Toasted Marshmallow Cheesecake Oatmeal (For Dinner)

by Emily

My book and beers were great last night but I woke up in a funk. Adam and I both just didn’t want to get out of bed. I snoozed for so long that suddenly there wasn’t enough time to both go to the gym and make the fun breakfast I was looking forward to. I knew I had to get it together before my bad mood ruined the whole day so I tried to pinpoint what was making me cranky – I was cold, I was tired, I was hungry.

Time to problem-solve! I decided I would make a mug of hot chocolate (calories, warmth, caffeine), go to the gym (endorphins), and eat my fun breakfast for dinner (anticipation).

The cocoa was pretty weak but my workout felt rewarding. 10 minutes on the treadmill (1 mile) and 20 minutes at level 6 random on the stationary bike (7 miles).

I had to hurry, but somehow my hair air-dried perfectly today!

Often one side curls under while the other flips up so this felt very fortuitous since I had to look nice for clinic.

For breakfast I cashed in the last of my Ashker’s smoothie Groupon on the walk to school.

I got a Lemon Zinger sans ginger; aka a carrot, peach, mango, and lemon smoothie. It was great!

Lunch included more carrots so it’s a good thing I’m a fan.

Also a Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin with two slices of Applegate Farm’s Smoked Turkey and a wedge of Light French Onion Laughing Cow.

And a 120-calorie pack of Skinny Cow Dreamy Clusters.

These were on super-sale so I took a chance and I ended up quite liking them. The serving was small but the caramel was nice and I liked the bit of crunch.

But I probably should have packed an additional item for lunch because I was inhaling this 100-calorie bag of kettle corn the minute I walked in the door at the end of the day.

My clinical hours today were at a Diabetic Education Course. The RD let me teach the portion on reading nutrition labels. She said I seemed knowledgable and confident which is awesome because on the inside I was screaming my head off! I’m considering becoming a certified diabetes educator (cde) some day so it was neat to get a taste of the experience.

I had to get through night class and then I finally had my much-anticipated ~~breakfast~~ dinner. What combination was I so excited about?

Toasted Marshmallow Cheesecake Oats!

So flipping good.

cooked: 3/4 cup skim milk, pinch salt, 1/4 cup oats

stirred in: 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese (cheesecake), 4 toasted marshmallows (marshmallow!)

topped: 1 Tbsp melted Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter (crust)

The toasted marshmallows stirred into the mix and the bowl was like a giant, toasty, marshmallow!

When I originally planned this meal for breakfast I wanted to make sure it was nutritionally ready to get me through the day so I plugged the ingredients into an online calculator –

Not bad, not bad at all; especially for something that tasted like dessert.

What is your favorite decadent breakfast?

23Apr2012

White Girl Broad Rice Noodles

by Emily

If I had to name my favorite foods, Pad See Eiw would top the list every time. It beats out baby carrots and even jalapeño nachos, though it’s worth noting that diet pop isn’t a contender because it’s considered a necessity. Broad rice noodles have the best chew. If you get a well made dish of Pad See Eiw the noodles are almost like marshmallows, but in a delicious, savory way.

Tragically, I’ve never been able to find broad rice noodles on sale for the home cook. I’ve searched at Thai markets in Buffalo, Brooklyn, and Toronto with no luck. I haven’t given up hope but I’m not too broken up about it either. I figure that the universe is just telling me that we need to go out for Thai more often. Plus, I’ve found a white girl substitution that works in a pinch –

lasagna noodles

You simply cook the noodles according to the package directions, drain and cool, chop into large squares, and stir fry. The flavor and texture aren’t identical to broad rice noodles but they are good. It’s the closest I’ve come to approximating that great chew at home.

For tonight’s meal I made “broad rice noodles” with veggies and a spicy basil sauce. The final dish was chewy, spicy, healthy, and a little sweet and sour; we were big fans!

To make the meal, I used 1 Tbsp canola oil to stir fry 2 servings of chopped lasagna noodles, 3 small heads roasted broccoli, 2 roasted zucchini, and 2 eggs. Then I tossed everything in a spicy basil sauce and cooked it all for another 3 minutes.

spicy basil sauce

2 Tbsp finely chopped basil
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp Sriracha

Dinner was great but I’ve been a hungry mungry all afternoon and my stomach is still growling! Before dinner I made myself a sliced green apple with 2 Tbsp Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter.

The cookie butter is tasty but it’s not exactly like Biscoff Spread. I still can’t put my finger on what the difference is.

When I was still hungry an hour after dinner I made myself a serving of Ritz crackers with 1 oz of melted Cabot 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar.

Yummy, but not very filling. We don’t have a ton of options in the house though and I’ve definitly consumed enough calories for the day so I’ve decided to suck it up and just go hungry. Hopefully when I get back to work I’ll get distracted and my stomach will give it a rest!

Are you a broad rice noodle fan?

22Apr2012

Thai One On

by Emily

Good food, good friends, and a bit of work; ’twas the perfect Sunday!

Any day is sweet when your morning starts off like this –

If you don’t want to start your day with sweetened condensed milk I’m not sure we can be friends. I only had a small taste, I was using the SCM in a fun recipe and licking the spoon is practically a requirement.

We had brunch plans at noon so I also had this Cara Cara Orange in the a.m. to hold me over.

Good thing too, the wait ended up being lengthy.

Thankfully Betty’s was worth the time.

3rd year has been busy so it was great to get together with some medical school friends.

Apparently I think smoky eyes are a brunch look.

A Bloody Mary (extra spicy) was ordered the minute we got to our table.

Not gonna lie – I got a little buzzed; I’m officially a light-weight.

For my meal I had my eye on the vegetable hash –

Corn and poblano peppers topped with runny eggs sounds like heaven on a plate, but sadly they had run out. I ended up making a last-minute decision and choosing the apple and cranberry french toast streusel casserole.

The casserole was good but I should have stuck with savory, I just wasn’t feeling sweet. I ate about half plus two incredible stolen bites of Adam’s lox Benedict.

I didn’t have to wait long to eat again (do I ever?!); we went to the movies this afternoon and I polished off 90% of these pretzel bites.

This is literally the only time I would ever considering eating fake cheese, but boy do I shovel it in with pretzel bites! We saw “Cabin in the Woods.” I hate horror films a lot (even “horror comedies”) but we’re obsessed with Joss Whedon so we had to go. I didn’t adore the movie itself but I loved the fact that it was basically a giant commentary on the genre. No “Serenity” though 😉

Our friends were talking about the “five languages of love” at brunch so when we got home we decided to take the quiz. Here are my results –

And here are Adam’s –

We both are indifferent to gifts but need physical touch and quality time (I could have told you that before the quiz!) You’ll notice that I care much more about acts of service than Adam; a good thing since I’m basically worthless!

But I did make us an awesome snack.

When we lived in Park Slope there was a coffee shop on our block with the best-ever coffee granita. We were obsessed and Adam got a granita for free two years in the row because he was the first person to order it at the end of winter. This was my attempt at a Thai Iced Coffee style granita.

I know it looks like dog food but I promise that the taste and texture were great. Here’s the recipe –

Thai Iced Coffee Slush, serves 6

6 heaping Tbsp espresso roast ground coffee
3 cups water
14 oz can fat-free sweetened condensed milk

Place grounds and water in coffee maker of choice and brew according to manufacture’s instructions. Remove finished coffee from heat and allow to cool completely.
In a large bowl, whisk together coffee and sweetened condensed milk until homogenous.
Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch glass casserole dish and place in the freezer.
Freeze 8 hours or until fully frozen. Use a fork to break up the mixture every 2 hours or so, scraping the tines through until you’ve achieved a texture similar to wet sand.
Serve immediately. Slush will keep in the freezer indefinitely but you may need to use a blender to break it up if you wait more than 1 – 2 days to serve.

We loved it! The slush was milky and sweet but the coffee flavor was strong. Each serving has less than 200 calories so it’s the perfect light, summer treat.

We weren’t done having fun yet; next we cashed in a Living Social deal for dinner at Spicy Thai. Spicy Thai has my favorite pad see eiw in Buffalo but I was craving spice so I branched out.

Spicy Tofu – “(comes hot and only hot) fried tofu with green beans sautéed in spicy chili, garlic, and basil.” I requested mine extra hot and with broccoli thrown in for some extra veggies.

Awesome. It actually wasn’t as spicy as I’d hoped but the flavors were delicious. I loved how the tofu was a little bit sweet. I ate 2/3s and then gave the rest, and all of my rice, to the husband.

He ordered the Pad See Eiw and I took many bites of that as well.

Marshmallow noodles!

My tofu may not have been hot but my dish did come with some of these killer Thai peppers.

I always pick around the darker dried ones (I had a really bad experience at a Panda Express once) but today I tried one of the soft, bright red pieces. I spent a minute in tears with a tongue that felt like it had a hole in it, but ended up with a really pleasant spice flavor. Adam – who used to ardently hate all things hot – even tried one.

I’m so proud of him for branching out! He’s even the occasional Sriracha fan now.

On our way home we stopped in at Starbucks to get me the chocolate hazelnut tart that I’ve been mooning at for weeks.

I Googled when we got home and if I’d know that this guy only had 180 calories I probably would have gotten one sooner! The shortbread crust was everything I was hoping it would be.

Actually, Adam attempted to get me one of those last week but misunderstood and purchased a little apple pie instead (no thanks). I may not have eaten his treat but I was incredibly thrilled by the gesture. I guess I do care a little bit about gifts!

What is your most important language of love?

22Apr2012

Still Searching for ‘Rita

by Emily

Did you have a successful Saturday? Ours was sort of a wash. I did my to-do’s and had some fun with the husband but I also felt sick and spent many hours curled up in bed. I guess I’m just glad I was awake long enough to do what I needed to do.

For breakfast the husband took me to the new juice bar he spotted.

Code Blu was a win! Cute space and good juice.

*Hulk smash*

I got an “@Green.com” – spinach, kale, parsley, romaine, cucumber, celery, lemon, and apple.

Delicious! I liked how much it tasted like a lemonade. And there was combo on the menu with kale and watermelon so we’ll definitely be back.

We didn’t grocery shop at all for this week (only soda, cottage cheese, and fruit for Adam were purchased) so our errands were very quick but I was still complaining of hunger by the time we were done. I ate this handful of peanut m&m’s to try to stave off more whining.

Bletch; these only led to more complaining; why do they have such a terrible aftertaste?

When I woke up this morning the only thing I could think of was margaritas. I don’t even like tequilla so it was an odd craving but it was a strong one. Unfortunately none of the Mexican restaurants nearby were open for lunch (sidenote – I am flipping out over Cantina Loco‘s menu, I need to go there immediately). Then I remembered the free appetizer coupon I had for TGIFriday’s. I knew the margarita wouldn’t be the best ever, but I figured it was better than nothing.

Nothing would have been better. Adam and I split this skinny margarita and neither of us were fans.

The only redeeming thing I can say is that it had only 120 calories so at least I didn’t waste a meal’s worth of calories on the worst drink I’ve ever had. The sweetness level was sickening. Now I need to keep trying until I find a margarita that quenches my craving; I’m up to the task!

With our free appetizer coupon we got an order of pretzel sticks with beer cheese.

Beer cheese and pretzels are both always good things.

I ate 1.5 pretzels with cheese. We took one pretzel home for later but we probably should have just split it because the rest of lunch was a bust.

We split a cranberry jalapeño turkey reuben, no butter on the bread.

I loved this sandwich when I attended the tasting a few weeks back, but I couldn’t even finish my half today. It was too spicy and totally tasteless all at the same time.

I did eat most of my side salad with balsamic though.

Our meal came with dessert for only a dollar more so we took a chance on the “Oreo Madness.”

Yuck again. Adam actually ate most of it but I was unimpressed, and I’m the one who loves Oreos.

By the time we got home I was totally ill, a fact for which I blame the skinny sour mix in the margaritas. Not my best idea. But after a much-needed nap we pulled it together and switched out our closets and spring cleaned the storage containers. Go us!

Dinner ended up being a bag of popcorn.

No complaints there!

20Apr2012

Some Shrink, Some Grow

by Emily

Here is what our afternoon looked like –

While I was studying I ate a mini bag of kettle corn.

And I ate a cheese stick when we got back from our walk.

I made Adam’s dinner this afternoon and my meal was quick to assemble this evening. Earlier this week I cooked a big pot of lasagna noodles and all I had to do today was chop them up and the base of my meal was complete.

I gave the chopped noodles a quick stir-fry with 1 Tbsp canola oil, 2 cups frozen spinach, and 4 oz cream goat cheese. Half of the finished product went into a tupperware for tomorrow and the other half went into my belly.

It was a great meal, but I sort of hate how tiny greens get when cooked.

You know what grows with heat?

Marshmallows, the opposite of spinach in every way! They look funny because I microwaved them with a bit of cookie butter. This might be my new favorite dessert.

It’s a busy day tomorrow but we are deeply enjoying our Stargate: Atlantis marathon; I’m hoping to strike the right balance of fun and function with a 1am bedtime. Catch you in the a.m.!

20Apr2012

The Have Nots

by Emily

I am so flipping excited to be back to blogging! In fact, I’m excited about doing pretty much anything. You see, I’m getting over a case of the “have-nots.” It was a nasty one. The past week I have not:

blogged ~ washed my hair ~ cooked ~ done any school work beyond what was immediately due ~ worked out ~ read any books ~ cleaned my house ~ eaten anything with any real nutritional value ~ been nice to my husband ~ taken a moment to appreciate my life

I told you it was bad. I finally got so sick of myself that this morning I started getting back to doing. I did three hair washes in the shower. I made and ate two healthy meals. I took a walk. I went to school. I finished a major assignment. I pre-made Adam’s dinner. I took a moment to reflect.

My plans for the weekend are big but doable – 1. spring clean our storage containers. 2. switch out our summer and winter wardrobes. 3. eat lots of fruits and veggies. 4. get in some strength training. 5. make notecards to start prepping for exam week. 6. read the 2nd Hunger Games book. #6 is the only task that’s really urgent 🙂

How do you get back in gear when you’ve got a case of the have-nots?

Back to blogging? This morning breakfast was pink, pink, pink.

I blended together 1 cup of skim milk, a 0% plain Yoplait Greek yogurt, 1 cup of frozen blackberries, and 1 Tbsp maple syrup.

Tangy but tasty. I froze a bunch of blackberries when they were on super-sale a few weeks back so I expect to have this again soon.

When my class was over this morning it was too pretty out to go home so I extended my walk up Elmwood to the Co-op. I perused some fun looking products but came away with only one.

A Relax drink from Solixir. With blackberry, chamomile, passion-flower, jujube, lemon balm, and hibiscus.

It didn’t really have much flavor but for 50 calories and no added sugar I’m not complaining.

My food was feeling preppy so to go with breakfast’s pink lunch was green.

I started with a Crispin apple.

Then I had a green-on-the-inside twice baked potato with basil and cheddar.

Recipe is down below. But I have to show you what I used for my basil –

I bought this Gourmet Garden Basil Herb Blend the other day on a whim but I think it’s going to become a kitchen staple! So much easier than cutting up my own basil or throwing out my own basil when it rots in the crisper. I see a lot of herbs in this week’s meal plan future.

Finally a big pile of roasted green beans.

Better than french fries! <– and I can tell you that for certain because I ate french fries for dinner two nights this week *whoops*

Basil and Cheddar Twice Baked Potato

6 oz baking potato
1 heaping Tbsp finely chopped basil
2 oz 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar

Microwave potato to desired doneness according to your microwave’s specifications. (my potato took 7 minutes at full power)
Cut two thin slices of cheddar, about 0.5 ounce worth, and then roughly dice the remainder of the cheese.
Cut potato in half and scoop out the flesh, taking care not to get too close to the skin so that the potato can still hold its shape.
Mash potato insides, basil, and diced cheddar. Spoon filling back into potato skins and top each side with a slice of cheese.
Bake for 25 minutes at 425 degrees Farenheit.

13Apr2012

Beer Baby Belly

by Emily

Friday’s here! There is lots to do this weekend to make up for missing last week but weekend time is always good. Today lots of food was eaten to make up for missing ….. who am I kidding? I never miss a meal!

Breakfast was a white chocolate macadamia Clif Bar.

Lunch was pizza-pizza. Double because I had double slices! I had to stay at school after class for a group project and by the time I headed home at 2 I was ravenous. I stopped at Zetti’s for two gigantic slices.

Bbq chicken and veggie. The veggie slice was loaded with vegetables; broccoli, spinach, and several types of peppers. I was full to the brim afterwards, mostly with cheese, but at least I got in some solid servings of vegetables.

This evening I went to a baby shower.

It was my first ever shower experience other than the one for my wedding. I can’t even tell you all of the cute shower ideas I spotted, it was like Pinterest come to life!

The party included a sit-down dinner.

Side salad, mixed vegetables, and a bit of stuffing. I wasn’t feeling the heavier stuff after my huge lunch.

I did grab a few handfuls of blue-for-boy candy though.

And a Michelob Ultra.

Thirst quenching because it’s basically water 🙂

I got home a bit before 9 and Adam and I took a gloriously long walk down Elmwood. A bit over two miles which isn’t really long but ate up some time due to ambling.

We stopped at the Village Beer Merchant at the halfway point and split a beer of the root variety.

I ❤ Abita, even its nonalcoholic varieties. I have a six-pack of Abita Strawberry in my office waiting for the summer to come.

How many baby showers have you attended?

8Apr2012

Easter Dinner

by Emily

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.