Approximately three weeks ago, I got home from work and saw one of the most exciting sights a girl can see: a completely unsolicited mystery box from Bob’s Red Mill!!

Even more exciting were the contents:

A full package of steel cut oats (the best kind ever!) and a new tool for my kitchen craziness: a spurtle! What is a spurtle, you ask?

A real, live oatmeal stirrer!!! I have to admit that all my regular wooden spoons have left my possession along with their original owners as a result of my high rate of recent roommate turnover, so I’ve been using a wooden salad spoon to make oatmeal because it’s the only thing that won’t scratch my pots. This spurtle came just in the nick of time!

Along with the oats and spurtle came an enticing recipe for Oregon Orchard Oats Brulee:

I finally had the time and the ingredients to make it last weekend:

Did you notice that half of the oats are darker than the other half? The recipe called for half of the oats to be pre-toasted before cooking, an idea that I found quite intriguing since I had never thought to do that on my own.

I was also thrilled to use my new spurtle for the purpose of crushing coriander seeds, as per the instructions in the recipe.

Crushed! I think I’m in love 😀

In an uncharacteristic move, I continued to follow the instructions in the recipe by melting butter in a pan until it just started to change color …

… and then adding the crushed coriander, followed by diced pears, dried cranberries, and cinnamon. I nixed pretty much all the sugar and just threw in a sprinkle of sugar in the raw.

Once the juices began to “caramelize,” I mixed the pear and friends combo into the cooked oatmeal (side note: I deviated from recipe slightly here by cooking the oats in unsweetened almond milk instead of the heavy cream prescribed!):

(See my fancy spurtle hard at work??)

I divided the mixture into several oven-safe bowls …

… and sprinkled a bit of sugar in the raw (downgraded from the 1/2 cup suggested in the recipe!) over the top of each dish:

I am kitchen torch-less, once again due to roommate turnover, so I threw the bowls into the oven right under the broiler flame:

When the sugar melted and browned, I decided the job was done:

Ohhhhh, yummmmmm! This sight had my taste buds doing a real, live jig:

I was so pumped to devour my “oregon orchard oats brulee” that I knew I needed an equally decadent drizzler. Luckily, I had this can of coconut milk on hand from Edward & Sons, and it was very clearly calling my name from the back of the cabinet:

I whisked the coconut milk with a bit of unsweetened almond milk …

… and went to town!

Ohhhhhh myyyy goodness!

Every single bite of this indulgent breakfast was an exquisite delight for my senses!

Thank you to my best friends at Bob’s Red Mill for introducing me to the joy of the spurtle!

Have you jumped on the spurtle wagon yet?

Sitting in my freezer for quite some time has been a box of Pepperidge Farm Puffy Pastry that Foodbuzz sent for review. I’ve been hanging onto it for so long because I haven’t been exactly sure what to do with it. It’s not whole grain, nor is it particularly nutritious. Not to say that I only eat nutritious things, but the thought of this puff pastry just didn’t thrill me the way, say, cake does. However, I hung onto the puff pastry because it is food and because I figured some fun use would arise. Lo and behold, it did! Just last week, I found myself craving calzones.



I thawed one of the puff pastry sheets, rolled it out on a floured cutting board, and used a plate and a pizza-cutter to get the right shape. I then loaded half of each calzone with a mixture of roasted broccoli, tomato paste (sauteed with onions, garlic, and Italian seasoning), and shredded Asiago cheese:



I folded the other half over and used a fork to pinch the pocket closed:



I ended up with a whole family of calzones! One giant, one slightly less giant, one a bit smaller, and one itty bitty baby:



I shredded a bit more Asiago over the top …



… and popped them in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, I had a teeny bit more dough left, so I rolled it out as thin as I could and filled it with pumpkin pie filling (canned pumpkin, mashed banana, vanilla, and the holy trinity of spices):



The little pumpkin pie calzones went in the oven when these guys came out!



Here’s the whole spread, complete with leftover salad from my office party the night before:



(You can’t tell from the picture, but Erik has the giant calzones on a full-sized dinner plate; I took the smaller calzones on an appetizer plate!)

Mmmmmmm, crispy bread and cheese:

And crispy, gooey inside:



I was so excited to have found a delicious use for the puff pastry … and I still have one more sheet for future adventuring!

While we’re on the subject of free Foodbuzz loot, I came across this recipe for Hoisin-glazed Tempeh with Green Beans and Cashews in an issue of Vegetarian Times and got super excited because I had nearly every ingredient already thanks to the Tastemaker Program and product samples that I received directly from the food companies.



Presenting Nakano seasoned rice vinegar in roasted garlic flavor (from Foodbuzz), Hoisin Sauce (from Edward & Sons), Kikkoman Ponzu Citrus Seasoned dressing and sauce (from Foodbuzz), and garden veggie tempeh (from Lightlife):



Of course, I ended up eating the finished product before I could photograph it, but please take my word that it was delicious!!! For once, I was excited to have so many condiments squeezed into my refrigerator door 😛

Have you come across any good food samples lately?

As you all know by now (probably better than the back of your hand), I eat lots of delicious food every single day at work. The daily influx of of totally unnecessary confectionary does, however, skew my expectations and leave me spoiled. As a result, on the rare day when there is no cake to be found in my office, I go a little/very crazy. One day last week, Erik got so tired of hearing me go on and on about my need for a cupcake that he dragged me to a little French bakery down the street for some sugar-therapy.



Check out this block of espresso fudge mousse, complete with gold leaf shavings on top!



Mmmm, these treats hit the spot. I needn’t have worried about hitting a sugar low, however, because a few days later was our office “holiday” party (yes, in late February!):



The party had a Carnivale theme as well as a bring-your-own-dessert-to-share theme. Uh oh!



We had light-up straws:



and a dinner buffet (with salad, roast chicken, Mediterranean pasta, plantains):





The real star, though, was the dessert table!!!!!



Can you believe the amount of goodies that came in?



I was nearly in tears because I knew there was no way I could try everything!

Here’s my overflowing baby dessert plate:



I had several more bites of various delicacies as the night went on, too … and then I decided to stop eating sugar forever before I get diabetes!

We also had a mask contest. Some of the top contenders:



(Thanks to Brittany, Annette, and Julia for lending their modeling chops to the blog!)

Yet another fun night of office camaraderie (and too much sugar).

And just for the purposes of food art admiration, Nitza brought these chocolates to Lorraine to congratulate her on her retirement:



Beautiful, right?!!! Lorraine said, “Sarah, you can look, but you can’t touch!” I obeyed 😛

AND, in the final work-food event of note, last week Baby Buggy and Aveeno teamed up to take a bunch of our families on a field trip from East Harlem to midtown for Mama + Baby yoga, free Aveeno Baby samples, speeches by experts from Parents and Baby magazines, and lunch.



They were soooooooooo cute!





And the lunch spread was brilliant!



Here’s my plate with roasted veggies on rosemary focaccia, mixed greens with pears, walnuts, and gorgonzola, whole wheat pasta salad with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, and a Naked Green Superfood juice (haven’t had one of those in forever!):



Once again, my place of employment has outdone itself with the presence of delicious food AND babies. How could things get any better??!!

On our final full day in Chicago, the boys and I went for a Valentine’s brunch at The Chicago Diner, a vegetarian restaurant in the Boystown neighborhood:

The place was appropriately decked out for the “holiday”:

At my urging, Erik ordered an apple carrot beet ginger juice.

I ordered a chocolate soy milk Mexican hot chocolate with soy whipped topping:

Erik and I split the two best meals of the entire trip. A seitan and Swiss reuben with sauteed veggies on the side …

… and a sweet potato quesadilla with black beans, soy cheese, and guacamole:

Mmmmmmmmm, the filling:

When we were home at Peder’s place that night, I started to feel bad that we hadn’t actually celebrated Valentine’s Day. Peder gave me free rein in his bare-bones bachelor kitchen, and I was able to turn up quick oats, peanut butter, Hershey’s syrup, cinnamon, ground flax (I know?! Of all things he could have had?!). I mixed my ingredients (in unknown quantities) together, shaped them into hearts, and baked them for 15 minutes at 375:

They survived the oven beautifully intact and crunchy! I made icing out of plain yogurt and chocolate syrup:

I brought my creation to the boys, and we all enjoyed 30 seconds of official Valentine’s Day deliciousness.

And just for the sake of thoroughness, Erik got us this slice of strawberry cake at the airport Monday afternoon:

I got to eat the rose 😀

Do you have a weakness for heart-shaped frosted cookies?

(P.S. Starbucks is giving out free Peeled fruit snacks today, fyi. You know how I love my samples!)

Our second day in Chicago was not yet Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t care. I wanted this cookie:



Mmmmm, I am such a sucker for pretty frosting!

Anyway, Erik and I started Saturday with caramelized banana oatmeal, a brisk jog including a couple laps around the University of Chicago ballfields (conveniently located blocks away from his brother’s apartment), and a lunch of roasted cinnamon-cayenne acorn squash. After getting those morning preliminaries out of the way, we set off on our official mission to Millennium Park …



(Although giant art appreciation was not part of our agenda, how could we not stop to appreciate the skyscraper faces and magic silver bean?)

… for free Honky Tonk dance lessons!!!

I found this activity when I googled “things to do in Chicago,” and it was the best stroke of luck ever!



We learned to dance on the actual Pritzker Pavilion stage, comfortably shielded from the elements by temporary floor-to-ceiling glass windows that disappear in summer:

I dressed appropriately in flannel …

… and cowboyish boots:



If you’re going to go boot-scootin, you have to do it in style, of course.

On the way out after our three hours of dancing (1 hour of lesson plus 2 hours free-dancing to the live bluegrass band), we asked an older local couple where we could find some authentic Chicago pizza. They pointed us in this direction:



In reality, when the woman suggested Pizzeria Uno, I burst out laughing because, ummmm, you can get Pizzeria Uno anywhere in this franchise-riddled country. She patiently explained, however, that she was not joking and that the Chicago Pizzeria Uno was different from the rest because it was the first-ever location, was begun pre-franchise, and was the actual originator of deep-dish pizza.



OK, OK, you don’t have to twist my arm!!

We went to put our names in and found out that the waiting list was 90 minutes minimum! We decided to stick it out, though. We had time! Plus, they took our order when we gave our names. That way, they could be cooking our pizza the whole time we were waiting so that it arrived 15-20 minutes after we sat down. BRILLIANT!

We were obviously famished after our 90+ minute wait, so we had a salad delivered to the table within 30 seconds of sitting. Grabby fingers:



And … finally … the masterpiece arrived!



We ordered a medium Spinoccoli with half sausage. The lady up front warned us the medium was too big for two people, but we patiently explained that we are the two people with the biggest appetites in the world 😛



Mmmmmmm, topped with parm and red pepper:



I’ve had many a spinoccoli in my life, and I must say, this was by far the best. The crust was SO much fresher and crunchier than any Uno’s crust I’ve had in the past. Despite the deliciousness, however, I will always be a New York thin crust girl at heart ❤

OK, so we talk a good game but, to be honest, our stomachs apparently do have bottoms. We could not finish everything, though we made a valiant effort by eating all the filling:



OHHHH, the expansion!



I accepted defeat and politely asked our server to wrap up the crusts for a future snack 🙂 Oven-toasted crusty bits with homemade guacamole the next night perhaps??



Nothing gives me more satisfaction than successfully repurposing food. (OK, that might be a slight exaggeration. But only a slight one!)

Have you ever eaten at the original location of a franchise? How was the experience?