Author Archives: Emily

Sugar Sodas Are Toast

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Today was another one of those days where I plan to go to the gym and then get distracted for hours.  This means that working out gets pushed back, and lunch gets pushed back, and so on.  I’ve got precious few days left until school (i.e. real life) starts again though, so I’m enjoying the unstructured time!

I had to go to the co-op for a few things this morning so I extended my walk a couple of blocks to The Spot for coffee.

Grande iced toddy with skim milk.  The caffeine was supposed to power me through my work out on an empty stomach – I’m, perhaps, a bit gun-shy from yesterday – but I messed around so long that I finally had to cave and eat breakfast.

Toast with Smart Balance and Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.

I never ever eat toast for some reason, but I really enjoyed this.

My right leg (my tendonitis leg) had a bit of a twinge in it all morning so I planned a treadmill interval workout that would allow me to get in the amount of time I wanted without too much impact on my legs.  Since I knew it was going to be a longer work out I put a packet of Cherry Lime Propel (thanks, BlogHer) into my water.

Thumbs up, Propel!  This tasted great and I have to believe it played a role in the fact that it took me forever to get hungry this afternoon.

My treadmill work out –

  • 6 minutes walking, warm up
  • 20 sets of intervals – 2minutes running/2minutes walking (40minutes total)
  • 4minutes walking, cool down

In the end that added up to 50minutes; 4.13miles.  I finished things up at the gym with 10minutes of abs work and stretching.

When I did finally get hungry in this afternoon I made myself a protein packed lunch –

Broccoli, eggplant, and cole slaw mix sautéed in some homemade peanut sauce.

Just yum!

To drink (in addition to h2o, of course!) was a Zevia Ginger Ale.

I’ve worked with Zevia before, and while nothing can replace my Cherry Coke Zero love, I’m a big fan.  Soda with no sugar or chemicals?  I’d say that’s pretty perfect for an addict enthusiast like me!  Zevia was recently featured in Oprah’s magazine so they sent me some free samples to celebrate.  I’ll be doing a giveaway later on too.

The ginger ale was yummy, just like “regular” ginger ale but a little less sweet.  And it didn’t have that awful spice aftertaste that some brands get.

What is your favorite flavor/brand of soda.  My very, very favorite thing on Earth is fountain diet coke (with ice and a straw) with a shot of cherry coke!

A Cautionary Tale

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So this afternoon, after I spent the entire day rocking my running skirt, I got sucked into blogs and didn’t realize until 5:40 that my campus gym closed at 6pm.  Fail.  I can’t take a day off from exercise, because one turns into twenty, so when I found a post-card in the mail informing me that our old gym membership expires on the 28th it felt very serendipitous.  We loaded into the car and set off toward a healthy evening.

I was hungry by then, so during the ride I ate a Banana Soy Joy bar, pulled from my BlogHer stash.

Meh, at the time I didn’t love or hate it.

We didn’t have much time at the gym so I tried to bust my butt the entire visit.  “California Girls” by Katy Perry is surprisingly motivating, as is this song.  30minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6.  I did a mix of backward and forward pedalling, as well as some sprint intervals.  I ended my visit with 10minutes of strength and stretch moves.

As I stretched my legs I felt an unpleasant tightness in the back of my neck.  During my sit ups I started to feel nauseous.  While we were leaving the gym I could taste that stupid Soy Joy bar through all the water I was chugging.  And five minutes later we were pulling over so I could throw up.  Mega fail.

We haven’t quite narrowed it down, but basically I have an intolerance for some food preservative(s).  I also have a major allergy to some specific preservative that is found in Hawaiian Punch products, but that’s another story.  I’ve eaten other Soy Joy bars before without incident, but the Banana flavor is definitely off-limits for me from now on.

By the time I had pulled myself together and Adam had stopped at Walgreens to purchase himself a snack (thanks for the concern, husband!) I realized that I would not be able to stomach the dinner we had planned.  No, the only thing that would do was jalapeno poppers, with cream cheese, NOT cheddar.  I know some people would feel sick just at the thought of eating poppers, but they were literally the only thing that appealed to me.

I’ll make a very long and sad story short – three stores (and some time on Yelp) later we claimed defeat.  Adam told me I had to eat something for dinner, and also to stop whimpering or I was going to be walking home, so I went the Buffalo sauce route, a close 2nd to jalapeno.  I was starving at that point, and a bit unreasonable as well, so dinner was a huge buffalo chicken finger sandwich and a huge thing of french fries.  Ultra mega fail.

Clearly I hated it.

Around the Globe

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I was hanging around the house this afternoon, checking some e-mails, eating some popcorn,

getting half-dressed for the gym and trying to decide whether to head there or pick up my stuff at the tailor first.  When Katie g-chatted me about lunch who was I to say no?  Even if it meant I ended up going out in public in this –

A running skirt for running errands?  Not a good look for me!  Although I ended up doing so much walking that I was almost glad not to be sweating in my jeans.

Globe Market is conveniently located between our two apartments so we decided to meet up there.  I’d never been before so I thought I’d sample the menu with a half sandwich/soup combo.

Vegan gazpacho.

Green apple and brie sandwich.

I ended up with a ton of food.  Sadly I wasn’t that impressed with any of it though.  The gazpacho was ok, but it was practically tasteless compared with the bowl Benji served me the other day.  And the apples in my sandwich tasted like they were rotten!  The best part of my meal was actually the bread that come with my soup, airy and delicious!  I left behind a lot of food –

It was good to catch up with Katie though.

A fun story from my teacher days – On one of our many professional development days a workshop let out early.  This meant that we had to stay on school campus but didn’t have anything specific to do.  The nicest facility in the school was the basketball court so someone suggested a game of Around the World.  I have to mention here that I worked in a rough neighborhood and my job was pretty intense – most of the staff consisted of very large black men.  I actually was the only caucasian female employed by the school the two years I worked there.  I did not win that game of Around the World, not by a longshot, but I did hold my own.  The look on some of my fellow teachers’ faces when they realized they just got schooled by a little white girl in a mini skirt (it was a no student day)?  Priceless.

Peanut Butter and Sneaky

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This morning’s breakfast was all about the PB&J.  (Actually that’s SB, but you know what I’m saying.)

But looks can be deceiving, the proper acronym should be OOIASBJ – Overnight Oats In A Sunbutter Jar!

There was a little less than 1 serving of TJ’s Sun Butter left,

so last night I poured 1/3cup oats and 2/3cup Silk Almond Milk into the jar.  This morning I added some plain fat-free yogurt and a dollop of Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.

Have you tried OIAJ?  What sort of jars have you utilized?

Quotes of Interest

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Howdy-ho!  I hope all my readers had a good transition back to the work week.  It’s been a strange but satisfying day around here.

Not gonna lie, I definitely ate a Breyer’s Cookie Dough ice cream sandwich for breakfast.

Healthy living blogger fail, but a big “happy living blogger” win (thanks, Heather!).  And (thanks, Rachel) sorry, I’m not sorry.  It was only 160calories, it made me wickedly happy, and I felt full and satisfied all morning.

I spent my morning doing blog work and getting some house things organized; I start school in exactly a week and I want to make sure everything is squared away.

Around 1pm it looked like rain outside so I hurried to get my running shoes on.  Normally rain wouldn’t thrill me, but today it meant I could go for a mid-day run without overheating or sunburning.  I did fuel up first though.  Coconut water,

and 1/3 a serving of Wonka Apple Fruit Chews as a really ghetto attempt at Clif Blocks.

Apparently this was the perfect fuel combo because I had a great run!  I kept it quick (as in short, not speedy) but fabulous.  1.92miles in 19.25minutes.  A couple of notes – 1. Usually I’ve been taking walking breaks but today I ran the entire time minus three stops: a cross-walk, a dachshund petting, a sports bra adjustment.  2. All of my various leg injuries felt a-ok; but I spent some time stretching afterwards just in case.  3. Running makes me so fricking happy!

In the afternoon I got a very special box from my parents.

Heck yes!  We got the food processor and the stand mixer as wedding gifts almost three years ago, but this is our first apartment that they’ll fit in.  Actually, they technically still don’t fit as they’ll be residing in the office, but the siren song of homemade pesto was just too strong.

I also stopped by campus to pick up my textbooks.

This was an expensive yet exciting purchase.

I had another $5-off coupon at Moe’s so I made dinner out of a kids’ meal.  Quick sidenote – I absolutely adore restaurants that will let me order off the kids’ menu!

I got the mini masterpiece, a kid’s quesadilla with cheddar and corn salsa.  As Caitlin would say, it was epic.

Also a side of chips with queso, sour cream, and pico.

I was actually not hungry at all, but my day was begging for some veggies so I rounded things out with a bowl of cole slaw.

No measuring, but I used cole slaw veggie mix, plain yogurt, rice vinegar, raisins, and a sprinkle of sugar.  Don’t the raisins sort of remind you of lions stalking prey in the tall grass of the Sahara?

Just me? 😀

What was the last thing you ate that made you deliriously happy?  No pot brownie answers please, that’s a cop out!

Miso Tasty

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That mini bag of kettle corn was good, but dinner was better.

Miso-Marinated Tofu and Eggplant with Soba Noodles, from Health Magazine.  I followed the recipe pretty loosely, here are some of the changes I made –

  • doubled the tofu
  • used buckwheat instead of soba noodles
  • used neon and graffiti eggplant
  • used cole slaw mix for cabbage
  • used more veggies and less oil

Our version was pretty fabulous though.

The miso marinated tofu gets the best crust.

A cautionary tale – the boys left frosting the fridge from their failed brownies and this afternoon I ate at least 8 spoonfuls, straight from the jar.  Instant tummy ache and migraine.

Tofu, seitan, tempeh; pick a favorite.

Activia Desserts for Dessert

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I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast this morning, but I was all about the pizza pizza!

I roasted up some broccoli, put it on a single-serving crust with marinara, and topped it with 2% sharp cheddar.

Mmmn, broccoli and sharp cheddar made the perfect pizza combo.

A bit later I snacked on some sliced green apple and a few pretzels (way to finish the whole bag before I got any, Adam!).

And for dessert, Activia Desserts.

I buy Activia for the husband because he has some tummy issues and it seems to really help.  I usually just stick to Greek yogurt but the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor sounded so divine that I had to try it.  Good decision; the cheesecake flavor was spot on, nothing like the “cheesecake” fat free yogurts I’ve tried in the past that just scream artificial sweetener.  This was creamy and sweet and pleasantly thick for regular yogurt.  All for 140calories, I think I’m  a fan.  If you’d like to try some yourself go here for a $1 off coupon.

We’ve got a tasty dinner planned, but I’ve got my eye on a mini bag of kettle corn in the meantime.

*Update to Add – I’m going for it, mini bag of kettle corn here I come!

Cheeburger Cheeburger

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When I was still living in Brooklyn, Missy wrote a post about an incredible burger place she frequented.  The menu was huge and you could choose as many things as you wanted from a long list of toppings.  But it was in Queens, and no one goes to Queens unless they live there, so I put it out of my mind.  Until today…

Wonder of wonders, Buffalo hosts something exciting: Cheeburger Cheeburger!

The location was small but the 50’s style decorations totally set the mood.

Plus the hostess offered to take my picture with the giant cheeseburger so it was pretty much a love affair from then on.

We were having dinner with Adam’s friend from the lab and her husband, so I was trying to pretend that I was cool, but who wouldn’t geek out at the sight of this –

It was all downhill from there, I actually clapped my hands when my shake was brought to the table.

I went with a half order (I forgot to request skim milk, boo) of amaretto, marshmallow, oreo.

Yuuuuuuuuuuum!  I agonized over the choices but I think this was a pretty good combination.  The amaretto flavor was pretty heavy though, when we go back again I might just get unadulterated marshmallow.

I’m going to be totally honest with you guys and cop to the fact that made my dinner selections before we even got there.  I read the menu like a novel (it’s practically that long!) and hemmed and hawed in front of my laptop in the privacy of my own living room.  My indecision is embarrassing enough at a normal restaurant, going to Cheeburger Cheeburger unprepared would have been disastrous.

I think I did a pretty good job of ordering in the end.

If nothing else I certainly took advantage of their ‘as many toppings as you like’ policy!  I went with a turkey burger patty on a salad with the following toppings –

  • banana peppers
  • dried cranberries
  • 2 onion rings
  • pineapple
  • roasted red pepper
  • grape tomatoes
  • mushrooms
  • artichoke hearts
  • red onion
  • black olives
  • chick peas
  • cucumber
  • jack/cheddar cheese
  • (there was also 1000island dressing on the side but I didn’t use it)

And by the time I was done with my shake and burger I was so full that I could only manage 3 little bites of my salad!

Worth it.  We packed up the salad for Adam’s lunch tomorrow and I thought that the turkey burger was divine so it all worked out.  I practically had to be rolled out of there though.

My goal bedtime is 11pm, ready – set – go!

If you went to Cheeburger Cheeburger what toppings would you order for your burger/salad?