Baking Tasting

by Emily

My breakfast was pathetic. Someone {ahem!} only left behind a tiny bit of my Low-fat Coconut Chia Kefir.

I planned on taking it to-go and didn’t have time to grab anything else so I had to spend the morning hungry. Even worse, I think Wegman’s isn’t going to carry that flavor anymore.

I spent my morning in the formula lab at the hospital and my afternoon in an off-site clinic and I had to drive through lunch. I packed it simple with packaged things I could eat in the car. Luna Blueberry Bliss Bar.

Normally I’m all about the chocolate flavors, but this blueberry flavor is one of my favorite Lunas.

Key Lime Crumble Chobani Flip.

After all my anticipation for this flavor, I actually didn’t really like it. The yogurt was weirdly thin and every key lime Greek yogurt I’ve tried has tasted too artificial. But I have an Almond Coco Loco Flip in the fridge that I’m still excited to try.

I didn’t realize how sore I was from yoga until my drive home. Moving around during the day was fine but sitting for a long stretch on the highway was killer. Last night’s practice kicked my butt. <– I had to edit out a typo here where I wrote “butts.” It’s a Freudian fat joke!

During the drive I also realized how hungry I was. Days I don’t eat breakfast are a disaster because I end up eating so much crap in the afternoon. I started with a sliced Honeycrisp.

And two Alexia Artisan Sweet Potato Rolls with butter.

But then I had to do some baking for tomorrow’s book club.

Adam wasn’t here this evening to help me taste-test and I did an insane amount of nibbling and bowl licking.

Plus I ate one of the (mostly) finished baked goods.

Delicious but so unnecessary.

At least dinner was healthy.

My black-eyed pea salad is so easy to make – BEPs, chopped green pepper, smoked almonds, chopped Kerrygold Vintage Cheddar, green Tabasco, done!

It’s quickly becoming my favorite dish. There is even another serving in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch.

I’m hoping that this weekend will include lots of baked goods and booze, but my goals for next week are bedtime, breakfast, and less sugar overload. {and the Vegan 20 Day challenge!}

27Jan2013

Cookie Sunday

by Emily

Cookie Sunday, could that be a thing now please? I had two today. But everything else was healthy. Now that we are trying to not be fat-fat-fatties we gotta keep things balanced.

Breakfast bowl.

The final serving of KIND maple granola (booo! We need more asap!) with chopped peach and plum and Lifeway coconut chia kefir.

Tortellini salad from the co-op.

I split a cookie with Adam at the grocery store.

Yes, we were back at the store, I’m unable to do my shopping in any less than twenty trips a week.

Dinner was great.

Buffalo chicken nuggets (I have a recipe for you below) with blue cheese for dipping,

sautéed mushrooms,

and roasted broccoli.

I made us cookies for dessert.

no. 2 pencil’s single serve cookies (recipe actual makes 2 cookies) are genius, but I crunched the numbers and they have 360 calories each – not an everyday treat. But they were perfect for Cookie Sunday. <– is it a thing yet?

Buffalo Chicken Nuggets, serves 4

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup buffalo wing sauce
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup cornstarch
2-3 Tbsp oil

Put chicken pieces into a Tupperware and cover with buffalo sauce. Marinate at least 4 hours.
Combine cornmeal and cornstarch in a large ziplock baggie. Add marinated chicken, seal bag, and shake until chicken is evenly coated.
Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large pan over medium heat, add remaining oil to the pan as needed.
Working in batches to avoid overcrowding, place chicken in pan, cover, and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until cooked through.
Transfer cooked chicken to a plate covered with paper towels to rest before serving.

26Jan2013

Fashion Friday

by Emily

The hospital was great today.

I got to chart on several patients and I saw some really interesting cases; everything from cancer to Crohn’s, to burns.

If you think I actually got in bed early last night… you haven’t been reading my blog very long! Of course I stayed up another hour and of course I was exhausted this morning. I had to grab breakfast on the go, a Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Bar.

The taste was good and I loved chewing through the chia. The bar only had 100 calories, but it did provide 4 gram each fiber and protein and 1000 and 800 mg respectively omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Nutrition fun fact – it is important to get healthy fatty acids in your diets, but did you know that the ratio of omega 6:3 matters too? It should be about 1:1 but most Americans get too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3.

I also had a big cup of coffee at the hospital.

Half vanilla cappuccino (sweetened) and half caramel nut coffee (flavored beans).

I may have packed lunch yesterday, but it wasn’t much help sitting in my fridge all day! Instead I got a salad from the salad bar.

Spring mix topped with tomatoes, banana peppers, french dressing, and scoop of cole slaw.

I wasn’t interested in my packed-but-forgotten turkey sandwich when I got home, but I did eat my Pink Lady apple.

Plus a Caramel Pineapple Chobani Bite topped with some KIND Maple Walnut Clusters with Chia & Quinoa.

<– heavenly

Dinner was a big slice of pizza.

Buffalo chicken with blue cheese for dipping.

This will be my last slice for a little while (I’ll explain soon) and I really enjoyed it.

Fashion Fridays

This post was pretty short, so I figured I’d share my “professional” look with you all. I hope at least a few readers (hi, Nana! hi, Mom!) would like to see what I wore to my first week at the hospital.

Fact 1 – Lose-fitting tops with fun neckline details are pretty much my uniform.

Fact 2 – I know my mirror is filthy. Sometimes I hold Webster up to the mirror to see “the other dog” and I don’t always have time to clean off his nose smudges because by “sometimes” I mean daily.

23Jan2013

My Pictures Went “Poof!”

by Emily

I’m over the hump! Three days in a row of full-time interning, cooking meals, and generally being an adult. And the thought of adding in workouts next week only slightly makes me want to order a pizza and eat it in bed.

[[[Updated to add – I typed my introduction as I was editing today’s photos. Only when I moved forward to write the next paragraph did I realize that I somehow deleted all of my dinner photos. {frick! frick! frick!} It is a good thing that I started this post in a chipper mood.]]]

Today was delicious! Breakfast had two tasty components.

A big glass of Lifeway Lowfat Coconut Chia Kefir.

Yumtastic, this variety is the best kefir I’ve ever had! Sometimes kefir has a bit of a sour aftertaste to it but this flavor had none of that. The coconut flavor was pretty subtle so I think this would appeal to you even if you’re not loco for coco(nut).

With a big bowl of (microwaved frozen) peaches topped with 1 tsp brown sugar, 1/3 cup KIND Maple Walnut Clusters with Chia & Quinoa, and a splash of skim milk.

Yesterday’s gross protein smoothie may not have tasted like peach cobbler, but this sure did.

It was a good day at the hospital. I’m still mostly observing but I got to discuss some pretty interesting patients. My cases today included eating disorders, ketogenic diets for seizure disorders, and failure to thrive. So far this experience has really cemented my desire to go into clinical practice when I graduate.

I did get up early to journal, and then I worked through lunch, but I’ve finally taken a chunk out of that project. There is still a lot to do tomorrow but tonight I managed to just have down time. And I did get to eat lunch while I worked. A big Pink Lady.

Some Skinny Cow peanut butter chocolates.

And I packed us both tuna salad sandwiches.

We split a can of tuna with Miracle Whip, pickle relish, and tons of red onion.

And then I had to chew gum to deal with my horrendous tuna/onion breath.

Worth it.

Afternoon snacks included 3 oz of trail mix eaten in the car.

And a strawberry milk tea with popping and tapioca boba from Gin Gin.

I’ve been raving about the double bubbles at Gin Gin for months and today I finally got to take a similarly obsessed friend to experience the wonder. I’ll have you all know that she too dug through her ice to snag all the boba!

As you know, I don’t have any pictures of dinner. {grrrrrr} Thankfully the meal didn’t photograph all that beautifully anyway. We sautéed linguine, evoo, a bag of frozen veggies (green beans, broccoli, onions, mushroom, and red pepper), 2 eggs, and peanut sauce until crispy and delicious. We each had a large bowl and loved every bite.

My new fun thing is to be starving an hour after dinner each day. I’m not going to fight it, but I am trying to stick to mostly healthy(ish) snacks to deal with my hunger. Today’s 4th meal was a yogurt bowl.

Fage 2% Plain Greek yogurt topped honey and a half serving of granola. A little more sugary than I’m hoping for every day, but the bowl was luscious and it did fill me up.

Are you a kefir fan?

22Jan2013

Weak-Sauce Weak Tea

by Emily

Did you know that I started my internship a week before the semester officially begins? The pediatric hospital I’m working with is in high demand and these dates were the only ones that worked for them. This is awesome because it means that I have a random free week in the middle of the semester. But it’s a little tricky because I haven’t gotten a ton of guidance; the meeting to review the expectations for our self-selected internships isn’t until next Monday!

The lack of guidance, coupled with my sub-clinical OCD, creates a few problems. For example, I know that we have to keep a journal that will help provide documentation to show what we did with our internship hours. I do not know exactly what is supposed to go in that journal. For now I’m recording every single freaking thing. Not surprisingly, journaling is taking forever. I worked most of the evening and have to wake up early tomorrow to get back at it.

As predicted, today’s lunch was delicious and filling. When I got home I snacked on a leftover Alexia Artisan Sweet Potato Roll with Smart Balance Light.

The rolls were even better leftover; they stayed very soft.

Also a Fig with Orange Zest Chobani Bite with 1/3 cup KIND Maple Walnut Clusters with Chia & Quinoa.

The granola was knock-your-socks-off good! I sampled some at FNCE and knew I had to buy a some immediately. Now Adam loves it too and I am predicting a fight as the bag gets lighter.

I drank a mug of tea with skim milk and sugar to warm up while I worked.

I so want to love tea but the cups I brew at home are too weak! I basically make (milky sweet) dirty water. This was 6 oz of water, microwaved for 90 seconds + 2 bags of Republic of Tea Red Velvet Tea steeped for 6 minutes. Where am I going wrong?!

Thank ~~God~~ Tasty Bite for a quick dinner.

I sautéed 2 pints of mushrooms in butter and evoo then tossed the packet of Vegetable Korma into the hot skillet. Split between two bowls, on top of a serving of Jasmine Rice each.

This is not a meal that photographs well (at all!), but it was damn tasty. Plus healthy and quick enough for a busy night.

I was still hungry after dinner (we’ve decided that we have temporarily ruined our stomachs with our out-of-control portion sizes and that we will probably just have to spend a few weeks being a bit hungry) so Adam and I split a minneola.

Gotta love citrus in the winter time!

Please help! Do you have any tea brewing tips for me?

24Dec2012

Use Your Noggin

by Emily

Hello, hello! The days I’m excited to blog are always the same days I’m utterly exhausted. Go figure. Saturday was a symphony of holiday flavors but also a 9+ hour day at work. Instead of posting last night I had a total tantrum and passed out fully dressed… so here is a 2-day recap.

Remember when I said “Saturday was a symphony of holiday flavors”? You know, like five seconds ago. Well, my day went eggnog –> candy cane –> gingerbread; bam!

Nog based overnight oats for breakfast.

I put 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 cup Silk Soy Nog, and 1 Tbsp chia seeds in the fridge overnight, then Saturday morning I added 1 sliced banana and a big dash of Christmas sprinkles.

So festive and delicious. Also, holy frick, I love chia seeds so much.

My candy cane came in the form of a Peppermint Stick Clif Bar during work.

This is Clif’s best seasonal flavor by far. The bar has the perfect amount of peppermint.

Gingerbread was a cupcake surprise from the husband.

He had an appointment near Fairy Cakes in the afternoon and he brought me home a gingerbread stout cupcake with cream cheese icing.

It was ridiculous good, maybe the best cupcake I’ve ever had! The cake had a great ratio of spice to sweet and was so fluffy and moist. I shared one big bite with Adam but downed the rest with gusto.

The rest of the day’s eats were out of season, but still good. From fall I borrowed an apple and a Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale.

I split the beer with Adam and ate the apple on my own.

I guess nachos are actually appropriate for any season, right?

Adam and I shared a tray, straight from the oven. We topped scoop-style tortilla chips with roasted brocoli and green pepper, Newman’s Own Pineapple Salsa, and Cabot Reserve Aged Cheddar.

We loved them. He was a little iffy on roasted brocoli as a nacho topping but it was delicious. And I was worried about that type of cheese versus a regular cheddar, but that ended up being perfect too. And the pineapple salsa is hands-down the best jarred salsa I’ve ever had.

Blah, blah, blah, and then I started having a fit and had to go to bed. I didn’t get anywhere near enough sleep during the weeks Adam was gone and I’m still really freaking tired.

Sunday was a super hungry day and I ate a ton ~~of crap~~. A brunch of sorts, was low-fat coffee yogurt with honey roasted peanuts and honey,

a few pieces of toffee candy from home,

and several handfuls (about 3 servings or 250 calories worth) of dried turkey.

During work I drank a Starbucks Vanilla Doubleshot.

Working with crowds of Christmas shoppers is exhausting but also really rewarding. Five different people today thanked me effusively for my help and that was a really good feeling. Actually, one super hot guy told another customer that I was fantastic and I about died!

Adam picked me up after work for a fun treat.

Bubble tea from Gin Gin! Best bubble tea I’ve ever had, and I’ve tried a lot. I got a medium red bean milk tea with regular and popping boba (the purple one is Adam’s taro).

We both swooned over how good they were and finished our drinks in the car long before we made it home. And we called my mom on speaker on the drive and drove her crazy scraping through our ice for errant tapiocas!

Dinner was pizza.

And we shared a beer.

We were gearing up for a long night of baking.

I’m giving my co-workers all pies for Christmas and we are not even close to finished still. Sorry, husband!

We made smoothies mid-baking for strength. Frozen strawberries and blackberries blended with So Delicious Mint Chocolate Coconut Milk.

And I’ve done a little nibbling while we baked.

I have a holiday breakfast with work tomorrow and then I’m spending Christmas Eve on the couch with Adam. I have two days off in a row for the holiday and I am so excited to spend them with my boys!

Did you give any handmade gifts this season?

14Nov2012

Final Day In Philly

by Emily

My final day in Philly was delicious. I was on my own while Adam took an 8 hour practical exam so I walked, ate, and read. It was perfection. I had to park the car in an all-day spot to save money but since I love to walk I was able to explore a large area on foot.

The Reading Terminal Market didn’t have as many vegan options as I’d hoped. In fact, we learned on Sunday that the vegan cheese steak place was temporarily closed which was a good thing because it gave me a day to deal with my massive disappointment. There were plenty of fun things to look at though.

Since I had trouble finding breakfast I went straight to dessert (and stayed there pretty much all day!).

Bubble tea for breakfast? Why not.

This was a red mango tea with strawberry popping bubbles. It was the best tea of the trip, popping boba is just so flipping good.

I spent some time at Au Bon Pain with the latest Kathy Reichs book and sipped a coffee with soy milk.

By the by, Reichs’ latest book was great.

Then froyo happened.

I have no regrets. Vegan Challenge or not, Emily Wax does not walk past self-serve eggnog frozen yogurt. I wanted to feel guilty, but this ended up being the best bowl I’ve ever had. Eggnog yogurt and cream cheese yogurt (even better than the eggnog!!) topped with salty peanuts, shredded coconut, caramel, and butterscotch chips.

Ridiculous. And now I have to spend the rest of my days searching for more cream cheese froyo.

The rest of lunch needed to be a little healthier – enter a green smoothie. Almond milk, banana, kale, and cacao.

I did a “design your own elixir” and was very pleased with my combination.

We needed to get on the road quickly after Adam’s exam so we headed to Whole Foods again for dinner.

Bbq seitan, collard greens, curry “chicken” salad, sesame seaweed, garlic pasta, and wheat berry salad.

Plus a vegan cookies and cream cupcake was split for dessert.

We did 50/50 but I got 100% of the frosting and Adam got 100% of the cake.

I also grabbed a coco libre coconut water + chia raspberry lemonade for the car.

It was awesome. I love chia drinks and this was the best I’ve ever had.

The rest of my car snacks (for the 8+ hour trip!) were decidedly less healthy.

I wasn’t even hungry by the end but I had to keep eating to stay awake and I woke up the next morning with a stomach ache. No matter, nothing was going to take away from how wonderful our Philly visit was.

All in all, we had a fantastic trip!

18Sep2012

Candied Bacon Pancakes

by Emily

I know that title drew you in, but a lot of stuff happened before the pancakes; it’s been two days! It’s only Tuesday, but am allowed to say that this week sucks? I still haven’t worked out (in fact, I slept through my last unlimited yoga class this morning and I’m so sad), I started reviewing class notes for upcoming tests and realized that I’m starting three weeks too late, and I’m in a terrible mood. I wish I had a day to catch up but instead I had to go to stupid meetings and tomorrow I have to go on even stupider errands. Bah!

Yesterday, I had a 0% Plain Oikos with a honey stick for breakfast.

Plus a Mott’s Caramel Hot Spiced Cider.

This appears to be another product so new that it’s not on the website. It was also the start of an appletastic lunch.

Nature’s Path Apple Pie Crunch Chia Plus Bar (I’m loving these; my favorite parts is definitely the chia seeds),

GoGo Squeez Cinnamon Applesauce Packet,

and Apple Month candies.

Plus more candy in the form of a serving of Caramel Apple Sugar Babies when I got home from work.

They were the best Apple Month Candy yet!

Also when I got home from work, I had a total meltdown and Adam saved the ~~day~~ dinner by remembering our Living Social deal to SoHo Burger.

There was actually some nonsense with the deal and I’m pretty annoyed with SoHo Burger as a business, but the food was good and I need to get to bed soon so nevermind.

Adam and I split a Gimme Smore Spiked Shake. (I ate 45%) Chocolate fudge, roasted marshmallow, graham crackers, vanilla ice cream, Bacardi Select Dark Rum.

And an order of the Truffle Tater Tots. (I ate 30%) New twist on classic house made tater tots seasoned with truffle oil, parmesan cheese and parsley.

For my meal I did a burger and a salad.

A side Caesar (I ate everything but the croutons),

and a “naked,” aka without a bun, Turkey Burger. (I ate 95%) 8oz fresh organic turkey breast topped with brie cheese and cranberry chutney.

We shared our leftover burger bites with the dog when we got home and he was very happy to see us indeed.

I got in bed the minute we got home. Literally; I gave the dog his treats and then handed the husband my dress from under the covers! And then I stayed there through my alarm clock and didn’t get up until I was an hour late this morning. And I’m still tired.

Coffee with skim milk and a pb-chocolate magic straw was clearly how I needed to start my day.

Then I had a dipping plate.

2 servings of baby carrots,

in 3 servings (for only 150 calories!) of Cedar’s French Onion Yogurt Dip.

The dip was tangy, creamy, and delicious, and yet another product not found on the company’s website. <– what is up with that lately?!

And a Butterfinger Pumpkin.

Speaking of unhealthy (but delicious) things, I impulse-bought lunch while I was making a much-needed grocery trip this afternoon. Mac and cheese and sweet and sour chicken. I didn’t have my camera and I can’t get the phone photo to format so you’ll just have to take my word that it was ridiculously unhealthy.

Speaking again of stupid but tasty purchases – I bought two more pumpkin beers!

Dinner was a two-course breakfast affair. First, eggs.

Spinach and bok choy cooked in evoo and salt with eggs with light half & half and crumbled blue cheese.

Then candied bacon pancakes with a little maple syrup.

That picture wasn’t worth the wait, was it?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: chia

Baking Tasting

Cookie Sunday

Fashion Friday

Fashion Fridays

My Pictures Went “Poof!”

Weak-Sauce Weak Tea

Use Your Noggin

Final Day In Philly

Candied Bacon Pancakes