Recipe Box: Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

May 18, 2016 by kpjenn

It’s been raining. For forever. Everything is wet and cold and terrible.

Consequently, I feel super unmotivated kind of all the time and basically hibernation seems like the best option.

I need summer, badly. I’m starting to feel like a slug.

So, to feel better, I bake. Last weekend was the last concert of my choir’s season and I volunteered to bring one of my favorite sweet treats: Salted Caramel Cookie Bars. I discovered this recipe last summer and it’s become one of my go-tos for birthdays and special occasions.

Let’s break it down really quick: layer of chocolate chip cookie dough, layer of salted caramel, layer of cookie dough.

These bars are ridiculous. On their own, the cookie bars would be delicious, but adding the layer of caramel is some next level ish. (And then, when you’re done with the bowl that you melted the caramel in, you can make whipped cream in it with your leftover heavy cream, and then your whole life will be magic. Because caramel flavored whipped cream.)

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips
10 ounces caramel candy squares, unwrapped
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Sea salt, for sprinkling over caramel and bars
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray an 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. In a large microwave safe bowl, combine the caramels and heavy cream. Microwave caramels on High until caramels are melted, stirring every 20 seconds. This will take about 2 minutes, depending on your microwave.

5. Divide the cookie dough in half. Press half of the cookie dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula. Pour hot caramel over the cookie dough. Sprinkle caramel with sea salt. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over the caramel and spread dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle the bars with additional sea salt.

6.Bake cookie bars for 30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

Quest Nutrition: Our Two Cents

May 9, 2016 by kpjenn

Last month, Quest Nutrition announced a new initiative: QuestLabs – a space to share new products with customers while they are still in the development stage.

As a member of Quest Labs, you’re an essential part of our innovation process. This privilege comes with many benefits, including access to products that haven’t been released to the public, plus the ability to help us continue to improve through your feedback. You’re now a stakeholder in Quest and it’s an honor to work with you. Welcome to Quest Labs!

As a fan of Quest protein bars and protein powder, I knew I wanted to get in on this, so Clay and I ordered a few of the test products to try…

Protein Bar

Clay: It’s Quest. They’re perfect. Nothing new here.

Kyle: Hahaha. Well, yes. That’s about it. I’ve been using Quest protein bars for a couple of years now and I love them. Lots of flavors, low in sugar and carbs, high in protein. Great for a pre-workout snack, these are often my breakfast go-to for a long run. The new flavors released here were Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Rocky Road and Blueberry Muffin. Though it was difficult to pick a favorite, I think I have to give this one to Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. I would like more of this immediately.
Crunch Bar

Clay: A really nice offering that steers away from the typical protein bar platform. I dislike that Quest advertises “3g of net carbs” on the front. Carbs are carbs, and these guys come in at 18g of carbs per bar. 10g of sugar isn’t enough to be too concerned with, and it really helps in the flavor department. 12g of protein help round out the macro portfolio, along with 4g of fat.

To me, these feel confused. They don’t know if they want to be a protein bar, or an energy bar. With that, it’s hard to categorize them. That said, these are delicious. The texture is light and crunchy, and the typical “whey” taste of protein products is non-existent. The Waffle bar offered vanilla and maple syrup notes, along with a VERY realistic Belgian waffle flavor.

As a whole, I think these will do great serving its purpose as a mid-day snack, or a grab and go breakfast option.

Kyle: We differ here – the “net carb” issue is one that has been long debated, and while I’m generally trying to cut back on my carbs as a whole, the 18g here (and the 15g of fiber) don’t much bother me. Mostly because I would eat this in the morning and that’s when I like to have my carb heavy meals anyways.

These also call to mind other “cereal and milk” bars that are on the market now, but these succeed in being much healthier. Thumbs up, Quest.

End of story: These things were awesome. We tried Waffle and Peanut Butter Chocolate and I would like both of those in my life frequently.

Keto Cup

Kyle: So – I’m going to say that these babies were delicious. They come in four different flavors: vanilla creme, chocolate fudge, mint and peanut butter. And as products that are meant to fit a loose ketogenic diet, they are high in fat. Clay will get more into what keto is and why he takes issue with these, but I’m going to tell you that as a treat? These are awesome. I’m not following a ketogenic diet, but I do like to make sure I get enough fat in during the day. I also have a major sweet tooth. Usually this results in me wanting cookies. Or brownies. Or both. At the same time. Unfortunately, those things are sugar bombs and make me feel gross after too many.

Keto Cups seem to fill that hole nicely. I would have one cup (a serving is two) a day when I felt like I needed a little treat, and I was surprised at how good they were! Thank you, fat, for packing in the flavor!

Ultimately, these won’t make it into a regular rotation, but I could see this product being an “every once in a while” treat.

Clay: Oh boy. Here we go. First, I would like to say that these are all opinions based on MY fitness and nutritional goals. Everyone’s mileage varies, so please keep that in mind.

I will preface by saying that I LOATHE health and wellness marketing. “Lose 10 lbs in 10 days!” “Get shredded in a month with fat burners!” “Guaranteed to add 40 lbs of mass!” While not complete lies, it is certainly misleading. They never add the whole “smart workouts and smarter dieting is required” part. It leads to bad body image, disappointment, and ultimately leaves an inexperienced individual feeling like they don’t want to come back to fitness. While Quest didn’t take it this far, there are still questionable marketing techniques in the name.

The Keto Cup.

First, the facts. A whopping 26g of fat, with 11g of carbs, and 7g of protein. It’s definitely a snack based on ketosis, the act of forcing your body to use fat for energy instead of carbs. The diet is a bodybuilding staple that allows for high caloric intakes, while still dropping body fat. The old phrase “fat doesn’t make you fat, carbs and sugar do,” is the general idea of Keto dieting.

Quest named it that to hit a place that doesn’t exist in the market. Low-carb sweets. The flavors are essentially Reese’s cup, Oreo, Thin Mint, and chocolate. My issue is that I doubt anyone actually Keto dieting wants a snack that has 11g of carbs. That’s extremely high for something not in a meal. Low carb? Sure. Call it that! Keto? No. Dieting for ketosis is difficult, requires an incredible amount of discipline, and instead of marketing a diet friendly product, it feels like Quest has made a mockery of the ketosis process. Long story short, while Keto is low in carbs, low in carbs does NOT automatically mean Keto. Keto Cups are just that. A low carb, high fat alternative to candy. They taste great, and have a nice macro profile for a NORMAL low-carb diet, but not for a Keto diet. Even on refeed days, Keto dieters seek more “real food” carbs than this can deliver. Solid product, misleading name. Quest’s marketing team made the product leave a bad taste in my mouth on this one.

To lighten things up a bit, I did really like these. I will definitely eat them again. I maintain a fairly low carb diet, and these will help with the sweet tooth cravings. They are absolutely delicious. When I go on a hard cut, where reaching a state of ketosis is the goal, they will be removed from the diet. Again, this is all based on YOUR goals for YOUR body. My issue is not with the product, but the branding.

Conclusion:

We both really like Quest products and I think we’re excited to see the ways the company is branching out. It will be interesting to which of these things make it to mass market production – QuestLabs has a great customer forum going, where folks are offering their reviews, and I think they genuinely care about what we have to say.

Note: The opinions offered above are our own – we were not offered any compensation or free products by Quest.

Why I Hate “Cheat” Days

April 25, 2016 by kpjenn

You know what phrase I actually hate? “Cheat Day.”

Why?

Because “cheating” connotes bad behavior. Cheating says to me that you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing. Cheating implies that the food that you’re eating is bad and wrong and you should have to rationalize when you allow yourself to have it.

That’s messed up.

Or at least it is from a “I want to eat healthy and look fit but maintain a healthy relationship with food” perspective.

It’s a real struggle to meal plan every week, prep healthy lunches for work, count macros and ensure that my body is getting enough protein, fat and carbs to fuel my workouts (and my life). It’s also a struggle when I’ve eaten the same thing for lunch for three weeks and dinners have consisted of salads and chicken. Or salads and turkey burgers. Or X meat + Y vegetable… and all I’m looking for is a little pleasure in the food I’m eating.

In order to make sure I don’t start hating food, or seeing it merely as a tool, I make room for those “bad” things. Like this weekend – my boyfriend has worked for nearly a month straight, we’ve had little time together in the evenings after the gym before we both collapse with exhaustion, and every weekend has been busy, between travel, work and other commitments. We both needed a break.

Rather, first we needed sleep. Then we needed a break.

Breakfast of Champions

So, Saturday was an unplanned rest day. No alarms. Slept until 10:30. Woke up, got donuts, toodled around running some errands and doing a little shopping, picked up some used books, and then had an amazing date night on the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria. And THEN we got ice cream.

Not once throughout the day did I think “oh man, I feel so gross.” Or “I should have worked out today” – because I know that 1. I work hard enough every other day that one (or two) days off in a row is necessary. 2. My body has been so tired for the past week that my workouts have been lackluster at best. I’d rather be rested and healthy in the gym than tired and dragging. 3. I really like donuts and ice cream and my boyfriend, and enjoying those things together just made my soul feel lighter.

I love this guy. I love him even more than I love donuts and ice cream.

Basically, what I’m saying is that 80% of the time, my diet is very much dialed in to my fitness goals. But 20% of the time, my diet looks different, but still dialed in to those goals. Because ultimately, I know I can’t achieve the gainz or the pr’s I want if I’m not feeling my best and I’m not happy. Stress and fatigue are killers. And a disordered relationship with food only exacerbates those things.

So, yes. This weekend, we were off the meal plan wagon. But do I feel like I cheated? Not even a little bit. Taking care of your body also means taking care of your whole self – and my whole self feels a lot better after a weekend away from schedules and details and obligations and plans.

Recipe Box: Cauli Cream

October 28, 2015 by vfreile

Leafing through Wegmans’ Menu magazine last month, I came across one recipe that intrigued me: Cauli “Cream.”

For years I’ve avoided creamy dishes because heavy cream-based sauces don’t agree with me. Cauli cream would be a simple, non dairy cream substitute that would allow me to finally attempt to make some sort of alfredo dish.

I ran to Wegmans and bought the ingredients, including a head of cauliflower for $3. I chopped it up.

Following the simple recipe, I made the vegan cream alternative in about an hour, first boiling the cauliflower, then blending it into a puree.

Here’s what you need:

10 cups of water

Juice of two lemons

2 tsp. salt, divided

1 cauliflower, 3 lbs, trimmed, cored and cut into florets

Heat the water, lemon juice and 1 tsp. salt in a large pot. Bring to boil. Add cauliflower and return to simmer (med-low heat). Cook until fork-tender (it took my stove about 30 minutes.)

Cauliflower florets are simmering.

Transfer cauliflower to a colander. Retain cooking water in pot. Let cauliflower sit at least 10 minutes in colander.

Steaming cauliflower and my ancient blender.

If you have a good blender, add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cooking water, about half the cauliflower and 1 tsp. salt to blender. Puree until smooth. Remove most of puree from blender and add remaining cauliflower. Puree until smooth and combine batches, mix.

My blender is less than stellar, so I do mine in about 6-8 half-cup batches. Not ideal, but it works.

I separate into 1 cup servings and use immediately in another recipe, or freeze.

All ready to go!

I made a few dishes with this, all courtesy Wegmans: cauli cream corn chowder (we gave it a B), cauli cream pesto pasta with broccoli and tomatoes (Hubs gave this an A+ and I’ve made it twice already, using fresh broccoli) and cauli cream truffle pasta, using kale (solid B+)

I hope you love this easy and healthy recipe as much as I do!

Now, who can recommend a decent blender?

It’s apple-picking season!

October 19, 2015 by vfreile

While many folks swoon over pumpkin-flavored everything when the weather turns cooler, I’m always crushing on everything apple.

Perhaps its because I live in New York – land of apples. Heck, the state’s main city is known as the BIG APPLE. Fresh cider, honeycrisp apples straight from my favorite local farm stand and baked crisp are my mainstays.

A variety of apples are on display at Schutt’s Apple Mill, just a few miles form my house. Their cider is ah-maz-ing.

For me, fall is more than an excuse for leaf-peeping and the return of sweater season. It means I get to pick apples.

Get to? What’s that?

LOTS of MacIntosh apples. I picked bushels and barely made a dent in this tree.

Picking apples tops my list of favorite fall activities, but I rarely head to a touristy apple farm to do so. Sure, those are fun, but not my cup of tea. Thanks to my in-laws, I get to pick all the apples I could ever dream of picking in our own backyard.

Each fall, I drive to downstate to help my husband’s father pick apples. The family orchard is on a retired dairy farm in the Catskills. Sometimes apple-collecting is a family outing and other times, its a solo gig.

I know its a chore, but to me picking apple after apple is heaven. I pluck one after another from the tree, careful not to pull too hard and bring dozens more to the ground. (or bouncing off my head- yes, that’s happened….many times.) Sometimes I even climb into the bucket of the backhoe and pick from the top of the tree.

Picking from the bucket in 2012

Last week, I filled crate after crate from two blossoming trees on the farm. Several hours and eight bushels later I had yet to run out of steam, but I absolutely ran out of containers. Sigh.

Apples picked at the farm are pressed into cider, fermented and made into apple wine, turned into delectable applesauce, crisp or homemade pies. Most of the time, I just eat them as is. These apples are completely organic. No pesticides, no sprays.

our bounty

Last week, my father-in-law taught me his coveted recipe. I made one last week for company, and other today. Delicious! The trick is to use a variety of apples.

Have you gone apple-picking this season? Where do you go? Do you pick from the tree or buy by the bushel? What’s your favorite way to use freshly-picked apples? Tell me in the comments!

Cooking & Prepping & Eating, It Must Be Fall!

September 21, 2015 by Jennifer

You guys, fall arrives this week! Are you ridiculously excited and on your eleventh Pumpkin Spice Latte? I know, me too! Which is unusual for me, spring is my favorite season followed by summer. Something is different this year, though. With the cooler nights and my garden producing its late-planted bounty, I’ve been cooking and meal prepping and eating A LOT. I thought I’d share my recent escapades and ask for you to share with me; I’m on the hunt for an amazing pumpkin scone recipe.

Our first garden ever!

For the record, I’m not a great cook but I’m a passable cook. Yes, it’s hard to admit that. I recently told my husband that for me, hearing him make yummy sounds over my cooking is just as important as hearing him make other sounds when, well…you know. It’s a pride thing.

These Spaghetti Squash Fiesta Bowls are a current favorite!

He did make some fantastic yummy sounds when I made my great grandmother’s banana bread recipe for the first time this week. I had never attempted Grandma Maxine’s family favorite but my mom and aunt had with limited success, theirs didn’t turn out as moist as grandma’s. Since I had some ripe (but not super ripe) bananas around, I mustered up the courage to give it a go. I must say it turned out as close to grandma’s as we’ve tasted in 15 years since her passing.

Add the buttermilk when you add the egg and oil.

Looks pretty perfect if I do say so myself.

I’ve been experimenting with meal prep, too. The evenings are so short, and when we’re busy we tend to grab what’s easy. The solution in my house is to make healthy easy stuff we can grab. Well, relatively healthy anyway. I figure if I can at least cut out the preservatives and fake food factor that comes with packaged convenience foods, it’s an improvement. Homemade pizza is always a winner in my house so when I make it, I make a double batch and freeze half of it. Each batch makes two generous sized personal pizzas, and we can each put whatever toppings we want on them. I let the dough rise once, punch it down and put it in a Ziploc freezer back. It may continue to rise a little in the freezer but that’s okay. The night before we want pizza again, I pull out the dough and thaw it in the fridge. When I come home from work I pull out the dough, punch it down, roll it out, and viola! Works like a charm every time.

I like mine with pesto, fresh basil, goat cheese crumbles, and bacon !

My husband LOVES breakfast burritos, and I always seem to run out of time to pack a lunch. I decided to try making my own breakfast and lunch microwave burritos. For breakfast (disclaimer, NOT healthy), I scrambled eggs, made ranch potatoes, fried up some bacon and shredded some cheese. For lunch, I browned some ground turkey and seasoned it with a packet of organic burrito seasoning. I cooked some brown rice with red chili powder and seasoned salt, and used a can of black beans and a can of corn. After building the burritos, I wrapped them in cellophane and then in foil before putting them in a gallon freezer bag for storage in the freezer. In the morning, they are ready to pull out and toss into our lunch bags. These may not be the most healthy burritos ever, but you can certainly experiment with whatever ingredients you like. I feel better knowing exactly what’s in my burrito, and it’s better than going to the Wendy’s one block from my office which seems to happen way more than it should.

You’ll have to pry bacon from my cold, dead hands.

We add the salsa and hot sauce on the side. Because I’m a wimp.

I’m freezing all the raspberries I harvest from our bushes to make jam, and my mom gave me a TON of Roma tomatoes for making and canning sauce. I have enough zucchini to for fritters and ratatouille, bread and frittatas. I’m determined to use my bread machine constantly this winter. I feel oddly self-sufficient. We’re saving money and I’m being incredibly domestic. Taking a more active role in where my food is coming from and making as much homemade food as I can has been very rewarding so far. Next on the agenda, homemade pasta!

What is your go-to meal prep option? Do you find prepping helps you stay on track with your nutrition goals? Have a favorite recipe to share? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Freekeh Foods review and giveaway

August 21, 2015 by vfreile

Food and I have a love-hate relationship.

I’m a picky eater, though far less picky than I was years ago. Ask my husband (and Mer). I often look at a multi-page menu and snap it shut without seeing one item I’m interested in eating. I won’t consume just for the calories. I want to really enjoy my meal.

I love veggies, wheat bread, seafood, creme brulee and coffee. Most other foods? We’re friends, but meh. I could take or leave most of them. Then there’s beef, potatoes, raspberries and coleslaw. Thanks, but no thanks.

Lately, I’ve been playing with my grains – Bismati rice, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, cous cous, quinoa. I swap them out and combine them with random veggies a la my fridge. So I was thrilled when FitApproach and SweatPink offered the chance for me to try and review a new-to-me product, Freekeh Foods, a Minnesota-based company that launched in 2012.

Freekeh is an ancient grain that according to legend, was created by accident by accident young wheat fields in a Middle Eastern village were set ablaze. In an attempt to salvage damaged crops, villagers rubbed away the burnt chaff and found that the roasted kernels inside were delicious.

Freekeh (pronounced Free-kuh) is an organic, wheat-based grain, so note that it is NOT gluten-free.

Here are some other takeaways:

Freekeh is simple to make – on your stovetop or in a rice cooker. Add water and let it simmer.
It’s flavorful, with a slightly nutty flavor and chewy texture.
It’s high in fiber and protein and has fewer calories than quinoa and white rice.
it’s versatile for use in a variety of recipes, as part of a main dish or side dish.
Each 8 ounce package costs $4 (and includes four servings.) A case of six packages retails around $14.50.

I whipped the flavored package as a side (and um, forgot to take a pic, sorry!)

But I got a bit more creative with seasonal veggies when I tested the original flavor of Freekeh.

The result? Delicious.

I mixed my package of original Freekeh Foods with onion, zuccini and 2 ears of sweet corn, ground turkey and butter beans, 2 Tbsp. of cumin and a bit of salt and pepper.

In the works

The final product! YUM

Like what you see? You have the chance to win one package of Freekeh Foods (winner can pick between original, rosemary sage or tamari) AND a cookbook, which retails at $14.95. U.S. residents only please.

Click here or the below graphic to enter the giveaway, which runs though Aug. 30. Good luck!

Freekeh Foods though FitApproach provided Freekeh for me to try. No compensation was given outside the samples for this post. All words, opinons and cooking skills are my own. Prizes will be sent directly from Freekeh Foods.

Keeping It Local, Part 2

July 17, 2015 by bec2point0

So, last week, we talked about different places you can go to get local produce; farms, farmer’s markets, community gardens. But, if those aren’t options in your area, there are some other options. Namely, CSAs/Produce Delivery and home gardening.

Now, none of are currently participating in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share, but it’s an idea we fully support. CSAs have some risk, in that if the crops don’t do as well as expected, your return on investment might not be as high. But, a worthy risk in that it supports your local agricultural system. And fun bonus? You’ll get to know fruits and veggies you’ve never met before (some of which look like aliens. I’m looking at you, kohlrabi.)

The newest thing in local produce seems to be delivery. We’ve got chicks on both coasts getting boxes of fresh veg!

Cam

When we first started this quest toward healthy eating, we were looking into joining a CSA. During my investigation, I stumbled across Farm Fresh to You, a home delivery company that drops farm fresh veggies and fruits directly on your doorstep. You can pick how big of a box you need, when, where, and how often it’s delivered, and you can even look up online exactly which farm your food is coming from.

Box of awesomeness

I love, love, love being able to customize my box, especially because there are a bunch of picky eaters in this house.

It’s just what I wanted!

I also love that every Tuesday morning there’s a box on my doorstep, because, well, I’m busy (read lazy) and I really hate grocery shopping.

As an added bonus, there’s always a couple recipes included with the invoice that incorporates produce you picked for your box. How considerate is that?!?

Bec

Listen, I’d love to have a home garden, but my thumb is as black as tar. I am barely keeping the basil plant in the window alive at this point. So, what’s a busy (and gardening challenged) lady like myself to do when I want fresh produce?

Get it delivered!

It’s like a present!

Like Cam, I can customize my basket. I can substitute out things I don’t like, and I can add on things like fresh eggs and bread. And bacon, I’m just saying.

BREAD

The absolute best nectarines in the world

The bananas aren’t local, but they are organic. And bananas go like hotcakes, and sometimes go in hotcakes, around my house.

As much as I’d love to do a CSA, this is my preferred method of supporting my local growing community. Each week, they tell me where all my produce comes from, and give some recipes for the lesser know veggies. Like these…

Garlic scapes. If garlic grew in heaven, it would look, and taste, like this.

And there’s no risk. I can cancel for the week when I go on vacation, or take a break from delivery if I’m not going to be home to cook much for a while. If you can find a produce delivery company in your area, I highly recommend checking it out!

We do have a couple of green thumbs in our group, though!

Vic

Hubs and I love to garden. We have a full acre and typically plant a 25 foot-by-25-foot garden in the backyard each spring. Hubs grew up on a farm and harvesting a garden each year is among his favorite activities.

Zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, green beans and parsley are our favorites. Just ask the neighborhood rabbits…and squirrel…and deer.

Vic’s luscious garden midsummer in its prime. We snapped this one in 2011, before the critters became so brazen.

Until we add a substantial fence, we decided not to plant. It’s a lot of work for few results in recent years, so we decided to table it this year.

“What’s the definition of insanity?” my husband asked. “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

It was a tough call, but it’s where we are just now. To get our fresh veggie fix, we head regularly to Rochester’s Public Market or my beloved Wegmans for delicious, local produce. And our dear neighbor has been generous enough to share his CSA share with us. We loved what we’ve tried (SNAP PEAS!!!) and find it fabulous that each share was in the ground just hours before we cart it home.

Snap peas, (my favorite!), lettuce, Swiss chard and other greens in a shared CSA haul from Vic’s neighbor.

If we don’t have our fence installed by next spring, we’ll definitely be signing up for the CSA!

Jenn

Fresh food options in my local vicinity are much harder to find than one might assume. My area is very agricultural, and generally, pretty active and health conscious. My little town has a farmers market, but it seems to be one-half food and one-half handmade crafts, and I’m not talking about honey or jam.

Not much going on here, folks.

No one delivers out here in the not so boonies so a CSA or organic service are not options. I could get in my car and drive 10 miles east to buy the freshest seasonal fare, but that seems like it’s missing the point. I heard on NPR that eating local meant eating food that comes from within a 10 miles radius of your home. There’s a Whole Foods three miles from my office, but at my house we call it Whole Paycheck. If we wanted to eat organic and healthy and conveniently, there was one solution left.

Welcome to my home garden! I’ve never gardened before. I really have no idea what I’m doing and am relying on my husband because he has some experience in this realm of food growing. First, we built raised bed boxes.

I got to use a hammer and drill!

Next, we scored some fantastic compost from a local farm for TEN BUCKS. My husband and I were ridiculously excited about it and repeatedly called it beautiful.

Yep, we were happy as two pigs shoveling this…stuff.

Then, we ran to Home Depot to buy some plants and seeds. Since it’s late in the season, we focused on fall harvest plants. We also did some homework on companion planting and had a loose plan before going shopping. We decided on cucumber, zucchini, three kinds of peppers, carrots, broccoli, a blueberry bush, a slew of herbs, and bed dedicated to bee-attracting wildflowers.

The berries have grown SO MUCH already this season!

We’re planted! Not start growing, plants!

I’m SO excited to see how this works out and hope that in a few weeks, I can just go in the backyard to pick my salad greens and smoothie berries. I bet they will be the best greens and berries in the history of ever!

Do you garden? Get produce delivery? Have a CSA share? Tell us about it! And next week, we’ll give one last look into how we eat local. Enjoy!

A Month Without Moo

July 13, 2015 by bec2point0

If anyone had told me I’d go a full month without eating dairy, I would have laughed at them. Loudly. I mean, I’m the girl who turned Whole 30 into Whole 4, just because I couldn’t live without cream in my coffee. I am the girl who ~~considers~~…~~considere~~d….considers cheese and ice cream two four food groups (the other two being bacon and coffee). I mean, a life without Ben & Jerry’s? That’s no life at all.

But, I did it. Actually, to be exact, tomorrow it will be 40 days without dairy. And I’m still here to talk about it. So, I figured I’d talk about it!

First off, let me give a shoutout to everyone who chimed in with tips when I originally posted about going dairy-free. The Daiya cheesecake, man. Completely fab.

Cheesecake aside, I’ve eaten some truly delicious stuff in the last month (and a few things that I’d rather not remember), so since you guys were kind enough to share with me, I’m going to share some of the highlights with you.

Straight out of the gate, I knew ice cream was going to be one of the hardest things for me to stay away from. So I didn’t! It’s summerm after all. And, there are a ton of dairy-free ice cream alternatives out there. I tried a lot of them. Some, I threw out, because ewwww. The most popular dairy-replacement right now is coconut, which is awesome if you love coconut, which I do. BUT, not every flavor complements coconut. Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut ice cream was a hard pass. It just wasn’t right. But, the FOMU (get it? haha!) Bourbon Maple Walnut? Divine. Seriously, see if you can get this near you, and if not, they’ll ship all over the U.S. (If you truly hate coconut, So Delicious Cashew Milk Salted Caramel Crunch does not such at all).

Game. Changer.

Directly behind ice cream, sits my BFF cheese. And I will say, this one seems a lot harder to replicate. I completely ruined a dairy free roasted veg pizza by smothering it in Faux Mozz (there may have been tears). But, here and there, I found some gems. Namely, the Aged Artisanal Nut Cheese from Treeline. FANTASTIC. It made cheese and crackers for dinner a reality again. A very tasty reality. (Side note, I emailed them to see where I could find other varieties, and they emailed me back in like 20 minutes. I love amazing Customer Service almost as much as I love cheese. Almost.)

I didn’t realize this going in, but the biggest challenge, by far, has been eating out. Considering that dairy is a significant allergen, I’m shocked at how many establishments don’t know what is in their food. I’m not going to go on a cross contamination rant, but the confused look I get when I ask ‘Does your bread contain dairy?’ is getting annoying. One woman said ‘why would there be dairy in bread?’ (Hint: A lot of bread contains dairy, namely butter, for browning).

And while my state, overall, has many vegetarian and vegan restaurants, the number of them in my part of the state is a whopping zero. Luckily, my hippie sister was more than willing to trek into the city with me to go check out Veggie Galaxy. Primarily vegan, with some cheese and egg dishes (there’s always a vegan alternative), and a full vegan bakery, this place knocked my socks off. I can’t wait to go back.

Eggs Benedict – Poached Eggs, Balsamic Roasted
Tomato, Grilled Red Onion & Chipotle Hollandaise
on a Grilled Housemade Black Pepper Biscuit. DAYUM.

Cooking isn’t as difficult as I expected, at least not most of them time. And as if not using dairy wasn’t change enough, my daughter recently decided to become a vegetarian. I’m glad that I’m a seasoned cook, though. Otherwise, this would be a lot tougher.

Sometimes, it’s a simple breakfast…

Vanilla Chia Pudding with Candied Walnuts and Fresh Berries

…and sometimes, it’s a more complex dinner.

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Tacos with Chipotle Cashew Cream Sauce

Either way, we’re eating just fine around here.

I’ve got a month left to before the next procedure, and then I’ll find out if I truly have a dairy allergy. When this started, I would have said, with complete conviction, that if it wasn’t a dairy allergy, I would be all up in a milkshake before you could say boo. Now, I’m not so sure.

As much as I don’t love being the person at the restaurant that ALWAYS has to have the manager come over, living without dairy is much more possible than I expected. So, I guess we’ll see. But, I did find out that I’m much more capable of restraint than I’d been giving myself credit for, which was awesome.

So, maybe someday, I’ll turn Whole 4 back into Whole 30. Maybe.

Coffee Talk (hold the coffee)

June 1, 2015 by Meridith

Yeah, I gave coffee up a few months ago. But you go ahead and grab a cup! I’ll wait.

Okay! So a few weeks ago I was talking to my ten year old kiddo and he said, “I’m so excited!” When I asked him “About what?” He responded, “LIFE!”

What a refreshing and honest answer from him! I mean, isn’t life pretty gosh darn exciting sometimes? I’ve been feeling that way, too, and with good reason.

Why? Well, we’ve got a lot of good going on in our lives. Some meh too, but the good far outweighs the bad. And I feel like I haven’t had a chance to chat with you all in so long, you don’t know a couple of the mundane things (like the fact that I gave up coffee) and the not so mundane things. I’ve blogged about races and products, but not about life.

So here’s a LIFE update!

1. Health

In the past few months I’ve turned up the running because I had four races in May.

What you might not know is that during my last eight mile training run for the Broad Street 10 Miler, I felt the very annoying twingle (that’s a twinge and a tingle, all mixed up together) of my plantar fascia.

Again.

This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with this stupid pain in the foot so I know all the things that can help heal the heel.

Rest, ice, massage, stretching.

You might notice that running isn’t on the list. But I did the Broad Street Run, a Mother’s Day 5k, and Bolder Boulder.

Smile, though your heel is aching.

I had a 5k scheduled for this past weekend but wisely I decided to skip it. See, I did something smart! Yay me!

My poor foot just needs a break from the constant beating it takes when I run. It’s pissed off and I am well aware of that. So I am going to cool it with the running for the month of June (which does not excite me, I’ll have you know, but I’m aware it’s necessary) and focus on cross training and… food.

2. Food

Food, you are my life now. (Yes, I just Twilight quoted you. I hope you still respect me.)

Let’s talk about this. You might have noticed I’ve been sharing some yummy looking pics on our Instagram lately.

Eggs and fruit, anyone?

Chipotle Lime Shrimp Tacos with Strawberry Salsa – I would push people out of the way for this.

Fish taco bowl (mine’s without the cilantro because ew).

Y’all, this is stuff we are making at home. We haven’t done take out in over a week. This is a big deal!

So what the heck is going on here? Well, I was fairly certain that I would never, ever, ever do a product challenge. I mean, just call me Taylor Swift because that’s how adamant I was about not doing a product challenge.

And yet… here I am, doing a product challenge.

That will teach me. Folks at my gym are participating in the 24 day AdvoCare challenge and that includes my husband and yours truly. I’m drinking the proverbial Kool-Aid, or should I say Spark, and (prepare yourselves)… I’m actually loving it.

You see, I wasn’t too sure what we were getting into when we originally signed up. It’s a 10 day “cleanse” and then 14 day “max” phase. When I heard “cleanse” I envisioned rabbit food and not a whole lot else. But as you can see from the pics, we are eating. Eating like kings and queens, even!

It’s a lot of prep work and planning but I’ve got to tell you, I’m on day 6 as I’m writing this 5/31, and I’m down 5.2 pounds. But more importantly, I’ve got a ton of energy and a renewed sense of accomplishment. Doing the healthy living/eating thing can get sort of rut-like after awhile and this has helped snapped me out of that! I’m hopping up and down (on one foot, to give my left one a rest).

I’ll keep you posted with the final results. We finish the 24 days on the 18th of June.

3. June

First day of June, holla at me! June is really exciting, right? I mean, end of school (for us Jersey folks), long days, sunshine. I love it!

Me with my dear friend Bernadette, 20 years ago.

My 20th high school reunion is this month. If you’d have told me in high school that not only I would be going but I’d be paying over $100 to attend, I probably would not have believed you.

Actually, I would have laughed in your face.

Yet, I’m going. And not only that, but I’m actually looking forward to it. Life is weird. And exciting.

Just as exciting, I’ve been invited to the Disney Social Media Moms event in New York City!

I was very appreciative to be invited to last year’s Philly event and although timing didn’t work out for me to make it to this year’s Florida conference, I’m thrilled that I’ll be at the NYC On the Road celebration.

Disney is very good at bringing the magic along with them and paired with awesome speakers and great attendees, it makes for a party-like atmosphere that cannot be compared.

The new business cards are on their way and I’m hard at work figuring out what I’m going to wear. I’m thinking Disneybounding might just be in order. Zip a dee doo dah!

And don’t even get me started about July!

But enough about me. Now it’s your turn! Tell me about your life. What exciting things do you have on the horizon for June? Will I be seeing you at the Disney Social Media Moms NYC? Or perhaps at my house for dinner (open invite!)?

Scootadoot

fitness, food, friends, fun

Tag Archives: food