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Dan Dan Noodles- SRC

August 24, 2015

Ah vacation!!

It’s here! It’s really, really here!!!

The past week has been killer to be able to properly meet a deadline and prep for my time away from the office but it was worth it in the end as I get to enjoy this whole week off with my family. The best.

My dad came up from FL and was saying with us since Tuesday night. On Saturday morning we headed down to Cape Cod with a very packed car. It was quite a feat to fit it all and quite comical to see too. But we made it down and have been having a fantastic time all together.

From walks to the pool to not napping (kill me) to leprechauns in trees and lots of birthday cake, it’s been a jam packed past 2 days. Tiring but in the best sort of ways. Damn, the dog is even worn out. He cut his foot on something so he has a sad little limp (I’ve bandaged it well!), but even then 5 kids is a lot of him to handle. ha!!

And so here we are, Monday! It’s another Secret Recipe Club Day as well. Holy smokes. It feels like I can tell time from these posts. Every 4th Monday of the month, and before I know it I am prepping for another and then another.

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club post I was given Sally’s blog, called Bewitching Kitchen. Sally is just the best. She is such a fun, active member of SRC. Plus, her blog is just awesome.

Sally has had the most interesting life. She has lived all over doing scientific research based on bacteria. Everywhere from Brazil to France. Such a smarty-pants who has lived in incredible places. She met her husband while working and since then they have been working together. For just about the past 20 years they been working on “trying to figure out the mechanism of a transport reaction in bacteria.” Umm what? I design bathrooms, she wins. ha!!!

Anyway, she has been blogging for years and years so she has a HUGE index of recipes. I had such a hard time picking one to make this month. For real!!! I was scrolling, and scrolling, and scrolling through all the recipes. From appetizers to breads to cakes to drinks to entrees.

I picked the Dan Dan noodles as I figured they would be delicious, something that would be fairly easy to whip up, and a crowd favorite. Crowd = me, Price, & my dad.

It was a dinner that really hit the spot!

The original recipe called for 8 ounces of udon noodles and 12 ounces of ground pork but the packages that I purchased came in 10 ounce and 16 ounce, respectively. Since I didn’t want just a bit left over in each package, I just used it all up and played around with the quantity of the rest of the ingredients. I think it all worked out perfectly.

It is quite spicy so if you are sensitive, then just cut back on the chili oil and try it before you add the full amount. It’s a good heat though. I swear!

I served the Dan Dan Noodles with steamed broccoli. I just feel dinner is not dinner without some veggies. I mean, even my pizza has veggies on it. ha!

This was a fantastic dinner!! I could really see myself making this again, which is saying a lot considering my attention span is almost non-existent so I’m always on to trying something new, and hardly make anything ever again.

I hope that when you have a craving for a spicy Asian dish you will toss the take-out menus aside and make these awesome Dan Dan Noodles.

Dan Dan Noodles

Makes 4- 6 servings

Ingredients

10 ounces udon noodles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
16 ounces ground pork
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped peeled ginger
1 cup chicken stock
2 – 3 Tablespoons or less chili oil
2 1/2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablepsoons tahini
1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns, optional
Pinch of sugar
3 Tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts
2 Tablespoons sliced scallions

Process

Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling water until just tender (follow instructions on the package). Drain, rinse with cold water, drain again, and place in a large serving bowl.
Heat the vegetable oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
Add the pork, season with salt and pepper, and cook for a couple of minutes, just to begin browning it. While cooking, break apart into small pieces with a spoon.
Add the ginger; cook until pork gets lightly browned, about 2 minutes more.
Stir in chicken stock, then add the chili oil, red vinegar, soy sauce, tahini, peppercorns, and a pinch of sugar.
Simmer everything together until the sauce thickens, about 7 minutes.
Pour pork mixture over noodles; garnish with peanuts and scallions.

Slightly adapted from Bewitching Kitchen

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Check out all the other great Secret Recipe Club posts this month!

And be sure to check out my 3 years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Dear Autumn @ 21 months

August 22, 2015

August 2015

Dear Autumn,

Just when I think every month is the best, you prove me wrong. This past month has been amazing.

The thing that I most interesting and amusing is how quickly you are picking up different words. You are a little parrot! Mommy is going to have to cut out the swearing ASAP! You repeat everything that we say to you, so you are learning new words so quickly. The best is that you are learning in English and Spanish. It’s tough when we don’t understand what you say in Spanish, but we usually figure it out together! I love how you try to put little sentences together, well 2-word ones, but still so awesome. “Open it!” “Close it!” “It’s Broken” “mass (yo)gurt!” “Please mass!” But I swear the best is “Tank you Mommy!” I die!

You are fiercly independent about somethings, like picking out the shoes you want to wear. Oh dear, you love shoes so much. It’s a bit of a struggle when we are shopping as you bee-line it to the first rack of shoes you see and you start to try on shoes. One time you sat in front of a rack of infant boys shoes. It was quite funny to watch you try to get your feet into newborn slippers. But, I can’t dare trying to help, unless you ask for it, otherwise you have big mellow dramatic tantrums. Yikes!

I love when I get you from daycare as you are so excited to see me, head home, and see Kemper. You say goodbye to all your friends, grab my hand, and we begin out walk down the hill to get to our house. I love the way your little, sweet voice when you say “hi, mommy!”.

It’s been a busy, fun month, but I think all of them when it comes down to it. At least we try our hardest to stick to your nap and bed time schedule, which keeps you in a happy mood. I am dreading when you ditch your morning nap, and just do an afternoon one. I feel that will happen sooner than we would like. Slow down!!

We have a lot planned for this next month! I can’t wait!!

I love you!

Love,

Mommy

Whole30 #3: Days 7-9 Recaps & The End

August 21, 2015

I am documenting my THIRD Whole30 journey to help me see how far I’ve come from my first Whole30 (Feb 2015), my second (April 2015), to now! Plus, I don’t want to fall into any food ruts. Hopefully this will keep me inspired through the whole process. I’m looking forward to the transformation in how I approach food, cook with it, and enjoy it. Check out all my Whole30 related posts HERE from why I did each previous Whole30, why I am doing this one, and all my food diaries.

{Day 7}

Sunday, July 26th, 2015

Ugh, what a day. It was a rough food day. Days like this make me realize how hard it is to stick to Whole30, and how important it is to stick to Whole30.

Breakfast

Banana and almond butter

This was eaten on the run, actually, in the car, but close enough.

We slept in so we didn’t have time to make breakfast before having to get in the car and go up to NH to visit Catherine and Ed. It was great to get extra sleep but made the morning tough in the end. We stopped off at McDonald’s on the way to get (black) iced coffees and to get an Egg Mcmuffin for Autumn. I wanted that damn Egg Mcmuffin!! ha!

Lunch

NADA!!

It was such a messed up day. It happens. Not great but it happens.

Dinner

Grilled Aidell’s Chicken and Apple Sausages with baby bella mushrooms, shishito peppers, and sauteed kale

OMG food!!!!!!

We were so freaking hungry from skipping lunch. It was so, so good. Fresh, flavorful, delicious. I used a lemon olive oil from Trader Joe’s on the baby bellas. Loved it!!! And I ordered a box of Maldon Sea Salt from Amazon and I am so glad I did as it’s great on the shishito peppers.

Late Night Snack

Homemade Potato Salad- made with tiny red potatos, homemade mayo, radishes, green onions

So I had planned on making this earlier in the day but didn’t get around to it until later on at night. Of course, I had to sample some… 🙂

Activity-

7,711*

My Fitbit was dead in the morning so it effected my step count, but I still don’t think that I would have made my 10K step goal since we spent part of the day in the car and inside.

Hydration-

It was a decent day from iced coffee, water, seltzer, etc

{Day 8}

Monday, July 27th, 2015

I spent most of the day battling thoughts about stopping this Whole30. I wasn’t feeling committed to it, like I had in the best, even when the going got tough. Instead I just felt restricted and alone (since Price cheated on Day 6). I was excited that my mom was doing it too in FL, as well as a co-worker, but I didn’t feel great about it this time. My heart wasn’t into it.

Breakfast

2 over-easy eggs, sweet potato hash, pico de galo

Nice and simple.

Lunch

Salad with romaine, grape tomatoes, radishes, avocado, and chicken with a homemade ranch dressing, then a Key Lime Pie Lara Bar (45 mins)

My avocado wasn’t ripe yet. Such a bummer. But the chicken was ah-mazing. It was was seasoned really well and really juicy. Glad I took the time to cook it that morning.

The Larabar was so good. Glad I found this flavor at Whole Foods on Sunday.

Dinner

Steak with fajita veggies and cauliflower rice, served with pico, cilantro, and limes

YES!!!! This was such a good dinner. I really loved the flavors and different textures from the steak, ‘rice’, veggies, and salsa. I could eat this all the time. I feel like I should have blogged about it!

Activity

4,811*

I plugged my Fitbit in at lunch and then forgot it there, so it didn’t get the rest of my steps counter, but I know that I hit my 10K step goal. Def!

Hydration

I should have had more water. I had coffee, water, and seltzer, but I still felt that my in-take amount was low for the day.

{Day 9}

Tuesday, July 28th, 2015

DONE…

Yeah, so I fail at my 3rd Whole30. I broke the rules at lunch.

Breakfast

2 over-easy eggs with ‘fried’ plantains with Frank’s Red Hot

It’s easy to call them fried plantains, but in reality I cooked it with barely any oil. I love them for breakfast. So, so good.

Lunch

Southwest Chicken Salad and some oven baked fries from B.Good with a Berry Chia Agua Fresca from 4 Petal

I basically knew I was going to stop Whole30 on Wednesday as I was going to the Boston Public Market blogger tour, where there would be lots of samples!, so I just decided to stop a bit earlier.

Megan requested that we go to B.Good so she could get a Southwestern Chicken Salad before moving so we got salads to go to enjoy sitting in PO Sq. I had successfully eaten at B.Good while doing Whole30 previously, but I decided that I really wanted the same salad as Megan so I ordered it… and enjoyed it!!!

Lunch with my friend was just perfect! I’ll miss you tons and tons Megan! Have fun and lots of success in New York! xox

Dinner

Leftover Spaghetti Squash with Rao’s Arrabbiata Sauce

This was complaint to the Whole30 program. Just because I stopped doing the program at lunch doesn’t mean I am going to completely trash up my diet. 🙂

I ate half of what was pictured, which was more than plenty. Then I rushed off to a planning board meeting.

Activity/Steps

11,569*

Since I forgot my FitBit in the charger at work, it didn’t count my steps prior to getting to work, so it was a great day!

Hydration

A great day! Coffee, water, agua fresca, more water. yes!!!!

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Why I stopped my 3rd Whole30 of 2015…

I am all for committing to something and sticking to it, but I honestly was feeling suffocated by the restrictions. I just kept thinking about how I wanted to eat fresh summer-time corn on the cob. It just made me feel so sad that I’d deprive myself of that. I wasn’t craving a cookie. I was craving corn on the cob.

So I bailed on Day 9. Part of me wishes I just stuck with it. But I feel okay with myself that I stopped. I’m a grown ass adult so I can make my own decisions and feel good about them!! ha!

Yes, I know that I feel great while doing the Whole30 program but it’s not meant to be a long term dietary program. I figured out that I had done 68 days of Whole30 in 178 days. Not too shabby! It is a great accomplishment to complete one Whole30 program, so it was extra awesome to do 2 in a short period of time. We were going a little crazy with our eating after the wedding, but ultimately, we really weren’t!

Yes, I had my cookies and other naughty foods, but I wasn’t drinking very much, I wasn’t drinking soda, I was steering clear of rice, sugars, and avoided a lot of dairy. Our previous Whole30’s helped us out our cabinets, fridge, and freezer of non-compliant foods. And it helped us get stocked full of good for you things like flavored oils, vinegars, mustards, nuts, and a more diverse selection of fruits and veggies (hello chayote squash!)

I know that I will forever spread the word about Whole30 and how it greatly impacted my life and how I feel about the foods I chose to put into my body. I know that I will even do it again, and again for a healthy refresh! #lovewhole30

Bacon Jalapeno Popper Cheeseburger

August 20, 2015

Vacation is so close that I can almost taste it. And it tastes like burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, cake, wine, and s’mores.

Dear lord, that’s a lot of food. ha!

We leave Saturday morning to head to The Cape to have a big family vacation to celebrate my dad’s 75 birthday. woohoo!

I have some big cooking plans for the week, as there will be so many of us there. Man, I love cooking for a crowd! I am prepping by making big batches of macaroni salad and potato salad and a birthday cake with Oreo buttercream frosting on Friday night. Man, the car is gonna be packed on Saturday. ha!

I’m hoping to make these Bacon Jalapeno Popper Cheeseburgers again while I am down there. The kids will prob skip the jalapenos but I have a feeling the adults will dig in. Like, really dig in!

The flame grilled burger gets topped off with a big hunking dollop of a tangy cheese mixture, which is then topped off with slices of grilled jalapenos.

I love jalapeno poppers! I love ordering them at sports bars. They are delightfully naughty! Spicy peppers that are filled with tangy cream cheese. The poppers are always served so hot that the cheese is burning lava hot. And I never wait enough time so I always burn my mouth. Always. I will never learn.

So if you love poppers as much as me, this burger if for you. Plus, it has bacon. Yes!

I hope that you will enjoy this Bacon Jalapeno Popper Cheeseburger this weekend. You totally need to fire up your grill for this bad boy. It’s the perfect mash-up of one of the best spicy appetizers and a juicy burger. noms!!

Bacon Jalapeno Popper Cheeseburger

Makes 4 Burgers

Ingredients

8 slices of bacon
1 1/4 pound of ground beef
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 Cup Sour cream
1 1/2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 green onions, snipped into small pieces
2-3 jalapenos
tomato, lettuce
4 Kaiser Rolls

Process

Cook the bacon over medium heat in a skillet. Place on paper towels when done.
Season the ground beef with the salt and pepper. Create 4 equal sized burgers.
Combine the cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and green onions in a bowl.
Fire up your grill!!
Place jalapenos on your grill over medium heat. Rotate to evenly cook. When all sides have been blackened and the pepper is soft, remove and let cool. Once cool, cut the stem off the peppers, slice into long pieces.
Grill your burger over medium heat. After 2-3 minutes, flip your burger. Add a quarter of the cheese topping to the burger. At this point, add your buns to your grill in an area when the heat is low. Close your grill.
Serve your burger by placing a burger on the bottom portion of bun, add some grilled jalapeno pepper slices, top the burger off with some lettuce and tomato slices. Enjoy!

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Be sure to ENTER this giveaway!!!

It’s filled with AWESOME prizes. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

A huge thanks to all of the creative bloggers who were just as inspired by a month of burgers as I was and the awesome companies that have donated prizes to #BURGERMONTH:

Char-Broil | Cabot Cheese

Le Creuset | Dreamfarm

Spiceologist | Woodbridge Wines

Guava and Cream Cheese Stuffed Puffle Waffles

August 19, 2015

Years ago, while I was staying at a resort in the Caribbean, I grabbed a late night snack at the hotel’s on-site Dunkin’ Donuts. Tired from the glorious day of sun, I stumbled in there for a coolata.

And then I saw it.

I saw the most amazing thing ever.

A doughnut filled with guava jelly.

Okay, so it was just a Dunkin’ Donuts’ doughnut, so it wasn’t the best doughnut ever, but I was hooked on this guava filled doughnut. It was fun and tropical. It was the perfect late night snack that night.

The thing is that I haven’t stopped thinking about it. I used to always look for guava filled doughnuts but I never saw them here, so I just figure it was something special for the Caribbean locations. Lucky them!

Well, I was recently stumbled upon guava paste while I was grocery shopping. It was in a weird shaped can, which is exactly why it caught my eye. I had no idea what to do with it but I impulsively tossed it in the cart.

I’m glad I did as I quickly discovered that guava paste is really versatile. It can be eaten on just crackers or used as a filling for empanadas or swirled into cheesecake or even used as a glaze on pork tenderloin. Awesome!!

It pairs really well with cheese so I decided to play on the idea of traditional Pastelitos, which are pastries often filled with guava and cream cheese, when I made these puffles.

Now is the time to find some guava paste so you can make your own Guava and Cream Cheese Stuffed Puffle Waffles. Love!!

Guava and Cream Cheese Stuffed Puffle Waffles

Makes 8 puffles

Ingredients

1 17.5 ounce box of puff pastry dough
8 ounces of cream cheese, at room temperature
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 Cup guava paste
powdered sugar, for serving

Process

Thaw the puff pastry according to the instructions on the box. (Typically 40 minutes at room temperature prior to use)
While the puff pastry is thawing, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth.
Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface to be 12″ x 12″. Work the dough to eliminate the seams. Cut the dough into 4 equal sized pieces. Score each piece in half.
Leaving 1/2″ boarder, spread a heaping spoonful of the cream cheese mixture on half of each piece. Add 3 small spoonfuls of the guava paste on the cream cheese mixture.
Fold the other half of the puff pastry over the filling, crimp the edges to seal the filling inside the pastry dough.
Repeat with the other sheet of puff pastry dough to make the other 4 puffles.
Preheat your waffle iron at this point. Place the puffle dough on the waffle iron. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown. The dough should no longer be expanding and puffing up when you open the waffle iron.
Gently remove, and place on a cooling rack until ready to serve the puffles.
Plate 2 puffles, shake some powdered sugar over the puffles, drizzle some warmed maple syrup on the puffles. Enjoy!!

Inspired by Epicurious

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I hope you are enjoying all my Waffle Wednesday recipes and enjoyed this month of fun puffle recipes. Be sure to give them a try. xoxo

S’mores Puffle Waffles

Peanut Butter and Jelly Puffle Waffle

Farm Feedery Lunch Delivery: Review

August 18, 2015

What do you do when you are so completely bored with your typical lunches at work? Is the sub down the road feeling plain? Or is the big burrito just too heavy?

What Blue Apron is doing for dinners, Farm Feedery is doing for lunches here in Boston!!! But the best part is that you don’t have to dirty any dishes as they deliver your prepared meal right to you at work. And they are in compostable containers. I freaking love that.

I had the pleasure of trying out Farm Feedery a few months ago for some lunches. I am a big, big fan of bringing my own lunches to work. It helps me save money, but the reality is that I quickly fall into the same ruts of making the salads and eating leftovers. So boring. And then I start skipping making lunch at home so I have to go out to lunch. Pretty soon spending $8-11 for a sandwich, burrito, burger, or salad gets annoying. And boring. I’ve worked in the same office for the past 8 years so I even get tired of the restaurants and cafes around there.

I completely loved the meals that I sampled from Farm Feedery!

The first one that I dove into was the Orecchiette with Asparagus and Goat Cheese. Fresh vegetables with a mellow sauce and pieces of tangy goat cheese… bliss!! The asparagus was cooked perfectly, even holding up to reheating. Similarly, I felt the pasta held up well to being reheated, which can sometimes get chewy, but not this.

I found that this meal was rather large(for me, for lunch). It could easily have been split into 2 lunches, and supplemented with a piece of fruit. It felt like such a great deal for the portion and the quality of the lunch.

They serve their meals in compostable containers with clear instructions on how to properly reheat each meal. Also, I love how they calculate the nutrition facts for all of their meals.

While they can’t promise to be allergy (nut, gluten, diary) free, they do they include all of the ingredients in their meals, which I find helpful.

Side note: You might notice that all the packaging sayings ‘Farmavore’, well I received my lunches when they were just starting out, and since they recently just changed their name then. But don’t fret it’s the same company, and you be getting great meals like these if you signed up for Farm Feedery!

Farm Feedery was founded with the idea of creating nutritious, delicious, affordable food from local, sustainable agriculture. They are passionate about supporting local agriculture whenever possible. As well, much of the food comes out of their own farm! With so much experience with growing their own foods they are able to plan fresh seasonal meals.

They are a subscription based service so you can customize your preferences to have 1, 3 or 5 meals a week delivered to your office. Rates vary from $10- $14 dollars a meal, depending on the plan, with the best deal being the 5 meal plan. The chef, who has over a decade of hospitality and catering experience from running her own catering shop, works to create meals are developed and prepared based upon your preferences, like if you prefer meat or not, or any other dietary restrictions. (I’d be putting in big bold letters that I hate, hate, hate olives!)

The other meal that I tried was the Asian Chicken over Rice Noodles.

I actually brought this home for dinner as my day was so hectic. I had planned on eating this while giving Autumn a bath (multitask-er for life!) but things got hectic and after a few bites I had to immediately return to work for a mini crisis. Lucky Price now had a delicious dinner.

While I enjoyed a few bites, Price really was able to dive in and savor every bite. So not fair! Right off the bat, he thought the chicken was seasoned really well and was cooked perfectly. The veggies had a nice crunch which provided a nice contrast in texture from the soft, tender rice noodles. The sauce is what really tied the dish together. The fish sauce in the dressing really packed a flavorful umami punch.

You know when you order a salad with some toppings and you get a bunch of greens and an intensely small amount of topping? You can forget all that with this salad. Price said nearly ever bit had peanuts, basil, carrot, onion, and shaved carrots along with rice noodles and the lovely chicken.

Just look at this salad. It looks light, fresh, and tasty.

I highly suggest checking out Farm Feedery if you work in the Boston and Cambridge areas. Their sample menus are really impressive, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy your lunch and lunch break.

Now just step away from that computer, take a walk outside, grab some grass (I suggest PO Sq!), and enjoy every bite.

DISCOUNT CODE!!!!

Enter in “HONEYBEE” for $25 of you first week you sign up!!

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While I received complimentary Farm Feedery meals to sample, all opinions are honest.

Monday Munchies: Tasty Burger Food Truck

August 17, 2015

I love Tasty Burger!

I love food trucks!

Tasty Burger Food Truck = LOVE! LOVE!! LOVE!!!

Tasty Burger is a Boston area burger joint that has damn good burgers. They have juicy, flavorful, hearty burgers that are paired so perfectly well with fries, onion rings, or their tots. Or skip the burger and grab a chicken sandwich or hot dog. No matter, it will be wonderful. A cold beer washing it all down doesn’t hurt either. It’s just that kind of place with that kind of food.

They have 5 locations in Boston and Cambridge, in neighborhoods like Fenway, Back Bay, and Harvard Square. Each location is great. Their Fenway location, which we frequent most often, was an old gas station that was reworked and redesigned so it went from changing oil to frying in oil.

But what happens if you work downtown and you start craving a burger? Well, have no fear! They have a food truck that you can visit or even rent out for events. Cool!

Thankfully, the truck stops at City Hall plaza on Thursdays. So just a short walk and I am in burger nirvana! Sometimes Price and I have burger lunch dates so we can split tots ($6+) and a drink ($2.75) while we munch on burgers. The City has new summertime seating which makes kicking back for lunch a real treat.

On a recent trip, Price had the Bacon Cheeseburger ($5.85), that he thought was a great combination of a perfectly cooked burger (medium is standard) with salty, crunchy bacon, and fresh lettuce and tomato.

Tasty Burger prides itself on the products they produce and sell as they strive to source their ingredients from the best places. They create 1/3 pounds burger patties from steers that eat a “100-percent vegetarian grass and grain diet.” They visit the pastures where the cows are grass fed, purchase their hot dogs from local butchers, and get their buns from local bakers. They are hands on with sourcing their products and produce and in the end the quality shines through.

They have the best eco-friendly packaging for their burgers. I love peeling back to wrapper to reveal the burger.

I love their Spicy Jalapeno ($5.75). It has just the right amount of kick with burger that is topped off with a spicy cheese sauce and then roasted jalapenos.

Besides their delicious burgers, they also serve vegan & gluten free veggie burgers ($5.75), Fenway Park Sausages ($6), bowls of chili ($3.95+) that you can load up with toppings. And lastly, they have 1/4 pound hot dogs ($3.95) that can get piled high with toppings like bacon, chili, sauerkraut, or their cheese sauces. Such epic food.

I’ll be honest, their lunch can set you back pretty well as their burgers average $5 and then a plain tot is $6 and a soda is ($1.75 or $2.75). And if you get loaded tots it is now $9, but that is exactly why Price and I make this our special lunch date. Great large portions to share and it saves on getting a sitter!!

Grab a friend, grab a chair, and grab some Tasty Burger for a great lunch. Then head back to work with a naughty food coma! ha!

Be sure to try the Official Burger of the Boston Red Sox’s at one of their food truck stops or at one of their 5 brick and mortar locations, which has much more elaborate menus that include chicken sandwiches, the most addicted thinly sliced onion rings, and brain freeze inducing milkshakes.

Tasty Burger

Food Truck Menu (check for schedule HERE)

Chocolately S’mores Ice Cream

August 14, 2015

Did you know that the fine folks in New England eat more ice cream than anywhere else in the country?

Yep, we do!

…

Fresh from the Market: Davio’s Lynnfield Market Menu

August 13, 2015

I don’t think you can get any fresher than the meal that Price and I had on Monday night from Davio’s in Lynnfield.

Seriously, besides eating directly in the garden, you can’t get any fresher than this. I dare you to prove me wrong!

MarketStreet, located in Lynnfield, MA, is an adorable shopping complex that has cute stores, play areas, and great restaurants. We often go there for shopping at Gymboree and so Autumn can play at the sculpture garden at the Market Square. She loves the frogs and turtles there. ha!

The Whole Foods, located at the main entry of the complex, has a 17,000 square feet roof top garden. It is largest rooftop farm in New England and the first supermarket farm in the country.

Davio’s is a Northern Italian Steakhouse that has an incredible reputation for elevated Italian cuisine. You can get your classics like chicken parm (and gnocchi, but even those dishes have a speical homemade touch from housemade pasta and fresh sauces. They make brick oven pizza in variety of flavors like, Prosciutto Pizza, Fig Jam, Arugula, Caramelized Onions ($18). But their sweet spot is their steaks that range from 8 oz. Prime Flat Iron, 10 oz. Center Cut Filet Mignon, and 16 oz. Prime Natural Aged Ribeye.

They have a summer time prix fixe Monday Market Menu will change weekly based on that Monday’s harvest available from the Whole Foods’ Rooftop Farm. This is great for the diners and for the chef, as it really allows him to create some fun dishes. This specialty menu is running through the month of August, so hurry to check it out!

On Monday night we kicked off our dinner with some cocktails!

Their extensive cocktail list feature classics and innovative cocktails that will compliment your meal and your mood. Their wine list will also be able to satisfy your desires for whites, reds, roses, and sparkling wines. They really do have it all.

Our wonderful server, Nick, then brought over some of Davio’s classic popovers. Man, you would have thought it was Christmas morning with my extremely excited reaction. They were massive, airy, eggy delights. And they were served with nice soft butter. It just kicked your typical bread basket in the butt.

While we were browsing the menu and sipping our drinks we saw an unique looking dish pass by our table. We grabbed the attention of the server who brought it out to ask him what it was. He said it was one the most popular appetizers on the menu, the Philly Cheese Steak Spring Rolls ($11). They are spring rolls filled with shaved steak and melty cheese. They are served along side a spicy homemade ketchup and a spicy homemade mayo and topped off with fried onion strings. Delicious and delightful!!!!

Can’t make up your mind about which of the 5 spring roll options you would like? Well, then just get the sampler ($15) which gives you 1 of each of their spring rolls, like the Reuben and Chicken Parm ones.

The Market Menu salad served this past Monday featured fresh greens, tomatoes, cucumbers radishes, peppers, and goat cheese feta that was tossed with a red wine vinaigrette. Nick suggested that we split a salad so he brought it out on 2 plates for us. Brillant idea! The salad was simple, but allowed all of the fresh ingredients to really shine in this dish. Every bite allowed the summer time flavors to really pop in your mouth. I couldn’t get over how crisp and really flavorful the cucumbers were. They were not mellow like store-bought cucumbers, they packed a little pop of extra flavor.

Price and I enjoyed the patio and beautiful evening weather, but I stopped off inside to check out the restaurant and the kitchen. They feature an open kitchen allowing you to watch the food prep action. They have a long chef’s table that runs along the kitchen so if you’d like to watch all that buzz and action that that would be a wonderful spot for you. They also have a large bar (and bar menu!) and other typical seating options at tables and booths.

The entree was the shining star of our dinner.

The Market Menu featured entree was a pair of 4 ounce petite filets served with dressed arugula roasted asparagus and portabella mushrooms. Each filet had an accompanying sauce, one was a Great Hill Blue Cheese and the other was a shallot and sage sauce. Both were to die for. The melted blue cheese, which was sourced from Marion, MA, and provided a robust, salty sauce that draped each bite of the perfectly cooked steak. The other sauce was as equally as delicious with caramelized shallots and fresh sage.

I swear that the asparagus was the best tasting asparagus I had ever had. It was tender and so flavorful. I feel that people often don’t like asparagus from the rough texture and lack luster flavor, but anyone would be a fan after trying this.

Both of us were in complete awe with how wonderful the Market Menu was. The salad and the entree were both so incredible. There where moments during the dinner where we just kept saying ‘wow’ to each other bite after bite. The beauty of it all was that the produce was all hyper local and fresh.

Nick brought out the dessert cart that was loaded of classic Italian specialties, like tiramisu and affogato, and other classics like, flan and creme brule. We decided to be really indulgent and split the molten chocolate cake.

It was chocolately, lucious, and oh so naughty. The cake was springy and light in texture and then you break into the center and the lava like chocolately center oozes out. It’s super rich and basically, worth every calorie!

Price and I enjoyed every sip and bite of our meal. We saying how everything was incredible. I said that I couldn’t think of anything that was a slip or a miss. I did joke around saying that I finally figured out the flaw in the dinner and it was that my cocktail had a seed in it… after I squeezed the garnish. dang! We seriously were so, so impressed with every aspect of our meal.

We definitely plan on going back to Davio’s. The meal can get pretty pricey as some of the entrees can average around $30, and up to $59 for their massive, incredible 24 oz. Prime Natural Aged Bone-in Ribeye Chop. Don’t fret as there really are plenty of affordable options as well, but a meal could set you back. However, we think that it would really be worth it as we experienced the most incredible service, atmosphere, and food. It is the kind of place where you take a bite and think some naughty things to yourself before diving in for another incredible bite, and then another and another. It would be perfect to really go all out for a wonderful birthday or anniversary dinner… hey Price, hint, hint.

Thank you Davio’s Lynnfield for inviting me to enjoy this wonderful meal. See you at brunch real soon! There is a Tenderloin Eggs Benedict that is served with a popover and a Black Truffle Hollandaise sauce that has my name all over it.

Davio’s Lynnfield

1250 Market Street

Lynnfield, MA 01940

781.944.4810

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While I received this complimentary dinner in exchange for a honest review, all opinions expressed are completely my own.