Last weekend we had good friends in town and we had a BLAST! We ate great food (Umami, Lisa Vanderpump’s SUR and our neighborhood favorite Basix Cafe), went out on the Sunset Strip (Chateau Marmont, The Standard, The Hollywood Den) and then I needed to detox.

I throw around the word “detox” a lot, but all it means to me, is that I eat well (lots of veggies) and get back into my exercise and real-life routine.

Early AM: Coffee + 1/2 & 1/2 and lots of water.

Breakfast: I tried something new for breakfast today – Rush Bowls. It is essentially like eating frozen fruit sorbet + crunchy granola for breakfast. I preferred the “Power” bowl and Richie preferred the “Yoga” bowl, but they were both very good and are great for busy mornings as the only prep involved is taking them out of the freezer to thaw a bit.

Workout: 45 min spin class. I had a month membership via groupon to UpDog Yoga + Cycling and it is almost over. I loved that I could walk to the studio and that they offered both spin and yoga but the classes are pretty expensive and with my current working situation up in the air/part-time, it probably isn’t very smart to buy a monthly package. (But I want to!)

Lunch: Curried tuna salad over greens + leftover sauteed kale (in coconut oil) + triscuits. This lunch hit the spot and I managed to get in two forms of greens!

Snack: I spent the afternoon sampling Sprouted Cinnamon Raisin Bread (one of my favorites!) and snacked on the natural food version of Ranch Doritos (2 servings?). They are very good – also organic, 100% whole grain and really flavorful.

I stopped by Starbucks to do a little work and wait for Richie to finish up work before picking him up. Can you believe we have been in LA seven months and still only have one car?! I sipped on a green tea + splash of lemonade. (Need to make Michelle’s version)!

Dinner: I had a nice meal of veggies and lean protein planned, but we decided that Japanese-inspired burgers at Fuku Burger would be a much better choice. We have a few groupons for Fuku Burger and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to grab a burger in LA. I had some wine, the Karai “Spicy” Burger (Fuku-patty with pickled cucumbers, avocado cream, finished with habanero kabyaki), and some edamame and fries. I felt pretty full half-way through the meal, so I probably ate about 2/3 of the burger.

I should also admit that the social media geek in me absolutely loves that they have a screen displaying tweets – see me?

Nice detox, huh? I finished off the night with some ginger chews and lots of water.

Thoughts on the day: It definitely wasn’t a “detox” day, but I’m fine with days of not-so-perfect eating. It is the whole reason I started doing daily eats posts – to show you that you can eat a very healthy diet, but still have room for burgers and fries. Being healthy isn’t about being perfect! 

 Happy Thursday friends!

I was visiting some friends at Intelligentsia (super cool coffee shop) a few weeks ago and I decided to stay and work through lunch after they left. There was a farro salad on the menu which sounded amazing.

I normally don’t order grain salads when I’m out, but the Warm Farro & Artichoke Salad on their menu sounded too good. As luck would have it they were out, so I had the pear salad (also delicious) but I couldn’t get the Farro & Artichoke Salad out of my mind. And when that happens, I usually find myself needing to make it the following day.

You may be wondering – what is farro? It was certainly my first time cooking with farro and I’m not even so sure that I had ever eaten it before! Farro is a whole grain that is similar to barley. It has a nice chew to it – like al dente pasta – and is related to wheat. Nutritionally speaking, farro has 100 cal, 27 g carbohydrates, 3.5 g fiber, 4 g protein per 1/2 cup cooked. More fiber than quinoa and almost as much protein!

This warm grain salad, with marinated artichokes, shallots, leeks and parmesan was just the salad I was craving. And it was really good. Really good! I packed it in Richie’s lunch (yes, I pack his lunch), I ate it for lunch, I ate it for brunch with wilted arugula and a fried egg on top (amazing!) and we ate it alongside vegetables for dinner.