Author Archives: Emily

Achoo, Achoo!

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I’m feeling sick so I’ll keep this quick.  (I’m a poet and I don’t even know it, ha!)  My s-i-l has cats that I’m super allergic to I’ve been sneezing my head off.  So I’ve got showering, packing, and sneezing 8bazillion times still on the agenda before bed.

This morning I made a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch with skim milk.

I’m not gonna lie, Adam was getting some seriously whining about my inability to make a Green Monster.  Sometimes (like all day today) the food situation with my in-laws is frustrating because I eat so differently than they do.

When Adam and I went to gas up the car around noon I spotted a ‘make-your-own’ milkshake machine and squealed with glee.

I’m not sure why these are so exciting to me but they really are.  Adam and split a mint chocolate chip.

And then we came home for a real lunch.

Celery and carrots with a little bit of ranch,

part of a Cara Cara Orange,

and a turkey sandwich.

I also had a few of these throughout the afternoon.

My m-i-l made an adorable bunny cake –

But it was box cake with can icing and there was no way that was worth the trans fat ingestion.

Dinner was a Mexican affair.

Turkey nachos,

and chicken, peppers, and black bean quesadillas.

Adam and I were in charge of making the quesadillas but I only ended up eating half of one.  I did go back for nachos seconds though.

My b-i-l made a plate with nachos just for the two of us and I was in heaven.

My favorite part of dinner was my beverage though.  Diet cola with Strawberry Crush, hell yeah!

I ate way too much crap this weekend, but I know that that streak will be continued tomorrow because we have a foodie day planned……..in New York City!!!!!

Do y’all have any idea how excited I am to back to the city?!  Oh man!  We are getting there around 11 and staying until around 7pm.  It’s obviously not the trip we had planned originally, because our favorite thing to do in NYC is walk, but we wanted to go in spite of my injury.  Even a low-key day will be a lot of fun.

We have an 8+hour drive back to Buffalo and I have classes Tuesday afternoon so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post a recap.  I hope everyone else had a great weekend.

What is your favorite US city?

Eating Like I’m on Vacation

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It’s been a good day of family fun.  Sadly I had a ton of school work to do so a lot of my time was spent with my nose buried in a book.  I managed to sneak in a few a few strength training exercises as well; I packed a resistance band for just that purpose.

For breakfast I arranged a little bowl.

4oz of 2% cottage cheese, medium sliced banana, Multigrain Cheerios.

And for lunch I roasted up a huge plate of veggies.

Broccoli and cauliflower.

I made some for my sister-in-law too; she’d never tried roasted veggies before and she ended up loving them.  I guess I’m influencing all sorts of people!

I dipped my hand into this two or three times as well!

We ended up going to an all you can eat Chinese buffet for dinner.  I’m not the biggest buffet fan and this one was seriously lacking in veggies but I made do.  I ge that people want to eat crap (and I ate my fair share of it), but I don’t understand having such a variety of food and not managing to squeeze in a single veggie!  I was glad I ate a produce-heavy lunch.

Plate 1 –

I ate all of the (not so good) green beans and half of the chicken.

Plate 2 = a bunch of fried stuff.  I’m not sure why the camera randomly ate this picture, I guess my Sony likes crab rangoon.

Plate 3 –

My favorite!  I was mmmning and yumming through this whole plate of fruit.

There were some tasty looking desserts but we planned to go to Rita’s after dinner.

I’ve been so excited about trying to find one of these because the menu is a lot like Jeramiah’s in Orlando and the husband totally came through and spotted one today.  I got a small gelati; mint chip italian ice and twist custard.

So good, I was basically swooning.

Everyone else is eyeing the board games but I have a ton more work to get through tomorrow so I think I’ll turn in soon.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

What’s your feeling on buffets?

Under the Influence

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Hello from PA!  It was a loooong day in the car but we made it.  I’m more than ready for bed, and I have an actual topic to discuss, so I’ll keep the food recaps quick.

Breakfast this morning was a new kind of Green Monster.

For two (Adam and I) I blended 2cups frozen spinach, 1cup frozen strawberries, and 2cups skim milk.  They were ok, not even close to my regular GM love.

The reason I made the crappy new Green Monsters was because the husband tends to not like oj in smoothies, but was willing to give spinach smoothies a try.  Adam almost never eats breakfast, and doesn’t eat anywhere near enough servings of veggies, so if I could get him on the Green Monster band wagon it would be positive all around.  I know it seems like I eat a lot of crap (especially in comparison to the other healthy living bloggers) but in general I’ve been a good influence on the husband’s diet since we met.

  • He eats far less red meat now, maybe once a month or so.  He grew up in a more than once a day meat family.
  • He’s even gotten on board with the occasional vegetarian dinner.  And surprise – he loves tofu!
  • 90% of what I cook is healthy.
  • I always keep the house stocked with healthy snacks.
  • And even though he eats his own junk from time to time, he’s basically stopped eating any trans fat because of what I’ve told him about it.

Obviously as a medical student the husband has more health knowledge than the average American, but it feels really great to help someone I love make good choices.

For brunch (eaten at 9:30am?) I polished off the rest of the gumbo.

So fricking good, I can’t wait to share this recipe with y’all!

And when we got on the road we split a bag of Fizzy Skittles.

I am in love with the new nutritional panels I’ve been seeing on some products.  Obviously that blurb doesn’t tell the whole story (and there is complete info on the back) but I love being able to know calories at a glance.

By 7 we were starving for dinner.  When we pulled off Adam got giddy at the sight of this –

Eat n’ Park.  Meh.  I’m not big on diner food but he was very excited.  This is where the husband influences my choices (and not for the better!) I ended up ordering an Oreo Milkshake with my meal.

I always request skim milk when I order a milkshake.  I get no more enjoyment from a whole milk milkshake (in fact I much prefer skim) so it never hurts to ask.  Never be embarrassed to make healthy substitutions, even to a not-so-healthy order!

For dinner I ordered the pirogues.

I was starving but these were just not good.  I ate about 1/3 and then I stopped.  I know I’m not exactly the picture of good choices, but I do have one hard and fast rule – If it’s not good for me and I don’t like it I don’t eat it.  There are so many foods that I love and so many foods that are good for me, why eat something ho-hum just because it’s there?

You’ll never guess where we ended up stopping to get me the rest of my dinner –

Wegman’s salad bar!  I got lots of veggies and I loved them.  I’m not gonna lie, I picked all of the broccoli out of the container!

I also love these quad-containers, perfect portion control.  Thai style tofu and veggies,

General’s chicken,

and Paneer Mutter.

Yums!  I gave Adam a big bite of all three dishes and he loved them as well.

I was left perfectly satisfied by dinner, and probably should have just said no to pizza at the in-laws, but it just looked too tasty.

A weekend trip isn’t exactly a ‘vacation,’ tomorrow I’m going to try to eat a little less crap.  It’s bedtime in these parts, sweet dreams!

How have you influenced your significant other’s eating habits?  What healthy changes have you inspired (or been inspired by)?

Another Recipe Tease

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Alrighty, I’m here for a sour-puss post, as promised.  I got my Chem score back and let’s just say I will be working my butt off for the rest of the semester.  I actually still have an A in the class overall, but I’d like to make sure I keep it.  I didn’t get my Anthro test back yet because class was canceled.  That would have been more exciting had I known before I sprint/limped through the rain to get there.  My leg hurt a lot, but I took advantage of the “found time” and gave myself 45minutes to read a magazine 😀

I also had time to do some Chemistry reading while I waited for my next class.  I snacked on a package of Strawberry Pomegranate Teather while I worked.

The fruit leather was hard-core delicious, but I was starving by the time I got home.  Hunger coupled with major leg pain lead me to the peanut butter M&M’s.

I ended up having three handfuls!  I would have been better off sitting down with a small plate of real food.

Dinner was a healthier situation.

I wish I could share this recipe, Italian Style Gumbo, with you but it’s for another contest!  It was delicious though, and I promise to make a recipe page soon.

When I get up tomorrow I’ve got to pack for our PA trip and I’d like to squeeze in a workout too so bedtime is in order.  I hope everyone else had an irritation-free day!

Bags and Burst Bubbles

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Hi all!  This needs to be quick or I’ll be late to class.  I mostly wanted to warn you guys that I’ll probably get my tests back today so don’t expect a chipper dinner post 😦

I ended up eating an entire bag of green beans of lunch.

Roasted with a bit of salt they are just so addictive!

I ate while watching another addiction; “Mercy,” so bad and yet so good!

And managed to get in a fabulous 20minute strength/stretch session.  Yays!  Even though I’m not at a gym, my mats still get grimy, so I pulled out this bag of wipes my mom got me.

Good smell + natural + clean up = triple duty.

I also just made my first fresh (as in not frozen) spinach Green Monster.

It was good, but I prefer the thicker consistency of my frozen spinach ones.  Sorry to all my readers who like me and want to think I’m cool – not to burst your bubble, but yes I totally matched my outfit to my smoothie!

Newsies

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Hello, hello!  Sorry for the late breakfast post but I had an 8:15 advising appointment this morning.  Which leads me to the news I’ve hinting at ……. I was accepted to the Dietetics program at Buffalo State College for Fall 2010.  My meeting this morning had to do with applying for summer school, I’m hoping to get a jump on classes.

I almost missed my meeting, I forgot to take my cell phone alarm off vibrate last night; thank goodness the buzzing woke up the husband!  Since I overslept a bit I made breakfast an on-the-go affair:

So delicious, key lime mix1 enhanced protein shake.

The drink held me over well, but I did eat a yogurt when I got home.

Yoplait Fat Free Banana Cream Pie.

I’ve got an easy morning scheduled, but I do have some packing to do.  More news?!?  Adam and I are going to PA this weekend!  My sister-in-law is pregnant and on extended bed-rest and since Adam’s Spring break is next week it seemed like a good time to visit.  We also have a super exciting surprise stop on the way home.  I can’t wait!

Are any of my readers career changers?  I taught 8th grade English for two years before quitting my job to persue a career in nutrition.

Equations of Sorts

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It’s 9:20 and I would kill to already be in bed so I’ll keep this short and sweet.  My day went lab –> people watching on campus –> doctor’s appointment/waiting for the husband’s doctor’s appointment –>  eating junk whilst watching tv –> this super lame post.

Breakfast = green.

1cup frozen spinach, 1cup oj, 1 frozen banana.

Lunch = sandwich + spicy.

Bread, sliced turkey, spinach, Crofters superfruit spread, cheese.  Looks unassuming, but the Yancey’s Farm Buffalo Wing cheese was intense.

Plus a sliced jazz apple.

A less healthy snack.

1 small mint milkshake – minty flavor = half a milkshake in the trash.

Dinner = Moes.

Chicken Homewrecker Jr (that’s a small plate).

I swear on a Big Gulp of diet coke that I will have an actual post tomorrow.  And some good news!

Slopped on Bagels and Secret Buffalo

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Hi y’all, sorry for the late post!  It’s been a long (but good[ish]) day.  Adam and I stayed up way too late watching tv last night.  Catching up on “Modern Family” was amazing, but oversleeping this morning meant I didn’t have time to pack up like I’d planned.  At least I found at outfit that thrilled me –

My new blue chinos ($18, love love loved the Orlando outlet malls!) feel like Spring!

I drove the husband to school because I had an 8am coffee date with my friend Kate; “Free Pastry Day” at Starbucks was just too good to pass up.

I got a tall, skinny (i.e. small, nonfat and sugarfree) cinnamon dolce latte,

and a low-fat banana chocolate chip coffee cake.

I wanted to like the pastry, I really did, but it just tasted “diet.”  I prefer diet sodas to regular but anything else, yetch!  I ate about half of it so that I’d have something in my belly for breakfast.

Katie went to class around 9 and I ended up working on my Chemistry lab instead of reading; my mind just did not want to study for today’s test!  My desire for a good breakfast (and a need for caffeine to study with) fueled my lunch selection from the cafeteria.

Huge diet coke and a blueberry bagel with strawberry cream cheese.

I don’t want to complain, because the bagel was delicious and the cream cheese had real strawberries in it, but “deli-prepared” bagels always piss me off.  The cream cheese on my bagel was literally less than half of the amount the man wanted to put on.  Why?  Slopping on 3+ tablespoons of cream cheese is wasteful, unnecessary, and unhealthy.  I don’t understand why stores do this but I always make sure I ask for ‘half of what you usually use.’

My Anthro test went less than well, let’s just leave it at that.  Since I did poorly on both of my recent tests I know that I need to buckle down for the rest of the semester.  In fact, in between my test and my 2nd class I got right to work on the reading for the next class 🙂

After class (6:30) I had to pick up the husband, finish my lab, and un/pack my stuff for tomorrow.  I ate a small snack while I worked; pineapple and low fat cottage cheese.

Then, finally it was time to make dinner.

Buffao Chicken Baked Pasta.  I wish I could share the recipe with you guys but it’s my entry to a contest.  It was delicious though.

I’m going to do a quick quick (5-10minute) strength/stretch session and then I’ve got to hop in the shower.  I have a pilates video in my plan for tomorrow and I’m so excited!  Tomorrow will be another late(ish) post, I’ve got 8am lab and then a doctor’s appointment.  Cross your fingers for me that I’m actually able to schedule my bone scan.

What restaurant practices piss you off?