It’s Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas

by Emily

We are four days away and it is starting to snow! We might have a white Christmas after all. Also, the world didn’t end today; yay.

Sorry I missed a post last night (after going on and on about how I was “back,” natch) but I was still running errands as the clock neared midnight. Two crazy days in a row are over and I’m ready to recap.

Thursday’s brunch included two of my best savory recipes.

A Nacho Turkey Burger topped with some Citrus Guacamole.

We even toasted our buns (in a hot skillet with a bit of Smart Balance Light) so the meal felt extra fancy.

I also had a deeelicious drink; 1 cup each Chameleon Cold Brew coffee and eggnog.

I know it’s cold out for iced coffee but I couldn’t resist the chance to pair my favorite coffee with my favorite winter flavor.

I worked 9+ hours and was sooooooo hungry when I got off. I would have loved to go straight home for dinner but we had errands to run so I ended up getting Moe’s instead.

But who would complain about Moe’s?

I got a naked burrito (aka a cheaper rice bowl) with rice, black beans, sautéed onions, green peppers, and mushrooms, lettuce, corn salsa, cilantro, guacamole, and sour cream.

Plus chips with queso.

I ate all of the queso, 2/3 of the chips, and 3/4 of the bowl.

When we finally made it home (more than 12 hours after I left!) there were presents from both sets of parents.

My mom sent us homemade toffee.

It was the perfect bedtime snack.

Friday I started with a salad. Romaine topped with 1.5 chopped turkey burgers, shredded cheese, a dollop of guacamole, buckwheat groats, and honey mustard dressing (I accidentally used way too much dressing and it was kind of gross, boo).

Also half a honeycrisp with 1 Tbsp each peanut butter and Biscoff spread, melted.

And I drank a Guava Rockstar Punched at work.

<– yum

I have the best bosses on earth and they surprised us with pizza for dinner mid-shift! It was too exciting. I had a a veggie slice and a buffalo chicken slice.

Mr. Pizza has the best crust in Buffalo.

And I won this candy bar.

When I got home I made myself eat fruits and veggies first though. A handful of baby carrots.

An ambrosia apple.

And finally my tasty snack.

1 serving of Green and Black’s Toffee Milk Chocolate Bar,

and a cup of eggnog mixed with Silk Soy Nog.

Topped with a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Finally, some general updates –

My hair – I’m still leaving the tub purple after every shower and my new hair is a bit lighter than the original photo I showed you guys. I will have to have Adam snap a picture the next time I’m home during good light.
Christmas – we are not going to visit any family, boo. But Adam and I are going to have our first ever Christmas with just the two of us; it’s time that our little family started to develop some of our own traditions!

If you celebrate, where are you spending Christmas this year? Do you and your significant other have any of your own holiday traditions?

21Dec2012

Candy Cane Vodka

by Emily

Do not put this vodka in eggnog. That would be disgusting. But beyond that, go crazy. My friends and I drank it in Sprite and/or club soda. The vodka becomes sweet and a little bit thicker and it goes perfectly with something fizzy*.

*It’s also good straight from the bottle!

Candy Cane Vodka

The following recipe can be increased as needed. Just keep the original ratio between the vodka and candy intact.

2 candy canes, broken into smaller pieces
6 oz good vodka

Place vodka and broken candy cans in a covered container until candy has completely dissolved, 36 – 48 hours.
Stir occasionally. Or shake, if you’re into that…

20Dec2012

Sweet ‘n Salty Puppy Chow

by Emily

I’d never made Puppy Chow (or Muddy Buddies, Garbage, etc) before this attempt and I knew I wanted to start out on the right foot. As much as I love sugar (a lot!), I prefer a mix of flavors to a dish so sweet it makes your teeth hurt. Enter Cheez-its.

This Puppy Chow has the perfect balance of salty and sweet. You can definitely eat it by the handful. I certainly did. And so did my friends, who generally eat much more like dietitians than I do! Plus this great party snack comes together in a snap. You basically just melt, mix, and shake-shake-shake!

Sweet ‘n Salty Puppy Chow, yields 8 servings

2.5 cups corn squares cereal
2 cups Cheez-its
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Place powdered sugar into a large sealable food-storage plastic baggie and set aside. Prepare a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Place chocolate and peanut butter into a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring regularly, until fully melted.
Use a spatula to fold cereal and crackers into melted peanut butter and chocolate until evenly coated.
Place mix into powdered sugar bag, seal, and shake, shake, shake until squares are evenly coated.
Pour onto prepared baking sheet and spread into a thin even layer. Let dry, 1o minutes or so. Store in the fridge in a sealed container.

What does your family call it? Puppy Chow, Garbage, Trash, Muddy Buddies, something new??

19Dec2012

Holidaze Hello

by Emily

Hello, hello. Do you like my days =/= daze pun?

I know I fell off the earth for a few days there, sorry, mom!

Recently Adam was out-of-town for 15 days straight. Did I keep that under my hat, or was it blogvious? <– that’s obvious on the blog

He was gone a really long time, and I didn’t want to broadcast that all over the internet.

Then he was home for a few days and I wanted to spend every moment I could with him.

And then he was gone again for a few days, this time to hike alone in Yosemite and sleep in a stupid tent, and I spent two days straight eating nonstop and Googling bear attack statistics.

Here is a tiny snippet of what’s gone down since I last blogged –

I haven’t done the best job of taking pictures lately, what with all the working, stressing, and stress-eating. Whoops.

But I am officially tired of eating jalopeño poppers for dinner.

And I only have one week left of crazy work shifts.

And if I expect to blog when I rejoin the full-time workers with my internship at the end of January I’m going to need some practice.

Basically, plan on seeing me again!

P.S. I know it’s lame, but I thought “blogvious” was pretty clever so expect to see that again too.

14Dec2012

Done Done Done

by Emily

My semester is done, done, done! In other news, I’m a little drunk. And more than a little tired. Quickest post ever?

Very special vodka mixed in sprite.

Very special puppy chow.

{Two special recipes are coming in the next few days}

Gorgeous Hanukkah gifts.

A sample from the co-op.

Candy cane.

Christmas movie watching.

Magic bar.

Indian food for dinner with friends.

Plates 1 and 2.

Pink lemonade vodka with sprite and club soda. Followed by guava rum with sprite and club soda.

I just now realized that I didn’t take a single group picture during tonight’s fun. <– boo!

13Dec2012

New Favorite Things For 12/12/12

by Emily

Hello, hello, hello! Did everyone take a moment to appreciate today’s day? I had lots of things to appreciate today. Here are three:

1. Being done with finals for the semester.

2. The gorgeous cashmere infinity scarf (squeee!) that my aunt and uncle sent me for Hanukkah.

3. I may have won some money in a contest… I’m not getting excited until I’m sure it’s for real though.

On to the day’s recap. Why yes, I was up at 4:45 am drinking a 20 calorie grape Rockstar. {it was delicious}

You see, I have this mental problem where the night before two important final exams I spend 4 hours getting my hair dyed, 1 hour on Pinterest, and 2 hours watching Jim Gaffigan on InstantWatch. Genius.

My food consumption as a whole was low in nutrients but I definitely covered things on the calorie front. Plus everything was ridiculously delicious. Plus technically I’m still exam eating.

For breakfast, an overly juicy red pear.

and an Iced Gingerbread Clif Bar.

This flavor verges on being too spicy but then the sweet, juicy raisins pull it back from the brink.

I had exams from 7:40 to 11:00 and a shift at work from 12:00 to 8:30 and in between a friend took me to the grocery store because I don’t have a car. <– it’s a long, sad story and I’m hoping my almost 2 week streak of car-less-ness will be over by this weekend

At work I had a 0% Fage with Honey.

And a Coco Cafe that I bought on a whim at the co-op.

Holy frick you guys, the coffee was so good. It was the kind of good – creamy and sweet with a caffeine kick – that almost hurts because you are enjoying yourself so much. By the time I finished drinking the Coco Cafe I’m sure my coworkers were more than ready for me to stop gushing about my new favorite thing.

<– hold on to your hats, I have another new favorite thing still to come in this very post. Yes, you can have multiple favorite things. That’s a thing.

After work I took the dog on a long walk and it become another night where I came home so hungry I thought I was going to have a fit. Microwave “nachos” on the last 1.5 servings of Nacho Cheese Tortilla PopChips fit the bill.

Um, and then I had another plate but with Food Should Taste Good Chocolate Tortilla Chips.

I know that isn’t the healthiest dinner on the planet but, you guys, the cheese. The cheese. Both plates were made with Kerrygold’s Vintage Dubliner and it rocked my freaking face off.

The Vintage Dubliner was super nutty and it had these amazing pieces of crispiness spread throughout. Plus it melted perfectly. It is my new favorite cheese. P.S. I found it at Wegmans if you want to have a new favorite cheese too.

I realize that this post was pretty packed with enthusiasm but I’m ~~deliriously tired~~ happy so I’m good with it.

What is your new favorite thing?

12Dec2012

#26 – Do Something Crazy With My Hair

by Emily

At first I was all like –

But then I was like –

The streaks are purple, not blue, but I couldn’t get an accurate picture.

27 things, ~~do something crazy with my hair~~.

Have you ever done something crazy with your hair? How long have you had your current hair-style?

11Dec2012

Exam Eating

by Emily

Sunday’s 3pm Spot coffee was a terrible mistake. I got less than three hours of sleep that night! It made Monday morning’s 6 am Starbucks coffee an absolute necessity.

That’s a tall, non-fat, eggnog latte and it was fabulous! And I ate a Green Dragon apple (also fabulous) while I read through my notes.

My morning snack was from my #simplesurvivalkit.

A serving of Food Should Taste Good Chocolate Tortilla Chips to scoop up green salsa.

I had time to go home between my exam (went well-ish!) and work so I made myself a delicious plate of eggs for lunch.

At that point I still thought I was making a healthy dinner so I kept my eggs simple with no veggies. Just 5 chopped slices of turkey – just regular old honey roasted like for sandwiches – cooked in 1 Tbsp Earth Balance with 2 eggs and Cabot’s Sharp Cheddar Light Cheese scrambled in.

They were amazing; I’m having a total love affair with eggs recently.

I brought a Hint Blackberry Fizz with me for my 8.5 hour shift.

The Fizz was good, but it didn’t pack the caffeine-punch that I desperately needed.

At one point during my shift I was so tired that I was in an actual daze! On three different occasions I wanted to call Adam to bring me something and I had to really crank up my brain to work through why that didn’t make sense. <– he was out-of-town

I ended up using the work Keurig to make an extra-strength coffee with cream and sugar.

I stopped at the Co-op for food the minute I got off of work.

I shoved that Orzo Greek Salad into my face while walking around 7-11. Classy.

I had to run another errand on the way home from work and I called my parents to tell them I was home safely and suddenly it was 11 pm. I was exhausted and cranky and so hungry I felt like I was going to pull my hair out if I didn’t get food into my mouth immediately.

I ended up eating a bunch of crap and staying up too late but not studying. Of course. Homemade nachos that I ate so quickly I think even Webster was a little disgusted.

That’s 2-ish servings of Nacho Cheese Tortilla PopChips microwaved with cheese.

I bought the chips with a sweet free coupon that PopChips sent me and sadly I don’t think I like the tortilla version as much as the originals. Something about the texture feels off to me. To be fair, PopChips are amazing so the standard was set high.

Plus Tandoor Chef Vegetable Pad Thai,

and a bowl of melted pb with cocoa powder.

I wish I could tell you that today has been better on the fruit and veggies front but sadly that’s not true. This is definitely a week of exam eating.

Breakfast of champions.

Plus this Boston Cream Pie Seltzer that I thought would be amazing but ended up getting passed to a friend after one sip because it made me gag.

I have adored Polar this year though and one bad flavor won’t turn me off. I am very excited about the Pear Vanilla I bought with it. And I am crossing my fingers and toes that the Eggnog flavor with be out again in time for Christmas.

Starting at 7:40 I had two very frustrating meetings on campus. I don’t know if I get to graduate or not (getting a 2nd degree vs. just taking the classes needed to sit for the RD exam), I don’t really understand what I need to have done for next semester, and I have lots more to do before Thursday.

I took a walk home to clear my head and got Subway for lunch. A 6-inch tuna sub with lots of red onions.

Do you have a Subway rewards card yet? Because my sandwich was free!

And I’ve got a healthy dinner waiting for me in the fridge…

Or just “a dinner.” I’m blogging my winner of a dinner in advance because I have to go back to school for another meeting at 2:00 and then tomorrow morning I have two final exams that are going to crush me.

Plus this afternoon I am taking a study break to do something crazy. There is a hint in this post. Can you guess???

Eating Chalk

Author Archives: Emily

It’s Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Candy Cane Vodka

Sweet ‘n Salty Puppy Chow

Holidaze Hello

Done Done Done

New Favorite Things For 12/12/12

#26 – Do Something Crazy With My Hair

Exam Eating