Weekly Wrap-Up; Busy Busy

Whew, has it been a busy week! I can’t even tell y’all, work has been wiping me out. <– Hence the 1.5 day late blog post.

Wednesday night I got home around 6:00, then sat at my desk with my boots and coat on until 8:00 when Adam got home and I finally had to get up! Then Thursday I managed to undress, and even get halfway into my gym clothes, before crawling under the covers and calling it a night.

Breakfasts

For the most part, I’ve stopped blogging coffee that isn’t extra exciting in some way, but you can assume I’m still obsessed and drink a cup whenever I can get my hands on it.

A NuGo Dark Chocolate Pretzel Bar.

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Starbucks spectacular.

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A tall nonfat iced vanilla macchiato.

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And the almond blend.

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Coffee and cereal.

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Chocolate Krave, plus there was a packet of hot chocolate stirred into my coffee. And today I stirred hazelnut hot chocolate into hazelnut coffee and it rocked my face off.

 Lunches

Leftovers.

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A Cara Cara. DSC08846

And the rest of the turkey reuben mac and cheese.

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An awesome cafeteria lunch.  I mixed together cream chowder and cheese soup, with popcorn on the side.

cafeteria

Cereal on the go. DSC08875

Blackberries and a very unripe nectarine.

DSC08881 Fage lime 2% Greek yogurt.

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And Quaker Brown Sugar Oatmeal Squares and chia seeds.

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I was starving by the time lunch rolled around so I also bought a biscuit from the cafeteria.

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On Thursday I saw patients straight from 9 – 4. Then I had chocolate and diet soda at my desk while I charted and it was heavenly.

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Snacks

Kiss Me Organics offered me a sample of their Organic Matcha powder. Adam is obsessed so I readily accepted.

DSC08848

I haven’t tried baking with it yet, but it blends perfectly into smoothies and lattes – both almond milk for me and skim cow’s for Adam. The flavor is delicious, not at all acrid like green tea can sometimes be. My only complaint is that the bag doesn’t list serving instructions or nutritional information.

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Matcha in a smoothie. I did pineapple, tea, ice, vanilla almond milk, ice and Fage lime 2% Greek yogurt.

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Good in theory but the lime flavor was a little too much.

Dannon coffee Greek frozen yogurt with lavender caramel and roasted peanuts.

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I also ate about a million handfuls of peanuts this week because holy frick, salty peanuts are so good!

Inner Peas from Trader Joe’s = my new favorite snack. They are exactly the texture I like to crunch on.

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Jelly Beans.

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Strawberry jam with toasted marshmallow is the best.

 Dinners

Adam worked Monday night so I made myself a giant bowl of cereal for dinner.

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Heritage Flakes and Reese’s Puffs with vanilla almond milk, a giant nectarine, and half a pint of blackberries.

“Pad Thai” with shrimp and broccoli.

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The quotation marks are because I used whole wheat linguine instead of the traditional rice noodles.

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Sandwich night.

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Sourdough toasted in the oven with strawberry jam, Bone Suckin’ mustard, and two slices of sharp cheddar, with a fried egg in the middle.

DSC08910

Is there a better combination than cheese, egg, and jam?  I know ideally there would be a vegetable on that plate but when you consider that I slept through dinner the next night it doesn’t seem so bad.

And as soon as I hit publish I’m off to dinner with the husband. We are trying a Mexican place I’m quite excited about.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Wrap-Up; Lonely Island

Let’s be honest – being married to a surgical resident sucks.  Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of Adam that he’s such a smartypants and I love that he gets the opportunity to do something meaningful that excites him, but if I had my druthers I think we would both be beach bums working together at a part-time job somewhere.

We don’t have any time now.  After 11 years together (and 6 years of marriage) we somehow still really like each other so living as two ships passing in the night, as I said, sucks.

It’s not great for blog content either.  Adam was on night shifts all this week and I was home alone which meant I ate cereal and/or popcorn most days.  Not a ton of healthy living to share!  And it didn’t help that when I pulled up my photos  to write this post half of them were horrendous and were promptly deleted.  Here is what I do have to share…

Work lunch 1.

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Fresh mango,

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and a Passion Fruit Noosa.

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This was the first time I had ever tried passion fruit not in juice form.  I liked the crunchy seeds!

Work lunch 2.

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Peach Noosa,

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topped with fresh blueberries,

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and Linwood Ground Flax Seed with Cocoa, Strawberries,  and Blueberries.

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The flax was part of a box of samples I recently received to review.

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It was quite good; you couldn’t taste the berries but it had a nice hint of chocolate.  I keep meaning to bring flax back into my life so the samples came at a great time.

Pink smoothie.

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Chocolate peppermint soy milk with frozen strawberries.  Adam is obsessed with this combination.  The only plus to nights is that he is home with me in the morning for breakfast.

Zing Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bar.

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This didn’t have the best texture but it did a great job of keeping me full.

Gummi Koalas.

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These are Adam’s favorites but they couldn’t hold a candle to my new obsession with Haribo Juicy Bears.

Blissinger’s Dulce de Leche with Sea Salt bar.

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Yuck!  Way too salty.  I’m hoping that the husband ends up liking it because it was quite expensive and I could only eat one square.

Santa Fe Salsa Somersaults.

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This one I have no complaints about 🙂

Oven baked fries.

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With evoo, truffle salt, and dried rosemary from my grandma’s garden.

Iowa Girl Eats’ Chicken Chili topped with extra-sharp cheddar, low-fat sour cream, and pickled jalopeños.

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I skipped the brown sugar, doubled the onion, and added some liquid smoke.  Adam loooooved this, and he says he hates chili.

Leftover chili stuffed in a baked potato.

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With more cheese, sour cream, and jalopeños, and roasted broccoli on the side(s).  This was cheesy amazing.  We need to make baked potatoes more often.

Do you feel like you get enough time with your significant other or does work get in the way?

Three Day Weekend Wrap-Up

My first long weekend as a worker bee was fabulous.  Friday through Monday were packed with fun (and food!).  Adam and I managed to spend a ton of time together.  <– heavenly  Here’s some of what we ate…

breakfasts

Breakfast in Park Slope with Adam and a girlfriend.

DSC07434I got poached eggs with toast, hash browns, turkey bacon, and a mimosa.

DSC07435Sadly our meals were all slightly burned and boring.  Win some lose some.  The iced coffee we got from Cafe Dada afterwards was a total win.

DSC07440They have almond milk on their milk bar!

Speaking of almond milk, that’s what I put in my homemade iced coffee, cold pressed for the win.

DSC07491Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.  Plus some maple syrup.

DSC07493And almond milk went in my cereal too – Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes with bunches of blueberries.

DSC07494That cereal has stayed my favorite for months.

Another day another coffee.  This time with a banana and fudge cereal bar.

DSC07475The bar was de-lish.  I am eagerly looking forward to microwaving one and eating it warm.

lunches

Friday’s lunch at the office.

DSC07417Leftover mac with sardines and broccoli.

DSC07423And a Wallaby low-fat Greek yogurt with strawberry.

DSC07420Hot bar date at Whole Foods in SoHo.

DSC07505I choose 2 vegan dumplings, a scoop of macaroni and cheese, and made a salad with mixed greens, balsamic, olives, and blue cheese.

Plus Adam and I split a Raspberry Chia Kombucha.

DSC07509dinners

It’s been crazy cold in our area recently and we’ve both been craving soup.  So I whipped up an Asian-inspired batch of the hot stuff.  With a creamy soft-boiled egg cracked on top.

DSC07464It was so good I even recorded the recipe.

DSC07460Asian-Inspired Soup; serves 2

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 fresh jalepeños, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup sliced green onions
  • 5 oz bok choy, sliced lengthwise in quarters
  • 1/4 tsp all spice
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch each salt and pepper
  • 3 cups broth
  • 3 oz stir-fry noodles
  • {Optional toppings} Sriracha, sliced green onions, soft-boiled eggs
  1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add jalepeños, green onions, and bok choy to oil and cook until softened, 3 – 5 minutes.
  2. Add all spice, cloves, cinnamon, salt and pepper to vegetables and stir to combine.
  3. Add broth to pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
  4. When the broth has reached a boil, add noodles to pot and reduce heat to bring the soup to a simmer.  Continue to simmer until noodles are softened, 3 – 5 minutes.
  5. Serve and top as desired.

DSC07467Another night we went all fancy (sort of) with polenta (sort of) stacks.

DSC07477Layers 1, 3, and 5 were sliced polenta baked with dried basil and mozzarella.  Layers 2 and 4 were lean ground turkey sautéed with evoo, thinly sliced garlic, thinly sliced turkey pepperoni, and marinara sauce.

DSC07484The pepperoni totally made it.  Roasted broccoli on the side.

DSC07481And the last night of the weekend we did take-out from Yesterday’s Diner.

DSC07514Adam and I split a turkey burger with mozzarella and french fries.  We love their turkey burgers.  And it helps that they send a juicy pickle and blue cheese dressing for dipping.

snackage

This section is full of love!  Like this snack plate of super sharp cheese with Honeycrisp apple.

DSC07431Haribo Juicy Gold Bears became my favorite gummi.

DSC07446DSC07442The texture is perfect – chewy and firm with no teeth sticking – and they are sooooo juicy.

The rest of the treats are all mint based, since I’m having a total love affair with the frosty flavor lately.  The best froyo ever.

DSC07470Mint with chocolate crunch, yogurt chips, and hot fudge.

A fabulous first trip to Emack and Bolio’s with Adam.

DSC07498He got ice cream that he deemed the best he’s ever had and I went with a scoop of grasshopper pie frozen yogurt.

DSC07501We also got a chocolate egg cream that was the best we’ve ever had.  We want to go back immediately.

Finally, a vegan mint cream cookie sandwich from Babycakes.

DSC07511Are you a mint fanatic too or is it too toothpastey for you?

Weekend Wrap-Up; Snowmageddon

Hey there!  I hope all of my East Coast (US) readers are keeping warm!  Long Island didn’t get hit as badly with snow as predicted, but getting to and from work on Friday was definitely pretty insane.

Here’s some of what I ate when I wasn’t shivering…

Lunch packed for work on Friday.

DSC07115Leftovers of my spin on Hoppin’ John on top of leftover farro,

DSC07122with cola candies,

DSC07120and tangerines.

DSC07117I actually ate the tangerines on my train ride home, alongside a nice, warm espresso.

DSC07127Coffee was very loved this weekend.  I also had a cinnamon brown sugar iced latte from Dunkin Donuts {love, love, loved},

DSC07153DSC07150and a hazelnut iced coffee – with sugar, skim milk, and a dash of vanilla creamer – from Bagel Boss {I can’t really speak to their bagels but I’m obsessed with their iced coffee}.

DSC07170Aaaaaand a different iced latte from Starbucks that I didn’t photograph because it was getting ridiculous.  Yes, I recently became extra in love with coffee.  No, I won’t switch from iced no matter how cold it gets.

A delicious dinner on Friday night.

DSC07134I made “miso stoup” for the first time and was thrilled with the results.  Not totally traditional, but with ingredients we had on hand.  And extra “chunky” because it was our whole meal and not just a side.

DSC07130Miso Soup, Basically  serves 2 – 3

  • 3 cups chicken broth  (you could totally use veggie broth if you want to keep things vegetarian)
  • 3 heaping Tbsp miso paste
  • 2. 5 oz firm tofu, cubed
  • 1/2 cup sliced green onions
  • 1 pint sliced shiitake mushrooms
  • .6 oz roasted seaweed, crumbled
  1. Bring broth to a simmer in a medium pot over medium-high heat.
  2. Add miso to broth and whisk until no lumps remain.
  3. Add remaining ingredients to pan and simmer an additional 3 – 5 minutes.

DSC07139We loved it.

Not so delicious fondue for dinner on Saturday night.

DSC07155We split a lemon cream pie martini that wasn’t terrible.

DSC07157And for fondue we ordered the sharp cheese,

DSC07160and the caramel pecan chocolate (though I’m fairly certain they left out our caramel).

DSC07161DSC07164Both were fairly meh.  The bread cubes were terrible and we only got two each of the other dippers so if you liked something you couldn’t even try it again because then the other person didn’t get any.  We cashed in a Groupon to Simply Fondue and even with the $ off it was still pretty darn expensive.  Boo.

Random but good things include:  A bowl of Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes with blackberries and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

DSC07147A Suede Imperial Porter from Stone {I couldn’t taste the honey but the floral scent was amazing},

DSC07132And a big bowl of popcorn with truffle salt.

DSC07167DSC07165Oh jeez, the truffle popcorn.  Insane.  Usually Adam turns his nose up at my bowls of popcorn but this time he was more than happy to share.

Yesterday we did a late, great brunch.  My guava mimosa was quite tasty.

DSC07173We were visiting friends in Williamsburg and they took us to Simple.  We all had wonderful meals.

DSC07177I got the Vegetable Burger – Sautéed spinach, mushroom, zucchini, pepper, onion, garlic.  It was more of a pile of veggies than a burger, particularly once I ordered it sans bun.  It was also delicious, especially when topped with Danish blue cheese.  And the fries on the side were nice and crispy!

P.S. You have until 2 pm EST to enter my Eggland’s Best giveaway.

Weekly Wrap-Up; I Survived!

I survived my first week of full-time work!  Well, almost; I’ve still got to get through today.  And I am very excited to hit the couch as soon as I get home.  TV, how I’ve missed you!  {Random Note – “Mom” on CBS?  So flipping good.  I laugh out loud over and over again.  Also “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” randomly got really good too.  It seemed like a train wreck at first but they’ve pulled it together; it’s another llol situation.}

I do plan on sharing a bit more about work as time goes on.  And I’ll definitely post a picture of my office (I have an office!) once I get it all set-up.  I have some work outfits at the start of this post though, and I’ll try to keep that going.

Last week’s eats were fairly boring, but I’m proud of how (relatively) healthy I managed to keep things.  And I even captured 95% of what went in my mouth on film.  What you don’t see is the snacking I did before dinner every night while I packed my lunch.  Also there was coffee.  So, so much coffee.

fashion friday

New navy, polka dot top from the Loft.

DSC06235I didn’t realize how similar day 2’s look was to day 1.

DSC06265My mom got me this mint cardigan on her trip to Amsterdam.

DSC06286I wish my pictures were clearer so you could see details like this fun neckline.

DSC06318And Friday’s look will get looped to next week.

breakfast

As of now I’m eating on my train ride so things have to be portable.  Sticky Bun Larabar Uber.

DSC06224Still not my favorite flavor, but I liked it better than the first time I tried it.

Pecan Pie Clif Bar.

DSC06252Such a fun seasonal flavor.  I really hated the gingerbread and spiced pumpkin ones, but this was delicious.

Super smoothie.

DSC06308Frozen strawberries with plain Greek yogurt and chocolate peppermint soy milk.  Adam and I love this blend.

lunch

Lots of repetition here but I changed up little details to keep things interesting.  Turkey sandwich round 1.

DSC06204A Sandwich Thin with Applegate Smoked Turkey, Crofter’s Grape, and a TJ’s goat cheese medallion.

DSC06206With a cameo apple.

DSC06208And a baggie of Angie’s Iced Gingerbread Kettle Corn.

DSC06212The husband and I both love this popcorn; not too sweet or spicy.  It’s not on their website but I found my bag at Target.

Butternut squash round 1.

DSC06241Roasted butternut squash with chopped spinach and craisins with WF’s Korean BBQ Sauce on top.

DSC06242On the side,

DSC06247DSC06248another cameo apple and a baggie of Salty Pepper Somersaults.

Turkey sandwich round 2.  This time with a slice of light havarti, banana peppers, and a bit of Miracle Whip.

DSC06267Plus a pair of tangerines.

DSC06271And Twix Gingerbread.

DSC06274This meal was the week’s winning lunch.

Butternut squash round 2.

DSC06290With TJ’s Champagne Pear Vinaigrette in place of bbq sauce.

DSC06292And a side of tasty mango.

DSC06294The flavors here were good but this meal was a little too mushy overall.

dinner

These are all single girl dinners; I was on my own every night this week.  Adam had a week straight of night shifts and with my new schedule we literally saw each other for less than 30 minutes a day.  I miss him!

Soup night.

DSC06257My box of pumpkin soup from TJ’s was terrible.

DSC06259It was weirdly sweet and I ended up throwing out the majority of my bowl.  My side made up for it though.

DSC06262The last of the tortilla chips with fancy cheese microwaved on top.

Sandwich night.

DSC06278My sandwich was a little burnt, but oh-so-good.  I mashed together a can of Smoked Trout with Miracle Whip and smoked paprika and then put it between two pieces of gingerbread swirl bread with a slice of light havarti and cooked the whole thing in a pan with a little butter.

DSC06280With a giant pile of kale chips on the side.

DSC06285The smokey-sweet combo on my sandwich was amazing.

Egg night.

DSC06300Two eggs scrambled with evoo, frozen roasted corn, chopped jalopeño, sugar, and Sriracha.

DSC06307Another kale pile.

DSC06303With popcorn.

DSC06296For the whole grains, of course.

Fun night.  Yesterday I met up with a friend who works in Park Slope for dinner.  I had some time to kill before she got off so I walked a ton (my feet are still killing me!) and got the best cup of frozen yogurt.

DSC06312Eggnog and praline yogurts with pralines, toffee, and malt balls.  Fan-freaking-tastic!

Then we went to Song for Thai food.

DSC06315My “Spicy Noodles” weren’t spicy at all, but they were nice and chewy and I came home with leftovers for lunch.  It was great to see a friend on a “school night.”

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my coffee giveaway.  You’ve got until 2 pm Saturday to comment.

Weekend Wrap-Up; Hello, December!

This weekend I…

…Walked around Manhattan with my family to check out the window displays.

DSC06126DSC06121DSC06132DSC06128DSC06124DSC06119This was such a great way to ring in the season, even if the tree wasn’t lit yet.  It was the perfect way to spend my parents’ last day.  My mom snagged me a milk and white truffle from the Lindt store.

DSC06172And I came home with a really exciting candy assortment from a place in Chinatown.

DSC06151I am really looking forward to trying the new varieties.

…Ate lunch at Carnegie Deli.

DSC06109The bites I took of my dad’s matzoh ball soup were great.

DSC06112We all shared strawberry blintzes.

DSC06114And I drank the best chocolate egg cream of my life.

DSC06111Though the very best bites were those my cousin shared with me of matzoh brei.  I don’t know how they make theirs so chewy.

…Shared some exciting drinks with the husband while we explored the city.  A Belvoir Fruit Farms Elderflower and Rose Lemonade.

DSC06103It was very tasty, and how gorgeous is the packaging?  We also shared a black sugar bubble tea.

DSC06130Yum!

…Discovered Cafe Dada, a new coffee-house in Park Slope.

DSC06141I had a cafe au lait which was delicious,

DSC06149but the espresso in Adam’s cortado was hands-down the best I’ve ever had.

DSC06143It was so velvety!  And the pistachio mousse we shared was great too.

DSC06146It was a blend of pistachio and raspberries and the flavors went great together.

…Met up with friends from Buffalo.  They were visiting family for the holiday and we all met up to share a meal.  We took them to our two favorite places – Freeman’s Restaurant {the smoked trout plate}.

DSC06157sugar, Sweet, sunshine {more pistachio}.

DSC06161Such fun.  We love it when they come into town.

Tried the Eggnog Jubilee from Jamba Juice.

DSC06196It tasted exactly like I wanted it to – eggnog and nutmeg blended with ice – but I still didn’t need enough of the flavor to drink the whole thing.  I’m glad I tried it though.

…Ate lots and lots of cheese.  We were shopping in Trader Joe’s one evening when the idea for nachos struck and our eyes lit up.  We got Wisconsin Sharp and New York Extra Extra Sharp Cheddars so we could do a blend.

DSC06176Adam put pastrami on his (leftover from Carnegie) but my chicken ended up being moldy so I got my protein in the form of extra cheese.  Plus candied jalopenos.

DSC06181Swoon!  We kept it going with grilled cheese for lunch the next day.

DSC06214On thick slices of cibatta.

DSC06218With apple slices on the side.

DSC06216I probably should have tried to get some veggies in there too.

…Finally got some veggies in with a homemade dinner.

DSC06226We topped this cous cous with roasted butternut squash, craisins, smoked almonds, champagne pear vinaigrette, and a sunny side up egg.

DSC06220DSC06231Runny yolk is the best sauce.

…Decorated for Christmas.

DSC06187DSC06183DSC06190DSC06195We’re ready for December!

Weekly Wrap-Up; My First Cold Of The Season

Have you stayed healthy so far this flu season?  I’m finally on an upswing, but I spent the past week with a bad cold.  Achoo!

The husband gets (2) 2-week periods off this year and his first started last Friday evening.  We took advantage of the break and drove over to visit my sister-in-law’s family in Pennsylvania.  I spent our entire visit with the dog and/or my niece on my lap so I don’t have a single picture from Saturday.

On Friday, I had a large, late lunch at Whole Foods before we got in the car.

DSC05821A hot bar assortment.

DSC05822Clockwise from top left – green beans, gnocchi, broccoli, mac and cheese, big noodles, and Cesar salad.

For dessert, I surprised Adam with a bag of limited edition chocolate dipped wavy Lays.

DSC05817I had read negative reviews about them online, but we both loved them.  They had the perfect ratio of salty and sweet; the chocolate was only on one side of most chips so it wasn’t too overwhelming.  The bag said it contained five servings, but we didn’t find that to be true 😉

My youngest niece had the sniffles all weekend and I came back with them too.  Here’s what I ate before I realized just how sick I was – A Siggi’s 2% Pumpkin Spice Yogurt.

DSC05833DSC05837This flavor was great, definitely the best pumpkin yogurt I’ve tried so far.  Sometimes Siggi’s can be a bit sour/chalky but this flavor was nice and creamy.

A new kind of tofu.

DSC05840DSC05843We quartered our block of Soy Boy Caribbean pre-seasoned tofu and gave it a quick sear.

A comforting dinner.

DSC05854We shared a can of Bar Harbor Lobster Chowder.

DSC05857DSC05844With a (giant) side of beer bread.

DSC05861Cheddar Garlic Beer Bread(!!).

DSC05850So good.  That bread was my best idea yet, but I made it in a daze and now I can’t remember the proportion of ingredients.

When I woke up on Monday I realized I had more than the sniffles, I was sick, sick, sick.  This is where I tell you that I have not eaten a single fruit or vegetable since last Sunday.  In fact, Adam went out-of-town for a few days mid-week when I was at my sickest and I ended up eating cheese and crackers for five meals straight!  These TJ raisin and rosemary crisps were featured heavily.

DSC05876Very tasty, but I don’t think I’ll be eating cheese and crackers again soon.

Here are the things I ate last week that weren’t cheese, or at least weren’t 100% cheese (though I’m now realizing that I did stick exclusively with sandwiches and cookies) – A killer sandwich.

DSC05878A leftover slice of tofu with smoked Gouda and grape Crofters.

An even better sandwich.

DSC05884Applegate Farms honey maple turkey with cream cheese, smoked Gouda, grape Crofters, and banana peppers.

A take-out sandwich.

DSC05904Turkey burger with mozzarella.  I ate too many fries.

A mug cookie, jazzed up SCM and salted caramel sauce.

DSC05883It looks giant and fluffy like that because I double the recommended baking soda.

On the store-bought front, my mother-in-law sent us a cookie jar of Cheryl’s.

DSC05898Thanks, Barb!

Finally, I received two samples this week that were perfect for trying when I was under the weather.

Please note – I received the following products free of charge.  Neither company provided me with further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Numi Organic Tea sent me some Pu·erh Variety mini samplers.

DSC05890That includes Chocolate Pu·erh, Emperor’s Pu·erh, Jasmine Pu·erh, Basil Mint Pu·erh, Cardamom Pu·erh, and Ginger Pu·erh.

DSC05892So far I’ve tried the Emperor’s and Jasmine varieties and was a big fan.  I’m looking forward to the others a lot, though I will probably give the Ginger to Adam because that’s not my favorite flavor.  Chocolate didn’t appeal to me with my cold, but look at the yummy description – “With a rich velvety, chocolate aroma, Numi’s Chocolate Pu-erh is an enticing blend of deep, dark pu-erh and organic cocoa nibs.  Whole vanilla beans and sweet accents of orange peel enhance this blend along with nutmeg and cinnamon rounding off a spicy finish.

I also received a bottle of powdered wheat grass from Pines.

DSC05896I used to love the wheat grass shots at Jamba so I used them as inspiration and combined 1 tsp of wheat grass powder with 3 oz each orange juice and unsweet vanilla almond milk.

DSC05901So delicious!  Though next time I might shift the ratio a bit in favor of the oj; Jamba used a vanilla soy milk that brought more sweetness to the table than my almond milk.  If you are unfamiliar with the flavor of wheat grass and want to try it you definitely can’t go wrong with the vanilla and orange pairing.

How many times a year do you usually get sick?  Have you caught a cold yet this winter?

Weekly Wrap-Up; One A Day

I don’t have a ton to share this week; we ate pizza a lot (I don’t know how I don’t have a single photo of that?!) and I somehow ended up with only seven photos.  One for each day of the week!

One: Chipotle.

DSC05620Someone (ahem) ate all of the casserole my mother-in-law baked me so I had to get last-minute dinner takeout.  I hadn’t really eaten Chipotle before beyond the occasional stop in for a diet soda on a road trip, but lately I am all about their chicken.  Whatever they marinate their meat in is sooooo flavorful.

DSC05624Plus my rice bowl – chicken, rice, salsa, corn, roasted veggies, and cheese – was so giant that I was able to take a 1/3 out for the next day’s lunch and still have a huge dinner.

Two: Truffle sampler.

DSC05627Many rounds of this last week.

Three: Two part breakfast.

DSC05632I had a sliced honeycrisp,

DSC05634dipped in (melted) Vanilla Bean + Espresso Barney Butter.

DSC05638DSC05628I am in total love with the VBEBB; crunching through the coffee grounds is very texturally pleasing.  Though I will note that it is not sweet at all which always surprises me.

I finished up breakfast (and the espresso theme!) with Starbucks on errands.

DSC05640A giant one since I had a freebie on my card.  A non-fat caramel macchiato with two shots of gingerbread instead of the vanilla.

DSC05642New favorite drink.  Even the barista commented on what a good idea it was.

Four: Bread trio.

DSC05645End pieces of TJ’s Three Seed and Honey Bread topped with Smart Balance Light, grape Crofters, and pumpkin butter.

Five: Soup night.

DSC05654Pacific Vegetable Lentil & Roasted Red Pepper Soup.  <– Adam and I split the cartoon and both were impressed with it (and I don’t even like lentils)

DSC05657Soft pretzel stick with aged Havarti.

DSC05658And a Tusker to share.

DSC05660We’ve been hoarding that beer for months and it made the move with us from Buffalo.  Tusker has previously been in my top-three beers list but just like the pumpkin beers this seemed sour to me.  I guess I just haven’t been in a beer mood this fall.

Six: Cheese plate.

DSC05669More aged Havarti,

DSC05671with TJ’s Everything Crackers,

DSC05673and a nice pear.

DSC05675We’ve been all about the fruit and cheese this year.  The crackers were good, but a bit too strong on the carraway for me.

Seven {in Heaven}: ‘Mallow shake.

DSC05677Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla Honey Caramel Frozen Greek Yogurt with skim milk and tons of roasted marshmallows.

DSC05679I used too much milk and we ended up with frothy flavored milk instead of shakes, but the flavor was to die for.

P.S. I ate a bag of kettlecorn for breakfast while I wrote this post.  I need to get my life in order.