***Find out the winner to my jewelry giveaway at the end of this post.  But if you like food, you won’t want to miss out on all my TDay dinner pics!***

Thanksgiving day started off much earlier than usual for me, as I got up before the crack of dawn to squeeze in two hot yoga classes.  I know what you’re thinking. You’re not the only person who thinks I’m crazy.  But if I don’t exercise before I knowingly have a big meal, then I just don’t feel right.  And because I love my aunt’s cooking and usually only get this one day out of the year to have her cooking, I wanted to be able to fully enjoy myself.  Thus, a sweaty workout was on the agenda!  While taking two challenging classes so early on in the day was tough, it was certainly worth it.  My Thanksgiving dinner was out-of-this-world delicious and I savored each and every bite.

When my mother and I (thanks for the ride, MHC!) arrived at my aunt and uncle’s house, we were immediately greeted by my family and the heavenly aroma of turkey and all the scrumptious side dishes whose deliciousness I could only imagine.  In order to hold our growing appetites down, we gladly nibbled on appetizers consisting of a crudité platter with spinach dip, roasted almonds, sushi (brought by MHC) and a traditional fried Chinese dumpling, which I haven’t had the pleasure of eating in several years.  Needless to say, we were all kept quite busy enjoying the appetizers and each other’s company as the main course was getting its final preparation.  My aunt and uncle have a beautiful home with a large open area kitchen and living room.  While the television may have been on in the background, it was certainly no comparison to the entertainment that was being held in the kitchen.  My aunt is a fabulous cook and watching her in her element is not only a treat, but also a terrific learning experience.  My cousin, Brendon, takes after his mother and is also a natural in the kitchen.  I’m glad I was able to capture some of the dinner magic in action!

As a Thanksgiving tradition, my cousins and I always take pictures around the turkey.  This year was no exception.  In fact, this was one of the first time in years that all of the cousins were present (there was always someone away at college).  My cousins are such characters; each one is hilarious and has a great personality.  I really enjoy the time I spend with them and can’t believe they are no longer the little ‘babies’ I used to help watch when I was younger.  In fact, my sister and I are the oldest and yet, we are now the shortest!  Too funny!

After our brief photography sesh, we happily sat down for dinner.  And boy, was it a spread!  While there were 14 guests at the dinner table, we had enough food to feed a small army.  I tried to sample a little bit of everything, but with dessert lurking in the background, I knew I had to pace myself and reserve some of that precious real estate.  Everything, as usual, was wonderful and cooked to perfection.  While the traditional Thanksgiving favorites like roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, puréed butternut squash, stuffing, corn and baked sweet and russet potatoes made appearances at the table, there were also some other delightful sides such as orzo with baby spinach, cremini mushrooms and pancetta, haricots verts with caramelized onions and roasted brussels sprouts with dried cranberries, pecans, chickpeas and got cheese (made by yours truly).  There were even three different kinds of cranberry sauce!  To say the least, our Thanksgiving dinner was like whoa!

My dinner plate (I had another piece of turkey and a scoop of orzo for seconds!)

And not to be out done by dinner, coffee and dessert took center stage just as we had enough time to digest our turkey and the fixings.  It’s safe to say that I didn’t need to eat anymore for the day, but when there’s a fresh apple pie with vanilla ice cream, personal-sized chocolate fallen cakes and apple crisps, double-ginger cupcakes, a custard pie, miniature pecan tarts and an apple-caramel cake, how can you resist?  Well, I certainly could not!  Everything was divine and intermingled quite nicely with the savory foods that were peacefully resting in my belly.

My dessert plate (I had a few bites of chocolate cake as well!)

As with every Thanksgiving, this one was filled with good laughs, fun times and delicious food.  I’m so grateful to have such a wonderful family and to be able to spend the holiday in their presence.  While many in this country have to travel, either by hours in a car, bus, train or plane, my family is local and always willing to host Thanksgiving dinner.  When you have great company and more than enough food, what more could you ask for?  Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for the amazing things for which we are thankful in our lives.  It’s too bad that we only have one day out of the year dedicated to this, when in reality it should be 365 days of the year.  I’m thankful for so much in my life and I’ll admit, sometimes I do forget to express my gratitude.  That said, I want to say to my aunt, uncle and cousin, I appreciate all that you do for our family every year and thanks for giving us a home to celebrate this special holiday.

***And finally, the winner of my earring giveaway is…***

Those are really pretty! So my go to outfit for the holiday season is a brown DVF wrap dress. These would actually look great with it!!

Congratulations Trish!  Please email me at healthychow@gmail.com with your contact information, so I can get your little sparklies to you just in time for your first holiday party!  Thanks to everyone for participating!  And if you didn’t win this time, don’t fret!  I’ll be sure to do another jewelry giveaway soon!

What’s your favorite holiday?  Why?  Are you looking forward to winter?

Namasté,
Nicole

No, not that kind of getting baked, silly!  I’m talking about apples! Remember how I said that I was slacking in the apple recipe making/baking department in comparison to some of my fellow food bloggers?  Well, slow and steady wins the race and I’m making a go at the apple recipe cooking finish line (if there is such a thing?).  Because I used only one apple in my previous recipe and still have a million (not a lie) left in my crisper, I wanted to find a dish that would call for the usage of multiple apples.  Hence, I scoured the internet and did hours of research (total lie) until I found this gem…

Getting Baked Apples
Adapted from SimplyRecipes.com
Serves 4

• 4 large good baking apples (I bucked the trend and used McIntosh apples, which is not recommended for baking)
• 1/4 cup of rolled oats
• 1 TBSP of evaporated cane juice (I used Florida Crystals, feel free to use dry sweetener of your choice)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• sprinkle of nutmeg
• 14 raw almonds, chopped (you could use pecans, walnuts or no nuts)
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped (dried apricots, raisins, dried figs would be good here, too)
• 1 TBSP of peanut butter (I used Trader Joe’s Valencia Peanut Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds)
• 3/4 cup boiling water

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Wash and dry your apples.  Using an apple corer or paring knife, remove the cores to 1/2 inch of the bottom of the apples.  Be careful not to cut all the way through to the bottom (I confess, I did this once)!  Then, use a paring knife to widen the cavity and a spoon to scoop out the seeds.  It’s a tad tricky at first, but you’ll get the hang of it.  Make the cavity about 3/4 inch to an inch wide.

2) In a small bowl, combine the oats, evaporated cane juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, almonds and dried cranberries.

3) Place the apples in an 8 x 8 baking dish.  Fill each apple with the mixture and then dot the top of each apple with 1/4 of the TBSP of peanut butter.

4) Pour the boiling water into the baking dish.  Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the apples can be easily pierced with a knife, but not mushy.  While the apples are baking, be sure to baste the apples with the dish juices (I repeated this three different times).

5) Serve hot!

These baked apples were like whoa! I couldn’t believe how good they tasted for something that was so simple to make.  I really liked the fact that even though the apples were stuffed with goodies like cinnamon, nutmeg and dried cranberries, the natural sweetness of my personally picked produce still shined through.  And, the McIntosh apples stood up quite well in the oven.  They came out tender and did not fall apart.  So take that, you online apple experts (whoever the heck you are)!  This is one of the best DPAABs (dessert-parading-around-as-breakfast) I’ve had in a long time.  While it’s quite similar in taste to the healthified fruit crisp I made a few weeks ago, the sheer fact that I was eating a whole piece of baked fruit made this dish stand out from anything else I have ever made.  Plus, having to eat this dessert/breakfast with a fork and knife made me feel as if I was having an entire meal, versus just a snack.

And because this is a healthy food blog and I like to give recipes my own little twist, I decided to substitute the brown sugar for evaporated cane juice and reduce the amount.  And to make the dish even heartier, I decided to add one of my favorite foods, oatmeal! Instead of dabbing the tops of the apples with butter, I used a natural peanut butter.  It’s less greasy and adds more flavor to the recipe.  The original recipe called for serving this dish with vanilla ice cream, which is a tremendous call.  However, I didn’t have any on hand (just cookies and cream ) and figured a dollop of thick greek yogurt would be the next best thing.  You could also drizzle some honey or agave nectar over the entire apple for some additional sweetness, but my apples didn’t require it.  Plus, I had some of the oatmeal mixture leftover, so I sprinkled some over the greek yogurt.  I’m not gonna lie, it was a stroke of genius on my behalf…just sayin’.

Who says eating food can’t get you high?

Random question: Is there a recipe or dish that you are intimidated to make?  Or, what is the one recipe you’ve been dying to make but just haven’t had the chance to do so?

Namasté,
Nicole

I have fond memories of my dad eating and loving his apple pie.  Whether it be frozen, fresh from the bakery or homemade, my dad was like a pig in ‘you-know-what’ if he had his hot apple pie and vanilla ice cream.  While he liked the entire pastry, he definitely favored the buttery pie crust over the apple filling.  Often times, when he was done eating, he would leave the apple filling and Healthy Chow would swarm in and gobble up the leftovers.  Yeah, I’m a food scavenger, what of it?

Because fall is finally here, I’m in the mood for foods that are the epitome of this season.  Thus, items like pumpkin, hot chocolate, cinnamon, apples, soups, stews, nutmeg and anything with melted cheese (OK wait, that’s not really ‘fall-esque’.  But melted cheese is grand anytime of the year!) spring to mind and have been springing onto to my plate.

That said, I’ve decided to merge my mood for fall foods with my dad’s love for apple pie.  But, I decided to put a ‘healthier’ spin on this American classic.  I wanted something yummy, sweet, hearty, cinnamon-y and definitely dessert-like, but I didn’t want it to be loaded with butter, sugar and other unnecessary additives.  Plus, my mother-in-law (thanks El!) just gave us a big bag of apples and what better way to enjoy apples than in a crisp?   So I did some researching on my favorite blogs and remembered Lauren’s recent post (Thanks Lauren!), as well as Kath’s post on her friend, Ashley’s, healthy fruit crisp recipe.  Armed with those two recipes, I made some of my own modifications and come up with my version of the beloved fruit crisp.

Healthified Fruit and Peanut Butter Crisp, Oh My!

Serves 8

For the crisp:

• 6 small – medium sized apples, peeled (I used paula apples – you can use any kind of fruit)
• 4 southern peaches, unpeeled (again, you can use any kind of fruit)
• juice of one lemon
• 1 TBSP of cornstarch
• 1 TBSP of evaporated cane juice, I used Florida Crystals (or dry sweetener of your choice)
• dashes of cinnamon
• dashes of nutmeg
• 1 oz. chopped walnuts, 14 halves (pecans or almonds would be good, too)

For the filling:

• 3/4 cup of oatmeal (I used quick cooking oats – I don’t think instant oats would be good here)
• 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup of nonfat greek yogurt (I used Trader Joe’s Nonfat Greek Style Plain Yogurt)
• 2 TBSP of Better n’ Peanut Butter, melted (you could use any nut or soy butter here)
• 1 TBSP of ground flaxseed  (I used Trader Joe’s whole golden roasted flaxseeds that I ground)
• 2 TBSP of agave nectar (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
• dashes of cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• cooking spray

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Start prepping your fruit.  Since I used apples, I peeled the skin with a vegetable peeler and then chopped the apples into bite-sized pieces.  With the peaches, I left the skin on and chopped them into pieces similar in size to the apples (bite-sized).

2) Get yourself a large bowl.  Add your fruit and squeeze the lemon juice all over making sure to coat everything.

3) Add the remaining ingredients for the crisp, except for the nuts, to the bowl and gently turn to coat.  Make sure all the fruit is coated with the dry ingredients.  Again, do this with ease as you don’t want to mash your fruit.

4) Then, add your nuts and gently blend the fruit and nuts together. Set your fruit and nut mixture aside.

5) In another bowl, add your peanut butter.  Microwave your peanut butter for 20-25 seconds to melt.

No comments, please

6) Add your oatmeal to your peanut butter.  Mix the peanut butter with the oatmeal with a spoon.  Once the peanut butter and oatmeal are blended, add the rest of your filling ingredients, except for the cooking spray.  Then, take your hands and knead the mixture together until you get a dough-like ball.  Once your dough ball has formed, set aside.

7) Coat a pie dish or baking pan (I used an 11 x 7 x 1.5 glass baking tray) with cooking spray.  Add your fruit filling.

8 ) Take your dough ball and with your hands, begin breaking the dough ball into pieces.  Spread the pieces all over the fruit filling.  Make sure to cover the fruit filling evenly.

9) Place your fruit crisp into the oven.  Let it bake for 40-45 minutes or until you see the fruit starting to bubble.  Once it’s bubbling and looking ‘crisp’ on top, it’s done! Wait about 5 minutes for it to cool (if you can wait that long) and serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt or a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream.  M-m-m-good!

I wish you could have been in my kitchen as this was baking.  The smell of the apples, peaches and cinnamon cooking and blending together was enough for me to check my watch a few hundred times.  It was the longest 40 minutes, ever!  But once my fruit crisp was finally done, it was well worth the wait (can you tell Healthy Chow is a bit impatient?).  The crisp was just crunchy enough but still had a hearty, chewy texture.  You could really taste the flaxseeds and the peanut butter which gave the crisp a unique, unexpected flavor.  The softened fruit simply melted in my mouth.  Isn’t it funny how anything sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg can taste so good?

This fruit crisp was not incredibly sweet, which is what I prefer.  If you want a sweeter crisp, I would suggest adding another tablespoon of agave nectar or some more evaporated cane juice to the crisp mixture.  Also, in most fruit crisp recipes, butter or oil is called for in the recipe.  I used peanut butter and nonfat Greek yogurt to substitute for the usual butter and/or oil and I didn’t miss it at all.  It’s a healthy recipe and you’ll feel good (and full) eating it.

As I mentioned earlier, this recipe can be made with any combination of fruit.  Adding berries such as raspberries and or blueberries would add a nice tartness to the crisp.  Kiwi and mango would also be a different spin on the traditional fruit tart and would give it a tropical flair.  In other words, the combinations are endless, so have fun mixing and matching (and eating). This recipe is also quite versatile.  It doesn’t have to be eaten as a dessert, snack and/or breakfast, it can also be used as a warm topping for your hot oatmeal, pancakes or waffles.  No matter if you eat this fruit crisp on it’s own or as an accompaniment, you can be sure there won’t be a bite left for any scavengers to find.

So, how do you like them apples?

Image Credits – blogs.msdn.com

What’s your favorite brand of Greek yogurt?  Can you tell the difference between the brands?  I’m a fan of Trader Joe’s, but I know people can’t seem to get enough of Chobani.

Namasté,
Nicole

People seem to feel badly when they forget your birthday or when they can’t celebrate with you on the very exact special day.  They always say things like, “oh, is it OK if we celebrate it next weekend?” or “sorry, I forgot to wish you a happy birthday on your birthday, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.“  Now I know I mentioned in a previous post that I’m not one who likes to make a big deal about her special day and I’m not one for celebrating for the entire week prior.  However, if someone wants to take me out and shower me with gifts, Healthy Chow says, “heck ya, bring it on!”

That said, my mother and her boyfriend, Darrell, wanted to take me and my twin sister, Michelle, out for a belated birthday dinner.  We’ve all had quite the busy summers, but my mom and Darrell just finished moving and having some home renovations done.  This past weekend was literally the first weekend we were all available.  So, we made the most of it and went to a restaurant that I’ve been dying to try.  Score one for Healthy Chow!

Gaslight is a brasserie located in the South End of Boston.  According to their website, Gaslight:

offers its guests French brasserie cuisine of impeccable quality and improbable value in an informal, old world, is new again setting. With its hand crafted Parisian zinc bar, reclaimed wood floors, mosaic tiles, beamed wood ceilings, nicotine stained walls and antique mirrors, Gaslight’s decor is warm and inviting.

We had 7:30 pm reservations and it’s a good thing we did have reservations because this place was hopping!  When Patrick and I first arrived, we were one of the few guests at the bar area.  But by the time our whole party arrived (which was only about ten minutes later), the brasserie was swarming with diners.  I really liked the vibe and pretended that people were out because they knew it was my belated birthday dinner.  Hahaha!  Full of myself, much?

The atmosphere at Gaslight was really different.  Not that I’ve ever been to France, but the restaurant definitely exuded a funky, hip and French feel.  While the lighting was quite dark (sorry, some of my pics might not be so great), it definitely set the appropriate tone for the ambiance of the restaurant.  Because we had a party of six, we were seated at a large table that was semi-sectioned off from the rest of Gaslight.  However, as my eyes made a quick scan as we were seated at our table, I noticed there were various types of seating such as cafe tables, booths, bar stools and larger tables like ours.  It was quite the eclectic mix and indicative of the menu.

Because I like to be prepared, I looked at the menu online before arriving at the restaurant.  Thus, I had an idea of what I wanted to try and what I was probably going to order for my entrée.  The menu had a vast variety of hors d’oeuvres (appetizers), plats du jour (dishes of the day) , les fruits de mer (seafood), assiette du fromages (plate of cheeses), plats principaux (entrées) and garnitures (trim/sides).  I really enjoyed seeing the selections written in both French and English.  And I think I enjoyed trying to pronounce each item even more (I just want to apologize to the country of France for butchering their lovely language)!

Darrell is the king of appetizers and since he and my mother have dined at Gaslight before, we let Darrell take the lead on ordering our hors d’oeuvres (say that three times fast!).  Plus, Darrell speaks French, so it was nice to hear someone actually pronounce the selections correctly (ahem, ahem).  To start,we had two orders of the fried mussels a la greque (Greek style?), two orders of shrimp cocktail and an order of escargots de bourgogne (French Burgundy snails served with garlic and parsley butter).  But before the hors d’oeuvres even arrived, we were promptly served their house bread.  But this wasn’t just any old bread, it was a pipin’ hot fresh baguette served in its own little paper bag.  I usually try not to partake in the bread basket because as you all know, I <3 carbs and can literally inhale a loaf in a millisecond, but this bread I could not resist!  It was crusty, light and airy and probably some of the best restaurant bread I’ve had in a long, long time.  And forget the butter, the bread was so tasty, it was fine au naturale!

Because we were all having such a great time chit chatting with one another and catching-up, we were almost shocked when our hors d’oeuvres arrived.  They seemed to appear on our table within seconds of us placing our order.  I guess time does fly when you’re having a good time.

The fried mussels were delicious.  I think I was expecting more of a mussel in the shell type of dish, but I was not disappointed when I tasted it.  It was quite similar to fried calamari, but not as chewy in texture.  The remoulade sauce had the perfect amount of creaminess and a little bit of a kick and the bed of greens the mussels were served on gave the dish a refreshing and light feel.  Plus, the extra sauce gave me something to dip my heel of bread into.

These were some of the plumpest shrimp I’ve ever seen!  Sometimes, in my experience, the big shrimp can be less tasty and sort of bland tasting.  Not these babies!  Patrick, who could live on shrimp cocktail, was in heaven.  Needless to say, we sat one of the orders directly in front of him.

The escargot were also quite tasty, but nothing spectacular.  I like anything cooked with garlic and herbs, so this little dish was right up my alley.  However, while I’m not a connoisseur of snails, these were just mediocre.  I dipped my bread into the snails and it tasted just like garlic bread

Here’s a picture of my sampling of hors d’oeuvres.  I had maybe one or two more of the the fried mussels.

And if we weren’t full enough just yet, our entrées were then served.  You know there’s a lot of food, when a table that seats six needs to condense plates in order to make room.  I ordered the roasted salmon fillet, which came with garlic braised escarole and vinaigrette of lemon confit.  It was just the right amount of food for my main meal.  Because I had already had a healthy sampling of the hors d’oeuvres, I didn’t have too much room left for my dinner.  Plus, I knew I wanted dessert, so the real estate in my belly was getting tight.  My salmon was roasted to perfection and not the slightest bit greasy.  I’ve ordered salmon that has wronged me on occasion due to the grease factor (sorry, TMI) but fortunately, this was not one of those times.  The escarole was quite simple and served as a light and citrusy accompaniment to my fish.  I really enjoyed the fact that my dish was not served with a rice, potato or some other carb.  If that were the case, I know I would have eaten it and that would have overfilled me.

My mother ordered the rotisserie chicken with sauce moutarde violette and garlic herbes frites.  She said the chicken was delicious, but the herbed french fries stole the show (or plate).  I’m so glad that I was able to sit next to her because it gave me the chance to steal them from her share them with her.

Darrell ordered my second choice, which was the rock shrimp tagliatelle with green onions, smoked ham, and cantal beurre fondue.  He also loved his dish and was happy as a clam (or shrimp) with both the hors d’oeuvres and his selection.  I told Darrell that the sauce in his dish would be great to scoop up with the heel of the bread.  And while I knew that that meant ‘scarpetta‘ in Italian, Darrell informed me that that meant ‘fondue‘ in French.  Merci beaucoup, Darrell! (Funny enough, I told our waiter ‘gracias‘ after he took my order and the whole table cracked up.  Hahaha!)

This picture is going to kill three birds with one stone.  Patrick, Michelle and Jonathan (Michelle’s boyfriend) all ordered the bar steak with caramelized shallots, mustard cream sauce and frites.  While Jonathan seemed to love his meal (he cleaned his plate – atta boy!), Michelle claimed that the sauce was a bit too salty for her taste.  Patrick really enjoyed this selection as well, but thought there were a few too many shallots for his liking.  He also wondered why he had plain frites while my mom’s were herbed.  Don’t worry, Healthy Chow slid him over a few!

Dinner was quite delightful overall.  We all seemed to thoroughly enjoy our meals, but not as much as each other’s company.  I honestly can’t think of a time when I wasn’t laughing or someone else wasn’t cracking up.  The conversation flowed and the relaxing vibe of the restaurant must have seeped into the food.  We were all in such a mellow mood and sat around that table for six for nearly two hours.  What a fantastic way to spend my belated birthday dinner!  I love being able to try new restaurants, and it’s even better when they turn out to be a hit and when I can enjoy them with my loved ones.

Goodness, my mom just doesn’t seem to age – ever!

And finally, what would be a birthday dinner without dessert?  Well, it wouldn’t be complete in my book!  We ordered two for the table to share: gateau aux pommes (apple and caramel cake with vanilla ice cream) and molten chocolate cake with crēme chantilly.  While I wouldn’t kick either out of bed for eating chips (hehehe), the apple and caramel cake definitely reigned supreme.  I think I’m really a sucker for anything à la mode.  But the buttery caramel sauce and the soft cinnamon-y apples was what took the cake (I’m on a roll…).  The molten chocolate cake wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t ‘molten-y’ enough in the center.  I think if we had another scoop of vanilla ice cream for the molten chocolate cake, it would have been much better!

This was our waiter for the evening.  He told me my French was ‘absolutely melodic‘.  I think he might have been lying to me…

And if hors d’oeuvres, dinner, dessert, lotsa gabbing and tons of laughing weren’t enough, I also managed to get a few belated birthday gifts.  My sister and I have had the recent tradition of exchanging ‘mini’ gifts on our birthday.  Rather than buy each other fancy presents on our day, we just give each other a little somethin’, somethin’.  I gave her a cosmetic bag, a toe separator for home pedicures and some trail mix on our actual birthday and that night, she gave me some Trader Joe’s goodies (raw almonds, wasabi, wow! (wasabi peas, nuts and dried fruit mix) and fruit leather – she must think I’m nuts and a bit fruitty).  My mom gave me a cute paisley top along with a card with love (aka cash).  Decent haul, Healthy Chow!

Dinner at Gaslight definitely gets the green light!  It was the ideal place to have a carefree, yet delectable meal.  The brasserie had fast and friendly service, delicious food that was moderately priced, many options to choose from and free parking.  Now that’s a true find in the city of Boston!  I guess that helps to set the tone for your dinner.  If you don’t have to stress about parking, you’ll walk in relaxed, in a good mood and ready to eat.  I was relaxed and in a good mood because I truly treasure the time I spend with my family.  I am so blessed to have such extraordinary people in my life.  These are people I honestly love and adore and want to spend time with.  I’m not sure if it’s my age that’s making me sappier, but I went home pleasantly pleased.  My belly was full, as well as my heart.  While the evening was meant to celebrate my birthday, it was really a celebration of my family.  I may have received some great birthday presents, but it’s the time I have with my loved ones that are my true gifts and ones I’ll cherish forever.

What’s your favorite French food?  Or, French dessert?

Namasté,
Nicole