Aegean’s Pizzeria, according to Chris, is the best pizza ever. Hehe, well while I wouldn’t say it’s THE BEST, it is arguably pretty damn good. Normally, I like New York style types of pizza (thin & charred crust, cheesy, and flavorful sauce) but this Greek style of pizza does always satisfy any pizza craving. The crust is thick, but is soft and not too chewy (just enough). It is also loaded with cheese… the guys there do not scrimp! It’s hard to describe, but the overall taste of the pizza is just really good.

It was surprising to see how good the pizza was, given its location inside a small mall plaza all the way out in Suffolk county. A hidden gem, fo’sure.

They also only accept cash, so prepare to have some on you… (or you will have to use the ATM machine located at the entrance).

Aegean Pizza & Restaurant
58-01 Sunrise Hwy.
Holbrook, Long Island, NY 11741
631-567-6066

On a whim, I bought a box of Emeralds Cocoa Roast Almonds as snacks to bring along on our trip. I had gotten bored of our usual munchies and wanted to try something new — but was also healthy + filling. Figured that almonds (100 calories worth!) would be good .. and even better, roasted with dark chocolate (which Chris and I LOVE!).

Well, it proved to be an excellent decision!

The almonds were super satisfying and I really loved the roasted dark chocolate coating. It was not overly sweet nor bitter. Plus, they were portioned out into 100 cal bags so that helped me stay in control with oversnacking.

These are the complimentary cinnamon cookies that we got from Southwest on our flight to Fort Lauderdale. How cute, they come in airplane shapes! I was actually asleep when they passed out the snacks, but Chris got one for me anyway.

They weren’t that good to be honest…I had a couple and then tossed out the rest. On the flight home, we got a pack of 100 cal wheat thins that were a lot better!

At the Apple Festival, we also picked up a bag of locally made salt water taffy for $4. I had only had taffy once in my life before (at Coney Island) and did not enjoy it then. Chris wanted to show me what real taffy was because the Coney Island ones were pre-made and hard as a rock.

These were pretty good in comparison to my first taffy exprience….but eh, I’m not a big fan of sweets, especially sticky candies. My favorite one (out of the 3 flavors I tried in the span of this week) was the green apple one.

I was curious about the origin of the name though. I always thought these taffies would be salty (bc of the name), not sweet. Hehe, obviously wrong… here’s the wikipedia entry with a few varying explanations of how the name came about.

Monday night, I decided that we would have seafood for dinner because we had been eating mostly beef or chicken for awhile. Found a good price for two crab stuffed flounders at Waldbaum’s, so I bought that and also a bag of Phillips spicy steamed shrimp. Paired it up with New Orleans style rice pilaf and some leftover greenbeans…

Overall, the meal was only so-so. The flounder did not taste very fresh to me and the stuffing inside was not that great IMO. I don’t think I will get them from Waldbaum’s again… blech. The steamed shrimp were good, but we are not that big on shrimp anyway (unless it’s breaded) so it didn’t make the meal either.

My favorite part of the meal was the rice pilaf. Yum, that was super flavourful!

Our baby pineapple from Trader Joe’s!

While at Trader Joe’s, we also picked up a mini round of goat milk Brie cheese. It was a safe bet for good cheese eatin’! We decided not to branch out with newer kinds of cheeses this time because our last few picks did not turn out so good. :(

The Brie was not as pungent as some can be. I loved the taste of the rind. Mmm!

On top of a water cracker, delish!

Though we like to branch out food wise, sometimes it is just better to stick to what you know is good…

Sunday afternoon, we went to Williams & Sonoma to look at melon scoopers (I wanted to make a fruit salad) but instead walked out with a Calphalon nonstick fry pan set. It was a good bargain and I thought it would be a good investment for future basic kitchen utensils.

So of course, we wanted to make something for dinner in the larger pan. Trader Joe’s is adjacent to the mall so we made a quick stop there and picked up a tray of chicken tenders, fusilli pasta, green beans, and a couple jars of cacciatore simmer sauce.

I sauteed the chicken in our new pan (works great!!) and then poured the sauce in to simmer while the pasta was cooking. While they were cooking, I chopped up leftover garlic cloves and added them to the green beans. A pretty easy dinner!

The cacciatore sauce was pretty good! I loved the chunks of tomato and olives. It also had a little bit of heat (just slight) which was nice. An enjoyable dinner for the both of us.

Sunday afternoon, we went to the 20th Annual Long Island Apple Festival at the Sherwood-Jayne Farm. It was $6 admission per adult, and each entrance ticket allowed a free apple too. We both got a yummy fresh apple right away and chomped away. I enjoyed that one a lot.

After visiting most of the booths at the festival, we went to the food area and got candied apples. Almost everyone was chomping on one and it looked quite delish.

Here is Chris’ apple!

The tray of candy apples:

Unfortunately, these apples only LOOKED good! Not sure if it was just perhaps our batch that was bad, but the candy covering was overly hard. It was next to impossible to even bite through it without feeling like a tooth would break.

After many unsuccessful attempts to even get a few bites in, we went back to the counter and got some tinfoil to wrap them up and take home. I thought perhaps the candy would soften up and melt a bit by the time we got back. But eh, I wound up just throwing them in the garbage after dinner. It looked so unappetizing and the candied covering was still pretty yucky.

Probably the worst candy apple I have ever eaten in my life. :(

Last Tuesday, I was craving fried chicken and decided to make a homemade healthier version. I adapted this recipe from one I found online a couple years ago (and cannot find anymore). It’s basically a twist on KFC-like fried chicken, but instead of frying — you bake ‘em. This day, I used thin chicken breasts instead of drumsticks though.

In hindsight, I probably should have cut up the chicken into tenders. The breasts were just too large dimensionally and I wound up slicing them all up when packing lumches for the next day.

The spices (salt + pepper + cayenne + paprika + parsley) with the flour.

The chicken dipped in eggwhites, then coated with the Special-K. This is pre-oven.

And the dinner plate! Lighting is rather awkward (I moved to a different room).

Everything came out alright… I think I missed the mark with not using enough spices. There was not enough flavor in the batter. What I did like was that right out of the oven, the chicken had the awesome crispy bite which was what I was craving! Next time, I will cut up the chicken into tender strips and use more seasoning.

Here is an alternative recipe I found.. similar to the original one I used years ago, but not quite the same.

Special K Crispy Chicken
(with WW points)

4- 4oz RAW (boneless/skinless) chicken breasts (12)
2 1/2 cups special K (NOT CRUSHED) (4)
4 Tbsp flour (2)
2 egg whites (1)
Nonstick spray
salt, pepper to taste…and any herbs/spices you like! BE CREATIVE!!!

Preheat oven to 350*C.

Cut each chicken breast into 3 long fingers…for a total of 12. Set aside.

Bowl #1- Mix flour with your liking of salt and pepper…AND herbs/spices you like. I use about a TBSP of parsley because my kids like plain things. BUT… you could certainly spice it up by using what ever you like…paprika, dry mustard, taco seasoning, cajun…etc!

Bowl #2- Add both egg whites. Wisk with a fork for a few seconds.

Bowl #3- Add Special K. DON’T crush them.

Okay…you are set. Spray a light spray of nonstick spray to a baking sheet. Now you dip and coat! Dip and coat each strip of chicken in Bowl #1, #2 and #3 in that exact order and lay on baking sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. (Depending on your oven)

Rather than spend $4 everyday on a latte at Starbucks, I have been trying to cut back by drinking store bought instant coffee instead. But I didn’t want to just completely downgrade by getting the cheapest canister available… it still had to taste strong and good. So after trying out a few different brands, my favorite is Nescafe’s Taster’s Choice (Gourmet Roast).

With a spoonful of Splenda and a bit of fat-free milk, the coffee tastes great and perks me up in the morning at work — which is sorely needed most of the time.

Isn’t my Minnie mug so cute? Chris got it for me last year when we went to Disney World. What’s even more awesome about is that it’s extra large!

A supremely decadent combination…

There were chunks of what I think was cookie dough, mixed in with swirls of cinnamon and other creamy goodness. So savory, soooo good! Good thing I only got a small! I’m not sure of the nutritional value of these icees because it’s not like ice cream — kind of like a savory Italian Ice. Hmmm…

Sunday, I woke up early and wanted to make something different for breakfast (aside from the usual fried eggs). So while Chris slept, I browsed through the breakfast section of AllRecipes for awhile. Considered making a quiche, but that required a trip to the grocery store and also involved a lot of eggs too. Then I saw a basic crepe recipe and decided to give that a go because we had all the ingredients, plus I had never made them from scratch before.

We don’t have a griddle nor a batter spreader, so I made use of an iron skillet and just tilting the pan around like the recipe instructed. Didn’t get the crepes to be perfectly round, nor as thin… but it was acceptable for a first time and most importantly, edible!

Filled the inside with Nutella and banana slices. It was very yummy and filling! That jar of Nutella has lasted us over a year now… haha, that’s how seldom we use it. But when we do, it’s just so hazelnutty good.

Okay so after making the tacos, we did the lazy thing and picked up a frozen pizza for our next meal. In our meager defense, we did try to pick the healthiest one in the frozen aisles! =P

Newman’s Own Supreme Pizza (thin & crispy):

Whenever we get frozen pizzas, I do prefer to get the thin crust ones. Newman’s came out pretty good… it had a nice crunchy bite, and the toppings were decent. Also, it was not overly greasy!

Blah, my domain was KAPUT(!) for the past 2 days. Webhost was having issues with the server that I was hosted on… hopefully everything remains online. At least I lost nothing… so far so good…

Anyway, back to FOOD!

Sunday was tacos for lunch! It’s been almost two months since we last made some. Haha, that’s one perk about having a food blog… I can keep track of when we ate certain meals!

To be somewhat healthy, we cooked up a lb of 93% lean ground beef mixed with El Paso’s hot & spicy taco seasoning (someday, I swear… we’ll make our own seasoning instead of being so lazy. I’m pretty sure we have all the necessary spices). Then also added extra cayenne pepper, rawr!

My plate… though soon afterwards, I gave Chris my flour tortilla and got another hard shell instead. I just don’t like the flour ones all that much. Especially the ones that come with the dinner kit — they tend to be very bland and blah IMO.

We deviated a bit by grating Vermont sharp white cheddar instead of the usual American. That was a nice touch to the tacos….mmm!