Pumpkin GOAT

Highlights from the weekend…

Pumpkin Noosa (the best pumpkin yogurt of the month) with caramel apple granola.

Pumpkin spice Chobani with apple pie granola and frozen/warmed berries and cherries. Plus a pour-over coffee with a cinnamon and vanilla bean cold foam!

Southern Tier is the greatest of all time when it comes to pumpkin flavored alcohol.

Paris Baguette brie and cranberry croissant. This was great. I also tried an everything cream cheese croissant from Whole Foods that was only ok.

Perfect peanut butter and berry layers bar. Delicious. I’ve been very into things with a jammy layer recently (I had a Jenny’s doughnut ice cream over vacation with a mind-blowing jam swirl).

Someone at work gave Adam these spicy cashews and they are hands-down the best nuts I’ve ever eaten.

Good enough to salvage this very lackluster Cup Noodles flavor.

Taco bowls. Roasted cabbage with Sichuan pepper salt, cilantro, and lime / turkey sauteed with yellow onion, poblano pepper, and spices / double roasted tomato salsa / everything and the elote dip / sharp cheddar.

Enchilada-inspired casserole. Trader Joe’s black bean and cheese taquitos baked with a topping of roasted zucchini, leftover turkey, salsa, sour cream, and cheese. <– I will be making this again

Apple Of My Eye

Things from the past week – So much Apple Month fun. Adam was out of town at a confernce and amazingly I served myself an adult meal almost every night. Highlights…

Apple pie sundae. Vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and apple pie granolas.

Caramel apple cider doughnut cookie. I am actually not a Chip fanatic but this one is perfection! It’s a brown sugar cookie made with apple butter, with a carmel apple filling, topped with butter and cinnamon sugar.

Caramel apple boozy milkshake. Michigan apple whiskey with vanilla ice cream, ice, cinnamon, and caramel sauce.

Still loving the caramel apple Sugar Babies.

These fruit bites were good not great; something about the mango flavor was a bit gaggy to me.

A bowl of blackberries and Sumo mandarin delicious enough to document.

Homemade take on okonomiyaki. I filled mine with crumbled super-firm tofu, cabbage, cauliflower rice, and green onions (plus ginger, eggs, flour, and ginger lime seltzer – I always use seltzer here instead of water). Topped with Sriracha, Kewpie, and furikake.

Korean steamed eggs on a bed of roasted cabbage and cauliflower rice with chili crisp. Topped with sesame seeds and way too much gochugaru because my shaker broke.

Red curry salmon cakes (there was green onion, panko, egg, and cauliflower rice in there too) and rainbow cauliflower with water chestnuts, stir-fry sauce, and Trader Joe’s chile and garlic cashews.

Pizza night (this was a successful too good to go order so I don’t know exactly what they were, fried eggplant and ??). Plus more cauliflower rice; it was a big bag for one person!

Tonight we have a fun couple date – dinner reservations at Hav & Mar!

Sandwich Inspired

I worked this weekend and things were pretty hectic but thankfully I finally made it to the grocery from vacation and we were able to enjoy some great dinners. Highlights from the past three days include…

I tried and loved the new layers Perfect Bars. The oat crisps on top were perfect.

Chewy doughnuts from Paris Baguette – mochi, lemon cronut, and cream cheese filled mochi. We have been very impressed by every item we have tried from PB.

A former intern brought us in goodies including baklava and halvah.

Onda‘s canned tequilla seltzers are solid, this strawberry flavor is quite drinkable.

I 12/10 loved this Social Hour Sunkissed Fizz canned cocktail with vodka, yuzu, peach, key lime, and jasmine. I carted this home from a liquor store in Midtown and it exceeded my expectations. Very smooth, very boozy, not too sweet.

I turned my leftover Pecking House chicken-seasoned fries into something amazing. Leftover fries crisped under the broiler / Kewpie mayo / baby broccoli sauted with tons of garlic / Trader Joe’s teriyaki baked tofu / chili crisp.

Cuban sandwich inspired salads. Romaine / leftover garlic broccoli / homemade yellow mustard vinaigrette (equal parts mustard, mayo, vinegar, olive oil, and lemon juice, plus a pinch of salt) / homemade croutons / Jarlsberg cheese and sliced pork for Adam and smoked turkey for me. I forgot the chopped pickles, which is devestating, but this was still a fantastic salad.

Reuben sandwich inspired okonomiyaki. Shredded yellow potato (squeezed as dry as possible and microwaved for three minutes) / shredded cabbage and chopped green onion (baked for 20 minutes) / in a batter with minced ginger, white pepper, salt, gochugaru, eggs, flour, and ginger seltzer / stuffed with sliced roast beef and Jarlsberg / then cooked in a wide pan in canola oil / topped with homemade Russian dressing.

Pecking Order

Adam and I were both on vacation last week and we went home to St. Thomas for Carnival! It was a perfect week – we had time with family, went on my favorite runs, ate my favorite foods (highlights included soursop shaved ice and a dark rum and coke), and went to the beach every day. It’s hard to beat a morning walk in the sand with an iced coffee!

We went right back to work when we got home (seriously, I was at my desk less than 10 hours after we left the airport!) and I didn’t get to go grocery shopping until yesterday but thankfully I had left myself a well-stocked freezer and pantry. Highlights from the week included…

This week’s coffee combo.

Beautiful smoothies. Frozen spinach, banana, and blueberries with honey, water, and key lime juice.

Frozen soursop, banana, and strawberries with vanilla almond milk, cinnamon, and plain Greek yogurt.

Trader Joe’s crispy apple chips.

These s’mores Ben and Jerry’s bites are hands-down my favorite thing.

Leftover chicken soup I made and froze a few weeks before vacation; this reheated really well.

“Freshly made” soup with this trio. Trader Joe’s ginger miso broth and garlicky cabbage plus ginger chicken dumplings.

Farro / furikake, kelp granules, black garlic, gochugaru / canned salmon and smoked trout with mayo, rice vinegar, and Sriracha / zoodles and celery / fried egg. I actually decided I didn’t like this and abandoned it halfway through for ramen but Adam liked it and I still think it was a good idea.

I work this weekend so I was off on Thursday and I went into the city for a haircut and a fun Brooklyn date. I have wanted to go to Pecking House for more than a year and it more than exceeded my high expectations! We shared fries with chicken seasoning.

Cornbread. Charred turnips with miso and almonds.

Fried chicken with salted egg sauce.

And the fantastic spicy chicken sandwich with Fuqi chili sauce, Oaxaca cheese, and pickled jalapenos on a brioche bun.

Plus gelato for dessert. A butter and salt scoop and a scoop of a cannolo flavor with candied fruits that blew my mind.

Duck, Duck, Soup

Highlights from a tasty weekend…

Giant green smoothie. This had frozen spinach, strawberry, soursop, honey, and vanilla almond milk.

Siggi’s vanilla honey skyr. I only liked – not loved – this and found it to be a little sour (and am mostly posting to remind myself).

Kimchi butter ramen. This was spicier than I was expecting.

Gelato from a new spot in LI. I got Kinder and s’mores in a vanilla cone. We weren’t head over heels for this spot but my s’mores scoop did have a giant toasted marshmallow in it and that was delightful.

Beers from Destination Unknown. This was our 2nd trip there and we have loved almost everything we’ve tried. Great IPAs.

Brunch at Maya Congee Cafe. We loved it here. We shared passionfruit tea with mango stars.

Chicken breakfast congee with smoked cheese and a soft egg.

And a braised chicken bahn mi.

Dinner at Long Island Pekin. This is officially our favorite Long Island spot. This dinner was an 11/10 and the leftovers were sooo exciting. We shared the Peking duck scallion pancakes with cheddar and sweet plum sauce.

Flat rice noodles with veggies and duck.

And the half Hong Kong roast duck.

Leftover soup. I topped my bowl with chili crisp. Served with homemade garlic bread.

No photo but worth a mention – we tried the honey butter chicken sandwich from PDQ and were both impressed!

Bean, Banana, Bap

Highlights from the week…

Dessert-y yogurt bowl. Vanilla skyr with condensed milk, strawberries, banana, cornflakes, and sprinkles.

These jelly beans really do taste like Froot Loops!

We got chips and quesadillas from Chipotle with their new chicken al pastor and it was actually pretty great.

We went to Long Island Pekin this week for duck (sans camera) and it blew our minds! I ate leftovers with other leftovers and it was a great meal.

Bibimbap-inspired veggie bowls. Riced broccoli sauteed with white pepper and sesame seeds / crispy tofu shreds – extra-firm tofu that I shredded, tossed with evoo and gojuchang, then baked / bean sprouts / gojuchang / cucumber / sauteed baby shitake mushrooms and green onion / fried egg.

Roasted cauliflower with crispy white beans – tossed in evoo, cornstarch, furikake, gochugaru, and ranch seasoning then baked.

Butter Me Up

Some highlights from this tasty week include butterscotch, butterfingers, and butternut squash…

I bought this Monin butterscotch syrup for coffees (and ocassionally Diet Cokes!) and have really been enjoying it.

I also made an ube Vietnamese iced coffee one day.

Another fun beverage – sparkling pomelo iced matcha.

Creamy peach smoothie; frozen peaches and banana with plain skyr and cottage cheese. I will definitely be adding cottage cheese to my shopping list more often.

Voodoo-seasoned pretzel sticks.

We made Butterfinger-inspired no bakes and they were 11/10. Just crushed corn flakes with salt, peanut butter, melted butter, honey, and melted chocolate.

Many of this week’s dinners paired perfectly with dipping sauces. Baked french fries / buffalo chicken meatballs – ground chicken, egg, panko, a splash of half and half, buffalo sauce, shredded gouda, sliced green onions / roasted zucchini tossed in smoked paprika and Trader Joe’s ranch seasoning blend.

Oven-fried extra-firm tofu – marinated in pickle juice and breaded with crushed voodoo pretzels. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.

I had some leftover restaurant/take-out veggies saved in the freezer – spicy baby cauliflower from a Chinese place and garlic Chinese broccoli from a Thai place – which reheated quickly. With Trader Joe’s chicken and cilantro mini wontons.

Smoky broccoli salad – it was so good I gave it a recipe page! – with roasted butternut squash.

Roll With It

I was off of work yesterday because I work both days this weekend. We are still hoping to to have some evening Long Island fun though. Highlights from this past week…

I took myself on a fantastic car picnic in Huntington for my day off! Vanilla bean iced latte from Southdown Coffee and the best cinnamon roll of my life from Duck Island Bread Company.

Sparkling watermelon waters. The watermelon flavored Liquid Death is a 10/10. We also really like this passionfruit watermelon Mela; typically we don’t buy sugar-sweetened drinks for home but this stuff is delicious (especially with tequilla!).

Crunchy things – honey roasted chickpeas and crunchy lentils.

These Blue Pearl blueberries are great; so big and sweet.

Big fan of these brown sugar boba popsicles. I have no idea how they get the frozen tapioca to stay so soft/chewy.

Leftover sheet-pan hash. We were getting sick of it at this point so I topped mine with a Sriracha honey mustard sauce.

Delicious Mediterranean-ish bowls. Farro mixed with pesto / canned artichoke hearts sauteed in evoo and then cooked with a mix of tomato sauce and harissa / roasted zucchini / canned tuna / chopped olives.