Caroline Dines

…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!

This morning I woke up craving something sweet. This rarely happens (usually my sweet cravings only kick in after 8 p.m.!) so I decided to go with it and fixed myself a mug of hot chocolate. For a pepperminty twist I hung a mini candy cane on the rim which added just a hint of flavor while it dissolved in the hot, creamy beverage.

I simply couldn’t do the cereal this morning but wanted something “carby” and was delighted when I remembered that I had some “When Pigs Fly” Low Carb bread in the freezer. One small piece toasted with a smear of Kate’s Homemade Butter was the perfect accompaniment to a serving of Honey flavored Oikos yogurt.

I have been having the SAME routine for days now and it’s starting to get boring, thank goodness Christmas break is just around the corner. I need to mix things up a bit! After my yoga class I was starving and came home to a warm bowl of Tomato Soup. This is the Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup from TJ’s to be exact. I had the Low Sodium version for some reason and ended up adding salt! Whoops. I also added some cheddar cheese chunks for the oooey goooey goodness!

Since it’s almost Christmas, I wanted to share with you a few of my “holiday decorations” that have been keeping me company during the day. These little guys always put a smile on my face when I look at them sitting quietly on the book shelf. The big snowman was a present from Darin about 6 years ago, the little snowman was given to me by my Mom around the same era, and the reindeer I won in a Yankee Swap this year! They keep each other company.

I also wanted to highlight a few of my ornaments that MAY be of interest to you healthy food bloggers out there. First off the infamous Pickle Ornament. My Dad gave me this since pickles are really his thing and we always had one on our tree growing up.

I think this little Red Raspberry ornament is pretty old, I am almost certain it was my Mom’s as a child. Either way it reminds me of berry season which can’t come soon enough!

What foodie tree would be complete without a gigantic cupcake? Darin’s sister found this ornament two Christmases ago and knew that it would be right up my ally, she was right, I LOVE this ornament.

She also bought me this one which was picked out carefully as well since we completed a Tri-Athalon together a few years back and were both quite proud of our accomplishment!

And the last ornament I will highlight for you all is a special one because it was made for Darin and me by my mom the first year we lived together. This was on our first tree and I hope it will be for many more to come.

Alright, enough personal stuff, back to the food! For an afternoon snack I literally ripped into this red grapefruit. Such a mess but so delicious.

It was a good thing I had such a filling snack because dinner was being prepared for the house tonight by the Emergency Room Fellows at Children’s Hospital and I was not in control of when we got to eat! I was so hungry by the time everything was done! Check out the spread!

They did a fabulous job and I made sure they knew how much I appreciated all the healthy options. I mean look at this plate! They had spinach balls, lentil stew, turkey chili, salad, grilled chicken, and baked ziti.  Sorry the picture isn’t high quality, I had to snap it on the run since I didn’t want to draw attention to my food blogging ways with such a crowd.

Good thing I saved some room for dessert because there was NO way that one of these was going to get by me. This is a Gingerbread Cupcake with a half a gingerbread man sticking out the top (incase you couldn’t tell!). The frosting was H-E-A-V-E-N and the cake wasn’t bad either! YUMMMM. I love my job.

…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.

Happy December All! I woke up this morning (struggling a bit due to a restless night of sleep and sore muscles!) and promptly realized that it was bagel tuesday at the house. I had been planning on eating something entirely different but when I went out to make my tea I was overwhelmed by the smell of these freshly bake Bruegger’s Bagels. How can you say no? I did hollow mine out though to save a little and toasted it to perfection. I think, no, I know that I like this method better than eating a regular old bagel. I am one of those people that toasts my bagel 4 times in order to get it crispy so I was delighted to find that after one toasting with the hollowed out method my bagel was the crispness of toast or a bagel crisp if you will. Spread with a little bit of Light Garlic and Herb Cream Cheese and I was in breakfast heaven.

Along with my bagel I sipped some Candy Cane Green Tea from Trader Joe’s. I have had this in my pantry for about 6 weeks now and finally felt like I could open it since it was December after all. Let me just say if you have a craving for a candy cane this season and would rather not indulge yourself, buy this tea. The flavor is spot on. It’s sweet without being overpowering and it tastes more like a candy cane than the peppermint teas I have had. Honestly, I felt like I was sucking on a candy cane. Yum. It’s decaffeinated which is good if you want to drink it at night as a little after dinner treat. And just look at the box, how can you resist that cute polar bear?!

The temperatures this morning in Boston certainly corresponded with the turn of the calendar. It felt like December outside and I liked it. My walk to yoga was on the cold side, especially since I haven’t yet dug out my hat and gloves for the season. It sure did feel nice to walk into that warm studio again, I think I could get used to this hot yoga in the colder months. It was a little bit of a turn off during the hot summer days but now it’s a welcome retreat, almost like going to the Carribbean (well, almost). After yoga I came home to shower and eat! I wasn’t too surprised that my bagel didn’t hold me over as well as an almond flour muffin and yogurt, but I thought it would have made it more than 2 hours! I listened to my stomach and ate lunch a bit on the early side. I’ll say that lunch was kind of eaten over the course of 3 hours and it began like this.

An entire Ruby Red Grapefruit and a scoop of low-fat cottage cheese. This combo was to die for. The sharp citrus flavor with the smooth creamy cheese, really knocked me out. I added a roll of turkey meat to the mix a little later.

And then because I was still hungry an hour later, I ate a small bowl (the last portion) of chili. After this I was FULL!

Well, I was full but an hour later I was craving chocolate in a bad way! Lucky for me I had a Luna Bar lying around just waiting to be eaten. I used to eat these bars ALL THE TIME. I would order them in bulk and had every flavor. I literally ate one every day. Now my palate has changed a bit and I find them a little on the sweet side. They also contain some ingredients that I don’t want to make part of my every day diet. However, in a pinch these bars are a great replacement to a candy bar which is totally what I could have gone for this afternoon!

Dinner was a mishmosh of sorts but the key ingredient deserves a little recognition. Trader Joe’s makes a mean Vegetable Masala burger. You would think that these would be loaded with fat and calories the way they taste “fried”, but at 120 calories and 8 grams of fat this is a great lunch or dinner choice for those of you who are watching your intake. I would have liked to “pan-fry” mine tonight but instead I microwaved it because it was easier and the kitchen was busy.  It worked fine in the microwave but I can imagine that the crispy exterior would have done better on a grill of sorts.

These burgers are also all vegetable and contain no soy products which I find appealing when it comes to veggie burgers. I am not always sure of the soy ingredients in this type of food and tend try to get my soy in the “real” form like tofu or edamame. The rest of the salad wasn’t too bad either. A bed of spinach topped with carrots, sunflower seeds, craisins, feta, balsamic and steamed broccoli. It was a glorious veggie mess for sure!

I must get back to work now since this week is turning out to be busy. We have a big Recipe Night planned for tomorrow where the menu is “Soul Food” and Thursday night will be Holiday decorating and sugar cookie making with the kiddos.  Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday night!