Shrimp and Veggies With Ravioli In A Lemon "Butter" Sauce

Hi everyone! How is your weekend going so far? Mine is great! Yesterday after work, I got home and started on a quick dinner since I had to go to Neal’s Going Away Party. I wanted to use the basil, that I never used up the night before. So I decided to make something that sounded like it would be found in a restaurant in the North End of Boston. Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you Shrimp and Chardonnay raviolis with a lemon butter sauce with topped with shrimp, zucchini (obvi), spinach and basil. So how did I make it?! Well, I heated up a skillet and added olive oil, a clove of garlic minced, lemon juice and a little earth balance buttery spread. Once it was all heated up I added the basil, spinach, and zucchini. I pulled out a few frozen shrimp and defrosted them (placed them in a colander and ran cold water over them), then added then to the skillet to heat them up.

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In a separate pan I boiled the Shrimp and Chardonnay raviolis (I bought them a few months ago at whole foods and froze the ones I didn’t eat).

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I just poured the mixture from the skillet over the raviolis…close up :)

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It was fantastic! Ugh, I savored every last bite! One of the best meals I have had in a long time…I will be making this again. I love when my experiments work out to be incredible (if I do say so myself). After washing the dishes I had a few mini peanut butter cups.

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Once I got to the party I grabbed an iced cold beer :)

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I had a few of these throughout the night and one of these:

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and one of these:

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When we got there we presented Neal with his present (which was actually the secret mission May and I had to take care of last week).

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Here is his reaction to it:

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He loved it. When Neal was studying for the Bar Exam this summer he prayed that it would rain so that he wouldn’t be tempted to embrace the summer weather by beaching and screwing around. Well, he got his wish it rained for 6 weeks straight. So, we got a t-shirt made that said on the front : Neal Boyle ruined summer: He prayed for rain while the bar consumed his brain. The backside said: Neal Boyle ruined fall: he made us frown by moving to Chi-Town.

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He put it on right then and there! The party was really fun!!!! Here are a few shots from the night:

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Neal’s sister Roslyn and I, we are going to run some races together so, I am sure you will be seeing more of Ro.

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Everyone was snacking on chips and dip, of course, I chose broccoli and took a picture eating it with Mel!!!

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My friend Rick had some broccoli too :)

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That’s my friend Colin and I (look at Adam in the background being nutty).

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This is May, Laura-Lee (Laura-Lee went to camp with us for YEARS…this is the first time I have seen her in about 12-14 years…it was an exciting reunion) and myself.

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I snapped one of Mel drinking a bud light…she doesn’t ever drink bud light (she is a miller light girl).

Around 11:30, I called in a night because I had big plans for the am ;) I got up around 7:45 this morning and took Oscar out and then got dressed to go the first of the 12 free classes at Healthworks . In the car on the way I drank a green monster:

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I also had half od a kashi TLC bar that was in my cabinet (left over from another pre-workout snack) but I forgot to snap a pic. You can use you imagination, right?

The Green Monster contained:

* a frozen banana
* ice
* spinach
* protein powder
* Chocolate Amazing Meal
* Fat Free Organic Milk
* Bee Pollen
* peanut butter

I think the bee pollen made it a little chalky, but it wasn’t bad…it served me great during my workout.

At Healthworks today, I thought I had died and gone to gym heaven. I went to the Brookline location, which is actually pretty close you my apt. by car. This place is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! It is huge! They have tons of equipment and the locker room was fantastic. The showers were individual with all glass doors. They had their own shampoo, conditioner and body wash the were great and smelled so good. The steam/sauna/hot tub area smelled divine, but I didn’t have time to use any of it because I has plans with my mom to get to.

The class I did was called RIDE! It is a spinning class. I have never tried spinning, this was my first time. When I got into the class, the teacher Leoni, helped me adjust the bike to fit me. She was really knowledgeable and sweet. The class itself was FANTASTIC!!! It allowed me to challenge myself and relax a little when needed. I felt dehydrated though throughout most of it (I think it was the beers from the night before), so next time I will make sure I hydrate, because I was dripping sweat. My favorite part of the class was the sing along we had to Sweet Caroline (which is a big song here is Boston). I love Healthworks and can’t wait until my next class. I plan on trying to go to all of the 5 locations with my pass to see how the different gyms measure up ;)

After class, I showered and headed back home, one the way home I stopped and got a small vanilla iced coffee.

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Then, mom and I did what we refer to as the grocery tour! I went to our local farmer;s market, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Market Basket…that’s a lot of grocery shopping…but we love it!

We go to the Union Square Farmer’s Market in Somerville. It’s pretty great. They have live music:

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Which is covered by the guy in the yellow backpack…sorry, I thought I got a picture :)

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Look at all those stands of veggies and fruit! I actually bought some of those carrots!

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They also had a bunch of herb plants too, I was tempted to by a basil one, but then I remembered how hard Adam took our last Basil plant’s (who he lovingly called Herb) death.

This is my favorite stand…

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They sell fresh cut flowers and the BEST greens. Here I am buying some apples, I guess apple season came early this year due to all the rain we got earlier in the summer (Thanks, Neal!)

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I stopped at a chocolate stand…couldn’t resist:

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I tried a cinnamon dark chocolate:

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So good, the flavors mixed really well. I ended up buying some cacao nips :)

I also tried a sample of fresh mozzarella that was made this morning!

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sorry, I didn’t realize it was blurry. Of course I bought some. In case you can’t tell from the earlier picture this was my outfit today:

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Aqua maxi dress (TJ MAXX), Headband (JCREW), same shoes as yesterday (Steve Madden)

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Next stop was Whole Foods were we had lunch. Eyes= bigger than stomach for sure. Here is my lunch:

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I can’t begin to tell you exactly what is in here! I was really in the mood for tofu and veggies (you see a lot of that), but the star of the show was the mac and cheese:

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Really good! I didn’t finish my lunch, I bought way too much…

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I had a sample of granola while shopping.

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It was actually double this amount, but I forgot to take a picture until I was part way through. Due to my coupons from the HLS I got all of this for less than $50, which is GOOD for Whole Foods!

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I gave mom two coupons from POM for free juice…here is mom with her HLS free swag!

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After Trader Joe’s and Market Basket, I had the fun chore of trying to fit everything in my fridge! Instead of showing you the groceries, I decided to show you my full fridge/freezer. Just to do something different!

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Top Self (notice all the nut butter?)

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Door:

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Freezer:

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Freezer door:

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YUP! We got a lot of food ;) that makes me happy :) Once the food was put away I laid in bed for a little while with Oscar and read Fitness Magazine. I actually dozed of for about 45 minutes. I guess I needed it. At 6pm I got up and started on dinner. Dinner was a group effort. We had a small cookout with my mom and dad. I made these:

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with some of the Farmer’s Market goodies: tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil, olive oil, black pepper. They were as good as they looked! Fresh and tasty!

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Adam grilled burgers for him and dad and fish for me and mom. The boys had potato salad, but I made this for mom and I.

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It was a little dry so I added some earth balance butter, it was good! I also made us some mock-tails:

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Lemon/Lime Seltzer, POM Cherry-Pom juice, and fresh limes. Here is my dinner:

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So good:) The salmon was stuffed with spinach and artichoke hearts (Whole Foods)

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It was huge, and I only ate half. So expect to see leftovers! I tried a small piece of mom’s Tilapia.

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I liked it. It wasn’t as fishy as I thought it would be. Adam did a great job cooking it! I had a small piece of corn of the cob my mom made (farmer’s market)

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There was one little guy that misunderstood and thought he was invited to dinner.

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He got some of Adam’s burger…spoiled! Dessert was some lemon slush. It was perfect for a warm night. Well, I am pooped, and there are two boys that want some of my attention :) I am going to bed (at 10pm on a Saturday Night…party animal hahahaha). See you guys in the am :)