Studies and Sweets

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Another day at study central has come to a close!  Tomorrow is a horrifying all day affair, and then my final is at 8am this Saturday.  And then I go home!  To the beach!

My high volume low calorie lunch did not do the trick for me at all.  Usually I am more of a volume eater (popcorn?) but I was starving again .2seconds after eating.  I distracted myself for a minute with my fancy Christmas socks,

and then was hungry again.  I snagged a piece of peppermint bark on my way out the door.

We had some errands to run – like picking up an exciting package at UPS – before we made our way to Coffee Culture around 2.  Which is where we stayed until 8.  Actually, I got there at 2, Adam spent an hour being a creeper.  Keanu Reeves is shooting a movie here in Buffalo and Adam wanted to get an eye-full of his man-crush.  Lucky for him my friend Caroline was involved in the shooting and she snuck him in for a peak.  Oh man was he ever excited!

When I went to order my coffee (with skim milk) the man told me a small with a homemade cookie would cost me $2, who could resist that?

This peanut butter cookie might be the best cookie I’ve ever eaten.  It was crumbly and chewy at the same time and just perfect.

A few hours later it was time for dinner.

I got the “All American” – whole wheat panninni, roasted turkey, cream cheese, american cheese, ranch dressing, cranberries.  I know it sounds goopy and over the top but the dressings were all really light and it ended up being delicious.

I feel like I “should” be full, but I’m still not, and it’s very likely I’ll have a snack before bed.  Otherwise, I will see you all tomorrow.  Caroline and I are planning on spending all day studying at the Spot again, so I’m not sure when I’ll post, but expect it to be boring! 🙂

Don’t forget, my Amy’s giveaway ends tomorrow at noon!

Gaga, Green Beans, Grapple, Giveaway*

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*If you could care less what I ate or how pt is going, skip to the bottom for a giveaway!

If you do care, I had my last pt session today!  I have a (long) set of exercises that I should plan on doing indefinitely.  Post-foot surgery in January if I’m having pain when I start running again then I’ll go back for another appointment.  For now, I plan on doing my exercises and enjoying the few weeks in December I have to run.

I warm up on the treadmill for 20minutes during pt so the gym was a logical next stop.  I had a quick snack at home to refuel first.  A tiny sliver of Kerrygold Aged Cheddar with Irish Whiskey.

And something I’ve been eyeing for months and months that finally went on sale – GRAPPLES!

The grape-apple hybrid caught my eye back in Brooklyn and I was so excited to finally try it.  The apples have a slight maroon tinge and smell a lot like grape soda.  The small is more noticable than the taste though, just a slight afterflavor of tang.  Still good though.

Fueled, I hit up the treadmill for a run.  My plan was to do 2minute run/1minute walk intervals.  That was what I did most of the time, but a few times I just couldn’t bear to stop running!  I did a few extended walks too so hopefully it all evened out.  In the end my stats were – 38minutes / 3.2miles / 395calories.  My music made the work out –35minute Playlist

  1. Into the Ocean; Blue October
  2. Every Ship Must Sail Away, Blue Merle
  3. Hot Blooded, Foreigner
  4. No Long Talking, Lady Saw
  5. Fearless, Cyndi Lauper
  6. I Know You Want Me, Pitbull
  7. Paparazzi, Lady Gaga
  8. Bad Romance, Lady Gaga
  9. Platypus (I Hate You), Green Day

It  was the perfect mix.  The husband (ahem) got me obsessed with Lady Gaga recently.  I hate her old stuff, but the two songs on the playlist are pretty damn catchy and you have to like her music videos – I love the styling and contrasts.

After a quick shower it was time for lunch.

Amy’s Fire Roasted Southwestern Vegetable Soup,

and green bean fries.

The “fries” were spritzed with evoo, sprinkled with salt and paprika, and baked at 450* for 20minutes.  They were delicious, but maybe could have used ten more mintues.

Yes, I ate the entire bag.  Yes, I know that is disgusting.  Yes, it was delicious.  The soup was tasty too.

I loved the flavor, but I left most of the broth.  It was a yummy lunch.

Now I’m off to study.  For the rest of the day.  Ugh.

*Now we are talking about the free stuff –

You can have a yummy lunch with Amy’s too!  1 Grand Prize winner will receive a variety pack of three soups.  Three runners up will receive free product coupons for any Amy’s product.

To enter –

  1. For one entry – leave a comment on this post.
  2. For a second chance – go to Amy’s website and sign up for the Amy’s newsletter.  Leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.
  3. For a third/fourth chance – link back to this contest from your blog and/or on Twitter.  Leave a comment(s) telling me you’ve done so.

The contest ends Friday at noon, Good Luck!

Nog Makes It Nicer

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It’s Thursday, the week before Christmas break is almost complete!  I have a pt appointment this morning, which is why I’m actually awake for a change.  I don’t have much time though so breakfast was started last night – overnight oats.

  • 1/3 cup oatmeal and
  • 1/3 cup Silk soy nog were stirred together last night and put in a fridge
  • approx. 1/3 cup low fat plain yogurt and
  • dash nutmeg were stirred in this morning and
  • holiday sprinkles!

‘Twas festive and yummy.

I’ve got to scadaddle, have a great morning!

How do you make overnight oats?  Any fabulous mix in ideas?

Study Central

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It’s study central around here; my final is at 8am this Saturday and I’ll be cramming my butt off until then!

Last night we finished watching Waitress and I decided I was in love – what a great movie!  It was super quirky, and made me crave pie like crazy, but I really enjoyed it.  I don’t know if it was the movie or what, but this movie I was having the craziest dreams!  In one I was a Greek man hitting on my sister-in-law and in another they made “Bones” into an awesome movie.  I hate to get up in the middle of a dream so we ended up sleeping in way too late.  After running some errands it was noon by the time we got our study on.

We spent the day (12 – 9, yes 9hours) at the Spot, so most of my meals came from there.  Brunch =

A diet coke and the ever adored Mike’s Sandwich.  An everything bagel with egg, cream cheese, and provolone.  Yums.

A few hours later it was time for a snack.

Oh yes, that is a ‘Smores Bar.  I’m obsessed with pretty much anything ‘smores related, but other than ‘smores pie this might be the best thing ever!  It was soooo chewy and tasty, it took me more than an hour to eat.

With my sweet I also had some China Breakfast tea.

It was a nice rich black tea, I ended up dipping the diffuser into more hot water for a second cup.

Hours later still – my friend Caroline was there at this point – I had my new favorite thing.  “Santa’s Little Helper”

Skim milk cappuccino with dark chocolate, peppermint, and green foam.  Ack!

Too exciting!

In spite of all the sugar I was super hungry when I got home.  I heated up a carton of Dr. McDougall’s Black Bean Soup for dinner.

While I waited we tried some new cheese, Kerrygold Aged Cheddar with Irish Whiskey.

This was my favorite Kerrygold variety yet, so nice and creamy.  I melted some on top of of two small slices of french bread as a side.

And I topped my soup with low fat plain yogurt and some Sriracha, so yum.

All together –

It was a good meal.

Adam is watching Dutch, and I’m getting sucked in, but hopefully I’ll be in bed soon.  I have pt at 8am tomorrow, and a few errands to run, but the rest of the day should be study study study.  Do be on the lookout for a giveaway tomorrow around lunch time though.

Silk Soy Nog and Savory Bread Pudding

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It’s been a full day around here and tomorrow is looking full as well so this will be unabashedly short.

I had pt this morning, it’s going well.  I’m pretty frustrated that legwise I’ve been allowed to run but footwise I can’t.  My pt agrees that since I’m basically taking January off (I’m having my wort surgically removed) it’s a good idea to work as hard as I can the next three weeks.

I left the house before 7:30 which didn’t leave me much time for breakfast.  I got my protein in with this Odwalla.

Super Protein Vitamin Fruit Juice Drink.  I drank about 3/4, it was a good breakfast.

We are going home for Christmas and my big final is on the 21st so I’ve got lots of studying and loose ends to tie up today.  I spent my lunch hour working on stuff and by the time I picked up Adam at 2 I was starving.  We hit up a pizza place he found with zillions of choices and huge slices.

I got broccoli, chicken, brussetta.

Yum, broccoli is my favorite pizza topping.

Even hungry though the slices were way too big though.  I left about 1/3 of mine.

Although that didn’t stop me from devouring Adam’s crust.

We ran a lot of errands (doctor’s office, mall, pharmacy) before coming home to do some gift making.  I did a little bit of nibbling on the pretzels, but mostly I enjoyed the ultimate Christmas festivity –

I’m so glad I found Silk Soy Nog again this year!!  I had 1 cup topped with nutmeg.

Dinner came from the October issue of Cooking Light, Butternut Squash and Parmesan Bread Pudding (click the link for the recipe).  I halved the recipe, used skim milk, and skipped the egg whites, but otherwise I followed it.

It was pretty good.  A little sweet though, I think my favorite part of dinner was my side salad.

All together –

We are watching “Waitress” and then heading to bed.  I’m not sure what I think of the movie yet, definitely quirky.

Are you a bread pudding fan?  Any savory kinds you’ve liked?

DIY Holiday Gift Idea

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Every year for Christmas I make all my in-laws chocolate and white chocolate dipped pretzels.  They are affordable, festive looking, and most importantly tasty.  Packed in a Tupperware (with parchment paper crumpled on top so they don’t shake around) they are a cinch to mail to loved ones who don’t live nearby.

Here are the ingredients, along with some tips –

Small twist pretzels:

I use twists because I think they look cuter, but this idea works well with any shape.  I always buy a ton more pretzels than I plan on using in case the bag has a lot of broken ones.  Unless you are making them specifically with someone on a low-sodium  diet in mind, do not buy salt-free; the salt-sweet balance is what makes them so wonderful.

Chocolate and white chocolate chips:

I use chocolate/white chocolate because I think they provide the nicest contrast with the sprinkles, but I bet peanut butter chips would be delicious too.

Holiday Sprinkles –

I would not suggest anything too bulky – i.e. shaped like snowflakes or santa’s hats – because they will clump up.

Containers:

This year we are giving each family 1 red container of white dipped and 1 green container of chocolate dipped.  If you have plain Tupperware you’d like to use just include some holiday tissue paper down inside the containers.

The procedure is relatively simple.  1.  Melt the chips using the microwave or a double-boiler.  For the white chocolate I recommend a double boiler because it’s more temperamental.  2. Dip the pretzels into the smooth chocolate; if using twists only dip in half of each pretzel.  3. Sprinkle on decoration while chocolate is still wet.  4.  Allow to dry completely before packaging.

My recommendations –

  1. Use foiled baking sheets to lay the pretzels out on.
  2. Pour the sprinkles into a small pinch bowl, they are easier to sprinkle with your fingers than from the bottle.
  3. Use the fridge to speed up cooling time.
  4. Save some for yourself, they are delicious!

Look out for –

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Good morning.  I just got back from pt and it looks like a busy day.

I am not going to recap the last couple days.  I’ve been in a bad mood and I’d just like them to be over with. 

Today, be on the lookout for –

  1. a lunch post
  2. a holiday gift idea
  3. a giveaway!

Cheese and Chocolate

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It’s an hour later than my goal bedtime so I’ll make this speedy.  I didn’t get much work done today, but I do feel cozy and relaxed.  And full – I ate little things every hour or so and I might have overdone it a bit on the snacking 😉

Crackers with cheese log.

It’s a good thing Adam likes to call me Mouse, maybe that will soften the blow when I gain 20pounds on cheese alone!

I also finished off the Food Should Taste Good Olive Chips, less than half a serving.

And I ate a small square of leftover lasagna.

Next I tried a new candy that my mom bought me.

Tea Infusions Milk Chocolate with Black Masala Chai.

Mmn, I prefer dark chocolate but I loved the way the taste of chai (my favorite tea) came through.  Plus 1 serving, half a bar, had 140 calories which feels reasonable.

I would love to be the sort of person who ate this with a cup of tea, but we have a bottle of Coke Zero leftover from the party so that just wasn’t going to happen.

We took a break to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah,

and, finally, a few hours later we got food from Jim’s Steakout.

A spicy buffalo chicken sub,

and french fries.

Not my healthiest day!

What’s your favorite kind of tea?