David S Pumpkins Pizza

by Emily

Last weekend was great and this upcoming weekend is going to be great, which makes for a weird posting schedule but a happy life.

Life Stuff {3 highlights}:

{1} In a few hours I am heading to the airport and to Columbus, Ohio. One of my cousins is getting married this weekend and I get to spend time with my family — including my mom (who I haven’t seen since before the hurricanes)!

{2} Last Saturday Adam and I took full advantage of the weather and walked through Central Park from top to bottom. We watched a man feed the ducks, went gaga for the flowers, and ate Nuts for Nuts while watching an interpretive dance street performance. It was the perfect New York day!

{3} Last Sunday we took a friend who is newish to the city from Buffalo on a fall-in-love-with-Brooklyn Williamsburg tour. Highlights included Sunday in Brooklyn, Sweet Chick, Brooklyn Brewery, and several hours drinking from the Halloween menu and playing games at Barcade.

Important Note – Adam and I beat the high score on Golly Ghosts!

Foods Stuff {5 highlights}:

{coffee}

Iced lattes from my two current favorite coffee spots: Birch,

and Black Brick.

{ice cream}

16 Handles‘ spooky cookie and salted cookie dough yogurt with sprinkles, cake bites, and an animal cracker.

Ample Hills‘ new circus flavor made with popcorn toffee and red sugar-toasted peanuts.

{New York beers}

In addition to Brooklyn Brewery, we also checked out LIC Beer Project. My choice was a fantastic guava passion fruit Berliner weisse.

{Halloween-themed eats}

(David S)Pumpkin pizza – TJ’s frozen crust / pumpkin puree with nutmeg, allspice, and pepper / shredded mozzarella / turkey summer sausage.

With a Southern Tier Warlock.

{dinner at Miss Ada}

We are newly obsessed with this Mediterranean spot in Fort Greene. The outdoor area is gorgeous, the plates are gorgeous, the plating is gorgeous… Adam and I had a fabulous after-work dinner date.

Baba ganoush with za’atar eggplant chips and ginger aioli and the best pita bread I’ve ever eaten.

Za’atar crusted salmon with labne, charred shallots, and Japanese eggplant.

27Oct2017

Won’t You Brie My Neighbor

by Emily

Bites from the week…

I was on a FUN – aka sweetened and spiced – iced coffee kick. Dark roast cold brewed with brown sugar, pumpkin spice, and extra cinnamon.

La Colombe pumpkin spice draft latte.

Vanilla cold brew from Bowery Coffee Co with half and half.

Since we have multi-grain sourdough in the house I’m back to loving toast. With Smart Balance, strawberry jam, and cheese!

Yogurt bowl lunches. Pumpkin Chobani with toffee bits and sweet and spicy pecans and a Snap Dragon apple.

Pumpkin Noosa with a brown sugar cinnamon peanut butter packet. Plus a honey tangerine and a Sweet Thorn kombucha.

Maple yogurt with vanilla granola, banana chips, and tangerine.

Plus one day I got cafeteria sushi.

A quick but delicious dinner.

Roasted brussel sprouts and a sliced RosaLynn apple.

A toasted sandwich with smoked sliced turkey, pumpkin butter, and brie. The sandwich was so freaking good that I ended up making it again for dinner the next night too (except we were out of turkey so I added cheddar for a double-cheese dream!).

Pumpkin sausage pasta topped with cheese and fried sage!

I loosely followed this recipe from Rachel Ray. A few key changes – I toasted my pasta / I used half as much pasta (whole wheat bow ties) so there was a greater ratio of sauce / I used turkey maple breakfast sausages / I added orange bell pepper with my onions / I used extra stock instead of wine / I added cayenne pepper / I used fat-free half and half.

Best thing I ate all week? Banoffee (aka banana toffee) Magic Bars!

My coworkers loved them so much they asked my to post the recipe on the blog.

Banana Toffee Magic Bars, makes 24 squares

1/2 cup salted butter
15 sheets graham crackers, crushed
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup toffee bits
1 cup chopped dried baby bananas (from Trader Joe’s)
1 cup unsweetened banana chips
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place butter in a 9×13 inch baking dish in heating oven.
When butter is fully melted, remove dish from oven and combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Mix well, then press firmly into the bottom of the dish.
Sprinkle remaining ingredients on top of crust then top evenly with sweetened condensed milk.
Bake 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned.
Allow to cool before cutting. I recommend storing these in the freezer and letting them come to room temperature to serve.

23Oct2017

Last Week I…

by Emily

Last week I loved: Webster!

Adam and I can’t believe how handsome he is and we text each other pictures of him constantly but they’re on my phone so they usually don’t make it to the blog.

Last week I watched: Rick and Morty. We’re almost through the 3rd season and it has been fantastic. I think season 2 was the best so far though. I also have been re-rewatching The Office because I’m obsessed. It’s so funny and I love when shows have characters (Jim and Pam) just adore each other with minimal drama. The Micheal Scott seasons are perfectly cringe-inducing – I have really bad secondhand embarrassment anyways and I can barely watch most of his scenes.

Last week I ate: More samples from the healthy brand showcase.

Setton Farms is America’s 2nd largest pistachio producer and their stuff is delicious. We’ve been enjoying chocolate-covered pistachios along with the perfectly salted nut blend.

I also liked the pineapple flavored raisins from Amazing Fruit.

Last week I pumpkined: Four new items! See more below.

Last week I drank: Key lime La Croix. The newest flavor is delicious, and currently my favorite fizzy water.

Last week I listened to: “Bodak Yellow” by Cardi B on repeat. It’s super catchy and a lot of her word-play is very clever. I’ve also been listening to a ton of Betty Who.

Other food highlights…

This week’s coffee combo.

Pumpkin tres leches bubble tea from Teapsy in Astoria.

Pumpkin and salted maple pecan frozen yogurt with peanut butter, marshmallow cream, Oreos, and mochi.

I made a fancied-up version of my Spinach and Artichoke Egg Pie. I precooked the veggies with olive oil, onion, anchovies, and tons of garlic. Plus I substituted cottage cheese because I like it better than ricotta.

No carbohydrate component to that meal so we had potato chips and pumpkin beers, woo-hoo!

We tried pizza from a new place – Frantoni’s. Adam and I shared four things so we could try a lot of the menu. The eggplant slice was my favorite but the buffalo chicken was good too.

I made bagel and lox nachos! Everything bagel chips // TJ’s four cheese blend // hot smoked salmon // green onions // and cream cheese sauce with ginger, soy sauce, and brown sugar.

Plus roasted brussel sprouts on the side.

I made buffalo chicken chili. Tons of sauteed onion, green onion, carrots, and celery // tomato paste and crushed tomatoes // salt, pepper, celery seed, and smoked paprika // shredded chicken breast // black beans // cream cheese.

Have a great week!

16Oct2017

White Gummi Slushie

by Emily

I worked the weekend (and had two weekdays off) so my schedule has been a bit out of whack. It is still basically summer temperatures here so we haven’t moved on to hot chocolate and soups but we have been loving the crap out of Pumpkin Month. Here were some highlights from the past 7 days…

Weekly coffee combo – Black Hand and chocolate milk.

This pumpkin spice kefir is super tasty.

Pumpkin Noosa with a TJ’s pumpkin cereal bar and a SweeTango apple.

TJ’s pumpkin yogurt with pumpkin spice Cheerios and Frosted Mini Wheats and a Starkrimson pear.

Key lime skyr with pomegranate and Heritage Flakes.

Adam and I got a midweek lunch at Sweet to Lick vegan cafe and we are completely in love. We had a terrific hero with bulgogi style setain, gochujang mayo, and pickled vegetables.

Plus the best chocolate chip cookies ever sandwiched around Oreo cream filling!

Detroit Friends potato chips (expo sample). These are some of the very best kettle chips we’ve ever tasted and their company is totally fantastic too – some of the potatoes are grown in a vacant lot in Detroit’s Hope District.

Orange slice candies. There’s a vitamin commercial where a woman squeezes an orange slice shaped gummy and it made Adam and I both immediately want to run out to the drugstore.

Campfire S’mores ice cream.

White gummi slushie from 7-11. We are obsessed, these are so good. I’m not sure what the actual flavor is (pineapple? or maybe white grape?) but they are juicy and delicious.

All-you-can-eat sushi buffet at Mizumi. We love it there, everything is super fresh and expertly prepared. I didn’t snap all of my plates but the highlights included crab cakes, inari, and seaweed salad.

Roasted squash and tuna quinoa cakes with cocktail sauce.

Veggie bowls. Shredded cabbage tossed in this sauce / roasted edamame / marinated hard-boiled eggs (marinated in gochujang, brown sugar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar).

Mexican food at Oak House in Floral Park.

I had a Mezcal mojito.

And veggie fajitas with carrots, onions, squash, peppers, and mushrooms. They had chipotle Cholula at the table and we doused everything with it.

Plus Adam and I split vanilla flan and tres leches cake for dessert.

Have a great week!

9Oct2017

Weekend Update: Chilaquiles Edition

by Emily

Our Saturday and Sunday plans mirrored each other and my weekend days ended up following a template:

maple iced latte in Brooklyn // brunch at a Chris Santos restaurant in the Lower East Side with chilaquiles // ice cream for dessert // walk across a bridge // a veggie-forward homemade dinner {x2}

Iced nonfat latte with four shots of espressso and maple at Otha’s.

Iced nonfat Maple Shay with extra espresso at Brooklyn Roasting Co.

Brunch at Beauty and Essex. Vanilla doughnuts stuffed with raspberry jam to start.

I ordered a cocktail with tequila, honey, and smoked blackberries. It was good but Adam’s neon green Emerald Gimlet stole the show – Belvedere vodka, basil, lemon nectar, and fresh lime.

BaE is tapas style so we ordered three savory dishes to share. Crab egg foo young with shiitake mushrooms.

Chilaquiles with and pulled chicken, sunny side up egg, cotija cheese, and pickled red onion.

And braised chicken meatballs with sheep milk ricotta, wild mushroom, and truffle.

Brunch at Stanton Social. This is another sharing-encouraged spot so again we picked three plates to split. Fried chicken on blue corn waffles with corn pudding, fresno chile, and maple syrup.

Housemade naan with lamb bacon, zaatear spiced labneh, and pickled tomato. It was totally swoonworthy.

Chilaquiles with hand pulled chicken, sunny-side up egg, and feta. We preferred the Stanton Social chilaquiles to Beauty and Essex.

I also had a delicious Vietnamese coffee cocktail with Finlandia, Kahlua, cold brew coffee, and chocolate bitters.

Fueled across the Williamsburg Bridge with a doughnut ice cream sandwich at Stax. We had bourbon cornflake ice cream with Frosted Flakes and condensed milk on top.

Fueled across the Manhattan Bridge with Ice & Vice. Red (hibiscus, rose, Swedish Fish fluff) and Opium Den (white sesame, toasted poppy seed, lemon bread crouton) in a Froot Loops cone. The red ice cream was our favorite thing we ate all weekend.

I made an updated version of my Cheesy Eggplant Bake with meat sauce. For the sauce I cooked ground turkey breast and onion in olive oil with garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and cayenne with tomato paste and crushed tomatoes.

Quinoa bowls for Sunday dinner. Tri-color quinoa topped with smoked trout, lemon pepper Swiss chard, and butter sautéed chanterelles.

^^^

6Oct2017

Oh My Gourd, It’s Pumpkin Month!

by Emily

I didn’t do the best job with photography this week but I wanted to post anyways to share my pumpkin stash!

Oooh.

Ahhh.

Woo-hoo!

Here were some snacky, squashy highlights from the workweek…

Coffee = Wicked Joe’s with 1% cow’s milk.

My hospital’s cafeteria has a sushi bar now. They don’t have brown rice or any vegetarian options so it’s not something I’d get for lunch every day, but this spicy shrimp tempura roll sure was fun.

Pumpkin spice Siggi’s with a Caramel Almond Pumpkin Spice KIND bar and a SweeTango apple.

KIND bar with a cranberry almond Noosa.

I’ve been loving turkey-cheese roll ups as a snack recently. Provolone, smoked turkey, and a bit of pesto rolled up and microwaved until warm and melty.

La Colombe latte can with a polvoron (a fantastically delicious milk cookie my coworker brings us from the Philippines).

Dragonfruit lemongrass kombucha.

I got a blog invite for the 2017 Healthy Brand Showcase. Adam and I tasted some yummy things (shared on my Instagram Live) and I came home with tons of samples. I’ll be sure to share when I try product I love.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

2Oct2017

Pecan Beer And Maple Sausage

by Emily

Adam and I both worked all weekend but on the plus side we had Friday off together first. And we have days off that line up this upcoming week too, woo-hoo!

Highlights from the (working for the) weekend…

On Friday, I blogged my last post from Loosie’s Cafe.

That’s a cortado. I also had an iced soy latte and a chocolate croissant while I typed.

For my homemade coffee I was back on the Wicked Joe train.

The cafeteria offerings are pretty sparse over the weekend, but I did pull together this tasty plate of macaroni and cheese and vegetable medley.

And I packed the last of my Apple Month goodies for snacking – TJ’s fruit bar and dried apple rings plus TJ’s cheese bites and an instant coffee package.

My outside of work snacks were all dessert based. These crunchy cookie Reese’s cups are our very favorite American-made candy.

We finally made it to Sundays in Brooklyn‘s coffee/dessert window.

Dairy-free dark chocolate soft serve with sugar crisps and toasted marshmallow. <– swoon

After work dinners were quick but delicious. And prep flew by with my weekend sip-while-you-work cooking cocktail hour. I made a spritzer with calamansi juice, Goldshlager, and club soda.

Abita’s pecan ale is super sweet and nutty.

We made fish sticks from scratch.

Salmon was on sale, so that’s what I bought, and it worked perfectly. Breaded in panko and baked, then dipped in cocktail sauce.

With broccoli on the side.

Another night we had breakfast bowls.

There was labne hiding on the bottom / topped with roasted tomatoes and sauteed onions with sumac and olive oil / roasted delicata squash / a fried egg / and maple chicken sausages.

P.S. Pumpkin Month started yesterday! I can’t wait to share my stash in Friday’s post.

18Sep2017

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria

by Emily

My title is a tongue in cheek joke about how the weather channel is turning me into a crazy person this month. I was having such a good week too. The VI was finally getting some desperately needed federal assistance and national news coverage and my parents got cell service back and I was able to talk to my mom. But now, Maria is expected to hit the Virgin Islands as a category 3 hurricane this week. Fantastic.

I’m still not really feeling up to prattling on about my days, but I did have some fun this week so I’m posting a top five…

{1} favorite work bites

{a} coffee coffee coffee

{b} I am still obsessed with that Trader Joe’s nut and seed mix

{c} I also packed a nice tasting plate – dried apples, TJ’s crispy cheese bites, and a maple salmon bar.

{d} This cafeteria wrap was on point. Chicken / pinto beans / tomato / bell peppers / banana pepper / cheddar.

{2} apple eatventures

{a} I made caramel apple bread from scratch! Basically just pumpkin bread made with apple sauce instead of pumpkin puree and totally just an excuse to use these caramel chips.

{b} Caramel apple oatmeal. Rolled oats / caramel chips / cinnamon / chia seeds / dried apples.

{c} Caramel apple Twizzlers.

{d} Apple pie milkshake. Vanilla ice cream / Greek yogurt / applesauce/ cinnamon and gingerbread spice.

{3} cobb salad pasta salad

Whole wheat bowtie pasta / crumbled fancy aged blue cheese / turkey bacon / chopped chicken breast / hard-boiled eggs / diced avocado / shredded spinach / roasted baby tomatoes.

{4} a Mile End meal recreation

Mile End Deli has a Brussel sprouts dish on their menu that we were over the moon for, so I recreated it at home. Our version was roasted brussel sprouts / tossed with crispy turkey bacon / plus olive oil and honey / sprinkled with sumac / on a base of labne.

While we cooked – which took no time at all – we sipped on Switchel.

Up Mountain Switchel sent me a box for review. The lemon flavor was too spicy ginger for me, but I loved the Yerba Mate. The ingredients list is short and simple (the four things listed on the front of the bottle plus water) and a serving has 54 calories and 10 grams of sugar. It paired nicely with our meal and would be a good alternative option to booze or soda with dinner.

{5} a trip to the South Fork of the Hamptons