Recent Salads and Meals Plus What’s Back In Stock

I held off a day on my usual Wednesday food-related chat because I’m off from work today which makes it easier to gather details together. While I don’t celebrate Christmas, I certainly appreciate this time of year for the it’s-the-holidays-time-to-take-off vibe!

Just a few meals and things to share for today….let’s take a look.

I get the same salad every time from Beatnic. Maybe I will try a different salad next time?

Maybe, but not likely. I’m way too much of a creature of habit. Instead, I order the same salad and taste the fries and dipping sauces that other people order.

But seriously, what a great 100% vegan restaurant.

Another week, another salad from Chopt.

The line at Town Bagel is never short. It’s a commitment to wanting your food when you walk in and realize you will be waiting in the line for a bit. Or more than a bit.

The wait is always worth this finely chopped salad. I’m not really sure of every salad ingredient I chose this time, I just checked off a lot of toppings boxes when filling out my chopped salad form.

I’m sure that I’m leaving something out but if I had to guess, this is what I ordered:

• Romaine
• Avocado
• Chickpeas
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Roasted Red Peppers
• Mushrooms
• Asparagus
• Celery
• Roasted Cauliflower

I toasted a bagel (from Town Bagel) for dinner one night and couldn’t decide between vegetable cream cheese or my melted mozzarella tomato combo so I did half of each. It’s much better for me to not limit myself and eat both than try to decide and then feel like I maybe wanted the other option.

Messy looking, especially with the seeds on the plate — but so delicious.

It’s that time of year again when I decide I want to make Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi. I cooked it in a pan with the rest of the frozen vegetables in my freezer and added mozzarella cheese too.

Oh, and I finally opened the jar of Trader Joe’s Autumnal Harvest pasta sauce to mix in — it’s very good!

And finally, look what’s back in stock at Trader Joe’s! I was so happy to see my favorite variety of tomato soup again.

Recent Meals On A Friday

Is it okay to share recent meals on a Friday instead of Wednesday?!

There’s no particular order here to what I’ve been eating. Just a quick round-up of what’s been on my plate.

Here’s another big salad bowl from CAVA! I usually stop into CAVA once a week.

I will definitely give them credit for loading my bowl so nicely with all of the toppings and choices I make while walking down the cafeteria line to build my order.

Have we discussed that I like this chickpea pasta slightly better than Banza? While I do like Banza and still buy it, I try to get this version from Whole Foods instead. There’s something about it that is ever so slightly better in my opinion.

i had this slice from vegetable pizza one night when Mario’s was OUT of my favorite whole wheat margarita pizza. Also, we won’t discuss the rising cost of pizza. Nope, not even going there. It’s actually embarassing what I pay for a slice of pizza right now.

Once I like something, I tend to order it again and again. I had the Magic Mushroom salad again from Beatnic while working n the city this week. It’s so good.

The menu is 100% vegan with a lot of fun options. I should try their version of chicken nuggets next time. I did taste the air-baked fries with beet-styled ketchup. Very tasty!

I had a big plan while in the city to grab a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery but it didn’t happen this week. Trust me when I say, it will happen next time.

I did have this chocolate cupcake from Cake Don Cupcakes recently. It was good, nothing original or spectacular.

My new favorite go-to dinner lately is a basic salad and baked sweet potato. I’m not sure how I fell into this delicious habit but it has been making me very happy come dinner time.

I go through phases with potatoes. Either I don’t eat them for a while, or I only eat regular potatoes, or I only eat sweet potatoes when I roast them in wedges. Right now, I only want a baked sweet potato as it really hits the spot for me.

blurry picture but you get the idea!

Oh, and I also went back to eating this three-layer hummus from Trader Joe’s. It was a favorite of mine and then I stopped buying it for months. I’m happy to be back to it!

Since it’s Friday, I have a quick favorite to share — Stoney Clover’s collaboration with Roller Rabbit is live on their website. The hearts and rainbows are everything to me! I really want the large pouch.

What I Ate In The City Last Week

As I mentioned in Monday’s post, I was in the city last week for work and it was a lot of fun!

I’ve been going into the city more often lately to hang in the office but last week we had a lot of people in town so I stayed for a few days rather than driving in and out of the city (to save my sanity from the traffic nightmares).

Would you believe that I didn’t have one slice of pizza in the city? It’s ironic since just two weeks ago I shared a post of ONLY eating pizza while in the city.

Breakfasts:

I took a cup of coffee (with my mask in my hand) on a walk to find oatmeal for breakfast. Some people wear a mask, some don’t. I didn’t walk into any location that required a mask on my face. But you do need proof of vaccination to dine indoors.

This beautiful bowl of oatmeal with berries in almond milk was exactly what I needed to eat. I also bought a cold-pressed juice but forget exactly which one I bought. I think it involved apple, beet, lemon, ginger, and something else.

I enjoyed the oatmeal so much that I went back for another bowl the next day on my walk to the office. This oatmeal is from The Juice Shop which is not to be confused with Juice Press which is so much better but not near my office.

I told my boss that she needs to start writing my blog because she was very focused on making sure we are all eating healthy unprocessed foods. She brought us fruit to eat as snacks instead of packaged chips and cookies.

Lunches:

We ordered lunch one day from Mr.Broadway.

I had the organic farro, chickpea, and edamame salad with tofu. I never eat tofu but my friend who was placing the order suggested it so I said sure, why not.

We had been talking for weeks that we needed to order lunch from Beatnic (a vegan restaurant which used to be called By Chloe) and it finally happened. I chose the Magic Mushroom salad and I will definitely be ordering it again — loved it.

One day for lunch we were treated to a sushi spread from  Sushi Tokyo which was a nice treat.

Dinners:

We went to Avra for dinner one night. I had the salmon (a food I rarely eat) and it was delicious.

I’m definitely vegetarian but the few times a year that I consume fish may count me as a pescatarian.

I’m not opposed to salmon, I just like it only when I know that it’s going to be really good. I don’t cook it myself, I usually just have it when at a great restaurant.

We had dinner at Gemma with many of our New York event industry friends. This was our first “in-person event” in New York since our industry luncheon at the Rainbow Room which was two years ago – before the pandemic.

I really didn’t do a great job with photos from dinner but it was served family-style and a lot of fun.

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Don’t forget to shop the Sephora Sale going on right now! Here’s my list of beauty product recommendations that are not to be missed!