Weekly Wrap-Up; A Trip To Ohio

by Emily

Last week was quite a good one for me. I passed my Registration Exam and then flew to Ohio to visit my grandma. Good times all around! It was also a busy week, so please excuse the many gaps in my reporting (for example, my grandma served me dessert at least twice a day, every day of my visit and I think I managed to snap a photo of just one sweet bite).

Dietetics students – feel free to leave a comment/shoot me an e-mail if you’d like some more details on the studying process for the exam. Otherwise, here we go…

Breakfasts

{1} A tropical smoothie.

I blended up frozen mano chunks, oj, and Müller low-fat Greek yogurt with honeyed apricot.

{2} Berry topped cereal.

Kashi Honey Puffs and Nature’s Path Bran flakes with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, blueberries, nectarine, and a sprinkle of sugar.

{3} Yogurt bowl day one.

Chobani 2% Apricot Greek Yogurt topped with sliced banana and red plum. Not only did a find a few good, new flavors of yogurt while in Ohio, but these plums were the best (read: juicy without being drippy and nice and sweet) I’ve ever had. The apricot flavored Chobani was nice as well.

{4} Yogurt bowl day two.

Liberté Peach and Passionfruit Non-fat Greek Yogurt topped with more fantastic red plum. Liberté makes Greek yogurt now?! My heart practically leapt out of my chest.

Lunches

Lots of meals out in this category, much fun was had.

{1} California Pizza Kitchen, Queens.

Adam, ever the traditionalist, shared a slice of his Roasted Garlic and Chicken Pizza with me. The pizza was yummy, but I went with a salad.

CPK’s Thai Crunch Salad is a thing of wonders, the edamame, peanuts, and wonton strips give it great crunch. And that giant plate was a half portion! Adam and I both ate some at lunch and then there was enough leftover for him to eat the next day as well. This meal was actually eaten the day before my exam. The husband quizzed me a bit over our meal but largely I took things easy that day; either you know it or you don’t!

{2} Bareburger, then 16 Handles, Long Island.

After I passed my exam, a very sleepy husband took me out to celebrate. He worked all night, then came home and drove me to my test, so it was perfect to go somewhere that loved bears for lunch (my nickname for him is Bear).

Bareburger is a NY chain that focuses on organic, humanely sourced foods. Their meat options include wild boar, elk, and ostrich! I went “boring” with a turkey burger.

The Maui Wowie (sans bun) was far from boring; it was topped with smoked mozzarella, turkey bacon, grilled pineapple, fried onions, fire-roasted red pepper, and buttermilk ranch.

It was freaking delicious and we want to go back again {and again, and again!}.

You can’t celebrate without froyo.

We went to 16 Handles afterward and rocked my face off. The topping options were out of this world.

I got pecan praline yogurt (!!!) topped with Coney Island Crunch trail mix and bananas foster banana chips! Re-dic-u-lous.

{3} Bakehouse, then Jenni’s Splendid Ice Cream, Troy.

Bakehouse is a fantastic bakery and cafe in Ohio. My grandma took me there the minute I stepped off the plan and we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch.

I had a cup of gazpacho,

and we split a Vegetarian Sandwich.

Cheesy-good was definitely the theme of this visit.

We digested by walking around and looking at Troy’s newest sculpture installations.

They were sooooo realistic, my grandma definitely tricked me a few times into thinking we were heading towards real people.

Then we went for Winan’s for dessert because…

they sell little containers of Jeni’s ice cream!

The black coffee flavor was perfection. I’ve been reading rave reviews of Jeni’s in magazines and blogs for years and now I totally get the hype.

{4} First Watch, Dayton.

I had never heard of First Watch – a breakfast/lunch only spot – before but they served up quite a fine half salad/half sandwich combo for lunch.

The Santa Fe Salad was nice and spicy (and also flipping loaded with chicken, no one person would possibly want that much on one salad),

and any place that serves turkey reubans along the traditionals wins my heart.

{5} My grandma’s kitchen, finally a home-cooked lunch.

A bit of avocado, a cob of my spicy, cheesy baked corn,

and chicken salad.

Nana’s chicken salad – made with mayo, sliced grapes, and toasted pecans – is one of my all-time favorite dishes.

Drinks and Snacks

{1} Mango Hi-Chew.

I am just too glad to be back in the city where there are Hi-Chews at every corner store. Mango was nice and juicy, but I won’t be satisfied until I find the yogurt flavor I used to love.

{2} Trader Joe’s Roasted Seaweed Snack.

My seaweed consumption has gone way down now that I’m not packing lunches for school so this was a nice treat.

{3} Maple-Glazed Pecan and Sea Salt KIND Bar.

My bar consumption is also on the decline, but this flavor was by far the best KIND bar I’ve ever had.

{4} Bourganel’s Nougat Beer.

A friend took me to Bierkfraft – an awesome bar/beer merchant in Park Slope – to celebrate my new credentials and we discovered our new favorite thing.

I grabbed this Bourganel Beer Nougat on a whim (always try to drink booze that tastes like dessert, that’s my motto) and it was out of control. Normally I leave a lot behind when I drink a beer, but this bottle was drained before it could even get warm. My friend adored it as well; we ended up buying a second bottle to split after our first round!

{5} Kahlua Ready-to-Drink White Russian.

I have looked for these bottles all summer after spotting one in a magazine and I finally hit pay dirt in Ohio!

Dinners

{1} Sushi.

The night before my exam, I got take-out from A-Chiban. Mango-inari, fish tempura, and a veggie roll.

The mango was slimy and terrible, but everything else was good.

{2} Spicy.

Spicy, cajun shrimp over angel hair,

with tossed salad and citrus green beans.

{3} Casserole.

Cucumber and tomato salad, cornmeal-breaded baked summer squash,

and creamy chicken casserole.

Among the ingredient list for the casserole were swiss cheese, white wine, and stuffing. My grandma is an amazing cook.

{4} Plane food.

My kiku apple was crunchy and sweet, and the leftover chicken salad served on cranberry poppy-seed bread made for an amazing sandwich.

My sandwich was on the small side, but not to worry, I bought chips (um, and pizza) at the airport!

Do you have a favorite dish that a certain family member will always prepare for you?

11Aug2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; In August

by Emily

First of all, I need to announce the winners for my Müller Yogurt giveaway: lucky numbers 2, 3, and 6. Grace, rachelesimms, and Jenny, shoot me an e-mail with your mailing addresses so I can get your coupons out!

This wrap-up spans more than one week and while this obviously wasn’t everything that I consumed, I ate a lot of really good stuff so the volume of pictures was a little overwhelming. I didn’t try to break this post up into breakfast/lunch/dinner, instead I’ll keep things loosely chronological.

-1- I made a cheese quesadilla on a Trader Joe’s Whole Grain Flour Tortilla with Rolled Oats and Flax Seeds with sliced apple on the side.

There were lots of Trader Joe’s (TJ’s) goodies eaten recently and we were very impressed with all but one of them. The texture of the tortilla definitely helped make my plain cheese quesadilla a little more interesting.

-2- Alvita Tea sent me some of their tea.

Alvita makes single-herb teas that are third-party certified organic, gluten-free and kosher. When I returned the e-mail offer for free samples, I requested teas that would be good iced during this hot summer, so they sent me Ginger-Peppermint, Passionflower, and Raspberry.

I loved the flavors of Passionflower and Raspberry, but Ginger-Peppermint was too much spicy ginger for me. Adam loves that flavor though, so if you are a ginger fan I would recommend it. I did try the flavors hot (aka by following the brewing instructions) but the pictures were boring so instead I’ll show you two ways I served the tea cold.

First, Ginger-Peppermint iced tea.

Whenever I make iced tea I toss 2 tea bags per ~6 oz cold water in a glass and let it sit until the color looks right to me. This oh-so-scientific method has never failed me!

Next, Passionflower “Thai” iced tea.

For this tasty treat, I followed the brewing instructions but tripled up on tea bags. Then I chilled my tea concentrate and served it with a couple of tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk. Quite delicious.

-3- I made the best flipping sandwich I’ve ever had.

I know that’s a big claim, but it’s so true. I mashed a can of TJ’s Smoke Trout with Miracle Whip, spread my trout salad between two pieces of whole-wheat bread with three slices of sliced Velveeta, and cooked it in a skillet with a little butter.

Served with baby carrots and sliced pepper.

My sandwich was so smokey and gooey! I want another can of that trout asap. This was actually the first sandwich with Velveeta I’ve ever had (I don’t know that either of my parents have ever tasted processed cheese food, we never had it in the house growing up). The cheese was leftover from another recipe and while I would not buy it again, it did make this sandwich mighty good.

-4- The dog and I were kicked out of the apartment one afternoon while our tub was being redone.

We went to Shake Shack for their outdoor seating and I got a chocolate-vanilla twist with chocolate toffee and cheesecake blondie stirred in.

I know that looks amazing, but in spite of the promising flavors the taste just wasn’t good. I threw out 2/3 of it; after it melted all over me first, of course. I think I am officially done giving that Shake Shack location more chances. But bad food doesn’t really matter when your lunch date is this cute –

Those eyes!

-5- I made two smoothies, one bad and one good. The bad was frozen mixed berries with frozen spinach and orange-mango juice.

Adam loved his glass, but I drank mine purely for the nutrients.

The good was this strawberry almond smoothie.

Frozen strawberries with Barney Butter Crunchy Almond Butter, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

-6- Another food served in two rounds – salad. Thankfully both of these iterations were amazing. Salad one,

was lettuce, homemade croutons (leftover torn french bread tossed with evoo, salt, and pepper and baked at 375*), shredded carrots, chopped green pepper, TJ’s Greek Style Feta Dressing, and Hemp Hearts.

The Hemp Hearts made the salad with their unique flavor and texture. I got this sample package at the co-op and if I can’t find this product at Whole Foods I might just go back to Buffalo to buy more!

Salad two,

was lettuce, shredded carrots, smoked gouda, feta dressing, and toasted almond slivers.

The ratio of fatty toppings to healthy greens in this salad was way off, but it tasted soooooo good.

-7- We ate tofu nuggets and roasted brussels sprouts for dinner.

I got really sick of roasted brussels sprouts a few years ago and I think I finally have my taste for them back.

The nuggets were extra-firm tofu that I’d sliced and frozen (freezing tofu gives it a great spongy texture when it’s cooked) then coated in corn starch and cooked in canola oil.

My attempt at a sweet and sour style sauce wasn’t very good, but the “nuggets” of tofu were pretty exciting.

-8- I made a winner of a dinner with a meal that was quick, easy, tasty, and healthy.

Bowls of barley topped with TJ’s Smoked Herring (that we mashed with a little Miracle Whip), TJ’s Sweet Sesame Seaweed, a drizzle of Sriracha, and a soft-boiled egg.

This was the best dinner of this post! We stirred our bowls so everything got coated in egg yolk and the flavor was fantastic.

-9- I discovered my new favorite combination of cereals: half a serving of Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola with a serving of Kashi 7 Whole Grain Honey Puffs.

The Kashi cereal almost reminded me of Smax. That bowl was topped with skim milk and chopped nectarines.

-10- I finally did a work out.

Barre3 is promoting their 7-Day Body Blast program and they offered me a complimentary month of online workouts.

Barre3 is a unique fitness system combining the arts of Pilates, yoga and ballet barre work. I took a class the last time I was in the city and loved it. The monthly subscription is only $15 and it gives you access to a myriad of online workouts. You can select 10, 20, 30, 40, and 60 minute classes, choosing to focus on a specific set of muscles or on working your whole body. The videos are great and the oral instructions are clear enough that once you’ve done a workout once or twice it is easy to follow along without having to watch the movements on a screen.

I’ve done the Ballet Fit (40 minutes) class twice. It is a total body workout with a good mix of arms, legs, and core work. There are lots of pulses so it ends up being pretty good cardio too. I intended to branch out so I had more to review, but I loved the Ballet Fit class so much the first time that I wanted to do it again. Plus, I’m trying to get better so I don’t have to keep pausing the video every five minutes to die.

All you need for the online workouts is a mat (I ended up tossing my shoes), some light weights, a pillow*, and a chair/couch/counter to serve as a bar. *They recommend a core ball but I found a folded pillow worked just fine in a pinch.

-11- I finally found a good combo for homemade egg cream.

Chocolate Nesquick and plain seltzer worked like a charm.

Even Adam, who normally hates my egg cream attempts, thought this was good.

-12- A friend and I had a great night in Williamsburg. We explored on foot, then settled on Mizu for dinner. I got a Hijiki salad to start.

Black seaweed with carrot and tofu.

I didn’t like my salad – which had a strange, woody aftertaste – but my Futu Maki was delicious.

Crab stick, cucumber, avocado, egg, and pickles.

The sweetness of the tamago made the wasabi extra delicious. And fun gum with the bill is always good.

Afterwards we were very lucky to spot a sign for snow cones at Handsome Dan’s.

I got an earl grey snow cone with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk.

Are you freaking kidding me?!

We walked over to the water on our way home and the view of the skyline was even more exciting than our snow cones.

I ♥ New York.

-13- I made another really good sandwich.

A Whole-Wheat Sandwich Thin topped with smoked turkey, smoked gouda (from TJ’s), and Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.

The smokey-sweet thing will always be my favorite.

-14 – We pulled out our popsicle molds.

These dulce de leche lemon popsicles are insane.

I had a little extra “batter” that I poured in my iced tea and it knocked my socks off.

-15- I made tropical fruit salad.

2 bananas, 2 minneolas, 2 kiwis, and a handful of TJ’s Roasted Coconut Chips.

Leaving berries out of this salad made the leftovers feel a lot fresher than usual.

-16- We ate a dinner dipped in ketchup.

Kale chips,

with TJ’s Mahi Mahi Burgers.

I ended up only eating one of my burgers, so I ate the leftover for lunch the next day with the rest of the fruit salad.

The Mahi mahi was simple but good with a little Miracle Whip on a Sandwich Thin.

This was the one product that I don’t think we’ll buy again; the patties were greasier than I’d like even though the nutritional stats were good. It was nice to feel fancy with lots of fish this week.

That’s all she wrote!

Wow. I need to blog more often; what a terrifyingly long post.

23Jul2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Book

by Emily

This week I’m going to do some book reviews.

Full disclosure – I was not paid to write this post but all three of the books were sent to me free of charge to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Book 1 – Austrian Desserts: Over 400 Cakes, Pastries, Strudels, Tortes and Candies by Toni Mörwald and Christopher Wagner

Overall Thoughts: I am thrilled to add this to my collection; I love a nice weighty cookbook! This book is packed with recipes, divided neatly into sections like “Cake, Tarts, Schnitten, and Strudel;” “Cookies and Candies;” and “Ice Cream, Sorbet, Granita, and Parfaits.” I don’t have any background in Austrian baking, but the recipes are written in such a clear, straightforward way that I would feel confident tackling any of them. There are a few history blurbs but overall the writing is to the point, which I appreciate. The color photographs are gorgeous.

Recipe: Sour Ice Cream with Lime

Recipe Reflections: With just three ingredients – low-fat sour cream, simple syrup, and fresh lime – this is the easiest ice cream I’ve ever made. But the ease didn’t make it any less tasty. Sweet and sour were perfectly balance here and the mouthfeel was nice and creamy with no ice crystals. I cut the recipe in half without incident.

What I Want to Make Next: Lavender Ice Cream, Plum Kolach, and Buttermilk Mousse with Honey.

Book 2 – CopyKat.com’s Dining Out at Home Cookbook 2, by Stephanie Manley

Overall Thoughts: This is the 2nd book from CopyKat.com that seeks to recreate recipes from popular restaurants. There are recipes inspired by more than 60 restaurants, including Starbucks, Sonic, and Cheesecake Factory. The book is divided into sections by types of foods, i.e. “Drinks,” “Appetizers,” “Desserts,” and so on. I don’t really eat at most of the restaurants featured here, but if your family regularly eats out at (popular chain) restaurants and is looking to cut back this book would be a great starting point. There are no photographs but you don’t need them as a starting point anyway because the dishes are all things you’ve seen before (that’s the point!).

Recipe 1: (Panera Bread) Broccoli Cheese Soup

Recipe 1 Reflections: I’ve never tried the original, but we flipping loved this recipe. The soup was sooo thick and perfectly creamy but without being too heavy. The flavor was astonishingly “meaty,” and the vegetables all reached the perfect texture – soft but not mushy. I used fat-free half & half instead of full-fat and I recommend this substitution. Adam and I both thought this was the best soup we’ve ever made. I cut the recipe in half without incident.

Recipe 2: (Cajun Cafe) Bourbon ~~Chicken~~ Tofu

Recipe 2 Reflections: I went with chicken instead of tofu here but feel like I still got a good idea of the recipe. This wasn’t bad, certainly, but we did not enjoy it as much as the soup. The sauce got very salty if you let it reduce too long, and we had already subbed in low-sodium soy sauce.

What I Want to Make Next: (The Melting Pot) Wisconsin Trio Fondue, (P.F. Chang’s) Lettuce Wraps, and (Red Lobster) Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

Book 3 –The No-Cook, No-Bake Cookbook: 101 Delicious Recipes for When It’s Too Hot to Cook, by Matt Kadey

Overall Thoughts: This cookbook has 101 oven-free recipes and includes color photographs of 80 of them. It’s divided into four sections – “Breakfast and Brunch,” “Starters and Sides,” “Main Dishes,” and “Desserts.” I really appreciated how healthy all of the recipes in this cookbook were. Usually I make substitutions to lower fat, calories, or sodium when I cook, but I couldn’t find a single recipe in this book that it seemed necessary to alter (for health reasons that is, I did make some pantry-related substitutions).

Recipe 1: Mango Fool

Recipe 1 Reflections: I’ve never eaten a Fool before, but this basically ended up being flavored Greek yogurt. The ginger and orange juice definitely helped boost the mango flavor into something extra-special. This took about a minute to come together, and I plan on making it again.

Recipe 2: Avocado Fruit Salad

Recipe Reflections 2: My fruit all looks a little pink because I had to substitute frozen berries when my blackberries caught a case of mold. I also subbed almonds for walnuts. I can’t say that I loved the savoriness of the avocado, but I did enjoy it more than I was expecting too. The overall blend of textures and flavors was fantastic; this felt very fresh and zingy.

What I Want to Make Next: Machta Mango Shake, Cucumber Seaweed Salad, and Tex-Mex Chipotle Beans.

Do you like to cook straight from recipes or do you prefer to wing it in the kitchen? Where do you tend to get your recipes – cookbooks, food blogs, or family and friends?

7Jul2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; We Moved

by Emily

We moved! On Saturday, June 29th, we did a final pack-up and traded in our Buffalo life for one in Long Island/Queens. Things have been crazy, and I have a lot to figure out still, but I think we’re going to like it here.

We were lucky to have no major issues with the move, but every little thing that could go wrong certainly did! Lots of rain, miscommunication with companies, and sleepless nights. I was very glad that a friend tagged along on my drive to the city to help me with Webster.

I have eaten an insane amount of food over the past week (moving is hungry business!) but I’ve been too busy to capture most of it on film. I also don’t have apartment pictures to share with y’all yet (sorry, Nana!). Here is what I do have to share…

A Random Snack

Getting all of our stuff out of my in-laws’ basement involved multiple 3+ hour trips. Between traffic, tolls, accidents, tailgaters, and our general level of frustration, these trips were pretty brutal. Staying awake involved lots of caffeine and munching (case in point – one day I ate a bag of Cheetos for lunch and a bag of Cheez-its for dinner!). One bright spot in the mandatory snacking was this bag of Sponch cookies.

I hadn’t seen this brand in Buffalo, but if you spot them in your area – get them! They are shortbread cookies topped with marshmallow, coconut, and jam.

So flipping good.

A Few Free Samples**

**The products mentioned in this section of the post were provided for me to sample free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Right before the move, someone from Best Price Nutrition contacted me to see if I would like to try a couple of products. The timing was perfect because their box beat me to the new apartment and we lived the first few days without any of our kitchen boxes. They sent me some sample sized vitamins and whey protein.

The vitamin packs were from the Nature’s Way Alive! Once Daily Women’s line.

Nutritional note – the stats on this vitamin make it a pretty good daily multivitamin, but if I was going to take it regularly I would definitely continue my additional fish oil and vitamin d supplementation.

The whey protein packs were great for breakfast during my first days. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Isoflex Citrus Peach flavor.

It had a good zinginess but the aftertaste was too strongly “protein powder.” Plus it didn’t mix all that well.

I mixed the Isoflex Banana Creme Supreme with skim milk and enjoyed it much more than the other flavor.

It was nice and creamy and probably would have worked really well in a smoothie.

On the body and mind front – Yoga Download offered me a coupon code to try one of their classes.

You guys know that I’m terrible at making it in to scheduled yoga classes (I only attended one class during my last unlimited two month pass!!) so the idea of online classes appeals to me.

Yoga Download offers yoga, pilates, meditation, and other fitness classes. They have a variety of free classes, and the other classes are priced based on whether you choose to download the class or watch it online one time only. Also for many classes you can choose audio-only or video/slideshow. You can filter the classes by ability level and intensity and most of the yoga classes come with a downloadable position guide.

I downloaded Basic Mat Pilates, an advanced beginner class. Verdict – I liked it. The class was easy enough for me (maybe a tiny bit too easy) but still provided a good stretch and core workout. The video was of an instructor and two students so you got a couple of examples of good form. I plan on doing the workout again, as well as looking into some of the free yoga classes.

Our First Meal in Long Island

Once we unpacked our cars we loaded back in (dog and all) to head to dinner. Shack Shake was one of my favorites in the city so we hit up a Long Island location.

Strawberry and black & white shakes,

plus cheese fries to share.

Sadly nothing was as good as we remembered; I didn’t even finish my shake. I want to go back to the original location soon and see if it holds up to my memory.

Our First Meal Cooked in our New Apartment

Four cheese Sacchetti with mushrooms, spinach, and a lemon cream sauce.

I went to Whole Foods and got a little crazy.

I cooked the pasta according to the package then tossed it with mushrooms (sauteed in butter), spinach (sauteed with lemon juice), and cream sauce (butter, light cream, and lemon zest).

Those little presents of pasta are ridiculously tasty.

Our First Froyo

I was under the impression that the self-serve trend hadn’t hit NYC yet but luckily I was very mistaken. One of our first discoveries in our new neighborhood (though not walking distance like on Elmwood, boo!) was Twist.

They have toasted marshmallow frozen yogurt. And now I can die.

Our First Trip Back “Home”

On Adam’s first day off we headed back to our old stomping grounds – Park Slope. 7th Avenue is one of our favorite spots on the planet and we were excited to check out some of the new spots that had popped up in our 4 year absence. We ate/walked/ate/walked and so on until we were stuffed to the gills!

Pino’s pizza <– best pizza in NYC.

My spinach white slice did not disappoint.

Butter Lane Cupcakes was new to us but we’ll be going back.

We split an Elvis; a banana cupcake topped with peanut butter frosting and mini marshmallows.

The cupcake was my new favorite, the big pieces of banana embedded throughout were amazing.

Finally, we headed down to 5th Avenue for Sky Ice, a Thai ice cream spot that Serious Eats recommended.

One scoop of durian and one scoop of thai iced coffee ice cream.

The flavors were so spot on that it basically blew my mind. I want to go back to try the thai iced tea flavor asap.

Also, we found our new desk right in front of our old apartment!

What are the odds of that?!

American readers, how did you celebrate July 4th this year?

21May2013

Fun In Fruit

by Emily

The title says it pretty well, I just wanted to post about a few fun fruit-based things I’ve brought home lately. Half I’ve tasted and half I haven’t, but I’m excited about them all.

Unless otherwise noted*, products were purchased with my own money and I was not compensated for posting about them; I just wanted to share.

1. Outshine Coconut Waters with Banana popsicles. {tried – pretty good}

Allergies have been killing my throat for weeks and I bought these on a whim the other day. They were nowhere near as satisfying as the rainbow sherbet I ended up with later, but they are a good summer treat. They don’t have a ton of flavor, but each bar has only 60 calories and they are nice to cool down with.

2. Cherimoya fruit. {excited to try}

Adam and I love to try new produce when it pops up and I’ve heard cherimoyas described as “custard apples” so I knew we had to try this one, $7 price tag and all. Unfortunately I got a little too excited and stored it in the fridge before I read that they are supposed to stay at room-temperature until they are ripe. Whenever it is actually ready to eat I’ll be sure to let you guys know what we think!

3. Synergy Mystic Mango Kombucha. {tried – flipping amazing}

Oh my goodness, guys, this stuff is the official “sweet nectar of the gods.” The texture was so thick and perfect on my throat. Mystic mango is from GT’s “Enlightened Synergy” line, so maybe that’s the difference, but the flavor was much less vinegar-based than the Kombuchas I’ve had in the past. This was pure mango. A bottle has 100 calories total and is very satisfying.

4. Larabar’s new ALT line.* {excited to try}

NOTE: These bars were sent to me by Larabar free of charge so I could try their new line. I was not compensated for posting, but I do plan on sharing my thoughts as I taste through the line.

From the company: “ALT, the Alternative Protein Bar™, is the first-ever bar with added protein from LÄRABAR! Many bar brands use soy or whey protein, but ALT uses an alternative protein source: peas. Vegan, gluten free, dairy free, and non-GMO, ALT also uses a wrapper that is 31% renewable.”

The line comes in Cinnamon Apple Crisp, Lemon Pound Cake, Peanut Butter Cookie, and Pumpkin Pie. The bars have 10 grams of protein each and each flavor has between 210 and 240 calories.

1Apr2013

Choco-Cherry Love

by Emily

I’ve been skipping breakfast on most of the early mornings of my internship without incident, but today I ran into issues. After a week of eating breakfast – giant, glorious, egg studded breakfasts – my body rebelled at today’s sudden fast. I spent the first hour of my morning light-headed and nauseous, crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t pass out while reading charts. Yuck.

All that is to say, I drank a regular sugar Pepsi for breakfast (I felt better almost immediately!), after breaking out in a very embarrassing cold sweat while talking with a doctor. No photo because I was in a hurry to get back to work.

Lunch was nutritionally lame as well; I ran out of time to pack food this morning.

At least the hospital cafeteria has good pizza.

When I got home this afternoon I made myself a Choco-Cherry Smoothie.

1 heaping cup frozen sweet dark cherries // 1.5 heaping Tbsp Navita’s chocolate Protein Smoothie Mixer // 1 Tbsp U-Bet chocolate syrup // ~1 cup Silk Vanilla Unsweetened Almond Milk.

It had so much potential but sadly my smoothie had absolutely no flavor. It was basically ice water! I’m not sure where I went wrong, but I drank the whole thing any way to get in the nutrients.

I spent my afternoon working on my thesis for the history class I’m taking this semester. I am not enjoying having to write an actual paper; it’s been awhile! I am hoping to plug away over the next two weeks though and get it done a little bit early so I can get it off of my mind.

I ate baby carrots with blue cheese while I worked.

The perfect snack.

I spent the evening in night class. We talked about the Holocaust today, which felt like a throw-back to my first time in college. Did you know – when I thought about getting my Masters in English I planned on writing my thesis on Holocaust literature?

Then I hurried home to squeeze in a few episodes of “Battlestar Galactica.” I enjoyed a sliced banana with peanut butter while I wrote this post.

I’ve decided I’d rather paint my nails – a gorgeous, sparkly pink! – than eat a grown-up dinner, so that’s all she wrote.

Can you skip meals or does it make you too queasy?

3Mar2013

And We’re Off!

by Emily

Today was officially my first day off (from both school and work) since January 20th! 42 days straight!!! I didn’t even work full shifts for most of those days but it was still nice to have 24 hours all to myself for a change.

We didn’t do anything all that exciting with our newfound free-time but it still felt pretty damn nice. We did a major grocery trip, started watching Battlestar Galactica (please tell me that the episodes are faster paced than the movie?!), and Adam currently has the guys over for poker.

Breakfast was a bowl of peanut butter and bananas, squared.

2% Banana Chobani Greek Yogurt topped with a sliced banana, 1 tsp of melted peanut butter and 1 crumbled Cascadian Farm Crunchy Peanut Butter Granola Bar.

So flipping good.

Lunch was even better.

I took enough Pho home last night for Adam and I to both have lunch with the leftovers. I beefed mine up with some roasted broccoli and a soft-boiled egg. Plus more Sriracha, of course.

The entire bowl was delicious and the egg yolk melting into the broth was so amazing that it almost made me cry.

For dessert we shared this plate of samples.

Oh Nuts! offered to send me their Passover Cake & Cookie Sampler and I happily accepted.

Neither of us liked the brownie piece (too dry) but we thought that the jam in the sandwich cookie and raspberry jelly roll was nice. By the by, everything was gluten-free and kosher.

I also had an Adora calcium disk.

I am going to try to remember to take one every day for the next while, but I probably won’t blog about it again.

Dinner ended up being a (giant!) container of hot bar.

A little bit of mac and cheese and brussels sprouts and a bunch of chicken. Apparently I was in the mood for protein.

I made the poker players some Mac and Three Cheese Cups but they were gone before I could snag one. That’s a good sign!

What’s your longest run without a day off?

25Feb2013

Day One Of Thirty? {Again}

by Emily

Complaints first – The chance for 8-hours of sleep passed before I even started this post. All of my end of internship assignments are due on Friday and I’m freaking out. I ate two snacks after dinner and I am still flipping hungry.

Complaints aside, it wasn’t a bad day. We got lots (and lots) of shipments at work so I was nice and busy.

The morning started with smoothies.

For two: 1 Thai young coconut, ~1 cup frozen blue/blackberries, 1 medium frozen banana, and 2 Tbsp Hey Shuga! <– don’t forget, you still have another ~hour to enter my giveaway!

I didn’t have a lot of time for lunch so I kept it simple. A Garuka Bar (from my yumvelope).

The sweet peanut butter coating was addictively good; I planned on snacking on it throughout a task but every time I tried to walk away I took another bite instead!

I also had a Fage 0% Greek Yogurt with Cinnamon Apple Raisins.

The flavor isn’t listed on the Fage website and I’ve only seen it at Target. The apple compote was good, but nothing can really compare to the pure decadence of the honey and strawberry flavors.

I only had an hour between work and night class so Adam and I cashed in a coupon for Subway for dinner.

6 inch turkey with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, banana pepper, red onion, and honey mustard on Italian herb and cheese bread.

I knew my sandwich wouldn’t quite fill me up and I shared this peanut butter spoon with Webster when I got home.

Then I also had a plate of baby carrots with the last of some smoked gouda spread.

And a bag of Smart Fries.

I ended up dipping my “fries” in yellow mustard. And then I had a big glass of water; methinks I’m a bit dehydrated!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: banana

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Trip To Ohio

Breakfasts

Lunches

Drinks and Snacks

Dinners

Weekly Wrap-Up; In August

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Book

Full disclosure – I was not paid to write this post but all three of the books were sent to me free of charge to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Book 1 – Austrian Desserts: Over 400 Cakes, Pastries, Strudels, Tortes and Candies by Toni Mörwald and Christopher Wagner

Book 2 – CopyKat.com’s Dining Out at Home Cookbook 2, by Stephanie Manley

Book 3 –The No-Cook, No-Bake Cookbook: 101 Delicious Recipes for When It’s Too Hot to Cook, by Matt Kadey

Weekly Wrap-Up; We Moved

**The products mentioned in this section of the post were provided for me to sample free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Fun In Fruit

Unless otherwise noted*, products were purchased with my own money and I was not compensated for posting about them; I just wanted to share.

Choco-Cherry Love

And We’re Off!

Day One Of Thirty? {Again}