Coconut Chocolate Lavender

by Emily

Howdy! I have not been following my sleep schedule – – at all – – but I can say that today was quite productive. Every item on my list is now to-done!

The dog has been getting in and out of bed all night long recently and between that and my usually fitful sleep, mornings have felt very difficult this week. I barely had time to make it to work today so I had to take breakfast with me on the walk. This Wegman’s Bean and Cheese Burrito was good but not great.

Something about the flavor and texture made me long for a beverage, and I ended up exploding pinto beans all down the front of my winter coat.

I ate a Honeycrisp apple mid-morning.

Then I spent the rest of my day holed up in the basement like a retail hermit. We got in tons of tons of shipments on Monday and I opened and priced 99% of them today.

I never did have time for lunch at work (I kept my packed food in the fridge for an easy lunch tomorrow!) and I ended up doing double dinners. First was Wegman’s hot bar on a mini-date with the husband.

Wok-seared veggies,

and chicken dumplings and chicken salad.

Adam and I are obsessed with the dumplings’ dipping sauce and the combination of the sauce stirred into my chicken salad was the bomb.com. <– legit, it tasted so good that was the first expression that popped into my head!

I also ate a big bag of Easter candies from the bulk bins and gave myself a stomach-ache.

A little pain was worth it, the sugar rush totally helped me through the remainder of my internship journaling. Minus breaks for making food and eating food, I chugged away for the remainder of the evening.

Our home dinner was vegetable fried rice.

In the wok (for 2) –

1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
~1 heaping cup peas
~1 heaping cup roasted broccoli
~1.5 cups leftover brown rice
1 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1.5 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp Sriracha
3 large eggs

The dish had the potential to be great, but it was way too salty. It’s been awhile since I’ve used fish sauce and I forgot what a sodium-punch it packs. I ate a little less than 2/3 of my plate.

Dessert was a giant, delicious cookie.

Coconut Chocolate Lavender Cookies = this recipe for single serve cookies plus 1 tsp minced culinary lavender and chopped Sweetriot 70% dark kickin’ coconut chocolate subbed in for chocolate chips.

We were both big fans of the big cookies and big taste.

The winner of my Hey Shuga! giveaway is:

(#1) Jenny, shoot me an e-mail with your mailing address.

26Feb2013

Strawberry Tea With Mini Boba

by Emily

You can, in fact, purchase the giant tapioca balls known as “boba” for bubble tea. They are available in most Asian specialty groceries in most mid-sized cities. Sadly, it took me years to learn this. Even more sadly, some of you live in cities devoid of boba entirely. And it just wouldn’t be right to let you live a life free of bubbles.

I’m not going to say my recipe is as good as what you’d get in a tea shop. It isn’t. But it is good. And the fancy-factor of making your own strawberry tea makes up for the slightly less chewy boba.

I recommend making all of the components 24 hours ahead of time, for easy assembly the next day.

Strawberry Tea with Mini Boba, serves 4

5 bags tea of choice (I recommend a nice Earl Grey)
1 cup large pearl tapioca
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
sweetener to taste

Brew 4 cups of tea (the 5th bag is to make your 4 cups extra-strength) according to package directions. Set aside to cool completely.

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add tapioca and allow water to return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer tapioca for 5-10 minutes, until balls are mostly translucent. Strain and run under cool water to stop the cooking process. Store cooked tapioca in a water-bath in a Tupperware in the fridge.

Place berries in a small saucepan over medium-low heat (go ahead and reuse your dirty tapioca saucepan, I won’t tell!). Cook 1 minute, using the side of a wooden spoon to mash the berries. Add sugar and continue to cook until it is completely dissolved, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a Tupperware.

Divide mashed strawberries evenly between 4 glasses. Top with brewed tea and shake or stir to combine. Sweeten to taste. Carefully scoop cooked tapioca out of water bath and place into tea. Serve with large straws to allow for bubble slurping.

25Feb2013

Day One Of Thirty? {Again}

by Emily

Complaints first – The chance for 8-hours of sleep passed before I even started this post. All of my end of internship assignments are due on Friday and I’m freaking out. I ate two snacks after dinner and I am still flipping hungry.

Complaints aside, it wasn’t a bad day. We got lots (and lots) of shipments at work so I was nice and busy.

The morning started with smoothies.

For two: 1 Thai young coconut, ~1 cup frozen blue/blackberries, 1 medium frozen banana, and 2 Tbsp Hey Shuga! <– don’t forget, you still have another ~hour to enter my giveaway!

I didn’t have a lot of time for lunch so I kept it simple. A Garuka Bar (from my yumvelope).

The sweet peanut butter coating was addictively good; I planned on snacking on it throughout a task but every time I tried to walk away I took another bite instead!

I also had a Fage 0% Greek Yogurt with Cinnamon Apple Raisins.

The flavor isn’t listed on the Fage website and I’ve only seen it at Target. The apple compote was good, but nothing can really compare to the pure decadence of the honey and strawberry flavors.

I only had an hour between work and night class so Adam and I cashed in a coupon for Subway for dinner.

6 inch turkey with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, banana pepper, red onion, and honey mustard on Italian herb and cheese bread.

I knew my sandwich wouldn’t quite fill me up and I shared this peanut butter spoon with Webster when I got home.

Then I also had a plate of baby carrots with the last of some smoked gouda spread.

And a bag of Smart Fries.

I ended up dipping my “fries” in yellow mustard. And then I had a big glass of water; methinks I’m a bit dehydrated!

25Feb2013

Weekend Highlights

by Emily

Hello, Monday! This is my last week of “break,” but I don’t even care because I had such a good weekend. The past three days have been packed full of fun; we did so much on Saturday that Adam even said I wore him out! Other than some short shifts at work, every moment has been exciting.

I only have time to share the highlights, but I will make this note – we ate like we had the wallets of our future and the metabolisms of our past!

I tried this dark chocolate and soft caramel Nunu bar (from the Yumvelope subscription my mom got me for Christmas) and fell in love.

Best caramel I’ve ever had and made in Brooklyn.

I received this incredibly sweet and generous care package from Cascadian Farm.

I am too excited to have those Oats & Honey granola bars back in my pantry.

I took Adam to Brickhouse Tavern for bacon-studded deviled eggs,

and discovered that they sold my favorite beer.

I’m not even going to try to lie, this one Red Stripe got me embarrassingly drunk.

We ventured out to Franks Food Truck at 1:30 in the morning.

Amazing fries with garlic aioli and a veggie dog topped with bbq sauce, cole slaw, and blue cheese;

well worth the tired morning.

Finally, I may not be any closer to running an 8-minute mile, but I did cross one thing of my yearly goals list…

S’mores {over a fire} have been made!

Did you do anything amazing this weekend?

21Feb2013

Hey (Shuga!) What’s Going On? {Giveaway}

by Emily

What’s going on around these parts?

Look at what I did at work yesterday –

I probably should have taken pictures before it got dark out, but I did have a really good time making that train!

Even though there were only a few days to go, the Vegan 20 Day Challenge has unceremoniously …ended. Not that my friend and I were doing that well anyway, what with eggs sneaking into half of what we both were eating. But yesterday I dove head first into a slice of buffalo chicken pizza. (I also ate an entire bag of chips, but that’s neither here nor there.) And tonight’s dinner involved these guys –

Adam and I have wanted to buy that shrimp plate for months and at $12 we finally decided to take the plunge. So good!

Tonight’s dessert was vegan –

We made the Chocolate Vegan Mousse recipe from the Hey Shuga! website.

Full disclosure – I recently received a bottle each of Hey Shuga! and Lil’ Shuga! to sample.

Hey Shuga! is an organic cane sugar syrup. It pours more easily than honey and blends into liquids easily. Lil’ Shuga! is a blend of organic cane sugar syrup and stevia leaf extract. I will be honest about the fact that I hated the Lil’ Shuga!; one small taste made me screw my face up in disgust. I hate, hate, hate, stevia though, so take that as you will. I shared the Lil’ Shuga! with a fake-sugar-user friend and she was a fan. And Adam and I both thought that the Hey Shuga! was quite tasty. We are both looking forward to using it in coffee and smoothies.

The company wanted me to let you guys know that both products are available in the Northeast at Wegmans. They will be doing demos at many of the stores, including at Wegmans Eastway and Wegmans Pittsford. Hey Shuga! is going to launch a fun contest with prizes for people who submit pictures of the product at Wegmans, Whole Foods, or in specialty natural food stores and tag “@HeyShugas” on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.

They also offered to let me share with you guys – I can send a bottle of Hey Shuga! and Lil’ Shuga! to one reader. For a chance to win – leave a comment on this post before midnight on Monday, February 25th.

Have you seen the Hey Shuga! product in your local store yet? Have you tried it?

19Feb2013

Asian Carbs

by Emily

The title describes every single thing I ate today! At least I managed to cover a good spread of the continent – Thailand, Japan, and India.

Adam wasn’t excited enough about my Pad Kee Mao leftovers, so I ate them myself for breakfast.

Amazing. Broad rice noodles (when cooked in a Thai dish and super spicy) are my favorite food.

I rounded out the meal with a spoon of peanut butter.

I left a little bit behind for the dog and he was on Cloud 9.

Lunch was spicy avocado Inari.

Yes, contrary to ~~popular~~ Adam’s belief, that orange stuff in mayonnaise-based. But when you husband sweetly delivers you lunch at work you don’t turn it down just because you’re doing a silly challenge.

We used a groupon at India Gate for dinner.

I got Chana Bhatura.

I ate half of my chickpeas, with rice. And 1.5+ of my fried dough. I tried to eat less but half the times Adam went to take a bite I ended up snatching it away from him!

The flavor was very similar to the Johnny Cake I grew up eating and I was having a total taste memory.

Adam is in bed (he got under the covers at 8:45!) and I should be there too but I have a mental problem that keeps me from making healthy sleep decisions so instead I’ll probably get some dessert and watch Law and Order: SVU.

P.S. I picked a winner for my Slow Cooker Desserts giveaway – (#1)

Cori, e-mail me with your mailing address so I can get your prize sent out!

19Feb2013

Back On Winter Break

by Emily

My title’s no joke – I am officially back on winter break until the 28th! Since I started my rotation early I’m spending the rest of this portion of the semester catching up on the days of winter break that I missed. I do have a placement with an outpatient RD on Thursday, but other than that the time is mine. I’m not doing anything super exciting; in fact, I work every single day of the next two weeks! I’m hoping to get back into the gym habit too.

My last day of senior practicum was bittersweet, I loved this experience so much more than I was expecting to. I am going to post some more about the internship after I gather my thoughts, but for now I’ll stick to breakfast.

Breakfast. A packet of Spiru-Tein Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Protein Powder shaken with 1.25 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.

I didn’t really love the texture/flavor all that much, but at least this kept me full through rounds. p.s. – this flavor has bee pollen in it so it won’t work for strict vegans

Lunch was packed with veggies. I brought a container of roasted butternut squash and green beans,

and topped it with a thing of Sea’s Gift Sweet Seaweed Snack.

That combo was ridiculous good. I actually drove to Wegman’s the minute I was done with the day to buy more of the sweet seaweed!

Can I brag for a second? I brought the nutrition department a thing of my Triple Butterscotch Blondies to say thank you and everyone raved about them. You know a group of dietitians doesn’t go for seconds on a dessert unless it’s good!

I couldn’t have a blondie – they are sooooo not vegan – but when I got home I did eat 1.5 servings of So Delicious Coconut Milk Cookie Dough Ice Cream.

The flavor of the ice cream is a little bit funky, but the cookie dough pieces are the best I’ve ever had (vegan or otherwise).

Let’s do a final Fashion ~~Friday~~ Monday –

I accented my outfit with this great bracelet my mom sent me for Valentine’s.

That is seriously such a “me” pieces of jewelry.

Since the college is closed for Presidents’ Day, my night class was cancelled. This meant I could go out for celebratory drinks and dinner with friends.

I didn’t plan on drinking much, but I kept a Tea’s Tea Green Tea with Grape in my purse for rehydration purposes.

Really I only drank 1 Jack and ginger ale.

I was embarrassingly tipsy afterward.

My friend had a friend visiting from out-of-town so we had to shower her the wonder of Sun Restaurant for dinner.

I went with the Pad Kee Mao, ordered Thai spicy. Thai-style fried wide rice noodles with hot and spicy sauce, mixed vegetable, and basil leaves.

There wasn’t egg listed in the description, but it was definitely present in the dish. I’ve already cheated on the Vegan 20 Day more than once though, so it’s not like it was a big deal.

I ate a little more than half of my pasta, then brought the rest home for Adam. I also brought him a whole order of the tea leaf salad that he loves to help bribe him into making me popcorn.

Score! I smothered that bowl in melted SmartBalance Light and it was amazing.

Did you have the day off for Presidents’ Day?

17Feb2013

The Sunday Scurry

by Emily

I’m in a quandary: I want to blog because yesterday I started my “30 days of blogging” challenge again, but I want to get off the computer so I can hang out with my boys. I didn’t say it was a large quandary. I’ll just keep this quick.

Leftover pineapple crisp (from my Slow Cooker Desserts cookbook).

Ritz crackers with white bean truffle dip.

A lunchtime snack plate.

Honeycrisp.

Crunchy peanut butter.

1 serving of Sweetriot 70% Dark Chocolate with Kickin’ Coconut*.

Co-op hot bar after work. Fried seitan, cucumber salad, and peanut noodles.

Homemade Thai curry for dinner.

Green curry and light coconut milk with a bit of tamari and rice vinegar. Nasoya Black Soybean Tofu Plus** fried in coconut oil. Tons of broccoli and a can of straw mushrooms. Cashews. Tasty Bite Thai Lime Rice.

My boys.

*the chocolate was out of this world; it had all the healthiness of dark but the creaminess of milk chocolate

**Adam and I both want to buy this tofu again; we didn’t press it but it still stayed firm and got nice and crunchy, plus it had a good, different flavor

Don’t forget to enter my cookbook giveaway.

Eating Chalk

Author Archives: Emily

Coconut Chocolate Lavender

Strawberry Tea With Mini Boba

Day One Of Thirty? {Again}

Weekend Highlights

Hey (Shuga!) What’s Going On? {Giveaway}

Asian Carbs

Back On Winter Break

The Sunday Scurry