Poor Puppy

by Emily

I had a few silly things to complain about, but the dog had another seizure today so that kind of all pales in comparison. He’s doing ok now but we are going to have to meet with the vet soon and possibly rethink our strategy.

Regardless, it’s been a long day and just want to go to bed. Keeping this quick…

Kit’s Organic Chocolate Almond Coconut Bar.

Pear.

Honey wheat Sandwich Thin with white bean truffle spread and tempeh. (I ate the tempeh raw and I am officially never doing that again – I am still sooooo bloated and sick.)

1/2 serving Green and Black 70% Dark Chocolate.

Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt with Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola. Both are heavenly and the combo was fantastic.

Leftover stir-fry. The last 2 servings each of roasted broccoli, white basmati rice, and copycat CF spicy cashew chicken went into a skillet with 1 tsp sesame oil and 2 large eggs.

Ridiculous cookie.

Please go give your pets a big smooch for me.

3Mar2013

Copycat Cashew Chicken

by Emily

Today’s eats have been mighty tasty. I could wax poetic about flavors for hours, but we saved up the last two weeks of Castle and are in the middle of a very tense marathon!

Bagel for breakfast.

A Garlic and Italian Herb Bagel Thin (a new flavor!) with smoked salmon cream cheese.

Fruits and vegetables for lunch, split up before and after work. Roasted broccoli with lots of melted sharp cheddar before.

Honeycrisp apple with 1/2 Tbsp melted peanut butter after.

The apple was good, the cheesy broccoli was better.

Dinner was an absolute success.

We followed this copycat recipe for Cheesecake Factory’s spicy cashew chicken. We doubled the sauce and subbed Sriracha for cayenne pepper but otherwise followed the recipe.

Flipping amazing! Served with white basmati rice,

and more roasted broccoli.

We loved every bite and are eagerly awaiting leftovers for dinner tomorrow.

Single-serve cookie dough for dessert.

Also amazing.

And with that, I’ve got to go – Castle is blowing my mind.

Do you watch Castle?

3Mar2013

And We’re Off!

by Emily

Today was officially my first day off (from both school and work) since January 20th! 42 days straight!!! I didn’t even work full shifts for most of those days but it was still nice to have 24 hours all to myself for a change.

We didn’t do anything all that exciting with our newfound free-time but it still felt pretty damn nice. We did a major grocery trip, started watching Battlestar Galactica (please tell me that the episodes are faster paced than the movie?!), and Adam currently has the guys over for poker.

Breakfast was a bowl of peanut butter and bananas, squared.

2% Banana Chobani Greek Yogurt topped with a sliced banana, 1 tsp of melted peanut butter and 1 crumbled Cascadian Farm Crunchy Peanut Butter Granola Bar.

So flipping good.

Lunch was even better.

I took enough Pho home last night for Adam and I to both have lunch with the leftovers. I beefed mine up with some roasted broccoli and a soft-boiled egg. Plus more Sriracha, of course.

The entire bowl was delicious and the egg yolk melting into the broth was so amazing that it almost made me cry.

For dessert we shared this plate of samples.

Oh Nuts! offered to send me their Passover Cake & Cookie Sampler and I happily accepted.

Neither of us liked the brownie piece (too dry) but we thought that the jam in the sandwich cookie and raspberry jelly roll was nice. By the by, everything was gluten-free and kosher.

I also had an Adora calcium disk.

I am going to try to remember to take one every day for the next while, but I probably won’t blog about it again.

Dinner ended up being a (giant!) container of hot bar.

A little bit of mac and cheese and brussels sprouts and a bunch of chicken. Apparently I was in the mood for protein.

I made the poker players some Mac and Three Cheese Cups but they were gone before I could snag one. That’s a good sign!

What’s your longest run without a day off?

2Mar2013

(Pho)ning It In

by Emily

I regularly drop off the face of the blogging planet and I haven’t even started my next rotation yet! It’s rumored to be time-consuming and exhausting, but I’m sure that won’t keep me from hitting my 30-days goal this time. I mean, I made it an entire day the last round!

You missed – bubble tea with a friend, Adam and I splitting an entire bag of chips and dip for dinner, and other stuff that can’t have been that exciting because I honestly can’t remember any other food item from the past two days.

Also, the end of my purple hair.

I had to get rid of the streaks before my next rotation so I’m back to brown, albeit a darker, redder brown. I’ll try to get a picture in good light this weekend.

Today was the end of my winter break make-up and an on-campus meeting before we switch placements (I’ve got five weeks of clinical rotation in a local hospital coming up on Monday). Coffee was needed.

I earned a free coffee with a book store punch card so I went big (literally!) with a venti non-fat half-pumps toffee nut latte. Note – I drank my giant coffee and a diet pop in lieu of water all day and I totally paid the price this afternoon.

I was running late this morning – we ran out of water in the middle of my shower!!! – and I packed a fairly ridiculous trio of foods for my breakfast/lunch. A green pear.

A Honeycrisp apple.

And a package of Annie Chun’s Brown Sugar and Sea Salt Roasted Seaweed.

I wasn’t exactly full, but at least it all tasted good.

Our meeting got out a smidge early and three friends and I made it over to the mall for some high school-style fun. We wandered, window shopped, and got froyo.

A little plain tart with tons of popping boba for me!

Unfortunately, my dehydration kicked in during the fun and I ended up getting hit with a bad migraine. {Sorry to be such a downer guys!} I made it home just in time to throw up in my own bathroom; always a plus. Then I took medicine, and a nap, and managed to feel much better in an hour or so.

My boys joined me for the nap and this scene occurred –

They are too cute.

Once I rallied, Adam and I headed out for a fun dinner.

Red Pepper might be my new favorite restaurant. They gave us free tea and fried wontons,

and served me the best bowl of vegetarian Pho I’ve ever had.

Adam and I both thought that the broth was swoon-worthy.

I took the 2nd half of my trough home with me and we are quite excited for leftovers tomorrow.

‘Night!

27Feb2013

Coconut Chocolate Lavender

by Emily

Howdy! I have not been following my sleep schedule – – at all – – but I can say that today was quite productive. Every item on my list is now to-done!

The dog has been getting in and out of bed all night long recently and between that and my usually fitful sleep, mornings have felt very difficult this week. I barely had time to make it to work today so I had to take breakfast with me on the walk. This Wegman’s Bean and Cheese Burrito was good but not great.

Something about the flavor and texture made me long for a beverage, and I ended up exploding pinto beans all down the front of my winter coat.

I ate a Honeycrisp apple mid-morning.

Then I spent the rest of my day holed up in the basement like a retail hermit. We got in tons of tons of shipments on Monday and I opened and priced 99% of them today.

I never did have time for lunch at work (I kept my packed food in the fridge for an easy lunch tomorrow!) and I ended up doing double dinners. First was Wegman’s hot bar on a mini-date with the husband.

Wok-seared veggies,

and chicken dumplings and chicken salad.

Adam and I are obsessed with the dumplings’ dipping sauce and the combination of the sauce stirred into my chicken salad was the bomb.com. <– legit, it tasted so good that was the first expression that popped into my head!

I also ate a big bag of Easter candies from the bulk bins and gave myself a stomach-ache.

A little pain was worth it, the sugar rush totally helped me through the remainder of my internship journaling. Minus breaks for making food and eating food, I chugged away for the remainder of the evening.

Our home dinner was vegetable fried rice.

In the wok (for 2) –

1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
~1 heaping cup peas
~1 heaping cup roasted broccoli
~1.5 cups leftover brown rice
1 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1.5 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp Sriracha
3 large eggs

The dish had the potential to be great, but it was way too salty. It’s been awhile since I’ve used fish sauce and I forgot what a sodium-punch it packs. I ate a little less than 2/3 of my plate.

Dessert was a giant, delicious cookie.

Coconut Chocolate Lavender Cookies = this recipe for single serve cookies plus 1 tsp minced culinary lavender and chopped Sweetriot 70% dark kickin’ coconut chocolate subbed in for chocolate chips.

We were both big fans of the big cookies and big taste.

The winner of my Hey Shuga! giveaway is:

(#1) Jenny, shoot me an e-mail with your mailing address.

26Feb2013

Strawberry Tea With Mini Boba

by Emily

You can, in fact, purchase the giant tapioca balls known as “boba” for bubble tea. They are available in most Asian specialty groceries in most mid-sized cities. Sadly, it took me years to learn this. Even more sadly, some of you live in cities devoid of boba entirely. And it just wouldn’t be right to let you live a life free of bubbles.

I’m not going to say my recipe is as good as what you’d get in a tea shop. It isn’t. But it is good. And the fancy-factor of making your own strawberry tea makes up for the slightly less chewy boba.

I recommend making all of the components 24 hours ahead of time, for easy assembly the next day.

Strawberry Tea with Mini Boba, serves 4

5 bags tea of choice (I recommend a nice Earl Grey)
1 cup large pearl tapioca
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
sweetener to taste

Brew 4 cups of tea (the 5th bag is to make your 4 cups extra-strength) according to package directions. Set aside to cool completely.

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add tapioca and allow water to return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer tapioca for 5-10 minutes, until balls are mostly translucent. Strain and run under cool water to stop the cooking process. Store cooked tapioca in a water-bath in a Tupperware in the fridge.

Place berries in a small saucepan over medium-low heat (go ahead and reuse your dirty tapioca saucepan, I won’t tell!). Cook 1 minute, using the side of a wooden spoon to mash the berries. Add sugar and continue to cook until it is completely dissolved, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a Tupperware.

Divide mashed strawberries evenly between 4 glasses. Top with brewed tea and shake or stir to combine. Sweeten to taste. Carefully scoop cooked tapioca out of water bath and place into tea. Serve with large straws to allow for bubble slurping.

25Feb2013

Day One Of Thirty? {Again}

by Emily

Complaints first – The chance for 8-hours of sleep passed before I even started this post. All of my end of internship assignments are due on Friday and I’m freaking out. I ate two snacks after dinner and I am still flipping hungry.

Complaints aside, it wasn’t a bad day. We got lots (and lots) of shipments at work so I was nice and busy.

The morning started with smoothies.

For two: 1 Thai young coconut, ~1 cup frozen blue/blackberries, 1 medium frozen banana, and 2 Tbsp Hey Shuga! <– don’t forget, you still have another ~hour to enter my giveaway!

I didn’t have a lot of time for lunch so I kept it simple. A Garuka Bar (from my yumvelope).

The sweet peanut butter coating was addictively good; I planned on snacking on it throughout a task but every time I tried to walk away I took another bite instead!

I also had a Fage 0% Greek Yogurt with Cinnamon Apple Raisins.

The flavor isn’t listed on the Fage website and I’ve only seen it at Target. The apple compote was good, but nothing can really compare to the pure decadence of the honey and strawberry flavors.

I only had an hour between work and night class so Adam and I cashed in a coupon for Subway for dinner.

6 inch turkey with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, banana pepper, red onion, and honey mustard on Italian herb and cheese bread.

I knew my sandwich wouldn’t quite fill me up and I shared this peanut butter spoon with Webster when I got home.

Then I also had a plate of baby carrots with the last of some smoked gouda spread.

And a bag of Smart Fries.

I ended up dipping my “fries” in yellow mustard. And then I had a big glass of water; methinks I’m a bit dehydrated!

25Feb2013

Weekend Highlights

by Emily

Hello, Monday! This is my last week of “break,” but I don’t even care because I had such a good weekend. The past three days have been packed full of fun; we did so much on Saturday that Adam even said I wore him out! Other than some short shifts at work, every moment has been exciting.

I only have time to share the highlights, but I will make this note – we ate like we had the wallets of our future and the metabolisms of our past!

I tried this dark chocolate and soft caramel Nunu bar (from the Yumvelope subscription my mom got me for Christmas) and fell in love.