Today's Food

My breakfast, lunch, and dinner for today.

Good Morning to all! It's kind of a yucky morning here in NYC so I decided to share with you all how I planned for my day, in food that is. First, you need to know that I love to plan and organize what I am going to eat throughout the day, it helps that I keep a food diary. The food diary keep me in check with how much i'm supposed to be eating per day. Everyone's got a different magic number of calories and clearly i'm not sharing mine with you, but here's an idea...it's based on weight/height and your activity level.

Last week I went virtual food shopping on Fresh Direct. I got a huge shipment of stuff that will last me about 2 weeks and then some. As you probably already know or have figured out, for those who don't know me, I get extremely excited about food and cooking, so a fridge full of food is always a great start! I really gotta plan out what I'm going to cook and what ingredients I'm going to use. Here's what's in my fridge as of today: (from top shelf to bottom shelf)

From the top I'd like to point out the Diet Dr. Brown's Cream Soda, Sabra Individual Hummus packs, and the Nasoya Won Ton Wrappers.

From the Middle shelf I'd like to point out the Ricotta cheese (part skim, never fat free it's too watery!), under the ricotta is homemade white bean soup (recipe to follow below), Diet Peach Snapple, the bowl in the center with ziploc bags sticking out (that's me organizing food in baggies to bring to school for lunch everyday!), and Skim Plus (nice and creamy yet still fat free).

On the bottom shelf I'd like to point out the cut up veggies (carrots, celery, and mini seedless cucumbers) in the tupperware, avocados, broccoli and asparagus (two veggies I love to roast on 400 degrees with olive oil, salt and pepper, add even a little lemon zest)!

Homeade White Bean Soup

2 cans white beans rinsed and drained

2 onions chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

water or chicken stock, enough to cover the onions and beans (less if you want thicker soup)

1 bouillon cube

salt and pepper to taste

1. Saute the onions in olive oil in large pot

2. When onions are softened add the beans and stir.

3. Fill pot with water or chicken stock, enough to cover the beans and onions. Let boil for 10 minutes on medium heat. If using water add bouillon cube now as well.

4. Take off from heat and blend with an immersion blender until smooth.

5. Enjoy!

NYC Favorites

Sorry for the blog delay today, I'm getting the hang of the whole thing. From now on I'll try to put up the post in the morning so all you people who are reading at work while you should be working have something to read! :)

My friend's always come to me for suggestions of where to go out to eat. They know I love food and researching restaurants, so they come to me. I'm pretty much like a walking citysearch. Here's a list of some of my go-to restaurants around NYC...I'll tell you what I eat at each place so you have an idea of what to order.

For pizza I like to go to Otto Pizzeria, Mario Batali's place on 5th Avenue. It's great for a large group of friends or just a few. They have round tables that can seat 8-10 people, which is always nice! The pizzas and salads are good, the wine is flowing, and the price for what you get is great! Somehow every time I go there when the bill is split it comes to around $40 a person. I'd say that's a pretty sweet deal for a dinner out on the town.

For tapas I love Sala or Sala One Nine, owned by the same person, but two different locations. One on Great Jones Street and the other on West 19th street. I love their grilled calamari, fried goat cheese with honey, my favorite bacon wrapped dates, their tostas are good, and their seafood paella is big enough to feed 4 people (they say its for 2!). Another tapas option is Boqueria. I guess you can say it's more of a hip place to eat, however they do not take reservations and there's usually a wait during normal dinner hours. They actually have bigger and better bacon wrapped dates, but their menu is not as large and the vegetarian friendly options are limited.

For mussels I suggest going to either B Cafe or Flex Mussles, both on the Upper East Side. At B Cafe you will have a full menu, I usually get their Moule Frites provencal. I don't know about you but I like a mussel with a good sauce, no white wine sauce for me. Their fries and Belgian beers are excellent as well. Flex Mussels has the best Thai Mussels. The sauce is drinkable and great for dipping fries and bread into. In addition they serve these immaculate filled doughnuts (with your choice of filling) that come to the table warm along side a vanilla bean sauce for dipping. I have tried the blueberry and the caramel fillings, of which I ate up both in under 5 minutes.

For mexican i am a huge fan of El Rio Grande in the Murray Hill area. The Margaritas are killer and you only need 1 or 2 to get you way more than just a little tipsy. Now I don't know about you but I ONLY eat fajitas that come out to the table on a SIZZLING platter. If it's not sizzling I will not eat it. So at Rio you'll find that the fajitas sizzle. They also have this amazing salsa verde, for all you language challenged readers, thats a green salsa. It is simply amazing and when you get a fresh basket of tortillas you'll be in heaven! The typical red salsa is pretty good as well! BUT, if you head to Rio on the off-season (whenever that is) be prepared for them to tell you that there is no salsa verde.

For noodle bars I will only eat at Momofuku. Period. I stick to the noodle bar, but you can visit David Chang's other 4 locations. It's fresh, it's cool, it's growing, it's freakin' delicious, and I love it! And so do my siblings...thanks Ofer for even introducing me to it! The menu is seasonal and from the green market so it's always changing. If you are a vegetarian don't go there, simply put! I don't eat pork unless its in the form of bacon, but I still enjoy the Momofuku experience. I usually get the shitake mushroom steamed buns or the chicken steamed buns to start. And then I see what's on the menu that day and take it from there. Be sure to stop by Milk Bar to get the most yummiest rich in flavor cookies you have ever tasted!!!! My fave is the chocolate-chocolate cookie.

Here's a list of restaurants I have on my list to try right now:

Locanda Verde

Sfoglia

Sushi Yasuda

Keste Pizza and Vino

Supper

Emporio

Freemans

Bagatelle

Graffiti Food and Wine Bar

I'll leave you with this photo of me eating my first bacon wrapped date at Sala One Nine after having tried being a vegetarian for 6 months. Clearly, I was excited and enjoying the moment. I think I ate like 8 bacon wrapped dates that night....

Brownie Bites with Marshmallow Meringue Frosting

So I decided to be kind to all my co-workers and bring in a batch of these yummy brownie bites. I can't take all the credit though, I did look to Duncan Hines for some help. The secret is to put some Nutella Spread into the batter for extra fudgy flavor! Feel free to make your favorite brownie recipe and bake them in mini muffin tins, just add the frosting, and there you go!

I left my apartment this morning with 36 mini brownie bites and came home with ZERO! I guess they were a hit, see for yourself...Smiles all around! Enjoy!

Marshmallow Meringue Frosting

3 egg whites pinch of salt 1 cup marshmallow fluff

Beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Gradually add marshmallow creme, beating until stiff peaks form. Bake at 500 degrees for 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve immediately.

Tip: I used a ziploc bag instead of a pastry bag to frost the cupcakes. See photo below.