Around The Web

I’ve had some really yummy eats this week that I am excited to blog, but first I wanted to share some of the things I’ve been loving on other people’s web sites…

food for thought

I’m sure you’ve all heard the buzz about Science Babe’s epic takedown of the Food Babe by now.  {article linked here}  In short, Food Babe has absolutely no medical, nutritional, or scientific background, and she, like the big names in anti-vaccination, preys on America’s recent history of sub-par STEM education and misuses the term “toxin” so egregiously it may actually be the newest, deadliest sin.  Zen & Spice did a great job of unpacking the Science Babe’s arguments from an RD’s perspective.  {article linked here}

Love & Zest talked about the value of foods beyond their nutrients.  Moderation is important because a brownie may not be “good for you,” but it can certainly be good for your soul.  {article linked here}

Green Mountain wrote their version of the “Five Foods You Should Never Eat” article.  I really hate the original articles – unnecessary dietary restrictions are unsustainable and unenjoyable and the titles are blatant clickbait – so it was nice to read June’s funny but reasonable spoof.  {article linked here}

Debbie Dietitian Dishes did another one of her great nutrient examinations, this time a look at carbohydrates – what they are, what they do, and what you need.  {article linked here}

food and nutrition funnies

Very few things are better than cupcakes, but these guys qualify –

better than cupcakes

{source}

So true, even I fall victim to this occasionally –

trying to be healthy

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And Poorly Drawn Lines has been killing it lately.

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humanely raised demons

{source}

Have you been keeping up with the most recent Food Babe drama?  If this was your first time hearing of the Food Babe, when you went to check out her website did you feel like your head might actually explode with rage?

Homemade S’mores Milk and Weekend Brooklyn Love

Adam and I had a pretty great weekend… in spite of me misplacing my – expensive! – favorite sports bra and spending half of Saturday in mourning.  Seriously – I don’t change at the gym, I didn’t pack it on a trip, and we are very careful to check the machines for runaways when we do our laundry – where the frick is it?!!  But when we weren’t checking and rechecking literally every drawer in the house, we did manage to have some fun.

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highlights…

Homemade S’mores Milk

It’s official, I’m a genius.  I put it in coffee, obviously.

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S’mores Milk, makes 2 cups

Inspired by Tosi’s Cereal Milk.  This recipe requires you to strain the solids out of the milk, you can use a fine mesh sieve but I used my French Press and that worked really well too.  Smooshy marshmallows will not work for this, you need crispy ones; if you can’t find the Mallow Bits I recommend picking the marshmallows out of Lucky Charms!

  • 2 cups skim milk or milk of choice
  • 1/3 cup Jet Puff Mallow Bits
  • 4 squares graham crackers, crumbled
  • 2 Tbsp hot chocolate milk
  1. Place all of the ingredients together in a container and stir to combine.  Cover and store in the fridge for 8 – 16 hours.
  2. Strain, discarding solids.  Milk can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 1 week.

homemade s'mores milk

Cheesy Spicy Eggs

Coming up somewhere just behind coffee, diet coke, dulce de leche, and popcorn, corn cooked in scrambled eggs is one of my favorite meals.

This plate was TJ’s frozen fire-roasted corn, chopped spinach, and sliced shishito peppers (<– so much spicier than I was expecting!) cooked in coconut oil with eggs scrambled in and chunks of Kerrygold Skellig sweet cheddar tossed in at the end.

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C’est Cheese in Port Jeff

C’est Cheese is always worth the drive up Port Jefferson for dinner.

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We shared a beer sampler.  The Framboise was my favorite.

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A cheese plate.  Adam loved the Tallegio and I was all about the 7-year Gouda.

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And a grilled cheese with blue cheese and a raspberry-cranberry relish on marble rye.  The cheese and jam combo made for the best bites of the night.

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Snacky in Williamsburg

This weekend one of my lifelong best friends celebrated her 30th(!!!) birthday.

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After the party, the husband and I had dinner at Snackys, one of my favorite Williamsburg spots.  We shared a seaweed salad and a Chinese big bun stuffed with pickled vegetables.

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And did rice bowls for dinner.  I know the photos aren’t much, but my Spicy Korean BBQ Chicken Bowl was great, yummy sauce and big bites of kimchi.

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Our 1st Smorgasburg of 2015

NYC people – if you haven’t done Smorgasburg yet you need to get your life together.  They added a few new vendors this season and it is happy, foodie, perfection.  We couldn’t find the Snowday truck but you can bet I’ll keep an eye out from now on.

We got lattes at Brooklyn Roasting Company.

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Buns from Bite Sized Kitchen.  I got red curry chicken with peanuts, cilantro, and fried garlic and shloots (topped with loads of sweet chili sauce).

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And beer-battered cheese curds with truffle cheese sauce from Curd’s the Word.

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Remember this post?  The stupid sports bra is the fourth item I’ve ever lost… which would be a really good track record if 2, 3, and 4 hadn’t all been within the last year!

Easter And Onward

This post feels long, and I am le tired, so I will try to be less loquacious than usual.

Very chatty sidenote – how great are some of the words that describe how much a person does or does not talk??  Loquacious.  Taciturn.  Verbose.  Gabby.  Love them!

Real talk though: I somehow caught a springtime cold and I am cranky and sniffling and need to go to bed.  I know I’ve wasted 60+ words on an intro, but I’ll try to let the pictures speak for themselves as much as possible.

breakfast

Vanilla iced coffee with vanilla milk.

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Smoothie #1 – strawberry mint.  Chocolate mint soy milk, frozen strawberries, and plain Greek yogurt.

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Smoothie #2 – blueberry bliss.  Frozen blueberries and dates with plain almond milk, plain Greek yogurt, and a little honey.

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I made another batch of Community Coffee French Roast, this time in our coffee machine.  Traditional/hot brewing did make this a little bitter, but it was still quite drinkable.  Especially with skim milk and a splash of toasted marshmallow coffee syrup or a sprinkle of cinnamon and brown sugar.

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lunch

Subs with the in-laws for Easter.  With chips and hard-boiled Easter eggs.

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Coffee Chobani with Cocoa Coconut Renola and a Cara Cara.  I am very picky about my coffee yogurts and this stuff was on point.

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A half turkey sandwich from the cafeteria with seaweed salad and Easter candy delivered by a coworker.

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I apparently don’t have a photo to speak for itself, but another day I packed a sandwich from home.  An epic sandwich.  Sweet cheddar and extra-sharp cheddar on a toasted English muffin.  Swoon.

This mix was random, but it worked – spicy Thai chili tuna salad, brown sugar and sea salt seaweed, and a Cara Cara.

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snack

Coconut water for rehydration.

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These chips are amazing.

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Coffee, always.

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The husband and I are both obsessed with these two dessert items.

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Plain Greek yogurt with butterscotch peanut butter and chocolate-covered cocoa nibs

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I made How Sweet Eat’s Brown Butter Oatmeal Chunk Cookies for a birthday at work and they received rave reviews.  I subbed vanilla bean paste for cinnamon, subbed dark chocolate chips for chocolate chunks, and made much smaller cookies (for a yield of 40 cookies versus her 15), and I recommend all three changes if you make a batch of your own.

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I’m including two non-edibles that fed my soul.  The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman was like a grown-up version of Francesca Lia Block’s stuff.  It was hard to put down; I read on the train and one night I had to sit in my car in the parking lot for twenty minutes to keep reading.

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This lip-balm smells like my dreams.

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dinner

Easter dinner.

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Dessert was angel food cake layered with a yummy Cool Whip + vanilla pudding mix + shredded pineapple concoction.

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An easy, amazing soup.  I cooked shell pasta in chicken broth then dumped in sautéed chopped bok choy and green onions, shredded cooked chicken breast, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.  My bowl was drizzled with sweet chili oil as well.  Adam absolutely raved about this dish.

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I turned the rest of my never-ending marinara sauce into a bastardized version of Jenna’s Channa Masala.  On top of brown rice and roasted broccoli.  Topped with plain Greek yogurt and sweet chili oil.

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Safe Catch sent me a can of their wild skipjack tuna.

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Please note: I was sent this product free of charge to review.  I was not provided with further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Seafood is a great thing to include in your diet.  It is a lean protein, a good source of iron, and a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.  Unfortunately, due to the fact that seafood contains mercury, it may not be a good idea to consume it daily, and some varieties are safer than others.  Canned tuna, for example, I have to tell my pregnant patients to limit to </ once per week.  Safe Catch is a new, mercury tested, tuna brand that enforces a strict limit on the amount of mercury allowable in the fish that go into its products (their standards are 90% stricter than the FDA’s mercury safety limit of 1.0 parts per million).  Also important – the fish is caught exclusively with pole and line from managed stocks.

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I wanted to be able to really taste the tuna – we give it two thumbs up – so I made it into a super simple tuna salad.

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Served on a challah roll with a side of roasted broccoli.

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Last night was my sickest, and the husband worked overnight, so I made a(n incredibly tasty!) frozen meal from Trader Joe’s and called it a night.  I also ate a bowl of cereal in bed.

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There were entirely too many photos of my hands in this post.

Oats And Easter Candy

I wrote this post at midnight on Saturday… while I ate dinner/my first meal of the day… it’s been kind of a rough week.  Hopefully I’ll be in a better mood while this is auto-publishing because I should be in the car on my way to Easter celebrating with the husband’s family.

I’m missing a ton of photos from the week (chips and dip!) and posting two days late, so I almost skipped this post, but some of these eats (chocolate + oat bowls!) were just so good.

breakfast

Community Coffee sent me a variety of their ground coffees to try.

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This was a free product sample that I’m reviewing for no additional compensation.  It will take me some time to make it through them all, but I will let you know as I open each bag.

This week I cold-brewed the French Roast.

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Quite nice!  Roasty and not acrid at all.  I am going to make a (hot) batch in the coffee machine soon and I will let you know if that changes my opinion, but for now we give this two thumbs up.

Gevalia almond milk iced coffee.

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The flavor was good but not great.  The 9 grams of protein made it a good breakfast though.

Iced coffee and peanut butter toast with condensed milk from the tea place near my work.

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I threw out my crusts and my office smelled like a peanut all day!

lunch

Banana walnut oatmeal with a minneola and Cadbury mini eggs.

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Cabury mini eggs win for best holiday candy ever.

Wild berry oatmeal with Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter.

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I 100% bought the oatmeal because it had a bear on the package, but it ended up being pretty tasty.

Turkey sandwich, citrus, and malted eggs.

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That’s a toasted English muffin with Smart Balance and Applegate Farms smoked turkey.

Yogurt bowl.

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2% Greek with pomegranate and marble halvah.  <– my best idea ever

Chicken sandwich from the cafeteria.

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An everything bagel with mayo, mustard, spicy chicken, Munster cheese, and fancy lettuce.

snack

Coffee all day every day.

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Worth mentioning were this short, skim caramel macchiato.

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And the fact that Hungry Ghost has Stumptown cold brew on draft.

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Easter candy.

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Turkey jerky.

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Ample Hills!

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Salted crack caramel + salted honey with honeycomb and chocolate-covered potato chips.

dinner

Chipotle, because heaven forbid we go longer than five days without rice bowls.

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Or salty lime chips, or giant diet cokes.

I made us a huge batch of marinara sauce in the crockpot.

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It was a great idea in theory, but I didn’t season the sauce enough and the end result was very “meh.”  Too bad we ate it three days in row for dinner and still have gallons left.

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The best part of that meal was our side dish –

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roasted broccoli with pesto gouda melted on top.

On a much more exciting night, I had drinks with a girlfriend at my favorite Brooklyn bar – Pork Slope.  No photos, but I had a Keegan’s Mother’s Milk Stout on draft that rocked my socks off.  Then we met up with Adam for dinner at Talde, Pork Slope’s Asian-American sister.

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That’s my Navy Grog {Diplomatico rum, honey syrup, lime and grapefruit juices} and kale salad {cantaloupe, pickled beets, candied almonds, creamy ponzu}.  I am going to be heartbroken when we move on from our national kale obsession.

Happy Easter to all my readers who celebrate.

Birthday Cake Coffee And Jelly Bean Gum

Random notes:

  1. A bunch of bites slipped past the camera this weekend, though per usual, the majority of them were coffee and candy.
  2. I had big plans for excitement in the city this weekend and the snow (in March?!  seriously?) throw me off my game.  We did make it to the Lower East Side for a 2nd trip to Adam’s new favorite restaurant though.
  3. I binge-watched my way through the first 9 episodes of “Fresh off the Boat” and thought it was great.  The book has been on my Amazon wish-list for ages, and we recently visited BaoHaus, so it’s safe to say I’m currently infatuated with Eddie Huang.

Eats:

Double espresso with skim milk (over ice) at work.

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I’m not super hungry most mornings, but I try to get in a full 8 oz serving of dairy in my coffee.  The 8 grams of protein and 90 – 130 calories usually hold me just fine until my early lunch.  Usually.  I was so hungry all day on Friday that I was practically crying.

My lunch was delicious.

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Fresh blueberries on top of lemon Chobani with a  side of sugar cookie kettle corn.

But soon after lunch I was miserable.  And I took lunch an hour earlier than usual so it was looong afternoon.  I bought this thing of cheese and crackers from the cafeteria, scoffed at how ridiculously large the serving size was, and finished the whole thing 30 minutes later.

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And 30 minutes after that, I was buying coffee and a KIND bar for my train ride.

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Plus I ate Easter candy both before and after dinner.

My dinner, that in retrospect definitely could have used more protein, was a good one though, if a bit scattered.

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Salad = baby kale, cubes pesto gouda, dried blueberries, buckwheat groats, and honey/evoo/lavender salt for dressing.

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Our pasta bowls were more of the same; pesto gouda and baby spinach, along with tons of caramelized onions – finished with cream sherry! – and whole wheat boxed mac and cheese with a few giant shells thrown in for good measure.

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I was still hungry when we went to bed!  Thankfully I felt back to normal by Saturday morning.

My picture-taking motivation went downhill at that point – when I woke up to almost-April snow my plans to go to the gym, clean the floors, and generally accomplish anything all seemed to disappear – but I do have shots of the good stuff.

Adam loved the oatmeal raisin cookie smoothie that I made for my last Recipe Redux post a ton, so this weekend I worked up an official recipe.

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I made mine with plain almond milk.  ‘Twas good.

This gum is great.

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Doesn’t taste like a jelly bean, but it has a great, tart flavor.

Starbucks reached the 20th birthday of the Frappuccino last week and they celebrated with a limited-edition birthday cake flavor… with pink raspberry whipped cream!

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I asked for them to make me one into a skim iced latte.  So good.  Still ridiculous, but slightly less ridiculous.

I made Pinch of Yum’s Bourbon Chicken for Sunday dinner, though I trashed mine up a bit by substituting in turkey breast and Jim Beam’s Maple Bourbon.

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Served with brown rice and roasted broccoli, under a healthy drizzle of sauce.  My mother – a maple fanatic – bought me the bourbon for Christmas and I have so many cocktail ideas for it.

We had another amazing meal at Pig & Khao.  Adam is obsessed with this place and I don’t blame him.

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That’s my Reisling and our order of fried mantao buns.

The husband had a giant plate of pork leg, and I ordered the Khao Soi – red curry, coconut milk, chicken, egg noodles, pickled mustard greens, and shallots.

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I don’t even like red curry (understandably, the menu is mostly meats so there aren’t a ton of options for me) but I loooved this.  The flavors are just so balanced; you leave feeling unbelievably satisfied.

We had to make room for Halo Halo though!

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Shaved ice, leche flan, ube ice cream, macapuno (coconut), and pinipig (toasted puffed rice).  My favorite desserts are bat ping so, choclados, and halo halo, clearly I am all about shaved ice and sweet milk.

Did you try the birthday cake Frappuccino?

Five Things Better Than Easter Candy

Let’s be real – I’ve eaten a lot of Easter candy this week.  Here are five things that taste better than Easter candy…

{1}  TJ’s Espresso Pillows.

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I realize that these are still candy, but they felt like a very fancy way to end my lunch hours.  They are a bit smaller, and crunchier than typical chocolate-covered espresso beans.

{2}  Homemade oatmeal bowls on the go.

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1/3 cup rolled oats + 1/2 cup freeze-dried strawberries + 2 Tbsp malted milk powder + 1 Tbsp chocolate-covered cocoa nibs.  I fill my bowl with hot water from the cafeteria (for tea) and have a yummy bowl of oats by the time I get back to my lounge.

{3}  Peanut butter yogurt.

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2% Plain Fage with my browned butterscotch peanut butter swirled in.

{4}  Fresh blueberries.

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This low-brow cereal bowl – eaten at my desk while I worked – was one of the best things I ate all week.

{5}  The Duck, Duck, Gouda from Bare Burger.

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A fried egg sandwich with duck bacon, gouda, and sweet tomato jam??  I was in heaven.

Have you gotten into the Easter candy yet?

Pig & Khao & Bao

New York gave us weather in the upper 40’s two days in a row and we had a fabulous weekend!  We went to two new (to us) restaurants and adored them both.  Here is a wrap-up of my favorite bites and sips, not including several more cups of coffee, several more cups of ice cream, and a windy but wonderful walk across the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

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Carolina Honey Argo Tea.

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This tea was honey perfection; I loudly “Mmmmn’d” at least five times before we had finished it.  And bonus – Adam and I adore reusing the bottles.

Iced latte from Brooklyn Roasting Company.

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A gorgeous espresso over skim milk, with raw sugar and a splash of cream.  We fought over it on the subway.  I also got another Maple Shay and learned that they will make it with skim milk and that it is even better that way.

Shaved ice at Snowdays.

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We shared a sweet cream with salted caramel, fruity pebbles, grass jelly, and mochi.  Snowdays is Adam’s favorite iced dessert option and mochi are my favorite iced dessert topping.

A stop at Sugar, Sweet, Sunshine.

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I actually passed on the cupcakes in lieu of puddings –

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Banana and chocolate chip cookie.

Baohaus rocked our socks off.  Their lighting scheme was dim with shades of yellow, so I couldn’t get a good shot, but the buns were outstanding.

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I got an Uncle Jessie: Organic fried tofu served with our Haus Seasoning Salt, crushed peanuts, Taiwanese red sugar, cilantro, and Haus Sauce, and we shared a Coffin Bao: A large fried bao stuffed with our fried chicken topped with chili condensed milk syrup, crushed peanuts, Taiwanese red sugar, and cilantro.  Chili condensed milk syrup is pretty much my love language!

Pig & Khao was even better.  Adam says this was the best meal he’s had in months.

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I had Vietnamese coffee.

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And Shan noodles: ground chicken, turmeric, peanuts, fermented mustard greens, rice noodles.

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Every dish had umami out the wazoo.  I poured a bit of Adam’s chili oil – for dipping with his steak and eggs – into my broth and the burn was so worth it!

Green eggs at home.

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Scrambled with fresh arugula and TJ’s fire roasted corn.  Instead of toast, I had ice cream.

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Jimmy Fallon can laugh at his own jokes, I don’t care, this is the best Ben & Jerry’s of all time: Caramel & Chocolate Ice Creams with Chocolate Cookie Swirls & Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Peanut Butter Cookie Dough.  Funny fact – I thought I hated iced cream up until a year or two ago.

I made a new salmon dish – Sweet and Spicy Cilantro Baked Salmon.

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Recipe linked here.  I was pleased enough with how it came out to make a recipe page.

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With TJ’s Cruciferous Crunch (kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, green  and red cabbage) sautéed with leftover cilantro sauce and Wegman’s Thai peanut sauce.

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This was worth dirtying up the food processor for.

Crossing my fingers that the weather stays “warm” this week.

Two For One {Recipe Redux}

And one for all!

From the Redux teamWe’re all about cooking once and eating twice. In short, double dinners are better. Show us how you take a favorite recipe already on your blog – and ReDux the leftovers into a new dish. Or, whip up a new healthy recipe and give suggestions on how to make it a second meal. For example, slow cooker pot roast could become shredded beef tacos; or grilled chicken breasts might morph into chicken salad.

Rather than stretching a dinner, I set my sights on dessert.  Who’s surprised there?!

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I am a big rice pudding fan, so my Chia “Rice” Pudding is one of my favorite treats.  This chia pudding is a quicker (tastier!) spin on rice pudding.  Chia seeds replace rice for a pudding that is still chewy, creamy, and sweet.  And since chia seeds are a great source of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, this is pretty darn healthy for a yummy dessert.

Sadly, my husband is brave enough for chia seeds, but can’t stand good, old rice pudding, so I usually am enjoying the dish by myself.  For this challenge, I morphed the unwanted 2nd serving of the pudding into a quick and yummy cookie flavored smoothie that is packed with fiber.  The smoothie got rave reviews; ironically, my husband said it’s the best smoothie I’ve ever made!  It really does taste just like a liquefied oatmeal cookie.

Chia “Rice” Pudding

Servings: 2; Prep Time: 5 minutes; Cook Time: 10 minutes

  • 1.5 cups skim milk
  • 3 Tbsp chia seeds
  • 3 Tbsp light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
  1. Bring milk to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Whisk chia seeds into milk and continue to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. Meanwhile, beat the egg in medium bowl.
  4. Whisk brown sugar into milk mixture.
  5. Slowly stream half of the milk mixture into the egg, whisking constantly so the egg doesn’t begin to cook.
  6. Whisk the egg mixture back into the pan and continue to simmer, whisking constantly, for another 2 minutes.
  7. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in cinnamon, vanilla, and raisins.

The pudding does not need to thicken or set so it can be served immediately.

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And the next day – – –

Oatmeal Cookie Smoothie

Servings: 1; Prep Time: 5 minutes; Hands-On Time: 3 minutes

  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup milk of choice
  • heaping 1/2 cup leftover chia rice pudding
  • small frozen banana
  • (optional) 2 Tbsp maple syrup or 2 pitted medjool dates
  1. Place oats and milk in your blender and let sit until softened, 3 – 5 minutes.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

I recommend trying it without the optional sweetener first and blending that in later at the end if you decide it’s needed.

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How do you feel about leftovers?  Love the convenience or hate the thought of a dinner repeat?