Top Five This Week

by Emily

{1} Fiber One sent me samples of their newest product line – layered chewy bars.

I’m a fan! Sometimes fiber-added products hurt my stomach, but these gave me no issues. They are chewy without being tooth-breaking and salty-sweet – my favorite flavor combo. They come in double chocolate almond.

And the even more delicious salted caramel and dark chocolate.

{2} I made a tasty strawberry sauce.

It was quick and easy, just fresh strawberries quartered and cooked in a skillet over medium heat.

Paired with passion fruit yogurt with Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

And plain yogurt with vanilla granola and a few Luxardo cherries.

{3} Ben & Jerry’s and New Belgium partnered on a cookie dough beer and I paired it with cookie dough ice cream.

We ended up not loving the beer, which had a chemical aftertaste to it, but the ice cream (which I topped with melty Biscoff) was obviously delicious.

And speaking of Speculoos…

{4} Starbucks has a cookie butter bar and it is out of this freaking world.

{5} I spent 3+ hours making over-the-top lasagna.

Loosely based on this recipe, it was totally worth the time commitment.

I made a red sauce with ground turkey and TJ’s soy chorizo. My béchamel was a four-cheese doozy made with cheddar-gruyere and parmesan-gouda. I skipped the ricotta, but did top my dish off with more parmesan-gouda.

{bonus} My schedule – I worked President’s Day and work this upcoming weekend which means I was off from work yesterday and today for a midweek weekend! And Adam is off today too so we’ve got some Upper East Side fun planned. See you next week!

10Feb2017

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Valentine’s

by Emily

As long-term blog readers know, the Emily holiday theme-food calendar is pretty packed. There’s Apple Month (September) and Pumpkin Month (October into November), and November/December are the only time of year I’ll eat eggnog, candy cane, and gingerbread.

My mom recently asked me why Valentine’s Day and Easter don’t get any love? I decided it’s lame that only August – December get theme flavors, so brought two new holidays into the party, albeit likely with less fervor. Valentine’s Day (February) gets chocolate-covered cherry and cinnamon, and Easter (April) gets coconut and lemon.

Here was this month’s themed-food stash:

Those goodies will be the main content of this post, along with a few other things that I LOVED (<– staying on theme). It works out to be work lunches/snacks since this week’s dinner situation was beyond bleak – 1. nachos 2. Chipotle 3. frozen meal from Trader Joe’s 4. Adam and I got into bed and fell asleep before 8pm.

Chocolate cherry yogurt, chocolate cherry cashew KIND bar, and a Sumo mandarin.

Valentine’s trail mix with chocolate hearts, dried dark sweet cherries, and roasted pecans. Plus a Junami apple.

2% yogurt with blackberries and muddy buddies.

Vanilla bean yogurt with tangerine, blackberries, vanilla granola, and citrus crumble cake.

A coworker just came back from the Philippines and she replenished my stash of these amazing powdered milk candies.

Best ~~bite~~ sip of the week – very vanilla iced coffee.

Do you have any romantic plans for next Tuesday?

9Jan2017

Carbo-Loading For The Work-Week

by Emily

Three words to sum up this weekend’s eats – all the carbs. Fourth word – yum!

It was a very good weekend, in spite of the city’s first snow. We drove (carefully!) into Brooklyn both days for tasty brunches, I cooked two new dishes, we cackled loudly at the Garfunkel and Oates special, and I polished off a bunch of freelance work.

Iced latte from Milk Bar.

Starbucks smoked butterscotch latte. I ordered this with four shots of espresso (normal x2) and two pumps of syrup (normal/2) and it was still too sweet.

Espresso and chocolate milk.

Best brunch of the new year at Sunday in Brooklyn.

I drank a Sundae Coffee – cold brewed coffee, aged rum, allspice dram, and vanilla cream – and a Smoked Oak Soda, aka the best thing I’ve ever tasted. It was like a glass of toasted marshmallow!!!

We started with a pecan sticky bun and a maple cheddar biscuit. It’s possible we got excited and basically ordered the whole damn menu.

I uncharacteristically ordered pancakes… malted pancakes with hazelnut maple praline and brown butter.

Plus we spit home fries and I stole several bites of Adam’s smoked salmon and pastrami cod. We took some food home, obviously, and the dog was over the moon for that salmon. <– I agree, best lox I’ve had yet.

Work lunch yogurt bowl. Vanilla bean with TJ’s almond butter granola and chocolate tahini, plus a Piñata apple.

Pizza lunch at Emmy Squared. We had waffle fries with bonito flakes.

The Marn Blanc — white pizza with mozzarella, ricotta, pecorino, and caramelized onion – was good but intense; I’d probably get something with red sauce to cut through the fat next time.

Snack time, tortilla chips and peanut butter cups.

Dulce de leche iced chocolate from Cacao Market.

Turkey salad for a simple dinner, with mayo, ground mustard, celery, sweet and spicy pecans, and cilantro. Plus baby carrots and buttered sourdough toast.

Nacho night. Tortilla chips with sharp cheddar, chunky salsa, and black beans. Plus more baby carrots on the side.

Sunday I spent some time chopping in the kitchen and tried two new recipes. I did a very loose interpretation of Mapo Tofu with ground turkey and gojuchang served on brown rice.

Next to a bok choy salad. I borrowed this sauce, and tossed it with chopped bok choy, red bell pepper, celery, green onions, and Valencia peanuts. It was delicious! This was our first time eating the bok choy raw and we loved it.

I’d say my glycogen stores are fully replenished. Have a fantastic week!

31Dec2016

Wrapping It Up

by Emily

Thanks to the holiday day and compensatory days for working the preceding and following weekends… I only worked two days this week! Tuesday and Friday on and the rest of the week to do as I pleased, not a bad way to end 2016. Though now I do work both NYE and the first day of 2017.

It was also a big week in my personal life, on Wednesday Adam and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary (and 14th anniversary of being together)! We didn’t exchange gifts or do anything crazy to celebrate, it’s hard to get too excited when we are so darn close to 10 years. <– eeeeeeeeeeee!

Food highlights for the week – – –

Yogurt lunches. Dulce de leche Chobani with granola, plus a snapdragon apple and a vanilla latte can. Out of 10, the coffee and yogurt both get a 9+.

2% Fage with Soom chocolate tahini, sweet and spicy pecans, chopped apple, and chia seeds.

Dinner at Bubby’s. I met a girlfriend in Chelsea midweek and this is where we ended up. Neither of us ordered pie, but I had a great frisee salad with poached egg and sherry vinaigrette.

Iced coffee with princess emulsion (fancy vanilla extract that had a strong undertone of lemon and actually wasn’t great in coffee).

Fantastically roasty Terremoto Coffee skim latte was the best drink of the week, especially because I plopped a scoop of goat’s milk tahini ice cream in it a minute later.

Gelt!

On our anniversary – which we actually celebrated a day late because Adam’s schedule is insane – we cuddled on the couch and watched our wedding video with a split of champagne and the last eggnog iced coffee of the season.

We did dinner at Shalom Japan and I didn’t take a single picture. I did snap dessert – an ice cream date at OddFellows. Toasted marshmallow + amazing caramel chocolate toffee.

Best dish of the week = I made legit macaroni and cheese. Pimento cheese macaroni and cheese.

Whole wheat macaroni / sautéed green onions and chopped pimento / mornay sauce with sharp cheddar and raw milk cheddar / panko on top.

With spinach salad with red bell pepper, sweet and spicy pecans, and honey mustard, and roasted green beans with fried green onion.

See you next year! <– my favorite dumb joke

24Dec2016

‘Twas The Week Before Christmas

by Emily

Technically this should be known as “the week of the sandwich.” I don’t actually have a single picture (I was kind of a disaster this week) but I ate a sandwich for at least one meal, some times two, a day.

I was a bit under the weather so for non-sandwich meals I made a giant batch of chicken soup. Shredded chicken breast / onion, celery, red bell pepper, carrots, evoo, tomato paste / chicken broth / brown rice.

Adam and I shared this winter vanilla stout while we cooked.

I packed so many veggies into my pot that I ended up with more of a stoup, so I topped my bowls with cheese, sour cream, and jalapeños, like I would a chili.

It was also a week of eggnog coffee, of course.

And it’s worth noting that the one day I did pack lunch – yogurt with granola and an apple – this strawberry yogurt and TJ’s coffee can were both excellent.

This post was kind of a disaster, wasn’t it?

A very happy 1st night of Hanukkah for all my readers who celebrate and I hope my readers who celebrate Christmas have a merry, jolly weekend.

16Dec2016

Back At It

by Emily

With a crazy-busy week at work and a weather in the tens in NYC yesterday, we are definitely not on vacation any more, Toto!

Thankfully my day-to-day life takes place in the best city in America with the world’s nicest husband and the universe’s cutest dog so it’s really not too bad.

And I get to eat some pretty yummy food too. Flavors of the week – salmon, green beans, eggs, and egg nog…

This week’s coffee combo decked my mornings with boughs of jolly.

Christmas blend espresso roast with soy/nog. I also had a 2nd (and sometimes 3rd) cup at work everyday because going back to work after a vacation kind of sucks.

Vanilla bean yogurt with Bear Naked cacao + cashew butter granola. Plus a super juicy Pacific Rose apple.

Oatmeal with chia seeds, chocolate-covered cacao nibs, and gingerbread spice. Plus an apple on the side and a scoop of peanut butter on top once it was cooked.

Yesterday I had a ridiculously cheesy toasted turkey sandwich from the cafeteria that I was too busy to snap a picture of. And Wednesday the hospital served us a holiday luncheon, complete with the best steamed green beans any of us had ever tasted.

It was a week of sweets, including on-theme jelly beans.

Plus Brooklyn Cupcake. Guava cheese and coquito <– the best flavor.

I also ate all of the Oreo frosting off of this slice of red velvet.

I knew Monday would knock me out, so I got dinner started before work that morning. Strata with a super simple salad with honey mustard dressing.

The egg casserole was this recipe but with whole-wheat pumpernickel, maple chicken sausage, and a nutty raw-milk cheddar. The leftovers were great the next day too.

Wednesday Adam and I did a date night at the beautiful Sisters’ Restaurant. I want to go back for brunch so I get a better view, plus hopefully my food shots will be a little better.

We shared drinks – Nine Pin Cider for me – and two appetizers. Sweet potato fries with local maple crème fraiche and fried cauliflower and capers. The cauliflower was ahh-mazing. And we both decided the Nine Pin is the best cider on the market.

I ordered the salmon niçoise, more green beans for me! It was great, the fish was perfectly cooked.

More salmon for dinner yesterday. I made garlic salmon patties with sautéed bok choy with fried oyster mushrooms and a quick sauce of soy/honey/sriracha. I ate my second patty while I assembled our plates, with a creamy cocktail sauce for dipping.

Have a merry weekend!

2Dec2016

This Week’s Top Five

by Emily

December is here! The last themed-food month of the year (also the last month of the year, holy crap)!

Here were the top five from this week…

{1} Christmas-flavored coffees

Eggnog iced lattes have been rocking my face off, and I was also really into the holiday-spiced sweet cream cold brews this week.

{2} Triple Draft Latte from La Colombe

Delish! I enjoyed this can more than the store-made lattes I’ve gotten from this company. I never did eat that pomelo though, it’s been a busy week at work.

{3} Eggnog overnight oats

TJ’s low-fat eggnog / rolled oats / chia seeds / cinnamon and nutmeg / sliced banana.

{4} Quesadillas

I ate one every day this week! The hospital cafeteria kept having them and the one day I ate a different lunch I met up with a girlfriend for dinner and tequila after work. Pictured is a jerk chicken quesadilla with corn, bell pepper, and cheddar and pepperjack.

{5} Thanksgiving leftovers pasta

With turkey, roasted brussel sprouts, gruyere, and cranberry sauce.

Now I’m looking forward to a month of mulled spices, eggnog, gingerbread, and peppermint.

25Nov2016

Tastes Like Thanksgiving

by Emily

I hope all my American readers stuffed themselves silly yesterday (all of my readers really!) and made good memories with family and/or friends. Adam and I both had to work, so no festivities here, but thankfully I spent time with 3/4 of my family in St. Thomas last weekend. P.S. No post from last weekend, I didn’t take many pictures, but I did eat johnny cake with cheese and day drink almost daily.

In spite of being kind of lame on Turkey Day, I did manage to pack my week with holiday flavors – cranberry, green beans, turkey, pumpkin, and egg nog. Plus, apparently I’ve decided that chips are an on-theme holiday flavor!

Winter Cheer Stumptown with a cranberry clementine seltzer and a giant pomelo.

Cranberry turkey Wilde bar with a snap dragon apple and a cranberry cider seltzer. <– are we appreciating the cranberry seltzers I squirreled away for this week?!

Holiday spiced sweet cream cold brew.

Thursday felt like an appropriate time to get my eggnog goodies going.

Veggies with pita chips for scooping from the cafeteria for lunch. Tomato, green bell pepper, corn, cheddar, and beans.

Oats in a jar. I dumped hot oats with chia seeds and pepitas into the last of the chocolate tahini. Plus an ambrosia apple.

With more chocolate for dessert, I snacked on a cookie dough bar and a latte.

The cafeteria made a special Thanksgiving lunch. I had veggie lasagna, stuffing, and green beans.

Tuesday night – aka the first time Adam and I laid eyes on each other since last Wednesday! – we went out for dinner before making an overdue grocery run. I got a chopped salad with green chili lime vinaigrette, roasted corn, cucumber, jicama, and tons of avocado plus blue tortilla nachos with black beans, serrano salsa fresca, and Oaxaca queso sauce.

Post-dinner coffee to get me through Trader Joe’s. The aged Sumatra is tasty.

And the next morning I was able to get dinner going in the crock pot – cranberry bbq chicken that knocked our freaking socks off. In a slow cooker on low for 8 hours / chicken breast / maple whiskey bbq sauce / fresh cranberries tossed with minced garlic and a bit of sugar. I topped my bowl with some shredded cheese.

Served with roasted green beans and pumpkin beers.

I was the only RD at work on Thanksgiving and the day ended up being pretty exhausting. Thankfully I already had planned the ultimate lazy dinner – nachos. I kept things on theme though! TJ’s turkey and stuffing kettle chips / cheddar, swiss, and gruyere / turkey breast / cranberry sauce. With green beans in thyme honey balsamic vinaigrette.

Served with – just under the wire – the last pumpkin beer of the season.

Plus a nauseating amount of baking nibbles for dessert, we are doing a belated Thanksgiving with my in-laws this weekend and I’m bringing cookies.

What’s your favorite traditional Thanksgiving dish? I won’t judge you if you say nachos.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: oats

Top Five This Week

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Valentine’s

Carbo-Loading For The Work-Week

Wrapping It Up

‘Twas The Week Before Christmas

Back At It

This Week’s Top Five

Tastes Like Thanksgiving