One Bowl Wonder

I guess my nap revved me up because I ended up organizing all my school stuff and doing some Chemistry reading this afternoon, go me!  Unfortunately my biggest accomplishment of the day – a shower – has yet to come, so I’ll have to keep this quick.

Dinner was salad and spaghetti but I wanted to eat on the couch and watch “Make it or Break it” so I had to utilize my biggest bowl.  A layer of mixed greens,

followed by leftover spaghetti.  Note – the leftovers were this recipe with turkey and mushrooms subbed for beef.  Microwaved for 1.5minutes and then topped with a drizzle of clementine olive oil and Siracha.

Yum, it made a very good 1-bowl combo.

For dessert I ate the rest of the cookies my mom sent us home with.

Hopefully that will fuel me through my one-legged shower, think clean thoughts for me!

Do you watch “Make It or Break It?”  In general I eschew high school shows but I used to be into gymnastics so this one is way too enticing for me.

Cheese and Chocolate

It’s an hour later than my goal bedtime so I’ll make this speedy.  I didn’t get much work done today, but I do feel cozy and relaxed.  And full – I ate little things every hour or so and I might have overdone it a bit on the snacking 😉

Crackers with cheese log.

It’s a good thing Adam likes to call me Mouse, maybe that will soften the blow when I gain 20pounds on cheese alone!

I also finished off the Food Should Taste Good Olive Chips, less than half a serving.

And I ate a small square of leftover lasagna.

Next I tried a new candy that my mom bought me.

Tea Infusions Milk Chocolate with Black Masala Chai.

Mmn, I prefer dark chocolate but I loved the way the taste of chai (my favorite tea) came through.  Plus 1 serving, half a bar, had 140 calories which feels reasonable.

I would love to be the sort of person who ate this with a cup of tea, but we have a bottle of Coke Zero leftover from the party so that just wasn’t going to happen.

We took a break to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah,

and, finally, a few hours later we got food from Jim’s Steakout.

A spicy buffalo chicken sub,

and french fries.

Not my healthiest day!

What’s your favorite kind of tea?

Last Lab and Leftovers

I just got back from my last Chem lab ever!  Until next semester that is 😉  Actually, I have to go back next week to officially check out, but that won’t be bad at all.  Nevermind that I did end up failing my quiz, let’s focus on the positives!

I ate some sour cream and onion PopChips before I left for class.

Without a formal lunch though I was starving before I even got to campus.  I tried to trick myself into fullness my eating far too much gum and my body got its revenge by giving me a wicked stomach ache.  😦

And I think it’s good that I’m mentioning the stomach ache before dinner, before I show you what I actually ate for dinner.  The rest of the Annie’s shells leftovers +

I mixed some greens into the mac before microwaving and then doused the whole thing with Taco Bell hot sauce packets.

I know it looks a little swampy, but it ended up being tasty.

I’d like to say I’m going to bed soon, but I’ve said that the past three nights and then stayed up past 1, so let’s just not pretend.  🙂

Do you take home packets from dining establishments?  I’m not so lacking in class that I go out of my way to steal them, but I always squirrel away any leftovers.  The Arby’s packets that are always lying around – Adam eats way too much roast beef – make for the best sandwiches ever!

P.S. Please please don’t enter this; I NEED to win.

Extreme Makeover

I ate several undocumented bites of green bean casserole throughout the afternoon but it didn’t stop me from being ready for dinner!  We used my so-so PF Chang’s leftovers to make something amazing.

The original dish wasn’t so bad, it just needed a little seasoning.

We also upped the veggies by added 2/3 cup steamed broccoli and 1/2 cup shredded carrot.  We pan cooked the whole thing, adding two eggs at the end.  Delicious.

It’s crazy that my leftovers made (large) meals for two of us.  How much were they expecting me to eat?!

I feel pretty sick so I’m going to try to shower and get to bed soon.  I probably have another cookie somewhere in there too 🙂  I hope everyone’s long weekend went off without a hitch!

Do you take leftovers from restaurants?  Why not?

Road Tripped

We are in Ohio!  My grandmother’s internet isn’t the best and it’s been a long day so I won’t be able to be as detailed as I would like.  It’s been a good day though 🙂

We got up at 6:30 this morning and were out the door before 7am.  The trip was 400+ miles so we had to get an early start.  I packed up food for the road, a la Thanksgiving Challenge, threw on a sweatshirt and split.

I had some am amazing grass – 1banana, 1scoop grass, big pour skim milk, 8 ice cubes, blender.

I was so proud of the husband for drinking some too!

A few hours later I ate a yummy leftovers sandwich.

1.5 buffalo blue bean patties on toasted bread with honey and jack daniels mustard.

We split the driving fairly evenly – 2hours Adam, 2hours me, 2hours Adam.  The switches were a nice excuse for pee and diet soda breaks!

When we got in to Piqua my grandparents had a great lunch ready for us.

Carrot and dill soup was delicious.

And the two-cheese grilled cheese were so nice and gooey.

There were also spicy bread and butter pickles and sunchips on the table.

I ate more chips throughout the day than was a good idea!

To drink I had half of Adam’s holiday Coke,

and I split a lime beer with my grandmother.

For dessert I had a cherry cordial from the box of candy we brought as our hostess gift.

We had a great time hanging out with my grandparents.  We played Euchre and my grandpa bought us all fun lotto cards!

I didn’t win, but it was nice to dream.

My aunt and uncle drove up this evening and we all had a great dinner together (more soup and sandwiches!).

The soup was white chicken chili,

and the sandwiches were pulled chicken – I think we are done with chicken for a bit!

I also had one delicious deviled egg.

Dessert was homemade old fashioned cream pie.

It was awesome, but the crust was store-bought so I just scraped out the filling.

Plus coffee with 2% milk.

Look at their adorable sugar bowl!

Now it’s almost 10 and I would love to get in bed!  Overall it’s been a fabulous (filling) day!  My grandmother is such a good cook and it’s so great to be with family.

What do you usually pack for road trips?

Back in Action Jackson

My fabulous weekend (fueled by lots of booze) left me not so fabulously dazed.  Jet-lag doesn’t even describe it, more like rocket-lagged!  Unfortunately my Chemistry test preparation this afternoon paid the highest price.

I was exhausted when I went to bed last night (after 1:30!) so I told myself I could sleep in as long as I wanted.  I got out of bed at 11, and it’s possible I should have stayed in until noon.  Even sitting on the couch in a daze wore me out 🙂 

I need manage to cobble together some lunch out of the husband’s leftovers from this weekend.

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I steamed 3oz of broccoli in the microwave, then added 1/2C cooked quinoa, 1/2T worchestire, a few dashes chipotle tabasco, and 3T low fat mozzarella.

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I rounded things out with a candy sample from my Foodbuzz swag.

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The packaging was lovely and the carrot cake goodies inside were even better.  They were nice and chewy.  The serving was the whole box (3) but I ate two and left one for the husband.

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I realized I was going to eat more candy if I stayed at home, and was getting nothing done anyways, so it was time to head to school.  I got dressed in my ‘I worked in New York City” duds,

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and even pulled out the big guns.

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Sadly, none of this helped me to do any studying this afternoon.  I went to the library to print of the class notes and ended up doing more dazed sitting until it was time for the test.  Shockingly, I think the test went really well!  I felt very confident and I’m excited to get my grade back.

During class I snacked on my last 18 Rabbits bar, Haute Diggity Date.

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This is my last taste of SF until my swag box gets here from Fed-Ex.

I got home at 8:30 and got started on dinner.  Someone commented last week that it is hard to eat well on a budget, so I give you the main component of tonight’s dinner –

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and in fact, this would have been a twofer meal with leftovers had I not dropped half of it on the floor 😦

But drop I did, so I will give the recipe for a two-serving portion – Cauliflower Patties

  • 1/2 lb cauliflower, chopped
  • 1/2 C flour
  • 1/8 t curry powder
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 egg
  • 2T lemon juice
  • 1T evoo
  1. Steam cauliflower.
  2. Pour cooked cauliflower into a blender/food processor and pulse, stopping occasionally to stir, until cauliflower is uniformly crumbly.
  3. Pour into a medium mixing bowl and add everything but evoo. 
  4. Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan over medium high heat.
  5. Mash cauliflower mixture together and form into 8 small patties.
  6. Cook patties on stovetop in two batches, about 2minutes per side.

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I served mine on top of a lettuce base, drizzled with 1T light blue cheese dressing.

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Delish!  I also shared a Zevia with the pilgrims.

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On the agenda for the rest of the evening?  A trip to Wendy’s to redeem some frosty coupons, couch cuddling and an episode of Bones, and a bit of unpacking.  Tomorrow I’m going to school with the husband in the morning so I’m not sure what the posting situation will be.  Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite!

What have you made into patties?  I’m a fan of pretty much any veggie/meat in patty form, in fact, we are having something similar for dinner tomorrow!

Table to Toast

Letting things go to waste is not in the spirit of the Thanksgiving Challenge, so breakfast this morning was all about the leftovers.  To use up I had – bread from my grandma’s birthday lunch, and pumpkin from the cupcakes I made.  To use it up I made…..

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French toast.  I used 2eggs and a splash of skim milk because I like it super eggy.  Topped with pumpkin, cinnamon, and maple syrup.  Delish.

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I did not make it to the gym this morning, the husband gently suggested I catch up on sleep.  We were up at 1am because he was studying for a test and it’s possible I had a mild, sleep-needing, fit; complete with incoherent rambling about my glass of water.  Apparently I was thirsty?!?

There’s lots to do around here, so I’ll see you for lunch.

What were the last leftovers you saved?

Seriously, Make It

What a day, what a day!  Early in the week headaches have officially been canceled out, today bumped my weekly productivity up to 100%!  Things actually started off a little rocky; we were awake so late we slept through the alarms!  I panicked for a moment but I realized that my legs were hurting pretty badly so it wasn’t the world to cancel my gym session anyway.

I finished my post-lab work at home and then headed to The Spot to study.  I was dreaming of a Mike’s Sandwich but I didn’t actually get there until after 11 and they were no longer serving breakfast.  Buffalo parking is a bummer.  The barista totally empathized with my craving though and hooked me up with an everything bagel with sliced turkey and colby cheese (+ diet coke).

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Craving decimated!

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A few hours later I also got a tall Americano with skim milk.

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My focus today was out of control, I only got distracted twice!  Once when I was reading about the visible light spectrum and started thinking about how my rings act like a prism in the sun…

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and again when I got this…

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I drove to school around 3:30 and continued the study frenzy before my 6:30 class.  In total today I completed reading an entire chapter (with 11pages of notes!!), pre and post work for this week’s labs, and a class session.  Plus I put away 4 loads of laundry when I got home.  And I made a grocery list for tomorrow.  I’m going to do a little baking before my trip 🙂  Tomorrow is still going to be a bit crazy but I made a definite dent.

For dinner I finally got the try my Moussaka.

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Yums!  You broiled it for a bit so the cheese got all nice and brown and I loved the combo of veggies.

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I had an Orange Zevia to drink.

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Dessert was fall personified – chopped up Cortland apple, sprinkled with cinnamon and 2T cinnamon caramel apple dip, heated in the microwave, topped with a crumbled Maple Pecan Boomi Bar.

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Seriously?  Seriously?  This might be the best thing I’ve ever eaten.  The caramel thinned out when it melted so it coated every single piece of apple; the apples got nice and soft; and maple pecan boomi bars are freaking better than cookies.  Make this.  You will not be sorry.

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Thursday is looking to be pretty rushed, so it will probably be another full day recap post.  See you Thursday night after lab!

Don’t forget about my Zevia giveaway.

Also; watch this.  Seriously, it’s the funniest thing ever.