Tag Archives: coconut

One Meal Sunday

by

We are a third of the way through September; holy frick!  Today was not a relaxing Sunday, but I would still qualify it as a good one.

I was afraid that soreness from last night’s rocking climbing would impede my 60 minute hot yoga class this morning, but it was actually one of my best practices.  Staying in bed late this morning to get a full 8 hours definitely helped.  My unlimited pass expires in a week and I am devastated about it.  Though I’m excited to spend the next month getting back to cardio and running.

After my calming class the rest of the morning was crazy.  So crazy, in fact, that I didn’t have time for breakfast or lunch before work.  My first meal of the day ended up being at 6pm.  At least my growling stomach was prettily shrouded?

Thanks for the new dress, Mommy!  p.s. I have no idea what is happening with my face in that picture, I swear to God my left check isn’t swollen in real life.

I worked until 4:30 and had a meeting for school at 7:30 so Adam and I got dinner at Spicy Thai in between.  We’d been before and found it to be ok, not the best Thai in Buffalo but not the worst either, so when a Groupon popped up we jumped on it.  Sadly today’s meal was not all that good and I don’t think we’ll be going back again.  <– I don’t have a ton of time to post right now so I’m just going to leave it at that.

Crab rangoon to start.

We tried to split two dishes,

but I hated Adam’s cashew chicken and only ate four mushrooms’ worth.

I found my Pad See Eiw with extra vegetables to be too sweet but the noodles had good texture and I ate about 75% of the dish, including every last speck of green.

We had black sticky rice with coconut pudding for dessert.

That dish was actually very tasty and we were quite glad we tried it even after our meals were disappointing.

My meeting was at The Spot and I ordered a coffee with skim milk and four sugars.

Our MNT teacher has graciously offered to meet each Sunday to go over questions since the class material is pretty tricky.

That’s all she wrote!

First First Friday In Allentown

by

You know how I got into bed way too late last night?  Well I stayed up an hour even later pinning desserts.

For reals.  Stupid, but have you discovered Serious Eats yet?  It could have been the 2 am browsing, but I’m officially a giant fan.  Fun aesthetic, beautiful pictures, delicious recipes and reviews.

This morning was rough but I woke up by “snoozing” on Twitter in bed and that helped me ease into the day.  Congratulations, Kath and Matt!

I ate breakfast on the walk to school.

My Müller Splendid Strawberry Früt Up yogurt was, in fact, splendid.  It’s a strawberry mousse on top of regular yogurt (as in not Greek) and the yogurt was ridiculously, delightfully thick.  It felt like a total treat – a real treat, like pudding, not like when people try to say that fruit is dessert – and was only 140 calories.

My classes went well (I didn’t fall asleep once, I swear!) and before I knew it I was walking to work.  Sidenote – I work every day except for my clinic days (T/R) from now through next Sunday and I’m a little anxious to see how that’s all going to go down.

Lunch was packed for work.

An apple,

and a Raw Revolution Chocolate Coconut Bar.

It was good I didn’t bring more because I barely had time to eat that, there were lots of boxes today.

Adam meet me on foot at the end of my shift and we headed out to cross off another birthday list item.

This was our first First Friday and we both had a great time.  I’m sad I couldn’t take art pictures because we saw some great stuff.  I did manage to take quick snaps of my bites though.

Mostly cheese and its accompaniments, plus a small pour of wine.  And we went to one open house that was giving out free popsicles.

All in all it was a fabulous time.

However – working 7+ hours and then walking 4.5+ miles was a little too much for my feet.  I whimpered the last five blocks or so getting home.  My 4-minute workout plans are out of the question and even though I’m starving I’d rather skip dinner than have to walk somewhere to get it.  Boo.

Does your town do any type of First Friday event?

[Food] For Thought

by

Food

Hello, hello.  Today’s activities would be tricky (and boring!) to explain so I’ll stick with the food.  One note – My stomach was bothering me all afternoon but the main reason I didn’t eat any veggies is because my bag of green beans had gotten slimy and gross.  Here we go…

Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar.

Turkey sandwich – Sandwich Thin, 2 slices of Applegate Farms Smoked Turkey, 1 slice pepperjack cheese, strawberry jam.

The last of my Mike and Ike’s.

The last of these Barbara’s cheese puffs, about half a serving.  Funny story – Adam had a friend over (just one) on Monday.  He bought two bags of snacks, the cheese puffs and some salt and vinegar chips.  All that was left is what I ate today, and that only survived because he knew I wanted to taste them.

A low-fat coffee yogurt with honey-roasted peanuts and honey.

A dapple plucot.

A cheese sandwich – an onion roll with about 2 oz of melted cheese (a mix of extra-sharp cheddar, 2% swiss, and 2% provolone).

A Reuben Stuffed Turkey Burger with 1000 island dressing.

3/4 of a Jamocha Shake that Adam surprised me with when he came home.

Food for Thought

Since I didn’t have much in the way of content for this post, here are the links to a few articles I think you guys might find interesting:

Stir-Fried Soup

by

I made it through the first day of a new semester!  I forgot what day it was and pressed snooze a couple of times this morning, but I did manage to make it to the gym for a quick workout.

25 minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.

I cut it close but the husband offered to drive me this morning (both walking and driving myself eat up 30 minutes) so I had time to shower and grab breakfast to go.  A Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna Bar,

and an iced coffee with skim milk.

It wasn’t just any iced coffee.  Do you remember when I blogged about wanting to try Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee?  They now sell it at Wegman’s!

It was even better than I had imagined.  Smooth, not at all bitter, and I swear with the skim milk I tasted hints of chocolate?!

I breakfasted during my first class and the caffeine boost was much-appreciated.  This semester is going to be hard.  I’m only taking a few classes (the minimum number of credits versus having to petition to take extra credits almost ever other semester) but there is a ton of work and the concepts are all higher level.

Good thing I got some work done in the break between classes and my shift at work.  I also made lunch.

A salad of romaine, flax, light honey mustard dressing, a little shredded gruyere, and a crumbled slice of turkey bacon.

Plus apple dippers.

A sliced Pink Crispin,

with a melted mix of peanut butter, Biscoff, and Heath bits, ~ 1 Tbsp of each.

Delish!

I worked from 2 -7 and then came home and wandered around all evening in a tired, sore-backed haze.  That is not going to be able to happen as the semester progresses.  But overall I think I did a good job of getting things done today.

I even pre-made some of the components for tomorrow’s dinner.  I snacked on a serving of Barbara’s Baked Cheese Puffs while I cooked.

They were an impulse buy at the co-op that paid off; didn’t tasted “baked” at all.

Dinner didn’t happen until 9:30 but it was worth the wait.  Super worth it.  Did you make my Thai-Inspired Coconut Peanut Soup yet?  I hope so, because if you did you are halfway done with this killer spin on it – Stir-Fried Soup!

Stir-Fried Soup, serves 1

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Toss in cashews and toast.  Add soup leftovers and Sriracha and saute, stirring occasionally, until crispy.  Scramble in egg.  Serve and swoon.

It was the tastiest thing I’ve eaten in weeks, I swear to God.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve done with leftovers?

Bok To School

by

I’m heading back to school tomorrow (eek!) and I finally remember all my education on the importance of vegetables.  Better late than never!  All of my meals today included a veggie and two of them centered around bok choy (“bok to school,” hyuck, hyuck).  Tomorrow I should probably work on including some fruits.

I did not get right into bed last night – and the neighbor’s dumbass friends ringing our doorbell at 4 am didn’t help my sleep either – but I did make it to yoga this morning.  A 60 minute hot yoga class.

Breakfast made use of our bok choy gratin leftovers.

I scrambled a big serving into two eggs along with a few dashes of green Tabasco.

Hidden inside the eggs, this casserole actually wasn’t half bad.

Our afternoon entertainment was a walk through the Elmwood Art Festival.

We saw a few cool pieces but my main goal was lunch and I sadly didn’t see any food that appealed to me.  I ended up eating at the hot bar when we went to the grocery.

Wok-seared veggies that were the best I’ve ever had from the hot bar,

two pieces of sweet and sour chicken,

and a few grapes for dessert.

I also ate this fun-size pack of Sugar Babies while we were out and about.

I nibbled on a half serving of Special K Savory Herb Crackers while I made dinner.

Dinner was homemade soup.

Thai-Inspired Coconut Peanut Soup, serves 4 (vegan)

  • 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • medium green bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 3 green onions, sliced
  • 2 Thai hot peppers, finely chopped
  • 15 oz can stir-fry mushrooms
  • 4 heaping cups baby bok choy
  • 13.6 oz can light coconut milk
  • 16 oz vegetable broth
  • 6 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
  • 2 cups black rice vermicelli, broken in half
  • lime juice (optional)
  • Sriracha (optional)
  1. Heat sesame oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
  2. Add green pepper to pot and cook 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. Add green onions and Thai pepper and cook another 2 minutes.
  4. Add mushrooms and bok choy and cook another 2 minutes.
  5. Stir in coconut milk and broth and bring to a boil.
  6. Stir in peanut butter and vermicelli and boil an additional 7 minutes.
  7. Top bowls with lime juice and Sriracha to taste.

We are both looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.

Also consumed, was an Honest Tea Honey Green Tea.

I’m down to the last bottle from my Honest Tea shipment and I definitly plan on buying more with my own money when they’re gone.

I’m hoping to paint my nails (both sets!) before bed; gotta go!

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

by

This is a “Do as I say, not as I do” post.  The past 48 hours have been… strange.  I feel like crap mentally and physically and I’ve been eating crap.  I’ve been weirdly, intensely thirsty all day; like I want to pour a milkshake down my throat all day long (which I basically did!).  I get sort of depressed every fall about missing teaching and I might be panicking a bit about the start of my last year of school.  So I’ve been eating only crap and lots of crap.  Lots of crap because apparently crappy food isn’t all that filling.  Do we think I said crap enough times for this post month?

as I say –

  1. Don’t drink your calories.
  2. It’s okay to have a treat, but probably not more than 3 1 a day.
  3. Skipping breakfast might set you up to make bad choices the rest of the day.
  4. Sometimes you should eat fruits and veggies just for the nutrients, even if you’re not feeling them at the moment.
  5. It’s ok to feel hungry sometimes.

as I do –

Friday’s “breakfast” was wasabi trail mix, ~5 oz worth in total.

And two pieces of the amazing sea salt caramel my parents brought from Canada.

Lunch was a quick run to the co-op hot bar during work.

Chicken salads and veggie salads.

The kale was the best (take note, Emily!)

I did another try at a caramel macchiato in the afternoon, this time at The Spot.

Does that look like an iced caramel macchiato?  No.  And it was disgusting anyway; there were at least 5 inches of straight foam.  I took three sips and dumped the rest down the sink.

I didn’t eat enough during the day and that is where the bad dinner decisions started.  Adam had to pick me up from work so we could run errands across town that took forever, I started to have a tantrum, and somehow we ended up at Arby’s for small Jamocha shakes.

Um, and also mozzarella sticks.

I hate mozzarella sticks.  But these were actually pretty good.

I’ll start Saturday’s recap by saying this – Friday was healthy in comparison.  But at least I finally had a sweet coffee win.

I gave up on caramelmacchiatos and moved on to a tall white mocha coconut frappucinno.

For lunch at work I packed a plain 0% Greek yogurt with a honey stick,

and a Fiber One chocolate chip cookie.

I also bought a Synergy Grape Chia Kombucha.

And on the way home I had this, because two milkshakes a day is totally normal and healthy.

Seriously though, this was actually a good decision because it was outstanding.  This sign has been calling to me for days –

“Emmmmmmily.  ‘Greek iced coffee milkshaaaaaake.’  You’re not even sure what that means but you need it.”

But I still didn’t eat any real food and I ended up eating half of this candy bar while we were on a never-ending trip to Target.

I did eat a real food dinner, but it is dark and stormy (honestly it is, I’m not trying to be cute) and my pictures were disgusting.  Go ahead and try to imagine a plate of chicken nuggets and baby carrots.  I’m also 90% sure that you should imagine some popcorn in the near future too.

Who’s up for fruits and veggies on *Monday?  Me!  (*Note – I would say tomorrow but tomorrow my in-laws are coming to take us out for bbq for my belated birthday lunch and lets be real.)

A Midsummer Night’s Date

by

So I did, in fact, sleep through yoga.  I suck.  I have two weeks until school and then I’ve got class at 8 am five days a week so I need to seriously work on my getting out of bed skills!

Breakfast was a big pink smoothie.

Into the blender went 1.5 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, a heaping 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, a heaping Tbsp pb, and 2 scoops of Tera’s Whey Organic Bourbon Vanilla Whey Protein Powder.

My smoothie tasted like a vanilla pb & j!

I also had 2 oz of the wasabi snack mix my parents brought.

I spent what was left of my late morning cooking dinner.  This quart of heirloom tomatoes played a big role.

I also finally used this Kelapo Coconut Oil sample that I got last summer at HLS.

And tri-color quinoa from last summer’s trip to Trader Joes.

The dog is afraid of the oven and this meal kept the oven and stove-top on for a solid hour and scared him deep into the back of the closet.

What a scaredy cat dog!

The end result was worth it.

Here are the general specs if you want to recreate it, for 4 servings –

  • 1 cup quinoa, cooked according to package instructions
  • 1 quart tomatoes, roasted
  • 2 large zucchini, sliced and roasted
  • 2 pints sliced mushrooms, sautéed in 2 Tbsp butter
  • 14 oz extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed and sautéed in 1 Tbsp coconut oil with seasoning of choice
  • sauce of choice (I topped my bowl with 2 Tbsp pesto)

The photos are actually of Adam’s bowl since my dinner looked like this –

I ate to-go because the husband picked me up from work and we walked straight to Shakespeare in Delaware Park.

We only caught half of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (I got out of work late and Adam has a strict bedtime) but we enjoyed what we saw.

We shared these cola gummis for dessert while we watched.

Buffalonians, have you seen any Shakespeare in the park this summer?

Macaron Mania

by

My parents arrived safely last night and today we had a fantabulous first day of visiting.  I am crazy tired (those old folks will wear you out!) but I wanted to blog so I’d have all of my memories on record.

My mom and dad spent 5 days in Quebec before coming here and they came bearing all sorts of French Canadian goodies.  The best of which…

Macarons!  I’ve wanted try a real macaron for forever (real as in not my good but nontraditional coconut attempt) and I squealed with delight when I opened this box.

I managed not to eat any last night but I might have had two for breakfast.

Sea salt caramel and cassis violet.  Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  They were everything I had imagined and more.  I can’t wait to try the rest of them.

I actually didn’t start my morning with cookies, but with yoga.  60 minute hot yoga class.  It was led by my favorite instructor but the series was different than usual and it was a lot of fun.  We did about a million squats.  Then I spent the rest of the day walking around and my legs are about to fall off.

Adam and my parents went to breakfast at Pano’s while I yoga’d and then we met for a walk around the farmer’s market.  From there we headed to Nickel City Cheese & Mercantile.

We got bread and cheese to share.

The man at the counter kindly sliced both for us so we could picnic on the benches out front.

Tarentaise and sourdough.

Both were amazing.  The cheese was mild with a nutty aftertaste and the bread was loaded with crunchy seeds.

I also ate my Pad See U leftovers in the car.

I didn’t manage to leave much behind last night!

We drove to East Aurora to explore.  We walked right into a street festival.

Our main destinations were Vidler’s (a giant five and dime),

and Firefly Cupcakes.

I got the Tropical Pineapple and it was even better than the key lime pie cupcake.

Pineapple cake with coconut cream cheese buttercream.

The frosting was the best part.

Then we drove back to Buffalo to walk on the waterfront.

Our visitors were very impressed with how close you could get to the water.

Cocktail hour was spent at Mixology.  I had a Shock Top,

and a cherry lemonade vodka with club soda.

It’s possible no one in our party made it to dinner entirely sober.

For dinner we introduced my parents to Adam’s favorite, India Gate.  Paneer pakora to start.

I had 1.5 pieces with lots of tamarind sauce.

For our main meal my mom, dad, and I split three dishes so we could try lots of tastes.

Plate #1 – Naan, chicken makhani, curry chicken, jasmine rice (under the chickens), chana masala, and a pickled okra dish that they gave us on the side.

Plate #2 – More okra and chick peas.

The chana masala was my favorite by far; that is going to be my standing order for now on!

My parents drank tea with dinner and it sounded so good that I ended up getting a skim chai latte when we walked the dog down Elmwood at the end of the night.

I slept terribly last night (I think I got less than 4 hours of sleep all total!) and I’m hoping to pass out the minute this post is published.  Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Have you ever tried a macaron?