Soup To Nuts (Bananas)

Highlights from the week…

This chocolate banana protein drink made my iced coffees extra fun.

See also – banana milk with Blue Bottle’s instant Nola (my favorite at-home coffee) was quite tasty.

A mostly blueberry bowl, plus plain skyr and Cascadian Farm chocolate chip cookie granola.

See also – a blueberry smoothie with dark cherries, chocolate protein powder, vanilla bean powder, and water.

An eggcellent snack – hard boiled egg with Milu everything spice alongside Peelerz caramel pudding gummy eggs (<– the fruit flavors are better but this was obviously fun).

See also – an easy egg salad. Hard boiled eggs smashed with mayo, plain skyr, yellow mustard, and leftover marinated cucumbers.

One of the best soups I’ve ever made – leeks sauteed with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika / extra-garlicy chicken meatballs / roasted sweet potato and zucchini / chicken broth. I topped my bowl with chili crisp. Plus a side of sourdough with blueberry jam.

Homemade tomato soup. In the blender – white onion sauteed with butter / cannellini beans / canned whole peeled tomatoes and tomato paste / veggie broth, white pepper, and dark soy sauce. Paired with a grilled cheese, of course; sourdough, mayo, extra-sharp cheddar, honey, and chili crisp.

I’m usually committed to the bit but a final night of soup felt like too much so we had twice-baked potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts instead. Turkey Reuben twice baked potatoes – with sauteed ground turkey, homemade Russian dressing, sourkraut, and white cheddar.

Marsh Madness

Highlights from the week…

Easter candy, obviously. My favorites were the Trader Joe’s marshmallow eggs, which were, in fact, the best marshmallows I’ve ever eaten.

Adam and I are both head over heels for these dried kiwis from Target.

My parents sent me these *guava* Oreos. I don’t love golden Oreos but the guava flavor was spot on.

A tasty take on eggs in purgatory. Eggs cooked in a mix of sauteed roasted cherry tomatoes, canned diced tomatoes, scallion, garlic, gochugaru, and gochujang. We topped our bowls with pimento cheese. Eaten alongside roasted cauliflower.

Baked tacos. The filling was a food processed mix of sauteed mushrooms, poblano peppers, scallions, black beans, sesame seeds, and taco seasoning. Plus tons of cheese.

I used the leftovers to bulk up turkey meatballs. <– We will be doing this again. Plus roasted zucchini and Trader Joe’s cheddar and jalapeño biscuit bites. We burned the bites but they would have been a hit otherwise.

Our favorite meal of the week was these tofu wraps. Tortilla / Kewpie / baked super-firm tofu marinated in gochujang, pickle juice, soy sauce, sugar, garlic powder, and onion powder / thinly sliced cucumbers tossed with sugar, salt, Milu everything spice, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. Plus baked brussels sprouts sauteed with soy sauce, brown sugar, and chili crisp.

Pie-less Crust

Five things from this week…

New-to-me bars. Beni Bite black sesame protein cookie (7.5/10, the flavor had layers and I actually loved that it wasn’t sweet but the moniker cookie made the lack of sweetness jarring) and Barebells lemon cheesecake (7/10, I prefer the non-white chocolate flavors but this was way better than key lime pie).

Trader Joe’s hot honey popcorn is excellent. I am a picky about pre-popped popcorn but this had a perfect, crispy texture!

My baking project did not come to fruition but I did enjoy graham cracker crust on several skyr bowls this week. This one had sumo mandarin.

Crab rangoon bake. A take on the sushi bake – crab meat and flake-style imitation crab meat with Kewpie, cream cheese, sweet chili sauce, scallion, garlic powder, white pepper, sugar, and soy sauce on top of brown rice with furikake, crunchy chili flakes, and rice vinegar. Plus Cruciferous Crunch veggie mix sauteed with scallions, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and Sriracha, plus edamame, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds.

Take-out salad from Bango Bowl. I tried the Honey Mo – shredded kale, chopped romaine, roasted chicken, roasted broccoli, roasted sweet potatoes, grilled peppers and onions, corn, crispy onions, and honey mustard vinaigrette. It was good (but I added cheese when I got home!)

Hot Honey Butter Crunch

‘Twas a yummy week! Some highlights…

Cottage cheese with cinnamon, vanilla bean powder, granola, and pineberries.

A savory cottage cheese bowl dinner with sauteed zucchini and green onion, a fried egg, sunflower seeds, Milu everything spice, and chili crisp.

Something I will be making again – crispy baked butter beans and shredded super-firm tofu tossed with honey, butter, chili oil, and gochugaru. Served on top of sauteed shredded brussels sprouts.

We ate the leftovers (still great!) on salads with romaine and chicory blend lettuce, cilantro salad dressing, sauteed baby broccoli with garlic, and Dubliner cheese.

A loose take on callaloo with yellow onion, red jalapeño, frozen chopped spinach and kale, ginger, urfa, coconut milk, and tons of crab. Plus homemade dumb bread.

My Weekend

Things from the weekend…

Our grocery newly had three drinks from Lucky Ox so I, of course, bought them all. We liked but did not love the salted lemonade.

Black eyed pea salad is always a hit in our house. This iteration had BEP, yellow bell pepper, Kerrygold Dubliner cheese, pecans, and green pepper Cholula (10/10, I’d put this on anything).

The year we got engaged we watched so much Scrubs while eating pizza that I mentioned it in my wedding vows so when we started the new season/reboot (we loved it!) did so over pizza. I had a marinara/vodka sauce/pesto slice and a potato white slice.

Plus a warm ranch celery salad – sauteed celery and green onion dressed with plain skry, Kewpie mayo, brine from Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy jalapeños, Trader Joe’s ranch seasoning, and smoked paprika.

Epsilon Alpha Tau

No post from me last week because we were on vacation in Texas! We went to Meow Wolf in Dallas and Houston and also visited Austin. It was a fabulous time and we ate some of the best food of my life (including the best bbq, the best burrito, and two Michelin starred meals!).

Some highlight since we’ve been home…

This week’s coffee. I am picky about bottled coffee but this Nescafe espresso concentrate is pretty solid.

One morning I paired it with a Barebells Vanilla Milk Drink; good but not great, it was better than the soda but too sweet (7/10).

Good loaded skyr bowls this week. This one was plain skyr with blueberries, blackberries, pineberries, and Oat Haus cookie dough granola, and edible flowers.

This one was plain skyr, vanilla bean powder, vanilla protein powder, maple syrup, and all the berries.

I got my hands on the cherry float Coke Zero so of course I made a float with vanilla ice cream and whiskey cherries. P.S. My current soda ranking is cherry Coke Zero > cherry Diet Coke > cherry float Coke Zero > Diet Coke.

Paired with cherry cola Squashies!

Dinners this week were all (loosely) Greek-inspired. Meatballs (ground turkey baked with panko, baba gannouj, tabbouleh, salt, pepper, and egg) / asparagus sauteed with lemon, dried basil, salt, and pepper / potato salad (peewee potatoes with sauteed celery and red onion, feta, lemon zest and juice, evoo, skyr, mayo, smoked paprika, and white pepper).

Baked eggs with feta plus sauteed zucchini, Bahama Bomb tomato, and red onion with salt, pepper, and dried basil. Scooped with pita chips.

Salads. Spring mix, Trader Joe’s cilantro dressing, roasted chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, feta, baba gannouj, roasted garlic hummus, and Trader Joe’s dolmas.

Tots Of Love

Highlights from the week…

On-theme Valentine’s snack wins. Alani Cherry Bomb (9.5/10).

Love Hearts Squashies (9.5/10).

Baked black bean tacos. Black beans (food-processed with walnuts and sauteed mushrooms, green bell pepper, green onion, and taco seasoning) baked in Mission flour tortillas with tons of sharp cheddar. Plus roasted broccoli and homemade ranch (plain skyr, Kewpie, Trader Joe’s ranch seasoning and hot and sweet jalapeno pickle juice).

Turkey Reuben totchos. Alexa potato puffs / Swiss and gruyere cheese / sauteed ground turkey with homemade Russian dressing / sauerkraut. Plus roasted zucchini.

Agi’s counter inspired tots. Potato puffs / roasted yellow cauliflower / canned smoked trout tossed with leftover ranch / chopped sweet dill pickles / Ayoh Tangy Dijonayo.

Chopped Sandwich Dip

Are my fellow New Yorkers ready for the weekend weather? I am not. But the highlights from my last week included two winner recipes!…

These Rolling Pin chocolates had a good filling but not enough of it; I thought the chocolate was too thick.

Obviously the fanciest thing I ate this week was this bowl of four types (pineberries, Sweetest Batch strawberries, Sweetest Batch blueberries, and super jumbo blueberries) of berries!

This brown sugar clementine Polar seltzer is nice, but some sips taste like pancake syrup in a disquieting way. P.S. I am drinking a Nixie black cherry lime sparkling water while I type and it is a 10/10!

Take-out tacos. Guac shop soft tacos with tofu, sweet potato, cabbage, cheese, and spicy aioli.

Chili when it’s chilly. We used ground turkey, sweet onion, poblano pepper, orange and yellow bell pepper, dark red kidney beans, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, tomato paste, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, salt and pepper, gochugaru, and smoked paprika. I topped mine with extra-sharp cheddar, plain skyr, and sweet and spicy jalapeños. Served with roasted broccoli and a toasted English muffin with blueberry jam.

See also – chili cheese potatoes. Baked potatoes and leftover broccoli with butter, chili, cheese, and zhoug.

Buffalo chicken twice baked potatoes! I re-baked them stuffed with mashed potato, baked chicken, cheddar, blue cheese, green onion, salt and pepper, butter, and Frank’s hot sauce. These were great. Plus baked zucchini, which is always great.

I bought special sauce Kettle chips, so obviously I had to plan a meal around them.

Chopped Sandwich Dip! The dip was far better than the chips. Diced baked chicken, dill pickles, sweet heat bread and butter pickles, garlic sauteed baby broccoli, cheddar, Milu Everything Spice, white pepper, Dijon, Dijonayo, Duke’s, and plain skyr. Scooped with the chips and baby carrots.