Weekly Wrap-Up; All Hallow’s Eve

by Emily

Did you do anything exciting this Halloween? We definitely did not! I didn’t carve a pumpkin (Adam did a very nice one though), I didn’t pass out candy, I didn’t wear a costume… I didn’t even manage to wear orange and black. In theory Halloween is one of my favorite holidays {I live for all things themed} but I always get lazy with execution. At least I had my month of pumpkin brews. And we certainly ate enough candy!

breakfast things

Breakfast at the ‘Bucks. <– please don’t call it that

Coffee for rent; a blonde roast with 3 sugars and lots of skim milk. I have a very hard time drinking hot coffee unsweetened, it tastes much more bitter/sour than iced to me.

Honeycrisp.

Coconut Macaroon, a NEW flavor of LÄRABAR über that I found. The uber line makes my favorite Larabars and I thought that this flavor was spot on.

Plus I had another “coffee” after I left.

I didn’t think this Harney and Sons Organic Coffee Tea actually tasted much like coffee, but the tea flavor was very nice. I like my (bottled) teas just a bit sweet, with honey or cane sugar instead of an artificial sweetener.

Another morning I tasted the other new flavor.

The Sticky Bun flavor was fine, nice even, but the taste was total pecans, not a hint of cinnamon to it. I bought both flavors in duplicate when I spotted them though so expect to see this again.

On a similar note – I also didn’t think that this Brown Cow Cream Top Coffee Yogurt tasted enough like coffee.

But it was still nice topped with honey and roasted peanuts. I just haven’t found a coffee flavored yogurt that can match the Dannon from my childhood.

lunch and dinner things

A home version of a Moe’s bowl.

I ate chips and salsa while I cooked to stay on theme.

The chips were Garden of Eatin’ with Chia Seed.

They aren’t listed on the website(?) but they are worth checking out if you spot them at your store.

Our homemade bowls were just as delicious as the original. We used a base of TJ’s organic jasmine rice (<– microwavable!).

Topped with taco turkey: 98% lean ground turkey cooked with diced green pepper, chicken broth, and Ortega Taco Seasoning.

Spinach: I stacked the leaves and then sliced. We loved it served this way!

Caramelized onions: I always cook them this way now.

Cheese: TJ’s 2% Mexican 4 Cheese Blend.

And cream: a dollop of low-fat sour cream.

All stirred together it was quite good, but this meal could have used some hot sauce.

More chia chips, this time as nachos for lunch.

Chips with the cheddar/gouda blend melted on top in the oven.

Plus a Sweet Tango on the side for juice.

I made Adam loaded nachos with our taco turkey leftovers and he was crazy for them.

Whole Foods hot bar.

Kale salad, Cesar salad, roasted butternut squash, and macaroni and cheese.

The squash and Cesar bites were my favorite.

pumpkin(g) things

I bought this “Halloween shapes” macaroni to serve on Thursday because we are pretty much five years old.

I think I ended up making a pretty grown-up meal out of it.

Salad on the bottom. Baby spinach with gorgonzola dressed with a sprinkle of pink salt and 1 tsp each honey and evoo.

Topped with pasta. Mac and cheese with edamame, browned mushrooms, and a can of Bella smoked sardines in lemon olive oil.

I am still shocked that my palate has matured enough for sardines.

Dunkin Donuts pumpkin white chocolate iced coffee with skim milk.

Just pretend that sleeve is orange!

Harpoon Pumpkin UFO.

This was my favorite pumpkin beer of the season but I still shared a lot of it with the husband.

ACE Pumpkin Hard Cider.

This was definitely just apple cider with pumpkin spice (we were expecting a much squashier flavor) but it was very good. My favorite pumpkin alcohol by far this year. <– I actually finished my whole serving instead of passing it to the husband.

P.S. Stay tuned for a quick post tomorrow morning, featuring… Webster in his Halloween costume!

21Oct2013

Weekend Wrap-Up; Vampire Weekend

by Emily

It’s 2 in the afternoon, so allow me to say “good morning!” Does that sound strange to anyone? Adam worked nights Friday through Sunday so we’ve been keeping a vampire’s schedule. There’s been a lot of this –

I don’t like it when he’s gone, my sleep pattern is all out of whack and I definitely live like a teenager when he’s not around. Case in point – Saturday night I watched terrible movies (“One for the Money” and “Abduction”) and ate candy (Sour Patch Kids and chocolate-covered gummi bears) for dinner.

I ate a lot (a lot) of junk this weekend, but I did manage to throw some pretty gourmet meals in there as well. If last week was all about the jalapeño, this was the weekend of bacon!

breakfasts

On the go.

We had to eat on the way while running errands so I made us something portable. A terrible, god-awful smoothie.

Pumpkin, frozen kale, frozen banana, Silk Vanilla Almond Milk, and a bit of maple. This had such potential but the kale didn’t fully blend and chewing threw it was horrifying. I forced down 90% for the nutrients, but did not enjoy it.

My TJ’s pumpkin cereal bar was much better.

I thought the filling was great; sweet and spicy. And how cute is the labeling?!

We bought these when we were a little loopy from sleeplessness and Adam thought the pun was seriously the funniest thing ever. We spent the rest of the evening making variations on this joke – “A strawberry asks a pumpkin on a date… what happens next?”

Another kale fail.

I just could not win on the kale front this week. Again, these eggs had potential, but there just seemed to be sooooo much kale and we both hated them.

Offending eggs.

Delicious turkey bacon.

Side of grapes.

At least the other components were good. And I shared many bites of egg with the dog, who was such a good boy about eating his greens!

lunches

On Saturday two of our good friends from Buffalo (who are now living in Rochester for medical residency) came up to visit. We met up for a lovely lunch at Bareburger.

I got the Western Burger, with a turkey burger, sans bun. Smoked mozzarella / ~~country~~ turkey bacon / house-made Carolina slaw / smokehouse sauce / topped with a crispy, spicy pickle spear.

So fricking good! That hunk on the side was my pickle, which blew my mind.

A sandwich at home.

A whole-wheat bagel thin with turkey bacon, brie, and pumpkin butter.

This combo was ridiculous.

Plus the last of the grapes.

I have not been eating enough fruit this fall and it was nice to have something other than apples in the house.

dinners

More greens, more grapes.

A big pile of chicken salad.

Kale chips.

This was the only iteration of kale that I actually enjoyed this weekend.

The carb portion of dinner was consumed in the car on the way home from the store.

Adam and I split a TJ’s soft pretzel stick and loved it. Great chew!

I even whipped myself up a drink while I made dinner.

October is National Caramel Month and Sobieski sent me some samples of their Karamel Vodka to celebrate.

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

Here was my attempt at a Caramel Apple Cocktail –

2 oz Sobieski Karamel Vodka
2 oz Sour Apple Pucker
splash Polar Granny Smith Apple Seltzer

The vodka was good, but next time I’d go with a 2:1 ratio of vodka to Pucker, the sour apple flavor was a little strong!

Soup’s up.

Last night we ate big bowls of my Loaded Potato Soup.

Truffles for dessert.

I’ve raved about Alter Eco’s Silk chocolate line in the past and they sweetly sent me some of their newest product – Dark Velvet Truffles.

Note – I received the truffles free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

The truffles, which are also available in Black, are organic, fair trade, and non-GMO. They are made with coconut oil, a more sustainable option than palm kernel oil (I didn’t taste any coconut flavor).

I thought that the truffles were great; nice and creamy! The husband hates dark chocolate as a rule, but loved the Silk bars so I will have him try one of the truffles and report back.

Have a great 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?

10Jun2013

Weekly Wrap-Up

by Emily

I’ve stopped doing daily posts for the time being, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped eating – and occasionally photographing – delicious things. Once we’ve moved and things have settled down I’ll try to post more regularly, but for now I want to at least do a weekly wrap-up of some of the more scrumptious things I’ve eaten. I’m going to borrow the style of Kath’s Lately posts for these.

A lot is missing, I don’t have any lunches and several slices of pizza went uncaptured, but here are some of the highlights from last week…

Breakfasts

I bought an amazing container of fresh blackberries early in the week and enjoyed them greatly. They started getting soft so I put the last few servings in the freezer and I’m very much looking forward to reheating them. First up, Dannon Oikos Café Latte Greek Yogurt with blackberries and a blend of peanut and coconut butter.

Cinnamon Pecan Special K with Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk and more blackberries.

This cereal is so tasty; it’s got a granola-like texture but with far less calories.

A Dr. McDougall’s Peach and Hemp Oatmeal, eaten at work with a packet of Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

This oatmeal couldn’t hold a candle to my beloved Quaker cups. It was quite gummy and strange, though I did eat all of the bites with hazelnut butter on them 😉

Snacks

I finally got a chance to try some of my shipment of the Larabar ALT line. Lemon Pound Cake and Peanut Butter Cookie.

The verdict was – I’m a fan; though I’ll admit to being less excited to try the other two flavors. The texture was gritty sand, but in a great way, and the flavors were spot on. I shared the lemon bar with a coworker and she said to tell y’all she liked it a lot.

On Monday, Adam, a friend, and I drove over to Williamsville to check out one of our new froyo spots – Red Mango.

I did plain tart with tons of popping boba. They had kiwi boba, a new experience for me. Confession time though: I couldn’t finish that whole cup! Who am I??

Dinners

Also on Monday, we spent the evening with another group of friends, saying goodbye to a doctor who was heading off to California. As Adam and his friends all head off to their residencies we are having to say a lot of goodbyes. We ate dinner at Mezza.

A Shish Tawouk wrap – cubed marinated chicken breast, garlic spread, sweet coleslaw, and French fries, all wrapped together and grilled – with a Feta Fattouch salad. My food was delicious, as was the diet coke with strawberry vodka I sipped from the bar.

We drank at Blue Monk before heading to dinner and I tried my first taste of mussels.

I’ve always been wimpy about shelled seafood, but they were fantastic! It helped that they were cooked with Ommegang Witte, lemon, leeks, garlic, parsley and cream.

We also ate dinner out last night. I’ve wanted to try 99 Fast Food for years and Sunday after work it was finally my time. Unfortunately all of the pho was made with beef broth so I couldn’t partake, but I did have a nice meal of tofu broccoli ginger stir-fry.

We tried a Vietnamese Pudding for dessert.

It was more of a drink than a pudding, red bean with sweetened coconut milk.

On Friday night I hurried home from work so we could get a little gussied.

My bosses generously gave me their tickets to the Mash Bash, an army-themed fundraiser.

I was literally the only person in the room not in green, so embarrassing!

There wasn’t a ton of food there that I could eat, but each ticket came with two drinks and Adam ate my share of pulled pork sandwich.

Most of my home-cooked meals flopped this week, but I did have one success with a little help from Coleman’s Mustard.

The company sent me a tin of powder to try {free sample, please note!}, along with a recipe for dressing –

Colman’s Chili Vinaigrette

4 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. Colman’s Original Powdered Mustard
4 “splashes” mild green Tabasco sauce
½ cup lemon juice
2 tsp. honey

I whipped up a batch for salads; a spring lettuce based topped with English Cotswold cheese, buckwheat groats, and roasted asparagus.

It was a good week!

21May2013

Fun In Fruit

by Emily

The title says it pretty well, I just wanted to post about a few fun fruit-based things I’ve brought home lately. Half I’ve tasted and half I haven’t, but I’m excited about them all.

Unless otherwise noted*, products were purchased with my own money and I was not compensated for posting about them; I just wanted to share.

1. Outshine Coconut Waters with Banana popsicles. {tried – pretty good}

Allergies have been killing my throat for weeks and I bought these on a whim the other day. They were nowhere near as satisfying as the rainbow sherbet I ended up with later, but they are a good summer treat. They don’t have a ton of flavor, but each bar has only 60 calories and they are nice to cool down with.

2. Cherimoya fruit. {excited to try}

Adam and I love to try new produce when it pops up and I’ve heard cherimoyas described as “custard apples” so I knew we had to try this one, $7 price tag and all. Unfortunately I got a little too excited and stored it in the fridge before I read that they are supposed to stay at room-temperature until they are ripe. Whenever it is actually ready to eat I’ll be sure to let you guys know what we think!

3. Synergy Mystic Mango Kombucha. {tried – flipping amazing}

Oh my goodness, guys, this stuff is the official “sweet nectar of the gods.” The texture was so thick and perfect on my throat. Mystic mango is from GT’s “Enlightened Synergy” line, so maybe that’s the difference, but the flavor was much less vinegar-based than the Kombuchas I’ve had in the past. This was pure mango. A bottle has 100 calories total and is very satisfying.

4. Larabar’s new ALT line.* {excited to try}

NOTE: These bars were sent to me by Larabar free of charge so I could try their new line. I was not compensated for posting, but I do plan on sharing my thoughts as I taste through the line.

From the company: “ALT, the Alternative Protein Bar™, is the first-ever bar with added protein from LÄRABAR! Many bar brands use soy or whey protein, but ALT uses an alternative protein source: peas. Vegan, gluten free, dairy free, and non-GMO, ALT also uses a wrapper that is 31% renewable.”

The line comes in Cinnamon Apple Crisp, Lemon Pound Cake, Peanut Butter Cookie, and Pumpkin Pie. The bars have 10 grams of protein each and each flavor has between 210 and 240 calories.

16Apr2013

On The Run

by Emily

This morning Adam, Webster, and I headed to the park. They went frolicking and I went running. I started the Couch-to-10k plan, again. I refuse to go back to week one (I’ve started the plan four times in as many months, it’s embarrassing at this point) so I did the first day of week two – intervals of 4 minutes walking / 1 minute running, x 8. Plus 5 minutes of straight running at the end as I hurried to find a dog and husband who are bad at following directions! I was great to be outside.

The rest of the day included schoolwork, a shift at work, and an evening of tv. In fact, we are mid-Bones right now so I’m keeping this short.

Here’s what I ate… An Alter Ego Mini Dark Velvet chocolate bar.

This stuff was amazing, the perfect blend of milk and dark chocolate. It had dark’s tang with the creaminess of milk. Total love.

Soft pretzel.

Vegan chicken nuggets with some sharp cheddar.

A Salty Peanut Awesome Bar.

This would have been awesome, but the whole flax seeds kind of ruined it for me. Nonetheless, this Yumvelope (the source of the bar and the candy) was a good one.

Hot bar (two of the wontons were Adam’s).

Two kinds of sautéed veggies plus a piece of sweet and sour chicken.

.15 lb of gummi candy.

A giant slice of Buffalo chicken pizza with blue cheese for dipping.

I am, in a word, stuffed.

15Apr2013

Today

by Emily

Some of the things I thought today –

Man, it has been a looooong time since I last blogged.

I made the right decision. Part of the reason I’ve been blogging AWOL is because I was making a giant, life-changing decision and I’m ~~pretty sure~~ positive I made the right one.

The end of this semester is going to be insane. We have two business plans to create in the next month and we were told to expect 40 plus hours of work each week on top of our clinical hours.

Some of the things I did today –

Went to my first day of clinical practice in long-term care.

Took a glorious, 70* walk on Elmwood with my husband.

Attended night class. With the curve I scored a 100% on the first exam!

What I ate today –

A mealy apple.

A packet of Artisana Cacao Bliss.

Chocolate Almond Coconut Clif Mojo Bar.

A low-fat strawberry milk.

A (salted caramel chocolate nougat) candy from the latest Yumvelope.

Veggies from Globe Market, ~.25 lb each.

Thai carrot salad,

and Greek vegetable salad.

Lays Chicken and Waffles potato chips.

Dinner.

Amy’s Alphabet Soup,

and a soft pretzel with yellow mustard.

I also thought a lot about the tragedies at the Boston Marathon today. If you or anyone you are close to were effected, please know that you are in my thoughts.

8Apr2013

Me Jane

by Emily

Doesn’t it feel too late in the week to still be Monday? Anyone else? I have several personal/professional/school things going down at the moment and honestly my head is spinning. This post is going to have to be “Me Emily. Me eat food. Food good.” style.

Coconut Delight Raw Revolution bar from the bottom of my purse for breakfast.

Pear.

Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt,

with Justin’s Maple Almond Butter swirled in.

The last of the bbq pop chips (1.5ish serving) with dip.

Also Cheetos.

A new recipe for dinner.

Roasted green beans,

with a vegan chicken salad sandwich. <– me promise to share the recipe tomorrow

Drinks whilst brainstorming with a friend.

Jameson diet coke x2, lemon drop x1.

Bed.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: bar

Weekly Wrap-Up; All Hallow’s Eve

breakfast things

lunch and dinner things

pumpkin(g) things

Weekend Wrap-Up; Vampire Weekend

breakfasts

lunches

dinners

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

Note – I received the truffles free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Trip To Ohio

Breakfasts

Lunches

Drinks and Snacks

Dinners

Weekly Wrap-Up

Breakfasts

Snacks

Dinners

Fun In Fruit

Unless otherwise noted*, products were purchased with my own money and I was not compensated for posting about them; I just wanted to share.

On The Run

Today

Some of the things I thought today –

Some of the things I did today –

What I ate today –

Me Jane