Tag Archives: bar

Crazy Cakes

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Crazy-cakes is one of my favorite expressions and for the post title I’m using it both figuratively and literally.  It is crazy stupid that I’m blogging at 1:30 a.m. on a Sunday.  Things have been crazy busy and the next two weeks are only going to get crazier.  Finally, I fulfilled a birthday list goal and made a crazy good cake.

The past few days have been crazy on the healthy living front but I want to blog them because I don’t live a healthy living blog, I live my life.  And in my life 90% of what I’ve consumed in the past week has been pizza.  I’ve decided that attempting to work out over the next week would actually be unhealthy because I’m already getting so little sleep (my planner is workout-free until October 10th).  I’m super stressed and not doing the best job of balancing school work with too many hours at my job.  But again, this is my life.

As I prewrote these posts in my head I had a lot to say, but now that it’s been 4 days since I last blogged I think we shall go WIAW-style for the recaps.  Note – there is no recap from Thursday because I took the day off from everything, took no pictures, caught up on “Awkward” and “Covert Affairs,” and ate pizza and Chinese food for dinner.  It was both necessary and delightful.

The Next 2 Weeks

  1. (9/26)  3 homework assignments are due
  2. (9/27)  the 4 major assignments from my community clinical rotation are due
  3. (9/28)  I’m presenting a journal article for my research methods class.  It is a 25 minute Powerpoint presentation and it makes up a large percentage of our grade.
  4. (9/28)  we have our first Microbiology test
  5. (10/1)  we have our first MNT test <– it is going to be so difficult that our teacher recommended that we all quit our jobs if we can
  6. (10/6)  two friends and I are driving to Philly for 4 days for a professional conference  <– fun, but also holy frick, when am I going to pack?!

Friday

Breakfast on the walk to school.  Zico Chocolate Coconut Water.

Muller Blueberry Bliss Frut Up.

Blueberry Bliss Luna Bar.

China Breakfast Tea with skim milk and a pb-chocolate magic straw while at work.

A See’s candy that my bosses brought us back from their trip to California.  (I had never tried See’s before and now I am a fast fan; soooo creamy!)

A caramel apple non-fat latte as I geared up for a late night.  (Cafe Aroma, Buffalo peeps.)

Wegman’s frozen cheese pizza and a sad salad of romaine and 1000 island dressing.

Cake!

One of my goals for my 27th year was to bake a cake from scratch.  I figured I’d only do this once, so I wanted a recipe that was delicious but didn’t call for cake flour.  After much pondering and Googling, I settled on this Hummingbird Cake recipe from Serious Eats.

If you’ve never had Hummingbird Cake before (I hadn’t!), it is a yellow cake with chopped pecans, crushed pineapple, and mashed banana in the batter that is frosted with cream cheese icing.  This combination of ingredients ends up being amazing.

I made the following changes to the recipe and they all worked out –

  • light brown sugar instead of dark brown
  • low-fat buttermilk
  • canola oil instead of vegetable oil
  • 1/3-reduced fat cream cheese

I baked the three cakes when I got home from work on Friday night.  This activity, of course, included a sprint to purchase more eggs at the co-op 10 minutes before it closed.

Then Saturday morning I layered and frosted helped Adam frost the cake.

His surgeon’s hands came in very handy.

It ended up being a big success!

I brought the cake to book club and it got two-thumbs up all around.  If I ever have to make another cake in the future I will definitely think of hummingbirds.

Both of my book club offers were pineapple-based, because I also made my Tropical Fruit White Sangria.

This batch was made with –

  • 2 cups chopped pineapple
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup Cruzan Guava Rum
  • 1 bottle Rosebud Gold (a local sweet white wine)
  • 10 oz lemon seltzer water

Saturday

Eaten before my 10 am shift at work because I had been up since 5:00 frosting and studying.  Leftover bbq chicken pizza and sliced apple.

Popcorn with Smart Balance Light.

A Zevia Cola at work.

A pizza bagel on my break.  (The Spot uses the very best tasting marinara sauce; it is super zesty.)

My friend picked me up from work and I immediately guzzled two giant glasses of sangria instead of helping her set up.

Book club food, a slice of cheese quesadilla with guacamole and mango salsa, plus two toasts with shrimp dip.

A slice of cake.

Drunkenly eaten at midnight, my 3rd serving of pizza for the day and carrots with french onion yogurt dip.

Sunday

Homemade cole slaw.

A slice of cake.

A See’s candy at work.

Dinner while grocery shopping.  Sweet and sour chicken plus wok-seared veggies.  (This was randomly really tasty and the best hot bar meal I’ve had in a while.)

A medium, non-fat (no whipped cream) Apple Steamer during our class study-session at The Spot.

Baby carrots and french onion yogurt dip while I wrote this post.

An Important Question

Don’t you think that the dog sort of likes like Oprah when he sits with his arms crossed like this?

Candied Bacon Pancakes

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I know that title drew you in, but a lot of stuff happened before the pancakes; it’s been two days!  It’s only Tuesday, but am allowed to say that this week sucks?  I still haven’t worked out (in fact, I slept through my last unlimited yoga class this morning and I’m so sad), I started reviewing class notes for upcoming tests and realized that I’m starting three weeks too late, and I’m in a terrible mood.  I wish I had a day to catch up but instead I had to go to stupid meetings and tomorrow I have to go on even stupider errands.  Bah!

Yesterday, I had a 0% Plain Oikos with a honey stick for breakfast.

Plus a Mott’s Caramel Hot Spiced Cider.

This appears to be another product so new that it’s not on the website.  It was also the start of an appletastic lunch.

Nature’s Path Apple Pie Crunch Chia Plus Bar (I’m loving these; my favorite parts is definitely the chia seeds),

GoGo Squeez Cinnamon Applesauce Packet,

and Apple Month candies.

Plus more candy in the form of a serving of Caramel Apple Sugar Babies when I got home from work.

They were the best Apple Month Candy yet!

Also when I got home from work, I had a total meltdown and Adam saved the day dinner by remembering our Living Social deal to SoHo Burger.

There was actually some nonsense with the deal and I’m pretty annoyed with SoHo Burger as a business, but the food was good and I need to get to bed soon so nevermind.

Adam and I split a Gimme Smore Spiked Shake.  (I ate 45%)  Chocolate fudge, roasted marshmallow, graham crackers, vanilla ice cream, Bacardi Select Dark Rum.

And an order of the Truffle Tater Tots.  (I ate 30%)  New twist on classic house made tater tots seasoned with truffle oil, parmesan cheese and parsley.

For my meal I did a burger and a salad.

A side Caesar (I ate everything but the croutons),

and a “naked,” aka without a bun, Turkey Burger.  (I ate 95%)  8oz fresh organic turkey breast topped with brie cheese and cranberry chutney.

We shared our leftover burger bites with the dog when we got home and he was very happy to see us indeed.

I got in bed the minute we got home.  Literally; I gave the dog his treats and then handed the husband my dress from under the covers!  And then I stayed there through my alarm clock and didn’t get up until I was an hour late this morning.  And I’m still tired.

Coffee with skim milk and a pb-chocolate magic straw was clearly how I needed to start my day.

Then I had a dipping plate.

2 servings of baby carrots,

in 3 servings (for only 150 calories!) of Cedar’s French Onion Yogurt Dip.

The dip was tangy, creamy, and delicious, and yet another product not found on the company’s website.  <– what is up with that lately?!

And a Butterfinger Pumpkin.

Speaking of unhealthy (but delicious) things, I impulse-bought lunch while I was making a much-needed grocery trip this afternoon.  Mac and cheese and sweet and sour chicken.  I didn’t have my camera and I can’t get the phone photo to format so you’ll just have to take my word that it was ridiculously unhealthy.

Speaking again of stupid but tasty purchases – I bought two more pumpkin beers!

Dinner was a two-course breakfast affair.  First, eggs.

Spinach and bok choy cooked in evoo and salt with eggs with light half & half and crumbled blue cheese.

Then candied bacon pancakes with a little maple syrup.

That picture wasn’t worth the wait, was it?

Crazy Week Was Crazy

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Phew, am I glad that’s over!  Ha!  Not really; this week was crazy but the year is bound to only get crazier.  And I didn’t even have that much going on with school last week.  I did, however, work every single free day.  Also, the husband’s residency applications went out today.  <– giant stressball

Here’s what’s been going on:

  • I haven’t blogged since Wednesday
  • I didn’t work out a single time last week (insert major sad face here)
  • I didn’t do any enough school-work
  • I worked my butt of at work-work
  • I put in a lot of hours helping the husband to finalize his application and edit his personal statement
  • I had to videotape myself giving the husband a nutrition education (it was hilarious)
  • I didn’t eat anywhere near enough the past few days and I’ve been out of control cranky
  • I went to the co-op and stocked up on organic ramen so I never have to skip so many meals again (I was truly that busy)

I don’t have time to do a proper recap but I have taken a photo of every food item that’s passed my lips so I am damn well going to blog them!

Thursday

My clinical group toured the food bank as part of our community rotation.  I car-pooled with a friend and we used a BOGO coupon for iced coffees with skim milk along the way.

We discovered that Got Milk’s Magic Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Straws turn iced coffee into something magical.

So flipping good!

We spent the 2nd half of our food bank visit sorting tomatoes.  It was nice to help out but I had to squelch some major throwing urges.

Lunch was plain yogurt with 2 Tbsp flax and chopped plum and nectarine.

Dinner was Jenna’s Baked Polenta with Mushrooms, Gorgonzola Cheese, and Tomato Sauce.

I made a bunch of changes but the basic recipe was still hers.  My updates –

  • made 4 servings
  • 1 cup of polenta (cooked without butter)
  • 2 pints mushrooms (sautéed in 1 Tbsp butter 1st)
  • 1.5 cups marinara
  • 1 cup gorgonzola
  • cooked 20 minutes

It was really, really good!

Friday

I ate a strange lunch-breakfast in class.  A 2 slices of Applegate Farms turkey on a Sandwich Thin with yellow mustard and 2% colby sandwich.

Roasted seaweed.

An apple.

And apple month candy.

This didn’t fill me up at all and I ate lunch an hour later.  And by ate I mean shoved into my face in under two minutes.  A Wegman’s Low-fat Honey Yogurt.

A Fiber One cookie.

And a Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter squeeze packet.

That Justin’s isn’t even like Nutella, it is frosting!!

Baked polenta leftovers for dinner.

Plus leftover pizza dipped in 1000 island dressing an hour later because I was still hungry.

Saturday

…was ridiculous.  0% Chocolate Oikos.

A plum.

A Honey Low-fat Yogurt with Banana Chobani Flip.

This product is so new that it’s not even on their website but I sure hope they keep making it.  The mashed banana was strangely delicious.

However – I ate all three of those items at work.  And then I didn’t eat anything else all day.  My day went – get up. work, work, work.  edit Adam’s applications.  bed.  He may have slept on the couch.

Sunday

Two breakfasts to make up for yesterday’s lack of calories.  1 serving of Special K Vanilla Almond in Blue Diamond’s almond/coconut milk blend.

Chopped plum and apricot on top of a strawberry 0% Oikos.

Nature’s Path Apple Pie Crunch Plus Chia Bar.

I only bought this because I was having an Apple Month frenzy, but I actually loved it.  The bars were crunchy without being too crumbly and the apple spice flavor was subtle.  Plus, 3 grams each protein and fiber.

I bought a Raaw Passion Fruit Wheatgrass drink at work.

I used to love Jamba’s oj and wheatgrass shots with a passion (ha!) and I adore passion fruit so this was the perfect thing for me.  If the co-op keeps stocking them I will certainly buy one again.

Adam handed me three gummi mice this afternoon.  (His nickname for me is Mouse.)

We had to videotape our interview when I got home from work and it ate up most of the afternoon.  More time was spent giggling than recording!

We split take-out from Vasilis Express for dinner.

A Chicken Souvlaki Wrap,

plus Greek Fries, aka fries smothered in Greek dressing and feta.

When we went to pick up our food we spotted this –

And we had ice cream before dinner (Turkey Hill Double Dunker).

It was mocha ice cream with crunchy cookie and cookie dough and it was ridiculous.

I had my class review at The Spot this evening so I had another iced coffee with skim milk and a magic straw.  I didn’t manage to photograph but I imagine most of you can use your imaginations.

The end?

This post was terrible.  Much too long, poorly written, and exceptionally boring.  I apologize for making you read my food diary.  The end.

Let Apple Month Begin!

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When I go more than a day without blogging I do really miss it.  It’s clearly going to be an adjustment a year from now when I have a baby (hopefully) and a job (even more hopefully).

It’s felt like a long week (already!) and I only had time to pack one meal this morning so I went with breakfast.

A 1.5% Pineapple Oikos,

and a granola bar.

Today’s classes went well and I had time to run a few on-campus errands before work.  The mini grill from my confession post was part of a project I completed last night.  One of our clinical community assignments was to create an educational bulletin board on a nutrition topic.  I went with healthy grilling.

I had a friend snap a picture of me with it for my portfolio.

This assignment felt stressful because there is so much going on this month, but it was actually kind of nice to revisit my teacher days.

My options were limited and “lunch” ended up being this bag of Smart Fries.

They were fairly similar to packing peanuts but somehow that wasn’t a bad thing.  The flavor was mild but savory and a 1 oz serving (110 calories) included 60-something pieces.

I came home from work to a package from my mom celebrating the arrival of Apple Month.

Too funny that this box came on the same day that I had already blogged about being ready for apple goodies.  I took a few tastes as a snack.

Plus a few bites of Adam’s (not so good) mango.

I was glad that I didn’t snack too much because dinner ended up being a work of art.

Taste-wise it was art, that is, I know that the pictures are fairly dark and unappetizing.

(Ingredients that follow are listed for both Adam’s and my servings together.)

A bag of fresh baby spinach was steam-sautéed in evoo and chicken broth, then tossed with a big handful each blue cheese crumbles and dried cherries.

An amazing smokey fish salad.

A 6.7 oz can of Trader Joe’s Smoked Herring was mashed with lemon juice, Miracle Whip, smoked paprika, 1/2 cup shredded carrot, and 1 shredded green bell pepper.

We used the small holes on our cheese grater to shred the veggies and they ended up being an amazing addition.

A 1/2 serving of Special K crackers for dipping.

Delicious, delicious, delicious!

Have you ever had to make a bulletin board display?

First First Friday In Allentown

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You know how I got into bed way too late last night?  Well I stayed up an hour even later pinning desserts.

For reals.  Stupid, but have you discovered Serious Eats yet?  It could have been the 2 am browsing, but I’m officially a giant fan.  Fun aesthetic, beautiful pictures, delicious recipes and reviews.

This morning was rough but I woke up by “snoozing” on Twitter in bed and that helped me ease into the day.  Congratulations, Kath and Matt!

I ate breakfast on the walk to school.

My Müller Splendid Strawberry Früt Up yogurt was, in fact, splendid.  It’s a strawberry mousse on top of regular yogurt (as in not Greek) and the yogurt was ridiculously, delightfully thick.  It felt like a total treat – a real treat, like pudding, not like when people try to say that fruit is dessert – and was only 140 calories.

My classes went well (I didn’t fall asleep once, I swear!) and before I knew it I was walking to work.  Sidenote – I work every day except for my clinic days (T/R) from now through next Sunday and I’m a little anxious to see how that’s all going to go down.

Lunch was packed for work.

An apple,

and a Raw Revolution Chocolate Coconut Bar.

It was good I didn’t bring more because I barely had time to eat that, there were lots of boxes today.

Adam meet me on foot at the end of my shift and we headed out to cross off another birthday list item.

This was our first First Friday and we both had a great time.  I’m sad I couldn’t take art pictures because we saw some great stuff.  I did manage to take quick snaps of my bites though.

Mostly cheese and its accompaniments, plus a small pour of wine.  And we went to one open house that was giving out free popsicles.

All in all it was a fabulous time.

However – working 7+ hours and then walking 4.5+ miles was a little too much for my feet.  I whimpered the last five blocks or so getting home.  My 4-minute workout plans are out of the question and even though I’m starving I’d rather skip dinner than have to walk somewhere to get it.  Boo.

Does your town do any type of First Friday event?

[Food] For Thought

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Food

Hello, hello.  Today’s activities would be tricky (and boring!) to explain so I’ll stick with the food.  One note – My stomach was bothering me all afternoon but the main reason I didn’t eat any veggies is because my bag of green beans had gotten slimy and gross.  Here we go…

Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar.

Turkey sandwich – Sandwich Thin, 2 slices of Applegate Farms Smoked Turkey, 1 slice pepperjack cheese, strawberry jam.

The last of my Mike and Ike’s.

The last of these Barbara’s cheese puffs, about half a serving.  Funny story – Adam had a friend over (just one) on Monday.  He bought two bags of snacks, the cheese puffs and some salt and vinegar chips.  All that was left is what I ate today, and that only survived because he knew I wanted to taste them.

A low-fat coffee yogurt with honey-roasted peanuts and honey.

A dapple plucot.

A cheese sandwich – an onion roll with about 2 oz of melted cheese (a mix of extra-sharp cheddar, 2% swiss, and 2% provolone).

A Reuben Stuffed Turkey Burger with 1000 island dressing.

3/4 of a Jamocha Shake that Adam surprised me with when he came home.

Food for Thought

Since I didn’t have much in the way of content for this post, here are the links to a few articles I think you guys might find interesting:

We Have The Technology

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I couldn’t post until I completed a mandatory blog upgrade, but I apologize for disappearing without saying anything.  I’ll fill you in on what you missed…

I went to my “final” orthodontist appointment only have a new top retainer (literally) shoved in my face.  I’m in 24/7 retainer mode for the next three weeks and this new development led to a major period of wallowing.

That mindset had something to do with the insane amount of pizza we consumed over the last week.

Ice cream was also inhaled.

That picture is actually gelato.  A new spot opened on Elmwood, Gelateria Luca is family run and serves homemade flavors.

I highly recommend checking it out.

I tried other good things too.  A Bananas Foster Larabar Uber (bought with my own money, delicious).

A Heavenly Lemon Tulsi from Honest Tea (the last of my box of free samples, even more delicious).

The tea had a just perfect amount of sweet and sour.

I discovered a new favorite breakfast and ate it 3/5 days.  Cinnamon Pecan Special K with Blue Diamond Unsweetened Breeze Almondmilk Coconutmilk Blend and chopped fruit (mostly dapple plucots with a few white nectarines thrown in for variety).

I see this combo staying a regular on my menu until plucots go out of season.

I completed my first week of working part-time while completing school work and my dietetic internship and decided that this semester might kill me.  At least working at a toy store has some perks; I spent one gloriously de-stressing morning organizing the sand boxes.

Yes, I did turn the mermaid into a siren setting up the sailors for a crash into the rocks; it’s important the kids learn about Greek mythology.

Even though we mostly ate pizza, I did manage to rework a few of my recipes.

Asian Orange Tofu, serves 3

  • 14 oz extra-firm tofu, drained
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 Tbsp tamari
  • 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp Sriacha
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  1. Slice tofu evenly into 9 pieces.
  2. Place remaining ingredients in a large, flat tupperware and stir to combine.  Place the tofu slices in the marinade, making sure each piece is fully covered.  Cover and let sit at least 2 hours (it’s fine to leave it overnight).
  3. Remove slices from marinade and place in a single layer on a foiled and sprayed baking sheet.
  4. Bake for 25 minutes in an oven preheated to 425 degrees Farenheit.

Stuffed Peppers, serves 4

  • 1 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1 cup roasted broccoli
  • 1/2 Tbsp evoo
  • 8 oz 94% lean ground turkey
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 4 oz goat cheese
  • 4 large bell peppers
  1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees Farenheit.
  2. Slice the tops off of the peppers.  Scoop out the seeds, taking care not to break through the bottoms of the peppers.  Pre-bake peppers for 5 minutes while you are preparing the filling.
  3. Heat evoo in a large pan over medium-high heat.  Add ground turkey and Worcestershire sauce.  Sautee until cooked through, stirring regularly and using the side of your spatula to break up the meat.
  4. Stir goat cheese into the turkey and continue to cook until melted.  Remove pan from heat and stir in quinoa and broccoli.
  5. Scoop filling into pre-baked peppers.  Return to oven for 15 additional minutes.

What was the best thing you did, saw, heard, and/or tasted last week?

Stir-Fried Soup

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I made it through the first day of a new semester!  I forgot what day it was and pressed snooze a couple of times this morning, but I did manage to make it to the gym for a quick workout.

25 minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.

I cut it close but the husband offered to drive me this morning (both walking and driving myself eat up 30 minutes) so I had time to shower and grab breakfast to go.  A Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna Bar,

and an iced coffee with skim milk.

It wasn’t just any iced coffee.  Do you remember when I blogged about wanting to try Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee?  They now sell it at Wegman’s!

It was even better than I had imagined.  Smooth, not at all bitter, and I swear with the skim milk I tasted hints of chocolate?!

I breakfasted during my first class and the caffeine boost was much-appreciated.  This semester is going to be hard.  I’m only taking a few classes (the minimum number of credits versus having to petition to take extra credits almost ever other semester) but there is a ton of work and the concepts are all higher level.

Good thing I got some work done in the break between classes and my shift at work.  I also made lunch.

A salad of romaine, flax, light honey mustard dressing, a little shredded gruyere, and a crumbled slice of turkey bacon.

Plus apple dippers.

A sliced Pink Crispin,

with a melted mix of peanut butter, Biscoff, and Heath bits, ~ 1 Tbsp of each.

Delish!

I worked from 2 -7 and then came home and wandered around all evening in a tired, sore-backed haze.  That is not going to be able to happen as the semester progresses.  But overall I think I did a good job of getting things done today.

I even pre-made some of the components for tomorrow’s dinner.  I snacked on a serving of Barbara’s Baked Cheese Puffs while I cooked.

They were an impulse buy at the co-op that paid off; didn’t tasted “baked” at all.

Dinner didn’t happen until 9:30 but it was worth the wait.  Super worth it.  Did you make my Thai-Inspired Coconut Peanut Soup yet?  I hope so, because if you did you are halfway done with this killer spin on it – Stir-Fried Soup!

Stir-Fried Soup, serves 1

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Toss in cashews and toast.  Add soup leftovers and Sriracha and saute, stirring occasionally, until crispy.  Scramble in egg.  Serve and swoon.

It was the tastiest thing I’ve eaten in weeks, I swear to God.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve done with leftovers?