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Graze is a new healthy snack subscription service that delivers a box of 4 different snacks to your home or office once a week. Each box costs $5 and when you try the service you get your first and fifth weeks for free. It's so new that right now it's invitation only. There are lots of invitation codes out there but each member is limited to how many invitations they can give out
Just thought I'd share a couple of healthy dinner ideas. Above is my Hoisin Chicken, oven roasted sweet potato, steamed broccoli, cucumber slices and brown rice. It makes for a very delicious and healthy dinner. I just wish brown rice reheated better for leftovers! Thanks to Athena for the heads up on the website and publication Clean Eating Magazine. I found this Ginger-Lime Ka
Alexia contacted me about reviewing their Sweet Potato Rolls. I've never had Sweet Potato bread before and I was really curious to try them! I've never enjoyed Sweet Potatoes but lately it's been my mission to eat them and learn to live them. I love having bread rolls with soup so I was happy to see that this was a healthier bread option with my new favorite super food to boot! My
This casserole is ridiculously good! I got the idea from WebMD's recipe for Pesto Zucchini Tomato Gratin. The picture shows it on top of pesto penne but didn't say anything about cooking the gratin with the penne. I decided to combine the two and turn it into a casserole. This makes a lot so you'll have plenty of leftovers. My husband hates Zucchini and while it's not my favorite vegetabl
Tuttorosso is a brand of canned and jarred tomato products that has been around since 1929. They pride themselves on "producing the freshest, best tasting tomato products in the world."Tuttorosso is becoming more popular recently and they have been getting a lot of good coverage on social media and blogs. They are expanding their product reach across the U.S. but right now are available mo
The other day I was watching Navidad Utilisima which was the Christmas special for the Spanish-Language television channel Utilisima. In one of the segments, a very charming Puerto Rican man cooked up some Arroz con Gandules, Rice with Green Pigeon Peas, which is a very traditional Caribbean dish. My mom cooks it but does it very differently. I wanted to learn this version and try it
Photo source My father-in-law took my husband and I out for a Christmas Eve dinner to the Tew-Mac Tavern at the Tewksbury Country Club in Tewksbury, MA. The country club sits on what used to be a privately owned airport. The great thing about this country club is that it's open to the public and you don't need to be a member to eat at their tavern or play on their golf course. The Tew
I've been trying to learn the recipes from my dad's culture (Portuguese) and from my mom's culture (Dominican). I attempted to make my very first Folar de Chaves which is a Chorizo and Prosciutto stuffed Brioche Loaf. It's very traditional to make around Easter and I'd like to get it right by the time the next holiday rolls around. My first try was a bit of a failure. I don't think I gav
When I get home from a long day at work, sometimes the last thing I want to do is cook. So I depend on quick and easy dinner recipes that will help me put dinner on the table within 30 minutes. This one is super easy and very satisfying. If you are not a big fan of peppers, this is a much more palatable way to eat them. Sausage Pepper Pasta Ingredients: 4 links of Chicken Sausage, s
We rang in the New Year last night at the Rialto, part of the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. And boy what a night it was! We had an absolute blast and the Rialto treated us so well that we can't imagine going anywhere else for New Year's next year! The Rialto was decorated in silver and white balloons. We got these great silver and wh
For the holidays I really wanted some Egg Nog and Hot Chocolate but I came across two issues. First of all, everyone and their mother keeps referring to Egg Nog as drinkable pancake batter. This has disgusted me and I wish people would stop! So when I was at Whole Foods, I found this SO Delicious Coconut Milk Dairy Free Egg Nog. I thought I'd give it a try. It was pretty good, a lot ligh
I have been making meatballs for years but always served them with jarred marinara sauce and pasta. The meal was delicious but way too filling and starchy. In fact, I'd almost always get sick because of the pasta! I wanted to try making a meatball dinner which was just as delicious, a little lighter and with a quick and easy homemade sauce. I like how the beef broth cuts the acidity of the
This is a very quick low maintenance meal. Serve the chicken with a scoop of white rice and some steamed vegetables on the side. The sauce is good on everything! I made this while having a terrible migraine and I liked that it was easy and quick to make so I could sit and nurse my migraine while the sauce thickened. Adapted from an Utilisima recipe Chicken in a Spicy Coconut
Tostones are pieces of plantain that have been fried, smashed and fried again. Tostones are very commonly found in Carribean, Central American and South American cuisine and are especially popular in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic where my mother is from. To make these double fried plantains you'll need a Tostonera which is a wooden paddle with a flap and an indent in
I saw these Buddha's Hand fruit at Whole Foods today. I had never seen them before. I looked them up and they are an Asian type of lemon and they are also referred to as fingered citron. Buddha's Hand fruit is more edible than a traditional lemon and the pith isn't as sour. Apparently you can slice up the fingers and sautee them or use them in salad. Have you ever cook
Lomo Saltado (Beef Loin Stir-fry) is a traditional Peruvian dish with an Asian twist. It consists of Beef Tenderloin stir-fried with vegetables and in a sauce made up of vinegar, soy sauce and beef broth. It's served on top of or alongside french fries or fried potato wedges and rice. Top it off with some cilantro for a delicious meal. Lomo Saltado is one of my husband's favorite meals to
Taste of Treme Creole, Cajun and Soul Food from New Orleans's Famous Neighborhood of Jazz by Todd-Michael St. Pierre November 2012 Hardcover ISBN 9781612430973 Ulysses Press Take a culinary adventure in the comfort of your armchair to New Orleans, home to Creole, Cajun and good old Soul Food. Treme is a neighborhood or "ward" in New Orleans and Taste of Treme explores the cuisine of th
If you didn't take my money saving advice and you are dead set on getting Christmas presents for your beloved foodie, here are some great options for under $100! OXO Mandoline Slicer - Good Grips - Chefs Catalog $69.99 I still dream of having a Mandoline slicer one. To be honest, I was super bummed when no one picked this as a gift from my wedding registry.
Cheap Lunch - Come up with an idea for a cheap lunch. Make sure the ingredients are always on hand. Rely on this cheap lunch for at least 2-3 days a week. Sometimes I get bored with leftovers or there are no leftovers. Instead of buying lunch out, I make a tomato toast sandwich. I always have 12 grain bread, plum tomatoes and light mayo on hand. I toast the bread, add mayo and slices of to
While we don't consume as many canned goods as we did in the 1950s, a lot of the advice in this video is still applicable. ---------------------------------------------- All content is property of Thoughtful Eating ~ A Food Blog. Copyright © 2009-2012
Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill is a fun rib joint up in Tyngsboro, MA. I've been a few times here with my husband and his coworkers. On this visit about a month or so ago, we went with my father-in-law who currently has an obsession with ribs. Smokey Bones ideal customer is a lustful heterosexual man with an eye for buxom ladies and a stomach growling for a big plate of meat.
These pictures are from a trip to Beacon Grille in Woburn, MA we did in early August. Carlos treated me to dinner as a thank you for all the hard work I did with wedding planning. I forgot to blog about it! Oops I hope I remember what I ate. I always have their Honey Tequila Smash. It's by far my favorite cocktail. I hope Beacon Grille keeps it on their menu
These pancakes are a perfect recipe for a Sunday morning brunch. Serve them up with some sausage patties and hot coffee or tea and you'll have a great meal for a chilly Autumn morning. Whole Wheat Cinnamon Apple Pancakes Ingredients: 1-3/4 cup whole wheat flour 1 tbsp of baking soda 2 tbsps of sugar 1 tsp of cinnamon (or more if you like) 1-1/2 tsps of vanilla 2 eggs 2
It was the day after my minor surgery and I knew I wouldn't be up for cooking. So Carlos took me to La Casa De Pedro in Watertown, MA near the Arsenal Mall. My experience with the recently closed Pedro's in Bedford, MA was mixed. But our lunch here at the Watertown location blew me away! The restaurant is gorgeous. It has a large fake palm tree in the center decorated wi
Carlos and I were watching From Russia With Love (1963) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the James Bond films (they started in 1962 with Dr. No). In the film, James Bond is staying in Istanbul, Turkey and he orders a breakfast of Green Figs with Yogurt and Black Coffee. I have never had Green Figs let alone with yogurt so I tried it this morning for brunch. I quartered f
Image Source On November 2008, I decided I really needed to lose some weight. I started changing my diet and worked out a whole lot. It took me from November ’08 to June ’09 but I lost 15 pounds. In June ’09 I met my soon-to-be-husband Carlos. Suddenly I was going out to eat a lot, spending a lot of time with him developing our relationship and less time at the gym. I
While I was browsing Goya's website for recipes, I found this one for Natilla, a Colombian Custard perfect for the Holidays. I went to the grocery store with all intentions of buying the ingredients needed but I couldn't find a bag of Panela (chopped dried sugar cane). I browsed the web to see if I could find a swap for the Panela (in one recipe it said 1 cup of dark brown sugar) but instead
Amsterdam Falafelshop is the newest eatery in Davis Square (Somerville, MA). I'm very glad for this new addition to the area! Amsterdam Falafelshop offers hot, fresh and crispy falafels in white or whole wheat lavash bread. You can order a small with 3 falafel or a regular with 5. The bread is the same so if you order a regular it's basically an overstuffed sandwich. A small with 3 falafel i
Back in my college days I really loved Cup 'o Noodles. But today I avoid it because of all that MSG. I was feeling nostalgic for my beloved Cup 'o Noodles complete with dehydrated meat and veg. I searched online for a Cup 'o Noodles or Ramen that was sans MSG but it was to no avail. However, one good thing about that cheap Ramen Noodle packets is that the powder that contains the
This is one of my favorite comfort meals. It's something my mom used to make for me on a regular basis and I now make it for my husband. It's pretty easy on my sensitive stomach and it's very satisfying. It also makes for a very inexpensive vegetarian dinner. Make the Arroz con Fideos first then while that's cooking start the Vegetable Egg Scramble. Arroz con Fideos 2 roun
Going to House Without a Key lounge in Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu was definitely a treat. We spoiled ourselves here. This lounge is part of the gorgeous Halekulani hotel and sits exactly where the famous House Without a Key once stood. For those of you who are not familiar with House Without a Key it's the name of the first Charlie Chan novel written by Earl Derr Biggers. It started the
Friend recommendations are key when you go on vacation. Our friend Gina recommend Liliha Bakery in Honolulu especially their famous Coco Puffs! Liliha is a Bakery/Diner and boy was it packed. It was a tiny little space and there was a long line for then baked goods. Clockwise from the top left: 2 Coco Puffs, Butter Roll, Chocolate Donut, Lemon Cake and Malasada. We
Foursquare to the rescue! A few days in to our Honeymoon and we were absolutely and terribly annoyed by how much we were spending on food. It wasn't unusual for us to spend $40 on breakfast, $60 on dinner and $80-$90 on dinner and we were not even eating that extravagantly. Thanks to a tip on Foursquare, we found out that Wolfgang's Steakhouse in Honolulu had $10 lunches. $10! We can afford
I'm not going to lie. My favorite place in Hawaii was this pool at Turtle Bay Resort in the North Shore of Oahu. It's such a fun pool. It was always warm, there was a fun waterfall and slide, it was never too crowded and it was just terrific! We spent a lot of time here and I wish we could have spent even more. Turtle Bay has one large swimming pool, one smaller on
We had loads of fun on our honeymoon trip to Oahu, Hawaii. For some reason, both of get really ravenous when we travel so we were hungry all the time! Which means we at tons of great food on our trip. However, Hawaii in general was very expensive so eventually we had to start cutting back on our culinary adventures (including several trips to a local Subway sandwich shop just to save money).
On our way to our honeymoon in Hawaii, Carlos and I had a 2-1/2 hour layover in Los Angeles, California. It wasn't much time to sight see but it was enough time to head to an In-N-Out Burger for a meal. When Carlos lived in California over a decade ago, this was his favorite eatery. Every time he visit California, the In-N-Out Burger on South Sepulveda Boulevard which is a stones throw fro
Farmer's Market in Davis Square Somerville, MA - August 15th, 2012 Radishes and Carrots Heirloom Tomatoes Pumpkin Blossoms Local Apples Fresh Corn Picked this morning! Squash Peaches Farmer's Market Haul - 2 cucumbers, 1 green peppe
Carlos and I had our wedding on July 7th, 2012 at the Henderson House in Weston, MA. We haven't gotten our professional wedding photos yet so this is a mish-mosh of different photos from different sources. Above is the Reception room although it looked different on the night. We had 8 tables plus a sweetheart table in the back. Source: Menu Card designed by JK Desig
This recipe was originally posted on my Thoughtful Eats column on the Woburn Patch. Chicken Salad Ingredients: 2 cups of chopped cooked chicken 1 stalk of celery, finely chopped ¼ of halved grapes ¼ cup of mayonnaise juice of half a lemon salt and pepper Use rotisserie chicken, leftover roast chicken or boil a couple of chicke
This recipe was originally posted on my Thoughtful Eating column on the Woburn Patch. Severed Finger Cookies Ingredients: 2-2/3 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup confectioner’s sugar 1 egg 1 tsp almond extract (optional if you want almond flavored fingers) red writing gel or red frosting in a tube sliced a
This recipe originally appeared on my Thoughtful Eats column on the Woburn Patch. Mud and Worm Cupcakes Ingredients: 1 cup of flour ½ cup of cocoa powder (Recommended: Hershey’s) 1 heaping tsp of baking soda 1 stick of butter ½ cup of brown sugar ½ cup of regular sugar 2 eggs ¾ cup of milk 1 tsp of vanilla chocol
This recipe originally appeared on my Thoughtful Eats column on the Woburn Patch. Beer Chili Ingredients: extra light olive oil ground beef (1 lb) chili powder, salt and pepper 1 onion chopped 2 carrots, peeled and sliced 2 cubanelle green/red peppers chopped 4 whole cloves of garlic 2 tbsps of the adobo sauce from a can of
This recipe originally appeared on my Thoughtful Eating column on the Woburn Patch. Boozy Pumpkin Pie Ingredients: 15 oz of canned pumpkin ½ cup of sugar 1 tsp of cinnamon ¼ tsp of ground cloves ¼ tsp of ground nutmeg 2 eggs 1 jigger of brandy (1.5 oz) 1-1/4 cup of milk A thawed but uncooked pie shell Preheat your ov
This recipe was originally posted on my Thoughtful Eats column on the Woburn Patch. Ingredients: 2 overripe bananas, chopped ½ cup of sour cream 2 eggs 1-2 tsps of vanilla 1-1/4 sticks of butter (10 tbsps) melted and cooled 2 cups of flour ½ cup of sugar 1 tsp of baking soda 1 tsp of baking powder a dash of salt 1 heap
These recipes were originally posted on my Thoughtful Eats column at the Woburn Patch. Candy Cane Bark Ingredients: 2 11-oz bags of White Chocolate Chips 10 candy canes Remove the wrappers off your candy canes and break into pieces. Place the pieces in your food processor and pulse until you only have small chunks of candy cane. You’ll have a lot of candy can
This recipe was originally posted on my Thoughtful Eats column at the Woburn Patch. Ingredients 1 sleeve of Honey Graham Crackers (about 8 or 9) 4 tbsps of melted butter ¾ cup of chopped hazelnuts 1 cup of butterscotch chips 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cup of shredded coconut 1 small can of sweetened condense
My friend David from the blog Cooking Chat (he can also be found on multiple Twitters including @CookingChat) invited me to attend a Chile Olive Oil dinner he was hosting at his home. The dinner was sponsored by ChileOliveOil.com - The National Association of Manufacturers of Olives and Olive Oil in Chile (ChileOliva) and Whole Foods Woburn. David was kind enough to let me bring along my hus
What to Eat by Marion Nestle April 2007 Paperback ISBN 9780865477384 Farrar, Strauss and Giroux A couple of years ago, when I was in for my yearly check-up, I was describing to my doctor my various intestinal dilemmas as well as my issues with certain foods. At that point in my life, I was really wanting more information about food and nutrition in general. He g
Carlos and I went to the Greek Festival in Woburn, MA again this year and had a blast. We mostly go for the delicious and authentic Greek food and pastries but it was also fun people watching, listening to music and see folks dressed in traditional Greek costumes dance. We got two plates and a few sides and shared. Above you see Mythos Greek beer, a Beef Souvlaki plate with ri
We live in an age of food sensitivity. With so much variety of foods available to us, so much modification and so many artificial ingredients, we don’t have to look far for something that makes our tummies rumble in a bad way. Unless you are Andrew Zimmern and have guts of steel, there is some type of food that makes you sick. Growing up, I had a very poor diet. The food we ate at home was rela
