I Ordered Something Different At Cheesecake Factory! (plus other recent meals & desserts)

 

It’s that time of year when no one knows what day it is exactly. While I worked yesterday and Monday, I am off today and for the rest of the week — and I’m really excited about it.

Backing up to late last week, we brought in dinner from The Cheesecake Factory on Christmas Eve. When we aren’t away, we usually have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner because they are open on the holiday.

Okay, so. You aren’t going to believe this. Even I can’t believe it.

I decided to order the veggie burger for the first time ever. And, this is the first time in oh, over 20 years, that I ordered something instead of a salad.

For normal people, it’s not interesting when they tell you that they ordered something different. For someone like me, it’s a HUGE DEAL.

I think I once shared the story of how I once ordered something other than my favorite salad back in 2000 and regretted it so much that I wanted to do dinner over again. Ever since then, I’ve only ordered a salad and only recently did I try a different salad other than the barbecue ranch salad!

I’ve been talking about maybe trying the veggie burger for a few months now. I finally did it when I was in the right mood!

I really liked it too.

Looks good, doesn’t it?! I did not regret this dinner decision.

I wonder if I will order the veggie burger next time or go back to my usual salad choice! My guess is that I will still order salads most of the time but it’s nice to know that if I want something different, the veggie burger is a great option.

On Christmas, we did our usual Chinese food. While I miss the boneless spareribs as a vegetarian, I do still love and appreciate the steamed vegetable dumplings. Always have, always will.

Of interest; Why Jewish People Eat Chinese Food on Christmas 

Last night we had dinner from La Piazza with my parents for my dad’s birthday. I really think La Piazza ranks as one of the best pizza places for grandma pizza in New York.

Uncle Guiseppe’s has become my new go-to spot for dessert. Rather than get a cake, I opted for a variety of giant cupcakes and mini chipwiches filled with frosting instead of ice cream.

You can always rely on me to bring the best desserts.

I actually reached for the vanilla frosted cupcake first. Not sure who I am but it’s what I wanted! Then I had half of the chocolate frosted – just to make sure I’m still me and still a proper chocolate lover. 🙂

Anyway, I’m working on an end of year top favorites of 2021 post for Friday! See you then.

Birthday Meals + Desserts (including my fave Levain Bakery Cookie)

I have lots of great food to share with you from my birthday weekend!

I’m so happy that I was able to dine out, see my friends and family, and have a more normal birthday experience in comparison to last year. What a difference!

To keep this post organized, I”m going to share the meal highlights followed by all of the desserts.

Friday night’s dinner at Refuge with my friends started with guacamole.

My friend Lisa and I tend to eat the same foods so we naturally shared a margarita pizza and salad. I was a little upset that Refuge no longer has the delicious pizza with cauliflower topping on the menu but this margarita pizza was still very good.

The salad was so huge that even with both of us eating it, there was a ton leftover to bring home.

Lunch on my birthday in East Hampton was a perfect greek salad with a side of coleslaw and pickle. I had run six miles that morning in the hot sunny weather which left me craving the salt of a pickle and feta cheese.

My birthday tradition for years has involved The Cheesecake Factory so I was happy to return to going there again this year.

The Thai lettuce wraps to start.

And my favorite bbq ranch salad (without the chicken).

My best friend Heather came up from Florida on Monday (!!) and although she’s here with her daughter and staying in the city, I did see them Monday night so we can include that in this recap as part of my birthday. It worked out PERFECTLY too because I was already in the city for work during the day.

We had dinner at La Pecora Bianco in Soho although I’m not 100% what we ordered. I know there were appetizers and one of them involved beets, and one involved roasted cauliflower.

And then I had some sort of salad. It wasn’t great but I was starving from a busy day so it worked.

Desserts

This is a blurry picture of churros fries.

I just had to stop for a chocolate chip cookie at Levain Bakery in the Hamptons. Levain Bakery cookies really just might be THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES EVER.

I really do think so and I’m quite the cookie expert.

My friend Meaghan knows it’s important that I have the right desserts to enjoy for my birthday.

First, the S’mores donut that she got for me was delicious.

Plus a perfect box of cupcakes.

We won’t discuss that my son ate the rainbow cookie cupcake without me seeing (and without asking if maybe I wanted that one). It’s typical of how things go between us and I’m old enough now not even to get upset about it.

My dad came through with my favorite Hello Kitty cupcakes too. These chocolate fudge frosted cupcakes are my favorite and the reason I skipped dessert at The Cheesecake Factory. I really just wanted to come home and eat my cupcakes.

My son owes me an ice cream cone from Marvel on the boardwalk one of these days soon. It was one of the desserts I said I wanted for my birthday but we never made it to Long Beach last weekend. Have I mentioned that Marvel opened a location on the boardwalk? I always pass it while running but it’s never opened in the morning when I’m there for my run so it’s a must to get back there one of these afternoons/evenings. Hopefully, we can get there this weekend.

 

 

The Little Beet + Kombucha + Recent Meals

I love that it is Wednesday already! The best part of having Monday off is how quickly the rest of the week starts to pass.

Okay so first, we need to get back to the Trader Joe’s semi-sweet chocolate chips discussion. I still think the chocolate chips taste different in the new bag. The new bags of chips also say dairy-free (which the old bags did not say), but now, I compared ingredients between a new bag and another old chocolate chips bag again, and the ingredients are the same.

Don’t ask me, I have no further information on this topic. All I can say is that the chocolate tastes slightly different and my taste buds don’t lie.

Moving on…

I chose this salad pizza slice at Villa Monte instead of the whole wheat vegetable slice for a change.

Here’s my usual whole wheat margarita pizza from Mario’s with a side salad. Bot the pizza and salad seemed so big that I needed two plates.

Yet another Chopt salad.

I had a veggie plate from The Little Beet. It’s not so easy to choose which veggie combination to go with but this time it was the roasted broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and a new chickpea + cucumber combination. Oh, plus a scoop of avocado bean dip.

Oh hey, remember I went to The Little Beet with Michele from Paleo Running Momma? Of course, you don’t remember, why would anyone reading this post today remember? It was a while ago.

My son and I had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory the other day. The onions look so pretty in this picture.

Last but not least, I bought a Kombucha for the first time in quite some time from Trader Joe’s. While this wasn’t the flavor I used to get (I actually forget the exact names of the ones I used to buy but I know it wasn’t this), I really liked it.

Actually, here is the last time I mentioned Kombucha on the blog. It was three years ago. Time sure does fly.

So Many Recent Meals To Share Today (Including Red Mango Parfait!)

I missed last Wednesday’s post about food so for this week, I made sure to capture a few extra meals to share with you.

There’s only one slice of pizza in today’s post. The amount of vegetables that they pile on this whole wheat pizza from Monte is beyond believable. You can barely find the whole wheat crust under all of those vegetables but trust me, it’s there!

Mung bean noodles?

I don’t really know what a mung bean is but they make a good noodle. While all beans are excellent for health, here are 10 health benefits of mung beans if you are interested.

On the topic of beans, I’m still eating Banza chickpea pasta regularly.

If you ask me, Banza pasta, which is made from chickpeas, tastes like regular pasta in terms of texture and taste. Although, I don’t eat regular pasta all that often so don’t go by me if you are a regular pasta connoisseur.

I used to make the below sweet potato stir fry all of the time for dinner. Somehow I not only fell out of the habit of making the sweet potato stir fry but forgot all about how often it was a part of my dinner rotation.

This stir fry is really just vegetables stir-fried in the pan with Island Soyaki sauce from Trader Joe’s with the addition of chickpeas, roasted sweet potatoes, and then topped with avocado. The sweet potatoes are used instead of rice but go ahead and add rice too! I’ve done that and the texture combo is great. It’s a great dinner actually to have the night before a long run (if you can handle vegetables, which I can).

Recent Salads

Greek salad is always the answer when hungry.

I had this chopped salad from Town Bagel with honey mustard dressing on the side.

I’m pretty sure that I selected the following salad ingredients:

• Romaine
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Mushrooms
• Hearts of Palm
• Roasted Cauliflower
• Roasted Red Peppers
• Chickpeas
• Avocado

It was nice to eat inside Chopt for the first time since last year! I chose a different ingredient combination this time too and loved it so much that I went back again the next day for lunch!

• Romaine
• Spinach
• Roasted Chickpeas
• Cauliflower Tabouli
• Spicy Peppers
• Avocado
• Beets
• Hearts of Palm
• Pickled Onions
• Tzaziki Dressing

It was equally as nice to dine out at The Cheesecake Factory for the first time in a while for dinner. I went with my favorite bbq ranch salad (no chicken). Those onion strings are everything.

It’s so weird that dining out is what makes me feel so normal.

I saved the best for last…

Oh Red Mango, how I’ve missed you!

I hadn’t had a Red Mango parfait since before the pandemic! There aren’t many Red Mango locations left anymore but the one in Roosevelt Field is still open!

I was so happy to order my parfait for lunch. In case you forget what is in a Red Mango parfait, I order the mixed berry parfait and replace the bananas with dark chocolate chips so it’s strawberries, blueberries, chocolate chips, and granola. The granola is Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Granola. I know this because I did my research in the past to figure it out. 🙂

Who remembers my weekly obsession with Red Mango parfaits for lunch? Or when Red Mango asked me to write a review of their smoothies?

I hope to get back to eating Red Mango again now, especially as we get further into Spring and the warmer weather.

Diet Nonsense + Recent Meals + Best Bagels

I’m happy to report that I haven’t seen too much about January diets so far this year. You know, the whole new year, new diet, new challenge, new workout routine, “new you” nonsense? I stopped following so many of those types of influencers over the years because I can’t stand that mindset and the January approach to dieting. I’ll never join a 30-day challenge that eliminates certain foods that don’t even need to be completely eliminated or challenge you to do workouts that don’t need to be repeated 30 days in a row as it will likely burn you out both mentally and physically come February.

Actually, I addressed why I hate the January diet mentality more in-depth last year so I won’t keep rambling about it now. It makes me too angry to talk about it anyway.

Let’s move on to recent meals and things like that instead!

I stopped at Town Bagel the other day for a chopped salad.

Here are my salad ingredients:

• romaine
• spinach
• tomatoes
• cucumber
• beets
• roasted red peppers
• chickpeas
• roasted cauliflower
• avocado
• mushrooms
• honey mustard dressing on the side. The full-fat kind because why bother with fat-free dressing?

Another week, another opportunity to take out from The Cheesecake Factory. I picked the vegan cobb salad instead of the barbecue ranch salad for a change.

Best Bagels & Bialys

I was in the area of House Of Bagels (in Dix Hills) so I just had to make a stop for bialys. I’m going to go out on a limb here to say that House of Bagels most definitely ranks at the top for best bagels in New York and DEFINITELY the best bialys.

I mean, we are talking best bagels on the same level as H & H and Pick a Bagel in the city, and if you ask me, best on Long Island. I have yet to have a bialy as good as House of Bagels bialys.

Obviously, we all have our favorites but I love House Of Bagels. All of their bagels and bialys are giant and soft yet have the right crisp to the outside and are nice and doughy. Don’t know what bialys are? Here you go.

I’m sure someone reading remembers me saying how I used to eat a toasted bialy from House Of Bagels for lunch every day for years with melted mozzarella and tomato, right? Does someone remember?

I still love melted mozzarella and tomato but I also crave vegetable cream cheese from time to time so that’s what I had on this half of a toasted bialy with a salad.

In my opinion, House Of Bagels has the best vegetable cream cheese.

I’m still the pizza bagel queen. This time, let’s call me the pizza bialy queen. When you don’t know what to have for dinner, make a pizza bagel.

In other food news, I keep forgetting to say that I bought this spice set from Trader Joe’s around the holidays. My son likes to cook lately so I thought that buying this holiday set of spices would be a fun thing to bring home.

We can always use another Everything But The Bagel Sesame Seasoning and it’s been fun to try the other blends too. We like the Cocoa Cinnamon Sugar on warmed apple slices. Oh, and the Spicy Italian seasoning is really good on roasted vegetables and was delicious on the above pizza bagel.

Speaking of roasted vegetables, here’s my top viewed post of all-time – how to roast frozen vegetables.

 

Eggplant Pizza + Latest Trader Joe’s Favorite + Lentil Soup Recipe

Today’s post feels like a quick one but I wanted to say hello and share a few things.  

It rained Sunday night, Monday, and through most of yesterday. I can handle one rainy day but relentless rain that lasts more than one day is just not polite. I need fresh air! I like to go for a walk during the workday! And as much as I don’t mind running in some rain, I can’t run in heavy rain!

I can’t wait to get outside this morning to run. I haven’t run since Saturday which is totally fine since I don’t mind doing other workouts but by yesterday, I definitely had that itch inside like it was time to run. It should be a little warmer and sunny again this morning so I’m excited.

We did take out from The Cheesecake Factory over the weekend. My son and I both had the Barbeque Ranch Chicken Salad only I order this salad without the chicken. It’s all about the fried onion strings when it comes to this salad anyway. Those onions really tie everything together.

Side note not related to food, Stoney Clover has yet again launched new face masks. If you still need face masks to add to your mask collection, check the new colors out here. I love their masks because they are comfortable, pretty, and have beads on the straps.

Another night, another slice of pizza. I ventured back to the eggplant slice the other evening for dinner. I last had this eggplant slice at the start of the summer. It’s a good one even though it looks like half of the eggplant was falling off of the pizza. I eat this kind of pizza with a knife and fork anyway.

One of my latest favorites from Trader Joe’s is the holiday vegetable hash. Have you tried it? I mean, obviously you can buy the vegetables and seasonings to make the holiday vegetable hash yourself but let’s be real, who really wants to do all that cleaning and chopping work when you get just get a container of it all cut up for you?

I have been adding this holiday vegetable hash to EVERYTHING. Sure, it’s great for soups and stuffings (it smells like stuffing when you cook it!) but I actually like to saute it to then add to salads. It’s also great cooked with chickpeas or lentils over some rice. I think it goes with everything! I told my son to use it with eggs. There really are so many options and the flavors are so terrific.

Speaking of soups and looking at the Trader Joe’s mirepoix chopped vegetable mix, my friend Lisa’s chunky lentil soup recipe is so easy and delicious. You can check it out here if you want to make it.

One more thing before I go today! I wanted to tell you what I eat for lunch when work is so busy these days. Like lately, when I’m in a hundred directions around lunchtime, I’m not even overly hungry or interested in my big salad bowls. However, I will never be the person who skips a meal or “forgets to eat lunch.” I don’t even understand what that means. So instead, lately I find myself toasting cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread and topping it with mashed chickpeas and avocado plus a sprinkle of everything but the bagel sesame seasoning. It’s quick, easy, and super satisfying.

Here’s a post I once wrote that shares various Ways To Use Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel Sesame Seasoning.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

I Hate January Diet Mentality (plus recent meals)

New year, same way of eating over here for me. No January diets for me.

I really had no intention of getting into detail here about the whole January diet mentality — it makes me way too insane even to think about, let alone write about. But then I started typing this post and have a few little things to say in summary of my thoughts on the subject.

If you want to make a change, make a change. There’s no reason to wait for January 1 or for a Monday. There’s also no reason for crazy dieting or overly structured meal plans. Fad diets, insane workout routines, leaving yourself hungry, eliminating foods you actually enjoy, or focusing on what you can do on a 30-day restrictive plan do not work long-term. However, understanding that making some changes that bring you over to a nutrient-dense yet realistic healthy and balanced eating lifestyle does work. Strenuous overexercise not needed. It really is that simple yet people tend to overcomplicate things in an effort for a quick fix. To me, it can be an easy fix without a restrictive diet but no one wants to hear the truth, they want a tight plan for quick results.

And further (see what happens when I get started on this topic?!) when people I know actually listen to me, when they are ready to make a few little changes that don’t involve the word diet or restriction, they actually see results! And aren’t hungry! And aren’t missing the foods they love!

A quick little story to add here about my workout yesterday —

The lady next to me on the treadmill stopped me to chat when I was finished with my workout. She always sees me outside running and wanted to let me know that I’ve inspired her to come to the gym.

She also told me that I’m so disciplined.

Please know that I HATE the word discipline as people relate it to diet and exercise. The word discipline makes it all sound so negative. Taking care of yourself through fitness and healthy eating is not a negative thing! It doesn’t take discipline. It takes wanting to take care of yourself. Wanting to eat a certain way and exercise regularly because it is positive; because it makes you feel good. It is second nature. It’s not something you think about, it’s not about learning discipline or pushing yourself against your will. It is what you want to do and choose to do because doing so makes you feel good. It’s a priority to yourself.  A positive priority.

As she was walking on the treadmill, she pointed out to me that she put her incline up at 2.0 because someone told her that is what she should do.

My response was simple.

Do what brings you back to the gym. If you like walking on an incline, if it makes you want to come back to walk tomorrow, then do it. If walking without an incline at a speed of 3.0 makes you happy, please do that. 

You do not need to run like me, you don’t need strenuous exercise. You just need to do what works for you and what makes you want to return to do some more.

She was so pleasantly shocked by my answer as if I said something magical (as was the lady next to her on the other treadmill). They were both smiling. I think they will both be back tomorrow.

Now let’s move on and take a look at my Bagel Boss bagel.

We know I go through phases with needing a bagel with vegetable cream cheese and that phase occurred right before I was sick last week with that horrendous cold.

This is a picture of my whole wheat bagel with lettuce, tomato, and vegetable cream cheese. I also bought an extra container of vegetable cream cheese for the house, knowing that once I had this bagel with vegetable cream cheese, I would need a few more over the next few days. There are always bagels in my house but I only buy vegetable cream cheese when I specifically feel like eating it.

Back to Mario’s for my favorite whole wheat margarita slice! We took out from Mario’s rather than eating there so I made a side salad with my pizza once we were home.

I returned to using this green goddess salad dressing from Trader Joe’s and love it all over again! I’m not sure when or why I stopped buying it on a regular basis but I made the quick decision to throw it in my cart last week and I am so very glad I did.

I stopped at Wild Fig one day for a salad. Next time I won’t get the onions, even though they are good, because I can’t stand the aftertaste sometimes.

I really hadn’t been to Chopt in a while. A while may only be a week or two, not totally sure, but it felt like a while!.

This Chopt salad contained romaine, spinach, quinoa, avocado, beets, and hearts of palm with Mexican Goddess dressing on the side. Oh, and a piece of bread.

Since I still have my Cheesecake Factory gift cards from Hanukkah, we will continue to go so that I don’t have to cook. 🙂

I had the Vegan Cobb salad this time around, although I really do want to order the California Guacamole salad that I mentioned recently. That really was so very good too! It’s amazing to me that I now rotate three difference salads at The Cheesecake Factory when for what – 20 years or so – I had my own standing order of the Barbecue Ranch Salad.

What have you been eating lately?

Recent Meals + Vegan Cobb Salad + Intuitive Eating

I managed to capture a few recent meals worth sharing with you today! 

Happy to be back to my favorite whole wheat margarita slice from Mario’s. Remember last week I went with the veggie slice instead? That was a mistake. Not that the veggie slice is bad, I just like the margarita pizza better right now.

My salads from Chopt never look like much but I always enjoy them. In this bowl was spinach, romaine, quinoa, avocado, spicy peppers, beets, and shaved brussels sprouts with lemon tahini on the side. My only issue with this combo sometimes is the brussels sprouts. I do not eat brussels sprouts like I used to so when, on a whim, I decide to have them in this salad, I totally feel the digestion process. Brussels sprouts can be hard on me when I am not used to eating them regularly!

I had this greek salad at Greek Cove the other day with the side of pita bread and hummus. I love their hummus!

And yesterday, we went to Cheesecake Factory where I chose my alternate favorite salad, the vegan cobb salad. Sometimes I go with my all-time favorite salad and on occasion, I am more in the mood for the vegan cobb. What’s in the Vegan Cobb salad? I believe it’s beets, asparagus, quinoa, farro, avocado, chickpeas, cucumber, and tomato. I order the Vegan Cobb without the almonds and sunflower seeds because I have allergies to both.

And finally, I needed the Godiva Brownie sundae yesterday. Sometimes dessert is an option and sometimes it is a necessity. Yesterday just felt like a necessity. How to know if dessert is optional or a necessity? It’s something you just know. And when you pay attention to what you just know you need, I think it’s what they call intuitive eating. I intuitively knew I needed a brownie sundae. 🙂

Have a great week!

Best meal you had over the weekend?

A Few Recent Eats + Popular Recipe Right Now

 

No one wants to hear that I’m cold or that I despise getting up in the morning (I’ve concluded that I’m not a winter morning person) so I will skip right past my complaining (even though I totally just snuck it in here) and move on to a few recent meals.

I had this salad from Town Bagel a few days ago. Romaine, chick peas, roasted peppers, avocado, corn, and tomato. Honey mustard dressing on the side. Maybe there was cucumber in there too.

My salad from the Cheesecake Factory was a regular share on the blog for so long but now I feel like I don’t go there quite as often as in the past. Why not? I don’t know. We were there over the weekend though. Had my usual.

Plus Linda’s Fudge Cake. Isn’t this slice of cake giant? I don’t think it has been this giant in a long time! Would you believe I took half home? I know, this is so not like me but it’s becoming me – I think mainly because I run so much less. My appetite is nowhere near as fierce and my stomach can only hold so much.

On Monday my son was off from school but I work from home so that’s always fun. I took him to the diner as a super late breakfast for him and lunch for me. It was SO COLD here that I warmed up nicely with coffee and this giant bowl of baked oatmeal. The Premier Diner has the best baked oatmeal there is, no question. The baked oatmeal is served with a side of warm milk which you pour on top of the oatmeal to really mush it all up. What’s in the baked oatmeal? Not 100% sure but it definitely has raisins, craisins, I think I noticed walnuts, maybe apples or pears? It’s all cooked in so it’s hard to tell and I’m pretty sure that it’s slightly different every time.

So. I’m definitely not as active on Pinterest anymore (who has time?) but my old pins are still circulating nicely. Like right now, my recipe for peanut butter and banana protein bites seems to be crazy popular (based on the clicks to my site) which makes me happy. It’s nice to know that the cooking and recipe creating I once did is still appreciated!

[bctt tweet=”recent eats on the blog plus one of my most popular recipes right now! #salad #cheescakefactory #diner #longislanddiners #bakedoatmeal #pinterest #ontheblog” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Are you still active on Pinterest like you were in the past?

Anyone still making snack bites and balls? Is it just me who stopped making them?

 

Cheesecake Factory Crispy Brussels Sprouts!

 

The real star of today’s post is the addition of crispy brussels sprouts to The Cheesecake Factory menu. I received an email a few weeks ago that they were adding some new menu items and the mention of crispy Brussels sprouts was all I needed to hear. I couldn’t wait to try them!

The Cheesecake Factory crispy brussels sprouts involve maple syrup, and bacon. I didn’t bother to ask for the brussels sprouts to be cooked without the bacon (although they offered) because it’s easy enough to eat around the pieces. As a meatless eater, I don’t really care if the food is cooked with bacon and if I accidentally eat a small piece, it’s really okay.

Anyway, the crispy brussels sprouts! So super delicious. Perfectly crispy and terrifically flavored. I can’t wait to order them again.

As usual, I had my salad.

And shared Linda’s Fudge cake.

With a full stomach, I did some shopping around the mall before picking up prescription eye drops for my son (who was home with a sudden eye infection of some sort).

I’m in the market for a few new things from Lululemon for fall/winter but totally not in the mood to spend the money just yet.

My Lucky Rainbow sneakers are no longer available but from the same brand, how cute are these?!

I giggled when I saw this front tie shirt on display. Maybe they got the idea from me. 🙂

I also stopped into Henri Bendel and grabbed a luggage tag. I bought the Centennial Striped one but I can’t find the exact link online. They also sell the “bag tag” with passport cover as a set.

I’m on a mission to get everything I may possibly need before the close. I didn’t include the luggage tags in my Bendel Must-Haves Before They Close post from last week but the tag is still a must-have if you need a luggage tag! Everything is 20% off right now too!

[bctt tweet=”I tried the crispy Brussels sprouts from @cheesecakefactory! #weekend #brusselssprouts #cheesecakefactory #henribendel #bendelgirl ” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Do you like crispy brussels sprouts? Have you tried them yet at The Cheesecake Factory?

Do you need new fall/winter running clothes? Where are you getting them from?