Challenge Check Ins

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February – Vegan Month Challenge

I’m not going to do the traditional recap; frankly, I’m not sure what to say.  This was our least successful vegan challenge to date.  We just weren’t in the right frame of mind to take on the challenge that month.  I was in a cooking rut and a perpetual bad mood.  But the one thing I know I can’t blame our failure on is lack of tasty vegan options.  The successful part of the challenge was the great new vegan recipes I’ve added to my repertoire.  Here are some of my new favorites –

Berry Better Than Spaghetti

Mushroom Umami Pasta Sauce

Peanut Butter Banana Pretzel Pie

Smokey Maple Baked Beans

Tempeh Brown Rice Casserole

Tropical Tapioca Pudding

And if you’re interested in my other vegan options, check out my newest recipe page!

March – “March Back Home,” No Take-out Challenge

March Back Home March is very similar to No Take-out ‘Tober.  Basically, our (crappy, unhealthy, expensive) food purchases have been out of control lately and we want to rein them back in.  Here are the rules –

  • no Wegman’s hot bar, period
  • no take-out; meals that are not cooked at home must be eaten in the restaurant setting
  • two predetermined restaurant meals are allowed per week
  • Adam is allowed to purchase a maximum of two coffees per week (at the hospital)
  • Emily is allowed to purchase a maximum of one drink per week; coffee, soda, juice or otherwise
  • the last week of March the rules won’t apply because my mom will be visiting for spring break!!!

I’m excited to get back in the kitchen.

Weekend Woot-dates

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Did everyone have a good weekend?  I didn’t get much work done, but the food and fun categories were filled to the brim!  We are starting another take-out reduction challenge and we definitely made the most of purchased meals this weekend 😉

Saturday morning I got up and went for a run!

The gym wasn’t open yet so I did my CT10k workout out in the wild at Delaware Park.  I forgot my watch at home and ended up having to count to 150 in my head as I switched from walking to running intervals.  I’m not sure how accurate I was but it was a great way to keep my thoughts occupied.  All total I did 4 miles in 53 minutes.  The wind was out of control and it ended up being a resistance workout of sorts; it was actually super fun to keep pushing through.

I drank the 2nd half of my G2 during my run.

And then I had a big iced coffee with English toffee syrup and Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk in the car.

In the car because we were heading to Toronto!

Last month I promised Adam all-you-can-eat sushi as a reward for participating in vegan month.  We failed at vegan month (recap post to come), but I figured he still deserved his reward for trying, especially since our fails were mostly due to my fat/laziness and not his lack of committment.  My parents sent us $ for Valentine’s that perfectly covered the cost of our fun international date, so off we went.

Lunch was delicious, way too many bites to even attempt to recap.  Adam and I did a lot of sharing, but the spread below shows everything I at least tasted.  Adam had many, many, other bites that I didn’t photograph.

Yum!  I’m still a little stuffed just thinking about it.  But we did find room for dessert.

Thank goodness, because this was actually the best cup of froyo I’ve ever had.  I thought I was going to die from a happiness overload.

A small serving of tart plain yogurt topped with fruit, sprinkles, and a huuuuuuge pile of popping boba.

I was grinning wider and wider with every bite.

After our drive home and an extreme shopping session at Wegmans, I did end up with room for a late dinner.

On that plate was a buffalo chicken sub with blue cheese and an order of fries.  Devoured.

Sunday has been spent on the couch.  Adam is starting a new project this week, in addition to the general being a med student craziness, and we took full advantage of today’s free hours for cuddling and sci-fi.

I did venture outside for brunch though.  My old friend Katie was back in town for a visit!

That sort of fun calls for a Bloody Mary, extra spicy.

Finding a Sunday brunch spot without a 45 minute wait took some doing, but we ended up having a great meal at Panos.

I got the kid’s meal 1-1-1.  A sunny side up egg, a pancake, and hash browns.  Then I smothered everything in syrup.

Every bite was delicious and I seriously considered licking my plate clean!

During the afternoon I ate a bowl of Malted Heath Bar Toffee Blondie 2-Ingredient Ice Cream.

x2.  That stuff is ridiculous good.

Adam had an evening meeting so I pushed back our dinner plans and ordered Chinese.  Told you I was taking advantage of my last days with take-out!  Once our food gets here we are watching our last ever episode of Stargate: Universe and eating crab rangoons.  Yippee!

Are you a sci-fi tv fan?  Did you watch any of the Stargates?

If A Kid Were King…

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If a kid were king, dessert would be decreed dinner!  I think that’s a valid lifestyle choice, every once in a while.  Like tonight, though honestly the main reason I didn’t eat food-food for dinner was because we are out of food-food and desperately need to make a trip to the store.

When Adam got home from the hospital I fed him a malted heath bar toffee blondie, and ate another one myself.

I didn’t get a lick of work done but somehow I managed to fill my afternoon.  Mostly I was preoccupied seeing if my (reduced fat) ice cream would work out.  And … it did!

I made ice cream!  Shelly’s 2 ingredient ice cream is pure genius.

I made myself a (big) cup to-go to eat in the car on the way to UB.

And then I babbled about 2 ingredient ice cream the whole car ride.  I couldn’t share any of the good stuff obviously, but I did bring everyone blondies and they received glowing reviews.  I have a mile-long list of dessert ideas going and I have the feeling I’ll be doing a lot of sharing in the upcoming months.

The dance show was very cool.  Most of the numbers seemed like they ran a little too long but overall I enjoyed myself.  It was a modern dance exhibit (put on by the UB dance students) and just soaking up the vibes made me feel super creative.  Whenever I see a dance show I always leave feeling like I want to do pirouettes across the parking lot.

Afterwards we extended the fun with a trip to Starbucks.  I got a tall, non-fat Earl Grey latte.

We sat and talked over our drinks for a while and it was a ton of fun.  Friday night plans with friends need to be a more regular thing.  And bedtime needed to be 20 minutes ago; we’ve got a big day tomorrow.

Did/do you do any type of dance?  I did modern dance through fifth grade and adored it but my sense of rhythm is nonexistent; when I was a cheerleader I had to pantomime clapping because I was always so off-beat!

A Sweet Start

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That title is literal, I opened my day with some baking!

I didn’t get to taste the finished product at 8am, but you can bet that I licked those beaters, raw eggs be damned.

I also had an onion bagel with strawberry jelly.

Try that combo sometime, you won’t regret it.

School was not as sweet; my test was basically a disaster.  I knew a whole lot of material that wasn’t on the test, and a whole lot of nothing about what the questions were asking.  The class is with my favorite teacher whose previous tests (in two other classes) I all scored a 100% on so it was extra disappointing.

Thankfully the test at least meant we were done early, giving me time to work on a group project and go to the gym.  My CT10k workout for today was 12 sets of 2:30 walking / 2:30 running.  5 miles in 60 minutes.  When I was done on the treadmill I did some strength and stretch moves on the mat too.

I drank half of this lemon-lime G2 while I was running.

And when I got home I finally got to try those blondies.

I made Malted Heath Bar Toffee Blondies; swoon.  They are chewy and fantastic but you’ll have to take my word for it because the recipe was cobbled together from a few sources and wasn’t changed enough to be sharable.

I ate 1.5 and then made myself stop so I’d still be hungry for a real lunch.

Though I did get another bowl to lick.

I wasn’t done baking, oh no; can you guess what I made next?

Two Ingredient Ice Cream from Cookies and Cups to fold my malted heath bar toffee blondies into.  I used half light cream and low-fat sweetened condensed milk so I’ll have to let you know how it turns out.  The ‘cream needs 4 more hours in the freezer and I’ll be waiting with bated breath.

In the meantime I made a small green salad.

Baby spinach topped with 1 Tbsp each raisins, groats, and peanut sauce.

Plus I had a bowl of leftover linguine, turnip greens, and mushroom umami pasta sauce with a drizzle of evoo.

I think that set of leftovers was technically the husband’s, but it tasted too good for me to feel bad.

I need to buckle down for a few solid hours of work this afternoon and then I’ve got a fun weekend ahead.  Tonight I’m going with a  group of friends to see a dance performance at UB, tomorrow Adam and I are making a day trip to Toronto, and Sunday I’m having lunch with a dearly missed friend who’s back in town for a visit.  Wheee!

Anything exciting on the agenda for your weekend?

March Came Marching In

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Hello, from a new month!  My March came marching in; I have a feeling that this is going to be a good month.  But even if the rest of the March sucks, I’ve been more productive just today than I was all of February!

After my morning post, I headed to school for Statistics.  We have our first test next week; I’ve had a firm grasp on all of the material so far but I can’t help but be a little nervous.  Next  I picked up my carpool buddies and we drove to the hospital for clinic.  Funny sidenote – we couldn’t find street parking and the one spot we saw that was too short but would have been fine if the front car had pulled up a bit more … was behind the husband’s car!  I could have moved the offending vehicle but I don’t have the key to Adam’s car on my key chain!

I ate a Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna Bar at the hospital.

I know I say it every time, but I still can’t get over home much this bar tastes like a samoa.  Speaking of which, there’s a samoa recipe I dreamed up during Vegan Month that I can’t wait to share with y’all!  I seriously rub my hands together like an evil villan every time I think about it.

Clinic went well, I had my first patient at the new hospital today.  He was being discharged as I went up to the floor so I didn’t get to do much, but I got to look through the chart and ask a few questions.  This hospital doesn’t have a screening/assessment form like the last one so I created my own and our instructor liked it so much she told me to make copies for everyone.  We don’t get to do a whole lot yet so getting praise for even the littlest things is still exciting.  And even more exciting was getting out early, woot.

I planned on working out after night class but I knew that would be a major drag so I took advantage of the extra time and hurried to the gym before class.  The CT10k workout for today called for 10 intervals of 2:30 walking/2:30 running (25 minutes total each), but I didn’t have quit enough time so I had to reconfigure.  I ended up doing 8 intervals of 3 minutes walking/5 minutes running (15 minutes walking and 25 minutes running total).  3.5 miles and 40 minutes.  First workout in two weeks?  Done!

Night class went well because we got out of that early too!  Found time is the best time.  We finished so quickly that I even got to eat my packed dinner at home.

In the repurposed jar is 1 serving of leftover Tempeh Brown Rice Casserole.

I pulled dessert from the freezer too; I finally got to try my Jordan Almond Cookies!

They were great, I wish I’d saved more for myself.

With my found time, I finally finished my notecards for tomorrow’s exam.  Better late than never?  I probably should go review those, huh?

How many cars does your family have?  If you are a multi-vehicle family, do you carry a set of your significant other’s keys with you?

Resolutions Check In: February

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Last night – I didn’t finish my work, but I did make a big dent.  We were up until midnight but it was only 8pm when I realized that dinner wasn’t going to cover it.  I started with a bowl of coconut barley (cooked in coconut milk with shredded coconut stirred in) with pb sauce.

But there was something off about the texture so instead I moved on to pizza.

Lots of pizza.  What?  It was the last hours of Vegan Month, on a leap year!  Plus we’d already cheated anyway.  This was our least successful Vegan Month to date.

This morning – was the start of successful month.  I blame coffee.

That’s a leftover cup (+ish) of Wegman’s Espresso Roast (<– love!) with 1 Tbsp English Toffee Syrup and 5 Tbsp Silk Vanilla Almond Milk.  I’m not done with my work, not even close, but I made another big dent.

Breakfast was soup.

Dr. McDougall’s Pad Thai Noodle Soup.

Not Pad Thai in the slightest (the flavor seemed more Spanish than Thai), but the texture and flavor were quite tasty.  It badly needed peanuts but sadly we don’t have any.

Happy March’ing everyone!

Resolutions Check In: February

2 months down.  February was not quite as successful as January.  I want to blame the Vegan Challenge, but honestly we failed at that too.  The good thing is that I feel more than ready to put my head down and work the rest of the year.

1. Workout a minimum of three times per week.

Fail.  I have no excuse, but I can only do better.

2. Continue to read at least one book a month, for a minimum total of 30 books this year.

10. 206 Bones – Kathy Reichs

11. Firefly Lane – Kristin Hannah

12. Spider Bones – Kathy Reichs

Win.  3 books read this month for a total of 12 this year.  I’ve officially read every Temperance Brennan book currently available.

3. Put the time and effort into my school work that I can be proud of each week.

Middling.  I’m still on top of things but I slacked and I’m not necessarily proud of myself.

4. Continue working on being a positive person.

Fail/Win.  I decided in January that I needed to make more specific goals for each month so for February I said – “every time I get so mad I want to yell at Adam, I have to do three push-ups first.  And then I can yell!”  I only ended up doing push-ups once.  I forgot about them the times I was mad, but I did get mad a lot less often this month.

For March – stop eating take-out!  I’ll talk about this more later but getting creative in the kitchen helps keep me happy (and healthy!) so it’s a good goal for addressing positivity.

Ombre Umami

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Today’s mood progressed gradually, slowly moving from bad to good.  It felt like I was peeling back layer after layer (probably as I was shaking off sleep!), getting more productive, more happy, more awake.  The visual I kept picturing was the new trend of ombre hair; light at the tips progressing to darker roots.

Sidenote – I’m loving my short ‘do but this look is yet another reason I’m missing short hair.  The main reason being big buns piling on the top of heads.

During the darker morning, as I slumped around the house feeling tired, I ate a big bowl of unphotographed popcorn with Earth Balance for breakfast.  I want to blame popcorn for bettering my mood, but it was probably the long nap I took after eating it.

My dreams have been crazy lately and sleep hasn’t been very restful.  But on an exciting note, I think I might be a sleeper agent as all of my nights of late have been spent as a cop, CIA operative, or other fighter of crime.  After a rejuvenating nap this morning I was ready to take on the day.  Good meals, schoolwork done, peppy attitude.

Lunch was my new favorite sandwich.  A Sandwich Thin with mustard and 3 oz of tempeh.

I had to make a quick stop at the grocery and I rounded out the meal with a few stir fry veggies.

We’re doing another take-out challenge in March and I feel like I’ve got to hit up the hot bar while I can!

Dinner doesn’t look so hot, I agree, but I promise it was delicious.

1 serving of linguine with turnip greens, topped with a drizzle of evoo and a pile of this –

The mushroom sauce ended up even better than I was expecting.  I will totally cop to licking my plate once my pasta was gone.  Yields 16 ounces –

  • 3 pints sliced white mushrooms
  • 2 Tbsp Earth Balance butter substitute
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 Tbsp evoo
  • 1 cup reduced sodium vegetable broth
  1. Melt Earth Balance in a large pan over high heat.
  2. Add mushrooms and 1/4 tsp salt to pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. Drain any excess water from the mushrooms and add 1 Tbsp of evoo and the remaining 1/4 tsp of salt to the pan.  Cook an additional 10 minutes butter the mushrooms are beginning to brown*.
  4. Remove from heat and allow mushrooms to cool 2 – 3 minutes.
  5. Pour mushrooms into the bowl of your food processor.  Process 3 – 4 minutes, until smooth, streaming in vegetable broth and remaining 3 Tbsp of evoo.

Adam’s out getting our taxes done but I’m excited to see what he thinks of dinner when he gets home.  Speaking of the husband, there were more sightings this morning!  My friends in another section of clinic ran into him at the hospital today and he even got to meet one of my favorite teachers.

Now I’ve got to get back to hitting those books!  I finally started the work I’ve been ducking all week and I’d hate to lose momentum now.

What current hairstyle are you digging?

Husband Sightings

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We did not go to the gym yesterday.  It’s possible that when I said “no buts,” I had forgotten that the husband recently stepped on a nail.  When he got home I noticed the little detail that he’s still limping.  I’m a jerk.

Gym or not, today my body wanted carbs.  Time of the month and all that (ew).  The following foods were eaten today, at random intervals approximating breakfast lunch and dinner.  An onion bagel with Smart Balance Light.

Roasted peanuts.

A bowl of cereal with Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk.

An apple on the walk to school.

An unphotographed clementine that my professor gave us at clinic.  We started a new rotation today and I’m actually at the same hospital as the husband for the next three weeks.  We passed each other in the halls twice; swoon.  Plus we had the same patient and when I saw his handwriting in the chart I about died!

Chips.

Vegan fudge from the co-op.

A pile of roasted green beans.

And a big bowl of popcorn with Earth Balance.

Have you ever worked at the same place as your significant other?