food | Lauren Hefez

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Cooking class in Vietnam

Brandon and I took a cooking class today! As part of the class we went to a Vietnamese market and picked our own produce. The produce was abundant but there were also things in this market that I had never seen before. Out in the open were pig brains and every part of a cow you could think of. There are no fridges in the market, so everything is fresh and must be sold that day. We saw live fish having their heads cut off, and most shocking to me were frogs that were being slammed on a counter in order to kill them. I accidentally took a video of this, but have decided not to show it.

This is the culture in Vietnam, so I am being open minded. All very interesting.

Brandon and I have a driver/tour guide while we are in Saigon. His name is Hung!

He is the sweetest! He is Buddhist and as part of his practice he and his wife buy a fish from the market twice a week and set it free in the Saigon river. He does not believe in killing animals, even mosquitos!

For our cooking class today we made 3 main dishes:

I tried to take a video during class, but this was a little difficult. I did get a quick one though and will post later.

First dish was a mustard leaf roll. Inside was carrots, onions, coconut stalk, lotus stem, lemon basil, mint, and some other green thing. Ill get that name later

This green wrap really reminded me of a wrap I made with Elyse from Lillybelle foods! Just a Vietnamese version.

Next: sticky rice fritter aka fried rice balls

Inside these balls I chose not to put meat, rather I stuck with veggies.

They were crispy on the outside and very dense. The chef said this is traditional Vietnamese street food. It’s cheap and filling!

Last dish: fresh rice noodles with BBQ pork! I do not eat pork so I took a picture of Brandon’s dish. I just made mine sans meat. There was not much cooking for this one other than making the sauce and grilling the meat.

The sauce was made of mostly:

Kumquats
Garlic
Water
Fish oil
Sugar
Salt
Chili peppers
Pepper

Sing Ciào! Off to De Lat tomorrow!

PS excuse any typos! This is all done on my phone!

Tags: cooking, food, market, rice, Vietnam

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Categories food

Wegmans in Virgina

5 Apr

Hi all. I am on my to Virginia!! I am in a car and have some time on my hands so I am going to write out this whole post on my phone and drive at the same time!! Just kidding (about the driving).

Whenever I travel I try to stop at a grocery store along the way to grab some healthy snacks that do not take preparation and can stay without refrigeration. I stopped at Wegmans food market (first time in there!) and saw they had breakfast sandwiches. Most of the sandwiches were already prepared with either cheese or bacon or both. I asked if they could make me an egg white on a whole wheat English muffin, no cheese or meat. It was simple and hit the spot.

After my breakfast I walked around and explored the store a little bit more. There was so much produce and the store just kept going and going. I really wanted to buy a green juice, but couldn’t find any. I am not sure if I missed them, but I was a bit disappointed at their juice selections.

I bought bananas, cucumbers, granola, almonds, cacao energy bites and a pear! Enough snacks to last me the weekend.

Do you have a Wegmans in your area? Supposedly one is opening in Boston!

Have a superb weekend

Tags: food, grocery, travel, Virginia, wedding, Wegmans

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Categories events, food

Delicious healthy chocolate chip cookie recipe

3 Apr

I love chocolate. I love dessert. I really do. So when Elise (from Lillybelle Foods) told me about her recipe for a healthier version of a chocolate chip cookie I was alllll about trying it.

Regardless of being considered more healthy, I LOVED IT ! Try it, and YOU tell me how amazing it is, k?

The only sweetener in the cookie is honey (and the chocolate chips)
No butter! We used only coconut oil

YUMMMMMMMMM

Ingredients:

½ c whole wheat flour

½ c almond meal

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 egg

2 T honey

1 ½ tsp vanilla

½ cup chocolate chips

1 T coconut oil, melted is ideal

2 T almond milk

Directions:

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine all wet ingredients in a smaller bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry and add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 6 cookies.

For a vegan version, use 1 T ground flax seed + 3 T warm water instead of the egg, and use maple syrup instead of honey.

Elise started her own YouTube Chanel! Follow her. She will be sure to give you GREAT recipes.

Comments 2 Comments
Categories food, sweet

Raw mango pie – using only 4 foods

18 Mar

I had Jody over, from JoJo’s Raw Kitchen and she introduced me to the most delicious and easy to make RAW pie. When I think of dessert I think of chocolate. I am not much of a fruit and nut dessert girl. So when Jody mentioned mango pie, it was not my first choice, but now I have become officially obsessed! This is something that I could eat every day as a sweet treat and not feel bad about it. Seriously awesome.

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds
1 cup dates (take out the pits)
1 mango
1 banana

Directions:

In a food processor place almonds and chop until almost a powder. Add in dates and blend together until they form a paste. This will be your raw crust. Take out and place in a pie dish to make a crust. Press the paste down hard and form a base to your pie.

Cut up 1 mango and 1 banana. Place in food processor and and blend. This is going to be your “cream” part of the pie!

Pour the mango and banana mixture on top of your raw crust and place in the fridge for 10 minutes then serve. The pie stays good for 4-5 days. It might lose its bright yellow color, but it is still good to eat.

Some tips:

If your dates are hard soak them in water for about 30 minutes to soften
Your pie may crumble when you serve it. WHO CARES. Because it just tastes so good.
Make sure your crust is really stuck together and there are no holes.
If the almond/date crust is not sticking together add more dates to the mixture.

YUM! Enjoy! Do you have any raw, quick and easy recipes that you would like to share??

Tags: almond, banana, dates, dessert, mango, pie, raw, sweat with lauren hefez, treat, vegan. healthy

Comments 4 Comments
Categories cooking, dessert, food

Wedding invitations by Lucky Penny Paperie

25 Feb

Most of my wedding invitations have been sent out and some are still on their way. But I am SO excited! It feels far more real now

I was searching for an invitation that would go with the “feel” and “theme” of our wedding. I wanted something chic, city, etherial, artsy but elegant And I found it! I worked closely with Jessica the creator, artist and designer behind Lucky Penny and she was great. She personalized the invitation to make it more of what I wanted, and made little changes that made a HUGE difference. I found her while searching Etsy, and could not be happier. She was patient and went along with my ideas and worked with my budget!

My favorite part of the invitation is the invitation holder. It is a nice shimmery envelope and has a resealable sticker with our names on it and the wedding date! Gives the invitation a nice personal touch.

Wedding food tastings are my favorite. We went to about three different caterers, trying many dishes. I worked with the chef in order to give my vegetarians some awesome food options. I am always excited when the vegetarian option at a wedding or event is NOT pasta. We came up with a filling, healthy and delicious vegetarian option. What better than quinoa and fresh vegetables! SCORE!

I will also be working with Jessica to help us create our wedding programs! This is so fun and exciting for me. Has anyone else found their wedding invitations? Where? Did you search online? Any luck on Etsy?

Tags: bride, etsy, food, quinoa, vegetarian, water color, wedding, wedding ideas, wedding invitations

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Categories cooking, events, food

Cooking a whole chicken. Excuse me if you “don’t eat no meat!”

2 Jan

Today is the first time I bought and am going to bake a whole chicken; skin, bones and all. I asked my facebook fans for advice and some chimed in with amazing recipes and tips:

” I like stuffing mine with lemon and thyme and roasting with root veggies around it.”
“Use plenty of fresh herbs and put lemons on the bottom of the pan. Also, I cook mine at a higher temperature to get it crispy. 400 degrees for an hour.”
Simple recipe where they do not use butter: Her advice “watch out for your smoke detector b/c of the high temp… Also get twine and truss it! (this video is helpful)”
Herb Roasted Chicken Recipe
“Boil it and make chicken noodle soup. Its easy, just labor intensive. “
” I like to have a thin layer of water on the bottom of the pan too – keeps it moist and baste, baste, baste!”
“Stuff it with lemon. Put sea salt, fresh ground pepper and a little bit of olive oil on top.”
“I was scared the first time I cooked a whole chicken too but it’s super easy. I use Ina Garten’s recipe. Also I don’t eat the skin (and I’m guessing you don’t either) so I cook it breast side down and it stays super moist!”
Roast Chicken Magic, their secret is Citrus!

I have decided to cook my chicken tomorrow because I will not get home until 7:30 tonight and my chicken will not be ready until 8:30pm, which is kinda late for me. Because I have the chicken today, but am not going to cook until tomorrow, I am thinking about brining the chicken in order to make it super moist. Have you ever tried this? Does it work?

I am looking forward to my adventure today when I brine, and tomorrow when I cook. I have no problem (usually) eating a nice cleaned chicken breast, but when it comes to touching the raw chicken it kinda grosses me out… anyone else?! EW I am flinching just thinking about it. I have to over come my fear of raw chicken and cook it. I am going to cook it like a CHAMP!

One of my favorite movie scenes from My Big Fat Greek Wedding! Skip to 4:15 for the “eat no meat” reference.

Comments 2 Comments
Categories food, recipe

Tomato, basil, and mozzarella Frittata.

31 Dec

I want to first wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year! I wish you all amazing things. Here is the perfect New Years Eve workout for you!

Now to the great frittata I made yesterday. I went to whole foods a couple days ago and picked up a fresh mozzarella ball and tomatoes. I knew I had a lot of basil in my fridge and did not want it to go bad, and what goes better with basil than mozzarella and tomatoes!? Yesterday morning I was so excited to make a beautiful tomato, basil, and mozzarella cheese Frittata.

PRE HEAT your oven to 350

First, I heated a pan with EVOO and garlic. Then I added diced tomatoes. I let it cook and continuously mixed for about 4 minutes. I mixed 5 eggs (for camera man and I) and added a tiny bit of water (makes the eggs fluffy!) and about 1/2 a cup of chopped FRESH basil, salt and pepper!

After the tomatoes were cooked enough I added in the egg and basil mixture. The pan is now set to low/medium heat. I let the egg mixture settle for about 1 minute in the pan.

After about a minute or two sitting on low heat I removed the pan from the stove top and moved it in to the oven. MAKE SURE that your pan can go in the oven before you do this!! I do not want your pan to melt!

I let the egg mixture sit in the oven for about 15-18 minutes. The length of time you let your eggs sit in the oven all depends on how well you like your eggs cooked. Take some peaks at it by looking through the oven, try not to open it, and you will know it is cooked when the sides start to puff up. Some people like the top a little runny, this is up to you.

Now comes the FRESH mozzarella After about 13-15 minutes of your eggs in the oven you want to add some slices of fresh mozzarella to the top. Open the oven and place the mozzarella slices randomly around the frittata, close the oven and let the cheese melt for a couple more minutes.

I opened my package of what I thought was fresh mozzarella….

I accidentally bought whipped cream cheese!!!! Oh man!

Instead I topped my frittata off with some sliced avocado. It was delicious. The avocado gave the frtittata the creamyness it needed! Perfecto!

Have you ever made a Frittata in the oven? What did you put in it?

Tags: basil, eggs, food, garlic, mozzarella, recipe, tomatoes

Comments 7 Comments
Categories food, savory, vegatable

Are your triceps feeling jiggly?

26 Dec

It always happens. The time between Christmas and New Years where people start to slack at the gym. My class numbers slow down and then BOOM come the New Year the number of students in my classes sky rocket and people are back at it. I myself have been eating more “sweets” than normal, and my workout schedule has been all over the place… so really no schedule. This is partly due to the fact that a lot of my classes have been cancelled due to the holiday and new year.

I just got back from lunch with my mom and future sister in law. I got a salad nicoise, actually one of the best salad nicoise I have ever had. And then we split the masterpiece featured above. We didn’t even know where to start! It was huge, so we didn’t end up finishing it, but it was good. It was filled with vanilla and raspberry ice cream and some kind of vanilla cakey stuff. I also had a cup of peppermint tea. YUM.

Here is a video to get you back into the groove. Lets target those triceps, and get rid of the jiggle in time for the new year. On Friday I will be posting a full body workout to get you ready for your New Years little black dress!

Tags: cake, fitfluential, fitness, food, salad, tricep, video

Comments 2 Comments
Categories fitness, food, video

Quinoa Pizza Bites!

24 Dec

Need a last minute appetizer for tonight or tomorrow? Check this out. Easy to make, quick and a healthy option.

Tags: appetizer, appetizers, food, healthy, healthy option, holiday, quinoa

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Categories food

Healthy Holiday Recipes for your next Holiday Party!

23 Dec

I searched the web to find what I felt were the top 3 easy to make and healthy holiday recipes for you to bring to your next holiday party!

Stuffed mushrooms

Goat Cheese and Apple Canape

Quinoa Pizza Bites

I have never tested nor tried these recipes but I am planning on making the Quinoa Pizza Bites tonight, with a few changes. Have a healthy and happy holiday! Let me know which ones you make and how it goes!

Tags: appetizers, apple, food, healthy, holiday, mushroom, pizza, quinoa