What I Ate on My Summer Vacation
So, last week, we packed up our family of four and headed to West Harwich, MA on Cape Cod, where we rented a beach cottage for an old-fashioned family vacation. We did it all: played mini golf, rode the Cape Cod Rail Trail, drove go-karts, jumped on trampolines, drove bumper boats, took a whale watch, strolled the streets of Provincetown during Carnival, relaxed on the beach and swam in the waves. What we did not do was hit the All You Can Eat Buffet and slurp frozen margaritas all week. For me, vacation is about taking a break from the usual and spending much-needed quality time with my little family of four. It is not about undoing the benefits a daily healthy lifestyle with a week-long binge-fest.
That being said, I do find it fun to let my hair down a little and eat a few treats that I normally don’t have in my kitchen at home. When I hit the Harwich Star Market on Saturday, I could not resist some of Ray’s Everything Bagels (NuVal score of 4)…
and some of my favorite Ben & Jerry’s Low-Fat Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt, NuVal score of 15.
and some Frontera Gourmet Mexican Salsa Jalapeno Cilantro (NuVal score of 8).
But for the most part, my shopping cart looked pretty much the same as it does when we are at home. Even though we were on vacation, we still ate healthy. While bagels for breakfast were a treat, we accompanied them with lots of fruit and ate outside on the patio in our pajamas.
We wrapped up hummus, avocados, veggies and sliced chicken with Joseph’s Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Lavash Bread (NuVal score of 68) and brought the wraps on our bike rides and to the beach.
For vacation dinners, we typically eat 3 nights out and 4 nights in. While I enjoy a break from the kitchen, I don’t love the cost of 7 family dinners! Not to mention – it’s tough to find healthy choices. To make things easy, we brought three Dream Dinners with us, so I really didn’t have to “cook”. As always, we paired our Dream Dinners with a beautiful salad:
As for our nights out, we did one at a traditional Cape Cod family restaurant called The Weatherdeck. OK, not really my favorite. Almost everything was fried. I settled on a broiled scallop plate. But when on the Cape….
Better was Land Ho!, a new restaurant in Harwich Port, recommended to us by our photographer when we had our family portrait taken on the beach. I had swordfish on top of a bed of spinach. Yummy and nutritious! And I didn’t have to do dishes.
But my favorite dinner of all was in Provincetown. After a breathtaking Whale Watch on the Dolphin VIII, we strolled the streets of P’town where everybody was celebrating Carnival. In P’town, employees stand outside the restaurants and tell you all about the menu to try to get you to come in. And that is how we landed in a South African restaurant, Karoo Kafe. I played it safe and ordered the Vegetarian Plate: hummus, stuffed grape leaves, Falafel, Tabbouleh and Power Salad (chick peas, lentil, quinoa and couscous).
My husband enjoyed an Antelope burger. Amazingly, we have scored Antelope at NuVal. It gets a 39! I tried a bite. I loved it. It tasted like very lean beef. The kids had hot dogs (of course!) and sweet potato fries. Overall it was my favorite meal of our vacation.
We came home, got on the scale and found no extra vacation pounds upon us. Whew! Our kids are still chattering on about all the fun they had. I’ll never forget this face after my son’s first hole in one:
and I will cherish the memories of our healthy family vacation on Cape Cod.
Question of the Day
What did you eat on your summer vacation? Do you know the NuVal score?
Posted by: Melissa 8 comments
Posted in: vacation
Tags: vacation
on Aug 26th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Sounds like a fantastic vacation. Love the fact that Nuval scores Antelope, do they score Buffalo meat? On vacation I ate alot of vegtables that we brought down from our garden, clams that we dug up(which my husband makes an excellent linguine and clam sauce), pizza with pancetta and arugula(Yum, favorite), fried clams. Have no idea for the Nuval score, not sure if i want to know. But it was great going down. Defintely did a good amount of excersise to off set the food.
Great pictures Melissa of vacation and your family!
on Aug 26th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Glad you had a great vacation!
on Aug 26th, 2010 at 10:52 am
NuVal has scored Buffalo meat. Buffalo scores a 41 on the NuVal scale. Haven’t tried it though…
on Aug 26th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Thanks for the info on the Buffalo.
on Aug 26th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
You are pretty in pink! Great photos, as usual. Thanks for admitting that you indulge in some lower-scoring items from time to time . . . now I feel better. Like you, when I do eat the less-than-good stuff for you, I try to combine it with something more nutritious.
on Aug 26th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
One night on vacation I made seafood marinara with tomatoes I had grown. Don’t know the score but it was wonderful. I made the sauce ahead of time and froze it. It carried to the beach cottage just fine. Then all I had to do was thaw it and add fresh seafood.It was so easy.
on Aug 26th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
That last dinner looks terrific!! When we vacation at Disney, our favorite restaurant is Boma, which also has African cuisine. The flavors are unbeatable. I wish I could cook like that at home:)
on Aug 26th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
I had to let you know that MY FOOD CITY now has the nuv!!! I can’t believe it!! I walked by the cakes/cookies aile to get me some gum and there were like tons of items with a 2!!! So, glad they have it and I hope that most grocery stores do it too!! We need a healthy wake up call in America!