Tag Archives: cheese

I Can’t Operate Machinery

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It’s Friday-Friday-Friday!  It’s been a long and fruitful day around these parts.  I did too much yesterday though, and I was definitely paying for it this morning – I got out of bed at 7 but only made it as far as the couch!

Thankfully by the time my one class came around I was able to make it to campus.  Walking to campus sucked, but it meant I got an opportunity to copy/photocopy all of my missed notes from various friends.  Well not all, music is kind of a lost cause!  And I got the good news that our Biochem test is pushed back, so I only have one exam next week 🙂

Walking back from campus in the hail (ouch!) wasn’t fun either, but I made it to Elmwood and got a nice set of work done.  I nibbled while I worked, first a black bean burrito from Elmwood Taco and Sub.

My hand’s there to show size.  It was sort of a strange burrito – just a tortilla with plain black beans and a slice of cheese – but it ended up being perfect for my sick stomach.

Next I walked over to Starbucks for a plain iced black tea with honey.

The honey worked about as well as you’d imagine it would it an iced drink, but it was a nice idea in theory.

I ordered after 2 so I got to choose a mini treat for free.

Note – I thought the box was so cute I actually brought it home!

I went with the salted caramel bar.

Divine!  I told Adam later that this was in my top 10 tasted cookie bars.

I cranked out some good notecards (I’m only halfway done though, missing nutrition classes is hard) and then the husband picked me up around 5:30.  Then we headed to Walgreens where I caved and finally bought some Niquil.  I’m not anti-medicine, we’re just too poor to buy any; but my coughing was driving Adam made so we bit the bullet.  I took some just before starting this post, we’ll have to see if I pass out mid-way!

I waited until after preparing dinner to dose myself in any case.

Roasted asparagus.

Sidenote – this is Adam’s favorite veggie, probably actually his favorite food, period.  If you know a veggie hater have them try roasted asparagus!

Reubens  <–swoon–>

On two thin slices of rye went Applegate Farms Organic Chicken, two slices of 2% swiss, a handful of sauerkraut, and a serving of 1000 island dressing.  Then we sandwiched and pressed in the George Foreman Grill.

So good!  Reubens, whether turkey or chicken or tempeh, or sauerkraut or cole slaw, always rock my socks.

And Zzzzzzzzzz…..

Do you take medication when you’re sick?  Why or why night?

Sick of Being Sick

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I’m sick of being sick!  (I’m also tired of being tired, but that’s another – barking dog heavy – story.)  Yesterday was a particularly bad day so I didn’t post, but I will recap.

I didn’t go to school again yesterday, which means I’ve basically missed a full week of classes!  <– not happy  I did make myself 1.5 servings of Special K Red Berries with almond milk for breakfast.

And when Adam got home he made me his favorite snack  – matzoh with melted cheddar (50% reduced fat, extra sharp).

I had a rough evening and when it came time for a late dinner I begged the husband to get me a milkshake.

The chicken nuggets with hot mustard he randomly came home with sounded good too, thankfully.

Adam has been joking that I must be dying because of how little I’ve been talking (I have a lot to say normally, can you tell?) but he knew I was sick when I scarfed down dinner; I hate McDonalds!

Even though I’m too sick for class, I did have to go to campus today.  I had labwork to turn in and I had to make up the Nutrition test I missed yesterday.  I probably could have done really well on the test (and I was really excited about the material) but since the only time I was able to study was the 2hours beforehand I guess I’m just glad that I think I passed!

The walk home was difficult, but I did stop halfway to purchase a huge soda.

Half diet, half not; the combination seemed to work.

I even managed some people food for a late lunch –

leftover roasted green beans,

and a Cara Cara orange.

Dinner was a Three Cheese Stuffed Rigatoni Lean Cuisine.

This wasn’t the tastiest thing ever, but it felt good to eat some veggies.

I bulked it up with 1.5servings of Popcorners.

I had two online assignments due today, and that with my trip out of the house kind of did me in.

When I went to the clinic they said the virus I probably had lasts 1-2weeks.  I’m a week into being sick, and I’m keeping my fingers (and all my toes) crossed that I’m back to normal by Monday.

What’s the longest you’ve ever been sick?

Meat Lovers for the Veggie Lover

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So, I’m still sick.  Still puking, still hacking up lungs, still feeling yucky.  I’d love to tell you I stayed in bed all day, not infecting people, but the fact was I had appointments to keep and places to go.

First was a trip to my orthodontist.  To make a long story short – my retainers are chipping my teeth and I can’t use them anymore.  Now I’m switching to an (expensive) plastic Invisalign-type solution.  The silver lining here is that now I’ve got a month or so retainer-free 🙂  Also, thank goodness Adam was there, I needed to save my whispery voice.

I had a break between appointments, so we headed to Starbucks for a grande awake tea with honey.

I also ordered a breakfast wrap.

Then we drove to school for my 2nd big, important interview.  I can’t really say much about it, but things seemed to go well.

Adam needed to go to the mall afterwards and the opportunity to be upright in a climate-controlled enviroment was too sweet to pass up.  I picked up a Gatorade while we were in Dicks.

And when I got home I had a serving of popcorn.

Popcorners rather,

these chips were a lot of fun.

I managed to complete my labwork this afternoon, but not study for my test, boo!  We did manage some real food for dinner though.

Green bean fries,

and mini pizzas.

We knew I’d be worthless in the kitchen this week so when Adam made my turkey sausage the other day he cooked up the whole pan at once.  Tonight all I had to do was chop up a few servings and throw them on a crust with marinara sauce and 2% mozzarella.  The sausages were great on the pizza, perfect amount of spice and chew, and it was fun to try something “meat-lovers”-ish.

Plus I dipped in ranch, which is always fun.

Adam’s pizza had the addition of Applegate Farms Natural Pepperoni.

He described it as “glorious,” which apparently means it had good zest, good consistency (easy to bite and no chunks), and great flavor.  I didn’t taste any, but he said it cooked well on the pizza.

That’s all folks!

What’s your typical pizza love, veggie-lovers or meat-lovers?

Newman’s Own Vlog

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I got a lot accomplished today, but we are reaching the ‘loopy’ portion of the evening so it’s important that my cold-carrying self keep this quick.

Lunch was a dynamic duo, 0% plain Chobani,

with a Justin’s maple almond butter packet.

I say I don’t like almond butter, but really everyone likes Justin’s Nut Butters!

If you want to see what we had for dinner, you’ll need to watch the most embarrassing video on earth –

It’s a shame that my vlog debut had to correspond with what was supposed to be a professional-ish video for a contest, but that’s life.

Disclosure – Flip Cam and Newman’s Own products were provided by the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program.

Vegan Challenge Thoughts, and Lunch

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We’ve completed another Vegan Month!  The husband and I both successfully eschewed all animal products (mostly; there were a few packaged food slip-ups) for all of February.  First off – No, we didn’t pick February because it’s the shortest month.  But yes, we are glad we didn’t have to go another three days!

For the most part, the challenge was a success.  Adam completed the entire month with me and I am so proud of him!  Our main goal was to push ourselves back to the kitchen and that definitely happened.  Other than the last week or so (which with 4+ tests would have been crazy even if we had a personal chef!) we pulled back from our take-out habit and got back to basics.  I made a few old favorites, and discovered some great new vegan recipes.  It was wonderful to get to flex my creative muscles in the kitchen again.

The part that wasn’t so successful was our attitude.  We started strong, but towards the end we just couldn’t wait for the challenge to be over.  I’m actually not sure I deem this longing a failure though.  It wasn’t a “I want pizza and nachos and buffalo wings, oh my!” craving, all though those things did sound good.  Instead I found myself desperate for scrambled eggs and lean meat.  All I really wanted towards the end was a turkey sandwich.  Unfortunately, since I couldn’t eat the sandwich I ate a lot of french fries instead.

Now that the challenge is over, we are going to return to our normal diet, with improvements.  Adam is going to cut back on his milk consumption and mix it up with almond milk half the time.  I’m going to continue to question whether or not every dish really needs cheese.  We are going to continue to try to ratchet up our produce consumption.  We’re going to continue to enjoy a lot of meatless meals, but we are also going to feel good about eating lean, humanely-sourced meats.  We’re excited about it.

Now on to today’s lunch.

I finally got that turkey sandwich.

Chicken actually, this was a Sandwich Thin with horseradish mustard, 2% swiss, and Applegate Farms Organic Roasted Chicken Breast (more on that in a sec).

I usually tend towards turkey because I’m afraid chicken will be slimy, but this was anything but.  I taste-tested while I assembled my sandwich last night and was very impressed.  The roasting gave a great smokey flavor and one serving has just 60 calories.

Plus another juicy pear.

Ok, secs up:  At the start of vegan month I received a rather ironic product sample –

a variety of meats from Applegate Farms.  While I don’t have a moral issue with the consumption of animals, I do think it’s imperative that those animals be treated with respect.  Applegate Farms makes products that mesh with my values.

When I opened the package to squirrel cold cuts into the freezer, I discovered they also sent a cute book, children’s illustrations alongside their food philosophy.  I think this page sums up my response to the vegan challenge pretty well –

[Eat less meat, enjoy it more!]

Do you eat (any kind of) meat?  Why or why not?  What’s your food philosophy?

A Double Serving of Entendre

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I liked the cock.

Adam thought the cock was ok, but found it a little salty.

I’m speaking, of course, of this soup package we had for dinner this evening.

We spotted it at Wegman’s a few months ago and had to buy it, because we’re six.  Sorry, Mom and Nana, you know I can’t resist a good (dirty) pun!

We decided to finally use the package tonight, incorporating it into a nice Caribbean dinner.

Cock soup.

No, I have no idea why it’s called that, and yes, it was a little too salty.

Rice and beans.

Minute brown rice mixed with a can of reduced sodium black beans.

And fried plantains.

We bought some frozen from Goya, and revived them with a quick saute.

Adam and I also split a cheddar cheese bialey.

Sooooooooo doughy and chewy!  We picked up the bialey while we were at Wegman’s buying cookie dough.  Cookies are in the oven (Adam’s request) and all is right with the world.  You can assume I’ll eat two, but since we are moving from the blogging portion of the evening to the watching X-Files portion, no pictures are occurring.

Does it seem like we are eating down the fridge slash searching for all the dairy we can get our mouths on?  Well we are!  You’ll see why tomorrow 😀

Cracked Up

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My breakfast this morning wasn’t all it was cracked up to be; when I opened the carton, both of our last two eggs were cracked!

I forged ahead and heated up this package of Allergaroo Spyglass Noodles instead.

Topped with the 50% reduced white cheddar and chives that we supposed to go in my scrambled eggs.

It ended up being pretty tasty, if not all that breakfast-y.

My glass of skim milk with a chocolate milk straw helped.

I went to the gym this morning, so after classes (and my first big quiz!) the day is mine!  Adam dropped me off at the gym around 8, and I took my notecards on the elliptical for 30minutes at random, level 6.

What is your back-up plan if your breakfast falls through?

Gourmet for a Thursday

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Dinner tonight was pretty gourmet for a Thursday.  Actually, it was pretty darn gourmet in general!

We started with a salad course.

I had a romaine base with chopped pear, soy nuts, and low-fat poppy-seed dressing.

Super yummy.  This has been my favorite salad dressing for years, but I think this is the first time I’ve bought it since we moved from Miami in 2003.

For the main course I made Cheesy Meat Loaf Minis from Cooking Light.

Actually, I put all the ingredients in a bowl; Adam technically made it since he’s the one who had his hands all up in the raw meat.

We thought the recipe was pretty good (7/10), here are the changes we made –

  • 98% lean turkey subbed for sirloin, with an extra 1/4 pound of meat
  • no onions and no oregano (just because we were out, they would have improved the dish)
  • panko bread crumbs
  • an extra ounce of white cheddar subbed for parmesan
  • and horseradish mustard subbed in for horseradish and dijon

On the side we made a batch of Waffle Fries from Alexia.

I got this product for free using a coupon from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.  To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have bought this with my own money, but I’m so glad I got the change to try it because I would totally spring for it again!  The fries were perfectly crispy and seasoned but not soggy at all.

All in all it was a very satisfying dinner.

We’ve been watching The X-Files (via Netflix instant watch) and I can’t get over how cheesy the first season was!  Did you watch the X-Files?