Roasted Garlic Pesto With Spinach And Bow-Ties

by Emily

Last night’s dinner was too good not to deserve a post all of its own.

When a representative from Carapelli Olive Oil contacted me about sending over a sample, I knew immediately what I was going to make.

Actually, before the pesto, the very first thing I did with the extra virgin olive oil was use it in a bowl of stove-top popcorn. I usually pop my ‘corn in canola oil and I definitely noticed that this bowl had a different, delicious taste. This olive oil has a smooth flavor that works well with fresh dishes, aka you can cook with it but it’s also nice enough to pour over things that you’ll be serving cold.

Please note – I received a bottle of Extra Virgin Carapelli Olive Oil free of charge to review on the blog. I was not paid to write this post. All opinions are my own.

My aunt Margie – who makes the best pesto I’ve ever tasted before I made this roasted garlic version – always serves her pesto over bow-tie pasta, so that’s how I serve mine too.

We drained our pasta over a big bunch of spinach so it got nice and wilted, tossed it all back in the pot with the pesto, then topped our bowls with extra cheese and toasted pine nuts.

Roasted Garlic Pesto, serves 4-6

1 Tbsp plus 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 large bulbs garlic (you want to end up with ~ 20 cloves)
4 oz fresh basil
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.
Peel back several layers of skin from the garlic cloves; you want to reduce the amount the burns in the oven but leave enough layers intact that the cloves are still held together.
Slice off the tops of the garlic bulbs, exposing most of the cloves in each bulb. Place bulbs on a baking sheet, and drizzle a Tbsp of oil over the exposed garlic.
Roast garlic for 40 minutes.
Set roasted garlic aside. When the garlic is cool enough to handle, gentle squeeze the base of each bulb and the cloves should slide right out.
Place basil and remaining 1/4 cup oil in the bowl of a food processor and process 30 – 60 seconds, until smooth.
Add roasted garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, and salt to the bowl and process until well-combined, scraping down the sides occasionally.

19Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; On The Go, Mostly

by Emily

I have got to get these posts up more regularly; I have way too many pictures! I tried to condense the best I could, but I have a lot to share. I’ll try to keep my text brief to make up for the thousand(s of) words.

date night

I made the most of one of Adam’s elusive days off and took him into the city for a date.

Greenpoint’s 5 Leaves provided perhaps the best meal we’ve eaten since the move.

I got a War of the Rosés to drink.

Lillet rose, hibiscus syrup, sparkling rosé, orange bitters, sugar cube. I would to go back for the drink menu alone; the Thor Collins is right up my alley.

I made a vegetable plate dinner out of an appetizer and side order.

Chopped Black Kale Salad,

w/ spicy anchovy dressing, aged gouda & hazelnuts.

Roasted Baby Squash.

w/ dandelion pesto. Both of my plates were divine and I ended up with more than enough (leftovers!) to eat.

For dessert we ventured across the bridge to the Big Gay Ice Cream shop.

I got a bourbon ice cream and praline cookie sandwich.

It was good but not OMG-good where I felt like I needed to eat the whole thing. Adam’s Monday Sundae was definitely consumed in full though.

twist ice cream/nutella lined cone/dulce de leche/sea salt/whipped cream.

kale, it’s what’s for dinner

We scrambled my leftover chopped black kale into eggs with roasted corn, and parmesan cheese.

Plus roasted kale chips on the side.

This meal was so simple but so pleasant. Corn in eggs rocks my socks off.

sweet corn, sweet, sweet corn

Even better than corn in eggs, is corn that arrives fresh at my doorstep.

Please note: this product was provided to me free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Amaize Sweet Corn is a rare bread of corn that is now available in select cities (including Buffalo). Amaize Sweet Corn is created using traditional, natural breeding methods through hybridization (meaning it’s never genetically modified). It is sweet and crunchy enough to eat straight off of the cob – I took a nibble and loved it – but I roasted mine instead.

Discovering that you can roast corn in your oven might be the best thing that’s happened to me all summer; it is so flipping easy and mess-free. I cooked my 1.5 cobs with Sriracha mayo and shredded Parmesan and the heat/salt went perfectly with the extra sweetness.

For our protein we had “spinach soufflé eggs.”

Just frozen spinach, chives, and Parmesan scrambled into eggs, but I whipped a little low-fat sour cream into the eggs before adding them to the pan and the texture was a total dream.

this week’s breakfast

I’m still loving the Kashi, but this week’s ceral is Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

It has good fiber and protein for staying power (5 and 4 grams respectively) and the flakes have a bit of sweetness. Like the front of the box, I had my 1.5 servings with blueberries, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and a drizzle of honey.

I swear, there really was cereal under that mound of berries!

food on the go

I was out of the house (alllllllll day) a ton last week so many of my meals were purchased/eaten out. Some were better than others.

Whole Foods hot bar assortment.

{B} The corn salad and tortellini that were hidden under the broccoli were nice, but the vegan Asian options on the left both had a strange aftertaste.

Starbucks Chicken and Greens Caesar.

{A} Other than the high saturated fat (5 grams) the nutritional stats were pretty good (19 grams of protein, 340 calories including dressing) and the lettuce was nice and fresh.

A small Indonesian Peanut Saute from Noodles & Co.

{C} I paid extra for “extra vegetables” and I still only had 4 pieces of broccoli.

Jr vegetarian burrito (rice, black beans, sautéed mushrooms/onions/green pepper, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, corn salsa) with queso and chips from Moe’s.

{A+} Free chips and offering a jr-sized burrito earns them two thumbs up; I love Moe’s.

A little bit of tart froyo with the best peanut butter and toffee toppings (cheesecake, butterfinger, heath, reeses pieces, white chocolate, caramel) from Yogurtland.

{A+} They are doing a Looney Tunes partnership so my spoon was shaped like Bugs Bunny.

Buffalo chicken slice from Pino’s.

{B-} The crust was too thick and spongy. From a nutrition standpoint, it’s great that the chicken isn’t fried and the cheese is very sparse but… I miss Zetti’s!

Webster’s Buyday

On August 12th we celebrated our 2nd year with Webster in the family.

He and Adam split a (grass-feed, very expensive, awesomely marbled) steak.

I tried to get pictures, but the man of honor housed his portion in about 2.5 seconds.

We love him so much and are so glad he’s a part of our lives!

a new favorite thing

This is random, and I don’t have a good picture, but it must be shared.

If you use a lemon dulce de leche popsicle as the “ice” in your plain seltzer it will be the best thing you’ve ever put in your face.

my parents are the best

My mom and dad are the coolest, and they spent the first week of August vacationing in Amsterdam. They sent us a fun box of goodies when they got home –

These wine gums have the perfect texture and the neatest packaging.

Adam and I found actually eating this sprinkle stick thing to be terrible, but it was super fun to carry around.

These gorgeous milk chocolates – like all European confections – put American chocolate to shame.

And I can’t get an accurate picture, but this cardigan was the most fabulous shade of neon pink.

when I dip, you dip, we dip

Blue Diamond recently sent me some crackers. Yes, the nut company.

Please note: this product was provided to me free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Blue Diamond’s Artisan Nut-Thins® are a gluten-free cracker alternative. They sent me Multi-seed, Flax, and Sesame to try.

The serving size feels generous for 130 calories and the flavor I’ve tried was nice. The texture is crunchy without being crumbly, so they are perfect for dipping. So I paired the Multi-Seed Nut-Thins with a dip!

Homemade Sour Cream and Onion Dip.

1 cup caramelized onions (I recommend using this method)
2 Tbsp chopped chives
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup low-fat sour cream
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Fold all ingredients together in a large bowl until well-combined. Reserve a few chives for sprinkling on top if you wish.

It was amazing, evidenced by the fact that I ate the entire bowl by myself in less than 24 hours.

Do you celebrate any pet-centric holidays?

11Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; In August

by Emily

First of all, I need to announce the winners for my Müller Yogurt giveaway: lucky numbers 2, 3, and 6. Grace, rachelesimms, and Jenny, shoot me an e-mail with your mailing addresses so I can get your coupons out!

This wrap-up spans more than one week and while this obviously wasn’t everything that I consumed, I ate a lot of really good stuff so the volume of pictures was a little overwhelming. I didn’t try to break this post up into breakfast/lunch/dinner, instead I’ll keep things loosely chronological.

-1- I made a cheese quesadilla on a Trader Joe’s Whole Grain Flour Tortilla with Rolled Oats and Flax Seeds with sliced apple on the side.

There were lots of Trader Joe’s (TJ’s) goodies eaten recently and we were very impressed with all but one of them. The texture of the tortilla definitely helped make my plain cheese quesadilla a little more interesting.

-2- Alvita Tea sent me some of their tea.

Alvita makes single-herb teas that are third-party certified organic, gluten-free and kosher. When I returned the e-mail offer for free samples, I requested teas that would be good iced during this hot summer, so they sent me Ginger-Peppermint, Passionflower, and Raspberry.

I loved the flavors of Passionflower and Raspberry, but Ginger-Peppermint was too much spicy ginger for me. Adam loves that flavor though, so if you are a ginger fan I would recommend it. I did try the flavors hot (aka by following the brewing instructions) but the pictures were boring so instead I’ll show you two ways I served the tea cold.

First, Ginger-Peppermint iced tea.

Whenever I make iced tea I toss 2 tea bags per ~6 oz cold water in a glass and let it sit until the color looks right to me. This oh-so-scientific method has never failed me!

Next, Passionflower “Thai” iced tea.

For this tasty treat, I followed the brewing instructions but tripled up on tea bags. Then I chilled my tea concentrate and served it with a couple of tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk. Quite delicious.

-3- I made the best flipping sandwich I’ve ever had.

I know that’s a big claim, but it’s so true. I mashed a can of TJ’s Smoke Trout with Miracle Whip, spread my trout salad between two pieces of whole-wheat bread with three slices of sliced Velveeta, and cooked it in a skillet with a little butter.

Served with baby carrots and sliced pepper.

My sandwich was so smokey and gooey! I want another can of that trout asap. This was actually the first sandwich with Velveeta I’ve ever had (I don’t know that either of my parents have ever tasted processed cheese food, we never had it in the house growing up). The cheese was leftover from another recipe and while I would not buy it again, it did make this sandwich mighty good.

-4- The dog and I were kicked out of the apartment one afternoon while our tub was being redone.

We went to Shake Shack for their outdoor seating and I got a chocolate-vanilla twist with chocolate toffee and cheesecake blondie stirred in.

I know that looks amazing, but in spite of the promising flavors the taste just wasn’t good. I threw out 2/3 of it; after it melted all over me first, of course. I think I am officially done giving that Shake Shack location more chances. But bad food doesn’t really matter when your lunch date is this cute –

Those eyes!

-5- I made two smoothies, one bad and one good. The bad was frozen mixed berries with frozen spinach and orange-mango juice.

Adam loved his glass, but I drank mine purely for the nutrients.

The good was this strawberry almond smoothie.

Frozen strawberries with Barney Butter Crunchy Almond Butter, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

-6- Another food served in two rounds – salad. Thankfully both of these iterations were amazing. Salad one,

was lettuce, homemade croutons (leftover torn french bread tossed with evoo, salt, and pepper and baked at 375*), shredded carrots, chopped green pepper, TJ’s Greek Style Feta Dressing, and Hemp Hearts.

The Hemp Hearts made the salad with their unique flavor and texture. I got this sample package at the co-op and if I can’t find this product at Whole Foods I might just go back to Buffalo to buy more!

Salad two,

was lettuce, shredded carrots, smoked gouda, feta dressing, and toasted almond slivers.

The ratio of fatty toppings to healthy greens in this salad was way off, but it tasted soooooo good.

-7- We ate tofu nuggets and roasted brussels sprouts for dinner.

I got really sick of roasted brussels sprouts a few years ago and I think I finally have my taste for them back.

The nuggets were extra-firm tofu that I’d sliced and frozen (freezing tofu gives it a great spongy texture when it’s cooked) then coated in corn starch and cooked in canola oil.

My attempt at a sweet and sour style sauce wasn’t very good, but the “nuggets” of tofu were pretty exciting.

-8- I made a winner of a dinner with a meal that was quick, easy, tasty, and healthy.

Bowls of barley topped with TJ’s Smoked Herring (that we mashed with a little Miracle Whip), TJ’s Sweet Sesame Seaweed, a drizzle of Sriracha, and a soft-boiled egg.

This was the best dinner of this post! We stirred our bowls so everything got coated in egg yolk and the flavor was fantastic.

-9- I discovered my new favorite combination of cereals: half a serving of Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola with a serving of Kashi 7 Whole Grain Honey Puffs.

The Kashi cereal almost reminded me of Smax. That bowl was topped with skim milk and chopped nectarines.

-10- I finally did a work out.

Barre3 is promoting their 7-Day Body Blast program and they offered me a complimentary month of online workouts.

Barre3 is a unique fitness system combining the arts of Pilates, yoga and ballet barre work. I took a class the last time I was in the city and loved it. The monthly subscription is only $15 and it gives you access to a myriad of online workouts. You can select 10, 20, 30, 40, and 60 minute classes, choosing to focus on a specific set of muscles or on working your whole body. The videos are great and the oral instructions are clear enough that once you’ve done a workout once or twice it is easy to follow along without having to watch the movements on a screen.

I’ve done the Ballet Fit (40 minutes) class twice. It is a total body workout with a good mix of arms, legs, and core work. There are lots of pulses so it ends up being pretty good cardio too. I intended to branch out so I had more to review, but I loved the Ballet Fit class so much the first time that I wanted to do it again. Plus, I’m trying to get better so I don’t have to keep pausing the video every five minutes to die.

All you need for the online workouts is a mat (I ended up tossing my shoes), some light weights, a pillow*, and a chair/couch/counter to serve as a bar. *They recommend a core ball but I found a folded pillow worked just fine in a pinch.

-11- I finally found a good combo for homemade egg cream.

Chocolate Nesquick and plain seltzer worked like a charm.

Even Adam, who normally hates my egg cream attempts, thought this was good.

-12- A friend and I had a great night in Williamsburg. We explored on foot, then settled on Mizu for dinner. I got a Hijiki salad to start.

Black seaweed with carrot and tofu.

I didn’t like my salad – which had a strange, woody aftertaste – but my Futu Maki was delicious.

Crab stick, cucumber, avocado, egg, and pickles.

The sweetness of the tamago made the wasabi extra delicious. And fun gum with the bill is always good.

Afterwards we were very lucky to spot a sign for snow cones at Handsome Dan’s.

I got an earl grey snow cone with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk.

Are you freaking kidding me?!

We walked over to the water on our way home and the view of the skyline was even more exciting than our snow cones.

I ♥ New York.

-13- I made another really good sandwich.

A Whole-Wheat Sandwich Thin topped with smoked turkey, smoked gouda (from TJ’s), and Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.

The smokey-sweet thing will always be my favorite.

-14 – We pulled out our popsicle molds.

These dulce de leche lemon popsicles are insane.

I had a little extra “batter” that I poured in my iced tea and it knocked my socks off.

-15- I made tropical fruit salad.

2 bananas, 2 minneolas, 2 kiwis, and a handful of TJ’s Roasted Coconut Chips.

Leaving berries out of this salad made the leftovers feel a lot fresher than usual.

-16- We ate a dinner dipped in ketchup.

Kale chips,

with TJ’s Mahi Mahi Burgers.

I ended up only eating one of my burgers, so I ate the leftover for lunch the next day with the rest of the fruit salad.

The Mahi mahi was simple but good with a little Miracle Whip on a Sandwich Thin.

This was the one product that I don’t think we’ll buy again; the patties were greasier than I’d like even though the nutritional stats were good. It was nice to feel fancy with lots of fish this week.

That’s all she wrote!

Wow. I need to blog more often; what a terrifyingly long post.

19Jul2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Sweet and Spicy

by Emily

This “week’s” wrap-up actually spans most of two weeks. I know I went MIA (sorry, mom!) but I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. We have a lot of personal stuff happening this month and most of it is frustrating. But there is good stuff this month too – like my 28th birthday and an upcoming trip back to Buffalo!

For having eaten two weeks worth of meals (plus, I am sooo not one of those “I’m too sad to eat” folks!), I don’t have a ton to share this post. We did a lot of take-out and none of it was blogworthy, or even edible; we threw out a really annoying amount of food. But even though the take-out situation in our neighborhood is dire, I do have some really tasty things to recap….

fruit salad for the fourth

I went all patriotic and made a lovely red white and blue fruit salad with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and sweetened shredded coconut (all mascerated with a little sugar and lime juice).

It would have been even more lovely consumed on the 4th, but we got busy moving and ended up eating red, white, and blue on July 6th.

The salad was especially nice with skim milk and Impact Maple Oat granola.

these tasty dinners were also eaten after Independence Day

I’m not sure what I was picturing because I knew we had to drive to PA and back, but I bought stuff for the grill to eat with our fruit salad. Neither of these meals were eaten before the 7th, and we still haven’t fired up the grill, but they both sure were tasty.

Everything hot dogs and sautéed swiss chard.

I added way to much Worcestershire to the chard and it was sort of terrible, but we ate it anyway to get our greens in.

But the dogs were amazing. I got the “everything dogs” idea from a Good Housekeeping.

Turkey dogs in toasted buns topped with onion cream cheese sauce – yellow onions sautéed in butter with low-fat cream cheese stirred in, plus a little light cream to loosen up the sauce – and poppy seeds.

Patty melts with kale chips.

Whole-wheat bread with 1.5 Trader Joe’s turkey burgers, ketchup, and sliced cheese.

The burgers were a higher fat % than what we usually buy and they sicked me out to cook, but the patty melts in the end were very good.

The kale chips were amazing.

I always used to burn kale chips into tiny shards of cancer but I did some Googling and think I finally found the right method.

getting saasy

The nice people at Saas Hot Sauce sent me some bottles of the hot stuff to review recently.

Please note – these products were sent to me free of charge to review. All opinions are my own.

Saas is a LLC started in 2010 by a group of students looking to raise money for charitable donations (particularly to help protect traditional cultures around the world). It comes in Original and Onion and Garlic. They use no chemical additives or stabilizers in their sauces.

I love the company’s values and practices, but I have to say – this stuff is hot! A little drop definitely goes a long way. I am a spice lover and it was pretty intense for me, so while I do recommend Saas products, if you have a wimpier mouth please be careful.

For some reason the hot sauce just screamed “quesadillas!” to me, so that’s what I made for dinner… several days in a row. Original Saas went in hot wing quesadillas.

Shredded rotisserie chicken mixed with Saas, blue cheese dressing, and mild cheddar.

Onion and Garlic Saas went in black bean quesadillas.

Smushed black beans with Saas, salt, lime juice, and sharp cheddar.

All of the cheesy triangles were quite pleasing; quesadillas were definitely a good idea.

two more home-cooked dinners

First, a mac-n-cheese style casserole of farro (the 10 minute bag from Trader Joes, so easy!), cheese sauce, and swiss chard.

I made the cheese sauce out of roux, light cream, sriracha, black pepper, sharp cheddar, and parmesan.

We both liked it but if I make the dish again I would add more spice, you need a lot of flavor to stand up to the stronger taste of the farro.

The best meal of this post is the next one, and it was super easy and healthy too. Bbq kale and white beans with cheesy corn.

For the kale, I filled my 8×12 casserole dish with torn dinosaur kale, then topped it with a can of cannelloni beans, some chopped onion, and a bottle of honey bbq sauce before baking in a 350* oven.

I wrapped our corn in foil and threw it in the oven with the kale. Mine got a layer of Sriracha mayo, parmesan cheese, salt, and black pepper before it was foiled. Delicious!

If I had known how easy it was to cook in the oven I would have been making corn all of the time.

glug, glug, glug

Lots of excitement in the beverage category this week. I found several new favorites. First, we headed over to Sweet Adele’s one afternoon for bubble tea.

They also have amazing looking fruit slice candy that I want to go back for immediately. On that visit I got a lavender milk bubble tea.

What?! The flavor was more sweet than floral but it was still very exciting.

Also exciting was 7-11 day, aka July 7th (7/11).

I got a small cherry/cola for my free slushie.

There is just no topping the cherry/cola combo {more on that later}.

Finally, I found my new favorite Polar flavor.

I know I have a new favorite every week but seriously, green apple seltzer is amazing.

empanadas in the city

On Saturday Adam had a coveted weekend day off so the three of us headed into the city.

Let’s be real – blurry or not, this is the best picture anyone will ever take of Webster and me.

We walked pretty far from the car to our final destination and the dog was such a little trooper about riding in my purse! He was so adorable we could barely handle it.

The walk was worth my aching shoulder because we ended up with a great meal. The PR team for Nuchas contacted me and asked if I would like to come by for lunch.

The following meal was provided to me free of charge to review on the blog. As always, all opinions are my own.

Nuchas, started by Argentine-born Ariel Barbouth, is a empanada company in the city. They have a food truck, a Time Square kiosk, and a catering division. They bake their empanadas instead of frying them so the goods are actually pretty healthy (and portable!). They have meat-based, vegetarian, and even vegan options.

Adam and I got four empanadas to share.

See how they label them with a little embossed letter? Too cute.

The Argentine.

Pat Lafrieda’s ground beef, onions, peppers, scallions, potatoes & olives. White dough.

This one was all Adam, obviously. He was a fan, and said it had good flavor without being too spicy. There was a nice amount of meat too; they didn’t load it up with potatoes like some places try to do.

The Portobello.

Portobello mushrooms, spinach, onions, mozzarella & fresh herbs. Spinach dough.

Again, good flavor and a nice amount of filling. The cooked spinach wasn’t watery at all and this felt healthy while still tasting good. This flavor was the husband’s favorite.

The Spicy Cheese.

Assorted cheeses & caramelized onions. White Parmesan dough.

I don’t know what spices were used here, but I was a big fan. This flavor was my favorite, but it is worth noting that it was too hot for Adam’s taste.

The Cranberry, Apple, & Nutella.

Granny smith, cranberries, pear, nutella & chocolate. White almond dough.

It was fun to try a dessert empanada. This was like a slice of apple pie with nutella on top, and really, what dessert isn’t better with some nutella on top?

All in all, we were very impressed with Nuchas. We both plan on going back and spending our own money the next time we head into Time Square.

the sweet stuff

Three things to share this post in the sweets category; all will be happening again.

I spent a ton of money buying local yellow cherries at Whole Foods one day and then promptly forgot about them for the rest of the week. By the time I got to the bag, the cherries were still edible but too soft to really be enjoyable, so I baked them into a yummy dessert.

I modified this recipe from Eat, Live, Run to make a single-serve cherry clafoutis.

I could not even believe how simple this was to make.

My birthday is next week, and some of my favorite family members sent me this fun package to celebrate.

Danny Macaroons are actually made locally in NYC (which means we can get more, whee!).

The flavors were crazy, and included chocolate-dipped, Bailey’s, chocolate, and other fun combinations. This salted caramel macaroon was the best cookie I’ve had in my life.

There were two salted caramels but I ate them both before Adam even got home from work.

Finally, there is an ice shop near our apartment and we are officially obsessed.

They have a million flavors and they are all exciting. Shown here is toasted marshmallow with key lime cream ice.

That’s a small by the way; such a good deal for $3. Marshmallow was great, obviously, but last night I had the best thing ever and now I’ll never be able to order anything else again – cola and strawberry water ice. <— to die for

What is your very favorite flavor combo for frozen treats?

7Jul2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; We Moved

by Emily

We moved! On Saturday, June 29th, we did a final pack-up and traded in our Buffalo life for one in Long Island/Queens. Things have been crazy, and I have a lot to figure out still, but I think we’re going to like it here.

We were lucky to have no major issues with the move, but every little thing that could go wrong certainly did! Lots of rain, miscommunication with companies, and sleepless nights. I was very glad that a friend tagged along on my drive to the city to help me with Webster.

I have eaten an insane amount of food over the past week (moving is hungry business!) but I’ve been too busy to capture most of it on film. I also don’t have apartment pictures to share with y’all yet (sorry, Nana!). Here is what I do have to share…

A Random Snack

Getting all of our stuff out of my in-laws’ basement involved multiple 3+ hour trips. Between traffic, tolls, accidents, tailgaters, and our general level of frustration, these trips were pretty brutal. Staying awake involved lots of caffeine and munching (case in point – one day I ate a bag of Cheetos for lunch and a bag of Cheez-its for dinner!). One bright spot in the mandatory snacking was this bag of Sponch cookies.

I hadn’t seen this brand in Buffalo, but if you spot them in your area – get them! They are shortbread cookies topped with marshmallow, coconut, and jam.

So flipping good.

A Few Free Samples**

**The products mentioned in this section of the post were provided for me to sample free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Right before the move, someone from Best Price Nutrition contacted me to see if I would like to try a couple of products. The timing was perfect because their box beat me to the new apartment and we lived the first few days without any of our kitchen boxes. They sent me some sample sized vitamins and whey protein.

The vitamin packs were from the Nature’s Way Alive! Once Daily Women’s line.

Nutritional note – the stats on this vitamin make it a pretty good daily multivitamin, but if I was going to take it regularly I would definitely continue my additional fish oil and vitamin d supplementation.

The whey protein packs were great for breakfast during my first days. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Isoflex Citrus Peach flavor.

It had a good zinginess but the aftertaste was too strongly “protein powder.” Plus it didn’t mix all that well.

I mixed the Isoflex Banana Creme Supreme with skim milk and enjoyed it much more than the other flavor.

It was nice and creamy and probably would have worked really well in a smoothie.

On the body and mind front – Yoga Download offered me a coupon code to try one of their classes.

You guys know that I’m terrible at making it in to scheduled yoga classes (I only attended one class during my last unlimited two month pass!!) so the idea of online classes appeals to me.

Yoga Download offers yoga, pilates, meditation, and other fitness classes. They have a variety of free classes, and the other classes are priced based on whether you choose to download the class or watch it online one time only. Also for many classes you can choose audio-only or video/slideshow. You can filter the classes by ability level and intensity and most of the yoga classes come with a downloadable position guide.

I downloaded Basic Mat Pilates, an advanced beginner class. Verdict – I liked it. The class was easy enough for me (maybe a tiny bit too easy) but still provided a good stretch and core workout. The video was of an instructor and two students so you got a couple of examples of good form. I plan on doing the workout again, as well as looking into some of the free yoga classes.

Our First Meal in Long Island

Once we unpacked our cars we loaded back in (dog and all) to head to dinner. Shack Shake was one of my favorites in the city so we hit up a Long Island location.

Strawberry and black & white shakes,

plus cheese fries to share.

Sadly nothing was as good as we remembered; I didn’t even finish my shake. I want to go back to the original location soon and see if it holds up to my memory.

Our First Meal Cooked in our New Apartment

Four cheese Sacchetti with mushrooms, spinach, and a lemon cream sauce.

I went to Whole Foods and got a little crazy.

I cooked the pasta according to the package then tossed it with mushrooms (sauteed in butter), spinach (sauteed with lemon juice), and cream sauce (butter, light cream, and lemon zest).

Those little presents of pasta are ridiculously tasty.

Our First Froyo

I was under the impression that the self-serve trend hadn’t hit NYC yet but luckily I was very mistaken. One of our first discoveries in our new neighborhood (though not walking distance like on Elmwood, boo!) was Twist.

They have toasted marshmallow frozen yogurt. And now I can die.

Our First Trip Back “Home”

On Adam’s first day off we headed back to our old stomping grounds – Park Slope. 7th Avenue is one of our favorite spots on the planet and we were excited to check out some of the new spots that had popped up in our 4 year absence. We ate/walked/ate/walked and so on until we were stuffed to the gills!

Pino’s pizza <– best pizza in NYC.

My spinach white slice did not disappoint.

Butter Lane Cupcakes was new to us but we’ll be going back.

We split an Elvis; a banana cupcake topped with peanut butter frosting and mini marshmallows.

The cupcake was my new favorite, the big pieces of banana embedded throughout were amazing.

Finally, we headed down to 5th Avenue for Sky Ice, a Thai ice cream spot that Serious Eats recommended.

One scoop of durian and one scoop of thai iced coffee ice cream.

The flavors were so spot on that it basically blew my mind. I want to go back to try the thai iced tea flavor asap.

Also, we found our new desk right in front of our old apartment!

What are the odds of that?!

American readers, how did you celebrate July 4th this year?

21Jun2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; My Apartment Is Packed But I’m Still Here

by Emily

I know this is a short “week,” but my laptop has been out sick since last Friday and I’m excited to have her back.

The days since I last posted have been crazy; moving requires a lot of work! And since we had to pack up so early I’ve been living out of a duffle bag in my own apartment. The food situation has been pretty ridiculous. Also, I said a lot of goodbyes this week and they all involved alcohol. The dog has been judging me.

Breakfasts

Cinnamon Pecan Special K with skim milk.

I’m glad that cereal is so tasty, because it was one of the only foods left in the house.

The day I tried to go without cereal (and use up some odds and ends) I ended up with… skim milk, ~2 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk, and malted milk powder.

It wasn’t bad, but I won’t be making it a regular breakfast either.

(Non-alcoholic) Drinks

Not so good, was the Honeysuckle Pear Drink Chia.

The flavor combo had such potential, but I would not have purchased it if I had noticed that it contained stevia and monk fruit extract. You know what is already sweet? Honeysuckle and pear juice. Why not just leave the ingredients at that rather than adding (the terrible flavor of) sugar-free sweeteners?

Very good, was the Honest Fizz Orange Pop.

I realize there is stevia in this one that I’m not complaining about, but this was delicious. The flavor was a perfect match to Crush Orange Soda, just a tiny bit less sicky-sweet. I will definitely look for it again.

Flipping amazing, was the Cucumber Melon Polar Seltzer.

If you see this – buy it! It smelled so much like a watermelon! My co-worker tasted it and we both agreed that it was the best seltzer we’d ever had.

Lunches and Dinners

Like I said, pickings were slim, so dinner was either brinner – aka breakfast for dinner – or food from a restaurant.

The last slice of Finish the Fridge Frittata with a white nectarine.

I was loving nectarines earlier this summer but lately I haven’t had much luck getting one that isn’t squishy.

The best “yogurt” bowl I’ve ever made. Frozen blackberries microwaved with a little sugar on the bottom, Chobani 2% Banana Greek Yogurt and low-fat cottage cheese in the middle, and granola on top.

I was heartbroken when I realized I couldn’t make another one of these bowls until after we finish moving.

On Monday, a friend and I drove up to visit to friends who relocated to Rochester after graduation. We had a really nice day, including lunch at Aladdin’s.

My spread was the vegetarian combo. I chose Dolmades, Babaganoush, and Spanikopita.

The food was amazing and we got to sit right along the canal, so the view was too.

On Tuesday, my sweet coworkers took me out for an early goodbye dinner. We started the evening at Cantina Loco. I didn’t really enjoy my first experience at Cantina Loco but I am very glad that my coworker knew enough to drag me back. Everything was delicious, especially the pitchers of margaritas.

And the Nachos Locos.

They were covered in pork but I was a trooper and picked it off because the nachos were just that good.

For dinner I ordered the California Fish Taco – Crisp Fried Fish, Cabbage Slaw,
Pickled Onion, Spicy Sauce.

Delicious!

We went to Founding Fathers afterwards and I am kicking myself for not going sooner. Great bartender, great drinks, and apparently great free popcorn that I somehow didn’t notice. Among other things, we had a shot that was basically a liquified snickerdoodle!

The bartender asked trivia questions all night, which I loved. I even gave him two new questions to add to his rotation. What do you call this “?!” punctuation mark? [Answer at the end of this post]

One night I got a spicy cajun quesadilla from The Spot.

The prices are a little high, but the Spot’s food is quite good.

Last night’s dinner was my final slice of Zetti’s.

My white broccoli pizza was delicious, a good way to finish out my Zetti’s addiction!

See you next week!

Answer – an interrobang

16Jun2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Day

by Emily

Hey there, long time no see! Sadly I think a once a week post will be the norm for the next two weeks as well; we are on the move!

We don’t actually officially leave Buffalo until the end of the month, but due to some monetary/logistical/fmylife complications we are moving the most difficult way possible – in little spurts. Adam has had to be in the city several time this month so we’ve been packing up our stuff by the carload and moving it to my in-laws’ place. Once we finally get into our new apartment (days after Adam has started work!!) we’ll pick everything up in a truck for the final move.

Two fun facts about our shit-show of a move –

We had to do the bulk of our packing last night so the duffle bag of clothes sitting next to me will be all I have to wear for the next three weeks. Also, we have no pots, pans, or kitchen appliances. Next week’s wrap-up will showcase a lot of restaurant meals!
Since we couldn’t rent a truck for this direction, we are only taking what fits in five carloads (three in a Vibe and two in a Corolla). We’ve had to say “bye, bye” to a lot of stuff, which has been very cathartic.

On to the food!

I was too busy to capture all of my meals (I worked most days, though I did find time to watch the entire first season of Longmire!) but I did manage a photo of at least one meal on most days. I was a bit under the weather this week and I spent the entirety of Thursday in bed, eating pretzels.

Monday, Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield

One of our favorite couples recently had twin baby girls so we brought them over a couple of meals.

Buffalo Chicken Baked Pasta, Mac and Three Cheese Cups, and salad with all the fixin’s (parmesan, buckwheat groats, chopped green pepper, and toasted pecans).

We stayed for dinner so we could meet the girls.

The were so freaking cute; we’ve decided not to spawn until after the husband’s first year of residency and the babies made me want to rethink about that decision!

When we got home I tried one of the Lindt Hello Bars for dessert.

I tried Strawberry Cheesecake and in addition to being adorable it was delicious.

It had the perfect amount of tang to offset the sweetness, bits of crunch that I believe were caramelized sugar, and you got a nice portion for the calories. I tried the Cookies and Cream bar another day and liked that as well.

Tuesday, Thai Day

I stir-fried some leftover white rice with peas and carrots.

I made it extra eggy – two large eggs for one portion – and it was perfect for breakfast.

Stir-fried rice is one of the dishes I find the easiest to make; it always tastes good.

I did Thai for dinner as well. Some friends and I met up after work to try Taste of Siam, a new spot right across from my job.

My Pad Kee Mao got bonus points for being super spicy, but there was way too much liquid and the broad rice noodles weren’t very pillowy. My friends loved their fried rice and curry though. If we were staying in our apartment I’m sure I would have gotten take-out there, but overall I didn’t think it was very good.

We got drinks before dinner and afterwards we did a throw-back for dessert.

Do you remember Chupa Chups?! My strawberry sundae pop was delicious; if I spot them again I will definitely buy more.

Wednesday, Similar to a Reuben

I cannot for the life of me remember what I ate this day beyond lunch; probably pizza! This sandwich made for a fine mid-day meal.

Applegate Farms sliced turkey, Cabot 75% reduced-fat sharp cheddar, thousand island dressing, and saurkraut on white-whole-wheat bread cooked in a skillet with butter.

Friday, Feel Better Froyo

In the morning I met up with friends for breakfast at Sweetness 7.

I got a turkey and caramelized onion quiche,

and a hibiscus lemonade.

Both were very bland, sadly, and the service/ordering system seemed off. Instead of calling out drinks or putting them with the food, they just plopped them on a tucked away, back counter. And I tried to get a coffee at their other location this morning and the service was so bad there that I left without ordering! I’m not sure what the deal is, but I loved Sweetness 7 so I hope they’re not on a downward slope.

After breakfast I ran some errands (my cell phone was broken again!), grabbed lunch, and headed to work. I felt fine in the morning, but as the afternoon wore on I felt sicker and sicker. I ended up throwing up at work!! Boo! I rallied afterwards and stuck out my shift, but it was not a fun time.

This next photo doesn’t look like “dinner,” but after my tough day it was exactly what I needed.

Froyo! Super delicious froyo with peanut butter, marshmallow, chocolate pretzels, and other amazing things. I cannot believe that right as I leave Buffalo two self-serve froyo locations have appeared on my block! Though not having immediate access to it the last three years did probably save me many pounds and dollars.

Saturday, I Like to Move it Move it

Yesterday was ridiculous; y’all would not even believe how much we got done. But not a single fruit or veggetable was eaten that day…

Black bean nachos from ETS.

Melonhead beer (like Pumpkinhead) from Shipyard.

It was super juicy and refreshing; just what I needed as we packed late into the night.

Sunday, Finish the Fridge

For breakfast today, I made us a Finish Up the Fridge Fritatta.

9 large eggs / .5 cup shredded parmesan / 1 cup thawed and drained frozen spinach / pinch salt / pinch paprika

Mix, pour in a greased pie pan, and bake 35 – 40 minutes at 375 degrees Farenheit.

I had my slice with a piece of rosemary bread from Wegman’s bakery.

It was a great way to start the week!

What was the most difficult move your family has even done?

30May2013

#6 – Make My Own Gnocchi

by Emily

My 28th birthday is 55 days away! That means I have 55 days left work on my birthday goals list.

As of now I’ve completed 19/27 goals. Unfortunately, it looks as if there is no way on Earth some of the goals will happen. I haven’t worked out in months (mega oops) so I don’t think my running goals – both distance and speed based – are in the cards. But the food based goals? I’ve got those covered.

Like making gnocchi my own gnocchi from scratch.

This goal was delicious to complete! And it was surprisingly easy, too. With less than an hour of hands-on time we pulled pillows of heaven from ~~thin air~~ mashed potatoes.

I followed this recipe from Cooking Light for the gnocchi. But instead of their sauce I tossed my gnocchi in a mix of lemon and brown butter and served them atop a bed of lemon and butter sautéed spinach. The final taste was out of this world.

Will we be making gnocchi from scratch ever again? Adam and I both say “yes!”

Have you ever made gnocchi, or any other kind of pasta, from scratch?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: greens

Roasted Garlic Pesto With Spinach And Bow-Ties

Please note – I received a bottle of Extra Virgin Carapelli Olive Oil free of charge to review on the blog. I was not paid to write this post. All opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up; On The Go, Mostly

date night

kale, it’s what’s for dinner

sweet corn, sweet, sweet corn

Please note: this product was provided to me free of charge. All opinions are my own.

this week’s breakfast

food on the go

Webster’s Buyday

a new favorite thing

my parents are the best

when I dip, you dip, we dip

Please note: this product was provided to me free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up; In August

Weekly Wrap-Up; Sweet and Spicy

Please note – these products were sent to me free of charge to review. All opinions are my own.

The following meal was provided to me free of charge to review on the blog. As always, all opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up; We Moved

**The products mentioned in this section of the post were provided for me to sample free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up; My Apartment Is Packed But I’m Still Here

Breakfasts

(Non-alcoholic) Drinks

Lunches and Dinners

See you next week!

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Day

Monday, Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield

Tuesday, Thai Day

Wednesday, Similar to a Reuben

Friday, Feel Better Froyo

Saturday, I Like to Move it Move it

Sunday, Finish the Fridge

#6 – Make My Own Gnocchi