Dominican Snacks

I brought back a few things to try from La Romana, Dominican Republic. I was planning on getting more at the Punta Cana airport but unfortunately we only had 7 minutes before boarding and I choose to grab a sandwich for the plane (fatty). The sandwich was actually not very enjoyable, it had sweet pickles in it! A little different.

This is a guava nectar juice box which was actually really good, it was sweet and strong flavored. I just got a wonderful idea: Guava Mimosas!

These are a bag of Plantain chips. Plantains are very popular in the Dominican, they look like a banana but are actually savory vs sweet which can be deceiving. In one of the restaurants in our resort for lunch they served chips and pico de gallo but instead of the typical tortilla chip they were plantain chips. These chips are 100% natural with only 3 ingredients of green plantain, oil and salt. I ate one, they were okay, kind of bland.

And lastly, what appears to be some sort of cookie. I know this is a processed food item, although I can’t read the ingredients because they’re in Spanish but I just wanted to try them and I only had one bite. The package has a stick of butter, an egg, pecans, and a strawberry on it. They were good, they reminded me of a pop tart and reminded Monkey of a fig newton.

I thought it would be a new fun thing to do to start going to ethnic grocery stores and buying random foods to try.

Thoughts? Questions? Comments?

❤ Shel

La Romana, Dominican Republic

Went to La Romana, Dominican Republic for a week! I love the Dominican! I should’ve taken more pics but I did take some food pics to share. I ate a lot….. Dinners are long when you consider 1-2 appetizer courses, entrée course and dessert course. Not having much of a sweet tooth I believe I only had a dessert two times. Like for real, lunches have a dessert course. I tried to eat lighter lunches like grilled fish, chicken, salads, etc and it was on average around 88′ and sunny so I didn’t have huge appetites during the day. But I suppose my midnight (or later) room service orders counteracted that…. I didn’t work out at all while on the trip but in my defense I did feel like I did a good amount of walking. 😉

Caprese salad

Shrimp cocktail with mango mousse

“Mixed Grill” it was fish, pork, steak, shrimp, veggies

They called this dish “Ham” it was prosciutto, melon and manchego cheese

I didn’t take a picture of the dish “Stewed Pigeon” I tried…..it wasn’t bad.

We traveled to Santo Domingo for a day and it was pretty interesting. Santo Domingo was the first place Christopher Columbus discovered of the new world. We visited a bunch of sites including the church where Columbus’s ashes were brought to, we had to cover our shoulders and legs with shawls to get in. We also had a tour of his family palace that had all their original furniture and belongings still inside. One thing I did notice about the town of Santo Domingo is that the toilets do not have toilet seats. Like for real, it’s just a tank. I thought at first that I must have just encountered a broken toilet but as the day went on I realized that was not the case.

This was taken on the balcony of Christopher Columbus’s family palace, a view of Santo Domingo.

I want to go back already! Actually I want to move there.

Thoughts? Questions? Comments?

❤ Shel

Miss Me?!

Hey all!

I took a little bit of a break from the blog and I also traveled to the Dominican Republic! I will be back to blogging this week! I am still trying to make healthier food changes, trying to not eat fast food and processed foods although I am not perfect. I have Dominican Republic foods to share with you as well as more healthy recipes that I’ve been making!

I was also thinking of doing this:

Thoughts? Questions?

❤ Shel

Welp I Ate Fast Food

Well I ate McDonalds. It was late and I hadn’t eaten and was on the road from Indianapolis to Chicago. I had a chicken sandwich and a few chicken nuggets (and a few fries). I wasn’t exactly excited about it but I’m not going to dwell on it either, life happens sometimes.
Went grocery shopping at Trader Joes yesterday and all I bought were fresh produce and proteins, I didn’t even look at the tempting frozen meal isles for anything I might want. I’m even switching Monkey over to whole grain pancakes (I make a big batch and freeze them in portions for him because I’m that awesome).
Although I did eat fast food I have also eaten some healthy stuff too.

I made a healthier egg salad over greens. I substituted some of the mayonnaise with sour cream, it was yummy.

I also whipped up a healthier version of chicken fried rice by substituting in brown rice (you can’t even tell the difference) and loading up on the veggies with onion, carrots, celery, scallions, red bell peppers. I was pretty pleased with it considering I normally buy frozen fried rice from Trader Joes because making it myself I know exactly what’s in it.

Questions? Thoughts? Want full recipes?
❤ Shel