Monthly Archives: March 2011

Eating Like A Sick Person

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For the last 48hours I’ve been eating like a sick person.  And that’s exactly the way I feel – sick, sick, sick!  This is terrible news for my exercise announcement that was supposed to occur tomorrow, and even worse news for my huge test on Wednesday.  Thankfully the husband has been taking good care of me, including picking me sick people food to eat.

Yesterday I had rainbow sherbet.

This bowl x2.

And organic chicken noodle soup.

Unphotographed but eaten in this space was a spoonful of marshmallow topping.  It coated my throat and for one whole minute I felt good!

I also had an onion bun with Smart Balance Light.

And a Coke for dinner.

I much prefer the taste of diet, but I don’t mind the flavor of regular coke.  The reason I never drink regular is because when I’m sick it makes my throat feel 2x better and I’m afraid if I drink it on random days it will lose its elixer-like quality for me!

After I fitful night I got up this morning and took a (soooo needed) shower, before the husband settled me down on the couch with some mac and cheese.

When he got back from the lab he handed me another glass of Coke.

And for dinner he managed to make me some normal people food.

In my box of samples from Applegate Farms were two kinds of sausages, turkey and pork.

You guys know I don’t eat mammals for personal reasons, but did you know that the husband does?  Sidenote – not often though, and I’m super proud for how much he’s basically quit eating red meat since we met. 

I generally don’t mind, but the one type of meat I wish he wouldn’t eat was pork.  I love pigs.  Love them.  I plan on having two as pets and I’ve already got their names picked out.  In fact, I told the husband before we married to be sure he would be ok with having pet pigs once we could afford them, because if not that was a deal-breaker for me.  So obviously, I wish he wouldn’t chow down on our future pets.  But the husband is a grown man, and he gets to choose his own diet.  He doesn’t eat it often, and out of deference for me he only eats pork when we are sure it is ethically sourced.  I’m good with that plan.  Thankfully, Applegate Farms makes products we can both agree on (Applegate Farm’s promise to their consumers).

I had scrambled eggs,

and 1.5 servings of Savory Turkey Breakfast Sausage.

My sausages had just a bit of spice and good chew.  The one meat meat product I miss from when I was a kid is sausage and these came pretty close to what I’ve been searching for.  I also added some (unphotographed) maple syrup to my plate for dipping.

Adam ate the same meal, but with slightly more food, and pork instead of turkey.

He said the pork sausages were spicier than the turkey but still good.  He liked the consistency of the texture a lot.

I’m going to eat a final bowl of sherbet, go to bed early and cross my fingers I feel better in the morning!

What animals don’t you eat, and why?

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

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Warning – if you make it to the end of this post, you’ll have to pee.

I knew I wasn’t up for the gym this morning but I also knew I wasn’t up for more than one cold walk, so I had Adam drop me off at school on his way anyway.  I made a pitifully small amount of notecards in that time, but some is better than nothing.

It was at school that I had cup of tea #1 (blackberry sage black tea) –

And cup of tea #2 (apple cider black tea) –

When I got home I made a smoothie for lunch, 1 frozen banana + 1 cup frozen spinach + 1 cup oj.

Sadly it was the worst green monster I’ve ever made, but I drank it all anyways to get in the greens and vitamin C.

Popcorn also sounded good,

and you can’t have popcorn without a diet pop.

I also had an onion bun with Smart Balance Light.

Cup of tea #3 (candy cane lane green tea, with honey) –

And finally, cup of tea #4 (eggnog’n with lots of honey) –

Are you feeling sloshy yet?

I should have a fun dinner to post later, if I haven’t floated away yet!

What do you prefer to drink when you’re sick?  Generally I’m more of a ginger ale than a tea person, but today I was feeling the hot liquids (obviously!).

Newman’s Own Vlog

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I got a lot accomplished today, but we are reaching the ‘loopy’ portion of the evening so it’s important that my cold-carrying self keep this quick.

Lunch was a dynamic duo, 0% plain Chobani,

with a Justin’s maple almond butter packet.

I say I don’t like almond butter, but really everyone likes Justin’s Nut Butters!

If you want to see what we had for dinner, you’ll need to watch the most embarrassing video on earth –

It’s a shame that my vlog debut had to correspond with what was supposed to be a professional-ish video for a contest, but that’s life.

Disclosure – Flip Cam and Newman’s Own products were provided by the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program.

No Spring Chickens

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So late night movies (and tacos and Castle…) on a school-night might not be a good idea.  Adam rolled over this morning and said “I’m no spring chicken anymore.”  I of course had to roll over in turn, pull my shocked face and say “You were a chicken?!?”  He loves me; don’t even ask how funny I think I am when he’s hungover and not just tired!

Actually, I thought I was the older one (6months) but I feel pretty good; relatively, my throat feels not so good.  At least I had the perfect breakfast plan for an under the weather chicken –

A mug of cinnamon hot chocolate,

and a Cara Cara orange.

Perfect combo in my eyes!  I’ve been on a cocoa kick lately and the end of the vegan challenge means I can have those ridiculous good Land O’ Lakes packets again.  Swoon.

Let’s end on an amazing note.  Isn’t there just a Scrubs clip for everything?!?

I Need a Hall Pass for Bad Decisions

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A bad idea – going to a movie after my 9o’clock class.

A worse idea – getting dinner afterwards and then blogging about it.

A good idea – blogging quickly.

A better idea – letting the pictures do most of the talking.

I ate a few big handfuls of popcorn at the movie.



Hall Pass, by the way.  No Knocked Up but definitely funny enough to be worth a see.

Afterwards we got tacos from ETS.

 A veggie and a chicken for me.

I thought veggie meant zucchini, squash, etc, but what I got was lettuce, salsa, tomato.  Such is life!

Good night!

P.S. The best idea would have been going straight to bed, but instead we’re finishing this episode of Castle and I’m munching on a Bananas Foster Bar. What? I’ve got a hall pass!

Vegan Challenge Thoughts, and Lunch

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We’ve completed another Vegan Month!  The husband and I both successfully eschewed all animal products (mostly; there were a few packaged food slip-ups) for all of February.  First off – No, we didn’t pick February because it’s the shortest month.  But yes, we are glad we didn’t have to go another three days!

For the most part, the challenge was a success.  Adam completed the entire month with me and I am so proud of him!  Our main goal was to push ourselves back to the kitchen and that definitely happened.  Other than the last week or so (which with 4+ tests would have been crazy even if we had a personal chef!) we pulled back from our take-out habit and got back to basics.  I made a few old favorites, and discovered some great new vegan recipes.  It was wonderful to get to flex my creative muscles in the kitchen again.

The part that wasn’t so successful was our attitude.  We started strong, but towards the end we just couldn’t wait for the challenge to be over.  I’m actually not sure I deem this longing a failure though.  It wasn’t a “I want pizza and nachos and buffalo wings, oh my!” craving, all though those things did sound good.  Instead I found myself desperate for scrambled eggs and lean meat.  All I really wanted towards the end was a turkey sandwich.  Unfortunately, since I couldn’t eat the sandwich I ate a lot of french fries instead.

Now that the challenge is over, we are going to return to our normal diet, with improvements.  Adam is going to cut back on his milk consumption and mix it up with almond milk half the time.  I’m going to continue to question whether or not every dish really needs cheese.  We are going to continue to try to ratchet up our produce consumption.  We’re going to continue to enjoy a lot of meatless meals, but we are also going to feel good about eating lean, humanely-sourced meats.  We’re excited about it.

Now on to today’s lunch.

I finally got that turkey sandwich.

Chicken actually, this was a Sandwich Thin with horseradish mustard, 2% swiss, and Applegate Farms Organic Roasted Chicken Breast (more on that in a sec).

I usually tend towards turkey because I’m afraid chicken will be slimy, but this was anything but.  I taste-tested while I assembled my sandwich last night and was very impressed.  The roasting gave a great smokey flavor and one serving has just 60 calories.

Plus another juicy pear.

Ok, secs up:  At the start of vegan month I received a rather ironic product sample –

a variety of meats from Applegate Farms.  While I don’t have a moral issue with the consumption of animals, I do think it’s imperative that those animals be treated with respect.  Applegate Farms makes products that mesh with my values.

When I opened the package to squirrel cold cuts into the freezer, I discovered they also sent a cute book, children’s illustrations alongside their food philosophy.  I think this page sums up my response to the vegan challenge pretty well –

[Eat less meat, enjoy it more!]

Do you eat (any kind of) meat?  Why or why not?  What’s your food philosophy?

GTL

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No, not gym, tan laundry; that’s gym, test, late!

Gym  Adam dropped me off on his way to school and I made my first gym visit in weeks.  40minutes on the elliptical with my metabolism flash-cards.  I was on random, level 6, but it wasn’t a very high impact workout because my legs were barely moving since I’m dying.  (Future doctor says I’m fine, but I say he hasn’t finished medical school yet and I’ve probably got meningitis.)  I wasn’t done with my notecard stack after the elliptical so I did another 10minutes of walking on the treadmill to finish up.  What I lacked in enthusiasm I made up in length.  <– that’s what she said

Test  I have my first big nutrition test today and I’m not feeling very prepared.  Think 80 multiple choice questions with answer choices A – J.  If I wasn’t queasy from dying then my nerves are taking over, so I’m not sure what the deal with breakfast will be.

Late  This evening I also have my late music class.  When I get done at 9, if I’m not too zoinked, the plan is for the husband to pick me up so we can go see a movie.  We’re wild and crazy like that.  If I post dinner at all it will be late, but do check in around noon for my final thoughts on the vegan challenge.

Do you watch “Jersey Shore.”  I’ve actually never seen an episode!