Tag Archives: potato

We Liked Them a Latke

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This has been the perfect sort of evening; exactly what I need before another week of tests!  My night was spent in the kitchen, with my husband, cooking and eating good foods.  We moved from cooking to couching (cuddling) and the whole affair was pretty blissful.

I was famished when I got out of the shower; nuts for lunch pack a caloric punch, but they don’t hold me over as long as I would expect.  Since we knew dinner would take a while to prepare we decided to go with dessert first.  My aunt and uncle sent us this box of fancy chocolates for Hanukkah.

Milk and dark chocolate dipped orange peel, almonds, hazelnuts, and biscuit pieces.

I ate a handful and was in heaven; you can tell this stuff is good!

I also ate a candy cane white chocolate coated pretzel from my Sweet Treats Basket.

Yum!  White chocolate dipped candy cane anything is pretty awesome but the pretzel was especially fresh and tasty.

Dinner was a labor of love, but it was so worth it.

Latkes, homemade applesauce, and roasted veggies.  We spent a long time in the kitchen, but had a lot of fun and the end products were amazing.  Recipes at the end of the post.

The roasted veggies were leftover from Thanksgiving.

We wanted to try our hand at latkes for Hanukkah this year so we turned to my uncle’s famed recipe.  My uncle Brian makes the best latkes on earth, seriously, and following his recipe I think ours turned out pretty great.

We kept things top-notch and made our own apple sauce as well (latkes are traditionally eaten with sour cream and/or applesauce).

The applesauce recipe came from my food lab, my group was assigned it one week and it turned out so well I knew I wanted to make it again.  We didn’t have a cinnamon stick to cook in so instead I topped my bowl with red hots.

That was better anyways!

Such a pleasing meal. 

I portioned out a small bowl of candy for dessert dessert, and told myself that the kitchen is “closed.” 

Hope everyone else had a great Friday!

Best Potato Latkes

  •  5 med. to lg. Idaho potatoes
  • 2 eggs (slightly beaten)
  • 2 tbsp. matzoh meal (or breadcrumbs)
  • 1 lg. or 2 med. onions
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • vegetable oil and butter for frying
  1. Peel potatoes and place in a bowl of cold water.
  2. Finely grate half the potatoes and then more coarsely grate the other half, put in colander and completely drain off liquid.  You want to really press all of the liquid out, persistence pays off.
  3. Finely grate onion and mix with potatoes. Add eggs, salt, pepper and matzoh meal and mix well.
  4. Heat  oil in a large skillet. (Add some butter for flavor.) Drop by heaping tablespoonful into hot oil (draining off any excess liquid). Flatten with spatula and fry on both sides until crisp and golden brown.
  5. Remove to paper towel to drain and keep warm until all latkes are done.

Serve with sour cream and applesauce.  These freeze very well; can be made ahead and frozen and then heated up in hot oven.

Applesauce

  • 2lbs cooking apples
  • 1cup water
  • 6″ cinnamon stick
  • 1/2cup sugar
  1. Core and peel apples.  Cut into quarters.
  2. Place apples in a large pot; pour water over.  Add cinnamon and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer 8-10minutes or until tender.
  3. Uncover and remove cinnamon.  (I drained the water out here but I like my ‘sauce pretty chunky).
  4. Remove from heat.  Mash apples with a potato masher until smooth.
  5. Stir in sugar.  Refrigerate.

ThanksGiveaway

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I am thankful –

  • that my busy days really aren’t all that busy in the big scheme of things
  • for my family (and getting to see my grandparents and in-laws this weekend)
  • for my husband
  • for my health
  • for a 2nd season of “Modern Family”
  • for Cherry Coke Zero
  • that there are so many things I’m thankful for that I could probably keep this list going for pages; I am blessed

Today has been a busy day (in the little scheme of things).  My to-do’s have been taking longer than expected and I’ve been running around.  I packed a sliced cucumber to munch on in class and it was a great stress reliever.

Though I have to imagine that my seat-mates were stressed wondering why I was being so crunchy and drippy, sorry guys!

I didn’t get to pick up Adam until 1pm and by the time we got back to our apartment is was after 2:00 and I was starving.  I calmed my growling stomach with a 2% Pineapple Chobani while I put lunch in the oven.

I ended up with feast of dippable delights (all roasted in the oven) –

Green beans,

a small potato,

and some chicken strips,

with ketchup and homemade honey mustard.

The chicken strips were a free sample from Applegate Farms.  They heard me raving about their turkey bacon (so good that I don’t have to miss a thing about not eating mammals and the only kind of “fake” bacon that Adam will eat) and offered me a chance to try another product.

The strips were delicious.  They cook nice and crispy (I oven-baked) and had a nice buttery aftertaste to them.  Plus I approve of the ingredient list and nutritional stats.

And they said I could share the wealth with you guys!

Three readers will win a $1-off coupon for any Applegate Farms product.  All you have to do to win is leave a comment on this post letting me know what you are thankful for.  Giveaway closes Friday (11/26) at noon and winners will be chosen via random integer generator.

Facts of Fall

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There is nothing pumpkin can’t do.

The weather in Buffalo today was beautiful!  In lieu of a formal workout, Adam and I took a long walk to soak it in.

Today included too much snacking and not enough studying.

The words in this post are lacking (just wrote “snacking,” whoops!), but I will at least show you everything I ate today; plus some “Fall” photos for funsies.

Arnold’s WW Sandwich Thin, Laughing Cow Blue Cheese, 3 slices of turkey.

Mini Vanilla Tootsie Roll, x2.

Baby carrots and ranch.

Small slice of pizza from the school food court where we were studying.

Leftover Loaded Potato Soup (make it, seriously!).

Waffle fries (more potatoes?!) doused in salt and vinegar.

Allie’s Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Blondies.  Note – I halved the oil, substituted the spices (little bit of pumpkin pie spice, lotta bit cinnamon and nutmeg), and used light brown sugar and these still came out fabulously!

What signs of fall are popping up in your area?  What’s been your favorite pumpkin goodie so far this season?

Project Tasteless – The Naked Chef

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This blog post offers a fantabulous (if I do say so myself) new recipe and serves as my first entry into Rachel’s Project Tasteless Contest.

Basically the rules for the Naked Chef contest were – 1. Take everything off; 2. Put on an apron, and only an apron; 3. Cook something delicious.  The entry post must include photographs and a recipe.  My grandma reads this blog (hi, Nana!) so my pictures are PG, but the recipe is shockingly good!

In honor of the fun contest, I decided to try a recipe I’ve been building in my head for the past couple weeks – Loaded Potato Soup.

In the contest description, Rachel specifically warned against cooking bacon.  But I’m an island girl; I’ve cooked bacon in a bikini!  Bacon in an apron (albeit only an apron)?  Pshaw!  Bring it on, I thought.  And I’m glad I did, because the bacon brought the flavor to this soup.

Thick, satisfying, inventive….. sorry husband, still talking about the soup!

The recipe (included below) looks a little long (that’s what she said!), but it’s actually really easy (that’s what he said!).  Even stopping regularly to try to keep my boobs out of the photographs (a good policy for the modern world in general) we finished very quickly (she’d never say that!).

It was divine.

Loaded Potato Soup, serves 4 –

  • 24 oz butter potatoes (4 medium potatoes will do)
  • 3 tsp evoo
  • 3 slices nitrate-free bacon (I used Applegate Farms turkey)
  • 1 bunch scallions
  • 3 Tbsp butter
  • 3 Tbsp flour
  • 2 cups fat-free milk
  • 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
  • 4 Tbsp shredded extra-sharp cheddar
  1. Wash potatoes and pierce several times with a fork.  Place in a circle on a microwave-safe plate.  Microwave until cooked through and softened, 12-14minutes depending on your microwave.
  2. Finely chop the scallions; set half of the chopped upper green stems aside.
  3. Meanwhile, heat 2tsp of evoo in a large saute pan over medium heat.
  4. Cook bacon until it is browned and crispy.  Remove from pan and roughly chop.  Divide the chopped bacon into two piles.
  5. Add the final tsp of oil to the pan.  Cook scallions 2-3minutes, until softened and slightly translucent.  Remove from pan and reduce heat to low.
  6. Melt butter, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle flour into melted butter and whisk vigorously to combine.
  7. Cook the roux over low heat, about 3minutes, to remove the raw taste from the flour.
  8. Working in four batches, slowly add the milk to the pan.  Whisk vigorously and make sure each batch is fully combined before moving on to ensure there are no lumps.
  9. Raise the heat to medium and bring mixture to a low simmer.  Stir in broth.
  10. Use a fork to roughly mash the cooked potatoes.  Carefully add to pot and cook 3-5minutes, continuing to mash with your spoon.
  11. Stir in cooked scallions and half of the chopped bacon.
  12. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in sour cream.
  13. Divide the soup into four bowls and top each one with 1Tbsp cheese and reserved bacon and scallions.

The End.

The Pants

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What, I drop that mega-post on you and then I just disappear?  Sorry about that!  I was in a terrible mood yesterday and it just didn’t seem right to subject anyone but the husband to me.  Plus, I was actually in such a terrible mood that I couldn’t even get it together to make dinner so there wasn’t a whole lot of foodage going on.

A lot of times a bad day is just about a bad mood, and even though I know that I still couldn’t shake my rain cloud yesterday.  possibly because I had to get up at 6:30 on a Friday.  I rolled out of bed early, but on the wrong side of the bed!

I had to get up early to attend a meeting about an honor society I was invited to because of my summer school grades.  What I didn’t learn until after the 7:15am meeting is that I’m actually not eligible until after a 3rd semester at my school. 

The minute we left the meeting I was starving.  Not just hungry, stomach-growling, headachey, starving.  Nothing was open until 8:30.  I buy a medium coffee with skim milk.

I wait.  I get really psyched about an oatmeal bar in the food court.  It turns out a bunch of people called in sick and actually nothing is open.  I could go get food from the coffee place though.  I know it doesn’t make sense to some people, but I get more picky as I get hungrier.  If my stomach feels like it’s eating itself I want something good; I don’t want a dried out bagel or a mass-produced croissant.

I ended up wandering around campus for 1.5hours in futile search, getting hungrier by the minute.  Finally, minutes before class, I found this cup of grapes.

The grapes lifted my mood considerably.  But then in class I learned that the portfolio assignment due next week has to be turned in in an actual portfolio.  An actual expensive portfolio.  I’m sorry, I realize it’s not exactly cool that I have to budget for a binder, but it pisses me off that I’ve had to spend so much money on school supplies this semester.

After my 2hour class I went straight to a group meeting for a project.  We didn’t finish until it was time for Orgo, good thing I had eaten those grapes! 😉

I had absolutely no understanding of what we were talking about in Orgo.  None.  I started freaking out about the next test, and being super angry with myself that I let myself get behind on the reading.  By the time Anatomy was done I just wanted the day to be over.  I didn’t even go to the gym as planned, I just went home.  Sidenote – I do realize that the gym would have certainly lifted my spirits, but I was still starving.

I poured myself a serving of Terra Chips Blues.

The plan was to refill the bowl with some food-food as soon as I was done.  Yeah, about that; I never got off the couch!  I just let my bad mood spiral out of control.  Not doing any errands, or doing anything fun, certainly didn’t make me feel better and it just got worse and worse.

This morning I was determined to have a good day.  Really, it’s all about attitude.  When the alarm went off at 7:40 I read a magazine in bed before getting up.  I took a much-needed shower.  I cleaned the apartment – that one’s not actually that fun, but the mess was stressing me out.

I made a healthy, tasty breakfast.

A serving of Special K Red Berries with skim milk,

and some leftover fruit (papaya, mango, grapes, watermelon) I brought home from food lab.

Adam and I went on errands and took care of business (including buying that portfolio!).  When we got groceries we also got smile-inducing hot bar and a diet pop.

Who doesn’t love hot bar?

A bunch of green beans with a little bit of eggplant tomato salad,

cashew chicken with a tiny bit of fried chicken,

roasted veggies.

To round out the good mood vibes, I got a fun package from my parents.  With seasonal gifts.

And “the pants.”

Some background on the pants – When Adam was a freshman in college (I was a sophomore) his mom sent him a great pair of pajama pants.  They were super comfortable and I borrowed them often.  As time went on I eventually just stole them.  I was wearing the pants the Christmas morning that Adam proposed.  I wore them through recovery from all my various injuries.  The pants are the item I would save if the house was on fire.

The pants have been getting thin (they are old and I wear them a LOT).  I hardly ever wash them, and my mom has done many minor repairs.  Well, a few weeks ago I tore a huge hole through the left knee.  I sent my mom the pants in tears.  She rocks, and now I guess they are “the capris.”

When I mailed the pants, I threatened my mom several times that I would stop loving her if she threw away any of the fabric.  Instead, she made the legs into a pillow (dont’ worry, she also saved the scraps!) –

Adam and I love it.

I guess the point of the very long, whine-filled post is that today is a better day.  It always is.  And this took me so long to write that I took a snack break and ate a Brown Cow 0% Strawberry Greek Yogurt with homemade chocolate pb.

The end.

Do you own anything like “the pants?”

Random Sampling

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There are two things you need to know about today going into this post – 1. It was an all over the place day; 2. It was chockfull of samples. Edited to add – whoops, make that three things – 3. I’m in a terrible, corny joke mood!  

Before I start I want to address the samples.  “Hello, Samples, how are you?”  Ok, ok, bad joke!  I just wanted to say that I respect my readers (you guys!) and try to give you the content you deserve (bad jokes aside), and I hope that this blog never feels like a commercial.  That said; I think part of my job as a food blogger – especially a healthy food blogger who also relies on a high volume of packaged foods – is to try, discuss, and introduce new and tasty products.  I hope you know that I would never sugarcoat a product that contains too much sugar (hyuck, hyuck), and that I always share my true opinion.  If I seem like I really like something, it’s because I do, not because I’m trying to impress a company.  And if it seems like I really, really like something, it’s because I’m kind of overeager and I’m pretty much always jazzed about something! 😀

All of that is to say that I started my morning with a sample.

Other than my diet soda addiction, I tend to shy away from “diet” products, so when Zone Perfect contacted me I figured it would be for a product that I should turn down because I wouldn’t purchase it on my own.  Then I realized that the products were cookie dough protein bars and all bets were off!  The bars came in a cookie jar (too cute!) –

And the packaging was adorable.

I decided to start with the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough flavor; could it stack up to Balance Cookie Dough Bars (my very favorite product of all time)?

Yes!  I’m not going to diss BCDB’s by moving them to 2nd place (not a chance), but I’m pretty sure these firmly tie for my new favorite!  The flavor was mild but the texture was exactly like cookie dough.  The fact that there were chocolate chunks (instead of chocolate coating) made the experience seem 100% real.  I sort of felt like a naughty baker all through breakfast!  Are they healthy?  The short answer is, it depends.  Obviously all protein bars have more chemicals (and saturated fat) than a plate of waffles or scrambled eggs.  But tastewise this would make eggs its b***h.  If you don’t currently eat protein bars, I wouldn’t suggest throwing out your real food to buy these.  But if you do, then stock up immediately because these are amazing.  Note – I’m only taking CCCD here, I’ll let you know when I try the other flavors.

The reason I was eating an on-the-go breakfast in the first place is because I had to be at school at before 8am to meet with a teacher.  Afterwards I did some final studying and then I headed off to the big scary Anatomy Lab practical exam.  Phew, glad that’s over!  I dont’ think I got an A, but I did alright; and I’m very proud of how much I learned.

In between classes I did more errand running related to my transfer credits.  Please cross your fingers for me that it’s all sorted out soon.  I also finished a big chunk of work for a project, freeing up my afternoon.

Today’s Food Lab is one we’ve all been looking forward to for weeks – fruit!

There were triffles, crumbles, crisps, and an awesome variety of fresh fruits (papaya, mango, horn melon..).  My group made applesauce; it was delicious and I’m hoping to remake it at home soon.

I ran a few errands around Elmwood this afternoon and then Adam set off to multiple mail locations.  I got a fun box from Sahale Snacks that you’ll be seeing soon.  Also, Random Integer Generator picked #9,

congrats Monica!  E-mail me (emilyhwaxATgmail.com) with your address and phone # so I can get you your prize.

I also got a fun mystery box!  When I was at BlogHer I had a long talk with the Terra Chips guys about how much I loved Blue, and I was thrilled to find this in the mail today!

Thanks Terra Chips!  We immediately tore the bag open and I had this handful x 3.

They are just regular potato chips but they taste so amazing!  The chips are extra thick and crunchy and the husband and I are both obsessed with them.

Next we headed to the mall where I confirmed the death of my i-pod, tear.  It wasn’t all bad though, I did have a coupon (I am on the mailing list to basically everything) for Aunt Annie’s Pretzels.

Jalapeno and Cheddar Pretzel?  Yes, please!

Cheesey and spicy and awesome and about a billionth of the calories of the jalapeno cheddar nachos I scarfed all last year (I looked it up, the pretzel has 300calories).  I ate a little bit more than half.

Finally, we made the evening a full-fledged date and headed to the movies.

We’ve been dying to see “Easy A” for weeks and I’m so glad we caught it while it was still in the theatres!  If you get a chance, see it!  The movie was funny and touching at the same time and the music and casting were awesome.  The dialogue was amazing and Adam and I pretty much want to grow up to be the main character’s parents.

I crunched my way through the movie with some prepacked snacks; a Gala apple,

and a cucumber.

We rounded out the date with a walk around the neighborhood when we got home.  Two things – 1) I am so glad I married someone who loves to walk with me; 2) I am so ready to go to the gym tomorrow!

When we got home I finished up dinner with a final sample of the day.

Special K Red Berries cereal now has more fiber, and I was sent a sample as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers’ Program.  Nutritional – 

I poured myself a heaping 1cup serving with skim milk.

Fab-u-lous!  I dont’ know why I don’t eat cereal more often, I’m always in love with it when I do.  It’s been a long time since I’ve bought Special K, but I’m putting it back on my  grocery list.  The flakes were just sweet enough and they kept their crunch, even through a long soak while I unpacked my binder.  Plus (especially for 110calories!) I found that a serving really filled me up.

In summary – 1) Today was a lot of fun; 2) I think this post just goes to show that it is possible to eat a healthy diet….in a hurry…..while still having a lot of fun (although my veggie consumption today was pretty sad!).

Have you seen “Easy A” yet?  (No, why the heck not?!)  What’d you think?

He’s Just Like Garfield

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I did not get enough work done today!  I got behind from my “free” weekend last week and I’m still making work up, and I have 4 exams next week so things are feeling a little crazy.  But I did something so that feels good.  Progress, people!

This morning we sent the in-laws off with a hearty breakfast from Panos.

I ordered “The Fix,” which was Two eggs, scrambled with Feta, in a grilled Pita, served with homefries.  I made some adjustments – mozzarella subbed in for feta, plus broccoli and spinach.

I forgot to ask for no butter on my pita so I ended up taking a few sandwich bites and then eating the insides out.  I left a lot of my huge pile of hash browns as well.

I think we sent them off full!  I wrote my blog address down for my m-i-l so she might start stopping by (hi Barb!).

I spent the morning studying – and internet time killing 😦 – at home.  The last of the 7-layer bar was calling me.

I cut it up into little pieces for ease in eating without crumming on my Orgo book.

Around 3 the husband came home from the lab and we drove over to my campus so I could go to the gym.  My knees have been feeling off so I decided to do a nice low-impact treadmill run.

  • 5minute walking warm up
  • 20minutes jogging
  • 5minute walking cool down

I covered 2.53miles.  I finished with a super quick stretch, the gym was closing as I left!

Adam and I studied in the library for a couple of hours – although, again, I got distracted by the internet; gleesh!  I packed some plums and a Babybel Light to snack on.

I also opened this Turtle candy bar my in-laws brought me.

I ate 1.5 and gave the rest to the husband.

I should not have wasted any more time, but when we got home and Adam asked if I wanted to go for a walk my answer was “of course!”  We didn’t have any destination in mind so we ended up visiting the store kitties.

The “store kitties” are two cats that live in a clothing shop on Elmwood, the husband is obsessed with them.  They are ginormous; one has huge paws and is just a big cat, and the other is a total fatty. 

Sidenote 1 – Adam and I have been talking for weeks about baking a lasagna just so we can take a picture of it with the fat cat.  Sidenote 2 – when we lived in Park Slope there was a store puppy, a french bulldog that visited a shop 13 blocks from our apartment.  We walked those 13 blocks at least 3 times a week so we could go in and be total dog creepers.

Dinner was a cinch when we got home because my m-i-l brought us all sorts of home cooked goodness.

Rosemary chicken (just to note, I only ate one of those two pieces, I don’t think I’m a fan of chicken thighs),

with roasted potatoes.

All we had to do was pan-steam some Red Russian Kale, finished off with a bit of sesame oil.

I dipped every component in ketchup 🙂

This meal felt very hardy.

Now I’m already late for my goal bedtime and I’ve still got to shower; I’m off!

Do you have any “store animals” in your neighborhood?

Friday (Mostly) Freebie

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So it’s been 14 hours since my last post, also 14hours since I last sat at my laptop; yikes!  I’m a bit concerned that this semester is basically going to be insane.  My packed lunch was tasty, I guess, I’m not really sure since I inhaled the sandwich while running to class.  The cucumber slices were good, but perhaps a bit loud for crunching during Orgo; insert red face here.  I did squeeze in some Friday fun though.

After my last class ended (3pm) Adam came over to my campus for a study session with me.  I am so much more focused when the husband is next to me, probably because I’m not texting him!  A little after 5, I headed to the gym.  30minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6.  I wasn’t so lethargic today so I was able to run interval sprints for the last 10minutes or so.

After a shower we headed to the mall to Johnny Rockets.

I came home from BlogHer with coupons for 2 free meals so we made that our dinner date.  Usually JR would not be my first choice, but I’m kind of cheap 😉  Adam and I decided to do some sandwich splitting –

I got the #12 turkey burger,

and he ordered a tuna melt on sourdough.

He loved the melt (I thought the tuna tasted funny) and I thought the turkey burger was actually pretty fabulous, not too greasy at all.  I’d forgotten how much I enjoy pickles on burgers.  I ate ~ 1/3 of each sandwich and half of my fries.

Since all we had to pay was the tip we brought the evening’s cost up to a grand total of $6.71 by splitting a mini Brownie Batter Blizzard.

Cons – I don’t like brownies so I’m not sure why I thought I’d like this (I ate about 1/3 of it though).  Pros – our DQ has mini Blizzards now, yippie!

Does your DQ offer the mini?  What is your Blizzard order?