Embody Fitness Gourmet in Westport: Fitness Inspired Functional Food

When I first walked into Embody Fitness Gourmet after it opened last September, it was a hot sticky day, the kind that melts the asphalt in the road. I could barely breathe and was in the midst of my usual daily stress. My car had almost died and the AC was acting quirky so I rolled into the parking lot off Riverside Ave across from the gas station. I ordered a GT Surge, a blend of crushed ice, green tea, freshly pressed lemon and agave nectar accented with fresh mint. Suddenly, my mind drifted off as the cool mojito-like flavors hit my tongue. I was transported to some palm-tree beach far away. Now, that the days of hot sunshine are long gone, I pull over and grab a homemade bean and kale soup as well as another GT Surge, if only to return to the summer in my mind. It seems these days, after much bad news and crazy weather, I need to escape often. 

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8 To The Bar Snack Bars: Raising the "Bar" in CT

Finally, A healthy nutty snack that is doesn’t taste overpoweringly of high fructose corn syrup! I’m talking about the new 8 To The Bar snack bar that a pair of Connecticut cousins have recently brought to Fairfield county markets.

Made of a medley of eight different organic nuts, oats, dried fruit, honey and coconut, the bar has a great taste and texture. I particularly love the sour cherries that give the snack a tanginess, which, married with the sesame and coconut and the crunchiness of the nuts, translates to a taste that is deliciously more-ish.

The bar hits the mark for post exercise recharging. I tried my first bar after a five-mile run and found it both satisfying and energizing (not to mention delicious) – a fact that local fitness studios have cottoned on to. The bars are now available at Joyride, Kaia Yoga and the Saugatuck Rowing Club in Westport.

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6 Great Cleanses to Start the New Year Right

What could be more appropriate for a CTbites article than to paraphrase a Shakespearan play whose title contains a tasty pork product? HAMlet, at his existential and post holiday binge worst probably also asked "To cleanse or not to cleanse...that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the gut to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous feasting, Or to take action against a sea of troubles and, by cleansing, - end them. Don't worry. And don't bother with the nunnery. Instead, get thee to one of the establishments listed below and sample a cleanse to rid yourself of post-food-orgy regret.

Start the new year by taking care of your body with one of these 6 great cleanses:

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The Stand Juice Cleanse: 5 Days Without Food

Can a diehard food lover survive 5 days without solid food?

I love food.  I love to eat it…raw food, cooked food, gourmet food, diner food, farm-to-table food, bar food.   My first paychecks came from restaurants – seating or serving those seeking food. Decades later,  I now earn my living taking photos…and yes, you guessed it, the subject matter of which is, quite often, food. So how in the world did a food-lover like me end up committing to spend 5 day chewing exactly none?

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An Oasis of Naked Greens Arrives in SoNo

A healthy and convenient take on fast food, Naked Greens is a welcome respite from South Norwalk’s palate-busting dining scene. Chilled shelves stocked with salad greens and a salad bar filled with an array of natural ingredients, stands as the core of a signature made-to-order salad and wrap-filled menu. Soups complete the healthy trifecta, as steaming cauldron-like containers, a harbinger of its Soup Alley not-so-recent-past, stand along the counter offering a selection of hot soups made fresh daily.

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Nothin' But Bars: Best Granola Bar in CT?

In a world all about “grab and go,” I was happy to stumble upon “Nothin' But” snack bars after a spinning class at Joy Ride in Westport recently. That same week, we spotted them at the Westport Farmers’ market and the Village Market in Wilton. Seems that the chewy little bars, packed with ‘nothin’ but’ organic oats, nuts, seeds and dried fruits and hand-mixed with organic cane sugar, olive oil and honey have found a cult following in Fairfield County. Not only are these the tastiest and most nutritionally dense snack bars we’ve tried (not too dry, not too sweet, loaded with fruits, nuts and all-natural ingredients), they’re also packaged in re-sealable Ziploc bags so that you can eat half in the morning and save the other half for a midday pick-me-up (if you have the willpower).

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Bumper Crop: Cauliflower Risotto

Cauliflower is a tough sell at my house. My husband is a reluctant vegetable eater at the best of times, and I’ve tried to get my boys to try it under clever marketing names like “brain vegetable.” But alas, little success. As a risotto pusher, however, I’ve been victorious. If its on a menu, hubby will always order it, and if I cook it for dinner (which admittedly isn’t often), it will vanish. So I thought, Why not combine the two and see what happens? 

Lovely, almost petite heads of cauliflower abound in the greenmarket now, so buying it is an easy temptation. Once home, I separated the cauliflower into florets and roasted them--and if you don’t know my stance on roasting, I strongly advocate it for bringing out the best in vegetables. The cauliflower caramelizes in a hot oven, with yummy, toasty browned edges. Folded into a creamy risotto, it’s one of the best vehicles imaginable for cauliflower, and over at my house, one way it will always get eaten. 

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Swiss Chard Calzones

As we creep into November, the look of the greenmarket changes. More gourds, potatoes, and with the exception of collards and kale, less greens. I’m ready for a seasonal change but part of me is still holding onto warmer months past and long to see some leafy goodness. This week at the Imperial Avenue market I spotted some gorgeous rainbow swiss chard. Now chard and I have a history, one in which I could never imagine a future promoting it. Growing up in suburban New York, my parents maintained a good sized garden where swiss chard thrived; in fact, took over. Mom and dad couldn’t give it away fast enough, and the stuff that remained made its way to our dinner table just about every night. Later in life I renewed my relationship with chard. At Gourmet, our Executive Food Editor couldn’t stand the stuff, but to her credit, she was open minded enough to know that other people enjoyed it--or at least should eat it, and because I had more than a passing familiarity with it, chard crept into a few recipes I developed at the magazine.  

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Maple & Chile Roasted Acorn Squash

Quite honestly, I never met a roasted vegetable I didn’t like. I roast it all: carrots (the only way to eat them besides raw), onions, okra, even broccoli. So now we’ve come to squash. I don’t know why I’m initially reluctant to prepare it, especially this time of year when it’s everywhere and the varieties are endless. Squash is like a misunderstood pitbull, tough on the outside, but sweet and tender on the inside. It can be daunting to approach at first, but really it’s no big deal. I’ve been drawn to acorn squash this season. The flesh has a pleasant vegetal quality that’s a breeze to prepare and it’s equally delicious with fish, meat, and poultry. Sliced into crescent moons, tossed with butter, olive oil and chile flakes, it gets a drizzle of maple syrup towards the end which caramelizes the squash ever so slightly. A combo of sweet and sassy. The skin is tough and inedible (remember, it’s still part pitbull), but eaten with knife and fork, it’s Autumn on a Plate.

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Bumper Crop: Tuscan Kale Salad

A recent Westport transplant from NYC, Melissa Roberts was a food editor for Gourmet for almost 9 years, where she toiled happily in the test kitchen developing and writing recipes for the magazine. She was also a cook and stylist in the Food Network's kitchen. 

Last Thursday’s Imperial Avenue Greenmarket in Westport fell on one of those perfect crisp and clear Fall days. The Greenmarket’s atmosphere was buzzing, complete with live music commemorating its 6th birthday. I joined in the celebration by treating myself to a Breakfast Pizza (pecorino, local bacon, fried egg) from Skinny Pines Pizza with Raus’ cold Roman Coffee to wash it all down. But my mission was not only to treat my belly, but to find inspiration amidst the produce, and it was there in spades beginning with a pile of deep green lacinato kale from Riverbank Farms in Roxbury, CT. Often with the freshest veggies the best way to treat them is the simplest. In this recipe, kale is shredded then tossed with a straightforward dressing of lemon and olive oil which brightens its earthy, mineral-like flavor, and a generous shower of nutty Parmigiano Reggiano.

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