Weekly Wrap-Up; All By Myself

by Emily

Adam is on spring break right now so I gave him my free ticket voucher and he spent a week in St. Thomas with my parents. They are all disgustingly in love with each other and had a fabulous time. Meanwhile I was home alone but at least I had the dog.

Furry cuddles totally got me through. And I definitely took advantage of meals as a single lady.

breakfast

Fruit and yogurt bowl.

A strawberry Fage topped with fresh pineapple and cara cara orange.

A lackluster morning.

A bottle of iced coffee that I thought tasted artificial and threw out halfway through.

And a NuGo bar that was nowhere near as tasty as their salted pretzel variety.

Smoothie.

Coffee greek yogurt with frozen blackberries, toasted coconut, and chocolate milk. <– Fantabulous

Smoothie 2 was frozen mango, blackberries, and spinach with coconut water.

Have you tried the ice cream coffees from Dunkin? This was butter pecan.

I tried the cookie dough last weekend too and it was legit amazing.

lunch

Salad day.

Arugula with carrots, pea shoots, honey roasted almonds, buckwheat groats, blue cheese, dried blueberries, and vinaigrette.

Plus a cara cara orange and tamarind balls from home.

My coworkers are mostly all from the Caribbean as well and they were thrilled that I shared my tamarind shipment.

Oatmeal and apples.

Cherry Pistachio from Quaker.

And Cherry Vanilla from Big Slice.

This was the first flavor of these kettle cooked apples that I didn’t like.

Sandwich spread.

An everything bagel thin with strawberry jam, sharp cheddar, smoked turkey, and banana peppers.

Plus spicy peanut cucumber salad.

And raspberry candies and the last orange.

snack

Paper bag popcorn.

Prune chocolates my Russian coworker shared.

I ate this entire bag of Inner Peas in one sitting.

It was pathetic but also delicious.

I topped with cool tub of fig yogurt with white chocolate chips and toasted coconut.

Cookie mugs rocked my face of this week.

I use this recipe, but swap the ratio of white to brown sugar.

Do ittttttt.

dinner

Salad night.

I had a TJ’s pretzel bread in the car as an appetizer.

Then topped a giant bowl of arugula and pea shoots with medium-boiled eggs, blue cheese, turkey bacon, shredded carrot, yogurt blue cheese dressing, and truffle salt.

And now medium-boiled eggs are my new favorite thing.

A combination of nibbles. Pretzels straight from the bag.

A granny smith dipped in peanut butter and lavender caramel.

And baby carrots with red pepper hummus.

Green eggs ~~and ham~~.

Eggs scrambled with okra, arugula, and swiss cheese.

Soup’s up.

This poblano and corn chowder was delicious.

And now we’re off to do fun spring break stuff!

31Mar2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; I’ve Got Recipes To Share

by Emily

Like the title says – “I’ve got recipes to share!” I managed to whip up some really great meals this weekend. That accomplishment is even more impressive when you consider the cold I’m working through. <– let’s consider my horn fully tooted, huh? I was talking to my dad on Saturday morning about how glad I was to have missed Adam’s recent bout of illness and by that night I felt terrible. Unfortunately I’ve felt progressively worse since. Hopefully tomorrow will put me on the upswing.

breakfasts and snacks

Recipe #1 – Almond Joy Baked Oatmeal.

This stuff was yummy. Click the link above for the recipe.

Green apple slices dipped in melty peanut butter.

We tried a new type of citrus from Whole Foods, pixie tangerines. They were great; nice and sweet with no seeds.

Healthy or sick, I’m all about the coffee. Iced brown sugar cinnamon latte from Dunkin.

Tall iced vanilla macchiato from Starbucks just a few hours later. I asked for regular drizzle but sugar-free syrup and it was a definite improvement.

And a clover-brewed Kona blend during my last set of errands the next day.

A handful of chocolates.

Adam and I split this Southern Hibiscus and Peach Milk Chocolate Bar. There were little bits of chewy peach embedded throughout.

I made the best milkshake. Dannon Oikos Café Latte Greek Frozen Yogurt blended with chocolate milk and toasted coconut. It rocked my socks off.

I had several sips of the husband’s Polar Vortex.

Usually we don’t have the same taste in beers but we both thought this Dunkel Lager was delicious.

dinners

Our Mexican dinner fell through on Friday. Several false starts later, we ended up at Mint.

I had Jack Daniels Honey with mint, lime, and simple syrup to drink.

On my plate was rice with sauce from Adam’s chicken and a big pile of bhindi-do-pyaza – okra sautéed with onion and tomato.

Our food was good but it was so flipping loud in there that I’m not sure we’ll ever go back.

Dinners at home were much better. Like Sweet Onion, Bacon, Blue Cheese Burgers.

On a slice of buttered, toasted sourdough with a pile of pea shoots on top.

And last night we had shrimp and veggie (white)rice bowls.

I used this recipe as a guide but went with pepper jelly and grapefruit juice.

Plus we bulked our bowls up with roasted broccoli and cauliflower.

Adam said I hit it out of the park! That was the last of our big bag of frozen shrimp and I definitely want to buy more.

Did you make anything great this weekend?

24Mar2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Snoozy Saturday

by Emily

My predicted “hours in the kitchen” did not end up coming to fruition this weekend. Instead, I got the tail end of Adam’s cold and spent almost all of Saturday and Sunday in bed. Saturday I got up twice to pee and once to eat a huge bowl of cereal and other than that I was under the covers until the husband got home for dinner! I don’t have a ton to share in this post, but at least I got to snuggle with Webster!

Dinner from the Trader Joe’s frozen aisle.

Pad See Ew with veggies and tofu.

And frozen asparagus cooked with lime juice and honey roasted almonds.

The asparagus was pretty mushy, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the noodles. Sidenote – I impulse bought TJ’s “Inner Peas” at the store this weekend and was impressed with them as well.

My very last peppermint divinity candy.

I’m sure my parents won’t mind sending me more next December, right guys??

Sushi take-out from Kisso on Saturday.

I got the vegetarian special,

and an order of vegetable goyza.

The dumplings were great. I shared with Adam because they reminded me of the dumplings we were obsessed with from Wegman’s hot bar. Then we shared a bag of Juicy Bears 🙂

Sunday I made it out of bed and off to the store – with very necessary pit stops to shower and caffeinate – so I could make dinner at home. My Turkey Reuben Mac and Cheese.

I subbed in Orecchiette for macaroni and added broccoli and truffle salt.

We had a round of creamy pink grapefruit spritzers for drinks/dessert.

Yum!

Outside of your college years, when is the latest you’ve ever slept in?

17Mar2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Equations With Pie

by Emily

Happy Monday, all! Did everyone else enjoy Pi Day on Friday (March 14 –> 3/14 –> 3.14)? People usually celebrate the date by eating pie and/or pizza{pie}. We went with the sweet variety, though now that I think about it we had pizza over the weekend too.

In random order, here are the eats I have to share…

lunch

Friday at work.

A pepperoni and cheese snack box,

and a GT’s Synergy Grape Chia Kombucha.

We got lunch at Noodle & Co. while running errands on Saturday.

I got the Japanese pan noodles – caramelized udon noodles in a sweet soy sauce, broccoli, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, Asian sprouts, black sesame and cilantro.

I paid for extra veggies, which got me a whopping 3 tiny pieces of broccoli. We were not impressed.

dinner

Easy dinner on Friday to leave room for pie.

Eggs scrambled with kale and corn.

Pizza on Saturday. My half was topped with mushroom.

I got my veggies in the form of Sweet Greens.

Sunday was Chipotle take-out.

I planned on saving half of my meal for Adam (he was working the night shift) but I ended up eating every single bite of rice bowl and chips!

It doesn’t look like much, but my “meat” was sofritas – shredded tofu braised with chiles, poblanos, and spices – and it was delicious.

brunch

Au Bon Pain debuted a new seasonal Spring Menu on March 10th and they sent me a gift certificate so I could review their newest bakery item. – please note: I was able to sample the new items free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own. –

Adam and I decided to do a late Sunday morning brunch.

Coffee – a skim, iced Caffé Viennese – and a Sweet Cheese CroisBun, aka their new croissant and sweet bun hybrid.

The outside was wonderfully flakey and sweet but the inside was what really shined. The sweet cheese was sooooo moist – the main reason I usually don’t eat Danish is because they tend to get dried out, but this was amazing. There was a sweet cheese and strawberry variety that looked yummy too.

I also got a Sesame Ginger Chicken Salad.

Very good as well. The seasoning on the chicken provided so much flavor. Other options from the new menu include a Chicken Wasabi Wrap and Black Currant Iced Tea that I quite want to try.

snackage

Pi Day celebration from Four & Twenty Blackbirds.

I got our slices to-go but the space was super adorable and I am dying to go back.

Oatmeal black bottom – I didn’t love the texture of the oats within the pie but Adam was a big fan –

Salted honey – custard with the perfect balance of salt and sweet –

Lemon chess – my favorite variety; packed with pucker –

We were both very pleased. And we sat on the couch, holding hands, eating pie, and watching tv, so it was pretty much the best night ever.

And on Saturday I put the leftover lemon chess pie in vanilla bean Greek yogurt.

Perfection.

On Sunday, a girlfriend and I went to a gelato making class.

We came home with 4 pints each.

The class was fun, but I’m honestly not that thrilled with the taste/quality of my pints. At least we went on a Groupon.

The highlight of my weekend – other than time with the husband, obvs – was getting my hands on this:

Diet cherry coke slurpee, for the win! It tasted like dreams. Even my friend, who’s not an addict like I am, said it was tasty.

What was the highlight of your weekend?

14Mar2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Giveaway Winner And Another Giveaway!

by Emily

Hey there! First things first, the winner of my Sandwich, Bagel, and Pocket Thins giveaway is – #30, laurajacobson. {if you’re only here for the next giveaway keep scrolling to the bottom of this post!}

I haven’t talked much about work beyond posting some pictures of my office, so I thought I’d share a few updates:

a) Most of my coworkers love my purple hair. Everyone has said that they wouldn’t have expected me to be the type of person to get a crazy color, which is funny because over the past decade I’ve gone purple or pink (or one really unfortunate shade of maroon) several times.

b) As of this week I’m going to be covering inpatient floors on Tuesdays. I’ve been enjoying my job but it is very exciting to get back into acute care! My heart belongs to tube feeds. And since I’m just going where I’m needed, I’ll be able to get exposure to a little bit of everything.

c) It finally happened… one of my former students came into the clinic!!! I saw her name on my list but didn’t put two and two together until she was standing in front of my door for nutrition counseling. We both spent the first 10 minutes of our time reminiscing and freaking out. It was really fun to see how grown-up she was.

Now onto the food, in reverse. I had many really amazing new things this week and you’re in for a lot of gushing; you’ve been warned…

dinner

Fancy pasta.

Whole wheat noodles, sautéed shrimp, and torn kale tossed with lemon, parmesan, and fat-free half & half.

A total fail.

This was my attempt at okra masala, sans recipe.

Things were going well until I added a 2nd round of dried herbs and spices, rendering the dish inedible. I ate a bag of gummi bears for dinner instead.

Plus my kale chips.

In celebration of upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, Fairway contacted me to see if I would like to try* their house-baked beer bread. Yes, please!

The bread is made with NY local Blue Point Brewing Co. Hoptical Illusion IPA.

The bread was delicious – between sandwiches and toasted slices with cheese melted on top we finished the entire thing in two days! – but even more magical was what happened when I went to go pick it up. Apparently I had never been inside a Fairway before, because, holy foodie heaven, you guys, I have found my new favorite grocery store. Fairway was better than TJ’s, Whole Foods, and even {gasp!} Wegman’s. The store was impeccably clean, the produce was the best I’ve seen all winter, and I spotted at least five of the products I’ve been trolling other stores for over the past six months. There was even a hot bar! I don’t think I saw any store brands so my wallet won’t let me shop their exclusively but I am very jazzed to add it to my grocery rotation!

As for the bread, I decided to stay on theme and make turkey reubens.

Beer bread, fresh sauerkraut, 1000 island dressing, and Applegate Farms Herb Turkey Breast and Emmentaler Sliced Swiss.

For our green on the side we did baby kale sautéed with dried blueberries and honey roasted almonds.

Such a good combo, the berries took it over the top.

And Thursday I was too lazy to make dinner soIatepopcornwhilewatchingtv,theend.

snacks

Recently Cow Wow reached out to me about trying* their cereal milk.

Cow Wow is low-fat, kosher, gluten-free, all-natural and organic. They sent me three flavors in an adorable little lunch box.

Adam and I split a Fruity Trudy Organic Low-fat Milk one night as a snack.

The flavor was spot-on for milk from the bottom of a bowl of fruity cereal. I hate fruity cereal, so it was a little too spot-on for me, but Adam liked it. I’ll talk about the other flavors lower in this post, but to enter to win a lunchbox of your own just scroll to the end of this post!

A super sundae.

Dannon Café Latte Frozen Greek Yogurt – the flavor was wonderful but the texture had the hollowness that low-fat ice creams tend to have –

topped with candied pecans and Spoonable Flowery Lavender Caramel Sauce.

Beer bread with cheese.

I didn’t even use the oven that time. I microwaved it. Like an animal.

And Blackberry Oikos with the last of the pecans.

lunch

Lunches vacillated between freaking awesome and very weak. Monday was a strong showing.

An Everything Bagel Thin with Applegate Farms Roasted Turkey, a fantastic crunchy cheddar from TJ’s, and banana peppers.

Plus a granny smith with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

Tuesday I bought a salad from the cafeteria and didn’t take a picture.

Wednesday was insane and I ended up not having time for my packed lunch. Instead I just drank this Arriba Horchata Energy Drink.

I poured it over ice and it was ridiculous good.

Thursday I ate Wednesday’s lunch.

A Cara Cara.

And a Fage Coffee Fruyo.

This yogurt is my new favorite. It blows every other coffee variety out of the water! This was not enough food though (I forgot my other bag of snacks at home) and I ended up eating candy at my desk all afternoon. Boo.

breakfast

Last Friday I finally got to try the new vanilla macchiato from Starbucks.

It was flipping fabulous and I’ve had one almost every day since.

Random sidenote – Now what I really need to try is this:

I want it so bad I can practically taste it but none of the locations I’ve been to have had it frozen. I’m a woman obsessed.

A set of cinnamon.

Cinnamon Crunch Somersaults.

And a Cinny Minny Cow Wow.

Again, the flavor was a perfect match to the bottom of the cereal bowl. And I do like cinnamon cereal so I was a fan.

A ridiculously fantastic breakfast sandwich.

An Everything Bagel Thin with sautéed kale, fancy cheddar, roasted turkey, and a fried egg.

It was tasty, filling, and it didn’t even take me all that long to make.

~~Cereal and milk~~ cereal milk and fruit.

A great pear – TJ’s has been killing it with the bosc and d’anjou pears lately.

And my last flavor of Cow Wow.

The fun of chocolate but not too sweet for breakfast. Chocolate Chip Cathy was my favorite flavor by far. Though they also have a marshmallow flavor and if I can ever get my hands on it I’m pretty sure it will win my affection.

*both the bread and the cereal milk were sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

the giveaway

~~To enter to win your own lunchbox packed with three flavors of Cow Wow, simply leave a comment on this post by 8 pm EST on Monday, March 17th.~~

***Update – #10, latanya, was the winner.

10Mar2014

Sandwich, Pocket, And Bagel Thins {Giveaway}

by Emily

I love carbs. A lot. A lot, a lot, actually. But when it comes to sandwiches, I usually prefer to let my chosen filling shine. That’s why I always order my burgers sans bun. And why Sandwich Thins and Bagel Thins are pretty much the only bread products I’ll use to pack my lunches. And it doesn’t hurt that the Thins are compact with a good chew (I hate fluffy bread for sandwiches). So when I was offered an opportunity to share the love with you guys, I jumped on it!

disclaimer –

I was sent coupons for free products, product information, and a $25 gift card in exchange for doing this review. I was also given the opportunity to host a giveaway. I was not provided further compensation for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

about the products –

[click on the links embedded within the headings to be redirected the official pages]

Arnold®, Brownberry® and Oroweat® Products

All Arnold®, Brownberry® and Oroweat® Sandwich Thins^® Rolls are cholesterol-free foods, containing zero grams of Trans Fat and no high fructose corn syrup.

Arnold®, Brownberry® and Oroweat® Sandwich Thins® Rolls

Weight Watchers®: 3 PointsPlus Value®
Flavors: 100% Whole Wheat, Healthy Multi-grain, Honey Wheat, Flax & Fiber

Arnold®, Brownberry® and Oroweat® Pocket Thins® Flatbread

Weight Watchers : 3 PointsPlus Value®
Flavors: 100% Whole Wheat, Healthy Multi-grain

Thomas’® Bagel Thins® Bagels

All Bagel Thins® are 110 calories, cholesterol-free, low in fat and contain zero grams of Trans Fat

Weight Watchers®: 3 PointsPlus Value®
Flavors: Plain, 100% Whole Wheat, Cinnamon Raisin and Everything

my experience –

[click on the embedded links to be redirected to the recipe pages]

Along with my free coupons for the Thins, I was sent a $25 gift card so I could buy the additional ingredients for a recipe of my choice. Here are the recipes that Weight Watchers® created for Sandwich Thins®. And here are the recipes that Thomas’® created for their Bagel Thins®.

I decided to make the Gouda, Ham, and Apple Bagel Thins® Sandwich.

I substituted turkey for ham and used an Everything flavored bagel but otherwise followed the recipe.

The end result was delicious! I loved how well the cool, crisp apple went with the warm, gooey sandwich. I usually only think to pair produce with Brie and the Gouda was a nice spin.

your chance to win {giveaway} –

We are offering you guys the chance to try the recipes for yourself. One winner will receive coupons for free product and a $25 Visa gift card. To enter – leave a comment on this post by 4 pm EST on Thursday, March 13th.

26Feb2014

Weekish Wrap-Up

by Emily

The title is sort of a pun! Because this post is pretty weak. Get it??

I’ve been all over the place with my posting schedule lately but it just feels right. Especially this two-day “week” because I’ve been total snack monster so I’ve eaten a full post’s worth of food. Here we go…

Cold-brew coffee with low-fat chocolate milk.

Oh, I noticed you admiring my nails {just go with it}, here’s a better shot –

I know they aren’t perfect – and I cleaned up the edges a bit after that photo – but I was so flipping proud to have managed them at all. My hands have made me happy all week.

Onto pictures you’ve actually asked for… welcome to my office at work!

It is never as messy as my hair is in that picture {yikes!}.

I haven’t done much decorating, but I have a few touches to make it feel like home (mostly reminders of Webster).

But back to my mocha, that did not make me happy. I bought a jug of chocolate milk and made a week’s worth of coffee… but I used the butter rum flavored coffee from Target and ultimately it is just too nasty to drink. I ended up throwing out my whole batch!

I had this Dannon pecan drinkable yogurt on the train.

I was really impressed with how creamy it was.

Work lunch.

An apple,

and leftover shrimp pad thai from the weekend.

I still can’t believe we were able to make it taste so good/authentic.

Another lunch. This one not nearly as photogenic.

Pumpernickel with miracle whip, grape jam, banana peppers, sharp cheddar, and smoked turkey.

A red pear.

And a mini Honeycomb chocolate from Chuao.

Snacks at work: Lots of tea from my Numi samples.

Haribo liquid center fruit gummi candies.

And a bag of Somersaults.

Snacks at home: A packet of tuna salad.

A ridiculous peanut butter fudge mug cake.

And a mini Firecracker Chocolate from Chuao.

I don’t know how they keep the pop rocks so fresh when they’re enrobed in chocolate but this bar had crackle!

Last night’s dinner was rice noodles with bean sprouts and tons of broccoli cooked in peanut sauce.

Normally this is one of our favorite meals but this dinner felt very meh.

And that’s all she wrote! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week!

24Feb2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Winter’s Gone And I’m Not Sad

by Emily

Winter is not gone for good, obviously, but it took a much-appreciated hiatus this weekend. It was so warm yesterday that we could walk the dog without coats!

Oh spring, you cannot come soon enough.

Stream of consciousness style, here is some of what I ate this weekend…

Thursday’s lunch.

The new Key Lime 2% Fage is so ridiculously good. I stopped on my way home that same day to buy more!

Plus a Lady Alice apple.

And a Strawberry Lemonade Cascade Ice.

I bought the drink with my own money after enjoying my samples, but something in this reeeeeally made my stomach hurt so I probably won’t be buying it again.

Friday’s lunch was a delicious sandwich of 1 slice of pumpernickel topped with Miracle Whip, fancy blue cheese, banana peppers, and Applegate Farms Roasted Turkey.

Plus an emmy’s dark cacao macaroon – my new favorite flavor.

And a pear.

The Somersaults you see in the background were swapped out for this Double Shot.

My coffee obsession accepts all forms.

We blended up a final round of our favorite smoothie.

That was the last of our chocolate peppermint soy milk until next holiday season.

I ate a bowl of sugar cereal(s).

Kid’s aren’t all wrong, this was fricking delicious.

I dipped sliced green apple in a blend of melted peanut butter and dark chocolate sauce.

I love green apples when paired with something sweet or cheesy but the thought of eating one all on its lonesome makes my lips purse up.

I tried another evolution juice.

The Essential Greens with Lime was much, much better than the variety I threw out the other day. Still can’t hold a candle to fresh juice though.

I ate a ton of ice cream.

The Ben and Jerry’s Cores are out of control. We’ve tried blondie salted caramel and chocolate hazelnut and both were great. Adam actually liked them more than I did, which says a lot because he claims not be into ice cream.

A friend and I met up at Bierkraft and shared this cider.

It didn’t taste like maple at all, sadly. But it packed some kick, apparently, because we went out for burgers afterward and it didn’t occur to me to snap a picture until there was only one bite left on my plate.

I got an easy dinner from Trader Joe’s after I went grocery shopping at 8 pm on Saturday.

Along with my salad – which was delicious – I had cheesy bread. Aka a baguette baked with butter and sharp cheddar.

That was more delicious than the salad. Obviously.

We made shrimp Pad Thai. And it was good!!!

First, we had to turn this –

into this –

Making tamarind paste “from scratch” felt super badass, just fyi. And it was very essential to getting a good sauce.

Basically just rice noodles, carrots, bean sprouts, shrimp, eggs, and this sauce, cooked in canola oil and topped with lime, scallion, and crushed peanut.

It tasted legit! I can’t even tell you how proud I was.

Last night our dinner plans fell through and we ended up with turkey burger take-out from Bare Burger.

Not the original plan but certainly nothing to complain about. Mine had turkey bacon, peppers, fried onions, and smoked cheese.

Have you ever made Pad Thai at home? How’d it turn out?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: turkey

Weekly Wrap-Up; All By Myself

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Weekend Wrap-Up; I’ve Got Recipes To Share

breakfasts and snacks

dinners

Weekend Wrap-Up; Snoozy Saturday

Weekend Wrap-Up; Equations With Pie

lunch

dinner

brunch

snackage

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Giveaway Winner And Another Giveaway!

dinner

snacks

lunch

breakfast

*both the bread and the cereal milk were sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

the giveaway

Sandwich, Pocket, And Bagel Thins {Giveaway}

disclaimer –

about the products –

my experience –

your chance to win {giveaway} –

Weekish Wrap-Up

Weekend Wrap-Up; Winter’s Gone And I’m Not Sad