Tag Archives: coconut

Oddly Amazing

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Hello, again!

Did you forget what I looked like?  Yes, that’s a bathroom self-portrait; yes, I’m a bit ashamed.

I’ve been gone because it’s exam week.  I don’t like to lie to you guys, so you’ll note that I cited “exam week” and not “studying for exams” as my reason for blog bailing.  It’s possible that I read two new books yesterday.  They were murder mysteries and they were fabulous.

My first exam was at 7:40 am so a stop for Ashkers on my walk to school was a necessity.

A large coffee with skim milk and sugar.  The coffee was “Jamaican Me Crazy,” a blend I’ve been obsessed with since last spring.  Our nearest Wilson Farms became a 7-11 and I don’t like Wegman’s version of JMC so this was very exciting.

I had one exam at 7:40 and another at 3pm so most of my meals were consumed in the computer lab.  I brought baby carrots,

a Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar,

and a Golden Delicious apple.

And I dug into my gift bag (some of our teachers are so nice!) for a lollipop.

During the 7-hour stretch between exams I also had a diet dr. pepper.  I considered having some Combos but I ate two tubs of popcorn in the past four days and it seemed like maybe it was time to say no.

I did do some snacking this afternoon while I packed the husband’s lunch.  A slice of Applegate Farm’s Honey and Maple Turkey,

and a pack of Gushers.

I made him a snack when he got home too and after we both digested and messed around for too long on the internet we set out on a quick run.  1 mile in 11:33.  Plus a cool down of walking after we went back to the apartment for Webster.  It was pouring out but the dog was due for a bath so we enjoyed a wet walk in the rain.

I’m short on time but I made an amazing, albeit odd, dinner.

First course was salad.

Romaine topped with peanut sauce and buckwheat groats.

Next came the protein and carbs course.

I sliced up two blocks of tofu, coated them in “green sauce” and baked at 450* for 40 minutes.

Green sauce = chopped basil, apple cider vinegar, agave syrup, and green tabasco.

Then I made ridiculously stupendous grilled cheese sandwiches.

Rye bread + (shredded parmesan and 2% mozzarella mixed with mayo and Sriracha) + a bit of butter in a skillet.  The sandwiches were super tasty to the point of almost being unsatisfying because you just wanted to keep eating!

And dessert was 2 Tbsp melted Cookie Butter with a few pretzels dipped in.

I’ve got three exams tomorrow so I’ve got to get back to it!

Healthy or Happy

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Healthy and happy.  I started my day with a run.  My day started fairly late because I skipped snoozing and went straight to turning off my alarm clock, but that’s another story.  I ran two loops around the block, 2.4 miles in 24:45.  I did a negative split (by a couple of seconds) and it damn near killed me.

Healthy.  I made myself a rehydration cocktail after my run.

Vita Coco Tropical Fruit Coconut Water and club soda.

It was pretty bad.  I think using plain coconut water would have been better.  But I was so hot that I took a cold shower so I knew I needed the fluid and electrolytes.  I drank 80% before giving up.

It was neither happy nor healthy that I didn’t eat any solid food all day but that’s what happens when you sleep until the last possible minute and then have to hustle so fast to class that you’re practically skipping.

Healthy and happy.  When I got home from school I ate a big pile of baby carrots with homemade 1000 island dressing for dipping.

I’m not sure what possessed me to make so much dressing but I used the leftovers to make Adam a sandwich so it’s all good.

I also ate a Golden Delicious apple.

Happy.  I baked a batch of blondies to celebrate tomorrow being the last day of classes.

I ate three.  Recipe should be up by noon tomorrow.

Healthy.  I ate a salad before dinner.

Romaine topped with ground flax and bbq sauce.

Healthy and happy.  We made homemade Hawaiian pizza for dinner.

We topped a Boboli Whole Wheat Crust with marinara, 2% shredded mozzarella, sliced pineapple, and “ham.”

The “ham” was actually honey turkey that I asked the deli counter to slice 1/4 inch thick.

The end result was very tasty.

Tell me one thing you did today for your health and/or happiness?

Ten Things For A Monday

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1. Can we talk about the weather? Because seriously –

2. I definitely rocked day old smokey eye to the gym this morning.

3. Did you like how I casually mentioned that gym trip like it hasn’t been practically a month since I last worked out?  I did 30 minutes on the elliptical at level 6 random.  Plus a few minutes of strength and stretch moves.

4.  The new 2% Coconut Siggi’s Skyr yogurts are delicious.  I ate one for breakfast topped with raspberries, 1 tsp passionfruit jam, and a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

5.  Even with my lackluster photography skills, breakfast was a looker.

6.  I like to study standing at our mantel.  Everything is better with a friend.

7.  Adam laughed at me when I took home the extra pretzel stick from TGIF’s but I ate it for lunch today with roasted okra.  The mustard drizzle was like icing on a cake.

8.  One of our smoke alarms is running out of batteries and it beeps every 20 seconds.  I appreciate the warning but the damn noise is making me consider burning the house to the ground.

9.  Leftover Thai Iced Coffee Slush makes great iced coffee.  I poured 1+ cup of skim milk over a leftover serving of slush for a tasty treat.

10.  Adam made beef stew in the crock pot to take for lunch this week.  We gave a tiny bowl of meat to the dog last night and he’s alternated between standing guard at the fridge and staring deeply into my soul ever since.

Sugar Saturday

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Today’s been sweet, literally.  And it’s not over yet; I’m having a bowl of ice cream the minute I publish this post!

Breakfast was another fabulous yogurt-cottage cheese mix.  A Liberte Coconut Yogurt served over the 1+ serving of 1% large curd cottage cheese.  Plus a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

I don’t really enjoy cottage cheese by its lonesome, but mixed into yogurt or oatmeal it’s the bee’s knees.

We ran errands for what felt like forever today (3 stores for groceries?!!) and for lunch I introduced Adam to Manhattan Bagel.

I had a toasted jalopeño cheddar bagel with lox cream cheese.  The bagels were great, nice and chewy, but the service was so bad I doubt we’d ever go back to that location [the Delaware location for any reading locals].

A frozen iced coffee was split at Wegmans.

Plus 4 pieces of salt water taffy from the bulk bins for dessert.

Watermelon was a favorite but I also enjoyed cherry cola and cookie dough.

For dinner we cashed in a Living Social deal for Thai House.  We tried a lot and overall it was good but not great.  Our appetizer was little fried cups with crab meat.

Meh.  I only ate two but Adam did finish the rest.

Our meals came with soup so we both ordered Tom Yum.

Yum indeed; (jeez that was corny!) the soup was perfectly sour.

Another plus was the 2-1 deal on “thai-iced” beverages.

The husband did coffee and I did tea.

Delicious.

And for my meal I ordered the House Noodles, extra spicy.

Broad rice noodles with brocoli, boy choy, peppers, and egg.  The extra spicy was actually spicy, a major plus over other local Thai places.  But the noodles didn’t have the amazing “marshmallow” quality that I look for in good broad rice noodles.

Now we are home enjoying Cokes with lime.

And ice cream soon!  Tomorrow brings lots of studying for Monday’s exam and a visit to the theatre for The Hunger Games!!!

What I’ve Been Up To

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Hi there! It hasn’t been the best week but it certainly could have been worse. Here is some of what I’ve been up to –

My trip to Ohio was sad but good. It was great to see my cousins and meet some babies.

I’m not sick anymore (yay!) but allergies are going to be rough this season. On Tuesday I did get the most carsick I’ve ever been. I moaned and cried the whole way home from Ohio and it was ridiculous.

The dog is still sick. He is having a severe allergic reaction and if his eyes aren’t better by Friday he has to go to a doggie dermatologist (yes, that is a real thing). He’s wearing a cone so he won’t scratch and it’s beyond pitiful.

My Wednesday test was pushed back to Monday because I stumbled into class in Adam’s sweatshirt (that I’d worn for the past 24 straight hours) and my teacher took pity on me and sent me home. I took my statistics test today and I think it went well.

I didn’t feel right taking photos the last fee days so no recap. But here is what I ate today –

Breakfast.

Reduced fat cottage cheese topped with a caramel Oikos and some toasted coconut.

The cottage cheese/yogurt mix rocks my socks, particularly with coconut.

Late lunch.  A slice of naan with cheese (leftover from Indian for dinner on Wednesday).

And a plate of roasted green beans.

I bought a family size bag of green beans before we left for Ohio last week so expect to see a lot more of these.

In class snack.  Cara cara orange.

Cara caras are so flipping good!  They almost never have seeds and they’re pink.

Dinner was not well-planned.  We desperately need to go to the grocery store and when I got home from class at 8 we wandered up and down Elmwood in search of food.  I ended up with a 2-2-2 from Panos.

It was insanely dark but it was 2 buttermilk pancakes, two sunny side up eggs, and home fries; smothered in butter and syrup.  I piled everything into a huge mound and tried to get a little of each part in every bite.

Dessert.  A sliced green apple with 2 Tbsp of caramel sauce.

The caramel sauce basically turned into a solid, impenetrable ball, but the apple was good.

Question – how do you order your eggs to get them made without excess fat?  I tried to order them “dry,” like toast but that gave the impression that I wanted my yolks well-done.  I finally just said “without excess oil” but I feel like there must be short-hand for this.

I’m Relleno

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Hello from Ohio.  We’re not here for a happy reason but I’m happy we made it here safely.

We stayed up late catching up on TV last night and I got hungry again.  I served myself a big bowl of cereal with skim milk; Cheerios and some raisin/bran/crunch thing.

I had breakfast food for my late-night snack and dinner food for breakfast.

A grilled cheese with Cabot 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar and Sriracha mayo,

and a sliced honey crisp.

This meal was great but my next bite was terrible.  I stole a piece of Adam’s chicken bites from McDonalds –

Ewwwwwww!  So fried tasting and gross.

My dad flew into Buffalo this afternoon and we picked him up at the airport and headed off on our road trip.  Since we had a “road-guest” we stopped for an actual dinner.

Torero’s served us some damn fine Mexican food!  Pretty healthy too!  Here was my plate –

Black beans,

rice,

and the Vegi-chiladas.  “Steamed carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, yellow squash and zucchini rolled into two flour tortillas, topped with our salsa Mazatlán and garnished with Monterrey Jack cheese.  Served with sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes.”

I ordered my enchiladas sans cheese because I also had a chile relleno waiting for me on my dad’s plate.

Stuffed peppers are usually my favorite Mexican dish but this guy was a little too fried for me.  I ended up eating about a third of everything, except I ate 1.25 tortillas and every single bite of vegetable.

I ate two Samoa Jumbles in the car for dessert.

Still good.

Where is your favorite road trip stop?

Thursday and Friday

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What I’ve Eaten –

What I’ve Been Up To –

  • School has been exciting.  Yesterday I hung out at a pediatric endocrine clinic and today we had a guest lecture from a leading renal dietitian.
  • I’m still sick.  Super sick.  Boo.
  • Also, remember when I said this – “[Adam] was sick last week, I’m sick this week; as long as the dog is healthy next week it’s all good.”?  I jinxed us.  The dog has a massive eye infection and was dropped off at the vet this afternoon.  My poor baby!
  • We are heading to Ohio tomorrow evening.  We’re spending a few days with family and then coming home on Tuesday after the funeral.

What I’m Thankful For –

  • I had an amazing grandpa in my life until I was 26 years old.
  • My teachers are all being great about helping me make up the exams/clinic hours I’m missing to attend the funeral.
  • My dad is flying to Buffalo and driving to Ohio with us.

Samoa Jumbles For Easter Or Pinterest

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I turned Girl Scout Cookies into another form; am I Pinterest-famous yet?

Just kidding; you don’t have to pin these but I do want you to make them.  With the toasted coconut I think these could feel perfect for Easter.  Or any month when the Scouts aren’t playing cookie crack dealer outside the Target.

These Jumbles have all the flavors of Samoas and all the home-baked charm of sugar cookies.  I thought about making a Monster Cookie variety with this idea so if you try that out let me know how it goes.

Samoa Jumbles, yields 3 dozen cookies

  • 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
  • 1 and 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • heaping 1/2 cup caramel bits
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Spread coconut in an even layer on a cookie sheet and bake 5 – 7 minutes, stirring once or twice, until toasted.  Set toasted coconut aside to cool and raise oven temperature to 375 degrees Farenheit.
  2. In a small bowl, carefully stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
  3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  With the mixer on low, gradually blend in flour mixture.  Fold toasted coconut, caramel bits, and chocolate chips into the dough.
  4. Place dough in fridge for 10 minutes to rest.  Prepare cookie sheets with baking spray or Silpat mats.
  5. Roll dough into heaping tsp sized balls and place in even rows on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake 8 – 10 minutes or until golden.  Let baked cookies stand on the sheets for 2 minutes before removing to cool.

Which Girl Scout Cookie is your favorite?