My Trip to New York City

I recent just got home from New York City and am extremely excited to share my trip with you, tips and suggestions for those of you looking to visit the beautiful city and my overall opinion of New York.



A little disclaimer before I start. Unfortunately I forgot my good photography camera at home so all pictures are taken with either an iphone or my little digital camera... the pictures are not the quality I would have liked them to be, but they still show the beauty of the city and the important memories.



First of all, I would like to tell you my overall opinion of New York City. I loved it! I love the hustle and bustle of the big city, the food was great, the architecture beautiful and best of all the company was perfect. I took this trip with my mom and sister and I couldn't have asked for better company. We were all on the same page and all agreed on basically everything, from where we go would that day, to what food we would eat to when a break was needed. My sister had a little melt down at one point, but now looking back its a funny memory. So, tip #1 make sure you take a trip such as this one with people you know are similar to you and people you enjoy being around for long periods of time.





For those of you who have been to New York or are looking into visiting the big apple you probably already know that hotels their are not cheap. We went on this trip from April 25-30, which apparently was peak time, so hotel prices were outrageous but with a lot of research we found a great deal. So tip #2, do extensive research because you will find a great deal. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Manhattan and this ended up costing about $160 a night... which is a great price. This hotel had continental breakfast   ( which is key), having your hotel offer continental breakfast will save you lots of money, was very clean and the staff was very nice and helpful. The only negative I would say this hotel has is that in order to obtain transportation you must walk a few blocks. To be exact 5 blocks to the subway station, 2 blocks to a busy street with taxis and about 5-6 blocks from Times Square. If you are healthy and able to walk then this hotel is great, if you are someone who has difficulty walking this hotel may not be located in the right spot for you. Overall, for my mom, sister and I, this hotel was ideal and came at a great price.



My 3rd tip is about transportation. I personally found taxis to be expensive, 90% of our taxi rides were $15-$20 one way. Now, we were travelling from the Upper West Side to the Upper East Side and from the Upper West Side to Midtown so the distances were fairly far. But, you only get five short days in Manhattan so you want to cover as much distance as possible... you don't want to just stay within a 5 block radius or you miss out! So my suggestion would be, use the Subway. They are $2.50 a ride, fast and easy to navigate. Once we got a hang of the subway system, we used them about 85 percent of the time.   We also did a lot of walking, probably about 10km a day, so have good walking shoes. Walking is the best mode of transportation if you want to see the city, when you walk you see things you never would have seen other wise.



Tip #4 is to get your tickets for anything you may be doing online. Such as seeing a Broadway play, tickets to ground Zero, The Empire State building tickets and so on to avoid waiting in line ups when you are there. That was you can spend more time doing the things you want to do rather then standing in line.



 

Top Things To See: 

Statue of Liberty- It's free if you take the Staten island ferry.

The Empire State Building- Buy your tickets online.

Grand Central Station- The architecture is beautiful and they have lovely little market within the building.

The New York Public Library- The architecture is beautiful and this is where Carry from Sex in the City almost gets married to Big.

Ground Zero- This is the monument for where the Twin Towers once stood. It is a very surreal place to see.

Times Square- A must see.

Brooklyn Bride- A very beautiful site to see and nice to walk up on a nice day.

Central Park- It's a must see if you go to Manhattan. Plus they have a Whole Foods thats basically right across the road and its huge so I recommend checking it out.

Broadway Play- We seen Wicked and it was fabulous. I highly recommend it.

The New York Stock Exchange- Even though it is blocked off and you can't go inside it is still cool to say you've been there.

Soho- A beautiful little district, full of shops and restaurants, makes for a nice afternoon.

Greenwich Village- Another pretty little district.

Restaurants we went to: 

V-note- A vegan/vegetarian restaurant. My sister got the beet ravioli and that was my favourite dish we tried.

Candle 79- A vegan/ vegetarian restaurant. I got a Moroccan chickpea patty,  and my mom got the avocado salad and those were our two dishes we tried.

Eataly- This place was fabulous. It is an Italy market that that take out/ sit down restaurants throughout it. The food was delicious and the market selection was unreal.

Bistango- A gluten free Italian resturant. I got the butternut squash stuffed ravioli and my sister got the spinach ravioli, both were great.

We went to a few other great restaurants but these four were the ones I thought I should highlight and recommend.

This trip to New York City was a huge success. It was a city I had wanted to see my whole life and I finally got the chance to do so. I thank my Mom for taking my sister and I on this adventure, my Dad for being so generous, and my sister for providing some laughs. I highly encourage everyone to see New York at least once in their life time, it is worth it and a city you will never forget.

 

 

 

Light Chicken Stew

This chicken stew is absolutely delicious. For something so simple I don't know how it can be one of my favourite meals but it is...it's that good.It's healthy, light and uses simple ingredients and processes so it is perfect for the new cook who just wants to make a simple recipe that not only tastes good, but is also good for your body. It incorporates ingredients that you would find in your fridge or pantry and is extremely easy to customize according to your preferences. It is gluten free and I promise it will provide you with a filling meal that you will love!

Savvy Snacks: A list of my top six snack ideas

 It is so important to snack as it keeps your metabolism from slowing down, but we need to be cautious of the snacks we are consuming. So I thought I would share a list of six of my favourite/ most eaten snacks to give you ideas of what to make for yourself. All my creations are nutrition dense, with lots of protein, carbs, vitamins and minerals, antioxidants and all the important things your body needs.

This is a very typical snack I like to have between lunch and dinner. It is just simply vanilla greek yogurt, topped with muesli and banana. It provides me with calcium, protein, and carbs which equals a satisfying snack that keeps me full between meals.

This next snack option is full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, therefore I call it an Antioxidant Smoothie. It is super simply, it's just lots of blueberries blended with some yogurt, almond milk and chia seeds. A superfood packed smoothie perfect for a healthy late afternoon snack.

This is probably one of my favourite snacks to have after a good hard workout. A parfait is a great way to get protein and carbs which are essential after your workout to help your muscles rebuild and give you energy. In my parfait I included, a layer of blueberry yogurt, granola, blueberry yogurt and bananas, another layer of granola then topped it with some blueberries and a dollop of yogurt.

Another favourite post workout snack of mine is a plain rice cake topped with some crunchy natural peanut butter and some sliced apple mmm! To make this even more of a treat try it with a chocolate chip caramel rice cake, its so tasty!

I love going into grocery stores and trying out new foods, wether its  a fruit, a vegetable, a spice ect. it is always good to go out of your comfort zone. So a couple weeks ago I tired papaya for the first time and loved it! I decided to come up with this cool snack idea to incorporate half a papaya, greek yogurt and some granola. This way i am getting my proteins, carbs, vitamins and minerals all in one little meal!

For my final and probably most basic snack I like to have some pear and celery with cinnamon raisin peanut butter.  Its simple and basic but healthy and tastes good... and thats exactly what I want in my food.

Spiced Pear Bread with a oat & pumpkin seed streusel

I had a bunch of pears sitting on my counter about to go bad so I had to think of a creative way to use them. I thought since you use older bananas for banana bread, why not use older pears to make a spiced pear bread, so thats exactly what I did! Using pears and some other clean ingredients I came up with this recipe for a Spiced Pear Bread. It is gluten free, refined sugar free and turned about super moist, which I was excited about. This is a great way to use up aging fruit, the sweet flavour of a pear, combined with the cinnamon and nutmeg, help to create a perfect fall/winter recipe!

What You'll Need:

Spiced Pear Bread: 

1 cup gluten free cake flour

1 cup oat flour

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

1 1/2 cups pear sauce ( approx. 6 pears, ground until they become a sauce in your food processor)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

pinch of sea salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 tbsp. almond milk

2-3 tbsp. cinnamon

2-3 tsp. nutmeg

Streusel: 

1/8 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup oats

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1 tbsp. coconut flour

1 tbsp. almond flour

1-2 tbsp. almond milk

1 tsp. stevia



1 tbsp. brown sugar or coconut sugar

1.Preheat oven to 350 F, mix all ingredients together, pour into a loaf pan.

2. Combine all ingredients together for your streusel , place on top of your spiced pear bread and bake for 45-60 minutes, until a tooth pick comes out clean!