Tag Archives: bar

Too Busy For A Saturday

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Oh man.  I’ve been “on” for 14 hours straight so please forgive me if this post is “off.”  I spent several hours on campus this afternoon and I’ll spend most of tomorrow there as well so I’m warning you in advance that Sunday’s recap will be cranky!

Today’s plan included three main objectives –

  1. Attend a training at school.
  2. Get all the shopping for Chili Sale cooking completed.
  3. Bake amazing muffins to help thank classmates for coming into school on a Sunday.

The training was actually for a job, thank goodness.  A short-term one though; I’m going to spend the next month working as a caller for the Buffalo State College alumni donation effort.  10 – 2pm today was spent in training sessions for the upcoming first week of work.

I didn’t have much time in the morning (I was trying to maximize sleep!) so I packed this NuGo Organic Double Dark Chocolate Bar for breakfast.

The NuGo people knew what they were doing when they stuck these samples in our HLS bags; every bar of theirs I’ve tried I plan on buying for myself!  This wasn’t as good as Balance Bar Cookie Dough (what is?!), but I liked the crunch and chewiness of the inside and the chocolate coating was sweet without being too sweet for breakfast.

I bought a sandwich for lunch on our break.

This was a book store cafe paninni with pesto, roasted tomatoes, and mozzarella.

Plus an Earl Grey with skim milk.

When I left campus at 2 I headed straight to the store to meet up with some classmates in the Chili Sale group.  We had to go to Wegmans, then BJs, then back to Wegmans again, but I think we are ready for tomorrow.

I bought a coffee with skim milk while we shopped.

And very happily accepted this chocolate sample with my beverage.

Guylian shells are my favorite chocolate candy of all time and they are pretty pricy so this 2-piece freebie put a huge smile on my face.

That smile was promptly wiped off as our hunt for dinner turned into an epic journey.  I got the first half of my work schedule for the week and it required some meal plan switching so we decided to go out.  But we don’t have much (any?!) money right now so we agonize over how we spend it.  Nothing is good enough to justify the expense and the dining options in Buffalo just aren’t that good to begin with.  Adam and I wasted a good hour driving around from vetoed, to closed, to 40 minute wait-listed.  We finally ended up at JP Bullfeathers and decided just to split two of the cheaper options.

I ate 2/3 of the Julius Caesar;

a salad with sun-dried tomato Caesar dressing topped with crab and rock shrimp salad.

Plus 1 triangle of Adam’s grilled avocado quesadilla,

which had cheddar, jack cheese, and roasted poblanos.

Mine was better 😉

Dinner wasn’t as filling as I would have hoped though.  I did a few nibbles whilst baking, plus I noshed on this bag of Combos.

These weren’t bad but I think my thing is finally over.

When we got home around 9, we finally got to baking.

I don’t have the time (or energy) to tell you about these muffins now, but I promise to blog the recipe soon because it’s a good ‘un!

Thank you to my amazing husband for playing medical intern to my lead surgeon (ie holding bowls, laying out supplies, and wiping my brow); without whom my baking project would probably still be underway.

With A Cherry On Top

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Man, oh man!  I was at school for 12+ hours today.  2 of my meals came out of vending machines.  0 of my photos are attractive.  Basically if you look at the numbers this post is going to suck. 

Breakfast from three angles, none of which are pretty.

Basically I put Plain Silk Almond Milk, chia seeds, and a chopped nectarine into a jar in the fridge and let the mixture thicken overnight.  It was pretty good.  I’ve got a fun idea for a chia seed recipes that I’ve had running through my head for the past week.

When I ate in class I topped the mixture with this granola sample from HLS.

I also packed an Oldwalla Dark Chocolate Chip Walnut Fiber Bar, also from HLS.

This tasted good but breakfast did not hold me over at all.  Midway through our 4 hour class I ran to the vending machine and bought these peanut butter crackers.

If I had known what lunch and dinner were going to look like I probably would have done something different.

Class got out at noon and I had an advising appointment at 1:30 and a club event at 6:30 so I figured I’d stay on campus and study and go to the gym.  Not only did I not ever get to the gym, I’m still 10 pages of notes away from being done with my notecards!  Somehow everyone in my class is shocked by how much material is going to be on Friday’s exam!

Honey Mustard Pretzels and Peanut M&Ms, vending machine dinner of champions.

And when I got to the event this evening I made myself a small plate of snacks.

Our club advisor actually got us all together to watch a movie for funsies.  She picked “The Gods Must Be Crazy II” which I ended up loving.  It was cute, touching, and 80’s humor funny.  Plus part of the storyline centered around the San/Bushmen of the Kalahari and I’m obsessed with them.

When I dragged myself back to my car (12 hours later!) I discovered a ticket on my windshield!  It was for my expired car registration (another really frustrating story) which pisses me off because I don’t see why the campus police have authority over anything other than parking permit issues.  I’m going to argue it tomorrow but I came home in a sour mood.

And then Adam met me at the door with candy!!!!!

I mentioned this weekend that I’m one of the few people who really likes cherry cordials and he surprised me with a box of them.

So good.  He’s the best.

I may not have made it to the gym but when we took the dog on a quick walk I sprinted a few blocks with him, so I’m going to call it good.  At least I made a little use of the sports bra I’ve been rocking all day!

Have you ever seen “The Gods Must Be Crazy?”

Cherry cordials; love ’em or hate ’em?

Food Bank Blog

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Hello, there!  I think I got a little bit too much sleep last night because I was definitely feeling a bit off today (two beers does not equal a hangover).  Things got a bit dicey this afternoon but now I’m feeling good and ready to tackle some studying for tomorrow’s scary exam.

Getting up my blog post this morning meant I ran out of time to pack food, not a good thing since I drank my dinner.  I grabbed this Pro Bar on my way out the door since I figured it sort of had enough calories to count for lunch and breakfast.

It did not, but more on that in a minute.  I am done with Pro Bars either way though.  For one, holy saturated fat!  I know most of it comes from the healthy nut source but still.  For two, every single flavor I’ve tried has tasted exactly the same.  And they all have chocolate chips in them regardless of if that fits the flavor or not.

We spent our four-hour class working on case studies dealing with pediatric nutrition.  Case studies are always fun, but a little scary too because soon we will have to be doing this stuff with real patients.  My group’s dealt with obesity-related sleep apnea.  The 24 hour recall portion was sooo frustrating; think 10-year-old girl eating 2 breakfast burritos, 2 bologna cheese sandwiches, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, 42 ounces of pop and sweet tea, a coffee (?!) with a 1/4 cup of half and half, and more in the span of a day.

After class I spent two hours volunteering at the campus food bank.  I didn’t know about it until I signed up, but apparently my school has a food bank set up for low-income students who run out of food/money at the end of the semester.  A group of us went to sort donations by food group and expiration date and then make bags with 2-days worth of food for students to come pick up.  The selection was a little frustrating – we made 60 bags but only had 6 cans of fruit – but I am glad to know that BSC does offer a service like that.  Plus it was a lot of fun; I love organizing!

What was not so fun was my lack of planning coming back to bite me mid-afternoon.  We were at the food bank until a little after 2pm.  By 1pm all I had eaten for the past 24 hours was 2 beers and a Pro Bar.  I had a killer migraine and several people mentioned that I was starting to slur my words.  Not fun!

No Take-out ‘Tober was painful today.  On the walk home I swear I was thinking about Pad Thai so hard I could taste it.  But I stuck to my guns, and I ended up eating exactly what I was craving.

I’m Starving And Cranky, Flavor and Protein Packed Pasta Toss, serves 1, all measurements approximate

  • 1 cup cooked pasta
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 3 splashes chicken broth
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 Tbsp chunky peanut butter
  • 1 Tbsp tamari
  • 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 dash Sriracha
  • 1 large egg
  1. In a large skillet, cook veggies in broth until liquid is gone and veggies are adequately softened.
  2. Meanwhile, whisk together peanut butter through Sriracha (microwave to soften if need be).
  3. Add pasta and sesame oil to pan, toss, and cook until crispy and browned.
  4. Pour peanut sauce over veggies and pasta.  Cook 2-3 minutes.
  5. Scramble in egg.

So. Flipping. Good.

Rice noodles would have been an itsy bit better but I used what I had on hand which was this pasta sample from the Healthy Living Summit.

I tried a bite plain and give it two thumbs up.

Two questions –

  1. Does/did your school have a food bank?
  2. Did anyone end up deciding to do No Take-out ‘Tober along with us?!

My Exam Was On A Low Carb Diet

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{This post was started last night.}

One three-hour review session probably wasn’t enough, but at least I don’t think I failed today’s exam.  And I handed in my paper too so now it’s two down, one to go for this week; phew!  I did make one really silly (really embarrassing!) mistake that is going to cost me a lot of points.  I was thinking adult DRIs for CHO but fixating on percentages for CHO in the DASH diet and ended up saying that older adults require only 55-65 grams of carbohydrates each day!  <– Carbs are the primary energy source for brain function and the RDA is 130 grams/day!

I think I needed more coffee.

That’s ice, Godiva Pumpkin Spice Coffee, Plain Silk Almond Milk, and a big splash of English Toffee Syrup.  I tasted before sweetening and sadly I don’t think I like the Godiva Pumpkin Spice Coffee outside of pumpkin latte oatmeal.  Too much spice for me.  I brought the rest of the bag in to my friend Kim and she’s going to report back.

Here was the rest of breakfast.

A 2% Fage with Strawberry.

And a Berries GoMega Superfood Bar that Odwalla sent me to try.

I didn’t care for the bar and only ended up eating two small bites.  My negative review is for a positive reason though – this tasted like a berry muffin!  It’s just that I don’t like muffins all that much.  I shared with a friend who confirmed my muffin assessment.  We did admire that it provided 25% percent daily value of your Folate and Calcium and 50% daily value for Vitamin E for only 210 calories.  If you are a muffin person I recommend it.

Lunch was a bagel sandwich that I recommend to everyone.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin + Applegate Farms Honey Maple Turkey + reduced fat pumpkin cream cheese (mine is from Einstein’s Bagel Bros) = Yum!

I’ll be honest and admit that this could have used a slice of cheese, but other than that it was pure perfection.

I brought in the rest of the Ghirardelli dark chocolate (a Foodbuzz sample) to share with the girls as study fuel.

One piece was enough for me.

And before I knew it – mostly because I was thinking too hard to look at the clock – my exam was done and one final class stood between me and freedom!

In this case, freedom meant beer.

Adam and I split this Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale 40/60 his favor.  Tasting note – not bad, but not really pumpkin-y either.

And I drank this Dogfish Head Punkin Ale all by myself.

I really did taste pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg.  And beer!  This is my favorite pumpkin brew so far this season (2nd would be Shock Top’s pumpkin).

Notes – I hadn’t had much to eat, I was tired, I’m a lightweight.  Those notes are important because what I did next was get drunk and go to bed at 8:30 pm!  Haha, I’m sure I needed the sleep.

I’m feeling well-rested now, which is awesome because I’ve got to do some serious learning for tomorrow’s exam.  Hope everyone is having a good week!

The Circle Of Life

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“From the day we arrive on the planet

And, blinking step into the sun

There’s more to see than can ever be seen

More to do than can ever be done

There’s far too much to take in here

More to find than can ever be found

But the sun rolling high

Through the sapphire sky

Keeps great and small on the endless round

It’s the Circle of Life”

I just can’t stop singing!  It’s possible I’ve hummed straight through my day.  Other than “Aladdin,” “The Lion King” was the Disney movie with my favorite music.

Backing up to where we left off yesterday, I spent some time (not enough) with these –

I popcorned while I studied.

I hated it.

Plus 100 calories worth of Ghirardelli Midnight Reverie 86% chocolate topped with a smear of Biscoff spread.

Adam was in surgery until late so the meet-up plan involved friends picking me up and all of us getting together with Adam whenever he could make it.  The husband had told me to be ready at 5:45 so a bit after 4 I took Webster out on a long walk.  We were heading home around 5 when I got a call from our friend Patrick – “Eithan said to tell you he’s running late, they’ll probably get you around 5:30.”  5:30 you say?  Whoops! 

Thankfully I’d already showered in the morning so I didn’t take all that long to gussy.  I even managed heels and mascara.

Ready on time, we set off to Pearl Street Grill and Brewery for dinner before the show.  Thankfully, Adam got out early enough to meet us for dinner so we did a little sharing.  I ordered the Gobbler (turkey burger) with a side salad subbed instead of fries for veg.

I was not expecting such a large plate of greens though!  In the end I ate ~ 1/3 of the husband’s chicken fingers and fries,

all of the salad (with brown sugar rum vinaigrette!),

and 2-3 bites of the turkey burger.

Adam was more than happy to take care of the rest for me.  We were with a great group of friends – 2 couples of regulars plus another 2 couples who were friends of friends – so even dinner was fun.

Getting to the theatre was a bit of an ordeal – it’s possible all of the girls had to sprint 2 blocks in high heels! – but all that really matters is we made it.  This was my first time seeing “The Lion King” and I thought it was great.  Knowing the music from the movie and being able to sing along (silently!) definitely helped to keep me engaged.  My favorite part of the show was actually the visual appeal; the costumes for the elephants and giraffes were truly breathtaking.  I’m so glad we had the opportunity to go.  Though now Adam and I are desperate to see the movie to hear the songs again!

It wasn’t the earliest bedtime and my 6am alarm felt a little … rough.  Thankfully I thought ahead so all I had to do was put on shoes, grab my bags, hop in the car, and stumble to the gym.  My notecards and I spent some time on the treadmill, more for a wake up and study review than workout purposes.  2 miles walked, 35 minutes.  A quick change and face wipe bath later and I was ready for my exam.

Before the test I ate this White Chocolate Macadamia Chewy Nut Bar Odwalla sent me to sample.

This was sweet, but not too sweet, and a little bit nutty.  I couldn’t savor it the way I would have liked because our test was about to begin, but it did hold me over well through the morning.  210 calories and 2 grams of saturated fat for 25% each daily value of calcium and folate (<– important for baby making).  The white chocolate macadamia flavor will be hitting stores this month; look for it!

My test went alright, not great but not terribly either.  The subjects covered included the clear liquid diet, parenteral feeding, and Latin roots for medical terms, among other things, so no matter how the test went I know it’s all material I will be seeing again. 

I had time for a quick break and then it was on to class #2 and a group presentation.  Our non-nutritive sweeteners group had to present our findings from the last test lab as well as information on the options available to our future clients.  We were the very first group to go which was a little nerve-wracking but the TA said we did a good job.  We also did our 2nd set of sampling today, this time with commercially made products. 

The class had to analyze original and sugar-free versions of cola, yogurt, ice-cream, jell-o, and chocolate syrup.  Normally we can just take small tastes in lab but since I’ll have to write up a report for this one I needed to take really good notes which meant eating all of the samples, even the nasty ones.  And most of them were nasty.  <– Word to the wise – don’t even waste your time with Hershey’s sugar-free chocolate syrup, yuck city. 

Since I didn’t have time to photograph everything I ate (which ended up having to be a lot) I gave myself the afternoon off from blogging as well.  I will note though, that lunch included many handfuls of salty nuts and a big bag of chips to help balance out all that sweet!  And other than eating and dog walking I didn’t accomplish a blessed thing.  We have two huge exams and a paper due next week and I needed some time for tv watching before my long-weekend study session begins.

Dinner was similarly low-key.

The Tandoor Chef veggie Pad Thai is seriously better than most of the Thai available in Buffalo.

Yums.

On my extra-sweet day, check out what arrived in the mail –

Adam’s mom sent us a haul of cookies!  It’s taking a lot of self-control but we are going to wait until the coffee caramel is finished before having at them.  And on that note, we are off to have sundaes!

Which sugar-free products do you use?  Do you prefer the taste or are you diabetic/looking to cut calories?

Red Fish, Blue Fish, Green Dog?

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If I start this post by saying I haven’t been very productive today, will that be too predictable?!  I’m in a cold-weather/program-frustration/lack-of-exercise induced rut!  But I’m making a commitment to going to bed early and pushing my way out of it tomorrow.

At least all of my eats today were tasty.  Like my in-class breakfast trio.

Wegman’s Plain 0% Greek Yogurt (which is quite good and can hold its own against the big brands; though it is more similar to Chobani than Fage as it is less thick),

Fiber One Honey Squares Cereal sample (this had a gross fake-sweetener aftertaste – Sucralose was on the ingredient list – but was very filling for 80 calories),

and a honey stick.

Since my trio only had about 200 calories or so, I supplemented breakfast with a Banana Nut Bar that Odwalla generously sent me to try out.

Love!  I actually tried this in college (the first time!) and loved it then too.  220 calories, .5 grams of saturated fat, 5 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein.  Plus it packs good amounts of many vitamins, including 25% daily value each of calcium and folate and 50% vitamin e.  The bar is chewy and a bit crumbly, just like banana bread!  I shared bites with two classmates who agreed that this was the best fake (<– aka not literally just a banana) banana flavor ever.

My breakfasts held me over nicely too; I had to run several errands after class and I didn’t get to eat lunch until close to 2:30.  Actually, my breakfasts held me over well until around 1, and then I was cranky.  I went frozen meal quick for lunch.

Another Lean Cuisine win, Chicken Enchilada Suiza.

I supplemented this meal with popcorn.

There’s always room for Jell-O popcorn.

I took the doggy on a long walk this afternoon (that’s productive!) and before I knew it the husband was home and it was time for dinner.

No matter what little tweaks you make to the ingredients, turkey Reubens are always good!

This guy was GH sourdough bread, 1000 island dressing, sauerkraut 2 slices of Applegate Farms Honey and Maple Turkey, and 2 slices of 2% Swiss.  I ate at least another slice worth’s of bread in nibbles, Great Harvest is seriously the best.

With roasted green beans on the side.

A winner of a dinner.

Blue Fish, Red Fish, Green Dog?

Calling all pet owners, we could use some advice.  How do you clean up after your dog while staying green? 

Adam and I pride ourselves on being pretty environmentally friendly but Webster seems to have doubled our plastic and paper consumption.  Since he is home by himself for long stretches of time (and since he is a small dog with a small bladder in a third floor apartment) he has to do about 50% of his “business” inside the apartment.  When he’s not out on a walk, he “goes” on pee pads.

I don’t feel bad about using these because they are basically unavoidable and we have him reuse each one two or three times.  However, being the asshole that he is, only about 2/3 of his going takes place on the pee pads.  The rest of his business goes on the floor.  Number 2 requires a baggie and Clorox wipe (don’t worry, we use a different brand without harsh chemicals, I’m just too lazy to look up the name of them) and number 1 requires several paper towels and wipe.  I’ve thought about using paper towels for pick-up at home (wasting more paper but conserving plastic), but on walks we have to use a baggie.

For the past few months we’ve been leaving our reusable bags at home and reusing the plastic bags we take home from the grocery.  This is the cheapest solution but Adam and I both felt badly about how wasteful it was.  When we ran out of baggies and were forced into purchasing some I think we both were a little relieved (and we’ll go back to reusable bags for groceries).  In fact, one of my errands today was purchasing these –

These Green Bone bags are biodegradable and made from cornstarch.

So that’s an improvement but I’m still hoping to find a better solution.

Pet owners, how do you take good care of your furry friends while still taking care of the planet?

Sharing is Caring

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***Bad blogger alert!  Bad blogger alert!***  I haven’t done a full-day post since Tuesday!  I got a new (final?!) set of retainers that made solids a no-go for two days and Thursday and Friday we did lots of food sampling in class that I couldn’t photograph.  I realize my life’s not at all that interesting but there is something almost lonely about skipping posts.  Plus, my mom has called me twice this week to check that I’m not dead.

I plan on getting back the posting everything I eat as of tomorrow, 3 tests next week be damned.  For now I’ll just share the important things that you missed.

#1 – Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte Larabars are awesome.

Larabar sent me a fun package the other day to celebrate their newest flavor.

Chocolate Cherry Torte is my new favorite; it even edges out the other dessert flavors!

The date flavor was nice and mild which allowed this to taste more like dessert than a snack (sometimes I find the overwhelming datiness of Larabars to be a little gaggy).  The chunks of cherry were nice and big and they gave this a great, tart flavor.  Plus there were TONS of chocolate chips!

#2 – Biscoff x Biscoff = Heaven.

Do you remember when my friend Janessa made Oreo balls with Biscoff spread in them?  Well that gave me a terribly wonderful idea.  Her birthday was coming up (it was today actually!) so somehow I managed to patiently wait.  Biscoff Balls!

I food processed one package of Biscoff cookies, mixed the crumbs with 6 ounces of reduced fat cream cheese and ~1/3 cup Biscoff spread, and rolled the dough into balls.  They were amazing!

#3 – Time with friends makes me happy.

<– That’s Holly, my new friend from The Frozen Pineapple with whom I shared dinner last night.  She is another future RD who recently moved to the area and I’m looking forward to spending more time with her.

I also went to a comedy show with the husband and several other couples last night, and to a birthday breakfast with school friends this morning!  I didn’t snap a single picture and I’m so sad about it.  My school friends and I actually decided today that I needed to start blogging group shots when we go out so we actually have some pictures with each other!

What’s new with you?

Full Court Press

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Yikes!  The semester is starting to get real and today was just a bit stressful.  I’ll keep this post quick because I have to get in the shower by 9 pm to have any chance of getting in bed in time to workout in the morning.

We finally got some info on due dates in class today (we still have several assignments that are unknown though frustratingly) and as of right now here is what I have on tap of this semester –

  • 15 exams
  • 4 personal papers (2 of which include presentations)
  • 4 group papers/presentations

That’s in addition to quizzes and homework assignments.  Fun.  I originally said I was going to aim to finish all assignments by October but clearly that goal is shot!

During class 1 I ate this Nature’s Path Peanut Choco bar from my HLS Swag bag.

A bit sticky for my liking but it was packing a great amount of chocolate and peanut butter, especially for 150 calories.  I actually enjoyed it so much that I tried to buy more at Wegmans this afternoon.

After class 2 and I headed to the gym for a quick (quick!) workout.  1 mile run and 10 minutes of strength/stretch moves.

During class 3 I ate this mini pack of dried cranberries and pineapples.

After school I drove a friend to work, went to the tailors, and did a grocery run with Adam.  Thank goodness we had a free coupon for hot bar because getting to 4pm on 200 calories made me just a bit cranky.

Garlic eggplant, garlic broccoli, roasted veg, and some sesame chicken.

Plus h2o-melon, pineapple, and a few berries.

I was freezing this afternoon so I made a mug of hot chocolate to sip while I worked.

I wish I could say I had gotten more done but it’s hard to study when this is your scenery –

I love my boys!  Actually, I told Adam the other day that sometimes I think about leaving him so I can get away from the dog but that’s a fleeting thought when I’m cleaning up after 1 or both of them and in general I think I’m the luckiest lady on earth.

Dinner was a Panini masterpiece.

A sandwich idea was sparked by my desire for this combination –

Trader Joe’s mango butter with brie.  Plus Applegate Farms Organic Sliced Turkey on rye bread.

The sweet brie pairing is always a winner (see baked brie with dried cranberries) but turning this into a sandwich took it over the top.

Yum!

Plus a side of roasted green beans which sadly seem to have gone bad and were mostly left uneaten.

Rotton beans can’t put a damper on that sandwich though, dinner was still considered a success.

Do you like brie?  What’s your favorite way to pair it?