I – of course – have a stash of Thanksgiving Month themed foods.
I didn’t try any of those this weekend but I did have pie cookies from Whole Foods – pumpkin and pecan (6/10 and 10/10).
Another amazing Whole Food’s snack – salt and pepper kettle chips and caramelized onion dip.
The snack I will never tire of – plain Greek yogurt with cereal and blueberries.
We made the best grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever eaten this weekend. With sharp cheddar, cream cheese, blueberry jam, and gochujang. Plus honey mustard sauteed green beans.
Butterscotch instant coffee! I liked this better than their maple flavor but still wanted it to have more roasty oomph.
It was perfect in my fluffernutter coffee shake. With ice, skim milk, additional cold brew powder, vanilla protein powder, peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, and frozen banana.
I know I’m repetitive but this combination is perfect – plain skyr with blueberries, blackberries, and chocolate cookie granola.
Pumpkin pie Perfect Bar. I prefer the chocolate flavors but these are always good.
This minty chocolate Barebells bar was a 10/10. I love the layer of gooey mint; this is fully like eating a candy bar (with zero grams of added sugar).
Spinach and artichoke casserole. Sauteed frozen artichokes and chopped spinach with garlic and gochugaru, eggs, plain Greek yogurt, shredded chicken breast, lemon juice, cheese, and Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi.
Chicken congee. Brown rice slow-cooked with vegetable broth, white pepper, ginger, fish sauce, and shredded chicken. Topped with chopped boy choy and Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Crunch veggies sauteed with garlic, dark soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Plus tons of chili crisp. The veggie broth (which gave this its orange hue) worked great in here and I would use it again.
Homemade breakfast. A sandwich with scrambled eggs, sharp cheddar, and Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter. Plus wonderful berries and a Vietnamese iced latte.
Trader Joe’s jalopeno and cream cheese wontons. These are good, better and spicier than I was expecting.
Pumpkin beers! Southern Tier Caramel Pumpking (9.5/10 – this was so sweet and creamy, my favorite so far this year) and Schlafly vanilla pumpkin ale (8/10 – very nice for a pumpkin beer but not something I would reach for year round).
I got bar food take-out on Friday. Popcorn chicken bites with Memphis bbq dry rub and Cajun fries. Plus roasted broccoli from home. <– yes, we accidentally made too much broccoli last week
So that Saturday I had leftover fries available for chili cheese fries! Fries topped with leftover pumpkin turkey chili and tons of Trader Joe’s unexpected cheddar. Plus pickled jalopenos on top and Trader Joe’s buffalo chicken dip on the side. Plus more broccoli.
I am showing you Sunday’s dinner both to prove that I occasionally eat grown-up food and to remind me of how wonderfully this salad kept. Leftover kale salad with leftover roasted squash that I sauteed with a peanut butter gochujang sauce.
Yummy, on-theme coffees. Vanilla cardamom cold brew with salted caramel and pumpkin butter.
Phin brew with pumpkin butter and marshmallow cream.
Siggi’s pumpkin skyr with blueberries, blackberries, and Nature’s Path blueberry cinnamon flax cereal.
Plan skyr with berries, Purely Elizabeth double chocolate cookie granola, and butter mochi.
Whole Food’s prepared foods section is nice for snack options. This week I bought kimchi dumplings and their Sonoma chicken salad.
Crunchy snacks. Everything bagel protein pretzels and Korean BBQ crunchy chickpeas.
These gummy bears from Buck Naked Bears are the perfect consistency, so firm without being overly chewy.
Hummingbird High’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are the best cookies – pumpkin, chocolate chip, or otherwise – you’ll ever make. They are chewy – NOT cakey or crispy – and almost taste like butterscotch.
Open face chicken sandwich melts. Toasted bread with pumpkin butter and sharp cheddar / baked chicken marinated with Greek yogurt and tons of garlic / homemade chicken gravy. Plus roasted broccoli.
Pumpkin chili. With ground turkey, pinto beans, canned pumpkin, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, chicken stock, yellow onion, poblano pepper, zucchini, spices, and one tablespoon of dark soy sauce. Topped with plain skyr, extra-sharp cheddar, and Caribbean hot sauce and served with Trader Joe’s pumpkin tortilla chips.
Big salads. Kale massaged with evoo, lemon juice, and salt and pepper / homemade dressing with tahini, pumpkin butter, maple syrup, evoo, and vinegar / crispy roasted chickpeas with Sichuan pepper salt, smoked paprika, cinnamon, and sugar / extra-sharp cheddar / dried cherries. Plus roasted honeynut squash and carnival squash, both of which were delicious!
This maple chocolate instant coffee did not have nearly enough flavor (maple nor coffee) but it did mix instantly.
This new Trader Joe’s vanilla cardamom cold brew was more successful.
Pumpkin Noosa (best in the game) topped with blueberries, blackberries, and Purely Elizabeth double chocolate cookie granola.
Pumpkin beers! Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin was one of our favorites years past but it was too syrupy for us this year. Meanwhile, Great South Bay’s Baked pumpkin pie ale was a new hit; it was very well balanced between beer, pumpkin, and pie.
This isn’t a flattering picture but it serves as a reminder PSA – if you live near a Nuts Factory you NEED to go get their viral Dubai pistachio chocolate bar.
Peanut butter noodles. Udon stir-fried with eggs, peanut sauce (chunky peanut butter, brown sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, Sriracha, sesame oil, and water) and sesame seeds. Plus spicy green beans – steamed and then sauteed with honey, rice vinegar, yellow mustard, and chili crisp.
Thai basil chicken. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs and added red bell pepper and baby corn. Served on a bed of roasted riced cauliflower.
Korean-ish tofu plates. Shirakiku frozen kimchi pancake / super-firm tofu that I shredded, baked, then tossed in a skillet with Trader Joe’s green tea yuzu jelly, gochujang, sesame oil, and rice vinegar / bok choy, asparagus, and green onions sauteed with ginger and sesame seeds.
New apple treats! My coffees this week were made with Califia Farms caramel apple crumble creamer.
See also – apple seltzer and caramel apple energy drink.
Loved these rosemary and herbs buckwheat crackers.
Trail mix blend – smoked almonds, dried fruit (apples, peaches, and persimmon), and Simple Mills Pop Mmms cheddar crackers.
Leftover blueberry cream pie in plain skyr with fresh blueberries. <– best bite of the week
We hopped on the candy salad trend and ended up with a pretty good mix – apple harvest Sour Patch Kids, grape strawberry Nerds gummy clusters, watermelon rings with Tajin, and Target sour gummy insects.
Big salads. Red leaf lettuce, balsamic dressing, smoked almonds, smoked tofu, sharp cheddar, and Oishii strawberries.
Pasta night. Basil peso plin pasta from Whole Foods with Rao’s marinara, duck fennel sausage, and parmesan cheese. Plus roasted purple cauliflower.
We had a fantastic weekend! Friday we watched Beetlejuice, Bettlejuice. Saturday we did a driving trip up the North Fork to Greenport. We kept seeing fields of wildflowers, it was amazing! Sunday we did a walking date through Greenpoint. [Yes, my alternative time was “From Port To Point”]
All of my favorite food things this weekend were pastries or coffees, go figure. The highlights…
Aldo’s Coffee. Their (quad shot) iced latte is my all-time favorite!
Rhythm Zero in Greenpoint. We got a cold foam topped iced Americano which made a very solid iced latte.
Pastries from Paloma Coffee and Bakery. Pistachio chocolate “something” plus a white chocolate butterscotch miso cookie.
A perfect guava cheese bun from Pan Pan Vino Vinvo. Plus an iced cortado with toasted coconut syrup.
Yogurt bowls. This one was plain skyr, plucot, blackberries, blueberries, crunchy peanut butter, and Nature’s Path blueberry cinnamon flax cereal.
The Sprinkles red velvet cake cup is good but not as good as the birthday cake one.
I made two-ingredient ice cream with burrata mixed in. It was good but not great but this bowl with honey and aged balsamic vinegar was pretty great.
Nuts Factory viral Dubai pistachio chocolate bar. This was the most amazing dessert we’ve ever eaten. We ate a whole bar in one night and then went back to our mall to buy a second one the next day.
Lox plates. Radish cakes / heirloom tomatoes with salt and pepper / cream cheese mixed with sauteed garleek / fried capers / avocado with togarashi / cold-smoked sockeye salmon.
Pasta bowls. Goodles cavatappi / sauteed ground turkey / sauteed mushrooms and garleek / salt, pepper, smoked paprika, mustard powder, and gochugaru / dijon mustard / cream cheese / parmesan cheese. With sauteed asparagus with lemon and butter.
Eating Chalk 