Weekly Wrap-Up; In August

by Emily

First of all, I need to announce the winners for my Müller Yogurt giveaway: lucky numbers 2, 3, and 6. Grace, rachelesimms, and Jenny, shoot me an e-mail with your mailing addresses so I can get your coupons out!

This wrap-up spans more than one week and while this obviously wasn’t everything that I consumed, I ate a lot of really good stuff so the volume of pictures was a little overwhelming. I didn’t try to break this post up into breakfast/lunch/dinner, instead I’ll keep things loosely chronological.

-1- I made a cheese quesadilla on a Trader Joe’s Whole Grain Flour Tortilla with Rolled Oats and Flax Seeds with sliced apple on the side.

There were lots of Trader Joe’s (TJ’s) goodies eaten recently and we were very impressed with all but one of them. The texture of the tortilla definitely helped make my plain cheese quesadilla a little more interesting.

-2- Alvita Tea sent me some of their tea.

Alvita makes single-herb teas that are third-party certified organic, gluten-free and kosher. When I returned the e-mail offer for free samples, I requested teas that would be good iced during this hot summer, so they sent me Ginger-Peppermint, Passionflower, and Raspberry.

I loved the flavors of Passionflower and Raspberry, but Ginger-Peppermint was too much spicy ginger for me. Adam loves that flavor though, so if you are a ginger fan I would recommend it. I did try the flavors hot (aka by following the brewing instructions) but the pictures were boring so instead I’ll show you two ways I served the tea cold.

First, Ginger-Peppermint iced tea.

Whenever I make iced tea I toss 2 tea bags per ~6 oz cold water in a glass and let it sit until the color looks right to me. This oh-so-scientific method has never failed me!

Next, Passionflower “Thai” iced tea.

For this tasty treat, I followed the brewing instructions but tripled up on tea bags. Then I chilled my tea concentrate and served it with a couple of tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk. Quite delicious.

-3- I made the best flipping sandwich I’ve ever had.

I know that’s a big claim, but it’s so true. I mashed a can of TJ’s Smoke Trout with Miracle Whip, spread my trout salad between two pieces of whole-wheat bread with three slices of sliced Velveeta, and cooked it in a skillet with a little butter.

Served with baby carrots and sliced pepper.

My sandwich was so smokey and gooey! I want another can of that trout asap. This was actually the first sandwich with Velveeta I’ve ever had (I don’t know that either of my parents have ever tasted processed cheese food, we never had it in the house growing up). The cheese was leftover from another recipe and while I would not buy it again, it did make this sandwich mighty good.

-4- The dog and I were kicked out of the apartment one afternoon while our tub was being redone.

We went to Shake Shack for their outdoor seating and I got a chocolate-vanilla twist with chocolate toffee and cheesecake blondie stirred in.

I know that looks amazing, but in spite of the promising flavors the taste just wasn’t good. I threw out 2/3 of it; after it melted all over me first, of course. I think I am officially done giving that Shake Shack location more chances. But bad food doesn’t really matter when your lunch date is this cute –

Those eyes!

-5- I made two smoothies, one bad and one good. The bad was frozen mixed berries with frozen spinach and orange-mango juice.

Adam loved his glass, but I drank mine purely for the nutrients.

The good was this strawberry almond smoothie.

Frozen strawberries with Barney Butter Crunchy Almond Butter, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

-6- Another food served in two rounds – salad. Thankfully both of these iterations were amazing. Salad one,

was lettuce, homemade croutons (leftover torn french bread tossed with evoo, salt, and pepper and baked at 375*), shredded carrots, chopped green pepper, TJ’s Greek Style Feta Dressing, and Hemp Hearts.

The Hemp Hearts made the salad with their unique flavor and texture. I got this sample package at the co-op and if I can’t find this product at Whole Foods I might just go back to Buffalo to buy more!

Salad two,

was lettuce, shredded carrots, smoked gouda, feta dressing, and toasted almond slivers.

The ratio of fatty toppings to healthy greens in this salad was way off, but it tasted soooooo good.

-7- We ate tofu nuggets and roasted brussels sprouts for dinner.

I got really sick of roasted brussels sprouts a few years ago and I think I finally have my taste for them back.

The nuggets were extra-firm tofu that I’d sliced and frozen (freezing tofu gives it a great spongy texture when it’s cooked) then coated in corn starch and cooked in canola oil.

My attempt at a sweet and sour style sauce wasn’t very good, but the “nuggets” of tofu were pretty exciting.

-8- I made a winner of a dinner with a meal that was quick, easy, tasty, and healthy.

Bowls of barley topped with TJ’s Smoked Herring (that we mashed with a little Miracle Whip), TJ’s Sweet Sesame Seaweed, a drizzle of Sriracha, and a soft-boiled egg.

This was the best dinner of this post! We stirred our bowls so everything got coated in egg yolk and the flavor was fantastic.

-9- I discovered my new favorite combination of cereals: half a serving of Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola with a serving of Kashi 7 Whole Grain Honey Puffs.

The Kashi cereal almost reminded me of Smax. That bowl was topped with skim milk and chopped nectarines.

-10- I finally did a work out.

Barre3 is promoting their 7-Day Body Blast program and they offered me a complimentary month of online workouts.

Barre3 is a unique fitness system combining the arts of Pilates, yoga and ballet barre work. I took a class the last time I was in the city and loved it. The monthly subscription is only $15 and it gives you access to a myriad of online workouts. You can select 10, 20, 30, 40, and 60 minute classes, choosing to focus on a specific set of muscles or on working your whole body. The videos are great and the oral instructions are clear enough that once you’ve done a workout once or twice it is easy to follow along without having to watch the movements on a screen.

I’ve done the Ballet Fit (40 minutes) class twice. It is a total body workout with a good mix of arms, legs, and core work. There are lots of pulses so it ends up being pretty good cardio too. I intended to branch out so I had more to review, but I loved the Ballet Fit class so much the first time that I wanted to do it again. Plus, I’m trying to get better so I don’t have to keep pausing the video every five minutes to die.

All you need for the online workouts is a mat (I ended up tossing my shoes), some light weights, a pillow*, and a chair/couch/counter to serve as a bar. *They recommend a core ball but I found a folded pillow worked just fine in a pinch.

-11- I finally found a good combo for homemade egg cream.

Chocolate Nesquick and plain seltzer worked like a charm.

Even Adam, who normally hates my egg cream attempts, thought this was good.

-12- A friend and I had a great night in Williamsburg. We explored on foot, then settled on Mizu for dinner. I got a Hijiki salad to start.

Black seaweed with carrot and tofu.

I didn’t like my salad – which had a strange, woody aftertaste – but my Futu Maki was delicious.

Crab stick, cucumber, avocado, egg, and pickles.

The sweetness of the tamago made the wasabi extra delicious. And fun gum with the bill is always good.

Afterwards we were very lucky to spot a sign for snow cones at Handsome Dan’s.

I got an earl grey snow cone with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk.

Are you freaking kidding me?!

We walked over to the water on our way home and the view of the skyline was even more exciting than our snow cones.

I ♥ New York.

-13- I made another really good sandwich.

A Whole-Wheat Sandwich Thin topped with smoked turkey, smoked gouda (from TJ’s), and Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.

The smokey-sweet thing will always be my favorite.

-14 – We pulled out our popsicle molds.

These dulce de leche lemon popsicles are insane.

I had a little extra “batter” that I poured in my iced tea and it knocked my socks off.

-15- I made tropical fruit salad.

2 bananas, 2 minneolas, 2 kiwis, and a handful of TJ’s Roasted Coconut Chips.

Leaving berries out of this salad made the leftovers feel a lot fresher than usual.

-16- We ate a dinner dipped in ketchup.

Kale chips,

with TJ’s Mahi Mahi Burgers.

I ended up only eating one of my burgers, so I ate the leftover for lunch the next day with the rest of the fruit salad.

The Mahi mahi was simple but good with a little Miracle Whip on a Sandwich Thin.

This was the one product that I don’t think we’ll buy again; the patties were greasier than I’d like even though the nutritional stats were good. It was nice to feel fancy with lots of fish this week.

That’s all she wrote!

Wow. I need to blog more often; what a terrifyingly long post.

19Jul2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Sweet and Spicy

by Emily

This “week’s” wrap-up actually spans most of two weeks. I know I went MIA (sorry, mom!) but I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. We have a lot of personal stuff happening this month and most of it is frustrating. But there is good stuff this month too – like my 28th birthday and an upcoming trip back to Buffalo!

For having eaten two weeks worth of meals (plus, I am sooo not one of those “I’m too sad to eat” folks!), I don’t have a ton to share this post. We did a lot of take-out and none of it was blogworthy, or even edible; we threw out a really annoying amount of food. But even though the take-out situation in our neighborhood is dire, I do have some really tasty things to recap….

fruit salad for the fourth

I went all patriotic and made a lovely red white and blue fruit salad with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and sweetened shredded coconut (all mascerated with a little sugar and lime juice).

It would have been even more lovely consumed on the 4th, but we got busy moving and ended up eating red, white, and blue on July 6th.

The salad was especially nice with skim milk and Impact Maple Oat granola.

these tasty dinners were also eaten after Independence Day

I’m not sure what I was picturing because I knew we had to drive to PA and back, but I bought stuff for the grill to eat with our fruit salad. Neither of these meals were eaten before the 7th, and we still haven’t fired up the grill, but they both sure were tasty.

Everything hot dogs and sautéed swiss chard.

I added way to much Worcestershire to the chard and it was sort of terrible, but we ate it anyway to get our greens in.

But the dogs were amazing. I got the “everything dogs” idea from a Good Housekeeping.

Turkey dogs in toasted buns topped with onion cream cheese sauce – yellow onions sautéed in butter with low-fat cream cheese stirred in, plus a little light cream to loosen up the sauce – and poppy seeds.

Patty melts with kale chips.

Whole-wheat bread with 1.5 Trader Joe’s turkey burgers, ketchup, and sliced cheese.

The burgers were a higher fat % than what we usually buy and they sicked me out to cook, but the patty melts in the end were very good.

The kale chips were amazing.

I always used to burn kale chips into tiny shards of cancer but I did some Googling and think I finally found the right method.

getting saasy

The nice people at Saas Hot Sauce sent me some bottles of the hot stuff to review recently.

Please note – these products were sent to me free of charge to review. All opinions are my own.

Saas is a LLC started in 2010 by a group of students looking to raise money for charitable donations (particularly to help protect traditional cultures around the world). It comes in Original and Onion and Garlic. They use no chemical additives or stabilizers in their sauces.

I love the company’s values and practices, but I have to say – this stuff is hot! A little drop definitely goes a long way. I am a spice lover and it was pretty intense for me, so while I do recommend Saas products, if you have a wimpier mouth please be careful.

For some reason the hot sauce just screamed “quesadillas!” to me, so that’s what I made for dinner… several days in a row. Original Saas went in hot wing quesadillas.

Shredded rotisserie chicken mixed with Saas, blue cheese dressing, and mild cheddar.

Onion and Garlic Saas went in black bean quesadillas.

Smushed black beans with Saas, salt, lime juice, and sharp cheddar.

All of the cheesy triangles were quite pleasing; quesadillas were definitely a good idea.

two more home-cooked dinners

First, a mac-n-cheese style casserole of farro (the 10 minute bag from Trader Joes, so easy!), cheese sauce, and swiss chard.

I made the cheese sauce out of roux, light cream, sriracha, black pepper, sharp cheddar, and parmesan.

We both liked it but if I make the dish again I would add more spice, you need a lot of flavor to stand up to the stronger taste of the farro.

The best meal of this post is the next one, and it was super easy and healthy too. Bbq kale and white beans with cheesy corn.

For the kale, I filled my 8×12 casserole dish with torn dinosaur kale, then topped it with a can of cannelloni beans, some chopped onion, and a bottle of honey bbq sauce before baking in a 350* oven.

I wrapped our corn in foil and threw it in the oven with the kale. Mine got a layer of Sriracha mayo, parmesan cheese, salt, and black pepper before it was foiled. Delicious!

If I had known how easy it was to cook in the oven I would have been making corn all of the time.

glug, glug, glug

Lots of excitement in the beverage category this week. I found several new favorites. First, we headed over to Sweet Adele’s one afternoon for bubble tea.

They also have amazing looking fruit slice candy that I want to go back for immediately. On that visit I got a lavender milk bubble tea.

What?! The flavor was more sweet than floral but it was still very exciting.

Also exciting was 7-11 day, aka July 7th (7/11).

I got a small cherry/cola for my free slushie.

There is just no topping the cherry/cola combo {more on that later}.

Finally, I found my new favorite Polar flavor.

I know I have a new favorite every week but seriously, green apple seltzer is amazing.

empanadas in the city

On Saturday Adam had a coveted weekend day off so the three of us headed into the city.

Let’s be real – blurry or not, this is the best picture anyone will ever take of Webster and me.

We walked pretty far from the car to our final destination and the dog was such a little trooper about riding in my purse! He was so adorable we could barely handle it.

The walk was worth my aching shoulder because we ended up with a great meal. The PR team for Nuchas contacted me and asked if I would like to come by for lunch.

The following meal was provided to me free of charge to review on the blog. As always, all opinions are my own.

Nuchas, started by Argentine-born Ariel Barbouth, is a empanada company in the city. They have a food truck, a Time Square kiosk, and a catering division. They bake their empanadas instead of frying them so the goods are actually pretty healthy (and portable!). They have meat-based, vegetarian, and even vegan options.

Adam and I got four empanadas to share.

See how they label them with a little embossed letter? Too cute.

The Argentine.

Pat Lafrieda’s ground beef, onions, peppers, scallions, potatoes & olives. White dough.

This one was all Adam, obviously. He was a fan, and said it had good flavor without being too spicy. There was a nice amount of meat too; they didn’t load it up with potatoes like some places try to do.

The Portobello.

Portobello mushrooms, spinach, onions, mozzarella & fresh herbs. Spinach dough.

Again, good flavor and a nice amount of filling. The cooked spinach wasn’t watery at all and this felt healthy while still tasting good. This flavor was the husband’s favorite.

The Spicy Cheese.

Assorted cheeses & caramelized onions. White Parmesan dough.

I don’t know what spices were used here, but I was a big fan. This flavor was my favorite, but it is worth noting that it was too hot for Adam’s taste.

The Cranberry, Apple, & Nutella.

Granny smith, cranberries, pear, nutella & chocolate. White almond dough.

It was fun to try a dessert empanada. This was like a slice of apple pie with nutella on top, and really, what dessert isn’t better with some nutella on top?

All in all, we were very impressed with Nuchas. We both plan on going back and spending our own money the next time we head into Time Square.

the sweet stuff

Three things to share this post in the sweets category; all will be happening again.

I spent a ton of money buying local yellow cherries at Whole Foods one day and then promptly forgot about them for the rest of the week. By the time I got to the bag, the cherries were still edible but too soft to really be enjoyable, so I baked them into a yummy dessert.

I modified this recipe from Eat, Live, Run to make a single-serve cherry clafoutis.

I could not even believe how simple this was to make.

My birthday is next week, and some of my favorite family members sent me this fun package to celebrate.

Danny Macaroons are actually made locally in NYC (which means we can get more, whee!).

The flavors were crazy, and included chocolate-dipped, Bailey’s, chocolate, and other fun combinations. This salted caramel macaroon was the best cookie I’ve had in my life.

There were two salted caramels but I ate them both before Adam even got home from work.

Finally, there is an ice shop near our apartment and we are officially obsessed.

They have a million flavors and they are all exciting. Shown here is toasted marshmallow with key lime cream ice.

That’s a small by the way; such a good deal for $3. Marshmallow was great, obviously, but last night I had the best thing ever and now I’ll never be able to order anything else again – cola and strawberry water ice. <— to die for

What is your very favorite flavor combo for frozen treats?

16Jun2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Day

by Emily

Hey there, long time no see! Sadly I think a once a week post will be the norm for the next two weeks as well; we are on the move!

We don’t actually officially leave Buffalo until the end of the month, but due to some monetary/logistical/fmylife complications we are moving the most difficult way possible – in little spurts. Adam has had to be in the city several time this month so we’ve been packing up our stuff by the carload and moving it to my in-laws’ place. Once we finally get into our new apartment (days after Adam has started work!!) we’ll pick everything up in a truck for the final move.

Two fun facts about our shit-show of a move –

We had to do the bulk of our packing last night so the duffle bag of clothes sitting next to me will be all I have to wear for the next three weeks. Also, we have no pots, pans, or kitchen appliances. Next week’s wrap-up will showcase a lot of restaurant meals!
Since we couldn’t rent a truck for this direction, we are only taking what fits in five carloads (three in a Vibe and two in a Corolla). We’ve had to say “bye, bye” to a lot of stuff, which has been very cathartic.

On to the food!

I was too busy to capture all of my meals (I worked most days, though I did find time to watch the entire first season of Longmire!) but I did manage a photo of at least one meal on most days. I was a bit under the weather this week and I spent the entirety of Thursday in bed, eating pretzels.

Monday, Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield

One of our favorite couples recently had twin baby girls so we brought them over a couple of meals.

Buffalo Chicken Baked Pasta, Mac and Three Cheese Cups, and salad with all the fixin’s (parmesan, buckwheat groats, chopped green pepper, and toasted pecans).

We stayed for dinner so we could meet the girls.

The were so freaking cute; we’ve decided not to spawn until after the husband’s first year of residency and the babies made me want to rethink about that decision!

When we got home I tried one of the Lindt Hello Bars for dessert.

I tried Strawberry Cheesecake and in addition to being adorable it was delicious.

It had the perfect amount of tang to offset the sweetness, bits of crunch that I believe were caramelized sugar, and you got a nice portion for the calories. I tried the Cookies and Cream bar another day and liked that as well.

Tuesday, Thai Day

I stir-fried some leftover white rice with peas and carrots.

I made it extra eggy – two large eggs for one portion – and it was perfect for breakfast.

Stir-fried rice is one of the dishes I find the easiest to make; it always tastes good.

I did Thai for dinner as well. Some friends and I met up after work to try Taste of Siam, a new spot right across from my job.

My Pad Kee Mao got bonus points for being super spicy, but there was way too much liquid and the broad rice noodles weren’t very pillowy. My friends loved their fried rice and curry though. If we were staying in our apartment I’m sure I would have gotten take-out there, but overall I didn’t think it was very good.

We got drinks before dinner and afterwards we did a throw-back for dessert.

Do you remember Chupa Chups?! My strawberry sundae pop was delicious; if I spot them again I will definitely buy more.

Wednesday, Similar to a Reuben

I cannot for the life of me remember what I ate this day beyond lunch; probably pizza! This sandwich made for a fine mid-day meal.

Applegate Farms sliced turkey, Cabot 75% reduced-fat sharp cheddar, thousand island dressing, and saurkraut on white-whole-wheat bread cooked in a skillet with butter.

Friday, Feel Better Froyo

In the morning I met up with friends for breakfast at Sweetness 7.

I got a turkey and caramelized onion quiche,

and a hibiscus lemonade.

Both were very bland, sadly, and the service/ordering system seemed off. Instead of calling out drinks or putting them with the food, they just plopped them on a tucked away, back counter. And I tried to get a coffee at their other location this morning and the service was so bad there that I left without ordering! I’m not sure what the deal is, but I loved Sweetness 7 so I hope they’re not on a downward slope.

After breakfast I ran some errands (my cell phone was broken again!), grabbed lunch, and headed to work. I felt fine in the morning, but as the afternoon wore on I felt sicker and sicker. I ended up throwing up at work!! Boo! I rallied afterwards and stuck out my shift, but it was not a fun time.

This next photo doesn’t look like “dinner,” but after my tough day it was exactly what I needed.

Froyo! Super delicious froyo with peanut butter, marshmallow, chocolate pretzels, and other amazing things. I cannot believe that right as I leave Buffalo two self-serve froyo locations have appeared on my block! Though not having immediate access to it the last three years did probably save me many pounds and dollars.

Saturday, I Like to Move it Move it

Yesterday was ridiculous; y’all would not even believe how much we got done. But not a single fruit or veggetable was eaten that day…

Black bean nachos from ETS.

Melonhead beer (like Pumpkinhead) from Shipyard.

It was super juicy and refreshing; just what I needed as we packed late into the night.

Sunday, Finish the Fridge

For breakfast today, I made us a Finish Up the Fridge Fritatta.

9 large eggs / .5 cup shredded parmesan / 1 cup thawed and drained frozen spinach / pinch salt / pinch paprika

Mix, pour in a greased pie pan, and bake 35 – 40 minutes at 375 degrees Farenheit.

I had my slice with a piece of rosemary bread from Wegman’s bakery.

It was a great way to start the week!

What was the most difficult move your family has even done?

10Jun2013

Weekly Wrap-Up

by Emily

I’ve stopped doing daily posts for the time being, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped eating – and occasionally photographing – delicious things. Once we’ve moved and things have settled down I’ll try to post more regularly, but for now I want to at least do a weekly wrap-up of some of the more scrumptious things I’ve eaten. I’m going to borrow the style of Kath’s Lately posts for these.

A lot is missing, I don’t have any lunches and several slices of pizza went uncaptured, but here are some of the highlights from last week…

Breakfasts

I bought an amazing container of fresh blackberries early in the week and enjoyed them greatly. They started getting soft so I put the last few servings in the freezer and I’m very much looking forward to reheating them. First up, Dannon Oikos Café Latte Greek Yogurt with blackberries and a blend of peanut and coconut butter.

Cinnamon Pecan Special K with Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk and more blackberries.

This cereal is so tasty; it’s got a granola-like texture but with far less calories.

A Dr. McDougall’s Peach and Hemp Oatmeal, eaten at work with a packet of Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

This oatmeal couldn’t hold a candle to my beloved Quaker cups. It was quite gummy and strange, though I did eat all of the bites with hazelnut butter on them 😉

Snacks

I finally got a chance to try some of my shipment of the Larabar ALT line. Lemon Pound Cake and Peanut Butter Cookie.

The verdict was – I’m a fan; though I’ll admit to being less excited to try the other two flavors. The texture was gritty sand, but in a great way, and the flavors were spot on. I shared the lemon bar with a coworker and she said to tell y’all she liked it a lot.

On Monday, Adam, a friend, and I drove over to Williamsville to check out one of our new froyo spots – Red Mango.

I did plain tart with tons of popping boba. They had kiwi boba, a new experience for me. Confession time though: I couldn’t finish that whole cup! Who am I??

Dinners

Also on Monday, we spent the evening with another group of friends, saying goodbye to a doctor who was heading off to California. As Adam and his friends all head off to their residencies we are having to say a lot of goodbyes. We ate dinner at Mezza.

A Shish Tawouk wrap – cubed marinated chicken breast, garlic spread, sweet coleslaw, and French fries, all wrapped together and grilled – with a Feta Fattouch salad. My food was delicious, as was the diet coke with strawberry vodka I sipped from the bar.

We drank at Blue Monk before heading to dinner and I tried my first taste of mussels.

I’ve always been wimpy about shelled seafood, but they were fantastic! It helped that they were cooked with Ommegang Witte, lemon, leeks, garlic, parsley and cream.

We also ate dinner out last night. I’ve wanted to try 99 Fast Food for years and Sunday after work it was finally my time. Unfortunately all of the pho was made with beef broth so I couldn’t partake, but I did have a nice meal of tofu broccoli ginger stir-fry.

We tried a Vietnamese Pudding for dessert.

It was more of a drink than a pudding, red bean with sweetened coconut milk.

On Friday night I hurried home from work so we could get a little gussied.

My bosses generously gave me their tickets to the Mash Bash, an army-themed fundraiser.

I was literally the only person in the room not in green, so embarrassing!

There wasn’t a ton of food there that I could eat, but each ticket came with two drinks and Adam ate my share of pulled pork sandwich.

Most of my home-cooked meals flopped this week, but I did have one success with a little help from Coleman’s Mustard.

The company sent me a tin of powder to try {free sample, please note!}, along with a recipe for dressing –

Colman’s Chili Vinaigrette

4 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. Colman’s Original Powdered Mustard
4 “splashes” mild green Tabasco sauce
½ cup lemon juice
2 tsp. honey

I whipped up a batch for salads; a spring lettuce based topped with English Cotswold cheese, buckwheat groats, and roasted asparagus.

It was a good week!

31May2013

Winner Dinners

by Emily

I thought it would be fun to share a few of our more successful dinners from the past week. Working every day has meant that my lunches have been lame, but somehow my increased work schedule hasn’t killed my dinner motivation yet. There have been some great breakfasts and snacks too (example – we tried the very famous Paula’s Doughnuts for the first time the other day) but my camera hasn’t been handy for those!

~Smoked herring salad with soft pretzels.

I bought these Smoked Herring Kipper Fillets from Trader Joe’s on my last trip to Ohio and they were flipping delicious. I’ve been having a hard time with animal proteins lately (the texture has been throwing me) but these were so smokey good that they went down easily.

For the salad Adam and I split the can, mashed with mayo, pink salt, and green pepper and carrots shredded with the finest side of our grater.

The pretzels were consumed with a copious amount of yellow mustard. We also had pudding for dessert but I didn’t take a picture because we ate it straight from the mixing bowl.

~Hot dogs with ketchup and kraut.

We had our dogs a day later than planned, on Tuesday, because I ended up spending Memorial Day in bed. Literally the whole day; we brought in the laptop and became newly obsessed with both “Arrested Development” and “Fringe.” This meal was worth the wait though.

Applegate Farms turkey hot dogs topped with ketchup and sauerkraut,

served with roasted asparagus and a new Ruffle’s product called Crispy Cheese Fries.

The “fries” were about as good as you’d expect (not very) but the turkey hot dogs were amazing. I did not grow up eating hot dogs so there’s no nostalgia here, but I found this meal to be very pleasing.

~Turkey reubens with roasted broccoli.

We had to use up the rest of the sauerkraut from the hot dogs and what better way to use it than on toasty turkey reubens? Wegman’s bakery rye topped with 1000 island dressing, sliced turkey, slices of provolone (Adam hates Swiss), and sauerkraut, then pressed the sandwiches in our George Foreman grill.

Plus roasted broccoli on the side.

Tonight’s dinner is going to be a, much less healthy, plate of cheesy fries. I’m off to get them out of the oven now!

9Apr2013

Vegan Chicken Salad Sandwiches

by Emily

Recently Naysoya contacted me with the opportunity to try their newly reformulated Nayonaise line. I’ve enjoyed their vegan mayo in the past during my Vegan Month challenges, so I happily accepted. Pretty soon, a box showed up in the mail.

They sent me 2 free jars to sample – Vegan Nayonaise and Vegan Nayo Whipped.

Here’s what they had to say (product information): “Nasoya recently perfected Nayonaise for a smoother, creamier texture and it now comes in new distinct varieties. Original Nayonaise is an excellent alternative to traditional mayonnaise reformulated with a more delicious flavor than ever before. NayoWhipped, the line’s newest variety, has a tangier taste for those who prefer a whipped sandwich spread. The entire line is vegan, a good source of vitamin B12 and made from expeller pressed oil. All products are also fortified with Omega 3 ALA for added nutrition.”

And here’s what I have to say (disclaimer): I was provided these samples free of charge. I did not receive compensation for writing this post, I just really wanted to share my tasty recipe. All opinions are my own.

I haven’t tasted the whipped product yet (in non-vegan life I prefer Miracle Whip to regular mayo so I’m quite looking forward to it) but I’ll be sure to share my opinion when I do. I was impressed with the reformulation of the Nayonaise. The new product is in fact smoother than the previous version.

I’ve seen recipes in the past {on those Mayo tv commercials?!} where mayo is used in place of butter when grilling a sandwich and I figured that application would be a great way to taste out the Nayo. I also used it as the binder in my vegan chicken salad. I think the recipe turned out quite well; the Nayo gave the toasted bread a great crisp texture.

Vegan Chicken Salad Sandwiches, serves 2

7 oz vegan “chicken” nuggets (I recommend Wegman’s Don’t Be a Chicken line if you have access to it)
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
3 celery ribs, cut in half vertically then sliced
2 green onions, sliced
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp plus 2 tsp Vegan Nayonaise
4 slices bread of choice

Cook nuggets according to manufacturer’s instructions. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then dice.
Combine cooled chicken, almonds, celery, green onions, salt, lemon juice, and 3 Tbsp of Nayo in a large bowl and toss to combine.
Divide salad evenly between two slices of bread, then sandwich with the remaining slices. Spread 1/2 tsp Nayo on the outer side of each slice of bread.
Preheat a large grill pan over medium-low heat. Cook sandwiches until toasty, 1 – 2 minutes on each side.

To my vegetarian readers: Nasoya has teamed up with Vegetarian Times to celebrate the vegetarian lifestyle by having people share their Veg-iversaries. By sharing the day you went veg, you can enter to win a Nayonaise Party Pack for 10 people + a $100 Visa gift card!

Do you follow (or have you ever followed) a vegetarian or vegan diet?

8Apr2013

Me Jane

by Emily

Doesn’t it feel too late in the week to still be Monday? Anyone else? I have several personal/professional/school things going down at the moment and honestly my head is spinning. This post is going to have to be “Me Emily. Me eat food. Food good.” style.

Coconut Delight Raw Revolution bar from the bottom of my purse for breakfast.

Pear.

Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt,

with Justin’s Maple Almond Butter swirled in.

The last of the bbq pop chips (1.5ish serving) with dip.

Also Cheetos.

A new recipe for dinner.

Roasted green beans,

with a vegan chicken salad sandwich. <– me promise to share the recipe tomorrow

Drinks whilst brainstorming with a friend.

Jameson diet coke x2, lemon drop x1.

Bed.

18Mar2013

I Forgot A Title Again!

by Emily

It is problematically late, but tomorrow’s exhaustion will definitely be worth it. I spent the first half of the day cuddling in bed with husband. Literally, the first half. It was fabulous. Then we went to lunch and ran a few errands, and I spent the remainder of my day working on a giant project for my internship. I am 100% finished with it, wahoo!

Brunch from Pano’s.

Chicken slavaki wrap,

with french fries.

I ate half of each. I’d been craving french fries like crazy but the sandwich wasn’t as exciting. Not bad, but I’m just not that into chicken; the feta made it.

Iced coffee with Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk and sugar.

The coffee was salted caramel flavored from Wegmans and it was yummy. I have a little bit of my cup left and I’m looking forward to it for breakfast.

A giant bowl of Lays’ Chicken and Waffle Chips.

This finalist flavor was pretty good; the flavor was definitely “chicken.” Embarrassing sidenote – I was talking with Adam about the dog and I heard “I usually just shake my bag of chips at him,” come out of my mouth. The juxtaposition of usually with my bag of chips may have been my come-to-Jesus moment about how fat I’m getting.

At least nibbling does help me focus on work; I am 80% more productive with food next to my laptop. Final snack plate.

Honeycrisp apple,

with ~1/2 serving of Alter Ego Quinoa Dark Chocolate.

The chocolate was fun. I’m excited to have Adam try some because he adores quinoa.

Dinner was a bit of a failure. I sautéed frozen carrots and Wegman’s Japanese Stir Fry mix with a packet of Naysoya Shirataki Fettuccine in canola oil, then tossed in a serving of my peanut sauce and let it get nice and crispy.

Sauce was great. Veggies were great. “Noodles” were slimy and terrible. I ate ~half then gave a bite to Adam who promptly spit his chewed-up mouthful back in my bowl.

It ~~was bedtime two hours ago~~ is time for bed!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: sandwich

Weekly Wrap-Up; In August

Weekly Wrap-Up; Sweet and Spicy

Please note – these products were sent to me free of charge to review. All opinions are my own.

The following meal was provided to me free of charge to review on the blog. As always, all opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Day

Monday, Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield

Tuesday, Thai Day

Wednesday, Similar to a Reuben

Friday, Feel Better Froyo

Saturday, I Like to Move it Move it

Sunday, Finish the Fridge

Weekly Wrap-Up

Breakfasts

Snacks

Dinners

Winner Dinners

Vegan Chicken Salad Sandwiches

And here’s what I have to say (disclaimer): I was provided these samples free of charge. I did not receive compensation for writing this post, I just really wanted to share my tasty recipe. All opinions are my own.

Me Jane

I Forgot A Title Again!