Tag Archives: pasta

Eating Like A Sick Person

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For the last 48hours I’ve been eating like a sick person.  And that’s exactly the way I feel – sick, sick, sick!  This is terrible news for my exercise announcement that was supposed to occur tomorrow, and even worse news for my huge test on Wednesday.  Thankfully the husband has been taking good care of me, including picking me sick people food to eat.

Yesterday I had rainbow sherbet.

This bowl x2.

And organic chicken noodle soup.

Unphotographed but eaten in this space was a spoonful of marshmallow topping.  It coated my throat and for one whole minute I felt good!

I also had an onion bun with Smart Balance Light.

And a Coke for dinner.

I much prefer the taste of diet, but I don’t mind the flavor of regular coke.  The reason I never drink regular is because when I’m sick it makes my throat feel 2x better and I’m afraid if I drink it on random days it will lose its elixer-like quality for me!

After I fitful night I got up this morning and took a (soooo needed) shower, before the husband settled me down on the couch with some mac and cheese.

When he got back from the lab he handed me another glass of Coke.

And for dinner he managed to make me some normal people food.

In my box of samples from Applegate Farms were two kinds of sausages, turkey and pork.

You guys know I don’t eat mammals for personal reasons, but did you know that the husband does?  Sidenote – not often though, and I’m super proud for how much he’s basically quit eating red meat since we met. 

I generally don’t mind, but the one type of meat I wish he wouldn’t eat was pork.  I love pigs.  Love them.  I plan on having two as pets and I’ve already got their names picked out.  In fact, I told the husband before we married to be sure he would be ok with having pet pigs once we could afford them, because if not that was a deal-breaker for me.  So obviously, I wish he wouldn’t chow down on our future pets.  But the husband is a grown man, and he gets to choose his own diet.  He doesn’t eat it often, and out of deference for me he only eats pork when we are sure it is ethically sourced.  I’m good with that plan.  Thankfully, Applegate Farms makes products we can both agree on (Applegate Farm’s promise to their consumers).

I had scrambled eggs,

and 1.5 servings of Savory Turkey Breakfast Sausage.

My sausages had just a bit of spice and good chew.  The one meat meat product I miss from when I was a kid is sausage and these came pretty close to what I’ve been searching for.  I also added some (unphotographed) maple syrup to my plate for dipping.

Adam ate the same meal, but with slightly more food, and pork instead of turkey.

He said the pork sausages were spicier than the turkey but still good.  He liked the consistency of the texture a lot.

I’m going to eat a final bowl of sherbet, go to bed early and cross my fingers I feel better in the morning!

What animals don’t you eat, and why?

The Great Peanut Butter Expedition

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I didn’t have time to blog lunch.  I also didn’t have time to make a lunch that wasn’t two bags of popcorn, but that’s another story.  I didn’t have time, because instead of studying for my two looming tests I spent the day doing things like reading Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi from start to finish.

I shouldn’t really be blogging dinner, but I’m just too darn excited about this contest not to.

There’s a set of Peanut Butter and Co at stake and my Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles are a surefire win.

Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles, serves 2

  • 1 cup prepared whole wheat linguine
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 2 cups chopped broccoli
  • 2 tsp evoo
  • 4 Tbsp chunky peanut butter
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp sugar 
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  1. Warm 1 tsp of oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add veggies to the oil and cover.  Cook 3-5minutes until steamed, stirring occasionally.  If using fresh rather than frozen brocoli you may want to add a few Tbsps of water to help build steam.  Remove veggies from pan and set aside.
  2. Add remaining tsp of oil to the pan and increase heat to medium-high.  Add pasta and stir-fry until starting to brown and crisp, stirring occasionally.
  3. While the veggies and pasta are cooking, prepare your sauce.  Combine peanut butter through red pepper flakes in a small, microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave for 15-45 seconds to help loosen.  Whisk together with a fork.
  4. When noodles have reached doneness, return veggies to the pan.  Pour sauce over the pasta and veggies and continue to cook 2-3minutes.  Everything is done when the sauce starts to form a slight crust on the vegetables.

This dish is a little bit spicy, a little bit crunchy, and a whole lot peanut butter-y and delicious.  It’s also the ultimate leftovers meal; you can pretty much use any kind of pasta or veggie you’ve got lying around the house.  Keep your fingers crossed for me that it’s also a winner!

What’s your favorite way to eat peanut butter?  Mine is this dish, followed closely by pb stirred into Greek yogurt or right off the spoon!

Let There Be Light

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Okay, so I didn’t really do much work today either!  At least in the study sense, we did tackle some to-dos.  Really today was like my Friday, and the next two days are my weekend and my cram-like-crazy study days!

We had to tackle all sorts of not so fun stuff this morning, like filling our FAFSA and dropping stuff off at Goodwill.  My throat was feeling kind of funky so I never really got hungry for breakfast.  I did snag this grape leave from Adam’s leftovers.

And the husband and I split this Ring Pop.

There’s something wrong with my retainers (again, ugh!) so they’re out until Tuesday and it seemed like the perfect time to enjoy this leftover Valentine’s sweet.

Our next set of errands took us up to the Barnes and Nobel on Niagara Blvd, were we just happened to also pull over here –

There’s kind of a deficit of good Thai in Buffalo, so when we spotted Jasmine Thai we just couldn’t resist!

After a few quick modifications, Adam and I ordered our two favorite dishes to split.  Cashew Tofu,

and Pad See Eiw (with steamed tofu and without the egg).

Yuuuuuum.

True story?  I groaned every – single – time I took a bite of the broad rice noodles.  They are just so fricking delicious!  Chewy foods are my favorite and these are the ultimate doughy chew.

My only complaint about Jasmine Thai is that both of our meals were way too light on veggies.  Thankfully I took care of that by eating leftover sesame green beans in the car like a weirdo.

My throat still felt funny all afternoon so we postponed our dinner plans and I made myself a bowl of something creamy, cool, and sweet –

Banana Soft Serve.  Into the food processor went 1.5 frozen bananas, 2 Tbsp shredded coconut, 2 Tbsp honey roasted peanuts, and 1 Tbsp real maple syrup.

This dish is reason alone to own a food processor.  Buy one, try it, and then go tell Gena she’s a genius.

The rest of dinner is going to be a bag of this goodness –

Wondering about that strange picture?  Adam built me a light box!!!!

The inside (backdrop) won’t be done until later but I am so appreciative.  Between my lack of skill, my cheap camera, and our house’s awful lighting, there have just been too many factors working against my pictures.  Hopefully soon I can get a couple of nice shots 🙂

Blogging readers – do you have/use a light box?  What kind of camera do you currently use?

Day One of Four

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There are several reasons why I didn’t post yesterday, some good and some bad.

  1. We determined that I am injured badly enough from my fall that I should continue to take a few days away from the gym.  Aka, my ticket out of Grumpsville hasn’t arrived yet.
  2. The popcorn I had for lunch was not exciting, and I later found out that it wasn’t vegan either!  Sidenote – why does the ingredients list need to be split?  I didn’t realize “natural flavors” meant “milk proteins” until after I’d (finished) looked at the other side of the bag.
  3. My dinner was exciting, and vegan, but since it was part of a review I agreed to do for a new recipes app I couldn’t share the recipes with you guys.  Telling you in retrospect that I had home-made Asian-style slaw and sesame green beans with spring rolls is mean, but showing you the tasty pictures too would have been just cruel.

I technically have a four-day weekend (my school canceled classes on Monday and Tuesday) but since I have two tests and two quizzes next week, today was my last day to really relax.  I made the most of it.

We slept in and hung out all morning, then picked up a quick meal from the Co-op hot bar.

I got vegan mac and cheese, cilantro baked tofu, falafel, and a few pieces of Cajun sweet potato.

Everything was good, and I liked the pasta for what it was, but Adam and I both agreed that “mac and cheese” was a pretty generous label.

I also randomly included an orange cream soda with lunch.

My afternoon snacks included a serving of Newman’s Own Pretzel Rods.

Dipped in Cherry Coke Zero, of course.

And a Liz Lovely Lemon Coconut Cookie.

Adam (who has a normal weekend) was at the lab until late so we decided to cash in a Groupon and try out a new place for dinner.  Acropolis, a Greek place a few blocks from our apartment, had a 50% off Groupon going that I picked up a few months ago.  Tonight was the night.

Tonight was also the night for silly faces.

The lighting was terrible, assume that all the food was 20% better than it looks.  Actually, the lighting was great when we walked in but the minute we sat down they put on the awful “mood” lighting.  I hate dim restaurants.  Even before I had a food blog, who wants to eat in the dark?!

We ended up ordering a bunch of appetizers and sharing.

The only vegan things on the menu all happened to be the only things on the menu we were interested in, so I’m glad we picked this month to try it out.

I ate my fair share of grape leaves,

baba ganoush,

and lavash and pita bread.

The pita was the best I’ve ever had!  So nice to go on a date with the husband.

Now I’m supposed to be in bed, but the dog in the apartment below us is going crazy.  Instead I’m sipping on this Bolthouse Farms Vanilla Chia drink, and trying to think calm thoughts.

Good night (hopefully!).

10, 9, 8…

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I have 10minutes to blog before I have to get back to the husband.  My articles were not correct and now he’s helping me scour the medical databases for more.  Ready, set, go!

1st, the Sandwich Thin I ate for lunch today was delicious.  I loved the oats sprinkled on top.  2nd, I was starving when I got home from school this afternoon so I ate this packet of cashews,

from a Valentine’s package from my parents.

I also had a handful of pretzels that escaped the camera.

Finally, dinner.

I whipped up two servings of my Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles for Adam and I.  We used linguine with broccoli and yellow squash.  I went ahead and steamed a bunch of veggies to have on hand the rest of the week.

The final dish turned out delicious.  This was the first time Adam has tried my peanut sauce and now he is totally smitten!

Minutes to spare!

Friday Night Frozen Yuuuums

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I did the Friday shuffle!  In fact I shuffled right on through to bedtime!

After class I walked down Elmwood to meet up for lunch with Katie at Wasabi.

I’d like to tell you I ordered a hot water to drink because I’m so mature and healthy, but really it was more of a Japanese waitresses cannot understand me when I’ve got retainers in my mouth thing.

I ordered the lunch special which came with a miso soup (not always vegetarian, fyi, though this one was),

and two sushi rolls.

I got a cucumber and asparagus roll,

and a tempura sweet potato roll.

We had a great lunch and spent a long time catching up.

Then I headed to the Spot to get my study on.  I ordered a grande soy latte with two shots of amaretto syrup.

But then I discovered that drinking hot coffee with retainers in is disgusting and threw it out.

Caffeinated or not, I managed to get all of my notecards for the week done, phew!

Adam and I didn’t both didn’t get home until after 7, so all plans of a fancy dinner flew out the window.  Thank goodness I had the best frozen meal on earth on standby.

The Tandoor Chef Veggie Pad Thai is ridiculous tasty and vegan to boot.

Yuuuuuuum!  It’s nothing like nyc, but this is literally the best Thai food I can get in Buffalo.

I also had some unsweetened applesauce topped with red hots and simply sweet granola.

Can I say “yuuuuuuuuum” again?

Any exciting plans for the weekend?

Three Courses Worth Waiting For

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Thursdays are when I have my earliest class, which means they are also my latest wake-up school days.  Makes no sense?  I’ve decided on MWF (class starts at 11) that I’ll have Adam drop me off at the gym on his way to school so I can work out/come home and shower/walk back to school for classes.  But Thursday class starts at 9:25 (and there’s no time for all that) so I can wake up on my own and walk straight to class. 

Except today all my plans went out the window because the snow was basically up to my waist.  Whoops!  I had to hurry-scurry to get in the car with Adam, which meant all of my breakfast and lunch bubbles were quickly burst.

The positive side is that I got to squeeze in my workout before my lab.  I did another quick (too quick) treadmill session – warm up + 1.5mile running (14:13) + cool down – 21minutes and 1.85miles.

The negative side is that breakfast ended up being of the not-of-champions variety.

I grabbed the Cliff Builder’s Bar because it was vegan, full of protein, and most importantly sold in the only kiosk without a line.

I gave up on eating the Cliff Builder’s Bar after two bites because it was tasteless and way to tough for my aching teeth.

Better luck next time?  I brought the rest of the bar home for Adam and I’m sure he’ll love it because he’s silly.

Unfortunately I had a club meeting on campus at 12:15, so I couldn’t get home to a proper meal until that was over.  Then I had to finish/e-mail an assignment before I could let myself eat.  I wasn’t about to add ‘shower off the gym grime’ to my wait-time, so you better believe I ate lunch like this –

Before anyone asks – Why yes, I did think the appropriate response to sweaty gym hair was a pair of pony tails.

They’re a pair of ponies, not pig tails.  Pig tails come out the sides, the end.

I made up for lost time by rocking my own world with a three-course lunch.

Course 1 – Salad.

I topped a bed of spring mix lettuce with chopped pear, green pepper, radish sprouts, and poppy-seed dressing.

Course 2 – Pasta.

Amy’s Rice Macaroni and Dairy-free Cheeze.

For some reason the gluten free version is the only vegan macaroni Amy’s makes (the soy cheese version has milk proteins in it).

This wasn’t ridiculous good like the dairy one, but it was still pretty darn good.

Course 3 – Dessert.

Banana soft serve (1.5 frozen bananas, food processed with a splash of Vanilla Silk Soy Milk until delicious) topped with crushed pretzels and these adorable vegan marshmallows.

Soooo good.  BSS is where it’s at!

It took forever to eat my epic lunch, so I should probably get down to work!

Do you or anyone you know eat a gluten free diet?

Cracked Up

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My breakfast this morning wasn’t all it was cracked up to be; when I opened the carton, both of our last two eggs were cracked!

I forged ahead and heated up this package of Allergaroo Spyglass Noodles instead.

Topped with the 50% reduced white cheddar and chives that we supposed to go in my scrambled eggs.

It ended up being pretty tasty, if not all that breakfast-y.

My glass of skim milk with a chocolate milk straw helped.

I went to the gym this morning, so after classes (and my first big quiz!) the day is mine!  Adam dropped me off at the gym around 8, and I took my notecards on the elliptical for 30minutes at random, level 6.

What is your back-up plan if your breakfast falls through?