the first savory yogurt with milk from grass-fed cows

I have yet to try it, but a friend recently posted a photo of some savory Blue Hill Yogurt with a very positive review. I had definitely seen it before - the packaging is beautiful and caught my eye during a trip to Whole Foods - but it was soon after I tried some tomato wine I picked up in western Massachusetts...which was AWFUL. When I saw the yogurt with flavors such as tomato, beet, and butternut squash, I was intrigued, but the horror of the tomato wine resonated enough to make me run in the opposite direction. Well, that was more than a few months ago and after hearing something positive about it, (I think) I am willing to try it. I don't remember it being very cheap, but if it is a delicious breakfast option I am more than willing to splurge, especially because I WANT to eat yogurt for breakfast, I just get sick of it really quickly and it begins to gross me out. I am also interested in adding it to smoothies and trying out some of their recipes. Click here to visit their website.

lay thee down and rest, may thy slumber be blessed

I haven't had any trouble sleeping lately (knock on wood) and attribute it to having a good balance of work, play, chores, and fun. I have also minimized my traveling substantially, which means I am allowing myself time to get used to the sounds in and around our home on weekends. As expected, there is one sound I just can't used to no matter what and that is the highest pitched dog bark in America and beyond. We are surrounded by dogs, which for the most part is great. (We are getting closer and closer to joining the dog party ourselves, but need to work out a few more details before actually obtaining a furry friend - fence and doggy daytime-care.) However, one of our new canine neighbors has the loudest bark that sometimes begins pre-7:00 a.m. - not okay, not even a little bit. If your dog needs to go out that early, for the love of all that's sacred - let the thing out, but if it yips and yaps, quiet it down and get it back inside your house! 

I mention this because although I don't have trouble falling asleep at night, I sometimes have difficulty falling back asleep once I am woken up by this dog. Today I read something that discussed the benefits of the "4-7-8" breathing technique and how it can be used to fall back into the land of slumber. It is pretty straightforward - you inhale for four seconds, hold your breath in for seven seconds, and exhale for eight seconds. I have yet to try it, but I am excited to see if it works. While I hope I don't get woken up, I can rest easily knowing I have a simple and easy to use trick in my arsenal for getting back to sleep. Click here to read one of the many articles about it.     

cinnamon, spice, and everything not gluten

Obviously not mine, I
skip the grahams and stir
it altogether - no layers.

Back to breakfast. After reading about the horrors of eating wheat for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner, and snacks...) I decided to try something new. While I still have plans to perfect my breakfast-bars-gone-bad (which my husband continues to eat - bless his heart), I tried experimenting with a yogurt parfait. While there are millions of options, I tried to find something that incorporated oats (instead of granola), Greek yogurt (instead of regular yogurt), and bananas (I have been on a banana kick lately and my muscles are sore from all the yard work we have tackled) and found a recipe for an Overnight Pumpkin Spice Oats Parfait that sounded just delightful. While I can't add the bananas the night before because they brown, I can prepare the rest of it ahead of time. My first batch did not have enough spice, but the batch I made last night tasted great. I followed the amounts listed on recipe and was able to get two parfaits - even though it says one serving, it is a whole lotta yogurt. I also use Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie spice mixtures from Penzeys, instead of adding each individual spice listed in the ingredient list - and I add a lot; Greek yogurt is intense in the morning and there needs to be enough spice in order for it to taste like actual breakfast, in my opinion. I also just slice a room temperature banana and stir it in each morning (no time to blend up frozen bananas and make a pudding - let's be honest). I decided to forego the graham crackers in order to keep it healthier, but it would be quite delicious with a few sprinkled on top. Click here for the recipe.

bagels, churros, pizza, spaghetti, and garlic knots

So much to write about - what a weekend! I first want to talk about the book I started reading - Wheat Belly. Someone recommended it months ago and although I ordered it right away, I didn't get around to seriously reading it until this past weekend. The information in it is MIND BLOWING. Wheat is not bad for you per say, but the strains we are eating today are very different from ancient wheat strains (aka "real" wheat) and the things it is doing to our bodies are crazy. I'm only halfway finished and I can't wait to read more. Certain parts are pretty dry, as it gets pretty scientific and is full of medical jargon, but the overall message is clear - wheat is not okay. The three facts I can't stop thinking about are:

1. How much wheat is in a grocery store - there is an entire row that is bread and bread products (literally on shelves from top to bottom) and we don't even realize how much wheat is in the rest of a store - cookies, crackers, the entire baking aisle, pasta, frozen foods, and the in-house bakery. It is literally everywhere. 
2. Eating two slices of whole wheat bread raises your insulin levels higher than a Snickers candy bar.
3. When you eat wheat for breakfast you are starving again by eleven o'clock and need a snack before lunch. (Literally just experienced this today, and granted it was only one day, but I switched up my raisin bread with a yogurt and oat parfait and could have lasted a lot longer before eating lunch.)

Does this mean I am never going to eat pizza, or drink beer again? Hell to the no. However, it means I am going to truly think more about what I eat and put in my body and try as much as possible to give wheat the evil eye.

fiber and flavor and color and health

Photo is from the blog
Damn Delicious.

I spent part of my Sunday afternoon making a batch of soup for the week and I am very impressed with how this one came out. The great thing about this recipe was I only needed to pick-up four ingredients from the store; one pound of spicy Italian sausage, three cups of baby spinach, five cups of chicken broth, and a pint of cream (I went light cream instead of heavy, too). I had everything else at home, which made it super affordable. I ended up grabbing hot Italian chicken sausage burgers, which meant I did not have to waste time removing the casings - the meat just needed to be browned and broken up into small pieces while it cooked. They did not weigh a full pound either, but were close enough and I figured I could forego eating two tenths of a pound of sausage over the course of the next few days - not a big deal. The recipe is really easy to follow and the photographs in the article are not only bright and beautiful, but also very accurate. I also think the soup would be fine without the cream, if you wanted to make it even healthier. I tried a bite as it was cooking pre-cream and it tasted wonderful. (While I would never set out to solely buy cream for drinks, extra cream can be used to make a deliciously thick White Russian - just saying.) Click here for the recipe. 

homemade, healthy breakfast trials and tribulations

Those are my bars...

So, I attempted to make a homemade healthy breakfast bar and although they came out looking pretty adorable and are completely gluten-free, they taste horrible. My husband was so excited about them that he has agreed to eat them, but I just can't pretend. The bars end up looking like Nutri-Grain bars, but they sure as hell do not taste like them. The recipe creator made the bars because she started reading the ingredients on store-bought versions and regardless of whether they were conventional, or organic they were all full of sugar. Well, I can assure you ten thousand percent that these are not full of sugar. I did put a pinch in the blueberry filling, but I really tried to make them healthy. There are two tablespoons of honey in the dough, but it does absolutely nothing to sweeten them. I wonder what adding sugar to the dough would do, especially if I only added a quarter of a cup?! I may try it, as I have leftover filling and the ingredient list for the dough is pretty straightforward and easy. I guess it is worth a shot, even though I am attempted to find a Thomas' English Muffin sale and stock up on those. Click here for the recipe (and I made the second version without the oats). 

have an egg-cellent holiday and happy crafting

I am experimenting with natural egg dyes this Easter. They aren't the brightest in the world, but they are colored, which as far as I am concerned is "Easter" enough. I was inspired to go "au naturel" by both a friend and a photograph I saw from Edible Manhattan. I like the colors the Paas kits have to offer, but have just embarked on an extreme health kick and thought I might as well take the healthier route. My biggest concern was that the dye would flavor the eggs, but from everything I've heard and read, I should be in the clear. Unlike the six vibrant colors of the Paas kits, I only made three; I used beets, onion skins, and blueberries. The onion skins required some boiling and I did not do anything except add the beet juice and blueberries to a jar with a little white vinegar. 

The eggs seem to like it so far.  The blueberry dye speckles the eggs more than the others, but I think it looks nice. I wish you could leave dyed eggs out for display, but they are so stinky. I love hard boiled eggs, but even I don't want our entire house to smell like them. I also did some research on boiling eggs and have been knocking it out of the park in creating perfectly yellow yolks. I have tried all types of techniques, but Martie Stew's method is tried and true. I place the eggs in a pot, cover them with water, bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat once the water is rolling, cover, and then let sit for twelve minutes. It works every time. The instant ice bath after the twelve minutes helps with easy-peeling eggshells too. Click here to read more about naturally dyeing eggs.

creamy, spicy, healthy, fulfilling, dairy free, and delish

Photo from the website.
Don't forget the lime!

I really enjoy making soup, especially when it comes out well (duh!). Most of the time I don't choose anything super involved and it ends up being a very affordable way to eat a healthy and delicious dinner multiple nights a week. Another reason for choosing semi-easy to moderately-easy recipes is because at this point of my life I can get a sense about how something is going to come out when cooked by yours truly by looking at the recipe and the list of ingredients, and when I am making something that takes multiple days to eat, I don't want to be left with something I have no interest in. Yesterday I put together a Thai-influenced soup I found on the Whole Foods website. I was searching for something I could use seafood broth in because I had some homemade broth lying around after devouring a seafood feast with my sister this past weekend. (I boiled a few shrimp tails, a lobster tail shell, a few lemon slices, and a bay leaf and made my own broth. I was under the impression I could use it in place of any kind of broth, but I was quickly told by my husband and sister that was not the case. Oops.) 

Enter Butternut Squash and Coconut Soup with Shrimp. I omitted the garlic, added three times the curry paste (I like spice), used seafood broth instead of chicken broth, and added chicken instead of shrimp. I figured that created a good enough balance where I could get away with using my homemade broth creation. I was anticipating wanting to run the squash and liquids through a blender, but I used a fork to break up the squash and it made it perfectly thick (and created less dishes). I am excited for my dinners and will definitely be making this again. Click here for the recipe.

envision a world free of tuberculosis

Today, the wife of one of our bestest friend duos, reached out to inform us about tomorrow. The post below is mostly her words I want to share with you. While I don't ask much of anyone (even as a fundraising/development professional), this is something very meaningful to me.

I'm writing about tomorrow, which has become an important day in the land of my friends and I. This Tuesday, March 24th, is World TB Day, and one my my dearest friends was diagnosed with tuberculosis this past August and is currently taking a strong regimen of antibiotics in order to fully recover from the disease. In an effort to promote awareness about TB-related problems and solutions and to support worldwide TB-control efforts, he has been asked to testify at the State House on Tuesday in Massachusetts, which he has taken the day off of work to do. It has been a long seven months for him, but he remains a constant reminder to all around him of what it means to wake up every day and choose life. Through all he has endured, he has remained the devoted husband, father, friend, and doctor that he is...and then some. In honor of his resilience and World TB Day, I am asking whoever is able to make a small donation to Partners in Health, to not only support the import work they day, but to also give him a little spirit boost. Click here to make a donation - any amount is appreciated and of course there is no pressure. 

a-well-a herb, herb, herb, h-herb is the word

I am so excited! I signed up for a class about herbs (cooking herbs, ahem!) for next Saturday with the Monmouth County Park System. It costs fifteen dollars and I am thrilled to learn how to select, plant, grow, and preserve them. We will also learn about the folklore surrounding herbs, which I am really looking forward to because I LOVE fun facts, and their current uses. We also get to enjoy some herbed refreshments, take home recipes, and choose an herb plant to take back to our home. It sounds so happy and fun! I am quite interested to see what one of these park programs is like. Normally I am never around when courses take place I am interested in, but I will be home that weekend and need something to do. While we don't have a garden, I was thinking about planting herbs in pots around our patio and I wish it would warm up, so I could get started. I am antsy in my pantsy to get growing and excited to begin testing herb-heavy recipes with our homegrown creations.   

a celebratory weekend = a slow start to the week

The happy couple.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, but I don't really feel all that festive. We had a wedding this past Saturday and a birthday dinner this past Sunday, and I am still tired from partying down for both joyous occasions. The wedding was absolutely beautiful (both the church and the reception venue) and the food at both celebrations was exceptional. It was so nice to have weekend plans with friends within an hour long commute. Although coming into the city on weekends feels a little like work, I have to keep reminding myself that it is far from it. 

The wedding took place in the University Church at Fordham and it made me feel like we stepped back into Italy. It was breathtaking. The reception venue was a super hip event space in Brooklyn called 501 Union, which allowed for simple decor because of how utterly cool it was. The lightning was perfect and the space seemed to perfectly fit the amount of guests on their invite list. The meal was catered by the bride and groom's favorite restaurant Rucola, although the catering entity goes by the name Purslane Catering. The birthday dinner took place at Freeman's in Manhattan, a hidden restaurant that lives at the end of a small alleyway. Click here to checkout the reception venue and here to view the birthday dinner menu. 

a chowder full of health that ages quite well

Photo from the blog
the recipe is on.

I will leave you with a recipe for the weekend, because why would I stop talking about food now?! Unlike gelato, this is VERY healthy (and requires little to no chewing). Lately I have had a real hankering for two things; plain cheesecake and cauliflower. Thankfully, I found a recipe that caught my attention for a cauliflower dish before I found a cheesecake one when perusing Pinterest last weekend. I made it last Saturday and have eaten it all week. It definitely gets better as the days go on, though the cauliflower gets softer and softer, which I don't particularly have a problem with, but I know some people do. This soup would work pureed, which would also alleviate the texture issue with the super soft cauliflower. I also added a ton of black pepper because I love it, and omitted the bacon and garlic. Corn would taste amazing in this too, but if you decided to puree it I would add the corn afterwards. I always wonder just how much of a difference one dried little bay leaf makes - what is the deal with those things?! I have never come across a recipe that calls for more than one, but they have zero fragrance. Maybe I should take a bite out of one some day. Click here for the recipe.

I choose to chew and chew and chew and chew...

so slow...webs are forming

One of the ways I am trying to be healthier is by becoming a slow eater. I inhale food. If there was a contest for being the fastest eater, I would win by a landslide. It is going to be a hard habit to break, especially because I am starting off in the negative; my goal was to begin today and I was running so late this morning I had to skip breakfast (even though I pre-sliced all of my English muffins for a faster, more streamlined run around the kitchen) and then I realized at 1:30 p.m. I still hadn't eaten lunch and had an errand to run at 2:00, so you guessed it, I inhaled my salad, cottage cheese, and pineapple in under ten minutes. Ugh. This is going to be really hard. 

Someone I went to dance school with took this to an extreme (not surprising when talking about dancers and diets) and made an effort to chew every bite eighty times. She didn't eat with the rest of us because it took her so long - she ate by herself in the privacy of her dorm room. It honestly did wonders. She lost so much weight her face practically shrunk in half. I am not looking for anything that dramatic, I just want to eat a little less, get more nutrients out of my food, and actually taste my food (novel idea!) instead of mashing it up really quickly and swallowing. I am thinking about trying for a rate of twenty to thirty chews per bite. In researching this notion, I came across an eye-opening article and learned there are multiple benefits to eating slow. Click here to read the article, which is also where the photo above came from.   

fresh beats for warmer temps and a healthier lifestyle

Lucius - one fine looking band.

I tend to be more motivated about life when I have a few fresh jams to listen to. I re-listened to my Shazam queue last Friday night when I was home sitting in front of the fireplace with my husband. I ended up getting rid of most of the songs and questioned what I was thinking when I recorded the artist and title. Thankfully, I knocked it out of the park with three of the songs and purchased them yesterday. Normally I purchase single songs, but buying two of the three albums seemed like a better idea because of the price (< $10). In this day and age, I say if you can get a song for $.99 or $1.29 vs. an entire album for $7.99, buy the album! The three songs are below and I ended up buying Father John Misty and Lucius. Happy listening!

Father John Misty - Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)

Lucius - Turn It Around

Of Monsters and Men - Mountain Sound

  

take time for yourself and find some sunshine

I am using this as inspiration for my weekend and getting back on track with writing next week (and a whole slew of other things). Be safe, be happy, and breathe. (And thank you pinwheeldesigns for the image, quote, and inspiration.)

back to back travel plans with opposite weather

The miles and elevations of Lincoln Gap Road. The
Warren approach is left. The Lincoln approach is right.

We returned home last Monday from Florida and left again last Wednesday for Vermont. In other words, we went from seventy degrees to "feels like" negative double digits. I can't complain though because Vermont only felt that cold for a few short instances on our entire trip. In addition, having five full days with friends we get to see once a year (sometimes less) is nothing to whine about. Eleven of us shared a home we rented in Warren, Vermont. The home was more of a gigantic cabin than a house and was designed by the famous architect David Sellers. Not only does David design homes, he also designed Lincoln Lodge at Sugarbush and the Mad River Rocket - a sled he created. 

Our five days in winter paradise consisted of skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and sledding. A small group of us even drove north up to Burlington, so we could enjoy a Penny Cluse breakfast and a quick grocery run at City Market. The same group even made time for a hot buttered rum in front of the fireplace at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. The best part of the entire weekend (for me) was the sledding. I read about a guide service that drives you to Lincoln Gap Road - a road that is closed all snow season because of how much snow it receives. The grade is very steep (6%), making it impossible to keep clear and safe all winter, so the town shuts it down around the 2.7 mile marker (approaching from the Warren side, not Lincoln). We parked our car where the plowing ended and embarked on the mile plus hike straight to the top, gaining about one thousand feet in elevation. Then, we hopped on our sleds and sped down. We joked about going thirty to fifty miles per hour, and although I don't truly believe we were going that fast, there were times when we were flying. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. If you are in the area, make the trip and just keep walking up. Although it is steep, it is only a mile and you will get there sooner or later. The guide service charged fifty five dollars to provide a ride and a sled, but we did it all for free and had the time of our lives - a few of us brought our own sleds and conveniently enough, the homeowner had a few Mad River Rockets ready for our use at the cabin.

make this, make this, make this, make this

Taken from my desk.

This is going to be short and sweet and somewhat repetitive because I wrote about it yesterday, but I had to share because it is beautiful and delicious. This is a photo of today's soup. If you are sick of boring cold lunches, you should follow the recipe I posted yesterday and make this. Hello bright colors and warm bellies!

finally, a warm meal at work brought from home

I have always wanted to try making diy noodle soup for my lunch and finally found a recipe I was interested in. I did the grocery shopping for it this past weekend and was able to enjoy a bowl of hot deliciousness for my lunch today - no microwave needed! My husband and I are not fans of microwaves, which makes eating a warm meal at the office quite difficult. We have a toaster oven, but the line is always pretty long and I haven't thought of anything overly healthy to heat up in there that doubles as a filling and satisfying meal. 

I used a recipe off of the blog Serious Eats and put my soup together in a ball jar, but after making it today that seems a little unnecessary. Tomorrow I am going to bring a Tupperware of my ingredients (rice noodles that cook in three minutes, carrots, scallions, cooked mushrooms and spinach, chicken broth flavor, tahini, Bragg's liquid aminos, sriracha, and fresh ginger) and place them in a bowl. I will then add hot water to the bowl to let the noodles cook and the rest of the items warm up. This is genius and it honestly comes out tasting pretty delicious. The next time I make it I will think about throwing cubed tofu into the mix, but for now I am going to stick with the recipe as is. Click here to read the article from Serious Eats and get the recipe.

a product for red noses, rudolph stay away

We were at Whole Foods the other night and I was looking for a tub of petroleum jelly because I knew my nose would be red from all the blowing and of course, they didn't have it. The old tub we had, had an expiration date of 2010, so I threw it away a few months ago when I noticed it - big time oops. (Not really sure how it "expires" because it seemed fine to me, but I felt like it had to go with a date on it that was that old.) I haven't needed any for quite some time, but knew it would benefit me greatly to grab some when this little cold of mine began. 

Although Whole Foods didn't have the tub I was used to (typical), they did have Alba Un-Petroleum. I was hesitant to pay seven dollars for something I know costs one dollar in a "normal" grocery store , but I did it anyways...and I am loving it. Because the tube is shaped more like a bottle of suntan lotion, it is making me forget I am sick and instead, making me think I am laying on a chaise lounge in paradise basking in the sunshine. The smell was strange to me at first, but I am beginning to really like it. Being in such a cool bottle, it also makes me feel like I am using Neosporin, rather than a multi-purpose jelly. I love it and I am glad I was brave and decided to try it out. 

getting healthier and hydrating with tea

So, I have a cold. I hate it. I am so careful about germs (read: borderline germaphobe - okay full fledged really - but try loving clean and working in New York City), but something got through. It is only the sniffles, but I still hate it. I have been drinking a ton of tea & water, sleeping ten hours a night, and using a neti pot. I really dislike neti pots too, but they work...so I suffer through the uncomfortableness of water going up one nostril and coming out the other - so weird! 

The one thing that makes me the happiest when I'm sick is tea. We grew up drinking Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger when we were ill and when I drink it, it feels like home. (We also used to drink ginger ale with the bubbles stirred out, but that was just plain gross and I tried to block it from my memory.) I don't drink lemon zinger unless I am sick because it doesn't taste as good, or feel as healing. I can't wait to have a big cup of it tonight with my dinner. Bring on the health!