Easter Dinner

I hope everyone’s Easter, Passover, or April weekends have been full of family and fun.  It’s been good being here in Ohio and seeing lots of familiar faces.  I’m feeling pretty good too but definitely still in need of sleep so I’ll keep this quick.

Breakfast.  Scrambled eggs, piece of turkey bacon, toast with butter.

Lunch.  Pieced together as best I could.

Cup of carrots.

Cup of Sahale Snacks Almonds with Honey, Cranberry + Sea Salt.

Mid-afternoon snack/fun.  We walked over to the Cracker Barrel gift shop to peruse the old-time goodies.

Adam and I split a Double Cola.

And I finally got to try divinity candy, a Southern treat made of sugar, corn syrup, and egg whites.

I had that piece shown x 3.  Delicious but the back of my throat felt like it was burning with all of the sugar.

Appetizer.  A bagel chip with blue cheese pecan spread.  x2.

Drink.  Bud Light with Lime.

Dinner.

Orzo salad.

Party potatoes.

Stir-fried veggies.

Pretzel roll with butter. x2.

Fruit salad.

Bed.

Did you decorate Easter eggs this year?

I’m Relleno

Hello from Ohio.  We’re not here for a happy reason but I’m happy we made it here safely.

We stayed up late catching up on TV last night and I got hungry again.  I served myself a big bowl of cereal with skim milk; Cheerios and some raisin/bran/crunch thing.

I had breakfast food for my late-night snack and dinner food for breakfast.

A grilled cheese with Cabot 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar and Sriracha mayo,

and a sliced honey crisp.

This meal was great but my next bite was terrible.  I stole a piece of Adam’s chicken bites from McDonalds –

Ewwwwwww!  So fried tasting and gross.

My dad flew into Buffalo this afternoon and we picked him up at the airport and headed off on our road trip.  Since we had a “road-guest” we stopped for an actual dinner.

Torero’s served us some damn fine Mexican food!  Pretty healthy too!  Here was my plate –

Black beans,

rice,

and the Vegi-chiladas.  “Steamed carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, yellow squash and zucchini rolled into two flour tortillas, topped with our salsa Mazatlán and garnished with Monterrey Jack cheese.  Served with sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes.”

I ordered my enchiladas sans cheese because I also had a chile relleno waiting for me on my dad’s plate.

Stuffed peppers are usually my favorite Mexican dish but this guy was a little too fried for me.  I ended up eating about a third of everything, except I ate 1.25 tortillas and every single bite of vegetable.

I ate two Samoa Jumbles in the car for dessert.

Still good.

Where is your favorite road trip stop?

Loop De Loop

I’m going to apologize in advance just in case this post makes no sense.  I’m tired, and sick, and pretty damn loopy.

After my run and cookie consumption I started the day cautiously optimistic that I would keep feeling good.

To eat in class I packed a green pear,

and a 2% Pineapple Siggi’s.

I loved the 2% fat content of this yogurt but the pineapple was pretty weak.  There was no pineapple flavor and the pieces of fruit were few and far between.  But the yogurt itself was wonderful.  I enjoy the original Siggi’s and the 2% variety was a little sweeter and the texture very creamy and less stiff.

Adam was done at the hospital around the same time I finished my classes so I walked home to meet him for a date before work.  I’m not even gonna lie – he took me to dinner at my school’s food court and it was the best damn date I’ve ever been on.  I love spending time with the husband so much!  First we stopped in at Ashker’s for smoothies since we have a Groupon.

I can’t remember my exact selection but I know that it had a few fruits, carrots, and ginger.

It would have been fantastic except that I forgot that I freaking hate ginger.  The texture was spot on but it was just way too spicy for me.  I could only drink a third or so but the husband happily finished off the rest.

Then we walked back to campus.  I work in the basement of a dorm building so Adam clearly couldn’t hang out with me but I’m a total creeper so the simple fact that he was in the same building as me was exciting.

We were both starving (like gnaw your own arm off starving) so we hit up the food court and ended up discovering a new, totally adorable, perfectly priced “asian” kiosk.  We split a Vietnamese coffee for 99 cents.

And I got a tasty lobster roll.

It was good!

We are bottomless pits so we got pizza too.  $4 for two slices packed with toppings; apparently college food courts are the place to go for a cheap date!

My veggie slice came with banana peppers, roasted red peppers, and black olives.

Tonight was my last shift at work (the calling sessions only last for a month) and I was sad to say goodbye.  Of course there are people who are total jerks to tele-fund-raisers but most people were really nice!  I had several older alumni sweetly tell me that they loved talking to me.  I’ll miss it!

I’m not sure anyone will miss me after tonight though; today’s sickness levels hit their peak mid-shift and I basically hacked up a lung in the corner all evening.  By the time I met Adam I could barely talk.  The loopiness had set in at that point so it’s possible I also told bad jokes and laughed like a hyena the whole walk home but I can’t really blame that on the sickness.

But it definitely was my sore throat that demanded a strawberry milkshake.

Mmmmn, if I could set up a constant stream of icy beverage down my throat that would be excellent.

I had to stay up to set up my class schedule for next semester (I can register tomorrow morning) but now it’s clearly time for bed.  So goodnight!

One In The Hand…

…is worth two the in the bush.  Or $1 if you’re holding a silver dollar.  Or a quick blurb if you’re reading this post.  What I’m trying to say is, pictures in this blog post will be accompanied by a quick blurb.  I’m tired.

Our larders are bare and as I said, I’m tired, so today’s meals were tricky.  My food consumption was very strange, fairly processed, and eaten entire by hand (minus two dishes by chopstick).  I ate small bits consistently throughout the day and that seemed to work.  It wasn’t the healthiest day of all time but for this day I’m pretty proud of how I did.

A Cappuccino Lara Bar.

Always a favorite.  I’m amazed every time I eat this at how well they managed to balance the coffee flavor so that it’s not too intense.

The final two Buttered Rum Raisin Cookies.

So sad to see these good, they are for sure in my top five recipes list.

Note – I also had a large handful of unphotographed Reese’s Pieces.  We used them for a problem in Statistics and then were allowed to nibble.

Trader Joe’s Wasabi Roasted Seaweed Snack.

This was good but super spicy; I was crying before I was even halfway through.  Crunchy, spicy, and a bit strange means this was something I loved; I really wish I had bought more.  And for 30 calories you were snacking for a long while, definitely a volume food.

A Pepsi Next.

This 60 calorie soda is Pepsi’s answer to Coke Zero.  Sadly I wasn’t a fan, it tasted too much like regular Pepsi to me (duh, Emily!).  If you enjoy regular soda but want to cut back on calories you should probably check it out.  I wish they would make a regular soda that simply contained less sugar, rather using fake sugars.  I love the flavor of diet but know that I could do without the chemicals.

A Mango Passion & Banana Buddy Fruit packet.

I love these so much!  One pack equals one serving of fruit and the blend was delicious.

A mini pretzel bagel with some of the leftover cheese from last night’s cheese plate.

It’s hard to go wrong with the pretzel and smoked Gouda combo.  Eating these side-by-side rather than sandwich style felt gloriously simple.

A So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk box.

Meh, I prefer the Silk Vanilla Almond Milk.  I like the idea a vegan milk box though and I’ve had this product in chocolate in the past and enjoyed it more.

Dinner was eaten by chopstick and gets no blurb.  Seaweed salad and a brown rice veggie sushi roll.

What can I really say about that?

But dessert?  Oh my gosh, dessert.  A Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Bar filled with Speculoos Cookie Spread.

Why didn’t I buy more of these?!  I am kicking myself now.  The chocolate was creamy and a little bit bitter, the filling was sweet and gritty, and I was basically swooning.  I actually did buy two bars but I gave one to a friend who’s similar obsessed with Biscoff and I’m feeling pretty darn generous right about now.  But I do, at least, have a jar of TJ’s Cookie Butter waiting for me.

What was the best thing you ate today?

Tired Haus 3

Man, oh man, am I tired!  My insomnia seems to be coming back but for now I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the problem is just the vacation/visiting/excitement.  It’s my mom’s last day in town and we are heading to the airport at 4am.

On a short walk with the dog, Starbucks dopio espresso with the rest of the cup filled to the rim with skim milk.

Wegman’s hot bar for lunch with my mom.

Veg – roasted veggies, asparagus salad, a piece of chili garlic eggplant.

Protein – a piece of fried tofu and 2 steamed chicken dumplings.

I had to go to two classes today but this afternoon we took a nice walk down Elmwood.

A pear was eaten on the walk,

along with two Buttered Rum Raisin Cookies.

Plus two more cookies that snuck into my mouth while I was in the container.

During our walk we also stopped at Organic 3 Cafe for juice.

My custom blend was carrot, cucumber, double spinach.

We headed back to Lagerhaus 95 for my mom’s final meal in Buffalo.  Good food was eaten, with lots of sharing.  Basil truffle fries.

These were fine as far as fries go but not amazing; nothing like the truffle fries here.

Haus Cheese Board.

The four cheeses were provolone, smoked gouda, dill havarti, and a sheep’s milk cheese.  It was good, but that’s obvious because it’s cheese.

And speaking of cheese, I got the special for dinner – Crispy Duck Mac and Cheese.

The mac was made with smoked gouda and was topped with panko, truffle oil, crispy duck, and goldfish crackers for crunch.

Mmmmmn!  Smoked gouda is always a win and the goldfish ended up being surprisingly nice.  I usually shy away from duck but I did enjoy the few bites I took that included it; it was a lot like beef jerky!  I finished half of the dish or so and the husband is very excited to have the rest for dinner tomorrow.

I also had a few bites of his truffled wild mushroom panini.

And we split a side salad with lemon caper vinaigrette.

The dressing was good but my salad was missing the herbs from last time.  All in all it was a fun “last” meal.  Quite decadent too, what with all the cheese and truffle oil!

And now I’m getting up in 5 hour so I should skedaddle!

Thank Goodness It’s Tuesday

The title’s not sarcastic, we have a difficult assignment due this Thursday and I’m glad to still have a day standing between me and it!

My shift at work went well yesterday but when I got out at 9 I was just too tired to photograph, or blog, or think.  We do not do Daylight Saving Time where I grew up and my body still hasn’t quite gotten used to it.  Every year I am so exhausted for the weeks immediately following the time changes.

I needed a little extra help this morning too.

The vanilla flavored Doubleshot was very tasty.  I’d drink it for flavor alone if it weren’t for all the caffeine.

Solid food was good too.

I had a Siggi’s Strawberry topped with two sliced yellow plucots and a drizzle of maple syrup.

The yellow plucots were good but I think I prefer the dapple variety.  These were more tart.

When I walked to campus for stats this morning I was almost too hot in my winter coat.  And I definitely had to fan myself when I saw my score on the first exam –

Woot!

Clinic was good too.  I had my first teenage patient (I’ve been with adults and infants previously) and it was a different sort of interviewing experience.  We also met as a group for some interesting mini-discussions on anorexia nervosa and cystic fibrosis.

I was hungry and short on time after clinic so I made myself an Annie Chun’s Korean Sweet Chili Noodle Bowl.

I added a big handful of shredded carrots on top for veg.

It was good, and I very much liked the amount of heat to the sauce, but desperately in need of a crunch factor.  I have a few other flavors that I purchased on sale and I might stock up on peanuts to top them with.

Dinner was actually a blogger event.  T.G.I.Friday’s invited a bunch of local bloggers to try out their new menu.

The plates were portioned for sharing (and the light was pretty bad) so the media contact actually requested that we not take any food photographs.  Instead I’ll do a recap of what I thought of the dishes I tried when she sends me press info/high-res photos.  I will say for now that I was surprised and impressed.  It felt very strange to not be photographing though!

I brought my friend Kim with me and we ate ’til we were stuffed and a had a lot of fun.  It was nice getting to meet some of the other local bloggers.

I came home from the event planning on working but instead I’m hurrying to bed.  Adam baked up a ton of food to pack for his lunches this week (eggplant, zucchini, tomatillos, mushrooms, rice, and a bunch of seasonings and sauces) and the apartment is permeated with a smell that’s making me ill.  It actually smells delicious, but the sensory overload has given me nausea and a headache.  Tomorrow will be insanely busy but hopefully oder-free!

After Lunch Mints

It’s Friday!  My sleep total for the last 2 days is still only at about 8 hours but somehow I managed to make it to the gym this morning.  I didn’t get up quite on time, but I made it. I did have to cut my workout a bit short to make it back to campus on time for class, but I figured it was better than skipping it entirely (<– what would have happened if I had tried to wait and go after class).

8 sets of 3 minutes running / 2 minutes walking.  42 minutes and 3.5 miles with cool down.

I had to skip breakfast too, but it was worth it.  Besides, I was busy doing important things like shrouding myself in pinks and purples instead of drying my hair.

When I did finally get “breakfast” at noon I stuck with the color theme.

Those two chopped plucots are perched on a bowl of Wegman’s Low-fat Honey Yogurt.

The gratuitous dog picture means I approve!  The yogurt’s texture was creamy and good and the flavor was pure honey.

The bowl was delicious.

Lunch was better though.  I bet you know what I had.

2 Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes.

Ah-mazing.  I hope with all of my heart that y’all will try that recipe at home.

I also had a salad.  Romaine topped with peanut sauce, green onions, shredded carrots, and dry roasted peanuts.

The green onions were a fun addition.

Dessert happened too.

This recipe wasn’t on my baking roster, but it was a necessary last-minute addition.  My friend Kim unwrapped a piece of gum in class today and at first I thought the wrapper was an Andes Mint.  That was it.

I made a half recipe of our favorite brownies with Andes mints layered in the middle.  I had three smallish ones.

Amazing as well.

And I wasn’t done in the kitchen yet.  I’m going to be out of the house all day tomorrow so I whipped up lunch in advance.

A random mishmash of unmeasured amounts of – spaghetti, linguine, shredded chicken, skim milk, medium buffalo sauce, reduced fat cream cheese, mozzarella, cheddar, blue cheese, spinach, brocoli, and peas.  I had a few bites and it was very good; I’m looking forward to lunch tomorrow.

I’m also looking forward to bed!  I’m still not really tired, but I can tell that sleep is going to feel good.  The plan for dinner is a frozen meal and a beer and then I hope to turn in early.

Pick your poison – Junior Mints, York Patties, or Andes?

Has Been And Will Be

Howdy!  It has been – and will be – a long day, so I’ll keep this quick.

My morning started with a trip to the gym.  My CT10k plan called for 11 sets of 3 minutes running / 2 minutes walking, but today was my worst workout ever so I had to mix it up a bit.  My calves were soooooo tight.  I ran and walked super slowly and stopped practically every 5 minutes to stretch but my legs just wouldn’t feel right.  I ended up doing 6 sets of 3/2, followed by 30 minutes of slow walking with my notecards, and then another 6 sets of 3/2.  90 minutes and 6.7 miles in total.  And after my walk home my legs now feel completely better; weird!

I drank a grape G2 while I was at the gym.

Technically this was a drink purchase but I’m not going to count it.  I was feeling very light-headed so calories were a necessity and not just a desire for something other than water.  I am going to buy a few larger (read cheaper unit cost) G2s next time I’m at the store though.

I ate lunch on my walk to school, or at least attempted to.  First, a delightfully crunchy pink lady apple.

Next, I packed a B’More Skyr Vanilla Smoothie.

I had such high hopes – the packaging was neat and I adore Siggi’s skyr yogurts – but alas, stevia.  Yuck, I wish I had looked at the ingredient list more carefully.  I had to throw the drink out after just two sips.  Then I spent the rest of the afternoon bemoaning our no-take-out challenge; I didn’t have anything else to eat and I was starving!

I stayed strong though, and even managed to focus intently for my test.  I’m never really sure, but I think this one went much better than the last few.  Fingers crossed.

And in even better news, the husband got out early from the hospital in time to drive me home from school.  Thus bringing me to food 90% more quickly.

Those are cola gummis I got in Toronto and they were fabulous.  I have the rest of my stash packed for lunch tomorrow and I just can’t wait.

I also made an extraordinary sandwich.

A Sandwich Thin topped with Applegate Farms roasted turkey, sharp cheddar, and tons of sliced sweet pickles.

Mmmmmmmn!  When I was in middle school I’d occasionally pack pickle and cheddar sandwiches for lunch and they are still rocking my socks today.

My delicious sandwich was eaten on the go.  It was warm enough this afternoon to walk Webster sans coats!

We still have more freezing days ahead of us, but it was nice to get a little taste of spring.

Dinner was an oldie but a goodie.

Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles, with an updated recipe page.

Plus the last serving of Malted Heath Bar Toffee Blondie 2 Ingredient Ice Cream for dessert.

I’m pretty sad to see it go.

We’ll call dinner carbo-loading for the marathon night ahead of me.  The things I have to get done for tomorrow list includes studying for my first stats test, three homework assignments for clinical, and a major assignment for management.  And the number things on the list I’m done with is – zero.  Whoops!  Guess I needed to do some work last weekend.

I’m not sure when (or if!) I’ll get to bed but I foresee some midnight snacking in my future.  Sweet dreams to the rest of you!