Tag Archives: banana

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Book

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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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Recipe 2:  (Cajun Cafe) Bourbon Chicken Tofu

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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Recipe 2:  Avocado Fruit Salad

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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.

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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?

Weekly Wrap-Up; We Moved

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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vitamin stats

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Strawberry and black & white shakes,

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plus cheese fries to share.

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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.

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I went to Whole Foods and got a little crazy.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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My spinach white slice did not disappoint.

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

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

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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.

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

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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!

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What are the odds of that?!

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

Fun In Fruit

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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}

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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}

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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}

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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}

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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.

Choco-Cherry Love

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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.

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At least the hospital cafeteria has good pizza.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

And We’re Off!

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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.

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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.

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So flipping good.

Lunch was even better.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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?

Day One Of Thirty? {Again}

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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And a bag of Smart Fries.

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

And A Class To Go Before I Sleep

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My mom texted to check on me after I didn’t post last night, but I promise I wasn’t snowed in/buried alive/on a bender – I’ve just been busy!  Monday wasn’t quite as crazy as Sunday, but I am getting this post up early before night class so I have some tiny chance of painting my nails this evening.  If I miss another holiday colors polish opportunity I will be so sad.

Sunday I ate this Tandoor Chef Vegetable Pad Thai for breakfast.

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Not traditional “morning food,” but one of the best frozen entrées ever.  It is a little calorie-dense at 490kcal a package, but the texture and flavor makes it taste like a splurge and not a sad frozen dinner.

I tried to take a cup of my latest impulse purchase to work with me, but ended up passing Adam my glass after one sip.

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I love Silk’s almond milks but I think I am just not a soy milk girl; this had such a strong aftertaste to me.  Thankfully the husband enjoys it so our carton won’t go to waste.

Adam and Webster picked me up from work, and we got this box from the co-op hot bar on the way home.

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Vegan “cheesy” pasta and 3 stuffed grape leaves, shared 70-30 my favor.

We also split this Opal apple.

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It is fun to try new varieties, but we probably won’t get this one again for the increased price versus “regular” apples.

I was tired from work, and really didn’t want to go to the gym, so I bribed myself with this Justin’s Chocolate Almond Butter packet.

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That stuff is just chocolate frosting, I swear!

At the gym, I finished my first week of CT10k workouts.  4 minutes walking/1 minute running, x 8.  Except I shouldn’t listen to Fiona Apple while I run because I’m obsessed; I ended up running for 10 minutes straight in the middle of my workout.

Dinner was all over the place, but the components were all good.  A handful of baby carrots.

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Pizza crusts stolen from the husband.

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A bit of Chocolove Currants and Almonds in Dark Chocolate.

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Who knew I loved currants?  They definitely helped break up the intensity of the bar.

Finally, we made tasty smoothies.

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Thai young coconut, frozen banana, frozen blueberries, and a bit of brown sugar.

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Adam has recently decided that he is obsessed with Thai young coconuts, so expect to see more of these.  Especially since our coconut was so exciting – it was pink!

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Apparently it’s a common variation relating to the varied levels of phenol found in the coconuts.

Today I grabbed a Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar for breakfast.

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I attended a workshop on TPN in the morning so I got to eat in the hospital rather than my car, which was nice.

Lunch was another tasty black-eyed pea salad.

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Black eyed peas with bread and butter corn, green pepper, smoked almonds, and green Tabasco.  I made a big batch so my lunch for the next two days is already packed.

With a serving of the dark chocolate for dessert.

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And when I got home I ate a pear.

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I took care of a few things for school when I got home from the hospital, and sudddenly I was starving.

Dinner was pretty lame, but I’m in a hurry trying to get to school so I can finish some reading before class.

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And lame doesn’t mean it didn’t taste good!

A box of Health is Wealth Asian Spring Rolls,

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with a dipping sauce of chunky peanut butter and Smart Balance Light.

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Mmmmmmn!

P.S. – You can still win!  Comment on this post before midnight for a chance to win a copy of the “Petite Treats” cookbook.

Breakfast In A Jar And Dinner On The Lam

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Adding in exercise is making blogging very tricky this week.  When you leave for the gym at 9pm, all you want to do when you get home is sleep.  Especially if you have to run errands at Target on your way home from the gym.  Especially if you were too busy all evening to eat dinner.

I started my day with packet of Spiru-Tein S’mores protein powder shaken with 1 cup of Naked Vanilla Oat Milk.

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I was pretty amazed that the powder was vegan (minus honey which I’m not worrying about for the Vegan 20 Day Challenge).  It wasn’t the best tasting thing I’ve ever had, but I was impressed with how thick it got.  I shook it up in a recycled jar, making this a very easy to-go breakfast.

I’m having a good week at the hospital; it’s starting to feel like I’m hitting my stride.  If there is one thing I’ve learned so far from this rotation it’s this – I knew absolutely nothing about pediatric nutrition.

Lunch was a pear.

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A yummy sandwich of 5 grain tempeh on a Sandwich Thin with yellow mustard and Smart Balance Light.

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And the other half of my rice milk chocolate bar.

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When Adam got home this afternoon he helped me crack open this guy…

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I may have had to eat over my work, but I still had a great afternoon snack.

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Adam and I shared the Thai young coconut in smoothie form.

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With frozen banana, peach, and blueberries too.

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And fancy bread with Smart Balance Light on the side.

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I’m glad I had a big snack, because journaling took so long that I never had time to make dinner.

I did make it to the gym though.  30 minutes on the elliptical at level 6 random.  Certainly not the most intense workout ever, but a far cry better than what I wanted to do (sit on the couch).

And now all I want to do is go to bed!