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RECIPES

BOSTON, ENTERTAINING, FOOD, RECIPES

My Boston Valentine

Let's Make a Heart by thefleeg From Flickr

Overly expensive pre-fixe meals? Ridiculously huge heart-shaped boxes of chocolates? Unnecessary amounts of red roses? I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a fan of the hoopla surrounding Valentine’s Day. Therefore, in the spirit of celebrating Boston’s simple pleasures, I’ve decided to share a few of my top picks for quality vendors, nibbles, and more that will brighten up your Valentine’s Day in the city, without costing too much. From romantic, to indulgent, to DIY, these places, treats and ideas are special throughout the year, but are also Valentine’s Day appropiate. Please consider this my Valentine’s Day gift to you. Mwah!

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BOSTON, ENTERTAINING, RECIPES

Cocktail Club: Spiked Sparkling Cider

Spiked Sparkling Cider, Mood Lighting Optional!

Thanks to my lovely roommate and her friends, I’ve been inducted into a cocktail club.  Each month, a group of ladies get together at someone’s home to try a unique drink paired with a delicious nibble.  The best part? The host takes care of the food/drink, allowing the guests to relax.  How often are you a guest at someone’s home and are told to bring nothing, except for your delightful self?

A recent cocktail club introduced me to a delicious new drink that’s a play on sparkling cider.  Ripped from the pages of Real Simple Magazine, this drink pairs my love of prosecco with two very unexpected ingredients – apple juice and goldschlager.  Sure, you could purchase store-bought cider and add alcohol to it, but this drink feels and tastes slightly more sophisticated.  From the fizzy prosecco, to the not too sweet combination of apple juice and goldschlager, this cinnamon scented cider has become a go-to winter cocktail in my apartment.

For a cocktail club or dinner party occasion, serve with roasted pork tenderloin, green beans and a mushroom risotto.

Spiked Sparkling Cider – Serves 20

4 bottles chilled Prosecco
6 cups chilled Apple Juice
3/4 cup Goldschlager

Mix, clink glasses with your friends and enjoy!

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RECIPES

Home Cookin’: Fresh Raspberry, Cucumber, Feta, Green Bean and Chickpea Spinach Salad

Looking for a healthy lunch or dinner that can be whipped up in ten minutes? A fantastic dinner party salad that’s sure to wow your friends?  Look no further.

Incredibly simple, this fresh salad does not require actual cooking!  If you can select good ingredients and chop bite sized pieces, then you can prepare this meal.

I’ve listed the ingredients below as a serving for a six to eight person dinner party.  For one person, it should result in several lunch or dinner sized portions.  If you’re cooking for one, I would put all of the ingredients into separate tupperware containers and combine them specially for each meal so that the lettuce does not wilt.  By making the salad that way, it’s easy to customize the meal to your preferences, and you can mix and match serving it as an entree salad, versus adding a piece of chicken or salmon on the side.

Salad Ingredients:
– 1 bag of baby spinach
– 1 large cucumber
– 1 bag of green beans in a microwaveable bag
– 1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
– 1 container of crumbled feta cheese (or less, depending on your preferences)
– 1 pint of raspberries
– Olive oil
– Crushed black pepper
– Whole Foods fat free balsamic vinaigrette

Puncture holes into the bag of green beans and steam in the microwave according to the package directions. Remove green beans in the microwave and place in an empty bowl to cool.

While the green beans are cooling, chop the cucumber into bite sized pieces and set aside. Once the green beans are cool, chop them into bite sized pieces and toss with one tsp of olive oil and season with crushed black pepper. Rinse the canned garbanzo beans with water in a strainer and allow to dry.

Pour the entire bag of spinach into a large bowl. Add in the chopped green beans and cucumber. Toss. Add in garbanzo beans and crumbled feta cheese. Toss again. Add in raspberries and carefully toss.

Serve with a tangy, fat free balsamic dressing, like Whole Foods Fat Free Balsamic Vinaigrette, Trader Joe’s Fat Free Balsamic, or Newman’s Own Lighten Up Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing. Buon Appetito!

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BOSTON, EVENTS

The Weekend: October 2-3

Boston Local Food Festival

Rain, rain go away!  It’s the weekend again in Boston and luckily the wet weather will not be crashing our party.  After bidding adieu to Boston Fashion Week, this weekend is all about local food and spirits, between sampling sustainable cuisine from Boston-area vendors, to raising a pint in honor of Oktoberfest.  Here are my top picks for the weekend:

Saturday, October 2:
Boston Local Food Festival
On Saturday, October 2 from 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., celebrate Boston’s local and sustainable food scene at a fun outdoor festival along the Congress Street Bridge by the Boston Children’s Museum. Featuring more than 50 vendors ranging from local restaurants like Sportello, to the Blue Heron Farm, Taza chocolate and Wachusett Brewing Co., this free festival promises tons of food, live music and has an ambitious goal of producing zero waste.

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RECIPES

Home Cookin’: Homemade Healthy Pumpkin-Vanilla Ice Cream

Pumpkin-Vanilla Ice Cream

Strange, but true fact about me: I am obsessed with pumpkin, so much so that 100% pure canned pumpkin ranks among my favorite pantry staples.  Low in calories and packed with both fiber and vitamin A, canned pumpkin can be used in everything from soup, to homemade pasta, smoothies, or your morning oatmeal.  I also frequently use it as a healthy swap for eggs and oil in baked goods (see my post on using canned pumpkin for fudgey brownie bites here).

So, clearly when I bought my ice cream maker this summer, pumpkin ice cream was on my shortlist of recipes to whip up.  Inspired by another Boston blogger, Healthy Food For Living’s, recipe for Vegan Maple Pumpkin Ice Cream, I tweaked to incorporate another ingredient obsession of mine, Whole Foods Vanilla Soymilk and added a bit more spice.  The result…divine, spicy pumpkin-ness.

Homemade Pumpkin-Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:

Pumpkin-Vanilla Ice Cream Mix

-1 can of 100% pure pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
-1.5 cups of vanilla soymilk (I like Whole Foods 365 brand)
-1/2 cup honey (I used clover, but it’s up to you)
-1 tsp. ground cinnamon
-1 tsp. ground nutmeg
-1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
-1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

-In a medium bowl, mix the pumpkin puree and soymilk. Once incorporated, add in honey and vanilla extract.
-Slowly add in the spices one tsp. at a time. I recommend using a whisk to ensure that they are incorporated evenly. The mix will be slightly thicker than the consistency of water and that’s normal.
-Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for two hours.
-Place in ice cream maker and make according to your model’s specifications (mine took 20 minutes).

If making for a dinner party, I would recommend making that night, because this recipe is best served freshly made.  Because of the low fat content, once it’s in the freezer for awhile the consistency is more like an ice cream-y Italian ice.  Nevertheless, the taste is still delicious!  Hope you will enjoy as much as I do.

For more of my recipes, click here.