Tag Archives: apple

Feeling Blue

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My pain pills (which I think I don’t need any more, yay!) have made my appetite all sorts of wonky these past two days.  And some life stuff has made me super cranky.  I hate feeling like I have to post when I’m in a bad mood, but so many of the things I ate (of the very many things I ate!) have been winners that I want the post for my own memory.  This will be detail-light though.

Honeycrisp.

Rockstar Juiced.

Winter outfit.

My downgraded hand bandage.

Organic Rice Divine Mud Pie Ice Cream (1 cup).  This stuff was ah-mazing.  The texture was reminiscent of Italian Ice and peanut butter-chocolate is always a winning combo.  I especially liked the cookie pieces.

A healthy lunch.

Roasted green beans dipped in ketchup,

and Cilantro Lime Bean Burgers with Citrus Guacamole.

An entire bag of bbq Popchips for dinner.

Melted peanut butter with powdered sugar and good cocoa.  This snack is ridiculous good but also just ridiculous.  I need to quit cold turkey.

Chocolate dipped coconut Luna Bar.

Happy Tot Blueberry, Apple, and Purple Carrot squeeze pouch (FNCE sample).

Vegan almond joy.

Supplement sampling at clinic.  Not vegan but also not optional.

Veggie sub – lettuce, tomato, red pepper, jalopeño, banana pepper, pickles, and yellow mustard – from the hospital cafeteria.

Amy’s vegan mac and cheese.

Honey roasted peanuts.  By the by, honey is still on the table, so to speak, this Vegan Month.

Tempeh Brown Rice Casserole.

P.S. I am so flipping nervous about what election results we are going to wake up to tomorrow.  Anyone else?

I’m Typing With One Hand…

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…so I’ll keep this short.  Speaking of keeping things, Adam will have to keep me, my surgery went off without a hitch!

It wasn’t a big deal – I just had a benign keratosis removed from the back of my hand – but they sure were dramatic about it.

I had to wear a gown, and get wheeled into the OR.  And look at my giant bandage –

they called it a “sympathy cast!”  I’ll have my stitches in for ten days and then I’ll be right as rain.  But unfortunatly they told me that I’m not allowed to work out while my stitches are in.  I know I haven’t been working out anyway but I really was excited to start again!  Ten days…

They told me to take it easy after surgery but I actually had to head over to a friend’s house to work on a group project.  At least I got some Moe’s out of the deal.

I got a naked burrito (aka a less expensive rice bowl) with black beans, lettuce, green pepper, onion, mushroom, corn salsa, and guacamole.

Delicious.  Moe’s is a great option for Vegan Month.

Resting up didn’t happen the rest of the weekend either, I worked both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday morning was rough (on top of everything else we started an hour earlier than usual), but at least my shirt matched my bandage!

I ate an apple on the walk to work.

And a drank a Rockstar to help keep myself awake in spite of my pain medication.

My medication makes me feel pretty funny – nauseous and tired and all sorts of loopy – so I never ended up getting lunch at work.

Dinner was a buffalo seitan wrap from the co-op.

Plus a roasted potato.

Those fries are cut so nicely because the husband did it for me.  He’s been so nice helping me while I fumble around!

I did manage to catch up on some sleep this morning.  Thank goodness for Daylight Savings.  Even with the extra hour, all I managed to accomplish today was a shift at work and switching out my summer and winter wardrobe.

Breakfast was an amazing bowl of cereal.  Blackberries with cinnamon sugar, 1 serving each All Bran Bran Buds and Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola, and Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond/Coconut Milk.

I had the granola from the HLS and have wanted more ever since!

A very late lunch was purchased at the co-op after work.  Broccoli salad and vegan mac and cheese with veggies.

The mac was so tasty that I almost made Adam walk back and get me more!

Instead I was basically stoned on pain meds all evening and was a total weirdo.  Dinner just didn’t happen, though I did eat multiple desserts.

A bowl of melted peanut butter with powdered sugar and cocoa powder.

A Cara Cara Orange.

And a few pieces of primrose oil old fashioned candies.

It’s been a weird day.

Hello, Hello, Goodbye, Goodbye

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Hello, reader.  I was AWOL yesterday because I had the beginnings of a migraine and put myself to bed at 4 in the afternoon!  Not fun.

Also, Hello to Vegan Month!  I desperately needed to go to store, so yesterday I had to make do with the vegan things around the house.  And of course I was insanely hungry all afternoon.  <– bad timing

Breakfast was a super tasty pumpkin smoothie.

1 cup Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond/Coconut Milk Blend, ~1 cup canned pumpkin, 1 frozen banana, 2 Tbsp maple syrup, and a big shake of pumpkin pie spice.

I did lots of snacking when I got home from clinic.  2 oz of roasted pumpkin seeds,

a giant Honeycrisp with tons of melted Biscoff,

a (FNCE sample) bag of Food Should Taste Good Olive Chips,

and a big bowl of cereal.

Then I put myself to bed with a migraine.  I had a paper due this morning so unfortunately Adam had to wake me up at 10pm so I could write it.

I ate a veggie sub from Subway – lettuce, tomato, green pepper, cucumber, pickles, red onion, and bbq sauce – while I worked.

Breakfast was the last of the pumpkin seeds,

and a green pear.

I got lunch at Wegman’s during my massive shopping trip.

Veggie goyza,

and inari.

I ate half of both then brought the rest home to Adam.  We both loved the inari!

And I ate this candy bar – like a vegan Snickers – while I blogged.

Goodbye to my belly button ring.

I’ve had it in since I was 15 (12 years!!!!!!!!!) and am so sad that it is gone now.  But I’m having a minor surgery this afternoon and they told me I had to take it out.

Also, Goodbye to you guys for a bit.  The minor surgery is on my hand and I sure I will not be up for typing this evening.  I’ll “see” you later this weekend.  Wish me luck!

Webster’s First Halloween

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You can tell that this post was a terrible decision since it’s 2 o’clock in the morning.  I’ll try to keep it quick.

You can tell that tomorrow is the first day of Vegan Month because I managed to eat two yogurts, buffalo chicken pizza, cheesecake, and a milkshake.

You can tell that it’s Halloween since I pulled out all of the stops some of the stops.

Black and orange outside clothing.

Black and orange inside clothing.

And earrings that look like candy corn.

Plus, my exam this morning was positively spooky!  😦

Before the exam, I got up and had breakfast.  A big bowl of Liberte Coconut Yogurt plus 1% large curd cottage cheese.

Plus coffee with skim milk.

When I got home – my exam went ok, my quiz went not ok, our lab activity took forever – I had more yogurt.  Apple Cinnamon 0% Chobani with honey roasted peanuts and a drizzle of honey.

I ran a few errands the afternoon.  The most exciting was the orthodontist appointment; not only am I cleared for 12 more weeks of nights only, but I won a contest!

$30 to Best Buy.  I was so excited, I never win anything!

Lunch was pizza.

I tried to really think about the foods that were going to tempt me during November. A buffalo chicken slice from Zetti’s,

with baby carrots and blue cheese for dipping.

Halloween candies for dessert.

Then it was time to dress my favorite dog up in his first costume.  We went meta this year…

A hot dog in a hot dog costume!

Webster was flipping adorable – several cars honked and gave us thumbs up! – but it was cold and wet and he was so mad at me by the time we got home!

Thankfully Adam’s arrival (he was away on an interview the past two days) cheered us both up.  He came bearing cheesecake!

That was literally the best slice of cheesecake I’ve ever tasted but I already had my sights set on something else so I took a few bites and left the rest for the husband.

My plan for dessert?  Pumpkin Coffee Caramel Chocolate Milkshakes!

Ben and Jerry’s Caramel Coffee Buzz blended with skim milk and pureed pumpkin (with chocolate syrup on the glass).  It was delicious and just what I needed to power through the last two hours of working on a final project.  The perfect way to end my dairy consumption for the month.

Happy Halloween!!

Present

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I know it’s ironic that my “present time” post is a recap of yesterday, but what can you do?

Yesterday started with a Microbiology test that my busy, crazy week completely kept me from studying for.  I think I managed to do ok; not as well as I would have liked but not badly either.  I’m not looking forward to the MNT exam on Wednesday though!

I ate a Sweet Tango on the walk to school.

And a S’mores Luna Bar between classes.

Then a delicious sandwich on the walk to work.  A whole grain sandwich thin with pumpkin spice cream cheese and {a lot of} Cabot 75% reduced fat cheddar.

It probably could have used some meat, but the flavor combo was divine.

Actually, it definitely could have used some meat because I was starving when I got out of work.  I stopped at the co-op to scope out the sales and ended up eating a Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Plus Protein KIND bar on the walk home.

Dinner was made from these simple ingredients:

A small portion of Annie’s Shells and Real Aged Cheddar (sauce cooked with butter and no milk) with edamame and Trader Joe’s Smoked Trout.

The trout was by far the best component, so smokey and good!

Though I doused my bowl in Sriracha after I took the picture so the whole thing was pretty fantastic 🙂

I also ate 2 handfuls of smoked almonds.

We were up late doing some baking and I got hungry again.

I also sampled one of our muffins when they got out of the oven.

And then I hit the bed snoring!

I don’t have to go into work until 2pm today so I have a gloriously free morning.  Adam’s day cleared up at the last minute too; very serendipitous!  We are planning a chocolate breakfast and an evening of pumpkins!

Bread In Chocolate, Mystery Burgers, And Thickened Pepsi

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I have got to stop falling asleep without blogging!  Some days (many days) are crazy and boring and I skip posting.  Other days are crazy and delicious and make me want to blog.  But two crazy and delicious days in a row makes for one loooooong recap!

Monday

Breakfast was all about the FNCE samples.  Gross was the Strawberry Del Monte Squeezable fruit.

There was a flavor there that I just didn’t care for.  Almost savory?!

Great was the Jamba Juice Fruit-i-licious Probiotic Trail Mix (I ate the whole bag, or 2 servings).

It had tons of fruit and nuts and just enough chocolate to be fun.

I planned on making dinner before I went to work so I made a quick trip to the store on my way home from school.  Coffee with skim milk to warm me up when I got home.

Archer Farms’ Cinnamon Vanilla Nut is the best flavor I’ve ever gotten from Target.

My lunch snack was a sweet tasting plate.

A sliced banana with crunchy honey pb,

and half of a Theo Bread and Chocolate Bar.

I love this bar!  Normally 70% would be a little dark for me but the saltiness of the bread really brings out the sweet in the chocolate.

I also ate a 100-calorie bag of kettle corn.

I managed to get dinner made, but not with much time to spare; I ate on the walk to work!

Roasted green beans,

and a turkey burger on a bun with sharp cheddar and Miracle Whip.

I’m going to stay cryptic and just say “burger” because this recipe was so tasty that it warrants its own separate post tomorrow.  I know most people scan these long recaps and I do NOT want this burger recipe to get lost!

After work, I ate a slice of turkey while I packed Adam’s lunch.

And that was it.  It was quite lucky that I ate dinner for lunch because otherwise I would have gone to bed hungry.

I got my flu shot Sunday morning.  PSA – Flu shots save lives.  Even if you aren’t worried about the flu, you should get the shot because it helps protect the people around you.  That said, I am having a major adverse reaction to my flu shot!

I couldn’t get a picture that really shows anything (it is surprisingly tricky to photograph your upper arm), but imagine a giant, raised, red area around my injection site.  It itches like crazy and is making me insane.  Adam didn’t see my reaction until Monday night but as soon as he did he fed me an allergy med and put me in bed.

Tuesday

When I say that Adam “put me in bed” on Monday night, it is worth mentioning that he let me pass out teeth unbrushed, jeans still on, and alarm clock unset!  I managed to make it to school on time but I was very confused this morning!

There wasn’t much time for breakfast so I grabbed a Chocolate Zico Coconut Water,

and an Odwalla Chocolate Almond Coconut Chewy Nut Bar (a FNCE sample).

Dee-lish-us!  The bar immediately moved to my “top five bars” list (now that Balance Bars aren’t good there is a major hole to fill!).  It tasted like real food, really tasty real food.

We were on campus today so I also got to cash in a free coffee card at the book store.

3 shots of espresso with tons of vanilla sugar and skim milk.  And then I twitched wildly for the rest of the day…

Instead of clinical practice at the hospital, today we had an intensive lecture on enteral and parenteral nutrition – i.e. feeding through a tube into the GI tract or through a vein.  It is insanely complicated but at least I think the calculations are a ton of fun.  I’m certainly not the smartest person in our program (not by a long shot!) but when we do any sort of math I’m usually the first person in the room to finish.  Who knew as I struggled through 9th grade pre-calculus that I’d grow up to get all tingly over formulas?!

Another fun part of the day? A rep from Nestle came in and showed us some different products.  We got to taste thickened water and thickened diet pepsi (honey consistency) –

Their commercial thickener is just xantham gum – like I used to use in my smoothies! – plus a few preservatives.

Also fun was the longer lunch period that let my friends and me go to Wegman’s.

I hadn’t packed food so this was very serendipitous.

Buffalo chicken chowder,

and a green veggie brown rice sushi roll with spicy mayo on the side for dipping.

Between buffalo sauce soup, spicy mayo dipping, and the wasabi that I slathered on top of my sushi, this lunch left me sweating!

I stole a fun sized candy bar from my friend for dessert.

Ignore my sandals, and note that I bundled up today for Fall.

Fall is here exhibit b – tea with skim milk and cinnamon sugar.

Fall is here exhibit c – the apple crumble candle I burned while I studied.

Fall is here exhibit isn’t she done with this gag yet?! – an apple crumble yogurt bowl.

This is another dish I plan on making often.  A 0% Plain Greek yogurt topped with cooked apple (a chopped Sweet Tango microwaved for 2 minutes with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 2 tsp agave) and crumble (KIND Oats and Honey Clusters granola, a FNCE sample).

The rest of dinner was a random assortment of snacks while I studied.  A chocolate chip cookie dough mini Larabar (FNCE sample).

A mini tortilla with 2 slices of Applegate Farms Honey Maple Turkey and melted sharp cheddar.

Cold, leftover green beans for veggie needs.

And a 100-calorie bag of kettle corn.

As I said, looooong!  Like hot-dog-dog long.

Have you ever had an adverse reaction to the flu shot?

Three Day Weekend

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My “three-day weekend” only refers to blogging.  I still went to school on Friday.  And work.  And volunteering and work on Saturday.  And school and work on Sunday.  I guess it actually wasn’t a very relaxing weekend!  I did take pictures, but recapping every single thing I ate sounds pretty tedious.  Instead, let’s focus just on things that were fun and sweet!

Sweet Eats from 10/12, 10/13, and 10/14

An apple, cereal, cinnamon bowl that quickly became one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.  Certainly the best bowl of cereal that’s ever passed my lips!

1 serving each of Vanilla Almond Special K and All Bran Bran Buds, topped with 2 Tbsp Skippy Natural Super Chunk with Honey pb and lots of cinnamon.  I microwaved the bowl for 30 seconds to get everything warm then poured on skim milk.  Ridiculous!  Expect to see many repeats of this.

White chocolate candy corn M&M’s.

These were delicious and I have no idea why they aren’t listed on the website or available at more stores.  I found my bag at 7-11 and snatched it up.  The chocolate isn’t sickly sweet like some white chocolate can be and the candies really do taste like candy corn!

Pumpkin Butterscotch Bars.

Exactly what they sound like.  I made a batch on a whim and I’ll be sharing the recipe tomorrow afternoon.

Red velvet hot cakes from Nelson’s Ridge Diner.

“Red velvet hot cakes served with a cream cheese icing, powdered sugar, and whipped cream.”  Adam and I shared a plate and neither of us could stop swooning!  In addition to being amazing, these were the best pancakes I’ve ever had.  We were also pretty intrigued by these….

What was sweet about your weekend?

It’s 10-11-12!

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I’m blogging a two-day recap from a blanket nest with a killer migraine, so please excuse any typos.  I was hoping to be back on a “normal” blog schedule by now, but I’m not sure that’ll ever happen this semester!

Going back to yesterday… Wonder of wonders, I made it to the gym!  20 minutes on the elliptical; random level 6.  The machine was out of water so I drank a fruit punch g2 while I worked.

It was embarrassing to have so much fuel for such a short workout but I ended up being very thankful that I had it.  I guzzled most of it during my workout, then refilled the bottle with water and drank all of that on the drive home.  I guess I came back from Philly a little dehydrated.

From my trip to the gym, I came back short on time.  Thank goodness Adam had the day off yesterday; he drove me to school and packed my breakfast.  FNCE expo samples were heavily featured.  An iced coffee with skim milk.

A mini apple pie Larabar.

An apple it its true form.

And a serving of Cheddar Cheese Beanitos.

I was a big fan of the (pinto bean and flax-seed) chips.  They were nice and crunchy with just a touch of spice.

I’m also a big fan of things working out in the lab.  Look at what I made in Microbiology – spread plates and pour plates!

Adam’s undergrad degree was in Microbiology Immunology and sometimes it is downright embarrassing to show him my class-work!

I had several to-do’s after lab, but I made it home in time to make dinner before work.  My mid-day meal was pretty lame.  2 small corn tortillas microwaved with ~1/4 cup shredded cheese.

Plus a 2% Fage with Peach.

And the last two Buttered Rum Raisin Cookies from the batch I brought my friend.

We are getting in all of our Christmas stock now and work was more like a workout; I carried boxes up and down the stairs for my most my shift.  I was very glad to have dinner already finished when I got home.

Green Tuna Enchiladas; serves 4-6

  • 1 tsp evoo
  • 1 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
  • 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
  • (2) 10 oz cans tuna
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 cup green tomatillo salsa
  • 12 small corn tortillas
  • 4 Tbsp light half and half
  • 3/4 cup reduced-fat shredded taco or Mexican-style cheese
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Heat evoo in a large pan over medium heat.
  2. Add onion and peppers to oil and brown, about 7 minutes.
  3. Add tuna and 1/2 cup salsa to veggies and cook 2 more minutes.  Remove from heat.
  4. Spoon 2 T filling into each tortilla and place into a 8×11 inch casserole, seam-side down.  Too keep tortillas from cracking and breaking, it is helpful to cover them with a damp paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds.
  5. In a separate bowl, stir together the last cup of salsa with half and half.  Spoon mixture over enchiladas.
  6. Sprinkle cheese evenly over casserole and bake 20 minutes.

Dinner did not fill me up like I was hoping.  I ate a huge spoonful of Skippy Natural Super Chunk with Honey; aka the very best peanut butter ever.

And I had dessert.  I am working on a hot chocolate recipe so I’m not going to share the ingredients now, but I will tell you that this batch included a serving of Caramel Apple Milky Ways for funsies.

It was ridiculous good.  Ridiculous.

Moving on to Tuesday… Today had a productive start but has steadily gone downhill.  I had a difficult time getting out of my warm bed and ended up eating breakfast on the walk from my car to the hospital.  A Sweet Tango apple,

and a Full Moon Brownie Z-Bar, which I actually hated.

I couldn’t put my finger on what the problem was specifically, but the taste of the bar was not good to me.

Today was my busiest day at clinic yet.  I had a patient on my own in the morning, then worked on another in a group later in the afternoon.  We had our first practice with tube-feeds today and it was both fascinating and frustrating.  We’ve learned a lot in school but it’s all been in isolation; in the real world conditions overlap.  For example*, you might have a patient in End Stage Renal Disease that has increased protein needs for wound healing and is also a Diabetic. *just an example, this wasn’t a specific patient that we worked with today

Also, my friend Janessa and I offered to turn-key some of what we learned at FNCE, so we did a short presentation on ketogenic diets for epilepsy.  The group had to stay late so that we could present and I love them all for still being interested in what we had to say.

I ate a late lunch during my afternoon errands.  Vegan pecan cornbread stuffing from the co-op.

Buffalo peeps – run to the co-op to get some of this stuffing, it had the perfect blend of flavors and textures.

Then hot bar at Wegman’s while I ran through my notes before shopping.

I did three types of vegetable stir-fry.

I am glad that I got in veggies and time studying, because both were in short supply when I got home.  Minutes after walking in the door, I got an immense migraine.  It came on much more quickly than they usually do and made me unbelievably nauseous.

Adam brought home pizza for dinner and I ate a big plate once I was able to get out of bed.

Now I have to go try to study for tomorrow’s giant exam.  <– so screwed

What is your favorite store-bought peanut butter?