Five For Ten

by Emily

I worked all last weekend so I didn’t take the time to blog. Good news – that means I have tomorrow off with a three day weekend! Here were the top five eats for the last ten days…

{1} Oatmeal for lunch

Prepackaged with vanilla almond butter and citrus on the side.

And a homemade mix with chia seeds and sliced almonds.

With fresh strawberries stirred in and melty cookie butter on top. P.S. Cookie butter probably should have gotten its own bullet point!

{2} The last of the Tahini Granola in yogurt bowls

With plain Greek yogurt and fresh blueberries and blackberries.

I need to make a 2nd batch of granola asap, it made the last two weeks of lunches an absolute delight. I’m going to give myself a lower sugar week with Heritage Flakes first though.

{3} Epic sandwiches

The cafeteria-assembled breakfast sandwiches were particularly epic but this turkey ‘which from home was nothing to sneeze at.

TJ’s quinoa bread with turkey and cheddar. I put the chips inside the sandwich for some needed crunch.

Cinnamon-raisin toast with smashed hard-boiled egg, veggie sausage, and Greek yogurt cream cheese.

Egg and cheese croissantwich.

I’ve decided I don’t eat egg sandwiches often enough, a gap in my culinary habits that desperately needs to be filled.

{4} Starbucks’ s’mores bar

Holy crap this was good!

I swear the graham cracker layer has coffee in it.

{5} Mexican-flavors dinners

Deconstructed tacos, aka taco filling bowls scooped with tortilla chips.

Shredded chicken, sautéed orange bell peppers and onion, cheese, plain Greek yogurt, and fresh cilantro. Plus brussels sprouts that I roasted with taco seasoning. <– so good

Another night we made chicken and zucchini enchiladas.

I don’t know why I never make enchiladas, these were so easy!

{Bonus} Near misses – don’t try this at home

These two seemed like they’d be great and instead were total let downs. I did not want a 2nd bite of this cookie dough bar.

And we were expecting to love Bunsmith, they have a cookie butter bun for god sake. And a boozy banana milk and spice cocktail.

Mega meh. The veggies in our bowls came out of a can and there was entirely too much rice. We’ll have to stay loyal to Bao Haus. In fact, it’s on the agenda for the three-day weekend!

8Apr2016

First Week Of April’s Top Ten

by Emily

{1} Stumptown’s newest cold brew box – coconut.

{2} This week’s homemade coffee blend – chocolate milk and espresso roast.

{3} Giant veggie omelet for breakfast at work. They are made fresh to order and are by far the best dish coming out of the cafeteria.

{4} Garlic veggie pizza with a side of brussels sprout salad.

{5} Yogurt bowl. Plain Greek with strawberries, praline pecan granola, walnuts, and chocolate covered cacao nibs.

{6} Oatmeal bowl. Oats, chia seeds, strawberries, and cookie butter. Simple, but this was the best oatmeal of the year.

{7} This month’s Skoshbox. There were chocolate-covered potato chips!

{8} Biscoff chocolate chip mug cookie.

{9} Trader Joe’s frozen “pizza.” The crust was a bit floppy but the sauce had good spicy kick to it.

{10} Creamy tomato turkey. Sautéed ground turkey with browned mushrooms, roasted plum tomatoes, tomato paste, sour cream, tons of smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Plus roasted zucchini. I made a truly excessive amount of this dish and even after a couple of meals there’s still some left for next week.

{Bonus} Non-food Entertainment Top Five

{1} “Hart of Dixie.” I finished it last week but it I’m still not over it, the storyline was just so fun! It was such a feel-good show, I really enjoyed watching something that wasn’t heartrending for a change (<– Whedon fan).

{2} Slate. The source of 95%+ of my news plus the amazing Dear Prudence advice column (<– her response to “Too High” was spot on!).

{3} Girls with Slingshots. Another soap opera! This webcomic series is on long-term hiatus but you can start at the beginning and read through the archives.

{4} Serious Eats. The source of 95%+ of my food-based news and cravings. This is one of the sites I check every morning during my train ride, I’d hate to miss an article like the Nacho Showdown.

{5} Taylor Swift’s hilarious Apple Music commercial.

25Mar2016

I’m Alive!

by Emily

So it’s been awhile since my last post, huh? My two-week illness (a cold and then the flu) turned into a three week plague extravaganza complete with conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and a two-day stay at the hospital. Yippee. I didn’t really feel like myself again until just a couple of days ago.

Now I’m back in action, and I even have a week’s worth of meals to share…

daytime eats

I was still recovering on Monday so I started my week off with mint sparkling water cut with Sprite.

I’m usually not a clear soda (or non-diet soda) fan but the day I got home from the hospital I swear it was the best thing I’ve ever tasted. I didn’t even want diet coke that week, which says a lot about how sick I felt.

The real clue that I was basically dying is this – this small iced latte was my first cup of coffee in more than a week.

I also had a glass of kefir.

Maple was such a fun find.

By the next day I was fully ready for my lifeblood again. Nonfat caramelized honey (<–yum) iced latte with extra espresso. Sipped while grocery shopping.

I worked Saturday/Sunday which thankfully meant I had Wednesday off.

And yesterday I had a yummy Kevita kombucha.

Lavender melon. Kevita is a little more refreshing – and less sour and yeasty – than other brands of kombucha.

Packed lunches were my old standbys. Oatmeal.

Oats with chia seeds, strawberry shortcake m&m’s, and Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter. Plus a piñata apple on the side.

And yogurt bowls, with blueberries and blackberries. 2% Fage with maple pecan granola, chia seeds, and more pecans.

Vanilla bean with Heritage Flakes.

Plus truffles from a coworker for dessert. With a side of Easter themed nails.

Wednesday at home I made an Easter-inspired spread.

Egg salad with potato chips, and warm carrot slaw (sautéed shredded carrots tossed with golden raisins, walnuts, mayo, and stone-ground mustard).

nighttime eats

Monday night I took the dog on an extra-long walk after work… and then laid down on the couch in my coat for more than an hour! I was too tired to cook anything, but hungry enough to go back and reheat a second plate of leftover pizza.

Plus baby carrots.

We try to always keep them on hand because they are perfect for distracting the dog while he gets his nails clipped.

Tuesday I managed to cook dinner and try a blog product sample (two birds with one stone). Popkoff’s sent me some free coupons for their new line “farm to freezer” frozen Russian dumplings.

The farmer’s cheese Pelmeni were fantastic – they cooked in under 10 minutes and were perfectly tender yet chewy. Plus, you have to love the short ingredient list: “Farmer’s Cheese, Wheat Flour, Water, Egg, Sour Cream, Salt, Sugar.” We kept things simple and tossed them with sautéed mushrooms and cabbage and low-fat sour cream.

Topped with a sprinkle of smoked paprika. I have two more freebie coupons and I would purchase the dumplings with my own money so this is a meal you’ll likely see again.

Wednesday was the warmest of the season (68!) and we made the most of it by taking the dog on a long walk – in sandals and t-shirts – for water ice. My strawberry and cola cup hit the spot.

Then we did fish taco night for dinner. We need to make tacos more often, Adam and I were both raving about this meal.

Toasted taco shells / sautéed onions and bell pepper / shredded cheese / roasted tomatillo salsa / mahi mahi cubes sautéed with lime, cilantro, and green onions / dollops of sour cream.

Yesterday I ate a guava and cheese empanada on the train.

Dinner part deux was TJ’s frozen gnocchi with eggplant and zucchini.

10/10. We relied a lot of frozen foods to get through this week but the quality of our meals didn’t suffer any.

I hope everyone is feeling well for the weekend!

27Feb2016

Sprinkles And Sandwiches

by Emily

By the time this post goes live I’ll already be on my way to work (wan wan). I’m working Saturday/Sunday because I have Friday/Monday off, and I’m heading in extra-early because we have family visiting and I need to be done and free to hang out in the afternoon. The good thing about visitors is that we’ll probably take them to Ample Hills!

Friday was a boring mix of buying new couch slipcovers and filing our taxes (wan wan), but Monday we’ve got some fun breakfast plans lined up.

A few of my dinners were pretty darn weak, but all of this week’s lunches were exclamation point worthy.

Daytime Eats

This weeks’ coffee – Starbucks espresso blend with skim milk. With a piñata apple.

And a chocolate pretzel protein bar.

Or a wonderfully juice sumo mandarin.

Or a lavender kombucha.

Plus buttered toast.

I also had an Americano with chocolate milk.

Plus Adam and I split a butterscotch latte while we ran errands.

With extra espresso, Adam loved it too.

This week’s tea – Roobios.

Amazingly, this caffeine-free herbal was my favorite tea thus far. With milk and honey it was downright delicious.

I’m still excited by this gum.

The flavor dies in about a minute but who doesn’t love a gum with sprinkles?

Oatmeal bowl. Oats with freeze-dried raspberries and blueberries and peanut butter chocolate chips.

The oats were great, but I ate much earlier in the day than I usually do (and then stayed for an hour of overtime!) and I ended up also getting a guava cheese empanada on the train home.

Yogurt bowl. Plain 2% Greek yogurt with fresh blackberries and pomegranate, toasted pecans, chia seeds, and Heritage Flakes.

Yogurt bowl. Maple Chobani with blackberries, pecans, and Heritage Flakes.

Salad bar. I love the days when the cafeteria does a Greek section; my salad was loaded with falafel, tzatziki, and taboule, plus black-eyed peas, olives, and cucumber.

Friday, Adam and I went to lunch at a new restaurant near our apartment. The meal was underwhelming, but I made a great yogurt bowl for dessert when I got home.

Plain Greek with peanut butter, honey, cinnamon, maple pecan granola, more pecans, and Luxardo cherries on top!

Nighttime Eats

House snacks included cashews – I’ve been making Adam trail mix bags for work and snacking heartily while I assemble them.

And chocolate-covered gummies.

And fun snacks included two girlfriend outings this week. A coworker and I got drinks at Colonie after an outlandishly frustrating work day. Bolivian Rose – Singani 63, Aperol, Dolin dry vermouth, Combier, and a super fragrant lemon twist.

And I introduced a friend to the Korean-style shaved ice at Snowdays.

They had specialty flavors – Thai iced tea! Topped with mochi, sweetened condensed milk, and grass jelly.

The mid-week blahs led to some pretty disastrous meals. Like big salads – baby kale, cashews, chia seeds, pomegranate, and peanut sauce – and horrifyingly cheesy nachos.

Or a sandwich night where the only veggies to be found were a side of baby carrots.

My sandwich – with a butter-toasted brioche, roasted turkey, raw milk cheddar, special sauce, and tons of pickles – was delicious but not the healthiest.

But we went on a really fantastic Tuesday night date at Talde. Now that I know that I like ginger in drinks I could order the Ginger Rose – Four Roses bourbon, Applejack, lemon, and ginger-cinnamon infused grenadine.

The drink was good but the meal was to die for; truly one of the best dishes we’ve ever had. Acorn squash rendang with Malaysian grits, fried shallot, pickled shitake, and a six-minute egg.

The blend of textures and flavors – crispy with creamy, spice with sour – was unbelievably satisfying. Dessert was sweet with salty.

Pretzel-potato chip bars with chocolate ganache.

And we started the week with veggie tofu bowls.

Extra-firm tofu was marinated in stone-ground mustard, lemon juice, honey, and evoo then baked ’til crispy.

Served on top of honey butter shredded carrots, and sautéed brussels sprouts tossed in the tofu marinade.

And ended the week with veggie packed pasta. TJ’s spinach tortellini with red sauce.

We gussied up the sauce with sautéed mushroom and onion and roasted zucchini and graffiti eggplant. I followed the Serious Eats trick of adding pasta water.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Let’s cross our fingers for more warm weather!

19Feb2016

Raisins, Ramen, Ready For The Weekend

by Emily

This week’s food themes were…

—Coffee

Always. TJ’s cold brew (<– super strong and bold) with skim milk and vanilla almond milk.

Starbuck’s new smoked butterscotch latte is fantastic. I’m a total sucker for any limited-edition release and a butterscotch fanatic in general.

Iced latte from Milk Bar that was unexpectedly the best latte I’ve had all year. Usually I have to request an extra shot of espresso to feel like I’m having coffee with milk instead of milk with coffee, but this was perfect even untampered with.

The compost cookie didn’t suck either!

—Old-school turkey sandwiches

Old-school = white bread with cheese and mayo and mustard, i.e. super unhealthy with no redeeming nutrition qualities. From the cafeteria with tons of pickles and banana peppers.

And at home on a raisin roll with carrots on the side.

Speaking of dehydrated grapes, I also had this raisin brown sugar Chobani.

The yogurt was meh, I don’t care for the texture of the oat line, but the mix-ins were great – yellow raisins, walnuts, chia seeds, and fresh blueberries.

—Ramen

I went out on two ramen dates this week, thankfully it’s been good weather for soup! Chuko (<– my favorite ramen in the city) with work friends for veggie miso with a soft egg.

And Ramen Yebisu in Williamsburg with girlfriend. I was adventurous and got the seafood special, with seafood broth, prawn, snow crab, mussel, scallop, scallion, and seaweed.

I was super brave (the scallops were a different variety than the diver scallops you usually see and we didn’t even know what they were until we tasted them) and it paid off in the form of a giant crab leg in the middle of my bowl.

One more day and then I’m free for weekend fun!

8Feb2016

A Week Of Super Bowls

by Emily

I was a bit under the weather last week, nothing too bad, mostly a lot of coughing and headaches, but I just didn’t have it in me on Thursday to blog a recap. I was not too sick, however, to eat a bunch of yummy stuff that’s worth sharing. Last Monday through Sunday, here are the highlights*…

*highlights within the highlights, I obviously drank more coffee than this

coffee

Caramel-flavored Chameleon Cold Brew! With half & half. I adore CCB, it’s so smooth.

Served one day with citrus seltzer and a sumo mandarin.

This wins for my all-time preferred citrus, it is sweet and firm, and there are seeds but they are big enough to pop out easily.

oatmeal

In homemade instant bowls for work (just add hot water!).

Rolled oats, chia seeds, dry milk powder, freeze-dried raspberries, and toasted walnuts.

And smoothies.

Vanilla almond milk + chia seeds + oats + frozen banana + brown sugar + cocoa powder.

old-school-style cafeteria lunches

Sliced turkey and cheese with a less than healthy “veggie” side.

My school didn’t actually have a cafeteria (I graduated in a class of <40 and we had iguanas running the halls) but this is how I imagined the lunches would have been.

pepperoni-ish pizza

Oh. My. God. We sliced up a TJ’s turkey summer sausage and put it on the best homemade pizza we’ve ever had.

Usually I try to overdo it with pizza – lots of veggies, too much cheese – and the crust ends up soggy, but this was a crispy masterpiece. With a simple side salad.

sugar

Haribo salty licorice.

Cake pop flavored gum. There are sprinkles in it!

We finished this month’s Skoshbox the day it came.

Tj’s dark chocolate mini cookies.

These hearts were way better than I was expecting; usually I don’t buy boxed cookies because I’m a pretty great cookie baker myself but there is no way I could make chocolate shortbread this crunchy.

fancy booze in Brooklyn

Adam met me after work for a fantastic Friday night date in Boerum Hill. We started at Grand Army for cocktail hour.

My Alabaster Cavern – blended scotch, Lustau East India Solera, cinnamon, lime, coconut, pineapple, and bitters – tasted like a fancy painkiller. We liked the space and the vibe (they have a penciled drawing of ET as Mr. T on the wall) and will definitely be back.

The drink menu at Colonie was no slouch either. My Empire State Sour was American whiskey, NY apples, lemon, egg white, baked apple bitters, and cinnamon.

Best drink of 2016. That line of cinnamon stayed in place on top of the egg foam and made every sip smell delectable.

We shared two wonderful, duck-based dishes. Cavatelli with duck ham, béchamel, and soldier beans.

And wheatberries, mushrooms, and arugula with a duck egg on top.

I know the pictures are hard to see, but those black bits? Were crispy mushrooms. I don’t know how to describe the flavor (truffle? earthy?) but they were the single best thing I’ve ever tasted.

dinner bowls

I did not watch the game yesterday, but I have been eating some delicious bowls of dinner. All but one include broccoli because apparently it’s our favorite.

We made a variation of our black-eyed pea mix. Roasted broccoli, edamame, gochujang, smoked almonds, and cheddar.

A super bowl on Sunday. Orecchiette with roasted mushroom and baby zucchini, tossed with browned butter and Italian four cheese blend, topped with a sprinkle of smoked paprika. Served on a bed of roasted green beans.

Best bowl of the week – farro with ginger, garlic, lemon, gochujang, evoo, and salt and pepper / mackerel with stone ground mustard and a bit of mayo / roasted broccoli / toasted walnuts.

This was technically a lunch bowl. The cafeteria had a baked potato bar.

I swear there was a potato underneath all of that cheese and broccoli.

dog love

I feel like Webster’s adorable mug hasn’t been on the blog much lately, but I have been snapping pictures of him for Instagram. These are some of the best ones:

Related – a girlfriend surprised me with this darling dachshund scarf.

Here’s to a great week!

16Jan2016

It’s All Greek To Me!

by Emily

My four-day workweek helped ease me back into real life after vacation. I was also assisted by copious amounts of sugar, coffee, and alcohol. And thanks to the holiday, next week is short too, wahoo!

daytime eats

Cereal and ~~milk~~ coffee.

Coffee, Fiber One bar, Pink Lady apple.

Latte and a tangelo.

We got to sample some of the new desserts that are going to be sent up to patients on their birthdays.

And our cafeteria’s brownies are always to die for.

I don’t even really like brownies but these are terrifically fudgy.

Loaded veggie pizza.

Cafeteria-assembled Mediterranean salad. Romaine and ranch topped with marinated cucumbers, taboule, chickpeas, and cheese; plus a falafel, pita chips, hummus, and a pickle.

Oatmeal with chocolate hazelnut butter and a side of fresh melon.

This was my first time trying steel cut oats and I really enjoyed them.

nighttime eats

Leftover pineapple turkey chili pulled down from the freezer.

Topped with pickled jalapeños and apricot stilton. With buttered toast and a side of baby carrots and hummus.

I was majorly thanking my past self for saving some chili for a future quickie dinner.

Scrambled eggs made for another easy night.

Filled with broccoli, cauliflower, shredded chicken breast, and three cheese blend.

Mediterranean salad at home. My cafeteria version was good but this was the better of the two; the crispy chickpeas took it to the next level.

Baby romaine with TJ’s feta dressing / roasted zucchini / hard-boiled egg / crispy chickpeas / taboule / and feta cheese.

TJ’s chile relleno with cheesy eggs and buttered toast.

This was an arbitrary assortment of foods but it worked.

Adam brought me home a giant salted caramel macaron from our favorite spot in Grand Central Station. He was on an “away” rotation at NYU that ended yesterday so this was the last of the midweek Manhattan treats.

I paired a cocktail grapefruit with a sticky toffee beer that was only so-so.

And chocolates (nonpareils and dipped gummy bears) with a Dino S’mores Imperial Stout.

Never mind the fact that the label is a mouse in a dinosaur costume making a s’more (<– !!!!!), this stout is brewed with graham flour, fluff, vanilla, and cocoa nibs, and it tastes like a freaking toasted marshmallow. ♥♥♥♥

P.S. Have you seen the Tatum on Tatum episode of Lip Sync Battle? I laughed so hard I’m pretty sure I scared the neighbors!

4Jan2016

1, 2, 3 / 366

by Emily

We are four days into 2016 and I’ve yet to have a weekend day – my Christmas four-day weekend and an upcoming vacation (yay!) meant that it was my turn to work both the holiday and Saturday and Sunday. <–worth it! The weekend coverage shifts – and subsequent week days off – are one of the main “perks” of my new inpatient position. And clinically the last few days have been fascinating, lots of malnutrition, bowel obstructions, and parenteral feeds.

The only downside to the extra busy days (and terrible weekend-menu cafeteria food) is that there’s no #newyearnewyou around here, instead it’s been lots of junk food and zero gym time. You win some, you lose some.

daytime eats

I opened the year with an extra shot of espresso in my iced latte, a good way to start anything.

Plus an apple with cheese. My apple selection this weekend was Piñata and Pink Ladies, all of which were exceptionally juicy and crisp.

Saturday breakfast was all about the cartons – a winter cheer cold brew and an Icebox Water. The water was a freebie product review. It’s really hard to characterize the taste of water (unless you dislike it for some reason, Dasani tastes like carrots to me and I think it’s terrible) but I will say that I found this one enjoyable/refreshing and definitely inoffensive.

Obviously the ideal would be that people would refill reusable water containers but Icebox Water does offer a more environmentally sustainable option to bottled waters. Each BPA-free carton is 100% recyclable (and made of 76% less plastic than traditional bottles).

Sunday was my busiest day and thankfully my biggest coffee. Plus strawberry champagne(!!) seltzer.

The cafeteria is only partially open on the weekends and the offerings are grim. I relied mostly on packaged foods from home for lunches.

Plus gross cafeteria pizza that went unphotographed.

nighttime eats

You have to eat black eyed peas on the 1st.

I made my favorite BEP recipe – beans / chopped green pepper / smoked almonds / chopped Dubliner cheese / green Tabasco / plus the new addition of shredded chicken breast.

With a big pile of green beans roasted with shallots on the side.

Saturday we gussied up some long-ago leftover leftovers. I made my artichoke and mushroom pasta ~~unhealthy~~ great again by pan-cooking it in lots of evoo and adding an obscene amount of Sriracha and mozzarella cheese.

This was better than the original dish.

Sunday, Adam met me after work for date night. Fonda did not disappoint. I spotted the Rosalita margarita on Instagram and knew that it would be fantastic.

I was right! It’s a hibiscus margarita with a hibiscus salt rim, swoon.

We split a salad that was scrumptious – avocados, roasted carrots, toasted pecans, soft goat cheese and romaine hearts drizzled with a lime mustard vinaigrette. I swear, there was more avocado than lettuce!

As well as fried sweet plantains with sour cream and queso fresco.

Adam got chicken enchiladas and I got a vegetarian chile rellano.

Roasted poblano pepper filled with carrots, zucchini, corn kernels, pickled jalapeños and Chihuahua cheese. Served with a roasted tomato guajillo sauce, pickled onions and Mexican crema. Stuffed chiles are my favorite Mexican dish and this was the best version I’ve ever had.

With Kahlua tres leches for dessert.

We both want to go back immediately. I’ve got my eye on the brunch menu.

Snacks for the week included fancy popcorn from my stocking.

And cookies. David Lebovitz’s chocolate chip cookies really do deserve all the veneration they’ve gotten in the food press. I made a batch for a NYE party and both the party-goers and my co-workers lost their minds over them.

Recipe notes, because you know I always have to change something: I used salted butter, skipped the nuts and doubled the chocolate instead – a mix of semisweet and milk chocolate chips, and refrigerated the cookies as preformed balls instead of slice and bake logs. I don’t think my changes hurt anything, in fact I’m pretty sure the nut for chocolate swap was an improvement!

I also made a less lauded but still terrific peanut butter (chocolate chip) mug cookie.

My year is off to a sweet start!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: squash

Five For Ten

First Week Of April’s Top Ten

I’m Alive!

daytime eats

nighttime eats

Sprinkles And Sandwiches

Daytime Eats

Nighttime Eats

Raisins, Ramen, Ready For The Weekend

A Week Of Super Bowls

It’s All Greek To Me!

daytime eats

nighttime eats

1, 2, 3 / 366

daytime eats

nighttime eats