Tag Archives: mushroom

Delirious Dinner

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I’m going to go ahead and apologize in advance for the plethora of typos that will most likely pepper this post.  Between my 4+ hour sleep deficit and wracking my brain all day for answers to two major tests, I’m a bit off my game.  And the husband was on a 24-hour shift last night and he’s wrecked as well.  Our joint delirium made for an interesting afternoon.

But first, lunch.

Despite appearances, that’s not a yogurt.

It’s also not a 6oz container but a big guy, stocked with last night’s roasted dinner leftovers.

These were still good cold, but I had to shovel them in at 10am which felt a little odd.

I want to think my tests went well, but honestly I’m not sure I even remember.  Thanksgiving break is going to be all about catching up on sleep.

When I finished my make-up exam at 3, I picked up the husband so we could do a quick grocery restock.  My gnawing hunger led me to the gingerbread men.

Such a good idea.  Adam ate his buttons, and thought this was so funny he made me snap a picture.

I told you we’re tired.

Except that tired is the understatement of the century.  Between bad luck, Adam’s distraction, and my complete and utter confusion at life, we went to three different grocery stores and somehow ended up with nothing more than a bag of pears to show for it.  Frick.

Some complaining, more confusion, and lots of aimless driving later, and we managed to end up at a Chinese buffet for dinner.

We were totally drawn in by the bubble tea.

Adam and I split this Taro one.

The food wasn’t necessarily good, but it certainly wasn’t bad either.  Not healthy at all and a miserable lack of vegetables, but overall we had a nice dinner.

Green beans, baked salmon, 2 stuffed mushrooms, and a crab rangoon.

Sushi, chicken with broccoli, and some cheesy crab salad that blew my freaking mind.  It was so rich I couldn’t even eat all of what’s shown but I was seriously in heaven.

Tiramisu, pineapple, glazed banana, pudding, coconut gelatin.

I had lost steam by dessert and shared .25 – .5 of this with Adam, but I did devour the coconut jell-o.

I love buffets because getting to try little bits of lots of things makes my soul happy.  If I could find a buffet with actual healthy options I think my heart would explode with joy.

And sleep in 3, 2, 1 …

How do you feel about buffets?  What dish do you always look for on the line?

Fall Back Into An Hour

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Did everyone remember to reset the clocks for today?  I’m thrilled with DLS this year, it’s been entirely too dark the past few mornings.  Though it does stink to be out-of-sync with my parents again; we don’t change the clocks back home so they’ll be an hour ahead of me all winter.

I needed that extra hour today too.  I had a 10:30 group meeting and I’m not sure I would have made it on time at “real” 10:30.  My friends Janessa, Kim, and I worked on our cultural food project at the Elmwood SPoT from 10:30 to 2.  I bought breakfast to eat while we worked.

A giant fruit cup.

There was honeydew, watermelon, and pineapple in there and I gladly paid $3 for it.

An everything bagel with veggie cream cheese.

This was ok but I’m not sure why they used so much cream cheese.  I scrapped some off after the photo and I ended up losing a lot of the veggies.

And an iced coffee with lots of skim milk.

Iced because we sat at a table in front of a big window and were fricking boiling.

At least the warmer weather meant we could take the dog on a longer walk this afternoon.  We even took him off his leash on the block near our house so he could practice being a “free-range” puppy.

I ate this Stonyfield 0% Chocolate Underground when I got home.

Served in my ice-cream cone bowl because it was eaten as a dessert.  I topped the yogurt with a Tbsp each butterscotch chips and shredded coconut.

Butterscotch chips are way better in yogurt than chocolate because they don’t harden as much in the cold.

Since I’m working from 6-9 tonight we ate an early afternoon dinner.

It was the early bird special, stir-fry style!

Into our wok went:

  • chopped broccoli
  • cole slaw mix cabbage and carrots
  • canned straw mushrooms (<– love!)
  • canned water chestnuts
  • smidge of hoisin sauce
  • 5 Tbsp stir fry sauce

Underneath my serving of veggies was 3oz of cooked whole wheat spaghetti that I reheated in a pan with 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil and a large egg.

It was a very tasty and satisfying dinner.

It feels a little strange to blog before work, but since 9 o’clock will feel like 10pm I doubt I’ll want to eat anything when I get home.  If I decide to snack I’ll update.

Finish this sentence – “With my extra hour today I …..”

Like Buttah

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For how crazy this month is going to be, my week has been good.  I got over the hump today just fine.  No gym time today unfortunately but it’s not like that unhealthy habit is a change from the norm 😉

Breakfast was unorthodox (there was a unpictured 8am Cherry Coke Zero too!) but enjoyable.

A baggie of pretzels dipped in yellow mustard.  I’ve been having the strangest, strongest craving for yellow mustard lately; I see a lot more of this snack in my future.

I actually had to leave campus during my mid-day break today.  I had to run to the orthodontist and the grocery store.  Somehow I found myself home with enough time to make a downright gourmet lunch.

This meal was healthy and delicious, and it made me feel like such a grown-up!

Sardine Mushroom Tomato Pasta Sauce (click here for recipe!).

I was having bread as my side so I ate my serving over just a bit of mini rigatoni.

Amazing.  The sauce ended up so buttery!  When you cook sardines and mushrooms this way they both turn to butter (plus there was some butter in the recipe, duh).

And a cheddar jalapeno bialey.

It was amazing as always but I ran out of time so half of what’s pictured was actually saved for later.

I didn’t want to risk a full parking lot so I left my car and home and headed back to campus on foot.  I have not been walking to school as much this semester and the post-lunch stroll felt glorious.

I had an attune milk chocolate crisp probiotic bar for dessert.

This was another HLS sample that I plan on buying again.  I don’t necessarily need the probiotics but the taste was much better than most American “mockolate” candy bars.

I had a … challenging day at school (I’ll leave it at that), then a nice shift at work, and before I knew it 9pm had arrived and the husband was picking me up.  We are enjoying a rare day in the 50’s so we took advantage of the weather and took a quick walk when we got home.  Holding hands skin-to-skin (as in no gloves, which I call “claw condoms,” by the way) outside in November is rare privilege here!

I’m going to go ahead and skip dinner tonight.  Bedtime sounds so much more necessary than food right now!

Do you have any nicknames for your winterwear?  What do you call your gloves, hat, and scarf?

Veg Head

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The chili sale was good, work was good, but today was crazy and I’m tired so I’ll keep this quick.

Sometimes, when I know that the schedule of a day will make it impossible to keep an all-around healthy lifestyle (like today!) I’ll choose one healthy goal to work on.  Today’s goal?  Making veggies the main “meat” of all of today’s meals.  And in light of today’s goal, I think this is the perfect post to share the vegetarian infographic my friends at RetailMeNot sent my way –

Vegetarian Foods
Source: RetailMeNot.com

Breakfast’s veg was eggplant.

My Cheesy Baked Eggplant leftovers are just as tasty as they were the night I made them, even cold and straight from a Tupperware!

Today’s schedule was class –> chili sale –> orthodontist –> work –> home.  With a fun mid-day addition of cake tasting.

A classmate’s wife is starting a cake business and sent one in for us to give feedback on.

Lunch was a Chili Sale meal (we did great by the way, made more than $250 to give to the food bank!).

Veggie = beans in the vegetarian chili.

Plus a super delicious roll, provided by Romeo and Juliet’s Cafe.

And a bit of the tasty veggie sandwich they brought as well.

Dinner was pure veg.  Spinach, butternut squash, mushrooms, (and tofu and craisins!).

Yesterday I went on a roasting extravaganza.  I did the tofu in maple syrup and rice vinegar, the squash in curry powder, and the mushrooms in truffle oil and salt.  Once everything was nice and toasty (30 minutes at 350* followed by 20 minutes at 400*)  I put them all together in a Tupperware with a few handfuls of spinach and some craisins.  I shook everything together and the heat from the roasted veggies wilted the spinach a bit.

It was perfect.  And the mix of flavors was great.

As were these –

The bookstore was having a Combos’ sale, how could I resist?!?  I didn’t eat that entire big bag but I definitely came close!

I really wanted to make it to the gym today but it just didn’t happen.  I’m hurrying to the bed in the hopes that a good sleep will get me to there tomorrow.

10/90 Work To Sleep

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I spent basically the whole day napping with the dog and the husband.  It was epic.

Just like next week will be an epic fail as I try to work around all the stuff I didn’t do.

I swear the cold just makes me go into hibernation.  My appetite was all over the place too.  We started our “morning” with hunks of sourdough dipped in herbed olive oil.

Off all the things my body could have demanded at 45* degrees in October, next came ice cream.

I topped Ben and Jerry’s Cinnamon Roll ice cream with hot fudge and Heath crumbles.

When we did make our way out of the cave it was to go to the movies.  50/50 was great; very touching and funny.  I love Seth Rogan in everything he does but it was nice to get to see him play a new role.

We also made a weekly trip to Wegmans.  They were out of eggplant entirely which through our meal plan for a loop, but I think we worked it out.  We didn’t get any hot bar (more on that tomorrow) but I did buy 50cents worth of Halloween candy.

50cents for $100 worth of happiness.  I live for theme things.

Following the theme, Adam and I split a pumpkin beer when we got home.

Shock Top’s Pumpkin Wheat was wonderful.  Not bitter at all like some pumpkin beers I’ve tried.  I think I actually liked this variety better than traditional Shock Top.

For dinner we made this tofu quiche.

Same recipe as last time, though I did leave out the milk this go-round.

It was quite good; very cheesy.  A good hibernation food.

How did you celebrate the start of October?

The Pumking and I

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Has October become synonymous with winter in your neck of the woods too?  It’s so freaking cold here I’m actually blogging in bed!  We aren’t planning on switching our summer for winter wardrobes until next weekend and I’m not quite sure how we’ll get through to then.  I’m keeping this post quick before my laptop dies.

I did not get near enough schoolwork done this afternoon.  I did drink some milky tea,

and get in a session at the gym.  30 minutes on the elliptical, random level 6.  I started to read The Help while I ellipticized.  I’m only 5 pages in but I’m already loving it.  I’m not loving that it’s 500+ pages long; normally that would thrill me but I have to finish it by next Friday for book club!

For weekend fun, we met up with two other couples at The King and I for dinner.  People have praised The King and I as the best Thai in Buffalo for years; I’m so glad we finally got a chance to go.  And the food was pretty dang delicious.

I stole several bites of Adam’s Tom Yum soup.  The famous Thai soup, slightly sour and spicy with fresh mushrooms, tomato, chili, lemongrass, galangal, and lemon juice with cilantro, scallions, and chicken.

I loved how tangy this was, totally umami.

My tactic to trying out a new Thai spot is to order either the Pad See Eiw (my favorite meal on Earth) or an extra spicy dish (to gauge what they deem “spicy”).  Tonight I went the spicy route.  I ordered the vegetarian Pud Met Ma Muang.  Steamed tofu sautéed with cashew nuts, mushroom, bamboo shoot, bell pepper, onion, broccoli, baby carrots, and Thai basil leaves in a hot chili sauce.  I ordered 5-star spicy and extra veggies so they added chili, Napa cabbage, and zucchini.

Loved it!

I would only call this 3-star spicy but I’m rating the dish 5-stars for satisfaction since the veggies were so good.  Other Thai places in Buffalo load up their dishes with onions, it was great to have an actual plate of vegetables!  Plus everything, tofu included, was cooked perfectly.

I basically licked my plate clean, plus several scoops from the communal rice bowl.

We will definitely be coming back soon.

None of the couples were ready for the night to be over so we all headed to Dolci for gelato.

The worker graciously let me taste several flavors (including Sriracha-coconut!!) until I came upon two that made my heart sing.

Burnt caramel and Pumking Ale.  The burnt caramel was obviously the best because you just can’t top that flavor but the Pumking Ale was amazing as well, and the combo was divine.  The Pumking had just hints of booze and pumpkin and it was almost fizzy!  I totally confirmed my suspicion that I can’t make it through this October without some Southern Tier.

What’s the strangest flavor of ice cream you’ve ever tasted?

Wegman’s Jackpot

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We didn’t get in bed until past 11pm and the dog snuggled me awake 10 different times during the night but somehow I did manage to get in a 6am gym session.  Woo-hoo!  30 minutes on the elliptical at level 5.  My feet kill and I was moving pretty slowly, but I got some movement in and spent some time reviewing my notecards.

When I got home I grabbed a coffee for the road but didn’t bother taking a picture because the dog ate my camera cord.  Coffee, English Toffee syrup, Silk Plain Almond Milk.  I think y’all know what that looks likes.  Instead, here is a picture of Webster the Destructor –

I had a nice break between class 1 and 2 because my test only took half of the alloted time.  The test went well, probably not an A but definitely not an F.  We’ve had mostly multiple choice questions for the past year so I need to get used to the short answer, matching, etc. format.

I ate my breakfast on the break (I uploaded my photos after I packed lunch last night).  Mini box of raisins,

serving of Love Grown Granola (HLS swag),

and a Trader Joe’s applesauce packet.

I ended up going ahead and eating my lunch during the same break (phone pic).  I packed a frozen serving of leftover kale and beans which I plated and stuck in the campus bookstore microwave. 

There was a bit of tofurkey sausage and parmesan on the bottom too.  Even frozen and defrosted the bbq kale and beans were still delicious!  I’m sad this is all gone and plan to make another batch soon.

Eating lunch at 10am left me pretty hungry come my second break but I distracted myself with some computer time.  <– I even started writing this post!

After school I had to run to Bagel Jays to pick up some halvah for a school presentation later this week.  They were all out, but the cashier did have a suggestion of where I could find more.  And an epic journey to the Wegmans 25-minutes away with an international section ensued.  In the end that hour was completely worth it though; I ended up finding all sorts of goodies that I haven’t spotted elsewhere in Buffalo!

Adam and I have been searching for everything matzoh every since we left Miami!  And I was excited to eat a snack find right away.

Pizza flavored snacks (chips? crackers?) from Bissli.

Adam and I split the package and we both loved them.  The flavor was pretty mild but the texture was unlike any snack I’ve ever had, very hard and crunchy!  When I turn my epic Wegman’s journey into a monthly event I will definitly be buying more Bissli products.

I also drank a Wegman’s diet root beer and pretty much died and went to heaven.

Sidenote -I don’t show you all of the diet soda I drink (I’d never get off the computer!), just the interesting ones.  Diet cola is my favorite thing on Earth but other sugar-free sodas tend to make me gag.  I’d sooner dehydrate than put Diet Sprite in my mouth.  But this root beer was amazing; perfect balance of sweet and spice, no aftertaste.  This actually was the best root beer I’ve ever had, diet or regular, period.

We ate our snacks on the road because we were out searching for a camera cord replacement.  Many (many) stops later we finally had success.  By the time I had the ability to photograph dinner Adam and I were completely demoralized.  He actually called my mom and begged to charge dinner!  She’s the best lady ever, so out we went.  And wouldn’t you know it, we wandered into restaurant week.

How serendipitous!

My pictures of dinner are all terrible.  I’m hoping it was the lighting because if I need to buy a new camera right after I sprang for a new cord I might just cry.

Course 1 was soup;

a jalapeno cheddar corn potato chowder.

This had a nice spice to it but was too rich for my taste.

For my entrée I ordered the tortellini ratatouille.

That’s not it.  I was two bites in I was complaining about the lack of veggies when I came to a startling realization – this was the tortellini Bolognese.  Pros – my entire pre fixe meal was comped.  Cons – I ate a cow!!?!

Our waiter was apologetic about the mishap and soon enough I had my ratatouille.

Much better, this had tons of veggies.  I ate 2/3 of my meal and brought the leftovers home for a happy husband.  He ordered steak with a Stilton crust and was thrilled.

For dessert I ordered peach cobbler with Grand Marnier and chantilly cream.

I never really consider the cobbler but this was a lot of fun to eat.  I finished all of the peaches and cream and 3/4 of the cobbler.

Not so fun is the fact that my stomach started hurting halfway through dinner.  It was bad enough that the pain was making me sweat (though not bad enough that I’ll skip dessert, apparently!).  The issue was probably the creamy soup, but I’m going to blame the beef!

Are there any foods you don’t eat?  When was the last time one slipped into your meal?  Veggies – how do you react when you accidentally consume some flesh?

Oh, Balls

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Oh.  Hello there.  Are you here to hear me talk about my balls?  Well calm down, I’m getting to that.  I do have some exciting ball news but there was lots of excitement today.

Like my discovery of my new favorite smoothie of all time.

I know it doesn’t look like much but this new combination was freaking amazing.  I put 1 cup of lemonade and 2 Tbsp of chia seeds in my blender and left them to soak.  Five minutes later I added 1 cup of frozen strawberries and then blended like crazy.  Here’s an outside picture so you can really see the color –

Un-be-leave-a-bull!  The chia seeds mostly blended but still left a nice chew and their nuttiness was the perfect foil to the sweet and sour of the strawberry lemonade.

Even better, my smoothie actually held my stomach through my 4 hour class.  I attribute this to the chia seeds.  My 2 Tbsp of chia seeds gave my smoothie an extra 140 calories, 5 grams of protein, 11 grams of fiber, and 7 grams of polyunsaturated fats (mostly omega-3s).  source

That’s not to say I wasn’t ready for lunch though.  We had a “welcome back” department lunch today, complete with food.

I took a slice of mushroom pizza,

a few fresh veggies,

and some amazingly fresh strawberries and watermelon.

I also grabbed a 2nd slice later on.

In other lunch news I finally had an apple month win!

This caramel apple iced coffee from my school’s coffee shop totally hit the spot.  I did only drink half of that monster (I thought I was ordering a small) but I definitely made sure to get every last lick of caramel out of my cup.

Fully fueled, I headed to the gym for a L-O-O-O-N-G spells long workout.  I had a time goal and a length goal and I ended up hitting my time goal long before my length one; ie I took too many walking breaks and was slow!  I did a looong warm up and looong cool down with walk/run intervals in between that ended up being a lot of walking. 

In the end I covered 9 miles in 1 hour and 53 minutes.  As slow as you can move and still call it running but the distance at least is nothing to sneeze at.  P.S. I’m having some issues with the bones in my right foot but my legs feel great; yay!

Alright already, let’s talk about the balls.

S’mores Oat Balls.  Click here for the recipe link.  I swear to God this recipe was inspired by the S’mores Quaker Chew Bars and not my desire to say the word balls repeatedly after eating and rewatching Schweddy Balls.

The recipe was simple but the end result was delicious yet subtle.  Part s’more, part oat, totally acceptable for breakfast!  I resisted any nibbling while I assembled but I did eat two balls as soon as they were formed.

Make them at home, I promise you’ll love my balls.

Since we ate dessert first dinner needed to be a 15 minute affair.

I prepared 2 servings of spirals pasta, stirring frozen spinach and peas into the mix in the last few minutes of boiling.  Then I made Emily’s Nutritional Yeast Sauce and tossed everything together.

Yum, I thought the nutritional yeast was really good; though that could have been my love for peas with pasta talking.  Head over to The Daily Garnish (recipe link) to see all the benefits of nutritional yeast, but suffice to say dinner was healthy.

Adam has a test tomorrow and I have a really hard time sleeping when he’s not in bed (the upcoming surgical rotation should be fun!) so I’m going to stay up with him.  Studying, blog reading, perhaps a shower; who knows what I’ll get done.

P.S. I used the word “balls” 10 times in this post.  Sorry, Nana!