Tag Archives: berries

Baby Back, Baby Back, Baby Back

by

Yesterday we got our baby back!

It was exciting and eventful.  Webster gets carsick but we figured he would be good for running a few errands in the car after we picked him up from boarding.  Nope!  As we pulled up to our final stop he projectile vomited all over the laundry Adam had in the backseat.

I hopped out and walked him the rest of the way and he felt fine by the time we got home.  He wasn’t too keen on the bath that followed though.

He is adorably pitiful when wet!

Yesterday brought another homecoming as well.

Uggggggh!  I’m back in retainers full-time for the next 9 weeks.  It’s going to suck, but at the end I should be officially done with day-time wearing.  I didn’t blog yesterday because I was eating mushy things (plus lots of pizza!).

I kept breakfast soft today too.

Coffee with Silk Vanilla Almond Milk.

And berry banana soft serf.

I food-processed 1 large frozen banana with 1/2 cup each fresh blueberries and raspberries.  It was perfectly tart and sweet.

I was online while I ate.  I randomly freaked out about room availability for a conference I’m attending in October and booked a motel.  Between pricing, checking distances, and coordinating with friends it took up my whole morning.

I did squeeze in a “something is better than nothing” workout.  20 minutes on the elliptical at level 8 random.

Do I look professional?

The afternoon was spent on interviews for both school and job things.  Cross your fingers for me please?

I scheduled my appointments with room to spare so I killed time in between at The Spot with a large cold-pressed coffee with skim milk.

For today, this was one coffee too many; I’ve felt sick to my stomach ever since.

We are leaving for vacation on Thursday so I had to buy a few travel-sized items this evening.  Then I came home to an easy dinner.

Roasted green beans.

I used frozen instead of fresh this time and these weren’t very good.  I ended up having to add a side of french dressing (unphotographed) for dipping.

Plus cold pizza, x2.

Pro tip- Pizza Hut has really good deals on Monday nights.  Yesterday we spent $25 on four cheese pizzas.  I put them in the fridge to cool and then portioned slices into freezer baggies (wrapped in foil for extra protection).  Now we are stocked up on cheap frozen meals.  I also bought tons of fresh berries on super-sale that are waiting to be bagged.

How often do you buy food with intent to freeze it for later?  Any items that you think freeze great/not so well?

The Last Three Days

by

The last three days have been great. Summer school is over! I’m a senior! (again!) We went to Ohio! Yep, I wasn’t blogging because the summer of weekend fun has officially begun. Let’s back up to Friday morning first.

I stayed up late on Thursday (Adam was studying and I was doing nothing) so waking up was rough. Somehow I did manage to get out of bed and make it to the gym. And then I did strength training! I walked on the treadmill for 7 minutes to warm up and then spent 30 minutes rotating though a cycle of strength machines plus stretch moves on the mat.

Since I actually did weights work it seemed like the perfect time for the Honey Core Power protein drink I bought on sale.

It was fine, not great, but 26 grams of protein in a few minutes is nothing to sneeze at.

To celebrate our last day, our teacher brought in garden chili.

I had a bowl topped with cheddar,

and another glass of lemon sweet tea.

When the day was over a few friends and I celebrated on our own. First we grabbed the dog,

and then we walked to Dolci,

for bourbon cinnamon gelato.

Eeeeee, this tasted so good! The cinnamon was pretty subdued and it had the best texture, almost airy.

Then Adam and I were in the car for weekend #1 of summer fun.

I packed us leftovers for dinner.

Buffalo Chicken Baked Pasta.

We both agreed that this dish is one of best things I make.

Saturday morning I managed to sleep until 11:30 …on the living room floor …while people screamed at the top of their lungs playing Battleship! Tired much?

For lunch I did my best to pick and choose a meal from McDonald’s.

Two packs of apple slices,

and a fruit and yogurt parfait.

Plus a (mini) S’more Monster Cookie for dessert.

I thing I like these cookies even better when they are regular sized.

We spent the afternoon at our niece’s dance recital. There were kids of all ages, including a class of three-year olds twirling around in giant tutus. And now my ovaries hurt!

Dinner was re-dic-u-lous.

Salad with honey mustard dressing.

French fries. With butter for the …

Crab legs!

All you could eat. Apparently I could eat five clusters. And then I was very, very full.

Though not too full for candy at the movies a few hours later.

We saw Prometheus and I do not recommend it. The “Alien” nerds on all of the forums were right, the characters are dumb and I didn’t care what happened to them.

The parents made us all breakfast this morning before we had to hit the road. I had a glass of skim milk,

and a pancake (with butter and syrup) and fresh fruit.

The opposite of fresh, Adam and I snacked on this cookies and cream Chex Mix on the road.

I ate ~2 serving’s worth.

We had to stop at the mall on the way home to get the husband new sandals so we got froyo too.

I got a tiny bit of tart yogurt with tons of fruit and popping boba.

We we’ve been home about an hour and I’ve already eaten two of the Hawaiian rolls that Adam brought home.

Clearly it’s time to rustle up dinner!  See ya tomorrow.

Summer Weekend Excitement

by

Tomorrow’s the last day of summer school!  It’s also the weekend, as well as the start of 8 weekends in a row of fun/important things.  Starting with this weekend –

  1. We are driving to Ohio to see our niece in a dance recital and stay in Adam’s brother’s new house.
  2. We are flying to the Outer Banks for a vacation with my in-laws.
  3. I’m going on a wine tour with a group of friends.
  4. The Italian Festival is happening.
  5. Adam is taking a really big, important exam.  (And then I celebrate my 27th birthday a few days later.)
  6. My parents are coming to visit.
  7. I’ll be in Ohio visiting my grandma with my parents.
  8. We will be celebrating the 1-year anniversary of Webster’s Buyday.

It’s going to be an amazing summer!  I just have to get through one more day of school first.  I can’t really complain about today though, as we did two fun things.

Early things.  I had to be at my friend’s apartment to carpool at 7:30.  I tried to make a smoothie for an easy breakfast but it didn’t quite work out.

I blended 1.5 cups Silk Vanilla Almond Milk, 1 Tbsp chia seeds, and 1.5 cups frozen strawberries.  Sounds good right?  Not even close.  The texture was there but the smoothie just tasted like watered down milk.  I ended up throwing it out after a few sips.

We started early because our class was taking a tour of the Clinton Bailey Farmers’ Market.

Our next fun activity took us to the kitchen lab.  We practice quantity cooking and made ourselves lunch!

There were more than two dishes but this was all that appealed to me.  Pasta with garlic and spinach,

and a really amazing salad with strawberries, blue cheese, and candied pecans.

Plus sweet tea with lemon and orange to drink.

One group made several batches of cookies and there’s no ac so it was boiling in that kitchen.

When I got home in the afternoon I made myself a glorious snack.

A sliced Gala with 2 heaping Tbsp melted Biscoff Spread.

I shared a few bites of apple with the dog but the only one licking the Biscoff bowl was me!

I tried to take Webster on a walk/run but the husband was at home so it didn’t work.  I adore that dog but sometimes his obsession with the husband is a drag.  If we walk him together he’s perfect.  If Adam is at school and I walk him he’s perfect.  But if Adam is at home and the dog knows Adam is at home, if I try to walk him he sits and tugs as we head away from the house and pulls me off of my feet when we head back.  Ugh.

I got so irritated with the dog the I ended up dropping him back home and going off angrily for a run.  A run-run.

1 mile-ish running + 3 minutes walking + 1 mile-ish running.  2.4 miles and 24:30 minutes.

I am pretty damn proud of maintaining a 10 minute mile pace in spite of the walking, but I am so not ready for run-running.  This basically killed me.  I need to stick with my run/walking plan for a while longer (and more consistently!).

Afterward I walked a bit more.. to the Co-op for a Blue Monkey Coconut Water.

I was soaked by the end of my run and this seemed like the best way to rehydrate.  Plus it was tasty.

Adam and I split a mango.

I’ve officially decided that mangos make my “top three” list for favorite fruits.  I also like cookie dough.

I took 2 – 3 cookies’ worth of nibbles while baking tonight.  I’m making Mini (aka regular cookie-sized) S’mores Monster Cookies.  Not the best dinner, but it worked; I got plenty of veggies at lunch.

Any excitement on your agenda for the summer?

Early Mornings

by

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!

Father’s Day

by

Did everyone have a happy end to their weekend?  Things have been quiet around these parts, mostly because the husband caught a summer cold.  Poor boy!

I did get up at 6 am to start my book club recipe but then I spent half the day napping to make up for it.  And we did start our second morning (at 10am!) with a quick Fur-Fathers’ Day walk.

I love those guys.

The tree outside of our house is sprouting cherries!!!!

Would it be crazy to eat them?

Brunch was a veggie scramble.  I cooked chopped poblano and broccoli into four eggs (split between the two of us).

Plain yogurt and creamy mushroom soup were also in the mix.

I rounded out my meal with some tasting as I spent my afternoon in the kitchen.  A puppy treat and a people treat were made and I’ll be sharing the recipes this week.

I’m not feeling so hot either and cooking was basically my only accomplishment this weekend.  I spent half my day moping because I’m just so tired of myself.  It would have been too flipping easy to get my stuff done in advance and instead I’m waking up early tomorrow to plough through things last-minute.

We had salads in the afternoon.

Romaine topped with 2 Tbsp of Wegman’s peanut sauce and 1 Tbsp each buckwheat groats, tamari almonds, flax, and white cheddar.

It was really good.

I stocked Adam up with leftovers and I ate dinner at book club.

We didn’t actually read a book this month but it was good to get together and talk (and eat!)

I had bruschetta, cheesy artichoke dip, and strawberry guacamole with blue chips.

A small glass of wine.

Roasted veggie enchillada.

And (messy, tasty) pie.

(Recipe’s coming by Tuesday)

P.S. I love you Daddy!!

Bike Then Bar

by

Today was the first day of class and I still managed to get in a morning workout!

Bike Or Bar, the new spinning gym on Elmwood, offers a free trial class to all newbies. A friend and I decided to try it out with 6am spin.  I was worried that the wake-up would be brutal but I was so excited that it was ok.  I used to hate spinning so my expectations weren’t very high but I ended up loving it!  The intervals were a lot of fun.  The instructor had great energy and I enjoyed the modern music.  A mega plus is that the space is set up to mimic a bar; with the dimmed lighting, strobe lights, and loud music I didn’t feel on display like I do in stark white gyms.  I can’t afford another membership right now but if we had more money I would definitely go back!  60 minute spin class.

The real morning excitement was getting to pick Webster up from boarding.

The vet’s office was closed for the holiday and the apartment has felt empty without him the past two days.

Breakfast was a green pear,

and a Banana Foster Lara Bar Uber.

A quick note on the bar – this was a free blog sample.  Lara Bar sent me the flavors from their new Uber line to try out.

The Uber line is supposed to be sweet and salty with big pieces of fruit and nut.  It delivered!  Just look at this texture –

There were lots of nuts and big chunks of chewy banana.  The flavor was salty and just a little sweet and you couldn’t taste the date at all (the only thing I dislike about regular Lara Bars is the overwhelming date flavor).  I can’t wait to try the other three flavors.

When we were at spin class Janessa gave me the awesome news that class didn’t start until 9 am today.  We took advantage of the extra time and went to Dunkin for coffee.

I’m not really sure why the woman gave me so much milk.  I got a large latte with skim milk and coconut/cinnamon syrup.  ‘Twas good.  And fun to have done spinning and coffee before 9am.

Summer school is going to suck.  That’s all I’ll say about that for now.

For lunch I packed a turkey sandwich.  Applegate Farms Smoked Turkey, French Onion Light Laughing Cow, and a Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin.

Baby carrots.

And some dark chocolate mint m&m’s.

After school I made my final trek to the Sprint Store.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned all of my visits but I’ve had to take my phone in three times over the past two weeks.  This was the last time every because today I picked up my *new* phone.  And since I had to come in so many times before the waived all fees and it was free!

I sat at Panera setting up my phone (my new phone! for the final time!) and ate a chocolate croissant.

It was surprisingly good.  Chocolate croissants are a favorite food that I almost never eat.

When dinner time rolled around I did some hardcore wife-ing.  I roasted a whole chicken!

I followed a recipe from Kitchen Counter Cooking School and it was easy as pie chicken.  We started with a 3 lb 8 oz free-range bird.  I made a mixture of butter, lemon juice, and fresh rosemary that I rubbed under and on top of the skin.  Then I stuffed the inner cavity with the juiced lemons and a few bulbs of garlic.  Baked at 425* for 1 hr 15 minutes with occasional basting.

It turned out wonderfully!

I ate a chicken thigh sans skin.

With sides of roasted zucchini,

and sliced carrots cooked in brown sugar and butter.

It was a winner of a dinner.

Though not that appropriate for the weather.  Bring on the chilled salads and gazpacho.

Smoothies for dessert helped us to cool back down.

For two, I blended – 1.75 cups Silk Vanilla Almond Milk, .25 cup frozen blueberries, 1 large frozen banana, 3 Tbsp malted milk powder, and 1/2 Tbsp almond extract.

It was a good mix.  I need to remember my almond extract more often.

See you for hump day.

Our Trip To Toronto

by

The past weekend was so much fun!  We’ve decided it was our best couple vacation to date.  We weren’t expecting to get to go on a trip this summer but a Living Social deal popped up and it was just too good to turn down.  Our voucher included a one night hotel stay, dinner, and tickets to a movie.  We filled in the rest of our time with lots of exploring.  It was fabulous!

Our Saturday did get off to a bit of a late start; we had a tragedy Friday night.

We were cutting Webster’s nails and Adam did two of them too short and he bled.  The worst part was that he is such a good boy – and was so focused on the treat in my hand – that he just sat there and we didn’t know there was a problem until there was blood dripping down my leg.

He mostly seemed fine, but I cried.  Thank goodness we board him at the vet so he was well looked after while we were gone.  He was due for a stool sample and vaccine too so the timing was great.

But we did miss him like crazy!

Once we were on the road I snacked on a Cara Cara orange.

Plus a Rockstar Relax I bought along the way.

I’ll just warn you in advance, my allergies make my throat hurt and I basically did nothing but drink all weekend.  I think the final count was eight beverages, not including the giant water bottle I carried around in my purse.

Before we knew it, we had reached Toronto!

We settled in at our hotel.

Then we spent hours exploring the Asian section of town.

We saw so many neat things and we walked for-ev-er.  Plus we ate tons of good food.  The first order of business was bubble tea.

Adam and I split this taro milk tea with boba.

Mmmmn!

Then we split a sugar cane juice.

We both grew up with sugar cane – me in St. Thomas and Adam on vacations in Hawaii – so this was familiar and fun.

Totally new to us was this cool shop where you went around with tongs and picked out items to put on a tray.  Then you paid and they packaged your selection to go.

We got a chicken bun and a pork bun.  I ate half of mine.

And Adam and I split this taro pastry.

So pretty!

We split these gummi moo cows from a candy shop.

We stopped in at a David’s Tea.

I got an iced (unsweetened) Cream of Earl Grey and it was very tasty.

I’ve wanted to order some of their flavors for forever (birthday cake! ice cream cake! buttered rum!) so it was great to try it out.

Our lunch spot was selected because I liked the windows.

It ended up being a pho restaurant.

We went all out and ordered two milkshakes.

Jackfruit and durian!!

Trying durian is on my life list so this was super exciting.  The shakes ended up being made with powder instead of the real deal but it was fun to get an idea of the flavor.  I only drank a quarter or so of each but they were nice to have when my meal got spicy.

My order was sautéed mixed vegetables with tofu and vermicelli.

Which I proceeded to douse in Sriracha.

I mean douse.  I covered the dish just like this twice more and I didn’t even eat the whole meal.

Gaaaaah; it was so flipping good!

Our exploration took us almost 5 miles.  When we went to shower we both needed thirty minutes to lay on the bed with our feet up!

Our evening plans were decided by our Living Social deal, which included dinner and a movie.  Dinner was from a pre-fixe menu at the hotel’s restaurant.  We were not expecting it to be very good and we were not surprised.  But you can’t beat free.

The complimentary bread was wonderful.

But it went downhill from there.

I ordered the Caesar salad to start.

The menu said that it came with shaved parmigiano reggiano and authentic anchovy dressing but it was definitely canned cheese and bottled dressing.  The one plus was that the dressing came on the side.  I ate 3/4.

My main meal was pasta.  “Smoked chicken/charred sweet bell peppers/black olives/toasted pine nuts/shaved parmigiano reggiano/extra virgin olive oil and basil pesto.”

I ate 1/3.

We were fairly disenchanted at that point so we took dessert to go.

Meyer lemon cheesecake with huckleberry jam, chantilly cream, and seasonal berries.  That I finished.

For our movie we selected “The Five Year Engagement.”  It was pretty cute.  I stole a few handfuls of Adam’s Crazy Core Skittles while we watched.

It was fun to walk to and from the movie but by the time we were back at the hotel I was done with exploring and more than ready for bed!

After a good night’s sleep we woke up on Sunday raring to go.

Our 2nd day was a shorter version of our first; walking and eating.  This time we explored Bloor Street.

We were planning on going to Menchies (duh!) when we spotted a new froyo spot further down the street.

Yogurty’s was fantabulous!

I got espresso and coconut frozen yogurts topped candy bits, coconut, cocoa syrup, sprinkles and a cherry.

We both thought it was the best self-serve froyo we’ve ever had.

I also had a final bubble tea.

A black milk tea with boba.

And when we spotted one of these fancy machines you know we had to try it out.

My diet cherry coke was only ok but the process was cool.  And diet pop is always a good way to end a vacation.  After a bit more exploring we drove back home.  You already saw the rest of the day.

Self-serve froyo?  Bubble tea?  Lots of walking?  Trying new foods?  Check, check, check, and check; it was a wonderful trip!

Sunday Disposition

by

Welcome, weekend warriors!

No Saturday post because I spent most of the day moping around the house.  Little was accomplished, though I did get the laundry done.

I got so sick of myself that I made damn sure to have fun today.  And I’ve been thinking positive thoughts about the upcoming week as well.  I want to make sure my last 8 days before summer school are as productive/relaxing/fun/healthy as possible.

We got this morning off to a tasty/healthy start with sludge smoothies to go.

Enjoyed out of repurposed jars instead of fancy stemware because we were on a family walk.

In the blend were unmeasured amounts of frozen banana, frozen blackberries, frozen spinach, and oj.

Plus a piece of rye bread with strawberry jam and Smart Balance Light when we got home.

Our new jam is the store-brand version of Crofter’s (ie organic and with no added sugar) and sadly it’s not very good.

Lunch was consumed out of hand.  A slice of pizza (now you see what we did on Saturday!),

a Cara Cara orange,

and half of this package of mint m&m’s.

I’ve never been a huge m&m person but these mint ones are fantasmic.  Perhaps because they are dark chocolate?  They are one of the few (the only?!) desserts that actually tastes better to me in small quantities.

We walked to dinner and surreptitiously enjoyed Black Jack Colas along the way.

We went on a sushi date.

Kunis has been on our “Buffalo: Go To” list for months and I’m glad we finally gave it a shot because it was great and we’ll definitely be back.

I ordered three small plates to make up my meal.  First, Wakame Salad.

Seasoned and dressed seaweed, with sesame and chili flakes.  I’ve been trying to get Adam to taste seaweed salad for years and now that he finally did he’s officially obsessed (we stopped at the co-op on the way home because he was hoping to find more!).  I will say that Kuni’s version was one of the best I’ve ever had.  But – the photo isn’t deceiving you, it was a ridiculously small portion.

My soup course was a bowl of Udon.

Thick white flour noodles in a light broth, topped with sweetened tofu, wakame and scallions.  At $3.75 this huge bowl was a steal.  The sweet tofu wasn’t my favorite but the slightly sweet and sour broth was great.

Finally, a veggie roll.

It had asparagus, mushroom, and some pickled vegetable that I’m not remembering.  Be forewarned – the wasabi at Kunis is fresh!  I gobbed it on the way I usually do and my first bite almost killed me.  It wasn’t necessarily spicy – in fact we both noticed that this wasabi put no spice on your tongue and was strangely sour – but a bunch of it stuck to the roof of my mouth and I started choking and breaking out in a cold sweat.  Adam said my face was BRIGHT red!

We had a great walk home; Kuni’s is just far enough away to be fun.  My dinner was good but on the smaller side and my mouth didn’t feel done so I ate a mug of cereal when we got home.

1 cup of Honey Nut Shredded Wheat with skim milk.  Aaaaand, scene.