Tag Archives: cheese

Achoo BooHoo

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So it turns out that I scored a 100% on yesterday’s exam (yippie!).  Sadly, that news was pretty much the last high point of the day.  Today was just bad.  I woke up with bad allergies and a bad mood.  A terrible mood actually.  I have no explanation for it, but kittens and sunshine were just not in the cards.

I went out to get breakfast so I could take a cheer up walk, and I ended up with an egg and cheese biscuit.

Meh.

Even more meh was lunch.

I usually love Allergaroo, but this Spaghetti was bad.

The serving (or two!) of Lindt truffles I had for dessert did perk me up a bit though.

And once the husband got home things started to get better, love how that works!

Grocery shopping was obviously a necessity so we threw in a salad bar date.

Grilled veggies,

a little bit of sweet and sour chicken and curried chicken salad,

cabbage salad,

a lot of Asian green beans.

Realistically Friday night was not the time to hit up a hot bar, usually I lick my plate clean but I couldn’t quite swing it tonight.

I was still hungry post-dinner and when I was feeling empty a full hour later I decided that it was real hunger and made myself some mashed potatoes.

I mashed 7oz of baby potatoes with 1T skim milk, 1.5T butter, salt, and rosemary.

I’ll never understand people who peel there potato salad potatoes, the skins are the best part!

Do you have any allergies?  I am allergic to cats, dust, and tons of seasonal plants, but I’m so happy not to have any food allergies that it’s really all good.

Boston, Bubbles, and Boats

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It’s been another fabulous day here in Boston!  I’m feeling much better, thank goodness.  I was nervous that my episode last night was the start of some sort of illness but it seems like I just reacted to something I ate.

Nikki had to work today so Adam and I were on our own in the morning.  We wandered around Coolidge Corner and ended up stopping in at b.good for a late breakfast. 

I’ve seen this fresh fast food spot on blogs before and I was thrilled to get to try it myself.  Adam and I split a meal because we were so close to eating lunch at that point.

We got a turkey burger west side style (avocado, cilantro, tomato, and chipotle salsa).

And steamed veggies.

The husband got an amazing tasting chocolate shake,

but I went with water to try to rehydrate.

Afterwards we met up with our friend Ian and hopped on the T.  We wandered around Kendall (?) and saw some fun buildings.

And ultimatly went to lunch at The Black Sheep in the Kendall Hotel.

They had cute sheep decor,

and we sat on the porch in the sun.

I went with the Kendall salad – “baby spinach leaves tossed in our tangy maple vinaigrette, sprinkled with candied pecans, crumbled blue cheese, and marinated green apple slaw”

Delicious!  I think the combo of strong cheese and candied nuts on salad is perfection.

Next we headed up to Harvard Yard.  It was a gorgeous day and the geese were out with their babies.

We ended up laying out in JFK Park and goofing around.

Finally we headed in to explore civilization.  Adam got an amazing looking cupcake at Sweet (highly recommended by Tina),

but that wasn’t an option for me because I’d already spotted the…..bubble tea!

I got a frozen chai tea with boba.

So cinnamony and delicious!  It was pretty sugary though and I was trying to be careful with my stomach today so I deeply enjoyed half of it and threw the rest in the trash.

We headed up to Copley to pick Nikki up from work and went to sit outside Cafeteria for drinks.  I went with Diet Coke,

but I did steal the olives out of the husband’s martini.

We went from one adult activity to the next, Duck Tour!

The Duck Tour involves a land-water bus tour of important historical sites in Boston.  It was fun, but by the time we were done at 7:30 I was more than ready for dinner.

A final trip on the T took us to Common Ground where they, gloriously, had Abita Strawberry.

Sadly I wasn’t as impressed with the food selection.  I ended up ordering a fried chicken sandwich with honey mustard and swiss cheese.

I threw the bread away but finished 90% of the meat and fries.

Finally we headed back to the apartment to watch the Celtics game.  We might head out to a bar and I’m trying to convince everyone that frozen yogurt is in order but otherwise we’ll be having fun here.  Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

I Blame UPS

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My food choices today were craptastic.  Not in the undelicious, unenjoyable kind of way; more in an absolutely no nutritional value kind of way.  It was just one of those days.

A serving of yellow tortilla chips (er, x2).

A serving of Guylian chocolate shells (um, also x2).

Pizza eggs.

Which are so gloriously delicious as to have earned their own recipe page.

A big messy serving of leftover salsa verde chicken bake.

Amid lots of frustrating errands (I HATE UPS!) I also went for a run.  I did the same route as Sunday but shaved two minutes off my time.

  • 5minutes walking
  • 11minutes running
  • 2minutes walking
  • 2minutes running
  • 2minutes walking
  • 2minutes running

In the end it was 2.6miles and 24minutes.  It wasn’t the best run though, my calves are feeling really tight.  Plus I felt thirsty and sluggish.  I wonder if my eats today had anything to do with it?  It is becoming more and more clear to me that I feel better when I fuel myself properly; duh! 

Not to say that the realization stopped me from “letting” the husband buy me a strawberry banana split milkshake later on.

But it had fruit on top, so it was more like a smoothie, right? 😉

Any companies you’d like to flame?  UPS gets the full passion of my hate.  They deliver during business hours only (retarded) and the man who does our route didn’t even ring the doorbell, just stuck a “sorry we missed you” sticker on the door (should be illegal), I was home, he shouldn’t have “missed” me!!!

Hitting the Dessert

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Thanks for all the support on my weight gain post, you guys are the best!  However, not one of you commented on the Cartman tie-in, apparently your senses of humor are a little more mature than mine?

Since today was my last day of volunteering I made full use of my lunch voucher and got a slice of the awesome cafeteria pizza.

I rounded it out with veggies at home.

Kale chips,

and part of a red bell pepper and baby carrots,

dipped into some homemade 1000island dressing (1T miracle whip, 1T ketchup, 2T pickle relish).

It ended up being quite the good lunch.

And a serving of Theo Bread and Chocolate bar for dessert.

I also had a bag of Pretzel M&Ms while I worked on my recipe binder.

Once the husband got home at 7 I got dinner in the oven before heading to the gym.  Note – I did some snacking while I cooked (1handful of chips, 1/2handful of cheese, and 2spoonfuls of filling).

If I’ve said it once I’ll say it a million times (sorry!) being able to move again feels great!  I will never take fitness for granted again.  I had a few twinges in my leg today so I did keep it easy though.  25minutes on the elliptical at level 5.  Followed by 10minutes of arms/abs/stretching when I got home.

By the time I got out of the shower dinner was looking pretty darn tasty.

The recipe comes from Everyday with Rachael Ray, Chicken Salsa Verde Bake.  It is definitely NOT terribly healthy, but it’s the last thing I’ll cook before Vegan Month so I went all out for the husband.  You can click the link (recipe name) for the recipe but here were my changes –

  • I boiled the chicken instead of pan cooking it
  • I used 1.5lbs of meat and subbed in a 15oz can of black beans to fill in the rest of the protein
  • I used low-sodium beans
  • I subbed in shalots for the onion
  • I used low-fat sour cream

It’s calorie-dense, but very filling and delicious.  A good mix of creamy yet crunchy and tangy and spicy yet creamy.

I ate half a red pear alongside my portion.

Dinner = done.

Hope everyone else is having a *sweet* start to their week!

What is your favorite South Park episode?

Successful Sunday

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Finally, some productivity!  Actually doing something today was a nice change from Saturday’s pace.  Although I did sleep in still 🙂

Lunch was very, very orange.  An everything Bagel Thin with extra sharp cheddar and a honey tangerine.

With a serving of Guylian chocolate shells for dessert.

Followed by a run.  In today’s workout one bad turn deserved another; I ended up running further than planned once I realized how stupid it was to have gone without sunblock.  I really do have to stick to my pace plan and up my time gradually, but it did feel great.

  • 5minutes walking
  • 10minutes jogging
  • 5minutes walking
  • 3minutes jogging
  • 3minutes jogging

2.6miles in 26minutes.

Afterwards a trip to the mall with Katie was in order.  I wish I could tell you I was excited about my purchases, but basically I had to buy clothes for summer school because my pants don’t fit.  Woot.  More on that in tomorrow’s post.

The mall trip took longer than anticipated (why the frick are all the pants at BR/J.Crew/Gap so cheap and thin looking right now?!) and it was easy for Adam to talk me into hot bar for dinner.

Grilled broccoli,

wok seared veggies,

vegetarian meatballs = yums,

curried tofu salad,

and chick pea salad.

It turns out I went a little too vegetarian because this wasn’t all that filling.  I ate a cookie dough Balance Bar when I got home to finish filling up.

And I’ve been working on my binder project ever since.  I’m going back to immerse myself in blissful filing, hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Winner of a Dinner

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My dentist appointment went great and my pearly whites are in tip-top shape!

However, my pre-appointment anxiety was enough that even with a clean bill of health already I plan on stepping up my flossing routine to more than a couple times a week!  I’m no Jessica Simpson, but sometimes I definitely phone in the effort.

I stopped on the way home and grabbed an insanely huge Big Gulp of Diet Coke (swoon) and it’s been work, work, work ever since.  Some of my accomplishments include –

  • purchasing a ‘welcome to the world’ gift for my newest niece
  • organizing my e-mail inboxes
  • submitting my health insurance waiver and other soon-to-be-a-freshman-again business
  • sending some blog e-mails
  • putting away 2 loads of laundry and unpacking from last weekend
  • making a pie, with a homemade crust
  • going to the grocery store to rebuy half the ingredients for the above pie
  • cooking a winner of a dinner
  • precooking most of tomorrow’s dinner

Whew!  Done, done, and done; don’t even tell me diet coke isn’t superwoman fuel 😀

“Lunch” never really happened (probably something to do with the Big Gulp caffeine buzz) but I did get a few snacks in there.  I was feeling particularly hungry when the husband came home this afternoon with leftover chips from a meeting but I stopped myself before I went big gulp on the chips by portioning some out onto a plate.

I also had an Amazing Grass packet, shaken together with 8oz of calcium + d oj and 5oz of H2O.

The packet was part of my secret valentine bloggie gift.  I wouldn’t say I liked the taste, but I didn’t mind it either, and the nutritional stats were amazing, tee hee.

Dinner was a last minute idea that ended up being an absolute winner.

Roasted asparagus [spritzed with evoo and salt, 25minutes @ 425*] as a side,

with Pizza Eggs!!!

I came up with the recipe on a whim because I had leftover egg whites to use up from the pie and I ended up telling Adam that this is my favorite thing I’ve ever made!

  1. I combined 1egg and 5whites with salt, pepper, and dried oregano and whisked everything together.
  2. Then I melted 1T of butter in a pan over medium-high heat.
  3. I poured the egg mixture into the pan and scrambled with a spatula until they were mostly set, 1minute.
  4. Finally I added 1/2 cup marinara sauce; 20pieces of turkey pepperoni, halved; and 2oz of extra sharp cheddar, chopped to the pan.  I stirred everything together for 1minute before removing from the heat and plating.

I took a break after dinner to start working on tomorrow’s dinner, and then it was time for dessert.

The pie is “Fresh Lime Pie” from the book pie pie pie; easy homemade favorites by John Phillip Carroll.  I can’t post the recipe for the filling here, but that is my very favorite baking book and I highly recommend that you purchase it.  I can, however, give you the recipe for the crust, because I subbed out the book’s recommendation for my own creation: Biscoff crust (recipe posted below)!

The ginger and lime flavor went together like pb&j or bread and butter!  I’ve been dreaming of this combination ever since I dipped Biscoff cookies into homemade lemon curd a month or so ago.  Be warned though, it was super sour.

Biscoff Crust, or Sweet Ginger Pie Crust

  1. Preheat the oven to 350*.  Place 3/4 of a stick of butter into a pie pan and put the pan into the oven while it heats.
  2. Meanwhile, crush a package of 30Biscoff cookies into fine crumbs.  A food processor would be the easy choice here, but dumping the cookies into a large heavy-duty baggie and crunching with a rolling pin works just as well.  Or if you’re really ghetto like me, you could use a plastic cup for your rolling pin.
  3. When the butter is melted dump the cookie crumbs into the pie pan.
  4. Use your fingers (don’t be a wimp!) to incorporate the melted butter into the crumbs, and then press the mixture so it spreads evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan.
  5. Bake for 11minutes.
  6. Let cool before adding filling to the crust.
  • the crust needs no further baking, but can withstand another 20minutes or so if the filling requires it
  • if you are using a flimsy single use pie pan it can be helpful to put it in and out of the oven on a baking sheet

I had a couple good, if not obvious, ideas whilst baking that I’d like to share.  1. Lay all of your ingredients out ahead of time so you’re sure you have what you need and everything runs smoothly.

2. Save the “shells” of juiced citrus to add some zing to glasses of water.

Do you have any baking tips to share?

Sheetz Envy

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The weekend is coming to an end, and it’s been a long but fun day.  I have a lot to do before bed so I’m going to try to keep this short and sweet.

As predicted I did some snacking last night; the boys were eating jalopeno poppers and they sounded to good to resist.

It was 1am though and I wasn’t even really hungry.  All of which is yet another testament to why I should stop doing things like staying up until 2:30 in the morning!

This morning I got off to a healthy start with some from-home-food; 1cup Kashi h2h with skim milk.

We slept in, and my almost 5 year old niece of course did not, so lunch came very soon after breakfast.  Her choice was Arby’s, so I went with a turkey bacon ranch sandwich.

I wasn’t all that hungry so I ate half of my food and gave the rest away.

We went out in the yard for a game of catch and some bubble blowing and by the time Adam on I were on the road at 2:30 I was finally feeling my lunch hunger.  I did some nutritional sleuthing online before we left and found that my brunch (cereal + sandwich) had ~400 calories so I aimed for a 500ish calorie car snack.  I do NOT count calories, but I do think they are usefull data for abnormal eating situations.

Can I just say, I am sooooo jealous of anyone who lives near a Sheetz!  I managed to cobble together an amazing, healthy meal for the car.  A Naked coconut juice box.

A Sabra hummus and pretzel pack.

And a small fruit and cheese plate.

I can’t even explain how thrilling it was to find this type of food at a gas station.

By the time we rolled back into Buffalo it was after 7pm so we stopped in at Moe’s to pick up dinner.

Jr sized burrito with pino beans, a smidge of rice, cheese, pico, guacamole, and cilantro.

The texture was good, but this was actually a little bland 😦  I’m feeling hungry still and I’m going to be up late so I’ll almost definitely eat something else later.  My camera needs to charge so no pictures, but I’m eyeing my CF spicy chicken leftovers.  Hope everyone else’s weekends got wrapped up nicely!

On The Road Again

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We had a nice drive to visit the in-laws this afternoon and even made it to Ohio in time for dinner!  We split driving responsibilities 60/40 because I have the best husband in the world.  While he drove I ate some fresh mango,

and part of a cheese stick.

And while I drove Adam shared a few of his Pretzel M&M’s with me.

These are new variety and they are go-oood!  I love chocolate pretzel confections and this might be the best kind I’ve ever tried.  The consistency was like a whopper and it was a good balance of salty and sweet.

Once we got to Ohio we met the in-laws for dinner at Adam’s favorite Mexican place.  I went with an order of veggie fajitas.

Astonishingly my meal was pretty healthy; lots of veggies.  I wrapped 4 tortillas around broccoli, mushrooms, peppers, and onions and beans and guacamole.

It’s likely I’ll do some snacking this evening, but I’ll update later if when that happens.

Veggies eaten today: 2.5cups.

What is your order from the local Mexican joint?  I adore chile relanos but they aren’t the healthiest, I try to at least always get something with lots of veggies.

P.S. Iowa Girl is giving away some Cascadian Farms goodies.