Rocking Around The Clock

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The upcoming week is going to be busy, busy, busy and apparently today was the start of the craziness.  It’s not a good feeling to leave the house at 8:10 on a Saturday and already be running behind!

While running errands I did stop in at Dunkin Donuts to use a coupon I had for iced coffee.

With skim milk and toasted almond syrup.  The barista (are they still called baristas if it’s Dunkin?) gave me a giant sheet of new, exciting coupons so I’ll probably be back in the near future.

After running errands I ran to work (literally) in the pouring rain.  I packed a Oikos Low-fat Pineappe Greek Yogurt for breakfast.

Holy crap, it was good!  I couldn’t stop mmmmmning.  It was so thick, creamy, and sweet that it almost reminded me of a piña colada.

Adam ate my last serving of eggplant (jerk!) so I got co-op hot bar for lunch.

1 falafel, sesame cashew noodle salad with tons of veggies, 2 grape leaves, and some chicken salad.  The veggies in the noodles and the almonds in the chicken were my favorite bites.

When I got home from work, Adam and two of our friends were on the couch watching a movie.  Patrick and Michelle brought pizza!

I had a veggie slice,

plus a simple salad of romaine, flax, and lite honey mustard dressing.

Buffalo people – the pizza was from Mister Pizza and it was great.  The crust was somehow both thick and crispy and it was loaded with vegetables.

Our friends were over because we had purchased a Groupon together…

for rock climbing!  We climbed for two hours and it was exhausting and so much fun.

This year has been a total bust in the workout department but I actually felt like I did a little better this time than I did the last time I tried.  I mastered one fairly hard wall (ie not a kid’s wall!) and I was so proud of myself when I made it to the top.  At one point my arms and legs were so wide I was practically into a split.  <– bad ass

I’m going to make myself do a 4-minute workout and then I’m going to go pass out.  Good night!

First First Friday In Allentown

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You know how I got into bed way too late last night?  Well I stayed up an hour even later pinning desserts.

For reals.  Stupid, but have you discovered Serious Eats yet?  It could have been the 2 am browsing, but I’m officially a giant fan.  Fun aesthetic, beautiful pictures, delicious recipes and reviews.

This morning was rough but I woke up by “snoozing” on Twitter in bed and that helped me ease into the day.  Congratulations, Kath and Matt!

I ate breakfast on the walk to school.

My Müller Splendid Strawberry Früt Up yogurt was, in fact, splendid.  It’s a strawberry mousse on top of regular yogurt (as in not Greek) and the yogurt was ridiculously, delightfully thick.  It felt like a total treat – a real treat, like pudding, not like when people try to say that fruit is dessert – and was only 140 calories.

My classes went well (I didn’t fall asleep once, I swear!) and before I knew it I was walking to work.  Sidenote – I work every day except for my clinic days (T/R) from now through next Sunday and I’m a little anxious to see how that’s all going to go down.

Lunch was packed for work.

An apple,

and a Raw Revolution Chocolate Coconut Bar.

It was good I didn’t bring more because I barely had time to eat that, there were lots of boxes today.

Adam meet me on foot at the end of my shift and we headed out to cross off another birthday list item.

This was our first First Friday and we both had a great time.  I’m sad I couldn’t take art pictures because we saw some great stuff.  I did manage to take quick snaps of my bites though.

Mostly cheese and its accompaniments, plus a small pour of wine.  And we went to one open house that was giving out free popsicles.

All in all it was a fabulous time.

However – working 7+ hours and then walking 4.5+ miles was a little too much for my feet.  I whimpered the last five blocks or so getting home.  My 4-minute workout plans are out of the question and even though I’m starving I’d rather skip dinner than have to walk somewhere to get it.  Boo.

Does your town do any type of First Friday event?

Midnight’s Dinner

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I had a lot to say about today, but now it’s clear – like, blogging at 1 am on a school night clear – that I’ll have to keep it quick.  It’s funny how the longest days have the shortest posts!

I slept through yoga (boo!) but also got to then sleep in a bit (yay!) because I had the morning at home.  Our clinical experiences this semester are divided up into three sections, two are in the hospitals and the final rotation is community, i.e. basically almost everything an RD does outside of the hospital.  I’m in community first.  During this rotation we have site placements some days and “free time” other days to work on a very long list of community-oriented assignments.  Among other things, we have to complete a case study on creating a wellness program and pick a nutrition topic on which to generate a variety of informational media.  Long story short, one of the required mediums is a bulletin board in the Dietetics’ building hallway.  Today I worked on the case study and the bulletin board.

But first I ate breakfast.

3 servings (I was finishing the box) of Cinnamon Pecan Special K with Blue Diamond Coconut/Almond Milk and chopped plum and nectarine.

It was a hungry morning; before I left the house I also ate a handful of honey roasted peanuts,

and leftovers.

The last Reuben Stuffed Turkey Burger on the last onion roll with 1000 island dressing.

At 11:30 I walked to meet a friend and we spent the next 7 straight hours at school working on the case study.  It is now complete.  Phew!

We did take a quick break in the afternoon for sushi.

My veggie sushi was pretty bland without wasabi (I swear it was in every package except the one I picked up!) but you couldn’t beat the price.

We spent the rest of the evening running around between three stores to find the supplies for our bulletin boards.  Why, oh why doesn’t Buffalo have a teacher supply store?!

My friend dropped me off just before 9pm and I trudged (my heavy laptop was still in my bag) down Elmwood to buy Adam a candy bar as a reward for his long day.  Oh yeah, he still wasn’t home.

I trudged back home, completed another assignment, and finally Adam called at 11pm to tell me that he was home but he had contact dermatitis from the scrub soap and we needed to go to the pharmacy.  Yay.

When we did finally get home we had to go right back out so the dog could take a very late, much-needed walk.  Sidenote – All the people without dogs and husbands were out partying because it’s Thursday and I joked with the dog about how he was out on the town.  I told him he was ….. wait for it ….. a dogutante.  <– I’m hysterically funny and also maybe a little punch-drunk with tiredness.

During our ridiculous walk I purchased a Subway sandwich which I ate while I completed yet another assignment and wrote this post.

6-inch turkey with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, red onion, pickles, cucumber, and a tiny bit of creamy chipotle sauce.

Post’s done, time for bed!

P.S. Gratuitous dog pictures –

Cheesy Eggplant Bake With Salad

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Nutrition (education, access, etc.) for underserved populations is topic that is important to me.  It’s the reason I quit my job as a teacher and the reason I’ll someday go back to teaching again, though my new lessons will be about healthy eating instead of English.  So, when Romano’s Macaroni Grill contacted me to see if I would write a post about their current partnership with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry, I jumped at the opportunity.

Disclaimer – I am not being personally compensated for this post, though they will make a donation as thanks for my participation.  This is just a subject to which I am glad to bring awareness.

Here’s how it works – Macaroni Grill is enlisting the food blogger community to help end childhood hunger with a single post. By simply tagging #macgrillgive to a recipe, message or photo of their favorite Italian meal on their blog, Macaroni Grill will donate $50 to connect a child to up to 500 meals.  Readers can go into the restaurant and donate $2, and get $5 off their next meal; OR – share an artist inspired image from our Mac Grill Give Facebook Gallery and we’ll help connect a kid with 1 meal.

Here are some facts from No Kid Hungry –

  • 48.8 million Americans—including 16.2 million children— live in households that lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis. As a result, they struggle with hunger at some time during the year.
  • Food insecurity—the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food— exists in 17.2 million households in America, 3.9 million of them with children.
  • Rates of food insecurity are substantially higher than the national average among households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line, among households with children headed by single parents (35.1% of female-headed households with children are food-insecure) and among Black and Hispanic households.
  • Food insecurity is most common in large cities but still exists in rural areas, suburbs and other outlying areas around large cities.  25 % of households with children living in large cities are food-insecure.

My favorite (homemade) Italian meal is my Cheesy Eggplant Bake. 

It is so cheesy, hearty, and filling; you would never guess that each serving has less than 200 calories.  Being cooked in the marinara sauce makes the eggplant extra creamy and delicious.

What goes better with rich, cheesy food than a nice green salad?

On the side, we had romaine topped with ground flax, buckwheat groats, and lite honey mustard dressing.

It was an easy, tasty, wholesome meal.

Cheesy Eggplant Bake, serves 4

  • 1 to 1.5 pounds thinly sliced eggplant (approx. .25 inch thick)
  • 1 cup tomato sauce
  • 6 slices 2% provolone
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Farenheit.
  2. Layer eggplant and tomato sauce into an 8×8 inch casserole dish; placing tomato sauce as the bottom and top layer.  You’ll most likely end up with three even layers of eggplant if your eggplant was sliced thinly enough.
  3. Bake 40 minutes.
  4. Remove from oven, top evenly with cheese, and return to oven for 10 additional minutes, until cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

Three Fruits And A Lie

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I love long weekends; I’ve had to remind myself all day that it’s actually Wednesday!  I work five days next week so I’ll take any bit of easiness that I can get.

I had a fun and fancy(-free!) smoothie for breakfast.  Taro milk powder, frozen blueberries, and Blue Diamond Almond/Coconut Milk Blend.

Sitting on top of ……can you see them?

Rainbow boba!  I made extra on Monday and these were a fun weekday morning treat.  Unfortunately the boba were too big for my straw and I ended up throwing out half my smoothie once I got to class, but it was a fun idea in theory!

Class went well.  I got the good news that the assignment I completed a week early was done correctly (booyah!).  My M/W nutrition class is on MNT, aka medical nutrition therapy, and right now we are learning all about oncology.  Our class is covering nutrition for cancer patients as well as cancer-preventative diets, and it is all fascinating.  FYI – Low fruit and vegetable intake is associated with twice the risk of cancer for all sites except the prostate.  Brocoli specifically, has a dose dependant relationship with your cancer risk.

I hung around campus a bit and had lunch with Holly.  It was so great to catch up!  (H, we need to get a picture next time!)  It’s fun to relive my first year in the program.  I packed an apple,

and a leftover Reuben Stuffed Turkey Burger on a Sandwich Thin with 1000 island dressing.

I think I actually like the burgers even better cold!

I did some printing and ran an errand on Elmwood and now I’m settled at home.  We are eating dinner early tonight (I’m submitting my post to something so I’m crossing my fingers for semi-decent pictures) but I did have a few snacks.  A slice of 2% provolone cheese,

and a spoon of Biscoff Spread.

That was the last of the jar; so sad!

My agenda for the rest of the day includes my dinner post, a hot yoga class, a 4-minute workout, and hopefully an hour or two of studying.

FOR FUNSIES – Meghann’s lunch post ended with some super fun “Three Truths and a Lie.”  I adore that game so I’m going to post my 4 “facts” here as well:

  1. I learned how to drive on the left side of the road in an American-style car.
  2. I’ve both skydived and flown a plane.
  3. I got my first tattoo when I was 17.
  4. I swam with sharks for my 20th birthday.

Can you guess which one’s my lie??  Post yours in the comments and let’s all try to guess!

[Food] For Thought

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Food

Hello, hello.  Today’s activities would be tricky (and boring!) to explain so I’ll stick with the food.  One note – My stomach was bothering me all afternoon but the main reason I didn’t eat any veggies is because my bag of green beans had gotten slimy and gross.  Here we go…

Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar.

Turkey sandwich – Sandwich Thin, 2 slices of Applegate Farms Smoked Turkey, 1 slice pepperjack cheese, strawberry jam.

The last of my Mike and Ike’s.

The last of these Barbara’s cheese puffs, about half a serving.  Funny story – Adam had a friend over (just one) on Monday.  He bought two bags of snacks, the cheese puffs and some salt and vinegar chips.  All that was left is what I ate today, and that only survived because he knew I wanted to taste them.

A low-fat coffee yogurt with honey-roasted peanuts and honey.

A dapple plucot.

A cheese sandwich – an onion roll with about 2 oz of melted cheese (a mix of extra-sharp cheddar, 2% swiss, and 2% provolone).

A Reuben Stuffed Turkey Burger with 1000 island dressing.

3/4 of a Jamocha Shake that Adam surprised me with when he came home.

Food for Thought

Since I didn’t have much in the way of content for this post, here are the links to a few articles I think you guys might find interesting:

Burgers and Boba

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I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day.  We got the holiday off, which meant I had time to go on a date with the husband and catch up on school-work.

I started my day with a 0% lemon Oikos.

I was so thrilled to see the new Oikos flavors on our shelves!  This was smooth and creamy with just a bit of tart flavor.  I have the pineapple variety waiting for me in the fridge as well.

Plus the last of my Chameleon Cold Brew with skim milk and ice.

I’m not sure if it’s because I used a bigger ratio of coffee:milk today or if it’s an effect of the bottle sitting open for a week, but today’s cup was more bitter than my previous ones.  Nonetheless, I’m still very sad to see the coffee go.  I’ve marked it on the 9/23 week’s list in advance to celebrate the end of my retainers.

When we walked around the park a few weeks back, both Adam and I had a major hankering for a zoo trip.  After running an errand this morning, we decided we should take advantage of the husband’s rare day off and go for it.

We were disconcerted by the wrap-around-three-blocks line,

but quickly got over it when we found out that Tops was offering special $1 admission for the day.

Score!  They were hosting a few games on the premises as well and I won this cup of Mike and Ike’s.

I ate half during our visit and think that the sugar helped me make it through the heat.

We saw so many animals!

My favorite reptile is the Dab Lizard and I was thrilled to catch a glimpse of one today.

Do you have a favorite reptile.

I packed a big bottle of water in my purse but rocking jeans was a big mistake; I was dripping the minute we stepped out of the car.

Since a mid-day shower was required anyway, I tried my hand at this 4-minute workout –

Holy crap!  I was basically dying by the end.  The husband and I have decided to do it 3x/week.  4-minutes is always doable.

Lunch was sushi from Wegman’s.

Pssst, Buffalo peeps, this another item with money off from the student coupon packet.

This afternoon, I finally did something with these purchases from our trip to Toronto’s Koreatown.

Taro milk tea + rainbow boba = mmmmmmn!

It was too much fun (and a cross-off on a birthday list goal!) to have made these items from scratch.

I spent most of my evening hard at work, but did find time to make a great dinner.

Roasted green beans,

and a Reuben Stuffed Turkey Burger.

I ate mine on an onion roll with extra sauerkraut, Swiss, and 1000 island dressing.

Reuben Stuffed Turkey Burgers, serves 6

  •  lb 94% fat-free ground turkey meat
  • 1 cup sauerkraut, squeezed to remove as much liquid as possible
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1.5 tsp dried caraway seeds
  • 3 (1 oz)-slices Swiss cheese
  • 2 Tbsp thousand island dressing
  1. Slice cheese into quarters; you should end up with twelve 1inch x 1inch squares.
  2. Place meat, sauerkraut, egg, breadcrumbs, and caraway seeds in a large bowl.  Use your hands to mix until well combined.
  3. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, divide the meat mixture evenly into twelve 1/4-cup portions.  Flatten six of the portions into patties.
  4. Place 1 tsp thousand island dressing and two cheese squares in the center of each flattened patty.  Top with remaining portions, pressing on the edges to “seal” the patties.
  5. Place a greased grill-pan over medium-high heat.  Cook burgers until browned and fully cooked through; 5-8 minutes on each side.

I’m off to join Adam and Webster on a walk!

Are you a reuben sandwich fan?

We Have The Technology

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I couldn’t post until I completed a mandatory blog upgrade, but I apologize for disappearing without saying anything.  I’ll fill you in on what you missed…

I went to my “final” orthodontist appointment only have a new top retainer (literally) shoved in my face.  I’m in 24/7 retainer mode for the next three weeks and this new development led to a major period of wallowing.

That mindset had something to do with the insane amount of pizza we consumed over the last week.

Ice cream was also inhaled.

That picture is actually gelato.  A new spot opened on Elmwood, Gelateria Luca is family run and serves homemade flavors.

I highly recommend checking it out.

I tried other good things too.  A Bananas Foster Larabar Uber (bought with my own money, delicious).

A Heavenly Lemon Tulsi from Honest Tea (the last of my box of free samples, even more delicious).

The tea had a just perfect amount of sweet and sour.

I discovered a new favorite breakfast and ate it 3/5 days.  Cinnamon Pecan Special K with Blue Diamond Unsweetened Breeze Almondmilk Coconutmilk Blend and chopped fruit (mostly dapple plucots with a few white nectarines thrown in for variety).

I see this combo staying a regular on my menu until plucots go out of season.

I completed my first week of working part-time while completing school work and my dietetic internship and decided that this semester might kill me.  At least working at a toy store has some perks; I spent one gloriously de-stressing morning organizing the sand boxes.

Yes, I did turn the mermaid into a siren setting up the sailors for a crash into the rocks; it’s important the kids learn about Greek mythology.

Even though we mostly ate pizza, I did manage to rework a few of my recipes.

Asian Orange Tofu, serves 3

  • 14 oz extra-firm tofu, drained
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 Tbsp tamari
  • 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp Sriacha
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  1. Slice tofu evenly into 9 pieces.
  2. Place remaining ingredients in a large, flat tupperware and stir to combine.  Place the tofu slices in the marinade, making sure each piece is fully covered.  Cover and let sit at least 2 hours (it’s fine to leave it overnight).
  3. Remove slices from marinade and place in a single layer on a foiled and sprayed baking sheet.
  4. Bake for 25 minutes in an oven preheated to 425 degrees Farenheit.

Stuffed Peppers, serves 4

  • 1 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1 cup roasted broccoli
  • 1/2 Tbsp evoo
  • 8 oz 94% lean ground turkey
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 4 oz goat cheese
  • 4 large bell peppers
  1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees Farenheit.
  2. Slice the tops off of the peppers.  Scoop out the seeds, taking care not to break through the bottoms of the peppers.  Pre-bake peppers for 5 minutes while you are preparing the filling.
  3. Heat evoo in a large pan over medium-high heat.  Add ground turkey and Worcestershire sauce.  Sautee until cooked through, stirring regularly and using the side of your spatula to break up the meat.
  4. Stir goat cheese into the turkey and continue to cook until melted.  Remove pan from heat and stir in quinoa and broccoli.
  5. Scoop filling into pre-baked peppers.  Return to oven for 15 additional minutes.

What was the best thing you did, saw, heard, and/or tasted last week?