Weekend Wrap-Up; October Is Here!

by Emily

It’s possible I’m a little excited about the arrival of Pumpkin Month. Check out my stash –

So much squashy goodness!

Now a little bit about the end of September…

breakfast

I’ve only got one meal to share here, in contrast with the full “dessert” section (whoops!). Adam had a “golden weekend,” aka both Saturday and Sunday off, so we spent our mornings catching up on sleep.

This breakfast was more of a brunch, but either way it was a winner.

Müller Greek Corner Pineapple Passion Fruit Yogurt (former freebie) topped with sliced starfruit and a packet of Crispy Green Pineapples.

Isn’t starfruit (also known as Carambola) gorgeous?

Did you know that I used to sell starfruit when I was a kid? We had a tree in our backyard and I would take the harvests to the local grocery stores.

The freeze-dried pineapples were part of a sample box from Crispy Green.

I received these samples free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Crispy Green is a company that sells freeze-dried fruits. They are vegan and certified kosher and the ingredient list is nice and simple – just fruit. What really sold me was the texture, I swear that the apples and pears were almost juicy! More on them in a minute though.

lunch

Veggies.

Acorn squash. I baked half of my squash for 30 minutes at 350*, cut side down, then flipped it over and filled the cavity with pistachios, raisins, and maple syrup, and baked for another 20 minutes.

Plus broccoli that I roasted alongside the squash.

And a red pear.

So nice to have a mid-day meal that’s so packed with nutrients.

Less nutritious but still delicious, Taco Bell.

I got a vegetarian Cantina Bell burrito and was actually very impressed. The burrito had fresh corn and great guacamole.

The greatest sandwich.

Sweet and savory, for the win. Caramel apple swirl bread topped with Applegate Farms Smoked Turkey, TJ’s Lite Havarti, and pickled banana peppers.

The husband got and identical ‘wich and he raved about it. Plus we shared more Crispy Green fruits on the side. Asian Pear,

and Apple.

They both were packed with flavor but so far Asian Pear is my favorite.

dinner

Mac remix.

A box of Annie’s Shells and Aged Real Cheddar gussied up with TJ’s smoked trout, frozen edamame and a greens mix, and 1 oz of Chevre.

I have pantry back-ups of all of the ingredients and a see a redo in our future.

A cider soaked meal.

I marinated some extra-firm tofu in TJ’s Spiced Apple cider (plus honey and hot sauce) before ~~burning~~ baking in the oven.

Shredded cabbage was sautéed in the tofu marinade and then topped with salty peanuts.

And this lovely squash was sprinkled with salt and cinnamon and roasted alongside the tofu.

I filled in the space in the center of the plate with Dinosaur Roasted Garlic Honey BBQ Sauce for dipping.

A meal out on the town.

We finished our two-day weekend with a dinner out on the town at Luigi’s.

We were brought an amazing basket of fresh bread.

And we shared a Tuscan salad to start.

baby spinach / breaded artichoke hearts / roasted peppers / gorgonzola dolce / pignoli nuts / balsamic vinaigrette

I got handmade Papardelle with shrimp and lobster in a fresh plum tomato cognac cream sauce from the specials menu for my meal.

It was delicious! The homemade pasta had great bite and the seafood was juicy and perfect. Plus the portions were huge; I shared many tastes with Adam and still came home with a full serving of leftovers. {Mom and Dad, we want to take you here when you visit!}

dessert

Adam went out to celebrate a birthday with his fellow interns and he brought me home cake.

I’m not a huge chocolate fan but I’m a sucker for jam in the middle.

I brought him home vegan ice cream sandwiches.

Tofutti is currently celebrating their 30^th anniversary and they sent me some coupons.

I received these samples free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Ice cream sandwiches are Adam’s favorite and he was very impressed with how close to the original this (minty) version came.

I thought the Cuties had great flavor and texture – and I’m not even an ice cream sandwich lover – but 180 calories for the small size seemed a little steep.

I will definitely buy them again for the husband though.

To finish the post – the best thing ever.

Adam and I split an ice the other day to celebrate the first day of fall. Dulce de leche topped with pumpkin pie.

Oh. My. God. The pumpkin pie ice was ridiculous! The best tasting ice I’ve ever had and those brown areas were crunchy streusel that was just over the top. We were both swooning!

What pumpkin goodies are you excited for this month?

27Sep2013

Long Week Wrap-Up; Pizza Pizza

by Emily

Whoops. I guess it’s been longer than usual since I’ve done a wrap-up. And I don’t even have a ton to share; we ordered take-out pizza this week and through a miscommunication ended up with a lot of pizza so that’s mostly what we’ve been eating.

Here are some of the other things that made it on to the meal plan…

breakfasts

A morning meal on the go.

An Erin Baker’s Caramel Apple Breakfast Cookie. The flavor was good but I didn’t feel like it kept me full enough for the calories.

Another breakfast that fit within the Apple Month Theme.

A slice of toasted Caramel Apple Swirl Bread with Smart Balance Light.

With a Müller Greek Corner Mango Yogurt (former freebie) topped with tons of blueberries on the side.

I picked up the swirl bread a million different times at Target and I am glad I ended up walking away with it.

More blue.

Kashi Honey Puffs cereal and blueberries floating in a serving of Lifeway Coconut Chia Kefir.

lunches

Hot bar from Whole Foods.

Health: 2 types of prepared salad topped with baked salmon and sautéed mushrooms. Happiness: 2 soy nuggets and some extra-cheesy mac and cheese.

Very good, but still – I miss Wegmans!

Sandwich and salad.

A simple spinach salad with raisins, peanuts, and balsamic.

Two types of sharp cheddar on white bread with Miracle Whip, cooked in the oven for easy clean-up.

These lunches were a nice break from the pizza.

snacks desserts

Cream filled chocolate chip cookie.

How nice does that scene look? I ate my cookie, sipped my diet soda, flipped through Glamour, and watched a girly movie.

Ben and Jerry’s Rockin’ Blondies ice cream (available only at Target).

My new favorite flavor.

I actually could live without the blondies (they seemed too small somehow) but the brown sugar ice cream was basically the best thing ever.

beverages

More tea spritzers.

Jasmine Tulsi (former freebie) with Mandarin Polar.

Fresh Horchata.

From OMG Taco in Williamsburg.

I flipping love Horchata and I feel like I can never find it.

We did a lot of walking that afternoon and I also had a Cherry Cola Zevia.

It was good, but not my new favorite like I thought it was going to be.

dinners

A mish-mosh meal.

A jazz apple, a Banana Cream Dannon Oikos with honey and salty peanuts on top, and a slice of beer bread broiled with cheese.

You would think that the melty cheese would have been the best bites but actually it was the yogurt, the banana cream was super thick and luscious.

Sushi night.

A green salad,

and a spicy shrimp and avocado roll.

The roll was only ok, we keep ordering from a spot near our house that has no delivery fee and I’m never that impressed.

Breakfast Casserole.

Basically a french toast bake but with sharp cheddar and smoked salmon taking it to the next level.

Adam raved about this one.

Soup’s up.

Broccoli-Cheese soup from Cooking Light,

with bbq kettle chips for crunch.

The soup came together in a snap. I ate one serving and then Adam ate the other three that same night so I guess he liked it!

What is your favorite flavor from Ben and Jerry’s?

20Sep2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Mid-September

by Emily

I feel like I don’t have anything to say here so I’ll just get to it. You saw how clever my title was.

^breakfasts^*

Amazing oatmeal.

In the bowl were unsweetened almond milk, banana hunks, oats, chia seeds, tons of cottage cheese, and the very last of the sweetened condensed milk.

Food Emporium Trading Company Vanilla Granola with Almonds and Pecans in skim milk.

Berry yogurt bowl.

Wallaby low-fat vanilla bean yogurt with blueberries.

This Wallaby was one of the best yogurts I’ve ever tasted! The flecks of vanilla bean throughout felt quite fancy.

^lunches^*

Chinese food.

Cheese and greens eggs.

Eggs scrambled with cottage cheese, greens (a frozen blend from Whole Foods), and 2% provolone.

Carrot salad.

Matzo crackers.

A sheet of Egg and Onion Matzo with Cabot Light Sharp Cheddar melted on top,

and a sliced Jazz apple.

Adam doesn’t like matzo prepared with egg (he’s crazy!) so we eat it as crackers in our house.

^snacks^*

Organic India is promoting their gift baskets for the upcoming holiday season and they offered to send me some products from their Tulsi Tea Line to review.

Please note – these teas were sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for writing this post. All opinions are my own.

So far I’ve tried the Green Tea, which cold-brewed beautifully. Usually I’m not a green girl (it’s Adam’s favorite) but I loved this one. The flavor is completely devoid of the acridness that I usually taste in green teas. I used it in tasty tea spritzers.

Green tea + Polar Mandarin Seltzer.

Hot beer bread, straight from the oven, with Smart Balance Light.

Cola hard candies.

These guys have the best fizz!

^dinners^*

Different Chinese food.

Pasta toss.

Bow ties with corn and broccoli, tossed in browned butter.

Thai crunch salad.

Romaine topped with sliced chicken (marinated in TJ’s spicy peanut vinaigrette, then baked), edamame, shredded cabbage, salted peanuts, and more spicy peanut vinaigrette.

Veggie pizza.

Melts.

A big hunk of beer bread topped with trout salad (TJ’s canned smoked trout mashed with Miracle Whip) and 2% provolone then stuck under the broiler.

The last dinner won best meal of the week. This will be making a reappearance on the meal plan for sure.

9Sep2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Cheesetastic

by Emily

This week’s eats were all about the cheese and carbs {see also: several servings of unpictured pizza and popcorn}. I’m missing many of the day-time meals but I managed to capture every single dinner for a change.

breakfast

Apple and honey french toast for Rosh Hashanah.

I soaked a slice of Trader Joe’s sourdough in 1 large egg, a splash of milk, vanilla extract, and some cinnamon maple sugar and then cooked it in 3/4 Tbsp butter. After my toast was frenched, I tossed a chopped Pink Lady apple in the rest of the Tbsp of butter with a little more cinnamon maple sugar. Then I topped my french toast with my cooked apples and drizzled the whole thing with honey.

Delish.

Tropical smoothie courtesy of the husband.

He said Thai young coconut, frozen mango and banana, lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk all went in the blender.

On the weekend we ate eggs as a family.

For two, I scrambled together 4 large eggs with salt, pepper, 1 slice of 2% provolone, and a big scoop of 2% cottage cheese.

Cottage cheese is my favorite scrambled egg addition; normally it tastes very sweet to me but in eggs it is so cheesy!

Plus toast with Strawberry Crofter’s on the side.

lunch

Leftover mac and cheese that I attempted to stir-fry.

I reheated the mac in canola oil with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and Sriracha and then scrambled in an egg. I’m not sure this dish really worked.

This next one looks like a “snack” picture, but I did in fact drink giant coffees for lunch two days this week. I had several errands that ended up running long.

The one pictured was a clover-brew of their Hawaiian blend, which was fantastic. And yesterday I cashed in a drink freebie so I went big – venti non-fat iced latte with an extra shot of espresso and 2 shots of salted caramel(!!).

snack

Microwave mug cookie.

Number 2 Pencil is basically a single-serve cookie genius.

Milk drink.

This was a China Town find. ‘Twas very thick and sweet.

ZICO latte.

This flavor might even be better than their chocolate coconut water.

Sourdough with Smart Balance Light.

If I’m eating bread with butter (versus jam) I almost never toast it, for some reason I prefer my buttered bread raw.

Froyo.

Another snack that was on repeat this week.

dinner

You already saw our vegan mac and cheese.

Served with roasted green bean fries for our green.

We ate our fries right off of the baking sheet, like animals. We don’t have a dishwasher and plates are annoying to wash, damn it.

Salad and casserole night.

Adam said that my Cheesy Eggplant Bake is my best recipe, and that’s really saying something because I even cut back on the cheese this time.

Served with side salads.

Romaine lettuce blend, hemp hearts, cucumber, TJ’s peanut dressing, and Iberico cheese.

The dressing did NOT go with the rest of the salad but it was all we had.

The cheese was from this TJ’s pack that fancied up our whole week.

Kale nachos.

A kale chip base topped with broccoli, roasted corn, and melted cheese.

This was one of my better ideas.

Pizza on a quesadilla.

Inspired by Jenna’s idea, but particularly this comment.

I made quesadillas with flour tortillas and TJ’s reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend. Then topped them with Tj’s fat-free refried beans, ground turkey (99% fat-free, cooked with taco seasoning), sliced orange bell pepper, and manchego cheese.

With roasted kale on the side.

I told you this was a cheesy week!

fun

We put up a photo wall.

An assortment of pictures from college (round 1) to now, “framed” with washi tape.

It may not be perfect, but we love it. And it was so nice to add a pop of color to our drab living room.

We saw a racoon in our parking lot.

This may be the first little bandit I’ve actually seen in person, which is funny because I’m completely obsessed with them.

We went on a three-hour bike ride in Central Park.

Bike riding in the park may just be my favorite activity. I’ve chosen it for my birthday several times now.

Happy Monday, everyone!

30Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Lots Of Repetition

by Emily

Let’s start with dinner first and work our way backward, since lunches were all some form of leftovers from dinner. Usually my meals are all over the place, but this week there was a lot of repetition.

First – and this is the meal that spawned the lunches – we made pineapple stir-fry over brown rice.

We kept things very simple which I think was a major improvement over stir-fries we’ve made in the past. Pineapple, broccoli, and straw mushrooms with baked tofu (400* for 40+ minutes, drizzled in honey and soy sauce) in a quick sauce of pineapple juice, chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, and corn starch.

Usually I get sick of our stir-fries after the first few bites, but this dinner I enjoyed the whole way through.

One night I made easy eggs. I don’t remember what Adam ate, but definitely not this; he’s not the biggest ~~Korn~~ corn fan.

2 large eggs scrambled in evoo with corn (Trader Joe’s frozen fire-roasted corn, that I adore by the way. Cooked with a little sugar and Sriracha), dried basil from my grandma’s garden(!!), and shredded parmesan.

Eggs are so nice for dinner.

You already saw our roasted garlic pesto with bow-ties and spinach.

The husband got all of the leftovers and I was very jealous.

Last night we got all fancy and shared a cheese board for dinner.

We did minneola,

green pear,

Pink Crisp apple,

Blue Diamond Sesame Seed Artisan Nut Thins (former freebie alert),

and of course, cheese.

The cheese guy at Whole Foods was so helpful to us. Plus he let the husband have a million samples, so Adam was basically in love. We decided to go with one hard and one soft. A 3 year aged Gouda,

and a Soignon goat brie.

Both were fantastic. This meal was so much fun!

I have two lunches to share this week, both stir-fried rice. I know that on Monday I drank a third sugary iced coffee in leu of lunch, but I cannot for the life of me remember what I ate on the fourth day?! Whenever we would discuss food recalls in class I always thought it was silly that people had such a hard time completing them, but now that I’ve stopped daily blogging it has become much harder to recall my meals!

First up, a traditional.

Leftover brown rice with pineapple, peas, carrots, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and 1 large egg.

The pineapple got sort of caramelized and was fabulous.

Next, fried rice that was a bit out of the box.

Leftover brown rice, corn, spinach, chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, rice, vinegar, and 1 large egg.

I really thought that this iteration was going to be amazing but somehow the flavor ended up being pretty dull.

A friend had some good news to share early this week, and we celebrated with beer and bubble tea (of course). The beer was that nougat beer I keep prattling on about, so I’ll just show you a picture of my gorgeous tea.

Strawberry black tea with boba and lychee jelly from Hanco’s.

Another afternoon, the family took a walk to get ices.

I went with a sour cherry and cola water ice.

Not as good as the strawberry-cola combo I had the last time.

Now evening treats. The froyo place near our Whole Foods gives a discount if you bring a receipt from the Starbucks next door and that’s what spawned this idea – the sort-of affogato.

A little bit of vanilla froyo topped with a drizzle of fudge sauce and a solo shot of espresso.

Finally, caramel corn.

I cannot stop eating this, so I guess it’s time to give you the recipe. It is too simple.

Caramel Corn, serves 1 – 2

1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk
4 – 6 cups (popped) popcorn
salt, to your tastes

Heat the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, until melted. Stir in SCM and continue to cook until thickened, 40 – 75 more seconds. Drizzle over prepared popcorn and salt to your tastes.

I’ve made this recipe in larger batches and you can too; all you have to do is keep the ratios the same while increasing as needed. The leftover caramel corn stores great in a sealed container on the counter for up to 5 days.

Like lunch, these pictures are all pretty similar. In fact, the base of these three breakfasts stayed the same the whole week!

Overnight oats: 1/4 cup dry oats, 1 Tbsp chia seeds, and 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk; stored in the fridge overnight in an almost-empty nut butter jar (~1 serving left). Topped with blueberries before serving.

The only thing that changed was the jars. Barney Butter Crunchy Almond Butter.

Jif Mocha Cappuccino Hazelnut Spread.

Skippy SuperChunk with Honey.

All delicious, but the last was my favorite because that’s my favorite butter. I’ve got to get working on more jars!

So there you have it; lots of eggs, rice, corn, and oatmeal. Which food made a lot of repeat visits on your plates this week?

27Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Trip To Ohio

by Emily

Last week was quite a good one for me. I passed my Registration Exam and then flew to Ohio to visit my grandma. Good times all around! It was also a busy week, so please excuse the many gaps in my reporting (for example, my grandma served me dessert at least twice a day, every day of my visit and I think I managed to snap a photo of just one sweet bite).

Dietetics students – feel free to leave a comment/shoot me an e-mail if you’d like some more details on the studying process for the exam. Otherwise, here we go…

Breakfasts

{1} A tropical smoothie.

I blended up frozen mano chunks, oj, and Müller low-fat Greek yogurt with honeyed apricot.

{2} Berry topped cereal.

Kashi Honey Puffs and Nature’s Path Bran flakes with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, blueberries, nectarine, and a sprinkle of sugar.

{3} Yogurt bowl day one.

Chobani 2% Apricot Greek Yogurt topped with sliced banana and red plum. Not only did a find a few good, new flavors of yogurt while in Ohio, but these plums were the best (read: juicy without being drippy and nice and sweet) I’ve ever had. The apricot flavored Chobani was nice as well.

{4} Yogurt bowl day two.

Liberté Peach and Passionfruit Non-fat Greek Yogurt topped with more fantastic red plum. Liberté makes Greek yogurt now?! My heart practically leapt out of my chest.

Lunches

Lots of meals out in this category, much fun was had.

{1} California Pizza Kitchen, Queens.

Adam, ever the traditionalist, shared a slice of his Roasted Garlic and Chicken Pizza with me. The pizza was yummy, but I went with a salad.

CPK’s Thai Crunch Salad is a thing of wonders, the edamame, peanuts, and wonton strips give it great crunch. And that giant plate was a half portion! Adam and I both ate some at lunch and then there was enough leftover for him to eat the next day as well. This meal was actually eaten the day before my exam. The husband quizzed me a bit over our meal but largely I took things easy that day; either you know it or you don’t!

{2} Bareburger, then 16 Handles, Long Island.

After I passed my exam, a very sleepy husband took me out to celebrate. He worked all night, then came home and drove me to my test, so it was perfect to go somewhere that loved bears for lunch (my nickname for him is Bear).

Bareburger is a NY chain that focuses on organic, humanely sourced foods. Their meat options include wild boar, elk, and ostrich! I went “boring” with a turkey burger.

The Maui Wowie (sans bun) was far from boring; it was topped with smoked mozzarella, turkey bacon, grilled pineapple, fried onions, fire-roasted red pepper, and buttermilk ranch.

It was freaking delicious and we want to go back again {and again, and again!}.

You can’t celebrate without froyo.

We went to 16 Handles afterward and rocked my face off. The topping options were out of this world.

I got pecan praline yogurt (!!!) topped with Coney Island Crunch trail mix and bananas foster banana chips! Re-dic-u-lous.

{3} Bakehouse, then Jenni’s Splendid Ice Cream, Troy.

Bakehouse is a fantastic bakery and cafe in Ohio. My grandma took me there the minute I stepped off the plan and we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch.

I had a cup of gazpacho,

and we split a Vegetarian Sandwich.

Cheesy-good was definitely the theme of this visit.

We digested by walking around and looking at Troy’s newest sculpture installations.

They were sooooo realistic, my grandma definitely tricked me a few times into thinking we were heading towards real people.

Then we went for Winan’s for dessert because…

they sell little containers of Jeni’s ice cream!

The black coffee flavor was perfection. I’ve been reading rave reviews of Jeni’s in magazines and blogs for years and now I totally get the hype.

{4} First Watch, Dayton.

I had never heard of First Watch – a breakfast/lunch only spot – before but they served up quite a fine half salad/half sandwich combo for lunch.

The Santa Fe Salad was nice and spicy (and also flipping loaded with chicken, no one person would possibly want that much on one salad),

and any place that serves turkey reubans along the traditionals wins my heart.

{5} My grandma’s kitchen, finally a home-cooked lunch.

A bit of avocado, a cob of my spicy, cheesy baked corn,

and chicken salad.

Nana’s chicken salad – made with mayo, sliced grapes, and toasted pecans – is one of my all-time favorite dishes.

Drinks and Snacks

{1} Mango Hi-Chew.

I am just too glad to be back in the city where there are Hi-Chews at every corner store. Mango was nice and juicy, but I won’t be satisfied until I find the yogurt flavor I used to love.

{2} Trader Joe’s Roasted Seaweed Snack.

My seaweed consumption has gone way down now that I’m not packing lunches for school so this was a nice treat.

{3} Maple-Glazed Pecan and Sea Salt KIND Bar.

My bar consumption is also on the decline, but this flavor was by far the best KIND bar I’ve ever had.

{4} Bourganel’s Nougat Beer.

A friend took me to Bierkfraft – an awesome bar/beer merchant in Park Slope – to celebrate my new credentials and we discovered our new favorite thing.

I grabbed this Bourganel Beer Nougat on a whim (always try to drink booze that tastes like dessert, that’s my motto) and it was out of control. Normally I leave a lot behind when I drink a beer, but this bottle was drained before it could even get warm. My friend adored it as well; we ended up buying a second bottle to split after our first round!

{5} Kahlua Ready-to-Drink White Russian.

I have looked for these bottles all summer after spotting one in a magazine and I finally hit pay dirt in Ohio!

Dinners

{1} Sushi.

The night before my exam, I got take-out from A-Chiban. Mango-inari, fish tempura, and a veggie roll.

The mango was slimy and terrible, but everything else was good.

{2} Spicy.

Spicy, cajun shrimp over angel hair,

with tossed salad and citrus green beans.

{3} Casserole.

Cucumber and tomato salad, cornmeal-breaded baked summer squash,

and creamy chicken casserole.

Among the ingredient list for the casserole were swiss cheese, white wine, and stuffing. My grandma is an amazing cook.

{4} Plane food.

My kiku apple was crunchy and sweet, and the leftover chicken salad served on cranberry poppy-seed bread made for an amazing sandwich.

My sandwich was on the small side, but not to worry, I bought chips (um, and pizza) at the airport!

Do you have a favorite dish that a certain family member will always prepare for you?

11Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; In August

by Emily

First of all, I need to announce the winners for my Müller Yogurt giveaway: lucky numbers 2, 3, and 6. Grace, rachelesimms, and Jenny, shoot me an e-mail with your mailing addresses so I can get your coupons out!

This wrap-up spans more than one week and while this obviously wasn’t everything that I consumed, I ate a lot of really good stuff so the volume of pictures was a little overwhelming. I didn’t try to break this post up into breakfast/lunch/dinner, instead I’ll keep things loosely chronological.

-1- I made a cheese quesadilla on a Trader Joe’s Whole Grain Flour Tortilla with Rolled Oats and Flax Seeds with sliced apple on the side.

There were lots of Trader Joe’s (TJ’s) goodies eaten recently and we were very impressed with all but one of them. The texture of the tortilla definitely helped make my plain cheese quesadilla a little more interesting.

-2- Alvita Tea sent me some of their tea.

Alvita makes single-herb teas that are third-party certified organic, gluten-free and kosher. When I returned the e-mail offer for free samples, I requested teas that would be good iced during this hot summer, so they sent me Ginger-Peppermint, Passionflower, and Raspberry.

I loved the flavors of Passionflower and Raspberry, but Ginger-Peppermint was too much spicy ginger for me. Adam loves that flavor though, so if you are a ginger fan I would recommend it. I did try the flavors hot (aka by following the brewing instructions) but the pictures were boring so instead I’ll show you two ways I served the tea cold.

First, Ginger-Peppermint iced tea.

Whenever I make iced tea I toss 2 tea bags per ~6 oz cold water in a glass and let it sit until the color looks right to me. This oh-so-scientific method has never failed me!

Next, Passionflower “Thai” iced tea.

For this tasty treat, I followed the brewing instructions but tripled up on tea bags. Then I chilled my tea concentrate and served it with a couple of tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk. Quite delicious.

-3- I made the best flipping sandwich I’ve ever had.

I know that’s a big claim, but it’s so true. I mashed a can of TJ’s Smoke Trout with Miracle Whip, spread my trout salad between two pieces of whole-wheat bread with three slices of sliced Velveeta, and cooked it in a skillet with a little butter.

Served with baby carrots and sliced pepper.

My sandwich was so smokey and gooey! I want another can of that trout asap. This was actually the first sandwich with Velveeta I’ve ever had (I don’t know that either of my parents have ever tasted processed cheese food, we never had it in the house growing up). The cheese was leftover from another recipe and while I would not buy it again, it did make this sandwich mighty good.

-4- The dog and I were kicked out of the apartment one afternoon while our tub was being redone.

We went to Shake Shack for their outdoor seating and I got a chocolate-vanilla twist with chocolate toffee and cheesecake blondie stirred in.

I know that looks amazing, but in spite of the promising flavors the taste just wasn’t good. I threw out 2/3 of it; after it melted all over me first, of course. I think I am officially done giving that Shake Shack location more chances. But bad food doesn’t really matter when your lunch date is this cute –

Those eyes!

-5- I made two smoothies, one bad and one good. The bad was frozen mixed berries with frozen spinach and orange-mango juice.

Adam loved his glass, but I drank mine purely for the nutrients.

The good was this strawberry almond smoothie.

Frozen strawberries with Barney Butter Crunchy Almond Butter, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

-6- Another food served in two rounds – salad. Thankfully both of these iterations were amazing. Salad one,

was lettuce, homemade croutons (leftover torn french bread tossed with evoo, salt, and pepper and baked at 375*), shredded carrots, chopped green pepper, TJ’s Greek Style Feta Dressing, and Hemp Hearts.

The Hemp Hearts made the salad with their unique flavor and texture. I got this sample package at the co-op and if I can’t find this product at Whole Foods I might just go back to Buffalo to buy more!

Salad two,

was lettuce, shredded carrots, smoked gouda, feta dressing, and toasted almond slivers.

The ratio of fatty toppings to healthy greens in this salad was way off, but it tasted soooooo good.

-7- We ate tofu nuggets and roasted brussels sprouts for dinner.

I got really sick of roasted brussels sprouts a few years ago and I think I finally have my taste for them back.

The nuggets were extra-firm tofu that I’d sliced and frozen (freezing tofu gives it a great spongy texture when it’s cooked) then coated in corn starch and cooked in canola oil.

My attempt at a sweet and sour style sauce wasn’t very good, but the “nuggets” of tofu were pretty exciting.

-8- I made a winner of a dinner with a meal that was quick, easy, tasty, and healthy.

Bowls of barley topped with TJ’s Smoked Herring (that we mashed with a little Miracle Whip), TJ’s Sweet Sesame Seaweed, a drizzle of Sriracha, and a soft-boiled egg.

This was the best dinner of this post! We stirred our bowls so everything got coated in egg yolk and the flavor was fantastic.

-9- I discovered my new favorite combination of cereals: half a serving of Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola with a serving of Kashi 7 Whole Grain Honey Puffs.

The Kashi cereal almost reminded me of Smax. That bowl was topped with skim milk and chopped nectarines.

-10- I finally did a work out.

Barre3 is promoting their 7-Day Body Blast program and they offered me a complimentary month of online workouts.

Barre3 is a unique fitness system combining the arts of Pilates, yoga and ballet barre work. I took a class the last time I was in the city and loved it. The monthly subscription is only $15 and it gives you access to a myriad of online workouts. You can select 10, 20, 30, 40, and 60 minute classes, choosing to focus on a specific set of muscles or on working your whole body. The videos are great and the oral instructions are clear enough that once you’ve done a workout once or twice it is easy to follow along without having to watch the movements on a screen.

I’ve done the Ballet Fit (40 minutes) class twice. It is a total body workout with a good mix of arms, legs, and core work. There are lots of pulses so it ends up being pretty good cardio too. I intended to branch out so I had more to review, but I loved the Ballet Fit class so much the first time that I wanted to do it again. Plus, I’m trying to get better so I don’t have to keep pausing the video every five minutes to die.

All you need for the online workouts is a mat (I ended up tossing my shoes), some light weights, a pillow*, and a chair/couch/counter to serve as a bar. *They recommend a core ball but I found a folded pillow worked just fine in a pinch.

-11- I finally found a good combo for homemade egg cream.

Chocolate Nesquick and plain seltzer worked like a charm.

Even Adam, who normally hates my egg cream attempts, thought this was good.

-12- A friend and I had a great night in Williamsburg. We explored on foot, then settled on Mizu for dinner. I got a Hijiki salad to start.

Black seaweed with carrot and tofu.

I didn’t like my salad – which had a strange, woody aftertaste – but my Futu Maki was delicious.

Crab stick, cucumber, avocado, egg, and pickles.

The sweetness of the tamago made the wasabi extra delicious. And fun gum with the bill is always good.

Afterwards we were very lucky to spot a sign for snow cones at Handsome Dan’s.

I got an earl grey snow cone with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk.

Are you freaking kidding me?!

We walked over to the water on our way home and the view of the skyline was even more exciting than our snow cones.

I ♥ New York.

-13- I made another really good sandwich.

A Whole-Wheat Sandwich Thin topped with smoked turkey, smoked gouda (from TJ’s), and Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.

The smokey-sweet thing will always be my favorite.

-14 – We pulled out our popsicle molds.

These dulce de leche lemon popsicles are insane.

I had a little extra “batter” that I poured in my iced tea and it knocked my socks off.

-15- I made tropical fruit salad.

2 bananas, 2 minneolas, 2 kiwis, and a handful of TJ’s Roasted Coconut Chips.

Leaving berries out of this salad made the leftovers feel a lot fresher than usual.

-16- We ate a dinner dipped in ketchup.

Kale chips,

with TJ’s Mahi Mahi Burgers.

I ended up only eating one of my burgers, so I ate the leftover for lunch the next day with the rest of the fruit salad.

The Mahi mahi was simple but good with a little Miracle Whip on a Sandwich Thin.

This was the one product that I don’t think we’ll buy again; the patties were greasier than I’d like even though the nutritional stats were good. It was nice to feel fancy with lots of fish this week.

That’s all she wrote!

Wow. I need to blog more often; what a terrifyingly long post.

19Jul2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Sweet and Spicy

by Emily

This “week’s” wrap-up actually spans most of two weeks. I know I went MIA (sorry, mom!) but I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. We have a lot of personal stuff happening this month and most of it is frustrating. But there is good stuff this month too – like my 28th birthday and an upcoming trip back to Buffalo!

For having eaten two weeks worth of meals (plus, I am sooo not one of those “I’m too sad to eat” folks!), I don’t have a ton to share this post. We did a lot of take-out and none of it was blogworthy, or even edible; we threw out a really annoying amount of food. But even though the take-out situation in our neighborhood is dire, I do have some really tasty things to recap….

fruit salad for the fourth

I went all patriotic and made a lovely red white and blue fruit salad with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and sweetened shredded coconut (all mascerated with a little sugar and lime juice).

It would have been even more lovely consumed on the 4th, but we got busy moving and ended up eating red, white, and blue on July 6th.

The salad was especially nice with skim milk and Impact Maple Oat granola.

these tasty dinners were also eaten after Independence Day

I’m not sure what I was picturing because I knew we had to drive to PA and back, but I bought stuff for the grill to eat with our fruit salad. Neither of these meals were eaten before the 7th, and we still haven’t fired up the grill, but they both sure were tasty.

Everything hot dogs and sautéed swiss chard.

I added way to much Worcestershire to the chard and it was sort of terrible, but we ate it anyway to get our greens in.

But the dogs were amazing. I got the “everything dogs” idea from a Good Housekeeping.

Turkey dogs in toasted buns topped with onion cream cheese sauce – yellow onions sautéed in butter with low-fat cream cheese stirred in, plus a little light cream to loosen up the sauce – and poppy seeds.

Patty melts with kale chips.

Whole-wheat bread with 1.5 Trader Joe’s turkey burgers, ketchup, and sliced cheese.

The burgers were a higher fat % than what we usually buy and they sicked me out to cook, but the patty melts in the end were very good.

The kale chips were amazing.

I always used to burn kale chips into tiny shards of cancer but I did some Googling and think I finally found the right method.

getting saasy

The nice people at Saas Hot Sauce sent me some bottles of the hot stuff to review recently.

Please note – these products were sent to me free of charge to review. All opinions are my own.

Saas is a LLC started in 2010 by a group of students looking to raise money for charitable donations (particularly to help protect traditional cultures around the world). It comes in Original and Onion and Garlic. They use no chemical additives or stabilizers in their sauces.

I love the company’s values and practices, but I have to say – this stuff is hot! A little drop definitely goes a long way. I am a spice lover and it was pretty intense for me, so while I do recommend Saas products, if you have a wimpier mouth please be careful.

For some reason the hot sauce just screamed “quesadillas!” to me, so that’s what I made for dinner… several days in a row. Original Saas went in hot wing quesadillas.

Shredded rotisserie chicken mixed with Saas, blue cheese dressing, and mild cheddar.

Onion and Garlic Saas went in black bean quesadillas.

Smushed black beans with Saas, salt, lime juice, and sharp cheddar.

All of the cheesy triangles were quite pleasing; quesadillas were definitely a good idea.

two more home-cooked dinners

First, a mac-n-cheese style casserole of farro (the 10 minute bag from Trader Joes, so easy!), cheese sauce, and swiss chard.

I made the cheese sauce out of roux, light cream, sriracha, black pepper, sharp cheddar, and parmesan.

We both liked it but if I make the dish again I would add more spice, you need a lot of flavor to stand up to the stronger taste of the farro.

The best meal of this post is the next one, and it was super easy and healthy too. Bbq kale and white beans with cheesy corn.

For the kale, I filled my 8×12 casserole dish with torn dinosaur kale, then topped it with a can of cannelloni beans, some chopped onion, and a bottle of honey bbq sauce before baking in a 350* oven.

I wrapped our corn in foil and threw it in the oven with the kale. Mine got a layer of Sriracha mayo, parmesan cheese, salt, and black pepper before it was foiled. Delicious!

If I had known how easy it was to cook in the oven I would have been making corn all of the time.

glug, glug, glug

Lots of excitement in the beverage category this week. I found several new favorites. First, we headed over to Sweet Adele’s one afternoon for bubble tea.

They also have amazing looking fruit slice candy that I want to go back for immediately. On that visit I got a lavender milk bubble tea.

What?! The flavor was more sweet than floral but it was still very exciting.

Also exciting was 7-11 day, aka July 7th (7/11).

I got a small cherry/cola for my free slushie.

There is just no topping the cherry/cola combo {more on that later}.

Finally, I found my new favorite Polar flavor.

I know I have a new favorite every week but seriously, green apple seltzer is amazing.

empanadas in the city

On Saturday Adam had a coveted weekend day off so the three of us headed into the city.

Let’s be real – blurry or not, this is the best picture anyone will ever take of Webster and me.

We walked pretty far from the car to our final destination and the dog was such a little trooper about riding in my purse! He was so adorable we could barely handle it.

The walk was worth my aching shoulder because we ended up with a great meal. The PR team for Nuchas contacted me and asked if I would like to come by for lunch.

The following meal was provided to me free of charge to review on the blog. As always, all opinions are my own.

Nuchas, started by Argentine-born Ariel Barbouth, is a empanada company in the city. They have a food truck, a Time Square kiosk, and a catering division. They bake their empanadas instead of frying them so the goods are actually pretty healthy (and portable!). They have meat-based, vegetarian, and even vegan options.

Adam and I got four empanadas to share.

See how they label them with a little embossed letter? Too cute.

The Argentine.

Pat Lafrieda’s ground beef, onions, peppers, scallions, potatoes & olives. White dough.

This one was all Adam, obviously. He was a fan, and said it had good flavor without being too spicy. There was a nice amount of meat too; they didn’t load it up with potatoes like some places try to do.

The Portobello.

Portobello mushrooms, spinach, onions, mozzarella & fresh herbs. Spinach dough.

Again, good flavor and a nice amount of filling. The cooked spinach wasn’t watery at all and this felt healthy while still tasting good. This flavor was the husband’s favorite.

The Spicy Cheese.

Assorted cheeses & caramelized onions. White Parmesan dough.

I don’t know what spices were used here, but I was a big fan. This flavor was my favorite, but it is worth noting that it was too hot for Adam’s taste.

The Cranberry, Apple, & Nutella.

Granny smith, cranberries, pear, nutella & chocolate. White almond dough.

It was fun to try a dessert empanada. This was like a slice of apple pie with nutella on top, and really, what dessert isn’t better with some nutella on top?

All in all, we were very impressed with Nuchas. We both plan on going back and spending our own money the next time we head into Time Square.

the sweet stuff

Three things to share this post in the sweets category; all will be happening again.

I spent a ton of money buying local yellow cherries at Whole Foods one day and then promptly forgot about them for the rest of the week. By the time I got to the bag, the cherries were still edible but too soft to really be enjoyable, so I baked them into a yummy dessert.

I modified this recipe from Eat, Live, Run to make a single-serve cherry clafoutis.

I could not even believe how simple this was to make.

My birthday is next week, and some of my favorite family members sent me this fun package to celebrate.

Danny Macaroons are actually made locally in NYC (which means we can get more, whee!).

The flavors were crazy, and included chocolate-dipped, Bailey’s, chocolate, and other fun combinations. This salted caramel macaroon was the best cookie I’ve had in my life.

There were two salted caramels but I ate them both before Adam even got home from work.

Finally, there is an ice shop near our apartment and we are officially obsessed.

They have a million flavors and they are all exciting. Shown here is toasted marshmallow with key lime cream ice.

That’s a small by the way; such a good deal for $3. Marshmallow was great, obviously, but last night I had the best thing ever and now I’ll never be able to order anything else again – cola and strawberry water ice. <— to die for

What is your very favorite flavor combo for frozen treats?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: apple

Weekend Wrap-Up; October Is Here!

breakfast

I received these samples free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

lunch

dinner

dessert

I received these samples free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Long Week Wrap-Up; Pizza Pizza

breakfasts

lunches

snacks desserts

beverages

dinners

Weekly Wrap-Up; Mid-September

^breakfasts^*

^lunches^*

^snacks^*

Please note – these teas were sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for writing this post. All opinions are my own.

^dinners^*

Weekly Wrap-Up; Cheesetastic

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

fun

Weekly Wrap-Up; Lots Of Repetition

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Trip To Ohio

Breakfasts

Lunches

Drinks and Snacks

Dinners

Weekly Wrap-Up; In August

Weekly Wrap-Up; Sweet and Spicy

Please note – these products were sent to me free of charge to review. All opinions are my own.

The following meal was provided to me free of charge to review on the blog. As always, all opinions are my own.