At the food blogger happy hour we attended a couple of weeks ago at Vinoteca, we ran into our friend and healthy food advocate, Sarah Massey of Massey Media. She connected us with her friend and client Bonnie Coberly, nutritionist and creator of Healthy Bites, a meal delivery service for busy professionals. Bonnie came up with the idea for the delivery service when she realised that many of her clients were having trouble eating right because they didn’t have the time to cook and grocery shop or knowledge of how to prepare healthy foods.
Take a look at the Healthy Bites website. You’ll see they offer 3 healthful meals a day and two snacks. You can get the full-blown service with 3 meals and 2 snacks every day of the week or you can opt to choose which meals and which days you receive food on an a la carte basis.
Last week, Sarah invited us over to taste a few of Healthy Bite’s dishes. Here’s what we had:
Photo Credit: Sarah Massey, Massey Media
Spinach Salad with Cranberries, Bleu Cheese and Walnuts with Balsamic Vinaigrette
As we usually make a similar salad ourselves, we loved this Healthy Bite. It was just the right serving of spinach, not overdone with dressing or toppings. Simple yet flavorful start to the meal.
Curry Carrot Soup
When first hearing this dish, our inner 8 year-old selves threw a temper tantrum. Come on Mom, carrot soup? The grown up, food critic in us was telling us to man up and eat our vegetables. So that’s just what we did. Amazingly, we enjoyed it. The carrot spoke for itself but wasn’t overpowering. Although there wasn’t any cream involved in the recipe, the soup had a rich texture and taste. While we think it could have used a little more salt, we’re obviously not nutritionists!
Kale, Mushroom and Tomato Saute with Polenta
Polenta is something we have little experience with, but you might see a polenta recipe inspired by this dish popping up on our blog soon. Kale (another underused veggie in our opinion) adds a nice texture along with two of our favorites, tomatoes and mushrooms. Some cheese in there would have been nice, but with beach season coming up, we were happy without it.
Parmesan crusted cod with steamed broccoli
Here’s where we finally got to satisfy our cheese addiction, a generous fillet of cod topped with golden Parmesan. This was our favorite dish. The light flaky cod with a crispy Parmesan coating gave us that true “full” feeling that can sometimes be missing in healthy meals. Don’t forget to add some steamed broccoli in there to make Mommy proud.
Photo Credit: Sarah Massey, Massey Media
Closing Arguments
Healthy Bites hit home with these two reviewers. We were left completely satisfied without feeling bloated with carbs. We’re not scientists but we hear this food has all sorts of health benefits including a remarkably low glycemic index. Click here if, like us, you weren’t totally sure what that means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic
Priced around $40 a day for the full three meals and two snacks, Healthy Biters are making an investment in their personal wellness. Don’t expect meals loaded with fat, sugar, and things that make you feel “good” in the short term. Healthy Bites helps you change the way you feel in the longterm. Bonnie, Healthy Bites creator, has a strong background in nutrition and a good feel for how to make healthy options appeal to *ahem* not-always-so-healthy eaters.
PS. Word on the street is that the Washington Post just reviewed Healthy Bites as well… Looks like Half Baked Cooking is on the cutting edge of the dining industry in DC! We’ll be sure to post WP’s review once it is published.
Full Disclosure: Bonnie from Healthy Bites provided us with these dishes to review. We would use the services provided by Healthy Bites, but then we wouldn’t have much of a cooking blog anymore, would we?
