Chopped Cheese, Peanut Butter Tofu

Highlights from a yummy week…

Equator remains some of the best bottled cold brew I’ve tried.

Ube and pandan simple syrups. They were good-not-great in iced coffees but nice in Diet Cokes.

The best yogurt bowls = plain skyr with tons of blueberries and chopped marzipan.

Durian ice creams. These were both so flavorful and the Mavens was some of the creamiest ice cream I’ve ever tried.

I went to Duck Island Bread Company for bread and ended up with a great pistachio croissant.

We used the bread to make wonderful sandwiches. Sourdough pullman / ginger miso mayo / shredded, baked super-firm tofu tossed with peanut butter, gochujang, lime juice, brown sugar, and veggie broth / sliced baby cucumbers marinated in white sugar, Sichuan peppercorn, Milu everything spice, and rice vinegar. Plus roasted baby broccoli.

For Five‘s chopped cheese sandwich was surprisingly good. Even these leftovers were delicious.

Congee bowls. Brown rice slow-cooked with chicken stock / mustard greens and scallion sauteed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and pepper / ground turkey sauteed with peanut butter, lime, brown sugar, Sriracha, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, and chicken broth / chili crisp.

Tuna noodle casserole. This came out so well! Brami radiatori protein pasta, canned tuna, and canned trout / mushrooms, leek, and red scallions sautéed with flour, corn starch, veggie broth, gochujang, fish sauce, and sesame oil / baked topped with a mix of crushed honey butter chips and seaweed chips. Plus roasted broccoli.

My Rex Manning day tradition is rewatching Empire Records with pizza and brownies and this was our best year yet! Brownies = Hummingbird High’s small batch brownies. These are even better than my go-to brownie recipe (I did add a bit of espresso powder and topped them with cinnamon maple pretzels).

Pizza = a variety of slices from Tori T’s. This is some of the best pizza I’ve eaten; the crust is perfect.

Marsh Madness

Highlights from the week…

Easter candy, obviously. My favorites were the Trader Joe’s marshmallow eggs, which were, in fact, the best marshmallows I’ve ever eaten.

Adam and I are both head over heels for these dried kiwis from Target.

My parents sent me these *guava* Oreos. I don’t love golden Oreos but the guava flavor was spot on.

A tasty take on eggs in purgatory. Eggs cooked in a mix of sauteed roasted cherry tomatoes, canned diced tomatoes, scallion, garlic, gochugaru, and gochujang. We topped our bowls with pimento cheese. Eaten alongside roasted cauliflower.

Baked tacos. The filling was a food processed mix of sauteed mushrooms, poblano peppers, scallions, black beans, sesame seeds, and taco seasoning. Plus tons of cheese.

I used the leftovers to bulk up turkey meatballs. <– We will be doing this again. Plus roasted zucchini and Trader Joe’s cheddar and jalapeño biscuit bites. We burned the bites but they would have been a hit otherwise.

Our favorite meal of the week was these tofu wraps. Tortilla / Kewpie / baked super-firm tofu marinated in gochujang, pickle juice, soy sauce, sugar, garlic powder, and onion powder / thinly sliced cucumbers tossed with sugar, salt, Milu everything spice, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. Plus baked brussels sprouts sauteed with soy sauce, brown sugar, and chili crisp.

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This week we were both getting over a cold and went to a mid-week work-night concert – Rainbow Kitten Surprise at Brooklyn Paramount, it was great! – so we did a lot of boring foods and take-out. Here were some of the fun highlights…

Good snacks. Passionfruit Peelerz.

Trader Joe’s black sesame mochi are perfectly done.

Lucky Ox’s mango toasted rice sparkler is objectively good and not too sweet but ultimately not for me.

Our version of the viral pickle dip is a scoopable dinner bowl situation. A mix of chopped baked chicken, dill pickles, spicy pickles, scallion, extra-sharp cheddar, mayo, plain skyr, sweet and spicy jalapeño pickle juice, and ranch seasoning. Scooped with bell pepper, baby carrots, and Nufs hot honey crackers.

I made a batch of gussied up red sauce – Trader Joe’s pizza sauce cooked down with evoo, tomato paste, gochugaru, dried basil, and tons of roasted garlic. Served once as a dip with sauteed ground turkey and crispy baked bow-tie pasta. Plus sauteed fennel, leek, red chard, and garlic (a 10/10 combo).

And once in meatball subs. With provolone cheese and baked turkey cheese meatballs (with panade, egg, hoisin sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and sharp cheddar in the middle). Plus sauteed asparagus with lemon, basil, and pepper.

Pizza pie for Pi Day. I also had a slice of pie from Milk Bar on the train!

Brunch at Naks. Our favorite dish was the vinegar fries.

I had the kare kare omelette with braised beef cheeks, peanut stew, eggplant, bok choy, and garlic toast. Plus bites of Adam’s Filipino platter and we shared a (spicy!) mushroom noodle.

They were out of the salted egg yolk pancake and as a consolation prize they sent out their ube cheesecake which ended up being fantastic.

P.S. We have fun dinner reservations we are jazzed about tonight at the new Third Times the Charm in Red Hook.

Epsilon Alpha Tau

No post from me last week because we were on vacation in Texas! We went to Meow Wolf in Dallas and Houston and also visited Austin. It was a fabulous time and we ate some of the best food of my life (including the best bbq, the best burrito, and two Michelin starred meals!).

Some highlight since we’ve been home…

This week’s coffee. I am picky about bottled coffee but this Nescafe espresso concentrate is pretty solid.

One morning I paired it with a Barebells Vanilla Milk Drink; good but not great, it was better than the soda but too sweet (7/10).

Good loaded skyr bowls this week. This one was plain skyr with blueberries, blackberries, pineberries, and Oat Haus cookie dough granola, and edible flowers.

This one was plain skyr, vanilla bean powder, vanilla protein powder, maple syrup, and all the berries.

I got my hands on the cherry float Coke Zero so of course I made a float with vanilla ice cream and whiskey cherries. P.S. My current soda ranking is cherry Coke Zero > cherry Diet Coke > cherry float Coke Zero > Diet Coke.

Paired with cherry cola Squashies!

Dinners this week were all (loosely) Greek-inspired. Meatballs (ground turkey baked with panko, baba gannouj, tabbouleh, salt, pepper, and egg) / asparagus sauteed with lemon, dried basil, salt, and pepper / potato salad (peewee potatoes with sauteed celery and red onion, feta, lemon zest and juice, evoo, skyr, mayo, smoked paprika, and white pepper).

Baked eggs with feta plus sauteed zucchini, Bahama Bomb tomato, and red onion with salt, pepper, and dried basil. Scooped with pita chips.

Salads. Spring mix, Trader Joe’s cilantro dressing, roasted chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, feta, baba gannouj, roasted garlic hummus, and Trader Joe’s dolmas.

Tots Of Love

Highlights from the week…

On-theme Valentine’s snack wins. Alani Cherry Bomb (9.5/10).

Love Hearts Squashies (9.5/10).

Baked black bean tacos. Black beans (food-processed with walnuts and sauteed mushrooms, green bell pepper, green onion, and taco seasoning) baked in Mission flour tortillas with tons of sharp cheddar. Plus roasted broccoli and homemade ranch (plain skyr, Kewpie, Trader Joe’s ranch seasoning and hot and sweet jalapeno pickle juice).

Turkey Reuben totchos. Alexa potato puffs / Swiss and gruyere cheese / sauteed ground turkey with homemade Russian dressing / sauerkraut. Plus roasted zucchini.

Agi’s counter inspired tots. Potato puffs / roasted yellow cauliflower / canned smoked trout tossed with leftover ranch / chopped sweet dill pickles / Ayoh Tangy Dijonayo.

Love Love Love

Things from the 1st week of February…

We are less than two weeks from Valentine’s Day so I am obviously thinking in theme foods. I’m saving the conversation hearts for the 14th but cinnamon gummy hearts have been a top-tier snack.

Chocolate-covered cherry smoothie. This combo is one of my forever favorites – frozen sweet dark cherries, chocolate protein powder, and chocolate milk.

See also – chocolate-covered strawberry smoothie. Frozen strawberries with vanilla protein powder and chocolate milk.

See also+ – I mixed this Barebells wild strawberry protein soda with chocolate milk. This was good (and I loved the caffeine inclusion) but not great like their protein drink we tried in Scotland.

Broccoli Cesar salad. Roasted broccoli, sauteed green onions, and homemade pretzel croutons (Trader Joe’s bread baked with evoo, salt, pepper, dried basil, garlic powder, and gochugaru) tossed with homemade Cesar dressing (food processed plain skyr, Kewpie mayo, Dijon mustard, evoo, lemon juice, minced garlic, parmesan cheese, capers, anchovies, and black pepper). Plus baked chicken served on top of Cindy’s Kitchen artichoke and parmesan dip.

Tofu Cesar sandwich. Toasted Trader Joe’s ciabatta topped with baked super-firm tofu and shredded romaine lettuce tossed with leftover Cesar dressing. Plus steamed green beans sauteed with yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, horseradish, rice vinegar, and lemon juice.

A mish-mash but it worked sandwich – toasted ciabatta / dip / Farm Rich baked mozzarella sticks stuffed with buffalo sauce and marinara / tuna salad (canned tuna, sweet heat bread and butter pickle chips, skyr, Kewpie, pepper, and smoked paprika). Plus Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Crunch veggie mix sauteed with ginger and pepper.

Turkey meatballs and baked baby zucchini [plus a side of mozzarella sticks]. The balls were baked; ground turkey with panko panade, red curry paste, hoisin sauce, ginger, shallot, macadamia nuts, and egg.

Chopped Sandwich Dip

Are my fellow New Yorkers ready for the weekend weather? I am not. But the highlights from my last week included two winner recipes!…

These Rolling Pin chocolates had a good filling but not enough of it; I thought the chocolate was too thick.

Obviously the fanciest thing I ate this week was this bowl of four types (pineberries, Sweetest Batch strawberries, Sweetest Batch blueberries, and super jumbo blueberries) of berries!

This brown sugar clementine Polar seltzer is nice, but some sips taste like pancake syrup in a disquieting way. P.S. I am drinking a Nixie black cherry lime sparkling water while I type and it is a 10/10!

Take-out tacos. Guac shop soft tacos with tofu, sweet potato, cabbage, cheese, and spicy aioli.

Chili when it’s chilly. We used ground turkey, sweet onion, poblano pepper, orange and yellow bell pepper, dark red kidney beans, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, tomato paste, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, salt and pepper, gochugaru, and smoked paprika. I topped mine with extra-sharp cheddar, plain skyr, and sweet and spicy jalapeños. Served with roasted broccoli and a toasted English muffin with blueberry jam.

See also – chili cheese potatoes. Baked potatoes and leftover broccoli with butter, chili, cheese, and zhoug.

Buffalo chicken twice baked potatoes! I re-baked them stuffed with mashed potato, baked chicken, cheddar, blue cheese, green onion, salt and pepper, butter, and Frank’s hot sauce. These were great. Plus baked zucchini, which is always great.

I bought special sauce Kettle chips, so obviously I had to plan a meal around them.

Chopped Sandwich Dip! The dip was far better than the chips. Diced baked chicken, dill pickles, sweet heat bread and butter pickles, garlic sauteed baby broccoli, cheddar, Milu Everything Spice, white pepper, Dijon, Dijonayo, Duke’s, and plain skyr. Scooped with the chips and baby carrots.

Eggs In The Second Week Of January

Things from the 2nd week of the year…

Skyr bowl. With blueberries, and Cascadian Farm oats and honey granola.

These Haribo Soda Sours are my new favorite gummy. They remind me a lot of the Sodalicious fruit snacks from back in the 90’s (which were my very favorite — when our island got a K-Mart when I was a kid it was a big deal and I was allowed to choose one snack for fun, these were it).

Another throwback – these fruit and cream Quaker oatmeal packets are pretty darn good.

The prettiest sundae of all time. Frutero soursop ice cream topped with dulce de leche, sweetened condensed milk, sprinkles, and edible flowers.

Chips lentil puffs and salsa.

Dipping dinner – taquitos and roasted baby broccoli with salsa and homemade guacamole.

I made Korean marinated eggs and tossed super-firm tofu in the marinade and it turned out great. Served on savory oatmeal with kale (sauteed with gochujang, maple, rice vinegar, and lemon) and chili crisp.

Baked turkey meatballs, roasted cauliflower, and honey butter baby carrots (baked with evoo, salt, pepper, and gochugaru) topped with Trader Joe’s Zhoug and cilantro salad dressing.

This dinner was loosely inspired by shakshuka and eggs in purgatory. Eggs, extra-sharp cheddar, and parmesan cheese cooked on a tomato-y sauce (roasted Bahama Bomb tomatoes sauteed with fire-roasted diced canned tomatoes, garlic, shallot, yellow bell pepper, urfa, smoked paprika, and salt and pepper). I topped mine with Zhoug and cilantro dressing and scooped it with sweet and spicy jalapeno kettle chips.