Weekly Wrap-Up; Mid-September

by Emily

I feel like I don’t have anything to say here so I’ll just get to it. You saw how clever my title was.

^breakfasts^*

Amazing oatmeal.

In the bowl were unsweetened almond milk, banana hunks, oats, chia seeds, tons of cottage cheese, and the very last of the sweetened condensed milk.

Food Emporium Trading Company Vanilla Granola with Almonds and Pecans in skim milk.

Berry yogurt bowl.

Wallaby low-fat vanilla bean yogurt with blueberries.

This Wallaby was one of the best yogurts I’ve ever tasted! The flecks of vanilla bean throughout felt quite fancy.

^lunches^*

Chinese food.

Cheese and greens eggs.

Eggs scrambled with cottage cheese, greens (a frozen blend from Whole Foods), and 2% provolone.

Carrot salad.

Matzo crackers.

A sheet of Egg and Onion Matzo with Cabot Light Sharp Cheddar melted on top,

and a sliced Jazz apple.

Adam doesn’t like matzo prepared with egg (he’s crazy!) so we eat it as crackers in our house.

^snacks^*

Organic India is promoting their gift baskets for the upcoming holiday season and they offered to send me some products from their Tulsi Tea Line to review.

Please note – these teas were sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for writing this post. All opinions are my own.

So far I’ve tried the Green Tea, which cold-brewed beautifully. Usually I’m not a green girl (it’s Adam’s favorite) but I loved this one. The flavor is completely devoid of the acridness that I usually taste in green teas. I used it in tasty tea spritzers.

Green tea + Polar Mandarin Seltzer.

Hot beer bread, straight from the oven, with Smart Balance Light.

Cola hard candies.

These guys have the best fizz!

^dinners^*

Different Chinese food.

Pasta toss.

Bow ties with corn and broccoli, tossed in browned butter.

Thai crunch salad.

Romaine topped with sliced chicken (marinated in TJ’s spicy peanut vinaigrette, then baked), edamame, shredded cabbage, salted peanuts, and more spicy peanut vinaigrette.

Veggie pizza.

Melts.

A big hunk of beer bread topped with trout salad (TJ’s canned smoked trout mashed with Miracle Whip) and 2% provolone then stuck under the broiler.

The last dinner won best meal of the week. This will be making a reappearance on the meal plan for sure.

13Sep2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Fun Fruit

by Emily

Not too much excitement this week – as the title implies, literally the most thrilling thing in this post is grapes. It was a week of great dinners, but I’m missing every breakfast so I figured it would be easier to recap via numbered list than in categories.

{1} Frog Hollow plums.

I tried Frog Hollow produce at the first FoodBuzz Festival and it’s been near to my heart ever since.

{2} Super exciting cotton candy grapes with a boring cheese quesadilla.

The quesadilla was just a flour tortilla, sprinkled with a Mexican cheese blend and folded in half, cooked in a little canola oil.

The grapes were these guys –

I’d been seeing them make the rounds on Instagram and was so excited to spot them at my Whole Foods. The taste is just slightly sweeter grape, but the smell is totally cotton candy. Even Adam, who’s not a grape lover, was a fan.

{3} Dipping the grapes in peanut butter makes a mind-blowing snack.

It helps if you have extra-awesome peanut butter too; homemade honey roasted peanut butter with cotton candy grapes equals a classed-up, deconstructed pb&j.

{4} Melted cheese makes an even better snack.

Blue Diamond Flax Artisan Nut Thins (former freebie) with extra-sharp New York cheddar melted on top. Note – the flax ended up being our favorite variety the nut thins by far. It had a great saltiness to it. I don’t have a single picture because every damn time I made this I was blown away by how molten hot our new microwave makes our plates.

{5} New yogurt variety.

Siggi’s 2% Mango Pineapple yogurt (does anyone know why this flavor is not listed on the website?) did not disappoint. I do enjoy the flavor of fat-free yogurts, but Siggi’s 2% varieties have been far superior.

{6} Banoffee pie chocolate bar.

My parents sent us this from Amsterdam.

{6} Creamy pasta bowls.

I basically re-made the sauce and pasta base of my vegan mac and cheese, but with Mozzarella Vegan Gourmet Shreds. Then I tossed in 20 oz of browned mushrooms a blend of collard greens, kale and mustard greens (a blend bag from the frozen section at WF). The mushrooms were the best part, as always.

The final dish wasn’t necessarily bad, but we both wanted it to be better.

{7} #6 was infinitely better as jazzed-up leftovers.

I tossed in olive oil, dried rosemary, turkey pepperoni, and garlic (I grated it with my microplane and it was awesome), and then put it all in a casserole dish with some extra-sharp cheddar on top and rebaked until crispy.

This meal we couldn’t get enough of. And the roasted yellow zucchini on the side was nothing to sneeze at either.

Adam put his leftover leftovers in the fridge and I totally snaked them for lunch the next day.

{8} Lunch at the Peanut Butter Co.

I got a fluffernutter with White Chocolate Wonderful Peanut Butter.

Out of this world. It was so packed with marshmallow that even I couldn’t quite finish it!

{9} Take-out from Laverne.

I got Pad See Ew with mock dock and we were both very pleased with it.

Their menu is an impressive blend of French, Thai, and Japanese and we definitely want to go there asap. Psssst; read the description of this roll – D’ Artagnan Roll: Inside: foie gras marinated in truffle oil mixed with chopped black winter truffles, garlic and yellowtail. Topped with black caviar and seared yellowtail served with miso-abolone sauce(!!!!!!).

{10} Pizza eggs.

Let’s not even pretend like I didn’t save my favorite for last.

Have you tried the cotton candy grapes yet?

9Sep2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Cheesetastic

by Emily

This week’s eats were all about the cheese and carbs {see also: several servings of unpictured pizza and popcorn}. I’m missing many of the day-time meals but I managed to capture every single dinner for a change.

breakfast

Apple and honey french toast for Rosh Hashanah.

I soaked a slice of Trader Joe’s sourdough in 1 large egg, a splash of milk, vanilla extract, and some cinnamon maple sugar and then cooked it in 3/4 Tbsp butter. After my toast was frenched, I tossed a chopped Pink Lady apple in the rest of the Tbsp of butter with a little more cinnamon maple sugar. Then I topped my french toast with my cooked apples and drizzled the whole thing with honey.

Delish.

Tropical smoothie courtesy of the husband.

He said Thai young coconut, frozen mango and banana, lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk all went in the blender.

On the weekend we ate eggs as a family.

For two, I scrambled together 4 large eggs with salt, pepper, 1 slice of 2% provolone, and a big scoop of 2% cottage cheese.

Cottage cheese is my favorite scrambled egg addition; normally it tastes very sweet to me but in eggs it is so cheesy!

Plus toast with Strawberry Crofter’s on the side.

lunch

Leftover mac and cheese that I attempted to stir-fry.

I reheated the mac in canola oil with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and Sriracha and then scrambled in an egg. I’m not sure this dish really worked.

This next one looks like a “snack” picture, but I did in fact drink giant coffees for lunch two days this week. I had several errands that ended up running long.

The one pictured was a clover-brew of their Hawaiian blend, which was fantastic. And yesterday I cashed in a drink freebie so I went big – venti non-fat iced latte with an extra shot of espresso and 2 shots of salted caramel(!!).

snack

Microwave mug cookie.

Number 2 Pencil is basically a single-serve cookie genius.

Milk drink.

This was a China Town find. ‘Twas very thick and sweet.

ZICO latte.

This flavor might even be better than their chocolate coconut water.

Sourdough with Smart Balance Light.

If I’m eating bread with butter (versus jam) I almost never toast it, for some reason I prefer my buttered bread raw.

Froyo.

Another snack that was on repeat this week.

dinner

You already saw our vegan mac and cheese.

Served with roasted green bean fries for our green.

We ate our fries right off of the baking sheet, like animals. We don’t have a dishwasher and plates are annoying to wash, damn it.

Salad and casserole night.

Adam said that my Cheesy Eggplant Bake is my best recipe, and that’s really saying something because I even cut back on the cheese this time.

Served with side salads.

Romaine lettuce blend, hemp hearts, cucumber, TJ’s peanut dressing, and Iberico cheese.

The dressing did NOT go with the rest of the salad but it was all we had.

The cheese was from this TJ’s pack that fancied up our whole week.

Kale nachos.

A kale chip base topped with broccoli, roasted corn, and melted cheese.

This was one of my better ideas.

Pizza on a quesadilla.

Inspired by Jenna’s idea, but particularly this comment.

I made quesadillas with flour tortillas and TJ’s reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend. Then topped them with Tj’s fat-free refried beans, ground turkey (99% fat-free, cooked with taco seasoning), sliced orange bell pepper, and manchego cheese.

With roasted kale on the side.

I told you this was a cheesy week!

fun

We put up a photo wall.

An assortment of pictures from college (round 1) to now, “framed” with washi tape.

It may not be perfect, but we love it. And it was so nice to add a pop of color to our drab living room.

We saw a racoon in our parking lot.

This may be the first little bandit I’ve actually seen in person, which is funny because I’m completely obsessed with them.

We went on a three-hour bike ride in Central Park.

Bike riding in the park may just be my favorite activity. I’ve chosen it for my birthday several times now.

Happy Monday, everyone!

4Sep2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Weekend Mostly

by Emily

I’ve been all over the place lately so there are a lot of gaps in my reporting. We ate a bunch of junk recently and most of it didn’t make it to the camera. Adam is on a slightly less time-consuming rotation this month and we have been making the most of our time together. Here are a few of the highlights since I last checked in –

{1} Homemade nachos.

I’ve been missing ETS since the move, but these nachos were delicious, and certainly much healthier than the ones with a pound of cheddar that I used to buy in Buffalo.

Leftover tortilla chips from a Moe’s run, baked with roasted corn, broccoli, and the last of the aged Gouda from our cheese plate.

{2} Rosemary beer bread.

Just my favorite beer bread recipe with a few Tbsp of chopped rosemary (from my grandma’s garden!) tossed in.

I had to buy a giant bag of self-rising flour so expect to see more of this.

{3} CrispRoot snacking.

Please note – CrispRoot sent me their cassava root chips to sample free of charge. I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

CrispRoot is a company that makes ridged cassava root chips. They come in Sea Salt, Original, BBQ Bliss, and Thai Ginger. All of the flavors are dairy- and gluten-free, contain no trans fat, have 150 kcals and 6-7 gram saturated fat per serving, and have 2x the fiber and 30% less fat than most potato chips.

We were not fans of the Thai Ginger, but the other flavors we would definitely purchase on our own. I couldn’t taste much of a different between original and sea salt, both had a pleasing saltiness and good crunch.

{4} Baking fail.

I was attempting to make brown butter coconut rice krispies treats.

I don’t know what went wrong, but no. No.

{5} Chicken Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers.

This idea was such a win.

Click here for the recipe.

{6} Abandoned principles.

I have very strict holiday food rules. September is Apple Month. October is Pumpkin. December is Eggnog, Gingerbread, and Peppermint. November may overlap with October and December. I might have started hoarding pumpkin products last week, but you are not supposed to eat them until October! But then the PSL anniversary hype was so big, and I caved.

Grande, non-fat, white chocolate, pumpkin spice latte, you were worth my abandoned principles.

{7} Chinatown in Manhattan.

We split a Pat Bing Soo with red bean and strawberry jelly.

And drank coconut water straight from the source.

The only drink that can possibly beat a coconut with a straw in it is diet coke from the fountain, and even that’s a close race.

{8} Lunch with friends.

Some of our Boston favorites were in town so we ventured into Manhattan to spend the day with them. We had lunch at a spot near Times Square with rooftop seating. Adam and I shared everything because we’re so ~~poor~~ close. Cider, pierogi, and chicken fried rice.

We went to dinner at a place in SoHo that had the best food and the worst lighting. Adam and I split lobster truffle mac and cheese and I’m kicking myself that I don’t have a picture.

{9} Grand Army Plaza’s Farmers’ Market.

I think those pictures speak for themselves. I was practically in tears with liking those flowers so much!

What was your last major baking fail?

30Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Lots Of Repetition

by Emily

Let’s start with dinner first and work our way backward, since lunches were all some form of leftovers from dinner. Usually my meals are all over the place, but this week there was a lot of repetition.

First – and this is the meal that spawned the lunches – we made pineapple stir-fry over brown rice.

We kept things very simple which I think was a major improvement over stir-fries we’ve made in the past. Pineapple, broccoli, and straw mushrooms with baked tofu (400* for 40+ minutes, drizzled in honey and soy sauce) in a quick sauce of pineapple juice, chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, and corn starch.

Usually I get sick of our stir-fries after the first few bites, but this dinner I enjoyed the whole way through.

One night I made easy eggs. I don’t remember what Adam ate, but definitely not this; he’s not the biggest ~~Korn~~ corn fan.

2 large eggs scrambled in evoo with corn (Trader Joe’s frozen fire-roasted corn, that I adore by the way. Cooked with a little sugar and Sriracha), dried basil from my grandma’s garden(!!), and shredded parmesan.

Eggs are so nice for dinner.

You already saw our roasted garlic pesto with bow-ties and spinach.

The husband got all of the leftovers and I was very jealous.

Last night we got all fancy and shared a cheese board for dinner.

We did minneola,

green pear,

Pink Crisp apple,

Blue Diamond Sesame Seed Artisan Nut Thins (former freebie alert),

and of course, cheese.

The cheese guy at Whole Foods was so helpful to us. Plus he let the husband have a million samples, so Adam was basically in love. We decided to go with one hard and one soft. A 3 year aged Gouda,

and a Soignon goat brie.

Both were fantastic. This meal was so much fun!

I have two lunches to share this week, both stir-fried rice. I know that on Monday I drank a third sugary iced coffee in leu of lunch, but I cannot for the life of me remember what I ate on the fourth day?! Whenever we would discuss food recalls in class I always thought it was silly that people had such a hard time completing them, but now that I’ve stopped daily blogging it has become much harder to recall my meals!

First up, a traditional.

Leftover brown rice with pineapple, peas, carrots, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and 1 large egg.

The pineapple got sort of caramelized and was fabulous.

Next, fried rice that was a bit out of the box.

Leftover brown rice, corn, spinach, chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, rice, vinegar, and 1 large egg.

I really thought that this iteration was going to be amazing but somehow the flavor ended up being pretty dull.

A friend had some good news to share early this week, and we celebrated with beer and bubble tea (of course). The beer was that nougat beer I keep prattling on about, so I’ll just show you a picture of my gorgeous tea.

Strawberry black tea with boba and lychee jelly from Hanco’s.

Another afternoon, the family took a walk to get ices.

I went with a sour cherry and cola water ice.

Not as good as the strawberry-cola combo I had the last time.

Now evening treats. The froyo place near our Whole Foods gives a discount if you bring a receipt from the Starbucks next door and that’s what spawned this idea – the sort-of affogato.

A little bit of vanilla froyo topped with a drizzle of fudge sauce and a solo shot of espresso.

Finally, caramel corn.

I cannot stop eating this, so I guess it’s time to give you the recipe. It is too simple.

Caramel Corn, serves 1 – 2

1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk
4 – 6 cups (popped) popcorn
salt, to your tastes

Heat the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, until melted. Stir in SCM and continue to cook until thickened, 40 – 75 more seconds. Drizzle over prepared popcorn and salt to your tastes.

I’ve made this recipe in larger batches and you can too; all you have to do is keep the ratios the same while increasing as needed. The leftover caramel corn stores great in a sealed container on the counter for up to 5 days.

Like lunch, these pictures are all pretty similar. In fact, the base of these three breakfasts stayed the same the whole week!

Overnight oats: 1/4 cup dry oats, 1 Tbsp chia seeds, and 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk; stored in the fridge overnight in an almost-empty nut butter jar (~1 serving left). Topped with blueberries before serving.

The only thing that changed was the jars. Barney Butter Crunchy Almond Butter.

Jif Mocha Cappuccino Hazelnut Spread.

Skippy SuperChunk with Honey.

All delicious, but the last was my favorite because that’s my favorite butter. I’ve got to get working on more jars!

So there you have it; lots of eggs, rice, corn, and oatmeal. Which food made a lot of repeat visits on your plates this week?

27Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Trip To Ohio

by Emily

Last week was quite a good one for me. I passed my Registration Exam and then flew to Ohio to visit my grandma. Good times all around! It was also a busy week, so please excuse the many gaps in my reporting (for example, my grandma served me dessert at least twice a day, every day of my visit and I think I managed to snap a photo of just one sweet bite).

Dietetics students – feel free to leave a comment/shoot me an e-mail if you’d like some more details on the studying process for the exam. Otherwise, here we go…

Breakfasts

{1} A tropical smoothie.

I blended up frozen mano chunks, oj, and Müller low-fat Greek yogurt with honeyed apricot.

{2} Berry topped cereal.

Kashi Honey Puffs and Nature’s Path Bran flakes with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, blueberries, nectarine, and a sprinkle of sugar.

{3} Yogurt bowl day one.

Chobani 2% Apricot Greek Yogurt topped with sliced banana and red plum. Not only did a find a few good, new flavors of yogurt while in Ohio, but these plums were the best (read: juicy without being drippy and nice and sweet) I’ve ever had. The apricot flavored Chobani was nice as well.

{4} Yogurt bowl day two.

Liberté Peach and Passionfruit Non-fat Greek Yogurt topped with more fantastic red plum. Liberté makes Greek yogurt now?! My heart practically leapt out of my chest.

Lunches

Lots of meals out in this category, much fun was had.

{1} California Pizza Kitchen, Queens.

Adam, ever the traditionalist, shared a slice of his Roasted Garlic and Chicken Pizza with me. The pizza was yummy, but I went with a salad.

CPK’s Thai Crunch Salad is a thing of wonders, the edamame, peanuts, and wonton strips give it great crunch. And that giant plate was a half portion! Adam and I both ate some at lunch and then there was enough leftover for him to eat the next day as well. This meal was actually eaten the day before my exam. The husband quizzed me a bit over our meal but largely I took things easy that day; either you know it or you don’t!

{2} Bareburger, then 16 Handles, Long Island.

After I passed my exam, a very sleepy husband took me out to celebrate. He worked all night, then came home and drove me to my test, so it was perfect to go somewhere that loved bears for lunch (my nickname for him is Bear).

Bareburger is a NY chain that focuses on organic, humanely sourced foods. Their meat options include wild boar, elk, and ostrich! I went “boring” with a turkey burger.

The Maui Wowie (sans bun) was far from boring; it was topped with smoked mozzarella, turkey bacon, grilled pineapple, fried onions, fire-roasted red pepper, and buttermilk ranch.

It was freaking delicious and we want to go back again {and again, and again!}.

You can’t celebrate without froyo.

We went to 16 Handles afterward and rocked my face off. The topping options were out of this world.

I got pecan praline yogurt (!!!) topped with Coney Island Crunch trail mix and bananas foster banana chips! Re-dic-u-lous.

{3} Bakehouse, then Jenni’s Splendid Ice Cream, Troy.

Bakehouse is a fantastic bakery and cafe in Ohio. My grandma took me there the minute I stepped off the plan and we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch.

I had a cup of gazpacho,

and we split a Vegetarian Sandwich.

Cheesy-good was definitely the theme of this visit.

We digested by walking around and looking at Troy’s newest sculpture installations.

They were sooooo realistic, my grandma definitely tricked me a few times into thinking we were heading towards real people.

Then we went for Winan’s for dessert because…

they sell little containers of Jeni’s ice cream!

The black coffee flavor was perfection. I’ve been reading rave reviews of Jeni’s in magazines and blogs for years and now I totally get the hype.

{4} First Watch, Dayton.

I had never heard of First Watch – a breakfast/lunch only spot – before but they served up quite a fine half salad/half sandwich combo for lunch.

The Santa Fe Salad was nice and spicy (and also flipping loaded with chicken, no one person would possibly want that much on one salad),

and any place that serves turkey reubans along the traditionals wins my heart.

{5} My grandma’s kitchen, finally a home-cooked lunch.

A bit of avocado, a cob of my spicy, cheesy baked corn,

and chicken salad.

Nana’s chicken salad – made with mayo, sliced grapes, and toasted pecans – is one of my all-time favorite dishes.

Drinks and Snacks

{1} Mango Hi-Chew.

I am just too glad to be back in the city where there are Hi-Chews at every corner store. Mango was nice and juicy, but I won’t be satisfied until I find the yogurt flavor I used to love.

{2} Trader Joe’s Roasted Seaweed Snack.

My seaweed consumption has gone way down now that I’m not packing lunches for school so this was a nice treat.

{3} Maple-Glazed Pecan and Sea Salt KIND Bar.

My bar consumption is also on the decline, but this flavor was by far the best KIND bar I’ve ever had.

{4} Bourganel’s Nougat Beer.

A friend took me to Bierkfraft – an awesome bar/beer merchant in Park Slope – to celebrate my new credentials and we discovered our new favorite thing.

I grabbed this Bourganel Beer Nougat on a whim (always try to drink booze that tastes like dessert, that’s my motto) and it was out of control. Normally I leave a lot behind when I drink a beer, but this bottle was drained before it could even get warm. My friend adored it as well; we ended up buying a second bottle to split after our first round!

{5} Kahlua Ready-to-Drink White Russian.

I have looked for these bottles all summer after spotting one in a magazine and I finally hit pay dirt in Ohio!

Dinners

{1} Sushi.

The night before my exam, I got take-out from A-Chiban. Mango-inari, fish tempura, and a veggie roll.

The mango was slimy and terrible, but everything else was good.

{2} Spicy.

Spicy, cajun shrimp over angel hair,

with tossed salad and citrus green beans.

{3} Casserole.

Cucumber and tomato salad, cornmeal-breaded baked summer squash,

and creamy chicken casserole.

Among the ingredient list for the casserole were swiss cheese, white wine, and stuffing. My grandma is an amazing cook.

{4} Plane food.

My kiku apple was crunchy and sweet, and the leftover chicken salad served on cranberry poppy-seed bread made for an amazing sandwich.

My sandwich was on the small side, but not to worry, I bought chips (um, and pizza) at the airport!

Do you have a favorite dish that a certain family member will always prepare for you?

19Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; On The Go, Mostly

by Emily

I have got to get these posts up more regularly; I have way too many pictures! I tried to condense the best I could, but I have a lot to share. I’ll try to keep my text brief to make up for the thousand(s of) words.

date night

I made the most of one of Adam’s elusive days off and took him into the city for a date.

Greenpoint’s 5 Leaves provided perhaps the best meal we’ve eaten since the move.

I got a War of the Rosés to drink.

Lillet rose, hibiscus syrup, sparkling rosé, orange bitters, sugar cube. I would to go back for the drink menu alone; the Thor Collins is right up my alley.

I made a vegetable plate dinner out of an appetizer and side order.

Chopped Black Kale Salad,

w/ spicy anchovy dressing, aged gouda & hazelnuts.

Roasted Baby Squash.

w/ dandelion pesto. Both of my plates were divine and I ended up with more than enough (leftovers!) to eat.

For dessert we ventured across the bridge to the Big Gay Ice Cream shop.

I got a bourbon ice cream and praline cookie sandwich.

It was good but not OMG-good where I felt like I needed to eat the whole thing. Adam’s Monday Sundae was definitely consumed in full though.

twist ice cream/nutella lined cone/dulce de leche/sea salt/whipped cream.

kale, it’s what’s for dinner

We scrambled my leftover chopped black kale into eggs with roasted corn, and parmesan cheese.

Plus roasted kale chips on the side.

This meal was so simple but so pleasant. Corn in eggs rocks my socks off.

sweet corn, sweet, sweet corn

Even better than corn in eggs, is corn that arrives fresh at my doorstep.

Please note: this product was provided to me free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Amaize Sweet Corn is a rare bread of corn that is now available in select cities (including Buffalo). Amaize Sweet Corn is created using traditional, natural breeding methods through hybridization (meaning it’s never genetically modified). It is sweet and crunchy enough to eat straight off of the cob – I took a nibble and loved it – but I roasted mine instead.

Discovering that you can roast corn in your oven might be the best thing that’s happened to me all summer; it is so flipping easy and mess-free. I cooked my 1.5 cobs with Sriracha mayo and shredded Parmesan and the heat/salt went perfectly with the extra sweetness.

For our protein we had “spinach soufflé eggs.”

Just frozen spinach, chives, and Parmesan scrambled into eggs, but I whipped a little low-fat sour cream into the eggs before adding them to the pan and the texture was a total dream.

this week’s breakfast

I’m still loving the Kashi, but this week’s ceral is Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

It has good fiber and protein for staying power (5 and 4 grams respectively) and the flakes have a bit of sweetness. Like the front of the box, I had my 1.5 servings with blueberries, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and a drizzle of honey.

I swear, there really was cereal under that mound of berries!

food on the go

I was out of the house (alllllllll day) a ton last week so many of my meals were purchased/eaten out. Some were better than others.

Whole Foods hot bar assortment.

{B} The corn salad and tortellini that were hidden under the broccoli were nice, but the vegan Asian options on the left both had a strange aftertaste.

Starbucks Chicken and Greens Caesar.

{A} Other than the high saturated fat (5 grams) the nutritional stats were pretty good (19 grams of protein, 340 calories including dressing) and the lettuce was nice and fresh.

A small Indonesian Peanut Saute from Noodles & Co.

{C} I paid extra for “extra vegetables” and I still only had 4 pieces of broccoli.

Jr vegetarian burrito (rice, black beans, sautéed mushrooms/onions/green pepper, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, corn salsa) with queso and chips from Moe’s.

{A+} Free chips and offering a jr-sized burrito earns them two thumbs up; I love Moe’s.

A little bit of tart froyo with the best peanut butter and toffee toppings (cheesecake, butterfinger, heath, reeses pieces, white chocolate, caramel) from Yogurtland.

{A+} They are doing a Looney Tunes partnership so my spoon was shaped like Bugs Bunny.

Buffalo chicken slice from Pino’s.

{B-} The crust was too thick and spongy. From a nutrition standpoint, it’s great that the chicken isn’t fried and the cheese is very sparse but… I miss Zetti’s!

Webster’s Buyday

On August 12th we celebrated our 2nd year with Webster in the family.

He and Adam split a (grass-feed, very expensive, awesomely marbled) steak.

I tried to get pictures, but the man of honor housed his portion in about 2.5 seconds.

We love him so much and are so glad he’s a part of our lives!

a new favorite thing

This is random, and I don’t have a good picture, but it must be shared.

If you use a lemon dulce de leche popsicle as the “ice” in your plain seltzer it will be the best thing you’ve ever put in your face.

my parents are the best

My mom and dad are the coolest, and they spent the first week of August vacationing in Amsterdam. They sent us a fun box of goodies when they got home –

These wine gums have the perfect texture and the neatest packaging.

Adam and I found actually eating this sprinkle stick thing to be terrible, but it was super fun to carry around.

These gorgeous milk chocolates – like all European confections – put American chocolate to shame.

And I can’t get an accurate picture, but this cardigan was the most fabulous shade of neon pink.

when I dip, you dip, we dip

Blue Diamond recently sent me some crackers. Yes, the nut company.

Please note: this product was provided to me free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Blue Diamond’s Artisan Nut-Thins® are a gluten-free cracker alternative. They sent me Multi-seed, Flax, and Sesame to try.

The serving size feels generous for 130 calories and the flavor I’ve tried was nice. The texture is crunchy without being crumbly, so they are perfect for dipping. So I paired the Multi-Seed Nut-Thins with a dip!

Homemade Sour Cream and Onion Dip.

1 cup caramelized onions (I recommend using this method)
2 Tbsp chopped chives
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup low-fat sour cream
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Fold all ingredients together in a large bowl until well-combined. Reserve a few chives for sprinkling on top if you wish.

It was amazing, evidenced by the fact that I ate the entire bowl by myself in less than 24 hours.

Do you celebrate any pet-centric holidays?

11Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; In August

by Emily

First of all, I need to announce the winners for my Müller Yogurt giveaway: lucky numbers 2, 3, and 6. Grace, rachelesimms, and Jenny, shoot me an e-mail with your mailing addresses so I can get your coupons out!

This wrap-up spans more than one week and while this obviously wasn’t everything that I consumed, I ate a lot of really good stuff so the volume of pictures was a little overwhelming. I didn’t try to break this post up into breakfast/lunch/dinner, instead I’ll keep things loosely chronological.

-1- I made a cheese quesadilla on a Trader Joe’s Whole Grain Flour Tortilla with Rolled Oats and Flax Seeds with sliced apple on the side.

There were lots of Trader Joe’s (TJ’s) goodies eaten recently and we were very impressed with all but one of them. The texture of the tortilla definitely helped make my plain cheese quesadilla a little more interesting.

-2- Alvita Tea sent me some of their tea.

Alvita makes single-herb teas that are third-party certified organic, gluten-free and kosher. When I returned the e-mail offer for free samples, I requested teas that would be good iced during this hot summer, so they sent me Ginger-Peppermint, Passionflower, and Raspberry.

I loved the flavors of Passionflower and Raspberry, but Ginger-Peppermint was too much spicy ginger for me. Adam loves that flavor though, so if you are a ginger fan I would recommend it. I did try the flavors hot (aka by following the brewing instructions) but the pictures were boring so instead I’ll show you two ways I served the tea cold.

First, Ginger-Peppermint iced tea.

Whenever I make iced tea I toss 2 tea bags per ~6 oz cold water in a glass and let it sit until the color looks right to me. This oh-so-scientific method has never failed me!

Next, Passionflower “Thai” iced tea.

For this tasty treat, I followed the brewing instructions but tripled up on tea bags. Then I chilled my tea concentrate and served it with a couple of tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk. Quite delicious.

-3- I made the best flipping sandwich I’ve ever had.

I know that’s a big claim, but it’s so true. I mashed a can of TJ’s Smoke Trout with Miracle Whip, spread my trout salad between two pieces of whole-wheat bread with three slices of sliced Velveeta, and cooked it in a skillet with a little butter.

Served with baby carrots and sliced pepper.

My sandwich was so smokey and gooey! I want another can of that trout asap. This was actually the first sandwich with Velveeta I’ve ever had (I don’t know that either of my parents have ever tasted processed cheese food, we never had it in the house growing up). The cheese was leftover from another recipe and while I would not buy it again, it did make this sandwich mighty good.

-4- The dog and I were kicked out of the apartment one afternoon while our tub was being redone.

We went to Shake Shack for their outdoor seating and I got a chocolate-vanilla twist with chocolate toffee and cheesecake blondie stirred in.

I know that looks amazing, but in spite of the promising flavors the taste just wasn’t good. I threw out 2/3 of it; after it melted all over me first, of course. I think I am officially done giving that Shake Shack location more chances. But bad food doesn’t really matter when your lunch date is this cute –

Those eyes!

-5- I made two smoothies, one bad and one good. The bad was frozen mixed berries with frozen spinach and orange-mango juice.

Adam loved his glass, but I drank mine purely for the nutrients.

The good was this strawberry almond smoothie.

Frozen strawberries with Barney Butter Crunchy Almond Butter, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

-6- Another food served in two rounds – salad. Thankfully both of these iterations were amazing. Salad one,

was lettuce, homemade croutons (leftover torn french bread tossed with evoo, salt, and pepper and baked at 375*), shredded carrots, chopped green pepper, TJ’s Greek Style Feta Dressing, and Hemp Hearts.

The Hemp Hearts made the salad with their unique flavor and texture. I got this sample package at the co-op and if I can’t find this product at Whole Foods I might just go back to Buffalo to buy more!

Salad two,

was lettuce, shredded carrots, smoked gouda, feta dressing, and toasted almond slivers.

The ratio of fatty toppings to healthy greens in this salad was way off, but it tasted soooooo good.

-7- We ate tofu nuggets and roasted brussels sprouts for dinner.

I got really sick of roasted brussels sprouts a few years ago and I think I finally have my taste for them back.

The nuggets were extra-firm tofu that I’d sliced and frozen (freezing tofu gives it a great spongy texture when it’s cooked) then coated in corn starch and cooked in canola oil.

My attempt at a sweet and sour style sauce wasn’t very good, but the “nuggets” of tofu were pretty exciting.

-8- I made a winner of a dinner with a meal that was quick, easy, tasty, and healthy.

Bowls of barley topped with TJ’s Smoked Herring (that we mashed with a little Miracle Whip), TJ’s Sweet Sesame Seaweed, a drizzle of Sriracha, and a soft-boiled egg.

This was the best dinner of this post! We stirred our bowls so everything got coated in egg yolk and the flavor was fantastic.

-9- I discovered my new favorite combination of cereals: half a serving of Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola with a serving of Kashi 7 Whole Grain Honey Puffs.

The Kashi cereal almost reminded me of Smax. That bowl was topped with skim milk and chopped nectarines.

-10- I finally did a work out.

Barre3 is promoting their 7-Day Body Blast program and they offered me a complimentary month of online workouts.

Barre3 is a unique fitness system combining the arts of Pilates, yoga and ballet barre work. I took a class the last time I was in the city and loved it. The monthly subscription is only $15 and it gives you access to a myriad of online workouts. You can select 10, 20, 30, 40, and 60 minute classes, choosing to focus on a specific set of muscles or on working your whole body. The videos are great and the oral instructions are clear enough that once you’ve done a workout once or twice it is easy to follow along without having to watch the movements on a screen.

I’ve done the Ballet Fit (40 minutes) class twice. It is a total body workout with a good mix of arms, legs, and core work. There are lots of pulses so it ends up being pretty good cardio too. I intended to branch out so I had more to review, but I loved the Ballet Fit class so much the first time that I wanted to do it again. Plus, I’m trying to get better so I don’t have to keep pausing the video every five minutes to die.

All you need for the online workouts is a mat (I ended up tossing my shoes), some light weights, a pillow*, and a chair/couch/counter to serve as a bar. *They recommend a core ball but I found a folded pillow worked just fine in a pinch.

-11- I finally found a good combo for homemade egg cream.

Chocolate Nesquick and plain seltzer worked like a charm.

Even Adam, who normally hates my egg cream attempts, thought this was good.

-12- A friend and I had a great night in Williamsburg. We explored on foot, then settled on Mizu for dinner. I got a Hijiki salad to start.

Black seaweed with carrot and tofu.

I didn’t like my salad – which had a strange, woody aftertaste – but my Futu Maki was delicious.

Crab stick, cucumber, avocado, egg, and pickles.

The sweetness of the tamago made the wasabi extra delicious. And fun gum with the bill is always good.

Afterwards we were very lucky to spot a sign for snow cones at Handsome Dan’s.

I got an earl grey snow cone with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk.

Are you freaking kidding me?!

We walked over to the water on our way home and the view of the skyline was even more exciting than our snow cones.

I ♥ New York.

-13- I made another really good sandwich.

A Whole-Wheat Sandwich Thin topped with smoked turkey, smoked gouda (from TJ’s), and Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.

The smokey-sweet thing will always be my favorite.

-14 – We pulled out our popsicle molds.

These dulce de leche lemon popsicles are insane.

I had a little extra “batter” that I poured in my iced tea and it knocked my socks off.

-15- I made tropical fruit salad.

2 bananas, 2 minneolas, 2 kiwis, and a handful of TJ’s Roasted Coconut Chips.

Leaving berries out of this salad made the leftovers feel a lot fresher than usual.

-16- We ate a dinner dipped in ketchup.

Kale chips,

with TJ’s Mahi Mahi Burgers.

I ended up only eating one of my burgers, so I ate the leftover for lunch the next day with the rest of the fruit salad.

The Mahi mahi was simple but good with a little Miracle Whip on a Sandwich Thin.

This was the one product that I don’t think we’ll buy again; the patties were greasier than I’d like even though the nutritional stats were good. It was nice to feel fancy with lots of fish this week.

That’s all she wrote!

Wow. I need to blog more often; what a terrifyingly long post.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: veggies

Weekly Wrap-Up; Mid-September

^breakfasts^*

^lunches^*

^snacks^*

Please note – these teas were sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for writing this post. All opinions are my own.

^dinners^*

Weekly Wrap-Up; Fun Fruit

Weekly Wrap-Up; Cheesetastic

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

fun

Weekly Wrap-Up; Weekend Mostly

Please note – CrispRoot sent me their cassava root chips to sample free of charge. I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up; Lots Of Repetition

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Trip To Ohio

Breakfasts

Lunches

Drinks and Snacks

Dinners

Weekly Wrap-Up; On The Go, Mostly

date night

kale, it’s what’s for dinner

sweet corn, sweet, sweet corn

Please note: this product was provided to me free of charge. All opinions are my own.

this week’s breakfast

food on the go

Webster’s Buyday

a new favorite thing

my parents are the best

when I dip, you dip, we dip

Please note: this product was provided to me free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up; In August