Walking Tour and Getting Lost

Thursday, May 12, 2011

The hotel breakfast had a lot to offer (and it was Free for us!).  There was different meats, cheeses, hard-boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, yogurt, fruit, and juices.  I started out the day with a yogurt, fruit salad, and a thick slice of Italian bread with mixed fruit jam, and of course, a cup of coffee!

We were given a headphone set and split into 2 groups.  The weather was perfect with clear blue skies and the sun shining with temperatures in the mid 70s.

We began at the Colosseum and learned about the history. We did not get to see the inside due to lack of time.  The site of the Colosseum just made my trip feel very real.  I still can not believe I am here in this beautiful country!  From there you are able to see the Arch of Constantine.  Next we traveled down the street to the Piazza Venezia.  There stands the Monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II, also known as “The Wedding Cake” And Palazzo Venezia.

Next was the Trevi Foutain where I threw a coin with my right arm over the left shoulder!!  Next was the Pantheon, which was stunning.  A group in there that was visiting began to sing.  Their sound was amazing and so mesmerizing.  The tour ended at Piazza Novona and the Four Rivers Fountain, which is a popular known market area.

Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

Without knowing where we were heading for lunch, Me, Liz, Erica, Shep, and Becca made our way in a direction we thought was the Trevi fountain.  We had seen a delicious looking pizza shop that we wanted to go back to.  We ran into what looked like what Americans would call “the shopping district.”  We weren’t too upset!  We found another place that sold pizza by the slice.  We all ordered a roasted tomato, basil, mozzarella pizza. 

After being lost and asking people if the spoke English to help us, we finally made it back to the hotel that we had been searching for 3 hours.  Tonight the entire group in meeting at Piazza Novona (where our tour ended) to walk to Trastevere area and of course eat more of Italians wonderful cuisine!  Hopeful not to get lost again!

Arrival to ROMA!!!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

After a long flight from Cleveland to DC to Rome, we finally made it to Rome Airport at 8:30 AM.    After finally getting off the plane to look out the window, all we could see were airplanes, construction, and trees in the distance. Reminded us of what any other city in America looks like when getting off the plane!!  We were extremely anxious to see what Rome had to offer.  Once we went through customs and found our luggage we had to wait for the ISA (International Study Abroad) representatives to come pick us up.  In the mean time we found other ISA students waiting to be picked up.  We all sat and chatted when finally 2 women with big smiles on their faces came forth waving signs that said “ISA.” They introduced themselves as Lucia, the Resident director, and Perla, the assistant director.

Once everyone arrived we boarded a charter bus and headed into the city to our hotel, Grande Hotel Palatino.  All I have to say is that Italian drivers are CRAZY!  Once we arrived to the hotel we were told to drop off our luggage and go to lunch since we were unable to check into our rooms until 2:00 PM.  We ate at a caffe down the street from our hotel where I had a Café Americano (so strong!) and an Eggplant and Mozzarella Panini.  Both delicious choices!

At Cleveland Airport ready to board our flight to DC

We were finally able to check into the hotel to get ready for Orientation and a bus tour. The bus tour made it difficult to see everything that the tour guide was pointing out, since we were in a charter bus.  We went past the Colloseum, Piazza Venezia, Villa Borghese, Arch of Constantine, and much more.  Tomorrow we have a 3-hour walking tour and will be able to see much more, learn a lot more about the history, and take beautiful pictures!

For dinner we went to a ristourante off the main street. I ordered Spaghetti A La Carbornara, and Rome specialty. The night ended with Pistacchio Gelato.  Now with 36 straight hours of being awake, it is time for my first nights sleep in Italy!!

My first Gelato in Italy :)

Ciao!

Molly Jean

My Study Abroad Adventure Begins!

At this time tomorrow I will be en route to Italy! I am studying abroad in Italy for three and a half weeks which will fulfill my elective rotation of my dietetic internship!! I will be joined by two other classmates, Erica and Liz.   The three of us will be staying in an apartment with two other girls, and studying and Florence University.  The class we will be taking is "Food, Culture, and Society."  In the class we will discuss the history of Italian culture, as well as the present moment.  The class will also have a few days of cooking and wine tasting!  Sounds perfect to me!!

Right now I have a mix of emotions.  I am so excited and thankful to have this opportunity to travel and study in one of the most beautiful countries in the world!  Italy is one of my top five places in the world that I would like to visit and I am thrilled to be going at such a great time and place in my life.  I am feeling confident in traveling overseas, since I have done so in the past (to Ireland and France with my family).  But, along with my excitement, I am incredibly nervous and overwhelmed.  I have never traveled so far on my own for this long.  There is always something uneasy about leaving my family, friends, and boyfriend, no matter how long I am gone.  But, I have the best family and friends a person can ask for.  All have helped to put my fears away and help to prepare myself for what is ahead!  This is a once in a life time chance!! There is no room for worrying.  Especially with all the exciting and beautiful Italian sites and delicious mouth watering food I am about to see and taste (and even cook!).

Packing was a little difficult... I always over-pack, but this is no trip to over-pack for, especially since I need plenty of room for souvenirs!

Hoping everything fits and is under 50 pounds

First official fitting = complete failure

Finally done!

I would like to thank my wonderful parents for allowing me to take this wonderful opportunity.  (I love you mom and dad!!)  My father studied abroad in France and my brother Kevin studied abroad in Switzerland (an now a Peace Corps volunteer in Azerbaijan).  Hearing about both experiences have always made me jealous in the fact that I never had the opportunity to study abroad.  My life in undergrad consisted of swimming, eating, sleeping, and studying.  As a student-athlete, there was just no time to study abroad anywhere!  But now, in grad school, the opportunity still awaits.  I finally get my chance to study abroad!! 

Please feel free to follow me now through June 4th to hear about my study abroad experience!

Ciao!

Molly Jean

Spicy Pesto

Whenever I have free time and watch TV the first station I usually tune into is the Food Network. Some of my favorite shows include Giada at Home with Giada De Laurentiis, Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten, and Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger.

Over the summer my parent's grew herbs outside in the backyard. We ended up with a ton of basil and made pesto in bulk to freeze. Basil is expensive to buy, especially for the amount you need to make a batch of pesto! About a month ago I was watching Giada at Home and saw she was making a pesto. It definitely was not your traditional pesto. The pesto did not involve basil. The greens used were arugula, spinach, and a jalapeno! It also uses asiago cheese instead of parmesan, and walnuts instead of pine nuts. The recipe on the Food Network

website is Fusilli with Spicy Pesto. The ingredients needed for the pesto are:

Pesto:

• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1 (2-inch long) red or green jalapeno pepper, stemmed and coarsely chopped
• 2 cups grated (4 ounces) Asiago cheese
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 ounces baby spinach
• 3 ounces arugula
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Just mix the ingredients in a food processor (or blender). If you don't want want it too spicy you just have to remove the seeds from the jalapeno pepper. I ended up removing a majority in them since I don't like things to be too spicy- BUT I actually wish I left atleast half, if not all of the seeds in. There just wasn't enough kick! I also served it with a pasta called Cavatappi instead of Fusilli. You can use any pasta you want! I also used chicken. You can use shrimp, tofu, or any other meats, as well.

Best part about the meal is that it is simple and doesn't take long to make! Dinner can be ready in less than 15 minutes!

Molly Jean

Tuna Noodle Casserole

I finally made Tuna Noodle Casserole for the first time today. It seems almost absurd that I haven't made it yet. I just used Campbell's Cream of Celery soup can recipe and voila!

Ingredients

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
1/2 cup milk
1 cup Birds Eye® Sweet Garden Peas
2 tablespoons chopped pimientos
2 cans (about 6 ounces each) tuna, drained
2 cups medium egg noodles, cooked and drained
2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions

Heat the oven to 400°F. Stir the soup, milk, peas, pimientos, if desired, tuna and noodles in a 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Stir the bread crumbs and butter in a small bowl.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the tuna mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the tuna mixture. Sprinkle with the bread crumb mixture.

Bake for 5 minutes or until the bread crumb mixture is golden brown.

I didn't add the Peas. I'm not a picky eater by any means. I love my fruits and vegetables, but when it comes to peas.... I just don't like/care for them. I think they are pointless for any recipe. They just make recipes taste bad! Plus, they just remind me of baby food.

Tuna Noodle Casserole is definitely a staple for a cheap and quick dinner (less than 30 minutes!) and is the perfect comfort food for a cold winter day! With the casserole I also made a garden salad and fresh steamed green beans, both of which I prepared while the casserole was in the oven!

You can make this dish healthier by using a 98% fat free Campbell's Cream of broccoli soup, skim milk, and less or no butter with the bread crumbs. Be sure you are using tuna packed in water.

Cooking Light also has a recipe. This one may take a little more time. Also, the calories are still up there at 422 per serving, as well as 756 mg of sodium. It might just be better to stick with Campbell's easy recipe and Just follow the tips to make it lighter than the original recipe!

Thanks for reading!

Molly Jean

Frozen Meals

I'm not very big on recommending frozen entrees. They are usually very high in sodium, fat, unnatural ingredients, low in fiber, vegetables, and protein.

But lets face it-- sometimes you just don't want to cook. There are healthier frozen meal entrees out there. I just recently tried Kashi's Mayan Harvest Bake

This was the first time I had tried Kashi's frozen entrees and I give it an A+! It was so full protein, fiber, and flavor. It is also low in calories (340). It's also lower in sodium than most frozen entrees (380 mg) and high in protein (9g)! Plus it had 2 of my favorite foods, sweet potatoes and black beans!! Here are the nutrition facts:

I also recommend Kashi's TLC granola bars for a quick and filling snack. You may have to try a few flavor's before picking out which one you like the most! Also, I'm not too keen on their cereals (Even though the commercial says it doesn't taste like cardboard, I think that most do!). But, I do enjoy Heart to Heart Cereal: Honey Toasted Oats. You can use it as a cereal with low-fat milk or vanilla soy milk, etc... or also use it to make a trail mix by adding some nuts, such as almonds, and dried fruit, such as raisins or dried cranberries! I'm looking forward to trying more of Kashi's frozen entrees!

Thanks for reading!

Molly Jean

New Years Resolutions

I always laugh about new years resolutions. Mostly because it seems as though 99.9% of them deal with working out more and losing weight, which makes my month of January very difficult when it comes time to go workout. As a future Registered Dietitian, I realize that this is a difficult task to keep up. If you are strong willed, you can make it happen. I don't ever remember making a New Year's resolution in the past and I would really like to make one for myself.

Currently I am still in grad school and completing my dietetic internship. I have one more year left. Or, according to my countdown on iGoogle, I have 347 days until graduation. As every dietetic undergrad student, grad student, and intern knows, we are constantly stressed out and barely have anytime to do things for ourselves. So far that has been about 6 and a half years of my life. Therefore, I would like to make a resolution for myself to do something I enjoy. That is when I thought of this blog! It has been about 5 months since my first two posts. Yes, I probably had time, but when I had that small amount of free time all I wanted to do was absolutely nothing, or for some reason I would find it necessary to continue doing school work so that I would be ahead.

Therefore, my new years resolution is to try 2 to 3 new recipes I have never made and blog about them. They could be timeless recipes such as meatloaf, tuna noodle casserole, chicken noodle soup, lasagna, or even newer recipes, such as recipes from the stack of Cooking Light and Real Simple magazines I have laying in my room. Some could be healthy (sticking with practicing what I preach) and some just good old comfort food (still practicing what I preach... You can't exclude everything from your everyday eating lifestyle- P.S. I hate the word "diet"). I will also include some of my opinions on food fads and nutrition in the news!

I have no recipes for you today. But I have a very delicious looking picture.

These are cupcakes from MainStreet Cupcakes in Hudson, OH. My mom and I got these for my dad's birthday. Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake, Pink Champagne and Strawberrys, Chocolate Bubbly, Half Baked, and Cup of Java.

Happy New Year to all! Now I just have to think of which recipe I would like to try first!

-Molly Jean