I spent 99.9% of the weekend cuddled up with the dog eating take-out sandwiches. Aka the last few days have been perfect aka I have very little to share in this post. Some non-sandwich highlights included…
And I did cook one dinner! Sautéed Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Crunch mix and green onions / nuac cham sauce / smoked turkey breast / dried cherries / toasted almond slivers.
No one is surprised that I had a stash of on-theme goodies and declared a Valentine’s Week flavor. Here were the things I stockpiled (the kombucha was a standout!).
Related note – Adam bought me an egregious amount of fancy chocolate. And surprised me with beautiful flowers and gigantic brisket sandwiches.
Flavor of the week – chocolate covered cherry! Coffee – iced with Luxardo cherries and chocolate milk.
Chia pudding – chia seeds with chocolate almond milk, brown sugar, and dried cherries. Topped with dried hibiscus, Luxardos, and a chocolate peanut butter protein bar.
Smoothie – frozen cherries with Greek yogurt and chocolate milk. This was fantastic and I need to make it all the time.
Not on theme, but I loved this dinner too much not to document it – a soft-scrambled egg sandwich with peso mayo on toasted sourdough with roasted cauliflower.
A very-berry smoothie. Frozen triple berry blend plus grapes, chia, brown sugar, and ube flavoring.
Some exceptionally good bars (plus mandarin oranges). Both were filling, sweet but not saccharine, and had a nice chewiness. 10/10, would buy both again!
Fun lattes from Grind House. This was raffaello-inspired, with coconut and white chocolate.
Still on my take-out sandwich obsession. This was a bbq chicken crunch wrap.
Homemade pasta. Whole-wheat spaghetti with sautéed mushrooms and ground turkey with smoked paprika, mace, and garlic plus sour cream and parmesan.
Taco night. Seasoned ground turkey on flour tortillas with sour cream and Whole Foods’ roasted chipotle salsa (our favorite). Plus tiny tomatoes and roasted cauliflower.
For a week of easing back into real life from vacation the past 5 days weren’t too bad! I even managed to cook a few dinners. That said, work has been insane and I am not sad that I’m heading into a three day weekend!
Highlights from the past week include…
Coffee combo – Hudson Roastery with sweetened condensed milk.
Layered halvah. P.S. We also bought halvah-crusted pecans and they were insane.
Leftovers and lettuce wraps converged for the perfect dinner. We used butterhead lettuce to wrap ground turkey sautéed with gojuchang with celery, peanuts, quick pickled cucumber and carrot salad, and pickled radish. Plus leftovers from great take-out we got over the weekend – kimbap and Korean fried chicken.
It’s possible we over-purchased fried chicken… we snacked on it all week long!
A quick and easy dinner – chicken burgers from the freezer with sautéed bell peppers and green onion, mashed avocado, a fried egg, and fantastic hot sauce from back home.
The best dinner of the week/month/new year! I made buffalo chicken meatballs (with ground turkey since we were shopping during a winter storm, hot sauce, cream cheese, and blue cheese) with sautéed carrot and celery, and homemade garlic bread (garlic, butter, spices, and tons of parmesan baked on everything ciabatta rolls).
…And we made the most of it with tons of decadent and/or on theme snacks! I worked the holiday weekend but Adam and I were both off Christmas Eve so we got to spend time cuddling the dog, took a trip into the city to enjoy the light display at Hudson Yards, and drove around our area in the evening admiring decorations. Highlights included…
Peppermint cold brew with eggnog.
Stumptown’s salted maple iced latte.
This layered red and green smoothie was more successful in flavor than artistry. Ube, strawberry, grape layered with matcha banana.
The fanciest yogurt bowl – plain skyr with cinnamon, chia seeds, strawberries, nougat halvah, and chestnut paste!
Green juice and a candy cane.
Mint sparkling matcha.
Eggnog iced matcha latte.
Is there anything more luxurious than freshly made fruit salad? This was golden pinepple, strawberries, and mandarins.
This crab dip was a 6.5/10 but these crackers were a 9.5/10.
Peppermint chocolate crinkle cookie from Chip.
Repeat of my two new favorite beers. Cinnamon marshmallow cola sour ale from Evil Twin and an eggnog double IPA from Abomination Brewing.
Lunch at Dante in the West Village. It was worth sitting outside on one of the coldest days of this month! We split steak with salbitxada and a baby kale salad with beats, butternut squash, goat cheese, and hazelnuts. Plus fancy cocktails.
Avocado toast plus a quick pickled cucumber salad. Toasted sourdough, mashed avocado, a fried egg, and chili flakes.
Sautéed cabbage with peanut lime sauce and five spice candied peanuts (very loosely based on this recipe).
Roasted brussel sprouts (with chili flakes and smoked paprika) plus Christmas nachos! Kettle chips with extra-sharp cheddar, green onion, and duck sausage.
Pumpkin spice latte smoothie! Canned pumpkin, plain skyr, coffee, cold brew powder, ice, cinnamon, maple, and brown sugar.
This week’s coffee joy.
Pumpkin spice Chobani with s’more granola.
Plan Siggi’s with pumpkin seed butter. Plus an apple and a pumpkin spice chocolate cookie. P.S. This recipe made some of my favorite cookies of all time, so butterscotchy!
I am 100% obsessed with these pretzel-stuffed peanut butter cups. I bought bags of minis for work and home.
I saved the best pumpkin beers for last – Abomination Brewing’s Forbidden Pumpkin pumpkin milkshake IPA and Schlafly’s pumpkin ale.
Trader Joe’s Turkey Day quesadilla.
This is to remind me to get takeout from Roast more often! Adam and I split cheesy turkey and roast beef sandwiches, plus fries.
My favorite sheet pan hash combo – roasted bok choy and sweet potato plus smoked salmons (hot smoked Atlantic and salmon candy).
Pumpkin pasta. Whole-wheat rotini with ground turkey cooked with pumpkin puree, sour cream, and chili oil. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.
Pumpkin spice Greek yogurt with Cheerios and pumpkin spice granola.
Very into these cheeze stuffed pretzels this week. They are vegan but I definitely melted regular sharp cheddar onto them.
I also turned them into pizza trail mix! With sundried tomatoes, baru baru nuts, and crispy cheese bites.
Sautéed ground turkey with bbq sauce / roasted broccoli romanesco / sautéed TJ’s cruciferous crunch blend / sharp cheddar / Caribbean beans and rice – brown basmati, pink beans, onion, ginger, habanero, and coconut milk.
A crockpot take on this pineapple chicken / riced cauliflower / roasted butternut squash.
Adam invited me on a dinner date but there was hour+ traffic in all directions so instead we got Whole Foods hot bar and watched Castle… it was perfect!
How are we in the 2nd to last week of August??! Some highlights from this week included…
A blackberry and soursop smoothie (with banana, plain Greek yogurt, and brown sugar).
A banana and coffee smoothie (with cinnamon roll oat milk creamer, cinnamon, brown sugar, and cold brew powder).
Whole Foods snacks. The baru nuts are fantastic! They taste like a cross between peanuts and almonds. I brought some to work and got all of my coworkers hooked as well.
Quinn pretzels with Bitchin’ sauce. A coworker recommended this dip and she did not steer me wrong. We are also both obsessed with these delicious pretzels.
Kombuchas and or matchas.
A loose interpretation of this chicken and corn stir-fry recipe. Instead of rice we paired ours with sautéed shishito peppers and mushroom.
So much Thai take-out! We had pad see ew, cashew chicken, and amazing spicy ginger eggplant.
Very fancy salads – local lettuce, black garlic vinaigrette, pistachios, dried apricots, and goat cheese.
Spicy peanut chicken pizza (a Trader Joe’s crust with spicy peanut sauce, shredded chicken breast, quick-pickled carrots, and cheese) with smashed cucumber salad.
{1} A Cherr-Bear smoothie! Yes, I think I’m very clever. A remake of the smoothie I adored for Valentine’s – frozen dark sweet cherries, plain Greek yogurt, and chocolate milk.
{2} A fruit and nut yogurt bowl. Vanilla bean skyr topped with (frozen, reheated) blueberries, halvah, yellow raisins, and nut and seed trail mix.
{3} Whole Foods buffalo sauce soy nuggets and baby carrots, served with an array of dipping sauces.
{4} We made an epically good warm potato salad. Roasted potatoes and celery, hard-boiled eggs, cornichons, dill, mayonnaise, and whole-grain mustard. Plus honey maple smoked salmon.
Eating Chalk 