There have been some changes to Nutrition to Kitchen that I would like to update you on. First off, Nutrition to Kitchen is not an LLC anymore. I thank each of you who have made generous donations, from here to Hawaii! It’s been a way to give back for the life that was given back to me, and I thank God for the abundant blessings I have had since the accident – being a mom to this amazing daughter, being able to go on some amazing trips with my husband and family, being part of the Inspired Celebrations book, discovering faith, making new friends that I now consider to be part of my family, strengthening old relationships, and so much more.

I feel that I am able to really connect with people at my new job (at my old rehab hospital), because I am around other brain patients and know EXACTLY how they feel and what they are going through. So my purpose when I formed Nutrition to Kitchen, LLC, does not necessarily end. I am just not an LLC anymore because I can’t handle too much on my plate. I still am able to do what I love on a personal level. And please do not stop giving. I encourage you to give directly to The Ronald McDonald House and The Wounded Warrior Project. They do so much and need your support. It was overwhelming going back to the Ronald McDonald House last year before P raised money for the organization by running the Houston marathon, and your donations help those affected by traumatic brain injury for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Nutrition to Kitchen has been partly an online diary for me, especially recently. In the beginning, it was primarily a food blog. I still find it helpful to look back on the blog when I make a dish again, especially when I ask, “How did I do that?” Now I’m injecting pieces of me because I just like to write, and they’re not always recipes. I will still keep the name, as it has been that for 5 years (!!!!), but I will share personally when I feel like it.

Comments on this blog are still blocked so if you need to reach me, email me at nutritiontokitchen@gmail.com (I just don’t like filtering spam and don’t want to dedicate time to it. I personally don’t like leaving comments on other blogs, so I don’t expect that from you, either!).

Thank you again for all your support. Check back every once in awhile to see what my kitchen – or I – am up to!

A couple weekends ago, we went to Annapolis, Maryland for a few days because my husband had work there. We went to the US Naval Academy and it was so fun to revisit the school that he went to and “relive” his good ol’ midshipmen days.

It was so great to see my husband’s face light up at the sight of a familiar place or see his old dorm room or eat at his old stomping grounds. He was constantly texting his old roommate with “remember this moment?” pictures whenever he came across something funny, or saying how the same ladies are working behind the deli at Dahlgren Hall and how the sandwiches taste just how he remembered them.

Before and after

We felt old, especially seeing how young the midshipmen look. We also felt grateful to those who defended and are defending our country, especially walking through Memorial Hall and seeing the faces of young graduates who have died protecting us. (And I also felt totally humbled walking through the halls because these students are working on projects that are completely out of my league. All I know is that proteins break down into amino acids – take that!)

I only came to visit him a few times, but I was so happy eating the fresh Chesapeake Bay oysters, Maryland crab dip (my daughter especially liked that too!), and Yuengling beer, which I haven’t had in years and in which P introduced me to. It was all so good and so familiar. I loved walking down the cobblestone streets of downtown Annapolis, getting breakfast crepes with my daughter while P was working and shopping at the small stores there. I hope she has some memories of this trip when she gets older! We also got apple pie ice cream, and yes, 8 years later, the owner still makes the apple pie for it!! So happy to know that!



It was like the old days and now we were able to take my daughter and show her “the school that Daddy went to.” But I must say she shook her head and said “no?!” when we mentioned “school.” Hehe!

If you’re ever in Annapolis, Maryland, stop by the Pennsylvania Dutch Amish Market. It’s located in the Annapolis Harbor Center at 2472 Solomons Island Road in Annapolis, Maryland. I used to come here whenever I would visit P (my then-boyfriend). It’s always a good side trip and not too far away!

The Amish market is operated by the Amish and back in the day, P would send me goodies like homemade jams and jellies that they would sell there (yep, even back then, he knew the way to this girl’s heart wasn’t clothes or jewelry – haha!). They have everything from barbecue, fresh fruits and vegetables, preserves, grains, donuts, and other baked goods. You can stop by there for a filling meal, or get some hot cross buns for the day!

I had to refrain myself from buying lots of goodies since we nearly reached our weight capacity with our check-in luggage and I didn’t want to carry more on the plane ride home. But I had one of the best apple fritters I have ever eaten (yes, I splurged!) and it was worth the trip just for that one treat!

Easter is rapidly approaching, and that means my daughter is having an Easter egg hunt at her daycare, which she goes to a couple times a week while I’m at work.

I’m supposed to be filling up some Easter eggs with some “treats,” but knowing how often kids these days get sweets (think of all the holidays, plus birthdays and more), I wanted to fill at least my portion of the eggs with healthier, non-sugar-laden alternatives. Plus, part of the fun with Easter egg hunts is the actual search, and finding toys inside is, to me, cooler and lasts longer than a pack of candy.

So here are 20 ways to ditch using piles of chocolate or jelly beans as a filling for your Easter eggs. Mix it up and vary edible and non-edible treats for your Easter egg fillings!

1. Stickers (always a fave in this house)
2. Temporary tattoos
3. Pretzels
4. Barrettes
5. Dry cereal, like multigrain o’s or mini shredded wheat
6. Cheddar bunnies
7. Dried fruit
8. Erasers
9. Play dough or silly putty
10. Animal crackers
11. Bracelets
12. Chalk in the shape of eggs
13. Toy cars
14. Raffle tickets to win a bigger prize, like a coloring book with crayons
15. Foam letters or numbers from the crafts store – great for kids who are learning the alphabet
16. Small stamps
17. Mini bubbles
18. Mini cotton Pom-poms at the crafts store (tell the kids they caught some bunny tails, have a picture of a bunny taped to a wall and have them tape the tails on the bunny! Haha! I just thought of this on a plane ride)
19. Graham crackers in a fun shape
20. Dollar bills (this can get expensive so just fill a few of them up if you have extra eggs and don’t know what to put in them! I wouldn’t fill up coins for little kids, so they’re being upgraded to dollar bills haha!)

For young children, beware of choking hazards. For example, I wouldn’t fill up Easter eggs with marbles for my little tike! You probably get the picture but stay safe out there!

Happy hunting!

My husband’s work brought us to Florence, Italy. Firenze, in the Toscana region, completely turned my world of what I thought of Italian food upside-down. It’s simple, delicious, and after a month, I still didn’t get tired of the cuisine (Usually, I get tired of the same types of foods after 3 days!). To live in a country and explore for this long was such a blessing and I know I’m lucky to have been able to do it and spend time with my family. I have to share that my 2-year-old daughter even picked up the word “ciao” and said it to everyone there! Melts my heart!

We stayed at a bed and breakfast, where they had a simple breakfast for us in the mornings and a kitchenette in our room. We could make simple meals, and I was able to prepare my daughter’s favorite food when she wasn’t eating well (chicken soup with rice).

We were within walking distance to the Mercato Centrale (Central Market), a large indoor market with different vendors selling everything from dried fruits, fresh fruits and vegetables, seafood, fresh and dried pasta, porcini mushrooms, cured and fresh meats and more.

If you are a foodie, this is the place for you. I must have come here a few times A WEEK to buy foods that I would prepare. It was just a couple blocks away from home, so I would even come for little things, like a quick espresso (the market closes at 2pm and Sundays) before heading out to the playground with my daughter, or a porchetta sandwich (my favorite which I got three times at Nerbone), or some dried strawberries. Even the vendors got to know us and gave me free rice and hot peppers one day when I stopped by. The day before we left, we came to say goodbye and they sent us off with some fresh fruit. If you ever go to Florence, don’t you dare miss out on taking a walk through Mercato Centrale on Via San Lorenzo! And get to know the vendors! It’s so fun to talk to people!

There were many highlights of our trip, but I’ll just talk about a food-related one. My mother-in-law, who joined us for a couple of weeks before her next travel destination, let me take a “me” day. She took care of my little one, and I took the whole day off to take a cooking class. We started off in the Central Market and tried lots of foods like truffle honey, unfiltered olive oil, 30-year-old balsamic vinegar with Parmigianno-reggiano cheese (YUM), and cantuccinni in vin santo.

I learned so much, even though I went to Mercato Centrale like about ten times before I actually took the cooking tour. Italians love extra-virgin olive oil and eat it unfiltered, meaning it’s still cloudy, greenish-yellow, and tastes delicious (we bought a few of these bottles to bring back home). And when they eat it, they eat it raw (use regular olive oil for cooking and don’t waste the good stuff). My husband and I got into the practice of drizzling it on our pizzas and pastas (what they do in Tuscany). Don’t worry, the pizzas and pastas in Italy are much lighter than what you’d find in the States!

There’s also no such thing as “Italian” dressing over there – it’s just yummy extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and maybe a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Make sure your balsamic vinegar is made from grapes and vinegar – no artificial caramel color – and the longer it’s aged, the better it is, like wine. The 12-year balsamic vinegar was my favorite. It was thick, syrupy, and delicious on the Parmiggiano-reggiano we had. I even had some 30-year aged balsamic vinegar on vanilla ice cream at a food tasting in Chianti one weekend. There are just no words how good things are sometimes, so I won’t even try!

We then went to a local restaurant and the chef there taught us how to make our own fresh pasta. I’ve never done it by hand before, and let me say, this was a workout! It was nice to have the chefs looking over my shoulder to instruct me on the techniques on getting the dough so paper-thin that you have to read a newspaper through it.

We also made bolognese sauce in pappardelle pasta, ravioli in sage-butter, and tiramisu. The bolognese sauce was amazing. A lot of Italian recipes are so simple and this one didn’t even have garlic in it.

I learned so much – and that our idea of Italian food is way off the mark of what it actually is. The chef that led the cooking class, Giovanni, told us no chef in Italy knows how to make Alfredo sauce, there’s no such thing as Mac ‘n cheese or chicken parmigiana (it’s originally just made with eggplant), and they don’t put garlic in everything, unlike what Italian food in America might have. No matter how much you think you know, take a cooking class in another country. I almost didn’t but so glad I did. I learned so much and am so excited to employ these new techniques to my cooking in the States.