¡Feliz Friday, foodies!

I almost opted out of posting today porque I have to finish up several writing projects and some tarea before the weekend commences.

However, Google Analytics (my procrastination method of choice) just changed my mind.

Yesterday, 13 people Googled the term “carbzilla” and landed on my blog. Thirteen people. Seriosamente.

This, in itself, was too hilarious not to share. But, upon perusing yesterday eats, I realized that I really am a carbzilla.

I’ve always realized that I have a very carb-centric diet. (I blame this on my stint with the South Beach Diet in tenth grade. I’m pretty sure my body consistently demands carbs to compensate for that period of deprivation. Lo siento about that, cuerpo.) But yesterday was a full-blown carbzilla día.

Allow me to illustrate.

For desayuno, I really wanted to try out one of the many mouth-watering cottage cheese concoctions you all recommended.

Unfortunately, in addition to being a carbzilla, I’m apparently also a cottage cheezilla. On my first day of cottage cheese consumption, I polished off almost an entire container. All that remained was—maybe—a half-cup serving.

Obviamente not enough for a breakfast base.

And so I turned to carb numero uno del día: Oat bran.

This was, hands down, the most delicious and ridiculously filling bowl of oat bran I’ve ever had.

En el bol: 1/2 cup Hodgson Mill’s oat bran cooked in 1.5 cups water with one egg white, 1/4 banana, 1/3 cup pumpkin and 1 tbsp. cocoa powder. Topped with 1/2 cup cottage cheese and cinnamon.

I just started using Hodgson Mill’s oat bran, and it is inexplicably way more filling and voluminous than Quaker’s oat bran. The grains are also bigger and chewier—buenisimo!

  

This fantastic creation held me over perfectly ‘til almuerzo.

At which point, all I really wanted was más carbage.

To quote the notorious Regina George, “I can’t go to Taco Bell! I’m on an all-carb diet!”

I had a feeling it was going to be a día of veggie scarcity so I started with an ensalada before catering to my carby cravings.

 

En la mezcla: fresh spinach, cauliflower, butternut squash and grilled cebolla con seasoned salt and Newman’s Asian Sesame dressing.

Veggies? Check. Now bring on los carbs.

I realize this below bol is rather aesthetically underwhelming, but I promise you it was one of the most delicious savory oat concoctions that’s ever graced mi boca.

And you know I’ve been around the block on the savory oats front.

Cheesy Butternut Oats

La receta: 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1 cup water. Laughing Cow wedge and 1/2 cup mashed butternut squash stirred in during the last minute of cooking.

Bonita? No.

Deliciosa? Sí.

In my carbzilla defense, I did consume some fruta in the form of an undocumented apple and orange. They were eaten whole, in an entirely unphotogenic manner—which, if you’re a food blogger, you know grants you a get out of photographing free card.

I know that apples and oranges, too, are carbs. But these, mis foodies, are not the sort of carbs that earn you a reputation as carbzilla.

These are.

Meet my carby cena: copious carby couscous and carby cinnamony starchy sweet potato.

I thought about veggifying the couscous—but all I really wanted was a big bowl of grainy goodness.

With a simple side of sweetness.

A few bites in, some of the starchy sweetness joined forces with the gloriously golden couscous.

And then some glorious golden additions made their way onto the sweetness.

I will not apologize for my copious carbage porque it’s simply what my cuerpo craved.

Oh, and I had plans to drink dance the night away at an amazing Mayer Hawthorne concert. So I needed the carby fuel .

Post-concert, carbage continued. I may or may not have decided to bake a cookie pie at 2 a.m.

(FYI: Cookie pie is the term I use to denote any cookie recipe baked in a brownie pan.)

I found this incriminating evidence this mañana.

Worry not, there were leftovers.

This cookie pie happened to be of the oatmeal raisin chocolate chip variety.

 

I did manage a little healthification by using whole wheat flour, agave, golden raisins and dark chocolate chips .

On that carb note, I have to get back to mi trabajo/the rest of the cookie pie!

Are you a carbzilla? Have you ever ventured into the land of carb-restrictive diets? I’ll wear my carbzilla badge with pride because not only does my body crave carbs, it functions best when it’s carb content. I was miserable when I attempted the South Beach/Atkins way of life—and I ended up gaining weight. So, para mi, carbs do the cuerpo good.

Amor,

Sarah

Happy día de hump, mis foodies!

Thank you so much for all of your supportive comments in response to yesterday’s  back to escuela announcement. I was grinning from oreja a oreja (ear to ear) all day as I read through your enthusiastic words. I’m so excited to be taking this "next step" en mi vida, and I’m even more excited that I get to share my journey with all my favorite foodies.

Before I write another essay, let us resume regularly scheduled Foodie Diaries programming. By that, I of course mean más food, menos philosophizing.

Martes morning, while characteristically cold, was uncharacteristically sunny. Since I was working from mi cama, beneath a wonderfully warm down comforter, I wasn’t so concerned with the frigid outside world’s temperature. I was just elated to have sun beaming through my windows.

En serio, yo amo el sol. You know how everyone swears by the exercise-endorphins correlation? I’m a more emphatic proponent of the sun-endorphins correlation. Sun, even more so than warmth, makes me ridiculously feliz. This may have something to do with the fact that I often embrace the presence of sol as a sign that I should be drinking iced coffee.

Such was the case ayer. 40° outside? Ain’t no thang when the sun is shining.

Apparently good moods create delicious desayunos.

En el bol: 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1 cup water, with 1/3 cup egg whites whisked in. Topped with a tasty triad of: 1/2 container Chobani, a sinfully grande scoop of Barney Butter and a “let’s see how much I can squeeze into my fist” serving of trail mix.

I have midget manos, so it took a lot to successfully transfer that much goodness from the trail mix container into the bowl. You gotta do what you gotta do.

In le mix de trail: pepitas, sliced almonds, walnuts and dried cranberries. All good things.

The other two components of my tasty toppings triad were, I suspect, the culprits behind the unwavering fullness that followed this glorious bowl.

Perhaps it wasn’t the toppings themselves—but rather my heavy handedness with the Barney Butter scoopage.

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. My Barney Butter “scoop” is definitely the same size as my yogurt mound. Woops.

‘Twas a delicious “mistake” that, come lunchtime, left me too full for “real lunch.”

What’s a foodie to do? Eat fake lunch.

Otherwise known as a snack.

Here’s where we get to the title of this post.

Yesterday, I popped my CCCherry (Cottage Cheese Cherry)! Lo siento for the vulgarity—but I couldn’t resist the alliteration, acronym and pun potential of cottage cheese cherry.

I know, I know. I’m the last person en el mundo to try cottage cheese, but, for some reason, I’ve always convinced myself that I wouldn’t like it. (Actually, I know the exact reason. At sleep away camp, during a sex ed talk, the counselor referred to cottage cheese when explaining a yeast infection. TMI? Maybe. But I’m sure you understand why I fomented a negative association with that chunky wonder.)

Moving along, I knew that my lunchtime snack was going to feature cottage cheese. But, CC novice that I was, I didn’t know the best way to eat it.

Wanting to ensure that my first time was both special and pleasurable, I sought out C.C.concoction suggestions from la princesa de CC.

She graced me with muchos options via tweetvice, so I just went with the one I’ve seen grace the pages of her blog most frequently.

1/2 cup cottage cheese and cinnamon on an English muffin.

Be advised that the remainder of the cinnamon bottle was added post-photo op.

¡AY, DIOS MIO! I had no idea that cottage cheese was so ridiculously thick and cheesy (go figure). I’ve always pictured it far more watered-down. This was so rich and sort of reminded me of ricotta.

Just a forewarning. I’m pretty sure I’m in love with cottage cheese. As in, I sort of want to eat it for every single meal. I’m doing my best not do this. But lo siento if I can’t fight the urge.

I couldn’t have imagined a more delectable first time.

Since my plate was all cinnamon-coated, I decided to get double use out of it before throwing it in the dishwasher.

Enter manzana con canela y azúcar.

I was going to slice it in a photogenic manner. But then I got lazy.

Eventually, the fullness afflicted by breakfast and fake lunch subsided, and I was ready for a real savory lunch.

En el plato: 3 egg whites, queso americano, a flatulently grande serving of black beans and salsa.

I didn’t intend for this to be an open-faced omelet, but it was necessitated due to a heavy hand with the bean scoopage. Apparently I really like my beans and Barney Butter. There are worst vices.

Cena was a bowl duo of blogger staples that can be had sweet or savory.

I opted for savory on both fronts.

First up, a veteran concoction here on The Foodie Diaries: savory oats.

 

As always, the grilled cebolla was the star.

And, as always, things got gloriously messy post-photo op.

Parte dos was on my mind all día.

After falling in love with my first taste of sweet cottage cheese, and perhaps having a few small scoops throughout the day…

…just to be absolutely positive I liked loved it, I wanted to try a savory cottage cheese concoction.

This one was inspired by Miss Janetha.

In the mix: 1 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup garbanzos, red bell pepper, celery, taco seasoning, chili powder and seasoned salt.

CC obsession confirmed. I’ll take it sweet, savory, any (legal) way I can get it.

Much like my veteran savory oats, newbie savory cottage cheese had a star: garbanzos.

No, wait. The beans were bueno. But the cottage cheese was definitely the star. I think I just said that because the garbanzos were the most prominent part of the photo. Fibbery.

In truthery, much like savory oats, savory CC gets gloriously messy post-photo op.

Nada new about dessert.

Kettle corn with a side of Twitter in a sea of down=life is good.

So, por favor, tell me: What are your favorite ways to eat cottage cheese? Do you have a favorite brand? Also, there are so many different types (fat content, salted, unsalted). Which do you like best? I just grabbed a random brand and chose 2 percent because I didn’t know if fat free was gross/if 4 percent was too thick. Any CCadvice is greatly appreciated!

Amor,

Sarah

…which I forfeited to without much of a defense.

Breakfast was a bombshell, but, you know, beauty doesn’t equate to fullness. Yea, that didn’t really make sense, but it sounded pretty philosophical, so I went with it. Realization of the day: Neglecting to doctor my Greek yogurt up with some good ole carbs=O.H.F. (One Hungry Foodie) in approx. one hour.

My initial attempts to lull my rumbling tummy were valiant. I went for all things fruity.

Frozen grapes and a kiwi. I tried to eat the kiwi in its full form a la Kath, but furry fruit just isn’t my foodie forte (is it wrong that alliteration excites me?). I spit that bite out, decided not be lazy and peeled the rest before consumption.

Then I got on to enjoying the beautiful 73 degree weather by… shopping? Usually I’d opt for being outdoorsy but, currently, I have some mysterious hip injury (a.k.a. no running) + no gym membership. So, uh, sedentary lifestyle, here I come? Ah, whatever, I walked there and back.

By the time I got home, I was famished. So I made an egg white omelet with way-too-much-for-any-other-person-but-myself portions of spinach, American + feta cheese and Sriracha hot sauce.

Omelets never keep me full for long, so I made sure to bust out my stash of Synder’s Organic Oat Bran pretzels (pictured with iced mango green tea, mmmm).

Have you tried these? If not, get on ‘em STAT. Oat bran in the form of pretzels? My word. I’m considering getting a lifetime supply in case they’re discontinued or some tragedy along those lines. I didn’t mean to eat half the bag, but that’s never the intention, is it?

After some errand running, O.H.F.-syndrome struck again. It really is one of those B.P.D.s (Bottomless Pit Days).

I was so not in a real food mood. So I got my SnackFace on—let’s be serious, it’s been on all day—and let these twin culprits do their damage.

There was about a quarter of a bag left in each of these. But I meant business, and, in the end, all that was salvaged was…

…the bags themselves.

No regrets. It was delicious, simple snacking—a bit gratuitous, I admit. But, people, I think I am finally full.

Do you ever have those B.P.D.s? If so, what’s your remedy of choice? I kind of think the only cure for mine was lots ‘o snacking, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

See you after dinner—because I’m never full enough to skip that!

-Sarah

As you may have heard, yesterday was National Oatmeal Day.

In homage to my dearly beloved, I ate my oats accordingly. And as a very oatriotic individual, I paid tribute on multiple occasions.

We’ll get to those oats eats in a bit.

Thursday morning started off on a good note.

(Yes, I get CNN texts…)

Economic growth? Greater likelihood of employment? Me gusta esto.

With the ring of the doorbell, Thursday got progressively better.

Sir UPS delivered the best Annie’s goodie bag ever!

A couple weeks ago, I won an Annie’s contest on Twitter (simply by guessing that one of the ingredients in their 5-Grain Elbows was spelt). The prize?

An Annie’s reusable shopping bag, cheddar bunnies, bunny graham friends, 2 boxes of mac & cheese and 2392389229 pouches of bunny fruit snacks!

Oh, and the best part…

An adorable Annie’s Homegrown tee!

This T-shirt is the antithesis of a standard company tee. You know those usual oversized, stiff cotton freebies? Annie’s company tee is perfectly fitted (how did they know I wasn’t an XL hombre?) and the softest thing I’ve ever felt (it’s a cotton-bamboo blend!).

I love the back .

I thought about modeling it for you guys–but ultimately decided against the whole MySpace webcam thing. So not my style… .

I can’t wait to rock this to yoga and/or pilates and make all my hippie classmates ridiculously jealous. Why am I such a nice person?

The morning continued on its upward curve of positivity when I learned that it was National Oatmeal Day.

To help explain why I believe this national holiday is one of utmost importance, I’m going to turn to some dialogue from last night’s episode of 30 Rock:

Liz Lemon: You want to paint me as this New York snob… Can I share with you my world view? All of humankind has one thing in common: the sandwich. I believe that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich.

Jack: What a surprise. Your world view is food-based…

Amen, Lizzie. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be friends with a fictional character more so than with Liz Lemon.

I wholeheartedly agree with Lemon’s world view. But I think this principle of universality also applies to oatmeal. I believe that all of foodbloglandkind has one thing in common: oatmeal. I believe that all any food blogger really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a bowl of oats.

And so I did.

Remember when I discovered ice cream oats? Oddly enough, I haven’t recreated them since. And I figured N.O.D. was the perfection occasion for some celebratory hot n’ cold oats.

So, I recreated my Vanilla Bean Irish Oats.

 

1/4 cup Irish oats cooked in water, vanilla extract, brown sugar and cinnamon; topped with a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream

With a simple fruity addition, this indulgent bowl of oats reached a new level…

Apple Oats a La Mode

I “baked” one chopped honey crisp apple in a little almond milk, cinnamon and Truvia—and covered the vanilla bean oats in an extra layer of sweet warmth.

As you can see, this accelerated the melting process.

This was not a bad thing.

I truly, truly believe that oatmeal has the divine power to unify mankind and achieve world peace.

If not, perhaps Liz Lemon got it right: There are always sandwiches.

And so a sandwich I ate.

Around lunchtime, I was faced with dueling cream cheese & jelly and cream cheese & apple cravings.

I went with the whole sandwich unification theorem and allowed my cravings to become allies.

Cream Cheese & Jelly & Honeycrisp Sandwich 

It was truly harmonious. And ridiculously delicious.

Filling? Not so much.

I microwaved some green beans, melted my new favorite vegan cheese on top, and added garlic powder and sriracha.

I’d say cheese was another universal wonder; but, alas, there exist vegans who would quickly shoot that one down.

Lo siento for the less-than-glamorous and quite random lunch, but I threw it together as I was getting ready to do some Halloween costume shoppage.

I packed mall provisions—simply because if I get hungry mid-shopping, there’s nothing in the world that can come between me and an Auntie Anne’s pretzel. Nada.

And a new fruity gum flavor—in case the smoothie stands started calling to me.

(This was blech. The flavor lasted for .5 seconds. Luckily, the smoothie stands decided not to holler at me.)

After some quality brainstorming and mall scrounging with mi amiga mejor, I got a costume! Success!

I came home famished. So dinner came quickly, in two delicious divisions.

Part Uno: Ensalada

I was set on incorporating both honey maple turkey and FSTG lime tortilla chips into my dinner. The result:

In the mix: 3 cups baby spinach, orange baby pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, 3 slices honey maple turkey and crushed handful of FSTG lime chips.

I diverged from my standard honey balsamic dressing—and threw together a quick spicy mustard-balsamic combo. Aaaamazing. Could be my new favorite…

As always, the stars were front and center.

People, por favor, add lime FSTG chips to your next salad creation. It is indescribably life/salad-changing. My bag is nearing its end. But I will be purchasing another to ensure future ensalada greatness.

In the spirit of further milking N.O.D., I recreated my Double Cheesy Egg Scrambly Oats.

This time with one French Onion Laughing Cow wedge and one Original, and broccoli and roasted red peppers in place of spinach and tomatoes.

Spicy egg scramble piled high:

 

Ridiculous Laughing Cow infusion:

Messy, cheesy, eggy, srirachy gloriousness:

So incredibly satisfying and filling that no dessert was had. (Fine, a few bites of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. But they were straight out of the carton, and there’s no proof. Soooo…)

And now, Halloween weekend commences. I will reveal this year’s costume in Monday’s weekend recap.

For now, a hint: my costume involves stealing something I’d never eat. Any guesses?

If it helps inform your speculation at all, my costumes are almost always embarrassing. And assuredly never sexy.

Case in point: last year’s costume.

Yes. We were troll dolls. This involved gallivanting las calles of downtown D.C. in nude unitards, wherein we learned that nude unitards are never socially acceptable. Not even on Halloween.

It was hilarious.

This is my first Halloween in 4 years without my orange and pink troll amigas, a.k.a Rachael and Hilary; I’m going to miss their willingness to partake in my penchant for self-deprecating dress-up. (They are being Doug Funnie and Patty Mayonnaise this year!)

However, I’m keeping my humiliating Halloween spirit alive in NYC, during what is sure to be a wild weekend.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

-Sarah

…does not mean Thanksgiving’s over.

I think my first-day-of-December eats sanction this statement.

I woke up with the always-gratifying feeling of knowing exactly what I wanted for breakfast.

“Pumpkin pie” addiction.

Delicioso as this may be, 1 egg white + 1/2 cup pumpkin + a dollop of greek yogurt does not equate to breakfast.

So I threw together a grande bowl of cereal. This, admittedly, does not fit the Thanksgiving eats theme—but the colors are quite autumnal, aren’t they?

Kashi Honey Sunshine, almond milk, PB chips and a spoonful of cashew butter.

I’m still not feeling the cashew butter. I figured I’d give it another shot, but it’s really too understated a taste for my liking. Very triste.

Luckily, I’d anticipated that it wasn’t going to be any better this time around and included the PB chips for a nut butter boost. Sometimes I’m inteligente.

This desayuno was still wondrous due to my cereal superstar, Honey Sunshine. I’m really not a cereal person, but this better-than-Cap’n Crunch Kashi creation hits the spot every time. The addition of the PB chips took it to a Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch level.

But back to Thanksgiving-esque eats.

Lunch featured my favorite new jelly.

Cranberry pomegranate pepper jelly. Sweet, spicy, pepper seedy seduction. It really needn’t be said, but I’m in love.

Mi amor nuevo played the role of cranberry sauce in this Thanksgiving leftovers-that-didn’t-actually-utilize-any-Thanksgiving-leftovers wrap.

In the whole wheat wrap: thick layer of cream cheese, thicker layer of cranberry pomegranate pepper jelly, honey maple turkey and pumpkin.

This flavor medley was ridiculous. I don’t want Thanksgiving eating to end. Ever.

Afternoon snackage stayed the TG route.   

1 cup applesauce, 1 cup pumpkin, 2 tbsp. maple syrup warmed in the microwave.

AMAZING. Please try this ahora.

What’s that in the center? Oh, just a Food Should Taste Good CINNAMON chip.

Another cosa that your taste buds need to become acquainted with A.S.A.P. These chips seriously taste like churros. I’d intended to eat my pumpkin applesauce with that spoon—but cinnamony churro chips ended up serving that function .

Dinner appears to have nothing to do with Thanksgiving. However, it was an assortment of TG weekend leftovers… so I’m ruling that it fits the theme.

First up: Pearl Room leftovers.

Mucho leftover vegetable risotto.

A tiny bit of hummus salmon.

 

And to keep things interesante, leftover Chinese.

Peanut chicken and string beans over brown rice from Lai Yuen.

  Sorry for not plating la comida—but I think leftovers taste mucho mejor when eaten straight from the container .

December 1st ended on a similar Thanksgiving note as it began.

What’s under that marshmallow layer?

Mas pumpkin pie, of course.

Except dessert didn’t end there porque…

…when leftover banana strawberry nutella french toast is delivered to your doorstep, you embrace this season of delectable eating and oblige.

And there you have my first-day-of-December, I’m-still-in-a-Thanksgiving-state-of-mind eats.

Lo siento for such a rushed post, but I was busy all day and now I’m rushing off to a hot date with a stunning, snack-loving amiga. I’m sure you’ve got an idea who I’m dining with esta noche .

Amor,

Sarah

Beauty can be seductive.

Of this I was reminded during yesterday’s encounter with coffee art. As I creepily creatively gazed into the motions of my morning J, the enchanting swirls beckoned me to take a sooner-than-usual sip. Curious to taste the talent in the midst of its performance, I obliged.

Bad call.

Coffee—even the most alluringly elegant cups—should never be consumed a mere 30 seconds after being brewed. Never.

My preemptive sip left me a scorned woman with a very burnt tongue. I sought out the quickest remedy I could think of, which came in the form of a heaping spoonful of vanilla bean ice cream.

Mucho mejor—still a little upset with my coquette of a coffee cup—but ready to take on breakfast.

I’d already decided on my main ingredient

el bran muffin. I love muffins (you know it’s coming… TWSS), but I am a discriminatory lover of only the tops. So my master plan was to crumble the toasted muffin top over plain greek yogurt, and perhaps jazz it up with a little PB.

Well, I had to abort breakfast Plan A when I realized this was all that was left in my greek yogurt container.

That, my friends, is a dollop (it weirdly looks like a lot in the picture, but I assure you it was a measly amount) , not the bountiful base required to craft my conjured up branny breakfast.

However, all thanks to the lingering taste of vanilla bean still cooling my wounded tongue, I came up with a better-than-Plan-A Plan B.

That’s right.

Muffin Top (the kind you eat, not the kind you get from eating) Ice Cream.

PB included. If you recall last weekend’s discovery that ice cream is an acceptable part of a healthy breakfast—for its calcium—I am happy to report that Ice Cream For Breakfast Part Dos supports that finding. For validity and accuracy purposes, I implore you all to test my hypothesis and report back .

I did make an effort to balance things out by throwing a few banana slices and cinnamon on my yogurt dollop for a breakfast dessert. A little backwards, but it worked.

I ate a light-ish lunch exactly 3 hours before yoga, in an attempt to avoid the nausea I felt during Wednesday’s class.

Egg white omelet with American, broccoli and roasted cherry toms. And, of course, sriracha.

  

I usually consider the cheesiest bites the best, but I sort of played favorites with the roasted cherry tomatoes during the consumption of this particular omelet.

Fast forward three hours. I’m supposed to be sitting in a 105 degree room, but my crazy body was somehow still ridiculously full from an omelet and half a pita. Loco.

That—followed by a pretty loud and painful hip pop—tore me away from my yoga streak. I was kind of cranky because I’ve been on a legitimate yoga high—but I didn’t feel like introducing my undigested omelet to a 105 degree room full of well-digested people just trying to get their yoga on.

As dinner came, crankiness went.

What appears to be a standard grilled chicken breast…

 

is actually grilled chicken stuffed with feta, oil-cured olives and sun-dried tomatoes.

Probably one of my favorite flavor combinations ever. You will learn that I’m mildly obsessed with both olives and sun-dried tomatoes. So, whenever they combine forces, I achieve a very distinct, unmatched level of elation.

 

Along for the ride: a few sweet potato fries (I may have burned the rest…) and olive oil & garlic couscous.

‘Twas a delicious dinner. And since I began my day with dessert, I called it my last meal .

I’m off to kick off the Jewish New Year—Rosh Hashanah—with la familia. A.K.A. Sunday’s weekend recap will feature some drool-worthy eats.

L’shana tova to any of you who are also celebrating the new year!

-Sarah

This weekend I discovered…

mixed with

necessitates a lot more

and a weekend full of

So, in lieu of a weekend recap filled with cold meds, soup and junk food, I’ve decided to do my first official review!

I’m playing around with the format I’m going to use for my food reviews—so if anyone has suggestions about what you like to see in a review (in terms of details, length, etc.), please do share.

As many of you know, my background is in journalism, so I figured I’d have some fun with this review and try out a Journalism 5 Ws + H format. Now that I’ve left you absolutely no doubts as to how tremendously geeky I am, let’s get to the review.

On Friday, I received a package from Nutridel—which included samples of their Almond and Flaxseed cookies.

WHO makes them? Nutridel, “a family-run business dedicated to the elaboration of handcrafted, all natural, gourmet vegan cookies.”

WHAT are they? You guessed it. All natural, gourmet vegan COOKIES! Martha Lofte, former owner of an aerobic studio, created these preservative and trans-fat free cookies so she could offer her studio members a healthy snack. The cookies are BIG, and the ingredient list is refreshingly short. While each of the four flavors—flaxseed, almond, oatmeal and pecan—has a different genetic make-up, the company’s ingredient roster consists of oatmeal, amaranth, sesame seeds, pecan, almond, molasses, coconut, sunflower seed, flaxseed and wheat germ.

WHERE can I get them? If you live in or around San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Portland, Oregon—check out Nutridel’s retail page to see if you’re near one of their coffee house distributors. In store, a package of two cookies costs $2.50. You can also order them by the case online; they offer a box of 28 packages (again, two cookies in each) for $42—which works out to $1.50 per two cookies.

HOW do they taste? As a non-vegan and a salty-over-sweet person, I was surprised to find I LOVED these cookies. I was only sent the almond and flaxseed varieties—so no word on the oatmeal or pecan flavors—but these were delicious.

The two flavors tasted similar—crunchy and very compact with whole-grain flavor. The almond was, expectedly, very almond-y despite actual nut pieces being almost non-existent; the sweet nutty flavor was certainly there. The flaxseed, in my opinion, was the front-runner. It was so incredibly sweet and cinnamon-y—and loaded with whole flax seeds throughout the cookie.

WHEN we want to jazz them up, we should…?

Smother ‘em in cream cheese and jelly.

An incredible addition to the almond cookie. I imagine nut butters would work their usual magic, and I also think the cookies would taste great crumbled over yogurt.

WHY these over another brand? Let’s see. I’d never suggest that someone with an Oreo craving try to snack on one of these instead. However, for those of you who make an effort to eat whole foods and appreciate the taste of natural ingredients, these cookies pack extraordinary sweet-but-not-too-sweet flavor and impressive nutrition stats (less than 60 unprocessed calories for a seriously grande cookie).

And an extra non-journalism W…

WOULD I buy them again? Because I’m not a serious cookie person, I wouldn’t order  a case for myself. If I were lucky enough to live in the vicinity of one of those Cali or Oregon Nutridel-toting coffee shops, I’d definitely pay the $2.50 for an occasional cookie treat.

I hope you enjoyed the review, and por favor, I would LOVE any feedback on what you liked, didn’t like, want me to add, etc.

Hope your Monday are off to a good start!

-Sarah

Yesterday, I awoke on a mission.

Luckily—for both my taste buds and dishware—this mission did not involve devising a microwaveable strawberry syrup.

Nor did it involve tackling the mound of writing projects that has kidnapped me from the blogosphere as of late. Though, perhaps, it should have. And, perhaps, I should not have just admitted to procrastinating those aforementioned projects when my employers read my blog. Lo siento .

Well, no use in crying over spilled milk words…

Yesterday’s mission was of the nut butter nature.

And it was prompted by dos nut butter revelations.

Nut Butter Revelation #1: I currently have 13 open jars of nut butter residing in my pantry. As someone who once declared herself too anal to have more than one nut butter open at once, this revelation made me incredibly anxious. And the OCD-freak in me immediately decided that it was time to clear out some of those nut butters. Fear not. By clear out, I clearly mean consume.

Nut Butter Revelation #2: There is one buttah, in particular, that’s been occupying shelf space longer than the rest: cashew butter. If you recall, I first tried cashew butter back in November, and my sticky-mouthed verdict was,  “meh.” Since then, I’ve dipped in for several “let’s give this another shot”-spoonfuls. But, time and again, the taste underwhelms me, and I deliberately neglect consumption. Clearly. Since five months after opening the jar, nearly three quarters remain. Not to sound like a guy, but I swear that’s never happened before.

And so, Mission Learn to Like Cashew Butter commenced.

The unusual suspects:

Cashew butter, cranberry pomegranate pepper jelly and hummus? For breakfast? I’ve tried to like cashew butter in all the conventional ways—atop granola, cereal, oats, straight up—so I figured it might take some stepping outside the breakfast box to convert my cashew butter-blocking taste buds.

The breakfast strategy:

Slather a toasted sandwich thin with cashew butter.

Add bountiful dollops of cranberry pomegranate pepper jelly and tahini hummus.

Spread.

Let those loco flavors meld.

Chomp.

And… enjoy!?

¡Sí! I looooooved this breakfast. Sure, the cashew butter got by with a little help from his jelly and hummus friends. But if Mission Learn to Like Cashew Butter calls for a little crazy flavor combining, I’m all for it.

Since I’d already gone down the hummus for breakfast path, I figured I’d wrap up my meal with a little manzana and Sabra duet.

Lunch wasn’t very mission-minded—but it was FANTASTIC.

Quesadilla with Boar’s Head Blazing Buffalo Chicken…

Melty fresh mozzarella…

and Frank!

The ‘cado and peppers were added for prettification/nutrification/they-were-on-their-last-leggification.

(The green fruta, though, is part of my ongoing mission to learn to like avocados. I know, I know. I’m the only person food blogger in the mundo who doesn’t love avocados. Much like with cashew butter, I find their taste really underwhelming. But they’re pretty fantastic for you—and I always have an abundance of ‘em en mi casa (and can’t watch food go bad… another OCD thang)—so I’m trying, people.)

I did get some cashews in at lunchtime—in non butter form—with a side of homemade trail mix.

Cashews, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, dark chocolate chunks, dried cherries, craisins and raisins—the lunch dessert of all lunch desserts en mi libro .

Dinner kicked off with una ensalada enorme.

La mezcla: mounds of romaine, shrimpies, grilled onion, grilled portobello, oil-cured black olives, hard-boiled egg whites, salsa and cottage queso.

I’m in love with this Crate + Barrel bowl for its ability to host my massive ensaladas. Because eating out of mixing bowls makes for less-than-photogenic fotos…

Also pretty in love with this DELICIOUS duo.

To continue on with the day’s mission, I decided to try out another crazy cashew butter flavor combo in dinner parte dos.

Brown and wild rice con Soy Vay and cashew butter.

I’ve mentioned my hypothesis that Soy Vay makes everything taste better—and this crazy concoction confirmed it.

Teriyaki sauce + cashew butter? Success!

I wanted to make the cashew butter into a sauce, but I was out of milk. So, needless to say, there were some pretty sticky bites. I didn’t mind them .

Dessert was Neapolitan ice cream revised, with cashew butter playing the chocolate role.

Buenisimo.

So, after un dia de cashew butter, am I convert? Not so much. On its own, I still think it’s really blah. Swimming in a delicious sea of White Chocolate Wonderful, Barney Butter and Naturally Nutty, cashew butter drowns.

However, I certainly discovered delicioso accomplices that make cashew butter consumption an enjoyable experiencia. What are your thoughts on cashew butter? Any suggestions for other flavor combos that’ll help me get through the jar more quickly? I’m on a mission here, people…

Happy humpdia!

Amor,

Sarah

During this festive fall weekend, I discovered…

-Not all orange-hued foods are created equal.

For example, cantaloupe yogurt is not nearly as delicious as last weekend’s pumpkin pie yogurt discovery. 

What possessed me to purchase cantaloupe yogurt? I knew it’d either be amazing or disgusting, and—as usual—my culinary curiosity got the best of me. Unfortunately, it was the latter; there are certain flavors—like watermelon—that I love in their real fruit form but detest in any replicated version. I’m going to have to add cantaloupe into that category.

However, there is an orange flavor that, as of late, I am loving almost as much as pumpkin.

GINGER!

-My newest ginger addiction:

These are fantástico! Along with my calcium gummies and chocolates, I’m going to need to remind myself that these are not candy.

-In light of last week’s reflections of the unifying powers of food, I made several attempts to marry my current foodie obsessions.

For example:

-Honey maple turkey and pickles:

-Cream cheese (veteran obsession) and vegan American cheese (amateur obsession):

-Spicy mustard balsamic dressing and honey maple turkey:

I’m sure you’re sick of the whole honey maple turkey enthusiasm by now—but, seriously, combined with this:

(which I am aware looks like vomit)

‘tis delightful!

Next, taking note of the fact that I’ve been doing some cheesy savory oats damage, I decided to foray into cheesy savory OAT BRAN.

Dare I say it was mejor than cheesy savory oats?

The Laughing Cow was infinitely more creamy and abundant in the oat bran version.

It was rather addicting.

By that, I mean numerous cheesy savory oat bran bowls were replicated throughout the weekend.

I also discovered that it is not only acceptable, but encouraged, to celebrate Thanksgiving on Halloween.

Turkey, spinach, brie and raspberry preserves on whole wheat toast.

So long as you do so on a pumpkin-imbued plate.

 

And do your best to make up for your wrong-holiday celebrations…

by consuming muchos muchos Kit Kats.

…and going all-out with your costume.

 

Yes, as many of you guessed, I was THE HAMBURGLAR.

                                 

“Robble, robble.”

I hope everyone had an amazing Halloween weekend! Por favor, dime: What’d you dress up as? What was the most creative costume you saw?

-Sarah

I feel like you all speak Spanish by now. But, in case you’ve not acquired full fluency, that’s sun and coffee.

Today’s 70° weather trumps yesterday’s 65°—and has also made me even more predisposed to spending the entire day outside. So, again, I’m stopping in for a late quickie and then departing to gallivant the balmy Brooklyn streets. Also, I want to preemptively apologize for any coffee/sun-induced hyperness/loco-ness/senselessness that finds its way into this post.

Wednesday morning kicked off with something else that never fails to induce happiness and hyperness.

Paquetes!

Numero uno was from Lindsey—whose giveaway I won last month.

Highlights included TJs bars, Hermits (exciting—since I’ve nearly polished mine off), Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea (which I’ve been dying to try since spying some celeb loving it often) and…

What’s that Ziploc in the back right corner?

Oh, just the most delicious Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ever.

In the process of transferring these little wonders into Tupperware, I enjoyed a couple as a breakfast appetizer.

Numero dos was from Corinne over at Popchips.

I’ve only ever tried (and LOVED) the salt and vinegar flavor—and I can’t wait to see if the other flavors are as good!

I passed on these as a breakfast component, and instead brewed some coffee and considered los posibilidades.

As the calming aroma of java permeated my construction-crazed casa, inspiration struck.

Coffee Oats!

I know it unappetizingly resembles baby food—and also what baby food looks like post digestion, if you catch my drift. But I assure you it was increible!

I simply cooked 1/2 cup oat bran in 1 cup coffee—and then drizzled this pantry newbie on top.

It’s no DCD (which I’ve not been able to find)—but it’s pretty good. Very sweet and very peanut butter-y.

I wish I had some magic Photoshop tool to make these oats look delicious because I can’t emphasize (or illustrate) how amazing they were! This bowl—combined with about 3-4 cups of coffee—had much to do with yesterday’s hyperactivity.

Lunch was a quickie because I wanted to enjoy every minute of Wednesday’s wonderfully warm un-October weather.

Un gran wrap mexicano

In a whole wheat wrap, I layered: French Onion LC; roasted red pepper hummus; avocado slices, lettuce, turkey, roasted red peppers and habanero lime salsa.

Spicy y delicioso.

On the side I had an enormous pickle.

It was legitimately bigger than the wrap halves.

After being the giddiest New Yorker en las calles  yesterday, I came home HANGRY.

I brewed some Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea (my newest obsession; I had 3 cups).

And snacked on a disproportionate trifecta of deliciousness.

 

2 vegan pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and the BIGGEST pluot I’ve ever seen. This was the size of a GRANDE apple, and I loved it.

As I look at my pictures from dinner, I realize they are as misleadingly unappetizing as my coffee oats. You’ll have to take my word that dinner—despite its appearance—was amazing.

PPP: Peanut Pineapple Pizza

On a baked wrap: homemade peanut sauce, frozen spinach, pineapple, roasted red peppers, sesame seeds, garlic, krazy salt and más peanut sauce.

When I was younger, the only pizza I would tolerate was pineapple pizza. I think this creation was inspired by the fact that, now, pineapple reminds me of Thai food. And Thai food reminds me of peanut sauce.

 

The flavor combo was perfection. The peanut sauce made things really messy—which I didn’t particularly mind—but I think next time I’ll thicken it up with an extra tbsp. of peanut butter. Never hurts.

I had a pound of asparagus on the side.

That’s not an exaggeration; I don’t believe in portion control when it comes to veggies .

Nor with popcorn.

Dessert was a bag of butter popcorn doused in cinnamon and one packet of brown sugar. Ningunas palabras.

Before I head back out, yo necesito some advice. Several spots have opened to attend the FoodBuzz festival. I’ve made no arrangements, but I could stay with family if I go. Thoughts?

Gracias for enduring this spastic post, as well as the unappealing pics. I promise tomorrow’s post will be full of photogenic eats .

Casi viernes!

-Sarah

To continue my proclamation of amor for my favorite food group, let’s play a little game of name that tune.

I love carbs, carbs, carbs, carbs

Carbs, I do adore

Sound familiar? No? Okay, maybe it’s not a real song. Maybe I just replaced the word carbs for girls in Jay-Z’s “Girls, Girls Girls.” But it’s catchy, no? Perhaps it’s time for a food-themed remix, jigga.

So you’re probably wondering: ¿por que are we still talking about carbs?

I don’t doubt that I effectively communicated the fact that I love my carbs on Friday. However, while most of you embraced my carby adoration, I did receive one anonymous carb-condemning comment.

It went as follows:

Wow you really eat alot of carbs. Ever heard of “everything in moderation”? I find it interesting that your studying nutrition yet promoting such a reckless dietary approach. Your clients are gonna be obese.

Lovely, no?

I usually let negative anonymous comments fall by the wayside—and I won’t bother addressing the grammatical mishaps (oh, wait…)—but I do feel obliged to come to the defense of my beloved carbs.

Dear Anonymous Carb/Me-Hater,

Yes, I eat a lot of carbs. (Some may even go so far as to call me carbzilla.) And, yes, I’ve heard that whole “everything in moderation” spiel. (In fact, it’s sort of the backbone of my food philosophy.) But who says high-carb equates to a “reckless dietary approach?” Sure, there are a lot of nutritional experts who preach low-carb, high-protein diets. But, for every R.D. telling you to put down that piece of bread, there’s another telling you to open up wide, chew that carby goodness and get skinny. My point is that there is no one right dietary approach. We’re all different. And we all have different dietary needs. My body happens to feel its healthiest when I give it lots of carbs. Yours may not (in which case, I send my condolences).

Carbingly yours,

Sarah a.k.a. Carbzilla

Don’t believe me on the high-carb thing? Let’s take a gander at what I studied en escuela this weekend.

Well, what do you know? I’m not alone on this whole “carbs can do the body good” thing.

Can you imagine how excited I was to open my handout folder and find this at the top of the pile? Yes, the first order of business at escuela was studying the history, progression and validity of high carb diets. (This made me wonder if IIN has ESP/reads my blog?) Needless to say, I was fascinated and jotted down every word mi profesor said regarding the benefits of getting our carb on.

I also used this carbspiration as an excuse to wander down to Whole Foods during my lunch break and pick up some new carb goodies.

(Yea, I shop at Whole Foods with a Trader Joe’s bag. Blasphemy.)

I can’t wait to experiment with these—especially the millet!

Among other topics like protein, calorie requirements and the macrobiotic diet, we also learned about the principles behind The South Beach Diet. (This further fed my suspicion that my school has ESP/reads my blog, as I just mentioned The South Beach Diet on Friday.) Our guest lecturer was Dr. Arthur Agatston, the author of The South Beach Diet. Despite having a not-so-fun personal foray into South Beach dieting, it was fascinating to learn about how and why he developed the diet. For the record, even Dr. Agatston addressed the benefits of carbs. Just saying…

Since all this carb talk is only further perpetuating my carbzilla reputation, I will now switch gears to another (newly) beloved c-food: cottage cheese.

Since we last spoke, I’ve been through three containers of cottage cheese. In defense of cottage cheese/me, I really wanted to try out so many of your cottage cheese recommendations. All in the name of experimentation, mis amigas.

Let’s get to the cottage cheese creations.

En el bol: 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1 cup almond milk with 1/3 cup pumpkin, 1/3 cup TJ’s high fiber cereal (random) and 1/3 cup cottage cheese stirred in at the end. Dressed in maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice and whipped crema.

I’m not sure what inspired this crazy concoction—I was mostly just craving a ridiculously creamy bowl of oats—but I’m glad I went with it. I usually just cook my oats in water, but the almond milk, plus the cottage cheese addition at the end, created the perfect creamy consistency.

One more point for cottage cheese being the greatest thing ever.

More pumpkiny cottage cheese oats were had.

This time, eggs were added. And, OHMYGOD, make this now.

The mezcla: 1/2 cup oats, 3/4 cup water, 1/2 cup egg whites. 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 1/2 cup pumpkin stirred in at the end.

Okay, the abundantly eggy (almost custard-like) oats mixed with creamy cottage cheese and pumpkin gloriousness? I’m pretty sure my taste buds discovered new heights of ecstasy.

Onto some cottage cheese snack recommendations.

Almost all of you mentioned the cottage cheese + preserves combo, so I knew I needed to go there.

Increible. In this concoction, I used put the raspberry preserves atop 2% whipped cottage cheese, per another recommendation.

I liked the whipped version—but I have to say, I really missed the little chunks/curds/whatever other gross term can be used to describe the consistency of cottage cheese.

Worry not, I got my curd fix in my next snack experiment.

1/2 cup applesauce + 1/2 cup cottage cheese.

Definitely one of the most brilliant cottage cheese suggestions thrown my way. I’ve eaten this combo at least once a day since trying it—mostly because it sort of reminds me of cheesecake.

I also did a bit of savory cottage cheese investigation.

   

Another suCCess.

Lastly, we have the least photogenic—but possibly the most delicious—of my experiments in cottage cheesedom.

Cottage Cheese and Hummus Stuffed Portobello

1 Portobello cap brushed with EVOO + sea salt on both sides. Baked at 400° for 5 minutes. Removed from oven and smeared with 2 tbsp. roasted red pepper hummus. Topped with 1/2 cup cottage cheese mix with 1 diced roasted red pepper. Returned to the oven to broil for 3 minutes.

Broiled brilliance. I was pretty skeptical of how cottage cheese would taste post-broilage, but the crispy cottage cheese layer that formed was amazing.

The only fail was the fact that—due to aforementioned skepticism—I only made one. Muy triste.

Preguntas: I didn’t go into too much detail about escuela because I wasn’t sure how much you want to know. Do you want to hear more on what I’m learning? Or more about the experience as a whole? Oh, and, since you gave my such amazing cottage cheese recommendations last time, do you have any more that I must try? I’d be happy to oblige .

Hope you’re having a bueno you-kn0w-what día, mis foodies!

Amor,

Sarah

There’s no better way

to embrace a fall day

Than to regroup

with a big bowl of soup

¿Estás de acuerdo? If so, you should probably enter my sopa giveaway at the end of this post.

You should read about yesterday’s eats first, though .

Thursday was warm and sunny—a peculiarity amid standard NYC fall weather. No soup was consumed.

When October hands you 70° weather, you make iced coffee.

When you have limited access to dishware due to kitchen renovation, you enjoy that iced coffee in a classy Solo cup.

Alongside a more fall-appropriate breakfast (also enjoyed on the finest plastic china).

Microwave Pumpkin Pie

I instantly fell in love with this DPAAB upon seeing it on Allie’s blog a couple weeks ago.

Piece-of-cake Pumpkin Pie Perfection: 1/2 cup pumpkin, 1 egg white, pumpkin pie spice and sweetener (I used brown sugar and maple syrup). Microwave for 3 minutes.

This will yield one of those precious little pies/pancakes/call–em-whatever-you-wants-you’re-going-to-be-addicted.

I made two grande “pies” since I was having them as my breakfast—give or take a couple Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Le frosting: 2 TBSP plain Greek yogurt, 2 TBSP cream cheese, 1/2 TBSP maple syrup.

And because I still can’t make up my mind about food looking more appetizing its messy or neat state, here’s messy…

 

…and here’s neat.

What’s the verdict?

Despite a nearly insuppressible temptation to re-create my pumpkin pie puddings for lunch, I went with a sandwich.

Cream cheese and pumpkin—my new favorite combo and breakfast’s star components—were involved.

 

Piled high between two slices of Arnold’s 100% whole wheat: cream cheese, pumpkin, mushrooms, spinach and roasted red peppers.

Me encanta.

I also had some mozzarella and balsamic. Just cause. 

I got slightly ravenous at an hour I deemed too early for dinner—so I toasted a whole wheat pita and some shrooms to serve as vehicles for la mejor salsa del mundo.

Oh yea, I might have melted a little cheese on the pita chips…

To all my vegans: this was vegan cheese! Are you proud?

You probably shouldn’t be. It was an accidental purchase made by Kev Thug—who seems to be losing a bit of his supermarket savvy. But I liked it!

However, there wasn’t enough salsa for both the shrooms and the chips. So I hit up another of Kev Thug’s purchases as a back-up dip. (Note: back-up, as used in the previous sentence, is not meant to denote inferiority. I don’t want to upset any hungry hippies on their birthdays…)

Remember that time my fridge was harboring hummus fugitives? It’s at it again.

So I relegated the pita chips to salsa dipping duties, and let the shrooms have their way with the Sabra.

I sort of plagiarized Erica’s dinner because her post reminded me that I’ve been meaning to make savory oats again.

In the bowl: 3/4 cup old-fashioned oats cooked in water and soy sauce; topped with broccoli, mushrooms, melted mozzarella and sriracha.

 

This spicy, cheesy rendition certainly rivals my basic Bittman first attempt. Such a perfect, flavor-packed, filling dinner.

Also had a cucumber that I’d previously marinated in balsamic, honey and krazy salt.

And since I’d had no fruit all day (except, is pumpkin a fruit?), I had an apple for dessert. 

And by apple, I mean “baked” apple.

With PB. Naturally.

Also plagiarized from a favorite blogger.

Ok, let’s get to that sopa giveaway.

Caroline from Campbell’s contacted me and offered to send me a Campbell’s V8 goodie bag to give away to one of my readers. Included is:

• Campbell’s V8 Garden Vegetable Blend soup
• A Campbell’s V8 Soup Health Journal and vegetable shaped pens to keep track of your servings
• A Flip and Tumble shopping bag to stock up on vegetables
• A Pedometer – to count your steps!

To enter this giveaway:

• Leave a comment telling me your favorite canned/convenience soup.
• Tweet about this giveaway, and leave a comment letting me know you did.
• Follow me on Twitter, and leave a comment letting me know you did.
• Add me to your blogroll, and leave a comment letting me know you did.
• Link back to this giveaway on your blog, and leave a comment letting me know you did.

Each of these counts as one entry.

The giveaway is open til Tuesday, October 27 at midnight EST, and I will choose a winner at random on Wednesday morning. Only open to residents of U.S. and Canada.

FYI: This isn’t the giveaway I’d told you I was conjuring up when I asked for suggestions. That is, however, in the works .

Have a great weekend!

-Sarah

Uh, not really—but, so far, eating is not taking a beating!

This morning I awoke to lots of banging. (I don’t have to say it, do I?)

I was initially pretty choleric—and bitter towards the construction workers making all the noise—because it was 7 a.m., and I’d slept for approximately 4 hours.

Insomnia is a pretty logical byproduct of taking unmeasured swigs of this all day.Woops.

My bitterness subsided once I realized that, in the midst of demolishing my kitchen and waking me from my beauty sleep, the construction workers were blasting Miley and gleefully singing along. Needless to say, I have a newfound respect for—and desire to be friends with—my new housemates.

But let’s rewind to Wednesday morning’s DayQuil chugging.

After realizing I was pretty sick, I decided to have a breakfast (of sorts) in bed, alongside my orange shots.

Cafe con leche de almendras

And a Clif Z-bar—pictured on my stomach, not a black backdrop.

 

I almost never eat bars, but I was so lazy yesterday morning. And all I wanted to do was stay in bed and blog-read. And so I did.

For two hours.

The only thing to pry me from the warmth of my comforter and the food porn of your blogs was the doorbell.

SO worth getting out of bed.

An enormously generous package from the Newman’s Own Organics Fairy, a.k.a. Sally. Thank you so much! I can’t wait to dig into ze goods—particularly the pretzels, dried fruit and Fig Newman’s.

I was oddly tempted to empty the contents onto my floor and bask in a bed of Newman’s Own goodies for a Hug-a-Carb photo shoot. I didn’t, but the temptation is still sort of lingering…

Organically excited, I decided to make my sickly self a real breakfast. (My appetite is rarely affected when I get sick. I feel like I’m the only person whose ability to eat normally is never inhibited by illness. Coughing, sneezing, chills and a fever? Psssh. I cannot be tamed. How’s your appetite when you get sick?)

I decided to make something super simple that I’ve been wanting to try since seeing it on Lindsey’s blog.

Breakfast sushi!!

 

3/4 pear & almond butter rolled in a whole wheat wrap; doused in cinnamon.

This was delicious, and I definitely anticipate a few encores throughout Microwave Madness Month. Why is finger food infinitely more enjoyable than utensil-mandated food?

A little later, back in bed, I enjoyed another utensil-free food: my last honey crisp!

Yea, I told you there would be a downgrade in food presentation. Gone are the days of photogenic cinnamon-sprinkled and nut butter-drizzled slices, made possible by kitchen-y bliss. Tear.

Lunch was my D.I.Y. Egg Salad Sandwich, with a slight twist.

On top of the mayo layer, I added a little Dijon mustard.

Egg whites galore.

I didn’t think it was possible to elevate the egg-whitey excellence of this sandwich—but the Dijon addition was brilliant.

 

Another anticipated encore.

Remember when I grilled five zucchinis, but warned you they wouldn’t last long? By yesterday evening, that once-full-to-the-brim container looked like this.

While coming up with a dinner plan, I polished off my dear verde cheetahs.

Just as I was suffering a bout of dinner-block, Kev Thug delivered 5 glorious containers of greens!

 

I told him I was worried I wouldn’t get enough veggie-action throughout this kitchen-less month since I eat so many salads, and chopping/washing lettuce is not so doable. So, being the nutritionally-considerate cutie that he is, he came through with enough pre-packaged salad to tide me over for the next week. Bueno!

He also bought a ton of pre-cooked chicken—which I gladly utilized as my protein source for a hangry dinner ensalada.

I rolled several ounces of diced chicken in a bowl of Sabra’s Greek Olive hummus, and then I broiled the pieces (in the toaster oven, of course) for about 7 minutes.

I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed chicken so much. It was so flavorful. I ate about half the amount I prepared before throwing it onto my salad—simply because I couldn’t stop myself!

The remainders played in an integral role in an enormous Greek ensalada.

 

In the mix: approx. 39339248 fist-fulls of mixed greens, celery, green bell pepper, roasted red peppers, red onion, oil-cured olives, feta and the best chicken ever.

Drizzled with my new favorite balsamic-alternative:

Mmmmm.

The superstar bites included hummus chicken, olives and feta. So gratuitously Greek .

On the side, I had a green bell pepper, halved and filled with deliciousness.

By deliciousness, I mean my new favorite salsa:

This was stunningly spicy and flawlessly flavorful.

Topped off with a hummus happy trail!

Again, another approved (and encouraged) staple for kitchen-free month!

Dessert was really out of the ordinary for me. A.K.A. it wasn’t popcorn.

Another weird thing about the way I respond to sickness: I convince myself that really hot and really cold foods/drinks make me feel better. This usually means a lot of tea-chugging and uncharacteristically frequent ice cream consumption.

Last night, I got my hot and cold in during dessert.

Black and white cookie? I wish No.

No Pudge Brownie with vanilla fro-yo!

As I’ve said, I’m not a chocolate person. No Pudge brownies are the only ones I really enjoy. I think this is because I undercook them (so they are sort of pudding-ish) and prepare them with plain Greek yogurt (opposed to the vanilla yogurt called for in the directions). You have to use about double the suggested 1 tbsp. of yogurt (for the single serving preparation) since Greek yogurt is so much thicker—but I love it because the brownies come out really tangy and creamy. Maybe a devout brownie-lover wouldn’t like my method—but this is the only way I like my brownies!

The hot and cold combo was on-point, and, as usual, I convinced myself that it made me feel better.

This remedy didn’t prevail to sideline today’s sickly symptoms. So, I’m off to continue my green tea treatment.

Hope you’re all warm and toasty on this torrential Thursday!

-Sarah

You mean haven’t heard about the new chewable Dora the Explorer birth control?

Source.

Ok, maybe those are just vitamins.

But Dora the Explorer birth control does exist.

And it comes in the form of…

… Gigi! (Otherwise known as, and mistaken for, Dora.)

For any new readers who’ve not yet had the pleasure of “meeting” Gigi, she’s my sassy five-year-old quasi-hermanita (translation: little sister). I say quasi because she’s not really my sister. She’s my dad’s girlfriend’s daughter. But she’s been en mi vida since the very first day she arrived to America when she was 10 months old (she’s adopted from Guatemala), so I consider her familia.

Why, you may wonder, am I referring to a beloved familia member as birth control? Well, last week, I had the pleasure of spending an entire día with Dora because she had a day off from escuela. Note my use of the word pleasure, which is not meant to carry any tones of sarcasm. I truly enjoyed my Dora-filled día, but it was utterly exhausting. Kudos to las madres who muster up the energy to deal with kiddie chaos day in and day out, but un día with Gigi was enough to confirm that there will be no mini foodies en mi futuro for a very long time.

Mi día con Dora kicked off with a desayuno disaster.

The previous night, I’d dreamt up a decadent bowl of oats. And we all know what ensues when you conjure up a creation in the midst of slumber. (This is assuming that everyone dreams of food. Right?) You awake fully intent on making that delicious dream a reality.

Or maybe I’m just a foodie freak. But when I dream of Jeannie foodgasms, I make ‘em happen.

So, let’s get to the bowl of my dreams. The base was my standard banana, egg white oat bran. The topping was the culprit behind the drool on my pillow. I envisioned my creamy oats drowning (in a happy way) in a pool of strawberry pomegranate syrup.

I’ve never made any sort of fruit syrup before—but I had my first pint of seasonal strawberries and some POM samples that Kristen generously sent my way a few weeks ago—so I figured it was worth a shot.

The only problemo? I had to pick Dora up in 20 minutes—and didn’t have the time to simultaneously stir a pot of oats and an experimental pot of syrup.

A normal person would have abandoned Plan Oat Bran and thrown together a quick yogurt mess. But I’ve always been next to normal. At least on the food front.

So I convinced myself decided that creating my very first fruit syrup in the microwave was entirely plausible.

The strategy? 1 cup of fresh strawberries sliced + 1/2 cup POM Wonderful + 1/2 cup water + 3 tbsp. sugar. Microwaved for 8 minutes.

Needless to say, this wasn’t what I was going for.

Yep. 1 cup of strawberries and 1 cup of liquid came out looking like this.

I’m guessing 8 minutes was a little too long. Woops.

That was really fun to clean.

I’d already made my oat bran (1/2 cup Hodgson Mill’s oat bran + 1 cup water + 1/2 sliced banana + 1/3 cup egg whites)—which thankfully made it out of the microwave in fine form. So I plopped my “strawberry pomegranate syrup” on top and called it breakfast.

Except my 2 tbsp. of strawberry gunk looked depressingly meager on my big bed of oats.

So I decided to douse it in almond milk and cinnamon.

I can’t remember the logic behind that decision—I was frantically packing snacks and getting myself in order for mi día con Dora—but it was a great call.

Super creamy oats with a hint (italics, bold and underline necessary to emphasize the word hint) of strawberry and pomegranate. Not the bowl of my dreams—but I didn’t hate it.

I scooped Dora from her madre, and then we were off.

Places to go, people to see…

By that, I mean supermarkets to visit, supermarket workers (who admittedly know me by name/think I’m suspicious for spending so much time perusing the aisles) to see…

Sí, Gigi and I were off to do some grocery shopping!

Gigi’s madre hates grocery shopping, especially with Gigi because—for some strange reason—Gigi behaves terribly during supermercado trips with her madre. We discovered that Gigi not only behaves during—but enjoys—grocery shopping with me—and we need not address my amor for food shopping. So I volunteer my grocery store services whenever Nancy (la madre de Gigi, la novia de mi padre) is in need.

One thing I’ve learned regarding Gigi and food shopping: She always “gets hungry” on the way. I guess the idea of entering a magical mundo of food-filled aisles whets her appetite. Can’t blame la chica.

I packed provisions.

We had a riveting discussion about the difference between Special K bars and Clif Z bars—wherein Gigi learned that Z bars are not only healthier, but also more filling. She assured me that no bar was too filling for her big girl appetite.

Somehow, a quarter of her way into the bar, she went back on her word and declared fullness.

And, so, 3/4 of a Z bar ended up on my lap.

And by in my lap, I mean in my mouth.

Maybe this “mommy” thing isn’t so bad after all…

We got our goodies…

…and headed home to get our lunch on.

At this point, I was again reminded that I’m definitely not ready for mommydom. This sounds entirely trivial—but I’m not used to catering to anyone’s cravings but my own. And mommydom means your cravings come segundo. No me gusta.

You see, I’m big on the whole intuitive eating thing. I’ve not read the book—but I avidly practice the “eat what you’re in the mood for” principle.

I was in the mood for an omelet. Gigi was not. I wasn’t up for making separate lunches—nor was I interested in force-feeding an omelet to a stubborn five year old.

So I got creativo and made the following pitch:

Gigi, what if I told you that we could turn eggs into cupcakes?

Dora signed off on this proposal, and we set out to make Caitlin’s mini quiches egg cupcakes.

We mixed up 5 eggs, 1 cup of broccoli, goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, poured the mix into cupcake tins and baked them at 350° for 35 minutes.

Gigi didn’t like the whole waiting 35 minutes aspect of our egg cupcakes—so we had a lunch appetizer of Jarlsberg nachos and hummus.

You know I never speak badly about my beloved Sabra—but the Chipotle hummus was disgusting. This is the only Sabra flavor I’ve met and not liked. It was weirdly smoky and just very awkward tasting.

Malo.

Bueno.

Good thing we had other Sabra options.

Greek Olive saved el día.

Actually, egg cupcakes saved el día.

These were incredible—and so kid-friendly.

I threw some mozzarella and parmesan on top of mine and broiled them for an additional two minutes.

Gigi went the straight-up mozzarella route.

Egg cupcakes? ¡Delicioso! Foodie & Dora-approved .

After several more horas of chasing Gigi, I was happy to drop her off with her madre and unwind by making myself an unrushed, non-kiddie cena.

First up, roasted broccoli.

Simply tossed in EVOO and sugar, then broiled for 8 minutes.

Luckily 8 minutes turned out beautifully this time around .

I also roasted my last kabocha squash of the season .

See you next fall, mi amor…

And whipped up a big bowl of cold sesame noodles.

I don’t have a recipe for this one because I was ravenous and just threw together a basic combo of soy sauce, peanut butter, almond milk, garlic, sesame oil and honey.

And garnished with sesame seeds and crushed peanuts .

I knew how Gigi felt waiting for the egg cupcakes earlier. It was not fun waiting for these to get cold. But SO worth it.

I think I really needed my precious kitchen time after a day of running around with/after Gigi because post-cena, I got the baking bug.

As usual, I embraced it.

I finally made April’s low-carb sweet bread, which was AMAZING.

Even more so topped with cream queso and strawberry preserves.

I guess the strawberry craving from my dream was still lingering… .

Preguntas: Do you dream of food creations? Por favor, tell me I’m not the only one. Do you have kids? If so, how do you manage ENJOYING EATING while catering to kiddie taste buds and an on-the-go lifestyle?

Feliz lunes, foodies! I hope you’re all enjoying fantastic weather, wherever you may be!

Amor,

Sarah

Why, hello there, amigas!

As badly as I’d like to take this chica’s tweetvice (that’d be advice obtained via Twitter) and resume blogging as though I’d never left, I have this moral inkling that a one-and-a-half month hiatus warrants an explanation.

So here goes nada: Over the past month and a half, I could not uphold my blogging duties because I was undergoing extensive plastic surgery as part of my contract to appear on the new season of Extreme Makeover.

Ok, fine. That was an absolute mentira. But I felt the need to resort to a little “creative writing” because the truth is an utterly anti-climatic medley of mundane excuses. They go a little something like this: Took a long holiday vacación to Florida. Returned home to a broken computadora. Jetted off to spend New Year’s in D.C. before fixing la computadora. Waited almost a month for computadora to be returned.

Muy interesante, I know.

Oh, and there was one more thing that contributed to my fall off the blog-wagon.

Hermana was home for an entire month.

(Our interpretation of this old classic.)

Sí, hermana y yo were muy busy embracing sisterhood. By embracing sisterhood, I, of course, mean spending every waking moment together, cuddling on the couch/spooning in my bed, watching trashy television, meticulously managing our Netflix queue and baking.

Mucho, mucho baking of the Betty Crocker variety.

You see, hermana was a little thrown off by my recent revelation that I like chocolate. And by thrown off, I mean she compulsively seized the opportunity to have a chocolate Eating Partner In Crime.

I don’t have a final tally of how many batches of brownies we made during her month en casa. But I will say that, on multiple occasions, we made brownies at night, finished them by the morning, realized we wanted brownies for breakfast and whipped up a desayuno batch.

So therein lies my excuse for my absence: brownies. Embarrassing.

Without further adieu, I’d like to:

• apologize for my unannounced, lengthy hiatus one last time
• profess my love for all (or, uh, any) faithful readers who’ve not yet written me off
• plea that you invite me back into your lives (or Google Readers, same difference…)
• dive headfirst back into this blog game with a recap of recaps.

Now, about that recap. I have over 1,000 foodie pictures on my camera. So, if I were into pulling all-nighters in order to relay everything I’ve been eating over the past month and a half, I’d take that approach. But, lucky for both you and me, I retired my all-nighter jersey when I graduated college. So, this recap of recaps is going to focus on the most memorably delicious part of my little  blogcation.

Brace yourself, mis foodies. I am about to introduce you to the happiest place on earth. Donde might this be?

LA CASA DE NANNY Y POPPY!

La familia y yo took a Hannukah vacación to Florida, where my beloved abuelos reside. We visit them pretty frequently because (1) we love them, (2) we love el sol and (3) la casa de Nanny and Poppy pretty much equates to foodie heaven.

Familia amor + sol + comida = the happiest place on earth.

Let us embark upon this casa de Nanny y Poppy eatventure.

First up, desayuno.

Breakfast at la casa de Nanny y Poppy looks a lot like breakfast at home. This is mostly because it’s the only meal we (we being la hermana y yo) prepare for ourselves. You see, Nanny and Poppy are quite the fitnessista/os, and they wake up at the crack of dawn (read: 8 a.m.) to start their day with un poco exercise. Poppy’s been a pool boy (and by that I mean he’s been doing water aerobics), but Nanny’s into speed-demon walking. In any case, they’re done with their exercise and breakfast long before hermana y yo wake from our beauty slumber.

When we rise, we throw together the usual suspects and eat as quickly as possible so we can get out to the pool and get our tan on.

Whole wheat bagel con veggie cream queso.

AB & J greek yogurt.

Honey Sunshine + Publix dried cherries (EL MEJOR).

Vitahugs.

And that’s just one more reason why la casa de Nanny y Poppy is the happiest place on earth.

Let’s move along to almuerzo because it’s really the main event.

Shortly after concocting and consuming breakfast, hermana y yo throw on our bathing suits, grab upward of 2382938243747749 clementines for poolside snacking, bronze ourselves and wait for the call.

The call to which I refer is the happiest call on earth: Shirl’s happy hour call. Like clockwork, approximately three hours into our sisterly skin-baking, either my or hermana’s phone rings. It’s Shirl, summoning us to happy hour almuerzo.

In the magical land of Nanny and Poppy, lunch is not a meal, but rather a spread of deliciousness. Deliciousness y vino.

Let’s commence le tour de “lunch.”

Mediterranean delicacies are always abundant.

In the form of giant Sabra tubs.

And marinated Greek olives.

But los abuelos make sure to embrace my latin obsesión, too.

In the form of mexicana 7-layer dip.

Y giant tubs of salsa.

Y, of course, guac.

Other happy hour spreads include spinach, artichoke and parmesan dip and veggie cream cheese (mi amor).

And crab cocktail. Fresh crab + cocktail sauce? ¡Sí, por favor!

Dipper options come in the form of amazingly fluffy flatbread.

Or, for crunchy carbage, chips:

Of the tortilla variety…

…which are bueno, but pale in comparison to…

…my dearly beloved FSTG multigrains.

There was also a nuevo addition to Shirl’s standard snack pack.

Blue Ginger Multigrain Black Sesame & Sea Salt chips! These might be my new favoritos (lo siento, FSTG). They’ve got a soy crisp/thin Popchip texture going on, but they’re made with brown rice and pack SO MUCH flavor. I haven’t been able to find them in NYC, but when I do, I’m purchasing a life-supply. Rumor has it they’re only available in Costco and BJs. If you’re a member to either, buy them immediately. (And send some my way .)

Endives are the best dippers because you can create little boats filled with endless dippage combinations. My go-to endive filler is hummus + salsa + olives.

And, as previously stated, happy hour always includes vino.

Nanny says vino keeps her young because it keeps the blood moving through her veins. If her fountain of youth can be uncorked and consumed on a daily basis, I fully support Shirl’s staple Shiraz sippage.

Of course we can’t have vino without queso.

Munster, Jarslberg (best swiss ever), Wensleydale cheese with cranberries (my and Nanny’s favorito) and a newbie, White Stilton cheese with spiced fruit. This was increible. It was the same creamy Stilton base as the cranberry queso, but the spiced fruit took it to a new level of cheesy perfection. If you’ve never tried the cranberry Stilton, do so immediately! And if you can find the spiced fruit Stilton (I haven’t been able to!), I promise it will change your vida.

Nanny added another newbie to our happy hour repertoire: fig cake with almonds.

She knows I adore figs and Espana, so she snatched this up when she saw it. Further proof that she is la mejor Nanny del mundo.

It was muy interesante—and I think I would have loved it, except for the fact that it had anise. If there is one flavor I cannot tolerate, it’s licorice. So that sort of rained on what could’ve been a deliciously figgy parade. Ah, well…

And there you have the base of Nanny’s happy hour. I say “base” because what lies above, astonishingly, is not the whole almuerzo sha-bang. On different dias, Nanny improvises and throws in nuevo additions.

Sometimes that meant surprise Edible Arrangements.

(Chocolate-covered manzanas are insane.)

Sometimes that meant an impromptu quesadilla fiesta.

Con mango salsa.

Sometimes that meant balls.

Of the falafel variety.

Other almuerzo additions included fruity ensaladas.

Con pomegranate arils, strawberries and other colorful delights.

Egg white quiches!

Broccoli and cheddar.

Spinach and artichoke.

And while we’re on the topic of spinach and artichoke, let’s take a look at this lovely lunch addition.

Spinach, artichoke and parmesan-stuffed shrooms!

And on dias when Nanny was feeling fancy, she busted out baked mussels.

Fun fact: Nanny’s favorite way to eat mussels is con vodka—in a shooter. Since we go a little heavy on the vino during happy hour, she figured we should skip the shooters. It’s all about moderation, people.

Let’s move along to cena.

Dinner always proves to be our most legitimate meal of the day because Nanny just may be the best cook en el mundo (though I’m sure every Jewish granddaughter says that about her Jewish grandmother). We’re often not hungry come dinnertime due to a hefty happy hour, but there is always room to be made for Nanny’s cooking.

First up, her famoso brisket.

I don’t eat beef—but when I did, this was the only beef I ate. Nanny’s brisket sauce is seriously the best thing I’ve ever tasted. It’s sweet and savory, and delicious enough to make Little Sarah The Beef Hater go back for seconds. These days, I spoon out the sauce and put it on top of whatever else is on the table.

Like pollo.

Nanny’s a doll and made a separate chicken and gravy dish for me on the night she served brisket. I rarely love chicken. Especially simply-prepared pollo. Nanny’s is the exception. Seriously, the woman is a culinary prodigy.

Alongside those meat dishes, we had some patatas.

Half standard wedges, half sweet patatas porque hermana hates cheetahs and I fantasize about them. Further proof that Nanny is la mejor.

Otra noche she threw together an improvisational spicy sesame seafood stirfry with calamari, shrimp and scallops.

It was TO DIE FOR.

On le side was my personal favorite Nanny dish: peanut jasmine rice.

Spicy, coconut-creamy, profusely peanut-y rice. Es ridiculo.

She also made a simple rice side dish, likely anticipating that I’d make a considerable dent in my dearly beloved jasmine rice.

More on the seafood front: baked salmon with mind-blowing mystery sauce and mind-blowing mystery topping (I know it involved olives, and I believed sun-dried tomatoes).

Oh, we also eat veggies at la casa de Nanny y Poppy.

Delicioso, but comparatively lame considered all of Shirl’s more elaborate creations.

This last meal can’t be accredited to Nanny, but it must be noted porque it was Poppy’s 78th birthday dinner!

We went to an amazing Greek restaurante in South Florida. I forget the name, but it was fantastic.

My foodie familia (yo included) devoured the ridiculously fluffy pita wedges and hummus prior to picture-taking.

We started with ensalada y sopa.

I actually hate restaurant salads. I’ve gotten so used to making my own pimped-out ensaladas that restaurant starter salads never seem appealing. The veggie and bean sopa, however, was spot-on.

Other appetizers included a Mediterranean antipasto plato.

And escargot con eggplant.

I can’t remember what this was, or by whom it was consumed for that matter, but I liked the plate .

Same goes for this guy. I’ve no idea what’s hiding beneath that pool of cheese and sauce.

I do know that this was Poppy’s birthday dish: lamb.

The man adores his chops.

I went with a white snapper with an olive, caper and tomato sauce, which was heavenly. I’m mildly obsessed with any seafood dish that features capers. Throw olives into the mix, and this chica’s salt tooth is sufficiently satisfied.

Gah, now I want to go back to Florida so I can eat this.

Dessert was flourless chocolate cake.

It was ridiculously rich, in a bueno way, and its texture was sort of a brownie-pudding-cake hybrid. Muy feliz that I discovered my likeness for chocolate prior to this vacation.

Oh, I also discovered the most delicious tea ever. Stash’s Vanilla Nut Creme. I haven’t been able to find it anywhere, but it was A-MAZ-ING. I’m determined to hunt it down.

That’s the last of my Floridian meals, but while we’re on the dessert topic I’d like to share this late-night combo I grew fond of during my stay at la casa de Nanny y Poppy.

Ice cream + kettle corn.

Best. Dessert. Ever. I think I may have found a way to appease both my veteran popcorn addiction and my newfound sweet tooth.

On that note, I’ll conclude this monstruo post. But not before I remind you all, just one last time, how much I’ve missed blogmundo and how ridiculously elated I am to be back!

1.5 months-worth of amor,

Sarah

This weekend, I discovered…

I have the best hermana en el mundo!

(Ok, so maybe I’d realized this at some point prior to this weekend, you know, throughout our 20 years of sisterhood… But this weekend confirmed mi amor.)

No, not because she loves Little Cupcake as much as I do.

(Though having a Little Cupcake Eating Partner In Crime definitely warrants bonus points.)

No, not because she resembles a cute capuchin monkey—and has endured the nickname Monkey Mel since I came up with it when I was eight.

I have the best sister in the world because she knows me better than anyone else.

She knows the way to my heart.

And she delivers.

¡Sí! Hermana came home bearing lots of edible gifts!

She knows that I’ve been in withdrawal from my favorite brand of Kettle Corn (they haven’t had it in my local supermarkets for months!), D.C. bin candy and my favorite pretzels (which I’ve also had trouble finding in NYC).

She’d intended to just pick up those items, but she’s the world’s greatest E.P.I.C and decided to surprise me with some of my favorite things.

Like a naughty nut butter trio.

 

I’ve never tried any of these, and I can’t wait to dig in!

And calcium gummies! I adore edible calcium supplements.

I’m going to do my best to practice self-control with these l’il critters.

Another hermana discovery:

While la chica knows how to induce elation—by way of goodie-giving—she also knows how to induce nausea…

…by way of disgusting, legendary bruise-showing.

I got over the nausea thing pretty quickly upon realization that I finally had access to popcorn again!

Wherein I discovered that when a popcorn fiend is deprived of kernel comfort for approximately 2 weeks, polishing off a bag solo is no problemo.

 

I only wish I had footage of my carnal consumption of this sweet and salty wonder.

How I’ve missed thee. I am vowing, here and now, that I will never again permit popcorn to go on such a haphazard hiatus.

Another made-possible-by-Melissa discovery:

Godiva Chocolate Truffle Coffee!

I think this purchase involved some self-interest because she loves chocolate and I, uh, don’t.

That said, I definitely had ~38439848239 cups.

And, actually, I loved it. And she didn’t! It was very strong (not usually a characteristic of flavored coffee)—which I enjoyed, but hermana did not.

And the chocolate sabor… SO GOOD! I think my taste buds are going through puberty or something…

In the way of Oat Discoveries:

Reese’s Oat Bran

Oat bran cooked in water and cocoa powder; topped with peanut butter and chocolate chips… and a Reese’s cup

I know K’s been on this para siempre, but this was my first foray into cocoa-sweetened oats.

Further proof that my taste buds are in some transitional phase: I LOVED the cocoa oats. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t even recognize my reflection anymore…

Next oat discovery is not so much a discovery, in that I’ve created in many times before. However, it was new to la hermana.

If I recall the conversation correctly, Melissa called to me, with more pride and eagerness than I’ve ever heard in her voice:

“Oh my god! Sarah! You know how I love apples and peanut butter? What if… you made me oatmeal… WITH apples and peanut butter!?!?”

Her zeal and oat-innocence were so endearing that I immediately whipped up her request.

PB and Manzana Oats

Old-fashioned oats topped with one gala “baked” in maple syrup, cinnamon and almond milk, plus PB chips and a PB spoon.

I am beyond thrilled that Melissa is venturing into more “complex” oat bowls because she usually just requests an instant apple and cinnamon packet. I doubt she’ll concoct oat creations while away at school because she’s the laziest eater ever—but I’ll gladly encourage and facilitate her evolving taste buds when she’s en casa.

But el fin de’s BEST oat creation…

Cheesecake Oat Bran

I cooked 1/2 cup oat bran in 1 and 1/4 cup water—mixing in cream cheese, a liiiittttle bit of Smart Balance butter, vanilla extract and Truvia when the oat bran was almost done.

(The mix-ins were inspired by the recipe I use for cream cheese frosting.)

After, I topped the cream cheesy mixture with crushed grahams, Truvia, another dollop of cream cheese and cinnamon.

Ooooooooooh my GAH. This was INCREDIBLE. So ridiculously sweet and cream cheesy.

I’m sorry I don’t have exact measurements for the mix-ins—but if you’d like me to re-create it soon and measure ze goods out, I guess I’d be okay with that…

Check out the under layers of creaminess.

Not to toot my own trompa, but this is one of my best DPAABS to date.

In the way of super-artificial-but-let’s-be-serious-a-little-won’t-kill-you discoveries…

S’mores Goldfish!!!

I wasn’t in love with these—but they sounded too interesting not to try. Not to send you mixed signals with my whole I-love-it-I-love-it-not stance on chocolate—but I really was not feeling the chocolate fishies. I sort of just ate the honey graham pescados because that is one flavor I have completely unfaltering favoritism toward.

Sort of like pretzels… which brings me to my next awesomely artificial weekend discovery.

When you find ice cream that features your favorite pretzels… covers them in chocolate…

and then reminds you that it’s an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D…

And you think to yourself, “Hmm… I’ve had two stress fractures in the past year… I could probably use some extra calcium and vitamin D…”

There is really no excuse not to eat said ice cream.

Turkey Hill Chocolate Pretzel Ice Cream!

Biggest chocolate pretzels chunks I’ve ever encountered in ice cream! Get it!

Now, onto some Microwave Madness discoveries…

In doing my best to feed my sister the non-college eats she was craving—in a kitchen-less environment—I learned several lessons in make-shiftism.

Microwaved “fried rice” is possible.

Microwave Uncle Ben’s brown rice. Top with veggies and chicken marinated and microwaved in Soy Vay. Microwave egg whites, “scramble” and add to the bowl. Top with mucho mas Soy Vay.

Uh, this took approximately 10 minutes to make. And it was delicious.

When la hermana requests a Greek egg scramble, the microwave can make it happen.

Two eggs microwaved. Topped with roasted red peppers, spinach, oil-cured black olives and mucho feta.

When you have an inexplicable love for McGriddles—but haven’t had one for four years after going a little loco with them in high school—you can seek solace in a…

MCGRIDDLE MOUNTAIN

Kashi waffle toasted and topped with 2 tbsp maple syrup. Topped with two microwaved egg whites, vegan American cheese and ketchup.

I was originally going to sandwich the eggs and cheese between two maple syrupy waffles—a la the real McGriddle—but I didn’t want the innards to get lost in too much waffle. (Melissa and I debated this for about 1/2 hour, ultimately deciding that the creation would taste better open-faced.) So, inspired by Allie’s waffle mountains, a McGriddle mountain was born.

NUEVO OBSESSION.

Onto a random discovery…

I find de-seeding pomegranates strangely therapeutic…

Fruit affection.

And a few final familia discoveries, to bring this post full-circle…

Children—especially those who resemble Dora—are hilarious.

Upon walking into my house and noticing that the kitchen is no longer in existence, Gigi did not ask what happened to the kitchen. Instead, she asked, with utter confusion in her ojos:

“Where are all the figs?”

She completely disregarded the absence of, uh, a KITCHEN, and was solely concerned with why she didn’t have access to our usual fig stash. (We have a fig tree, so we always have figs en mi casa.)

Sometimes I wonder how we’re NOT related.

I also learned that when la hermana has to unexpectedly drive back to school early for a sorority cosa, you show your love con comida.

Making use of another weekend discovery, Sabra’s new tzatziki dip (amazing!!)…

I made Monkey Mel a Greek pita, stuffed with all of her favorite things.

Feta, oil-cured black olives, chicken coated in Sabra and baked, onions and tzatziki dip.

Certainly not the most car-friendly food—but necessarily well-rounded in comparison to her road trip snacks of choice…

I mentioned she likes chocolate, right?

 

A lot.

Healthiest snack of the bunch.

And baked cheetos—which made me laugh because I thought of una amiga’s recent Cheeto rant.

With the comfort that she’d at least not go hungry, I bid mi hermana adieu.

And just as I was beginning to miss my monkey sis, I received the greatest e-mail from my beautiful cousin Christina.

She’d just discovered my blog and wrote me an e-mail letting me know she likes it.

An excerpt:

From reading your blog, I now know you are obsessed with:

1.. Oats

2.Coffe

3.Vegan Cheese

4.Apples

5.Cinimon

6.Cream Cheese

7.Hummus

8.Turkey

9.Popchips (What are those anyways?)

10.Popcorn

11Pickles

12.Kitkats

13Froyo

14Almond butter

15Salad

16.Peanut sause

This seriously made my night. So, gracias, Christina!

Also, could she have consolidated the essence of who I am into a 16-point list any more accurately? I think not…

With that, I conclude the longest weekend recap ever.

I hope all of your weeks are off to great start!

-Sarah

…Because even I don’t have the attention span to read through my novel of an about me section.

Here’s an abridged version in the form of Foodie Fun Facts:

• My name is Sarah, and I’m Chewish (that’d be a hybrid of Chinese and Jewish).
• I’m 22, a recent grad, currently funemployed and unrelentlessly trying to discover and pursue a job I’ll love–namely one that melds my passions for food, writing and wellness.
• I was born and raised in New York City–in the Brooklynest borough of ‘em all–and I’m thrilled to be back after a four-year college hiatus in D.C.
• I lived in Spain for 5 months. Best experience of my life. Don’t get me started on la comida.
• Sorry about the español. But I’ve learned that I will never get over my adoration of all things Spain, and one of my main coping mechanisms comes in the form of Spanglish. I’ll do my best to keep it to a minimum.
• I’ve also been known to speak in rhyme (from time to time) and bust out the occasional acrostic poem.
• I don’t like pizza. I know, know. Blasphemous for a New Yorker.
• I’m not a dessert person, and definitely not a chocolate person, but I love cheesecake.
• I manage to eat all of these foods I claim to dislike on occasion, at which point, someone will always call me out with a “I thought you don’t like __________…” Embarrassing.
• Hate beer. Love wine. Love/hate vodka, since drinking it convinces me that it’s socially acceptable to perform the Soulja Boy in public. On multiple occasions…
• I love to run. But every time I try, some body part decides to stop working. It’s pretty annoying.
• I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I think diets are silly.

After spending way too much time researching (read: in-depth Google-ing) the dubious existence of a Spanish translation for the term “foodie,” I’m sad to report that no such palabra exists en español.

I try not to talk politics on here, but this issue must be addressed. There is currently an entire nation of foodies being inhumanely deprived of a concise, incomparably descriptive, fun-to-say word for those who love food. Think of the liberation and pride that would sweep España if food-loving Spaniards could stand up and proclaim: Yo soy un foodie. Think of how many sentences could be shortened if there existed a single word for una persona que le encanta comida (one who loves food).

That said, I hereby request that the Spanish Ministry of Diccionarios instate an español version of the word “foodie.”

End scene. Let’s get to Monday’s eats.

I received the following right-to-the-point e-mail from my lovely cousin Christina last week:

You should try chocolate chips, and marshmallows in your oats, and put gram crackers on top.

Not one to disregard delicious-sounding breakfast suggestions, I heeded Christina’s advice. Except, in an attempt to infuse this decadent bowl of oats with a little protein, I subbed her chocolate chips with chocolate nut butter.

Specifically, Nature’s Promise chocolate soynut butter.

I dipped into this last week and really did not enjoy it—but I figured I’d give it another shot.

Realizing that my chocolate substitute had the power make or break my breakfast, I had a spoonful straight-up to test its oat worthiness.

It failed. No me gusta. This nut butter wasn’t bad in the “this really isn’t what I was expecting” way, as was the case with cashew butter. It was bad in the “I need to spit this out right now” way. It tasted like a chalky, oily, unsweetened Nutella knock-off.

Definitely not oat-worthy.

And so I turned to the tried-and-true chocolate Better N’ PB.

S’mores Oats (a.k.a. S’moats)

 

In the oat bowl: 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1 cup water and 1/2 thinly sliced banana. Topped with crushed graham crackers, marshmallows and spoonful of chocolate BNPB.

This was fantastic. It was difficult to delegate marshmallow distribution throughout the bowl—but this just made for some incredible marshmallow madness bites.

While this was certainly a decadent way to start the day, it definitely wasn’t as filling as my standard oat bowls. I think I usually bulk up my oats with more nut butter and fruit.

When I realized I needed s’more comida, I turned to an old favorite for breakfast part dos.

Greek yourt + raspberry preserves.

So sweet and simple and satisfying.

Lunch delivered something else I’ve desperately needed s’more of.

Vegetables! Ever since Thanksgiving (and discovering my taste for chocolate), I have been lagging with my fruit and veggie consumption. So, I got in my greens with some split pea sopa.

I tried Dr. McDougall’s split pea soup for the first time last week, and I wasn’t crazy about it. However, I had another box, and, as was the case with the chocolate soynut butter, I was willing to give it another chance.

I’m going to have to stop doing that.

Like the nut butter, this was no better the second time around. Unlike the nut butter, it was edible.

Especially with the edition of these.

Love soggy croutons in soup!

I’m probably being a little harsh with the sopa trash-talking, but split pea is my favorite soup. And the thing I love most about it is its thick texture. Dr. McDougall’s version was sort of watery—with an occasion clump of pea/lentil thickness.

I did think the flavor was great, and I managed to clean the bowl. But, if you’re looking for canned split pea soup, Amy’s is so much better.

On the side, I had a toasted sandwich thin, garlic bread-ified with a smear of butter and minced garlic.

(The creepy yellow hue on the distant half comes from margarine. Gross, but I finished my butter stick on the first half, and was up against the dreadful nasty-butter-substitute-or-no-butter-at-all wall.)

Snack time featured un plato of mixed nuts, dark chocolate chips and a hermit. That lone hermit is a little misleading. Several más were had because I don’t think it’s humanly possible to just eat one. If you’ve done this, you deserve a prize.

Enjoyed atop mi laptop as I weekend recapped.

I got s’more veggies in during dinner.

Toaster green cheetahs.

Again, I cannot wait for the return of oven green cheetahs.

I found myself in a muy Mediterranean mood, so I ran with it.

Ensalada Mediterránea

In the mix: baby spinach, feta, olives, cucumbers, celery, cherry tomatoes, balls and hummus; dressed in celery salt and the usual honey-balsamic blend.

Meatless meatballs aren’t so Meditteranean, but they were amazing, as always. And I pretended they were falafel balls.

Needless to say, that dollop of Sabra only left me wanting más.

So más was had.

Con warmed whole wheat pita and queso americano.

This pita was so good! I get my pita from the local produce store because they bake it in-house, and when you get a fresh batch, you get a fresh batch. So soft and doughy.

 

Still, as with the meatless balls, I used my imagination and pretended it was the best pita bread ever.

I guess breakfast left me wanting s’more (I promise, I’m done after that one) because dessert was desayuno-inspired.

Baked S’mores!

You don’t see any chocolate—because there wasn’t any.

I eat my s’mores chocolate-less.

And, though I’ve realized my developing fondness for the dark stuff, there are certain chocolate-less creations I’ve no desire to change.

Amor,

Sarah

¡Feliz martes! ¡Sólo tres días más hasta el fin de semana!

(Lección de español: The above sentence means “Only three more days ‘til the weekend!” Pretty boring en ingles, if you ask me…)

I know we’re not halfway through the week yet—but I’m trying to be positiva .

Lunes began on a positive, pumpkin note.

Mama Pea’s pumpkin spice latte, con extra pumpkin spice.

For breakfast, I re-created an oat bowl that a pretty, pretty peanut butter princesa concocted months ago: Flipz Oat Bran.

Fun fact: I used to be head over heels for yogurt-covered pretzels—so much so that, on my 19th birthday, a friend decided to buy me a 5-lb bag of them. What seemed like a never-ending yogurt pretzel stash dwindled embarrassingly quickly. And I’m pretty sure I ODed because I just haven’t loved them the same way since. For the past few years, I’ve replaced my yogurt pretzel addiction with an equally delicious chocolate pretzel addiction. I secretly suspect that yogurt pretzels are still my numero uno; my taste buds just need to miss them long enough to crave a comeback. In the meantime, I’m all about the chocolate-covered goods.

And so, I flipped when I first read of this oat bran brilliance, and I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to make it.

PB&Jenny-Plagiarized Flipz Oat Bran

1/3 cup oat bran cooked in 1 cup water and 1/2 banana; topped with a trifecta of Truvia, Chocolate Better ‘N PB and honey wheat pretzels.

You can go two routes when consuming this prodigious pretzely oat bowl: (1) Keep it neat, and enjoy perfectly concocted sugary/chocolatey/pretzely bites or (2) throw aesthetic concern to the wind, make a mess and let the magic forces meld.

I chose door numero dos.

This was amazing. The pretzels got wonderfully soggy—which is always a good thing if you’re weird like me and love soggy textures. Seriously, I let my cereal “marinate” for a few minutes because I either like it dry—with no milk—or super leche-soaked. Soggy = mejor in my libro.

Speaking of letting cereal marinate… when I got snacky pre-lunchtime, I chopped up a manzana monster…

…and made fruit cereal.

Giant honeycrisp + almond milk + pom arils + Truvia + flax + cinnamon = AMOR.

It went in the fridge to marinate in the almond glory for about 10 minutes, and then, like every time I taste this simple wonder, I oooooh and aaaaaaaah and try to remember what life was like before fruit cereal…

I can’t recall, but I bet my days were comparatively tragic.

When lunch rolled around, I made the executive decision to go Greek.

I’ve been wanting to re-create the Greek wonder I made for la hermana on Sunday ever since I sent her off with it (read: seriously considered “forgetting” to bring it out to her car…)

So I busted out my newest Sabra goodie and got to work on a giant Greek wrap.

Giant is a key word here because—despite a double breakfast, of sorts, I was starving. Just one of those days, I suppose.

As usual, here’s an innards shot since my wraps are always too stuffed to stay closed.

   

Don’t believe me?

Here’s an action shot of my possessed wrap opening on its own…

This tzatziki sauce is incredible; I’ve been dipping everything in it.

Along with tzatziki, into the whole wheat wrap also went: laughing cow, hummus, spinach, hummus-coated baked chicken, roasted red peppers, oil-cured black olives, onions and cucumbers.

And I wonder why my wraps don’t close…

I prepped a little too mucho Greek stuffing for even an un-closeable wrap, so I threw the extra innards onto a bed of spinach for a side Greek ensalada.

 

It wasn’t so much a side as it was a legitimate salad that I’d usually eat for dinner. But greens are bueno, so I let it slide.

So, funny story… Despite a double breakfast and a double lunch, I was ravenous come dinner. And since all this double action wasn’t cutting it for my ridiculous appetite yesterday, I decided to make dinner a triple.

First up were some cheetahs.

About 1/4 of which went into course numero dos:

C-Cubed (Cream Cheese Cheetah) Wrap

Whole wheat wrap with Laughing Cow wedge, 1/4 medium sweet potato (cheetahfied) and honey mustard.

Ohmygod. Best. Combo. Ever. I’ve got a feeling; this is going to become a staple.

Third and final dinner component: Sopa

I dug into the generous soup stash Dr. McDougall’s sent me last week.

They also sent some instant soups—which I’m saving for those inevitable just add hot water crunches—along with an amazing Crate and Barrel place setting.

Here’s the bowl; unpictured is a place mat and napkin/napkin ring. I adore it all, but I’m really obsessed with this bowl.

BIG BOWLS ARE THE BEST.

This one is so perfect because it can fit the entire carton of soup (a double serving); and when I eat canned/carton soup—especially on B.P.D.s like yesterday—I almost always eat the whole thing.

This is a habit I fostered in college when canned soups were often meals. I lived on Amy’s Alphabet.

Last night, I opted for the Vegetable Soup. Not because I wanted it the most; the soups that look the most appealing of the bunch are definitely the split pea, lentil and black bean. But, because I have this weird save-the-best-for-last O.C.D. tendency, I went for the veggie soup. I had three cartons of those, and only one of all the other varieties. I know, I’m weird.

Anyway, this tactic backfired (not actually, since I still have two more boxes) because I LOVED the vegetable soup!

It was so packed with veggies, potatoes, lentils and rice. I feel like vegetable soups usually lag in the starch department—particularly the lighter versions—but this had all of the good stuff in excess. Me gusta.

Another example of my save-the-best-for-last tendency: When eating brothy soups, I always eat all of the broth first and save the solids to eat at the end. Great tactic for this sopa because it was like eating an amazing veggie stew toward the end.

I was SO FULL after.

For about an hour.

Again, it was one of those days.

Nothing a bag of Kettle Corn + cinnamon couldn’t fix.

I am SO FELIZ to have this back in my life.

 

Gracias, gracias, gracias for this gift, hermana.

Before I go, I want to let you all know that I’ll be M.I.A. from blogland ‘til Monday. I booked a very last minute trip to Florida, y mañana I’m off! I won’t have my computer conmigo so lo siento for my absence. My Reader is going to be fuuuuuuuun to open on Monday…

Mucho amor,

Sarah

I didn’t mean to drop the D-bomb on you, but I have been in a breakfast state of mind all day.

I woke up to a serious tummy tug o’ war deciding between a yogurt mess breakfast or an omelet. I went for the yogurt mess because (a) it was the easier option and (b) it never disappoints. 

My balanced breakfast included a granny smith, coffee and a yogurt mess re-run—intentionally positioned in size order and unintentionally reflecting the components’ spectrum of deliciousness—Granny being mildly delicious and Yogi being mind-blowingly delicious. I’m not hating on Mrs. Smith, but let’s face it. Hazelnut coffee + creamer + cinnamon > plain old apple. And, though I have a special place in my heart stomach for caffeinated delicacies…

 

Fage + honey + cinnamon + grahams > coffee—no matter how you dress it up.

After realizing that this may be my favorite greek yogurt combo ever, I moved onto my A.M. dessert.

I kid. While these things taste like candy to me, they’re actually…

vitamins! Gummy vitamins for adults, to be exact—which are pretty essential in life, if you ask me. How are we expected to just grow up and abandon taking our vitamins in either Flintstone or gummy form? Apparently, we’re not. I’m currently working my way through the orange ones—because the pinks are exponentially better.

I’m a calcium fiend—because (a) I don’t drink much milk and (b) my body hates me and bestows fractures upon me every time I attempt physical activity—so I’m happy to pack it in any way I can. But I’m pretty sure those gummies set off my sweet tooth because, an hour after breakfast, I found myself gravitating toward (and by that I mean eating) these goodies:

If that looks like a never-ending bag of trail-mix heaven, that’s because it is. Here, my friends, we have bin candy. My college amigas called me out on my last post for not capturing all of the bin candy we ate over the weekend—so I figured a tribute was in order.

The treat we’ve dubbed bin candy hails from the bins at our local D.C. grocery store. Despite being a pretty standard supermarket, the place has an incredible selection of nuts, nut mixes, chocolate and granola. I don’t think we’ve ever made it through a grocery shop without creating one of these goodie bags.

The superstars are the roasted cashews and the chocolate covered peanuts. As I was fist-deep in this sweet and salty bin candy blend, I came across Kristen’s latest post on portion control. I don’t usually think about my portions because I think I have a pretty good understanding of well-balanced, well-sized meals. But the irony gods caught me red-handed today. I almost never think about portions when it comes to snacking. And I’m going to guesstimate that I almost always consume way more than the recommended serving size of those snacks. I hate the idea of counting and measuring food—but I do wonder exactly how overboard I go sans moderation. Just some Foodie Food For Thought… Do you portion out your snacks? Do you think it’s possible to intuitively gage snack portions based on stopping once you’re satisfied?

Anyway, lunch ended up being breakfast part dos. I guess my stomach knew what it wanted this morning—yogurt AND eggs. I tried to lunchify the egg craving by making an egg quesadilla.

Egg Quesadilla—for when it’s past a Breakfast Burrito hour:

1. Fry two egg whites in cooking spray, and season with salt, pepper and paprika. Set aside.
2. Brown a whole wheat tortilla on one side. Flip. Add your cheese of choice while the other side browns.
3. Reintroduce los egg whites.
4. Use a spatula to get your tortilla into quesadilla form.
5. Top with plain greek yogurt and salsa!

I threw some leftover avocado into the mix for a true experiencia mexicana.

   

And I went for an American and cheddar cheese combo—with matching nail polish.

Last step is cutting it into quesadilla triangles and making a saucy mess—because Mexican just doesn’t feel right if it’s not messy!

Hasta dinner!

-Sarah

Yesterday, I awoke on a mission.

Luckily—for both my taste buds and dishware—this mission did not involve devising a microwaveable strawberry syrup.

Nor did it involve tackling the mound of writing projects that has kidnapped me from the blogosphere as of late. Though, perhaps, it should have. And, perhaps, I should not have just admitted to procrastinating those aforementioned projects when my employers read my blog. Lo siento .

Well, no use in crying over spilled milk words…

Yesterday’s mission was of the nut butter nature.

And it was prompted by dos nut butter revelations.

Nut Butter Revelation #1: I currently have 13 open jars of nut butter residing in my pantry. As someone who once declared herself too anal to have more than one nut butter open at once, this revelation made me incredibly anxious. And the OCD-freak in me immediately decided that it was time to clear out some of those nut butters. Fear not. By clear out, I clearly mean consume.

Nut Butter Revelation #2: There is one buttah, in particular, that’s been occupying shelf space longer than the rest: cashew butter. If you recall, I first tried cashew butter back in November, and my sticky-mouthed verdict was,  “meh.” Since then, I’ve dipped in for several “let’s give this another shot”-spoonfuls. But, time and again, the taste underwhelms me, and I deliberately neglect consumption. Clearly. Since five months after opening the jar, nearly three quarters remain. Not to sound like a guy, but I swear that’s never happened before.

And so, Mission Learn to Like Cashew Butter commenced.

The unusual suspects:

Cashew butter, cranberry pomegranate pepper jelly and hummus? For breakfast? I’ve tried to like cashew butter in all the conventional ways—atop granola, cereal, oats, straight up—so I figured it might take some stepping outside the breakfast box to convert my cashew butter-blocking taste buds.

The breakfast strategy:

Slather a toasted sandwich thin with cashew butter.

Add bountiful dollops of cranberry pomegranate pepper jelly and tahini hummus.

Spread.

Let those loco flavors meld.

Chomp.

And… enjoy!?

¡Sí! I looooooved this breakfast. Sure, the cashew butter got by with a little help from his jelly and hummus friends. But if Mission Learn to Like Cashew Butter calls for a little crazy flavor combining, I’m all for it.

Since I’d already gone down the hummus for breakfast path, I figured I’d wrap up my meal with a little manzana and Sabra duet.

Lunch wasn’t very mission-minded—but it was FANTASTIC.

Quesadilla with Boar’s Head Blazing Buffalo Chicken…

Melty fresh mozzarella…

and Frank!

The ‘cado and peppers were added for prettification/nutrification/they-were-on-their-last-leggification.

(The green fruta, though, is part of my ongoing mission to learn to like avocados. I know, I know. I’m the only person food blogger in the mundo who doesn’t love avocados. Much like with cashew butter, I find their taste really underwhelming. But they’re pretty fantastic for you—and I always have an abundance of ‘em en mi casa (and can’t watch food go bad… another OCD thang)—so I’m trying, people.)

I did get some cashews in at lunchtime—in non butter form—with a side of homemade trail mix.

Cashews, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, dark chocolate chunks, dried cherries, craisins and raisins—the lunch dessert of all lunch desserts en mi libro .

Dinner kicked off with una ensalada enorme.

La mezcla: mounds of romaine, shrimpies, grilled onion, grilled portobello, oil-cured black olives, hard-boiled egg whites, salsa and cottage queso.

I’m in love with this Crate + Barrel bowl for its ability to host my massive ensaladas. Because eating out of mixing bowls makes for less-than-photogenic fotos…

Also pretty in love with this DELICIOUS duo.

To continue on with the day’s mission, I decided to try out another crazy cashew butter flavor combo in dinner parte dos.

Brown and wild rice con Soy Vay and cashew butter.

I’ve mentioned my hypothesis that Soy Vay makes everything taste better—and this crazy concoction confirmed it.

Teriyaki sauce + cashew butter? Success!

I wanted to make the cashew butter into a sauce, but I was out of milk. So, needless to say, there were some pretty sticky bites. I didn’t mind them .

Dessert was Neapolitan ice cream revised, with cashew butter playing the chocolate role.

Buenisimo.

So, after un dia de cashew butter, am I convert? Not so much. On its own, I still think it’s really blah. Swimming in a delicious sea of White Chocolate Wonderful, Barney Butter and Naturally Nutty, cashew butter drowns.

However, I certainly discovered delicioso accomplices that make cashew butter consumption an enjoyable experiencia. What are your thoughts on cashew butter? Any suggestions for other flavor combos that’ll help me get through the jar more quickly? I’m on a mission here, people…

Happy humpdia!

Amor,

Sarah

WELCOME TO THE FOODIE DIARIES!

This is not just another food diary. This is the diary of a foodie. Don’t get me wrong, I will definitely be cataloguing my food—but I’ll also be sharing my thoughts, passions, preoccupations, revelations, etc. You will learn that, like any true foodie, much of that involves food!

THE FOODIE

So, I suppose here is where I introduce myself.

My name is Sarah, and I am a foodie.

I’m truly fascinated by all things food—cooking it, reading about it, writing about it, experimenting with it, and—in true save-the-best-for-last fashion—eating it. This is an intricate, defining aspect of who I am, and I live my life embracing, not fighting, my love for food.

While being a foodie is a full-time gig, I’m also an aspiring writer. If there’s one thing in life that I love as much as food, it’s writing. For me, both writing and exploring food are therapeutic outlets that allow me to reflect, create, experiment, improve and constantly challenge myself, all the while avoiding monotony.

I received my BA in journalism (with a minor in Spanish Language) from American University in May 2009, and now I’m trying to find a way to turn my dual affinities for food and writing into a career! Easier said than done in this economy, but I’m determined to make it work. For now—from a non-money making stance—the equation seemed obvious: My love for food + my passion for writing = The Foodie Diaries!

HEALTHY FOODIE

I talk some mean game about loving food and eating like it’s my job, but I actually have very healthy taste in food. This is not to say I don’t indulge. I do, often. But a lifetime fascination with food eventually led to a curiosity about how the food I ate was impacting my well-being. Throughout college, through my own research, observations and experience—including living (and EATING!) in Spain for five delicisoso months—I gradually developed a deeper understanding of nutrition and a strong preference for real foods.

I’m oddly enticed by the science behind the art—that’d be the nutrition behind the eating—which I attribute to my nerdy penchant for researching and learning new things. That said, I am constantly reading up on nutrition findings and theories, experimenting with recipes and investigating (read: eating) new foods. I’m kind of on a mission to become an expert in all things food and nutrition-related.

MY FOODIE PHILOSOPHY

“Eat what you like, and let the food fight it out inside.” –Mark Twain

Ok, so I don’t subscribe to that attitude entirely. But Twain is one of my favorite satirists, and I love that even one of America’s greatest fiction writers had a food philosophy!

I do wholeheartedly believe in eating what you like. And I don’t think any food you love should ever be off limits. Simply put: If you enjoy something, eat it. Even the most indulgent foods can be (and should be!) enjoyed—in moderation. Life is too short to put bans on things (particularly edible things!) that make you happy. It’s all about being smart and in control when it comes to guilty pleasures.

Knowledge is power—especially in regard to food. Know what you eat. Read labels, research and be curious about what you nourish your body with. I’ve found that as I’ve fostered more knowledge about the facts behind my food, the more I genuinely prefer eating healthy, whole foods.

On diets: I don’t do ‘em. Ever. I haven’t gone down that road since I was 16 years old and managed to gain 7 pounds on The South Beach Diet. (I, uh, cheated. A lot).

I understand that some people need the structure and rules that come with following a diet. But, for me, any restrictive approach to eating is an automatic failure. I’ve simply got too much love for my food—carbs and all.

Because I so vehemently love food and hate diets, I try my best to balance foods that taste good with foods that are good. I feel fortunate that those two categories overlap pretty naturally for me because I’d never want to punish my tastebuds in order to reward my health–or vice versa!

____________________________________________________________________

Did you…

(a) immediately scroll to the bottom of this page, shocked that I ranted for that long/expected you to actually read it through?

or

(b) read my every word, think my monologue was adorably narcissistic fascinating and decide you want to know more?

Either way, check out my much briefer page of Foodie Fun Facts!

There once was a man named Bikram

Whose practice I tried out on a whim

Though I’m feeling quite sore

I understand its allure

For yoga’s sore beats the bore of the gym

And that was my roundabout, limericky way of telling you that Wednesday morning delivered just as much soreness as Tuesday’s. And that I liked it? Perhaps it’s because exercise hasn’t made me this sore in a while, but I’m sort of taking pleasure in the discomfort. Now that I officially sound like a masochist, let’s redirect our attention to yesterday’s eats.

Hump day kicked off with some coffee art.

I want to assure you that the above montage is one cup of coffee, not four. Given my current state of soreness and, uh, the whole 90 minutes a day in a 105 degree room thing, I’m not trying to further dehydrate my body with my typical “I lose count of how many cups I’ve had” coffee habit.

After my java-fix, I went on to break-ify one of my favorite childhood snacks:  Fig Newtons. While other kids indulged in Mallomars and Moon Pies, I had a serious thing for the Newtons. I’ve still not gotten over them entirely, but these days—when the reminiscent craving hits—I go for the hydrogenated oil-free Newman’s Own version. That said, I present to you…

Newman’s Sarah’s Own Fig Newton Yogurt

1 cup of plain greek yogurt, sweetened with honey and cinnamon + fresh figs

+ 1.5 graham crackers, which—if you’re lucky like me—will be the last of your bag and make for easy, mess-free crushing

=

Sarah’s Own Fig Newton Yogurt! That bodacious breakfast bowl took me right back to my childhood love affair…

I can’t lie and say that once you mix it all together it tastes just like a Fig Newton. Because—let’s face it—Fig Newtons do not contain grahams, yogurt or fresh figs. But it was an absolutely delicious blend of figgy flavor.

And I “mmmmmmmm”-ed at every single bite.

I ate my lunch in two parts in an attempt to not be too full for my 6 p.m. yoga class.

Warning: Lunch Part I looks a whole lot like breakfast—but I assure you, it’s a different fig-imbued bowl.

It is, however, nearly identical to last week’s “fruit cereal.”

In the mix: ginormous Ginger Gold apple, 2 fresh figs, raisins, dried cherries, slivered almonds, ground flax, cinnamon and almond milk.

All the usual suspects with one “fruit cereal”-changing ingredient: dried cherries.

These added so much flavor to a bowl I’d previously deemed perfection. I stand corrected. “Fruit cereal” featuring dried cherries = perfection. If you’ve not yet jumped on this bandwagon, I urge you to board promptly.

Warning #2: Lunch Part II is not nearly as attractive as Lunch Part I.

Warmed Granny Smith +

Warm cream cheese-packed WW pita =

Something not nearly as delicious as I’d imagined. Foodie foul.

If you recall, this past weekend, I discovered that sliced apples, LC and warmed WW pita are a delectable combo. So, cream cheese lover and baked apple feind that I am, I envisioned a warmed-up, cream-cheesy remix that would put my prior concoction to shame.

Erroneous on all accounts. While the cream cheese + apple flavor combo was on point, the “baked apple” got too mushy for a warm pita to handle, and things got pretty messy. Still, it was an edible mess—i.e. I cleaned the plate… but only because I needed pre-yoga fuel .

***

Foodie’s Foray into Yoga – Day 3

Yesterday’s class was the most challenging yet. It may be due to my soreness, but the stretches felt so much deeper than they did during my first two classes. I also got a lot of personal attention during last night’s class because there were only six of us. The accent-less (phew!) Brooklyn instructor gave me a lot of guidance on the proper form of each pose—which was really helpful because I could definitely feel my body working harder once I was doing the pose correctly.

It was also more challenging because I got nauseated (thanks, grammar lesson from Prof. SnackFace) throughout last night’s class. I have a feeling this had to do with lunch Part II being consumed a little less than three hours before class. When doing Bikram, you aren’t supposed to eat for 3-4 hours before class. I’ve been struggling to eat the right amount—and at the right time—so I don’t get hungry before class nor do I go to class too full. I probably should’ve skipped my failure of a lunch part dos because yesterday I definitely got to class too full. No bueno, people.

Still, if my limerick didn’t give it away, I am still loving yoga. I’ll do a full re-cap at the end of my one week challenge, but for now:

Day 3 verdict: Though my body feels like it endured the Battle of Saratoga, this foodie’s falling head over heels for yoga .

(While I warned you that I have a tendency to speak in poem, I never claimed to be good at it…)

***

Dinner last night was the monster salad I’d planned on eating Tuesday night before my chicken-craving hit.

In the mix: chopped romaine, grilled chicken, grilled & marinated mushrooms, grilled onions, grilled peppers, roasted cherry tomatoes, oil-cured black olives and feta.

You’ll notice a whole lot of grilled in there because, as I’ve said before, I love salads with grilled veggies.

One unusual suspect in last night’s salad was:

I almost never put feta in salads. I don’t know why, but I’m really not wooed by the cheese in salad thing. However, I realized that I currently have an abundance of feta cheese…

So I went with it. And, I wont lie, it was a wonderful little addition.

Another component worth pointing out is…

Though these resemble something that might be force-fed to Survivor contestants, they’re actually oil-cured olives. My favorite. Seriously, you can add them to anything or eat them straight-up. They do not disappoint. Ever. (I always weird myself out when I get that dramatic about food—but I’m being entirely serious.)

Oh, and that brown drizzle you see, that’d be my super simple honey balsamic dressing. 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar mixed with 1/2 tablespoon honey. It’s pretty amazing—and seriously simple.

The best part about eating salad for dinner is (usually) having room for dessert—which came in the form of my previous PB discovery…

Really, I only ate this since I didn’t give you guys a picture last time, and I figured you might need some visual incentive to take the PB&Popcorn leap. Although, probably not…

Happy Office-watching!

-Sarah

Playa y sol (*transl: beach & sun) are now out of season

Excuses to eat ice cream just dwindled in reason

As the heat’s no longer an acceptable justification

Can’t claim it’s necessary for the purpose of hydration

Each week from now on, will grow a bit more cool

Oh, we’ll long for the days spent lounging at the pool

Understand, though, that we shan’t cry for summer

The season among us is far from a bummer

Sweaters, pumpkins and apple-picking come with the fall

U might even be excited for Sunday football

Me? I cannot wait for Halloween’s tricks and treats

Moreover, I’m anticipating Thanksgiving day eats

Eager for all this season will bring

Ready for fall; I hear it’s the new spring

If an acrostic rhyming poem dedicated to the change of seasons isn’t proof that unemployment has left me with too much time on my hands, I don’t know what is. But gracias for putting up with my recent poetic musings.

So, if you didn’t get the gist of that terribly cheesy poem, yesterday marked the last day of summer. It was a beautiful 70 degree day in NYC, so, feeling some seasonal nostalgia, I tried to keep my eats summery and fresh.

Onto breakfast, I digress.

I know, I know. I’m a breakfast-repeater. But ever since concocting my Sarah’s Own Fig Newton yogurt, the looming desire to re-create it has been taunting me. Suppressing food fantasies has never been my strength, so I gave in. Here you have my greek yogurt, cinnamon, honey, graham and fresh fig blend in all its secondhand glory.

In an attempt to be artsy (you will learn, I’m not), I captured the red of the apple and the figs. Summery, right?

Or, eerily reminiscent of Pleasantville?

Here’s the full color shot because—while figs certainly are beautiful—it’s the golden-y grahams that make the bowl.

For lunch, I made one of my favorite summery chicken salads.

In the mix: 3 oz. cooked chicken, cubed; 2 big dollops of greek yogurt; celery; handful of grapes; slivered almonds; honey (enough to write your first initial); generous sprinkling of lemon pepper seasoning; salt.

The grapes and almonds do wonders for this chicken salad, and the contrast of the salty lemon-pepper seasoning and sweet honey make magic happen.

Piled high between a rye sandwich thin. A little too high for neat eating. To the rescue, FSTG chips!

Oooh my god. I thought I’d experienced a climactic level of chip-induced ecstasy when I discovered FSTG multigrains. But those geniuses over in FSTG land have outdone their original with The Works. These are perfectly salty and generously seeded—basically an intensified, polished version of the multigrains. If you seek happiness and life fulfillment, buy these chips.

Last night’s dinner was as summery a salad as can be. I benched my current obsession with grilled and roasted veggies in salads—figuring roasted veggies will be plentiful throughout fall—and let the goods flourish in their freshest state.

In the mix: romaine, hard-boiled egg white, celery, shrooms, cherry tomatoes, sweet onion, green pepper, corn, oil-cured olives and sun-dried tomatoes; dressed in my balsamic-honey mix and celery salt.

I played favorites with this corner of the plate, which was hosting a generous offering of my favorite players: sun-dried tomatoes, oil-cured olives and corn. The award-winning bites included all of the above.

Alongside was some whole-wheat pita with pine-nut hummus. The tub of hummus came along for the dinner ride just in case some raw veggies were feeling underdressed.

…which obviously didn’t happen.

I did my best to do dessert in a summery fashion.

But the sodium-fiend in me could not be silenced.

Hot sauce on my thumb… Classy.

When you go through more than a box of popcorn a week, can it be classified as addiction? And by more than a box, I mean, sometimes, two boxes. Por favor, give me some horrifying fact about popcorn that will make me never want to eat it again. Or, help me justify my current over-consumption

Happy first day of fall!

-Sarah

To which F word am I referring?

No, not THE F word.

No, not that F word either.

Though I suppose now would be as good a time as any to address my flat-out failure as a blogger. Sí, I am referring to the fact that I set a new personal record by abandoning blogland for 10 días. Lo siento.

(If it wins me any bonus points, I ate my way through approximately half the bag of Newman’s Alphabet Cookies to dig out the letters in the picture above. FML?)

The F word I’m addressing in this post is actually the reason behind my impromptu hiatus.

FAMILIA.

Of the many Fs in my life—food, fitness, fashion, Fage—family is numero uno. So when some unexpected family matters arose—and were followed by longer-than-usual visits from la hermana y los abuelos—foodie biz took a backseat.

However, this does not mean that food was not had. In fact, when mi familia is involved, there is an influx in both quality and quantity of food consumed. This would be one of the primary reasons they are numero uno in my book.

During my diez-día hiatus, I managed to photograph nearly all of the fabulous food with which my face became acquainted. This has left me with 367 fotos. Let’s do some math. 367 pictures bestowed upon 1 failure of a food blogger who just took a 10-day vacation=OVERLOAD.

Instead of trying to fit 10 days of eating—and I should emphasize that these were 10 days of my eating…on ‘roids—into one post, I will share the DOS best food y familia-filled meals that were had during my absence.

The first is, of course, Thanksgiving!

Better tarde than never…

Tofurkey Day kicked off, as it usually does, with mucho traffic.

More than average mucho traffic + thirsty hermanas + approx. 293829228438433 “Are we there yet?”s from la boca de Dora=very necessary Thanksgiving day pre-game at…

Large sweet teas and small french fries were a great idea because (a) la hermana, Dora y yo were all in much better moods post-fueling and (b) this detour prompted the GPS to re-route us on some obscure non-trafficky highway. Success!

After too much tiempo on the road, we finally arrived to our familia’s Thanksgiving destination, Aunt Lauren’s.

Within five minutes of stepping foot in la casa, I had a glass of vino in hand and was ready to multitask.

TG multitasking=simultaneously schmoozing and cheese and cracker consuming.

I am well-versed in the way of this sort of multitasking. And I was all about that apricot cheese. AMAZING.

By the time I was through schmoozing and snacking, the cheese stood alone.

With some remnants of Kashi crackers…

In true Thanksgiving style, the pre-meal vino y queso left me full before dinner was served.

Not too full for pumpkin sopa.

Increible.

Gigi had a less enthusiastic response.

I believe her words were, “why does it taste like this?”

Onto the main event:

Traditional comida like turkey.

And traditional-comida-if-you’re-Jewish (or Chewish), like brisket.

Mashed taters.

Cranberry.

Y cranberry relish.

And wild rice with dried cranberries and raisins and some other magical ingredients that made this TG-newbie one of my favorites.

On the veggie front, roasted butternut squash, peppers and onions.

Roasted zucchini.

Roasted shrooms.

And now for the tres Thanksgiving staples that I look forward to all year:

Sweet potato casserole.

This year la fam made it with chunks of pineapple—which took it to a new level of deliciousness.

String bean casserole.

And CORNBREAD.

Cornbread is among my top five favorite foods. Addiction.

Mi plato.

I cannot tell a lie. I was so full from wining, cheesing and souping that I had to stop after eating 1/4 of the way into this plate.

Fear not. I took a half-hour power nap and, in true foodie fashion, awoke with a renewed appetite. I cleaned the plate and then some. (The then some came mostly in the form of the cranberry wild rice because it was ridiculo!)

After another power nap, I got my third wind and began to ponder my dessert strategy.

The following piqued my interest.

Banana creme pudding, apple pie, chocolate cream cheese pudding pie and strawberry cupcakes.

I decided on a pudding duo.

Chocolate cream cheese pudding pie con whipped cream.

And banana creme pudding.

A new Nilla wafer-infused Thanksgiving favorite courtesy of my newest aunt, Jenn.

And with that banana creme wonder—there may have been un pequeño second helping—Thanksgiving concluded.

I know I said I was only going to share dos meals—but here’s a quickie that exemplifies why la hermana is my E.P.I.C.

On the morning after Thanksgiving, despite unfaltering fullness, la hermana y yo would be in the mood for Chinese food.

Yet another reason why familia comes first.

The next familia meal I’ve deemed noteworthy was Nanny’s 75th birthday dinner!

We went to my absolute favorite neighborhood restaurant, The Pearl Room.

The Pearl Room is an incredible Brooklyn seafood restaurant, and it has a special place in my heart because I hated seafood prior to my first Pearl Room dining experience.

Almost exactly two years ago, on the night before I left for my five-month stay in Spain, my dad took me to The Pearl Room in an attempt to “diversify my eating portfolio.” Both mi padre y yo were concerned that I was about to live—and eat—with a Spanish chorizo-loving familia when I—at the time—only ate chicken on occasion. In attempt to convert my “I only eat chicken”-card to an “I eat chicken and fish”-card, padre took me to The Pearl Room and we ordered several different pescado dishes to see if there was something seafood-esque that I liked.

I can’t even remember what we ordered, but I remember that we finished all of the dishes—our bites broken up by a whole lot of “This is SOOOO GOOD!” exclamation—and I set off to Spain a seafood-lovin’ señorita.

So gracias a The Pearl Room for changing my close-minded, chicken-only ways.

Anyway, back to Nanny’s cumpleaños.

The Pearl Room serves the best bread basket. I’m usually one of those bread-before-dinner skippers because bread y butter really does nada for me.

But at The Pearl Room, incredible olive rolls take the place of bread.

And a mysterious, I-don’t-know-what’s-in-it-but-it-must-be-crack-infused dipping sauce takes the place of butter.

I never know how to describe the flavor of this sauce–I, uh, talk about it a lot–but I’m always tempted to compare it to vodka sauce. I think this is mostly because it looks like vodka sauce; its taste is incomparable. I’ve been doing a lot of Pearl Room-ing recently, so, during my next visit, I’m going to grill the manager for the ingredients. Or at least some hints.

Immediately after I took those dos photos, Gigi queried, “Ummm, why are you taking pictures of your food?”

All the cool kids are doing it, Dora.

Before ordering, hermana and I snagged a picture with the birthday chica.Triplets? Ok, not so much.

Then the Shiraz came, and Sexy Shirl (a.k.a. Nanny) went to work.

Gigi—a little tipsy off her Shirley Temple—did a lot of jumping on Poppy.

Wherein Poppy taught her a new word: encroach.

As in, “Gigi, you can’t encroach on Poppy while he’s eating.”

So Gigi began encroaching on me.

I pretended to mind.

But ultimately showed some amor.

And even participated in a “who has a longer tongue?” contest.

Silliness concluded as soon as cena was served.

Both Nanny and I were enticed by, but couldn’t decide between, the two fish specials—so we decided to share.

Nanny went with the hummus salmon atop grilled veggies and lentils.

AMAZING. The salmon was seared and then coated with hummus and broiled—so it had a perfect crisp layer topped with a creamy hummus layer. And the LENTILS… perfection.

I went with the sea bass, infused with wild herbs and lemon and served in a white wine sauce.

It was served as a whole fish and filleted at the table.

So simple and FRESH and increible.

On the side, I had grilled asparagus and shrimp risotto.

SOOOOOO GOOD.

We had some very interesante, Shiraz-induced conversation.

For example, we discussed the importance of being adventurous eaters and all agreed that it’s a shame when people stick to standard, it’s-been-done-before items when there are unchartered, creative flavor combos to be had.

At which point Poppy drew the following comparison: “It’s like sticking to missionary.”

Luckily, this flew over Gigi’s head because my little chica only had one thing on her mind.

Nanny’s birthday cake!

(We may have forgotten the 7 candle, so Nanny was 5 for the night…)

Mucho chocolate.

Can you guess who finished first?

Dora, la ganadora!

Speaking of ganadoras (winners), I suppose I should announce the winner of my Nutridel giveaway.

Random.org generated #40. So la ganadora es…

Sophia from Burp and Slurp!

Congrats, chica! E-mail me at thefoodiediaries@gmail.com with your address so I can get you tus galletas!

Bueno, I hope you all enjoyed as food y familia-filled a holiday weekend as I. And, as much as I enjoyed my downtime con la familia, I am muy feliz to be back!

The español word of el día: primavera.

Primavera means spring.

Spring means fabuloso weather, fresh produce and a general influx in reasons to love life.

So when Wednesday decided to play dress-up as primavera, I awoke in a state of general gleefulness—and with a surge of extra endorphins.

I sprung (pun definitely intended) out of bed and immediately channeled those enthusiastic endorphins toward creating a delicious spring-welcoming breakfast.

Being the indecisive chica that I am, breakfast brainstorming took some time.

And so, I partook in a little pregame of iced coffee and cinnamon sugar Truvia manzana.

Apparently my brain just needed a little fuel/caffeine/deliciousness because mid-manzana, inspiration struck.

Last week, when I reached out for cottage cheese consultation, my dear amiga Little J insisted that I’d fall in love with her favorito cottage cheese concoction, which involves fresh fruta, Kashi and almond butter. My taste buds operate on a similar wavelength as hers do—so I was eager to heed her advice.

Unfortunately (except not really), I’ve been a bit of a cottage cheese junkie since discovering its glory. This means I’ve been plowing through almost an entire container in un día. This also means that every morning when I’ve woken up intent on trying the Jess Favorito, I’ve not had enough cottage cheese left to make it work.

Oh, the woes of a crack cottage cheese addict…

But back to that miercoles morning moment of inspiration. I realized that, for the first time in a long time since I started eating cottage cheese last week, I had enough cottage queso left to make the Jess Special.

La mezcla: 1 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1/2 cup Kashi puffs, 1 cup sliced strawberries and an almond butter spoon.

 

Simple? Sí. Spring-welcoming? Sí. Mind-blowingly delicious? Sííííííííííííí.

I’m still in awe of the fact that I’ve missed out on years of this creamy wonder.

Mostly because this means I’ve missed out on years of this messy bowl of loco goodness.

 

Yo quiero más. Ahora.

Lunch continued down the path of primavera-welcoming, fresh foodism.

Oh, and cottage cheesedom.

On a toasted whole wheat English muffin: 1/2 cup cottage cheese mixed with 2 scoops roasted red pepper hummus and sriracha. Topped with half an avocado and seasoned salt.

I overestimated how much ‘cado an English muffin could host—so some slices served decorative purposes. By that, I mean I ate ‘em straight up.

 

On the side: giant plum, baby peppers and grapes.

(Yes, some of the cottage cheese mixture made its way onto a grape. No, I didn’t hate it.)

Con Sabra for baby pepper/finger dippage.

Later, I met a fellow writer amigo for a Starbucks productivity session because we both had fallen a bit behind on our freelance writing workload.

Of course, I packed provisions—courtesy of some samples I was sent this week.

 

I had one of each Granola Gourmet energy bar so that I can post a full review for you in the near feature.

Note to self: Eating two “energy bars for athletes” at once will induce ridiculous fullness.

Note to self #2: Your crazy estómago will always find a way to defy all properties of fullness and demand the biggest dinners ever.

So, you know how I’ve been on a double dinner kick?

Yesterday I embarked on a triple dinner endeavor.

Endeavor was a poor word choice. Clearly I succeeded at dominating that dinner.

Let’s start in the center because the eggplant dish was the star of cena.

En serio, this may have been the best eggplant dish I’ve ever created.

Oh, you want a receta? Fine.

Sesame Seed Japanese Eggplant

Serves one as entree.

Ingredients:

• 2 Japanese eggplants
• sesame oil
• 2 tbsp. sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1/2 packet stevia

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400°.
• Cut the eggplants lengthwise.
• Score around the edge of the skin and then cross-score.

• Brush with sesame oil.
• Mix 2 tbsp. soy sauce with 1/2 a packet of stevia.
• Then pour 1/2 tbsp. of soy sauce/stevia mixture onto each eggplant half, making sure it sinks into the cuts.

• Place on baking dish and sprinkle 1/2 tbsp. of sesame seeds on each eggplant half.

• Bake for 40-45 minutes, until eggplant is soft and the skins begin to peel away from the flesh.

The result?

Fantastically tender, sweet, salty, sesame-seedy eggplant.

 

I’m very partial to smothering my baked eggplant with hummus—but this dish really gave that combo a run for its money. I’m pretty sure the crux of the deliciousness lies in the stevia and soy sauce mixture.

I was so enamored by this concoction that parte dos y parte tres of my dinner also featured it.

Asian Ensalada

In the mix: endless romaine, grilled zucchini, baked portobello mushroom cap, grilled onion, clementine, soy sauce/stevia-marinated shrimp and a fortune cookie! Dressed in Newman’s Own’s Sesame Ginger dressing.

An outer ring of clementine, portobello and green cheetah.

 

Inner ring of shrimpies.

I mixed up another 2 tbsp. of soy sauce with a 1/2 packet of stevia and let the cooked shrimp bathe in the mix for a bit. Los taste buds were screaming gracias for that foresight.

 

And a grilled cebolla and fortune cookie center.

Post-photo, I crumbled the fortune cookie and devoured.

Oh yes, and I obviously took a gander at my fortune.

A merry corazón? Just another symptom of springtime.

However, I was more interested in the Chinese lesson on the back.

Bao means bread.

Bread means carbs.

Which brings me to parte tres of dinner.

I almost forgot to include carbs in my cena. Almost.

Devout carbist that I am, I brainstormed a quick carby creation.

Which brought me to this amazing life-changing discovery.

Brace yourselves, carbists…

Instant “Sticky Rice” Oatmeal

 

Desperate for a quick carb fix, I hit up my instant oatmeal stash and attempted a simple side of savory oats.

What resulted was an unexpected foodgasm.

The method:

• Microwave one packet of plain instant oatmeal with a dash of salt and a little less than 2/3 cup of water for 2.5 minutes.
• Combine another 2 tbsp. of soy sauce with 1/2 packet of stevia.
• Douse instant oatmeal with soy sauce mixture and stir.

Commence consumption/moaning over instant “sticky rice” oatmeal.

Despite all of the effort I put into the rest of my dinner, this 2.5 minute creation was—hands down—the best part. I will likely begin eating this on a daily basis. As should you.

Dessert catered to my both my sweet and salty cravings.

Vanilla peanut butter fro-yo with whipped cream, sourdough pretzels and the salty remnants from the bottom of the pretzel bag.

BRILLIANCE.

Seriously, spring brings out the best in us.

Unfortunately yesterday’s taste of primavera was exactly that—a taste. The forecast for the weekend is not looking so bueno—but I’ll be perfectly content curling up with bowls of instant sticky rice oatmeal, sweet and salty fro-yo and cottage cheese concoctions.

Preguntas: Are you as enamored by springtime as I am? Even if it’s just a tease of warm weather day? What’s the last amazing food discovery you stumbled upon on a whim?

Amor,

Sarah

‘Twas a tasty Tuesday that seemed to zip by

Cravings were aplenty, and I was eager to comply

But my eats were a bit uncharacteristic. (We’ll soon have a gander.)

And I couldn’t help feeling like Derek Zoolander

When I found myself questioning, “Who am I?”

Worry not. I’m not having an identity crisis. But, go figure, the day after I dedicate an entire post to how my foodie personality is predictably the same as it’s always been, I experience a day full of “this is so not me” eating.

My first inkling that some other foodie spirit had repossessed my body came with my mañana cup of coffee.

My kitchen’s currently boasting a pretty extensive selection of coffee. But I’m pretty faithful to my tried-and-true favorites, those usually being some jazzed-up version of a vanilla or hazelnut base. Ayer, I wanted none of that. I awoke in a chocolate state of mind.

Now I know what you’re thinking. That’s not really grounds for a “who am I?” moment, as I’ve recently realized and confirmed my fondness for cocoa. However, while I’m certainly acquiring a taste for chocolate, I’ve yet to seriously crave it or favor it over my veteran front-runners. Until yesterday.

No deliberation necessary. I wanted chocolate coffee.

Specifically New England Coffee’s Chocolate Cappuccino. I tried this last week, and I’m pretty sure it’s been on the brain ever since. But because I’m a save-the-best-for-last OCD freak, I’ve been rationing it until I can locate and hoard several more bags.

But there was no fighting that chocolate feeling yesterday. I gave into my moment of chocolate cappuccino weakness. And it was glorious.

This coffee is so bueno that I drank it straight up.

Moving along… I was ready to shake the whole “who am I?” hindrance with breakfast. I already knew what I was making, and it was very me.

Or so I’d intended.

I’ve been wanting to make Tina’s “Baked” Pumpkin Oatmeal” since I first laid eyes on it. I doubled the recipe porque I know mi estómago, and one packet of instant oatmeal would keep me full for approximately 20 minutes.

Looks a little diferente from Tina’s, right? On a whim, I decided to add cocoa powder. Seriously. WHO AM I? I had a perfectly delicious, pumpkin-y concoction sitting before me, and I chose (read: needed) to chocolate-ify it?

I’ll stop whining, though. My case of the “who am I?”s worked brilliantly here. This. was. AMAZING.

Los ingredientes: 2 packets maple brown sugar instant oatmeal, 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp. agave and 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder. Mixed and microwaved for 3 minutes. (Or 2:59 if you’re weird like me.)

Chocolately pumpkiny perfection. Make. This. Ahora.

Sometime after that bowl of deliciousness, I G-chatted with hermana and learned that she, too, was eating out-of-character.

Melissa: you’ll be happy to know the brownie rampage has continued at school

snowstorms mean 8238928329329 brownies

me: jealous

i made CHOCOLATE OATS for bfast

like, i was CRAVING chocolate

WHO AM I!?

Melissa: um i made waffles and eggs with spinach and laughing cow for bfast

like what? i made myself a real breakfast… WHO AM I!?

At least we’re in this together, hermana.

Lunch parte uno was a pretty standard Sarah sandwich.

On a toasted sandwich thin: laughing cow, Sabra hummus, roasted eggplant and roasted red peppers.

It was during lunch parte dos that I had to step back and ask myself, “who am I?”

Apparently I thought I was a 5’10 blonde with a snacky disposition.

On my undeniably plagiarized snack plate:

The leaning tower of red bell pepper.

Filled con salsa.

Manzana con cinnamon.

Which christened this fresh tub of Greek Olive Sabra.

This is currently my favorite Sabsession. But I’ve yet to try the caramelized onion flavor, which I suspect may change my life.

Post-lunch came errands, a writing project and some at-home pilates. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I slept through my Tuesday clase. So, I attempted to do some mat stretching, scissors (because they’re naughty) and rollovers (because they’re fun) en mi cuarto.

‘Lates ended up looking like this:

Yea, somewhere between stretching and scissors, I got lost in blog-reading, which somehow led me to get lost in Cherry Garcia. My newfound sweet tooth is really confusing me.

For dinner, I decided it was acceptable to have dos. Who am I?

Ok, fine. That food decision is entirely characteristic of me. But both of my cena components were large and in charge, and I’m sort of surprised I was able to eat it all. Sort of.

First up: una ensalada enorme.

I realize that doesn’t look so enorme because it’s on a plate. But I assure you it was massive. In fact, I have proof it was massive. But we’ll get to that later.

In the mix: baby spinach, red bell pepper, cucumber, celery, apple, brie, grilled shrooms, green cheetahs, asparagus, grilled onion and fried egg whites. Predictably dressed in a honey-balsamic blend.

The increible trifecta of fried egg whites, green cheetahs and grilled cebolla in the center.

And the no-fail combo of manzanas y brie dispersed throughout.

One more cebolla shot because grilled onion doused in sweetened balsamic is both aesthetically and gastronomically mind-blowing.

So much so that it was the star of dinner numero dos: savory Asian oats.

1/2 cup oats cooked in 1 cup water and 2 tbsp. soy sauce. Topped with grilled onion and asparagus.

I’d sort of forgotten how much I love savory oats. One bite into that creamy, soy saucy creation, and I fully remembered.

Messified deliciousness.

Onto that evidencia that my ensalada was one of great size.

I couldn’t eat it off the plate. Seriously, it was imposible.

So, into my hugh jass mixing bowl it went.

Oh, and if you’d like evidencia of my aforementioned save-the-best-for-last approach to eating… this is how I eat my salads.

Yes, I consume the 3 pounds of baby spinach first and save all of the well-marinated goodies for the end.

And now, for my final and most profound “who am I?” moment of el día: I wasn’t in the mood for popcorn for dessert.

My fridge is currently harboring a massive tub of vanilla pudding, and I was inexplicably drawn to it post-cena.

Con grahams, of course.

This was SO GOOD. Just to forewarn you, I feel a pudding kick coming on. Though, if my popcorn addiction doesn’t return by tonight, I may have a full-blown “WHO AM I!?” meltdown.

Do your food cravings ever throw you off? Up until very recently, my sweet tooth was non-existent. And its frequent presence is really freaking me out. Clearly, though, I’m embracing it .

Amor,

Sarah

In case you’ve feared that, during my loco hiatus, my foodidentity (foodie + identity = foodidentity, right?) underwent any changes, Monday’s eats should assure you that I’m exactly as I left you.

While I do my best to embrace creativity en la cocina, I’m undeniably a creature of habit. When I find something I love to eat, I eat it. Often.

That said, I present to you: A Foodie Groundhog’s Day.

Por ejemplo, I am still consuming the world’s biggest bowls of Honey Sunshine for breakfast.

If I were una foodie inteligente, I’d have learned by now  that cereal is not an ideal breakfast para mi because it takes me two to three refills of that grande bowl to achieve my desired level of fullness.

Alas, I still cannot resist the allure of knowing exactly what I want upon waking. So, when it’s cereal, I eat cereal. And add as many peanut butter chips and raisins as I can fit into my grubby little manos.

I’m still quite partial to manzanas as mid-morning snacks.

Despite the fact that an apple is an apple, any way you slice it, I still attempt to prettify my food.

I still maintain that I hate pizza. Still, I regularly crave and consume pita pizzas.

On this baked beauty: hummus, Laughing Cow, roasted eggplant and roasted red peppers.

I still have not acquired the will power, nor the desire, to use hummus as an ingredient and not dip into it for some on-the-side snackage.

I’m still a freak of nature and thoroughly enjoy dipping grahams in hummus.

I’m still defying the laws of portion control and consuming nuts by the bowl. Opposed to blogland’s ever-so-popular nuts by the handful.

Lo siento, but a handful of nuts has never been enough for me. (Insert far-too-obvious TWSS.) I know those who suffer from snackface syndrome agree.

I do still try to abide by my principles of balance. And so, I countered my abundant snackage with some abundant saladage.

Sí, I am still all about the ensalada enorme for dinner.

In the mix: bag of baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, shrooms, onion, cucumber, celery, avocado, strawberries, balls and shredded ched. Still into dressing my veggies with honey and balsamic.

I continued on my quest to get some more greens with something you know you’ve seen before.

Still a full-fledged addiction.

I’m also still really into ensuring that carbs are included in every meal.

Never. Gets. Old.

What’s your eating estilo? Are you a creature of habit? Or do you an anti-meal repeater? I’m definitely a creature of habit. But I love experimenting with and tweaking my favorites—in part so I don’t bore you all, and in part so I keep my beloved tastebuds feliz.

Enjoy what’s left of your Groundhog’s Día!

Amor,

Sarah

It’s been a long time; I shouldn’t have left you.

One week completely removed from el mundo de los blogs has felt like an eternity. I know that sounds a bit dramatic—but I feel SO out of the loop. Needless to say, estoy muy feliz to be back. I kid you not; opening Windows Live Writer—despite our precarious past—just gave me the butterflies.

(Edit: Those quickly dissipated when WLW decided to pull the ‘error’ card for the past nueve horas.)

So, here’s where we catch up, right?

Incorrecto. Despite spending seis días doused in deliciousness, I documented close to nada. No, really. I returned to NYC with six pictures—of two meals—on mi cámara. When I get into vacation mode, I have a tendency to abandon el Blackberry y la Canon. The only reason why I have my fotos of those dos meals is because my friend suggested that they were extraordinarily blogworthy. They are—so I figure I’ll give you a quick recap of Monday’s munchies, and then share those two gems.

Monday mañana kicked off with an early flight from Orlando to NYC.

YO ODIO airport food, so I made sure that I was well stocked on the breakfast/I’m-bored-in-the-airport-so-I-guess-I’ll-just-eat front.

I packed a nut mix, a Mountain Mix Mojo bar and an undocumented (because, you know, that’s my new thing?) bag of Publix pretzel rods. (I firmly believe that Publix’s generic pretzel rods taste better than any other brand I’ve ever tried. Much to my dismay, no hay Publix anywhere near NYC.)

But my star breakfast component was this amazing trail mix.

 

Cinnamon toast crunch, dried cherries, dark chocolate espresso beans and Flipsides.

FLIPSIDES. Half pretzel. Half cracker. FULL ADDICTION.

I enjoyed that Ziploc o’ goodness alongside a monster Starbucks iced coffee. I always go for the venti with iced coffee because I’d kill a tall in .5 seconds—but this iced coffee monster was a venti on ‘roids. The airport Starbucks ran out of venti cups, so—until they got more in—they borrowed 36 oz. slushie cups from the neighboring smoothie stand. I had no problemo with this.

Terminado in approximately cinco minutos. Two random chicos came up to me and told me they bet $20 on whether or not I’d finish the giant coffee before my flight; winning chico was grateful for and impressed by my tank-like talent for chugging.

I flew Delta—which is a big deal because I’d say I fly JetBlue (EL MEJOR!) 99.9% of the time. I booked my flight with Delta for this trip because it was so last minute, and JetBlue was uncharacteristically pricey.

JetBlue SO MUCH > Delta.

HOWEVER, Delta has a leg-up on one cosa…

BISCOFF.

I’m obsessed. I ate one straight-up, and the other dunked in coffee (for soggifying pleasure).

I returned home to the blissful lingering scent of, uh, polyurethane. I guess we’re at the floor-finishing point of kitchen/dining room renovation. Bueno because this means kitchen-access is nearing. Malo because this means several days of a very chemical-scented casa.

I was starving, which was slightly problematic since I couldn’t breathe downstairs long enough to even throw together a sandwich. I quickly scoped out the fridge situation to see if there was anything ready-made that I could eat.

Leftover sesame chicken to the rescue.

There’s really no way to make that look pretty; but it was delicious.

When the “if I breathe this in for more than 30 seconds, I’m going to die” smell grew fainter, I microwaved a bowl of Banana Nut Bear Naked granola in almond milk and then topped it with dried raisins, cranberries and cherries, banana slices and cinnamon.

Bueno pero it occurred to me that a nut buttah spoon would take bueno to buenismo—always a good thing.

I opened the jar of cashew butter that la hermana so graciously bestowed upon me last weekend.

I’ve been fantasizing about my first spoonful of cashew butter since I found out such a wonder existed, as el cashew is my numero uno nut.

I believe any taste test should commence with a straight-up sampling (in this case, spoonful) to ensure an uninfluenced-by-other-flavors verdict.

I was underwhelmed. It was good, but not great. I’d enthusiastically opt for almond or peanut butter over cashew any day—which is loco because I’d attack a bag of cashews over almonds or peanuts, no deliberation necessary.

I’ll definitely try a different brand because I want to love cashew butter. What are your thoughts if you’ve tried it? Any brand recommendations?

Nevertheless, it delivered in the way of making my already delicious granola bowl even more so.

Gracias a mi amiga, Little J, for giving me the idea to warm granola in milk. SO splendidly soggy; I’m not sure I’m interested in dry/cold granola any longer.

Dinner was delayed by some muy importante kitchen appliance shopping. I am so excited for la cocina nueva! It should be finished just before Thanksgiving, and NO PUEDO ESPERAR.

Kitchen shopping made me hambre; or maybe it was just the fact that it was dinner time. Either or, I wanted cena, and I wanted it quickly.

UNA ENSALADA MONSTRUO from an amazing salad bar.

I really can’t recount everything that was in there, but I know it involved wheatberry raisin salad, couscous, garbanzos, black beans, banana peppers, olives, hummus, wasabi peas, egg, corn, sun-dried tomatoes, Asian crunchies and lots of uninteresting raw veggies beneath it all.

This was amazing, and such a salad monstruo that I almost couldn’t finish it.

Almost doesn’t count.

I may have made room for some cinnamon raisin bread—and a second baby plate of pasta ensalada.

 

And maybe some dessert.

I can’t be blamed for this one; I opened my fridge to find a mysterious bakery box of tarta de queso.

Naturally, I went for it.

What’s that hiding behind the cheesecake?

Oh, just a monster pile of chocolate whipped cream.

 

Since cheesecake clearly isn’t indulgent enough on its own.

Now, I suppose I’ll share those two coveted Floridian meals.

But not before I mentally scold myself once more for neglecting to document some of the amazing things I ate. It’s possible that I attended a Food & Wine festival—and essentially did a dessert crawl involving gingerbread strawberry ice cream sandwiches, peanut butter fudge honey cinnamon ice cream, red velvet cupcakes and delicacies of the like. A.K.A. un grande LO SIENTO for flaking on what would’ve been some X-rated food porn.

I hope these dos comidas gain me some bonus points.

Stuffed Butternut Squash and Stuffed Pollo

Stuffed with what, you may wonder?

Well…

Cheesy Veggie Oat Bran & Hummus Stuffed Bnut

Butternut squash halved, scooped and baked at 350 for 1 hour.

While that was in the oven, I cooked 1/2 cup oat bran in 1 cup water. As it was almost at its desired consistency, I added 2 Laughing Cow wedges, garlic, spinach, sauteed onion and olives.

Once the squash was almost done, I split the oat bran mixture (which was really hard not to polish off while waiting for the baked bnut) into the two scooped out areas and added a big dollop of hummus on top. I broiled the halves for an additional 5-8 minutes.

OOOOOOOOOHMYGAH.

El pollo was stuffed with LC, garlic, sauteed onions, artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes.

Otro más OOOOHMYGAH.

Stuffed Bnut + Stuffed Pollo = STUFFED Sarah.

Next up…

Pretzel Sandwich

My friend was inspired by a pretzel sandwich that Bennigan’s used to offer—and suggested we recreate it after taking note of my newfound obsession with Publix pretzel rods.

If you could only grasp my amor of pretzels, you’d understand how I fell in love with this masterpiece.

This is quite possibly the only eating premise under which I equally enjoyed the outards and innards. I never want to eat a sandwich on regular bread again.

Since I know you want to see the innards…

One soft baked pretzel was baked with salt, pepper, seasoned salt and garlic. The other was baked with a layer of cream cheese and the same seasonings. After four minutes, layers of honey maple turkey, sun-dried tomatoes and jalapeno havarti cheese were added to each side and baked for another two minutes. Final addition was stone dijon mustard.

I really don’t have any words.

Just a final plea: If you love pretzels and sandwiches, por favor make this!

Again, lo siento for the lack of a recap. And otro lo siento for this abnormally late post; delay brought to you by the hot ‘n cold WLW.

I’m off to make a dent in my Publix pretzel stash.

Hasta mañana,

Sarah

Happy lunes, mi gente!

(I always want to call you my foodies, but I’m not sure the term exists en español. When I lived in España, I once tried to explain the concept of a foodie to my host-mom—but my lack of español eloquence/proper pronunciation got us nowhere. I’m pretty sure that confusing conversación left my señora thinking that I was both loca and obsessed with food (neither entirely untrue); it left me still-uninformed of the español translation of la palabra “foodie.” Any native español speakers who’d be kind enough to enlighten me?)

I have an abnormally manic Monday—so I’m going to attempt a short and sweet recap in weekend discovery-form. Let us begin on a healthy note before digressing into the wonderful world of weekend indulgence.

During this fin de semana, I discovered…

-Kev Thug really is a thug.

Source.

Well, I found myself in a minor conundrum. I found the sneakers I’ve wanted online for much less than the what my local running store charges. El problemo? I really love the neighborhood running store, and I prefer to give my dinero to local businesses when I can.

Kev Thug to the rescue. As soon as I told father dearest of my consumer’s conundrum, he called the running store and explained that he’d rather buy the shoe from them if they’d meet him halfway on the price difference.

They did better and matched the online price. Success!

I realize this makes Kev more a savvy barterer than a thug—seeing as his solution wasn’t to rob/vandalize/hold up the running store—but the word thug carries so much more street cred.

Onto actual food discoveries…

-Applesauce and Greek yogurt are quite palatable partners in crime.

-Persimmon hype validated. Pretty, photogenic and delicious? Formulaic foundation for food blogger obsession.

This was my first persimmon, and I loved it. Its texture was sort of like a firm tomato, and it had a wonderfully subdued sweetness. Did I mention it was muy bonita? I can’t wait to play around with pretty persimmon photography.

The next two discoveries came on Saturday, which—as I’m sure you’ve heard—welcomed NYC’s first snowfall of the season!

-It feels unnatural to eat fresh, very out-of-season fruit when it’s snowing outside.

Unnatural, pero delicioso.

-Less unnatural? Eating Chinese take-out in a winter wonderland.

Chinese eggplant y pollo in garlic sauce. Favorito.

Vegetable egg fu yung. This was another weekend first. Increíble—but a little too greasy to be more than a one-bite encounter.

And obligatory brown arroz.

I thought I’d be done with Chinese for a while after having mucho last week—but I suppose I discovered that this was not so.

Back to unnatural eats, the following concoction epitomizes the word.

Graham cracker dipped hummus? I sort of tried this expecting to be disgusted (which is, in itself, pretty unnatural), but much like that watermelon, this combo was unnatural, pero delicioso.

I want to advise you to try this—but I’m not sure if it’s one of those weird flavor combinations that only my freaky taste buds enjoy.

The following is a confirmation of a discovery I made long ago:

I detest 100-calorie packs.

Take a look.

10 “cookies” sized similarly to the cereal pieces in Cookie Crisp.

A.K.A. cookie comedy.

Amigas, if you find yourself in the mood for a cookie, eat a cookie. Ten baby cookie imposters do not bear the same satisfaction.

And now a monumentous (you know, monumental + momentous) discovery…

I LIKE CHOCOLATE.

(I think.)

After carrying my “I’m not a chocolate person”-card for all 22 years of mi vida, I am beginning to suspect that my taste buds have evolved and now enjoy chocolate.

Some evidencia.

Exhibit A: You love a certain brand of kettle corn popcorn so much you’ve declared that it’s best sans any addition. You feel uncharacteristically compelled to add cocoa powder to said kettle corn. You love this.

Exhibit B: You love your Fage simply sweetened with sugar and cinnamon. Again, you feel uncharacteristically compelled to add cocoa powder. Again, you love this.

Exhibit C: You love lemon pound cake—straight up. You feel compelled to add dark chocolate chips. At this point, chocolate additions are no longer uncharacteristic, and it need not be stated that you love this.

Exhibit D: Despite having a freezer full of bran VitaTops at your fingertips, you reach for the Fudgy Peanut Butter Chip variety. You deem this the best VitaTop flavor you’ve tried thus far.

I believe exhibits A through D are sufficient proof of my blossoming chocolate love affair, so I’ll move on to a few final not-entirely-chocolate-related discoveries.

-When your VitaTop is missing a peanut butter chip, it is not only acceptable—but encouraged—to compensate with a spoonful of nut butter.

-Especially if it comes in the form of the highly-coveted Barney Butter.

Best. Almond Butter. Ever. I only wish my newest nut butter discovery came in a bigger jar—mostly because the little jar reflects my over-consumption so harshly.

Another chocolate-featured discovery:

Neopolitan ice cream sandwich.

Just do it.

And, before I bid you adieu, I’ll leave you with a conflicting piece of chocolate-loving evidence.

-While it is apparent that I have developed a newfound appreciation for chocolate…

…it seems I still favor my beloved non-chocolate options.

Good to know I’ve not lost myself entirely.

Amor,

Sarah