Author Archives: Emily

Squash Nosh B’Gosh

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My lunch today revolved around a local white acorn squash I picked up at the Co-op this weekend.

I can’t say squash, or any “osh” word, without thinking of the OshKosh B’Gosh my mother dressed me in pretty much exclusively when I was a kid.  She also used to tape bows to my head when I was a baby, but that’s another story…

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the white squash, but when I cut it open it had a great ‘fall’ scent.  I cut it in half and scooped out the seeds and junk and then roasted it, facedown, at 400* for 30minutes.  Then I flipped it over and filled the halves with a mix of ~ 4T raisins, 3T chopped walnuts, 1/2T butter, 2t maple syrup, big shakes cinnamon.  Followed by a final 20minutes at 400*.  How’d it turn out?

I’m on a recipe roll!  The savory and sweet balanced out perfectly and the consistency was totally comforting.

I also snacked on a handful of peanuts while I studied,

and drank a Zevia Twist with lunch.

This was the last of my Zevia samples, tear!  Cola is my favorite flavor but Twist is a very close second; I hate drinks like Diet Sprite because I think they taste like chemicals but this was just citrus and refreshing.

I’m heading to school now, I’ve got a book and a half (seriously) to print off before Anatomy.  Chemistry class was canceled today (yay!) but we have our first extended lab from 6-8:40pm (boo!) tonight.  We’re testing melting point ranges which sounds pretty interesting at least.

Were you a brand-loyal baby?  I remember a lot of Keds too.

Strawberry Danish Oat Success

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This morning has been pretty much spot on – it’s already mid-week, I’m ahead on my Chemistry homework, I got to workout with the husband, and my breakfast blew my mind!

My insomnia has been rearing its ugly head again but for some reason the 6:24 am alarm didn’t feel so bad.  When I’m planning on working out with Adam I’m excited, so it’s a lot easier to get up.  We dressed in a hurry and I grabbed 60calories worth of energy chews (ahem, Willy Wonka Apple candies) so I didn’t feel empty.

We ran a nice loop around the neighborhood, 2.05miles in 21minutes.  Followed by stretching and pt; I’ve got to start doing pt consistently again, my shins have been bugging me recently.

I ticked shower and some school work off of the list, then worked some breakfast magic.  I’ve always wanted to be an oatmeal person; other bloggers make it seem “cool” and the impending fall makes me crave a warm breakfast.  But oats always fall short for me – they are sticky and gummy and the flavor is always just a bit off.  I’ll do overnight oats from time to time, but cooked just don’t appal to me.  No more my friends, no more.

Strawberry Danish Oats, oh yes, I went there!  I have finally found my oatmeal combo; this was creamy and filling, and the taste was so decadent I might have whimpered a bit when the bowl was empty. 

I was so blown away I even gave this bowl its own recipe page.  For one –

  • 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1/3 cup milk (I used Silk Almond Milk because it’s so creamy but skim would do as well)
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 cup frozen, defrosted strawberries (defrosted berries are a bit mushy which I prefer over crunch in my oats, if you only have fresh just cook them a little longer)
  • 1/2 oz reduced fat cream cheese
  • 2tsp brown sugar
  1. Combine oats, liquids, and salt in a bowl and stir to mix.  Microwave on high for 2-3minutes.  (You could stove top cook if you like but these are so creamy that there is really no need.)
  2. Microwave the strawberries, in a separate bowl, for 30-40seconds to take the chill off.
  3. Spoon berries on top of oats.  Top with cream cheese and brown sugar.
  4. Take a bite and gasp with pleasure!

I guess oats (and cream cheese) might be becoming a staple in this house after all!

Are you an oatmeal aficionado?

Jalapeno Popper Burgers; Booyah!

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Remember when Adam and I went on an epic, fruitless quest for jalapeno poppers?  Yeah, f*** that.  I may not be able to get poppers as long as I live in Buffalo, but I can make something even better at home – Jalapeno Popper Turkey Burgers.  Click on the dish name for the epic recipe.

Turkey, cream cheese, panko, and jalapenos are pretty fantasmic all on their own, but adding sharp cheddar to the mixture took it over the top.

The husband and I were swooning the entire dinner.  And the recipe (with cheese!) has less than 500calories.  We rounded out the meal with some roasted asparagus.

Fabulous.

Do you prefer jalapeno poppers with cheddar or cream cheese?  Cream cheese all the way baby!  You actually can find the cheddar variety in Buffalo but I turned up my nose.

Locked and Loaded

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It’s been a full day and my to do list’s not even close to empty!  Thank goodness it’s mostly stuff I enjoy.

Tuesday is my 8am class (library) day so an at home breakfast was not going to happen.  Instead I packed some healthy snacks to eat in between classes.  A Blueberry Crisp Cliff Bar,

and a local apple.

We learned about amino acids and proteins in NTR 100 today and it was totally fascinating.  Did you know that only animal protein sources can provide a “complete protein?”  Vegetable sources don’t have the correct ratio of the essential amino acids.  However, through “complementary proteins” vegetarians can get what they need.  For example, beans and rice are a complimentary protein.  I’m obviously not vegetarian, but we do eat a lot of meatless meals so it’s definitely something to think about.

After class I headed over to the gym.  It’s a 30minute walk from my apartment (1hour roundtrip) so gyming it in the morning this year is just not realistic; instead I’m trying to make my workout part of my on-campus time.  This weekend I picked up a pretty pink lock –

and today I brought a bag full of gym essentials – sports bras, socks, shoes, outfits, scrunchies, water bottle – to store on campus.

Today’s workout was 30minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6.

Adam could even give me a ride home so I didn’t have to walk in the sun, yay!  We had some business to take care of so I replenished with coconut water while I waited for lunch.

Lunch-lunch was a package of Allergaroo Chili Mac.

I ‘beefed it up’ by stirring in 4oz of frozen peas.

Yum.  This packet was still part of my shipment of free samples but I think the chili mac is fantasmic, I’ll definitely buy more with my own $.

I’m still looking for a fruit-dairy component to lunch so I’ll probably have a study snack in a bit, I’ll update the post if I do.

Dinner’s gonna be exciting…..

***Updated to add -I found my dairy-fruit (+ sweet!) snack.
I started with an Oikos free sample, 0% strawberry.
 
I don’t know why I was expecting this to be flavored yogurt, but I was a bit surprised to find plain with jam on the bottom.  In the end I loved it though; it was the perfect amount of sweet!
 
I topped my yogurt with a sliced black plum, a sliced plucot, and part of a crumbled cookie.
I definitely did not need the cookie (this was really sweet), but I had to throw out the last of the burnt granola and I had my heart set on something crumbly!
Do you have a locker at your gym?  Do you bring your stuff for the day or keep a bag stocked at the gym?

No Labor Day

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Guess how much work I got done today?!  Actually, please don’t 😦  I knew that the back to school transition was going to be rough, and so far it has been.

I actually don’t have a post today – my camera was charging while I was eating – but I do have a question:

My camera has an ok battery life, but it’s stopped showing the remaining power so it dies instead of me recharging when it gets low (that wasn’t the question, just the backstory).  Does anyone else have the Sprint EVO 4G?  Do you have any tips about using the camera phone to take blogworthy pictures?  Thank you!

When in Random

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I’ve been all over the map today so this post is going to seem a little random.  I didn’t get much any schoolwork done but I did have a lot of fun – lunch at the Co-op with Katie, hanging out with the husband, and a trip with a group of friends to the Buffalo Wing Festival.  It’s sort of essential that I get a good night’s sleep and rock out my work tomorrow so I’ll keep this quick.  Bare minimum description in 3, 2, 1…

This small banana chocolate bar was 33cents at the grocery store.

It was super light and tasted like airy banana cream pie.

Co-op hot bar lunch (for reference, this was the small box, about the size of a novel).

Buffalo-style tempeh,

cashew noodles,

a stuffed grape leaf,

and some pasta with delicious homemade ricotta and marinara.

I also bought the best Hello Dolly (7-layer bar) I’ve ever freaking tasted!

The wing festival was super crowded and really poorly organized (boo) but we had a good time hanging out with the other couples at least.  I only got to sample a few wings, Hawaiian, smoked, and Guinness bbq.

You can assume I ate about half of that; when it gets to close to the bone I get squeamish and Adam finishes them for me.

Crackers with smoked gouda spread, split with the husband.

Yogurt mix bowl – Vanilla 0% Siggi, a chopped peach, cinnamon chips, and tons of cinnamon.

For dinner we cooked up some pizza.

Tandoor Chef caught wind of how obsessed I am with their Pad Thai and graciously sent me some Naan Pizza samples.  I was more than happy to do a review, I think Tandoor Chef products are amazing!  A lot of their offerings are vegan, it is by far the most authentic “ethnic” food I can get in Buffalo, and everything tastes so fresh you have to check the box to remember that it was frozen!  Tonight we tried the Margherita Naan Pizza,

and the Cilantro Pesto Naan Pizza.

Check out the nutritional stats –

Reasonable amount of sodium and saturated fat for a good dose of protein.  I think that a full pizza (as opposed to a half) is a more realistic serving size though.  That makes it a little calorie-dense, but since the ingredient list is just “real” food it’s ok.

Adam and I each tried half of each flavor (he ate some of my crusts though).

Even though our crazy oven caused us to burn them we were still big fans.  The tomatoes on the Margherita tasted fresh and juicy and the cilantro pesto had a great spice kick to it.

I’m getting in bed now, but I’ll probably play Word Feud with Adam for a bit before sleeping.  Good night!

What’s your take on hot wings?

Disaster Dinner

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Ugh.  I’m feeling very much like a Whiney Wendy right now so I’ll keep this short and snippy sweet.

I’m not giving the recipe up yet, but basically I’ve been excited about tonight’s dinner for almost a week … except we didn’t eat dinner 😦  The husband got stuck at the lab until 9 and we had to push back our plans.  Instead I did some super random (carby) snacking.  And I don’t even have a photograph of everything, so this is going to be a really boring post.

1. A hamburger bun with 1T Smart Balance, microwaved for 30seconds.  I don’t know why the bun/butter/microwave combo gets me so excited but it really does.  So excited that I shoved the whole thing in my mouth before I remembered my camera.  Here’s a cute clip art instead –

2. I will never buy full-sized ice creams again.  I currently have 5 different flavors (of minis) in my fridge and their mere existence is rocking my socks.  This was a Friendly’s Sundae to Go.

Nugat flavored ice cream topped with chocolate (and it was dark chocolate) and caramel?  Oh God yes!

3. Healthy(ish) take on jalapeno nachos.  5 Spice Melba Snacks with shredded sharp cheddar microwaved on top.

I know that plate looks like a cheese monster hopped itself into a deep fryer but I really did measure out a serving of cheese!  Except that the measuring was less meaningful when I measured out another serving and had a second plate! 😉

4. Strawberry Hi-Chews.

Well then, I’m glad I ate a veggie heavy lunch!

What is your favorite type of shredded cheese?  I’m sharp cheddar, extra sharp when I can find it.

**Updated to add – 5) Popcorn.

The Farmers’ Market Feeds My Soul

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What better way to announce my Zevia giveaway winner than to toast one in her honor?

Caitlin (commenter #5), this Zevia Cola’s for you!

By the way, after you e-mail me your address so I can get your prize sent off, I suggest drinking the Cola flavor first.  Cola is hands-down the best Zevia out there; it doesn’t taste diet at all, but the flavor isn’t exactly “Coke” either, much earthier.  There is almost a coffee note to it.

This morning the weather was wonderful and I took a nice walk to the Co-op and the farmers’ market.  Look at my bounty of local goodies –

I’m most excited about the plethora of peppers,

I ended up with two purple, one lime, and a pimento!

The only fail was breakfast; I planned on getting something to eat at the farmer’s market but there were so many tasty things to choose from that I got overwhelmed and ended up with nothing 😉 Instead I had a fat-free raspberry lemonade yogurt when I got home.

I finished up my grocery trip at Wegman’s.  We had a coupon, so I got myself a small iced coffee.

– With skim milk and sugar-free caramel syrup. –

I’ll cop to my lunch being a little strange, if you’ll promise to try it yourself anyway!

I pan cooked chopped eggplant, broccoli and okra in a big splash of chicken broth, then finished it off with ~1/2T of evoo.  Then I added 2t of mango chutney to the skillet, along with 2T each raisins and peanuts.

I know it sounds odd, but I swear that the flavors work.  It’d be great with a bit of spice too.

I’ve got a TON of schoolwork to do this long weekend but we have some fun planned in for tomorrow too.  And a dinner on the agenda for tonight that I’m totally jazzed about.  See you then!

~*~*~ It’s time for some shameless self-promotion!

1) Check out my mini guest post at Iowa Girl Eats.

2) I’m throwing my hat into the ring for Project Food Blog!  Actually, I’m thinking about resigning before it even begins, but check out my profile anyways!

3) Are you following me on Twitter?