Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Day

Hey there, long time no see!  Sadly I think a once a week post will be the norm for the next two weeks as well; we are on the move!

We don’t actually officially leave Buffalo until the end of the month, but due to some monetary/logistical/fmylife complications we are moving the most difficult way possible – in little spurts.  Adam has had to be in the city several time this month so we’ve been packing up our stuff by the carload and moving it to my in-laws’ place.  Once we finally get into our new apartment (days after Adam has started work!!) we’ll pick everything up in a truck for the final move.

Two fun facts about our shit-show of a move –

  1. We had to do the bulk of our packing last night so the duffle bag of clothes sitting next to me will be all I have to wear for the next three weeks.  Also, we have no pots, pans, or kitchen appliances.  Next week’s wrap-up will showcase a lot of restaurant meals!
  2. Since we couldn’t rent a truck for this direction, we are only taking what fits in five carloads (three in a Vibe and two in a Corolla).  We’ve had to say “bye, bye” to a lot of stuff, which has been very cathartic.

On to the food!

I was too busy to capture all of my meals (I worked most days, though I did find time to watch the entire first season of Longmire!) but I did manage a photo of at least one meal on most days.  I was a bit under the weather this week and I spent the entirety of Thursday in bed, eating pretzels.

Monday, Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield

One of our favorite couples recently had twin baby girls so we brought them over a couple of meals.

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Buffalo Chicken Baked Pasta, Mac and Three Cheese Cups, and salad with all the fixin’s (parmesan, buckwheat groats, chopped green pepper, and toasted pecans).

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We stayed for dinner so we could meet the girls.

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The were so freaking cute; we’ve decided not to spawn until after the husband’s first year of residency and the babies made me want to rethink about that decision!

When we got home I tried one of the Lindt Hello Bars for dessert.

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I tried Strawberry Cheesecake and in addition to being adorable it was delicious.

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It had the perfect amount of tang to offset the sweetness, bits of crunch that I believe were caramelized sugar, and you got a nice portion for the calories.  I tried the Cookies and Cream bar another day and liked that as well.

Tuesday, Thai Day

I stir-fried some leftover white rice with peas and carrots.

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I made it extra eggy – two large eggs for one portion – and it was perfect for breakfast.

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Stir-fried rice is one of the dishes I find the easiest to make; it always tastes good.

I did Thai for dinner as well.  Some friends and I met up after work to try Taste of Siam, a new spot right across from my job.

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My Pad Kee Mao got bonus points for being super spicy, but there was way too much liquid and the broad rice noodles weren’t very pillowy.  My friends loved their fried rice and curry though.  If we were staying in our apartment I’m sure I would have gotten take-out there, but overall I didn’t think it was very good.

We got drinks before dinner and afterwards we did a throw-back for dessert.

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Do you remember Chupa Chups?!  My strawberry sundae pop was delicious; if I spot them again I will definitely buy more.

Wednesday, Similar to a Reuben

I cannot for the life of me remember what I ate this day beyond lunch; probably pizza!  This sandwich made for a fine mid-day meal.

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Applegate Farms sliced turkey, Cabot 75% reduced-fat sharp cheddar, thousand island dressing, and saurkraut on white-whole-wheat bread cooked in a skillet with butter.

Friday, Feel Better Froyo

In the morning I met up with friends for breakfast at Sweetness 7.

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I got a turkey and caramelized onion quiche,

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and a hibiscus lemonade.

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Both were very bland, sadly, and the service/ordering system seemed off.  Instead of calling out drinks or putting them with the food, they just plopped them on a tucked away, back counter.  And I tried to get a coffee at their other location this morning and the service was so bad there that I left without ordering!  I’m not sure what the deal is, but I loved Sweetness 7 so I hope they’re not on a downward slope.

After breakfast I ran some errands (my cell phone was broken again!), grabbed lunch, and headed to work.  I felt fine in the morning, but as the afternoon wore on I felt sicker and sicker.  I ended up throwing up at work!!  Boo!  I rallied afterwards and stuck out my shift, but it was not a fun time.

This next photo doesn’t look like “dinner,” but after my tough day it was exactly what I needed.

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Froyo!  Super delicious froyo with peanut butter, marshmallow, chocolate pretzels, and other amazing things.  I cannot believe that right as I leave Buffalo two self-serve froyo locations have appeared on my block!  Though not having immediate access to it the last three years did probably save me many pounds and dollars.

Saturday, I Like to Move it Move it

Yesterday was ridiculous; y’all would not even believe how much we got done.  But not a single fruit or veggetable was eaten that day…

Black bean nachos from ETS.

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Melonhead beer (like Pumpkinhead) from Shipyard.

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It was super juicy and refreshing; just what I needed as we packed late into the night.

Sunday, Finish the Fridge

For breakfast today, I made us a Finish Up the Fridge Fritatta.

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9 large eggs / .5 cup shredded parmesan / 1 cup thawed and drained frozen spinach / pinch salt / pinch paprika

Mix, pour in a greased pie pan, and bake 35 – 40 minutes at 375 degrees Farenheit.

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I had my slice with a piece of rosemary bread from Wegman’s bakery.

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It was a great way to start the week!

What was the most difficult move your family has even done?

Peanut Butter S’mores Layer Bars

Exciting news – on Saturday I officially graduated from my final undergrad experience with a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics!!!  I guess I shouldn’t say officially, since I skipped graduation to hang out with Adam and his brother, but I’ve got a diploma coming in the mail any day now.  I didn’t need to walk again, I did that with my first undergrad degree.  <– blush

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Besides, we already had our ceremonial, holding back tears, class goodbye.  On Friday, one of our teachers sweetly hosted a goodbye lunch for our whole 18-person Coordinated Program at her home.  My friend and I brought jello shots!  The afternoon gets a little hazy after that, but I do remember everyone raving over the other thing I brought:  peanut butter s’mores layer bars.

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I know, I know; I’m having a weird obsession with layer bars lately.  These guys are worth the repeat though.  The combo of peanut butter and s’more is to die for, and they come together in a snap.  Modeled after 7-layer bars, they are chewy, gooey perfection.

Peanut Butter S’mores Layer Bars, makes 25 squares

  • 11 graham cracker sheets, crushed
  • 1/2 cup salted butter
  • 1 cup salted cocktail peanuts
  • 1 cup peanut butter chips
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 3 cups mini marshmallows
  • 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
  2. Place butter in a 9×9 inch baking dish in the pre-heating oven until melted.
  3. Pour graham cracker crumbs into melted butter, mix together with a fork, and press into a thin, even layer in the bottom of the baking dish.
  4. Sprinkle peanuts, peanut butter chips, and chocolate chips in an even layer over the crust, alternating ingredients so they are mixed together rather than in layers.  Top with marshmallows.  Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk on top.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sweetened condensed milk no longer looks soupy.
  6. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.  You can serve these right away, but if there is a time gap I recommend storing them in the freezer so that they get nice and firm.

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Doctor Bear

Last Friday, the husband did something very exciting.

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“What does your husband do?”

“Oh, Adam?  He’s a doctor.”

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P.S.  He was also awarded The Department of Surgery Chair’s Award for Academic Excellence in Surgery.

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Go, husband!

Time For A Blog Break

I am usually not one to follow trends, but unfortunately I need to take a page from some of the bigger bloggers and take a break. Sort of.

There are a lot of things going on in my life right now that I can’t blog about. This makes doing full-day posts tricky, and not all that fun. So for the next couple months, I need to pull back. But… when I am done with school and we’ve moved and my life is my own I do plan on going back to my usual style.

For now, I still want to blog most days of the week. I plan on sharing fun things we do, product reviews, new recipes, goals from my birthday list, and anything particularly tasty. I hope you guys will stick with me!

Bloggers – how has your posting schedule changed over the years?

(Pho)ning It In

I regularly drop off the face of the blogging planet and I haven’t even started my next rotation yet!  It’s rumored to be time-consuming and exhausting, but I’m sure that won’t keep me from hitting my 30-days goal this time.  I mean, I made it an entire day the last round!

You missed – bubble tea with a friend, Adam and I splitting an entire bag of chips and dip for dinner, and other stuff that can’t have been that exciting because I honestly can’t remember any other food item from the past two days.

Also, the end of my purple hair.

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I had to get rid of the streaks before my next rotation so I’m back to brown, albeit a darker, redder brown.  I’ll try to get a picture in good light this weekend.

Today was the end of my winter break make-up and an on-campus meeting before we switch placements (I’ve got five weeks of clinical rotation in a local hospital coming up on Monday).  Coffee was needed.

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I earned a free coffee with a book store punch card so I went big (literally!) with a venti non-fat half-pumps toffee nut latte.  Note – I drank my giant coffee and a diet pop in lieu of water all day and I totally paid the price this afternoon.

I was running late this morning – we ran out of water in the middle of my shower!!! – and I packed a fairly ridiculous trio of foods for my breakfast/lunch.  A green pear.

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A Honeycrisp apple.

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And a package of Annie Chun’s Brown Sugar and Sea Salt Roasted Seaweed.

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I wasn’t exactly full, but at least it all tasted good.

Our meeting got out a smidge early and three friends and I made it over to the mall for some high school-style fun.  We wandered, window shopped, and got froyo.

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A little plain tart with tons of popping boba for me!

Unfortunately, my dehydration kicked in during the fun and I ended up getting hit with a bad migraine.  {Sorry to be such a downer guys!}  I made it home just in time to throw up in my own bathroom; always a plus.  Then I took medicine, and a nap, and managed to feel much better in an hour or so.

My boys joined me for the nap and this scene occurred –

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They are too cute.

Once I rallied, Adam and I headed out for a fun dinner.

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Red Pepper might be my new favorite restaurant.  They gave us free tea and fried wontons,

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and served me the best bowl of vegetarian Pho I’ve ever had.

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Adam and I both thought that the broth was swoon-worthy.

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I took the 2nd half of my trough home with me and we are quite excited for leftovers tomorrow.

‘Night!

Weekend Highlights

Hello, Monday!  This is my last week of “break,” but I don’t even care because I had such a good weekend.  The past three days have been packed full of fun; we did so much on Saturday that Adam even said I wore him out!  Other than some short shifts at work, every moment has been exciting.

I only have time to share the highlights, but I will make this note – we ate like we had the wallets of our future and the metabolisms of our past!

I tried this dark chocolate and soft caramel Nunu bar (from the Yumvelope subscription my mom got me for Christmas) and fell in love.

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Best caramel I’ve ever had and made in Brooklyn.

I received this incredibly sweet and generous care package from Cascadian Farm.

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I am too excited to have those Oats & Honey granola bars back in my pantry.

I took Adam to Brickhouse Tavern for bacon-studded deviled eggs,

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and discovered that they sold my favorite beer.

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I’m not even going to try to lie, this one Red Stripe got me embarrassingly drunk.

We ventured out to Franks Food Truck at 1:30 in the morning.

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Amazing fries with garlic aioli and a veggie dog topped with bbq sauce, cole slaw, and blue cheese;

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well worth the tired morning.

Finally, I may not be any closer to running an 8-minute mile, but I did cross one thing of my yearly goals list

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S’mores {over a fire} have been made!

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Did you do anything amazing this weekend?

Hey (Shuga!) What’s Going On? {Giveaway}

What’s going on around these parts?

Look at what I did at work yesterday –

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I probably should have taken pictures before it got dark out, but I did have a really good time making that train!

Even though there were only a few days to go, the Vegan 20 Day Challenge has unceremoniously …ended.  Not that my friend and I were doing that well anyway, what with eggs sneaking into half of what we both were eating.  But yesterday I dove head first into a slice of buffalo chicken pizza. (I also ate an entire bag of chips, but that’s neither here nor there.)  And tonight’s dinner involved these guys –

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Adam and I have wanted to buy that shrimp plate for months and at $12 we finally decided to take the plunge.  So good!

Tonight’s dessert was vegan –

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We made the Chocolate Vegan Mousse recipe from the Hey Shuga! website.

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Full disclosure – I recently received a bottle each of Hey Shuga! and Lil’ Shuga! to sample.

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Hey Shuga! is an organic cane sugar syrup.  It pours more easily than honey and blends into liquids easily.  Lil’ Shuga! is a blend of organic cane sugar syrup and stevia leaf extract.  I will be honest about the fact that I hated the Lil’ Shuga!; one small taste made me screw my face up in disgust.  I hate, hate, hate, stevia though, so take that as you will.  I shared the Lil’ Shuga! with a fake-sugar-user friend and she was a fan.  And Adam and I both thought that the Hey Shuga! was quite tasty.  We are both looking forward to using it in coffee and smoothies.

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The company wanted me to let you guys know that both products are available in the Northeast at Wegmans.  They will be doing demos at many of the stores, including at Wegmans Eastway and Wegmans Pittsford. Hey Shuga! is going to launch a fun contest with prizes for people who submit pictures of the product at Wegmans, Whole Foods, or in specialty natural food stores and tag “@HeyShugas” on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.

They also offered to let me share with you guys – I can send a bottle of Hey Shuga! and Lil’ Shuga! to one reader.  For a chance to win – leave a comment on this post before midnight on Monday, February 25th.

Have you seen the Hey Shuga! product in your local store yet?  Have you tried it?