Thomas' Diner

Since this weekend is Fathers Day weekend, my sister and I came out to Long Island to stay at our dad's house.  I alway love coming to Long Island because in addition to seeing my family that is out here, I get to go to a lot of the food places that I grew up with.  One of my all time favorite places is Thomas' Diner in Carle Place, which is a small diner that is near Roosevelt Field Mall.

It is a pretty small and understated place, and from the outside looking in it looks like a typical diner.  However, it is much more than that.  There is always a long wait there because the food is just that good.  The owners and workers there really make an effort to get to know everyone, and the owner knows me and my family by name whenever we go.  Since I live in the city now, it has sadly been about a year since I have been back and I have been waiting for the opportunity to go.  Upon reaching my new weight loss goal and knowing that I was going to be on Long Island for the whole weekend, I decided that going to Thomas' was going to be my reward.

Everything there is so delicious, and you really can't go wrong with anything.  My favorite thing is obviously the pancakes, and you can custom order them to whatever you want.  Once, I even got three different pancakes in one order (one chocolate chip, one plain, one banana chocolate chip), and they made it for me without even hesitating!  This time, I went a bite more traditional and got the banana chocolate chip, which is my favorite combo (I figured that if I was going to have these pancakes as my reward, I was going to go all out), and my dad got whole wheat blueberry pecan pancakes.  They also have a really great selection of waffles (the chocolate almond chip ones are amazing), french toast (nutella stuffed, banana stuffed, etc.), and eggs.  They do have an extensive lunch menu as well, but I can't imagine coming here and not getting breakfast food.

Today we arrived at about 1145 and got a table right away, which pretty much never happens.  Right after the owner, Thomas, sat us, he asked me and my sister how school was, what we have been up to, etc., which really shows that he makes the effort to get to know his customers.  The fact that we hadn't been back in over a year and he remembered us is really a testament to how friendly it is there.

We were all pretty hungry, so after we sat down we ordered right away.  Between the four of us at our table, we had one order of banana chocolate chip pancakes, one order of whole wheat blueberry pecan pancakes, scrambled eggs with toast, hash browns, and extra crispy bacon, and an egg white omelet with toast and hash browns.  I don't like eggs, but I always like when my family orders them because I get to steal a bite of bacon, hash browns, and toast.

When the pancakes came to the table, they were huge and fluffy, and had a lot of chocolate chips and sliced bananas in them, so I could not wait to dig in.  After taking my first bite, I remembered why I love going there so much.  The pancakes are just so delicious, and you really can't go wrong with the banana chocolate chip combo.  They are very large and I do admit I got full after eating just one, but I powered through and ate a second because I could not let two pancakes go to waste!  The last one got devoured by others at the table, so luckily it was not wasted.  The hash browns and bacon were also delicious, and according to my sources the eggs and whole wheat pancakes were just as good.  The eggs come out on their own hot skillet, which also adds a nice touch.

(The pictures show the progression of the stack of pancakes.  They come to the table with the bottom side up so that you can see all of the toppings, and they are sprinkled with powdered sugar.  I then spread all three pancakes out to cover the plate so I can choose which ones look the best, and then I dip them in maple syrup instead of pouring it on top so that I can control how much goes on each bite.  As you can see in the last picture, after I gave away the last pancake I just left a few bites of the outside of the pancake over and ate the middle, which is the best part.)

Of course, a visit to Thomas' is never complete until you leave with a muffin, so my sister and I both bought one for tomorrow morning.  They have a really nice assortment that are homemade, like Blueberry Banana, Cinnamon Coffeecake, Lemon Poppy, Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Cheesecake, and many others.  I opted for the cinnamon coffee cake because it is my all time favorite (it has a nice layer of crumbs on top and a few chocolate chips on top as well), and my sister got the lemon poppyseed.

Even though I left Thomas' feeling super stuffed, I was also very satisfied and happy that I finally got to fulfill my pancake craving from my favorite place!  My house on Long Island is about 30 minutes from Thomas' but we never hesitate to make the drive there, so if you are in the vicinity I HIGHLY recommend that you go and you won't be disappointed.  I do caution you, however, to be prepared to wait, because when we left there was a herd of people standing in the doorway waiting for a table.

Trader Joe's Stir Fried Vegetable Rolls with Sweet Chili Sauce

Since the weather has been pretty gross in NYC all day, I decided that tonight was definitely a frozen meal night.  Choosing what I wanted was a challenge, since I have a bunch of Amy's and Trader Joe's frozen meals in my freezer for days like today.  After weighing my options, I settled on the Stir Fried Vegetable Rolls that I had picked up last week.

There is really nothing not to like about vegetable spring rolls, except for the fact that they are generally fried.  Because of that, I never order them in restaurants even though I want to.  So, when I saw that Trader Joe's had frozen spring rolls that you did not have to cook in oil and that were relatively low in fat, I was immediately sold.  Spring rolls are not complete, however, without a sweet dipping sauce, so I decided to also pick up a bottle of the Sweet Chili Sauce from Trader Joes.

The serving size is one vegetable roll for 130 calories, but since I was having them for dinner I had two.  They were ready after about 25 minutes in the oven, and I got very excited to see that the outside shell got nice and crispy from the oven.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the vegetable rolls.  I was worried that the shell would get soggy, but it retained the crispiness that all vegetable spring rolls have, and these weren't fried!  When I took my first bite, I got a nice big piece of tofu, and there was a nice variation of vegetables in the rolls.  The sauce, on the other hand, was a bit too spicy for me.  Since it is sweet chili sauce, I just assumed that it would have no spice to it because of the added sweetness.  While it did taste good at first, the punch of spice was too much for me and I ended up eating the rest of the spring rolls without sauce.  They still were very delicious without sauce, which to me verified that it was a great product.  They are also pretty big, so having two as dinner was filling enough for me.  If you are craving a spring roll but are trying to stay away from fried foods, I recommend these frozen spring rolls as they sure satisfied my craving!

Cascadian Farm Hearty Morning Fiber

One of my favorite ways to start the day is with a nice bowl of cereal.  Cereal has always been my go to breakfast, but I used to stick with one variety for a while and then either got sick of it or couldn't find it in store.  Some of my past favorites have been Honey Bunches of Oats with Pecan Bunches and Kashi Good Friends (Cinnamon Raisin Variety).  I loved the Kashi Good Friends because the cereal was nice and crunchy, had granola clusters, and sweet raisins.  Once I added banana to the cereal, it was the perfect way to start the day, and because the cereal was so high in fiber it was super filling.  After about a year of having this cereal everyday and getting attached to it, I was shocked to find out that it had sadly been discontinued.  And what was worse was the fact that they kept the other Kashi Good Friends variety around which to me tasted like cardboard.

Anyway, I then set out on a quest to find contenders for a replacement cereal.  I tried a bunch of different brands, but none of them had what I was looking for.  I wanted a cereal that had crunchy flakes, twigs, granola clusters, and raisins, just like the Kashi kind did.  After analyzing the cereal aisle in Whole Foods and almost being ready to give up hope, I stumbled upon Cascadian Farm Hearty Morning Fiber.  It fit all of my requirements, except it did not have raisins.  I decided to buy it anyway because I could always add raisins if I wanted to.

When I ate this cereal the next morning, I took a deep sigh of relief because I knew I finally found my go to cereal!  It is really crunchy and doesn't get too soggy in the milk, it has granola clusters, and it is high in fiber which makes it very filling.  It also is not overly sweet, but it has just enough sweetness so that it does not taste like cardboard.

Even though I recently have been varying my breakfasts and rotating between different types of cereals, yogurts, muffins, etc., this cereal always remains as a staple on my weekly list.  I love that it is healthy and tasty, and I do not even miss the raisins.  I just add half of a banana to it and it is the perfect way to start the day!

Crock Pot Sesame Honey Chicken

One of my new obsessions has been cooking in the crock pot.  It is so easy to just put all the ingredients in the crock pot, turn it on, and then come back after a few hours to a fully cooked meal.  So, when I find an easy and healthy recipe that can be cooked in the crock pot, I get super excited.

Sunday is usually my day of cooking so that I can have dinner in the fridge for a few days, but this Sunday I was pretty busy and didn't have time to stand over the stove for hours and cook dinner.  Then, I remembered this delicious recipe from skinnytaste.com for Sesame Honey Chicken (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/02/crock-pot-sesame-honey-chicken.html) and immediately decided to make it.   All I had to do was put the ingredients in the crock pot (which took about 15 minutes) and return after 4 hours and take everything out.   The sauce that the chicken cooks in pretty much just has honey, low sodium tamari sauce, onion powder, some water, garlic, tomato paste, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and some cornstarch that you add at the end.  The original recipe calls for some sriracha sauce, but I omitted it because I tend to stay away from spice.  After the 4 hours, you just shred the chicken (which is super easy because the chicken is very tender), coat it all in the sauce, and add some sesame seeds and scallions on top.  Each serving of chicken is about 1/2 cup (on skinnytaste.com it says each serving is 2/3 cup but when I made it there was less than that), and I served it with 1/2 cup of brown rice and some steamed broccoli.

The sauce on the chicken is really delicious and it is very fragrant because of the sesame oil.  There is enough of the sauce that when you mix it with the rice, it coats the rice as well, which reminds me of a dish you could find in an asian restaurant, just much healthier.  My sister recommended that for next time, I cut the broccoli into bite sized pieces and mix that into the sauce with the chicken, which sounds like a great idea to me.  

This dish is super easy to make and is really delicious.  It is also healthy, which is just an added bonus!  And, if you don't have a crock pot, I recommend investing in one because it makes cooking dinner so much easier!  I have the Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker that I ordered from Amazon for a little under $50 (http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-33967-6-Quart-Programmable/dp/B001AO2PXK), and trust me it is worth the price!  

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

It is that time of week again---Muffin Day!   Even though I try to keep the muffins on the healthier side,  sometimes you just need to start the morning out with some chocolate.  And chocolate can be healthy in limited quantities, right?  Well, I think so....

So, today I made Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins and  I used the recipe posted on emilybites.com (http://www.emilybites.com/2011/07/zucchini-chocolate-chip-muffins.html).  I have made these muffins before and wanted to remake them because the muffin base is really delicious, and the chocolate obviously makes them that much better.  I halved her recipe from 12 to 6, and then ultimately made 5 muffins because I follow weight watchers and after putting it into the recipe builder, each muffin was the same amount of points whether you made 5 or 6.  So I of course chose to make 5 and have them be a little bigger!  The only other slight change was using half whole wheat and half regular flour because I do not have white whole wheat flour in my apartment.

These muffins are really delicious, and the zucchini adds a nice touch because it makes the muffins a lot more moist.  You also don't even taste the zucchini, so don't let that scare you away from making these!  They also have some cinnamon, vanilla extract, and lemon juice, which helps makes the muffins more flavorful.  The best part of these though is of course the chocolate chips.  

I usually eat my muffin right when it comes out of the oven, so the chocolate is very warm and spreads more evenly throughout the muffin.  There is only 2 tbsp in the whole batch, but it is more than enough to give you that chocolate punch without it becoming too unhealthy.  If you are looking for a chocolate chip muffin recipe that is healthier than normal chocolate chip muffins, I would definitely recommend these.  The applesauce and zucchini that are in these muffins takes the place of any oil or butter that you would usually need for a muffin, and you can't even taste the zucchini.  So, before you immediately rule out making chocolate chip muffins because you think they are too unhealthy, try making these and you will be pleasantly surprised!

Peanut Butter and Sliced Banana on a Toasted English Muffin

One of my favorite breakfasts that I like to start my week off with is my Peanut Butter & Banana English Muffin Sandwich.  It is probably because I love peanut butter and banana so much, but it is such a satisfying way to start the morning!  To make it, I use a Thomas' Light Multigrain English Muffin, 1 tbsp of Skippy Roasted Honey Nut Peanut Butter (which as I mentioned in a previous post, is my all time favorite peanut butter) and 1/2 of a sliced, ripe banana.  Thomas' is a trusted brand of choice for the english muffin, and I especially like the light multigrain one because it is only 100 calories, has 32% daily value of fiber, and is really tasty!

I usually leave the english muffin in the toaster for about 2 and a half minutes, which in my toaster oven  is enough time for it to get warm and fluffy on the inside, with a slight crunch on the outside.  Then, I wait about 30 seconds for it to slightly cool off before I add the tablespoon of peanut butter.  And finally, I top it with sliced banana.  

Since I add the peanut butter while the english muffin is still warm, it gets very melty which makes the peanut butter have an even stronger and more delicious taste.  The banana on top just adds a nice finishing touch to this dish and brings all the flavors together.  I usually end up having this for breakfast every Monday as it is a great way to start off the week!  

If you are like me and like to vary your breakfast options, I would definitely recommend adding this to your rotation!

Ralph's Ices

Growing up on Long Island, one of the staple dessert places that everyone knew about was Ralph's Italian Ices.  There were a bunch of them all over Long Island, and there was one 5 minutes from my house that we would frequent all the time (sometimes we would go multiple times a week).   So, when I moved to the city, one of the saddest parts about leaving Long Island behind was not having access to Ralph's!  Yes, there are a lot of ice cream places in the city, but Ralph's specializes in their creme ices which ice cream cannot replace.

So I was thrilled last year when I heard that a Ralph's had opened up in the city.  What was even more amazing was the fact that their sole location in the city was one block away from where I was living!  Of course, I saw this as a sign that I needed Ralph's in my life and now that they have re-opened for the spring/summer season, I usually go once every week or so.

They have an extremely long list of water ice and creme ice flavors, but I can not imagine ever getting the water ices because their creme ices are so delicious.  The creme ice flavors include Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Birthday Cake, Rainbow Cookie, Java Chip, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, and many many more.  They also have regular ice cream, soft serve, and delicious shakes.

(Just as a side note for the picture---I took it after having a few bites so usually you get a lot more in the small.  It was just so good that I forgot to take the picture at first!)

Even though they have a wide range of flavors and I usually do a taste test of a new flavor every time I go, I always end up getting the same 2 flavors: Peanut Butter Cookie Dough and Peanut Butter Fudge Pretzel (or Peanut Butter Candy Bar Fudge if I am on Long Island since they don't have that flavor in the city).  The peanut butter ices are so delicious and really taste like creamy peanut butter.  The texture of their ices is also great, especially when it is a hot day because they tend to be more melty and fudgy.

My sister usually gets either regular cookie dough, birthday cake, or java chip and she has rave reviews for all of them.  Everything they have is really good, and they have such a large selection of flavors and varieties that everyone can find something they are looking for.  While I would not call the ices healthy, they are definitely healthier than regular ice cream and it is more delicious, in my opinion.  If you are in the city near 24th and lex, or anywhere on Long Island, you should definitely pay them a visit!  I would also advise you to try the peanut butter flavors, but you really can't go wrong no matter what you choose.

UPDATE:

To celebrate my sister reaching one of her weight loss goals, we went to Ralph's for dessert.  To make it special, she vowed that she was going to get the Cake Shake.  Since she was getting a shake, I obviously had to join in and get one as well!  We have pretty different tastes, so I opted to get the Peanut Butter Blast.  The Cake Shake is a blend of vanilla ices, cake creme frappee, sprinkles, 1% milk, and topped with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles, and the Peanut Butter Blast is a blend of peanut butter ices, ghiradelli frappee, 1% milk, and topped with whipped cream and reeses pieces.

Oh. My. God.  The Peanut Butter Blast is the most amazing shake ever.  If you love peanut butter like I do, it is a must!!!  Obviously it is not something you can get too often, but it is definitely something to treat yourself to every now and again.  It is so creamy and peanut buttery and the reeses pieces on top make it even better.  I did struggle to finish it because it is so large and filling, but it is just so good that I couldn't waste any of it!  My sister basically had the same response to her cake shake, so if you are a vanilla lover definitely go for that one!