Insta-Wrap-Up; V

by Emily

I love these posts – because I’m pretty sure most of my blog readers do not also follow me on instagram so the content is totally fresh for most of you – but I am not the best at getting them up regularly. Probably because I tend to forget about instagram for weeks at a time. I do love it though.

{so long} purple hair

At the salon.

Day one.

Giant gray streaks where the color bleed out a mere 10 days in .

Nails that look swirly purple but were actually painted a pale nude – the color you’re seeing is dye from my hair!

And now I’m back to boring brown. 😦

working hard for the $

~~Coffee~~ tea break.

Info on lactose intolerance awareness month.

The bag of make-up I keep in my desk for the days when the frigid wind makes me cry off my mascara.

Honestly though, the day I took that picture I had just completely forgotten to put any on before I left the house!

#ootd, aka selfie gallery

Wearing red for women’s heart health awareness. Yes, that was more than a month ago.

And you know I bought a t-shirt repping National Nutrition Month/RD Day.

Is it weird that I think this outfit is the most grown-up thing I’ve ever worn?

The sweet ruffles on the adorable hoodie my mom sent me.

The hood is lined with lace. <– squee!

dog love – I always have to end with photos of my man

24Mar2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Snoozy Saturday

by Emily

My predicted “hours in the kitchen” did not end up coming to fruition this weekend. Instead, I got the tail end of Adam’s cold and spent almost all of Saturday and Sunday in bed. Saturday I got up twice to pee and once to eat a huge bowl of cereal and other than that I was under the covers until the husband got home for dinner! I don’t have a ton to share in this post, but at least I got to snuggle with Webster!

Dinner from the Trader Joe’s frozen aisle.

Pad See Ew with veggies and tofu.

And frozen asparagus cooked with lime juice and honey roasted almonds.

The asparagus was pretty mushy, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the noodles. Sidenote – I impulse bought TJ’s “Inner Peas” at the store this weekend and was impressed with them as well.

My very last peppermint divinity candy.

I’m sure my parents won’t mind sending me more next December, right guys??

Sushi take-out from Kisso on Saturday.

I got the vegetarian special,

and an order of vegetable goyza.

The dumplings were great. I shared with Adam because they reminded me of the dumplings we were obsessed with from Wegman’s hot bar. Then we shared a bag of Juicy Bears 🙂

Sunday I made it out of bed and off to the store – with very necessary pit stops to shower and caffeinate – so I could make dinner at home. My Turkey Reuben Mac and Cheese.

I subbed in Orecchiette for macaroni and added broccoli and truffle salt.

We had a round of creamy pink grapefruit spritzers for drinks/dessert.

Yum!

Outside of your college years, when is the latest you’ve ever slept in?

21Mar2014

Weekly Highlights

by Emily

I don’t have enough pictures to constitute a wrap-up post this week, but I am going to share some of the highlights. What you’re not seeing is all of the meals that I purchased out – which was pretty much all of them. Also three million pieces of gummy candy, give or take.

This week was very busy; I literally just was not home most nights to cook my own food. And the few I was home, Adam was working at night so my motivation to cook my own food was quite low. One day I had last-minute shopping errands. One day I had a professional development on nutrition for cardiovascular disease (<– it was great!) that kept me in Manhattan until after 10 pm, meaning I didn’t get back home again until almost midnight. And one day I had to go back to the salon to fix my janky hair.

I couldn’t get a good picture, but all of the color bled out of the front leaving me with gray/green pieces that looked highly unprofessional. Now I’m back to boring brown and the purple will be sorely missed!

Here were some of the very best bites from this week…

Rice bowls three days straight? Why not?

A strawberry aloe yogurt drink that I split with Adam.

A fantasmic cup of Quatro Leches (Tres Leches plus dulce de leche) that I found at the grocery store.

A delicious packed work lunch of oatmeal with kettle-cooked apples.

And last, but certainly not least, a Creamy Pink Grapefruit Spritzer. Which, ps, Adam liked so much he actually asked for the recipe and made one on his own.

That’s all, folks! I have looks of kitchen time planned for my weekend so I promise the next wrap-up will have a little more ~~tofu~~ meat.

19Mar2014

Creamy Pink Grapefruit Spritzer {With Cascade Ice}

by Emily

Recently my friends at Cascade Ice reached out to me to see if I would like to participate in a drink contest. Four bloggers were to channel their inner mixologists to create a unique drink recipe that CI could share with their fans.

The recipes will be shared on the Cascade Ice Facebook Page soon and fans can vote for a favorite recipe. The winner off the contest will receive box of their favorite flavor and a $100 gift card. If y’all think my recipe looks good, I would love it if you went over to Facebook and voted for me.

Creamy Pink Grapefruit Spritzer, serves 1

5 oz ruby-red grapefruit juice
2 Tbsp fat-free sweetened condensed milk
5 oz Cascade Ice Pink Grapefruit

Pour grapefruit juice and sweetened condensed milk into glass and whisk to combine.
Top with Cascade Ice.
Serve with a straw and, preferably, a sunny day.

I went with a mocktail, but let’s be real, a little vanilla vodka would go perfectly in here.

I was not provided with compensation for writing this post. I received a box of free Cascade Ice to use in my recipe in exchange for my participation in the contest.

17Mar2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Equations With Pie

by Emily

Happy Monday, all! Did everyone else enjoy Pi Day on Friday (March 14 –> 3/14 –> 3.14)? People usually celebrate the date by eating pie and/or pizza{pie}. We went with the sweet variety, though now that I think about it we had pizza over the weekend too.

In random order, here are the eats I have to share…

lunch

Friday at work.

A pepperoni and cheese snack box,

and a GT’s Synergy Grape Chia Kombucha.

We got lunch at Noodle & Co. while running errands on Saturday.

I got the Japanese pan noodles – caramelized udon noodles in a sweet soy sauce, broccoli, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, Asian sprouts, black sesame and cilantro.

I paid for extra veggies, which got me a whopping 3 tiny pieces of broccoli. We were not impressed.

dinner

Easy dinner on Friday to leave room for pie.

Eggs scrambled with kale and corn.

Pizza on Saturday. My half was topped with mushroom.

I got my veggies in the form of Sweet Greens.

Sunday was Chipotle take-out.

I planned on saving half of my meal for Adam (he was working the night shift) but I ended up eating every single bite of rice bowl and chips!

It doesn’t look like much, but my “meat” was sofritas – shredded tofu braised with chiles, poblanos, and spices – and it was delicious.

brunch

Au Bon Pain debuted a new seasonal Spring Menu on March 10th and they sent me a gift certificate so I could review their newest bakery item. – please note: I was able to sample the new items free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own. –

Adam and I decided to do a late Sunday morning brunch.

Coffee – a skim, iced Caffé Viennese – and a Sweet Cheese CroisBun, aka their new croissant and sweet bun hybrid.

The outside was wonderfully flakey and sweet but the inside was what really shined. The sweet cheese was sooooo moist – the main reason I usually don’t eat Danish is because they tend to get dried out, but this was amazing. There was a sweet cheese and strawberry variety that looked yummy too.

I also got a Sesame Ginger Chicken Salad.

Very good as well. The seasoning on the chicken provided so much flavor. Other options from the new menu include a Chicken Wasabi Wrap and Black Currant Iced Tea that I quite want to try.

snackage

Pi Day celebration from Four & Twenty Blackbirds.

I got our slices to-go but the space was super adorable and I am dying to go back.

Oatmeal black bottom – I didn’t love the texture of the oats within the pie but Adam was a big fan –

Salted honey – custard with the perfect balance of salt and sweet –

Lemon chess – my favorite variety; packed with pucker –

We were both very pleased. And we sat on the couch, holding hands, eating pie, and watching tv, so it was pretty much the best night ever.

And on Saturday I put the leftover lemon chess pie in vanilla bean Greek yogurt.

Perfection.

On Sunday, a girlfriend and I went to a gelato making class.

We came home with 4 pints each.

The class was fun, but I’m honestly not that thrilled with the taste/quality of my pints. At least we went on a Groupon.

The highlight of my weekend – other than time with the husband, obvs – was getting my hands on this:

Diet cherry coke slurpee, for the win! It tasted like dreams. Even my friend, who’s not an addict like I am, said it was tasty.

What was the highlight of your weekend?

14Mar2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Giveaway Winner And Another Giveaway!

by Emily

Hey there! First things first, the winner of my Sandwich, Bagel, and Pocket Thins giveaway is – #30, laurajacobson. {if you’re only here for the next giveaway keep scrolling to the bottom of this post!}

I haven’t talked much about work beyond posting some pictures of my office, so I thought I’d share a few updates:

a) Most of my coworkers love my purple hair. Everyone has said that they wouldn’t have expected me to be the type of person to get a crazy color, which is funny because over the past decade I’ve gone purple or pink (or one really unfortunate shade of maroon) several times.

b) As of this week I’m going to be covering inpatient floors on Tuesdays. I’ve been enjoying my job but it is very exciting to get back into acute care! My heart belongs to tube feeds. And since I’m just going where I’m needed, I’ll be able to get exposure to a little bit of everything.

c) It finally happened… one of my former students came into the clinic!!! I saw her name on my list but didn’t put two and two together until she was standing in front of my door for nutrition counseling. We both spent the first 10 minutes of our time reminiscing and freaking out. It was really fun to see how grown-up she was.

Now onto the food, in reverse. I had many really amazing new things this week and you’re in for a lot of gushing; you’ve been warned…

dinner

Fancy pasta.

Whole wheat noodles, sautéed shrimp, and torn kale tossed with lemon, parmesan, and fat-free half & half.

A total fail.

This was my attempt at okra masala, sans recipe.

Things were going well until I added a 2nd round of dried herbs and spices, rendering the dish inedible. I ate a bag of gummi bears for dinner instead.

Plus my kale chips.

In celebration of upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, Fairway contacted me to see if I would like to try* their house-baked beer bread. Yes, please!

The bread is made with NY local Blue Point Brewing Co. Hoptical Illusion IPA.

The bread was delicious – between sandwiches and toasted slices with cheese melted on top we finished the entire thing in two days! – but even more magical was what happened when I went to go pick it up. Apparently I had never been inside a Fairway before, because, holy foodie heaven, you guys, I have found my new favorite grocery store. Fairway was better than TJ’s, Whole Foods, and even {gasp!} Wegman’s. The store was impeccably clean, the produce was the best I’ve seen all winter, and I spotted at least five of the products I’ve been trolling other stores for over the past six months. There was even a hot bar! I don’t think I saw any store brands so my wallet won’t let me shop their exclusively but I am very jazzed to add it to my grocery rotation!

As for the bread, I decided to stay on theme and make turkey reubens.

Beer bread, fresh sauerkraut, 1000 island dressing, and Applegate Farms Herb Turkey Breast and Emmentaler Sliced Swiss.

For our green on the side we did baby kale sautéed with dried blueberries and honey roasted almonds.

Such a good combo, the berries took it over the top.

And Thursday I was too lazy to make dinner soIatepopcornwhilewatchingtv,theend.

snacks

Recently Cow Wow reached out to me about trying* their cereal milk.

Cow Wow is low-fat, kosher, gluten-free, all-natural and organic. They sent me three flavors in an adorable little lunch box.

Adam and I split a Fruity Trudy Organic Low-fat Milk one night as a snack.

The flavor was spot-on for milk from the bottom of a bowl of fruity cereal. I hate fruity cereal, so it was a little too spot-on for me, but Adam liked it. I’ll talk about the other flavors lower in this post, but to enter to win a lunchbox of your own just scroll to the end of this post!

A super sundae.

Dannon Café Latte Frozen Greek Yogurt – the flavor was wonderful but the texture had the hollowness that low-fat ice creams tend to have –

topped with candied pecans and Spoonable Flowery Lavender Caramel Sauce.

Beer bread with cheese.

I didn’t even use the oven that time. I microwaved it. Like an animal.

And Blackberry Oikos with the last of the pecans.

lunch

Lunches vacillated between freaking awesome and very weak. Monday was a strong showing.

An Everything Bagel Thin with Applegate Farms Roasted Turkey, a fantastic crunchy cheddar from TJ’s, and banana peppers.

Plus a granny smith with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

Tuesday I bought a salad from the cafeteria and didn’t take a picture.

Wednesday was insane and I ended up not having time for my packed lunch. Instead I just drank this Arriba Horchata Energy Drink.

I poured it over ice and it was ridiculous good.

Thursday I ate Wednesday’s lunch.

A Cara Cara.

And a Fage Coffee Fruyo.

This yogurt is my new favorite. It blows every other coffee variety out of the water! This was not enough food though (I forgot my other bag of snacks at home) and I ended up eating candy at my desk all afternoon. Boo.

breakfast

Last Friday I finally got to try the new vanilla macchiato from Starbucks.

It was flipping fabulous and I’ve had one almost every day since.

Random sidenote – Now what I really need to try is this:

I want it so bad I can practically taste it but none of the locations I’ve been to have had it frozen. I’m a woman obsessed.

A set of cinnamon.

Cinnamon Crunch Somersaults.

And a Cinny Minny Cow Wow.

Again, the flavor was a perfect match to the bottom of the cereal bowl. And I do like cinnamon cereal so I was a fan.

A ridiculously fantastic breakfast sandwich.

An Everything Bagel Thin with sautéed kale, fancy cheddar, roasted turkey, and a fried egg.

It was tasty, filling, and it didn’t even take me all that long to make.

~~Cereal and milk~~ cereal milk and fruit.

A great pear – TJ’s has been killing it with the bosc and d’anjou pears lately.

And my last flavor of Cow Wow.

The fun of chocolate but not too sweet for breakfast. Chocolate Chip Cathy was my favorite flavor by far. Though they also have a marshmallow flavor and if I can ever get my hands on it I’m pretty sure it will win my affection.

*both the bread and the cereal milk were sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

the giveaway

~~To enter to win your own lunchbox packed with three flavors of Cow Wow, simply leave a comment on this post by 8 pm EST on Monday, March 17th.~~

***Update – #10, latanya, was the winner.

10Mar2014

Sandwich, Pocket, And Bagel Thins {Giveaway}

by Emily

I love carbs. A lot. A lot, a lot, actually. But when it comes to sandwiches, I usually prefer to let my chosen filling shine. That’s why I always order my burgers sans bun. And why Sandwich Thins and Bagel Thins are pretty much the only bread products I’ll use to pack my lunches. And it doesn’t hurt that the Thins are compact with a good chew (I hate fluffy bread for sandwiches). So when I was offered an opportunity to share the love with you guys, I jumped on it!

disclaimer –

I was sent coupons for free products, product information, and a $25 gift card in exchange for doing this review. I was also given the opportunity to host a giveaway. I was not provided further compensation for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

about the products –

[click on the links embedded within the headings to be redirected the official pages]

Arnold®, Brownberry® and Oroweat® Products

All Arnold®, Brownberry® and Oroweat® Sandwich Thins^® Rolls are cholesterol-free foods, containing zero grams of Trans Fat and no high fructose corn syrup.

Arnold®, Brownberry® and Oroweat® Sandwich Thins® Rolls

Weight Watchers®: 3 PointsPlus Value®
Flavors: 100% Whole Wheat, Healthy Multi-grain, Honey Wheat, Flax & Fiber

Arnold®, Brownberry® and Oroweat® Pocket Thins® Flatbread

Weight Watchers : 3 PointsPlus Value®
Flavors: 100% Whole Wheat, Healthy Multi-grain

Thomas’® Bagel Thins® Bagels

All Bagel Thins® are 110 calories, cholesterol-free, low in fat and contain zero grams of Trans Fat

Weight Watchers®: 3 PointsPlus Value®
Flavors: Plain, 100% Whole Wheat, Cinnamon Raisin and Everything

my experience –

[click on the embedded links to be redirected to the recipe pages]

Along with my free coupons for the Thins, I was sent a $25 gift card so I could buy the additional ingredients for a recipe of my choice. Here are the recipes that Weight Watchers® created for Sandwich Thins®. And here are the recipes that Thomas’® created for their Bagel Thins®.

I decided to make the Gouda, Ham, and Apple Bagel Thins® Sandwich.

I substituted turkey for ham and used an Everything flavored bagel but otherwise followed the recipe.

The end result was delicious! I loved how well the cool, crisp apple went with the warm, gooey sandwich. I usually only think to pair produce with Brie and the Gouda was a nice spin.

your chance to win {giveaway} –

We are offering you guys the chance to try the recipes for yourself. One winner will receive coupons for free product and a $25 Visa gift card. To enter – leave a comment on this post by 4 pm EST on Thursday, March 13th.

7Mar2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Under / The Weather / Is Still Too Cold

by Emily

If you couldn’t guess from the title, my complaints this week are: a) it’s too cold outside and b) I’ve caught a cold. A.1 would be holy plastic, Batman, I’ve eaten a lot of packaged foods this week!

I’ve been eating {tons of junk} but not photographing so this will be a quick recap. Thankfully speed helps keep my complaining in check!

breakfast

And I started my Monday off so well.

Smoothie = Coco Café Vanilla Coconut Water Latte, frozen banana, frozen blueberries, and a scoop of peanut butter.

Tuesday went downhill.

Bagel with {tons of} cream cheese from a truck on my way to work.

And this morning I admitted defeat and got a giant latte with an extra shot of espresso. Sidenote – I want to try the vanilla macchiato at Starbucks ASAP.

lunch

Monday.

GoPicnic Box.

And a Cara Cara.

Readers who live within a feasible distance of Trader Joe’s – go get thee a bag of Cara Cara Oranges this very minute! They are sweet, seedless, and rocking my face off.

Tuesday.

An herb and garlic tuna packet scooped with TJ’s popped chips.

With more Cara Cara love.

Wednesday I felt so bad I actually called into work. I slept for most of the day and then hit the bed hard again by 10 pm that night. Boo.

Thursday.

A ranch tuna packet stirred into a mac and cheese cup.

Tuna was good, the macaroni was disgusting. The Cara Cara was fantastic, obviously.

junk

Please note – this post only shows a small sampling of the truly massive amount of junk I’ve been eating lately. Speaking of which… I have these {ridiculously delicious, like seriously out of control good} pretzel bites on the train at least twice a week.

That habit needs to die, immediately.

I’ve also developed a pretty hardcore Good & Plenty obsession this week.

As far as candy goes, this is hardly the worst because you get a very satisfying serving for 180 calories and no fat. But as far as being a healthy adult goes, I need to stop eating so much freaking candy.

Chocolate covered pretzels are also candy.

I actually ate these for dinner one night, but that was too depressing so I put them under this category instead. I am clearly struggling with being a grown-up during the weeks when Adam’s working nights and I’m left to my own devices.

dinner

I ate cereal (and/or candy) for dinner most nights this week but did get in two nights of people food. Like leftover pizza.

Topped with chicken, caramelized onions, and bbq sauce.

And last night Adam had business in the city so he swung by Brooklyn to pick me up from work for Date Night! Swoon!! We got in a freezing but enjoyable 2 mile walk, stopping along the way to split a green juice.

Kale/collards/romaine/cucumber/celery/parsley/green apple/lime.

Then we had a wonderful dinner at Calexico.

We wandered into it by chance after our first choice for dinner didn’t work out and I am so glad that we found it. We can’t wait to go back for margaritas and nachos.

For dinner last night, I did the black bean taco – guacamole, pico de gallo, cotija cheese, and “crack sauce.”

Plus the veggie special – fried brussels sprouts in chili and peanut salsa.

The food was fresh, inventive, and perfectly seasoned. I know my pictures were dark and blurry, but I was afraid if I didn’t blog this meal I would forget about it and I definitely want to remember this place. Calexico will be a repeat spot!

What bad habit do you need to start being more of a grown-up about?

Eating Chalk

Author Archives: Emily

Insta-Wrap-Up; V

{so long} purple hair

working hard for the $

#ootd, aka selfie gallery

dog love – I always have to end with photos of my man

Weekend Wrap-Up; Snoozy Saturday

Weekly Highlights

Creamy Pink Grapefruit Spritzer {With Cascade Ice}

Weekend Wrap-Up; Equations With Pie

lunch

dinner

brunch

snackage

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Giveaway Winner And Another Giveaway!

dinner

snacks

lunch

breakfast

*both the bread and the cereal milk were sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

the giveaway

Sandwich, Pocket, And Bagel Thins {Giveaway}

disclaimer –

about the products –

my experience –

your chance to win {giveaway} –

Weekly Wrap-Up; Under / The Weather / Is Still Too Cold

breakfast

lunch

junk

dinner