Smart Food

Last week, I received a coupon from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program for a free Bertolli Frozen Meal for Two. We chose the Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli, and broke it out after our long bike ride yesterday.

The dish was easy to make, but had a somewhat bland flavor. I added some basil, which helped a lot!

There were two things about this meal that would keep me from buying it again:

1. The price point.

2. The step that says “Place food-safe sauce pouch in a pot… bring to a rolling boil.”

There is just something about cooking a plastic bag in boiling water that weirds me out.

All in all, it was a decent dish, but I don’t think I’d eat it again.

Smart Fitness

As I alluded to earlier in this post, we completed another long training ride, complete with Ithaca hills, yesterday. We did 30 miles in about 2 1/2 hours… I can make it up the hills, but it seriously lowers my average speed!

Between the ride and some weight lifting last night, I was in serious need of some stretching this morning. I broke out my Yoga Tune Up Balls, which I received as a sample, to work out some of the kinks in my back. I love these little yellow balls; they make it easy to give yourself a “back massage.”

[Source]

In fact, during our 14 hour drive when we moved from Madison to Ithaca, I kept these in the front seat with me and put them behind my shoulder blades whenever I started to feel tense. It made such a difference!

The balls come with an instructional CD and booklet, but I don’t use them. The audio and diagrams were too difficult to follow and didn’t make much sense to me, so I’ve been making it up as I go along! Works for me!

Smart Life

How was your weekend?

Smart Food

To celebrate our successful hill-taming ride yesterday (more details in a bit!), I made us a fantastic summer dinner.

We picked up bison burgers from the Farmer’s Market this weekend, which I grilled with some Garlic Gold Nuggets and served with some Jalapeno Raw Milk Cheddar, lettuce and ketchup on Nature’s Pride Whole Wheat Buns. I’ve never had bison before, but liked how lean and flavorful it was!

The Garlic Gold and buns were sent to me by the companies for review. I LOVE the Garlic Gold nuggets…they added a bit of CRUNCH to our burgers. I’ve been eating them on popcorn and salads as well. So delicious!

We enjoyed the buns, and the ingredients list wasn’t too long. Unfortunately, they went bad really quickly (probably because our kitchen was so hot and humid this weekend?), so we won’t be able to eat the rest.

I served the burgers with some roasted broccoli (sprinkled with some more Garlic Gold!) and

some Pesto Potato Salad. I boiled and chopped 2 pounds of potatoes, and mixed in Angela’s Garlic Scape Pesto. I made a few modifications from Angela’s recipe: basil instead of spinach, real Parmesan cheese instead of vegan, and added some sunflower seeds. We loved the spicy garlic zest of the pesto…YUM!

As Dan put it, “Garlic was the shoestring of this meal” because it tied everything together.

With some Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer (opened with our cute mystery wedding gift… we couldn’t find a card or tag for this one!)

Smart Fitness

Ithaca is surrounded by hills. And I don’t mean little rolling hills. Oh, no. I mean huge, mountainous hills.

As you can imagine, this makes long cycling training rides a bit of a challenge if you are intimidated by hills… you run out of places to go!

Yesterday, I faced the infamous hills for the first time. And I conquered all 3 of them that I tackled!

Dan rode alongside me the entire way, encouraging me to keep going. Couldn’t have done it without him.

We stopped around the 10 mile mark for a little picnic by the lake.

All-in-all, we rode 20.5 miles in about 1:52. And I’m not nearly as sore as I expected to be post-hills. Wheeeee!

Smart Life

We’re starting to see some growth in the garden, so expect a progress report tomorrow!

Happy Tuesday, friends! It is pouring down rain here, except for when I need to walk to class. Then, it miraculously stops raining until I get back inside. The rain clouds must like me today!

Smart Food

Welcome to… The Battle of the Spreads.

In the first corner, weighing in at $10 at the Ithaca co-op for a 16 oz jar, or $0.99 at Whole Foods for a single-serving packet, we have Justin’s Maple Almond Butter. Smooth and creamy, this spread’s secret weapon is its hint of sweetness.

[Source]

Round 1: Cost.

Justin’s Maple Almond Butter is the clear winner, coming in at $0.50 less per ounce than its competitor.

Round 2: Spread-ability.

Both spreads go on smoothly. However, Justin’s nut butter requires significant amounts of stirring before the first use, so the winner of Round 2 is Cacao Bliss.

Round 3: Mouthfeel/Texture

Cacao Bliss has a bit of a grainy texture at first bite, but I found that it grew on me quickly. And when melted into oatmeal, it takes on a blissful frosting-like texture.

Justin’s is especially smooth and creamy when compared to other nut butters.   

This round is a tie. Justin’s nut butter wins for texture on toast and apple slices, but Cacao Bliss wins when it comes to oatmeal or breakfast quinoa.

Round 4: Taste

The maple flavor in Justin’s Maple Almond Butter is not quite as pronounced as I would like it. However, there is no missing the chocolate coconut flavor of Cacao Bliss. Cacao Bliss wins here!

Final Score.

Justin’s Nut Butter: 2

Cacao Bliss : 3

Cacao Bliss is our winner!

Smart Fitness

I ended up taking a few more days off from cycling because my IT band is still recovering. It was so hard to not pull on my helmet and jump on my bike on Saturday and Sunday, when the weather was gorgeous, but I know that it was the best decision for the long-run.

Tonight, my plan is:

Bike 6 miles (and stopping if it starts to hurt!)

New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women workout A1, Stage 1. (I decided to start over with the New Rules of Weight Lifting exercises, since I’ve been traveling so much, and my weight training has been a bit spotty.)

• Push-Ups: 2 sets of 15. 60 seconds rest following each set, alternated with Rows
• One-Legged Bent Over Rows: 2 sets of 15. 60 seconds rest following each set, alternated with Push-Ups
• Dumbbell Lunges: 2 sets of 15 per side. 60 seconds rest following each set, alternated with Reverse Crunches
• Reverse Crunches: 2 sets of 15. 60 seconds rest following each set, alternated with Lunges

Plus some of the recommended PT exercises for my IT band!

Smart Life

Caitlin’s book is steadily rising in the ranks on Amazon. Operation Beautiful is currently #39 on Amazon’s list of Self-Esteem books, which is pretty awesome since it doesn’t come out until August. Congratulations, Caitlin!

Isn’t the cover awesome?

[Source]

I’m meeting with a new sports medicine doctor tomorrow morning to figure out what is going on with my IT band/knee. Hopefully I’ll be able to bike again soon; Dan and I have TWO 2-day charity rides tentatively lined up for this summer, plus Italy in the fall, and I want to start training! So wish me luck!

Tea-riffic Tuesday

I used to drink tea the way I drink my coffee: loaded with milk and sweetener. Not the healthiest drink, for sure, but I just couldn’t get over the bitter taste of either.

Now, I still don’t enjoy black coffee. But I have, somehow, arrived at the point where I most enjoy tea with minimal or no sweetener, and no milk at all!

So recently, I have been drinking tea like it is my job. Herbal, green, rooibos, black…I just can’t get enough. Now that it doesn’t have all the extra added sugar and calories, I find it to be a healthy replacement for some of the plain water I drink All. Day. Long.

Plus, now that I am drinking my tea “straight,” I can appreciate the flavor complexities of each tea more.

So what do I think of some of the teas I have been sampling lately?

And now, I’m off to have a mug of Herbal Revive.

What’s your favorite kind of tea?  Do you drink it ‘straight,’ or with milk and sugar added?

I want to compile a list of ‘must-try’ teas, so tell me what your favorite brand/flavor is!

First, Happy Birthday to MegaNerd!

Today’s breakfast was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Kath. I made her Whipped Banana Oats for breakfast, topped with two new amazing products. And coincidentally, one of them just went into her OpenSky store today!

I present to you, Tropical Chocolate Oats.

This summer, I started baking with goji berries. You may know them by one of their other names: Chinese wolfberry, bocksdorn, or barbary matrimony vine, among others. These little red berries are packed with iron, antioxidants, and vitamins. In fact, they have more antioxidants than blueberries or pomegranates, and more vitamin C than an orange! They are also a source of complete protein, meaning they have a good balance of all the essential amino acids. And they taste great, to boot! I love the tangy sweet flavor they add to granola and bars.

As I’ve recently learned, I also like them in cookies. Towards the end of December, I received some samples of Goji Gourmet cookies to review for Savvy Eats.

What are the benefits of Goji Gourmet cookies? From their website:

• No preservatives
• All-natural
• No refined sugar added
• High in antioxidants
• Delicious
• Low calorie
• Handmade
• Infused with Superfoods
• Energizing
• Great for kids
• Mostly organic ingredients

The cookies come in five flavors. I’ve listed and commented on each of them below. Overall, though, I really liked these cookies. Their texture falls somewhere between a muffin and cookie. They are sweet, but not overly so, and I feel satisfied after eating only two, which is the serving size.

Goji Almond Oat. I liked this flavor because the oatmeal and almonds really enhanced the flavor of the goji berries.

Goji Cherry Cacao. I love the cherry-chocolate combo in general, so I really liked this flavor. This is probably the flavor where you taste the goji berries the least, but I didn’t mind; they were still delicious!

Goji Chocolate Chip. Tastes like a traditional chocolate chip cookie, but with a sweet hint of goji!

Gogi Ginger Walnut. I like that the ginger wasn’t overpowering, and the crunch that the walnuts gave the cookies.

and Goji Orange MintChip. This was hands-down my favorite flavor. I loved the combo of citrusy orange with refreshing mint, underscored by goji flavor. Yum. Since this was my favorite flavor, Allison of Goji Gourmet has graciously offered to send one Savvy Eats reader a bag of Goji Orange MintChip cookies!

[Source]

Want to win a bag of Goji Orange MintChip Goji Gourmet cookies for yourself?

Leave a comment about why you want to try Goji Gourmet products below. I will select a winner on Saturday, January 9!

Milk Chocolate with Gummi Bears and Orange Slices. I thought the combination would be kind of weird, but listed it as one of my choices anyways. As it turns out, I loved this bar! The chewy, sweet orange combined with the smooth chocolate was perfect. My only (slight) issue with the bar was that the gummi bears were a little tough, so I think next time I’d get only orange slices.

The milk chocolate itself was excellent. Velvety-smooth and creamy, it just melted in my mouth.

Dark Chocolate with Crunchy Almond Croquant, Sliced Almonds, and a Chocolate Butterfly. I have three things to say about this bar. First of all, the butterfly was beautiful. Secondly, the dark chocolate was rich and smooth, just the way I like it. And finally, I loved the crunchiness the almond toppings added.

Want to win some delicious chocolate of your own?

If you do, I have a $40 gift certificate to giveaway to one lucky reader!

To enter, visit Chocomize’s website and leave a comment here with the chocolate bar you would order. On Sunday, January 3, I will randomly select a winner.

Good luck!

And, if you have a big event like a wedding coming up, consider Chocomize bars for your favors. You can add pictures and messages to the packaging, in addition to customizing the ingredients for your bars! Yum!

Miss anything during the busy holiday week?

• End of Semester Wrap-Up
• 2009: A Year in Review
• Christmas Re-cap
• My 10 in 2010
• Blogger Meet-Up
• Tomato Mountain Giveaway Winner

Thanks for all your well-wishes last night. An ice pack and good night’s sleep finally kicked out my migraine, and I was back to normal today!

I’m back with another delicious giveaway, hosted by Tomato Mountain. You may recall the preserves I got from the Farmer’s Market back in October; I loved the short & natural ingredient list, not to mention the delicious taste!

Tomato Mountain has been kind enough to agree to do a giveaway on Savvy Eats!

The winner of this giveaway will receive the following:

One (1) jar of Strawberry/Raspberry Preserves

From the Tomato Mountain website:

Organic Strawberries, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Raspberries, Pectin.

Our Strawberry-Raspberry preserves mix the early summer sweetness of our June-picked strawberries with the September tang of raspberries. As with all our preserves, we have two parts fruit to one part sugar – half the sugar and twice the flavor as many on-the-shelf preserves in the store. Sugar shouldn’t be the first ingredient.

One (1) jar of Strawberry Preserves

Same ingredients to the Strawberry/Raspberry preserves, but without the raspberries (obviously).

AND

One (1) jar of Sun Gold Tomato Preserves

From the website:

Organic Sun Gold Tomatoes, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Pectin.

Like no preserve you’ve ever had (even if you’ve had tomato preserves)! We are famous for our Sun Gold tomatoes, both fresh and in our Sun Gold Preserves. Sun Gold is an extremely sweet variety of orange cherry tomato, and these preserves will almost fool you into thinking you’re eating peach or apricot. Works great as a glaze on roasted meats, fish, and vegetables, with savory foods like goat cheese, and streaming down a short stack of buttermilk pancakes.

I’ll admit, I was wary of the Sun Gold Tomato Preserves the first time I tried them. Tomato preserves that are sweet and fruity? But really, they are amazing!

When I went to the Farmer’s Market to pick up these goodies for you on Saturday, Sarah from Tomato Mountain was sweet enough to also send me home with a jar of their Roasted Tomato Soup with Shallots and some of their Sun Gold Preserves. Her co-worker, Robin, suggested I pick up some local cheese and bread at the Market to make a delicious lunch of tomato soup and a grilled cheese +Sun Gold sandwich. By the time I got there, there was no good sandwich bread left, but I did snag some Garlic Cheddar from Bleu Mont Dairy!

(Before I let the cheese get all nice and melty)

This lunch was amazing!

The soup was creamy and tangy, with a hint of sweetness. I don’t typically like tomato soup, but I definitely plan to pick up a jar of this one again!

The preserves, however, made the meal. The Sun Gold tomatoes combined with the garlicky cheese elevated this from a standard grilled cheese to a gourmet lunch. I loved it so much that I made it again less than two days later!

Thank you, Tomato Mountain, for sponsoring this giveaway. I love to be able to support small, local food companies like you!

So, how can you win some of these fantastic preserves?

Leave a comment here about how you support local food companies, or why you like to support local companies.

I will pick a winner on Saturday, December 26!

We are going to have very good food at our wedding.

Very good.

Like, amazing-beyond-reason food at our wedding.

I know, I know, I said I would write about my flour experiment. But we had our tasting with the wedding caterer today. Popular vote on Twitter said that I should write about the tasting first, flour tomorrow. I’m in love with the food from our tasting, and the pictures I took with our new camera, so I’m happy to oblige!

Dan liked the food too. And he likes our camera.

The catering coordinator at Fresco and the chef were both so sweet. Loved them.

Fresco is another Food Fight, Inc restaurant, just like Bluephies. Just like Bluephies, Fresco uses fresh, local, seasonal ingredients whenever possible. So not only is their food out-of-this-world delicious, it is also a bit “green.”

In the eco-friendly way, of course. Not the “sat out to long and went bad” kind of way.

Please note, all descriptions in italics are directly from the catering menu.

Caprese Skewers: Local tomato, buffalo mozzarella, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar.

Simple, clean, light. Caprese is pretty hard to mess up.

Bosc Pear: Open faced on toasted french bread, gorgonzola cheese, walnuts

Instead of gorgonzola, they use blue cheese. The sweet juiciness of the pear, balanced with the tart & creamy blue cheese, was an excellent combination. Dan and I both said it reminded us a bit of my Blogger Secret Ingredient winner.

Grilled Baby B.L.T.’s: smoked Nueske’s bacon, fresh basil aioli

Confession time here. While I am mostly vegetarian, I am not willing to cut meat out of my diet entirely. I like food too much to restrict myself like that. However, because of the environmental and ethical issues surrounding meat, I eat it very, very rarely. And only when the food is so unique or of high quality that I deem it “worthy.” While a baby BLT doesn’t sound like much, it was definitely worthy.

Round two of hors d’oeuvres. Don’t mind Dan’s hands in the background. He took notes on the menu, I took pictures.

He offered to take pictures. I wanted to play with the new camera though.

Risotto cakes: Seasonal vegetables, tomato confit.

This cake was made with squash, because it is winter. The ones at the wedding will be made with either asparagus or peas + lemon. We’re leaning towards the pea and lemon, both because it was recommended by the chef and coordinator, but also because it sounds more unique and interesting. On first taste, I wasn’t sure if I liked the confit. On my second bite, I decided that it was the perfect balance to the creamy risotto. It lightened up the risotto cake a bit.

Wild Mushroom & Leek Tartlets: Brie cheese, arugula.

Poor Dan. To balance out the meat-containing hors d’oeuvres, I wanted to put this one on the menu. Dan was a trooper and tried it, even though he hates the texture of mushrooms. The puff pastry was so flaky and light, and filled with three types of mushrooms, if I heard Deb, the chef, correctly. The yellow on top is apricots, which I normally don’t like. But on top of this tart? The perfect final touch.

Mini Crab Cakes: Chipotle aioli, chives.

This may have been our favorite hors d’oeuvre. Made with super lump crab meat. So savory and delectable, and topped with the most creamy, kind-of spicy chipotle mayonnaise.

Pork Empanadas: Jalapeno creme fraiche.

Now, of all meats, pork is probably my least favorite. But this flaky, hand-crafted crust and the jalapeno creme fraiche? Made me enjoy this taste of pork. I still gave half of it to Dan, only because he loved it so much.

In addition to the hors d’oeuvres, we will be having 2 made-to-order stations of small “main” dishes. The two we tasted today we will probably end up ordering.

Gnocchi: Homemade ricotta cheese gnocchi, brown butter herb creme, fresh seasonal vegetables.

The veggies today were brussels sprouts, sundried tomatoes, and mushrooms. As Dan said, “This sauce even makes me like brussels sprouts!” Apparently I should learn to make brown butter herb creme. I could eat this all day. Seriously.

On second thought, that would probably mean I’d need to get my wedding dress in a bigger size.

I’ll stick with the small plate portion. I guess.

Organic Norwegian Salmon: Cucumber-dill sauce, chopped salad of radish, feta, green onion, black olive, local tomato, cucumber, hearts of palm.

By the time we got to this dish, I was getting very full, so I only ate a few bites. Dan thought the fish had a sharp, smoky taste, but still liked it. The Greek salad under the salmon was the perfect accompaniment.

The overall verdict? We are going to have very, very good food at our wedding.

Oh, and our new camera is Awesome. With a capital ‘A.’

Empower Glo Bar

You may recall from my Glo-ing review that I love Angela’s Glo bars.

It is still true.

My two favorite flavors are the Renew and Empower. Renew, as mentioned before, packs a lot of protein into a little bar. Perfect for days when you feel like you need a little protein-boost on the go. And a great alternative to the typical post-race bagels, I’ve discovered!

Empower is one of the new flavors of Glo bars. Chewy and peppered throughout with dark chocolate and coffee, this bar melts in your mouth. Plus, it has 20 mg of caffeine! I’m not a huge coffee or tea fan (yet), and it is nice to find some caffeine in another natural, healthy form. Please note that I love these bars even though I don’t love coffee. The dark chocolate masks the bitter coffee aftertaste.

I love Glo bars, and I want to give all my readers a chance to try them, too!

And so, my very first giveaway will be….

10 Glo bars of any available flavor!

Present Glo bar

A reader will be chosen at random at noon (CST) on Thursday, November 19 and will be able to select any of the Glo bar flavors (provided the chosen flavor is in stock at Glo bakery at the time)!

Personally, I really want to try the new Present flavor… cranberry pumpkin spice? Yes, please!

How can you enter?

Simple!

Yesterday, I talked about how I wanted to write about the science behind food.

So, to enter the Glo bar giveaway, just leave a comment here about what food science questions you want answered. I’ll try to answer as many of them as possible in future posts!

For example, later this week, I’ll be posting about why you can replace eggs with a flax/water combo when baking!

What food science questions do you have for me? It can be anything!

PS: I am not this good at photography yet. These pics are from the Glo Bakery site!