Author Archives: Emily

Spring Break Has Begun!

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Actually it began yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to blog until today.  I don’t have any big spring break-y plans, but it’s always enjoyable to get some time off.  My mom is coming to visit next week for her spring break though and we are driving over to Ohio to visit my grandparents.

Yesterday morning I walked to school in just pants and a long sleeve T-shirt (spring came just in time for its break!) and ate breakfast during class.  A GoGo Squeez Apple Strawberry pouch,

and a Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo Bar.

Both were good and the combo of salty and sweet was great.

For lunch I had a Simply Asia Spicy Mongolian Noodle Bowl.

I guess it was the morning of packaged foods?

Other than the sodium content (which is something I don’t really worry about within my diet) the nutritionals on these bowls are pretty good and they allow you to get food in a hurry when you’re hungry.  1g of saturated fat and 13g of protein in under 3 minutes?  I’ll take it!

The afternoon included an unsuccessful baking attempt.

My goal was Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey’s Buttercream for a St. Paddy’s Day treat.  But I hate chocolate cake and I really hate Bailey’s Irish Cream so it actually wasn’t too big of a loss.

Since we won’t be telefundraising over break I volunteered to work the final shift last night.  I drank a ProBugs Strawnana Split Kefir on the walk back to campus.

Work went well and at 8:30 it was officially the start of spring break!

Adam and I cashed in a meal out (and a Living Social deal) for dinner at Lagerhaus 95.

There, I drank water at a German beer house like a total loser.

We had an amazing meal and are planning on going back next week with my mom.  Adam and I split three things to maximize tastes.  We started with the Camembert Fondue – Franziskaner infused camembert wheel / crisp apple slices / crusty sesame bread.

Fondue is Adam’s and my favorite dish to share at new restaurants and this one did not disappoint.  The Camembert was served on top of sautéed sweet onions and the flavor mix was magical.

Next we had the special, a Crab cake Sandwich.  It was served with vinegary cole slaw and crisp green apples on a brioche bun.

I hate crab cakes that are full of breadcrumbs and this guy was super meaty and perfect.  The bun was almost sweet which was an interesting contrast.  It came with a trough side of clam chowder that Adam devoured.

Finally we had the Truffled Wild Mushroom Panini – Haus blend of fresh wild mushrooms / white truffle oil / cippolini onions / fresh arugula / gorgonzola / pressed on foccocia.

Everything was great,but this was the best dish of the night, hands down.  Adam doesn’t have a sense of smell and I was dying the whole meal that he couldn’t experience the scent coming off the truffled mushrooms.  The earthiness with the creamy gorgonzola – which was far creamier than any other gorgonzola I’ve tried – was great.

The panini came with a side salad that was also impressive.

There were several herbs, I couldn’t identify which ones, mixed into the lettuce and it had the most unique flavor.  The honey mustard champagne vinaigrette (unpictured) was nice too.

Overall we had an amazing experience at Lagerhaus 95 and I can’t wait to go back!

Sometimes great flavors seem to make you even hungrier for more and Adam and I stopped on the way home for a box of chocolates.

I ate half of every flavor, or two servings.  A little excessive because they weren’t even that good but I kept thinking each flavor would be better.

This morning I tried a Chobani 2% Passion Fruit Yogurt.

So good, my favorite Chobani yet!  I love passion fruit in general but this one had the perfect balance of sour and sweet.  If you’ve never eaten a passion fruit before the crunchy seeds might seem a little strange but I promise it’s worth a try.

Now I’ve got to shower and then I’m off to get my green on and make a trip to the grocery store.  Are you wearing green today?

My Meal At T.G.I.Friday’s

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Disclaimer – I was given the opportunity to sample the new menu at TGIF free of charge.  As always, my thoughts are my own.

The other day I had the opportunity to try the new menu at T.G.I.Friday’s.    The new menu is currently out in Buffalo, Minneapolis, and Denver and a group of local bloggers were given the opportunity to come and taste some of the new dishes.  I brought my friend Kim along and we had a really great time.

There is a T.G.I.Friday’s across the street from campus at UMiami and there was a year in undergrad when Adam and I were going pretty much weekly.  I’d get the pecan crusted chicken salad, every single time.  But it’s been awhile and I’ve not had very good luck with chains locally.  I have to be honest that when the offer came in I wasn’t expecting to be all that impressed.  But here’s the thing – everything we tried was great!  Like, everything.  And I realize that those dishes were being put out specifically to serve to a group of local food bloggers, but I was impressed enough that I plan on going back on my own.

You can read about the items here so I’m not going to waste your time by regurgitating the menu.  Instead, I’ll share a few of my thoughts.  We had the opportunity to ask questions and I did my best to ensure that vegetarian dishes were truely vegetarian.  I loved how many options were available for non-meat eaters.  There were also some good-looking beef dishes added to the menu, but since I didn’t taste them myself I’m not going to comment on them.

Peach Sweet Tea.

This was made with peach puree, agave, and black tea.  I’m not the hugest sweet tea fan but this wasn’t too-too sweet and you could taste that the peaches were not fake.

Heavenly Hummus Dip

The hummus was made with roasted red pepper paste which gave a nice layer of flavor under the tahini.  It was topped with goat cheese crumbles which is not a combo I would have expected.  The flavor was good, but very garlicy so be aware if that’s not your thing.  We were told that the hummus is made fresh every day.  It was served fresh with pita toasts that seemed very fresh as well.

Warm Pretzels with Beer Cheese Dipping Sauce

This was my favorite appetizer (duh!).  I know that not everyone is as obsessed with movie theatre pretzel bites as I am, but I promise this app feels fancier than that.  The pretzels are supremely soft and they are brushed with a basil butter that gives them this great, unidentifiable taste (I had to ask).  The beer cheese sauce wasn’t gritty or too sour.  Ask for no bacon on top if you don’t eat pork.  They recently changed from cooking the sauce with bacon to sprinkling it on top so that this accommodation could be made.

Ahi Tuna with Avocado Crisps

I took a bite of this expecting to spit it out and ended up eating the entire thing.  Seared ahi tuna is served on top of tortilla crisps with Sriracha, guacamole, lemon vinaigrette, and a fresh jalapeño.  The blend of flavors and textures really helped me get over the fact that I was eating raw fish.  I loved the fresh jalapeño on top; it gave great crunch and the guacamole helped to mellow out the heat.

I don’t have a photo of the Sedona Black Bean Burger but I wanted to mention it because it was amazing.  It’s a black bean burger topped with chipotle mayo, avocado, and great thick-sliced pickles.  The burger had a nice texture and held together perfectly and the sandwich had just the right amount of spice.  This felt nice and meaty but is actually a good vegetarian option (it’s not vegan because egg whites are used in the bean patties).

Grilled Vegetable Dagwood

I should say right now that the three sandwich options were my three favorites.  This sandwich was fantasmic and Kim and I both made ourselves a little sick because we just couldn’t stop taking bites of it. Two pieces of extra-soft pita were stuffed with spinach, goat cheese, roasted veggies (eggplant!), and mango chutney.  You never see mango chutney on American menus and it really adds a lot of flavor to any dish.

Turkey Cranberry Rueben

What, what?!  It’s a Rueban… and it’s made with turkey so I don’t have to request a menu change… and it has cranberries?  Sign me up!  Actually the cranberry component was in cranberry jalapeño slaw and cranberry jalapeño thousand island dressing, which is even better.  I liked that it had a Goldilocks amount of turkey on it (not too little or too much) but I do recommend requesting that it be grilled without butter.

Victory Garden Pasta

Whole wheat penne with veggies (brocoli, mushrooms, olives! and more) and goat cheese in a lemon sauce.  If you request no goat cheese this one would be vegan.  The pasta was not my cup of tea but that’s just my taste preference because it was Kim’s favorite.  I love the throwback name.

Overall, I was very impressed the amount and variety of veggies that made it onto the new menu.  And I like that the prices are still pretty low in spite of some “fancier” additions, i.e. avocado and goat cheese.  It’s sort of awkward to write a review that doesn’t say anything bad because I think my readers will assume that I’m lying, but I promise that my experience was genuinely just a good one.  If you get try the new menu for yourself please let me know what you think!

What is your favorite chain restaurant?

The Very Hungry Blogger

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Do I look like a pre-school teacher?

Actually I was a bit too dressy; all of the real teachers were in jeans!  My friend Kim and I did a nutrition education activity with 17 pre-k kids today.  We talked about fruits and vegetables, read Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and then had the kids draw their favorite fruits and veggies to feed to the hungry caterpillar.

It was a lot of fun.  The experience equally excited me for my future in Dietetics and made me long for my past in the classroom.

I was definitely “on” in the classroom but I’m not working with a lot of sleep.  As I was getting into bed last night I calculated and realized that working out this morning would leave me with 2.5 hours to sleep.  Obviously I grudgingly reset my alarm.  No workout was worth the additional 2 hours of shut-eye I logged, but this does mean I can’t get in my three for the week.  One of the good things about logging workouts on a calendar per my NYE resolution is that I can see trends.  Like I’ve identified the problem that I never workout.  Or less obviously, I realize that I put off workouts at the beginning of the week and leave myself to scramble and/or miss them at the end.

I didn’t have time for breakfast either, but I did eat breakfast-y food when I was finished with preschool, Statistics, and clinic.

When I was at work on Wednesday Adam made a version of my Healthier Spinach Ricotta Pie with spinach and chopped broccoli.  He put the extra into cupcake tins.  I brought three egg cups for lunch today.

Plus a pear.

And my friend Janessa shared a few dark chocolate almonds with me during night class.

But I was more than ready for a big dinner when I got home.  We have spring break next week (yay!) and I need to use the free time to get back into the breakfast habit.

Dinner was a big pile of roasted green beans,

and an amazing sandwich.

I piled 2 oz of Applegate Farm’s Honey and Maple Turkey Breast, 2 oz of Cabot’s 50% Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese, and a sort of disgusting amount of sweet pickle slices on a Wegman’s Sandwich Thin and then wrapped the whole thing in foil and stuck it in the oven to get melty.

Dee-lish-us!  Cheese and pickles is the new cheese and jam.  I generally use full-fat cheese (other than what we buy shredded) but going 50% reduced here lets me use enough that the cheese is a major sandwich component.  And the Cabot is pretty spot on with texture and flavor.

I also had popcorn with butter as an evening snack since the husband made himself a big bowl and couldn’t finish it all.  Amateur.

Gluten Is Not The Bad Guy

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Hi, there!  No blog post yesterday because work ran late and I had a couple of mini school-related fires that needed putting out all afternoon.  Also, I was working on my difficult assignment.  Not difficult in terms of understanding or content but tricky in terms of time committment and mandatory synthesis of our knowledge.  We had to read an article full of bunk science (promoted by Dr. Oz, of course!) and identify statements that were incorrect and then explain both why the statements were incorrect and identify the correct statements that the author misconstrued to reach his conclusion.  The assignment required the upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy but was also a lot of fun.  And it sparked this blog post.

Notes – this post is not in response to any one person, blog, topic, or product, but is my general PSA to the world, aka my readers, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances.  Also, I am not claiming to know it all.  I am in no way purporting to fully cover the topics, I’m just covering a few of the facts.

Some Facts on Gluten, Gluten Intolerance, and Gluten-free Diets

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.

Gluten is resistant to complete digestion by GI enzymes and often travels to the small intestine of healthy individuals partially or fully intact.  This is not a problem.  Gluten does don’t cause inflammation in healthy individuals.

Individuals with Celiac disease (an immune-mediated disorder) suffer damage to their intestinal tracts that can compromise digestive and absorptive functions over time.  In individuals with CD, undigested gluten peptides travel from the intestinal lumen, across the intestinal epithelium, and into the lamina propria; basically, through the intestinal cavity and into the intestinal linings.  Because of the immune component of CD, these individuals have antibodies which react to the specific dietary protein fractions and cause inflammation.

Gluten sensitivity is used to describe individuals with nonspecific symptoms who lack the immune response found in CD.  The term gluten intolerance describes individuals who have symptoms and may or may not have CD.  These GI symptoms include cramping, bloating, nausea, and/or diarrhea.

This next part is so often misunderstood in the healthy living community that I’m actually going to quote straight from Krause – “Patients who experience these symptoms [i.e. may have gluten sensitivity or intolerance] should generally be advised against following a gluten-free diet without having a workup to exclude or confirm a diagnosis of CD.”  This is because there may be an underlying condition for which a gluten-free diet is not the treatment and because following a gluten-free diet for several months or years may make it more difficult to accurately diagnose CD.

A gluten-free diet is regarded by medical practitioners as being generally healthy but it can be very expensive and/or restrictive.

A combination of clinical, laboratory, histologic evaluations is used to diagnose CD.  The gold standard for diagnosis is a small intestine biopsy.

source – Mahan KL, Escott-Stump S, Raymond JL.  Krause’s Food and Nutrition Care Process.  13th ed.  St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier Saunders; 2012.

Do you know anyone who follows a gluten-free diet?  What is their reasoning for doing so?

Window Shopping Wednesdays

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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 all day Wednesdays, I thought we could have some fun via blog. Let’s window shop!

Here’s what I’m coveting this week –

1.  Custom US574 shoes from New Balance.

How fun are those?  You build your own style using a mix of 3 base colors and 15 accent colors.  I badly wanted to go multi-multi-colored but instead I stuck to a blend of grey and hot pink.  I don’t have $100+ to spend on shoes that aren’t for running, but if I did these would be a lot of fun.

2.  The Fleamarket Chic Plate Set from Roseanna Inc.

These would add a nice pop of color to the dinner table.  I actually sort of hate the brown flowered one, so I wouldn’t purchase these, but I like the idea of the set.

3.  The 35-piece Macaron Box from Payard.

I’ve never had a macaron (other than my great but non-authentic coconut attempt) but I am completely obsessed with them.  I have million and one recipes saved on my computer and I regularly curse myself for not knowing to try them when I lived in the city.  This box contains 7 each of vanilla, passionfruit, pistachio, raspberry lychee, and chocolate with cocoa nibs.  I’m thinking pistachio would be my favorite.

4.  The Polar Bear Mugz Ice Cream Maker from Geospace.

Too freaking cute!  It’s the same concept as shaking ice, cream, and rock salt in a bag, but in an adorable container.  The seal and penguin varieties were also pretty ridiculous, but we’re an ice bear family.

5.  Chanel Le Vernis Nail Polish in Steel.

My mom bought me a bottle of Chanel polish as a gift once and it is by far the best nail polish I own.  The colors are rich, the texture is smooth, and the brush is higher quality that my other fraying ones.  This matte grey is a cool contrast to spring’s upcoming pastels.

Have you ever eaten a macaron? Made your own ice cream?

Thank Goodness It’s Tuesday

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The title’s not sarcastic, we have a difficult assignment due this Thursday and I’m glad to still have a day standing between me and it!

My shift at work went well yesterday but when I got out at 9 I was just too tired to photograph, or blog, or think.  We do not do Daylight Saving Time where I grew up and my body still hasn’t quite gotten used to it.  Every year I am so exhausted for the weeks immediately following the time changes.

I needed a little extra help this morning too.

The vanilla flavored Doubleshot was very tasty.  I’d drink it for flavor alone if it weren’t for all the caffeine.

Solid food was good too.

I had a Siggi’s Strawberry topped with two sliced yellow plucots and a drizzle of maple syrup.

The yellow plucots were good but I think I prefer the dapple variety.  These were more tart.

When I walked to campus for stats this morning I was almost too hot in my winter coat.  And I definitely had to fan myself when I saw my score on the first exam –

Woot!

Clinic was good too.  I had my first teenage patient (I’ve been with adults and infants previously) and it was a different sort of interviewing experience.  We also met as a group for some interesting mini-discussions on anorexia nervosa and cystic fibrosis.

I was hungry and short on time after clinic so I made myself an Annie Chun’s Korean Sweet Chili Noodle Bowl.

I added a big handful of shredded carrots on top for veg.

It was good, and I very much liked the amount of heat to the sauce, but desperately in need of a crunch factor.  I have a few other flavors that I purchased on sale and I might stock up on peanuts to top them with.

Dinner was actually a blogger event.  T.G.I.Friday’s invited a bunch of local bloggers to try out their new menu.

The plates were portioned for sharing (and the light was pretty bad) so the media contact actually requested that we not take any food photographs.  Instead I’ll do a recap of what I thought of the dishes I tried when she sends me press info/high-res photos.  I will say for now that I was surprised and impressed.  It felt very strange to not be photographing though!

I brought my friend Kim with me and we ate ’til we were stuffed and a had a lot of fun.  It was nice getting to meet some of the other local bloggers.

I came home from the event planning on working but instead I’m hurrying to bed.  Adam baked up a ton of food to pack for his lunches this week (eggplant, zucchini, tomatillos, mushrooms, rice, and a bunch of seasonings and sauces) and the apartment is permeated with a smell that’s making me ill.  It actually smells delicious, but the sensory overload has given me nausea and a headache.  Tomorrow will be insanely busy but hopefully oder-free!

David Beckham Says Hi

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Did everyone have a good weekend?  I had a work training on Saturday and a shift on Sunday.  I don’t think I’d mentioned on the blog yet, but I’m back at my tele-fund-raising job for the next month.

When I wasn’t working, we were watching Stargate: Atlantis like mad.  And mourning the loss of an hour!  Even with lost time, I did manage to try a few fun new things –

Shipyard Applehead beer.

I like Shipyard and I love apple ciders so I thought I’d be a fan of this, and I was.  But it’s not a cider, it’s an apple beer.  I thought it tasted like cinnamon roasted apples!  (Note – when I googled after tasting I was thrilled to see that cinnamon was included.  I love tasting a product “right.”)

Wild Ophelia Chocolate Bars.

The Hickory Smoked Almond was the perfect blend of smoky and sweet.  And I loved the little branding details here, like fun printing on the inside of the package.  I obviously didn’t taste the beef jerky flavor but it’s Adam’s new favorite.  Whenever we find meat based candy bars (right up Adam’s alley) they are always with dark chocolate (he hates it) so it was great to find this perfect flavor combo.  They didn’t have the Southern Hibiscus Peach flavor in our store but I would consider ordering it if I could!

Monday morning wasn’t such a win.  I slept right through breakfast!  One of our phone chargers is getting persnickety and last night my phone, and my alarm clock, shut off from lack of power.  I also slept through a $30 parking ticket 😦

Lunch was good though.

Leftovers from the other day.  A random mix of unmeasured amounts of –

  • spaghetti
  • linguine
  • shredded chicken
  • peas
  • spinach
  • broccoli
  • blue cheese
  • cheddar
  • mozzarella
  • evoo
  • skim milk
  • egg

‘Twas good.

Random fun fact – when the dog’s ears are flopped back I think he looks like David Beckham with a headband on.  David Beckham says hi –

After Lunch Mints

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It’s Friday!  My sleep total for the last 2 days is still only at about 8 hours but somehow I managed to make it to the gym this morning.  I didn’t get up quite on time, but I made it. I did have to cut my workout a bit short to make it back to campus on time for class, but I figured it was better than skipping it entirely (<– what would have happened if I had tried to wait and go after class).

8 sets of 3 minutes running / 2 minutes walking.  42 minutes and 3.5 miles with cool down.

I had to skip breakfast too, but it was worth it.  Besides, I was busy doing important things like shrouding myself in pinks and purples instead of drying my hair.

When I did finally get “breakfast” at noon I stuck with the color theme.

Those two chopped plucots are perched on a bowl of Wegman’s Low-fat Honey Yogurt.

The gratuitous dog picture means I approve!  The yogurt’s texture was creamy and good and the flavor was pure honey.

The bowl was delicious.

Lunch was better though.  I bet you know what I had.

2 Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes.

Ah-mazing.  I hope with all of my heart that y’all will try that recipe at home.

I also had a salad.  Romaine topped with peanut sauce, green onions, shredded carrots, and dry roasted peanuts.

The green onions were a fun addition.

Dessert happened too.

This recipe wasn’t on my baking roster, but it was a necessary last-minute addition.  My friend Kim unwrapped a piece of gum in class today and at first I thought the wrapper was an Andes Mint.  That was it.

I made a half recipe of our favorite brownies with Andes mints layered in the middle.  I had three smallish ones.

Amazing as well.

And I wasn’t done in the kitchen yet.  I’m going to be out of the house all day tomorrow so I whipped up lunch in advance.

A random mishmash of unmeasured amounts of – spaghetti, linguine, shredded chicken, skim milk, medium buffalo sauce, reduced fat cream cheese, mozzarella, cheddar, blue cheese, spinach, brocoli, and peas.  I had a few bites and it was very good; I’m looking forward to lunch tomorrow.

I’m also looking forward to bed!  I’m still not really tired, but I can tell that sleep is going to feel good.  The plan for dinner is a frozen meal and a beer and then I hope to turn in early.

Pick your poison – Junior Mints, York Patties, or Andes?