Weekend Highlights – Rockaway Beach And Roberta’s

by Emily

We have got to squeeze every last drop of fun out of this summer before fall hits. We made the most of our weekend with a beach trip and ice cream all day every day.

I’ve been crazy hungry lately so these pictures are just a drop in the bucket, but here are the highlights…

Coffee! While I made my grocery list.

The Vietnam blend from Starbucks is great with cocoa, cinnamon, and sugar.

And the maple latte at Caffé Bene is on point.

Toasted turkey cheese sandwich.

Multi-grain bread with smoked turkey, colby jack, mayo, and lots of pickles.

Plus roasted broccoli on the side.

More roasted broccoli (and more of that plate).

This time with truffle salt.

And Applegate chicken nuggets with a Sriracha honey mustard dipping sauce.

Frozen yogurt. Birthday cake topped with chocolate stuff and Nutella.

Pizza from Roberta’s. We will definitely be back! Cheesus Christ = mozzarella, taleggio, parmigiano, black pepper, and cream.

Sunday afternoon we went down to Tacoway Beach. They put rum in our watermelon juice and guacamole on our fish tacos.

Plus we got Tostilocos, a big back of chips, black beans, seasoned cabbage, cojita, and Japanese peanuts.

Then we spent some time on the beach.

And stopped by Connolly’s for the all-time best frozen piña coladas.

Have a great week!

22Aug2015

Bahn Mi Chicken Salad {Back To The Dinner Table For Recipe Redux}

by Emily

From the Redux team –

After the hustle and bustle of the holiday/vacation season, August is the time many families get ‘back to routine.’ Show us your favorite recipe to help families get ‘back to the dinner table.’ It might be a favorite family recipe from your childhood that you’ve ReDuxed; or maybe it’s your family’s current favorite. Let’s all gather back at the table!

I think that having a big container of shredded chicken ready in the fridge – whether it’s rotisserie chicken from the store or breasts that you’ve poached or slow-cooked yourself – is one of the easiest ways to make sure that a homemade dinner makes it to the table on busy nights.

Adam and I love chicken salad (I’ve got three legit recipes for it on the blog!) and this one, inspired by the Vietnamese sandwich masterpiece the Bahn Mi, comes together in a snap. The sweet pickled vegetables help handle the heat from the Sriracha, but if you are really wimpy about spice, a Dijon mustard could sub in for the hot sauce nicely.

Bahn Mi Chicken Salad, makes 6 servings

2 cups shredded carrots
1 and 1/2 cups chopped cucumber
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
16 oz cooked chicken breast, chopped
3/4 cup light canola oil mayonnaise
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup Sriracha

In a large bowl, combine carrots, cucumber, sugar, vinegar, and salt. Let sit, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes.
Drain all of the liquid off of the vegetables.
Add remaining ingredients to the bowl and toss until well-combined.

Click below to see what other Redux members cooked up this month…

21Aug2015

Left My Heart In Montana

by Emily

I’m missing a lot of photos this week but the meals I do have to share were off the charts good.

lunch

Mostly I did lunches from the cafeteria this week, like a tasty broccoli and cheese baked potato whose cell-phone photo was an absolute horror. Packed lunches featured a great fruit salad – Cara Cara Orange, strawberries, and 3 varieties of pluot.

With plain yogurt and Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

notable snacks

Fresh mint in sparkling water is my jam. This “mojito” rocked our socks off.

We’ve kept the dessert every day thing going. One morning Adam took me to work and we tried the doughnuts at Elsie’s Parlor. I got the Confettura Di Fichi – filled with fig jam and topped with mascarpone and toasted almonds.

I loved the idea of this, especially because the fig jam and mascarpone were delicious, but the texture was terrible, way too dense. If I thought of it was a muffin it was great, but as a doughnut I ate half and we moved on to a tried and true.

Now that’s a doughnut! My peaches and crème doughseed had just the right balance of fluff and chew. Plus it was perfectly tangy and sweet.

Vegan ice cream from Sky Ice.

Thai iced coffee and Thai young coconut went great together.

Ice cream from Oddfellows.

S’mores with amazing caramelized white chocolate with toasted almond.

Guava-cheese empanadas.

Enjoyed with Ruth Reichl’s novel, which I read in a day and a half and enjoyed even more than her memoir. She is such a good story-teller and her food writing makes your mouth water.

dinner

Leftover Korilla knock-off bowls were still yummy.

I stir-fried mine with eggs to make up for the missing one on top.

Also I kind of burnt the life out of it, but this was still good.

It was fitting that I put this dinner on my heart plate because I loved-loved-loved it.

A tiny roasted pile of every single okra I could find at the stores this weekend.

Plus I snacked on this for extra veggies.

Toasted ciabatta sandwich with turkey, turkey bacon, Colby jack, and Smart Balance.

The cheese was extra-thin sliced and it melted to perfection.

We checked out Bushwick’s Montana’s Trail House and our best meal of the week ended up being the best meal of the year!

Adorable décor, amazing service, and freshly made food – most of it local – with well-balanced flavors.

Captain Stormalong – Standard Heartcut White Whiskey, Campari, Demerara & Topped with Downeast Cider.

Riff Randell – Vodka, Krupnikas Honey Liqueur, Contratto Aperitif, Luxardo Maraschino, Acid Phosphate, Sparkling Wine. This was the best drink we’ve ever had. It was like drinking pure honey but in an amazing way. Similar to a great honey meade I had in SF.

We started with the charred green beans – which were topped with browned garlic and soft-cooked eggs and served on top of housemade ricotta. This was the best dish of the year, the lemony ricotta was fantastic with the drippy eggs and charred greens.

Then we shared the dinosaur kale salad – with feta, roasted carrots, and kale that was grown in the restaurant’s rooftop garden!

And the fried chicken with honey butter and housemade hot sauce. Best fried chicken ever; super juicy and every bite had a whiff of honey.

Dessert – aka the course I saw on Instagram that made me move this restaurant to my “must-eat” list – was banana bread s’mores. <– squee!

Also they brought us complimentary shots with our bill because we’d been raving about every bite we took. Love. NYC people – get yourself to Bushwick, you won’t regret it!

17Aug2015

Weekend Highlights… A Bevy of Beverages

by Emily

notable snacks – –

Froyo again. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

Plain tart and Nutella yogurts with Nutella, mini peanut butter cups, chocolate-covered pretzels, and rainbow sprinkles.

Pizza-pizza.

Buffalo chicken.

We bought the new brownie batter Oreos.

Pretty good, especially when you smush two together for a double-stuffed.

Fresh mint in bubbly seltzer is delicious.

Best of all the many, many beverages we enjoyed this weekend. There were also several iced coffees that didn’t make the photos cut.

Long Island City – –

Saturday morning I picked up a very tired husband from a long shift at work,

and we finally hit up LIC Flea and Food.

We got mac and cheese and chicken empanadas.

And a Nutella gelato and macaroon ice cream sandwich from Bakeshop by Woops.

We explored LIC a bit with a walk on the waterfront.

A stop at the gorgeous newest Sweet Leaf location for an intensely creamy Vietnamese iced coffee.

And finally a flight of beers from Rockaway Brewing Co.

#2, 4, 7, & 8. We were very impressed. The cream ale was the best.

Williamsburg – –

Matchabar.

Iced matcha on fresh watermelon juice. It was good, but not something I’m dying to go back for again.

On the other hand, lunch at Meatball Shop will be repeated very soon. I need to make an ice cream sandwich.

I got the jello shot special – Jack and Rosé.

And chicken meatballs with pesto.

They were served on an assortment of veggies – fennel, salad with apple, roasted squash, cucumber, and fresh green beans – that were tasty but literally dripping with oil.

a doggy date – –

On Sunday Webster took his first ride on the subway.

We went on a family trip to Central Park!

He was a total trooper for 3 hours of walking around the park. We cooled down with a honey iced tea,

and a double caramel Magnum bar.

And some of us had bowls of water that we stomped in and spilled all over the place.

Webster was beyond tuckered out when we got home and spent most of the rest of the day curled up in my lap!

homemade Korilla knock-off bowls – –

I made knock-off chicken and rice bowls and the husband said I did as good of a job as Korilla!

brown rice with chopped kimchi and turkey bacon
roasted broccoli
quick pickled carrots and cucumber
chicken that was marinated in Gochujang paste, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar
shredded cheese and a fried egg on top

So good. I am excited for the leftovers.

14Aug2015

(Frozen)Yogurt

by Emily

breakfast

Coffee!

With caramel.

Or with Hint of Honey Almond Milk and plums.

Or a Clif Bar.

Also one morning my coworker brought in yummy poppy-seed Danish.

lunch

I had a really great sandwich with spicy sliced chicken, pickles, and fresh mozzarella from the cafeteria.

The other days I did yogurt bowls featuring the new blended flavors from Chobani. Coffee with plums and KIND peanut butter granola.

Mixed berry with blueberries, raspberries, multi-grain o’s and Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

And vanilla with more berries and bran flakes.

The texture of the 2% yogurt was seriously creamy and good.

dinner

I can’t show you Monday/Tuesday’s dinner because it is my Recipe Redux for this month. I will show you some of the tasty stuff we had with it though… Like roasted green beans on the side. I added thinly sliced shallots and they got insanely crispy, crunchy, good.

And frozen yogurt for dessert. With all of the chocolate toppings.

We liked the Nutella on top so much we ended up going back again the next night.

Wednesday was Webster’s Buyday (the anniversary of the day we brought him home) so we made a special dinner with some of his favorite foods – Nachos! Chips with cheese, broccoli, cilantro, and chicken (pronounced chick-ON chick-ON in this house).

He even had his own little dish.

And of course we got Chipotle.

Of course.

random thoughts

I am so freaking excited that Target is doing away with gender-based labeling in some of its children’s aisles! When I worked at a toy store in college I hated when people would come in and ask for “boy toys” or “girl toys.” This awesome graph sums up my thoughts pretty well –

I’ve already seen some pumpkin beers and it is taking all of my self-control to not start stockpiling. I’ve told myself that I’m waiting until mid-September.

Poorly Drawn Lines is always hilarious but I feel like this week’s comics have been especially great.

We had dessert every single night this week. I want to nip that daily habit in the bud, but I also have fifteen plus new ice cream joints that I want to visit before summer ends.

10Aug2015

Weekend Highlights + What’s In My Bag?

by Emily

In alphabetical order, because why not?…

Brunch in SoHo. I took a friend to Freeman’s.

I had the poached eggs with sourdough toast and cheddar grits.

Chipotle. Finally, we hadn’t been in almost a month!

Chicken salad bowl for me with all of the toppings. Plus way too many chips.

Chocolate-cherry smoothie.

Frozen cherries and dates, cocoa powder, and vanilla almond milk.

Cookies with M&M’s.

Have you made Number 2 Pencil’s awesome “single serve” recipe yet? Put it on your to-do list.

Fast dinner thanks to Trader Joe’s freezer section.

We had mahi burgers,

plus veggies in garlic butter sauce.

Popcorn. Made on the stove. <– so much better than the microwave bags

Random – I swapped out my purses for the week so I figured I’d do one of those “what’s in my bag?” photos.

Camera / day planner / book for the train (this week it’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog) / sunglasses / cell phone / keys / etc. It is easy to switch up my bags because all of the ecetera lives in that Brooklyn bag and can easily move from purse to purse.

Pens / gum / lip stuff / band aids / hair tie / hand sanitizer.

Salad and sandwich night.

Arugula topped with toasted, shredded Brussels sprouts, sweet and spicy pecans, and honey and evoo.

The amazing sandwiches were thanks to TJ’s new pastrami-style smoked salmon

Inspired by the Pastrami Russ at Russ and Daughter’s Café.

Pastrami-style lox on buttered and toasted pretzel rolls with pickles and muenster cheese.

Sprouted trail mix from my aunt.

It is similar to “Gorp” and very yummy.

Turkey and cheese roll-ups.

Yogurt bowl.

Plain yogurt with chopped nectarines and dulce de leche.

What’s in your bag? What items are always with you?

7Aug2015

Lunch N Oats

by Emily

breakfast

This week’s coffee (a mix of Community Coffee and Brooklyn Roasting Co) was iced with milk (a mix of vanilla almond milk and skim). Sweetened with honey – meh.

And maple – yum!

And paired with watermelon juice.

And an apple.

lunch

2% Lingonberry Strawberry Siggi’s with chopped apricot and plum and Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

The rest of the week was all about the oats.

Chocolate chip oats with peanut butter and diced apricot stirred in. Plus goats milk maple caramels on the side.

Coconut maple oats with purple rose plums(!!) and chocolate pumpkin seeds.

And oats from home. With freeze-dried strawberries, chia seeds, chocolate covered cocoa nibs, and chocolate chunks.

snack

Delicious nougat bar my parents bought me at BRKLYN Larder. Adam bought me Luxardo cherries for my birthday there too and I am so excited to start using them.

Iced Americano with cream.

Herbed turkey and Havarti roll-up.

I ate several handfuls of prunes this week. The snack situation was getting pretty bleak.

But then we bought the new Reuben lays.

It was amazing, if you were blindfolded you still would totally taste rye bread and thousand island dressing. If they were kettle chips instead of the flimsy regular kind they’d be my new favorite.

dinner

Leftovers from Sunday. Whole-wheat penne topped with sautéed turkey, mushrooms, and onions in marinara sauce.

Eaten cold, out of the Tupperware, in front of the open fridge. It’s kind of crazy how classy I am.

The next night really was pretty snazzy though.

Lemon Pepper Baked Shrimp with shredded Brussels sprouts and barely.

Recipe HERE, this cooks in less than 30 minutes.

Then we had big salads with red curry turkey burgers on top.

Arugula blend topped with TJ’s Asian Sesame Vinaigrette, sliced cucumber, and baked shredded Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Two notes – 1) baking the shredded B sprouts is my new favorite thing; 2) I bought TJ’s Thai-style chili and lime cashews to put on the salads and they were so spicy even I couldn’t eat them.

The patties were lean ground turkey with tons of parsley and green onions, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, red curry paste, and ground ginger. Cooked in coconut oil.

We were supposed to have this meal two nights in a row but we snacked on the 1st round of patties while we assembled the salads (and the dog ate an entire patty that fell on the ground!) and there ended up only being enough leftovers for one. Really I won out though because this chile rellano from TJ’s was darn good.

Best frozen meal ever.

Finish this thought – this weekend I am excited to…

3Aug2015

Weekend Highlights

by Emily

This “peanut butter and jelly” yogurt bowl I brought to work was legit.

Plain Greek yogurt with KIND peanut butter granola, grapes, chia seeds, peanut butter, and a drizzle of maple syrup. Peanut butter in yogurt is so good!

We made deviled eggs that were only ok.