Visit from the In-Laws

by Emily

Don’t forget to enter my Zevia giveaway!

Today was quite a day. We had a great time with my in-laws, I’m so glad our families all get along! They came over to see the house and brought me a gift that shows just how much they know me –

awww 🙂

Before we left the house I actually grabbed a 2nd Zevia for the road.

‘Twas good. Not as good as my awesome new hoodie though, nice and warm!

We took them to school (my m-i-l’s best friend was with us too) to see Adam’s campus and the husband and his dad played ping pong for awhile – I’m married to a dork! Our friend Benji came by for a while too so there were quite a lot of balls flying around!

Afterwards we drove to the mall for dinner and a movie. The wait for a table was 60minutes so Adam and I went upstairs to get ice-cream (life’s short eat dessert first, he says). I have been craving a pumpkin pie blizzard since I saw it advertised last time I was at the mall. I actually was in line to get one and then the woman in front of me ordered exactly what I planned to order (small, pumpkin pie blizzard, no whip cream). As I watched them make it I had two thoughts – 1) that’s not that small, and 2) that’s not that exciting. I am all for indulging and having fun with food, but it’s only fun if you indulge when it’s really worth it. Like the dinner I then ate 🙂

My m-i-l ordered an appetizer platter for the table that was quite tasty. I ate the small plates shown, but multiply the bread times two and add a few bites from Adam’s plate.

For dinner I got the Spicy Cashew Chicken.

This is basically the only thing I ever order at Cheesecake Factory. It isn’t the healthiest but we don’t go all the time and I love it. I ate half and then boxed the other half for lunch tomorrow.

It was starting to rain pretty hard at this point (6pm) so our visitors actually decided to hit the road. They sweetly gave Adam and I movie $ before they headed out so we stayed at the mall and watched “Law Abiding Citizen.” The movie had good moments but I thought it was pretty sad.

Now my plan is to curl up with some magazines and hopefully fall asleep before 11. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I sleep through the night!

What was the last thing you decided wasn’t worth it?

24Oct2009

Giveaway

by Emily

Last night was another fairly sleepless night 😦 I woke up at least once every hour! I can’t imagine what the problem was this time, my workout at 5 seems early enough and I’ve never had alcohol (I didn’t even drink an entire beer!) mess with my sleep before. Whatever it was it was annoying. I slept in until 9:30 to try to catch up, but now I need to catch up on my school work!

When I got up I ate a Macadamia Paradise Boomi Bar for breakfast.

The blurb on the back said – Did you know that honey works to give athletes an energy boost before and after exercise? … Sweetened with honey, Boomi Bars are great tasting and sweet without any added cane sugar or corn syrup. Seemed like the perfect thing.

Mid-morning I randomly snacked on the last serving of Food Should Taste Good Olive Chips.

For lunch I microwaved the other half of my bsi entry, Italian Stuffed Acorn Squash.

Mmmn. Still delicious.

To drink I tried my first Zevia sample, cola.

And speaking of which, there is a giveaway going on if you scroll to the bottom of this post!

My in-laws will be here in any minute so I am going to finish getting dressed and straighten up the house a bit. We will be hanging out with them all day, so I’ll be back for dinner. Have a good Saturday!

Giveaway

I know several people have commented on my diet soda obsession in the past. Either that they drink it but worry about the chemicals or that the quit that miss it (and I guess some people have said they don’t like it, freaks). As I mentioned above, Zevia is a sugar/calorie free soda made with stevia. How could I not share that with my readers?! Zevia graciously offered to let my run a giveaway and I jumped at the opportunity.

1 grand prized winner will receive a mixed case
and five runner ups will receive a mixed six pack

Rules

Contest ends next Saturday at noon, Eastern time
To enter leave a comment on this post
For a 2nd chance to win link back to this post in your blog
For a 3rd chance to win tweet about this contest (and send me an e-mail saying you did so, emilyhwax@gmail.com)

23Oct2009

BSI Entry

by Emily

Oh man was a good evening! I am pretty much excited about everything right now. My dinner (and drink) are delicious, but more importantly fall themed, and the whole meal is just rocking my socks! I’ll back up though…

We didn’t head out to the store until after 7:30 but I was cool with the tardiness because I was excited about my new shirt.

This was one of many $10 mall finds last weekend.

The grocery store was quick and easy, Adam and I make each other laugh so much when we are doing errands. This week’s BSI, a la Megan, is acorn squash, so I picked one up for dinner.

By the way, Adam was less than thrilled by a veggie stuffed squash so he made his own dinner, including (among several other things) this sample from Annie Chun’s Soup Bowls.

It had beef broth, so my caveman was happy.

While I cooked dinner I ate the last of this pineapple.

Dinner was a masterpiece if I do say so myself! My squash was inspired by eggplant and chicken parmesan, but ended up being waay more tasty. Italian Stuffed Acorn Squash, for 1-2

1 medium acorn squash, cut in half with seeds scooped out (go bigger than the one I bought, pictured above, it was too small and I had leftover guts)
1T evoo
1C baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 a small eggplant, cubed (I used a graffiti eggplant)
1/4t minced garlic
1/4t dried oregano
salt and pepper
3T balsamic vinegar
1/2C marinara sauce
1/4C reduced fat mozzarella, shredded
1T seasoned bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 400*. Line a baking pan with tin foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Place squash cut side down and cook for 40minutes.
While squash is cooking, heat evoo in a pan over medium-high heat. Add eggplant and mushrooms.
Season with salt, pepper, and oregano. Cook for 7minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add balsmic vinegar and cook another 3-5minutes, until liquid is reduced.
Remove from heat and stir in marinara sauce.
Remove squash from oven and flip cut side up. Fill cavities with veggie mixture and top each side with half of the bread crumbs and cheese.
Return to oven for 10minutes, until cheese is browned.

Holy cow, I fell in love! The flavors of this melded together amazingly and I loved the texture. Gaaah!

I really planned on eating the entire thing but 1half ended up being enough (I also ate some leftover stuffing while the final product cooked).

I am super excited to finish the rest tomorrow! To drink I made the most “Fall” cocktail ever.

8oz each apple cider and pumpkin beer. Gah again!

Good meals, especially especially fall themed ones, make me so happy! I’m going to do some blog reading and then head to bed. I didn’t get any studying done today (that time was taken up by the flooding fun) so I have a lot to accomplish before my in-laws get here tomorrow. Sleep tight!

Do you participate in the BSIs? Have you won any?

23Oct2009

Soggy

by Emily

After my lovely lunch I sent some e-mails and did some intense kitchen cleaning. We still have lots of cleaning to do this weekend (I discovered mold in my shower!) but it’s nice to feel a little more organized. I also worked on our meal plan for this week. unfortunately then the water main upstairs exploded and suddenly our apartment was not so delightfully wet! Thankfully the maintainance man came and dealt with it before Adam even got home and when Adam did get home he brought me a package!

Yay! I prepped for the gym by putting on an entirely new running outfit,

and chugging a purple Rockstar. Adam insisted on sharing with me and being in the picture.

Rockstar buzz, check. Sigg full of h2o, check. 60minute playlist, check. New running tank with a built in bra, check. Heart rate monitor, forgotten, darn it! I was ready for the treadmill. I did a bizarre combination of run/walk intervals for a total 5.7miles in 60minutes.

I wanted to ice my legs before my shower so I settled in with my other Amy’s sample, my defrosted Organic Lemon Poppyseed Cake.

Sadly I wasn’t a fan, I only took two bites before the husband demolished it. Not all was lost though, I g-chatted with my friend Ian while I iced which was a nice distraction.

Now as soon as I shower we are heading to Wegmans to do our grocery shopping. I have a nice fall meal planned for tonight that I am excited about. See you for dinner!

Do you g-chat? I hardly ever do. I miss AIM!

23Oct2009

Waking the Dead

by Emily

Hello, hello! My absence was more than necessary – my sleepless night left me the living dead for the next two days! Wednesday night I went to class and had a successful study session but by the time I got home I was a mumbling mess. It’s possible the evening consisted of me throwing a massive tantrum when Adam wouldn’t walk with me to get a soda, getting said soda, and then taking 2 sips and passing out fully dressed. Thursday was more successful, but only slightly. I think I did alright on my quiz but I definitely failed my lab.

This morning I had lots of plans, but Adam took the car because it was raining, leaving me blissfully free. I stayed in bed until practically 1, reading Heat and talking on the phone to my mommy. Once I did finally get my teeth brushed and my face washed (I’m still in my pajamas!) it was time for lunch. We are low on food (I was supposed to be going to the grocery store before Adam took the car) so I turned to the freezer.

Amy’s offered to send me this meal, along with a dessert, and I happly agreed. I’m going to eat the dessert this afternoon (it has to thaw).

The Enchilada Verde was delicious. I ate it out of the container, because I’m classy like that.

I left 95% of the rice but killed the beans and enchilada, I love verde salsa!

This afternoon/evening should be pretty low-key. I have lots of cleaning, school work I want to do, a gym trip to accomplish, and we are going to the grocery store. Adam’s parents are visiting us tomorrow so we are just getting the simple to-do’s out of the way. I’ll be back this evening.

What is the latest you sleep in?

P.S. Please vote for me here, for the Good Mood Gig.

21Oct2009

The Right Fluff

by Emily

My sleepless night left me pretty dazed, and not at all productive. In fact, as soon as this is published Adam is driving me to school early so I can focus on studying there.

Lunch was randomly thrown together but quite tasty. I ate the second serving of my long leftover bbq cabbage.

And discovered 5oz of okra in my fridge as well. I chopped off the ends and roasted at 475* for 25minutes.

I roasted this delicata squash too, with a little nutmeg.

All together.

The cabbage was actually better after sitting and the okra was great as always but I was not a fan of the squash. The flavors were good (I love nutmeg!) but I did not like eating the skins at all. I ended up leaving a big pile of “crusts” on my plate.

Dessert more than made up for it.

I love love love marshmallow fluff so I was very excited to see a vegan, and slightly healthier version.

I’ve had this Rice Mellow Creme in my cabinet for a while, just waiting for inspiration. I found it!

No, that is not a cup of hot chocolate…

…that a fluffernutter sundae! Stoneyfield Nonfat Vanilla Froyo with melted peanut butter and rice mellow fluff. Mmmmmmmn! I will be making this again, soon.

I also snacked on 1 2 servings of Food Should Taste Good Olive Chips.

They were a little too good, I probably should have used a plate instead of dipping into the bag.

Adam is driving me to campus now so I can hopefully finish my ch. 10 notecards without distraction. After class Caroline and I have another study session, so I won’t be home until late. We are planning on studying at Wegmans and getting dinner from the salad bar. I hope everyone has a great evening!

P.S. Please vote for me for the Good Mood Gig here. You can vote every day until the 30th.

21Oct2009

Sleepless

by Emily

Ack! The title is literal, I did not sleep last night! I don’t know whether it was my general insomnia, drinking coffee in the evening, working out in the evening, or a combo of the above but I didn’t stop tossing and turning until after 6am. I slept until 9:30 and I feel ok now but I’m definitely frustrated. Among other things, my am work out was clearly pushed back until tomorrow.

I’m eating this Apricot Cashew Boomi Bar for a quick breakfast,

and then I’m getting straight to the school work. Happy Hump Day folks!

P.S. Pretty please go here and vote for me!

20Oct2009

Good Mood Gig

by Emily

I almost never enter contests and I try not to ask for things (other than advice because my readers are so wise!) on my blog but I am pretty damn excited about this. I entered the Good Mood Gig contest. I know sometimes my posts seem a bit Debbie Downer, because I tend to use my blog as a diary, but those who know me in real life would agree I am manically happy. Which is why – you should vote for me here, please! If you do think I’m a good fit, you can vote once a day until October 30th.