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Treat Yourself to Lunch at Fresh City – Giveaway

February 4, 2013 in Food by traveleatlove | 2 comments

Thanks again to Fresh City for bringing me a delicious, healthy lunch and sponsoring this giveaway! The winner of the gift card is Emily!

Work day lunches are one of those things that are always on my mind. I try my best to make enough dinner so we can have leftovers for lunch. When I have time on a Sunday, I try to make a big one pot meal for us to pack for the week, but otherwise I’m always at a loss for what we should bring for lunch.

When a representative from Fresh City sent me an email asking if they could bring me lunch, I was incredibly excited. Fresh City wraps are our go-ton on drives to NJ. While I hate the long trip, I always look forward to a buffalo chicken or Greek salad wrap to keep hunger at bay.

Fresh City is promoting some healthy new menu items, and to my delight, when my lunch delivery arrived on Friday, I received them all!

  • Powerhouse Salad – this salad packs a punch and includes everything but the kitchen sink: edamame, cranberries, grapes, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, almonds, and cheddar cheese. The low fat, low calorie Power dressing gives the salad a great taste with a power boost of energy.
  • Napa Valley Turkey Sandwich – who doesn’t love turkey, avocado, and bacon together? Fresh City adds a unique twist to this classic sandwich by adding a lemon chive aioli dressing.
  • Pomegranate Acai Smoothie – cool off after a tough workout with a freshly blend of pomegranate, acai, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries.

image

pomegranate acai smoothie

I love eating meal salads, but I’m often left hungry after. The Powerhouse Salad was so full of different, healthy, and filling toppings, that I only made it through about 3/4 of the salad before I was full. I loved all of the textures and flavors and being able to fit so many healthy nutrients into the middle of my day. I would most definitely get this salad again and was pretty much craving it all weekend.

For my dessert, I sipped on the Pomegranate Acai Smoothie throughout the afternoon. It had only a hint of sweetness and a whole lot of berry flavor. I love that a smoothie like this really packs a nutritional punch while tasting as good as a milkshake or other dessert. I paired the smoothie with some cinnamon sugar pita crisps that Fresh City sent along. Delicious.

I was completely full after my salad, smoothie, and snack, so I brought the Napa Valley Turkey Sandwich home to share with my husband. We didn’t have dinner plans, and since our brains were mush by Friday evening, we split the sandwich for dinner, and we were both completely full with just the half. The sandwich was very large and stuffed with fresh turkey, bacon, and avocado. I loved the light, lemony dressing; it was the perfect choice to cut the richness of all of the other ingredients and to add a tang to the sandwich.

I would definitely order all of the items from Fresh City again, and I hope that they build more locations around Boston. Their food is definitely one of my favorite healthy and quick options, and there’s so much of the menu I want to try.

Fresh City wants one of you to be able to have lunch on them too! They’re giving me a $15 gift card for one lucky reader. In the dead of winter, a little lunch treat goes a very long way.

To enter, like Fresh City on Facebook, and leave a comment below letting me know your favorite Fresh City item or one you’d like to try.

I will choose a winner on Thursday evening. Have a great week!

Tags: Food, giveaway, healthy

Making Olive Oil

January 28, 2013 in Travel by traveleatlove | 7 comments

We may never be able to eat regular old olive oil ever again. Between the beautiful oil sent to me by Frances Mayes from her Bramasole Olive Oil Convivium and the freshly pressed, fruity oil we enjoyed visiting family in Italy, we have definitely been enjoying some of the best oil I have ever had. I’ve even been taking two tablespoons of olive oil every morning; it’s said to do all sorts of things including making the skin glow, cleansing the body, and helping to prevent illness.

After our amazing visit to Masciarelli, we headed home to have lunch and play time with our nephews. When my sister-in-law arrived home from work, we all piled in the car and went for a drive, ending up at the facility where their family makes the oil we were enjoying all week.

olives

It may have been the evening, but the olive oil facility was full of activity. Giant crates of olives were being transported in, and people from all over the valley were there using their own olives to make family olive oil.

olive oil production

It was fun to see the process from start to finish. Here, the olives are being separated from the branches and leaves.

image

Massive stone wheels ground the olives into a paste. That’s some olive tapenade right there!

olive oil press

The olive paste was then spread into thin layers that were stacked in a press, as seen below.

Olive oil press

At that point, you could really see the olive oil coming into its own. The smells in the facility were incredible! I wish I could have just filled a big jug to bring back to Boston.

making olive oil

The process of making olive oil was definitely a fun one to witness, and it was even more special because it was at the place where our family has made their oil for a long time.

We went home and had another amazing dinner which included olive oil, of course. This time around, we sampled an oil that my sister-in-law’s mother had infused with hot peppers. It was amazing and something I definitely plan on trying soon.

I’m officially ready to go to Italy again. . . or to Sonoma or somewhere that’s not dealing with single digit temperatures! Do you have any travel planned in the near future?

Tags: family, Food, Italy, olive oil, Travel

Vibrant Vegetable Soup

January 25, 2013 in recipe by traveleatlove | 6 comments

When last week’s plan of healthy eating turned into dining out, events, and takeout every night, we were left with a fridge full of produce that we needed to eat in a short space of time. Smoothies and chips took care of the kale overload, but we had a bunch of other healthy ingredients to use up. With temps falling, soup seemed like the perfect idea, and in just a short amount of time, a vibrant veggie soup came together.

broccoli

The ingredients:

4 cups broccoli florets, roasted at 400 for 20 minutes

3 cups baby spinach

2 cups sweet peppers, roasted at 400 for 20 minutes

1 cup white onion, chopped and sautéed in olive oil until soft

4 large potatoes, boiled until soft

Coconut milk – enough to make it into a soupy consistency

handful fresh cilantro

pepper

spinach

So Delicious Coconut Milk

Once the veggies were roasted and the potatoes were cooked through, I added it all to my Ninja blender with some curry powder, garlic, cumin, and chili powder and pureed until nice and smooth.

potatoes and spices

I returned it all to the pot and simmered it on low until we were ready to eat.

creamy vegetable soup

We each had a big bowl topped with Greek yogurt to add some protein and creaminess to it. For being just a bunch of vegetables and a few other ingredients blended together, we both thought the soup tasted like something you’d find at a nice restaurant. It was a great green color, packed full of nutrients to keep us from getting sick, and an easy way to avoid wasting food, something I absolutely hate doing. I’m trying to be more careful with grocery shopping, only getting enough for what we need and also trying to stay home more. It’s not been too hard in this frigid weather!

It’s time to meal plan for yet another week; what do you have on your menu for next week?

Tags: broccoli, coconut milk, Food, healthy, peppers, potatoes, recipe, soup, spices, spinach, vegan, vegetables, Vegetarian

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