forward to leftovers!

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I highly recommend adding this Shrimp Cobb Salad recipe to your lineup this week as it is a winner for both the men and ladies. The salty turkey bacon and crisp shrimp give a kick to the butter lettuce and tomatoes which could otherwise be quite boring on their own.

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Double Booked

Yesterday, even after a relaxing afternoon and three hour nap, the idea of going out again wasn’t very appealing. But, after talking with some friends, I realized that I have to be responsible for my actions and just because I unexpectedly went out on Friday night isn’t a valid reason to bail on my Saturday night plans.

So, I donned my big girl pants and headed to the Upper East Side with Bo for dinner at Canyon Road with one of our favorite couples, Louisa and Eric. A double date had been in the plans for months but last night was the first time our schedule’s aligned.

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I loved the horns on the door and the Tex-Mex décor that greeted us when we arrived.

Per Louisa’s recommendation we started with their spicy guacamole and a round of drinks. I still wasn’t feeling 100% and knew I had plans after dinner so I stuck with a Corona Light.

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Unfortunately, Canyon Road has lost some of it’s pizazz in the past year and they didn’t understand what spicy meant. When we complained and asked for them to fix it the refused and instead brought us bottles of hot sauce. We then requested cilantro because you can’t have delicious guacamole without it. At this point, I feared for my life and the safety of our upcoming dinner but the manager was very friendly and quickly brought out cilantro. Unfortunately, Louisa’s first bite included part of the bowl which ended up almost breaking her tooth! While we can laugh about it now, you can imagine the damper this put on our meal.

After this introduction, I had low expectations for our main courses. Luckily, the restaurant recovered and delivered perfectly seasoned chicken fajitas, complete with whole wheat tortillas. While the food doesn’t compare to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Papatzul, the company was wonderful and no one left hungry.

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After dinner, I parted ways with the group as I had a great group of girls waiting for me at The Hurricane Club. Unfortunately, I double booked myself last night since I forgot to put our double date in the calendar. Therefore, when Theodora invited me out for girls night with some of her Junior League friends I immediately said yes! It wasn’t until earlier this week that I realized the dinners overlapped. Luckily, the girls had a New York appropriate dinner time of 10pm which meant when I showed up at 10:45 they were just finishing dinner and still ready for plenty more drinks and laughs.

One extra straw later, I was joining the girls in their second fruity group drink of the evening, the #440–7-tiki spiced rum, pineapple, kiwi and ginger. It was a bit sugary for my taste but I enjoyed a few sips along with the rest of the gang. Don’t be fooled though, sipping from two foot straws is quite difficult .

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Clearly fruity drinks make us do a group cheer, or compare rings, depending on how you interpret the picture.

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I had a great time with the ladies and was so happy to be included in their girls night. I was also thankful that New York City allows for two dates in one evening thanks to the late dinner hours.

But, after two nights out, nothing felt better than sleeping ten hours, cleaning the apartment while watching Father of the Bride, and enjoying a salad for lunch.

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The rest of this afternoon includes heading to Buffalo Exchange to sell some old clothes, workout, and homemade dinner inspired by this month’s Cooking Light.

Question: What is your favorite way to recover after a long weekend?

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Fun Ashley

After a few crazy weeks of travel to Las Vegas and Savannah, I didn’t want to make any plans this weekend because deep down I was craving some sweat, rest, and relaxation time with Bo.

I was able to sleep in yesterday since I didn’t have to be at the office until 10am! Sleeping 8 hours was the perfect way to kick off my weekend of rest and relaxation.

I checked off the sweat part of my weekend to do list next by starting my day with a hill workout on the treadmill. I’m not going to lie, hill workouts still kick my butt two times a week when I attempt them!

IMG_1564 (640x480)As the day progressed, I quickly realized that the relaxation thing wasn’t going to happen. After spending a few months training for the marathon, I forgot how much I enjoy our friends in New York City and the time we spend with them whether it’s around someone’s kitchen table, in Central Park, or at a bar. Therefore, I’ve started embracing what Theodora has now started calling, “Fun Ashley.”

Therefore, drinks at Names and Places with Theodora, Bo, and Mike evolved into multiple rounds of drinks, a fur filled dance party, a wardrobe change, some karaoke fun at Sing Sing, and finally dancing to the oldies in the backroom of a neighborhood bar.

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imageWhat can I say? Sometimes you won’t be able to check off everything on your to do list and sometimes there are bigger priorities, like enjoying life and being spontaneous.

I even made it to my 11am training session thanks to the assistance of this breakfast of champions.

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