Tag Archives: sweet

Miles To Go Before I Sleep

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Technically the miles were already traveled but sleep somehow feels very far and very urgent!  I had some great bites today but I’m going to keep my descriptions quick in favor of bed.

Breakfast – cereal mix with vanilla almond milk.

Coffee – Highlander Grog from Winans (<– my favorite coffee ever) with a shot of toasted marshmallow syrup and skim milk.

The cup was giant but my mom and I shared.

It was sad to say goodbye to my grandparents but the weather got quite cold and the safety of the car felt nice.  It was a gorgeous day though.

Lunch – A mini pretzel bagel with blue cheese pecan spread.

Plus an apple that escaped the camera.

Favorite thing ever – froyo!

I got a small cup of plain tart topped with mini marshmallows, lots of fruit, sprinkles and an insane amount of marshmallow cream.

It was a marshmallow day, I almost ordered a s’mores milkshake with dinner.

Several hours later when we pulled into Buffalo I also ate this cookie dough bite from Winans.

It is restaurant week here and we went to SoHo Burger Bar for dinner.

The lighting was bad but the deal was good.

I ended up with a turkey burger with jalapeño compote and a side of chips and a pickle.

I ate 100% of my pickle, 75% of my burger, 50% of my bun, 25% of my chips, and 5% of the compote.  Plus several truffle oil tater tots.

The included dessert was a sundae that I let the husband have to himself.

Even with the lame last course I still highly recommend stopping in a SBB during restaurant week.

Locals – where should we go for our next restaurant week stop?

Buttered Rum Raisin Cookies

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After my string of bad luck I was beginning to worry that I’d lost my baking mojo for good. 

I’ve found it.

Inspired by buttered rum and rum raisin ice cream, but tasting a heck of a lot like gooey butterscotch, these cookies have pulled me out of my slump.

Buttered Rum Raisin Cookies, yields 4.5 dozen

  • 1/3 cup dark rum
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 large egg and 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  1. Bring rum to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat, taking care not to bring to a boil.  Add raisins and remove pan from heat.  Cover and let sit for at least an hour.  You can allow the raisins to soak overnight if you wish.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.  Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper and baking spray.
  3. In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown 11 Tbsp of butter.  Melt the butter, swirling the pan to keep it from burning.  Browning should take 2 – 3 minutes; when the butter is a deep brown and starting to smell delicious it’s done.
  4. Transfer the browned butter to a large, heat-safe bowl.  Add remaining 5 Tbsp of butter and stir until melted.
  5. Whisk granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla into butter.  Whisk in eggs.
  6. Gently stir flour and baking soda into the butter-sugar mixture.  Fold chocolate chips and rum raisins into dough.
  7. Roll dough into heaping tsp sized balls and place in evenly spaced rows on prepared cookie sheets.  The amount of batches you work in will depend on the size of your oven.  Bake 10 minutes.
  8. Carefully remove baked cookies from sheets and allow to cool before serving.

Do you like rum raisin ice cream?

Road To The Outback

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Hello from Ohio!  I left my boys back in Buffalo and I’m missing them like crazy but I’m having a great time here with my grandparents and mom.

The drive takes 7 hours so our morning started early with Starbucks.

A venti skinny cinnamon dolce iced latte.

I packed my mom and myself sandwiches for the road.

Mine was a cinnamon raisin Bagel Thin with Laughing Cow light french onion cheese and Applegate Farms turkey bologna.

Tasty and easy to eat one-handed.

When we got to Ohio I had a Dove chocolate,

and a Buttered Rum Raisin Cookie.

The afternoon was spent visiting with my grandpa and driving around (I can’t believe they got me back in the car!).

My grandma chose Outback Steakhouse for dinner and I ended up having a great meal.  I got a blue cheese pecan chopped salad to start.

And the tilapia with lump crab meat.

“Tilapia crowned with crab stuffing, pure lump crab meat and sliced mushrooms, finished with a drizzle of light lemon butter Chablis sauce.”

It was served with mixed veggies.

The seafood was all amazing.  Butter sauce requested on the side.

I left about half of the tilapia but devoured the crab.  Yum!

Our evening ended with a trip to the store (my parents stock up on products like batteries and razors when they are in the states) where I snagged this bag of jelly bellys.

I guess I have a kids’ palate because the flavors were right up my alley.  The watermelon was my favorite.

What is your favorite jelly bean flavor?

Blog Tips and Bagels

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We stayed up pretty late last night but thankfully having to move our cars got us up and out of the house for an early walk.

I’m still loving this weather.  Walking weather it is.  Sidenote – a major character died on Stargate: Atlantis last night (the show is off the air, we are watching on Netflix Instant Watch) and I gasped so loudly I’m pretty sure the neighbors heard!

After a post-walk shower (it is sweating weather too!) I hit the caffeine hard.

2 cups of cold coffee with English toffee syrup and Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.  I had a date with a friend so I drank my coffee en route and I helped myself to one of her homemade “energy balls” when I got there.

The balls were a Pinterested recipe with oats, pb, and coconut and they were quite tasty.

Kim invited me over to pick my brains about all things blog.  It’s weird to give advice when Eating Chalk is so tiny and unknown but there are little tips that I think I’ve got figured out.  I taught her about tagging, pages versus posts, and emailing responses to comments, among other things.  I hope I was helpful!

I needed to pick up a few groceries before my mom gets here on Friday and Kim lives one town over from me so I took the opportunity to hit up a different Wegman’s.  There was a Manhattan Bagel along the way and I stopped there too.

I’ve been craving a bagel (a good bagel!) like crazy lately and I’m glad I gave MB a chance.  My jalapeño-cheddar bagel with light garden cream cheese hit the spot.

It was super chewy and spicy.

I cooled down my mouth with a Blackberry Hibiscus Mama Chia once I reached the mecca.

The drink had more texture than flavor, but was very tasty.  My out-and-about food purchase quota for the week has been reached but it was worth it.  Besides, March Back Home March is basically ending once my mom gets here; I’m not turning down “free” food!  🙂

I hit the jackpot with the “new” Wegmans too.  I found all sorts of fun new products to try.  Like these Bissli BBQ and Smokey snacks.

They were super crunchy.  Adam and I split them but I scarfed more than my fair share.

I also ate most of these adorable things.

They were little biscuit cookies with white and milk chocolate.  So tasty!

I spent twenty minutes this afternoon agonizing over whether or not to run (sorry, husband!) but I’m having some foot problems so I decided not to.  After more than a week off (whoops!) what’s another few days when I’m having pain?  I’m not even going to attempt a workout until Sunday, but thankfully we’ll be in Ohio for the weekend and I should be able to run on the neat path near my grandparents’ house.

Not running didn’t mean I was any less hungry though.  I ate a Wegman’s low-fat coffee yogurt with honey roasted peanuts before dinner.

The peanuts were out because I was making the husband some homemade vanilla honey peanut butter.

I took a few licks too, yum!

Dinner was quick and easy.

We need some (turkey) bacon for a recipe tomorrow so I cooked up a batch tonight,

and we scrambled eggs in the same pan when the bacon was done.

Plus roasted asparagus.

It was a very savory meal.

Let’s end with a puppy picture, shall we?

Spring Break Has Begun!

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Actually it began yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to blog until today.  I don’t have any big spring break-y plans, but it’s always enjoyable to get some time off.  My mom is coming to visit next week for her spring break though and we are driving over to Ohio to visit my grandparents.

Yesterday morning I walked to school in just pants and a long sleeve T-shirt (spring came just in time for its break!) and ate breakfast during class.  A GoGo Squeez Apple Strawberry pouch,

and a Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo Bar.

Both were good and the combo of salty and sweet was great.

For lunch I had a Simply Asia Spicy Mongolian Noodle Bowl.

I guess it was the morning of packaged foods?

Other than the sodium content (which is something I don’t really worry about within my diet) the nutritionals on these bowls are pretty good and they allow you to get food in a hurry when you’re hungry.  1g of saturated fat and 13g of protein in under 3 minutes?  I’ll take it!

The afternoon included an unsuccessful baking attempt.

My goal was Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey’s Buttercream for a St. Paddy’s Day treat.  But I hate chocolate cake and I really hate Bailey’s Irish Cream so it actually wasn’t too big of a loss.

Since we won’t be telefundraising over break I volunteered to work the final shift last night.  I drank a ProBugs Strawnana Split Kefir on the walk back to campus.

Work went well and at 8:30 it was officially the start of spring break!

Adam and I cashed in a meal out (and a Living Social deal) for dinner at Lagerhaus 95.

There, I drank water at a German beer house like a total loser.

We had an amazing meal and are planning on going back next week with my mom.  Adam and I split three things to maximize tastes.  We started with the Camembert Fondue – Franziskaner infused camembert wheel / crisp apple slices / crusty sesame bread.

Fondue is Adam’s and my favorite dish to share at new restaurants and this one did not disappoint.  The Camembert was served on top of sautéed sweet onions and the flavor mix was magical.

Next we had the special, a Crab cake Sandwich.  It was served with vinegary cole slaw and crisp green apples on a brioche bun.

I hate crab cakes that are full of breadcrumbs and this guy was super meaty and perfect.  The bun was almost sweet which was an interesting contrast.  It came with a trough side of clam chowder that Adam devoured.

Finally we had the Truffled Wild Mushroom Panini – Haus blend of fresh wild mushrooms / white truffle oil / cippolini onions / fresh arugula / gorgonzola / pressed on foccocia.

Everything was great,but this was the best dish of the night, hands down.  Adam doesn’t have a sense of smell and I was dying the whole meal that he couldn’t experience the scent coming off the truffled mushrooms.  The earthiness with the creamy gorgonzola – which was far creamier than any other gorgonzola I’ve tried – was great.

The panini came with a side salad that was also impressive.

There were several herbs, I couldn’t identify which ones, mixed into the lettuce and it had the most unique flavor.  The honey mustard champagne vinaigrette (unpictured) was nice too.

Overall we had an amazing experience at Lagerhaus 95 and I can’t wait to go back!

Sometimes great flavors seem to make you even hungrier for more and Adam and I stopped on the way home for a box of chocolates.

I ate half of every flavor, or two servings.  A little excessive because they weren’t even that good but I kept thinking each flavor would be better.

This morning I tried a Chobani 2% Passion Fruit Yogurt.

So good, my favorite Chobani yet!  I love passion fruit in general but this one had the perfect balance of sour and sweet.  If you’ve never eaten a passion fruit before the crunchy seeds might seem a little strange but I promise it’s worth a try.

Now I’ve got to shower and then I’m off to get my green on and make a trip to the grocery store.  Are you wearing green today?

David Beckham Says Hi

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Did everyone have a good weekend?  I had a work training on Saturday and a shift on Sunday.  I don’t think I’d mentioned on the blog yet, but I’m back at my tele-fund-raising job for the next month.

When I wasn’t working, we were watching Stargate: Atlantis like mad.  And mourning the loss of an hour!  Even with lost time, I did manage to try a few fun new things –

Shipyard Applehead beer.

I like Shipyard and I love apple ciders so I thought I’d be a fan of this, and I was.  But it’s not a cider, it’s an apple beer.  I thought it tasted like cinnamon roasted apples!  (Note – when I googled after tasting I was thrilled to see that cinnamon was included.  I love tasting a product “right.”)

Wild Ophelia Chocolate Bars.

The Hickory Smoked Almond was the perfect blend of smoky and sweet.  And I loved the little branding details here, like fun printing on the inside of the package.  I obviously didn’t taste the beef jerky flavor but it’s Adam’s new favorite.  Whenever we find meat based candy bars (right up Adam’s alley) they are always with dark chocolate (he hates it) so it was great to find this perfect flavor combo.  They didn’t have the Southern Hibiscus Peach flavor in our store but I would consider ordering it if I could!

Monday morning wasn’t such a win.  I slept right through breakfast!  One of our phone chargers is getting persnickety and last night my phone, and my alarm clock, shut off from lack of power.  I also slept through a $30 parking ticket 😦

Lunch was good though.

Leftovers from the other day.  A random mix of unmeasured amounts of –

  • spaghetti
  • linguine
  • shredded chicken
  • peas
  • spinach
  • broccoli
  • blue cheese
  • cheddar
  • mozzarella
  • evoo
  • skim milk
  • egg

‘Twas good.

Random fun fact – when the dog’s ears are flopped back I think he looks like David Beckham with a headband on.  David Beckham says hi –

After Lunch Mints

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It’s Friday!  My sleep total for the last 2 days is still only at about 8 hours but somehow I managed to make it to the gym this morning.  I didn’t get up quite on time, but I made it. I did have to cut my workout a bit short to make it back to campus on time for class, but I figured it was better than skipping it entirely (<– what would have happened if I had tried to wait and go after class).

8 sets of 3 minutes running / 2 minutes walking.  42 minutes and 3.5 miles with cool down.

I had to skip breakfast too, but it was worth it.  Besides, I was busy doing important things like shrouding myself in pinks and purples instead of drying my hair.

When I did finally get “breakfast” at noon I stuck with the color theme.

Those two chopped plucots are perched on a bowl of Wegman’s Low-fat Honey Yogurt.

The gratuitous dog picture means I approve!  The yogurt’s texture was creamy and good and the flavor was pure honey.

The bowl was delicious.

Lunch was better though.  I bet you know what I had.

2 Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes.

Ah-mazing.  I hope with all of my heart that y’all will try that recipe at home.

I also had a salad.  Romaine topped with peanut sauce, green onions, shredded carrots, and dry roasted peanuts.

The green onions were a fun addition.

Dessert happened too.

This recipe wasn’t on my baking roster, but it was a necessary last-minute addition.  My friend Kim unwrapped a piece of gum in class today and at first I thought the wrapper was an Andes Mint.  That was it.

I made a half recipe of our favorite brownies with Andes mints layered in the middle.  I had three smallish ones.

Amazing as well.

And I wasn’t done in the kitchen yet.  I’m going to be out of the house all day tomorrow so I whipped up lunch in advance.

A random mishmash of unmeasured amounts of – spaghetti, linguine, shredded chicken, skim milk, medium buffalo sauce, reduced fat cream cheese, mozzarella, cheddar, blue cheese, spinach, brocoli, and peas.  I had a few bites and it was very good; I’m looking forward to lunch tomorrow.

I’m also looking forward to bed!  I’m still not really tired, but I can tell that sleep is going to feel good.  The plan for dinner is a frozen meal and a beer and then I hope to turn in early.

Pick your poison – Junior Mints, York Patties, or Andes?

Weekend Woot-dates

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Did everyone have a good weekend?  I didn’t get much work done, but the food and fun categories were filled to the brim!  We are starting another take-out reduction challenge and we definitely made the most of purchased meals this weekend 😉

Saturday morning I got up and went for a run!

The gym wasn’t open yet so I did my CT10k workout out in the wild at Delaware Park.  I forgot my watch at home and ended up having to count to 150 in my head as I switched from walking to running intervals.  I’m not sure how accurate I was but it was a great way to keep my thoughts occupied.  All total I did 4 miles in 53 minutes.  The wind was out of control and it ended up being a resistance workout of sorts; it was actually super fun to keep pushing through.

I drank the 2nd half of my G2 during my run.

And then I had a big iced coffee with English toffee syrup and Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk in the car.

In the car because we were heading to Toronto!

Last month I promised Adam all-you-can-eat sushi as a reward for participating in vegan month.  We failed at vegan month (recap post to come), but I figured he still deserved his reward for trying, especially since our fails were mostly due to my fat/laziness and not his lack of committment.  My parents sent us $ for Valentine’s that perfectly covered the cost of our fun international date, so off we went.

Lunch was delicious, way too many bites to even attempt to recap.  Adam and I did a lot of sharing, but the spread below shows everything I at least tasted.  Adam had many, many, other bites that I didn’t photograph.

Yum!  I’m still a little stuffed just thinking about it.  But we did find room for dessert.

Thank goodness, because this was actually the best cup of froyo I’ve ever had.  I thought I was going to die from a happiness overload.

A small serving of tart plain yogurt topped with fruit, sprinkles, and a huuuuuuge pile of popping boba.

I was grinning wider and wider with every bite.

After our drive home and an extreme shopping session at Wegmans, I did end up with room for a late dinner.

On that plate was a buffalo chicken sub with blue cheese and an order of fries.  Devoured.

Sunday has been spent on the couch.  Adam is starting a new project this week, in addition to the general being a med student craziness, and we took full advantage of today’s free hours for cuddling and sci-fi.

I did venture outside for brunch though.  My old friend Katie was back in town for a visit!

That sort of fun calls for a Bloody Mary, extra spicy.

Finding a Sunday brunch spot without a 45 minute wait took some doing, but we ended up having a great meal at Panos.

I got the kid’s meal 1-1-1.  A sunny side up egg, a pancake, and hash browns.  Then I smothered everything in syrup.

Every bite was delicious and I seriously considered licking my plate clean!

During the afternoon I ate a bowl of Malted Heath Bar Toffee Blondie 2-Ingredient Ice Cream.

x2.  That stuff is ridiculous good.

Adam had an evening meeting so I pushed back our dinner plans and ordered Chinese.  Told you I was taking advantage of my last days with take-out!  Once our food gets here we are watching our last ever episode of Stargate: Universe and eating crab rangoons.  Yippee!

Are you a sci-fi tv fan?  Did you watch any of the Stargates?