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By Emily, August 17, 2010 11:13 am

The 6 days I spent in Chicago, exploring and attending the Healthy Living Summit were awesome.  I am so glad I went.  And now…let the recaps begin.

HLS activities didn’t begin until Friday night, but when I discovered that the Healthy Living Summit was going to be in Chicago, I’d immediately contacted my friend Kirstin, who lives a couple hours outside the city, to see if she wanted to hang out.  She said yes, so I flew out of Albany on Wednesday.  While waiting in the airport, I decorated all of the bathrooms with Operation Beautiful notes.

After much debate over cost, ease and economic impact, I took a cab from O’Hare to the Congress Plaza Hotel.  After about half an hour of sitting in traffic and watching the meter go up, I concluded that I probably should’ve taken the “L”.  Oh well, you live and learn.  It took a while, but I made it to the hotel without a hitch.

A couple hours later, Kirstin arrived.  We wandered around the city for a little while and settled on Qdoba for lunch, because we’re cheap and they offer vegetarian options.  After dinner we headed to The Back Room, a tiny live music club of the sort I’d never go to by myself.  But that’s what friends like Kirstin are for.  The music was great and we had a lovely time.

Thursday morning was spent eating breakfast at the Artist’s Cafe (delicious!) and  shopping (Chicago had surprisingly good stores, though I managed to save my money).  After lunch we headed to Oak Park to tour Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio.  I was beyond excited about this trip; I’ve been borderline obsessed with Frank Lloyd Wright since I saw an exhibit of his furniture in 2007.  It made my day when Kirstin asked if I wanted to go-I’d initially thought it was too far out of town.  The house was fabulous-everything (windows, furniture, molding, ceilings, art) was intentional and well designed.  Highly recommended.

Thursday night, Kirstin earned more major friend points by accompanying 14 of the HLS attendees and myself to Raw, a raw food restaurant in the French Market.  It was the first time I’d gotten to meet any of the girls, including my roommate and it was really fun.  Organic, raw food isn’t usually my thing, but the owners provided us with a whole bunch of samples of amazing food. I’m so glad that Diana organized it and invited us along!

Kirstin and I ended up sharing a bunch of food with Freya, including collard burritos, spaghetti and meatball, ravioli, and a garden burger.  Who knew raw vegan food could be so good?  Kind of mind blowing.

From Raw, we crammed more people than probably safe or legal into a cab and headed to the YumUniverse website launch party.  The party was hot and crowded, but there was free food and beverages (organic wine, acai spririts) and, best of all, free massages.  I wasn’t super impressed with the party (the lines for samples were so long!) but I just took a peak at the website and the recipes look delicious.  Check it out!

We headed home relatively early from the party and headed to bed.  The Healthy Living Summit hadn’t even started yet and I was having so much fun.  Stay tuned for my post about the Frito-Lay plant tour and the rest of my weekend in Chicago!

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By Emily, August 7, 2010 9:15 pm

On Wednesday I was hanging out at Target, looking for clothes for the Healthy Living Summit and presents for my friends’ new baby and generally wasting time because it’s summer, when I stumbled upon these (presumably new) Fruit Roll-Ups Simply Fruit fruit rolls.

At first, I was excited, because Brian and I are big fans of Trader Joe’s Dried Fruit Bars (also known as fruit leather).  Since TJ’s is over an hour away, we have to ration them and once we’re out, we’re out for a while.   It’s a sad existence we live, being so far from Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods (having so many awesome local farms helps though).  Anyway, it would be awesome to have a fruit bar substitute.

But then I thought, there’s no way these can be decent.  It’s a marketing scheme preying on the “natural food” movement.  However, the ingredient list didn’t disappoint:

And the taste was pretty darn good, too!  Don’t get me wrong, these are not Trader Joe’s Dried Fruit Bars.  They’re fruit roll-ups, but I’m sure for a lot of people that’s a good thing.  They have the same texture and stickiness as the fruit roll-ups I used to take to elementary school for snack.  Actually, they’re not as good as the fruit roll-ups of my youth because there aren’t any shapes to peel off the sheet.  Am I the only one who actually did that?  Apparently Brian just ignored the cut outs and ate the roll-up whole.  I say that’s no fun.  The fruit bars from Trader Joe’s are thicker and less sticky, but these are rather tasty.

Would I buy them again?  Probably.  I’m always looking for quick snacks I can grab on my way out the door.  I’d still choose Trader Joe’s, but if I had to have something from the “fruit snack department” of the supermarket, this isn’t a bad pick.

In a related matter, has anyone actually made their own fruit leather?  I’ve seen a couple blogs with recipes and I want to try it, but a lot of the recipes have you set the oven at 150° and our oven doesn’t go that low, so I’m not sure if it would work.

Disclaimer: Relishments has no connection with General Mills or Fruit Roll-Ups.  I paid for the product myself out of personal interest in trying it.

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By Emily, July 20, 2010 11:23 am

Meet kohlrabi.  We met 2 weeks ago at our CSA.  Any vegetable that’s bright purple gets points in my book; I’m a sucker for anything purple.  And it just looks cool, with all those “tentacles” sticking out.  It looks more to me like some sort of alien creature than a vegetable (maybe I watch too much TV?), but I’m a firm believer in trying everything at the farm, so we took one home, ate it, and last week got 2 more.

Kohlrabi is apparently part of the cabbage family (?!), but Brian and I peeled, sliced and cooked our more like a potato, in a skillet with oil and dill.  I’m sure there are much more exciting things to do with it, but this tasted pretty darn good.  Trying out vegetables I’d never buy at the supermarket is definitely of the best parts of being (temporary) members of a CSA.  This summer I’ve tried turnips, beets, garlic scapes and greens I’d never had before.  Even better: Today is Tuesday and we get to pick up more vegetables!

Anyone else try any new foods lately?

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By Emily, June 25, 2010 11:28 am

I’m just a girl who can’t say no.  At least, to free food.  So when FoodBuzz contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I’d like to try one of Buitoni’s new premium frozen meals for 2…for free, I said yes.  Sure, frozen dinners aren’t something we consume often around here, but I figured one night of processed food wouldn’t kill us.

Brian and I decided to try the Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli with Garlic Butter Sauce, because if you’re going to buy a frozen meal, you may as well get something more interesting than cheese or chicken.  The preparation was incredibly simple (one of the purposes of a frozen meal).  The box contains a package of sauce and a good number of ravioli.  You fill a pot with water, add the pouch of sauce and bring the water to a boil.  Then you add the pasta to the boiling water with the plastic bag of sauce floating in it and cook for 5 minutes.  Remove the sauce packet, drain the pasta, toss the pasta with the sauce and serve.

First, the bad:

• According to the box, the package contains a complete meal.  Maybe it’s just me, but I like to have more than just pasta and sauce as my meals.  Like, a vegetable, perhaps.  We added a side of spinach.
• There was more sauce than I would’ve liked and it was really thick.
• The ravioli wasn’t very flavorful and some of the seafood pieces were a little chewy.
• I wasn’t real happy with the nutrition facts.  That’s a lot of fat, cholesterol and sodium.  Luckily, Brian and I have been subsisting on a lot of salads lately.  You can decide how you feel about them for yourself though (click to enlarge).

Second, the good:

• The garlic butter sauce was yummy and added a lot of flavor to the dish.  And better too much than not enough, right?
• There was definitely the right amount of ravioli for 2 people.  Often, I’ve found that a frozen meal only serves half the number of people its supposed to.  This one actually satisfied.
• Ease of cooking; only one pot required!

The verdict:  Overall, the meal was good.  It tasted good, it was easy to prepare and we were full at the end.  Would I buy a Buitoni frozen meal again?  Probably not.  It’s more sodium, fat and ingredients than I prefer, plus the meals retail for between $7.99 and $9.99, at least where I live.  That’s more than I’d like to spend on one “meal” which needs a vegetable.

Disclosure: Free Buitoni frozen meal coupon was  provided by Buitoni through the FoodBuzz Tastemaker Program.

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By Emily, May 11, 2010 7:30 pm

While talking to my mother last Sunday, she mentioned that while watching last week’s episode of Fringe on Fox, she thought of me.  I’m not sure if she thinks this is what I do when I go food shopping (though it’s pretty darn close!), but its a great clip nevertheless.

Life’s been super super busy lately, but my plan is that regularly scheduled posts will be back soon.  I miss cooking and blogging!

Anyone with a less crazy life eat anything good lately?

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By Emily, April 23, 2010 3:33 pm

I’ve really been enjoying participating in the Outside The Box Challenge.  The challenge, organized by Rachel of Shedding It and Getting It and Leah of Your Nutritionista, has encouraged me to try new herbs, keep track of what I eat, make things from scratch, research where my food comes from and try new machines at the gym.  It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve looked forward to each new challenge.

Until this week, when Challenge #8 was posted:

We’re challenging you to go without added sweetener for a whole day. We’re defining added sweetener as any form of concentrated sweetener, natural or not (this means maple syrup, agave, and honey are all no-nos!). This also includes artificial sweetener. Whole fruit is okay, as is any other non-concentrated food that happens to taste sweet. Watch for processed foods with added sweetener, though.

After reading that, I did what any mature, healthy food-seeking, challenge-loving person would do.  I immediately messaged Rachael and Leah on Twitter and told them that they were crazy for thinking I could give up sugar.  And then I complained to Brian about it.  And then I overthought every food choice I made for 2 days (one of which I spent eating ice cream and chocolate).  I mean, I grew up in a house where we always had dessert after dinner.  I’m the type of girl who has m&m’s in her purse “in case of an emergency”.  I’m still confused about why Brian doesn’t sweeten the iced tea (though I drink it either way).   I enjoy going meatless.  I try not buy things that contain High Fructose Corn Syrup.  I like cooking from scratch.  I buy low-salt whenever I can.  And yet, asking me to give up sweetener for a day seemed ridiculous and impossible.

Then I did it: I gave up added sweetener for an entire day.  And I made some interesting observations in the process.

• Some really good foods don’t contain sugar (at least as far as this challenge was concerned).  Produce is yummy.  Soy sauce, herbs and seasonings (cinnamon, adobo, etc) can go a long way adding the flavor sugarless meals are missing.  Plain yogurt, oatmeal, rice and nuts are also good choices.
• Some foods you might not expect do contain sugar. We were rather shocked to find that all of the varieties of Campbell’s Selects Soup which we purchase (because I thought they were so virtuous) contain sugar! And our lone can of condensed Campbell’s Tomato Soup has High Fructose Corn Syrup!  All the Chobani flavored yogurt has sugar (not surprising, but still saddening).
• I missed tea. Granted, I had my morning cup of tea, but after 2 days of attempting black tea without sugar, I opted for green tea on the day of my official challenge.  And it made me sad, because tea (with milk and sugar) is one of my favorite things-a staple, a comfort, part of my routine.  Tea without sugar just doesn’t do it for me.
• Not everything needs sugar.  I wasn’t thrilled with my morning oatmeal.  I gave up putting sugar on it some time ago, but the dried cranberries I use are sweetened, so I went without them.  I substituted a diced apple, but it wasn’t the same.  Nevertheless, I could probably get used to it.  And I didn’t even have to think about leaving sugar out of my dinner-the original meal I’d planned (stir-fry) didn’t have any.

In the end, I’m much more aware of what products in my pantry contain sugar, whether it makes sense or not.  Lunch and dinner were fine, it was breakfast and snacking that was difficult.  I craved sugar, but I think that was mainly a product of the fact that I knew I couldn’t have any.  Given the realization that so many products contain sugar (or other sweeteners), I should probably be more thoughtful about what I add sugar to (in other words…I could probably shovel a little less into my tea).

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By Emily, March 24, 2010 5:49 pm

I thought I was just going through a yogurt phase when I started eating yogurt over the summer.  6 months later and I’m still eating yogurt every day.  I never eat the same thing for that long, but I really like it and I feel good about eating it.

Part of this interest may be due to my discovery of Greek yogurt.  If I had the choice, I’d eat Oikos every day, but since Chobani goes on sale more frequently, I often have Chobani for lunch.  A few weeks ago, while clipping coupons from the Sunday paper, I discovered a coupon for a new Greek yogurt from Yoplait.  This weekend I finally tracked some down at my local Price Chopper supermarket.

Maybe Yoplait had heard that I was no longer eating their original yogurt, since I discovered a couple months ago that it contained High Fructose Corn Syrup, and wanted my business back?   Their Greek yogurt does not contain HFCS.

I picked up a container of plain and a container of honey vanilla, since plain, honey or vanilla are the flavors we most often consume.  Yoplait Greek Yogurt also comes in strawberry and blueberry.

Anyway, down to the results:

Price Comparison (at my local supermarket):

Chobani $1.39 (6 oz.)

Oikos $1.99 (5.3 oz)

Yoplait $1.19 (6 oz)

Taste:

I was pleasantly surprised by Yoplait’s new Greek yogurt.  The plain was quite a bit thicker than the honey-vanilla, which was only a bit thicker than regular yogurt.  The flavor was really good though (I preferred the honey-vanilla, Brian preferred the plain).

Would I buy Yoplait’s Greek Yogurt again?  Yes.  The taste is comparable to the other brands I usually eat and the price (though Chobani and Oikos often go on sale) is better.  If next week all of the Greek Yogurt is regular price, I’ll probably get Yoplait and be just as satisfied.

Want more?

Last August (before Yoplait hit the scene) Serious Eats did a Greek Yogurt taste test.

Mark Bittman’s Minimalist column just featured instructions for making your own greek yogurt.  (Clearly not the only one to do so, but the most recent in my Reader)

What’s your favorite kind (brand, style, flavor) of yogurt?

Disclaimer: I reviewed these products out of my own curiosity and love for yogurt.  I paid for the yogurt myself and received no compensation from Yoplait or any other entity.

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By Emily, August 13, 2009 10:23 am

Brian and I spent most of our time in Philly in the Old City.  We did a ton of walking in that area alone.  However, I couldn’t quite resist making the hike to Center City to see Reading Terminal Market.  How could I forgo checking out “the best, freshest and liveliest public market since 1893″?

In short, it was everything I hoped it would be.  Tons of vendors, amazing looking fresh food, variety, ethnic cuisine.  I very nearly decided to move to Philadelphia for the market alone.  It was a good thing we didn’t have a cooler with us or a fridge in our hotel because I would’ve spent a fortune on food.  I’ll stop rambling and just get to the photos, because they express my feelings much better:

Reading Terminal Market: definitely a Philadelphia foodie must see.

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By Emily, April 26, 2009 8:49 pm

It seems almost unbelievable, but my spring break is just about over.  It’s Sunday night, I’m watching Iron Chef.  “Battle Butter”?!  I should go to bed, get back in the “school routine” and work towards getting over this cold, but I’m too intrigued.

My Man and I didn’t cook as much as I intended to over break (actually, we didn’t do several things I intended to–breaks apparently aren’t as long as they used to be).  We did create one great olive-tomato-and-cucumber salad (all his idea) and we made broiled polenta with cheese on top.  I’d never have polenta before, and it’s not bad.  Definitely worth considering various ways to use in the future.

Lots of good conversation was had during the past week about food and related issues.  How we want to shop, what we want to eat, local vs. organic vs. quanity of produce.  Eating was a lot simpler when I didn’t know anything.  Now every shopping trip is filled with questions and options.  I know I’m not doing as well as I could be and I remain hopeful that living with someone whose tastes and food interests are more similar to one and playing more of a direct role in the shopping and cooking will improve things.  I’ve finally started reading Food Matters by Mark Bittman and it’s really eye opening, but sometimes having so much information is overwhelming and guilt inducing.  But I remind myself again, doing something (eating meat one less time a day, purchasing grains in bulk, eating more produce) is meaningful, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

In other news, 2 months until the wedding :)

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By Emily, March 23, 2009 12:28 pm

In 2000, my family and I moved from New Jersey, where we’d spent the previous 15 years, to Maine. I’d be hard-pressed to go back, though I could be tempted by the fact that @afoodcoma tweeted “north jersey becoming “foodie focal-point” as basically every major gourmet/organic food chain moves in” with a link to this article yesterday.

But that aside, I honestly don’t miss it much. Until I saw this delicious article from Endless Simmer’s tvff about Taylor’s Pork Roll.

If you have never been to New Jersey and had Taylor Pork Roll, you should go. Now. I haven’t been back to New Jersey since 2003, but suddenly I’m considering a trip. It used to be that whenever friends of ours were coming north to visit, we’d have them bring us Taylor Ham, not to mention some good rolls. Good bulkie rolls simply do not exist in Maine, not the way they do in Jersey. Good stuff.

Thanks tvff for reminding me what I’m missing. Maybe I’ll ask some of the wedding guests to bring some up this summer, screw the registry.