Tag Archives: fruit

Late Morning Wake-Up Call

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Labs don’t start until next week, which means that my morning class was canceled today, yippee!  I took advantage of the found time and tried to make up a little sleep so I wouldn’t repeat yesterday’s walking zombie theme.

Once I got up, I took further advantage of the free morning and had the husband drop me off at the gym on his way out.  My extra long classes are really tiring, so I’m thinking I might need to move my gym time to morning time.

Today I did 30minutes on the elliptical, level 6.  Guys, I’m not gonna lie, this was hard!  Like legs burning, oh my god make it end hard.  Apparently no matter how much you run on vacation, you can’t take a month off of exercise without losing fitness.  Good to know.  Also good to know while I still have time to get back into shape before my March venture.

Even though I walked home through the snow, I couldn’t get my head around a hot breakfast this morning.  Instead I had the last of the tropical fruit mix, topped with pulverized coconut,

and a big bowl of Special K Red Berries with skim milk.

Do you tend towards hot breakfasts in the cold months, or solider on with cereal and smoothies?

Two by Two, Hands of Blue

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If you can tell me what tv show my title quote comes from you will earn my love and respect forever!

On a less nerdy note, this morning my breakfast was served two by two, in bowls of blue.

Bowl cup numero uno was a serving of (canned) tropical fruit salad.

Dos was some plain 0% Oikos with maple jam stirred in.

My mother put this maple jam in my stocking for Christmas because she’s a genius.

It’s Greek yogurt’s soul mate.  Instead of flavoring the yogurt but thinning it out, this gives you fully creamy yogurt with heavenly pockets of maple.

I had to get up for an earlyish breakfast this morning because I’ve got a orthodontist appointment at 8:45.  Oh yes, you read that right!  I’ll tell my braces story at a later date (remind me if it’s not up by next week), but for now suffice to say that this is not my first go-round with orthodontia.  I’m not getting actual braces, but the next time you see me I’ll be in retainers!

NYC – Day 1

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Hello from Nyc! Our hotel is lacking internet so this day late post come from the McDonalds across the street.

I’m just using wifi though, we have real brunch plans at eleven.  For now I’m sipping a diet coke and this Tropical Revolution Foods Mash-Up.

Yesterday morning started with a pre-6am shower before we hit the road for our 8hour drive.

I started my car breakfast with an Empire apple, to put me in an empire state of mind.

This was the most sour red apple I’ve ever tasted! It was quite crunchy and good though.

Plus a blend coffee; ie 2/3 (regular) cinnamon hazelnut coffee, 1/3 (sweetened) English toffee cappuccino.

Coffee really fills me up so I ended up having just the apple for breakfast, but I did steal a bite of the husband’s peanut butter Snickers.

Holy yum! Such a good idea, candy manufacturers! Plus, each square has 125calories, pretty good for a dessert with protein.

We had a lot of hours to fill in the car, I poured through magazines and even painted my nails –

pretty good for 70mph! I guess keeping myself pretty is why I’m so spoiled; the husband stayed on driving duty the whole way!

Our hotel is right on 7th Avenue, which is fabulous for the price.  I’m used to sleeping in Brooklyn so it’s fun to dream in a new area.

You better believe our first stop was Pinkberry!

A small original tart with strawberry, mango, yogurt chips, and praline cream.

There were two spoons, but basically for show because I pretty much dominated it.

And our next stop was green juice.

Carrot, apple, lemon, cucumber, and spinach gets a huge smile from me.

Then we spent a couple of hours walking around our old neighborhood in Park Slope. It was fabulous. Sidenote: we are deliriously trying to pretend we are still local, so the underabundance of city shots is not due to a lack of fabulousness.

Among our old haunts was a quick trip to Watana, where we split Drunken Noodles with steamed tofu.

My plate, x2.

This was so good it hurt! Broad rice noodles are hands down my favorite food.

During the 20(short) block walk back to the subway we also shared a Curiosity Cola.

Quite good, like Coke but without the syrupy sweetness.

We are here for the weekend with friends from high school (Ian lives in MA – and his girlfriend lives here – and Gory lives in PA) so our next stop was meeting them at their train. From there we headed to Bon Chon for dinner.

Ian called it “the new hotness” but beyond that we didn’t know what to expect. It ended up being Asian meets fried chicken. With complimentary rice wine to start.

I ate a super spicy chicken wonton,

and for dinner I ordered the Soy Duk Bo Ki, a sweet rice cake dish prepared with fish cakes, scallions, onions and soy garlic sauce.

The fish and rice cakes were super chewy, it was a totally unique texture. Adam thought it was gross, but I happily devoured 3/4 of the plate.

Even better than good food was the chance to catch up with old friends 🙂  I wasn’t drinking, so I was in bed watching tv by 2, but the boys were out past 4!

I’m not sure what the plan for today is, but my ideal itinerary includes cupcakes!

St. Thomas; Tuesday Morning – Thursday Morning

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We’re here. We’re here, we’re here, we’re here!  We’re also busy; this will be a quick recap post.

Tuesday morning at the airport, Adam and I did a good job putting together breakfast from our packed snacks.  We split the Orange Cranberry Cliff Bar,

and shared sharp cheddar, baby carrots, and a gingergold apple throughout the morning.

Our flights went well, and on our layover I found a Salsarita’s for lunch.

(Delicious) chips with spicy salsa,

and a chicken burrito with black beans, a little bit of rice, corn salsa, red onions, medium salsa, and shredded cheese.

So tasty and fresh, especially for a plane meal!  I ate about half of everything.

Before we knew it we were in my childhood home.  Being handed homemade toffee,

and finding gifts on our pillows.

I could get used to this!  The husband and I did some wrapping of our own too.

Before we knew it, it was time for dinner.

Spicy chicken with whole-wheat linguine,

mushrooms and broccoli with sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds,

and mandarin oranges.

We ate all squished together in a clump, because someone decided to start a puzzle at the table 😉

For dessert my dad and I opened up these Klick Halva Truffles.

Adam went out (late!) with some of our guy friends from high school, but I stayed home rereading All But My Life, by Gerda Weissmann Klein and laughing at the notes I wrote in the margins while writing a 15page final paper on it.

Wednesday morning was all about dinner leftovers for breakfast.

And 10minutes of strength and stretch moves.  My goal for vacation is to (at minimum) get in a good stretch every day.

For lunch, we headed to Barefoot Buddha, my favorite restaurant.

I split a passionfruit smoothie with the husband,

and a bagel sandwich with my mother.

Yuuuuuuuum.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on errands, including finding a gloriously huge pile of Achie comics (donated to my mom’s library),

and getting all of our wedding rings polished.

Plus testing saved maple sugar cookies from Thanksgiving.

Out of the freezer, still good!

For dinner we headed to Island Time Pub with my aunt and cousins (2sets, one local, one visiting). The lighting was awful, but the dark did mean we got to enjoy these sailboat sail “trees.”

Adam and I split a Caesar salad, with green peppers and mushrooms added.

And a buffalo chicken pizza.

I had these two slices plus a third.

I also had two black and cokes with dinner.

After that I was the designated driver, so even though we were out with friend until almost 1, I stuck to diet coke.

This morning began with a workout. A good workout 🙂 St. Thomas isn’t exactly map-my-run-able and I don’t have a Garmin, so we are focusing on time instead of distance. We had my mom drive us down to the nearby beach so we could run (not that we ran I’m the sand, just near the beach). In the end we ran for 20minutes and walked for 18minutes. Then we slowly walked up the HUGE hill home; I’ll have to take a picture tomorrow. All total, 60monutes of activity, which felt great.

Breakfast was Greek Gods honey Greek yogurt, topped with some blueberries and banana.

I’ve spent the morning running errands with my mom, including a trip to school so I could write this post.

Christmas Eve is tomorrow, what?!?

What’s the best airplane food you’ve ever had? The worst?

Nightmare Before Christmas

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There was no blog post yesterday because I was so exhausted that I bumbled around all day without really doing anything!  We set our alarms for 8am and at 10:00 the husband was shaking me awake and I had no recollection of turning off the alarms.  Finally the husband remembered – after I told him I couldnt’ study because I was too tired to lift my arms – that I had such a bad nightmare on Saturday night that my moaning and flailing woke him up.  I don’t remember that either, but he told me I looked pretty pitiful.

When I got up today, the idyllic scene outside my window was like something out of one of my nightmares –

Yes, it’s gorgeous.  But – that’s the kind of snow you make cocoa and cuddle by the fireplace in, not the kind of snow you walk 30minutes through to Organic Chemistry!

But after Sunday’s #fail I was determined to make the best of today; even though I woke up at 9:30!  I started my day with some good stretching.  Not gonna lie, then I started my day with this (after brushing my teeth of course!) –

Sorry I’m not sorry (thanks, Rachel), Cherry Coke Zero is my version of the dog with a barrel around its neck.

Then I dressed for battle.

I take the dull out of bundling! (Say that out loud for me, pretty please?)

Oh yes, those are children’s snow boots.

Even my boots couldn’t fully save my trek though, it sort of sucked 😦  When I lived in Brooklyn and everyone walked it was kind of fun, but here, where I’m the only one in the snow, it’s a bit embarrassing.  At least I never really felt cold, probably because I got so sweaty; galumphing is a good workout!

I got to school early to pick up a portfolio (100%, booyah!) and then used the space before class to try to make up yesterday’s lost study time.  While I worked I snacked on a serving of Kugel.

I also drank a medium skim gingerbread latte (half pumps) and got distracted talking with a friend.

During Anatomy (87% with the curve on Friday’s test, booyah!) I slurped down a Revolution Foods Fruit Mash-Up.

As soon as classes were over, and I confirmed with the husband that he could pick me up from school, I got my study on.  I’m disappointed in myself that I screwed around so much it took me until after 7 to finish my notecards.  I’m proud of myself that when I was done at 7 I headed to the gym anyways!

I took my notecards on the elliptical – 35minutes, random, level 6.

We got home close to 9:00 and I’m pretty proud of the dinner I pulled together – fruits, veggies, and dessert!  First was a green purple monster.

This bad boy was a blend of frozen spinach, frozen blueberries, orange juice, Silk Almond Milk, and honey.

I gave the husband the extra and he loved it as well (although his did have a little extra sugar blended into it!).

Next up was a taste of the South.

I randomly picked up this can of Hoppin’ John when it was on sale a few weeks ago.  I’ve never eaten (heard of) Hoppin John before so I pretty much stuck with the directions on the can –

I did a 1/2 batch (one can) topped with Applegate Farms turkey bacon, Sriracha, and a little brown sugar.

I portioned half of it into a bowl, and tried something new.

Pretty good, who knew I liked black-eyed peas?!

Dessert was “new” as well, but there was never any question about liking it.

Oh. My. God.

This, my friends, is a (half)-batch of Jenna’s Caramel Sauce.

Well, that’s what’s left of the batch after Adam and I got to it.  It has a deep, decadent flavor and is sweet and rich.  Make it, make it, make it, make it!

Eaten drizzled (liberally) over a small bowl of vanilla ice-cream with lots of sliced strawberries.

Really it was just an excuse to eat some strawberries 😉

Yum!  Quite a pleasing dinner indeed.

Now I’ve got to hurry to shower so I can get to bed like a girl with an important test tomorrow.

Have you ever tried (heard of) Hoppin’ John?

Going Out with a Bang

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Thanks so much for the encouragement on my last post!  Although, it seemed like many of you thought I was stressed; I was actually being matter of fact.  And I matter of factly failed my test this afternoon 😉 😦

Breakfast at Starbucks ended up being a success.  I got a tall, non-fat latte,

and a slice of gingerbread.

Then I brushed my teeth in the public bathroom and spit Scope in the parking lot like a total creeper 😉

My breath was fresh, but the dentist did give me the bad news that I got my first ever cavity.  I knew it was coming (they’ve been “keeping an eye on” that spot for a year and a half) but I’m still a little nervous about getting drilled.

After my appointment I headed to Wegman’s for a great hot bar lunch.

An assortment of veggies plus a few pieces of sweet and sour chicken,

with fruit for dessert.

I left my car parked at Wegman’s, which meant I got to walk to school for the slaughter (Orgo exam), and then walk back to do my grocery shopping.  I love walking so much, I hope this “nice” weather holds out!

When it was all said and done I ended up with a ‘you shouldn’t grocery shop hungry’ candy bar.

Delish, like honeycomb enrobed in chocolate!

I also ate a bowl of random cereals (Barbara’s Shredded Oats, plus Kashi H2H and Strawberry Flakes) with Silk Almond Milk.

I’m not sure why I was so hungry, but I’m glad I ate because I had a lot to do in the kitchen.

I’m at the point where I transfer my obsessive love from fall foods to holiday foods, and I wanted to end the season with a bang.  There’s no better way to go out than P-U-M-P-K-I-N, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin!  (Can you tell I watched “Bring it On” during dinner?)

Hello there.

We made Rachael Ray’s Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage.

We subbed rigotoni for penne and vegan crumbles for sausage, but other than that we pretty much followed the recipe.

Delish!

For dessert I went with more pumpkin, (and more Rachael Ray, come to think of it) Cheesecake-Filled Pumpkin Muffins.

I skipped the frosting, these babies are perfect without it!

I had two.

Now I’ve got to go to bed, go, go, to bed!

Were you a cheerleader in highschool?

10 Days

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 Our sleep schedule has been out of control lately, and that’s unhealthy for body, mind, and spirit.  In order to get back on track Adam and I made a pact to go to bed as early as possible (whether that’s 8pm some days or 11pm other days) for the next 10 days.  I’m excited to do something healthy for myself, but that does mean this has to be a quick post; go, go, go!

I stayed up so late with the boys last night (3am?!!) that I actually got hungry again!  I ended up pulling out the yogurt that was planned for my car snack as a late-night munch.  Liberte Strawberry.

This stuff is just so decadent and amazing.  The flavor and texture were spot on with 2% Fage with Strawberry; if you want the Greek yogurt experience this is the closest non-Greek gets.  Sadly this is not low-fat, and the 9grams of saturated fat (and 24grams of sugar) mean I can’t eat it as much as I’d like.

This morning felt like it came pretty early 😉  We headed out to one last breakfast with the family before we hit the road.  They took us to the restaurant inside Buehlers.  I was starving (probably actually tired) so I decided to go with the breakfast burrito.

With sauce on the side and fruit subbed for hash browns.

We were pretty impressed.

Even more impressive was the actual grocery store, we did a quick loop for road snacks and ended up finding all sorts of goodies we can’t get in Buffalo.  We ended up piecing together a very tasty lunch, all pieces split 50:50.  1st, Odwalla Pumpkin Protein.

Yuuuuum!  I was obsessed with this drink in Brooklyn, it’s perfectly sweet and creamy.

2nd, Stoneyfield Mango and Honey Fat Free yogurt.

This was actually not that good, sadly, it had almost no flavor and was oddly viscous.

And for dessert, Godiva Dark Chocolate with Extra Dark Ganache.

Pretty gourmet for a road trip if you ask me.

We got back into Buffalo around 6 and I’ve been running around ever since; lots of unpacking and getting of groceries.  While I was out I picked up dinner from the Co-op.

Thai cucumber salad and sweet ginger tofu.

Tasty, tasty.

And 1, 2, 3, Bedtime!

What time do you usually get in bed?

The Pants

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What, I drop that mega-post on you and then I just disappear?  Sorry about that!  I was in a terrible mood yesterday and it just didn’t seem right to subject anyone but the husband to me.  Plus, I was actually in such a terrible mood that I couldn’t even get it together to make dinner so there wasn’t a whole lot of foodage going on.

A lot of times a bad day is just about a bad mood, and even though I know that I still couldn’t shake my rain cloud yesterday.  possibly because I had to get up at 6:30 on a Friday.  I rolled out of bed early, but on the wrong side of the bed!

I had to get up early to attend a meeting about an honor society I was invited to because of my summer school grades.  What I didn’t learn until after the 7:15am meeting is that I’m actually not eligible until after a 3rd semester at my school. 

The minute we left the meeting I was starving.  Not just hungry, stomach-growling, headachey, starving.  Nothing was open until 8:30.  I buy a medium coffee with skim milk.

I wait.  I get really psyched about an oatmeal bar in the food court.  It turns out a bunch of people called in sick and actually nothing is open.  I could go get food from the coffee place though.  I know it doesn’t make sense to some people, but I get more picky as I get hungrier.  If my stomach feels like it’s eating itself I want something good; I don’t want a dried out bagel or a mass-produced croissant.

I ended up wandering around campus for 1.5hours in futile search, getting hungrier by the minute.  Finally, minutes before class, I found this cup of grapes.

The grapes lifted my mood considerably.  But then in class I learned that the portfolio assignment due next week has to be turned in in an actual portfolio.  An actual expensive portfolio.  I’m sorry, I realize it’s not exactly cool that I have to budget for a binder, but it pisses me off that I’ve had to spend so much money on school supplies this semester.

After my 2hour class I went straight to a group meeting for a project.  We didn’t finish until it was time for Orgo, good thing I had eaten those grapes! 😉

I had absolutely no understanding of what we were talking about in Orgo.  None.  I started freaking out about the next test, and being super angry with myself that I let myself get behind on the reading.  By the time Anatomy was done I just wanted the day to be over.  I didn’t even go to the gym as planned, I just went home.  Sidenote – I do realize that the gym would have certainly lifted my spirits, but I was still starving.

I poured myself a serving of Terra Chips Blues.

The plan was to refill the bowl with some food-food as soon as I was done.  Yeah, about that; I never got off the couch!  I just let my bad mood spiral out of control.  Not doing any errands, or doing anything fun, certainly didn’t make me feel better and it just got worse and worse.

This morning I was determined to have a good day.  Really, it’s all about attitude.  When the alarm went off at 7:40 I read a magazine in bed before getting up.  I took a much-needed shower.  I cleaned the apartment – that one’s not actually that fun, but the mess was stressing me out.

I made a healthy, tasty breakfast.

A serving of Special K Red Berries with skim milk,

and some leftover fruit (papaya, mango, grapes, watermelon) I brought home from food lab.

Adam and I went on errands and took care of business (including buying that portfolio!).  When we got groceries we also got smile-inducing hot bar and a diet pop.

Who doesn’t love hot bar?

A bunch of green beans with a little bit of eggplant tomato salad,

cashew chicken with a tiny bit of fried chicken,

roasted veggies.

To round out the good mood vibes, I got a fun package from my parents.  With seasonal gifts.

And “the pants.”

Some background on the pants – When Adam was a freshman in college (I was a sophomore) his mom sent him a great pair of pajama pants.  They were super comfortable and I borrowed them often.  As time went on I eventually just stole them.  I was wearing the pants the Christmas morning that Adam proposed.  I wore them through recovery from all my various injuries.  The pants are the item I would save if the house was on fire.

The pants have been getting thin (they are old and I wear them a LOT).  I hardly ever wash them, and my mom has done many minor repairs.  Well, a few weeks ago I tore a huge hole through the left knee.  I sent my mom the pants in tears.  She rocks, and now I guess they are “the capris.”

When I mailed the pants, I threatened my mom several times that I would stop loving her if she threw away any of the fabric.  Instead, she made the legs into a pillow (dont’ worry, she also saved the scraps!) –

Adam and I love it.

I guess the point of the very long, whine-filled post is that today is a better day.  It always is.  And this took me so long to write that I took a snack break and ate a Brown Cow 0% Strawberry Greek Yogurt with homemade chocolate pb.

The end.

Do you own anything like “the pants?”