Tag Archives: blue cheese

Pregnant in Philly

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Ever since the Healthy Living Summit I’ve been thinking about one thing.  Not blogstalking new people; I’ve been too busy for that.  Not how to improve my blog, though obviously that should be high on my list.  For me, Philly was all about the Philly.

The vegan Philly Cheese Steak.  The minute I took that first chewy yet crunchy bite I knew this was something I’d have to recreate at home.

We hollowed out a roll of Italian bread, piled it high, and melted on two slices of 2% Provolone cheese.  For our filling we sautéed together sliced mushrooms, sliced onion, thin strips of red pepper, and crumbled Seitan.

Meet the /mostly/ vegan Philly cheese steak /done at home/.

It was delicious.  But it wasn’t the delicious.  I was looking to relive the taste I experienced in Philadelphia – the savory yet tangy flavor, my need to pull pieces of the “meat” from my sandwich to eat with my fingertips – and this wasn’t quite there.  Still good though.

I plated myself a small bowl of filling on the side when we sat down.

But I ended up having more than enough food and leaving most of this, plus a few bites of bread, behind.

For the salad course of dinner we ate the remains of some romaine.

Topped with Kraft Light Parmesan Asiago Balsamic Vinaigrette and big handfuls of blue cheese crumbles and buckwheat groats.

My last bite was pure blue cheese and buckwheat and it was ridiculous good.  The crunchiness of the groats makes me enjoy salads 100% more than before.

Other than making a good dinner, I didn’t accomplish near enough this afternoon.  After all my morning workout motivation it was all I could do not to fall asleep on my notes this afternoon.  It didn’t help that Webster was being a distracting little stinker –

That is the top of the couch!  Why/how?!?

Pregnancy Chic?

The other half of my title comes from my afternoon admission that I rock tunic-style tops fairly regularly.  They look good on me, they hide the fact that I spent the summer watching Charmed on the couch, and I generally think they’re adorable.  Like this new top I got at the Banana Republic outlet this summer.

This top is super cute, especially the wrap-style boobs.

But when I was describing my look this morning I heard “second trimester chic” coming out of my mouth.

I’m good with it though.  I may be years away from pregnancy but I’ve already got a ton of concerns about all the things that come after getting knocked up.  At least I can cross *spending money on maternity clothes* off my list of worries, my current wardrobe should carry me through just fine!

Are you a fan of the “pregnancy chic” look or do you prefer tighter fitting tops?

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?

Dip for Dinner

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I finished all of my schoolwork for this week, wrote an article for the Dietetics newsletter, and made a deeply delicious dinner.  Go me!

The first round of dinner felt oh-so-sophisticated, dip and crudities.

The dip was my newest recipe creation, Black and Blue Dip:

Yield: 14 ounces; Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cook Time: 0

  • 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 oz (or 1/2 cup) blue cheese crumbles
  • 4 Tbsp light sour cream
  • 3 Tbsp A-1 steak sauce
  1. Place beans into the food processor and pulse until mostly smooth.
  2. Add blue cheese, sour cream, and steak sauce and pulse until well-combined, scraping down the sides of the food processor as needed.

The black beans and blue cheese are a fun flavor combo, the A-1 adds spice and depth, and the sour cream helps to smooth out the flavor.  Adam described this as meaty (and fun for all vegetables!) so I guess this had umami!  Each 2 oz serving had only 106 calories so this would be the perfect dip to bring to a party where you were hoping to keep things healthy.

I ate a 2 oz serving,

with baby carrots, green pepper, and celery dipped in.

Adam and I both agreed that this was a fabulous appetizer.

The second half of dinner was brinner.

I used 2 Tbsp of butter to saute 1 pint of sliced mushrooms, 1 sliced red bell pepper, and 1 Mayan onion.  We pulled out half of the cooked veggies for later use and scrambled the rest into 3 large eggs.

This dinner ended up being a little small but it’s bedtime so what can you do?  Meh.

What is your favorite thing to dip into blue cheese?  Baby carrots are good but pizza crusts are better!

This Is A Morning

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I said I’d blog in the morning, I just didn’t say which morning.

As promised, Adam came home Saturday night with a feast.

We split some waffle fries,

and I ate half of this spicy bean enchillada.

In the morning we took a long walk (he pooped!),

and picked up an iced tea from Starbucks.

Then came home and made breakfast.

I had turkey bacon,

two eggs with spicy corn relish scrambled in,

and a Bagel Thin with Smart Balance Lite and Crofters Organic Grape Spread.

My plan for the afternoon was supposed to be a 3 mile run.  But then this happened –

So then this happened –

Webster makes spending the afternoon at home so much more exciting.  As do brownies.

These S’mores Brownies are definitely in the top ten list of things I’ve baked!

I think I actually like them better than traditional s’mores!

We did take a few walks, which turned into mud baths, which turned into Webster’s first real bath.  Eeee, wet dachshunds are so cute; I will have to remember to take a picture next time.

I had dinner/drinks plans at 8:00 which felt late so I did some afternoon snacking.  Baby carrots dipped in blue cheese dressing.

Half a matzoh sheet with extra sharp cheddar melted on top.

A mug of Candy Cane Lane with skim milk.

And 1 serving of Trolli Soda Poppers.

The snacking did the trick and before I knew it I was at Bar Louie with my friends.  I know it’s sort of a breakfast drink, but the extra spicy bloody mary was calling my name.

It was spicy and delicious, but I was a little put off by the freaking sandwich Bar Louie stuck in the top of it –

I don’t eat meat!  I did eat a small plate of the appetizers we shared.

I’m so happy that I ended up with such a great group in my year for Dietetics.  I didn’t get home until after 12 and I will admit to feeling a bit cranky this morning.

I’m starving and I assume Webster’s chewing on my bookshelves to tell me that he’s bored, so we’re off to take a long walk.  This will be my first day home alone with the puppy, wish me luck!

Courageous

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Hello, hello!  I’m not sure how it’s become Thursday, but it all feels very sudden.  Probably because I haven’t had a whole lot on my agenda this week.  I’m excited to have a bunch of to-do’s to tackle in the remaining month before school.

I didn’t make dinner (or blog) last night because I got hit with another migraine.  I don’t get them all the often any more but when I am struck it seems to happen in sets.  I took medicine in time to still have an evening, but our dinner plans were ruined.  Instead we got take-out.

That’s a buffalo chicken sub and french fries from Jim’s Steak-Out.

I also ate half of a Rollo McFlurry, but the pic is on Adam’s cell phone and he’s not home.  I’ve been obsessing over these ever since I saw them advertised last month, but it ended up only being ok.  I love caramel, but vanilla ice cream just doesn’t do it for me.

Fast-forward to this morning when I enjoyed a bowl of Fiber Plus Caramel Pecan Crunch with skim milk.

For lunch I decided to try these Soy Boy Okra Courage Burgers I’ve had in my freezer for months.

I tried mine toasted, on a bun with a slice of sharp cheddar and a drizzle of ketchup.

I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either.  The nutrition stats (130 calories and 13 grams of protein per patty) are great but the flavor didn’t blow my mind.  I think I’d like to try one on something less bready before I make an official decision.

I did love pile of roasted green beans I had on the side.

It’s official: roasted green beans win the Emily’s Favorite Veggie award.  I’m also in love this new plate I got at Anthropologie on my birthday.

I’m keeping the afternoon low-key (ie watching tons of “Charmed”), but at some point I am going to finish making my #tgfa cookie balls so I can mail them out to the winner tomorrow.  I’d also like to make that dinner, but let’s not write anything in stone! 😀

What is your favorite veggie?  Roasted green beans top my list, but eaten straight-up I’m obsessed with baby carrots.

Driving Dilemma

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We love our neighborhood – a quiet side street off of Elmwood, the “cool” strip in Buffalo – but the parking situation here is a bummer.  There’s not a lot of parking space to begin with and then the city further restricts residents by only allowing use of one side of the street from 9-5 on weekdays.  In the end it’s really not something I can complain about though because we generally end up parking 2 blocks away from our apartment at most and often snag spots right out front.  What I can complain about (and do at length) is the fact that parking switches from left MTW to right RF.  Which means that if you wake up at 8:50 thinking that it’s Wednesday when it’s actually Thursday you’re out $30.  $60 if you have two cars to worry about.

During the school year – when Adam and I have long-houred internships at different hospitals – having two cars will be a godsend.  But in the summer – when we barely drive the one car, let alone two – it’s all we can do to remember to move the cars and they become a big, costly annoyance.  I try to put “move the cars!!!” in my day planner but since I often don’t check my planner until after 9am this has proved less than helpful.  What has proved effective lately though is coupling the task moving the cars with another activity.  If there’s one thing I’ll never forgot to look forward to it’s a date with Adam!

For example, this morning we set our alarms for 8:20 8:40 8:50 and moved the cars before setting out on a walk to get coffee.

We ended up with no tickets, plus (half sweet) coffee as a bonus!

I waited to enjoy my hot coffee until I got home to the ac, and paired it with the rest of my breakfast spread.

A crisp, local apple,

and Greek Gods Fig yogurt.

Yum x 100!  If you still haven’t tried Greek Gods then you totally need to get on that.

Coffee always makes me super full, which helped lunch to get pushed back later and later into the afternoon.  When a coworker called at noon I ended up picking up an extra daytime shift at work tomorrow which meant we needed to switch around some of our lunch and dinner meal plans.  The end result of all this is that it was 2:30, I hadn’t eaten lunch, and I needed to go to the store before I could make dinner.

I’d been craving garlic eggplant all morning – actually I’ve been craving that dish ever since I saw it on the table across from ours at Tokyo Shanghai – so I told myself that if Wegman’s had it on their hot bar then I’d buy lunch there.  I haven’t seen garlic eggplant at Wegman’s in months, but apparently crossing your fingers works!

I got a big scoop of garlic eggplant alongside veggies picked out from various containers,

and a few big pieces of sweet and sour chicken.

So fun to find exactly what I was craving right on that day; usually I whine to the husband about tastes I’m looking forward to for days!

No matter how satisfying and tasty though, waiting too long for lunch always means I’m hungrier all afternoon.  We had a good array of snacks to pick from; baby carrots with blue cheese,

a white chocolate and toffee cookie from Wegman’s cookie bar,

and when I made another batch of pumpkin muffins I ate a mini muffin with Smart Balance Light.

I’m glad I didn’t snack too much because dinner was amazing.

The dinner idea that I just couldn’t wait for was tuna salad Reubens.

We made tuna salad with 1000 Island Dressing and pickle relish, then pressed sandwiches with sauerkraut and 2% Swiss cheese.

We picked up a loaf of blue cheese and cracked pepper bread from Wegman’s bakery today and it totally took the sandwiches over the top.

With roasted broccoli,

and ears of fresh corn.

This dinner was so worth making the kitchen hot and steamy! 

How many cars does your household own?  How often do you drive to your final destination (as opposed to walking or using public transportation)?

Almost Off

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I’ve got one more shift at work tonight and then I’m off for the next three days; wahoo!  Today basically has felt like a day off anyways since I’ve got laundry to put away and some things to clean and I’ve successfully ignored it all.  I also skipped the gym so I could give my knee one more day’s rest before I run 5 miles tomorrow.

Adam and I both had nightmares last night that effected our sleep and when we rolled out of bed after 10:30 this morning I was nightmarishly hungry.  Enter a crunchy bowl of cereal with cool skim milk.

We’ve got a Wegman’s brand crunchy oatmeal cereal and Cinnamon Pecan Special K and I had a serving of each.

I don’t eat a lot of cereal but sometimes it sounds so good.

I also noshed on a big pile of baby carrots with blue cheese.

There was only one serving of food left for dinner tonight (we went to town on those sloppy joes yesterday!) so I left it for Adam and walked to the Co-op to pick up hot bar.

Curry chicken salad, tofu with okra, bbq temph, southwestern baked yams,

cashew broccoli salad, grape leaves.

For dessert I made the “punch” that I’ve been dreaming about ever since I had a sip at an event a few months ago.

Vanilla ice cream with orange juice and Sprite.

Frothy!

What is your favorite kind of punch?

Buffalo, Take Me To San Fransisco

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This post is my entry into a contest that will hopefully take me to San Fransisco for the 2011 Foodbuzz Blogger Festival.  The Tyson Grilled and Ready Chicken was provided as a free sample via the Foodbuzz Tastemakers’ Program.

I moved to Buffalo after spending two years in the best place on earth.  That’s Brooklyn, NYC, if you’re not sure.  Before that I was born and raised in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, and attended college in Miami, Florida.  The places you call “destinations” I call home.  What could Buffalo have to offer me?

For one thing, my new home is the birthplace of Buffalo chicken wings.

Which have spawned Buffalo sandwiches, Buffalo shrimp, Buffalo tacos, and most importantly, Buffalo chicken dip.

When I took my first bite of Buffalo chicken dip – supremely spicy and dotted with pockets of creamy cheese – I knew I’d found my new home.

No matter how nice your home may be, it’s ok to have a little wanderlust!  When I attended the very first Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in 2009, it was one of the best weekends of my life.

I fell in love, with the bloggers, the city, and the food!  I was heartbroken when we had to tighten our purse strings this fall and financial constraints kept me from attending the festival a 2nd year.  So that’s why I’m hoping to win a trip to this year’s event.

It’s not just about winning though, not that winning’s ever bad; the winner of the contest will have an opportunity to cook their dish for the crowd at the festival.  People don’t think of Buffalo as a foodie hotspot (I know I sure didn’t!), but I’m proud of my town.  I want the opportunity to share my city’s namesake flavor.

Buffalo Wing Baked Pasta, serves 8

  • 22 oz bag Tyson Grilled and Ready Chicken Breast Strips
  • 14.5 oz whole wheat rotini pasta
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 cup medium heat Buffalo wing sauce (I recommend Anchor Bar’s!)
  • 16 oz Neufchatel cheese (1/3 less fat cream cheese), softened
  • 1/2 cup reduced fat blue cheese dressing
  • 10 cups fresh spinach
  • 1 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
  1. Cook pasta al dente according to box directions.  Drain finished pasta and return it to the pot (remove from heat when pasta is finished).  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Farenheit.
  2. Heat frozen chicken strips in a nonstick skillet on medium heat for 3 – 5 minutes or until warm.  Add 1/2 cup Buffalo wing sauce to chicken and continue to cook for one minute.
  3. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.  Reduce heat to medium-low.
  4. Combine cream cheese, blue cheese dressing, and remaining 1 cup Buffalo wing sauce in the pan.  Heat until melted, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes.
  5. Pour sauce over pasta.  Add chicken and spinach to the pot and stir well to combine.
  6. Spread pasta mixture into a greased 9×13 inch casserole dish.  Top evenly with cheese.
  7. Bake 8 – 11 minutes, until cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

I ate my serving with carrots and celery, because that’s how we serve Buffalo chicken dip.

What dish is your town famous for?