Tag Archives: cheese

All I Need Are My Pearls

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I was quite the little wife this afternoon, making my husband a nice home-cooked lunch.  Actually, what I made was a big batch of pasta so he could eat leftovers for dinner the next three days but I’d like to think he still appreciated it!

I had a nice bowl myself for lunch while it was still hot.

My Arugula Brie Pasta is my improvement on this Real Simple recipe.  For six servings –

  • 14.5 oz box whole wheat penne
  • 1T butter
  • 6.5 oz onion, chopped
  • 1 bundle (8 or 9) green onions, chopped
  • salt and pepper
  • 3/4 cup dry sherry
  • 6 cup arugula
  • 9 oz brie, chopped
  • 1/2 cup skim milk
  1. Prepare the pasta according to box directions, drain and set aside.
  2. Melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet.  Add all of the onions and cook 3-4minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Season onions with salt and pepper.  Pour in half of the sherry and cook until reduced.
  4. Carefully stir arugula into skillet.  Pour in the remaining sherry and cook 4-5minutes, until reduced.
  5. When veggies are almost done, reheat the pasta pot over high heat.  Add in pasta, milk, and brie.  Stir to combine then cover for 3-4minutes.
  6. Pour veggie mixture into pasta mixture and stir to combine.

It was quite tasty, if I do say so myself. 

The only fail was our attempt at dessert.  While I was out running errands this morning I picked up a small piece of this Rosa’s Chocolate and Peanut Butter Fudge.

Yetch!  The husband and I both spit out our bites, it tasted like a piece of wax.

I promised myself I could buy another, less disgusting, dessert if I went to the gym so the likelihood of me working out today is pretty high 🙂

What was the last dessert that made you gag?

Sweet Serendipity

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After my last post I grabbed my People: Style Watch and headed out to the gym.  The magazine was a total clock-killer, if I hadn’t gone so close to closing time I would have been totally motivated to keep going.  As it was, I did 35minutes on the elliptical.  My machine said that was worth 3.3miles but I was going at a pretty easy pace so I’m not sure how accurate that is.  When I got home I did 25more minutes of strength training, stretching, and pt exercises.

After a quick shower it was time for a dinner I’ve been looking forward to all week; I finally recreated the Summer Bries sandwich from Serendipity3!  Serendipity is my favorite restaurant on the planet – the atmosphere is fun and the food is fabulous!  Plus it’s right off Lexington, one of my favorite streets on the planet!  Serendipity is the spot I always would take visitors when I lived in the city: click on the links to see the recaps for some of those fun meals link 1  link 2.

I own the cookbook and even in my hands their desserts are amazing.  However, while most people go to Serendipity for the ice-cream, I go for the sandwiches!  My very favorite – The Summer Bries – is what I recreated tonight.

*Note – dinner was delayed by a mold problem, ugh! and I snacked on a few Cedar’s pita chips and feta spread.  No pictures because I tried to pretend it wasn’t happening*

The sandwiches turned out divine!  Whole wheat raisin pecan bread with 98% ff turkey, apple, alfalfa sprouts, brie, and homemade 1000island dressing.  They got gooey in a 400* oven and turned into perfection.  I had two smallish sandwiches,

Plus some oven-roasted brussels sprouts on the side.

Such a good dinner!  I demolished the sandwiches but I did put back some of my mountain of brussels sprouts.

We are watching the season 2 finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer so the bedtime goal is 11 – 11:30.  Sweet dreams.

FEST Check-in, Day 2

  • Food – pretty good, my goal was never to skip meals out, just to cut back on the take-out and “box” foods.
  • Exercise – great.
  • Sleep – poor.  11am is not when successful people wake up!
  • Time Management – see sleep.

Double Question Time!

  1. I know the calorie counts are suspect, but do you trust the miles counter on the elliptical machine?
  2. What is your favorite street in the US?  As much as I adore Lexington, my heart is forever devoted to Lincoln Ave in South Beach.  I think Lincoln is the best spot for people (and dog!) watching.

We’re All Winners

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I’ve had such an exciting assortment of eats this afternoon!  And the husband came home earlier than usual and watched the newest Bones episode with me!  It’s been a good day all around 🙂

And I have some good news for some lucky giveaway winners –

Holly, Emily, Ashley, and Brandi; send me your info please and congrats.

This morning I finished off the rest of my coffee, chilled with skim.

I’d like to think it was the extra caffeine that gave me the energy to power through the business calls I had to make.  Or maybe it was the thought of my thrilling lunch.

Nom, nom, nom, nom 😀

If I had breakfast with Tina I did lunch with Janetha!  1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese, 1/4 cup Cedar’s Chick Pea Salad, and a few shakes Kernel Seasons Ranch.

This was a super tasty combo, thanks for the idea Janetha!

Next I had one of my favorite combos.

2/3 of a Crispin apple with sun butter.

And if that was one of the favorites this next combo is my absolute all time favorite.

Cedar’s pita chips with Garlic and Chive Feta Spread.  Words cannot describe how much I love this!

Post lunch my sweet tooth hit me hard.  I was dying to run across the street and get a cookie but somehow I resisted.  At 150 calories this Dannon Caramel yogurt was a much more sensible choice.

And topped with 1.5t each toasted walnuts and cinnamon chips it was pretty darn delicious.

The plan this evening is gym, reading (magazines for sure but hopefully some homework too), and a homemade dinner.  See you later!

What has been the most exciting part of your Friday?

Whine and Cheese

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This was not my most sucessful Tuesday, I’ll keep this quick because I’m in a pretty bad mood.

Sooooooooo, my tasty oats this morning?  Two issues – 1. They apparently had no staying power, I was starving by 10am.  2. The 1/3 of yogurt is from the same container as last week’s 1/3 a cup in overnight oats.  It was a single serving cup of Dannon, which I placed inside a tupperware after I opened it.  I wondered about that decision this morning, but I figured it would all be ok.  Yeah, so not ok!  My stomach hurt so bad I thought I was going to die and I ended up going home after my first class.  Boo!

Between starving and sick I did squeeze in lunch at the school cafeteria.

It was a pretty lame lunch, sometimes food court situations are really overwhelming for me.  The excess of choices tend to induce mini panic attacks and short of that I choose quickly, randomly, and poorly.  Thus a sandwich that was neither healthy nor what I was craving.

Chicken salad on a spinach wrap with shredded lettuce, jalopenos, black olives, and blue cheese dressing.  I also had a side of pickles,

and some so-so chips I only ate due to extreme hunger.

Post lunch but before class I also grabbed a tall white hot chocolate.

In retrospect that wasn’t the best choice; I had it made with skim instead of whole milk but it was still too much sugar.  Which doesn’t mean that once I was curled up wimpering on the couch I didn’t eat this brownie.  😉

Or two servings of these guys, straight from the bag, not a good idea.

Given that chips are not that healthy of an appetizer choice I tried to keep dinner light.

The other half of my minneola and a kiwi bowl,

leftovers of the tastiest collards on earth,

mini pita with melted blue brie.

I promise to be in a better mood tomorrow!  But not a morning mood, I have my first chem lab tomorrow and it start at 8am, I clearly won’t be blogging until lunch.  Night.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!

Dinner

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I hope you entered my giveaway, because I’m be fawning over Cedar’s some more in this post!  Speaking of giveaways, here’s a healthy one.  I was super excited about this dinner, I’ve been planning my Mediterranean Fest for a week!

All of the individual components were fabulous, and they melded together perfectly.

Mini whole wheat pita from Wegmans.  A serving size was 2 for 110 calories but one was more than enough.  I loved how doughy these were.

Collards.  The absolute star of the dish!

I steamed a 16oz bag of frozen collard greens then mixed it with 1/3 cup toasted walnuts,a drizzle of  maple syrup, and 3.5oz of chopped blue brie cheese.  The flavors went together so perfectly, I was in heaven with every bite!  The cheese was from Saga, something I’ve wanted to try forever and I’m glad I did.

Falafel.

I used half of the box, mixed with H2O, but decided to ignore the package directions and bake instead of fry.  After 25minutes in a 350* oven they were perfect.  Tasty as they were, the falafels were a bit dense, I ended up only eating 2 of 3.

Cedar’s Garlic Tzatzika for dipping.

Everything went together so well, the mix of textures and tastes was kind of a dinner thrill.  Plus, after all the junk I ate this weekend it feels really good to eat something good.

After dinner it was time for my final to do: the gym.  37minutes on the treadmill; it was good to add to my training log.

What is your favorite kind of cheese?  I tie between blue and brie so the Saga blend was perfection for me!

P.S. Eating Bird Food is also doing a giveaway.

A Few of My Favorite Things

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School went well today; I know it’s only the 2nd week but I’m really enjoying everything I’m learning in my classes so far.

I ate a Kind Mango Macadamia Bar during Chemistry to refuel.

I think my macadamias-make-me-happy faces were freaking out my neighbors 🙂

When I got home all I wanted to do was veg – ya know, read a few blogs 😉 – but I headed to the gym anyways and was glad I did.  I almost always regret skipping the gym but I’m always happy when I go.

I did a similar treadmill workout to yesterday, followed by my pt exercises for a grand total of 55minutes and 540calories.

After a quick shower it was time for dinner.  Yesterday Tina asked readers to name their 10favorite foods.  I could come up with my list pretty easily, but when I looked at tonight’s dinner plan later I realized I had forgotten one of my very favorite things – Jalopeno and Cheddar Nachos!!!  Here is my updated list:

1. baby carrots
2. roasted brussels sprouts
3. Pad See Eiw (Thai, broad rice noodles)
4. diet soda
5. soursop juice
6. black and white milk shakes
7. nachos!
8. baked sweet potato fries
9. popcorn
10. buffalo chicken sandwiches

And now you already know what dinner was –

And they were delicious!  I topped 2oz of blue corn chips with black beans, jalopenos, and 1/2cup of 2% sharp cheddar cheese.  Baked at 450* for 10minutes, which ended up being a bit too long.

They were awesome, but since that size and cheesiness level was almost 600calories I shudder to think how much damage I do with restaurant nachos.

What are your top 10 favorite foods?

Soup & Sandwich

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I barely managed to skim my magazines – this months “Cooking Light” has about 8bazillion recipes that I want to make – before I fell straight into a long nap!  I’ve felt nauseous and just icky ever since yesterday.  However, when the husband came home and offered to make lunch I was more than ready!

I had a soup from to Amy’s to sample so I based the rest of my meal around that.

I eat 99.9% of my meals on the couch so I took advantage of eating at the table with my leg up by using the new placemats my mom gave me for Christmas –

Adam did a fabulous job on lunch – Jonagold apple slices,

grilled cheese with cheddar and pickle relish,

and Amy’s Organic Chunky Tomato Bisque.

Yums.  The portion shown is the whole can but I handed the bowl off to Adam half way.  It was a very tasty combo.

I’m not sure what the rest of the day will bring.  I would like to do some stretching and I have a very tricky shower ahead of me.  “See” you for dinner!

By the way, the contest winner was actually # 1 – Brandi, who writes and eats with her left hand but cuts and throws with her right!

Bring on the Produce, Tomorrow

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I caught a bit of a cold during my long airport day and I knew as soon as I woke up this morning that today would be less than productive.  What a correct prediction, not much work occurred but there was a lot of this –

I also made a point of eating the crappiest foods known to man all day.  Actually, that’s an objective term, no part of my sensibilities will allow me to call these ‘breakfast staples’ crap.

Oh yes I did stir good Green and Black organic cocoa powder into Ricemellow Creme.  And I only had a teeny bit left so I made/ate it in the container.

Consider this my twist on blogworld’s oats in a jar.  Actually, this ‘meal’ had less than 100calories and rocked my socks, so I consider it pretty damn successful.

You can’t follow up cocoa fluff in a container with fruits or veggies so I ate the other half of my cheddar and jalopeno bialy next.

And then I had a big bowl of brocoli and strawberries.

Oh, whoops, I guess that’s popcorn!  Who thinks that this was my favorite product review yet??

I needed some color so in came the jumbo Smarties.

At this point is anyone surprised that dinner was nachos?

From the bar downstairs, these were smothered in black beans, tomatoes, chicken, and spicy spicy jalopenos.  Yums.  But it did put me over the edge.  Bring on the produce tomorrow!