Weekend Wrap-Up; Attack Of The Killer Sandwiches

by Emily

Did everyone have a great weekend? Mine was low-key but good; I got my hands on not one, but two of my top favorite sandwiches, so that was nice. The weekend following a three-day weekend always feels a bit too short! Assume many, many coffees went unphotographed.

breakfast

Iced coffee and I ate the top off of this cappuccino muffin.

I’m not really a muffin fan but I had been craving one like crazy all week and Friday seemed like a fun time to give in.

Peanut butter chocolate chip bar from GoMacro.

This came in my Urthbox but I would buy it again on my own. Eaten on the go because I spent most of Saturday helping a friend move.

lunch

I packed a nice yogurt bowl for work on Friday, with sliced plucot and a Jax banana coconut water on the side. The bananas foster yogurt was good, but a bit too sweet (note – if it’s too sweet for my tastes it is way too sweet for 90% of the adult population).

Plus brown sugar sea salt seaweed snacks and caramel apple Twizzlers for the afternoon.

Both snacks got two thumbs up.

Green juice from Foragers. Kale, spinach, cucumber, pineapple, and mint.

I’ve been wanting to go to Foragers for ages so it was good to try out the juice bar. They have so much fancy stuff, including this super-soft apple caramel I bought the husband.

I also scored myself a licorice.

snack

Chocolate-covered bears are always good.

I finally got to make the chia tea lemonade.

Quite nice! I will definitely do this again.

Orbit gum loses its flavor and get’s hard too chew very quickly, but it’s neat that my gum is on theme for the month.

I handed my girlfriend a piece of gum, right after I let her use my apple scented hand sanitizer, and she cracked up. I might be a bit obsessed.

dinner

We got take-out from Bareburger to go with our “The Office” marathoning. I ate baby carrots in the car so I could get some veggies in.

We sat at the bar while we waited. I got a peach julep slush. swoon

My sandwich was grilled chicken topped with smokehouse sauce, blue cheese, sautéed mushrooms, turkey bacon, and fried onions. {my favorite “burger”}

Ridiculous. It is the Big Blue Bacon with modifications to make it pork-free, if you want to try one for yourself.

Adam worked overnight on Saturday and I got home late so I went with my old-standby dinner.

Plus turkey jerky… for protein.

I’m not even embarrassed, popcorn’s a whole grain.

Sunday we went to Fletchers. {my favorite bbq}

I got the chopped chicken sandwich, which I smothered in pickled jalopeños and their amazing bbq sauce.

Plus banana puddin(g) for dessert.

I just wanted to taste the pudding – we were planning on stopping for pie afterwards – but it was so flipping good that I couldn’t stop eating until I basically licked the bowl clean!

25Aug2014

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?

18Aug2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Last Days Of Summer

by Emily

I don’t know how it got to be mid-August already, but we are doing everything we can to make the most of our last days of summer. This weekend we grilled, ate too many bowls of ice cream, and even got our toes wet going stand up paddle boarding!

SUP has been on my bucket list for years and I am so thrilled I finally got to try it out. I loved it! Amazingly, given my general level of grace and athleticism (level: zero), I didn’t fall once.

We had an absolute blast and the hour flew by. SUP is definitely something I want to do again. I can see how on-board yoga would be a ton of fun too.

Here are some of our sunny eats…

lunch

A pink grapefruit bonanza Friday at work. Chobani 2% Pink Grapefruit Yogurt with two sliced red plums and Polar Pink Grapefruit Seltzer on the side.

I ran out of time in the morning to also pack an afternoon snack and, duh, this wasn’t enough food. Enter candy at my desk.

I’m not a big black licorice person either, but I don’t know how anyone dislikes Good & Plenty.

A strangely satisfying sandwich.

I put two split hot dogs on a Bagel Thin (toasted with butter) with shredded light three-cheese blend and balsamic ketchup and this throw-together-the-last-of-the-fridge-contents-before-grocery-shopping sandwich ended up rocking my face off.

snacks

Friday’s at-work breakfast. <– I wake up too late for breakfast most weekend days so I couldn’t make this a category

An Amazing Grass Chocolate Superfood packet (from Urthbox) with vanilla soy milk and a Pink Crisps apple.

I was all about the coffee this weekend. I ended up calling Adam on the ride home from work practically crying while I stared at a McDonald’s coffee advertisement. This home-brewed Starbucks espresso blend with fat-free sweetened condensed milk hit the spot.

I did go to McDonald’s for a $1 iced coffee the next morning though. Meh. These guys were much better.

All shared with the husband, who is another raging java addict.

It is fair to say that I was also all about the ice cream.

I’m retty damn excited about that Horchata spiced Blue Moon as well! I had Strawberry Biscoff Sour Cream Gelato over warm double-chocolate sour cream brownies two nights in a row.

The brownies were just the Baker’s One Bowl recipe with a heaping cup each chocolate chips and low-fat sour cream stirred into the batter once it was mixed up.

To end the weekend, on Sunday we went big before we went home, with Pat Bing Soo from Tous le Jours.

Now I get why people rave about TlJ, that bowl was Adam’s favorite shaved ice yet. Milk and strawberry shaved ices topped with scm, vanilla ice cream, red bean, watermelon, mocha, strawberry, kiwi, and mango. Everything was delicious but we could barely make a dent in that monster!

dinner

Friday, we ate the last of our veggie, turkey, and marinara pasta bowls.

This meal is really a better fit for fall and you will definitely be seeing it again in the months to come.

On Saturday, we grilled.

Adam did an awesome job making dinner and then the three of us ate our meals outside (the boys also had steak).

My plate had grilled asparagus, zucchini, and turkey hot dogs, oven-roasted corn on the cob, a few sautéed mushrooms (topping for the steak), and Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce for dipping.

We marinated the asparagus in A-1 citrus marinade and tossed the squash in evoo before grilling. Everything came out fantastically. I can’t believe we lived in this apartment for more than a year before we fired up our grill!

And on Sunday, we went out in the city. Haru unveiled a new Times Square Location and a new seasonal cocktail this summer and they invited me in to check them both out.

The restaurant is down a side street and out of the tourist foot traffic of Times Square and the location is quite pretty.

The lighting was terrrrrrrible for photos – too yellow for my crappy camera and nonexistent photog skills – but good for eating, and the tables were nicely lit at 7pm. I hate eating a meal in the dark. The music was unobtrusive – mellow and pretty quiet. I hate dark rooms and loud noises because I basically like to dine like an 80-year-old.

Adam ordered hot sake and said it gave him a nice warm feeling.

I am not a sake girl, but I stuck my tongue in and did have to agree that it was smooth.

I, of course, went with the seasonal cocktail – The Red Lotus.

If you scroll down to the bottom of this post, I have the recipe to share with you!

Yum! The drink was not too sweet but it felt nice and juicy. It went down very easily. I adore lychees and am always sad that you don’t see them on more menus but now that I have the recipe I can make this drink at home.

Adam started with the miso soup.

He said it was what you would expect.

And we shared an order of the appetizer special – Lobster Gyoza.

Holy lobster meat, ~~Batman~~ Aquaman! The dumplings were bursting with lobster – this dish is a steal for just $10. The gyoza were a good size and they were easy to bite; I hate struggling with stringy foods and chopsticks. The flavors were very straightforward, which let the lobster shine.

The husband went with the sushi for dinner. 2 tuna / whitefish / yellowtail / albacore tuna /shrimp / tobiko / and a tuna roll. (I count an extra piece but I’m not sure what it was.)

His fish was fresh and flavorful. Adam said the size, texture, and temperature were all good. Usually you see yellow caviar instead of red so he was very excited about his tobiko roll.

I did the vegetarian sushi.

Avocado / eggplant / shitake mushroom / tofu / asparagus / oshinko / inari / and an avocado cucumber roll.

My plate looks simple, but this was the best veggie sushi I’ve had in years. The rice was nicely seasoned and the vegetables were all cooked beautifully. The mushroom had an almost smoky flavor and that bite of eggplant was the best tasting vegetable I’ve had at a restaurant this year!

All in all, we both agreed that the menu was straightforward but on point. Haru isn’t doing anything unique – there weren’t any specialty rolls that thrilled us – they are doing the basics incredibly well. We’ll be back!

Please note – I dined at Haru free of charge. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

The Red Lotus Seasonal Cocktail, for 1

2 oz. peach vodka
1 oz. cranberry juice
3 lychees
1 lime wedge
1 lychee for garnish

Muddle lychees and shake with vodka, juice and syrup. Squeeze in some lime, drop the wedge in and shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish the drink with lychee for soothing effect.

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

1Aug2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Greek Week

by Emily

“Greek Week” because half of the eats in this post are Greek yogurt and the other half are dinners infused with Greek flavors. It was a repetitious, but quite tasty, week.

No weekend post because I did all of my birthday excitement a week ahead of schedule. Adam had a giant, two-day test this week so we’ve been keeping things low-key. Unfortunately, I’ve also been feeling a bit under the weather. I actually stayed home from work on Monday with a migraine.

This week I kept my meals a bit smaller and planned in more snacks. This schedule worked well for me and is one I will probably continue next week too. The random snacks mostly came from my UrthBox {UB}, another new thing that I’m a fan of.

Minus many, many unpictured troughs of coffee or popcorn, here are most of my bites for the past week…

breakfasts/lunches

Coffee and cherries.

Coffee, Strawberry/Blueberry/Banana SMOOCH {UB}, and a Don’t Go Nuts Gorilla Power Bar.

The bar was insane, it tasted like freaking coffee cake!

Chobani 4% plain with maple syrup and chopped red plum and dapple plucot.

I tried the yogurt because it was a limited edition but I think I’m definitely a 0 – 2% girl; fuller fat dairy always tastes a little sour to me.

Fairway soursop yogurt with blueberries and roasted coconut and a Jax soursop coconut water.

Another new item, Chobani Banana Maple with Steel Cut Oats plus blueberries.

Not a fan. I was expecting everything to be blended into a homogenous product but this was (strangely thin) yogurt with random clumps of soggy oats.

At least pink grapefruit – with more plum and plucot – is always delicious.

On the only non-yogurt day, I made myself a “taco salad” from the cafeteria. Romaine with black olives, red peppers, cheddar and pepperjack cheese cubes, avocado, and tons of salsa.

Yeah, no. The avocado was frozen (why on earth would you ever freeze avocado??!) and what I assumed to be salsa was actually roasted red pepper. Yuck city.

snacks

Chameleon Cold Brew is (briefly) back in our life! We carted a bottle home from Whole Foods in Philadelphia.

Served iced with chocolate and skim milk.

CCB is my favorite cold brew ever. <– I looked up the website to link toin this post and saw that they now make mocha and vanilla varieties and I’m basically dying

Thai coconut curry popcorn {UB}.

Crème Brulee hard candies from Chinatown.

So good. They have a roasty, coffee-like flavor that is wonderful.

TJ’s turkey jerky with Mary’s Gone Crackers Everything Pretzels.

Those pretzels are downright addictive, perfectly salty with great crunch.

dinners

Easy, vegan pasta bowls.

Whole-wheat rotini with broccoli, roasted zucchini, and tons of marinara sauce.

Greek nachos! I baked pita chips topped with three-cheese blend, crumbled fat-free feta, tomato, red, onion, and chickpeas that I tossed with lemon juice, evoo, and oregano.

This meal was easy but super fun.

And we took the leftovers on a picnic to Corona Park the next day.

We tossed together the leftover red onion, tomato, chickpeas, and cheese with TJ’s Greek dressing, capers, cucumber, and spinach to make a tasty Greek salad.

Everything was yummy and we had a wonderful time on our picnic, but we did totally end up going to Panera for food later that evening!

Spicy shrimp pasta bowls.

This recipe was one of my favorites growing up, but I don’t think mine tasted as good as my mom’s does.

***Whoops! If anyone decides to try this recipe – I meant to write 4 SERVINGS not cups of pasta.

You just toss everything together in a baking dish, cook, and serve on top of noodles with a little parmesan. I also tossed a bunch of chopped spinach in with our bowls.

Adam loved it, thanks, Mom!

When was the last time you went on a picnic?

23Jul2014

Weekend Wrap-Up, Fun In Philly

by Emily

My 29th birthday is tomorrow and the husband and I celebrated a weekend early with a trip to Philadelphia.

It was a quick visit, we drove in on Saturday and out on Sunday, but it ended up being one of the best weekends we’ve had in years! It was great to have two full days to moon at each other. We spent pretty much every second walking and/or eating <– our two favorite things!

I didn’t take many site-seeing photos, but I had to snap some pictures of the beautiful mosaics at the Magic Gardens.

We loved our last visit to Philly, so we repeated a lot of the same stops. We even stayed at the same (perfectly located) hotel.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the best luck with orders at our restaurant meals. I actually had to make a second stop to eat after both dinner and lunch. Thankfully, our fabulous bites in between meals more than made up for the less good dishes. I’ll write this post from worst to best.

Supper was near the Magic Gardens and the menu looked good, so we went there for {Sunday brunch}. I had a glass of sangria and was a little bit tipsy for the drive home!

Sangria Blanca – seasonal sangria made with sauvignon blanc, cantaloupe, honey dew, cucumber, lemon, limoncello, and honey mint simple syrup over ice topped with club soda.

We shared a deviled egg flight that was only so-so.

And my chicken salad sandwich sounded good in theory, but was totally flavorless. “Pastrami” Chicken Salad Sandwich – toasted grain bread, 1000 island dressing, caraway slaw, pickles / served with duck fat fries.

Those were so not duck fat fries! I ate a few bites, then got Whole Foods hot bar for the road. Adam loved his red velvet pancakes though.

I was so excited to get the vegetarian cheese steak from Carmen’s in Reading Terminal for {lunch on Saturday}.

I’ve been dreaming about this sandwich ever since I had it back in 2011.

It was ok, but sadly not as good as I remembered. The last time they charred the seitan more.

{Dinner} at FARMiCia has become a Philadelphia tradition for me.

I get the croquettes every time, but I just wasn’t a fan of this version.

Why would you serve corn and rice balls on top of more corn?! Carb City. The best thing about the fall version of dish is the buttery spinach bed.

The rest of the meal was wonderful though. Adam and I split a cheese plate to start.

The salty sheep’s milk cheese went perfectly with the sweet apple chutney.

I had a very refreshing watermelon mojito.

And we finished with cream cheese ice cream that was mind-blowing.

Gah! I could not stop swooning over that ice cream. This restaurant would have been worth the stop for dessert alone.

We stopped in at an adorable bar near our hotel on the way to dinner to split a flight of beer.

And then stopped back afterwards for nightcaps.

Then I iced my knees and ate bar food in bed and all was right with the world.

Our yummiest tastes were the things we ate while we walked around. Like the watermelon, spinach, and kale juice from Sip N Glo.

This was 80% fruit and normally I would be mad that it wasn’t more greens-based but you can’t complain about fresh watermelon juice.

A great iced cup from Old City Coffee.

And a Vietnamese coffee from The Last Drop.

Ending on a sweet note, a S’mores Bar from Flying Monkey Bakery.

S’mores with sprinkles! This tasted like honey and was ridiculous good. Adam and I both thought it was the best thing we ate all weekend.

22Jul2014

Last Week’s Late Wrap-Up

by Emily

I’ve been pretty busy and I’m running a bit behind, but I ate some really yummy things last week so I didn’t want to skip the post. Here are some faves from last Monday through Friday…

break the fast

A purple smoothie.

Frozen blueberries and strawberries with maple syrup and vanilla almond milk.

Bar/fruit/coffee day 1.

Dark Chocolate Coconut Balance Bar, a Pink Lady apple, and iced coffee from Starbucks. I poured a splash of half and half into my coffee by accident last week and it ended up tasting so yummy that now it’s turned into a bad habit!

Day 2.

Caramel Almond & Sea Salt KIND Bar {former freebie}, a very juicy nectarine, and cafeteria coffee with skim milk and a splash of half and half.

ladies who lunch

Cafeteria meal.

Salad with broccoli, black-eyed peas, cheddar, balsamic, and a scoop of egg salad. Plus fries dipped in honey mustard on the side.

Sandwich.

Leftover bbq chicken on a Bagel Thin. With bread and butter pickles, chips, and cherries.

Yogurt.

Chobani 2% Pink Grapefruit Greek Yogurt with KIND Raspberry Clusters with Chia Seeds {former freebie} and cherries on the side. The yogurt was a limited edition that needs to become part of the permanent line-up. It was freaking incredible, sweet and tangy with little pieces of citrus spread throughout. I must find the watermelon variety.

snack attack

Chocolate-covered pretzels from Wegman’s.

I brought Adam some back from my Buffalo trip and made the mistake of tasting “just one.” Those things are addictive! It’s a good thing I didn’t do a taste-test in the store or I would have brought home pounds of them.

Trader Joe’s makes the best turkey jerky I’ve ever tasted.

I don’t know how the keep the texture sooooo soft.

Chocolate covered strawberry floats! Chocolate frozen yogurt in strawberry Crush.

We thought we were so clever with these.

Campfire milkshake from Ralph’s Ice.

It was insane how much this tasted like a toasted marshmallow. It was pretty intense though, there is no way I could have finished more than half of this.

Baby spinach salad.

With sweet and spicy pecans, dried blueberries, shredded carrot, evoo, honey, and lavender salt. My best salad combo to date.

dining on dinner

Salad atop salad.

The base was baby spinach with dried blueberries, sweet and spicy pecans, evoo, honey, and truffle salt.

Topped with pulled bbq chicken (and a pile of salt and vinegar chips in the back). Just boneless, skinless breasts cooked in the crockpot, shredded, and tossed with TJ’s Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce.

The sauce was wonderful, very sweet and a little spicy.

Pasta that was simple but good.

Whole-wheat rotini with browned mushrooms, ground turkey (sautéed with tons of garlic and dried oregano), frozen spinach, low-fat sour cream, and a can of tomato sauce.

This was one of those meals that seemed like it would need more flavor but then you kept eating until you were furiously scraping the bottom of the bowl.

National Thai with a girlfriend. I got spicy noodles with veggies. They were super chewy, had a good variety of vegetables, and were actually spicy; I’m pretty sure National has become my favorite Thai spot in the city.

Afterwards we went out in search of mojitos.

We ended up finding passable mango mojitos at a tiny Mexican spot in Park Slope. Their menu also mentioned watermelon daiquiris, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be going back again this Friday.

what’s happening

I was getting into such a great groove with my workouts, but then I got excited and upped the length of my runs too quickly. My right knee was horrifically swollen and the husband told me to stay out of the gym until the inflammation went down. Boo!!! I took a week completely off from exercise (minus a few long walks this weekend) and popped anti-inflammatories and iced like crazy. I’m going to start back in with short, easy workouts this week and continue to ice regularly. I’m going a little stir-crazy so please cross your fingers for me!

On a more positive note, I just finished reading Fault Lines by Nancy Huston and I’m recommending it to pretty much everyone.

It’s a story about a family and each section of the book is told from the perspective of a different generation. Huston did a great job of building the story in layers. The parts of the story that were told through the lens of childhood were wonderfully done.

It is my 29th birthday this Thursday. We can’t fit in any celebrating this week so Adam and I took a quick trip to Philadelphia this past weekend. I gave that its own post because this one was getting too long, but we had a wonderful time.

Have you spotted the new Chobani varieties in your area yet? Has anyone tasted watermelon??

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?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: greens

Weekend Wrap-Up; Attack Of The Killer Sandwiches

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Weekend Wrap-Up; Five Favorites

Weekend Wrap-Up; Last Days Of Summer

lunch

snacks

dinner

Please note – I dined at Haru free of charge. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

Five Favorites For Friday

Weekly Wrap-Up; Greek Week

breakfasts/lunches

snacks

dinners

Weekend Wrap-Up, Fun In Philly

Last Week’s Late Wrap-Up

break the fast

ladies who lunch

snack attack

dining on dinner

what’s happening

Weekly Wrap-Up; Play It Again, Sam!

breakfast

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.

lunch

snack

dinner