Republic of Vermont – Organic Maple Syrup & Raw Honey {review}

If you’ve never had the pleasure of doing a honey or maple syrup tasting, I suggest you give it a shot, flight style. I did my first honey tasting at the farmer’s market this summer, and it was surprisingly grounding to compare the light, floral flavor of the spring harvest to the rich, butterscotch flavor of the fall harvest. I’m all about tastings because it’s often difficult to tell just how complex or special a flavor is without a benchmark. So you know I jumped for the spoons when a box of Republic of Vermont goodies showed up at my doorstep.

I happened to have one local honey and one not-so-local store brand syrup in the cabinet for comparison. The contrast between the store bought syrup and the Republic of Vermont organic maple syrup was STARK. The store bought syrup tasted flat, and though the label didn’t list it, it had a faint hint of liquid smoke. I’d had this store-bought 100% maple syrup many times, but I didn’t pick up on these weird flavor points until I compared it to the Vermont syrup. The VT syrup was robust, with buttery smooth full-mouth flavor and just a hint of floral in the background. This syrup was leagues ahead of the store bought variety.

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Hook Line & Savor: Black Bean Crusted Cod and Avocado Salad with Chimichurri Dressing

A big thanks to Hook Line and Savor for sponsoring this post and for creating great-tasting, allergy-friendly, clean ingredient products.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When the word “hangry” became a thing I felt so very validated.  After years of me proclaiming that “bad things happen when I don’t eat” (sort of like a werewolf faced with a full moon or like the Hulk when he rips off his t-shirt right before he smashes things) the world had finally slapped a label on the condition.  Hungry + angry = HANGRY.  A complex concoction of physical and emotional unfulfillment.  A critical mass of dissatisfaction.  A state that once entered into left me incapable of making conversation, let alone decisions.  In fact, once hangry, just the thought of deciding what to make for dinner often left me curled up on the couch with that soft checkered blanket I’ve had since I was thirteen, sucking my thumb, and wishing my mom was my roommate so she could make me some dang meatloaf.  Hangry.  When that word became a thing, I realized (at least in this one respect) I wasn’t a weirdo.  

(This is an actual photo of me trying to decide what to make for dinner.)

Through years of dealing with my condition, I’ve developed several coping mechanisms, namely grilled cheese and peanut butter toast.  Two quick and carb-filled comforting cure-alls.  But you know the problem with grilled cheese for dinner?  It always leaves you wanting another grilled cheese.  Alas, I’d considered stocking the freezer chock full of microwave meals for times when life got crazy, but the problem is the ingredients lists on these sorts of pre-packaged foods are typically so out of control that I’d regret fueling my body with this sort of junk.  Oh and also, I don’t own a microwave.  

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Gluten-free-for-all

Thanks to goodnessknows for sponsoring this post and encouraging me to refocus on healthy living goals!

I remember once proclaiming that I’d rather date a vegetarian than someone who was gluten-free.  I said “vegetarian” like it was something utterly disdainful, the penultimate compatibility failure.  Fast forward a few years, and I’m the (most-of-the-time) vegetarian touting a gluten-free fellow.  Oh, how the tables turn!  Starting this blog 6.5 years ago was sort of like my healthy living “puberty” — back then, I was dipping my toe in the internet’s complex, often conflicting, never-ending pool of health-focused information.  I was intrigued, excited, and totally misguided.  But, just as our bodies physically mature over our lifetimes, our tastes, preferences, and views shift and expand, strengthen and sag too.  And thank god for that.  Otherwise I’d still be eating fat-free dairy for snacks and microwaved broccoli for breakfast every day. goodnessknows

Near the time I started blogging, I learned about the gluten-free diet from my friend Tracy, who, after an onslaught of tummy troubles, found that dairy-free, gluten-free foods made her feel “normal” again.  At the time, “gluten” was a word few people knew or cared much about, and this whole gluten-free diet thing sounded MISERABLE to me.  So, I made it my mission to find Tracy a decent gluten-free, dairy-free pizza so that her new GF life wouldn’t be completely devoid of joy.
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Viddlz Alertz {plus a sneak peek of J. Sam’s}

I have a few food obsessions.  Yes, besides my well-documented love of barbecue, there are some foods I simply cannot go without ordering.  Burrata.  Scallops.  Caramelized onion anything.  Housemade bread.  Bread pudding.  Bread.  We all have our trigger foods.  How cool would it be to get an automatic alert any time one of the foods you’re craving was offered by a imagerestaurant?  Blackberry cobbler, softshell crab, meatloaf.  Whatever!  That would cut out, like, hours of food research a week.  Am I right?  That’s why I’m super excited about a new concept in Charlotte called Viddlz Alertz.  It’s an online tool that lets you manage your cravings by alerting you when your particular food obession is offered in the area.  Plus, the Alertz system displays daily drink and food specials from restaurants and bars you follow (you can also get daily email updates with this info), and the Viddlz app is expected to be rolled out later this month.

J Sams Charlotte Scallops

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Lean Cuisine Loogie {review}

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago I subsisted on a diet rich in processed foods and Olive Garden takeout.  As a new college graduate, I found cooking dinner during the workweek especially challenging.  By the time I got home from the office and pulled a meal together, I’d be close to passing out from hunger.  And the reward for all my hard work?  Eating  the leftovers for dinner e-v-e-r-y night for the rest of the week.  Oh, the joys of cooking for one.

Back then, I had a few quick standbys–deli turkey sandwiches, blue box mac and cheese, and rotisserie chicken quesadillas, to name a few–but, my specialty was cheese ravioli, steamed broccoli, and Texas toast.  From the depths of the freezer to depths of my belly in 5 minutes flat.  When I was especially tight on time, I’d often turn to prepackaged freezer meals to fill the void.  Somedays, I’d have a Lean cuisine for lunch and another for dinner.  I was partial to the pastas, pizzas, and paninis, though it wasn’t the taste that made me opt for the frozen entrée route–it was the low price and the low-calorie counts displayed on the packages.

lean cuisine mezzaluna ravioli (4)

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