Tag Archives: mushroom

Sweet Sore First Day of Spring Sunday

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Can I tell you guys how sore my legs are?!  Moving around involves lots of lurching and waddling.  My longest runs before I got sick were about 2miles so the 5k was long comparatively.  Speaking of tired things, I kept us up past 3am the last few nights with my coughing, so we’ve both been a little tired.  The cure for that was a nice long, college-style sleep-in until noon.

When we did get up we had some errands to run that took us towards Wegman’s hot bar.

I got a nice mix of veggies,

and a few pieces of sweet and sour chicken.

I also snacked on a Crunchie Bar for dessert.

More candy from England (via Canada), this honey sponge candy is so crunchy and good!

Dinner was easy-peasy, and cheesey.

4-cheesey!  Newman’s Own Four Cheese Pizza.

I was sent a free coupon for the pizza through the Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program.

The cheese mix was tasty, but the crust was a little bit squishy.

I ate my serving with some roasted green beans.

It ended up being a tasty meal,

which is good, because I’ve packed the exact thing for lunch tomorrow!

In sweet Sunday spirit, we also made cupcakes.

Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes with Marshmallow Topping.  The recipe came from Shape magazine.

I followed the recipe exactly for a change, except that I made 16 cupcakes instead of throwing some of the batter out.  <– Seriously the stupidest instruction I’ve ever read; why on earth would you instruct readers to throw out part of the batter?  Just say the recipe makes 16 servings instead of 12.  And even with “extra” cupcakes we still had frosting left over, making it even stupider!

Stupid recipe or not, it was a stupendous recipe.  The frosting tasted exactly like marshmallow topping!

I enjoyed one cupcake for dessert.  I was going to have another, but chocolate cupcakes don’t really throw me, so instead I ate a pinch bowl of icing.

Perfection.

What did you do to celebrate the first day of spring (today)?

Furtive, Unfathomable, and also Enigmatic

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I’ve been away from the computer all day, it feels good to get back!  Only for a minute or two though, I’ve got a major exam tomorrow!

I think I’ve also got a cold.  Not to worry, I still blame all my tiredness on inconsiderate barking dogs, but I’ve got some definite sickness symptoms as well.  My interview went great (I don’t want to get into more for privacy reasons) but the minute I left the office I was practically shaking with exhaustion.   My neck/throat are so sore and puffy too.  Not to worry though, the husband decided that with my swollen nodes I look like a bullfrog when I shrug my shoulders; this has delighted him to no end all day long.

Thank goodness Adam didn’t have school today, he could drive me to and from my interview, and also to Wegman’s for a study session.  Thank goodness I packed a comfier outfit than my suit to change in to.

Not so great was that forgetting my socks meant I couldn’t change shoes; I felt like I was playing grown-up grocery shopping in heels.

And grocery shop we did (Wegman’s has the new Chobani flavors!), but first a study session and hot bar.

Even though the vegan challenge is over I still stuck with mostly veggies,

plus a little chicken for fun.

And when we got home hours later I snacked on another Bananas Foster Bar.

Seriously guys, make this recipe!  It’s like tasting Banana Bread and Coffee Cake’s wonder baby that could take over the world.

Dinner was delicious but secretive, I’m testing the recipe for a contest I’m entering and I can’t share.

Roasted brussels sprouts,

plus the mystery sandwich.

Tasty, and hopefully it will somehow magically make me smarter for tomorrow; fingers crossed!

Lift the veil; tell me a secret about you!

<3 <3 <3 <3

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Every moment spent on the computer I’m not cuddling with my valentine, so I’ll keep this quick.  Especially since I wasn’t the only one with a surprise to give today –

Lunch today was 7-Layer Casserole leftovers.

This recipe just got better and better as it sat.

My quiz went ok, but it was a busy busy day.  We had “fancy” dinner plans originally, but when I saw how much work I had to do in the evening we decided to do take-out instead.

In addition to a ton of chips, I also had a vegetarian burrito.

A little bit of rice, plus black beans, sautéed onions and mushrooms, corn salsa, guacamole, and cilantro.

Yum, yum.

And for dessert, we tried out Mama’s Peas Vegan Blizzards.

We layered in a vegan Snickers-style bar, and added some pink food coloring for the holiday.

Festive, festive.  P.S. Two hints – 1) make this recipe but 2) cut the measurements in half, we didn’t even come close to eating our portions.

Now we’re off to do couple things, and that totally doesn’t mean what you think it does!  You’ll see tomorrow….

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Wonderful World of the Weekend

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Welcome to the wonderful world of the weekend!  <– said in the voice of the cryogenic lab workers from Futurama

We had a lazy, hazy summer winter day around these parts.  Light on the responsibilities and heavy on the tv reruns and being cozy. 

Not my healthiest day of eating – I needed more produce – but everything was delicious.  Like the Moe’s takeout we grabbed for brunch.

I got a junior burrito, stuffed with rice, black beans, corn salsa, lettuce, mushrooms, cilantro, guacamole, and black olives.

It came with a ton of tortilla chips…..

and I ate them all; whoops!

For dessert I tried out the single-serve cookie dough recipe I’ve seen floating around the web.

The chocolate pieces were a chopped up serving of this Chocolove Almonds and Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate.

So satisfying and delicious, and vegan to boot (butter = Earth Balance).

Yums all around.

It took me until 7pm to get the energy to get off my butt, but I did finally decide to go to the gym.  Good thing too, I got it together just in time to get in a short workout before the gym closed.  I ran 1.5 miles in 13:40 (my last 1.5 was 14:13, whoop!), with cool down 18 minutes, 1.75 miles.  Plus a few planks.

My run killed my appetite, so I bought a Naked juice for dinner.

But it was waaaay too tangy for me so I passed it off to the husband (don’t worry, he loved it).

Instead I had some Amazing Grass Kidz Chocolate SuperFood shook with 8oz of Silk Vanilla Soy Milk.

Not gonna lie, I shook in a glug of maple syrup and served it over ice to make things feel a bit more festive.

Have you tried the single-serve cookie dough recipe yet?

Like a Saftey

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Confession – in order to write my clever title I had to Google “football players who tackle.”  And I was a cheerleader.

Anyway, that’s what this weekend has been about, tackling my to-do list:

Hooray!

I tackled two weeks worth of laundry (actually, the husband tackled this, but I folded!),

I tackled the pile of outgoing mail,

I tackled my huge stack of unsorted magazine clippings,

I tackled my planner for the semester,

And more!  I didn’t work the whole weekend, but I did more in two days than I’ve done in two weeks.

Breakfast this morning had a mix of carbs and protein to fuel me up.

That’s a plan fat-free yogurt with Crofter’s Strawberry Jam stirred in, topped with Kashi H2H and some chunky peanut butter.

So good!  Peanut Butter and I have totally resparked our love affair lately.

Around noon I headed out to run some errands at school and replenish our food stores.  Wegman’s was terrible this afternoon – the hot bar was barely stocked and the store was packed.  Nonetheless, I managed to carve out a booth of calm and spend an hour tackling my NYE resolution to read more.

Eating materials, hot bar Asian style veggies, potatoes, and sweet and sour chicken.

Reading materials, The Food of a Younger Land, Mark Kurlansky.

When I got home from pushing my way through the hoards I snacked  on a mini bag of kettle corn and a glass of skim milk.

Dinner involved some prep throughout the day – chicken getting soft and shreddable in the crock pot, red onions caramelizing on the stove – but the end result was beyond worth it –

Bbq chicken pizza with caramelized red onions and gouda!

I topped a store-bought crust with caramelized red onions, shredded chicken tossed with bbq sauce, and gouda, and 10minutes later I had pure, steamy bliss.

Bliss served with a side of roasted asparagus.

It was a pretty heavenly dinner.

Dessert was from the bulk bins; yogurt pretzels, chocolate pretzels, and a piece of local sponge candy.

I’ve got to go shower and get my beauty sleep; school starts tomorrow!

Success x2

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So my baking project this afternoon was Jenna’s recipe for perfect chocolate chip cookies.

You know, the one with a whopping 14 Tablespoons of (browned!) butter.  No big.

I actually wasn’t sure I did everything right at first, because the dough was very strange and sticky.  I was so worried about them that I made a few less cookies than the recipe called for and tried my hand at some cookie muffins instead.

The cookies turned out fine fantastic, but the “muffins” were still a damn good idea.

I found the smallest muffin and cookie in the batch, and scarfed one of each before dinner.

Queasy tummy, happy tummy.  Adam says they’re the best chocolate chip cookies he’s ever had.

Rounding out my fun-to-do’s from yesterday, I also made a banging dinner.

Dinner’s inspiration was these snowman pasta my aunt sent us for Hanukkah.

I cooked the pasta, following package directions, stirring in ~1cup of frozen peas towards the end of cooking time.  I also sautéed some chopped baby mushrooms in 1T of butter. <– Best taste ever!  Finally, I whipped up a batch of this Lemon Cream Sauce from Cooking Light. (Note – I only made the sauce, not the rest of the recipe, and I substituted in light cream.)  The end result was fantastic.

I loved how firm the pasta stayed and the sauce added a great fresh flavor without being too heavy.

We also ate some roasted green beans on the side.

Sort of a perfect dinner.

And now I’m about to tuck in to the perfect dessert; a final cookie with a glass of skim milk.  Good night!

First Post of the New Year

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2011 is off to a productive start.  Probably because last night I gave the husband his 5-4-3-2-1-midnight! kiss and then headed straight to bed.  It’s not an official resolution, but bedtime is going to be a focus of mine in 2011.

Healthy breakfasts are also going to be a focus, but that was kind of a flop today.  To be fair, I just got back from a 10day vacation, so the choice was candy or nothing.  (I went with nothing).

Instead I unpacked, put away all the Christmas decorations, organized my new day planner, and wrote up a grocery list and meal plan.  The husband and I also got in our first workout:  20minutes of strength and stretch moves, side by side on our yoga mats.

Next up was a trip to Wegmans to deal with the food situation. It was 50*(?!?) here today, so this was my entire outfit, no coat!

It was after noon by the time we got to the grocery, so we had a lunch date at the hot bar.

I got Brussels sprouts with honey walnuts, white beans and escarole, Asian style veggies,

and a single piece of sweet and sour chicken.

I looooove it, but more than a bite really is overkill/unhealthy.

After a quick trip home to drop off the groceries, we headed to date #2 – the movies.  We were both dying to see “The Black Swan” and were crushed when we thought it wasn’t going to come to Buffalo.  As soon as we saw the updated movie listing on Thursday we knew what our plans for the new year were.

While at the mall I took advantage of post-holiday sales and snagged some bras and hand soap, both of which were boring but necessary. We also checked out the new candy kiosk.

A quarter pound of sour gummi cola bottles makes for a very exciting movie snack.

During a very exciting movie! The Black Swan was gorgeous, and very tense. I realized during that credits that I was clenching my hands so hard I hurt my finger!

Our dinner plan was an easy peasy three ingredients.

Pasta, marinara, canned sardines.

The husband is obsessed with sardines but I’ve been too afraid until now to try them. The smell is less than appetizing, but fish – omega-3 – is so healthy for you and this is the only kind of seafood we can afford.

I had the husband deal with them – mash, pan fry with marinara sauce – until it was time to top the pasta.

Looks good, great idea, but ultimately not for me.  I ate about half of my plate but was gagging and putting on major theatrics the whole time.  It didn’t help matters that Adam way undercooked the pasta, perhaps I’ll try again another time.

Thank goodness we had a spinach side salad planned.

Topped with Newman’s Own Asian Sesame dressing and Sahale Snacks Valdosta pecans.

And thank goodness for popcorn!

How did you ring in the new year?

STT; Tuesday Night – Wednesday Afternoon

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One by one, all of our fancy anniversary plans fell through. In the end, we got takeout and played board games with my parents. It was perfect.

Tofu pad thai, cashew chicken, and crab Rangoon.

I did some snacking earlier in the afternoon as well; half a sandwich for lunch was not cutting it.

Apple slices, beer bread with cheese,

and a brownie.

And during board games I showed the husband how much I love him by letting him share my favorite thing on earth –

This candy is basically just a cake of sugar soaked in peppermint oil, it’s fantastic. Minty and crunchy, it reminds you of getting your teeth brushed at the dentist in the best possible way.

Breakfast this morning was 0% Fage with half a sliced banana and a piece of coffee cake.

I also took some gingerbread coffee with skim milk to go while running errands with my dad.

For lunch I toasted a huge chunk of beer bread and topped it with hot pepper raspberry jam and melted swiss.

Yum!

The rest of the day brings a swim (we’ve gotten in a small workout every single vacation day, I’ll be darned if I miss today!), a movie, and dinner.  I can’t believe that tomorrow is our last day here!

What do you do to celebrate anniversaries?