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.

20Jun2014

Long Week Wrap-Up; Something Blue

by Emily

My first post since last Thursday, since the week/end flew by. Really the whole month of June feels like it’s flying by!

In spite of being busy, I did manage to photograph every single thing I ate Monday – Thursday, minus one cup of iced coffee. <– go me! That’s in sharp contrast to Saturday and Sunday, when I took exactly two photos:

Baked brie that I shared with a girlfriend at C’est Cheese. It was delicious, obviously. We were in Northern Long Island on a Saturday because our friends Kim and Dan were getting married!

Kim is seriously the classiest person I know so their wedding was, of course, amazing. I felt too weird to take a picture of my plate at the table of college friends we didn’t know, but the food was delicious.

I spent Sunday lazing around the house, eating potato chips. But come Monday, I got myself together. Here’s the recap…

breakfasts

The food stand at my LIRR station sells iced coffee now! This would be more exciting/a bigger bummer for my wallet except that they only have coffee creamer, no skim milk, so I doubt I’ll get it that often.

I had a 2nd coffee (with chocolate milk) when I got to work. <– the only food item that escaped my camera this week

Breakfast at my desk.

Coffee, a peanut butter & strawberry KIND bar, and a red pear that I gave up on after two bites because it was just too drippy with juice to manage at my desk.

Smoothie time. Frozen raspberries, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and a big scoop of Cacao Bliss.

The coconut butter froze into delicious little balls embedded throughout the smoothie. Kind of like the old Orbitz drinks!

Chocolate malted coffee.

I stirred a scoop of malt powder into chocolate milk before mixing it into my cold brewed coffee. This was the smartest thing I’ve ever done.

lunches

A winning yogurt bowl.

Plain Greek yogurt with 2 Tbsp of Meyer lemon curd and 1/2 a pint of fresh blueberries.

Cafeteria salad.

Greens topped with balsamic dressing, pickled veggies, tons of pickles, and big scoop of chicken salad.

Vita Coco coconut water latte plus homemade “instant” oats.

Just rolled oats, freeze-dried strawberries, cinnamon maple sugar, and a Tbsp of malted milk powder that I covered with hot water from the cafeteria.

Thursday was insanely busy and my lunch plans went out the window. When I finished my final gestational diabetes education I did eat cereal at my desk at 3pm.

That Special K was pretty good. And now I have my packed lunch ready and waiting for me tomorrow.

That yogurt bowl is going to be goo-ood.

snacks

Last week I bitched about my insane afternoon hunger so this week I leaned into the problem and packed smaller lunches to accommodate many (many, many) snacks when I got home. Though these jelly beans were actually eaten at work.

The 2nd half of a package of TJ’s Inner Peas.

Cinnamon pita chips with TJ’s honey goat’s milk gouda. <– ridiculous

Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

Lemon pie milkshake, aka my best idea ever (rivaled only by the malted coffee!).

We blended vanilla bean ice cream, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, Meyer lemon curd, and Cascadian Farm Graham Crunch cereal and it was flipping fantastic.

dinners

This frozen entrée of white fish with zucchini and pesto was quite lovely.

The fish didn’t do much for me, but the squash/sauce bites were delish.

Plus, how great is this ingredient list?

The 2nd half of that dinner had a decidedly less short ingredient list.

But my Lean Cuisine stuffed pretzels were tasty nonetheless.

More homemade Pad Thai.

This time with shiitake mushroom, broccoli and tofu.

The tofu was Nasoya Sprouted Tofu Plus that I topped with a mixture of Sriracha, smoked brown sugar, and rice vinegar before baking.

Gardein Mandarin Crispy Chick’n that we bulked up with roasted broccoli.

Plus frozen kale cooked with peanut sauce and crushed peanuts.

All together this was nice.

Adding vegetables to frozen meals is a good compromise between my desire to eat a healthy dinner and my desire to come home and sit on the couch without pants.

I hate to end this post on a blah note, but Adam worked Thursday night and my single lady dinner was pretty lame. The last serving of broccoli and chick’n,

with popcorn,

and this embarrassing little bowl of melted coconut oil with Dutch cocoa powder and sugar.

Mom, Adam has leftover Pad Thai so I did not leave him stranded for “dinner” when he gets home in the morning!

Were you a fan of the Orbitz soda? I would totally buy it now if it was still available.

9Jun2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Loki

by Emily

We had a nice, low-key weekend around these parts. Nothing major, though we did manage to get in good food, good beer, and an extra-long walk with the dog.

I spent Saturday afternoon volunteering at my hospital’s health fair discussing body fat percentages and BMI.

And Sunday we spent hours at the mall getting my dress for a wedding next weekend.

Here’s some of what I ate around shopping and volunteering…

Lunch at National Thai in Fort Greene. We shared chicken satay.

And tofu Pad See Ew.

Our noodles were perfectly done; they were nice and chewy. And they gave us a large enough portion that even sharing the meal we had enough leftovers to make dinner the next night.

Lunch at Au Bon Pain at the mall as a reward for finding an appropriate dress. We shared a Caffe Viennese.

And I finally got to try the bbq chicken salad.

It was even more delicious than predicted. The bbq chicken was great and there was soooo much of it.

Smoothie time. Frozen raspberries with Justin’s Vanilla Almond Butter, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and the last serving or so of a can of light coconut milk.

Adam loved it but this was actually too coconut-y for me. I’m slightly amazed by that because later the same day I topped cold cereal with coconut butter and loved it.

Snack ~~plate~~ napkin.

Mary’s Gone Crackers Sea Salt Pretzels, Chocolove Espresso Dark Chocolate, and sliced cheese.

Something cool on our dog walk.

You can’t beat gummi bear cream ice.

Whenever we go to Trader Joe’s we split a coffee and/or giant soda and it makes grocery shopping feel much more like a date than an errand.

That was a clover brew of the Bourbon Brazil blend, with sugar and skim milk.

On Saturday, we were invited back into Brooklyn for a gorgeous bbq for dinner.

Our friend’s sister’s boyfriend is a chef and the food was ridiculous – also poorly lit, and therefore unpictured. We had homemade Cesar salads, grilled radicchio, and grilled leeks and green onions with romesco sauce.

With a little love, our Thai leftovers made us a great dinner on Sunday.

I stir-fried them with shredded carrots, broccoli, and egg in evoo, green curry, and galangal (Thai minced ginger).

Even better than the first rendition.

How many weddings are you scheduled to attend this summer?

3May2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Recipes, Redone

by Emily

Hey there! I’m a few days late with this post because the dog had a vet appointment late Thursday night. He had to get about a million shots – we did all of his blood draws and vaccinations in one fell swoop – but was such a little trooper. He is so freaking cute!

Things were good with the human members of the house as well. I remade two of my old recipes this week with great success. It was a busy but satisfying week at work. And now my brother-in-law is here to play! I’m saving our Friday night fun for Monday’s weekend post, but here is the last week…

breakfast

Tropical smoothie.

Crushed pineapple, frozen banana, toasted coconut, and vanilla almond milk. I should have added nutmeg to this because that’s what I put on my piña coladas.

Fancy fruit salad.

This salad was insane and I need to make it again immediately. Blackberries, minneola, lime juice/zest, maple syrup, toasted coconut, and hemp hearts.

Plus a Blueberry Oat Almond THINaddictive.

The thin was part of a sweet box of samples that Nonni’s sent me.

Their sweet and crunchy biscotti almond thins – which have only 100 calories per package and less than 2 grams of saturated fat – are out in two new flavors: blueberry oat and banana dark chocolate. I was a fan of both.

lunch

Asian and apples.

My Pad See Ew leftovers were still great cold.

With Brown Sugar Sea Salt Seaweed Snacks and a Lady Alice apple.

I made my own to-go oatmeal bowls this week! 1/3 cup of rolled oats and 1 Tbsp of malted milk powder, plus toppings. I took them to work in glass Tupperware and then put enough hot water (for the tea in the cafeteria) in the bowl to just cover the oats. By the time I got back up to my department they were perfect! I will probably still buy the packaged ones as well, but this was a very exciting development.

Berries and cream oatmeal = white chocolate chips and freeze-dried strawberries.

The rest of my fruit salad was wonderful at lunch.

Crushed pineapple,

fruit salad,

and a peach Fage,

were all stirred together into a tasty bowl.

Homemade oatmeal part deux.

Crushed pecans, dark chocolate chips, and toasted coconut.

Plus an apple.

snack

Afternoon espresso when I really wanted candy.

I compromised by putting an obscene amount of sugar into my coffee.

Honestly, I had terrible bedtime habits all week and my afternoons took a lot of coffees. Made even more exciting by the Cookies and Cream Magic Straws from my Easter basket.

A Banana Dark Chocolate Almond THINaddictive.

I was expecting to like this flavor the most but ended up preferring the blueberry; this was good but the banana was a tiny bit fake tasting.

Pink Lady. I have been loving apples recently.

We made milkshakes.

Café Latte Frozen Greek Yogurt, chocolate milk, malted milk powder, and ice.

And speaking of milk, I ate about a million cookies this week.

Don’t forget, you have until Monday to enter my giveaway.

dinner

My first recipe redo.

Shallotta Salmon Burgers. They aren’t orange fyi, that’s just bad lighting.

Shredded Brussels sprouts cooked with coconut oil, crushed pecans, chopped celery, and swiss/gruyere cheese.

I added too much oil to my veggies and they were good but a little ridiculous.

My other recipe redo was my Healthy Spinach Pesto.

A total success, stirred into pasta with broccoli and tons and turkey bacon.

I’m off for family fun time! xoxo

29Apr2014

My Top Ten From NYC’s Green Festival

by Emily

This past weekend I attended the NYC Green Festival, the largest and longest-running festival on sustainability and green living. This year’s festival featured nearly 100 food exhibitors specializing in local, artisanal-crafted foods, vegan/vegetarian cuisine and organic food products, a sustainable beer and wine garden, and a vegan food court.

Note – I received a complimentary invite and Adam and I attended free of charge.

We tried a lot of tasty things, too many to catalog –

So instead of going through them all, I’ve chosen my top ten favorites.

My Top 10 Favorites from Green Fest

1. Coco Jack coconut opener works like a charm. You use the mallet to hammer in the jack and in just a few steps you have an opened Thai young coconut.

I opened this bad boy all by myself, without making a total mess.

2. Coconut Bliss is the best vegan ice cream we’ve ever tried. It is made of coconut milk and is free of soy, dairy, and gluten.

Adam was in love with his chocolate salted caramel and the mint galactica was the best mint chip, vegan or otherwise, I’ve ever tasted.

3. All of the vegan options from Daiya impressed us. Also dairy, soy, and gluten free. Adam thought the cheddar style slices tasted fairly “real.”

And he loved all of the pizzas.

The strawberry cream cheese style spread was identical in texture to the original. It would be great on sandwiches.

4. Dang Caramel Sea Salt Coconut Chips were crunchy and sweet.

I’ve been eyeballing up this item at Whole Foods for months, now it is actually going into my cart.

5. Explore Asian’s Mung Bean Fettuccine is gluten-free but the texture was perfect. Each 2 oz serving has 25 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber for 182 calories.

6. Gardein’s Mandarin Crispy Chick’n had nice texture as well. I thought this tasted better than traditional orange chicken. Each serving has 150 calories, 7 grams of protein, and no saturated fat.

7. Gnosis chocolate is made with {organic, vegan, kosher, ethically sourced} raw cacao.

This was one of those wonderful dark chocolates that magically has a milkiness to it. Even Adam, a proclaimed dark chocolate hater, enjoyed the Fleur de Sel.

8. Alive and Radiant’s Hibiscus and Pink Peppercorn Kale Krunch had a fun pink tinge.

The floral and spice balanced each other nicely and these were crunchy but didn’t shatter to bits when you tried to take a bite.

9. Nib Mor is a start-up from Long Island that uses organic, non-GMO, Fair Trade and gluten-free ingredients.

The 72% Dark Chocolate Mint bar was delightfully cool and minty. And I am practically going to die if I can’t get my hands on their drinking chocolate immediately.

10. Soom Tahini is a family business, started by the three Soom sisters.

This was the perfect note to end on because the Soom chocolate sesame butter was my favorite bite of the entire day!

This was basically a jar of liquid halvah – aka my heaven.

Apparently I’m into coconut, mint, and chocolate – not a big surprise!

18Apr2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Have A Hoppy Easter

by Emily

Who else has been hitting the chocolate eggs this week? Easter candy abounds! We are spending the holiday with my in-laws – all three of our nieces! – so I’m going radio-silent on the blog front this weekend to focus on family time. I’m planning on skipping my weekend post, I’m not even packing a camera, and I’ll be back with a weekly wrap-up next Friday.