Eats – by cuisine type « Healthy and Sane

Entries Tagged as 'Eats - by cuisine type'

Help me re-energize

March 10th, 2010 · 13 Comments · Italian, smoothies, snacks, sweet potato

I’m not sure what’s going on lately, but I’ve been TIRED… like all I want is to do is sleep- tired. Hoping to avoid looking and feeling like a zombie, yesterday I decided to start my day with a super nutritious green smoothie.

In the blender – 1+ frozen banana, frozen blueberries, 1c water, 1c 1% milk, Greens+ wild berry burst, 8 ice cubes, baby spinach and 1/4t xantham gum and 1/8t guar gum

It made 2 awesome smoothies – Adam and I shared them.

I paired my smoothie with a Food For Life millet toast with Barney Butter

[300 calories]

MID-MORNING SNACK

[70 calories]

LUNCH

Leftover savory pumpkin pudding

Still delicious the next day

[450 calories]

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

TJ’s 100 calorie dark chocolate bar

+ 2 somersault packets

[All together: 240 calories]

WORKOUT

I had a lunch meeting, which meant I had to go to the gym after work. I REALLY hate working out after work but for some reason I got a burst of energy right at 5pm. I left a bit later and found Adam on one of the treadmills finishing up his workout. It never gets old seeing my husband running! Unfortunately, the second I started running, all that energy disappeared. I was dragging. I had 4 miles with 6×200 on the schedule but I wanted to get off the treadmill a minute after starting running. I finished 6×200 with walking for recovery for most intervals (I NEVER do that!) and then got off. I probably ran a little over 1 mile instead of 4. Ugh This is my 3rd crappy run in a row. I considered quitting all together last night. Something is off with me on the running front, and I feel trapped. Maybe the 5K I’m running this weekend will be the perfect fun distance for me, and then I can get back to distance running. We’ll see how it goes.

DINNER

Sweet potato gnocchi with brussels sprouts and walnuts (recipe can be found here, originally discovered through Tri to Cook)

To make this, I used the Nuovo sp gnocchi (purchased at Whole Foods). This was super quick and Adam and I both really enjoyed it. The brussels sprouts overwhelmed the sweet potato taste a bit when eaten together in one bite, but alternating bites between the gnocchi and the brussels sprouts resulted in a great balance between sweet and earthy. The walnut pieces added a nice crunch as well. Great, great dinner!

Oh yes, and there was a bit of vino involved. This bottle of Cono Sur pinot noir was fantastic. So smooth. I had this glass and another splash after that. What a fun treat on a Tuesday night!

Label close-up:

Dessert: the infamous peanut butter chocolate chip granola bar cookie

This time I ate it like dessert and enjoyed it immensely. It really is kind of a perfect bar cookie (minus the calories).

Are you ever super tired for several consecutive days? Any ideas on how to re-energize? I’m all ears!

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Myers + Chang

February 21st, 2010 · 8 Comments · Asian, restaurant reviews, snacks

It seems that the Asian food bug bit my husband as well. Yesterday in an attempt to get out of the house while there was work being done on our kitchen (still another week or so to go… *sigh*), we decided to go for a walk around Boston. There was no real plan – the only goal was to stay out for as long as possible. It ended up being an absolutely gorgeous day in Boston – sunny and warm-ish (50* at some point!!). Good weather makes everything better, doesn’t it?

Somehow, we ended up at Myers + Chang. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised – maybe it was my one-track mind lately on everything-Asian, or maybe I know my husband all too well. Regardless, when he asked that we make our way towards the restaurant, I didn’t hesitate. I had a latish breakfast and wasn’t too hungry, but the second we stepped in the door, I knew I had to order something.

The giant windows bring so much light in – perfect on such a sunny day. The atmosphere is clean and fun – lots of cute “grafitti” all over the windows and mirrors. Love it!

Adam was definitely doing most of the ordering. I decided to get a few lighter things, just to taste. The Asian pickles first caught my eye. I’m obsessed with pickled veggies. Thank you, Myers + Chang for a whole dish of them!

Asian pickles are sweeter than “regular” pickles. My favorite of the bunch was the cauliflower, with shredded carrots being a close second. The jalapenos were nice as well – most of the seeds were taken out so they weren’t too spicy. The cabbage on the far right I think had onions it in. Not my thing. Adam loved the pickled veggies as well, and he’s not as pickle-obsessed as I am. Great “starter.”

Next up, a few of Adam’s dim-sum dishes came out.

Braised short rib with asian pear

He said it was the best thing ever. I had a bite and thought it was tiny bit too sweet but still yummy.

Mama Chang’s fried pork dumplings

I didn’t try these – too many scallions. Adam said they were too fried for his taste and next time would ask to have them steamed, if at all possible. They look pretty mouth watering, though, don’t they?

Garlicky and spicy chicken wings

I had one. The description is really off. They are kind of sweet wings. I’m not a huge wings person so I thought they were fine but nothing amazing – Adam loved them!

Finally my dim-sum dish came out – the green papaya slaw

Green papaya salad is one of my favorite thai dishes and this one was great! The menu indicated it was extra spicy. I didn’t taste the spice at all but that’s fine with me. Just the memory of the crazy-spicy green papaya salad at Montien makes my eyes water a bit. I like to be able to enjoy my food without tears. Loved the crushed peanuts on top as well!

This was a great little brunch. Many other things on the menu looked great…too bad I wasn’t hungry enough for a bigger lunch. I think Adam and I would like to try Myers + Chang for dinner next time. I’m sure their dessert is amazing, since Joanne Chang is also the owner of Flour Bakery and we all know how much I love it.

And just for good measure, here are the rest of my eats yesterday. I was kind of snacky all day so that’s why there is no picture of a real dinner. I pretty much ate all night long.

Breakfast in bed… I love weekends!

Bloody-Mary replacement

Add 2 more crackers to this (6 in total) – combo of the artichoke antipasto with hummus – mmm, good stuff! Plus, some roasted almonds, walnut halves, chocolate covered edamame and Barney Butter out of the jar (a few tablespoons probably).

I was hoping all this food would at least be good fuel for my long run this morning. I’m happy to say that it was! More on that in my next post. What are you up to on this lovely Sunday afternoon?

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Shabu-Zen in Allston review

February 21st, 2010 · 16 Comments · Asian, Boston, restaurant reviews

I’ve been on a serious Asian food kick lately. My first craving a few weeks ago was not satisfied, and I just cannot get enough since then. So when Adam suggested yesterday that we get together with a few friends to check out Shabu Zen in Allston, I instantly agreed. I love the healthy and fun concept of a Shabu-shabu Japanese do-it-yourself hotpot, and this particular restaurant received great reviews.

After way too much time spent looking for parking, we finally decided to just stay in the restaurant’s parking lot and wait for someone to leave. Luckily, we didn’t have to sit in the car for too long before someone finally moved their car. The whole parking situation was quite stressful, but a beer (or a glass of Riesling in my case) was the perfect way to take the edge off and mark the beginning of the weekend.

J. Lohr “Bay Mist” Riesling

This was a sweet fruity wine that paired perfectly with the spicy food.

All five of us were shabu-shabu virgins but the waitress kindly (and patiently) explained the concept and the menu to us. I think at the end we did a great job ordering!

A picture of the room we were in, probably 1/4 of the restaurant – it was huge!

I started with the squid salad, which tasted exactly like the squid salad I had at Samurai a few weeks ago. The portion was small, but it was so delicious. I loved the marinated squid – so much flavor!

We got half a pot with Spicy Chinese broth and half with Shabu-Zen’s standard chicken broth. Can you guess which one is the spicy one?

Both were great, although the Spicy Chinese broth had one spice that I wasn’t crazy about. I think next time I’d order the tom yum broth but I was out-voted this time.

Each person got a little dish with soy sauce…

… to which we could add any of these extras – garlic, scallions, red pepper flakes and Japanese bbq sauce

I added all but the scallions. It was the perfect flavoring agent for the veggies and fish. I loved that each person could customize their own dipping sauce.

All meal combos came with a plate of veggies which included 3 types of mushrooms, broccoli, radishes, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, tofu and tofu skin

+ a choice of udon noodles, rice or vermicelli noodles. Adam and I choice the udon noodles (they were individual size portions so we actually ended up ordering another one of these – one each)

And we went with the surf & turf combo – scallops, prawns, salmon, cod, squid, clam, and fish cake + a choice of beef, pork, chicken or lamb. We went with pork. As soon as the food arrived, we started throwing stuff in the hot pot. SO cool!!

Our seafood plate:

The pork (thinly sliced for quick cooking)

SO MUCH FOOD

Working hard for our food

Clearly, we all hated it.

All right, all right – we were all very happy campers

I forgot to mention that the waitress mid-way also brought 2 nice dipping sauces for the meat – a peanut sesame sauce and a thai sweet and spicy sauce. Both were indeed fabulous with the meat.

This was a really fun interactive dinner. We all loved playing with our food and the service and the quality of everything at Shabu-Zen were great. Have you ever been to a shabu-shabu restaurant?

For other restaurant suggestions, check our my Restaurant Reviews page.

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Kashmir review – take II

February 19th, 2010 · 10 Comments · Boston, Indian, restaurant reviews

Yesterday’s eats were kind of random and not too exciting so instead of boring you with pretty and no-so pretty pictures of food that didn’t taste great, I’ve decided to post about Kashmir – an Indian restaurant Adam and I went to last Friday. We’ve actually been to Kashmir at least once and loved it (you can find my previous review here) so when I saw a Groupon for the restaurant a few months back, I had to buy it. I think we paid $15 for a $35 gift certificate. Not bad, especially since I knew we would go back to Kashmir anyways so the discount was pretty much free money.

As a side note, I was just contacted by a Living Social representative yesterday to let me know about their new website and a deal on one of my other favorite local restaurants – Pazzo. The website works exactly like Groupon – there are daily deals with large discounts. I signed up yesterday and got a $30 certificate for Pazzo that I paid $15 for (I twitted about the deal so follow me on twitter if want other randomness from me in between posts). This was another one of those “no brainers” – I knew I’d be back to Pazzo (especially after being reminded of how much I loved that place) so might as well get a few bucks off the bill. If you’d like to sign up for Living Social, use this link and you’ll get $5 “deal bucks” that can be used towards your first purchase. I’ll get $5 too when you use that credit. It’s a good deal for all of us. [PS - the Pazzo deal is no longer available but they have daily deals and I'm sure something fun will come up. Living Social also has deals for DC, LA, NY, San Fran, Austin, Seattle, Atlanta and St Paul.] All right, back to Kashmir…

Last time we went to Kashmir, we were seated outside. I love their outdoor patio on a nice summer day. In the winter, however, a cozy warm space is the perfect recipe for comfort. This is an example of what the space looks like. The dim lighting left me with few usable pictures. If you’re in Boston, you should come and check it out for yourself!

Compliments of the chef… something oniony

I had to wash it down with lots of wine. (okay, I think I really had 2 glasses tops, throughout the entire dinner)

This Cono Sur cabernet is made with organically grown grapes; bikes instead of trucks were used to transport the wine (thus the bike on the label). I love the company’s environmentally conscious practices! The wine was quite nice as well. We picked up a bottle of the Cono Sur Pinot Noir on the way back home from dinner (to enjoy later).

For the first time in my life, I wanted to order something other than samosas and chicken tikka masala at an Indian restaurant. Call the doctor! Seriously, this has never happened but I’m trying to expand my (Indian food) horizons. I know these are not traditional dishes (well at least tikka masala isn’t) and I was also hoping for something lighter. Indian cuisine has a lot of spices, which to me means that I should be able to enjoy something healthy-ish without sacrificing great flavor.

This was my thought process behind ordering the tandoori tikka salad – (from the menu) strips of barbequed white meat chicken served over garden salad with our special homemade dressing

I was surprised to be served this:

Not exactly the light salad I was hoping for. Surprisingly, this actually tasted lighter than it looked. The dressing wasn’t the heavy mayonnaise coating typical in “chicken salads” – I believe it was yogurt based. I picked at it a bit and packed the rest to take home. Adam still ordered the vegetable samosas and I stole one.

I couldn’t resist it especially with all the yummy sauces (the sweet one on the left is my favorite)

For my main entree I also steered away from chicken tikka masala and ordered the malai kafta – vegetable balls cooked in a creamy nut sauce with fresh herbs and spices

+ garlic naan and basmati rice

My first plate (you can multiply it by 3)

The malai kafta was really great, but here is the kicker – it tasted exactly like tikka masala sauce but with the added crunch of a few almond slivers and the occasional raisin (I think there were 4 raisins in total). The vegetable balls also appeared to be made of something mushy like potatoes and they were fried – again not exactly the light fair I was hoping for. I LOVED this dish and nearly licked my plate clean but that’s because I love chicken tikka masala. Since I am not a vegetarian, I actually think that going with white meat chicken would have been a healthier option + after thinking about it a bit more, this does not speak much for the restaurant’s versatility. I mean, 2 dishes tasting identical? I can tell you this in fact was the same sauce because Adam did order the chicken tikka masala and we compared it. Oh well, I’m going for something non-creamy next time (onion hatred is my giant limiting factor but I’ll try to find something anyway).

All in all, this was another delicious meal at Kashmir and I will definitely be back there since the food is good, the atmosphere is inviting and it’s a few blocks from our house. Do you have any onion-free recommendations for me for my next visit?

For other restaurant reviews, check out my Restaurant Reviews page. Happy Friday!

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Running, flour and gorka

February 16th, 2010 · 23 Comments · Russian, dessert, restaurant reviews, sandwich

This is the last post of the Valentine’s day weekend “installments.” It was a wonderful weekend during which I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it, and I enjoyed every bite. This morning, however, both my scale and my pants are reminding me that its time to get back on track with a little less indulgent eats and lots of exercise. Let’s reminisce one more time about the good times, though… I’m going back to Saturday.

The morning started with a pre-run snack. I always eat toast with nut butter + 1/2 banana before long runs. This time I had a little extra time so I made 1.5 toasts to last me through 8+ miles. It was the perfect amount of fuel!

So in case you missed it, I ran EIGHT miles on Saturday. My sister was the special guest on our weekly run with Molly. It was really fun to catch up with my girls! We don’t care about speed on those runs – it’s all about chatting and having a good time. Somehow this always translates into a 10 minute/mile. Fine by me. I’ll work on the speed during my shorter runs. This time I was just happy to finish this distance. It’s been months!

POST-RUN SNACK

LUNCH

I stretched and showered as quickly as I could because I decided that Flour was the perfect place for my recovery lunch. Flour bakery is one of my favorite bakeries in Boston, and they are not only famous for their pastries (the owner Joanne Chang won the Throwdown with Bobby Flay with her sticky buns!) but also for their super fresh sandwiches.

Apparently I was not the only one who had this brilliant idea on a Saturday afternoon. The place was packed!!

Oh yeah, my kind of place

I really wanted the tofu, olive-red pepper tapenade and grilled veggie sandwich but it had onions pre-mixed in the veggie medley. I thought I was being safe with my choice of the roast chicken, avocado and jicama sandwich but after waiting for nearly half hour for my sandwich I found out the hard way that the avocado was actually guac with pre-mixed red onions. Eek. Thankfully I took the sandwich out of the bag to take a picture and discovered this right away. The nice people at Flour offered to make me any other sandwich and I chose the (onion free) smoked turkey, cheddar and cranberry chutney

The bread was so fresh – it was definitely the best part. I liked the rest of the sandwich as well but it was nothing too special. I guess it was all about the simplicity of the ingredients. I’d still order it again.

I also couldn’t go to Flour without ordering the “granola bar” pastry – oats, honey, walnuts, cranberry-apricot-apple jam

I love absolutely everything about this pastry – the jam, the strudel topping, the fact that it’s gigantic so I can enjoy it for hours. Love it!!

After a lovely lunch (I ate the sandwich and the pastry btw throughout the day – it was in my purse and I was taking little bites here and there while running errands) we went to Ikea to buy door handles for our kitchen. Oh our life is just so exciting, isn’t it? At some point, it was dinner time and we headed to my parents’ house to enjoy a meal with them, my sister and her boyfriend.

DINNER

Lovely berries were the perfect appetizer

I had a few organic strawberries – so flavorful! I can’t wait for strawberry season in Boston!!!

Then I got to picture taking. There was a lot of yummy food, all requested by my sister.

I didn’t eat the above 2 dishes, so here are the highlights for me… plov – rice pilaf with organic chicken, cranberries and carrots

Sinii – roasted eggplant + tomato puree

Pickles – sour and half-sour

Korean spicy carrots (we get them at the Russian store)

Fresh Russian bread

Everyone had something different to drink – there were fancy beers and red and white wine. I had 2 glasses from this bottle:

My plate…

Then it was time for dessert. GORKA!!

My sister was on slicing duty. We were both giddy with excitement. It is my sister’s favorite dessert and definitely one of my favorites as well!

Sour cherries, pastry tubes in sour cream frosting – what’s not to love?!!

This was a giant piece and I had no problem polishing it off. In fact after an hour or so I picked at another little slice. SO good!!

Now that you are all back on regular schedule (and catching up on blogs, right?) – how was your Valentine’s day weekend? Was it as full of indulgences as mine? Any highlights?

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Entries Tagged as 'Eats - by cuisine type'

Help me re-energize

March 10th, 2010 · 13 Comments · Italian, smoothies, snacks, sweet potato

Myers + Chang

February 21st, 2010 · 8 Comments · Asian, restaurant reviews, snacks

Shabu-Zen in Allston review

February 21st, 2010 · 16 Comments · Asian, Boston, restaurant reviews

Kashmir review – take II

February 19th, 2010 · 10 Comments · Boston, Indian, restaurant reviews

Running, flour and gorka

February 16th, 2010 · 23 Comments · Russian, dessert, restaurant reviews, sandwich

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