Healthy Tilapia Recipe / Visit to Sage

Thank you all for your comments yesterday. I'm always blown away by how sweet and caring you all are, and also how many of you have been in or are in the same shoes that I'm in! It makes my day to read all of your kind words.

If you follow me on the Insta (which I think you should-that is if you want to see pomeranian pictures, Chicago scenes starting tomorrow, and other things I find really interesting), then you may have seen this picture I posted one night about a delicious dinner I made...

 tilapia with grilled zucchini and squash

I guess I figured since I make it all the time and it's pretty simple that I shouldn't share how I make it, but then some of you sent me questions about how to make it, so I decided to share really quickly because it is a super healthy and my go-to when my nights are really busy.

If you don't like fish, then you may want to skip to the bottom of this post. :)

Tilapia "With A Kick":
-2 tilapia fillets 
-cherry tomatoes, 3/4 cup
-half an avocado
-fresh basil, chopped 
-onion (red or white), 1/4 cup
-paprika, cayenne pepper (very little!), lemon juice, pinch of sea salt, and pepper (to taste)

Here is what I do: thaw out the tilapia fillets, place on a baking sheet, season tilapia with paprika, a pinch of sea salt and cayenne pepper, and then squeeze a lot of lemon juice on top of the fillets. I also cut up slices of lemon and place them on top of the fish and leave it on them to cook while in the oven. I bake the tilapia in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, at 375 degrees.

Tilapia can taste pretty bland to me, so I like to add a little something something for on top. While the fish is cooking in the oven, combine the cherry tomatoes, onion, basil, and avocado in a small bowl. I like to add some red wine vinegar to this mixture and a little bit of EVOO...just a tad. I like to keep my recipes really simple so I don't add many ingredients or seasonings to keep them as healthy as possible.

Once the fish is done cooking (it will be flaky when you cut into it), I top the fillets with the veggie mixture.

As for the grilled zucchini and squash....I only season them with pepper normally and cook them in lemon juice and water until they get a little brown on both sides. Yummy and really healthy!

_

Over the weekend, my girlfriend Angela and I crossed another brunch spot off of our list of finding the best brunch in Columbus.

We went to Sage American Bistro, which is actually off High St. on Ohio State's north campus.

Our verdict? We loved it.

The service was fantastic, there was no wait, the restaurant was clean and really cute and trendy on the inside (exposed brick!), and the food was delicious.

I got what they call their Chorizo, Black Bean and Sweet Potato Hash, but I didn't get the chorizo. It came with two eggs, green peppers, yellow peppers, red peppers, and onions. The salsa it comes with on the side has a HUGE kick to it and is really flavorful. Absolutely loved this dish and would go back to get it!

Angela got their Sausage Frittata and really liked it. She said the arugula on top was really tasty and she would get this again. The only complaint she had was that they charged her $5 for her orange juice and you didn't get very much and it wasn't that good, ha.

The prices are on the higher side ($10-13 per dish), but we were really happy with the food so we didn't mind. Sage also has lunch and dinner that we mentioned wanting to check out sometime!

Overall, it has been one of our favorite stops so far on our journey. So far, we have visited: Katalina's Cafe Corner (our favorite so far), Knead, Skillet, and now Sage. If you are ever in the Columbus area, I would recommend all of these places, except Knead! :)


 
 

A Winery, Family, A Birthday Week.

Hey hey hey!
I hope you had an amazing weekend.

Today marks my husband's birthday week!

He would never go and say that to me or anyone, but since I like to celebrate mine for a week (or a couple weeks, or a month...) I figure he should get that special experience too, right? ;) His birthday is on Sunday and then we leave for Texas next week so to say both of those things have us really excited is an understatement! I mean, Billy has never been to Texas (I've been to San Antonio) and we both have never in our life been to a real rodeo. Thoughts like this have come up: what in the world do you wear? dresses and cowboy boots, what? Will we stand out like mid-western sore thumbs? Are they going to make me eat deer meat? Because if the answer is yes, I'm a little scared. We shall see....

Now for a look into our weekend via instastyle and a tip if you ever visit here! .... (@katiewkrysh)

1. What better way is there to start of a weekend than with Corona's and Chipotle? Those two things might be my favorite "c" words ever. Yum in the tum. 

2. My boys looking cute.

3. I've started mixing silver and gold together. Are you a fan of mixing the two or wearing seperately? Arm candy ft: Target (zebra bangle) and Style Love Living (love bracelet). Spike bracelet was random find on Groop Dealz.

4. MY NEW JUICER! I've told you guys before that I was using my Mom's juicer that she loved, but it is really old and since I use it so often, the blade just couldn't keep up anymore. We decided to buy the Breville Juice Fountain Plus (and Billy was definitely making fun of me for how excited I was about having two speeds!) and got an amazing deal on it. I love love love it. Highly recommend if you want a juicer.

+this is fresh orange juice made of 4 whole oranges. 

(for battling my cold last week which is finally making it's way out of my life...)

On Saturday, Billy's mom and twin sister came in town to visit us and also for their cousin who's birthday party was later that night! We went to Easton to shop all day and decided to eat at the new Cooper's Hawk Winery and Restaurant (which is now in my now top 3 places to eat here!). Oh my goodness...this place is awesome and you must try it if you live here or come visit.

You walk in and there are two bar areas that you're able to do wine tastings. You can do them before you eat, or just do them and then leave to go shopping or after you're done shopping! The location is awesome and the food is wonderful here (get the southwest egg rolls appetizer). Not to mention, it's huge. It's two stories and designed beautifully! They have a wine club you can join that is pretty reasonably priced as well (what do you say babe? ;)) 

Two thumbs up from us.

5. Billy and his momma!

6. We got a pitcher of sangria at Cooper's Hawk...a little sweet, but we liked it. 

7. Heart + colored skinnies + Tory's..comfortable outfit of the day!

8. AHH! They came! The devils cute little Girl Scout cookies! Must.stop.inhaling.

What are your favorites? Don't make me pick one. All of the above are equals in my mind. ;)

On Sunday, we went to breakfast with Billy's family and said goodbye to them and ended the weekend like this...

....on the couch watching the Oscars! I'm not much for award shows (which is weird since I love my fashion), but I love the Oscars. Who wants to invite me next year? Anyone? Anyone?

What did you do this weekend?

*Not pictured: I tried a new juice recipe including a WHOLE JALAPENO...too bad I don't have a pic of me running around the house like a crazy person because that's EXACTLY what it felt like when drinking this juice. WOW! If you don't like a lot of kick in your juices, I would not recommend trying this. ha. 

I linked up with Sami today-go join in on the fun!

You still have time to enter my "Stand Out This Spring" giveaway!

WE GOT LOBSTAH-FIED (+$25 GiftCard to Red Lobster)

Tasting events are one of those things that I would rarely miss attending.
It would take a giant tornado or snow completely covering our doors locking us inside our house to miss it.

Let's be honest here....
free food + socializing with other bloggers/companies = one enjoyable evening.

I had the pleasure of attending a Red Lobster tonight (last night when you're reading this) and let me tell you, they treat their customers right. Red Lobster recently unveiled it's most comprehensive menu transformation in brand history, providing guests with more affordable (15 entrees under $15!) great-tasting seafood and non-seafood dishes with more overall choice and variety, so they invited us to come try out anything we wanted! They stressed ordering whatever our hearts (stomachs) desired and to try multiple things...

that we did.
(Billy was my lucky date)
You don't have to ask us twice.

left: buffalo chicken bites, sweet chili shrimp {this was our favorite appetizer-if you like spicy, definitely try this!}, and southwest chicken pizza.

 For dinner, I wanted to try one of their new items from the Lighthouse portion of the menu.
As you guys know, I eat pretty healthy (normally) and these items are lower in fat and calories.

They added an awesome (and I mean awesome as in filling and yummy) salad to the menu called the Bar Harbor Salad which is what I went with. I got shrimp on mine and it has only 260 calories before the dressing - the dressing is 80 calories and is this really delicious blueberry vinaigrette.

Not to mention it's pretty big.
When I order a salad as an entree, I look for something that will fill me up and this did just that.






It has pecans, dried cranberries, and even dried blueberries on it which was different and really tasty!

Husband isn't included on the menu....
but he got the BBQ bacon wrapped shrimp and loved it (naturally). 

*Also, I have to say that my favorite thing about the changes Red Lobster did is that they now list the nutritional facts in a book on your table. I absolutely love this idea and am a big supporter of restaurants doing this! People want to know what they are eating. Way to go RL, way to go. :) 

I saw some of the other people's food that they ordered for dinner and the fresh fish options (tilapia, salmon, etc) would also be great to order if you're looking for a healthier entree!

For dessert, me and Billy both eyed the Lava Cookie and knew we should splurge and get it.

That was a good choice on our ends because it was the most delicious dessert I've had in 2013 so far.

Yup..it is that good.

Now that I've made you starving this morning (sorry guys!)...

Red Lobster if offering one of you a chance to win a $25 GiftCard! 

Told you they were awesome and treat their customers right.

All you have to do is comment below letting me know which item above you think looks the best, or let me know your favorite dish from Red Lobster that you've had before! Please make sure to leave your email address if you don't have it set up to your blogger account (and that you have a Red Lobster in your area!).

 Giveaway will be open until Friday, winner chosen by random.org, and notified via email and on my blog.

*If you can't wait-feel free to go visit one of your local Red Lobster's. You won't regret it.

They have an amazing shrimp special going on right now where you get 30 shrimp of your choice for $11.99! 

Thank you Red Lobster for such a lovely and delicious event!!

We loved it, as you can tell.

___

The winner of the Poshlocket giveaway is Haley from What's Happening with Haley!

Congratulations girl. I will be emailing you shortly.

Thank you SO much to everyone who entered!