Tag Archives: fruit

Happy 80th Nana!

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Hello, hello, hello!  Sorry to skip out for the weekend but I had a fabulous time.  I flew to Ohio (with a bunch of other family members) to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday.  We did party/family time all weekend, which meant TONS of cake!  I missed the husband a lot but I had a great time, my family is so funny!  This post won’t be as detailed, due to length, and if you get too bored skip to the bottom to find the winners of the Zevia contest.

Friday we had to get up nice and early to make it to the airport for my 6:35am flight.  I was hungry when I got to the airport but it seemed early and I knew I would sleep my first flight so I decided to wait.

On my layover I got egg and cheese on a cheddar jalopeno bagel.

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It was very tasty but I dropped half on the floor so I only ate half of it.

I was so excited when I finally got in to the Dayton airport!

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My mom and grandma picked me up and we drove over to Tipp City to do some shopping (also the location of my grandmother’s surprise party!).  We saw all sorts of fun things.

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Nana (grandma)  was impossible to get to her surprise party, she kept insisting the chosen restaurant was too nice, too slow, etc.  I finally had to pretend I was going to pee my pants if we didn’t at least go in to the restroom!  When she saw all of her friends she was so surprised she cried!

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My mom and my aunt (who flew up with my mom a few days earlier than me) did such a good job planning and decorating!

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We did a party lunch at Coldwater Cafe and it was very nice.  I got a bloody mary to drink.

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And for lunch I split – more halfs! – a turkey pannini (with artichoke spread and cheese) with my mom.

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I ignored the chips but the sandwich was great.

My grandmother cried when she opened her presents and again when they brought in the cake!

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I am not really a chocolate cake fan so I took a small bite and then packed up the rest to bring home to Paps (grandpa).  I also packed up all the bread from the table baskets.  My family teased me but they are either going to use it again, ewww, or throw it out, wasteful.

We got to go home long enough to pick up my grandpa and then we – me, my mom, my aunt, my grandparents, and the dog – squeezed into the car for a long drive to Toledo where my uncle lives.  I seriously can not handle how funny my family is, we had such a good time!!

We were running late when we got there so we had a quick dinner from Wendy’s.  I got a baked potato with broccoli and cheese.

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I also ate one of my pumpkin cheesecake cupcake/muffins, so good!

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My uncle is a high school football coach so we went to watch his team.  It was their last game of the season, against their biggest rival, and they whooped them, so it was a lot of fun.  My uncle had the marching band play happy birthday to Nana and she cried again!

After the game we went to a ‘end of season’ party my uncle was throwing for the other coaches.  I had a small vodka and coke,

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and a small slice of pizza.

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And then there was more cake and more tears!

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Quite a night was had by all 🙂

For Saturday breakfast I had an English muffin with homemade strawberry jam and scrambled eggs.

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We spent the morning having family time before we headed to another birthday party, this one for my cousin’s baby!  Lunch was buffet style at the party.

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Cheesy potatoes,

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fruit,

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and veggies.

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And of course more cake – I just ate the icing off this piece. 

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Over the course of the party I sipped a beer

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and had a good time hanging with my mommy and grandma.

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My mom, aunt, and I (all Virgin Islanders) walked to and from the party because it was so exciting to be cold!  It was sad saying goodbye to my cousins but then the six of us packed back into the car and headed back to my grandparents’ house.  More uproarious fun was had, including the hilarious/horrifying realization that my grandmother – who was driving – talks with her hands a lot!

It was Halloween, so I broke out some fancy chocolate I bought for the occasion.

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We all had a small piece.

When we got home we had to rush to get dressed before meeting my grandparents’ best friends for dinner.  It was  a great last meal.  I had a bloody mary again, to which I added a ton of Siracha and sizzled my mouth off!

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My grandmother shared her side salad with me,

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and she and Rose gave me their martini olives.

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They are both amazing and both happen to read the blog, hi guys!

I also had a small piece of bread.

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I was torn on ordering but when the waitress said unlimited toppings on the flat bread pizza I was sold!  I asked for roasted red pepper, green peppers, red onions, caramelized onions, tomato, spinach, and mushrooms.

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Mmmn.  I ate 3/5 pieces.

It was another late night and I think we left my grandparents thoroughly exhausted!

This morning my mom and I both had 6:50 flights so it was another early trip to the airport.  Goodbyes were easy; I see my grandparents for Turkey Day and my mommy and aunt for Christmas!

For reasons explained in the next post, I packed my own breakfast.  A banana from my grandmother’s house,

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and a seasonal Pumpkin Spice Cliff Bar from home.

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My flights were all blissfully uneventful.  I was very excited to see the husband at the airport.  Apparently he went to a Halloween party last night so I’ll have to track down some pictures of his costume.  He made himself spaghetti this weekend so I had a big bowl of that (doctored with mozarella and red pepper flakes) while I wrote this monster post.

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My fingers are exhausted, it is definitely time to say Goodbye!  I will “see” you all this evening, hope everyone else had a good weekend!

Zevia Winners

I used a random integer generator to choose the winners.

Runners Up who receive a mixed six pack

  1. (#18) Annalene – i actually have tried Zevia before & I have to say that while they may take some time to getting used to the flavor after the initial drink or 2 these are actually quite good! my favorite is the lemon lime
  2. (#5) Jenny – I would love to try the all-natural diet sodas. I work the night shift, and am obsessed with my diet Pepsi….but always feel guilty about the weird ingredients and colorings.
  3. (#17) Erin – I really want to try this stuff since I love the occasional diet coke.
  4. (#2) Holly – I’d love to win – this soda has been all over blogs and I’ve never tried it!
  5. (#14) Erin– Zevia sounds great!

Grand Prize Winner who receives a mixed case

  1. (#9) Molly – Sounds good!

Winners – shoot me an e-mail (emilyhwaxATgmail.com) by Tuesday morning to claim your prize!

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?

Pineapple Paradise

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It’s Friday! I don’t really have a work week, but the weekend is still exciting.  Today I’m trying to pretend I’m somewhere tropical and that the forecast isn’t calling for rain and snow!

I set my alarm for 5:30 this morning and went to the gym for a (terrible) run.  My calves hurt so badly, I don’t know what the problem is?!?!  I mostly did 2/1minute run/walk intervals but sometimes I doubled up the running and/or the walking.  I kept having to stop to stretch.  In the end I did 60minutes and 5.3miles.  I did lots of stretching afterwards, for a total of 655 calories.

I came home to shower, sent the husband off to school, and got started on breakfast.  This was when the tropical fantasy began……Breakfast was all about devoring Sponge Bob’s home eating pineapple.  I made an amazing smoothie.

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1 frozen banana, heaping cup fresh pineapple, splash oj.  I think maybe I prefer smoothies with some fresh (i.e. not frozen) fruit, the texture of this was great.

Alongside I had pineapple in bar from – a Pineapple Ginger bar from Boomi.

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I had been putting off eating this sample because ginger skeeves me out sometimes but it ended up being great.

The two pineapples went together quite well.

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Today should be pretty uneventful.  I have a lot of work I want to get done, but nothing is a rush.  Adam and I have super low-key plans for tonight, the highlight of which should be grocery shopping.  I hope everyone else has a good last day of the week day!

How do you like to make your smoothies?  Frozen fruit or fresh?  Ice?  Do you use any powders or packets?

Healthy Cheese Eggs

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Morning Monday!  I know most people have to go to work (I wish I was going to work!) but I feel much better now that the sun is up.  Even though Adam and I tend to stay up pretty late day to day, there are times when we are tired that we both get completely punch-drunk.  Last night was one of those times for sure.  It was only midnight when we were getting ready for bed but we were both shrieking laughing and bouncing around all over the place!  We’ve had a few similar experiences throughout the years, one time we stayed up all night before a flight and we laughed so hard I peed my pants!!!  That is actually one of my favorite memories 🙂

This morning pie was on the brain.  Maybe because I totally took two bites straight from the pan when I got to the kitchen?  But mostly because the recipe had called for 4 egg yolks and I had 4 whites leftovers to use.  I put the eggs to work for breakfast.

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Along with the whites I stirred in 4T of fat free whipped cottage cheese, and seasoned with salt and paprika.  Then I cooked it all in 1t of Smart Balance Light over medium-high heat.  It was pretty yummy, Adam came up with the egg/cottage cheese idea yesterday and I think it works out while.

Alongside I had some fresh cut pineapple.

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It was a good start the week breakfast.

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I’m heading to the hospital for volunteering now.  And I’m going to campus early to see if I can get some help with the lab report (I’m trying to write one for the lab I missed).  I hope everyone’s work week is off to a good start!

What sort of things have you put in eggs?

The Change You Won’t See

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Good morning!  The movie wasn’t as good as anticipated (it was much sweeter than we were expecting but not as funny) but I loved my Halloween Dots.  I also snagged half of Adam’s small popcorn and drank a huge diet coke.  I think my favorite part of the entire experience was the soda! 

Unless I don’t post at all for the day, I show you pretty much every single bite I put in my mouth.  I know some bloggers have a bar here or there that they don’t post but that’s not my style.  The only things I don’t show are –

  1. if I take a bite or two of the husband’s food
  2. vitamins – I take Flinestones Gummy Vites (shut up) 4-7 days a week
  3. non-caloric drinks; water and diet sodas

Previously I was having at least 1 (sometimes many many many more) diet sodas a day.  I realize that many people think diet soda is unhealthy, but I do most things healthy and it makes me deliriously happy which I think is a good trade-off.  I’ve thought about “quitting” diet soda over the years, and I’ve always decided that my happiness is a big part of my health too and therefore, for me, the diet soda is healthy.

However, as you know, I don’t have a job.  And in this economy (especially in Buffalo) I could not have a job for a while.  I’ve always been a big saver, so we actually are fine living off our savings and Adam’s loans for the next year, but we do have to be more careful with our money.  We made a budget last weekend and I decided that ultimately, it’s not worth the money to pay to have diet coke in the house.  So now I have to really really enjoy it when I buy one when I’m out 🙂

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Today is another busy day.  I have some fun things I want to do this afternoon, but I’ve got to get all of my not so fun stuff out of the way first.  I have Chemistry work,  a quick trip to the gym, and today we finally need to switch out our closets for our winter duds.  For breakfast I had 1/2C whipped cottage cheese with 4oz fresh cut pineapple.

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I’ll see you for lunch.

What is your take on diet sodas?  Do you have a favorite?  Mine is Diet Cherry Coke.

Delayed Gratification

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It was another productive day, I’m on a roll!  I stayed up way too late last night so the roll didn’t get started until 10 this morning.  I posted my uncooperative blog post first thing, and then did 10minutes of stretching and strength training – including 70reps of abs, 50reps of arms, and 30reps of legs.

Then I got straight to work on my Chemistry homework.  And worked.  And worked.  And worked.  And suddenly, my whole day was gone!  I hate that it takes so long, but I am thrilled to be done, I think this is the first thing I’ve done in advance all semester.

I was so focused on enthalpy changes that I forgot to eat, but once I arrived at the grocery store at 4 I promptly remembered!  I managed to stay focused enough to get our food for next week – and save $20 in sales/coupons, yay! – but I was definitely rushing.  Good thing the meal (lunch/dinner) I prepared when I got home was worth waiting for!

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I seriously loved every single component of this.  I was in foodie heaven.  Honey mustard tuna salad.

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This recipe (click here) just came to me, and I’m so glad it did.  So tasty.

Apple slices and 1serving+ Food Should Taste Good Jalopeno Chips for dipping.

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The chips were the perfect spice level to go with my salad.

And finally a glass of POM Nectarine juice.

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This was better than kiwi, it will be coming to store soon, look for it!

In just a bit we are heading out for a date, to see “Couples’ Retreat.”  We’ve decided to cut back on the movies this year (we were going 1-3times a week in Brooklyn!!) but this was definitely on my worth it list.  I am so excited about my movie snack –

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My first Halloween candy!  I packed 1 serving each of Candy Corn and Ghost Dots.  DSC00322

I hope everyone else has a good evening!

Have you had any spook candy yet?  What is your favorite kind?  My favorite is mini York patties.

Random

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I have not gotten near enough done today (unless you count the huge stack of magazines I powered through as an accomplishment) so this post needs to be quick.  All of my food choices have been unbelievably random today.

“Breakfast” was the last serving of Food Should Taste Good Lime Chips.

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For lunch I followed last night’s theme and did some more using up.  The last Flat Out wrapped around the last Boca Spicy Chik’n Patty, with lettuce, carrots, cheese, and buffalo sauce.

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For fruit I made a smoothie – 1C passionfruit pulp, 1 fat free plain Oikos, big splash oj, drizzle honey.

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And I snacked on a Healthy Hazel Boomi Bar sample.

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I’ll be back after class this evening.

Tell me one random thing about yourself.  I’ll go first – My middle name is Helen.

Great Blogs Think Alike

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Good morning!  I hope everyone’s day is off to a good start.  Mine has managed to be both relaxing and productive.  Embarassing secret time – scary movies have made me afraid of everything.  It’s gotten better as I’ve gotten older (when I was a teenager I would jump into bed so my feet didn’t go underneath the bed!) but I still can’t shake my shower anxiety.  I am very uncomfortable to be in the shower when I’m home alone.  I peek out the curtain multiple times and hurry through everything.  And since Adam is so busy almost all of my showers are alone. 

But this morning I switched up my schedule and found a solution.  I got up at 5:45 and headed to the gym early so I could come home and shower before the husband left for school.  I came home and took a nice luxurious shower; I conditioned my hair, and used my favorite body scrub.

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I won’t be doing this every morning, but it’s a nice solution for me to keep in mind.  The gym was pretty successful too.  My training schedule had 3miles for today.  With warm up and cool down I did 38minutes/3.8miles/420calories.

After the aforementioned shower I got started on breakfast.  It’s possible I was so hungry that I snagged a small hunk of chocolate pb bread before I even thought about real food.

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I think every blogger who received this Nature’s Pride bread from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program thought french toast and I was no different!  I received two loaves to sample but for now I put one in the freezer and am focusing on 12 Grain.

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I soaked two pieces of bread in a mixture of 1egg, 1/2C skim milk, 1shake each cinnamon and nutmeg, and 1T vanilla.  The bread took a luxurious shower of it’s own (a quick soak), spent a few minutes in the sauna (pan with 1/2T SmartBalance), and gussied up with maple syrup and a chopped white peach and nectarine.

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I loved the texture of the Nature’s Pride bread, and the toast was nice and eggy.

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So yum, full recipe here.  The plan for the morning is lots and lots of Chemistry make-up.  I have 2 chapters to read – I’m only planning on doing one today though – another chapter to make notecards for, and a slew of practice tests to work on.  Gotta go get my brain working!

What are you afraid of?  I also have a major aversion to spiders.  But I actually like most other typical girl fears (frogs, snakes, etc.)!  My “abstract” fears are that I won’t figure out what to do with my life in time and I’ll get stuck in something that I don’t enjoy and that I’ll injure myself and lose my ability to run.