Tag Archives: berries

The Best Thing Ever

by

Howdy!  It was bedtime hours ago is bedtime but I’m bubbling over with good cheer so I wanted to blog.  Spread the love and all that.

Note 1 relates to note 2.  Note 1 – Please ignore my crazy hair and old lady scarf and focus in on how fabulous my giant puffy sleeves are.

Love them!  I bought this top back in my teacher days and it always made me feel like a professional city lady.

Note 2 – I got to Google Video Chat with Adam tonight and it was the best thing ever.

My husband is the most handsome man on the planet!  And me…. well, I’ve got my great sleeves.

Adam has been/will be traveling a lot for interview this year and suggesting that we use the video chat today is the smartest thing he’s ever done.  I can’t even tell you how good it was to see and hear him while we said goodnight.  And this best thing ever is actually a silver lining on what seemed like a terrible situation.  You see, yesterday Adam broke his cell phone.  And if he’d had his phone with him on his trip today we wouldn’t have been on Google Chat at all.  The money and time we are going to lose fixing it and the hassle of Adam having to navigate a new city tomorrow sans phone all pale in comparison to how wonderful it was to video chat this evening.  <–silver lining

Don’t get me wrong, all of the travel has been/will be hard.  A lot of his interview dates are right on top of one another and they make our busy schedule even more hectic.  For example – he got to the apartment at 2am this morning and was heading to the airport by 6am.  This meant I got 3 hours of sleep last night.  Ugh.

It was a double pizza day.  Making a smoothie meant getting out of bed five minutes earlier so instead I breakfasted on the cheese slice Adam brought me from our favorite pizza place in Brooklyn.

Amazing and also a bit sickening.

Clinic went well today, even though I was tired.  In the morning I partnered with another student to chart on a tube feed and in the afternoon I shadowed a RD on the renal transplant floor.

Lunch was a mix of food from home and $2 spent at the salad bar with our great nutrition department discount.  A ‘Thanksgiving leftovers’ sandwich of sliced turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, and cream cheese on a Sandwich Thin.

Plus Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Chips.

And salad bar with cherry tomato, cucumber, carrot, red onion, and honey mustard dressing.

I always have to really talk myself into salad at home but when I’m out and about it tastes so good!

Dinner was round two of pizza since I was stuck on campus working on a group project.

A buffalo chicken slice that was nowhere near as good as Zetti’s.  And I dropped a greasy piece of chicken on my nice pants.  I clearly should have gone with another salad instead!

Finally, I ate 2 oz of chocolate covered kettle corn nuts while I puttered around the house this evening.

They are good, but not as good as they were inside cookies.

How do you stay close to your loved ones when you are physically far away?

{Part Of} Tuesday {In Advance}

by

Hi there!  A computer issue is going to keep me from blogging Tuesday night and all day Wednesday so I wanted to get a quickie post up today.  This content is coming to you from the past (ooooooooohh!) so it’s possible that I’ll miss some unplanned bites.  I don’t plan on recapping, I just wanted to get up an outline of sorts.

Breakfast: A mint chocolate strawberry shake; don’t question the combo, it just works.  1 heaping cup of frozen strawberries blended with 1.5 cups So Delicious Chocolate Mint Coconut Milk.

Lunch: We have clinic in the morning and an internship meeting in the afternoon and I’m hoping for time to grab veggie sushi at Wegman’s in between.

Dinner:  A sandwich thin with cilantro mayo and tofu roasted with maple and soy.  Half of the seaweed flavored potato chips from China Town in Philly.  Half of the Little Duck Organics Apple and Banana Tiny Fruits from my #simplesurvivalkit package.

You might want to check back Wednesday morning… it’s possible I’ve prescheduled a giveaway post as well.

It’s December, Apparently

by

Don’t worry, it’s not time to change your calendars; it’s only December in Emily Land.  You see, the other the day at the store I just couldn’t wait.

And today I did something really crazy.

I know that looks more mushy than crazy, but those overnight oats are made with So Delicious Coconut Milk Nog!  Nog in November? Who am I?!

My breakfast was so good it was worth breaking holiday timelines.  1/3 cup raw oats, 2/3 cup vegan nog, and 1 Tbsp chia seeds sat overnight.  This morning I topped it off with a sliced banana, nutmeg, and a little more nog.  Dee-lish-us!

Lunch was more on season with a Thanksgiving classic.

I made cranberry sauce from scratch yesterday!  I used this recipe and it came out great.  Today I ate a bowl with sweet and salty peanuts.

Plus the rest of my peanut butter rice krispie treat from the other day.  {where the heck did this picture go?!}  Maybe a little too much sugar for lunch?  I was buzzing at work.

Speaking of work, I came home from my shift with a present for Adam and myself.

I’ve been eyeing Ghost Blitz for weeks and there was only one box left today so I bought it!  We had such a good time playing this evening.

Adam and I shared a box of Thai spring rolls (with homemade spicy peanut sauce) while we played.

Round two was homemade veggie burgers.  I topped mine with honey mustard.

And the tie-breaker (Adam won!) was 2 servings of Sweet Potato Chips from Food Should Taste Good.

I should have been in bed 3 hours ago.  Boo!

Weekend Whoops

by

My weekend was full of eating oopsies.  I accidentally ate something that wasn’t vegan.  I didn’t get near enough fruits and veggies.  I took pictures on the go that don’t look very pretty.  And on both Saturday and Sunday I didn’t eat all day and ended up buying food at night (and eating far too much of it).

Saturday I worked from 10 – 6 and since I woke up at 9:25 breakfast wasn’t an option.  We have officially moved into the Christmas shopping season and there was not a minute during my shift when I had time to eat.  As soon as I was off all I could think of was food.  He is what I ate, on the walk home!  An apple from home.

And vegan stuffing,

and half a peanut butter rice krispie treat from the co-op.

All on the walk home.  Sidenote – I gave the dog a bite of the rice krispie treat and he spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out how to get more.  He’s peanut butter fiend!

Dinner was purchased with a Groupon to Lone Star Fajita Grill.

A guaco taco (sans cheese) with veggies, guacamole, and sprouts,

and a pile of chips with more guacamole.

I made it through dinner without breaking the challenge (Tex-Mex without cheese or sour cream?!) but ran into trouble with dessert.  I ate the Justin’s Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups from my Simple Survival Kit package.

If you read “MILK CHOCOLATE peanut butter cups” and knew where I ran into trouble then you are quicker than I; it wasn’t until I finished eating that it occured to me that the cups weren’t vegan.  After choosing to cheat on the Vegan Challenge several times already this month it is frustrating to mess up due to a stupid oversight.

I also ate the last two servings of Angie’s Kettle Corn straight from the bag.

Then I got into bed and slept for 11 straight hours.  It was glorious!

But even with a good night’s sleep I still didn’t have it together to eat before work.  I ended up eating co-op food on the walk home for the 2nd night in a row.

Chicken fried seitan, bbq tempeh, corn and kidney bean salad, and a stuffed grape leave.  The picture is terrible but I was more concerned with shoving the food into my face than photographing it!

The food highlight of the weekend was this delicious bowl of cereal.

1.5 servings of Honey Nut Chex with a serving of honey roasted peanuts, fresh raspberries, and Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.

I had to go to campus at 7:00 for a final meeting for a group project.  This is the assignment that has been ruining the past month’s evenings; I’m so glad to be done with it.

A late take-out dinner from Vasilis Express.

A dolmas wrap (more grape leaves!) and fries.  I ate 95% of that plate and I kind of still want to throw up.  Too heavy!

What was your last edible oops?

This Post Is {Pea}Nuts

by

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

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

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

An Enjoy Life Rice Milk Chocolate bar.

And a KIND Almond & Apricot Bar.

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

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

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

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

Dinner was awesomely quick and easy.

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

with a serving of pita chips for crunch.

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

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

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

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

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

Farro with mushroom and spinach,

and sautéed green beans.

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

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

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

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

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

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

As promised, recipes…

Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles, serves 2

  • 4 oz dry linguine
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 2 cups frozen broccoli
  • 2 tsp canola oil
  • 4 Tbsp peanut butter
  • 2 Tbsp tamari
  • 2 Tbsp  rice vinegar
  • 2.5 tsp sugar
  • (optional) dash red pepper flakes
  • (optional) 1-2 Tbsp peanuts
  1. In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, tamari, vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes if using.  You may want to microwave the bowl for 30 seconds or so to help loosen the peanut butter.
  2. Cook pasta according to package directions.  When 5 minutes of cooking time remain, add frozen veggies to the boiling water and stir.  Drain and set aside when pasta is finished.
  3. Once pasta is cooked, heat canola oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Add cooked pasta and veggies to the pan.  Cook 3 – 5 minutes, until the noodles start to get a bit crispy.
  4. Pour sauce over pasta and toss to combine.  Continue cooking for 5 – 7 minutes, until desired consistency is reached.  My family likes to cook it until the sauce starts to form a crust on the pasta, but this dish is ready to serve as soon as everything is tossed together.
  5. Serve and top with peanuts if desired.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter

  • 1 lb honey roasted peanuts (I highly recommend Trader Joe’s if you can get them)
  • 2 Tbsp canola oil
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  1. Put peanuts into food processor and process 1 – 3 minutes until mostly smooth.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and process until fully combined.

I’m Typing With One Hand…

by

…so I’ll keep this short.  Speaking of keeping things, Adam will have to keep me, my surgery went off without a hitch!

It wasn’t a big deal – I just had a benign keratosis removed from the back of my hand – but they sure were dramatic about it.

I had to wear a gown, and get wheeled into the OR.  And look at my giant bandage –

they called it a “sympathy cast!”  I’ll have my stitches in for ten days and then I’ll be right as rain.  But unfortunatly they told me that I’m not allowed to work out while my stitches are in.  I know I haven’t been working out anyway but I really was excited to start again!  Ten days…

They told me to take it easy after surgery but I actually had to head over to a friend’s house to work on a group project.  At least I got some Moe’s out of the deal.

I got a naked burrito (aka a less expensive rice bowl) with black beans, lettuce, green pepper, onion, mushroom, corn salsa, and guacamole.

Delicious.  Moe’s is a great option for Vegan Month.

Resting up didn’t happen the rest of the weekend either, I worked both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday morning was rough (on top of everything else we started an hour earlier than usual), but at least my shirt matched my bandage!

I ate an apple on the walk to work.

And a drank a Rockstar to help keep myself awake in spite of my pain medication.

My medication makes me feel pretty funny – nauseous and tired and all sorts of loopy – so I never ended up getting lunch at work.

Dinner was a buffalo seitan wrap from the co-op.

Plus a roasted potato.

Those fries are cut so nicely because the husband did it for me.  He’s been so nice helping me while I fumble around!

I did manage to catch up on some sleep this morning.  Thank goodness for Daylight Savings.  Even with the extra hour, all I managed to accomplish today was a shift at work and switching out my summer and winter wardrobe.

Breakfast was an amazing bowl of cereal.  Blackberries with cinnamon sugar, 1 serving each All Bran Bran Buds and Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola, and Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond/Coconut Milk.

I had the granola from the HLS and have wanted more ever since!

A very late lunch was purchased at the co-op after work.  Broccoli salad and vegan mac and cheese with veggies.

The mac was so tasty that I almost made Adam walk back and get me more!

Instead I was basically stoned on pain meds all evening and was a total weirdo.  Dinner just didn’t happen, though I did eat multiple desserts.

A bowl of melted peanut butter with powdered sugar and cocoa powder.

A Cara Cara Orange.

And a few pieces of primrose oil old fashioned candies.

It’s been a weird day.

Bread In Chocolate, Mystery Burgers, And Thickened Pepsi

by

I have got to stop falling asleep without blogging!  Some days (many days) are crazy and boring and I skip posting.  Other days are crazy and delicious and make me want to blog.  But two crazy and delicious days in a row makes for one loooooong recap!

Monday

Breakfast was all about the FNCE samples.  Gross was the Strawberry Del Monte Squeezable fruit.

There was a flavor there that I just didn’t care for.  Almost savory?!

Great was the Jamba Juice Fruit-i-licious Probiotic Trail Mix (I ate the whole bag, or 2 servings).

It had tons of fruit and nuts and just enough chocolate to be fun.

I planned on making dinner before I went to work so I made a quick trip to the store on my way home from school.  Coffee with skim milk to warm me up when I got home.

Archer Farms’ Cinnamon Vanilla Nut is the best flavor I’ve ever gotten from Target.

My lunch snack was a sweet tasting plate.

A sliced banana with crunchy honey pb,

and half of a Theo Bread and Chocolate Bar.

I love this bar!  Normally 70% would be a little dark for me but the saltiness of the bread really brings out the sweet in the chocolate.

I also ate a 100-calorie bag of kettle corn.

I managed to get dinner made, but not with much time to spare; I ate on the walk to work!

Roasted green beans,

and a turkey burger on a bun with sharp cheddar and Miracle Whip.

I’m going to stay cryptic and just say “burger” because this recipe was so tasty that it warrants its own separate post tomorrow.  I know most people scan these long recaps and I do NOT want this burger recipe to get lost!

After work, I ate a slice of turkey while I packed Adam’s lunch.

And that was it.  It was quite lucky that I ate dinner for lunch because otherwise I would have gone to bed hungry.

I got my flu shot Sunday morning.  PSA – Flu shots save lives.  Even if you aren’t worried about the flu, you should get the shot because it helps protect the people around you.  That said, I am having a major adverse reaction to my flu shot!

I couldn’t get a picture that really shows anything (it is surprisingly tricky to photograph your upper arm), but imagine a giant, raised, red area around my injection site.  It itches like crazy and is making me insane.  Adam didn’t see my reaction until Monday night but as soon as he did he fed me an allergy med and put me in bed.

Tuesday

When I say that Adam “put me in bed” on Monday night, it is worth mentioning that he let me pass out teeth unbrushed, jeans still on, and alarm clock unset!  I managed to make it to school on time but I was very confused this morning!

There wasn’t much time for breakfast so I grabbed a Chocolate Zico Coconut Water,

and an Odwalla Chocolate Almond Coconut Chewy Nut Bar (a FNCE sample).

Dee-lish-us!  The bar immediately moved to my “top five bars” list (now that Balance Bars aren’t good there is a major hole to fill!).  It tasted like real food, really tasty real food.

We were on campus today so I also got to cash in a free coffee card at the book store.

3 shots of espresso with tons of vanilla sugar and skim milk.  And then I twitched wildly for the rest of the day…

Instead of clinical practice at the hospital, today we had an intensive lecture on enteral and parenteral nutrition – i.e. feeding through a tube into the GI tract or through a vein.  It is insanely complicated but at least I think the calculations are a ton of fun.  I’m certainly not the smartest person in our program (not by a long shot!) but when we do any sort of math I’m usually the first person in the room to finish.  Who knew as I struggled through 9th grade pre-calculus that I’d grow up to get all tingly over formulas?!

Another fun part of the day? A rep from Nestle came in and showed us some different products.  We got to taste thickened water and thickened diet pepsi (honey consistency) –

Their commercial thickener is just xantham gum – like I used to use in my smoothies! – plus a few preservatives.

Also fun was the longer lunch period that let my friends and me go to Wegman’s.

I hadn’t packed food so this was very serendipitous.

Buffalo chicken chowder,

and a green veggie brown rice sushi roll with spicy mayo on the side for dipping.

Between buffalo sauce soup, spicy mayo dipping, and the wasabi that I slathered on top of my sushi, this lunch left me sweating!

I stole a fun sized candy bar from my friend for dessert.

Ignore my sandals, and note that I bundled up today for Fall.

Fall is here exhibit b – tea with skim milk and cinnamon sugar.

Fall is here exhibit c – the apple crumble candle I burned while I studied.

Fall is here exhibit isn’t she done with this gag yet?! – an apple crumble yogurt bowl.

This is another dish I plan on making often.  A 0% Plain Greek yogurt topped with cooked apple (a chopped Sweet Tango microwaved for 2 minutes with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 2 tsp agave) and crumble (KIND Oats and Honey Clusters granola, a FNCE sample).

The rest of dinner was a random assortment of snacks while I studied.  A chocolate chip cookie dough mini Larabar (FNCE sample).

A mini tortilla with 2 slices of Applegate Farms Honey Maple Turkey and melted sharp cheddar.

Cold, leftover green beans for veggie needs.

And a 100-calorie bag of kettle corn.

As I said, looooong!  Like hot-dog-dog long.

Have you ever had an adverse reaction to the flu shot?