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?

3Mar2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Purple Hair Don’t Care

by Emily

It’s been a fun weekend. On Saturday I did this again –

Welcome back, purple hair, I’d missed you.

Things have been pretty low-key since I last posted. Adam has an insane schedule for the next month and I was trying to soak up as much time with him as I could.

Plus we were pretty productive – we spent Saturday buying him 2 of the 3 pairs of shoes he desperately needs (new running shoes, comfortable shoes for the hospital, and days off shoes). We even made a trip to the gym. I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill, doing some half-hearted running intervals and incline walking. I can’t go back for a few days – I can’t wash my hair until the color sets so I don’t want to sweat – but it was a good start.

Here is some of what I did on the food front…

breakfast

Iced Americano with fat-free chocolate milk.

Still obsessed.

Baked oatmeal with maple and pecans for Sunday brunch.

I loosely followed this recipe. I cut back on the sugar and used candied pecans.

lunch

Thursday I had packed a lunch, but then when I went into the cafeteria to buy a drink the special called to me.

My baked potato with cheese sauce, broccoli, onions, and pickled jalopeños was delicious. Not as filling as I’d hoped though, I ended up buying a snack later that afternoon.

Friday my abandoned lunch from the day before was already in my office.

Quaker Summer Berry Oatmeal,

topped with Big Slice Cinnamon French Toast Kettle Cooked Apples.

The apples were delicious, their texture was perfect. I went to Target that very day to buy more. Coincidentally, the oat bowls were on sale and I got more of those too.

snacks

Iced coffee from Café Dada.

Yum x infinity. I salivate when I think about this coffee.

Adam and I split a rocky nut Snickers.

The marshmallow layer is crazy.

More sugar.

We are both completely obsessed with these Juicy Bears. They are so juicy!

dinner

A fancy Friday dinner.

Salad – arugula with yogurt blue cheese dressing, shredded carrot, and Emmy’s Blueberry Cashew Super Cereal.

With groats, raisins, cashews, and dried blueberries the cereal really seems like more of a salad topper anyway. Plus a reject piece of too small chicken from our new favorite recipe.

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken, serves 2 – 4

4 oz light feta cheese

2 Tbsp capers
10 queen sized pimento-stuffed green olives
medium lemon, juiced and zest (reserve both juice and zest)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp smoked brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Prepare a baking dish with cooking spray.
Place feta, capers, olives, and lemon zest into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until well-combined and no large chunks remain.
Using a serrated knife, slice into the side of each chicken breast until you are a quarter-inch from the other side. Basically you want to be able to open the breasts like little books.
Open the chicken breasts and place into the baking dish. Spread filling mixture onto one side of each breast, then close the “books.” Sprinkle brown sugar on top of the chicken, then drizzle with lemon.
Place baking dish into the oven and bake 40 – 45 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

Saturday’s dinner was less exciting. More salad.

Arugula with carrots, blue cheese, sliced green olives, crumbled feta, and flax.

Plus eggs cooked with pizza sauce, more arugula and olives, and shredded Parmesan.

The olives seemed like a really good idea but in the end their juiciness was not appreciated in the eggs.

Last night I ate pizza for dinner.

Thank you, cheese, for being you!

Have you ever dyed your hair a crazy color?

27Feb2014

I Love TV

by Emily

As promised, a comprehensive list of the television I have loved.

It’s definitely worth noting that these are just the shows I really, truly, deeply love. Adam and I watch a ton of tv and I really like “Modern Family,” “New Girl,” “Castle,” et. al. but they didn’t make the list of undying devotion.

I know a lot of people think that television is a waste of time, but it is the artistic medium that I find the most meaningful and moving – even more so than music, though a lot of what I love about television is closely linked with soundtrack.

the key:

{A} currently airing
{C} cops or military
{F} sci-fi or fantasy
{M} medical or science
{S} sitcom or comedy
{W} produced by Joss Whedon

30 Rock {S}
Battlestar Galactica {M} {F} Hated the finale but the use of music in this series was some of the best I’ve ever seen
Bones {M} {A}
Brooklyn 99 {S} {A} Surprisingly hilarious and the way they handle race, gender, and sexuality is perfection
Buffy the Vampire Slayer {W} {F} If I had to, had to choose a favorite this show would be it
Charmed {F}
Dollhouse {W} {F} The entire series is worth watching for the big twist alone
Firefly {W} {F}
Futurama {F} {C} It’s not often that a cartoon will bring people to tears but the “Jurassic Bark” episode is universally lauded for turning on the waterworks
House {M} Hate the finale – seriously, one of the worst episode of anything ever – but other than that it had great character development and growth
Life {C} This show, on the other hand, had the best finale of all freaking time
Parks and Recreation {S} {A}
Rookie Blue {C} {A}
Scrubs {M} {S} Before we started watching “Buffy” this was our favorite for years; I’ve seen every episode at least 10 times and it basically got us through teaching
Seinfeld {S}
Stargate: Universe {C} {F}
Stargate: Atlantis {C} {F} Both Stargates did a wonderful job of creating characters that were everything you could ever strive to be while still being believable
That 70’s Show {S} We were obsessed with Kitty and Red but we hated the final season so much that we actually never finished the show!
The Nanny {S} Even now that the jokes are no longer topical they still make me laugh wildly

What are some of your favorite tv shows? Did I list any you just can’t stand?

26Feb2014

Weekish Wrap-Up

by Emily

The title is sort of a pun! Because this post is pretty weak. Get it??

I’ve been all over the place with my posting schedule lately but it just feels right. Especially this two-day “week” because I’ve been total snack monster so I’ve eaten a full post’s worth of food. Here we go…

Cold-brew coffee with low-fat chocolate milk.

Oh, I noticed you admiring my nails {just go with it}, here’s a better shot –

I know they aren’t perfect – and I cleaned up the edges a bit after that photo – but I was so flipping proud to have managed them at all. My hands have made me happy all week.

Onto pictures you’ve actually asked for… welcome to my office at work!

It is never as messy as my hair is in that picture {yikes!}.

I haven’t done much decorating, but I have a few touches to make it feel like home (mostly reminders of Webster).

But back to my mocha, that did not make me happy. I bought a jug of chocolate milk and made a week’s worth of coffee… but I used the butter rum flavored coffee from Target and ultimately it is just too nasty to drink. I ended up throwing out my whole batch!

I had this Dannon pecan drinkable yogurt on the train.

I was really impressed with how creamy it was.

Work lunch.

An apple,

and leftover shrimp pad thai from the weekend.

I still can’t believe we were able to make it taste so good/authentic.

Another lunch. This one not nearly as photogenic.

Pumpernickel with miracle whip, grape jam, banana peppers, sharp cheddar, and smoked turkey.

A red pear.

And a mini Honeycomb chocolate from Chuao.

Snacks at work: Lots of tea from my Numi samples.

Haribo liquid center fruit gummi candies.

And a bag of Somersaults.

Snacks at home: A packet of tuna salad.

A ridiculous peanut butter fudge mug cake.

And a mini Firecracker Chocolate from Chuao.

I don’t know how they keep the pop rocks so fresh when they’re enrobed in chocolate but this bar had crackle!

Last night’s dinner was rice noodles with bean sprouts and tons of broccoli cooked in peanut sauce.

Normally this is one of our favorite meals but this dinner felt very meh.

And that’s all she wrote! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week!

25Feb2014

Loves Of Late

by Emily

Here are some of the things I’ve been obsessed with lately. Missing from the list? Coffee. Still coffee. Always coffee. ❤

{1} My Sugar Paper desk calendar.

I picked it out primarily because I liked the way it looked (polka dots!) but I love that it has lined space for notes along the side and a full year’s calendar on the bottom of each month.

My day planner is from there as well – more dots! – and I’m a big fan of that too.

In the life of a list-maker, a good quality planner is very important.

{2} The web comic series “Girls with Slingshots” by Danielle Corsetto.

It is the funny, racy, comic version of my weekly soaps. I read all the way through the archive and now I’m enjoying seeing what happens to the main characters from day-to-day.

{3} NBC’s Parks and Recreation.

How on earth did I wait so long to get into this show?! I’m actually not watching it in real-time yet, but Netflix instant-streaming it is rocking my face off. I love (love, love) every character and the story lines are intensely funny and sweet. My only regret is that I watched the first 2 seasons without Adam, who has now grown to adore it as well.

On a related note – when I thinking about how much Parks and Rec has been making my life lately I started thinking about other shows I loved. For funsies, I’ve got another post coming this week with a comprehensive list of the other shows that have stolen my heart.

{4} Comedy Central’s Key and Peele.

The sketches are smart and funny. The substitute teacher one embedded above is my favorite, but “Office Homophobe” is also amazing.