Long Week Wrap-Up; Pizza Pizza

by Emily

Whoops. I guess it’s been longer than usual since I’ve done a wrap-up. And I don’t even have a ton to share; we ordered take-out pizza this week and through a miscommunication ended up with a lot of pizza so that’s mostly what we’ve been eating.

Here are some of the other things that made it on to the meal plan…

breakfasts

A morning meal on the go.

An Erin Baker’s Caramel Apple Breakfast Cookie. The flavor was good but I didn’t feel like it kept me full enough for the calories.

Another breakfast that fit within the Apple Month Theme.

A slice of toasted Caramel Apple Swirl Bread with Smart Balance Light.

With a Müller Greek Corner Mango Yogurt (former freebie) topped with tons of blueberries on the side.

I picked up the swirl bread a million different times at Target and I am glad I ended up walking away with it.

More blue.

Kashi Honey Puffs cereal and blueberries floating in a serving of Lifeway Coconut Chia Kefir.

lunches

Hot bar from Whole Foods.

Health: 2 types of prepared salad topped with baked salmon and sautéed mushrooms. Happiness: 2 soy nuggets and some extra-cheesy mac and cheese.

Very good, but still – I miss Wegmans!

Sandwich and salad.

A simple spinach salad with raisins, peanuts, and balsamic.

Two types of sharp cheddar on white bread with Miracle Whip, cooked in the oven for easy clean-up.

These lunches were a nice break from the pizza.

snacks desserts

Cream filled chocolate chip cookie.

How nice does that scene look? I ate my cookie, sipped my diet soda, flipped through Glamour, and watched a girly movie.

Ben and Jerry’s Rockin’ Blondies ice cream (available only at Target).

My new favorite flavor.

I actually could live without the blondies (they seemed too small somehow) but the brown sugar ice cream was basically the best thing ever.

beverages

More tea spritzers.

Jasmine Tulsi (former freebie) with Mandarin Polar.

Fresh Horchata.

From OMG Taco in Williamsburg.

I flipping love Horchata and I feel like I can never find it.

We did a lot of walking that afternoon and I also had a Cherry Cola Zevia.

It was good, but not my new favorite like I thought it was going to be.

dinners

A mish-mosh meal.

A jazz apple, a Banana Cream Dannon Oikos with honey and salty peanuts on top, and a slice of beer bread broiled with cheese.

You would think that the melty cheese would have been the best bites but actually it was the yogurt, the banana cream was super thick and luscious.

Sushi night.

A green salad,

and a spicy shrimp and avocado roll.

The roll was only ok, we keep ordering from a spot near our house that has no delivery fee and I’m never that impressed.

Breakfast Casserole.

Basically a french toast bake but with sharp cheddar and smoked salmon taking it to the next level.

Adam raved about this one.

Soup’s up.

Broccoli-Cheese soup from Cooking Light,

with bbq kettle chips for crunch.

The soup came together in a snap. I ate one serving and then Adam ate the other three that same night so I guess he liked it!

What is your favorite flavor from Ben and Jerry’s?

26Sep2013

Insta-Wrap-Up; II

by Emily

Here is some of what happened on my instagram account in the last month. I don’t have a ton to share; I don’t use instragram all that much. I should really try to use it more, it makes a nice little photo album.

Drinks on the water at the pier.

That vodka soda cost me a whopping $11, yikes!

Dog face.

He’s such a cutie. But really this is my favorite Webster photo from the last month –

His fuzzy chest poking out of the covers is just too much.

My face.

On the drive to Williamsburg for donuts and beer. That sweatshirt is insanely comfortable.

Robert Moses Beach.

I went with a friend – – in New York – – in September – – and she had on jeans and a sweatshirt and I had a cardigan and scarf over my dress… still managed to burn the absolute hell out of my legs!

When was the last time you had sand between your toes?

23Sep2013

Homer Simpson Approved

by Emily

Yesterday, Adam and I went on a day-date that would have knocked Homer Simpson’s socks off…

A day of doughnuts and beer!

We started with a trip to the Brooklyn Brewery.

On weekends, the brewery leads free tours all throughout the day. Adam loves beer, and I am weirdly obsessed with factory tours, so we knew it would be the perfect activity for us.

The tour took a little less than an hour and was awesome. We didn’t get to see a whole lot, but we did get to taste some hops.

Malty! Our tour guide was wonderful. The brewery is undergoing renovations currently, which is why we were not able to move around as much, but just standing and learning about BB’s history was a ton of fun. We heard a variety of anecdotes that were hilarious and even a little touching!

I was delighted to see several families on the tour, but, of course, for those over 21 drinking was encouraged.

Adam and I shared an Oktoberfest during the tour.

I liked my first few sips but felt like the hops built up and created an unpleasant aftertaste later on (the husband gave it two thumbs up the whole way through).

Afterwards we split a Cuvée La Boîte.

“A Belgian-inspired beer in the “Grand Cru” style, subtly infused with Lior’s unique blend of Mishmish N.33 (lemon, saffron, crystalized honey), fresh kaffir lime leaves, and rare Espe- lette peppers from the French Pyrénées.” When we asked the bartender about it she described it as “very sweet, very high-alcohol” – that sounds like me!

We both loved it.

With the taste of beer on our lips, we set out on foot for 1.7 miles through Williamsburg.

I will always be loyal to Park Slope, but Williamsburg is quickly becoming my 2nd favorite part of Brooklyn.

Our final destination was Dunwell Doughnuts, an all vegan doughnut and soda shop.

The space was adorable, but we were quite disappointed with the day’s selection.

You make more than 200 varieties of doughnuts – including S’mores, Rose with Dark Lavender, and Pink Lemonade – and half of your offerings are chocolate, chocolate with sprinkles, and chocolate with peanuts?!! So disappointing.

We shared a PB&J.

We argued a bit about the flavor, but Adam ended up loving it. I was impressed by the fancy jam filling (seeds and all!) but overall a bit underwhelmed.

At least we found other fun treats on our walk back to the car {shown tomorrow in my weekend wrap-up post}. And we hit up a pet-store near our house so Webster could get into the fun.

A doughnut for my hot dog.

Did/do you watch “The Simpsons?”

20Sep2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Mid-September

by Emily

I feel like I don’t have anything to say here so I’ll just get to it. You saw how clever my title was.

^breakfasts^*

Amazing oatmeal.

In the bowl were unsweetened almond milk, banana hunks, oats, chia seeds, tons of cottage cheese, and the very last of the sweetened condensed milk.

Food Emporium Trading Company Vanilla Granola with Almonds and Pecans in skim milk.

Berry yogurt bowl.

Wallaby low-fat vanilla bean yogurt with blueberries.

This Wallaby was one of the best yogurts I’ve ever tasted! The flecks of vanilla bean throughout felt quite fancy.

^lunches^*

Chinese food.

Cheese and greens eggs.

Eggs scrambled with cottage cheese, greens (a frozen blend from Whole Foods), and 2% provolone.

Carrot salad.

Matzo crackers.

A sheet of Egg and Onion Matzo with Cabot Light Sharp Cheddar melted on top,

and a sliced Jazz apple.

Adam doesn’t like matzo prepared with egg (he’s crazy!) so we eat it as crackers in our house.

^snacks^*

Organic India is promoting their gift baskets for the upcoming holiday season and they offered to send me some products from their Tulsi Tea Line to review.

Please note – these teas were sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for writing this post. All opinions are my own.

So far I’ve tried the Green Tea, which cold-brewed beautifully. Usually I’m not a green girl (it’s Adam’s favorite) but I loved this one. The flavor is completely devoid of the acridness that I usually taste in green teas. I used it in tasty tea spritzers.

Green tea + Polar Mandarin Seltzer.

Hot beer bread, straight from the oven, with Smart Balance Light.

Cola hard candies.

These guys have the best fizz!

^dinners^*

Different Chinese food.

Pasta toss.

Bow ties with corn and broccoli, tossed in browned butter.

Thai crunch salad.

Romaine topped with sliced chicken (marinated in TJ’s spicy peanut vinaigrette, then baked), edamame, shredded cabbage, salted peanuts, and more spicy peanut vinaigrette.

Veggie pizza.

Melts.

A big hunk of beer bread topped with trout salad (TJ’s canned smoked trout mashed with Miracle Whip) and 2% provolone then stuck under the broiler.

The last dinner won best meal of the week. This will be making a reappearance on the meal plan for sure.

19Sep2013

Confessions XIV

by Emily

Click here to read Confessions part I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, and XIII.

Confession #1 – I won’t touch these before October but I started collecting last month.

Confession #2 – Other than the first few times when I was learning to shave my legs, I never use shaving cream, I dry-shave.

Confession #3 – While I was studying for my Registration Exam I drank a lot of coffee.

Confession #4 – I have a sweetened condensed milk problem. I’ve done things.

Confession #5 – I watched this commercial on my phone while I was lying in bed and I cried so hard that my ears filled up with tears.

Wow, it’s been almost a full year since my last one of these posts!

18Sep2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Just Desserts

by Emily

As I was looking through my camera, I thought – “I have enough pictures of sweet stuff to fill a whole post;” so I wrote one just for them. These treats were spread out over the course of a week or so, but still, holy sugar rush, Batman!

Once I started writing, I was glad that I decided to let the sugar shine. This post has a recipe, a theme, and two recommendations for NYC spots that are worth hoping on a plane for, more than enough for one day.

The recipe is for Brown Sugar Cinnamon Popsicles.

They have a Greek yogurt base and are technically healthy enough to eat for breakfast but it was more fun to call them dessert. I did something amazing with them that I’ll share further down…

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Popsicles, makes 3-5 pops, depending on the size of your molds

1 cup plain 2% Greek yogurt
1/4 cup skim milk
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup light brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until homogenous.
Pour into popsicle molds.
Freeze until fully hardened, 6 hours minimum.

I know the weather is starting to get too chilly for frozen stuff, but the flavor profile is spot on for Fall.

Speaking of Fall, it’s Apple Month!

Can I rave about my three new favorite things?

These De-Lish apple caramels (from Duane Reade) are out of control.

Perfect caramel texture – chewy without sticking in your teeth – with just a hint of apple tang. I even baked some into cinnamon caramel apple cookies with moderate success.

But then I gave Adam one to try and it was all over; he finished the bag practically before I could blink!

And the Russell Stover apple caramel was even better.

I honestly would have preferred it without the chocolate coating, but the caramel inside was the best I’ve ever had.

Finally, I know I’ve gushed about the Granny Smith Polar before, but now I’ve taken it to a whole new level of amazing.

If you do go ahead and make my Cinnamon Brown Sugar Popsicles, pretty please use one as “ice” in a glass of Granny Smith Polar Seltzer so your life can be forever changed?

Also life changing was our visit to Ample Hills Creamery in Brooklyn.

That, my friends, is a kid’s cup of Salted Crack Caramel Ice Cream. “Salted butter caramel ice cream with pieces of Deb’s famous crack cookies (saltines, butter, sugar, chocolate).”

My final New York recommendation for this week is Sugar, Sweet, Sunshine, a bakery in SoHo.

They make our very, very favorite cupcakes; they’re the best in the city and also the cheapest! Adam got a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting.

And I finally ignored the cupcakes’ siren song and tried something I’ve been coveting for years –

A shot of The Nog: pumpkin cake, eggnog pudding, and whipped cream.

This trifle sooooo lived up to my fantasy. Normally I wouldn’t dare eat pumpkin before November or eggnog before December, but this was totally worth breaking my food theme rules for!

What’s the #1 dessert spot you recommend to people visiting your town?

13Sep2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Fun Fruit

by Emily

Not too much excitement this week – as the title implies, literally the most thrilling thing in this post is grapes. It was a week of great dinners, but I’m missing every breakfast so I figured it would be easier to recap via numbered list than in categories.

{1} Frog Hollow plums.

I tried Frog Hollow produce at the first FoodBuzz Festival and it’s been near to my heart ever since.

{2} Super exciting cotton candy grapes with a boring cheese quesadilla.

The quesadilla was just a flour tortilla, sprinkled with a Mexican cheese blend and folded in half, cooked in a little canola oil.

The grapes were these guys –

I’d been seeing them make the rounds on Instagram and was so excited to spot them at my Whole Foods. The taste is just slightly sweeter grape, but the smell is totally cotton candy. Even Adam, who’s not a grape lover, was a fan.

{3} Dipping the grapes in peanut butter makes a mind-blowing snack.

It helps if you have extra-awesome peanut butter too; homemade honey roasted peanut butter with cotton candy grapes equals a classed-up, deconstructed pb&j.

{4} Melted cheese makes an even better snack.

Blue Diamond Flax Artisan Nut Thins (former freebie) with extra-sharp New York cheddar melted on top. Note – the flax ended up being our favorite variety the nut thins by far. It had a great saltiness to it. I don’t have a single picture because every damn time I made this I was blown away by how molten hot our new microwave makes our plates.

{5} New yogurt variety.

Siggi’s 2% Mango Pineapple yogurt (does anyone know why this flavor is not listed on the website?) did not disappoint. I do enjoy the flavor of fat-free yogurts, but Siggi’s 2% varieties have been far superior.

{6} Banoffee pie chocolate bar.

My parents sent us this from Amsterdam.

{6} Creamy pasta bowls.

I basically re-made the sauce and pasta base of my vegan mac and cheese, but with Mozzarella Vegan Gourmet Shreds. Then I tossed in 20 oz of browned mushrooms a blend of collard greens, kale and mustard greens (a blend bag from the frozen section at WF). The mushrooms were the best part, as always.

The final dish wasn’t necessarily bad, but we both wanted it to be better.

{7} #6 was infinitely better as jazzed-up leftovers.

I tossed in olive oil, dried rosemary, turkey pepperoni, and garlic (I grated it with my microplane and it was awesome), and then put it all in a casserole dish with some extra-sharp cheddar on top and rebaked until crispy.

This meal we couldn’t get enough of. And the roasted yellow zucchini on the side was nothing to sneeze at either.

Adam put his leftover leftovers in the fridge and I totally snaked them for lunch the next day.

{8} Lunch at the Peanut Butter Co.

I got a fluffernutter with White Chocolate Wonderful Peanut Butter.

Out of this world. It was so packed with marshmallow that even I couldn’t quite finish it!

{9} Take-out from Laverne.

I got Pad See Ew with mock dock and we were both very pleased with it.

Their menu is an impressive blend of French, Thai, and Japanese and we definitely want to go there asap. Psssst; read the description of this roll – D’ Artagnan Roll: Inside: foie gras marinated in truffle oil mixed with chopped black winter truffles, garlic and yellowtail. Topped with black caviar and seared yellowtail served with miso-abolone sauce(!!!!!!).

{10} Pizza eggs.

Let’s not even pretend like I didn’t save my favorite for last.

Have you tried the cotton candy grapes yet?

12Sep2013

Random Rants

by Emily

I don’t know how much this comes across on the blog, but people in my real life know that I pretty much hate everyone. For funsies, I thought I’d share a few of my random pet peeves here today.

1. People who say “vaca” when they mean “vacay.”

Vacay = the annoying abbreviation for vacation. Vaca = the Spanish word for cow. Twittiots, unless you’re physically riding a cow, you are on vacay.

2. Airline passengers who use the overhead space improperly.

Like the stewardesses announce every single flight, you are supposed to put your smaller items under the seat in front of you and save the overhead space for items that won’t fit under the seat. When you put your coat in the overhead – everyone else hates you.

3. Starbucks baristas who ignore you when you order “with room.”

I appreciate that Starbucks is watching their bottom line and baristas don’t want customers to go completely crazy at the milk bar, but if I order my drink “with room” and you hand me a cup that’s filled to within 1 cm of the top, I’m going to dump out even more coffee than necessary and go ahead and upgrade my iced coffee to a free latte.

4. People who don’t understand the Saltine Challenge.

Anyone can fit all of the crackers into their mouth within the time limits, the challenging part is actually swallowing them. You did not beat the challenge unless your crackers are gone and your mouth is empty.

What are some of your random pet peeves? Let the hate flow through you…

Eating Chalk

Monthly Archives: September 2013

Long Week Wrap-Up; Pizza Pizza

breakfasts

lunches

snacks desserts

beverages

dinners

Insta-Wrap-Up; II

Homer Simpson Approved

Weekly Wrap-Up; Mid-September

^breakfasts^*

^lunches^*

^snacks^*

Please note – these teas were sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for writing this post. All opinions are my own.

^dinners^*

Confessions XIV

Weekly Wrap-Up; Just Desserts

Weekly Wrap-Up; Fun Fruit

Random Rants