Birthday Picnic

This year was different in celebrating Scott's birthday...a day we both planned to have "off" turned into a window of 2 hours to celebrate and we had to use it wisely.

Plan A: We were going to cash-in on our Half Off Depot deal: Snorkeling with Manatees in Crystal River.  Scott is a HUGE animal lover, (hence his degree in Zoology) so I knew he would enjoy an outing like this for his birthday.  When I called to book our day a week before hand I didn't get a response back and when we called again they were all booked up...so we'll have to save SWM for another special day.

Plan B: I really really wanted to take Scott to Epcot's Food & Wine Festival.  We go annualy, but decided we weren't going to spend the extra money "just to go" this year.  I knew taking him there would be a complete surprise and something he would love to do on his birthday.

Enter problems:

• Scott has been working on Dwight Howard's Orlando All-Star Celebrity Weekend (more info on this coming soon!) bringing in acts and producing the events.  I am SO proud of him for getting this project and he has been working really hard to pull it together.
• Since this project is HUGE for us...he had some work to do on his birthday and had 2 last minute meetings, one at 10:30am and one at 4:30pm.
• I also had a 6:30pm dress rehearsal run for a show I'm performing in at First Baptist Orlando on Sunday night.

So you can see timing for F&W festival, or anything big was not ideal.  This is when I knew I needed to get creative.

Plan C: When I found out he had meetings during the day, my first thought was..."I'm going to bring the Food & Wine Festival to us!" Right there, as Scott left for his first meeting I started going through our fridge and pantry and pulled together what I thought was an impressive impromptu picnic for us.

The weather outside looked beautiful and even better than going to Epcot, we could have a picnic lunch that included Roadie!  I prepared lunch (you'll see the menu below) and finished up by getting Roadie's toys and "lunch" together.

And we were off! 

The HBSH bag was a wedding gift to me us. Isn't it adorable?!  It holds more than you think and is perfect for bringing groceries up to a condo.  I'll have to find out where our friends got it from and share the info :)

We were on our way to the park and decided to start vlogging (video blogging) again. Here's a short little video diddy just for fun...



When we got to Dr. Phillips Community Park I told Scott to take Roadie to the Dog Park while I set up camp.  Two minutes later (come back guys!) I was ready to surprise Scott with my "internationally themed" Food & Wine Picnic.

First, we had to entertain Roadie with his lunch bone.

Hey, that sun is bright!

Now on to the good stuff.  Our International Food & Wine themed menu included:

A quick cup of coffee (before we left) from the cloudforest of Monteverde from our Costa Rican Honeymoon.

Pita Chips + Roasted Red Pepper Hummus from Greece.

*I forgot to take a picture of this one...I got this offline from dailyveggie.wordpress.com.

Barbossa Chianti wine I brought home from my recent trip to Rome, Italy.

Cucumber + Tomato Greek Salad (minus the feta cheese).

Tropical Fruit + Yogurt Salad topped with Granola from somewhere tropical.

Banana + Pumpkin Peanut Butter Sandwich Triangles, Scott's American favorite.

And for dessert, of course German Chocolate Cake + Coconut Pecan frosting.

For putting the menu together listed above from what we had at the house already and not being able to go to a grocery store first, I thought I did pretty good.

After lunch, I wanted to read some passages from a wedding gift we got: Married for Life.

It's a cute little book filled with quotes and advice from couples that have been married for over 50 years!  We read a few entries and learned a thing or two already...

When we finished reading, we took Roadie into the Dog Park area for a little bit, followed by a family walk around the park.  Dr. Phillips has a beautiful facility and the best part is it's free. 

Scott was pleasantly surprised on how we celebrated his birthday with such a little time frame. 

 We had a few more outings as the weekend progressed, so stay tuned for more birthday posts coming soon...

Question:
What's on your favorite picnic menu?

$5 Footlong - the Healthy Way

Five.  Five dollar.  $5 Healthy Subway coming your way!

Since this week brings us to the end of ANYtober (where every regular footlong sub from Subway is $5) Scott and I have been hitting that store up like it's our job.  If you can take the "Subway" smell (really....what is that?!) on your clothes from being there for the 5 minutes it takes to order, getting two meals for $5 is truly worth your while.

When I go to get myself a foot long, I split it between lunch and dinner that day, or split it with Scott if I'll be seeing him in the near future.  There are several things that can distract you from eating healthy at Subway (don't even get me started on that Meatball Marinara sub...YUM), but there are several tasty right ways you can go too.

Here is my pride and joy go-to sandwich from Subway:

"Foot Long Turkey on Wheat":

Wheat Bread (toasted)
Turkey
American Cheese
a little bit of Oil & Vinegar
and a whole lotta Veggies:
Lettuce
Spinach
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Onions
Banana & Green Peppers
Black Olives
Jalapenos
Pickles

Whew! Now THAT'S a sub if I've ever seen one.

*TIP: If you like veggies, go NUTS here!  The ones I listed above are all fat-free and add nutritional value to your sub.  If I'm watching my carbs, I'll often go for the Subway Salad with Turkey and get the exact same things listed above, using half shredded lettuce/half spinach as the base.

Watching fat? Leave off the cheese and go light on the dressing.
(Oil & Vinegar is the best dressing choice).

Not a Turkey fan?  Go for grilled Chicken or Ham.  You can see on these charts below how these 3 choices rank compared to the rest.  Take that Meatball Marinara!

*Nutritional Chart pulled from Subway.com.

Unless I'm really hungry, I go for the sandwich only and if I'm going home then make a side for myself there.  *TIP:  No matter how amazingly, crazy good the cookies are, try to avoid getting them.  They give you 2 or sometimes 3 per meal and that just killed your healthy trip to Subway.

Instead, choose the apple slices or the baked chips.

At home I prefer to cut up a few apple slices.  Try dipping your apple slices in my All-Natural Pumpkin Peanut Butter for extra energy and taste!

Everything pictured above is less than 500 calories and provides a substantial lunch and/or dinner!

Question:

• What are some of your Subway Sandwich combination?  
• Are you a veggie freak like me or do you prefer just the meat and cheese (Katie...)?