Balanced Meal, Balanced Life

That is the motto of Healthy Habits Kitchen. 

I don’t know about you, but there are so many times during the work week where the last thing I want to do is have to prep and cook dinner.  Then there are the nights we don’t eat until after 8pm or we opt for the ‘every man for himself’ route and end up having sandwiches or frozen burrito salads…not that there’s anything wrong with that ;)

This is where Healthy Habits Kitchen steps in.  They basically take all the prep work out of dinner…cut the meats, veggies, and herbs, makes the sauces, and portion it all out for a delicious HEALTHY meal that you can cook up in as little as 10 minutes!  Yes Please!

This past week I had the pleasure of visiting their office/kitchen in Wellesley, MA and chatting with Sue, the owner and founder.

I loved hearing how part of her inspiration was her stack of recipes that she had torn from magazines or online…3 years worth.  Sound familiar?  Brian only wishes I could go through my magazines faster and throw out what I don’t want.  I swear I’ll organize them someday!

There were other similar companies out there…ones which prepare dinners for busy people, however Healthy Habits Kitchen is just that…it’s Healthy!  You can feel confident that the meal your eating has been carefully planned and reviewed by a Registered Dietician, and the nutritional information is provided for all their meals, sides, and even cookie dough's!

There were 3 women working the day I stopped by, and I was told they prep anywhere from 50-100 meals a day!!

The end product is neat, organized, and will guide you through dinner with simple instructions.

You could even plan a fun event with your friends and come prepare your own meals together here at the Kitchen!

Sipping some wine of course.

I was thrilled when I was given my own fresh meal kit to take home and try out for myself.

Generally the meals are freezer ready, but I was able to get a pack of Pork Diane that was still fresh in the refrigerator.

From the April Menu… Pork Diane: Pork medallions served with a classic French sauce of mustard, lemon, chives, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings.  Nutritional Info (for 6 servings): 162 cals, 6.6g fat, 389mg sodium, 0g fiber, 23.5g protein.

  In my package was:

• fresh pork tenderloin, cut into uniform-sized pieces
• a package of lemon pepper
• a packaged of dried chives
• a container of sauce!

The ingredient list was also very short, so I knew exactly what was in that sauce and it sounded delicious.

I seasoned the pork, heated my pan, and added the butter…yes BUTTER.  See they know how to do it… you can most definitely still cook with butter and have a HEALTHY dinner.    It’s the m-word again (moderation).

After 4-5 min per side, I took the pork off.  I wasn’t sure how done they were but the last thing I wanted to do was over-cook them. 

The sauces was then added to the pan.  The instructions say to heat for 1 min, but I think my pan was a little too hot at that point as I felt the sauce was cooking down too fast.  So instead of pouring it on the meat, I just added the meat back and tossed it around.  

I also added the chives at this point as I think they were left off the instructions…no big deal though.  The flecks of green made it even better looking.

With our pork, we made a garden salad and some whole grain pilaf!

Wow.  The Pork Diane was so flavorful, and so tender.  I don’t know if it was the high quality meat they use, or my crazy skills in the kitchen ;)…but this was the most tender pork I’ve ever had! 

I am definitely going to use this cooking method again for pork tenderloin.

I wish there was a tiny bit more sauce (mostly for my pilaf), but it was plenty to add amazing flavor to the meat.

This kit feeds 4-6 people

  Brian and I both had our dinners plus a complete meal for lunch the next day.  The 4 servings were verging on too much…I think I’d want a little more than 1/6th of the recipe though…mostly because it tasted so good!

I love to cook my own meals, and so I never thought I’d really get into something like this…oh it must be for people who can’t cook. 

I thought wrong.  I mean who am I kidding.  Sure, I’d love to make amazing home cooked meals every night, but until I can live a housewife fantasy that just isn’t going to happen.  Plus I have no problem picking up a frozen meal from Trader Joe’s to have on hand…why not these?

Plus, you can’t even compare these to a frozen dinner…so much better, so fresh, so flavorful.  Plus they deliver :)

If that wasn’t convincing enough, they also have numerous other programs going on…

• Meal Registry!  Give Healthy Food Instead of Flowers – you can contribute to a fund, where someone in need (a patient, caregiver, new mom…etc), can use the funds to purchase healthy balanced meals!
• Know any mommy’s-to-be out there??  There is an expectant mom’s boot camp on April 13th from 7-8:30 pm at the Healthy Habits Kitchen offices in Wellesley.  More info here!
• Host a Party!  Plan a meal assembly party by May 15th and earn up to two free meal kits.  They will cook and serve a complimentary dinner while you and your friends spend a fun evening assembling a week’s worth of meal kits in as little as an hour.  This is where the wine comes into play :)
• I think this sounds really fun and such a great alternative to the usual activities you do with your friends.

Thank you HHK for giving me the lowdown, AND for the delicious dinner you provided me.  I would definitely recommend this to anyone I know who lives a busy life and cares about delicious healthy food!

Blogspiration

First a word of advice: 
WEAR GLOVES WHEN CHOPPING HOT PEPPERS

I’m sure most of you already knew this, and you’d think I would of thought of this as I’ve experienced this “problem” in the past, once.  However, I don’t use hot peppers often and so it just slipped my mind.

I chopped 2 jalapeños Monday night for chili, and 24 hours later my fingers still taste spicy…and lets just say I finally DID put on gloves to put my contacts in my eyes.  Oh the burn.  After a little googling, sounds like it can get a lot worse for some people, when their hands just start burning on their own luckily mine is only if i put my finger in my mouth (or eye)…yeah. 

GLOVES people.  gloves. 

Blogspiration = Blog Inspiration.

One of the best things about the blog world and keeping up with SO many blogs out there is all the great ideas you get!  As much as I love cooking magazines and cookbooks, I find I get ideas for dinners, desserts, snacks…products, ANYTHING from other bloggers!

Even better when I can take ideas from more than 1 blog and combine them to create my own version of dinner…

Crispy Shrimp Tacos with Mango Slaw

You want to prep the slaw first.  I read about this slaw on Cara’s blog when she made her slow cooker buffalo chicken.

She didn’t give a recipe, but I used her description as a starting point.

My slaw contained:

• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 mango, chopped
• 1/2 head of purple cabbage sliced
• cilantro
• juice from 2 limes
• splash of red wine vinegar
• 1-2 tsp granulated sugar

Adjust the dressing quantities to your taste. 

Let the slaw hang out while you make the shrimp!

The crispy shrimp taco idea came from How Sweet It Is blog.  I used Jessica’s recipe for the preparation of the shrimp.

Crispy Shrimp
from How Sweet It Is

• raw de-veined shrimp, tails removed – I used about 3/4lb
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Clean and dry shrimp with some paper towels. Combine salt, pepper, garlic and cumin and sprinkle it over the shrimp. Add the flour to a small bowl, and dredge the shrimp through the flour to get a very light coating on it. Heat a skillet on medium high heat and add the olive oil. Once hot, add the shrimp and brown on each side, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove the shrimp and let drain on a paper towel.

Brian and I loved how the shrimp came out!  Must use this method again.

I went back to Cara’s recipe and used her method for making the tortilla shells…however, I guess the brand of tortilla’s I use like to “puff” up 

Hard to see (and this was the better of the two) but they puffed up so much in the oven it was hard to get them off the rack without breaking them!!  Next time I’d poke holes in them first.

We topped our tacos with grated Cojita cheese (which reminds me of a saltier, drier feta!), and an Avocado cream:

• 1/2 avocado, mashed
• add sour cream until you’ve reached your desired mix…mine was a very light green.  It was delicious!!

A little hard to eat, but these were incredibly flavorful and we both loved them.

Thanks bloggers!

My Muffin Repertoire

So I definitely spoke too soon about the weather…rain, rain, and more rain until later this week. Oh well, I’ll take it over snow any day!!

P.S. I really miss more frequently posting. As you can tell I currently post 2-3 times a week (hopefully) and when I do post I have this influx of material that I talk about and it can be all over the place with topics and pictures. Probably why it seems so daunting to me sometimes…it’s too much! So…maybe…I might try shorter more frequent posts. See how that goes. That’s what I did when I first started the blog back in ’08! Also gives me more of a chance to discuss everyday things, which I also miss (but have been trying to do more of lately).

Back to the regularly scheduled post:

Muffins! I love muffins. Love eating them and baking them. They are my go-to baked good because they are so versatile, can easily be made HEALTHY, and are pretty forgiving when it comes to “exactness” of a recipe. Over the years I’ve made quite a few variations:

Strawberry Almond Oat Muffins

Glorious Morning Muffins

Zucchini Muffins with Streusel Topping

Mixed Berry Goat Cheese Muffins

Everything (banana) Muffins

Whole Grain Banana Muffins (with nuts and choc chips)

Banana Blueberry Muffins

Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins

Choco-Coconut Banana Muffins

Banana Hazelnut Muffins

Within the realm of muffins, Banana muffins are clearly my most frequently baked. Over ripe bananas lend so much flavor, sweetness, and moistness to a baked good that it makes it easy to cut out other sugars and fats and still have a delicious breakfast treat!

These muffins were inspired by a package of Medjool dates I recently purchased! I know I’m a little late to the “date” party, but they’ve never been my favorite… I love when they are in baked goods, but I find them a little too big and sweet for my taste, even though the sweetness is natural.

However I still wanted to buy them and give them a go.

I referred back to my Everything banana Muffins for this recipe!

Banana Date Muffins pre-heat oven to 375

The Dry Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour


• 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour


• 1/2 cup quick oats


• 1/4 cup Oat Bran


• 2 tsp Baking powder


• 1.5 tsp baking soda


• 1 tsp salt


• 1/4 (heaping) tsp nutmeg


• 2 Tbsp organic brown sugar

The Wet Ingredients:

• 3 very ripe bananas mashed


• 1 T canola oil


• 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce


• 1 egg white


• 1 T Maple Syrup


• 1/4 cup almond milk (I used Vanilla Almond Breeze)


• 2/3 cup buttermilk (or use 1 cup buttermilk instead of the Almond milk and buttermilk)


• 1 tsp vanilla

The Add-Ins:

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts


• 3/4 cup chopped dates (chop dates and let sit in a bowl covered with boiling water while you prepare the muffins, drain before adding to the muffin batter)

1. Combine dry ingredients into a med/large mixing bowl. 2. Mash bananas in a smaller mixing bowl (I use a potato masher), then add in rest of wet ingredients 3. Pour wet over dry and mix with a spoon until combined. 4. Fold in nuts and dates 5. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray/canola oil spray or line with muffin liners 6. Fill muffins almost all the way full, and add any optional toppings like raw sugar sprinkled on top or some oat flake

7. Bake at 375 for 17-18 min NOTE: I had extra batter so I filled 2 ramekins as well and put them in the oven at the same time. They were done at the same time as the muffins for me.

Another Banana Muffin success! Bananas, dates, and walnuts are a pretty classic pairing and they did not disappoint.

Especially with a cappuccino of course.

What else should I do with my dates???

Supposed to take a half day of work tomorrow because I have a fun afternoon planned…including a massage! But of course I wake up with a scratchy throat...hmmm. I’ve been downing Emergen-C’s, Vitamin C, and Echinacea all day!

I even just brewed a “tea” with lemon, fresh ginger, honey, and cayenne pepper! Hope it helps :)

Also made this chili for dinner tonight. Made it with 2 jalapeños and ground turkey…so flavorful and delicious.

Early bed time for this chica!

Goodnight!

Weekend Fuel

Trying to forget Friday’s weather ever happened…it sort of feels like Spring this weekend. Still wearing my winter coat, but it’s been sunny with milder temps and the birds are chirping away!!

Brian was brewing a batch of beer on Saturday so that meant I had the whole day to do whatever my heart desired ;)

I knew I had to buy some bridal shower and baby gifts (and maybe one or two Bridget gifts), so I needed some breakfast fuel!

I channeled The Fitnessista and decided on some Perfect Protein Pancakes, seeing as how I recently ordered a bag of Sun Warrior protein powder after hearing so many people rave about it! (so far I really like it and I love that there’s no crap ingredients)

I followed her recipe, using skim milk instead of almond milk, white whole wheat flour instead of the gluten-free baking mix, an no stevia.

Made 2 perfect personal pancakes

and a side of fresh pineapple!

Yes, you can taste the protein powder so it’s important that you like the protein powder you use! My first bite was..eh (I’m not really used to the flavor yet), but by the end I really liked them!!

Especially with a smear of PB and a drizzle of real maple syrup!

I whipped up an iced latte this morning! I even foamed up a little milk for the top. Delish.

These definitely had staying power and kept me full all morning! It was a successful shopping trip, and a few cashews and half of a Luna Bar kept me going until early afternoon. I picked up some fixings for lunch at Trader Joes and came home for this masterpiece

• Multi-grain British muffins


• creamy goats cheese spread


• Wild Coho smoked salmon


• red onion


• capers


• (all items from TJ’s)

Seltzer with grapefruit slices As Brian dives into more complex beer brewing, it takes him longer… The whole processes took him about 9 hours! So I’m glad he got an early start because I was really in the mood to go out for dinner.

I had a SWEET Eversave coupon I desperately wanted to use.

A few weeks ago they had one that was $20 for $40 worth of food at Antico Forno…my FAVORITE restaurant in the North End. Hands Down.

Clearly I did not hesitate to make the purchase, and it was made even sweeter when I realized I had a $10 credit and found a $3 coupon code.

$7 for $40 at Antico Forno. Hells Yes! It gets even better as we drove right into the city, found a street spot nearby, and after being told our wait would be 35-40 minutes, our buzzer buzzed about 5 min later!!

Fresh Italian bread with a white bean spread.

Then we split my most favorite salad ever EVER!

FOCACCINA CON CAPRINO

Flat aromatic bread topped with mixed green salad, goat cheese, fresh roasted cherry tomatoes and grilled zucchini

**the photo above is actually from an old post, as I didn’t get a good one from last night. Usually I’m good with the salad and maybe an appetizer, but since we had the coupon I went for an entre figuring I’d have leftovers (I do!) I went with the:

LINGUINE AL FRUTTI DI MARE

Linguine pasta with clams, mussels, calamari and shrimp sautéed in a plum tomato sauce baked in parchment paper.

I opted for extra shrimp instead of calamari Served:

Open the present

Uh-mazing. I don't know what they put in that sauce…looked just like cherry tomatoes, but it tastes incredible. I ate all the seafood, a little pasta, and packed the rest to go.

Sunday. I wanted to wake up early…and got my wish. I set my alarm for around 7 (early for a weekend), and apparently while pushing buttons I managed to screw with the time.

Didn’t realize it was 6:15 until I got downstairs!

Oh well I was up. I wanted to make muffins and prepped some of my ingredients the night before…

(more on that tomorrow!)

The rest of the day was more shopping (including a useless trip to IKEA, which is SO annoying).

But my mood lifted when we got to another of my destinations. Since we were down near the south shore I was dying to try PINKBERRY!

After hearing about it for years, I finally get to try the brand that started it all.

Mine: Small with original and mango side-by-side. Toppings: coconut, blueberries, raspberries, waffle cookie, dark chocolate crispies.

Umm..1 price and as many toppings as you want??? Yes Please! (Berryline did you hear that??)

Brian opted for pomegranate and lychee side by side, with chocolate shavings, and lime (suggested to squeeze over the lychee). So refreshing!

Big fan of Pinkberry!!

Long Run Time (no worries, running happened hours after froyo!)

Half-Marathon Updates

• We had a 7 miler today. It was hard! My legs started feeling tired and heavy during mile 3, but we had planned our route to go past our car after 4miles so we could grab a sip of water. Our water break took a little longer because I really needed to stretch. A nice down-dog really helped my legs, and we set off for our last 3 miles. Again, a little harder than we’ve felt up to this point, but we made it.


• 7 miles was the longest Brian and I had ever run!


• My speedwork this past Tuesday was also harder than usual but I powered through.


• However my other “easy runs” have been slacked on a bit. On Thursday I only ran 1.5 miles before Body Pump but I was SO pumped (pun intended) to get back to Body Pump!! We’ve had dog training class on this night for the past 2 months so I haven’t been in a long time.


• Foot pain has subsided, although I still can’t figure out what combination of sneakers + inserts help my plantar fasciitis! It’s not bad but I feel it in both arches when I run.


• I run faster with Brian. Good and Bad thing. I think it was bad today because I stared off faster than I should have…I don’t think I should be increasing my mileage and my speed at the same time! Lesson learned.

Later we had a stretching session at home and as I was sitting, a little fury friend crawled INTO my stretch!

He likes to be nice and close when we’re trying to stretch….but that’s ok by me :)

Muffin recipe still to come!

Weather is looking beautiful for Tuesday AND I have a deep tissue massage that day!! Only my second massage EVER and I am so excited!!

What are you looking forward to this week??

Monday Mood Booster

I think most of us know that an outfit you feel fabulous in can make you walk a little taller, boost your confidence, and generally make your day a little better.  Do you ever do this on purpose??  I did. 

My office doesn’t have a strict dress code at all, but even still everyone pretty much dresses business/business casual most days and more casual on Friday (although if I felt like wearing jeans tomorrow no one would care...)

I also LIKE dressing up and usually always prefer dresses and skirts over pants, but I tend to mix it up depending on my mood and the weather.  This past Monday wasn’t anything special, but it was sunny out and I just felt like putting a little more effort in and it really did make me happier throughout the day!

I don’t know what it was exactly, but I just really liked this outfit!

(the lighting + iphone didn’t make for the best photo) 

• Navy blazer – Banana Republic outlet
• fitted white T-shirt
• light pink skirt – Banana Republic (recently!)
• grey tights – Nordstrom (DKNY)
• navy belt – was my grandmothers
• necklace – Forever 21
• T-strap heels – Nordstrom (Seychelles)

Close up of the shoes! (Grey, gold, and yellow)

  These were one of those pairs of shoes that were on the sale rack and I loved, but of course was wondering what I’d wear them with.  I’m telling you, those are ALWAYS the shoes I end up loving most!!  Once you stop worrying about “matching” them to your outfit, they become  an awesome accessory that will add a little sumthin’ sumthin’ to a “normal” outfit!

Dinner Ideas: Quick and SUPER fast!

First, the quick.

Remember that incredible Mac and cheese I had at my aunts house??  The one that used “low carb” pasta??  Well I bought some.  I’m not trying to go low-carb or anything but it was actually really good pasta!

It’s Dreamfield’s brand pasta, and bonus points for having more fiber and less carbs :)

(source)

I like my pasta al dente and this had a superb chew to it!  LOVE it!

I had some asparagus on it’s last legs, and a handful of green beans to work with.

I was also in the mood for lemon and sun-dried tomatoes…but not just any sun-dried tomatoes!  The Santorini sun-dried tomatoes we brought back from our Honeymoon!

It’s crazy how different they are than the regular sun-dried tomatoes you buy!  The color is much darker and they have a much more rich, sweet, deep flavor.

Lemon + Sun-dried Tomato Pasta

• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 T olive oil
• 2-3 T chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• splash (approx 1/4 cup) white wine
• juice and zest from 1 lemon (add less if you prefer…this was VERY lemony!!)
• pasta of choice – about 1/2 box ( I used penne)
• 1 bunch of asparagus, hard ends removed and cut into bite size pieces
• 2-3T ricotta (optional)

1. get water on the stove for your pasta
2. add olive oil to a large sauté pan and heat on medium
3. Add garlic and shallots, stir and sauté for 2-3 min
4. add sun-dried tomatoes, cook another 1-2 minutes
5. pour in wine, lemon juice, and zest and stir while scraping the bottom of the pan.
6. simmer on low
7. Meanwhile – cook pasta according to instructions on the box, while adding in the asparagus (or other veggies) for the last 1 min.
8. Strain pasta/veggies and add to sauté pan with the sauce.
9. Salt and Pepper to taste.

At this point I thought it was actually TOO lemony!!  Which is crazy coming from me, but this is when I stirred in a big heaping spoonful of part-skim ricotta and stirred that in.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan or pecorino Romano cheese! (I used the Romano and it was fantastic)

BIG fan of this meal and this pasta!  Try it out!!

  

Now for something SUPER fast!!

I call this: Burrito (or tamale) Salad!

I suppose you have to like frozen burritos for this one, but I don’t think that’s a stretch for most people.  I love to cook, but having a couple savior items in the freezer is always good especially when you get home late and just want something super fast!

My current favorite product for this meal are Trader Joe’s tamale’s

(I actually like the beef version better than this chicken and cheese one)

Directions.

• Fill a bowl with your favorite salad items: baby spinach, lettuce, onions, peppers, carrots… 
• Heat burrito or tamale according to instructions
• Cut cooked tamale into pieces, and place on bed of salad
• Top with salsa and sour cream
• maybe even a squirt of fresh lime juice!

Enjoy.

5 minutes later I had dinner.  I just used some baby romaine lettuce and chopped red bell pepper.

Sure you can use Greek yogurt for the sour cream (and I’m all for that substitution in baking or cooking), but for me, nothing beats real (light!)sour cream…mmm.

Lovely.

About that salsa…  Homemade is the best, but we usually end up buying our salsa.  So what’s your favorite brand???  I can’t seem to find one I love.  This is Newman’s Own brand and so far I really like it, but I like trying out new ones!