Yesterday, I was in the mood to do some baking so I searched my pantry for some ingredients and realized I had everything I needed to make Baked’s Granola! Baked NYC is a bakery in Brooklyn that makes the best desserts in the world – their brownies, cupcakes and pies are all pretty amazing. This granola recipe is *SUPER* unhealthy (so much sugar and honey!) but it’s also really delicious and a great topping on Greek yogurt.
Baked NYC’s House Blend Granola Recipe
2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole almonds
1/3 cup whole hazelnuts
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dried cherries
(I didn’t add some of the dried fruit because I really dislike everything except dried cherries, but the proportions are what you should be looking for! I also added milled flax seeds and used flax seed oil to make it a little less guilty, but it’s still pretty sweet and shouldn’t be eaten everyday if you’re looking to be healthy)
The recipe is super simple – just mix your oats, cinnamon and salt:
And in another bowl, mix together the honey, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla:
Mix the oil/honey mixture until it’s completely combined and then add it to the dry oat mixture. Clump the mixture together with your hands until all of the oats are properly coated. Place the oat mixture on a cookie sheet.
In a 325 degree pre-heated oven, place the oats in for 10 minutes:
Remove the cookie sheet, flip over the granola and add your almonds:
Bake for another 5 minutes and add your hazelnuts (I didn’t add hazelnuts but took it out of the oven to flip the granola again). Place it back into the oven for another 10 minutes and then you can remove the granola. Once it has fully cooled, add your dried fruit and transfer to an air tight container. I added it to my Fage yogurt (and now I don’t need to add any additional honey because I know it’s all in this granola!)
Last Saturday, Ken and I found ourselves uptown for an early morning appointment at Amsale, where we looked at wedding gowns and tried on a lot of different options. I haven’t found my ideal gown yet, but it’s getting pretty close! My mom is coming to help me pick the final gown and I think I’ll keep it a secret until the actual ceremony when Ken sees me walking down the aisle. I just wanted to get an idea of the dresses Ken liked at Amsale! After our morning appointment, we headed to Bergdorf Goodman to check out their evening wear collection because i’m thinking about doing a dress change after the actual ceremony to a red dress (for cocktails). Nothing is finalized yet, but I did see some very expensive gowns at Bergdorf’s; one gown was $35,000! We made our rounds on all of the glorious floors of Bergdorf’s and then headed across the street to grab lunch at The Plaza’s Food Court.
Neither of us have ever visited the food court and it really is beautiful and reminds of me the food courts in Asian department stores. Lots of little stalls with beautiful pastries (cake pops, macarons, banana pudding and so much more!), plump lobster rolls from Luke’s lobster, and creative sandwiches at No. 7 Sub. We decided to try Tartinery since neither of us have ever been there and since it was so hot outside, we decided to both get salads. Tartinery actually has seating at their stall:
I ordered the Nicoise salad:
I loved the salty anchovies on top of the fatty tuna and the fresh greens. Ken also liked the Nicoise more than his cobb salad:
They squirted about a cup of dressing on the salad (luckily we were able to scoop it off and not eat all of it). The salad was a little too salty for me but the portions were so large that I was quite content with just the Nicoise. We ended up also ordering a tartine of chicken and shaved fennel on hearty multi-grain bread:
The chicken was so dry we almost choked on it but the fennel was light and spritzed with a little lemon juice and olive oil. The lunch was very pleasant and we walked through the food court after our very filling lunch. I wanted to get a nice serving of banana pudding from Billy’s, but decided I should come back soon (without Ken!) to enjoy the banana pudding. It’s a very cute area that has lots of good downtown options; I’m not sure how the prices compare at The Plaza versus the actual restaurants, but we ended up spending about $55 for our lunch.
For the third delivery of The Fresh Diet, I chose a different type of breakfast – the Cherry Vanilla Ricotta Cheese Crepes with Fresh Pineapple:
This was actually the first breakfast I didn’t enjoy; the crepes were too soggy from residual pineapple juice and it was also too sweet.
For lunch, I had the Chicken Caesar Salad with Grape Tomato, Romaine Lettuce, Whole Wheat Croutons & Sun Dried Tomato with Caesar Dressing:
I didn’t eat the whole wheat croutons or the sun dried tomatoes but the Caesar salad was okay (the chicken tasted a little bit like it was cubed lunch meat)
For dinner, I had the Warm Lentil Salad with Grapes and feta, with Leeks, Cider Vinegar, Dijon Mustard, Lentils, Red Grapes, Pistachios, Parsley, Feta Cheese and mint with Rosemary Carrot Mash and Sauteed Kale:
This was my least favorite meal of the day; everything got mixed together and I didn’t know if the grapes were supposed to be served with the lentil or if it was part of another dish (and it tasted bad with everything). The pistachios were also gross (super soggy) and I barely finished the lentil salad. The rosemary carrot mash tasted like it had a large piece of ginger in it and I couldn’t finish the entire thing, even though I was starving.
Luckily, I had a very sad looking turkey quesadilla:
And a sad looking serving of fruit and walnuts:
I really disliked all of the food served today and I’m glad I paused the delivery for the weekend. Hopefully I don’t change my eating habits too much during the weekend because I’m off the diet!
Mariana brought my new bag of The Fresh Diet on Thursday and the menu was very different from the first day. There’s a lot of variety in the diet (which is good) but the portion sizes are so small it makes me weep a little every time I see how much I should be eating.
Today’s breakfast started with Corn & Tomato Egg Bake with Monterey Cheese and Cantaloupe:
The egg bake was good and I recreated it over the weekend when I paused the meal delivery. The size was tiny but it’s helping me eat a bit slower and also appreciate the food a little more (because I know that’s all I get for the next few hours!)
For lunch, our team went to Dos Caminos to celebrate a team member’s birthday, so I ended up saving my salad for later (and totally gorging on guacamole and an amazing chopped salad). The actual lunch, which I had later, was Thyme Infused Chicken Salad with Arugula, Orange Segments, Strawberries, & Blueberry Vinaigrette:
I also had the Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with Lemon, Pepper, Garlic Sauce with Roasted Red Beets and Grilled Yellow Tomato:
As you can see, you’re only supposed to eat five pieces of shrimp as a dinner entree – so little! I’m glad I was able to combine the salad and the shrimp (and my snack!). For today’s snack, I had the Chicken Apple Sausage with Horseradish Dip & Cucumber Spears:
And for dessert, I sat in a little chair and enjoyed my Cherry Vanilla Cheesecake, which was another tiny sliver of cheesecake. I think all of the food is actually really good, it’s just tiny portions and it makes me so sad seeing how much food I should actually be eating everyday. We’ll see how long I can survive the new eating habits!
I recently started getting meals delivered to me through The Fresh Diet. It’s actually much cheaper than going out to eat for every meal (which is what Ken and I typically do) and it helps with my policy that once I go into the office in the morning, I don’t leave until I’m ready to go home (if you’re wondering why I do that, it’s because I hate going out in the sun to pick up lunch…I always end up going to the cafe that is connected to our building or ordering seamlessweb and getting it delivered to our lobby). The Fresh Diet ends up being about $20/day for five meals and you basically get to pick out what you want to eat, so it’s really simple!
The Fresh Diet and I started out on the wrong foot – they have a policy where they deliver your food from 7pm – 5:30am and they also refuse to knock on your door. Instead of bothering you, they’ll leave your food at the front door OR they’ll ask that you MAIL THEM YOUR KEY so they can leave it inside. I find so many things wrong with mailing a stranger your key and my apartment has an inverted key, so I have to get them made with the building management company, so that was out of the question. I almost had to cancel my order entirely, but luckily my friend is staying in a hotel and she is also doing the diet so she offered to let me have my drop offs switched to her hotel room.
My first delivery was last Wednesday – they give you a large bag with cooler packs inside:
And their meals are portioned to the sizes you should be eating:
My breakfast on Wednesday was a steak and egg enchilada with tomatillo salsa topped with Pepper-Jack Cheese on Spinach Tortilla:
The portion size is a little small but the food was actually really. By lunchtime, I was a little hungry and luckily I picked the Asian Flank Steak on Whole Wheat Roll with Szechuan Style Slaw and Peanut Sauce:
I didn’t have the slaw but the peanut sauce and the meat were really good. By the end of my small sandwich I was still starving but luckily I was pulled into meetings all afternoon so I didn’t have time to think about how hungry I was.
For dinner, I had the Fillet of Cod with Orange Tea Leaf Sauce with Golden Turnip & Parsley Puree and Lemon Parsley Roasted Brussels Sprouts. I was running around (getting my hair cut and a doctor’s appointment) so I was really hungry by the time I got home and the size of the filet is…pretty small…but I survived the first day. The snack was two little grilled shrimps and dessert was a tiny SLIVER of Key Lime Cheesecake. I survived my first day of the diet! I actually felt really good after the day but I definitely don’t think it’s sustainable, especially if I incorporate workouts into my day. It’s convenient that you can choose your menu online and pick what you like/don’t like – they also warn you when you are picking out too many sugars or carbs (especially if the goal of the diet is weight loss). It’s an interesting concept that I’m trying for seven days (and I’m not sure if I’ll renew or not). A lot of people in my office do it (and swear by it) but I think I’d get really sad if I didn’t get the option of going into a restaurant anymore! The Fresh Diet, day 2, tomorrow!
