New Favorite Things For 12/12/12

by Emily

Hello, hello, hello! Did everyone take a moment to appreciate today’s day? I had lots of things to appreciate today. Here are three:

1. Being done with finals for the semester.

2. The gorgeous cashmere infinity scarf (squeee!) that my aunt and uncle sent me for Hanukkah.

3. I may have won some money in a contest… I’m not getting excited until I’m sure it’s for real though.

On to the day’s recap. Why yes, I was up at 4:45 am drinking a 20 calorie grape Rockstar. {it was delicious}

You see, I have this mental problem where the night before two important final exams I spend 4 hours getting my hair dyed, 1 hour on Pinterest, and 2 hours watching Jim Gaffigan on InstantWatch. Genius.

My food consumption as a whole was low in nutrients but I definitely covered things on the calorie front. Plus everything was ridiculously delicious. Plus technically I’m still exam eating.

For breakfast, an overly juicy red pear.

and an Iced Gingerbread Clif Bar.

This flavor verges on being too spicy but then the sweet, juicy raisins pull it back from the brink.

I had exams from 7:40 to 11:00 and a shift at work from 12:00 to 8:30 and in between a friend took me to the grocery store because I don’t have a car. <– it’s a long, sad story and I’m hoping my almost 2 week streak of car-less-ness will be over by this weekend

At work I had a 0% Fage with Honey.

And a Coco Cafe that I bought on a whim at the co-op.

Holy frick you guys, the coffee was so good. It was the kind of good – creamy and sweet with a caffeine kick – that almost hurts because you are enjoying yourself so much. By the time I finished drinking the Coco Cafe I’m sure my coworkers were more than ready for me to stop gushing about my new favorite thing.

<– hold on to your hats, I have another new favorite thing still to come in this very post. Yes, you can have multiple favorite things. That’s a thing.

After work I took the dog on a long walk and it become another night where I came home so hungry I thought I was going to have a fit. Microwave “nachos” on the last 1.5 servings of Nacho Cheese Tortilla PopChips fit the bill.

Um, and then I had another plate but with Food Should Taste Good Chocolate Tortilla Chips.

I know that isn’t the healthiest dinner on the planet but, you guys, the cheese. The cheese. Both plates were made with Kerrygold’s Vintage Dubliner and it rocked my freaking face off.

The Vintage Dubliner was super nutty and it had these amazing pieces of crispiness spread throughout. Plus it melted perfectly. It is my new favorite cheese. P.S. I found it at Wegmans if you want to have a new favorite cheese too.

I realize that this post was pretty packed with enthusiasm but I’m ~~deliriously tired~~ happy so I’m good with it.

What is your new favorite thing?

4Dec2012

Sunny Sunday Monday

by Emily

We had a high of 57* today, wheeeeeee! And tomorrow promises to be in the 50’s as well. I’m hoping to take the dog on a glorious long walk.

Today’s exam was thing 1-of-6 on the “big things left in the semester” list. So that’s where I’ve been.

Yesterday I was actually busy being sick. I woke up with a cough and a constantly running nose and even my boss said I looked terrible. I didn’t have it in me to make or eat food before my shift at noon. When I got home at 5, I had some spicy avocado inari.

So flipping good; I love how the tofu skin is a little bit sweet.

I also ate the best dipping plate I’ve had all year.

A sliced green dragon apple.

This apple variety – a hybrid cross between a Japanese Orin and a Golden Delicious was new to me and I loved it. Perfectly sweet! I have another one in the fridge and I can’t wait to eat it.

2 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter melted with 1 Tbsp Biscoff for dipping. Plus a spoonful straight from the jar.

The pb-Biscoff combo cannot be beat!

This plate was supposed to be dinner.

The roasted green beans were divine per usual,

but I was not a fan of the Tofurky Pepperoni Pizza. The “meat” was way too soft and the “cheese” did not melt.

I could only eat two bites of pizza before calling uncle. It is worth noting that Adam clearly thought it was fine because he ate the rest of the pizza!

I ended up supplementing my green beans with Chinese take-out.

Crab rangoon was the perfect one-handed dish for study-eating.

Soon after dinner, I realized that the only way I could study was if I had a constant stream of food going.

I also ate a bowl of baby carrots and these sugar-plum candies from Wegman’s bulk bins.

The sugar plums were quite good, I recommend buying some if you spot them at your store. There really was plum flavor, not just one note of sweetness.

Studying went about as well as could be expected when trying to cram with a sudden cold. But it was what it was.

P.S. Adam decorated the house for the holidays while I was at work because he is the best.

And then he decorated the dog.

Too awesome.

I got myself up at 6 this morning and {hallelujah!} discovered that I wasn’t actually sick any more. I don’t know where my cold went but I hope it stays there! {knock on wood}

I drank a mug of hot chocolate while I did some clear-headed studying.

And then I was off to take my exam. It didn’t go as well as I could have liked (do they ever?!) but it certainly could have gone worse. Phew!

After my classes I did something amazing…

I worked out! 60 minutes of hot yoga was heavenly. And the session was nowhere near as hard as I’d worried it would be after more than a month of no exercise. <– yikes!

I have a 2-month unlimited pass that expires soon so I had to go to yoga today, looming finals or not. I probably will only go once or twice more in the next two weeks though because I really do have to study. But as soon as break begins I am looking forward to making the most of my pass!

A Stinger honey waffle was consumed on the walk to yoga.

And a juicy apple was consumed on the walk to work.

My six+ hour shift went well, though I did have to deal with a bleeding lip since my body waited until the warmest day of the winter to rebel against the cold. I got a Starbucks Strawberry Lemonade Refresher while I was out buying emergency Chap Stick.

Finally home, I did eggs for a quick dinner.

– – Cooked 8 oz package chopped seitan in 1 Tbsp Earth Balance until crispy, set half aside for tomorrow. Add ~ 1 cup frozen spinach, chopped cilantro, 1 tsp evoo, 1/2 tsp sugar, salt, and a few dashes of Sriracha. Scramble in 2 large eggs and 1 egg white plus 2.5 oz Cabot’s 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar. – –

I couldn’t get a single good picture, but this meal was out of control good! I adore eggs.

With a microwave chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

It was much tastier than it looks.

I didn’t get to study today (I needed a day to recover from my exam anyway) but I did put away a load of laundry, do the dishes, and organize my study materials. Now I’m off to read a book in bed!

Did your area get hit with unseasonably (fabulously) warm weather this week?

2Dec2012

Friday-Saturday Frenzy

by Emily

I worked 9.5 hours on both Friday and Saturday, so the weekend has felt a little frenzied. Basically ever single thing I ate was on the go, covered in cheese, or both! Quickly, because I have to get up tomorrow and study for my giant exam before work…

Friday morning on the walk to school, an apple.

When I had to spend time on campus contesting a credit waiver instead of going home before work, a juice.

I made a custom blend – kale, spinach, carrot, and apple.

Lunch at work, delicious co-op hot bar. Chicken paprikash and smoked gouda mac and peas.

Late night dinner while I waited for my husband to get home from the airport, a giant plate of nachos with black beans and olives.

Saturday morning at work, a rosemary olive scone. Apparently I loved olives this weekend.

“Lunch” at 5pm during a busy shift, a Katie’s Food Stash Bar and half a veggie and hummus wrap.

On a 9pm grocery trip, December candy.

A late dinner that was worth the wait – eggs and hash browns.

For two – a pint of mushrooms browned in 1 Tbsp Earth Balance, 1.5 cups spinach with 1 Tbsp evoo, salt, 2 eggs; scramble.

For two – 2 small potatoes and 1 red onion cooked in 1 Tbsp evoo and 1 Tbsp Earth Balance; salt, garlic powder, spicy paprika.

An impulse buy at the store, I got sucked in because the box was only $1.50. It was pretty good.

While catching up on tv, my boys are the cutest.

Good night!

29Nov2012

Froyo Flavors Playbook

by Emily

The husband was out of town on an interview yesterday so I ate a single lady dinner of cookies and popcorn. Then I ate a big bowl of cereal (with melted peanut butter and vanilla almond milk!) in bed. <– Shhhhh, Adam would be so mad.

Speaking of skipping posts, exam week is coming and I am flipping out. I want to try to keep up blogging, since it’s not like I use every last minute of my time studying anyway, but I’m not sure how that will work out. Exams are in 13 days! I honestly thought that we had another week and didn’t realize how close they were until I checked my planner in the middle of class and gave myself a heart attack.

Anyway. When I wasn’t freaking out, I also ate breakfast in class. A Chobani Honey Banana Flip.

That yogurt is my favorite Chobani product. The bananas add the perfect amount of texture and sweetness to lighten up the Greek yogurt.

I also had an apple.

And a Target Candy Cane Chewy Cocoa Granola Bar in between class 1 and 2.

I had to hang around campus after lab to work in the computer lab and I ended up buying these Sea Salt Smart Fries as a snack from the book store.

This was my 2nd time trying the Smart Fries and I think I can officially say that I like them. The texture is a little like a packing peanut but I mean that in the nicest way possible! They are really satisfying to crunch through and you get a big serving (~65 pieces) for 110 calories.

I had a run errands this afternoon (you might notice that I didn’t actually do any exam studying today) and got a small container from the salad bar around 5:00. A lettuce mix with some dressing (I don’t remember the flavor but it was sadly really bad) topped with cucumbers, cider glazed carrots, roasted brussels sprouts, and a giant scoop of chicken salad.

The chicken salad scoop was about half as mayo-y as it looks and two times as big as it looks.

I actually just got home a little while ago because I was out with friends. We wanted to go see “Silver Linings Playbook” and it is only showing in one random theatre here so we made an excursion of it. An exciting stop along the way…

FroYo Culture had their holiday flavors out!

I got gingerbread, eggnog, and Heath yogurts with crumbled gingerbread, Heath bits, shredded coconut, x-mas m&m’s, and marshmallow sauce.

Too exciting! The gingerbread flavor was actually too spicy for me but the eggnog was perfect. I’m pretty sure I’ll be going back to Willaimsville before the season is over.

The movie was worth the drive as well. All three of us loved it. The plot was a nice mix of funny, wrenching, and sweet. Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert DeNiro were all amazing. And there’s even a Julia Stiles cameo. We laughed on the way home that it was funny to watch Julia Stiles play a support role in a dance movie. <– “Save the Last Dance” still remains a favorite of mine.

And I ate a serving of Sun Chips while I wrote this post.

Food-food instead of snack-food would probably be a good thing tomorrow!

Did you see SLP? Thoughts??

27Nov2012

Cook Book, Cookies, Chicago Fire

by Emily

It’s felt like forever since I’ve blogged. Thankfully (ha!) I was starving all day and ate a ton of food so I have lots to post about.

First things first – I need to announce the cook book giveaway winner.

Congrats Turn Towards the Sun, shoot me an e-mail (emilyhwaxATgmail.com) with your mailing address!

Breakfast was consumed during class but photographed in Adam’s car. I waited until 6 am to will myself out of bed to finish writing a paper and was running behind. Actually, I would have been fine but then I had to cuddle the dog before I took my shower and I ended up needed Adam to drop me off. Thanks, husband!

A Wegman’s low-fat pumpkin pie yogurt that I was very impressed with. The texture was perfect and the taste was so good I’ll consider continuing to eat this flavor in December!

An Iced Oatmeal Cookie Z-Bar (FNCE sample).

The 2nd half of this Chuao Honeycomb Bar.

Adam continued to be the nicest husband ever, and he walked the dog to pick me up after classes. I love those boys so much!

I also love leftover pizza for lunch.

1 cheese slice,

with carrots and blue cheese dressing.

Plus batter bites for dessert.

I’m going to share the recipe tomorrow and here is my endorsement: I ate four and a half cookies today!!

Work went well. We extended our hours for the holiday season which means my shifts are all an hour(+) longer but it wasn’t too painful. I drank a cup of (Keurig) hot chocolate while at work but didn’t photograph it for obvious reasons.

Dinner was a serving of Seven Layer Casserole.

The recipe’s vegan but you don’t need a challenge to try it; it’s delicious!

Apparently that all wasn’t enough food because I also ate a bag of SmartPop while I caught up on “Chicago Fire.”

Are you watching Chicago Fire? Thoughts??

15Nov2012

This Post Is {Pea}Nuts

by Emily

We got home from Philadelphia after midnight on Monday and Tuesday morning definitely felt a little rough. I had clinical practice all day so I had to solider through, but I became pretty much worthless the minute I got home. Same story this evening. However, I promise that if you make it through this post there will be two tasty peanut-y recipes waiting for you at the end!

Caffeine was a necessity Tuesday morning. My friend and I shared this Silk Dark Chocolate Pure Almond milk in our coffees.

My other hospital eats included… An Apple Cinnamon GoGo Squeez.

An Enjoy Life Rice Milk Chocolate bar.

And a KIND Almond & Apricot Bar.

The KIND bar was the best. The name only references almonds and apricots but the base was pure coconut! It reminded me of a macaroon. I bought another one at the store today and I’m pretty jazzed about it.

When I got home I had a serving of Cascadian Farms Dark Chocolate Almond Granola with Blue Diamond Almond/Coconut Milk and fresh blackberries.

Plus a serving of Rice Divine Mud Pie Ice Cream with peanuts on top.

My 2nd tasting of this ice cream left me with the same impression as my first; it’s awesome.

Dinner was awesomely quick and easy.

A microwaveable Punjab Eggplant dish from Trader Joe’s (I ate the whole package),

with a serving of pita chips for crunch.

I ate another serving’s worth of chip crumbles straight from the bag.

Wednesday’s meals were even better than Tuesday’s, but they did get off to a late start. I’ll skip a long story about my unsuccessful breakfast and just say that I didn’t get to eat today until I got home from school. And I got home after class, lab, and several hours working on a group project.

I was hungry as hell and thrilled that my dinner plans could come together in under 15 minutes.

I updated my Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles recipe (shared at the end of this post) and was pleased with the results.

If we call that my “3pm breakfast,” then the food I ate from the hot bar while we were grocery shopping was lunch.

Farro with mushroom and spinach,

and sautéed green beans.

Both were quite tasty. This may have been the first time I’ve ever eaten farro and I enjoyed how creamy it was.

Dinner was snacks and beer. I got out my food processor for some peanut grinding took several taste tests at every stage of peanut butter production.

This honey roasted peanut butter comes together in a snap but it is one of Adam’s favorite things that I make (recipe is shared below). I also made Webster some pupsicles; if I have to clean the food processor I’m going to make sure I really use it first! <– let’s be real; I’ve never cleaned the food processor, Adam always does it

We split a Wolaver’s Pumpkin Ale that was the perfect blend of sweet and spice.

Then we started a Dogfish Head Punkin Ale that I didn’t enjoy and passed off to Adam.

You would not even believe how many pumpkin beers I still have left!

As promised, recipes…

Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles, serves 2

4 oz dry linguine
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups frozen broccoli
2 tsp canola oil
4 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp tamari
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2.5 tsp sugar
(optional) dash red pepper flakes
(optional) 1-2 Tbsp peanuts

In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, tamari, vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes if using. You may want to microwave the bowl for 30 seconds or so to help loosen the peanut butter.
Cook pasta according to package directions. When 5 minutes of cooking time remain, add frozen veggies to the boiling water and stir. Drain and set aside when pasta is finished.
Once pasta is cooked, heat canola oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add cooked pasta and veggies to the pan. Cook 3 – 5 minutes, until the noodles start to get a bit crispy.
Pour sauce over pasta and toss to combine. Continue cooking for 5 – 7 minutes, until desired consistency is reached. My family likes to cook it until the sauce starts to form a crust on the pasta, but this dish is ready to serve as soon as everything is tossed together.
Serve and top with peanuts if desired.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter

1 lb honey roasted peanuts (I highly recommend Trader Joe’s if you can get them)
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 tsp salt

Put peanuts into food processor and process 1 – 3 minutes until mostly smooth.
Add remaining ingredients and process until fully combined.

7Nov2012

Feeling Blue

by Emily

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

Honeycrisp.

Rockstar Juiced.

Winter outfit.

My downgraded hand bandage.

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

A healthy lunch.

Roasted green beans dipped in ketchup,

and Cilantro Lime Bean Burgers with Citrus Guacamole.

An entire bag of bbq Popchips for dinner.

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

Chocolate dipped coconut Luna Bar.

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

Vegan almond joy.

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

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

Amy’s vegan mac and cheese.

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

Tempeh Brown Rice Casserole.

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

30Oct2012

Roasted Spiced Pumpkin Seed Recipe and Recap

by Emily

I have a giant disaster of a test tomorrow and I should not be posting right now. At all. But I ate so many good things. And I made a successful recipe. How can I not share?

I decided to compromise by just sharing a few things. And the recipe.

Here we go…

First, a sad story. I haven’t studied for tomorrow’s giant test because I’m demoralized. You see, on Monday our teacher took a quick poll to see how many people were feeling good about the exam. Then she asked how we’d feel about the exam if it was on Monday. There was a marked difference in answers, obviously. She told us that if we could come to a unanimous agreement she would move the exam to Monday. We voted three times, and the end result? One person wouldn’t budge. So after all of our hopes were raised, they were cruelly dashed. And that’s why I’m demoralized.

Now, a funny story. The weather here was insane on Monday (though obviously quite mild compared to the rest of New York) and we only had a handful of customers during my shift at work. To keep busy, my boss asked us to set up some demo products. How do you like my jewelry box?

Next, a little food. I’ll limit myself to 3 things out of the millions of bites I’ve taken the past two days. (<– my eating has been a little out of control lately)

1. I do not like the Spiced Pumpkin Pie Clif Bar. It’s too spicy and gaggy. I dislike it year after year, and still I keep buying it every fall. It just looks so damn seasonal when it’s there on the shelf!

2. The cowboy cookies at Lexington Co-op are amazing.

3. But the co-op’s crazy feta dip is even better. I don’t even really like feta all that much and I’ve still eaten two containers of it over the past 48 hours!

Vegan Month is going to be painful. And necessary…

Finally, a recipe.

This was my first-ever time roasting my own pumpkin seeds and they turned out so well! The roasted seeds were nice and crunchy and I think my spice combinations worked out. I brought some in to school and shared with classmates who all gave high marks. Both flavors were good but I think the sweet ones are my favorite.

seed roasting procedure

After your pumpkin has been gutted, pull as many seeds free from the flesh as you can. Soak the seeds in a large bowl of water to help remove any clinging stringy bits.
Spread seeds on baking sheets and store overnight in your oven (keep it turned off!) so that they dry completly.
Spray dried seeds with baking spray so that they are completly coated, then sprinkle liberally with selected spice blend.
Bake at 350* for 25 – 30 minutes.

my savory spice mix

salt
onion powder
garlic powder

my sweet spice mix

cinnamon
sugar
pumpkin pie spice

Have you ever roasted your own pumpkin seeds? What is your favorite way to season them?

**My heart goes out to all of those who were affected by Sandy. Hurricanes and NYC have both been a major part of my life so watching the news coverage this evening was devestating. My thoughts are with you.**

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: bar

New Favorite Things For 12/12/12

Sunny Sunday Monday

Friday-Saturday Frenzy

Froyo Flavors Playbook

Cook Book, Cookies, Chicago Fire

This Post Is {Pea}Nuts

Feeling Blue

Roasted Spiced Pumpkin Seed Recipe and Recap