The Review of All Reviews: The Mustard Seed

Any reader of my blog or friend of mine knows how much I love the Mustard Seed. Anytime someone asks me for a restaurant recommendation, I ask them, "Have you been to the Mustard Seed?" It's always my response for several reasons:

• The ever-changing and creative daily specials - there is always something new on the menu that makes me think to myself, "Wow. What an interesting combination of ingredients." 
• The wonderful use of local, in-season ingredients - You can always go back for your favorite meal, but the side options change throughout the year. Why use vegetables that have been shipped across the world when you can take advantage of local farmers' goods? 
• The friendly service and welcoming atmosphere - whether it's from the hostess greeting you as you arrive, your server during the meal, or a manager coming over to check on you. You are guaranteed to be approached by someone who honestly cares about your experience.
• The value - Entrée prices range from $11-$18 (average is $12). This is very reasonable for dinner and you get your money's worth. Meals are plentiful and leftovers are common.
• And the #1 reason: Consistency. I've always been impressed with everything I've eaten. I've ordered or sampled the majority of the menu and everything is of good quality.

The Mustard Seed has three locations: Mt. Pleasant, Summerville, and James Island. It is part of the Dine with Sal restaurant group. The group also owns Boulevard Diner, Longpoint Grill, Sette, Uno Mas, and Village Bakery. The Dine with Sal group prides itself on using the freshest, local ingredients in all of its restaurants - each having its own distinct cuisine. The roots of this group go back to 1994 when restauranteur Sal Parco opened his first Mustard Seed location in Mt. Pleasant with only 7 tables! Sal's love of food, hard work, and dedication have earned him success in all of his restaurants. 

The Mt. Pleasant Mustard Seed is my favorite location. The staff is attentive and knowledgeable, and the Executive Chef, Jonathan DuPriest, is excellent with presentation. Entrees are always cooked to perfection and he creates fantastic daily specials. After seeing several reviews on my blog, Jonathan and Sal gave me the opportunity to spend some time in the kitchen to see how they prepare their scintillating meals. Enjoy seeing some of the menu's finest:


SESAME CRUSTED CHICKEN, RASPBERRY SOY, FRESH VEGETABLES, GARLIC MASHED POTATOES

PECAN CRUSTED CHICKEN, HONEY MUSTARD SAUCE, FRESH VEGETABLES, GARLIC MASHED POTATOES

HERB-CRUSTED PORK LOIN, SUN-DRIED TOMATO PESTO CREAM SAUCE, GRILLED ASPARAGUS, GARLIC MASHED POTATOES

BLACK BEAN CAKES, GREEN TOMATO SALSA, FRESH VEGETABLES, CILANTRO SOUR CREAM

SURF-N-TURF SALAD: PEPPER-DUSTED BISTRO FILET, BABY ARUGULA-JUMBO LUMP CRAB SALAD WITH KALAMATA OLIVES, RED ONION, FETA, WATERMELON AND A LEMON-TRUFFLE VINAIGRETTE

FRIED GREEN TOMATO & CRAB CAKE NAPOLEON, GREEN TOMATO, ROASTED CORN CHUTNEY (APPETIZER)

WALNUT-CRUSTED MAHI, SWEET POTATO-APPLE WOOD BACON "LOW COUNTRY STIR-FRY", SUMMER SPICED POACHED BOSC PEAR, CAYENNE-SPIKED MAPLE GLAZE 

MARYLAND STYLE CRAB CAKES, GARLIC MASHED POTATOES, FRESH VEGETABLES

WASABI CRUSTED YELLOWFIN TUNA WITH "SOYAKI"-INFUSED JASMINE RICE, ASIAN MARINATED MELON SLAW, SPICY PINEAPPLE SAUCE

SHRIMP & SCALLOP RISOTTO WITH TOMATO AND BASIL

As you can see, the Mustard Seed offers some incredible dishes! A few weeks after taking the photos above, I came back with my best friend Nicole Johnson and our friend Joe Girard. Here is a little video review we made! Big huge thanks to Nicole for staying up until 2 a.m. editing this for me!



Have I convinced you to go to the Mustard Seed yet? Get in your car, truck, moped, or limo and GO GO GO!

Pumpkin Muffin Blogging with Nolan & Braden

It's 73* here in Townsend, MA which feels like fall to me. Pumpkin muffins in July? Sure, why not. Since I got here on Tuesday, I've been staying at my aunt Jennifer's with her and her three boys: Jackson, Braden, and Nolan. Nolan pulled out a box of Pillsbury Pumpkin Quick Bread. I'm usually disturbed by baking anything out of a box, but Jennifer showed me how she "healthifies" this treat. 

Here is my 4-year-old assistant, Nolan, with the pumpkin mix:

Although they have no idea what a blog is, he and Braden wanted to take photos, too. Future bloggers?

Braden even took pictures of the muffin liners.

Nolan read the instructions while I pulled out ingredients for Jennifer's healthy version.

The boxed recipe has you combine the mix with 1 cup of milk, 1/3 cup of oil, and 2 eggs. We added skim milk, 1/3 cup canned pumpkin instead of oil,

and egg beaters instead of regular eggs. Nolan was shocked at how two minor tweaks could save so many calories!

He mixed up the batter and sampled it to make sure it was still tasty.

His "taste" was more like a muffin's worth of batter.

We threw in some Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips in half of the muffins to, um, balance out the flavor?

While the muffins baked, I calculated the difference in the Pillsbury version (with oil & eggs) versus Jennifer's version (with pumpkin & egg beaters). Here is the calorie/fat info for the muffins without chocolate chips.

	Calories	Fat Grams
Pillsbury Version	203	8.5
Jennifer’s Version	145	1.5
Savings	58	7.5

Quite a difference! Not only do you save calories and a whole lot of fat, you add Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron by using the canned pumpkin. The muffins are moister and taste more pumpkiny! Nolan was very happy with the results!

Do you ever use packaged mixes for baked goods or do you prefer homemade treats? Have you ever made substitutions like we did? How did it affect the taste or texture? What's your favorite packaged dessert? Favorite homemade dessert?

Greetings from Massachusetts!

Hi Hi hello!!


Day 1 in Massachusetts down, 6 more to go...I'm ready to move back.


Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter is $3.89 at Hannaford's. This is not a joke.

I rolled down a hill today. Like I threw my body and rolled down my aunt's front lawn...just because I can. (There are no hills in Charleston.) I have reverted back to 5-year-old status.


I saw this nice lady at the DC airport. My cousin, the 9-year-old bad-butt, snapped the photo for me because I was too scared.

And I'm blogging from my cousin Jackson's bedroom. It's fancy.

Updates soon!


LOVE!

Sober Saturday was SO fun!

Today has been SO(ber) much fun! Who needs alcohol when you can fill your day with friends, fitness, and food?

No hangover in sight, I woke up before 8 am! Waking up before my alarm clock = major success. I jumped out of bed and nourished myself with a new product: Kellogg's FiberPlus Cinnamon Oat Crunch.  A 3/4 cup serving has only 110 calories and 9 grams of fiber...Yay for regularity!

 +  = MMM.

A little before 9 AM, B$ picked me up and so we could run the Arthur Ravenel bridge. Our huge bridge that connects downtown Charleston and Mt. Pleasant is very popular with runners and cyclists. The pedestrian lane is 2.5 miles long with a 4% slope. Running up with the headwind is TOUGH. We ran up to the middle, stopped to tie sneakers at the top, then continued to run to the other end. We then turned around and ran back up, and ended by walking down. We estimated running about 4 miles and walking 1. Here's me at the top:

Hot Mess

Was I spitting here? Ew. 

After the run, we refueled with some free Chick-fil-A! B had a chicken biscuit and yogurt parfait and shared like a good manboy. My choice of protein was the new Fage Blueberry Greek yogurt. 

I'm so in love with the blueberry flavor. It tastes like blueberry jelly - pretty darn sweet. Go find this ASAP!


After breakfast #2, we ran some errands and stopped at an antique store. Yes, at 25 and 26 years old, we browsed items that were probably older than us. Interesting? Sort of. Smelly? Definitely. When I got home, I showered and got ready to meet Nikki and Joe for lunch. Nikki brought me some gifts!!


A crockpot since she got a new one from her wedding...(check out the dude's face behind us!)

...and my birthday present: an apron with my blog name embroidered on it. Notice the colors!

Here we are eating, blogging, facebooking, and making Joe photograph it all.

Here's typical Nikki & Christina: electrifying! And Nikki was naked.

After lunch, the three of us went shopping -- Joe was our driver and brought us everywhere we demanded. We shopped til I dropped.

But not for long -- by 8 pm we were ready to eat dinner. Don't be shocked - we ate at the Mustard Seed. I know, I know, it's my third weekend in a row, but I'll be out of town next weekend and I needed my fix! 


Chef Jonathan surprised us with their soup of the day: a coconut curry soup with chicken, shrimp, and rice noodles.

For my entrée, I chose the sesame crusted chicken with a raspberry soy sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and fresh local vegetables. 

Everyone talked about going to Red's for some beer (grrr), but since we had been running around all day, we thought it was a better idea to go back to Nikki's to bake cookies and VLOG!! Oh yes...while we were at dinner, we made a movie...Stay tuned for a FULL MUSTARD SEED REVIEW WITH VIDEO AND TONS OF PICTURES!!!

First Friday without Alcohol Starts NOW

HAPPY FRIDAY!! 

The lack of alcohol in my life has me pondering too many things...

Things I wonder:

How does one get a mosquito bite on their badunkadunk? I haven't been wandering in the woods nude, so how is this even possible? 

Why am I hungry at 11:30 pm every night lately?

Who has a recipe for spicy chicken pasta? 

Why are men so fun to look at? Especially this manboy:

Who of you bloggers live in Massachusetts? I'll be there from July 20-27.

What are these frogs doing and why is this considered a lawn decoration?

How many tattoos does Lil Wayne have?

Observations I've made:

Fage 2% Cherry is the most delicious Greek yogurt ever.

Flax seed does wonderful things for your digestive system. My favorite Spanish coworker called it flex seed. :)

The day I arrive to Massachusetts, the weather looks like this:

The top 5 keyword searches people used to get to my blog on Google are:

This one makes me frown:

This one makes me smile:

 Crystal Light Natural Raspberry Peach packets have 3 grams of fiber in them!

This is my favorite Post Secret:

Feel free to respond to any of my questions if you have the answer! Have any questions for me?

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!! 

I will be having fun SOBER!

Abstinence from Alcohol until August

Hi. I like alliteration. I also like love alcohol, but it's time to give my body a break. On Sunday, Brandon informed me that he was giving up alcohol. I thought to myself two things: 1)This manboy is insane, and 2)Yeah, right. But he was serious. He wanted to find out what alcohol really meant to him.

• Will it affect how much fun he has?
• Will he save money?
• Will he feel better overall?

I then thought about how giving up alcohol would affect me.

• Will I forget how to flirt?
• Will I lose weight?
• Will I have less injuries?

We started thinking about why we drink and how it affects us. We both agreed that we're more relaxed, seem to have more fun, have more confidence, and all our friends do it. We are both fully capable of having one or two glasses and actually enjoying what we're drinking so we know it's not an addiction or anything. But does drinking benefit us?

The answers to our questions should be answered by the end of the month. As Saturday was the last day we both consumed alcohol, Sunday, July 11th marked Day 1. We plan on continuing this challenge until the end of the month: a full 3 weeks without the booze. The good Lord knows that I like a challenge, so we decided to make it a competition between each other. What's the prize? The loser has to take the winner (me) out to dinner at an Italian restaurant where we will probably consume a bottle of wine. We both agreed that we'd be honest about whether or not we had drank and if we were about to give up on the challenge, we would let the other person know in advance.

Until August, there will be no more Coor's Light...

No more wine tastings...

No more nasty shots...

No mimosas with brunch... :(

Just a whole lot of this...

Challenges I've faced so far:

Monday evening when we decided to eat pizza I said, "Ooooh, only if we can have wine, too!" NO MA'AM. EAT THE PIZZA ALONE.

Monday at Whole Foods: My favorite wine was on sale from $21.99 to $14.99. I bought it anyway. NO MA'AM. SAVE IT FOR AUGUST.

Tuesday at Kelly's discussing tonight's family dinner plans: "Ahh let's just have a glass of wine before to relax."  NO MA'AM. CHILL OUT.

Do you drink? How often? Do you drink for specific reasons other than liking the taste? Have you ever given it up? If so, what changes did you notice? I'm prepared to win this challenge, but wish me luck anyway!