3 > 2

by Emily

I am working my way through a migraine and I want to hurry to bed with a magazine. An episode of “30 Rock” may or may not happen first though…

Yesterday was the worst day of the year (hardy har; see what I did there? it’s not really hyperbole because there have only been three days). I was cranky and out-of-control-hungry all day long and the only things I managed to do were stuff my face and sulk. I vowed that the 3rd would be better than the 2nd, and even with my migraine today was a good day. Woop.

I did start with a good breakfast.

1 serving of Cascadian Farm Berry Cobbler Granola topped with 2 handfuls of blueberries and blackberries, a sprinkle of toasted coconut, and Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.

This is the breakfast that’s grrrrrrreat!

I brought my 2nd aloe drink from Aloic to work with me.

Super refreshing.

For lunch I packed some old beans. They were jolly good. <– are you slapping your knee yet? 3/4 cup black-eyed peas with a big handful of chopped green pepper, a small handful of smoked almonds, and 1 oz-ish chopped Kerrygold vintage cheddar; seasoned with salt and a few dashes of green Tabasco.

The mix of flavors and textures in this quick salad was so tasty and satisfying. Definitely a dish I need to recreate when I’m packing lunches for my big girl job for the rest of ~~the year~~ my life.

*no photograph available* I ate at least 10 mini candy canes during my shift and gave myself the worst sore throat. It was a slow day and I didn’t get much sleep so sugar was the only way I could stay awake. Terrible.

And I’m just now realizing that the massive sugar intake is probably what led to my migraine. Goddamnit.

I was already starting to feel off when I headed home from work so I picked up a slice of Buffalo chicken pizza for dinner.

With blue cheese, plus a mound of baby carrots from home.

I really could have split that giant slice with Adam (that is in fact 1 Zetti’s slice cut in half, not two normal-size slices) but he’s not here and I have no self-control so I ate the whole thing!

I’m also going to eat this packet of Artisana Cacao Bliss for dessert.

I’ll have to let you know how it is in the morning. I tried to heat it up a little and took things too far so now I’m waiting for it to resolidify.

Hope everyone has a good night!

30Dec2012

A Meal That Should Have Been Put Out To Pasture

by Emily

Goodbye, Sunday; and hello, work week. More importantly, soon it’s goodbye, 2012! And that first sentence was especially unimportant because I worked today and only have two shifts during the actual week; go figure.

This day got off to a great start and then rapidly went downhill. Sometimes that happens. And I plan on doing some baking to cheer us up as soon I hit publish.

On a good note, check out this awesome box of new flavors that Cascadian Farm sent me to sample –

I guess they heard my incessant raving about how good their Dark Chocolate Almond Granola is 😉 I ended up trying both products today, since I have no self-control when it comes to trying new things. Both products (plus the Crunchy Bars in Peanut Butter and Oats & Cocoa) will be available in January of 2013.

Granola with yogurt for breakfast.

I ate a big bowl of the Cascadian Farm Organic Berry Cobbler Granola on top of Wegman’s low-fat vanilla maple yogurt.

The granola was marvelous; I might like it even more than the dark chocolate almond! It was sweet without being too sweet and crunchy without being tooth-breaking. The light isn’t tricking you either, it actually is pink! Even the bites without dried fruit leave you with a lovely taste of berry cobbler. Adam ate a big bowl too and said that the granola held up nicely in milk. He reported that he found it to be delicious, with a good amount of clumps.

The bar I ate as my snack at work.

The Cascadian Farm Organic Crunchy Oats & Honey Granola Bar gets the same review as the granola.

I loved it! And did a little bit of incessant raving this very afternoon as I tried to tell the husband how good my snack was. It had exactly the texture I’m looking for in a crunchy granola bar and crumbled nicely. And the oats had this amazing aftertaste of honey. I wish I had a better food critic’s vocabulary because I don’t really have the words to describe how good the honey flavor was. I’m going to go with – round, clover, and authentic (vs. honey flavoring). Does that make sense?

And I can now report that both the granola and the bar did a good job of keeping me full. The only other thing I needed to eat before the end of my 4 o’clock shift was this handful of hard candy that I was using as a cough drop.

Also delicious, by the way. They were milk coffee candies I found in an Asian market in Philly and I wish I had bought another bag-full.

My Cascadian Farm goodies kept me full through work, but by the time my shift was over I was starving. Adam picked me up from work and we headed to an early dinner at DeFlippo’s with a Living Social deal.

Fun right? Nope, it sucked. Like super sucked; sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked. I was served the worst plate of food I’ve ever had in my life. But on a positive note, it was so terrible that it was actually funny, so at least we got a good laugh out of the deal. P.S. The lighting is that bad in the rest of the pictures.

Caesar salad that was swimming in dressing and cheese and randomly came topped with tomatoes.

Cold bread with even colder butter.

Shrimp cocktail appetizer that Adam and I split.

Randomly, this was delicious. I don’t know how DeFlippo’s pulled it off – my guess is that microwaving the rest of the meal gave them time to shine with the appetizer! – but this was some great shrimp cocktail. The shrimp had good texture and tasted very fresh. They were served with enough cocktail sauce that you could actually dip each shrimp and the sauce was tasty as well. Overall the dish was yummy; it was a very good deal for the price.

And then came my meal.

French fries were inexplicably offered alongside my “Italian” “food.”

These actually weren’t bad and I ended up eating most of them in desperate hunger.

“Eggplant parmigiana” {strong emphasis on the quotation marks} that was the single worst dish I’ve ever been served.

The dish could not have more clearly been bought frozen. They must have tried to fry it at some point, because the eggplant had sopped up an astonishing amount of oil. The makeup was 80% breadcrumb, 10% cheese, 5% sauce, and 5% eggplant. It was terrifically bad. I made myself eat away a corner so as not to be rude, and when I made Adam taste a bite I laughed so hard I almost cried. <– he called it abhorrent.

We got milkshakes on the way home.

Peppermint swirl for me!

And now I’m off to make brownies.

Have you ever had a meal so bad it was actually funny?

29Dec2012

Oh Baby Please Don’t Snow

by Emily

Hello, again. I didn’t blog the two days after Christmas because I got hit with a winter cold. I’m still feeling badly but I’m definitely on the mend. And yesterday was our 10th/5th anniversary! 10 years of being together and 5 of being married; they line up exactly because we made a point of getting married on our previous anniversary.

We spent yesterday doing our favorite things (sushi, froyo, a movie…) and just enjoying each other’s company. I don’t talk about it a lot on the blog, but I am so fortunate to have Adam in my life and I could not be happier. We both feel unbelievably lucky to get to be together. We watched our wedding video this morning and had a great time reminiscing. I’m going to try to get it up on YouTube if I can because it’s also hilarious! And there’s great footage of my grandpa giving a toast (a poem he wrote for the event) that made me cry. It is so amazing that we have his voice on record, it makes our wedding video all the more special to me.

Breakfast today was a big bowl of cereals.

All Bran Bran Buds, the last serving of Cascadian Farms Dark Chocolate Almond Granola (Adam ate through this stuff in a hurry!), toasted coconut, and skim milk.

I also had the rest of the dip (4-5 Tbsp?) with some kettle chips.

And this cookie butter candy bar that I found in the back of the pantry while putting away Christmas gifts.

Score!

The afternoon brought nachos (with black beans and salsa).

We need “tv watching food” for our “How I Met Your Mother Marathon.” <– it’s good, but no “Scrubs”

To drink, I had the organic aloe vera drink from Aloic.

I have missed aloe drinks like crazy since we moved away from Brooklyn (where you find find them in every bodega, in fabulous combinations with tasty tropical fruits) so when Aloic offered to send me two bottles to try I happily accepted. Here are the stats –

The drink’s taste was crisp and clean; it went down easy! And the pieces of aloe were fun to chew. If you’ve never tried an aloe drink with pulp, the closest comparison I can think of is the jelly that often comes with bubble tea. Delicious.

And I ate the last of the tree pasta with salt and evoo.

I really need to consume some veggies but my cold is making everything healthy sound terrible. Also, I have yet to go back to hot yoga and I can feel my wallet weeping with every missed class during my unlimited Groupon period.

I’m not going to post dinner, because I’m not sure yet what we’re having. Instead two updates –

1. The weather – it is freaking snowing!

That was the view from inside the car before Adam dug us out yesterday so we could go on our anniversary date.

2. My hair – it’s freaking purple!

I continue to lose dye with each shower (that’s clearly not right) and as the color gets lighter it becomes much more noticeable.

I love it!

24Dec2012

Use Your Noggin

by Emily

Hello, hello! The days I’m excited to blog are always the same days I’m utterly exhausted. Go figure. Saturday was a symphony of holiday flavors but also a 9+ hour day at work. Instead of posting last night I had a total tantrum and passed out fully dressed… so here is a 2-day recap.

Remember when I said “Saturday was a symphony of holiday flavors”? You know, like five seconds ago. Well, my day went eggnog –> candy cane –> gingerbread; bam!

Nog based overnight oats for breakfast.

I put 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 cup Silk Soy Nog, and 1 Tbsp chia seeds in the fridge overnight, then Saturday morning I added 1 sliced banana and a big dash of Christmas sprinkles.

So festive and delicious. Also, holy frick, I love chia seeds so much.

My candy cane came in the form of a Peppermint Stick Clif Bar during work.

This is Clif’s best seasonal flavor by far. The bar has the perfect amount of peppermint.

Gingerbread was a cupcake surprise from the husband.

He had an appointment near Fairy Cakes in the afternoon and he brought me home a gingerbread stout cupcake with cream cheese icing.

It was ridiculous good, maybe the best cupcake I’ve ever had! The cake had a great ratio of spice to sweet and was so fluffy and moist. I shared one big bite with Adam but downed the rest with gusto.

The rest of the day’s eats were out of season, but still good. From fall I borrowed an apple and a Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale.

I split the beer with Adam and ate the apple on my own.

I guess nachos are actually appropriate for any season, right?

Adam and I shared a tray, straight from the oven. We topped scoop-style tortilla chips with roasted brocoli and green pepper, Newman’s Own Pineapple Salsa, and Cabot Reserve Aged Cheddar.

We loved them. He was a little iffy on roasted brocoli as a nacho topping but it was delicious. And I was worried about that type of cheese versus a regular cheddar, but that ended up being perfect too. And the pineapple salsa is hands-down the best jarred salsa I’ve ever had.

Blah, blah, blah, and then I started having a fit and had to go to bed. I didn’t get anywhere near enough sleep during the weeks Adam was gone and I’m still really freaking tired.

Sunday was a super hungry day and I ate a ton ~~of crap~~. A brunch of sorts, was low-fat coffee yogurt with honey roasted peanuts and honey,

a few pieces of toffee candy from home,

and several handfuls (about 3 servings or 250 calories worth) of dried turkey.

During work I drank a Starbucks Vanilla Doubleshot.

Working with crowds of Christmas shoppers is exhausting but also really rewarding. Five different people today thanked me effusively for my help and that was a really good feeling. Actually, one super hot guy told another customer that I was fantastic and I about died!

Adam picked me up after work for a fun treat.

Bubble tea from Gin Gin! Best bubble tea I’ve ever had, and I’ve tried a lot. I got a medium red bean milk tea with regular and popping boba (the purple one is Adam’s taro).

We both swooned over how good they were and finished our drinks in the car long before we made it home. And we called my mom on speaker on the drive and drove her crazy scraping through our ice for errant tapiocas!

Dinner was pizza.

And we shared a beer.

We were gearing up for a long night of baking.

I’m giving my co-workers all pies for Christmas and we are not even close to finished still. Sorry, husband!

We made smoothies mid-baking for strength. Frozen strawberries and blackberries blended with So Delicious Mint Chocolate Coconut Milk.

And I’ve done a little nibbling while we baked.

I have a holiday breakfast with work tomorrow and then I’m spending Christmas Eve on the couch with Adam. I have two days off in a row for the holiday and I am so excited to spend them with my boys!

Did you give any handmade gifts this season?

27Nov2012

Jekyll And Hyde Cookies

by Emily

These cookies were inspired by my S’mores Monster Cookie recipe so originally I wanted to name them after Frankenstein’s. But that didn’t feel right. These cookies aren’t monstrous, but they are two-faced. One side is sweet (Jekyll) and the other is salty (Hyde).

Salty, sweet, or all of the above; with multiple kinds of nuts packed into one cookie recipe you know it’s bound to be good!

Jekyll and Hyde Cookies, yields 16 large cookies

1 large egg
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup Sweet ‘n Salty Peanuts
3/4 cup Chocolate Covered Kettle Corn

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Line ungreased baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.
In a large bowl, beat the egg. In order – add sugars, vanilla, baking soda, butter, and peanut butter, mixing well.
Use a spatula to fold in oats, sweet ‘n salty peanuts, and chocolate covered kettle corn.
Roll dough into 16 balls and evenly space on prepared baking sheets.
Bake 13 – 15 minutes until browned.

The linked products were provided to me free of charge from Oh! Nuts. I was not compensated for writing this post.

20Nov2012

It’s December, Apparently

by Emily

Don’t worry, it’s not time to change your calendars; it’s only December in Emily Land. You see, the other the day at the store I just couldn’t wait.

And today I did something really crazy.

I know that looks more mushy than crazy, but those overnight oats are made with So Delicious Coconut Milk Nog! Nog in November? Who am I?!

My breakfast was so good it was worth breaking holiday timelines. 1/3 cup raw oats, 2/3 cup vegan nog, and 1 Tbsp chia seeds sat overnight. This morning I topped it off with a sliced banana, nutmeg, and a little more nog. Dee-lish-us!

Lunch was more on season with a Thanksgiving classic.

I made cranberry sauce from scratch yesterday! I used this recipe and it came out great. Today I ate a bowl with sweet and salty peanuts.

Plus the rest of my peanut butter rice krispie treat from the other day. {where the heck did this picture go?!} Maybe a little too much sugar for lunch? I was buzzing at work.

Speaking of work, I came home from my shift with a present for Adam and myself.

I’ve been eyeing Ghost Blitz for weeks and there was only one box left today so I bought it! We had such a good time playing this evening.

Adam and I shared a box of Thai spring rolls (with homemade spicy peanut sauce) while we played.

Round two was homemade veggie burgers. I topped mine with honey mustard.

And the tie-breaker (Adam won!) was 2 servings of Sweet Potato Chips from Food Should Taste Good.

I should have been in bed 3 hours ago. Boo!

16Oct2012

Bread In Chocolate, Mystery Burgers, And Thickened Pepsi

by Emily

I have got to stop falling asleep without blogging! Some days (many days) are crazy and boring and I skip posting. Other days are crazy and delicious and make me want to blog. But two crazy and delicious days in a row makes for one loooooong recap!

Monday

Breakfast was all about the FNCE samples. Gross was the Strawberry Del Monte Squeezable fruit.

There was a flavor there that I just didn’t care for. Almost savory?!

Great was the Jamba Juice Fruit-i-licious Probiotic Trail Mix (I ate the whole bag, or 2 servings).

It had tons of fruit and nuts and just enough chocolate to be fun.

I planned on making dinner before I went to work so I made a quick trip to the store on my way home from school. Coffee with skim milk to warm me up when I got home.

Archer Farms’ Cinnamon Vanilla Nut is the best flavor I’ve ever gotten from Target.

My lunch snack was a sweet tasting plate.

A sliced banana with crunchy honey pb,

and half of a Theo Bread and Chocolate Bar.

I love this bar! Normally 70% would be a little dark for me but the saltiness of the bread really brings out the sweet in the chocolate.

I also ate a 100-calorie bag of kettle corn.

I managed to get dinner made, but not with much time to spare; I ate on the walk to work!

Roasted green beans,

and a turkey burger on a bun with sharp cheddar and Miracle Whip.

I’m going to stay cryptic and just say “burger” because this recipe was so tasty that it warrants its own separate post tomorrow. I know most people scan these long recaps and I do NOT want this burger recipe to get lost!

After work, I ate a slice of turkey while I packed Adam’s lunch.

And that was it. It was quite lucky that I ate dinner for lunch because otherwise I would have gone to bed hungry.

I got my flu shot Sunday morning. PSA – Flu shots save lives. Even if you aren’t worried about the flu, you should get the shot because it helps protect the people around you. That said, I am having a major adverse reaction to my flu shot!

I couldn’t get a picture that really shows anything (it is surprisingly tricky to photograph your upper arm), but imagine a giant, raised, red area around my injection site. It itches like crazy and is making me insane. Adam didn’t see my reaction until Monday night but as soon as he did he fed me an allergy med and put me in bed.

Tuesday

When I say that Adam “put me in bed” on Monday night, it is worth mentioning that he let me pass out teeth unbrushed, jeans still on, and alarm clock unset! I managed to make it to school on time but I was very confused this morning!

There wasn’t much time for breakfast so I grabbed a Chocolate Zico Coconut Water,

and an Odwalla Chocolate Almond Coconut Chewy Nut Bar (a FNCE sample).

Dee-lish-us! The bar immediately moved to my “top five bars” list (now that Balance Bars aren’t good there is a major hole to fill!). It tasted like real food, really tasty real food.

We were on campus today so I also got to cash in a free coffee card at the book store.

3 shots of espresso with tons of vanilla sugar and skim milk. And then I twitched wildly for the rest of the day…

Instead of clinical practice at the hospital, today we had an intensive lecture on enteral and parenteral nutrition – i.e. feeding through a tube into the GI tract or through a vein. It is insanely complicated but at least I think the calculations are a ton of fun. I’m certainly not the smartest person in our program (not by a long shot!) but when we do any sort of math I’m usually the first person in the room to finish. Who knew as I struggled through 9th grade pre-calculus that I’d grow up to get all tingly over formulas?!

Another fun part of the day? A rep from Nestle came in and showed us some different products. We got to taste thickened water and thickened diet pepsi (honey consistency) –

Their commercial thickener is just xantham gum – like I used to use in my smoothies! – plus a few preservatives.

Also fun was the longer lunch period that let my friends and me go to Wegman’s.

I hadn’t packed food so this was very serendipitous.

Buffalo chicken chowder,

and a green veggie brown rice sushi roll with spicy mayo on the side for dipping.

Between buffalo sauce soup, spicy mayo dipping, and the wasabi that I slathered on top of my sushi, this lunch left me sweating!

I stole a fun sized candy bar from my friend for dessert.

Ignore my sandals, and note that I bundled up today for Fall.

Fall is here exhibit b – tea with skim milk and cinnamon sugar.

Fall is here exhibit c – the apple crumble candle I burned while I studied.

Fall is here exhibit isn’t she done with this gag yet?! – an apple crumble yogurt bowl.

This is another dish I plan on making often. A 0% Plain Greek yogurt topped with cooked apple (a chopped Sweet Tango microwaved for 2 minutes with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 2 tsp agave) and crumble (KIND Oats and Honey Clusters granola, a FNCE sample).

The rest of dinner was a random assortment of snacks while I studied. A chocolate chip cookie dough mini Larabar (FNCE sample).

A mini tortilla with 2 slices of Applegate Farms Honey Maple Turkey and melted sharp cheddar.

Cold, leftover green beans for veggie needs.

And a 100-calorie bag of kettle corn.

As I said, looooong! Like hot-dog-dog long.

Have you ever had an adverse reaction to the flu shot?

29Jul2012

New To Us

by Emily

Today was fun! I love having visitors because it forces you to explore your own town. We went to several new-to-us spots today and quite enjoyed them all.

Breakfast at Lake Effect Diner.