First First Friday In Allentown

by Emily

You know how I got into bed way too late last night? Well I stayed up an hour even later pinning desserts.

For reals. Stupid, but have you discovered Serious Eats yet? It could have been the 2 am browsing, but I’m officially a giant fan. Fun aesthetic, beautiful pictures, delicious recipes and reviews.

This morning was rough but I woke up by “snoozing” on Twitter in bed and that helped me ease into the day. Congratulations, Kath and Matt!

I ate breakfast on the walk to school.

My Müller Splendid Strawberry Früt Up yogurt was, in fact, splendid. It’s a strawberry mousse on top of regular yogurt (as in not Greek) and the yogurt was ridiculously, delightfully thick. It felt like a total treat – a real treat, like pudding, not like when people try to say that fruit is dessert – and was only 140 calories.

My classes went well (I didn’t fall asleep once, I swear!) and before I knew it I was walking to work. Sidenote – I work every day except for my clinic days (T/R) from now through next Sunday and I’m a little anxious to see how that’s all going to go down.

Lunch was packed for work.

An apple,

and a Raw Revolution Chocolate Coconut Bar.

It was good I didn’t bring more because I barely had time to eat that, there were lots of boxes today.

Adam meet me on foot at the end of my shift and we headed out to cross off another birthday list item.

This was our first First Friday and we both had a great time. I’m sad I couldn’t take art pictures because we saw some great stuff. I did manage to take quick snaps of my bites though.

Mostly cheese and its accompaniments, plus a small pour of wine. And we went to one open house that was giving out free popsicles.

All in all it was a fabulous time.

However – working 7+ hours and then walking 4.5+ miles was a little too much for my feet. I whimpered the last five blocks or so getting home. My 4-minute workout plans are out of the question and even though I’m starving I’d rather skip dinner than have to walk somewhere to get it. Boo.

Does your town do any type of First Friday event?

15Aug2012

Buffalo Blue Cheese Black Bean Burgers, From Yesterday

by Emily

The past 24 hours have been odd but gratifying. Mostly because I’ve done odd but gratifying things, like frying up a batch of bacon yesterday at 5:30 in the morning.

I ate three hot slices of turkey bacon and they were delicious. And now you know our wonderful reason for having bacon in the house.

I ate a bagelwich with my bacon.

A Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin with two slices of turkey and 1 oz sharp cheddar.

In addition to bacon and breakfast before 8 am, I also cleaned the kitchen, registered for a conference, made a batch of pupsicles, and worked out.

1 hour hot yoga class. I love how even if you’re not very good at yoga it’s still a nice workout. P.S. Wanna know why girls who do yoga are so skinny? For safety. My boobs practically smoother me to death in rabbit pose!

After yoga I walked the little man.

We’ve had him more than a year now and I’m still amazed by how well he stops at cross-walks.

Pre-lunch snack was a plate of pickle slices.

And dessert first, since I had to make a last-minute trip to the store for a forgotten ingredient.

Trader Joe’s cookie butter dark chocolate bar, does that even need a description?! Though I will say that I freaking adore the little bites of crunch embedded throughout the bar.

An epic journey of three stores in my sweaty yoga clothes later, we had panko. And shortly after that, lunch.

Roasted green beans,

and Buffalo Blue Bean Burgers.

(recipe included at the bottom of this post)

In the afternoon I worked. It was a good shift, I actually worked several hours by myself for the first time. It’s always fun when someone trusts you to hold down the fort.

But then on the walk home I got a migraine. I didn’t take my medicine in time and I ended up being down for the count the whole evening. I curled up in a fetal position on the couch and Adam brought me to bed at 10. Unfortunately by then my head felt better and my stomach was twisting with hunger pains. I probably should have gotten up and eaten but instead I flopped around for several hours before falling asleep.

When I got up this morning cereal was the last thing on my mind; I wanted savory and lots of it.

This salad fit the bill.

With the bites I took while I filled my bowl, this salad contained: a romaine base, 2 Tbsp light honey mustard dressing, 1 oz gorgonzola crumbles, 2 oz honey roasted peanuts, 2 slices turkey bacon, and 1 chopped Crispin Pink apple.

With a Green Dragon Tea from Honest Tea for drinking.

I also ate the last serving of Maple Pancake and Bacon Ice Cream.

That stuff was ridiculous good. Pretty please go make it and see for yourself.

I’m actually about to eat another small dessert now too. It’s a recipe I’m working on though, so no pictures for now. Hope everyone else is having a sweet day!

Buffalo Blue Bean Burgers, serves 4 – 6

(2) 15.5oz cans reduced-sodium black beans
1/2 cup, plus 2 Tbsp buffalo wing sauce
2 large eggs
1 cup panko bread crumbs
3/4 cup gorgonzola cheese crumbles

Preheat the oven to 450*. Foil and spray 2 baking sheets.
Empty bean cans into a colander and rinse thoroughly – this is a heart healthy step that helps to further reduce the sodium in this recipe.
Pour rinsed 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.
Empty blender into a large mixing bowl. Add rest of wing sauce and eggs and stir. Stir in panko and cheese.
Using your hands, form 12 patties out of the bean mixture.
Put patties on prepared sheets and bake for 20 minutes. It is not necessary to flip the patties during baking.

31Jul2012

Best Meal So Far In Buffalo

by Emily

— post started yesterday because this week has been a little crazy —

I overslept this morning and tried to kill two birds with one stone by talking the dog out for a run. It turned into a 1.2 mile drag. What a waste of a sports bra! Heading towards the house we were flying and heading away from the house I could barely get him to walk. We did work up a sweat though.

It wasn’t the most exciting tour day, I had errands to run so I took my parents to the much-lauded visitors spots of BSC, Wegman’s, and and a long walk down Elmwood (actually those all kind of are visitor spots!).

Dopio espresso with tons of skim milk and vanilla sugar and campus.

Fruit at Wegmans.

Beyond delicious strawberry, watermelon, and mango.

In the afternoon we went to the outlet mall and I totally scored. My parents bought me a wallet since my old one was disgusting and I purchased six fancy shirts, officially finishing my shopping prep for next semester’s internship. Plus, I got to cash in my most exciting birthday month coupon.

Ben and Jerry’s, I love you. Coconut Seven Layer Bar and Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz.

Dinner was fabulous. We tried to go somewhere else on Hertel and when that was closed we were lucky enough to wander down to Mes Que.

It ended up being the best meal we’ve had in Buffalo!!

We got the cheese plate to start.

Manchego, Maytag Blue, Boucheron, Grana Padano.

My plates –

My favorite was the Grana Padano, an Italian hard cheese that had little bits of crackle.

My parents and I shared for our entrée and I got to try every single dish that sounded good to me! First a salad course. Mesclun, ~~bacon~~, dried cranberries, goat cheese, avocado, and sherry vinaigrette.

Arugula, strawberries, feta, walnuts, blush wine vinaigrette, and a balsamic reduction.

My plate –

Fabulous. The salads were perfectly dressed.

Then our final course, pizza.

Clockwise from the top left – (1) barbeque chicken, spinach, red onion, and cheddar jack. (2) Goat cheese, asparagus pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, evoo, and pomegranate balsamic glaze. (3) ~~Chorizo~~, arugula pesto, roma tomatoes, and manchego cheese.

My plates –

And then I was stuffed and so happy I could die. The end.

Today (now!) my parents and I are driving to Ohio to see my grandma. We’ve got a long car trip ahead. See you from another state.

21Jun2012

Summer Weekend Excitement

by Emily

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 –

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

20Jun2012

Cows, Elephants, And Buffalo

by Emily

After two days of waking up before 6 am, today’s 7 o’clock alarm felt like a breeze. That’s a lie, but I did manage to get out of bed and go for a run.

2 minutes running/ 3 walking, x 11 (plus a little extra to finish the loop) for 4.8 miles and 56 minutes.

I brought 20 oz of water with Lemon Lime Gu Electrolyte Brew with me on my run.

I didn’t fuel so well for breakfast. There was no time to pack any proper meals for school but the endorphins were worth it. Running (and run/walking!) puts me on cloud nine.

Psst, Mom – I wore the sweet flowered top that you got me over a t-back tank and it was cute and didn’t look dorky like you told me pairing it with a t-shirt did.

Self photos are hard, self outfit photos are almost impossible.

For “breakfast” (quotes because this was not enough food but it was the only thing I managed to grab and I drank it at breakfast time) I had a Sneaky Pete’s Apples Away.

The SP’s were on sale at Wegman’s and looked interesting, so I took a chance and was rewarded. The flavor was mild – just a little apple and no oat – and I liked the slightly thick texture. For 40 calories it was packing 3 grams of fiber. I would definitely drink one again.

Lunch featured apple as well, in juicy Pink Lady form.

I also packed a cucumber with two Laughing Cow Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese wedges.

Trying to prep that with a plastic butter knife was a little messy but the flavors were delicious.

I also bought a doppio espresso, with vanilla sugar and lots of skim milk.

The vanilla sugar at the cafe at my school is ridiculous good. The spot is just a Barnes and Noble Starbucks but the vanilla powder is so much better than the stuff you see at the “real” Starbucks; it has little flecks of vanilla bean!

Speaking of tasty beverages… I poured myself a beer when I got home this afternoon.

Tusker (a Lager brewed in Kenya) is in my “top 3” list for favorite beers.

Dinner was an old favorite too.

My Buffalo Chicken Baked Pasta recipe page was updated.

Buffalo Chicken Baked Pasta, serves 4

8 oz rotini pasta
8 cups fresh baby spinach
1 T butter
1 lb skinless boneless chicken breasts; chopped into bite-sized pieces
½ cup plus ¼ cup buffalo wing sauce
8 oz 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese
¼ cup blue cheese dressing
¼ cup shredded sharp cheddar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Farenheit. Set up your colander or strainer in the sink and put the raw spinach inside.
Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Pour cooked pasta over the spinach (the heat will “cook” it) and return pasta and spinach to the cooled pot when all of the water has drained off.
While pasta is cooking, melt butter in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken to the pan and cook until done, about 4 – 6 minutes on each side.
Add ¼ cup buffalo wing sauce to the chicken and cook 1 more minute. Remove chicken from pan to the pot with the pasta and spinach and reduce heat to medium-low.
Combine cream cheese, blue cheese dressing, and remaining ½ cup buffalo wing sauce in the pan. Heat until melted, 3 – 5 minutes.
Remove pan from heat and pour sauce over the pasta. Stir until all ingredients are well-combined.
Pour the pasta mixture into an 8×8 inch casserole dish. Top evenly with the shredded cheddar. Bake 8 – 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and browned.

It is spicy, creamy, cheesy, and even a little bit healthy.

The rest of my evening includes a walk with the dog and hopefully some polishing time with the “Minted” I’ve been eyeing all week.

I hope everyone enjoyed the official first day of summer!

I know it’s like trying pick a favorite child, but if you had to choose – Buffalo sauce or Sriracha?

2Jun2012

Rested Recap

by Emily

Hey there! It’s been a busy few days so I’m having to do a multi-day recap post here. Thankfully I don’t have too too much to say. It’s been fun though.

Thursday I did breakfast to go.

The last of a jar of crunchy pb (~ 1-2 Tbsp) filled with a 0% strawberry Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup of raw oats, and 1/4 cup of Silk Vanilla Almond Milk.

Lunch was roasted broccoli with peanut sauce.

This combo was delicious, even cold.

And some gummi cola bottles.

The amount shown there is about 1/2 of what I brought back from Canada; I should have bought more!

When I got home Adam and a nice surprise for me –

The hospital he’s doing his current rotation at has a great cafeteria that sells our favorite pizza in Buffalo (legit!).

And then I fell asleep at 5pm. I was feeling super tired throughout the day and the minute I sat down on the couch I was done for. I slept from 5 – 10, got up to get ready for bed, and went back to sleep!

Don’t worry, I more than made up for any missed dinner calories on Friday. The amount of junk I ate was so disgusting that it ended up being almost impressive! Everything was delicious (duh!) but I think my body would appreciate a few more veggies.

It was National Donut Day and I had to partake.

That donut was rich I couldn’t even finish it. I’m just not a donut girl, my consumption for the year is officially over 🙂

But sweet coffee? Dont’ mind if I do.

I got a large Black Cocoa iced coffee with skim milk. Adam got this (Men in Black!) special the other day and I was so good I had to have one of my own. The lady who served us told me they were only making them through this week so taste one while you can.

Lunch was fresh-cut pineapple,

and a Cherry Cobbler Larabar Uber.

It was good but not as tasty as Bananas Foster. Again, lots of big nuts and almost no date flavor. And the cherries were tart and sweet. Somehow it didn’t have quite enough flavor though.

School went really well on Friday. I am ServSafe certified, woot!

Some friends and I celebrated after class. Bloody Mary at Pano’s.

x2. And then I was drunk.

I also took them to check out Nickel City Cheese and Mercantile. In addition to having great stock the owners are fantastic. My friends bought an aged cheddar and a gouda each and the man behind the counter had us do lots of swoon-worthy tasting. I also brought home a treat for Adam.

He brought a treat for me too!

I happily ate that slice but then I had to tell him to stop bringing me pizza so I don’t get fat…ter.

Then we tried my treats. A blue cheese and dark chocolate and goat cheese honey milk truffle!

We took one bite of each but I think I was a bigger fan than Adam. They were a little strange but sooooo good. The creaminess of goat cheese makes a perfect truffle center.

We had a gift certificate to use so we went on a dinner date to Romeo and Juliet’s Cafe.

I started with bread; one slice with garlic and a second with butter.

And for my meal I ordered the Baked Eggplant Parmigiana.

Oh. My. God. I left the pasta to the side (who eats pasta when there are layers of eggplant and cheese available?!), shared a few cherished bites with Adam, and then demolished the rest.

We took dessert to go.

That ball was a peanut butter mousse with chocolate ganache. Ridiculous.

I wanted to post last night but unfortunately I passed out then as well. The dog has been shedding a lot more recently (this is our first June with him) and I may be the tiniest bit allergic to him.

So now it’s Saturday. I’ve eaten a bowl of Maple Brown Sugar Mini Wheats with Silk Vanilla Almond Milk,

and I’m ready to conquer the day. Conquer may mean errands or may mean tv, we shall see.

3Apr2012

Humbolt Fog

by Emily

Last night’s sleep session was a disaster. Usually my sleep issues are related to falling asleep but lately if I get woken up I can’t fall back to sleep either. The dog woke us up in the middle of the night and it took me at least another hour of tossing and turning to get back to rest. The husband brought home some sort of bug from the hospital and my throat was killing me.

I overslept today and the morning was rushed but I managed to do what I needed to do, mostly. I was heading to the gym after 9 am so sticking with my monthly goal I ate a small breakfast before I left. A few sips of strawberry Powerade Zero,

and a half of a Vanilla Almond Luna Bar.

I didn’t have much time at the gym but something was better than nothing. 20 minutes on the elliptical at random level 7.

After a quick walk home and an even quicker shower I made a Lemon Cookie Smoothie for breakfast.

The last time I made it was apparently a dark and stormy night and I wanted a chance to get some ~~better~~ less awful photographs for the recipe page.

It probably wasn’t my best use of time though; I made it halfway through my smoothie before I had to throw it away and rush out the door. I didn’t have time to pack lunch and having half a smoothie digesting in my stomach just made my hunger stronger all afternoon.

I got out of clinic a bit early and when I spotted a Manhattan Bagel on the drive home it felt like an oasis in the desert.

I was eating the chips that came with my meal before I was even out of the parking lot.

But chips only seemed to anger the beast (aka my stomach) and I ended up eating my bagel on the ride home!

Eating while driving is sort of nice because instead of dreading red lights you can use them to shove food into your face. And my bagel was quite enjoyable; I got a veggie sandwich on a rye bagel.

Red onion, lettuce, tomato, banana peppers, veggie cream cheese, and a little bit of chipotle mayo. I thought the veggies were pretty weak but the bagel was super chewy and good.

I had my 2nd to last shift at work this evening and then I came home to an easy salad dinner.

I needed a vehicle for a veggie, a fruit, and this amazing looking cheese, and salad fit the bill.

This Cypress Grove Humbolt Fog Chevre was delicious. Sadly the blue cheese and goat cheese were in layers and not the hybrid mixture I was hoping for, but both were quite tasty.

Along with chunk of cheese I had romaine lettuce, groats, chopped honey crisp apple, and Stubbs BBQ Sauce for dressing.

Those ingredients sound strange together but it worked.

I’ll see y’all in the am for some running and some baking!

26Mar2012

Miles To Go Before I Sleep

by Emily

Technically the miles were already traveled but sleep somehow feels very far and very urgent! I had some great bites today but I’m going to keep my descriptions quick in favor of bed.

Breakfast – cereal mix with vanilla almond milk.