I Needed My Coffee

by Emily

Fun fact – I had an amazing time last weekend! It was fantastic to see my friends and Traverse City is quite possibly my new favorite place (we walked a ton (by the lake!) and drank cocktails with coffee, Mexican Coke, and locally-made vodka, so how could it not be?!).

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Not so fun fact – I spilled an entire coffee yesterday morning and ruined everything in my purse including my dayplanner/brain and camera. The only thing that’s really missing from this post is the fun lunch I ate at the farmers’ market with my coworker yesterday, but I’m not sure what my plan will be for this weekend since I hate taking photos on my phone.

Here were the highlights before the flood…

Grady’s Cold Brew really is the best, and I say that even I smelled like it all day at work.

Berry breakfast. Cereal and milk with blueberries.

Yogurt bowl 1 – Fage, blueberries, vanilla peanut butter.

Yogurt bowl 2 – Trader Joe’s vanilla skyr, red plum, walnut butter.

I finally ate my first fresh apple of the month, a crunchy Pazazz apple.

I had the day off on Tuesday and I took myself to breakfast at Quality Pie. Tortilla with egg, chicken, queso, and salsa verde.

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Graeter’s makes my new favorite s’mores ice cream. It contains no palm oil and the marshmallows are unbelievably soft.

Related – sadly I can’t recommend this; the texture was actually great but the only flavor present was coconut.

I am still obsessed with these seaweed chips. BBQ is even yummier than the original flavor.

This is the easiest dinner on earth but it tastes soooo good. Throw Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi on a baking sheet with some turkey pepperoni, bake at 450 for 20 minutes, top with pizza sauce.

Super salad – romaine, champagne vinaigrette, maple roasted walnuts and cranberries, chopped celery, vegan “chicken salad.”

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13Sep2019

Freeze Dried

by Emily

How did my short three-day week feel soooo long?! I am off again today because I’m actually heading to Traverse City, Michigan for the weekend to visit one of my best friends from when I was a kid. So excited! I will not be taking pictures though – I got such a cheap ticket that I don’t even get a carry-on, just a purse, so I won’t be spending space on a camera.

This week my snacks heavily featured super random dried / freeze-dried / turned-into-chips things. Highlights include…

Freeze-dried fuji apples from Trader Joe’s + chicken chips.

Trader Joe’s crispy broccoli.

Trader Joe’s freeze-dried grapes + seaweed chips + chicken jerky.

Also plain Siggi’s with fresh blueberries and Wild Friends chocolate peanut butter.

And I ate the rest of my leftovers from last week (sheet pan hash + tabbouleh + zhoug) and immediately added more zhoug to my grocery list for next week!

2Sep2019

It’s Apple Month!

by Emily

It was a good weekend. The 4 miler race was fun (we walked at a leisurely pace and I ended up going for a run afterwards but I had a really great time hanging out with some of my coworkers who I don’t get to see often) and my shift on Sunday went off without a hitch. And now it’s Apple Month!

My theme month food hauls will be a bit more subdued for now since I can’t push the leftovers off on Adam, but I still have to celebrate.

And I kicked the month off with an apple cake doughnut from Sugar Shack.

Other food highlights from the weekend include… Yogurt bowls. Chobani vanilla and cinnamon with maple cashew butter and blackberries.

My parents got me a giant box of fancy marshmallows for my birthday so that’s 90% of what I’ve been eating! Standouts include this peanut butter dipped in chocolate.And this cake flavored marshmallow dipped in white chocolate and stuffed with birthday cake cookie dough!Trader Joe’s scallion pancakes are always exciting. Or maybe Kewpie and Sriracha are exciting?I made that black eyed pea salad I’m obsessed with (original recipe = BEP, green bell pepper, smoked almonds, Dubliner cheese, Cholula) and ingredient shortages caused me to sub in tamari almonds and Sriracha which was even tastier.

30Aug2019

Coconut, Coffees, And Chickpeas

by Emily

Excitement from last weekend: I hung out with my extended family! At their cabin on the river in Maryland where we went boating and ate fresh crab!! And my boys were there!!!

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Upcoming this weekend: Nothing as exciting as seeing Adam and Webster. Actually, I am working on Sunday. And on Saturday I am signed up for a 4 mile race with several of my coworkers.

Food highlights from the week:

Trader Joe’s coconut cold brew. The coconut is nice but this is too sour for my tastes.

Triple Draft La Colombe cans are kind of ridiculously frothy.

Yogurt bowl win. Vanilla Siggi’s with chocolate hazelnut and almond butter and blackberries.

This was a I got hungry while grocery shopping and couldn’t wait snack but it ended up being quite tasty.

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This double IPA is my favorite beer I tried all summer. Honestly all of the things from True Respite look amazing right now, they have a sour beer brewed with Gushers?!!

The best dinner I ate all week was the night my cousin had friends over and we had crab cakes and salad with fresh corn. But this Greek-style salad wasn’t bad either. Romaine / TJ’s Greek feta dressing / green olives / cucumber / roasted chickpeas / dolmas.

And one night I made a yummy tasting plate. Dubliner cheese / chicken and maple jerky hard-boiled eggs / dolmas / roasted green beans.

23Aug2019

BLT FTW

by Emily

Life highlights from the past six days –

I survived my 2nd week without my boys. Adam has been super sweet about sending me a million photos of the most handsome dog in the world!
I’ve had a ton of TPNs at work lately and I realized the other day just how comfortable I feel managing them now – I will never stop being grateful for this job opportunity, I have grown so much as a clinician the past year.
I saw, and loved, The Farewell. Such a sweet, funny movie; I can’t recommend it enough.
I went to a free yoga class with one of my coworkers and loooooved it! I had forgotten about just how much I enjoy yoga. I haven’t been in several years and it seems my balance has gotten much worse but my flexibility has gotten much better – I got myself into camel pose easily and comfortably.

Food highlights –

All of the coffee.

Hey Day Cold Brew.

Black and white ~~milkshake~~ cold brew – Grady’s with vanilla bean powder and chocolate milk.

Still obsessed with this chocolate chip cookie dough Perfect Bar that seems to only be sold at Trader Joe’s and has no internet presence.

This mango and nut mix is perfectly spicy-sweet.

This yogurt bowl was amazing. Strawberry quark with pluots, maple cashew butter, and homemade chocolate chip cookie.

I had a great assortment of gummy candies for the movie, lots of cola options.

These s’mores mochi have graham cracker ice cream and and a marshmallow center and all three of us thought they were fantastic.

Raspberry Short Kate! Hardywood‘s newest IPA brewed with milk sugar and raspberry.

Whole Foods hot bar – kale salad, cabbage crunch salad, carrot and harissa salad, breakfast potatoes, chicken sausage – with a side of chicken and waffle chips.

A swoon-worthy sandwich – local heirloom tomato, turkey bacon, and kewpie mayo on a bun.

BLT salad. Sweet baby lettuce with champagne vinaigrette, heirloom baby tomatoes, bacon, Dubliner cheese, and hickory smoked peanuts. Plus spicy roasted okra that my cousin made.

Leftover salad with delicious crab cakes that my cousin made.

Trader Joe’s frozen scallion pancakes with mayo, sriracha, and a side of roasted green beans.

24May2019

Blue Bottle, Blueberries

by Emily

Five highlights from this week…

{1} I practically swooned over this yogurt bowl; I was more than ready for berry season. Greek yogurt with honey and vanilla bean paste / blueberries / granola.

{2} Blue Bottle New Orleans style iced coffee. <– my favorite in the boxed coffee game

{3} Mint Lemonade. Wegman’s kombucha line is good, neither too sweet nor too vinegar-forward.

{4} Bowls of super simple chili (just turkey, onion, tomato, and spices) topped with plain Greek yogurt and more hot sauce. Plus roasted broccoli with cheddar on the side.

{5} I 100% made the chili so we could eat it leftover on cheese fries. Waffle fries / chili / sweet red grass-fed cheddar / green onions.

15Apr2019

Bowls On Bowls

by Emily

Seven wins from the past seven days…

{1} Peeps coffee creamer!! It tastes like vanilla marshmallow!!! But they should have made it pink.

{2} Speaking of marshmallow, I made cereal bars with Trader Joe’s neapolitan cereal. I brought them to a work event and they were a hit. I used my go-to recipe but took things up a notch with the addition of vanilla bean paste.

{3} I placed a super exciting order with the Mexican Candy Lady. The standout so far has been these flan gummies.

{4} Berry breakfast bowls. Liebe strawberry quark (<– this was 10/10, btw, super creamy and delicious!) / fresh blackberries / granola / cacao bliss.

{5} Cava bowls are currently our favorite take-out, there are a ton of toppings to choose from. This was greens / tzatziki / crazy feta spread / harissa / roasted vegetables / grilled chicken / pickled onion / cabbage slaw / chopped cucumber / kalamata olives / and green harissa dressing. Plus a side of really yummy house-made pita chips.

{6} I made my own bowls too. Roasted sweet potato / bok choy sauteed with garlic and green onion / candy salmon / fried egg.

{7} A take on okonomiyaki – pancakes stuffed with roasted cabbage and corn. Topped with mayo and Sriracha.

2Apr2019

Peanut Butter, Chocolate, And Coffee

by Emily

I took a long weekend, hence the extra-late post. Adam takes attending call in a nearby town once a month and this time I tagged along! I went out for lattes at an adorable coffee shop, had truly fantastic Thai food, and got a flight at a local brewery (complete with a margarita flavored Radler served with lime and a sugar rim!), but mostly I hung out at the hotel room so I had to pack the essentials.

You know, “the essentials,” peanut butter, chocolate, and coffee.

More on that peanut butter – B.Nutty offered to send me some samples and I jumped at the opportunity because, holy crap, white chocolate pretzel peanut butter!! They also sent me Totally Toffee – made with honey roasted peanuts, toffee, milk chocolate, and almonds – and Blissful Blueberry – with blueberry and milk chocolate. I haven’t opened the berry one yet but the toffee and pretzel flavors are both 10/10 delicious.