***Welcome Pinterest visitors!! So glad you liked my healthified buffalo chicken dip (it IS as good as it looks – maybe even better ). I have lots of other juicy content on the blog so I hope you stick around and do a little digging. For other fun healthy appetizers, you may want to try roasted red pepper, tomato and anchovy crostini, tofu and mushroom lettuce cups, double tomato bruschetta or chipotle-lime two-bean hummus. And for something a little indulgent, the pizza monkey bread is always a HUGE hit! For more ideas, check out my favorite recipes page on top. Thanks again for coming!! ***

Onto the post…

Hi y’all (I’m currently in the airport on the way to New Orleans, so I’m getting myself in the mood). Happy Friday!! I am obviously in a great mood since vacation is just hours away. The weekend is just around the corner for you too, so I wanted to share a quick and easy recipe with you before I shut my computer down for a few days.

Buffalo sauce. OMG, I love buffalo sauce. If I didn’t worry about killing my taste buds, I’d be totally cool with covering everything in it – breakfast, lunch and dinner. Something about how acidic and spicy it is. LOVE.

Luckily, it’s football season so instead of bathing myself in it (gross + I don’t have anything to wear with neon orange ), I can just show up to a football-watching party with a buffalo sauce covered concoction and be the most popular person in the room. Win-win.

A lot of buffalo chicken dip recipes call for canned chicken (eww) and butter (totally unnecessary). I came up with this on a whim the other day and it was the best buffalo chicken dip I’ve ever had. It’s not exactly health food but it’s just a little lighter.

Ultimate healthified buffalo chicken dip (serves a crowd)

• 2 poached chicken breasts, shredded
• 2 packages (8oz ea) neufchatel (low fat cream cheese), softened
• 1 cup low fat sour cream
• 3/4 cup Frank’s RedHot buffalo wing sauce
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1.5 cups shredded reduced fat cheese (I used 1/2 mozzarella, 1/2 cheddar), divided
• Baby carrots and pita chips for dipping

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven, or toaster oven, to 350*.

2. Mix all ingredients together, hold 1/2 cup cheese. The Kitchen Aid with a paddle attachment does an amazing job of creaming it all together. Super easy!

3. Transfer to 9×5 loaf fan (or another baking dish), sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.

4. Bake for 15 minutes.

4. Broil for 1-2 minutes to get the cheese extra golden on top.

Enjoy!!

Creamy, buffalo-saucy, cheesy. Dig in!

For a few extra snacks, consider making the Eat, Drink and be Vegan two-olive sundried tomato hummus.

And Trader Joe’s blueberry goat cheese is perfect for those craving something a little sweeter… or  those that may just be goat cheese obsessed [I’m both!]

This stuff seriously tastes like cheesecake. Crazy awesome!

One of my 2011 goals (btw, I should really look at those again) was get into sports watching. I may not be a die-hard football fan just yet, but I’ve got the game day snacks down for sure!

Do you love buffalo sauce? Any favorite game friendly snacks?

*Last reminder about the Pomi giveaway. I’ll be announcing the winner on Monday.*

SO, I’m currently on the Amtrak train to NY, where I’ll be spending the rest of the week (let me know if you want to meet up on Friday at some point!!). I originally told Adam about this business trip and the fact that I was going to stay over my sister’s for the weekend and he didn’t seem to be fazed by it… until he realized he was going to have to feed himself for 6 days! Ha!

He’s currently trying to be healthy so in order for him to avoid feasting on takeout every night (not good for our budget or his health), I told him I’d prep some stuff for him. I ended up being really happy with my super easy “meal plan” and thought I’d share it with you. This is how you make a week’s worth of food in just over an hour!

To make it that quick, you’ll need help though from your grocery store (I originally was going to roast the chicken myself and make homemade tomato sauce but we all know by now from my frequent absence from this blog that time is not typically my friend).

This is the stuff I picked up for the week:

A roasted chicken from Whole Foods (just $9.99!!), broccoli, Applegate prosciutto, 1lb of 90% lean ground grass fed beef. I also had a jar of tomato sauce and a tube of polenta in the cupboards and some carrots, baby spinach and dying asparagus in the fridge. Wraps, burger buns, pasta, cheese and condiments are not shown here. We had them at home (you probably do too!) and they will come in handy during the “assembly stage” but not yet.

I started by roasting some veggies. They make great sides for just about any meal!

[Carrots were tossed with coconut oil, salt and pepper; asparagus and broccoli with EVOO, salt and pepper. 425* until nice and toasty… that’s about 15 mins for broccoli, 20 for asparagus and 30 for the carrots. Toss occasionally]

Then it was time to jazz up the tomato sauce. Jarred tomato sauce with extra red pepper flakes, baby spinach and roasted chicken – let the sauce simmer with the mix-ins for about 10 minutes.

I also made some chicken salad (see below) and grilled the polenta rounds. Lastly that ground beef was made into some burger patties (to be frozen) [1lb beef with 2T ketchup, 1T Worcestershire sauce and 1/4t salt is my go-to burger seasoning – it makes the patties moist and flavorful].

Here we go – all done!

Meal #1: Roasted chicken with roasted veggies and fried potatoes (from last night’s dinner)

Meal #2: Pasta with tomato, spinach and chicken sauce (Adam will cook the pasta)

Meal #3: Chicken salad [chicken, reduced fat mayo, light sour cream, pinch of cayenne pepper, lemon juice, s&p + carrots]

Mix in sliced toasted almonds right before eating, wrap with tomato and avocado slices.

Meal #4: Grilled polenta with tomato sauce and prosciutto

This idea comes straight from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Dinners cookbook. Actually the whole idea of repurposing a few ingredients for different meals (in this case chicken, tomato sauce and prosciutto) came from the book. Love Jamie and all his books!

Burger patties to be frozen and grilled on demand

Other meals… that Adam can handle on his own

• Prosciutto panini
• Chicken/avocado/tomato sandwich

Roasted veggies for sides

Snacks:

• Baby carrots with hummus (Whole Foods jalapeno hummus is our my recent obsession)
• Yogurt with homemade granola and organic blueberries (all washed, ready to eat)
• Fruit (organic apples, pears and bananas in the living room platter)

Oh and if you’re wondering what’s sneaking behind there in the photos… that would be parmesan thyme biscuits and maple walnut shortbread cookies I made over the weekend. No big deal

All together, ready for the fridge!

I had one happy husband on my hands! Now he has to report back on how everything was. I better not see greasy Chinese in his online food journal!

I need to do things like that more often even when I’m in town! What would you have made??

I had no idea what to expect, how many people we’d be serving, where we’d be cooking, etc. but my eyes were on the prize (I get kind of competitive sometimes, what can I say). I shopped for my ingredients (seriously the store was gigantic and incredibly beautiful – it was kind of hard to focus because I wanted to just get lost browsing through millions of products)… and then it was game-time!

I had a small toaster oven to work with, a tiny space one-cutting board wide (luckily I brought my own knife!) so it was a bit overwhelming at the beginning as I was trying to get into the grove of things.

Kristi’s recipe was a little less involved – she was making chocolate covered popchips that required only 2 ingredients. They were delicious so she had customers voting for her recipe before I even had my first batch made!

Luckily, 20 minutes in, I was on a roll. I was chopping, spreading, getting the crowd to taste and vote (!!!) and I was having a blast!

Everyone really loved my nachos and Kristi’s chocolate covered popchips – many had a hard time picking a favorite since it was essentially dinner and dessert. Not an easy choice for sure!

Working the crowds

This kid came back like 4 times… he was clearly a big fan!

After a few hours we closed shop and it was time for the vote counts! I had a good feeling about it because I got really positive feedback on my recipe (and I was honestly happy with it myself and I’m a tough critic). I was still nervous though – I was competing with CHOCOLATE after all.

At the end… I WON! It was a close game – 34/29 but I was the winner of the champion-chip The popchips judges decided that Kristi and I were both winners though so we both received $250. I also get a year’s worth of supply of popchips. Not bad for a day’s worth of work [Adam is psyched!]

Have you ever entered (and won?) a recipe competition? I had such a good time, I think I may try my hand at the local smaller scale competitions more often. This was so much fun!

Have you ever tried popchips? They taste like airy potato crisps and Adam and I are big fans. Actually, to be honest I’m not really into potato chips in general (not enough chocolate in them, hehe). But, when a craving strikes, I’m all about these. The salt and vinegar flavor is my favorite – so much intense flavor in each bite. Love! Adam on the other hand can’t eat a sandwich without chips and he LOVES popchips. He practically jumped up and down when he saw the box on our kitchen counter… in a very manly way of course. lol

I knew right away what I wanted to attempt. March munch madness = football to me (<—I just spelled “foodball” and couldn’t understand why spell check didn’t like that. wow…. Oh and apparently it’s basketball? What? I’m such a noob. ). Anyways, that means manly snack foods, whatever the sport is.

Enter: Popchips crusted baked buffalo chicken tenders! It could work or it could be disastrous. Luckily it worked. Very well in fact. All you need is 3 ingredients!

1. Preheat oven to 450*

2. Crush some chips into little pieces (1 serving of chips covered 4 chicken tenders).

3. Dip chicken tenders into buffalo sauce, then into popchips “crumbs,” place on oil sprayed cooling wrap over baking sheet. Hopefully that makes sense.

4. Bake for 13 minutes (or until chicken is fully cooked through).

5. Brush with some more buffalo sauce (I like mine super saucy!).

6. Enjoy with some blue cheese dip or if you’re like me and don’t like blue cheese, make a simple cooling dip out of yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Yum!

Healthy and fun! The potato flavor was mild but the chips added that perfect crunch. These were devoured very quickly!

I was having so much fun, I decided to make another munch-madness snack – popnachos! Here is everything you’ll need to recreate this deliciousness:

Original potato popchips, grape tomatoes (sliced), sundried tomatoes (sliced), olive tapenade (or sliced olives), goat cheese, peppadews…

and CHEESE! Quantities are per your liking.

Bake at 350* for about 10 minutes, until cheese is melted.

The popchips were a really fun alternative to the traditional tortilla chips (and a lot healthier!). I also really loved my toppings combo – sweet, spicy, briny, cheesy… perfect game food!

Happy munching!!

Interested in trying some popchips? I’ve been given the opportunity to have some popchips sent to a few of my friends and well, I’d like to share them with YOU! [US residents only, please. Sorry!]

Here are the rules: there are 7 ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – Anything you want… maybe what you’d do with your sample of chips (create a recipe or just snack on them straight up?). Just don’t say “comment” – that makes me sad, I do read every comment here!

2) Follow me on Twitter (please include your twitter handle in the comments section so that I can confirm your entry).

3) For an additional entry, you can also tweet about this giveaway (my twitter handle @elinacooks and a link to this post must be included to qualify)

4) Subscribe to Healthy and Sane by email

5) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

6) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

7) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry. The giveaway will end on March 27. I will randomly choose 1 winner using random.org the following day. Good luck!

Edited to add: I just learned that you can help me win the contest by liking my recipe pics on Facebook. To vote for the popchips encrusted buffalo chicken tenders recipe, please “like” this picture, to vote for the popnachos, please “like” this picture. I don’t want to be unfair to other contestants so I will not be offering additional giveaway entries for this BUT I would really really appreciate it!! Thanks so much!

The other day I found a chocolate brownie zbar all in the way in the back of my desk drawer. I used to love them but then somehow forgot about their existence. Well, it was a bit stale but I still LOVED it! 

So I instantly went on Amazon and purchased an 18 pack. They came to less than 75 cents each and I’ve been eating one every day for dessert for the past week.

These are chewy, chocolaty (love the chocolate chips – my favorite!), a really good size and only 3 Points Plus. That’s an amazing bargain! They don’t taste exactly like their indulgent counterparts, but they really satisfied my sweet tooth and I truly believe had a lot to do with me being able to stick to my points plus allowance this week (of course having Adam’s support and plenty of exercise helped too)!! [Btw, I lost 2lbs. Wheeeeeee ]

Have you ever tried these? Are there any other commercially available products that you love and think would fit my (sweet tooth’s) bill?

The book starts with an outline of Dr. Axe’s diet, defining “real food” and “fake food.” I didn’t really care for the tone of it – it seemed a little gimmicky with claims like “refined sugar is lethal when ingested by humans!” (yeah, ok!) which in my opinion actually undermined some of the good messages like avoiding hydrogenated oils and artificial sweeteners and focusing on hormone/antibiotic free, organic meats and eggs vs. their conventional counterparts. Some of the suggestions also lacked sufficient rationale. For example, the diet allows for small portions of grains but they must be unprocessed and glutten-free. I didn’t understand why glutten-free (for people that do not have glutten allergies) was recommended and further why some recipes in the cookbook portion called for glutten-free pancake mix. Is that unprocessed? Again, why is it better than whole wheat flour?

The book and I generally didn’t get off on the right foot but I was mostly interested in the cookbook portion and that’s what I set out to review. Majority of the recipes included nice looking photos, which I always appreciate (although a few of them did not match the description entirely… a bit sloppy). I also liked the little shortcut signs for meals that are quick, pre/post workout, low on energy, kid-friendly, etc.

Most of the recipes appeared pretty simple and straight forward and many of them sounded (and looked) delicious. Perhaps because of the intro section, for the most part I felt like this was a diet book (first) with supplemental recipes (second), rather than a cookbook with certain nutritional guidelines. The one clear miss in the cookbook section was the fact that there were no serving sizes noted. In some cases it’s obvious, but for things like shakes, for example – I had no idea whether I was going to get a whole pitcher or just one glass.

Recipe review time!

Chicken Bryan

This called for 4 tablespoons of oil and 1/2 cup of butter for 2lbs of chicken. I’m all for not being scared of healthy fats but that confused me and I just couldn’t do it. The end result with significantly less fat, was still pretty delicious. I found the bitterness of the lemon rind a bit too strong on day 1, but it actually mellowed out in a few days in the fridge so the leftovers tasted better.

Egg Tahini Salad

A bit of a misnomer because it was actually a salad with eggs… not an egg salad. Am I too anal? Again it was a bit annoying that serving sizes were not included but I made a portion and while I had to thin the dressing out with some water, it was quite flavorful and I enjoyed it (the addition of tomatoes was my own and I thought it was brilliant! )

Next up I made the kale shake which I thought was vile. There is no picture here because after 2 sips (I forced a second one just to make sure I wasn’t crazy), the whole thing went down the drain. I usually force myself to eat whatever I make because I hate wasting food but this one was no go. The ingredients list included kale, cayenne peppers and bananas – this was either going to be genius or well, a disaster. You know what I thought of it by now

I’m happy to say it was smooth sailing from here. The rest of the recipes I tried were super flavorful, easy and very satisfying.

I made the raw marinara sauce with ground grass-fed beef (which I pan fried before mixing with the rest of the sauce) and served it over whole wheat gnocchi. The base of the sauce is sun-dried tomatoes which packed so much flavor. Loved this!!

The rest of the ground beef went into the making of the bison burgers. I know beef isn’t bison but I thought the spices that went into the patties were delicious – I’m sure they’d work great with bison! (Note: the roasted butternut squash and cream cheese additions were my own).

Next up, I made the blueberry bliss snack bars. I don’t know how many the recipes was supposed to make – I shaped them into 2 and had a fun little photo shoot.

These were sweet yet wholesome. I chopped my almonds coarsely and enjoyed their crunch. I also think that making bars into rounds makes them feel like cookies and extra special. I sure felt special eating these

The last recipe I tried was of the avocado mango salsa. It wasn’t much different from other avocado mango salsas I’ve tried but I was happy to have this sweet/sour combo again. It paired beautifully with grilled shrimp with I served over red quinoa.

At the end of it all, I think Dr. Axe got some of my trust back. We had a rocky start (and that kale shake is seriously disgusting!) but all these eats were clean, fresh and delivered strong flavors. I bookmarked a lot of the recipes for a potential review and definitely still plan on trying them out!

Would you like to try the recipes yourself? I have one free copy to giveaway!

Here are the rules; there are 6 ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – tell me what your favorite cookbook is and why.

2+3) Follow me on Twitter (please tell me in the comments what your twitter name is so I can confirm). For an additional entry, you can also tweet about this giveaway (my twitter name must be included to qualify – that’s @elinacooks fyi)

4) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

5) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

6) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. The giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry) and will end on December 11. I will randomly choose a winner using random.org and announce him/her on Sunday. Good luck!

Although I need to significantly increase my total protein intake, for ethical reasons I don’t want to increase the amount of meat I eat. That means, I gotta get creative First up – sardines. They are full of Omega 3s and despite a bad reputation, are absolutely delicious. This is my favorite brand – the olive oil is infused with different flavors, like lemon, and really deepens the flavor of sardines. Yummy

I kept it simple this last time – just spread over a whole wheat peace of toast and paired with a simple kale/tomato and feta salad. Not a trace of fishiness.

After going back and forth on the protein powder dilemma, I decided that while processed, natural whey protein powder is still real food. So I stocked up!

Whey protein powder is made out of milk through a process of separating whey from casein, then filtered, purified and dried (more details on the process here). I kind of think of natural protein powder as natural corn tortilla chips. It takes a little while to make corn into chips, but if there are no junk ingredients added, I can justify enjoying some in moderation. Plus, it’s hard to beat the convenience of protein powder when trying to add protein into your diet!

The packets are I bought for “emergency” protein to-go. I also received this 100% Gold Standard Natural Whey from America’s Nutrition (thank you, Stephanie, for sending this to me!!).

I chose the vanilla flavor because I thought it’d be most versatile and I was right. It’s sweetened with stevia and has a real vanilla flavor. I’ve been adding a scoop to my iced coffee and shakes, stirring some in to yogurt and most recently into these protein cookies. I have a not so mild obsession with these!

The “dough” is based on this recipe of granola bars (found through EatingRD) – omitted the pumpkin spice, then I replaced raisins with dried cherries (and doubled the amount) and 1/2c of large chunks of walnuts instead of pumpkin seeds (I followed the recipe as is the first time and it’s also delicious if you like spiced pumpkin!). Each cookie is 1.5 ounces which makes for a perfect pre-workout snack!

These are sticky before going into the oven but super soft and cookie-like once baked. These have incredible texture – they’re soft and slightly sweet. I’ve made 3 batches in the past 3 weeks and just love feeling like I get to eat a cookie before working out but also knowing that these are little nutritional power houses.

If you use protein powder, what’s your favorite way to use it? I’ve heard of protein ice cream and protein pancakes. I think that sounds pretty awesome!

If not, what are some easy ways you’d use to increase your protein intake?

PS – If you missed it last time on H&S, I reposted the recipe for pelmeni on Russian Bites. Check it out here.

It was wonderful. I finished 3 books and a magazine and cooked some simple, healthy meals for Adam and me (we also had dinner at Primo‘s bar one night – it was great!). I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating - often when I’m on vacation, really happy and relaxed, I actually eat a lot more intuitively. Stress or anxiety aren’t playing a role in when or what I eat. I eat because I’m hungry or because I’m really enjoying the process of a meal out (or in) with my husband. This weekend was no different.

Adam was making fun of me because I brought so much food with us. We had a giant cooler + 4 grocery bags. I planned every meal + a few baking projects. The stuff adds up when you don’t know what’s available (I brought sugar and flour, for example, something my mother-in-law already had in her pantry but I wasn’t taking risks). We ate well, that’s for sure. And I finally was inspired to take some beautiful pictures of my every-day food

This was breakfast for the past 3 days – maple oat scone + coffee

This is the mix I used for the scones (I bought it on my first trip to Vermont). There is considerable amount of real butter in these and it’s worth every calorie!! Adam rarely eats stuff like that and he was all over these babies as well (and asked that I make them again – I wonder if there is a recipe for them somewhere out there… ).

A typical snack looked something like this: TJ’s organic nonfat greek yogurt, 1/2 pear, Three Sisters Sweet Wheat cereal + raisins

PS – I received the Three Sisters cereal for free from the company. These are 100% natural, sustainable kids cereals… I believe Sweet Wheat is competing with frosted mini wheats (are those whole grain? Kellog’s website was obnoxious so I couldn’t deal with it). It’s slightly sweet and crunchy. I liked it – Adam LOVED it. I guess he grew up with something like that. I also tried Three Sisters Cinnamon Sweets which was the bomb (yes, I just said “the bomb”). I’m not normally a “sweet cereal” kinda girl but man on man. The cinnamon sugar was to-die for. I just ate the cereal as a snack, as is, without milk or yogurt and it was gone way too fast (Adam helped considerably in that dept, it wasn’t just me). So yeah, no picture of the Cinnamon Sweets but you may see it on H&S anyway because I really loved it and may just buy it from Whole Foods at a future date. Ok… moving on to a few other snacks that I received for free to try.

Back to Nature sunflower basil crackers and Cabot serious snacking 50% reduced fat original and 75% reduced fat habanero cheddar

I’m a big fan of both companies and was really excited to try both products. Back to Nature makes some amazing natural classic cookies and their crackers were great too although I didn’t really taste much of the basil. They just tasted like regular butter crackers to me. Delicious? Yes. Unique? Not really. They did go great with these Cabot cheddar snacks. Oh man, those were great. I love how portable and low calorie (yet protein rich) they are. The habanero cheese packs some serious heat. Adam was all about the cheese this weekend

Another delicious snack was part-skim ricotta with a drizzle of lemon juice, raisins and cacao nibs. Pretty savory with a little sweet kick from the raisins. I <3 ricotta (also, doesn’t it look like ice cream? hehe)!

Some other meals looked like this:

When Pigs Fly red pepper hummus bread with hummus, cucumber, turkey, havarti cheese and pickles

Mexican salad: baby arugula, fresh corn, black beans, grape tomatoes, grilled chicken and avocado, dressed in 1T Whole Foods balsamic vinaigrette (I may have to take a picture of the bottle some time for you. This dressing is the best!)

Grass fed burger with WW jalapeno pepper wedge (just like Laughing Cow), tomato, pickles and avocado on FFL sesame burger bun – with carrot sticks

Spaghetti squash with mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, garlic, tofu and parmesan cheese

Thank you, Lara, for the microwave instructions for cooking spaghetti squash. Brilliant!

[This meal was SO filling. I finally ate maybe 6 hours later because my mouth was bored and wanted chocolate ]

Speaking of chocolate… my parents in law are back from Italy and so these gems nixed any baking plans I had for the weekend. Who needs to bake when you can just pop a chocolate/hazelnut candy (or 2 – actually I ate them 2 at a time every time) in 2 seconds flat.

Chocolate + hazelnut is my favorite combo of all time. LOVE.

The most exciting discovery of the weekend was these little tomatoes – yes, these are TOMATOES. Does anyone know what this variety is called? Because I’m in love. Seriously, I couldn’t get enough (for Boston readers, I got them at the Copley farmers market on Friday).

Not only are these guys adorable, but they are amazingly sweet and kind of taste like fruit. I got a very strong taste of mango but with the freshness and pop of a grape tomato.

These were a popular snack this weekend. Mmmm, I need to stock up next Friday!

So yeah, this weekend rocked. I feel refreshed from all the relaxing but also super motivated for the week to come (I read some incredibly inspiring books – like The Happiness Project – have you heard of it?)

How was your weekend? What would your ideal weekend getaway be like?

Also, I know I’m such a nag but I really REALLY appreciate your support so far on Project Food Blog. I need your vote for my pelmeni post so I could move on to round 5. Please vote HERE. Thank you!!

By looking through 260+ pictures I took, it looks like this weekend was as crazy busy as ever. But I can assure you – we definitely spent a few hours just sitting on the porch, soaking in the sunshine and catching up on books that have been gathering some dust over the past few weeks. And of course, we also ate well. Very well. Thank you, Jane and Jim, for being such great hosts! (I also cooked one breakfast and one dinner – cooking is what I love!). So how about a recap? Ready?….

We like breaking up trips that are over 2 hours with fun stops. This weekend was my first time in Potsmouth, NH where I finally got to taste the famous Flatbread flatbreads.

This adorable drawing pretty much says it all My choice of the carne special – pepperoncini oil, organic garlic yogurt marinated chicken, baby spinach, whole milk mozzarella, kalamatta olives, feta cheese, artichokes hearts and herbs was a very good choice. I can’t see it on my camera so here is Adam’s pepperoni + mushroom flatbread (also awesome!).

The place itself is also adorable, very fitting for a super cute town. I want to go back to Portsmouth asap!

The real eating commenced upon our arrival in Maine though…

HEALTHY HOME COOKED MEALS (over 4 days, in no particular order)

Ellie Krieger’s tricolore penne pasta with chicken (recipe here)

Stuffed peppers with eggplant (and parmesan cheese) – recipe here. I had no idea these were somewhat healthy. I limited myself to just one. I may need to recreate them soon to make up for lost time. haha

Dark chocolate bark with walnut and dried cherries (and crystallized ginger) – recipe here. I ate my weight in these. Addictive is an understatement.

Broccoli-cheese (and sausage) breakfast casserole – recipe here

Chobani with fresh strawberries, blueberries and mango

Chobani with wild Maine blueberries, fresh mango, Kashi GoLean crunch cereal + mixed nuts

+ some blackberries Adam freshly picked on the side of the road while I was eating breakfast

Breakfast casserole with mushrooms and asparagus (recipe here, I added more cheese, more veggies than the recipe called for + some fresh lemon juice)

Blueberry tea cake (Adam’s mom has been making it for years… from this recipe?)

Apricot-walnut cereal bars (recipe here, the recipe yields a lot more than 10 servings and they are very delicious!!)

Zucchini rice casserole (recipe here, we subbed broccolini for zucchini and corn – this tasted like sinfully creamy risotto – SO good yet healthy, although apparently time consuming. Thanks for making this, Jane!!)

On Monday night I offered to cook dinner (although it ended up being a whole family effort after all). What’s more Maine than lobster? Adam and I decided that we must eat it every time we come. At $4/lb, fresh out of the water, it doesn’t get much better than this!!

Adam’s dad steamed the lobsters…

I made the lima bean/corn/grape tomato and bacon succotash (based on this recipe, I used 6 corn ears, lemon juice and of course lobster!!)

Mmm, so summery… and so Maine

We bought 5 lobsters – Adam took the meat out of the last one and shared it with all of us. Good job, honey! Adam’s mom made this lovely pear tart from Ellie Krieger (recipe here)

Oh yeah, we ate quite well at home!

THE NOT-SO-HEALTHY MEALS OUT

A super special dinner at Primo. We’ve been dying to go ever since seeing Anthony Bordain go there. Vegetables served in the restaurant are home grown in their extensive gardens and meats, seafood and cheese are mostly local (we spotted some Italian cheeses – who can blame them?!).

The atmosphere was very cozy (read dark soft lighting) so my pictures would not do the food and presentation justice. Here is my favorite serving platter at the charcuterie bar.

The charcuterie board with homemade sausages was my favorite! Adam and I shared it as a starter and it set the right tone for what was to come – more delicious eats! This molten chocolate cake did not dissapoint either. Yes, I know – predictable… but I couldn’t help myself!

Pretty much the exact opposite of Primo was a plate of fried clams we got at Kelly’s on the drive back. I don’t know what was up with me – I actually got this craving. Adam and I shared this plate. You know who ate the onion rings.

OPEN FARM DAY

Food, as always, was kind of the main activity (well eating it at least) but the coolest part of the weekend was visiting 5 different farms all over Maine. There were dozens open for visitors this past Sunday. How lucky was I?!! These pictures should say it all…

This afternoon, before going back to Boston, we picked some wild blackberries for the road.

Slim pickings today. Does that mean we should come back in a few weeks?

The loot:

Another amazing weekend. I feel so fortunate!!

I had lots of time to destress and reevaluate my priorities. Some small changes will be coming to Healthy and Sane. Stay tuned.

My original plan was to finally make this week’s CEiMB recipe for panzanella with chicken sausage which was featured by Pantry Revisited (recipe here)… but something told me that didn’t qualify. In fact, Adam told me if I hesitated to answer whether this was a man meal or not, that meant that it wasn’t. I guess that’s true. I also purchased some fresh corn on the cob at the farmers market on Friday. Corn is best in the very first few days after being picked so that had to be featured for dinner. After a quick brainstorming session we had dinner which qualified as a man meal but also satisfied this girl. I love my man meals just a little fancier.

Italian style chicken sausage on a whole wheat bun with tomato/cucumber/basil “relish” (based on Ellie’s panzanella salad)

Lemon-garlic glazed corn on the cob (recipe here)

This meal really came together. The salad added lots of freshness and the corn recipe was definitely a winner. I’ve never cooked corn on the cob on the skillet but now I’m a believer. It basically steamed with butter/EVOO/garlic + lemon mixture (I used a little less than the recipe called for) which infused it during the cooking process, and then it was finished with the reduced sauce. Lovely. Adam said this was the best corn on the cob he’s had at home (the one from Toro taking first place so far – I am going to attempt recreating that next time).

Working backwards… lunch

Hummus/smoked gouda/capers/ tomato and spicy mustard panini

This wasn’t just any old hummus – I made EDBV white bean hummus with thyme and fresh basil last Sunday (recipe here) and have been enjoying it in a variety of ways. This is a really fantastic dip – there is so much depth of flavor with dijon mustard, garlic, red wine vinegar and all the fresh herbs. I was in love from the first spoonful. I highly recommend it (don’t worry, it’s not too “herby”).

This panini was another great lunch. The combination of a very flavorful hummus with the creamy cheese, a little pickled flavor from the capers and the freshness of tomatoes was absolutely amazing. The hot mustard gave a kick right at the end. Yum!

A few hours later I made this instant blueberry oatmeal snack. I am actually not a fan of this particular oatmeal flavoring but topped with Barney Butter and fresh blueberries, this was quite satisfying. I got these blueberries at the farmers market on Friday – they are SO sweet. I’m so happy I got 2 containers because every time I pack some, a few jump into my mouth (and I have no problem with that at all. lol)

I also had one breakfast cookie before bootcamp in the morning (for visual, see previous post), an iced coffee with soy milk mid-day and at night- an apple, a serving of dry roasted almonds and some fudge when my sweet tooth hit (sorry, no picture – it was quite ugly so I didn’t bother). As previously mentioned, 3-2-1 is going really well. I feel stronger, lighter and overall a lot healthier. That’s a lot to accomplish in a week.

I’m off to work……story of my life.