Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Filled With Caramel Bar

I tried the Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate filled with Caramel bar to work this week, and it was devoured shortly after I opened it.  It reminded me of these candy bars that I used to sell to raise money for my school as a kid.  I always ended up eating an entire box of the caramel bars, and it looks like I still could today.

 

We also ate the Trader Joe's Mac 'n Cheese for dinner a couple of nights ago, but ate it too fast to take a photo.  It was really good.

Haircut

I got a dramatically different haircut this week.  My hair previously stopped halfway down my back.  It is now a shoulder-grazing bob.  It couldn't be a better hairstyle for the now stiflingly hot weather.  I can still put it up in a ponytail.  Change is good!

They lobbed off another inch besides this ponytail!

Roasted Chicken Dinner

We bought a whole all-natural chicken from Trader Joe's for $6.59 earlier this week.  Tonight, I prepared it with salt & pepper, lemon, garlic, and poultry seasoning.  You put an entire lemon, halved into the cavity.  There was also nearly half a stick of melted butter involved.  I threw it in a roasting pan in the oven at 425 degrees for an hour and a half.

 

Roasted Chicken

The Poultry Seasoning includes Thyme, Sage, Pepper, Cariander, Marjoram, and Parsley

We paired the chicken with corn on the cob and a baked potato

It's very simple to make, and we'll have leftovers for a couple of days.

Trader Joe's Penne Arrabiata

Tonight, we decided to bust out the Trader Joe's Penne Arrabiata from the freezer.  The pasta was spicy with some fresh flavor (I think from parsley).  It was very good, but the portions were pretty small.  There were three servings of 200 calories each; so I guess we each had 300 calories.  I would get it again.

Packaging 

Penne cooking with some water and olive oil 

We added salt and pepper and a ton of parmesan

My husband and I are currently splitting a bottle of  il conte Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and watching Jeopardy, because we're old people who eat at 6:30 p.m.  I previously mentioned drinking this wine in this post.  Happy weekend!!!  

1742 Wine Bar Groupon and Dessert at Café d'Alsace

Tonight was the last night that we could use our $49 Groupon for 1742 Wine Bar.

Antipasto that was the appetizer for the Groupon menu... not great.

We got three glasses of white and three of glasses of red to sample as part of the Groupon... definitely a lot of wine over the course of a short meal

Not huge pours, but enough to be buzzed at the end of the night 

My hubby's skirt steak was pretty decent 

Same goes for my chicken Milanese and greens

Decor included a wall of wine and paintings of Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, and Isabella Rossellini... it was small, cozy and funky and kind of reminded me of being a college student and hanging out in cafés like La Fourmi (Pigalle) and La Fourmi Ailée (5e arrondissement) in Paris for hours on end.

We got to take home a bottle of wine as part of the deal

As we were in our old neighborhood (Yorkville), we decided to get dessert and coffee at one of our favorite restaurants from the old hood

Café d'Alsace Dessert Menu

My pretty cappuccino art... I heart Café d'Alsace 

My husband ordered a crumble 

I ordered the molten chocolate gateau with pistachio ice cream

And a little glass of port... it was a sweet end to a sweet weekend

How to Make an Egg and Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

How to make an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich step-by-step brought to you by Beany Malone...

Take some Trader Joe's Uncured Turkey Bacon, because "I just don't dig on swine," except for on special occasions...

Throw it in a pan - it has the same consistency as Canadian bacon

Cook to your preference - I like mine slightly burnt and crisp 

Take an egg from your giant Whole Foods carton of cage-free brown eggs - it's a pretty good deal on eggs especially for Whole Foods

Melt some butter in a pan and throw in said egg, break the yolk so that it spreads out 

When it seems like the underside is cooked, flip the egg over and cook for a few more seconds on that side before taking it out of the pan

Take a slice of Trader Joe's Organic American Cheese - I figure if I'm going to eat a made-up cheese with no nutritional value, it might as well be organic 

And throw it on the egg while your Murray's healthy grain bagel toasts... it melts a little bit from the heat of the egg

Take toasted health grain bagel and layer it with your fried egg, American cheese, turkey bacon, ketchup, and avocado

It should look something like this

Put the top on the bagel, and you have a massive egg and cheese bagel sandwich 

Half eaten and bursting with goodness

Trader Joe's Tarte aux Champignons

Tonight we had Trader Joe's Tarte aux Champignons for dinner with salad and wine.

Trader Joe's Tarte aux Champignons

Frozen tarte ready to go in the oven for 10 minutes

Baked tarte cooling down

Trader Joe's Spring Mix of salad

Doctored and dressed salad

Dinner for two

I paired my dinner with a glass of Indaba Chardonnay

 

Saturday Morning Breakfast

I woke up late this morning after a long night.  Breakfast was delicious: coffee, orange juice, and Trader Joe's Smoked Sockeye Salmon and Kerrygold Irish butter on a Murray's health grain bagel.  It was so tasty!

Breakfast and TV - one of my favorite Saturday activities

Butter and salmon on a healthy grain bagel

 

Packing Lunch in the Morning

It is difficult to leave enough time in the morning to pack my lunch and make breakfast at home before work.  Yesterday, I had a very successful morning prep.  The night before I had grilled some delicious Trader Joe's chicken to perfection for salads and put out an almond croissant to rise overnight.  While my almond croissant was in the oven, I made coffee and started cutting carrots and chicken for my salad.  I also made my own balsamic vinaigrette using balsamic vinegar, Williams-Sonoma vinaigrette oil (very good), Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper.  I like having morning rituals and almost always listen to NPR in the morning as I'm getting ready for the day.

Grilled chicken, carrot, crouton salad

Cardini's Caesar croutons, which I have decided are the best store-bought croutons

My lunch for the day

My breakfast of almond croissant, coffee to-go, and multivites gummy vitamins

The Village Voice Choice Streets 2nd Annual Food Truck Event

Tonight, I went with some friends to the 2nd Annual Village Voice Choice Streets Food Truck Event at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum.  There were tons of trucks and stands at the event.  

Food I tried: Andy's Italian Ice - lemon ice (too much ice not enough lemon) Big D's Grub - spicy pork taco (fine), Comme Ci Comme Ca - chicken couscous (good), Coolhaus - mint chocolate chip ice cream with snickerdoodle (great), Hibachi Heaven - veggies & rice with soy ginger sauce (eh), Kelvin Natural Slush Co. - tea and peach slush (kind of too healthy, but good), La Bella Torte - chocolate cake shot (delish), Nuchas - portobello, spinach, & mozzarella empanada (ew), Seoul Food - Seoul Fries (fine, but I wish I tried the slider instead).  

Drinks I tried: Shock Top - Belgian White & Shandy (Loved the Belgian White, but did not like the Shandy), Chateau Michelle Wine Estates - Red Diamond (which I drink anyway and love), Barefoot Wine - Red Muscato (gross, not even wine), American Harvest Organic Spirit - lemon vodka (kind of gross).  

Might have overdone it a little, but I feel great.

The Intrepid

Lego Replica of the Intrepid

Cute plane painted to look like a shark

Food trucks from atop the Intrepid

NYC skyline from atop the Intrepid

Plastic glass for sampling

Chicken couscous from Comme Ci Comme Ca

Spicy Pork Taco

Burnt spinach and mozzarella empanada

Chocolate Cake Shot