Author Archives: Emily

A Public Vow

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As soon as the clock ticked past 11:00 I knew 6 am yoga was not going to happen.  I actually was awake(ish) in time to go but the class, and the day, would not have been fun on so little sleep.  I am sucking at this 30-day pass!  Which is why I publicly vow to – attend the 9:30 am hot yoga class tomorrow.  Now you guys are holding me accountable.

Instead of yoga, it was another morning of awake from 4:30 – 6:30, then back to sleep until 8:30.  I’m going to be married to a doctor for the rest of my life, I’ve got to figure out a  way to make this work!

Another thing that didn’t work was my oats.

Sure they look good – they were expertly topped – but I didn’t cook them long enough and they were a little soupy.

Cooked (barely): 1/2 cup each water and skim milk, 1 small banana, 1/4 cup oats,  and a pinch salt
Stirred: 1/4 cup 1% cottage cheese
Topped: a chopped Nature’s Path MMMaple Pecan granola bar and a handful of milk chocolate chips

I could only bring myself to eat half of the bowl (the top half!).

It’s not an ideal day for a tiny breakfast, but what can you do?

I’ve got statistics this morning and then my first trip to the hospital for clinical.  Actually, it’s probably a good thing breakfast was small, because I’m so nervous I could throw up!  I really hope clinical goes well, sometimes I feel like I don’t know anything.  Wish me luck.

Back to School

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It’s official, I’m back in school!

This morning brought about a million plan changes, but it all worked out in the end.  When Adam left (before sunrise) I couldn’t fall back asleep so I finished reading Kathy Reichs book #9 (Bones to Ashes) for an hour or so in bed.  I couldn’t fall at 5 am but at 8 am I couldn’t wake up!  I ended up getting out of bed 30 minutes before the yoga class I wanted to attend was slated to start.  I thought I could make it, so I slammed this breakfast to fill up my stores.

A Wegman’s Whole Wheat Multigrain with Cranberry and Pomegranate bagel with strawberry cream cheese,

plus a big glass of water.

But getting ready took too long and I made myself a little sick eating too quickly, and that plan had to be scrapped.  My original plan was to walk to school today, but when I saw the rain I realized it was time to reevaluate again.  I would eat a little more breakfast, take a shower, drive to school and read Kathy Reichs book #10 (Devil Bones), go to class, and then go to the gym at school before driving home.  (I had to go early because there wouldn’t be any parking closer to class time).  And that’s exactly what I did.

My brunch additions were a small apple.

And a 0% Exotic Fig Voskos Greek Yogurt.

The yogurt was great.  The taste wasn’t quite as good as the Greek Gods Fig Greek Yogurt (my all-time favorite), but the nutritional content was far superior.

Then I drove to school, walked the 20 minutes in the rain from my parking spot, and vowed never to drive to school after 8 am again.  Today’s class went well, but apparently this semester is going to be very, very, very hard.  I’m scared.

After class I headed straight to the gym.  35 minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.

I stopped at Wegmans for a late lunch on my way home.  I was only going so that I could sit in the comfy booths to finish the writing-intensive task of filling out my planner, but I ended up getting a pretty good meal.

Steamed veggies with a few pieces of kung pow tofu on top,

and two organic chicken dumplings.

Delicious, and it gave me the energy to power through some serious productivity.  I walked and bathed the dog, did the dishes, made dinner, and completed my first homework assignment of the year.  Woot!  Also, I found 15 minutes to make Adam this –

Dinner was even exotic.

I followed this recipe for Orange Peel Shrimp.  With a side of roasted zucchini,

and a 1/4 cup of whole grain texmati brown and rice red blend.

I used salad sized shrimp and subbed in mango butter for orange marmalade, but otherwise I followed the shrimp recipe.

The end flavor was delicious.  The sauce had a great tang and a good level of spice.  But I have to say that I think the recipe was poorly written.  If you decide to make the Orange Peel Shrimp (which I do recommend), I would suggest frying the shrimp in batches.  There is just no way to do 2 lbs at once without overcrowding the pan.  Also, do the shrimp first, set it aside, and cook the sauce in the same pan.  The cornstarch remaining in the pan is minimal, and does not cause the sauce to thicken to quickly; there is no reason to dirty two pans.

Dessert was two S’mores Cups.

If you can believe it, these are even better leftover!  More chewy than gooey, but definitely a bit easier to eat.  These cups are my favorite S’mores variation to date!

How often do you get Chinese take-out? 

Schedules And S’mores Cups

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Can we just pretend that I’m not heading back to school today?  Just for a little while longer?

We can’t?  Darn!

As long as it has to happen, here’s a look at my schedule –

This semester isn’t terrible with the amount of time actually spent in class, but with six different courses there will be a lot to juggle.  And we were told that the work-load was going to sharply increase.

But as you saw, I don’t have class until after noon today, so can we think about happier things now?  Things like this –

S’mores Cups, makes 16 cups

[adapted from my S’mores Brownies]

ingredients for bottom layer

  • 10 sheets graham crackers (4 rectangles = 1 sheet)
  • 5 Tbsp butter
  • 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

ingredients for top layer

  • 2 squares Baker’s unsweetened chocolate
  • 6 Tbsp butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg and 1 egg white
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 16 marshmallows

instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Line two cupcake tins with 16 liners.
  2. Place graham crackers in a large freezer baggie and bang at them like crazy with a rolling-pin or sturdy plastic cup.  A few chunks are ok, but overall you want crumbs.  Add 2 Tbsp sugar to the bag and shake to combine.
  3. Place 5 Tbsp of butter in a large, microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave until completely melted.  Pour graham cracker crumbs into butter and stir until all of the crumbs are wet.
  4. Place 1 heaping Tbsp of graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Use your finger tips to gently press it down, forming a bottom crust.  Set aside.
  5. Place baking chocolate and 6 Tbsp butter in a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave until melted.  Do 30 second intervals on low-power, stirring regularly.
  6. Stir 1 cup sugar into melted chocolate-butter mixture.  Allow to cool for 1 – 2 minutes.
  7. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract.
  8. Fold in flour.  Then fold in chocolate chips.
  9. Spoon 1 heaping Tbsp of brownie batter into each cupcake liner.
  10. Press 1 marshmallow vertically into the center of each cup.
  11. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of a brownie comes out clean.

What is on your “happier things” list this week?

Don’t Go See Haywire

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The semester doesn’t even start until tomorrow and I’m already behind!  This is not a good sign.  But it was a good day.

I spent my morning baking.

Aka nibbling.

I had a few of these savory wonton crackers; no recipe to post because I’m still perfecting.

And one of these; recipe coming tomorrow morning because I’m mean.

And I also ate this.

Graham cracker crumbles + shredded coconut + a handful of milk chocolate chips + a marshmallow x stuck in a cup and baked.  Quite good, and a hint as to the recipe coming tomorrow.

We had to run an errand at the mall this afternoon and somehow the husband talked me into seeing “Haywire.”  And now he’s never picking the movie again.  This just might be the worst thing we’ve ever seen; I actually almost walked out.  The only high point was our movie snack.

We snuck in fries.  And with that good call, the husband completely redeemed himself, in spite of his taste in movies.

We had several other errands to run and by the time we got home dinner seemed out of my reach.  I stole several of Adam’s baked asparagus so I could feel like I had vegetabled.

Before sitting down with this bowl of candy while I got myself set up for school tomorrow.

Sugar rush be damned, I powered through setting up an entire new planner.  And with that, I’m ready to take on the world the spring semester!

What’s the worst movie you’ve ever seen?  I remember a year in the late ’90’s when every new film seemed even worse than the last – Breakdown, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Good Burger, Air Bud, Dante’s Peak, Free Willy 3, Speed 2, Volcano, Contact …  And I will confess that I also freaking hated Titanic!

Curds and Whey

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For breakfast, we ate what I can best describe a porridge.

I didn’t intend to make porridge (and since I didn’t bother to Google I’m not even sure that’s what I made!) but that’s what I ended up with.  Adam agreed to eat a bowl of stove top oats if I left out the banana and as I upped the measurements on everything to accommodate his serving, I ended up dumping way too much liquid into the pot.  The oats took forever to boil into oblivion cook and what finally helped with the extra liquid was whisking an egg yolk into the pot.

The “porridge” was delicious.

I don’t have exact measurements for my serving, but my bowl had some combination of oats, milk, water, and egg yolk.  Plus 1/6 a cup each of low-fat cottage cheese and ricotta, and 2 tsp of browns sugar.

I’ll never be sure what factor caused this bowl to be so great – the extra liquid and cooking time, the ricotta, the egg yolk – but I will definitely try to create it again soon.  Honey, do you want oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow?

Neighboors

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Last night was all-around pathetic.  I stayed home alone watching Grey’s (pathetic) and crying (pathetic) while Adam was on his night rotation. I ate this pathetic plate of chips and melted cheese for dinner.

x2 (pathetic).

I had an alarm set for hot yoga, but then my neighbors were so incredibly loud that I figured it was time to get up.  After turning off my phone and brushing my teeth, I glanced at the clock and saw that it was actually 1:30 am.  I missed my yoga class and I hate my neighbors, aka my neighBOORS.  Seriously.  Adam and I lived off-campus when we were in undergrad too, but we weren’t complete assholes to coexist with.

When Adam got home this morning we spent hours (hours!) online looking through residency options.  Between trying to balance program lengths, locations, childcare possibilities, and more; it’s a fairly frustrating process.  But it is fun to think about the future.

We ate breakfast while we worked.

I had a pear,

and a cinnamon raisin bagel with strawberry cream cheese.

Strawberry cream cheese is too amazing.  Though I might have picked a different breakfast topper if I’d remembered that my lunch leftovers contained cream cheese too.

I gave my 5 Jalapeño Popper Won Tons a 5 minute spin in 400* oven and they were good to go.

Adam devoured the rest of the leftovers during his hospital shift.  We both agreed that they were one of my better creations.

Many (many, many, many) hours of residency research later … It was time for dinner.

The main attraction was butter chicken.

I followed a recipe from Kath’s blog, minus most of the spices because we didn’t have them.  It was still good.

This small pile of kale was actually a huge mountain before it cooked down.

Cooked in chicken stock and dressed with lemon juice and brown sugar.

And finally baked potato fries.

I cut them extra thin, before baking at 450*, and they were nice and crispy.

One more day until I go back to school,  So much to do still!

Do you live within hearing distance of your neighbors?  Have you ever had a horrible neighbor?

Once You Pop…

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TGIF!  Now that I’m heading back to the real world next week, this upcoming weekend actually seems like a weekend.  And today we had a fun Friday lunch.

Jalopeno Popper Won Tons, yields 24 won tons

These won tons are a fun twist on jalapeño poppers.  The filling is creamy with a little bit of crunch and  just enough kick.  If you don’t have a food processor, you can mince the jalapeños by hand and make the filling using a mixer.  Each won ton has ~ 90 calories.

  • 2 oz jarred jalapeños, drained
  • 1 Tbsp juice from jalapeño jar
  • 8 oz Neufchâtel cheese (1/3 reduced-fat cream cheese)
  • 1/4 cup Panko style bread crumbs
  • 24 won ton wraps
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit.  Prepare two baking sheets with cooking spray.
  2. Use a food processor to pulse jalapeños until minced.  Add jalapeño juice, cream cheese, and bread crumbs to processor and pulse until well combined.
  3. Lay out won ton wraps in a flat area, with a small bowl of water set nearby.
  4. Spoon a half Tbsp or so of filling into the center of each wrap.
  5. Wet a finger and run it along the edges of a wrap.  Fold the wrap over diagonally, forming a triangle with filling in the center.  Firmly press around the edges to seal.  Repeat with the remaining won tons.
  6. Place on prepared sheets and give the tops a spritz of cooking spray.  Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, until crispy.

Course 1 was a simple salad.  Romaine lettuce, yogurt Casear dressing, and buckwheat groats.

Course 2 was 6 jalapeño won tons.

So freaking good!  I ate mine with duck sauce.

But sweet and sour sauce would be nice too.  And dipping them into a cheddar fondue would be epic!

How you do like your jalapeño poppers, with cream cheese or cheddar?  I’m obsessed with cream cheese poppers but won’t even glance at the other kind.