Cookie Monster

by Emily

Friday, Friday, Friday! How did a short week feel so long? At least I had multiple sugar highs to carry me through.

Munk Pack sent me a sweet (but actually protein-packed) box of samples. Munk Pack Protein Cookies contain a whopping 18 grams of plant-protein and 6 grams of fiber per cookie. They are gluten-free, vegan, and do not contain sugar alcohols or soy.

I let Adam review two flavors on his own because he’s the one whose lifestyle depends on quick, protein-packed snacks (and he’s already obsessed with Munk Pack’s oatmeal packets). He thought double dark chocolate was good but not great and was over the moon for oatmeal raisin spice. To quote – “5/5. A little bit savory but not too spicy. Firm on the outside but moist on the inside, with a good texture from the oats. Very filling, it kept me satisfied for hours.”

And personally I liked peanut butter chocolate chip but I loooooved the coconut white chip macadamia. All of the flavors were very substantial, I actually ended up skipping lunch yesterday because I was still so satisfied from the cookie I ate for breakfast at 9!

Peanut butter wasn’t necessarily a cookie-cookie but was a darn good protein bar but the coconut flavor was straight-up decadent. It had the slightly gritty consistency of cookie dough and was one of the more delicious packaged cookies (dessert options included) I’ve ever eaten.

Plus we threw a baby shower for a coworker this week and I made and ate a million desserts. Matzoh toffee candy.

Triple fudge brownies with maraschino cherries and cherry cream cheese frosting.

I did eat one or two things that weren’t sweet. Like super spicy Thai food. I went out for lunch with a girlfriend in Astoria and had a great bowl of extra spicy pad see ew with mock duck.

Plus Adam and I hung out for a bit at Gossip; love it there.

Still obsessed with this Trader Joe’s seed and bean snack.

It was a week of fantastic home-cooked dinners. Like Asian-style cabbage wraps. <– best dish of the week

Red cabbage cups / ground turkey sauteed with shredded carrot, spring onion, orange and bell pepper/ crushed peanuts on top.

Plus two dipping sauces – miso, lime juice, sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, gojuchang / avocado, cilantro, fish sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, Greek yogurt, evoo.

Another night I used the leftover avocado cilantro sauce to make a killer salad. With red cabbage, arugula, spring onion, shredded carrot, yellow bell pepper, black beans, sharp cheddar, and salty peanuts.

With an assortment of global gummy candies for dessert.

And another night we made loaded cheeseburger cheese fries!

Waffle fries / cheese / tons of sauteed onion / mini turkey cheeseburgers / with ketchup and mayo on top.

Plus broccoli slaw on the side, sauteed with rice vinegar and cream cheese.

Have a happy weekend!

13Jan2018

Spicy Cherry Coke Chicken

by Emily

This past week was extra-strength lengthy. I stayed late at work a few days and had several issues with my train and the end result was that I was home more than two hours late almost every day this week – yuck! I did manage to eat some good dinners still, but I did not manage to get this post up on time.

Best bites {or really should I be writing “superior sips” here because I always start with coffee?!} –

Iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk.

I also had a yummy iced latte from Birch.

And I tried the new blonde espresso from Starbucks. <– quite good, felt like it should be paired with vanilla

Peach Siggi’s with a Cara Cara orange and strawberry granola minis.

Plain Icelandic style yogurt with maple taffy, Page mandarins, and sprinkled donut crunch cereal.

I am a marketer’s dream; I don’t eat cereal all that often, and I hate Captain Crunch, but I still bought this because it was adorable!

Adam and I both had Monday off, so we got to go on a lunch date! Serendipity3.

It was our best meal there to date, we were both swooning over our entrees. I had curried chicken casserole with almonds and many bites of Adam’s sandwich.

We came home with two-full-meals-worth of leftovers and were still almost too full for dessert. Almost. This sundae is the best thing ever – humble (peanut butter) pie / vanilla ice cream / sliced bananas / hot fudge.

Bonus – we stopped at Dylan’s next door before our walk across the Queensborough bridge and bought a candy bar on a whim that ended up being fantastic.

I made a big crockpot of Spicy Cherry Coke Chicken for dinners. Basically this recipe but with Coke instead of Dr Pepper and chicken instead of pork and I diced up my cherries, chipotles, and jalapenos.

Served on a sandwich with brioche bun and mayo.

And roasted zucchini on the side.

And served on top of nachos!

My other dinners were brinners.

Breakfast bowl with sauteed kale with tons of garlic and onion, Trader Joe’s meatless breakfast sausages, and two fried eggs.

Scrambled eggs with tons of onion, chipotle, and sharp cheddar and roasted green beans on the side.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

8Jan2018

Best Ever Iced Coffee

by Emily

I survived the less-than-zero-degree weather! My first winter in Buffalo I bought myself a pair of (children’s!) Sorrel snow-boots and they remain the single most essential item in my closet.

I worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday, so my weekend eats weren’t all that exciting. Work was busy-busy so I mostly ate quick, snacky things. The highlights…

Iced coffee with a crispy Pacific Rose apple.

This New Orleans-style cold brew with sweetened condensed milk is officially my favorite coffee combo of all time. I love Grady’s in general and this was perfectly spiced so with the SCM it was insanely delicious.

Sooooo much hot chocolate.

A giant smoothie I shared with Adam – plain Greek yogurt, frozen soursop, mango, and grapes.

Toasted onion bagel with jalopeño-cheddar cream cheese. I ended up scraping off part of my mountain of cream cheese like some kind of tourist.

Watermelon / Sriracha chicken bar / vanilla crispy square.

Maple salmon bar / TJ’s dried chokanan mango / TJ’s seed & bean medley.

The first two nights of dinner I was thanking past Emily for leaving me yummy leftovers. Hot wing pasta.

Hot dish. With ketchup and Sriracha on top.

And Sunday night I finally got around to cooking the meal I had planned for the first night of Hannukah!

I had kind of a bad foodie/good foodie thing going on – my latkes were from a box but my matzoh brie was fried in duck fat.

I sprinkle sugar on mine because that’s how I grew up eating it. And that’s a blob of labne on my latkes that I wished was sour cream. Plus we had roasted broccoli with sumac.

I am off of work today! and we are going somewhere fun for lunch!!

5Jan2018

Hello, 2018!

by Emily

On a personal level, 2018 is off to a great start. Adam’s and my last week of 2017 staycation was deeply wonderful, so I’m starting the year in a damn good mood.

Though perhaps I’ll be less ecstatic today, by the time this post goes live I will already be outside attempting to dig my car out from the foot plus of snow dropped by the bomb cyclone. I work this weekend so thankfully I was already off for the worst of it on Thursday.

Here were the best bites from the year so far…

This week’s coffee – Starbucks espresso roast.

Plus on my snow day I sipped on a super fancy Stumptown Nitro Cold Brew with chocolate milk. Total frothy, creamy, goodness.

Yogurt bowl work lunches are off to a good start. Coffee and Cream Chobani with maple almond butter granola and a Pacific Rose apple and MadeGood chocolate chip granola minis.

Mint Chocolate Chunk Chobani with chocolate Cheerios and chocolate-covered cocoa nibs. This new flavor was surprisingly delicious, just like mint chip ice cream.

Smoked turkey and Swiss sandwich box from Starbucks.

Popping champagne gummies for the new year. I have loved all of the bears from Project Seven that I’ve tried so far.

Yummy vanilla bean French pudding.

Exciting limited edition seltzers tasting. We didn’t like the cola as much as I had hoped – it was too weird to have the flavor without the sweetness – and the unicorn kisses wasn’t magical but was very tasty.

I totally rocked it in the kitchen this week; three meals were 10/10. Like good luck bowls to start the year – forbidden rice / collard greens – sauteed with garlic / hoppin’ john – a slightly bastardized version with orange bell pepper added in.

Hot wing pasta with carrots and celery on the side.

Whole wheat pasta shells / sauteed baby spinach and green onion with fish sauce / shredded chicken breast with cream cheese and hot sauce / sharp cheddar.

Chick pot pie hot dish (loosely inspired by this recipe from Molly Yeh).

Shredded chicken breast / tons of sauteed mushrooms, onion, celery, and peas / roux + caned low fat milk and chicken broth with sour cream, hot sauce, mustard, liquid smoke, and smoked paprika / tater tots!

Hope everyone’s 2018 is off to a good start!

8Dec2017

Use Your Noggin

by Emily

No full post this week – I’m feeling a bit under the weather – but I had to bop in and share the FANTABULOUS eggnog goodies I tried this week.

Eggnog in my coffee! Trader Joe’s light ‘nog with Starbucks’ Christmas blend espresso roast.

Eggnog Nutrament. Also worth noting – TJ’s starfruit seltzer is pretty fantastic.

Eggnog yogurt!! With persimmon and a gingerbread oat bar.

Eggnog ice cream. It was so creamy.

4Dec2017

Miracle On 9th Street

by Emily

New York City is the best place on Earth and that is doubly true around holidays! Adam and I had a lovely weekend with lots of walking and we explored Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan and saw and ate all sorts of fun holiday and city things.

Like lights in the Lower East Side.

And wild swans in Sheepshead Bay.

Coffees, specialty cocktails, pizza rolls, and other fantastic eats…

Mace’s Miracle Christmas Cocktail Pop-up is officially my new favorite holiday activity! I wish I had taken pictures inside because it was freaking magical.

The specialty cocktails were so fun! I had a Not Even a Mouse – pumpkin spice infused rye whiskey, Budweiser-marshmallow syrup, pumpkin puree, egg, and a marshmallow mouse.

And a Snowball Old Fashioned – gingerbread bourbon, sugar, and pecan bitters.

Iced latte love. Brooklyn Roasting Company.

Orso.

Yogurt bowl win. Plain Greek yogurt with maple jelly and vanilla bean powder with golden kiwi and granola on top.

Ice & Vice double scoop that was truly the best ice cream Adam or I have ever eaten. TBT – earl grey, dark chocolate, and speculoos chip and PSL – pecan, sorghum, and latte toffee.

The Nog at Sugar Sweet Sunshine, pumpkin cake layered with eggnog pudding and whipped cream.

Luda’s Dumplings.

We shared shrimp and loaded potato with garlic sour cream and mushrooms on top.

Brunch at Butter & Scotch, aka the restaurant that’s decorated like the inside of my heart.

I had biscuits with mushroom gravy and an egg on top.

The NameShake.

Birthday cake slice (the leftovers were still moist 24 hours+ later, fyi) and a Unicorn Treat – a brown butter cookie drenched in sprinkles!

The space was adorable, the music was wonderful, and as we were rolling ourselves to the door the waitress brought us a chocolate chip cookie to go since we had been so excited about everything.

Dinner at Thursday Kitchen.

You have to get a light-up booze-filled capri sun! I went with strawberry.

The menu is tapas style so we got to taste a lot. Everything was so interesting, and perfectly spiced. Pan-seared plantains with Korean chimichurri, honey ricotta, roasted pistachio, dried cranberry, and crispy plantain crumble.

Duck confit empanada with dill crème fraiche, cumin, and pickles.

Gnocchi with Korean chili pepper sauce, garlic aioli, parmesan, and crispy seaweed.

My homemade dinners weren’t bad either. I made vegetarian “rice” and beans casserole.

Riced cauliflower / pinquito beans / onion and bell peppers (yellow, orange, and green) baked in evoo / red enchilada sauce / sour cream / shredded cheese. I topped my bowl with more sour cream and some Cholula sauce plus beet and goat cheese cassava chips.

An epic take on cheeseburgers and fries.

Roasted green beans and butternut squash.

Cheeseburger roll ups! Crescent roll dough / ground turkey sautéed with chopped onion and pickle relish / mayo and ketchup / shredded cheese / brushed with garlic butter.

Happy 1st week of December!

2Dec2017

Winners And Losers

by Emily

I ate some really yummy prepared foods this week but I did not do so hot cooking my own meals. I had the day off on Wednesday and I spent most of the day cooking/baking and it did not go well.

I tried to make Oreo marshmallow peppermint magic bars. No. I ended up with a molten stew of brown gook.

I couldn’t feed this to anyone but it actually did taste delicious and I did scoop a serving into a jar to eat with yogurt.

I also spent several hours making brown stock and then lentil and tortellini soup. This venture at least looked like food but it tasted like… nothing. We ate Chipotle bowls for dinner.

Here were some of the things I ate that did work —

This work lunch looks unassuming but it was truly one of the best things I’ve eaten in months. Vanilla bean Greek yogurt with cranberry relish and maple + almond butter granola.

Plain Icelandic-style yogurt with cookie sludge, a SnapDragon apple, and La Colombe.

Cherry vanilla Chobani with golden kiwis and Heritage Flakes.

Some of my snacks were fairly fantastic as well. Seaweed salad.

Turkey jerky.

Carrots and garlic hummus.

Kombucha.

Coffee Chai tea. Good Earth offered to send me a sample and since chai is my favorite tea and I love coffee I accepted. It was delicious! Just a bit spicy and roasty. I drank a cup at work instead of a 2nd coffee a couple of days and did not resent it.

Hershey’s caramelized creme gold bar with peanuts and pretzels. It was so interesting and tasty, way more complex than a regular Hershey bar.

Treats at Vanilla Bean, our new favorite Long Island spot.

I had a Nutella-studded brownie and a delicious iced latte.

I may not have cook-cooked dinner but my throw-together dinners were good. Trader Joe’s frozen section did not let me down.

Fish sticks with roasted green beans and blue cheese and spicy cocktail sauce for dinner.

I also made great “Thanksgiving leftovers” baked sandwiches.

Sourdough, sliced smoked turkey, cranberry relish, mayo, and lots of Kerrygold Skellig sweet cheddar.

With burnt broccoli that still wasn’t terrible.

Please cross your fingers for no more kitchen disasters for me!

27Nov2017

Thanksgiving Week

by Emily

I always have a lot to feel thankful for and last week was no exception. With working two weekends in a row and Turkey Day my schedule worked out perfectly for lots of fun free time with the husband! We had a great time in the city on his post-call day and were able to drive to Pennsylvania Thursday evening to spend the holiday with his family.

Highlights…

Fancy coffees –

Noble Tree iced latte at Nickel and Diner.

Stumptown Winter Cheer.

Vietnamese cold brew.

Fun city restaurants –

Supermoon Bakehouse!

So cool. We tried a banana split sundae twice baked croissant – caramelized sous vide whole bananas, banana caramel sauce, creme patissiere, and chocolate almond creme, topped with chocolate fudge, banana caramel, dehydrated banana, gold leaf, and torched meringue.

And a Golden Boy Doughnut – golden turmeric brioche filled with mild chocolate salted caramel, rolled in sugar and topped with a chocolate shard – aka the best doughnut I’ve ever eaten.

Crazy good ramen at Ganso. A girlfriend and I went after work one night and it was so fantastic that I went back with Adam the next day! The first time we shared blistered shishito peppers.

And I had triple shrimp ramen – with shrimp paste chicken broth, thick Sapporo noodles, chili-fried shrimp, dried shrimp, garlic chives, and moyashi sprouts.