plated, blue apron, freshology, platejoy, and purple carrot

Mine looked just like that - I swear!

I have pretty mixed feelings about all of these new companies who deliver meals to your doorstep. Do I think it is a neat idea? Yes. Did I end up cooking and eating things I never before thought I could put together myself? Yes. Is it a complete waste of packaging materials and individual containers? Hell to the yes! Are the cooking times all perfectly accurate and on point? Hell to the no!

I recently had experiences using Plated and Blue Apron. I tested out both companies using a free promotion (normally it costs $59.99 for three meals that feed two people). While I do think that is on the higher side of my normal grocery totals, when I cook dinner for myself I tend to make large pots of soup I eat for four days. The meals I chose to receive from both companies included things like duck, pork, cod, and chicken - all of which I would never put into a soup...well, maybe chicken. My favorite meal was Asian Duck Tacos with Pickled Cucumbers from Plated. I actually cooked duck and it was delicious - like whoa! I was so proud of myself, but must admit I have yet to recreate the meal and have no definite plans to do so in the upcoming weeks. Something I learned when putting together the Blue Apron meals is that I like to use butter as a cooking base, as opposed to olive oil. I do not think vegetables need to be prepared with two tablespoons of oil - it is gross. A little melted butter goes a long way and if the pan begins to look dry, I add a little water.

While I was VERY proud of the final products - they literally look like gourmet meals, complete with spices, colors, and garnishes - I was so disappointed by the amount of waste they produce and how inaccurate the cooking times were. Not only do they come in huge, insulated cardboard boxes; every ingredient is in its own Ziploc bag, or container. It makes throwing things together pretty easy, but you end up with an enormous pile of trash once you're finished. I also have a bone to pick with them about cooking times. Most of the recipes I chose said twenty-five or thirty-five minutes - not the case! One of my meals literally took an hour and a half. While I wouldn't make a habit of ordering these, it is nice to splurge every once in a while and skip having to make a trip to the grocery store. They deliver to most cities at this point, so you should try it for yourself, or just search the websites for recipes and make them with your own grocery shopping at a fraction of the price. Click here to visit the Plated website and here to visit the Blue Apron website.

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.

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). 

plain and simple - it is pretty and made me happy

I'm not going to say much because I have a million things to do, but I wanted to share a photo I found this morning. It is the most beautiful photograph ever. Simply put, it is butter and flowers - what could be better? Click here to read the full article about upgrading butter with edible flowers from Food & Wine.

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.

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.

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 beautiful blog with a lot of delicious looking recipes

How good does the banana
cake look? Want. Now.

I probably shouldn't praise this blog and the recipes on it because I have yet to try one, but the end products look amazing and there are a lot of positive reviews...so here goes nothing! The blog is called The View from Great Island and I found it yesterday. The recipe for the Banana Cake with Spiced Butter-cream Frosting was what caught my eye, but it appears the blogger is also famous for her crumb bars. So, in addition to the banana cake, I pinned her cranberry, raspberry, and spiced pear crumb bars and cannot wait to try them. I think I am going to start with the cranberry ones and then branch out to the others. I am tempted to make the spiced pear ones because they are drizzled with a molasses glaze, but cranberries seem more wintry to me than pears. I also love recipes with minimal ingredients and the cranberry one is coming in with a total of six, while the pear one has a little more than double that. I am not sure I will find time to make them before the holiday is upon us, but these are next in line in the baking queue. Click here to visit the blog.

a botanically large berry in my smoothie

I made my first smoothie with an avocado this past weekend. It was quite good. It didn't end up green because it had blueberries in it and blue always seems to take over other colors. In addition to those two ingredients I added mango, pineapple, lemon ginger echinacea juice, and almond milk. It was hearty and healthy. I should have thrown in a handful of spinach or kale, but we didn't have any available. I really need to find the balance of healthy smoothie and sugary overdose smoothie - we want to steer clear from the latter, obviously. I was thinking about looking for acai packets at Whole Foods while I was there, but although it brings health, (I think) it would also bring more sugar. Ugh. The thought to add cayenne pepper crossed my mind too, but it didn't seem like the best fit in the world. I was scared to take too big of risk because I wanted to make it and begin my day. I made my smoothie to go and I drank it while I ran my Sunday morning errands. My Saturday was very lazy, like the laziest I have been in months, and I was very motivated to get something done on Sunday. If you have avocado laying around, throw it on in. I was impressed.

a meal with strangers...who may become friends

My photo of the event.

We had a beautiful event this past Saturday on the High Line. It was called the Social Soup Experiment. It was a community event put on by my place of business (Friends of the High Line) that happened in two sittings with two hundred people at each. The idea was to get people from all different walks of life at two very long tables all sharing soup, bread, apples, and water - family style. It was so nice to be a part of it and quite lovely looking, even if I did have to work on a Saturday. Although it was my first, it was the fourth annual soup event held. It was also the first year there were two sittings. Each year a different chef is brought in and instructed to produce a vegan soup to be shared by all who join. This year's chef is called Marco Canora and he made a ribollita, which can be described as a Tuscan minestrone. They handed out recipe cards (of course I grabbed one) and after making a stop at our favorite farm-stand once I landed back in New Jersey, I put his creation together myself. I substituted dinosaur kale for the black cabbage, omitted the celery, and cut almost everything in at least half (measurement wise). Although mine didn't come out looking exactly like his, it is delicious and will provide me with a warm hearty meal for my dinners this week. Click here for the recipe.

a healthy salad for the fall season

Not my photo, but it came out
looking just like this.

I did all of my grocery shopping for the week on Saturday and spent Saturday night putting together my salads and soup for the week. (Still haven't made that damn butternut squash pasta - too heavy of a meal on these sixty and seventy degree days.) I had a bowl of my soup last night for dinner and my salad for lunch today. I highly recommend trying both recipes, though this post is only about the salad - a Kale Salad with Butternut Squash. The recipe calls for almonds, but I don't normally like nuts in my food. Instead of massaging the kale to soften it, like the Chopped Kale Salad from June's post, this recipe calls for cooking the kale in a touch of olive oil for one to two minutes. I love this idea and it makes the kale much easier to eat. I didn't make the dressing it calls for because I ran out of time this morning (typical) and instead, topped it with apple cider vinegar - good thinking and much quicker. I am going to put the dressing from the recipe together tonight, but imagine it will be delicious - can't really go wrong with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, and shallot. This is a filling meal that is quite healthy. It utilizes fresh and in-season produce and requires minimal ingredients. I think you should make it. Click here for the recipe.

a winter-y dish for a summer-y weekend

This is the photo from Bon Appetit.

I don't like sharing recipes before I actually try them out, but I am determined to make this over the weekend and (maybe) if I threaten it via social media it will actually happen. (If it doesn't happen I will make it next weekend instead.)  You are looking at a winter squash carbonara with pancetta and sage. We have fresh sage from our dear friend's garden and I want to use it. I am going to follow the recipe exactly (because let's face it - I cannot cook, I can bake) and use butternut squash. Enjoy your weekend and wish me luck!  Click here for the recipe.

drinking to health and getting back to reality

Orange water photo
from the blog.

I am physically back at work and have returned home from our vacation/wedding madness, but mentally I am still in Maine going for morning runs on the beach and having romantic dinners with my husband. The transition from play to work has been less than desirable, especially because work is going at seven thousand miles per hour. (More to come on work details because it is so exciting that it deserves its own post.) 

This was one of those breaks where I needed a vacation after my vacation. The weddings we attended were absolutely wonderful, but they were party time USA and I am old and don't quite bounce back from multiple days of celebrating like I used to. What's ironic is the in-between time we spent on the beach in Maine was some of the most relaxing time I have had in months. I was definitely envisioning myself coming back well-rested and refreshed, but I am dragging. I had a very unhealthy day of eating on Sunday, but am trying to get back to health as each day passes. Today I came across an article from The Fresh Blog that will help further steer me in the direction of health and wellness. It outlines different ways of using fruit, herbs, and spices to jazz up your daily drinking water. I am subscribing to this immediately. Click here to read the full article and cheers to health!

a cinnamon-y and cheesy homemade dessert

That's my cheesecake!

I always get tempted to write about my upcoming recipe experiments before the weekend, but I never want to waste your time with something that doesn't come out good. So instead, I make myself wait, put together whatever I have on the menu, serve it, wait for responses, and then write about it. I blogged about the spritzers because I had made them before and they received rave reviews. My visitors this weekend really loved them too. Make the spritzers, damn it. And while you are at it, make this for dessert. It is called Snickerdoodle Cheesecake (Snickie D Cheese C in my sister's world of abbreviations) and it is muy delicioso. It was not very difficult to put together either - only a few ingredients and minimal dishes/clean-up. I also cooked it for ten minutes longer than it says - wait for your home to smell like shortbread goodness before you take it out of the oven. I would have preferred to have it already made before my guests arrived, but my last two weeks have been so crazy and packed with plans that I ended up making it while they were there on Friday night and we ate it Saturday. It was good, no great. I sometimes forget how much I love cheesecake and this made me remember. Click here for the recipe. Bon appétit!

a refreshing, easy-to-make summer delight

Marty Stew's photo,
not mine.

I experimented with a new drink a few weeks ago when some friends were visiting from South Carolina. I had been a little intimidated to make it, but my intimidation proved to not be very warranted. It was SO easy and absolutely delicious. The drink is a peach and rosemary spritzer and it is a glorious cocktail to make for the summer. It also makes the house smell amazing. I am having a few friends down this weekend and am going to cook up the syrup tonight. I like that it is a spritzer and not a vodka drink. I don't do well with vodka, unless of course it is in a White Russian. I also used rose wine, not white - loving rose this summer! The rosemary peach is a great combination, but we were also trying to think of other options - strawberry and basil, pineapple and cilantro...the list could go on and on. Click here for the recipe, and don't be scared like I was. Here's to a wonderful weekend with friends and good food & drink. Be safe and enjoy! xo  

an easy, stackable to go lunch

Seriously, use smoked
mozzarella. It is the best ever.

The lunch I was supposed to make for myself all week, was the same lunch I ate all last week. That is what I do - I find something I really enjoy, eat it every day, get sick of it, and never want it again. It really works out well. This particular lunch requires five ingredients and warning - you have to like mushrooms. The ingredients are lettuce (I use mixed greens), portobella mushroom caps, a large tomato, a ball of fresh mozzarella (I used smoked and it was delish), and dressing. I cooked up the portobellas all in one night and stored them in a Tupperware in the fridge. Each night I would pack a container full of mixed greens, lay a mushroom on top, two slices of tomato, and four slices of mozzarella. It really couldn't be easier. I wait until the following morning to put dressing on. For the beginning of last week I used a fig vinaigrette. For the end of last week I used honey mustard. I couldn't believe how good the honey mustard tasted. It was actually filling too, even without a buttered roll or carb accompaniment of some sort. Great lunch idea!  

a lighter dinner option that is egg(plant)-cellent

Not my photo, but it
really comes out
looking that good.

I have been eating 'veggie' during the week and I feel like a million bucks (meat on weekends!). This week I made myself dinner using a recipe from an old coworker for Sweet and Sour Eggplant Naan with Yogurt and Herbs. It is the best ever and it is so easy, assuming you have most of the ingredients in your pantry already. As usual, I omit a few items - garlic, poblano chili, and tarragon (too black licorice-like, yuck). My sister does not like that I omit the garlic, but I am careful about how much garlic I eat because of the smell. I also like roasting an entire bulb and eating it over bread when I feel like I am coming down with something - I feel like not eating it all of the time makes it pack an even bigger punch. I love spicy food, but the first time I made this I didn't have a chili on hand and I think it is great without it. Not sure how it tastes with...

It is a one pot wonder (as they say), so clean-up is also a breeze - another very important aspect of cooking for me. I buy the naan bread in a two-pack from Whole Foods and it is small enough to fit in our toaster, which makes a big difference during the summer because the oven does not need to be turned on. This time I also didn't add any herbs to the Greek yogurt mixture, just kept it simply yogurt and lemon. I thought about adding hot sauce to it the other night, but decided against it. This recipe lasted me three dinners, not four as it states, but I eat large portions so that's to be expected. Click here for the recipe, which oddly enough came from the Wall Street Journal.    

sub time, sub time, sub, sub, sub time

(And we are back to food.) I really knocked it out of the park this past weekend with our beach picnic. It was my first time getting everything ready myself; my husband was traveling for work and we had a friend, a sister, and a cousin visit. I did a pretty good job with portions and number of supplies - no one went hungry or thirsty, and I even remembered trash bags. The beach we go to is carry-in/carry-out and for some reason we have a hard time remembering them. This weekend I not only had a trash bag; I had a recycling bag too. Glorious on all accounts.  

I was torn on what to make for our lunch. Pasta salad crossed my mind, but that requires utensils and plates or bowls. I would have loved to buy grinders (subs), but the plan was to leave the house at 9:00 a.m. and the only place that sells sandwiches at that hour is the gas station. Apparently Wawa sandwiches are fantastic, but I have an issue with buying food at a gas station - not happening, unless I am desperate. I took some time last Friday to scour the interwebs for a sub recipe and found the perfect one. The recipe called for making one huge sandwich on a full loaf of Italian bread (and cutting it into slices), but I made sandwiches with our favorite rolls that came from a nearby Jersey Italian bakery. They are the perfect rolls. The recipe came from the Food Network and resulted in a classic Italian sub. I did not add onions or pepperoncini. I also did not add capicola because the grocery store did not have any, and thankfully the ham, genoa salami, and mortadella were perfect together. I also omitted the oregano, and brushed on the olive oil and red wine vinegar with a silicone brush. I used mixed greens too, instead of iceberg lettuce. They came out really well and tasted like the subs we used to buy at our favorite Italian restaurant that is now a pile of dirt and rocks (bye, bye Ciao Babies). Thank goodness I figured out how to make them on my own. Click here for the recipe.