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. 

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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!

How I Learned to Food Shop

I knew living on my own was going to come with new responsibilities.  The thing I was dreading the most was food shopping.  Who has time to spend a few hours each week at the grocery store? Not me!
I had to devise a plan to streamline my food shopping, and to do it under a budget.

CJ and I both love to cook, and eating healthy is important to us.  I did some research to figure out how to buy and make healthy, affordable meals. 

Here's what I did:

1. Get organized.  I'm a huge nerd, so I created a "Meal Planning" Binder.  I found a meal planning template online (I just searched, "meal planners") and printed it out.  The one I found has a space for every meal of every weekday.  It also has a grocery list space at the bottom.  I plan to sit down each week with the binder and plan out all of our meals.  I showed this to a friend of mine and she said, "Wow, I don't know anyone who cares about what they eat as much as you do."  I was thinking to myself, "well, I certainly do, and I can show you their blogs"

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2.  Look up recipes: About a month before we moved out, I started printing out recipes for the meal planning binder.  To find them, I searched through some on my favorite food blogs, and I also checked Eating Well for healthy recipes.  Eating Well is great, they have lots of articles like "quick chicken dinners" or "dinners for less than $10."  It's really helpful for finding dinner recipes. 

Also, I brainstormed some basic meals and searched for healthy versions online.  For example, I knew we would want to make Fettuccine Alfredo, so I looked for a healthy recipe.

My Favorite food blogs for Dinner Inspiration:
Carrots n Cake
Joy the baker
Bev Cooks
How Sweet it Is

3.  Get a Cook Book:  I bought the cookbook "Poor Girl Gourmet"  by Amy McCoy.  It has tons of yummy and fancy recipes to try.  She also has a lot of advice like "buy meat with skin, and on the bone, it's cheaper" and "buy seasonal vegetables" and she even tells you how to make your own vegetable stock for soups from leftover veggie scraps.  All of her meals cost between $5 and $10 for 4 servings.

4.  Read Some Advice.  Many food blogs have a food shopping section.  I read every one I could find for ideas and tips.  Here are some that I found helpful:

Carrots 'n Cake: Grocery Shopping 101
Yes, I want Cake: Grocery Shopping 101
Peanut Butter Fingers:  Healthy Grocery Shopping on a Budget
Food Enthusiasm: Eating Healthy on a Budget
Trading Up Downtown: Saving at the Grocery Store


5.  Look at flyers and clip coupons.  Figure out what grocery store/s you want to shop at and get their flyer/s.  I look at the website for my grocery store to see the flyer before it even comes out.  This way I can start my meal planning in advance, and do my shopping on Sunday. 

5 mile run for HAWC

I signed up for this race because there was a deal for it online, so I ended up paying only $12 for the registration fee. How can you go wrong?

My 5 mile PR is 43:59 and I had NO PLANS to come anywhere near that time for this race.  I just wanted to have fun with Tracy and enjoy the sunshine. :)

I started my morning off right with a honey wheat bagel and whipped cream cheese, OJ, and some pretty awful coffee. I definitely need to invest in some nice coffee beans.

I picked Tracy up from the train and we headed to Salem around 10:30. We parked, got our bibs, tech-shirts, and ankle chips, and walked around the park.  There were ~200 people doing the race, and a few hundred more doing the walk.  There was music, clowns, and even a Zumba class for people to warm up.  We took some nerdy pictures to kill the time.

Before we knew it, it was time to line up.  Since the race was small, I didn't feel much pressure/nerves at the starting line. 

We just enjoyed the scenic, flat, beach-front course.  I really had a great time running this race.  It's amazing how taking the pressure off of yourself can make you enjoy the race that much more. 

This wasn't my fastest race, but it was one of my favorites.  I hope to do it again next year!

Check out my updated Fitness page
Official Results:
Overall Place: 63
Division Place: 18/30
Bib #: 57
Official Time: 45:34.2
Pace: 9:07

Cinco de Mayo Burritos

Let's make burritos for Cinco de Mayo!  These are quick, easy, and tasty!

This will not be a drinko de mayo for me since I have a 5 mile race tomorrow.  (FYI: doing races really curbs your drinking, remember St. Paddy's Day?)


I was originally going to make black bean burritos, but CJ whines if I feed him dinners without meat so we picked up some ground beef (86/14) and taco seasoning on the way home.

Ingredients:
Wheat Tortillas
Salsa
Sour cream
Ground Beef
Bell pepper
Cheddar
White onion
Black Beans
Brown rice
Taco Seasoning

We combined the beef, onion, seasoning, bell pepper, and black beans in a pan.  Then we heated up some leftover brown rice.  We put the tortillas in the oven to soften up for about 10 minutes.

 Then, we assembled!

After we ate, CJ asked, "Did you plan burritos for dinner since it's Cinco de Mayo?" (He's a clever one)
You better believe I did!