Glitter Spice

Somehow we managed to skip right over the holiday season, and it basically feels like January in NYC right now. No snow, just bitter cold with a wind that cuts right through you. No joke, I think that the windows in our teeny NYC apartment are made of tissue paper. On a regular day with the windows closed, I can actually hear people talking outside in the courtyard while I am sitting in my kitchen. Right now, as I sit here typing, I can hear the wind gently serenading me as it hums through our windows, lovely!

Ohhhhhhh Hi! I am just Miss Optimistic over hear in this corner. If winter is just getting started and it is this cold in November, then I know that this winter is going to be awesomely frigid! I expect it to be worst than last winter, and I don’t even know how that is even possible! So to try to prevent myself from running around our apartment in my unicorn onesie all winter (see onesie below), I have finally broken down and ordered a space heater to help compensate for the paper-thin windows.

While I am waiting for the heater to arrive, I thought that it would button up my unicorn onesie and test drive some soup ideas that have been bouncing around my head.

It is squash season here and the markets are loaded with them. I was shocked by how cheap they are, nothing it cheap in NYC. As I was admiring all of the pretty squashes and their super cheap price tags, I realized that I have never made a butternut squash soup…how is that even possible!? I have no idea. So I scooped up one, roasted the heck out of it and made a Thai inspired savory butternut squash soup. I prefer savory to sweet, and even after being in Thailand for 2 weeks; I still can’t get enough curry. So I got my inspiration for this soup from my Thailand trip, I added a bucket of garlic and ginger to keep Derika and I healthy, and this is the magicness that came up with…Yay, Soup!

Ingredients

1 Butternut Squash, roasted
1 Tsp. Ghee
1 Small Yellow Onion, chopped
3 Tsp. Red Curry Paste
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tsp. Fresh Ginger, minced
1 Cup Vegetable Broth
2 Tsp. Honey
1 Can Light Coconut Milk
1/4 Tsp. Truffle Salt, or salt of choice
Chopped Cilantro, for serving
Roasted Butternut Squash Seeds, for serving

Directions

Roast your butternut squash; you can do this ahead of time.
Add ghee to a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté for 3 minutes, so they are cooked but not brown.
Add red curry paste, garlic and ginger. Stir constantly for 1 minute.
Add the vegetable broth, honey, coconut milk and salt. Bring to a boil and reduce heat and simmer 5-7 minutes.

5. Place the roasted squash flesh in a blender. I used my Vitamix (add only half at a time if your blender is smaller).

6. Pour mixture from soup pot into the blender with squash. Blend until smooth.

7. Pour the blended mixture back into the soup pot.

8. Taste and adjust the salt. Heat to a simmer on medium heat, stir to prevent burning. At this point it will play with your eyes and look like a big vat of queso. Mmmmmmm…cheeese!

Simmer for 10 minutes to meld everything together.
Serve in bowls with chopped cilantro, some roasted butternut squash seeds, and a lime on the side if you are feeling sassy.

Stay Warm!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Butternut Squash, Curry, Garlic, Ginger. This post has no comments yet.

I was walking home from yoga the other day and I noticed a huge crate in front of the grocery store filled with squash for only $.68 a pound! I think that this is currently the most affordable thing in NYC! At that point I also realized that I have never cooked with butternut squash, so I scooped one up and decided to make some soup with it. I roasted it similarly to the way that I would roast a spaghetti squash and it turned out like a dream. I whipped up an amazing butternut squash soup, that will be making an appearance on the blog soon.

But for now I thought that I would post this quick recipe, since I plan on making a bunch of other things with this lovely squash.

Ingredients

1 Butternut Squash
2 TBS Olive Oil or Grapeseed Oil

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2. Carefully cut the ends off of the butternut squash, and then cut it in half lengthwise.

3. Scoop out the seeds and set aside, so that you can roast them later.

4. Brush the olive oil on the cut side of the squash. You don’t have to be too careful here: just slather and it is ready.

5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the squash oil side down on the parchment paper.

6. Roast for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until a fork punctures the flesh of the squash easily.

7. Remove the squash from the oven and allow it to cool.

8. Once you are able handle the squash, scoop the squash out of its skin and into a bowl.

9. It is now ready to be added to any butternut squash recipe that your little heart desires.

Happy Roasting!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Butternut Squash. This post has 2 comments.

We just got back from our Thailand trip and I can’t wait to share all of our adventures with you! Right now I am recovering from a severe case of jet lag, sorting though a ton of photos and digging my way through a mountain of laundry. While I work on getting myself out of this travel fog, I thought that I would share a This & That Thursday list of the things that I am obsessing over right now. I hope this list inspires you to make some cocktails, to get out and travel with your pets, and to get your holiday shopping started early.

Enjoy the ride!

I thought that my computer needed a little makeover, and it is always fun to refresh your workspace from time to time. This fun new cover is exactly what I was looking for!

Saying that I love pho is a bit of an understatement. Unfortunately, it is not the easiest to find a vegetarian version. This has been a game changer for making awesome and easy pho at home. Thanks Paris and The Greg for the great birthday gift!

My friend introduced me to this and I can’t make a cocktail now without using them! Use them to make my spicy manhattan!

If you just want to smile or if you need a pick me up, this little guy’s Instagram account makes me super happy whenever I look at it.

I saw this message painted on the sidewalk a few weeks ago, and I am super excited to see that they are now making jewelry. The holidays are coming and this is the perfect gift idea!

Happy Thursday!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under This & That Lists. This post has no comments yet.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

Halloween is probably one of my most favorite times of year. I would wear a costume everyday if I could, or at least some type of headband with a unicorn horn or kitty ears on it. I am always looking for an excuse to dress up in costume and eat gummi bears, and on this holiday it is more than acceptable! I also love the crispness that you start to feel in the air, the boots and fluffy sweaters, the leaves changing, apple picking, pumpkin carving…but most of all I love making and eating pumpkin seeds. I just found out that squash seeds are equally as delicious and I am beyond excited, because now I have more opportunities for seed snacking.

Before I get into the simple magicness that goes into making pumpkins seeds, I need to go off on a teeny Halloween tangent.

Instead of dressing up for Halloween this year, Derika and I will be hopping on a plane for a 10-day adventure in Thailand. I am beyond excited to check Thailand off of my bucket list, but I am a little bummed that I will not be able to get into one of my many costumes and pass out candy. Lucky for me, we went to 3 Oktoberfests this year so I got the dressing up bug out of my system for 2014.

Last year was our first Halloween living in a huge building in NYC. The great thing about living in a big building, is that our building hosts trick or treating from 8:00-9:30pm for the kids that live in the building. All you have to do is decorate your door, and you will get oodles of cute kids ringing your bell looking for candy. Well, if I am going to be handing out candy, then I am going to dress up. After many years of playing derby and Derika playing rugby, we have tons of costumes! One of my favorites is my unicorn costume with the glowing mane.

Sorry for the blurry photo, but this hula hooping unicorn photo is the only one that I have that shows the whole costume.

So last Halloween, I dressed up as a unicorn and handed out candy to a ton of cute kids and excited parents. We live in a small 581 square foot apartment, so when you open up the door to hand out Halloween candy, the kids are already in our living room, and their parents can pretty much see our whole apartment.

As a result, I spent most of the evening handing out candy and fielding decor questions from the parents. Towards the end of the night, when I was running low on candy, a cute Buzz Lightyear and his dad came to our door. As I was leaning over to dump the last of our candy into Buzz’s bucket his dad says to me…

Dad: “NICE Rack!”

Me: “Ummm, hey thanks!?” As I look down at my costume, which is not low-cut I might add!

They proceed to walk down the hall, and as I am getting ready to shut the door, I hear the dad running down the hall back to our door. Just before I close the door he yells “I meant wine rack…NICE, WINE RACK!” I start laughing hysterically, while he stood there turning 18 shades of magenta! If you look at the photo above you can see a small sliver or our wine just to the right of the bathroom. This wine rack was behind me while I was handing out candy!

That my friends, is probably one of the most amazingly ridiculous things that has ever happened to me on Halloween and it was way to funny not to share. Even though we are going on an epic adventure, it saddens me just a touch that I am going to miss out on passing out candy this year…

Instead of passing out candy, I will be munching on some homemade pumpkins seeds on the plane. I prefer savory to sweet, so below is 3 of my favorite ways to make pumpkin seeds. I can’t wait to hear what other versions you come up with.

Ingredients

Garlic, Salt & Peppers Seeds

1/4 Tsp. Truffle Salt
1/4 Tsp. Granulated Garlic
1/4 Tsp. Fresh Ground Pepper
Olive Oil or oil of choice

Smoked Paprika Seeds

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Seeds
1/4 Tsp. Himalayan Sea Salt
1/4 Tsp. Hungarian Smoked Paprika
Olive Oil or oil of choice

‘Cheezy’ Seeds

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Seeds
1/4 Tsp. Himalayan Sea Salt
1/4 Tsp. Nutritional Yeast
Olive Oil or oil of choice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Remove seeds from pumpkin and rinse well in a colander.
3. Dry thoroughly using paper towels.

4. In a small mixing bowl, combine seeds, olive oil, and ingredients for whatever flavor version you are making.

* You don’t need a lot of oil; just make sure that all of your seeds are very lightly covered. *

5. Spread seeds on an ungreased cookie sheet making sure none are touching.

6. Bake 10-15 minutes on one side. Turn seeds using a spatula and bake another 10-15 minutes. Seeds are done when golden, slightly brown on ends and edges, and have a nice crunch when eaten. They will continue to cook after you take them out of the oven so make sure that they are not too brown on the edges.

Voila!

You are now pumpkin seed-roasting professional! You can eat these seeds right out of the oven, or you can save them to sprinkle on top of your favorite salad or squash soup.

Happy Roasting and Happy Halloween!!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Pumpkin. This post has no comments yet.

Over Columbus Day weekend, Derika and I decided to hit the road and head to Vermont to see the fall color change and to check off another northeast state from our list. We got lucky, and the leaves cooperated that weekend so our trip was filled with tons of leaf peeping, tiny town exploring and cheese! Not a bad combo, if I do say so myself. We did not have much of a plan before we set off. I booked a place through airbnb in the middle of Vermont…literally in the middle of Vermont, no cell service, no Wi-Fi and no TV…it was a perfect getaway from noisy Manhattan. To get our trip rolling we used a New England towns list from BuzzFeed for ideas on where to visit and we winged the rest.

From the BuzzFeed article, I read amazing things about Woodstock. It worked out perfect, because Woodstock was on the way to the place that we were staying at. We scored and found a really cute discovery map of Woodstock and the surrounding area as soon as we got there. Each cluster of towns had a map like this, so we ended us using these maps the rest of the weekend as our guide for finding cute nooks and crannies in Vermont. Most of the stores in each town have free maps, but you can pick up your own version online here.

Vermont is filled with a ton of beautiful places to see and a bunch of adorable covered bridges. I have always wanted to see one of these bridges since I watched Beetlejuice in the 80s, so I made sure that Derika drove me through every one that I could find.

We ended up hitting a ton of teeny towns on our quick road trip, but there are a few that hold a small place in my heart. So I am just going to cover my 4 favorite places and some tips for things to check out while you are there. I hope you enjoy them just as much as I do.

Woodstock, VT

We visited Woodstock during their Apples and Crafts Fair, so of course we had to stop. It was in a field filled with about 100 eclectic vendors. I got some early Xmas shopping done (homemade holiday ornaments) and I purchased a chunk o’ cheese from the food booth for $1. No joke, they were selling fresh chunks of Vermont cheddar…how could I pass that up!? Derika thought I was joking when she asked me if I wanted something from the food booth and I said “One Chunk O’ Cheese, please.”

Fresh Chunks of Cheddar = A Brilliant Food Booth Idea! Food trucks take note. 🙂

In addition to some holiday shopping, we also left with some of the best maple smoked Vermont cheddar I have ever had and a log cabin filled with REAL Vermont maple syrup!

Go to Woodstock for great shopping, cute restaurants and a ridiculously adorable town. They even have a Unicorn Novelty store that you should check out while you are there.

Quechee, VT

From Woodstock drive through Taftsville, so you can see some more covered bridges and peep at some leaves.

Then head north to Quechee (I have no idea how to pronounce it) to check out the Cabot Quechee Store and the Vermont Spirits Distilling Co. I asked the girl at the Cabot Store how many cheese samples they go through on a busy day, and she said anywhere from 50-70lbs… That is a sh*t ton of cheese!

We got lucky, and in addition to sampling a ton of cheese and sipping on some spirits there was an antique fair going on in the parking lot of the Cabot Cheese store for our shopping enjoyment. As I mentioned in previous posts, antiquing is not as much fun when you don’t have the space to really put anything in your tiny NYC apartment. However we still have room on our walls, so we did end up with some amazing tin initials and a tin star to hang. I am not sure what I am going to do with them yet, but expect a crafty post in the future. As an added antiquing bonus, I also got to see an amazing display of antique tin containers and the most epic braid that I have ever seen!!! OK, so maybe I was pretending to take a photo of the display, just so I could snap a photo of this braid, but how can you blame me!? I have to admit that the display was pretty epic though.

Burlington, VT

On Sunday, we set out on a day full of adventures, but my favorite adventure that we had that day was the time that we spent in Burlington. The downtown feels a lot like Boulder Colorado, and I loved the shops and restaurants that we spent hours exploring. I of course had to commemorate the trip and get a t-shirt to match the scenery.

To rest your feet, stop into the East Shore Vineyard tasting room in downtown for a little afternoon break and vino. They have a nice outdoor seating area, where you can enjoy some sunshine, vino and people watching.

After a lot of window-shopping we headed into American Flatbread and Zero Gravity Brewery for dinner, a super amazing wood fire pizza place and brewery. Derika does not even really like pizza that much and she loved this place. Thin crust pizza with really fresh amazing toppings and craft beer…how can you go wrong!? I just found out that they have one in NYC and I can’t wait to go, it is seriously one of the best pizzas that I have ever had.

After dinner we stopped off at Lake Champlain at the end of town for a sunset. I have always heard about this lake, but I never really knew much about it. Holy cow is it beautiful!! The weather was chilly, but I have to say that it had one of the best sunsets that I have ever seen.

Windsor, VT

On Monday we headed home, but not without stopping at Harpoon Brewery for a quick snack and a pint before we hit the road.

Boy, am I glad that we did. It turns out that this brewery is located in a little adult wonderland called Artisan Park. In this park you will find Harpoon Brewery, a sustainable farmer store, Silo Distillery and a glass blowing outlet store. My favorites were the brewery, the farmer store and the distillery. The distillery is located in a beautiful barn, the spirits were amazing and they are the only distillery in the world that makes lavender vodka. Unfortunately it was not ready for purchase yet…Break my heart!

Deerfield, MA

If you are not in a rush to get home, and if you did not spend the whole afternoon at the artisan park, then I would recommend stopping in Deerfield, MA. I know that it is not in Vermont, but it worth the stop. The Yankee Candle Flagship store is here and I have to say that I have never seen anything like it. They claim to be the SCENTER OF THE UNIVERSE….cute!

It is like the Disney World of candle stores! You could spend all day here buying candles, eating ice cream, making your own candles, shopping, hanging out in the holiday room where it snows every 4 minutes, grabbing lunch at their cafe, or hanging out with Santa (who was in his street clothes) in the courtyard painting pumpkins with the kids!!!

Try to time it so that you leave Deerfield before rush hour traffic and hopefully you will be home in time for a later dinner. I hope that you are having an amazing fall and get out and enjoy some of the fall colors before the snow comes!

Happy Leaf Peeping!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Uncategorized. This post has no comments yet.

I can’t believe it, but my Glitter Spice blog is turning 2 years old today! Time goes by so fast when you are doing something that you love. Thanks to everyone for your support and feedback, and for visiting my small space on the interwebs.

To celebrate I am going to start a new themed blog post called This & That Thursdays. My hope is that at least twice a month, I will share with you a handful of things that I am currently obsessing over. Since I have so much to share, I expect it to be a little bit all over the place to start…so I hope you enjoy the ride.

In order to avoid the issue of posting photos other than my own, I am just going to attach links to the words ‘This’ and ‘That’, hence the name for these posts. Sooooo creative I know, but I could not think of a better name. As always, I appreciate any and all feedback. I hope you find some new and exciting items to add to your kitchen supplies, some fun places to travel and some new inspirations for gettin’ crafty.

Enjoy!

I am on a reading kick and I just got done reading this. I have read all of her books and love every single one. If you have any good book recommendations, I would love to hear them.

Since I have yet to make my own, I am getting ready to fight the cold season by stocking up on this.

I try to do at least one nice thing for a homeless person each week. I am currently in love with the Instagram account of this lovely hair stylist in NYC. So inspiring! #BeAwesomeToSomebody

I am always looking for new ways to be a bit more eco-friendly. My friend Alyson has an Eco-Lifestyle blog and she just shared this amazing video on how to save paper towels. I will never look at or use a paper towel the same way.

We leave for Thailand on Halloween and I just found out we are going to be there during this festival! Bucket list item…Check! So Obsessed!

I want to put this stuff on everything!

This teeny shell just came out with a new video and it just made my year.

I can’t really handle how cute this is!

Cheers and Candy Corn!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under This & That Lists. This post has 4 comments.

It is spaghetti squash season and I couldn’t be more excited! Spaghetti Squash is so versatile and goes great in Italian and Thai dishes. I was in the mood for Italian so I decided to whip up my Baked Spaghetti Squash dish. I tried to pick out the smallest spaghetti squash that I could find, since there wasn’t a price on any of them and I was only cooking for two. I got up to the register and even though the squash was tiny it still cost me $6.75!? WTF! Oh how I love NYC and it ridiculous prices…spaghetti squash is supposed to be in season right now!

Of course on my way home from yoga this morning the other market has them on sale for $.69 cents per pound. Go figure! Since I bought the high-end, gold lined, pricey squash up the street, I wanted to squeeze every last ounce of goodness out of it. I have never roasted spaghetti squash seeds, but this squash that I bought was loaded with them so I thought that I would give it a try. I love home roasted pumpkins seeds, and I figured that there probably isn’t much of a difference between cooking the two. I went with a simple approach to roasting these seeds and I was right…they are just like pumpkin seeds! Now whenever I need a home roasted seed fix, I know where to find some great seeds!

Here is what you will need:

Ingredients

Olive Oil or oil of choice
Truffle Salt or your favorite salt to taste
Spaghetti Squash Seeds

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Remove seeds from squash and rinse well in a colander.
3. Dry thoroughly using paper towels.

4. In a small mixing bowl, combine seeds, olive oil, and truffle sea salt.

* Each squash will have a different amount of seeds in it, so it is hard to put a specific measurement of oil and salt in the recipe. Just make sure that all of your seeds are very lightly covered in oil and have a light sprinkle of your favorite salt on them.*

5. Spread seeds on ungreased cookie sheet making sure none are touching.

Voila! You have now just become a seed-roasting machine. Stay tuned for some fun pumpkin seed recipes! You can eat these seeds right out of the oven or you can save them to sprinkle on top of your favorite salad or squash soup.

Happy Roasting!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Spaghetti Squash. This post has no comments yet.

Fall has arrived in NYC and Derika and I have been traveling every weekend that we have a free minute. We want to squeeze every last ounce out of the nice weather that we have been having, and we are trying to check a few more states off of our bucket list. Between checking out all of the great things in and around NYC and hosting houseguests, we have pretty much been going nonstop. All of it has been so much fun and I would not change it, but it does make keeping a regular routine a bit rough. Traveling and house guest hosting allows me to do and try a lot of new things and food that I would not normally try in my daily life, but in return I tend to not make the best choices when there are so many temptations…Oktoberfest, wine tasting, rooftop bars, pizza slices…bah!

With the weather changing, I have not really been in the mood to pump my body with cold green juice, to undo some of the bad choices that I have made over the past few weeks. So I had an idea to make a savory veggie packed green soup, blend the heck out of it, so that I could easily heat it up and consume it out of mug while I got ready in the morning. What I ended up with was a lovely warming soup that gave me the kick-start that I needed. It also helped me to feel less guilty when a pizza slice mysteriously appears on my plate. 😉

Ingredients

4 Medium Zucchini, chopped
C String Beans, split in 2 with ends removed
1 C Celery, chopped
1 Bunch Parsley, stems removed
3 Garlic Cloves, peeled
1/2 Inch Ginger, peeled
5 C Low Sodium Veggie Broth or Filtered Water
1 Tsp Turmeric
1/2 Tsp. Cayenne
1 Tsp. Granulated Garlic
Sea Salt, to taste (Truffle or Himilayan are lovely)
Ghee (optional)

Directions

1. Place broth, zucchini, string beans, and celery in a stockpot.

2. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for about 15 minutes or until vegetables are softened but not over cooked.

3. Spoon the mixture 2 cups at a time into a blender / Vitamix (Vitamix is amazing for this recipe), add a handful of parsley, 1 tsp. of ghee (optional), the ginger, garlic and liquefy. I usually pulse a few times to get it started. Then run it on high until you reach your desired consistency. If you have a lot of room in your blender you can just add another 2 cups of the mixture to your pureed soup and blend. Continue this process for the rest of the mixture.

4. To thicken the broth and enhance the healing properties, add a teaspoon of ghee to each blender batch.

5. Once you have processed all of the soup and it is in the pot, add the spices and stir.

6. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 10 minutes to get rid of some of the bubbles.

7. Adjust salt and pepper to taste and add more water or stock if it is too thick.

Feel free to play with the relative proportions of the various ingredients, and you can even add some kale if you are feeling sassy.

To make this a quick grab and go breakfast. I stored the soup in mason jars so that it could be quickly heated up in the morning and then transferred into a to go cup.

Hopefully this soup is a lovely addition to your morning, and gives you the jumpstart that you are looking for to get back on track with your daily routine.

Happy Fall!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Garlic, Ginger, Green Beans, Zucchini. This post has 2 comments.

Over Labor Day weekend Derika and I took a small road trip up to Maine, since it is one of the few states that she still has to check off her list before she has been to all 50. Next up is Vermont for a fall color change trip, and then we will have to figure out how to get her to South Dakota to check the last state off of her list! I didn’t know much about Maine before our trip, and the only place on my list to see in Maine was Portland. Unfortunately, due to the holiday weekend it was impossible to find an affordable place to stay. So I jumped on Airbnb and just looked up affordable places that were available in Maine that weekend. I ended up settling on an adorable place with a great view in a cute town called Belfast Maine. It was close to a bunch of small towns that I figured would make great day trips. So off we went!

Portland, ME

We left NYC super duper early on Friday to beat the crazy holiday traffic. On our way to Belfast we stopped in Portland, ME for lunch at a vegetarian place called the Green Elephant. I know it probably seems weird to go to a vegetarian restaurant in Maine, but I figured I would squeeze some vegetarian food in before we got to chowder and lobster roll country. Green Elephant was an Asian Fusion vegetarian place and their food was amazing. Definitely check it out if you are ever in the area and do a little window-shopping in the great downtown area. I would love to go back to Portland Maine to spend the weekend. So cute!

Belfast, ME

We arrived in Belfast on Friday evening; got settled and then strolled to a fantastic place called Three Tides. Our place that we were staying in was walking distance to downtown Belfast, so it made strolling around super convenient. They have a brewery that is attached to Three Tides, that has a great patio overlooking the water with a huge fire pit where you can grab a happy hour cocktail and hang out.

We were not in Belfast much, but we did manage to grab dinner one of the nights that we were there. I had done some digging and read that Darby’s Restaurant claimed to be a local favorite that was known for its pad thai…What!? So of course we had to go there! We ended up ordering their baked Jarlsberg dip and their pad thai. Both of which were very decadent, but surprisingly good and I would recommend checking it out on your visit.

Camden, ME

On Saturday we headed out to a town called Camden. We got lucky and they were having their Windjammer festival. We spent the morning snacking around town, hanging out at the festival and window-shopping. Camden is super teeny, adorable and beautiful…it actually has a river running right underneath some of the buildings, that you just have to see to believe.

Rockland, ME

I had no idea how close all of the towns were, we were actually able to hit Rockland for lunch, so Derika could get a lobster roll and so I could document it. We settled on a cute place called Claws. They have a great patio and if you are vegetarian they also have a veggie mac and cheese and a decent beer selection. I was just in it for the photos and the cocktails, so I enjoyed a local beer while Derika let me document her enjoying the lobster roll. I was surprised by the simplicity of the lobster roll. It is basically a buttered roll that you can get laced with lettuce and then filled with a bunch of lobster that is served cold. I thought that it would be loaded with cheesy goodness and other stuff and served warm…my mind was blown! Something so simple and people seem to go bananas for them!

Lincolnville, ME

After Rockland we still had plenty of time to be adventurous, so we decided to work our way back to Camden and stop at anything along the way that caught our eye. We ended up hitting up the Cellar Door Winery in Lincolnville. Who doesn’t love a good winery with complementary tastings!? We did not leave with any wine, but we had a nice time. While we were there, I did learn that most of the wineries in this area get their grapes shipped from the west coast to make their wine…which I was super surprised by! I guess it kind of makes sense based off of how cool the weather can be on the east coast.

While we were in Lincolnville we also stopped at Lincolnville Beach so we could twinkle our toes in the sand, and so I could get a photo of Derika by this great sign…love it!

Rockport, ME

The last town that we hit before making it back to Camden was Rockport and we got there just in time for happy hour and a bite to eat. There were two super cute restaurants in this teeny town, so we decided to grab a beverage at one and a bite to eat at the other. We had a beverage at Shepard’s Pie, because it opened before the other place that we wanted to check out. The drinks were out of this world and I wish that we had more time to go back and actually eat there. If I am ever in the area again, I would for sure hang out there for dinner and a beverage or two.

After Shepard’s Pie we walked over to the Salt Water Farm because they were finally open and we wanted to check out their patio. Unfortunately, the patio was full when we got there, so we just hung out by the bar, had a cocktail and some snacks and watched the chefs cook in the open-air kitchen. The atmosphere was great and the food was awesome. Rockport is tiny, but they have amazing restaurants! After a light bite to eat we rolled ourselves home for an evening of cards and vino.

On Sunday we did not have much of a game plan, but I knew that I wanted to check out Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. We thought that we would head in the direction of the park and decide what to do once we got there. Of course I got distracted along the way. I had no idea that Labor Day weekend in Maine was flea market central! I love FLEA MARKETS for the rare finds and the people watching, so of course we had to stop at at least three and that was me restraining myself!

I only scored a cute necklace for $3. It is kind of hard to really enjoy a flea market when your NYC apartment really can’t hold much more, I still had a great time though!

Ellsworth, ME

On your way to Bar Harbor you will pass through Ellsworth. If it is during blueberry season in August, YOU have to stop at one of the blueberry stands! But don’t just stop by any blueberry stand, stop by the Blueberry Stand with the Conveyor Belt! A cute family runs it and you can actually watch the blueberries being sorted and packaged right before your eyes! I was lame and did not get a video, but you can click on the link above and check out another blog that got the blueberry conveyor in action. I had no idea that a blueberry conveyor belt even existed! While you are there you might as well have a slice of homemade pie made by a sweet little grandma and buy some fresh blueberries for road trip snacking!

To work off the pie and the blueberries you can stop off at the Big Chicken Barn Books and Antiques. This place is epic and if antiques and books are your thing you could literally spend all day there digging through the treasures! It has a whole floor of antiques and a whole floor of books!

On your way to or from Bar Harbor you might as well stop at Pat’s Pizza, which claims to have famous pizza. I can’t pass up a pizza that claims to be famous, so we had to pop in to taste test. Their pizza was pretty tasty, the restaurant is huge and their serve all of their cocktails in pint glasses! Winning!

Bar Harbor, ME

We finally made it to Acadia, but decided to just drive by and head into Bar Harbor, since I spent so much time sightseeing along the way. Next time we will check out Acadia National Park! Bar Harbor was a lot bigger than we thought it was going to be and we spent the rest of the afternoon there bumming around. It is so big in fact, that it actually had 2 cruise ships docked in their port when we arrived. Since the town was busting with tourists we decided to jump into CherryStones for a beverage and hoped that the crowd would dissipate once we were through. This place was packed, but we got a seat on the patio and got to enjoy some live music and a cocktail while the crowd died down a bit.

After the cruise ships left the port we ducked into Bar Harbor Brewing Company tasting room so that I could check out their blueberry beer. I love blueberry beer and I had only had Sea Dogs before this. I really liked Bar Harbor Brewing’s version and if you are in town, you should give it a try. Julia the Mystical Traveling Unicorn liked it too!

The last stop in downtown Bar Harbor was Stewman’s Lobster Pound which looks like it had an amazing menu if you enjoy all things lobster and seafood. The patio is fantastic and the drinks were not too shabby either! Once again served in a pint glass… I love cocktails in Maine!

Our last stop on the way out of Bar Harbor was Bar Harbor Cellars Winery. I wished that I had not already eaten pizza that day because their pizzas smelled amazing. They have an amazing outdoor seating area, and there is also a food truck next door where you can get lobster rolls. So basically this is a win win situation if you are traveling with a group! We did end up grabbing some wine at this winery. We really fell in love with their Pinot Noir and their blueberry fruit wine. I am generally not a huge fan of fruity wines, but this wine will be a crowd pleaser served with a splash of soda water the next time we host brunch. Who wants to come over?? After a fun day of town hopping we headed back to Camden for a quiet evening at our place with some vino from Bar Harbor Cellars.

Bangor, ME

The weekend flew by and on Monday we already had to head home. As we were barreling down the highway I saw a sign for Sea Dog Brewing Company, (the other brewery that makes blueberry beer!) so we had to stop. I wish I was hungry for lunch, but we had a late breakfast and just decided to get a beer flight. I had no idea there was a Sea Dog in Bangor, and I have to say that their blueberry beer was still my favorite of all of the tasters that we tried. Definitely stop here for a taster and some food if you are in the area. They have an amazing patio overlooking the water.

That about does it for our Double D adventure weekend in Maine. I feel like we barely scratched the surface, but that just gives us an excuse to go back 🙂 Hopefully during blueberry season so I can see the blueberry conveyor belt again!

Happy Traveling and Blueberries!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Uncategorized. This post has 2 comments.

Dear sweet sweet mac n’ cheese how I love you so. Macaroni and cheese is one of my favorite foods and guilty pleasures. I have loved it since my mom use to make it for me with cheese whiz and celery way back in the day. Over the years my mac n’ cheese recipe has been constantly evolving, and it has become a bit more gourmet…but it still has the celery in it in honor of my mom. I have been playing around with this recipe for years, but I finally perfected it when we lived in Seattle many moons ago.

Lucky for me, I had friends that also loved mac and cheese, and they had the brilliant idea to have a mac and cheese cook-off. I mean come on! A cook-off filled with vino, a sea of mac and cheese and good friends, how could you go wrong!? Each year we lived in Seattle the competition got more and more stiff, and I always came just shy of placing in the top three. The last year that we lived there, I was gearing up for our mac n’ cheese get together, and I was thinking about all of the other contenders that won the contest the years before. The one thing that they had in their mac and cheese that I did not was BACON! How can a vegetarian compete with Bacon!? I brainstormed for days and finally had the brilliant idea to make a veggie mac that made people think there was bacon in it without the bacon. How in the heck did I do this you ask? The secret is in the cheese. I sprinkle smoked gouda over the top of my mac and cheese before I bake it, and it adds a lovely bacony/smoky flavor that will fool some of the biggest bacon/meat lovers. This secret ingredient was the key to my success and I dominated the competition that year…Winning!

My prize was a trophy and bragging rights for a year…I will take it! If the whole bacon thing weirds you out, just omit the smoked gouda from the top of this dish, and I promise you that this recipe will still knock your socks off…just promise me that before you knock the smoked gouda you will at least try it.:)

As a general rule on this blog, I try to post recipes that are somewhat healthy and simple to make. However, there is just something so magical about mac and cheese that I didn’t want to cut too many corners, because then what is the point really!? I can’t use fake cheese, don’t make me, I just can’t. I have tried time and time again to like it, and honestly I think it melts weird and tastes like rubber. I would much rather go without, but then it would just be macaroni and veggies…not so fun! To make me feel a little better about eating the whole casserole dish, I did an experiment and cut out all of the gluten and I loaded it with some of my favorite veggies. To my surprise, the gluten free elements in this dish held their own, and I will be making it this way from here on out. However, if you want to go full throttle, you can use regular pasta, flour and panko and it will taste just as amazing. So this is basically like a choose your own adventure mac and cheese recipe, and I hope you enjoy the adventure just as much as I do!

INGREDIENTS

SAUCE

2.5 TBS Ghee or Butter
3 TBS Gluten Free Baking Flour or Regular Flour
2 C Almond Milk or Whole Milk
4 C Shredded Cheese (I use 1 C Sharp Cheddar, 2 C Pepper Jack, 1/2 C Smoked Gouda, 1/2 C White American)
1/2 Tsp. Chipotle Chili Powder
1/2 Tsp. Granulated Garlic

PASTA

8 oz. Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta Elbows Gluten Free (1 box) or Regular Pasta
1 C Smoked Gouda for topping, optional secret ingredient
1 C Gluten Free Panko Crumbs or Regular Panko Bread Crumbs
1/2 Tsp. Chipotle Chili Powder
5 C Veggies (I used 1 diced cup of each…celery, white onion, broccoli, and 2 cup kale)
1 Jalapeno, diced with most of the seeds removed (optional)
Pepper, to taste
Patience

DIRECTIONS

To Prepare Veggies

Melt 1 tsp. of Ghee in a saucepan.
Add the veggies, jalapeno (if you are using one) and a pinch of pepper and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Just enough to take the edge off, you still want them to be a bit crispy. Set aside.

*Note – Celery might sound weird as one of my veggies of choice, but it adds an awesome crunch and texture contrast to the mac and cheese. If you hate celery, add at least one other veggie to the veggie mix that has an equal crispness to celery.

To Prepare Pasta

Cook pasta 2 minutes less than package directions. (It will finish cooking in the oven.) If you are using the gluten free pasta only cook it for 4-5 minutes
Rinse pasta in cold water, drain well and set aside.

To Prepare Sauce

Melt 2 TBS ghee or butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat and whisk in the flour. Continue whisking and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Slowly add milk, whisking constantly.
Cook until sauce thickens, about 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat. Add cheeses, chili powder and granulated garlic. Stir until cheese is melted and all ingredients are incorporated, about 3 minutes. Set aside.

To Prepare Mac N’ Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Butter or oil an 8-inch baking dish.

3. Add pasta, and veggies to the finished cheese sauce; mix carefully but thoroughly.

4. Scrape the pasta into the prepared baking dish.

5. Sprinkle top with smoked gouda, panko and then the chili powder.

6. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes or until bubbling. If the panko is not browned when you take it out of the oven, set it under the broiler on high for 3-4 minutes. Keep an eye on it, because it can go from perfect to burned in 2.5 seconds.

This is where your patience comes into play. Let the mac and cheese hang out for about 5 minutes before serving. This will prevent the liquid gold aka cheese sauce from scorching every inch of your mouth as you are shoveling it in.

Happy Mac n’ Cheesing!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Broccoli, Cheese, Onions, Pasta. This post has 4 comments.

Ingredients

Directions

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

Ingredients

Garlic, Salt & Peppers Seeds

Smoked Paprika Seeds

‘Cheezy’ Seeds

Directions

Woodstock, VT

Quechee, VT

Burlington, VT

Windsor, VT

Deerfield, MA

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Directions

Ingredients

Directions

Portland, ME

Belfast, ME

Camden, ME

Rockland, ME

Lincolnville, ME

Rockport, ME

Ellsworth, ME

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INGREDIENTS

SAUCE

PASTA

DIRECTIONS

To Prepare Veggies

To Prepare Pasta

To Prepare Sauce

To Prepare Mac N’ Cheese

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