Bar Method Nutrition Workshop/Bartini with Skinnygirl Cocktails

It’s good to be back. I missed the Bar Method where I work as their staff Nutritionist. I enjoyed writing the cookbook but I REALLY missed the ladies at the Bar Method! Besides being an incredible workout, it’s a great escape from everyday, hectic life with a wonderful group of people.

Last week, we had a Nutrition workshop about the advantages of local produce, organic produce and juicing. I figured with summer right around the corner, now would be the perfect time to talk about all the wonderful, fresh, local produce we are so lucky to have here in NJ. They call us “The Garden State” for a reason, you know!

I love talking to my friends at The Bar Method. We all sit on the floor, it’s casual and easy and we discuss. It’s so fun, like sitting around hanging out with my girlfriends! Did you notice I wore red for Skinnygirl Cocktails?

Now, speaking of hanging out with my girlfriends, at times we like to have a cocktail. We’ve had “Bartini” nights at the Bar Method where we have healthy snacks and cocktails and we hang out and catch up. Now that I am a Skinnygirl Cocktails Insider I thought it would be perfect to share some of my favorite drinks with my friends at The Bar Method. And if you are going to enjoy a cocktail or two, why not have ones that are lower in calories that ordinary drinks? Everything in moderation, right? Right.

I chose to serve my two favorites, the California White Blend and the Sweet ‘n Tart Grapefruit Margaritas. They were both such a hit!

It was a NUTRITION workshop so we had to have some healthy foods too (see the blueberries???)

The fabulous Michelle (that I am lucky enough to work with at The Bar Method) made these amazing treats! They were sliced dates with all natural, organic almond butter and gluten free, organic granola on top. They were delicious! Of course, all of us Jersey girls have cicadas on the mind so we thought they kinda sort of resembled those creatures BUT they were seriously out of this world.

What a fun night! Now that Summer is just about here, go ahead and take advantage of your local farmers markets. The produce found locally is not only the freshest and tastes the best, but it also retains the most vitamins and minerals. Thinking about juicing? Go for it! It’s easy, fun and convenient. Here is my favorite Green Smoothie recipe. I promise it’s delicious, don’t be afraid of the GREEN!

Thanks to everyone who came to the workshop and Bartini! See you in class~

Lauren

XO

© 2013 Skinnygirl® Cocktails, Deerfield, IL; Avg. Analysis: All Products: Protein 0g, Fat 0g; Vodka with Natural Flavors (per 1.5 oz.): Calories 75.6, Carbs 0g; Cocktails (per 1.5 oz.): Calories 35.2, Carbs 2g; Sangria (per 5 oz.): Calories 132, Carbs 22.5g; Wine (per 5 oz.): Calories 100, Carbs 4.8g A LADY ALWAYS DRINKS RESPONSIBLY™

And the winners are….

Thank you to everyone who entered the Quest Nutrition bars giveaway! There are a lot of you that either love these bars already or who are anxious to try them. I hope you like them as much as I do

I’ve already emailed the winners but here they are:

Alice C.

Julie

Kimberly S.

Thanks again!

Lauren

XO

Quest Nutrition Protein Bars Giveaway

I’M BAAAAAAAAAACK!

I am so excited to get back to working on my blog. I really enjoyed working on my cookbook, but now that I am finished, it’s feels good to get back into my normal routine. I promise to share some new, yummy recipes with you soon! But, for now…I wanted to share these amazing Quest Protein bars with you! These are perfect for an on the go snack when you are looking to add some protein without the extra “junk”. Quest Bars have No added sugar, No Sugar Alcohols (original line) No artificial sweeteners (All Natural line), Gluten free, No Junk Ingredients and No Soy Protein. All Quest Bars have just 2-6g Active Carbs and 20g of high quality protein. And, they taste amazing.

So to celebrate, Quest Nutrition has been kind enough to give away 12 flavor sample packs to THREE lucky followers!

I just love a giveaway, don’t you?

Here are the rules:

Please leave a comment on this blog post telling me why you’d love to win these bars.
You get one extra entry (and better chance of winning) for every one of these below that you follow! I like those odds

Please “like” Quest Nutrition on Facebook here! (add 1 entry)

Please “like” my Nutrition page on Facebook here! (add 1 entry)

Please follow Quest Nutrition on Twitter here! (add 1 entry)

Please follow me on Twitter here! (add 1 entry)

Please follow Quest Nutrition on Instagram here! (add 1 entry)

Please follow me on Instagram here! (add 1 entry)

Please follow Quest Nutrition on Pinterest here! (add 1 entry)

Please follow me on Pinterest here! (add 1 entry)

Please follow my blog, on the right hand side of the page it says “Subscribe to my Blog Posts” and enter your email address. (add 2 entries)

Thank you so much for entering! U.S. residents only please. The giveaway will end Monday June 10th at 12:00 A.M. EST so hurry and enter now! Three winners will be chosen randomly through www.random.org.

Thanks again! It’s so nice to be back!

XO

Lauren

Raw Beet and Apple Salad

I am THRILLED to say that I handed in my cookbook on Monday! I can’t wait for you all to get this cookbook, I am really proud of it! It’s available on Amazon.com for pre-order now, go ahead and order it now and you will be guaranteed the lowest price

I am so excited that the fabulous Emilie from The Clever Carrot has been kind enough to share this wonderful recipe with us while I have been busy working. Take it away Emilie….

Raw Beet and Apple Salad

Salad, Vegetables, Raw

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Salad:
1 bunch of Chioggia beets
2 medium size apples
1 handful of mixed salad leaves
⅓ c. fresh basil
zest of 1 lime
For the Dressing:
½ c. goat cheese
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. honey

Directions

For the dressing: Zest your lime and reserve it for the salad.
Blitz all of the salad dressing ingredients in a mini food processor (you can also do this by hand with a whisk and room temperature goat cheese).
Season with salt and pepper to taste. The flavor should be tangy with a hint of sweetness.
For the salad: Get yourself a large bowl.
Trim and peel your beets with a vegetable peeler. If the tops look good, wash them and save for stir frys and salads. Thinly slice with a mandolin.
Thinly slice your apples and keep them stacked. Cut vertically into matchsticks.
Add the beets and apples to the bowl. Add a little dressing and season with salt and pepper. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so to soften.
Tear up the basil leaves.
Add the basil and salad leaves to the bowl. Give it a good toss and taste to see if it needs more seasoning or dressing.
Evenly sprinkle the lime zest on top.
Serve straight away.
* Refrigerate any extra goat cheese dressing in an airtight container. It will keep for about a week.

Print Recipe | Print Ingredients Only

Please go visit Emilie at her Facebook page here and her blog, The Clever Carrot here (cute name right??)

Thank you, all of you for all of your support and understanding while I took my little hiatus to write this book. While I only had 6 weeks to complete it, it was a true labor of love and I am so excited for you to get it!

XOXO

Lauren

My Night at Skinnygirl Cocktails “Meet The New Girls” Event

Now that’s what I call a PARTY! So thrilled to be a Skinnygirl Cocktails Insider and to be able to celebrate the “new girls” (get it, the new cocktails?) The party was so fun! I mean, what’s not fun about getting dressed up, meeting celebrities and drinking Skinnygirl Cocktails?

I was able to bring a “date” so I brought my dear friend, Jen with me. Check us out

Everything was gorgeous! I felt like a celebrity myself, eh you know what I mean…

Here I am checking out the scene…

Allow me to introduce you to “The New Girls”….White Cherry Vodka, Moscato, Sweet ‘n’ Tart Grapefruit Margarita and Mojito…

Oh my, the cocktails were amazing! They offered Skinnygirl White Cherry Coke (White Cherry Vodka and Diet Coke), Skinnygirl Aloha Sparkle (White Cherry Vodka, sparking water and pineapple juice), Skinnygirl Cherry Swirl (White Chery Vodka with lemon-lime sparkling water and a splash of cherry juice), Skinnygirl Mojito with fresh mint and lime juice, Skinnygirl Sweet ‘n’ Tart Margaritas and Skinnygirl Moscato. I may or may not have sampled all of these fantastic cocktails…for research of course

My favorite was…. The light and fresh Skinnygirl Mojito with fresh mint leaves and fresh lime juice

And it wasn’t just because there were incredibly handsome bartenders that actually made this for me either…

We’ll get to the handsome bartenders later. Let’s start with the fabulous, original Skinnygirl herself, Bethenny Frankel…yup, I met her! It’s not the best picture of me and you can probably tell I was just the tiniest bit excited to meet her…

She was so cool and just like you see on tv (if you’ve watched every single show she’s done and her talk show pilots like me) and even more beautiful!
This is when she introduced the “New Ladies” to the crowd…

and had the best line of the night…”flirting has no calories”…Ok now insert incredibly good-looking celebrity bartenders…

Right? So we have Maksim Chmerkovskiy from Dancing with the Stars, the ridiculously handsome model Tyson Beckford, JP Rosenbaum, Chris Bukowski and Graham Bunn all from The Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor Pad.