Tag Archives: chicken

Rocked Recap

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‘Tis the season for recaps!  We are going home tomorrow for Christmas and since my parents don’t have internet the posting schedule will be a little off.  I’m going to school with my mom several times so there will be some loooong posts coming sporadically.  Yesterday’s recap is due to sleepiness not internet though.

After my exam – which I think I did pretty well on – Adam picked me up and we did our final bit of Christmas shopping.  By the time we got home at noon I was starving.  I had these two samples from Sabra to try, so they were the basis of my lunch.

The animal plates I bought for Adam’s surprise party actually have dipping wells, so I knew they would be perfect for this lunch.

Half a yellow bell pepper,

3/4 of a cucumber,

1 T Sabra Jalopeno Hummus,

and 1 T Sabra Classic Babaganoush.

Yums, Babaganoush is so tasty and it’s creaminess with the fresh veggies went so well with the Jalopeno hummus.

It was a pretty light lunch though, so I ended up drinking 3/4 of this Odwalla Vanilla Al’Mondo Protein Super Protein drink.

It was delicious, and I needed protein before our next adventure, ROCK CLIMBING!

Adam and I went to an indoor gym with some friends and we all had such a good time.

We were there from 2:30 – 5 and it ended up being such a great work out.

Afterwards we headed to the mall to catch Avatar.  It was good, but not great, in my opinion.  I was captured for most of the 3hours, but towards the end my large diet coke caught up with me and I just wanted it to be over!

By the time the movie got out it had been hours since we had eaten so the four of us went to TGIFriday’s for dinner.  I got the bbq chicken salad.

It was only ok.  The menu listed tons of veggies, but the real thing was mostly iceberg lettuce with too much dressing.

I was so hungry that it got devoured anyway.

After dinner our friend Benji came home with us to watch a movie.  I think I was on the couch for 5minutes before I went to the bedroom and passed out.  A combination of studying from 10am – 2am the day before, the stress of taking the exam, the rock climbing work out and being up from 6 – midnight was just too much for me.  Adam said he found me on the bed in my winter coat with my sneakers still on!

That tiredness continued through the day, as I slept all day long.  Seriously.  I haven’t eaten anything yet and my suitcase is empty.  Time to get cracking!

Before I go, the winners of my Amy’s giveaway are –

  1. (#1) Katie – winner
  2. (#4) Katie Moo – runner up
  3. (#11) Traynharder23 – runner up
  4. (#13) Jessica – runner up

Ladies, send me an e-mail at emilyhwaxATgmail.com with your address so Amy’s can ship out your prizes!

Cheese and Chocolate

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It’s an hour later than my goal bedtime so I’ll make this speedy.  I didn’t get much work done today, but I do feel cozy and relaxed.  And full – I ate little things every hour or so and I might have overdone it a bit on the snacking 😉

Crackers with cheese log.

It’s a good thing Adam likes to call me Mouse, maybe that will soften the blow when I gain 20pounds on cheese alone!

I also finished off the Food Should Taste Good Olive Chips, less than half a serving.

And I ate a small square of leftover lasagna.

Next I tried a new candy that my mom bought me.

Tea Infusions Milk Chocolate with Black Masala Chai.

Mmn, I prefer dark chocolate but I loved the way the taste of chai (my favorite tea) came through.  Plus 1 serving, half a bar, had 140 calories which feels reasonable.

I would love to be the sort of person who ate this with a cup of tea, but we have a bottle of Coke Zero leftover from the party so that just wasn’t going to happen.

We took a break to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah,

and, finally, a few hours later we got food from Jim’s Steakout.

A spicy buffalo chicken sub,

and french fries.

Not my healthiest day!

What’s your favorite kind of tea?

Mid-Fray Update

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I have time for a post, can you believe it!?!  The food is all prepared and the house is cleaned, all that’s left is getting dressed so I figured I might as well stop in and share some recipes.

I drove Adam to school this morning so we had to be out of the house at 7:30.  My alarm broke and his didn’t go off until 7:20 leading to this outfit –

Yep, I slapped Uggs on my pajamas and called it a go.

During our drive I drank this purple Rockstar for an energy boost.

And that’s all I’ve eaten since then.  All day.  I did some nibbling while I made dessert but other than that I’ve kept my hands out of the food.  All I’ll say is this: thank goodness for Rockstar!

Tonight’s surprise party is going to be tiny, but very well stocked with food and booze 🙂  In addition to the rum, vodka, etc. we have around the house I bought three kinds of Christmas beer.

Appetizers:  buffalo chicken dip with Food Should Taste Good Olive Chips and Sociable crackers; devilled eggs.

Dinner: salad with red and green peppers; garlic bread; vegetable lasagna.

Dessert: ‘smores pie.

This party is about Adam, not me.  I choose things that he liked and made them the way he likes, without healthy substitutions.  I didn’t cut back the cheese (there is LOT of cheese in this menu) or use plain yogurt in place of mayo.  I did buy low fat or fat free versions of most everything.  Also, as usual, nothing has trans fat; Adam doesn’t eat it either.

Buffalo Chicken Dip  I got this recipe from Tina’s blog.

I basically followed it except that I don’t have a slow cooker, so after the stove top I put mine in a small casserole dish and baked for 20minutes, uncovered, at 250*.  Also, I used fat free and 1/3 less fat cream cheeses.

Devilled Eggs

  • 7 large eggs
  • 2 T Miracle Whip Lite
  • 1 t mustard (I used Jack Daniels)
  • ½ t olive juice
  • 7 pimento stuffed olives, cut in half
  • paprika 
  1. Hard boil the eggs.  When they are finished, run them under cold water for 1-2 minutes.
  2. Carefully peel and discard shells.
  3. Cut each egg in half lengthwise, dumping the yolks into a small bowl.
  4. Mash yolk with a fork.  Add mayo, mustard, and olive juice to the bowl; mash to combine.
  5. Spoon a bit of the yolk mixture into each egg half.
  6. Top with an olive half and a sprinkle of paprika (I only put paprika on half).

Salad

For the salad I bought two bags of mixed lettuce and four bell peppers (two red, two green).  I chopped up the peppers and tossed.  I’m setting out the bowl with a variety of dressings.

Garlic Bread

All you need is a loaf of Italian bread, SmartBalance Light, and garlic powder.  Cut the loaf into slices.  Spread each slice with butter and sprinkle with garlic powder.  Reform into a loaf and wrap tightly with tinfoil.  Warm in oven for the last 10minutes of cooking time of whatever you’re serving it with.

Veggie Lasagna  This is Adam’s mom’s recipe, but I’m writing it with the several changes I made.

  • package lasagna noodles (you need 10noodles)
  • 15oz fat free ricotta cheese
  • ¼ lb parmesan cheese, shredded.  Reserve half
  • 16oz part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • ½ cup fat free cottage cheese
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • ¼ t salt
  • ¼ t pepper
  • 1 T oregano
  • 1 T garlic powder
  • 16oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and strained
  • ½ cup shredded carrots
  • jar spaghetti sauce (I used garlic flavored) 
  1. Preheat the oven to 400*.
  2. Cook the noodles according to package directions, for half the time instructed.  Add evoo to water before boiling.
  3. Drain noodles and lay flat.
  4. Combine cheese, eggs, and seasonings in a large bowl.
  5. Brush a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan.
  6. Put down a layer of pasta, followed by half the spinach, then all the carrots, then half the cheese mixture, then a thin layer of sauce.  It’s easiest to put the cheese and sauce layers down in small spoonfuls and then spread with your fingers.
  7. Repeat layers again – pasta, spinach, cheese, red sauce.  Top with the reserved parmesan cheese.
  8. Bake uncovered for 25-35minutes, or until set and lightly golden.
  9. Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

‘Smores Pie.

Click the link above.

Everything is prepped, but the lasagna, dip, and bread still need to go into the oven as it gets closer to party time.  I’m a little bit nervous, this is literally the first time I’ve ever made most of these recipes!  I hope that Adam likes everything and that he’s surprised.  I’ll be back tonight with a recap.

What dish do you take to parties?  Do you have a special one for the holidays?

Celebrations Galore

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What a fabulous Adam’s birthday – Christmas – 2 year anniversary day!  We had celebrations galore!

We started the festivities with Adam’s 24 birthday (actually taking place next Friday) –

Barb made a yummy looking cake.

I passed, I had my dessert for the day already picked out, you’ll see later.

Next up was Christmas.  Among a bunch of fabulousness – most of which I’ll be showing on the blog over the next few weeks – were some awesome drawings from our niece.

Smurfs!

Finally our 2-year anniversary.  Adam and I celebrated by making matching fools of ourselves.

Aren’t our race windbreakers awesome?  I will certainly be wearing that.  And I scored the very last extra-small so it fits perfectly.

Adam’s choice for ‘birthday dinner’ was Red Robin, so that’s where we headed.

We ordered chips with salsa and guacamole for the table, here’s my plate –

I always ask for side plates when I’m sharing an appetizer, if I picked I would have eaten 4x as much.

Here is the reason I passed on birthday cake earlier in the day –

Oh yeah, that is a gingerbread milk shake!

So yum!

I ate some grown up food too.

Jamaican Jerk’d Chicken Burger spicy Jamaican Jerk’d chicken breast, topped with pepper-jack cheese, grilled pineapple, cool mango mayo, and lettuce and tomato; served on a jalopeno cornbread kaiser roll.

I ate about 3/4 of my sandwich and 2/3 of my fries.  Running kills my appetite sometimes.

The family is safely headed home and we are settled in for the night.  Adam might actually go see a movie (Ninja Assassins, gag) but I’m all set to curl up with some recipe planning.  Have a great night!

What month has the most holidays for you?  December is our busiest month.  We go Adam’s Birthday, Christmas, Wedding Anniversary – 11, 25, 28.  And we celebrate Hanukkah in there too!

Road Tripped

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We are in Ohio!  My grandmother’s internet isn’t the best and it’s been a long day so I won’t be able to be as detailed as I would like.  It’s been a good day though 🙂

We got up at 6:30 this morning and were out the door before 7am.  The trip was 400+ miles so we had to get an early start.  I packed up food for the road, a la Thanksgiving Challenge, threw on a sweatshirt and split.

I had some am amazing grass – 1banana, 1scoop grass, big pour skim milk, 8 ice cubes, blender.

I was so proud of the husband for drinking some too!

A few hours later I ate a yummy leftovers sandwich.

1.5 buffalo blue bean patties on toasted bread with honey and jack daniels mustard.

We split the driving fairly evenly – 2hours Adam, 2hours me, 2hours Adam.  The switches were a nice excuse for pee and diet soda breaks!

When we got in to Piqua my grandparents had a great lunch ready for us.

Carrot and dill soup was delicious.

And the two-cheese grilled cheese were so nice and gooey.

There were also spicy bread and butter pickles and sunchips on the table.

I ate more chips throughout the day than was a good idea!

To drink I had half of Adam’s holiday Coke,

and I split a lime beer with my grandmother.

For dessert I had a cherry cordial from the box of candy we brought as our hostess gift.

We had a great time hanging out with my grandparents.  We played Euchre and my grandpa bought us all fun lotto cards!

I didn’t win, but it was nice to dream.

My aunt and uncle drove up this evening and we all had a great dinner together (more soup and sandwiches!).

The soup was white chicken chili,

and the sandwiches were pulled chicken – I think we are done with chicken for a bit!

I also had one delicious deviled egg.

Dessert was homemade old fashioned cream pie.

It was awesome, but the crust was store-bought so I just scraped out the filling.

Plus coffee with 2% milk.

Look at their adorable sugar bowl!

Now it’s almost 10 and I would love to get in bed!  Overall it’s been a fabulous (filling) day!  My grandmother is such a good cook and it’s so great to be with family.

What do you usually pack for road trips?

An Early Thanksgiving

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I’m too stuffed to be sad!  I have so much to talk about in this post and I’m so excited (and so drunk) that I know things will be left out.

This afternoon I picked up the husband and we headed to my imaging appointment.  We were in the waiting room forever so I ended up snacking on an Apricot Pumpkin Prana Bar.

Good.  And the good – but not surprising – news is that I don’t have a blood clot.  Unfortunately, this meant I didn’t really get more information.  I don’t know how I feel about the doctor who saw me yesterday so I actually made another appointment, this time with a sports medicine doctor, for Monday.  Sadly, I decided to push back training one more time, so that I will have still been on a break when I meet with this new doctor.  😦

When we got home I started packing and one of Adam’s friend’s came over to hang out.  He gave the buffalo blue bean patties a rave review!

Once he left it was time to get gussied for date night.

When I introduced the Thanksgiving Challenge I warned you guys that we had a dinner out pre-planned, a reward for a check from my old job.  Tonight was the night.

We went to Juniper, a place on Elmwood that serves 100% local food.  Nothing comes from more than 50miles away.  Their menu changes seasonally, and the entire concept has had me in a tizzy for months.  Our date did not disappoint!  For starters, I was in love with the ambiance.

I even loved the look (and labeling!) of the menu!  [i. porridge / ii. relish / iii. bird’s work / iv. aristology / v. fixations]

I actually don’t like Turkey Day food all that much (gasp) and this ended up being my mini-Thanksgiving.  We ate so much food!  I am beyond sad that my camera isn’t better, because my shots aren’t that great.  It feels imperative that y’all understand how fabulous this was!

I started the evening with a glass of Dr. L, reisling.

Yums, I thought I wasn’t a wine drinker but I really really enjoy reislings.  Wine hits me pretty hard though, halfway through dinner I was definitely nearing wasted.  Adam got a beer made with Kona Coffee that was pretty kick ass as well.

And soon homemade foccacia and evoo were delivered to the table.

I ate the piece shown x2, dipped in oil.

The husband went soup and salad for his appetizer route.  romaine ‘taco white anchovy, oven dried tomato salsa, peccorino.

I only took a small bite but it wasn’t really my thing.

mushroom pearls miso, ginger, barley.

This soup was fabulous.  I only took a few bites because I knew he loved it but it was so nice and meaty!

For my appetizer I went slightly less traditional, bobo’s not wings eggplant tempura, vitamin f, grilled celery.

Ohmyfrickinggod!  This rocked my socks.  I would eat chicken wings every meal if the chicken wing part of the equation didn’t slightly skeeve me out, so this was perfection.  This appetizer made the top three list of best things I’ve ever eaten.  It was spicy and crunchy and perfect.  I demolished it.

For entrees Adam got the chicken little poussin, chevre, rosemary smokies, fig jam.

Delish.  The meat was super succulent and the fig jam was as good as you would imagine.  Adam said his favorite component of the evening was the dark meat of his chicken.  He ate every single scrap of meat he could find, and even did the wishbone with me!

I won!  I wouldn’t have mattered though, I definitely have everything I could wish for.

I ordered the ponzu salmon bok choy, forbidden rice, pickled lime.

I was pretty stuffed at this point so I only ate about 1/3 of mine.  I asked for my fish well done and I thought it was cooked perfectly.  The lime flavor on the veggies was out of this world.

Honestly though, the best thing on the table wasn’t even the entrees.  It was this random bowl of roasted squash.

Holy frick!!!!!  This is literally the best thing I’ve ever eaten.  When I took my first bite I made Adam stop talking for a minute so I could just sit there.

We were pretty stuffed at this point but we knew we had to try dessert.  Adam got the chocolate ‘bomb.’

I know this sounds crazy from a food lover, but I really don’t like chocolate cake!  I took a small nibble, and I could tell it was good, but it just wasn’t my thing.  He loved it though.  It had Grand Marnier and candied orange peel on top.  The homemade lavender chocolate ice cream was ridiculous.

I went with my favorite, trio of creme brule vanilla bean, cinnamon, pumpkin.

Gah!  Indescribable.  I don’t know how I managed to let Adam split this with me.  I was most excited for the cinnamon, but pumpkin ended up being out of this world.  This was another moment when I just had to sit in silence.

I honestly can’t describe how much I enjoyed this meal.  I must have thanked Adam 20times during dinner for putting up with my out of control joy!  I was in love with everything in my mouth.  I felt so thankful.

Now that we are home I need to finish packing quickly and get to bed.  The plan is to leave before 7am tomorrow and I do not want to be a sleepy driver.  I will hopefully be doing regular posts this weekend but depending on the internet situation there may just be a big recap.  Whatever may happen, I hope all my readers and their families have a fabulous Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite restaurant?  I loved everything about Juniper – the decorations, the flavors, and the ideals.  The only other place I feel so strongly about is Serendipity in New York City.

Adding to My Happy List

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I discovered several new things I enjoy today.  If I had to make a “happy list” it would be a bazillion pages already but it’s always good to find new things. 

Volunteering went well, there was more for me to do than usual, which is always nice, and it was good to spend time on my feet after the car and plane trips of the past weekend.  One of the nurses gave me a piece of “Canada candy.”

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It was surprisingly good, I thought I didn’t like milk chocolate but maybe I’ve been lying to myself.

In challenge fasion, I used my lunch voucher to bring Adam home pizza for his afternoon snack.  For my snack I had two servings of Quaker Quakes Kettle Corn Rice Cakes.

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I thought I didn’t like rice cakes, but apparently I was wrong about that too!  I bought this last week because I had a coupon and was pleasantly surprised.

I was rushing out of the house and I was a little worried that I ended up looking like I was rocking my pjs.

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I think the (amazing, far nicer than anything I’ve ever owned before, handed down from my aunt this weekend) jacket salvages it don’t you?

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I was hurrying because I had a meeting with a professor at UB’s anthropology department.  She couldn’t answer all of my questions – the big one being do I want to be an RD, an anthropologist, or a turnip – but it was informative.  Afterwards she asked if I’d like to sit in on her class that afternoon (4-6).  It was amazing!  She had a guest lecturer – a previous student who now is a policewoman/csi.  She talked about evidence collection and showed all sorts of crime scene photos and generally thrilled me.  I seriously sat there for two hours with a big grin.  I don’t know which career path I’ll choose, but I do know that I find forensic/anthropology fascinating.

My Chemistry class is at 6:30 and it was all the way across the campus so I ended up having to speed walk there with my huge bag.  I was sooo thirsty by the time I got to class.  I ended up buying Lifesavers to suck on from the vending machine.

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Challenge Balance – 60cents.

When I got home I had a Zevia to drink immediately,

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and then I started on dinner.

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Oven Baked Chicken Salad from the October issue of “Family Circle” (click the recipe for the link).  There were several ways to make this recipe healthier, but due to time and budgetary restrictions I chose to follow it as is – minus onion salt which I didn’t have.  However, here are my suggestions for a healthier dish-

  1. Substitute 1 chopped, sauted real onion for onion salt.
  2. Substitute half or all of the mayo with plain Greek yogurt.
  3. Skip the “topping” bread crumbs and cheese.
  4. Add additional chopped veggies – broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber.

I ate my portion alongside some oven roasted broccoli and butternut squash; both cooked with salt, pepper, and fresh ginger.

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It was all seriously so fricking delicious!  I always forget how much I love roasted broccoli and the casserole was shockingly good.

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Mmmn.

I need to hurry to shower now, as starting my gym routine back up in the morning is pretty much a necessity.  I hope everyone else has a good night.

Where do you find recipes?  I have a long list of things that sound good on other blogs, but for the most part I get my recipes from magazines.  I am subscribed to “Cooking Light” and “Everyday with Rachael Ray,” but the healthy living magazines have a lot of great recipes too.  The ‘older’ magazines my mommy subscribes too (she sends them to me) have yummy recipes that aren’t quite as healthy, but can easily be modified like my suggestions tonight.

Oh Man

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Oh Man.  Today has been quite the day (and it’s not even over!).  I am flying to Ohio early tomorrow morning to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday.  I knew I had a ton to do, so the plan was to get up super early, but when your husband is in medical school and studying for a big test until 2am sometimes things don’t pan out.

I ended up getting out of bed at 9:30, whoops!  I skipped another gym session but I am not going to beat myself up about it.  I was super sluggish and out if it so it took me a while to get going but I managed to pull it together and make breakfast.

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Half a piece of Naan with pb and Crofter’s Superfruit Spread.

Then I threw on a new sweater and headed to Wegmans.

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The plan was just to buy my baking stuff but I ended up getting items for next week too.  Like this –

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Eek!  I’ve been so jealous when other bloggers have eaten this, thank goodness it’s finally made it to Buffalo.  Now if only we had pumpkin Stoneyfield!

After I put the groceries away it was time to head back out to, this time to the doctor’s office.  My foot is 90% better but I have one stubborn wort left.  I went straight to school from there and studied Chemistry until class.  I was dying of hunger by the time I got there.

I was majorly craving fries, so I got some!

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Along with a spicy chicken sandwich that was sadly unspicy.

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During my meal the regional manager came up to hit on me talk to me and I ended up getting some free coupons.  I don’t eat at Burger King very often but free food is always exciting!

Lab went very well.  I got a quiz back that was a 100% and the experiment went very quickly.  I ended up staying until 9 anyway to work on the post-lab; I am 99.9% finished for next week!

When I got home at 9:45 I was kind of starting to lose it (the doctor froze my remaining wort today and at that point the pain was about an 8).  Poor, poor Adam.  I tend to get a little punch-drunk when I’m tired and the giggles were out in full swing!  He was totally sweet though and helped me with my baking.

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I am bringing Cheesecake-Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes (from October Everyday with Rachael Ray) with me to Ohio.  I followed the recipe (except I used evoo instead of vegetable oil, and cut the amount to 1/4C) but decided to skip the frosting.  They have a fricking cream cheese layer, it seemed unnecessary.

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While we baked we finally opened the beer I’ve been saving all month.

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Southern Tier is a favorite, and Pumpking is handsdown the best pumpkin beer!  I had about 1/3.

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We had to walk hobble to the bank and now we finally are going to watch this week’s episode of House “It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brow.”  Dinner kind of never happened.  Except sort of, I guess, when I ate this “cupcake” of baked extra cream cheese filling.

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YUM!  I actually still have packing to do (at 1am!) so I should hop to it!  Sweet dreams everyone!