2010 May | Healthy and Sane

Keeping it balanced while eating out

May 28th, 2010

It’s Friday night – my favorite! Adam is finally done working crazy hours and I can enjoy his company this weekend. Yay! We “celebrated” by going out to dinner – a meal we planned on having on Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Thursday… Friday was the lucky day. I told Adam if he wasn’t going to be home on time, I was going to go out without him. I was going to be eating Indian food, with or without him

As you will see below, I also enjoyed a lunch out with my friend Katy, who is moving to NYC very soon. It was sad to realize that she’s no longer going to be in the same city as I, but I’m super excited for the next stage in her life. Plus, it’s NY!!!! And today’s weather could not be more perfect for a good-bye lunch.

Two meals out can get a little crazy on the calorie front. I kept my healthy living checklist in mind and did my best. It really is all about balance. I enjoyed lots of delicious foods (as always) and feel like I still took care of my body at the end of the day. That’s all I can ask of myself, right? So let’s get to it!

BALANCED BREAKFAST – check!

Multigrain waffles with Barney Butter, strawberry rhubarb jam and 1/2 banana

It does not get much better than this on a weeknight morning. Actually it doesn’t get much better than this on any morning. Buttery, sweet, creamy. Delicious!

BALANCED LUNCH - check!

It was absolutely gorgeous out today and this calls for a lunch on Newbury St. La Voile brasserie was recommended to me by my co-worker and I’m so glad I asked for his suggestion. The place looks like nothing special on the outside. In fact, the sign looks pretty cheesy and I assumed it was just another tourist trap trying to utilize its Newbury St real estate. I was wrong.

The outside patio (it got busy while we were eating):

My lunch date

Warm French baguette with butter - it was crispy on the outside without braking your jaw. Perfect!

A glass of house savignon blanc. Katy ordered one and I decided to join her. It tasted like a “house white” – very drinkable yet pretty flat on taste. Who cares, though – it felt like summer and we were enjoying a fabulous lunch out!!

A classic nicoise salad with seared tuna

Wow this was gorgeous! The tuna was perfectly seared, the dressing was perfectly light enhancing the flavor and freshness of all the vegetables. I thought the marinated anchovies were especially fun

This meal was fantastic!!!

Hey, remember it was my birthday last weekend? I didn’t! I honestly asked Katy who the gift was for, thinking she was meeting another friend after that. Ha!

I got three awesome foodie books – Katy really thought of everything. One is like a food bible – shows different foods and facts about them (how to prepare them, the best way to eat them, etc.); Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (which I’m currently listening to on my ipod but I actually wanted a hard copy because there are a lot of facts and references that I just kept forgetting while running) and finally a book about digital food photography!! I can’t wait to go through these!

SNACK

Lunch was really fun and delicious but to be honest I was hungry way too soon after it. I made it until 3:30pm and prepared a heftier snack. I make instant oats when I need something that will last until dinner time. Mad Hectic oatmeal to the rescue (I received it in the Healthworks swag bag).

It took only 60 seconds in the microwave but their recommended proportions were off. I’m going to add at least 2/3 cup of water or milk to 1/2 cup of dry oats next time. At the end I got the texture right and this was delicious!! I loved all the nut chunks and it was slightly sweet without being overwhelming like so many other instant oatmeal packets can be. This will definitely come in handy in the future!

TREAT – check!!!

Baked brownie. Also known as the best brownie I’ve ever had. Yeah – buttery and rich without being too chewy and sticky. I am so obsessed with these it’s not even funny. Thank you all who suggested that I make these. This recipe is a keeper for sure!

Don’t worry, I only had one… and savored every bite. Seriously – there are no words to describe how truly great these are. Amazing!

DINNER – not really balanced but pretty good given the circumstances (plus I had plenty of veggies at lunch )

Dinner was at Kashmir, a restaurant we’ve been to numerous times (you can read about it here and here). I often order the chicken tikka masala but lately I’ve decided to avoid non-organic meats. This left me with either vegetarian choices (all had onions – boo) or seafood. I chose the tandoori jhinga which consisted of 5 gigantic shrimp marinated in yogurt and baked on skewers in a tandoor

The shrimp were very salty but very flavorful

The dish also came with a creamy tomato sauce. I only used a small spoonful and stole a little of Adam’s chicken tikka masala sauce.

Mmm, I love chicken tikka masala but I don’t like tortured chicken. The sauce was cruelty free. The basmatic rice and garlic naan were fabulous, as always.

I feel really good about how I handled today. I never felt overly stuffed. I ordered what felt right, while keeping in mind what would make me feel my best. Great, great eats. Oh yeah, checking a few things off the list.

No food with junky ingredients – check!

Moved for at least 20 minutes (went for a walk with Adam around Boston before dinner) – check!

No mindless snacking – check! yay

Happy Memorial Day weekend!!! I hope the sun is shining wherever you are.

Boston Wine Exchange + Mix Bakery

May 28th, 2010

Last night I attended a really fun wine, cheese + cupcake tasting gathering at the Boston Wine Exchange (BWX) downtown Boston, organized by Meghan and Michelle. I am rarely in downtown (it’s usually either tourist filled or completely dead on the weekends) so I was happy that this event brought me to such a cool new wine store. Otherwise, I’m sure it would have taken me years to discover this place!

The BWX is very clean and surprisingly spacious for the location. I usually feel like they try to cram every single bottle in city liquor stores – I preferred the vibe of this place much better. Quality over quantity, right?

Everything was neatly organized by the region

…and ratings were clearly displayed in front of bottles reviewed by reputable wine critics. I don’t know much about wine so I appreciated these “cheat sheets.”

I love this board with specials!

In the back, there is also a wine dispenser with 8 different wines customers can taste. We definitely sampled a few of them.

Two giant racks of craft beers are also in the back. Adam would LOVE this section (actually the wine store too). What a great space!!

Time to do some tasting!

The wines we tasted:

We heard stories about each of the wines – I loved knowing a bit more about the producer. Very cool. Unfortunately with a wine glass in one hand and a camera in the other, I couldn’t take notes. You’re going to have to stop by BWX and hear them for yourself. Everyone is super nice there.

We sampled 3 whites which honestly did not strike me as anything special. It’s hard for me to find whites that really wow me. I thought this picture was pretty though.

The reds were much more interesting. This Pinot Noir was light and crisp.

The Monte Volpe was a blend and I found it to be fuller bodied and a little spicy (didn’t care for it with the first sip but it “grew on me”).

Action shot!

This wine was organic – with the strictest soil testing regimes in Spain.

Let’s get closer to the label…

I liked the sound of it but the taste was… peppery. Seriously, almost like it was aged with peppers. Not a fan. The last 2 bottles were great though. The Bell Claret was slightly sweeter and I thought was a great “all-purpose” wine, although at $28 it’s probably a bit more than one would be willing to spend on a weeknight with pizza. Then again, maybe not. We all have different budgets, I guess.

The last wine we tried was the most unique - have you ever had chocolate wine? The chocolate amore from the Trentadue winery is a merlot infused with chocolate extract. It smelled AND tasted like chocolate, but of course you still knew you were drinking wine. I could easily polish off this bottle… with maybe some cupcakes

That would have been a great segway to tell you about all the cupcakes we enjoyed after the wine tasting. But first, there was CHEESE from Cabot. Wine + cheese is such a delicious combo and I really love Cabot! I’ve been obsessed with the horseradish kind ever since the Wine Riot. I made sure to have a piece of it again and also enjoyed the omega-3 kind and the standard sharp cheddar. Sometimes a simple cheddar is just perfect the way it is (and lucky for us, we each got a block to take home with us – sweet ).

Now let’s talk CUPCAKES. Remember the beauties that were delivered to me from Mix Bakery a few weeks ago? Here is Kelly behind Mix Bakery, presenting us with her mini creations baked especially for us.

I’ve been excited about the chance to taste these cupcakes again ever since… well the last time I had them. Last night we tasted a few new ones:

Peanut butter cup minis

Chocolate minis with coconut frosting

Seasonal: rhubarb cupcakes with buttercream frosting

Brownies!

Mix bakery offers not only cupcakes but brownies, cookies and even savory tarts, breads, muffins, etc. Thanks for the reminder, Kelly!

I tasted one of each! Here my thoughts:

I LOVED the rhubarb cupcake but not the frosting. The cake part was super moist and flavorful and the frosting seemed just too heavy for it. I took it off and enjoyed the cake part as a muffin. In fact, I think they were perfect just like that, but if you “need” frosting, I think cream cheese frosting would go awesome with these. The pb cup mini was flawless.

I actually missed the explanation of this cupcake but assuming this was chocolate + coconut, I’m going to say I wasn’t a fan of the batter. It was a bit dry for me. The coconut frosting was very coconuty which I enjoyed.

The brownie was super fudgy and intense. Just a few little bites were enough for me. I think I prefer them slightly lighter.

I guess mixed reviews from Mix Bakery this time around. I’m still dreaming of the banana chocolate cupcakes. The Mix Bakery storefront cannot open soon enough. I need that cupcake again in my life asap.

A few more tastes from the cooler. I tried these 2 bottles and enjoyed them.

It was really fun seeing some Boston bloggers again, while tasting wine and eating cheese and cupcakes (not together, eww ). Thank you Meghan, Michelle, BWX, Cabot and Mix Bakery for making it happen.

Happy Friday!!!! Any fun plans for the long weekend?

*Don’t forget to enter my oikos giveaway!*

Dining solo + giveaway alert

May 26th, 2010

It’s 10:40 and my poor husband is still working. We had plans to go out to dinner tonight and I was so excited about it that when he had to cancel, I briefly considered going out on my own. Have you ever done that? If so, how did you feel? If not, why not? Are you that social that you always have company?

I’ve dined solo many times, mostly while traveling. It’s actually kind of relaxing and weirdly empowering. I like bringing a book with me otherwise I just eat too fast. Tonight though, I ended up just throwing a quick dinner together. Hopefully we can go out together with Adam some other night, once his work crisis is averted.

Before we get to my average dinner and some other “business,” let me quickly announce the winner of the CSN Stores giveaway. I had 230 eligible entries, and the winner is…. #119 (Blair).

Sorry mom, you can’t cheat the system – you’re going to have to buy that crockpot yourself. Perhaps at cookware. com? Blair, please email me your address asap – elina@healthyandsane.com

Those of you who didn’t win, you will be happy to know that I have ANOTHER giveaway for you. Through my amazingly persuasive powers (kidding), one lucky reader will receive an Oikos package that will include – 4 free 5.3 oz coupons, 2 multipacks, and one 16 oz oikos coupon + an Oikos tote bag. I’m pretty excited about this one. I’m a giant fan of oikos and I want you to taste it (if you haven’t already) or get a little more addicted if you’ve already tried it.

So here are the rules (they are a bit different this time so read carefully):

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me a random fact about the dairy or organic industry. Here are a few resources for you:

My last post about the Stonyfield luncheon
The importance of organic farming (from the Stonyfield website)
The organic center

2) If you have a blog, let others know about the giveaway and link back to this post. If you don’t have a blog, tell someone about this giveaway and let me know that you’ve done so (after they enter the giveaway by commenting). You can also tweet about this giveaway *Either one earns you 2 bonus point* Please come back to this post and tell me you did so (twice).

I will announce the winner of this giveaway next Tuesday, June 1st.

All right, let’s talk about food. I had a good day of official healthy living checklist err checking.

BALANCED BREAKFAST – check!

I got a few Siggi’s coupons in my Healthworks swag bag. I’ve seen Siggi’s yogurt all over the blog world but to be honest never cared to buy it because it’s not organic. Like I said, I’m a pretty die hard oikos fan. I buy TJ’s european style organic yogurt too because oikos is so expensive. I kind of alternate between those 2. The free siggi’s coupons made me purchase a few and this morning I tried the grapefruit kind.

… with a zucchini spelt muffin + coffee

I was surprised at how thick siggi is. Almost thicker than greek yogurt. I liked that. What I didn’t like was that it was a bit grainy and I was definitely not a fan of the grapefruit flavor. I actually don’t even like grapefruit but for some reason I thought this yogurt would be awesome. Maybe it’s the pretty picture.

What I did like… all of these things:

Milk from grass fed cows (weather permitting)? No artificial stuff? Music to my ears. What’s also cool is that Siggi’s is lightly sweetened with agave nectar (the plain variety is not sweetened at all). And then there is this super cool label recycling option:

Love it! Let’s hope their plain yogurt tastes good because I really like what they’re doing here. I also plan on meeting Mr. Siggi soon and find out why his yogurt is not organic. Changing the world one yogurt at a time

SNACK #1 – check!

Chocolate cherry granola bar

MOVE FOR at least 20 MINUTES – check!

It was brutally hot in Boston today and I knew I would have a terrible run if I attempted it. So for the first time in months, I treadmilled it. It was actually a great 5 miler. I alternated between 5.5-7.0 mph at 0.5-2.5 incline. I cooled down with a 1/2 mile walk and stretched a bunch. Great workout!

BALANCED LUNCH