Tag Archives: cheese

The South in a Can

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I hope my readers get to this post late because they were out drinking green beer, there was certainly no Irish mischief in this house!  Opening up a Wonka Bar was about as much excitement as I had time for.

I ate half a serving and really liked it.

Then I ran a few errands with the husband and hit up the Spot for a 5:30 – 8:30 study session with Caroline.  We bombed all of our practice tests, I’m a little worried about this Friday.  While I was there I split a pizza bagel with Adam.

My delicious half –

I resisted the green milkshakes with green whipped cream that were floating around, but just barely!

My dinner plan was a 1 cup leftover serving of Cocoa-Coconut Chili pulled from the freezer, so I pulled out this can of okra and tomatoes to jazz it up.

I bought the can on a whim a while back because the nutritional stats were good but it took me forever to open it.

Tonight I put 1/2cup on top of my chili.

As well as a bit of 2% sharp cheddar.

The bowl didn’t exactly knock my socks off but it was healthy and filling.  I have 1 more bag (1cup) of chili in the freezer and I’m already excited about my planned toppings for it.

My pm goal is shower + magazine reading before 10:30 bedtime, I’ll see you in the am.

How did you celebrate St. Patrick’s today?

Sandwiches, Smoothies, and Schedules

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Hello again, happy Monday!  This will definitely be the longest recap post I’ve done in a while – Friday through Monday.  Physically things have been low-key but mentally there’s been lots of drama – my flight was canceled!  And since I’m in St. Thomas it could have meant getting into Buffalo on Tuesday and not having a ride and missing class.  I was freaking out a bit.  Thankfully 45minutes on the phone + my firm but calm voice got me on a different flight that leaves/gets in on pretty much the same schedule.  And now my layover is shorter and in Philly and not Charlotte.  🙂

I’m a big proponent of the firm but calm voice.  I was polite, and said multiple please and thank yous, but unwavering.  I didn’t ask whether or not I could get on another flight, I simply said “I will be leaving St. Thomas tomorrow, what can you do to help me make that happen?”  And it worked.

Anyway, back to Friday.  My mom served me a slice of cake,

which promptly got stripped of it’s icing because I don’t eat cake.

Then I moved on to greens, a small container I put together at the salad bar we stopped by.

Lettuce, beans, corn, cheese, 1 hard-boiled egg and a drizzle of light Cesar.

I also made myself some frozen coffee – coffee, ice, skim milk, and 2T sugar.

Soo much better than Starbucks could ever do.

Dinner was all about the leftovers.

Oven baked okra is kind of my favorite.

And I served up some leftover baked tofu on toasted rye with hot pepper raspberry preserves and sharp cheddar.

Friday night I did end up going out to meet some friends.  We had a good time and I had a few drinks but photo-taking was abandoned in favor of trying to keep my balance on one leg!  I don’t know how on earth I managed to stand on one leg past 2am but a fun time was had by all.

For Saturday morning breakfast my mom and I hit up one of my favorite places on earth – Barefoot Buddha.  I had fresh-made lemonade,

and a Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich.

Frittata, smoked turkey, turkey bacon, cream cheese, spicy sauce…

I love these sandwiches so much I ate them on my wedding day!  I know most brides say they are too nervous to eat but I was just nervous my friends would devour them before I got any 😀

We hung out and studied for a bit and I had a passionfruit, banana, coconut smoothie.

We laid low the rest of the day before going out to a fabulous dinner at The Cellar.  We did a lot of sharing and the lighting was low so let me apologize for the picture quality in advance.

There were way too many things I wanted off the drink menu but I finally settled on the Caribbean Champagne.

Champagne with coconut rum and key lime juice.  GREAT combination.

We split a cheese plate that was kind of out of this world.  The goat cheese was my favorite but the stewed plums were pretty fantastic as well.

My plate –

And at The Cellar the chef always sends out an amuse bouche.

Ahi wontons.

Plus homemade bread and butter.

For my meal I got the Vegetable Cutlet – panfried, potatoes, peas, carrots, eggplant and pickled papaya, and tiki masala sauce.

The cutlets were delicious but my favorite part of the entire meal was the eggplant wrapped papaya.  I ate one cutlet and took the other home, and I had a few bites of my dad’s tamarind mahi as well.

We were stuffed, but couldn’t not order a dessert plate to share.  It came with little forks,

because we got four little desserts!

NY cheesecake with fruit sauce and bananas foster,

cinnamon creme brulee and chocolate mousse.

Yum, yum, yum; I wished I could have had a BIG serving of the bananas foster.

Sunday morning I made a nice green monster for breakfast.

My mom and I got our nails done (green again, I’ll show you later!) and then I picked up nachos for lunch from the bar I used to work at.

Yum, but I think it’s time to be fully done with any sort of nachos for a while.

We saw a matinée of “Our Family Wedding,” during which I munched on a box of Nerds.

I would like to show you dinner but it was so dark at our table I never could get a picture.  I shared green bean fries with my parents and ate half of a tamarind turkey burger.

When I got home I had 2 maple pecan sticky blondies for dessert.

Dreena would be sad to know I deveganized these, but at least I made the recipe for my parents!

This morning (Monday) I’m hanging out at school for a bit before I head home to pack.  I brought a pineapple Chiobani for breakfast,

but that didn’t begin to cut it.

I ended up also having an egg and cheese biscuit from Wendy’s.

It is 100% time to stop eating like I’m on vacation!  Especially because I’m not sure what the workout situation with my leg is going to be like.

I had fabulous spring break but I am more than ready to get back with the husband and back on a schedule.  I get in late tonight so I won’t be posting today’s eats but hopefully Tuesday my sleeping, eating, and blogging will all be back on track!  I can tell you now though, that I have a Greek Gods honey yogurt in the freezer for a pre-packing treat!

When you get to the end of a vacation are you sad it’s over or ready to get back to business?

The One Where Emily Whines (and Questions)

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It’s been a short while since my last post, but let me tell you it has felt loooooong!  I’d like start this post by saying I love my husband and I’m so happy I got to see him.  The half was fabulous and I loved getting to run in it.  I love my family and I’m excited to be home.  And now I’m going to complain.  I’m also going to survey (in bold) just for funsies.

Tuesday, Kristen came home from school and took me to the airport.  We stopped to get my tattoo touched up on the way; pictures are coming, I promise!  I didn’t get to the airport late, but I definitely got there later than usual, I like a good 2hour buffer.  How early do you like to get to the airport?  My leg was killing me and I ripped the bandage off my tattoo picking up my bag so I was a mess about two minutes in.  Thankfully they let me skip to the front of most of the lines, Jet Blue lets you check 1 bag for free, and I had a nonstop flight.

Jet Blue has free cable onboard, something we don’t have at home, so my 3 hours went by pretty quickly.  I snacked on a package of Teather snacks; yum.

A Muscle Milk Light Bar; meh, too gooey and with a strange aftertaste.

And a little bag of blue chips; blue for Jet Blue, cute and tasty.

I want to say the flight was good, I mean I had chips and “Bones” was on, how could it not be?  Oh yeah, when people who have no business being parents take their little monsters in public!  Before people try to crucify me – I was a teacher for two years, not only do I recognize the signs of most disabilities/disorders, I fully sympathize with the parents who help their children live with them.  This little brat was NOT disabled.  Nor was he that little, the child was at least 6 or 7.  Infants scream on planes, it sucks for their parents and the people around them, but if it happens it is unavoidable.  I’m not going to say this kid needed to be smacked (I don’t believe in that) but his parents certainly needed a smack in the face.  He screamed the entire flight.  Ok, whatever.  But he also kicked the back of my seat the entire flight.  And every single kick felt like someone was shooting me in the leg.  By the time I got off the flight I was in tears.

I dragged myself down to baggage claim holding back tears.  And I even made it to the car and managed to look happy to see the husband.  I probably would have made it all the way home without crying, if we hadn’t been a block from our house before I realized that I left my camera on the plane.  Oh man.  Thank goodness the woman at the Jet Blue was a freaking angel who found my camera, gave us her personal cell phone number, and then met us outside the airport after we drove back.

Adam got dinner during the whole rigmarole and I ate some of his tortilla chips but have no photographs, obviously.  Ever left anything behind at the airport?

We got home around 10 and had to unpack then repack before we headed back to the airport at 3am.  Fun times.  My leg has been getting worse as the days go on so Wednesday I finally sucked up the embarrassment and asked for a wheel chair at the airport.  I am just too slow to make it from gate to gate in time.  Fully humiliated, at least I made it to my flight.

I had a three hour layover in Philly, for which a motorized cart dropped me off at my gate.  Have you ever ridden on one of the airport carts?  There were no healthy breakfast choices close by so I went straight to lunch at 8am.

I ate half of this spicy chicken sandwich,

as well as this side of Waldorf salad.

I also made it to a newstand and had a York Peppermint Patty for dessert.

The husband said I needed to suck it up and go to the ER but as my 2nd flight got more and more delayed that option slipped away.  The flight from Philly to STT was 4hours long (and 2hours late) so by the time we got into the air I was starving again.  I bought a snack box on the plane but was a little disappointed with the unhealthy choices.

I ended up eating the cheese and crackers.

And the mixed nuts.

If you can’t tell by the pictures I played a LOT of Sudoku the last couple of days.  I definitely caught up on sleep as well.  What do you do to pass the time on flights?

I was so happy to see my dad when I got to St. Thomas!  And I was pretty happy about the dark chocolate turtle he handed me as soon as we got in the house.

It was very nice reading magazines on my old bed while my parents cooked up dinner.  And it was a tasty one.

Garlic sautéed asparagus,

homemade cole slaw,

and turkey reubans cooked on the George Foreman.

Mmmn.  I quit eating red meat before I had the chance to try a “real” one, but turkey reubans are kind of my favorite.  I had a tempeh reuban in NYC that was socks rocking and there is a place here that I’m planning on getting one from this week as well.  Like reubans?  Hit up Allison.

After dinner I went in my room to read.  And fell asleep at 8pm.  Yes folks, that is 7pm Buffalo time, out like a light!  It’s just as well because I had to get up around 6 to go to school with my mommy.  My parents don’t have internet so I’ll do all my blogging from here.  I have Anthro work to make up all week/end and I have a doctor’s appointment for my foot at 11am today.

See ya later gators!

Busy Busy Bee

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I want to get my packing done this evening and I HAVE to squeeze in some quality time with the husband so I’ll keep this snappy.  `_< (oh yes, that was an alligator!)

I like to make to-go smoothies for breakfast on the mornings I have 8am lab.  My first proclamations were not wrong: I love Green Monsters!

This had 1 frozen banana, 1 cup oj, and 1 cup frozen spinach.  I took a better lit picture at la escuela to show of its Kermit-esque awesomeness.

I was in the bathroom because I realized I couldn’t not show you guys today’s layered look!

Love it!  Adam and Katie both asked me why I was dressed up today.

I was with Katie because we had a lunch date today!  I packed us a lovely spread from home to save a little $.

 Turkey and 2% provolone sandwiches with hot pepper peach preserves.

And caramel Oikos with blueberries.

We ate at the Wegman’s coffee bar area and Katie bought me a lovely Nutty Irish (hazelnut and Irish cream syrups) skim milk latte.

After lunch we walked around the store a bit and I managed to get some gifts for the friends I’m seeing tomorrow that I’m quite excited about.

On the way home we split this package of Newman’s Own Peppermint Cups.

Meh.  They aren’t bad I guess but I much prefer Yorks.

Adam had a suture clinic from 5 – 8 so he dropped me off at the Spot to do some studying.  I am completely caught up for Chemistry, yay!  I got dinner there, a Mike’s cheese and egg bagel sandwich.

Plus a skim iced latte.

Still on the agenda for tonight?

  • pack everything but my chargers into my suitcase
  • separate the laundry
  • paint my toe nails and shave my legs, eek!
  • cuddle with the husband and try not to cry about 12 days apart

Gotta get cracking!

*****Updated to add – packing is never fun.  Which is probably why this seemed like such a good idea –

Shamrock Shake!  😀

You Can’t Do It Without the Meat

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Before I start – I also forgot the ricotta, which I realized as soon as the husband got back from the store.  He hates me a bit and our burger apparently didn’t quite follow the recipe!

As I said before, the plan for dinner was Turkey Burgers with Carmelized Onions and Blue Cheese (recipe here).  I’ve been craving turkey burgers since before the vegan challenge, which I swear I am going to recap soon, so this was the perfect dinner choice.

I had one burger on a bun with blue cheese spread and a few onions.

A stack of oven-baked fries.

And leftover veggies from the other night.

In spite of the small hiccup (who forgot the turkey and ricotta?!?) it ended up being the perfect dinner.

Sadly the burger did not kill my turkey burger cravings  😦  I know we left out ricotta but the recipe needed far more Worchestire for my tastes.  The fries were fantasmic though 🙂  We subbed in butter potatoes for russet and we not disappointed.  I don’t know why I ever eat fried fries, these are so much better!

Now the plan is to do my pt exercises, shower, and turn into bed.  Wish me luck actually falling asleep tonight!

What do you top your burgers with?  I almost never eat things on a bun, but usually I dip my patties into ketchup.

Me: 0, Hunger: 4

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I’ve been super busy (and stressed) all day and that paired with my intense hunger somehow led to me eating 4 full meals today, whoops!  The amount of school work I have to do over the next few weeks (particularly while I’m home, boo) is sort of staggering.  I’m actually looking forward to seeing whether or not I rise to the challenge 🙂

I was feeling a bit empty still after breakfast so I grabbed a Yoplait Light Red Velvet Cake yogurt.

This wasn’t my favorite flavor, but I was pretty entranced by the color.

My study session ended up being split between two coffee shops.  First Starbucks, where I ate a low-fat egg white, spinach, and feta wrap with a nonfat tall latte.

Then the Spot where I had a Cajun Turkey Wrap (ww wrap, sliced turkey, pepperjack cheese, cajun sauce, l/t).

I ate 2/3 of the sandwich plus a 2nd diet coke.

Finally Adam picked me up around 7:30 and I headed off to get my “real” dinner.  We were so excited to try this newest location of …..

Moes!  I’ve been seeing the Florida bloggers gush about this place for years so I was super excited to try it out.  Adam and I were NOT disappointed.

I did some damage on the huge bag of chips the gave me,

but my main meal was this fellow –

A Junior Homewrecker (burrito – little bit of rice, black beans, tofu, cheese, salsa, cilantro).

Yum, yum, yum.

I would say it’s been a good day but I’m going to try to bang out some of my online Chem homework so my day seems far from over.  I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

What’s your opinion on “Fourth Meal?”  Just for Taco Bell or awesome idea?

Eggland’s Best for Dinner

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Dinner tonight was inspired by a coupon I received from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.

I always buy Eggland’s Best brand eggs, but usually I can’t afford to go organic so this was a nice treat.

My recipe was a tweeked version of my spinach ricotta pie.  Serves 3

  • 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed out
  • 1 C frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
  • 5 Eggland’s Best eggs, lightly beaten
  • salt and pepper, to season
  • 15 oz container fat free ricotta cheese
  • 6 t 2% sharp cheddar, shredded
  1. Preheat oven to 375*.  Grease the cups of a muffin pan.
  2. Place first five ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
  3. Carefully pour mixture into the muffin pan.  Top each “muffin” with 1/2 t cheese.
  4. Bake for 20minutes.

Each muffin has 72 calories.

With all my mall food I was pretty full but the husband still needed dinner so I went ahead with my plan.  I had a half serving for funsies and to add a few veggies to my day.

It was a tasty meal and according to the literature I received “Compared to regular eggs, Eggland’s Best eggs now contain –

  • 4 times as much Vitamin D
  • 75% more Vitamin B12
  • 10% more riboflavin
  • 50% more Vitamin A
  • 25% less saturated fat and 3 times the level of Omega 3s”

Thanks Eggland’s Best!

I hope all my readers have a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow!

Fancy Friday

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It’s officially the weekend!  My laptop recycling went well, they even gave me back the hard drive which I thought was pretty cool.

I had a coupon to Aunt Annie’s so while we were at the mall we enjoyed some pretzels.

I had 2/3, with mustard.

When we got home we got right now work on dinner which ended up being a pretty fancy affair.

Salad with homemade dressing and oven “fried” brie.

And the husband made salmon patties.

It all came together to make quite the meal.

Oven “Fried” Brie

  • President Brie Logs
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
  1. Cut brie log into 1/2inch slices.
  2. Dip slices in egg and then dredge in bread crumbs.
  3. Place breaded brie on a foiled, sprayed cooking sheet and bake at 450* for 10minutes.

The dressing was inspired by our “finished” container of Jack Daniels mustard.

To the remains of the mustard I added 2t clementine oil, 2t red wine vinegar and shook.  I also pulled out the last of the 1000island dressing from last week for salmon patty dipping.

Adam and I are watching the latest episode of “Bones” and then the plan is to be in bed before 10:30.  Tomorrow is a busy day.

Do you ever make your own salad dressing.  Any combos you’d like to recommend.