Tag Archives: mushroom

I’m Relleno

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Hello from Ohio.  We’re not here for a happy reason but I’m happy we made it here safely.

We stayed up late catching up on TV last night and I got hungry again.  I served myself a big bowl of cereal with skim milk; Cheerios and some raisin/bran/crunch thing.

I had breakfast food for my late-night snack and dinner food for breakfast.

A grilled cheese with Cabot 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar and Sriracha mayo,

and a sliced honey crisp.

This meal was great but my next bite was terrible.  I stole a piece of Adam’s chicken bites from McDonalds –

Ewwwwwww!  So fried tasting and gross.

My dad flew into Buffalo this afternoon and we picked him up at the airport and headed off on our road trip.  Since we had a “road-guest” we stopped for an actual dinner.

Torero’s served us some damn fine Mexican food!  Pretty healthy too!  Here was my plate –

Black beans,

rice,

and the Vegi-chiladas.  “Steamed carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, yellow squash and zucchini rolled into two flour tortillas, topped with our salsa Mazatlán and garnished with Monterrey Jack cheese.  Served with sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes.”

I ordered my enchiladas sans cheese because I also had a chile relleno waiting for me on my dad’s plate.

Stuffed peppers are usually my favorite Mexican dish but this guy was a little too fried for me.  I ended up eating about a third of everything, except I ate 1.25 tortillas and every single bite of vegetable.

I ate two Samoa Jumbles in the car for dessert.

Still good.

Where is your favorite road trip stop?

Thursday and Friday

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What I’ve Eaten –

What I’ve Been Up To –

  • School has been exciting.  Yesterday I hung out at a pediatric endocrine clinic and today we had a guest lecture from a leading renal dietitian.
  • I’m still sick.  Super sick.  Boo.
  • Also, remember when I said this – “[Adam] was sick last week, I’m sick this week; as long as the dog is healthy next week it’s all good.”?  I jinxed us.  The dog has a massive eye infection and was dropped off at the vet this afternoon.  My poor baby!
  • We are heading to Ohio tomorrow evening.  We’re spending a few days with family and then coming home on Tuesday after the funeral.

What I’m Thankful For –

  • I had an amazing grandpa in my life until I was 26 years old.
  • My teachers are all being great about helping me make up the exams/clinic hours I’m missing to attend the funeral.
  • My dad is flying to Buffalo and driving to Ohio with us.

Road To The Outback

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Hello from Ohio!  I left my boys back in Buffalo and I’m missing them like crazy but I’m having a great time here with my grandparents and mom.

The drive takes 7 hours so our morning started early with Starbucks.

A venti skinny cinnamon dolce iced latte.

I packed my mom and myself sandwiches for the road.

Mine was a cinnamon raisin Bagel Thin with Laughing Cow light french onion cheese and Applegate Farms turkey bologna.

Tasty and easy to eat one-handed.

When we got to Ohio I had a Dove chocolate,

and a Buttered Rum Raisin Cookie.

The afternoon was spent visiting with my grandpa and driving around (I can’t believe they got me back in the car!).

My grandma chose Outback Steakhouse for dinner and I ended up having a great meal.  I got a blue cheese pecan chopped salad to start.

And the tilapia with lump crab meat.

“Tilapia crowned with crab stuffing, pure lump crab meat and sliced mushrooms, finished with a drizzle of light lemon butter Chablis sauce.”

It was served with mixed veggies.

The seafood was all amazing.  Butter sauce requested on the side.

I left about half of the tilapia but devoured the crab.  Yum!

Our evening ended with a trip to the store (my parents stock up on products like batteries and razors when they are in the states) where I snagged this bag of jelly bellys.

I guess I have a kids’ palate because the flavors were right up my alley.  The watermelon was my favorite.

What is your favorite jelly bean flavor?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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I may have had water at the beer garden but I did manage to sneak some booze into my St. Patrick’s Day.

Iced coffee with Tres Leches Liqueur and Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.

I enjoyed my beverage on a walk with the husband and the dog.  It was warm enough to do this –

Spring has sprung!

We all made sure to get our green on today,

even Mother Earth.

It was the perfect day for a walk and apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought so because the sidewalks were packed.  Or maybe people just heard that the Co-op was giving out free carrot cake samples?

It was a fruitful day, I also snagged some samples at the grocery store.  Some peanuts, fresh squeezed blood orange juice, and a big hunk of cheese in addition to the cake.

I also had a pear,

and a 0% Oikos Greek Yogurt with Caramel on the bottom.

Awhile back I complained about the texture changes in Stonyfield yogurt and a company rep sweetly offered to send me some coupons for products I might like more.  You can assume that the next few Oikos products I mention were freebies.  This caramel Oikos was delicious and the texture was perfect, smooth and decadent.

I topped it with a handful of Heath Bar crumbles and it made a great afternoon treat.

I was pretty hungry all afternoon so we ended up making an early, easy dinner.

Tricolor six cheese tortellini with marinara sauce, and roasted sliced mushrooms and shredded zucchini.

Tasty, tasty.  I kept my portion on the small side because my evening plans include a HUGE bowl of popcorn.  Also Stargate: Atlantis.  A real party animal, that’s what I am!

What did you do for St. Patrick’s Day?

Spring Break Has Begun!

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Actually it began yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to blog until today.  I don’t have any big spring break-y plans, but it’s always enjoyable to get some time off.  My mom is coming to visit next week for her spring break though and we are driving over to Ohio to visit my grandparents.

Yesterday morning I walked to school in just pants and a long sleeve T-shirt (spring came just in time for its break!) and ate breakfast during class.  A GoGo Squeez Apple Strawberry pouch,

and a Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo Bar.

Both were good and the combo of salty and sweet was great.

For lunch I had a Simply Asia Spicy Mongolian Noodle Bowl.

I guess it was the morning of packaged foods?

Other than the sodium content (which is something I don’t really worry about within my diet) the nutritionals on these bowls are pretty good and they allow you to get food in a hurry when you’re hungry.  1g of saturated fat and 13g of protein in under 3 minutes?  I’ll take it!

The afternoon included an unsuccessful baking attempt.

My goal was Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey’s Buttercream for a St. Paddy’s Day treat.  But I hate chocolate cake and I really hate Bailey’s Irish Cream so it actually wasn’t too big of a loss.

Since we won’t be telefundraising over break I volunteered to work the final shift last night.  I drank a ProBugs Strawnana Split Kefir on the walk back to campus.

Work went well and at 8:30 it was officially the start of spring break!

Adam and I cashed in a meal out (and a Living Social deal) for dinner at Lagerhaus 95.

There, I drank water at a German beer house like a total loser.

We had an amazing meal and are planning on going back next week with my mom.  Adam and I split three things to maximize tastes.  We started with the Camembert Fondue – Franziskaner infused camembert wheel / crisp apple slices / crusty sesame bread.

Fondue is Adam’s and my favorite dish to share at new restaurants and this one did not disappoint.  The Camembert was served on top of sautéed sweet onions and the flavor mix was magical.

Next we had the special, a Crab cake Sandwich.  It was served with vinegary cole slaw and crisp green apples on a brioche bun.

I hate crab cakes that are full of breadcrumbs and this guy was super meaty and perfect.  The bun was almost sweet which was an interesting contrast.  It came with a trough side of clam chowder that Adam devoured.

Finally we had the Truffled Wild Mushroom Panini – Haus blend of fresh wild mushrooms / white truffle oil / cippolini onions / fresh arugula / gorgonzola / pressed on foccocia.

Everything was great,but this was the best dish of the night, hands down.  Adam doesn’t have a sense of smell and I was dying the whole meal that he couldn’t experience the scent coming off the truffled mushrooms.  The earthiness with the creamy gorgonzola – which was far creamier than any other gorgonzola I’ve tried – was great.

The panini came with a side salad that was also impressive.

There were several herbs, I couldn’t identify which ones, mixed into the lettuce and it had the most unique flavor.  The honey mustard champagne vinaigrette (unpictured) was nice too.

Overall we had an amazing experience at Lagerhaus 95 and I can’t wait to go back!

Sometimes great flavors seem to make you even hungrier for more and Adam and I stopped on the way home for a box of chocolates.

I ate half of every flavor, or two servings.  A little excessive because they weren’t even that good but I kept thinking each flavor would be better.

This morning I tried a Chobani 2% Passion Fruit Yogurt.

So good, my favorite Chobani yet!  I love passion fruit in general but this one had the perfect balance of sour and sweet.  If you’ve never eaten a passion fruit before the crunchy seeds might seem a little strange but I promise it’s worth a try.

Now I’ve got to shower and then I’m off to get my green on and make a trip to the grocery store.  Are you wearing green today?

A Sweet Start

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That title is literal, I opened my day with some baking!

I didn’t get to taste the finished product at 8am, but you can bet that I licked those beaters, raw eggs be damned.

I also had an onion bagel with strawberry jelly.

Try that combo sometime, you won’t regret it.

School was not as sweet; my test was basically a disaster.  I knew a whole lot of material that wasn’t on the test, and a whole lot of nothing about what the questions were asking.  The class is with my favorite teacher whose previous tests (in two other classes) I all scored a 100% on so it was extra disappointing.

Thankfully the test at least meant we were done early, giving me time to work on a group project and go to the gym.  My CT10k workout for today was 12 sets of 2:30 walking / 2:30 running.  5 miles in 60 minutes.  When I was done on the treadmill I did some strength and stretch moves on the mat too.

I drank half of this lemon-lime G2 while I was running.

And when I got home I finally got to try those blondies.

I made Malted Heath Bar Toffee Blondies; swoon.  They are chewy and fantastic but you’ll have to take my word for it because the recipe was cobbled together from a few sources and wasn’t changed enough to be sharable.

I ate 1.5 and then made myself stop so I’d still be hungry for a real lunch.

Though I did get another bowl to lick.

I wasn’t done baking, oh no; can you guess what I made next?

Two Ingredient Ice Cream from Cookies and Cups to fold my malted heath bar toffee blondies into.  I used half light cream and low-fat sweetened condensed milk so I’ll have to let you know how it turns out.  The ‘cream needs 4 more hours in the freezer and I’ll be waiting with bated breath.

In the meantime I made a small green salad.

Baby spinach topped with 1 Tbsp each raisins, groats, and peanut sauce.

Plus I had a bowl of leftover linguine, turnip greens, and mushroom umami pasta sauce with a drizzle of evoo.

I think that set of leftovers was technically the husband’s, but it tasted too good for me to feel bad.

I need to buckle down for a few solid hours of work this afternoon and then I’ve got a fun weekend ahead.  Tonight I’m going with a  group of friends to see a dance performance at UB, tomorrow Adam and I are making a day trip to Toronto, and Sunday I’m having lunch with a dearly missed friend who’s back in town for a visit.  Wheee!

Anything exciting on the agenda for your weekend?

Ombre Umami

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Today’s mood progressed gradually, slowly moving from bad to good.  It felt like I was peeling back layer after layer (probably as I was shaking off sleep!), getting more productive, more happy, more awake.  The visual I kept picturing was the new trend of ombre hair; light at the tips progressing to darker roots.

Sidenote – I’m loving my short ‘do but this look is yet another reason I’m missing short hair.  The main reason being big buns piling on the top of heads.

During the darker morning, as I slumped around the house feeling tired, I ate a big bowl of unphotographed popcorn with Earth Balance for breakfast.  I want to blame popcorn for bettering my mood, but it was probably the long nap I took after eating it.

My dreams have been crazy lately and sleep hasn’t been very restful.  But on an exciting note, I think I might be a sleeper agent as all of my nights of late have been spent as a cop, CIA operative, or other fighter of crime.  After a rejuvenating nap this morning I was ready to take on the day.  Good meals, schoolwork done, peppy attitude.

Lunch was my new favorite sandwich.  A Sandwich Thin with mustard and 3 oz of tempeh.

I had to make a quick stop at the grocery and I rounded out the meal with a few stir fry veggies.

We’re doing another take-out challenge in March and I feel like I’ve got to hit up the hot bar while I can!

Dinner doesn’t look so hot, I agree, but I promise it was delicious.

1 serving of linguine with turnip greens, topped with a drizzle of evoo and a pile of this –

The mushroom sauce ended up even better than I was expecting.  I will totally cop to licking my plate once my pasta was gone.  Yields 16 ounces –

  • 3 pints sliced white mushrooms
  • 2 Tbsp Earth Balance butter substitute
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 Tbsp evoo
  • 1 cup reduced sodium vegetable broth
  1. Melt Earth Balance in a large pan over high heat.
  2. Add mushrooms and 1/4 tsp salt to pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly.
  3. Drain any excess water from the mushrooms and add 1 Tbsp of evoo and the remaining 1/4 tsp of salt to the pan.  Cook an additional 10 minutes butter the mushrooms are beginning to brown*.
  4. Remove from heat and allow mushrooms to cool 2 – 3 minutes.
  5. Pour mushrooms into the bowl of your food processor.  Process 3 – 4 minutes, until smooth, streaming in vegetable broth and remaining 3 Tbsp of evoo.

Adam’s out getting our taxes done but I’m excited to see what he thinks of dinner when he gets home.  Speaking of the husband, there were more sightings this morning!  My friends in another section of clinic ran into him at the hospital today and he even got to meet one of my favorite teachers.

Now I’ve got to get back to hitting those books!  I finally started the work I’ve been ducking all week and I’d hate to lose momentum now.

What current hairstyle are you digging?

Free Means It’s Extra Romantic

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Did everyone have a good day of flowers and chocolate boxes shaped like hearts?  Let me just tell you, there is almost nothing I wouldn’t do right now for a box of chocolates!  We are exactly halfway through Vegan Month today and I foresee a big candy purchase come March 1st.

Clinical practice went well today, I think my red shirt must have made me seem extra confident.  I worked ahead on our assignments for the semester and when I finished screening my assigned patient our teacher actually threw an emergency screening my way.  It stinks to have to do an extra set of SOAP notes but I felt really good that she trusted me to take on something extra.

I had a free coupon so our romantic Valentine’s Day dinner was … Moe’s!

In addition to (way too many of those) chips, I got a veggie burrito.

Inside was a little bit of rice, pinto beans, grilled mushrooms, lettuce, corn salsa, pickled jalapeños, and lots of guacamole.

It ended up being maybe the best burrito I’ve ever had.  I was thrilled to take a closer look at the toppings menu and discover pickled jalapeños as an option.  I think my dream burrito would be mahi-mahi, cabbage, pineapple, pickled jalapeños, and some sort of cheese.

What would be in your dream burrito?