Criminally Good

by Emily

Is there some kind of “Criminal Minds” rerun support group out there? I am a woman obsessed. I need to finish the old seasons in a hurry so I can start going to bed at a reasonable hour again.

I’ll let the pictures (mostly) speak for themselves…

breakfast

My coffee combo for the week was on point.

Community Coffee’s Dark Roast (part of a set of free samples that I have continued to love) brewed double strength with low-fat milk, ice, and a scoop of dulce de leche!

One day I even paired my brew with a KIND salted caramel Popped Bar.

It’s obviously no fun that my husband regularly works nights and weekends, but it is nice that his schedule allows us to occasionally go on mid-week breakfast dates.

We enjoyed doughnuts – and matcha – and a walk before I had to go to work.

lunch

This week I was all about the sandwiches and I didn’t have many of my usual yogurt bowls so I had to make this one count. Plum on plum!

Chobani’s new 2% Plum Greek Yogurt with chopped up pluots and KIND maple chia granola. The yogurt wasn’t bad, but wasn’t as special as I had hoped; a pretty plain base with chunks of plum throughout.

I got an okay sandwich in the cafeteria.

Sliced turkey and muenster cheese with mustard, lettuce, tomato, and peppers on an onion roll.

And brought a fantastic sandwich from home. TJ’s sliced sourdough with Applegate smoked turkey, haloumi cheese, and olive oil mayo.

Plus an apple and sliced Persian cucumbers on the side for crunch.

The cafeteria came through on salad day. Romaine topped with black beans, black olives, peppers, sliced carrots, cheddar cheese, tabouli, and ranch.

With pita chips from the hummus bar (where I found the tabouli) on the side.

snack

Polar’s peach seltzer is amazing, practically juicy. I’ve got two of the summer flavors waiting in my fridge too and I’m pretty excited about it.

Pb&j.

Guava cheese empanada on the train.

Latte from Café Dada.

Let’s be real, this was one of many coffee snacks this week but the pictures were getting repetitive so I’m only sharing the pretty one.

dinner

A kitchen-sink leftovers salad whose components ended up pairing together perfectly. A big bowl of lettuce topped with TJ’s sesame soy ginger vinaigrette, Applegate chicken hot dogs, peanuts, edamame, and Persian cucumbers.

With cinnamon toast on the side.

Seriously, how good is cinnamon toast??

This meal was super simple but it was the tastiest of the week.

TJ’s frozen gnocchi with tomato sauce and mozzarella didn’t knock our socks off, but for frozen gnocchi that comes together in 7 minutes it was certainly fine.

But this spinach is one of the best damn things I’ve ever made. Fresh baby spinach (8 cups worth that cooked down into practically nothing!) steam-sautéed with salt and evoo with low-fat sour cream, minced garlic, raisins, and toasted pine nuts tossed in for the last few minutes of cooking.

I seriously would not shut up about how yummy this was – I even paused “Criminal Minds” to rave about it!

Have a great weekend.

16Jun2015

Confessions Post; XVII

by Emily

Click here to read Confessions part I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV and XVI.

Confession #1 – “Orange is the New Black” was early released last Thursday and I can’t watch it yet because I am too obsessed with the old seasons of “Criminal Minds.” The Emily who watched OITNB season 2 in three days hates this Emily for making her wait.

Confession #2 – I spent several hours on Saturday coloring.

Skyhorse Publishing recently sent me a free copy of one of their new adult coloring books – Paisleys, Coloring for Everyone – and I am hooked. {please note – I was not provided further compensation for this post and all opinions are my own}

The book is filled with intricate paisley prints for you color in. And the pages are perforated so you can do this –

Confession #3 – I recently learned via internet comment stream (btw, the comments on “Dear Prudence” are great) that many seemingly normal adults wash their bath towels after each use. The husband then had to listen to a 15+ minute rant on why I hate those people.

Confession #4 – A good portion of my Instagram feed is NYC foodie accounts and I am constantly screenshotting posts about places I think Adam and I need to visit…

Confession #5 – …90% of them are coffee and/or ice cream places.

When was the last time you colored?

15Jun2015

Mary Moon

by Emily

Another great week came to an end. We are looooving summer around these parts. Amazingly, I got myself up and out of bed by 7 am both Saturday and Sunday and you wouldn’t believe how much time I felt like I had free to play. It was great to get everything I wanted to do done – errands and fun stuff – and still make it to bed at a mature adult hour!

breakfast

Cereal and milk (and coffee).

Smart Start cereal with blueberries and milk with a side of iced coffee.

I rarely eat cereal with milk because I usually have it on top of yogurt but it is darn good with fresh berries on top.

Another day, another coffee. Starbucks’ newest dark roast was quite tasty clover-brewed.

With a Sonja apple and an Epic protein bar.

I love the idea of the bars in theory, and the texture was great, but unfortunately I’m never a big fan of the cranberry almond pairing.

Finally, espresso from Brooklyn Roasting Company never lets us down.

As you’ll see below, this was not our only coffee that day, muwhahaha!

snack

Friday afternoon, just as I was racking my brain for a way to get a cookie on my way home without missing my train, my phone rang – the social worker was calling to let me know that a sales rep had brought us cookies!

How fortuitous.

The dog and I both think that cheese sticks make good snacks.

On Saturday we enjoyed popcorn and a movie.

This Churro flavored popcorn from Erin’s Popcorn was on point. {it was also a free sample, please note that I did not receive further compensation for this post and all opinions are my own} It had the perfect balance of cinnamon and sugar and was nice and crunchy. The husband, the true churro connoisseur, could not keep his hands off of it.

We snacked on it during Jurassic World, and I’ll just say that the popcorn was the best part of that outing.

Adam and I got hot and sunburnt walking around Smorgasburg and we split a cookie sandwich from The Good Batch.

Chocolate brown-butter cookie, vanilla ice cream, toasted hazelnuts, and Nutella spread. It was good but not great and we ended up not finishing it.

In contrast, we licked every last drop out of our ice cream cup at Morgensterns.

American egg and sesame caramel ice creams topped with Luxardo cherries. And now I know that I am obsessed with Luxardo cherries.

We had good coffee at Happy Bones. Adam’s flat white was intensely velvety.

But my skim lavender hot chocolate from Maman was even better. Not too sweet or soapy, and thick enough to feel decadent, even with skim milk.

Their gorgeous floral cups make me insanely happy.

Uggh, why is the Lower East Side so adorable?!

lunch/dinner

We went outdoors and grilled!

Lime seltzer with fresh mint and pineapple popsicle to drink.

With corn on the cob, asparagus, sliced halloumi cheese, and Applegate uncured chicken hot dogs.

The corn and the asparagus – cooked with a drizzle of olive oil and smoked paprika respectively – were roasted in the oven, only the amazingly squeaky cheese and the dogs (which were the best I’ve ever had!) were cooked on the grill. But we ate on the lawn with Webster circling our feet and it was pretty great.

We did brunch at Root &Bone that ended up being one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. Every single item was perfectly executed. Even if Southern-style food isn’t your favorite I recommend checking this spot out.

For drinks we shared the Colonel’s Daughter – 100 proof bourbon, preserved peaches, Amaro Montenegro, and rosemary and a wine spritzer that I cannot find the description for or begin to remember.

We started with the crispy chicken biscuits which came topped with root chips and Tabasco jam and with a jar of pickles on the side.

This was hands down the best chicken I’ve ever tasted. I really hate the word succulent but it works the best.

Adam got the bacon benedict for his entrée and I went with the peach caprese – gooey pimento cheese croquette, charred peaches, pickled green tomatoes, baby heirloom tomatoes, and basil and molasses vinegar.

Not surprisingly, smoky sweet charred peaches pair really darn well with fried pimento cheese. We were swooning.

Sunday we had Chipotle for dinner, because we are very predictable.

My salad bowl had chicken, sautéed veggies, sour cream cheese, and mild, medium, and tomatillo salsas. I legit had a dinner planned and prepped but we walked 7.5 miles around SoHo and DUMBO and my feet were killing me! The sights were worth it.

12Jun2015

Dinner Bowl

by Emily

Do you have a preference for tableware and/or flatware? Whenever possible, I eat out of a bowl, preferably with chopsticks. Probably because it’s easier to chase every last bite when the food can’t roll off of the plate! All of my dinners this week were delicious and I think it’s not a coincidence that they were all served in bowls.

breakfast

This was a weird week for me, I ate breakfast – as in chewable breakfast, not just tons of milk in my coffee – almost every day.

Sonja apple.

String cheese and my last mango coconut almond thin. {p.s. Kate won the giveaway!}

String cheese and a KIND Salted Caramel Popped Bar. <– very tasty and packs 2 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein for 140 calories thanks to the blend of whole grains.

Don’t get me wrong, there was coffee too! This one was TJ’s cold-brew with skim milk and toasted marshmallow syrup.

And this monster was a Starbucks reward freebie that I took full advantage of – venti skim iced latte with extra espresso.

lunch

Yogurt bowls for the win. Adam and I are both head over heels for the KIND granola.

Local vanilla bean Greek yogurt with KIND maple, chia, quinoa granola and yellow nectarine, black plum, and blueberries.

Plain Fage Greek yogurt with KIND granola and red plum and yellow nectarine. Plus a serving of Lindt Pink Explosion on the side.

Honey Fage with blueberries and TJ’s bran flakes.

And Tuesday I had catered lunch thanks to a malnutrition policy education that I attended. Dessert was chocolate-covered marzipan that a sweet coworker snuck to me.

snack

A picture’s worth a thousand words. Apparently I was all about the freeze-dried produce.

dinner

Another reason we both like bowl-style meals is that it’s nice to have our grain/protein/veggie components layered together rather than served in separate piles on a plate. I like to get a little bit of each flavor in every bite.

Honey-chipotle chicken Chipotle style bowls.

This week’s dinners had a lot of components so I’m going to break them down bullet-point-style.

sautéed local Satur Farms energy greens – aka a kale, spinach, etc mix
sautéed onions and green peppers with cilantro and lime
TJ’s Cuban-style black beans
pan-fried chicken breasts that were marinated overnight in chipotles in adobo, honey, evoo, lime juice, sherry, minced garlic, smoked paprika, and salt and pepper
avocado
shredded cheese / low-fat sour cream / cilantro

We were out of the onion and pepper mix for day 2’s leftovers so instead I served all of the other components on top of big bowls of kale and broccoli sautéed with garlic and lime. Still good! We decided that my version was ~~almost~~ as good as Chipotle.

Our rice bowls were a more Asian-inspired. They would have been better with a runny egg on top but I was pleased with how incredibly juicy the chicken came out.

brown jasmine rice
browned mushrooms
roasted broccoli
baked chicken that was marinated overnight in soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, Sriracha, canola oil, lime juice, sugar, and minced ginger
bok choy, celery, green onion, and cilantro sautéed with a bit of the sauce from the chicken

Even on my night out I ate dinner in a bowl. I met friends at Hanoi and ordered the Veggie Spring Roll Bun – room temperature vermicelli, lettuce, cucumber, scallion oil, shallot, peanut, fresh herb, and nuoc cham sauce.

Would you have guessed that there would literally be a chopped up spring roll on top of the dish? We were surprised, but agreed that it was darn tasty. The best part of the meal was dessert though. Maple soft-serve from Corner of Vermont.

We ate our ice cream on a leisurely walk down 5th ave in Park Slope and the whole thing felt wonderfully summery!

5Jun2015

Top Three Weekly Wrap-Up {And A Giveaway!}

by Emily

My favorites from the past week…

Top 3 Breakfasts

(1) Mango coconut biscotti* with my coffee.

*free sample courtesy of Nonni’s, scroll down to the last section for more info

(2) Smoothie. Hint of Honey almond milk with frozen blackberries, raspberries, and dates.

(3) Cold brew. Coffee concentrate cut with skim milk and maple water.

Tops 3 Lunches

(1) Thanks, Starbucks. A cherry, granola, and yogurt bowl that was quite tasty.

Plus a Almond Coconut KIND bar. An Airhead might have snuck in there too!

(2) Starbucks again. <– I didn’t have it super together this week. But their kale chicken Caesar salad is damn good.

(3) Apples and oats. Quaker Apple Walnut Oatmeal topped with Justin’s Vanilla Almond Butter with TJ’s freeze-dried Fuji apples on the side.

Top 3 Desserts

(1) Better than a brownie. Lindt’s caramel brownie bar.

(2) Hot fudge root beer floats.

(3) Shake, shake, shake. We had a tub of vanilla ice cream in the freezer and we weren’t afraid to use it.

Bourbon In My Coffee Breakfast Shake* = 1 cup vanilla ice cream, 2 oz maple bourbon, 2 oz iced coffee concentrate, 1 cup Frosted Flakes; serves 2.

*not actually consumed at breakfast

Top 3 Dinners

(1) Chipotle. My salad was on point – chicken, cheese, corn, sautéed veggies, mild salsa, green tomatillo salsa, and sour cream.

(2) More “Mexican” food.

Green chile and cheese pupusas. Now I need to get my hands on my first fresh pupusa.

Sautéed arugula tossed with avocado and crumbled kale chips.

(3) Asian-inspired. Every piece of this meal came out of our freezer but it was still one of the best of the week.

TJ’s chicken and vegetable goyza.

Frozen broccoli, celery, and spring onions that I cooked in canola oil then gussied up with a quick sauce (brown sugar, chicken broth, fish sauce, soy sauce, Sriracha, cornstarch) and some crushed peanuts.

Plus 1 Giveaway!

As I mentioned above, I was sent a free sample of the newest flavor of Nonni’s THINaddictives – Mango Coconut.

They are completely addictive – the perfect balance between chewy and crunchy and not too sweet to eat with breakfast (they have 100 calories per pack of three). I ate them with pretty much every meal this week.

Nonni’s gave me a chance to share the love with you guys too – Simply leave comment on this post before 10 am EST on Tuesday, June 9th for a chance to win your own box.

Not feeling lucky? In celebration of the new flavor, Nonni’s THINaddictives is hosting Summer Giveaway on Facebook – 50 winners will be selected to receive a free box of the new Mango Coconut THINaddictives. There is also a $1 off coupon under their coupon tab.

1Jun2015

It Was High Time To Hit The High Line

by Emily

Five favorites from the weekend…

{1} New yogurt flavors

Siggi’s never lets me down; the new whole milk mixed berries flavor tasted great paired with blackberries and bran flakes for work lunch.

We also tried some goat’s milk yogurt from Coach Farm.

The honey flavor was nice – not too sweet or sour – but I always miss the thicker texture of Greek.

{2} Chipotle, always

Rice bowl with chicken.

Enjoyed while watching “Criminal Minds.” I think I’m finally getting Adam hooked on it too.

{3} Green Juice

Spinach, watermelon, and lemon, from Juice Generation. Yummy, though it was a little heavy on the fruit and light on the greens.

The cashier was a boy from Puerto Rico (an island near St. Thomas), it was nice to reminisce with someone from (near) home. We sipped while we shopped at the new Flying Tiger – so cool!

{4} Dinner at the Green Table

A small farm to table spot in Chelsea Market.

Drink: 77 Sour – Breuckelen ’77 whiskey, fresh lemon, local maple syrup, Hella citrus bitters. It was delicious, the classiest whiskey sour of all time.

Eat: Vegan “Pho” – napa cabbage, bok choy, tofu, mushrooms, lime, lemongrass, chili oil. The flavors were great, but I was glad they put Pho in quotation marks because there was not a noodle to be found. We totally got pizza once we were back in Brooklyn.

Sweet: Chocolate Hibiscus Trifle – hibiscus Chantilly, pink peppercorn caramel. The cake bites (which were gluten-free) were dry and terrible, but the hibiscus Chantilly cream was juicy and sweet, just like the apple ice wine I had with it.

We probably won’t be back – based on the size for price of the entrées – but I’m quite glad that we got to enjoy the drinks and dessert.

{5} Watching the sunset on the High Line

We got a plum jasmine shaved ice from people’s pops to crunch while we people and sky watched.

Also juicy and sweet! We need to get up there more often.

20Apr2015

It’s A Miracle! {They’re Alive, Damn It!}

by Emily

This weekend…

…I tried MiraBurst

Aka Miracle Berries aka Synsepalum dulcificum, a plant whose berries don’t taste sweet on their own, but have a compound (Miraculin) that binds to sweet receptors on the tongue and makes acidic foods which are ordinarily sour be perceived as sweet.

Please note – I was sent the berries free of charge to review. I was not provided with further compensation for this post.

You eat the pulp, not the seeds, and the effect lasts about an hour. They recommend trying the berries 1-2 at a time with foods such as citrus fruits, yogurt and kefir, and vinegar, so we set up a little tasting station.

It totally worked!! The limes and plain yogurt were both sweet and delicious. I could definitely see this working as a great way to get kids interested in trying new foods. I am excited to have the berries in my freezer so I can continue trying them out on different things.

…I also ate things that were sweet all on their own – cookies!

Many, yummy cookies. Like a chocolate chip cookie sandwich from Whole Foods.

And macarons from the tea place near my work. We tried milk chocolate marshmallow, Nutella, and cream brulee.

Marshmallow was the best, of course.

…We went to Smorgasburg

Per usual, we focused on duck buns and iced coffees.

We also went to Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory – – and hated it. I have no idea how that place always has such a long line.

…I got a summery green pedicure

I sipped a delicious cold-brew iced coffee from Bareburger while I got my toes done.

That cup – squee!

…I ate leftovers that weren’t half bad

I drizzled leftover egg salad with Sriracha, served with leftover roasted green beans and buttered whole-wheat cinnamon swirl toast.

Roasting veggies is the real miracle, how can leftover green beans taste so good?!

…The dog ate wet food and this happened:

I tied his ears back so he could eat mess-free. What a cutie!

18Apr2015

Eggcellent Eats

by Emily

We bought tons eggs and dye for Easter this year, and of course, never did a darn thing with them. The dye is in our “holidays bin” for next year, but the eggs had to be cooked. And so, I enjoyed hard-boiled eggs as a meal almost every day this week.

I was also all about the Cara Cara oranges and Medjool dates. It’s starting to taste like summer!

stuff

I started Ruth Reichl’s first autobiography on the train and I think I’m in love.

She is so funny, and I love any story about food!

We were insanely busy at work all week and I’m dying. That’s why this post is a day late (and is short about 10 more coffee and candy pictures), because I did sessions with 18 patients on Friday – many of them with gestational diabetes – and when I got home I just wanted to lie down.

breakfast

I made an awesome cold-brew blend this week: Community Coffee French Roast and BRC Peru with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice.

Served on ice with S’mores Milk and skim milk.

So good.

I am almost through my Nonni’s Biscotti sample shipment and I am going to buy more when we’re out.

They are yummy, even when not dipped in coffee.

I discovered the magic that is dates dipped in peanut butter.

lunch

Kimchi noodle bowl.

The Cara Cara was the best finish for my perfectly burning mouth.

I brought TJ’s cashew butter and tahini kale chips and crispy broccoli snacks (<– they’re back!!) to crunch on top of salad bar.

With a big scoop of macaroni salad.

This tasting plate wins best lunch of the week.

Dates / turkey bacon / hard-boiled egg / crispy broccoli / orange.

But this triple – chocolate oatmeal bowl wins a close second.

Rolled oats with a heaping Tbsp of hot chocolate mix, chocolate-covered cocoa nibs, and dark chocolate chips.

And this busy day “lunch” was a loser. Vanilla soy milk at 11 am.

And Easter candy at 4pm when there was finally a lull.

dinner

Omg. Kids! I made the tastiest stroganoff-inspired noodle bowls ever. Adam and I could not get over them.

Served in heaping scoops on egg pappardelle.

Yummy Stroganoff-ish Pasta, serves 4

Heat 1 Tbsp evoo in a large skillet over high-medium heat. Add 20 ounces sliced white mushrooms, and a big pinch of salt, and cook until the mushrooms have lost their juices and browned, stirring regularly (10 – 13 minutes). Deglaze the pan with a healthy pour of cream sherry. Remove mushrooms from pan and reduce heat to medium-high, adding an additional Tbsp evoo if needed.
Add 1 lb lean ground turkey and two large shallots, chopped to the pan. Season with pepper and 1 Tbsp smoked paprika. Cook 5 minutes, stirring regularly and breaking up the meat into small pieces with the side of your spatula. Stir in 1/2 Tbsp ground garlic, 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce, and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Continue to cook, stirring regularly, until meat is cooked through (5 – 7 more minutes).
Reduce heat to low and stir in 3/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream.
Serve on top of pasta of choice.

The leftovers were still great.

Served on top of spinach salad. Plus, those of us who can eat chocolate had Lindt caramels for dessert.

We had cobb salad.

Baby spinach with balsamic / roasted asparagus / turkey bacon / avocado / TJ’s cave-aged blue cheese / hard-boiled eggs.

And egg salad.

Eggs with shredded carrot, chopped green pepper, mayo, pickle relish, garlic mustard, dill, tumeric, smoked paprika, and s & p. With great seeded crackers my parents sent us for Easter.

And roasted broccoli and green beans.

Egg salad is good – and I wasn’t even tired of eggs yet! – but roasted green beans are always the best part.

Then we finished the week out with Chipotle.

Enjoy your weekend!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: product review

Criminally Good

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Confessions Post; XVII

Mary Moon

breakfast

snack

lunch/dinner

Dinner Bowl

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Top Three Weekly Wrap-Up {And A Giveaway!}

Top 3 Breakfasts

Tops 3 Lunches

Top 3 Desserts

Top 3 Dinners

Plus 1 Giveaway!

It Was High Time To Hit The High Line

It’s A Miracle! {They’re Alive, Damn It!}

This weekend…

…I tried MiraBurst

Please note – I was sent the berries free of charge to review. I was not provided with further compensation for this post.

…I also ate things that were sweet all on their own – cookies!

…We went to Smorgasburg

…I got a summery green pedicure

…I ate leftovers that weren’t half bad

…The dog ate wet food and this happened:

Eggcellent Eats

stuff

breakfast

lunch

dinner