Sunday Brunch and a 6 Mile Hike

This morning we decided to make an awesomely huge breakfast to fuel up before our hike.

While CJ shredded the potato for the hash browns, I worked on making the appetizer.

I made sliced bananas topped with a peanut butter and yogurt concoction.  I've made this before, but this time I added honey and cinnamon to the mix, yum!

I got some Tuscan Pane bread from TJ's so we toasted that and topped it with a fried egg and some cheese.  Delicious pre-hike fuel!

After we ate, we drove over to the Lynn Fells reservation called Sheepfold.  It's really close to our apartment so hopefully we can go often!  I really enjoyed the hike.

Apparently this park is a hot spot for people to bring their dogs! We saw so many different types of dogs, and it really made me want one!  But CJ said no, he's such a party pooper.

We decided to follow the Reservoir trail which is 6 miles long.  There is also a trail that goes 9 miles, and a shorter trail that is maybe around 3 miles.

CJ looks good, but I look bald.

 Along the way, we saw this cool tree house, and I was super jealous of the kid that gets to play in there!

The trail surrounded the Winchester public drinking water reservoir.  It was really pretty.  I wanted to dive in (but that's not allowed, and I don't really know how to dive).

It took us a little less than 3 hours to do the hike, which was slower than I anticipated, but we did stop to eat lunch, and accidentally got off the trail a few times.

It was such a beautiful day, and I'm glad I got to spend it outdoors!

Hope you had a nice Sunday as well!

Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

What is it about stuffed foods that is so delicious and fun? 
Stuffed mushrooms, stuffed peppers, stuffed clams......double stuff oreos..

I originally planned to make good old traditional stuffed peppers with ground beef and rice, but then I spotted the Quinoa (KEEN-wha) in my pantry and a lightbulb went off in my head, so I used the Quinoa in place of the rice.

Quinoa is like a miracle grain.  It's high in iron, phosphorus, magnesium, and fiber.  It's gluten-free, and it's a good source of protein as well. 

According to my bag of Arrowhead Mills Quinoa, this grain was a staple of the ancient Inca's diet, and literally means "the mother grain."

Also, after some googling, I found out that Quinoa is actually a seed! Who knew.

makes 3-4 depending on pepper size

3 Green Bell Peppers
3/4 lbs lean ground beef
1 cup Quinoa
1 chopped white onion
10 ounces tomato sauce
1/8 teaspoon Garlic Salt
1/8 teaspoon Black pepper

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Cook the Quinoa in a rice cooker if you have one, if not, cook in a pan on the stove.
Cut the tops off the pepper and place in pan of boiling water for three minutes
After three minutes, run them under cold water, and place upside down on paper towel to dry
Cook the ground beef and onions in a skillet, add in the seasonings
After meat in done cooking, add half of the tomato sauce
Add in the cooked quinoa and cook for a few more minutes
Place the peppers in a roasting pan, and fill them with the mixture
Top the peppers with the rest of the tomato sauce
Bake for 25-30 minutes

and Enjoy!

Yay for CSA!

Q: What is a CSA?

A: A CSA is Community Supported Agriculture.  Basically, it's a program that you join, and once you are a member you receive a "share" of local and mostly organic fruits and vegetables weekly for the entire farming season. 

If you are already familiar with CSA's, please bear with me, I know there are a lot of people out there that are unfamiliar with the concept, and I want to share and educate!

The CSA I joined is the Farm direct Co-op and it's based out of Marblehead, Ma with three depot locations in Marblehead, Salem, and Melrose.  Their website said they had a waitlist for the Melrose Depot, but when I emailed them they told me they actually had 11 spots left! I was so thrilled to be able to join this year.

Once the season starts in June, I'll go once a week to the depot location to pick up my share.  Lucky for me, the depot pick-up location is less than a mile from my apartment, so it will be super convenient. 

source

A typical weekly vegetable share looks like this:

• 1 pound heirloom tomatoes,
• 4 ears organic sweet corn,
• 4 units choice.

The choice vegetables will be whatever they have available (in season) at that time

A typical weekly fruit share looks like this:

• a small watermelon,
• 1 pound of peaches,
• 1 pound of plums,
• ½ pint of raspberries and
• a pound of apples

This CSA also has a few other share options like herbs, bread, and cheese.  We were interested in the bread option, but we decided it was a little too expensive, and we could just get good bread at the local bakery that our friends work at.  

Since the CSA is a little pricey, I had my friend at work help me with a Pros and Cons list.  I love making these types of lists (even though they usually don't help me), but this one certainly did!

Cons:

• Cost (quite expensive)
• What if we end up not eating the food and it goes bad?
• What if I am unable to pick it up each week?

Pros:

• Healthy, fresh, local, mostly organic produce
• Getting involved in the town I just moved too
• Possibly meeting new people/making friends
• Being forced to learn how to cook with all these vegetables
• Blog post opportunities:  "hey, look what I got this week...here's what I plan to make..."
• Supporting local farmers

It was obvious to me after making this list that I had to do it.  There are both personal benefits (getting all my daily fruit and vegetable servings) and community benefits (since you make payments in advance, it helps with the local farmer's cash flow).

Hope I did a good job explaining CSA!

For more info:
http://www.farmdirectcoop.org/
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/


Are you planning on eating local this summer? Are there any farms near you?  What's your favorite summer vegetable/fruit?

Dinner @ Five Horse Tavern and Boston Blogger Meet-up

After work I went to dinner with my BBB (Best Blogging Buddy) Tracy who is my fit and funny Irish import coworker.

We headed to Davis square after work to eat dinner before we met up some lovely blogging ladies at J.P. Licks for some ice cream and ice breaking.

We decided to have dinner at the Five Horse Tavern.  I've eaten here once before when it had just opened, and while the food was good, the service was a little slow.  I wanted to give it another try.

 When we got the menu, I was happy to see that they still have an option to get Mac&Cheese&peas! Gotta love a restaurant that serves this wonderful dish! :)

However, I didn't end up ordering that because my eye's went directly to something else:  The Crabby Patty!! Duh, had to get this, I'm a huge SpongeBob fan.

Since our waiter was raving about the tater-tots, we both got them for our sides.
Unfortunately, they were not as great as he made them out to be, they just reminded me of a school lunch.  I knew I should have went with the mescalin greens!

After dinner we walked over to J.P Licks.  This was a blogger milestone for me: my first blogger meet up!  Tracy and I were a little nervous to meet everyone, and we were laughing about how it was like going on a blind date!  It turned out to be a really fun time.  We just chatted and got to know each other.  Everyone was so sweet, just like my ice cream. :)

I got a small coffee oreo ice cream with hot fudge.  It was delicious!

It was nice to meet other people like me, and not to be the only one taking pictures of their ice cream!  It was really funny when we wanted to take a group picture and had to have two people take pictures of us with each one of our cameras. Definitely a "blogger thing" to do.

Here we are, me, Lindsay, Tracy, Sara, and Tessa, (Sarah hadn't gotten there yet, she couldn't find parking!)  Can't wait to meet up with these ladies again!

 Here we are again, plus The Blonde Bostonian (love that name), Sarah!

Another funny thing that happened was my friend Shaina jogged right past the table we were sitting at!  I didn't get to say hi to her because she was going so fast!  She just signed up to run a half marathon with me in September, and she's doing the Tory Row 5k with me in June.  I love having a running buddy.

When I got home, I saw that Cj had made mac&cheese&peas for his dinner, and for some reason, this just made my heart melt.  Can't explain it, but I just thought it was the sweetest thing.  It was like a good omen for my blog or something.  I'm so cheesy.

We love to make MCP with Annie's Macaroni and cheese because the peas fit so nicely into the shells, they just nestle in there like .... snails in a shell?  hermit crab in it's home? Pigs in a blanket?  I don't know, but it's perfect.

Zucchini Fettuccine Alfredo

One of my favorite pasta dishes is Fettuccine Alfredo, but I don't like to eat it that often because the sauce is high in calories and fat.  I wanted to try to make a healthier version of my favorite Italian meal so I could add it into my rotation of healthy dinner recipes.

To "health-ify" this meal, I did three things:

1. Added zucchini to the mix
2. Used whole wheat fettuccine
3.  Made my own Alfredo sauce

This recipe was inspired by Eating Well's Fettuccine Alfredo.


Zucchini Fettuccine Alfredo
Serves 2
3/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 Small Zucchini, sliced into strips
Whole wheat pasta
2 tablespoons white flour
2 tablespoons non-fat sour cream
Pepper to taste
Parsley to taste
Parmesan cheese to desired cheese level

First, start your water boiling for the pasta in a large pot.
In a saucepan, add the chicken broth and peeled whole cloves of garlic.
Let the garlic and broth simmer until the garlic clove is softened, about 15 minutes
When cloves of garlic are almost softened, start cooking the pasta as directions say on package.  Add Zucchini strips at last few minutes of cooking time.

 Remove chicken broth and garlic mixture from stove and pour into a blender

**From what I've read, blending hot liquids is scary and potentially dangerous, so be careful!  I removed the middle piece of the blender lid, and covered it with a kitchen towel.  This allows for more air to flow through.  just don't go sticking your face or hands in there.**

Pour blended mixture back into sauce pan.
Mix together 2 tbsp flour with 1 tbsp water, add mixture to saucepan
Add in the sour cream, and whisk together.  It should be pretty thick.
Add pepper and parsley to taste.

Once pasta is done, remove from stove and strain in colander.

Place pasta and zucchini into a bowl and pour in sauce and Parmesan cheese.  Mix well.

 Put it on a plate and serve with roasted broccoli if you want some more green in your life!

Keep Calm and Add Sugar

New Motto for life ^

Decorating an apartment is fun, but a lot of work!  All the rooms seem pretty bare right now, so I've been slowly adding in fun pieces like this cookie jar I found.  I immediately fell in love with it because it just describes my life so well.  For me, sugar cures most ailments. :)

                     Filled with Lindt Balls!






Another fun part of moving into a new place is having visitors!  Especially the kind that bring wine. and candles.

When we first moved in, my friend Shiloh came over with a bottle of Turning Leaf Pinot Nior.  She said she picked it because we were "turning over a new leaf" in our lives.  Personally, I think she picked it because this brand of wine boasts that it has won over 500 awards.  Wow.  And it's only 2 for $12.  She picked a real winner. ;)

I really can't tell the difference between expensive wine and cheap wine.  In fact, research has shown not many people can!

She told me I had to keep the bottle.  So I did.  Here's to turning over a new leaf!

 



Today, I had my friend Shaina over to see the place.  She is so very lovely and even brought a little housewarming gift:  a bottle of Malbec and a beeswax Candle.  Thanks, Shaina!

I took her to my favorite little cafe for some smoothies and a sandwich.  Yum.

Now I'm off to get ready for the Yankee Power Show (CJ's band) tonight! Woohoo!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!