Author Archives: Emily

Sex in the City, PeeYoo

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Adam texted me just in time today to let me know he had to stay at the lab late so I did a quick turn-around and headed to the gym.  I did the elliptical for 20minutes, on random, level 6, then had a quick stretch before hopping in the shower and heading to pick him up.

Our fun activity was a movie date to see “Sex in the City 2,” so even though I was in a rush you know I took the opportunity to throw on a big necklace and headband!

If you’re wondering why that smile is more of a grimace, it might have something to do with this –

Dinner was consumed via movie snacks.

Baby carrots,

an entire cucumber, sliced, with salt,

2 servings of spice drops,

and I also split a small popcorn with the husband.

Perhaps not chock-full of nutrients but it was a lot of fun to eat.  I didn’t think the movie was quite as enjoyable though 😦  The fashion wasn’t as fun (harem pants, really?!?) and the Muslim traditions “humor” was forced and awkward.  I enjoyed the specific storylines about each couple but on a whole it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Did you see S&TC2 yet?  What’d you think?

Top it Off

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I am leaving to pick up the husband in exactly 29minutes so I’ll try to do this Speedy Gonzalez style.

This morning had all the components to make me cranky – I overslept and I didn’t get a chance to read and I was dropping everything I picked up.  Does that ever happen to you?  I think the main reason I don’t really wear make-up is because I’m always irritating myself by dropping the brushes!  Nothing a big smoothie can’t fix though.

1 banana + 1cup frozen blackberries + 2T unsweetened shredded coconut + 1cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk + 1t xanthan gum + 6ice cubes = filled to the brim.

The coconutty flavor in this was awesome, I don’t think there’s anything that isn’t better with coconut.

We actually got our 1ominute break in soc today (hallelujah!) so I took the opportunity to snack on a bag of Peeled Snacks dried pineapple.

Best dried pineapple ever!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen dried pineapple sans added sugar before (maybe at Trader Joe’s?) but this bag was just fruit, and since it’s available at Starbucks I don’t need to make a trek to NYC to get more!

After class I stopped in at Cafe59 – the coffee shop on my street – to get caught up on my reading.  While I worked I ate a delicious salad for a late lunch.

For a set price, they offer a build-your-own salad in which you get to pick lettuce, dressing, and 5 toppings.  I adore BYO in general, but this might be one of my best combinations yet.  I choose romaine lettuce and balsamic dressing with sundried tomato, green olives, Portobello mushrooms, marinated zucchini, and roasted garlic.

The flavor combination was kind of fantastic.  The big pieces of roasted garlic really made it.

The husband and I have some fun plans for the evening, I’ve just got to go get him!

What are your favorite salad toppers?  I’m partial to carmelized nuts and goat cheese, mmmmn!

Hugh Laurie is a God

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Our run didn’t end up happening, but we did make a pretty banging dinner.

I veganized (and updated to fit our failing pantry) a recipe from “Fitness Magazine,” Lemony Fusilli with Chicken, Zucchini, and Pine Nuts.  My changes to the original recipe (which is available by clicking the link in the recipe title) –

  • sub in ww rotini for fusilli
  • halve the amount of evoo
  • use scallion whites and greens
  • sub in lemon zest for lemon peel
  • add the red pepper only to my plate at the end (husband hates the heat)
  • skip the basil
  • skip the parmesan
  • sub in 16oz of seitan for chicken

I don’t know if it was the extra 4ounces of “meat” or what, but we felt like this made closer to 6 than 4 servings.  Thank goodness it was tasty, because we have a lot of leftovers.

Post-dinner, during House watching (oh my god, the season finale, oh my god!) I snacked on 2servings of spice drops.

I was majorly craving something sweet but there was literally not a single piece of dark chocolate at Walgreens that didn’t have milk fat in it.

I am behind on my soc reading (already?!) so I’m trying to scoot my butt into bed so I can do some catch up in the am.  Happy Hump Day dreams!

Have you cooked with seitan before?  What are you waiting for?

Lots of New Things to Try

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I got the second day of Vegan Month off to a good start by trying out some new finds for breakfast.

1cup of Barbara’s Vanilla Almond Shredded Oats with 1cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk and 2 chopped nectarines.

I knew to expect a lot from So Delicious, but I was pleasantly surprised by the cereal.  The squares were nice and crunchy and just sweet enough.  I would definitely keep eating them once this month is ever.

I was in Sociology from 10:30 – 12:40, apparently we are going to have a pop quiz pretty much every day.  Also – quick rant – the class is 2hours + 10minutes so we can take a 10minute break, not so he can blather the entire time; grrrrr!

I had to go to the bookstore afterwards so I brought along a Primal Strip to try to hold off my hunger.

Tasty, tasty!  The texture wasn’t as hard as normal jerky (a good thing) but had the trademark chew, and the flavor was a good balance of sweet and salty, even though it was a bit sticky.  I bought a peanut version as well that I’m excited to try now.

When I got home I ate some yellow tortilla chips (less than 1 serving),

to keep from starving while I cooked up lunch.

I’m glad I didn’t eat too many chips, I would have hated to have been full for that bowl!

A small neon eggplant + ~3/4cup chopped okra + (too much)marinara.  It is definitely the end of okra season up here, I had to pick through the bin just to find that much.  I had never tried okra before this year and now it is one of my favorite veggies.

I was feeling unsatisfied after lunch still – I hate having to get so hungry because my schedule is thrown off – but I found the perfect thing in the depths of my freezer –

These Yoo-hoo popsicles are thankfully (disturbingly?) dairy-free, and two of them perfectly satisfied me.

On the agenda for today?  Some blog e-mails, picking up the husband, National Running Day, school reading, dinner…..

Sick Can Equal Super

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So I don’t know what the deal is with my tummy, but it turns out it wasn’t hunger.  I felt queasy all afternoon (I’m NOT preggers) and when I went to lay down I actually fell asleep before I could even set the alarm, Adam had to take the train home from work!  I really hope that it’s something random and I’m not getting sick because I don’t even know how I would deal with that with summer school.

We rescheduled our run for tomorrow and when we went out to pick something up at UPS we got dinner from Wegman’s hot bar instead of cooking.

I’d be lying if I said I’m not always excited about hot bar, even in spite of a tummy ache!  And tonight’s selections seemed especially tasty.

Wok seared veggies,

steamed broccoli,

roasted sweet potato,

and it turned out that awesome vegetarian meatballs from the other day are vegan as well, sweet!

In the end dinner was perfectly filling and super tasty, almost worth the bellyache.

When I got home I got straight to work reading for Sociology, and I’ve got to hurry and get showered and bedded so I can continue in the morning.  See ya tomorrow afternoon!

A Day of Firsts

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In case you missed it, June is Vegan Month.  And what better way to start off the month than with a Green Monster?

This bad boy had 1 frozen banana and 1 cup frozen spinach blended with 1 cup of calcium + vitamin d oj.

Green Monsters were my favorite discovery during my two-week vegan stint in February, and I think they are going to be instrumental in getting me through this month.

Today was also the first day of summer school.  I have an online nutrition class in July, but in June I have to be on campus from 10:30 – 12:40 M-F for Sociology.  Here we are looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed –

And then during one of my five trips to pee before class started I snapped a picture of me looking nervous.

And right I was to be nervous, this is going to be a hard month!  My professor is funny but his lecture voice is really hard to understand and the syllabus is totally unclear.  I hate when teachers want to be all loosey-goosey with the due dates; tell me what I need to read for what dates!  Plus we are not allowed to have any food or drinks in the classroom?!

I had some business to take care of on campus and by the time I got home it was after 2 and I was starving.  I grabbed the first thing I could to tide myself over.

3oz of baby carrots,

and 1oz of yellow tortilla chips.

I was so hungry I was actually getting light-headed and nauseous.  Once I calmed down a bit I made myself a frozen meal as well, Tandoor Chef Vegetable Pad Thai.

The nutritional stats on this are pretty good,

and it is delicious!

It tastes just like tasty, authentic Thai food from a restaurant.  The pasta is the right texture and it is perfectly seasoned.  Plus there are pieces of spongey fried tofu that I adore.  I give this two thumbs up and highly recommend you try it, vegan or not.

I’m actually still feeling pretty sick so I’m going to set the alarm and see if I can take a quick nap.  I have to pick up the husband from the lab later and of course I’ve got some reading to do.

What is your favorite type of frozen meals?

Vegan Month

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In case you don’t know, June = Vegan Month.  During June, Allison and I are our challenging ourselves (and anyone else who wants to join us) to stick to a vegan diet for one month.  You might remember that I’ve done a shorter version of the challenge before.  Here is my recap from my 2weeks in 2009, and here is the recap from the 2weeks this February.

I don’t think that I will ever eat a 100% vegan or vegetarian diet in the long-run.  I believe that humans did evolve to eat some animal products, and that I personally feel more healthy when I include them in my lifestyle.  However, I also believe that –

  • Eating many vegan meals each week contributes to a healthy diet.
  • Vegan cooking and baking can be fun and satisfying.
  • Veganism is kind to our planet and can be a great way to conserve energy.
  • The current industrialized dairy and meat industries are immoral (even though in theory consuming meat and dairy is not) and the best way to vote is with my wallet.

During June, we will not be consuming any animal products.  That includes red meat and pork (which I don’t eat anyways); fish and fowl; milk, yogurt, or eggs; and any products that include lactose or whey.  Allison and I decided that we WILL continue to consume conventional alcoholic beverages, even though we are aware that they are not all 100% vegan.  I also most likely WILL continue to eat honey, while I feel some modicum of discomfort about eating other animal products, honey is one for which I am guilt-free, and it seems silly to avoid it.

During Vegan Month you can expect to see –

  • new recipes, and new spins on some old recipes
  • some guest posts
  • and lots of new product reviews

I hope you enjoy reading about our challenge, and I’d love it if you decided to join us!  Advice, cheerleading, questions, complaints…….

Boston to Buffalo

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We’re back in Buffalo!  I can’t help but be sad that vacation is over, but it always feels nice to get back home.

Our last day in Boston was our best yet!  I love ending vacation on a high note.  How could it not be though, when you start the day off with froyo?

This time I got chocolate malt, gingersnap, blackberry.  I only ate about 1/3 of it and the boys finished off the rest.

Then we hopped on the T and headed down to Grafton Street Cafe for brunch.

When we walked by on Friday we spotted Conan O’Brian eating there, so we were all pretty psyched about it.  Sadly, it ended up being one of our worst meals in Boston.  Still, it was fun to see Conan the other day!

We ordered Bloody Marys,

extra spicy.

And I had a piece of bread with butter.

Nikki and I also split a plate of fresh fruit.

For my meal I ordered the Veggie Benedict with roasted avocado, hollandaise on the side.

I can’t even tell you how excited I was about poached eggs when we sat down but mine ended up being so poorly done that they were more like hard-boiled!  I ate as much as I could manage because I was hungry, but I ended up leaving a lot of food on my plate.

Our next activity was 1.5mile walk (over a bridge and through the sun!) away so we grabbed some skim iced lattes for the road.

And pretty soon we were on the river!

We rented a 4-person canoe and spent an hour zig-zagging around.

It was so much fun and such a good arm workout!  I was in the front of the boat so my steering duties left my shoulder muscles burning!

After we walked back to the city we picked up our car and helped Nikki and Ian run a few errands before packing up and heading home.  We got on the highway at 8pm so we planned on stopping for dinner asap but we had basically no luck.  I ate a small serving of pretzel m&m’s to tide me over.

But by 10:30 we finally accepted that the best we were gonna do was McDonald’s.  I tried to go as healthy as I could (480calories and no trans fat, btw) with a 6piece chicken nuggets,

and a fruit and yogurt pack.

Meh.  As much as I am a fan of the occasional fast-food meal I hate McDonald’s.  It was good to have sustenance though, since we pulled into Buffalo after 3am.

Today is so full of errands – unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, school organizing – that I’m actually going to skip blogging.  I’ll be back tomorrow with the start of summer school and vegan month!

P.S.  Allison and I are doing Vegan Month in June.  Join us?