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.
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.
We are less than two weeks from Valentine’s Day so I am obviously thinking in theme foods. I’m saving the conversation hearts for the 14th but cinnamon gummy hearts have been a top-tier snack.
Chocolate-covered cherry smoothie. This combo is one of my forever favorites – frozen sweet dark cherries, chocolate protein powder, and chocolate milk.
See also – chocolate-covered strawberry smoothie. Frozen strawberries with vanilla protein powder and chocolate milk.
See also+ – I mixed this Barebells wild strawberry protein soda with chocolate milk. This was good (and I loved the caffeine inclusion) but not great like their protein drink we tried in Scotland.
Broccoli Cesar salad. Roasted broccoli, sauteed green onions, and homemade pretzel croutons (Trader Joe’s bread baked with evoo, salt, pepper, dried basil, garlic powder, and gochugaru) tossed with homemade Cesar dressing (food processed plain skyr, Kewpie mayo, Dijon mustard, evoo, lemon juice, minced garlic, parmesan cheese, capers, anchovies, and black pepper). Plus baked chicken served on top of Cindy’s Kitchen artichoke and parmesan dip.
Tofu Cesar sandwich. Toasted Trader Joe’s ciabatta topped with baked super-firm tofu and shredded romaine lettuce tossed with leftover Cesar dressing. Plus steamed green beans sauteed with yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, horseradish, rice vinegar, and lemon juice.
A mish-mash but it worked sandwich – toasted ciabatta / dip / Farm Rich baked mozzarella sticks stuffed with buffalo sauce and marinara / tuna salad (canned tuna, sweet heat bread and butter pickle chips, skyr, Kewpie, pepper, and smoked paprika). Plus Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Crunch veggie mix sauteed with ginger and pepper.
Turkey meatballs and baked baby zucchini [plus a side of mozzarella sticks]. The balls were baked; ground turkey with panko panade, red curry paste, hoisin sauce, ginger, shallot, macadamia nuts, and egg.
We survived the coldest week of the year! Here were some highlights…
A good skyr bowl with Crofter’s blueberry jam, Olyra blueberry bites, and fresh blueberries.
A better skyr bowl with cinnamon, honey, vanilla powder, blueberries, and honey granola.
These fun-flavored chocolate were good but not great like we expected them to be.
These milk chocolate covered gummy bears on the other hand? 11/10!
Salmon sushi bake. I used brown rice and added parmesan to that layer. Served with avocado and a quick-pickled cucumber salad.
Great homemade pizza. Store-bought grilled whole-wheat crust / sauce = Trader Joe’s pizza sauce gussied up with tomato paste, 2 bulbs of confit elephant garlic, and dried basil / oyster mushrooms sauteed with salt, pepper, and butter / mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Served with roasted cauliflower.
Packaged chicken meatballs (mine are better) with leftover sauce. Plus asparagus sauteed with pecans and parmesan.
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.
Skyr bowl. With blueberries, and Cascadian Farm oats and honey granola.
These Haribo Soda Sours are my new favorite gummy. They remind me a lot of the Sodalicious fruit snacks from back in the 90’s (which were my very favorite — when our island got a K-Mart when I was a kid it was a big deal and I was allowed to choose one snack for fun, these were it).
Another throwback – these fruit and cream Quaker oatmeal packets are pretty darn good.
The prettiest sundae of all time. Frutero soursop ice cream topped with dulce de leche, sweetened condensed milk, sprinkles, and edible flowers.
Chips lentil puffs and salsa.
Dipping dinner – taquitos and roasted baby broccoli with salsa and homemade guacamole.
I made Korean marinated eggs and tossed super-firm tofu in the marinade and it turned out great. Served on savory oatmeal with kale (sauteed with gochujang, maple, rice vinegar, and lemon) and chili crisp.
Baked turkey meatballs, roasted cauliflower, and honey butter baby carrots (baked with evoo, salt, pepper, and gochugaru) topped with Trader Joe’s Zhoug and cilantro salad dressing.
This dinner was loosely inspired by shakshuka and eggs in purgatory. Eggs, extra-sharp cheddar, and parmesan cheese cooked on a tomato-y sauce (roasted Bahama Bomb tomatoes sauteed with fire-roasted diced canned tomatoes, garlic, shallot, yellow bell pepper, urfa, smoked paprika, and salt and pepper). I topped mine with Zhoug and cilantro dressing and scooped it with sweet and spicy jalapeno kettle chips.
Here were the peanut-y, tree nut-y, (and sesame seed-y!) highlights…
We love everything from Seed & Mill and this Chocolate Sesame Sauce was no exception. It was great in an iced coffee and also on a bowl of leftover eggnog ice cream.
Skyr bowl – blueberries and a big scoop of One Trick Pony maple crunch peanut butter (this is the best sweet peanut butter we’ve ever had).
Skyr bowl – cinnamon pecans, leftover Blue Bottle molasses ginger cookie, Sweetest Batch strawberries, pineberries, and strawberry croissant gummies!
Without kataifi these Chocxo pistachio creme truffles can’t compete in the Dubai arena, but they are some of the best truffles I’ve ever had.
Chicken Salad – Ancho chili wing flavored peanuts, sesame seeds, shredded baked chicken, celery, green onion, Sichuan pepper, salt, white pepper, white sugar, minced garlic, and chili oil with fermented soy beans. Plus steamed/sauteed green beans – walnuts, yellow mustard, gochujang, rice vinegar, and maple syrup.
Pesto pasta salad – Goodles penne and shredded chicken with pistachio spinach pesto (food processed – pistachios, baby spinach, basil, two whole roasted garlics, evoo, lemon juice, salt, pepper, gochugaru, and parmesan).
Poke-inspired tuna cakes – smashed macadamia nuts, furikake, panko, yuzu ponzu, Kewpie, celery, green onion, canned tuna, and egg, baked – with roasted broccoli and store-bought seaweed salad.
Sauteed Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Crunch veggie mix and ground turkey topped with Trader Joe’s Zhoug and butterscotch glazed cashews.
Eating Chalk 