Lunch And Learn; Weekend Wrap-Up

by Emily

I spent Friday and Saturday in New Jersey at a pediatric nutrition conference getting my learn on. A girlfriend, a co-worker, and I all went together and we had a very nice time. It stinks to lose a Saturday to “school,” but the lectures did include pediatric nutrition support, oncology, failure to thrive, and GI disorders; all big interests of mine. The conference ran for 8 hours each day but since it was only an hour or so away from the city I did get to have some fun with the husband in the evenings too.

Here are five favorites from the weekend…

{1} Saturday’s breakfast.

Getting to Jersey for the conference meant waking up by 5:30 both Friday and Saturday. On a typical workday, I should be up by 6:50; 50% of the time I set my alarm for 5:20, and 100% of the time I wake up after 7:10, so I was understandably a bit worried about the early wake-ups. I was excited about the conference so I managed, but Saturday was easier because Adam drove us in and I was looking forward to time in the car with him.

We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for the new cookie lattes – Snickerdoodle and Sugar Cookie – which were only okay,

and at La Bagel Delight for an everything bagel with jalopeño cheddar cream cheese.

That was great, obviously.

{2} Conference eats.

I didn’t do the best job of packing breakfast/lunch the first day and was not very happy throughout the afternoon. On Saturday, the three of us used the break to drive to Chipotle for a real lunch.

My friend and I split a rice bowl, which is always good.

And, as we were driving home I spotted a Sonic!!

Strawberry diet cokes are flipping amazing. My friend thought I was crazy for freaking out when we saw the sign, but once she tasted it she got it.

{3} Dinner in Koreatown.

Friday night, I met Adam in Penn Station (we took the train that day) and we walked over to Koreatown for dinner. There is a food court there that we had been dying to try.

We shared a steamed red bean bun.

Then got big bowls of bibimpap for dinner.

Mine, with tofu and tons of kimchi, was delicious.

We tried a canned coffee for dessert.

And stopped at Tous le Jours for mochi to share as well.

The chocolate was good but the maple was better. Soooo chewy.

{4} Sushi in Park Slope.

Saturday we ended up at Yamato, a favorite spot of Adam’s from when we lived in Brooklyn.

Salad with ginger dressing to start.

Veggie roll combo.

The cucumber avocado roll was the best, but I smothered everything in wasabi.

Plus we stopped and got hot chocolate for dessert.

That’s a homemade marshmallow!

{5} A package from Dannon Creamery.

Dannon’s newest line, Dannon Creamery sent me a super cool box of samples.

These desserts were sent to me free of charge to review. I received no further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

DC makes cheesecakes made with Greek yogurt plus three flavors of pudding, all averaging about 200 calories per serving/cup. I had tried the strawberry cheesecake on my own in the past and didn’t like it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the two other flavors I’ve tried so far.

Lemon cheesecake was opened pretty much the minute I got the package.

Nothing artificial about the topping and the mouthfeel of the cheesecake was great; I’m a fan!

I also quite enjoyed the dark chocolate pudding (with a leftover chocolate chip cookie).

I’m looking forward to the other flavors.

22Sep2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; October Came Early in Montauk

by Emily

The husband and I had quite the nice weekend. <– do I always say that??! A day of errands and a day trip up to Montauk. We got to stick our toes in the sand!

We also had some tasty eats.

Here’s how most of the last two days looked…

Errands day opened with a late brunch bowl at home.

Apple Cinnamon Chobani topped with toasted coconut and pomegranate arils. There was also a big blob of Wild Friends Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter hidden underneath the fruit.

Snacks of the day included two types of goodies from Haribo,

and a Honey Crisp Crispin that I shared with the husband.

This is our absolute favorite hard cider.

I also hungrily tore off bites of pretzel roll on the drive home from grocery shopping.

I went late in the day and Trader Joe’s was getting slammed. Probably because the shelves all seemed to be brimming with new pumpkin goodies!

Dinner was an Apple Month special (unlike what’s coming in the rest of this post!).

A toasted sandwich of Applegate Farm Smoked Turkey, TJ’s Light Havarti sliced cheese, and TJ’s hot pepper jelly, on Pepperidge Farm Caramel Apple Swirl Bread.

Plus TJ’s nacho kale chips and baby carrots on the side.

This sandwich was so yummy; love the spicy-sweet pairing.

Our drive to Montauk was nice and speedy (only about 2 hours; a Montauk local told me that traffic to the Hamptons cuts back nearly 2/3 after Labor Day) but it did require a little coffee.

We shared some Vanilla Chameleon Cold Brew with skim milk and chocolate milk on the drive up

and we got more of the good stuff locally while we walked around a ritzy shopping area.

We did lunch at Lunch, a lobster roll place right on the beach.

Adam was all about the hot lobster roll.

He shared a few hunks of buttered meat with me (gah! yum!), as well as his cole slaw.

I know it’s only September, but there were two fantasmic sounding pumpkin items on the menu, and who knows when I’ll go back to Montauk, so I couldn’t pass them up. Pumpkin and crab soup.

And Post Road Pumpkin Ale with a cinnamon-sugar rim.

OMG.

After lunch, a drive to the lighthouse, and a quick stop at the beach, we got more beer at the Montauk Brewing Company.

Their tasting room was quite cheap – $8 for 4 pours – and you even got to keep your glass.

I will definitely order their Driftwood Ale if I see it on menus in the city.

A final coffee for the road – I love Hampton Coffee Company –

and we were on our way home.

We did dinner in front of reruns of “Chopped.” We went high-brow with the food so it would match up with the high standards of the Chopped judges.

Pizza Hut pizza and Cupcake Wine Moscato. Keeping it classy.

13Sep2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Five Things, Crankily

by Emily

I had a perpetual case of cranky-face this whole past week. Nothing concrete set it off – Adam and I haven’t had a fight in ages, the dog hasn’t been being a little monster, and my work week was pretty varied so it was more interesting and less stressful than usual – but I was constantly in a bad mood. I was also super hungry all week, which I guess probably was a trigger for some of my ire. It was a real bummer.

Rather than trying futilely to fight it, I plan on giving in and wallowing. I’m going to spend the next two days eating pizza and catching up on tv in the hopes that the grump works its way out of my system by Monday.

In the meantime, here are a few things that did make me smile last week…

{1} The best breakfast. How flipping cute are these Stumptown Cold Brew boxes???

Adam and I geeked out when we spotted them at WF.

And it was totally delicious; sweet and creamy. My Bananas Foster Larabar Uber wasn’t bad either.

To quote Lara – “It’s basically bananamazing!”

{2} The most on-theme lunch. Blueberries and caramel apple pie Greek yogurt, plus licorice and caramel apple Twizzlers for later.

I loved the licorice; apparently I am a fan even when it’s not enrobed in candy coating (though that’s not to say that I didn’t also eat Good & Plenty several times this week!). I was not a fan of the yogurt, though I can’t say that was really a surprise. In my endless quest to try every apple(pie) flavored item on the market there are bound to be a few losers.

Worst of all, it didn’t even fill me up, I got fries from the cafeteria as well.

{3} The best lunch. This day’s break was much more satisfying, the honey-chia combination was killer. I will be pairing those two up again soon.

With blueberries and a Hemp & Chia O’Coconut snack on the side.

{4} The best dinner. Eaten in two courses. First, a snack plate of baby carrots, buffalo blue cheese pretzel nuggets, TJ’s turkey jerky, and Tribe roasted vegetable hummus.

Then later, pizza pizza – buffalo chicken – and a side salad.

From Luigi’s if any locals are looking for a recommendation. The crust was so good; chewy almost like Naan!

{5} The best dessert {of the season}. I know, I know, I’m eating pumpkin in September, but the Ralph’s location near our apartment closed early last fall and it’s essential that I get my fill of this goodness before it goes away.

Salted caramel pretzel and pumpkin pie cream ices. <– best flavor ever.

What do you do to help yourself get over it when you’re feeling cranky?

11Jul2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Play It Again, Sam!

by Emily

This week’s meals were so good that I went ahead and had most of them a 2nd time. Always nice when you can make leftovers work in your favor. And I even have a recipe to share.

breakfast

Breakfasts came from this sweet package courtesy of Nonni’s – Biscotti Bites.

Please note – I was sent these products free of charge to sample. I was not provided with additional compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

They recently introduced two new flavors: Double Chocolate Salted Caramel (salty and sweet, with the occasional extra-exciting pocket of caramel) and Very Berry Almond (sweet in an understated way; nice for breakfast). All three flavors have ~40 calories per cookie.

I packaged them up for breakfasts at work. With coffee, of course.

These were not quite as good as the amazing Almond Thins, but I was still a fan. Want to try some for yourself? Nonni’s is hosting a giveaway –

To encourage fans to experience the fresh-baked greatness for themselves, Nonni’s Biscotti is hosting a series of giveaways on their social pages. The “Who’s on top?” giveaway will begin July 14, where fans can help Nonni’s decide which of Nonni’s three Biscotti Bites flavors is the most favored, for a chance to win free products!

On Tuesday, I mixed things up with a smoothie instead.

Frozen blueberries and banana with vanilla almond milk, maple syrup, and lavender. YUM!

lunch

Lunches were all about the (chicken)salad. I made another Asian-inspired take on the classic. This time, I borrowed the flavors from our favorite Vietnamese sandwich – the Bahn Mi.

Bahn Mi Chicken Salad, Yields: 6 servings; Hands-on Time: 15 minutes

2 cups shredded carrots
1 and 1/2 cups chopped cucumber
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
16 oz cooked chicken breast, chopped
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup Sriracha

In a large bowl, combine carrots, cucumber, sugar, vinegar, and salt. Let sit, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes.
Drain all of the liquid off of the vegetables.
Add remaining ingredients to the bowl and toss until well-combined.

On Monday, I brought a bigggg bowl of chicken salad, with a piece of baguette, and fresh cherries.

Wednesday was chicken salad on a bagel thin with butter lettuce, plus cherries, and McClure’s Bloody Mary Chips. <– the chips were spicy, but not as flavorful as I was hoping they would be

I don’t have access to a fridge on Tuesdays, so I did regular green salad from the cafeteria. With black-eyed peas, pickled jalopeños, shredded mozzarella, and Italian dressing on top.

For Thursday, I packed leftover salad and the last of the cherries.

But then after a very quiet morning we were slammed all afternoon and I didn’t have time for lunch. I ended up eating coffee and a KIND bar at my desk while I worked.

At least I have a nice lunch waiting for me today!

snack

Several slices of leftover pizza, which grew on me once it was cold.

The leftover ice cream sandwiches were not bad either.

Jelly Belly.

This yogurt bowl was the best thing of the week. Fage 2% Greek yogurt with a layer melted Cacao Bliss underneath!

Coconut water to rehydrate after a trip to the gym. This TJ’s kind was delicious.

Speaking of the gym, I’ve been keeping up with it! I realized that yesterday had been 20 days since I started getting activity back into my life; another ten days or so and hopefully a month of being consistent will help the habit stick!

dinner

I was tooting my own horn pretty loudly every evening this week; these dinners were all fantastic. That said, I apparently don’t have pictures from Monday night and I cannot for the life of me remember what we ate! Probably more chicken salad.

These bowls seem like a mishmosh of ingredients, but everything went together well. Kath’s low and slow sweet potatoes, roasted broccoli, and canned baked beans, topped with shredded cheese, pickled jalopeños, and plain Greek yogurt.

Apparently Adam does not want baked beans with his sweet potato again any time soon, but I thought they was good.

Salad night.

Butter lettuce and shredded cabbage topped with Hemp Hearts and Mahi Mahi – I baked the fish with lemon juice, coconut oil, and smoked paprika. For our dressing, I mashed together tons of ripe avocado with lime juice, hot sauce, salt, fresh cilantro, and evoo. Everything tossed together was ah-mazing.

We morphed our salad leftovers into tacos the next night.

Soft tortilla with shredded carrots and cabbage, mahi mahi, avocado sauce, green Tabasco, and cheese.

Plus pineapple hard cider from ACE.

ACE’s website informs me that they sell a honey apple cider. I’m going to need to find that immediately.

Does your family rely on leftovers or do you crave something new each night?

26Jun2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Day

by Emily

This is a short “week” because my weekend technically starts tonight (Thursday night) – my parents are coming into town and I took Friday and Monday off. Woo-hoo!!

And since I managed to photograph every single thing over the past three days (minus tons of water and diet coke), I thought it would be fun to do an old-school recap and go by the day rather than grouping things into meal categories.

Monday

Breakfast at my desk, iced Americano and fat-free chocolate milk for the win.

Lunch was one of those yogurt bowls I’ve been loving lately.

TJ’s 0% Honey Greek Yogurt with strawberries {that I picked myself!} and some granola from my KIND package. I used Raspberry Clusters with Chia Seeds this week and was a big fan; this flavor had some nice tang compared with the first bag I tried.

It was a fabulously busy day at work and I ran around all afternoon. I’m usually not involved with the Labor and Delivery floor, but I’ve recently started following my Gestational Diabetes patients when they go inpatient so there is better continuity of care. Getting out of the clinic is always nice because it breaks up the day. And it’s good to have a little more time to go over the education when we are in a hospital room and not my office where other clients knock at my door right and left.

I ate some of the green curry turkey salad, straight from the container, the minute I got home.

I was feeling snacky, and there were already leftovers for Adam to eat, so I decided to do a series of snack plates for dinner. First, a Jazz apple with Mary’s Gone Crackers Sea Salt Pretzels and TJ’s Teriyaki Turkey Jerky.

I don’t know how TJ’s gets their jerky to stay so soft, but that stuff is delicious.

Next up was a bowl of cucumber salad.

I let some thinly sliced Persian cucumbers hang out with some sugar (1 tsp of sugar per cup cucs) for a bit then folded in tons of Sriracha and crushed peanuts.

And I ended the night with nachos, aka the craving that lead me to a snack-style dinner in the first place. 2 servings of potato chips baked with 2 servings of low-fat three cheese blend.

The chips were part of the rather embarrassing “reduced guilt” line and they were amazing.

I read the bag very carefully before deciding to give them a try; the chips are made using less oil (I have no idea how) but no scary ingredients like Olestra. The flavor was identical to TJ’s normal kettle chips and the texture was slightly crunchier, which I think is an improvement. I will definitely buy them again.

Tuesday

Astonishingly, I woke up early enough on Tuesday to go outside for a quick run. I only had time for 15 minutes of actual running amid my walking, but the weather was gorgeous and getting out there was glorious. I have been on a total workout hiatus since our move (almost a year ago!!) but starting Saturday I have been making a concerted effort to get back into the habit. <– hold me to that, please!

I was home and dressed in time to blend up this swampy smoothie.

It was only slightly better than it looked. Frozen strawberries with honey, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and Kiss Me Organics Matcha Powder.

Since Tuesday is my inpatient day, I packed a lunch that didn’t need the fridge.

An apple cinnamon oatmeal bowl with Cacao Bliss and a pear on the side.

I always want to tell you guys more about what I’m doing at the hospital but I like my job and want to keep it so it’s best to follow HIPAA.

I can say that I charted on an impressive 10 patients and I left the hospital a little late which caused me to miss my train. While I waited to get home I purchased some fun snacks. A blackberry mojito tea (sans lemonade) from Starbucks.

And a bag of the new York Patty minis.

I had searched for that stupid candy for weeks and was thrilled when I spotted it at Target. Yorks are my favorite chocolate-based candy.

When I got home I made green curry.

I sautéed shredded carrot, green onion, broccoli, and peas in evoo; then whisked together a can of light coconut milk with tons of green curry paste and a little galangal and brown sugar; then let everything simmer for a while. Served on a bed of brown rice.

So flipping good. And I didn’t even follow a recipe so I’m pretty proud of myself. Adam wasn’t home because he was on nights all week but I watched “Longmire” while I ate which was a nice substitute. Are you watching that yet? It is super good; there was a scene in the 2nd episode of this season that made both of us cry!

Wednesday

I slept in until the last possible minute yesterday so I did another breakfast at my desk.

Coffee and a Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond KIND Bar (former freebie). I’m still completely awed by how wonderful this flavor is.

Back to my old standby for lunch.

Fage 2% Greek Yogurt with Meyer lemon curd, granola, and strawberries.

We have no food because we’ll go out to eat with our guests, so I planned on buying food on my way home but ran out of time for anything but coffee (with skim milk and sugar).

I had to do my best to cobble dinner together. Lean Cuisine stuffed pretzels and baby carrots with hummus.

Not too terrible, but if I’d thought ahead I would have eaten a salad at lunch.

I also ate chocolate-covered gummy bears while I wrote this post.

🙂

Do you guys miss my old style of posting or are you happier with the new wrap-ups?

24Jun2014

Green Curry Turkey Salad

by Emily

I promised I wouldn’t leave y’all hanging on that great turkey salad from yesterday’s post.

All of my favorite recipes are plays on a traditional idea. Chicken salad is great, but turkey salad infused with Asian flavors is better. I’ve also got a Bahn Mi Chicken Salad recipe idea up my sleeve.

Green Curry Turkey Salad Yields: 6 servings; Total Time: 15 minutes

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp minced galangal (Thai ginger)
2 Tbsp green curry paste
1 tsp fish sauce
1 lb cooked turkey breast, shredded or chopped
2 green onions, sliced
small red pepper, diced
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup roasted coconut chips

In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, ginger, curry paste, and fish sauce.
Add remaining ingredients to bowl and toss until well-combined.

recipe notes:

the roasted coconut chips give this creamy salad little pops of crunch and sweetness; if you can’t find them (I got mine at Trader Joe’s) it’s ok to use sweetened shredded coconut, but cut back to 2 Tbsp so the texture doesn’t get too stringy
the flavor of galangal is a bit more intense than regular ginger so if you substitute it bump it up to a heaping Tbsp
if you dislike the intensity of raw green onions, give them a quick saute rather than skipping them entirely
I actually used Miracle Whip because we don’t buy regular mayo!

23Jun2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Farm Fresh

by Emily

Just the highlights…

<^> I went strawberry picking with a girlfriend on Sunday. This activity has been on my radar for years and it was nice to finally give it a go.

I’m not really sure what the two of us were picturing though, because I definitely rolled up in sandals and a long scarf (with a giant iced coffee and a huge purse).

After we went back to the car to regroup, we got down to business (literally down, strawberry picking meant an hour crouching in the dirt!) and both came away with big cartons of tasty berries.

Glover Farms, if anyone local wants to go themselves. We’d recommend it.

<^> As of June 2nd, Jamba Juice has added a fresh-squeezed juice menu at over 500 locations nationally. They sent me a gift card so that I could try some out. The card got here just in time, because I was at two different locations with Jambas this weekend so I was able to try two options.

Please note – I received a gift card so that I could sample the juice menu free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Let’s start with the negative – these drinks are not juices. They juice the fruits, carrots, and beets, but then that juice is put into a blender with the greens, making this item a smoothie. I started this argument with an employee and eventually gave up, but fresh-squeezed juice does not involve a blender. Period.

That said, inaccurate marketing aside, the drinks were quite tasty and healthy. Both flavors I tried had a good balance of sweet to green. And every 16 oz “juice” has 2 full servings of fruit and/or vegetables for minimal caloric cost. Tropical greens:

Super greens/apple/pineapple/chia. 210 calories in a 16 oz.

Garden Medley:

Super greens/carrot/apple/chia. 170 calories in a 16 oz.

<^> I haven’t blogged about them much, but I have been loving the almond thins that Nonni’s sent me.

The banana chocolate flavor is legit. And I’m usually annoyed by things that are put in 100 calorie packages but the serving size feels perfect here.

<^> I ate homemade nachos while I watched the 2 hour season intro of Rookie Blue and I practically cried I was so happy. Summer tv at its best.

I also had an episode of Awkward. Best. Night. Ever.

<^> I finally got to try Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

Now I totally get the hype; I tasted Zen Butter – sesame and peanut butter – and it was worth the buzz. I chose taro and black sesame for my cup though. The black sesame was amazing, super roasty and crunchy.

<^> Saturday’s dinner.

Asian flavors night. Bok choy sautéed with green onions in evoo. Towards the end I tossed in some thinly sliced Persian cucumbers that I quick-pickled in sugar and salt for 20 minutes.

A big pile of green curry turkey salad.

The salad was so good it’s getting its own recipe page. I promise to get that up on the blog tomorrow.

<^> Sunday’s dinner.

Such a summery – vegetarian – plate! Corn on the cob, of course.

With bbq tofu. I rubbed TJ’s super firm extra-protein tofu with a homemade spice blend {brown sugar, smoked paprika, cumin, and curry powder} and baked it off before tossing the slices in a skillet with some bbq sauce.

Plus we had chard sautéed in evoo with salt, toasted hazelnuts and a drizzle of maple syrup.

That teensy pile of greens was what happened when I cooked down this big bunch.

I bought my greens at a tiny farmer’s market that was happening at the farm museum near my house.

My chard was picked the same day I bought it! The only thing fresher is my strawberries 🙂

Have you ever picked your own berries? We have our eye on apples this fall.

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.