Tag Archives: product review

Weekly Wrap-Up; Jalapeño Business

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Lots of repetition on the food front this week – eggs, cheese, kale, and jalapeño were the featured players! And this is another recap that’s light on content; lots of take-out and several late nights (and therefore late mornings) are to blame.  I’ve got the 10 items I did manage to photograph ranked increasingly by greatness.

{1} Pumpkin oats.

DSC05041Sadly this item was so far from greatness as to just be bad.  The bowl had such potential: oats, Silk Vanilla Almond Milk, chia seeds, cottage cheese, a smidge of vanilla extract and maple syrup, coconut, crunchy Barney Butter, and pumpkin.

DSC05036It was terrible.  The pumpkin was sooooooo savory and squashy.  And this was a fresh can of Libby’s too!?

{2} Baked tomatoes with egg and cheese with a side of kale chips.

DSC05092This was a recipe from Cooking Light but I threw away the magazine and I can’t find it online.

DSC05096DSC05099The dish turned out very well but apparently I’m not a huge fan of baked tomatoes.

{3} White Chocolate Candy Corn M&M’s.

DSC05113Regular m&m’s don’t really thrill me but this seasonal variety (along with the mint dark chocolate) is delicious.

{4} Taco night.

DSC05081Leftover taco shells topped with Ortega Thick and Chunky Salsa and stuffed with eggs – scrambled with spinach and jalapeños.  We continued to be impressed with the taco shells and the filling was delicious, including the little bit of extra I stuck on the side of my plate.

DSC05083DSC05076We definitely need to do taco night more often.

{5} Chicago Mix.

DSC05110Adam and I were obsessed with the caramel and cheddar “golden mix” from the popcorn shop and the Buffalo mall and this will substitute nicely.

{6} Eggs for breakfast.

DSC05116Eggs scrambled with sautéed kale, cottage cheese, and Parmesan.

DSC05121Plus a baby apple.

DSC05120This was a winner, and you’ll see most of the components again in #7.

{7} Cheesy mac.

DSC05107Annie’s Mac and Cheese with peas, Parmesan, and eggs (scrambled with cottage cheese and jalapeño).

DSC05104Stirring the eggs into the pasta was so genius, I’m never serving macaroni the traditional way again.  And the parm was grated by hand, making this feel extra fancy.

{8} Whole Foods hot bar.

DSC05042Kale salad with a bit of mac and cheese.  Plus fried plantains for dessert.

DSC05045Ugh, plantains are too good.  So sweet and chewy.

{9} Everything bagel with jalapeño cheddar cream cheese.

DSC05089DSC05085This was from La Bagel Delight, a spot in Park Slope that makes the best bagels in the city.  They blend the cream cheese in shop, look that those giant hunks –

DSC05087Fabulous.

{10} Homemade nachos with candied jalapeños.

DSC05056How could nachos with candied jalapeño possibly not be the single best thing I ate all week?

DSC05050Some roasted green beans,

DSC05058piled next to nachos.  Late July Multigrain Chips with 2% sharp cheddar and candied jalapeños.

DSC05062Yummmmmmm.

What was the single best thing you ate this week?

Do You Remember When People Used To Blog 3x A Day?

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Do you remember when people used to blog three times a day?  Yeah … I can’t even handle once a week!  I don’t have a wrap-up, but I did manage to get 2 – 3 items from each category, and the stuff I do have to share was all awesome.  Here we go –

breakfast

1. Pumpkin pie (crisp?) in a bowl.

DSC04900I topped some TJ’s low-fat pumpkin Greek yogurt (3/4 of the container or so; the serving seems oddly large to me) with some of my Simply Sweet Granola and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

DSC04898I made my oats a little too toasty, but I was very pleased with the yogurt.

2. Pumpkin Pie Through A Straw.

DSC04934That’s right, I cracked open my first can of pumpkin!

DSC04939I’ve made this smoothie for years and it is a total winner.  The husband is usually not as into the pumpkin thing as I am and he likes this even more than I do.

3. Sundae on a Wednesday.

DSC04967This was the most dessert-y of the “dessert” breakfasts but it was still pretty healthy.

DSC04970Wallaby low-fat maple yogurt topped with Crispy Green bananas (former freebie), and melted Biscoff Spread.

snacks

1. Cinnamon Crunch Somersaults and a caramel macchiato.

DSC04997I made so many updates to my coffee (a little more of this, a little less of that) that it was basically a big cup of espresso and caramel, aka perfection.

The crunchy portion of this snack was brought to you by this generous package I received from Somersaults:

somersaultsDSC04643I received this package free of charge.  I was not provided with further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

They recently had their top flavors certified as GMO-free and expanded their retailer list to include Target and Costco and they’re trying to spread the word about their good news.  Fun snack facts – a serving of Somersaults has as much protein as a serving of almonds (with half of the fat) and they are a good source of fiber and vitamin E.  Also they are Adam’s very favorite snack!

DSC05000I thought that the Cinnamon Crunch (a new flavor this year) was great; a good blend of sweet and seedy.

2. Cinnamon Pumpkin Beer Bread.

DSC04961Just Beer Bread made with a pumpkin beer and a layer of cinnamon sugar (we used cinnamon maple sugar) on top.

DSC04959DSC04964Quite good with schmear of butter.

3. An actual sundae.

DSC04996Ben and Jerry’s Vanilla Honey Caramel Greek Frozen Yogurt with melted Biscoff Spread; I was all about the Biscoff this week.

DSC04993I bought the frozen yogurt by chance (I needed vanilla frozen yogurt for my pumpkin smoothie and this was all I could find at the store near my house) and ended up adoring it.  The flavor was so complex!

lunch

1. Sandwich success.

DSC04944I’ve been planning this sandwich combo for weeks, ever since a serendipitous trip to Trader Joe’s.

A whole wheat Bagel Thin topped with Applegate Farms roasted turkey, TJ’s pumpkin butter, and a TJ’s mini brie bite.

DSC04954DSC04952The brie and pumpkin butter mash-up was just as good as I thought it would be.

Roasted green beans on the side,

DSC04950and TJ’s Hawaiian Style BBQ Potato Chips.

DSC04946This was a fun lunch to munch through.

2. A trip to Chobani Bar in SoHo.

DSC04992A girlfriend and I took the train into the city from Queens.  We snacked on Somersaults on the way in.

DSC04980She had never tasted them before but was an instant fan.

A quick walk down Prince Street and we were at Chobani.

DSC04982DSC04983The space was very pretty, but strangely they had no seating.  We ended up finding a nice spot on a sunny stoop.

DSC04985DSC04988I ordered a half-size of toasted coconut and pineapple.  Plain yogurt topped with pineapple, toasted coconut, and Turkish hazelnuts.  It comes with light agave nectar but I asked that they leave it off.

DSC04990I was very impressed with my bowl; the pineapple was so sweet!  My friend got the same thing and I did and she liked it too.  We both agreed that we probably wouldn’t go back but that we were glad we went.

dinner

1. Mac and cheese, please.

DSC04921This combo of ingredients made for one heck of a dinner –

DSC04906While my mushrooms were browning…

DSC04910I ate some of the rest of the bbq chips,

DSC04905and opened a Pumking.

DSC04911I agree with what I’ve read online, this year’s batch wasn’t the best.  I really enjoyed it the first few minutes but after that I grew tired of the flavor.  In fact, most of the bottle ended up in my cinnamon pumpkin beer bread.  At least my dinner was good.

DSC04917Salads on the side.  A romaine blend dressed with a sprinkle of salt and 1 tsp each honey and olive oil.

DSC04931My salad was technically on the bottom, not the side.  I topped my greens with mac (Annie’s Shells and White Cheddar, with spinach, mushrooms, and Bela smoked sardines) and then topped my whole bowl with crumbled goat cheese.

2. Taco night.

DSC05008I recently received a package from Ortega to help me celebrate National Taco Day:

DSC04972I received this package free of charge.  I was not provided with further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

They sent along some recipes on which they collaborated with Chef Aarón Sánchez, including this vegetarian one –

taco recipeI really liked the sound of it, but you know I had to put my own spin on the recipe.

Vegetarian Black Bean Tacos, serves 3

  1. Heat evoo in a large pan over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until softened and beginning to brown, 5 – 7 minutes.
  2. Add garlic and jalapeños and cook an additional 5 minutes.
  3. Stir in beans (liquid and all) and taco seasoning mix and cook an additional 10 minutes.  Mash up some of the beans with the side of your spatula while you stir.
  4. Heat taco shells according to package instructions.
  5. Stuff the bottom of each taco with spinach.  Spread the bean mixture evenly among the tacos on top of spinach.  Top tacos evenly with feta cheese.

DSC05014We loved them!  The beans were delicious, if I do say so myself.  And the taco shells were wonderful; they seemed to hold together much better than ones I’ve used in the past.

life

1. The house.

DSC04890Three full months of living here later, we finally bought shelving for the living room.

DSC04886There’s not a lot on them right now (I managed to find spaces for all of our books in the office in the interim) but it’s nice to have one less blank wall.

2. The man.

DSC05004I didn’t talk about it on the blog, but a month or so ago Webster had a cluster seizure.  It was very scary, and more importantly, it meant that we had to start medically treating his epilepsy.  He’s been on medication for more than a month now and he has been seizure-free the entire time (yay!).

DSC04882Feeling better has given him time to focus on his other interests, like sitting with his butt up in the air like a total weirdo.

What’s going on in your life?  Tell me something good from the last week?

Last Week’s Highlights

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I didn’t have enough to share to call this a “wrap-up,” but I did want to blog a few of my favorites that managed to make it in front of the camera.  I have some stuff happening in my personal life right now (some good, mostly bad) that I don’t want to share on the blog and I appreciate your patience with my limited posting.

leftovers for lunch

I made the most of restaurant leftovers with this compilation meal.  The last of some Pad See Eiw with tofu,

DSC04798

a slice of focaccia from our Italian meal (it was still soft!!),

DSC04800

and from home a Pink Crisp apple with crunchy Barney Butter.

DSC04808

Lacking in veggies but quite good.

the pumpkin line-up

I’m listing these from bad to good great.  Tazo Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea Latte.

DSC04803

I mixed mine as 1/2 cup tea and 1.5 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk and hated it.  Admittedly I made mine too weak, but I made Adam’s extra strong (with skim milk) and I didn’t like that one either.  The flavor was just too “dirty” for me.  But Adam loved both versions – and drank both our drinks in one sitting – and is excited for the rest of the carton so it’s not a total loss.

Froyo.

DSC04813

A tiny bit (this cup cost $1.75!) of pumpkin spice and cheesecake swirl topped with toasted coconut, graham cracker, and caramel sauce.  This combo was a total winner.

Froyo was good, but nothing beats pumpkin ice.

DSC04879

Pumpkin on top with toffee crunch on the bottom.  Usually I can’t eat a whole small cup but I wolfed this down and I think I could even finish two scoops of just pumpkin!  My friend Kim informed me that Ralph’s Ice is totally a thing and now it feels even more exciting.

stir-fried mac

This was one of those mash-up meals that doesn’t seem like it will work but just does.

DSC04857

Leftover pasta – Annie’s mac and cheese with greens, edamame, and smoked trout – reheated in a skillet with evoo, tons of Sriracha, and a sprinkle of sugar; with one large egg scrambled in at the end.  I know that the sugar sounds strange but I promise the final flavor is perfection.

DSC04854

Do you see that brown piece by my hand that looks like bacon?  It’s not bacon, it’s smoked trout that got extra-crispy.  <– swoon

saltine challenge

I surprised Adam with fancy sardines and since we had Saltines in the house it was time for a challenge.

DSC04864

You know from reading my rant that I’m a stickler for the rules so I have to admit – we both totally failed.  Our mouths were still full of approximately 1.5 crackers each when the timer buzzed.

fancy fish

This dinner came straight out of EveryDay with Rachael Ray.

DSC04869

I even took a break from my rebellious side and followed the recipe exactly.

DSC04877

Well, mostly exactly, we skipped the brown rice and used baby bok choy instead of the big guys.  But the end result was delicious.

DSC04866

Our glaze didn’t thicken the way it was supposed to, but the fish had a great, flaky texture.

DSC04870

And we loved the bok choy.

DSC04876

Adam has even requested that baby bok become a weekly staple!

dinner in Manhattan

On Wednesday, I was invited to a press event in Manhattan so I brought a girlfriend with me for a fun evening in the city.

DSC04820

{that’s sunset at Chelsea Pier}

The event was to celebrate the launch of Donatella Arpaia’s new kitchen line with HSN (http://hsn.com). The line is available starting this Monday (October 7th) so they held a gettogether to showcase some of the new products.

Here’s a little blurb from the press release –

The exclusive collection from the Iron Chef judge, restaurateur, author and culinary personality will include studded stoneware, table linens and Italian food items.

Named by Zagat as the “Hostest with the Mostest”, Donatella Arpaia has a reputation of fusing Italian tradition with modern, glamorous style. Her new collection brings added sparkle to the kitchen with a chic home pizza oven and luxurious rhinestone stoneware including platters, ceramic dishes and ramekins.

Additionally, Donatella has taken the guess work out of traditional Italian cooking with her authentic Italian food offerings, featuring a variety of fresh pasta sauces, flavorful pizza crust mixes and her award-winning meatballs. With food preparation and presentation already made easy, the collection is completed with sets of cotton placemats and napkins on tear off rolls.

We got off of the train with time to kill so we wandered around a bit before the event (hence the gorgeous sunset views from the piers).

I needed some veggies in my life so we hit up Liquiteria for juice.

DSC04815

DSC04816

I wasn’t loving all of the beets and ginger on their menu so I made a custom blend – spinach, kale, and pineapple.  Amazing!  But I had eaten froyo and a giant coffee (seriously giant, there was a mix-up and I ended up with 4 extra shots of espresso in my latte!) for lunch so with the concentrated energy in the juice I was practically buzzing by the time we got to the event.

The drinks we were handed upon arrival helped.

DSC04824

That is not a cherry (sadly), but a cherry tomato.

The event was held at Donatella’s restaurant, which was freaking gorgeous.

DSC04841

The lighting wasn’t kind to my crappy photography skills, but I did my best to take some shots of the pretty tables.

DSC04828

DSC04830

DSC04825

DSC04835

The tear-off napkins were very fun, though I don’t think that bedazzled cookware is exactly my style.

Most of the apps showcased products that will be available on Monday.  I took a fried oyster to be brave,

DSC04834

but my first bite was all fried coating and I lost my nerve and threw out the rest before I ate any meat.

The pizza was very good.

DSC04838

The dough – which you just add water to and then bake – was the best part; chewy and flavorful but not too salty.  My friend and I both gave the jarred sauce served with the pasta two thumbs up as well.

DSC04843

They told us to take cupcakes (from the fantastically sparkly display) for dessert.

DSC04848

They plan to add cupcakes (mixes?) to the line later this year.

DSC04845

My pistachio was tasty.

Afterwards we stopped in at the famous Cafeteria for a drink on a whim.

DSC04850

Our carafe of white peach sparkling mojito was refreshing but weak.  But we were the only twosome in the room who wasn’t on a first date so the good eavesdropping more than made up for the lack of alcohol.

I hope everyone else had a nice week too!  Did you do any good eavesdropping?

Weekend Wrap-Up; October Is Here!

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It’s possible I’m a little excited about the arrival of Pumpkin Month.  Check out my stash –

weekendDSC04790DSC04795DSC04792So much squashy goodness!

Now a little bit about the end of September…

breakfast

I’ve only got one meal to share here, in contrast with the full “dessert” section (whoops!).  Adam had a “golden weekend,” aka both Saturday and Sunday off, so we spent our mornings catching up on sleep.

This breakfast was more of a brunch, but either way it was a winner.

DSC04761Müller Greek Corner Pineapple Passion Fruit Yogurt (former freebie) topped with sliced starfruit and a packet of Crispy Green Pineapples.

DSC04762Isn’t starfruit (also known as Carambola) gorgeous?

DSC04769Did you know that I used to sell starfruit when I was a kid?  We had a tree in our backyard and I would take the harvests to the local grocery stores.

The freeze-dried pineapples were part of a sample box from Crispy Green.

DSC04647I received these samples free of charge.  I was not provided further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Crispy Green is a company that sells freeze-dried fruits.  They are vegan and certified kosher and the ingredient list is nice and simple – just fruit.  What really sold me was the texture, I swear that the apples and pears were almost juicy!  More on them in a minute though.

lunch

Veggies.

DSC04677Acorn squash.  I baked half of my squash for 30 minutes at 350*, cut side down, then flipped it over and filled the cavity with pistachios, raisins, and maple syrup, and baked for another 20 minutes.

DSC04683Plus broccoli that I roasted alongside the squash.

DSC04680And a red pear.

DSC04687So nice to have a mid-day meal that’s so packed with nutrients.

Less nutritious but still delicious, Taco Bell.

DSC04740I got a vegetarian Cantina Bell burrito and was actually very impressed.  The burrito had fresh corn and great guacamole.

The greatest sandwich.

DSC04710Sweet and savory, for the win.  Caramel apple swirl bread topped with Applegate Farms Smoked Turkey, TJ’s Lite Havarti, and pickled banana peppers.

DSC04708The husband got and identical ‘wich and he raved about it.  Plus we shared more Crispy Green fruits on the side.  Asian Pear,

asian pearand Apple.

appleThey both were packed with flavor but so far Asian Pear is my favorite.

dinner

Mac remix.

DSC04696A box of Annie’s Shells and Aged Real Cheddar gussied up with TJ’s smoked trout, frozen edamame and a greens mix, and 1 oz of Chevre.

DSC04692I have pantry back-ups of all of the ingredients and a see a redo in our future.

A cider soaked meal.

DSC04728I marinated some extra-firm tofu in TJ’s Spiced Apple cider (plus honey and hot sauce) before burning baking in the oven.

DSC04730Shredded cabbage was sautéed in the tofu marinade and then topped with salty peanuts.

DSC04734And this lovely squash was sprinkled with salt and cinnamon and roasted alongside the tofu.

DSC04724DSC04738I filled in the space in the center of the plate with Dinosaur Roasted Garlic Honey BBQ Sauce for dipping.

A meal out on the town.

DSC04775We finished our two-day weekend with a dinner out on the town at Luigi’s.

We were brought an amazing basket of fresh bread.

DSC04776And we shared a Tuscan salad to start.

DSC04781baby spinach / breaded artichoke hearts / roasted peppers / gorgonzola dolce / pignoli nuts / balsamic vinaigrette

DSC04782I got handmade Papardelle with shrimp and lobster in a fresh plum tomato cognac cream sauce from the specials menu for my meal.

DSC04787DSC04784It was delicious!  The homemade pasta had great bite and the seafood was juicy and perfect.  Plus the portions were huge; I shared many tastes with Adam and still came home with a full serving of leftovers.  {Mom and Dad, we want to take you here when you visit!}

dessert

Adam went out to celebrate a birthday with his fellow interns and he brought me home cake.

DSC04698I’m not a huge chocolate fan but I’m a sucker for jam in the middle.

I brought him home vegan ice cream sandwiches.

DSC04719Tofutti is currently celebrating their 30th anniversary and they sent me some coupons.

DSC04712DSC04714I received these samples free of charge.  I was not provided further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Ice cream sandwiches are Adam’s favorite and he was very impressed with how close to the original this (minty) version came.

DSC04718I thought the Cuties had great flavor and texture – and I’m not even an ice cream sandwich lover – but 180 calories for the small size seemed a little steep.

DSC04716I will definitely buy them again for the husband though.

To finish the post – the best thing ever.

DSC04772Adam and I split an ice the other day to celebrate the first day of fall.  Dulce de leche topped with pumpkin pie.

DSC04770Oh. My. God.  The pumpkin pie ice was ridiculous!  The best tasting ice I’ve ever had and those brown areas were crunchy streusel that was just over the top.  We were both swooning!

What pumpkin goodies are you excited for this month?

Long Week Wrap-Up; Pizza Pizza

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Whoops.  I guess it’s been longer than usual since I’ve done a wrap-up.  And I don’t even have a ton to share; we ordered take-out pizza this week and through a miscommunication ended up with a lot of pizza so that’s mostly what we’ve been eating.

DSC04626Here are some of the other things that made it on to the meal plan…

breakfasts

A morning meal on the go.

DSC04481An Erin Baker’s Caramel Apple Breakfast Cookie.  The flavor was good but I didn’t feel like it kept me full enough for the calories.

Another breakfast that fit within the Apple Month Theme.

DSC04506A slice of toasted Caramel Apple Swirl Bread with Smart Balance Light.

DSC04512With a Müller Greek Corner Mango Yogurt (former freebie) topped with tons of blueberries on the side.

DSC04509I picked up the swirl bread a million different times at Target and I am glad I ended up walking away with it.

More blue.

DSC04632Kashi Honey Puffs cereal and blueberries floating in a serving of Lifeway Coconut Chia Kefir.

lunches

Hot bar from Whole Foods.

DSC04482Health: 2 types of prepared salad topped with baked salmon and sautéed mushrooms.  Happiness: 2 soy nuggets and some extra-cheesy mac and cheese.

DSC04487Very good, but still – I miss Wegmans!

Sandwich and salad.

DSC04609A simple spinach salad with raisins, peanuts, and balsamic.

DSC04612Two types of sharp cheddar on white bread with Miracle Whip, cooked in the oven for easy clean-up.

DSC04614These lunches were a nice break from the pizza.

snacks desserts

Cream filled chocolate chip cookie.

DSC04494DSC04488How nice does that scene look?  I ate my cookie, sipped my diet soda, flipped through Glamour, and watched a girly movie.

Ben and Jerry’s Rockin’ Blondies ice cream (available only at Target).

DSC04528My new favorite flavor.

DSC04533I actually could live without the blondies (they seemed too small somehow) but the brown sugar ice cream was basically the best thing ever.

beverages

More tea spritzers.

DSC04593Jasmine Tulsi (former freebie) with Mandarin Polar.

Fresh Horchata.

DSC04583From OMG Taco in Williamsburg.

omgDSC04585I flipping love Horchata and I feel like I can never find it.

We did a lot of walking that afternoon and I also had a Cherry Cola Zevia.

DSC04587It was good, but not my new favorite like I thought it was going to be.

dinners

A mish-mosh meal.

DSC04498A jazz apple, a Banana Cream Dannon Oikos with honey and salty peanuts on top, and a slice of beer bread broiled with cheese.

DSC04515DSC04617DSC04500You would think that the melty cheese would have been the best bites but actually it was the yogurt, the banana cream was super thick and luscious.

Sushi night.

DSC04522A green salad,

DSC04524and a spicy shrimp and avocado roll.

DSC04527The roll was only ok, we keep ordering from a spot near our house that has no delivery fee and I’m never that impressed.

Breakfast Casserole.

DSC04674Basically a french toast bake but with sharp cheddar and smoked salmon taking it to the next level.

DSC04664Adam raved about this one.

Soup’s up.

DSC04597Broccoli-Cheese soup from Cooking Light,

DSC04605with bbq kettle chips for crunch.

DSC04601The soup came together in a snap.  I ate one serving and then Adam ate the other three that same night so I guess he liked it!

What is your favorite flavor from Ben and Jerry’s?

Weekly Wrap-Up; Mid-September

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I feel like I don’t have anything to say here so I’ll just get to it.  You saw how clever my title was.

^breakfasts^*

Amazing oatmeal.

DSC04475DSC04474In the bowl were unsweetened almond milk, banana hunks, oats, chia seeds, tons of cottage cheese, and the very last of the sweetened condensed milk.

Food Emporium Trading Company Vanilla Granola with Almonds and Pecans in skim milk.

DSC04446Berry yogurt bowl.

DSC04467Wallaby low-fat vanilla bean yogurt with blueberries.

DSC04470This Wallaby was one of the best yogurts I’ve ever tasted!  The flecks of vanilla bean throughout felt quite fancy.

^lunches^*

Chinese food.

DSC04381Cheese and greens eggs.

DSC04400DSC04396Eggs scrambled with cottage cheese, greens (a frozen blend from Whole Foods), and 2% provolone.

Carrot salad.

DSC04384Matzo crackers.

DSC04439A sheet of Egg and Onion Matzo with Cabot Light Sharp Cheddar melted on top,

DSC04441and a sliced Jazz apple.

DSC04443Adam doesn’t like matzo prepared with egg (he’s crazy!) so we eat it as crackers in our house.

^snacks^*

Organic India is promoting their gift baskets for the upcoming holiday season and they offered to send me some products from their Tulsi Tea Line to review.

DSC04406Please note – these teas were sent to me free of charge.  I was not provided further compensation for writing this post.  All opinions are my own.

So far I’ve tried the Green Tea, which cold-brewed beautifully.  Usually I’m not a green girl (it’s Adam’s favorite) but I loved this one.  The flavor is completely devoid of the acridness that I usually taste in green teas.  I used it in tasty tea spritzers.

DSC04412Green tea + Polar Mandarin Seltzer.

DSC04408Hot beer bread, straight from the oven, with Smart Balance Light.

DSC04451Cola hard candies.

DSC04459These guys have the best fizz!

^dinners^*

Different Chinese food.

DSC04341DSC04342Pasta toss.

DSC04394Bow ties with corn and broccoli, tossed in browned butter.

Thai crunch salad.

DSC04418Romaine topped with sliced chicken (marinated in TJ’s spicy peanut vinaigrette, then baked), edamame, shredded cabbage, salted peanuts, and more spicy peanut vinaigrette.

DSC04421DSC04416Veggie pizza.

DSC04424Melts.

DSC04458A big hunk of beer bread topped with trout salad (TJ’s canned smoked trout mashed with Miracle Whip) and 2% provolone then stuck under the broiler.

DSC04452The last dinner won best meal of the week.  This will be making a reappearance on the meal plan for sure.

Weekly Wrap-Up; Fun Fruit

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Not too much excitement this week – as the title implies, literally the most thrilling thing in this post is grapes.  It was a week of great dinners, but I’m missing every breakfast so I figured it would be easier to recap via numbered list than in categories.

{1} Frog Hollow plums.

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I tried Frog Hollow produce at the first FoodBuzz Festival and it’s been near to my heart ever since.

{2} Super exciting cotton candy grapes with a boring cheese quesadilla.

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The quesadilla was just a flour tortilla, sprinkled with a Mexican cheese blend and folded in half, cooked in a little canola oil.

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The grapes were these guys –

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I’d been seeing them make the rounds on Instagram and was so excited to spot them at my Whole Foods.  The taste is just slightly sweeter grape, but the smell is totally cotton candy.  Even Adam, who’s not a grape lover, was a fan.

{3} Dipping the grapes in peanut butter makes a mind-blowing snack.

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It helps if you have extra-awesome peanut butter too; homemade honey roasted peanut butter with cotton candy grapes equals a classed-up, deconstructed pb&j.

{4} Melted cheese makes an even better snack.

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Blue Diamond Flax Artisan Nut Thins (former freebie) with extra-sharp New York cheddar melted on top.  Note – the flax ended up being our favorite variety the nut thins by far.  It had a great saltiness to it.  I don’t have a single picture because every damn time I made this I was blown away by how molten hot our new microwave makes our plates.

{5} New yogurt variety.

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Siggi’s 2% Mango Pineapple yogurt (does anyone know why this flavor is not listed on the website?) did not disappoint.  I do enjoy the flavor of fat-free yogurts, but Siggi’s 2% varieties have been far superior.

{6} Banoffee pie chocolate bar.

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My parents sent us this from Amsterdam.

{6} Creamy pasta bowls.

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I basically re-made the sauce and pasta base of my vegan mac and cheese, but with Mozzarella Vegan Gourmet Shreds.  Then I tossed in 20 oz of browned mushrooms a blend of collard greens, kale and mustard greens (a blend bag from the frozen section at WF).  The mushrooms were the best part, as always.

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The final dish wasn’t necessarily bad, but we both wanted it to be better.

{7} #6 was infinitely better as jazzed-up leftovers.

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I tossed in olive oil, dried rosemary, turkey pepperoni, and garlic (I grated it with my microplane and it was awesome), and then put it all in a casserole dish with some extra-sharp cheddar on top and rebaked until crispy.

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This meal we couldn’t get enough of.  And the roasted yellow zucchini on the side was nothing to sneeze at either.

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Adam put his leftover leftovers in the fridge and I totally snaked them for lunch the next day.

{8} Lunch at the Peanut Butter Co.

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I got a fluffernutter with White Chocolate Wonderful Peanut Butter.

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Out of this world.  It was so packed with marshmallow that even I couldn’t quite finish it!

{9} Take-out from Laverne.

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I got Pad See Ew with mock dock and we were both very pleased with it.

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Their menu is an impressive blend of French, Thai, and Japanese and we definitely want to go there asap.  Psssst; read the description of this roll – D’ Artagnan Roll: Inside: foie gras marinated in truffle oil mixed with chopped black winter truffles, garlic and yellowtail. Topped with black caviar and seared yellowtail served with miso-abolone sauce(!!!!!!).

{10} Pizza eggs.

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Let’s not even pretend like I didn’t save my favorite for last.

Have you tried the cotton candy grapes yet?

Vegan Gourmet Shreds Giveaway

by

***Update – #10 won and she’s been contacted. Better luck next time 🙂

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Recently, someone from Follow Your Heart, maker of the new Vegan Gourmet Shreds, contacted me about doing a review for the product launch.

VGS are dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, and Non-GMO Project verified.  To celebrate the launch, Follow Your Heart is hosting a recipe contest to encourage consumers to swap out the cheese in their favorite recipes.

I received a box to help me with my contest entry, and you can too.

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One reader will receive the items shown above.  All you have to do is comment on this post telling me which recipe you would like to veganize.  All comments must be received before 1 p.m. EST on Saturday, September 7th.  Winner will be chosen by random selection.

For my contest entry, I made over my Cheesetastic Mac and Cheese.

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I will be honest that I was not a fan of the Shreds when raw and I didn’t have high expectations for this recipe.  But then they melted beautifully and worked like a charm.  The end result got both the husband’s and my stamp of approval.

Vegan Cheesetastic Mac and Cheese, serves 4 -6

  • 8 oz short-cut whole wheat pasta, prepared according to box directions
  • 4 Tbsp vegan butter substitute
  • 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1.5 cups plain unsweetened almond milk
  • 4 oz Cheddar Vegan Gourmet Shreds
  • 4 oz Fiesta Blend Vegan Gourmet Shreds
  • large red onion, roughly chopped
  • 4.5 oz can diced green chiles, drained

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Whisk flour into melted butter and continue to cook until browned, 2 – 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Whisk almond milk into roux.  Cook until mixture is thickened.  Reduce heat to low and stir in Cheddar Vegan Gourmet Shreds and Fiesta Blend Vegan Gourmet Shreds.  Continue stirring until cheese is melted.  Remove pan from heat and stir in onion, chiles, and cooked pasta.  Serve with your favorite hot sauce.

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Remember, all you have to do to be entered to win is leave a comment on this post!

Note – I received these samples of these products free of charge.  I was not compensated for this post.  All opinions are my own.