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!

This Week I Loved…

the start of apple month

September 1st means I go crazy eating all things {caramel} apple!

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And breaking into this stash makes me feel less awkward about my growing pile of pumpkin items.

everything by George Ezra

But especially “Blame It On Me.”

my breakfast combo

Fiber One reached out to me about sending samples of their newest product – Cheesecake Bars!  I am not one to turn down something that has 5 grams of fiber and tastes like cheesecake.

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They come in strawberry and salted caramel and they are freaking delicious.  Each moderately sized bar has 150 calories.  They certainly aren’t as healthy as a bowl of oatmeal, but I can handle the 3.5 grams of saturated fat occasionally for something quick that keeps me full through the morning and really does taste like dessert.

I paired a caramel bar with a caramel macchiato one morning and it was a bit too much but also amazing.

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But most mornings I kept my coffee pairing low-key, Community Coffee with cream and milk.

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Yum, I love it when we have (fat-free) half and half in the fridge.

yogurt bowls

2% Fage with strawberries and Heritage Flakes.

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Plain Skyr with cotton candy grapes(!!!) and sea salt caramel apple granola.

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Omg, kids, the granola was insanely good.  It took a lot of self-control not to go through and pick out all of the caramel bits.

salads

Loaded from the cafeteria.

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Greens with ranch, peppers, tomato, cucumber, black bean and corn salsa, green olives, cheddar, and Sea Salt SuperSeedz from home.  The pumpkin seeds gave this just the right amount of crunch.

At home.

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The little strawberry glass is holding strawberry beer – Abita’s* deliciously juicy Strawgator.

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And my “salad” – which had no greens because we ran out of spinach – was tons of chopped cucumber and sweet red pepper topped with TJ’s insanely spicy Sriracha ranch, shredded cheddar, roasted pecans, and a huge pile of pulled chicken with roasted garlic and honey bbq sauce.

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Also I ate Chipotle salad two days in a row.  No shame.

* apparently Abita makes a milk stout?!  I want it so badly I can practically taste it.

Weekend Highlights – Rockaway Beach And Roberta’s

We have got to squeeze every last drop of fun out of this summer before fall hits.  We made the most of our weekend with a beach trip and ice cream all day every day.

I’ve been crazy hungry lately so these pictures are just a drop in the bucket, but here are the highlights…

Coffee!  While I made my grocery list.

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The Vietnam blend from Starbucks is great with cocoa, cinnamon, and sugar.

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And the maple latte at Caffé Bene is on point.

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Toasted turkey cheese sandwich.

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Multi-grain bread with smoked turkey, colby jack, mayo, and lots of pickles.

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Plus roasted broccoli on the side.

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More roasted broccoli (and more of that plate).

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This time with truffle salt.

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And Applegate chicken nuggets with a Sriracha honey mustard dipping sauce.

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Frozen yogurt.  Birthday cake topped with chocolate stuff and Nutella.

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Pizza from Roberta’s.  We will definitely be back!  Cheesus Christ = mozzarella, taleggio, parmigiano, black pepper, and cream.

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Sunday afternoon we went down to Tacoway Beach.  They put rum in our watermelon juice and guacamole on our fish tacos.

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Plus we got Tostilocos, a big back of chips, black beans, seasoned cabbage, cojita, and Japanese peanuts.

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Then we spent some time on the beach.

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And stopped by Connolly’s for the all-time best frozen piña coladas.

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Have a great week!

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My Year Is Off To A Good Start

enjoyed all week

Coffees.  Also naps.

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Apparently my parents wore us out; I had a to take a nap before I could make dinner the first three nights of the week.

Diet chocolate soda from Polar.

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I know it sounds a little strange but we were fans.

Our leftovers from The Smith.  Eaten cold while standing in front of the open fridge.

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My mac and cheese was fantastic leftover and so was my mom’s Mexican corn.

A big box of free samples {free as in provided free of charge / no other compensation for this post / yada, yada } from Super Seedz.

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I wouldn’t have thought of pumpkin seeds as a favorite of mine but I’ve loved all of the flavors we’ve tried so far.  Flavor options include: Really Naked, Sea Salt, Cinnamon & Sugar, Coco Joe, Tomato Italiano, Curious Curry, Somewhat Spicy and Super Spicy.  They pack a nutritional punch – see the infographic (provided by the company) below – and Super Seedz are allergen friendly – peanut-free, tree nut-free, egg-free, dairy-free, fish-free, shellfish-free, soy-free and made with gluten-free ingredients.

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breakfast

After we dropped my parents at the airport on Monday, Adam and I went on a doughnut(plant) and coffee date before work.  Because apparently we hadn’t eaten enough crap over my birthday weekend.

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My strawberry-filled vanilla got two thumbs up.

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As did my maple latte from Gorilla.

Coco pumpkin seeds and cold-pressed watermelon juice.

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TJ’s came through on this juice, it was wonderfully refreshing.

Chocolate-cherry smoothie.

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Vanilla almond milk with coco powder, frozen cherries, and dates.  I enjoyed this combo and want to make it again soon.

Snack plate.

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A cheese stick, cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds, and a medley of grapes.

lunch

Chocolate chip cookie oats.

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With an apple and coco pumpkin seeds.

Sweet and spicy tuna salad.

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With grapes and cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds.

I didn’t have to provide my own lunch the rest of the week!  I attended a lunch-and-learn on malnutrition in surgical patients on Tuesday.

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They gave us education, salad, and yummy sandwiches with hummus and roasted eggplant.  And I mainlined coffee (with tons of milk and cream) when I got back to my desk.

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On Thursday the hospital threw an employee appreciation bbq.

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Very sweet!

dinner

Pizza, pizza.

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We used TJ’s frozen crusts and were so impressed with how they turned out.  Topped with marinara, mozzarella, and tons of garlic and onion sautéed mushrooms.

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Plus super simple salads on the side.

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Just arugula blend with ranch dressing.  They were a bit depressing.  But we also had beer.

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I carried this Southern Tier Compass all the way back home from Buffalo but unfortunately it was a bit hoppy for our tastes.

Burger night.

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I made my Buffalo Blue Bean Burgers.  They don’t look like much but this is one of my best recipes!

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With a trio of roasted veggies: Brussels sprouts, green beans, and broccoli.

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Served with maple bacon kettle chips, aka my favorite chips because they are the best chips of all time.

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They were doing a promotion and handing out mini bags at my railroad station and it was very exciting.

Last night I met up with a girlfriend for dinner in Brooklyn.  We checked out Elbow Room, the mac and cheese window at Morgan’s BBQ.

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Milk stout.

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Old School Mac – NY state sharp cheddar, béchamel, and garlic breadcrumbs.

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With collard greens that were spicy and vegetarian.  Dinner was good but dessert was better.

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Salted crack caramel and honey peanut butter ice creams from Ample Hills.  But they were supposed to have key lime pie ice cream available and they didn’t so now I need to go back immediately and it’s a problem.

Criminally Good

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

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

breakfast

My coffee combo for the week was on point.

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

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

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

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

lunch

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

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

I got an okay sandwich in the cafeteria.

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

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

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

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

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

snack

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

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Pb&j.

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Guava cheese empanada on the train.

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Latte from Café Dada.

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

dinner

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

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With cinnamon toast on the side.

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Seriously, how good is cinnamon toast??

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

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

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

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

Have a great weekend.

Dinner Bowl

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

breakfast

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

Sonja apple.

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

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

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

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

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lunch

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

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

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

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Honey Fage with blueberries and TJ’s bran flakes.

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

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snack

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

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dinner

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

Honey-chipotle chicken Chipotle style bowls.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last April Weekend

Weekend Top Five:

{1} Smorgasburg is becoming a weekly event for us.

Grady’s cold brew is the best.

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I got vegetable ramen with truffle oil.

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And we got sugar on snow from Snowdays.

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They serve it with a doughnut and a pickle!  I’ve wanted maple snow candy try ever since I read about the Chippewa doing it in Caddie Woodlawn.

{2} Brunch at Bareburger.

I got a bellini.

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And a Guapo Chop salad – romaine, queso fresco, pickled jalopeños, spicy pico de gallo, guacamole, tortilla chips, and avocado basil dressing.  Plus there were gorgeous watermelon beet slices on top.

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Plus cold-brew, obviously.

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It wasn’t as amazing as the first time but you can’t beat that cup.

{3} Williamsburg love.

Sweet Leaf for coffees.

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And our first trip to Oddfellows for ice cream.

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Pecan pie and toasted marshmallow for me.  It was amazing, second only to Ample Hills.

{4} Cookies!

Chocolate chip mug cookie.

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Taro mochi.

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I put it in the fridge and it was extra chewy and wonderful.

{5} We finally found good Chinese take-out in our neighborhood.

The take-out options around us are all pretty abysmal, but when a new spot popped up on GrubHub we decided to give it a try.  I got bean jelly noodles with chili oil and sour and spicy cucumber.

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They were delicious and we would totally order from there again.

Gussied Up Mac & Cheese {Recipe Redux}

From the Redux team: Go through your pantry, cupboards, freezer, or fridge; what ‘treasures’ have you found? Pick an ingredient/spice/condiment that’s been hanging out for a while and give it the attention it needs. Share a healthy recipe made using your new-found pantry prize.

gussied up mac and cheese

One thing that is always present in my pantry is boxes of (whole grain) macaroni and cheese.  Yes, the old-school kind with the powdered cheese.  We like that the pasta is already portioned out – three to four servings-worth versus a 1 lb box – and only takes 6 – 15 minutes to cook depending on the brand, making it almost too easy to bypass to turn to take-out.  We always have spices/sauces on hand and frozen chopped vegetables in our freezer, so we are always prepared to gussy up a box of mac for a quick and easy dinner.

Typically I like to pair the mac with canned smoked fish (another item that is a pantry must-have for us), but since I wanted to share this “recipe” with the wider Redux audience I decided to go vegetarian this time with a can of beans.

The great thing about this dish is that it is so easy to customize to accommodate what you have on hand.  I tested the recipe with canned items but obviously you could sub in fresh varieties no problem.  If using fresh broccoli, just precook it and add it with the other vegetables.  I recommend ignoring the directions for adding milk and butter to make a cheese sauce and using sour cream instead, but if you don’t feel like buying sour cream this would still work if you made the sauce according to the back of the box.

Mexican Mac & Cheese, serves 4

  • 6 oz box macaroni and cheese
  • 2 heaping cups frozen broccoli
  • 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
  • 15.5 oz can low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 cup sliced black olives
  • 1/2 cup diced mild green chiles
  • (optional topping suggestions) caramelized onions, hot sauce, shredded cheddar, chopped avocado
  1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  When 3 minutes remain in the cooking time, stir in the broccoli and cook it along with the macaroni.  Strain the cooked pasta and return to the pot.
  2. Add sour cream and cheese packet (no milk or butter!) to the pasta.  Stir in sauce, along with olives and chiles.  Carefully fold in beans.
  3. Divide pasta among 4 bowls and top as desired.

gussied up mac and cheese

What items are always stocked in your pantry?