Last Friday Night

by Emily

I spent Friday night getting a little drunk. Mind you, not so drunk that I would actually want to listen to Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night.” We did watch some bad stand up comedy on Netflix though. <– Tim Minchin, not as funny as this joke would lead you to believe. (It’s so dirty, don’t click, Nana!)

Yesterday, Bitchtastic

Friday morning started with a Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna Bar on the way to the hospital.

I had plans for a morning gym session but when I saw the weather report I decided to sleep in instead. We got really lucky here, the snow was annoying but not anything dangerous.

I had a nice day at the hospital in spite of the weather. I got to chart on several interesting patients and had a little more practice with doing pediatric TPN orders. I love the nutrition support aspect of dietetics but children are really different from what I’ve done with adults.

Lunch was a simple salad.

Chopped green pepper and cucumber with evoo, Sriracha, and some salty peanuts.

What a winning combination!

Plus a GoGo Squeez Cinnamon Applesauce packet.

Great on the go, but not as amazing as the pile of fruit I had when I got home.

Underneath my mounds of blue and blackberries was Naked Vanilla Oat Milk, a little honey, and 1/4 cup each All Bran Bran Buds and Nature’s Path Coconut Chia Granola.

So flipping good. And it was a good thing I got in a healthy snack because my responsible food choices took a downhill turn during the rest of the evening.

I blame the Bitch Bubbly.

A girlfriend came over and she, Adam, and I drank the bottle in mimosas.

The sparkling wine was pretty bad, but our next round was fantastic –

Sips Lavender Lemondrop Sparkling Cocktails! This was so fun, and quite delicious. I described it to my coworker today as “Kate Spade’s Four Loco.” I would definitely buy them again.

But maybe I’d eat dinner first next time. My evening meal ended up being… A slice of bread with Smart Balance Light,

and a huge bowl of popcorn with melted Earth Balance.

Major thanks to the husband for making me two bowls of popcorn; I spilled that first one within a matter of minutes!

Fashion Friday

Today, Tofutastic

Saturday’s meals were a little healthier. Still very tasty though.

For breakfast, Adam and I split a great pb & j.

With a pear on the side.

I worked today, but only a half shift, so I had time to get lunch from Wegman’s hot bar. Some tofu and veggies in mushroom dashi with two pieces of inari.

I did lots of Googling, and as far as I could tell mushroom dashi is just mushroom stock, so I’m still not sure what that yummy sauce was.

We made tofu for dinner too.

A bed of cabbage —a bag of “Asian Slaw” mix cooked with a bit of Earth Balance with caramelized onions tossed in towards the end— topped with walnuts —cooked in a skillet with salt and sugar— and tofu —super firm tofu cooked in the skillet we used for the onions, finished with a sauce of tamari, rice vinegar, sesame oil, Sriracha, honey, and orange juice.

I was glad I added the nuts at the last-minute to help break up the texture. The flavors were spot on though.

I had Goody Good Stuff Tropical Fruit for dessert.

Adorable, and much firmer than the other varieties.

Was your area hit with this weekend’s crazy weather?

7Feb2013

Petite Treats Book Giveaway

by Emily

Since the giveaway ties in with breakfast, I’m going to post this day in reverse! Also I’m going to do it quickly, since I’m late picking up the husband.

Dinner – Veggie summer roll from Wegmans while we knocked next week’s grocery shopping out of the way early.

Lunch – A tempeh sandwich with Sriracha Nayo and Strawberry Crofter’s on a Sandwich Thin.

A pear.

And more soft strawberry licorice.

Breakfast – A ridiculous coffee in the car on the longish drive to an off-site clinic. Venti soy latte with (half pumps) cinnamon dolce syrup.

And delicious mini scones.

Actually, Blueberry Lavender Skookies. <– squeeee!

The skookie recipe came from Petite Treats; Mini Versions of Your Favorite Baked Delights, a book I was sent to review.

Here is what the publishers said about it –

Good things come in small packages—and now so do all of your favorite desserts!

Introducing “Petite Treats,” an adorable cookbook featuring delicious, bite-sized, reduced-guilt sweets that are sure to charm family and friends at any gathering.

From the authors of “Mini Pies” and founders of the Seattle-based Mini Empire Bakery, “Petite Treats” shows you how to miniaturize everything from tiny fruit scones and mini pies to bite-size brownies and cutesy cannoli—sweet satisfaction guaranteed.

This book includes dozens of full-color photos and easy-to-follow recipes, as well as decorating and presentation tips. Let “Petite Treats” be the star of your next holiday, birthday or cocktail party.

And here are my thoughts –

a good mix of healthy and decadent treats, all in the miniature
the instructions were easy, and easy to follow!
some recipes are vegan (like the skookies)
they included a mini piecaken (a pie within a cake) so you know that the authors must be on top of their dessert game!
the pictures make me drool

They gave me the opportunity to share a book with my readers too. Since you guys like me, I knew that y’all love things that are small and sweet! <– that was so corny I think I made myself throw up.

For a chance to win a copy of the book – simply comment on this post by midnight on Monday (February 11th).

6Feb2013

Ball Of Stress

by Emily

I’ve been trying to let myself sleep in as late as possible this week and bars help me do that. I ate this White Chocolate Macadamia Clif Bar in the car on the way to the hospital.

I’m feeling a lot better from Monday but I’m still making a point of not skipping breakfast.

For lunch I veganized my favorite bean salad by swapping out cheese cubes for spicy Nayo.

Black eyed peas + chopped green pepper + smoked almonds + spicy Nayo.

Nothing is ever as good sans cheese but this was still pretty damn good.

With a Mango Coconut Sparkling KeVita.

And cola breeze and sour mix and match gummies for dessert.

I found these Goody Good Stuff Gummies at 7-11.

They are vegetarian and pretty good, though they are a little soft for my tastes. The husband loved them though; he had one taste and rest of my bags were gone.

I am having a really great time at the pediatric hospital, but I have to admit that I am really stressed out right now. There are a lot of things happening in my school and personal life at the moment that are freaking me out. I can’t talk about any of it on the blog, but I will say that I am a giant ball of stress. My stomach hurts all of the time.

Thankfully I had the afternoon free to decompress. I did some fun baking (and tasting!).

Then I brought a friend some of my baked goods and we had a mutual vent session.

And I walked to and from the gym. The icy patches made the trips take forever, but it was a good way to clear my head.

At the gym, I did another Couch to 10k treadmill workout. 4 minutes of walking / 1 minute running, x9.

I ate these Darrell Lea Strawberry Licorice while I cooked dinner.

I kept it simple.

Adam and I shared a package of Tasty Bite Channa Masala – bulked up with some frozen veggies – over a package of brown rice.

Easy peasy.

What do you do to let off steam when you are feeling stressed?

6Feb2013

Breakfast In A Jar And Dinner On The Lam

by Emily

Adding in exercise is making blogging very tricky this week. When you leave for the gym at 9pm, all you want to do when you get home is sleep. Especially if you have to run errands at Target on your way home from the gym. Especially if you were too busy all evening to eat dinner.

I started my day with packet of Spiru-Tein S’mores protein powder shaken with 1 cup of Naked Vanilla Oat Milk.

I was pretty amazed that the powder was vegan (minus honey which I’m not worrying about for the Vegan 20 Day Challenge). It wasn’t the best tasting thing I’ve ever had, but I was impressed with how thick it got. I shook it up in a recycled jar, making this a very easy to-go breakfast.

I’m having a good week at the hospital; it’s starting to feel like I’m hitting my stride. If there is one thing I’ve learned so far from this rotation it’s this – I knew absolutely nothing about pediatric nutrition.

Lunch was a pear.

A yummy sandwich of 5 grain tempeh on a Sandwich Thin with yellow mustard and Smart Balance Light.

And the other half of my rice milk chocolate bar.

When Adam got home this afternoon he helped me crack open this guy…

I may have had to eat over my work, but I still had a great afternoon snack.

Adam and I shared the Thai young coconut in smoothie form.

With frozen banana, peach, and blueberries too.

And fancy bread with Smart Balance Light on the side.

I’m glad I had a big snack, because journaling took so long that I never had time to make dinner.

I did make it to the gym though. 30 minutes on the elliptical at level 6 random. Certainly not the most intense workout ever, but a far cry better than what I wanted to do (sit on the couch).

And now all I want to do is go to bed!

5Feb2013

Loves Of Late

by Emily

Here are some of the things I’ve been loving lately…

1. Getting to give you guys stuff.

Sarah and Ashley, you won my Sparkling KeVita giveaway! Please e-mail me with your mailing addresses so I can get out your prize.

2. The “Paperman” short.

I often enjoy the shorts before the movie better than the feature film. Case in point – “Paperman” from “Wreck-It Ralph” and the “Knick Knack” from “Finding Nemo”

3. The French Lavender Hair Stuff my mom got me from EO.

I’m not one who loves showers, but fun scents definitely make them nicer. EO also has a Coconut Hibiscus line {hint, hint}!

4. “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men.

The music video is the best I’ve ever seen; it is totally captivating and goes with the song seamlessly. Plus I like the song so much it hurts and howl along with it at least twice a day.

What song are you loving this week?

4Feb2013

All Over The Place

by Emily

I’ve been all over the place the past two days, figuratively speaking. Literally, I’ve been in Buffalo, at work or in my apartment. Influencing the craziness of my eats? I started a 20 Day Vegan Challenge on Sunday, I was so hungry yesterday I thought I might actually eat a horse if one happened to gallop near me, and today I woke up far under the weather. What can you do?

Sunday was fairly ridiculous. In spite of being vegan and staying home from the Super Bowl party I definitely still managed to match the rest of America’s Super Bowl Sunday caloric intake.

Banana Bread Lara Bar.

Chips.

Summer roll from the co-op.

Fancy bread with olive oil, x2.5.

Vegan almond joy bar.

Gummies.

If my summer roll hadn’t been packed with veggies I probably would have had to turn in my diploma!

Then I got into bed at 9:30 pm Sunday night and barely made it out by 7:15 today. I don’t seem to be sick with any typical flu-like symptoms {knock on wood} but I am tired beyond reason. I swear to God I didn’t spend Super Bowl Sunday eating chicken wings and getting wasted, but when I woke up this morning I felt like I was drunk! It took me 10 minutes to really figure out where I was and I stayed in a haze for most the morning. And super embarrassingly, I almost passed out in the ICU during rounds! Hopefully no one else noticed but the RD I was with said I got very pale for a few minutes.

I grabbed a (non-diet) Dr. Pepper during a quick break and that helped get my blood sugar back up.

Lunch was a simple salad – romaine, raw veggies, pickled beans, and low-fat raspberry vinaigrette.

And I had a bowl of cereal when I got home. A serving of Nature’s Path Coconut Chia Granola topped with blackberries and Simpli Vanilla Naked Oat Milk.

The granola was some of the best I’ve ever had!

It held up in the milk without being too hard and it was loaded with big pieces of coconut.

I ate half of this Enjoy Life Ricemilk Chocolate bar while I did some history reading.

And kept dinner simple with an Annie Chun’s Korean Kimchi Soup Bowl.

I still had some reading to do for class so I needed to keep things quick.

Don’t ask me how I managed to drag myself to the gym after my night class, but I did. I am hoping to start up with the Couch to 10k program again. Today was 1 minute running/4 minutes walking, x 8. Except a great song came on and I ended up just running the last five minutes.

I was starving when I got home so I ate a slice of bread with Smart Balance Light while I packed our lunches.

All that stands between me and bed is a shower!

Did you watch the Super Bowl? What’d you snack on during the game?

3Feb2013

na na na na na na na na BANANA

by Emily

It’s time for another two-day post. Shhhhhh, don’t tell my mom!

The past 48 hours have been full of Bananas, but nary a vegetable has been seen. Things haven’t technically been that busy, but it’s hard to post when you basically die into bed.

My last post left off at lunch. After I finished up at the hospital for the day, I came home to decorate my cupcakes for book club.

Book club may have been hit hard by sickness and weather advisories this week, but that didn’t mean that the three of us who still got together didn’t deserve banana split cupcakes!

Banana Split Cupcakes, makes 12

Yield: 12 cupcakes; Prep Time: 30 minutes; Cook Time: 30 minutes

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 large bananas, well mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts
12 Tbsp hot fudge sauce
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
5 oz vanilla bean ice cream, fully melted
maraschino cherries
rainbow sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Line a cupcake tray with 12 paper liners.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In a large bowl combine mashed banana, white sugar, egg, and melted butter. Stir to combine, then fold in flour mixture and mix just until smooth. Fold in walnuts.
Fill each cupcake liner halfway with batter. Spoon 1 Tbsp fudge sauce into each cup. Top with remaining batter.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow cupcakes to completely cool before icing.
While cupcakes are cooling, use an electric mixer to beat together softened butter, powdered sugar, and melted ice-cream. (This icing will keep best if stored in the fridge rather than at room temperature).
Ice cupcakes then top with cherries and sprinkles as desired.

I know I’ve posted the recipe before but since almost nobody reads my blog, nobody has made the cupcakes yet. And that is really unfortunate because they are one of the best things I’ve ever made. I may not write a popular blog but I can write a damn good recipe!

I actually ended up eating my serving the minute it was decorated.

Then while my friends ate cupcakes I munched on BBQ Smart Fries.

But first we grabbed a quick and easy dinner at Wegman’s.

I got spicy crawfish chips,

and a brown rice California roll with a side of spicy mayo.

Then the three of us came back to my place for cupcakes (and Smart Fries!) and a movie. We watched “The Perfect Family” on Netflix and all loved it. Emily Deschanel was great as always and the entire film was surprisingly funny and smart.

I send my friends home with all of the cupcakes (except for two saved for Adam who was out-of-town the past few days) and when my sweet tooth called a few hours later I made an amazing yogurt banana split. An Almond Coco Loco Chobani Flip topped with sliced banana, hot fudge sauce, a big scoop of ice cream frosting, and a cherry on top.

Maybe the best bowl of “ice cream” I’ve ever had. The combination of tastes was amazing, and you better believe I ate another big scoop of frosting straight from the container! This Flip was a billion times better than the key lime one; the coconut yogurt was perfection.

I only had to work a half shift today so once Adam got home we got to spend the entire day hanging out. He’s traveled a lot this year and I’ve really missed him. Speaking of which, I’m going to rush through Saturday’s (pathetic) eats so I can get back to snuggling.

Pomegranate Black Tea KeVita. Have you entered my giveaway yet?

Mac and cheese from the co-op hot bar.

2% Chobani Banana topped with sliced plums.

Buffalo chicken pizza with blue cheese and baby carrots.

And a giant bowl of popcorn with melted butter.

My popcorn bowl was actually too big for me and I couldn’t finish it…. who am I???

P.S. This is what’s happening beside me right now –

1Feb2013

Sparkling KeVita Giveaway

by Emily

If you’re here for the giveaway – scroll to the bottom.

If you’re here for Fashion Friday – have you seen me lately?! But also, scroll to the middle.

If you’re here for the food – that’s coming up first!

Breakfast/Lunch

Breakfast is hot chocolate and mini marshmallows.

So yummy.

Since I’m doing a morning post, I can do lunch in advance. Black-eyed pea salad,

with a Lemon Ginger Sparkling KeVita.

More on that below. I hope everyone has a great Friday!

Fashion Friday

The striped gray pants are from my emergency “oh god, I have no professional clothing” outlet mall trip and I really like them.

Sparkling KeVita Giveaway

Full disclosure – my ginger lemonade was purchased with a free coupon. KeVita sent me a few vouchers to introduce me to their line of sparkling probiotic drinks. KeVita features four complementary strains of probiotics: Bacillus coagulans, L.paracasei, L.plantarum, and L.rhamnosus, combined with KeVita’s signature and proprietary probiotic culture.

They recently introduced a Mojita flavor – lime/mint/coconut – and I’m dying of longing since it’s not sold in my area yet. But hopefully it’s available near you, since KeVita is letting me share the love with you guys!

Two readers will have the chance to win three free KeVita Sparkling Probiotic Drink coupons. Simply comment on this post by midnight on Monday (02/04) for a chance to win.