Coffee, Doughnuts, And Quinoa

by Emily

Adam and I had the morning off together on Friday and we used the time for another sunrise bridge walk – Queensboro Bridge.

3 down {Williamsburg Bridge} {Brooklyn Bridge}, and 1 to go {Manhattan Bridge}. Perhaps in the summer we’ll reverse it and walk out of Manhattan at sunset.

After the bridge, we wandered around the Upper East Side and in and out of Central Park and ended up walking more than 8 miles (<–awesome). The weather was so gorgeous I wore flip flops for the first time in months (again, awesome) and unfortunately now my calves are killing me (<– not awesome). I’ve been limping for the past two days!

On the food front, here were my top three favorites…

#1 – breakfast pastries

We tried new treats at two new spots and they were reeeeeeally good! At Padoca Bakery, brioche – chocolate and dulce de leche swirl and guava and cheese swirl.

At Orwashers, we had a doughnut injected with strawberry preserves, which was good, and a chocolate almond croissant which was the single-best pastry I’ve ever eaten.

You have to have coffee with doughnuts.

The lattes at Bluestone Lane are divine. We went to the UES location that shares space with a stunning church.

#2 – a new snack

I pack Adam crunchy chickpeas for work all the time and this Korean BBQ flavor is my new favorite thing.

Related – Sumo Mandarins are officially my favorite fruit of the year. They are always juicy and tart, and so easy to eat – they’re a snap to peel and have no seeds!

#3 – quinoa ~~soup~~ stoup

I got the idea from Cooking Light; you cook the quinoa in the broth with the other components so it comes together very quickly.

For my version I used carrots, red bell pepper, celery, onion // s&p, turmeric, smoked paprika, celery seed // shredded turkey breast // 1 cup quinoa // low sodium chicken broth.

Since I used more veggies and quinoa mine came out thicker like a stew.

This upcoming week I’m looking forward to: a fancy coffee combo this morning, watching the newest undercover episode of “Bones,” and having Thursday off of work.

10Feb2017

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Valentine’s

by Emily

As long-term blog readers know, the Emily holiday theme-food calendar is pretty packed. There’s Apple Month (September) and Pumpkin Month (October into November), and November/December are the only time of year I’ll eat eggnog, candy cane, and gingerbread.

My mom recently asked me why Valentine’s Day and Easter don’t get any love? I decided it’s lame that only August – December get theme flavors, so brought two new holidays into the party, albeit likely with less fervor. Valentine’s Day (February) gets chocolate-covered cherry and cinnamon, and Easter (April) gets coconut and lemon.

Here was this month’s themed-food stash:

Those goodies will be the main content of this post, along with a few other things that I LOVED (<– staying on theme). It works out to be work lunches/snacks since this week’s dinner situation was beyond bleak – 1. nachos 2. Chipotle 3. frozen meal from Trader Joe’s 4. Adam and I got into bed and fell asleep before 8pm.

Chocolate cherry yogurt, chocolate cherry cashew KIND bar, and a Sumo mandarin.

Valentine’s trail mix with chocolate hearts, dried dark sweet cherries, and roasted pecans. Plus a Junami apple.

2% yogurt with blackberries and muddy buddies.

Vanilla bean yogurt with tangerine, blackberries, vanilla granola, and citrus crumble cake.

A coworker just came back from the Philippines and she replenished my stash of these amazing powdered milk candies.

Best ~~bite~~ sip of the week – very vanilla iced coffee.

Do you have any romantic plans for next Tuesday?

23Jan2017

Warm Weekend Winners

by Emily

It was 50 degrees outside this weekend! Twice!! I had an absolute blast pulling out my flip flops and spring jacket.

Conveniently, my favorite things from the past three days make one complete day’s worth of meals…

{coffee}

Maple Shay, a nonfat iced latte with maple syrup from Brooklyn Roasting Company. I need to put maple into more of my lattes, it really is fantastic.

{breakfast}

Brunch at Colonie. I had the dandelion greens salad – with walnut, anchovy, tarragon, parsley, and a poached egg. It was actually kind of terrible, beyond bitter, but thankfully Adam shared his duck hash with me.

And dessert was good! Eggnog panna cotta with bourbon and blood orange.

{lunch}

Whole Food’s hot bar. Clockwise from the bottom left – macaroni and cheese, buffalo-style seitan, roasted squash, roasted carrots, and honey Sriracha brussel sprouts. Whenever I hit a hot bar I try to pick a protein, mostly veggies, and the cheesiest starch available.

{dinner}

Tandoor Chef recently offered to send me some free-product coupons so I could try their frozen entrees. I’ve loved their Pad Thai for years so I readily accepted.

Adam reports that his chicken tikka masala was loaded with meat and that the sauce was creamy and well seasoned. My channa masala was tasty as well, and quite filling; there were 10 grams of protein and 14 grams of fiber for a 380 calorie serving.

I served our meals with roasted broccoli with green onion, gojuchang, and black sesame seeds.

{dessert}

Cake batter Cookie DŌ. Ready-to-eat dough with white chocolate chips and sprinkles.

{I love New York}

20Jan2017

Chocolate Strawberry And Banana Date

by Emily

A short post for a short week; here were my top five tastes…

Snack-pack lunch at work. Crispy broccoli, jerky(1), baby carrots, and a Cara Cara Orange.

I am a sucker for limited edition Oreos(2). I always eat them by splitting two in half to make one double-stuffed cookie.

Homemade dinner, chicken with bbq sauce, roasted asparagus, and another killer potato(3) recipe from Serious Eats.

Dinner out with a friend, I finally made it to Taïm and I loved it. We had sandwiches(4) and smoothies(5).

Smoked Salmon Maple Stick from EPIC
chocolate-covered strawberry limited edition Oreos
cheesy onion, bacon, and potato gratin
pita with balaganoush, tahini, Moroccan carrots, and pickled cabbage
date, lime, banana, and soy milk

6Jan2017

Hello, 2017!

by Emily

How is everyone’s year going?? So far, the word for my 2017 is tasty.

Here are some culinary highlights from the first week…

Coffee first, always coffee. Espresso roast and chocolate milk before work.

I also had the best iced latte of the year from Birch; their shots are extra strong and roasty.

Adam and I both had Monday off of work and we started our new year with a trip to Serendipity 3.

Veggie chili for my lunch.

I kept lunch boring because I was focused on the main event – sundae funday! A giant scoop of peanut butter pie with hot fudge and bananas. <– swoon city

Work lunches were centered around a box of free product review samples I received from ips snacks. The snacks – crisps and popcorn – are all made with whey protein and pack at least 5 grams of protein for </ 150 calories.

I have to admit that I liked the snacks a lot more than I was expecting to. The salted popcorn was honestly the best bagged popcorn Adam or I have ever tasted! It was filling, satisfying, and totally delicious. The chips would rate poorly if I compared them to chip-chips, but score a 9/10 as snack crisps. Very few snacks, especially ones that pack less than 200 calories, keep me full enough in the afternoon that I don’t consider gnawing my own arm off on the train, but these did the trick.

I packed crisps and fruit to pair with toasted turkey and cheese cafeteria sandwiches. BBQ chips and a cara cara.

Sea salt and black pepper chips and an Asian pear.

Snack attack. Popcorn and a honey kolsch.

Yogurt bowl with plain Greek, chocolate tahini, sliced snap dragon apple, chia seeds, cinnamon, and sweet and spicy pecans.

I was killing it with dinners this week. Three different veggie-forward, flavor-loaded, 10/10 dishes! When I made fried green onions last week I saved the infused oil and that’s what I used for cooking this week. First, a simple salad to start off the new year.

Oak leaf lettuce, TJ’s Greek-style feta dressing, cucumber, dill, and roasted chickpeas. With hibiscus kombucha on the side.

Next up, spicy cabbage salad with turkey and peanuts from Bon Appétit. I only ever read this magazine on plane rides but this recipe alone would be worth the subscription cost!

I doubled up so that we could get 4 big dinners out of it, and roasted the cabbage so it was less voluminous, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly <– something I rarely do.

Served with cheesey breadsticks, aka pizza dough rolled up with an obscene amount of cheese.

Finally, I tried my hand at shakshuka. Based loosely on the recipes from Serious Eats and My Name is Yeh, my version had red bell peppers, red jalapeño pepper, and serrano pepper.

Served with hunks of sourdough.

I’m excited to do a little more exploring in the kitchen this new year. My meal plan list for the next month or so includes menemen, mapo tofu, kaya jam, okonomiyaki, and chilaquiles!

25Nov2016

Tastes Like Thanksgiving

by Emily

I hope all my American readers stuffed themselves silly yesterday (all of my readers really!) and made good memories with family and/or friends. Adam and I both had to work, so no festivities here, but thankfully I spent time with 3/4 of my family in St. Thomas last weekend. P.S. No post from last weekend, I didn’t take many pictures, but I did eat johnny cake with cheese and day drink almost daily.

In spite of being kind of lame on Turkey Day, I did manage to pack my week with holiday flavors – cranberry, green beans, turkey, pumpkin, and egg nog. Plus, apparently I’ve decided that chips are an on-theme holiday flavor!

Winter Cheer Stumptown with a cranberry clementine seltzer and a giant pomelo.

Cranberry turkey Wilde bar with a snap dragon apple and a cranberry cider seltzer. <– are we appreciating the cranberry seltzers I squirreled away for this week?!

Holiday spiced sweet cream cold brew.

Thursday felt like an appropriate time to get my eggnog goodies going.

Veggies with pita chips for scooping from the cafeteria for lunch. Tomato, green bell pepper, corn, cheddar, and beans.

Oats in a jar. I dumped hot oats with chia seeds and pepitas into the last of the chocolate tahini. Plus an ambrosia apple.

With more chocolate for dessert, I snacked on a cookie dough bar and a latte.

The cafeteria made a special Thanksgiving lunch. I had veggie lasagna, stuffing, and green beans.

Tuesday night – aka the first time Adam and I laid eyes on each other since last Wednesday! – we went out for dinner before making an overdue grocery run. I got a chopped salad with green chili lime vinaigrette, roasted corn, cucumber, jicama, and tons of avocado plus blue tortilla nachos with black beans, serrano salsa fresca, and Oaxaca queso sauce.

Post-dinner coffee to get me through Trader Joe’s. The aged Sumatra is tasty.

And the next morning I was able to get dinner going in the crock pot – cranberry bbq chicken that knocked our freaking socks off. In a slow cooker on low for 8 hours / chicken breast / maple whiskey bbq sauce / fresh cranberries tossed with minced garlic and a bit of sugar. I topped my bowl with some shredded cheese.

Served with roasted green beans and pumpkin beers.

I was the only RD at work on Thanksgiving and the day ended up being pretty exhausting. Thankfully I already had planned the ultimate lazy dinner – nachos. I kept things on theme though! TJ’s turkey and stuffing kettle chips / cheddar, swiss, and gruyere / turkey breast / cranberry sauce. With green beans in thyme honey balsamic vinaigrette.

Served with – just under the wire – the last pumpkin beer of the season.

Plus a nauseating amount of baking nibbles for dessert, we are doing a belated Thanksgiving with my in-laws this weekend and I’m bringing cookies.

What’s your favorite traditional Thanksgiving dish? I won’t judge you if you say nachos.

31Oct2016

Top Ten Last Week

by Emily

{1} Kobrick Coffee

I stepped up my espresso game with their housemade chocolate milk. Adam and I were both swooning after every sip.

{2} Pumpkin yogurt bowls

2% Fage with pumpkin puree and pumpkin butter, cinnamon, slivered almonds, and pumpkin spice granola. With an Asian pear.

Plain Siggi’s with pumpkin x2, pumpkin spice cheerios and frosted mini wheats, and a few candy corns. With a gingergold apple.

Pumpkin Chobani with cereals and another apple.

{3} Bobwhite Counter

Fried chicken sandwich with pickles and pimento cheese.

{4} Pumpkin Smoothie

We make at least one every October. Pumpkin puree, plain Greek yogurt, cinnamon, maple syrup, and vanilla almond milk.

{5} Xzibit “Pimp My Ride” style Reese’s

Reese’s stuffed with Reese’s Pieces. My peanut butter cup obsession usually does not extend beyond Justin’s minis but I am bewitched by these; the bit of crunch takes the cups to a whole new level.

{6} Molly’s Cupcakes

They have a whole slew of gooey stuffed cupcakes.

Cake better was perfection!

{7} Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

Unsurprisingly, Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess)’s 1st memoir did not disappoint. I added her 2nd book to my Christmas list less than halfway through.

{8} Nachos

I turned my copycat Chipotle bowl leftovers into nachos. Nachos > salad bowls. Tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, black beans, corn, sautéed onions and peppers, and shredded chipotle honey lime chicken.

{9} C’est Cheese

Adam and I had a weekday off together and we spent several hours of it on the phone dealing with our retirement accounts. We desperately needed booze and cheese afterwards so we headed to Port Jefferson for lunch. Baked brie with raspberry jam.

Beer flight – Post Road Pumpkin / Telekinesis sour / Framboise / Imperial Biscotti Break stout.

Plus a Spanish salad with mandarin oranges, Manchego, olives, and a honey tarragon vinaigrette.

{10} David Pumpkins

Bless you, SNL, this is my new favorite thing.

{Bonus} Be sure to check out SaveTheDay.Vote, Joss Whedon’s super PAC that produces short PSAs about the importance of voting (for Hillary). The subject matter is sobering but somehow the videos are all still laugh out loud hilarious. Whedon is already my role model, and I am so impressed with all of the celebrities to chose to participate.

P.S. Happy Halloween!

16Sep2016

Palm Seed Fun

by Emily

This post is running a little late because I am too – I have the day off! Working last Sunday earned me a long weekend today. It’s actually an extra-long weekend because I’m off Monday as well, I’m going to Ohio tomorrow to visit my grandma. Today, I’m going to have some fun with Adam and Webster.

Highlights from this week…

I didn’t snap any iced coffee photos this week, but I promise it was consumed in substantial quantities. There’s a chance I stayed up far too late watching Road Rules on YouTube one night. <– not worth the exhaustion, that show spent way more time on relationship drama than I had remembered.

Apple oatmeal, with an Asian pear.

My Filipino coworker brought me in some palm seeds and I bought them to good use. Chia pudding with palm seeds and banana.

Yogurt with palm seeds, Luxardo cherries, Cherrios, and an orange.

Another treat from the Philippines, polvoron, or powdered milk candy. They were fantastic, crumbly and milky in such a pleasing way.

More candy, Justin’s peanut butter cups (I’m still obsessed with these) and a milk popping candy. Sparkling water and diet coke are two of my favorite things and when you drink them together – as in at the same time, not in the same cup – they both taste even better.

Other snacks included apples we picked ourselves.

And the best microwave popcorn we’ve ever popped. This tasted almost as good as stove-popped.

We kept dinners super simple this week. Leftover smoked trout casserole, eaten cold out of the pan.

Salmon salad sandwiches – canned salmon with mayo, mustard, and pickle relish – on toasted TJ’s quinoa bread.

My most complicated night involved potato vareniki which cook in about 5 minutes. Tossed with shredded rotisserie chicken / sautéed celery / garlic kale / and a sauce made of cream cheese and chicken stock.

I’m off to go start my day off!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: citrus

Coffee, Doughnuts, And Quinoa

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Valentine’s

Warm Weekend Winners

Chocolate Strawberry And Banana Date

Hello, 2017!

Tastes Like Thanksgiving

Top Ten Last Week

Palm Seed Fun