Peachy Bean

by Emily

Since I didn’t have time for breakfast yesterday, I made myself get up even earlier today. 6:40, ouch! <– yes, I know for most people that’s not actually early

Rounds start earlier today though so I need to leave the house earlier than yesterday too. Make breakfast, eat breakfast, post breakfast, leave earlier?… I’ll keep this quick!

A smoothie for breakfast.

Into the blender (for 2):

2 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
~2 cups frozen peaches
3 scoops Tera’s Whey Bourbon Vanilla Organic Whey Protein

Like peach pie. Sort of. If peach pie had too much protein powder in it and tasted like chemicals.

I forced most of it down so I won’t be hungry all morning.

what i’ll be having for lunch…

Today’s lunch is going to be amazing, I’m sure of it. I’m bringing back my new favorite salad. There is healthy stuff on the bottom, I swear.

Black eyed peas + chopped green pepper + chopped Kerrygold Vintage Dubliner + smoked almonds + green Tabasco.

Clifford the Big Red Pear.

Milk and dark toffee candy. More on that in a minute.

I’ll see you after I finish my 2nd day of dietetic internship!

p.s. My word-play in the title is making me want to experiment with putting fresh peaches into barbecue baked beans.

back to the candy…

The toffees were actually part of a sample from SurprisesByMail.com. Note – I received the sample free of charge to review. All opinions are my own.

Here was the info I received from the company:

SurprisesByMail.com offers a variety of gift boxes filled with your choice of goodies, a perfect gift for anyone this Valentine’s Day, from mom to a significant other. Pick out your Valentine’s favorite treats; from sweets, to chocolates, fudge, baked goods, nuts, dried fruit, pretzels and more. Boxes can be customized even further with personal messages and images. Available in four affordable box options.

And here is what I got:

Two different boxes, one with dark chocolate nonpareils and another with a candy assortment (milk and dark chocolate covered Oreos, toffees, caramels, and some buckeyes).

Pros: the packaging was cute and fun, both candies felt high-quality and were very tasty, and the site has a good variety of options that are fairly priced.

Cons: though it is cute, the multiple layers of packaging are pretty wasteful; I wish that the service was a bit greener.

Have you ever gotten any mailer gifts? My mom got me two subscriptions for Christmas; one to Birchbox (loving it!) and other to a natural snacks company.

21Jan2013

Winter Weight Gain

by Emily

I came through my first full-time day at the hospital with flying colors! Well, I guess I was a little in the gray when I ran out of time in the morning and had to skip breakfast, but that was the only hiccup. I had fun, learned a lot, and made it through 8 – 4 without thinking longingly of my couch once!

We were busy on rounds (walking around the floor and listening to the medical residents give an update on all of the patients) all morning and I was too busy to miss breakfast. Then I got to grab a tea latte from Tim Horton’s while we charted.

My earl grey with frothed skim milk was great. And the RD let me chart on a patient! I’ve got to do a lot of work independently to meet all of my internship curriculum goals so it was a good sign that they let me hit the ground running. In the afternoon, among other things, I observed a gestational diabetes education that I’m eager to try on my own.

I was worried about finding a table in the packed cafeteria, but thankfully the RDs invited me to sit with them for lunch. I’m with a different person each day of the week so it was great to get to meet some of them in advance.

I packed a really tasty sandwich.

A multi-grain Sandwich Thin with Crofter’s strawberry preserves, 2 slices of Applegate Farms Honey & Maple Turkey, Cabot’s 50% reduced sharp cheddar, and pickled jalopeños.

A pack of Annie Chun’s Sesame Roasted Seaweed Snacks.

And a Trader Joe’s 100-calorie milk chocolate bar.

This lunch was perfect – fun, healthy, and it helped fuel my brain through its first afternoon of actual thought!

Before I knew it, the day was over and Adam was picking me up. His lab was closed for Martin Luther King Day and I was thrilled that he could drive me because it is brutal outside. My phone’s weather forecast for Wednesday is a giant, ominous looking snowflake.

My workday may have flown by, but our errands took forever. Adam and I ended up splitting an ice cream Twix bar while we were out and about.

He {claims that he} hates Twix bars so the sharing portions were in my favor.

I also snacked on a Caramel Pineapple Chobani Bite with the last of the blackberries.

This snack was so flipping good, I can’t wait to eat the rest of the pack of Chobani and I must buy more fresh berries immediately! The caramel gave the yogurt a little extra sumthin’ sumthin’ compared to the regular pineapple variety and the entire gorgeous carton only has 100 calories. Plus it smelled delicious and made me want a big slice of cheesecake.

– – – Sidenote: Why, oh why did I keep scrolling through Chobani’s website? I need the Key Lime Crumble and Almond Coco Loco Flips, need. I’m sure they won’t hit Buffalo for another couple of months and I’m basically going to die. – – –

Dinner was a big salad with some confusion about its roots.

Inside the jumble –

baby spinach
peanut sauce
1 Tbsp ground flax
chopped green pepper
chopped red onion
buckwheat groats
chopped honeycrisp
leftover 1000 island bbq sauce pulled chicken

Somehow all of those flavors just worked together.

I’m still feeling a bit hungry but I did a lot of nibbling while I assembled dinner and tomorrow’s lunch so I’m closing my kitchen for the day. I’ve been steadily gaining weight since we moved to Buffalo but recently my unhealthy habits have been out of control and I’m officially too fat for some of my work pants. Pride and health may not have motivated me (though they really should of!) but my wallet sure does – it’s time to lose some weight! I’m not planning on going on a diet, far from it, I’m just going to stop being ridiculous. Wish me luck?

Did you gain any weight over the winter holidays?

7Jan2013

A Giveaway: Taste of Treme

by Emily

Today was souptastic. And now I realize that I kind of hate soup; good to know. But the day was fun.

We went on a double date to the Buffalo Soupfest. Adam and I split a buffalo chicken wing soup,

a lobster bisque,

and a beer and cheese soup (with a pretzel on top!).

And I ate this corn and poblano chowder all on my own.

The last one was my favorite, we all found the others to be too thick. Even though we didn’t love the soup, it was great to spend time with friends.

I did love the cookie dough ice cream I ate in the car on the way home.

Yum!

We snacked on some very yummy crab rangoon (from the freezer section at Target) in the afternoon.

I had 8.

…skipping dinner until later because it ties into the giveaway… We were still hungry after our early dinner, so we split a grilled cheese.

Yellow mustard and miracle whip on toasted sandwiches take things to a new level.

We also shared cookies.

The sandwich was better.

Back to dinner.. We made two recipes from my new cookbook, A Taste of Treme: Creole, Cajun, and Soul Food from New Orlean’s Famous Neighborhood of Jazz by Todd-Michael St. Pierre (currently available on Amazon).

Our meal was quite tasty.

Robertson Street Green Onion Soup,

and Shannon’s Cheese Straws.

The soup was pretty good and the cheese straws were fantastic. I did lots of nibbling while we finished cooking the soup.

Sooooo cheesy and good.

Both recipes were quick and easy and we loved how clear the directions were. I flipped through the whole cookbook while choosing recipes and was impressed with the clarity of everything. Plus, several version of roux, Batiste Family Bread Puddin’ with Praline Rum Sauce, and Believe Dat Bananas Foster? You know this is a killer cookbook. Which is why I’m offering a book to one of you.

For a chance to win a copy of Taste of Treme, leave a comment on this post by noon on Thursday, January 10th.

Note – I was sent the Taste of Treme cookbook for free to review. All opinions are my own.

5Jan2013

On The Goal

by Emily

I stayed up way too late last night waiting for Adam to get home, but that didn’t stop me from crossing not one, but two items off of my birthday goal list. See, who needs New Year’s resolutions?

But first, I made us a fancy weekend breakfast.

Actually, first I put Uggs (and a fleece I found in the dirty clothes section of Adam’s suitcase) over my pj’s to go out to Starbucks to buy Adam a coffee.

I’m a ~~frumpy~~ good wife.

After the public embarrassment, I made us eggnog french toast.

Two slices of whole wheat bread soaked in 1 large egg + 1 white, a big pour of eggnog (~1/2 cup?), 1 tsp of vanilla, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. After a quick visit to a hot skillet greased with butter, I topped my slice with berries.

And maple syrup.

Delish! I wish eggnog was a year-round treat so I could make this french toast again.

My iced coffee was from my fridge, not The Spot, but I like to reuse my cups.

1 cup of Chameleon Cold Brew with a lot of Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk and a little of sweetened almond and cashew cream.

The cup was okay but the cream was disgusting and the rest of the carton went straight to the trash.

Also in the garbage? This honey basil seed drink.

The frog egg texture worked for us, but the flavor did not.

My to-go lunch was much more successful.

A riff on the black-eyed pea salad I want to eat for the rest of my life; black beans with chopped green pepper, pineapple salsa, and the last of the Kerrygold Vintage Cheddar.

Not as good as the original, but still worth eating. And it helped me achieve one of my birthday goals…

First on the list? Building a snowman!

This was my 2nd snowman ever. And my first was a inches-tall affair, decorated with buttons that were subsequently stolen, when I was three years old and in the states for a funeral; so I’m not sure that counts.

We used green pepper pieces from my lunch for eyes.

2nd achievement unlocked? A trip to the Buffalo Museum of Science.

It seemed like the perfect museum to attend with a small child, but Adam and I were ready to go well within an hour. I’m glad I went, but I never want to go back.

I got some produce into the afternoon in the form of juice.

Kale, spinach, carrot, and apple. It was tasty but sadly light on the greens.

Dinner was popcorn at a movie! A cheddar and caramel mix from a specialty shop in the mall.

I really wanted this one,

but Adam and I shared (3-1, my favor) this size instead.

We saw “Parental Guidance” and thought that the snacks were better than the show. Also, I’m very sad to report that we saw “This Is 40” on our anniversary and hated it. Jude Apatow, I so want to love you! Apparently we are not quite ready for kids?

What was the worst movie (or best!) you’ve seen recently?

4Jan2013

Fresh Fage French Onion Dip

by Emily

I did not end up watching tv last night but I didn’t go to bed for hours either. I also did not eat my coconut butter snack.

Instead I had it for breakfast.

The Artisana Cacao Bliss packet was delicious! The taste and texture reminded me of crumbly chocolate frosting. Plus it was super filling. I have two more of the packets and I’m very much looking forward to them. And yes, that is a soda in the back of the picture; breakfast didn’t happen until near noon. As it always goes the day after a migraine, my eats were all over the place today.

I got up late in a daze, made some important school calls, and then rushed out of the house to run time-sensitive errands. By the time I made my way to Wegman’s it was after 4:00 and I was starving. Hot bar to the rescue.

Asian wokery veggies, watermelon, and pineapple.

A little bit of sweet and sour pineapple chili chicken plus a Thai chicken spring roll.

And I snagged these adorable cupcake gummies from the bulk bins.

They were like little vanilla-berry pillows.

Dinner round 1 was a taco salad.

A romaine base topped with chopped green pepper, black beans, a handful of crushed Beanitos, chopped Cabot 50% light sharp cheddar, and a big scoop of Wegman’s pineapple salsa.

I gave my bowl a 30 second nuke in the microwave a few bites in and it made it even better. I think I prefer Wegman’s version of the pineapple salsa to Newman’s Own’s; the sweetness and the spice are both a little less intense.

Dinner round 2 was lightened up chips and dip.

2 servings of ruffles,

and a bowl of Fresh Fage French Onion Dip.

I’ve been craving french onion dip (with freshly caramelized onions!) for days so I decided to try my hand a lighter version. I included the recipe for the dip at the bottom of this post. It was really delicious!

Dessert was a mini pack of strawberry-filled koala cookies and a serving of Skinny Cow Peanut Butter Cream Filled Chocolates.

Both were good, but I have got to cut back on the sugar. I have been soooooo hungry this week and it’s driving me crazy.

Adam has been out-of-town the past few days and he gets back tonight = yay!!!!! We have two fun days planned this weekend and I can’t wait.

Fresh Fage French Onion Dip, serves 1-2 (Or more, if you’re into smaller – i.e. 2-3 Tbsp – servings. For 1-2 people this recipe makes a large enough bowl of dip to really scoop your chips into.)

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp evoo
1 medium sweet onion, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp plus 1 large pinch salt
7 oz container 2% Plain Fage Total yogurt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion powder

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter and oil to heated pan. When butter is completely melted, stir in the onion and pinch of salt. Cook 5 – 7 minutes until onions caramelize, stirring occasionally. Remove caramelized onions from heat and let cool for 1 – 3 minutes before adding to yogurt.
Place yogurt in a large bowl. Add onions, Worcestershire, onion powder, and remaining salt and stir until well-combined. Serve with carrot sticks or ruffled chips.

What is your favorite kind of dip? I’m a buffalo chicken dip girl myself, gotta embrace the homeland!

3Jan2013

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!

1Jan2013

Hello, 2013

by Emily

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great first day. I started my year the best way possible – a long morning in bed with my husband and dog and an afternoon spent cleaning every trace of 2012 away from the apartment. He vacuumed and put away Christmas decorations and I organized and put away the Christmas presents. I also did some electronics cleaning; my cell phone, bookmarks, and google reader are sparkling. I even cleaned up my desktop.

Tomorrow I just have to organize my school stuff from last semester. I’ve got to start getting ready for the next (last!) semester; I go back to school in 20 days!

We started our day with smoothies for a late breakfast.

For two: 1.5 cups Silk Soy, 1.5 frozen bananas, 1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut, and 1 Tbsp coconut oil went into the blender.

It was yummy! I got the coconut oil idea from Jenna Marbles and I think it was a good addition.

Lunch came in snack plate form. Roasted green beans.

And a sweet plate.

Sliced honeycrisp,

smoked almonds,

and the last cherry cheesecake brownie.

The mouthfuls with almond and brownie were great. I am not going to post the brownie recipe because it is cobbled together from a few sources but I am working on something similar that should be amazing.

I also had a small coffee – with lots of skim milk and vanilla sugar – when we went to Wegmans in the afternoon.

We may have made a grocery trip, but dinner was still pieced together from random things left in the fridge. Thankfully, it ended up being delicious.

Cornmeal crusted tofu.

I marinated pieces of 3/4 of a block of extra-firm tofu in Stubbs BBQ sauce all afternoon and then tossed the pieces in cornmeal (aka raw polenta) and corn starch and sautéed them in a bit of canola oil. We loved them, the crust was perfection! I dipped mine in honey.

Roasted asparagus.

With cooking spray, salt, and a bit of lemon.

Lucky quinoa salad.

I cooked 1/2 cup of quinoa, tossed it with 1 cup of canned black-eyed peas {for New Year’s luck!}, the leftover bbq sauce from the tofu, and some chopped green pepper. It was like a quick and dirty hoppin’ john.

For dessert we opened up the chocolate cream biscuit cookies we bought at Vineeta.

One serving each and I’m excited to eat the last three tomorrow. They were quite good.

How’d you spend the first day of 2013?

26Dec2012

Our New Christmas Traditions

by Emily

Happy holidays, from our family to yours!

We spent the last two days making memories and building our own traditions. We missed our family like crazy, but other than it was one of our best Christmas days ever. It helped that most of our new family traditions involved eating lots of tasty food!

One event I hope not to turn into a tradition was December 23rd’s 3 am grocery trip. We had a slight misstep with the baking I did for my co-workers’ Christmas gifts. One of my pies burnt to a crisp and I had to go buy a replacement gift in the middle of the night. Also, we ate the salvageable half of the burnt pie… at 3 am.

I made my Hello Dolly Pies and they were delicious. I hope everyone liked them!

We exchanged gifts at our company holiday breakfast.

Our bosses took us out for a delicious meal at Mythos. I had never been there before but I’m still sure that what I ordered was the best thing on the menu. A burrito with turkey, eggs, potatoes and cheddar, smothered in hollandaise.

It came with berries and Greek yogurt on the side and everything was delicious. I ate half and brought the rest to Adam who loved it as well.

We ran a few errands when Adam picked me up from breakfast and we ended up going on an adventure. Vineeta International Market has been hiding under my nose on Grant for months!

We had a grand time wandering around and came home with lots of goodies.

Including the Thumbs Up cola we shared.

Then we trimmed the tree.

We couldn’t buy a big tree because the dog is a monster but we enjoyed this little magical grow tree I bought Adam for Hanukkah.

And then we had pie.

Gaaah; can this be a yearly tradition? That pie is so fricking good.

So was the eggnog seltzer I sipped on all day.

I had a salad for lunch.

Romaine with peanut sauce, buckwheat groats, chopped honeycrisp, and cheddar.

Plus the last of the sugar-plum candies.

We did pizza for dinner.

Why mess with our usual traditions?

Then we stayed up late watching “How I Met Your Mother.” We’ve decided that’s our new tv marathon of choice.

This morning (Christmas!!) we slept in late like a couple of old people. It was pretty great. The dog started his morning with sirloin and bacon wet food.

And I started mine with toffee.

Plus a glass of eggnog with nutmeg.

Then we got all fancy with breakfast.

Seriously fancy. Check out we bought at Wegman’s –

Lobster for Christmas breakfast? That can definitely become a tradition! We cooked turkey bacon and then used the skillet to sautéechopped lobster tail in butter. Then we scrambled in egg whites (leftover from the pies, plus one yolk) and baby spinach.

It was quite good. And lunch was a winner as well.

We used this Christmas tree pasta that my co-worker gave me.

I sautéed sliced mushroom, chopped red peppers, and baby spinach in butter and evoo. Then I tossed in pasta, a big dollop of Nayo, and a huge handful of shredded cheese.

Ridiculous good.

And the bowl Cannoli ice cream I had next was even better.

Ben and Jerry just keep getting it right.

For dinner we went over to our friends’ house for a party. We brought over a good dip, and terrible chips for everyone to try.

The White Chocolate Peppermint Pringle’s looked so nasty that there was no way Adam and I could pass up the experience of trying them for a measly $2. Pro tip – freaking terrible, aka totally worth the money to try.

My dinner plate.