Tag Archives: fruit

Nibble While You Work, da da da da da da da

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It was another fabulous Spring day!  Sorry for another late post, but it was a busy day too.  I had 8am lab this morning so I packed up breakfast last night.

Cottage cheese and berries in a pre-fab to-go cup.  Last night I topped the last ~1.5serving of cottage cheese with some frozen berries and left it to defrost in the fridge.

This morning I just had to grab and go.

We did a qualitative analysis – a series of tests on an unknown sample to determine what its chemical components are – in lab today and it was actually a lot of fun.  The real fun came when the husband picked me up; we spent a fabulous afternoon exploring.

We dropped the car off for breaks/oil/tires and slowly wandered downtown on the walk home.  We saw several pretty things,

discovered an exciting candy store,

and we got a few fun things to go, like this candy bar I won’t be tasting –

and the husband bought a candy Tiffany’s box.  For $1.50 it was made of white and milk chocolate and stuffed with hazelnuts.

My bite –

(If you are wondering why MY Tiffany’s wedding ring isn’t on my damn finger in the picture it’s because I don’t wear jewelry to labs in which we use strong acids and strong bases)

Later we stopped in at Pearl Street for lunch.  Pearl Street makes microbrews in-house and is a ton of fun.  I love their glass options –

I went with a Split (10 oz) of the seasonal raspberry brew.

And for lunch I ordered the Fresh Apple and Pear Salad.

Apples and pears sautéed in rum and brown sugar served over mixed greens and topped with toasted pecans and fresh goat cheese.

I had brown sugar rum vinaigrette on the side.  However, the salad was so packed and tasty that I went with the fork dip method of adding dressing, rather than dumping it on.  So yummy!  I snagged a few of Adam’s fries and they were pretty tasty as well.

Not gonna lie though, the big diet coke we picked up on the walk home was my favorite part of lunch 😀

All total we walked ~2miles in beautiful weather and it was an absolutely perfect afternoon.

Once we got home, I spent a couple hours working on Anthropology.  I was having a major snack attack; sometimes nibbling on something helps me to keep my focus, but I’m not sure you can call these snacks brain food.  Pb M&Ms (these are gone now, thank God),

and a vegan blondie I brought home from ‘Snice.

We had gym plans but our “long” walk left my leg feeling like today was not the day to brave the gym stairs, and I’m in a bit of a funky mood so making dinner didn’t sound fun.  So now we have plans to shower, eat popcorn, and cuddle up in front of Buffy.  Sounds like the perfect evening to follow a perfect day.

Do you snack while you work?  Does it improve your focus or serve as a distraction?

Slept Through Breakfast but Ate Brinner

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We pulled into Buffalo from NYC at 4am this morning, which meant the whole day has felt a little ‘off.’  [A trip recap is coming tomorrow, I swear!]  I got out of the car and into bed, and slept until 11 to get my 7hours.  I have a ton to do this week, and we can’t pick up groceries until Thursday, so I’ll warn in advance that my meals might be a little bit, ahem, interesting.

One of the items on our monster to-do list is switching out our summer and winter wardrobes.  That means I’m trying to wear all my fun sweaters this week before they get washed and stored.

I adore the ruffling on this one!

Although my favorite outfit detail is the little yellow crystals in the pearl necklace my mommy made me.

I needed to do lunch on the go so I grabbed an orange twist Mix1 drink.

I also snacked on a White Chocolate Chip ThinkThin bar during Anthropology.

I bought this because I read a really good review of it (Chelsea Handler, in one of the health/fitness magazines) but it didn’t really take care of my hunger.  I practically ran to buy a snack before my next class.

Hot chocolate and a carrots, celery, and ranch cup.

I had to unpack from this weekend after Chemistry so dinner didn’t happen until after 9o’clock.  I snacked on a handful of dried fruits while I worked.

And then the husband was a total superstar and took care of breakfast for dinner brinner.

He made me two sunny side up eggs,

and we split a cinnamon raisin bagel (from NY!).

I ate my bagel dry because I used it to sop up the yolks, yummy!

I was feeling a bit empty (I really didn’t eat enough today) so I made myself a little sundae.

Cyclops Greek Style Frozen Yogurt topped with Crofters Superfruit Spread and Suzanne’s Vegan Ricemellow.

Tomorrow is another crazy day, with an 8am lab, so it’ll probably be another late post.  I promise to get up a nyc recap though.

Are you good at making eggs?  I cannot do sunny side up, and it’s my favorite.  Thankfully the husband is great at it.

Eating Like I’m on Vacation

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It’s been a good day of family fun.  Sadly I had a ton of school work to do so a lot of my time was spent with my nose buried in a book.  I managed to sneak in a few a few strength training exercises as well; I packed a resistance band for just that purpose.

For breakfast I arranged a little bowl.

4oz of 2% cottage cheese, medium sliced banana, Multigrain Cheerios.

And for lunch I roasted up a huge plate of veggies.

Broccoli and cauliflower.

I made some for my sister-in-law too; she’d never tried roasted veggies before and she ended up loving them.  I guess I’m influencing all sorts of people!

I dipped my hand into this two or three times as well!

We ended up going to an all you can eat Chinese buffet for dinner.  I’m not the biggest buffet fan and this one was seriously lacking in veggies but I made do.  I ge that people want to eat crap (and I ate my fair share of it), but I don’t understand having such a variety of food and not managing to squeeze in a single veggie!  I was glad I ate a produce-heavy lunch.

Plate 1 –

I ate all of the (not so good) green beans and half of the chicken.

Plate 2 = a bunch of fried stuff.  I’m not sure why the camera randomly ate this picture, I guess my Sony likes crab rangoon.

Plate 3 –

My favorite!  I was mmmning and yumming through this whole plate of fruit.

There were some tasty looking desserts but we planned to go to Rita’s after dinner.

I’ve been so excited about trying to find one of these because the menu is a lot like Jeramiah’s in Orlando and the husband totally came through and spotted one today.  I got a small gelati; mint chip italian ice and twist custard.

So good, I was basically swooning.

Everyone else is eyeing the board games but I have a ton more work to get through tomorrow so I think I’ll turn in soon.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

What’s your feeling on buffets?

Another Recipe Tease

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Alrighty, I’m here for a sour-puss post, as promised.  I got my Chem score back and let’s just say I will be working my butt off for the rest of the semester.  I actually still have an A in the class overall, but I’d like to make sure I keep it.  I didn’t get my Anthro test back yet because class was canceled.  That would have been more exciting had I known before I sprint/limped through the rain to get there.  My leg hurt a lot, but I took advantage of the “found time” and gave myself 45minutes to read a magazine 😀

I also had time to do some Chemistry reading while I waited for my next class.  I snacked on a package of Strawberry Pomegranate Teather while I worked.

The fruit leather was hard-core delicious, but I was starving by the time I got home.  Hunger coupled with major leg pain lead me to the peanut butter M&M’s.

I ended up having three handfuls!  I would have been better off sitting down with a small plate of real food.

Dinner was a healthier situation.

I wish I could share this recipe, Italian Style Gumbo, with you but it’s for another contest!  It was delicious though, and I promise to make a recipe page soon.

When I get up tomorrow I’ve got to pack for our PA trip and I’d like to squeeze in a workout too so bedtime is in order.  I hope everyone else had an irritation-free day!

Slopped on Bagels and Secret Buffalo

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Hi y’all, sorry for the late post!  It’s been a long (but good[ish]) day.  Adam and I stayed up way too late watching tv last night.  Catching up on “Modern Family” was amazing, but oversleeping this morning meant I didn’t have time to pack up like I’d planned.  At least I found at outfit that thrilled me –

My new blue chinos ($18, love love loved the Orlando outlet malls!) feel like Spring!

I drove the husband to school because I had an 8am coffee date with my friend Kate; “Free Pastry Day” at Starbucks was just too good to pass up.

I got a tall, skinny (i.e. small, nonfat and sugarfree) cinnamon dolce latte,

and a low-fat banana chocolate chip coffee cake.

I wanted to like the pastry, I really did, but it just tasted “diet.”  I prefer diet sodas to regular but anything else, yetch!  I ate about half of it so that I’d have something in my belly for breakfast.

Katie went to class around 9 and I ended up working on my Chemistry lab instead of reading; my mind just did not want to study for today’s test!  My desire for a good breakfast (and a need for caffeine to study with) fueled my lunch selection from the cafeteria.

Huge diet coke and a blueberry bagel with strawberry cream cheese.

I don’t want to complain, because the bagel was delicious and the cream cheese had real strawberries in it, but “deli-prepared” bagels always piss me off.  The cream cheese on my bagel was literally less than half of the amount the man wanted to put on.  Why?  Slopping on 3+ tablespoons of cream cheese is wasteful, unnecessary, and unhealthy.  I don’t understand why stores do this but I always make sure I ask for ‘half of what you usually use.’

My Anthro test went less than well, let’s just leave it at that.  Since I did poorly on both of my recent tests I know that I need to buckle down for the rest of the semester.  In fact, in between my test and my 2nd class I got right to work on the reading for the next class 🙂

After class (6:30) I had to pick up the husband, finish my lab, and un/pack my stuff for tomorrow.  I ate a small snack while I worked; pineapple and low fat cottage cheese.

Then, finally it was time to make dinner.

Buffao Chicken Baked Pasta.  I wish I could share the recipe with you guys but it’s my entry to a contest.  It was delicious though.

I’m going to do a quick quick (5-10minute) strength/stretch session and then I’ve got to hop in the shower.  I have a pilates video in my plan for tomorrow and I’m so excited!  Tomorrow will be another late(ish) post, I’ve got 8am lab and then a doctor’s appointment.  Cross your fingers for me that I’m actually able to schedule my bone scan.

What restaurant practices piss you off?

Brunch Before Buckles

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It’s been a glorious, spring Sunday!  Adam and I have been having a grand day, although pretty soon I’m going to have to face the reality that I’ve got a test to study for.  Sleeping 10hours (11pm – 9am!) definitely put me in a good frame of mind.

Getting in 10minutes of strength and stretch moves before my shower this morning didn’t hurt my mood either.  Then Adam and I took a walk of sorts (1/2mile) to the Walgreens; I love being outside!!!  It didn’t take much for the husband to convince me that brunch was in order.

Our first stop was a restaurant right down the street from our apartment.

The menu looked good but we were the only people in the restaurant and it was just too weird so we split.

We ended up at JP Bullfeathers, which ended up being a great choice.  We want to go back for dinner asap.

When the waitress asked me if I wanted my Bloody Mary “regular, mild, or hot?” I knew we’d found a good spot.

I ordered the buttermilk pecan hot cakes for brunch.

They came with tangy apple butter instead of syrup, which I thought was a nice healthy spin.

And I asked for a side of fruit in place of bacon.

I ended up eating 2/3 pancakes and all of the fruit; it’s watermelon season!

Now it’s time to buckle down and get to work on Anthropology.  I’ve got a study date at the Spot so I’ll probably get dinner there.  Hope everyone has a great Sunday!

Are you a Bloody Mary fan?  Tomato juice?  Vodka?  I don’t love vodka and I hate tomato juice but Bloody Marys are my favorite drink!

The Airing of Grievances*

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It’s been a day! <– If I said that instead of typed it my tone would emphasize the words long and frustrating between “a” and “day.”

I couldn’t find a bag that would hold my school books but not throw me off-balance so I ditched the crutches in favor of limping around campus.  Not my best idea, my leg hurt.  I guess my best compromise will be to use the crutches whenever I’m doing an activity with the husband (he loves to doesn’t want to kill me when I ask him to carry my bag).

My smoothie lunch was pretty light so I packed some snacks that were consumed at the library.  Mini Luna Bar from the half expo,

and a package of Berry Acai Teather snacks.

Adam’s tired of hearing me so I’ll just list my complaints here (because it’s the equivalent of calling my mommy to tell her) – 1. I move so slowly it took me 20minutes to walk from the library to class;  2. half of my papers didn’t print and I didn’t have time to reprint them;  3. my leg hurts!  4. the soda machine stole my $.   Ahhh, I feel better.

I spent the evening working on Chemistry assignments (I still have to finish my lab) so the husband ran to the bar down the street to get me dinner.

I got the Turkey Grill, no bacon, no butter (so sourdough with turkey, jack cheese and 1000island dressing).

Not the healthiest – especially after I scarfed those fries, but a far cry better than the jalopeno nachos I was wanting.

Now I’ve got to get back to work.  Tomorrow is an 8am lab day and then we are headed to the grocery to replenish the stores so don’t get too excited for a post from me.  Peace out!

Would you like to air any complaints about your day?  *How cool are you; what holiday does my post title come from?

Like Old Mother Hubbard

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Y’all would not even believe how empty my cupboards and fridge are.  The husband didn’t buy groceries even once during my entire 10 day vacation!  I was a good wife who left him ingredients and recipes, which he dutifully cooked, but now we are running on empty.  Unfortunately we can’t make it to the store until tomorrow because today is so packed.

I pretty much only had 2-3 options for lunch so I went with a smoothie.

A tasty, tangy, tropical smoothie!

  • 4oz frozen passionfruit pulp
  • 1cup frozen tropical fruit blend
  • 3/4 cup pineapple juice – – – from a can of pineapple, literally the only liquid left in the house!

I’m heading off to class soon (it’s my first day on campus with crutches, should be interesting) and I’ve got loads more schoolwork to do when I get home.  I promise after these two tests – Chem on Friday, Anthro on Monday – I will be more interesting!

How do you get creative when the cupboards are bare?