Tag: dinner

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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A Healthy Eggplant Parmesan Dinner

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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the best way to get back “on track” after an indulgent weekend or few days is to make a veggie-heavy dinner that’s so delicious it reminds you how good it tastes and feels to eat clean, real food. On my way back to Massachusetts on Monday afternoon, I remembered that I had bought a baby eggplant the week before. Since I hate to waste food, and have been waiting for an excuse to take my dad’s homemade sauce out of the freezer, I decided that eggplant parmesan would be a great meal to make. Per usual, I knew I wanted to doctor up the sauce a bit, so I added in some browned lean hamburger (it was about half the price of ground turkey or ground chicken and it was 85% lean so I went for it) and extra veggies.

To cut back on carbs a bit, I cooked up a small spaghetti squash. This is one of my favorite healthy substitutions because if you have a good sauce and other things to keep your mouth happy, you won’t even notice that you’re not eating pasta! Lastly, a side of baked kale was the finishing piece of the meal… because you can never have too many veggies, right?!eggplant parmesan

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 1 small-medium eggplant
  • sea salt
  • approx. 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
  • 1-2 eggs
  • 1/2-1 cup panko or bread crumbs
  • EVOO
  • 2 cups of sauce (store bought or homemade)
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
  • 1/2 cup chopped zucchini
  • 1/2 lb. lean ground beef (or turkey or chicken)
  • 1 medium spaghetti squash
  • 1 bunch of kale
  • 1/2 lemon
  • herbs and seasonings of your choice

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Directions

1. Cut open the spaghetti squash, clean out the seeds and put it into a pot of boiling water. Boil for about 15-20 minutes. While that is cooking, place the sauce in a pot and add in the chopped veggies. When the spaghetti squash is cooked, remove from the water and use a fork to shred the squash. Set aside.

2. Brown the beef and add that to the sauce and veggies.

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3. Clean and cut up the kale (removing the stems) and massage with about 4 tbsp. of EVOO, the juice of 1/2 a lemon and herbs/seasonings of your choice. Place in a baking dish and set aside.

4. Preheat the oven to 350*. Cut up the eggplant into 1/4-1/2″ slices and place on a paper towel. Sprinkle some sea salt onto one side and let sit for a few minutes. Flip the slices over and sprinkle more salt on them. I heard that this helps to remove some of the excess moisture in the eggplant- anyone know more about this?

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5. Heat a pan with a little EVOO. Scramble an egg in one bowl and put the panko/breadcrumbs in the other bowl. Place the eggplant slices into the egg and then into the panko/breadcrumbs and then onto the warm pan. Cook on each side for about 3-5 minutes.

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6. When each side of the eggplant slice has browned, place a small spoonful of sauce and a sprinkle of cheese onto each and bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Place the kale in the oven as well, stirring halfway through.

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7. Serve yourself a bowl of spaghetti squash, topped with the meat/veggie sauce and eggplant medallions and a side of kale. Enjoy!

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This meal was so delicious and can be simplified even more by replacing spaghetti squash for regular spaghetti and skipping the breading process on the eggplant. I just had time and love being in the kitchen so I went all out!

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Enjoy!

Questions for you: Do you like eggplant parmesan? Do you make your own sauce? What’s your favorite green veggie?

 

 

Boston Restaurant Roundup: Part 1 {Downtown Boston}

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It’s no surprise that I love to go out to lunch or dinner or even just for drinks, right? I love trying new places or foods or drinks and then sharing that information with all of you who read this little blog. I especially love when you guys ask me for restaurant recommendations, so I thought that I would make it a little easier for you and give you my Boston Restaurant Roundup so you can have access to all my favorite restaurants in a few different posts. I originally wanted to put everything in one post, but as I started to list out the various restaurants I’ve been to, I realized I’ve been to A LOT of different places all around Boston. Putting them into one post would’ve just been too long, so here is your first installment of my “Boston Restaurant Roundup”, which includes restaurants in Downtown Boston (Fanuel Hall, Financial District and Downtown Crossing).

Faneuil Hall/Financial District

  • Anthem– I have talked about Anthem a number of times on here, so it’s no surprise that it’s the first place I list. They are located right in the heart of Faneuil Hall, have a good wine and cocktail menu and a terrific food menu. It’s great for outdoor dining in the summer and the bar area is great for indoor people watching in the winter/colder months. If you go, you MUST, I repeat, MUST get the fondue! It is the absolute best.

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  • Granary Tavern– This is another place with a similar vibe to Anthem. I have to say that the prices are a little better and I like their wines more, so sometimes we choose this place over Anthem. It’s located on Atlantic Ave, so it’s still close to shopping and bar hopping. They’ve got some terrific salads and pizza’s and a great outdoor patio area for summer dining.

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  • Sakurabana– If you’re looking for Sushi in this area, I definitely suggest Sakurabana. The fish has always been really fresh and colorful and they have brown rice options. This is a really popular lunch place, and although it’s never busy for dinner, it’s wroth a trip. I think I’ve been there 3 times in the past 2 months. If you have a gluten allergy or intolerance, they accommodate that, too!

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  • Society on High– I went here for after work drinks and loved the atmosphere. They had a great bar area and lots of high-top tables to sit at around the bar. They also had an absolutely delicious Sauvignon Blanc that I may or may not have had 3 glasses of… on a Tuesday! 😉 We ended up getting some apps and really loved the fish tacos and shrimp cocktail. I’ve been trying to get back there ever since.

Downtown Crossing

  • Stoddards– I haven’t eaten here, but my sister, Amy and I had a girls night there a few months ago and loved the bar area. We ended up downstairs, but they have an area upstairs, too. I’ve heard that the food is good, I just haven’t had a chance to get back there to try it.
  • 49 Social– Danielle, Amy and I went across the street from Stoddards for dinner at 49 Social. While this is a little more of an ‘upscale” place compared to Stoddards, it wasn’t TOO stuffy. We tried to sit at the bar area since it was certainly more casual there, but they were full so we had to go upstairs. The regular menu looked wonderful, but we were more in the mood for munchy food and asked if we could order from the bar menu- no problem at all! Everything we had was absolutely delicious- I highly recommend trying this place.
  • Sip– I recently went with my friend Lisa and we enjoyed countless drinks and a few food dishes and left there completely satisfied. I still dream about the tacos and mushroom pizza with truffle oil. The fact that you can choose what size glass of wine you want is also a really fun thing- it gives you a chance to do a tasting “flight” of various wines. The prices are also very reasonable.

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  • Gem– This triples as a great dinner spot, lively after dinner drink spot and a great post dinner drink spot. Trust me on this- I’ve done all three 😉 We did dinner first (a while ago as one of our girls nights) and loved it. We shared a salad and a flatbread and lots of wine (they have a heavy pour!). Recently, we went for after dinner drinks and loved the scene. It’s certainly not a “casual” atmosphere (more clubby than casual Boston bars), but if you’re looking for a time to get dressed up, it’s a great place to go!

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So, there you have it! Your first installment of my “Boston Restaurant Roundup”. Next up will be Southie/Seaport District and East Boston. There are lots of good places in those locations!

Questions for you: Have you been to any of these places? Did I miss any/are there any that I should try? I’m always looking to expand my restaurant repertoire, so share your favorites in the comments section!

Weekending: Dining, drinking & celebrating mom

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Weekends are usually pretty great, but this past weekend was especially great and I think the combination of being surrounded by lots of family and the weather was the reason behind it. I’ve been trying to cut back on weekend recaps because I’m not sure how much you enjoy hearing about my play-by-play weekend adventures, but this one was filled with trying out new restaurants and celebrating someone very special so I figured it was worth sharing 😉

Friday night, I met the boy in Central Square and he brought me to a little hidden gem: Green Street Grill. This little restaurant/bar was tucked away on a street parallel to Mass. Ave right in the heart of Central Square. We were lucky enough to snag 2 seats right at the bar (our favorite) and enjoyed some vino and delicious (gluten free) dishes. I had had a very stressful (but good stress) day and it was so nice to be able to relax, have a few wines and not think about anything for a while.

Saturday morning, my sister and I went to a class at Flywheel and, just as I expected, Ann taught a phenomenal class. I’d love to say that I had a great ride, but for some reason, my legs felt like lead and I just didn’t have it in me to push myself and pedal faster. I wanted to- so badly- but my body had another thing planned. Oh well. It was still fun riding next to my sister and we left there hot yoga sweaty!

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After class, we shopped around a bit (I got a new dress for Miami!) and then had lunch at Sonsie. The weather had cleared and we got seats right near the open windows- felt so nice to have warm weather!

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I can’t say any of what I ate/drank was healthy, but life is all about balance, right?

Saturday night was date-night. We went to his brother and sister-in-law’s condo in the South End for roof deck cocktails and baby snuggles before having dinner at Stella, which is also in the South End. My friend Jess recommended it and it turns out it’s one of his favorite restaurants, so it was a no brainer to try it out! Even better? They have a whole gluten free menu. We had a drink while waiting for spots at the bar to open up (the Bruins were on. I couldn’t care less, but I wasn’t going to take him away from watching). For dinner, we shared the sausage and broccoli rabe, the arugula salad and the braised short ribs. They split that for us, which was so nice! They also served it atop gluten free penne instead of GF mashed potatoes which was totally fine.

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Yum. I can’t wait to go back- I dream of that dish. Okay, not really, but it was SO good.

Sunday was a fun day filled with pampering mom! We were lucky enough to have them agree to come down for the day instead of us going up there since we’ve been a few times in the past month or so. Danielle and I made a pretty delicious brunch, if I do say so. We had an egg casserole (egg, milk, chicken sausage, sautéed peppers and onions, spinach and cheese- so easy, so tasty), warm kale salad (with EVOO and lemon juice as the dressing, craisins, goat cheese, grilled pear and candied pecans), fruit salad and Stonewall Kitchen blueberry muffins.

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One of the best parts of the day was the fact we got to spend time on my back patio, soaking up some serious sun!

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(terrible picture, but it was all I had!)

My mini patio set is, well, mini, but we squished to make it work.

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Yummm. I love brunch food! We had such a nice afternoon drinking wine (mom loves excuses to day drink!) and catching up. My dad is coming down next weekend to help get my garden started and I can’t wait! It will be so nice to have fresh veggies all summer- I’m lucky that he has volunteered to help!

And that about sums it up. Although it was a rather indulgent weekend, there’s nothing better than spending time with the people you love and food/drink indulgences are totally worth it during those times!

Questions for you: Did you get outside to enjoy the weather? What was the best part of your weekend? What did you do to celebrate Mother’s Day? What’s your favorite “hidden gem” restaurant? Do you ever have workouts where your mind wants it but your body doesn’t?

Boston Day of Fun, Pat Green Concert & Easter Weekend in Maine {Recap}

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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, there’s nothing like the feeling of spending a weekend home in Maine. I come back to the city feeling totally re-charged. I love the fast-paced, city life style 95% of the time, but after weeks and weeks of that, it feels really great to come home to Maine for a slower-paced, less busy weekend.

I cannot tell you how amazing it was to have Friday off. I don’t know what my problem was last week, but I had ZERO desire to work. I managed to get through it, but it wasn’t fun! Friday started off with a much-needed hair cut, followed by a sushi lunch with the guy. We had planned to have a “day of fun” in the city since I had the day off and he had a half day.

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After lunch, we headed to Copley and did some shopping. I got my watch fixed and he scored big time at J. Crew. We finished the day at The Salty Pig, which would have been better if it wasn’t Good Friday (meaning we could eat meat). But! They had Gluten Free beers and a great music selection, so it was the perfect way to end our day.

That night, I had plans to go to the Pat Green concert at the House of Blues with my sister and some friends. Danielle surprised me with tickets for my birthday and even though I had never heard of him, I was excited to go to a country concert with a fun group of people!

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After a very sweaty (per usual) and still fairly packed kickboxing class on Saturday morning, Danielle and I headed north for the rest of the weekend. We met our mom in Kennebunkport for lunch at Federal Jacks, which was delicious! I got the beef and barley soup (so random, but it sounded so good) and the strawberry and goat cheese salad. I knew I had to go try on clothes after lunch so I wanted to keep it on the lighter side.

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After shopping around at PJ’s Unique Peek for an outfit to wear in the fashion show next weekend, we headed home to finally see dad! He and I prepped veggies and meat for the BBQ- I cannot tell you how excited I was to have a BBQ!

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Danielle and I were in bed and asleep before 10pm… and didn’t wake up until 8:45 on Sunday morning. I haven’t slept that long in who knows when and it was amazing!!! We did Easter baskets, church, brunch and then helped dad clean up the wood on the lawn (for the winter months) Mom and I went for a nice 40 minute walk and then we all had a bonfire until it was time to cook dinner.

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We had an absolutely wonderful meal… so good that I think I need to share it with you soon 😉

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All in all, it was such a good weekend! From the time I woke up on Friday, to the time I went to bed on Sunday (ahhh, the joys of having a flexible job that allows me to work from home in Maine!), I pretty much had a non-stop smile on. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life- both family and friends, and getting some solid, uninterrupted family time over the weekend was exactly what I needed after a very hectic March and April.

I hope all of you had a nice Easter celebration (if you celebrate it)!

Questions for you: Have you heard of Pat Green? Do you like going to concerts? What did you do for Easter- was it a small celebration or a big family thing? Were you able to enjoy the nice weather?