Tag Archives: frozen meal

An In and Out Post

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Can I do 100 words or less?

We had a late dinner party to attend yesterday so I did some random snacking to tide me over until 9pm.

Two of our Russian friends provided a traditional ethnic feast.  My plate included potatoes with mushrooms, salad, and bellinis with caviar (omg, the caviar!).

The table also had liver and onions and tongue!!!

We didn’t get home until after 2am – I was the only non-drinker in the room – and even abstaining from alcohol couldn’t keep me feeling peppy today.  Let’s sum Sunday up with more random snacking.

Also picture and unphotographed glass of chocolate milk and several extra handfuls of peanuts.

Word Count – 111

The Frontal Bone’s Connected to the Parietal Bone’s Connected to the Occipital Bone…

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Oh my goodness, I’ve my first Anatomy quiz in 9hours and I am not ready!  A migraine hit last night and stopped my study session cold.  I’ve got to hurry to bed so I can keep learning in the morning.

Breakfast.

Three local prune plums from the farmers’ market,

and a WW Sandwich Thin with 2T Wegman’s chunky pb and Crofter’s strawberry.

I had an advisement meeting at 11 and then I stayed on campus until I got out of lab at 8; yikes!  All of my not-in-class time got used up running back and forth to department heads and I’ve still barely broken the tip of the iceberg on my transfer credit issues!

Lunch was eaten via snackage.  A single serving of Caramel Cashew trail mix from Target.

The last of the dried apricots.

I got a small coffee (with skim milk) before lab,

and I also got my fall on with a small sample of pumpkin loaf.

We have a new TA which means we have a lot more work – we can’t work in partners any more, we spend more time reviewing procedure – but he seems really excited about Chemistry and I can tell I’m going to learn a lot.  We did recrystallizations in Orgo Lab today and there was an issue so I had to do mine twice, which practically put me in tears.  It was nice to have the walk home to clear my head.

I grabbed a Yoplait Light Thick and Creamy Cinnamon Bun yogurt as soon as I walked in the door.

And dinner was Three Cheese Stuffed Rigatoni from Lean Cuisine.

The husband was my knight in shining armor helping me review Anatomy (for the first time!) for a couple of hours this evening.  While we worked I ate a mini Java Chip Frap. Starbucks ice cream.

And now I’ve got to take the world’s quickest shower and get into bed.  I am so excited to be able to go to the gym after my quiz tomorrow!

If you took Anatomy in school, did you find it interesting or boring?  I think osteopathy is fascinating; I’d love to work as a forensic anthropologist!

A Lesson Learned

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Today has been insane, and it’s still going!  I’m going to be up very late tonight; I’m never doing nothing on a weekend again; “oh my god! oh my god! oh my god!” I’ll leave it at that.

For lunch I dug into my Naan Pizza sample stash from Tandoor Chef.

Spinach and Paneer Cheese.

Here is the ingredient list,

and the nutritional panel,

both of which checked out positively.  The fact that these pizzas are packed with real foods is definitely what keeps them from tasting frozen.  In fact, the taste was divine!

I burnt the crust last time, but now that I know my oven is set too high and lowered the temperature accordingly I was rewarded with perfect crust; it had great chew and was just crisp enough.  There was just the right amount of red sauce and its tang complimented the paneer cheese.  This was pretty plain, a child would probably enjoy it, but still had a great degree of interest.

I ate the entire pizza (technically two servings) and that ended up being just right.  I needed some extra lunch calories since my “breakfast” was coffee, but it wasn’t too much cheese and this didn’t leave me feeling heavy at all.  I was perfectly full and awake for Orgo and Anatomy class.

I had a bit of a quandary about how to divide my time this afternoon – study or gym?  I have three medium assignments and big presentation due tomorrow so I knew I needed to work.  But along the same vein I can’t go to the gym tomorrow (I have classes, with breaks, from 8am – 8pm) so I wanted to work out.  I ended up deciding to work out, even though I didn’t really have time, but to push the timing back.  Adam met me on campus after class and we spent a few hours studying together. 

I had to organize some e-mails when I got home so I got in a small serving of carbs before my run.

That’s a Van’s pancake (1/2 of a serving) topped with Smart Balance and Crofter’s strawberry.

Running with Adam was wonderful, he definitely pushes me to go faster than I do on my own.  We kept it casual, the husband says we ran ~2miles but I have no idea what our time was; we ran the whole time and the pace felt pretty good though.  We finished things up with a short walk, and some stretching.

Dinner was speedy, tasty, and healthy.

I put some of the (best ever) chilli leftovers on a bed of steamed dinosaur kale.

The kale was pretty bitter, but it felt good to pack in the nutrients.  I totally save the bites with sharp cheddar in them for last 😉

I’m going to be up past midnight (ack!) but if I do any snacking I’ll put in the morning post.  Wish me luck!

Was it the healthiest decision to honor my workout today, or should I have tried for an earlier bedtime instead?  What do you prioritize over exercise?

I Envy No Man

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It’s almost Friday!  Weekends have been pretty much meaningless to me this past unemployed year, but now that I’m starting back to school next Monday they are exciting again.

I spent forever running errands today because parking was ridiculous everywhere I went.  Also helping orphans catching up on “Make it or Break it.”  I managed to make time for some amazing meals though; I’m seriously excited about every single thing I ate today.

Chicken Enchilada Suiza Lean Cuisine.

Frozen meal win, this was delicious.  A chicken enchilada with cheesy sauce,

and a pile of rice that got mushed around in the cheese sauce.

With an Orange Zevia (free sample).

I’m usually not one for orange sodas but this guy was totally thirst quenching.

Also, a mini bag of kettle corn.

I spent some time wifing it up in the kitchen, baking some chocolate chip cookies for the husband.  I stole a tiny one.

I would have eaten more, but I had already stashed 2T of dough away into the freezer for something amazing.  Keep reading…

Dinner was kinda off the hook.

Think tasty leftovers x10billion.  I topped a bed of roasted green beans with 1cup of corn, a serving of shredded bbq chicken, and some homemade bbq sauce.

Shredded chicken, corn, and roasted green beans are all pretty big favorites of mine and together they were unstoppable!  The balance of spicy-salty-sweet was perfect here.

But nothing was topping dessert.

I’ve had food-processor-envy all year, but tonight I envied no man; tonight, I got to make Gena’s famous banana soft-serve!

Only my batch was extra fabulous because it also had frozen cookie dough blended in.

This bowl was 2frozen bananas and 2.5T frozen cookie dough.  Swoon!

Have you gotten to try banana soft serve yet?  Thoughts?

What’s Up Doc?

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Thank you for all your feedback on the giveaway.  I really do appreciate every comment I get here on my little corner of the internet ❤

While I worked on my to-do list I this morning I also worked my way through a big pile of baby carrots.

I know people say that baby carrots are just trumped up packaging of the big guys but I really do prefer them.  Babies seem much crunchier and sweeter to me.

At lunchtime I turned to the freezer.  We have a pretty tight food budget this year and I try to snatch up frozen meals on sale so I tend to have a random assortment.  Today I grabbed a Lobster Cheese Ravioli from Healthy Choice.

I ended up being pleasantly surprised by the quality. 

The ravioli were delicious, even a little better than the Buitoni variety we tried the other day.  I liked the generous portion of squash as well, my only complaint is that the marinara sauce was too watery.

Actually, I guess my other complaint is that I’m currently starving!  To be fair though, 260calories held me over for a while, it’s not necessarily the meal’s fault that I’m ready to chew off my own arm.  The husband is having hunger pains as well so as soon as I hit publish I’m off on a snack hunt.

Big girl carrots or baby carrots?  Or carats?

P.S. Opinions on the font size?

McRoad Trip

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Our drive took extra long due to some fun, fun traffic but we made it safely to Ohio.  All the road trips we took the last year have definitely reinforced how in sync the husband and I are; no matter how many hours we spend in the car we always find something to talk about.  The great thing about being in similar fields – medical school and dietetics – is that we always have things to teach each other.  I know that Adam is smart but whenever he talks about medical issues I am always amazed with his passion.  End sap.

We needed some car trip caffeine so we decided to cash in some McDonald’s coupons I picked up at BlogHer.

McCafe Frappes, he went with mocha and I went with caramel.

We were expecting them to be too sweet but it ended up being a total love affair.  We both agreed that they tasted like Starbucks frappaccinos, but better!  The caramel and mocha flavors didn’t taste artificial and the coffee taste totally came through.  I asked for mine without whipped cream and it ended up having 480calories.

When we finally reached Ohio we did the family thing (and bedtime, eek!) before deciding that 9pm was getting to be a pretty late dinner.  Our in-laws food situation was a bit sparse so we headed to the grocery store to stock up on essentials.  I stopped by the freezer section for dinner.

I’ve tried the Kashi Mayan Harvest before (during vegan month) but I ended up being surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Even frozen the plantains had a great sweetness and texture.  The sauce and the quinoa compliment them perfectly.

I also grabbed a single serving bag of Dirty Chips.

I love kettle style chips, the folded up ones are my favorite.

What is your favorite road trip conversation starter?  Adam and I alway seem to talk about sustanability and humane farming practices.

We’ll Call This a Whine-cap

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It’s been a strange couple of days around these parts.  My hunger has been really weird and I was in a random bad mood all day yesterday.  I’m sorry for not posting yesterday.  One thing’s for sure, I did NOT spend all of last night finishing the final season of “Buffy” with the husband instead of studying for my sociology exam.  Definitely did not.

We went to see “Killers” (ugh, waste of $) Sunday afternoon so I ate lunch via movie snacks – a big baggie of baby carrots and 2servings of spice drops.

I also ate this Himalayan mint – raw honey, unsweetened chocolate, peppermint oil – en route to the theatre.

When we were home, watching not watching Buffy, the craving for popcorn finally hit so we hiked over to Walgreeens to get a bag.

We also split a sherbet melon.

I was really excited about this new fruit but I think we let it get too ripe because it ended up basically being a mushy cantelope.

Dinner was another frozen meal from the Tandoor Chef line, Channa Masala –

While not as delicious as the veggie pad thai it was still ridiculously tasty, and the nutritional stats were a bit better.

I ate the whole box, or 2 servings.

This morning my move did improve drastically when the husband cracked open a young Thai coconut for me.

I drank some straight from the source but the rest of the water and flesh I blended with ice cubes and cinnamon-sugar for a fabulous smoothie.

Did you know young Thai coconuts only have ~200calories?  I finally looked it up, but I’d been assuming that the number was much higher.

I also ate a Thai Peanut Primal Strip in the car.

It was ok, but I prefered the flavor of the bbq.

The husband dropped me off at school today and took the car to the lab.  The benefit of that is twofold; 1. I had more time to cram study for my sociology exam, and 2. I got the incidental exercise of the 2.5mile walk home.

I was all set up to study in the food court when my stomach starting growling howling.  My smoothie and Primal Strip added up to ~300calories which isn’t a huge breakfast but is definitely able to hold me over on many a day.  Well not this day.  I seriously got panicked when it looked like I wouldn’t find a snack and I almost ate my packed lunch!  Thankfully I spotted a humus/pretzel pack at the coffee shop.

After scarfing the snack pack (and drinking an entire Sigg’s worth of water) I finally felt full enough to tackle my book.

I ended up being really confident about the information but the test only went alright because the questions were worded really poorly.  I feel like as a teacher for two years I’m qualified to comment on that and seriously, the test sucked.  Still, I got the best grade in the class, by a lot.  For reals kids?  I could also school you in how Buffy ended!

I stopped midway during my 2.5mile walk home to sit at a coffee shop and study for a few hours.  Since I knew the vegan pickings would be slim I packed my own lunch, a Kona Moka Pro Bar.

The flavor (a little touch of sweet) and texture (a lot like a Lara/Kind bar hybrid) were definitely impressive and it was pretty filling.  At 360calories this was more of a meal replacement than snack bar.

When I got home (after finishing my walk) I snacked on 2servings of yellow tortilla chips with 4T of chunky salsa.

Now I’m doing some organizing and waiting for the husband to get home and help me chop dinner.

Wow.  That was an insanely whiney post!  Any Monday complaints you’d like to whine about?

A Day of Firsts

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In case you missed it, June is Vegan Month.  And what better way to start off the month than with a Green Monster?

This bad boy had 1 frozen banana and 1 cup frozen spinach blended with 1 cup of calcium + vitamin d oj.

Green Monsters were my favorite discovery during my two-week vegan stint in February, and I think they are going to be instrumental in getting me through this month.

Today was also the first day of summer school.  I have an online nutrition class in July, but in June I have to be on campus from 10:30 – 12:40 M-F for Sociology.  Here we are looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed –

And then during one of my five trips to pee before class started I snapped a picture of me looking nervous.

And right I was to be nervous, this is going to be a hard month!  My professor is funny but his lecture voice is really hard to understand and the syllabus is totally unclear.  I hate when teachers want to be all loosey-goosey with the due dates; tell me what I need to read for what dates!  Plus we are not allowed to have any food or drinks in the classroom?!

I had some business to take care of on campus and by the time I got home it was after 2 and I was starving.  I grabbed the first thing I could to tide myself over.

3oz of baby carrots,

and 1oz of yellow tortilla chips.

I was so hungry I was actually getting light-headed and nauseous.  Once I calmed down a bit I made myself a frozen meal as well, Tandoor Chef Vegetable Pad Thai.

The nutritional stats on this are pretty good,

and it is delicious!

It tastes just like tasty, authentic Thai food from a restaurant.  The pasta is the right texture and it is perfectly seasoned.  Plus there are pieces of spongey fried tofu that I adore.  I give this two thumbs up and highly recommend you try it, vegan or not.

I’m actually still feeling pretty sick so I’m going to set the alarm and see if I can take a quick nap.  I have to pick up the husband from the lab later and of course I’ve got some reading to do.

What is your favorite type of frozen meals?