Tag Archives: fruit

The Day Took an Upswing

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After my rocky start this morning the day got much better.  I’m glad that I’m becoming more successful at defusing my all-or-nothing issues.  Something may not be as good as all, but it’s sure better than nothing!

I have two classes on Mondays – Organic Chemistry and Anatomy.  Eeek, both courses seem like they are going to be a lot of work!  I’m feeling extra thankful to have a doctor-in-training for a husband, I have a feeling I’m going to have lots of questions!

I spent most of my afternoon on housekeeping; financial aide issues, taking an online violence course requirement, actual house cleaning…  I also made a pretty amazing snack, full of new and exciting things. 

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Like my new bowl (made by local artist Jennifer L Clark) –

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I feel in love with this bowl during the Elmwood Arts Festival last weekend.  It’s handmade and the yellow and black polka dots fit perfectly with my dream house decor scheme.  I love things that are mod but rustic all at the same time.

I also tried some new (to me) yogurt, Oikos Chocolate.

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The fabulous people at Stonyfield caught wind of how obsessed I am with their products (due to my raving about this froyo recipe) and set me some free product coupons.  I normally stick with 0% plain but since I had the coupons I decided to go a little crazy and try something new.  The nutrional stats are pretty great, especially for something that feels so desserty.

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I was expecting the chocolate to be too sweet but it ended up having the perfect balance with the tart yogurt.  I’m not sure why, but this was much thinner than regular Oikos.

Finally, I tried out a new granola recipe today, Honey Coconut Crunch.

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My batch got a little overdone but I definitely recommend making it yourself.

Oh, and this white nectarine felt like new since it’s been so long since they’ve been in season!

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In my new bowl went 1 Oikos Chocolate, a chopped nectarine, and 1/4cup of my homemade granola.

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This was the perfect texture and flavor medley, I foresee an encore soon!

Sadly, through a series of annoying events, each one more annoying than the last, dinner never happened.  We did take a walk to pick up some cupcake liners which will allow us to make dinner tomorrow though.  I’m hungry, but at this point it’s more important that I get in bed.

Have you ever made your own granola?

Healthy BBQ Chicken Sandwich: How To

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First, you’ve got to meet a boy (or girl!).

Trick said boy into marrying you.

Put a crock-pot on your wedding registry.

Place two thawed, humanely raised, skinless, boneless chicken breasts (~1.5lbs) in the bottom of said crock-pot.

Pour in enough reduced sodium chicken broth to cover both chicken breasts.

Do some salt and pepper action.

Set your crock-pot for 8hours on low and walk away.

Meanwhile, join Foodbuzz.  Attend the 1st Blogger Festival and bring home a bottle of Maple Barbeque Sauce with Horseradish.

Join the Tastemaker Program and receive a sample of Arnold’s Multi-Grain Sandwich Thins.

Go back to your crock-pot and remove cooked chicken to a plastic container and shred using two forks.

Pour your bbq sauce (approx. 10Tbsp) over the shredded chicken.

Plate.

I recommend serving alongside a green, perhaps some roasted asparagus?

Roasted figs with goat cheese and honey for dessert.

Live happily ever after.

Of course that’s all subject to some personal interpretation, but those are my basic steps!  😉

The Best Kind of Morning

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Sooo, about that last giveaway … awkward!  Yeah, that was a bust.  No one commented before the giveaway closed, but would you mind commenting on that post now to let me know why that giveaway sucked so hard?  Any feedback would be appreciated.

Today I had the best kind of morning, I started my day off with a run with the husband!  We are trying to work out the schedule and logistics of being able to workout together before class this year.  I’m also trying to work on getting on a proper sleep schedule; I got in bed at 10pm last night and even though it took me half the night to fall asleep, when the alarm rang at 6:30 I got out of bed.

Cons of this morning’s run –

  • We went for 30minutes and I still had to take several walking breaks
  • We ran on a path around the nearby lake so I have no idea how far we went
  • I’m so pathetically out of shape that Adam barely gets a workout when he runs with me

Pros of this morning’s run –

  • I got out there before 7am and ran for 20minutes
  • We got to run near the lake and it was gorgeous
  • I’m looking forward to the journey back to fitness, even especially the hard work and pathetic stats in the meantime

While Adam was in the shower I got my stretch on, and after my shower I put on yoga pants again so I can continue to take stretch/strength breaks throughout the day.  I start classes in 10days so it’s important that I get myself back into good habits before then.

I also made sure to eat a refueling breakfast.  Also a creamy, dreamy, tropical breakfast.

I threw some Plain Fat Free Stonyfield, a large banana, a serving of Goya frozen soursop pulp, and some Naked Coconut Water into the blender and 2minutes later I had perfection. 

Soursop is my favorite fruit (it comes in even slightly ahead of coconut!) and I highly encourage you to try it if you ever get the chance.

I got some carbs into the mix as well with a serving of Kashi Strawberry Fields cereal with Silk Almond Milk.

Every food group minus veggies?  Check.

I have a pretty packed to do list today, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t most looking forward to setting up my new dayplanner –

“See” you for lunch!

What were a pro and con of your morning?

Icing or Cake

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This post comes from back in Buffalo.  We made it (mostly) in one piece.  More on that later though.

I want to preface this post with recognition of the fact that the husband and I eat very differently than the rest of his family.  Our preferences, nutrition goals, and food values are all very different.  This means that when we are with his family I have to weigh being rude or being a bother with eating in a way that makes me feel happy and healthy.  I try to satisfy myself in a healthy way and also not to offend anyone.  I did my best to balance both of those goals this weekend.

When we went to the store Friday night my brother-in-law did warn me that I needed to buy breakfast so I was more than prepared for that.  I got to try a couple of new things 😀  – – – Side note; walking through the yogurt aisle in his grocery store practically gave me an aneurism because I was so jealous of the immense Greek yogurt variety.  – – –  Like Fage 2% with blueberry.

I was so excited for this but I ended up being a bit disappointed.  It wasn’t terrible, but the blueberries had a weird bitter taste.  The strawberry Fage has such a great balance of sweetness and tang but it just didn’t work here.

I had much more success with Oat Revolution instant oats, cinnamon roll flavor.

The texture was way more complex that regular instant oats, definite upgrade!

Adam and I drove around with his brother helping to pick up things for the party but we also found time to play on the swing set with our niece.

Excuse the closed eyes, swinging as high as I could was glorious but sunny.  We swung for an hour which ended up feeling like a bit of a workout.  We also worked on handstands and cartwheels.  Just throwing it out there – my fitness goal for the next 4months is to be able to do a proper handstand and cartwheel again.

Lunch.

I grabbed two small slices of pizza with ranch and a little serving of pasta salad.

Our niece had an iCarly birthday cake.  I requested a tiny corner piece.

It ended up being mostly icing, which was exactly what I wanted!

Saturday evening the grandparents babysat and we went on a movie date with Adam’s brother and his wife.  We saw The Expendables which was adequately funny.  There are so many movies coming out that I’m excited about.  I packed a Toffee Chocolate Power Bar as my movie snack.

When we got home I ate another two small slices of pizza for dinner but they somehow escaped the camera.

This morning I started my day with a Yoplait Plain Greek Yogurt with a grape honey stick.

Everyone was in a hurry to get on the road but we did make time to go to the in-laws’ favorite spot for breakfast.  It was a buffet but sadly most of the options were meat based.  I ended up putting together a pretty good plate.

Veggies, scrambled eggs, and a biscuit with honey.  And a second plate full of fresh fruit.

Why, oh why was 90% of the fruit bar canned in heavy syrup?  I would have loved peaches or strawberries.

I had one final coupon to use so we stopped at McDonalds at lunchtime.  My coupon was for a premium salad so I got a Southwest Salad with grilled chicken.

I have a lot of issues with some of the offerings at McDonald’s so I wanted not to like this but I just can’t give this salad a bad review.  Honestly?  It was freaking amazing.

The lettuce was super fresh and the salad was loaded with black beans and roasted corn.  The dressing came from Newman’s Own and even if you did slop a lot on there were only 100calories in the pack.  The tortilla strips added crunch and the perfect amount of heat.  I was pretty much in love!  With grilled chicken (and the dressing packet) the salad came out to only 320calories, and it was very filling.  Even though I loved it I was so full that I only could finish ¾ of it.

Now we’ve made it safely home and I’m headed off to the grocery store.  That was supposed to be a Monday errand but instead I’ll be meeting the glass repair guys to deal with the giant crack that resulted when a rock kicked up by a truck (in the left lane like a jerk!) met our windshield.  Here is a question dear readers – do you have glass coverage included in your auto insurance?  Repair is going to be a hassle, but at least it’s free.  I highly recommend you check out your policy.  Fun fact – Adam was actually going to remove glass coverage from our policy on Friday, but while he was on the phone I told him not to.  Thank goodness!

Which do you prefer, the icing or the cake?  I’m an icing girl!  To the chagrin of classroom mothers, when I was a kid I would like the tops off of cupcakes and throw the rest away!

Oh, Canada

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Tuesday was so absolutely busy that it’s taken me ’till halfway through Wednesday just to sit down and do the recap!  I’m not even worrying about today’s posts until later, I think this one will be looooooong enough.

Yesterday morning Camile, Adam and I piled into the car bright and early to pick up Benji; oh yes, we were going to Canada.

Actually, first we stopped by the American side of the Falls.

Adam and I, in our typical fashion, forgot our passports so while he ran back home the rest of us wandered across the bridge to a view of the Falls I hadn’t seen before.  Mother Nature knows where it’s at, everything was gorgeous.

For our car breakfast I packed a Cookie Dough Balance Bar,

and a Blueberry POM to split with Adam.

POM Wonderful recently sent me this new juice variety to sample.  I tend not to drink a lot of juice but POM has such concentrated nutrient value that I think it does have a place in a healthy diet.  Plus, juice usually doesn’t register fullness with most people but POM has such a strong flavor that I think it contributes to satiety.  The four of us agreed that while the blueberry was good, we liked the original variety better; the berries gave a bit of an aftertaste.  We also thought that it was too strong, we cut ours with water and enjoyed it better that way.

We crossed the border into a pretty touristy area, but the four of us definitely enjoyed marveling at the wax sculptures, the kooky decorations, and all the offerings at the gigantic Hershey’s store.  Everyone was hungry and ready to get out of the heat so we stopped at the Rainforest Cafe for lunch.

I enjoyed all the decorations and special effects, but thought that the menu was pretty overpriced.  Adam and I decided to split an entrée.

Splitting was a good decision, our meal was giant!  It ended up being wonderful though.  We shared pasta with peas, shrimp, mushrooms, and sun-dried tomatoes.  We both adore sun-dried tomatoes and we felt like the food was pretty high quality.  Splitting worked out perfectly; I gave Adam all of the shrimp and most of the pasta and he let me go to town on all of the veggies.

Next we drove to Toronto!  I loved it!  Adam, Benji, and I kept asking each other all day why we didn’t just live there?!  Toronto seemed like a very walker-friendly city, we saw tons of bikes, there were a bazillion cute stores, the food options were great, and everyone was so nice.

We walked all day, my idea of heaven!  We started in Chinatown; I went into a small grocery store which was probably a mistake because now I’m dying to get back to shop.  You could buy Bobba!  Adam insisted that it wasn’t a kitchen necessity, but we did get some bubble tea.

I got a small passionfruit black tea with tapioca, yum!

We had to walk to see the CN Tower.

Tickets to get in were $20, so we spent some time craning our heads back and walked around the lobby instead.  I met a very fuzzy bear, which might have made Adam a bit jealous 😉

Afterwards we wanded around what I guess was the fashion district (there was also a button).

Fabulous, is pretty much the only word for dinner.

We searched for vegetarian Poutine and came up with Utopia Cafe.  Perfect crispy fries topped with vegetarian gravy and big cheese curds?  Fabulous.

I was so excited to get to try this classic (usually the gravy is meat based).  The four of us split a basket for an appetizer and now we all want to go back.

Our entrées were fantastic as well.  I got the curried chick pea and potato burrito.

The entrées all came with rice and beans and a green salad.

My burrito tasted so much like the roti I grew up eating, I felt like I was back in St. Thomas!  The potato and chick peas were cooked in a spicy coconut curry with raisins and served with some chutney.

I ate all of my salad, most of my rice (Adam happily scarfed down the rest), and half of my burrito.  I’m already excited about eating the second half for dinner tonight.

Then we piled back into the car for the drive back to reality the U.S.

Have you ever been to Canada?

BlogHer Day1

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We’ve been having a great (busy) time here at BlogHer.  We’ve learned a few new things, met some interesting people, and got a ton of swag.  Plus we’ve walked and walked, so I’m in heaven.

Last night was a healthy living blogger fail.  No lunch and vodka and popcorn for dinner?  No, no, no, no!  I felt like I was going to throw up when it got in bed and my rumbling tummy kept me up half the night.  My poor sleep and poor nutrition also kept me from being able to run this morning, meaning it’s been almost a week since my last workout.  It didn’t feel good, and it would have been so easy to just be healthy last night.  I’m hoping wisdom came with my 25th birthday because I’m really trying to take this lesson to heart.

This morning I was so hungry I could barely see straight, so I loaded up a breakfast plate once we reached BlogHer.

I ate 1/4 of my bagel with jelly,

a few bites of oatmeal,

and all of my fruit.

As we walked around the expo room there were all sorts of tasty samples, I didn’t want to get too full though so I ate ~ half of all these goodies –

I also met some “celebrities” 😀

Lunch was buffet style, here’s the plate I filled.

1/4 sandwiches, I took a veggie and a chicken,

fruit,

veggie.

Everything was ok but it tasted like hotel food so I ended up leaving half of my plate again.

Dessert more than made up for it; I got to make a ‘smore!

Yay.

We have iffy wifi at our hostel and I’m not bringing my laptop to the event tonight, so I’ll probably be posting again tomorrow morning.

Are you AT BlogHer now?  Let me know, I want to meet you!

48hours of Fun

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Aaaargh!  Two (FULL) days worth to recap?  I actually debated not writing this post but I’ve blogged every single eat since my 25th birthday and I’d like to keep that streak going.  I’m keeping this one pretty dry though.

-~-Sunday-~-   We did lots of sharing so my photos are more of a basic representation than a spot on accurate one.

We started with breakfast from Pano’s.

I ordered the Artichoke Omlette, which came with fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, and a a touch of basil pesto.  I also requested that they add broccoli and only use half cheese, pepperjack, i.e. there is cheese on the top but not the middle.

With some hasbrowns,

and a slice of sourdough.

Delicious, but I couldn’t come close to finishing; we packed up the second half for the husband. 

By the way – our leftover situation this week was ridiculous, at one point our fridge had 8 to-go boxes in it!!!

We spent a looooong time at a nearby outlet mall, which was tiring but amazing.  At some point I ate this baggie of dried fruit (kiwi, apricot, hibiscus).

And we had to at least get appetizers at Cozumel’s.

Complimentary chips and salsa,

Maryland Blue Crab and Avocado Handrolls.

I love how Cozumel’s has healthified Mexican food; the rolls were not fried, contained no creaminess or cheese, were stuffed with sprouts, and were totally tasty.

My plate –

Dinner ended up being a bit of a fiasco, everything closes on Sunday here!  We drove around for hours looking for a place and the husband’s new phone came in totally handy.  In the end we headed to Jack Astor’s, which was the perfect choice.

We shared lobster and crab dip as an appetizer.

For my meal I ordered the chicken fajitas, which came with cheese, sour cream, onions and peppers, lettuce, salsa, and smokey bbq sauce.

I never order fajitas but assembling my own meal was totally fun.  I ate two fajitas and then packed the rest up to add to our to-go boxes.

-~-Monday-~-   We had to get up super early to take my parents to the airport (boo!) so Adam and I stopped at a bagel place on the way home and got a tomato pesto bagel with salmon shmear to share.

We also split the leftovers of my omlet from Sunday.

It was actually a pretty great breakfast.

I was starving (all day, it was insanely annoying) so I also finished off the rest of my chicken fingers from the other night.

The husband headed to work and I passed out.  I didn’t wake up until around 1 and then I spent the rest of the day sneezing.  It was out of control, I sneezed at least 50times yesterday!  I don’t know what allergy flared up but I felt like death warmed over and even had to skip a friend’s birthday party last night because I couldn’t control all the snot running down my face (gross, sorry!)!

Mid sneezes and tissues I did find time to eat a bunch of crap.  Strawberry yogurt bar from Lindt.

This came from the outlet store and rocked my socks.  It was a single serving (love) and was creamy, and tangy, and crunchy, and perfect.

A piece of whatever this is –

my parents brought it; sort of tastes like a dried crepe with sesame seeds?

An entire bag of chips!

A small piece of banana bread with Smart Balance Light.

Dinner was at least healthy (and epic).

I topped a small bed of lightly dressed spinach with roasted yellow beets,

purple tomatoes,

crumbled goat cheese,

and candied pecans.

OMG!

The combo was out of this world, yellow beets are 10x better than regular ones.

Oh, and I also had a bowl of SmartPop kettle corn.

-~-Today-~-   I’m not sure what the day holds.  I have a terrible case of grumpies for some reason.  I have a dinner I’m excited about cooking and a trip to the gym is definitely in order because I haven’t worked out in 2 days.  We shall see….

48hour recap = 4 reader questions

  1. Have you ever tried beets?  Yellow beets?
  2. What is your favorite appetizer to order at a restaurant?
  3. What is your favorite flavor of Lindt truffle?
  4. Are you attending BlogHer this weekend?