Palm Seed Fun

This post is running a little late because I am too – I have the day off!  Working last Sunday earned me a long weekend today.  It’s actually an extra-long weekend because I’m off Monday as well, I’m going to Ohio tomorrow to visit my grandma.  Today, I’m going to have some fun with Adam and Webster.

Highlights from this week…

I didn’t snap any iced coffee photos this week, but I promise it was consumed in substantial quantities.  There’s a chance I stayed up far too late watching Road Rules on YouTube one night.  <– not worth the exhaustion, that show spent way more time on relationship drama than I had remembered.

Apple oatmeal, with an Asian pear.

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My Filipino coworker brought me in some palm seeds and I bought them to good use.  Chia pudding with palm seeds and banana.

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Yogurt with palm seeds, Luxardo cherries, Cherrios, and an orange.

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Another treat from the Philippines, polvoron, or powdered milk candy.  They were fantastic, crumbly and milky in such a pleasing way.

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More candy, Justin’s peanut butter cups (I’m still obsessed with these) and a milk popping candy.  Sparkling water and diet coke are two of my favorite things and when you drink them together – as in at the same time, not in the same cup – they both taste even better.

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Other snacks included apples we picked ourselves.

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And the best microwave popcorn we’ve ever popped.  This tasted almost as good as stove-popped.

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We kept dinners super simple this week.  Leftover smoked trout casserole, eaten cold out of the pan.

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Salmon salad sandwiches – canned salmon with mayo, mustard, and pickle relish – on toasted TJ’s quinoa bread.

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My most complicated night involved potato vareniki which cook in about 5 minutes.  Tossed with shredded rotisserie chicken / sautéed celery / garlic kale / and a sauce made of cream cheese and chicken stock.

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I’m off to go start my day off!

Apple Picking Outing

I had to go into work on Sunday but Adam and I fit a weekend’s worth of fun into Saturday.  We drove two hours upstate to Twin Star Orchards for an afternoon of apple picking.

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We did a complimentary cider tasting first.  And enjoyed a wood-fired pizza – with fancy mushrooms and truffle oil – for lunch.

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We came home with fewer than 10 apples (they actually just let us take our bag for free!) because we don’t have any grand baking plans, but had a great time walking around the orchard.

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Date night was a new sushi spot in Great Neck.  We split seaweed salad and edamame to start.

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I got a meh veggie roll and a fantastic spicy crab roll for dinner.

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They were out of the mackerel Adam wanted so they gave us free red bean ice cream with our bill.

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New candy bar for dessert.

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The popping candy didn’t have much get up and go but the milk flavored cream was very pleasing.

New take on an old casserole.  I made smoked trout noodle casserole.

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I loosely followed Martha’s recipe for the sauce.  With whole-wheat rotini pasta, tons of sautéed mushrooms and chopped celery, smoked trout, and dill and smoked paprika.  Topped with smoked gouda and crushed sour cream and onion potato chips.

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Served with a new (to us) beer, coconut caramel chocolate brown ale.  I don’t usually drink ales but this was unique enough to hold my interest, at least for 3/4 of the bottle.

What’s new with you?

It’s Apple Month!

Can I show off my apple-themed haul??  I’m quite excited about it.

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And fittingly, we are driving upstate to go apple picking this afternoon.

So far the gum has been my favorite, though I haven’t tried any of the ciders yet.  I went out for drinks with a friend last night and had a regular (red apple) Angry Orchard that was unpleasantly sweet so I’m hoping green apple has some tartness to it.

Apple pie bar and a Gala apple.

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Caramel apple bar with green apple sparkling water and some honey peanut butter.  With an Asian pear.

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Caramel apple pie cheesecake from work.

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I did eat a few things that weren’t apple-flavored.  Like a giant plate of buffalo chicken pizza!  With salads from the Whole Food’s bar, Caesar, kale, and corn.

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Blueberry cheesecake smoothie.  Frozen berries, vanilla almond milk, cream cheese, and lemon syrup.

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Green bean dinner bowl.  This turned out way better than I was expecting, especially because the green beans were a bag of fresh beans that got tossed into the freezer last week when they started getting old. They would have been too mushy roasted, but were perfect with an egg on top.

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Sautéed green beans tossed with turkey bacon, mustard, and lemon juice // pan toasted whole-wheat panko // fried egg // smoked paprika.

Everyone go eat an apple!

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Road Trip Adventure

Two of our favorite people recently moved out of Brooklyn for Traverse City, MI and our last three days were spent on an epic journey road tripping to their gorgeous wedding.  We spent two full days in the car and only one day in Michigan but it was totally worth it to see one of my oldest childhood friends get married.

We were a bit worried about the 30+ hours we had to spend driving but it honestly ended up flying by.  We had my fully-stocked i-pod, a funny book on tape, and brand new scenery outside our windows.  Plus we are stupid in love with each other and probably could have just talked for 28 hours (I definitely fell asleep towards the end!) and had a good time.

Five out of six meals Friday and Sunday were eaten in our car, mostly junk food.  Here were a few of the culinary highpoints…

Apples with peanut butter.

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Carrots and dip.

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Not one, but two, marshmallow flavored lattes!!

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Cola gummies.

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This total throwback.

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The gas station cashier got such a kick over how excited we were to find Surge.  Unsurprisingly, it didn’t taste as good as I thought it did as a kid.

We ate very well in Traverse City too.  Breakaway for coffees.

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Espresso that actually happened to be roasted in Brooklyn!

Lunch and drinks at Rare Bird Brewery.

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Adam and I split macaroni and cheese with roasted duck and salad with roasted beets and spiced pepitas.

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The food was good but the drinks were better, I had a locally brewed ale that tasted like key lime pie!  Plus an apple sour beer.

Ice cream at Moomers.

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White chocolate Oreo and black cherry.  We actually had this twice in one day because our friends did an ice cream cake for the wedding.

Late bar food dinner at Workshop Brewery our first night in town.

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Nachos with beans and ancho chicken.

I’m off to spend the day with my husband!

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Time Crunch

Remember when I said seven days of work in a row wouldn’t be too bad?  I’m old now.  I am tired.  I don’t have a ton to share because 2/4 dinners this week were Chipotle.  And I only cooked one of the two non-Chipotle nights, the other we walked the dog to get milkshakes and then I got into bed the minute we got home at 7:30, fully dressed.

Coffee, obviously.  Starbucks pro tip – order the cold brew “with room, no water” so you can ensure it doesn’t get too diluted behind the counter.  I put milk in my coffee anyway so I’d rather temper the concentrate strength myself.

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With almonds.

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I’m still dying over the Grady’s Cold Brew with fat-free half & half and milk.

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My lunches this week were centered around a generous box of freeze-dried fruits samples from Crunchies.  The products are vegan, gluten-free, and kosher, and they contain no added sugars or flavorings, just fruits that have undergone a low-pressure drying process.  Bonus – Crunchies sources the fruits directly from the farmers who grow them.

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the free products were my only compensation for this post, all my own opinions, blah blah

We buy a lot of freeze-dried fruit because Adam often packs it for work so we were excited to try some new options.

Lows – raspberry.  Too seedy and sour/bitter.  To be fair, I don’t like any of the freeze-dried raspberries I’ve tried and I don’t love fresh raspberries.

High – everything else!  These were the best freeze-dried fruits we’ve tasted.  The strawberries weren’t too sweet or sour – no mouth pucker, the banana flavor was super strong, the grapes were sweet and a bit chewy, as were the pineapples.  10/10.

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I enjoyed the fruits in yogurt bowls for lunch (I took half the bag and Adam took the other half with him).  Plain Siggi’s, strawberry banana, Nonni’s dark chocolate banana.

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0% Fage, raspberries, pom seeds, maple peanut butter.

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Vanilla yogurt, grapes, pom seeds.

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2% Fage, pineapple, coconut butter.

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And here’s my only dinner photo, turkey and eggs.

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Ground turkey sautéed with celery, evoo, tomato paste, Sriracha, brown sugar, and fish sauce.  Topped with soft scrambled eggs.  I made Adam a similar but less spicy dish for breakfast when he got home from work and he loved it.

Now I have a three-day weekend!

Last Week’s Top Six

Better late than never?  I spent my weekend in a malstrom of giant bowls of stovetop popcorn and NCIS episodes and couldn’t pull myself away to blog.  I’m currently watching NCIS but it will probably be awhile before I eat any more popcorn!

Last week’s top six…

{1} Australian iced coffee.

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Cold brew concentrate, chocolate milk, ice, and a scoop of ice cream.  I started several mornings this way.

{2} Product samples from Viki’s Granola.

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They sent me some tasty granola to review.  Banana walnut was my favorite.  The granolas are gluten-free and have </160 calories per 1/4 cup.  The texture was unique, they were much softer and less clumped that most of the other granolas I’ve tried.

Very nice in my yogurt lunches.

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Especially with sugar crunch grapes.

{3} Compartes Birthday Cake Bar.

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White chocolate with sprinkles and three types of vanilla bean, it tasted like cake!  These bars are so worth the $10 price tag, I want to try more.

{4} Pasta salad, served cold.

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Whole wheat bow ties / spinach pesto / heirloom baby tomatoes / baked tofu with balsamic / cubes of swiss and sharp cheddar.  We almost never eat cold pasta salad and this felt fun and summery.

{5} Pimento cheese nachos.

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Our favorite meal, with a southern spin.  Zapp’s sweet pimento cream cheese chips, shredded chicken, red bell pepper, and candied pecans.

{6} Fantastic oven-fried chicken.

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We made a version of this chicken from A Cozy Kitchen and it blew our freaking minds.  With a garlic butter sauce instead of the spicy one.  We plan on making another batch this week.

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Birthday Week Eats

I turn 31 this Sunday so this week is my birthday week.  My parents timed their summer visit for this weekend so I’m off of work today and Monday and I’m pretty sure the four-day weekend will be the best gift I’ve ever given myself.  I also pulled out this stash of cake flavored stuff I’ve been hoarding all year –

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The Airhead wins as my favorite, it has sprinkles in it!

My other eats included…

Coffee.

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We’ve had some big changes at work – that squeezed even more work into each day – and on top of them one of my coworkers has been out all week and I’ve been responsible for covering both intensive care units.  <– I have needed so much coffee.

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I didn’t have time to pack lunch one day and I cobbled together a pretty great reuben-ish wrap sandwich in the cafeteria – sliced turkey, swiss, cole slaw, pickles, and thousand island.

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Yogurt lunches reign supreme.  Plain Siggi’s with blackberries and coconut butter.

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Cake yogurt with KIND maple granola and blackberries.

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Have you done Chobani’s “Find Your Flavor Soulmate” flow chart?

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What combo does your heart sing for?  My answers lead me to sweet and spicy but as much as I love some sweet with my heat spiced yogurt just doesn’t appeal to me.  Sweet with sweet is much more my speed.  Like this Almond Coco Loco Flip that knocked my socks off with how fantastically creamy it was.

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Speaking of sweet… I am still completely obsessed with Justin’s peanut butter cups, in all forms.

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And I made the David Lebowitz chocolate chip cookies so my parents could try them, not that there are many left!

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Best meal of the week – I made a variation on this recipe with turkey bacon, chopped spinach, and fresh mint.  It was still delicious as cold leftovers.

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Salad night.  Romaine with ranch / turkey bacon / shrimp / carrots / tomato / fresh mint / swiss.

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Paired with chips and dip because I’m fancy.

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I picked my parents up from the airport last night.  JFK is a nightmare so we stayed in Long Island afterwards and grabbed dinner at a little diner near their hotel.  I actually got a pretty yummy Greek meal.

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Salad with spinach pie.

Have a great weekend!

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The King

The top five things I ate this week…

Birch Coffee cold brew blend.

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Chia!  Pudding with Hint of Honey almond milk, chopped dates, and chocolate covered cacao nibs.

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Yogurt with chopped plum and plucot and the last of the lavender almonds.

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This snack combo.  If I’d had some bacon jerky to go with my baby bananas and peanut butter cups I would have had a snack fit for The King.

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There were a couple of BIG stressful changes at work this week and I mostly ate pizza for dinners but I did make this one fantastic home-cooked meal.  A combo of my two favorite salads – Bahn Mi Chicken and Green Curry Turkey.

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Chicken with curried mayo and ginger, pickled vegetables, chopped red peppers, etc.  Plus honey butter Sriracha toast!

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Just today between me and the weekend!