Highlights From OBX

by Emily

Hey there! Long time no see! It has been, and is going to be, a crazy summer.

Among other things, I went to the Outer Banks last week (whee!).

My in-laws took Adam and me for a couple of days and we had a glorious time. We beached,

climbed the sand dunes,

got a large chocolate-strawberry diet coke from Sonic that rocked my face off,

and met a Flutter Pony.

You don’t even want to know how excited I was about that damn horse statue.

We went to climb the sand dunes in between my spotting the pony and taking my picture with it and I muttered to Adam about The Smooze the whole time. <– if you got that reference I will kiss you on the mouth

I know I’m behind the times, but I want to post some of our trip eats highlights anyway, mostly so I have a record of them for the next time we visit OBX. This was a trip where sharing meant caring; the only meals Adam and I didn’t split were dessert!

Lunch at Mulligan’s.

Coastal Carolina She-Crab soup.

This was basically a giant bowl of crab meat; ah-maze-ing! We also swooned over the sherry floater.

California style fish tacos.

Soft tortillas with local fried fish, cilantro-lime slaw, pico de gallo, and Cajun tartar sauce. This was our first meal in NC and it set a great tone for the rest of the trip.

BBQ at Sooey’s.

Pulled chicken platter with cole slaw, hush puppies, and fried okra.

This stop was a repeat from my first OBX visit and I’m so glad we went back. Those were the best fried okra I’ve ever had, I was shoving them into my mouth by the handful!

Breakfast at The Dunes Restaurant.

We got the Greek omelet (spinach, tomato, and feta) with asparagus. It came with hash-browns and a side and since we were splitting they let us do one hotcake and one biscuit. Even with two of us eating we couldn’t finish that giant plate of food.

Froyo at The Surfin’ Spoon.

Such good topping options! I got a little bit of yogurt with marshmallow fluff, peanut butter topping, bananas, and reese’s peanut butter cups.

Like a fluffernutter in froyo form!

Also, froyo at Wild Berry.

The yogurt flavors weren’t anything new, but the toppings bar boasted sweetened condensed milk!!! I was definitely in heaven.

All in all, it was a tasty, terrific trip.

17May2013

Things I’m Loving From Trader Joe’s

by Emily

Buffalo doesn’t have a Trader Joe’s (yet!), but that doesn’t mean I can’t pine over the goods I plan on purchasing once we are back in the city this summer.

The following are some of the things I bought when I was in Ohio last month. They were all new to me and most of them I’ve now decided I can’t live without!

1. Roasted Coconut Chips.

Coconut chips are nothing super new – I’ve been picking them out of tropical trail mixes since I was a kid – but it was nice to see them get their own package. These guys are perfectly sweet and crunchy. Nutrition stats for 1 oz – 160 kcal, 1 g protein, 4 g fiber, 10 g saturated fat.

2. Zesty Nacho Kale Chips.

I love the idea of kale chips but the ones I try to make up at home end up being tiny, burnt, kale carcinogens. And the amazingly delicious ones sold at Wegman’s cost more than $7 a bag. This 2-serving bag was less than $6 and the chips were the best I’ve ever had. They seem to have roasted giant leaves without cutting them up first so the chips are big and chunky and delicious. Nutrition stats for 1 oz – 150 kcal, 6 g protein, 3 g fiber, and 1 g saturated fat. Plus 130% RDA for Vitamin A!

3. 10 Minute Bulgur.

This was our first time trying bulgur and we both loved it. The taste and texture were exactly what I’m always hoping for from rice. <– no, I can’t describe it any better than that; I love food and I love writing but there is a reason I’m not a food writer, people!

It really did cook in 10 minutes – it’s pre-cooked – making it a super easy grain for a quick dinner. We paired it with black beans, tomatillo, sautéed spinach, and avocado. A one 1/2 cup serving, which turns into a ton when cooked, has 280 kcal, 11 g protein, and 6 g fiber.

4. Organic Sweetened Condensed Milk.

SCM, aka nectar of the gods, is nothing new, but the squeeze bottle system sure is nifty. I love putting SCM in coffee (like a lazy Vietnamese coffee) and this way I can use 1-2 Tbsp in my cup occasionally without having to worry about storing the rest. This was a nice blurb to see on the back of the bottle – “Trader Joe’s Organic Sweetened Condensed Milk is made from organic milk from cows not treated with hormones or antibiotics, and sweet organic cane sugar.”

Are you lucky enough to have a Trader Joe’s in your town? What are your favorite TJ’s goods?

30Apr2013

Bento Box Lunch

by Emily

Today’s lunch was packed Bento-style.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the awesome care package that Cascadian Farm sent me awhile back:

Among the goodies was a Bento Box lunch box from Laptop Lunches.

The box is dishwasher and microwave safe and the little boxes are the perfect size(s) for lunchtime goodies – two of mine came with additional lids. It is pretty awesome.

Today I packed a fruit and veggie spread. Cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes with a sprinkle of salt.

Roasted coconut chips.

Nacho kale chips.

And Kiwiberries.

Yum!

Have you ever used a bento box? Do you carry a lunch box to work/school?

23Apr2013

Spinach And Sprouts Scrambled Eggs

by Emily

This post comes to you from breakfast. Adam and I both had the morning free so I scrambled us up some eggs. I know the sugar sounds weird, but go with it, the sweetness just works.

Whisk together 4 large eggs, 1/4 cup skim milk, 1 Tbsp granulated sugar, and a pinch of salt.

Sautée 3 cups raw baby spinach, 1 cup radish sprouts, with 1 Tbsp Earth Balance Buttery Spread.

Scramble egg mixture into cooked veggies. Fold in 1 cup shredded parmesan. Serves 2.

22Apr2013

Spinach Salad With Soft Boiled Eggs

by Emily

Dinner tonight was a delicious salad. I had to get in my greens on Earth Day!

A bed of baby spinach topped with a sprinkle of salt, radish greens, blue cheese crumbles, and two soft-cooked eggs.

I use Jenna’s recipe for soft-cooked eggs and they come out perfectly every time.

The flavors all melded nicely and I used creamy yolks in lieu of dressing. Plus, I fit every single food group into one meal (I had a fruit smoothie and slice of ciabatta bread on the side)!

What is your favorite way to replace the dressing on a salad?

23Mar2013

Break Begins

by Emily

Did you know that this was my last day before spring break begins? Of course not, I didn’t tell you. In fact, I was so tired this week that I kept forgetting about it, but then I was very happy every time I remembered. We are doing something fun for break, but I’ll tell you more about that later because right now I want to get in bed.

I mixed things up and packed breakfast this morning. Stonyfield Chocolate Greek Yogurt.

I ate on the walk from my car to the hospital.

Lunch was salad leftovers. When I made our dinners last night I went ahead and made four bowls at once – his & hers lunch and dinner.

My maple vinaigrette dressing was so good.

I also packed a Cascadian Farm Oats & Honey Crunchy Granola Bar (a free sample).

And I drank a coffee with creamer in the afternoon.

I had some really interesting patients today; lots of tube feeds, which I love.

When I got home I snacked on some BBQ Smart Fries.

Looking back I feel like I ate (more than) enough food today, but I was so flipping hungry this afternoon. A friend and I had plans for dinner and I could not have been more excited when she called me to go.

First though, we walked our dogs and had a drink.

The Honeycrisp Apple Shock Top is good, but not quite as good as I was expecting.

We headed out aimlessly down Elmwood and thankfully my friend thought of the “The Place” for dinner because I probably would have wandered down to Allentown!

My foodie co-worker has been raving about The Place’s buffalo chicken mac and cheese for weeks and I knew what I was going to get before I even sat down.

I was definitely hungry – I ate almost half of that skillet full of mac and cheese!

I thought the dish was ok, not all that exciting, but Adam polished off my leftovers in a matter of minutes and declared that we have to go back immediately, so apparently it were a hit with him.

After dinner my friend and I walked back up Elmwood (it felt so nice to take a walk!) to meet the rest of our group for drinks at Mezza. I am totally kicking myself that I didn’t get a photo of all of us, but I did manage a shot of my amaretto sour.

I’m an embarrassment. And I’m pretty sure the (cute) bartender thought I was special because I ordered a diet coke for my 2nd round and he refilled my glass free-of-charge at least three times. I basically wanted to move in.

I stopped at Starbucks on the way home for something warm to drink while I wrote this post.

Tall/toffee nut/black tea/skim latte.

Adam and his friends are in the middle of a poker game in the living room but I’ve got to fold… myself into bed.

My goodnight gift to you? Shots of the dog chillaxing.

Squee!

21Mar2013

Eggstra Special

by Emily

This is an extra-special post – it’s the first one I’ve managed to get up all week!

I had a giant presentation to give on Tuesday, an important quiz on Wednesday, and on Monday the dog had another series of 2 am seizures. Yay. <– sarcasm

Since the start of this rotation all of my classmates have reported getting to bed by/before 10pm but I’ve stubbornly, stupidly stayed up until at least 12. I’d been doing ok, but my weeks of lost sleep and this week’s trifecta of late nights hit me hard on Wednesday. I wandered around in a daze all day yesterday and then hurried home and got into bed at the record-breaking hour of: 7pm! I got up for an hour or so around 9pm, but went back to bed for an amazing 10 hours total!!!

I felt much better today. So of course I’m staying up late. What can I say, I’m an idiot.

After that long introduction, let’s do this quickly… Coffee at the hospital.

Dark roast with french vanilla creamer. The sweetened creamer is not a habit I want to get into, but while I’m somewhere without milk it is fun.

I had cafeteria pizza for lunch, but I didn’t think about taking a picture until after my plate was bare. Whoops.

Plus candy.

And when I got home I had this bowl of goodness.

A serving of Liz Lemon Froyo, a Dannon Oikos Toasted Coconut Vanilla Greek Yogurt, sliced mango, and fresh blackberries.

It was yumtastic.

For this evening’s fun, we dyed Easter eggs.

Except that it wasn’t fun at all.

Because my “hard-boiled” eggs were raw. And we were all hungry.

But they were pretty, and Adam salvaged a few by breaking the partially cooked eggs into a skillet and making us dinner.

We had fried eggs,

with white toast with Earth Balance.

And big salads – baby spinach, pink salt, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and homemade maple vinaigrette (1 tsp sweet hot mustard, 2 Tbsp maple syrup, 2 Tbsp rice vinegar; shaken and split into two portions).

With quinoa dark chocolate for dessert.

Goodnight, Webster!

16Mar2013

…I am so tired I forgot to title this post originally

by Emily

So I already told you guys the good news. More on that later, I’m too tired right now to be excited. I don’t know why I’ve been so exhausted lately – other than, you know, working really hard at my internship and continuing to get in bed after midnight even though up I’m at 6 – but this evening it hit me really hard. I went to work all day, did a quick grocery trip, then had a major meltdown. The husband is the kindest man on the planet and he ran out and got us calzones for a late dinner. We are eating now (and watching “Chopped!”) and then I’m going to pour myself into bed.

Packed breakfast for work. Cinnamon Apple GoGo Squeez.

Coconut Chia Bar. <– very nice, the coconut flavor was great

Muller low-fat Greek yogurt with honeyed apricot.

Lunch from the Co-op hot bar. I was hurrying to photograph because I was on the floor at work and I did not get a good picture.

A salad base – spinach and romaine with red pepper, cherry tomato, and maple vinaigrette – topped with corn relish and a jalopeño cheddar turkey burger.

Post-meltdown fuel. We shared a buffalo chicken stromboli and a cheese calzone.

Mmmmmn! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: greens

Highlights From OBX

Things I’m Loving From Trader Joe’s

Bento Box Lunch

Spinach And Sprouts Scrambled Eggs

Spinach Salad With Soft Boiled Eggs

Break Begins

Eggstra Special

…I am so tired I forgot to title this post originally