What a fantastic girls night! Tina (far right) set up an evening of taste testing in Harvard Square, for which (from L to R) Elina, Shannon, and I were more than happy to accompany her.

We gathered under an umbrella outside of Au Bon Pain, where Jeff – the Founder and CEO of Ready Health Go – proffered us tastes of his company’s freshly prepared and packaged foods.

Jeff came up with this idea for healthy & tasty on-the-go meals during graduate school. One location of Ready Health Go is in Back Bay, and another location is opening this weekend in the Harvard Square Coop.

Ready Health Go has a menu offering 4 types of salads:

3 types of sandwiches:

and 3 types of wraps, as well as beverages and healthy snacks. Notice the labels on the packages declaring which offerings are high fiber, vegan, and/or cholesterol free. All of the offerings include nutritional information as well.

Jeff whipped out his cutting board and knife and we happily sampled the goodies.

*All of the bread is from Iggy’s*.

First up, Grilled Asparagus Sandwich with smoky eggplant spread, parmesan, field greens, and a balsamic vinaigrette on a baguette. Asparagus on a sandwich – what a great idea! The asparagus tasted like it had just jumped off the grill and cooled down. I am definitely going to try to replicate this sandwich.

335 calories, 6 grams fat, 5.5 grams fiber

Next up was the Roasted Portobello Sandwich with basil white bean puree, roasted tomatoes, and roasted-caramelized onions on ciabatta. As someone who doesn’t typically like mushrooms, I was hesitant about this option. The verdict: I really liked it! The portobello ’shroom was tender and meaty, and the condiments were super tasty.

464 calories, 17.6 grams fat, 5 grams fiber

Our third taste was the Chipotle Spiced Chicken Sandwich with sweet pea “mockamole”, roasted tomatoes, field greens and light cheddar cheese on ciabatta. The “mockamole” is guacamole with the addition of green peas. The peas cut down on fat and calories, but doesn’t compete with the rich flavor of the avocado. That’s another culinary experiment for me to try!

464 calories, 9.6 grams fat, 2 grams fiber

We moved on to the wraps, starting with Just Veggies with edamame hummus, avocado, tomato, carrots, sprouts, and a honey-mustard vinaigrette on whole wheat lavash. Jeff explained that the sprouts used in this wrap are daikon-radish sprouts, not the more commonly used alfalfa. The daikon-radish sprouts have more of a peppery/spicy flavor. This is a great vegan choice! I enjoyed the crunch of the carrots and the richness of the avocado and hummus.

390 calories, 7 grams fat, 7 grams fiber

The second wrap we tasted was the Vietnamese Tofu: marinated, baked tofu with an Asian veggie mix, carrot-ginger dressing, and rice salad on whole wheat lavash. This was one of my favorites! There were some fantastic flavors going on in this wrap, and look how gorgeous the cross section is. Jeff mentioned the importance of pressing the tofu slabs before marinating them.

440 calories, 12 grams fat, 7 grams fiber

Next up was Jeff’s best-selling wrap, the Turkey Green Apple: roasted turkey breast with granny smith apples, light cheddar cheese, mixed lettuces and roasted apple vinaigrette on whole wheat lavash. I can understand why this is a popular choice. The thick slices of turkey were light years beyond your run-of-the-mill sliced deli meat, and the apple flavor was the perfect accompaniment. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the 50% reduced fat cheddar taste shone through. I would absolutely order this wrap!

570 calories, 16 grams fat, 6 grams fiber

Having tasted the full array of sandwiches & wraps, we moved on to the salads. Jeff explained that he uses arrowroot in the dressings as a thickener, which cuts down on fat and calories while making the dressing creamy. Genius!

Here we have the Sesame Glazed Salmon Salad with an asian vegetable mix, edamame and a honey-soy vinaigrette on field greens. The salmon was tender, and the vinaigrette was tasty. There was a generous assortment of veggies underneath the salmon pieces; I loved the edamame/salmon flavor combination!

360 calories, 21 grams fat, 3 grams fiber

The next salad we taste-tested was the Herbed Chicken with herbed & marinated chicken, grapes, walnuts and a shallot vinaigrette on butter lettuce. This was my favorite salad of the bunch. I love the waldorf-inspired combination of chicken, grapes and walnuts. After we each took a sample bite, I got to take the remainder of this salad home with me Lunch tomorrow, perhaps?

Please excuse the blurry photo.

380 calories, 20 grams fat, 2 grams fiber

The last tasting we did was of the Jicama and Citrus Salad with seasonal citrus segments, sliced jicama, and a citrus-cilantro dressing on spinach. The jicama gave the salad a great crunch factor, and the cilantro in the dressing went really nicely with the citrus.

160 calories, 4.5 grams fat, 9 grams fiber

A big thanks to Jeff for letting us sample all of these yummy foods! If you’re in the Harvard Square area this weekend, stop by the Coop to try one of these delicious, healthy, and convenient meals.

Tina’s generosity didn’t stop at a free dinner – she also arranged a tasting for us at Sweet, which is located in Back Bay on Mass Ave and in Harvard Square on Brattle Street.

Cupcakes, glorious cupcakes!

And “pupcakes” too. Obviously, I brought one of these home for Shelby; scroll down for her review

The kind folks at Sweet packed us two boxes full of cupcakes to sample. Nutritional information NOT provided.

Box number 1:

Organic Karat moist carrot cake with shredded organic carrots and crushed pineapple topped with classic cream cheese frosting and an edible gold leaf petal.

This was by far my favorite flavor! Perfect in every way.

Boston Cream Pie sweet chiffon cake filled with homemade pastry cream topped with chocolate ganache and a frosting “cherry”.

I honestly wasn’t a fan of this offering. The cake didn’t have much flavor, and the ganache topping wasn’t as great as it sounds. I didn’t finish this sample taste.

Red Velvet a gentle hint of Bensdorp Dutch cocoa, a classic shocking red hue and Sweet’s traditional cream cheese frosting.

Now that is a RED cupcake! This guy was good, but the cream cheese frosting didn’t taste exactly the same as the one on the carrot cake cupcake for some reason. Check out the insanely thick icing layer:

Box number 2:

Hello, lover.

Chocolate Caramel chocolate oozes from inside moist chocolate cake topped with Sweet’s delicious chocolate buttercream frosting and drizzled with melted caramel.

The caramel drizzle was a lovely touch to this rich chocolate cupcake. I had no problem finishing this sample piece!

Chocolate Coconut signature rich dark Bensdorp chocolate cake topped with coconut infused buttercream frosting and rolled in fresh coconut shavings.

This was the runner-up in my book. I’ve just come to love the flavor of coconut so much! I could eat this frosting by the spoonful.

At this point, it was a unanimous decision to call it quits. My stomach was happy stuffed to the brim, and I was bordering on falling into a sugar coma.

Admired but not tasted:

Dark Chocolate rich chocolate cake baked with Dutch cocoa topped with homemade buttercream chocolate frosting.

Lemon delectable fresh lemon filling stuffed inside Sweet’s vanilla bean cake lemon buttercream on top and finished with a trio of jelly beans.

Passover flourless Belgian dark chocolate cake with a hint of espresso sprinkled with confectioners sugar.

The Sweet Cake creamy Madagascar vanilla bean cake with homemade buttercream vanilla frosting.

We divvied up the remaining cupcakes, and I took this last one home for John. He ate half and declared it “all-right, nothing special”. I’ll be the judge of that when I taste the other half tomorrow

I unwrapped the pupcake for the Shelbster after taking her for a stroll outside.

She inhaled it while Roxie watched with envy.

Good thing I vacuumed recently.

Okay, this marathon post has taken me waaaaay to long to type! I’m off to bed to dream about sandwiches, wraps, salads, and cupcakes.

Thanks, Tina, for organizing a fun night!