Weekly Wrap-Up; Coffee Crazy

by Emily

Soooo, that title probably could have worked for any week this year, huh? What can I say, the addiction is not lessening. I will totally cop to the fact that I allot more of my budget to coffees than clothing or shoes {priorities}.

I have a good mix of meals to share today, including several that I definitely want to make again soon! I could not wake up enough in the mornings for any breakfast shots, but overall I caught a good amount of the week on film…

lunch

Fantastically thick and creamy yogurt. Coffee Fage Fruyo with a Honeycrisp and an AriZona Oak Reserve Tea.

Plus a red pear and a turkey jerky stick that I snacked on later.

Salad from the cafeteria.

Romaine topped with red onion, kidney beans, shredded cheddar, black olives, and too much blue cheese dressing. Plus bbq chips on the side.

Apple themed oats.

Apple & Cinnamon Quaker (which was gummy and not good) with a banana-applesauce and the last of my caramel apple candies.

Brunch. Scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, and a chocolate croissant.

I was randomly extra hungry on Thursday morning so I went down to the cafeteria for a late breakfast. I ended up getting slammed with follow-ups all afternoon and having to skip lunch, and serendipitously my late breakfast kept me from chewing off my own arm.

snacks

Gotta start with the coffee line-up! From worst to best. Starbucks Hazelnut Doubleshot was very meh.

But I was quite excited to spot this new item at Konditori –

I was a little sick of it by the end, but the coconut cream did a great job of keeping things creamy. Nonetheless, the winner = Blue Bottle.

These little milk boxes kill me and this was wonderfully creamy, sweet, and roasty.

Adam has a weird obsession with Au Bon Pain and he sweetly brought me home one of the pumpkin bunt cakes he’s been loving recently.

I’m just not a huge cake person, but I loved getting a surprise treat.

The last of the Talenti Sea Salt Caramel Gelato, topped with some melted (chunky/flax/chia)peanut butter from TJ.

I’m glad I tried this with the end of the container or I would have gone back and made more! Best combo ever. Adam’s a little wary of the chunky pb but even he thought this was good.

Leftover slice of mushroom and olive pizza.

Clover honey straw. <– please note: I wouldn’t normally eat this straight like a total sugar freak, but it split open while I was trying to pack it in a lunch

Coffee yogurt.

The strangest pairing of the week was also the best.

Nonni’s Banana Dark Chocolate Almond Thins spread with Port Sault cheese were delicious.

dinner

A fantabulously fall salad.

This was so flipping yummy that we ended up making it two nights in a row.

Baby arugula and spinach blend topped with maple balsamic, pea shoots, Port Sault cheese, pomegranate arils, sweet and spicy hazelnuts [baked with canola oil, honey, cayenne pepper, and salt] , and roasted delicata squash [with coconut oil, cinnamon, and curry powder].

The pizza on the side was this mushroom and black truffle flatbread from Trader Joe’s.

All-in-all, a great meal.

Wednesday night I went out in Williamsburg for a friend’s birthday.

No photos because I am socially awkward enough without the food photography, trust me.

And last night I threw together some fancied up macaroni.

Annie’s Shells and Cheddar with TJ’s smoked herring and some chopped up pea shoots.

Pea shoots do not belong in pasta, but Adam seemed to like it. I smothered my bowl in smoked brown sugar and Sriracha.

Have a great weekend!

3Sep2014

10 Things

by Emily

Long time no see! My mini posting hiatus was not for lack of things to blather about. The husband had a full day off on Saturday and we like to make the most of our time mooning at each other and eating mass amounts of cheese so I didn’t take any photos. Then I spent Sunday eating more cheese and watching a truly horrifying amount of Netflix (more on that below!).

I picked ten things to share for this post, ranging from product reviews and beauty (ha!), to entertainment, to foodie.

{1} Let’s start with the best meal of the week, the best meal of the whole year, actually.

Runner & Stone, down in the burgeoning area on 3rd Ave in Park Slope, is officially my new favorite restaurant.

The space and the menu were beautiful and thoughtfully done. The dishes are not too pricy, but this meal felt luxurious. I don’t remember what was in this amuse-bouche, but it was complimentary and tasty.

As was the house-made bread and butter.

We started dinner with a round of drinks. Vodka soda – with Industry Standard, a Brooklyn-distilled vodka – for me and a Gowanus – aka an extra dirty martini – for Adam.

He went with two small dishes for dinner. White bean soup with sherry,

and the deconstructed duck pastrami.

Both were delicious, but my dish totally stole the show.

Rye pappardelle with smoked salmon, dill, and house-made crème fraiche. I loved how playful this was, and more importantly, how tasty.

We obviously had to try dessert.

An orange wine with their buckwheat tres leches.

Runner & Stone, we’ll be back! Soon!

We ended our date night by stopping in at some of our favorite Brooklyn haunts for drinks, as well as dessert round 2 at Ample Hills. What a night!

{2} I’ll be less verbose about items 2 – 10, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less exciting. This homemade dinner looks God-awful, but it really was wonderful. TJ’s Sprouted Red Jasmine Rice with curried lentils and Jenna’s Baingan Bharta, topped with plain yogurt and Sriracha.

I didn’t love the eggplant – apparently I really do dislike garam masala – but I used to think that I hated lentils and I was pleasantly surprised by them. I usually make lentils just to be nice to Adam, but now I want to make them again for my taste buds too. They were soooo easy; we just simmered red lentils with water and a little salt, curry powder, turmeric, and smoked paprika.

{3} Another dinner success.

Arugula blend salad with cave-aged blue cheese, sweet and spicy pecans, and a maple vinaigrette,

topped with a Shallotta Salmon Burger.

I had big plans for a salmon burger and egg sandwich but apparently the patties were pretty good because by the time I went to make my eggwich Adam had eaten them all up.

{4} This item involves a generous box of free samples from Numi Organic Tea and Nutiva.

As I said, these items were provided free of charge. I was no provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

They’ve teamed up to promote their genius mash-up recipe idea: chia iced tea. Sounds good, right? I haven’t actually tried the recipe yet – I’m getting on that this weekend – but I wanted to share it with y’all, along with my thoughts about the products in general.

Iced Tea + Lemonade and Chia Seeds

1/2 tsp. Nutiva Organic Black Chia Seeds
2 Tbsp. water, room temperature
1 Numi Organic Tea – Breakfast Blend black tea bag
½ cup water, boiling ½ cup lemonade Ice cubes
Lemon slices

Add chia seeds to 2 tbsp. of room temperature water. Stir to combine, and set aside for 5 minutes, until chia soften.
Meanwhile, bring ½ cup of water to boil. Steep tea bag in hot water for 5 minutes.
Discard tea bag and pour tea into a tall glass. Add lemonade and chia seeds and stir to combine.
Top with ice, garnish with a lemon wedge and serve.

So far for the teas, I’ve only tried the Breakfast Blend so far. The mint is definitely up next once I’ve thinned out my tea bag stash a bit; it smells insanely delicious.

I can’t say that I adored it, but I have been hating most hot teas. I’m excited to try it iced, a much better test for me.

Chia seeds are always fun. I used the black variety in one of my favorite smoothies.

1.5 Tbsp chia seeds + 1.5 cups frozen strawberries + 1.5 cups lemonade.

And the O’Coconut Snacks are great.

They’re basically macaroons, with chia and hemp for extra flavor.

{5} Speaking of coconut, I made coconut iced coffee that rocked my face off.

Cold brew with TJ’s coconut water and a big glug of Almond Joy coffee creamer. Gah!

{6} A killer alcoholic beverage. My strategy of choosing booze that sounds like dessert has never served me wrong.

Does honey beer even need more explanation?

{7} Another product review.

See disclaimer above. Free item. No other $ exchanged. All my opinion. Yada, yada.

Valentia sent me their Even Glow Vitamin C Serum (sold exclusively on Amazon). I have basically no makeup or skin care regimen – no wrinkle cream, no foundation, and I guiltily put sunblock on once or twice a month – so I am not the best judge, but I was a fan. The serum smells like lemon meringue pie! I haven’t used it long enough to discern any long-term, wrinkle-busting effects, but day-to-day it makes my skin look a bit glowy. Photo-evidence straight out of bed, 5 minutes after application, prior to putting on mascara or brushing my teeth.

Speaking of terrible selfies… I need to show you guys my hair. My hair has been a hot mess ever since I dyed the whole thing brown after the purple to gray debacle. It looked like it could be my natural color and was just inexplicably damaged. I figured if I went blonde(ish) at least the damage would seem less sad. So I went in for some highlights/ombre.

I love it! I couldn’t get a great picture but this is definitely an improvement.

{8} While we’re taking about hair… Who saw season 1 of “The Killing?” Linden’s 90’s style, face-framing wisp bangs drove me freaking crazy! In spite of my ceaseless Facebook ranting about the bangs, over the past week I’ve Netflixed my way through almost all 4 seasons. I haaaaaated the season 3 finale but I’m hoping they fix things up in the Netflix-exclusive final 6 episodes. Also, I’m thrilled that Jewel Staite makes some appearances, but she has rocked as both a badass space cowboy/mechanic and badass space doctor, why have all of her recent parts been the easy-to-please girlfriend?

{9} I never watched Chelsea Handler’s tv show, but I just started her third book.

Her stories are hilarious. The books are kind of terrible for my commute because I feel bad laughing so loudly on the LIRR.

{10} It’s Apple Month!!! I’ve got a round-up post of important apple products headed your way tomorrow. And yes, I’ve already started my pumpkin beer collection.

Do you think you’ve eaten your best meal of 2014 yet, or is it coming up this holiday season?

22Aug2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Knock On Wood

by Emily

My office (not our clinic but specifically my office in the clinic) didn’t have power for two painful days this week and it made things a little crazy. Fingers crossed, I think we have the problem fixed for good now.

My head was kind of all over the place – I accidentally ate pizza three meals in a row, Monday dinner through Tuesday lunch! – so I don’t have a ton to share, but I am pretty jazzed about the things I did photograph…

breakfast

I made amazing cold brew this week.

Starbucks espresso roast (in this ratio) with maple cinnamon sugar dumped in with the grounds.

I wish I had a bigger French press because day 2 of leftover coffee was just as delicious.

With a yummy Sonya apple.

Coffee and cereal from the cafeteria.

That coffee contained a horrifying amount of sugar; the sugar lid popped off while I was pouring and I didn’t have time to get back in line. I totally drank it, but I’m taking it as a sign that I should just go back to not putting sugar in my coffee. (I used to sugar 1/10 times and lately it’s been more like 8/10.)

Coffee with dried Jackfruit and chocolate milk. Speaking of the sweet stuff, it’s amazing that I didn’t get a headache from this sugar bomb breakfast.

No granulated sugar but I did do two pumps of cinnamon dolce – and an extra shot of espresso! – since this was a freebie cash-in.

lunch

You’ll spot tea in all of my lunch pictures, so I’ll start by mentioning the sweet box I received from AriZona.

Please note – I received the tea free of charge to review. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

They recently launched a new line of OAK Reserve Teas – black tea steeped with American Oak chips during brewing. I am pretty picky about black tea, but I have to say that I loved these! I was very impressed. I was expecting the flavor to be smoky, but it was more woodsy?! The lemon was my favorite; mellow versus sour and the citrus played nicely off of the oak. They are made with maple sugar and that flavor definitely comes through in a pleasing way. The lemon and lightly sweetened both have 75 calories and 22 mg of caffeine per bottle, which I think makes them an ok candidate for an “everyday drink.” The unsweetened has zero calories, and rather than adding fake sugars they let the tea stand on its own. <– love! I am obsessed with the fact that manufacturers make “diet” drinks with nonnutritive sweeteners versus occasionally just cutting back on or leaving out the sugar entirely

The PR rep sent me a recipe for a cocktail that sounds pretty darn yummy (look at the bottom of this post), but Adam just dumped some Johnny Walker into the lemon variety one evening and was quite pleased with the final result. We both plan on purchasing the teas with our own money once this very generous shipment runs out.

Back to lunch. Oikos Caramel Macchiato Greek Yogurt with 2 dapple pluots and KIND Banana Nut Clusters.

This lunch was great. The granola (a former freebie) was wonderful; the best variety of KIND granola that I’ve had yet. The banana came through strongly but not at all in that fake “banana” flavoring way. I was kind of shocked by how much I enjoyed it. I am excited to eat more of all of these lunch components again.

Chocolate Strawberry yogurt (I guess this flavor is new?) with blueberries and pomegranate.

I never think about pomegranate for my lunch yogurts, but the little pops were delightful.

Chobani Coconut 2% Greek Yogurt with blueberry, pomegranate, and roasted coconut chips.

Best lunch of the week.

snacks

This happened more than once…

I am basically heartbroken to have eaten the last of my Chinatown crème brulee (or maybe coffee?) flavored hard candies.

Pea protein chips from my 2nd Urthbox.

Guava and cheese empanada on the train.

dinner

Is anyone at all surprised that we ate Chipotle for dinner?

My usual salad combo.

Not a lot to share in this category this week. You know we did Chipotle a 2nd night too. One night I ate pizza. And tonight (I’m writing to you from Thursday) I made a spinach salad with blue cheese, sweet and spicy pecans, dried cranberries, and lavender salt.

It’s packed to-go because one of the husband’s friends invited us over for dinner. I am super awkward about taking food photographs in front of new people, so that’s all she wrote!

Oaked Cocktail Recipe

1 oz Amaretto Liqeuer
2 oz AriZona OAK Brewed Tea (Emily note – use the unsweetened variety or skip the sugar)
2 Tbsp sugar
1 oz lemon juice
1 mint sprig

18Aug2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Last Days Of Summer

by Emily

I don’t know how it got to be mid-August already, but we are doing everything we can to make the most of our last days of summer. This weekend we grilled, ate too many bowls of ice cream, and even got our toes wet going stand up paddle boarding!

SUP has been on my bucket list for years and I am so thrilled I finally got to try it out. I loved it! Amazingly, given my general level of grace and athleticism (level: zero), I didn’t fall once.

We had an absolute blast and the hour flew by. SUP is definitely something I want to do again. I can see how on-board yoga would be a ton of fun too.

Here are some of our sunny eats…

lunch

A pink grapefruit bonanza Friday at work. Chobani 2% Pink Grapefruit Yogurt with two sliced red plums and Polar Pink Grapefruit Seltzer on the side.

I ran out of time in the morning to also pack an afternoon snack and, duh, this wasn’t enough food. Enter candy at my desk.

I’m not a big black licorice person either, but I don’t know how anyone dislikes Good & Plenty.

A strangely satisfying sandwich.

I put two split hot dogs on a Bagel Thin (toasted with butter) with shredded light three-cheese blend and balsamic ketchup and this throw-together-the-last-of-the-fridge-contents-before-grocery-shopping sandwich ended up rocking my face off.

snacks

Friday’s at-work breakfast. <– I wake up too late for breakfast most weekend days so I couldn’t make this a category

An Amazing Grass Chocolate Superfood packet (from Urthbox) with vanilla soy milk and a Pink Crisps apple.

I was all about the coffee this weekend. I ended up calling Adam on the ride home from work practically crying while I stared at a McDonald’s coffee advertisement. This home-brewed Starbucks espresso blend with fat-free sweetened condensed milk hit the spot.

I did go to McDonald’s for a $1 iced coffee the next morning though. Meh. These guys were much better.

All shared with the husband, who is another raging java addict.

It is fair to say that I was also all about the ice cream.

I’m retty damn excited about that Horchata spiced Blue Moon as well! I had Strawberry Biscoff Sour Cream Gelato over warm double-chocolate sour cream brownies two nights in a row.

The brownies were just the Baker’s One Bowl recipe with a heaping cup each chocolate chips and low-fat sour cream stirred into the batter once it was mixed up.

To end the weekend, on Sunday we went big before we went home, with Pat Bing Soo from Tous le Jours.

Now I get why people rave about TlJ, that bowl was Adam’s favorite shaved ice yet. Milk and strawberry shaved ices topped with scm, vanilla ice cream, red bean, watermelon, mocha, strawberry, kiwi, and mango. Everything was delicious but we could barely make a dent in that monster!

dinner

Friday, we ate the last of our veggie, turkey, and marinara pasta bowls.

This meal is really a better fit for fall and you will definitely be seeing it again in the months to come.

On Saturday, we grilled.

Adam did an awesome job making dinner and then the three of us ate our meals outside (the boys also had steak).

My plate had grilled asparagus, zucchini, and turkey hot dogs, oven-roasted corn on the cob, a few sautéed mushrooms (topping for the steak), and Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce for dipping.

We marinated the asparagus in A-1 citrus marinade and tossed the squash in evoo before grilling. Everything came out fantastically. I can’t believe we lived in this apartment for more than a year before we fired up our grill!

And on Sunday, we went out in the city. Haru unveiled a new Times Square Location and a new seasonal cocktail this summer and they invited me in to check them both out.

The restaurant is down a side street and out of the tourist foot traffic of Times Square and the location is quite pretty.

The lighting was terrrrrrrible for photos – too yellow for my crappy camera and nonexistent photog skills – but good for eating, and the tables were nicely lit at 7pm. I hate eating a meal in the dark. The music was unobtrusive – mellow and pretty quiet. I hate dark rooms and loud noises because I basically like to dine like an 80-year-old.

Adam ordered hot sake and said it gave him a nice warm feeling.

I am not a sake girl, but I stuck my tongue in and did have to agree that it was smooth.

I, of course, went with the seasonal cocktail – The Red Lotus.

If you scroll down to the bottom of this post, I have the recipe to share with you!

Yum! The drink was not too sweet but it felt nice and juicy. It went down very easily. I adore lychees and am always sad that you don’t see them on more menus but now that I have the recipe I can make this drink at home.

Adam started with the miso soup.

He said it was what you would expect.

And we shared an order of the appetizer special – Lobster Gyoza.

Holy lobster meat, ~~Batman~~ Aquaman! The dumplings were bursting with lobster – this dish is a steal for just $10. The gyoza were a good size and they were easy to bite; I hate struggling with stringy foods and chopsticks. The flavors were very straightforward, which let the lobster shine.

The husband went with the sushi for dinner. 2 tuna / whitefish / yellowtail / albacore tuna /shrimp / tobiko / and a tuna roll. (I count an extra piece but I’m not sure what it was.)

His fish was fresh and flavorful. Adam said the size, texture, and temperature were all good. Usually you see yellow caviar instead of red so he was very excited about his tobiko roll.

I did the vegetarian sushi.

Avocado / eggplant / shitake mushroom / tofu / asparagus / oshinko / inari / and an avocado cucumber roll.

My plate looks simple, but this was the best veggie sushi I’ve had in years. The rice was nicely seasoned and the vegetables were all cooked beautifully. The mushroom had an almost smoky flavor and that bite of eggplant was the best tasting vegetable I’ve had at a restaurant this year!

All in all, we both agreed that the menu was straightforward but on point. Haru isn’t doing anything unique – there weren’t any specialty rolls that thrilled us – they are doing the basics incredibly well. We’ll be back!

Please note – I dined at Haru free of charge. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

The Red Lotus Seasonal Cocktail, for 1

2 oz. peach vodka
1 oz. cranberry juice
3 lychees
1 lime wedge
1 lychee for garnish

Muddle lychees and shake with vodka, juice and syrup. Squeeze in some lime, drop the wedge in and shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish the drink with lychee for soothing effect.

8Aug2014

Five Favorites For Friday

by Emily

A new “favorites” series might be the answer for weeks where I don’t have it together to photograph most things. Weeks like this week, where terrible bedtime choices rendered me unable to do anything productive outside of 9-5.

I had a ton of fun and I ate a lot of things (all of the things!), and now I’ll share my five favorites with you guys…

1: Pineapple Noosa with multi-colored grapes.

This new flavor was lovely. P.S. I also snagged a Target-exclusive, pumpkin Noosa that I am quite excited about.

2: Salads from Chipotle.

Actually, I made Adam get Chipotle with me two nights in a row, so this actually may be more of an addiction than a favorite.

Lettuce / pinto beans / grilled veggies / chicken / cheese / sour cream / corn salsa / mild salsa. Plus the ridiculously delicious, lime-y, salty chips.

3: Shredded chicken Bahn Mi and Thai tea with boba from Bahnmigos.

I went to a stand-up show with a friend on Wednesday so I *had* to get dinner in Brooklyn. These guys make the best Bahn Mi; they have the perfect balance of flavors and ingredients (spicy Sriracha and tangy pickled veggies, crunchy baguette and silky mayo). That’s Mindy Kaling’s memoir in the background. It was also fabulous.

4: Brown sugar seaweed snack with TJ’s turkey jerky.

Another good balance of salty to sweet. This was a nice mid-afternoon snack.

5: Amazing flavors from Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

Adam and I split Thai tea and black sesame. This was the husband’s first visit but now he is as obsessed as I am. The flavors are so true to life!

Bonus: These hard candies are still rocking my world.

If I had known how good they were going to be I would have bought multiple bags. I still can’t decide what flavor they are though, because there is a lot of coffee roast for creme brulee.

Note: my favorite meal of the week was technically a romantic (poorly lit) dinner at Freeman’s. We shared Coho salmon with mustard sauce and five cheese mac and cheese. Plus chamomile infused scotch with grapefruit and honey. swoon

22Jul2014

Last Week’s Late Wrap-Up

by Emily

I’ve been pretty busy and I’m running a bit behind, but I ate some really yummy things last week so I didn’t want to skip the post. Here are some faves from last Monday through Friday…

break the fast

A purple smoothie.

Frozen blueberries and strawberries with maple syrup and vanilla almond milk.

Bar/fruit/coffee day 1.

Dark Chocolate Coconut Balance Bar, a Pink Lady apple, and iced coffee from Starbucks. I poured a splash of half and half into my coffee by accident last week and it ended up tasting so yummy that now it’s turned into a bad habit!

Day 2.

Caramel Almond & Sea Salt KIND Bar {former freebie}, a very juicy nectarine, and cafeteria coffee with skim milk and a splash of half and half.

ladies who lunch

Cafeteria meal.

Salad with broccoli, black-eyed peas, cheddar, balsamic, and a scoop of egg salad. Plus fries dipped in honey mustard on the side.

Sandwich.

Leftover bbq chicken on a Bagel Thin. With bread and butter pickles, chips, and cherries.

Yogurt.

Chobani 2% Pink Grapefruit Greek Yogurt with KIND Raspberry Clusters with Chia Seeds {former freebie} and cherries on the side. The yogurt was a limited edition that needs to become part of the permanent line-up. It was freaking incredible, sweet and tangy with little pieces of citrus spread throughout. I must find the watermelon variety.

snack attack

Chocolate-covered pretzels from Wegman’s.

I brought Adam some back from my Buffalo trip and made the mistake of tasting “just one.” Those things are addictive! It’s a good thing I didn’t do a taste-test in the store or I would have brought home pounds of them.

Trader Joe’s makes the best turkey jerky I’ve ever tasted.

I don’t know how the keep the texture sooooo soft.

Chocolate covered strawberry floats! Chocolate frozen yogurt in strawberry Crush.

We thought we were so clever with these.

Campfire milkshake from Ralph’s Ice.

It was insane how much this tasted like a toasted marshmallow. It was pretty intense though, there is no way I could have finished more than half of this.

Baby spinach salad.

With sweet and spicy pecans, dried blueberries, shredded carrot, evoo, honey, and lavender salt. My best salad combo to date.

dining on dinner

Salad atop salad.

The base was baby spinach with dried blueberries, sweet and spicy pecans, evoo, honey, and truffle salt.

Topped with pulled bbq chicken (and a pile of salt and vinegar chips in the back). Just boneless, skinless breasts cooked in the crockpot, shredded, and tossed with TJ’s Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce.

The sauce was wonderful, very sweet and a little spicy.

Pasta that was simple but good.

Whole-wheat rotini with browned mushrooms, ground turkey (sautéed with tons of garlic and dried oregano), frozen spinach, low-fat sour cream, and a can of tomato sauce.

This was one of those meals that seemed like it would need more flavor but then you kept eating until you were furiously scraping the bottom of the bowl.

National Thai with a girlfriend. I got spicy noodles with veggies. They were super chewy, had a good variety of vegetables, and were actually spicy; I’m pretty sure National has become my favorite Thai spot in the city.

Afterwards we went out in search of mojitos.

We ended up finding passable mango mojitos at a tiny Mexican spot in Park Slope. Their menu also mentioned watermelon daiquiris, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be going back again this Friday.

what’s happening

I was getting into such a great groove with my workouts, but then I got excited and upped the length of my runs too quickly. My right knee was horrifically swollen and the husband told me to stay out of the gym until the inflammation went down. Boo!!! I took a week completely off from exercise (minus a few long walks this weekend) and popped anti-inflammatories and iced like crazy. I’m going to start back in with short, easy workouts this week and continue to ice regularly. I’m going a little stir-crazy so please cross your fingers for me!

On a more positive note, I just finished reading Fault Lines by Nancy Huston and I’m recommending it to pretty much everyone.

It’s a story about a family and each section of the book is told from the perspective of a different generation. Huston did a great job of building the story in layers. The parts of the story that were told through the lens of childhood were wonderfully done.

It is my 29th birthday this Thursday. We can’t fit in any celebrating this week so Adam and I took a quick trip to Philadelphia this past weekend. I gave that its own post because this one was getting too long, but we had a wonderful time.

Have you spotted the new Chobani varieties in your area yet? Has anyone tasted watermelon??

4Jul2014

Three Day Week Wrap-Up

by Emily

Today is the Fourth of July, and I took Monday off to play with my parents, so this work-week was only three days long for me; woot! Only three days and it still took an embarrassing amount of coffee – with an even more embarrassing amount of sugar – to get me through.

I didn’t do the best job of documenting, but I do have photos of every single lunch and dinner. And I won’t post details, but I do want to check in and mention that I’ve been consistent with my workouts ever since last week’s plea to hold me accountable. Crossing my fingers that I keep my momentum going!

My lunches this week all included free samples from LÄRABAR.

Please note, the RENOLA was sent to me free of charge to review. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

They sent me a box to introduce their new RENOLA – grain free granola made with non-GMO fruits, nuts, and seeds.

I think calling this “granola” may be a bit disingenuous, but it is a quite fabulous fruit, nut, and seed blend. The texture is very pleasing; fantastically crunchy. It did taste absolutely delicious on yogurt and in cereal though, so if you are turned off by your oats getting soggy in milk then this product would definitely be a good fit for you. The pouches are nice and filling, thanks to 2 -3 grams of fiber and 5 – 8 grams of protein for 200 calories.

Tuesday, I had Cinnamon Nut with Cheerios and skim milk.

Wednesday, I had Berry with Fage 2% plain Greek yogurt, Meyer lemon curd, and blueberries.

And Thursday, I had Cocoa Coconut with vanilla bean Greek yogurt, roasted coconut, and blueberries.

The coconut-heavy bowl was my favorite lunch of the week.

Snacks worth noting were all in the chocolate family. A Lindt Dark Chocolate Cookie Bar.

And a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout.

I didn’t have the candy and the stout at the same time but I totally should have. I could not believe how yummy the beer was; it is rare that I finish a whole beer but this one I happily slurped down.

I think four days straight of all meals out with my parents helped get me in the kitchen mood because I managed to make an actual meal every night this week.

Tuesday was more on the semi-homemade side, we ate gussied up bowls of my leftovers from Sunday.

I beefed up my leftover shredded Brussels sprouts with chopped baby spinach, dried blueberries, sweet and spicy pecans, and a dressing blend of evoo, honey, and truffle salt.

With a scoop of lobster mac and cheese on top.

Just so good. And it’s a testament to the “dressing” that I enjoyed the salad bites even more than the lobster mac.

Wednesday we had very monochromatic pasta bowls.

Orecchiette with tons of artichokes – frozen from TJ’s that I sautéed in evoo with lemon juice – and lemon zest, browned butter, and toasted hazelnuts.

I snuck my green into my appetizer.

Nachos! BBQ chips baked with chopped spinach and three cheese blend.

Last night I made a very loosely inspired version of chana masala.

Chickpeas cooked with chopped onion, diced green pepper, garlic, tomato paste, and super spicy tamarind chutney.

Served on brown rice with a scoop of plain Greek yogurt on top. This meal was wicked good! I went back for another bowl of just the veggie mixture because I couldn’t stop thinking about how tasty it was. Go me.

P.S. Happy Independence Day to my American readers!

14Jun2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Snack Monster

by Emily

O. M. G. I was so flipping hungry all week, it was annoying. I was basically starving. <– if you haven’t seen CK Louis’ SNL intro monologue yet, go watch it immediately.

Stream of consciousness style, here is a sampling of some of this week’s insane snack consumption…

Other bars for breakfasts came courtesy of this sweet samples package from KIND.

I’ve flirted with loving different brands bars off and on, but throughout the years KIND products have remained some of my very favorites, so I was thrilled to try some of their new products. The two newest bar flavors are ridiculous good. They are all low in sugar – 5 grams of sugar or less and they don’t use artificial sweeteners – and are a good source of fiber and protein. Adam and I were both impressed by the Caramel Almond & Sea Salt.

And Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond knocked my socks off. New all-time favorite! This is what I always wish mocha would taste like.

Their Grain Clusters, basically granola, are a unique blend of gluten-free oats, millet, quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat; each 50g serving provides more than one full serving of whole grains. The Fruit and Nut Clusters made great yogurt bowls for lunches this week.

With blackberry lime Greek yogurt and blueberries plus a sour sop coconut water on the side.

And with sour sop yogurt(!!!) with blueberries and Cacao Bliss.

On Tuesday I did a salad from the cafeteria. Topped with pickled vegetables and a big scoop of chicken salad.

On Wednesday Adam had the day off so we met up for a lunch date!

Our meals cost only $10 each for huge plates of noodles and an appetizer.

And on Friday I packed Fage with passion fruit and clementine, nectarines, and TJ’s freeze-dried apples.

The apples were insanely good and I want more immediately. I planned on supplementing my smaller lunch with food from the cafeteria but it was a coworker’s last day so I had cake instead.

In spite of my copious snacking, I was too hungry to properly deal with dinner during the first half of the week.

My Bare Burger turkey burger – with smoked mozzarella, fried onions, all of the pickles, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and ketchup – was amazing and I ended up ordering one two days in a row!

When I finally did get around to making my own dinners like an adult, I had an assist from Pirate’s Booty.

They just introduced a line of macaroni and cheese and they sent me some samples to try out. The price, flavor, and texture were very comparable to other boxed mac and cheese options, but Pirate’s Booty uses organic pasta and contains no artificial colors or flavors.

We ended up with two very fancy feeling semi-homemade dinners.

Night one, I stirred roasted mini heirloom tomatoes in to the mild cheddar macaroni.

On top of spinach salads – baby spinach topped with chopped pecans, crumbled blue cheese, 1 tsp each honey and evoo, and a sprinkle of truffle salt.

Night two was another side-by-side bowl of greens and ‘cheese.

My veggie side was a simplified take on Jenna’s baked beans.

I just baked chopped kale with a can of beans, cup of whiskey maple bbq sauce, a scoop of Bone Suckin’ Mustard, and a ton of chopped garlic.

My pasta was aged white cheddar shells with TJ’s frozen mushroom medley and some sweet cheddar.

Delicious! I plan on buying both the shells and the mushrooms this weekend so I can make this meal again.

What is your family’s favorite way to gussy up boxed macaroni and cheese?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: beans

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