Criminally Good

by Emily

Is there some kind of “Criminal Minds” rerun support group out there? I am a woman obsessed. I need to finish the old seasons in a hurry so I can start going to bed at a reasonable hour again.

I’ll let the pictures (mostly) speak for themselves…

breakfast

My coffee combo for the week was on point.

Community Coffee’s Dark Roast (part of a set of free samples that I have continued to love) brewed double strength with low-fat milk, ice, and a scoop of dulce de leche!

One day I even paired my brew with a KIND salted caramel Popped Bar.

It’s obviously no fun that my husband regularly works nights and weekends, but it is nice that his schedule allows us to occasionally go on mid-week breakfast dates.

We enjoyed doughnuts – and matcha – and a walk before I had to go to work.

lunch

This week I was all about the sandwiches and I didn’t have many of my usual yogurt bowls so I had to make this one count. Plum on plum!

Chobani’s new 2% Plum Greek Yogurt with chopped up pluots and KIND maple chia granola. The yogurt wasn’t bad, but wasn’t as special as I had hoped; a pretty plain base with chunks of plum throughout.

I got an okay sandwich in the cafeteria.

Sliced turkey and muenster cheese with mustard, lettuce, tomato, and peppers on an onion roll.

And brought a fantastic sandwich from home. TJ’s sliced sourdough with Applegate smoked turkey, haloumi cheese, and olive oil mayo.

Plus an apple and sliced Persian cucumbers on the side for crunch.

The cafeteria came through on salad day. Romaine topped with black beans, black olives, peppers, sliced carrots, cheddar cheese, tabouli, and ranch.

With pita chips from the hummus bar (where I found the tabouli) on the side.

snack

Polar’s peach seltzer is amazing, practically juicy. I’ve got two of the summer flavors waiting in my fridge too and I’m pretty excited about it.

Pb&j.

Guava cheese empanada on the train.

Latte from Café Dada.

Let’s be real, this was one of many coffee snacks this week but the pictures were getting repetitive so I’m only sharing the pretty one.

dinner

A kitchen-sink leftovers salad whose components ended up pairing together perfectly. A big bowl of lettuce topped with TJ’s sesame soy ginger vinaigrette, Applegate chicken hot dogs, peanuts, edamame, and Persian cucumbers.

With cinnamon toast on the side.

Seriously, how good is cinnamon toast??

This meal was super simple but it was the tastiest of the week.

TJ’s frozen gnocchi with tomato sauce and mozzarella didn’t knock our socks off, but for frozen gnocchi that comes together in 7 minutes it was certainly fine.

But this spinach is one of the best damn things I’ve ever made. Fresh baby spinach (8 cups worth that cooked down into practically nothing!) steam-sautéed with salt and evoo with low-fat sour cream, minced garlic, raisins, and toasted pine nuts tossed in for the last few minutes of cooking.

I seriously would not shut up about how yummy this was – I even paused “Criminal Minds” to rave about it!

Have a great weekend.

15Jun2015

Mary Moon

by Emily

Another great week came to an end. We are looooving summer around these parts. Amazingly, I got myself up and out of bed by 7 am both Saturday and Sunday and you wouldn’t believe how much time I felt like I had free to play. It was great to get everything I wanted to do done – errands and fun stuff – and still make it to bed at a mature adult hour!

breakfast

Cereal and milk (and coffee).

Smart Start cereal with blueberries and milk with a side of iced coffee.

I rarely eat cereal with milk because I usually have it on top of yogurt but it is darn good with fresh berries on top.

Another day, another coffee. Starbucks’ newest dark roast was quite tasty clover-brewed.

With a Sonja apple and an Epic protein bar.

I love the idea of the bars in theory, and the texture was great, but unfortunately I’m never a big fan of the cranberry almond pairing.

Finally, espresso from Brooklyn Roasting Company never lets us down.

As you’ll see below, this was not our only coffee that day, muwhahaha!

snack

Friday afternoon, just as I was racking my brain for a way to get a cookie on my way home without missing my train, my phone rang – the social worker was calling to let me know that a sales rep had brought us cookies!

How fortuitous.

The dog and I both think that cheese sticks make good snacks.

On Saturday we enjoyed popcorn and a movie.

This Churro flavored popcorn from Erin’s Popcorn was on point. {it was also a free sample, please note that I did not receive further compensation for this post and all opinions are my own} It had the perfect balance of cinnamon and sugar and was nice and crunchy. The husband, the true churro connoisseur, could not keep his hands off of it.

We snacked on it during Jurassic World, and I’ll just say that the popcorn was the best part of that outing.

Adam and I got hot and sunburnt walking around Smorgasburg and we split a cookie sandwich from The Good Batch.

Chocolate brown-butter cookie, vanilla ice cream, toasted hazelnuts, and Nutella spread. It was good but not great and we ended up not finishing it.

In contrast, we licked every last drop out of our ice cream cup at Morgensterns.

American egg and sesame caramel ice creams topped with Luxardo cherries. And now I know that I am obsessed with Luxardo cherries.

We had good coffee at Happy Bones. Adam’s flat white was intensely velvety.

But my skim lavender hot chocolate from Maman was even better. Not too sweet or soapy, and thick enough to feel decadent, even with skim milk.

Their gorgeous floral cups make me insanely happy.

Uggh, why is the Lower East Side so adorable?!

lunch/dinner

We went outdoors and grilled!

Lime seltzer with fresh mint and pineapple popsicle to drink.

With corn on the cob, asparagus, sliced halloumi cheese, and Applegate uncured chicken hot dogs.

The corn and the asparagus – cooked with a drizzle of olive oil and smoked paprika respectively – were roasted in the oven, only the amazingly squeaky cheese and the dogs (which were the best I’ve ever had!) were cooked on the grill. But we ate on the lawn with Webster circling our feet and it was pretty great.

We did brunch at Root &Bone that ended up being one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. Every single item was perfectly executed. Even if Southern-style food isn’t your favorite I recommend checking this spot out.

For drinks we shared the Colonel’s Daughter – 100 proof bourbon, preserved peaches, Amaro Montenegro, and rosemary and a wine spritzer that I cannot find the description for or begin to remember.

We started with the crispy chicken biscuits which came topped with root chips and Tabasco jam and with a jar of pickles on the side.

This was hands down the best chicken I’ve ever tasted. I really hate the word succulent but it works the best.

Adam got the bacon benedict for his entrée and I went with the peach caprese – gooey pimento cheese croquette, charred peaches, pickled green tomatoes, baby heirloom tomatoes, and basil and molasses vinegar.

Not surprisingly, smoky sweet charred peaches pair really darn well with fried pimento cheese. We were swooning.

Sunday we had Chipotle for dinner, because we are very predictable.

My salad bowl had chicken, sautéed veggies, sour cream cheese, and mild, medium, and tomatillo salsas. I legit had a dinner planned and prepped but we walked 7.5 miles around SoHo and DUMBO and my feet were killing me! The sights were worth it.

12Jun2015

Dinner Bowl

by Emily

Do you have a preference for tableware and/or flatware? Whenever possible, I eat out of a bowl, preferably with chopsticks. Probably because it’s easier to chase every last bite when the food can’t roll off of the plate! All of my dinners this week were delicious and I think it’s not a coincidence that they were all served in bowls.

breakfast

This was a weird week for me, I ate breakfast – as in chewable breakfast, not just tons of milk in my coffee – almost every day.

Sonja apple.

String cheese and my last mango coconut almond thin. {p.s. Kate won the giveaway!}

String cheese and a KIND Salted Caramel Popped Bar. <– very tasty and packs 2 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein for 140 calories thanks to the blend of whole grains.

Don’t get me wrong, there was coffee too! This one was TJ’s cold-brew with skim milk and toasted marshmallow syrup.

And this monster was a Starbucks reward freebie that I took full advantage of – venti skim iced latte with extra espresso.

lunch

Yogurt bowls for the win. Adam and I are both head over heels for the KIND granola.

Local vanilla bean Greek yogurt with KIND maple, chia, quinoa granola and yellow nectarine, black plum, and blueberries.

Plain Fage Greek yogurt with KIND granola and red plum and yellow nectarine. Plus a serving of Lindt Pink Explosion on the side.

Honey Fage with blueberries and TJ’s bran flakes.

And Tuesday I had catered lunch thanks to a malnutrition policy education that I attended. Dessert was chocolate-covered marzipan that a sweet coworker snuck to me.

snack

A picture’s worth a thousand words. Apparently I was all about the freeze-dried produce.

dinner

Another reason we both like bowl-style meals is that it’s nice to have our grain/protein/veggie components layered together rather than served in separate piles on a plate. I like to get a little bit of each flavor in every bite.

Honey-chipotle chicken Chipotle style bowls.

This week’s dinners had a lot of components so I’m going to break them down bullet-point-style.

sautéed local Satur Farms energy greens – aka a kale, spinach, etc mix
sautéed onions and green peppers with cilantro and lime
TJ’s Cuban-style black beans
pan-fried chicken breasts that were marinated overnight in chipotles in adobo, honey, evoo, lime juice, sherry, minced garlic, smoked paprika, and salt and pepper
avocado
shredded cheese / low-fat sour cream / cilantro

We were out of the onion and pepper mix for day 2’s leftovers so instead I served all of the other components on top of big bowls of kale and broccoli sautéed with garlic and lime. Still good! We decided that my version was ~~almost~~ as good as Chipotle.

Our rice bowls were a more Asian-inspired. They would have been better with a runny egg on top but I was pleased with how incredibly juicy the chicken came out.

brown jasmine rice
browned mushrooms
roasted broccoli
baked chicken that was marinated overnight in soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, Sriracha, canola oil, lime juice, sugar, and minced ginger
bok choy, celery, green onion, and cilantro sautéed with a bit of the sauce from the chicken

Even on my night out I ate dinner in a bowl. I met friends at Hanoi and ordered the Veggie Spring Roll Bun – room temperature vermicelli, lettuce, cucumber, scallion oil, shallot, peanut, fresh herb, and nuoc cham sauce.

Would you have guessed that there would literally be a chopped up spring roll on top of the dish? We were surprised, but agreed that it was darn tasty. The best part of the meal was dessert though. Maple soft-serve from Corner of Vermont.

We ate our ice cream on a leisurely walk down 5th ave in Park Slope and the whole thing felt wonderfully summery!

5Jun2015

Top Three Weekly Wrap-Up {And A Giveaway!}

by Emily

My favorites from the past week…

Top 3 Breakfasts

(1) Mango coconut biscotti* with my coffee.

*free sample courtesy of Nonni’s, scroll down to the last section for more info

(2) Smoothie. Hint of Honey almond milk with frozen blackberries, raspberries, and dates.

(3) Cold brew. Coffee concentrate cut with skim milk and maple water.

Tops 3 Lunches

(1) Thanks, Starbucks. A cherry, granola, and yogurt bowl that was quite tasty.

Plus a Almond Coconut KIND bar. An Airhead might have snuck in there too!

(2) Starbucks again. <– I didn’t have it super together this week. But their kale chicken Caesar salad is damn good.

(3) Apples and oats. Quaker Apple Walnut Oatmeal topped with Justin’s Vanilla Almond Butter with TJ’s freeze-dried Fuji apples on the side.

Top 3 Desserts

(1) Better than a brownie. Lindt’s caramel brownie bar.

(2) Hot fudge root beer floats.

(3) Shake, shake, shake. We had a tub of vanilla ice cream in the freezer and we weren’t afraid to use it.

Bourbon In My Coffee Breakfast Shake* = 1 cup vanilla ice cream, 2 oz maple bourbon, 2 oz iced coffee concentrate, 1 cup Frosted Flakes; serves 2.

*not actually consumed at breakfast

Top 3 Dinners

(1) Chipotle. My salad was on point – chicken, cheese, corn, sautéed veggies, mild salsa, green tomatillo salsa, and sour cream.

(2) More “Mexican” food.

Green chile and cheese pupusas. Now I need to get my hands on my first fresh pupusa.

Sautéed arugula tossed with avocado and crumbled kale chips.

(3) Asian-inspired. Every piece of this meal came out of our freezer but it was still one of the best of the week.

TJ’s chicken and vegetable goyza.

Frozen broccoli, celery, and spring onions that I cooked in canola oil then gussied up with a quick sauce (brown sugar, chicken broth, fish sauce, soy sauce, Sriracha, cornstarch) and some crushed peanuts.

Plus 1 Giveaway!

As I mentioned above, I was sent a free sample of the newest flavor of Nonni’s THINaddictives – Mango Coconut.

They are completely addictive – the perfect balance between chewy and crunchy and not too sweet to eat with breakfast (they have 100 calories per pack of three). I ate them with pretty much every meal this week.

Nonni’s gave me a chance to share the love with you guys too – Simply leave comment on this post before 10 am EST on Tuesday, June 9th for a chance to win your own box.

Not feeling lucky? In celebration of the new flavor, Nonni’s THINaddictives is hosting Summer Giveaway on Facebook – 50 winners will be selected to receive a free box of the new Mango Coconut THINaddictives. There is also a $1 off coupon under their coupon tab.

10May2015

Thirsty

by Emily

As this post goes live, we will be setting off on a fun adventure! The best part of which is the fact that Adam and I are both on vacation and can spend every second of the next 7 days together. <– squee!

I wanted to get in a quick post of highlights from the past few days, 90% of which are beverages…

Iced coffee and an apple for breakfast.

Plus a cinnamon iced chai latte when I got to work.

We threw a surprise wedding shower for one of my dietetic coworkers and that’s where Friday’s lunch came from.

Plus an orange in my office.

Yes, it took me less than 2 weeks to kill that plant!

More coffee. This caramel macchiato from Dunkin was not good.

But this can of salted caramel cold brew was, especially paired with a chocolate pretzel bar for breakfast.

Coffee yogurt topped with honey and salty peanuts is always good.

As is coffee beer, like this yummy milk stout from Stone.

Last night we celebrated the start of vacation with a delicious dinner at Brooklyn Star.

That’s Dr Pepper with bourbon and bitters.

Spicy duck wings sauced with ground chili, honey, Coca Cola, and fried garlic. We weren’t sure if it was Brooklyn Star’s superior frying technique or the fact that these were fatty, tasty duck instead of chicken, but these were the best wings we’ve ever had.

And a smoked escarole salad.

So smoky and good! Jonah crab meat, pickled watermelon, Asian pear, heart of palm, and parsnip chips.

Plus dessert at Milk Bar.

Cold brew and a cornflake marshmallow cookie. A sweet start to a fun week.

8May2015

Gesundheit!

by Emily

Oh man, has allergy season hit us with a vengeance. I feel just horrible! My throat hurts, my nose is runny, and my head is an achy, foggy mess. All of that complaining is to say – I missed a lot of pictures this week, many of them of candy and/or coffee because I pretty much had to have a liquid or hard candy in my mouth 24 hours a day. That said, I got to go on several mid-week dates with the husband and it was actually a pretty great week.

breakfast

Smoothie. Vanilla almond milk, frozen banana, blueberries, raspberries and dates, chia seeds, and a scoop of vanilla pudding mix.

Adam prefers his smoothies creamier than icy so I thought the pudding would help with texture but it gave the smoothie an offputtingly sweet taste.

Breakfast date at Doughnut Plant!

I got a tres leches doughnut (the best one on the menu),

and a horchata, a specialty menu item for Cinco de Mayo.

Plus a latte from Gorilla.

Mmmmn.

lunch

Soup for my sore throat.

With a Lady Alice apple.

Guava-cheese empanada.

With a grapefruit soda.

A sandwich from home.

Low-fat cheddar, mayo, and Applegate Farm’s bbq spiced turkey on TJ’s whole-wheat Tuscan pane.

Turkey sandwich from the cafeteria on yummy olive bread.

Plus dried nectarines a coworker brought in.

They were even better than dried apricots.

snacks drinks

Lavender milk tea.

Good but not great.

This “Simply Red” from Pork Slope was amazing.

House-infused hibiscus vodka, mint, lime, and soda. I am obsessed with mint lately.

Low-fat machta latte.

I told you there were going to be a lot of drinks!

dinner

Rice bowls.

For a super authentic Cinco de Mayo.

Date night at the new-ish Luke’s Lobster in Park Slope!

My lobster roll was heavenly.

And then we got a flight at Ample Hills for dessert.

It came in an egg tray and was amazing and delicious and I was basically dying.

That’s all I photographed. Have a great weekend!

4May2015

Fun Facts From The Weekend

by Emily

{1} The special drink at Café Bene this month is handmade strawberry milk! It’s called a “strawberry latte,” and as far as we could tell it is just milk and macerated strawberries. The husband and I liked it a lot.

That’s more than I can say for the S’mores Frappuccino, as the whipped cream did not taste like marshmallows.

{2} You can eat Kentucky Derby themed snacks even if you don’t watch the race and still have no idea who won.

This Dark Chocolate Walnut bar was yummy.

And I made Adam and I “Derby Shakes” on Saturday.

Milk chocolate gelato and toasted walnuts blended with skim milk, Jim Beam Maple Bourbon, and ice.

{3} Bareburger’s new menu includes a burger topped with pimento cheese, pickled green tomato, a fried egg.

I guess that technically fit in with our Derby eats too.

{4} The new Avengers’ movie was not bad at all. Even though it was long enough for us to need a refill on our giant soda.

It was very funny; several quips had the whole theatre laughing out loud. I think overall it would have been a lot more Whedon-y if it had been Natasha walking into the house instead in that final farm scene (<– intentionally vague so as not to give any spoilers).

{5} You should totally make my newest recipe at home – Spicy Salmon Roll Casserole.

It came together really quickly and Adam and I both enjoyed it. Served with Bon Appetit’s Thai Celery Salad on the side.

I’m looking forward to leftovers of both dishes.

5Apr2015

Oats And Easter Candy

by Emily

I wrote this post at midnight on Saturday… while I ate dinner/my first meal of the day… it’s been kind of a rough week. Hopefully I’ll be in a better mood while this is auto-publishing because I should be in the car on my way to Easter celebrating with the husband’s family.

I’m missing a ton of photos from the week (chips and dip!) and posting two days late, so I almost skipped this post, but some of these eats (chocolate + oat bowls!) were just so good.

breakfast

Community Coffee sent me a variety of their ground coffees to try.

This was a free product sample that I’m reviewing for no additional compensation. It will take me some time to make it through them all, but I will let you know as I open each bag.

This week I cold-brewed the French Roast.

Quite nice! Roasty and not acrid at all. I am going to make a (hot) batch in the coffee machine soon and I will let you know if that changes my opinion, but for now we give this two thumbs up.

Gevalia almond milk iced coffee.

The flavor was good but not great. The 9 grams of protein made it a good breakfast though.

Iced coffee and peanut butter toast with condensed milk from the tea place near my work.

I threw out my crusts and my office smelled like a peanut all day!

lunch

Banana walnut oatmeal with a minneola and Cadbury mini eggs.

Cabury mini eggs win for best holiday candy ever.

Wild berry oatmeal with Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter.

I 100% bought the oatmeal because it had a bear on the package, but it ended up being pretty tasty.

Turkey sandwich, citrus, and malted eggs.

That’s a toasted English muffin with Smart Balance and Applegate Farms smoked turkey.

Yogurt bowl.

2% Greek with pomegranate and marble halvah. <– my best idea ever

Chicken sandwich from the cafeteria.

An everything bagel with mayo, mustard, spicy chicken, Munster cheese, and fancy lettuce.

snack

Coffee all day every day.

Worth mentioning were this short, skim caramel macchiato.

And the fact that Hungry Ghost has Stumptown cold brew on draft.

Easter candy.

Turkey jerky.

Ample Hills!

Salted crack caramel + salted honey with honeycomb and chocolate-covered potato chips.

dinner

Chipotle, because heaven forbid we go longer than five days without rice bowls.

Or salty lime chips, or giant diet cokes.

I made us a huge batch of marinara sauce in the crockpot.

It was a great idea in theory, but I didn’t season the sauce enough and the end result was very “meh.” Too bad we ate it three days in row for dinner and still have gallons left.

The best part of that meal was our side dish –

roasted broccoli with pesto gouda melted on top.

On a much more exciting night, I had drinks with a girlfriend at my favorite Brooklyn bar – Pork Slope. No photos, but I had a Keegan’s Mother’s Milk Stout on draft that rocked my socks off. Then we met up with Adam for dinner at Talde, Pork Slope’s Asian-American sister.

That’s my Navy Grog {Diplomatico rum, honey syrup, lime and grapefruit juices} and kale salad {cantaloupe, pickled beets, candied almonds, creamy ponzu}. I am going to be heartbroken when we move on from our national kale obsession.

Happy Easter to all my readers who celebrate.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: apple

Criminally Good

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Mary Moon

breakfast

snack

lunch/dinner

Dinner Bowl

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Top Three Weekly Wrap-Up {And A Giveaway!}

Top 3 Breakfasts

Tops 3 Lunches

Top 3 Desserts

Top 3 Dinners

Plus 1 Giveaway!

Thirsty

Gesundheit!

breakfast

lunch

snacks drinks

dinner

Fun Facts From The Weekend

Oats And Easter Candy

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner