Why not make it easier, healthier and totally delicious?

Make no mistake, I love classic Italian lasagna. It’s a dish I make at least once every year, a dish that requires hours of loving preparation. The meat sauce is made from scratch and needs time, lots and lots of time, to simmer to perfection. The layers are a juxtaposition of hearty sauce, tender pasta and a medley of five Italian cheeses. It is a delight. And a coronary nightmare. That is why, in this house, it only makes an appearance on Very Special Occasions.

The thing is, lasagna is a crowd pleaser. It’s perfect to bring to a potluck dinner or to a friend in need. It’s as good, or better, one or two days later. Many members of my extended family love it cold for breakfast, but that’s another story entirely.

I wanted to figure out how to make my son’s favorite meal in a way that wouldn’t send him rushing to the doctor for statin medication. I also wanted to make it faster, easier, and healthier. My new version will likely set a thousand Italian grandmothers spinning in their graves. I apologize in advance to them and to food purists everywhere.  Following is my 21st century take on the traditional pasta casserole.

The Fixin’s

Like most of my favorite family meals, this lasagna recipe is, well, loose - kind of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants deal. There’s no real right or wrong when it comes to NAL (New Age Lasagna). Start with 4 jars of your favorite pasta sauce or marinara. (Sounds like a lot for one lasagna, but more about that later.) I happen to like Barilla but any will do. Put the sauce in a large stockpot on a medium-low flame. Swish a bit of red wine in each of the jars to get all the sauce out and dump that into the pot too. In a skillet, saute 1 large diced onion and 6-8 cloves of minced garlic in a bit of olive oil until they soften. Put that into the sauce. Throw in a handful of chopped fresh basil while you’re at it. Then go looking in your refrigerator for veggies. Lots of veggies.

Veggies!

For this time around, I found a bag of julienned carrots and a zucchini, which I sliced fairly thin. I sauteed them until they softened and threw them into the sauce, which by now was starting to smell pretty fantastico, if you know what I mean. There was also an about-to-expire tray of hot Italian turkey sausage. Perfecto! Out of the casings they came, into the saute pan until nicely browned. The crispy, crumbly bits joined their veggie compatriots in the simmering sauce.

Sous Chef

My son, home from grad school on spring break, found some cremini mushrooms, which he sauteed while I scouted the pantry. Voila! I scored a can of quartered artichoke hearts packed in water. After I drained them, I dropped them…you guessed it…into the sauce. Tim reminded me there was a bag of pre-washed baby spinach in the crisper. Into the pot it went. (Not the bag, just the spinach.) Finally I stripped two leftover chicken breasts, removed the skin, shredded the meat and made it the finale ingredient

Awesomesauce™

While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the lasagna noodles. You’ll need 12 for a standard 9″ x 13″ pan. That’s about 3/4 of a regular box. What do you do with the leftover noodles? Read to the end to find out. When the pasta and the sauce are done, get ready to layer.

Wow! Layers

Start with a layer of sauce, then pasta, then cheese. For this lighter, healthier version I use 1 bag of Cabot 50% Reduced Fat Shredded Cheddar, 1 bag of Cabot Part Skim Milk Shredded Mozzarella, 1 container of Cabot No-Fat Cottage Cheese, and 1 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese reserved for the top layer. (For anyone groaning at the thought of using cheddar in lasagna, I implore you not to knock it ’til you’ve tried it. Really.)  Spread a thin layer of the cottage cheese on the pasta, sprinkle the cheddar and the mozzarella on the cottage cheese and start again. Awesomesauce™, pasta, cottage cheese, cheddar and mozzarella. A deep pan will hold three layers. Top with sauce and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella, cheddar and finally the Parmesano-Reggiano.

Oven Ready

This really is a wonderful, healthy take on an old favorite. Loaded with vegetables, lightened of fat, laden with flavor. It just might become your family’s favorite.

The End

Post Script: If you’ve made one pan of lasagna you likely have a fair amount of Awesomesauce™ left over. Whoohooo! That’s at least one, and perhaps two meals you have ready to go in the coming weeks. This sauce freezes beautifully. And remember the leftover lasagna noodles? I break them up into small pieces and put them in a bag in the pantry. When I have enough, I declare it Smashed Pasta Sunday. Out of the freezer comes the Awesomesauce™ and dinner is practically served.

Post Post Script: Thank you Kate Byrne for the perfect descriptor for the perfect pasta sauce.

Last month, in my post “The Year of Keeping It Small,” I wrote about a new way of thinking about resolutions. I posited that it would be easier, and maybe even more successful, to make 12 smaller, less ambitious resolutions rather than one big one that might be jettisoned by the end of January.

We’re now rounding into the last week in February and I’m only now getting to my second resolution, which I had announced would be “The Month of Heartfelt Change.” That particular subject, along with my early February deadline, was left by the wayside when I contracted a particularly nasty case of H1N1 in the opening days of the month.

Of Mice and Men (and Pigs)

As Robert Burns reminded us, the best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew. My plans for heartfelt change, and pretty much everything else, were upturned by a profound inability to lift my head from the pillow for more than two weeks. While I didn’t produce much in the way of  work during my recovery, I did have a chance to come to terms with the limitations placed on me by my illness.

I hate being sick, mostly because I hate being inactive. I’ve never been much of a lounger, or a napper, or a sit-in-a-comfy-chair-and-read-a-book kind of person. Enforced bed rest is my idea of, if not hell, then at least purgatory. The first few days of my illness passed in a fever-induced fog. As I began to recover I realized that even though I was feeling a little better each day, I was also beginning to get ants in my pants.

No sooner than I would get out of bed and try to accomplish something measurable like writing a 140 character Tweet or washing my hair, I found myself back in bed, spent and exhausted. I was forced to rely on others for care and feeding, forced to be satisfied with minor accomplishments and tiny steps forward, forced to find fulfillment in quiet and rest.

I learned a valuable lesson on this compulsory vacation from my Type A tendencies. Motion does not always equal progress. My “aha” moment came after an afternoon spent in bed, doing nothing more demanding than turning thoughts over in my head. I was finally forced to admit that my propensity toward action and away from inertia had robbed me of time for quiet self-reflection. My whirlwind of  self-created busyness was not serving the process of  personal development and growth. Physical activity made it easy to ignore the nagging, unanswered internal questions. But it didn’t make them go away.

The Month of Self Reflection

And so, under the rubric of “better late than never,” I celebrate February, the month that allowed Swine Flu to work its porcine magic on me and create The Month of Self-Reflection. I hope that the down-time I experienced and the perspective imparted by my enforced rest will stay with me long after I’ve regained my health. February handed me lemons. A piggy virus and hours spent examining my life taught me how to make lemonade.

Post Script My January resolution, The Month of the Clean Sweep, challenged me to tie up the countless loose ends that seem to go unattended in my life. Guess what? It worked.  Myriad long-neglected tasks were acknowledged and resolved. Calls were made, appointments booked, plans executed. I won’t say it was a perfect result. I will say January’s mini-resolution was a darned good start. And I have The Year of Small Changes to thank.

Agritourism - Living the Farm Experience

We met at Liberty Hill Farm Inn, owned and operated by Bob and Beth Kennett and their sons Tom and Dave. Liberty Hill is one of more than 1200 Cabot Creamery Cooperative dairy farms. It is also a leader in the burgeoning field of agritourism. For over 25 years, Bob and Beth have been welcoming guests into their Greek revival farmhouse, built in the early 1800’s and nestled near the banks of the White River and surrounded by the Green Mountain National Forest.

Some come to Liberty Hill to experience life on a working farm. Others come for the beauty and tranquility of the Vermont countryside.  Still others come for Beth’s extraordinary cooking. Breakfast and dinner are served family style around a groaning farm table laden with fresh meats and produce, homemade breads, cakes and pastries and fairly ringing with conversation and laughter. In the winter visitors make their way to the many nearby ski areas or strap on snowshoes and explore the countryside. Summer might find them floating down the White River on innertubes or exploring the nearby villages of Rochester, Quechee, Middlebury, and Woodstock.

Kids Play Free!

Children, especially city kids, have amazing experiences at Liberty Hill Farm. They can help gather eggs for breakfast, feed baby calves, chase barn cats and cuddle barn kittens, or gather wildflowers in the field. The subtle education of a stay at the farm — where food comes from, how it is gathered and distributed, and the importance of family farms — imparts lessons that last a lifetime.

Advance and Retreat

Our group gathered to brainstorm around our social media and marketing plans for the coming year. Members came from as far away as San Francisco. I’m not sure what I expected, but I wasn’t prepared for the warmth and welcome extended by everyone I met, farmers and guests alike. We worked for hours at a time, connected to the world at large by wireless internet access, in a spacious yet cozy living room, tucked into soft upholstered chairs surrounding a wood-burning stove. When our ideas were stalled or we needed a stretch, we donned our winter gear and made our way up Liberty Hill.

Lest this sound like a quick stroll to clear the head, I would describe Liberty Hill as…well, the word “daunting” comes to mind. It is a prototypical Vermont scene: a winding country road that goes twisting up the side of a mountain, just the thing to exercise our bodies and give our brains a rest. After an hour in the crisp winter air, the team was eager to get back to sharing ideas and solving problems.

Day two of our retreat began with a sunrise hike, again to the top of the hill to watch Mother Nature put on a show just for us…and our newly minted cow buddies. It was the perfect way to start the day. Breakfast, the most important meal of the day especially on a farm, also seems to be the most delicious. Beth prepared, among other tasty offerings, Cabot Cheddar scones with sweet Cabot butter, baked oatmeal with nuts and cranberries, segments of oranges and pink grapefruit, a broccoli, cheddar and egg casserole, and a seemingly endless supply of hot, strong coffee. Fuel for hard working farmers and hard thinking marketers.

It is impossible not to be productive in surroundings like we enjoyed at Liberty Hill Farm. Our off-site meeting felt like a week’s worth of activity packed into two days. New relationships were forged, strategic plans created, and to-do lists made. We helped feed the chickens, visited with the cows, and even got to name the new baby, born the day we arrived.

As for the city-dwellers who work for the farm families of the Cabot Creamery Cooperative, we gained a unique and valuable insight into the importance of the work we do, spreading the word about these New England and New York dairy farmers and Cabot, makers of The World’s Best Cheddar.

Sunrise from Liberty Hill

]]> http://www.candacekaru.com/the-charm-of-a-farm/feed http://www.candacekaru.com/fast-and-delightful http://www.candacekaru.com/fast-and-delightful#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:14:53 +0000 Candace http://www.candacekaru.com/?p=448 The title above is as good a description of my Running Girls as it is our favorite party food choice.

I’ve been hanging with a group of fast women since I moved to my small coastal Maine town in 1997. (You can read about our group here.)

From the beginning it’s been our habit to meet for dinner every month or two. Sure we see each other regularly in the pre-dawn hours for a run, but our nighttime get-togethers are something special. Because we have been known to get a little racous, we gather at one of our houses. We learned early on that meeting at restaurants resulted in disapproving looks from other patrons and a reluctance to return the next month.

The food is pot luck - sometimes old standards, other times we try new recipes out on each other. But there is one menu item that has been appearing for years and shows no signs of fading into the background. It has come to be known in our circle as The Pizza, our shorthand for this simple, delicious, ridiculously easy-to-prepare appetizer. It is perfect as it comes out of the oven, browned and bubbly. And if there’s any left over, it’s spectacular as a midnight snack or lunch the next day. As you might imagine, leftovers of The Pizza are rare.

I’m not sure when The Pizza first appeared. Was Laurie the first to bring it to Girls’ Night? Sarah? Its provenance has been lost in history. And by now, each of us has put our own spin on the original recipe. But no matter the nuances, The Pizza is easy to prepare, quick to cook, and never fails to delight.

Here’s my version, courtesy of the Cape Elizabeth Running Girls…

THE PIZZA!

1 Thin Crust Boboli pizza crust

2 medium onions, sliced thin

1/4 cup chopped dates

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1 cup Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar, shredded

1 cup Cabot Mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 tbl Balsamic vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1-2 tbl olive oil

Preheat oven to 400º. Heat olive in a skillet. Add sliced onions to caramelize. Keep heat on medium high and stir until onions are very soft and starting to brown. Add balsamic vinegar and sugar and keep cooking and stirring until golden brown and caramelized. This can take up to 20 - 30 minutes. At the very end, add chopped dates to heat through and soften. Put Boboli crust on pizza stone and add the mozzarella cheese as a first layer. Next, layer caramelized onions and dates on top of mozzarella. Sprinkle toasted pine nuts on the onions and top with remaining cheddar cheese. Place the pizza stone in the center of the oven and cook until cheese is melted and bubbling, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting into slices. The caramelized onions can be refrigerated in a closed container for up to three days, so this can be prepared in advance.

In retrospect 2009 was a big year. It was a year of monumental change, a year of huge upheaval, and for many it was a year of epic failure. If the New Years day exchanges I saw on Twitter and Facebook were any indication, 2009 was a year many of us are happy to be looking at in our rear view mirrors.

I’m tired of big, of extravagant, of outsized. This year I want small - small problems, little triumphs, mini successes, diminutive failures. I feel like small is all I can handle for the next 12 months.

And so, to this end, I am entering The Year of Keeping It Small. I will tackle the little problems early, in the hopes that they won’t grow, like the dust bunnies under my guest bed, into larger, more unmanageable situations. For instance, I plan to make small, healthy modifications to my eating habits rather than sweeping changes that might fall by the wayside in days, choosing raspberries not Ben & Jerry’s for dessert or substituting green tea for diet soda as an afternoon pick-me-up.

My resolution solution this year, keeping things small, will be to make 12 small resolutions instead of one big one. Each month, I’ll pick some reasonable goal that can be achieved in 31 days or less. Sounds doable, right?

Clean Sweep

So here we are, six days into January. My first resolution will be to tie up loose ends. I’m going to make those calls I’ve been putting off, schedule overdue doctor’s appointments, call a couple of friends I’ve neglected. January will be the Month of the Clean Sweep.

Heartfelt Change

In February, I’ll let you know how I did. And tell you about the Month of Heartfelt Change.

I’ll admit it. When it comes to the holiday spirit, I give Ebanezer Scrooge a run for his money. While I love the idea of peace on earth and good will toward men, I am adamantly opposed to the commercialization and gift-giving (and receiving) pressure that December brings. Crowds send me into panic attacks faster than you can say “Mightnight Madness at the Maine Mall” and don’t even get me started on the rap version of “Silent Night” I heard playing in the supermarket last week. All in all, in my world December 26th is the most wonderful day of the year.

I’m not opposed to all holidays mind you. When food plays a major role in the celebration, I am all in. Thanksgiving? Thoroughly delightful. Passover? Perfect. Even Valentine’s Day is a favorite because from breakfast to dinner everything I cook is heart-shaped — from poached eggs to meat loaf to my signature Pink Passion Cake.

Last week, about the time I started to panic about who would get what, there was what I have come to believe was a divine intervention. God, in her infinite wisdom, sent the perfect storm, a winter Nor’easter with blinding snow blowing horizontally and impossible road conditions. A snowstorm of such epic proportions that they even closed the mall!

I took the opportunity to grab a mug of tea, light a fire, and settle into the couch with my laptop. At last, a holiday shopping day that even a scrooge like me could embrace. In the peaceful quiet of a winter day, puppies asleep by my side, I finally got into the spirit of the season. Here are a few of the sites that made shopping for the perfect gift a joy.

Heifer International

What do I get the man who has everything? I know…a water buffalo! I mean, really. He has all the ties and books and unused exercise equipment any man could want. This year I’m showing him my love by sending love in his name, halfway around the globe. For almost 60 years Heifer International has been improving the lives of people in developing countries by helping them create sustainable sources of food and income. From a $20 flock of geese, chickens, or ducks to a $10,000 livestock development program, Heifer makes giving at any level a tangible display of the true meaning of Christmas.

Cabot Creamery

Have I mentioned lately that I love my job? As Cabot’s Consumer Lifestyle Commentator, I spend most of my days tweeting, blogging, and speaking about health, fitness, food, and fun. I get to lead the charge on initiatives like Cabot’s Las Vegas to Vermont Virtual Challenge, a fitness trip across country for the 50+ athlete. And I represent over 1200 farm families in New England who make up the Cabot Creamery Cooperative. At this time of year, I love my job even more because I can shop on line for the perfect for just about anyone on my list — from my mail carrier to my mother. This year’s favorite? I’ll be sending lots of my friends Cabot’s incomparable Clothbound Cheddar, cave aged for 10 months in the cellars of Jasper Hill.

Fetchdog

Even four-legged friends need love during the holidays. And frankly, most times I’d rather shop for dogs than people. Fetchdog.com has everything you ever wanted for your canine companion, and a few things you didn’t know you couldn’t live without. One of my favorites is their Starstruck Holiday Collar (pictured above on Meggy), not a full-on costume, but a fashion nod to the joy of the season.

Stonewall Kitchen

In 1991 Jim Stott and Jonathan King, who lived in York, Maine, started selling homemade vinegars and jams at local farmers’ markets. Today they have a thriving online business and nine retail stores on the east coast from Maine to Maryland. Their website is a feast for the eyes that promises an even better feast when these delicious products reach your door. Their jams, sauces, dips, and dessert toppings are nonpareil and their holiday gift baskets are the stuff dreams are made of.

So there you have it. Holiday shopping for the faint of heart. No matter how you celebrate or who you are with, I wish you all the joy of the season and peace, health, and love in the new year.

I came relatively late to physical fitness, spending my school years avoiding anything remotely associated with exercise. My twenties and early thirties passed in a blur of hard work and harder play, and eventually child rearing, with only the occasional game of  tennis or swim in the ocean to remind me that I was, in fact, a physical being.

All that changed in my 38th year, when for reasons still unknown to me, I donned my pink Reebok aerobic shoes, sweatpants, and an oversized T-shirt and went for a run. On that day a runner was born.

Many years and hundreds of road races later, I am still a runner, though certainly not the runner I once was. Running has become one of many ways I stay in shape. On any given day you can find me walking or rowing or working out with a Yoga DVD. I have to admit that nothing has captured my imagination or my heart quite like a good run, but recently a new workout has me completely excited and delighted.

Wii Fit - This Ain’t Your Father’s Workout. Wait…Maybe It Is!

Forget the image of the typical pasty-faced video gamer who doesn’t move from his perch on the couch. The Wii Fit phenomenon has a multi-generational appeal. It is even being used in nursing homes and rehab centers. The beauty of the system is that a workout or a game can be as gentle or as strenuous as each player chooses. Wii Fit comes complete with an electronic trainer - your choice of male or female - who works with you, encouraging, correcting and cajoling you through each exercise.

I admit it, when it comes to Wii Fit I am definitely a late adopter, but that seems to be a theme in my fitness life. In my case it really was better late than never. The Wii Fit workout meets many of my fitness needs - it’s fun, super convenient, and keeps exercise boredom at bay. There are days, especially in the winter, when exercising at home means the difference between actually doing the workout and skipping it altogether.

As is often the case in my technological life it took the encouragement of my son and go-to I.T. guy to finally appreciate how truly fabulous the Wii Fit is for meeting my exercise needs. This electronic marvel was a Christmas gift…last year. It sat dormant and alone for over 10 months before Tim finally dragged it out and forced me to get my Wii workout on.

Name Your Workout

There is so much that can be done with a Wii. You can work on cardio fitness, balance, or flexibility. You can do plyometrics or strength training, boxing or speed skating. The possibilities are, if not endless, then a veritable smorgasbord of workout choices. My first Wii week was spent exploring my options. Here I am doing one of the basic Yoga poses. The movement- and weight-sensitive balance board lets the electronic trainer know how you’re doing the pose. The trainer offers corrections to your form until you get the pose right.

I am still very much a Wii Fit novice, but I can tell that my introduction arrived just in time. Tonight they’re predicting the first real snow of the season and tomorrow, with a day’s work in front of me, I’m thrilled that I won’t have to get to the gym. I’ll just head on down to the basement and Wii with glee.

A Foodie’s Dream In Real Life

In my previous post, I wrote about the preparations for the Gourmet Brunch Tweetup at the Danforth, a historic inn located in the West End neighborhood of downtown Portland. I’m happy to report that the event was even better than we hoped.

More than 20 Portland area Twitterati came together IRL (”in real life” for you non-Twits) to put a face to an avatar and sample the culinary skills of three of their own. @DanaMoos, @LeslieCottrell and I, @CandaceKaru were the guest chefs for the day.

We met in the Danforth’s kitchen at 10 am on a perfect autumn Sunday to get the party started. We’d done our prep in the days before, so our time was spent mostly assembling, arranging, and heating things up. Here’s a little kitchen video from our Twitter buddy @JoeCascio.

Cabot Clothbound (Photo-Joe Cascio)

Because this was a VST - a Very Special Tweetup - I brought a large chunk of Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, aged in the Cellars of Jasper Hill, to get the guests primed for all the delicious food to follow. This is a remarkable clothbound English-style cheddar that won a Gold Medal at the 2004 World Cheese Awards in London and was named “Best of Show” by the American Cheese Society in 2006. Maine’s own HoneyMaker Mead was a perfect pairing with this amazing cheddar.

Both Dana and Leslie are experienced innkeepers and know their way around a groaning breakfast table. But their offerings were definitely not standard B & B fare. These women are chefs of breathtaking talent. Leslie’s blue cheese stuffed Medjool dates wrapped in bacon drove everyone back to the serving table again and again. Their sweet and savory flavors blended in a new and heavenly way, and will become the stuff of legend…until she shares her recipe.

Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake, Earl Gray Cookies and Chocolate Truffles

Leslie also created sweets for the table, creamy, dense chocolate truffles, delicate Earl Gray cookies and a light, sugar dusted pumpkin streusel coffee cake.

Papaya, Mangoes, and Strawberries with Lemon and Basil

Dana drizzled papaya, mangoes, and strawberries with a lemon basil sauce to start. She also made a light curry aioli for perfectly steamed asparagus. Her most delectable contribution, however, was an egg roulade - as light as a cloud and subtly flavored with leeks and Parmesan - topped with a sinfully rich lobster sherry sauce. Finally, she made a grapefruit brulee that had the crowd begging for more.  And lest you think our Dana is a One Trick Pony, she also took these exquisite photographs. Visit her website to see more of her work.

Egg Roulade Filled with Leeks and Parmesan

Other than the incredible cheese, my contribution to the brunch was a dish I created specially for the occasion. The recipe for Potatoes Danforth with Horseradish Garlic Cream is at the end of the post.

Ask just about any veteran Twitterer and he or she will tell you a Tweetup invariably turns into a good time. Our gourmet brunch tweetup took the concept to a whole new level. Here is a slide show put together by Sarah Wallace, a writer, blogger, and passionate Tweeter, that captures a few more Tweetup memories.

Credit and thanks go not only to the chefs, but also to Danforth owner Kim Swan and her four-legged sidekick, Ava, for hosting a delicious, delightful good time.

Don’t You Wish Your Tweetup Was Yum Like Ours?

Potatoes Danforth with Horseradish Garlic Cream

Potatoes Danforth:

4 oz diced pancetta or 5 strips thick cut bacon

1 medium onion - diced

1 32. oz bag frozen shredded potatoes - thawed

2 cups Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar - shredded

1/2 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cup milk

3 eggs

1 tbls dried mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350º. Cook pancetta or bacon until crisp and drain. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of of pancetta or bacon grease and cook diced onion until translucent. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish and spread half the shredded potatoes. Spread diced pancetta or crumbled bacon and diced onions evenly over potatoes. Spread one cup of cheese over this mixture. Add remaining potatoes. Mix eggs, sour cream, mustard, salt, pepper, and milk thoroughly and pour over the potato mixture. Top with remaining shredded cheese and bake for 30 - 45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with Horseradish Sour Cream. (Recipe below.)

Horseradish Garlic Sour Cream

1 large head garlic

1 tbl olive oil

2 tbls horseradish from a jar

8 oz sour cream

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350º. Cut the top off the garlic head, exposing all cloves. Place on a square of aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap the garlic head in the foil and roast for about an hour. Remove from oven and let cool. Squeeze the soft, roasted cloves into a mixing bowl and mash with a fork. Add sour cream and horseradish and mix all ingredients thoroughly. Serve with Potatoes Danforth.

My friend Kim Swan is a force of nature. The term multipreneur might have been coined to describe her business life, which she lives at full throttle. Some women collect shoes or designer handbags. Kim collects businesses. The roster of her current endeavors include The Cygnet Art Gallery in Portland, Maine, Pomegranate Parties, an event planning company, and Maineville Music, a country music publishing house.  In addition to all that, Kim’s day job is as owner and operator of the Swan Agency, a Bar Harbor-based real estate business with a niche marketing division that specializes in selling inns and B&Bs.

Oh, and did I mention that Kim owns several inns herself? Her most recent acquisition is The Danforth, a historic property on Portland’s west end. Though it has been catering to guests for over 100 years, Kim completely refurbished the Danforth, creating a boutique hotel that combines 19th century charm with 21st century sophistication.

Leveraging the Power of Social Media

The success of Kim’s many endeavors is due not only to her keen instincts but also her creative use of technology. In marketing the Danforth, she is using the power of social media to spread the word about the inn and its allure on Linkedin, on Facebook, and most recently on Twitter. The result is the upcoming Danforth Gourmet Brunch Tweetup.

For those of you not yet on Twitter (and believe me, it’s only a matter of time), a Tweetup is an IRL (in real life) gathering of people who network on Twitter. A group of about 30 social media devotees, Tweeps from around New England, will gather next Sunday at the Danforth for an epicurean brunch in a setting of luxurious elegance.

While Kim’s skills are varied and prodigious, she would be the first to admit they do not extend to the kitchen. For the brunch Tweetup she has wisely enlisted the help of three enthusiastic foodie friends, all of whom are also involved in social media, to cater to the Twitter crowd. In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of Kim’s culinary chosen. Following is the proposed brunch menu, created and photographed by former B&B owner turned real estate wiz and food blogger Dana Moos.

The Danforth Gourmet Brunch Tweetup Menu

First Course:
–Pumpkin streusel coffee cake
–Papaya, mango and strawberries with lemon and basil

Main Course:
–Egg roulade filled with leeks and parmesan
–Potatoes gratin Dauphinois with Cabot Private Stock Cheddar
–Blue cheese stuffed Medjool dates wrapped in bacon
–Steamed chilled asparagus with curry aioli

Dessert:
–Grapefruit Brulee
–Chocolate truffles

In the coming days, I will post recipes for some of the Danforth Gourmet Brunch Tweetup offerings. Stay tuned…

Here’s a post for you well-intentioned but under-motivated exercisers of a certain age. Do you keep vowing that today’s the day you’re going to start an exercise routine? Have you paid for gym memberships you’ve never used? Do you really want to start on the road to wellness? The best, and arguably easiest way to do just that, especially if you are over 40, is to…

Stand Up and Walk Out the Door!

Many doctors and fitness experts agree that walking may come close to being the perfect form of exercise, especially for beginners. Here are five reasons why:

It’s Easy: Unlike activities like skiing, swimming, or tennis, there’s no learning curve for walking and no real risks, either. Just about anyone with a comfortable pair of shoes and the desire to begin can take up walking. Walking rarely leaves you with sore muscles or stiff joints. On the contrary, most people report that walking relieves symptoms of arthritis and back pain.

It’s Cheap: There’s no equipment to buy, no clubs to join, no special outfits required. Other than a good-fitting, comfortable pair of shoes, you really don’t need anything you don’t already have in order to begin an exercise program based on walking. Rarely is the weather too bad to walk outside, but if it is, you should try mall walking. Virtually all shopping malls invite walkers to work out in the morning before stores open for business. It’s warm, safe, and a great way to meet other walkers.

It’s Effective: Most people who have been physically inactive can begin a walking program — with their doctor’s permission of course — as soon as they make up their minds that they want to get fit. And most will notice positive changes in a very short time. Weight loss, toned muscles, increased energy — a regular walking regimen can result in these welcome changes in just a few short weeks.

It’s Rewarding: Whether you choose to walk with a friend and discuss world affairs, use the time you spend walking to learn a foreign language, or revel in the quiet and solitude, walking can become one of the most important parts of your day. Once you get the bug, once walking becomes as habitual as brushing your teeth or grabbing a cup of coffee in the morning, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. And regular walking program imparts physical and mental benefits that couch potatoes can only dream of.

It’s a Gateway Drug: Walking is a good way to enter the world of exercise, where fitness begets more fitness. As working out becomes a way of life, you’re likely to find the urge to try other, more demanding ways to test your new found physical strength and stamina. You may decide to sign up for a 5K walk or even a run. Yoga classes may rise to the top of your to-do list. Or a friend might convince you to get in shape for a bike through Napa and Sonoma.

So rather than spend one more day thinking about getting fit, why not lace up your walking shoes, call a friend, and head down the road to a lifetime of fitness.