Subway Veggie Sandwich + Cookie Dough + Recent Vegetarian Meals

 

It’s always nice when I start a post with pizza, isn’t it?

I brought this slice of whole wheat vegetable pizza home from Monte and added a little sauce on top. I do love this vegetable pizza but it doesn’t have as much sauce as I like on it so adding extra on top fixes that issue for me.

Yes, I had a slice of the whole wheat margarita pizza too in the last few days.

I have been making my usual salads for lunch. I went to Whole Foods to restock my supply of the 365 Organic Light Ranch Dressing and they were out of it which was really annoying. I’ll have to go back later this week and hope that the dressing is back on the shelves.

In Monday’s workout recap post I mentioned that we went to the Islanders game in New Jersey on Sunday. We stopped at Subway on the way to the game as we weren’t fully sure which concession stands would be opened for a reduced capacity game.

It had been so long since I last had a veggie sandwich from Subway!  I have a feeling I will be back at Subway again super soon for a veggie-loaded sandwich. The honey mustard really ties it all together.

At the Islanders game, I did have a cup of cookie dough. Many concession stands were open yet many were closed too. I’m happy that the cookie dough was available.

Last but not least, here’s last night’s bowl of Banza chickpea pasta primavera bowl. THIS WAS SO GOOD.

 

Recent Meals + Pizza Bagel Craving

 

 

Last week I was trying to decide if I should highlight a full day of meals OR a variety of recent meals in Wednesday posts. Based on the comments and my opinion thrown in too, I have a feeling I will continue to rotate between the two ideas, depending upon the week. How does that sound?

This week I have a whole bunch of recent lunches and dinners to discuss!

I hadn’t had a Subway veggie sandwich in a while so this really hit the spot. It’s all about the extra pickles and honey mustard!

My son is always pushing for Moe’s or Chipotle for dinner during the week even though he knows I am cooking. It’s a daily battle that I forget to talk about, probably because I try really hard to tune it out. On occasion, he succeeds and we end up at one of the restaurants. Often I just get something for him but sometimes I get myself a vegetarian salad too.

I think I prefer Chipotle over Moe’s even though I order the same salad loaded with all the vegetarian toppings at both places.

Although, Moe’s has the salsa bar and Chipotle doesn’t so there’s one plus on the Moe’s side of things.

How yummy do the toppings for these vegetable fajitas look?! I told you recently that vegetable fajitas are my most favorite Mexican restaurant order and this plate did not disappoint.

Here’s a Maoz salad while at the mall. Their roasted broccoli is the best.

I made this big salad for lunch the other day. It included the roasted cauliflower I bought at Stew Leonard’s (which I mentioned in Monday’s post)  so it had a lot of extra flavor tossed in. I really liked it!

I thought to buy red peppers and onion the other day at the grocery store in order to make a version of  this recipe for vegan sloppy joe’s that Laura and I enjoyed during our recipe challenge last year. It’s not like I actually looked at the recipe again though, I just combined what I thought I remembered it involved and then added it to a bowl with roasted sweet potatoes and parmesan cheese.

And then there was my pizza bagel craving which I woke up with the other morning, knowing I wanted it for dinner. I bought whole wheat bagels which crisp really nicely when making a pizza bagel.

After the pizza bagel craving though, I realized I should buy my favorite Food For Life Ezekiel Sandwich buns again. I love to eat them opened-faced with melted mozzarella and tomato. This is now the meal craving of the week, for lunch or dinner. It’s a nice twist actually on the pizza bagel!

I plan to pop in tomorrow for a quick Thanksgiving post but just in case I don’t and/or just in case you are traveling, have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

[bctt tweet=”Lots of recent meals to share today on the blog! #wiaw #food #maoz #salad #veggies #moes #chipotle #pizzabagel” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Are you cooking anything? Please tell me what you are making!

 

Dinner at Surf’s Out Fire Island + Recent Eats

 

I’ve got a few good meals to share plus we walked to Fire Island last night for dinner!

I still love to create my own salad at Panera. The current Panera salad options on the menu just don’t do it for me. I used to love the Hummus Power Bowl from the secret menu but then they stopped offering it so I learned to create a version that I find similar and delicious.

Just ask for the full-sized seasonal greens salad with the addition of avocado and cilantro hummus. It’s delicious and very similar to the Hummus Power Bowl from the secret menu, it just doesn’t involved a bed of spinach leaves as the salad base.

We had Subway on the way back from Foxwood’s a few weeks ago and ever since then, I crave the veggie sandwich! It’s been years since I had the Subway veggie sandwich but now it’s one of my favorite easy to grab lunches. I shared this foot long whole wheat veggie sandwich a few days ago and it really hit the spot. It’s all about asking for extra pickles and honey mustard. 🙂

I’ve been to George Martin’s Burger Bar a few times and really like it. Most recently I enjoyed this veggie burger over a greek salad for dinner.

So here’s the thing. Every table receives a pail filled with popcorn but I’ve learned to not touch it.

One piece of popcorn and you are hooked which totally ruins your meal because you end up way too full. I know this from experience so if you go, consider yourself warned.

As you know, I really haven’t been cooking much. When I am home, I rely on this giant salad bowl from Stew Leonard’s. I pick one of these salad bowls up each week and easily get four, if not five meals out of it. I just doctor the salad up with whatever is easy and interesting to me at the moment.

Usually it’s a Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger (like I showed you last week) with feta cheese. Sometimes I roasted baby potatoes and add them to the mix as well.

And finally, we walked to Fire Island last night for dinner at Surf’s Out!

Walking to Fire Island is one of my favorite things to do in the summer not only because it’s an adventure but because the restaurant Surf’s Out is our destination once we reach Kismet, Fire Island.

The walk to Fire Island is just under 3 miles from Robert Moses Beach to Kismet and then you get to enjoy really good food and atmosphere at Surf’s Out.

I’m not even going to complain that I was ready to order the best onion rings in the world to learn they are no longer on the Surf’s Out menu. Instead we ordered steak fries with a really good dipping sauce and I also had a salad with walnuts, cranberries and apples.

Ok fine. I totally whimpered in my seat about the onion rings and politely begged the waitress to ask the chef to get them back on the menu so hopefully next time we walk to Fire Island, the onion rings will be waiting for me.

If you missed my first ever walk to Fire Island, here’s that post from July 2013!  Aside from recapping our meal in that post, I also explain more in-depth about how it’s possible to access Fire Island without boat or ferry. It’s really the coolest thing!

[bctt tweet=”We walked to Fire Island last night for dinner! #WIAW #surfsout #fireisland #longisland #summer2017 #dinner #kismet” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Are you a Subway sandwich fan? What do you usually order if you go there?

If you live in New York, have you ever walked to Fire Island?

 

recent Trader Joe’s shop & next week’s dinner plan

 

All of our dinners did not exactly go according to plan this week.

But it’s okay to deviate every now and again, especially when Subway is running a buy one get one free deal. I took advantage of the deal Tuesday night which gave my son a dinner he really wanted plus an extra sandwich (that he actually liked) to bring for lunch to school on Wednesday.

I was totally mother of year for a brief minute there!

Somehow I was running out of food by Wednesday (read: all bananas were brown and only two apples left) so I stopped at Trader Joe’s to restock some stuff. I even made a list which, if you know the layout of Trader Joe’s, sort of goes in order of the store. At least it started that way until I began adding random things towards the bottom.

And in usual Trader Joe’s fashion, they were out of something. This time, it was fresh brussels sprouts which really hurt my feelings because I love roasted brussels sprouts and need them daily.

I didn’t follow my list exactly but at least I remembered to bring it with me.

So even though we didn’t stick to our dinner plan 100%, I still really like it as a framework and do find it eliminates some of the confusion and need for discussion about what’s for dinner 99% of the time.

Here’s what we are thinking for next week:

Sunday – Whole Wheat Skillet Lasagna / Meatless Meatballs

Monday – Roasted Harvest Veggie, Curried Avocado & Coconut Rice Bowls <- My favorite fall recipe

Tuesday  – Pizza Night

Wednesday – Copycat Subway Sandwich

Thursday – Leftovers or Stir Fry

Friday – out

Saturday  – out

Notes:

*I am making the whole wheat skillet lasagna because I have ricotta cheese to use before it expires and I figure this Sunday is a good day to make it and then freeze it for leftovers. (hopefully I will share the recipe soon!)

*My meatless meatballs are just ridiculous and need to be made again just so I can freeze them to have on hand.

*My favorite fall recipe is always on my mind but it’s been forever since I made it. I am sort of hoping my son will like it too since it involves coconut flavors for the rice and the roasted fall vegetables (acorn squash, butternut, sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts) are just so irresistible.

*Copycat Subway sandwich? For sure I can do that for my son. For me, the girl who really doesn’t care for a sandwich, I will most likely have a power bowl.

Oh, by the way, I started a meal planning board on pinterest.

Follow The Cookie ChRUNicles’s board *Meal Planning* on Pinterest.//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js

I try to add other meal plans to this board for inspiration as well as recipes I am considering in the weeks ahead.

Pinterest gets confusing for me, as much as I love it, because I have so many boards which seem to be organized but so many recipes can fall into so many categories that I really don’t know which board to pin them to first or if I should double pin them where applicable or what.

Insert that new upside down emoji face here. That’s how I feel with pinterest, and social media in general, sometimes.

[bctt tweet=”What’s on the menu next week #mealplanning #dinner #meatless #traderjoes #Subway #fitfluential”]

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How do you handle pinterest if a recipe you like fits a bunch of categories?

Are you a Subway sandwich eater? Do you like sandwiches?

3 things you are doing this weekend?

 

 

Happy New Year From Times Square

 

Good morning 2014!

I had no intentions of being out last night. In fact, I can’t recall the last New Year’s Eve that I spent in a restaurant or anywhere outside of a friend’s house or the comforts of my own home.

I was not exactly in the fa-la-la mood as you may or may not have picked up from yesterday’s random post.

Blogging is an interesting thing; a majority of the time, chatting with you everyday is usually all sunshine and unicorns but there are times and moments when life can get in the way of that and, at least for me, I have a lot of trouble hiding behind words.

Anyway, sometimes you just have to go through the motions. Sometimes, especially when you least feel like it, you just must get on with yourself and your usual routine in order to feel normal. Whatever normal is.

Sometimes we don’t feel like running, we don’t want to get out of bed, we don’t want to cook, we don’t want to clean the house. Sometimes we don’t want to go out with our friends.

Yet somehow, like last night for example, we go through the motions, get ourselves ready and end up in Times Square where the biggest party in the entire world is taking place.

We find ourselves on a subway (only for the third time in my 35 years living in New York) with a stupid smile on our face.

We find ourselves staring up at the Empire State Building as it flashes a light show for the world to see.

We learn that the Red Mango in Penn Station makes a mean parfait as a snack before a fabulous dinner. Please don’t ask me how I ended up in Penn Station when I drove into the city which means I didn’t take the train.

Speaking of the fabulous dinner, I wish I had some photos from the meal but it was too dark to take any.

I am insisting though that the next time you find yourself in Manhattan, you choose to dine at Alta.

In fact, you need to invite me so that we can go together.

The restaurant featured all small plates. I can’t even count how many small plates we ordered but the Brussels sprouts were so amazing that I ordered another round and refused to share them with the rest of the table.

And, of course, when it came to dessert, I informed the table that I would not be sharing and they were on their own. Molten chocolate cake all to myself.

Yes, friends, it was one fabulous and hysterical evening.

I didn’t see the ball drop but how do you not buy the shirt from the guy on the corner who is simultaneously trying to scam you and steal your money?

And the best thing that took place on New Year’s Eve in Manhattan beside the Brussels sprouts?

My cousin, who might as well be my sister, gave birth to her first child right before midnight. A beautiful baby boy.

It is going to be a good year. For all of us.

Happy New Year!

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Do you normally go out or stay in on New Year’s?

If you blog, do you struggle sometimes to post because life is getting in the way and making you feel like you are hiding behind words?

Best thing you ate last night?

 

 

Don’t Jinx It!

I must say this week is flying by. At least for me.

I ran again yesterday morning, stopping myself at 4.60 miles for two reasons:

1- I am afraid to overdo it this week  2- I really needed to get my day going.

I ran those miles in negative splits, feeling as though I could have kept up my quick pace even though it was super hot and humid.

If anyone is keeping track, that makes 4 runs in 5 days (25 miles total) with a day of spin in between.

Is it the shoes?

Is it too soon to say the Gel Nimbus 15 are keepers?

Truth: If I like something, I am afraid to speak too soon about it in fear of jinxing the situation.

Maybe it is the kid in me, but I think I still believe in the jinx.

Or maybe I am just silly? That’s fine, call me silly. There are worse things in life to be known as than just silly.

Well, if I should thank the shoes are not, running this week has been phenomenal.

While I normally run often, not all of the runs are fabulous and typically I experience some sort of soreness, stiffness, tiredness in my legs at some point.

The only issue I had yesterday was a terrible headache that began at the conclusion of my run that lasted until the early afternoon.

I never get headaches. I decided that I was dehydrated from the serious sweating that has been taking place due to the sudden rise in heat and humidity.

Perfect excuse to pick up a watermelon. And a cart load of other things.

Yes, I know I was just at Trader Joe’s the other day. I told you I am always there.

I try to vary the Trader Joe’s locations I shop at so that I don’t become known as the crazy TJ lady.

Or should we make that the silly TJ Lady.

Even though I consumed a large amount of watermelon while slicing it, I still wasn’t feeling right.

When lunch rolled around, I wasn’t all that hungry but was craving peanut butter.

You know when you are totally in the mood for something and it hits the spot perfectly? That was my lunch yesterday.

Crunch Time PB+ Mighty Maple PB+ Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel Bread = True Happiness.

The side of fruit was just an added bonus.

I am so simple. It really doesn’t take much to make me happy, especially when peanut butter is involved.

Give me peanut butter, sushi and sunshine anyday….and I am a happy girl.

And my morning run of course. Which I think I will be heading  out for again shortly. My legs still feel fine and have no interest in any form of an elliptical machine.

Before I go, can I tell you a secret?

The word on the street is Subway now has a secret menu. Click here for the link.

The Subway secret menu includes hidden signature sandwiches, toppings and different ways to order your old sandwiches.

If you missed my previous post about secret menus, click on the link below:

Long Run and More Secret Menus!

Have a great Thursday!

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Do you ever get headaches after running?

Do you eat half of the watermelon you buy as you slice it up?

Do you eat at Subway often? I really don’t anymore but my son loves it.

What makes you happy?