Simple but Stunning

by Emily

We obviously didn’t eat dinner at 2pm so I guess this will be a two-post-day, yippie! Most of the day so far has been spent at the hospital getting my bone scan done. I had an initial appointment at 9:30 so that they could inject the tracer, and then a second appointment at 1:30 so they could image my legs. I could tell just by looking at the monitor that there is bone regrowth in the area that hurts, but I’ll know more after I speak with the doctor next week.

My head hit the pillow after 2am last night but even then my mind didn’t want to stop working! Does anyone else have to mentally review their to-do list before falling asleep? Sometimes I think out our weekly meal plan just to calm myself down! Obviously I stayed in bed as late as possible today and made breakfast an on-the-go affair.

I pretty much love all Cliff Bar flavors but Peanut Toffee Buzz holds a big piece of my heart. It’s sweet without being too much and incredibly filling for 250calories. Plus, as much as I know I should be getting my gotta-have-’ems from fruits and veggies, I always appreciate products with added nutrients.

I had a ton of phone calls to make in between doctor’s appointments – I have some issues to work out with summer school, financial aid, etc – but I did find time to make a stunning lunch. I love this combination –

Kale + eggplant + okra = awesome goodness.

I cooked my veggies in evoo and worchestire sauce for ~10minutes, then poured some marinara into the saucepan for the last few minutes.

YUM! This is pretty much my favorite dish of all time, the combination is just too fantastic. Plus it’s so gorgeous!

The plan for the rest of the day includes Anthropology reading, a grocery trip, and dinner. On my like-to-do list is also a light strength/stretch session and watching the latest episode of Bones. I’ll see you for dinner!

What food discoveries have you made through the healthy blog world? I don’t think without Meghann and Kath I ever would have tried okra and now it’s pretty much my favorite thing. I love the fact that blogs allow us to expose each other to myriad of amazing options.

14Apr2010

Taming the Beast

by Emily

Sorry for the late post, I had 8am lab and my day ended up galloping off from there! I was hoping my extreme hunger was a yesterday thing, but it ended up following me into today as well; I felt like I was trying to tame the beast!

We had a hard quiz this morning (the first of the semester I don’t think I got a 100% on, boo) so I started my day with some brain food in the form of a green monster.

1 cup frozen spinach + 1 cup calcium/vitamin d oj + 1 frozen banana = tasty, healthy perfection! I’m glad I experimented for the husband’s sake, but you just cannot improve on this recipe.

Normally GMs leave me satisfied until lunch, but today the beast was howling by the time I finished with lab around 11:30. I knew I wasn’t going to make it at the gym without food so I fueled up at the mini cafe next to my class.

A cup of fruit salad and some Silk Soy Chocolate Milk.

Ready to go; I’ve got to give the snack a little credit for the fact that I had another great swim work out. As promised – because I love you guys! – here’s a picture of me in all my dorky glory in my swim cap:

Actually, a lady walked by right as I took this picture so I had to explain to her why I was taking photographs in the ladies’ locker room. She ended up giving me some great swimming tips and encouragement. Although I’m still a little jealous of Meghann’s locker room social scene.

In the pool I did 32 laps (75ft each) in 28minutes. The husband walked into the pool area in time for my last loop so I tried to haul ass; I could feel my heart pounding by the time I was done!

We had to run some errands on the way home and Adam decided we were going to lunch. He didn’t consult me and I had pool water dripping down my back but I’m still not complaining! You’ll never guess the location he chose 😀

Yes, we went back to Cozumel again; yes, I did major damage to the chips.

I told you the menu is expansive, I tried yet another new item! Veggie Chimis –

Nachos aside, I never order stuff like this and I quickly remembered why. Unless we are talking french fries I don’t like things that are fried, give me roasted or raw any day! Thankfully it wasn’t all that greasy and the cheese was fairly under control. Plus it was stuffed with mushrooms, zucchini, and summer squash.

I didn’t even taste my rice, who would want more carbs as a side with this?

My hunger was only temporarily quelled though, and a few hours later I was ready for more. The husband I continued our fancy-free attitude and took a walk to Sweet Tooth.

I went with a small ice-cream which beyond hit the spot.

Cookies and cream with raspberry white chocolate swirl. Holy yum!

I’m sure you’re shocked that I was still hungry for dinner a few hours later 😉 On the menu was this recipe for Pineapple-Glazed Chicken with Jalapeno Salsa. Two thumbs up! If nothing else, I highly recommend making the salsa.

Here’s my plate:

I had a small piece of chicken,

with a side of roasted veggies drizzled in leftover glaze.

The glaze was awesome but I still could only choke down half of my veggies; I just did not like these! The husband thought they tasted off too, we ended up throwing the rest of them out.

I was a little too fancy-free with the husband today and I’ve got a TON of work to do by the end of the week so I’ve got to run.

Do you like fried food? How often do you eat it? Other than nachos and french fries, yum, I genuinely don’t enjoy fried foods. Although I do like typically fried foods if they’ve been baked (i.e. chicken nuggets).

7Apr2010

Hump Day Slump

by Emily

I’m just gonna be upfront about it: this post is going to be lame. And I realize a lot of my posts have been lame recently, but this one really takes the underachievement cake. It’s sort of not my fault, because my camera was randomly being finicky and low-battery. But it also sort of is, since I only ate three (count them, 3) items today. Tomorrow?

For breakfast I made Adam and I Green Monsters.

(For 2) 2cups frozen spinach, 2cups frozen strawberries, 2cups oj w. calcium + vitamin d. I made this mix to appeal to the husband, but it did NOT appeal to me. I drank the whole thing in spite of preferring the flavor of my original gm and ended up with serious acid reflux.

My stomach was super painful all morning and by the time I was finally hungry again I could only think about one thing – a turkey sandwich. So I went out and got one.

A Turkey Grill, no bacon no butter on the bread, from Coulter Bay. And yes, I ate the fries.

When the husband came home around 6 it didn’t take much arm-twisting to get me to agree to head back to Sweet Tooth.

If I’m really being honest, it was mostly that I’d been home all day except for lab and I wanted to show off my cute top!

Adam got a gigantic sundae (he tore into it so fast I couldn’t even photograph) but I opted for a bear cookie.

I didn’t even realize it was a Black and White Cookie, my very favorite, until I started eating. My nickname for the husband is ‘Bear,’ so it’s possible I took out some of my marital tension on the cookie –

Whoops! 😉

I guess it’s a good thing I got fruit and veggies in at breakfast?! Hope everyone else had a happy Hump Day.

Does your significant other have a pet name? He’s Bear and I’m Mouse. Gag, I know!

6Apr2010

Nightmares and Dream Recipes

by Emily

Let me get my whining out of the way so I can get on to the good stuff: my leg hurts / I’m not getting my to-dos done and I’m going to fall behind in school / I felt exhausted and awful all day.

I actually did get into bed before 10pm last night, a first of its kind achievement for me. However, then I had another first – a nightmare! I used to have night-terrors when I was really young, but this was my first ever bad dream that I could remember. Basically, I went to the fertility doctor and found out I couldn’t have babies with the husband. I was telling my dream-mom how helpless I felt when I woke up in the middle of the night in tears! I don’t even know where in my psyche this came from, the husband and I don’t have babies on our radar (I’m not even taking folic acid yet!).

The good stuff –

Today’s outfit sort of thrills me –

Stripes, high-waist, and pockets; oh my!

Understated but green bowl aside, breakfast was pretty thrilling as well.

I topped the last of the Fage (~1/2cup) with 1 cup (frozen, defrosted) berries and 3 heaping spoonfuls of lemon curd.

My, oh my this was good 😀

My busy sit/stare agenda filled up all my lunch making time, and I ended up grabbing a mango mix1 to go.

I ended up not loving the flavor and giving half of it to Adam. To quell my rumbling tummy I ended up buying a Slim Fast Cookie Dough Bar.

It was tasty, but I have about a trillion bars in my cabinet at home; I need to make carrying one in my purse a habit.

Later during my second class I snacked on some yummy dried fruit.

Kiwis and hibiscus, my favorites.

When we got home the husband whipped up some deviled eggs.

He was super generous (deviled eggs are pretty much his favorite) and let me share one.

I also did some unphotographed nibbling while I cooked dinner. Which was fricking fabulous by the way.

Green Tuna Enchiladas (click here for the recipe link), serves 4.

1 T evoo
1 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 10 oz cans tuna
1/2 cup plus 1 cup green tomatillo salsa
8 small corn tortillas
3T half and half
3/4 cup shredded taco cheese (montery jack would work well too)

Preheat the oven to 350*. Heat evoo in a large pan over medium heat.
Add onion and peppers to oil and brown, about 7 minutes.
Add tuna and 1/2 cup salsa to veggies and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat.
Spoon 2 T filling into each tortilla and place into a 8x11inch casserole, seam-side down.* **
In a separate bowl, stir together last cup of salsa with half and half. Spoon mixture over enchiladas.
Sprinkle cheese evenly over casserole and bake 20minutes.

* Too keep tortillas from cracking and breaking, it is helpful to cover them with a damp paper towel and microwave for 30seconds.

** If you have extra filling it would go deliciously stuffed into a pita sandwich

I paired my serving with a batch of kale chips,

for a tasty, tasty dinner.

Speaking of tasty things –

I wanted to let you guys know that my recipes for Italian Style Gumbo and Buffalo Chicken Baked Pasta have also been posted (click the names for recipe links). Seriously, those two dishes were the best things I’ve ever made! Please, please get the recipes and try them yourselves, they are dreams come true.

I’ve got lots of lab work due tomorrow so I’m going to make like a banana and split.

Do you ever make up your own recipes or do you tend to do things by the book? A lot of my creations are ideas from magazines that I’ve seriously altered; usually made healthier and/or spicier.

5Apr2010

Something Fishy

by Emily

I don’t think it’s just a Monday thing, there is definitely something fishy going on with my head-space. I’ve been falling asleep more easily, but waking up multiple times a night, often just before my alarm goes off (often causing me to reset the alarm to a later time). I’ve been totally distracted – my to-do list was practically untouched today – and getting out of bed feels like waking the dead. I felt like I was peeling myself up at the late hour of 9:30 this morning.

My late wake up hour couldn’t interfere with my trip to the volunteer services office at the hospital though. I ended up throwing jeans and a jacket over my nightgown!

I’m probably the classiest class-less person you know 😉

I wanted to speak to the volunteer office in person because I had to tell them I still won’t be volunteering until after May 7th. I can only get to volunteering via a longish walk, and I’m pretty much useless there unless I’m running things up and down the stairs. I felt badly, especially because I’m probably done with volunteering once summer school starts, but my leg was killing me on the walk there which helped me know it was a good decision.

On the way home I stopped into the gas station for a coffee.

I went with my usual half/half method – equal parts vanilla creme (unsweetened) and English toffee cappuccino (sweetened).

I want to say the caffeine gave me the study boost I needed, but it was more like I stared at my Chem book without moving for 1.5hours, grrrrr! I did make an inspired sort of lunch.

I topped a everything bagel thin with 1 microwaved egg and a slice of buffalo wing cheese.

And I burnt some kale chips for a side.

Tasty, and I did manage to take some notes while I ate.

I need some advice. This is my new $19 one piece from Old Navy –

Nevermind the fact that I clearly have been eating too many nachos, please tell me this suit doesn’t look completely ridiculous in a sport-swim capacity?? I’m planning on heading to the South Campus gym pool this Wednesday to make like a fish.

I had to pick up some stuff – dry cleaning and the husband! – but I ate another egg for some pre-workout protein. This time hard boiled.

Today’s workout was less ‘exotic,’ by exciting in its own rite. I slooooowly hiked up the gym stairs so that I could have a stretch/strength workout using actual equipment. The gym was packed and I hurt my leg on the stairs, so we ended up working out for about 15minutes, but it was a nice idea!

After our “work out” we did take a walk. Our tax refund came today and we were pretty pleased, so we took a trip to the bank and for some celebratory ice-cream. I waited all winter to try out Sweet Tooth.

It was adorable, they had awesome looking cookies, and even had serving sizes that were ACTUAL serving sizes; we’ll be back! I got a “baby” cup of cannoli ice-cream.

Delish. It was marscapone flavored ice-cream with chocolate chips and pieces of cannoli dough. I’ve never actually eaten a cannoli (I know, I know!) but I loved this.

Post-shower (and another intense staring off into space session, wtf?!?), we threw together an Easy Peasy dinner.

I boiled 7oz dry rotini pasta according to the box directions. In the last 3minutes of cook time I stirred in 7oz frozen artichoke hearts and 1cup frozen peas into the pot. Then I drained the pasta/veggies and returned them to the pot.
Meanwhile, I sautéed 1 chopped onion over medium heat. When the onion was browned I added 2T butter,2T flour, and 2T half and half to the pan. I stirred and gave the mixture time to thicken.
Finally I poured my onions and sauce into the pot with the veggies and pasta, along with10 oz boneless skinless canned salmon, and stirred to combine.

It doesn’t look like much, but for how simple it was this dish was tasty and healthy. (Note – this recipe makes 4 servings)

As soon as my teeth are brushed I’m going to curl up in bed with a magazine and hopefully fall asleep pretty quickly. I do not have time in tomorrow’s agenda for sitting/staring. Sweet dreams.

Have you ever had a cannoli? What’d you think?

26Mar2010

Under the Influence

by Emily

Hello from PA! It was a loooong day in the car but we made it. I’m more than ready for bed, and I have an actual topic to discuss, so I’ll keep the food recaps quick.

Breakfast this morning was a new kind of Green Monster.

For two (Adam and I) I blended 2cups frozen spinach, 1cup frozen strawberries, and 2cups skim milk. They were ok, not even close to my regular GM love.

The reason I made the crappy new Green Monsters was because the husband tends to not like oj in smoothies, but was willing to give spinach smoothies a try. Adam almost never eats breakfast, and doesn’t eat anywhere near enough servings of veggies, so if I could get him on the Green Monster band wagon it would be positive all around. I know it seems like I eat a lot of crap (especially in comparison to the other healthy living bloggers) but in general I’ve been a good influence on the husband’s diet since we met.

He eats far less red meat now, maybe once a month or so. He grew up in a more than once a day meat family.
He’s even gotten on board with the occasional vegetarian dinner. And surprise – he loves tofu!
90% of what I cook is healthy.
I always keep the house stocked with healthy snacks.
And even though he eats his own junk from time to time, he’s basically stopped eating any trans fat because of what I’ve told him about it.

Obviously as a medical student the husband has more health knowledge than the average American, but it feels really great to help someone I love make good choices.

For brunch (eaten at 9:30am?) I polished off the rest of the gumbo.

So fricking good, I can’t wait to share this recipe with y’all!

And when we got on the road we split a bag of Fizzy Skittles.

I am in love with the new nutritional panels I’ve been seeing on some products. Obviously that blurb doesn’t tell the whole story (and there is complete info on the back) but I love being able to know calories at a glance.

By 7 we were starving for dinner. When we pulled off Adam got giddy at the sight of this –

Eat n’ Park. Meh. I’m not big on diner food but he was very excited. This is where the husband influences my choices (and not for the better!) I ended up ordering an Oreo Milkshake with my meal.

I always request skim milk when I order a milkshake. I get no more enjoyment from a whole milk milkshake (in fact I much prefer skim) so it never hurts to ask. Never be embarrassed to make healthy substitutions, even to a not-so-healthy order!

For dinner I ordered the pirogues.

I was starving but these were just not good. I ate about 1/3 and then I stopped. I know I’m not exactly the picture of good choices, but I do have one hard and fast rule – If it’s not good for me and I don’t like it I don’t eat it. There are so many foods that I love and so many foods that are good for me, why eat something ho-hum just because it’s there?

You’ll never guess where we ended up stopping to get me the rest of my dinner –

Wegman’s salad bar! I got lots of veggies and I loved them. I’m not gonna lie, I picked all of the broccoli out of the container!

I also love these quad-containers, perfect portion control. Thai style tofu and veggies,

General’s chicken,

and Paneer Mutter.

Yums! I gave Adam a big bite of all three dishes and he loved them as well.

I was left perfectly satisfied by dinner, and probably should have just said no to pizza at the in-laws, but it just looked too tasty.

A weekend trip isn’t exactly a ‘vacation,’ tomorrow I’m going to try to eat a little less crap. It’s bedtime in these parts, sweet dreams!

How have you influenced your significant other’s eating habits? What healthy changes have you inspired (or been inspired by)?

25Mar2010

Bags and Burst Bubbles

by Emily

Hi all! This needs to be quick or I’ll be late to class. I mostly wanted to warn you guys that I’ll probably get my tests back today so don’t expect a chipper dinner post 😦

I ended up eating an entire bag of green beans of lunch.

Roasted with a bit of salt they are just so addictive!

I ate while watching another addiction; “Mercy,” so bad and yet so good!

And managed to get in a fabulous 20minute strength/stretch session. Yays! Even though I’m not at a gym, my mats still get grimy, so I pulled out this bag of wipes my mom got me.

Good smell + natural + clean up = triple duty.

I also just made my first fresh (as in not frozen) spinach Green Monster.

It was good, but I prefer the thicker consistency of my frozen spinach ones. Sorry to all my readers who like me and want to think I’m cool – not to burst your bubble, but yes I totally matched my outfit to my smoothie!

24Mar2010

Equations of Sorts

by Emily

It’s 9:20 and I would kill to already be in bed so I’ll keep this short and sweet. My day went lab –> people watching on campus –> doctor’s appointment/waiting for the husband’s doctor’s appointment –> eating junk whilst watching tv –> this super lame post.

Breakfast = green.