New & Tasty Eats! November 17th

I want to start off with my review of the other MorningStar Farms entree (you can see the review of my first one here). Now I am usually a HUGE fan of MorningStar Farms, but their entrees have been disappointing. :(

I normally like pretty much any vegetarian lasagna, but this one had an awful taste and texture. It just didn't taste much like lasagna. So it's only 270 calories. I'd rather they put another 100 calories in it and have it be edible! The ONLY thing I liked in it were the "sausage" crumbles. And that's because I really love their veggie sausage (as you can see here). Unfortunately though, there was hardly ANY sausage in it! Not good.

Luckily I had a great meal at Tue Thai Food. I have gotten food delivered from them, but never visited their restaurant in the village (on Greenwich Ave. & 8th st.).

Look at this amazing lunch! And for just under $10 too! I got their pad se ew with tofu for my entree, and the lunch special comes with an appetizer of your choice (I chose spring rolls, of course!), a side salad and beverage of your choice (I got a coke, which you can just make out in the picture in that cute little jar).

For breakfast this past weekend I made Trader Joe's BIG cinnamon buns.

Mom and I enjoyed these. There is little that Trader Joe's makes that I DON'T like. lol

This week I had a great lunch delivered from Suzie's, one of my favorite chinese restaurants.

I got a vegetarian egg roll and their sizzling tofu in black bean sauce (this is an exclusive dish of their's and is really tasty).

And yesterday I went to the doctor's downtown... long story, but my doctor is downtown in Chinatown because it's one of the only places that accepts my health insurance! lol She's great though, so I don't mind going.

Anyways, after my appointment I stopped in an adorable bakery in Soho. I must have been by this place before, but it looked new to me! It's called Little Cupcake Bakeshop and it's on Prince St. It's funny, I had really been craving a cupcake too!

I got their golden vanilla one, which had chocolate buttercream frosting. I am not kidding when I say this was AMAZING. I seriously don't know what they even put in it to taste so good, and truthfully, I don't care!!

As for my Peanuts, he was having quite a time when I got a package that had some of those white foam packing bits.

And he spent some time watching the figure skating with me this past weekend.

Ok, that's all until Thanksgiving! Enjoy this fall weather while it lasts!!

Lots of Good Stuff & Peanuts too! :) July 14th

Lots to catch up on! So let's get started....

I found a great new place around the corner from me with great food. Well, actually it's not *new*, but last week was the first time I ever went! It's Good Stuff Diner (on West 14th St. off 6th Ave.). And they aren't kidding, they really do have "good stuff!" lol

They had such an extensive menu and everything looked so good, it was hard to choose! But I opted for something healthy and unhealthy... For the "healthy" I got a "high-c" smoothie minus the bananas (which was basically strawberries, pineapple, orange juice, and frozen yogurt) and for the "unhealthy" I got mozzarella sticks. And you know what? I don't care! These were FANTASTIC! Not at all greasy and really delicious! And the smoothie was good too! I'll definitely be back again soon!

On Sunday I had a great brunch with Melissa (Missy Maintains) and Maggie (Say Yes to Salad) at one of my favorite places, Sacred Chow.

We all got the same thing, the tofu scramble (except different variations! lol). I got mine with fruit and home fries. I also made the dreadful mistake of ordering orange juice. And I know you must be wondering, what could be dreadful about that? How about an $8 price tag! Simply because I didn't specify "small" (I didn't know they had sizes). Still, $8 for ANY size orange juice is ridiculous. It was good though, although I'll never make that mistake again!

Still, I had a great time and I was glad we were able to squeeze the brunch before Maggie's wedding! (Btw, I'll hopefully be doing a guest post on vegetarian weddings for Maggie's blog when she's on her honeymoon, so look out for that!)

Yesterday I went to one of my old favorites, Wild Ginger. Sadly they have gotten more snooty like Blossom (read that story here!), but I don't feel like getting into it now! It was SO dark and rainy out the day I went that the pictures came out awful. So luckily I had saved some pics I took on a sunnier day of the same food that I got! lol

Spring rolls

Steamed veggie dumplings

Pineapple fried rice

And now, on to Peanut! :) Here's what he's been up to...

He LOVES boxes, and spends a great deal of time in this one!

Helping Mom go through recipes... he LOVES paper-- especially crumpled paper! I always say we should have named him Crumples! (So that's his middle name in case you are wondering!)

His usual laundry basket shenanigans! (He has such a round little belly, and we feed him a 1/2 cup food daily as the vet recommended! He's just a bit chubby. :)

And finally...

A Mommy and Me picture! :)

In other news, I went to the brand new Chelsea Trader Joe's today!! It just opened on Monday at the corner of West 21st St. & 6th Ave.! And all I can say is this... why oh why didn't you open sooner?!?! I've lived right down the block from them for nearly 2 years and just now they opened! Oh well, all I can say is go! And please DON'T tell your friends! lol I don't want it to turn into the circus that is the Trader Joe's in Union Square! lol It really is gorgeous and spacious and well run... I'll be shopping here from now on!

Daily Eats, Dramas & Trader Joe's (April 7th)

I've actually been eating well this week, as opposed to last week, when I was too stressed to eat much at all! And this morning I braved the crowds and headed to Trader Joe's and got a huge haul (posted below)! Plus, there is something else I want to address... This is going to be a LONG post, so please indulge me! First, here are some of my eats over the past few days...

I had something old and something new at Qi Asian Eatery the other day...

Spring rolls (which I always get).

And instead of my usual pineapple fried rice, I tried their pad see euw dish, which was very similar to the black or broad rice noodle dish that I get at Spice and Sea Thai Bistro. Only, their's was a little more seasoned... garlic, I think. Either way, it was very good and I'd definitely get it again!

I had another slice of Mom's delicious cheesecake (that she made for Easter) with strawberries! With the strawberries added, it almost tasted like strawberry shortcake cheesecake, which is really spectacular! :)

And I had lunch down in Soho the other day at Famous Ben's Pizzeria (which is always worth the crowds!).

For dinner the other night I decided to pair something healthy was something that's, well.. not. Blake's macaroni & cheese with a Birds Eye Steamfresh baby potato veggie blend!

And now, on to my Trader Joe's haul!

Challah Rolls, swiss cheese, pasta medley, Fage 0% yogurts x 2, and eggplant parmesan.

Garden vegetable lasagne x 2 (one of my faves!), spinach & broccoli quiches, and their meatless corn dogs.

Chocolate lava cakes, ice cream sandwiches, chocolate chip brownie bowls, macaroons, 100 calorie milk chocolate bars, and a Toblerone. (Yes, I went a little nuts, but I plan on making my sweets haul last for a while... I do like to have a bit every day though. ;)

Multigrain waffles (which I'm looking forward to trying) and chocolate chips (these are mainly for baking and yogurt parfaits, because Lord knows I got enough chocolate pictured above! lol).

And now on to today's daily eats...

Breakfast:

I decided to try Energy Kitchen, because I've heard good things about it. I went to the one in the West Village (on Christopher St.). My friend Missy recommended the wraps there and she was right, they are good. I got a veggie egg wrap with egg whites, mushrooms, broccoli, and american cheese on a whole wheat wrap (once again stealing Missy's idea! lol). It was good, however, the service was not.

For starters, I was basically the only person there. Yet the service was really, really slow. Which begs the question, how bad does this place get during busy times?! And because I was at Trader Joe's earlier this morning, I didn't get over to Energy Kitchen until a little after 11, having a late breakfast. While the veggie wrap and my choice of toppings was supposed to only come to $3.98, I was informed that since it was after 11 (by 5 minutes or so!) I now had to pay $6.51!! My life will go on, and in the grand scheme of things it's not THAT much money, but that still sucks. And the worst part is, that after taking forever and overcharging me, they forgot to add the cheese (which they had no problem charging me extra for!). Then when they added it back in, it wasn't melted properly...

So, the upshot is, I wasn't too thrilled with my experience there, but I may go back again or try another location one of these days. Anyways, here's the wrap that I went to so much trouble for! lol

Lunch:

I had one of the Trader Joe's meatless corn dogs with a Mott's peach medley apple sauce. I really thought this tasted like the corn dogs I used to eat as a kid! So I give them two thumbs up!

Snack(s):

I had a few of Trader Joe's macaroons... they are vanilla and chocolate, and very tasty might I add!

I also had one of my beloved Whole Foods 365 brand strawberry fruit bars! These are essential on days like today (WAY too hot in my opinion!).

Dinner:

I had Trader Joe's eggplant parmesan with some mini penne pasta along side (I cooked my own pasta and sauce separately). I thought their eggplant parmesan was very good! Usually nothing compares to my Mom's version, but these were pretty close. And so easy to make too (just 2-3 minutes in the microwave!). (Oh and I couldn't finish all this food, I'm guilty of rarely finishing what I'm eating!)

Dessert:

I had one of Trader Joe's ice cream sandwiches... this was DELICIOUS! Enough said!

Peanut and I had fun playing today... he was really wild (maybe because of the weather change?). He did slow down for me to get a few pics of him by the sink for his drinks (and in this hot weather, there are many of them!).

P.S. Someone made a nasty comment to me about my photography on my last post (and I removed it). The only reason I brought this up is because I can't believe that a person has nothing better to do than to insult my photography! Do you not realize I'm taking these pictures off of a freaking CELL PHONE?! What kind of pictures do you expect to see?! I don't even have a separate digital camera for God sakes! I never claimed to be a professional photographer! It's simply amazing the crap that people will come up with.

Anyways, I just wanted to vent about that, because 99.9% of people I've met in the blogging world have been GREAT. However, there are a few trouble makers out there (so I've heard from other bloggers) that have nothing better to do than to post nasty comments out of jealousy, to try to bring people down. These people are very sad and insecure. They are the same people who like to call girls "fat" or "ugly" to make themselves feel better, no doubt. Oh well, sticks and stones!

Here's a picture that I took on my Macbook instead! See, I'm still smiling! :)

Catching Up! January 30th

I'm still here... I'm sure some of you have been wondering where I've been! Well, I haven't been feeling good lately... I started having a bad reaction to the birth control pills I was on. I was only on them for 2 months, but I was getting tons of migraines, and in general, feeling tired and horrible. It's not like I really "need" them, as the guy I was seeing is still having MAJOR problems, so I haven't the slightest idea when I'll be seeing him again. And if I can go on a birth control pill rant for a moment... I swear, they seem to be getting more and more dangerous! There are more warnings, side effects, and lawsuits than EVER before. I was on them for around 6 months to a year a few years ago to regulate my period and didn't have nearly the same problems I had before (and I went on the EXACT same brand... not the generic version)! Does anyone else have experiences to share about this topic? Just curious to know... Because this time around, I found "the pill" intolerable. I'm doing a little better since going off them over a week ago, but it may take a month or more to fully leave my system. :/

Back to what my blog is about... food! So there has been a lot of catching up to do there... Here are just some of my eats over the past week or two.

My usual eats from Wild Ginger... God I LOVE that place.

Pizza from Famous Ben's Pizza of Soho.

My usual favorites from Qi Asian Eatery...

A Trader Joe's grocery haul...

And I want to do a quick product review for a brand new Wallaby "Down Under" yogurt! (Plus you get a view of my bedroom, since I forgot to take the pic in the kitchen!)

Now I LOVE all of the Wallaby "Down Under" yogurts, with the fruit on the bottom, and have tried them all, but I found this new caramel apple one at the Whole Foods in Chelsea the other day. I love fruit-on-the-bottom yogurts as a rule, but I love the fact that Wallaby's are organic too. This particular flavor tasted like it sounds... basically like an apple pie! I can't wait to buy more of these! (And for reference, my favorites are the caramel apple, peach, berries & cream, and strawberries & cream ones. Although I also like the mango tangerine, pink grapefruit, and chocolate ones as well. So basically, they're ALL good, although the caramel apple one is a real winner! :)

And here's a little of Peanut...

It is SO unbelievably cold here in NYC today, so this afternoon I decided to do some baking! I made some Ghirardelli brownies... I love the ultimate fudge ones.

Ok, that's all for now! I may be updating more tomorrow, but if not, then probably by the 1st!