Froyo. I Need It Three Times A Week To Heal My Broken Bones.

Yogurt Land - Cambridge, MA
http://www.yogurt-land.com/

There is yogurt down in there somewhere.

     Well, you-know-what pretty much hit the fan. Some external force was telling me not to go to camp. My body was freaking out, making me immobile and unable to breathe. Joanie was nice enough to take to the ER on Friday night, and afterward, we treated ourselves to some AWESOME froyo at Yogurt Land in Harvard Square. This place is definitely in my top 3 favorite froyo places here in Boston, up there with Zinga and Mixx. Self serve is totally the way to go. I really liked their flavor options here because they had a good mix of refreshing fruity ones, standard ones, and unique ones like bananas foster, pecan pralines or new york cheesecake. I made sure to try most of the ones I knew I wouldn't get. I know this is kind of the opposite of what most people do, but I don't care. I wanted to sample the red velvet cake, pecan pralines and New York cheesecake because deep down, I knew I'd want the dutch chocolate, a fruity one (that was bound to be good anyway) and a unique one. I ended up going with the chocolate, passionfruit guava, bananas foster and double cookies and cream. Topped that sucker with some brownie pieces, cookie dough (which was absolutely perfect), resses peanut butter cups, reeses pieces, malt balls and a frosted cookie. Their topping selections though were phenomenal. Tons of kinds of fruits, chocolates, gummies, syrups, cookies, etc. It was overwhelming. I've been 4 times now. It's becoming a problem. I wonder if they'd let you just buy a bowl of toppings?

Not Your Average Joe's - Watertown, MA
http://www.notyouraveragejoes.com/watertown/

Pulled Pork Pretzel Bites

   Being practically bed ridden is not fun. I had to get out of the house on day two of my muscle flair-up.
Jimmy picked me up and we headed to meet Dave, Karl and Mr. and Mrs. Harshe at Not Your Average Joe's in Watertown. The place had a really neat modern vibe full of bold colors and simple wall decorations.
You would definitely describe it as classy casual. I wasn't super hungry but they offered the most amazing bread dip to go with their onion bread. The dip was basicaly mashed up garlic, parmesan cheese, and olive oil with red pepper flakes. It made it a little bit spicy, but not overwhelmingly so. Just garlicy and cheesy with a touch of heat.
     Instead of getting a meal, I ordered two appetizers. The one I split with Jimmy were these Pulled Pork Pretzel bites. Oh my gosh. They must've taken a big slice of a pretzel stick, topped it with this delicious bbq pulled pork, added some coleslaw on top, and covered them with thin crispy onion rings and sprouts. Shoot... the different kinds of flavors and textures in these babies were out of control. The warm pulled pork had a lightly sweet bbq flavor that was balanced with the light, cool and refreshing coleslaw, and the onion rings gave it and awesome crispness. So many flavors and textures in each bite.

Buffalo Caribbean Chicken Tenders

     For my second appetizer I got the Buffalo Carribean Chicken tenders. Oh man... they were incredible. Each tender was tossed in a buffalo mango barbeque sauce. They were a tad sweet but spicy, and you could really taste the mango flavor in the sauce. Another bonus was that the breading underneath the sauce was still a tad bit crunchy, as in, it hadn't softened up and gotten soggy when they covered it in the sauce. The whole dish was served with a little bit of pineapple jalapeno salsa and blue cheese. The salsa was nice to finish with because it was light and refreshing. Both of those dishes had such unique flavor combinations that I wasn't really expecting from a classy casual American cuisine restaurant.


UpStairs on the Square - Cambridge, MA
http://www.upstairsonthesquare.com/

     Well, this place was ... interesting. If something wasn't pink, it was purple. If it wasn't purple, it was a

Mexican Street corn... and Meldrim

zebra. The decor in UpStairs on the Square was definitely unique and out there. Oddly shaped tables and zebras all over the walls. Aside from horrendous service, it felt like a treat to be in such a strange place. Meagan's grandparents took us out to dinner there the evening she moved in. The menu was pretty small, and most dishes were complex. Complex in that I had no idea what they meant. Jimmy and I decided to do the whole splitsies thing.... again. It was some special grill night, so he got 1/2 a grilled lobster and an ear of Mexican street corn. The lobster was pretty decent, but nothing extraordinary. I thought maybe grilling it might give it some awesomely different flavor, but it really didn't. It was still delicious obviously... because it's lobster... and because they filled half the shell with butter. I had a bite of his corn and that was incredible. It had some sort of chipotle mayo, some kind of cheese and a bunch of spices on it.
   

Pizza d'oro

I ordered the Pizza d'oro, which was this crazy pizza with a "type of bacon" (which I swear I never tasted or could find), hedgehog mushrooms (which were marinated in something), and a "pullet egg," which is basically an egg cracked on top and lightly cooked. I thought the pizza was fantastic. I absolutely loved the fluffy crust and the mushrooms, and dipping the slices of pizza in the cracked egg was just incredible. I also tried a piece of Todd's White Pizza, which was duck fat potatoes (oh ... I know), caramelized onions and wine grapes. I can't say I tasted the wine grapes or was really even looking for them because the duck fat potatoes stole my attention. I still want to go back for that Rhubarb Brown Butter Tart.



Cambridge Brewing Company - Cambridge, MA
http://www.cambrew.com/

Famous CBC nachos

     Dinner #2 with Babcia and Poppy. They wanted a diner... so I took them to Cambridge Brewing Company. That is not a diner. I knew that. I also knew before I got there that I had to get the CBC nachos. If you recall, Cambridge Brewing Company was on my list of the top nachos in Boston from my "Nacho Average Run." Apparently these babies were huge and delicious, so I couldn'tnot get them. They were just that. HUGE and delicious. They looked like a mountain. An enormous pile of multicolored chips with layers of a seriously awesome cheese, vegetarian bean chili, green onions, salsa, sour cream and jalapenos. They did it the right way and did a layer of chips, toppings, chips, toppings, etc. I definitely could've eaten the entire plate.


Legal Harborside - Boston, MA
http://www.legalseafoods.com/restaurants/boston-legal-harborside

     Legal Seafoods is one of those restaurants I hear people talk about a lot in Boston. Apparently there are

Crispy Montauk Calamari

a bunch, but I believe they started here in Beantown. Dinner #3 with Babcia, Poppy and Meagan was at Legal Harborside. After taking them on our self-guided tour of Boston and visiting the ocean, we were in the mood for seafood. I couldn't believe how crazy this place was, but oh my was it beautiful. I never went upstairs, but the main level looked right out onto the harbor and they had the huge bay doors wide open, letting the smell of the sea roll in. We had a seat by the carry-out section because there was no wait, as opposed to the hour and a half wait for the main dining area. First of all, the rolls they brought, were probably the best rolls I've ever had at a restaurant. Each one was like a freshly baked loaf of bread that's crispy on the outside, but super hot and fluffy on the inside. I couldn't believe it. I could've eaten zillions (with endless butter of course).
     I ordered some calamari for the table as an appetizer, and it was better than I expected. A lot of times when you order calamari it comes, in only the little rings, but this dish had the little rings as well as full little fried squids. They were adorable... and delicious. They were lightly breaded and fried along with a few pieces of hot peppers. A really unique addition I've never heard of in standard calamari dishes.
   

Looks like a cheese pizza, right? Far from it. 

     For my meal, I had to order the Crab and Pepperoni Pizza. Sounds weird right? That's why I got it. Crab and pepperoni. I had mixed feelings and needed to sort them out. It. Was. Amazing. I'm not kidding. This thing wasn't overloaded with either the crab or pepperoni, but had moderate sized pieces of crab interspersed among the pepperoni. So it wasn't overly seafood-y, but definitely not your standard pepperoni. It smelled deadly and tasted even better. The mozzarella cheese they used was also amazing. I think it picked up a bit of the crab flavor, so even though there wasn't a ton of crab all over the pizza, the crab flavor was throughout the entire thing. Of course, I also helped Meagan finish her fish tacos, which were pretty good. I wished the fish had been a little bit crispier (it was fried), and I wasn't a fan of the corn tortillas. I'm trying to like them. That pizza though... oh man.


Slutty Cheesecake Bars - Antonia's Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

This really is a beautiful thing. 

     Ok, I have no idea why they're called Slutty Cheesecake Bars. Everyone kept asking, but I have no Wallflour Girl and needed them. Definitely a treat meant for those in love with sugar. Beware, this is rather involved. A two person team makes it a lot easier.
answers. And truthfully, it doesn't matter, because once you taste them, you'll forget about their name... and practically everything else in your life at that moment. In short, these guys were a chocolate chip cookie layer, a layer of oreos, a cheesecake layer, and then a heafty topping of crumbled oreos and chopped malt balls. You can't breathe. I know. Serious sugar overload but SO worth it. Antonia and I made these for Joan's birthday because she had shown me the recipe  a few weeks prior from a blog called

Chocolate Chip Cookie Base:

• 3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together softened butter and both sugars until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and egg. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt until just incorporated. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
2. Set bowl aside and make cheesecake layer.

Cheesecake layer:

• 12 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Cream together softened cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat in until completely smooth, but be sure not to overbeat.
2. Set aside cheesecake layer as you assemble.

Assembly:

• 21 Oreos (16 whole Oreos and 5 chopped Oreos, divided)
• 5 oz. Whoppers, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8-inch baking pan.
2. Spread cookie dough evenly across the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Your cookie dough layer should be about half an inch thick–if you have leftover dough, you can bake it immediately as individual cookies or simply toss it into the fridge for baking at a later time. Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes, until the dough is just cooked through and firm. Remove from oven.
3. Layer 16 whole Oreos on baked cookie crust. Pour cheesecake filling evenly over Oreos. Sprinkle 5 chopped Oreos and 5 oz. chopped Whoppers over the cheesecake.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until cheesecake is pretty well set. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in pan before cutting. Best served chilled from refrigerator (but make sure you store it in the fridge either way).

Banana Soft Serve - Jimmy's Kitchen, Brighton, MA

     Since Jimmy wouldn't make Meagan and I brownies (something about it being over 90 degrees and not Chocolate Covered Katie. Love.

Banana Soft Serve. Hard to capture how delicious it was. 

wanting to turn on his oven... I don't know), I decided I was going to make us all this banana soft serve I'd been wanting to make for a while. It is literally frozen bananas, vanilla, and cocoa powder. Put it into a food processor and it comes out just like soft serve ice cream and tastes amazing. If you have a super freezer, you may have to add a little milk to get the bananas chopped up, or let them thaw a tad. I also threw in some chocolate chips, because honestly, there's no way they'd screw anything up. The recipe I used was off of

Chocolate Banana Soft Serve

• 3 chopped medium bananas (the riper the better)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/16 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp cocoa or cacao powder
• optional: sweetener (depending on your tastebuds and ripeness of the bananas)
• optional: 3-5 tbsp peanut butter or another nut butter of choice

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor. If you want the look of ice cream, freeze about 10-15 minutes and the texture will also become a bit firmer. Done!

Long Beach Dairy Maid - Gloucester, MA
http://www.longbeachdairy.com

     I'm not sure if I've blogged about these guys before, but I just have to bring it up anyway. After a visit to

The "small" portion

Good Harbor beach, Jimmy, Meagan and I stopped at Long Beach Dairy Maid. They have 24 flavors of soft serve, 8 flavors of frozen yogurt and literally 60 flavors of "Super Premium Ice Cream." I was so overwhelmed. I was even more overwhelmed when I saw Meagan's "small" ice cream in a waffle cone come out the window. I got a regular cone assuming that I wouldn't get as much. Nope. Still more than a pint of ice cream. I am seriously not kidding. Not one bit. It was outrageous. I got a "small" peanut butter oreo cookie and finished every bit. Totally could've eaten a second one. By far the best value and selection I've ever experienced at an ice cream shop.

Sleeping Bag of Beauty

Mountain Meatballs - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

     I'll tell you right now, this may be one of the more complex recipes you'll ever have to follow, but I guarantee you it's completely worth it. I found this recipe on a blog called Kayotic Kitchen, and she apparently got it from Jamie Oliver. I have one of his cookbooks, so I knew this would be a good one. I'd been wanting to make these for months and months, and finally decided it was time. Jake offered to help, which would make the process easier... not to mention I'd have someone to share the meatballs with. Truthfully, sometimes that's my main deterrent when deciding to attempt a recipe or something. If it's good, I get so excited about it, but then have no one to share it with. Yes, I can write about it, but that's just not the same. Anyway, so during the process of making these meatballs, we got a little nervous. In throwing together the sauce that the meatballs were to brew in, we had all these crazy bold flavors going on, namely molasses, chili peppers, apple cider vinegar, coffee, dijon mustard, and cocoa powder. Things I wouldn't necessarily think would be good for meatballs to mellow out in. The smell was quite pungent, and I was really nervous that all these bold flavors wouldn't mix well. Goes to show how much I have left to learn about cooking, because the sauce cooked down and all those flavors blended absolutely perfectly to make a slightly sweet and unique masterpiece.

     A couple things I did differently: I used stale sourdough bread from a bakery to make the breadcrumbs, and although it's hard to tell with a zillion ingredients in this recipe, I feel like it make it better. The cheddar cheese I used was a sharp white cheddar made by Cabot. It's incredible. I suggest you buy it and eat it like an apple regardless of whether or not you use it in this recipe. Also, I didn't really add much salt, used 1 tbs of molasses instead of the recommended 5, 3 tbs of worcestershire sauce instead of 6, didn't use the beef bouillon cube, and my paprika wasn't smoked paprika. I made my changes to the recipe I found and they're shown below. Why? Because there is nothing I would change about what we created. Throw these bad boys in with some pasta, make a sandwich, or even use the sauce as a base for a pizza (I did that and it blew my mind). Good luck!

Mountain Meatballs

Meatballs:
2 pound ground beef
4 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 small onions
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 large eggs
2 handfuls breadcrumbs

Chili sauce:

1 large onion
2 bell peppers
2 chili peppers
3 plum tomatoes
1 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp brown sugar
5 tbsp cider vinegar
6 tbsp ketchup
5 garlic cloves
3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp sweet smokey paprika powder
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 heaping tsp granulated coffee1 handful flat-leaf parsley

1) First start by preparing the chili sauce. Chop all of your onions for the entire recipe (including those for the meatballs) and sauté in a little bit of olive oil. Divide the onions in half and let half cool off. I just stuck them in the freezer for a little bit. The cooled onions with be for the meatball portion of the recipe. 

2) Remove the seeds from the peppers and give them a coarse chop. Grate the garlic and cut the tomatoes in fours. Sauté the bell peppers and chili peppers for 10 minutes before adding the garlic and already sautéed onions, and then sauté another 5 minutes. Add in the smoked paprika, molasses, worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar, ketchup, Dijon mustard, cocoa, brown sugar, tomatoes, and your coffee crystals mixed with 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to a low simmer. 

3) For the meatballs. Mix your ground beef with the cooled off onions and all of the other ingredients listed under Meatballs. Form 8-10 big meatballs. Use your thumb to push a hole into each meatball, fill them with the grated cheddar and close them up again. Heat some butter and brown the meatballs over medium heat. Give them a really nice tan all around.

4) Place the meatballs in the sauce and bring it to a boil again. Reduce heat and let simmer uncovered 25-30 minutes. 5 minutes before serving, add in chopped flat leaf parsley. 

Buffalo Chicken & Cheese Dip - Jimmy's Kitchen, Brighton, MA

     This is NOT really a lightweight friendly food, but DAMN is it delicious. Like buffalo chicken? Like

Buffalo Chicken & Cheese Dip 

cheese? Then you'll like this. I had this once at Amanda's house last year and knew I had to revisit the recipe in the future. Jimmy, Karl, Dave and Alyse had tons and tons of leftover corn tortillas from an Anna's catered event at the boathouse, so we decided to make homemade lime tortilla chips to dip in this deadly dip. They also had bunch of chicken, so that's what I used in the recipe. The recipe is super easy, and it's really hard to screw up the warm cheeses and buffalo chicken. Other recipes add ranch dressing. I think that's unnecessary. 

Buffalo Chicken & Cheese Dip 

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 bottle Franks Red Hot sauce
8 oz container cream cheese
1 cup Mexican cheese blend (or just the whole bag... whatever

1) Poach, bake, grill, or fry (whatever you feel like doing) your chicken breast and shred when cool enough to handle. Toss chicken with the hot sauce and let sit until ready to use 

2) Spread cream cheese onto the bottom of an ungreased baking pan. Top with chicken, add cheese, and sprinkle on a little extra hot sauce on top if you desire. OR, layer all the different ingredients if you're feeling crazy. 

3) Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Presto. 


Boloco - Cambridge, MA
http://boloco.com/

Feeling inspired by a Tikka Masala Burrito. 

     I will never pass up free food. Well... almost never. Definitely not in this case. I had a coupon for free small burrito from Boloco, and I had to try it out. Naturally, I waited until the day it expired. For those that don't know, Boloco is not your standard burrito place. They're slogan is "globally inspired burritos," meaning they offer some really unique flavor combinations in a burrito that are unique to different areas. For example, their bangkok thai burrito, classic mexican, teriyaki, and memphis bbq. Not what you'd expect in a burrito, right? We had Boloco delivered to the office once, but they were these mini burritos that were practically bite sized, and I couldn't eat much. I never got the full effect, so I was pretty pumped to get my own full sized burrito. I was feeling the tikka masala burrito, which came with a creamy masala sauce, brown rice, and choice of meat. I went with the grilled chicken and had them add shredded carrots and cucumbers. I tell you... I sat outside at a little table eating that sleeping bag of beauty and people must've thought I was on something. That masala sauce was so good. Creamy and with a tad bit of that Indian heat. The carrots and cucumbers brought it a freshness that paired so well with the sauce.


Lonestar - Allston, MA
http://lonestar-boston.com/

Just look how pretty that guac is.

    I've been in love with Deep Ellum since my first visit, so I knew that when the owners of Deep Ellum opened up their sister restaurant, Lonestar,  right next door, I had to go, and it was going to be amazing. The atmosphere was just as I expected. Deep, dark woods with a modern western feel. I met Malcolm and a friend of his there for some grub one Saturday night as was definitely NOT displeased, aside from the fact that the waitstaff was pretty terrible and slow. The food... not terrible. We started with their chips and salsa

Beef Barbacoa on the top right, Carnitas pork bottom left

and this beautiful bowl of guacamole. This guac was probably the best restaurant guac I've ever had. It was super creamy, but still had hunks of onions, avocado and tomatoes. I don't know what made it so good, but I could eat it straight for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Seriously. And their tortilla chips were definitely homemade with super coarse hunks of salt. I love salt. 
     We still hadn't gotten a table after sitting at this bar type area for over an hour and a half, so we finally decided to just order our tacos. The first in my face was their Beef Barbacoa. It was shredded smoked brisket, pickled red onion, avocado crema, and cotija (apparently a Mexican cow's milk cheese). The beef was still juicy and was complimented perfectly with the pickled flavors in the onion and the cool, thin avocado sauce. They served their tacos on soft corn tortillas, which was different for me, but I definitely liked the flavors. The only downside is that they start to break when they cool down. 
     The second taco I had was their Carnitas Pork. Always a huge fan of carnitas. Theirs was homemade, and I just realized why it was so incredible. Their carnitas is confit pork shoulder, cilantro, queso fresco, and what I think were pickled radishes or something. Remember what confit means? It means it was cooked in fat. Holy crap. This reminded me of dami? Dayme? Daeme? However you spell it, it's this Lebanese dish my Grandma and Great Grandma make that is practically ground lamb cooked to hell in butter. Pair that with some kibbeh, a slice of onion and stuff it in a pita... MMM! Anyway, back to Mexico... this pork shoulder from Lonestar must've been cooked similarly. It basically looked like ground meat broken up into even smaller pieces. The only way I can think to describe its form is like that of nerds (you know... the candy), but not nearly as crunchy. Little tiny bits, mixed with their cold, pickled radishes and cilantro to balance freshness with the fats. It was definitely my favorite of the two tacos. A return visit is definitely in order to try out the others. 


Veggie Pizza with Pesto - My Backyard, Cambridge, MA

     Some of my favorite texts I get from Jimmy generally involve him asking "Can we make this today?" One

Loaded

Sunday I got this message with a link to a veggie pizza with broccoli pesto. Yes. Yes and yes. So him and Karl came over with their grill and all the ingredients and we hit the ground running. After grilling up some peppers and topping some fresh baked bread with grilled peppers mixed with olive oil, salt and pepper, we finally started on the pizza. The key ingredient here was the broccoli pesto. I had never made such a thing, but was pumped about it especially because we were grilling the broccoli. We kind of created the broccoli pesto without following the recipe, so I'm not even going to attempt to write it out. Basically just throw your broccoli and other standard pesto ingredients into a food processor. Olive oil by the gallon, pine nuts, salt, and pepper. We forgot the cheese, but it was still incredible. Grilling the broccoli brought out such a different flavor. Big fan. 
     Anyway, we took this big ball of premade pizza dough that Jimmy got from Russo's (the most incredible store with produce and baked goods to blow your mind) out in Watertown, and spread it out on the grill. Let me just say, I don't know why I've ever bothered making pizza NOT on the grill. It's just stupid how delicious the crust gets. Unfortunately (...not), the edges didn't really cook completely, so I haaaaaad to pick at the doughy parts. I love eating dough. Second step was dressing our two pizzas. On one we put the homemade basil pesto we made a few weeks ago, and on the second we put our broccoli pesto. Then we topped both with onions, thick slices of mozzarella cheese (also fresh from Russo's), dollops of ricotta cheese, shredded grilled chicken and some of the leftover grilled peppers. Now... I'm not kidding when I say, I would literally drop $30  on a pizza like this at a restaurant. Either of them. The flavors on both pizzas were OUT OF THIS WORLD. The dough? Crisp on the outside and soft inside, but still slightly doughy. The cheeses? Perfectly gooey and warm but both were such different flavors. The pestos? Freshness level 10. I seriously couldn't believe it. It was possibly the best creation I've ever had part in cooking on a grill. Grilling pizzas, is the way to go. Especially with pestos as the base. I could go on and on forever. 

Basil Pesto pizza on left, Broccoli Pesto pizza on right

Veggie Planet - Cambridge, MA
http://www.veggieplanet.net/

     This get together was 2 years in the making. Cheryl, Kate and I (friends I met during my trip to Ecuador) were meeting in Harvard square for lunch and to catch up. I took recommendations for places to eat from a few different people and we finally decided on Veggie Planet. Veggie Planet is the parent restaurant of Veggie Galaxy, so I knew it had to be good. Plus, Mary knows her food, so I was sure she wouldn't steer me wrong. Veggie Planet is a little place in the basement of this building down a small walkway in Harvard Square. Very simple. Small tables. Plastic cups. Simple menu. And a very cool menu. They offer a variety of different dishes, and you can get them either on a pizza crust, coconut rice, or brown rice.
     Also per Mary's recommendation, I ordered Henry's Lunch. This creative masterpiece was roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions, goat cheese, rosemary and sage. I know... your jaw is on the floor. I got it on their pizza crust and couldn't have been more happy with my choice. Oh. My. Goodness. Ok first, the crust was so different. It was thin, but dense. It seemed like the flour or whatever they used was more coarsely ground. More like the texture of cornmeal. And the crust on the bottom of the pizza wasn't different under the toppings compared to the edges. Unlike normal pizza, where the crust is thinner under the toppings and thicker and fluffy on the edges. You know what I mean? Anyway, it was incredible. Then the butternut squash was perfect with the caramelized onions. Uggggh! The sugars in both crystallized the edges and gave them a delicious sweetness. Then the slightly sharp flavor of warm and melty goat cheese with this sweetness was just divine. It all wouldn't have been the same without the rosemary and sage. Both were prevalent in the whole dish and made it such a savory treat. I was so impressed with this little hidden gem and couldn't believe how amazing of a combination all of those flavors were. I really want to try to make something like this on my own. Then again... why not just go back?

"I Don't Really Have a Sweet Tooth"... PUHLEEEASE

Stone Hearth Pizza - Cambridge, MA
http://www.stonehearthpizza.com/

Spicy Banana Pepper Pizza

     If you do it right, pizza can totally be a good post-workout food. After a Saturday workout, Jake and I headed to Stone Hearth Pizza to use up a Living Social deal I'd been hanging on to for eons. Stone Hearth's motto of "Know Better Pizza" is based on their principle of using local, sustainable and organic ingredients to make everything from scratch. Love it. We went with their Spicy Banana Pepper pizza, which had their signature tomato sauce, a mozzarella/provolone blend, housemade sausage, spicy banana peppers, scallions and dollops of ricotta cheese all over it. Everything about this pizza was awesome. The sauce definitely had a unique homemade flavor and wasn't full of sugar like some sauces pizza joints use. The juice from the banana peppers gave the already delicious cheese and even better flavor. I'm not too familiar with ricotta cheese, but every bite that had a dollop of the it was just incredible. And I'm totally convinced that scallions with cheese always take whatever you're eating to the next level.
     It's impossible to get just one thing when the menu looks so great, so we also split a Chicken, Spinach,

Chicken, Spinach and Sundried Tomato Stromboli

and Sundried Tomato Stromboli. It had roasted chicken, fresh spinach, sundried tomatoes mixed with local goat cheese, garlic-infused olive oil, and sprinkled with fresh parmesan. This was by far the best stromboli I've ever had. Yea, that's not saying much because I've only had a few in my life, but it was SO good. The best part? Totally the goat cheese and sundried tomato combo. Those two strong flavors just played so well off one another. Another thing I liked about it was that there wasn't too much breading. The other stromboli's I've had before had much thicker crust and not as much internal beauty. This one had a thinner crust, and there was more room for goodies inside.

Emack & Bolio's - Cambridge, MA
http://www.emackandbolios.com/

 

 I keep hearing all this huff and puff about Emack & Bolio's being some of the best ice cream in Boston. So, naturally, after having "lunch," Jake and I hopped over to the one in Porter Square to satisfy our sweet tooth. Aside from the guy behind the desk being a total loser and not liking ice cream, I was impressed. They had a ton of really unique flavors you wouldn't normally see at other ice cream shops. I ended up going with the salted caramel chocolate pretzel ice cream in a chocolate dipped, sprinkle covered cone. Such a good choice! I would've liked the ice cream base to be chocolate rather than vanilla, but it still was amazing. It was even slightly refreshing because it wasn't overly sugary or overly caramel-y. My favorite part though were the nearly full chocolate covered pretzels.
     And of course we HAD to get a piece of chocolate dipped pineapple, a peanut butter cup, and a piece of peppermint bark. All were delicious, especially the peppermint bark. I tried to save half of it, but Jake was not having that. Dude behind the counter must've been able to tell we were lightweights because he gave us the smallest piece. Butthead.


Swiss Bakers - Allston, MA
http://www.swissbakers.com/

     I had seen that this place posted up in a really random location in Allston, and anything with the word "Bakers" in the name has to be pretty hard to screw up. Alyse had been talking about it to Jimmy and I, so

the next day we decided there wasn't any other option but to go. The whole restaurant had an interesting/weird feel to it. There were literally a gazillion people working behind the counter, following us as we browsed through everything, and telling us about each one of their products. Kind of annoying, kind of informative, kind of unnecessary. Whatever. After about 20 minutes of indecisiveness (for good reason), I got their Pretzel Longstix and a MiniSwirl Croissant. The pretzel longstix was incredibly fluffy and had an amazing harder thin shell on the outside, like the most perfect pretzel you could ever imagine would have. And the coarse chunks of salt... mmmm. I love salt. The MiniSwirl Croissant was kind of like a cinnamon roll in croissant form. It had what seemed like finely chopped hazelnut hunks all throughout it and it had a crispness on the edges from whatever sweetness they must've brushed it with. Oh and the white hunks on top of in the photo isn't salt, it's pearl sugar. "Everyone asks that." Yea... duh... because it looks like salt. Hahaha, but it reminded me of puffy rice cereal, in sugar form. The whole thing was delicious.
     Jimmy also let me try his pretzel croissant, which was not as pretzel-y as I expected. More just croissant like. He had a puffy little doughnut "filled" with some raspberry goo that was good, but not crazy exceptional.  However, his ham and swiss cheese stuffed croissant? Lord that incredible. I'd smash 10 of those. Easy.


Banana Trail Mix Bread - Jimmy's Kitchen, Brighton, MA

Banana Trail Mix Bread

     Things I could eat non-stop and never get sick of: baked goods, trail mix (and a ton of other things, but we won't get into that). I found this recipe for Banana Trail Mix Bread on Pinterest and Cookie + Katie, but I still tweaked it a little bit. Apparently you can make muffins if you want too. Truthfully, you're totally fine to just throw in any trail mix ingredients you feel like, so these quantities are only estimates. I just dumped. I roped Jimmy into making it with me because he had ten thousand bananas in his freezer waiting to be used. If I could summarize, this bread is basically banana bread with any sort of trail mix ingredients you like. If that means double the chocolate chips, double the chocolate chips (I doubled the chocolate chips). This bread is pretty dense, but absolutely delicious and amazing with some melted butter. Truthfully, it's not all that bad for you either!

Banana Trail Mix Bread

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, divided
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips (went a little overboard)
1/4 cup canola oil (Kate used 1/2 cup coconut oil)
2 ripe bananas, mashed 
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla


1) Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan.

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in 1/2 cup shredded coconut, then mix in all your trail mix ingredients.

3) In a separate, medium bowl, whisk together the oil, mashed banana, honey, egg and vanilla.

4) Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup coconut.

5) Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes or longer. Let the bread cool in the pan before slicing. Warning: This bread is dense and not very easy to slice.

"You Two Look Drowsy" - A Post NSR1 Feast

MIXX - Allston, MA
http://www.mixxboston.com/

Toppings galore from MIXX

     Racing season was picking up quite quickly, along with the search for healthy treats. Cookies? No. Cakes? No. Froyo? Perhaps. After spending the afternoon watching the Boston Marathon with Joan, I decided to keep walking a bit and hit up MIXX, a frozen yogurt place in Allston that's always packed. I've heard it's one of the best in Boston, so I had to give it a try. All froyo places seem to have the same feel. Simple, bold colors. Modern furniture. Clean. This place was just like Zinga in Kenmore. They had self serve frozen yogurt, so naturally I had to try all of them. Cookies and cream, banana split, original, chocolate, taro, peanut butter... you name it, they probably had it, and I probably tried it. I'm just a lost cause when it comes to the toppings. My treat went from "healthy" to "excessive" within 30 seconds of hitting the toppings bar. All in all, it was delicious. Namely because I topped the thing with at least 2 full mashed reeses cups. But the frozen yogurt was so good. Each flavor was unique and spot on. The taro was really good, and the original was great without an overly powerful zing that you get with some frozen yogurts. I'm not sure how to compare frozen yogurt places, because the concept is simple, but MIXX is definitely worth the extra trip down Comm.

   


Uno Chicago Grill - Princeton, NJ
http://www.unos.com/

   

Avocado Egg Rolls

     Large sums of melted cheese on bread had become a thing of the past as a result of NSR1 weight requirements. I was absolutely determined to get a deep dish pizza for lunch/dinner the day of our last weigh-in in Princeton. Mary and I found an Uno, a restaurant I've been wanting to go to for a long time. There's one in Kenmore in Boston, and it always smells incredible when I go by. That Saturday evening we headed there for dinner. We may have gone a little overboard (naturally), but who cares? As an appetizer, we got these awesome avocado egg rolls. They were basically avocado, onion, cilantro and lime wrapped up in your standard egg roll wrap, deep fried and served with this INCREDIBLE tamarind cashew dipping sauce. What is tamarind? We had no idea, and we attempted to research it with no success. The warm avocado was absolutely delicious, especially with that sauce. I'm not kidding. We saved every bit of that sauce and put it on anything and everything that we could the rest of the meal.

     We spied another table with a plate of breadsticks. Instant panic. Those were not on the menu. I did not see those on the menu. What are those? Waitress, can we get some of those? The salt on these fluffy, warm, toasted cheese topped breadsticks was out of this world. I know that sounds stupid, but try avoiding sodium for a couple weeks, and then we can talk. These breadsticks hit the spot ... especially with that tamarind cashew dipping sauce.

The Chicago Classic

     In an effort to not get in too far over our heads, we decided to split the individual Chicago Classic deep dish pizza and get a side salad with chicken. The grilled chicken with the salad was pretty good, and the salad itself was decent. Nothing too fancy. But this pizza.... oh my. This pizza had crumbled sausage, chunky tomato sauce, mozzarella and romano cheese. We added broccoli and onions as well. Mary mentioned that chunky tomato sauce on pizza was a game-changer for her, so I really wanted to try it. I swear, we must have looked like crazy people. We sat there staring at our slices of pizza in absolute amazement after each bite. The crust was thick and crispy on the outside and was lined with cheese. They must've layered the cheese down on top of the crust first, then added the vegetables and topped it with the tomato sauce. Genius. Maybe this is how Chicago deep dish style pizza works, I don't know. Either way, it was a new and unique way of topping a pizza for me. Mary was right, the chunky tomato sauce was incredible. It was more of a topping as opposed to just a sauce. Make sense? In combination with the broccoli and onions and sausage, it was fabulous.

     We walked out of Uno in an absolute state of euphoria. The waitstaff at the door even said, "Wow, you two look drowsy" as we left. So what?


Hoagie Haven - Princton, NJ
http://www.hoagiehaven.com/

   

      It is virtually impossible to go to Princeton and not have someone, somewhere recommend you go to Hoagie Haven. Well... I now understand why. The Sunday after racing NSR1, Mary and I stuck around to row some double combinations with a few other girls. With no weigh-in in the absolute near future, we wanted lunch. And I mean we wanted LUNCH. Mary dropped me off at the door and I navigated myself through the sea of high school lacrosse players and soccer players and finally made it to the counter, behind which at least 10 workers were sliding around frying meats, pouring sauces, and toasting buns. It was chaos. The place was miniature to begin with. I ordered one "Body Bag," a BLT and a side of fries. I knew as soon as he pulled out the 16 inch hoagie roll (I'm guessing) for the Body Bag that we weren't going to need that BLT or the fries. It was too late. Ready for this?

The Body Bag

     After getting our food, we made our way to a park by the river to sit and enjoy. I'll start off with the easy stuff. Salt and pepper on the fries? Incredible. Why don't more places do a s/p combo? And the BLT was great. Refreshing compared to the other mountain we attempted to climb (see below).

The precious insides of the Body Bag

 We unwrapped the Body Bag, and it was still piping hot. This behemoth was lined with a layer of hash browns and ketchup first. Next was your standard Italian hoagie. In this case salami, capicola and ham I'm guessing. Other inclusions: provolone cheese, cheese steak, 4 fried eggs and sliced onions. Overkill? Absolutely. The grease was running down my arm, and all was right in the world. The meat, the salt, the bread. All good things. All things that don't go well with a weigh in. It was like stepping into heaven. Let me just say, maneuvering our long boats through downtown Princeton was worth it.




Beet Hummus - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

     In my pinterest stumblings one day, I came across a recipe on The Inventive Vegetarian for Beet Tahini that looked very similar to a recipe that my boss' wife, Meredith, had made one day for me. It was so delicious when she made it, so I wanted to try to recreate it. When Meredith served hers, she served it on a greek yogurt covered piece of whole grain toast with a piece of mint. Hmmm... maybe it wasn't mint. I can't remember. Either way, I'd totally recommend taking a piece of toast, spreading a little greek yogurt on it for the zing, and topping it this beet hummus. It's so simple and satisfying. Another winning combo: toast, regular hummus and this beet hummus. I don't think I'm an enormous fan of tahini, so partially out of fear, I only used 2 tbs of tahini instead of the half cup this recipe called for. Feel free to experiment. Warning: if you try to make this, you will make an enormous mess. Guaranteed.

Beet Hummus

Beet Hummus on toast with Greek yogurt

2 beets

Juice of 2 lemons

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup tahini (I used 2 tbs)

Salt, to taste

1) Preheat oven to 400F

2) Wash and trim, but don’t peel, the beets, then wrap each one in tin foil and toss it in the oven for 45-60 minutes, until a knife can easily pierce each beet.  Once the beets have cooled enough to handle, rub them with your thumbs and the skins should come off easily.

3) Roughly chop the beets and the garlic and put both in the bowl of a food processor.  Give them a quick pulse to start breaking down the beets.

4) Add the tahini and lemon juice and puree until smooth.  Taste and adjust salt as desired.  Serve cold or room temperature with crackers or raw vegetables.

Middle Eastern Chic Pea & Sweet Potato Soup - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

   

Middle Eastern Chic Pea and Sweet Potato Soup

      I think this may just be THE BEST soup I have ever made. No joke. My excitement to eat it everyday for lunch was just stupid. I found this recipe off of Eating Well's website, and decided to tweak only one thing (this is unusual for me). This recipe called for basmati rice, but I used red quinoa instead for the protein. I'm sure rice would be good too. The key ingredients in this recipe, I think, are the orange juice, sweet potato and cumin. Yes, I said orange juice. It gave the broth a refreshing and citrus-y sweetness. I was totally surprised by how much flavor the cumin added as well. Normally I wouldn't see cumin as being critical to a recipe, but it really complimented the flavors of this soup. This soup was a little bit sweeter than most (perhaps the reason I liked it so much), and I believe it to be because of the OJ and sweet potato. The longer the soup sat in my fridge, the better it got. I think the sugars from the sweet potato started to break down and began sweetening the broth. But the soup didn't have a dessert-y sweet taste. It was more a savory sweet taste. The combination of the chic peas, the sweet potato and the flavors infused into the broth made this such a unique treat. Definitely give it a try. 

Middle Eastern Chic Pea and Sweet Potato Soup

1 tbs olive oil

3 medium onions, sliced

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1 cup orange juice

4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 can chickpeas

3 cups sweet potato, diced

1/4 cup quinoa

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped 

1) Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat; add onions and cook, stirring often, until tender and well browned, 10 to 12 minutes. 

2) Add cumin and coriander and stir for about 15 seconds. Add orange juice and broth. Stir in chickpeas, sweet potato, rice and salt. Bring to a boil.

3) Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender and the sweet potatoes are breaking down to thicken the liquid, about 45 minutes. Season with pepper and add chopped cilantro. The soup will be thick and will thicken further upon standing.

Will You _____ My Fish Taco?

Homemade Larabars - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA 

    Sometimes I go through these phases were I realize how much money I'm spending on things out of convenience, and it bothers me. So I do something about it. Bars are easy calories and taste delicious, but they're so crazy expensive. After realizing at 1-2 bars a day, I'm spending 35-50 dollars a month on bars, I decided to start experimenting. I'm really into the idea of simple foods. Simple raw foods to be specific. I stumbled upon this blog called Rawified that has recipes for every single kind of Larabar. If you're unfamiliar, Larabars are made of very simple ingredients. Generally they contain dates, maybe another kind of dried fruit, and raw nuts. End of story. With easily absorbed sugars and healthy fats, I figured these would be great for before a workout. While J-money was here a few weeks ago, we decided to give the Blueberry Muffin Larabar a try. The most important lesson we learned from this process? Don't just throw all the ingredients together and expect your food processor to blend it evenly. Most recipes recommend just throwing it into a food processor and ... boom... done. Now I'm not sure if my processor is just not up to speed (ha... pun) or if I did something wrong, but throwing all the sticky fruits and nuts together was just too much for it to handle.
     Regardless of the non-uniform texture of all of our ingredients, our Blueberry muffin "bars" were delicious! They tasted just like the Larabars! The only difference was that I had to add a little water in order to get the ingredients to mix, thus resulting in the inability to form them into bars. They then became Blueberry Muffin balls. I forgot to take a picture and we destroyed them before I finally remembered.
     Per Jake's recommendation, I decided to give the Key Lime Pie Larabars a try and process each ingredient separately. This worked like a charm! I got a much more uniform consistency for the entire mix, not to mention they were phenomenal! Once again, tasted just like the Larabars themselves. A simple blend of raw nuts, sweet coconut and dates and the bite of the lime juice.
     It cost me around $4.87 to make the whole batch of 14 bars, at 140 calories a piece (70% of the calories of a normal Larabar). From a dollar per calorie perspective, that's 60 cents per 200 calorie homemade bar versus the $1.30 Larabar you buy in the store. Yes... I really did figure all that out. Don't ask how. You'll think I'm crazy. On second thought, it's probably all ready to late for that. Let's just say it involves heavy research and excel skills.

Blueberry Muffin Larabar

Key Lime Pie Larabars

1 cup pitted dates
1 cup almonds
2 tbs shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 tbs pumpkin pie spice (I just mixed cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice)

Key Lime Pie Larabar

1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup almonds
1 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup shredded coconut
splash of lime juice 


Curry Coconut Lime Soup - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

Curry Coconut Lime Soup

     Another interesting soup experiment of mine turned into a great success. I had some leftover coconut milk from a curry dish I made and decided to somehow get it into a soup. I had about three recipes that sounded great, but couldn't decide which to use, so I just combined parts of each, took out others and came up with some crazy Thai-like soup. I say it's Thai-like because it has that typical coconut curry flavor to it. One recipe called for a Thai chili paste, so I attempted to create this with a bunch of random ingredients like garlic, ginger, ketchup and a variety of spices. This is a really light tasting soup, but it's totally satisfying... not to mention you'll feel kind of fancy eating it. Like you're some kind  of culturally experienced chef. Now, I added a little shredded chicken to this for some protein, but it's totally not necessary if you wanted to make this vegetarian. Not to mention, the chicken breast I put in this recipe was about the size of a deck of cards. I'd maybe get a hunk or two per serving. Almost pointless. Here's me attempting to recreate this masterpiece.

Curry Coconut Lime Soup

1 1/4 cup coconut milk
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup chopped fresh pea pods
1 chopped orange pepper
2 large carrots, sliced
1 chicken breast
2 oz. angle hair pasta
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup lime juice
1 cup fresh spinach
1 tbs minced fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow hot pepper, chopped (or one chili pepper)
1 tbs ketchup
1/2 tsp white pepper
A few shakes of red pepper flakes
1 tbs curry
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1) In a small bowl, prepare your Thai-chili paste by combining the ginger, garlic, minced hot pepper, ketchup , white pepper, red pepper flakes, and cumin. Mix until thoroughly combined.

2) In a large soup pot on medium heat, bring the coconut milk, vegetables, chili paste and all of the other spices to a simmer. Let these simmer for a good 20 minutes. The whole mix will start to thicken. That's ok. 

3) Add in your shredded chicken, stock, lime juice and angel hair pasta that has been broken up into small pieces. Stir to mix evenly and let simmer another 20 minutes. Add in the spinach (optional) 10 minutes before serving. 

Border Cafe - Cambridge, MA
http://www.bordercafe.com/

     Well, let me just go right out and say I've found my new favorite Mexican place in Boston. Border Cafe

Mesquite Grilled Salmon Salad

in Harvard Square was the destination of choice for Meagan's short visit to Boston. As soon as I walked in to meet Meagan, Karl, Jimmy and Dave, I was overwhelmed with the congestion, but it was the good kind of congestion. The place was packed and the wait staff was scurrying around like crazy. Every wall was decorated and music that made me want to break out my not-so-great salsa skills poured out the speakers. They took the Mexican feel to a whole new level.
    The only downside? I'm in serious weight loss mode, so I had to stick to a salad and, at first, I was bummed about it. More on that later. The first thing to our table was a piping hot basket of chips and salsa. I don't just mean warm. I meant HOT. As in, you were bound to burn your fingers on the first chip you reached for. These chips were absolutely incredible. They are EXACTLY what I've been looking to find in Boston. Not kidding. They were thin, crispy, homemade and hot. In total, we had three baskets (maybe four) delivered to the table and each basket was hotter than the previous one. Worry not, I was good and only had a few from each basket. You know... had to try some from each basket... make sure they were safe.
      So this salad I ordered sounded good, but I was not expecting it to be as delicious as it was. It was their Mesquite Grilled Salmon salad. I figured it was a good pre-pieces option, full of greens, protein and healthy fats. This was by far the best salmon I have ever had. There was this delicious sweetness on the outside because it had  been slightly crisped up from the lime-soy glaze. What really took it to the next level was how the filet was marbled and the grilled taste. Normally I can't tell the difference when something has been grilled a certain way, but the wood fired flavor in this fish was so present. It arrived at the absolute perfect temperature and just melted in my mouth. The salmon sat on a corn and bean salsa with a bed of greens that had been tossed in a citrus vinagrette that I would pay large sums of money to get the recipe. It was incredible. It was lightly sweet with a little bite and went perfectly with the flavors in the salmon.
     Naturally, I had a few bites of Meldrim's swordfish tacos, which were stuffed with really unique vegetables and mangos. Their menu was so unique and full of really interesting flavor combinations. I've got to go back a) when I can destroy 4 baskets of those heavenly chips myself and b) to experience another one of their awesome creations. Everyone was super satisfied, cleaned their plates (Jimmy and I helped Meldrim), and once again, the waiter was impressed.

Saloon - Cambridge, MA
http://www.saloondavis.com/

     Ok so I'm going to make this quick, because I intend to return to Saloon to fully experience it at some point, and I'd love to write more about it. Long story short, Bluetrain finally closed our round of funding, and I met up with a bunch of coworkers at Saloon in Davis Square. The place is absolutely gorgeous! It's underground, and there is no real sign outside. It's like walking through a trap door into a beautiful parlour. The bar and all the furnishings were made of dark wood and brassy metals. The lights were dim, and the place gave off a real classy/swanky/seductive vibe. This place was topping the charts for unique design. I felt like I was stepping into an underground bar from the roaring twenties.
     Back to the food. I ran there, and didn't intend to eat while there, but I should've known there would be appetizers. My coworkers ordered some of the best fries I've had in Boston, Beer Battered Pickled Feta Cheese Stuffed Peppers, and a platter of thinly sliced meats, pâté, pickled veggies, stone ground mustard and a small loaf of bread. Oh and Devils on Horseback. They were these incredible feta cheese stuffed and bacon wrapped figs. The sugars from the figs and the fats from the bacon perfectly caramelized on the outside and it was just delectable. The presentation was five star, and so was the taste. Going back asap.