Tag Archives: berries

Feeling Thankful

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Again, I’ll try to keep this quick, but it’s been a great Turkey Day.  I’m thankful for family, good food, and my wonderful husband.

We slept in until 10:30 this morning (I’m feeling sick again, boo!) and then woke up to the world’s tastiest breakfast.

My grandma is so cool, she had Greek Gods’ Honey Greek Yogurt waiting in the fridge for me!  I had a small bowl of fruit,

and honey Greek yogurt with berries and a sliver of homemade coffee cake.

Mmmmmmn!  I was in love with this breakfast!  If it wasn’t Thanksgiving I would have gone back for another bowl!  I think I’ve got my aunt hooked on Greek yogurt now too 🙂

We went to a family friend’s house for Thanksgiving at 1, so we headed out around noon to socialize.  Look how cute my grandparents are!

I’ve gone to Thanksgiving with this family ever year I’ve been with my grandparents and it’s always so much fun.  They have the best decorations, I wish I could have gotten more pictures.

I made a small appetizer plate with pretzels, honey raspberry dip, and crackers with dirty martini dip.

And I had a light beer to drink.

As I mentioned before, I am actually not much of a Turkey Day food fan!  I didn’t even eat any turkey meat!  I tried to just take a small bit of everything.

Clockwise from the top – stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy, corn casserole, sweet potato casserole, roll, jello mold salad, cranberries.  I finished everything on my plate (except for the roll which I gave away).  I didn’t actually eat very much, but I didn’t do seconds because I knew dessert was coming.

I actually gave away that mini cake in favor of a second cookie!

It was great getting to catch up with people and Adam was definitely stuffed!  He took a fat nap before we even headed home, and hit the couch asap.  My grandmother and I wanted to take a nice walk but unfortunately it was raining.  The other disappointment was that there was nowhere for me to volunteer.  I really wanted to put in some time at a food bank or soup kitchen today but everywhere my grandma called had too many volunteers.

We ate dinner around 7, and I was actually hungry again.

Leftover sweet potato casserole,

and a yumtastic sandwich – turkey, cranberries, cream cheese.

Plus apple and celery salad on the side.

I was still a bit hungry so I went back for more salad.

We played cards after dinner.

I had a coffee with 2% and an amaretto stick,

a mini 7-up,

and a small handful of caramel corn.

We kept my grandparents up past midnight playing cards, I’d say it’s time for bed!

How was your turkey day?

Liver Spots

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There were all sorts of goods and bads today but I’ll try to focus on the goods.  Like, for example, the fact that it’s Turkey Day week!

I went ’80’s style when I got dressed today, all I needed was my old Doc Martin boots!

Now that I live in Buffalo I wear sandals every day, but when I was growing up in the Caribbean I went through an intense Doc Martin phase.  I guess I like anything that’s out of season!

I was in desperate need of greens/fruits so I made a smoothie for the road.

1C frozen blackberries, a scoop of Chocolate Amazing Grass, and some skim milk.  I loved how purple it got!

I arrived at school really early so I walked around with Adam for a bit before heading to my appointment.

Fun fact #1 – my leg hurts like crazy.  Fun fact # 2 – according to the RN at the health center I have a varicose vein!  It’s not a terrible one, and at this stage my insurance won’t cover removal.  They are hereditary and my teaching career (on my feet nonstop from 7-5) is a big factor, as well as my years as a waitress. She said I need to wear support hose and supportive shoes, but wouldn’t give me information about how long that would need to happen.  If a month or so will ‘fix’ me then I’m all for it, but if it’s a rest of my life thing I’d rather keep with my sandals and just have the surgery when it gets worse.  I have an imaging appointment tomorrow to make sure I don’t have a blood clot and I’ll get more information then.

I’m not going to lie, it’s a good thing Adam drove me to class because I bawled all the way there.  I’m able to put up with a lot of pain, but having a yucky old lady problem pisses me off!  I don’t want to wear support hose!  I sort of lost it.  I think things will be better once I get more information tomorrow.

The good news is that physical activity can’t make it worse.  I try to be very careful of injury (that’s why I took time off when the leg pain started) because I would never want to permanently side-line myself.  However, I am ridiculously stubborn and am pretty good with putting up with pain.  I decided last week that I would always stop running if I would cause permanent injury by not taking a break, but that if I could safely run through the pain I would do so.  Therefore, 7 out of 10 leg pain be damned, half marathon training is back on!!

I recomposed myself once I got to campus, but definitely bought this bag of Jalapeno Cheddar Cheetos to ease my sorrows.

($1, Challenge Balance – $79.24 ) I ate about half the bag – go me for not just downing the whole thing.

At 6 I got more good news when Caroline showed up with her laptop, class was cancelled!  Adam was already at the gym with a friend so she offered to take me home.  We made a pit-stop at the mall (shopping for her bf) so that was fun.

Dinner was more good news.  Delicious, all around!  The first course was Dr. McDougall’s Soup.

Adam had Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato and I had Chunky Tomato.

I almost never eat ‘mater soup but I love it.

The second/main course was my newest creation.

Buffalo Blue Bean Patties, serves 4

  • 2 15.5oz cans black beans we use low sodium
  • 1/2 cup, plus 2T buffalo wing sauce we used the sauce from Anchor Bar, the birthplace of Buffalo wings
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • 3/4 cup gorgonzola cheese crumbles
  • salt and pepper, to season
  1. Preheat the oven to 450*.  Foil and spray a baking sheet.
  2. Empty bean cans into a colander and rinse thoroughly – this is a heart healthy step, reduce your sodium intake.
  3. Pour beans and 2 cups wing sauce into a blender and puree.  If you have a rickety blender you may want to do this in two batches.
  4. Empty blender into a large mixing bowl.  Add rest of wing sauce and eggs, stir.  Add bread crumbs, stir.  Add cheese and fork to combine.
  5. Using your hands, form 12 patties out of the bean mixture.
  6. Put patties on prepared sheet and bake for 20minutes, it is not necessary to flip them during baking.

I ate mine with the sad remains of our ketchup (that’s a small plate).

Man they were good!  I don’t want to toot my own horn, but this was such a good idea!  They were also very filling, I ended up only eating 2.5.

You what what else is a good idea?  The big bowl of popcorn I’m about to make!  Yes, I used up the big bag of ‘corn my in-laws brought me just last month!

Have a good night folks!

What makes you feel old?  I’m 24, I’m not cool with the idea of support hose!  Teenage entertainment makes me feel old too, shows like “Gossip Girl” just make me uncomfortable!

French Toasty

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You’re not going to believe it, but we missed another movie this morning!  We were a combination of a little tired, a little hangover, and a lot cranky.  The plan was to see our movie at 10:30, but we were definitely still in bed at that time.  When we did finally get up we decided to go this afternoon and get started on breakfast!

I made my best french toast yet!

The toast was regular style – 2 slices of bread dipped in a splash of milk and an egg, cooked in a skillet with a bit of butter substitute.  The topping is what made it though.  Fruit topping, serves 1

  • 1/4 T butter substitute
  • 1/4 t sugar
  • dash of salt
  • apple, chopped
  • splash oj
  • 1/2 cup blackberries (I used frozen)
  1. Heat the first four ingredients over medium high heat until the apples are browned. 
  2. Add the juice and berries and cook another 5minutes.

I topped my toast with the fruit and a little bit of real maple syrup.

Delicious!

I have some errands to run and we are planning on (actually) seeing our movie at 4:20.  I’ll be back for dinner!

What is your favorite type of french toast?  I had amaretto and pecan at a restaurant that was great, and I want to try cream cheese and banana stuffed next!

[Superfruit + Goji]x2

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breakfast this morning was a mathematical equation.

Stoneyfield Farms Fat Free Superfruit Yogurt + 1T dried goji berries + 1T Crofter’s Superfruit Spread + Apricot and Goji Prana Bar + pb spoon =

I loved the mix of textures, but sadly I think I’m not a goji fan.  It has a strange bitter aftertaste that I can’t get past.  With the help of pb spoon though my enjoyment was not diminished.

I was ready for all that crunch and chew because I was up at 7:30 registering for classes.  I had to register super late because of my non-matriculated status so I am working with professors to be force-registered into two different classes!  I’ll let you know my schedule once it’s all worked out.

I don’t have to be any where until class tonight but I’ve got a (half)full day planned.  My planned distraction cure is to mix in fun and work intervals (with a timer!) so I can keep my focus.  We’ll see how it goes.

What do you think of Goji?

Smooth Talker

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There were some dryer issues and we ended up waiting at the apartment a little longer than planned.  Not an issue though, and we enjoyed the best smoothies ever.  The secret was this Naysoya Smoothie Starter.

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How have I not bought this before?!  It gave the smoothies the perfect thickness, and had the best aftertaste.  The smoothies were more than ready for their close-up.

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For 2 portions I used –

  • 1C Naysoya Smoothie Starter, Vanilla
  • 2frozen bananas
  • 3/4C frozen strawberries
  • splash So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk

I enjoyed mine in one of our lovely new Guinness cups.

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Now, fingers crossed, we should be off in the next 10minutes.  Can’t wait to see what the wings festival entails!

What do you use to thicken your smoothies?  Usually I’m all about just liquid/frozen fruit, but this was pretty fabulous.  I never ever use protein powders.

Alliteration, Always Awesome

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Ick, ack, yetch!  My plan for last night was snack, mini-workout, early bed time and the heat put a crimp in all three.  I was too hot for food or movement (and I guess those two sort of cancel out) and I ended up not falling asleep until after 3:30am!  Not only do we not have AC but it is actually hotter in our apartment than it is outside.  I don’t even want to think about what moving day will feel like!  My late night pushed everything back this morning but the day is starting to turn around.

I enjoyed my breakfast bowl yesterday and when I saw bbbbbBlack Cherry yogurt in the fridge I knew I’d have to make it again!

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Black, Blue, Berry, Banana Breakfast Bowl

  • Stoneyfield Fat Free Black Cherry Yogurt
  • 1 medium banana
  • ~1/4C blueberries
  • 1T wheatberries

I made today’s bowl a little smaller because I am actually meeting Adam for lunch soon!  He is out doing laundry and I am going to try to get some studying done.  We are planning on packing up our kitchen and bookshelves today and we have to finish all of our business online because we have no internet as of tomorrow morning.  Hopefully we can sneak some fun in too!

Do you prefer blueberries, blackberries, or black cherry?  I am a blackberry fan.

Blue, Berry, Banana, Breakfast Bowl

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My alliteration obsession was the driving force behind this morning’s breakfast.  Brought to you by the letter B –

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led to –

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led to –

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Yum.  This bowl contained

  • 1/2 C blueberries
  • 1/4 C wheatberries
  • Stoneyfield Fat Free Strawberry Yogurt
  • small banana

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Some facts –

*Blueberries seem to be out of season now but I was still able to have fresh ones for this bowl.  A month or so ago, when they were super cheap, I bought a few pints, washed them carefully, put them back in the fridge for a day to dry and then poured them into baggies and put them in the freezer.  Last night I just poured from the baggie into my measuring cup, put the cup in the fridge, and this morning I had thawed fresh blueberries.

*Camile asked a question about wheatberries and they are pretty new to me too so I did some research

  • A wheatberry is a wheat grain stripped of its outer hull to leave just the whole kernel
  • They can be ground up to make wheat flour or you can cook them whole for use in dishes
  • Nutrition is equivalent to that of whole wheat
  • A cup of wheatberries has about 300 calories and is packed with protein, fiber, and iron

I think they are chewy and tasty, here are a few spots you can order them –

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Today is one of the last low-key days before we have to actually start packing for the move.  I am headed down the street to do some studying, I have to mail a box to my parents, we need to update our filing system and file our CPR certification, and we are planning on heading over to the Meat Packing District for lunch.

What is the best thing on your agenda today?

Back to the City

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After a final car trip this morning, we are home again!  I’m excited to be back (I was actually a little bit homesick this weekend), but that doesn’t mean I’m not super excited to head to St. Thomas on Weds 🙂

This morning we headed out the door bright and early (8am) and made our way back to NYC.  I brought a 0% Oikos Vanilla to eat in the car,

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and supplemented it with oj and an Amazing Grass packet.

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I liked this berry flavor a lot more than I did the plain one.  I found it a little too sweet, but apparently not too sweet to keep me from eating one of the hubby’s maple candies during the ride.

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Once we made it home sweet home we got right down to business – we had to sign/mail our lease for the Buffalo apartment (yippee!), pick up some 2day essentials at the store, and get an insurance check for our car.  FYI – Adam’s parents are amazing and bought us a car our senior year in college (no car was not an option because I had to drive to my internship so they totally saved my butt).  They have driven it for the past two years while we lived in the city but now we have a car again, which is pretty exciting.

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I ate 1.5slices of cheese before we took the car,

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and taking the car took us to 15th street so we took the opportunity to go to our favorite Thai place, Watana.  I got the lunch special, which was pretty exciting.

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My meal was Pad See Eiw chicken.

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It came with a side salad,

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soup,

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and a veggie spring roll.

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Everything was delicious, this lunch totally rocked my socks.  I loved all of the different veggies and the smaller portion of noodles was great because I have zero self-control when it comes to broad rice noodles.  I actually did take about 1/4 of the meal to go, but I attacked it within the next two hours.

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Before we drove home we did dessert Expansion style, by hitting up Union Market for cake samples.

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I had a killer headache all afternoon so I lazed around the house room and enjoyed the comfort of my own couch.  Reruns of Bones kept me pretty happy, as did my yummy snacks.

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3 strawberry chocolates,

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and a marzipan pig.  I also ate about 10, unphotographed, pieces of saltwater taffy.

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After that I made a strange sounding but great tasting bowl – 0% Plain Fage, tons of blueberries, a few pine nuts, and a smidge of maple syrup.

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The mix of flavors and textures in this was perfect.

Plus some protein plus pretzels from Newman’s Own Organics.

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These were hands down the best pretzels I’ve ever had, they had a great salty almost sour flavor.  I ate about 2x what was pictured.

Later in the evening I ate a small bowl of granola for “dinner.”

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Then I was (finally) productive again by writing my thank yous.  We made the mail drop off trip a stroll, ending at Starbucks for a nonfat iced half pump white chocolate mocha.

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P.S. I was making serious eyes at the husband’s dinner during this post and while I was blogging he darted out of the house and brought me back this –

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yums.  I almost never drink sugar soda but I adore dipping my pizza crusts and coke coke (rather than diet) is just a little more special for that classy activity.

Vacation Reflections

  • especially for the lack of good choices available, I did a pretty good job of getting in fruits and greens
  • packing a few of my own snacks helped me a lot (hello Amazing Grass packets)
  • when I get frustrated my food choices go downhill – I did pretty well at breakfast and lunches but after a day of dodging unhealthy choices I get frustrated and end up eating a bunch of crap.  I’d be better off having a few smaller indulgences throughout the day than, for example, eating chicken fingers with fries and mac and cheese for dinner
  • the above point is especially important when I am feeling bored in the evening
  • even when I can’t fit in a full workout (like my Saturday run, with hills, go me!) I would be better off squeezing in 2 or 3 minutes here and there

I have another trip coming up, right before my 24th birthday, so I will have to keep these reflections in mind; it’s a learning curve here!

Fun Hap’s in Bloggerland

  1. Mr. and Mrs. Hangry are giving away some MojoMix.
  2. Eat Live Run is helping us uncultured drinkers to figure out wine.
  3. An Apple a Day has 2 fun giveaways, Sahale/Ooba and Crofter’s spread.