Weekend Wrap-Up; Five Favorites

by Emily

On Saturday, I kept myself busy with errands and drinking all the coffee.

On Sunday, we went for a three-hour bike ride in Central Park.

Oh my goodness. The weather was absolutely beautiful but we both agreed that three hours was too long – I am going to do my best not to sit today!

Here are my five favorites from the weekend…

{1} Rose Apriums, an apricot-plum blend. They are similar to the Plucot/Pluot (my favorite fruit of all time) but more apricot than plum. Wonderful.

I packaged materials from home and ate them in a tasty granola bowl at work on Friday. 2 chopped Rose Apriums, 1/2+ cup KIND Banana Nut Clusters, and skim milk.

Another summer fruit worth mentioning is the Sonya apple. They are perfectly sweet, and juicy without being drippy.

The book in the background is my final recommendation. It is a compilation of food writing – book excerpts, magazine articles, blog posts – from 2013, divided into sections about meat, eating local, home cooks, etc, and it has been delightful to read. Now I want to get my hands on some of the other years.

{2} A copy-cat ABP bbq chicken salad.

I enjoyed this salad so much when I sampled it at Au Bon Pain, I knew I would have to recreate it at home.

A romaine base topped with ranch dressing, corn, cucumber, tomato, three-cheese blend, and chopped chicken that was tossed with TJ’s Carolina bbq sauce.

{3} Green eggs (no ham).

An easy dinner that tasted so good. I sautéed frozen spinach and corn with evoo, dill, a pinch of sugar, and green Tabasco, then tossed in chopped chicken and chunks of raw goat’s milk cheese, and scrambled in two eggs.

Corn is so freaking good in scrambled eggs. I like it when everything gets a bit charred before you add your eggs.

{4} A killer sandwich from Bareburger, the Big Bacon Blue burger with a few modifications.

I ended up with grilled chicken, turkey bacon, sautéed mushrooms, fried onions, smokehouse sauce, and blue cheese.

I was swooning over this sandwich; it ended up being the best “burger” I’ve ever eaten. I’m pretty jazzed about that season drink in the background too – to be shared in September!

{5} Chicago Mix from Trader Joe’s. You can’t go wrong with a caramel corn/cheddar popcorn blend.

After our bike ride, Adam and I spent Sunday on the couch with “The Office,” and the popcorn was thoroughly enjoyed.

Any summer goods you want to recommend?

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

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

4Aug2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Two Thumbs Up

by Emily

It was a lazy, low-key weekend so I don’t have a ton to share. I just wanted to pop in with a few of the things that rocked my face off. We had a few loser meals and moments, but overall times were good.

In the lows list… This alcoholic beverage. A girlfriend and I found a little bar in Park Slope with watermelon daiquiris and margaritas. Sounds good, right?

No. The bartender used some nasty, fake syrup and the end result was like frozen children’s cough syrup.

Related to the alcoholic beverages, Adam and I got Wendy’s for dinner on Friday. And now I remember why we haven’t been eating fast food for past six months. I did have a very tasty Frosty float, but the food was not good.

Saturday’s dinner was lame as well, because Adam worked a 24-hour shift so I ate popcorn in my underwear while watching the last of “Orange is the New Black.” <– how good is OTNB??! It took me forever to get into it but now I totally get the obsession

But then Sunday I had a fairly good rice bowl.

Always good to end the weekend with some vegetables.

Other tasty things… I have one serving left of my Chameleon Cold Brew.

It has been so yummy with chocolate milk.

I had cereal for breakfast at work on Friday and I enjoyed it a surprising amount.

I am not usually a big cereal person because I don’t find it to be all that filling, but after Total Raisin Bran and raspberries and I didn’t get hungry again until it was time for a late lunch.

And what a lunch it was! I found the Watermelon Chobani!

{with cherries and Jax chocolate coconut milk} It was good, but after all my anticipation, it wasn’t quite as amazing as the pink grapefruit is.

Other amazing things… We saw “Guardians of the Galaxy” last night and it was so funny. One of the more hilarious movies I’ve seen in the past year. Oh God, Chris Pratt. And I saw “Sex Tape” last weekend and that also made me laugh out loud. If you are on the fence I recommend heading to the theatre for both.

TLDR? Wendy’s is bad. Watermelon Chobani is good, but not as good as pink grapefruit. “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Sex Tape” were both amazing.

25Jul2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Birthday Weather

by Emily

It was a big week here, we had a birthday and a serendipitous, surprise visit! I turned 29 yesterday; that sounds old, old, old. I may not have a house or a baby, but I have a husband and a dog who I love beyond words so that feels pretty good for almost-30.

We didn’t have time for a real grocery trip after our Philadelphia weekend and we relied a ton on packaged and purchased food. Here are some highlights…