Tag Archives: leftovers

Crazy Cakes

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Crazy-cakes is one of my favorite expressions and for the post title I’m using it both figuratively and literally.  It is crazy stupid that I’m blogging at 1:30 a.m. on a Sunday.  Things have been crazy busy and the next two weeks are only going to get crazier.  Finally, I fulfilled a birthday list goal and made a crazy good cake.

The past few days have been crazy on the healthy living front but I want to blog them because I don’t live a healthy living blog, I live my life.  And in my life 90% of what I’ve consumed in the past week has been pizza.  I’ve decided that attempting to work out over the next week would actually be unhealthy because I’m already getting so little sleep (my planner is workout-free until October 10th).  I’m super stressed and not doing the best job of balancing school work with too many hours at my job.  But again, this is my life.

As I prewrote these posts in my head I had a lot to say, but now that it’s been 4 days since I last blogged I think we shall go WIAW-style for the recaps.  Note – there is no recap from Thursday because I took the day off from everything, took no pictures, caught up on “Awkward” and “Covert Affairs,” and ate pizza and Chinese food for dinner.  It was both necessary and delightful.

The Next 2 Weeks

  1. (9/26)  3 homework assignments are due
  2. (9/27)  the 4 major assignments from my community clinical rotation are due
  3. (9/28)  I’m presenting a journal article for my research methods class.  It is a 25 minute Powerpoint presentation and it makes up a large percentage of our grade.
  4. (9/28)  we have our first Microbiology test
  5. (10/1)  we have our first MNT test <– it is going to be so difficult that our teacher recommended that we all quit our jobs if we can
  6. (10/6)  two friends and I are driving to Philly for 4 days for a professional conference  <– fun, but also holy frick, when am I going to pack?!

Friday

Breakfast on the walk to school.  Zico Chocolate Coconut Water.

Muller Blueberry Bliss Frut Up.

Blueberry Bliss Luna Bar.

China Breakfast Tea with skim milk and a pb-chocolate magic straw while at work.

A See’s candy that my bosses brought us back from their trip to California.  (I had never tried See’s before and now I am a fast fan; soooo creamy!)

A caramel apple non-fat latte as I geared up for a late night.  (Cafe Aroma, Buffalo peeps.)

Wegman’s frozen cheese pizza and a sad salad of romaine and 1000 island dressing.

Cake!

One of my goals for my 27th year was to bake a cake from scratch.  I figured I’d only do this once, so I wanted a recipe that was delicious but didn’t call for cake flour.  After much pondering and Googling, I settled on this Hummingbird Cake recipe from Serious Eats.

If you’ve never had Hummingbird Cake before (I hadn’t!), it is a yellow cake with chopped pecans, crushed pineapple, and mashed banana in the batter that is frosted with cream cheese icing.  This combination of ingredients ends up being amazing.

I made the following changes to the recipe and they all worked out –

  • light brown sugar instead of dark brown
  • low-fat buttermilk
  • canola oil instead of vegetable oil
  • 1/3-reduced fat cream cheese

I baked the three cakes when I got home from work on Friday night.  This activity, of course, included a sprint to purchase more eggs at the co-op 10 minutes before it closed.

Then Saturday morning I layered and frosted helped Adam frost the cake.

His surgeon’s hands came in very handy.

It ended up being a big success!

I brought the cake to book club and it got two-thumbs up all around.  If I ever have to make another cake in the future I will definitely think of hummingbirds.

Both of my book club offers were pineapple-based, because I also made my Tropical Fruit White Sangria.

This batch was made with –

  • 2 cups chopped pineapple
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup Cruzan Guava Rum
  • 1 bottle Rosebud Gold (a local sweet white wine)
  • 10 oz lemon seltzer water

Saturday

Eaten before my 10 am shift at work because I had been up since 5:00 frosting and studying.  Leftover bbq chicken pizza and sliced apple.

Popcorn with Smart Balance Light.

A Zevia Cola at work.

A pizza bagel on my break.  (The Spot uses the very best tasting marinara sauce; it is super zesty.)

My friend picked me up from work and I immediately guzzled two giant glasses of sangria instead of helping her set up.

Book club food, a slice of cheese quesadilla with guacamole and mango salsa, plus two toasts with shrimp dip.

A slice of cake.

Drunkenly eaten at midnight, my 3rd serving of pizza for the day and carrots with french onion yogurt dip.

Sunday

Homemade cole slaw.

A slice of cake.

A See’s candy at work.

Dinner while grocery shopping.  Sweet and sour chicken plus wok-seared veggies.  (This was randomly really tasty and the best hot bar meal I’ve had in a while.)

A medium, non-fat (no whipped cream) Apple Steamer during our class study-session at The Spot.

Baby carrots and french onion yogurt dip while I wrote this post.

An Important Question

Don’t you think that the dog sort of likes like Oprah when he sits with his arms crossed like this?

Crazy Week Was Crazy

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Phew, am I glad that’s over!  Ha!  Not really; this week was crazy but the year is bound to only get crazier.  And I didn’t even have that much going on with school last week.  I did, however, work every single free day.  Also, the husband’s residency applications went out today.  <– giant stressball

Here’s what’s been going on:

  • I haven’t blogged since Wednesday
  • I didn’t work out a single time last week (insert major sad face here)
  • I didn’t do any enough school-work
  • I worked my butt of at work-work
  • I put in a lot of hours helping the husband to finalize his application and edit his personal statement
  • I had to videotape myself giving the husband a nutrition education (it was hilarious)
  • I didn’t eat anywhere near enough the past few days and I’ve been out of control cranky
  • I went to the co-op and stocked up on organic ramen so I never have to skip so many meals again (I was truly that busy)

I don’t have time to do a proper recap but I have taken a photo of every food item that’s passed my lips so I am damn well going to blog them!

Thursday

My clinical group toured the food bank as part of our community rotation.  I car-pooled with a friend and we used a BOGO coupon for iced coffees with skim milk along the way.

We discovered that Got Milk’s Magic Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Straws turn iced coffee into something magical.

So flipping good!

We spent the 2nd half of our food bank visit sorting tomatoes.  It was nice to help out but I had to squelch some major throwing urges.

Lunch was plain yogurt with 2 Tbsp flax and chopped plum and nectarine.

Dinner was Jenna’s Baked Polenta with Mushrooms, Gorgonzola Cheese, and Tomato Sauce.

I made a bunch of changes but the basic recipe was still hers.  My updates –

  • made 4 servings
  • 1 cup of polenta (cooked without butter)
  • 2 pints mushrooms (sautéed in 1 Tbsp butter 1st)
  • 1.5 cups marinara
  • 1 cup gorgonzola
  • cooked 20 minutes

It was really, really good!

Friday

I ate a strange lunch-breakfast in class.  A 2 slices of Applegate Farms turkey on a Sandwich Thin with yellow mustard and 2% colby sandwich.

Roasted seaweed.

An apple.

And apple month candy.

This didn’t fill me up at all and I ate lunch an hour later.  And by ate I mean shoved into my face in under two minutes.  A Wegman’s Low-fat Honey Yogurt.

A Fiber One cookie.

And a Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter squeeze packet.

That Justin’s isn’t even like Nutella, it is frosting!!

Baked polenta leftovers for dinner.

Plus leftover pizza dipped in 1000 island dressing an hour later because I was still hungry.

Saturday

…was ridiculous.  0% Chocolate Oikos.

A plum.

A Honey Low-fat Yogurt with Banana Chobani Flip.

This product is so new that it’s not even on their website but I sure hope they keep making it.  The mashed banana was strangely delicious.

However – I ate all three of those items at work.  And then I didn’t eat anything else all day.  My day went – get up. work, work, work.  edit Adam’s applications.  bed.  He may have slept on the couch.

Sunday

Two breakfasts to make up for yesterday’s lack of calories.  1 serving of Special K Vanilla Almond in Blue Diamond’s almond/coconut milk blend.

Chopped plum and apricot on top of a strawberry 0% Oikos.

Nature’s Path Apple Pie Crunch Plus Chia Bar.

I only bought this because I was having an Apple Month frenzy, but I actually loved it.  The bars were crunchy without being too crumbly and the apple spice flavor was subtle.  Plus, 3 grams each protein and fiber.

I bought a Raaw Passion Fruit Wheatgrass drink at work.

I used to love Jamba’s oj and wheatgrass shots with a passion (ha!) and I adore passion fruit so this was the perfect thing for me.  If the co-op keeps stocking them I will certainly buy one again.

Adam handed me three gummi mice this afternoon.  (His nickname for me is Mouse.)

We had to videotape our interview when I got home from work and it ate up most of the afternoon.  More time was spent giggling than recording!

We split take-out from Vasilis Express for dinner.

A Chicken Souvlaki Wrap,

plus Greek Fries, aka fries smothered in Greek dressing and feta.

When we went to pick up our food we spotted this –

And we had ice cream before dinner (Turkey Hill Double Dunker).

It was mocha ice cream with crunchy cookie and cookie dough and it was ridiculous.

I had my class review at The Spot this evening so I had another iced coffee with skim milk and a magic straw.  I didn’t manage to photograph but I imagine most of you can use your imaginations.

The end?

This post was terrible.  Much too long, poorly written, and exceptionally boring.  I apologize for making you read my food diary.  The end.

Three Fruits And A Lie

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I love long weekends; I’ve had to remind myself all day that it’s actually Wednesday!  I work five days next week so I’ll take any bit of easiness that I can get.

I had a fun and fancy(-free!) smoothie for breakfast.  Taro milk powder, frozen blueberries, and Blue Diamond Almond/Coconut Milk Blend.

Sitting on top of ……can you see them?

Rainbow boba!  I made extra on Monday and these were a fun weekday morning treat.  Unfortunately the boba were too big for my straw and I ended up throwing out half my smoothie once I got to class, but it was a fun idea in theory!

Class went well.  I got the good news that the assignment I completed a week early was done correctly (booyah!).  My M/W nutrition class is on MNT, aka medical nutrition therapy, and right now we are learning all about oncology.  Our class is covering nutrition for cancer patients as well as cancer-preventative diets, and it is all fascinating.  FYI – Low fruit and vegetable intake is associated with twice the risk of cancer for all sites except the prostate.  Brocoli specifically, has a dose dependant relationship with your cancer risk.

I hung around campus a bit and had lunch with Holly.  It was so great to catch up!  (H, we need to get a picture next time!)  It’s fun to relive my first year in the program.  I packed an apple,

and a leftover Reuben Stuffed Turkey Burger on a Sandwich Thin with 1000 island dressing.

I think I actually like the burgers even better cold!

I did some printing and ran an errand on Elmwood and now I’m settled at home.  We are eating dinner early tonight (I’m submitting my post to something so I’m crossing my fingers for semi-decent pictures) but I did have a few snacks.  A slice of 2% provolone cheese,

and a spoon of Biscoff Spread.

That was the last of the jar; so sad!

My agenda for the rest of the day includes my dinner post, a hot yoga class, a 4-minute workout, and hopefully an hour or two of studying.

FOR FUNSIES – Meghann’s lunch post ended with some super fun “Three Truths and a Lie.”  I adore that game so I’m going to post my 4 “facts” here as well:

  1. I learned how to drive on the left side of the road in an American-style car.
  2. I’ve both skydived and flown a plane.
  3. I got my first tattoo when I was 17.
  4. I swam with sharks for my 20th birthday.

Can you guess which one’s my lie??  Post yours in the comments and let’s all try to guess!

[Food] For Thought

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Food

Hello, hello.  Today’s activities would be tricky (and boring!) to explain so I’ll stick with the food.  One note – My stomach was bothering me all afternoon but the main reason I didn’t eat any veggies is because my bag of green beans had gotten slimy and gross.  Here we go…

Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar.

Turkey sandwich – Sandwich Thin, 2 slices of Applegate Farms Smoked Turkey, 1 slice pepperjack cheese, strawberry jam.

The last of my Mike and Ike’s.

The last of these Barbara’s cheese puffs, about half a serving.  Funny story – Adam had a friend over (just one) on Monday.  He bought two bags of snacks, the cheese puffs and some salt and vinegar chips.  All that was left is what I ate today, and that only survived because he knew I wanted to taste them.

A low-fat coffee yogurt with honey-roasted peanuts and honey.

A dapple plucot.

A cheese sandwich – an onion roll with about 2 oz of melted cheese (a mix of extra-sharp cheddar, 2% swiss, and 2% provolone).

A Reuben Stuffed Turkey Burger with 1000 island dressing.

3/4 of a Jamocha Shake that Adam surprised me with when he came home.

Food for Thought

Since I didn’t have much in the way of content for this post, here are the links to a few articles I think you guys might find interesting:

Stir-Fried Soup

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I made it through the first day of a new semester!  I forgot what day it was and pressed snooze a couple of times this morning, but I did manage to make it to the gym for a quick workout.

25 minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.

I cut it close but the husband offered to drive me this morning (both walking and driving myself eat up 30 minutes) so I had time to shower and grab breakfast to go.  A Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna Bar,

and an iced coffee with skim milk.

It wasn’t just any iced coffee.  Do you remember when I blogged about wanting to try Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee?  They now sell it at Wegman’s!

It was even better than I had imagined.  Smooth, not at all bitter, and I swear with the skim milk I tasted hints of chocolate?!

I breakfasted during my first class and the caffeine boost was much-appreciated.  This semester is going to be hard.  I’m only taking a few classes (the minimum number of credits versus having to petition to take extra credits almost ever other semester) but there is a ton of work and the concepts are all higher level.

Good thing I got some work done in the break between classes and my shift at work.  I also made lunch.

A salad of romaine, flax, light honey mustard dressing, a little shredded gruyere, and a crumbled slice of turkey bacon.

Plus apple dippers.

A sliced Pink Crispin,

with a melted mix of peanut butter, Biscoff, and Heath bits, ~ 1 Tbsp of each.

Delish!

I worked from 2 -7 and then came home and wandered around all evening in a tired, sore-backed haze.  That is not going to be able to happen as the semester progresses.  But overall I think I did a good job of getting things done today.

I even pre-made some of the components for tomorrow’s dinner.  I snacked on a serving of Barbara’s Baked Cheese Puffs while I cooked.

They were an impulse buy at the co-op that paid off; didn’t tasted “baked” at all.

Dinner didn’t happen until 9:30 but it was worth the wait.  Super worth it.  Did you make my Thai-Inspired Coconut Peanut Soup yet?  I hope so, because if you did you are halfway done with this killer spin on it – Stir-Fried Soup!

Stir-Fried Soup, serves 1

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Toss in cashews and toast.  Add soup leftovers and Sriracha and saute, stirring occasionally, until crispy.  Scramble in egg.  Serve and swoon.

It was the tastiest thing I’ve eaten in weeks, I swear to God.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve done with leftovers?

Bok To School

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I’m heading back to school tomorrow (eek!) and I finally remember all my education on the importance of vegetables.  Better late than never!  All of my meals today included a veggie and two of them centered around bok choy (“bok to school,” hyuck, hyuck).  Tomorrow I should probably work on including some fruits.

I did not get right into bed last night – and the neighbor’s dumbass friends ringing our doorbell at 4 am didn’t help my sleep either – but I did make it to yoga this morning.  A 60 minute hot yoga class.

Breakfast made use of our bok choy gratin leftovers.

I scrambled a big serving into two eggs along with a few dashes of green Tabasco.

Hidden inside the eggs, this casserole actually wasn’t half bad.

Our afternoon entertainment was a walk through the Elmwood Art Festival.

We saw a few cool pieces but my main goal was lunch and I sadly didn’t see any food that appealed to me.  I ended up eating at the hot bar when we went to the grocery.

Wok-seared veggies that were the best I’ve ever had from the hot bar,

two pieces of sweet and sour chicken,

and a few grapes for dessert.

I also ate this fun-size pack of Sugar Babies while we were out and about.

I nibbled on a half serving of Special K Savory Herb Crackers while I made dinner.

Dinner was homemade soup.

Thai-Inspired Coconut Peanut Soup, serves 4 (vegan)

  • 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • medium green bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 3 green onions, sliced
  • 2 Thai hot peppers, finely chopped
  • 15 oz can stir-fry mushrooms
  • 4 heaping cups baby bok choy
  • 13.6 oz can light coconut milk
  • 16 oz vegetable broth
  • 6 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
  • 2 cups black rice vermicelli, broken in half
  • lime juice (optional)
  • Sriracha (optional)
  1. Heat sesame oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
  2. Add green pepper to pot and cook 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. Add green onions and Thai pepper and cook another 2 minutes.
  4. Add mushrooms and bok choy and cook another 2 minutes.
  5. Stir in coconut milk and broth and bring to a boil.
  6. Stir in peanut butter and vermicelli and boil an additional 7 minutes.
  7. Top bowls with lime juice and Sriracha to taste.

We are both looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.

Also consumed, was an Honest Tea Honey Green Tea.

I’m down to the last bottle from my Honest Tea shipment and I definitly plan on buying more with my own money when they’re gone.

I’m hoping to paint my nails (both sets!) before bed; gotta go!

Macaron Mania

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My parents arrived safely last night and today we had a fantabulous first day of visiting.  I am crazy tired (those old folks will wear you out!) but I wanted to blog so I’d have all of my memories on record.

My mom and dad spent 5 days in Quebec before coming here and they came bearing all sorts of French Canadian goodies.  The best of which…

Macarons!  I’ve wanted try a real macaron for forever (real as in not my good but nontraditional coconut attempt) and I squealed with delight when I opened this box.

I managed not to eat any last night but I might have had two for breakfast.

Sea salt caramel and cassis violet.  Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  They were everything I had imagined and more.  I can’t wait to try the rest of them.

I actually didn’t start my morning with cookies, but with yoga.  60 minute hot yoga class.  It was led by my favorite instructor but the series was different than usual and it was a lot of fun.  We did about a million squats.  Then I spent the rest of the day walking around and my legs are about to fall off.

Adam and my parents went to breakfast at Pano’s while I yoga’d and then we met for a walk around the farmer’s market.  From there we headed to Nickel City Cheese & Mercantile.

We got bread and cheese to share.

The man at the counter kindly sliced both for us so we could picnic on the benches out front.

Tarentaise and sourdough.

Both were amazing.  The cheese was mild with a nutty aftertaste and the bread was loaded with crunchy seeds.

I also ate my Pad See U leftovers in the car.

I didn’t manage to leave much behind last night!

We drove to East Aurora to explore.  We walked right into a street festival.

Our main destinations were Vidler’s (a giant five and dime),

and Firefly Cupcakes.

I got the Tropical Pineapple and it was even better than the key lime pie cupcake.

Pineapple cake with coconut cream cheese buttercream.

The frosting was the best part.

Then we drove back to Buffalo to walk on the waterfront.

Our visitors were very impressed with how close you could get to the water.

Cocktail hour was spent at Mixology.  I had a Shock Top,

and a cherry lemonade vodka with club soda.

It’s possible no one in our party made it to dinner entirely sober.

For dinner we introduced my parents to Adam’s favorite, India Gate.  Paneer pakora to start.

I had 1.5 pieces with lots of tamarind sauce.

For our main meal my mom, dad, and I split three dishes so we could try lots of tastes.

Plate #1 – Naan, chicken makhani, curry chicken, jasmine rice (under the chickens), chana masala, and a pickled okra dish that they gave us on the side.

Plate #2 – More okra and chick peas.

The chana masala was my favorite by far; that is going to be my standing order for now on!

My parents drank tea with dinner and it sounded so good that I ended up getting a skim chai latte when we walked the dog down Elmwood at the end of the night.

I slept terribly last night (I think I got less than 4 hours of sleep all total!) and I’m hoping to pass out the minute this post is published.  Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Have you ever tried a macaron?

Black Bean Benedicts

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As I’d hoped yesterday, this was a much more successful day; after work I checked off several to-do’s that were looming.  I didn’t get in a formal workout (I was out of bed and dressed in time though, go me!) but that was because I chose a long walk with my boys instead.

Our walk ate up my time for working out and breakfasting, but at least I got coffee out of the deal.

(with three caramel coffee creamers)

Lunch was a breadless wb&j, aka a giant bag of green grapes and a packet of walnut butter.

I didn’t love Artisana’s pecan butter so I was pleasantly surprised by the walnut.  I think I’d prefer all off their options with more salt and more roast.

I also ate a thing of broccoli and cashew salad on my walk home.

To-do’s were tackled before cooking.  Sidenote – major shout out to Bank of America for awesome service; we had a fraudulent charge on my credit card and they have resolved the issue so speedily.

Dinner was worth waiting for.

A big pile of roasted green beans.

We roast the green beans (at 450* for 20 minutes) in baking spray and salt but somehow this pile tasted like butter.

Butter made an appearance on the other side of the plate as well.  The exciting thing I was going to do with Cilantro Lime Black Bean Burger leftovers? Benedicts!

Well, my take on Benedicts anyway.  A bean burger topped with a sunny side up egg topped with hollandaise-ish sauce.

The “-ish” is because I couldn’t quite pull off the sauce.  I followed a traditional recipe cut down for two servings – 1 large egg yolk, 1/8 tsp mustard, 1 tsp lemon juice, 3 dashes hot sauce, 2.5 Tbsp melted butter – but I couldn’t get it to emulsify.  I ended up cooking the sauce in my hot skillet to help it thicken up.  The smooth hollandaise texture was lost but the taste was there.

Have you ever tried your hand at hollandaise sauce?