Tag Archives: bar

Monday Tuesday

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The post title is supposed to reference yesterday’s, and the fact that I am finding myself completely unable to write a blog post.  I just feel like I have a case of bloggers’ block.  There are two upcoming posts that I’ve promised to do and I am practically incapable of getting them done.  Both are on my to-do list for tomorrow and for today I’ll keep it quick.

Breakfast was a total success.

I stirred together Wegman’s Vanilla on the Bottom Super Yogurt with a biiiig dollop of 1% small curd cottage cheese.  Then I topped with sliced plum, sliced nectarine, and a chopped up cookie dough truffle.

I needed something that would keep me full through the early afternoon and this did the trick.

Lunch was snacky.  A GoGo Squeez Apple Strawberry pouch.

And a Peanut Honey Pretzel Luna Bar.

The first time I tried this bar I didn’t know my socks off but today I was much more impressed.  I could really taste each flavor; the peanuts, honey, and pretzels somehow all managed to stand out from within the mix of flavors.

Dinner was cheesy chicken and rice.

Plus 2 servings of potato chips (bacon cheddar, but not really, these were still vegetarian) a few hours later.

And that’s all she wrote (ha!).

Stone Soup

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Long time no blog.  I’m glad to be back, but my days away were glor-i-ous!  I spent 70% of Monday – Wednesday curled up in bed.  I ate pizza and lots of chocolate.  I watched the first season of “Flashpoint.”  And I read five (250+ page) murder-mystery novels.  Like I said, glorious.

Back-in-the-world-Thursday started with a trip to the gym.  40 minutes on the stationary bike at level 7 random.  Followed by stretching that was not enough because my right hip has been killing me all afternoon.

I ate half of this NuGo Dark Chocolate Pretzel with Sea Salt bar on the walk home.

Summer is the only time when I could drive to the gym and park, but why get in a car when I can walk?  If I’m not in a time-crunch I’d rather move my legs.  And Buffalo State’s recent landscaping makes it a lovely walk indeed.

The 2nd half of breakfast used my new favorite smoothie ingredient.

This Vanilla Chai Vega was stupid good.  I haven’t had a chai latte in forever and I feel an iced one in my immediate future.  For my smoothie I blended the Vega packet with 1 cup of Silk Vanilla Almond Milk and a large frozen banana.

It didn’t taste green and the 15 grams of protein kept me full all morning.

I hurried through errands – Lexington Co-op, Goodwill, Wegmans – so I could meet a friend for a walking date this afternoon.  I picked her up on Elmwood and we set off for the (new) Buffalo Cakery.

I brought Adam a cupcake but went with ice cream myself.  A small cup of candied apple and salted caramel.

Sadly the flavors weren’t great together and I had to throw out my cup halfway through when things got melty.  The 4 miles of walking were hot-hot-hot but also just what I needed.

I cooled down with a Tusker when I got home.

And I was glad for ac this evening because my meal was hot and spicy.  I borrowed components from the rest of the week’s dinners for a stone soup of sorts.

In a small pot, I heated up 1 tsp chipotle oil.  I sautéed ~1.5 cups chopped bok choy and 2 sliced green onions with the juice from half a lime and 1 Tbsp fish sauce.  I added ~1 cup frozen corn and 1.5 cups chicken broth then covered and boiled for 5 minutes.  Then I took of the lid and stirred in 1 large egg, juice from another lime, and a big squeeze of Sriracha.

The end result was an odd mash-up of Thai and Mexican flavors but it worked.

I should have made dinner bigger though because it ended up being a 2 dessert evening.  The last Tbsp of so of Biscoff, straight from the jar.

And 5 marshmallows and 1 Tbsp chocolate chips, microwaved until gooey.

Tasty, but I would have been better off with an extra egg in my soup.

I’m off to watch more “Flashpoint,” but hopefully not for too long; we’ve been up past 2 am every day this week and I’m hoping to break that pattern.  Night!

Early Mornings

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Two 5 am wake ups in a row make me a grumpy girl. But you’ve gotta do what you gotta do; particularly if you haven’t been doing what you have to do!

Monday morning the alarm rang at 5, I was up at 5:10, and I was finished working by 8. I even had time for breakfast.

A 0% Plain Oikos Greek Yogurt with 1 cup of Erewhon Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice Cereal, a sliced nectarine and a tsp of honey.

Adam will have eaten all of the cereal (which was bought with a free coupon from HLS) before I can pour another bowl, but this combo was great.

We went on a tour of the Meals and Wheels facility for class. They make more than 1,600 meals a day at the site we visited! The size of the kitchen equipment was insane.

The weather was warm enough to skip a cardigan and cool enough not to sweat like a river so it was the perfect opportunity to rock my frilly sleeved top.

That shirt is so fun.

Lunch was fun too, but also a failure.

The Strawberry Push Pop was great (duh!).

But they reformulated the Cool Mint Chocolate Clif Bar and I’m not a fan any more. It had a strange aftertaste and I ended up throwing it out halfway though.

The great pear made up for it though.

I swear that it tasted like vanilla!

I also bought an iced Americano with skim milk.

– – apparently I didn’t photograph that – –

We stayed at school later than usual and even with my coffee I was off the charts cranky by the time I got home. Thankfully I had this face waiting for me to get home and take it on a walk.

Don’t mind if I do, Webster.

The husband’s laptop broke recently and we’ve had to spend a lot of time and money (more than we can spare of both!) at the mall getting it fixed. The silver lining is that there’s froyo at the mall.

I got coconut and plain tart topped with lots of fruit and popping boba.

We ate grape leaves (two each) as an appetizer of sorts.

And had casserole leftovers with evoo and white cheddar for dinner.

When we ate this dish the first day I sort of hated it, but the taste has gotten significantly better with each serving.

I sat and stared at my computer for a while last night but I knew I wasn’t going to make any headway. Around 10 I determined that my best bet was to set another alarm for 5 and get myself to bed.

I slept, I got up (30 minutes later than planned), I worked, I finished, I’m ready.  But since my presentation is on dress code and personal hygiene I should probably go shower and gussy up!

Friday Eats

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Here is how my day was on the food front.  You can probably guess how my good decision-making went, the 2am post is a giant clue.  Netflixing old episodes of “Scrubs” was genius!

Bar for breakfast.

The Peanut Crunch Zone Perfect Bar was my last flavor to try from the Perfectly Simple line.  This flavor was my favorite.  The texture reminded me of a crumbly oatmeal cookie!  And I liked the fact that the flavor was peanut butter-y without being too overwhelming; sometimes peanut flavored bars make you need a drink.

Coffee with skim milk and Irish cream syrup.

Lunch was a slice of buffalo chicken pizza.

And a mini ice cream.

And dinner was a bowl of casserole leftovers.

I added a drizzle of evoo and 1.5 oz of sharp cheddar to the mix and the dish was much improved.

With several spoonfuls from a fresh Biscoff spread for dessert.

And a side of tv reruns!

Lunch In The Cafeteria

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Hello, again!  Long time no see; or at least it has felt long to me.  There is some stuff going on that has made it in my best professional interest to skip posting, so that’s where I was the past two days.  I obviously can’t share but I promise you’re not missing anything too juicy.  And now I can come back!

This week of summer school we are observing institutional food-service operations.  I’m at the campus dining hall and I’m loving it!  Everyone else is at a health care organization and I was worried about doing something different, but I ended up exactly where I’m supposed to be.  Everything I’ve experienced so far has been amazing and today I basically walked around with my mouth hanging open.  I’ll admit that my expectations were not very high but I’ve actually been beyond impressed.  I went into dietetics more excited about clinical work than food-service and this experience is totally challenging my previous ideas.

Breakfast was eaten on my walk to school.

ZonePerfect recently sent me a sample of their Perfectly Simple line.

Tagline – “A few wholesome ingredients. 10 grams of protein. What could be simpler?”  Sounds good to me!

Unfortunately when I tried the Cranberry Almond flavor earlier this week I ended up throwing it out after just one bite.  The cranberry flavor was too strong for me; but I hate cranberries, so if you’re a fan of them this might be a plus for you.  I didn’t have high hopes for Toasted Coconut but I ended up quite liking it.

I wouldn’t call the ingredient list “natural” but it was nice and short.  The date paste wasn’t hidden but the bar didn’t have the same flavor or stickiness of a Larabar either.  The toasted coconut was tasty.  For 200 calories this was pretty filling (thank you, 10 grams of protein).

I also had a coffee with skim milk on campus.

I’ve always loved the fact that our food court has a Spot Coffee and I learned more about that relationship today.

Lunch was eaten in the cafeteria.  A Zucchini and Squash Blend with Vegetable Egg Frittata.

Plus a skim milk/chocolate milk mix over ice.

I’ve so missed the milk machine from my days of undergrad at UM!

My meal was delicious, by the way.  The food service department here does a really amazing job of using tons of local sourced produce, dairy, and eggs.  Plus they only buy cage-free eggs and antibiotic-free meat.

When I got home in the afternoon I snacked on small bowls of leftovers.

Rice with spicy chicken.  Followed by the last small serving of Tex-mex chicken soup.

I am so sad to see this go!  Especially because Adam said not to save the recipe because it was too spicy for him.

Dinner was pretty similar to my snacks, but Indian.

I topped brown rice and roasted eggplant with a serving of Kohinoor India on a Platter Paneer Butter Masala.

This stuff was fabulous!  My roasted eggplant wasn’t very good (I baked it in Worcestershire sauce and honey and it ended up spicy and chewy) but the sauce was totally able to carry it.

It’s close to bedtime but we are going to walk the dog and we may get some chocolate!

Zombies Don’t Feel So Fresh

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Hello, hello!  No post yesterday due technical difficulties.  P.S. “technical difficulties” is a fancy way of saying “I’m an idiot and when I plugged in my camera I somehow deleted all of my pictures.”

That wasn’t even the stupidest thing I did all afternoon.  We were eating M&M’s on the couch and I didn’t realize that I had spilled a handful until I saw the dog licking them.  I picked them up immediately (because chocolate and dogs don’t mix) but we have no idea what I did with them next.  We finally determined that I must have eaten them.  That’s right, I basically took food out of the dog’s mouth and ate it.  Yum.

Yesterday was a disaster any way.  We did not run.  We did eat nachos.  Like, ridiculous nachos; they were almost too cheesy.  Oh, and I fell asleep on the couch at 5pm again.  I don’t know what my deal is lately but I’m so tired I feel like a zombie!  I seem to be a little bit allergic to the dog but overall this has been my best summer ever as far as allergies go.  And while summer school is easy I don’t feel like I’m not doing enough and I’m certainly not doing too much.  I don’t know why I feel so tired all of the time.

For breakfast a Roasted Nut Roll Larabar Uber was packed.

The last of my Uber line samples, this flavor is my 2nd favorite after Bananas Foster.  The mix of nuts included almonds, pecans, peanuts and macadamia nuts.  It tasted almost like one of those pecan roll candies with the white stuff in the center!

I should mention that the husband was the one who sweetly did the breakfast packing.  Unfortunately I requested an apple to go with my bar and he provided a rock-hard nectarine instead.  No fruit for me.

Lunch was a very special feast.

One of our classmates owns the famous, local restaurant Romeo and Juliet’s Cafe and she brought us in a spread.

I had veggie pizza,

a stuffed pepper,

and salad.

And then I couldn’t help going back for a 2nd slice of pizza.

The stuff on the side is honey mustard dressing and house-made red pepper flake mayo.  I dipped my crust in the sauces and was in absolute heaven.

She brought in dessert too.

I finally ate my first cannoli!  Loved it!

I bought espresso to drink with my dessert like a real Italian.

A double shot with tons of skim milk and a few shakes of vanilla sugar.

Continuing the excitement, we watched a movie in class this afternoon (it was appropriate, it was a food movie!).  Fresh is a documentary that examines the pros and cons of organic versus factory farming and looks at our country’s food system as a whole.  A lot of cool people took part in it, including Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin.  We all really enjoyed the movie and I highly recommend that you check it out.  None of the information was really new to me but it was a great reminder that I need to do a better job of sticking with my principles when we go out to eat.  Adam and I only purchase humanely raised meat to cook at home and ideally that is the only type of meat I ever want to consume.

Even more exciting, we got the news that we are getting the day off tomorrow.  I am going to go to the mall with some friends and I couldn’t be more jazzed.  <– honestly, I clapped my hands and squealed when someone suggested it and I have no idea why because I’m not even going to be buying anything

I had big plans to make up yesterday’s run this afternoon and it just didn’t happen.  Actually, I got up and dressed in running clothes this morning (shoes, sports bra, everything) and made it as far as the couch.  I thought I would be able to redeem myself after class but I was dreading the run.  Every time I got up to go I just felt sad.  I need to do a better job of pushing through and working out more consistently (more in general!) but I love running so much that I hate to do it when I’m not going to enjoy it.

I did finally make that soup though.

Tex-Mex Chicken Soup from Cooking Light.  It was very good but not great.  I was mostly to blame for leaving out important ingredients.

my (mostly stupid) changes to the recipe

  • used 1/2 Tbsp less evoo
  • subbed green bell pepper instead of red (do you have any idea how expensive red pepper are?!)
  • subbed pickled jalapeño
  • skipped the cumin, cilantro, and queso (again, $)
  • skipped the tomato
  • used homemade shredded chicken and stock

I liked the spice level, especially with the pops of sweet corn.

I know this sounds strange, but I think I would have liked it better without the chicken!

Also this happened.

Yuck.

Finally, a product update – Smoke and Ashes from China Glaze’s Capitol Colours line (as seen in this post) has a great slate color but it chips like crazy.

Do not recommend.

Wow, that was a long post!

Have you seen “Fresh” yet?  What did you think?

Off Plan

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Adam was on call last night and sleeping by myself did not go as well as planned.  To start, the dog and I stayed up until 1 am painting my nails and watching “Drive Me Crazy.”  And it didn’t seem like I was sleeping poorly but when the alarm went off this morning I wanted to punch it in the face.  I knew by the first snooze that I needed to update my workout and breakfast plans.

Instead of a run, I did 10 minutes of strength and stretch moves.  Not gonna lie though, I don’t think I could have done more than 10 minutes even if I’d had the time!

Instead of a yogurt bowl at home I took breakfast to-go.  A Naked Green Machine that Adam brought me home from the hospital.

And an Apple Turnover Larabar Uber.

The bar was tasty though a bit stickier than I’d like.  The flavor wasn’t really apple, instead it was chock-full of raisins.

Lunch was simple but good.

Roasted broccoli,

topped with Makhani sauce.

With Junior Mints (Canada style!) for dessert.

When I got home from class I snacked on mango slices.

Yuuuuuum!  We almost never buy mango (and Adam has to cut it for me when we do!) but it is the perfect blend of tart and tangy.

Plus bread with olive oil.

And a small slice of pizza.

It was less than a dollar but it wasn’t very good and I shouldn’t have eaten it no matter how hungry I was.

I had homemade soup planned for dinner but then the husband ate a bunch of food and came home stuffed.  I moved the soup to tomorrow and instead I got a $6 fish taco for dinner.

This was more enjoyable than the soup would have been anyhow!

Did you follow your meal plan for dinner this evening?

Rested Recap

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Hey there!  It’s been a busy few days so I’m having to do a multi-day recap post here.  Thankfully I don’t have too too much to say.  It’s been fun though.

Thursday I did breakfast to go.

The last of a jar of crunchy pb (~ 1-2 Tbsp) filled with a 0% strawberry Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup of raw oats, and 1/4 cup of Silk Vanilla Almond Milk.

Lunch was roasted broccoli with peanut sauce.

This combo was delicious, even cold.

And some gummi cola bottles.

The amount shown there is about 1/2 of what I brought back from Canada; I should have bought more!

When I got home Adam and a nice surprise for me –

The hospital he’s doing his current rotation at has a great cafeteria that sells our favorite pizza in Buffalo (legit!).

And then I fell asleep at 5pm.  I was feeling super tired throughout the day and the minute I sat down on the couch I was done for.  I slept from 5 – 10, got up to get ready for bed, and went back to sleep!

Don’t worry, I more than made up for any missed dinner calories on Friday.  The amount of junk I ate was so disgusting that it ended up being almost impressive!  Everything was delicious (duh!) but I think my body would appreciate a few more veggies.

It was National Donut Day and I had to partake.

That donut was rich I couldn’t even finish it.  I’m just not a donut girl, my consumption for the year is officially over 🙂

But sweet coffee?  Dont’ mind if I do.

I got a large Black Cocoa iced coffee with skim milk.  Adam got this (Men in Black!) special the other day and I was so good I had to have one of my own.  The lady who served us told me they were only making them through this week so taste one while you can.

Lunch was fresh-cut pineapple,

and a Cherry Cobbler Larabar Uber.

It was good but not as tasty as Bananas Foster.  Again, lots of big nuts and almost no date flavor.  And the cherries were tart and sweet.  Somehow it didn’t have quite enough flavor though.

School went really well on Friday.  I am ServSafe certified, woot!

Some friends and I celebrated after class.  Bloody Mary at Pano’s.

x2.  And then I was drunk.

I also took them to check out Nickel City Cheese and Mercantile.  In addition to having great stock the owners are fantastic.  My friends bought an aged cheddar and a gouda each and the man behind the counter had us do lots of swoon-worthy tasting.  I also brought home a treat for Adam.

He brought a treat for me too!

I happily ate that slice but then I had to tell him to stop bringing me pizza so I don’t get fat…ter.

Then we tried my treats.  A blue cheese and dark chocolate and goat cheese honey milk truffle!

We took one bite of each but I think I was a bigger fan than Adam.  They were a little strange but sooooo good.  The creaminess of goat cheese makes a perfect truffle center.

We had a gift certificate to use so we went on a dinner date to Romeo and Juliet’s Cafe.

I started with bread; one slice with garlic and a second with butter.

And for my meal I ordered the Baked Eggplant Parmigiana.

Oh. My. God.  I left the pasta to the side (who eats pasta when there are layers of eggplant and cheese available?!), shared a few cherished bites with Adam, and then demolished the rest.

We took dessert to go.

That ball was a peanut butter mousse with chocolate ganache.  Ridiculous.

I wanted to post last night but unfortunately I passed out then as well.  The dog has been shedding a lot more recently (this is our first June with him) and I may be the tiniest bit allergic to him.

So now it’s Saturday.  I’ve eaten a bowl of Maple Brown Sugar Mini Wheats with Silk Vanilla Almond Milk,

and I’m ready to conquer the day.  Conquer may mean errands or may mean tv, we shall see.