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!

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?

6Aug2013

Müller Yogurt Giveaway

by Emily

A third of the reason I’m not vegan (other than sunny side up eggs and cheddar cheese nachos) is my love of yogurt; so it’s safe to say I’m a bit of a yogurt aficionado.

I’ve spoken very favorably about Müller yogurts in the past (click here), so to celebrate the introduction of some new summer flavors the company offered to send me some coupons.

Please note, I received several “free product” coupons from this company. I was not required to blog about the products and all opinions stated are my own. I was also given some coupons to share with my readers (see below).

Here is some info from Müller about the four new flavors –

New Müller FrütUp: New FrütUp flavors Mango and Orange join Luscious Lemon, Splendid Strawberry, Peach Passion Fruit, Radiant Raspberry and Blueberry Bliss.

New Müller Greek Corner: New Greek Corner Pineapple Passion Fruit and Mango are in good company with current varieties Caramelized Almonds, Blackberry & Raspberry, Honeyed Apricot, and Strawberry.

Since I loved all of the other varieties I’ve tried (except the blueberry FrütUp which I found to have a strange texture), I was very excited to taste the tropical newbies. Sadly, it seems like everyone else in Long Island was too! I went to six stores over a three-day period before Adam really hated me and I decided I would just have to wait on buying FrütUps.

I did come home with a few Corners and Greek Corners.

I’m keeping my eyes peeled for Mango, but for now I plan on buying Pineapple Passion Fruit again.

The fruit topping was just sweet enough and it had little bits of pineapple texture that I adored.

Now it’s your turn to try some (maybe you’ll have more luck in your stores than I did!). I am going to give 3 readers 3 free-product coupons each. Winner will be chosen by random integer generator. Just comment on this post by 10 am EST on Friday, August 9th to win.

4Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Birthday, Buffalo, Brooklyn

by Emily

First things first: Hi, Jill! Hi, Nikki!!

Now then. Everything in this wrap-up is on the go {go, go!}. The end of July/beginning of August was definitely a fun time for me. I turned 28, traveled back to Buffalo for five days, and continued the excitement when I got home with some fun trips to Brooklyn. I’ve made some really tasty meals at home over the past few days too, but I’m going to save them for a subsequent post since this one’s so full. Off we go!

Birthday

Adam got home at 7 am that morning, so we kept my entrance into 28 pretty low-key. I had three birthday objectives…

Glitter nails (which I painted on the subway to the complete horror of the man sitting across from me),

froyo,

and my free Starbucks birthday drink.

A venti non-fat latte with 1 shot each hazelnut and white chocolate syrup and a nice message to boot.

If you haven’t registered a Starbucks card yet you need to do so; the perks are amazing.

Adam had to go into work that night, but I got to have a very special celebration with some family and friends from St. Thomas.

My aunt and a family friend and her son were all in the city for summer courses/internships and they took me to the very famous Lombardi’s for pizza.

My veggie slices were good, but Pinos is definitely better.

Afterwards, we went somewhere very exciting for dessert.

Rice to Riches has been on my “must-try” list since the first time I lived in the city! After the long wait it did not disappoint.

The space was great and my pudding (with a candle on top!) was delicious.

I got a diva-sized (aka small) caramel rice pudding that was awesomely creamy. I will not be waiting another six years to go back, that’s for sure.

Then I took the train home by myself at 2:00 in the morning and got up the next day and drove to Buffalo.

Buffalo

I got lucky and Jean Inman* (a review course for the Dietetics registration exam I have to take) and a good friend’s wedding fell on the same weekend, so I only had to make the 7-hour drive back to Buffalo once this summer. Not that I’m going to lie – I have been missing the walkability, charm, and fantastic Thai food of Buffalo enormously since the move!

My long weekend was a glorious whirlwind of class, food, friends, and booze, but I had too much fun to take many pictures so I’m just going to share some highlights.

My friend’s wedding was gorgeous, of course.

The bride and groom did so many adorable, sweet things during the ceremony that even I got a bit teary eyed.

On my first night in town I met up with my old coworkers for dinner at Blue Monk (I miss those girls!).

We waited more than an hour for our table and were deeply, dramatically hungry so this shared basket of duck poutine disappeared in about a minute.

My friend and I also shared a grilled cheese that was pretty ridiculous.

On a later day, another group of friends and I walked over to Saigon Cafe for Thai food. I know I hated Saigon but on my final visit I was finally a fan! My previous complaint was that their “five-star spicy” was basically unseasoned but this order of Pad See Eiw was so hot that it practically blew smoke out of my ears.

I cooled down my mouth with drinks at Founding Father’s, a bar I loved as much the second time as the first.

Founding Father’s is near the top of the list of things I’ll miss about Buffalo. Amazingly, I don’t think I ever really blogged about the place I’ll miss the most: Mezza, my number one favorite place in Buffalo. The food isn’t out of this world, so the bar is kind of a hidden gem, but the drinks are well-made and astonishingly cheap and the bartenders are very cute. If you live along Elmwood I highly recommend giving Mezza another chance if it’s not already your favorite.

On Sunday, I headed up to Canada to visit the cabin a friend’s family own right along the beach.

It was great to have the sand all to ourselves for the afternoon.

On my last day in town I had coffee at Sweetness_7 with two of my favorite people.

I walked the loop around the perimeter of the zoo and said goodbye to the official buffalo of Buffalo on my way out of town.

It felt like a poetic way to make my final exit from the city that became my home over the last four years.

*Fellow future RDs – I highly recommend doing Inman when you are ready to prepare for the exam. I haven’t taken the test yet, but the course made me feel 100x better about having to start studying after a summer’s break. The class is actually taught by {the} Jean Inman and she is absolutely fantastic. Please feel free to e-mail me if you want more info; I can’t recommend it enough.

Brooklyn

One of my Buffalo friends is moving to the city now too {thank, God!} and I met up with her at Sea Thai on Wednesday night.

We went out for drinks afterward so we decided to split dinner to help spread our money a little further and eliminate the hassle of carrying around leftovers. Lettuce wraps – chicken & peanut wrapped in rice skin and lettuce with red vinaigrette tomato sauce.

And tofu Bangkok Panang Curry – medium spicy curry with string beans and lime leaf.

Plus the best (read: sweetest!) glass of Thai Young Coconut I’ve ever had.

The atmosphere in Sea is great and I want to head back soon for Drunken Noodles.

I was loving Williamsburg while we walked around that night, so it was great that I spent Adam’s day off on Saturday there as well.

I was just too flipping excited about Smorgasburg, a food market that set up near the Brooklyn Flea Market. Basically it’s a park loaded with stand of delicious, delicious food.

We shared {among other things} frozen s’mores;

Smorgasm and Salted Sailor. I ordered chocolate and Adam ordered caramel but we switched one bite in when we realize our favorites were the opposite.

An Arnold Palmer Kelvin Slush with caramelized pineapple.

The texture was perfect.

And a mini cone of sweet corn and Old Bay ice cream.

This had just enough spice and was not at all weird like Adam thought it would be.

The best bite(s) of the day was “cheese pop.”

Does any food not get better once you put it on a stick?? I wish I could remember the name of the vendor because the workers were so sweet.

Check out our lunch view –

Getting to stuff myself with cheese right along the water is basically as good as it gets!

NYC readers, have you been to Smorgasburg yet?

Buffalonians, what do you think of Mezza??

23Jul2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Book

by Emily

This week I’m going to do some book reviews.

Full disclosure – I was not paid to write this post but all three of the books were sent to me free of charge to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Book 1 – Austrian Desserts: Over 400 Cakes, Pastries, Strudels, Tortes and Candies by Toni Mörwald and Christopher Wagner

Overall Thoughts: I am thrilled to add this to my collection; I love a nice weighty cookbook! This book is packed with recipes, divided neatly into sections like “Cake, Tarts, Schnitten, and Strudel;” “Cookies and Candies;” and “Ice Cream, Sorbet, Granita, and Parfaits.” I don’t have any background in Austrian baking, but the recipes are written in such a clear, straightforward way that I would feel confident tackling any of them. There are a few history blurbs but overall the writing is to the point, which I appreciate. The color photographs are gorgeous.

Recipe: Sour Ice Cream with Lime

Recipe Reflections: With just three ingredients – low-fat sour cream, simple syrup, and fresh lime – this is the easiest ice cream I’ve ever made. But the ease didn’t make it any less tasty. Sweet and sour were perfectly balance here and the mouthfeel was nice and creamy with no ice crystals. I cut the recipe in half without incident.

What I Want to Make Next: Lavender Ice Cream, Plum Kolach, and Buttermilk Mousse with Honey.

Book 2 – CopyKat.com’s Dining Out at Home Cookbook 2, by Stephanie Manley

Overall Thoughts: This is the 2nd book from CopyKat.com that seeks to recreate recipes from popular restaurants. There are recipes inspired by more than 60 restaurants, including Starbucks, Sonic, and Cheesecake Factory. The book is divided into sections by types of foods, i.e. “Drinks,” “Appetizers,” “Desserts,” and so on. I don’t really eat at most of the restaurants featured here, but if your family regularly eats out at (popular chain) restaurants and is looking to cut back this book would be a great starting point. There are no photographs but you don’t need them as a starting point anyway because the dishes are all things you’ve seen before (that’s the point!).

Recipe 1: (Panera Bread) Broccoli Cheese Soup

Recipe 1 Reflections: I’ve never tried the original, but we flipping loved this recipe. The soup was sooo thick and perfectly creamy but without being too heavy. The flavor was astonishingly “meaty,” and the vegetables all reached the perfect texture – soft but not mushy. I used fat-free half & half instead of full-fat and I recommend this substitution. Adam and I both thought this was the best soup we’ve ever made. I cut the recipe in half without incident.

Recipe 2: (Cajun Cafe) Bourbon ~~Chicken~~ Tofu

Recipe 2 Reflections: I went with chicken instead of tofu here but feel like I still got a good idea of the recipe. This wasn’t bad, certainly, but we did not enjoy it as much as the soup. The sauce got very salty if you let it reduce too long, and we had already subbed in low-sodium soy sauce.

What I Want to Make Next: (The Melting Pot) Wisconsin Trio Fondue, (P.F. Chang’s) Lettuce Wraps, and (Red Lobster) Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

Book 3 –The No-Cook, No-Bake Cookbook: 101 Delicious Recipes for When It’s Too Hot to Cook, by Matt Kadey

Overall Thoughts: This cookbook has 101 oven-free recipes and includes color photographs of 80 of them. It’s divided into four sections – “Breakfast and Brunch,” “Starters and Sides,” “Main Dishes,” and “Desserts.” I really appreciated how healthy all of the recipes in this cookbook were. Usually I make substitutions to lower fat, calories, or sodium when I cook, but I couldn’t find a single recipe in this book that it seemed necessary to alter (for health reasons that is, I did make some pantry-related substitutions).

Recipe 1: Mango Fool

Recipe 1 Reflections: I’ve never eaten a Fool before, but this basically ended up being flavored Greek yogurt. The ginger and orange juice definitely helped boost the mango flavor into something extra-special. This took about a minute to come together, and I plan on making it again.

Recipe 2: Avocado Fruit Salad

Recipe Reflections 2: My fruit all looks a little pink because I had to substitute frozen berries when my blackberries caught a case of mold. I also subbed almonds for walnuts. I can’t say that I loved the savoriness of the avocado, but I did enjoy it more than I was expecting too. The overall blend of textures and flavors was fantastic; this felt very fresh and zingy.

What I Want to Make Next: Machta Mango Shake, Cucumber Seaweed Salad, and Tex-Mex Chipotle Beans.

Do you like to cook straight from recipes or do you prefer to wing it in the kitchen? Where do you tend to get your recipes – cookbooks, food blogs, or family and friends?

7Jul2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; We Moved

by Emily

We moved! On Saturday, June 29th, we did a final pack-up and traded in our Buffalo life for one in Long Island/Queens. Things have been crazy, and I have a lot to figure out still, but I think we’re going to like it here.

We were lucky to have no major issues with the move, but every little thing that could go wrong certainly did! Lots of rain, miscommunication with companies, and sleepless nights. I was very glad that a friend tagged along on my drive to the city to help me with Webster.

I have eaten an insane amount of food over the past week (moving is hungry business!) but I’ve been too busy to capture most of it on film. I also don’t have apartment pictures to share with y’all yet (sorry, Nana!). Here is what I do have to share…

A Random Snack

Getting all of our stuff out of my in-laws’ basement involved multiple 3+ hour trips. Between traffic, tolls, accidents, tailgaters, and our general level of frustration, these trips were pretty brutal. Staying awake involved lots of caffeine and munching (case in point – one day I ate a bag of Cheetos for lunch and a bag of Cheez-its for dinner!). One bright spot in the mandatory snacking was this bag of Sponch cookies.

I hadn’t seen this brand in Buffalo, but if you spot them in your area – get them! They are shortbread cookies topped with marshmallow, coconut, and jam.

So flipping good.

A Few Free Samples**

**The products mentioned in this section of the post were provided for me to sample free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Right before the move, someone from Best Price Nutrition contacted me to see if I would like to try a couple of products. The timing was perfect because their box beat me to the new apartment and we lived the first few days without any of our kitchen boxes. They sent me some sample sized vitamins and whey protein.

The vitamin packs were from the Nature’s Way Alive! Once Daily Women’s line.

Nutritional note – the stats on this vitamin make it a pretty good daily multivitamin, but if I was going to take it regularly I would definitely continue my additional fish oil and vitamin d supplementation.

The whey protein packs were great for breakfast during my first days. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Isoflex Citrus Peach flavor.

It had a good zinginess but the aftertaste was too strongly “protein powder.” Plus it didn’t mix all that well.

I mixed the Isoflex Banana Creme Supreme with skim milk and enjoyed it much more than the other flavor.

It was nice and creamy and probably would have worked really well in a smoothie.

On the body and mind front – Yoga Download offered me a coupon code to try one of their classes.

You guys know that I’m terrible at making it in to scheduled yoga classes (I only attended one class during my last unlimited two month pass!!) so the idea of online classes appeals to me.

Yoga Download offers yoga, pilates, meditation, and other fitness classes. They have a variety of free classes, and the other classes are priced based on whether you choose to download the class or watch it online one time only. Also for many classes you can choose audio-only or video/slideshow. You can filter the classes by ability level and intensity and most of the yoga classes come with a downloadable position guide.

I downloaded Basic Mat Pilates, an advanced beginner class. Verdict – I liked it. The class was easy enough for me (maybe a tiny bit too easy) but still provided a good stretch and core workout. The video was of an instructor and two students so you got a couple of examples of good form. I plan on doing the workout again, as well as looking into some of the free yoga classes.

Our First Meal in Long Island

Once we unpacked our cars we loaded back in (dog and all) to head to dinner. Shack Shake was one of my favorites in the city so we hit up a Long Island location.

Strawberry and black & white shakes,

plus cheese fries to share.

Sadly nothing was as good as we remembered; I didn’t even finish my shake. I want to go back to the original location soon and see if it holds up to my memory.

Our First Meal Cooked in our New Apartment

Four cheese Sacchetti with mushrooms, spinach, and a lemon cream sauce.

I went to Whole Foods and got a little crazy.

I cooked the pasta according to the package then tossed it with mushrooms (sauteed in butter), spinach (sauteed with lemon juice), and cream sauce (butter, light cream, and lemon zest).

Those little presents of pasta are ridiculously tasty.

Our First Froyo

I was under the impression that the self-serve trend hadn’t hit NYC yet but luckily I was very mistaken. One of our first discoveries in our new neighborhood (though not walking distance like on Elmwood, boo!) was Twist.

They have toasted marshmallow frozen yogurt. And now I can die.

Our First Trip Back “Home”

On Adam’s first day off we headed back to our old stomping grounds – Park Slope. 7th Avenue is one of our favorite spots on the planet and we were excited to check out some of the new spots that had popped up in our 4 year absence. We ate/walked/ate/walked and so on until we were stuffed to the gills!

Pino’s pizza <– best pizza in NYC.

My spinach white slice did not disappoint.

Butter Lane Cupcakes was new to us but we’ll be going back.

We split an Elvis; a banana cupcake topped with peanut butter frosting and mini marshmallows.

The cupcake was my new favorite, the big pieces of banana embedded throughout were amazing.

Finally, we headed down to 5th Avenue for Sky Ice, a Thai ice cream spot that Serious Eats recommended.

One scoop of durian and one scoop of thai iced coffee ice cream.

The flavors were so spot on that it basically blew my mind. I want to go back to try the thai iced tea flavor asap.

Also, we found our new desk right in front of our old apartment!

What are the odds of that?!

American readers, how did you celebrate July 4th this year?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: yogurt

Weekly Wrap-Up; Fun Fruit

Weekly Wrap-Up; Cheesetastic

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

fun

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.

Müller Yogurt Giveaway

Please note, I received several “free product” coupons from this company. I was not required to blog about the products and all opinions stated are my own. I was also given some coupons to share with my readers (see below).

Weekly Wrap-Up; Birthday, Buffalo, Brooklyn

Birthday

Buffalo

Brooklyn

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Book

Full disclosure – I was not paid to write this post but all three of the books were sent to me free of charge to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Book 1 – Austrian Desserts: Over 400 Cakes, Pastries, Strudels, Tortes and Candies by Toni Mörwald and Christopher Wagner

Book 2 – CopyKat.com’s Dining Out at Home Cookbook 2, by Stephanie Manley

Book 3 –The No-Cook, No-Bake Cookbook: 101 Delicious Recipes for When It’s Too Hot to Cook, by Matt Kadey

Weekly Wrap-Up; We Moved

**The products mentioned in this section of the post were provided for me to sample free of charge. All opinions are my own.