Pineapple Paradise

by

In spite of getting to sleep long after 3am – due to a combination of difficult homework, frivolous blog reading, and annoying insomnia – I knew I needed an early morning to finish my assignment on time.  I knew it, but unfortunately Adam’s reflexes didn’t, and he turned off my alarm before I even woke up.  Thankfully my little bad influence’s own alarm was set for 8:30 so not too much time was lost.

I got right to work and managed to finish up by 10am, 2 whole hours before the due date 😉  I will say that I’m pretty darn nervous for my Chemistry final.  And more than a little bit ticked off; the amount of material (and degree of difficulty) they are trying to squeeze into the last week of class is a bit ludicrous.  I would feel a lot more comfortable if we had some review of the concepts, but sadly the final will be the first time we are tested on them.

I have ZERO complaints about this morning’s breakfast though.

1/2 cup plain, fat free yogurt with Crofter’s Superfruit Spread stirred in.  Which isn’t exciting at all.

But it becomes exciting rather quickly when topped with this –

We have some leftover canned pineapple rings from a recipe last week that weren’t exactly thrilling me.  So I sprinkled them with brown sugar and roasted those bad boys!  Everything is better roasted, period!

I ate three tasty rings atop my yogurt.

Perfection.  The pineapple ended up not being too sweet or too tangy, and finding carmelized bits in your yogurt is pretty exciting.  Plus the texture was perfect, almost a bit chewy like dried fruit.

On the agenda for the rest of the day?

  • Anthropology studying (ya know, for my test tomorrow)
  • a swim work out at the UB pool
  • putting away the dry cleaning we picked up more than a week ago
  • some baking fun; fingers crossed!

Do you have any pineapple recipe recommendations for me?  I’ve still got half a can left!

Sunday, Study Sunday

by

It’s almost Monday, I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Today started off with some glitching, but ended up being quite productive (and fun!).  Continuing with my oh-so-healthy late night habits [insert sarcasm here] I’m going to work on some homework after posting so I’ve got to keep this quick.

And I’ll use my quickness excuse [see above] to not have to explain why breakfast looked like this –

I’d been excited about key lime since this month’s custard calendar first came out, but sadly it was a bust.  No tang at all, it basically tasted like vanilla which I hate.  I ate less than 1/3 of it.

I was disappointed about my ice-cream and my few bites fully kick-started my hunger the result of which, sadly, was a bit of a temper tantrum when we got home [blush] 😦  Thankfully the sweetest man on earth, aka my husband, saved the day by suggesting we go out to lunch before heading to our study session.

Pearl Street + lunch =

– sun =

2nd time’s the charm!

We decided to split lunch which worked out perfectly (although we ate off a communal plate so I don’t have photos of my portions; you can assume I ate roughly half).  We had our own drinks though, the husband can consume a beer and still study but my light-weight tendencies meant I guzzled iced tea instead.

To start we got a bowl of the Gouda Soup.

Holy yum!  It was a blend of smoked Gouda and the house made Lighthouse Ale.  I pretty much adore soups with booze in them.

As well as the fish fry.

I could tell it was well done but this pretty much confirmed my idea that I don’t like fried things that are not french fries.  The fries, however, got doused with malt vinegar and rocked my socks.

After lunch we spent the rest of the day (3pm-10pm) studying at The Spot.  I got a ton done for Tuesday’s Anthropology exam (basically all the stuff I should have been doing the past 3weeks).  At one point in the afternoon I ordered a medium iced coffee with skim milk and amaretto syrup.

And for dinner I went with the pizza bagel.

Yummy, and the perfect studying “carrot.”  Cut into 8ths and eaten at 5page intervals this meal lasted more than 1.5hours.

During our one (extended) study break the husband and I actually had a long talk about factory farming / welfare / American food production / corn / etc.  The end consensus is that we’ve been shopping based on $ since moving to Buffalo and we are going to make a much bigger effort for now on to only purchase sustainably and morally farmed meat and dairy products.

Now we are home, and I’m munching on the last of the fresh pineapple.

I’m planning on staying up to work on this homework assignment so I’m not sure what tomorrow’s deal will be.  I hope everyone else gets to bed early in preparation for another work week!

What guides your meat and dairy purchases?  Nutrition, money, morals, other, or some combination of the above?

One-a-Day, Fun-a-Day

by

I couldn’t manage to make this a three-post sort of day, but it was a lot of fun!  Tomorrow and Monday are going to be all about Anthro so I’m glad I squeezed some joy in today.

When I woke up this morning I was so hungry I was actually a little angry about it!  Sometimes when I’m so hungry I feel like I could eat a horse I end up not eating anything at all because it seems like no matter what I try I’ll still be hungry!!!  Plus I knew I had a fun lunch date to look forward to 😉

Katie and I have been planning a trip to the hot bar at the Lexington Co-op for months.  The co-op only has outside seating and it was 45* outside today but that wasn’t going to stop us, we just bundled up!

And ordered hot coffee (with skim milk).

Foodwise I went with a bunch of fun tastes.

Stuffed grape leaves and some massaged kale,

An amazing falafel – it tasted like it was baked instead of fried and the outside was super thick and crunchy,

curried chicken salad, and chicken salad with almonds and grapes,

and some Thai cucumber salad with peanuts.

Yumtastic!  I adore meals where I get a bunch of different tastes, I find I feel much more satisfied.

Afterward I picked up some fun bargains at the co-op, as well as dessert.

That peanut butter swirl brownie was literally gone in less than 2minutes!

Later in the afternoon the husband and I headed to the movie theatre to see Kick Ass.  The movie was pretty kick ass (hehe) but holy moley was there a lot of explicit language and violence!

I too felt like a superhero when I got tonight’s dinner on the table.

The bacon fettuccine alfredo was almost tastier leftover than it was the first night.

And for our veggies I made the world’s best dish from yesterday’s lunch: kale and eggplant with worchestire and marinara; I left out the okra because the husband thinks it looks like spider eggs!

The pasta and the veggies ended up working together perfectly.

Dinner was a definite success.

However, a few hours later (now) I did end up feeling some hunger.  I knew I was heading to bed soon and didn’t want something heavy so I decided to try the packet of chocolate whey protein I picked up.

Shaken with 8oz of skim milk.

Meh?  It wasn’t bad, but I feel like there are a lot more exciting (natural?) sources of protein.  That’s not to say I wouldn’t try another variety though.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend thus far, enjoy your Sundays!

What is your feeling on protein powders?  Any recommendations (or warnings) for me?

Fantastic Fettuccine

by

Happy Friday!  The husband and I are cuddling up to watch the latest “Bones” as soon as I’m done so I’ll keep this quick.

Tonight’s dinner recipe came from Cooking Light, Fettuccine Alfredo with Bacon.  Click the name for a link to the recipe.  Per usual, here were my changes:

  • Subbed in 6slices of extra-lean turkey bacon (and 2T butter); and stirred the bacon into the pasta
  • Subbed in 1/3cup chopped red onion for garlic
  • Subbed in fat free milk
  • Skipped the addition of cooking water

Our meal was fantastic!

I had a small serving of pasta with roasted asparagus on the side.

The pasta was creamy and chewy and oh-so-tasty!  It was filling without being too heavy and the sauce turned out perfectly.

I thought I hated Alfredo sauces, but I think maybe I just needed bacon 😉 Plus I’m not at all a fan of full-fat dairy so the fact that this had skim milk instead of cream was perfect for me.

And the asparagus was outstanding.

This was the first time we tried roasting and of course it was the best ever; roasting is my favorite method for every veggie.  It ended up almost hollow.  The stems were wilted and perfect and the tips were amazingly carmelized and crunchy.

Can you tell I was in love with dinner?

I’ve got mid-show dessert planned already.

Single-serving of dulce de leche ice-cream is sure to hit the spot.

I hope everyone else had a great Friday!  See you Saturday.

What is your favorite ‘lightened up’ dish?  Do you enjoy ‘lite’ options or would you rather indulge sparingly? 

P.S. My camera was charging but I also ended up snacking on a big bowl of popcorn and a serving of blue corn chips.

Simple but Stunning

by

We obviously didn’t eat dinner at 2pm so I guess this will be a two-post-day, yippie!  Most of the day so far has been spent at the hospital getting my bone scan done.  I had an initial appointment at 9:30 so that they could inject the tracer, and then a second appointment at 1:30 so they could image my legs.  I could tell just by looking at the monitor that there is bone regrowth in the area that hurts, but I’ll know more after I speak with the doctor next week.

My head hit the pillow after 2am last night but even then my mind didn’t want to stop working!  Does anyone else have to mentally review their to-do list before falling asleep?  Sometimes I think out our weekly meal plan just to calm myself down!  Obviously I stayed in bed as late as possible today and made breakfast an on-the-go affair.

I pretty much love all Cliff Bar flavors but Peanut Toffee Buzz holds a big piece of my heart.  It’s sweet without being too much and incredibly filling for 250calories.  Plus, as much as I know I should be getting my gotta-have-’ems from fruits and veggies, I always appreciate products with added nutrients.

I had a ton of phone calls to make in between doctor’s appointments – I have some issues to work out with summer school, financial aid, etc – but I did find time to make a stunning lunch.  I love this combination –

Kale + eggplant + okra = awesome goodness.

I cooked my veggies in evoo and worchestire sauce for ~10minutes, then poured some marinara into the saucepan for the last few minutes.

YUM!  This is pretty much my favorite dish of all time, the combination is just too fantastic.  Plus it’s so gorgeous!

The plan for the rest of the day includes Anthropology reading, a grocery trip, and dinner.  On my like-to-do list is also a light strength/stretch session and watching the latest episode of Bones.  I’ll see you for dinner!

What food discoveries have you made through the healthy blog world?  I don’t think without Meghann and Kath I ever would have tried okra and now it’s pretty much my favorite thing.  I love the fact that blogs allow us to expose each other to myriad of amazing options.

Late Night, Lady Business

by

I realize it’s a bit ridiculous that I’m blogging – let alone awake – at 1am, but I’m hoping this well serve as a ‘final shut down’ activity for my brain.  We got home late and I got into a homework productivity groove that I didn’t want to abandon for sleep.  After a solid 3weeks of slacking in my classes I’m ready to dive into the books again 🙂

I abhor when bloggers discuss their lady business online, but I need to mention mine to address the hungry beast issue.  I was starving again today.  After the 8th-million time I mentioned this to the husband he expressed some concern; both for my health and my ever-expanding-ass.  When I defended my hunger (No, it’s not just that I think it’s funny to see whether or not you’ll still love me if I get fat.  Yes I’m really really hungry.  No I really ate people food today, not just popcorn.  No I don’t have kidney disorder, stop being such a medical student!) I realized we had the same conversation last month.  And roughly the same time the month before that.  So, the point of that rambling paragraph was to share my hypothesis that my hunger spike is related to my cycle.  And now I’m ending the lady business discussion.

Breakfast was 1cup Kashi H2H with fresh raspberries.

I added a couple shakes from our cinnamon-sugar duck to keep things interesting.

And yes, I did use skim milk, I just wanted to snap a dry shot first.

Within 20minutes of breakfast I ate a salt water taffy.

<begin day-long snackage here>  And the last serving of TJ’s Gummy Tummies.

And the last of the lemon curd (~2-3T) with some Biscoffs.

The lemon + gingersnap combo sort of rocks my socks, I have several awesome dessert recipes whirling ’round my head.

I picked the husband up before class and stopped at Starbucks in an attempt to go green(x2).

For Tax Day Starbucks was giving free coffee to anyone who brought in their own mug.

Great idea in theory, not so great in practice – I spat out my one and only sip more quickly than you can imagine.  I am usually not a Starbucks hater but this was nasty bitter.  Thankfully the amazing array of snacks now available at the counter more than makes up for bad free coffee.  I snagged a package of Sahale BBQ Almonds to eat during Anthro.

Mmmn.  I adore Sahale Snacks, I haven’t bought them in ages but I mentally added them to next week’s grocery list upon my first tasty bite.

In between classes I ran some errands around campus with the husband.  Our travels to the copy shop led to the discovery of an adorable Japanese spot.

Bubble tea on campus?!?!  I’m not sure if it’s a good or a bad thing that I didn’t know about this until my 2nd to last week at UB!

Almond flavored milk tea with bobba = huge smile from Emily. 

I’m not really sure if it was lunch or dinner, but at 5pm I split a $5 Footlong with the husband.

My half, tuna with provolone.  Not the healthiest option from Subway by far, but the husband is kind of obsessed with them and they are pretty darn tasty.  Plus they are pretty much the only thing I really eat with mayo and I have one maybe once every few months.

I also snacked on a HUGE marshmallow dream (i.e. rice krispies from Starbucks) bar during Chemistry but it had to go unphotographed.  The boys near me were being rude and loud and I felt bad pulling out a camera with the professor staring at my section.

The reason for our late homecoming is that we had to head to the mall after class.  The husband has a strange obsession with dorky sports (he used to be a championship ping-pong player!) and we had to hit up Dicks so he could buy a myriad of rackets.  I don’t think the man has touched a basketball since high school but he now plays ping-pong, tennis, and squash on a weekly basis!

During my monster homework session (10pm – 1am) I snacked on a big bowl of fresh-cut pineapple.

And that’s all she wrote, sweet dreams folks!

*Note* I hate these long posts and my goal (at least for this weekend) is to go back to 3-a-days.  However, I’ll be at the hospital most of tomorrow for my bone scan so don’t expect to hear from me.  But do wish me luck!  🙂

Taming the Beast

by

Sorry for the late post, I had 8am lab and my day ended up galloping off from there!  I was hoping my extreme hunger was a yesterday thing, but it ended up following me into today as well; I felt like I was trying to tame the beast!

We had a hard quiz this morning (the first of the semester I don’t think I got a 100% on, boo) so I started my day with some brain food in the form of a green monster.

1 cup frozen spinach + 1 cup calcium/vitamin d oj + 1 frozen banana = tasty, healthy perfection!  I’m glad I experimented for the husband’s sake, but you just cannot improve on this recipe.

Normally GMs leave me satisfied until lunch, but today the beast was howling by the time I finished with lab around 11:30.  I knew I wasn’t going to make it at the gym without food so I fueled up at the mini cafe next to my class.

A cup of fruit salad and some Silk Soy Chocolate Milk.

Ready to go; I’ve got to give the snack a little credit for the fact that I had another great swim work out.  As promised – because I love you guys! – here’s a picture of me in all my dorky glory in my swim cap:

Actually, a lady walked by right as I took this picture so I had to explain to her why I was taking photographs in the ladies’ locker room.  She ended up giving me some great swimming tips and encouragement.  Although I’m still a little jealous of Meghann’s locker room social scene.

In the pool I did 32 laps (75ft each) in 28minutes.  The husband walked into the pool area in time for my last loop so I tried to haul ass; I could feel my heart pounding by the time I was done! 

We had to run some errands on the way home and Adam decided we were going to lunch.  He didn’t consult me and I had pool water dripping down my back but I’m still not complaining!  You’ll never guess the location he chose 😀

Yes, we went back to Cozumel again; yes, I did major damage to the chips.

I told you the menu is expansive, I tried yet another new item!  Veggie Chimis –

Nachos aside, I never order stuff like this and I quickly remembered why.  Unless we are talking  french fries I don’t like things that are fried, give me roasted or raw any day!  Thankfully it wasn’t all that greasy and the cheese was fairly under control.  Plus it was stuffed with mushrooms, zucchini, and summer squash.

I didn’t even taste my rice, who would want more carbs as a side with this?

My hunger was only temporarily quelled though, and a few hours later I was ready for more.  The husband I continued our fancy-free attitude and took a walk to Sweet Tooth.

I went with a small ice-cream which beyond hit the spot.

Cookies and cream with raspberry white chocolate swirl.  Holy yum!

I’m sure you’re shocked that I was still hungry for dinner a few hours later 😉  On the menu was this recipe for Pineapple-Glazed Chicken with Jalapeno Salsa.  Two thumbs up!  If nothing else, I highly recommend making the salsa.

Here’s my plate:

I had a small piece of chicken,

with a side of roasted veggies drizzled in leftover glaze.

The glaze was awesome but I still could only choke down half of my veggies; I just did not like these!  The husband thought they tasted off too, we ended up throwing the rest of them out.

I was a little too fancy-free with the husband today and I’ve got a TON of work to do by the end of the week so I’ve got to run.

Do you like fried food?  How often do you eat it?  Other than nachos and french fries, yum, I genuinely don’t enjoy fried foods.  Although I do like typically fried foods if they’ve been baked (i.e. chicken nuggets).

Snacks McGee

by

I was so excited by my salad combination, and it looked so tasty, but the moment I began eating I started feeling gaggy.  Does this ever happen to you?  Vegetables comprise most of my favorite foods list – roasted brussels sprouts, baby carrots – but sometimes they really don’t appeal to me.  I started feeling nauseous and sick to my stomach and I ended up eating less than half of my lunch.

I was extra glad I pre-packed a class snack!  I was still feeling stomach-rumbly once I got to campus but I was also hit by extreme-hunger-light-headedness.  I opened up my Cool Mint Chocolate Cliff Bar once class started,

and I slammed down my serving of TJ’s Gummi Tummies just a few minutes later.

I was still so hungry after class that I ended up buying a slice of pizza before Chemistry.

It was so nice to have a reprise from today’s near constant hunger!  I was deep into Chemistry studying from class to 9:45pm so I needed all my focus on my books.

I did manage to break away from equations long enough to throw together a pretty darn tasty dinner.

I made myself egg salad with the last of the Easter eggs.  I didn’t really measure anything, but I mashed 2 hard-boiled eggs with a little bit of  mayo and mustard and a lot of pickle relish.

With two thin slices of fresh ciabatta bread.

We generally are impressed with everything about Wegmans but trying items from their bakery has just given us more to love!  This was wonderfully chewy.

A while later I made a pretty bangin’ snack plate.

3 Melba crackers dipped in dark chocolate and pistachios

,

with most of a Minneola.

This combination of flavors was fantastic, I loved the flavors of citrus mixed with chocolate.  Perfect study fuel.

I’ve got a quiz tomorrow at 8am (my breakfast/lunch post will probably be pretty late tomorrow) so I’ve got to get off to bed.  See ya on the flipside!

Here is the recipe Old London and Melba Snacks provided me with –

Chocolate Pistachio Crunch, yields 40

  • 4cups semi sweet dark chocolate chips
  • 1box Melba Snacks Sea Salt
  • 1cup pistachios, chopped and toasted
  1. Stir chocolate in a large bowl set over a saucepan of boiling water until melted and smooth making sure that water does not touch the bowl and that the chocolate does not get too hot.
  2. Remove from over water.
  3. Dip into melted chocolate to cover half of the Melba Snack.
  4. Gently shake off excess chocolate.
  5. Place on a baking sheet and quickly sprinkle with chopped pistachios.
  6. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm, about 35minutes.