Author Archives: Emily

All Hail

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It’s always nice when your routine gets shaken up. Tuesday means today was a clinic day, but the private practice rd I was placed with asked if I’d like to come in in the evening to help with a health fair and I happily agreed. A later clinic time meant I could switch up the rest of my day too. I took advantage of the time and made a traditional breakfast.

Eggs!  I sautéed ~ 1/2 cup each chopped okra and spinach in 1/2 Tbsp butter, a sprinkle of salt, and a drizzle of Sriracha. Then I scrambled in 2 large eggs and a chopped cheese stick.

Plus a sliced apple on the side.

I was glad for something warm because the apartment was far from toasty. I checked the thermostat before we turned the heat back on last night and the temperature inside was 63*! My walk to school was freezing and culminated in hail as I reached the building!

The walk home was warmer since I took advantage of my switched schedule and went to the gym after stats. 40 minutes on the stationary bike at random, level 6.

I also had lunch with a friend while I was on campus.  She switched out of Dietetics a few months back and I don’t get to see her as often so it was nice to hang.  I grabbed a grilled tofu roll from the cafeteria sushi place.

It was a little bland; I used up all of my wasabi before I was halfway through.

When I got home I also had the last of the Sahale Snacks glazed almonds.

And this cherry cola hard candy.

I bought it at Cracker Barrel in Ohio and was worried I would love it and want more but after consumption I’m glad I only bought one.  Not bad, but not the flavor I was looking for.  Besides, anytime I have a hard candy I end up chomping it ten seconds in.

I’m not sure what the exact plan is for tonight but I’m hoping to get home in time to read a book.  See ya later!

White Girl Broad Rice Noodles

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If I had to name my favorite foods, Pad See Eiw would top the list every time.  It beats out baby carrots and even jalapeño nachos, though it’s worth noting that diet pop isn’t a contender because it’s considered a necessity.  Broad rice noodles have the best chew.  If you get a well made dish of Pad See Eiw the noodles are almost like marshmallows, but in a delicious, savory way.

Tragically, I’ve never been able to find broad rice noodles on sale for the home cook.  I’ve searched at Thai markets in Buffalo, Brooklyn, and Toronto with no luck.  I haven’t given up hope but I’m not too broken up about it either.  I figure that the universe is just telling me that we need to go out for Thai more often.  Plus, I’ve found a white girl substitution that works in a pinch –

lasagna noodles

You simply cook the noodles according to the package directions, drain and cool, chop into large squares, and stir fry.  The flavor and texture aren’t identical to broad rice noodles but they are good.  It’s the closest I’ve come to approximating that great chew at home.

For tonight’s meal I made “broad rice noodles” with veggies and a spicy basil sauce.  The final dish was chewy, spicy, healthy, and a little sweet and sour; we were big fans!

To make the meal, I used 1 Tbsp canola oil to stir fry 2 servings of chopped lasagna noodles, 3 small heads roasted broccoli, 2 roasted zucchini, and 2 eggs.  Then I tossed everything in a spicy basil sauce and cooked it all for another 3 minutes.

spicy basil sauce

  • 2 Tbsp finely chopped basil
  • 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp tamari
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp Sriracha

Dinner was great but I’ve been a hungry mungry all afternoon and my stomach is still growling!  Before dinner I made myself a sliced green apple with 2 Tbsp Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter.

The cookie butter is tasty but it’s not exactly like Biscoff Spread.  I still can’t put my finger on what the difference is.

When I was still hungry an hour after dinner I made myself a serving of Ritz crackers with 1 oz of melted Cabot 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar.

Yummy, but not very filling.  We don’t have a ton of options in the house though and I’ve definitly consumed enough calories for the day so I’ve decided to suck it up and just go hungry.  Hopefully when I get back to work I’ll get distracted and my stomach will give it a rest!

Are you a broad rice noodle fan?

Ten Things For A Monday

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1. Can we talk about the weather? Because seriously –

2. I definitely rocked day old smokey eye to the gym this morning.

3. Did you like how I casually mentioned that gym trip like it hasn’t been practically a month since I last worked out?  I did 30 minutes on the elliptical at level 6 random.  Plus a few minutes of strength and stretch moves.

4.  The new 2% Coconut Siggi’s Skyr yogurts are delicious.  I ate one for breakfast topped with raspberries, 1 tsp passionfruit jam, and a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

5.  Even with my lackluster photography skills, breakfast was a looker.

6.  I like to study standing at our mantel.  Everything is better with a friend.

7.  Adam laughed at me when I took home the extra pretzel stick from TGIF’s but I ate it for lunch today with roasted okra.  The mustard drizzle was like icing on a cake.

8.  One of our smoke alarms is running out of batteries and it beeps every 20 seconds.  I appreciate the warning but the damn noise is making me consider burning the house to the ground.

9.  Leftover Thai Iced Coffee Slush makes great iced coffee.  I poured 1+ cup of skim milk over a leftover serving of slush for a tasty treat.

10.  Adam made beef stew in the crock pot to take for lunch this week.  We gave a tiny bowl of meat to the dog last night and he’s alternated between standing guard at the fridge and staring deeply into my soul ever since.

Thai One On

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Good food, good friends, and a bit of work; ’twas the perfect Sunday!

Any day is sweet when your morning starts off like this –

If you don’t want to start your day with sweetened condensed milk I’m not sure we can be friends.  I only had a small taste, I was using the SCM in a fun recipe and licking the spoon is practically a requirement.

We had brunch plans at noon so I also had this Cara Cara Orange in the a.m. to hold me over.

Good thing too, the wait ended up being lengthy.

Thankfully Betty’s was worth the time.

3rd year has been busy so it was great to get together with some medical school friends.


Apparently I think smoky eyes are a brunch look.

A Bloody Mary (extra spicy) was ordered the minute we got to our table.

Not gonna lie – I got a little buzzed; I’m officially a light-weight.

For my meal I had my eye on the vegetable hash –

Corn and poblano peppers topped with runny eggs sounds like heaven on a plate, but sadly they had run out.  I ended up making a last-minute decision and choosing the apple and cranberry french toast streusel casserole.

The casserole was good but I should have stuck with savory, I just wasn’t feeling sweet.  I ate about half plus two incredible stolen bites of Adam’s lox Benedict.

I didn’t have to wait long to eat again (do I ever?!); we went to the movies this afternoon and I polished off 90% of these pretzel bites.

This is literally the only time I would ever considering eating fake cheese, but boy do I shovel it in with pretzel bites!  We saw “Cabin in the Woods.”  I hate horror films a lot (even “horror comedies”) but we’re obsessed with Joss Whedon so we had to go.  I didn’t adore the movie itself but I loved the fact that it was basically a giant commentary on the genre.  No “Serenity” though 😉

Our friends were talking about the “five languages of love” at brunch so when we got home we decided to take the quiz.  Here are my results –

And here are Adam’s –

We both are indifferent to gifts but need physical touch and quality time (I could have told you that before the quiz!)  You’ll notice that I care much more about acts of service than Adam; a good thing since I’m basically worthless!

But I did make us an awesome snack.

When we lived in Park Slope there was a coffee shop on our block with the best-ever coffee granita.  We were obsessed and Adam got a granita for free two years in the row because he was the first person to order it at the end of winter.  This was my attempt at a Thai Iced Coffee style granita.

I know it looks like dog food but I promise that the taste and texture were great.  Here’s the recipe –

Thai Iced Coffee Slush, serves 6

  • 6 heaping Tbsp espresso roast ground coffee
  • 3 cups water
  • 14 oz can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
  1. Place grounds and water in coffee maker of choice and brew according to manufacture’s instructions.  Remove finished coffee from heat and allow to cool completely.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together coffee and sweetened condensed milk until homogenous.
  3. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch glass casserole dish and place in the freezer.
  4. Freeze 8 hours or until fully frozen.  Use a fork to break up the mixture every 2 hours or so, scraping the tines through until you’ve achieved a texture similar to wet sand.
  5. Serve immediately.  Slush will keep in the freezer indefinitely but you may need to use a blender to break it up if you wait more than 1 – 2 days to serve.

We loved it!  The slush was milky and sweet but the coffee flavor was strong.  Each serving has less than 200 calories so it’s the perfect light, summer treat.

We weren’t done having fun yet; next we cashed in a Living Social deal for dinner at Spicy Thai.  Spicy Thai has my favorite pad see eiw in Buffalo but I was craving spice so I branched out.

Spicy Tofu – “(comes hot and only hot) fried tofu with green beans sautéed in spicy chili, garlic, and basil.”  I requested mine extra hot and with broccoli thrown in for some extra veggies.

Awesome.  It actually wasn’t as spicy as I’d hoped but the flavors were delicious.  I loved how the tofu was a little bit sweet.  I ate 2/3s and then gave the rest, and all of my rice, to the husband.

He ordered the Pad See Eiw and I took many bites of that as well.

Marshmallow noodles!

My tofu may not have been hot but my dish did come with some of these killer Thai peppers.

I always pick around the darker dried ones (I had a really bad experience at a Panda Express once) but today I tried one of the soft, bright red pieces.  I spent a minute in tears with a tongue that felt like it had a hole in it, but ended up with a really pleasant spice flavor.  Adam – who used to ardently hate all things hot – even tried one.

I’m so proud of him for branching out!  He’s even the occasional Sriracha fan now.

On our way home we stopped in at Starbucks to get me the chocolate hazelnut tart that I’ve been mooning at for weeks.

I Googled when we got home and if I’d know that this guy only had 180 calories I probably would have gotten one sooner!  The shortbread crust was everything I was hoping it would be.

Actually, Adam attempted to get me one of those last week but misunderstood and purchased a little apple pie instead (no thanks).  I may not have eaten his treat but I was incredibly thrilled by the gesture.  I guess I do care a little bit about gifts!

What is your most important language of love?

Still Searching for ‘Rita

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Did you have a successful Saturday?  Ours was sort of a wash.  I did my to-do’s and had some fun with the husband but I also felt sick and spent many hours curled up in bed.  I guess I’m just glad I was awake long enough to do what I needed to do.

For breakfast the husband took me to the new juice bar he spotted.

Code Blu was a win!  Cute space and good juice.

*Hulk smash*

I got an “@Green.com” – spinach, kale, parsley, romaine, cucumber, celery, lemon, and apple.

Delicious!  I liked how much it tasted like a lemonade.  And there was combo on the menu with kale and watermelon so we’ll definitely be back.

We didn’t grocery shop at all for this week (only soda, cottage cheese, and fruit for Adam were purchased) so our errands were very quick but I was still complaining of hunger by the time we were done.  I ate this handful of peanut m&m’s to try to stave off more whining.

Bletch; these only led to more complaining; why do they have such a terrible aftertaste?

When I woke up this morning the only thing I could think of was margaritas.  I don’t even like tequilla so it was an odd craving but it was a strong one.  Unfortunately none of the Mexican restaurants nearby were open for lunch (sidenote – I am flipping out over Cantina Loco‘s menu, I need to go there immediately).  Then I remembered the free appetizer coupon I had for TGIFriday’s.  I knew the margarita wouldn’t be the best ever, but I figured it was better than nothing.

Nothing would have been better.  Adam and I split this skinny margarita and neither of us were fans.

The only redeeming thing I can say is that it had only 120 calories so at least I didn’t waste a meal’s worth of calories on the worst drink I’ve ever had.  The sweetness level was sickening.  Now I need to keep trying until I find a margarita that quenches my craving; I’m up to the task!

With our free appetizer coupon we got an order of pretzel sticks with beer cheese.

Beer cheese and pretzels are both always good things. 

I ate 1.5 pretzels with cheese.  We took one pretzel home for later but we probably should have just split it because the rest of lunch was a bust.

We split a cranberry jalapeño turkey reuben, no butter on the bread.

I loved this sandwich when I attended the tasting a few weeks back, but I couldn’t even finish my half today.  It was too spicy and totally tasteless all at the same time.

I did eat most of my side salad with balsamic though.

Our meal came with dessert for only a dollar more so we took a chance on the “Oreo Madness.”

Yuck again.  Adam actually ate most of it but I was unimpressed, and I’m the one who loves Oreos.

By the time we got home I was totally ill, a fact for which I blame the skinny sour mix in the margaritas.  Not my best idea.  But after a much-needed nap we pulled it together and switched out our closets and spring cleaned the storage containers.  Go us!

Dinner ended up being a bag of popcorn.

No complaints there!

Some Shrink, Some Grow

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Here is what our afternoon looked like –

While I was studying I ate a mini bag of kettle corn.

And I ate a cheese stick when we got back from our walk.

I made Adam’s dinner this afternoon and my meal was quick to assemble this evening.  Earlier this week I cooked a big pot of lasagna noodles and all I had to do today was chop them up and the base of my meal was complete.

I gave the chopped noodles a quick stir-fry with 1 Tbsp canola oil, 2 cups frozen spinach, and 4 oz cream goat cheese.  Half of the finished product went into a tupperware for tomorrow and the other half went into my belly.

It was a great meal, but I sort of hate how tiny greens get when cooked.

You know what grows with heat?

Marshmallows, the opposite of spinach in every way!  They look funny because I microwaved them with a bit of cookie butter.  This might be my new favorite dessert.

It’s a busy day tomorrow but we are deeply enjoying our Stargate: Atlantis marathon; I’m hoping to strike the right balance of fun and function with a 1am bedtime.  Catch you in the a.m.!

The Have Nots

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I am so flipping excited to be back to blogging!  In fact, I’m excited about doing pretty much anything.  You see, I’m getting over a case of the “have-nots.”  It was a nasty one.  The past week I have not:

blogged ~ washed my hair ~ cooked ~ done any school work beyond what was immediately due ~ worked out ~ read any books ~ cleaned my house ~ eaten anything with any real nutritional value ~ been nice to my husband ~ taken a moment to appreciate my life

I told you it was bad.  I finally got so sick of myself that this morning I started getting back to doing.  I did three hair washes in the shower.  I made and ate two healthy meals.  I took a walk.  I went to school.  I finished a major assignment.  I pre-made Adam’s dinner.  I took a moment to reflect.

My plans for the weekend are big but doable – 1. spring clean our storage containers.  2. switch out our summer and winter wardrobes.  3. eat lots of fruits and veggies.  4. get in some strength training.  5. make notecards to start prepping for exam week.  6. read the 2nd Hunger Games book.  #6 is the only task that’s really urgent 🙂

How do you get back in gear when you’ve got a case of the have-nots?

Back to blogging?  This morning breakfast was pink, pink, pink.

I blended together 1 cup of skim milk, a 0% plain Yoplait Greek yogurt, 1 cup of frozen blackberries, and 1 Tbsp maple syrup.

Tangy but tasty.  I froze a bunch of blackberries when they were on super-sale a few weeks back so I expect to have this again soon.

When my class was over this morning it was too pretty out to go home so I extended my walk up Elmwood to the Co-op.  I perused some fun looking products but came away with only one.

A Relax drink from Solixir.  With blackberry, chamomile, passion-flower, jujube, lemon balm, and hibiscus.

It didn’t really have much flavor but for 50 calories and no added sugar I’m not complaining.

My food was feeling preppy so to go with breakfast’s pink lunch was green.

I started with a Crispin apple.

Then I had a green-on-the-inside twice baked potato with basil and cheddar.

Recipe is down below.  But I have to show you what I used for my basil –

I bought this Gourmet Garden Basil Herb Blend the other day on a whim but I think it’s going to become a kitchen staple!  So much easier than cutting up my own basil or throwing out my own basil when it rots in the crisper.  I see a lot of herbs in this week’s meal plan future.

Finally a big pile of roasted green beans.

Better than french fries!  <– and I can tell you that for certain because I ate french fries for dinner two nights this week *whoops*

Basil and Cheddar Twice Baked Potato

  • 6 oz baking potato
  • 1 heaping Tbsp finely chopped basil
  • 2 oz 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar
  1. Microwave potato to desired doneness according to your microwave’s specifications.  (my potato took 7 minutes at full power)
  2. Cut two thin slices of cheddar, about 0.5 ounce worth, and then roughly dice the remainder of the cheese.
  3. Cut potato in half and scoop out the flesh, taking care not to get too close to the skin so that the potato can still hold its shape.
  4. Mash potato insides, basil, and diced cheddar.  Spoon filling back into potato skins and top each side with a slice of cheese.
  5. Bake for 25 minutes at 425 degrees Farenheit.

Confessions X

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

I haven’t been blogging because of something school related (I hope to be back tomorrow!).  I can’t confess why, but I can tell you that I miss you!

When I was in college (the first time!) my mother sent me a box of homemade lemon bars.  I ate them all within two days and made myself totally ill.  I haven’t eaten a lemon bar since.

If you enjoyed the Hunger Games movie without reading the book, I might be judging you.  I finally saw the movie on Sunday night and while I enjoyed revisiting the story I didn’t think it was that great of a movie. *ducks* Most of the best parts of the book were left out – i.e. all of the character development – and without that character development there was no reason to care about what was happening in the movie.  Question – if you saw the movie without reading the book; what did you think was happening in the hallucination scene with the explosion?