Delicious, healthy and one of the most affordable vegetarian meal delivery services in South Florida. They serve a wide area, from Broward to Miami-Dade. Jessica and I have ordered their service (Jess is getting lunch and dinner, me just lunch), and will both be posting a full review very soon!
In the meantime, check out their website at http://www.ecohealthymeals.com/
Cuisine of India is a popular place in Clear Lake, a city on the outskirts of Houston. Clear Lake houses the famous “NASA” as well as the Kemah Boardwalk. I was in Houston for business and wanted to try a few veggie-friendly places for our readers and this was the perfect spot!
For an appetizer, I tried the veggie samosas which were suprisingly lightly flavored and delicious (I say suprising because I expected a salty flavor and instead they let taste the vegetables shine through). For the main meal, I picked the Vegetarian Delight dish, it’s about $14 and is big enough for two if you’re on a tight budget. This dish is full of several different thick soups such as: dal makhni, malai kofta, saag paneer, peas pullao all scooped up with a fluffy peice of naan bread. On the side they serve salad and samosas.
Of course, no Indian meal is complete without adding some chai tea!
Our service was excellent, the food took a little while but I’m assuming that’s because it was fresh. I definitely recommend this great little place if you’re anywhere south of Houston and in the mood for some great Indian food!http://www.cuisineofindiaclearlake.com/
Originally a Tunisian dish, Shakshuka is now served throughout the middle east and most popularly in Israel. There are many Israeli and Palestinian restaurants that serve Shakshuka, a rich egg and tomato dish which is traditionally a breakfast food (although I eat it just about any time of the day!).
The ingredients are surprisingly simple and despite its popularity through the middle east, it rarely strays from this simple recipe of eggs, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, cumin, turmeric, paprika, salt and pepper. In order to make it as authentic as possible, you will need a nice cast iron pan to cook and serve it.
The way I like to make Shakshuka is actually quite a bit healthier, as I cut down on the oil by a lot. You can also cut calories and cholesterol by using only egg whites or taking half of the yolks out. Being that I don’t eat it very often, I usually keep a whole egg and just lower the olive oil. It still tastes delicious. I also love that it is traditionally vegetarian, so there are no substitutions necessary to experience the authentic meal. In order to make this vegan, all you would need to do is omit the eggs and substitute a tofu scramble.
Healthy Authentic Vegetarian Palestinian/Israeli Breakfast: Shakshuka
Serves 4
Cast Iron Pan
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 cup chopped sweet peppers
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon whole cumin
Pinch of salt, pepper and cayenne pepper, to taste
4 eggs
Heat olive oil in cast iron pan over medium heat. Once the oil has coated the bottom of the pan, add the onions and garlic. Allow to sauté until translucent and starting to caramelize. Add the sweet peppers and mix until they begin to soften. Add the tomatoes and sauté for another few minutes until they begin to break up. Add the tomato paste and spices, stir to incorporate. Allow to simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring gently. Once the mixture is fragrant, gently drop the eggs onto the top of the mixture to poach in the juices. Remove from heat and serve in the cast iron pan.
This can be served as is, or more traditionally with white flat bread. Enjoy!
Despite trying several different healthy food delivery services throughout South Florida, I’ve never found anything that impressed me enough to justify the extra cost. I enjoy cooking at home and usually can create meals that please me, and my family, without much effort. However, I would like to continue losing weight (I have kept off the 16lbs I lost originally!) and if a meal service could help with this, I’m all for trying it.
The price is what first drew me to ECO Healthy Meals. They are significantly less expensive than any other meal delivery service (save for greasy home-style cantina delivery services, which, of course, are not healthy). Jessica wanted to give them a try because she has no time for cooking with the new baby boy, and I decided I would try out lunch delivery for calorie reduction. At $9.99 USD per day for lunch it isn’t exactly cheap, but the food is very high quality. Larger packages can be purchased and reduce the price down to $8.49 USD per day.
Here is this week’s lunch menu, for an idea of what they offer. Each week you must choose your lunches, and they do offer omnivorous options, so you have to ensure you choose the vegetarian options. It doesn’t appear that they have an alternative vegetarian choices, so you get what they have mostly. I had a slight issue with menu selection, however the owner, Lionel, resolved this for me within a day.
MONDAY
Tofu, tomato and portobello napoleon with basil cream sauce
Mediterranean farro salad
Kale croquette
Flowerless chocolate cake
TUESDAY
Red wine braised mushrooms
Roasted butternut squash
Spinach salad with honey mustard sauce
Ricotta tart
WEDNESDAY
Baked eggplant with Portuguese sauce
Saffron Idaho potatoes
Tomatoes and onions salad with no oil balsamic vinaigrette
Strawberry cheesecake
THURSDAY
Wild mushrooms stroganoff sauce
Spatzle
Watercress salad with no oil ranch dressing
Fruit merlot
FRIDAY
Sesame crusted soy nuggets with soy reduction
Stir fried rice
Mango slaw salad
White chocolate pudding
I have already tried the tomato and portobello napoleon, which was quite delicious. I really enjoy large pieces of portobello mushroom and these were grilled nicely. Last week was my absolute favorite meal: the vegetable lasagna. I hope they feature this again. Today I had the red wine braised mushrooms, which were nice, but I had hoped it would have been seasoned a bit better. The desserts have been very good, with a few being spectacular (namely the apple muffin from last week and the flowerless chocolate cake). Overall the food is of good quality with a few star dishes, which is a lot more than I can say for other delivery services I’ve tried.
Yaribel, our delivery driver, is so sweet and let us take a look at the Prius ECO Healthy Meals uses. It is a great way to deliver their message of environmental awareness, along with the compostable containers and utensils they provide. This is the first service I’ve seen of its kind in South Florida. Check out their website at http://www.ecohealthymeals.com/
Jessica’s Review:
We’re both doing a review on this one as Eco Healthy Meals was kind enough to provide a day of meals for Ashley and myself. We have also purchased a week of meals – I am receiving lunch and dinner and snack for the entire week and Ashley is getting lunch because she’s not lazy like I am ;0).
Here is my take: Everything was amazing, from the adorable delivery girl to the Eco friendly car, the biodegradable containers and silverware, all the way down to the detailed information. Yesterday, I even got a flower in my dinner- OMG!
This is gourmet folks! If you like the presentation of your food as much as you love the taste, this is the way to go. I am completely in love and so grateful I found something that is healthy, contains superfoods like Kale and healthy grains such as farro and whole wheat. The added bonus? It’s only $90 a week for lunch and dinner! Don’t tell me you don’t spend that already on your lunches when you go out to eat (and all of you prepared people, keep it to yourself! lol).
My only negative is that each day the calorie count is different and you have to add it all up yourself (ok, I admit this is laziness on my part). It would be great to be able to get a full calorie count as well as the individual (yes, amazingly they even tell you how much your sauces are worth calorie-wise) for each meal. Also, I prefer my tofu fried but I realize this isn’t healthy so I’m ok with the fact that it’s just lightly baked with some seasoning. Maybe they can try sprouted tofu which is firmer?
Once again, thank you Eco Healthy Meals for changing my life. I hope that you continue to stay inexpensive and delicious no matter how big you become…
For more information go to www.ecohealthymeals.com.
***UPDATED – NO PHOTOS NEEDED! JUST TELL US ABOUT WHERE YOU LIKE TO VOLUNTEER!
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Announcing the Two Year Anniversary (and Earth Day) Giveaway!
We are giving away a $30 gift certificate to VeganEssentials.com, with over 1200 different all-vegan items to choose from. A winner will be randomly chosen from our readers who complete the following steps:
1. Like us on Facebook
2. Share the post with your friends
3. Tell us on Facebook about where you like to volunteer!
“The highest of distinctions is service to others.”
King George IV (1762-1830); King Of Great Britain, Ireland And Hanover
A winner will be announced on Friday, 03rd May 2013!
It’s been such an amazing journey getting to know so many new things about food, health and people from around the world. We thank each and every one of our readers, new and old friends, for sharing this incredible journey with us.
We will be doing another anniversary giveaway to show our appreciation. Please check back next week for the details!
In the meantime, we have truly enjoyed getting to know all of you and hope to hear from you more often. Let us know what you like, or even don’t like, about us! We have thick skin, we can take it 
Hope to hear from you soon! Don’t forget to check out our Twitter and Facebook pages too!
Ok, so that’s a bit of a “fantastic” claim but it’s the honest truth. I am in love with this burger and I have driven twenty miles out of my way, twice, to eat it.
The guys on the “Bite” food truck have a great assortment of burgers, including this vegetarian one called The Tree Hugger (I love that vegetarians are seen as tree huggers, why not animal huggers… but I digress). This burger has a full port0bello mushroom, a delicious sauce and some great veggies on a toasted bun. This is a seriously delicious burger.
So, if you want the best burger in town….follow the Bite food truck and try it out! http://www.facebook.com/bitegastrotruck
Stamford, CT officially has some of the best restaurants in the Northeast. I thought NYC was unbeatable but Stamford really tries to push the envelope on elegant and delicious.
A big snowstorm hit on Monday night in Connecticut and it was freezing cold. The restaurant we had originally planned on going to “Dragonfly” was closed so we decided to try EOS as it looked warm and cozy. The inside reminds me of a Miami restaurant with it’s puffy white benches lining the wall. The staff is mostly Greek and very friendly.
I ordered the sesame crusted Feta (Saganaki) with honey drizzled on top as well as the hummus appetizer. Delicious! The hummus was the perfect blend of flavorful and simple. I must have eaten two entire pitas trying to stuff that down. I couldn’t stop eating the Feta, it had to be one of the best appetizers I’ve ever eaten (except for that delicious Brie that Ashley and I had in the Grove).
Once again, I had a salad for dinner but this one had so much on it, it felt like an entree. The Kypro Salata’s grilled veggies were perfectly seasoned. Our dinner was topped off with a HUGE piece of Baklava which we split because we were stuffed.
I definitely recommend trying this little piece of the Greek Isles, you will not regret it! (Oh! and they deliver).
To find out more about EOS, go to http://eosgreekcuisine.com/index2.php
I recently traveled to Stamford for a business conference and was able to try out a couple of new restaurants in the area. My colleague and I found this beautiful little restaurant, Napa, within the Marriott hotel on Broad Street. The inside is dimly lit with candles and an entire wall is covered in wines. The waiters sport jeans though the restaurant feels more elegant. It brings a “relatable” aspect to the place so it doesn’t feel stuffy.
As you sit down, you are given your menus and an IPad that has their wine menu on it as well as some more information on the restaurant.
We ordered an appetizer of Spaghetti Squash (yes, it’s really an appetizer and it tastes delicious with a hint of basil) as well as a cheese plate that you can choose the type of cheeses. For $18 you can choose three little squares of cheeses that is served with some jams and bread. We tried (from their menu):
3. MIDNIGHT MOON, Goat, Holland, (Pinot Noir) Aged goat cheese, the flavor is nutty and
brown-buttery, with prominent caramel notes.
4. MIMOLETTE, Cow, France, (Tempranillo)Firm and oily, vivid orange, nutty with smooth fudgy finish
6. GORGONZOLA (not on their online menu)
I was not a fan of the Gorgonzola as a cheese for bread, I feel it’s better suited for salads but the Midnight Moon and Mimolette was tasty on the bread.
They do have some vegetarian pasta but their actual entrees are completely carnivore. Thankfully, their appetizers and salads make up for what they lack in entrees.
For more information on your trip to Napa, go to http://www.napaandcompany.com.
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