Category: Treats

Catching Up: New Hair, Cape Weekend, 4th of July

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I don’t know about anyone else, but last week was a busy week! Here are some highlights 🙂

  • New Hair- I got a Living Social deal for highlights so I took advantage of it on Tuesday. She went rather blonde… what do you think?

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  • Morning Workouts- Since I wasn’t teaching ANY kickboxing classes last week, I decided to get up and do something I haven’t done in a long, long time on Thursday morning: kickboxing workout AT HOME. Before I started teaching kickboxing classes, I used to do kickboxing workouts at home fairly often. It’s really the best cardio workout for me! And, it doesn’t require that much space or any equipment- perfect!

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While on the Cape, I went for a morning run one day and walk the next- even though it may be tough getting out of bed and actually starting the workout, my day really is so much better when I know I have my workout out of the way!

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  • Eats & Drinks- Last week wasn’t the healthiest of eats for me, but it was a holiday weekend- can ya blame me?! When I got to the Cape on Thursday I suggested that RM and I go out to lunch so we headed to Mashpee Commons and settled at Bobby Byrne’s. We found an outside spot in the shade which made outdoor dining possible in the crazy heat and humidity. I started with a sangria and RM choose a drink because it was “named after him”… can you guess what it was 😉

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For lunch, I went with the Fajita Salad which was delicious!

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I didn’t get much pictures of the food during the rest of my time on the Cape because I felt awkward whipping out my phone to take pics in front of his family, but I will say everything we had was delicious. My family jokes that we think about the next meal before we’re finished with the current meal and being away with an Italian family who has that same mentality (RM’s parents came over from Italy when they were in their teens/young 20’s) made me feel right at home! His mom was in the kitchen most of the weekend 🙂 Friday night we had a traditional BBQ with cheese burgers, hot dogs, kale, chickpea salad and rice- so good! On Saturday, RM’s mom mad a whole roast chicken meal, which just happens to be one of my favorite meals. Since the weather was crappy, it was the perfect thing!

On Saturday night, RM took all of us out to eat for his aunts birthday. We went to a new place called Villagio at the Regatta and the food did not disappoint. The service was not terrific, but I think they were still working out the kinks there (the restaurant opened on June 24th I think). I went with a seafood stew meal and it was SO good- there was so much seafood in the dish, which is a must in my book!

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For a little festive flare on the 4th, RM’s sister’s friend whipped up a batch of some delicious white sangria and I decided to add blueberries and strawberries to it. Drinks with treats in them are just better, right?!

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I also made some stars and stripes fruit skewers which, even though people laughed about, were a big hit!

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  • Beach and Activities- RM and I played corn hole for a while one day while we were at the Cape. Even though I played some good games, he ultimately ended up winning 5-4… womp.

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We were only able to get 1 beach day out of the weekend since we decided to get up and go early on Sunday to beat the traffic, but it was a beautiful beach day!

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  • Scenes from Maine- I have to say, I really missed being at home in Maine for the 4th with my family much more than I thought I would! There’s just something about going to the parade with everyone and doing a BBQ at the Mahoney’s that feels like the real kick-off to summer. Thankfully, my sister kept me included by sending pics!

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The weekend finished off with a beach afternoon in Eastie with my sister.

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And, to kick off the start of a healthy week, I went for a nice 5 mile run and then made a really veggie-filled dinner consisting of some lemon-pepper chicken, baked kale, sautéed zucchini, summer squash and onions and another side of baked Brussels sprouts, sweet potato and onion that I had frozen a while back. I made my zucchini and summer squash similar to this recipe– so easy and delicious!

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Such a great weekend! I was happy to be working from home yesterday, though. I thought I loved working from home on Friday’s but it turns out Monday’s are way better- it makes Sunday nights so much better knowing I don’t have to prep for the week!

Questions for you: How did you celebrate the 4th of July? Did you make any festive treats? Where is your favorite beach?

Lastly… I wanted to share these muffins that I made from Fannetastic Food– they were not only a hit with RM and me, but also with his family, who said they don’t usually like “healthy” treats. I had one for breakfast every morning and it was perfect!

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And, look how much my garden is growing! There’s definitely an animal that’s stepping around on some of the things, but hopefully once they grow bigger that will stop. Can’t wait to eat from it!

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Stephanie’s Avocado Tomato Corn Feta Dip {Perfect for the 4th of July!}

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In honor of the upcoming holiday, which is sure to bring about lots of BBQ’s and parties, I wanted to share an absolutely delicious appetizer dish that is most definitely a crowd pleaser. My gym friend, Stephanie, has brought a few variations of this “dip” to a couple of different gym friends parties and I was so happy she agreed to let me share it with all of you!

Stephanie’s Avocado Tomato Corn Feta Dip

Stephanie's Dip

Ingredients:

  • 3 large avocados chopped
  • 1lb diced grape tomato
  • 1 bag of sweet grilled corn
  • 6-8oz Mediterranean herb feta
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed
  • 1 diced red onion
  • 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 limes, squeezed
  • 2 tbsp minced garlic
  • salt to taste

Directions

  1. Chop your ingredients and place all of them together in a big bowl.
  2. Stir together and place in the fridge to chill for a few hours.
  3. Serve with tortilla chips or pita chips or your whatever dipping “utensil” you choose!

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I mean, how easy is that?! Nothing better than a 1 bowl recipe in my mind- easy clean up!

Big thanks to Stephanie for sharing her recipe with us- I plan on making a batch of this for the 4th!

Questions for you: What’s your favorite party appetizer? Do you have a “go-to” dish that people always request from you? What are you making for the 4th this year?

Homemade Gluten Free Nutty Granola (low sugar!)

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Hi there! Happy Friday 🙂 I hope you’ve all had a good week. Anything fun planned for the weekend? I am SO excited to say that I have relatively nothing planned. It’s been a longgg time since I’ve had a mostly open weekend, so I’m looking forward to taking full advantage of it! Before I get to that, though, I wanted to share a recipe that I came up with a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

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During my “funemployment” (my friend JP coined that term for me) week a few weeks ago, I had plenty of time to do some baking and cooking in my kitchen. After seeing Fed Up, I was in the mood to make a healthier, lower sugar version of one of my favorite things: granola.

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Although people often think of granola as a “healthy” snack, it really isn’t. Most granola’s out there are FULL of sugars and seemingly unnecessary ingredients (there shouldn’t be anything in a simple granola recipe that you can’t pronounce.), which make them a not-so-healthy or smart snack. Since I love granola so much, though, I’ve turned to making it for myself when I can. By doing that, I can pick exactly what I want in it and keep all the unnecessary ingredients out.

Knowing that I would be sharing with RM, I used my gluten free oats and kept all other gluten ingredients out of it. I loaded it up with healthy nuts, fats and super foods to help keep me full and satisfied after snacking on it. In the past, I have added in agave, honey or maple syrup as a way to sweeten it up a bit. This time around, I opted out of adding in any of those things because even though they are a “healthier” sugar option than others, bottom line is that they are still added sugars.

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While the end product wasn’t as “omg I can’t stop eating this granola” as I would’ve liked (goes to show you how much of an effect sugar has on the taste of the food we eat), it was still a great addition to my daily yogurt bowls that left me feeling guilt-free. Please note that if you’re looking to make it a little sweeter, I would certainly add in an eighth to a quarter of a cup of a liquid sweetener.

Homemade gluten free nutty granola

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups gluten free oats (or regular oats if you’re not looking to be gluten free)
  • 2 tbsp. ground flax seed
  • 2 tbsp. chia seeds
  • 1/3 cup of each: pecans, hazelnuts & cashews (or whatever type of nuts you have on hand and would like to use)
  • 2 tbsp. almond butter (I had a Raw almond butter, which didn’t help with adding flavor to the granola. Next time, I would use a roasted almond butter)
  • 2 tbsp. coconut oil
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1.5 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 325*. Combine the dry ingredients (GF oats, flax seed, chia seeds, nuts and cinnamon).

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2. Combine the wet ingredients in another bowl (almond butter, coconut oil, egg white and vanilla).

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3. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, making sure to mix it up halfway through. *please note: it make take more or less time, depending on your oven. I checked on mine a lot and stirred it often to make sure it was cooking evenly.

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Although this wasn’t a super sweet granola, it totally hit the spot for me and I still found myself going back for more handfuls even when I wasn’t hungry. What is it about granola that does that to me?! I generally pride myself for having good self control when it comes to portion control and knowing when (and being able) to stop, but when it comes to granola, all of that goes right out the window!

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Looking for more granola recipes? Check these out:
Grain Free Granola
Quinoa Granola
I have a granola obession…

Questions for you: What’s your favorite brand of granola? What are your favorite granola ingredients? Do you eat it by the handful or just in yogurt bowls?

Weekending: Local 149, drink maple. review, Quick Trip To Maine

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This past weekend was just what I needed: a good mix of some girl time, early nights, Maine and family time. The only thing missing was time with RM… whomp, whomp.

Friday night, the Shapleigh girls were supposed to have a girls night, but Rachel ended up being sick and couldn’t join 😦 Danielle and Amy and I still decided to go out, though, which was a nice way to unwind from the week. I’ve been DYING to get to Local 149 in Southie, so I was so happy when we decided to go there. I have to say, it totally lived up to my expectations! We started with wine and then ordered a number of apps- it wasn’t the healthiest meal I had all week, but it was damn good! I can’t wait to go back.

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Saturday I taught a great kickboxing class, but only one of my “front row” girls was there! Where were the rest of you girls??

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From there, I headed up to Maine. Mom and I met for lunch at Mill 67 which is a new restaurant built in an old mill building right on the water. I loved everything about it! The atmosphere, location, service, food and wine. We shared the Warm Kale Salad and Tomato and Basil Pizza.

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What I loved about the restaurant’s menu was that it was all locally made/grown and they offered gluten free options (even pizza dough… which we didn’t do because I wanted regular pizza). I can’t wait to go back.

Father’s Day was low key, but I think it was just what dad wanted. We went to church then picked up some fried seafood for him and sat on the patio. I hope he had a great weekend!

On my way back to MA, I stopped by my friend Caitlin’s house hoping to catch the tail end of her son Tucker’s 1st birthday party. Sadly, everyone was gone, but it was good to catch up with her- even though it was too short of a visit!

drink maple. Review
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A few weeks ago, I was contacted drink maple. to see if I wanted to try their product. When I read about it, I decided I would take them up on their offer! Here are some stats from their site:

maple. is pure maple water is a natural refreshing, hydrating water with a hint of maple flavor. It contains fortifying vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, antioxidants, prebiotics and is naturally low in calories. We tap maple. straight from the tree and bottle it with absolutely NOTHING added. It is the perfect way to hydrate and nourish your body the same way it nourishes the maple trees. DRINKmaple.

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After going to see Fed Up!, I’ve really tried to cut back on unnecessary sugars and be more away of labels and what’s in the food and drinks I’m putting into my body. Post workout, I’m always looking for something to help me rehydrate, but the normal drinks I turn to: Vitamin Water, Gatorade, Propel, etc., are filled with sugars and other ingredients that I can’t read or understand. The only thing in drink maple. is pure maple sap- love that!

So, after class on Saturday, I decided to check it out.

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The verdict? Initially, I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to, but after a few sips, it started to grow on me. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the flavor, but more that it was weird drinking a lightly flavored drink without fiz! I ended up saving half and putting it in the fridge at my parents and decided I like it better when it’s nice and cold, rather than cool like they suggested. I want to get my hands on some more of this because I really think it’s a great drink to have after a workout! Thanks for letting me try it out 🙂

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Have you been to Local 149 or Mill 67? What did you do for Father’s Day? Have you heard of drink maple.?

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Weekending: “Ladies Night”, Zeke’s 1st Birthday and Local Supplier Meet & Greet at Whole Foods

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You guys! This past weekend was busy, busy, busy…. but with all fun things so I can’t complain! I got a massage on Friday, which was a great way to end my “vacation” week and to kick off the weekend! After my massage, my friend Jess picked me up and we headed north for dinner in New Hampshire at Tortilla Flat with some of our other St. Michael’s friends. It may seem weird that we traveled all the way up there for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, but there was a Tortilla Flat near St. Mike’s and both Kia and Lauren worked there, which meant we went there… a lot… so  we had to check it out!

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Skinny Marg and a Combo Plate- nothing about Mexican food photographs well…

I have to share the cutest story from our dinner. There were 6 of us and all of a sudden a waitress brings over this little (5 or 6 year old) boy. Here’s how the situation went down:

Boy: Are you out for a ladies night?

Us: Yes, we are.

Boy: Well, you’ve come to the right place!

Us: Oh yeah? Why’s that?

Boy: Because I’m the ladies man!

So cute! We died laughing.

Luckily, it was an early night, which was good because I knew Saturday was going to be a big day. I cannot believe little Zeke is already ONE!!! It’s so crazy. Sara put on the most wonderful celebration- from the decorations to the food to the drinks to the company- everything was perfect! We lucked out with the weather, too. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but it was such a great day celebrating a very loved little boy!

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I mean, can you get any cuter than little Zeke in his 1 year old shirt with a bow-tie?!?! Love! Also love my Shapleigh girls and getting to spend an afternoon with them 🙂

Danielle and I headed back to MA early on Sunday since I had a blogger event to attend at Whole Foods.

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I’m always excited for blogger events, but I was especially excited about this one because I’ve been big into buying locally and organic and wanting to know where my food comes from. It was a small event, but there were a number of vendors with samples ranging from fish to prepared salads to cheeses and butters to muesli, pickels, salsa, ice cream and iced coffee. It was so great to chat with all of them to see how their products are made, where they are located and what makes them different than other similar items sold in grocery stores.

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I’m a big fan of good swag bags 😉 Some of my favorite things I tried were:

  • Cheeses and Sea Salt & Maple Butter from Vermont Creamery– I put some of this on my dad’s homemade bread it and it was absolutely amazing!!
  • Muesli from TuTu Muesli– I anticipate early working hours, which means I’ll need to bring breakfast on the road with me so I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes with the sample that I received from TuTu. I bought some Muesli from Bob’s Red Mills and will likely do “over night oats” with that.
  • Salsa from Nola’s Salsa– This stuff was absolutely delicious! There’s nothing better than fresh, homemade salsa and this totally fit the bill for that. The owner lived in Texas for a while and learned from the best. She only uses real ingredients and you can taste the difference. I can’t wait to open mine!
  • Ice cream from Tea-Rrific– Wow. This tea-based ice cream was SO good. They actually brew the tea when making the ice cream so you could taste the specific tea flavors in each one. My favorite was the Masala Chai and the Chamomile- Perfect little sweet treat!
  • Cold Brew coffee from Grady’s Cold Brew– I gave up coffee about a year ago, but when I heard the vendor explain how it’s made without brewing coffee. Grady’s Cold Brew has less caffeine, it’s less acidic (much easier to drink!) and is easier on digestion than regular coffee. There’s no added sugar and the ingredient list is short: water, coffee, chicory and spices. All he added was a little almond milk for me and it was perfect!

Big thanks to Jess and Whole Foods Charles River Plaza for hosting such a great event… and providing us with some amazing swag bags with the products we were able to learn about and try.

Questions for you: How often do you get together with your girlfriends? What was the best part of your weekend? Do you like to shop locally or buy organic products? Have you ever heard of the ones I listed above?