Quick update & my personal faves

I'm still on The Fresh Diet delivery program. I renewed it for an additional 21 day cycle (so yes, that means it was good ;). I've taken photos of the new and interesting menu items I've been getting but have gotten a little backed up and haven't felt like mounting the task of arranging them all. I'll get to it eventually! It seems that the menu may be on a ~30 day revolving cycle, since I've started seeing duplicates of the daily menus. Not a bad thing; I'm giving some other options a try. So far, 30ish meals in, I can honestly say I haven't received a gnarly meal. They've all been good, if not really really good. I've only had one forgotten menu item one day (a key lime cheesecake) and they credited my account for that.

Here's a list of some of my favorite menu items:

Snacks

Any of the cheesecakes!! (especially peanut butter chip)

Sugar free banana bar w/Cream Cheese Frosting (tasted like banana bread and icing)

Chicken Apple Sausage (great, convenient snack)

Breakfast

Whole wheat blueberry waffles (they teaches you to appreciate the taste of the waffle, not the syrup and butter)

Blueberry cream cheese crepes w/Wild Berry Sauce (the sauce is what takes these to the next level)

Honey Roasted Granola w/Fresh Berries (if you love granola, this one is delicious and filling)

Lunch

Crab salad w/Yellow & Red Tomato, Celery, Lettuce & Blue Cheese Dressing (<3>

Antipasto Salad w/Prosciutto Ham, Baby Arugula, Roasted Bell Pepper, Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato & Balsamic Vinaigrette (it's like a caprese salad)

Grilled Chicken Breast on Whole Wheat Ciabatta w/Celery Sticks & Pistachio Pesto (tasted like a gourmet sandwich a la Panera; love their ciabatta bread)

Dinner

Turkey Chili Con Carne (very flavorful, plus I love chili)

Grilled London Broil w/Raspberry Chipotle Sauce (this was one of my two favorite dinners. The sauce is to die for and the steak was awesome. I would suggest this over the fillet of wild grouper option, which was kind of overly-fishy-tasting and not very good in my book)

Filet of Chilean Sea Bass w/Citrus Chipotle Sauce (I've had this twice and the first time was perfect. The sauce is awesome and the fish was cooked perfectly. The second time around, the fish was a little too chewy for my taste)

Sides: sweet potatoes (any side choice involving sweet potatoes has been good), creamy herbed quinoa, smoky maple baked beans, tri-color couscous

The Fresh Diet Day 15

Top left: Breakfast. Top right: Lunch. Middle left: Snack 1. Bottom middle: Snack 2. Bottom right: Dinner. 

Breakfast (10am): Honey Roasted Granola w/Assorted Fresh Berries & Coconut Yogurt

This breakfast was awesome! The granola was so sweet and mixed with the perfectly ripe fresh berries...YUMMY!! It was also quite filling, as it seemed like a hefty serving of wonderful-tasting granola. I guess I had been avoiding ordering the granola breakfast (since it seemed like a cheaper item when compared to an omelette or a waffle), but I'd definitely order it again. I think the only breakfast that can top this was the blueberry waffles w/cottage cheese. This would probably be my second favorite breakfast so far. The coconut yogurt was to die for as well. I should keep my eye out in the grocery store to see if I can get that flavor. I don't think I've seen it around. 

Lunch (12:40pm): Crab Salad w/Yellow & Red Tomato, Celery, Mesclun Lettuce & Blue Cheese Dressing

This salad was awesome! Well, it helps that I like crab meat a lot. It had a very sweet flavor to it, and I'm surprised they were serving Bleu Cheese Dressing, as I was under the impression that BCD wasn't so hot for dieting. The tomatoes were ripe and juicy-sweet, and even the lettuce was the perfect kind to go along with this salad mixture. Mmm, even hours later, I can recall the taste of this salad in my mouth. On the downside, I didn't find it to be very filling. For example, the grilled tuna salad: you had this HUGE portion of meat that kept me eating for 30 minutes. This one was gone in about 15 mins. I mean, the salad container was the same size and both were full containers. Nevertheless, I'd order this one again in a heartbeat.

Snack 1 (3:10pm): Roasted Baby Tomato Stuffed w/Gorgonzola Cheese

This took me about three bites to get through, so it was on the smaller side of snacks, but it was GOOD! It was way better than any of the stuffed mushrooms they have offered. The tomato was surprisingly firm enough to act as a really good "cup" for the mountain of cheese. I think they're trying to tell me cheese is a good snack. It comes as an accoutremont to a LOT of TFD's snack options. 

Dinner (6:20pm): Fillet of Wild Mahi Mahi w/Thai Ginger Chili Sauce w/Chipotle Spiced Whipped Sweet Potato & Cajun Rubbed Roasted Yellow Squash Spears

Well, lets start with the opinion that I found the two side dishes to be most pleasing. The cajun rub on the squash made it a lot more exciting that just plain-ole roasted squash, and the chipotle in the sweet potatoes was really poppin'! Very awesome; definitely liked the sides more than the fish. This is probably my least favorite fish dish so far. It was very flakey, but also very dry. I'm not a mahi mahi expert, maybe it's supposed to be dry or something, but it tasted fine. The sauce was good, but it wasn't outstanding like some of the others have been. It was actually quite hot, but I love hot 'n' spicy foods so I was cool with that. If this came up on a menu again, I'd shoot for the chicken offering instead of the Mahi. 

Snack 2 (9:30pm): Mango Cheesecake

This was good, but as I'm not the biggest fan of mango (I know I picked it, but I was less excited about the other options), so I'd have to rate it as my least favorite cheesecake so far. It definitely had a mango-ey flavor, but not overpoweringly so. I can say that in addition to enjoying the taste of TFD's cheesecakes, I also have been picking them frequently because I find them to be more food than the other options which are usually cookies, a muffin or some grilled fruit dessert. For instance, the grilled pineapple w/coconut I had the other day was very yummy, but it was gone in a flash and not very filling at all. I think it's important to savor your snacks and make them last as long as possible. I suppose the same holds true for all meals, so when the serving is so minute as to be gone in 20 seconds, you're feeling hungry in less than an hour. 

The Fresh Diet Day 14

Top left: Breakfast. Top right: Lunch. Middle left: Snack 1. Bottom middle: Snack 2. Bottom right: Dinner. 

Breakfast (9:45am): Strawberry Stuffed Whole Wheat French Toast w/Honeydew & Cinnamon Apple Yogurt

We already know I love TFD stuffed French Toast. I was really excited for this one because I love strawberries, and I was thinking the toast would be stuffed with strawberry halves, perhaps with some sweet strawberry juice/syrup inside. Well, the toast was good, but the strawberries didn't live up to my dreams. They were small, cubed pieces of strawberries filling the toast and weren't very sweet at all; more bitter, not necessarily totally ripe. They were okay, but if I were to do this dish myself, I'd give myself sweeter, larger strawberry halves. The yogurt was very good and the honeydew was good, maybe could have used two or three days more ripening for added sweetness. 

Lunch (12:25pm): Fresh Salmon & Mozzarella Cheese Melt on Spinach Tortilla w/Kalamata Olives

The flavor in this wrap was great, but the bad part was the salmon (at least I think it was the salmon, maybe it was olive juice) had caused the wrap to become VERY soggy on the bottom and the wrap tore on my first bite. It was very gooey bottom-side, so I flipped it upside down so that the whole thing didn't fall apart. It was a really good blend of ingredients, and the olives were very present in the mix, adding a whole lot of salty, olive-y flavor! The salmon inside was plentiful and very moist. I'd order it again on the condition of it not being so damn soggy. 

Snack 1 (3:25pm): Grilled Yellow Fin Tuna w/Snow Peas & Creamy Wasabi Sauce

This may be one of my favorite afternoon snacks, mainly because I love wasabi and all its hotness! Unlike the horseradish dips (which taste watered down to the point where you can hardly taste horseradish) this wasabi sauce was powerful! It was a pleasant light-green color, and it made this snack awesome! The tuna was grilled well and tasty, and the snow peas tasted great when paired with the sauce. It was a good serving size of tuna. The sauce got so intense at some points (I globbed it on there pretty well) that I had to stop and catch my breath and drink some water. If you don't like wasabi, this snack wouldn't be your best option unless you chose not to use the sauce, but I really feel you'd be missing out because it's really an awesome dipping experience  :) 

Dinner (6:30pm): Beef Kebab w/Peppercorn Brandy Sauce w/Sweet Potato Hash & Roasted Artichoke Hearts

This meal is probably going into my top 3 meals from TFD so far. The beef was perfectly pink in the middle and very juicy. The brandy sauce sort of acted as an au jous for the meat and was perfectly portioned (and didn't leak into my side dishes, which some of the more watery sauces tend to do). The meat was YUM-o, loved it! The sweet potato hash and artichoke hearts (both of which I've had as sides before) were yet again delicious. The sides were a 100% improvement from yesterday's side dishes, and MUCH more filling. It took me about 30 minutes to eat everything on my plate. Take THAT portion size!! 

Snack 2 (9pm): Coconut Cheesecake

Really good! What else can I say about it? You already know how much I love TFD's cheesecake  ;)

The Fresh Diet Day 13

Top left: Breakfast. Top right: Lunch. Middle left: Snack 1. Bottom middle: Snack 2. Bottom right: Dinner. 

Breakfast (10:40am): Fresh Fruit Salad w/Cantaloupe, Raspberry, Papaya, Banana, Pineapple & Banana Cottage Cheese

Everything was good, except for the raspberries being a little on the soft/turning brown side. The pineapple was my favorite, and I wasn't the biggest fan of banana-flavored cottage cheese. I much preferred the blueberry flavoring. 

Lunch (1:20pm): Roasted Artichoke Hearts & Four Cheese Panini on Whole Wheat Ciabatta

Really good! The melted cheeses (whatever kind they were) melted along with the artichoke and made this sandwich a winner. Lovin' that ciabatta bread! It makes every sandwich that much more filling. 

Snack 1 (3:50pm): Crab Cake w/Horseradish Dressing

Crab cake was yummy. The horseradish dressing could have used a bit more punch. I preferred to eat the crab cake w/out the dressing, just because the dressing wasn't adding anything to the flavor. It was good on its own. 

Dinner (6:30pm): Fillet of Wild Snapper w/Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto w/Roasted Baby Squash & Steamed Sugar Snaps

Fish was super-juicy and yum! The sun-dried tomato pesto was good, but not jaw-dropping good like some of their other sauces. TFD set their bar so high, I'm getting more picky/critical as the days move along  ;)  Roasted baby squash was good and the sugar snaps were okay. Nothing wrong with their preparation, I just wasn't a fan of the taste and didn't find the combination of the two sides to be very filling. I should have picked a rice or mashed something-or-other. 

Snack 2 (9pm): Coconut Chocolate Pudding

This didn't look like anything special at first glance, but my it was delicious! I liked it more than the cappuccino pudding, probably because it tasted more like a chocolate coconut pie rather than just straight-up large container of monotonous pudding. I LOVE coconut and the flavor of coconut was very present in this mix. The chocolate pudding on its own was good, but the toasted coconut made this snack taste 10xs better! 

The Fresh Diet Day 12

Top left: Breakfast. Top right: Lunch. Middle left: Snack 1. Bottom middle: Snack 2. Bottom right: Dinner. 

Breakfast (9am): Breakfast Burrito w/Scrambled Eggs, Sauteed Mushrooms, Pepper-Jack Cheese on Whole Wheat Tortilla

My favorite egg-inclusive breakfast dish so far! I'm a sucker for pepper jack cheese, and it helped this burrito out a lot. You know how sometimes it feels like you've just got too much egg in your mouth at one time? Maybe that's just a "me" thing, but the pepper jack cheese toned down the quantity of eggs a lot and made this wrap super yummy! The mushrooms were fine, but there didn't seem to be many in there, and they didn't add a lot to the flavor. I will say that this was a lot of food compared to the crepe breakfast. The wrap was sizeable. 

Lunch (12pm): Salad Nicoise w/Grilled Tuna, Tomato, Hard-Boiled Egg, Haricot-Vert, & Tomatillo Salsa

I've never had a "nicoise" salad before, but it was really good! The dressing/salsa had quite a spicy bite to it; a new experience to be eating a spicy salad. It wasn't overly spicy though, just interestingly enough so. The tuna was very good, but unfortunately it wasn't cut up into pieces (which I think would make sense), so I ended up just eating the whole big chunk of it. And by big chunk, I mean BIG CHUNK. It was a LOT of tuna, even a bigger portion of meat than my dinner! Overall, it was a very tasty salad and definitely a new taste for me, AND I was super-full afterwards!

Snack 1 (3:30pm): Prosciutto ham Wrapped Asparagus Tips

Very flavorful and crunchy! These were on the filling side when compared to other TFD snacks. I like my snacks to be more than two or three bites and these fit the bill. The Prosciutto ham added a good flavor kick. 

Dinner (6pm): Fillet of Lake Victoria Perch w/Puttanesca Sauce w/Tri-Color Couscous & Sweet Baby Peas

Oh my delicious fishy fishy! The fish was so tender, flakey and juicy! I don't understand how they make these meals survive the microwave so well. Usually when I reheat leftover fish, it is much drier than when I first received it at the restaurant. The sauce was very salsa-like, and although it was good, it wasn't as amazing as some of the other TFD dinner sauces I've tried. The perch was yummy enough to stand on it's own. The peas were sweet and fresh-tasting. The couscous was better than the sun-dried tomato couscous I had a week or so ago. It had a good flavor to it that I can't put my finger on, but it was enjoyable. 

Snack 2 (6:30pm): Sauteed Pineapple w/Key Lime Yogurt Topped w/Toasted Coconut Flakes

I ended up eating this right after dinner since we had an 8 hour drive ahead of us and I didn't want it to get all warm and mushy in the car. It definitely was delicious, however not quite as filling as a slice of cheesecake. The key lime yogurt was so good I totally could have gone for a little bit more. It was probably the smallest "snack 2" I've gotten thus far; a tiny slice of pineapple. 

The Fresh Diet Day 11

Top left: Breakfast. Top right: Lunch. Middle left: Snack 1. Bottom middle: Snack 2. Bottom right: Dinner. 

Breakfast (9:50am): Fresh Fruit Salad w/Cantaloupe, Raspberry, Papaya, Banana, Pineapple & Banana Ricotta Cheese

More ricotta cheese, LOL!! Well, the raspberries were blackberries, there was no papaya in the mix, but the fruit was very fresh and sweet. There were maybe two pieces of cantaloupe that were kind of hard (cut from closer to the hard exterior), but nothing a little ricotta cheese dip can't fix! I used up all my cheese this time. I think the more I keep eating the stuff, the more I realize that they're using it as a cottage cheese substitution and I'm getting used to the taste and texture of eating it solo. Still like the cottage cheese better. Anyhow, they must have gotten a great batch of pineapple b/c my pineapple yesterday and today was among the best, sweetest and juiciest I've ever eaten. 

Lunch (12:30pm): Roasted Leg of Lamb on Seven Grain Bread w/Watercress & Minted Yogurt Dressing

The minted yogurt dressing is great! The lamb is tasty, albeit a bit chewy, but this is lamb we're talking about here. Maybe I'm living in the dark ages, but I've never eaten a juicy, succulent, dripping-with-au jous lamb meal. It's always been kind of dry to me. Seeing as the lamb is a rascal to take a bite out of, I would suggest they cut their bread slices a little thicker so the bread isn't falling apart when taking bites. Overall, the flavor is great even though I don't order lamb on a regular basis. It's good to mix things up a bit! 

Snack 1 (3:10pm): Mushroom Crown Stuffed w/Creamy Broccoli

Very refreshing snack on a very hot day after a very intense, sweaty cardio workout!  The mushroom was a little soggy, but not bad. Probably a good sign that they're actually washing their mushrooms  ;) It didn't taste like it had any spices on it. It just tasted like a mushroom with pureed broccoli on top. Seems like a fairly straightforward dish to make. It was served on a bed of shredded lettuce. 

Dinner (5:30pm): Turkey Breast Roast w/Ginger Jerk Sauce w/Creamy Herbed Quinoa & Lemon Roasted Green Asparagus

Turkey was astonishingly juicy! The ginger jerk sauce was awesome; super hot! Definitely made my eyes water and my nose run! I appreciated that the sauce didn't run all over the plate tonight. It was a thicker sauce than last night's pomegranate. My love, the creamy herbed quinoa made a return tonight and it was just as good as the last time I had it! Wish it were on the menu more often. My side faves so far are the quinoa and servings involving sweet potatoes. The asparagus was the best it's ever been tonight, probably because it was roasted with some kind of flavor (what I've been sayin' all along!). So yeah, the turkey was juicy, definitely not dry, and was very yum yum. 

Snack 2 (9:30pm): Maple Cheese Cake

Yes I know, I've ordered cheesecake three days in a row now, but I'm lovin' it! No worries, tomorrow is something distinctly NOT cheesecake  ;)  What can I say? It was reeeeeeally good, yet again. This one tasted more like classic cheesecake. I can't say I tasted a maple flavor at all, but that's okay because I LOVE CHEESEcake! 

The Fresh Diet Day 10

Top left: Breakfast. Top right: Lunch. Middle left: Snack 1. Bottom middle: Snack 2. Bottom right: Dinner. 

Breakfast (7:40am): Cherry Vanilla Ricotta Cheese Crepes w/Fresh Pineapple

I would have to say I much preferred my first order of crepes as compared to these. I think it was the wild berry sauce on the other ones that made them awesome. Again, as with yesterday's breakfast, I felt like I was just eating too much ricotta cheese, except this time the ricotta was overpowering within the crepe wrapper. These weren't bad, but I wouldn't order them again. It was like the ricotta cheese texture plus overly-sweet flavor was just too much for me. The fresh pineapple was awesome, though! So breakfast wasn't a total loss   ;)

Lunch (11:10am): Antipasto Salad w/Prosciutto Ham, Baby Arugula, Roasted Bell Pepper, Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato & Balsamic Vinaigrette

This salad had a lot going on in it! The roasted bell peppers were surprisingly sweet and really very good. As you know already, I LOVE fresh mozzarella, so there's no going wrong there. The prosciutto ham was a new taste for me, but it was also very, very good. The arugula was a little too bitter for my taste, but such is arugula. I don't think it's supposed to be sweet. I may have preferred some baby spinach in the mix. Oh, and the balsamic vinaigrette needed a good shake-up before applying to the salad. It was good! Love that stuff. 

Snack 1 (1:40pm): Teriyaki Salmon & Caper Salad w/Whole Wheat Crostini

This was good, but I felt like compared to other snacks, this one was a little not-so-filling. The flavor was interesting. I can't really put my finger on the taste of the caper salad, but it was creamy and satisfying. I found the salmon a bit dry, which leads us to dinner...

Dinner (4:30pm): Fillet of Salmon w/Spiced Pomegranate Sauce w/Cider Baked Sweet Potato w/Red Currants & Exotic Mushroom Ragout

Lets start positively and mention that I thoroughly enjoyed the sweet potato w/red currants! I liken the currants to very sweet, tiny little cranberries. The mushrooms were good. Not amazing, but good; kind of plain. Now, the salmon flavor was fine, but just like my snack today I found the salmon to be very dry. The mouth-wateringness of the pomegranate sauce added some moistness to it, but on it's own it, I would have been drinking a lot of water to go along with it. The pomegranate sauce was good, but not my favorite flavor. It was very watery and so saturated most of my potatoes and mushrooms. The fish needed a lot of it for dipping! I normally like salmon, but after this dry salmon day, I may steer clear of TFD salmon dishes for a while. 

Snack 2 (7pm): Raspberry Chesecake

Okay guys, I'm running out of new, creative ways to say that their cheesecake is great, and this one was no exception. I savor every tiny bite I take, wishing there was more of it to eat b/c it's so good!! I don't think I'll ever get around to ordering a TFD muffin snack just b/c I can't miss my daily option of cheesecake! I can't imagine a muffin beating this out in the taste department. <3>