Tag Archives: pasta

Macaronis And Marshmallows

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Things from the weekend…

We made scones! Chocolate chip and dried cherry. They were yummy and so easy.

Brunch at Agi’s Counter in Brooklyn. Dirty Ovaltine was a hit.

We were head over heels for these palacsinta – Hungarian crepes layered with honey butter and wine poached figs.

We also shared the hashbrown with trout roe and scallion sour cream.

And the confit tuna melt sandwich. It came with great house-made pickles.

Sugar Hill Creamery. We tried a split scoop of the Unicorn (vanilla with birthday cake and sprinkles) and the Don Cartagnea (cream cheese ice cream with guava and croissant).

But really we were there for the hot chocolate! Topped with torched marshmallow fluff!! This couldn’t compare with drinking chocolate but it was definitely the best hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted. It was dark and bitter in a way that really complemented the fluff.

See also – I ended my weekend with a scoop of this dark chocolate and mint Ben & Jerry’s topped with fluff at home.

Chopped turkey sandwiches in nacho form – one of my best dinner ideas yet. A mix of smoked turkey, honey maple turkey, sharp cheddar, garlic sauteed baby broccoli, pepperoncinis, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, mayo, and yellow mustard; chopped and baked on top of Kettle pepperoncini chips.

Leftover rice casserole and broccoli salad plus Whole Foods’ pimento mac and cheese balls. This plate got doused with Cholula and honey.

Take-out from Datz Deli for some 10/10 Caribbean food. Wonderfully spicy jerk chicken and the best baked mac and cheese I’ve gotten in NY (mind you, not as good as my favorite from Pueblo back home). Plus we shared one of the sandwiches they are famous for – stewed oxtail and mac and cheese stuffed into a chicken patty stuffed into a coconut bread. Every component was perfect and together it was a dream! Plus roasted romanesco on the side.

Cinnamon And Sugar Cookie

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Things from the weekend…

I signed up for an online CEU in GI Nutrition this weekend. The speakers were former UVA colleagues so that was neat! It was four+ hours on a Saturday though so I needed a fun breakfast – Adam and I split a Roast breakfast burrito (scrambled eggs, avocado, crispy potato, peppers and onions, hot sauce aioli, and I added sliced turkey) and fries.

Starbucks’ new sugar cookie cold foam is tasty but not as good as chocolate or pumpkin. Sandwiched between shots of espresso and cinnamon dolce sprinkles.

I made a dalgona iced coffee with cinnamon and chocolate milk (YUM).

Paired with an 88 Acres oatmeal chocolate chip bar that was also quite cinnamon-y.

I paired Whole Food’s hot bar chicken tenders and charred broccoli – and a hard boiled egg – with every kind of dipping sauce (ranch, blue cheese, Roast house sauce, honey mustard, bbq).

Dinner at Sandro’s, which someone at work highly recommended for Long Island Italian.

It was good! I got garlic broccoli rabe and the Mafaldine pasta with pesto, tomato sauce, Stracciatella, and toasted pine nuts. This was so satisfying.

Pumpkin GOAT

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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

Maple Month?!

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Highlights from the week…

Pumpkin protein smoothie. Pumpkin puree, cottage cheese, vanilla protein powder, maple, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Pumpkin beers. We served these in a glasses with a cinnamon brown sugar rim!

Chobani pumpkin spice Greek yogurt with caramel apple granola and jumbo blueberries.

I also enjoyed the pumpkin crisp Flip.

A trio of maple treats! Maple is a year-round food (too good to limit to one month!) but it was fun to do a theme dessert. These were all wonderful, by the way, the candy bar was one of the best we’ve ever had.

Cocktail chip hour a la Trader Joe’s – their best potato chips with everything and the elote dip.

Spicy pumpkin pasta. Whole-wheat elbows with sauteed ground turkey with sour cream, pumpkin puree, and chili crisp. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.

Trader Joe’s spicy pumpkin samosas (11/10!) with roasted orange and purple cauliflower. I made a dipping sauce with sour cream, maple, harissa, and lime.

Macaroni and cheese cups with leftover cauliflower and a buffalo-ranch sauce.

P.S. Fellow millennials – We have been loving the new Goosebumps series and highly recommend it! So campy but sweet and we really like they way they’ve fit multiple titles into one cohesive story. P.P.S. Hubie Halloween on Netflix is also delightful.

Apple Crumb Pie Sour

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Highlights from the week…

I get so much joy from my milk frother; cold foam on a homemade coffee is such a treat.

I couldn’t capture it in the rainy light but this apple I got at J-Mart was delightfully pink.

Trader Joe’s chile and garlic cashews are a satisfying snack.

As are the Perfect Layers bars, though I’ve decided I prefer the originals.

We visited Fern and Aurora – a newish Filipino bakery – and got an assortment of fun treats. Including a solid halo halo and a calamansi meringue that was one of the best desserts of this year.

Fat Witch mint brownie. This is our favorite of their flavors.

10/10 beer line up. Abomination Brewing Ice Cream Sandwiches in Space milkshake-style double IPA (P.S. I also tried their pumpkin milkshake IPA at a bar this week – we went out to do poorly at trivia – and was a fan) / Blue Point Apple Pie Crumb Sour.

Homemade callaloo with spinach, crab, and turkey bacon. Plus leftover teff biscuits and blue cornbread from Hav & Mar (the bread basket was the highlight of that meal!).

Tuna pasta. Whole-wheat spaghetti with roasted zuccini and romanesco, pine nuts, canned yellowfin tuna packed in olive oil, lemon juice and zest, gochugaru, and urfa chile pepper.

Tasting plate dinner – smoked salmon spread / bitchin dip / baby sweet bell peppers / everything corn crackers / Trader Joe’s black bean and cheese taquitos.

Apple Month, Starting Strong

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Some highlights from the past week…

This was the best bowl of fruit I’ve ever eaten together. Aprium, mango, and blueberries.

And this was the best yogurt bowl I’ve ever eaten! Plain Greek yogurt with honeycrisp apple pie granola and a Sonia apple that I microwaved with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Paired with an iced phin brew with brown sugar cinnamon cold foam.

Apple ginger crisp bar; I forget every year how excellent these 88 Acres seed and oat bars are, very balanced and satisfying.

Trader Joe’s dried apple chips (Adam loved these, I prefer the honeycrisp ones) and a BelliWelli chocolate chip cookie bar.

Caramel apple cocktail! Michigan Apple Whiskey, Goldschläger, ginger seltzer, and caramel sauce.

The Trader Joe’s cookie butter ale was okay but not as good as I was expecting; it was overly spiced in a way I found sort of nauseating.

Same review for these Utz hot honey chips.

Brunch at For Five while I powered through some work projects. I got a poached shrimp cobb salad (it came with turkey bacon so it was perfect for me).

Noodles with a gojuchang tahini sauce, topped with soft-boiled eggs, Sriracha, and furikake.

The “hack” where you shake macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets with blue cheese and buffalo sauce is a go-to in this house. I used Whole Foods macaroni, Applegate Farms nuggets, and added roasted cauliflower.

Nacho night. Tortilla chips and extra-sharp cheddar with smoked turkey, roasted zucchini, Blind Betty’s hot sauce, and a salsa with heirloom baby tomato, tomatillo, lemon, pepper, and Sichuan chili salt.

Basil tofu (so good!) on brown rice with sauteed baby bok choy and red bell pepper.

Another winner recipe – spicy salmon sushi bake. For my salmon layer I used a mix of hot smoked salmon, canned smoked salmon, and canned wild Alaskan pink salmon (all from Trader Joe’s). Plus a side of seaweed and a cucumber salad.

Cookies

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Things from this weekend…

Canned beverage car date with Adam. (I wanted to love the blackberry sage water but it was disappointing)

Love Barebells, particularly this cookies and cream flavor.

This was not as outstanding as the cookie dough bar but still pretty good.

Related – I topped ice cream with caramel, pecans, and peanut butter banana granola and that is now my new favorite thing.

Dinner at Pecking House. Hands-down the best chicken sandwich in the city currently. I got the charred cucumber salad and the spicy chicken sandwich with Fuqi chili sauce, Oaxaca cheese, and pickled jalopenos. So crispy!

Dinner at Sarin Thai. A cowoker told me about this spot and he is 3/3 on recommendations; this is definitely the best Thai we’ve tried in Long Island. We got chicken satay and the best tofu tod I’ve ever had (fried, with a spicy plum sauce).

I got a house special of stir-fried broad rice noodles with crispy duck.

Pesto Pizazz

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Things from this week…

My fruit bowl had an admirer. Dogs can’t eat grapes (these were Thomcords), but Webster enjoyed some of my giant blackberries.

This swamp drink was a butterfly pea tea lemonade (with fresh lemon, lime, and brown sugar) with matcha.

Alani maple donut protein coffee (6/10, I wanted it to have more flavor and caffeine but there was no aftertaste).

Spudsy ranch sweet potato fries (9.5/10, so crunchy and savory).

Rainbow bites gummy candies (1/10, I was excited for these but I thought the flavor was so strange. We ate them while watching Rainbow Bright and even the on-theme of it all couldn’t save them).

We really enjoyed both of these IPAs. Three Floyds’ Cat Date double > Grimm’s Classic Rewind

This dinner was super quicky and easy but so satisfying. Cold silken tofu sauced with soy sauce, sugar, chili crisp, gochugaru, sesame seeds, and furikake / kimchi veggie dumplings / frozen edamame that I reheated in the microwave for two minutes.

Pesto pizza! Homemade dough (I swapped Greek yogurt for blended cottage cheese in the two-ingredient recipe) / sliced gouda / homemade pesto / sliced tomato / parmesan. Plus roasted zucchini.

Whole-wheat spaghetti with pesto, zucchini, tomato, and mushroom and herb chicken sausages. I topped mine with chili flakes.