Caroline Dines

Today was just one of those days. Not one of those bad days, but instead one of the best days I have had in awhile! It started off on the right food with a healthy, filling and mouth satisfying breakfast. In the past few weeks I have been experimenting with Green Monsters and while I love the taste and the way they make me feel, I haven’t had much luck with the color looking particularly green. This is probably because I am adding Amazing Grass Chocolate Powder and most of the time frozen berries. This tends to create a somewhat muddy greenish color, not that appealing but they do taste “amazing”. Anyway, today I felt inspired to blog so I tried a new recipe.

This particular combo created a gorgeous shade of green and a knock-out flavor! In my blender I put a huge handful of baby spinach, a handful of frozen mango chunks (TJ’s), 1 cup of unsweetened Almond milk, and 1 small ripe banana. Yum. It even matched my Haley House t-shirt I had on. Pardon the hair, I literally JUST rolled out of bed.

Since I like a little something extra with my shake in the morning, and because I had plans for a run with Meg C. later on, I made some peanut butter toast.

This bread was recommended to me by my cousin and I have to agree it’s the best I’ve tasted in awhile. It’s from TJ’s surprise surprise, and it only has 80 calories per slice and 4 grams of fiber! It’s called Soft Multigrain Rustico Bread. Look for it. Perfectly toasted, with a smear of peanut butter and a sprinkling of craisins and golden raisins, this breakfast was again, the best I’ve had in awhile.

After my amazing breakfast, I did some homework, tidied the apartment and finally got geared up for my run. Meg met me at my apartment around 11 and we hit the trail from there. She’s training for a half Marathon in May and this was one of the days she had scheduled to run between 4-5 miles. I had done a little calculating ahead of time and planned out one of my favorite routes that took us along the Riverway to Leverett Pond and finally to Jamaica Pond. We ran a hard 4.5 miles which is why I don’t have any pictures to show you from the actual run. However, here is the proof on Meg’s fancy Garmin that we actually ran it. Hint…hint…anyone who wants to buy me a stellar birthday present, I would be more than happy with one of these babies (Darin!).

Our run just happened to end at one of my favorite markets ever, City Feed. After perusing the store, we realized we weren’t in the mood for any of their sandwiches and would rather piece together a meal to share on our picnic. At that point I was really craving nothing more than a coconut water. I miss these and decided to treat myself to one.

Meg had the same idea about getting a “fun drink” and grabbed a Honest Tea.

Perhaps the best find of the day though, in my opinion, came from this aisle.

Tortilla chips are one of those foods that I absolutely love but tend to overeat and because the good tasting ones usually have 6 or 7 grams of fat and around 150 calories per serving, this isn’t a great thing. This is why I was so pumped when I found this bag!

These Garden of Eatin’ chips only have 120 calories, 2 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber per serving! The even better part is that they don’t taste like they have such awesome stats;  they’re full of flavor, nice and salty and are miles beyond the old “Baked Tostitos” I used to eat all the time. We paired the chips with a Mediterranean Lentil Salad and some super creamy lemon hummus.

Here’s our view and picnic spread.

THE BEST BITE!

With the bright sun beating down on us we rested and refueled. We then walked about two miles back to my apartment, changed, and headed out to do a little shopping. We ended up not buying much of anything but it was still fun to look. After an afternoon snack stop at Berry Freeze (forgot my camera for the shopping trip!) we parted ways and I got myself ready for work. Honestly, it was a fabulous way to spend a gorgeous wednesday and I feel lucky to have a friend that has random days off during the week! I am thinking there will be many more runs/picnics/beach outings this summer. I can’t wait. Oh and since I owe you a dessert picture for spacing it on my Berry Freeze, how bout I share my newest love from TJ’s?

This is a picture of my dessert from yesterday. The ingredient list is crazy on these, and by that I mean crazy short. 6 ingredients (one of which is Beet Sugar!) and all recognizeable. At 30 calories per stick, I don’t think I have found anything that can even compare calorie wise but in the taste department these feel super indulgent and buttery even though they’re dairy free! How DO they do it?

Hello! I hope you are all doing well after the long holiday weekend and a short work week. I know I am happy to be starting my weekend again and while I have some fun activities planned, I will be spending a lot of time with my new Anatomy and Physiology books (we’re going to become very good friends over the next few months). Now I am going to take you back a week and share my favorites.

As I mentioned in my last post, we left Friday evening for Maine to get gather up some gear we needed for a weekend of snowboarding in Vermont. This meant that I got to sleep in my old bed and eat breakfast with the family. My Mom makes a mean pumpkin muffin, which would have been fine by itself but I decided to smear a little nut butter on top to make it stick with me longer. I also had two slices of Canadian Bacon (a great alternative to normal bacon or “fake” bacon).

My Mom also made up a fresh batch of applesauce with JUST apples.

Since my Mom’s birthday had just passed on the 11th, I gave her my present a little late. If you have a Teavana anywhere nearby you (the Boston one is in the Prudential) might want to give it a shot. The tea is expensive (makes a nice present for a tea drinker) but kind of worth it in my opinion. I have never tasted tea like this before, ever. They have all varieties including white, green, herbal and black. Needless to say my Mom loved her present!

Shortly after breakfast, we hit the trails on our X-C skis. Since I was only home for a few hours that morning, I wanted to be sure I got a good ski in. I was so lucky, the conditions were PERFECT. It felt awesome to get a good burn in before 9:30 a.m. too!

Birthday cake was consumed just before we loaded up the car. This is a shot of my Grandmother’s famous lemon frosted cake that she makes for everyone’s birthday. I seriously love this cake and just to prove it took a Tupperware container of it for the road!

This shot was taken at a rest stop just outside of our destination in VT. Darin was inside so I snagged a bite or two just for fun!

We arrived safe and sound in Vermont and had a low key night out in Burlington the first night. Darin’s highlight of the entire weekend/season was purchasing a new snowboard at the Burton Factory Store. The joke was that he didn’t want it to leave his site all weekend so we actually had to make special arrangements so that the board would be safe and sound wherever we went! Since he hadn’t had a new board since high school and loves riding, it was definitely a worthwhile purchase.

Having never been to Stowe before, I was blown away by the sites at the top. We had fairly good conditions all day and I am happy to say that the first time back on the board was a success!

This stretch after the lift was honestly the hardest part because of how flat it is. Snowboards and flat sections just do not mix at all!

We were total nerds and decided to take a group picture at the top. You might be able to tell from this picture but we’re all just about to fall over since we didn’t want to take our boards off and it’s a little difficult to stand straight up on a snowboard without moving!

A shot of his new girlfriend. Isn’t she pretty

After a FULL day of riding we were starved and made our way into Burlington again for some eats. With such a big group we suffered some major indecision when it came to where to eat. Burlington is loaded with awesome choices too which made it that much harder! We finally decided on Three Tomatoes Trattoria. I was so happy to find this little blurb on the back of their menu. I am such a sucker for local food!

I had a serious craving for vegetables so I went with the Portobello & Local Goat Cheese salad. Vermont Hydroponic tomatoes? Yes, please!

The restaurant featured a brick oven which they kept fueled with the logs stacked throughout. I love restaurants where you can see the kitchen.

Since four of us wanted wine, we ordered a bottle to split. Couldn’t really tell you what this wine was all about but I remember seeing something on the menu about “notes of fresh berries” which was enough to get me!

And because I couldn’t leave an Italian restaurant with just a salad, Darin and I split an order of their homemade local meatballs. HOLY YUM.

I ended up eating my meatballs on top of my salad which may sound weird to some but was the perfect combo of fresh veggies with a hot comfort food. The huge scoop of super soft goat cheese didn’t hurt things either.

After dinner we went to American Flat Bread for some brews. They had a very extensive selection but after perusing the list, I landed on my old Maine favorite, Allagash White. I had to represent Maine since we were in Vermont and all.

The rest of the week has been fairly low-key. This bowl of oats was a for sure highlight since it contained an organic Gala apple, cranberry apple butter, peanut butter, and cinnamon.

I also managed to whip up this dinner with thing I had on hand. I love it when I find little treasures like a jar of sundried tomatoes or a half eaten box of quinoa that I had completely forgotten about! I made the quinoa in the microwave and then quickly stir-fried it with sundried tomatoes (with a little of the oil from the jar) and spinach. I then topped it all with crumbled goat cheese.

With steamed broccoli and baked Salmon with a Soy, Agave, Ginger, and Rice Wine Vinegar glaze, this meal was probably the best of the week!

On Wednesday I went to the Haley House for my last shift in the bakery. Sadly the bakery hasn’t been bringing in enough revenue to make it a viable component to the organization so they are shutting down at the end of January and hoping to rent the space.

Here’s what I think about that! The good news is that the Haley House itself is doing just fine. This means that the soup kitchen, the live-in community and the larger more successful restaurant/bakery/cafe in Dudley Square will continue to run. I was offered a volunteer position at the other location which I may just take once I get my act together with classes and feel like I can make a real commitment.

I had a special lunch out with Meg C. yesterday which was quite the treat! Since she is in a transition period between her old job ending and her new job starting she actually had free time during the day so we met up in Harvard Square at Veggie Planet!

We have been meaning to get together here for awhile now and I was so happy that we finally made it work. The owner of Veggie Planet, Didi Emmons, is actually the head chef at Haley House now and has started a program there training under-privileged individuals how to cook. Her commitment to health-conscious, good-tasting and locally sourced food is something that I love supporting. And when the menu looks something like this, it’s really not that hard to do!

I ended up getting the special which wasn’t on the menu and I didn’t photograph it because we were too engrossed in conversation. I did get a shot of my dessert though: a single Dove Dark Chocolate Promise.

Whew….that was a long one and if your still reading, thanks! I wanted to include breakfast because it had two noteworthy components. First, my aunt brought this banana saver to my parents over the holiday. After my parents realized that they always eat the entire banana because they split it, my Mom offered it to me since Darin doesn’t eat the other half of mine and I would rather eat a half than a whole most mornings. Anyway, this little thing clips on to the half eaten banana and is supposed to keep it fresh.

And finally after talking to Meg C. about Peanut Butter Puffins yesterday, I broke down and bought a box at TJ’s. I haven’t had these guys in forever and loved every bite. Adding banana bulked it up a bit and kept my mouth guessing.

I am planning on a run/walk, a visit to the hospital to see one of my kiddos, and some serious A+P reading. My cousin Meg is also coming by tonight with beer and sushi and I told her that I would have some kind of Almond Flour dessert so I better get busy on that as well! Enjoy your Friday and your weekend!

When I began this blog back in August, I wanted to blog every day and talk about everything I ate. I was successful for a few months but quickly realized that this format was starting to bore me and therefore it was likely boring my readers. Recently I have realized that blogging was becoming more of a chore than a joy and I have taken a step back to think about what I want from this blog and what I am willing to put into it. While I took a break, telling myself that I didn’t have to take pictures or make interesting looking meals, I found myself wanting to take pictures of certain meals and blogging in my head.  I still find it fun to photograph food and want to share my “note-worthy” eats with the Food Blogging community. I started to think about my posts and how I could keep blogging fun.

My decision to change my posting schedule was also influenced by a recent acceptance into Graduate School! I am very excited to say that I am going to be starting a Masters in Applied Nutrition program at Northeastern University this coming Monday. I hadn’t mentioned anything on here before for fear that I wouldn’t get in, but while I was home on vacation I received a very important letter stating that I had been accepted! I will be taking 2 classes to begin with, Eating Disorders in Children and Adults and Medical Nutrition Therapy, while continuing to work at my current job. This program will prepare me to work in the field of nutrition at the community level (it does not prepare me to become an R.D.) which is exactly what I picture myself doing. I will be specializing in Eating Disorders and Obesity which excites me beyond belief. It has been a dream of mine to enter this program and finally it is happening!

I am anticipating a lot less free time and until I get the hang of being a student again, blogging could take a back seat completely. My goal is to keep the blog going with “highlight posts” instead of daily updates. So without further ado I bring you my favorite dishes and creations from the past couple of days.

A simple spinach salad with pan grilled chicken, peppers, hardboiled eggs, carrots, tomato, cashews, dried cranberries and pickles. I topped it all off with Trader Joe’s Balsamic Vinegar; tart and tangy!

Spicy black bean soup (TJ’s) and Ak-Mak crackers with Organic Hummus. I sometimes forget how much I love canned soup. This can has been sitting on my pantry cart forever and was time to be used!

Dipping these cracker planks with creamy hummus into the spicy soup was the best part.

Speaking of spicy, I happened upon a jar of “The Heat Is On” Peanut Butter & Co peanut butter at Christmas Tree Shops the other day and just had to have it. First of all I remembered seeing it on Broccoli Hut’s blog multiple times and secondly it was only $2.99! I paired it up with some BBQ sauce that has been lurking in the fridge for ages and was pleasantly surprised at how the sweet and spicy flavors came together.

I used my brand new Cuisinart Food Prep (mini size) to create my version of Peanut Butter BBQ Tofu. I had tried this before but was eager to use the correct flavor of peanut butter. I used the following ingredients:

Sweet and Spicy Peanut Butter Sauce

• generous scoop of “The Heat Is On” Peanut Butter
• 3 tablespoons of BBQ sauce
• 2 tablespoons of organic ketchup
• 3 tablespoons of water
• 1 tablespoon of Ginger People ginger juice

All of these measurements are approximate. You basically can’t go wrong just make the sauce as sweet, spicy, thick or thin as you like!

I marinated the sliced and pressed tofu for a few hours before baking it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Alongside the tofu in a separate dish I roasted a medley of vegetables which included baby sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. I used the remaining sauce over the vegetables and tofu. FABULOUS!!!

One of my New Years resolutions was to stop eating after dinner which is particularly hard when you work until 10:00 p.m. and are surrounded by unhealthy yet tempting food. I am proud to say that since Sunday when I came back to work I have not eaten ANYTHING unhealthy out of the house kitchen and have been sticking to my rule of not eating after dinner. I think the key to this has been the addition of a nightly cup (or three) of Decaffeinated Good Earth Tea.  The flavor of this tea is rich with cinnamon and keeps my mouth and brain happy while I am busy at work.

I will admit that I also have been having a square of dark chocolate each night with my cup of tea instead of eating all the baked treats from the house kitchen. It’s funny how a simple change like this can make you feel so in control and back on track without giving up sugary treats completely. I still reserve the right to eat the occasional piece of cake or brownie if it is totally appealing but the mindless munching has to stop!

Breakfast has been a variation of the same thing each morning. I have been loving my TJ’s Complete oatmeal packets which I have been making with water (no milk in the house still!). This mix was absolutely delicious and contained the following: Blue Diamond Almond Butter, a mix of dried cranberries and raisins, coconut, and small drizzle of cranberry apple butter. Mmmmm……I wake up craving this now.

I was back at the Haley House yesterday which felt great. They had some “day old” wraps that were not for sale any longer but still perfectly good. I snagged a half of the roast chicken whole wheat wrap. It was simply chicken, lettuce, tomato and a little bit of mayo but boy was it heavenly.

While at the Haley House today I was speaking with a member of the live-in community there who was drinking an interesting looking tea. He told me that it was “Kombucha” which I had heard of before but had never tried and knew little about. He actually makes it himself and told me the entire process which sounds a little unappetizing since it involves fungus and letting the fungus “ferment” the tea for a week. He said that you can make it with green or black tea and add any kind of fruit juice to make it differently flavored. He offered me a taste, and since I never want to turn any new food down before trying it, I gave it a sip. The result: I loved it! It tasted a lot like hard apple cider to me, a little fizzy with a strong yeasty smell. He gave me a small bottle to bring home and I had another glass before heading into work. Apparently Kombucha is pro-biotic and has a positive effect on the digestive system. Have any of you made your own or tried a bottled brand of this tea?

…I just haven’t been documenting as much! With Christmas fast approaching, work and personal business have been taking priority over my daily posts. I have been working extra hours so that I can take a nice long break beginning Christmas Eve all the way through the New Year! I am so excited since I will be heading home to Maine to be with my family and Darin’s family and will be cross country skiing (my favorite form of exercise!), sledding, skating, maybe even snowboarding. So as I said, you can rest assured that I have still been consuming food, (probably too much with all the sweets around here!) but with holiday parties that don’t allow for paparazzi shots I am feeling like quite the neglectful blogger. Either way here are some of my highlights for the past few days.

Breakfast on Wednesday was a lovely Multi-Grain Bruegger’s Bagel which was “scored” from the Community Social at the house which took place on Wednesday instead of it’s normal Tuesday this week. I added Light Herb and Garlic cream cheese to my hollowed out vessel.

After breakfast I hustled off to the Haley House which turned into a very rewarding shift. I had quite a few customers and also some individuals who stopped by to just get warm (I actually gave one a free cup of coffee). Since the Haley House is not JUST a bakery and it’s primary goal is to provide community to individuals in the South End who may not have a home to call their own, I felt really pleased that the regulars were starting to become familiar with my face and felt comfortable talking to me. I put out our fabulous cupcakes as free sample; partly because I wanted to try a bite and also because I knew they would draw people in!

The rest of Wednesday was spent working and saying goodbye to a co-worker who is moving to Denver and will be dearly missed. We went out to a local bar called The Mission which had delicious bar food in my opinion. Sadly I have no pictures from the evening but I am sure you can picture in your mind such dishes as Sweet Potato Skins, Mussels, Bruschetta, and a killer Nacho plate. I had a Magner’s Cider with my appetizers which was such a treat since I was actually “working”. The next morning I was craving some fruit and “carby” goodness so I dug into my last ruby red and prepared a peanut butter toast to eat with it. The flavors here weren’t exactly complimentary but it hit my cravings perfectly and provided adequate nutrition I believe.

I’ve been hitting yoga hard this week and after my session on Thursday I came home ravenous. Lucky for me I had a fresh bag of TJ’s Salsa chips and a tub of Sabra Hummus.

I don’t think I have ever tried these chips before but let me just tell you if you have any love for Doritos and just can’t justify eating them anymore, try these! They are not as heavily doused in seasoning but have a great taste which allows the chip to stand alone fine or pair with salsa, hummus or any other dip you can think of.

This morning I woke up thinking about breakfast. This hasn’t happened in awhile (maybe I have been too full from the night before?) so I decided to resurrect an old classic: GREEK YOGURT MESS! This one contained one little tub of Strawberry Oikos, a sprinkle of blueberry muesli, some walnuts, and unsweetened coconut. SOO good and even though it’s not very seasonal the coconut looked like snow so that has to count for something right?

Yoga was another awesome sweat sesh and I came home ravenous. I actually dreamed this sandwich up on my frigid walk home and it came out better than I had expected.

I toasted two slices of my low carb When Pigs Fly bread, smeared one slice with Sabra hummus and the other with TJ’s roasted red pepper spread. Then I cut two slices of cheddar cheese and topped it off with two Claussen sandwich stackers.  Such an awesome sandwich! A good cheese sandwich is sometimes so satisfying in my opinion.

It was “oh so photogenic” too, don’t you think?

And I would be remiss if I didn’t include the dessert from last night since a bite or two of it did make it’s way past my lips today. I had a full “tree” last night and was able to photograph them without many questions since I just said in front of the families that they were too cute not to picture. After all they ARE too cute! They are a brownie base with green colored frosting, m+m’s for decoration and a candy cane trunk., They’re supposed to be Christmas Trees if you couldn’t tell!

After a long week I am so ready to be done with work related stuff. Luckily I have plans to meet up with Meg C. for a vegan dinner at Veggie Planet in Harvard Square and hopefully some drinks afterwards. Happy Friday everyone!

…would you have snow, ice, rain and lightning all on the same day! I had high hopes for a real winter storm this morning but soon after it started snowing here in Boston, it changed over to a “wintry mix” and then to just plain old rain! I battled my way to the Haley House despite the poor conditions and was happy to walk into a warm storefront and fix myself a cup of Chai Tea. With my tea I enjoyed a Lemon Scone (made with half whole wheat flour!). I hadn’t been hungry this morning when I woke up so eating breakfast at 10 a.m. worked well.

Even though I wasn’t “hungry” I was super curious to try the newest pizza on offer. I made a quick sign to try and entice customers into buying!

I have never tasted such a pizza before and was completely won over. The base was of course whole wheat and from there the layering began with carmelized onions, then to sweet potato disks, and finally big globs of goat cheese! The pizza dough was also noticeably seasoned with fresh rosemary which added a lovely aroma and taste. I was surprised that I didn’t sell one piece. Even with these delicious looking samples sitting out (people did try the samples and said they liked it but then ordered a wrap or soup!) Maybe people are weirded out by goat cheese and sweet poatatoes. The whole time I was thinking if only I had some of my fellow foodies around, they would buy the whole pie!

I mean just look at this for a beautiful combination!

Despite the poor pizza sales, I had an awesome shift. I enjoyed myself by turning the radio station to Christmas music and taking in the scents of this Holiday Candle. It felt very cozy with “the weather outside so frightful”.

I had a doctor’s appointment this afternoon which went well, I had my first ever “blood work” to check my cholesterol (I guess your supposed to start doing this every five years in your twenties?). I absolutely hate needles and was so proud of myself that I didn’t come up with an excuse as to why I couldn’t get it done today. I was brave and let them take two vials of blood from my arm! Yikes! Beforehand, the doctor asked me lots of questions (she is a new Primary) about my diet. She wanted to know what kind of food I eat, whether I drink soda, etc. I almost said, “Can I just show you my food blog?”. After the appointment I arrived home and promptly devoured an entire grapefruit. I have had some serious citrus fruit cravings lately and this was exactly the afternoon snack I had been waiting for.

I followed the fruit up with three slices of provolone cheese. Love it.

Dinner was inspired by The Broccoli Hut’s recipe for Peanut Butter BBQ Tofu. I had a block of tofu in the fridge and wanted to do something kind of different with it. Whenever I think of tofu I immediately think about The Broccoli Hut so off I went to search her recipes. I was so excited when I found this because I love BBQ sauce and any kind of nut butter! I used Cashew Butter instead of Peanut Butter and added a dash of the hot sauce I received from the farm this past summer. An utterly delightful combination of ingredients if I do say so myself. I baked the cubed tofu at 400 for a good long time (45 min?) and also baked some broccoli and carrots with a little dash of the sauce over the top, alongside the tofu.  The end result was a bowl of sweet, spicy and nutty heaven! Hey, even Darin ate it, and he doesn’t typically go for tofu!

The best pieces were the slightly crispy ones. Sometimes you would get a big chunk of cashew butter since it didn’t get mixed as thoroughly as it should have. Although I don’t really see this as a problem. Cashew Butter Chunks = Scrumptious!

And since all the gingerbread cookies are gone, I had a small candy cane for dessert. Not half bad.

Many apologies for my absence this week. Life has been getting increasingly busy due to the time of year and blogging has fallen off my radar. I haven’t had a computer for a few days now which made it difficult as well but that has all changed now. I have been doing some research for the past few weeks and with the help of Darin, my computer guru, I purchased a brand new PC! I am very excited about this because I have been using a Mac (which I loved) but it was time for an upgrade (my computer was old and sluggish) and one of my key criteria for this one was the ability to use Windows Live Writer! I have spent the last few days updating everything with music, photos etc. and am close to being fully operational. Any tips on Windows Live Writer for those of you who use it would be much appreciated!

As I mentioned life has been very busy. All the normal events have been taking placethough, Volunteering at the Haley House, Walks with my cousin Meg, Pizza Night etc. This week at the Haley House I got to sample their newest pizza variety: Cheese, Tomato and Sausage on a Whole Wheat Crust. This pizza is so tasty! I think I might like it even better than Upper Crust which is saying a lot.

On my long walk home I stopped off and did a little Christmas Shopping at the mall. Shopping always makes me unbelievably thirsty so once I had left, I stopped into a little convenience store in search of a water. I hate buying water as it’s so expensive and boring, so when I saw that they had chilled Vita Coco I opted for that. It has been a long time since I had coconut water, and boy did it hit the spot! I felt instantly rehydrated! As I was walking out of the store, I noticed this empty planter, a perfect spot to photograph my all natural sports beverage!

As I sipped and walked I took in the beautiful scenery…

…and was happy to see that Boston’s holiday decorations are in full swing!

For the past two nights the house has been nothing short of crazy, but it’s been all good. We had our Soul Food Recipe Night on Wednsesday which was a huge success. The menu consisted of Mac and Cheese, Greens, and Chicken and Cornbread Dressing. All I can say is that there was a lot of butter going into each of these dishes and the taste refelcted that fact! It was some of the most decadent tasting food I have had in awhile and while I enjoyed sampling it, I know I couldn’t eat this way everyday!

As if our butter laden meal the night before wasn’t enough comfort food for us all, last night I hosted a Holiday Decorating and Sugar Cookie Baking party! It was so much fun to get the house decorated and the families really enjoyed the chance to participate in all the festivities. The highlight in my mind was definitely the Sugar Cookies that our faithful volunteer helped with. The little kids got right in there and had a blast mixing up the batter, cutting the cookies, making the frosting with food coloring, and finally decorating. We had the Pandora Alvin and The Chipmunks Christmas Station (a great mix of Holiday Classics!) in the background which really added to the whole festive mood of the night. Here is a shot of our finished product. Lots of love and hard work went into these and you could totally taste it!

The weekend is going to be busy again as most weekends from this point until Christmas will be. We are going to visit my family on the South Shore tomorrow to have a little pre-Christmas/birthday gathering. I am looking forward to getting out of the city and seeing all my family! Tonight I have a work holiday party which I don’t think I will be documenting (awkward situation to be taking pictures at!). I promise I’ll get back in the swing of normal posting again soon but for now I have a lot of catching up to do on all of your lovely blogs! I have missed having a computer and free time! Enjoy your Friday.

But not a bite for me! I am saving myself for tomorrow My morning started out a little on the rushed side, the alarm never went off (long story) so we literally jumped out of bed and scrambled to get ready. Normally I have no where to be but today I was back at the Haley House and wanted to be on time so I decided on a quick and easy breakfast. I heated up one of my Cinnamon Apple Muffins and had a banana on the side. Perfect portion, satisfying and uber delicious!

Work at the Bakery was awesome today. We were busy with customers coming into pick up the pies that they had pre-ordered. At $18.00 a pop these were a big money maker and I was glad to see people so excited to be picking them up. Apparently they are fabulous pies. Here’s a peak at the Pumpkin. I considered buying one of these since I am bringing a Pumpkin pie to our Thanksgiving, but I really wanted to try and bake one myself.

And the Pecan Pie which was being sold by the slice. The pecan is actually made with Agave Nectar instead of Corn Syrup! This chef is just so on top of her game.

Instead of eating the pie, I sampled a bit of the Latin Bean soup. This soup was almost completely smooth which at first turned me off since I prefer chunks. Then once I tasted it I completely changed my tune and realized this was heaven! I discovered later on while serving it up that the secret was a huge chunk of lemon that was sitting at the bottom of the pot. That lemon flavor was hard to recognize at first but once I knew it was in there I could easily taste it. Delicious flavor, I must find the recipe somehow.

I then munched on an apple…

and later a half of a Curried Chicken whole wheat wrap that was being tossed since it was from yesterday. Still good in my opinion. It had raisins in it. I love raisins in a curry chicken wrap.

Despite the drizzly weather, I opted to walk home. In my mind it was really far because I take the train normally and it just feels like a long way away. I was surprised to map it out when I got home and realize it was only 2 miles! It was a good walk and I am glad I did it since I haven’t been getting ALL that much exercise as of late. I met up with my parents at Trader Joe’s to do some last minute shopping. They were on their way to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving and since I am heading to Maine with Darin’s family, we wont be seeing each other for the holiday. It was nice to get to see them for a brief visit. My Dad even took the time to burn us 5 CDs with Christmas tunes on them for our car ride back to Boston (after Thanksgiving is over, of course!). I finally got back to the place around 3 p.m. and began baking. I made a Pumpkin Pie using some different ingredients. Not necessarily “healthy” but different because I couldn’t find the right ones. Here’s what I used:

• 1 can of pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• TJ’s premade pie crust

I figured that I could omit the brown sugar since I was using sweetened condensed milk instead of evaporated milk. I tasted the “batter” before it went in the oven and it tasted perfectly sweet and pumpkin pie-ish to me so I am hoping that when we cut into it everything tastes alright! It did get a bubble in the crust while baking which damaged the top a bit but I think it should be o.k. It’s my first pie ever so I’ll go easy on myself if it’s not. At least I have a can of whipped cream, that makes everything better right?

Dinner tonight was simple and quick. Our fabulous house keeper here at work made Rice and Beans for lunch and was kind enough to put some away for Darin and me. I topped mine with a little bit of cheddar cheese and popped into the microwave until it was bubbly hot.

Now it’s time to wrap it up here at work, pack up and get a good night’s sleep before leaving early tomorrow morning for Maine! I hope you are all enjoying your Thanksgiving break so far and are celebrating with loved onese wherever you may be. I’ll be around sporadically this weekend but will be sure to document lots of Turkey, sides and of course some pie that I actually consume. Happy (early) Thanksgiving!

Alright, I’ll admit it. I love the red cup from Starbucks. I know this might seem like a contradiction of my post the other day about Christmas Music, but for some reason the red cup is acceptable before Thanksgiving. I am not a total Scrooge! You’ll find the beloved cup later on in the post but first let’s talk about breakfast. You will see from the pics below that I found my appetite this morning (albeit a bit smaller than normal, but nonetheless there). I started the day off with a yogurt/cereal mix which was all thanks to a Mom who left behind some of her child’s Stonyfield Organic Yogurt.I tried the Apple flavor and was happy to find that it was very, very mild with just a hint of cinnamon-y apple flavor. Just what I was looking for.

Normally I wouldn’t go near Whole Fat yogurt but since I was seriously lacking yesterday, I figured a little extra today couldn’t hurt. Plus since these little containers are only 4 ounces, the whole milk yogurt only amounts to 110 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. Not horrible.I put a small amount of Shredded Spoonfuls over the top (small because my throat can’t handle ALL that scratchiness).

It was good enough to lick the bowl clean.

After breakfast, I started to get ready for my shift at the Haley House. However, I quickly realized that I never told my shift supervisor that my ankle was better (I called out last Wednesday) and that I would be in this week! Since I couldn’t call, (I just email, no phone number) I figured it would be pointless to go down there since I am sure someone was covering. I did send an email out though to let him know that I would DEFINITELY be in next week and thanked everyone for their understanding with my injury. Even though my ankle is better and I could have gone today, it’s probably a blessing in disguise since it might not be smart for me to be serving up food to people with this lingering virus. I was determined to get busy today though and since I was all showered and ready, I set out to Starbucks.This location is a mad house! I actually got a table which was lucky but I waited a solid hour before getting my drink because the line was out the door! Lucky nobody seemed to care that I hadn’t purchased a drink and was just “hangin out”.

I had a project to work on that has been bugging me for a week or so now. I can’t seem to focus in the apartment and needed a change of scenery to help with the writers block. A crowded public space was just what I needed. I managed to get a great start and am closer to finishing than I thought! After I had a good chunk written, I broke for a coffee. After a little research I settled on a Tall Skinny Hazelnut Latte (90 calories, 0 fat). I have never had the Hazelnut kind before and was in the mood for something different. I had thoughts of getting a Peppermint Mocha but after checking the stats for a tall nonfat, no whip (220 calories, 2 fat) I thought better. I kind of think it’s a crime how awful some of these drinks are for you. It’s also sad that the only way I can justify a “fun” drink from here is by opting for the sugar free syrup which I normally try to stay away from. Isn’t there a way we could make “healthier” coffee beverages?

Alright, time to get back to business. I have Colbie Caillat blasting from my headphones and I am feeling the caffeine start to kick in. Must write!

P.S. It’s really too bad that Photo Booth makes that little beeping noise when it’s counting down to take the picture. Otherwise I would have been able to take self portraits without anyone knowing.

P.P.S. If you are interested in winning some Chobani Yogurt, stop over to Kasondra’s blog: More to Life than Food and enter to win!

As I have mentioned before every other Wednesday night is recipe night here at the house. If you don’t remember, the first was a family from the Dominican Republic, the second from Venezuela and the third from Iceland. Tonight it was my turn. Since we have tons of canned goods in the pantry and I wanted to save some money onthe house budget, I decided to whip up a healthy and hearty chili! The best part was I made it this afternoon and stuck it in the crock pot (we have a giant one) so that families could help themselves whenever they returned “home” from the hospital. I will admit I was actually nervous to cook for this many people. I have never made such a huge pot of chili and I was just praying that it came out edible. I used a recipe that I found on Cooking Light and adapted it just a bit. I wanted to buy organic vegetables and the best meat I could find at Stop and Shop (we have an account there so I couldn’t go elsewhere) so that I could be proud of what I was serving them. I figured if this is truly MY meal why would I use crappy ingredients? It was my chance to explain my rationale for the food choices I make and I think people really appreciated it. A lot of heart went into this meal. There was also a lot of chopping…

…and tasting to get the spices just right. I added cinnamon of course! I ended up adding a mix of black beans and red kidney beans and omitting the mushrooms. The veggies I used were carrots, zucchini, summer squash, onions, yellow and orange peppers, and of course cans of tomatoes.

I purchased low fat shredded cheddar cheese,

low-fat sour cream,

and some organic green onions for an array of fun toppings.

Trader Joe’s cornbread was made as an accompaniment (I was so happy when I found this in the cabinet and was able to use it instead of Jiffy Mix that contains lard!).

I have to say that it came out FABULOUS and most people had seconds. I served this to approximately 20 people and have about 3 servings left. If nobody else comes looking for it, the left overs are going in my freezer!

I am so relieved that it is over and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. With such a diverse crew (Panama, Iceland, Romania, Venezuela, and South Carolina) I was worried that it wouldn’t fit everyone’s tastes. I am happy to say I was totally wrong! Regularly scheduled meal posting will resume tomorrow. I hope you don’t mind but my eats today didn’t warrant much reporting. A wrap with peanut butter and pumpkin butter (totally un-photogenic), cereal,  an apple and a couple yummy yet boring looking samples from the Haley House. I did receive a special package in the mail today though that will be making it’s way into my eats tomorrow morning I am sure!

I’ve been a bit neglectful of the blog today since I was on the move most of it. An early morning yoga sesh got the day started on the right foot. I then had to woof my breakfast down (not fun to do with such a delicious bowl of oats) in time to take a shower and get to the Haley House on time. Here’s my oats:

The T was so late. I literally waited for 30 minutes for one to come and then when it did it was too full so I had to wait for the next. I was aggravated because I didn’t want to be late for my shift. Even though I am volunteering they do rely on me to take over the shop and I need to be there on time! I was only 15 minutes late which wasn’t TOO bad but I felt like a loser anyway. It was somewhat of a slow day due to the nasty weather outside. When customers did come in they ordered hot soup and hot coffee. I sampled the soup (per usual) and had a corn muffin on the side. Today’s soup was African Peanut which has been deemed my favorite thus far.

The corn muffins are also stellar. I read up on the ingredients when it was slow and found that they contain organic grits. So that’s what makes them so “gritty”. I love me some texture. They’re also small, the size a homemade muffin usually comes out, which is the way they should be in my opinion.

I really wanted one of these bad boys but I held myself back, barely.

On my way back home I made a pit stop at the Copley Place mall to pick up a few things. By the time I left the light drizzle had turned into an all out downpour. Good thing I was prepared with my umbrella. And too bad it basically snapped in half the second I stepped outside. It was a wee bit windy. Oh well, at least I was on my way home. Once I arrived, I promptly changed into comfy clothes and ate some more leftovers for lunch. They looked exactly like yesterday’s (but I served it in a tupperware container which wasn’t very photogenic) if you care to peek.  Work time came on fast and before I knew it dinner time was around the corner. I had intended to get some groceries on my way back today but due to the monsoon I opted to run straight home. Tonight I looked in the freezer for inspiration. Hmmmm…TJ’s individual chicken breasts, ezikiel bread, broccoli….and on my pantry cart some Korma Sauce. Sounds good to me

I cooked the chicken in the microwave (most of the way) and then cut it up into bite sized pieces and added it to the Korma sauce that was already heating. The sauce was purchased at TJ’s awhile back and has just been waiting for the perfect night. I even threw in some raisins because I love they way they taste in this sauce.

Darin kind of laughed when I told him on the phone what we were having. He always calls to ask and tonight I said “chicken, broccoli and toast”. I admit it sounded a little odd but once again it all came together nicely. Darin actually ended up saying “wow this is really good for being a ‘throw together meal’”. I took that as a compliment