Tag Archives: apple

You and Me Baby Ain’t Nothing But Mammals

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We head to Ohio tomorrow, and my mom comes to visit on Wednesday, so we woke up early to deal with our squalor.  Actually, Adam woke up early to clean the house.  I woke up at 9 to Adam’s amazement that I could sleep through the vacuum cleaner!

Once I did welcome morning, I started my morning with some fantabuous iced coffee.

Yesterday afternoon I bought a cup of caramel flavored coffee from a gas station, and brought it home to the fridge.  This morning I mixed it with 1tsp maple syrup, Silk Vanilla Almond Milk, and ice.

Delicious!  The almond milk has the best texture for iced coffee, it makes it so thick!  When I’m back to retainers in a few weeks I won’t be able to have coffee ever, so I’m trying to enjoy it was much as I can.

The food part of breakfast was pretty fun too –

A Pink Lady apple dipped in the last of the marshmallow icing.

Holy yum this was a good idea!

Our next idea wasn’t necessarily good, but it was necessary… a trip to the zoo!

I bought a Groupon months ago (thinking that by April it’d be, ya know, Spring) that was set to expire so we bundled up and headed out.  There wasn’t a lot to see because of the weather, but I did spend 20minutes or so mooning at the polar bears.

Awwww!  My nickname for Adam is ice bear (German for polar bear).

On the way out we spotted a neat crepe place – we’re coming back next week with my mom! – and Mustachios.

Apparently Adam has been excited about taking me to Mustachios?!?  We ended up coming home with two slices of cheese pizza.

We also hit up the hot bar to get in some veggies.

I got steamed broccoli, glazed mushrooms and carrots, sesame kale, white beans and escarole, and scooped a bunch of veggies and cashews from the cashew chicken.

It was a random but good lunch.

After my month of illness (I’m still coughing by the way), any meal with veggies is a good one.

Later in the afternoon I snacked on matzah with melted extra sharp cheddar.

I also did a bunch of nibbling, raw pasta, marshmallow topping, butter toffee almonds…  No photographs, just informing you guys that my appetite is back 🙂

Dinner was quick and tasty.

I boiled up the last of the spinach and three cheese ravioli, adding a few big handfuls of arugula to the pot at the last minute.  I topped my bowl with buttermilk blue cheese crumbles and a drizzle of honey.

Then we had single-serve ice cream for dessert.

We each at half and then switched flavors halfway through.  Those single-serves are the best idea ever, the texture is so creamy!

I’ve still got to shower, pack, and do some school work… better hop to it!

What’s your favorite zoo animal?  The cutest thing we saw today was the Egyptian Dabb Lizard.  I pretty much love any creature with a big belly; Seth Rogan crush anyone?!

Biochem Makes Bad Bloggers

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I’ll leave the correlation between fences and good neighbors to Robert Frost, but in my experience Biochem makes bad bloggers.  Especially Biochem exams one has not adequately prepared for!

Yesterday’s post was sacrificed to a cramming session.  Unfortunately, the cramming session was then sacrificed to a orthodontist appointment and subsequent headache.  You can’t win ’em all!  Our teacher is very, very kind, so I probably ended up with a B anyways.  Sidenote – I swear I’m usually not such a terrible student, my (22day!!) sickness is really taking its toll.

I am blogging today though, with pictures and everything, but there’s the problem of not having much to blog.  My involuntary breakfast ban continues, but I did get coffee.

A grande non-fat latte with almond roca syrup (2pumps instead of 5).

I was hungry for lunch – my brain used up all my glucose on the exam – but I hadn’t done a great job of packing.  I brought a Revolution Foods tropical fruit packet.

And the newest Fage, 0% with Mango and Guanabana.

Oh. My. God.  Did you know that Gaunabana is the formal name for Soursop, my favorite fruit of all time that I almost never see outside of the Caribbean?!?  When I was saw the flavor at Wegmans I was so excited I bought two right away (and did a fairly embarrassing dance in the aisle!).  It was divine! 

Yogurt perfection aside, I hadn’t packed enough food!  Thankfully the vending machines in the Dietetics building are stocked with mostly healthy things, so I was able to get this packet of tuna salad and crackers.

It was a little strange – I don’t usually add water chestnuts to my tuna salad – but it did the trick of holding me over through my last nutrition class.

I spent my break between classes working on my lab assignments and watching the snow pile outside.  Then, wonder of wonders, my night class so cancelled!

Eeeeeee!

I came straight home (the husband picked me up) and dove face first into a plate of Granny Smith apple with a serving of Smuckers Natural PB with Honey.

Then we got started on dinner. 

Lemon Chicken Fricassee with Biscuit Topping from Rachael Ray.

We followed the recipe except –

  • substituting olive oil for shortening
  • substituting chicken breasts for thighs
  • using a frozen peas and carrots mix that also had lima beans, corn, and green beans
  • using some packaged frozen biscuits rather than making them

It was ok.  Only ok.  Adam said 6 out of 10, I said I won’t be eating any of the leftovers.

Plus a side salad.

Arugula topped with leftover roasted butternut squash, craisins, buttermilk blue cheese, and Newman’s Own Lite Raspberry and Walnut Dressing.

The salad was tasty at least.

The meal might not have been very good, but the entertainment was; season 5 of Futurama is finally on Netflix Instant Watch!

Did/do you watch Futurama?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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I hope all my readers are out enjoying green beer and Irish car bombs!  No booze for me at the moment.  Anyone who really knows me can tell I’m sick just by looking at me today –

It’s a holiday with a theme color and my nails aren’t painted?!?!

Sickness be damned though, it’s a freaking holiday, I kept 90% of what I ate today green!  Well sort of, I didn’t eat breakfast and I didn’t pack lunch so this non-green tuna packet was kind of a necessity for lunch.

I have no taste buds at the moment, but I’ve had the spicy thai chili variety before and it’s quite tasty.

I sipped on a Green Superfood packet from Amazing Grass after lunch.

And ate a GoGo Squeez applesauce during my break.  <– fruit in a pouch rocks my socks

In the hours between my two classes I totally completed a huge assignment that’s not due for another few weeks; whoop, whoop!

During my late class I snacked on some green jelly beans,

and dried kiwi.

Yuuuuuum.  If you ever see dried kiwi at your stores, buy it!  The chew is perfect and the little seeds pop with the best crunch.

Dinner was tasty and on theme.

We stirred turnip greens into a box of mac and cheese.

Then topped them with poached hard-boiled eggs.

CSN Stores gave me this microwave egg poacher to try,

we haven’t gotten the method quite down yet, but the eggs were tasty and quick at least.

To combat my dead taste-buds I added 1oz of extra sharp cheddar and some sprinkles of Sriracha to my bowl.

Delicious!

How did you celebrate St. Patty’s day this year?

Mirror, Mirror On the Wall

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The healthiness level of my food consumption today mirrors the level of health I felt all day.  That is to say, not very healthy at all.  I feel rough.  It’s rough being sick for 16 days straight.  It’s rough finding out that I have a C average in two of my main classes because I’ve had so many tests fall in those 16 days.  It’s rough having a music exam that I literally only had 1 feasible hour to study for.  Long Wednesdays are always rough.  You get the picture.

Breakfast started out well with a big Granny Smith apple dipped in a serving of natural honey peanut butter.

But as I got closer to leaving my sore throat was begging for a cookie dough ice-cream sandwich.

I guess it’s a good thing the treat we’re obsessed with only has 160 calories?

I totally couldn’t get it together to pack lunch and ended up at Taco Bell on campus of all places.  Once there, I proceeded to drive the workers crazy by knowing only that I wanted a chicken burrito and asking the ingredients in all the varieties.  I believe what I ended up with was a chicken grilled stuft burrito.

Question – why the heck do we have to go with “stuft,” stuffed is literally one letter more?  Also, why was this so monsterous?  I nibbled away for a solid 45minutes (I knew dinner would be iffy so I wanted to make sure I was very fueled) and I still conceded defeat to the final quarter.

Dinner was in fact the definition of iffy. 

Buffalo wing and blue cheese chips.  They confirmed both that my cold has killed my taste buds and that I’m a terrible healthy living blogger when I’m sick.

Did I mention that I’m sick?

What do you like to eat when you’re sick?  Other than really disliking salads, I don’t have any “sick foods.”  It seems like I should be eating normally because my sickness is in my chest/head and not my stomach, but in fact I’ve coughed so hard that I’ve made myself throw up every day of the last 16 days.  It’s been fun around here.

Stuffy – Shake – Salmon

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Did you miss me?  I hope not; no one should be sorry I took a blog break this weekend!  I did not have funny stories to tell.  I did not have great workouts to recap.  I did not create new inventive recipes.  I did not eat anything resembling healthy.  I did however, throw up, and cough, and continue to be sick.  Ugh!

I’m still sick today, but I’m definitely (finally!) on the upswing.  My cold’s moved to my head which means I’m driving everyone crazy honking like a goose, but I can sort of talk again.  And I made it to all three of my classes today.

When I got to campus this morning I stopped by the yogurt place for a chocolate milkshake, made with skim milk.

It was a strange breakfast, but the flavor/texture was exactly what I was craving and felt great on my throat!

Lunch was leftover roasted green beans, which are still delicious even when served cold,

and a nice crisp Fuji apple.

I ate so slowly that I ended up finishing my apple to class and it was pretty darn thrilling not to have to deal with retainers for the time being.

I know I’m getting better because while walking home at 4:30 I realized I was starving.  I haven’t been hungry in two weeks!  I swung by the pizza place near our apartment for a buffalo chicken slice with blue cheese.

I had them cut it in half (the picture shows both halves) and my mini slice was perfect to tide me over until dinner.

Dinner was an old favorite, Shallotta Salmon Burgers.

Eaten on a bed of salad.

Greens lightly dressed with Newman’s Own Light Raspberry Walnut Dressing, buttermilk blue cheese crumbles, and some roasted golden beets.

I didn’t actually manage to eat very much of that, but it was fun to sit down to a nice plate of food!  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go blow my nose!

What’s your go to milkshake order?  There’s a place back home that mixes booze into their milkshakes and they can’t be beat!  I always always request skim milk in my shake though, wherever I am.

Flurry

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It feels like I’ve lost my blogging mojo lately; I’ve just been so wiped out with tiredness that I’ve got a case of writer’s block.  I get my worst sleep when I’m tired (thus compounding the problem) and so the last week has been a little blurry.  Last night was supposed to be my salvation but the downstairs neighbor’s dog barked long into the night.  <– I hate them.

Part of my blogger’s block is related to the fact that we are over Vegan Month.  O-V-E-R.  It’s not a “I want nachos and pizza” kind of thing, more a “I would feel healthier eating a turkey sandwich and scrambled eggs right now.”  It feels like lately we’ve been eating junk, or nothing.  I’m going to do a full recap at the month’s end but we consider the challenge both a success and a fail.

Today’s vegan eats, even though I didn’t actually have the energy to eat until after 3pm, were a success.

From the Co-op hot bar I had sweet tofu and grape leaves,

sesame rice with raisins and corn and kidney bean salad,

and red curry tofu and seitan hash.

I also had a Lemon Steaz,

and some potato chips.

Dinner came amid a flurry of cooking.

Tempeh Hashbrown Casserole from Eat, Drink, and Be, Vegan; subbed red onions for green onions and added tons of extra paprika –

Vegetarian Country Captain from “Cooking Light;” subbed raisins for currants, skipped the almonds, skip the rice, hold the cream –

The two dishes came together nicely, yin and yang of sorts.

I loved the sweet and savory mix, and pairing the veggies with potatoes instead of rice was great, because I hate rice.

Final note – I love the word flurry, don’t you?  Similarly, whenever my BioChem teacher uses the word slurry – a thick suspension solids in a liquid – it makes me hungry.

What are some random words that you like just because?  Mine are whimsical, twitter (before it was Twitter), bubble, and temperance.

Lunch At The ‘Bucks

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Please note – I don’t actually call Starbucks that, that would be lame.  It would be a good nickname though; it’s both a shortening of the name and a nod to the fact that their drinks cost so much you’d think they were selling cups of Adamantium.

I did have lunch at the local Starbucks today though.  I went straight there from campus and got some solid studying done.  I started with a grande steamed apple juice (the caramel apple spice minus the caramel),

and a bag of salt and pepper popcorn.

I know that the ‘Bucks has gotten some flack for its iffy nutritionals in the past, but this was both tasty and healthy.

After two hours I was dying to leave but not yet done with my notecards.  My flamingo rubber band friend convinced me to get another drink and finish my work for the class.

Tall, soy, toffee latte.  Good to know – all of the flavored syrups used at Starbucks are vegan.

When I actually completed one class (fyi – that’s one class, 3 hours later I’m HALF done with the notecards I need to make for the week) I headed out to stroll around Elmwood doing Valentine’s shopping.  Another important note – Adam and I actually don’t do gifts for any holiday.  So sometimes I like to celebrate by buying things to make him feel bad.  Did you catch the latest Modern Family episode – “I win Valentine’s!” – yeah, sort of like that.

Now I’m off to the grocery store, a necessary step before dinner can occur.

If you’re in a realationship – did you buy gifts for Valentine’s this year?

L-O-O-O-N-G Long Day

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Welp, my long day was exactly that – loooong!  Even though I’m not in class the whole time, being on campus from 11-8:40 is definitely rough.  I think having a snow day last Wednesday made it seem even harder, so hopefully next week will be a little easier!

I was running late this morning so lunch was simple, but it got the job done.

A big serving of unsweetened applesauce with red hots,

topped with (3/4 serving of) Maple Brown Sugar Mini Wheats and (1/3 serving of) Multi-grain Cheerios.

It actually ended up being a pretty great lunch.  FYI – Mini Wheats aren’t actually vegan (they contain gelatin, I’m an idiot), but we are going to finish what we bought.

I also packed a 2nd snack for my 2hour break before my final class.

This Blueberry Muffin Lara Bar actually wasn’t as good as the first one I tried.  It was almost grassy tasting?!  I was hungry though so I still ate it all.

I ate my snack at 5pm and then five hours later I ate dinner.

Holy god was I ever hungry for dinner!  I couldn’t eat right away when I got home because I had to complete a lab assignment for tomorrow, pack my bag, make Adam dinner (he’s obsessed with peanut sauce and not so obsessed with the soup so I made him a fresh batch of sauce to eat on tofu for dinner)…..

By the time I got around to eating dinner – on my feet, over the stove, cooking Adam’s lunches for the rest of the week – my Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup was more of a mash, but it was still delicious.

Hands down, best soup I’ve ever had.

Just to give everyone a head’s up, I won’t be able to post until dinner time tomorrow.  You know, because people will be crying their eyes out if they can’t read my morning post 😉

How many meals a week would you say you eat standing up?