Trader Joe's Times

Hi There!

Happy Sunday :) I hope you had a great weekend. 

Last night, BF and I went to the Comic Strip comedy club near my apartment and had a great time. There was a 2 drink minimum and having been before, I knew that the Long Island Iced Tea was the best bang for our buck - its basically a glass of pure alcohol and makes even unfunny jokes extra funny. If you're on the UES and looking for a different night out, I definitely recommend it. 

A little while ago, I made BF and I special Trader Joe's dinner. I bought their Goat Cheese and Sun dried Tomato fresh ravioli, some vodka sauce, a beautiful aged Parmesan cheese and some spinach. 

 I have tried TJ's lobster ravioli and wasn't really impressed, but this stuff was awesome. It turned out to be a relatively cheap and easy / fast meal. Both BF and I loved it.

Check it out if you can!

Tomorrow my office is finally going to reopen. After a whole week off doing absolutely nothing, I'm super excited to get back and get my work done. It feels so weird not being able to get back to my clients and more than anything, its weird not having a weekday routine. I like getting up and having breakfast, getting to work, gymming if time allows and then going home! It makes the weekend that much more exciting!

I am off to do some laundry and maybe a little shopping! Hope you have a super Sunday!

Butternut Squash Mac n Cheese

Hi There!

As all of you (assuming) know, New York was hit very hard by Sandy. I hope all of you are safe and unharmed after the storm.

The night that the storm hit really hard, Monday, I was down at BF's place in the East Village. Very scary stuff. The power and water were knocked out. There were trees down everywhere and just a block or so away cars that were parked on the street were flooded. I feel terrible for the small businesses and residents that were hit badly... :(
Luckily, we were able to make our way to the Upper East Side to my place to find power + glorious hot water. My office has been closed this week as it is  down in SoHo where the damage is severe. The past few days BF and I have been attempting to work remotely, drinking wine and watching tv. Fun stuff.

In lighter news, I have been meaning to post this dish for a while. Mac n cheese is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Luckily, I found a lighter recipe that uses butternut squash to cut out the majority of  fatness. I copied it based on what I had and pure guess work - so no measurements will be listed below haha.

Here is what I used (sorry for the lack of measurements):

- Fresh Sage
- 1 butternut squash
- shell pasta
- vegetable broth
- garlic
- skim milk
- whole wheat crackers
- sharp Parmesan cheese

Step 1 – Cook the bag of pasta so it is al dente or with a bit of a bite to it. Set aside.

Step 2 - Peel & chop butternut squash. Maybe I have been doing this wrong all my life, but this is really, really hard. Any tips?

Step 3 – In a big pot, heat onion, garlic and butternut squash in olive oil over medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are sort of clear. Add vegetable broth and sage sprigs. Cook for about 20 minutes, add milk.

Step 4 - Cook until squash is tender. Let the pot cool until you can put your hand in it & not burn yourself. Have fun testing it! I burnt myself at least twice.

Step 5 - Blend butternut squash mixture in your food processor and add to pasta in a large baking dish. 

Step 6 - Top with a handful of crush crackers + a bit of cheese. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.

Step 6 - Eat.

Again, I hope all of you are safe and dry after the storm. Sandy turned out to be a huge bitch and will not be forgotten - my thoughts go out to all who are still dealing with the aftermath. So thankful to be okay

ttfn.

Scallops a la Caitlin

Hi!

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday! I feel like I need 2 more days before heading back to work.

Here is something I made BF and I for dinner a little while ago - I LOVE scallops and always forget how easy they are. To go with these, I made a garlicky white wine sauce, corn and green beans. Really good!

How to make this:

1) Rinse & pat the scallops dry. Sprinkle with salt.

2) In a small pan, heat olive oil & garlic over very high heat. 

 3) Carefully place scallops in the super hot pan. Make sure they don't touch!

4) Cook each scallop for 2 minutes or so and then flip them over. Resist temptation and don't move them before flipping or you wont get a crispy crust.

perfect!

5) Gently take the scallops out of the pan & keep the stovetop on, lowering the temperature to medium-low heat.
6) Add white wine, more garlic, a bit of butter, veggie broth, a bit of flour to thicken, lemon juice and garlic salt.

whisk in the pan scraping all the little burnt bits off of the bottom

7) Stir and pour over plated scallops.

BF's dinner

Super easy and yummy!

This weekend felt busy - lots of drinking and partying. I'm super duper exhausted and feel my are eyelids getting heavy! I'm off to bed now.

How was your weekend?

Special Dinner

Hi There!

As part BF’s birthday gift, I usually like to make him a special meal. 
For him, a special meal = meat.

I haven’t eaten meat for about 10 years (not including fish). OBVIOUSLY when it comes to working with meat, I need as much help as I can get! I almost never use recipes, but for meat dishes I need instructions. Detailed instructions haha. 
After countless Google searches and discussions with friends to try and find the perfect recipe, I decided on the below recipe I found on the Food Network website created by Ina Garten.

After researching Ina a bit more, I learned 2 things:

•  Ina likes butter 
• A lot of people like Ina

Based on this discovery, I decided to attempt the below recipe. The only difference I found between Ina’s recipe & reality was timing. Prep took way longer than 20 minutes and cooking time was almost 2 hours.

Perfect Roast Chicken (the title is really what sold me)

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_21404_RECIPE-PRINT-FULL-PAGE-FORMATTER,00.html

Prep Time:20 min

Cook Time:1 hr 30 min

Level: Intermediate

Ingredients

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs ( forgot the extra 20 sprigs! Oops!)

1 lemon, halved

1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced

4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks

1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges

Olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

 The result? It looks pretty good! BF said he really liked it and got very excited about the whole process. I made rice and roasted potatoes on the side.

bfs plate. my plate <3

What did I learn? (please don’t take offense if you LOVE chicken but…)I hate chicken. I hate everything about it and I don’t understand how people can eat it after knowing what raw chicken looks / smells / feels like. On the other hand, the cool thing about chicken is that there are endless ways to cook it and it’s not that hard to prepare. BF sure seems to love it.

In other news, I had an amazing time at yoga today. I worked hard, fell over, got sweaty, laughed with a friend, got really deep into a binding triangle pose (even got my leg up in the air!!!!) and  walked out feeling refreshed. The best kind of class.

Anyway, I’m off. Happy almost Friday!

Lovely

Happy Weekend!

Today is BF's bday and I'm VERY excited! He is such a catch - smart, handsome, funny, FUN, sweet, caring, altruistic, sensitive yet manly and my best friend :) I love spending his birthday with him. Okay, enough bragging haha. 

I've been really into beets lately. My Tuesday night yoga instructor said that eating beets and celery regularly can relieve lower back tension. This may or may not be true but since I love beets, I'll believe it!

Here is an easy dinner salad I made this week:

- Italian balsamic vinegar

- New York tomatoes

- Chopped romaine lettuce

- Crumbled gorgonzola

- sliced red beets

- 2 pieces crushed garlic

my arm looks weird

note, spilled water all over my table

Jumbled up

Followed by fat free yogurt, cinnamon, sugar free canned cherries and honey I got in Prague!

Anyway, I'm headed out to go shopping for something cute to wear to BF's birthday party. Gotta impress the boy on his special day :)

Hope you're having a great weekend!!

Birthdays & Sushi

Hi!

Happy almost Friday (thank god)! 

The weather in New York was so perfect this week so sitting at my desk was extra challenging. Luckily today I was able to get out and walk along the Hudson River at lunchtime. This week I HARDLY did any cardio. My workouts this week:

• Monday - mat based Pilates and a 30 minute walk
• Tuesday - intense Vinyasa flow yoga
• Wed - just a leisurely walk to BF's apartment from the office: about 30 minutes
• Tonight - Total body conditioning at NYSC. This was the first TBC class I've ever taken that had a cardio aspect to it! I did burpees for the first time in a looong time
• Tomorrow - planning to do spin at lunch!

This weekend is my BF's bday and I couldn't be more excited. He has decided to have a birthday boozy brunch on Saturday. He's just the best and I am the luckiest girl to have spent the majority of my time in the city with him. I love that he wants to do something so fun to celebrate.

I'm still not sure what to get him for a gift. Any ideas? 

I've promised to cook him some type of chicken as part of his gift and I'm super nervous (for those of you who don't know, I do not eat meat except for fish). I would love any ideas for that as well! Last time I cooked him chicken, I used lemon, rosemary and garlic. Apparently it was good so here's hoping for a successful meal!

Speaking of successful meals, let's talk sushi. There is a place near my apartment called Hanabi. My neighborhood has a ZILLION sushi places and they're all awesome. 

Hanabi is a bit different - the sushi is not spectacular, but its pretty darn good and reasonably priced for the Upper East Side.  I find myself getting the same thing every time I go! I order: 

- 'Sweet 16 Roll' - tempura shrimp, avocado, cucumber, carrot, topped with spicy lobster

- Spicy Salmon - my go to

- Steamed shrimp shumai - these little guys are so yummy. They're about the size of a quarter. 

Check out their menu - http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/hanabi/

  

Looks good right? I might have to get some this weekend.

Other than BF's bday I'm not sure what I'm going to do. If the weather is nice, I will probably go to the public pool near my apartment to cool off.

Let me know if you have any bday gift or meal ideas!

Hope you have a great weekend.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Happy Monday!

This weekend flew by! On Friday night I just stayed in with BF and we ate leftover Mediterranean food while watching  Workaholics (great show, check it out if you like ridiculous humor!). 

On Saturday, I went out to Hotel Chantelle for a friend's birthday. This place is great - it has a gorgeous rooftop (where we ate dinner), a bumpin ground floor with loud music and a loud, grimey basement perfect for dancing and sweating profusely - all tied together with a cool crowd. Overall, an awesome place :)

Tonight I decided to use up some of the random food I had at my apartment and make pineapple fried rice! it turned out really well and I made enough for lunches the rest of the week! Score!

I used: 

• long grain brown rice
• 3 brown eggs
• vegetable broth to cook the rice in
• trader joes teriyaki baked tofu
• trader joes soyaki sauce (the best!)
• frozen mixed peppers
• frozen green beans broken into little pieces
• chopped walnuts
• red chili flakes
• garlic salt
• 1 can of pineapple chunks in 100% juice
• the juice from the pineapple
• white onion
• 2 pieces of fresh garlic
• garlic olive oil

this stuff takes FOREVERRRR to cook but has a great texture

Tofu chopped into cubes, diced onion, chopped walnuts and of course, garlic!

After prepping the above, I did the following:

1. Before cooking other ingredients, I started the brown rice in a pot with vegetable broth. I really like this brand but it takes almost an hour to cook. So annoying but worth it.
2. Once the rice was almost finished I started by browning the onion & garlic in the garlic olive oil.
3. Added my frozen vegetables until they were a little burnt. 
4. Added the 3 eggs and let them cook. 
5. Add chopped walnuts & tofu until browned. Sprinkle with garlic salt and set aside
6. Opened the can of pineapple chunks (hate that word) and poured the juice into a glass. Drank half :)
7. Poured a bit of soyaki sauce and pineapple juice both into the rice and into the egg & veggie mixture.
8. Browned the pineapple
9. Add it all together and top with chili flakes & garlic salt et voila!

Dinner for 1 plz :)

This was really, really good. 

 Since this is packed with protein and good for you grains, it makes a balanced meal. I was full after eating about a cup of this creation! Obviously if you're going to do something similar, you can sub tofu for something else and eliminate nuts / garlic if needed. I rarely follow recipes so I'm not sure what amounts of each ingredient I actually used and will likely never be able to replicate it haha.

What are some of your go-to meals when you're trying to clear your fridge? Do you follow recipes? I have a couple cans of beets if anyone has suggestions :)

Why I love Vienna, part 2

 The food.

As a pescatarian, I was a little worried about finding things that I could eat in Austria. I had mental images of schnitzel, beef stews and sausages being serves by large angry waitresses.

To my delight, there were a number of excellent traditional options for me throughout the city and almost all of the waitresses / waiters I encountered were absolutely lovely. The best part of these options? Cheese was almost always involved.

my favorite - garlic soup with homemade croutons! i will dream of this soup.

vegetable bake with really good cheese

 One thing I really liked about restaurants in Vienna: almost every menu has friend Camembert with cranberry. Talk about a match made in thunder thigh heaven!

 I even had the chance to try traditional goulash at "The Goulash Museum" - the fish was not good, I didn't eat it. But the veggies & sauce = amazing.

Fish goulash.

Lunch at Palmenhaus. An amazing salad ^ Check out all of that feta.

 The cheese plates in Vienna kick NYC's butt in the cheese plate dept.

crazy. crazy. crazy.

I love how lattes come with a little glass of water everywhere in Europe. Why yes, I would love a bit of water with my coffee :)

More food to come in my next post.

For the long weekend I am going to Florida to visit my aunt and uncle. I am SO EXCITED to have  some warm sunshine beat down on me!

What are your plans for the long weekend?

I got the job!

Thank you so much for all of the supporting messages on my Calm-fidence. post. Your encouragement definitely helped, the interview with my new VP went great and I got the promotion!! Woohoo :) Such a relief! I felt like a crazy person on Monday and Tuesday because I was just waiting to hear whether or not I got this awesome new job! So happy....

To celebrate BF took me out for $25 all you can eat / drink tacos and margaritas at Nolita House, a VERY cute restaurant on Houston St. Google it, I insist.

The tacos were really good! They came 3 at a time (see below: i got so excited and ate 1 of them before remembering to take a pic!).

The margaritas were perfect, strong and not too sweet. Just how I like them! So obviously I had to have 5 of them - such a headache when I woke up this morning. Choices Caitlin, choices.

mmmmm

On my walk home, I noticed this gem:

Night everyone! Again, thanks to the lovely ladies who left me encouraging comments!! I really appreciate it!

Recipe: Trader Joes frozen langostinos tails

I have been looking at Trader Joes frozen langostinos tails for quite a while. Never hearing of them before, I did a little research before deciding to buy them (they’re $9.99 for a little bag, a high ticket item at Trader Joes!), and the word langostino apparently means “prawn” according to a buddy from work. I’m glad I finally decided to get them!

I love lobster and I love shrimp – these little guys tasted like a marriage of the 2.

What you need:

½ a bag of Trader Joes frozen Langostinos

½ a tbsp of butter

A handful of fresh parsley

¼ cup of low sodium vegetable broth

1 piece of garlic, chopped

Mixed greens

  Steps!

1)      Heat up your broth & butter on the stove, add garlic. Cook it until your apartment smells like it would scare away vampires.

2)      Throw in half your parsley.

3)      Add the langostinos to the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes.

4)      Taste one. Do you like the texture? If not, cook them a bit longer.

5)      Add to a plate of mixed greens, using the leftover liquid as dressing. Top with remaining parsley.

6)      Enjoy!

This morning I tried out my new juicer!! I used spinach, parsley, a green apple, cucumber and drank it on ice. It was crazy refreshing and I can’t wait to make more. 2 complaints about juicing:

Why do you only get a little bit of juice for a whole lot of produce?

I feel like I’m wasting the pulp!! Are there any uses for this?

Have a good night everyone! I have a work party tonight, so tomorrow might be rough – thank god I have a juicer now!

My idea of fast food

Vanessa’s Dumplings is one of my favorite places to go in New York.

I insist that I get to go once every 2 weeks – otherwise, I go through dumpling withdrawal.

Why should you go here?

Crazy cheap.
Tasty.
Filling.

It is always mad busy = great sign. It is extremely affordable. For 2 people, you can get a ton of food for under $10. They make the dumplings, soups, buns and pancake sandwiches right in front of you in a open kitchen (very exciting / fun / entertaining).

If you’re in the city, here are some tips on how to survive this crazy-loud yet lovable spot:

1) Look at the menu outside & decide what you want before going in. Get to the counter & order quickly. You may need to shout.
2) Have money ready, pay and hang on to your receipt.
3) Shuffle down to the counter and watch in awe as the dumpling ladies move methodically while cooking.

4) Listen carefully for your receipt number & hand your receipt to a dumpling lady when you hear it.
5) Get it to go. Ask for extra hot sauce.

6) Go home & enjoy over a movie.

My favorite thing on the menu – boiled veggie dumplings. (Extra hot sauce please). These are filled with mushroom, little pieces of tofu, hoisin sauce, carrot, onions and scallions. You can get these guys in soup  or on a plate.

hot & sour soup w/ veggie dumplings - under $5. unbelievable enjoyment - priceless

in soup

Veggie bun!!! (photo from flickr)

BF's pork buns (teehee)

 I almost always have to get a veggie bun while I’m there. These things are only a $1.50.

If you go, you should probably get one too…. And a hot & sour soup!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/vanessas-dumpling-house-new-york

I hope you’re having a good week. This is a short work week for me – unfortunately it is going sloooooooowly. I just want it to be EOD Wednesday!

Have you had dumplings before? What did you think?