Tag Archives: eggplant

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!

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.

Dreams of Root Vegetables

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Whew, Tuesday is almost over!  My meeting went well, I still have no idea which career path I’ll choose but it is exciting to learn about the options.  After my meeting I swung by the house to pick up the husband, who graciously offered to go along on my printing/mailing resume errands.

True Story – while we were driving he got annoyed that I don’t know what I want to do and said – “You’ll never know what you want to do.  Next thing I’ll know you’ll want to be a turnip!  Do you need to go back to school to be a turnip!?!”  And now he has called me Turnip for the rest of the day.  Holy cow I love my funny husband!

On our way home – resumes successfully mailed, hopefully I will be substituting at some point – we stopped in The Spot for coffee.

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I got a small  Chaider; steamed apple cider and chai tea.  Mmn, fall!  I actually think I’m going to head back to the Spot to work tomorrow, I haven’t been getting much done at home 😦

I was feeling sick with hunger when we got home so I got a snack while I worked on my lab (which I can not do without help, boo!).

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A bumped log,

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with Granny Smith slices with cinnamon caramel apple dip.

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I had a coupon for the dip and you know I’m a sucker for all foods fall.

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After struggling with Chemistry for forever I moved on to making dinner.  On the meal plan was a recipe from the November “Everyday with Rachael Ray” ‘lightened up’ moussaka.

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I can’t share the recipe but if you bought the magazine and are planning to try it here are the changes I made:

  • used 99% lean ground turkey instead of beef
  • skipped the food processor and used low fat whipped cottage cheese
  • used half graffiti eggplants
  • add 1/2 pint mushrooms

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We actually got busy and didn’t even eat dinner so I’ll have to review the recipe tomorrow!  I have a busy day planned tomorrow – no room for headaches! – so don’t be surprised if I don’t post until dinner.  Night!

Don’t forget to enter my Zevia giveaway!

BSI Entry

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Oh man was a good evening!  I am pretty much excited about everything right now.  My dinner (and drink) are delicious, but more importantly fall themed, and the whole meal is just rocking my socks!  I’ll back up though…

We didn’t head out to the store until after 7:30 but I was cool with the tardiness because I was excited about my new shirt.

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This was one of many $10 mall finds last weekend.

The grocery store was quick and easy, Adam and I make each other laugh so much when we are doing errands.  This week’s BSI, a la Megan, is acorn squash, so I picked one up for dinner.

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By the way, Adam was less than thrilled by a veggie stuffed squash so he made his own dinner, including (among several other things) this sample from Annie Chun’s Soup Bowls.

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It had beef broth, so my caveman was happy.

While I cooked dinner I ate the last of this pineapple.

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Dinner was a masterpiece if I do say so myself!  My squash was inspired by eggplant and chicken parmesan, but ended up being waay more tasty.  Italian Stuffed Acorn Squash, for 1-2

  • 1 medium acorn squash, cut in half with seeds scooped out (go bigger than the one I bought, pictured above, it was too small and I had leftover guts)
  • 1T evoo
  • 1C baby bella mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/2 a small eggplant, cubed (I used a graffiti eggplant)
  • 1/4t minced garlic
  • 1/4t dried oregano
  • salt and pepper
  • 3T balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2C marinara sauce
  • 1/4C reduced fat mozzarella, shredded
  • 1T seasoned bread crumbs
  1. Preheat the oven to 400*.  Line a baking pan with tin foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Place squash cut side down and cook for 40minutes.
  2. While squash is cooking, heat evoo in a pan over medium-high heat.  Add eggplant and mushrooms.
  3. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano.  Cook for 7minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add balsmic vinegar and cook another 3-5minutes, until liquid is reduced.
  5. Remove from heat and stir in marinara sauce.
  6. Remove squash from oven and flip cut side up.  Fill cavities with veggie mixture and top each side with half of the bread crumbs and cheese.
  7. Return to oven for 10minutes, until cheese is browned.

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Holy cow, I fell in love!  The flavors of this melded together amazingly and I loved the texture. Gaaah!

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I really planned on eating the entire thing but 1half ended up being enough (I also ate some leftover stuffing while the final product cooked). 

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I am super excited to finish the rest tomorrow!  To drink I made the most “Fall” cocktail ever.

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8oz each apple cider and pumpkin beer.  Gah again!

Good meals, especially especially fall themed ones, make me so happy!  I’m going to do some blog reading and then head to bed.  I didn’t get any studying done today (that time was taken up by the flooding fun) so I have a lot to accomplish before my in-laws get here tomorrow.  Sleep tight!

Do you participate in the BSIs?  Have you won any?

Tastes of Fall

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Another productive day, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the streak continues!  Plus, I’ve full-force started eating “October food,” another trend I hope to continue 🙂  After my breakfast post I attempted to do a  little work, but Adam and I realized we were way too distracting to each other at home,

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so we packed up our stuff and went to a coffee shop to work!

All my diet soda talk in the last post got me craving one, so that’s what I had!

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The husband got a fancy shmancy hot chocolate.

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We were at The Spot, so you know I wanted a Mike’s Sandwich, but when I thought about all the food fun I had planned at home I decided to resist.  We studied for 4hours and I got a huge chunk of Chemistry work done. 

On the way home I had the husband drop me at the gym.  It was not so fabulous.  My foot still hurts and my calves were really really tight.  I really need to talk to a professional about strength-building/stretching exercises for my calves, knees, and hips.  In the end I did 2.83 miles on the treadmill, and tons of stretching, for 36minutes and 361 calories.

After my shower we closet swapped our summer stuff for winter duds.  Folks, we need to go shopping.  I have almost no winter wardrobe.  In NYC I dressed inappropriately and just dealt with being cold and uncomfortable, but that is not going to fly here in Buffalo (I’ll die!).  We scheduled in a big mall trip for next weekend – p.s. we budgeted for this already.

Then, the foodie fun began!  I made my first pumpkin pie through a straw of the season.

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1/2C 2C “>Stoneyfield Farms Lowfat Vanilla Frozen Yogurt, 1C pumpkin puree, 1T maple syrup, 1/2C skim milk, dash cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.

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So good!

While I was drinking “pie,” I started baking pie!  I made a Maple Spice Pie from one of my favorite cookbooks, Pie, Pie, Pie: Easy Homemade Favorites, by John Phillip Carroll.  I used a Wholly Wholesome Organic Whole Wheat Pie Shell.

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Small blip, apparently you need maple syrup for a maple pie, who knew?!

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After an emergency run to the store things were back on track.  It had to set, so I started dinner before diving into dessert.  This combo came (basically) from the September issue of Health (recipe here).  Tofu and eggplant with cabbage over soba noodles.

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I swapped tamari and worchestire (sp?) for miso and sesame seeds for sesame oil, but other than that I followed the recipe.  It was wonderful, I loved the soba noodles and the texture of the tofu was great.

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I had more pumpkin alongside dinner, Wolaver’s Organic Will Steven’s Pumpkin Ale.

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And then finally it was time for dessert!

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The pie was good, but super messy.  The inside tasted like caramel apples to me!

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I took a huge slice and actually made myself a bit sick  😦  Now it is time for bed, I’ve got to get my sleep if I want another productive day!

What fall foods have you enjoyed this year?

Sunday Joes

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This afternoon Adam I decided that ice-cream was in order so we headed off in search.  We found a local spot on Elmwood that had Cioa Bella gelato, so you know I was all over that.

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I had a small cup of key lime pie, yums!  I said at least 4x whilst eating how good it was.  The store was super-cute, I’m glad we found it.

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On his way home, Adam dropped me off at The Spot to do some studying.  I ate lunch #2 while I was there.

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Iced Americano with skim milk (they call it “skinny moo” on the dispenser which makes me smile),

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and a whole wheat black bean and cheese quesadilla.

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I liked the ww tortillas and the insides included some sort of spicy tomato so it ended up being pretty great.  I ate all of the salad, none of the toppings, and half of the quesadilla.

I studied from 2:45 – 5:15, so I ended up also getting an iced tea.

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Cinnamon Plum, might be my new favorite!

Once I got home I continued my Chemistry organization. 

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I already created a GoogleCalendar, but now that I have this todoist  list of due dates I feel fully ready.  When I was in undergrad I wasn’t aware of these online organization applications, but now I am planning on taking full advantage of them.  Seeing everything in black and white in front of me is the only way for me to truly feel comfortable.

Work finished, we got started on dinner.  I did a Rachael Ray recipe, from “The Big Orange Book,” Hot Wing Sloppy Joes.

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Apparently 30minutes only applies if your stove isn’t half broken!!! 😦  It was still good though.

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On the side I got to cook my new original eggplants!

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These white ones seemed so odd to me, but they are the original item, and the reason why the veggie is called an eggplant.  I sliced, sprayed with evoo, sprinkled with nutmeg and chili powder, and roasted them for 30minutes at 450*.

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And since I ate a bun for brunch I ate my ‘joes with a serving of Scoops tortilla chips.

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Delish.

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We drove to Target to pick up a few supplies for Adam, and now we are finishing up a Bones episode.  My goal is bedtime before 11 because I am hope hope hoping I actually get up early to study.  I have volunteering in the middle of the day tomorrow and if I don’t study first I feel like I’ll run out of time.  G’night.

Do you like sloppy joes?  One time when I was a kid, before I stopped eating red meat, I tasted them and fell in love!  My mom makes them pretty well with turkey meat and Rachael Ray has several ‘joe adaptation recipes that I’m excited about.