Winner Dinners

by Emily

I thought it would be fun to share a few of our more successful dinners from the past week. Working every day has meant that my lunches have been lame, but somehow my increased work schedule hasn’t killed my dinner motivation yet. There have been some great breakfasts and snacks too (example – we tried the very famous Paula’s Doughnuts for the first time the other day) but my camera hasn’t been handy for those!

~Smoked herring salad with soft pretzels.

I bought these Smoked Herring Kipper Fillets from Trader Joe’s on my last trip to Ohio and they were flipping delicious. I’ve been having a hard time with animal proteins lately (the texture has been throwing me) but these were so smokey good that they went down easily.

For the salad Adam and I split the can, mashed with mayo, pink salt, and green pepper and carrots shredded with the finest side of our grater.

The pretzels were consumed with a copious amount of yellow mustard. We also had pudding for dessert but I didn’t take a picture because we ate it straight from the mixing bowl.

~Hot dogs with ketchup and kraut.

We had our dogs a day later than planned, on Tuesday, because I ended up spending Memorial Day in bed. Literally the whole day; we brought in the laptop and became newly obsessed with both “Arrested Development” and “Fringe.” This meal was worth the wait though.

Applegate Farms turkey hot dogs topped with ketchup and sauerkraut,

served with roasted asparagus and a new Ruffle’s product called Crispy Cheese Fries.

The “fries” were about as good as you’d expect (not very) but the turkey hot dogs were amazing. I did not grow up eating hot dogs so there’s no nostalgia here, but I found this meal to be very pleasing.

~Turkey reubens with roasted broccoli.

We had to use up the rest of the sauerkraut from the hot dogs and what better way to use it than on toasty turkey reubens? Wegman’s bakery rye topped with 1000 island dressing, sliced turkey, slices of provolone (Adam hates Swiss), and sauerkraut, then pressed the sandwiches in our George Foreman grill.

Plus roasted broccoli on the side.

Tonight’s dinner is going to be a, much less healthy, plate of cheesy fries. I’m off to get them out of the oven now!

28May2013

Highlights From OBX

by Emily

Hey there! Long time no see! It has been, and is going to be, a crazy summer.

Among other things, I went to the Outer Banks last week (whee!).

My in-laws took Adam and me for a couple of days and we had a glorious time. We beached,

climbed the sand dunes,

got a large chocolate-strawberry diet coke from Sonic that rocked my face off,

and met a Flutter Pony.

You don’t even want to know how excited I was about that damn horse statue.

We went to climb the sand dunes in between my spotting the pony and taking my picture with it and I muttered to Adam about The Smooze the whole time. <– if you got that reference I will kiss you on the mouth

I know I’m behind the times, but I want to post some of our trip eats highlights anyway, mostly so I have a record of them for the next time we visit OBX. This was a trip where sharing meant caring; the only meals Adam and I didn’t split were dessert!

Lunch at Mulligan’s.

Coastal Carolina She-Crab soup.

This was basically a giant bowl of crab meat; ah-maze-ing! We also swooned over the sherry floater.

California style fish tacos.

Soft tortillas with local fried fish, cilantro-lime slaw, pico de gallo, and Cajun tartar sauce. This was our first meal in NC and it set a great tone for the rest of the trip.

BBQ at Sooey’s.

Pulled chicken platter with cole slaw, hush puppies, and fried okra.

This stop was a repeat from my first OBX visit and I’m so glad we went back. Those were the best fried okra I’ve ever had, I was shoving them into my mouth by the handful!

Breakfast at The Dunes Restaurant.

We got the Greek omelet (spinach, tomato, and feta) with asparagus. It came with hash-browns and a side and since we were splitting they let us do one hotcake and one biscuit. Even with two of us eating we couldn’t finish that giant plate of food.

Froyo at The Surfin’ Spoon.

Such good topping options! I got a little bit of yogurt with marshmallow fluff, peanut butter topping, bananas, and reese’s peanut butter cups.

Like a fluffernutter in froyo form!

Also, froyo at Wild Berry.

The yogurt flavors weren’t anything new, but the toppings bar boasted sweetened condensed milk!!! I was definitely in heaven.

All in all, it was a tasty, terrific trip.

17May2013

Things I’m Loving From Trader Joe’s

by Emily

Buffalo doesn’t have a Trader Joe’s (yet!), but that doesn’t mean I can’t pine over the goods I plan on purchasing once we are back in the city this summer.

The following are some of the things I bought when I was in Ohio last month. They were all new to me and most of them I’ve now decided I can’t live without!

1. Roasted Coconut Chips.

Coconut chips are nothing super new – I’ve been picking them out of tropical trail mixes since I was a kid – but it was nice to see them get their own package. These guys are perfectly sweet and crunchy. Nutrition stats for 1 oz – 160 kcal, 1 g protein, 4 g fiber, 10 g saturated fat.

2. Zesty Nacho Kale Chips.

I love the idea of kale chips but the ones I try to make up at home end up being tiny, burnt, kale carcinogens. And the amazingly delicious ones sold at Wegman’s cost more than $7 a bag. This 2-serving bag was less than $6 and the chips were the best I’ve ever had. They seem to have roasted giant leaves without cutting them up first so the chips are big and chunky and delicious. Nutrition stats for 1 oz – 150 kcal, 6 g protein, 3 g fiber, and 1 g saturated fat. Plus 130% RDA for Vitamin A!

3. 10 Minute Bulgur.

This was our first time trying bulgur and we both loved it. The taste and texture were exactly what I’m always hoping for from rice. <– no, I can’t describe it any better than that; I love food and I love writing but there is a reason I’m not a food writer, people!

It really did cook in 10 minutes – it’s pre-cooked – making it a super easy grain for a quick dinner. We paired it with black beans, tomatillo, sautéed spinach, and avocado. A one 1/2 cup serving, which turns into a ton when cooked, has 280 kcal, 11 g protein, and 6 g fiber.

4. Organic Sweetened Condensed Milk.

SCM, aka nectar of the gods, is nothing new, but the squeeze bottle system sure is nifty. I love putting SCM in coffee (like a lazy Vietnamese coffee) and this way I can use 1-2 Tbsp in my cup occasionally without having to worry about storing the rest. This was a nice blurb to see on the back of the bottle – “Trader Joe’s Organic Sweetened Condensed Milk is made from organic milk from cows not treated with hormones or antibiotics, and sweet organic cane sugar.”

Are you lucky enough to have a Trader Joe’s in your town? What are your favorite TJ’s goods?

30Apr2013

Bento Box Lunch

by Emily

Today’s lunch was packed Bento-style.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the awesome care package that Cascadian Farm sent me awhile back:

Among the goodies was a Bento Box lunch box from Laptop Lunches.

The box is dishwasher and microwave safe and the little boxes are the perfect size(s) for lunchtime goodies – two of mine came with additional lids. It is pretty awesome.

Today I packed a fruit and veggie spread. Cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes with a sprinkle of salt.

Roasted coconut chips.

Nacho kale chips.

And Kiwiberries.

Yum!

Have you ever used a bento box? Do you carry a lunch box to work/school?

16Apr2013

On The Run

by Emily

This morning Adam, Webster, and I headed to the park. They went frolicking and I went running. I started the Couch-to-10k plan, again. I refuse to go back to week one (I’ve started the plan four times in as many months, it’s embarrassing at this point) so I did the first day of week two – intervals of 4 minutes walking / 1 minute running, x 8. Plus 5 minutes of straight running at the end as I hurried to find a dog and husband who are bad at following directions! I was great to be outside.

The rest of the day included schoolwork, a shift at work, and an evening of tv. In fact, we are mid-Bones right now so I’m keeping this short.

Here’s what I ate… An Alter Ego Mini Dark Velvet chocolate bar.

This stuff was amazing, the perfect blend of milk and dark chocolate. It had dark’s tang with the creaminess of milk. Total love.

Soft pretzel.

Vegan chicken nuggets with some sharp cheddar.

A Salty Peanut Awesome Bar.

This would have been awesome, but the whole flax seeds kind of ruined it for me. Nonetheless, this Yumvelope (the source of the bar and the candy) was a good one.

Hot bar (two of the wontons were Adam’s).

Two kinds of sautéed veggies plus a piece of sweet and sour chicken.

.15 lb of gummi candy.

A giant slice of Buffalo chicken pizza with blue cheese for dipping.

I am, in a word, stuffed.

15Apr2013

Today

by Emily

Some of the things I thought today –

Man, it has been a looooong time since I last blogged.

I made the right decision. Part of the reason I’ve been blogging AWOL is because I was making a giant, life-changing decision and I’m ~~pretty sure~~ positive I made the right one.

The end of this semester is going to be insane. We have two business plans to create in the next month and we were told to expect 40 plus hours of work each week on top of our clinical hours.

Some of the things I did today –

Went to my first day of clinical practice in long-term care.

Took a glorious, 70* walk on Elmwood with my husband.

Attended night class. With the curve I scored a 100% on the first exam!

What I ate today –

A mealy apple.

A packet of Artisana Cacao Bliss.

Chocolate Almond Coconut Clif Mojo Bar.

A low-fat strawberry milk.

A (salted caramel chocolate nougat) candy from the latest Yumvelope.

Veggies from Globe Market, ~.25 lb each.

Thai carrot salad,

and Greek vegetable salad.

Lays Chicken and Waffles potato chips.

Dinner.

Amy’s Alphabet Soup,

and a soft pretzel with yellow mustard.

I also thought a lot about the tragedies at the Boston Marathon today. If you or anyone you are close to were effected, please know that you are in my thoughts.

8Apr2013

Me Jane

by Emily

Doesn’t it feel too late in the week to still be Monday? Anyone else? I have several personal/professional/school things going down at the moment and honestly my head is spinning. This post is going to have to be “Me Emily. Me eat food. Food good.” style.

Coconut Delight Raw Revolution bar from the bottom of my purse for breakfast.