What I Ate Wednesday: NYC & Long Island Edition

'Ellllllo! It's Wednesday, and that means I'm sharing what I've been eating. This won't be a standard breakfast lunch and dinner posted because, quite frankly, I forgot to photograph a day of #eeeeeats. 

Instead, I'm going to share some A+ food porn from the past few weeks. 

This includes a trip home to Long Island, which always means indulging and eating things I don't eat on a normal basis. It's harder to make healthy choices when you're surrounded by food that not only tastes delicious but has so many emotional ties. To be on Long Island and not eat a bagel just isn't something I can do ;)

When I head home, I try my hardest to embrace the abundance of delicious food and all of the different options in my parents fridge and cabinets instead of beating myself up over it. 

That being said, I plan on making a lot of trips home this summer so at some point I need to stop treating every weekend home like a vacation - finding that balance is something I'm working on.  

TUNA, HARD BOILED EGG, RICE CAKES

I am still all about the canned tuna these days, though I've cut back significantly from a few weeks ago. 

One day last week I realized I had failed to pack breakfast for work. I had little single serving cans of tuna in the office, my friend had rice cakes, and I ran downstairs to buy a hard boiled egg from a deli for 50 cents. Voila! Just as easy and cheap as running across the street for an egg McMuffin and hashbrown but so much healthier! 

RAINBOW BAGEL & CREAM CHEESE 

I finally got my hands on a rainbow bagel while I was home on Long Island (land of the worlds best bagels, according to FACT). Cream cheese and sprinkles added by moi. 

ENGLISH MUFFINS - 1 WITH CREAM CHEESE, AVO + DILL & 1 WITH ALMOND BUTTER, BANANA + HONEY 

Who else LOVES English Muffins? I don't usually buy them for myself, but they're often at my parent's house and I alwayssss have one. In typical Lauren fashion, I couldn't decide between sweet and savory. The surprise winner in this sweet vs. savory showdown was the combination of cream cheese and avo. It's my new favorite flavor combo! 

And I have to admit, I'm still not team almond butter. PB4L. 

Snacks

COTTAGE CHEESE + PEACHES 

How sweet & summery does THIS look? Yum. I love cottage cheese, lumps and clumps and all. 

KOMBUCHA & HALO TOP

The first thing I did when I got home to Long Island last weekend was get another gel manicure. The second thing I did was go grocery shopping to purchase kombucha, Halo Top & a sweet potato. 

To say I felt #basic is an understatement. 

BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT HALO TOP ICE CREAM FOR A SECOND?! Because it actually tastes like ice cream and has 4 grams of sugar and tons of protein and is 34890X better than Arctic Zero. 

I was a little underwhelmed by the High Country Kombucha, but it was OK because I'm brewin' my own these days anyway :) 

WATERMELON + MINT + FETA

UHM I'm having a serious love affair with watermelon, mint & feta. I made these little skewers to bring to a friends housewarming party and they were a hit. I drizzled them with balsamic glaze which made them even better. 

FREE SAMPLES 

Julia, the nutritionist that I'm working with at The Athlete's Palate, was awesome and sent me some of these free samples.

(And say hi to my dad's Marimo Moss - he named him Gazoo like the little green character in The Flintstones). 

Lunches 

SALAD AT THE BEACH 

Summer means throwing every fruit and veggie in my parents fridge into a Tupperware and bringing it down to the beach. This weekend I got some bizarre burns on the tops of my feet and around my armpits - definitely need to brush up on my lotion-applying skills.

While I was home I also made my self a bomb.com sandwich filled with turkey, cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, pickles and CHIPS. Yes, I put chips on my sandwiches and I highly recommend that you try it too! 

Dinners

FONDUE 

Is there anything better than an ooey, gooey pot of straight-up cheese? Probably not. My friends and I had fondue night last week and devoured first this pot of cheese fondue followed by a pot of chocolate for dessert. 

My favorite cheese dipper was probably the broccoli or the giant soft pretzel I bought from the side of the road. My favorite chocolate dipper ended up being good old BREAD. Who would have thunk? 

MARGS + TACOS + GUAC

Quintessential summer night right here. At least if you're a marg + guac loving gal like myself. Our hunt for the best margaritas in NYC continued last week with a trip to Black Ant for a killer happy hour ($8 plates and margaritas). I loved the smoky jalapeno margarita but their regular margarita was just OK. The guac was stellar with jicama and mango and we also tried their fish tacos. The outside seating area was SUPER CUTE and set the perfect vibe for a beautiful night. 

ORTO - LAMB RIBS

For Father's Day dinner my family and grandparents went out for dinner at a local restaurant, Orto (which I've written about before). 

No one was BLOWN AWAY by their meal except for these bad boys - maple glazed lamb ribs with quinoa, pine nuts & feta. For me, they were a little fatty, but still delicious!

My sister and I also ordered a seasoned ricotta and sundried tomato tapenade for the table, garganelli with eggplant and burrata & pork with a sunchoke puree. And dessert of course - a blueberry oat crumble. 

To say we were stuffed is an understatement. 

SALMON + RICE + SWEET POTATO + GREEN BEANS

My mom and I enjoyed dinner out on the deck Friday night and it was delicious! She baked the salmon with onions, lime, dill and white wine. The white wine was a game changer and now I never want to just use olive oil every again. 

Thanks for giving my incessant food photography a purpose and happy hump day! 

YOUR TURN: 
HAVE YOU TRIED HALO TOP? WHATS YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR? 
WHATS YOUR FAVORITE KOMBUCHA BRAND? 
HOW DO YOU FIND BALANCE WHEN YOU TAKE A TRIP HOME? 

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