Caroline Dines

Since this past weekend was Easter, I traveled home to Maine to visit with my extended family. The weather report was calling for an absolute GLORIOUS weekend so I was psyched to escape the city and head to the mountains of Maine where I knew I could fully relax! I only wish Darin had been able to join me (he was on call this weekend so it wouldn’t have been enjoyable or relaxing for him!). I took some cues from my cat “Smudge” and spent almost all weekend outside!

After running the 5 mile loop by my house, my parents and I took off for a shortish (maybe 10 miles?) bike ride. Along the way, we picked up lunch from the local health food store which is appropriately named “The Good Food Store“.

We called in our order ahead so that it would be ready when we rolled in. I am one who likes to have a menu in front of me but I decided to live dangerously and just order whatever. I knew I didn’t want anything too heavy and had already decided to split it with my Mom. We both thought that a hummus and veggie wrap sounded good. I have to say that it far exceeded both of our expectations in the taste department! Their hummus is homemade (I still have never done this!) and they stuff the whole thing with the freshest and most tasty veggies they can find. With a side of Stacy’s Naked Pita Chips, a half a pickle and a view of the river, this turned out to be a fantastic lunch!

Our picnic spot was carefully chosen so that we could visit my Grandfather’s grave. We all remarked at how perfect a spot this was to come and picnic since it was quiet and peaceful by the river.

Since I was burning some “extra” calories for the day I figured I could handle a little treat for dessert. I have a serious addiction to these things they call Peeps. I am proud to say though I have come a long way from my college days of eating an entire box and then feeling sick the rest of the night. I think over the course of the weekend I might have had 4 total! Not bad for a peep junkie!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the sun with my Biology text book. I may have snoozed more than I read, but it’s hard not to when your reading a text book and sleeping in the sun happens to be one of my favorite things to do. And since it was SO beautiful, we decided to take a walk that afternoon before returning home for a beer and popcorn. This popcorn was blog-worthy because it had Nutritional Yeast sprinkled on top. My parents have been doing this for a few months now and I just realized this weekend how much I like it! Honestly, it kind of reminds me of Smart Food popcorn but since the health benefits far outweigh any artificial cheese, I’ll be sticking with Nutritional Yeast!

Nutritional Yeast contains 18 amino acids (which makes it a complete protein), is rich in B-Complex vitamins, contains 15 different minerals, and is naturally low in fat and sodium!

I honestly can’t wait to pick up some for myself. The perfect accompaniment to a big bowl of popcorn? A tall, frosty, beer. This happened to be a Michelob Genuine Draft which isn’t as bad as you’d think since it only contains 64 calories. Adding a lime wedge is a nice touch, as is the Boston Bruins pint glass!

After such an awesome day at home on Saturday, it was hard to pack up and leave. However, I wasn’t returning to Boston just yet. First, a stop over in Hallowell with my Mom’s family to celebrate Easter. And boy was it quite the celebration! Per usual, I documented all my favorites. To start things off, my Uncle Bob brought some of his famous Smoked Lake Trout which he served with dilled sour cream, capers and water crackers. This combination was outstanding and I agreed with my Dad who said “I could just eat this all day and be happy.”

For the main meal we had a Maple Orange Glazed Pork Tenderloin, Asparagus, Scalloped potatos, pineapple, salad and sweet rolls. I tried everything and went back for more pork, roll, and salad.

We brought the salad which was adapated from this month’s Cooking Light recipe. Instead of using pistachios we used crushed, roasted almonds. I was quite proud of the way it turned out! It looks so fancy but was really quite simple to do!

I tried to save room for dessert but the meal itself was just so good. Thankfully, I found the power to soldier on and sample the luscious desserts that showed up. Of course I had a piece of my Grandmother’s Famous Cake with lemon icing. It doesn’t get any better in my opinion.

And I just HAD to try my Aunt Jane’s Homemade Oreos!

These were FAN-TAS-TIC! Seriously, the talk while we all sampled was about how she could totally sell these! We were all trying to come up with creative names and ideas for marketing. I think there’s a business opportunity here for sure! How much do we all love Oreos? Now, think about being able to purchase a homemade one made with premium ingredients. I only ate one but I could have easily eaten more. I also was proud of myself for driving three hours back to Boston without breaking into the cookie I wrapped up for Darin!

So it has been one week since I made the promise to myself to live “sugar free” for one week. I have to say that the whole experience has provided me with a better understanding of what my body needs/wants and how it responds to certain foods. I found out that fruit sugar can be just as satisfying but I also realized that life is fun with a little piece of cake from time to time. I think I will continue to avoid “office sweets” (because work related food is really my biggest problem as I don’t buy anything that could be considered junk!) as much as I can since they are usually not worth it but will make room in my diet for special occassion treats.

I woke up late this morning after going to bed much later than normal (work related). I actually ate my breakfast in bed while watching what else, more Dexter! Breakfast was in response to what I was craving at the moment and what I knew my body would need. About half an hour after eating this delicious apple cinnamon bagel with peanut butter, I set out on a 7.7 mile run! I can’t even describe how happy I am to be running long distances again. I really think it’s a combination of doing physical therapy, yoga and rolling on my foam roller! When I got back I was thirsty and also a little hungry so I made an amazing grass shake with almond milk. This was a acai berry flavor and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Using the almond milk really helps make it more shake like, this guy was very foamy!

After this I was still hungry but didn’t want to eat too much before yoga. I settled on a hard boiled egg (I buy the bag of premade hard boiled eggs from TJ’s, they’re great when you don’t have ready access to a stove!) with a little drizzle of BBQ sauce. Yummmm

After yoga I did the normal Thursday routine of going to the Farmer’s Market. Sadly this was the last one at the Brookline location so next week I will need to go elsewhere to get my fresh fruit and veggie fix! I stocked up on honey crisp, cauliflower, eggs, sweet cider, and sweet potato (I didn’t have a whole lot of cash on me!). I did however buy more at TJ’s where they accept plastic One of the first things in my basket today: cereal! I am hoping that I can make this box last at least a week. It will be difficult for me to keep it around all weekend (I tend to nibble on cereal like a crazy person). I had a bowl with raisins and almond milk and a glass of sweet cider around 3:30. This cider was like nothing I have ever tasted, I am wondering if the “sweet” label has something to do with the way the processed it. Honestly it was a very mild flavored cider and I loved it! I like regular old cider (as well as hard cider!) but I couldn’t get over this one. Anyone have any expert cider knowledge out there?

Now onto the good stuff. I couldn’t have planned the end of my sugar free week any better if I had tried. Tonight was a going away/birthday party for a little girl who has been with us at the house since June! We had a huge Dora the Explorer cake for her and TONS of other food and festivities including a pinata! Here’s a shot of the spread.

Lots of junk but also some good stuff thrown in there like my co-worker’s baked brie with honey mustard and almonds (which I can’t believe I didn’t picture!). I had a lot of grapes, some cheese and crackers, baked brie, and some chips and salsa. I also made myself a small (dessert sized) plate of salad with one empanada (chicken) on it. My camera ate a lot of the pictures tonight but luckily I do have plenty of documentation of tonight’s main event: Dessert. My body was reintroduced to white sugar tonight in a big way. Well not THAT big but I do feel a little jittery right now. Here’s what there was to choose from:

CAKE:

COLDSTONE ICE CREAM CUPCAKES:

CANDY:

FLAN:

I chose the birthday cake and a tiny sliver of the flan. Here she is in all her glory. It was worth every bite and I have to say for being store bought cake this was gooooood. My fix was satisfied and I think I should be good for the next few days (at least until Halloween!).

I am glad that I didn’t mindlessly munch on the candy and that I didn’t even touch one of the cupcakes. If this had been two weeks ago I would have tried everything at least once so I did learn something. I don’t think I will ever be one of those people that just says “no” to cake or something that looks really really good. There’s also something to be said for being part of a celebration and sharing a piece of cake with friends or family or in this case a patient that you wont see again. I am glad that this night fell the way it did, being at the end of my “sugar free week”. No better way to celebrate a week without sugar than with a nice piece of cake.

As some of you may know I love cake. It  doesn’t matter if it’s store bought, homemade, ice cream, chocolate, golden, whatever; I’ll eat it. I am nearing the end of day 5 on my “Sugar Free Week” and was hit with the ultimate test of will power tonight: not one but TWO kinds of delicious looking cake. The first cake was brought in this morning on a plate with my name written on it (literally). Our housekeeper here wanted to share the leftovers from her son’s 1st birthday this past Saturday. I had been invited to the party but wasn’t able to attend and had sent a cute present over for him anyway. She let me know that the cake was waiting for me in the office when I saw her this morning at 7:30 a.m.! Needless to say, this guy has been in my mind all day long (I had to at least look at it this morning!).

So when I came into work tonight you know I had one thing on my mind, that cake. I had a plan though to dispose of it (I hate to throw things out, but, out of sight is out of mind) as soon as possible. My co-worker also had a piece with her name on it and she tried a bite just to get a taste and said that it had coconut in it. Damn. I love coconut! She also said that the frosting wasn’t anything special so that made me feel better since the frosting can be my favorite part. I quieted my cravings down by cooking up a shrimp stir-fry.

I used the Trader Joe’s shrimp and veggies in a bag. It comes with garlic pepper seasoning that you can add at the end but no sauce. I decided tonight to make my own sauce using the following:

• soy sauce
• agave (just a squirt)
• ginger juice (Ginger People brand)
• crushed garlic
• rice wine vinegar

Turned out fabulous. I just kind of eyeballed it and was pleased with the result. After cooking the shrimp and adding the veggies I threw the sauce over the top and sprinkled the garlic pepper seasoning on as well. I added extra broccoli to “beef” it up as well. The result was great. Simple, clean and classic.

As I was cooking, I realized that our Monday night dessert had been delivered by our loyal volunteer and was sitting just a few feet away. Oh god. Golden cake with chocolate frosting and pretty sprinkles on top. Be still my heart. This was made from scratch too, she’s a pro. Anyway, I managed (so far) to avoid this one and the one pictured before. I will admit I had one little swip of frosting from the chocolate as I was lifting off the top to serve a family (it got on my hand!) and I had one tiny nibble of the coconut birthday cake before it was “deep sixed”. I have to be honest on here, I feel too badly if I am not! It’s not that I’ll never eat birthday cake again it’s just that I made a promise to myself to try one week without eating any processed sugary stuff so I am sticking with it. Some of you may be saying, “just eat a small piece” or “go ahead and eat the cake you ran 8 miles!” but it’s bigger than that right now. If I eat a piece tonight, I’ll eat a piece tomorrow and the next night and so on. I have to make a somewhat drastic cut back in order to really get “back on track” and distinguishing what is “worth it” vs. “not worth it”. I have to be more picky with my sweets, be a sweet snob if you will. I am hoping that completing this week will really help give me perspective on my sugar intake.

I racked my brain for a “healthy” natural sugar dessert that I could make and came up with what’s pictured below. I took some frozen berries and microwaved them for 30 seconds. I then added some blueberry museli from TJ’s to the top, sprinkled a few slivered almonds and poured about 1/3 of a cup of almond breeze over the whole thing. The result? Damn good. I don’t know if it “satisfied” my cake craving but it certainly helped fill me up and gave me a little bit of a sugar fix.

Ever have one of those days where you don’t feel like doing much of anything? Well today was that kind of day for me. I started off super hungry but wasn’t craving yogurt. I decided on one of the yummy Bruegger’s bagels (Poppy seed) from the house kitchen and smeared a tiny bit of light garlic cream cheese on top. These bagels always make me happy and they’re smaller than most so I believe have fewer calories than the larger varieties. I ate my bagel with a big mug of sweet orange tea (not pictured) and caught up on some blogs. I was supposed to go to the farm today but I just didn’t feel up to it. Stomach is a bit off, lack of energy, hip hurts and an overall sense of needing to “just be” today led me stay in.

I did manage to get my life a bit organized which is always necessary. Two loads of laundry (including our sheets and duvet cover which makes me so happy), tidying, organizing, planning and stretching my hip were some of the things that kept me occupied this morning. Around 12:30 I made this lovely salad and took it outside to enjoy with some green tea and a book. The sun came out for about an hour which was perfect timing since this is when I had my lunch.

Despite the cool wind, I enjoyed this outdoor meal immensely. I am a huge fan of putting any kind of leftover on a salad as I have said before.  Rice, pasta, casserole, whatever the case may be; it can go on your salad the next day. I added a few strips of fresh mozz. and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Simply lovely. And you might be wondering what has happened to that cake that I made last weekend? Well I’ve been eating it just not picturing it. Sorry! Here’s a piece that I cut for lunch today. It’s kind of been a nibbling situation this week and it’s hard to take a picture of a little sliver here and there. The cake has held up beautifully and has only gotten better as the week has gone on. Yummm. I really can’t wait to try this with Elana’s Peanut Butter frosting recipe.

Work tonight is going to be busy and I am planning on a “clean out the fridge” night. We have left over chicken, pasta, tofu, veggies and some wraps that need to be used up. We also have about 10 kinds of cheese! I lie. We have four: Gouda, Mozzarella, Crumbled Goat cheese, and Herbed Goat cheese log. Decisions decisions. If whatever I decide on comes out “blog worthy” I’ll share, otherwise just figure it was boring looking! Right now I am sitting on a ice pack “recovering” from my physical therapy sesh. I went back again today for more “Electric Stim” (my favorite part), Heat therapy, massage, manipulation, stretching, stationary biking and some weight lifting. Let’s hope this works!

This day has flown by! After sleeping in until 9:30 this morning I knew I was going to be running behind all day! I ate a quick bowl of yogurt topped with the usual suspects: almond butter, banana and my fabulous homemade granola!

This bowl did the job of keeping me full through a heart pounding session of yoga. I wasn’t even hungry when I returned home at 12:30. Darin and I set out on some errands and I grabbed an apple (HUGE and super juicy) for the road and picked up a latte from starbucks (skim milk and one pump of Pumpkin Spice, perfect amount in my opinion).

By the time we were done with our errands it was close to 4:00 p.m. and since I had to start work at 4:30, I began prepping dinner like a crazy woman. I was also really hungry by this point. I am not sure why but on the weekends I eat really sporadically and usually only have breakfast and dinner.  Anyway I was able to get everything prepped and in the oven to bake by the time I had to walk into the office which is right next to the kitchen! I can’t really complain about my commute . On the menu tonight was Baked Cashew Ginger Tofu “steaks and Roasted Balsamic Vegetables. Here are the pretty veggies all ready to be roasted for about an hour.

I used butternut squash, red pepper, red onion, mushrooms, broccolini, and brussel sprouts. I topped them with balsamic and some olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. While these began their roasting process, the tofu was being pressed and the sauce was being blended. The marinade recipe for the tofu was given to me by Caroline from the thebroccolihut.com. I can’t share the proportions because it’s from Eat Drink and Be Vegan by Dreena Burton. All I can say is that the combination of ginger, cashew butter, tamari, apple cider vinegar and agave nectar was out of this world delicious! I was seriously licking the inside of the blender because I didn’t want to waste any!

The end result far exceeded my expectations. Even Darin liked it and he isn’t one for tofu. I sprinkled a bit of goat cheese on our vegetables and then drizzled a little extra sauce on both the veggies and the tofu before serving. Truly this meal was heaven for me. I am so glad that I have about a cup left of the sauce (I made a bit extra) and am thinking of all the things that I could do with it this week.  The veggies came out awesome as well and I have tons left over. The longer you cook them the better I always think. And they’re usually better the next day. I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow.

Dessert was even better than last night. I think it set up really well in the fridge all day because the “marshmallow” topping tasted better today and the cake was unbelievably chocolatey and delicious. Darin tried it as well and I think was impressed so I am feeling good on all my baking/cooking projects this weekend!