Tag Archives: berries

Monday – Tuesday Afternoon

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Hello from sunny St. Thomas!  This will be the first of many recap posts since I only have computer access when I go to work with my mommy (my parents don’t have internet).

Things started up yesterday at 3:45am!! when we made our way to the airport.  The one benefit to leaving at that hour is we got to see the festive skyline in complete darkness.

Our flying day wasn’t so bad, we had 2 stops but at least everything went smoothly.  On stop #1 Adam bought Taco Bell at 8am!  I had one slice of his chicken quesadilla.

Our next flight was our long flight so I saved my eating for it.  I’m not gonna lie, I thought I was super clever to back a baggie of salad and a small container of Sabra Babaganuosh.

Yums, I think this is about as healthy as plane eats can get!

I also packed some sliced yellow bell pepper, cucumber, and Kerrygold cheese.

And I supplemented with a few buys from the airport store.  Dried bananas and cherries.

The price and nutrional stats on these were both pretty solid.

Any finally this 100 calorie pack of mini meranges.

They were super tasty and adorable.

I only ate about 3/4 of the pack though, for 100calories it was a LOT of food!

Our 2nd stop was Puerto Rico, which meant we had to take a teeny tiny Cesna Prop to get to St. Thomas.

I actually flew a plane that was just a little smaller for my last birthday so it was pretty fun; we were happy to be home though!

While we unpacked I ate a Dove Peppermint Bark candy.

And then we headed out to dinner at my parents’ favorite pizza spot.  It was dark, so you can assume the food was about 90% better than the pictures look.  Adam and I started by splitting a ceasar salad.

And then we all shared pizzas.  I ordered my half with – spinach, artichoke, pineapple, mushroom and no cheese.

Second piece.

Yums.

I was glad I went no cheese because I had room for a tasty snack when I got home.

Kona coffee with skim milk,

and two small pieces of 7-layer bar (Hello Dollies for you Southerners).

And……..bed!

This morning was supposed to start with a run but I was just to exhausted, I need to get myself on a proper sleep schedule this vacation!  I ended up waking up around 9 for breakfast.

Pom Chiobani and half a sliced banana.

We spent the day running errands with my parents; my family throws a huge Christmas Eve party so there was lots of shopping to do.  Here’s what I snacked on throughout the day –

An apple,

and a seasonal gingerbread Cliff Bar.

I also grabbed this package of trail mix as we headed out to school.

Now Adam and I are headed down to the school field for this morning’s belated run.  The next few days will be a whirl of baking and presents so hopefully we can fit in a little bit of fitness!  See you soon!

What’s the strangest plane food you’ve packed?

Kicking Off the Season

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Let’s see – my house is decorated, I’ve had lots of good tidings and cheer, I’m super busy and stressed – yep, it feels like the holidays!  Due both to some good news and a few mishaps today was jam-packed.

I am one of those people who gets really (really really really) into holidays.  I manage to keep my purchasing under control, but I’ve had my red and green outfits outlined for weeks!  Part of my excitement involves keeping each holiday carefully guarded and away from the other holidays.  I do NOT wear red with green outside of December, I won’t drink eggnog ’till there’s snow on the ground, and I do my damnedest to stay away from Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving.

Today was not only December 1st, it was also the day of our first snowfall in Buffalo, a near perfect time for holiday decorating.  So after I got a few to dos of lesser importance out of the way (registering for classes, calling for pt) decorate I did.

[Thanks for the package mommy!]  Bring on the Jingle Bells!  I even – accidentally – included some snazz in today’s outfit.

Don’t worry, the overall effect was less than elvish.

Why the yoga pants in the snow you ask?  Because I managed to book my first physical therapy appointment!  Fortunately I called right after a cancellation and they were able to squeeze me right in.  I was a bit rushed so I made breakfast to go –

1cup frozen blackberries, Dannon Lite and Fit Blackberry Yogurt, 1/2 scoop Chocolate Amazing Grass, and about a 1/2 cup of water to ease the blending along.

Physical therapy (pt from now on) was everything I could have ever dreamed of!  My doctor was knowledgeable and understanding, and more importantly he says my half in March shouldn’t be a problem!  He watched me walk and twisted my ankles and it took about two seconds for him to see the problem.  I have tendonitis in my right shin.  Most likely from a bad sprain I got in high school, but also because I walk and stand like a duck. 

The doctor gave me pt moves to start doing at home and I have the green light to elliptisize and start doing cardio again.  I’m getting on the treadmill at his office on Thursday and will figure out the running situation from there.  For now the assumption is that I will go twice a week for pt for the next month or so.  My fingers are double crossed that I can start running again this Friday!

The excitement was majorly lessened on the drive home.  What should have been a 30minute trip to meet Katie for coffee took 2+ hours.  Ugh.  I did get to stop at the post office on the way – and picked up some fun – and I did finally make it for coffee.

Another seasonal must, my first red cup!

A tall nonfat eggnog latte.  I snacked on a Coconut Acai Prana Bar alongside my coffee.

And Katie and I had lots of good chatting.  🙂

Afterwards I picked up Adam and we drove to Wegmans for some kitchen restocking.  Did you miss my Thanksgiving Challenge Recap?  I had big plans to cook a fancy dinner tonight, but my 2hours of fun on the highway ate up that time.  Adam ended up going to a study session until 10:30 anyways so it was for the best.  Instead we got salad bar.

Oh how I’ve missed Wegman’s salad bar!  My excitement was bigger than my stomach, I left several bites of everything on my plate.  And it was pretty clear from my choices that I’m not over the brussels sprouts I was planning on making with dinner!

Curried chicken salad,

barley with brussels and pumpkin seeds,

roasted brussels sprouts and blanched broccoli,

small mac and cheese square.

Normally I would demolish the mac and leave veggies but I was proud of myself for leaving an even amount of everything today.

Adam had to rush out as soon as we got home with the groceries so fridge duty fell entirely to me.  Once I put everything away and cleaned up the kitchen I actually worked up another appetite!  I broke into two purchases that I dreamed about all November –

My onion bagel with reduced fat onion chive cream cheese was everything I’d been thinking of!

While I ate I worked on my Chemistry homework.  And then I kept working long after.  Class is getting hard!  I have a quiz this Thursday that I am in no way ready for and I’m getting a little nervous.

It’s after 11 and I stil have my pt exercises and a shower so I’ve got to scadaddle.  Visions of sugar plums kids!

What’s your holiday celebration mo?  Have you started on Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza yet this year?  We don’t have any Hanukkah decorations per se, but I usually don’t but the menorah out until it’s time to light it.

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.