4 x 3 = 12

by Emily

For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus snack, here were my top three eats for this week…

breakfast{1} The 2nd best* thing I ate all week – Vietnamese iced coffee.

Café du Mondé coffee with chicory from our trip to NOLA with sweetened condensed milk. Yum City.

b{2} A killer smoothie.

How pretty is this purple?? Frozen soursop and blueberries with cow’s milk and vanilla pudding mix.

b{3} Double chocolate oat bowl.

Oats, chia, freeze-dried strawberries, chocolate chips, and chocolate-covered cacao nibs.

b{warning} Do not recommend: this oatmeal drink box.

The flavor was way too artificial. Adam tried a plain one and loved it so it’s probably the caramel flavor that’s the problem.

lunch{1} Cafeteria sandwich.

Turkey and cheese. I mostly prefer to pack lunch for work but I hate trying to pack sandwiches so this is a great cafeteria option when I’m in the mood.

l{2} Yogurt bowl.

Coconut Greek yogurt with pink grapefruit is this year’s new favorite combo! I snacked on the vanilla granola and chocolate coconut milk on the side.

l{3} Baked potato bar.

I topped my spud with cheese sauce, salsa, black beans, bell peppers, red onion, jalapeño, and cilantro.

snack{1} Caffeine overload.

Iced latte with chocolate-covered espresso beans. Full disclosure – I drank a sugar-free Red Bull around this same time and spent an hour or two pretty sure I could hear colors.

s{2} Cheesy bagel.

I toasted half a poppy seed bagel with butter and cheddar-gruyere/parmesan-gouda. Eaten while prepping dinner because I just couldn’t wait.

s{3} Yogurt bowl with my favorite citrus.

Maple yogurt with Heritage Flakes. Plus a Sumo Mandarin.

dinner{1} Let’s be real, the very best* thing I ate this week was nachos.

Four-cheese nachos with black beans and roasted garlic salsa. Duh. But no photo because we ate them in bed in the middle of the day (<–fabulous) and my main focus was on keeping them away from the dog.

d{2} Gojuchang turkey rice bowls.

Brown rice with cilantro, lime and butter / roasted cabbage / ground turkey sautéed with spring onions and cilantro and a sauce made out of gojuchang, brown sugar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar / black sesame seeds and lime juice on top.

d{3} Cheesy eggs.

A scramble with cheddar-gruyere and parmesan-gouda. Plus baby carrots for a quick veggie on the side.

d{warning} Do not recommend: the altered quinoa soup I blogged about last weekend.

I see why Cooking Light only used a quarter cup of grains, by day 2 our leftovers were very well-hydrated quinoa with not a drop of broth to be found.

24Feb2017

Top Five This Week

by Emily

{1} Fiber One sent me samples of their newest product line – layered chewy bars.

I’m a fan! Sometimes fiber-added products hurt my stomach, but these gave me no issues. They are chewy without being tooth-breaking and salty-sweet – my favorite flavor combo. They come in double chocolate almond.

And the even more delicious salted caramel and dark chocolate.

{2} I made a tasty strawberry sauce.

It was quick and easy, just fresh strawberries quartered and cooked in a skillet over medium heat.

Paired with passion fruit yogurt with Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

And plain yogurt with vanilla granola and a few Luxardo cherries.

{3} Ben & Jerry’s and New Belgium partnered on a cookie dough beer and I paired it with cookie dough ice cream.

We ended up not loving the beer, which had a chemical aftertaste to it, but the ice cream (which I topped with melty Biscoff) was obviously delicious.

And speaking of Speculoos…

{4} Starbucks has a cookie butter bar and it is out of this freaking world.

{5} I spent 3+ hours making over-the-top lasagna.

Loosely based on this recipe, it was totally worth the time commitment.

I made a red sauce with ground turkey and TJ’s soy chorizo. My béchamel was a four-cheese doozy made with cheddar-gruyere and parmesan-gouda. I skipped the ricotta, but did top my dish off with more parmesan-gouda.

{bonus} My schedule – I worked President’s Day and work this upcoming weekend which means I was off from work yesterday and today for a midweek weekend! And Adam is off today too so we’ve got some Upper East Side fun planned. See you next week!

17Feb2017

♥♥♥

by Emily

Did everyone have a happy / romantic / chocolate-coated Valentine’s Day? Mine was good; Adam and I don’t do gifts but we went out of a yummy dinner on the 13th, and some of my coworkers brought in candy.

Top five tastes from the week…

{1♥} chocolate-covered cherry <– one of this month’s theme flavors!

CCC smoothie – chocolate milk, frozen dark cherries, plain Greek yogurt.

CCC coffee – cold brew, chocolate milk, Luxardo cherries with juice.

The coffee seriously made me swoon with happiness.

{2♥} best Mexican food in Brooklyn

I read two different places that El Atoradero had the best nachos in New York, so clearly we had to go there immediately. They were delicious, though not as good as the nachos I bake at home.

This was the best chicken burrito I’ve ever eaten though. The chicken tinga was smoky and roasty and there were peas and carrot in it giving little pops of sweetness.

Ample Hills for dessert!

{3♥} yogurt bowls

Toasted marshmallow yogurt(!!) with vanilla granola and chocolate tahini/Biscoff.

Siggi’s raspberry with mixed nut butter.

{4♥} deep-dish pepperoni pizza

I used TJ’s whole-wheat dough and cooked it in a casserole dish. With mozzarella, pizza sauce, and turkey pepperoni that I apparently did not have the skill to cut into hearts.

{5♥} English butter fudge

I love you, Trader Joe’s; this was the single best candy I’ve ever eaten. If you’re a fan of penuche/praline/brown sugar I recommend you buy this immediately.

Have a nice weekend!

10Feb2017

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Valentine’s

by Emily

As long-term blog readers know, the Emily holiday theme-food calendar is pretty packed. There’s Apple Month (September) and Pumpkin Month (October into November), and November/December are the only time of year I’ll eat eggnog, candy cane, and gingerbread.

My mom recently asked me why Valentine’s Day and Easter don’t get any love? I decided it’s lame that only August – December get theme flavors, so brought two new holidays into the party, albeit likely with less fervor. Valentine’s Day (February) gets chocolate-covered cherry and cinnamon, and Easter (April) gets coconut and lemon.

Here was this month’s themed-food stash:

Those goodies will be the main content of this post, along with a few other things that I LOVED (<– staying on theme). It works out to be work lunches/snacks since this week’s dinner situation was beyond bleak – 1. nachos 2. Chipotle 3. frozen meal from Trader Joe’s 4. Adam and I got into bed and fell asleep before 8pm.

Chocolate cherry yogurt, chocolate cherry cashew KIND bar, and a Sumo mandarin.

Valentine’s trail mix with chocolate hearts, dried dark sweet cherries, and roasted pecans. Plus a Junami apple.

2% yogurt with blackberries and muddy buddies.

Vanilla bean yogurt with tangerine, blackberries, vanilla granola, and citrus crumble cake.

A coworker just came back from the Philippines and she replenished my stash of these amazing powdered milk candies.

Best ~~bite~~ sip of the week – very vanilla iced coffee.

Do you have any romantic plans for next Tuesday?

6Feb2017

Walking Weekend

by Emily

I didn’t watch any of the game, but my weekend sure was super. Saturday morning Adam and I woke up extra early and went into the city to watch the sunrise. We parked in Dumbo, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, wandered around lower Manhattan, and then walked around Chelsea. Then we took the subway to Park Slope, did a long loop through our old neighborhood, and walked back through Fort Greene to our car in Dumbo. Throughout the day we ended up walking >11 miles.

Of course, the minute the sunrise started getting gorgeous my camera started dying/getting too cold to function.

We punctuated our walk with stops for coffees and desserts, but most of it went unphotographed due to my technical difficulties. Highlights included a dulce de leche iced coffee from Terremoto turned into an affogato with a scoop of goat milk tahini ice cream from Seed + Mill.

I did manage to get a shot of breakfast #1, at the Oculus. We split a “hell of a nerve” from Joe and the Juice – banana, elderflower, and strawberry juice.

Plus pastries and lattes at Eataly (with sips of Italian cola). I got a cream filled croissant; the pastry wasn’t flaky enough for me but the cream was fantastic and I ate it out with a spoon!

And I had to Instagram breakfast #2 at Santina.

I had a fantasmic egg sandwich. Fluffy egg on a soft bun with tons of fontina cheese and green chiles. I pretty much swooned after every bite.

Friday’s breakfast was a smoothie. Frozen strawberries with plain Greek yogurt and chocolate-mint soy milk.

And Sunday I made an egg sandwich at home. Smoked gouda and a fried egg on a brioche bun.

Another highlight was dinner at Pig Beach. We loved their vibe and their great 90’s music playlist <== we listened to “Pony” by Ginuwine! There weren’t a ton of menu options for me so I ordered some sides and then got some from Whole Food’s hot bar later on.

Macaroni and cheese, yummy purple cole slaw, and buckeyes for dessert. Plus a 10/10 vodka soda and an amazing drink with vodka, honey, and rosé.

I may not have watched the Super Bowl, but I definitely spent Sunday making and eating on-themed foods! We had nachos with buffalo chicken on TJ’s honey butter chips.

Muddy Buddies – made with Biscoff cookie butter instead of peanut butter because I’m bringing them into work at there’s a nut allergy.

And I used a fun product sample from Moore’s Marinades to make my buffalo chicken baked pasta.

I used their Blue Cheese Buffalo Wing Sauce – instead of putting in hot sauce and blue cheese separately – and my pasta came out great. P.S. heat haters, this sauce is more tangy than spicy and I recommend it for wimps too.

Have a super week!

13Jan2017

Mid-January

by Emily

Tuesday night, I met up with my aunt in the Financial District for dinner and then coffees/cookies at the beautiful new 3rd story Eataly.

Wednesday, I was off from work and spent the entire day in bed, watching tv, eating pizza, and reading a Liane Moriarty book from start to finish.

Thursday, Adam and I went on a dinner date sans coats in 66 degree weather.

<– kind of a hard week to complain about, huh?

Here were my best bites…

New all-time favorite coffee combo: Texas pecan coffee concentrate with sweet buttercream creamer. Swoontastic.

I also tried the new Starbucks Cascara latte. It was meh, too sweet but not in a brown sugar way as promised.

Chilaquiles!

Kinda, sorta. I cooked thick tortilla chips in salsa and leftover spicy pepper sauce from my shakshuka. Topped with black beans, shredded cheese, and fried eggs.

Piñata apple with a spicy chicken epic bar. I’ve really been enjoying these meat-based bar options.

Yogurt bowl lunch. Siggi’s with granola and chocolate tahini. Plus pears.

I made cheesy turkey sloppy joes. Turkey breast sautéed with onion and green bell pepper and tomato paste, stirred into a sharp cheddar mornay sauce, and served on a brioche bun. It was pretty damn good.

With leftover bok choy salad and roasted broccoli.

Our date night was a pizza date at Paulie Gee’s.

It was our first time and we loved it. I had a Milk and Honey Ale and a pizza with fresh mozzarella, baby spinach, olive oil, and garlic.

Dessert at Ample Hills. A new flavor, The View – chocolate marshmallow ice cream with ooey gooey butter cake pieces, brownies, and crack cookie; plus fantasmic dark hot chocolate.

Looking forward a long weekend!

9Jan2017

Carbo-Loading For The Work-Week

by Emily

Three words to sum up this weekend’s eats – all the carbs. Fourth word – yum!

It was a very good weekend, in spite of the city’s first snow. We drove (carefully!) into Brooklyn both days for tasty brunches, I cooked two new dishes, we cackled loudly at the Garfunkel and Oates special, and I polished off a bunch of freelance work.

Iced latte from Milk Bar.

Starbucks smoked butterscotch latte. I ordered this with four shots of espresso (normal x2) and two pumps of syrup (normal/2) and it was still too sweet.

Espresso and chocolate milk.

Best brunch of the new year at Sunday in Brooklyn.

I drank a Sundae Coffee – cold brewed coffee, aged rum, allspice dram, and vanilla cream – and a Smoked Oak Soda, aka the best thing I’ve ever tasted. It was like a glass of toasted marshmallow!!!

We started with a pecan sticky bun and a maple cheddar biscuit. It’s possible we got excited and basically ordered the whole damn menu.

I uncharacteristically ordered pancakes… malted pancakes with hazelnut maple praline and brown butter.

Plus we spit home fries and I stole several bites of Adam’s smoked salmon and pastrami cod. We took some food home, obviously, and the dog was over the moon for that salmon. <– I agree, best lox I’ve had yet.

Work lunch yogurt bowl. Vanilla bean with TJ’s almond butter granola and chocolate tahini, plus a Piñata apple.

Pizza lunch at Emmy Squared. We had waffle fries with bonito flakes.

The Marn Blanc — white pizza with mozzarella, ricotta, pecorino, and caramelized onion – was good but intense; I’d probably get something with red sauce to cut through the fat next time.

Snack time, tortilla chips and peanut butter cups.

Dulce de leche iced chocolate from Cacao Market.

Turkey salad for a simple dinner, with mayo, ground mustard, celery, sweet and spicy pecans, and cilantro. Plus baby carrots and buttered sourdough toast.

Nacho night. Tortilla chips with sharp cheddar, chunky salsa, and black beans. Plus more baby carrots on the side.

Sunday I spent some time chopping in the kitchen and tried two new recipes. I did a very loose interpretation of Mapo Tofu with ground turkey and gojuchang served on brown rice.

Next to a bok choy salad. I borrowed this sauce, and tossed it with chopped bok choy, red bell pepper, celery, green onions, and Valencia peanuts. It was delicious! This was our first time eating the bok choy raw and we loved it.

I’d say my glycogen stores are fully replenished. Have a fantastic week!

6Jan2017

Hello, 2017!

by Emily

How is everyone’s year going?? So far, the word for my 2017 is tasty.

Here are some culinary highlights from the first week…

Coffee first, always coffee. Espresso roast and chocolate milk before work.

I also had the best iced latte of the year from Birch; their shots are extra strong and roasty.

Adam and I both had Monday off of work and we started our new year with a trip to Serendipity 3.

Veggie chili for my lunch.

I kept lunch boring because I was focused on the main event – sundae funday! A giant scoop of peanut butter pie with hot fudge and bananas. <– swoon city

Work lunches were centered around a box of free product review samples I received from ips snacks. The snacks – crisps and popcorn – are all made with whey protein and pack at least 5 grams of protein for </ 150 calories.

I have to admit that I liked the snacks a lot more than I was expecting to. The salted popcorn was honestly the best bagged popcorn Adam or I have ever tasted! It was filling, satisfying, and totally delicious. The chips would rate poorly if I compared them to chip-chips, but score a 9/10 as snack crisps. Very few snacks, especially ones that pack less than 200 calories, keep me full enough in the afternoon that I don’t consider gnawing my own arm off on the train, but these did the trick.

I packed crisps and fruit to pair with toasted turkey and cheese cafeteria sandwiches. BBQ chips and a cara cara.

Sea salt and black pepper chips and an Asian pear.

Snack attack. Popcorn and a honey kolsch.

Yogurt bowl with plain Greek, chocolate tahini, sliced snap dragon apple, chia seeds, cinnamon, and sweet and spicy pecans.

I was killing it with dinners this week. Three different veggie-forward, flavor-loaded, 10/10 dishes! When I made fried green onions last week I saved the infused oil and that’s what I used for cooking this week. First, a simple salad to start off the new year.

Oak leaf lettuce, TJ’s Greek-style feta dressing, cucumber, dill, and roasted chickpeas. With hibiscus kombucha on the side.

Next up, spicy cabbage salad with turkey and peanuts from Bon Appétit. I only ever read this magazine on plane rides but this recipe alone would be worth the subscription cost!

I doubled up so that we could get 4 big dinners out of it, and roasted the cabbage so it was less voluminous, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly <– something I rarely do.

Served with cheesey breadsticks, aka pizza dough rolled up with an obscene amount of cheese.

Finally, I tried my hand at shakshuka. Based loosely on the recipes from Serious Eats and My Name is Yeh, my version had red bell peppers, red jalapeño pepper, and serrano pepper.

Served with hunks of sourdough.

I’m excited to do a little more exploring in the kitchen this new year. My meal plan list for the next month or so includes menemen, mapo tofu, kaya jam, okonomiyaki, and chilaquiles!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: yogurt

4 x 3 = 12

Top Five This Week

♥♥♥

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Valentine’s

Walking Weekend

Mid-January

Carbo-Loading For The Work-Week

Hello, 2017!