Three Day Weekend Wrap-Up

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.

DSC07434I got poached eggs with toast, hash browns, turkey bacon, and a mimosa.

DSC07435Sadly 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.

DSC07440They 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.

DSC07491Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.  Plus some maple syrup.

DSC07493And almond milk went in my cereal too – Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes with bunches of blueberries.

DSC07494That cereal has stayed my favorite for months.

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

DSC07475The bar was de-lish.  I am eagerly looking forward to microwaving one and eating it warm.

lunches

Friday’s lunch at the office.

DSC07417Leftover mac with sardines and broccoli.

DSC07423And a Wallaby low-fat Greek yogurt with strawberry.

DSC07420Hot bar date at Whole Foods in SoHo.

DSC07505I 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.

DSC07509dinners

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.

DSC07464It was so good I even recorded the recipe.

DSC07460Asian-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
  1. 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.
  2. Add all spice, cloves, cinnamon, salt and pepper to vegetables and stir to combine.
  3. Add broth to pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
  4. 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.
  5. Serve and top as desired.

DSC07467Another night we went all fancy (sort of) with polenta (sort of) stacks.

DSC07477Layers 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.

DSC07484The pepperoni totally made it.  Roasted broccoli on the side.

DSC07481And the last night of the weekend we did take-out from Yesterday’s Diner.

DSC07514Adam 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.

DSC07431Haribo Juicy Gold Bears became my favorite gummi.

DSC07446DSC07442The 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.

DSC07470Mint with chocolate crunch, yogurt chips, and hot fudge.

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

DSC07498He got ice cream that he deemed the best he’s ever had and I went with a scoop of grasshopper pie frozen yogurt.

DSC07501We 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.

DSC07511Are you a mint fanatic too or is it too toothpastey for you?

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

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.

Livin' Lean with Trader Joe'sNote – 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).

DSC07322This 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.

DSC07325Lentil tapenade, buffalo blue cheese kettle chips, green grapes, pesto gouda, and an amazing goat’s milk cheddar.

{2} BBQ Chicken over Polenta.

DSC07407This 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.

DSC07400DSC07396FYI, I did skew my serving ratio a bit towards chicken versus polenta.

{3} Really Low Fat Greek Yogurt Dressing.

DSC07354Served 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.

DSC07352Served with…

{4} Eggless Egg Salad.

DSC07361This 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!

DSC07348This 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) –

Eggless Egg SaladDSC07344Did you make any health related resolutions this New Years?

Weekly Wrap-Up; One Day Late

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.

DSC07179DSC07195Breakfast from the cafeteria.

DSC07228Kashi Caramelized Onion Hummus Crisps and an apple.  I enjoyed both.

Non-fat iced caramel flan latte.

DSC07243This 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.

DSC07281I 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.

DSC071830% Fage with mango and soursoup,

DSC07189a super juicy pear,

DSC07188dried clementines,

DSC07191and Duane Reade milk chocolate with toffee and sea salt.

DSC07193Tuesday, I ran out of time to pack.

DSC07220A Chicken and Greens Cesar from Starbucks.  I loved the use of kale in here, I didn’t know a Cesar could feel so healthy.

DSC07225And a Strawberry Apple Crusher from TJ.

DSC07221Wednesday.

DSC07230Hickory smoked tuna with crackers,

DSC07234and salted milk chocolate and a pear for dessert.

DSC07238For Thursday, a jar of fresh pineapple.

DSC07259A sandwich of Applegate Farms roasted turkey, dijon, and light jarlsberg on an everything ciabatta flatbread,

DSC07256and some sesame roasted seaweed.

DSC07263My 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.

DSC07206We 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.

DSC07197DSC07211With a side of roasted broccoli,

DSC07213and potatoes – mashed with butter, goat cheese, and tons of dijon mustard.

DSC07216It 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.

DSC07276Smokey tofu sandwiches were a total win.

DSC07265We 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.

DSC07268DSC07273Plus green beans.

DSC07271A restaurant night.

DSC07287Those 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.

DSC07291Oh 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.

DSC07289And 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.

DSC07199Do 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.

DSC07241We 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.

DSC07285I’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.

DSC07293Two 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.

DSC072445.3 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!

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

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!

DSC06973She 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.

DSC06931Whole 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.

DSC06936By 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.

DSC06949When 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.

DSC06955With turkey bacon.

DSC06959And cold brew coffee with a little skim milk and the last of the ‘nog.

DSC06953Cold 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.

DSC06917TJ’s Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt with a packet of Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, quite the tasty combination.

DSC06919Plus a little apple.

DSC06922I’ve been finding the tiniest apples this year.

On a fancy and romantic date with the husband.

DSC06941Ha!  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.

DSC06944I 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.”

DSC06969Sadly 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.

DSC06970So 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.

DSC06935And a Smokehouse BBQ Potato Chip dark chocolate bar from my stocking.

DSC06947I 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.

DSC06965I 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.

DSC06939This 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.

DSC06933This 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.

DSC06978We 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.

DSC06981Smoked turkey and light Jarlsberg sandwiches with dijon and Sriracha mayo, on gingerbread swirl cooked in a little butter.

DSC06984Nothing too fancy but it did the trick.

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

My Weekend, A Book Report {Giveaway}

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!

DSC06522Both 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:

  1. Please click on the headings/book titles for links to the publisher’s website.
  2. 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.

DSC06530Instead 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,

DSC06535and stream of consciousness-esque recommendations for things like raita, pizza, and omelets.

DSC06539I 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.

DSC06481DSC06486Which we served with ketchup and a sunny side up egg.  Yolk makes the best sauce.

DSC06495DSC06489The 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.

DSC06546DSC06542Served with white rice and onion chutney.

DSC06550This 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

DSC06526A 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.

DSC06528Over the past week I made three different sauces, with varying success.

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

DSC06366DSC06387The 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.

DSC06404DSC06416I 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.

DSC06519DSC06552Another 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).

Weekly Wrap-Up; Thanksgiving

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.

DSC06076

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.

DSC06077

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!}.

DSC06082

DSC06085

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.

DSC06079

DSC06080

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.

DSC06090

My uncle Brian makes the best latkes ever.

DSC06093

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

DSC06091

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?

Weekly Wrap-Up; My First Cold Of The Season

Have you stayed healthy so far this flu season?  I’m finally on an upswing, but I spent the past week with a bad cold.  Achoo!

The husband gets (2) 2-week periods off this year and his first started last Friday evening.  We took advantage of the break and drove over to visit my sister-in-law’s family in Pennsylvania.  I spent our entire visit with the dog and/or my niece on my lap so I don’t have a single picture from Saturday.

On Friday, I had a large, late lunch at Whole Foods before we got in the car.

DSC05821A hot bar assortment.

DSC05822Clockwise from top left – green beans, gnocchi, broccoli, mac and cheese, big noodles, and Cesar salad.

For dessert, I surprised Adam with a bag of limited edition chocolate dipped wavy Lays.

DSC05817I had read negative reviews about them online, but we both loved them.  They had the perfect ratio of salty and sweet; the chocolate was only on one side of most chips so it wasn’t too overwhelming.  The bag said it contained five servings, but we didn’t find that to be true 😉

My youngest niece had the sniffles all weekend and I came back with them too.  Here’s what I ate before I realized just how sick I was – A Siggi’s 2% Pumpkin Spice Yogurt.

DSC05833DSC05837This flavor was great, definitely the best pumpkin yogurt I’ve tried so far.  Sometimes Siggi’s can be a bit sour/chalky but this flavor was nice and creamy.

A new kind of tofu.

DSC05840DSC05843We quartered our block of Soy Boy Caribbean pre-seasoned tofu and gave it a quick sear.

A comforting dinner.

DSC05854We shared a can of Bar Harbor Lobster Chowder.

DSC05857DSC05844With a (giant) side of beer bread.

DSC05861Cheddar Garlic Beer Bread(!!).

DSC05850So good.  That bread was my best idea yet, but I made it in a daze and now I can’t remember the proportion of ingredients.

When I woke up on Monday I realized I had more than the sniffles, I was sick, sick, sick.  This is where I tell you that I have not eaten a single fruit or vegetable since last Sunday.  In fact, Adam went out-of-town for a few days mid-week when I was at my sickest and I ended up eating cheese and crackers for five meals straight!  These TJ raisin and rosemary crisps were featured heavily.

DSC05876Very tasty, but I don’t think I’ll be eating cheese and crackers again soon.

Here are the things I ate last week that weren’t cheese, or at least weren’t 100% cheese (though I’m now realizing that I did stick exclusively with sandwiches and cookies) – A killer sandwich.

DSC05878A leftover slice of tofu with smoked Gouda and grape Crofters.

An even better sandwich.

DSC05884Applegate Farms honey maple turkey with cream cheese, smoked Gouda, grape Crofters, and banana peppers.

A take-out sandwich.

DSC05904Turkey burger with mozzarella.  I ate too many fries.

A mug cookie, jazzed up SCM and salted caramel sauce.

DSC05883It looks giant and fluffy like that because I double the recommended baking soda.

On the store-bought front, my mother-in-law sent us a cookie jar of Cheryl’s.

DSC05898Thanks, Barb!

Finally, I received two samples this week that were perfect for trying when I was under the weather.

Please note – I received the following products free of charge.  Neither company provided me with further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Numi Organic Tea sent me some Pu·erh Variety mini samplers.

DSC05890That includes Chocolate Pu·erh, Emperor’s Pu·erh, Jasmine Pu·erh, Basil Mint Pu·erh, Cardamom Pu·erh, and Ginger Pu·erh.

DSC05892So far I’ve tried the Emperor’s and Jasmine varieties and was a big fan.  I’m looking forward to the others a lot, though I will probably give the Ginger to Adam because that’s not my favorite flavor.  Chocolate didn’t appeal to me with my cold, but look at the yummy description – “With a rich velvety, chocolate aroma, Numi’s Chocolate Pu-erh is an enticing blend of deep, dark pu-erh and organic cocoa nibs.  Whole vanilla beans and sweet accents of orange peel enhance this blend along with nutmeg and cinnamon rounding off a spicy finish.

I also received a bottle of powdered wheat grass from Pines.

DSC05896I used to love the wheat grass shots at Jamba so I used them as inspiration and combined 1 tsp of wheat grass powder with 3 oz each orange juice and unsweet vanilla almond milk.

DSC05901So delicious!  Though next time I might shift the ratio a bit in favor of the oj; Jamba used a vanilla soy milk that brought more sweetness to the table than my almond milk.  If you are unfamiliar with the flavor of wheat grass and want to try it you definitely can’t go wrong with the vanilla and orange pairing.

How many times a year do you usually get sick?  Have you caught a cold yet this winter?

Weekly Wrap-Up; How Is It Mid-November?!

I keep thinking “I can’t believe it’s October!” but actually we are in the middle of November.  This year is flying!

This week makes another wrap-up that is pretty light on content/photos.  We are in the middle of yet another big life change and I’ve been all over the place.  All over the place, figuratively speaking.  Literally I’ve been in the apartment.  On the couch.  Eating.  Have I mentioned that none of my pants fit?

Here’s some of what I’ve been eating (and eating, and eating)…

I discovered that my leftover salted caramel cream cheese macaron filling makes a pretty awesome fruit dip.

DSC05754I even gave it its own recipe page.

DSC05764With green apple.

DSC05766And since there was clearly more dip than apple, I also dunked in some TJ everything crackers.

DSC05768So good.  There was a lot of this snack this week.  Another day I topped the caramel with a dollop of my cinnamon maple pecan butter.

DSC05779Spoonful by spoonful, the pecan butter container is getting pretty empty!

I loved this chocolate raspberry breakfast.

DSC05792TJ European Style Low-fat Chocolate Yogurt topped with fresh raspberries, a scoop of Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola and a spoonful of cinnamon maple pecan butter.

DSC05799And cold (we were out of ice) coffee with skim milk on the side.

DSC05797I planned on using SCM in my coffee but it exploded everywhere when I heated it in the microwave.  Just as well because the chocolate yogurt was pretty sweet.  I was impressed with the yogurt, I’ll have to check out some other varieties of their European style.

I’m going through some of my old recipes to reshoot the photos, and this week I made my pesto pasta casserole.

DSC05747That picture’s not too great though, is it?  And I used a bottle of pesto from Trader Joe’s that we both hated and it basically ruined the dish.  Boo.  But on the positive side, I think this was the very first TJ product that we didn’t love.

Another old (old blog!) favorite, turkey cheese crisps.

DSC05723Classed up with crumbled blue cheese and a drizzle of honey when they came out of the oven.

DSC05724The honey was sent to me from Golden Blossom Honey.  {This product was sent to me free of charge.  I was not provided further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.}

DSC05703The GBH is a 100% American-made product with a signature patented blend composed of extra-white clover, sage buckwheat, and orange blossom.

DSC05727My blue cheese and honey crisps were definitely a better dish than the original.  The honey earned two thumbs up from me; the flavor was unique, but not savory the way I find some orange blossom honeys to be.

Our fridge is very bare, and I finally ate the frozen meal I bought the day we moved in, a Kashi Mayan Harvest BakePlantains, roasted sweet potato, black beans and kale with a spicy ancho sauce served over 7 Whole Grains & Sesame Pilaf, amaranth and polenta topped with a pumpkin seed garnish.

DSC05811This is on my top-5 list for frozen entrees, both flavor and texture are great.  Not quite large enough for dinner for me though.  I planned on eating it with this truebar,

DSC05804but it was disgusting so instead I ate a slice of seedy bread with Smart Balance Light and smoked gouda.

DSC05807Much better!  Though I was still feeling snacky after dinner and ended up eating a bag of Smart Fries as well.

DSC05812I love those.  I need to get to a 7-11 asap so I can buy more.

One night we got take-out from Jessie’s.

DSC05786My fries with blue cheese for dipping were the best part, but my sandwich was pretty good too.

DSC05790They have a fun group of Turkey Day inspired specials right now!  My sandwich was turkey with stuffing and cranberry dressing on top.  I want to go get the salad special soon, it has cornbread stuffing croutons.

The best sandwich of the week was one I made myself.

DSC05772A slice of TJ seedy bread (one cut in half since this bread is much larger than the kinds I usually eat) with Applegate Farms smoked turkey, cream cheese, blue cheese, grape Crofter’s, and banana peppers.

DSC05775So many good flavors.  Having banana peppers in the house for sandwiches has been fun.

Number 1 food of the week?

DSC05783Lavender and Salted Caramel Macarons.  Obviously.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!