My love affair with a PB&J

I have been a classroom teacher for the last five years.  Of those five years, I have eaten a peanut butter & jelly sandwich every.single.day (minus the ever indulgent teacher workdays or rockstar leftovers) for lunch.  I guess  this could be described as one of my eccentric habits...doesn't everyone have at least one!?

I do not, however, think of myself as being one of those crazies who has a habit that they can't bear to break.  I go with the flow pretty easily and can adapt to a lot of new things.  Over these past five years, I've spent 60 days backpacking in Europe, 3 months living in New York City and have worked in 3 different schools.  I can be flexible.

One thing that has remained a constant weekday after weekday - my lunch.  I look forward to my triangle cut pb&j, my helping of Pirate's Booty, a banana and organic applesauce.  It's my thing.  The peanut butter lasts so long - the protein, the stick to your insides goodness, the perfect accompaniment of strawberry jam.  A lunch for the stars.  It makes this teacher very happy and keeps me from snacking too heavily mid-afternoon once the kiddos leave.  Perfect? I think so.

While it may seem hard to believe, I'm not one of those die-hard peanut butter lovers.  You know the type - the ones who happily lick spoonfuls of peanut butter and believe everything is better with a scoop of crunchy (my favorite).  I do like the taste but I like even better than I'm getting full on something that I feel good about putting into my body.  No preservatives, no hydrogenated oils - all natural goodness inside my lunchbox.

Imagine my smile when I stumbled upon the Peanut Butter & Co. in the West Village on our most recent New York visit.  

C was interviewing one day, so I wandered in to have the most delicious lunch.  Just me, a pb&j and my kindle.  I ordered The Elvis - grilled wheat bread with crunchy pb, bananas and honey.  Holy peanut butter! It was delicious.  Match it with a bottled coke and an on-the-house slice of peanut butter pie, I was in school-lunch heaven.  

Tomorrow is the first day back to school after a much needed and much loved week long spring break.  I'm not sure what my day will have in store, but I do know one thing for certain - my lunch will be fantastic.

The Buff Smoothie!

For the last two years, my weekday breakfast has been one of champions! My weekends...another story ;). My husband has been blending up a smoothie rich in antioxidants every morning to help us both get a vitamin boost. Because I'm not yet a coffee drinker (only fancy lattes for now!), I love my morning smoothie because it energizes my mind, fuels my body and lasts until lunchtime. Alton Brown calls it the "buff smoothie." ohhh, love it! Don't you just feel powerful already??

 Ingredients 

4 ounces plain

 low-fat soy milk 

4 ounces acai, grape, or pomegranate juice 

4 ounces frozen banana 

4 ounces frozen strawberries

 4 ounces frozen blueberries 

4 ounces frozen peaches

 Directions 

Combine the soy milk, juice, banana, strawberries, blueberries, and the peaches in the carafe of a blender. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 8 hours. In the morning, or when the fruit is partially thawed, put the carafe on the base of the blender, start at the lowest speed and slowly accelerate to medium, until you achieve a vortex. Blend on medium for 1 minute. Increase the speed to high and blend for an additional minute. Serve immediately. 

 Enjoy your morning boost! You will love this berry fueled start to your day :)

**Why is creating a post on the iPad so difficult?! The formatting was so thrown off.  Sometimes, you just need an old fashioned computer, I guess :)

New York photo spread!

Another wonderful weekend spent in NYC! Flying into LaGuardia sets a gorgeous stage (especially when your flight is landing early, just in time for lunch)! It offers the perfect sweeping view of Manhattan.  We loved visiting my sister and touring around one of our favorite cities.

A few highlights:

Joe's Pizza

The Comedy Cellar (hillllarious!)

Oatmeal Raisin cookies at Levain

Easter brunch and the homemade donuts

The fountains at the 9/11 Memorial

Cocunut cake at Commerce - cue mouth watering

The Mulberry Project and the best sparkling/fruity/tequila drink e.v.e.r

Until next time New York!  

I'll leave you with a beautiful quote I read on the subway:

He told us, with the years, you will come to love the world.

And we sat there with our souls in our laps, and comforted them.

-Dorothea Tanning