Tahini And Tamarind

Highlights from a yummy week…

Coffee, coffee, coffee.

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It was Carnival back home while my mom was visiting us and she brought up the best tamarind balls I’ve ever eaten.

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These dried baby pineapples from Trader Joe’s (unsweetened, unsulfured) are delicious.

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Chocolate-dipped gummi bears.

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Chocolate-dipped, cookie dough-wrapped ice cream balls!  We are obsessed with these Wallops.

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Double dose of double IPAs.

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Simple sandwich night.  TJ’s white whole wheat bread, Sir Kensington urfa chili mayo, smoked sliced turkey, havarti.  With roasted green beans.

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I made a tasty hash.  Shredded potatoes with kimchi, leeks, green onion, and turkey bacon.  Plus a fried egg.

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This was the best meal of the week though.

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Egg casserole – baked eggs with chives, sun-dried tomato, and mozzarella.

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Broccoli salad – roasted broccoli and red onion / turkey bacon / raisins / sunflower seeds / maple tahini sauce.

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BBQ Chips, BBQ Beans, BBQ Nachos

Highlights from the last week include several new (to me) things…

I don’t usually show my at-work meals, but I wanted to share one of the perks of working in the South – biscuit breakfast sandwiches in the hospital cafeteria.  This had turkey chorizo sausage, a cage-free fried egg, and cheddar.

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These Don’t Go Nuts granola bars have the best texture, almost like a streusel.

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Other snack highlights include this assortment of bbq flavored crisped chickpeas and corn.

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Chocolate beers and hibiscus drinks.  I loved the s’mores beer, liked the tea, and hated the other two.

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My aunt shared a recipe for Chicken Provencal Soup with us and we loved it for dinner.  It’s packed with potato, diced tomato, onion, carrot, and celery.  I dipped some naan in my broth.

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We made fantastic bbq bowls another night.  Collard greens and celery (sauteed with lemon, garlic, butter, and harissa hot sauce) // shredded chicken (cooked in the crock pot with ketchup, yellow mustard, brown sugar, cayenne, paprika, and red onion) // baby heirloom tomatoes // and smoked paprika candied pecans.  Remind me to cook more collards!

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We turned our leftovers into something fantastic with the help of these two products.  1) Hickory BBQ kettle chips that Boulder Canyon sent me to sample.  FYI – Boulder Canyon chips are – certified gluten free – trans fat free -vegan – kosher – made with green energy.  They had a good amount of smoke and tang and weren’t greasy at all.  Bonus, my bags, at least, had tons of foldsies!  2) Borlotti beans that we bought at Mekelburg’s just because the box was so pretty.

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BBQ kettle chips + beans + leftover chicken + roasted corn + sharp cheddar + smoked paprika = nachos!

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Party Peeps

7 highlights from the last 7 days…

Chocolate chip banana bar.  I found it in our hospital’s cafeteria but apparently it’s such a new product it hasn’t made it to the website yet.

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Crazy freeze-dried fruits from Trader Joe’s.  The dragonfruit wasn’t a fit for my tastes but the grapes were sweet and amazing.

IMG_4283Birthday cake Peeps!  Look at their adorable sprinkled butts!

 

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Kung Fu Tea.  Almond milk tea (half sweet, extra ice) with Oreo and aloe jelly.

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Squid ink pasta with tahini sauce, 5 spice tofu, roasted zucchini, and chili oil.

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Slow-cooked parmesan garlic chicken and potatoes + broccoli.  We didn’t brown our chicken and it still came out great.

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Greek salad – romaine and cucumber with TJ’s Greek feta dressing, green olives, crispy cheese bites, and roasted chickpeas.

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Have a great week!

Double Bacon Cheese Beyond Burgers

My trip home last weekend was perfect and we survived “Winter Storm Gia” this weekend… 2019 is looking like my year.

Highlights from week 2 include…

Iced coffee with black walnut extract and sweet cream creamer.

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Stumptown cold brew coffee box.

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Who knew that Perfect Bars were so freaking delicious?!  This peanut butter chocolate chip one was basically cookie dough.

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Stonyfield chocolate yogurt pouch (7/10), a Kiku apple (8/10), and a chocolate peanut butter filled Clif bar (9.5/10).

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I brought these yummy coconut candies back from St. Thomas.

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Shiner S’more is officially my new favorite beer.

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Guzzled while assembling everything but the kitchen sink cookies with caramel, kettle chips, toffee bits, caramel chips, and chocolate chips.

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This quickie packaged foods dinner was sooo good.  Chicken and cheese pupusas + bbq chicken chips + roasted broccoli + Trader Joe’s Zhoug sauce.

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I have an unhealthy obsession with the “Asian” section of Wegman’s hot bar.

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We made insanely, over-the-top, decadent double cheese burgers with Beyond Burger patties.

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Two patties on a brioche bun with mayo, turkey bacon, and smoked cheddar slices.  Plus kettle chips and veggies from the Whole Foods’ hot bar – curry caulilini and roasted rainbow carrots, mushrooms, and root vegetables.

img_3144Then later in the week we did a similar thing with Boca Chick’n patties.

 

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We made killer sheet pan hash browns.  Potato, sweet potato, purple sweet potato, olive oil, smoked paprika, green onion, turkey bacon, and red, yellow, and orange bell pepper.

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Topped with Zhoug and fried eggs.

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Christmas Cheer

Holiday highlights…

For the 1st time in six years Adam and I were both off for Christmas!  It was the perfect day.  We opened presents in front of Nick Offerman.

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And got Thai take-out and watched The Office.

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A good 90% of my gifts were edible so I spent the rest of the day eating sugar.

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Related – because my cousin knows me very well, her Christmas gifts to me included delicious homemade latkes

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and Christmas-themed beer.

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The rest of the week included…

I figured for my last round of coffee and ‘nog I should go big or go home – Homestead Creamery’s eggnog is the best I’ve ever tasted.

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I spent more than an hour one night making dal that ended up being inedible but the roasted purple brussel sprouts I tossed into the oven as an afterthought we stunningly good.

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We made red and green sheet pan crab fried rice.  Use this method.  With basmatti rice, crab, green onion, red bell pepper, and broccoli.

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P.S. Today is our 11th wedding anniversary (and our 16 year!! dating anniversary) and we have super fun stuff planned ♥♥

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Christmas Lights And Eggnog

Adam had to go to Baltimore for a conference this weekend and I tagged along to hang out with family that lives in Maryland.  It was a fantastic weekend.  Five fun highlights include…

(1) A new bar, stuffed with chocolate almond butter.

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(2) Delicious bowls of chicken soup provencal my aunt made.

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(3) Eggnog iced coffee and an eggnog cream stuffed doughnut from Sugar Shack.

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(4) A trip to the Guinness brewery.

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(5) Baltimore’s Christmas Street, which is basically what the inside of my head looks like all December.  It was totally magical.

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Gingerbread Galore

So many holiday flavors consumed this weekend!  <– Squee!  It was just kind of a great weekend in general – we had no major to-dos looming and the weather was fantastic.  We got to go to brunch with my cousin and her boyfriend and on a long walk with the dog.  Next weekend brings out of town plans so it was really nice to keep things low-key.

Highlights…

Forager’s coconut cream cashew milk cold brew.  It was yummy but way too filling to consume all at once.

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Starbucks’ Juniper iced latte – I recommend getting double the espresso and half of the syrup so it’s not too pine-y [holiday flavor #1].

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Plain Greek yogurt with maple, almond butter granola, and the last of the cranberry sauce.

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Brunch at Renewal was delicious, we will definitely be back.  I had a gin fizz with egg white and cream.

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Roasted brussel sprouts with garlic fondue and sherry gastrique / field greens side salad with grapefruit vinaigrette / fries with pimento cheese and aioli.

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Sugar cookie frozen yogurt and eggnog gelato [holiday flavors #2 and 3}.

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King of Pop’s gingerbread was the best popsicle I’ve ever eaten, it was like a cookie dunked in milk [holiday flavor #4].  Enjoyed at Hardywood where I also had a Christmas Morning – gingerbread stout with Black Hand Coffee [holiday flavor #5].

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This Sweethaus gingerbread cupcake with meringue frosting was the best baked good we’ve ever eaten, hands down [also holiday flavor #6!].

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Trader Joe’s cauliflower latkes for the first night of Hannukah [holiday flavor #7] with a chicken thigh take on this Mississippi Roast recipe.

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Leftovers Love

Highlights from this week were foods that were made of and/or inspired by Thanksgiving leftovers!  Potato, turkey, and cranberries abound!

Related – my department gave me candy for working the holiday which is kind of the sweetest.

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Caramel Chobani with almond butter granola and cranberry sauce.

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Smoked turkey salad sandwiches with roasted green beans.  Chopped smoked turkey, smoked paprika, cream cheese, mayo, and celery.  On a bun with cranberry sauce.

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Poutine!  Waffle fries, smoked turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, and cheese curds.

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Cauliflower gratin / turkey breakfast sausage and gravy / topped with a fried egg and chili oil.

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