Weekend Wrap-Up; Snoozy Saturday

My predicted “hours in the kitchen” did not end up coming to fruition this weekend.  Instead, I got the tail end of Adam’s cold and spent almost all of Saturday and Sunday in bed.  Saturday I got up twice to pee and once to eat a huge bowl of cereal and other than that I was under the covers until the husband got home for dinner!  I don’t have a ton to share in this post, but at least I got to snuggle with Webster!

Dinner from the Trader Joe’s frozen aisle.

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Pad See Ew with veggies and tofu.

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DSC08805And frozen asparagus cooked with lime juice and honey roasted almonds.

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The asparagus was pretty mushy, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the noodles.  Sidenote – I impulse bought TJ’s “Inner Peas” at the store this weekend and was impressed with them as well.

My very last peppermint divinity candy.

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I’m sure my parents won’t mind sending me more next December, right guys??

Sushi take-out from Kisso on Saturday.

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I got the vegetarian special,

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and an order of vegetable goyza.

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The dumplings were great.  I shared with Adam because they reminded me of the dumplings we were obsessed with from Wegman’s hot bar.  Then we shared a bag of Juicy Bears 🙂

Sunday I made it out of bed and off to the store – with very necessary pit stops to shower and caffeinate – so I could make dinner at home.  My Turkey Reuben Mac and Cheese.

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I subbed in Orecchiette for macaroni and added broccoli and truffle salt.

We had a round of creamy pink grapefruit spritzers for drinks/dessert.

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Yum!

Outside of your college years, when is the latest you’ve ever slept in?

Weekend Wrap-Up; Equations With Pie

Happy Monday, all!  Did everyone else enjoy Pi Day on Friday (March 14 –>  3/14  –>  3.14)?  People usually celebrate the date by eating pie and/or pizza{pie}.  We went with the sweet variety, though now that I think about it we had pizza over the weekend too.

In random order, here are the eats I have to share…

lunch

Friday at work.

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A pepperoni and cheese snack box,

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and a GT’s Synergy Grape Chia Kombucha.

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We got lunch at Noodle & Co. while running errands on Saturday.

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DSC08725I got the Japanese pan noodles – caramelized udon noodles in a sweet soy sauce, broccoli, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, Asian sprouts, black sesame and cilantro.

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I paid for extra veggies, which got me a whopping 3 tiny pieces of broccoli.  We were not impressed.

dinner

Easy dinner on Friday to leave room for pie.

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Eggs scrambled with kale and corn.

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Pizza on Saturday.  My half was topped with mushroom.

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I got my veggies in the form of Sweet Greens.

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Sunday was Chipotle take-out.

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I planned on saving half of my meal for Adam (he was working the night shift) but I ended up eating every single bite of rice bowl and chips!

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It doesn’t look like much, but my “meat” was sofritas – shredded tofu braised with chiles, poblanos, and spices – and it was delicious.

brunch

Au Bon Pain debuted a new seasonal Spring Menu on March 10th and they sent me a gift certificate so I could review their newest bakery item.  – please note: I was able to sample the new items free of charge.  I was not provided further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own. –

Adam and I decided to do a late Sunday morning brunch.

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Coffee – a skim, iced Caffé Viennese – and a Sweet Cheese CroisBun, aka their new croissant and sweet bun hybrid.

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The outside was wonderfully flakey and sweet but the inside was what really shined.  The sweet cheese was sooooo moist – the main reason I usually don’t eat Danish is because they tend to get dried out, but this was amazing.  There was a sweet cheese and strawberry variety that looked yummy too.

I also got a Sesame Ginger Chicken Salad.

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DSC08739Very good as well.  The seasoning on the chicken provided so much flavor.  Other options from the new menu include a Chicken Wasabi Wrap and Black Currant Iced Tea that I quite want to try.

snackage

Pi Day celebration from Four & Twenty Blackbirds.

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DSC08678I got our slices to-go but the space was super adorable and I am dying to go back.

Oatmeal black bottom – I didn’t love the texture of the oats within the pie but Adam was a big fan –

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Salted honey – custard with the perfect balance of salt and sweet –

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Lemon chess – my favorite variety; packed with pucker –

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We were both very pleased.  And we sat on the couch, holding hands, eating pie, and watching tv, so it was pretty much the best night ever.

And on Saturday I put the leftover lemon chess pie in vanilla bean Greek yogurt.

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Perfection.

On Sunday, a girlfriend and I went to a gelato making class.

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DSC08751DSC08753We came home with 4 pints each.

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The class was fun, but I’m honestly not that thrilled with the taste/quality of my pints.  At least we went on a Groupon.

The highlight of my weekend – other than time with the husband, obvs – was getting my hands on this:

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Diet cherry coke slurpee, for the win!  It tasted like dreams.  Even my friend, who’s not an addict like I am, said it was tasty.

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Giveaway Winner And Another Giveaway!

Hey there!  First things first, the winner of my Sandwich, Bagel, and Pocket Thins giveaway is – #30, laurajacobson.  {if you’re only here for the next giveaway keep scrolling to the bottom of this post!}

I haven’t talked much about work beyond posting some pictures of my office, so I thought I’d share a few updates:

a) Most of my coworkers love my purple hair.  Everyone has said that they wouldn’t have expected me to be the type of person to get a crazy color, which is funny because over the past decade I’ve gone purple or pink (or one really unfortunate shade of maroon) several times.

b) As of this week I’m going to be covering inpatient floors on Tuesdays.  I’ve been enjoying my job but it is very exciting to get back into acute care!  My heart belongs to tube feeds.  And since I’m just going where I’m needed, I’ll be able to get exposure to a little bit of everything.

c) It finally happened… one of my former students came into the clinic!!!  I saw her name on my list but didn’t put two and two together until she was standing in front of my door for nutrition counseling.  We both spent the first 10 minutes of our time reminiscing and freaking out. It was really fun to see how grown-up she was.

Now onto the food, in reverse. I had many really amazing new things this week and you’re in for a lot of gushing; you’ve been warned…

dinner

Fancy pasta.

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Whole wheat noodles, sautéed shrimp, and torn kale tossed with lemon, parmesan, and fat-free half & half.

A total fail.

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This was my attempt at okra masala, sans recipe.

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Things were going well until I added a 2nd round of dried herbs and spices, rendering the dish inedible.  I ate a bag of gummi bears for dinner instead.

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Plus my kale chips.

In celebration of upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, Fairway contacted me to see if I would like to try* their house-baked beer bread.  Yes, please!

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The bread is made with NY local Blue Point Brewing Co. Hoptical Illusion IPA.

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The bread was delicious – between sandwiches and toasted slices with cheese melted on top we finished the entire thing in two days! – but even more magical was what happened when I went to go pick it up.  Apparently I had never been inside a Fairway before, because, holy foodie heaven, you guys, I have found my new favorite grocery store.  Fairway was better than TJ’s, Whole Foods, and even {gasp!} Wegman’s.  The store was impeccably clean, the produce was the best I’ve seen all winter, and I spotted at least five of the products I’ve been trolling other stores for over the past six months.  There was even a hot bar!  I don’t think I saw any store brands so my wallet won’t let me shop their exclusively but I am very jazzed to add it to my grocery rotation!

As for the bread, I decided to stay on theme and make turkey reubens.

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Beer bread, fresh sauerkraut, 1000 island dressing, and Applegate Farms Herb Turkey Breast and Emmentaler Sliced Swiss.

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For our green on the side we did baby kale sautéed with dried blueberries and honey roasted almonds.

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Such a good combo, the berries took it over the top.

And Thursday I was too lazy to make dinner soIatepopcornwhilewatchingtv,theend.

snacks

Recently Cow Wow reached out to me about trying* their cereal milk.

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Cow Wow is low-fat, kosher, gluten-free, all-natural and organic.  They sent me three flavors in an adorable little lunch box.

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DSC08532Adam and I split a Fruity Trudy Organic Low-fat Milk one night as a snack.

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The flavor was spot-on for milk from the bottom of a bowl of fruity cereal.  I hate fruity cereal, so it was a little too spot-on for me, but Adam liked it.  I’ll talk about the other flavors lower in this post, but to enter to win a lunchbox of your own just scroll to the end of this post!

A super sundae.

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Dannon Café Latte Frozen Greek Yogurt – the flavor was wonderful but the texture had the hollowness that low-fat ice creams tend to have –

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topped with candied pecans and Spoonable Flowery Lavender Caramel Sauce.

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Beer bread with cheese.

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I didn’t even use the oven that time.  I microwaved it.  Like an animal.

And Blackberry Oikos with the last of the pecans.

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lunch

Lunches vacillated between freaking awesome and very weak.  Monday was a strong showing.

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An Everything Bagel Thin with Applegate Farms Roasted Turkey, a fantastic crunchy cheddar from TJ’s, and banana peppers.

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DSC08560Plus a granny smith with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

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Tuesday I bought a salad from the cafeteria and didn’t take a picture.

Wednesday was insane and I ended up not having time for my packed lunch.  Instead I just drank this Arriba Horchata Energy Drink.

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I poured it over ice and it was ridiculous good.

Thursday I ate Wednesday’s lunch.

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A Cara Cara.

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And a Fage Coffee Fruyo.

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This yogurt is my new favorite.  It blows every other coffee variety out of the water!  This was not enough food though (I forgot my other bag of snacks at home) and I ended up eating candy at my desk all afternoon.  Boo.

breakfast

Last Friday I finally got to try the new vanilla macchiato from Starbucks.

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It was flipping fabulous and I’ve had one almost every day since.

Random sidenote – Now what I really need to try is this:

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I want it so bad I can practically taste it but none of the locations I’ve been to have had it frozen.  I’m a woman obsessed.

A set of cinnamon.

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Cinnamon Crunch Somersaults.

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And a Cinny Minny Cow Wow.

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Again, the flavor was a perfect match to the bottom of the cereal bowl.  And I do like cinnamon cereal so I was a fan.

A ridiculously fantastic breakfast sandwich.

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An Everything Bagel Thin with sautéed kale, fancy cheddar, roasted turkey, and a fried egg.

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It was tasty, filling, and it didn’t even take me all that long to make.

Cereal and milk cereal milk and fruit.

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A great pear – TJ’s has been killing it with the bosc and d’anjou pears lately.

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And my last flavor of Cow Wow.

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The fun of chocolate but not too sweet for breakfast.  Chocolate Chip Cathy was my favorite flavor by far.  Though they also have a marshmallow flavor and if I can ever get my hands on it I’m pretty sure it will win my affection.

*both the bread and the cereal milk were sent to me free of charge.  I was not provided further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

the giveaway

To enter to win your own lunchbox packed with three flavors of Cow Wow, simply leave a comment on this post by 8 pm EST on Monday, March 17th.

***Update – #10, latanya, was the winner.

Weekly Wrap-Up; Under / The Weather / Is Still Too Cold

If you couldn’t guess from the title, my complaints this week are: a) it’s too cold outside and b) I’ve caught a cold.  A.1 would be holy plastic, Batman, I’ve eaten a lot of packaged foods this week!

I’ve been eating {tons of junk} but not photographing so this will be a quick recap.  Thankfully speed helps keep my complaining in check!

breakfast

And I started my Monday off so well.

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Smoothie  = Coco Café Vanilla Coconut Water Latte, frozen banana, frozen blueberries, and a scoop of peanut butter.

Tuesday went downhill.

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Bagel with {tons of} cream cheese from a truck on my way to work.

And this morning I admitted defeat and got a giant latte with an extra shot of espresso.  Sidenote – I want to try the vanilla macchiato at Starbucks ASAP.

lunch

Monday.

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GoPicnic Box.

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And a Cara Cara.

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Readers who live within a feasible distance of Trader Joe’s – go get thee a bag of Cara Cara Oranges this very minute!  They are sweet, seedless, and rocking my face off.

Tuesday.

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An herb and garlic tuna packet scooped with TJ’s popped chips.

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With more Cara Cara love.

Wednesday I felt so bad I actually called into work.  I slept for most of the day and then hit the bed hard again by 10 pm that night.  Boo.

Thursday.

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A ranch tuna packet stirred into a mac and cheese cup.

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DSC08475Tuna was good, the macaroni was disgusting.  The Cara Cara was fantastic, obviously.

junk

Please note – this post only shows a small sampling of the truly massive amount of junk I’ve been eating lately.  Speaking of which… I have these {ridiculously delicious, like seriously out of control good} pretzel bites on the train at least twice a week.

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That habit needs to die, immediately.

I’ve also developed a pretty hardcore Good & Plenty obsession this week.

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As far as candy goes, this is hardly the worst because you get a very satisfying serving for 180 calories and no fat.  But as far as being a healthy adult goes, I need to stop eating so much freaking candy.

Chocolate covered pretzels are also candy.

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I actually ate these for dinner one night, but that was too depressing so I put them under this category instead.  I am clearly struggling with being a grown-up during the weeks when Adam’s working nights and I’m left to my own devices.

dinner

I ate cereal (and/or candy) for dinner most nights this week but did get in two nights of people food.  Like leftover pizza.

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Topped with chicken, caramelized onions, and bbq sauce.

And last night Adam had business in the city so he swung by Brooklyn to pick me up from work for Date Night!  Swoon!!  We got in a freezing but enjoyable 2 mile walk, stopping along the way to split a green juice.

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Kale/collards/romaine/cucumber/celery/parsley/green apple/lime.

Then we had a wonderful dinner at Calexico.

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DSC08484We wandered into it by chance after our first choice for dinner didn’t work out and I am so glad that we found it.  We can’t wait to go back for margaritas and nachos.

For dinner last night, I did the black bean taco – guacamole, pico de gallo, cotija cheese, and “crack sauce.”

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Plus the veggie special – fried brussels sprouts in chili and peanut salsa.

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The food was fresh, inventive, and perfectly seasoned.  I know my pictures were dark and blurry, but I was afraid if I didn’t blog this meal I would forget about it and I definitely want to remember this place.  Calexico will be a repeat spot!

What bad habit do you need to start being more of a grown-up about?

Weekend Wrap-Up; Purple Hair Don’t Care

It’s been a fun weekend.  On Saturday I did this again –

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Welcome back, purple hair, I’d missed you.

Things have been pretty low-key since I last posted.  Adam has an insane schedule for the next month and I was trying to soak up as much time with him as I could.

Plus we were pretty productive – we spent Saturday buying him 2 of the 3 pairs of shoes he desperately needs (new running shoes, comfortable shoes for the hospital, and days off shoes).  We even made a trip to the gym.  I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill, doing some half-hearted running intervals and incline walking.  I can’t go back for a few days – I can’t wash my hair until the color sets so I don’t want to sweat – but it was a good start.

Here is some of what I did on the food front…

breakfast

Iced Americano with fat-free chocolate milk.

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Still obsessed.

Baked oatmeal with maple and pecans for Sunday brunch.

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I loosely followed this recipe.  I cut back on the sugar and used candied pecans.

lunch

Thursday I had packed a lunch, but then when I went into the cafeteria to buy a drink the special called to me.

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My baked potato with cheese sauce, broccoli, onions, and pickled jalopeños was delicious.  Not as filling as I’d hoped though, I ended up buying a snack later that afternoon.

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Friday my abandoned lunch from the day before was already in my office.

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Quaker Summer Berry Oatmeal,

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topped with Big Slice Cinnamon French Toast Kettle Cooked Apples.

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The apples were delicious, their texture was perfect.  I went to Target that very day to buy more.  Coincidentally, the oat bowls were on sale and I got more of those too.

snacks

Iced coffee from Café Dada.

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Yum x infinity.  I salivate when I think about this coffee.

Adam and I split a rocky nut Snickers.

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The marshmallow layer is crazy.

More sugar.

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We are both completely obsessed with these Juicy Bears.  They are so juicy!

dinner

A fancy Friday dinner.

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Salad – arugula with yogurt blue cheese dressing, shredded carrot, and Emmy’s Blueberry Cashew Super Cereal.

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With groats, raisins, cashews, and dried blueberries the cereal really seems like more of a salad topper anyway.  Plus a reject piece of too small chicken from our new favorite recipe.

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Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken, serves 2 – 4

4 oz light feta cheese

  • 2 Tbsp capers
  • 10 queen sized pimento-stuffed green olives
  • medium lemon, juiced and zest (reserve both juice and zest)
  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 Tbsp smoked brown sugar
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.  Prepare a baking dish with cooking spray.
  2. Place feta, capers, olives, and lemon zest into the bowl of your food processor.  Pulse until well-combined and no large chunks remain.
  3. Using a serrated knife, slice into the side of each chicken breast until you are a quarter-inch from the other side.  Basically you want to be able to open the breasts like little books.
  4. Open the chicken breasts and place into the baking dish.  Spread filling mixture onto one side of each breast, then close the “books.”  Sprinkle brown sugar on top of the chicken, then drizzle with lemon.
  5. Place baking dish into the oven and bake 40 – 45 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

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Saturday’s dinner was less exciting.  More salad.

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Arugula with carrots, blue cheese, sliced green olives, crumbled feta, and flax.

Plus eggs cooked with pizza sauce, more arugula and olives, and shredded Parmesan.

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The olives seemed like a really good idea but in the end their juiciness was not appreciated in the eggs.

Last night I ate pizza for dinner.

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Thank you, cheese, for being you!

Have you ever dyed your hair a crazy color?

Weekend Wrap-Up; Beers In Brooklyn

‘Twas a super weekend, even if I didn’t watch a single second of a certain football game.  We don’t have a cable hook-up!  I would like to see if I can find the commercials somewhere online though.

My meals this weekend were the like Seahawks, unparalleled winners.  Here’s some of what we ate…

lunch at work on Friday

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A Tart Cherry Noosa.

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An Asian pear.

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And a flourless chocolate chip almond butter cookie.

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I made the cookies for Adam but they were so good that I ended up stealing another one when I got home that afternoon!  This recipe, but with Vanilla Bean + Espresso Barney Butter and half as many chocolate chips.

sweets and snacks

Cosmos.

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With Cascade Ice Cocktail Mixer, a splash of oj, and vodka.

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The fancy one was actually Adam’s, mine had ice and a straw.

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But mine ended up being his too in the end; I am just not a cranberry person.

A serving of Red Velvet M&M’s (new flavor!).

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They are very chocolate-y and also very headache-inducing.

A kid’s double scoop at Ample Hills Creamery on our date night.  I had Sweet as Honey on the bottom – Homemade honeycomb candy (made with honey from bees at Queens County Farm) in a sweet cream ice cream – and Gather ‘Round the Campfire on top – Toasted marshmallow ice cream with chocolate-covered graham cracker.

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I love this place!  The flavors were perfect.  I also tried a taste of the Peppermint Pattie and pretty much died.

cereal and milk {cereal and milk}

It’s back!

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I know the box says “new!” but the raisin Frosted Mini Wheats were my number one favorite as a child.  Also the only “sugar cereal” I can recall ever having in the house growing up.

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With Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk and blueberries.

a recipe revisit

I wanted to remake my Berry Better Than Spaghetti recipe so I could reshoot the photos (not that the new ones are all that great!).

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I ended up making a few tweaks to the recipe too.  It turned out fantastic!

coffee love

Medium non-fat cinnamon brown sugar latte at Dunkin Donuts.

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I have been loving these lately but this one was too sweet.  Speaking of… has anyone tried the cookie dough or brownie batter donuts at DD yet?  I am seriously debating buying one.

Short nonfat caramel macchiato from Starbucks on errands.

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Our Trader Joe’s is always a madhouse and I love it when the husband is available to wrangle the cart for me because it means I can have coffee while I shop.

Iced coffee with almond milk from Café Dada.

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Love, love, love, love, love.  There is just no beating Blue Bottle.

brunch in SoHo

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A girlfriend and I met up at Penelope on Sunday.

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I had the Andrey’s Egg Sandwich – Scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and peppers, topped with grilled chorizo fakin’ bacon and sun-dried tomato pesto on a fresh-baked croissant.  It was a strange order for me – I usually go with sunny side up eggs or something sweet – but very good.

beers in Brooklyn

Adam had the best date on Saturday, and I’m not just saying that because he got me tipsy!  I managed to find my top 2 favorite beers!  For reference, here’s my list –

Emily’s All-Time Favorite Beers Ranking

{1} Genesee Cream Ale

{2} Left Hand Milk Stout

{3} Heineken Light

{4} Red Stripe

{5} Abita Strawberry

{6} 21st Amendment Brewery Hell or High Watermelon

We started at Bierkraft, where I tried a Joe Mama’s Milk from Keegan Ales.

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I couldn’t taste the coffee at all, but this was nice and smooth.

Then we headed down to Dinosaur BBQ,

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where we found ($3) cans of GCA!

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I also had a Left Hand Milk Stout with my dinner.

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So much beer – for me – but it was all so good!

Dinosaur BBQ is actually from Upstate.  They make our favorite bbq sauce but we never had a chance to visit the restaurant while we were in Buffalo.  I was thrilled that a location popped up in our old Brooklyn neighborhood.

Adam and I split a sampler platter to start.

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Shrimp boil, chicken wing, deviled egg, and a fried green tomato.

I got a pulled chicken melt as my meal.  BBQ, caramelized onion, poblano peppers, and melted cheddar.

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I skipped my bun and cheese but quite enjoyed the chicken.  This definitely wasn’t the best barbecue we’ve ever had, but it wasn’t bad either.  And we would go back for the beer menu alone.

What are your top favorite beers?  Do you tend towards high or low ABV?

Three Day Weekend Wrap-Up

My first long weekend as a worker bee was fabulous.  Friday through Monday were packed with fun (and food!).  Adam and I managed to spend a ton of time together.  <– heavenly  Here’s some of what we ate…

breakfasts

Breakfast in Park Slope with Adam and a girlfriend.

DSC07434I got poached eggs with toast, hash browns, turkey bacon, and a mimosa.

DSC07435Sadly our meals were all slightly burned and boring.  Win some lose some.  The iced coffee we got from Cafe Dada afterwards was a total win.

DSC07440They have almond milk on their milk bar!

Speaking of almond milk, that’s what I put in my homemade iced coffee, cold pressed for the win.

DSC07491Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.  Plus some maple syrup.

DSC07493And almond milk went in my cereal too – Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes with bunches of blueberries.

DSC07494That cereal has stayed my favorite for months.

Another day another coffee.  This time with a banana and fudge cereal bar.

DSC07475The bar was de-lish.  I am eagerly looking forward to microwaving one and eating it warm.

lunches

Friday’s lunch at the office.

DSC07417Leftover mac with sardines and broccoli.

DSC07423And a Wallaby low-fat Greek yogurt with strawberry.

DSC07420Hot bar date at Whole Foods in SoHo.

DSC07505I choose 2 vegan dumplings, a scoop of macaroni and cheese, and made a salad with mixed greens, balsamic, olives, and blue cheese.

Plus Adam and I split a Raspberry Chia Kombucha.

DSC07509dinners

It’s been crazy cold in our area recently and we’ve both been craving soup.  So I whipped up an Asian-inspired batch of the hot stuff.  With a creamy soft-boiled egg cracked on top.

DSC07464It was so good I even recorded the recipe.

DSC07460Asian-Inspired Soup; serves 2

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 fresh jalepeños, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup sliced green onions
  • 5 oz bok choy, sliced lengthwise in quarters
  • 1/4 tsp all spice
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch each salt and pepper
  • 3 cups broth
  • 3 oz stir-fry noodles
  • {Optional toppings} Sriracha, sliced green onions, soft-boiled eggs
  1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add jalepeños, green onions, and bok choy to oil and cook until softened, 3 – 5 minutes.
  2. Add all spice, cloves, cinnamon, salt and pepper to vegetables and stir to combine.
  3. Add broth to pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
  4. When the broth has reached a boil, add noodles to pot and reduce heat to bring the soup to a simmer.  Continue to simmer until noodles are softened, 3 – 5 minutes.
  5. Serve and top as desired.

DSC07467Another night we went all fancy (sort of) with polenta (sort of) stacks.

DSC07477Layers 1, 3, and 5 were sliced polenta baked with dried basil and mozzarella.  Layers 2 and 4 were lean ground turkey sautéed with evoo, thinly sliced garlic, thinly sliced turkey pepperoni, and marinara sauce.

DSC07484The pepperoni totally made it.  Roasted broccoli on the side.

DSC07481And the last night of the weekend we did take-out from Yesterday’s Diner.

DSC07514Adam and I split a turkey burger with mozzarella and french fries.  We love their turkey burgers.  And it helps that they send a juicy pickle and blue cheese dressing for dipping.

snackage

This section is full of love!  Like this snack plate of super sharp cheese with Honeycrisp apple.

DSC07431Haribo Juicy Gold Bears became my favorite gummi.

DSC07446DSC07442The texture is perfect – chewy and firm with no teeth sticking – and they are sooooo juicy.

The rest of the treats are all mint based, since I’m having a total love affair with the frosty flavor lately.  The best froyo ever.

DSC07470Mint with chocolate crunch, yogurt chips, and hot fudge.

A fabulous first trip to Emack and Bolio’s with Adam.

DSC07498He got ice cream that he deemed the best he’s ever had and I went with a scoop of grasshopper pie frozen yogurt.

DSC07501We also got a chocolate egg cream that was the best we’ve ever had.  We want to go back immediately.

Finally, a vegan mint cream cookie sandwich from Babycakes.

DSC07511Are you a mint fanatic too or is it too toothpastey for you?

Weekly Wrap-Up; One Day Late

Usually I get these posts up by Friday, but that implies that I was moderately functional on Thursday night.  This week, I was not.  In spite of being insanely tired all week (I got into a bad sleep habit pattern that snowballed), I did do pretty well on the food front – breakfasts most days, fancy-feeling dinners, the works.

work

Speaking of work…  It’s going well.  I feel like I am fully settled into my position.  I am definitely missing the inpatient setting a lot, but I do feel like I’m getting to make a positive impact.  Part of the reason I’m so passionate about pediatrics (my long-term career goals center around nutrition support  and pediatrics) is because nutrition is so crucial during periods of growth.  Well, working with prenatal patients means I’m counseling adults who are growing{babies!}.  My clinic sees a great variety of clients; among other things, I’ve gotten to deal with anemia, diabetes, hyperemesis gravidarum, and pica.  I’m still waiting on vegan diets, eating disorders, and maternal pku.

On a less serious note, I decided to stop Fashion Fridays.  I’m just not that fashionable.  And I’m really not that good with my camera, which meant I was taking blurry pictures that weren’t highlighting the cool details that make me love my outfits.  I doubt anyone but my mom will miss this feature, but I just wanted to explain why it was going away.

breakfast

Coconut Macaroon Larabar and a short non-fat salted caramel hot chocolate.

DSC07179DSC07195Breakfast from the cafeteria.

DSC07228Kashi Caramelized Onion Hummus Crisps and an apple.  I enjoyed both.

Non-fat iced caramel flan latte.

DSC07243This wasn’t as exciting as I wanted it to be.  I asked for no whipped cream and they skipped my caramel drizzle too.

Two servings of S’mores Krave cereal with blackberries and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

DSC07281I didn’t like the original version of this cereal when I tried it last year but the s’mores kind is quite tasty.  And for a “sugar cereal” it’s not even terrible, with 10 g of sugar per serving.

lunch

Monday.

DSC071830% Fage with mango and soursoup,

DSC07189a super juicy pear,

DSC07188dried clementines,

DSC07191and Duane Reade milk chocolate with toffee and sea salt.

DSC07193Tuesday, I ran out of time to pack.

DSC07220A Chicken and Greens Cesar from Starbucks.  I loved the use of kale in here, I didn’t know a Cesar could feel so healthy.

DSC07225And a Strawberry Apple Crusher from TJ.

DSC07221Wednesday.

DSC07230Hickory smoked tuna with crackers,

DSC07234and salted milk chocolate and a pear for dessert.

DSC07238For Thursday, a jar of fresh pineapple.

DSC07259A sandwich of Applegate Farms roasted turkey, dijon, and light jarlsberg on an everything ciabatta flatbread,

DSC07256and some sesame roasted seaweed.

DSC07263My coworkers were very curious about the seaweed; two of them even were brave enough to taste it, not that they ended up being big fans.

I didn’t have my camera yesterday, but I bought a slice of veggie pizza from the cafeteria for lunch.  And, um, I also bought a doughnut for breakfast.  I almost never eat doughnuts (I didn’t grow up with them) but I had randomly reeeeeeeeally been craving one so it was serendipitous that the cafeteria had cinnamon twists on the morning I couldn’t pack breakfast.

dinner

A fancy night.

DSC07206We topped salmon with meyer lemon and this Dark Horse Smoked Brown Sugar before baking.  We hardly ever make fresh fish at home and this was such a treat!  The texture of properly baked salmon is swoon-worthy.

DSC07197DSC07211With a side of roasted broccoli,

DSC07213and potatoes – mashed with butter, goat cheese, and tons of dijon mustard.

DSC07216It was a great meal.

A tired night – I was too sleepy on Tuesday to even bother with dinner.  Refer down to the “snacks” list below 🙂

A sandwich night.

DSC07276Smokey tofu sandwiches were a total win.

DSC07265We topped ciabatta flatbread with smokey tofu, light muenster cheese, and turkey bacon.  The tofu was baked with a sauce I threw together – ketchup, maple syrup, and liquid smoke – and it turned out great.

DSC07268DSC07273Plus green beans.

DSC07271A restaurant night.

DSC07287Those are the complimentary yam chips that Laverne sets out, by the way, and they are fantastic.

For my meal, I ordered the Drunken Noodles with shrimp, extra spicy.

DSC07291Oh boy, did they ever deliver on spice!  The noodles were exactly to my liking, which is to say, almost unbearably hot!  Adam took a tiny taste and was not happy.  Thai iced tea helped me to cool down a bit.

DSC07289And after dinner we went out for giant cups of froyo.  Sadly, the evening took a sharp turn downhill from there.  I made myself a much bigger froyo than I usually do, loaded up with all sorts of toppings, including, apparently, something that didn’t agree with me.  Even if you’ve never thrown up after eating the spiciest meal of your life you can probably still picture it.  I basically rolled around on the floor and screamed.  <– sorry, husband!

snack

When I sent Adam to “the fancy store” to pick up salmon, he came home with this 26 month aged Beemster Dutch cheese as a surprise.

DSC07199Do you see those salt crystals?!  Love.  We didn’t even use crackers, just ate big chunks all week long.

Vivaloe Watermelon Aloe.  Surprisingly, Adam liked this even more than I did.

DSC07241We both have been missing the variety of boba we could get in bubble tea in Buffalo and the chunks of aloe are a nice substitute.

Onto the chocolate portion of our show… My last Alter Eco Velvet Truffle.

DSC07285I’m amazed these lasted so long in the house (they are outstanding), but it seemed like we just kept on bringing home new treats.

Like the Lime Splash Lindt bar that I obviously had to buy because, hello, it’s new.

DSC07293Two thumbs up.  And I know that the cover photo makes him look like a creeper, but I’m currently loving Grant Achatz’s memoir, Life, On The Line.

Finally, my (sugared up) take on Something Swanky’s Single Serve Skinny Brownie Batter.

DSC072445.3 oz vanilla Greek yogurt + 1 Tbsp brown sugar + 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar + 1 and 1/2 Tbsp almond meal + 1 Tbsp Dutch cocoa powder = brain exploding goodness!