Weekend Wrap-Up; Purple Hair Don’t Care

by Emily

It’s been a fun weekend. On Saturday I did this again –

Welcome back, purple hair, I’d missed you.

Things have been pretty low-key since I last posted. Adam has an insane schedule for the next month and I was trying to soak up as much time with him as I could.

Plus we were pretty productive – we spent Saturday buying him 2 of the 3 pairs of shoes he desperately needs (new running shoes, comfortable shoes for the hospital, and days off shoes). We even made a trip to the gym. I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill, doing some half-hearted running intervals and incline walking. I can’t go back for a few days – I can’t wash my hair until the color sets so I don’t want to sweat – but it was a good start.

Here is some of what I did on the food front…

breakfast

Iced Americano with fat-free chocolate milk.

Still obsessed.

Baked oatmeal with maple and pecans for Sunday brunch.

I loosely followed this recipe. I cut back on the sugar and used candied pecans.

lunch

Thursday I had packed a lunch, but then when I went into the cafeteria to buy a drink the special called to me.

My baked potato with cheese sauce, broccoli, onions, and pickled jalopeños was delicious. Not as filling as I’d hoped though, I ended up buying a snack later that afternoon.

Friday my abandoned lunch from the day before was already in my office.

Quaker Summer Berry Oatmeal,

topped with Big Slice Cinnamon French Toast Kettle Cooked Apples.

The apples were delicious, their texture was perfect. I went to Target that very day to buy more. Coincidentally, the oat bowls were on sale and I got more of those too.

snacks

Iced coffee from Café Dada.

Yum x infinity. I salivate when I think about this coffee.

Adam and I split a rocky nut Snickers.

The marshmallow layer is crazy.

More sugar.

We are both completely obsessed with these Juicy Bears. They are so juicy!

dinner

A fancy Friday dinner.

Salad – arugula with yogurt blue cheese dressing, shredded carrot, and Emmy’s Blueberry Cashew Super Cereal.

With groats, raisins, cashews, and dried blueberries the cereal really seems like more of a salad topper anyway. Plus a reject piece of too small chicken from our new favorite recipe.

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken, serves 2 – 4

4 oz light feta cheese

2 Tbsp capers
10 queen sized pimento-stuffed green olives
medium lemon, juiced and zest (reserve both juice and zest)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp smoked brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Prepare a baking dish with cooking spray.
Place feta, capers, olives, and lemon zest into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until well-combined and no large chunks remain.
Using a serrated knife, slice into the side of each chicken breast until you are a quarter-inch from the other side. Basically you want to be able to open the breasts like little books.
Open the chicken breasts and place into the baking dish. Spread filling mixture onto one side of each breast, then close the “books.” Sprinkle brown sugar on top of the chicken, then drizzle with lemon.
Place baking dish into the oven and bake 40 – 45 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

Saturday’s dinner was less exciting. More salad.

Arugula with carrots, blue cheese, sliced green olives, crumbled feta, and flax.

Plus eggs cooked with pizza sauce, more arugula and olives, and shredded Parmesan.

The olives seemed like a really good idea but in the end their juiciness was not appreciated in the eggs.

Last night I ate pizza for dinner.

Thank you, cheese, for being you!

Have you ever dyed your hair a crazy color?

7Feb2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Lonely Island

by Emily

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.

Fresh mango,

and a Passion Fruit Noosa.

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

Work lunch 2.

Peach Noosa,

topped with fresh blueberries,

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

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

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.

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.

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

Gummi Koalas.

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.

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.

This one I have no complaints about 🙂

Oven baked fries.

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.

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.

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?

21Jan2014

Three Day Weekend Wrap-Up

by Emily

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.

I got poached eggs with toast, hash browns, turkey bacon, and a mimosa.

Sadly 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.

They 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.

Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. Plus some maple syrup.

And almond milk went in my cereal too – Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes with bunches of blueberries.

That cereal has stayed my favorite for months.

Another day another coffee. This time with a banana and fudge cereal bar.

The bar was de-lish. I am eagerly looking forward to microwaving one and eating it warm.

lunches

Friday’s lunch at the office.

Leftover mac with sardines and broccoli.

And a Wallaby low-fat Greek yogurt with strawberry.

Hot bar date at Whole Foods in SoHo.

I 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.

dinners

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.

It was so good I even recorded the recipe.

Asian-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

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.
Add all spice, cloves, cinnamon, salt and pepper to vegetables and stir to combine.
Add broth to pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
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.
Serve and top as desired.

Another night we went all fancy (sort of) with polenta (sort of) stacks.

Layers 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.

The pepperoni totally made it. Roasted broccoli on the side.

And the last night of the weekend we did take-out from Yesterday’s Diner.

Adam 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.

Haribo Juicy Gold Bears became my favorite gummi.

The 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.

Mint with chocolate crunch, yogurt chips, and hot fudge.

A fabulous first trip to Emack and Bolio’s with Adam.

He got ice cream that he deemed the best he’s ever had and I went with a scoop of grasshopper pie frozen yogurt.

We 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.

Are you a mint fanatic too or is it too toothpastey for you?

16Jan2014

Livin’ Lean With Trader Joe’s {Book Review}

by Emily

I recently was contacted about doing a review of Jamie Davidson’s new book, Livin’ Lean with Trader Joe’s. Since January is the month of resolutions to eat better/lose weight/get healthy/et al, it seemed like the perfect time to share my thoughts with you guys. I even have a sample recipe for you.

Note – I was sent a PDF copy of the book to review, free of charge. All opinions are my own. I was not provided with further compensation for this post.

About: The Author

Jamie has a master’s degree in Exercise Physiology and has been teaching people how to eat nutritiously and conveniently for over 20 years. She is also the author of Quick and Healthy Meals from Trader Joe’s and Simmering Solutions, Healthy Slow-Cooker Recipes. I don’t believe that she has any formal chef training, but she is quite adept at putting together meals that are balanced and flavorful while still being healthy. While I think that Registered Dietitians should be the gold standard source for nutrition advice, Jamie’s background makes her far more qualified than most of the other authors of this season’s diet advice.

My Thoughts: The Book

Two thumbs up! Adam and I loved all of the recipes that we tried – they were tasty, healthy, and a snap to prepare.

The first few chapters of the book focus on Jamie’s advice for weight loss and healthy living, followed by a comprehensive collection of more than 150 recipes. As a Registered Dietitian, I think that her philosophy is solid. She promotes exercise and a balanced diet (note – “diet” as in a lifestyle or way of eating, not meaning a short-term, quick-fix “diet”) and doesn’t make outrageous claims. She does a great job of explaining why and how her recipes can help you lose weight.

Many of the recipes are simple assembly and prep, and if you are a more advanced cook this book may be too basic for you. But if you are struggling in the kitchen or have made a recent commitment to prepare healthier meals – whether you are looking to lose weight or just lead a healthy life – I wholeheartedly recommend purchasing this book.

The Goods: Recipes I Made

{1} Lentil Tapenade (Wrap).

This recipe combined some of Adam’s favorite flavors – lentils, olive tapenade, and feta – that I would not have thought to put together on my own. It took less than 5 minutes to throw together and we loved the final result.

The recipe was for a wrap, but we made a (double) batch of the spread and served it as part of a cheese plate instead.

Lentil tapenade, buffalo blue cheese kettle chips, green grapes, pesto gouda, and an amazing goat’s milk cheddar.

{2} BBQ Chicken over Polenta.

This was one of those basic prep recipes; not something I would normally look for in a cookbook but a great find on a late night when I would have ordered take-out (for 8 billion calories) but spent 5 minutes throwing this together instead (for less than 200 calories a serving with 16 grams of protein).

Served with green beans.

FYI, I did skew my serving ratio a bit towards chicken versus polenta.

{3} Really Low Fat Greek Yogurt Dressing.

Served on a salad, obviously. With romaine, smoked almonds, raisins, and pesto gouda. I liked the tang of this a lot. And I loved that there were only about 35 calories a serving, because the husband tends to coat his salads in dressing.

Served with…

{4} Eggless Egg Salad.

This was our favorite recipe of the bunch. It has a tofu base, but an avowed tofu hater wouldn’t know it was in there until you told them. I don’t usually put so many veggies in my egg salad (though I totally should) so I tasted this before I added in most of the produce and yep, it tasted just like egg salad!

This was delicious, and vegan to boot. Definitely a recipe I plan on making again. And you can make it too, since Jamie said it was ok to share the recipe with you guys (click on the image to enlarge) –

Did you make any health related resolutions this New Years?

11Jan2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; One Day Late

by Emily

Usually I get these posts up by Friday, but that implies that I was moderately functional on Thursday night. This week, I was not. In spite of being insanely tired all week (I got into a bad sleep habit pattern that snowballed), I did do pretty well on the food front – breakfasts most days, fancy-feeling dinners, the works.

work

Speaking of work… It’s going well. I feel like I am fully settled into my position. I am definitely missing the inpatient setting a lot, but I do feel like I’m getting to make a positive impact. Part of the reason I’m so passionate about pediatrics (my long-term career goals center around nutrition support and pediatrics) is because nutrition is so crucial during periods of growth. Well, working with prenatal patients means I’m counseling adults who are growing{babies!}. My clinic sees a great variety of clients; among other things, I’ve gotten to deal with anemia, diabetes, hyperemesis gravidarum, and pica. I’m still waiting on vegan diets, eating disorders, and maternal pku.

On a less serious note, I decided to stop Fashion Fridays. I’m just not that fashionable. And I’m really not that good with my camera, which meant I was taking blurry pictures that weren’t highlighting the cool details that make me love my outfits. I doubt anyone but my mom will miss this feature, but I just wanted to explain why it was going away.

breakfast

Coconut Macaroon Larabar and a short non-fat salted caramel hot chocolate.

Breakfast from the cafeteria.

Kashi Caramelized Onion Hummus Crisps and an apple. I enjoyed both.

Non-fat iced caramel flan latte.

This wasn’t as exciting as I wanted it to be. I asked for no whipped cream and they skipped my caramel drizzle too.

Two servings of S’mores Krave cereal with blackberries and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

I didn’t like the original version of this cereal when I tried it last year but the s’mores kind is quite tasty. And for a “sugar cereal” it’s not even terrible, with 10 g of sugar per serving.

lunch

Monday.

0% Fage with mango and soursoup,

a super juicy pear,

dried clementines,

and Duane Reade milk chocolate with toffee and sea salt.

Tuesday, I ran out of time to pack.

A Chicken and Greens Cesar from Starbucks. I loved the use of kale in here, I didn’t know a Cesar could feel so healthy.

And a Strawberry Apple Crusher from TJ.

Wednesday.

Hickory smoked tuna with crackers,

and salted milk chocolate and a pear for dessert.

For Thursday, a jar of fresh pineapple.

A sandwich of Applegate Farms roasted turkey, dijon, and light jarlsberg on an everything ciabatta flatbread,

and some sesame roasted seaweed.

My coworkers were very curious about the seaweed; two of them even were brave enough to taste it, not that they ended up being big fans.

I didn’t have my camera yesterday, but I bought a slice of veggie pizza from the cafeteria for lunch. And, um, I also bought a doughnut for breakfast. I almost never eat doughnuts (I didn’t grow up with them) but I had randomly reeeeeeeeally been craving one so it was serendipitous that the cafeteria had cinnamon twists on the morning I couldn’t pack breakfast.

dinner

A fancy night.

We topped salmon with meyer lemon and this Dark Horse Smoked Brown Sugar before baking. We hardly ever make fresh fish at home and this was such a treat! The texture of properly baked salmon is swoon-worthy.

With a side of roasted broccoli,

and potatoes – mashed with butter, goat cheese, and tons of dijon mustard.

It was a great meal.

A tired night – I was too sleepy on Tuesday to even bother with dinner. Refer down to the “snacks” list below 🙂

A sandwich night.

Smokey tofu sandwiches were a total win.

We topped ciabatta flatbread with smokey tofu, light muenster cheese, and turkey bacon. The tofu was baked with a sauce I threw together – ketchup, maple syrup, and liquid smoke – and it turned out great.

Plus green beans.

A restaurant night.

Those are the complimentary yam chips that Laverne sets out, by the way, and they are fantastic.

For my meal, I ordered the Drunken Noodles with shrimp, extra spicy.

Oh boy, did they ever deliver on spice! The noodles were exactly to my liking, which is to say, almost unbearably hot! Adam took a tiny taste and was not happy. Thai iced tea helped me to cool down a bit.

And after dinner we went out for giant cups of froyo. Sadly, the evening took a sharp turn downhill from there. I made myself a much bigger froyo than I usually do, loaded up with all sorts of toppings, including, apparently, something that didn’t agree with me. Even if you’ve never thrown up after eating the spiciest meal of your life you can probably still picture it. I basically rolled around on the floor and screamed. <– sorry, husband!

snack

When I sent Adam to “the fancy store” to pick up salmon, he came home with this 26 month aged Beemster Dutch cheese as a surprise.

Do you see those salt crystals?! Love. We didn’t even use crackers, just ate big chunks all week long.

Vivaloe Watermelon Aloe. Surprisingly, Adam liked this even more than I did.

We both have been missing the variety of boba we could get in bubble tea in Buffalo and the chunks of aloe are a nice substitute.

Onto the chocolate portion of our show… My last Alter Eco Velvet Truffle.

I’m amazed these lasted so long in the house (they are outstanding), but it seemed like we just kept on bringing home new treats.

Like the Lime Splash Lindt bar that I obviously had to buy because, hello, it’s new.

Two thumbs up. And I know that the cover photo makes him look like a creeper, but I’m currently loving Grant Achatz’s memoir, Life, On The Line.

Finally, my (sugared up) take on Something Swanky’s Single Serve Skinny Brownie Batter.

5.3 oz vanilla Greek yogurt + 1 Tbsp brown sugar + 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar + 1 and 1/2 Tbsp almond meal + 1 Tbsp Dutch cocoa powder = brain exploding goodness!

30Dec2013

Weekend Wrap-Up; I’ve Been Married For Six Years!

by Emily

Who else is excited for New Year’s Eve? We don’t even do anything fun, but I’m looking forward to 2014. Not that ’13 wasn’t good to me; our move went well and Adam and I both graduated and got good jobs.

And in the final weekend of 2013, I celebrated my 6th/11th year anniversary with Adam, and one of my best friends (from undergrad round I in Miami) came to visit me!

She is a teacher in Florida and we do not get to see each other often enough. We had a blast getting some time together in city this weekend.

When I wasn’t celebrating or giggling, here’s some of what I ate…

breakfast

Our favorite smoothie. Frozen strawberries and chocolate peppermint soy milk.

Whole Foods was having a sale and I was able to grab two final cartons of the soy milk before it disappears for the year. Normally I’m a stickler for sticking to seasonal treats but this smoothie is so good it’s worth breaking the rules for.

Thai leftovers, cold from the container – aka the best way to eat them. I added more (cold) rice after I took that picture.

By the by, these were leftovers from Thursday night, not the Thai food I’m going to show you for Friday’s dinner. Apparently I’ve been doing a lot of Thai!

A lazy Sunday breakfast.

When Adam got home from his night shift, the three of us took a lovely family walk to the grocery stores for supplies and then we whipped up a great meal.

Eggnog french toast (on gingerbread swirl!) with maple syrup and blackberries.

With turkey bacon.

And cold brew coffee with a little skim milk and the last of the ‘nog.

Cold brew is the best! I think I finally found a recipe with a ratio that works for me. {1 and 1/4 cups water and 1/4 cup grounds, soaked overnight then pressed}

lunch

Packed on Friday.

TJ’s Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt with a packet of Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, quite the tasty combination.

Plus a little apple.

I’ve been finding the tiniest apples this year.

On a fancy and romantic date with the husband.

Ha! Yes, that is Whole Food’s hot bar. So not super fancy, but pricy at least. And I think everything we do is romantic; I legit consider going grocery shopping with my husband a date! Besides, hot bar is delicious.

I got veggies, salad with salmon, and mac and cheese.

On Sunday we all met for lunch at PJ Clarke’s near Lincoln Square. I *had* to order a Bloody Mary – “Sister Mary Walks Funny: Juice of Tomato, Huy Fong Sriracha, Worcestershire, Sea Salt, Blue Cheese Olives.”

Sadly it was all tomato, with barely any spice or vodka, but the blue cheese olives were fantastic.

Adam and I split the fish and chips for lunch.

So good! The meat was almost creamy inside the breading. And it came with a Shiner Bock remoulade that we both adored. I want to go back for the lobster roll!

snacks

I was given lots of chocolate to eat my way through. A honey almond praline chocolate from Adam.

And a Smokehouse BBQ Potato Chip dark chocolate bar from my stocking.

I loved the idea of this bar in theory, but the chocolate was just too dark to pair with the chips. Such a shame because I’ve been head over heels for the other Wild Ophelia bars I’ve tried. I think my flavor preference is shifting towards milk chocolate.

I’ve been trying to make a good Greek yogurt “cookie dough” for ages and now that I have almond flour in my kitchen I think I’m finally getting close.

I really dislike chocolate chips though, and always end up eating around them. I need to try to find some other kind of morsel chocolate.

My fizz idea has been a winner from day 1 though.

This was a lemon dulce de leche popsicle in vanilla seltzer with a splash of lavender syrup.

dinner

Mee Thai in Park Slope with my friend and her sister.

This restaurant was new to me (all of our favorite spots from when we lived in PS before have closed) but thankfully we all loved our meals. My Pad See Ew with mock duck was nice and spicy.

Lazy Sunday dinner.

We came home from the city soaked with rain and salad and sandwiches were all we could handle.

Romaine with champagne pear vinaigrette, chia seeds, and smoked almonds.

Smoked turkey and light Jarlsberg sandwiches with dijon and Sriracha mayo, on gingerbread swirl cooked in a little butter.

Nothing too fancy but it did the trick.

I’ll see you next year! {hardy, har, har}

16Dec2013

My Weekend, A Book Report {Giveaway}

by Emily

I had a lot of fun this weekend. When I decided to write about my weekend I was excited. The food was very good. There were a lot of foods. Adam was so fun to be with…

Ahahaha! Don’t worry, there will be no 2nd grade book-report-style writing here. I do have two new books to share with you though. And the verb “share” was used literally in that last sentence – there’s a giveaway at the end of this post!

Both of the books mentioned in this post were provided to me free of charge to review. The publisher also provided a 2nd copy of each book to share with my readers. All opinions are my own.

Just a few things to note:

Please click on the headings/book titles for links to the publisher’s website.
I did have another, non-food, book that I wanted to talk about. I read Susannah Cahalan’s “Brain on Fire” during my commute last week and I flipping loved it. “Brain on Fire” is a memoir about her struggle with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Cahalan is a journalist, and she did a great job presenting the scientific aspects of her story in a clear, and accessible manner. Plus she made me cry; I kept having to blink back tears on the train!

Picture Cook – See. Make. Eat.

Instead of a list of instructions, “Picture Cook” breaks down its recipes into step-by-step pictures (though the bottom of each page does include a list of ingredients for clarity’s sake). I liked the look of the artwork a lot; the pictures are clear but cute. The book also includes some handy tips,

and stream of consciousness-esque recommendations for things like raita, pizza, and omelets.

I made two recipes from it this weekend. The instructions were a snap to follow – it was much easier to glance at the pictures than read through instructions while I cooked. The dishes were delicious, though it is worth noting that I increased the cooking time for both recipes.

We made Home Fries on Saturday.

Which we served with ketchup and a sunny side up egg. Yolk makes the best sauce.

The recipe called for precooking the potatoes in the oven, which was much better than microwaving them first like I usually do. We thought the amount of spice was perfect.

On Sunday I tried my hand an Chana Masala.

Served with white rice and onion chutney.

This was the second or third time we’ve made chana masala at home and this recipe was by far the quickest and easiest, but the final dish was still our favorite. Adam loved it.

Homemade Condiments – Artisan Recipes Using Fresh, Natural Ingredients

A sauce can really make or break a dish, so I was excited to add a guide to homemade condiments to my culinary bookshelf. The book has recipes for ketchups, mayos, mustards, dressings, dessert sauces, and more.

Each recipe comes with a list of recommended uses, which I thought was a nice touch.

Over the past week I made three different sauces, with varying success.

Orange-Miso Dressing went in my cooked cabbage and got two thumbs up.

The sauce had the right balance of savory miso to sweet orange. It reduced perfectly but I think it would be great “raw” on a salad as well.

Maple Tarragon Vinaigrette went on a salad and sadly got one thumb down.

I felt like I could never get it to emulsify and even though I cut the recommended oil almost in half the final dressing was just too oily for my tastes.

The Caramelized Onion Chutney on our chana masala got two big thumbs up.

Another sweet and savory, the balance of flavors in this one was perfect. My only complaint is that the onions started to burn (on the lowest my heat can go) before the recommended cooking time was even halfway through. I was expecting the husband to hate the chutney because he’s not a raisin fan, but he raved about it. I would love to make another batch to spread on grilled cheese sandwiches.

The Giveaway

I have a copy of each book to share! Simply leave a comment on this post stating which book you want to win by 2 pm EST on Thursday, December 19th. If don’t want to chose between the books you may leave two comments, but each reader is only eligible to win one time (i.e. two winners will be selected, one person cannot win both books).

29Nov2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Thanksgiving

by Emily

I hope all of my American readers had a great Thanksgiving! Among many other things, I am thankful for you guys. My holiday (and Wednesday) included –

Lots of Starbucks.

That was a Joy tea with skim milk, but not to worry, coffee was consumed both before and after.

On Wednesday we had lunch at a diner near the hotel.

My veggie frittata was giant. No one else has access to a fridge and the amount of leftovers Adam has accumulated is insane.

That night everyone came over to our place to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah {and drink Rumchata!}.

The dog was loved by all. My family always gives the best gifts…they are much cooler than I am! Including awesome pumpkin spice brittle that my cousin brought from Cville.

We had a great Italian meal that night but the lighting made pictures impossible.

You know I got photos of Turkey Day. Sort of. My dad’s Long Island cousin hosted us for an amazing meal. Appetizers.

My uncle Brian makes the best latkes ever.

I had a coke with single-barrel Cruzan from home and a caramel apple martini that was ridiculous good.

My dinner plate had cranberry, turkey with gravy, peas, green beans, and sweet potato casserole. For dessert I chose peanut butter smores bars that I brought and pecan and apple crumble pies. With Kaula whipped cream! I took pictures of all that, but have none to blog. ← blame the husband, who touches things that don’t belong to him.

What’s your favorite pie on Thanksgiving?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: potato

Weekend Wrap-Up; Purple Hair Don’t Care

breakfast

lunch

snacks

dinner

Weekly Wrap-Up; Lonely Island

Three Day Weekend Wrap-Up

breakfasts

lunches

dinners

snackage

Livin’ Lean With Trader Joe’s {Book Review}

Note – I was sent a PDF copy of the book to review, free of charge. All opinions are my own. I was not provided with further compensation for this post.

About: The Author

My Thoughts: The Book

The Goods: Recipes I Made

Weekly Wrap-Up; One Day Late

work

breakfast

lunch

dinner

snack

Weekend Wrap-Up; I’ve Been Married For Six Years!

breakfast

lunch

snacks

dinner

My Weekend, A Book Report {Giveaway}

Both of the books mentioned in this post were provided to me free of charge to review. The publisher also provided a 2nd copy of each book to share with my readers. All opinions are my own.

Picture Cook – See. Make. Eat.

Homemade Condiments – Artisan Recipes Using Fresh, Natural Ingredients

The Giveaway

Weekly Wrap-Up; Thanksgiving