Week 1’s Top Five

{1} Citrus

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Winter citrus and berry Polar / Pineapple upsidedown cake Larabar (which was amazing but seems to be a no longer available limited release / Cara Cara orange.

{2} TJ’s crispy broccoli

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It is way too easy to eat a whole bag at once.

{3} Cola + cherry gummies

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From my Skoshbox.

{4} S’mores dip at Blank Slate

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Plus a really fantastically creamy iced latte.

{5} Dinner at Penelope.

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I surprised the husband after work on Tuesday and we grabbed a quick dinner in the city.  They had vegetarian French onion soup.

{Bonus} I’m home in St. Thomas for the weekend!!!

Merry Munching – Christmas Week Top Ten

I hope all of my readers who celebrate had a very merry Christmas yesterday!  Adam, Webster, and I had a great day full of cuddles, present opening, cheese eating, and “Frosty” watching!

The best present of all?  Yesterday was start of a four-day weekend for me, I’ve got Friday though Monday off.  The weekend’s fun includes our 8-year wedding anniversary, so I doubt I’ll make time for any blogging.  See you next weekend!

Here are the top ten from last week…

{1} Brunch with friends

They introduced me to j’eatjet in Park Slope.  I had an Aperol Sidecar and a yummy breakfast veggie burger with swiss and a fried egg.

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Then I spent time slowly perusing the giant Whole Foods.

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With a Vietnamese iced latte at my side.

{2} Holiday themed breakfasts

These made for very pleasant mornings.  All with ice coffee with full-octane eggnog!

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That Nutrament was seriously the best eggnog item of the season.

{3} Strawberry chocolate mint smoothies

We love this combo every winter.

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Chocolate peppermint soy milk + plain Greek yogurt + frozen strawberries.

{4} Roasted veggie sandwiches for lunch

One of my nutrition co-workers is retiring next week so we took her out to lunch at an Italian place near the hospital.  I got a roasted veggie and mozzarella panini.

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And another day there were roasted veggies at the sandwich bar.

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I got them on a (giant!) wrap with tuna and cheese.

{5} Christmas morning sugar rush

I don’t have any pictures because we tore into the bags too quickly but my mom bought me two different cola-flavored gummies from German Haribo.

{6} Thai food in the city

I wish I’d paid more attention to the name of this spot (near Union Square Park) because the food was great.  I had a Malaysian iced coffee.

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And the Night Market Noodles – a combo of egg noodles and broad rice noodles with chili paste, bean sprouts, and a boiled egg.

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These were super spicy, aka perfect, I was crying with each bite.

{7} Halo Halo at Bago

I’m obsessed with Halo Halo so as soon as my cousin sent me this NYTimes link I added Bago to my to-do list.

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Their version is a tapioca shake with taro ice cream on top and red bean, palm seeds, and young coconut on the bottom.  It was fantastic!

{8} Kale, and eggs

We made wonderful sautéed kale with garlic, golden raisins, and blue cheese.

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Alongside eggs that were just horrible.  It turns out that ground turkey and pizza sauce do not belong in scrambled eggs.

{9} Christmas nachos

Apparently I’ve decided that nachos are holiday food.  This version was red and green at least.

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Chips with mozzarella, ground turkey, broccoli, and red bell pepper.

{10} Eggnog treats  <– I saved the best for last

Like the coquita cupcake from Brooklyn Cupcake.

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Coconut cake soaked in a creamy coconut milk egg nog with a hint of rum flavor and topped with a mascarpone whipped cream.

And the eggnog ice cream from Ample Hills is their best flavor yet.

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Creamy, eggnog, rummy goodness.

BEC, FTW

Big life change alert – I have a new job.  As of Monday this week I officially transferred over to the inpatient nutrition team full-team.  I am very sad to no longer be working with prenatal clients on an outpatient basis but the job opened up I knew that it was time for me to get back to my roots with acute care.  My new job lets me work with and learn from other Dietitians on a daily basis and gives me exposure to a much greater scope of practice.  I’m excited about it.

My new job comes with a nice perk – free meals from the cafeteria, so you are going to see some big changes in my weekly lunches.  And this transition week was unbelievably busy so there were a lot of bites that missed the camera.  You’ll just have to picture a lot of snacking, both candy at my desk and copious taste-testing while preparing dinners.  Plus a lot more coffee, of course.  Here the bites I did capture…

breakfast

Coffee!  With a SweeTango apple.

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Or a Nonni’s caramel apple biscotti and a persimmon.

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Or a Fiber One cheesecake strawberry bar and a persimmon.

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This week’s coffee masterpiece was Grady’s Cold Brew with skim & vanilla almond milks.

lunch

My old team brought in a giant cake on my last day.  So sweet!

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I ate a serious amount of frosting.

Now that I’m “buying” lunch instead of packing my yogurt bowls {tear!} you’re going to see a lot of salads and sandwiches.  Romaine / ranch / cheddar / chickpeas / veggies / cole slaw.

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Romaine / ranch / corn salsa / peppers / maple pumpkin seeds.

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Plus chocolate a new coworker brought me.

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Yesterday I had a simple sandwich.  Toasted wheat bread, mayo, turkey, pepperjack.  Plus a carton of chocolate milk.

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Apparently I’m six.

dinner

In spite of the fact that Adam and I both had crazy weeks, our dinners were all winners.  We let the crockpot help out one night.  Chicken breasts topped with bbq sauce and fresh cranberries and set on low for 8 hours.

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We’ve made this dish three winters in a row now and it is always wonderful.  Served with roasted green beans and TJ’s sprouted California rice.  And a Warlock pumpkin stout.

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We used leftovers in our BECFR, aka Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Fried Rice.

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Rice stir-fried in olive oil with turkey bacon and chunks of cheddar and eggs.  Roasted cruciferous veggies on the side.

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I’ll toot my own horn – cheese in fried rice is freaking genius.  We tried to watch “Fresh Off the Boat” while we ate but I was mmmning so loudly that we kept having to pause.

Finally, a quick salad.

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Baby spinach / feta dressing / cucumber / pumpkin seeds / roasted coconut chips / avocado / turkey bacon / and goat’s milk Brie.

It’s been an exciting work-week but I am feeling ready for the weekend!

Last Week/End’s Best Eats {Pumpkin Beer Galore}

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I have just not had the blogging bug lately.  I’ve been eating yummy foods (duh!) and making some great new recipes but recently I have not been able to make myself sit down and write.  This week I have a Redux post due so you’ll be hearing from me at least once.  And below is a quick round-up of the very best bites from last week…

Pumpkin beers.

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I totally get why Kath is obsessed with Schlafly, it’s amazing.  The Leaf Pile was pretty fantastic too.

Yogurt bowls.

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More pumpkin.  That orange thing that looks like a mini pumpkin is a persimmon.

Lobster rolls.

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Luke’s never fails.  I took a girlfriend for her very first cold lobster roll and it was love at first bite.

Brooklyn Bagel.

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Coconut bagel with pumpkin cream cheese.

Pizza.

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TJ’s whole wheat crust topped with bbq sauce, tons of sautéed onions and mushrooms, and two kinds of mozzarella.

Tamarind candy from home.

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Perfectly sweet and sour.  When I was a little girl I rode horses and we could pick tamarind pods from our saddles and snack our way through Pony Club so the flavor makes me very nostalgic.

Brunch at Thirsty Koala.

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Australian coffee = an iced latte with a scoop of ice cream.  I also got a stack of Jaffles.

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“The Bergs” had cheddar, manchego, goats cheese, fruit chutney on sourdough.

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Aka an insanely gooey grilled cheese.  Yet another Astoria spot we now love.

It is weird for me to be taciturn, hopefully I’ll have more to say in a few days!

Weekend Wrap-Up

I know this post is running a bit late but it was a damn good weekend that was worth blogging.  We drank, we brunched, we explored – all of the important stuff!  Here are the highlights…

breakfast

7-11 iced coffee and a protein bar.

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Starbucks iced coffee and a doughnut.

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Doughnut Plant‘s pumpkin doughseed is a plain doughnut with pumpkin cream filling and super spicy cinnamon icing.  It was interesting.

The best breakfast of all was spread out to include some city time.  We got coffee in DUMBO.

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Took the train in to the LES and walked two miles west.

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To the gorgeous Brookfield place.

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Where we headed to famed Black Seed Bagels.

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Poppy with honey butter for me.  It was wildly disappointing – no chew.  But then we spent way too much money on candy at Le District.

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And after a quick train ride we had a great walk back to the car through Cobble Hill.  We got so lucky with the weather.

lunch

Yogurt bowl at work.

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Pumpkin Noosa with a TJ’s pumpkin bar and a snap dragon(!!) apple.

Yogurt bowl at home.

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Plain Fage with maple syrup, red grapes, granola, chia seeds, and maple pumpkin seeds.

The day I skipped the yogurt bowl I went big – lunch at Miriam in Park Slope.

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I had Burekas, or puffed pastry pocket stuffed with feta & olives, served with poached eggs, labneh cheese, Israeli salad and tahini sauce.  Everything was amazing, super fresh and flavorful.  We want to go back for dinner immediately.

With ridiculously giant froyo bowls for dessert.

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All of the toppings.

dinner

{Friday} Dinner appetizer – Kale chips.

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Dinner drink – Rogue Pumpkin Savior, best pumpkin beer so far this season!

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Dinner – roasted veggie fall forest gnome food.

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Browned mushrooms // shredded chicken // turkey bacon // shredded Brussels sprouts // roasted butternut squash // baby spinach // pecans.

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We make some iteration of this dish every fall, it’s one of our favorites.

{Saturday} Dinner appetizer – Shrimp, crab, salmon, and tofu skin fritters from Laverne.

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Dinner drink – yummy root beer beer.

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Dinner – turkey sandwich, red grapes, and fantastic seaweed salad.

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{Sunday} Dinner, drinks, and appetizer were all wrapped up in one – I had beer with chips and dip… while watching bad tv… in bed.  It was fabulous.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Hello, Pumpkin Month!!

It’s possible that I have a pumpkin purchasing problem…

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Just maybe, though the pumpkin spice chap stick does make it seem pretty likely!  Also I’ve eaten something pumpkin flavored at least once a day for the past four days.  And October First I had something pumpkin at every single meal.

breakfast

Pumpkin spice latte.

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I kind of hated it.  I thought the spice was really overwhelming and I ordered my drink with 1/2 of the flavor pumps (plus an extra espresso shot and caramel drizzle on top) so I can’t even imagine a full-strength PSL.

Iced coffee with chocolate milk.

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With a yummy GoMacro bar.

Pumpkin cheesecake doughnut from Dunkin.

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Yuck city.  These beverages were more my jam.

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Sometimes we get a fountain soda when we go to the store.  Sometimes we got to Starbucks for clover brews.  And some magical days I get diet soda and an iced coffee and basically float through the grocery store in excitement.

Café Grumpy makes us anything but grumpy.

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Adam’s flat white was better than my macchiato, especially once I clumsily oversugared it.

lunch

Chobani Flip with my last orchard apple and a TJ’s pumpkin cereal bar.

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Plus dessert from the giant bag of Russian candies a (now former) coworker delivered me to say thank you for her retirement gift.

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Plus I scarfed roasted broccoli with TJ’s Sriracha ranch the minute I got home because apparently this lunch didn’t fill me up at all.

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The next day I ate practically the same meal and was full all afternoon.

Thank you 14 grams of protein in my Siggi.

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With TJ’s pumpkin o’s and a honeycrisp.

Dinner leftovers – pasta and veggies.  This photo is of Adam’s plate because I ate my (smaller) serving out of the Tupperware.

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With TJ’s chocolate pumpkins for dessert.

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We liked the orange ones and were lukewarm on the rest.  Washed down with an alcoholic root beer that was freaking life changing.

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Best root beer (boozy or not) either of us have ever tasted.

We had a phenomenal brunch at LIC Market.

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I had the duck hash!  Crisp potatoes, red onion, peppers, dried cherries, and pine nuts with two fried eggs.

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I love duck so flipping much.  And this was the best iteration of the meat I’ve had yet.  We gave the meal as a whole a 9.5/10.

We got up and out of the house to make it to brunch crazy early and then we had the entire afternoon for fun stuff, mostly more eating and lots of drinking.  Grand Central Terminal is Adam’s favorite spot in the city so we spent the morning window shopping there while sipping iced coffee with homemade chocolate syrup from Irving Farms.

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Plus Jacques Torres Chocolate handed us samples of fantastic hot chocolate.

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I will be back for a full-size cup once the weather gets a bit colder.

Then we wandered down Lexington Ave to Ginger Man to check out their seventy draft beer options.

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Clearly flights were the only way to go.  Our sour line-up was amazing.  The pub had a great vibe, we will definitely be bringing all city visitors there.

dinner

Pumpkin pasta for the first night of October.

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Rachael Ray’s recipe with whole wheat shells for penne, basil for sage, chicken breakfast sausage for sweet Italian sausage, and swiss/gruyere for parmesan.

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It was tasty, even the dog got a little bowl with extra pumpkin puree.

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The humans had roasted veggies on the side.

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Trader Joe’s seasoned brussels sprouts and broccoli and cauliflower with smoked paprika.

We drove to Queens in the rain for dinner at Burnside Biscuit.

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Worth it.  Check how fancy my julep was.

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Dinner was pimento mac and cheese with a side of shaved collards.

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We went to Gossip Coffee for a “nightcap.”

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Gorgeous space serving delicious, roasty cold-brew.  And they had rice pudding.

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We shared Oreo and cheesecake, both of which were fantastic.

Crab fried rice.

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Yum!  Adam would say that stir-frying is the cooking technique I’m best at.  This dish was wonderful.  Leftover brown jasmine rice with garlic, ginger, rice vinegar and fish sauce / peas, mini heirloom tomatoes, sweet red pepper, onion, and basil / eggs and canned crab meat.

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This was the first time I’ve used tomato or basil in fried rice at home and both were welcome additions.

Burger night to finish the weekend.

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Spinach salad with Sriracha ranch, maple rosemary roasted sunflower seeds, and roasted baby zucchini.

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Turkey burgers on TJ’s brioche buns with mayo, sharp cheddar, turkey bacon, and tons of caramelized onions.

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These were the best burgers I’ve ever made/eaten.  The crunchy bacon and sweet onions totally made this.  We got our pumpkin in for dessert.

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Pumpkin pie and cookies and cream yogurt with Nutella, sprinkles, and chocolate candy toppings.  A sweet way to end the weekend.

Are you going ga-ga orange gourd this month?  Any pumpkin must-haves I haven’t done yet?

Goodbye, Apple Month

Can you believe that it is already October?!  Time has felt like it is flying ever since we moved back to the city but this year in particular is booking it.  Never mind the fact that I am somehow 30 years old even though I still feel like high school was maybe six years ago tops.

breakfast

I kept this week’s coffee combo simple –

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I wanted to be able to get a good feel for this stuff –

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This was the perfect month to review* Rigoni di Asiago’s Dolcedì sweetener because it is made of apples!  10 kilograms of organic apples go into 1 kilogram of Dolcedì.

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The liquid sweetener is USDA certified organic, gluten-free, vegan, and kosher, and can be used in the same ways you would use table sugar (1 teaspoon of Dolcedì would substitute for 1 teaspoon of sugar, a 1:1 ratio) in hot and cold drinks.  It has 15 calories per Tbsp (table sugar has 15 per teaspoon).  You can also use it in baking but I haven’t tried that yet.

The liquid is sweet but flavorless so it really doesn’t alter the taste of your drink – unlike honey and agave – and I found that it quickly dissolved completely into solution in my iced coffee.  I don’t typically sweeten my drinks but when I do I would definitely use the Dolcedì again in the future.

Along with my sweetened coffees I had bars

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and orchard apples.

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We were not impressed with the scant variety available for apple picking but these ended up being some of the best apples any of the four of us have ever eaten.

lunch

Plain yogurt with blueberries and pomegranate, sea salt caramel apple granola and chia seeds, and an apple on the side.

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Plus I brought in turtle pretzel magic bars for my coworkers and I totally snagged one for after lunch.

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The other days I stuck with THIS for dessert –

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Omg.

Kodiak flapjack on the go and TJ’s freeze-dried Fuji apple slices.

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I hated the pancake cup – it was like choking down raw batter – but those apples are amazing.  I shared a taste with two coworkers who said they were the best they’ve ever had.

Plain Siggi’s with blueberries, strawberry preserves, and caramel apple granola and chia seeds.

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The caramel apple chia combo has rocked my world this month, though I have had to start carrying floss in my purse to deal with errant seeds.

“dinner”

Dinners this week were exceedingly weak.  Apparently our busy weekend of walking wore us out because Adam and I have been unbelievably tired.  Like on Monday we got into bed at 7:30 pm tired.  And then on Tuesday we took a nap before bed.  I guess maybe I do feel thirty!

Monday I ate a Starbucks chicken Santa Fe sandwich on the train.

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It was good, and thank goodness because when I got home I ate this strawberry Cow Tail under the covers.

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Hence “dinners.”

Tuesday I at least legitimately included some vegetables in my snack-based dinner.  Carrots with hummus.

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Several rounds of pretzels with string cheese.

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And roasted green beans.

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This was actually a pretty balanced meal.

And Wednesday I cooked a grown-up dinner.

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Can you call heating up a package of TJ’s Palak Paneer cooking?

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I had to make the brown jasmine rice and roasted zucchini we served it with so I’m counting it.

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With a dollop of goat’s milk yogurt on top.  And my final La Brea Bakery review* on the side – flatbread.

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They were all good but this was our favorite bread so far.  It had that perfect naan texture, fluffy yet chewy.  And the flatbread includes sprouted whole wheat flour (along with white flour) which made the flavor just a bit more interesting.  A+.

P.S. Now it’s October it is finally Pumpkin Month!!!

*These products were provided to me free of charge to review.  I was not provided any additional compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

This Week’s Top Five

{1} Coffee.

I know this gets repetitive but coffee is just so freaking good!

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The winner this week was the double espresso with ice and cream from a coffee shop near my hospital.

{2} Chocolate with pretzels.

I brought the toffee candy to work and my co-workers lost their minds over it.  We did too; it was a good thing I got it out of the house or I think Adam and I could have finished the tray in a day or two.

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Also yummy pretzel chocolate from Lindt.

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Yes, I had dessert every evening this week.

{3} Apple month stuff.

Apple-pear pouch.  I sprinkled the SuperSeedz on a pretty killer salad from the cafeteria salad bar.

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Salted caramel apple granola (with chia seeds) on my yogurt.

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And this apple explosion lunch.

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Caramel apple oatmeal, TJ’s freeze-dried apples, and Salty Road caramel apple taffy.

{4} Loaded baked potatoes.

These bowls were fantastic.

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Baked potato / roasted broccoli with green onions / homemade baked beans / topped with plain yogurt, sharp cheddar, and green Tabasco.

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For the baked beans: Sauté tons of white and yellow chopped onions.  Add sliced turkey hot dogs, pinto beans, and tomato sauce and let things cook for awhile.  Then season with brown sugar and Gochujang.

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They were so yummy I ate the leftovers cold.

{5} Dinner at Mile End.

Mile End Delicatessen is my new favorite deli, which is a big deal because the place I grew up going to had a pickle bar!  MED did have tasty hibiscus beer…

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And poutine made with smoked chicken gravy.

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And roasted cauliflower with caraway honey, harissa paste, and toasted pistachios.  This had the best texture, crunchy on the outside and silky soft in the middle.

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I ordered the turkey reuben for dinner.

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Did not disappoint.

{Bonus} New CDs.

My parents are amazing, and they send us mixed tapes all of the time.  They both made new ones recently so this is how my mother labeled them –

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Lol!