Weekly Wrap-Up; Recipes, Redone

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

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

breakfast

Tropical smoothie.

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

Fancy fruit salad.

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

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Plus a Blueberry Oat Almond THINaddictive.

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

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

lunch

Asian and apples.

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My Pad See Ew leftovers were still great cold.

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

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

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

The rest of my fruit salad was wonderful at lunch.

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Crushed pineapple,

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fruit salad,

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and a peach Fage,

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were all stirred together into a tasty bowl.

Homemade oatmeal part deux.

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Crushed pecans, dark chocolate chips, and toasted coconut.

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Plus an apple.

snack

Afternoon espresso when I really wanted candy.

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

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

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A Banana Dark Chocolate Almond THINaddictive.

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

Pink Lady.  I have been loving apples recently.

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We made milkshakes.

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

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

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

dinner

My first recipe redo.

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

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

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

My other recipe redo was my Healthy Spinach Pesto.

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

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I’m off for family fun time! xoxo

Weekly Wrap-Up; Eggs And Easter Candy

I’m bouncing back from a bad migraine this afternoon so this post might be lacking my usual witty prose (<– just go with it).  I don’t want to think that too much sugar may have been a potential trigger for the migraine, but it will probably be hard to convince you otherwise once you finish the post 🙂  Also, upon completion I am forced to note that 90% of these pictures are pretty god-awful.  The food was yummy though, I swear!

lunch

Oatmeal Monday.

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Apple on the side.

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Quaker Summer Berry Oatmeal,

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topped with Reese’s eggs.

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I read the egg carton further that night and discovered that they contain trans fat, dun dun dun! – so I had to throw the rest out.  My only hard and fast nutrition rule is never eat trans fats.

Spicy Sandwich Tuesday.  A whole wheat Sandwich Thin with Applegate Farms Herbed Turkey, Fontina cheese, strawberry jam, and pickled jalopeños that seemed to have retained a lot of their heat.

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I cooled down with cinnamon applesauce.

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And crunched through kale chips.

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Worst.  Photo.  Ever.

Egg Salad Wednesday.

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This batch of egg salad was made with tons of caramelized onions, miracle whip, smoked paprika, and raisins.  It was fabulous stuffed inside a Pocket Thin.

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With the rest of the kale chips and an apple.

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Leftovers Thursday.

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See more of this casserole down in dinners.

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With a wonderfully crisp Lady Alice apple and Haribo colas.

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Last of the Egg Salad Friday, aka today.

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This time with a slice of Fontina.

dinner

Stir fry night.

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Served on top of packaged Kung Pao noodles.

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My ‘fry contained edamame, bamboo shoots, straw mushrooms, and pineapples, cooked in pineapple juice and green curry paste.

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I usually try to put too much into my stir fries and I end up hating them; this simple version was fantastic.

Stir fry leftovers.

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My veggies, plus steamed sweet potato chunks, and fish sauce and soy sauce, cooked in evoo, with an egg at the end.

A winning new recipe.

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Turkey Reuben Casserole.

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Click here for the recipe.

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Plus spinach and baby kale sautéed with evoo and dried blueberries.

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Let’s be real, I pretty much choked down those greens.

Chipotle post-migraine.

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Brown rice with peppers, chicken, lettuce, cheese, and lots of mild salsa.

snacks, aka Easter candy

I made a Cadbury Cream Egg Cream.  What?!

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It actually didn’t work all that well, I felt like my eggs got burnt in the microwave, but I salvaged it with a bit of chocolate milk.  Adam and I were both pretty pleased with the final result.

Speaking of candy eggs, these Ferrero ones from my basket were sure gone in a hurry.

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Just like a Rocher but without the nut in the center.

Grape Crush licorice.

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When I veered away from the Easter goodies my snacks went horribly awry.  I got an email from Dunkin that a Coolatta would earn me 25 bonus points and, sucker for loyalty rewards that I am, I had to get one.

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Disgusting.  It wasn’t homogenous at all; the coffee, milk, and sweetener separated into terrible layers.

That was a bad note to end on, but overall it was a tasty week.

Weekly Wrap-Up; Busy Busy

Whew, has it been a busy week! I can’t even tell y’all, work has been wiping me out. <– Hence the 1.5 day late blog post.

Wednesday night I got home around 6:00, then sat at my desk with my boots and coat on until 8:00 when Adam got home and I finally had to get up! Then Thursday I managed to undress, and even get halfway into my gym clothes, before crawling under the covers and calling it a night.

Breakfasts

For the most part, I’ve stopped blogging coffee that isn’t extra exciting in some way, but you can assume I’m still obsessed and drink a cup whenever I can get my hands on it.

A NuGo Dark Chocolate Pretzel Bar.

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Starbucks spectacular.

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A tall nonfat iced vanilla macchiato.

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And the almond blend.

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Coffee and cereal.

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Chocolate Krave, plus there was a packet of hot chocolate stirred into my coffee. And today I stirred hazelnut hot chocolate into hazelnut coffee and it rocked my face off.

 Lunches

Leftovers.

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A Cara Cara. DSC08846

And the rest of the turkey reuben mac and cheese.

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An awesome cafeteria lunch.  I mixed together cream chowder and cheese soup, with popcorn on the side.

cafeteria

Cereal on the go. DSC08875

Blackberries and a very unripe nectarine.

DSC08881 Fage lime 2% Greek yogurt.

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And Quaker Brown Sugar Oatmeal Squares and chia seeds.

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I was starving by the time lunch rolled around so I also bought a biscuit from the cafeteria.

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On Thursday I saw patients straight from 9 – 4. Then I had chocolate and diet soda at my desk while I charted and it was heavenly.

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Snacks

Kiss Me Organics offered me a sample of their Organic Matcha powder. Adam is obsessed so I readily accepted.

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I haven’t tried baking with it yet, but it blends perfectly into smoothies and lattes – both almond milk for me and skim cow’s for Adam. The flavor is delicious, not at all acrid like green tea can sometimes be. My only complaint is that the bag doesn’t list serving instructions or nutritional information.

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Matcha in a smoothie. I did pineapple, tea, ice, vanilla almond milk, ice and Fage lime 2% Greek yogurt.

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Good in theory but the lime flavor was a little too much.

Dannon coffee Greek frozen yogurt with lavender caramel and roasted peanuts.

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I also ate about a million handfuls of peanuts this week because holy frick, salty peanuts are so good!

Inner Peas from Trader Joe’s = my new favorite snack. They are exactly the texture I like to crunch on.

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Jelly Beans.

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Strawberry jam with toasted marshmallow is the best.

 Dinners

Adam worked Monday night so I made myself a giant bowl of cereal for dinner.

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Heritage Flakes and Reese’s Puffs with vanilla almond milk, a giant nectarine, and half a pint of blackberries.

“Pad Thai” with shrimp and broccoli.

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The quotation marks are because I used whole wheat linguine instead of the traditional rice noodles.

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Sandwich night.

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Sourdough toasted in the oven with strawberry jam, Bone Suckin’ mustard, and two slices of sharp cheddar, with a fried egg in the middle.

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Is there a better combination than cheese, egg, and jam?  I know ideally there would be a vegetable on that plate but when you consider that I slept through dinner the next night it doesn’t seem so bad.

And as soon as I hit publish I’m off to dinner with the husband. We are trying a Mexican place I’m quite excited about.

Have a great weekend!

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?

Weekish Wrap-Up

The title is sort of a pun!  Because this post is pretty weak.  Get it??

I’ve been all over the place with my posting schedule lately but it just feels right.  Especially this two-day “week” because I’ve been total snack monster so I’ve eaten a full post’s worth of food.  Here we go…

Cold-brew coffee with low-fat chocolate milk.

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Oh, I noticed you admiring my nails {just go with it}, here’s a better shot –

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I know they aren’t perfect – and I cleaned up the edges a bit after that photo – but I was so flipping proud to have managed them at all.  My hands have made me happy all week.

Onto pictures you’ve actually asked for… welcome to my office at work!

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It is never as messy as my hair is in that picture {yikes!}.

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I haven’t done much decorating, but I have a few touches to make it feel like home (mostly reminders of Webster).

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But back to my mocha, that did not make me happy.  I bought a jug of chocolate milk and made a week’s worth of coffee… but I used the butter rum flavored coffee from Target and ultimately it is just too nasty to drink.  I ended up throwing out my whole batch!

I had this Dannon pecan drinkable yogurt on the train.

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I was really impressed with how creamy it was.

Work lunch.

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An apple,

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and leftover shrimp pad thai from the weekend.

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I still can’t believe we were able to make it taste so good/authentic.

Another lunch.  This one not nearly as photogenic.

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Pumpernickel with miracle whip, grape jam, banana peppers, sharp cheddar, and smoked turkey.

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A red pear.

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And a mini Honeycomb chocolate from Chuao.

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Snacks at work: Lots of tea from my Numi samples.

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Haribo liquid center fruit gummi candies.

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And a bag of Somersaults.

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Snacks at home: A packet of tuna salad.

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A ridiculous peanut butter fudge mug cake.

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And a mini Firecracker Chocolate from Chuao.

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I don’t know how they keep the pop rocks so fresh when they’re enrobed in chocolate but this bar had crackle!

Last night’s dinner was rice noodles with bean sprouts and tons of broccoli cooked in peanut sauce.

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Normally this is one of our favorite meals but this dinner felt very meh.

And that’s all she wrote! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week!

Weekly Wrap-Up; Lonely Island

Let’s be honest – being married to a surgical resident sucks.  Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of Adam that he’s such a smartypants and I love that he gets the opportunity to do something meaningful that excites him, but if I had my druthers I think we would both be beach bums working together at a part-time job somewhere.

We don’t have any time now.  After 11 years together (and 6 years of marriage) we somehow still really like each other so living as two ships passing in the night, as I said, sucks.

It’s not great for blog content either.  Adam was on night shifts all this week and I was home alone which meant I ate cereal and/or popcorn most days.  Not a ton of healthy living to share!  And it didn’t help that when I pulled up my photos  to write this post half of them were horrendous and were promptly deleted.  Here is what I do have to share…

Work lunch 1.

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Fresh mango,

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and a Passion Fruit Noosa.

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This was the first time I had ever tried passion fruit not in juice form.  I liked the crunchy seeds!

Work lunch 2.

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Peach Noosa,

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topped with fresh blueberries,

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and Linwood Ground Flax Seed with Cocoa, Strawberries,  and Blueberries.

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The flax was part of a box of samples I recently received to review.

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It was quite good; you couldn’t taste the berries but it had a nice hint of chocolate.  I keep meaning to bring flax back into my life so the samples came at a great time.

Pink smoothie.

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Chocolate peppermint soy milk with frozen strawberries.  Adam is obsessed with this combination.  The only plus to nights is that he is home with me in the morning for breakfast.

Zing Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bar.

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This didn’t have the best texture but it did a great job of keeping me full.

Gummi Koalas.

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These are Adam’s favorites but they couldn’t hold a candle to my new obsession with Haribo Juicy Bears.

Blissinger’s Dulce de Leche with Sea Salt bar.

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Yuck!  Way too salty.  I’m hoping that the husband ends up liking it because it was quite expensive and I could only eat one square.

Santa Fe Salsa Somersaults.

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This one I have no complaints about 🙂

Oven baked fries.

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With evoo, truffle salt, and dried rosemary from my grandma’s garden.

Iowa Girl Eats’ Chicken Chili topped with extra-sharp cheddar, low-fat sour cream, and pickled jalopeños.

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I skipped the brown sugar, doubled the onion, and added some liquid smoke.  Adam loooooved this, and he says he hates chili.

Leftover chili stuffed in a baked potato.

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With more cheese, sour cream, and jalopeños, and roasted broccoli on the side(s).  This was cheesy amazing.  We need to make baked potatoes more often.

Do you feel like you get enough time with your significant other or does work get in the way?

Weekly Wrap-Up; Feeling Fizzy

Hey there!  The weather has not warmed up yet (though we are promised a week of mid-30’s to come!) but, as predicted, I am in a much better mood* than I was during my last wrap-up.  My dietitan side wants to attribute my good feelings to getting in more produce this week!

*I am probably going to exclaim that “____________ was soooooo good!” a million times in this post and I feel the need to disclaim that this is not just my bubbly persona, I had lots of really tasty things this week.

Breakfast

Half of a Gnu Fiber Love Blondie Bar and a skim black tea latte.

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DSC07599I went with tea only because I had a coupon but I ended up thinking that it was quite nice.  The bar on the other, was very meh.

A short skim latte.

DSC07673I almost never drink hot coffee but in the moment it sounded good.  Probably because I was still thinking about how nice the foam was with my tea.

A fantabulous smoothie.

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Frozen blueberries, a frozen banana, Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, 2 Tbsp Vanilla Bean and Espresso Barney Butter, and a Coco Café Coconut Water Café Latte.  The coffee + almond combo was perfection.

Lunch

Lunch 1.

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Strawberry Rhubarb Noosa Yogurt (pssst, all Noosa shown in this post are former freebies).

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I had never tried rhubarb before this but if it tastes in pie like it does in this yogurt then I’m sure I’d be a fan.  Plus baby carrots and green pepper with Bolthouse Farms Blue Cheese Yogurt Dressing for dipping.

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And a Pink Grapefruit Cascade Ice Water.

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Oh gosh, the pink grapefruit, sooooo good.  I don’t even usually like grapefruit but this knocked my socks off.  This bottle was part of a very sweet box Cascade Ice Waters sent me this week.

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Being a fan of all thing fizzy, I knew I would like them, but I’ve been shocked by just how good they are.  I enjoy all of the flavors I’ve tried so far a bunch.

Lunch 2.

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A Mango Noosa with some toasted coconut on top.

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An Asian Pear and a banana fudge cereal bar (warmed, for the win!).

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And a Lemonade Cascade Ice Water.

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Super refreshing.  These drinks don’t taste “diet” at all.  <– usually my complaint with beverages other than diet coke.

Lunch 3.

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More veggies with dip.

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A mineola.

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And leftovers.

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…from a dinner you’ll see in a sec.

Dinner

Here’s that dinner I was talking about.  A poorly-lit date to Namaste that I’m going to share anyway because it was the best Indian food we’ve ever had.

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We went with a Groupon that let us get a bunch of courses.  Including wine.

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Riesling wasn’t actually the best pairing with my spicy food but I shared with Adam and he shared sips of his mango lassi with me.

Our Shrimp Bhuna appetizer was ridiculous.  The sauce was amazing.

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Dinner was great too.

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I a pile of Okra Masala next to rice that I topped with some of Adam’s Chicken Shahi Korma.

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Delicious.  My dish was perfectly spiced.  This was the best okra I’ve ever had and you know I love okra.

Plus they brought us creamy rice pudding for dessert.

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Namaste, we will be back! {again, and again, and again}

A quick and easy dinner at home.

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Herring salad – canned, smoked herring mashed with Miracle Whip, dijon, and pickle relish.

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Orange honey cabbage – shredded cabbage and chopped celery sautéed in evoo and then cooked with a sauce made of orange juice, honey, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and corn starch.

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Plus dried clementines so that my plate didn’t look like it belonged to someone edentulous.

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I wasn’t feeling any of my piles, sadly, but Adam loved this meal.

The last dinner I have to share was a loser too.

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I topped leftover creamy mushroom casserole with truffle salt and a sunny side up egg but my favorite flavors weren’t enough to make up for the lackluster casserole underneath.  We shared this cutting board of pineapple as an appetizer and that wasn’t great either.

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Maybe I’m actually being picky this week?

Snack

Adam and I tried the new Butterfinger Cups.

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DSC07603Not fans; they were actually too spot on, the flavors were so recognizable as Butterfingers and Reese’s Cups that it was weird to be eating them mashed together.

Peppermint divinity candy, on the other hand, is always good.

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Thanks for sending it, parents!  P.S. Fellow NYCers – if you come across divinity candy somewhere in our fair city please let me know!

Margaritas!

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Made with Cascade Ice Margarita Sparkling Cocktail Mixer, a splash of orange juice, fresh lime, and tequila.

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I don’t even like margaritas (I drink them from one bar only, always with Herradura) and I thought these were out of control.

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I haven’t seen the Cascade Ice cocktail mixes at my store but I am buying more of this as soon as I can find it.

Homemade ice cream that was a total success.

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Amazingly, I managed to make the best coffee ice cream we’ve ever had.

Coffee Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, serves 4 – 6

  • 1 and 1/2 cups fat-free half and half
  • heaping 1/4 cup coffee grounds
  • 12 oz can evaporated low-fat milk
  • 1/3 cup and 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 1 Tbsp vodka
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 1 cup crushed Oreos  (we used Mega Stuffed by any kind works)
  1. Place coffee grounds and half and half into the base of your French press.  Stir.  Cover (do not insert the press at this point) and store in the fridge overnight, at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours.
  2. Press grounds and pour coffee-infused half and half into a medium saucepan.
  3. Whisk evaporated milk, 1/3 cup sugar, salt, vanilla bean paste, and vodka into half and half.  Heat mixture until tiny bubbles begin to form around the edges of the pan, stirring constantly with a whisk.  Remove pan from heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
  4. While the milk mixture cools, whisk 1/4 cup sugar into egg yolks in a large bowl.
  5. Slowly stream the milk into the eggs, whisking constantly.  Be sure to temper the eggs by starting with a very small amount of the hot liquid and gradually adding more.
  6. Return mixture to pan and cook another 5 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.
  7. Place pan into a large bowl of ice water, stirring occasionally, until cool, 20 – 30 minutes.
  8. Pour cooled base into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
  9. Transfer finished ice cream to a large storage container and fold in crushed Oreos.  Serve immediately or freeze.

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What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?

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?