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Entries Tagged as 'Russian'

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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My parents rule… but does Jillian Michaels?

September 8th, 2009 · 30 Comments · Russian, breakfast

My parents are the coolest! Obviously I’ve been sick all weekend (still am… boo) and they’ve been worried. Yesterday my dad called in the morning and said my mom was making crepes for us and they bought some organic berries that they wanted to bring over. 1) I love crepes! Crepes and chocolate are probably the only things I can eat when I’m not actually hungry, which is perfect because I definitely have not been eating enough for the past few days. I’m trying, but it just hurts to chew and my head hurts, so eating hasn’t been at the top of my to-do list. 2) Organic berries?!!! My parents never buy organic produce. I think they don’t know enough on the subject and probably think it’s a waste of money (note to self: educate them more) but they know that those are the only kind of berries I eat since they really soak in all the pesticides. It really touched me that they went out of their way to go and buy all this special produce for me and my husband. (He’s sick now too, btw. So sad).

So here is today’s brunch (looks very similar to yesterday’s linner):

Mmm, buttery homemade crepes with condensed milk…

Organic strawberries + raspberries (my parents also got organic Maine blueberries which I have yet to eat):

1 orange for some natural vitamin C (I don’t like juice because it’s just full of sugar and calories)

Yummy! Thanks, mom and dad

Now onto something a little less awesome… did you hear that Jillian Michaels has a new weight loss pills line (thanks, Kelly, for bringing my attention to this)? I really thought she was above all of this. I KNOW people have asked her in the past about diet pills and she said they were crap. Obviously there are no shortcuts. Well I guess there may be shortcuts but if you want long term results, then you have to do your homework and really make permanents lifestyle changes to be able to lose and maintain that lower weight. Very disappointing, Jillian! What are your thoughts on this?

Thank you all for your get well wishes! I really appreciate them.

Last day to enter my Israeli goodies giveaway!

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Making up for lost time

April 30th, 2009 · 22 Comments · Ellie Krieger, Italian, Russian, Self magazine, breakfast, dessert, salad, sandwich, snacks

Given my serious drop in readership over the last few weeks, it seems that you guys miss my regular food and fitness posts I decided to give you what you want and provide a long recap of my eats over the last (nearly) 2 weeks. This will be a picture heavy post, but there are definitely plenty of them. I should also mention that my 10K is coming up this Sunday so I’ve been running diligently and fueling myself appropriately. I’ll do another post on my recent workouts. I’ve gotten much better! I guess practice does make perfect

An enormous amount of food was consumed over a 2 weeks period. I wanted to highlight these 5…

1. I made Self’s zucchini bran muffins that I found through Lara’s Thinspired. She was raving about them so much, I couldn’t wait to make them (apparently it still took me forever, but whatev )

zucchini-muffin

zucchini muffin

I doubled the recipe, divided it into 8 muffins (instead of 6) and halved the oil. I think I burnt them slightly They were pretty delicious but a little too sweet (I think since the raisins I used were very sweet, I could have cut the sugar amount by at least 1/3) and a little too dense. I definitely learned a lesson with these – cutting down on oil without any substitutions is not a good idea. I usually sub nonfat yogurt for oil (1 for 1 of regular yogurt – not greek) and that works well. I was out of yogurt and decided to just do it without but I think you really need all the fat in the recipe to make these moist (they are from Self so they are already healthified). Lesson learned.

Oh yeah, and I also made a zucchini chocolate cupcake with one of them by using some leftover frosting from this cake. This was good!

zucchini muffin with chocolate frosting + choc sprinkles

2. For the entire 2 weeks we were really low on fresh produce and groceries in general. I had to get creative. What to do with the pork tenderloin that’s in the fridge? Stuff that baby! It was my first time attempting to stuff a pork tenderloin but Kath’s recipe for pork tenderloin stuffed with blue cheese, dates and pecans inspired me (I hate blue cheese so I used goat cheese instead) and I was ready for the challenge. It turns out it’s really easy and it came out absolutely amazing! My husband ’supposedly’ hates goat cheese and dates and he loved this! Said it had to get on our regular recipe rotation (hmm, I don’t think we have a recipe rotation yet).

goat cheese/date/pecan stuffed pork tenderloin

insides

a few slices served with pan fried brussels sprouts

stuffed pork closeup

leftovers for lunch

3. Remember my fun day with lots of packages? These Buitoni wild mushroom agnolotti (ok let’s be real – ravioli) came very handy during our grocery trip ban (we maxed out on our grocery budget mid-month).

buitoni-mushroom-agnolotti

I wanted to make a creamy healthy sauce and tried to use a plain chobani as a base. Apparently yogurt curdles under heat. Oops! Plan A went straight into trash, so I steamed some asparagus and spinach, sauteed it with a tiny bit of EVOO, then added a drop of truffle oil (which transforms basically any food into a divine meal) and shredded some parmesan cheese over the whole concoction.

mushroom ravioli with asparagus, spinach and parmesan

mushroomy bite

Both me and my husband absolutely LOVED this!! I’ve seen this all over the blog world with bloggers mentioning the high sodium content and high calories for the amount of food you get, but we thought they were amazing! I would say, without any hesitation, that this dinner turned out to be restaurant quality. I didn’t find it to be too salty (I guess the sodium is on the higher side but at least it didn’t taste it) and the veggies bulked up the whole thing. The mushrooms tasted so fresh and the cheese filling was nice and creamy. Of course adding the truffle oil didn’t hurt either! I savored every bite and was very satisfied. No need for dessert even. That’s huge! Needless to say, I’d buy it if (when?) it were sold in stores. Perfect quick meal!

4. I really hate throwing away food. We bought a whole baguette to made steak and cheese sandwiches (pictured in the bottom of this post), and of course had lots of baguette leftovers. I’m sure you know that stuff is completely dry and hard even on the next day and we forgot about the leftovers for days! Again trying to conserve the small amount of fruit we had, I went to the freezer and found some frozen berries. Perfect! I decided to make use of both of these, and made Ellie Krieger’s peach french toast bake (I substituted berries for peaches). Here it is the all together the night before:

Ellie Krieger baked french toast with berries

And the next morning, post baking:

baked french toast

And my portion:

my portion with chobani+agave nectar "frosting"

It was delicious! The brown sugar browned up nicely – it was perfectly sweet without being overwhelming. Love Ellie’s recipes

5. It was over 90* last Friday so my husband and I decided to go out for a drink + dinner and enjoy the weather at Burton’s instead of staying at home. I’m becoming less rigid about following “the plan” and it really helps with the sane aspect I tried to make a healthy choice so it really was the best of both worlds!

glass of Malbec

Bbq chicken salad: lettuce, bbq chicken, corn, black beans, cheddar cheese, tortilla strips, bacon bits and tomatoes (I think). It was so flavorful I didn’t need the dressing. Next time I’ll try it without the cheese too because I couldn’t really taste it much. The chicken was very nicely marinaded, though, and the tortilla strips added a nice crunch. I love tex-mex salads like this!

bbq chicken salad

OTHER EATS

chobani with grapes, Kashi autumn wheat, 1/2 cranberry zest honest food bar, almonds

1/2 brownie with chocolate frosting and sprinkles

zucchini muffin with whipped cream cheese + nonfat yogurt, grapes and almonds

tortilla pizzas with pasta sauce, roasted zucchini, light mozzarella, goat cheese + pepitas

ezekiel bread with cream cheese and lox + broccoli and Rachel's cucumber dill cottage cheese

gnu banana walnut bar

brownie (made with nonfat yogurt) with dried cranberries

sandwich: Food for Life english muffin with laughing cow cheese, grilled chicken and sun dried tomato hummus (fantastic combo!) + carrots and grapes on side

UFood raspberry swirl frozen yogurt with strawberries, pecans and Zoe's granola

fish taco with 2 kinds of salsas, cheese and a dollop of sour cream

b.good southwestern chicken salad

roasted chicken (with skin), buckwheat, grape tomatoes and a fresh cucumber

"sirnik" with sweetened condensed milk (I poured too much - didn't eat all the milk)

chobani + 1/2 banana, pb puffins, blueberries and apple butter

massive salad: spinach, roasted chicken, carrots, grape tomatoes, snow peas + 1T Annie's woodstock dressing

pistachioats cookies - review to come!

zucchini muffin, 1/2 banana, Rachel's pomegranate orange cottage cheese (only had a few spoonfulls of this- yuk!)

ww pasta with roasted cauliflower, asparagus, edamame + pesto sauce

brownie with cranberries

Food for Life english muffin with whipped cream cheese and lox + 1/2 banana & coffee

snow peas + Annie's cheddar bunnies

How did this guy get here?

bunnie on snow peas

Yeah, I’m a dork!

gigantic salad: spinach, grape tomatoes, roasted cauliflower, edamame, asparagus, Sabra sundried tomato hummus with 1T Annie's woodstock dressing + blueberry chobani for dessert

breaded baked chicken with creamy mushrooms and bulgar

banana/raisin oats with choco java amazing almonds and Barney Butter

snack: 3 dates, 3 dried apricots, orange vanilla amazing almonds + pretzel sticks = awesome!!

lentil soup (homemade, defrosted), slice of ezekiel bread with laughing cow wedge, carrot sticks + mini lime pie larabar

the mini larabar is really mini (=1/2 of regular)

chicken pelmeni (store bought) + georgian sauce

organic-hard-cider

Phew! So did I make up for my recent lack of food posting or what?

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We’re back in Boston

March 5th, 2009 · 13 Comments · Russian, chicken, pasta, yogurt

We’re back in Boston. I took yesterday off to recover but I still can’t sleep well. I’m about to get ready for work, but I probably slept 5 hours max. At around 5 am I finally got up because I was just lying in bed, thinking about how I should be sleeping but I can’t (my alarm was set for 6:45)… and I was kind of hungry. Let’s hope I can last through the work day today!

I promised more vacation recaps but there is just too much to write about and my brain doesn’t function well at 6am. So I’ll give you a recap of yesterday instead. I went right back on the healthy wagon. It felt pretty good. Unfortunately because we’ve been eating so much on vacation, my body wants to continue eating this way, so I still ate a lot more than on my pre-vacation healthy days. Today I’m back to counting calories. Hopefully I can really get back on track soon (although these sleepless night have to stop asap!!!).

BREAKFAST

I woke up bright and early on my day off. We had no fresh produce but I was so happy to find a chobani in the fridge. I missed yogurt so much!! This really hit the spot!

chobani with dried apricots + TJ's nutty american trek mix

WORKOUT

After a few hours, I got dressed and hit the gym (it’s been 13 days since my last workout!). I took it easy-ish and did a 5K on the treadmill (preset program that changes inclines and speed). On a good day I can do level 3 all the way, but I started with level 2 since it’s been so long (after a quick warm-up walk, this makes you run at 6.6mph, and switches between 0.0-2.0 inclines) and actually after 20 minutes switched to level 3 (7.0 mph). I was happy that I could run without dying. Then I did another 30 minutes on the elliptical, and finished off by 15 minutes of the stationary bike. Not bad for a day after 30 hours of traveling and hardly any sleep! Workout stats…

Duration: 1:17
Calories burnt: 612 (40% fat)
Ave HR: 138; Max HR: 210 (must be wrong!)

MORE EATS

I was pretty proud of this meal because I used everything out of the freezer and was able to produce a real balanced meal

spinach fettuccini, grilled chicken, artichokes and green peas in a light pesto sauce

And then I was still hungry (damn stretched stomach!) so I had one of these babies. I’ve tried a bunch of kinds in Hong Kong and plan to do a whole post just on these. Love ‘em!!

Asian cake with red bean paste and egg yolk

inside of pastry

Dinner was at my parents. It was very delicous. My mom is quite the cook Here is my first plate…

chicken pie, beef brisket, roasted veggies + tomato/cucumber salad

And my second piece of the pie. Yum!

second chicken pie slice

I also had a bite of a cookie that we brought for my parents (not pictured). This dinner really stuffed me, but aparently not enough to get me through the night.

I’ll do more vacactions recaps soon. I promise There is some really good stuff there…

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Russian craziness

October 13th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Russian

Wow, tonight was a truly authentic Russian dinner experience. I feel like I’ve traveled to and back from Russia in just a few short hours. I’ll start from the beginning…

I came home starving after the apple picking so the plan to hit the gym right away was out of the door. I could not work out hungry and after I ate, I could not work out because I needed to digest. I called my dad to see what the plan for dinner was and he informed me that instead of the bbq he and his friends (from Russia, staying with my dad for a few days) decided to cook lamb instead. I don’t eat lamb. I never liked it. It’s not that I have anything against lamb; it’s just that it has a very strong flavor that I just do not enjoy. He then informed me that that they’ll be making some zucchini “cake” (made with mayonnaise… not sweet) so even the side dish was unhealthy. I was so upset, because I really wanted to be healthy and already incountered a few obsticles in that department earlier in the day and persevered and now I had to deal with more of the same. The plan was to go quickly, have my husband try the lamb and then come home, cook something healthy for myself and hit the gym. Ok, that SO did not go according to plan.

Here are a few of the foods that we were presented with. The table looked beautiful!

This were just some tomatoes with grapes. Very creative!

And this was the zucchini cake. Really they were crepes made with zucchini, layered with sauce (mayo+spices) and topped with pine nuts.

There was also a simple cheese plate and some kind of an eggplant dish (not pictured).

Again, the presentation was just adorable! This woman could work in a restaurant!!! She even placed two napkins in front of me and my husband with our initials in rose petals. This is my “E” for Elina. How very sweet of her…

The whole theme of the night was kind of celebrating our newly-wed status, which is why we had the special napkins.

This was my first plate (one of each):

I had a bunch more of the eggplant dish. It seemed healthy and was so unique tasting. The people brought their spices all the way from Syberia. It tasted almost like Indian food with a Russian spin to it. Very delicious.

Then came the main entree… the lamb. I had to try it to be polite.

The verdict: it was actually not bad, because the spices were so delicious and unique, but I wouldn’t say I’ve been coverted to a lamb-lover This was a tiny portion and I didn’t take any more. I was still trying to be good.

We were all dining for awhile. There was some vodka involved (I didn’t have any) and lots of wine. I think I had about 2 small glasses of red. This all led to some bizzare (but very traditional!) Russian behaviour. At random moments they made us kiss (so awkward!) and kept on being very cheesy with love references and love songs! Seriously, they just could not stop singing in Russian, catching random words and starting songs with them. Oh, and of course they made sure to tell my husband how faithful Russian women are. It’s aparently in our genes, just in case he was worried. Haha! Crazy crazy Russians. It was all good fun, though

I ended up eating another 0.75 slice of the zucchini cake, a few slices of a plum, 2 grapes and 1 Trader Joe’s cookie. And no, I did not make it to the gym tonight Better luck tomorrow…