Tag Archives: berries

Oh, Balls

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Oh.  Hello there.  Are you here to hear me talk about my balls?  Well calm down, I’m getting to that.  I do have some exciting ball news but there was lots of excitement today.

Like my discovery of my new favorite smoothie of all time.

I know it doesn’t look like much but this new combination was freaking amazing.  I put 1 cup of lemonade and 2 Tbsp of chia seeds in my blender and left them to soak.  Five minutes later I added 1 cup of frozen strawberries and then blended like crazy.  Here’s an outside picture so you can really see the color –

Un-be-leave-a-bull!  The chia seeds mostly blended but still left a nice chew and their nuttiness was the perfect foil to the sweet and sour of the strawberry lemonade.

Even better, my smoothie actually held my stomach through my 4 hour class.  I attribute this to the chia seeds.  My 2 Tbsp of chia seeds gave my smoothie an extra 140 calories, 5 grams of protein, 11 grams of fiber, and 7 grams of polyunsaturated fats (mostly omega-3s).  source

That’s not to say I wasn’t ready for lunch though.  We had a “welcome back” department lunch today, complete with food.

I took a slice of mushroom pizza,

a few fresh veggies,

and some amazingly fresh strawberries and watermelon.

I also grabbed a 2nd slice later on.

In other lunch news I finally had an apple month win!

This caramel apple iced coffee from my school’s coffee shop totally hit the spot.  I did only drink half of that monster (I thought I was ordering a small) but I definitely made sure to get every last lick of caramel out of my cup.

Fully fueled, I headed to the gym for a L-O-O-O-N-G spells long workout.  I had a time goal and a length goal and I ended up hitting my time goal long before my length one; ie I took too many walking breaks and was slow!  I did a looong warm up and looong cool down with walk/run intervals in between that ended up being a lot of walking. 

In the end I covered 9 miles in 1 hour and 53 minutes.  As slow as you can move and still call it running but the distance at least is nothing to sneeze at.  P.S. I’m having some issues with the bones in my right foot but my legs feel great; yay!

Alright already, let’s talk about the balls.

S’mores Oat Balls.  Click here for the recipe link.  I swear to God this recipe was inspired by the S’mores Quaker Chew Bars and not my desire to say the word balls repeatedly after eating and rewatching Schweddy Balls.

The recipe was simple but the end result was delicious yet subtle.  Part s’more, part oat, totally acceptable for breakfast!  I resisted any nibbling while I assembled but I did eat two balls as soon as they were formed.

Make them at home, I promise you’ll love my balls.

Since we ate dessert first dinner needed to be a 15 minute affair.

I prepared 2 servings of spirals pasta, stirring frozen spinach and peas into the mix in the last few minutes of boiling.  Then I made Emily’s Nutritional Yeast Sauce and tossed everything together.

Yum, I thought the nutritional yeast was really good; though that could have been my love for peas with pasta talking.  Head over to The Daily Garnish (recipe link) to see all the benefits of nutritional yeast, but suffice to say dinner was healthy.

Adam has a test tomorrow and I have a really hard time sleeping when he’s not in bed (the upcoming surgical rotation should be fun!) so I’m going to stay up with him.  Studying, blog reading, perhaps a shower; who knows what I’ll get done.

P.S. I used the word “balls” 10 times in this post.  Sorry, Nana!

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?

Fillo Me Up

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When Adam got home at 3 o’clock (two hours late, I might add) we realized that neither of us and had eaten all day and we were both starving.  Waiting for dinner wasn’t an option because of our stomachs, eating at home wasn’t at options because of our pantry, and grabbing food close by wasn’t an option because we’re growing tired of Elmwood take-out.  To the internets!

I found a Groupon for Mississippi Mudds that we could buy and use this afternoon so we headed out.

The food was cheap and sounded good so we were excited to try something new.

Adam and I got a spread to share and headed to the roof for a meal with a view.

Problem # 1 – The complete and total bee infestation at Mississippi Mudds scared us back inside in a matter of minutes.  Problem # 2 – The food was freaking bad.

I ordered the seafood salad sandwich.

I knew that there was a chance of the fake crab mix but this was basically egg salad!  I ate about 1/3 before giving up.  Plus, even with my small serving I was left completely nauseous which means I’m probably sensitive to one of the preservatives in the fake crab mixture.  <– yet another reason it’s better to eat whole foods

Adam and I also split the sweet potato fries with honey and butter (on the side).

I imagine it’s hard to produce a product that is both undercooked and burnt but they managed.  The fries were cold too, which was pretty much the final straw for us.  We’d give Mississippi Mudds a 1.5/10; the only positive was that we used a Groupon so we only had to pay 50%.

So in spite of our efforts to branch out, the bulk of lunch ended up coming from our old standby.  Wegman’s hot bar can basically do no wrong.  I got a broccoli mixture and a cauliflower mixture, plus some apple cider sweet and sour chicken.

Still cheap, but now healthy and delicious!

I have a less busy weekend with time for school work so I spent my afternoon watching tv instead of studying.  I’m typically not an emotional eater (I eat junk because it makes me happy, not because I’m sad) but I will admit that the full glass of Arnold Palmer the dog spilled on the couch did push me towards the this mint chocolate chip swirl cupcake.

I ate the top half of the cake with icing, because that’s the good part anyways.

The husband and I weren’t hungry again for dinner until pretty late in the evening so we wanted something quick.  Thank you HLS swag bag, for the mini fillo shells.

Our final meal was “Strawberry Fields” themed.

We baked the mini fillo shells with chunky peanut butter, diced strawberries, and a sprinkle of brown sugar.

I ate 6 (technically two servings for 90 calories total) and the pb&j feel was perfect.

On the side we had salads with leftover diced strawberries.

Also romaine lettuce, roasted buckwheat groats, crumbled blue cheese, and Newman’s Own Light Caesar Dressing.

Cheese plus fruit (particularly blue or goat cheese with any type of berry) is a combo that never fails.

Fellow HLS attendees; what did you do with your fillo shells?

If At First You Don’t Succeed

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I’m 0-for-2 in my efforts to hit the gym before school.  On Monday I had those weird nightmares and I wasn’t well-rested.  Last night I got in bed at 10:30 (it should have been closer to 9:30) and then the dog woke me up at 3am and I couldn’t fall back to sleep.  I turned off the alarm this morning but I was more determined than ever to make this work.  I’m not working out tomorrow and Thursday’s plan is a longer session, but I’m going to give it all I’ve got on Friday morning.  I guess I’m in the second stage of if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  For now, I’m going to make an effort to go to bed early the next two nights to prepare.

At least staying at home gave me time to make a healthy breakfast.

For two servings, I blended 2 cups of frozen strawberries, 2 scoops of chocolate protein powder, 1 cup of unsweetened So Delicious coconut milk, and 1 cup of green tea.

The addition of the green tea gave our smoothies a totally unique flavor.  I like what the protein powder does for the texture (and the protein content, duh!) but I don’t love how chalky it makes things taste.  Any suggestions?

I drank my smoothie on the walk to campus but halfway through my 4 hour class I was devouring half a tin of Altoids.  I think I’ll need to bring a snack for my extra long classes from now own.

Fueled by Altoids, I headed to the gym after class.  45 minutes on the elliptical at random, level 6.  I put in the time on the elliptical but I didn’t really put in the effort, my brain and body were both ready for lunch!  At least I finished my session with some quick strength and stretching moves.

I’d like to say I ate as soon as I stopped sweating, but sadly the dog crushed my soul by eating his pee pad first.  Between the walk home, discipline, and taking a shower, I didn’t actually sit down to lunch until almost 4pm!

At least it was worth the wait.  The same combo as Sunday night, a serving of bbq kale and beans topped with tons of Parmesan, Sriracha, and a dollop of 0% Plain Fage.

For dessert I tried this can of horchata de leche I found at the grocery store.

The taste nice and cinnamony but I did miss the chew factor of regular horchata.

I’m off to take the monster on a walk and build back up my appetite for our tasty dinner.

When do you usually workout?

How to do use protein powder to make it less chalky?

Healthy Living Summit 2011 Mega Recap

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This post is going to be huge, so there are a few facts I want to establish before I begin –

* The Healthy Living Summit (HLS) was fabulous and I had a wonderfully fun time.  However, since I didn’t have internet all weekend this is going to be a monster post and I’m not going to include as many details as I’d like.

* I met and hung out with some amazing people.  So many, in fact, that I think it makes the most sense for me not to link back to anyone.

* I snapped a photo of every piece of food that went into my mouth but I wasn’t so good on people or places; I was too busy enjoying those things to photograph them.

Okey doke, let’s start from the beginning…

So, this happened exactly halfway between Buffalo and Philly –

Usually a picture of a flat tire would be followed by many four letter words but the only one I could think of was l-u-c-k.  My trip to Philly was greasy, two hours longer than planned and completely exhausting, but I actually started crying because I felt so grateful.  The things I am thankful for –

  • It rained 70% of my trip but not a drop fell during the two hours I was standing on the side of the road changing my tire.
  • My tire blew on a small side road and not when I was going 70 mph on the highway.
  • I was able to take off the nuts and jack up the car all by myself, and if the tire hadn’t been completely rusted to the axle I probably could have done the entire thing myself like a total badass.
  • The nicest man on earth not only stopped to help me out, but drove back to his house for the sledgehammer it took to get my tire off.
  • The nice man gave me directions to his nice friends’ body shop, where they replaced my tire and fixed me up for only $20.

Isn’t the world amazing?  Before the whole debacle I drank a guava Rockstar for breakfast,

and afterwards I shakily ate the half turkey sandwich with cheese and cranberry mayo that I packed from the Co-op. 

And I made it (with aching forearms) to Philly with time to shower and change before the HLS cocktail party.

The drinks, provided by Drink Chia, were super tasty.

This cocktail was a mix (I believe) of Drink Chia, strawberries, and vodka.  It tasted sort of like a bubble tea with mini bobba!

The food was pretty good as well.

I had a corn and crab fritter, a piece of pretzel crusted chicken, a few small bites, plus another piece of the chicken.

Everything was tasty but there wasn’t quite enough sustenance for dinner so a few of us ended up in the hotel restaurant for a late night snack.

I went with the s’mores mousse shooter.

Plus I scarfed up one of the Lindt truffles they brought with the bill.

It was a sweet end to the first day.

The next morning (Saturday) we were up bright and early for breakfast.  Cereal with skim milk,

an Oikos drinkable yogurt with a juicy plum – sidenote, I feel like I had food dripping down my face this whole weekend! –

and a much-needed coffee.

Around this point I realized I probably should be snapping more pictures like a good blogger.

Though I did snag a shot of me with two of my roomies.

I didn’t love the Quaker Smashbar provided on the snack break so I only ate half of it.

But I did love the RD Quaker provided as the key-note speaker.  She wrote a book on being a flexatarian and I loved her points about embracing plants more than avoiding meats.  In fact, all of the sessions were pretty darn informative and inspirational.

Before I knew it, it was time for lunch.

Side salad for greens,

quinoa salad, which had some sort of acid component that took it over the top,

and half a tofu sandwich on Great Harvest bread, squeal!

For dessert I grabbed a milk chocolate crunch Attune probiotic bar.

I had no idea these would be so delicious!  I was very excited to see some coupons in my swag bag.

After the sessions we went to do some city exploring.

Here are all my roomates,

and here is the Liberty Bell.

I’m glad we sight-saw in the way that we did, because our travels took us to Farmacia for dinner.

Yum, seriously just yum x 1000.  The wait staff was so sweet and accommodating of our 12-person party, the space was adorable, and the food was delicious.

I was ravenous and I think my heart actually skipped a beat when this bread and herbed butter were brought to the table.

I ate this slice times two.

Since it was a vacation I went with a John Daly to drink.

Sweet tea vodka and fresh squeezed lemonade, yes please!  A few people sipped my drink and we all agreed it was the best Arnold Palmer ever.

And then came the food.  Which was basically ridiculous.

I ordered the sweet corn and risotto croquettes.  Which came with garden veggie ratatouille,

and sautéed spinach that blew my mind.  It must have been the butter sauce that was floating on my plate.

The spinach was the best thing I ate all weekend, but the croquettes were perfect too; crunchy and creamy all at the same time.  I ate 1.5 croquettes and all of my veggies and was basically in heaven.

You know I have to get self-serve froyo if I’m in a new city.

I got peanut butter, cream cheese (!!), and tart, topped with all the berries, caramel sauce, and sprinkles.

Fueled by sugar, a group of us stayed up until practically 3am!  Normally a 3 am bedtime and 8 am Sunday workout would feel brutal, but I think I was too excited to be tired.  I don’t have any pictures, but I did participate in the HLS 5k.  A huge group walked/ran around the city including the Rocky steps.

When we got back it was time for oatmeal.

Topped with flax, cinnamon, and walnuts.

I also had about a billion mugs of Tazo Earl Grey tea with skim milk.

I am completely obsessed (I stole a few packets from breakfast!) and need to buy this asap.

After the festivities wrapped, a group of us did some more exploring around Philly.

This is what happens when you give bloggers a group photo-op –

For lunch we sought out Philly cheese steaks.  I found success at the Basic 4 Vegetarian Snack Bar.

This monster was vegan, but there is basically no way that the traditional meat sandwich could be better.

I left a lot of the bread, but gobbled up the “meat” which was crunchy in the most pleasing way.  Such a great way to end the weekend!

Around 2 I made my final goodbyes and headed out.  Though I did stop at Whole Foods for an Argo Tea Mojitea for the road.

It was very tasty, but my next two drinks were much more telling.  A grande white mocha coconut frappuccino with 2 extra shots of espresso.

And a huge diet pop with a splash of cherry coke.

Can you say exhausted?!  But I made it home in one piece and had a wonderful weekend to boot!

Did you attend HLS?  What’d you think?

I Lied

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I lied.

I know I said I wasn’t going to blog until Friday, but the minute I told myself I didn’t have to, then I wanted to.  It’s like I just needed the freedom not to.  Does that make sense to anyone else?

Anyway, I’m glad I decided to blog because I’m having a good day.  This morning was full of excitement; I went with some friends to buy our lab coats for clinical.

Like a boss RD.  Though I imagine I’ll look less silly when I’m not rocking jeans underneath.  I’m just glad to have that trip out of the way before the school year starts.

My friend Hillary drove, so I walked to campus in the morning to meet up.  Afterward I got dropped off at home to grab Webster for a walk and we ended up accompanying my friend Janessa back to campus.  All total I made the trip three times, which is good practice since I plan on walking to class again this semester.

The non-canine walkers got Starbucks during the walk.  I drank a tall white mocha frappuccino but I don’t have a photo because I still thought I wasn’t blogging.  Here’s what you want to see a picture of anyway –

Have I mentioned I’m in love?  We call him Webs, Dog, or Little Dude.

I’m glad that coffee fills me up because I had lots of little things to do on my computer, and I took Webster on another walk, and before I knew it 3 o’clock came without me eating any solid food.  I was heading to the grocery anyway and luckily I found a magazine in our mailbox on the way so I grabbed hot bar for lunch.

Panang tofu, channa masala, and veggies from the cashew chicken.

plus fruit for dessert.

I had to replenish our stores so I could cook Adam casserole for while I’m gone.  Speaking of which, I probably should start thinking about packing for HLS, huh?

Bloggers – how often would you say you just don’t feel like blogging?  What helps you push through your rut?

Pizza Powered

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As planned, we ordered a pie from Just Pizza last night and it was fabulous.

We got a Laura’s Old Fashioned – “The way our Mother used to make it. Made with Extra Thick Dough, a special Sweet Pizza Sauce (fresh sliced Onions in the sauce), Mozzarella & Romano Cheese, topped with Mushrooms.”

Not so fabulous was the way I felt after eating 5 slices this size.

Fat, ill, and irritated with myself for noting getting up an eating a salad.  On the plus side though, it’s sort of like Adam and I were carbo-loading for our run this morning!  If nothing else, our glycogen stores were nice and prepared.

Actually we were prepped all around, this is the run I got to test out my new shoes on.

I’m 90% sure I like them, but I’m going to run in them once more to be sure since my most recent pair sucked so badly.

I also tested out my new favorite shirt;

handmade by ME at last week’s tie dye party.

I think it’s pretty darn cute.

It was a good run to feel cute on, because I was mostly feeling like a jackass that I haven’t worked out all summer.  My planned 3.5 miles were tough.  We had two 1.75 mile loops around Delaware Park and I’m just glad I finished.  I had to take a few walking breaks, but I made sure to run for a least five minutes each time and walk for no more than 2 minutes at a time.  3.5 miles in 40 minutes and 20 seconds.  Followed by a 10 minute walk.

The rest of the agenda was shower ~ ice ~ grocery ~ clean the dirty apartment ~ dinner.  Thankfully our grocery trip was made much more exciting by our plan to sit in the cafe for a few hours so Adam could study.  I got cozy reading Nancy.

Sidenote – I am completely and utterly obsessed with the Nancy Drew books.

And got exciting lunch from the hot bar.

In an effort to save a bit of money, we also supplemented with salads from home.

In the end my meal ended up being arugula topped with carrots, 2 Tbsp of wheat germ, 1/4 cup of roasted chick peas, and 2 Tbsp of tarragon vinaigrette.

Plus roasted veggies, chili garlic eggplant, and veggies picked out of the cashew chicken,

and a few pieces of pineapple and berries.

Delish.  I read my first Nancy and munched and was in absolute bliss.

Unfortunately, the grocery took longer than anticipated and once I added in a last-minute walk to the co-op and the task of packing Adam’s lunches, I plain ran out of time to clean the house.  Tomorrow.  And at least I’m a good wife.

Adam has one rice bowl for each day of the work week.  And I took a good many nibbles that escaped the camera while I cooked.

I also made dinner.

Polenta that turned into a fairly intimidating, but tasty solid,

and huevos rancheros inspired tacos.

I scrambled 5 eggs (with skim milk, salt, and pepper) into sautéed chopped onions and green pepper, and then stuffed them into blue corn taco shells with a bit of sharp cheddar.  I served Adam and myself 3/5 and 2/5 accordingly.

Dessert was 2/3 to 1/3 in my favor though.

A gigantic cowboy cookie I picked up at the co-op.

My entire right side of my body has ached ever since yesterday’s tennis game, so I’m going to go curl up with a book.

Goodbye, Katie

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Today was bittersweet.  I did fun things, but I had to say goodbye to my friend Katie.  This goodbye was doubly sad because it stinks that friends keep leaving and because Katie was the very first friend I made in Buffalo!

I started my morning with a delicious sounding yogurt bowl.

  • 1/4 cup Stonyfield Plain Fat-Free Yogurt
  • 1/4 cup fat-free ricotta
  • 1/8 cup roasted buckwheat groats
  • 1 Tbsp key lime curd

Sadly, in spite of the decadent sounding ingredients, the components of this bowl didn’t come together very well.  I didn’t realize that the roasted buckwheat would taste quite so roasty.

Since it was Katie’s last day in Buffalo we met up for a final lunch date.

I’ve been dying to try Romeo and Juliet’s and I’m glad I got to go with Katie.

I’m also glad that our meal was delicious, since the cafe is owned by a girl I go to school with and I’d hate to have to say bad things.  We ate outside and the lighting sort of killed my pictures, but I promise this was one of the best meals I’ve eaten in Buffalo!

The complementary bread was nice and doughy.

And the eggplant parmigiana was the best I’ve ever had (seriously).

It was baked instead of fried and you could totally tell.  The eggplant was perfectly velvety and the sauce was rich and slightly sweet.  I was pretty much in heaven.

I brought Adam the 2nd half of my meal and he agreed that Romeo and Juliet’s must be one of the very best spots in Buffalo.

For dessert, Katie and I hit up new spot #2, Grumpy’s Ice Cream.

I got a cookie dough and heath bar flurry with chocolate custard.

Meh.  It was nice to spend time with Katie, but I won’t be going back.

Once I got dropped off back home, I spent the rest of the day with Adam.  By foot and by car we ran several errands, including two loops up and down Elmwood.  My afternoon snacks included an unsweetened lemonade iced tea from Starbucks,

and some Nerds.

Sometime during our 2nd trip down Elmwood we decided to stop at Blockbusters and make it a movie night.

“How To Train Your Dragon” is one of our very favorite movies and “No Strings Attached” is one I’ve been curious about for months.

I kept dinner simple while we started our first movie.  Roasted green beans and an everything bagel with Smart Balance Light.

Dinner was on the small side because I’m going to dig into a HUGE bowl of popcorn as soon as I hit publish.  Have a great night!