Author Archives: Emily

Snacks McGee

by

I was so excited by my salad combination, and it looked so tasty, but the moment I began eating I started feeling gaggy.  Does this ever happen to you?  Vegetables comprise most of my favorite foods list – roasted brussels sprouts, baby carrots – but sometimes they really don’t appeal to me.  I started feeling nauseous and sick to my stomach and I ended up eating less than half of my lunch.

I was extra glad I pre-packed a class snack!  I was still feeling stomach-rumbly once I got to campus but I was also hit by extreme-hunger-light-headedness.  I opened up my Cool Mint Chocolate Cliff Bar once class started,

and I slammed down my serving of TJ’s Gummi Tummies just a few minutes later.

I was still so hungry after class that I ended up buying a slice of pizza before Chemistry.

It was so nice to have a reprise from today’s near constant hunger!  I was deep into Chemistry studying from class to 9:45pm so I needed all my focus on my books.

I did manage to break away from equations long enough to throw together a pretty darn tasty dinner.

I made myself egg salad with the last of the Easter eggs.  I didn’t really measure anything, but I mashed 2 hard-boiled eggs with a little bit of  mayo and mustard and a lot of pickle relish.

With two thin slices of fresh ciabatta bread.

We generally are impressed with everything about Wegmans but trying items from their bakery has just given us more to love!  This was wonderfully chewy.

A while later I made a pretty bangin’ snack plate.

3 Melba crackers dipped in dark chocolate and pistachios

,

with most of a Minneola.

This combination of flavors was fantastic, I loved the flavors of citrus mixed with chocolate.  Perfect study fuel.

I’ve got a quiz tomorrow at 8am (my breakfast/lunch post will probably be pretty late tomorrow) so I’ve got to get off to bed.  See ya on the flipside!

Here is the recipe Old London and Melba Snacks provided me with –

Chocolate Pistachio Crunch, yields 40

  • 4cups semi sweet dark chocolate chips
  • 1box Melba Snacks Sea Salt
  • 1cup pistachios, chopped and toasted
  1. Stir chocolate in a large bowl set over a saucepan of boiling water until melted and smooth making sure that water does not touch the bowl and that the chocolate does not get too hot.
  2. Remove from over water.
  3. Dip into melted chocolate to cover half of the Melba Snack.
  4. Gently shake off excess chocolate.
  5. Place on a baking sheet and quickly sprinkle with chopped pistachios.
  6. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm, about 35minutes.

Shaken, Not Stirred

by

I didn’t get as much done this morning as I could have hoped, but it was certainly an improvement on my track-record of late.  I have my final Chemistry quiz (and lab!) tomorrow, for which I began studying making up reading for at the oh-so-responsible hour of 10:00 this morning.

My breakfast wasn’t really big enough so I did some snacking while I studied.  Half a package of chocolate covered espresso beans; I can’t believe how long I’ve had these sitting in my cabinet.  [My camera ate the photo, but if you click the link there is an original picture of them there]

As well as some homemade trail mix;

1/2 cup Kashi H2H, 1/6cup dried cranberries, 1T cinnamon chips.  I liked this combination a lot.  I always make my own trail mixes because they tend to be healthier than store-bought, but I end up putting so many healthy items in that the serving size becomes unhealthy.  Today’s mix had ~200calories and still managed to interest my taste buds.  Sometimes simplicity is better.

I worked on my lab-work all morning then threw some veggies in the oven while I took a much needed shower.  I emerged much cleaner, and quite excited about my roasted veggie salad lunch.

Romaine lettuce base topped with roasted broccoli, cauliflower, and yellow squash.

I roasted extra veggies so I could put some pre-made in the fridge for the rest of the week.

I ‘made’ extra of my salad dressing as well.  I was in the mood for blue cheese but I’m not one of those bloggers who like my lettuce dry; I knew I would need to spread my dressing further in order to get enough of it.  So for two servings (today and tomorrow) I shook together 2T blue cheese dressing with 2T vinegar.

Whenever Adam and I finish a jar, canister, or what-have-you we always wash it out and save it to be reused.  It is a convenient way to be green, and save some $.

Speaking of saving money, I can tell this is going to be a snacky day so I thought ahead this time and threw some snacks into my purse already.  I’m heading to campus to pick up the husband before Anthropology and Chemistry, I’ll let you know what I ended up snacking on when I get back for dinner.

Does your family reuse containers or do you just trash them?

Curd You Guess

by

Good morning!  I am not even going to talk about the ‘work’ I did on my mini-hiatus.  Let’s just say it is actually stunning how little work I’ve managed to get done in the last month and leave it at that.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that today will be the day I break the losing streak 🙂

Either way, at least breakfast was a winner.

Plain, fat-free yogurt topped with fresh raspberries and lemon curd.

These are my first fresh berries of the season which is pretty excited.  But I’m feeling bummed that the curd is almost gone; I need to make another batch asap!  I’m thinking I’ll try tangerine, or key lime, or something extra exciting.

Have you ever made/tried any ‘fancy’ curds?  I’ve only tasted lemon but I imagine that the possibilities are endless.

One-Pot Wonder

by

I am so sorry to rush through this post but the husband is working at the hospital tonight and I know if I want to get any work done at all I need to tear myself away from the computer immediately!

The morning was spent at an open house at Buffalo State.  None of the breakfast options really appealed to me but I did snag a big plate of fresh fruit.

When we got home the husband made himself a plate of green tuna enchilladas (and smushed it all up with his fork) which he then decided he didn’t want, so I ate them for my lunch.

This was the last of the leftovers and they will be missed, definitely a keeper recipe.

However, my mouth was on fire (our green salsa was a bit too spicy)!  I was so hot I finally pulled this box out of the freezer –

These ice pops traveled with us from Brooklyn to Buffalo unopened!  I tried the Dr. Pepper one today,

and I don’t know what I was waiting for; it was sweet and mouth-cooling all for 35calories.

While grocery shopping I tried a small bread + cheese sample,

and when we got home I opened up a Dannon Light and Fit Apple Pie Yogurt.

There was some major artificial sugar taste but the strong cinnamon and huge pieces of apple pretty much made up for it.  Plus anything with a SunButter spoon is good!

I also ate a small bowl of popcorn while we watched the 100th episode of Bones.

Anyone else a Bones addict?  What’d you think?????

Dinner was this recipe from “Rachael Ray Magazine” – Chicken Chutney One-Pot.

My changes; based on Adam’s tastes and our pantry –

  • we only used 1lb of skinless boneless chicken breast
  • 1T (vs. 2T) evoo
  • 1potato subbed in for the apple
  • skipped the ginger
  • skipped the cumin

I did serve the dish with some crusty bread though, smeared with roasted garlic.

I followed Ms. How Sweet’s garlic technique, she’s kind of a culinary genius.

And a side of roasted green beans.

Made for a very tasty dinner.

I will probably do a bit of snacking while I (hopefully) study this evening, I’ll update later if so.  Hope everyone’s having a great weekend!

Do you read any food magazines?  I’m subscribed to Cooking Light and Rachael Ray, but I love to pick up Bon Apetit too whenever I can.

*****Updated – Unless eating ice-cream on the couch counts as tedious, I didn’t get a lot of work done last night.  I’m sure I’ll find other means of distractrion, but I’m taking the computer out of the equation for today; see you again Monday!

Booze and Board Games

by

It’s been a very enjoyable evening, but it’s also a late evening (after midnight) and I’ve got an early morning tomorrow (open house at Buffalo State) so I’ll keep it quick.

I ended up only eating half of my sandwich and giving the rest to Adam.  If you’re concerned I’m not feeling myself, not to worry, I completely killed my diet dr. pepper and jalapeno poppers 🙂

I did make myself a tasty snack a couple of hours later though.

A cup of Eggnog’n Tea (it was 40* out today!),

and 3spoons of lemon curd with a serving of Biscoff cookies.

Yumtastic!  The combo of flavors there was truly toe-curling.

Some friends came over to hang out and eventually we headed to dinner.  We had to go back to Cozumel’s so that they could experience it 😉

I tried to keep my hands off the chips this time,

but only because I knew that we had a plate of fried cactus coming.

A few of us split this appetizer (I had about 1/3) and were all pretty impressed.

Drinks were flowing so I ordered the Tequilla Popper Up.

Tequilla, 7-Up, and grenadine.  So-so, I ended up sharing it with the husband.

And for dinner I ordered the Donnie Brasco Quesadilla fresh shrimp, homemade basil pesto, roasted red pepper & smoked gouda stuffed in a flour tortilla.

It was very, very tasty.  However, I only ate about half of my meal, choosing instead to decimate Adam’s fries; my booze wasn’t the best influence.

After dinner we all headed over to another friend’s house to play some board games.  We did some serious We Didn’t Playtest This At All and Pictionary.  I had a half sweet/half regular coffee,

but the caffeine didn’t keep me from losing at everything!

Hope everyone else had a fabulous evening!

An Even Better New Thing

by

TGIF!  Not having a job and all, weekends don’t really mean much to me lately, but today has been an exceptionally good day. 

Before I headed to the gym I ate a big spoonful of TJ’s SunButter.

As well as a mixed berry mix 1.

Tasty, but I split it with the husband so I wouldn’t be too sloshy.

I pulled out the new one-piece and headed to the pool for my first ever swim workout.  I was a little bit nervous but things ended up going great.  Growing up on an island, of course I’ve always known how to swim, but I don’t know how to swim swim.  I’m so slow!  True story: one time my friend Amanda realized we could move faster with her swimming and pulling me along by one leg than by swimming and waiting for me to catch up!

Today I did 32laps in 30minutes.  That’s 32 x 25meters or almost .5miles.  It felt great to be moving again!  Nothing could replace running for me but this might be one of my new favorite workouts.  Some thoughts –

  • they made me buy a swim cap (yes I looked ridiculous, yes I’ll post pictures next time) but I think some ear plugs might need looked into as well
  • I refuse to wear goggles too, but Visine definitely needs to be purchased
  • I alternated between breast stroke and freestyle but I don’t know how to flutter-kick at all; I was frogging it the whole time!
  • My leg hurt once or twice but overall I think this is a safe, great workout for my injury
  • I need to pack a change of clothes.  I thought I would just throw my yoga pants back on over my wet suit but it felt so awful I ended up just going commado!

When I drove home I couldn’t find a parking spot anywhere near our house.  I had to pay for a meter (which I need to refill or move at 3) and then make a long trek home.  On my walk I stopped in at Arbys for a diet soda and totally got suckered in by some good marketing – Market Fresh Pecan Chicken Salad Sandwich, with chicken, pecans, celery, apples, grapes, and mayo.

Yum.  I couldn’t help getting jalapeno poppers as my side.

Not the best or worst lunch ever.

I have to run, I need to go fill the darn meter soon!

Do you ever swim to work out?  Any tips for me?

Can you get me a choco-banana…..Foster?

by

7:30 is a much nicer time to wake up than later hours.  For one thing, it gives me more time to make an out of this world breakfast!

That would be a sliced banana cooked in 1T of butter, over plain 0% yogurt with a sprinkle of brown sugar, drizzled with honey.

Oh man!  Bananas Foster is pretty much one of my favorite desserts and I almost never get to eat it, so a similar taste for breakfast rocked my socks*.

*note – I said a sprinkle for a reason; I slipped and added ~2T! of brown sugar to mine and it was a bit sweeter than I’d like

Who knows what movie my title comes from??

A New Favorite

by

Sorry for the late post, but I did have tons of fun!  I also apologize for the daily long postage (as opposed to three a day), it looks like that’s going to be the norm around here for a while.  The next three weeks are chockfull of exams; not like I did much studying today but you know!

I ate breakfast around 10:30 – just what happens when you wake up after 9! – so leftover green tuna enchilladas just felt right.

Amazingly, these were even more tasty after a day in the fridge!

I picked up the husband around 1 and we sat in the campus cafe to study a bit before class.  I’m not sure what has been up with my intensely specific cravings lately but today’s was for frozen coffee.  I just went with it…

A couple of thoughts – 1) I could make a frozen coffee at home for less calories and $ so this was a little silly; 2) this ended up being outrageously good and I’m so glad I got it!  I ordered the ‘Jamaican Me Cooler’ because it made me giggle and it ended up having coconut in it 🙂

Before my next class, a couple of hours later, I got sucked in by another beverage.

I adore Naked juice, coconut is pretty much my favorite thing, and the new nutritional stats looked good.

This was good but not as impressive as I was hoping for; I’d probably just drink a coconut water next time and save the calories.  It’s always good to get in some servings of fruit though!

I ended up having a pop quiz in Chemistry (?!?!) and even though we had leftovers about and a dinner plan it didn’t take too much for Adam to talk me into a dinner out.

We wandered over to Cozumel Grill and Tequilla Bar, a place we’ve been eyeing on all our recent walks,

and it’s our new favorite place on Earth!  Seriously, we might have just developed an obsession.  There were at least 10 things each that Adam and I were dying to try on the menu!  And they brought out complementary housemade tortilla chips and salsa.

I freaking dived into that basket, these chips were even better than the ones from Burrito Bar in Brooklyn.

For dinner I went with the Maryland Blue Crab Quesadilla.

So good!  Everything was super fresh and this felt so high-brow for a quesadilla.  I shared 1/4 with the husband who was pretty much in love as well.  We have plans to go back asap!

I hope everyone else had a great day.  Pleasant dreams and happy Fridaying.

How do you discover new restaurants?  I definitely look at Yelp for specific cravings but in general we find things by wandering around new neighborhoods.