HLS: Being a Philly Tourist Day 1

Ok this post wouldn’t load last night so let’s pretend it’s 10:30pm last night :)

Welcome to the city of brotherly love.

I took an 8:30am flight out of Boston this morning, to Philadelphia for the Healthy Living Summit!  The last time I went to the HLS was when it was in Boston 2 years ago.

I had planned to room with fellow Boston blogger and dog lover, Elizabeth, and wouldn’t you know we ended up sitting next to each other on the same flight!!  Crazy. 

Once we landed, shared a cab with Janetha to the hotel, and checked in, the two of us went on a little nerd-fest/touristy day around Philly!

Our hotel room!

First, however, we were both starving and headed to the Reading Terminal Market to browse and grab lunch.

This place is so cool!  Boston needs one of these places asap.  Anything you can think of is here.

After making the rounds we opted for Italian.

I got a sampling of some of the prepared salads…a Greek salad, and a chicken fusili.

And 1 meatball.  Because that’s how I roll.

Then we were off…

Independence Hall!

We were all over the Liberty Bell…yes it’s still there, and still cracked. 

Pretty cool nonetheless…

Even got my picture taken with George…

An original version of the Declaration of Independence that came before the one that was signed.

Tomb of the unknown soldier

Then there was more walking, but we took a break to stop into a place that I know Brian would have wanted to go to if he were here:

I enjoyed a Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Ale.

It was a little sweeter than I would have liked, but refreshing still!

Later, there was some snacking in the form of pickles from the Market

And I also grabbed coffee #2 of the day so I’d be awake for the Cocktail Party!

So far I’ve been having a blast with Elizabeth!!  We just got back from the cocktail party not to long ago, but it’s very much bedtime as we are meeting some folks for a 6am run in the morning!!

Good night!

Zucchini Lasagna

It almost felt like fall today with the chillier temps.  I was regretting my iced coffee decision once I got the office…I was COLD!

Although the iced toasted almond coffee with milk was still delicious :)

That would be a yogurt-waffle bowl breakfast.  Haven’t had that in a while:

• 0% Greek yogurt
• sliced strawberries
• toasted Kashi waffle
• all topped with real maple syrup :)

All that was missing was a chocolate chip!

The same day I drank that pumpkin beer, I also did another Fall-esque activity: made a huge pot of homemade tomato sauce.

Since we’re still getting more zucchini from our garden than we know what to do with, I wanted to try another popular zucchini dish…

Zucchini Lasagna!

Basically using sliced zucchini as my “noodle”.

I decided I wanted a nice filling meat sauce with this. Of course, you could make whatever type of sauce you want…especially to keep it vegetarian.

I had ground beef in the freezer, so I used that. My basic sauce is as follows:

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb lean ground beef (I used 93% lean)
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 can tomato paste
• 2 – 28oz cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 – 28oz can whole tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper

1. Heat oil at medium/med-high heat in a large heavy bottom pot, add onion and cook for 4-5 min.
2. Add garlic, cook another 3 min
3. Add ground beef, and break up using a wooden spoon, add some salt here.
4. Once beef is mostly browned, add carrots, cook for another 1-2 min
5. Add tomato paste, and stir around until it’s all mixed in
6. Then add red wine, stir and scrape bottom of pan
7. Add the rest of the tomatoes, 2 bay leaves, more salt, pepper, and other seasonings if you’d like (dried oregano, parsley, basil…)
8. Simmer for 45min-1 hour

Mmm the sauce definitely stole the show, and I have leftovers in the fridge and the freezer.

Zucchini can somewhat be treated the same way as eggplant.  You want to remove as much of the water in the vegetable as you can before you bake with it.

I used 1.5 med/large sized zucchinis and cut them lengthwise into strips, then in half if needed. 

Sprinkle with salt and place in a colander to drain.

Mine sat for probably 1.5 hours, and I saw lots of liquid leave the colander.  In theory this should have been good enough, and I think this would work if you got your zucchini sliced REALLY thin. 

However, mine was just “normal” thin, and in the end I wish I had cooked the zucchini first!

So I would recommend cooking your zucchini prior to baking.  Grilling would be delicious!  But steaming, boiling, or sautéing would work too.  Don’t cook too long though, don’t want mush!!

The rest of my lasagna consisted of:

Filling:

• 16 oz part skim ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• fresh parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper

And Mozzarella cheese of course!!

To layer:

• Start with a layer of sauce
• zucchini slices
• 1/2 ricotta mixture
• mozzarella, shredded
• sauce
• zucchini
• ricotta
• mozzarella
• zucchini, if you have some left
• OR
• leave off the last layer of mozzarella, add sauce
• then top with mozzarella!

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.  Cover loosely with foil for first 25 min, then remove foil.

Let sit for at least 10min before cutting.

Since I totally forgot the middle sauce layer, I had my serving with a big scoop of sauce on top!

Served with a side of “garlic bread” made on TJ’s sprouted wheat bread :)

Zo Boston and Fall Preview

Good Morning!  It’s a dreary, rainy, yet relaxing morning around here.  Perfect time for a weekly recap post of sorts.

First, a new work-day lunch finding!  I’m sure I’ll be posting all about these “new” (to me) fun places, and you’ll be thinking …where have you been, these aren’t exactly new!

Even though I’ve lived in the Boston/Greater Boston area my entire life, there are certain place in the city that are ONLY open on weekdays, and sometimes with limited hours catering only to the people with your standard Mon-Fri, 8-5 job.

This is most definitely the case with my latest finding: Zo.  I saw the ridiculously good reviews on Yelp so I was confident that this would be a good choice.

Zo is a small take-out restaurant at 3 Center Plaza in Boston, serving delicious Greek cuisine.  Their short but crowd-pleasing menu makes for long but fast lines, and super fresh delicious food!

They are also ONLY open from 11am-3pm Mon-Friday!  You know the food must be good when a place can thrive on being open only 20 hours a week!

Line out the door when I arrived:

 
Not to worry, the line went FAST! 

As it was my first time, I had to go with the classic Gyro.

Once I had that warm Gyro in my hands, I couldn’t even wait the 10min walk back to the office.  Plus it was a gorgeous day, so I sat on a ledge nearby and chowed down.

This did NOT disappoint!  Warm fresh pita filled with lean rotisserie pork, tomatoes, onion, and tzatziki sauce!

Simply amazing…I ate the whole thing.

That same day, I noticed a farmers market going on across the street at Gov’t Center.  

I walked through and was excited to see some Paula Red apples out!!!  I CAN NOT WAIT FOR APPLE SEASON!!

I love Paula Red’s…nice and tart!  I think I’m going to be buying a lot more of these.

Beer.

Pumpkin Beer!

It’s not that I want summer to be over…I don’t.  BUT I can’t WAIT for Fall!!!

First of the season.  Really liked this one!

Picked this up at the Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont.  I love this place because you can just buy ONE bottle out of a six-pack.  Great to try lots of different varieties.    

Another Fall-ish food came in cookie form.

Recently I had ordered the “C’Ville Bundle” from Kath’s Open Sky store.  I really wanted to try those C’Ville Clusters (which were amazing btw), but the package also came with some pancake and oatmeal mixes.

When Brian first saw this bag, he immediately thought it was cookie mix ;)   That got me thinking, because I didn’t think I’d get around to eating the whole bag as oatmeal.

So I winged it and made Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!

Minus two 1/2 cup servings I took out to try as oatmeal sometime, to the rest of the mix I added:

• 2 T maple syrup
• 1/4 cup apple sauce
• 2 T melted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Mixed all together, spooned batter onto pan, baked at 350 for 8-9 min. 

They came out AWESOME!  Not as dense as a typical oatmeal raisin cookie, but still chewy, soft, and the flavor was dead on.

So to wrap up this totally random Sunday post, I give you breakfast:

Open faced egg sandwich with:

• 1 egg
• few shakes of Tabasco while cooking
• fresh basil added while cooking 
• cheddar
• sliced garden tomato

Side of:

• Non-fat plain Greek yogurt
• homemade blueberry sauce
• coconut
• sliced almonds

 

Iced Latte…obvi

SO good.   

4-hour dance rehearsal this afternoon, then picking up a few groceries before I get back to relaxing for the rest of the night :)

Anyone else getting excited for Fall yet????

Baked Alaska

I am excited to share a guest post I did for one of my fashion blogger friends!  Amy, over at Stylish Year, is currently on an amazing Alaskan vacation, so she asked me to create an Alaskan-themed post for her to use while she was away.

It was my pleasure.  I mean, I got to make and then eat this:

My very first attempt at Baked Alaska. It was divine.

Read more about it here!!

Man I love meringue

Happy Thursday!