Author Archives: Emily

What I’ve Been Up To

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Hi there! It hasn’t been the best week but it certainly could have been worse. Here is some of what I’ve been up to –

My trip to Ohio was sad but good. It was great to see my cousins and meet some babies.

I’m not sick anymore (yay!) but allergies are going to be rough this season. On Tuesday I did get the most carsick I’ve ever been. I moaned and cried the whole way home from Ohio and it was ridiculous.

The dog is still sick. He is having a severe allergic reaction and if his eyes aren’t better by Friday he has to go to a doggie dermatologist (yes, that is a real thing). He’s wearing a cone so he won’t scratch and it’s beyond pitiful.

My Wednesday test was pushed back to Monday because I stumbled into class in Adam’s sweatshirt (that I’d worn for the past 24 straight hours) and my teacher took pity on me and sent me home. I took my statistics test today and I think it went well.

I didn’t feel right taking photos the last fee days so no recap. But here is what I ate today –

Breakfast.

Reduced fat cottage cheese topped with a caramel Oikos and some toasted coconut.

The cottage cheese/yogurt mix rocks my socks, particularly with coconut.

Late lunch.  A slice of naan with cheese (leftover from Indian for dinner on Wednesday).

And a plate of roasted green beans.

I bought a family size bag of green beans before we left for Ohio last week so expect to see a lot more of these.

In class snack.  Cara cara orange.

Cara caras are so flipping good!  They almost never have seeds and they’re pink.

Dinner was not well-planned.  We desperately need to go to the grocery store and when I got home from class at 8 we wandered up and down Elmwood in search of food.  I ended up with a 2-2-2 from Panos.

It was insanely dark but it was 2 buttermilk pancakes, two sunny side up eggs, and home fries; smothered in butter and syrup.  I piled everything into a huge mound and tried to get a little of each part in every bite.

Dessert.  A sliced green apple with 2 Tbsp of caramel sauce.

The caramel sauce basically turned into a solid, impenetrable ball, but the apple was good.

Question – how do you order your eggs to get them made without excess fat?  I tried to order them “dry,” like toast but that gave the impression that I wanted my yolks well-done.  I finally just said “without excess oil” but I feel like there must be short-hand for this.

Window Shopping Wednesday

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I am not much of a shopper, much to my mother’s chagrin. The woman can spend days at the mall, while I start to feel itchy after just a few hours. It’s not that I’m not materialistic, I totally am, it’s just that the thought of adding more stuff to my life makes it hard to breathe. But I like the idea of things. So I’m an avid window shopper. I browse catalogs I’ll never buy from and hold my breathe when I pass the window at J.Crew. So while I’m stuck at school on Wednesdays, I thought we could have some fun via blog. Let’s window shop!

We’ll go food themed this week –

1.  Healthy Pop Caramel Apple 94% Fat Free Popcorn from Jolly Time.

What, what?!  1.  Each serving has 110 calories and 2 grams of fat (275 calories and 5 grams of fat per bag).  2.  It’s freaking caramel apple popcorn!  I know that caramel popcorn is good but how has caramel apple popcorn not already been a thing?

2.  Mallow Magic Popcorn from Jolly Time.

I know this is sort of repetitive but how could I not make this its own entry.  Popcorn and marshmallow topping are my two very favorite things separately and when I think about combining them this way my head practically explodes.  I’m sort of dying that neither of these flavors are available near me.  Would someone from Jolly Time like to come adopt me?

3.  Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke.

Marshmallow and popcorn are my favorite things to eat but cook books and murder mysteries are my favorite things to read.  This hybrid book series sounds like something I would read straight through.  I think curling up on the couch with this book and one of the above popcorn bags is my idea of heaven.

4.  The Southern Heritage pack from High Road Craft Ice Cream and Sorbet.

High Roads is a cool, Atlanta-based company that makes small-batch ice cream and sorbet.  This pack holds Bourbon Burnt Sugar and Brown Butter Praline.  I sort of don’t know what to do with the information that these flavors are out there.  Do I drive to Atlanta?  Petition Wegmans?  Turn green with envy?

5.  Highlander Grog coffee from Winans.

Doesn’t the word “grog” just make you hungry?  I’ve actually had this in person so I know it’s good.  A nice rich blend of butterscotch and caramel flavors.

What are you craving this week?

Easter Dinner

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I hope everyone’s Easter, Passover, or April weekends have been full of family and fun.  It’s been good being here in Ohio and seeing lots of familiar faces.  I’m feeling pretty good too but definitely still in need of sleep so I’ll keep this quick.

Breakfast.  Scrambled eggs, piece of turkey bacon, toast with butter.

Lunch.  Pieced together as best I could.

Cup of carrots.

Cup of Sahale Snacks Almonds with Honey, Cranberry + Sea Salt.

Mid-afternoon snack/fun.  We walked over to the Cracker Barrel gift shop to peruse the old-time goodies.

Adam and I split a Double Cola.

And I finally got to try divinity candy, a Southern treat made of sugar, corn syrup, and egg whites.

I had that piece shown x 3.  Delicious but the back of my throat felt like it was burning with all of the sugar.

Appetizer.  A bagel chip with blue cheese pecan spread.  x2.

Drink.  Bud Light with Lime.

Dinner.

Orzo salad.

Party potatoes.

Stir-fried veggies.

Pretzel roll with butter. x2.

Fruit salad.

Bed.

Did you decorate Easter eggs this year?

I’m Relleno

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Hello from Ohio.  We’re not here for a happy reason but I’m happy we made it here safely.

We stayed up late catching up on TV last night and I got hungry again.  I served myself a big bowl of cereal with skim milk; Cheerios and some raisin/bran/crunch thing.

I had breakfast food for my late-night snack and dinner food for breakfast.

A grilled cheese with Cabot 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar and Sriracha mayo,

and a sliced honey crisp.

This meal was great but my next bite was terrible.  I stole a piece of Adam’s chicken bites from McDonalds –

Ewwwwwww!  So fried tasting and gross.

My dad flew into Buffalo this afternoon and we picked him up at the airport and headed off on our road trip.  Since we had a “road-guest” we stopped for an actual dinner.

Torero’s served us some damn fine Mexican food!  Pretty healthy too!  Here was my plate –

Black beans,

rice,

and the Vegi-chiladas.  “Steamed carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, yellow squash and zucchini rolled into two flour tortillas, topped with our salsa Mazatlán and garnished with Monterrey Jack cheese.  Served with sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes.”

I ordered my enchiladas sans cheese because I also had a chile relleno waiting for me on my dad’s plate.

Stuffed peppers are usually my favorite Mexican dish but this guy was a little too fried for me.  I ended up eating about a third of everything, except I ate 1.25 tortillas and every single bite of vegetable.

I ate two Samoa Jumbles in the car for dessert.

Still good.

Where is your favorite road trip stop?

Thursday and Friday

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What I’ve Eaten –

What I’ve Been Up To –

  • School has been exciting.  Yesterday I hung out at a pediatric endocrine clinic and today we had a guest lecture from a leading renal dietitian.
  • I’m still sick.  Super sick.  Boo.
  • Also, remember when I said this – “[Adam] was sick last week, I’m sick this week; as long as the dog is healthy next week it’s all good.”?  I jinxed us.  The dog has a massive eye infection and was dropped off at the vet this afternoon.  My poor baby!
  • We are heading to Ohio tomorrow evening.  We’re spending a few days with family and then coming home on Tuesday after the funeral.

What I’m Thankful For –

  • I had an amazing grandpa in my life until I was 26 years old.
  • My teachers are all being great about helping me make up the exams/clinic hours I’m missing to attend the funeral.
  • My dad is flying to Buffalo and driving to Ohio with us.

Confessions IX, Clothing Edition

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Click here to read Confessions part I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII.

Confession #1 – The shirt that ended becoming my very favorite was bought on a desperate whim.  We were meeting the some friends for an impromptu dinner and I had worn one of the husband’s t-shirts to the mall.  We stopped at Forever 21 so I could try to find something a bit more flattering to wear and ended up buying my new favorite.

Confession #2 – When the husband proposed to me I was wearing a pair of his pajama pants.

Confession #3 – I’ve basically never done my own laundry.  I mean, I’ve always put it away but the actually washing and drying has been my thing only a handful of times.  My parents did it when I lived at home and Adam’s been doing it since college.

Confession #4 – When I went away to my first year at college and lived alone (Adam was still in high school so he didn’t join me at Miami until the next year) I packed something like 40+ pairs of underwear so the laundry issue didn’t come up all that often.

Confession #5 – When we got those 80* days a few weeks ago I dry-cleaned all of our winter stuff.  It’s been in the 30’s ever since but I’ve been sticking it out in thin long-sleeved tee shirts.  I’ll freeze to death before I take the coats out of their bags.

Now you confess – What’s the most embarassing fasion trend you’ve taken part in?

Samoa Jumbles For Easter Or Pinterest

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I turned Girl Scout Cookies into another form; am I Pinterest-famous yet?

Just kidding; you don’t have to pin these but I do want you to make them.  With the toasted coconut I think these could feel perfect for Easter.  Or any month when the Scouts aren’t playing cookie crack dealer outside the Target.

These Jumbles have all the flavors of Samoas and all the home-baked charm of sugar cookies.  I thought about making a Monster Cookie variety with this idea so if you try that out let me know how it goes.

Samoa Jumbles, yields 3 dozen cookies

  • 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
  • 1 and 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • heaping 1/2 cup caramel bits
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Spread coconut in an even layer on a cookie sheet and bake 5 – 7 minutes, stirring once or twice, until toasted.  Set toasted coconut aside to cool and raise oven temperature to 375 degrees Farenheit.
  2. In a small bowl, carefully stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
  3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  With the mixer on low, gradually blend in flour mixture.  Fold toasted coconut, caramel bits, and chocolate chips into the dough.
  4. Place dough in fridge for 10 minutes to rest.  Prepare cookie sheets with baking spray or Silpat mats.
  5. Roll dough into heaping tsp sized balls and place in even rows on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake 8 – 10 minutes or until golden.  Let baked cookies stand on the sheets for 2 minutes before removing to cool.

Which Girl Scout Cookie is your favorite?

Sad News

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My grandpa passed away last night.

I’m very sad but I’m also aware of how incredibly lucky I’ve been to have had him in my life for so long.  He was a really amazing man.

I have a fun few posts that were already scheduled to go up today and tomorrow but I’m not sure what my blogging schedule will be over the next few days.

Go hug somebody you love.