Tag Archives: apple

Loco

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Thank you (once again) for the encouraging comments on the last post.  Today has been good.

I spent an hour in the library this morning attempting to figure out my class schedule for next semester, but ultimately the computer glitches made it impossible.  My registration window is tomorrow morning, so I’m going to make sure I know exactly what the plan is before I go to bed tonight.  I ate a Cashew Almond Prana Bar while I worked.

I caught up on Chemistry reading until 12, and then I met up with my friend Katie for a trip to Starbucks.  I let my sweet tooth talk me into the cheapest option –

🙂 mint brownie, $1.95.  On the side I had some cheap healthy ice water.

Challenge Balance – $63.10.  I had a great time catching up with Katie and getting in some serious blog gossip.  Katie recently became a full-fledged RD so she’s kind of a rock star to me!  During our chatting a barista offered us a sample of the newest drink – Creme Brule Latte.

I was expecting to love it, but neither of us were that impressed.  It was too sweet, without acting tasting like Creme Brule.

By the way, those of who met me at the Foodbuzz Festival and thought I was underdressed, check out my ‘it’s 41* in Buffalo’ duds.

Katie said my sandals in November made me a bad-ass, oh yeah!

I headed home around 2:30 and I ate some peanut butter.  And a teeny apple.

PB Loco rocks my socks.  And if you skim to the bottom of this post, I tell you some ways they can rock your socks.

Adam and I have to run some errands and then the rest of the day will be all about business.  I have more Chemistry work I’d like to do and it’s possible my clothing just will get up and walk away as my laundry is so embarrassed about living in the living room for the last weekend!  I’ll see you with dinner.

Ways to get your fabulous pb fix on –

1.  If you sign up for “free stuff” at pbloco.com you will receive coupons to use at the online store.

2. Spend $30 or more at Pbloco.com and receive a FREE jar of P.B.Loco Dreamy Creamy Peanut Butter.  To redeem this coupon, place $30 or more of merchandise in your shopping cart at Pbloco.com.  Enter coupon code BLOG1209 when you checkout.  A free jar will be added to your order.  Offer expires December 25, 2009.

Seriously, Make It

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What a day, what a day!  Early in the week headaches have officially been canceled out, today bumped my weekly productivity up to 100%!  Things actually started off a little rocky; we were awake so late we slept through the alarms!  I panicked for a moment but I realized that my legs were hurting pretty badly so it wasn’t the world to cancel my gym session anyway.

I finished my post-lab work at home and then headed to The Spot to study.  I was dreaming of a Mike’s Sandwich but I didn’t actually get there until after 11 and they were no longer serving breakfast.  Buffalo parking is a bummer.  The barista totally empathized with my craving though and hooked me up with an everything bagel with sliced turkey and colby cheese (+ diet coke).

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Craving decimated!

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A few hours later I also got a tall Americano with skim milk.

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My focus today was out of control, I only got distracted twice!  Once when I was reading about the visible light spectrum and started thinking about how my rings act like a prism in the sun…

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and again when I got this…

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I drove to school around 3:30 and continued the study frenzy before my 6:30 class.  In total today I completed reading an entire chapter (with 11pages of notes!!), pre and post work for this week’s labs, and a class session.  Plus I put away 4 loads of laundry when I got home.  And I made a grocery list for tomorrow.  I’m going to do a little baking before my trip 🙂  Tomorrow is still going to be a bit crazy but I made a definite dent.

For dinner I finally got the try my Moussaka.

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Yums!  You broiled it for a bit so the cheese got all nice and brown and I loved the combo of veggies.

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I had an Orange Zevia to drink.

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Dessert was fall personified – chopped up Cortland apple, sprinkled with cinnamon and 2T cinnamon caramel apple dip, heated in the microwave, topped with a crumbled Maple Pecan Boomi Bar.

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Seriously?  Seriously?  This might be the best thing I’ve ever eaten.  The caramel thinned out when it melted so it coated every single piece of apple; the apples got nice and soft; and maple pecan boomi bars are freaking better than cookies.  Make this.  You will not be sorry.

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Thursday is looking to be pretty rushed, so it will probably be another full day recap post.  See you Thursday night after lab!

Don’t forget about my Zevia giveaway.

Also; watch this.  Seriously, it’s the funniest thing ever.

Dreams of Root Vegetables

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Whew, Tuesday is almost over!  My meeting went well, I still have no idea which career path I’ll choose but it is exciting to learn about the options.  After my meeting I swung by the house to pick up the husband, who graciously offered to go along on my printing/mailing resume errands.

True Story – while we were driving he got annoyed that I don’t know what I want to do and said – “You’ll never know what you want to do.  Next thing I’ll know you’ll want to be a turnip!  Do you need to go back to school to be a turnip!?!”  And now he has called me Turnip for the rest of the day.  Holy cow I love my funny husband!

On our way home – resumes successfully mailed, hopefully I will be substituting at some point – we stopped in The Spot for coffee.

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I got a small  Chaider; steamed apple cider and chai tea.  Mmn, fall!  I actually think I’m going to head back to the Spot to work tomorrow, I haven’t been getting much done at home 😦

I was feeling sick with hunger when we got home so I got a snack while I worked on my lab (which I can not do without help, boo!).

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A bumped log,

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with Granny Smith slices with cinnamon caramel apple dip.

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I had a coupon for the dip and you know I’m a sucker for all foods fall.

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After struggling with Chemistry for forever I moved on to making dinner.  On the meal plan was a recipe from the November “Everyday with Rachael Ray” ‘lightened up’ moussaka.

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I can’t share the recipe but if you bought the magazine and are planning to try it here are the changes I made:

  • used 99% lean ground turkey instead of beef
  • skipped the food processor and used low fat whipped cottage cheese
  • used half graffiti eggplants
  • add 1/2 pint mushrooms

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We actually got busy and didn’t even eat dinner so I’ll have to review the recipe tomorrow!  I have a busy day planned tomorrow – no room for headaches! – so don’t be surprised if I don’t post until dinner.  Night!

Don’t forget to enter my Zevia giveaway!

Curried Chicken and Cider Soup

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I totally lied when I said I was going right to class.  That was the plan, but I was so cold (inside my house, with the heat on) that I just couldn’t bring myself to go outside yet!  I sat on the couch and read my book.

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Heat seems like it is going to rock my socks, it’s a memoir about, among other things, training as a prep chef for Mario Batali.  I am all about memoirs and food, so it seems like the perfect fit.

Once I did get off the couch and get dressed I realized I was wearing an outfit from my teaching days and the whole thing felt sort of surreal.

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I don’t know if anyone read my job identity search post this morning, but the one thing I do know is that do not want to teach!  I swear I sort of have PTSD from my experience!

Also, I was super hungry so I packed myself a snack for the road –

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1 oz buffalo wing pretzels with some turkey pepperoni (don’t worry mom, I only ate at lights!).

That totally did not cut it though.  After I finished printing at the library I set off in search of food.  I ended up with an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese.

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Class went well, we are studying electron orbitals which I love – it’s like a puzzle!  When I got home at 9 I got right to work on dinner.  We made Curried Chicken and Cider Soup from “Everyday with Rachael Ray” (click on the name for the recipe link).

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I skipped the cumin, and substituted 1C of water with 1C extra cider, but otherwise I followed the recipe.  I topped my bowl with buffalo wing pretzel nuggets for a crouton-like effect.

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I don’t think I would have liked it without the added spice, it was pretty sweet, but with the addition it was perfect.

Afterwards I had this fun drink I bought a while back.

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It’s not really Sangria, more like strawberry soda.  It’s from Japan and was totally cool; you had to pop the top to release a marble.

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I was supposed to paint my nails tonight but it is almost 11 so it looks like I’ll be heading straight to bed.  Tomorrow I have a gym trip planned, plus tons and tons of schoolwork, and hopefully some job searching.  Sweet dreams!

Do you like buffalo wings?  I’m not a huge wings fan but I love buffalo sauce!

Read Head

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It was an interesting if not entirely productive morning.  My computer had an incredibly annoying virus which I dealt with, but which took forever.  I was freezing – in spite of the heat being on and my turtleneck – so I curled up on the couch with a comforter and a book.  So cozy!  I fell asleep for a bit and was woken up by UPS –

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Yay!  And then I finished my book!  I have always loved to read, I devour books, but it’s been forever since I’ve been able to just curl up with one for hours.  I read Madness, Marya Hornbacher’s (second) memoir.  It was good; very sad, but interesting.  I read her first memoir, Wasted, when I was in middle school and it seriously changed the way I thought about literature.  Hornbacher is such a beautiful writer, her style is all off the place and full of vivid descriptions, it’s perfect for me.

The rest of the afternoon, unfortunately, was completely killed by a migraine 😦  I’ve grown out of them for the most part, and now they are pretty responsive to Ecedrin Migraine, but they still eat up a few hours.  When Adam got home around 5 I realized that part of the problem was having not eaten since breakfast so we split a Granny Smith apple.

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I spread my portion witha 100calorie pack of Justin’s Organic Honey Peanut Butter.  I love pb on tart apples.

Our main fun for the evening was a trip to the grocery store so we made a weekly meal plan and off we went.  I love doing errands with my husband so much!!!  The grocery store is one of my favorite places, especially because they gave me several free samples today 🙂

Dinner was eaten in a strange series of courses, all of which were quite good.  I was at the stove, so I ate most of them there, which was actually sort of cathartic.  Btw, I was at the stove because I was making Adam a Wholly Wholesome Pumpkin Pie.

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The husband is a crazy-face; he is obsessed with pumpkin (“punkin” he says) pie but won’t let me make it from scratch because apparently that would be gross?!

First dinner course, 2 celery stalks with 1t light chunky blue cheese dressing.

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My huge package this afternoon came from Dr. McDougall’s.  I had never heard of their soups before, but when they sent me a description and asked me if I wanted some samples I happy obliged.  I tried veggie today.

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The company was quite sweet, and sent me this pretty place setting from Crate & Barrel.  So fall-ish!

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I liked the nutritional stats on the soup, and almost never eat one portion when it comes to soup, so I ate the whole box.

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It was quite good.

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Third course, and the other reason I was at the stove, was bbq cabbage.

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I didn’t measure anything but I’ll give you the basic steps/ingredients.  Heat Smart Balance Light in a pan over medium-high heat.  Add 1/2 head chopped napa cabbage.  Cook for 2-3minutes before adding 1/2 – 1 cup of water and covering.  After sufficient steaming time, douse with worchestire sauce, hot sauce, honey, ketchup, and apple cider vinegar.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, for 7-10 more minutes.  Delish, it ended up being like I imagine Kim Chi would taste.

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Finally, I ate 1.5 servings of Synder’s Buffalo Wing pretzels while Adam and I watched the new episode of Bones.

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The perfect date evening!

It’s too bad I spent most of my day asleep, because now I have more to do this weekend, but I do feel well-rested.  We have a lot planned for tomorrow, all of which I’m pretty excited for.  Happy weekending everyone!

Who is your favorite author? As I mentioned, I have a reading obsession, but Hornbacher is definitely one of my favorites.  I am also a big fan of C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, Gregory Maguire, and Kurt Vonegut.

Delayed Gratification

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It was another productive day, I’m on a roll!  I stayed up way too late last night so the roll didn’t get started until 10 this morning.  I posted my uncooperative blog post first thing, and then did 10minutes of stretching and strength training – including 70reps of abs, 50reps of arms, and 30reps of legs.

Then I got straight to work on my Chemistry homework.  And worked.  And worked.  And worked.  And suddenly, my whole day was gone!  I hate that it takes so long, but I am thrilled to be done, I think this is the first thing I’ve done in advance all semester.

I was so focused on enthalpy changes that I forgot to eat, but once I arrived at the grocery store at 4 I promptly remembered!  I managed to stay focused enough to get our food for next week – and save $20 in sales/coupons, yay! – but I was definitely rushing.  Good thing the meal (lunch/dinner) I prepared when I got home was worth waiting for!

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I seriously loved every single component of this.  I was in foodie heaven.  Honey mustard tuna salad.

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This recipe (click here) just came to me, and I’m so glad it did.  So tasty.

Apple slices and 1serving+ Food Should Taste Good Jalopeno Chips for dipping.

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The chips were the perfect spice level to go with my salad.

And finally a glass of POM Nectarine juice.

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This was better than kiwi, it will be coming to store soon, look for it!

In just a bit we are heading out for a date, to see “Couples’ Retreat.”  We’ve decided to cut back on the movies this year (we were going 1-3times a week in Brooklyn!!) but this was definitely on my worth it list.  I am so excited about my movie snack –

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My first Halloween candy!  I packed 1 serving each of Candy Corn and Ghost Dots.  DSC00322

I hope everyone else has a good evening!

Have you had any spook candy yet?  What is your favorite kind?  My favorite is mini York patties.

Borrowed

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I made it to campus in time to print off my materials and reschedule a study session with my chemistry friend.  Class went well, we got out 10minutes early which is always exciting 🙂

When I got home the husband and I did a photo shoot to show off our new produce.

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Check out our funny sized apples!  The small one is called a “Mini,” but that pregnant Kate Gossling of an apple is actually just a Honeycrisp.

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Adam and I split the biggie (in fact he did lots of sharing tonight, thanks hubby!), I ate my portion on a salad.

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It was quite a good salad, it had arugula, chopped apple, shredded carrots, a few peanuts and ~1T of Adam’s creamy italian salad dressing.

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I ate dinner in courses, each item alone, but it all added up to be a great meal.

After the salad was a tropical smoothie.

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~1/2C Goya passionfruit pulp, ~1C frozen tropical fruit blend, ~1/2C oj.  It was tasty, but a little too tart, I only drank about 2/3 of it.

Next Adam was the sweetest bear ever and shared 2 chicken nuggets with me.

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And finally I ate some roasted butternut squash.

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I spritzed it with evoo; sprinkled with salt, pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg; and roasted for 20minutes at 475*.

Actually, finally was dessert.  I prepped this Chocolate Peanut Butter Quick Bread my mom sent awhile ago while I drank my smoothie.

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I did a lot of spoon-licking while I made it, but I saved room for a small piece.

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It was good, chocolate bread with gooey peanut butter chips.

I’m heading to bed so I can get up early tomorrow.  This week is off to a good start!

What foods do you like to “borrow” from your significant other?  In general Adam’s food choices are a little less healthy than mine, but I usually don’t have any junk-envy.  However, those frozen chicken nuggets are to die for!

House in the House

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I don’t know how I managed to get Adam out of bed at 8am to run with me this morning, but I did.  He’s not the best running partner though, he made me laugh so hard I had to take a break!  His brother’s neighborhood had a loop, so I ran that 3x and walked in once.  The husband measured it afterwards and found out the loop was .75mile.  That means I did 3miles total, with my walk included.  39minutes, 273calories.

I played a rousing game of Hungry Hippos with my niece before I decided I was a hungry hippo and it was time for a shower.  Then I put together a random lunch plate.

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An apple and a few pieces of sliced turkey.

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Cheese and pizza bites.

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I actually ate another piece bite too, and when I realized I was still starving I got a bowl of cereal.

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I haven’t had Lucky Charms in years!

We were supposed to go to the fair today but it is raining buckets so we are just hanging out around the house.  And watching House, they have the newest episode on dvr.  Hope everyone else is having a sunny Saturday.

What are your Saturday plans?