Review: Boom Yogurt Bar

For all you Boulderites out there who constantly face the arduous task of deciding which frozen yogurt place to go to, do yourself a favor and pop into Boom Yogurt Bar—my new love. I know my friends and I often debate who has the best yogurt/toppings/atmosphere, etc. and after recently trying Boom I can say they have it all.

For staters, they don’t limit themselves to just frozen yogurt. They do have a wide variety of frozen yogurt choices including Muscle Milk and Mix1 (perfect for those just finishing a workout at 24 Hour Fitness), but also offer natural yogurt choices. They regularly stock Wallaby, Brown Cow, and Noosa yogurt along with Greek yogur, cottage cheese, and oatmeal so really you can pile toppings on anything you want.

Their toppings selection is also to die for. They are a major supporter of local companies and supply toppings from Breeze Bars, Outrageous Baking, Bulumu and more. No matter what you get, you must try the strawberry rhubarb compote—it is heaven.

Boom also has a great atmosphere for both studying and socializing. With two media friendly rooms and free wifi you may never want to cram for exams anywhere else. When I have been, it is never overcrowded or too noisy. Boom, though a bit off the beaten path is well worth the drive. It will give you a chance to fall back in love with non-frozen yogurt and discover tons of great local food brands that you may not have heard of before.

Homemade Graham Crackers (and Peep S’mores)!

Recently I have gotten in the habit of waking up obscenely early on Saturday mornings and baking something. For some reason the second I roll out of bed I am preheating the oven and by 7 a.m. I have a finished product. This past Saturday I decided to make graham crackers! School has been hectic lately and I firmly believe that s’mores are the greatest study snack known to mankind because they can be prepared in the microwave in 30 seconds. I also needed to use up leftover Peeps from Easter and this was the perfect way to do it! See the recipe I used here. 

I was inspired to use Peeps in s’mores by Pinterest. If you want to know more about my ever-growing list of recipes to try follow my food board here.

My Favorite Food and Fitness Apps

Spring Break has so far been a week filled with indulgences. From banana caramel ice cream cones to creamsicle cupcakes my sweet tooth has gotten its fill. Next week it will be back to reality and making all of my meals at home but for now I am happy to be making a dent in the ever-growing list of restaurants I want to try.

I thought today I would share with you a few of the food and fitness related apps that like to use to keep my taste buds happy and my body moving!

Food:

1. The Eatery- The Eatery helps you keep track of what you are eating and if you are diligent you may see where the problem areas in your diet are (caffeine, sugar, mindless snacking). All you need to do is snap a picture of what you are chowing down on and the Eatery community will rate you food on a scale from fit to fat. Take opinions with a grain of salt because everyone has a different idea of what is healthy. For example strict low-carbers may rate your daily oatmeal low (outrageous!). What I like most is the weekly summary feature that shows when and where you are eating your best and worst meals and your progress from week to week.

2. Forkly- Forkly, created by a Denverite (woot woot!), is a sort of geo-based restaurant discovery app. It lets you rate dishes at restaurants that you have tried and also discover new dishes and restaurants that people you follow have tried. You can “want” items and also share your food finds with your various social networks.

3. Fooducate- Fooducate really comes into play at the grocery store where you use this app to read the bar code of some food item you are looking at. The app then generates a grade based on a variety of factors contributing to health. It also makes a kind of pro/con list of the products good and bad attributes and recommends similar products that may be better. This feature comes in especially handy when looking at things like granola which can be at either end of the spectrum.

Fitness:

1. Nike Training Club- Anything by Nike is pretty much considered to be badass in my book. This app is no different. It has tons of workouts with a few different goals to work towards. It is kind of like having a mini personal trainer!

2. Free Workouts- Ab workouts, butt workouts, leg workouts, etc. There are a ton of these which provide quick workouts between 5-10 minutes. I usually squeeze these in during commercial breaks if I am too lazy to go the the gym and want to watch TV instead.

3. Pinterest- So not exactly an app, but nevertheless fantastic when you are looking for new workouts or inspiration to get to the gym. Perfect to pull information about diet and exercise from a bunch of different sites.

Healthy Almond Biscotti

Thought I would share a recipe for what I have been baking lately, a healthier almond biscotti! 

Recently I realized that I was spending far too much money on coffee and have been trying to cut back on my favorite almond lattes by making coffee at home instead! Truthfully it has been nice to not see my bank account depleting so rapidly, however I started to miss my weekly biscotti. I decided to make my own and was surprised about how easy it was!
I followed this recipe but omitted the apricots, doubled the almond extract, and dipped them in dark chocolate (completely necessary). I will say the recipe makes less than 24 cookies, I got about 15-18.

These are perfection when dipped in coffee and tea and I will definitely be making more when I devour all of these. Give it a go if you are looking for a coffeehouse indulgence on a budget!

Review: Sambazon Acai Juice

Blackberry Banana Baked Oatmeal

Ted’s Montana Grill for Denver Restaurant Week

First Course

House Salad- Mixed greens, cucumber, vine-ripened tomatoes, croutons, red onion rings and basil vinegarette

Second Course

Bison Delmonico Ribeye- with olive oil, lemon butter, broccoli, and mashed potatoes

St. Phillips Island Crab Cakes-Southwestern seasoned jumbo lump crab cakes with roasted asparagus and coleslaw

Third Course

Nutty Apple Crisp-Granny Smith Apples covered in caramel sauce with oatmeal pecan crust and vanilla ice cream

Ted’s Montana is one of my favorite more casual dining restaurants. Everything is always seasoned well and cooked perfectly. Oh yeah and they have the Nutty Apple Crisp—Ted’s gift to mankind. For me the crisp is the epitome of a perfect dessert. Lots of different textures, temperatures, and flavors, yum! Can’t wait to go back.

Review: My Favorite Nutrition Bars

Today I want to talk about bars, bars, bars. Not the fun kind, the delicious kind.

I am one of those people who eats constantly and if I go more than couple of hours without eating I turn into a huge grump. Because of this I am always carrying some kind of nutrition bar to hold me over until my next meal. Here are a few of my favorites:

Larabar-Larabars are made up of ground fruit, nuts, and spices. They boast one of the shortest ingredient lists of any nutrition bars and are filling because of the protein and healthy fats from the nuts. They tend to be higher in calories and fat for their relatively small size. My favorite flavor is Ginger Snap. Stay away from Lemon and always buy on sale because these can get pricy.

Odwala Bars- Odwalla bars are some of my favorites because their texture reminds me of a standard cereal bar or some kind of breakfast cookie. They also are larger and boast a lot of added vitamin and minerals.

Kind Bars- Also a fruit and nut bar, but the texture is more along the lines of a trail mix stuck together with caramel than a ground up paste like Larabars. They have a ton of different fruit and nut combinations and instead of adding a bunch of spices really just let the ingredients speak for themselves.

Luna Bars- Luna bars were my first introduction to the nutrition bar category and I still love them. They tend to make me really thirsty so keep a water bottle nearby. Again these are more like a traditional granola bar. They tend to contain a lot more soy than the others.

If you have not yet tried out many nutrition bars, I encourage you to give them a shot. They can be a snack or meal replacement and provide a combination of carbs, fat, and protein that your body needs. I recommend stocking up when they go on sale as they can be quite pricy. As I love to try out new bars all the time I’m sure I will be posting more reviews as I find new ones to rave about! Keep Snackin’!

The Melting Pot for Denver Restaurant Week

Four course menu for 2 only $52.80

First Course

Cheddar Cheese Fondue- aged medium-sharp cheddar and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses with lager beer, garlic, and seasonings

Second Course

California Salad- mixed baby greens, Roma tomatoes, candied pecans and rich Gorgonzola Cheese with Raspberry Black Walnut Vinagarette

Third Course

Filet Mignon, Shrimp, Teriyaki-marinated sirloin, Chicken Breast, Salmon with assorted veggies and sauces

Fourth Course

Flaming Turtle- Milk chocolate, caramel and candied pecans served with cheesecake, brownies, rice krispy treats, marshmallows, and fresh fruit for dipping

The entire meal was delicious and I will be making my way back to the Melting Pot soon! Denver Restaurant Week ends March 9th so if you have time make reservations at some of Denver’s best restaurants. I will be going to Ted’s Montana Grill tonight with a mini review to follow so keep checking back!

Lightened Up Shrimp Creole

One of my favorite meals that my dad would cook growing up was this Shrimp Creole. I love this recipe because every time we made it (which was a bunch) we would change it up and add something different. The basis for any of my father’s cooking is 2 sticks of butter and far too much garlic. He is a great cook but refuses to cook anything that is low-fat. Since being away at school I have found myself craving this creole and I knew I could make it a bit lighter. I am not sure where this recipe is from because we would just do everything by memory or instinct. What follows is pretty basic but we always experimented with adding different ingredients based on what was on hand-sometimes substituting spicy V8 juice for the wine, adding tons of hot sauce, etc. Enjoy!

Lightened Up Shrimp Creole

Serves 4

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno, 

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 12 ounce can tomato sauce

1/2 cup dry red wine

small handful chopped fresh cilantro

2 bay leaves

cayenne pepper and salt to taste

1 lb. uncooked cleaned shrimp

Directions:

1. In a large pot combine butter, garlic, onion, pepper, jalapeno, and celery and cook on medium heat until soft

2. Stir in tomato sauce, wine, cilantro, bay leaves, cayenne, and salt and bring to a boil. Then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for at at least ten minutes. The longer it simmers the better the flavors will meld.

3. Add in the shrimp and cook until opaque, about 6-8 minutes.

4. Serve over a big bowl of rice or quinoa.