Weekly Wrap-Up; Greek Week

“Greek Week” because half of the eats in this post are Greek yogurt and the other half are dinners infused with Greek flavors.  It was a repetitious, but quite tasty, week.

No weekend post because I did all of my birthday excitement a week ahead of schedule.  Adam had a giant, two-day test this week so we’ve been keeping things low-key.  Unfortunately, I’ve also been feeling a bit under the weather.  I actually stayed home from work on Monday with a migraine.

This week I kept my meals a bit smaller and planned in more snacks.  This schedule worked well for me and is one I will probably continue next week too.  The random snacks mostly came from my UrthBox {UB}, another new thing that I’m a fan of.

Minus many, many unpictured troughs of coffee or popcorn, here are most of my bites for the past week…

breakfasts/lunches

Coffee and cherries.

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Coffee, Strawberry/Blueberry/Banana SMOOCH {UB}, and a Don’t Go Nuts Gorilla Power Bar.

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The bar was insane, it tasted like freaking coffee cake!

Chobani 4% plain with maple syrup and chopped red plum and dapple plucot.

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I tried the yogurt because it was a limited edition but I think I’m definitely a 0 – 2% girl; fuller fat dairy always tastes a little sour to me.

Fairway soursop yogurt with blueberries and roasted coconut and a Jax soursop coconut water.

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Another new item, Chobani Banana Maple with Steel Cut Oats plus blueberries.

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Not a fan.  I was expecting everything to be blended into a homogenous product but this was (strangely thin) yogurt with random clumps of soggy oats.

At least pink grapefruit – with more plum and plucot – is always delicious.

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On the only non-yogurt day, I made myself a “taco salad” from the cafeteria.  Romaine with black olives, red peppers, cheddar and pepperjack cheese cubes, avocado, and tons of salsa.

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Yeah, no.  The avocado was frozen (why on earth would you ever freeze avocado??!) and what I assumed to be salsa was actually roasted red pepper.  Yuck city.

snacks

Chameleon Cold Brew is (briefly) back in our life!  We carted a bottle home from Whole Foods in Philadelphia.

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Served iced with chocolate and skim milk.

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CCB is my favorite cold brew ever.  <– I looked up the website to link  toin this post and saw that they now make mocha and vanilla varieties and I’m basically dying

Thai coconut curry popcorn {UB}.

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Crème Brulee hard candies from Chinatown.

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So good.  They have a roasty, coffee-like flavor that is wonderful.

TJ’s turkey jerky with Mary’s Gone Crackers Everything Pretzels.

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Those pretzels are downright addictive, perfectly salty with great crunch.

dinners

Easy, vegan pasta bowls.

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Whole-wheat rotini with broccoli, roasted zucchini, and tons of marinara sauce.

Greek nachos!  I baked pita chips topped with three-cheese blend, crumbled fat-free feta, tomato, red, onion, and chickpeas that I tossed with lemon juice, evoo, and oregano.

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This meal was easy but super fun.

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And we took the leftovers on a picnic to Corona Park the next day.

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We tossed together the leftover red onion, tomato, chickpeas, and cheese with TJ’s Greek dressing, capers, cucumber, and spinach to make a tasty Greek salad.

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Everything was yummy and we had a wonderful time on our picnic, but we did totally end up going to Panera for food later that evening!

Spicy shrimp pasta bowls.

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This recipe was one of my favorites growing up, but I don’t think mine tasted as good as my mom’s does.

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***Whoops! If anyone decides to try this recipe – I meant to write 4 SERVINGS not cups of pasta.

You just toss everything together in a baking dish, cook, and serve on top of noodles with a little parmesan.  I also tossed a bunch of chopped spinach in with our bowls.

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Adam loved it, thanks, Mom!

When was the last time you went on a picnic?

Last Week’s Late Wrap-Up

I’ve been pretty busy and I’m running a bit behind, but I ate some really yummy things last week so I didn’t want to skip the post.  Here are some faves from last Monday through Friday…

break the fast

A purple smoothie.

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Frozen blueberries and strawberries with maple syrup and vanilla almond milk.

Bar/fruit/coffee day 1.

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Dark Chocolate Coconut Balance Bar, a Pink Lady apple, and iced coffee from Starbucks.  I poured a splash of half and half into my coffee by accident last week and it ended up tasting so yummy that now it’s turned into a bad habit!

Day 2.

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Caramel Almond & Sea Salt KIND Bar {former freebie}, a very juicy nectarine, and cafeteria coffee with skim milk and a splash of half and half.

ladies who lunch

Cafeteria meal.

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Salad with broccoli, black-eyed peas, cheddar, balsamic, and a scoop of egg salad.  Plus fries dipped in honey mustard on the side.

Sandwich.

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Leftover bbq chicken on a Bagel Thin.  With bread and butter pickles, chips, and cherries.

Yogurt.

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Chobani 2% Pink Grapefruit Greek Yogurt with KIND Raspberry Clusters with Chia Seeds {former freebie} and cherries on the side.  The yogurt was a limited edition that needs to become part of the permanent line-up.  It was freaking incredible, sweet and tangy with little pieces of citrus spread throughout.  I must find the watermelon variety.

snack attack

Chocolate-covered pretzels from Wegman’s.

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I brought Adam some back from my Buffalo trip and made the mistake of tasting “just one.”  Those things are addictive!  It’s a good thing I didn’t do a taste-test in the store or I would have brought home pounds of them.

Trader Joe’s makes the best turkey jerky I’ve ever tasted.

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I don’t know how the keep the texture sooooo soft.

Chocolate covered strawberry floats!  Chocolate frozen yogurt in strawberry Crush.

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We thought we were so clever with these.

Campfire milkshake from Ralph’s Ice.

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It was insane how much this tasted like a toasted marshmallow.  It was pretty intense though, there is no way I could have finished more than half of this.

Baby spinach salad.

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With sweet and spicy pecans, dried blueberries, shredded carrot, evoo, honey, and lavender salt.  My best salad combo to date.

dining on dinner

Salad atop salad.

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The base was baby spinach with dried blueberries, sweet and spicy pecans, evoo, honey, and truffle salt.

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Topped with pulled bbq chicken (and a pile of salt and vinegar chips in the back).  Just boneless, skinless breasts cooked in the crockpot, shredded, and tossed with TJ’s Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce.

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The sauce was wonderful, very sweet and a little spicy.

Pasta that was simple but good.

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Whole-wheat rotini with browned mushrooms, ground turkey (sautéed with tons of garlic and dried oregano), frozen spinach, low-fat sour cream, and a can of tomato sauce.

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This was one of those meals that seemed like it would need more flavor but then you kept eating until you were furiously scraping the bottom of the bowl.

National Thai with a girlfriend.  I got spicy noodles with veggies.  They were super chewy, had a good variety of vegetables, and were actually spicy; I’m pretty sure National has become my favorite Thai spot in the city.

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Afterwards we went out in search of mojitos.

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We ended up finding passable mango mojitos at a tiny Mexican spot in Park Slope.  Their menu also mentioned watermelon daiquiris, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be going back again this Friday.

what’s happening

I was getting into such a great groove with my workouts, but then I got excited and upped the length of my runs too quickly.  My right knee was horrifically swollen and the husband told me to stay out of the gym until the inflammation went down.  Boo!!!  I took a week completely off from exercise (minus a few long walks this weekend) and popped anti-inflammatories and iced like crazy.  I’m going to start back in with short, easy workouts this week and continue to ice regularly.  I’m going a little stir-crazy so please cross your fingers for me!

On a more positive note, I just finished reading Fault Lines by Nancy Huston and I’m recommending it to pretty much everyone.

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It’s a story about a family and each section of the book is told from the perspective of a different generation.  Huston did a great job of building the story in layers.  The parts of the story that were told through the lens of childhood were wonderfully done.

It is my 29th birthday this Thursday.  We can’t fit in any celebrating this week so Adam and I took a quick trip to Philadelphia this past weekend.  I gave that its own post because this one was getting too long, but we had a wonderful time.

Have you spotted the new Chobani varieties in your area yet?  Has anyone tasted watermelon??

Weekend Wrap-Up; Driving Me Crazy

This weekend was a bit of a whirlwind; I had a orthodontic emergency that sent me back to Buffalo at the last-minute.  That trip ate up a fair amount of time – I spent more hours in the car roundtrip than I actually did in Buffalo! – so I don’t have a ton to share.  My time in Long Island was pretty low-key.

Here are some of the highlights…

I am a big fan of Lindt’s “Hello My Name Is” line and Adam and I both loved this salted caramel bar.

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We got Chinese take-out for dinner that was only so-so.  My steamed broccoli with brown garlic sauce (and white rice) was delicious,

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but the soup that was supposed to turn that into a full meal was basically dirty water with raw veggies floating in it.  You win some, you lose some.

A much more amazing meal came out of our own kitchen.

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Sautéed cabbage and turnip greens.  I just cooked the veggies in some evoo and salt and they were delicious!

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Plus onion-packed eggs.

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Eggs scrambled with tons sautéed sweet onion and spring onions, sliced turkey, and cheese.

On Saturday we went into Brooklyn for Coney Island on Tap.

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There weren’t a ton of beers I cared about (minus two watermelon brews!) so I mostly stuck with ciders.

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Though I managed to drink just enough to later get into a hilariously intense fight with the husband over who would get to pee first!  Afterwards we had frozen yogurt,

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and Bareburger for dinner.

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I couldn’t get a very good picture but I had a turkey burger (no bun) with pepperjack, turkey bacon, sweet apple grilled onions, red piquante peppers, avocado, and smoked paprika mayo.  It’s my birthday next Thursday and I’ve already decided that I’m going to celebrate with Bareburger.

My road trip was a little ridiculous, like I said, I spent more time in the car than I did in Buffalo.  I basically mainlined candy and coffee for two days.

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But my orthodontist hooked me up, and even with gas and tolls I saved more than $1,000 by making the trip.  And I got to stay with newlywed friends and see their gorgeous new house.

And we went to Thai Orchid, which I had been severely missing.  My girlfriend and I both started with the soup special, broth with noodles, bok choy, tons of crabmeat, and great shrimp wontons.

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I went with my old favorite for dinner, Pad See Ew with extra veggies.

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It was fantastic, totally worth the whirlwind visit! 😉

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Day

This is a short “week” because my weekend technically starts tonight (Thursday night) – my parents are coming into town and I took Friday and Monday off.  Woo-hoo!!

And since I managed to photograph every single thing over the past three days (minus tons of water and diet coke), I thought it would be fun to do an old-school recap and go by the day rather than grouping things into meal categories.

Monday

Breakfast at my desk, iced Americano and fat-free chocolate milk for the win.

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Lunch was one of those yogurt bowls I’ve been loving lately.

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TJ’s 0% Honey Greek Yogurt with strawberries {that I picked myself!} and some granola from my KIND package.  I used Raspberry Clusters with Chia Seeds this week and was a big fan; this flavor had some nice tang compared with the first bag I tried.

It was a fabulously busy day at work and I ran around all afternoon.  I’m usually not involved with the Labor and Delivery floor, but I’ve recently started following my Gestational Diabetes patients when they go inpatient so there is better continuity of care.  Getting out of the clinic is always nice because it breaks up the day.  And it’s good to have a little more time to go over the education when we are in a hospital room and not my office where other clients knock at my door right and left.

I ate some of the green curry turkey salad, straight from the container, the minute I got home.

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I was feeling snacky, and there were already leftovers for Adam to eat, so I decided to do a series of snack plates for dinner.  First, a Jazz apple with Mary’s Gone Crackers Sea Salt Pretzels and TJ’s Teriyaki Turkey Jerky.

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I don’t know how TJ’s gets their jerky to stay so soft, but that stuff is delicious.

Next up was a bowl of cucumber salad.

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I let some thinly sliced Persian cucumbers hang out with some sugar (1 tsp of sugar per cup cucs) for a bit then folded in tons of Sriracha and crushed peanuts.

And I ended the night with nachos, aka the craving that lead me to a snack-style dinner in the first place.  2 servings of potato chips baked with 2 servings of low-fat three cheese blend.

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The chips were part of the rather embarrassing “reduced guilt” line and they were amazing.

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I read the bag very carefully before deciding to give them a try; the chips are made using less oil (I have no idea how) but no scary ingredients like Olestra.  The flavor was identical to TJ’s normal kettle chips and the texture was slightly crunchier, which I think is an improvement.  I will definitely buy them again.

Tuesday

Astonishingly, I woke up early enough on Tuesday to go outside for a quick run.  I only had time for 15 minutes of actual running amid my walking, but the weather was gorgeous and getting out there was glorious.  I have been on a total workout hiatus since our move (almost a year ago!!) but starting Saturday I have been making a concerted effort to get back into the habit.  <– hold me to that, please!

I was home and dressed in time to blend up this swampy smoothie.

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It was only slightly better than it looked.  Frozen strawberries with honey, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and Kiss Me Organics Matcha Powder.

Since Tuesday is my inpatient day, I packed a lunch that didn’t need the fridge.

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An apple cinnamon oatmeal bowl with Cacao Bliss and a pear on the side.

I always want to tell you guys more about what I’m doing at the hospital but I like my job and want to keep it so it’s best to follow HIPAA.

I can say that I charted on an impressive 10 patients and I left the hospital a little late which caused me to miss my train.  While I waited to get home I purchased some fun snacks.  A blackberry mojito tea (sans lemonade) from Starbucks.

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And a bag of the new York Patty minis.

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I had searched for that stupid candy for weeks and was thrilled when I spotted it at Target.  Yorks are my favorite chocolate-based candy.

When I got home I made green curry.

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I sautéed shredded carrot, green onion, broccoli, and peas in evoo; then whisked together a can of light coconut milk with tons of green curry paste and a little galangal and brown sugar; then let everything simmer for a while.  Served on a bed of brown rice.

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So flipping good.  And I didn’t even follow a recipe so I’m pretty proud of myself.  Adam wasn’t home because he was on nights all week but I watched “Longmire” while I ate which was a nice substitute.  Are you watching that yet?  It is super good; there was a scene in the 2nd episode of this season that made both of us cry!

Wednesday

I slept in until the last possible minute yesterday so I did another breakfast at my desk.

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Coffee and a Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond KIND Bar (former freebie).  I’m still completely awed by how wonderful this flavor is.

Back to my old standby for lunch.

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Fage 2% Greek Yogurt with Meyer lemon curd, granola, and strawberries.

We have no food because we’ll go out to eat with our guests, so I planned on buying food on my way home but ran out of time for anything but coffee (with skim milk and sugar).

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I had to do my best to cobble dinner together.  Lean Cuisine stuffed pretzels and baby carrots with hummus.

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Not too terrible, but if I’d thought ahead I would have eaten a salad at lunch.

I also ate chocolate-covered gummy bears while I wrote this post.

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🙂

Do you guys miss my old style of posting or are you happier with the new wrap-ups?

Green Curry Turkey Salad

I promised I wouldn’t leave y’all hanging on that great turkey salad from yesterday’s post.

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All of my favorite recipes are plays on a traditional idea.  Chicken salad is great, but turkey salad infused with Asian flavors is better.  I’ve also got a Bahn Mi Chicken Salad recipe idea up my sleeve.

Green Curry Turkey Salad Yields: 6 servings; Total Time: 15 minutes

  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 Tbsp minced galangal (Thai ginger)
  • 2 Tbsp green curry paste
  • 1 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 lb cooked turkey breast, shredded or chopped
  • 2 green onions, sliced
  • small red pepper, diced
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrot
  • 1/4 cup roasted coconut chips
  1. In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, ginger, curry paste, and fish sauce.
  2. Add remaining ingredients to bowl and toss until well-combined.

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recipe notes:

  • the roasted coconut chips give this creamy salad little pops of crunch and sweetness; if you can’t find them (I got mine at Trader Joe’s) it’s ok to use sweetened shredded coconut, but cut back to 2 Tbsp so the texture doesn’t get too stringy
  • the flavor of galangal is a bit more intense than regular ginger so if you substitute it bump it up to a heaping Tbsp
  • if you dislike the intensity of raw green onions, give them a quick saute rather than skipping them entirely
  • I actually used Miracle Whip because we don’t buy regular mayo!

Weekend Wrap-Up; Farm Fresh

Just the highlights…

<^> I went strawberry picking with a girlfriend on Sunday.  This activity has been on my radar for years and it was nice to finally give it a go.

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I’m not really sure what the two of us were picturing though, because I definitely rolled up in sandals and a long scarf (with a giant iced coffee and a huge purse).

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After we went back to the car to regroup, we got down to business (literally down, strawberry picking meant an hour crouching in the dirt!) and both came away with big cartons of tasty berries.

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Glover Farms, if anyone local wants to go themselves.  We’d recommend it.

<^> As of June 2nd, Jamba Juice has added a fresh-squeezed juice menu at over 500 locations nationally.  They sent me a gift card so that I could try some out.  The card got here just in time, because I was at two different locations with Jambas this weekend so I was able to try two options.

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Please note – I received a gift card so that I could sample the juice menu free of charge.  I was not provided further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Let’s start with the negative – these drinks are not juices.  They juice the fruits, carrots, and beets, but then that juice is put into a blender with the greens, making this item a smoothie.  I started this argument with an employee and eventually gave up, but fresh-squeezed juice does not involve a blender.  Period.

That said, inaccurate marketing aside, the drinks were quite tasty and healthy.  Both flavors I tried had a good balance of sweet to green.  And every 16 oz “juice” has 2 full servings of fruit and/or vegetables for minimal caloric cost.  Tropical greens:

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Super greens/apple/pineapple/chia.  210 calories in a 16 oz.

Garden Medley:

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Super greens/carrot/apple/chia.  170 calories in a 16 oz.

<^> I haven’t blogged about them much, but I have been loving the almond thins that Nonni’s sent me.

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The banana chocolate flavor is legit.  And I’m usually annoyed by things that are put in 100 calorie packages but the serving size feels perfect here.

<^> I ate homemade nachos while I watched the 2 hour season intro of Rookie Blue and I practically cried I was so happy.  Summer tv at its best.

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I also had an episode of Awkward.  Best. Night. Ever.

<^> I finally got to try Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

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Now I totally get the hype; I tasted Zen Butter – sesame and peanut butter – and it was worth the buzz.  I chose taro and black sesame for my cup though.  The black sesame was amazing, super roasty and crunchy.

<^> Saturday’s dinner.

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Asian flavors night.  Bok choy sautéed with green onions in evoo.  Towards the end I tossed in some thinly sliced Persian cucumbers that I quick-pickled in sugar and salt for 20 minutes.

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A big pile of green curry turkey salad.

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The salad was so good it’s getting its own recipe page.  I promise to get that up on the blog tomorrow.

<^> Sunday’s dinner.

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Such a summery – vegetarian – plate!  Corn on the cob, of course.

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With bbq tofu.  I rubbed TJ’s super firm extra-protein tofu with a homemade spice blend {brown sugar, smoked paprika, cumin, and curry powder} and baked it off before tossing the slices in a skillet with some bbq sauce.

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Plus we had chard sautéed in evoo with salt, toasted hazelnuts and a drizzle of maple syrup.

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That teensy pile of greens was what happened when I cooked down this big bunch.

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I bought my greens at a tiny farmer’s market that was happening at the farm museum near my house.

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My chard was picked the same day I bought it!  The only thing fresher is my strawberries 🙂

Have you ever picked your own berries?  We have our eye on apples this fall.

Weekly Wrap-Up; Snack Monster

O. M. G.  I was so flipping hungry all week, it was annoying.  I was basically starving. <– if you haven’t seen CK Louis’ SNL intro monologue yet, go watch it immediately.

Stream of consciousness style, here is a sampling of some of this week’s insane snack consumption…

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Other bars for breakfasts came courtesy of this sweet samples package from KIND.

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I’ve flirted with loving different brands bars off and on, but throughout the years KIND products have remained some of my very favorites, so I was thrilled to try some of their new products.  The two newest bar flavors are ridiculous good.  They are all low in sugar – 5 grams of sugar or less and they don’t use artificial sweeteners – and are a good source of fiber and protein.  Adam and I were both impressed by the Caramel Almond & Sea Salt.

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And Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond knocked my socks off.  New all-time favorite!  This is what I always wish mocha would taste like.

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Their Grain Clusters, basically granola, are a unique blend of gluten-free oats, millet, quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat; each 50g serving provides more than one full serving of whole grains.  The Fruit and Nut Clusters made great yogurt bowls for lunches this week.

With blackberry lime Greek yogurt and blueberries plus a sour sop coconut water on the side.

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And with sour sop yogurt(!!!) with blueberries and Cacao Bliss.

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On Tuesday I did a salad from the cafeteria.  Topped with pickled vegetables and a big scoop of chicken salad.

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On Wednesday Adam had the day off so we met up for a lunch date!

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Our meals cost only $10 each for huge plates of noodles and an appetizer.

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And on Friday I packed Fage with passion fruit and clementine, nectarines, and TJ’s freeze-dried apples.

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The apples were insanely good and I want more immediately.  I planned on supplementing my smaller lunch with food from the cafeteria but it was a coworker’s last day so I had cake instead.

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In spite of my copious snacking, I was too hungry to properly deal with dinner during the first half of the week.

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My Bare Burger turkey burger – with smoked mozzarella, fried onions, all of the pickles, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and ketchup – was amazing and I ended up ordering one two days in a row!

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When I finally did get around to making my own dinners like an adult, I had an assist from Pirate’s Booty.

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They just introduced a line of macaroni and cheese and they sent me some samples to try out.  The price, flavor, and texture were very comparable to other boxed mac and cheese options, but Pirate’s Booty uses organic pasta and contains no artificial colors or flavors.

We ended up with two very fancy feeling semi-homemade dinners.

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Night one, I stirred roasted mini heirloom tomatoes in to the mild cheddar macaroni.

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On top of spinach salads – baby spinach topped with chopped pecans, crumbled blue cheese, 1 tsp each honey and evoo, and a sprinkle of truffle salt.

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Night two was another side-by-side bowl of greens and ‘cheese.

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My veggie side was a simplified take on Jenna’s baked beans.

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I just baked chopped kale with a can of beans, cup of whiskey maple bbq sauce, a scoop of Bone Suckin’ Mustard, and a ton of chopped garlic.

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My pasta was aged white cheddar shells with TJ’s frozen mushroom medley and some sweet cheddar.

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Delicious!  I plan on buying both the shells and the mushrooms this weekend so I can make this meal again.

What is your family’s favorite way to gussy up boxed macaroni and cheese?

Weekly Wrap-Up; NYC Loves

Heeeeey!  Long time no blog!  Adam’s brother was in town last weekend for a fabulous, whirlwind visit and we’ve been pretty busy ever since.  I’ve been bone-achingly tired all week, but it was more than worth it to get to share some of our favorite parts of Brooklyn with my brother-in-law.

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It’s been forever – and I have not been photographing 90% of what goes in my mouth – so I’m just going to go through the major highlights from the past week.  This post is part Weekly Wrap-Up, part Loves of Late…

Smorgasburg in Williamsburg

Fellow New Yorkers, have you made it to Smorgasburg yet?!  If not, you’ve got to get on that!  Assembling on Saturdays in the East River State Park and Sundays at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 5 (DUMBO), this parking lot full of food vendors will knock your socks off.  I get legitimate anxiety trying to decide which fabulous things to taste.

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Here is just a small sampling of some of the tasty things we tried last weekend.  Yellow plum and chai shaved ice from People’s Pops.

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Blue Bottle, obvs.

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A Bahn Mi chicken hot dog from Asia Dog.

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Sugar cane lemonade.

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And the boardwalk fries from Home Frite.

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{from the website: malt aioli made with Brooklyn Brewery Beer and fries seasoned with hickory smoked salt and malt vinegar powder}

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Heavenly.

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We also had biscuits, Horchatta, and other things I’m sure I’m forgetting.

Mixology Class at Harding’s

Happily for me, I recently received a media invite to attend the first of Harding’s monthly mixology classes.

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Please note – I attended this event free of charge.  I was not provided further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Here is what they have to say about the class –

Americana-chic Flatiron parlor, Harding’s, is shaking up the first Tuesday of each month with the launch of a new hands-on mixology class series.  Starting Tuesday, May 6, Harding’s head mixologist will lead participants through an interactive 1-hour session to instill the building blocks of mixology (for instance, the difference between bourbon and rye, and why James Bond should have ordered his martinis “stirred—not shaken”), fundamental mixology techniques, and the methods behind three seasonally inspired cocktails, each month built around a new theme:  … June will illuminate the lighter, brighter side of whiskey.  In July, spicy jalapeno and ginger-infused cocktails will most certainly set off fireworks. [August covers infusions and September will go back to the basics with classic cocktails.]  Complimentary light snacks will also be provided.

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May’s class was all floral pairings – lavender and rosewater – aka it was perfect for me.  My thoughts… I loved it!  The classes cost $35 per person and I think that price is more than worth it; you have the opportunity to drink a minimum of 10 oz of liquor and Derrick Turner – head mixologist for Harding’s and teacher of the class and creator of the cocktails – was both funny and informative.  P.S. The light snacks? Included soft pretzels with dipping sauce.

We learned, among other things, how to use a cocktail shaker, what makes bourbon different from vodka, and how to do a bar pour {8 seconds = 2 oz = 1 pour}.

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We made three drinks, all of which were fantastic.  For obviously reasons, I’m just naming a few components and not giving the entire recipes.

#1: Suzanne Collins, a Tom Collins with rose water and pink peppercorn.  And a candied orange topper.

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#2: Roseberry, a whiskey drink with raspberries, rosemary, and lavender.  <– this one was clearly my favorite

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#3: Maidens Blush, vodka with cherry liquor and sparkling Brut.

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And at the end of the class we got to go one-on-one with the other participants in a cocktail making challenge.

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My sparkling vodka, lemon, lavender cocktail did not win, but when they saw how jazzed I was about the lavender simple syrup they packaged the rest up for me to take home!

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TLDR?  Mixology class at Harding’s / more than worth the $35 / go get wasted, in a classy, educational way / then eat soft pretzels.

Frozen Treats in NYC

Have you seen the Buzzfeed article 44 Frozen Treats You Need to Try in NYC This Summer?  Uggh.  I am determinedly working my way through them one by one.  I’ve already crossed off a slightly concerning amount.

This week I conquered #15 – the alcoholic Kelvin Slush from Pork Slope.

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They had frozen mint juleps for the Derby.  I went back two days in a row and am basically heartbroken that the julep won’t be a part of the regular menu.

#30 – Fruit soft-serve at Chloe’s.

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I got a banana and dark chocolate swirl.  It was fine, but nothing I would go back for, though Adam loved his strawberry mango.

And #35 – gummy bear cream ice from Ralph’s.

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This gummy creamy marriage was everything I was hoping it would be.  I normally hate vanilla ice creams but the milky base used here was the perfect complement to the bears.

What is rocking your face off in your city this summer?