The Daily Grind of a Work @ Home Mom...

Fiesta Carmelita

Every so often, I come across a recipe on the internets that speaks to me.  It doesn't happen often, but a few months ago I fell on these crazy looking Carmelita's on Pinterest (courtesy of Lulu the Baker). Everything about them appealed to me.  The drippy caramel, the melted chocolate, and the fact that all this was sandwiched inside of an oatmeal crust - just thinking about it makes me... hungry. But one cannot subscribe to healthy eating and to a world where Carmelita's are a regular occurrence so I tucked the recipe into that little spot in my brain that I reserve for naughty stuff and went on my way. Then, the perfect event reared its head - we were invited to a Mother's Day BBQ and I was tasked with dessert!  So I cracked open that naughty nook and got to work.  And now, I share with you, the sickest dessert in the history of desserts - I even added a little party to the name for affect - the Fiesta Carmelita.

Ingredients:

• 2 bags of chewy Werthers caramels
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 sticks of butter (I never said they were healthy!)
• 1.5 cups brown sugar, packed
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups old-fashioned or rolled oats
• 2tsp's baking soda
• 1 bag of chocolate chips

While I amended some of the ingredients a bit, I followed Lulu's instructions to the t:

"Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely smooth; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, and baking soda. Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.

*A stint in the fridge will help them cool off if you're pinched for time. They shouldn't be served cold, but all of that molten caramel takes a long time to cool down. They should be stored and served at room temperature."

Yield - A 9x13 pan of perfection.

Happy Mother's Day!

 

The Fresh Diet Post-Mortem

So I spent a week enjoying fresh food that I did not cook, calorie-count, weigh or measure, delivered to my door on a daily basis. 

Can you say WINNING!

Ok - so about the food: most of what I ate on The Fresh Diet was delicious.  Things I might not otherwise eat; turkey meatballs that were very tasty and nicely textured, steak & egg burrito with pico de gallo and sour cream that was a breakfast treat, even a small steak one night that fixed my craving for red meat.  Most of the food was great.

Since so many Twitter folks have asked me about it, I'm going to go into more detail than I might have otherwise, but the idea is to honestly share my thoughts and if it means anything, I'm continuing The Fresh Diet even though my free trial is over.  I've lost over 7lbs over the past 3 weeks and I have to attribute at least 1/3 of that to the fact that I looked forward to my next meal during my week on TFD.

Food stuff:

• Salad - I love a good salad and some of my salads were great.  I loved the citrus glazed chicken
  salad with honey ginger dressing, loved the "classic" cobb (sans egg), loved the horseradish dressing but did not love any of the salads topped with steak.  They were simply beef on greens, no veggies, etc. and they didn't satisfy me. Going forward, I plan to stick with chicken topped salads.
• The dips were worthy of dipping.  What's better than freshly made hummus or olive spread? I wasn't nuts about the minuscule pieces of pita that accompanied them, though.
• Wasn't wild about anything called "bruschetta" which was like salsa, or the mini egg salad pita hors d'ouevres as their size just made me hungrier HOWEVER the chicken tenders hit the spot as did the chicken satay.  What can I say - I'm a protein girl.
• Loved the omelettes and breakfast burritos (pictured) - artichoke and brie cheese? Goat cheese, sun-dried tomato and spinach?  Yes, please!
• Desserts - butterscotch chip cookies rocked, as did the coconut brownie.  I LOVED the berries with ricotta cheese (I added sweetner - yum), and the chocolate chip bread pudding, but didn't love the artificially sweet tasting regular chocolate pudding.
• Presentation - While the food was mostly really above average for this type of thing, I thought TFD could separate the sides from the main courses.  As a result of the transportation, the meals sometimes had to be prettied up (who doesn't style their food prior to eating??) but I am aware that it would not be very environmentally friendly. So maybe comparmentalizing the different foods could be an idea TFD might consider in the future.

Portions were, well, "weight-loss" portions.  In other words, while portions were size-challenged, I never walked away from a meal hungry.  Being not a large woman, I selected the lowest caloric range so there were days I was hungry between meals and found myself adding a 100 calorie yogurt, or a small, low-calorie soup.  I also added veggies and salad with low-cal dressing to the days I ate sandwiches for lunch.  I would say that it would be nice if the meals came with the salad since anyone knows that salad is the Joanie to the sandwich's Chachi. 

In conclusion - TFD food was there every morning, was never late and made no excuses.  Better than a dinner date, that's right!  For details about delivery options as well as pricing, visit The Fresh Diet.  For now, can receive 3 days free with the purchase of a 31-day plan at $29.99 per day. Use promo code SEMOMMAR29.

Like I said, just because my free trial is done doesn't mean I am.  I'm on-board as a paying customer for the next while at least and you should try it too, if you are looking for a simple way to shed a few for Spring without deprivation. 

I may even blog about it.

“This post is sponsored by The Fresh Diet. I also received a week’s supply of The Fresh Diet food to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.”

The Fresh Diet delivers healthy food to your doorstep

You see that post about the nutella-filled treats a few posts down?  That (among others) is one of the reasons I've committed to beginning a healthy eating regimen starting ASAP.  This warm winter combined with the fact that March is already here have made me cognizant of the crap I've been ingesting for the last few months and how it's affecting how I feel in my jeans, how I know I'll feel in my summer clothes, and how I feel about myself in general.

It's my opinion that a woman, mom or otherwise, must feel hawt at all times.  And while that doesn't necessarily mean size 2, it does mean feeling healthy and fit.

So I am lucky to be part of The Fresh Diet campaign.  The Fresh Diet is a healthy, fresh meal delivery program that makes eating mindfully easy.  No measuring, no pre-planning, and no frozen meals (though in all honesty, I have had great success with frozen meal plans).  You have two options on The Fresh Diet: daily delivery which is only offered in select cities at the moment, or twice weekly delivery, available everywhere.  The food is delivered fresh in temperature controlled thermally insulated refrigerated cooler bags to your doorstep and you just put it in the fridge to store it.

Selecting a menu was easy.  I went to the microsite, selected my calories per day (I picked
1000-1200/day for weight loss but you can choose as much as you'd like) and my food "dislikes" which didn't remove those foods from my menu choices (that might have been nice), but did alert me if I chose a food that included any of my dislikes.  I had four choices for each meal of the day, four choices for snacks (which included sweets as well as more food-like selections like chicken satay or pita an hummus), and two choices for side dishes (like grains and veggies).  It also alerted me if I was getting too carb heavy on a particular day.  While I would've like even more choices per meal (I don't eat fish or pork so that instantly reduced my number of choices for many meals), there was plenty to choose from.

The food looked appetizing in the images provided with descriptions (if not big in portion size - but I guess that's the point), and the selections were foods I might eat anyway.  I chose egg white burritos, salads topped with protein, steak and veggies.  Most of the foods offered were familiar items but I also selected some things I wouldn't otherwise eat like turkey meatballs.  Full food review to come.

I'm being treated to a week of taste-testing the meals, and (hopefully) losing a few LBs.  My plan is not to stray from the plan (I'm headed to Vegas in two weeks and need to feel good in my Vegas clothes!) and really focus on being mindful of portion and what I'm ingesting.  I'm hoping my children will take care of their own meals for the week and it'll feel almost like a vacation!  Almost.

I'll post again after my week on the program.  Wish me luck.

If you're interested in trying out The Fresh Diet, you can receive 3 days free with the purchase of a 31-day plan at $29.99 per day.  Use promo code SEMOMMAR29.

“This post is sponsored by The Fresh Diet.  I also received a week’s supply of The Fresh Diet food to facilitate this review.  All opinions are my own.”

 

Nutella-filled half-moon shaped spring roll thingys

I know.  Sounds crazy.  But I've been bit by the Pinterest bug and I've become obsessed with amazingly delicious-looking food pictures and I came across this from Recipe Girl:

So, ours didn't look like that; we made our sort of flat, like half-moon shaped simply because we (my girls and I) were more interested in teasing our taste buds rather than our eyeballs (but aren't the heart shapes beautiful?).  So we bought a package of Nasoya egg roll wrappers, a jar of nutella and got to work.

We literally smeared a tablespoon or two of the hazelnut chocolate spread inside of each egg roll wrapper, wet the edges to seal it in half, and tossed it in the frying pan with about a quarter inch of canola oil and, dare I say it, fried until brown.  That's it.  Obviously they were devoured quicker than I could photograph them but the pics above are far more aesthetically pleasing than ours looked. 

Next time we are feeling crazy, we'll tackle these babies, courtesy of The Apron Gal:

Oh, and stay tuned for my latest weight loss update. :)

Four Ingredient Cookies

I received an email from my mom the other day. It wasn't a fwd: fwd: fwd: fwd about the deadly lead in lipstick or how the plastic cups in my home are going to come alive during the night and kill us all. Nope - it was a recipe for cookies, with just four ingredients. And it looked so strange that I had to try it. So yesterday, during one of my computer breaks, I made these:

Four Ingredient Cookies

• 3 egg whites, mixed (not beaten)
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1.5 cup Craisins

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.

My mom's recipe called for Heath or Skor bar instead of coconut but I had none in the house so I improvised. Here's what we got:

They were TOTALLY delicious and without all the added stuff we usually use to make cookies, not horribly unhealthy either. So there you have it. Now we're going to work them off running around in the sprinkler.

Health(ier) No-Egg Double Chocolate Cupcakes

Yesterday was a gray day in Boston.  We slept-in a bit and with every passing Spongebob, our idea of heading to the Museum of Science were dashed more and more, until there was nothing left.  So we did what any mom and daughters would do - we baked!  However, in keeping with my mindful indulgences theme, (at least for them, (am I the only mom who is more respectful of what goes into her kids bodies than what goes into her own?  Didn't think so.) I wanted to bake something delicious (read: chocolate) but still relatively healthy.  Oh, and I was out of eggs.  So I dusted off my old stand-by (thanks, Norene!), and found a recipe for No-Egg Double Chocolate Cupcakes.  We made an adjustment or two, but the recipe ended up like this:

No-Egg Double Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1.5 c flour (I used .5 c whole wheat flour)
• 1 c sugar
• 1/3 c unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 2 tbsp applesauce
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 c orange juice
• 1/2 c coffee (or water)
• 1/4 c chocolate chips (or not. but we did.)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray (we used cupcake liners).  Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix well.  Add wet ingredients except chocolate chips.  Mix until smooth and blended.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Don't over mix or cupcakes will be tough.

Pour batter into the muffin tins.  Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes, until done.  Cool completely.  You can sprinkle with icing sugar or ice with store bought icing (but keep in mind this will increase calories and fat).

Yield: 12 cupcakes. These freeze well and recipe can be doubled.

183 calories per cupcake, 5 g fat (or 166 cals and 3.9 g fat without chocolate chips).

 Enjoy!

 

 

 

On Being a Good Parent

I try to be one, really, I do.  Pretty much everything I do in my life is done with intention.  It's taken me many years (and many dollars spent in therapy) to figure it out, but contrary to how I lived my life in younger years, I really do make decisions, even spontaneous ones, with purpose.  And typically, my children and their well-being figures into my decisions pretty heavily.

About a year ago, a visit to the pediatrician resulted in some changes in our house, specifically at meal times.  One of my daughters, it seemed, was on the higher end of the BMI scale, and I felt like this was a direct reflection on my parenting.  I mean, even if I'm not there for every meal, since I was setting the tone for what we eat and don't eat, it must be my fault, right?  Despite the fact that my other daughter is the size of a peanut, still, my fault.

So we changed a few things around, went back a month or two later, and the doctor seemed a bit happier with where we were.

Fast forward a year and here we are again.  BMI on the high side and would I like a referral to a nutritionist?  Personally affronted, I declined, thinking why would I need someone to tell us how to eat when I, a chronic dieter, knows everything there is to know about healthy eating habits?

We indulge in treats in our house, no question.  Super crazy schedules sometimes result in throwing a box of organic mac 'n cheese in the pot for dinner, or some other not-so-bad kid food.  But we are ardent veggie eaters, broccoli and kale being staples around here.  My kids are amazing eaters, and have been known to ask for everything from sushi to shrimp to mussels for dinner.

I love that I don't have chicken nugget obsessed kids.  That they've seen the inside of a McDonald's maybe two or three times in their lives.

The problem with my child, if there is a problem, is portion control.  Like me, my daughter is an enthusiastic eater, she's passionate about food.  She has an interest in interesting foods and this is parlayed into an affinity for cooking.  But childhood obesity is on the rise, of this I am aware, and I certainly don't want my kid to suffer for choices I am responsible for making.

She's not a tiny kid. I know this.  She's the tallest in the class.  She's also energetic, solid, and playful.  She's smart and skilled and compassionate.  She's amazing, and in my eyes, pretty close to perfect.

I'm not in denial.  I have every intention of making "treats" far less accessible in my house.  More energy will be spent planning meals made with whole foods as opposed to a quick fix.  Less time and money in restaurants, more in the produce section.  Because it seems that what I thought was a reasonably good job actually isn't good enough, and my kid is not going to suffer for my lack of time.

But here's the thing - is every child the same?  Do genetics play a role in this?  How much am I getting in my child's way?  She actually knows what's healthy, what constitutes junk, and what is delicious.  She knows. She knows because I have taught her.  But I am not always in control of choices that translate into meals and snacks that enter my childrens bodies.

This topic is not new in my house.  Since last year, the topic of "checking in with our tummies" before asking for more has been prevalent.  We even jump on the scale to check our 'numbers' every now and then.  While I don't tell her exactly what I'm looking for on the scale, she knows it's a measure of her health and keeping healthy is the goal.

So, busy moms out there, how do you ensure your children are eating healthfully and not indulging too much?  How do you say no to  child who wants seconds?  What do you offer that I may not have thought of?  Because apart from some obvious changes, I'm fresh out of ideas.

Cute and Tasty Treats from Donsuemor: Giveaway

Snacking is a big deal in our house.  In fact, my youngest daughter looks for her morning snack not five minutes after breakfast is over (not that she gets one).  While I try to keep it as healthy as possible, I also enjoy seeing their little faces light up at something more treat-like every so often.  So I can feel good about those types of snacks, I try to find things that are small so as to keep it fun, but not overly calorie-dense.

When I agreed to review Donsuemor cookies, I knew what I was getting into since we'd already sampled and reviewed them at Mom Central.  What I didn't know was that Donsuemor also made these little cupcake shaped "Cute Cakes" that my kids would fight over. 

Adorable, right?  And yummy too - yes, mom fought her way toward the front of the line for a taste.  Each cute cake has 120 calories (so save the other for later!). 

If you haven't heard of Donsuemor, the company has been making sophisticated madeleine cookies for 35 years.  The madeleines are beautiful - perfect to put out or serve with coffee.  They're small and lovely to look at as well.

You can buy Donsuemor treats here (they're actually super well-priced) and check here for fun things you can do with them.

Win it!  One lucky reader will win a gift box from Donsuemor.  To enter, just visit their website and let me know which treat is your favorite.  One winner will be selected on Wednesday, April 27th.  Sorry, US only!

"I received a gift box of Donsuemor treats to facilitate this review.  All opinions are my own."

NYC... What is it about you?

My girls and I hit the road Friday afternoon and road-tripped to New York City, home of the best matza ball soup, candy store, and Aunt.  K, maybe "road-trip" is a bit of a strong word to use for a 3ish hour drive, but any drive with a 3- and 5-year old in tow is somewhat of an adventure.  Despite the fact that my kids are good car companions, there were many snacks consumed, too much TV, and not enough napping.

We are no strangers to the City and visit about once every few months.  We've pretty much been to all the regular attractions including the Bronx and Central Park Zoos, the Museum of Natural History, the Children's Museum, and even the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey.  We saw Pinkalicious: The Musical a few trips ago, and are regulars at Patsy's.

This weekend though, we had no plans.  And it was GREAT.

Friday night we decided to trash our plan to stay in and head to a local Asian spot - Amber.  It doesn't hurt that my kids eat just about everything and I can take them anywhere.  (This probably speaks more to my love of food than theirs, but whatever.)  We headed home after a delicious and not crazy expensive meal of sushi, lettuce rolls, miso soup, edamame, and shumai.  Totally successful Friday night.

Saturday we made our way to NJ to visit a friend and her family.  It was a gorgeous day and the kids played outside while the grown-ups caught up.  A trip to Target ended the day perfectly and we went back to the city.  Of course, these fun activities were just details between meals so obviously we had dinner to think about upon our return.  My sister, ever looking out for good, kid-friendly local joints, suggested Ditch Plains, the newest resident in the space that used to be home to a local favorite, the now defunct Rain.  Let me tell you, this place was awesome.  The sister restaurant of Landmarc, the new version is brighter, closer to home, and the menu has fantastic kid offerings.  Granted, my kids wanted mussels and hot dogs (a lovely combo), but for dessert they opted for s'mores (yum) and a homemade ice cream sandwich (again, yum).  I had the spicy salad with shrimp (my ode to Jenny Craig) and we also tried the Sloppy Dogs, their take on a chili dog (but better).  If my 5-year old hadn't been exhausted and whimpering for the first 20 minutes, it would have been the perfect evening.  It was great though, as it was.  Note: if you're looking for a romantic spot, this place is not it.  At least not at 5:30 - 7pm when it's stroller central. 

So, I feel like NYC has all these wondrous fantastical magical spaces and places speckled throughout and so I set high expectations each trip.  This one was no different and I thought it a good idea to check out Alice's Tea Cup, a cutesy "tea room" with several locations throughout the city.  My girls are very into Alice in Wonderland so I knew they'd be psyched, and they were.  They loved trying on the fairy wings that hang from the coat hooks in the waiting area (and they didn't even beg me to buy them!).  They enjoyed being trusted with real tea cups, and they really dug their food.  I admit, I was nervous with no children's menu to speak of, and the slight menu having not a huge selection, but what we did order was not just good - it was AMAZING.  Who knew poached eggs on spinach (ok, set atop buttermilk biscuits) could be so delicious?  K - forget that: one kid had "french toast" which was really bread pudding and tasted unreal, while the other had chocolate and banana crepes.  Based on the fact that this place is a theme restaurant (sort of), I fully expected to pay a lot of money for not great food.   I was SO WRONG.  It was absolutely delicious and reasonable (relatively speaking since only in NYC does one pay $55 for four people for breakfast).  But it was worth it.

So our little unscheduled jaunt really turned into one of our best trips this year.

And those s'mores didn't suck either.

An Evening of Chocolate & Wine at Boston Chocolate School

Chocolate and wine.  Like yin and yang, these two indulgences do in fact count as a dynamic duo, at least in my book.  So when I was invited to the chocolate and wine tasting course at Boston Chocolate School (be still my beating heart, I know), I was ALL IN. 

Held at the beautiful College Club in Boston's Back Bay, the setting for the evening of decadence is elegant and sophisticated.  I actually toured the charming property prior to the event, and was surprised to find that it's also home to a lovely bed & breakfast, with clean, New England style rooms at affordable rates.  

The class offers a reasonably in-depth look at chocolate and wine pairing.  If you have an affinity for either of these treats and a sense of adventure, the wine and chocolate class is for you.  We learned about different wines, as well as the all-important five C's of wine tasting (see, swirl, smell, sip, and savor) and about the pairing of each wine with each chocolate.  The gourmet chocolate was El Ray made in Venezuela, and is the highest quality chocolate known to me man.  Seriously, it was GOOD.  While each variety (we tried six types) tasted different depending on their cacao content, it was really fun to note the pairing.  Being encouraged to indulge in chocolate is definitely something I need more of in my life!

As a person who is an admitted chocolate addict and a rookie wine enthusiast, the interactive lecture was a blast.  Both the wine guy (new to Boston, Harry Silverstein) and the chocolate guy (Boston Chocolate School's own Tim Brown) were engaging and knew their stuff.  I promise you, you didn't know there was SO MUCH to know about the intricacies of chocolate and wine!  And even if you are not a huge wine and chocolate aficionado, the evening offers such a great break from the norm.  It would make an awesome date night (talk about unique!) or a great gift for outside-of-the-box thinkers. 

For more info, visit here.

"I was treated to An Evening of Chocolate and Wine courtesy of Boston Chocolate School to facilitate this review.  All opinions are mine."