Tag Archives: beans

Smoothie Sucker

by

At least once a week I put “smoothies!” on our meal plan for breakfast.  I would say the ratio of smoothies made to smoothies listed is something like 1:10.  Why am I such a sucker for the allure of morning smoothies?!  They sound so refreshing and tasty, but I never actually have time to make one, leaving me breakfastless and cranky.

Thankfully today I packed a pretty breakfast-y lunch, so I pulled that out a few hours early.

A berry flavored Revolution Foods squeeze packet,

and a 2% Mango Chobani.

With a small coffee (that large cup is half full) with two creamers.

I loved the new fruit packet flavor (on sale at Buffalo Tops!) but I wasn’t thrilled by the new-to-me Chobani.  I was expecting to love it because Pineapple is so good, but the texture just seemed strange to me.

Speaking of fruit, we had a fun lab today – finding the ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) content of different food items.  It was an interesting lab; always nice to practice something that actually relates to my profession.  P.S. Tang has .023mg of vitamin C per mL.

I was a busy bee after lab, with work to complete, a trip to the health center, a date with the gym, and finally an impromptu lunch date with Adam.  I was at the health center for a required physical before I begin working in the hospitals during the Coordinated Program next year.  After I get a PPD test next week there will be nothing between me and clinical work!

Next up was the gym.  I’m not going to lie to you guys, this visit was hard!  I did interval sets on the treadmill, 1minute walking/3minutes jogging.  I hit 3miles just around my 9th set.  With a quick cool down for a total of 3.25miles and 35minutes.

Since I ate my lunch for breakfast, I made an impromptu lunch date with the husband.  Adam was my savior and drove my drippingly sweaty self home for a much-needed shower.  We set a timer as I got out of the car (he had to sit out in front of the house) and getting upstairs, undressed, showered, ready to go, and back downstairs took me 11minutes and 5seconds.  And I even made an outfit change!

Go speedy!

Yes, that picture is at Wegmans.  Yes, we do have a hot bar problem!

I know we should try someplace new, but we love all the options and the price is right.  I’d much rather take a bunch of little different bites than have one choice in bulk.  Today I got a random mix of tofu, chicken, and slaw,

with pretty much every kind of roasted veggie.

The veggies were fantabulous as usual, but I ended up leaving behind most of the other side; my slaw had ham in it!

It was great to spend some mid-day time with Adam, and even better to get to head back to school with some yogurt pretzels to munch on during my night class.

Having a snack definitely made the time go faster.

In no time at all we were home eating burritos.

It helped that I pre-made the filling yesterday so the burritos came together in a cinch.

We topped whole wheat tortillas with sautéed mushrooms and onions, black beans, corn relish, sliced jalopenos, and some shredded 2% sharp cheddar.

Then we pressed them in the George Foreman like what we see them do at Moe’s.

Plus a side of scoops tortilla chips with spicy salsa for authenticity.

Perhaps I should have saved this meal for May 5th?

And since I’m a bottomless pit, I’ve got a mug waiting for dessert.

I stirred hot cocoa mix into some 0% Plain Oikos, then topped with brownie crumbles and toasted coconut.  I haven’t tasted it yet, but I can pretty well guess that it’s going to be amazing.

I hope this means I’m all set up for sweet dreams!  But first, some reruns of “Iron Chef” on Hulu.

How often do you make smoothies?  How often do you purchase them out?

She Ain’t Messing With No Court Jester

by

No one could accuse me of being a gold-digger.  I started dating Adam when we were still in high school.  I will stay with him through countless years of undergrad, Teach for America, medical school, residency, and grunt work before he becomes a wealthy doctor (my Jewish grandma would be so proud!).  But sometimes, like when he calls me in a tizzy, shouting “the radio says there’s a BOGO special at Medieval Times!,” I close my eyes and think “he’s going to be rich someday.”

And then I open them, and get busy buying tickets to Medieval Times and mapping out the drive to Toronto.  And I feel so lucky to get to spend 4 hours in the car with my funny, handsome husband, who also happens to be a total dork.

Seriously though, Adam has wanted to go to Medieval Times since he watched “Cable Guy,” and I was thrilled to help his dream come true.

First though, we had to clean up from the poker party and get in a grocery trip.  While we were at Wegman’s we picked up hot bar for the road.

I grabbed a random spread, including several veggies plucked from their meat dish counterparts (think chicken and mushrooms, not beef and broccoli).

In total, I ended up with kale, carrots, mushrooms, celery, broccoli, butternut squash, and green beans.

I also munched on half a leftover turkey reuben.

And then, we were at Medieval Times!

I don’t have any pictures of the show (the mood lighting was a little rough on my food photos as well), but I did take a few shots around the castle.

We had a great time walking around, although the blatant commercialism was a little frustrating; it would have been nice to see an exhibit that wasn’t trying to sell us something.

The show was a lot of fun though, packing with jousting and ceremony.  The best part was definitely the horses though.  And dinner was surprisingly good.  No silverware, metal plates, and huge pieces of meat –

None for me though, I actually pre-ordered the vegetarian meal (which p.s., was even tastier!).  We started with tomato bisque,

and garlic bread,

both of which were only ok.

And then my meal blew me out of the water.

Hummus with pita chips, rice pilaf, and a grilled veggie skewer (I got a fork!), all of which were delicious.

Dessert was an apple tart.

It was good, but I only took a few bites because I knew Adam and I were going to share some Canada candy on the car ride home.

Smarties make the drive go so much faster!

We were served dinner at 5, so unsurprisingly I was ready for a snack when we got home.  I snacked on spinach and artichoke dip with a serving of chips while I blogged.

I don’t think we’d ever go back (holy price tag, Batman!!), but it was a pretty fabulous day!

Have you ever been to Medieval Times?

It’s Rebecca Black’s Favorite Day

by

Minus starting any homework yet, my afternoon has gone according to plan.  Class – gym – nachos – Missing.  Once you add a shower and doing the dishes into that list I don’t feel too bad that I’m a bit behind schedule.

I’m not sure that pushing the gym back to after class will be a regular thing; when we got there today all of the ellipticals were occupied.  Not a big deal, but I don’t like to run two days in a row.  I still ended up having a good workout –

  • 20(+ish) minutes jogging on the treadmill.  I didn’t take any breaks this time and I covered 2.5miles, booyah!
  • 20minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.  I did a mix of backwards, forwards, sprint intervals (and dying).
  • quick session of abs work and stretching

By the time I got home and got myself and the dishes clean, it was after 3o’clock and I was just sitting down for lunch.  Good thing I made a lunch worth waiting for –

2 oz of corn chips + 2 oz of extra sharp cheddar + a big handful of arugula + black beans + jalopenos

+ tomatillo salsa stolen from Moes + Oikos 0% plain Greek yogurt

Oh baby!

I swear I can’t taste the difference in the 50% reduced cheese when eaten on salads (so why not eat one with a little less fat?!), but for melting full fat is the way to go.  This dish blew the other day’s baked nachos out of the water.

If things go according to plan again, we’ve got a fun(ish) evening planned.  Hope everyone has a great afternoon!

What are your nacho topping must-haves?  I always go with black beans and jalopenos are essential.

Skipped But Not Forgotten

by

I was gone last night, but the blog was not forgotten!  Actually, what didn’t happen was dinner 😦  Our plan was to get Wegman’s hot bar then do some grocery shopping, but unfortunately my class ran until the very last minute and by the time we reached Wegman’s the hot bar was bare.  When we finished getting groceries – Adam’s hosting poker night this weekend so this was a quick but essential trip – it was almost 10 and I determined bedtime made more sense than dinner. 

Thank goodness I had it together enough to make breakfast before we left this morning.

Sludge smoothies for all!

For two smoothies I blended –

  • 1+ cup frozen blueberries
  • 2+ cups frozen spinach
  • 2 cups orange juice w. calcium and vitamin d
  • approx. 2 Tbsp honey

Yumtastic!  The way our mornings have been running this year smoothies have seemed impossible, but they really are one of my favorite breakfasts.

Adam dropped me off at campus and once I swallowed my sludge I headed to the gym.  Unfortunately I forgot my water bottle, and I’d look a little funny rehydrating with my sludge, so I ended up buying a G2.

I managed to get in a nice treadmill workout before my Biochem lab; 20minutes of jogging with a short warm up and cool down.

I still had to pause the machine to die a couple of times, but my overall running speed was faster than last time.

Lab went by quickly and easily, I finished off an assignment in the break, and then I headed to a final meeting for the service club I’m a part of.  Easy peasy.  And lunch was good.

A salad base of arugula with 1oz of 50% reduced sharp cheddar and black beans,

topped with 1oz of crunched up tortilla chips and Stubbs bbq sauce.

BBQ sauce on salad is where it’s at!  Seriously kids, try this.

Adam came to pick me up and we headed to Moes to get him lunch – I packed him a salad too but forgot to pack him dressing or a fork, whoops! – where I stole a few of his chips.

Now we’re home for what looks like a fun and easy afternoon 🙂

How often do you skip dinner; once a week, once a month, never?  Why do you skip it?

Dreaming Day

by

After it’s auspicious start, my day continued to run enjoyably.  Definitely not a Monday’s Monday!

The weather was (mostly) fine, I got an 82% on last week’s big test (lower than I’d like, but 10points higher than the last one), and there were lots of delicious eats.  Like lunch –

Into 2 Tbsp of Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter with Honey,

I dipped baby carrots,

and a Fuji apple.

Oh man, this apple!  It was beyond sweet and crunchy, best apple I’ve had yet this year!

Not quite enough food though apparently, because my stomach growled all through my second afternoon class.  I’ve got another big, important test on Wednesday and I needed to be note-taking not dreaming of dinner!  Sidenote – when I get bored in class I totally work on my meal plan for the upcoming month; there are always so many new recipes I’m excited about.

The day felt like Spring instead of Winter – finally! – but by the afternoon the wind was howling.  It was loud enough that my teacher had to pause a few times because she couldn’t talk over the nose.  Thankfully one of my friends graciously offered to drive me home, so I didn’t have to worry about blowing away.

I was blown away however (ha!), by my tasty dinner.

What better way to get in your greens than with homemade veggie nachos?

I piled corn chips with 50% reduced sharp cheddar, fresh arugula, black beans, and canned jalapeno, then baked at 450* for 10minutes.

Plus plain 0% Oikos and green salsa for dipping.

The salsa was stolen on a Moe’s run and it totally made the nachos.  I would love to find green salsa that I could purchase like a not-a-creeper, but our store only sells one kind and it is way too spicy for us.

I ended with a fun dessert, clotted cream fudge.

I don’t have a better picture because the wrapping was a little intense, but I ate half of the box, aka too many servings.  We bought this on a whim but it was great; it tasted sort of like extra soft caramels.

two questions for a good Monday

  1. What do you day-dream about?
  2. Is there a brand of (not super spicy) tomatillo salsa that you recommend?  Preferably one I could order online.

You and Me Baby Ain’t Nothing But Mammals

by

We head to Ohio tomorrow, and my mom comes to visit on Wednesday, so we woke up early to deal with our squalor.  Actually, Adam woke up early to clean the house.  I woke up at 9 to Adam’s amazement that I could sleep through the vacuum cleaner!

Once I did welcome morning, I started my morning with some fantabuous iced coffee.

Yesterday afternoon I bought a cup of caramel flavored coffee from a gas station, and brought it home to the fridge.  This morning I mixed it with 1tsp maple syrup, Silk Vanilla Almond Milk, and ice.

Delicious!  The almond milk has the best texture for iced coffee, it makes it so thick!  When I’m back to retainers in a few weeks I won’t be able to have coffee ever, so I’m trying to enjoy it was much as I can.

The food part of breakfast was pretty fun too –

A Pink Lady apple dipped in the last of the marshmallow icing.

Holy yum this was a good idea!

Our next idea wasn’t necessarily good, but it was necessary… a trip to the zoo!

I bought a Groupon months ago (thinking that by April it’d be, ya know, Spring) that was set to expire so we bundled up and headed out.  There wasn’t a lot to see because of the weather, but I did spend 20minutes or so mooning at the polar bears.

Awwww!  My nickname for Adam is ice bear (German for polar bear).

On the way out we spotted a neat crepe place – we’re coming back next week with my mom! – and Mustachios.

Apparently Adam has been excited about taking me to Mustachios?!?  We ended up coming home with two slices of cheese pizza.

We also hit up the hot bar to get in some veggies.

I got steamed broccoli, glazed mushrooms and carrots, sesame kale, white beans and escarole, and scooped a bunch of veggies and cashews from the cashew chicken.

It was a random but good lunch.

After my month of illness (I’m still coughing by the way), any meal with veggies is a good one.

Later in the afternoon I snacked on matzah with melted extra sharp cheddar.

I also did a bunch of nibbling, raw pasta, marshmallow topping, butter toffee almonds…  No photographs, just informing you guys that my appetite is back 🙂

Dinner was quick and tasty.

I boiled up the last of the spinach and three cheese ravioli, adding a few big handfuls of arugula to the pot at the last minute.  I topped my bowl with buttermilk blue cheese crumbles and a drizzle of honey.

Then we had single-serve ice cream for dessert.

We each at half and then switched flavors halfway through.  Those single-serves are the best idea ever, the texture is so creamy!

I’ve still got to shower, pack, and do some school work… better hop to it!

What’s your favorite zoo animal?  The cutest thing we saw today was the Egyptian Dabb Lizard.  I pretty much love any creature with a big belly; Seth Rogan crush anyone?!

Mirror, Mirror On the Wall

by

The healthiness level of my food consumption today mirrors the level of health I felt all day.  That is to say, not very healthy at all.  I feel rough.  It’s rough being sick for 16 days straight.  It’s rough finding out that I have a C average in two of my main classes because I’ve had so many tests fall in those 16 days.  It’s rough having a music exam that I literally only had 1 feasible hour to study for.  Long Wednesdays are always rough.  You get the picture.

Breakfast started out well with a big Granny Smith apple dipped in a serving of natural honey peanut butter.

But as I got closer to leaving my sore throat was begging for a cookie dough ice-cream sandwich.

I guess it’s a good thing the treat we’re obsessed with only has 160 calories?

I totally couldn’t get it together to pack lunch and ended up at Taco Bell on campus of all places.  Once there, I proceeded to drive the workers crazy by knowing only that I wanted a chicken burrito and asking the ingredients in all the varieties.  I believe what I ended up with was a chicken grilled stuft burrito.

Question – why the heck do we have to go with “stuft,” stuffed is literally one letter more?  Also, why was this so monsterous?  I nibbled away for a solid 45minutes (I knew dinner would be iffy so I wanted to make sure I was very fueled) and I still conceded defeat to the final quarter.

Dinner was in fact the definition of iffy. 

Buffalo wing and blue cheese chips.  They confirmed both that my cold has killed my taste buds and that I’m a terrible healthy living blogger when I’m sick.

Did I mention that I’m sick?

What do you like to eat when you’re sick?  Other than really disliking salads, I don’t have any “sick foods.”  It seems like I should be eating normally because my sickness is in my chest/head and not my stomach, but in fact I’ve coughed so hard that I’ve made myself throw up every day of the last 16 days.  It’s been fun around here.

I Can’t Operate Machinery

by

It’s Friday-Friday-Friday!  It’s been a long and fruitful day around these parts.  I did too much yesterday though, and I was definitely paying for it this morning – I got out of bed at 7 but only made it as far as the couch!

Thankfully by the time my one class came around I was able to make it to campus.  Walking to campus sucked, but it meant I got an opportunity to copy/photocopy all of my missed notes from various friends.  Well not all, music is kind of a lost cause!  And I got the good news that our Biochem test is pushed back, so I only have one exam next week 🙂

Walking back from campus in the hail (ouch!) wasn’t fun either, but I made it to Elmwood and got a nice set of work done.  I nibbled while I worked, first a black bean burrito from Elmwood Taco and Sub.

My hand’s there to show size.  It was sort of a strange burrito – just a tortilla with plain black beans and a slice of cheese – but it ended up being perfect for my sick stomach.

Next I walked over to Starbucks for a plain iced black tea with honey.

The honey worked about as well as you’d imagine it would it an iced drink, but it was a nice idea in theory.

I ordered after 2 so I got to choose a mini treat for free.

Note – I thought the box was so cute I actually brought it home!

I went with the salted caramel bar.

Divine!  I told Adam later that this was in my top 10 tasted cookie bars.

I cranked out some good notecards (I’m only halfway done though, missing nutrition classes is hard) and then the husband picked me up around 5:30.  Then we headed to Walgreens where I caved and finally bought some Niquil.  I’m not anti-medicine, we’re just too poor to buy any; but my coughing was driving Adam made so we bit the bullet.  I took some just before starting this post, we’ll have to see if I pass out mid-way!

I waited until after preparing dinner to dose myself in any case.

Roasted asparagus.

Sidenote – this is Adam’s favorite veggie, probably actually his favorite food, period.  If you know a veggie hater have them try roasted asparagus!

Reubens  <–swoon–>

On two thin slices of rye went Applegate Farms Organic Chicken, two slices of 2% swiss, a handful of sauerkraut, and a serving of 1000 island dressing.  Then we sandwiched and pressed in the George Foreman Grill.

So good!  Reubens, whether turkey or chicken or tempeh, or sauerkraut or cole slaw, always rock my socks.

And Zzzzzzzzzz…..

Do you take medication when you’re sick?  Why or why night?