Home Again, Home Again

by Emily

I am feeling much better now, though the week did feel very long to me. Here’s to hoping the weekend feels long too! I have not been to the grocery store since a week before I left for St. Thomas, but somehow we made it through.

breakfast

Adam sweetly helped ease me back in to normal, non-vacation life by driving me in to work on Tuesday. We made a doughnut date of it!

Pecan praline beignet for me. Doughnut Plant is great so it’s super fun that there’s a location right near my hospital now.

An apple and a hot chocolate.

Less exciting than doughnuts, but still good.

Iced coffee with chocolate milk and a bar.

I loved the Oatmega bar in theory, but unfortunately it was insanely fishy. I just couldn’t do it. I ended up going down to the salad bar for a snack in the late morning.

Cheddar cheese and sunflower seeds packed a protein punch (8 grams of protein if you assume 2 Tbsp of each) to make up for the bar I threw away.

lunch

Salad bar and french fries.

Baby spinach topped with cucumber, olives, broccoli, a marinated veggie mix, and balsamic dressing. The blob in the left corner is fried plantains.

Salad bar and blurry Chipotle leftovers.

Baby spinach with ranch and a bit of extra cheese, topped with my dinner leftovers.

Oatmeal day. Quaker cherry pistachio oatmeal topped with coconut butter with a cinnamon applesauce on the side.

This was the day I had my salad breakfast snack so I did manage to hit up the salad bar three days in a row, a feat that feels extra impressive when you remember that my stomach was still a bit iffy.

dinner

Chipotle night. We legit eat Chipotle at least once a week, it’s a problem.

Brown rice with sautéed veggies, pinto beans, chicken, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, and all of the salsas. The three salsa combo was key to helping me enjoy the brown rice (I really prefer white rice but brown is a whole grain so it has more protein and fiber).

We did a pre-dinner dessert date at Ample Hills.

I didn’t love the red velvet, but their caramel and honey flavors are all deep burnt sugar good.

Adam was on call on Wednesday and I definitely made myself a big bowl of chia pudding for dinner. Thank goodness for those lunch salads, eh?

Gina’s recipe base – 3 Tbsp of chia seeds in 1 cup of Hint of Honey almond milk with a splash of vanilla and honey whisked in. I topped my bowl with Girl & The Fig salted fig caramel and it was flipping amazing.

Last night’s dinner came straight from the freezer. Salmon patties from Whole Foods plus asparagus and a mushroom medley from Trader Joe’s.

The patties were unpleasantly dry so I made a dipping sauce of mayo, garlic aioli, pickle relish, and smoked paprika.

I drank a Genny Cream Ale while I cooked.

And ate a zoo of gummies for dessert while we watched the “Parks and Rec” finale.

Omg. The P&R finale basically killed me – I loooved it. Every single detail was perfect, down the very last second of the ending being a sweet moment from Ben. LOVE.

Do you watch “Parks and Recreation?” What’d you think of the finale?

17Feb2015

Valentine’s Weekend

by Emily

Did everyone have a good Valentine’s Day? I hope you got a kiss from your sweetheart, or even better – ate some chocolate kisses and conversation hearts!

Adam and I had a fabulous weekend. Thank goodness for Presidents’ Day off, even though he worked a 30-hour shift on Sunday – and I spent the day sans pants, in bed, eating Thai take-out – we still had two days to have fun in the city. The best part of the weekend was probably Monday night though, we cuddled on the couch eating Chipotle and watching the SNL 40th anniversary show. I’m typing this post up while we watch but so far I am in absolute nostalgia heaven! Here are some of the weekend highlights…

We were not grumpy about getting coffee.

Adam is obsessed with their flat whites.

We made pink Valentine’s Day smoothies.

Frozen raspberries, plain Greek yogurt, fresh dates, and Hint of Honey Almond Breeze. Perfect blend (get it?? blend) of sweet and sour.

We checked out the Cupcake ATM from Sprinkles.

So cool, Adam loooved it. We tried the Cuban Coffee, “Belgian light chocolate cake topped with powerful dark roast coffee frosting and subtle notes of cinnamon and cocoa.”

I didn’t care for the cake but the frosting was wonderful.

We went out for a very romantic Valentine’s dinner of beer and Thai food. First Left Hand Milk Stout on draft.

Then we checked out the highly recommended Pure Thai Cookhouse. My Pad See Ew was tasty,

but for “Thai spicy” it could have packed a lot more heat. I did not even need this Thai iced tea.

We did try to get ice cream afterwards though.

Try being the operative word. I had such high expectations for Ben & Jerry’s new Speculoos (aka Biscoff!) flavor but it ended up being inedible; terribly ginger-spicy. Instead we made amazing sundaes at home.

Talenti cookie dough gelato, Girl & the Fig salted fig caramel, and chocolate-covered cocoa nibs.

We went to Serendipity.

I’ve never strayed, I always order the Summer Bries sandwich which comes with turkey, apple, sprouts, brie, and Russian dressing on raisin pumpernickel.

We tried something new for dessert, the Insanity Sundae.

Pecan pie, butter pecan ice cream, wet walnuts, whipped cream, and hot fudge. It was insane, we could barely make a dent in it.

Speaking of sweets and love – check back in this afternoon, I’ve got a giveaway coming!

14Feb2015

Weekly Wrap-Up? Yes Please!

by Emily

happenings

As promised, here is a picture of my gaudy new cell phone –

I’m liking it more now that I’ve gotten used to the new system.

This week I gave an hour-long nutrition presentation at a women’s shelter near the hospital. We talked primarily about added sugars, reading nutrition labels, and the plate method.

I opened with an activity where we compared the sugar content of different beverages.

I started reading Amy Poehler’s memoir, Yes Please. I am halfway through and completely smitten.

It is just as hilarious and inspiring as you’d expect it to be. And her relationship with Seth Meyers – he guest writes a chapter – makes me love both of them more if that’s even possible.

breakfast

Coffee and a chocolate coconut water.

Latte and an Opal apple.

Stumptown cold-brew box with turkey jerky and dates.

Coffee (duh!) and yummy hot chocolate with marshmallows that the hospital administration had for employee appreciation day.

They also had a bunch of cookies out, but it was 9 o’clock in the morning and one of the midwives brought in bagels for the clinic so I went with one of those instead.

I definitely made the right choice, my pumpernickel bagel was splendidly chewy. Also – I poured my marshmallow cocoa into my coffee after it had cooled down and it was ridiculous.

lunch

From home – yogurt bowl.

Blueberries, Heritage Flakes, and a Dannon butterscotch Greek yogurt.

From the cafeteria – a turkey sandwich and baked fries.

My sandwich had turkey, provolone, mayo, mustard, lettuce and red peppers and my fries had a side of blue cheese.

From home – another yogurt bowl.

An Opal apple and plain Fage with amazing 18 Rabbits Caramel Apple Granola.

From the cafeteria – a giant chicken quesadilla.

With cheese, chopped bell peppers, and sour cream and guacamole on the side. I planned on only eating half because it was quite big, but it was so good I ended up demolishing the whole thing.

Dinner leftovers (see the scrambled egg night) on top of spinach with ranch, chopped carrot, and cucumber from the cafeteria.

The salad bar packed lunch mash-up was perfect, I’ll have to remember to repeat it the next time I’m getting tired of my yogurt bowls.

snack

Adorable gummies from last weekend.

Baby carrots and dip.

I made an oatmeal chocolate chip mug cookie. It was quite enjoyable but basically raw so not a recipe for sharing.

Jarlsberg mini cheese.

Chocolate milk.

Coffee with almond milk.

Sundaes that Adam and I made with this dream team:

Girl & The Fig’s salted fig caramel is perfect.

dinner

Bibimbap bowls. I couldn’t get a great picture, but these were sooo good. Runny egg yolk goes wonderfully with spice.

Jasmine rice with rice vinegar // baked tofu cubes // broccoli and baby kale sautéed with canola oil, a bit of sugar, and tons of Sriracha // chopped sesame seaweed // and a sunny side up egg.

We used the leftovers the next day for another Asian-ish dinner.

Leftover rice and veggies stir-fried with sautéed onion, eggs, fish sauce, soy sauce, and rice vinegar.

Plus “beef and broccoli” aka chicken with broccoli and cauliflower.

I way overcooked the chicken and this was not very good.

I guess the next day was pretty similar as well. I sautéed chopped seitan, corn, and spinach in evoo and Sriracha and then scrambled in eggs and part-skim mozzarella.

It tasted so much better than it looked.

Chipotle in front of the tv on Friday. We were supposed to go into Brooklyn but it was terrifically cold outside and changing into pajamas just sounded too good.

Chicken rice bowl with sautéed veggies, three types of salsa, cheese, sour cream, and lettuce. Plus chips. There’s a giant diet coke just to the right of that photo ❤

Have you read any actor memoirs that you loved? I was a HUGE fan of Mindy Kaling’s too and I’m excited for Tina Fey’s next.

10Feb2015

Sweeter Than Sugar Valentine’s Tour With Sugartooth

by Emily

Last Saturday, Adam and I were invited on a sweet dessert tasting tour of in the city.

Sugartooth Tours, formed by best friends who bonded over a love of theatre and ice cream, offers several NYC-based dessert tours. Right now all of the tours take place in Manhattan, but Allyson gave me the inside scoop that they are testing out a Brooklyn tour to be debuted this summer. Some of the tours include a Village Cupcake Crawl, an Ice Cream Summer Sundays Frozen Treats Tour, several mixed treats tours around Hell’s Kitchen, Broadway, and Chelsea/the West Village, and the option of personalized itineraries for small group celebrations.

The tours range in size from 3 – 16 people and are guided by one of the knowledgeable and friendly co-founders. You walk from nosh to nosh – usually 6 stops in total and no more than 2 miles – learning about the history of the neighborhood on your way. It takes about 2 and half hours from start to finish. Tickets are $50 per person and include all tastings. You also have a bit of time at the stops to purchase additional items to take home if you are so inclined, but there is definitely no pressure to buy anything.

The Chelsea/West Village option, the Sweeter Than Sugar Dessert Tour, is available year-round at 4pm on Sundays. For a limited time, they have updated it with a Valentine’s theme for the upcoming Festival of Love and Candy. The updated tour includes Valentine’s history trivia – most of it more gory than gushy – and is taken in pairs so you can experience the fun with your sweetheart (or your mom, no judgment!). This is the tour we were invited to take.

Special hours for the Sweeter Than Sugar Valentine’s Tour are February 13th, 14th, & 15th at 5:30 PM and February 14th & 15th at 2PM. If you’re interested, you can sign up on the website here.

General thoughts on the tour:

Adam and I both had a wonderful time (the 2.5 hours flew by) and agree that we would like to check out Sugartooth Tours again on our own this summer.
The tours run rain or shine, so be sure to dress accordingly. We got lucky with a “warm” 40 degree night, but you kept moving when you were outside so there wasn’t much time to get cold.
Bring water! Sugar makes me quite thirsty.
We ended up taking home lots of leftovers, so save yourself some extra room in your bag.

The stops:

{1} We started at City Cakes, who are known for their gorgeous cake decorating but have also branched out into giant 1/2 pound cookies that are baked 3 times and reshaped in between trips to the oven.

Some of the flavors included chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, ginger spice, triple chocolate with clove, and peanut butter with Reeses Pieces. Adam I got red velvet stuffed with cream cheese frosting.

Crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside, this was delicious. Note – you got the entire cookie, they just cut it in halves so you can eat while you walk.

{2} Next we headed into Chelsea Market to Amy’s Bread for hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows.

Their hot chocolate is pure ganache mixed with steamed milk. It wasn’t as gloriously thick as the stuff from Max Brenner, but it was flavorful and not too sweet. The marshmallows were the best we’ve ever had. Adam usually turns up his nose at marshmallows on cocoa but even he loved it.

Note – we were encouraged to fill up the (full-sized) cup, and even refill for the road, but I was trying to pace myself.

{3} Then we trekked on the High Line – gorgeous at night – to Sugar Factory, a Vegas import famous for their rhinestone-bedazzled lollipop sticks, of course.

They also had giant walls of candy and we were given small take-out boxes and told to go crazy.

They had a good variety, including cola bottles, chocolate-covered gummy bears, and several themed options for Valentine’s.

{4} Heading into West Village, we stopped at Chocolate Bar where we were taught the proper way to taste a truffle. CB was a cute spot, boasting many nicely wrapped, fun flavors.

Adam was enticed into buying (and eating) a full-sized candy bar!

They had a good variety of truffles, and I choose grapefruit and cajeta.

Cajeta = condensed milk caramel = Mexican dulce de leche = swoon.

{5} Allyson noted that you pretty much have to include macarons, and they felt that Sugar & Plumm has the best in Manhattan.

They have some inventive flavors – strawberry poppyseed, violet blackcurrant, chocolate-covered banana! – and are made in New Jersey so they don’t suffer from a long shipping time from France.

I very much enjoyed the salted caramel and Adam, who “hates” macarons, went back for seconds of the pistachio!

{6} Finally, we ended at Sweet Revenge for chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes. They are known for their cupcake and wine or beer pairings so we had the option of paying extra for the recommended Malbec or Hefeweizen, but everyone on our tour opted to take their cupcake to go.

So, six; apparently six desserts is overkill 😉

Please note – Sugartooth Tours brought Adam and I on the tour free of charge so we could see what it was all about. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

27Jan2015

Fudgy Triple Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies {aka The Best Brownies Ever}

by Emily

I’ve always thought that I kind of hated brownies, but recently I realized that what I hate is cakey brownies. Not much of a surprise, considering that I hate chocolate cake. Fudgy, chewy, hefty brownies? It turns out that I love those. And it doesn’t hurt if you add a layer of marshmallow.

Inspired by the Baker’s Chocolate recipe, these guys only require you to dirty one bowl. Between the baking chocolate, cocoa powder, and milk chocolate chips, these brownies are intensely chocolatey. Even better, they are quite fudgy. If you like cakey brownies, then this is definitely not the recipe for you.

Fudgy Triple Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies, yields 16 servings

6 Tbsp salted butter
2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg and egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1.25 cups milk chocolate chips
1.5 cups marshmallow fluff

Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray foil with baking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place butter and baking chocolate in a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring regularly until the butter and chocolate are completely melted.
Stir sugars into melted chocolate. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Fold chocolate chips into batter.
Divide batter in two and spread the first half evenly into the prepared baking pan. Use a spatula to top evenly with a layer of fluff, followed by an even layer of the remaining batter.
Bake for 30 – 33 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. The marshmallow layer will bubble up into the top layer of batter in several spots, that’s ok – it gives the brownies a rustic look.
Remove foil from pan and allow brownies to cool complete before slicing into 16 squares. Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge.

I still hate boxed brownies though. Always and forever.

26Jan2015

Weekend Wrap-Up; Marshmallow Madness

by Emily

I am not 100% yet, but I am feeling much better. 90%? Poor Adam, though, has gotten my cold x2, complete with an ear infection. It’s put a real damper on how much sympathy I’m able to get! At least we were both in the mood for a quiet, lazy weekend.

breakfast and lunch

Friday at work I had a Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar with WF’s Citrus Blend Italian Sparkling Mineral Water.

Don’t get me wrong, nothing tops Diet Coke, but I am really loving those sparkling waters. The strawberry flavor is the best.

Then for lunch, Grape Chobani with KIND Raspberry Chia Seed Clusters, an apple, and a Vita Coco Café.

Again, not as amazing as iced coffee, but the espresso coconut water mash-up is damn good.

And I did have iced coffee this weekend. With skim milk and vanilla creamer.

Plus peanut/butter toast and a mini cheese for brunch.

That is the only weekend breakfast or lunch picture I have because mostly we snacked on random things.

Also I made and ate a lot of brownies (see below…).

dinner

Friday night we turned to the freezer for dinner.

TJ’s vegan orange chicken was alright paired with broccoli.

But it was basically the least filling thing on the planet. We both ended up making sandwiches too.

Fancy pb&j for me.

Saturday night was just straight fancy.

I made baked shrimp! Shrimp, chopped bell pepper, evoo, fresh cilantro, salt, smoked paprika, cayenne, lime juice, and a sprinkle of chopped butter, baked at 425* for 12 minutes. Served on top of jasmine rice cooked in chicken stock.

This was tasty, healthy, and oh-so quick to prepare. Triple win.

Sunday I started dinner in the car home after the world’s longest trip to Trader Joe’s. Apparently people are freaking out about our potential blizzard. By the by, please, please, please cross your fingers that it doesn’t blizzard!

After my pretzel roll I made a spinach salad.

With balsamic vinaigrette, pomegranate, goat’s milk cheddar, and sweet and salty pecans.

snacks, aka marshmallow madness

My mother-in-law sent us a cute Valentine’s card and some strawberry Peeps.

They were yummy, but the marshmallow extravaganza was just beginning… we also had a big container of fluff!

So I made the very best brownies I’ve ever tasted.

Triple chocolate fudge with a layer of marshmallow fluff in the middle.

Recipe is coming tomorrow and it is absolutely fantastic, I promise.

In the meantime, I did something else with the fluff.

Oh yes, I did. Malted Marshmallow Coffee Creamer. If you put skim milk, marshmallow fluff (1:2 ratio with the milk), and malted milk powder (1:4 ratio with the milk) in the blender you can put it in your coffee and pretty much die of happiness.

We used 2 cups skim milk, 1 cup fluff, and 1/4 cup malted milk powder, but as long as you follow the ratio above you can make a smaller or larger batch, no problem. I highly recommend it!

23Jan2015

Weekly Wrap-Up; On The Mend

by Emily

I am still a teensy bit sick, but thankfully I am feeling much, much better than last weekend. Hopefully by the end of this weekend I’ll be back to 100%!

breakfast

My first day back, when I came in feeling just terrible, my coworker surprised me with a bagel with lox and cream cheese.

So sweet of her, and very serendipitous since I hadn’t managed to get coffee, let alone breakfast.

Adam drove me into work on Wednesday since he had errands to do in Brooklyn, so we went in early and made a date of it.

Doughnut Plant!

I got a coconut cream filled and a Valrhona hot chocolate. Plus we stopped for an iced coffee along the walk.

This was so much fun, I cannot even tell you; morning date for the win.

Yesterday I randomly woke up feeling sooo hungry so I pieced together a big breakfast in the cafeteria.

Coffee with chocolate milk,

and scrambled eggs, veggie sausage, and a croissant.

lunch

Veggie pizza from the cafeteria.

This was good, but it had corn on it which I found to be an incredibly strange topping choice. Not that I don’t love corn, but on a pizza??!

Wednesday I brought an apple and a Jarlsberg Cheese Mini (more on that in a minute…) from home.

Plus a salad from the cafeteria that I apparently don’t have a picture of.

Yesterday was another apple, plus an Apricot Ancient Grains Chobani with TJ’s Pumpkin O’s and KIND Banana Nut Clusters.

I liked the Chobani much more than the one with oats I tried previously. The pieces of apricot were quite nice.

snack

I don’t usually drink coffee after 4 pm but I ended up getting iced decafs twice this week because I was so obsessed with the idea of coffee flavor in the evening.

With skim milk and a splash of cream.

Another night we had smoothies for our creamy drink fix.

Chocolate peppermint soymilk with frozen strawberries and plain Greek yogurt.

Back to that cheese…

Jarlsberg recently started making minis and they sent me some to try.

For full disclosure I will tell you that Adam didn’t like the flavor (“too mild”) but I did, and I thought the texture was great (firm bite – you could squeeze it between your fingers and the wheel held its shape – but very creamy). 70 calories per mini wheel, for a nicely portable snack.

Caramel apple plate,

Caramel pecan popcorn and apple slices sprinkled with caramel cinnamon sugar.

I brought that adorable shaker back from San Francisco’s Japantown.

Related note – this salted caramel hand sanitizer smells beyond amazing.

Another souvenir from our SF trip, Ruby Grand dried nectarines from Frog Hollow.

Served on with vanilla shortbreads for a very fancy, only slightly Georgia O’Keefe-y snack plate.

dinner

An easy dinner for the first night I cooked after take-out for every meal all weekend.

Salad with honey mustard dressing, parmesan, dried blueberries, and sweet and salty pecans.

Eggs with sautéed onion and TJ’s canned mackerel scrambled in. Plus turkey bacon.

I cooked the bacon first so everything in my eggs was infused with that flavor.

Date night at Pequeña in Brooklyn.

We started with an order of the fried sweet plantains.

Pretty good, but I think I would have to go back home to really get my plantain craving satisfied.

I ordered veggie quesadillas for my entrée – Pan Fried Tortillas Stuffed with Oaxacan String Cheese And Zucchini, Peppers, Mushroom, Onion, and Squash. Topped with Salsa Roja, Queso Fresco and Cilantro.

I always cook my quesadillas in a pan, but apparently “pan fried” here meant legit deep fried quesadillas. They were tasty but also a bit ridiculous; I ate one plus the filling out of the other.

I’m writing this post before dinner on Thursday, but it’s gotten pretty late and I’m leaning towards a big salad and an old-school pb&j. 🙂

20Jan2015

Goods And Bads; Weekend Wrap-Up

by Emily

I wasted an entire long weekend being sick in bed with a cold. Uggh! All the signs were there – cough, sniffles, headaches, plus we ate nothing but take-out, I watched about a billion episodes of Friends, I used two boxes of tissues and a toilet paper roll blowing my nose, and I haven’t worn pants since Friday.

Thankfully I had two healthy days at work Thursday and Friday, so I do have a few good things to share…

Iced coffee with chocolate milk is always good.

But I also learned that Starbucks’ salted caramel pretzel bars are really good.

And the ‘Bucks didn’t let me down with these almonds either.

On the healthier side, heirloom red spinach is also good.

This coconut milk totally helped me feel better – for a minute or two – on Sunday.

And TJ’s Crispy, Crunchy Broccoli is fantastic.

Plus, Chobani’s new grape yogurt tastes like Greek yogurt with a purple pixie stick mixed in!

Now I’m crossing my fingers that I can make it through today with only one box of Kleenex. Think dry thoughts for me!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: sweet

Home Again, Home Again

breakfast

lunch

dinner

Valentine’s Weekend

Weekly Wrap-Up? Yes Please!

happenings

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Sweeter Than Sugar Valentine’s Tour With Sugartooth

Please note – Sugartooth Tours brought Adam and I on the tour free of charge so we could see what it was all about. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Fudgy Triple Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies {aka The Best Brownies Ever}

Weekend Wrap-Up; Marshmallow Madness

breakfast and lunch

dinner

snacks, aka marshmallow madness

Weekly Wrap-Up; On The Mend

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Goods And Bads; Weekend Wrap-Up