Hot Dog!

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2nd day of the semester was a success!  I promise I’ll stop counting them soon though.

I started my day with a smoothie for the walk to school.  1 scoop bourbon vanilla protein powder, ~1.5 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, medium frozen banana, and ~2 cups frozen blueberries.

My smoothie matched my shoes!  Actually, it matched my whole outfit.

I found this great loose-fitting racer-back tank in a dressy fabric at the Gap outlet this summer and bought it in all three available colors.

I got to wear jeans because we were on campus for clinical orientation today.  Tuesdays and Thursdays for the rest of the semester we’ll spend 8 hours a day in clinic, aka practicing our skills out in the field for our internship hours.  Today we met with instructors, filled out paperwork, and spent several hours practicing calculations.  <– I remember more than I thought, yay!

I packed this vegan tortilla soup for lunch.

Supplemented with a cheese stick I got at an info table in the quad.

Sadly it took my friends and I for-ev-er to find a table and by the time I finished waking back and forth from two buildings with my hot soup it didn’t really appeal to me any more.  I ate half, plus all of the cheese stick and a Diet Pepsi from the vending machine.  Note – this set the trend apparently because every meal thereafter was also unsuccessful!

After class was over 2 friends and I set out on a mini journey.  We stopped at Anna’s house along the way for sunscreen, then walked a little over a mile to Delish to try out the East Park Pops.

The pops are made from scratch from local ingredients.  My mango pineapple contained only mango, pineapple, and fresh lime juice, no added sugar.

It all sounded really promising but unfortunately we just weren’t fans.  The pops were way too hard and icy and we all threw ours out a quarter or so through.  Janessa and I had been planning this excursion since summer so we were sad it didn’t pan out, but Delish’s new Black Rock location is adorable and we do want to go back for coffees soon.

We ended up having (tall, skim) iced caramel macchiatos from Wegman’s as our treat instead.

Buffalo students – Wegman’s is giving out their awesome student coupon books this week and our coffees were a dollar off.

We spotted jalapeño poppers on the hot bar and two of us went for one of those as well.  (Don’t worry, my friend is going to reuse that plastic container so we didn’t totally waste it.)

This was another idea that was better in theory, the poppers had cheese instead of cream cheese and I threw half of mine out.

Dinner was hot dogs –

Not that kind of hot dog!  Though, Webster, if you don’t stop eating my stuff I might consider it.  Adam and I regularly joke about taking a bite out of his meaty thighs.

This kind of hot dog –

I put two Applegate Farms turkey hot dogs on a bun, piled high with sauerkraut, relish, and ketchup.  The dog was devoured with gusto but its accompaniments were pretty “meh.”

Roasted asparagus that was undercooked and tasted terrible.

I choked down half.

Smokey Maple Baked Beans that were good but not what I was craving right before I went to a yoga class.

I ate 3/4 of those.

Thankfully I had a great workout to make up for my lackluster meal: a 90 minute hot yoga class.  I was worried about making it through a 90-minute class (I haven’t exactly been making the most of my unlimited yoga pass!), but it ended up being great.  The 90-minute session is almost easier than the 60-minute one because you do the same poses with more repetition so you have time to practice them.

All that stands between me and bed is a shower and 15 minutes of reviewing DNA with the husband.  I turned in too late last night and felt it in the morning so I’m trying to hurry.

What was the last food that you were excited for and then disappointed by?

Stir-Fried Soup

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I made it through the first day of a new semester!  I forgot what day it was and pressed snooze a couple of times this morning, but I did manage to make it to the gym for a quick workout.

25 minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.

I cut it close but the husband offered to drive me this morning (both walking and driving myself eat up 30 minutes) so I had time to shower and grab breakfast to go.  A Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna Bar,

and an iced coffee with skim milk.

It wasn’t just any iced coffee.  Do you remember when I blogged about wanting to try Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee?  They now sell it at Wegman’s!

It was even better than I had imagined.  Smooth, not at all bitter, and I swear with the skim milk I tasted hints of chocolate?!

I breakfasted during my first class and the caffeine boost was much-appreciated.  This semester is going to be hard.  I’m only taking a few classes (the minimum number of credits versus having to petition to take extra credits almost ever other semester) but there is a ton of work and the concepts are all higher level.

Good thing I got some work done in the break between classes and my shift at work.  I also made lunch.

A salad of romaine, flax, light honey mustard dressing, a little shredded gruyere, and a crumbled slice of turkey bacon.

Plus apple dippers.

A sliced Pink Crispin,

with a melted mix of peanut butter, Biscoff, and Heath bits, ~ 1 Tbsp of each.

Delish!

I worked from 2 -7 and then came home and wandered around all evening in a tired, sore-backed haze.  That is not going to be able to happen as the semester progresses.  But overall I think I did a good job of getting things done today.

I even pre-made some of the components for tomorrow’s dinner.  I snacked on a serving of Barbara’s Baked Cheese Puffs while I cooked.

They were an impulse buy at the co-op that paid off; didn’t tasted “baked” at all.

Dinner didn’t happen until 9:30 but it was worth the wait.  Super worth it.  Did you make my Thai-Inspired Coconut Peanut Soup yet?  I hope so, because if you did you are halfway done with this killer spin on it – Stir-Fried Soup!

Stir-Fried Soup, serves 1

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Toss in cashews and toast.  Add soup leftovers and Sriracha and saute, stirring occasionally, until crispy.  Scramble in egg.  Serve and swoon.

It was the tastiest thing I’ve eaten in weeks, I swear to God.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve done with leftovers?

Bok To School

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I’m heading back to school tomorrow (eek!) and I finally remember all my education on the importance of vegetables.  Better late than never!  All of my meals today included a veggie and two of them centered around bok choy (“bok to school,” hyuck, hyuck).  Tomorrow I should probably work on including some fruits.

I did not get right into bed last night – and the neighbor’s dumbass friends ringing our doorbell at 4 am didn’t help my sleep either – but I did make it to yoga this morning.  A 60 minute hot yoga class.

Breakfast made use of our bok choy gratin leftovers.

I scrambled a big serving into two eggs along with a few dashes of green Tabasco.

Hidden inside the eggs, this casserole actually wasn’t half bad.

Our afternoon entertainment was a walk through the Elmwood Art Festival.

We saw a few cool pieces but my main goal was lunch and I sadly didn’t see any food that appealed to me.  I ended up eating at the hot bar when we went to the grocery.

Wok-seared veggies that were the best I’ve ever had from the hot bar,

two pieces of sweet and sour chicken,

and a few grapes for dessert.

I also ate this fun-size pack of Sugar Babies while we were out and about.

I nibbled on a half serving of Special K Savory Herb Crackers while I made dinner.

Dinner was homemade soup.

Thai-Inspired Coconut Peanut Soup, serves 4 (vegan)

  • 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • medium green bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 3 green onions, sliced
  • 2 Thai hot peppers, finely chopped
  • 15 oz can stir-fry mushrooms
  • 4 heaping cups baby bok choy
  • 13.6 oz can light coconut milk
  • 16 oz vegetable broth
  • 6 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
  • 2 cups black rice vermicelli, broken in half
  • lime juice (optional)
  • Sriracha (optional)
  1. Heat sesame oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
  2. Add green pepper to pot and cook 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. Add green onions and Thai pepper and cook another 2 minutes.
  4. Add mushrooms and bok choy and cook another 2 minutes.
  5. Stir in coconut milk and broth and bring to a boil.
  6. Stir in peanut butter and vermicelli and boil an additional 7 minutes.
  7. Top bowls with lime juice and Sriracha to taste.

We are both looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.

Also consumed, was an Honest Tea Honey Green Tea.

I’m down to the last bottle from my Honest Tea shipment and I definitly plan on buying more with my own money when they’re gone.

I’m hoping to paint my nails (both sets!) before bed; gotta go!

Sunday To Go

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One day to go before the fall semester begins.  I wish today could have been full of adventure, but sadly I worked, errand-ran, and ate a lackluster dinner.  Ho-hum but part of the time was spent with the husband so it wasn’t terrible.

I did not get in bed last night as planned.  In fact, I stayed up past the boys leaving and the husband falling asleep.  Today I am le tired and the bags under my eyes are gigantic.  I hope to get in bed nice and early on Sunday because it’s bad enough to go back to school fatter, I hardly need to look worn down too.  At least my hair is finally growing out of its awkward stage!

In spite of the sleepiness, I did manage to make breakfast before work.

Plain fat-free yogurt topped with 1 Tbsp ground flax, 1 Tbsp maple syrup, and some canned tropical fruit mix.

I was glad to have eaten because work was pretty crazy; the Elmwood Arts Festival is this weekend so there were lots of people wandering in.

I plan on checking out the festival tomorrow and today I did snag a $1 orange San Pellegrino.

I saved my fair-food eating for tomorrow and packed a sandwich for lunch.

A Sandwich Thin with 2 slices of turkey, a slice of pepperjack, and strawberry jam.  Plus a Raspberry Fields Honest Tea to drink.

I probably should have gone with coffee instead because I was dead on my feet by the time my shift was over.  Also, ready to gnaw off my arm.  I bought a giant slice of cheese pizza (folded and eaten New York style) on the walk home.

I shared ~ 1/4 with Adam which was a true testament of love.  Dinner was fair away and not awesome and I ended up very pleased with this impulse purchase.

We ran errands this evening, including a purchase of ink that has left me crossing my fingers that the printer was out of ink and not actually broken.  I’m too tired to check now but printing is early on my agenda tomorrow.

On our grocery errand (which was stupid because we have to go back tomorrow too) I bought a fun-size peanut butter Snickers.

I only ate half; apparently they aren’t very good.

Dinner wasn’t good either.  Well, parts of it were.  For example, my low-fat (because it was made with skim milk and low-fat froyo) chocolate coffee milkshake was pretty tasty.

1.5 thumbs up, Lake Effect Diner.

And I was so pleased to see this on the menu –

It encouraged me to order non-vegeterian, in the form of a Chicken Souvlaki Wrap.

“Grilled marinated chicken breast, shredded lettuce, green bell pepper, black olives, diced tomato, crumbled feta cheese and Greek Dressing in a grilled herb wrap.”

I added cucumber and pepperoncini to mine, a good idea since otherwise the sandwich would have been completely tasteless.

The feta was bland and it probably would have helped it there had actually been Greek dressing on the wrap.  I only ate half and left feeling pretty unsatisfied.

I shouldn’t even complain though because my meal was at least edible.  Adam’s bacon and sausage were burnt to a crisp and his “sunny side up” eggs were cooked through.  Yucky.  Lake Effect, we thought you had such potential!

Speaking of potential, I’m not going to live up to mine at yoga tomorrow morning if I don’t get in bed this instant.  Good night!

Locals, are you attending the art festival this year?  Did you eat anything I just have to try tomorrow?

Co-operating With My To-Do List

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I have officially accomplished more today than I did the entire rest of the summer, no lie.  On my to-done list:

  • go to the DMV
  • renew my BSC parking pass
  • make a copy of my proof of malpractice insurance
  • confirm my class schedule
  • sign up for the co-op
  • work
  • make 2 recipes for dinner
  • make snack for Adam’s poker game
  • complete summer work for my professional portfolio
  • put away clean laundry
  • set up binders for school
  • blog

Woot!  I work tomorrow and still have a few things to do on Sunday, but I feel good about heading back to school on Monday.

The DMV was amazingly quick and painless, probably because I got there soon after they opened.  I recently discovered that my licence expired more than a month ago so this was an important errand to accomplish before school starts and I have to drive to my internship.  My photo probably will look something like this –

Holy hair brushes, Emily, learn how to use one!  Also, I might be old enough that it’s time to figure out concealer before my next id photo.

I ran around all morning and didn’t have time for breakfast so I drank a Starbucks Vanilla Double Shot Energy on the walk to work.

Also on my walk, I stopped in at the co-op and became an owner.

This errand was even quicker and less painless than the DMV.  Locals, did you know that Lexington Co-op will refund your membership fee if you move?

For my lunch break today I grabbed food at Globe Market.

Side note – once school starts my buying food at work habit needs to die a quick death.

Thai Peanut Noodles that were astonishingly tasteless and disappointing,

and a crab cake that more than made up for the lackluster noodles.

I found a GIANT hunk of claw meat in my cake and was so pleased.

Work went well.  I dropped off the rest of the Cookie Butter Fudge a few days ago and apparently everyone really liked it.  My lack of breakfast hit me hard as we closed up shop at work.  A Starbucks’ unsweetened Arnold Palmer was consumed on the walk home,

and these surprisingly delicious Caramel Brule Chocolate Bites were shared with Adam while I cooked.

At least those purchases were bought via a birthday gift card with a 2pm treat receipt.

I went full-on fancy for dinner, though my plate did end up unfortunately monochromatic.

A Shallota Salmon Burger patty,

with a serving of Buttery Bok Choy Gratin.

Rachael Ray’s gratin only got middling reviews but my salmon burgers were a hit.  Several of Adam’s friends who are here playing poker tried them and gave rave reviews.

But maybe they were just sucking up because they knew I was making *brown butter and candied bacon popcorn* for them to snack on –

I don’t think I’ve ever been more jealous of a snack!  I consoled myself with a Rascal’s Wild Red.

But that was disgusting (it tasted like cough syrup to me) so a few sips in I traded up for a Michelob Ultra Light Cider.

Michelob will never be my beer of choice, but their cider was damn good.  120 calories per bottle (and naturally gluten free).

I assume it will be a late night for Adam but I’ve got an early morning at work so I’m going to go curl up in bed with a Patricia Cornwell novel.

Do you belong to a co-op?

Every Now And Then…

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… I keep it together.

You thought I was going to say “fall apart.” I did too, that’s why this is a half day post. I was planning to write (title: “What’s The Plural Of Crisis?) about why I wouldn’t be posting this week, but then I realized – I really didn’t want to fall apart. A lot of nonsense has gone down this week, and I’m totally nervous about school next week, but sometimes it feels good to keep it together.

Some good stuff happened in the days you missed too. I met with a friend who recently became a mommy for a walk around Delaware Park with her and the baby . They were both doing awesome and my must-get-knocked-up fervor was renewed.  I baked malted toffee blondies and brought them to a friend’s birthday celebration.  I watched more “Awkward.”

Today I worked.  Afterward Adam picked me up for an awesome date night.  We parked in Allentown and walked to the subway.  We stopped along the way for green juice.

I got a glorious mix of collard greens, spinach, kale, watermelon, and mango.

I pulled it together before went to work but my juice mix could have cheered anyone up.

We subwayed it to the canal for our date; a free Matt Nathanson concert.

We ran into friends that we haven’t gotten to see much this summer so even though we didn’t know many songs we still had a great time.  The only ones I could sing along with were “Laid” and a random White Snake cover.

A friend who couldn’t make it tonight gave me her booze tickets so we scored free drinks.

I had half of that Jack Daniels Lynchburg Lemonade before passing it off to Adam in favor of a Labat Blue Light with Lime.

Drinking in the grass with friends and free music?  Awesome.

After we journeyed home we had pizza for a late dinner.

Adam and I split three (big) slices; bbq chicken, buffalo chicken, and veggie.

I’m feeling very full, pretty tired, and much better!

What do you do to regain control if you feel like you’re about to wallow?

Cookie Butter Fudge

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When I put “make fudge” on my birthday list I didn’t have anything big in mind.  A little chocolate, maybe a little maple nut.  But then I had an idea worthy of the evil genius laugh.  I plotted, I shopped, I googled peanut butter fudge recipes, I substituted, and then I rocked it.

I took my Cookie Butter Fudge to a party on Sunday and it got good reviews all around.  The fudge is creamy and a little bit crumbly, just the way I like it.  And you can never (ever) go wrong by making yet another dessert Biscoff-flavored.

Cookie Butter Fudge

  • 8 Tbsp butter
  • 2 and 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup skim milk
  • 3/4 cup Creamy Biscoff Spread
  • 3 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  1. Place powdered sugar in a large, heat-proof bowl.
  2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in milk and brown sugar and bring to a boil.  Boil 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
  3. Remove from heat and stir in Biscoff spread.  Pour over powdered sugar and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
  4. Pour into an 8×8 inch casserole dish and refrigerate at least 2 hours before slicing.  Store in fridge until ready to serve.

What is your favorite type of fudge?

Awkwardly Awesome

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Hello again.  We had a family crisis this weekend so I was away from the blog, but now it’s all good and I’m all back.  Also we squeezed in a party and watched the dog squeeze his face into the last of my milkshake.

Obviously there were good part to the weekend too.

I had lunch for breakfast today.

Baby carrots,

some Libby’s Tropical Fruit Salad,

and a sandwich.

Turkey, pepperjack cheese, and tons of pickles on a sandwich thin.

Lunch for lunch was a salad.

Romaine topped with peanut sauce, nutritional yeast, buckwheat groats, and sliced Crispin Pink apple.

With Honest Tea Half and Half to drink,

and Cookie Butter Fudge (x2) for dessert.

Oh yes I did!  Recipe is coming tomorrow.

I started watching the first season of “Awkward” online while I ate.  I loved it!  Might be my new favorite show.  I watched while I wrote this post too, which is why it took so damn long!

I worked until 7pm today and was stupid tired when I got home.  Dinner seemed impossible and I ended up getting hot bar at the co-op at 9:30.  Vegan “cheesy” broccoli and orzo, an Asian cabbage salad, and some maple roasted tofu and veggies.

I know the picture is gross but it was all delicious and I felt fortunate to have skipped my planned dinner.

Six Hershey’s Simple Pleasures for dessert.

I plan on going to bed as soon as this episode of Awkward is over.  I also plan on going to yoga at 7am.  The 2nd plan is totally dependant on the first; we’ll see what happens.

Have you been watching Awkward?